Fifth Avenue Forum

And these people need the COVID vaccine ahead of teachers...lol

Dang, wish I had my old bitcoin wallet. It’s going to the moon! Hey

Just for fun, my short presentation on benefits of networking in finance/business:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/ur ... 229999616/

Nice

Somewhat interesting research (I think) I have worked on lately:

https://arkansasresearch.uark.edu/ceos- ... ck-trades/

That makes sense...especially in an increasingly retail trader marketplace...

2020 was a **** all around, yet it looks like my retirement accounts are all going to finish between with returns of 16-18% overall. Makes no god damn sense, especially when you look at the March timeframe.

That's why I refer to the stock market as fantasy football. Sure, it's loosely based on real companies and stuff that actually happens in the real world, but only vaguely and indirectly.

I am looking at moving some of my 401k which is currently all in a Target 2050 fund to a 50/50 split (or somewhere about) of the Target fund and another fund - the one I've eyed up is Vanguard Institutional Extended Market Index fund.

I did some comparisons and the returns look much better - assuming because the latter has a higher profile of stock to bond, right?

How else can I evaluate these plans?

My New Year's resolution is to become more well versed in investing.

I am looking at moving some of my 401k which is currently all in a Target 2050 fund to a 50/50 split (or somewhere about) of the Target fund and another fund - the one I've eyed up is Vanguard Institutional Extended Market Index fund.

I did some comparisons and the returns look much better - assuming because the latter has a higher profile of stock to bond, right?

How else can I evaluate these plans?

My New Year's resolution is to become more well versed in investing.

IMO, I would not do this unless you're comfortable keeping track of your overall asset allocation and making adjustments accordingly. With a Target fund, you're either all in or out. Just my personal opinion, and maybe I change that if you change your view from 50/50 to something much more heavily weighted towards the target fund, where you're basically trying to supplement mid-cap.

Bogleheads.org is a great resource, IMO, especially if you're just getting started.

So I guess I'm up for whatever - 90/10 etc etc. I just felt like the Target fund is doing good for me but I can do better.

The UI on that website is.. well there isn't one

I am looking at moving some of my 401k which is currently all in a Target 2050 fund to a 50/50 split (or somewhere about) of the Target fund and another fund - the one I've eyed up is Vanguard Institutional Extended Market Index fund.

I did some comparisons and the returns look much better - assuming because the latter has a higher profile of stock to bond, right?

How else can I evaluate these plans?

My New Year's resolution is to become more well versed in investing.

There is probably very little bond exposure in 2050 fund. no more than 15%.

Target funds are usually just a fund of funds (i.e., a fund that uses your money to invest in other funds). I think the fees are marginally higher in a target date fund than just investing in the individual funds that I preferred. An easy step forward would be to look at the target date fund, see what funds it owns, and do a little research and see what fits your needs.

I'll add that you'll want to establish a few things before you make any changes, like how comfortable you are with market fluctuation which will help you figure out your overall asset allocation, and how far away you are from retirement. And with those target funds, don't just pick the year you want, pick the asset allocation that you're targeting. Target funds have higher fees, too, so it's worth seeing if you can approximate that fund with individual funds. Could save you a lot of money over time. VG's target funds also have a large amount of international stocks and bonds now, and not everyone wants that.

My wife contributes to a target fund, and everything else goes into other index funds. My 403b is approximating a 3-fund portfolio (refer back to Bogleheads), and I treat each account as a segment of the overall account.

You guys have discouraged me from doing anything.

So this is why I get discouraged:

"what are your needs"
I want to retire and have a decent amount of money. Doesn't everyone? What difference do you have versus what I have?

"How much risk are you willing to take"
you all always say "long term the worst performing stock still makes 10%" so is that my benchmark?

And that website looks like it was designed by an 8th grader completing a "website design basics" project.

Sorry if I'm sounding sour I really do appreciate the help. I just don't understand how I cannot grasp this stuff.

93 c What's your favorite reasonably priced gin? 09/25 heartwood 13:32 flyninjasquirre
29 c Gaming Console for 12 yo 10:45 serbeer 13:32 decapod10

Bogleheads' website is definitely old school, almost like Wikipedia, but honestly, it's a terrific resource.

