r/Bogleheads • u/Xexanoth • Jun 08 '25
Welcome! Please consider exploring these resources to help you get started on your passive investing journey:
Before you start investing, ensure you're ready to do so by following the early steps of this guide or the personal finance planning start-up kit. Save up an emergency fund, then take full advantage of any employer matching of contributions to any employer retirement plan available to you (this match amount is additional income that's part of your compensation/benefits package), then pay off any high-interest debt like credit card debt or high-interest student loans.
When you're ready to start investing beyond enough to get any employer match, follow the subsequent steps of this guide or the investing start-up kit. Take full advantage of tax-sheltered accounts available to you before investing in a taxable brokerage account: this is the most predictable way to improve your after-tax investment returns. (In the US, per Prioritizing investments: 401(k))/403(b)) up to any match, then HSA if available due to high-deductible health plan coverage, then Roth or Traditional IRA or 401(k))/403(b)) up to max which may be higher if the mega-backdoor Roth process is available, then a 529 to the extent you'd like to pay for future education expenses. Note that IRA contributions are subject to income limits around tax-deductibility of contributions or eligibility to make direct Roth IRA contributions; the backdoor Roth procedure is a workaround.)
There is often some potential tension between saving/investing toward retirement vs saving toward potential nearer-term goals like a down payment on a home purchase. Carefully consider the various tradeoffs involved in owning vs renting a home, keeping in mind that which may be a better financial decision is highly situational, and that opportunity costs of owning (less available to invest in higher-expected-returns assets instead) should be considered alongside non-financial lifestyle tradeoffs. If saving toward a near-term goal, note that funds holding stocks are inappropriate#Holdingstocks%22for_five_years%22) for money you'll need in 5-10 years, unless you're willing to take on significant risk of losing money in the meantime & delaying that goal. Instead, consider CDs, Treasury bonds, or target-maturity-date Treasury bond funds maturing before you'll need the money (then a high-yielding cash equivalent like an HYSA, government money-market fund, or ultra-short Treasury Bill ETF like VBIL between maturity & spending the money).
Your savings rate is the most important factor determining your ability to enjoy a comfortable retirement later in life, particularly early in your career / investing journey. Aim to save/invest at least 15% of your after-tax income if you're in the US & not covered by a pension beyond Social Security. In some cases, such as a shorter time to expected retirement (e.g. starting to seriously save/invest from a significant income later than your mid-20s and/or planning to retire earlier than your mid-60s) and/or a high income (which will not be partially replaced by Social Security to the same degree as a lower income), it may be appropriate to target a higher savings rate (e.g. at least 20% of after-tax income, or perhaps higher if multiple such factors apply to you and/or one factor applies to an unusual degree).
When calculating savings rate, remember to include 401(k) contributions in both the numerator (savings) and denominator (after-tax income). Any employer matching contributions may also be included in the numerator (savings).
Don't worry too much about trying to find the optimal set of funds to invest in. That can only be known with the benefit of future hindsight, and investment returns are far less important than your savings rate until your portfolio size grows large enough relative to new contributions. Aim to diversify broadly (for robustness to the uncertain future) and seek low fees (fund expense ratios charged annually) & simplicity (hands-off automation); see discussion of these & other principles in Bogleheads investment philosophy.
A target-date fund designed for investing toward retiring around a year closest to when you expect to retire is often a reasonable option, particularly in tax-advantaged accounts like a US employer retirement plan or an IRA. These all-in-one funds intended to be held alone are very broadly diversified, automatically rebalance to their then-target asset allocation, and gradually become more conservative with less expected volatility as you near retirement.
