Tweet
Hello forum,
I am continuing to try to educate myself about this financial stuff. I am a big believer in active learning so I have created a spreadsheet for myself and read about all these funds on morningstar and similar sites. I am not sure when my wife and I will actually be starting a taxable account since we need to first fill up our tax-advantaged accounts and clean up some remaining student loan debt. However, in my reading today I have come up with two questions.
1. If I want to add bond coverage to our portfolio, is there a risk of only doing so utilizing municipal bonds in a taxable account for bond allocation? I don't foresee going above 10% bonds in the next 5 years and it is tax efficient, so it seems reasonable to me but I am still learning? We are currently 100% equities, but I am starting to rethink that since my wife is much more risk averse than I am. I am not the biggest fan of the bond options in our tax advantaged accounts except for the Vanguard Total Bond Index (VBTLX) for our Roths and iShares US Aggregate Bond (WFBIX) for my wife's 403b from a previous employer, but I am not sure if they are better than municipal bonds.
2. Is it mathematically valid to add the expense ratio and the tax-cost ratio to estimate the total "fees" for a particular mutual fund for a taxable account? In the spreadsheet below I organized the Mutual funds based on asset class then what I thought would be the "total cost ratio."
NOTE: Table may not be viewable on phone
I am continuing to try to educate myself about this financial stuff. I am a big believer in active learning so I have created a spreadsheet for myself and read about all these funds on morningstar and similar sites. I am not sure when my wife and I will actually be starting a taxable account since we need to first fill up our tax-advantaged accounts and clean up some remaining student loan debt. However, in my reading today I have come up with two questions.
1. If I want to add bond coverage to our portfolio, is there a risk of only doing so utilizing municipal bonds in a taxable account for bond allocation? I don't foresee going above 10% bonds in the next 5 years and it is tax efficient, so it seems reasonable to me but I am still learning? We are currently 100% equities, but I am starting to rethink that since my wife is much more risk averse than I am. I am not the biggest fan of the bond options in our tax advantaged accounts except for the Vanguard Total Bond Index (VBTLX) for our Roths and iShares US Aggregate Bond (WFBIX) for my wife's 403b from a previous employer, but I am not sure if they are better than municipal bonds.
2. Is it mathematically valid to add the expense ratio and the tax-cost ratio to estimate the total "fees" for a particular mutual fund for a taxable account? In the spreadsheet below I organized the Mutual funds based on asset class then what I thought would be the "total cost ratio."
NOTE: Table may not be viewable on phone
| Taxable Account | ||||||
| Investment Name | Symbol | Asset Class | Exp Ratio | Minimum Investment | Tax-Cost Ratio | Total Cost Ratio (ER+TCR) |
| Vanguard Tax-Managed Balanced Fund Admiral Shares | VTMFX | Balanced | 0.09% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.58% | 0.67% |
| Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VWIUX | Intermediate-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.09% |
| Vanguard California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VCADX | Intermediate-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.11% |
| Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VWITX | Intermediate-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Vanguard California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VCAIX | Intermediate-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.21% |
| Fidelity Intermediate Municipal Income Fund | FLTMX | Intermediate-Term Bond | 0.35% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.04% | 0.39% |
| Vanguard High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VWALX | Long-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.09% |
| Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares | VTEAX | Long-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.09% |
| Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VCLAX | Long-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.11% |
| Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VWLUX | Long-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.11% |
| Vanguard New York Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VNYUX | Long-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.03% | 0.12% |
| Vanguard Pennsylvania Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VPALX | Long-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.04% | 0.13% |
| Vanguard New Jersey Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VNJUX | Long-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.06% | 0.15% |
| Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund | VMATX | Long-Term Bond | 0.15% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.17% |
| Vanguard High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VWAHX | Long-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund Investor Shares | VTEBX | Long-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VCITX | Long-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.21% |
| Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VWLTX | Long-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.21% |
| Vanguard Ohio Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund | VOHIX | Long-Term Bond | 0.15% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.07% | 0.22% |
