Should be fine. A solar flare is basically a power surge followed by a blackout for them. If they are ready for that they are ready for a solar flare.

The people in trouble in solar flares are anyone who runs really long wires, like power and internet wires. We will all have to sit on our hands while they rebuild those when it happens.

It wont be pretty but your bank's systems will keep the data safe just fine until they can be reconnected so long as the bank isn't totally inept. It's basic practice to keep regular backups to a storage medium that keeps data even when unpowered, like a hard drive.

https://slashdot.org/story/12/08/16/1450216/ask-slashdot-protecting-data-from-a-carrington-event

Yes he absolutely did. He thought it was a problem. I’m surprised nobody has posted this. https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/bogle-sounds-a-warning-on-index-funds-1543504551. Use this to read it … https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome.

Translation: Researchers read Jack Bogle's The Little Book of Common Sense Investing which already contained decades of research on this topic. Next they wrote a paper and put this year's date on it. 😄

Have to agree with this. With a seven figure nut and bad investing instincts, your father is probably better off getting professional counsel from a trustworthy hourly fiduciary. There are so many competing considerations at this stage: asset allocation, drawdown strategy, insurance, taxes, long-term care, estate planning - best to have a comprehensive approach tailored to his goals. I suggest taking the time to read Bogleheads Guide to Retirement Planning.

Self-purging filing systems. Need to keep 7 years worth of tax documents? Have 7 having file folders, and every year when you do your taxes, empty the older folder.

This is also good for appliance manuals you can't bring yourself to throw away, and other papers you'll probably never use again but feel the need to keep anyway--just figure out the maximum length of time that's reasonable to keep things of that nature, and let the folders tell you when it's time to let go of something.

If you want a fancy color-coded pre-printed set you can buy FreedomFiler, but it's simple to DIY.

There's an extension that'll bypass paywalls in most browsers:

Google Chrome / Microsoft Edge (Custom sites supported)

1. Download this repo as a ZIP file from GitHub.

2. Unzip the file and you should have a folder named bypass-paywalls-chrome-master.

3. In Chrome/Edge go to the extensions page (chrome://extensions or edge://extensions).

4. Enable Developer Mode.

5. Drag the bypass-paywalls-chrome-master folder anywhere on the page to import it (do not delete the folder afterwards).

Mozilla Firefox (Custom sites not supported)

• Download the latest version from the Firefox add-ons store

2)https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/claiming-foreign-taxes-credit-or-deduction

Foreign taxes in a tax-deferred account

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to deduct foreign taxes you pay on investments held in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (IRA) or 401(k). Since the income in those accounts is not currently subject to U.S. tax (at least not until you begin making withdrawals).

But don’t worry—you don’t lose the benefit of the foreign taxes you paid in those accounts, because the foreign taxes reduce the income earned in that account. It’s like you are taking a deduction against the income, and when you eventually withdraw the money, you are only taxed on the net amount. It’s similar to taking an itemized deduction for the foreign taxes.

If you have a Roth IRA, the situation is a bit different. Withdrawals from Roth accounts are not taxed by the IRS, so you’re not able to get a benefit from the foreign taxes you paid. But don’t let lack of tax benefit deter you from holding foreign investments in your Roth account; in some cases, it could still make sense to have foreign assets in those accounts. There are many other factors to consider apart from taxes when making investment decisions, such as diversification of your portfolio.

Here's Schwab's take on the reserve currency status question.

TL;DR: "While we believe the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency will remain intact for the foreseeable future, its value will rise and fall with changes in the economic fundamentals."

People have been saying that the national debt will become untenable for decades. Maybe it will happen. Maybe it won't.

However, if bonds become truly worthless then we will have much larger financial problems than the value of bonds, which even if they become "worthless" still only represent 20% of my portfolio.

The DCA or lump sum argument, IMO, is a pointless argument. You're trading one risk for another. DCA invites the risk of missing out on a rising bull market, lump sum invites the risk of investing everything right before a downturn. Since we cannot time the market, and any successful timing is just luck, I always opt for lump sum. Markets are constantly at an all-time high, that's what happens when markets are historically on the rise more than they're on the downturn. DCA won't really hurt you though. It's more important that you focus on saving as much as you can.

IMO the debate between VT and WTI/VXUS is also pretty negligible. At your age, it's far more important to focus on investing in the first place, meaning staying frugal and saving money to invest. Either the VT or VTI/VXUS combo will outperform the vast majority of people in the long run, as long as you can save money and invest in the first place.

The average 25 year-old isn't concerned whatsoever with investing or retirement. As long as you make a concentrated effort to invest 20-30% of every paycheck, you'll be very wealthy in the future, regardless of what strategy you take in regards to choosing between lump sum/DCA or between VT and VTI/VXUS.

https://smile.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31MMOS17HQ5FC&dchild=1&keywords=the+millionaire+next+door+book&qid=1621619850&sprefix=the+millonare+ne%2Caps%2C205&sr=8-1

At your age, I'd highly recommend this book. Saving 20-30% of any money that comes your way may seem daunting, but it's actually not all that challenging.

Be careful contributing to an IRA at your income level. If your income figures are exact ($150k + $60k = $210k), you are ineligible to contribute to a Roth IRA, as the 2021 limit is $208k for married filers (and above $198k, you can't contribute the full amount).

2021 income limits shown here.

If you contribute more than your income allows, you'll be forced to withdraw and possibly pay penalties on that...

You don't have to do anything all or nothing.

I try to take a balanced approach as much as I can so that I have approximately equal amounts in each account. At retirement that favors the Roth, but it also helps now because of the current taxes.

