About half a year ago I took a new job. It’s a great job and the pay is good. Unfortunately, I have no retirement plan. So I am DIY-ing my investments. I’m fairly conservative, so basically I’m in index funds (S&P500, Total Bond, and Real Estate). I have a very small amount of a few other things, but it’s pretty down the middle index fund boring investing.
Because I cannot access IRAs or 401ks this is in a Fidelity brokerage account. I’m reasonably well informed and not in any way panicking over the current market gyrations. It does bother me that I have to pay taxes on gains in my “retirement” fund, so any strategies to help there would be interesting as well.
I’m curious as to any thoughts people have on investing strategies and favorite funds. And what do you think of using a manager- given the conventional wisdom around low-fee index funds, I find it hard to pay someone 1% to over manage my money and fail to beat index funds.
And before the lectures start, no, I am not going to simply run off and take the advice from strangers on the internet. Just looking for ideas and food for thought.
How old are you? That counts.
Some of the market indexes got unbalanced lately because of the run up of tech stocks, though in general that’s the way to go. Just be aware of that.
When I approached retirement, I moved some money to dividend producing funds, which produce good cash flow and are less volatile than your standard funds. I lost some gains on the upside, but they are doing better on the downside. But since they produce more than enough money for me to live on, I don’t really care what my supposed balance is.
But not that great an idea if you are 30.
John Bogle, the inventor of the index fund concept, said, “The best way to beat the average is to aim for average.” In other words, once you factor in the cost of paying somebody to manage your money for you, you’ll probably end up with a below-average rate of return.
I’m 48, and I estimate about a 15 year horizon for taking money from my investments. As I mentioned upthread I have a bit in Fidelity Total Bond Index. That’s in my 401k (I do have a 401k from previous employment, just not one at my current job). My plan was always to look at more fixed income when I’m closer to retirement.
Sounds like you’re already doing what you can. There’s the question of the mix of funds you’re in, but from the tenor of the OP and replies, it seems you’ve probably already considered that.
There’s the question of the IRA but that may or may not be beneficial depending on what your tax situation is now and will be at expected retirement.
Over the long term, you can’t expect to beat index funds. The only people who can dare to expect such things are people who are in the market hard core, who are very smart, well trained who do this for a living, who eat, drink, and breathe stock valuation. That isn’t you, and isn’t anyone you can hire to manage your money.
Any of us CAN beat the market, we just can’t expect to. If you try any strategy that you think will beat the market, all you’re actually doing is increasing the variation of your returns, increasing your risk without getting any value back for taking on the risk.
What you’re doing, sticking to index funds and other broad types of funds is 100% appropriate. You’re getting the diversity of investment you need (minimizing that sort of risk) and keeping your cost of investment low.
At the moment, look very hard at your IRA, Roth IRA, 401k options to maximize the tax implications of your investments. Maybe talk to someone at Fidelity, you are likely to get more value out of a tax conversation than anything having to do with where to invest the money. Roth IRA might be where you go, it’s after tax dollars today, but you get a tax break when you pull the money out after retirement.
You know, I’ve asked Fidelity that question, and they’ve never given an answer (there’s some lady who calls from time to time to ask if she can help, and answers all my questions with “I can’t give advice or suggestions.”
So I’ll get the deferment on things like dividends and other realized gains? I did not know that.
There are potential tax benefits for an IRA over a brokerage account even without the deduction as you will be paying taxes either upfront in the case of a Roth and then taking distributions tax free or getting tax free growth and paying taxes on distribution for a traditional. Your income upon retirement may be different (often less) than in your prime earning years, so this can make a difference.
As opposed to a brokerage account where you will generally settle up with the IRS every year.
Generally yes, but YMMV, which is why you’re not going to get a solid answer from anybody over the phone.