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razz posted:How important is it to start saving for retirement early when one partner is a lot younger (~13 years) and so will probably be working full-time at least that far into the other person's retirement? The sooner you start saving, the more time your money has to compound in interest. This is exponential growth we're talking about here; you want as much of that as you can get. Who can say you'll necessarily both be around and together 3 years from now, let alone 13 or 43? Why take the risk?
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May 9, 2009 04:58
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I know! It's a very early-stage relationship. I was just curious as to what other people in similar situations might think. I won't have a permanent job for at least (very, very very least) a year. I plan on taking temp jobs and traveling around the US and possibly other countries for minimal pay so I'm wondering if this will really be terrible 10 or 20 or 30 years down the road, when I am a little behind on my retirement savings. I was just thinking that it wouldn't be so bad since I will be working for a lot longer than my boyfriend after he retires (TOTAL FUTURE PROBABLE PLANS I KNOW!) But either way, it's not possible for me to start saving for probably a few years as I travel.
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May 9, 2009 06:26
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Looking to increase the relative aggression in my Roth, looking for opinions on: AGTHX ANEFX NEWFX SMCWX
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May 12, 2009 01:28
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El Kabong posted:I was lucky enough (so far) to buy into VTI when it was around $39, and now that it's up to $45 or so I'm wondering if I should be taking those gains (or more?) out and putting it into something a little less volatile as this seems like absurd growth for what was a originally a long-term investment. Any advice? I kinda got skipped over last page and I hope it wasn't because there is no good answer 
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May 12, 2009 06:16
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El Kabong posted:Any advice? I kinda got skipped over last page and I hope it wasn't because there is no good answer I'm fairly new at this, but I will share a few ways I've looked at this to give you some food for thought until someone more expert posts: 1: Look at how long you have had the stock and establish a %return per year/%return per month. Remember to include transaction costs of selling/taxes, if significant. If this is below the %return you need (A retirement calculator can you help you determine this.), don't sell. If it is above the %return you are looking for in general, sell, and reinvest into other things. 2: Sell half. That way, even if it goes down to 33$, you've only lost transaction costs. If it goes up, you still have a chance to get more profits. 3: Use the exact same metric you used to establish whether or not you would buy VTI on VTI again. Would you be willing to buy more at this price, or does it seem too high now?
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May 12, 2009 13:57
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mcsuede posted:Looking to increase the relative aggression in my Roth, looking for opinions on: PRLAX RYVFX FLVCX JORNX edit: FICDX abagofcheetos fucked around with this message at 22:51 on May 12, 2009 |
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May 12, 2009 14:50
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El Kabong posted:Any advice? I kinda got skipped over last page and I hope it wasn't because there is no good answer My advice to you is to head over to the trading thread, this thread is for long term investing.
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May 12, 2009 17:36
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Don Wrigley posted:My advice to you is to head over to the trading thread, this thread is for long term investing. I take it your implying that the longterm investor stays in no matter how outrageous his short-term gains seem to be?
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May 12, 2009 18:11
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Your per share price gains don't seem that outrageous to me considering the entire market dropped about 40 percent last year.
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May 12, 2009 19:15
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El Kabong posted:Any advice? I kinda got skipped over last page and I hope it wasn't because there is no good answer It depends on whether the money is in an IRA or a taxable account as well as your individual investment strategy. For me personally I have a desired asset allocation (x% bonds, y% domestic stocks, z% international stocks), and I rebalance if they are more than a few percent out of kilter with one another. I have a mix of IRA and taxable assets, but am only actively contributing to my IRAs, so I do my best to do this rebalancing entirely inside of my IRAs so I do not generate additional tax implications. I do this about once a month. You will need to consider transaction fees on either side of your sale in addition to tax (if appropriate) to determine if selling is practicable. If your account balance is not very high then you could eat up a lot of your gains just through these transaction fees. I do not personally hold ETFs in my portfolio, but I understand that they are only more efficient than a traditional mutual fund in the case that you have free trades or that you trade very infrequently. Timing the market is very risky since it could just as easily go up as down. The best we can do is try to maintain our desired asset allocation and hope for the best over the long haul.
