Retirement Investment Approaches

[SeabeeGator]

Esteemed members...

Looking to switch the 401k over as discussed above but wondering which service (if any) stands out for funds? I am doing some research but it is difficult to figure out who’s funds perform best over time. I would like to keep the vast majority in index funds (large/mid/small caps) and bonds (preferably a high performing “mix bond”) with a little left over for some industry specific stuff. Any service suggestions or do all the ones Brad listed earlier in the thread offer about the same level of service? What distinguishes each from the others?

 

[bradgator2]

It’s hard. You can read some analysis on them on Morningstar. If you picked a brokerage account, they also have reports you can read. For example, TDAmeritrade has all of these incredibly detailed pdfs I can read just on Apple. They are usually way over my head:

 

[UFHealthGator]

I just rebalanced my 401k, and I like my investment strategy to be as simple as possible. I max out 401k and 457b (39k). I also max out a backdoor Roth IRA x2 (myself and spouse) for 12k.

This is what I have in my 401k/457b. It is with fidelity and it automatically re balances every year.

VIIIX (50%), (VEMPX ( 5%), FOCSX (5%), VTMNX (25%), VBTIX (15%).

I like to stick to vanguard funds where I can, because they have extremely low fees and generally very well run. FOCSX is the only small cap fund I have available and has a relatively high expense ratio (0.6%). All the vanguard stuff are less than 0.1%, most less than 0.05%.

I also have a taxable account that I am growing (after maxing our all tax advantaged accounts). I like to keep it simple there too:
VTSAX 55%, VTIAX 25%, VBTLX 20%.

It is on Autoinvest, takes a chunk of my checking account every month, and autoinvest. I re balance once a year.

People could keep thinking for days about what way to make your portfolio. I think the only thing that matters is how to set your Stock / Bond ratio to something appropriate to your age and timeline to retirement / risk. Everything else is complete crap shoot. Just stick to something reasonable, and money that goes into these kinds of accounts are things you should pretend you never had in the first place and forget about. Just make sure you re balance annually.