Which investments in which accounts?

[ahyeah]

Hello, first time posting!

My wife is finishing fellowship and will start her first "real" job later this summer  We are just getting started on funding the retirement accounts. My question is regarding what types of investments should we put into the different retirement accounts?  Or does it matter?

She will have a 403b, a 457 (pretty sure it is governmental), and then we will do backdoor Roths, and then maybe a taxable account if we have more money we want to save.  I stay home with the kids.

For example, if we decide to put money in REITs, does it matter if its in the 403b, 457, roth, or taxable?

[jhwkr542]

Yes, when you're talking tax advantaged vs taxable. If it's all tax-advantaged accounts, then no. To get you started, here's a nice bogleheads wiki page, which discusses it fairly nicely. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_placement

[ahyeah]

Thank you for the link!!

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

Sounds like a great plan. Congrats to you and your wife!

The Bogleheads wiki answers the question. It's all about minimizing taxes.  Index stock funds, international stock funds, and perhaps muni bonds in taxable. Assets that create signinficant dividends or capital gains, like REIT or actively managed funds, should be in Roth or tax deferred.

Also, plan to decide together on an appropriate asset allocation and apply across all accounts rather than within each account. It helps to create a simple IPS.  WCI has a post on on how to write an IPS, and my IPS is available online.

Best,

-PoF