saving$

Check out their Spartan funds. They are low cost index funds.

You're asking the right questions.

I think you would benefit immensely by reading "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing".

Good luck!

:cheers:

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VTI - 0.05
VTSMX - 0.17

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VTSAX-0.06

VTSMX - $3,000 min
VTSAX- $10,000 min

Using an ETF vs. Mutual Fund is for another thread.

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If it were me i'd pay down any debt and beyond that mutual funds. look for over 10% return since inception and funds at least 10 years old.

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Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

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I fear that I've rambled too much in this post, but to wrap everything up, I'd say that figuring out "what you really want to do" can in some ways be viewed as researching any other field of information that you want to know about. You have to figure out yourself better, the world around you better, and your role within that world better. All of this takes careful objective study, because the truth is often hard to figure out. But, you know, "the truth shall set you free" and "know thyself" and all that.

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Thank you for your excellent post.

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My parents got out of 175k in debt in 5 years at the start of 2012. They both worked 4 jobs to do so. It sucked for everyone in the family.

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That's impressive. Congrats

:cheers:

Not sure if you are familiar with this but I use a tool by morning star called Instant x ray.

LINK to X Ray

Really simplifies when I need to rebalance.

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I have looked at "international" bond index funds but this is where it pays to read the prospectus - many of them are basically Euro bond funds or a combination of that and US Treasuries for uninvested cash. I once ran across one purported "international" fund that was 20% in European investments and 80% US Treasuries! UST's aren't necessarily bad but you do need to know the extent of your exposure to them.

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Gotcha, in my equities I have an international allocation that includes the rest of the world minus the US. I agree knowing the actual allocation of a fund is important.

On the bond side I do not diversify anymore than a total bond fund, so I have a very small foreign exposure.

It seems like you don't hold many US treasuries. Do you have any exposure to I-bonds or TIPS? I've been thinking about just buying some ibonds for my emergency fund. I know my money will be locked up for a year but the cash will keep up with inflation and allow me to focus on saving rate, other goals, etc rather than trying to chase the small yields available. Of course I'll just buy in a ladder type scheme to make sure I don't run into liquidity problems.

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That said, I have much greater overall bond exposure than you do (and my horizon is similar to yours).

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I've read that studies show that an allocation of anything over 80/20 equities to bonds does not compensate for risk taken. That said even John Bogle has recommended investors diversify their bond holdings with intermediate and corporate bonds given the low yield rate.

Tough times because I don't believe in market timing and prefer to take my risk on the equity side. My plan is in 3 years to go back to my asset allocation regardless of the noise.

Why are you tilted in Asian bonds? Why not use an international bond? I'm assuming you want to minimize exposure Euro's problems.

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Buy an index fund and forget about it. You are gambling.

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+1