(Disclaimer: I hold 100% VTSAX in my Roth IRA and taxable brokerage account and have been passive index investing since I was 18)

For one of my college finance projects, we're using StockTrak, where we were given $1 million in fake money to invest while meeting certain trading requirements. We're about two months into the project, and despite all the time I've put into it, I'm sitting just slightly below the S&P 500's return. I've been spending several hours a day reading financial statements, calculating intrinsic values, researching companies, keeping up with financial news, looking for undervalued stocks, and even trying day trading. All that work just to make nearly the same return as buying an index fund and doing nothing.

Obviously, two months isn't enough time to prove I can't beat the market, but it's been a pretty humbling experience. I could've just put the entire $1 million into an S&P 500 index fund on day one (not allowed in the project) and spent the next two months doing literally anything else. Instead, I've spent countless hours analyzing companies, second-guessing my decisions, and stressing over market movements, all for a nearly identical result. And that's without even considering taxes, trading costs, or the possibility that my strategy could underperform by a much larger margin over time.

The funny thing is that studying finance hasn't turned me into some incredibly successful investor making huge returns (like I maybe hoped). If anything, it's made me realize just how difficult it is to consistently outperform the market, even when you put a ridiculous amount of time into it. At this point, I'm starting to appreciate the simplicity of buying low-cost index funds, continuing to invest, and getting on with my life. After all this time studying investments, my biggest takeaway is that I might be better off accepting average market returns instead of spending my life trying to beat them.

TL;DR: Trading individual stocks in a finance project has taught me that I can't beat the market and index funds would've provided me the same return with significantly less stress and time investment.

Compounding my investments has worked out well for me, but I'm frustrated that I will die in a few decades at best. If my money could compound for centuries it would better. I been considering leaving my estate in a trust which would pay my descendants.

Imagine a trust that is invested in a broad world market low cost index fund like Vanguards VT. It's evergreen passive investing.

It's in a jurisdiction like South Dakota that has no law against perpetuities. It can be a directed trust with low administrative expenses as the investment decisions are none. I estimate annual expenses about 0.5% per year.

I have trust pay out essentially the dividend income of about 1.5% to descendants. Because most income gets distributed the trust taxes are low.

Assumed I have 2 young children and I modeled their descendants to split the money so each generation gets double share the next generation.

I made model this for a few million dollars it does very well over the next 250 years with pretty realistic expectations of 5% real return. 5 million dollar initial trust with 5% real return gets median trust value in 250 years of 7 billion dollars real which seems pretty cool. If I just give it directly to my children I don't think it will persist.

I haven't heard much about people doing something like this. Seems like passive investing at its finest. Why isn't this something done? What am I missing?

I’m 21, have around $30k in my Roth IRA. Since I have a long time horizon for my account, should I invest 100% in VOO or a 80/20 split in VTI and VXUS?

My wife is already retired and I plan to retire around age 60. We have approximately 6 million in investments, about 2 million in taxable brokerage accounts and about 4 million in 401k and other retirement accounts. We also have rental properties generating approximately 6,000 dollars per month in net income. Before Medicare eligibility at 65, we’ll need to purchase health insurance through the ACA marketplace. One of my main questions is how to balance keeping our income low enough to qualify for ACA subsidies against doing Roth conversions from our 401k. Roth conversions could help reduce future required minimum distributions and lifetime taxes, but they could also raise our modified adjusted gross income and reduce our eligibility for ACA subsidies. We also expect about 8,000 per month in combined social security benefits beginning at age 67, which will affect our taxable income and withdrawal strategy. My question with substantial investment assets, how do people decide whether to prioritize Roth conversions or keep income low for ACA subsidies? How would you approach this trade-off, year by year, during the years between early retirement and Medicare eligibility?

Thank you!

Good day fellow Bogleheads!!

Pulled the trigger and converted a chunk of the bond portfolio to an 8 year TIPS ladder covering 100% of planned expenses. Decided I wanted an easy button for the next decade until I consider starting social security at 67. Next 2 1/2 years are cash/t-bill mix and final portfolio ratio is 72/28. Probably bit high in equities for being retired at 57, but no need to touch the stocks for 10 years and pretty much all sequence of return risks are mitigated and new sleep aid activated.

Now can plan and execute Roth conversions on the equity portion of the traditional IRA over next 10 years as well.

I recently moved the money I’ve saved for my kids (birthday/holiday cash from family) from a HYSA into a regular Fidelity brokerage account. With SPAXX/FDLXX yields outpacing HYSAs for over a year now, it felt like a no-brainer.