You can do whatever mix of both works for you.

In the immediate future though, I'd be much more interested in the Roth. Given COVID-19 and the possibility of needing more money than you ever planned for in an emergency, the Roth has the benifit of being able to withdraw the contributions. It should be a last ditch plan, but it is there without taxes or penalties.

https://www.schwab.com/ira/roth-ira/withdrawal-rules

In normal times, I'd probably still invest in retirement, but I'd be mostly focused on knocking out the student loans first. I'd do the min on the forgiveness one if you are super super sure you can qualify.

I’d also recommend the boglehead’s guide to investing. It’s the book I give or loan to people who want to learn more. And you’re way ahead of most of the people I work with: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_676V2N784ZPAXX8RJ4EK?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

In terms of your asset allocation, what you suggest is not unreasonable; it is fairly aggressive in that it holds a preponderance of stocks and is tilted to mid-caps, which have higher expected risk and return. That said, you should be able to explain the rationale for your AA, and I am curious why you have selected these specific funds. In general the inputs for this decision are your need, ability and willingness to take risk, which includes understanding your anticipated spending needs, the timing of those needs, your expected rate of return (this is the biggest unknown, for everyone), and the amount of volatility (changes in the value of your assets) you are willing to stomach on the way there.

If you want to understand what it takes to manage your own investments versus using a robo-adviser, I think this page is the best place to start. Read through the entire series of links on that page and watch all the videos, then you will be better equipped to approach this decision.

Another fantastic resource is William Bernstein's "If You Can". Google it and download the free PDF, it will take you about one hour to read.

If you want to avoid paying a robo-adviser prefer the simplicity of an "all-in-one" fund, there are plenty of target date funds available to you without going through a robo-adviser (e.g., Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab all offer various target date funds).

Tax loss harvesting (TLH) is irrelevant to you unless you are investing in a taxable account. Even then, it's debatable whether Betterment's TLH service would be worth the additional fees.

If you want a single resource to read to really bring you up to speed on investing, here are my four top picks:

• The Four Pillars of Investing (Bernstein)
• The Bogleheads Guide to Investing (Larimore)
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Malkiel)
• All About Asset Allocation (Ferri)

This topic has been covered by many authors in great detail. Read any Boglehead book or A Random Walk Down Wall Street. I only say this because it's hard to find the motivation to try and convince someone of something when other people have already done a masterful job of it.

Stock pickers basically roll the dice. Statistically, some will have winning streaks. It doesn't mean they're skilled. Just like there's nothing magical about the person who won the lottery -- someone would have won; it just happened to be them.

One or two years is a really short time, and it doesn't predict anything.

Your bank has a lot of knowledge of the market, but so do all the other banks and entities they're competing against. And that competition is not going to sit around and give its money away to your bank via suboptimal trading. The competition is incredible -- anyone who thinks there are clear opportunities for profit is naive, in my opinion. That type of thinking applies to small markets where there can be a lack of competition or disparities in information available to different entities. But the financial markets are HUGE, information is both tightly regulated and plentiful, and they're constantly occupied by the most powerful entities in the world (and their software bots) who will do everything they can to avoid losing money to your bank.

Buffet certainly would have been worse off indexing. Why? Since 1965, the S&P 500 index has returned approximately 9.5% per annum with dividends. Buffett has returned approximately 20% per annum since 1965. Berkshire’s ability to beat the market is diminishing as it grows further into its behemoth size. However, over its lifetime, Berkshire has beaten the market by such a massive amount that it could underperform the market by 2-3% for decades and still be ahead of indexing beginning in 1965.

The key part to remember is that Berkshire will underperform in extended bull markets, such as the current bull market, but absolutely slaughters returns when the market corrects.

Given the way Berkshire operates, indexing vs Buffet since 1965 isn’t really comparable. While I don’t generally like Motley Fool, they do have an easy breakdown here.

Microsoft Power BI sounds like what you're asking for. If you can download monthly statement data from each account/brokerage you could maybe create a display dashboard from Power BI.

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/

I’d recommend Swedroe & Grogan’s book Your Complete Guide to a Successful Retirement. They cover a lot of material besides just investments and each chapter is both tightly focused on a specific aspect of retirement (many investment books repeat the same basic point in each chapter) and strikes a good balance between being reasonably digestible and packed with information.

Having put money in your account, you probably have to assign it to a specific fund - e.g. a tracker of the S&P 500 or developed international stocks (ex-US countries).

I don't use Vanguard, maybe it could be that you can't purchase in increments as small as $10. Do Vanguard have a phone number you can ring and ask for help?

Read some of the books listed in the Bogleheads wiki: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Books:_recommendations_and_reviews

Taylor Larimore's Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds are probably good places to start.

Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor is brilliant but it's a bit dated, so don't make it the first thing you read.

If you file taxes as a single person, your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) must be under $139,000 for the tax year 2020 and under $140,000 for the tax year 2021 to contribute to a Roth IRA, and if you're married and filing jointly, your MAGI must be under $206,000 for the tax year 2020 and $208,000 for the tax ...

Link

I would try to get as much as possible into the Roth before they stop working. It'll really pay off down the road, but you can certainly make the brokerage account very tax efficient.

Yeah, “not fun” is actually the worst part of this.

I don’t know where OP got the impression that wash sales lower your cost basis at the same time they prohibit you from claiming a capital loss. The rule is pretty clear that the disallowed loss is added back to the basis of the repurchased shares.

No doubt, a lot of people don’t realize that they can manually track the basis if they need to (e.g. when the wash sale occurs between brokerages) or find the idea of documenting/tracking this manually to be too much of a pain and just pay the double taxation instead.

