I'm not a big fan of the Principal 2045 fund. Can you find out the ticker symbol? Choices are: LTRIX, LTRGX,LTRSX,TLRVX,LTRLX and LTRDX. These all have slightly different expense ratios. The highest is 1.66%, the lowest is .79%. Vanguard's target 2045 fund has an expense ratio of .18%.
Being that her 401K is at John Hancock, this may be the best of a bunch of bad options.

Since you know you are light on bonds and international, what is your desired % split between stocks and bonds? What is your desired split between US and international of your stock portion? Once you decide these your moves become self evident.

thanks for your feedback unfrgvn.

I'm not a big fan of the Principal 2045 fund either (to clarify, this is my current work 401k, not hers). I can't easily tell you the ticker because their website seriously suffers when compared to Vanguard. I can tell you the expense ratio is 1.36%, and after doing a little research it looks like it's LTRVX (Principal LifeTime 2045 R3). Looks like spouse's JHancock lifestyle fund has a similar fee.

When I started working there we had a Simple IRA with Vanguard (hence my Vanguard investments), after a few years that changed to a 401k at The Standard (and I elected to keep my money at Vanguard and not roll it over in a large part due to the good fees at Vanguard), which was subsequently changed to The Principal because it was deemed by management the fees at The Standard were too high. FWIW my place of employment has <45 employees and I'd guess our 401k buying power isn't that strong?

The Principal 401k has limited investment options (expenses in parenthesis). Damn, I wish all of my $ was at Vanguard.

Short-Term Fixed Income
Morley Principal Stable Value Sig Fund (1.11%)

Fixed Income
PIMCO Income R Fund (1.10%)
PIMCO Real Return R Fund (1.10%)
Templeton Asset Management (?)
Templeton Global Bond R Fund (1.15%)

Balanced/Asset Allocation
Capital Research and Mgmt Co American Funds American Balanced R3 Fund (0.95%)
Franklin Income R Fund (0.98%)
MFS Growth Allocation R2 Fund (1.42%)
Principal LifeTime Strategic Income Separate Account (1.19%)
Principal LifeTime 2010-2060 funds (range between 1.26%-1.40%...the longer the timeframe, the higher the percentage)

Large U.S. Equity
Capital Research and Mgmt Co American Funds Washington Mutual Investors R3 Fund (0.96%)
Lord Abbett Fundamental Equity R3 Fund (1.24%)
Principal Global Investors LargeCap S&P 500 Index Separate Account (0.72%)
T. Rowe Price Growth Stock R Fund (1.2%)

Small/Mid U.S. Equity
Deutsche DWS RREEF Real Estate Sec R Fund (1.24%)
Principal Global Investors MidCap S&P 400 Index Separate Account (0.72%)
Principal Global Investors SmallCap S&P 600 Index Separate Account (0.72%)
Principal Global/Barrow Hanley MidCap Value III Separate Account (1.22%)

International Equity
Capital Research and Mgmt Co American Funds New World R3 Fund (1.36%)
T. Rowe Price International Growth & Income R Fund (1.38%)
T. Rowe Price International Stock R Fund (1.40%)

Other
PIMCO Commodity Real Return Strategy R Fund (1.44%)

regarding my desired split between stocks and bonds and US and international, I don't really have one right now. I was late to the game on the retirement investing front, and I'm just trying to catch up at the moment. I'd guess my appetite for risk is a little bit more than a 'typical' person my age.

Thanks Tyrannic. I neglected to mention that spouse and I have a joint checking account (current balance of $12,000) that covers all of our regular living expenses. She contributes $2,200 a month, and I contribute $2,600 a month. This account pays for pretty much everything...mortgages, insurance, property taxes, utilities, food, entertainment, vacations, car payment, etc., with typically around $400 a month total in extra contributions. We each cover our individual spending out of our separate checking accounts. I think that our individual accounts probably are de facto emergency accounts separate from the joint?

Country: USA

Income: 75k myself (married with wife making around 55k but will be making closer to 90 k in a few years)

Age: 29

Risk: medium to high

Here is the the scenario,I am a civilian and have 15 % of my check going to a thrift savings account where I get matched 5 %.