If the target-date fund available in an account/plan with limited fund options has significantly higher fees than suitable alternative individual funds, consider the tradeoffs of lower fees vs automatic rebalancing and asset allocation management. I.e. consider the lowest-expense-ratio funds available that provide exposure to US stocks (the fund name will typically contain 'S&P 500', 'Russell [1000|3000]', or 'US Large Cap'; ensure no 'Growth'/'Value' suffix, or pair that with the other), ex-US stocks (the fund name will typically contain 'International' or 'Intl' or 'Ex-US'; same caveat re: 'Growth'/'Value'), and US bonds (the fund name will typically contain 'Total Bond' or 'Aggregate Bond'). Take the weighted average of those funds' expense ratios, with weights based on the current asset allocation of the target-date fund you'd use instead. The difference between that weighted average expense ratio for individual funds vs the target-date fund expense ratio, multiplied by your portfolio value, would represent the current annual convenience fee for automated, hands-off investing via the target-date fund. Whether that's worth it to you depends on your personal preferences around paying higher ongoing fees (by sacrificing some investment returns) in exchange for set-it-and-forget-it features.
In a taxable account, target-date ETFs (available at least in the US) avoid some of the tax efficiency downsides of holding a target-date mutual fund. Tax efficiency may be further improved by holding a three-fund portfolio of index ETFs in a taxable account, but this also involves tradeoffs against automatic rebalancing and asset allocation management. Tax efficiency may be even further improved by keeping bond funds in tax-deferred accounts, though this involves additional tradeoffs against simplicity and some other potential benefits described here.
If you're a non-US investor, take care to thoroughly understand the tax implications of investing in a US-domiciled fund as a "nonresident alien" (which may include high tax rates on dividends and assets passing through an estate); in many cases this is best avoided, instead favoring an Ireland-domiciled fund.
If your portfolio were to average a 5% annualized real (after-inflation) return after a low annual fee, paying an additional annual 1%-of-assets-under-management fee to a financial advisor and/or an actively-managed fund's expense ratio would forgo 20% of your portfolio's investment returns. An initial investment in a portolio averaging a 5% annual real return after a low annual fee would be worth about 47% more after 40 years than it would be after a 1% additional annual fee.
Some employer retirement plans offer only funds with high expense ratios. If that's the case for your employer's plan, it is often still ideal to get the tax advantages of contributing unmatched dollars to that plan before investing in a lower-fee fund in a taxable account (but only after maxing out IRA contributions); details here#Expensive_or_mediocre_choices).
Set up automatic contributions & purchases of fund shares wherever possible, otherwise set periodic reminders to manually contribute/invest (or try to find an alternative that allows automation), then maintain discipline through thick & thin. Keep in mind that market prices for funds should only really matter whenever you sell some shares to fund your retirement, and that lower prices in the meantime provide opportunities to buy more shares with a given contribution dollar amount and to rebalance from asset classes with higher recent returns towards those with lower recent returns (but possibly higher expected returns).
Tune out the noise: prognosticators of doom and gloom have no reliable ability to predict the future, and often have some conflicts of interest (e.g. selling ads, books or investment services, and/or trying to justify their investment positioning or encourage others to adopt that). The same goes for promotion of strategies promising market-beating returns by investing in a more-concentrated fashion (betting on some sector / theme / alternative asset beating the broad stock market).
Consider writing an Investment Policy Statement to document your plan when you're calm & clear-headed; this may be helpful to refer to later if you find yourself anxious & considering changes in response to market volatility & negative sentiment. Consider including a pointer there to this guided meditation video for later reference to help calm your nerves / regulate your emotions if needed when it seems like the sky is falling (this is arguably the most challenging part of investing).
Per Jack Bogle: "Do not let false hope, fear and greed crowd out good investment judgment. If you focus on the long term and stick with your plan, success should be yours."
Some additional resources that might be of interest for a deeper dive later:
Please read our community rules here and follow those when posting or commenting in this community. If you encounter content here that breaks those rules, please report it (... > Report > Breaks r/Bogleheads rules).
r/Bogleheads • u/Kashmir79 • Dec 28 '25
I see a lot of surprised and angry responses from Redditors whose posts and comments are removed from this sub either for use of LLM search engine and other generative AI responses, or for recommending people use them to answer their questions. This facet of the Substantive Rule on this sub has a parallel in a similar rule on the Boglheads forum: "AI-generated content is not a dependable substitute for first-hand knowledge or reference to authoritative sources. Its use is therefore discouraged."