But you don’t need to be double taxed in a wash sale.

Put 100% in a target date index fund like SWYHX. You'll be hard pressed to find a coherent argument as to how another investment strategy is going to outperform that on a risk adjusted basis.

1. That split is fine as is. Bonds are still worth it in a small amount at your age.

Bonds still provide diversification. https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/do-bonds-still-provide-diversification

Diversification still provides a better risk adjusted return. https://obliviousinvestor.com/risk-adjusted-returns/

1. Investing into REITs reduces your diversification by tilting into one sector that is already in your index fund. Some believe it’s a good idea, but I don’t think the arguments are very sound. At best, it’s a worse way to tilt value, and I don’t recommend to tilt value.

2. This is where my advice goes against the grain because I value simplicity over efficiency. If you want to manage the splits yourself, and you won’t tinker, and you have a written IPS, and you’ve calculated how much you’ll save in taxes, go for it. Honestly, I tell most people to just stick with the target retirement funds and eat the cost of the small fee and potential tax liability in order to maintain a much simpler approach to their investments. YMMV

You’re doing fantastic as is. Keep doing your research and keep saving early and often. Make a plan and stick to it.

Remember you can withdrawal your contributions from a Roth IRA anytime. You can't withdrawal earnings until you retire. Review rules here.

> has been the type to pull out of the market when it falls.

He doesn't have tolerance for risk, then.

> he’d be happy with a 4% annual return

He's not going to get it without a hefty allocation of risk assets. Luckily,

> He has enough saved as is to retire, not lavishly, but comfortably.

If this is true then doesn't have a compelling need for risk, ergo it makes little sense to allocate anything more than a small portion of his portfolio to risk assets outside of a desire for the money to outlive him (for the sake of charity, gifts, inheritance, etc.). But the question is, is it true? What I mean is, how many years of residual living expenses does he have saved? Does he qualify for social security? If so, can he defer the payments until he's 70?

The Ages of The Investor is a really good overview of how to think about the latter part of one's investing lifecycle, so in addition to consulting a professional I'd read that.

A sock is even worse, especially since an actual coffee sock is a thing and a pair costs about the same as normal socks.

After the minimum, yes. In fact, the minimum is just the minimum initial investment. You're not violating anything if the amount drops under the minimum.

There are lots of people on Reddit who use ETFs, and there's plenty of bad advice going around about them. Try to ignore them altogether, and try to ignore people "hyping" lucrative-sounding ETFs.

My last advice is to grab this book and soak up everything. It's got lots of superb advice, and it's a quick read. It's the only book you'll ever need about investing, in my opinion.

You could say that about Sony, Honda, Toyota, Yamaha and Mitsubishi, though. And, I'm sure, of many other companies on this list.

Surely the Nikkei has been "stagnant" the last 20 or 30 years because it was previously overpriced? In 1991 it was trading with a 10-year cyclically-adjusted PE Ratio (CAPE) of 90 - now its CAPE is 26. That doesn't mean those companies haven't been productive in the last 20 or 30 years - manufacturing useful things, making profits and paying dividends to investors. It just means that the Japanese salaryman who invested all his savings in the Nikkei index in the 1990's, thinking "these are big safe companies", overpaid.

It's not passive of me to say that I believe that the S&P 500 is currently a bit overpriced, but equally I don't think it's passive of you (and Jack Bogle) to say "oh, we don't need international because the S&P 500 contains everything I need". I believe that rests on the assumption that the market always prices correctly, and we can see that's not the case - the market is often irrational. Read The Intelligent Investor.

I just think they're red herrings - both the idea that the economy will stop growing and the Nikkei as an example of it. But I do tend to think in terms of the world economy, because I believe we live in an era of economic globalism.

I struggle to believe the S&P 500 is worth what it's currently trading at.

Have you read Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor? The value premise is well-established - there have always been people arguing growth, that these stocks are going to do well (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google comprise over 12% of the S&P 500) and that "it's different this time".

I also really like Norbert Keimling's work, e.g. Predicting Stock Market Returns Using Shiller-CAPE And PB.

There's a "Bogleheads Guide to Investing" you might like. Also "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" could help reinforce the approach you're taking. Reading can make a difference in your ability to tolerate down markets - you're more confident of the reasons for your choices, and the historical data supporting those choices.

Either ETF of mutual funds will work fine. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF ("VTI") costs about $116/share, which means you might have $110 lying around out of $125,000. Not likely to be significant. Your 10% allocation to VTIAX is enough to reach admiral shares, so expense ratios are about the same. I'd say ETF or fund is personal preference in that situation, for Vanguard ETFs vs Vanguard funds.

Hello, I'm a bot! The movie you linked is called Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream, here are some Trailers

>You seem to have some overlap between SWISX AND SCHE.

Where?

>since SWISX is already ~25% Emerging Markets.

SWISX is developed markets only. https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/investment_help/investment_research/mutual_fund_research/mutual_funds.html?path=%2FProspect%2FResearch%2Fmutualfunds%2Fportfolio.asp%3Fsymbol%3DSWISX gives a breakdown of 89% of the fund's holdings, I don't see how you'd get 25% emerging from that.

SWISX doesn't show as having any China or South Korea.

Here's a nice article that may help find your best path forward: https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/how-much-should-you-be-saving

Summary: If you can afford to, saving 10-15% is suggested. This will avoid the need to double that contribution % later in life.

Probably the closest you get is Schwab's monthly income funds — SWJRX, SWKRX, and SWLRX.

