This in not a timing the market question persae. We all know how that works out. But at the current level of 26k. What are you doing with your portfolio mix if you are soon to retire and start drawing funds out in the near future.

I am about 1/3 cash, 1/3 aggressive equity, 1/3 real estate. Probably cashing out the real estate very soon. Not sure what I'll do with the proceeds. I've got about 7 years to retirement.

I'll check back with you in 25 maybe 30 years. Got a ways to go. Divorce and the stupidity of youth cost me quite a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I'll check back with you in 25 maybe 30 years. Got a ways to go. Divorce and the stupidity of you cost me quite a bit.

What did I do?

Highly recommend bringing a Financial Planner on board to invest monitor your money. I got one right before I retired and man I wish I would have done it ALOT sooner to take advantage of their wisdom.

Yes it may cost you a little of your money up front but if you get a FP from an investment company, they also make money off your money so they have an incentive to do the right thing.

Just my 2cents..Good luck

Another vote for a consulting a certified financial planner. Additionally, i would seek out fee-only planners that do not sell products or take a percentage- find one that bills you for their time or advice like an attorney.

Mine is in a Vanguard and Fidelity 2025 target fund. I let them adjust for me.

ORC, you can email me directly, but if I were you I would start diversifying out of equities and into broad markets (25%), 20% into Treasuries, and 55% into Bond funds. The problem with target funds is that they typically carry high 12b1 fees (upwards of 6.5%), and most have a hard time earning over 3%, meaning you spend 2.4 years getting back to square one (what you currently have). If it is self directed, look for low fee ETF's.

I would second the idea of brining in an independent certified financial planner, or at the very least go meet with an investment advisor. They are obligated to be your fiduciary. If you want to bounce an idea off someone, I can send you my number.

^^^^^^

My Vanguard 2025 fund lists the 12b1 fee as "none". Is there something else I should look for?

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
^^^^^^

My Vanguard 2025 fund lists the 12b1 fee as "none". Is there something else I should look for?

You are fine with the Vanguard Target 2025 fund, which is a no load fund, as far as expenses go. Expense ratio is .14 and you are correct in no 12b1 fees. Vanguard uses other of their funds to make up the Target 2025 portfolio with the stock portion being Total Stock Market Investors Share index fund at 37.7 percent of portfolio total. Below are the links to portfolio makeup and expenses/fees but my guess is you did your homework already. Another Vanguard investor here.

https://investor.vanguard.com/...s/profile/fees/vttvx

https://investor.vanguard.com/...file/portfolio/vttvx

58 years old. We are at roughly 40% Equities and 60% short term CD', bond funds and a Guaranteed fund provided by employer.
Figure if I realistically won't need access to it for at least 5-10 years it needs to be in the market. With that time horizon I/we can ride out a downturn.

I have 15% of my retirement in cash and the balance in equities. I subscribe to the Motley Fool Pro and Options. I trade with TDAmeritrade. I pay the Fool roughly $100 per month for their advice. In the past 5 years, it has paid dividends.

Prior to this, I with a full service brokerage house. they did way, way better than I did.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
This in not a timing the market question persae. We all know how that works out. But at the current level of 26k. What are you doing with your portfolio mix if you are soon to retire and start drawing funds out in the near future.

Close to retirement means to me less equity and more bond and treasuries. Getting a little too late in the game to start over.

Yes nasig, I agree as others have mentioned. Taking that into account. what can we expect out of a portfolio with that mix with the market where it is at and where it might go in the given time frame. I know opinions will vary. Just wonder what guys think looking ahead.

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
^^^^^^

My Vanguard 2025 fund lists the 12b1 fee as "none". Is there something else I should look for?

Here's where you need a little bit of digging.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses are listed as 0.14% which is supposedly 67% lower than average expense funds of similar holdings. .

However, this Vanguard Fund invest in other Vanguard Mutual funds and their percent mix int eh 2025 Fund:
Total Stock Market Index Fund: 38.7% (0.04%)
Total International Stock Index Fund 25.6% (0.11%)
Total Bond Market II Index Fund 25.2% (0.05%)
Total International Bond Index Fund 10.5% (.11%)

Based on the mix percentage and expenses of the individual funds in the mix, you have an additional expense of 0.68%

You're paying roughly a total of .82% each year.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
This in not a timing the market question persae. We all know how that works out. But at the current level of 26k. What are you doing with your portfolio mix if you are soon to retire and start drawing funds out in the near future.

