quote:

Originally posted by TannerBoyl:
I tend to buy mutual funds with a buy and hold strategy. My plan is to keep dumping money into the market as it continues to drop. I don’t need the money for the next 10-20 years, so I’ve got time to wait for the market to rebound.

^^^^^^^^^^^
In addtion to above I dollar cost averaged on a monthly basis. I paid for two college educations and post graduate work following this strategy.
I did not use Index funds, but spent considerable time researching no load mutual funds. I am talking days here. In those times you mailed a check to the mutual fund company. It was a lot more work.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

quote:

broadly diversified index funds

Could you explain please?

Broad market index funds. They track the performance of the stock market or bond market as a whole, so you have exposure to the entire market for greatest diversification. (Whereas some index funds are less diversified, and are specialized to track just one single smaller market index like the S&P 500 or Dow Jones.)

For example, VSMPX for a total US stock market fund, or VTBIX for a total US bond market fund.

See https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio for more info on basic 3 fund portfolios consisting of broadly diversified index funds.

A number of brokers also have mutual funds that contain their own 3- or 4-fund portfolios within, like Vanguard's Life Strategy or Target Date funds. Those simplify it by allowing you to invest in a single mutual fund and get a balanced 3 or 4 fund portfolio in the process, and also frees you from having to rebalance your portfolio yourself each year as Vanguard takes care of that behind the scenes within their mutual fund for you.

Is Fidelity® Blue Chip Growth Fund one of those?

No. It's a mutual fund, but not an index fund.

Instead, it focuses on packaging together a bunch of "blue chip" company stocks into a single mutual fund.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Is Fidelity® Blue Chip Growth Fund one of those?

Since that fund has the word “growth“ in it… I would imagine not. Growth is a dangerous word right now when the economy is falling. It will be hard to find companies that are “growing”.

You’re looking for index funds, that describe what index they’re tracking the DJI or the S&P 500 or the NASDAQ, etc.

(This is not to say that many funds don’t track with the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones. They often do.)

For a diverse and simple option I went with Vanguard's total S&P fund (ticker: VOO). My biggest success so far was buying Exxon at about $36 in 2020 and selling for almost 200% a few months ago.
That was lucky timing though, I have no illusions otherwise.

You've already gotten good advice here, I guess I'd just caution against being OVER diversified. Some folks get half a dozen or more ETFs and end up doing nothing all that much between the winners and losers year over year.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:

Who else is there that you can kind of self direct kind of self direct an investment account?

I think this may have been what confused people. Not sure what that phrase means, but suspect it's going to be different for everyone. IOW, how "kinda" do you want?

I am looking at M1 Finance.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Ok, I finally found the video. I cannot remember who linked to it here. The guys name is Rob Berger and he recommends M1 Finance. I know nothing about him or M1 Finance. But I am going to watch the video again. Thanks guys for all your knowledge. Please keep providing info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmw8OpGp2rM

The funds that he is showing are mutual funds, at least the first two are. If you look at his screen, it says there's an ETF equivalent of the fund. ETFs are better than mutual funds in that you don't have to wait until end of day for the transactions to complete. ETFs trade just like stocks.

The second point about his video is that his second pick - international stocks is that if you buy the US stock market, you already are exposed to international because at least 40 to 60% of what the US stocks earn is from international sales. If does not matter to me if you want more exposure to international stocks meaning you're taking on more risks but I just want people to know that buying the US Stock Market already exposes you to international.

The third point about his video is that bond funds just do not provide the balance sought by investors. The reason for this is because the bonds inside the funds are always churning. I think what's better is the time targeted bonds - these are funds that are set to liquidate at a given date - usually December of the year. The value of this is that you put in your money at a given point and whether interest rates go up and down in the meantime thereby raising or lowering the value of the bond fund, you get your money back at the end when you cash out and you got the interests in the mean time.

There are funds that are actually designed to be a counterbalance to both bonds and stocks but it's like you will lose a certain amount over time but they increase dramatically should stocks go down. They're like a hedge.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Is Fidelity® Blue Chip Growth Fund one of those?

Since that fund has the word “growth“ in it… I would imagine not. Growth is a dangerous word right now when the economy is falling. It will be hard to find companies that are “growing”.

You’re looking for index funds, that describe what index they’re tracking the DJI or the S&P 500 or the NASDAQ, etc.