They have the same purpose, but they are not exactly equivalent. Schwab's funds use high-yield dividend funds for the stock portion, for example, whereas Vanguard just uses VTSAX. Schwab's funds also have a higher ER.

There is such thing as Schwab Stock Slices that you can buy fractional shares of stocks in a custodial account. However, you would need the parents to open the custodial account and instruct them to buy the stock as well. They can print out a cute certificate for your nephew to have in his room!

There’s also a service called Stockpile that you can do something similar except you can buy ETFs and buy the gift yourself. Disclaimer: I used this myself as a gift to my cousin last year, and ended up just opening the account myself. I later got a letter in the mail alerting me that Stockpile had a cyber incident and leaked my personal info, including SSN. I have since closed my account and moved to using Schwab Stock Slices instead.

I looked back at my notes. I misspoke. It was Personal Capital, not Wealthfront.

https://www.personalcapital.com/wealth-management/smart-weighting

They call it "smart weighting". It an alternative to SP500 market cap weighting in a separately managed account. They equally weight both 10 economic sectors while also balancing out 12 style and size boxes.

They claimed significant alpha but couldn't provide real data on performance when I asked for verification of performance.

I wouldn't move it to Vanguard if you're happy with Schwab. Just sell it and buy SWYNX instead. It's in a Roth IRA account. There's no tax implications for selling.

This is a fairly subjective thing. Jack Bogle for example prefers 100% US stocks (no international) for his investments, but Vanguard uses 40% international (40% of the stock portion) in their balanced and target date funds. I think anything between 0% and 40% international is reasonable as long as you are comfortable with the allocation. My personal preference is about 33% international but there's nothing scientific about my preference.

If OP went 40% stocks that would translate to roughly:

• VITPX: 48%
• VTSNX: 32%
• VBTIX: 20%

Again, personal preference plays into this but that's the max I would go on international.

SWXIX http://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/swxix/quote.html That doesn't look like there is a lot of bonds to me ( <7%) and SWXJX is even less (<5%). You can pick whichever is closer to your retirement date. There is no fixed cost for investing in Schwab's own target date funds... so as frequently as you.

I'd say this is a good read after it:
The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy

and or

The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness

Pick up a copy of Bernstein's <em>Rational Expectations: Asset Allocation for Investing Adults</em>. I've found this book indispensable for understanding the realities of safe withdrawal rates, expected real returns, asset correlations, and how to think about portfolio allocation throughout your lifetime.

The Medallion Fund:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Technologies#Medallion_Fund

It's been closed to outside investment since 1992. Also, great book on the subject:

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Solved-Market-Revolution/dp/073521798X

Here's an explanation about what target date funds are.

The percentages I gave refer to fees. For mutual funds and ETFs, this is fee is more commonly called the expense ratio (ER). If a fund has an ER of 0.08%, this is how much the fund "costs" per year. You will never see the fee, as it's deducted from the fund's holdings.

If you're new to this, I recommend getting the book The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. It covers everything you need to know about setting up an IRA.

Yup, and if you'd like to go back to the source: https://www.amazon.com/Lifecycle-Investing-Audacious-Performance-Retirement/dp/B005X4I7ZI

My take is that it's not the worst idea in the world, but like much of investing, it depends on the circumstances of the investor. A young person can take on more risk than an elderly person, and a young person with a guaranteed job for life can take on more risk than 95% of people.

Warren Buffet is a value investor - I'd guess you'd have to ask him why he hasn't been more successful. He credits The Intelligent Investor, and his subsequent friendship with Benjamin Graham, as the bedrock of his investing activities.

I guess Professor Schiller is happy with his nobel prize and his tenure at Yale. His record speaks for itself.

Cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio is just a measure of value.

If you look at my comment history you'll find I write frequently warning of the dangers of timing the market (like I did yesterday, for example), but my comment was not directed at you - it was the OP who asked about this.

If you don't give a fuck what we think, and since you're evidently unfamiliar with the subject under discussion, I suggest you refrain from commenting.

If you buy S&P 500 you are betting that its earnings will rise to justify its current price. I regard that as speculation.

First, store it somewhere safe until you are pretty sure how to handle the money. That means move it to a bank or into Vanguard. If over $250k, you should not put it all into a single bank, as you will exceed FDIC insurance limit.

Keep some available as an emergency fund, enough to cover a car repair or a medical issue. Maybe $5-$20k, or a few months living expenses. Keep a bit more to make your life a bit better. Fix your car, or take a class you need, or buy a gym membership. Whatever!

For the bulk of the windfall, you will thank yourself later if you can cautiously move it into a low fee index fund or ETF for the long haul. Whatever the amount, it will double every 10 years or so. After 30 years, you will have eight (8) times the starting amount. Keep that in mind before you blow it on a car/condo/bar/date.

Edit: I have no idea how much you inherited, and my advice seems kind of basic now that I read it. Put the money somewhere safe and read some books. The Millionaire Next Door, or Your Money or Your Life are good, and Richest Man in Babylon, and Rich Dad Poor Dad good too.

The book that got me started was I Will Teach You to be Rich

It's run like a 6-week personal finance course and is wonderful. Thanks to that book I found Vanguard, understood why passive-investing is investing correctly. Investing is only a small part of the book as it covers banking, loans, credit cards and lots more. However, it's very information dense and easily understandable.

Did the windfall come in the form of the relative's individual retirement account (IRA)? If so, do some research before moving the money - you might need to take regular withdrawals over your expected lifetime or face penalties and taxes. Assuming it's not...

Reading up on investing is important, especially from books that quote decades of stock market performance. Books like "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" give a good level of detail about what can happen investing without knowing stock market history.

