Our plan was to invest $100/month in each kid's 529, plus put any birthday/Christmas gifts from grandparents into them. We have about $5.5k in our 3y/o's and $600 in the new baby's.

But we never planned to actually use this money for education. Our plan was to just write checks for college, and roll the full amount of the 529s over to their Roth IRA's to set them up for retirement.

However - a distant family member just wrote each of our kids a $20k check for their 529s.

We're shocked and incredibly grateful, but now I'm trying to re-adjust our plan as we're going to significantly overshoot the $35k rollover limit.

Where should we be putting our investments moving forward for our kids to secure their futures? Should we be putting the $20k/each in some type of account other than 529?

Y'all please help a tired and confused parent figure out next steps.

Would appreciate people's takes on allocation of funds.

I'm in a relatively good spot right now. Early 30s, about $300k in retirement accounts, and a tight 6 months of emergency savings, but I'm in a state with good unemployment insurance and have another $30k in an HSA if it were a medical issue.

But I'm constantly worried that I have no savings. Retirement feels so impossibly far off, and like there's a million things that I may need cash for before then. I'm in a high cost of living city, so buying a house feels impossible. And I don't really have any use for cash or liquidity. But knowing it's all stuck until I'm 60+ is making me worry.

Giving up the tax benefits of a 401k feels stupid. I suspect these will be my highest earning years and I may make half the salary I do now in a few years (due to an unstable industry and needing to relocate). I can both see this as a reason to stock away while I can, but also having a fund I can access would feel useful, too.

I'm wondering if anyone has found a way to balance retirement and nearer term goals.

Hi all. For context, I am in my mid 20s and making what I consider decent money for my age. I just got a new job, and have maxed my Roth IRA, am contributing 10% to my 401k (with a 5% employer match), and invest an additional ~20% of my income into a brokerage account monthly.

My question is should I be utilizing my company’s ESPP? It is a 15% discount on the company stock, and goes quarter by quarter, withholding money from the paycheck until last day of quarter where it buys the stock at whatever price is that day.

Is the juice worth the squeeze here? I am considering contributing only 5% towards this as I already invest extra money into my brokerage account monthly as stated earlier. It sounds like a free 15% gain, but I worry about any headache that could come with taxes or other issues? Let me know what you all think here.

I have two sons who are both in their late 20s and working on post-graduate degrees to pursue careers (non-financial) in which they're interested. However, I'm concerned that they're so focused on their near futures that they're not preparing sufficiently for when they get to be my age (I'm retired). They both have Roth IRAs in Schwab accounts, but I'm afraid they're not making regular contributions.

In an effort to get them thinking seriously about building wealth, I'm considering giving each of them some "seed" money to jump-start their Roths, about $10K each. But rather than simply drop some money in their accounts, I'd like them to be more engaged with managing their wealth.

I'm thinking of perhaps asking them to take some of the free online courses in investing Schwab offers that might make them more aware of the process, which in turn might spark interest (excuse the pun!). Those courses have lessons that are presented clearly and accompanied with self-test quizzes so they'd know if they're absorbing the material.

It's not my aim for them to be watching the market like a hawk and actively investing, I think the Bogle approach is far more appropriate for their lifestyles. But I just thought more knowledge about things like the stock market, interest rates, etc. might help them to get excited about their accounts so they keep the ball rolling for the rest of their lives. Have any of you been in a similar situation? I'd appreciate any suggestions and experiences this group has to offer!

For any Bogleheaders that have funds in the TSP...

https://stockanalysis.com/etf/compare/tsp:c-vs-tsp:s-vs-tsp:i-vs-tsp:f-vs-tsp:g/?ref=davidv4

I love this site for researching and comparing funds and for tracking my portfolio and as of today we can view TSP fund data right along with other ETFs, mutual funds, and stocks!

It’s crazy to me that no other sites bother to list TSP performance data at all and these people decided to do it after I made the request.

The holdings data isn’t included but given the convenience I’m ok with it.

Maybe others will like it, too. Full disclosure: I don’t work for the site but I’m a paying subscriber and the link is an affiliate link.

