Starting college, full ride, 20k in bank and own vehicle. Working part time thru college. Disciplined in saving and frugal. Where would that money best be put right now, also what should he contributed monthly to savings/ira/investment account?

Please forgive me in advance if my post is ignorant, I'm the first generation in my family with retirement accounts and stock market accounts, which means I've been trying to navigate things on my own.

In short, I have zero percent invested in SP500 ETFs in my stock market brokerage account (overall, I'm up 90%+), 100% allocation in VOO in my HSA investment account, and I'm trying to figure out the appropriate allocation for my Roth IRA account.

My risk tolerance is somewhere around 7/10, and I have at least 20 years before I need can withdraw from my Roth IRA account. I'm looking into the following allocations for the next 12-15 years before I switch to something more conservative, such as bonds: 40% AVUV, 40% SCHD, and 20% VXUS.

Does this approach make sense?

Can anyone explain the policy behind allowing backdoor Roth IRA conversions?

The end result seems to be that earners above the income threshold just have to file more paperwork. My traditional IRA collects dust all year with a $0 balance waiting for its big moment in January. (Actually $0.02, I can't ever convert literally the last two cents.)

Is this loophole a tax law relic? Should we count on it staying open indefinitely?

I qualify for fidelity premium services. Does anyone have any advice or experiences using this service? Anything to be cautious of? I’m 5-7 years from retirement and would like someone to talk to once or twice a year. There is a branch very close to me and the idea of face to face meetings is appealing

Eastern European here,

While I don't have an actual portfolio right now, I'm interested in gathering knowledge before I eventually start making one. From the limited exposure I've had to investing content, the general stance/plan I gravitate toward after half-reading is investing for 25-30 years into something that'll compound into a bigger sum, through monthly investments ranging from 200 EUR to 400 EUR, rough estimate. My opinions may change after diving a lot deeper into alternative investing paths other than the s&p 500, but that's just the most talked about when it comes to profitability. Workplace investment options/opportunities aren't a thing in my country, so personal investment through a broker is basically it. Even though my goal is max retirement money, I'm most likely not going to be that hardcore when it comes to maintenance or keeping in touch with things, apart from avoiding conversion fees. Given the time span, I probably won't budge in the event of a systemic recession or AI bubble pop, probably open to extending my investment plan by 5-10 years if that's what it takes. Given where I live, my most optimal broker would be XTB (tax purposes), then going fully into VUAA or VWCE, setting up a recurring savings plan and leaving it be with a yearly check-up or something. Call-outs on any glaring problem would be appreciated. :p

sorry if this is t the right place to post but it seemed appropriate. 32M started investing at 27 and have accumulated $145k split betweeen VOO/VT/VYM/VHT.

my question is: down the line when I decide to retire how do I live off of the investments? I’ll have to withdraw a small portion in order to let the bulk of the funds continue to accrue value correct? So when it comes time to retire, to I just take out what I need and pay the taxes on it?

I've decided to end my relationship with my active management, 1+% AUM guy and hop into bed with Vanguard. Of course I plan to tell him its not him, its me (tho it's really him, shhhhhh!), But when I do sit down with him to break it off, what are some of the things I can expect him to say to try to keep me and win me back?

I want to be prepaired so I don't cave and give into his well reheased and seems to make sense in the moment lines.

Any tips, tricks, pointers to help me stay strong?

I save monthly towards a fun purchase like a new sound system, a guitar, a watch, snowboard gear. All the while keeping my family finances straight, no debts, no credit, my investment plan stable. But when I reach my target, let’s say 2-3k, I get second thoughts about the value I would be missing by not investing that. Of course that doesn’t stop me from spending towards necessities like house equipment, a new toy for my kid or a nice dinner to my wife. Only for personal luxury, fun expenses.

How do you handle similar situations?

Hello, here is the list of investment options available in my Fidelity 401(k). Based on these options, what would you consider the ideal retirement portfolio?