If the money is meant for decades from now, 75% stocks seems more reasonable than 75% bonds. Stocks provide painful drops, but also higher expected growth than bonds. Bonds help you keep your money safe from stock market drops - which is more important as you need to preserve your money in retirement.

Make sure none of those 401(k) funds are "load" funds, and then sure buy more before the year ends if you like. The 1% fee is a lot, but some funds remove over 5% upon purchase - really need to avoid those when you have roughly one year left in the plan.

Nick Maggiuli's Just Keep Buying has lot of interesting analysis on this. I don't like articles that people are linking here because it is really hard to project savings rates and income into the future (you have kids etc.). Moreover, Nick's book shows a lot of data that says we typically overestimate how much we will spend in retirement and as people get older they tend to spend even less.

TLDR - His analysis concludes is a portfolio of 25 x annual expenses should be adequate.

Allan Roth actually wrote a book whose title may be applicable to your situation: "How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street: Golden Rules Any Investor Can Learn" (link)

Joking aside, it's a pretty simple recommendation:

• 60% VTI (or comparable Total US Market fund)
• 30% VXUS (or comparable Total ex-US / International Market fund)
• 10% BND (or comparable Total US Bond fund)

I really like the 60/30/10 style portfolio for its simplicity. You break up your equity holdings 2:1 US to ex-US, and include 10% to bonds. I'm not a fan of equity-only portfolios, as I believe that having a portfolio consisting of imperfectly-correlated asset classes is important, and increases the diversity of the portfolio as a whole. The 10% bonds is not going to really drag down returns, and has actually had higher rolling returns than a 100% equities portfolio during certain 10+ year periods.

If I were to make an adjustment to the aforementioned portfolio, instead of BND (or equivalent), I would instead go with an intermediate duration treasury fund (e.g., VGIT or GOVT), for four reasons:

1. I'm a believer that you take the risk on the "equity" side of your portfolio, and the "bond / fixed income" side should be the safety side. Treasuries are not subject to default risk that is found with some of the other holdings in BND (e.g., corporate bonds).
2. Treasuries make up the majority of BND holdings.
3. Treasuries are less correlated to equities than corporate bonds, making them a better diversification.
4. Treasuries are exempt from state taxes.

Don't take it personally. You also don't want her blaming you if your good advice leads to bad outcomes (strategy and end result don't always correlated, due to luck/timing).

I'd suggest getting her Bogle's "The Little book of common sense investing" and Davidson's "What your Financial Advisor isn't telling you"

Crypto and Tesla isn't investing, it's putting money on a roulette wheel because you heard you're going to win alot of money with some stranger's foolproof system.

1) Get out of those ASAP

2) Invest in a broad market low fee index fund

3) Read a short book like this together: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Common-Sense-Investing/dp/0470102101

2 sounds simple and it is. There is still some risk, but much, much less than what your husband has been doing.

The real trick is getting your husband to stop gambling with your household savings. It's a rush and thrill to do that but it usually leaves people much poorer. I have compassion for him and for you and I hope he can stop.

2 cup containers are my favorite for a single serving. For something thicker like chili you might not even want to fill it up very far. In general I only fill them 90% or so, it comes out to about 2 big ladle scoops.

4 cup covered glass bowls are what I use to eat them. I transfer them frozen (briefly run under hot water to loosen) to one of these before bed, then put it in the fridge when I get to work.

https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-earn-more-interest/

&#x200B;

They are now FDIC insured

Automated Customer Account Transfer (ACAT) is not typically free. Robinhood, in particular, charges $75 for an ACAT. This isn’t an unusual fee either—in fact it’s in line with what most brokerages will charge.

You can see if the brokerage receiving the transfer will reimburse you for the cost, but it’s not guaranteed at low account values.

Investing in stocks is seen as a long-term strategy. This is due in part to the fact that equities frequently experience value declines of 10% to 20% or more over a shorter time frame. Holding investments for at least five years is part of a long-term investment strategy. Holding assets, including bonds, stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, and more, is part of this strategy. The ability to accept a certain degree of risk while waiting for greater rewards in the future is a prerequisite for those who adopt a long-term perspective. Such people must also be disciplined and patient. The stock trading app that I would recommend using for long-term investments is Dhanush App by Ashika stock trading firm.stock trading app

Why Bother With Bonds: A Guide To Build All-Weather Portfolio Including CDs, Bonds, and Bond Funds--Even During Low Interest Rates

I would be cautious about making allocation decisions based on projections of population growth and energy production because they are notoriously wrong over the long term. That said, there’s never anything foolish about being more diversified. I highly recommend the book Investing Amid Low Expected Returns: Making the Most When Markets Offer the Least. It is a critical analysis of the following options for meeting objectives with low expected returns:

1. Increase allocation risk (more equities, lower quality credit)
   
2. Tilt to factor premiums in equities
   
3. Employ leverage
   
4. Shift to alternatives: commodities/metals, private equity, hedge funds

TL;DR there is no silver bullet and no way to know in advance what will work best. In all likelihood we will just have to live with lower returns. But do make sure your portfolio is well-constructed and highly diversified, and don’t expect 12% from the S&P 500 to get you through.

https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Take-Hindmost-Financial-Speculation/dp/0452281806

This is an excellent book looking into the history of speculation and the rise and fall of the tulip craze, the railroad craze, the go go years of the Japanese stock market and on and on and on. I think there are lessons learned in past manias and speculative gambles that can be applied to todays crypto craze and NFT's. The underlying technology for blockchain/crypto/NFTs may still be useful, but the speculative bubbles can burst especially with NFTs which is why no one is talking much about it - it did not make people millionaires to the same degree that early buyers of bitcoin achieved.