Beginner investor here (26M). With the majority of funds like voo and vti being invested heavily in tech stocks, what are your guys thoughts on the "AI bubble" and the risks to a portfolio invested heavily in such funds. Any way to mitigate these risks while still sticking to the principles of bogleheadism?

Books like the The Simple Path to Wealth talk about being fully invested in these type of funds. It does say later on to include some investments in things like international stocks and bonds, but will that be enough to protect from an AI bubble burst?

I have a job I enjoy that pays decently but doesn't offer 401k. Their reasoning when I first asked about this was that we're a startup and haven't sorted that out yet. I know I can look for a new job that offers 401k, but I am trying to stay with this current job for at least one more year due to a variety of quality of life factors.

That said, since I don't have a 401k, I am investing 14.5% of my pre-tax income in VT on my Vanguard brokerage account. I do not touch the money in my brokerage account and treat it as my 401k equivalent. I also max out my Roth IRA at $7500 per year. Is this financially responsible given my situation? Should I be investing more to make up for a lack of 401k, or should I be investing in other assets?

If it's relevant for my goals and tax background, I am 25 years old, live in California, and have no debt. Thanks for any feedback on this strategy!

I’m in the 24% bracket with about 10 years left to work. I will have a pension, social security and currently have about a million in my traditional 401k which I max out each year. I also have modest Roth IRA and taxable brokerage accounts. I’m considering going all Roth the rest of the way in the 401k and just eating the taxes now in exchange for more flexibility later (given that most of my retirement income is currently taxable). We live below our means and the difference will come out of disposable income only. In other words I will only do this if my savings rate remains exactly the same across my accounts and the only difference is that more of the 401k will be tax free in retirement. Am I missing something?

Recently I have made some money commercial fishing. Right now I have about 10k that I want to invest in some way, and in the next few months I will hopefully l have roughly another ten grand that I will want to invest. I currently have a vanguard brokerage account with nothing in it and a vanguard Roth IRA with $5500 invested in vtsax and vti. I’m 21 and not financially savvy so I’m looking for advice on what my investing approach should be right now and what to invest this money in. Also if I don’t want to have to pay too close attention to my account is a good option putting a certain amount in each account and enrolling them in the digital advisor program? Or am I better off just doing it myself?

Hey everyone! I am a new investor and I just opened a Roth IRA and put it into VOO, but I am learning more about VTI and VXUS, and I wanted some opinions on it. I ordered the little book of common sense investing by John Bogle but I just wanted some insight from the community as well before I dive in. I understand the basics like the way more diversification with VTI and just buying the whole market, but the majority of advice I got growing up was (and still is) “just buy the blue chip stocks and hold them,” hence why I did VOO originally. Also, I understand that Bogle and Warren Buffet frequently use the S&P 500 as a benchmark, so I figured following that benchmark wasn’t a bad idea. Should I be losing sleep over choosing VOO over VTI?

I’m 46, married with two young kids, sole breadwinner, \~$265k base plus bonus/RSUs, with roughly $600k–$650k invested.

I’m considering consolidating everything at Fidelity. My 401(k) is already there.

Fidelity told me that with $500k+ I can have a Financial Consultant as a point of contact without paying an AUM fee. Then there’s full Wealth Management, which is much more expensive.

My situation includes:

• $265k salary
• $200k annual RSUs/bonus comp
• $240k rollover IRA
• $215k taxable brokerage
• $80k 401(k)
• $40k Roth IRA
• $70k+ embedded gains in taxable
• kids/529s

I don’t want to pay 1% forever. What I do want is someone who can help me think through allocation, account location, and a multi-year tax-sensitive cleanup of the taxable account.

For those with $500k–$1M at Fidelity:
How useful is the free Financial Consultant relationship?

Can they actually help with portfolio construction and tax-aware planning, or is it mostly general guidance?
And if you use Fidelity Wealth Management, what are you actually paying net, and is it worth it?

My current thought is to move everything to Fidelity in kind, use the free consultant first, and only pay for Wealth Management if I decide I really need it.

In his new book The Perfect Portfolio, Peter Lazaroff suggests judging portfolio performance using tracking indices, weighted by asset allocation.

