Once you know the available investing options, please post them.
@columbia
Not sure if this is what you are looking for. It's the best I could do to get it into the thread.
Damn spoilers! All this time I though you did not post your funds. Here is what *I* (and only I - so this is absolutely NO INVESTMENT ADVICE) would do:
Say, I am thinking about retiring in 2050. Fidelity typically offers very cheap retirement options, and their target date fund for 2050 costs 0.75% (check the Exp Ratio):
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /315792416
Not bad for a peace of mind. But, you can actually get the distribution of what they invest into:
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /315792416
There are way too many funds, but, basically, it looks like:
US Equity: 66%
International Equity: 28% (20% developed, 8% emerging)
Bonds: 5%
Money Market (cash, basically): 1%
Now, the cheapest funds (definitely for Fidelity, but pretty much generally) are called SPARTAN. So, I would simplify the very long list of funds in Fidelity 2050 into a short list mainly based on those Spartan funds:
So:
US Equity (66% of my retirement contribution) would go to Spartan Total Equity:
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /315911800
which costs 0.05%
International equity:
20% would go to Spartan International:
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /315911875
which costs 0.12%
8% would go to ??? (I don't see any Emerging Markets equity fund on your list. So, if there is any - preferably to the one managed by Fidelity. If not, I'd put the whole 28% in Spartan International)
Bonds:
5% would go to Spartan US Bonds:
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutua ... /316146372
which costs 0.07%
Cash:
1% would go to - well, who cares. You must have some default money market fund among your options. At this point, I'd simply add the 1% to the Bonds
Ultimately, the my retirement fund would be reasonably close to Fidelity 2050, but I'd pay only fees of:
0.66*0.05 + 0.28*0.12 +0.06*0.07 =0.078%
So, that's a saving of 0.75-0.078 = 0.672% over Fidelity 2050. Now, how important are such savings? Say, you invest $1,000 over 30 years in an account that yields 8% p.a., but takes 0.75% in fees. So, you will have the actual appreciation of 8%-0.75% = 7.25% every year. Over 30 years, your investment will grow to:
1,000*(1+0.0725)^30 = $8,164.30
If, instead, you paid fees of only 0.078%, then your appreciation would be 8%-0.078% = 7.922% every year. Over 30 years, your investment will grow to:
1,000*(1+0.07922)^30 = $9,846.90
Quite a difference...