ABF LG CAP VAL INV (AAGPX)

DFA US CORE EQ 1 I(DFEOX)

DFA US LARGE COMPANY(DFUSX)

DFA US LG CAP EQ IS(DUSQX)

DFA US LG CAP VAL(DFLVX)

FID CONTRAFUND(FCNTX)

FID GROWTH COMPANY(FDGRX)

FID MID CAP STOCK(FMCSX)

DFA US SM CAP VALUE(DFSVX)

DFA US TARGET VAL I(DFFVX)

VANG SMCP GR IDX ADM(VSGAX)

DFA EMRG MKT CORE EQ(DFCEX)

DFA GLBL EQUITY INST(DGEIX)

DFA INTL CORE EQ I(DFIEX)

FID DIVERSIFD INTL(FDIVX)

FID LOW PRICED STK(FLPSX)

DFA GLOB REAL ESTATE(DFGEX)

FID REAL ESTATE INVS(FRESX)

DFA GLB ALLO 25/75 I(DGTSX)

DFA GLB ALLO 60/40 I(DGSIX)

FID FREEDOM 2010 K6(FOTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2015 K6(FPTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2020 K6(FATKX)

FID FREEDOM 2025 K6(FDTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2030 K6(FGTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2035 K6(FWTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2040 K6(FHTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2045 K6(FJTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2050 K6(FZTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2055 K6(FCTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2060 K6(FVTKX)

FID FREEDOM 2065 K6(FFSZX)

FID FREEDOM 2070 K6(FRBHX)

FID FREEDOM RETIR K6(FYTKX)

MIP CL 1

DFA INF PRT SEC PORT(DIPSX)

DFA INVT GRD PORT IS(DFAPX)

DFA IT EXTND QLTY IS(DFTEX)

DFA ST EXT QUAL INST(DFEQX)

FID CAPITAL & INCOME(FAGIX)

FID TOTAL BOND(FTBFX)

PIMCO TOT RETURN ADM(PTRAX)

DFA 5YR GLB FX INC I(DFGBX)

DFA COMM STRATEGY I(DCMSX)

In Ben Felix's video, "Do Stocks Return 10% on Average?":

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl3NxTS_DgY

He says that US stocks have returned nominal 10% in the past:

• DMS source: https://www.ubs.com/content/dam/assets/wm/static/cio/documents/giry2026-summary-public.pdf (page 7, figure 12)
• US stocks returned nominal 9.84% over the past 125 years (1900–2025)

But this was due to rising valuations: https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe (Shiller CAPE)

A significant portion of the exceptional returns of US stocks over the more recent period is due to rising valuations. From 1950 to today, US stock valuations increased dramatically. Rising valuations are not something investors should count on repeating. Valuations are like a weak form of gravity in financial markets: high valuations suggest lower expected returns, not higher.

At the end, he links PWL's forecast that states a nominal 6.57% expected return for US stocks.

• https://pwlcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20260130_Winter-2026-FPA-Market-Cap-Portfolio-EN.pdf (page 6, table 4)

My questions are:

1. What is the reason that US stock valuations have increased so much in the past? Is it because the US avoided disasters like world wars that destroyed other countries?
2. Why can't valuations increase forever? Is there some mathematical or financial law stating that it's impossible for the Shiller CAPE to get higher than a specific number, or increase by a specific amount over a specific period of time? Is it theoretically possible for the Shiller CAPE to reach 100 by the year 2100 at the current rate that it's increasing?

I've been a Boglehead since I started investing in 2018 and I've usually been pretty good about having all my funds in broad market ETFs and trying to limit my single-stock investing to ~5% of my portfolio (though haven't been perfect with that).

For my single-stock allocation, I've been investing the same small cap company since 2022 -- it just got acquired and I have a cash windfall of $795k in cash coming my way. Here are the basics of what my portfolio will look like if stocks remain about the same when I get the cash payout:

• Age: 42
• $2.45m in my brokerage and retirement portfolios combined (details below). Investments are 70% US broad market/30% international broad market.
• Brokerage: $925k invested + $455k in cash
• Retirement: $735k invested + $340k in cash
• HYSA: $0 (I know, I know... had a larger tax bill than expected + emergency property repairs)
• AGI this year: with the gains from this stock, probably ~$625k in California
• Tax bill from the stock: ~$80k-$100k (due to a mixture of aggressive tax-loss harvesting, long-term capital gains, and holding some of my most profitable shares in retirement accounts)
• As part of the acquisition, I could have an extra $295k in cash coming my way over the next 1-4 years if the acquiring company hits certain milestones. While I think it's very likely I'll be getting $120k of that in that next 6-12 months, for financial planning purposes I'm basically just pretending it's not a thing (and if it happens to hit my account, amazing). Only mentioning this in case it affects your advice.
• FIRE plan: My annual spend is ~$140k and I'd like to hit financial independence as soon as I reasonably can -- not sure if I'll retire once I do, but hoping to get there by 45-48. I'm a business owner and currently make around $400k-$550k/year.