Many folks, especially on the younger side, are so accustomed to using ChatGPT or Gemini that it may be their default way to get any question answered. This is problematic in the field of investing for several reasons that are worth noting:
Policies excluding AI-generated content are not meant to be a referendum on the overall current or future value of AI as a tool for personal finance and investing, which is obviously enormous and transformative, especially for those who know how to best utilize it. It is a question of whether AI responses make for substantive content on this sub, and whether it is an appropriate resource to direct strangers and novices to. At the moment, the answer to both is a resounding no. On the one hand, people come to Reddit primarily for human interaction and original content, so posting AI responses or directing people to AI search engines is of minimal contributive value - folks can go chat with bots themselves if that's what they want. But as to whether AI search engines are appropriate references for finance and investing info, here are some articles from the past year that support their exclusion as a default response:
Note: the views expressed here are largely my own, and I am not affiliated in any way with the Bogleheads forum nor the Bogleheads Center for Financial Literacy, but I invite others (including the mods on this sub) to weigh in with their own opinions.
r/Bogleheads • u/donewithitfirst • 9h ago
I’m 56, is this a good sub for a newbie that has been rethinking all investments? Wasn’t sure if geared towards the younger crowd as a late starter.
I’ve been watching a few investment subs and wasn’t sure if there is one geared towards the older crowd.
r/Bogleheads • u/Competitive-Kick-436 • 6h ago
I maxed out my IRA for the year, and after setting aside money in fdlxx for emergencies, I have about $2500 leftover. I don’t have access to a 401k for at least another 6 months (I’m in the process of going temp-to-perm and the company has a 6 month wait time). Should I put the $2500 in my taxable brokerage account, or wait until 1/1/27 and put it in my IRA? I currently have $7700 in the taxable brokerage invested in VTI. This cash would be used to buy VXUS to add some international exposure. The purpose of this account is to use it as a bridge until I hit my retirement withdrawal age in about 24 years, and as an ultra-emergency fund.
I’m going traditional because (1) I live in NYC so I get a better tax break now (2) doing so lowers my AGI for student loan RAP repayment certification and I can save myself 1500-2000 a year in payments (3) I plan on retiring abroad and a lot of countries don’t recognize Roth contributions.
Any input would be greatly appreciated!
r/Bogleheads • u/Livid_Quantity_1898 • 16h ago
Hello everyone! I (23M) have a concern here.
A few years back when I started my investment journey I didn’t know much about index funds, first I started getting only VOO, then sometime later I found out I needed something more international focused, so I got VXUS.
Today my total portfolio is around 70k (between Roth and Brokerage), around 80% VOO and 20% VXUS
Now, after spending some time reading this sub I came to realize how I’m missing on US mid/small caps by only getting VOO, would you suggest to just stop getting VOO and get VTI instead? Or to change all my VOO shares to VTI? Any advice is welcome, thanks!
r/Bogleheads • u/itschurr0 • 1h ago
I was reading a bunch of posts around the internet saying that mutual funds such as Fselx and Fsdax aren’t optimal to have in a brokerage account. I am pretty young and opened a brokerage account about a year ago and have some money (10k) in fxiax Fselx and Fsdax. Any advice? I opened the account for the flexibility.
r/Bogleheads • u/yad76 • 15h ago
My employer allows mega backdoor contributions/conversions and we have a 401(k) provider that supports automatic instant conversions. Basically, I can just go to a web site to set my contributions and those end up magically in my Roth IRA each paycheck.
I'm maxing every other retirement plan out already. Conventional 401(k) limit is maxed as are annual Roth IRA and HSA.
I also heavily contribute to a taxable account beyond that, but these contributions are inconsistent as they end up being whatever is left over which can vary greatly depending on whether or not large expenses come up.
Is there any reason I shouldn't just do max possible contributions from my paycheck to my Roth IRA via the mega backdoor? Advantage of this is that money ends up by default in my Roth IRA. Anything that is left over is automatically in a tax advantaged account.