(This is not to say that many funds don’t track with the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones. They often do.)

I agree that "growth" is dangerous when the economy appears to be falling. You don't get much growth when the economy is shrinking.

I also agree that it's not an index fund. With a "blue chip growth fund," they're saying they add value by picking the best companies from a pool of big companies with growth prospects. With an index fund, they're saying they will mimic the index by buying and selling stocks to mirror the index. Like an S&P 500 index fund will aim to mimic the S&P 500 index fund as in, theoretically, they will have all the stocks in the same proportion as the S&P 500. But, in practice, they just buy the big companies that move the S&P 500 and monitor as stocks rise or fall to move the needle and act accordingly.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
I am looking at M1 Finance.

It looks like you set up your percentages and as you add or the individual values change, it automatically rebalances the portfolio.

I would caution against using this outside of tax -sheltered funds as you are exposed to unplanned tax consequences. BTDT with Schwab's Intelligent Portfolio. It wasn't that intelligent and it wasn't a guarantee against losing money.

Thanks fellas, total Newb here

Just dumped some funds in FLCOX


Another question. I have maxxed my 2023 Roth IRA contributions, can I open another in the wife's name? Or is that $7500 count towards a married couple?

That could be all true Rey. But I can get into a whole bunch of things with some of their tools and what not. This video is over a year old. So I am not taking his specific info in this particular video as a specific road map on what to do. He has much more info. I was just looking for the company he was referencing in M1 Finance. He obviously also talks about VG, Fidelity, Schwab, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Thanks fellas, total Newb here

Just dumped some funds in FLCOX


Another question. I have maxxed my 2023 Roth IRA contributions, can I open another in the wife's name? Or is that $7500 count towards a married couple?

She can have her own IRA which may also be a "spousal IRA" that may let you contribute even if she is not working or not making enough to contribute. I am still able to put the maximum in mine each year even though I am retired as my young wife still works.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Spousal IRAs allow working spouses to contribute to an IRA for a non-working spouse.
Spousal IRAs are the same as Roth or traditional IRAs but are designed for married couples.
Couples must file joint returns to contribute to a spousal IRA.
The amount for couples filing jointly to contribute to a spousal IRA for 2022 is $6,000.
If you are age 50 or older, you may contribute an extra $1,000 catch-up.
The working spouse's income must equal or exceed the total IRA contributions made on behalf of both spouses.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/spousal-ira.asp

https://investor.vanguard.com/...h-vs-traditional-ira

Schwab

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
I am looking at M1 Finance.

I'm not sure why you are not considering Schwab, Vanguard or Fidelity, but it's not clear what these guys have that the larger, more established ones don't. Schwab for sure (I use them) has zero commission trading these days - I imagine the other large ones have that also.

Be aware going in that M1 appears to have an unusual fee structure based on their website

WTF. I do not pay for paper copies, overnight mail, transfer fees.

THIS FEE STRUCTURE RESEMBLES A SLEEZY ATTORNEY WHO LIKES TO HOSE HIS CLIENTS. IF I PAID THOSE FEES I WOULD BE INSOLVENT.

But... the talking head on YouTube said they were good.


The fee for paper documents in particular is becoming increasingly common, and will continue to do so. Banks and brokerages are trying to incentivize e-delivery of documents, to reduce their costs. This is especially true for the various no-fee brokerages, which are able to offer those no fee transactions by necessarily eliminating costs elsewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
WTF. I do not pay for paper copies, overnight mail, transfer fees.

THIS FEE STRUCTURE RESEMBLES A SLEEZY ATTORNEY WHO LIKES TO HOSE HIS CLIENTS. IF I PAID THOSE FEES I WOULD BE INSOLVENT.

Neither do I. They're nickel and diming their customers to death.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
I am looking at M1 Finance.

I'm not sure why you are not considering Schwab, Vanguard or Fidelity, but it's not clear what these guys have that the larger, more established ones don't. Schwab for sure (I use them) has zero commission trading these days - I imagine the other large ones have that also.

Be aware going in that M1 appears to have an unusual fee structure based on their website

Yes, the list charges for things that are no cost at the larger firms. Fidelity for example imposes no charges for transfer (like from your account there to your bank checking account), zero for tax forms, zero for paper statements, and some others. I just don't know what you get there that you don't get from others.