I mean up until this stage of life your aversion to bonds was probably justified and served you well. You're getting older now, so it might be time to start curtailing that judgement (although you may have some years left). Bonds essentialyl are more stable, so on shorter term can be a better decision because they weather market fluctuations more easily, That being said, long term, they don't perform as well as compared to the market, so the opportunity cost to holding bonds generally outweights the benefit. This is the reason why you see people move more of their portfolios towards bonds as they get older

Yup, do some reading. Read about three fund portfolios. {Good book](https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0470067365) if you like those types of things versus piece together a bunch of forum/blog posts.

Larry Swedroe has a good book on the types of alts and how they should or (usually) should not fit into your portfolio.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NE61GC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i6

Casio sells a virtually indestructible watch for ~$15. I can't think of anything cooler either.

https://www.amazon.com/Casio-F91W-1-Classic-Resin-Digital/dp/B000GAWSDG/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=3IM4P7JDI8S9Y&amp;keywords=casio+watch+f91w-1&amp;qid=1665138548&amp;qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjk2IiwicXNhIjoiMC4yNyIsInFzcCI6IjAuNTAifQ%3D%3D&amp;sprefix=casio+watc...

I'd suggest a book that will help you get a great foundation.

The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins

You can start your journey with one ETF and possibly grow it to two or three over your investing life. VTI (Total Stock Market Index) is a great start. You can buy that ETF at any broker. Some people prefer ETF's, some prefer funds. If you want to use mutual funds at Fidelity, then FZROX (Total Market) or FXAIX (S&P 500) would be fine. There's no reason to own both. Pick one and stick with it. If you're earning income, open a Roth and fill that first, then move onto other accounts.

No I don’t, and truthfully it’s very not long before it’s over my head and making my eyes cross. Bill Bernstein once quipped (paraphrasing): if you want an analyst for the stock market you should consult a historian, but for bonds you need a rocket scientist. It’s a lot of math and curves and counterintuitive price movements.

Whenever I’m looking for a book on something I check out this list: He Has Read Over 250 Investing Books. He Recommends These Three Funds.. So I see Why Bother With Bonds by Rick Van Ness which is probably a decent place to start.

I like Aswath Damodaran's work, a true expert. The article mentions the same flaws of French and Fama that I found in book Stocks for the Long Run, about excluding certain periods that will give completely different picture about small cap value.

https://www.amazon.com/Stocks-Long-Run-Definitive-Investment/dp/0071800514

What I never liked about that theory of small cap value outperforming if we look at 100 years data and not 10-20 years of data, is that I could conclude - why not 500 years then? Maybe 500 years will show that small cap value doesn't outperform, you know what I mean. They are basing their theory on something that could be easily turned against them.

But, I also keep the course of general index ETFs, I find it easier and smarter, too.

Hi - good for you and good feedback here. As others have said your ability to contribute to a Roth IRA is limited to whether you have any earned income in 2022 (up to the limit, in 2022 if you made over $6K in income you can contribute the entire $6K). Otherwise read-up and start putting in regular, fixed dollar amounts into your planned investments over time (otherwise known as dollar cost averaging, where you buy more shares in a mutual fund when the market is down, and less shares when the market is up).

One good PDF (written specifically for Millennials) is "If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly" by William Bernstein (free PDF link here).

And if you want a full-length book, you can see the link to the right under 'Boglehead Basics', linking to this book the BH Guide to Investing (Amazon) that you can pick up used for about $8 (with shipping).

Wish you the best!

I always suggest readingThe Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. It's a fantastic Boglehead read targeted at young investors.

Same content as his Stock Series blog but easier to digest. Also suggest the audible version. His voice is like butter. 😂

This book might interest you: Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids by Bryan Caplan who you might recognize as an economist. Not sure if mod2 would agree with the implications.

JL Collins in The Simple Path to Wealth would say the addition of international exposure isn't worth the risk. I disagree with him as I feel he has an extreme home country bias philosophy. But he's also a few decades older than I am and probably wouldn't benefit from changing his plan.

I believe investing in US only equities places me in greater risk if the US were to experience a unique regional catastrophe. I gladly accept that I'm taking on more risk investing in EX-US and willing to take lower returns for the piece of mind it gives me.

For me this is where Personal Finance is personal.

I was where you're at to years ago, at the age of 42! You're ahead of most. The knowledge will come. I suggest giving The Simple Path to Wealth a read or listen. It will cover most of the basics. Just keep an open mind on international index funds.

In my early 20s (now 50s) I was given Personal Finance for Dummies by my grandmother, with the note that she didn't think I was dumb, but she did feel that I didn't have a great grasp of how money works. She was right, and it helped tremendously.

There is also this book <em>Investing for Dummies</em> and it would probably be a great place to start and work through all the things you need to know to get where you want to go.

No reason you can't start small and slow with investing and learn along the way.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle. (OP replied with a link to this book, but it had an Amazon affiliate marketing tag embedded, which may run afoul of sub rules around self-promotion.)

> simple 2 fund equity portfolio

Consider the book 2 funds for life, which combines a SCV allocation with a target-date fund in interesting ways - or strange ways, depending on your perspective.

Asset allocation is a personal choice. I'm nearly 45 and decided on 70/30 and plan to maintain that ratio for the next 10 years.

I determined my 30% bond allocation by testing by risk tolerance in March of 2020. At that point I was 100% equities and when the market dropped I had the urge to sell. I didn't, but the experience taught me that my tolerance was not nearly as high as I thought it was.

Upon reflection I determined 70/30 was a good fit and though my portfolio is likely down 20% I'm not worried.