The current options for fund allocations are as follows

I- international fund
G- government fund(secure)
Life cycle fund- based on when you will retire it moves money around the remaining funds to get to lower risk towards retirement
C- based on S&P 500
F-represents the us bond market
S-total stock market index not including companies in S&P 500

How would you allocate your funds if you knew you had at least thirty years before withdraw and this will count for the majority of your retirement sAvings( wife has her own retirement system but as of right now we have no real investments.

I thought your principal portfolio 'lifetime 45' was a Vanguard Target date retirement 2045. You seem aware of fees and the not so great options for that account. Just max out the match then shift any additional investing dollars to Vanguard.

Re: the separate account sure. As long as it has like 3 months living expenses in there.

So, looking just at your money in your 401k, Vanguard Roth, and vanguard IRA, I come up with ~ $247000:
150K 401k
Vanguard portfolio:
$12k in Roth IRA VTSMX (will contribute 5500 a year moving forward to roth)
$10k in straight VTSAX
$75k 53% VTSMX, 26% VISGX, 21% VWNFX

I would start with an 80/20 stock bond split. So that is $197,000 stocks, $49,400 bonds/ Of the $197,000 stock money, I would go 70 /30 domestic / international. That gives us $137,900 US, $59,100 international. I don't like any of the bond funds in your 401k, so I would keep all of my bond money in the IRA. I think the best(cheapest) funds in your 401k are these 3 US stock funds.
I think this approximates the total US market pretty well.
50%($68,500) Principal LargeCap S&P 500 Index Separate Account (0.72%)
30%($41,100) Principal MidCap S&P 400 Index Separate Account (0.72%)
20%($27,400) Principal SmallCap S&P 600 Index Separate Account (0.72%)

That leaves us 13,000 in the 401k. I would put it in the international fund:
($13,000) Capital Research and Mgmt Co American Funds New World R3 Fund (1.36%)

Vanguard:
$49,400 VBLTX Admiral Total Bond Index
$46,100 VTIAX Admiral Total International

Any of these could be argued with or tweaked, but I would be reasonably happy with this. I plugged this into instant X-ray and it showed an overall expense ratio of .35%, with 55% US stock, 23% international, and 20% bonds.

Hopefully there aren't any obvious math errors in my calculations, it is late.

should be a quick-ish question.

the deferred comp program offered at my job is just a renamed 457b program.

As my job has a pension down the road (should be 40-50k/yr depending on how my career works out)- Which form of contribution would be preferred (roth/ pre tax)

Grunch
I'm at a relatively low tax rate now, but between pension/ ss(hardy harr harr)- would i end up paying more tax on the backend when i go to withdraw from the 457b?

as of now my contributions are pretax but easily modifiable going forward.

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thanks to this forum too, i crunched expenses in the 457 and saw that a few of the funds i was in were excessive in their fees, also i just made my 2013 roth ira contribution (first) through vanguard. Good looking out on the boglehead reading

What kinda of living costs should Yiu have saved up in cash before you start putting money in stocks etc. I currently have about 5 months but given its pretty easy for me to withdraw money from my stocks oif necessary in probably don't need any more?

Job/income is very secure, plus I'm in sales so there are plenty of other jobs available as well

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General rule of thumb is 3-6 months of expenses is your emergency fund. If you live at home with parents and won't starve if you lose your job, 3 months is probably good. If you have 3 young kids and an non working wife and an unstable job, you might want a years expenses as an EF.

Cool. I rent but am single with noone relying on me, so having 6 months should be more than enough.

Cheers

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Country: USA
Age: 23
Risk tolerance: mid/high
Income: 100k-300k/year

I have about 70k in checking, ~10k in bitcoins, 30k in ETFs and invested 25k in a rental/housing thing my parents involved me in, which pays 150-200/month.

I play poker (mainly live cash) and am graduating in two months, and have done very well even part time, so perhaps when I go full time and have more focus I'll have even better results. My goals right now are to situate myself to where my investments pay my bills (I'm moving out of my place now but expect to be paying ~3k/month for rent, then likely 3-5k/month on food/lifestyle). I love the idea of having passive income sources and although up until now my financial orientation has been simply to grind a lot, I want to reach the point where I don't really have to play, which will give me time to travel and thoroughly explore my quarter-life crisis, where I can then decide what deeper goals for my life I'd like to embark on, all while experiencing little to no financial anxiety . I have no student loans. Lastly, this is the first time I'm putting a more concerted effort into structuring my financial future, so I'll be sure to look through the other thread ("What should I read?").