You guys have discouraged me from doing anything.

So this is why I get discouraged:

"what are your needs"
I want to retire and have a decent amount of money. Doesn't everyone? What difference do you have versus what I have?

"How much risk are you willing to take"
you all always say "long term the worst performing stock still makes 10%" so is that my benchmark?

And that website looks like it was designed by an 8th grader completing a "website design basics" project.

Sorry if I'm sounding sour I really do appreciate the help. I just don't understand how I cannot grasp this stuff.

#maction my man, you just stated that your new year's resolution was to be more financially literate. answering those two questions might be good start.

Second on the bogleheads.

I took my investment into my own hands about 4 years ago and I don't regret it. I was in target funds at the time (far enough out that it was 10% bonds at most), but then I started to get myself involved.

I'm a firm believer in 100% stocks and using mutual funds. Maybe in 20 years when I'm 55, I'll consider a shift to some bonds. YMMV and it's all what you want to risk. 100% stocks are going to swing wild, but this is a marathon.

I split my mutual funds between 4 funds (large cap, medium cap, small cap, and international (or if international offers suck I pick something else) If one fund starts to get way out in front, I pull it back and reallocate. Vanguard doesn't allow automatic reallocation, but where I have my 401k it does and I do it at each year's end. This gives me good diversification because if I do 3 different kinds of large cap, I'm just rearranging chairs.

Look at the return history for the funds you are considering. I want something with a long, good track record. I don't even consider something 10 years or less existing. If return since inception spans 15+ years and has a larger than 10% return, it moves to my short list of possible targets. I'd have to look but I think 3 of my funds I use have been around since the 90s with a lifetime return of 11-12%+. The S&P historically hangs around 10% over a 30 year span so if you aren't beating that, at least get into a S&P 500 fund.

@Tomas please correct my numbers if I'm off. Don't want to mislead.

You didn't even have to mention Tomas. Once you said "100% stocks", he got a feeling that he was needed in this thread.

You didn't even have to mention Tomas. Once you said "100% stocks", he got a feeling that he was needed in this thread.

And if I'm being honest, the only reason I'm not 100% equities is because it's a mental thing. Our AA is approximately 88/12, and a) that gives me a small sense of safety, even if it's probably false, and b) I don't have to field questions from my wife about why our portfolio is 'so risky'.

You guys have discouraged me from doing anything.

So this is why I get discouraged:

"what are your needs"
I want to retire and have a decent amount of money. Doesn't everyone? What difference do you have versus what I have?

"How much risk are you willing to take"
you all always say "long term the worst performing stock still makes 10%" so is that my benchmark?

And that website looks like it was designed by an 8th grader completing a "website design basics" project.

Sorry if I'm sounding sour I really do appreciate the help. I just don't understand how I cannot grasp this stuff.

#maction my man, you just stated that your new year's resolution was to be more financially literate. answering those two questions might be good start.

Im asking for help in figuring that out. Like how do I judge what kind of risk I want to take? I dont want to take any risk! Great. Get a savings account. It's somewhere between "I want a decent return and don't want to lose it all" but I don't know how to quantify that.

You guys have discouraged me from doing anything.

So this is why I get discouraged:

"what are your needs"
I want to retire and have a decent amount of money. Doesn't everyone? What difference do you have versus what I have?

"How much risk are you willing to take"
you all always say "long term the worst performing stock still makes 10%" so is that my benchmark?

And that website looks like it was designed by an 8th grader completing a "website design basics" project.

Sorry if I'm sounding sour I really do appreciate the help. I just don't understand how I cannot grasp this stuff.

#maction my man, you just stated that your new year's resolution was to be more financially literate. answering those two questions might be good start.

Im asking for help in figuring that out. Like how do I judge what kind of risk I want to take? I dont want to take any risk! Great. Get a savings account. It's somewhere between "I want a decent return and don't want to lose it all" but I don't know how to quantify that.

I swear I recall a site that had a tool where you could simulate stock market crashes and such to see what kind of volatility you'd be comfortable with. That may be worth checking out so that you could visually what you would lose in certain scenarios. Let me see if I can find it.

Here you go: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/

The Monte Carlo simulation is probably what you want.