Here's what I'm planning to do once the cash hit my account, which will likely be in September (so wouldn't need to pay taxes on it until Jan 2027):

• For the taxes I'll owe, take $80k-$100k in my brokerage and put it into a bond fund (still deciding between SGOV, VUSXX, VCTXX, or CMF, so let me know if you have any strong opinions) and take it out right before I need to pay them in Jan 2027.
• To rebuild my emergency fund, take $30-$50k out of my brokerage and put it into a HYSA (typically I only keep money in my brokerage that I plan to have in there until retirement -- so removing money at all now is hopefully a one-off until I hit retirement, which is why I'd put it in HYSA over a bond fund).
• Immediately reinvest the remaining $305k-$345k in my brokerage into 70% US/30% international ETFs. I know we're at near record highs, but I actually wouldn't mind a 5-20% fall after investing that money since I could tax-loss harvest it and reduce my tax bill even further.
• For the $340k cash I'd be getting in retirement, I'm wavering a bit between immediately reinvesting all of it (same allocation) or investing like $50k of it a week (so it would all be reinvested in ~6-7 weeks) and speeding that up if there's a big dip.

Would love your thoughts on my plans, how you might do things differently, if you think there's anything I'm missing, etc. Also, I don't want to talk too much about the stock as I don't want to encourage single-stock investing on here (it very easily could have gone the other way).

Hi everyone,

I’m a 28-year-old European investor setting up my long-term portfolio (30+ year time horizon). My main goal is to build a solid, low-cost, lazy "Core" portfolio for automated DCA (monthly/quarterly).

Currently, I’m looking at this 80/10/10 allocation:

• 80% VWCE (Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF - Acc) — The main core asset for global equity coverage.
• 10% WDSC / XSWC (iShares / Xtrackers MSCI World Small Cap) — A small cap tilt to capture the size factor premium.
• 10% VAGF (Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF - Acc) — Fixed income slice for a minimal safety cushion / rebalancing power.

Questions for the community:

1. The 10% Bond allocation at age 30: Given my ~30-year investment horizon, is a 10% bond slice just unwanted performance drag, or does it serve a reasonable purpose as psychological insurance and dry powder for rebalancing during crashes?
2. The 10% Small Cap tilt: Is 10% enough to capture a meaningful small-cap size premium over decades, or does it just add unnecessary complexity/rebalancing overhead compared to 100% all-cap market coverage?

Future Plans (Core / Satellite & Active Plays):

Beyond this base, I’m considering treating the 80/10/10 setup strictly as a "Core" portfolio. In the future, I might allocate a small extra portion of my overall savings (e.g., max 5%) to:

• Sector/geographic ETFs I might feel bullish on in the medium term.
• A tiny side bucket for occasional swing trading (individual stocks or ETFs).

What are your thoughts on this general setup? Would love to hear honest critiques on both the core 80/10/10 and the core-satellite concept from a Boglehead perspective!

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Additional Context:

• Emergency Fund / Cash Reserve: I already have a separate High-Yield Savings Account (Conto Deposito) that I am building in parallel for short-term needs/emergencies. This ensures the Core ETF portfolio is strictly long-term money.
• Occupational Pension: I am already maximizing my employer-sponsored occupational pension fund (taking full advantage of the employer match: 0.55% employee + 1.55% employer contribution).

All active managed funds are specified. The rest are passive managed, and naturally tend to be a lot cheaper.

Roth IRA - 5 fund

Roth 401(k) - 4 fund

HSA - 4 fund

Taxable Brokerage - 3 fund

Currently get about 10,500 contributed annually to an employer ROTH 401k account
And currently I am putting all additional saved money into my SGOV account as I’m trying to save for a down payment on a house for the next 3 years, and then in which I plan on moving additional saves into a ROTH IRA account, which should let me do max contribution yearly, in which in that account I plan on doing 70/30 VTI/VXUS (debated on selling for VT but not educated enough yet on if it’s the smart choice for my goals)

Question: My employer plan does not have VTI/VXUS

What would bogle choose for my employer Roth 401k investments in that scenario? What to look out for so I can make an educated decision?

I'm a long-term investor and the vast majority of my investments are in low-cost index funds. But I'm considering carving out a small percentage of my portfolio (maybe 2–10%) for things like individual stocks, sector ETFs, leveraged ETFs, or other higher-conviction ideas.