Just for context, they already have a separate 529 plan fully reserved for their educational needs. This brokerage money is strictly a separate bucket meant for me to hand over to them when they are older and ready to understand how to use it wisely (like for a down payment, a car, or starting out in life).

Since they have a long time horizon for this specific bucket, I’m willing to take on a little more risk for better growth. Are there options out there (mutual funds, ETFs, etc.) that could earn higher returns than SPAXX or FDLXX by taking on a bit more risk?

What are you all doing for your kids' non-educational savings?

I’m 35 years old and have a taxable brokerage account my parents set up for me when I was young to hold inheritance money from my grandparents. It currently holds about $106K in three mutual funds with relatively high expense ratios (weighted average of 1.06%).

Most of my other investments follow Boglehead principles, and I’m finally getting around to moving this account into low-cost index funds.

Selling everything would realize approximately $21K in capital gains, with an estimated tax liability of $4K–$5K based on my tax situation.

My question is how to approach reinvesting the proceeds.

I know we’re generally against timing the market, but given the possibility of a market correction, I’m considering a gradual reinvestment strategy rather than putting everything back into the market immediately. I could also earn 3.6% in a high-yield savings account while waiting.

Would there be any merit to reinvesting 25% each quarter over the course of a year to hedge against short-term volatility? Or am I overthinking this and better off reinvesting everything immediately?

I understand the traditional Boglehead approach favors staying invested, but I feel like this is somewhat of a unique scenario as opposed to simply just trying trying to time the market, which isn’t necessarily what I’m trying to do.

My kids are 7 and 5. They qualify for non-merit scholarships that currently pays 175k per kid (at 75% of cost) for undergraduate school. The current endowment is expected to be enough indefinitely cover 175k per qualifying child. So it's fairly safe to rely on.

I've already got enough to cover a decent retirement (1.5M in my 401k/TSP at 41). So any concern about securing my retirement is fairly moot. The only concern I have is over-funding. There would be no issue withdrawing contributions from my roth to pay for college if I need to (essentially treating my Roth as a backup 529).

Prior to now, I was maxing my 401k and backdoor roth. So dropping money into the 529 was an easy choice compared to just brokerage account. But my new job allows megabackdoor roth though I won't be saving enough to fully exploit it.

My state gives me a state tax deduction for 4k per kid for 529.

I know that the 529 allows penalty withdrawals in the case of scholarships, which would allow me to cash out in case my kid goes to state school that is pretty much entirely covered by the scholarship. But since the earnings are taxed as income tax, won't that be a pretty high tax drag compared to roth?

I just got the opportunity to make $100k more than my current salary. I’m 7 years from retirement with a pension that will keep my current salary stable in retirement. I have $300k in deferred compensation and still contributing, but have anxiety over having “enough” in retirement (partner has health issues that could get expensive later on..) How would you invest to maximize the power of the extra funds over the next 7 years?

First time investing. How much of your monthly income should you invest, and how would you split it between ETFs and individual stocks? I have a high risk tolerance and a 10+ year time horizon. Just looking for some advice on how to get started!

I’m curious how common this problem actually is among long-term investors.
If you’ve moved investments between firms like Fidelity, Schwab, E*TRADE, or others over the years, have you ever encountered missing cost-basis information, incomplete transaction histories, or difficulty tracing where particular holdings originated?
I’m particularly interested in situations involving multiple brokerage transfers over 10, 15, or 20 years.
If you’ve experienced this, how did you eventually reconstruct the history? Did your brokerage resolve it, did you have to piece together old statements yourself, or is some of the information still missing?
I’m researching this problem while developing software intended to help reconstruct fragmented investment histories. I’m not selling anything here; I’m genuinely interested in understanding how people handle it today.

Hey all - would love some thinking on a deferred compensation plan (DCP) I have access to through work. My current investment strategy is very much aligned with Boglehead principles (index funds in my retirement accounts, VTI/VXUS in my taxable, etc.). However, I was curious others' reactions to how they may approach the DCP and fit it in to their broader strategy (if at all). Below are a few details of the plan:

• If I defer compensation for 5 years or more (and can choose to re-defer before the end of my deferral period), my deferred comp will earn Prime + 2% interest compounding daily.
• I can choose different paybacks in retirement (lump sum, 10 year, 15 year, etc.). If I choose 15 year or more, the balance continues to Prime + 2%. Less than that would be Prime + 1%.
• Deferring compensation would lower my current taxes

I understand one of the main risks with a DCP is company insolvency in the future and putting too many eggs in one basket (DCP + current compensation). I have largely gotten comfortable with this risk if I choose to proceed with the DCP.