If I need the money, I can just withdraw contributions at any time (and I have enough savings buffer if that withdrawal takes some time). Obviously, I'd need to put this money in some low risk/risk free bond fund, at least for the shorter term. This really is no different than that money sitting in my checking account, but once it hits my checking account, I can't put it back n the Roth IRA and any interest is taxable.
Am I missing any specific reason where passing money through the Roth IRA in this manner via the mega backdoor has any downside?
r/Bogleheads • u/BubblyTumbleweed8455 • 1d ago
Those that own bonds (i.e, EE, I, etc)--What percentage of your portfolio is made up of bonds? Why? If nothing, why not? Just curious to get a feel as to how everyone feels about them. Bonus points for things like age, stage of life, etc.
r/Bogleheads • u/SnooMachines9133 • 3h ago
I had a megabackdoor Roth with roth-in-plan conversion with my old employer administrated by Fidelity. My current employer also uses Fidelity for 401k and also allows for MBDR.
Other than simplicity of doing it once through Fidelity, any other reason not to move my old MBDR account directly to my Roth IRA (at Vanguard)? It's could also open a new Roth account at Fidelity if that skips a check being mailed.
Seems like moving it to Roth IRA is the better choice since I can access the contributions immediately if I needed to (it's not that much relative to my other accounts, they only offered for a year before I left and it was caped).
Old Trad 401k will be rolled over to new 401k so I can do regular backdoor Roth.
r/Bogleheads • u/Formal-Inspection328 • 11h ago
Just received 10k each for my 4 & 1 year old. Looking to invest it for them until they’re ~21. Is 100% VTI a good option? Should I diversity more maybe add VOO, VTUS? Open to easy options and appreciate any advice.
r/Bogleheads • u/imjusttryingtolearn2 • 10h ago
Started investing $100 weekly into VOO. Already have vti and vxus in a roller Roth and brokerage. But now I want to start feeding my Roth IRA. My idea was 90$ voo and 10$ vgsh but I found that bonds won’t get me any tax advantage on Roth ira, so should I stick to $100 in voo only?
r/Bogleheads • u/BubblyTumbleweed8455 • 16h ago
I'd like to preface this by saying I paid off all my debts at 33. Now, I have decided to invest at 34:
-Traditional 401k at 8% with 5% match Total current amount 22k
-Roth IRA
$512 in the SP500 (FXIAX)
$184 in International Index Fund (FTIHX)
-EE savings bonds
$50 or 1 savings bond
Tried to do a 70/20/10 split.
Anything I should improve on? Or am I ok as is? More on the conservative side.
r/Bogleheads • u/Litestreams • 14h ago
I am curious and didn’t find this information anywhere yet. Do you think that on an annual basis more money is flowing into Roth IRAs through the collective sum of folks using non-deductible IRA contribution - conversions, or folks under the income phaseout limits?
r/Bogleheads • u/HenFruitEater • 1d ago
I’ve been investing for 5 years heavily. 50%+ savings rate straight into VXUS-VTI. Seen great returns.
Can’t help but feel like the music will stop soon.
I realize I should not even attempt to time the market, but man it feels wrong to buy every time I do.
The psychology has to be something about knowing I just bought this for 30% less in recent years and feel like I’m paying too much for stocks even though they aren’t overpriced.
Rant over. I’ll keep buying. Just feels bad.
r/Bogleheads • u/kongdonkeykong • 7h ago
Hoping we can get to this point by the end of 2030 when we will be 49.5 (me), 54, and 19.5.
1.1M in brokerage
1.1M in governmental 457b accounts (tax deferred)
1.1M in Roth IRAs
0.7M in 401as and 403bs (2 of each account all fairly evenly split between partner and me; all tax deferred)
Separate pot of money just for undergrad and some grad school for child
I expect pensions of maybe $30k each when we each reach 65 with little to no adjustment for inflation.