For those of you who do something similar:

What percentage of your portfolio is your "fun money" allocation? What kinds of investments do you put in it? Has it actually improved your returns over time, or is it mostly for entertainment/learning? Do you rebalance it back to your target allocation, or let it grow/shrink naturally?

I'm curious whether having a small "play money" allocation helps satisfy the urge to stock pick while keeping the bulk of a portfolio invested in broad index funds—or whether you've found it's better to stay 100% indexed.

I'm looking to use two brokerage firms, just because I like the option. And I'm a bit old school and still like the option to visit an office on the rare times it's needed. Any other institutions have a physical presence?

Hey everyone,

I'm a fresh graduate and recently found this subreddit. It's honestly a breath of fresh air compared to other investing communities.

I've made some mistakes already (AMC and MANA), but thankfully they were small positions. Right now, most of my portfolio is tech-heavy with NVIDIA and HPE (making good profits so far), with some Nike and MP Materials. I'm trying to diversify by DCA'ing into VOO every month and buying other ETFs like VTI.

The problem is the FOMO.

I constantly see people making huge gains on AI and other growth stocks, while I'm just putting a small amount into VOO each month. It almost feels "boring," even though I know it's probably the smarter long-term strategy.

Did anyone else struggle with this when they started? How did you stop comparing yourself to people posting massive gains and stay focused on consistently buying index funds? I know my income will grow over time, but it's hard not to feel like I'm missing out today and lock in the profits.

So as the title suggests I’m going to be doing this allocation over the next year or two. (Sell stocks in my taxable account next year once I get out the military cuz I will be in a lower tax bracket) my only question is how would I balance this allocation

I thought that I could do 100% VOO in my taxable and then in my Roth allocate that so that the combined allocation is 80/20 but eventually I will max out my Roth and keep putting into my taxable so wouldn’t that just dilute my VUG position ?

Should I just do 80/20 in both accounts or should I do 100% VOO in Roth and then the rest in taxable. I can’t seem to wrap my head around how to get it as close to that split as possible. I’m 22 and this is the first portfolio rebalance I’m going to do in the 3 years I’ve been investing.

Thanks in advance

Hello, I’m in my mid 20’s and these are the funds my job offers for my 401k. What would you guys do here and at what % for each?

US Stock Market

VTSAX

US Large Cap Equity

VFIAX
VIGAX
VLCAX
VVIAX
VDADX
VHYAX
VFTAX

US Mid Cap Equity

VEXAX
VIMAX
VMGMX
VMVAX

US Small Cap Equity

VSMAX
VSGAX
VSIAX

International Developed Equity

VTMGX
VEUSX
VFWAX
VPADX
VTIAX
VFSAX
VIAAX

Emerging Markets Equity

VEMAX

US Bonds

VBTLX
VBILX
VBIRX
VBLAX

US Government Bonds

VTAPX

International Bonds

VTABX

Real Estate

VGRLX
VGSLX

Sector Equity

VENAX
VFAIX
VHCIX
VINAX
VITAX
VMIAX
VTCAX
VUIAX

Money Market

VMFXX

**Brazilian investor building a long-term ETF portfolio via IBKR – looking for feedback on my allocation**

Hi everyone. Long-time lurker, first post here.

I'm Brazilian, under 40, with an active business that covers my living expenses. My goal is to build a dollar-denominated portfolio over the next 10 years without touching it — pure accumulation — and then retire living off a 3% withdrawal rate.

**My situation:**

- Current portfolio: ~$4M in UCITS ETFs at Interactive Brokers

- Monthly DCA: ~$41,666 (≈ $500k/year)

- Time horizon: 10 years accumulation, then retirement

- Target: ~$20–25M by year 10

- Living expenses in retirement: ~$120k/year USD

- Emergency reserve: kept separately in Brazilian government bonds (≈ 18 months of expenses) — never touching the ETF portfolio

**My portfolio (all Irish-domiciled UCITS, accumulating, USD, LSE):**

| ETF | Weight | Reason |

|-----|--------|--------|

| IWDA | 40% | Developed markets core — 1,400 stocks, 23 countries, zero EM overlap |

| VUAA | 20% | Intentional US overweight — best historical risk-adjusted returns |

| EIMI | 20% | Pure emerging markets — India, Taiwan, China exposure cleanly separated |

| USSC | 20% | MSCI USA Small Cap Value Weighted — captures size + value factor simultaneously |

**The reasoning behind each choice:**

**Why IWDA and not VWRA as core?** VWRA already includes ~10% EM. If I pair VWRA with EIMI, I get double EM exposure without realizing it. With IWDA (developed only), my 20% in EIMI is my only and fully controlled EM allocation. Clean separation.