It's still a timing question for me. If your timing to retirement is 40 years away, your considerations will be different than in your scenario.

Another consideration is how robust is your retirement savings? If you have 20 times as much as you'll ever need in your lifetime, your recommendations are different than if you only had twice as much as you'll need or just barely enough.

That the market is at an all time high means nothing. To get here, the market had to reach all time highs continually.

We know there's a business cycle of 5 to 10 years approximately where it goes down and up and down again.So this brings the question of where in the cycle are we? Are we still on the upswing part of the cycle or cresting the top on our way down?

And how do you want to account for where you think we are in the cycle relative to the robustness of your retirement funds and your timing?

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
^^^^^^

My Vanguard 2025 fund lists the 12b1 fee as "none". Is there something else I should look for?

Here's where you need a little bit of digging.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses are listed as 0.14% which is supposedly 67% lower than average expense funds of similar holdings. .

However, this Vanguard Fund invest in other Vanguard Mutual funds and their percent mix int eh 2025 Fund:
Total Stock Market Index Fund: 38.7% (0.04%)
Total International Stock Index Fund 25.6% (0.11%)
Total Bond Market II Index Fund 25.2% (0.05%)
Total International Bond Index Fund 10.5% (.11%)

Based on the mix percentage and expenses of the individual funds in the mix, you have an additional expense of 0.68%

You're paying roughly a total of .82% each year.

That doesn't make any sense at all. The .14% should include all the fund expenses. He can call Vanguard to verify. Even if it did not the highest of the four funds is .11% and adding .11 to .14 gets you .25. Where did you come up with the additional .68% ? Maybe you meant .068% ?

quote:

Originally posted by grumpy1:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
^^^^^^

My Vanguard 2025 fund lists the 12b1 fee as "none". Is there something else I should look for?

Here's where you need a little bit of digging.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses are listed as 0.14% which is supposedly 67% lower than average expense funds of similar holdings. .

However, this Vanguard Fund invest in other Vanguard Mutual funds and their percent mix int eh 2025 Fund:
Total Stock Market Index Fund: 38.7% (0.04%)
Total International Stock Index Fund 25.6% (0.11%)
Total Bond Market II Index Fund 25.2% (0.05%)
Total International Bond Index Fund 10.5% (.11%)

Based on the mix percentage and expenses of the individual funds in the mix, you have an additional expense of 0.68%

You're paying roughly a total of .82% each year.

That doesn't make any sense at all. The .14% should include all the fund expenses. He can call Vanguard to verify. Even if it did not the highest of the four funds is .11% and adding .11 to .14 gets you .25. Where did you come up with the additional .68% ? Maybe you meant .068% ?

You’re right, 0.068% is probably it. Missed a decimal point and didn’t bother to check the math or even check for reasonableness.

It’s possible that the .14 covers it all but not likely. Each fund has to stand on its own in terms of operating costs and i’m going by how funds of funds work.

^^^^^^

Even if the .068 is added to the .14(not sure it’s not already in there), two tenths of a percent hardly seems excessive.

This is a subject that is near and dear to me, and I suspect to many of you as well. While there may be some generalities we have to keep in mind that each persons situation is unique to them. I agree that a CFP is a great idea if you don't feel comfortable making your own decisions.

I have been in the market for 30+ years and have made many mistakes but with the exception of the '87 crash where I withdrew what little I had left I have been in the market.

I have our portfolio split between real estate (rental properties) and mutual funds primarily in Fidelity (another very low cost fund company). Since I own a construction company I'm fairly comfortable with any maintenance issues that come up and do a very thourough job vetting my tenants. In fact, I'm buying a new house on Friday and will be signing a long term lease for it on Saturday.

Our stock portfolio is fairly aggressive but when I "retire" next year from building custom houses I will still have my second business managing our rental properties which takes very little time but will provide me with a steady income, probably for the next ten years. After that, Implan to start liquidating the assets and go into a more formal sense of retirement. My wife, who has a very good job, has formally transitioned into a part time position with her company but due to her unique situation is actually making more money than when she was working full time...nice gig! She will continue until she turns 67.

After that time I guess we will formally be considered as retired BUT we don't anticipate taking any funds out of our portfolio until we each turn 70 1/2 when we're required to take RMD's. Maybe at that time we will transition into a more conservative portfolio mix. This strategy has allowed us to average almost 9% over the last 30 years or so which I'm happy with. When I turn 70 I will be happy with a 5% or so average return and probably pull out 2-3% annually along with my SS.