Welcome!
Some initial comments:
Emergency Fund: keep slowly working up to at least 6 mos.
Debt: Relatively small. Up to you whether or not you want to pay them faster or as agreed.
Asset Allocation
* Being more aggressive is not a solution to "catch up". A higher allocation entails greater risk and you can just as easily lose money. It is more important that you choose an allocation that you can be comfortable with and avoid bad behaviors like panic selling during periods of volatility.
* International: Current guidance is no less than 20% and not more than 40%.
* Bonds: I have found bonds to be more complex than stocks. During our most recent bout of inflation, quite a few people were surprised how bonds performed. You should not invest in things you don't understand. 10% bonds is fine and can be part of your education...just make sure you start now so you will be prepared and know what you need / want in the future.
Retirement Assets
Texas Retirement Pension: Does this pension have a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)? When are you eligible to collect?
Brokerage: Do not underestimate the value of simplicity. Your portfolio is needlessly complex and investments with small allocations do not move the needle for your portfolio and are essentially "clutter". You want a simple, diversified portfolio that matches your tolerance for risk and will endure for the long term. This can easily be accomplished with very few investments.
A typical example:
* Total US Stock Market (VTI)
* Total Intl Stock Market (VXUS)
* Total US Bonds (BND) or similar
That's it! Of course, I recognize that one can be limited in the funds available to them for their employer. You just do you best to align it with the rest of your portfolio. For example, if you don't have Total Stock Market, the 500 Index may be best alternative.
Clean things up and you will have a better setup that will be easy to understand and manage. I would also sell the bonds in the deposit box...just clutter as mentioned before. Also, unless I am maxing out all of my tax advantaged accounts, I would generally not be interested investing monies in a taxable one.
Finally, I would strongly encourage you not to invest in individual stocks. For me, this is just "guessing and hoping" for excess returns where you can just as easily do worse than if you stick with a simple portfolio.
Annual Expenses
* What are your current annual expenses...include everything...even taxes. Best guesstimate.
* How much annual income do you want / need for when you are no longer working?
Partner
* Are you sharing your finances together or separately?
* Mortgage: What is the interest rate?
* Car loan: ok
* 10K credit card bill - would aggressively pay this off due to high interest rate and get spending under control.
Your Questions
1. I would focus on simplifying your portfolio first.
2. Not sure...someone else will likely provide a reply.
3. Why do you think it is a good idea to do this?
4. Will have better visibility once you have cleaned up your portfolio and accounts.
5. My understanding is this is your HSA account? Typically, these accounts are not great and include fees, etc. I would strongly encourage you to reconsider and setup a new HSA account with Fidelity which is recognized among the best (if not the best) for HSAs. You can then make periodic transfers from HSABank for your Fidielity account.
6. As mentioned above...Fidelity.
Best wishes.
Some initial comments:
Emergency Fund: keep slowly working up to at least 6 mos.
Debt: Relatively small. Up to you whether or not you want to pay them faster or as agreed.
Asset Allocation
* Being more aggressive is not a solution to "catch up". A higher allocation entails greater risk and you can just as easily lose money. It is more important that you choose an allocation that you can be comfortable with and avoid bad behaviors like panic selling during periods of volatility.
* International: Current guidance is no less than 20% and not more than 40%.
* Bonds: I have found bonds to be more complex than stocks. During our most recent bout of inflation, quite a few people were surprised how bonds performed. You should not invest in things you don't understand. 10% bonds is fine and can be part of your education...just make sure you start now so you will be prepared and know what you need / want in the future.
Retirement Assets
Texas Retirement Pension: Does this pension have a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)? When are you eligible to collect?
Brokerage: Do not underestimate the value of simplicity. Your portfolio is needlessly complex and investments with small allocations do not move the needle for your portfolio and are essentially "clutter". You want a simple, diversified portfolio that matches your tolerance for risk and will endure for the long term. This can easily be accomplished with very few investments.
A typical example:
* Total US Stock Market (VTI)
* Total Intl Stock Market (VXUS)
* Total US Bonds (BND) or similar
That's it! Of course, I recognize that one can be limited in the funds available to them for their employer. You just do you best to align it with the rest of your portfolio. For example, if you don't have Total Stock Market, the 500 Index may be best alternative.
Clean things up and you will have a better setup that will be easy to understand and manage. I would also sell the bonds in the deposit box...just clutter as mentioned before. Also, unless I am maxing out all of my tax advantaged accounts, I would generally not be interested investing monies in a taxable one.
Finally, I would strongly encourage you not to invest in individual stocks. For me, this is just "guessing and hoping" for excess returns where you can just as easily do worse than if you stick with a simple portfolio.
Annual Expenses
* What are your current annual expenses...include everything...even taxes. Best guesstimate.
* How much annual income do you want / need for when you are no longer working?
Partner
* Are you sharing your finances together or separately?
* Mortgage: What is the interest rate?
* Car loan: ok
* 10K credit card bill - would aggressively pay this off due to high interest rate and get spending under control.
Your Questions
1. I would focus on simplifying your portfolio first.
2. Not sure...someone else will likely provide a reply.
3. Why do you think it is a good idea to do this?
4. Will have better visibility once you have cleaned up your portfolio and accounts.
5. My understanding is this is your HSA account? Typically, these accounts are not great and include fees, etc. I would strongly encourage you to reconsider and setup a new HSA account with Fidelity which is recognized among the best (if not the best) for HSAs. You can then make periodic transfers from HSABank for your Fidielity account.
6. As mentioned above...Fidelity.
Best wishes.
Statistics: Posted by invest4 — Thu Nov 14, 2024 1:21 am — Replies 1 — Views 172