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May 12, 2009 22:07
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var1ety posted:Timing the market is very risky since it could just as easily go up as down. The best we can do is try to maintain our desired asset allocation and hope for the best over the long haul. Thanks, I guess that was what I was looking for. I don't have any special expertise in this field and based on my limited knowledge the ~15% gains, in roughly 2-3 months, seemed out of whack with normative results for a long-term investment. I'll just let it sit.
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May 13, 2009 01:19
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abagofcheetos posted:FAIRX Using AmericanFunds for a brokerage in this particular case so even though I like your suggestions of RYVFX or JORNX and may go into them in another one of my brokerage retirement accounts, really looking for advice on the AmerFunds options. Edit: Though I suppose I could be convinced to move out of AmerFunds entirely, I also trade with Schwab & Tradeking--AmerFunds simply had better autoinvesting. mcsuede fucked around with this message at 02:05 on May 13, 2009 |
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May 13, 2009 02:02
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El Kabong posted:I take it your implying that the longterm investor stays in no matter how outrageous his short-term gains seem to be? I'm saying a long term investor picks an allocation and sticks to it. If that huge jump made your allocation out of whack, then you sell enough to rebalance, though I wouldn't recommend rebalancing on a daily/monthly basis, even inside the confines of an IRA.
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May 13, 2009 02:13
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If I skipped this, please forgive me... didn't see it on the first page or two, or this last one. I used the bankrate calculator listed in the OP; I wasn't sure what to put for an expected rate of return, since I've only been putting money in for a few years I'm not sure what to plan for. Second, I'm not sure how much I need. At my current investment rate, if I receive a 5% rate of return and retire when I'm 65, my wife and I will only have 600k. If that rate is 10%, that jumps up to 2.4 million. How much should I plan on needing?
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May 13, 2009 02:16
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mcsuede posted:Using AmericanFunds for a brokerage in this particular case so even though I like your suggestions of RYVFX or JORNX and may go into them in another one of my brokerage retirement accounts, really looking for advice on the AmerFunds options.
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May 13, 2009 02:32
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abagofcheetos posted:You were willing to pay 5.75% just because they had better autoinvesting? I was probably too flippant with that post--I don't pay near the full starter 5.75% load, combine that with the low $10 annual fee, lowish expense ratios, low buying minimums and good performance in bear/volatile markets and I'm comfortable enough compared to my other options. I'll probably be making a move away from them at some point but the timing isn't right for me now (and if you're really curious I didn't originate the account). Any further explanation would require way more words than I feel like typing which is why I kept the original question to: which of these Funds in a list do you like the most? 
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May 13, 2009 05:43
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Anyone mind helping me out on my 401k? A couple months ago we moved from really lovely Legg Mason funds to a bunch of other funds that may or may not be lovely. The guys who handle the funds came in, and did a whole meeting thing with the employees, and they gave these sheets out with 3 groups of funds - Conservative, Moderate and Growth. I'm 29, so I've got awhile to go, and decided on something between moderate and growth, so he moved some percentages around. All of my money got moved into those 8 funds. Looking through them, they're all pretty standard 1.5-2% ERs and whatnot, but one of them has a 5.5% front load, which I don't like. But I really don't know what to get to replace it. The ticker symbol is PCRAX (PIMCO Commodity Real Ret Strat A). Any suggestions on what I should look for? If anyone's really interested, I can give you the full list of funds we have available, and what I've got now. But I guess just a quick rundown of what to look for that's comparable? I dunno. I have no idea what I'm doing.
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May 14, 2009 16:23
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Panthrax posted:Anyone mind helping me out on my 401k? A couple months ago we moved from really lovely Legg Mason funds to a bunch of other funds that may or may not be lovely. The guys who handle the funds came in, and did a whole meeting thing with the employees, and they gave these sheets out with 3 groups of funds - Conservative, Moderate and Growth. I'm 29, so I've got awhile to go, and decided on something between moderate and growth, so he moved some percentages around. All of my money got moved into those 8 funds. Looking through them, they're all pretty standard 1.5-2% ERs and whatnot, but one of them has a 5.5% front load, which I don't like. But I really don't know what to get to replace it. 1.5 to 2 percent expense ratios are high. You can post a full list of funds if you want recommendations, but you'll also want to do some basic investment reading to see what you are looking for. Everyone invests differently according to their needs.