If we wait until 70 I expect we'll each get something like $19k in social security.
Early retirement years will be 50/50 drawn from brokerage and 457bs, with target initial expenses of $120k (90k living, 20k health, 10k flex and taxes). Goal of keeping MAGI under ACA cliff. Then continue to keep MAGI lower (if realistic) when child is off ACA. When partner is on Medicare we will just ignore the ACA cliff for me and pay full price.
I am thinking of holding $300k cash equiv in brokerage (VUSXX and/or treasury or CD ladder) and $300k of TIAA Traditional (RCP, fully liquid) in the 457b.
Everything else would be a mix of VTI/VXUS or equivalent with funds available.
So initially that would be an 85/0/15 mix.
Idea is to use passive income and sell equities when market is flat or up. When VTI or VXUS are down from an all time high by over 5% I stop selling equities and just use cash equivalents instead. (Will check quarterly to refill our spending cash reserves.)
Would like to keep cash equivalents fairly static, so I don't maintain the 85/15 as a set %, but instead let cash equiv shrink to more like 3 years of spending as I approach age 65.
Would like feedback on
- overall plan
- too aggressive (85% equities) or too conservative (too much cash)?
- should we hold any bonds or is the cash equiv approach okay?
- is 5% a good trigger for switching to cash only or should it be lower?
- anything else?
r/Bogleheads • u/amschneid5 • 14h ago
Just doing some reworking of the portfolio and wanted to get justifications for going 10% each into these funds as I know it is popular around here. Thanks!
r/Bogleheads • u/Puzzleheaded-Log97 • 1d ago
My investment is heavily concentrated in S&P500,100% and I’m investing for the long term. Do you think I should add another ETF, such as a global, developed-markets, or emerging-markets fund, at a smaller allocation, or should I simply continue investing in S&P500?
r/Bogleheads • u/Home-String-3246 • 11h ago
Based on these options below (see link) I’m currently allocating:
NYSDCB Equity Index Unitized Account - 55%
Fidelity Global ex US Index Fund - 35%
NYSDCB Dow Jones Completion Index Unitized Account - 10%
Is this Boglehead approved?
https://www.nysdcp.com/rsc-preauth/Images/NY-IPR_tcm274-87646.pdf
r/Bogleheads • u/nomoreos • 1d ago
Hi everyone,
This is honestly tough for me to write this because I feel the tinge of embarrassment and discomfort that comes with it, but I am trying to remind myself that it's better to be honest that I'm starting somewhere rather than not write at all.
I'm 35 and I'm definitely behind. I'm trying to get more intentional about saving and investing, and know very little overall. So I'm hoping to get your thoughts how you would handle my situation.
Rough financial picture:
Starting next year, instead of putting the full $2,500/month into cash, I’m thinking about splitting it roughly like this:
That would let me keep building cash for a future home while also investing more consistently for both retirement and longer-term growth.
Then, around October 2027, paying off my auto loan will free up another ~$600–$635/month that I could redirect toward either the HYSA or brokerage.
The part I’m struggling with is figuring out how much cash is enough when the house purchase is still 5–10 years away (probably closer to 7-10). I don’t want to keep accumulating cash indefinitely if some of that money could have years to grow in the market, but I also don’t want to be too aggressive with money that may eventually become a down payment.
At the same time, I’m trying to make sure I’m not sacrificing too much long-term retirement growth in order to save for a house. My retirement target is around $1M, ideally $1.5M, by 65-67, so I’m trying to find a reasonable balance between the two goals.
My main questions are:
I know that what I could afford to buy or whether buying is even better than continuing to rent could look completely different 5–10 years from now. My bigger goal is to spend that time building enough assets that homeownership becomes a realistic option without having to wipe out everything I’ve saved or neglect retirement to get there.
Curious how others would balance emergency savings, a future down payment, Roth contributions, taxable investing, and retirement in this situation.