So if I read your post correctly, you want a portfolio of investments that will generate 75 to 100k a year with no "financial anxiety", while you travel the world? And you currently have about ~150k?

You need about 2.5 to 3 mill to set this up. If you can save 200k a year for the next 10 years you might get there.

Sounds about right. I'm sure my goals will get more specific/sophisticated the more I research and think about them. Regardless of exactly what they end up becoming, I'm specifically fond of those that pay monthly dividends at the moment. Having money tied up helps me avoid taking shots when big games run, which lowers variance, as well as make less than prudent purchases (this seems pretty standard/intuitive).

I'll read through a lot of the info on here, but any general advice will be helpful; basically I am thoroughly enjoying poker right now but don't anticipate playing through my 30s, so planning to save when potentially entering a lower-paying career field later on is essentially what I'm going for. All very speculative so far of course.

Cut down on your expenses imo.

Professional UK player with 0 clue about investing. I have 60k pounds that I can invest without missing it, but would prefer if it wasn't all tied up for a considerable stretch of time.

Any advice on a strategy would be very gratefully received. Ideally I would like 70-80% in lower risk investments.

It's quite easy, especially if you are UK. I would say about 8K is more than enough to achieve an easy recurring and stable ROI on you investment. It's something I do myself. Mainly US and France, but not really targeted the UK market yet.

I think if anyone is looking at an investment for 10+ years you cant go wrong with a rental property! with a stock you gain interest on the amount you invest with property your investment is your equity, a monthly payment in your pocket and as the price of housing increases your investment grows.

check out an auction see what doesn't sell then approach these extremely desperate owners and offer a stupidly low bid. do this 50 times and you will get a bargain to start you off.

I should mention I haven't done this myself but have been researching investing a lot recently and it seems like the best thing I've seen.

Anyone know anything about buying timber lands? (preferably on the west coast)

You're going to have to be more specific.

Yes

stock is a passive investment. Rental properties are not. Despite what you may think. I have friends who've gotten into those. 40 hrs a week on the job, 40 hrs a week dealing with his rentals (renovating, repairing, dealing with tenants, finding tenants, finances, etc).

Obv a large difference between "a rental property" and several rental properties

I agree with you however its not as bad as it seems if your not work shy. My father is a doctor who works many more hours than your average guy but still has time to handle the 5/6 rental properties that he and his wife own. Granted I'm dragged out to move beds/sofas etc from time to time but it's never to bad.

If it were upto me I would have an agent to it all anyway including the garenteed rent and save the aggrivation.

It's a good point tho they are different kinds of investment so not truely comparable.

Country you live in: The Netherlands
Income: ~€1000 / month after expenses
Risk Tolerance: High
Timeframe for investment: 40+ years
Debt: None
Amount to invest: ~5k at the moment

Any other information you might have that would help us

I have enough money saved up to pay for my remaining years in college, and have no outstanding debts apart from my student debt. If I finish my study within 7 years, I will not have to pay the student debt back to the government.

I have little monthly costs as of now, but I am planning on getting a shared apartment with a couple of roommates. This will bring my total monthly costs up to around €600. These costs do not factor in tuiton, as I have that money put aside on a savings account, getting a yearly interest of 1.6%. There is enough money on that account to cover living expenses as well throughout college, were I to become unable to work.

I am looking to start investing in a portfolio, making as little investments as possible to keep transaction costs low. I have over 40 years of earnings ahead of me, and plan to hold this portfolio for the long term. I'd like to start with an aggresive portfolio, consisting of 90-95% equities and 5-10% bonds.

I'm considering:

iShares S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc) (IACC)
iShares MSCI World UCITS ETF (Acc) (IWDA)
iShares MSCI Europe UCITS ETF (Acc) (IMAE)
iShares Euro Inflation Link Bond UCITS ETF (CSBILE)

What is the German equivalent of Vanguard? I have a friend that has some cash from poker that wants to invest and diversify but he is EU and had trouble opening a VG.

thx!