Long Term Investing & Retirement: The second best time is now

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Long Term Investing & Retirement: The second best time is now

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

I'm 25 and beginning my retirement savings. I'll be putting in 8% per year for company match and would like to invest very aggressively. I thought it would be wise for me to consult a higher power for advise (this thread). I have about 18 investment options to choose from and would like to select 2-6 of them to invest in. Hopefully someone is more familiar with these funds than I am. Long list of investments incoming!

Mutual funds are listed with their Total Expense ratio.

Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth 1.25
Vanguard LifeStrategy Mod Gro 1.24
Vanguard LifeStrategy Cons Gro 1.24
Advantus Money Market 1.22
Vanguard Interm Bond Idx Sig 1.16
Ivy Real Estate Sec Fund CI Y 1.96
Advantus S&P 500/Citigroup Val 1.18
Invesco Van Kampen Comstock, A 1.54
Advantus S&P 500 Index 1.12
Victory Inst'l Diversified Stk 1.61
Advantus S&P 500/Citigroup Gro 1.18
Turner Large Cap Growth 1.51
Columbia Mid Cap Value Opp, Z 1.81
Disciplined Gro Mid Cap Gro 1.67
Wells Fargo Adv Intrin SCV, I 1.95
DFA U.S. Small Cap Portfolio 1.42
Alger Small Cap Growth, I-2 1.90
GMO Intl Core Equity, CI III 1.40

Which ones are the winners?

FlyWhiteBoy fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Dec 26, 2011

# ¿ Dec 25, 2011 18:15

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 16:38

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

moana posted:

The ones with low expense ratios that will allow you to meet your asset allocation goals. Post those and then we can help.

I've edited my post to include the Total Expense. I hope this is the information we need?

# ¿ Dec 26, 2011 00:06

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

I finally have enough saved to create and max out my Roth IRA. I'd like to open a Vanguard account. Can I just open the account and transfer the money from my bank account or do I setup some payment to come from my pay check? I've already been taxed on this money so I'm kind of confused where the tax savings comes from. Someone please set me straight

# ¿ Aug 18, 2012 01:36

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

Daeus posted:

You cannot contribute to any 401k other than your current one. I'm not sure if that is what you meant by manual vs automatic. Unless your current 401k is in company stock, the future of the company is no risk to the investments held in your 401k. You basically have two choices to make:

1) Contribute to your current 401k or don't - General consensus is the tax advantage of 401ks outweigh crappy fund options when compared to non tax advantaged accounts. Thus if you have maxxed out your IRA, 401k is the next best bet. Even if it's really crappy, you can roll it over when you leave.
2) Rollover or keep your old 401ks. You have three options, keep the old ones in their own accounts, roll them over into your new 401k, or roll the over into an IRA. You have to weigh the fees and investments available in each account to determine the best one. However in general the best option is typically rolling over into an IRA because you can pick a low cost provider with good options (e.g. Fidelity or Vanguard).

Does rolling over a 401k into a Roth IRA contribute to the $5k/year limit?

# ¿ Nov 1, 2012 23:08

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

Any federal employees can recommend what fund to be in for the TSP? I was thinking of putting it all in a target retirement year fund. Thoughts?

# ¿ Nov 15, 2013 01:10

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

flowinprose posted:

Is that going to be the only investment vehicle you have? If you have outside investments (even other retirement accounts, such as a Roth), then it might be beneficial to consider going heavy into the G-fund to replace bond holdings elsewhere and then rebalance everything else accordingly. The G-Fund is an incredibly good thing to have access to in that it functions like a medium-term government bond fund but can never lose value (like a money market fund with a much higher-than-market interest rate).

The rest of my investments are in a vanguard target retirement fund. I'll have to look into the G-fund a little more, seems interesting.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2013 02:33

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

I've done all the typical things recommend in this thread. Maxed Roth and 401k and I'm finding I have about $12k more in my emergency fund than I need. What should I do with it? I'm not yet a home owner so I don't really want to lock the money away. But at the same time I'd like to be more aggressive than bonds. Should I consider open a taxable account with Vanguard? I'd probably throw it in a far away target retirement date fund. But what would be the implications if I were to withdraw any or all of the balance?

# ¿ Jul 3, 2014 15:00

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

Thesaurus posted:

I have a question specific to investment options for US federal jobs, if anyone has experience with that. (I asked in the Federal Jobs thread, but there are lots of knowledgeable people here!)

The government has a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). I understand that it's the government's version of a 401k. However, I was unaware of the different funds that they use, for example the exclusive G Fund.

Do you have any advice or sources of info on this realm of investments (i.e., the relative advantages/disadvantages), since this is a bit different than the usual retirement options? My previous investing was index funds.

I understand the the G fund is composed of government securities and guaranteed not to lose value, which is pretty cool. However, it's rate of return looks pretty modest.

C Fund is basically an index fund? S and I funds are variants of that?

Be lazy like me and put it in the target year fund.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2014 03:33

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 16:38

FlyWhiteBoy: Jul 13, 2004

Where does a flexible spending account fit into retirement savings? I think I've read good things about maxing HSA's but I'm not sure what the difference is with FSA.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2014 20:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Long Term Investing & Retirement: The second best time is now