Taxable fund mix

[CardinalsFan]

Hello, all.

 

I've recently paid off student loans 8-) , maxing all tax-advantaged accounts. Time to start a taxable account. I've been researching a lot, but want to keep it as simple as I can. 34 years old. Does this mix look ok? I think I've settled on Vanguard ETF's, unless there is a real difference in going the fund route.

 

50% VTI

25% VXUS

25% VTEB

 

[Lithium]

Congrats on getting those loans paid off!

It's best to think of all your stocks in every account as part of one giant account rather than just have a specific allocation for your taxable account.

nothing wrong with the mix you've picked, but it's unclear what your overall goal allocation is and how it fits with the funds/ETFs in your tax advantaged accounts.

[CardinalsFan]

Good point. Looking at my allocation in tax-advantaged accounts, I'm at:

50.51% US Stocks

26.63% Int'l Stocks

10.43% US Bonds

6.18% Int'l Bonds

3.37% Cash

2.89% REIT

Looks like it's fairly in line with my proposed taxable spread.

 

[jfoxcpacfp]

Let's start a conversation:

What is the purpose of your taxable account? i.e. what are your goals for the savings your are building?

[CardinalsFan]

Sure, goals are nothing profound. Taxable - increase savings rate, get rich slowly. I want to be able to have the option to cut back/retire early.

[ajm184]

Congratulations on paying off your student loans.  A couple of questions:

a. Is this taxable account separate from your emergency fund?

b. Is there a specific reason you are targeting Vanguard ETF versus the Vanguard Admiral mutual fund equivalents (VTSAX, VTIAX)?

It is low cost and as long as it works within your asset allocation, it is good.

[CardinalsFan]

Thanks!

a. - yes, separate from emergency fund

b. - Please help me out here if i'm wrong, but there doesn't seem to be much difference between ETF and Admiral shares, other than that admiral has a minimum $ requirement that ETF's don't. Also, through Vanguard's brokerage, there's no commission on sales/trading (which I will be doing monthly). I thought about parking $ into VTSAX until I meet the minimum requirements for all three funds, but figured ETF would be cleaner. Again, please inform me if I'm wrong!

[familydocPA]

I'm in virtually the same spot as you. I started investing in ETF's earlier this year but I think I will be switching to the mutual fund route soon, purely because of automated investing.  It seems like a lot bigger deal if you have to manually pull the trigger on every investment. If you decide ahead of time how much you want to invest per month and do it automatically, you never have to spend brain power on that decision again.

[StarTrekDoc]

Congrats!   No mention of kids, but if so - don't forget the 529.

Question:  are you a set and forget type or one who will watch and adjust the portfolio often to take of Tax Loss Harvesting?  That will be a factor in the instruments used.

This is a good time to get together with a financial planner to create an effective overall road map.

[DoubleMDs]

We are in a very similar position, although I'm a bit heavier in stocks and less in bonds then you given the long term investment horizon still ahead. I use admiral s and p 500 shares and total stock market shares in taxable to allow for tax loss harvesting (they are close to being interchangeable). If you don't want to mess with that though and want to set it and forget it based on your general allocation then what you have looks reasonable.

StL or Ari Cardinals fan? Hopefully Stl. Been a tough year so far though.

[CardinalsFan]

2 kids, 529's about to be funded to yearly max.

TLH is definitely something I'd like to take advantage of soon, maybe with a separate robo-brokerage account that can do it for me (Betterment, Wealthfront). I've read up on it, but seems a little above my pay grade. I am a set/forget type of person, which is why I've been over analyzing what funds to start out with.

 

And STL all the way, still have a puncher's chance in that division. 2011 seemed like a tough year, too  

[The White Coat Investor]

CardinalsFan wrote:

Hello, all.

 

I’ve recently paid off student loans  , maxing all tax-advantaged accounts. Time to start a taxable account. I’ve been researching a lot, but want to keep it as simple as I can. 34 years old. Does this mix look ok? I think I’ve settled on Vanguard ETF’s, unless there is a real difference in going the fund route.

 

50% VTI

25% VXUS

25% VTEB

 

Click to expand...

It's considered bad manners to use tickers instead of the name of the fund or asset class on the forum. I actually happen to know what two of your tickers are (and I know very few) but had to look up the third. That onus should be on the original poster/thread originator, not those trying to help you.

 

For those who are curious,

50% VTI = Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF

25% VXUS= Vanguard Total International Stock Market Index ETF

25% VTEB= Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond ETF

Those are all very tax-efficient funds and great taxable account holdings. The overall allocation itself is also just fine. It is probably best to consider all your investments aimed at a particular goal as one big asset allocation spread over various accounts, but there's something to be said for doing it your way too:

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/in-defense-of-the-easy-way/

[CardinalsFan]

Sorry about my poor etiquette! Thanks for posting the names. Big fan of the book/site.

[Hatton]

Wow! I learn something new every day.  I never knew it was poor etiquette to post ticker symbols only.  I rarely do it because all the Vanguard tickers are all so similar. V.......  The only Vanguard one I really like is BND.  I have confessed to trading individual stocks for a number of years before becoming an index convert so I guess I just learned lots of ticker symbols and how to "read the tape".  I actually contemplated getting the ticker for intel tattooed on my ankle but  common sense prevailed and the stock also crashed.

[jfoxcpacfp]

hatton1 wrote:

Wow! I learn something new every day.  I never knew it was poor etiquette to post ticker symbols only.  I rarely do it because all the Vanguard tickers are all so similar. V…….  The only Vanguard one I really like is BND.  I have confessed to trading individual stocks for a number of years before becoming an index convert so I guess I just learned lots of ticker symbols and how to “read the tape”.  I actually contemplated getting the ticker for intel tattooed on my ankle but  common sense prevailed and the stock also crashed.

Click to expand...

I don't think it's "officially" poor etiquette. But we can get so used to the funds that we are used to that it's easy to overlook that there are 10k funds out there and not everybody has the Vanguard symbols in their heads. I think the bigger problem is that a lot of people will not bother to respond because they don't want to take the time to look up the symbols and figure out the sectors.