(added) From the book (Chapter 10):
"A good benchmark gives returns context.... A good benchmark helps answer practical questions. Is this result reasonable given the assets I own? Does the gap reflect intentional choices or accidental drift? Does the portfolio carry more risk than I expected? ... Good benchmarks ... connect the plan you wrote down to the experience you live through."

Seems like a potential SWAN (sleep well at night) exercise to do every year or so, but the obvious indices I'm thinking of are in different places: For equities, the FTSE Global All Cap Index (aligned with VT); for nominal bonds, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index (BND); for US TIPS, the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation-Linked Bond Index (Series-L)SM; and I know that there are likely others for things I don't have appreciable investments in like REITs.

So: is there an easy place to go once a year or so to check the prior year for tracking indices?

Hey Everyone, my workplace is making me use Paychex Flex for 401k, not my ideal platform, but I'm ok with the selection regardless. There are a few strategies I would like to get everyone's opinion on before I decide on a final pick. I prefer having more control within my setups rather than target dates. I am also comfortable with being more aggressive and not using bonds since I'm only 22. But if you guys think I should allocate bonds, I could add in like 5-10% and reallocate my asset

Strategies I was thinking:

• 100% Schwab s&p 500 index
• 80% Schwab s&p 500 index, 10% Fidelity small cap, 10% Vanguard mid cap index
• 70% Schwab s&p 500 index, 20% DFA international, 10% DFA emerging (highly leaning on this since I do 70/30 on my other accounts mostly)
• 55 Schwab s&p 500 index, 7 Fidelity small cap, 8 Vanguard mid cap, 20 DFA international, 10 DFA EM.

The selections that were provided:

• federated hermes us treasury cash reserves inst
• american funds mortgage r6
• dfa emerging markets i
• dfa international core equity 2 portfolio i
• dfa international small cap growth portfolio
• fidelity contrafund k
• fidelity small cap index
• goldman sachs small cap value insights inst
• great gray lifecycle index 2010 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2015 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2020 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2025 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2030 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2035 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2040 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2045 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2050 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2055 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2060 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2065 cit cl r1
• great gray lifecycle index 2070 cit cl r1
• mfs international growth r6
• pgim high yld r6
• schwab s&p 500 index
• schwab treasury inflation protected securities index
• vanguard equity income adml
• vanguard explorer adm
• vanguard growth and income adml
• vanguard mid cap growth inv
• vanguard morningstar mid cap index fund adml
• vanguard short-term government securities active admiral
• voya intermediate bond i

I'm 30 years old.

My company matches 100% of the first 5% I contribute.

I make $21.20 an hour, have no savings and no other investments due to being a fairly new immigrant.

Here are the investment options on my Empower 401k. Thank you so much for any ideas.

https://imgur.com/a/qO0CfBx

Hi everyone! I'm 24, originally from Venezuela, and new to investing. I started investing on October 14, 2026, through Fidelity.

My goal is to invest for the next 20–30 years. I'm currently investing in VOO and considering adding SCHD or SPYD. I plan to reinvest all dividends.

Since I'm a foreign national living in the US, I'm also trying to understand the tax implications, especially the possible 30% dividend withholding tax.

Would you recommend VOO alone or combining it with a dividend ETF for long-term growth? Any advice for a beginner is appreciated. Thank you!

I was wondering why VOO is so popular among long term investors if SPYM tracks the same index but has a lower expense ratio? I understand the difference is minimal but wouldn't it matter over long term?

Any downside to moving a taxable brokerage from Vanguard to eTrade for a $3000-5000 signup bonus? Vanguard technology is so antiquated and our numerous phone experiences over the last couple years have ranged from mediocre to terrible. What am I not considering with a move? Anyone currently on eTrade an have an opinion? Looks like they have few fees? Thanks!

I have about a half million in a traditional IRA that is managed to the tune of .9% annually in fees.

Is this something you bogleheads would advise against? You would just put that money into a mutual fund or ETF and let it ride? Saving the fees?

Thanks for any advice and suggestions!