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May 14, 2009 16:47
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Often funds with front loads have them waived for 401k plans. For instance, I have CVGRX in my 401k plan, which should have a 4.75% load, but I do not have to pay it to invest in the fund. Look into it.
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May 14, 2009 18:56
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Thanks for the replies, I'll check with the fund people when I get a chance about the load question. As far as reading up, what do you suggest? I've done some poking around Google, but I haven't gotten very far. Risk-wise, I think I'm moderate-high risk tolerant. I'm 29, the money's going to sit there for 40 years, I'm not too worried about it. This is what I currently have. (15%, 15%, 5%, 10%, 25%, 10%, 5%, 15%, top to bottom in that order) Available Bonds Available Equities - ONE TWO THREE Any advice? Panthrax fucked around with this message at 05:50 on May 15, 2009 |
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May 15, 2009 05:07
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I'm looking for a retirement calculator that will help me checkpoint my goals. There are plenty of calculators that will project a balance at retirement, given current balance and contributions, but I want something that sheds a bit of light on the intermediate years. I'd like to get a sense of where I should be at 30, 35, 40, etc., just to play around with the numbers. Does anyone know of a calculator like this?
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May 19, 2009 18:13
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Can anyone look at my question earlier on this page, as well? I might've been skipped... I'm just trying to find out how much I need. I know what it says I'll be at, but I don't know if there's a % of my normal current expenses to plan on, etc. Also, what rate of return should I work with on these calculators?
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May 19, 2009 18:22
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8% has always been the estimated rate of return I've heard. The amount of money you need when you retire depends on when you plan to retire (number of years you'll need the money) and how much you plan to spend per year, adjusted for inflation.
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May 19, 2009 18:29
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Is there a site that helps me figure THAT part out? Stupid newbie at all of this, and I'd rather make sure I'm right.
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May 19, 2009 19:41
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Is anyone familiar with cross-border issues? Specifically, I'd like to know what investment vehicles here in the US are most appropriate for a couple who plan to split their working life and retirement between the US and Canada, keeping residency in one or the other at different times (most likely retiring in Canada but spending winters in the States). Thinking about this poo poo gives me an ulcer.
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Jun 10, 2009 15:54
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I have the option of a Roth 401k through my employer. I know I need to decide if my tax rate will be higher now or in retirement. With the increasing American national debt, I am worried that the US tax rates are going to increase significantly in the next thirty years. 5% to 10% is the number my gut is telling me, but I certainly haven't done any research. Does anyone have any opinions on increases in US taxes in the next 30-35 years?
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Jun 11, 2009 05:24
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Not a lot of data here either, but income tax rates are at pretty low, historically speaking. I can't honestly imagine taxes ever being lower than they are now, which made the Roth 401(k) a no-brainer for me. EDIT: Also consider any gains are also post-tax already, which makes a huge deal in the long run. Sure you may pay 25% on your $100k of lifetime investments, but the million you end up with is all free and clear. With a traditional 401(k), that $100k is all pre-tax dollars, so you end up paying 25% of that hypothetical million instead. $25k paid in taxes vs. $250k, in my completely arbitrary and made up example! Kobayashi fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Jun 11, 2009 |
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Jun 11, 2009 07:28
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Kobayashi posted:I'm looking for a retirement calculator that will help me checkpoint my goals. There are plenty of calculators that will project a balance at retirement, given current balance and contributions, but I want something that sheds a bit of light on the intermediate years. I'd like to get a sense of where I should be at 30, 35, 40, etc., just to play around with the numbers. Does anyone know of a calculator like this? Just use shorter timelines in the retirement calculators... i.e. put in your expected rate of return and your rate of investment and see where it will be 10 years from now.