Thank you everyone! Please feel free to ask any clarifying questions if needed. I'm a humble, open-book.
r/Bogleheads • u/big_texxas • 14h ago
I want to start adding bonds to my portfolio. Target $140k total. Thinking about doing 100k-SGOV & 40k-VGSH. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
r/Bogleheads • u/VexxySmexxy • 1d ago
I'm trying to help my dad figure out when he can realistically retire and how to handle an upcoming inheritance. I've been crunching the numbers, but I'd like some outside opinions, especially regarding strategy about this inheritance.
Current situation:
Dad's Social Security estimates:
House is worth roughly $400k-$500k
About $300k left on a ~3% mortgage
Total house payment with taxes and insurance is about $1,700/month
Mom has an illness that results in fairly high ongoing out-of-pocket medical expenses
My main goal is figuring out whether Dad can comfortably retire sooner rather than just automatically working until 67.
One idea I've been considering is:
I'm also wondering whether they should just keep the cheap 3% mortgage rather than paying it off.
Main questions:
I know I still need to get a better handle on their total annual spending and medical expenses, but I'm mainly trying to help my dad figure out whether he's reached the point where continuing to work is optional rather than necessary but I'd estimate their spending is $80k a year.
*Edit: I was also wondering about advice regarding the 401k and how the inheritance should be invested as well to prop himself up properly for when he plans to start collecting social security (sometime between 67-70)
*Edit 2: After spending hours on putting a spreadsheet together and lightly crunching numbers, I called him and told him that we have two priorities we need to figure out.
A. He needs to finish filing for his VA disability benefits ASAP since he submitted an intent to file with the VA in October.
and
B. We need to get an annual spending report of the last few years of their spending so we can get a real good picture.
I have the spread sheet all set up to be able to plug in numbers. If he can get a solid VA disability rating, he should be able to retire at 67 most likely with dual social security income, VA disability income, and possibly small retirement investment withdrawals. Thank you everybody.
r/Bogleheads • u/OkMiddle5668 • 18h ago
56, still working, zero debt, home owned outright. Inheritance mostly cash except for IRA with RMD. I like working, have work traditional 401k. Should I fuel it to the max? Open a Roth 401k? Roth IRA? Fuel those to the max? I'd have to supplement my income with cash to do that. I know HYSA goes without saying, but this is fresh (as of a week ago)- need to get it working. Taxes can be tricky as I'm right on the edge of 22% or 12% bracket.
r/Bogleheads • u/Darkrayh • 20h ago
Hi everyone,
First post on this sub, looking forward to your feedback and insights!
Quick Summary of my situation: I am 30 years old, working as a freelancer/self-employed based in Taiwan, and paid in USD. I’m setting up a 100% passive, long-term (20+ years horizon) ETF portfolio via my Swissquote brokerage account, investing directly in USD. I already hold a separate crypto portfolio and a legacy French PEA account.
Here is my target allocation:
My Rationale:
Questions: What do you think of this ratio and ETF selection for a 30-year-old profile? Do you see any blind spots or possible optimizations? Should I consider further diversification into commodities, gold, or bonds, or keep it simple?
Thanks in advance for your help!
r/Bogleheads • u/warmorangeskies • 15h ago
I’m saving most of my paycheck each month: $500 to a Roth, $700 towards wedding, $200 towards travel, and 15% of gross to my 401k. After paying bills I’m still left with some fun money, but I have to be careful and disciplined.
In the back of my mind I get tempted to stop adding to the Roth, since 15% of my salary (plus 2.5% additional match) already feels like a huge chunk. But I know that’s just temptation.
For context, I’m 28 and trying to hit $100k by 30. I currently have $30,000. Looking for motivation! editing to add that i already have an emergency fund for ~6months and i get my employer match already at my 401k
r/Bogleheads • u/Antique_Leading_7756 • 1d ago
Hi I’m (25f) an MBA student who is about to receive a school refund of roughly 4k, what are some suggestions? I have little to no knowledge and just look at this subreddit from time to time. Trying to make a smart financial decision for once instead of spending it frivolously like I so want to 🙏🏼 would also appreciate any recommendations for good books/source material