Sell Vanguard Total Stock Market for Amazon, etc in individual Roth 401K

[tmark]

When I opened an individual 401K and roth 401K at Etrade several years ago, I made the mistake of putting individual stocks (Amazon, Netflix, etc) into the individual 401K instead of the Roth. My question is, if the market has another downturn (or not) should I sell some of my total stock market in the roth 401K (currently all total stock market or international total stock market) and buy up those individual stocks I want (Amazon, etc) for the long run for tax purposes? I do not plan on retiring for another 20-30 years. Thank you for any thoughts!

[Peds]

well if you want those individual stocks why wouldnt you make all those trades now? since thats what you believe in?

[artemis]

Do you really want more exposure to Amazon, Netflix, etc. than you already have through your Total Stock Index fund? Just because those stocks are doing well now is no guarantee they'll continue to do so in the future. You'll be making your portfolio less diverse and increasing risk without any guarantee of future outsized compensation for doing so.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Please don’t let “tax purposes“ drive investment decisions. An appropriate portfolio first, then taxes. Never reverse the priority and allow taxes to drive your investment decisions (with apologies to most doctor RE investors). It appears to me you still have some serious work to do on part one.

[tmark]

Thanks for the responses! I think I will just leave everything alone for now as yes, no way to predict the market, especially for individual stocks.

Johanna, I assume that you mean I need bond funds in addition to my total stock market/international stock market for my portfolio? Definitely still learning, but as I'm in for the long term I am rather comfortable holding little to no bond funds. Thoughts? I'm 38 years old. Thanks for your thoughts!

[Tim]

“An appropriate portfolio first”. I interpreted this to mean “It appears to me you still have some serious work to do on part one”. No one mention of bonds. FYI, Johanna isn’t a big fan of bonds in a portfolio. Just saying you and I didn’t interpret her comments the same. I think your assumption missed the mark.

[Lordosis]

If all of this stuff is in tax advantaged accounts you can do whatever you want without tax consequences. My opinion is that this is a good time to dump the individual stocks and buy more total market.