The Asset Allocation wiki page and reading The Little Book of Common Sense Investing were the two most impactful sources in determining my ratio.

I suspect your speculating.

Take a couple weekends to invest them in reading - The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing - The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Both books changed how I invest for retirement and covered all the questions I could think of.

Take $35 and a couple weekends and invest them in - The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing - The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Rick Ferri literally wrote the book on Asset Allocation...

REITs and SCV are common "tilts" that people recommend here. People need to understand that when tilting your portfolio, you still need to adhere to the Boglehead approach of "stay the course" because there can be years of under-performance before the allocation shows it's benefit.

With that said, why not ask the man himself? u/Important-Builder370

Thanks for a great question. I'll add it to the list.

Research shows that a simple annuity (single premium immediate annuity) can help manage risk, especially longevity risk.

Wade Pfau has written about this. You can read his book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Safety-First-Retirement-Planning-Integrated-Worry-Free-ebook/dp/B07X2TW623

Do you have any self-employment income (i.e., a sole proprietorship), or a spouse, or kids, or would you be willing to make your own trust? These all open up opportunities to buy I bonds by creating new accounts.

(Even if you don't have any self-employment income or a written trust, Treasury Direct doesn't know that...)

I once read a fictional story about a guy who inherits five centuries of compound interest; thought it was both a fun and interesting read:

One Trillion Dollars

> Yesterday John Fontanelli was just a pizza delivery guy in New York City. One day later he s the richest man in the world.

> For generations the Vacchis, an old Italian family of lawyers and asset managers, had supervised the fortune as it grew over five hundred years, until one particular date that the benefactor had stipulated in his will. The youngest male descendant would be fated to oversee the fortune for the good of humanity.

Take $15 and read The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing then another $15 and read The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. Best $30 and two weekends I've invested.

Both covered everything I asked and even some things I didn't think of.

Take $15 and read The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing then another $15 and read The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. Best $30 and two weekends I've ever invested. Between the two it should answer almost all your questions.

It was terrifying. The market goes down most days; sometimes it has a brief rally then sinks just as your hopes are up. As time goes on, months and years of declines, the time when the market went up every day seems like forever ago. Maybe things really are different this time; that's been true for other countries. Japan has had a stagnant stock market for three decades, why not here? We've had a Great Depression, after all.

Job and income play a part: Once I lost my job at the same time the market dropped. Another time I watched as too many friends were laid off, and big employers froze hiring. It's not easy to keep shoving money in a dwindling market when you may need the cash next month to pay rent. Or eat.

Even the people who believed in the market and buy-and-hold begin giving up.

I strongly recommend reading The Great Depression: A Diarty by Benjamin Roth, a lawyer who wrote the diary as things happened without knowing when, or if, they would get better. There's a heavy focus on economics: the stock market, bonds, employment, things like that. It's eye-opening.

I generally agree with the comments that some target date funds are too bond-heavy for my tastes when I am more than 10 years from retirement. I personally just use a target date fund several years past my retirement goal to better match my intended asset allocation based on my own situation and risk tolerance. As for your plan to convert to 100% bonds in the last five years, that would not be my preference because 100% bonds in retirement would be too risky from a longevity risk perspective (unless you have a huge retirement portfolio and don't spend much). I personally subscribe more to the "safety first" approach, which is identifying different categories of retirement spending and then matching the asset allocation (and tools like an annuity) to match each category. For the more optional spending categories (like donations or vacations) where you can adjust your spending year-to-year, that's where I would want a much higher allocation to stocks (like 70% stocks and 30% bonds for me personally).

So the tl;dr is that you really need to do more thinking to answer a question about what allocation is right as you near retirement.

Since you literally wrote the book on Asset Allocation, is there anything you can think of that you would change in terms of your advice in the book now that it's been 12 years since the last revision?

NOTE: u/Important-Builder370 If you have a preferred link to this book, please shoot me a PM and I will gladly update my link or just reply with a better link below. I very much enjoyed the read, and if there's a better way to support you for your work / contribution than Amazon, I'd rather use that.

The Psychology of Money; Housel - Incredible book and really different from anything I have ever read. I love listening to this guy, packs so much wisdom in his talks. Can't recommend enough. I am also looking forward to this as I am hearing good reviews on twitter

> math that describes the worst possible outcome

under what model? with which parameters?

> cost of margin

i thought we were talking about levered ETFs, not margin? i don't like margin because i think it is an inefficient use of your risk budget.

regardless if your hedge $BNDW gets wiped out too you've got much bigger problems than money.

> do you have any math [...] how does that square with the claim

do you understand the math underlying markowitz's work? because it follows so directly under his model that constructing an asset allocation with higher risk adjusted returns than the stock market permits lower risk at the same return level that i don't know how to answer.

(in fact, it necessarily permits an interval of leverage to apply in which you beat the stock market on both return and risk)

perhaps you would enjoy https://www.amazon.com/Risk-Return-Analysis-Practice-Rational-Investing-ebook/dp/B00DRC96HG

recall also that (over a single epoch) leverage does not change your risk adjusted returns (assuming you're borrowing at the risk free rate)

Start with the financial planning page on the wiki.

Take a few bucks and read The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. But take his opinions on international index investing with some skepticism.

Assuming your cousin is under thirty. Have them read The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. If older The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. Both are worthy reads but the first is intended for a reader with 40+ years to invest while the latter is general.

Yes, I didn't hold any bonds until age 43. I bumped up to 30% last summer and plan to keep it there for the next 10-15 years.