| Vanguard New York Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VNYTX | Long-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.03% | 0.22% |
| Vanguard Pennsylvania Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VPAIX | Long-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.04% | 0.23% |
| Vanguard New Jersey Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VNJTX | Long-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.06% | 0.25% |
| Fidelity Tax-Free Bond | FTABX | Long-Term Bond | 0.25% | $ 25,000.00 | 0.04% | 0.29% |
| Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund | VMSXX | Money Market | 0.15% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.01% | 0.16% |
| Vanguard California Municipal Money Market Fund | VCTXX | Money Market | 0.16% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.01% | 0.17% |
| Vanguard New Jersey Municipal Money Market Fund | VNJXX | Money Market | 0.16% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.01% | 0.17% |
| Vanguard New York Municipal Money Market Fund | VYFXX | Money Market | 0.16% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.01% | 0.17% |
| Vanguard Pennsylvania Municipal Money Market Fund | VPTXX | Money Market | 0.16% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.01% | 0.17% |
| Fidelity Tax-Exempt Money Market | FMOXX | Money Market | 0.45% | $ 5,000.00 | 0.29% | 0.74% |
| Fideltiy California Ltd Trm Tax-Fr BdFd | FCSTX | Municipal Bond | 0.47% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.49% |
| Fidelity Michigan Municipal Income Fund | FMHTX | Municipal Bond | 0.49% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.05% | 0.54% |
| Fidelity New Jersey Municipal Income Fd | FNJHX | Municipal Bond | 0.47% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.08% | 0.55% |
| Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Inc Fd | FDMMX | Municipal Bond | 0.46% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.10% | 0.56% |
| Fidelity Pennsylvania Municipal Income Fund | FPXTX | Municipal Bond | 0.49% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.07% | 0.56% |
| Fidelity Minnesota Municipal Income Fd | FIMIX | Municipal Bond | 0.50% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.06% | 0.56% |
| Fidelity New York Municipal Income Fund | FTFMX | Municipal Bond | 0.46% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.11% | 0.57% |
| Fidelity Ohio Municipal Income Fund | FOHFX | Municipal Bond | 0.48% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.11% | 0.59% |
| Fidelity California Municipal Income Fd | FCMAX | Municipal Bond | 0.80% | $ 2,500.00 | 0.06% | 0.86% |
| Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VMLUX | Short-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.09% |
| Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares | VWSUX | Short-Term Bond | 0.09% | $ 50,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.09% |
| Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VMLTX | Short-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares | VWSTX | Short-Term Bond | 0.19% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Fidelity Limited Term Municipal Income | FSTFX | Short-Term Bond | 0.48% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.02% | 0.50% |
| Fidelity Emerging Markets Index Premium | FPMAX | Stock- Emerging Markets | 0.13% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.75% | 0.88% |
| Fidelity Global ex US Index Fund Investor Class | FSGUX | Stock- Foreign Large Blend | 0.17% | $ 2,500.00 | 0.58% | 0.75% |
| Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Investor Shares | VGTSX | Stock- Foreign Large Blend | 0.18% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.66% | 0.84% |
| Fidelity Global ex US Index Fund Premium Class | FSGDX | Stock- Foreign Large Blend | 0.10% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.83% | 0.93% |
| Fidelity International Index Investor | FSIIX | Stock- Foreign Large Blend | 0.16% | $ 2,500.00 | 0.82% | 0.98% |
| Fidelity International Index Premium | FSIVX | Stock- Foreign Large Blend | 0.06% | $ 10,000.00 | 1.03% | 1.09% |
| Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares | VTIAX | Stock- Foreign Large Blend | 0.11% | $ 10,000.00 | 1.03% | 1.14% |
| Vanguard Tax-Managed Capital Appreciation Fund Admiral Shares | VTCLX | Stock- Large Blend | 0.09% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.36% | 0.45% |
| Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares | VTSAX | Stock- Large Blend | 0.04% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.42% | 0.46% |
| Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares | VTSMX | Stock- Large Blend | 0.15% | $ 3,000.00 | 0.40% | 0.55% |
| Fidelity 500 Index Fund Premium Class | FUSVX | Stock- Large Blend | 0.04% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.51% | 0.55% |
| Fidelity 500 Index Fund Investor Class | FUSEX | Stock- Large Blend | 0.09% | $ 2,500.00 | 0.63% | 0.72% |
| Fidelity Total Market Index Fund Investor Class | FSTMX | Stock- Large Blend | 0.09% | $ 2,500.00 | 0.67% | 0.76% |
| Fidelity Total Market Index Premium | FSTVX | Stock- Large Blend | 0.04% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.76% | 0.80% |
| Fidelity Large Cap Value Index Fund Premium Class | FLCHX | Stock- Large Value | 0.05% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.99% | 1.04% |
| Fidelity Large Cap Value Index Fund Investor Class | FLCDX | Stock- Large Value | 0.17% | $ 2,500.00 | 0.93% | 1.10% |
| Fidelity Extended Market Index Investor | FSEMX | Stock- Mid-Cap Blend | 0.10% | $ 2,500.00 | 0.86% | 0.96% |
| Fidelity Extended Market Index Premium | FSEVX | Stock- Mid-Cap Blend | 0.07% | $ 10,000.00 | 1.08% | 1.15% |
| Vanguard Tax-Managed Small Cap Fund Admiral Shares | VTMSX | Stock- Small Blend | 0.09% | $ 10,000.00 | 0.23% | 0.32% |
Comment