Let me know your thoughts!

Without divulging every little detail about our financial system. Here are some of the pertinent details:
Income:175k
Savings rate w/ employer match, plus 2 Roth IRA’s: ~33k a year ~18%
Retirement accounts: ~142k
Brokerage Account: ~65k
Emergency Fund/Savings/ Checking:
32k/25k/10k

Going to have a kid within the next 6 months. Planning for this major life change, to include going to single income with a SAHM. Income listed above is just mine as that’s what we’re planning to have starting in the spring. A huge priority is to send our kid(s) to Catholic school K-12. Trying to make a solid gameplan for how to accomplish this. I’ve used some AI tools to provide a plan for me on how to make it all happen and model it out. Need a human critique.

It has suggested to liquid some brokerage funds to seed 529’s. One 529 for k-12, and another 529 for college all for one kid. So there’s no major drag on long term growth needed for college. The model it ran was based on 5k per year k-8, and 8k per year 9-12, at a 3% increase every year. These numbers came from current costs - state educational assistance predicted to receive. Don’t believe I’ll be able to cash flow k-12 tuition expenses

It suggested a 10k seed for k-12 and 16k seed for college, this plus 330/mo k-12 and 135/mo college at 8% return will provide enough for k-12 and roughly 150k for college . Who know what college will cost in 20 years but that’s a solid amount to cover (it predicted that covers half or more in 20 years). Inside the k-12 529 we came to the system of funding a growth fund, and once kindergarten hits moving funds once a year or twice a year to a fixed income fund to cover the next bill, so maxing growth while having near term expenses in fixed income. ~6-6.5% return for k-12. All growth fund for college 8%.

Long winded but is this a good system? Changes? Thoughts?

Also is this a fine use for brokerage funds? I really don’t have cemented plans with the funds, probably a combination of next car, next house, next kids education seeds, home upgrades etc

Hey everyone, I’m a long-term passive investor based in China, and I’ve run into a common limitation for retail investors here.

Most popular all-in-one ETFs like VT and VXUS are simply unavailable to us through regular brokerage channels. The only two liquid, low-cost US index ETFs I can consistently dollar-cost average into are VOO (S&P 500) and QQQ (Nasdaq 100).

My investment goal is super straightforward: long-term buy-and-hold, 10+ year horizon, no leverage, purely compounding with monthly DCA. No day trading, no market timing.

Now I’m stuck choosing between two simple strategies and would love your honest take:

Option 1: 50% VOO + 50% QQQ

Balances value/blue chip stability from S&P 500, with the growth upside of Nasdaq tech stocks. Smoother volatility than all-QQQ, more growth than pure VOO.

Option 2: 100% VOO

Ultra simple, maximum diversification among US large caps, lower volatility, more consistent long-term returns, less exposure to tech sector concentration risk.

I’m aware this portfolio is 100% US equity with zero international exposure, which isn’t ideal compared to VT’s global coverage. But given my hard restriction (no ex-US ETF access), I have to work with only VOO and QQQ.

Would you go all VOO for reliability, or split half-and-half for growth? Any flaws or better tweaks to this two-fund-only portfolio?

Thanks a ton for any help!

i’m a 34 y/o dad. just started investing for about 6mts

i‘m currently puyying $150/month on VOO and $50/month on SCHG via fidelity.

Will this be good enough for starters?

My mom passed away in February and left me an inherited IRA with Schwab . I need to file an RMD. Schwab sent me the paperwork but I have no idea what to sell. How do I choose or should I hire someone to help me like a planner? I'm clueless.

I am not as well educated as I would like to be so recently started looking more into everything and would appreciate some guidance.

I have been investing since 2020 after I received a settlement from a car accident I was in. Had zero knowledge on investing prior but once I received my check I took it into a local Edward jones with recommendations on a specific person from colleagues. I deposited about 560k into investments and left 27k for emergencies and each year I max my Roth IRA. Today my investment account has 959,700 in it so it has had some substantial growth. The issue is that while doing some research about Edward jones I discovered they have high rates. my whole life I kind of grew up poor So I just figured since it’s making good money it’s probably the best thing for it. I decided to call my financial advisor and ask him about my percentages and he seemed kind of annoyed by it, which is weird cause we’ve always had a good relationship. But he said that I was paying 1.14% and he could discount me down to 1.08% but that’s the lowest they can go. I’m just wondering if this is standard or if I should look at changing directions and where I hold my investments? Obviously I feel like I have pretty good money so it wouldn’t hurt to keep just where I’m at, but I would like to maximize it if at all possible.any advice is appreciated I’m worried that I would flop and lose all my money if I invested myself ..