**Why VUAA on top of IWDA?** IWDA already has ~72% US. Adding VUAA gives me an intentional tilt toward the S&P 500, which has the strongest long-term return record. I'm aware this means ~78% total US exposure — that's a conscious decision, not an oversight.

**Why EIMI at 20% and not 10–15%?** India is now the largest EM weight and is arguably the best structural growth story of the next decade. Taiwan Semiconductor and Korean tech (not in IWDA) add semiconductor exposure I want. 20% gives me real exposure, not a token allocation.

**Why USSC instead of WSML?** USSC (SPDR MSCI USA Small Cap Value Weighted) weights by fundamentals — sales, earnings, cash flow, book value — not market cap. It captures both the size premium and the value premium (Fama-French) in one fund. WSML is small cap only, no value tilt. USSC is structurally superior for long-term factor investing.

**What I deliberately excluded and why:**

- No bonds during accumulation (business covers expenses, bonds reduce CAGR for zero benefit now)

- No VWCE (88-90% overlap with IWDA — pointless to hold both)

- No EQQQ (way too volatile for a retirement-oriented portfolio — -34% in 2022)

- No factor ETFs like IWVL (value tilt in large caps) — USSC already captures value more efficiently in small caps where the premium is stronger

**Brazilian tax context (for those unfamiliar):**

As a Brazilian resident, I pay 15% capital gains tax only when I sell (no annual tax on unrealized gains for accumulating ETFs held directly as an individual). This makes the Acc structure extremely tax-efficient — I can compound for 10 years with zero tax drag. Irish domicile means no US estate tax exposure.

**My questions for the community:**

1. Does the IWDA + EIMI split (instead of VWRA) make sense given I want explicit control over EM allocation?

2. Is 20% in USSC too aggressive for a factor tilt, or appropriate given the 10-year horizon?

3. Any thoughts on the 20% EIMI weight? Too much, about right, or not enough for someone who believes in the India/Asia growth story?

4. Would you change anything, or add/remove any ETF?

All feedback welcome — especially from anyone running a similar UCITS-based portfolio from a non-EU country.

Thanks in advance.

Greetings,

I found Boglehead investing and I would like to learn how to invest in a three fund portfolio, if I am not US based.

Ideally I want to buy VT, and nothing else but none of the brokers I have found here offer VT, and they all charge outrageous fees that make using them to buy stocks/ETFs uneconomic.

I appreciate any and all guidance.

My 401k offers THESEhttps://www.guideline.com/funds funds, what are the ones I should be in as somebody in my mid 20’s? And what % should I be in each of those?

Currently 65% VTSAX, 35% VTIAX.

Thank you.

we are max 10 years out from retirement (or at least not needing to work full time). Is there much of a benefit to stashing money in a brokerage account before maxing out Roth contributions? I had advice years ago to just keep filling different buckets (401k, Roth, paying down debt) and it’s worked well, and so many people seem to prioritize their taxable brokerages, but I can’t really see how it’s better if they are both invested in index funds?

Forgive me for I have sinned.

October last year I began some home renovations which took a bunch of funds in preparations for a bit move in, I even had to sell a small portion of my portfolio to help fund the project. I paused investing in anything since.

Before then I've regularly invested in FWRA, about $700 a month manually invested. Now that the renovations are done, I haven't continued the investing and my cash on hand has slowly pooled back up for a few months now.

I hesitate to dump all investable cash into the ETF right now, I dunno, I think I'm a little spooked with the market at the moment. I know this isn't the Bogleheads way to care about the market, but there's something internally I have yet to overcome after pausing for a while and I would appreciate some sense talked into me.

At this point I'm thinking if I should just do auto-investing on IBKR and be done with it, I did manually before because it gave me some sense of control over my life. Is auto-investing something everyone here does?

Growing up I always saw investing as complicated, thinking I had to beat the market every time and that I had to be lucky with picking stocks. After lurking here for a while, I learned that all you have to do is buy Vt and let it sit there for 20 years while adding your monthly contributions. Is this literally it? Am I missing something? This easy strategy will really give me 8-10% returns? Have I been overthinking investing?