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Jun 11, 2009 08:11
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greasyhands posted:Just use shorter timelines in the retirement calculators... i.e. put in your expected rate of return and your rate of investment and see where it will be 10 years from now. Ahh, I knew I posted this question somewhere, but I couldn't find it. I put together a very rough estimate in Excel to get a sense of how things might behave under ideal circumstances. Very simply, I take the balance at the beginning of the year, increase the amount by the average expected return (7% in this case), and then add the gains due to contributions:  What I'd like to do now is also put in a field for rate of inflation, so I can see what these numbers might look like in terms of real dollars. So far the most interesting thing I found from this little experiment is that gains from returns start to matter more than contributions after about 10 years of maximum contributions. My situation is a bit different than the sheet I posted, but I thought it best to start from scratch. Do those numbers look generally OK? E: I know the columns are somewhat screwy, but again, I did this in a few minutes just to get a sense of things. I like numbers, so I think I'll try again with a clearer layout. Kobayashi fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Jun 11, 2009 |
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Jun 11, 2009 15:39
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http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0906/gallery.fortune_40.fortune/index.html Thought this article was worth a read over for those who like individual stocks in their retirement shelters, so I'm posting it here. </obvious>
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Jun 11, 2009 23:56
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Hey guys, I'd like some opinions on my distributions. When I first started making contributions 4 years ago I didn't really have a clue and just picked some funds. I have since started learning and tried to make some smarter choices. I'd really like your opinions and suggestions for improvement. I'm in my mid 20s so I still have some ways to go until retirement. I use Fidelity since my company has their system set up with them. FBGRX - 15% FDGFX - 12% FIGRX - 11% FLVCX - 9% FICDX - 7% FSMGX - 6% FDCPX - 5% FSENX - 5% FSDAX - 5% FDSCX - 5% FLATX - 4% FPBFX - 4% FNORX - 3% FCNTX - 1% FRESX - 1%
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Jun 12, 2009 00:55
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Father Boddingtons posted:Lots of Funds Ok, so I'm in the basically the same situation as you. I haven't invested in nearly as many funds, however. My question is once you quit a company and rollover you 401(k) to a IRA, do you rollover the actual mutual funds in the 401(k) or is everything cashed out and you just get a lump-sum cash payment in your IRA. If it's the former, you could pay a lot in trading fees if you want to get out of the Fidelity funds, especially since you are so diversified. Personally, I plan on selling out of the Fidelity funds once I rollover. I want to find some funds with lower expenses. But hey, I'm no expert on this stuff, so I could be totally wrong.
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Jun 12, 2009 07:53
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What do you guys think about real estate securities? Looks to me like a good long term buy right now.
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Jun 12, 2009 08:43
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Father Boddingtons posted:Hey guys, I'd like some opinions on my distributions. When I first started making contributions 4 years ago I didn't really have a clue and just picked some funds. I have since started learning and tried to make some smarter choices. I'd really like your opinions and suggestions for improvement. I'm in my mid 20s so I still have some ways to go until retirement. I use Fidelity since my company has their system set up with them. I don't have the foggiest what all those funds represent, but my guess is that you could reduce your portfolio to 4 or less without any noticeable difference in return
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Jun 12, 2009 15:47
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The Noble Nobbler posted:I don't have the foggiest what all those funds represent, but my guess is that you could reduce your portfolio to 4 or less without any noticeable difference in return Or a targeted retirement fund, I would imagine. Those are generally just risk balanced amalgamations of all the funds that provider has available, more or less, which seems to be what Boddingtons has going on. Decent chance you'd pay less fees too.
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Jun 14, 2009 06:13
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Thanks for the feedback guys!
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Jun 14, 2009 16:58
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I have a bunch of money sitting in my fidelity cash reserves right now. When do I throw it into mutual funds? I see the market is down substantially today and although I won't need to retire anytime soon, I'd rather not loose a large chunk of my principle by jumping on the rollercoaster when it seems there might be a lot more ups and downs coming soon. I know this is a ridiculously open-ended question and no one can predict the future but I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.
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Jun 15, 2009 19:09
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filo posted:I have a bunch of money sitting in my fidelity cash reserves right now. When do I throw it into mutual funds? I see the market is down substantially today and although I won't need to retire anytime soon, I'd rather not loose a large chunk of my principle by jumping on the rollercoaster when it seems there might be a lot more ups and downs coming soon. I know this is a ridiculously open-ended question and no one can predict the future but I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. There are ALWAYS more ups and downs coming soon, that's the risk portion of equity investment. If you're not interested in volatile investments, consider bonds.
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Jun 15, 2009 19:54
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filo posted:I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. I recommend only buying securities with a single letter, like QQQQ or AA, or maybe try C for a while.
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Jun 15, 2009 21:05
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Unormal posted:There are ALWAYS more ups and downs coming soon, that's the risk portion of equity investment. If you're not interested in volatile investments, consider bonds. And not the volatile bonds, either.
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Jun 16, 2009 01:46
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