I have searched all of reddit and did not find a single thread on this. Some info:

The DF Risk-Managed Tactical Top 30 Index (DF RMT30) is a risk-managed equity index created by Donoghue Forlines and Syntax Data. It holds top equity constituents selected based on momentum characteristics. At any given time it uses a rules-based system to be either fully invested in its equity sleeve, or fully invested in short-term U.S. Treasuries. In a binary way

It's a total returns play for an open-ended portfolio, not a drawdowns mitigator, not a sortino ratio play, not for your retirement money.

There is an ETF called DFTT with 0.7% expense ratio and has beaten S&P YTD. It also beats S&P in backtests to 2015: https://www.syntaxdata.com/research/risk-managed-equity-for-open-ended-portfolios-2

Also the bid-ask spreads are crazy, I guess (BESIDES THE LOW VOLUME, WHICH IS OBVIOUS) because marketmakers never know for sure when it's going to flip into treasuries, so if you are going to buy into it I would titrate up your order starting from the bid.

Obviously im expecting a lot of skeptics and critics here, I'm not interested in emotional reaction but rather your thoughts if you are familiar and/or after having researched it yourself. Thanks

I just got a new job and am in the process of enrolling in my new employer 401k plan. im currently 80% VITSX and 20% VTIAX. It looks like my new plan has VTIAX, so it looks like i can continue to run with that. It doesn't look like there is a total US market index fund though. what are my best options here? I'm thinking FXAIX, but wanted to see what people here think.

Thanks!

Investment Options

Ok, I think I made a mistake and I wanted your thoughts on moving forward. My old 401k had 62k in VTTSX. My new company has 29 different funds but the target date funds are basically the same so I selected RFUTX. I rolled over my old 401k ( a mix of traditional and Roth 401k) into my company which is also a mix of traditional and Roth. Now I realize that VTTSX has been doing better and has way lower fees at 0.08% vs RFUTX''s 0.39% I'm 33 with total 401k/roth401k at 72k. This doesn't include my emergency funds, HSA etc. So, I assume there's no way to undo this, my funds are stuck however I'm thinking of opening a Vanguard Roth IRA maxing that out every year into VTTSX. And then contributing the remainding percentage of my income into RFUTX. Current income 128k/year, contributing 15% all into my Roth 401k. Married filing jointly.

Been trying to max out my Roth for about the last 6 years and a finance professor gave us the generic advice of just choosing VOO and letting it ride.

Want to make sure that this will be good long term and also that if another ETF is better would it be better to change on the next purchase or would people sell and move into another ETF

I think I’m doing this right, but would love some confirmation. I came into a windfall, and plan to invest the majority into VT (and chill). However, I work in government and have a 457(b) retierment account. I’m holding back 25k for so I can max out contributions for 2027, but in future years is it a smart choice to continue to max it out every year and cash out VT to backfill my paycheck?

Basically, let’s say the 2027 max is 25k. That’s $2083 from each months paycheck going directly into the 457. I’d probably end up needing to cash out $1000 VT/month to bridge the gap. My assumption is that my 457 is a better long term investment then just a brokerage, and doing this essentially allows me to move the windfall into my retirement accounts over the long run while letting it grow (hopefully) in the mean time.

Haven’t had any luck finding an answer that made a strong argument one way or another on previous forum or Reddit posts regarding an allocation towards international bonds.

Most of the posts I see regarding international bonds focus a lot on currency diversification. However, my understanding is that you aren’t adding bonds for currency diversification, so I found this explanation confusing.

Bonds and equities have different risk factors that you’re trying to capture, currency diversification isn’t one of them. Therefore, if you were a US investor would you actually want your international bonds hedged to USD? BNDW is only 0.02 bps higher than BND but provides greater diversification (e.g., differing credit cycles).

So, why wouldn’t you want a portion of the FI piece your portfolio to be in international bonds hedged to USD?

I feel like I am potentially missing something due to a very large consensus feeling they aren’t necessary or are flat out against it. Would love to hear some perspectives or be provided with resources that you’ve found regarding this topic!