I used the 120 - Age = Equities to begin as well as reading <em>The Little Book of Common Sense Investing</em> decided that 70/30 would be right for me moving forward.

In my opinion 70/30 is the sweet spot between growth and conservation. 90/10 is good if you want some bonds to slightly reduce volatility. However I would not suggest anyone under thirty-five go above 80/20.

You’re getting scorched on fees by Edward Jones.

Here’s an analysis of fees: https://www.sec.gov/investor/alerts/ib_fees_expenses.pdf.

And here is a great book to educate yourself on investing basics:

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119847672/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_MGDE5GA077VBTZP6SKTY

Sure! Anything by Bill Mollison will be the “Bible” on permaculture principles. Those books get fairly deep and at times philosophical, but I am a fan of this quick guide for many of the essentials for homesteading including composting, water collection, and planting principles:

Permaculture: An Essential Guide to Incorporating Backyard Homesteading, Greenhouses, Urban Gardening, Solar Power Systems, Composting, and More for Sustainable Living https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BGHWC7N/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_RBR67GCZD010F6C8H0HE?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1

For foraging, I frequent “Eat The Weeds”:

https://www.eattheweeds.com

However you will probably be better in that regard googling/facebooking foraging groups in your local area, since I believe this website is more specific to my location.

>Schwab has very responsive customer service. A very nice interface. And they are paying me a decent bonus for moving my assets.

Thanks for a lot of good information and help. Did you have to negotiate the bonus with your local Schwab office/broker? Or did you go with one of the published Schwab referral bonuses?

No, a Rollover IRA is just like a Traditional IRA, those funds have not been taxed. As long as you don't touch the funds, let the institutions deal with the transfer of capital.

https://www.schwab.com/ira/rollover-ira/what-is-a-rollover-ira#:~:text=A%20Rollover%20IRA%20is%20an,at%20the%20time%20of%20transfer.

A Rollover IRA is an account that allows you to move funds from your old employer-sponsored retirement plan into an IRA. With an IRA rollover, you can preserve the tax-deferred status of your retirement assets, without paying current taxes or early withdrawal penalties at the time of transfer. A Rollover IRA can provide a wider range of investment choices that may meet your goals and risk tolerance, including stocks, bonds, CDs, ETFs, and mutual funds.

There are exceptions to that rule.

> Withdrawals from a Roth IRA you've had less than five years. > If you take a distribution of Roth IRA earnings before you reach age 59½ and before the account is five years old, the earnings may be subject to taxes and penalties. You may be able to avoid penalties (but not taxes) in the following situations: > > > You use the withdrawal (up to a $10,000 lifetime maximum) to pay for a first-time home purchase.
> > You use the withdrawal to pay for qualified education expenses.
> > You use the withdrawal for qualified expenses related to a birth or adoption. > > You become disabled or pass away.
> > You use the withdrawal to pay for unreimbursed medical expenses or health insurance if you're unemployed.
> > The distribution is made in substantially equal periodic payments.

Between the Home, Education, Birth, and Medical expenses while unemployed, there's a handful of useful ways to get your money out of it before five years without the nasty 10% penalty.

https://www.schwab.com/fractional-shares-stock-slices

Appears Schwab only allows fractional shares of S&P 500 stocks and I couldn't find any verbiage about auto-investing in these stock slices.

Good idea to stick to mutual funds so that you can auto-invest (automation is key).

Something I just realized: SWISX only includes International developed markets, not emerging markets. VXUS (VTIAX) includes developed + emerging markets. This means VT (VTI + VXUS) includes emerging markets. Not a big deal, but something to be aware of.

What are you exactly looking for with a financial advisor (since you keep bringing it up)?

I think a good number comes from a combined top-down and a bottom-up approach.

Top-down: how much you think you should cover with savings, and the potential costs of different types of schools.

Bottom-up: how much you can afford to save for college (considering all other saving priorities).

If you are able to, $600 can potentially amount to more than $243K, enough to cover 4 years in public school. Again, if you want to cover the entire cost of college. Based on this calculator with 4.65% average return, and 5% inflation: https://www.schwab.com/saving-for-college/college-savings-calculator

This Schwab article provides some answers. Given you’re in CA & high tax bracket the muni only bond allocation seems fine. https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/crossing-state-lines-5-reasons-to-consider-other-states-munis

I gave my son this book. He already put his entire allowance to invest in dividend stocks. I read it and I have to say, it’s very basic (don’t expect to pass your CFA test by reading this book) but covers a lot, in a simple way. It’s for kids.

How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000: Earn! Save! Invest! https://www.amazon.com/dp/076118080X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_YHC2PKFG96JX3PG9W86X

Easiest thing would be to open a Roth IRA and make regular contributions to it. In that IRA, you buy securities. They can be ETFs, mutual funds, individual stocks or bonds.

Bogleheads like broad-market index funds - things like total market mutual funds, like VTSAX for the US domestic equities market or VTIAX, which covers international equities or VBTLX which is a domestic bond fund. These mutual funds have ETF equivalents - VTI, VXUS and BND, and ~~by their powers combined!~~ you can make a portfolio using just these funds that will serve you very well for the rest of your life. There are even funds-of-funds that have some mix of these funds ready to go, they're called Target Date Retirement funds, and take all the guess work out of investing - you just put money in and let the company adjust the asset allocation for you, so it gets less risky as you get closer to retirement.

As for what to read to learn more Jack Bogle's Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a great primer.

I started investing when I was in my mid 40s. A Simple Path to Wealth was the book that helped me understand a lot about investing. I also like to recommend reading about the Bogleheads three fund portfolio as a starting point when you are thinking about an allocation that's good for most people.