24M military

All are monthly:

Taxable Brokerage:

VIS VANGUARD INDUSTRIALS ETF $90

VXUS VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK INDEX ETF $855

VOO VANGUARD S&P 500 INDEX ETF $855

PPA Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF $100

High Yield Savings:

Vanguard Cash Plus (3.5%) $100

Roth IRA:

VSVNX VANGUARD TARGET RETIREMENT 2070 Maxing per month

Thrift Savings Plan (Maxing 5% contributions):

C Fund 75%

S Fund 25%

Looking for areas to diversify, maybe VXF but was also recommended VTV for the MMF? This is long-term obviously so wouldn't be too opposed to risk, any suggestions would be highly appreciated always looking to learn.

Edit: Included TSP 5% max match strategy

I hold substainal IRA assets at Vanguard as well as a brokerage account for access to VUSXX. In the past my research has found posters unhappy with the lack of bank like features for Cash Plus (CP). Due to assets I'd get the 3.65% APY. Okay not class leading, but not bad either.

Recent login to Vanguard would suggest CP is now a more complete offering. If I opened a CP account it would be potenitaly useful for Direct Deposit and moving funds into/out of VUSXX as bills need to be paid. I currently use a Fidelity CMA for this, but SPAXX/FDLXX have pretty high expense ratios.

Thoughts or more importantly actual experience with Cash Plus?

I have noticed that people are inclined more towards VWCE over IWDA/EUNL. IWDA has performed better though marginally even with higher TER. What am I missing here?

Constructing a tips ladder in Roth IRA wondering the best advise for choosing maturity range for a 60 year old retired with enough other investments to cover spending for next 15 or 20 years+

Does it make sense to start maturities soon in next 5 years or extend ? And how long to go.

I was not one to seek financial advice but adopted an advisor ($4k/year) as i'm moving into withdrawal mode. All my funds are in a 401k so pretty simple model for withdrawal trying to maximize withdrawal to the optimal tax window. My advisor sold his firm and i'm thinking of moving to either doing this independently or with a Fidelity, RightCapital, AI or similar platform that saves some cost. Anyone have something they love?

I am in the process of moving my 950k gov 457 to fidelity. I have a small Roth that I opened in 2002 with fidelity. My aim is to max out Roth conversions within a 7-10 year timeframe. I have a disability pension that more than pays my monthly expenses. I just turned 59 1/2. I have 1 semester of kids college left. I have about 500k equity in my home.
Here’s my plan based on being abo to convert about 200k between 2026 and 2027:
Keep IRA in 60/40 mix and convert quarterly starting in 2028.
Keep about 200k in Roth in ETF’s that yield dividends and sweep into CMA account. Use those dividends to pay taxes on conversions, freeing up other streams to help pay for mortgage on second home.
Any further money added to Roth will go into 60/40 mix.
We are in no jeopardy of exceeding IRMA.

My thinking is to have max amount of money on hand now so I can enjoy travel, etc in my early 60’s. As I wind myself down into my late 60’s, I can switch out dividend ETFs to the Bogle mix.

Am I missing anything that could derail my plans?

*Thank u all for taking time to read and respond. Much appreciated!!

Earlier this year, I watched as some options plays went from +150% to -100%. I legitimately wanted to die for a solid month.

A few months later, I decide to buy back into the market. No more 0DTEs, but surely I can still pick winners right?

My portfolio has now dropped 17% in just three days. Looks like there might be blood in the water for the foreseeable future as well, but who knows. I sure as hell don’t.

A few days ago, I saw a comment in this sub talking about The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. (I’d never actually bothered to read a book about finance until now, because I’m a genius and can make millions on my own thank you.) I’m only four chapters in but I think this book has already changed my life.

I spent so much time trying to get rich that I never thought about *building wealth*. It’s a complete change in perspective and behavior that requires little more than awareness and discipline, two qualities I have prevented myself from developing due to greed and arrogance.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the book, but it’s already made me feel better about how to approach things moving forward. I may need to wait years to recover the loss of the past few days (so far!), but I’d rather learn that lesson now and see a better way forward than continue to double down on my stupidity and pray for the best.

Yes, in many ways this is me mainlining copium. More than anything though I’m grateful to look at this situation in a new light and see it as a temporary setback rather than the end of the world.

1. Spend less than you earn.
2. Invest the surplus.
3. Avoid debt.

That seems doable enough. Now all I have to do is not be completely regarded.

I already shifted my investment strategy moving forward because of this book though. To whoever shared it, thank you.