The tariff stuff is scary, no doubt. I'd like to act as the voice of reason for those that are second guessing their asset allocation or general path to wealth.

While there's no way of knowing where the bottom lies, it’s worth remembering that stocks go up - over the very long term. The very nature of asset pricing defines that any cash producing asset will have some positive return - over the long term. Owning U.S. equities in 2000 had a positive return - over the long term. Japanese stocks, during their height with PE ratios in the 50s, will have offered 2-5% returns - over the long term. This is true as long as earnings and cash flows aren’t permanently impaired. And I tend to lean on the belief that capital markets are more resilient than one administrations agenda.

While markets were frothy leading into this year, they weren’t anywhere near dotcom levels (both on an absolute or relative basis). The most richly valued companies in the world are also of the highest quality. The balance sheets of the Mag7 are nothing short of sterling. Cash flow and earnings power for these companies are, have been, and will likely continue to be “magnificent”.

We may be staring down short to intermediate term market turmoil, but I wouldn’t use this as an opportunity to move away from equities if you already haven’t. And, for those that are decades away from retirement, this presents the perfect opportunity to continue contributions at better entry points. Stocks may or may not be at attractive valuations relative to intrinsic value, but they sure as hell are cheaper now than they were a month ago.

To reiterate Priority 2, above: Get the big stuff right.

So a few weeks back i made a post about the best way to start investing as a 23 year old post grad student. I received amazing advice and ended up purchasing 2 ETF’s (VOO and VXUS) investing $50 weekly into voo, and $20 into vxus. Now i want to preface this by saying under no circumstances am i selling, im just asking if i should be worried or change my approach since im seeing so many posts about s&p 500 and other etf’s being useless right now for obvious reasons

When are you selling?

I'm 29 and have always put money into my roth ira and now I'm putting in my sons 529 plan both vtsax.... should I keep putting money in or hold off till things get better

$ loses to Inflation Gold , real estate n stock market is volatile Equity , futures n options are too risky. What can I do so that I'm atleast not in the losing side in the worst case scenario? Is bonds the best bet? I'll still lose the value to inflation. Okay then what is the safest mode of investment that you know?

I’m 40, finally earning well after a late start — but now I’m trying to catch up fast. I want to be truly wealthy by 50.

Current situation:

• Income: $210K base + up to 30% bonus . I bring home approximately 10,000 a month after taxes. My fixed expense are at 5300 (and we are working diligently to bring these down).
• Debt: $84K (student loans + car)
• Rent: $2,500/month, no home ownership
• Kid: One child I want to help with college
• Assets:
  • $30K in 401k
  • $30K in IRA (I plan to invest with this amount)
  • $20K in investments
• Savings: Still low — I made $10.50/hr in retail until age 32
• No credit card debt

Based on past jumps, I expect my salary to rise, but I want to plan based on $210K only — anything more is a bonus.

What would you do in my shoes to build real wealth by 50?

1. Panic sell while a stock is tanking and then buy back again but a lower rate.

or

1. Hold the line

Hi everyone, this may be a stupid question, but I am genuinely curious on what people thought. My paycheck is biweekly. Is it more beneficial to automatically invest biweekly (which is what it’s set to now), or half it but have it invest every week?

Thank you much!

Welp, this ISN'T a "should I have sold?"/"should I sell?"/"should I not be a Boglehead?" post. I've bought no more than three big funds and will continue to do the same for the foreseeable future.

BUT, acknowledging that things are a bit... "dynamic" right now, what's the hive-mind's thoughts on this question. For available funds above and beyond a normal monthly investment budget, would it be better to:

1. VTI/VXUS/BND and chill even more? (I'm assuming this is the Bogle answer)

2. Pay off the one financed car even more? (I plan to have it for a good long time, but all cars are depreciating assets)

3. Pay off the house faster? (I plan on having that for a good long time too, and it should be an appreciating asset)

4. Hoard cash? (probably very un-Bogle)

5. Other?

For what it's worth, there's no revolving debt, enough cash on hand for emergencies, retirement is more than two decades away, and the kids' college funds are on autopilot. What say you?

Ok. I'm not looking to get into any specific stock, I strictly buy index funds. So global markets have been hammered this year and definitely last week. Maybe this process continues for awhile, maybe we really do enter a protracted downturn (it was bound to happen sooner or later). Maybe stocks stabilize, maybe they bounce back. Maybe ALL of this happens. Maybe, maybe, maybe. However, eventually markets will recover. After all, human productivity and consumption isn't ending. I'm not doing anything to my portfolio except adding to it when I can. I happen to be over weight in international funds, probably a result of naivete when I was younger. I'm in Europe, Asia, and emerging markets. But I never sold it, I just sit on it. (I'm not sure I know how to sell.) For the past 10 years I have watched the SP500 outperform the world. Like not even close. I kicked myself a few times, but I let those bets ride. So my question is, Who wins? Will we finally see a reversion to the mean? Will we see foreign stocks finally outperform? Will we see the world adjust to the new paradigm and trade with each other leaving the US out? Will we see the US change its mind, but still suffer from the loss of trust? Will we see the world's largest economy turn out to be just too important and everyone has to accept it and nothing much changes? To be sure I am not asking about when any of this could happen. I'm just curious how our global economy shifts because of what would appear to be the beginning of a new global economic era. So who wins?

I know Bogleheads believe in staying the course, that the past market performance supports the three bucket strategy. But I invite bogleheads to explore the possibility that the past is no longer prologue. Use your imagination! What US or world policy change would lead you to cash out and wait for the dust to settle?

Situation: have a large sum just sitting in the Vanguard settlement account. Reasoning: keeping things liquid due to undergoing some big life transitions/not totally sure of next steps biz wise yet, so I may want to use this liquid money for a new venture, etc. Have also been concerned about policy swings from one administration to the next affecting the markets like what's happening right now.

I'm no econ scholar, but I feel like this is a momentary setback in the market and it could be a good time to start buying in order to hit it back on the way up - yes, I know - basically timing the market, which is not something I set out to do initially.

Would you start DCA right now? For example, hypothetically, if I have 500k in this account, then what do you think would be a reasonable DCA sum to begin with? I'm a newb and also an overthinker.

TIA!

Hi y'all, I am in my early 40s and have been contributing well to my retirement and have been in a VT and chill mode for a while now. These past few weeks, and past few days in particular, have made clear to me that perhaps my appetite for risk isn't what I thought it was, and I'd like to mix in some bonds.

But I also don't want to sell low.

Should I direct some of my future retirement investments into bonds? Is there a way to do this that makes the most sense?

i’m 21 and have about $25k that i’ve saved. i’ve been investing in HYSA/CDs, never in the market, but after gaining some comprehensive knowledge and confidence, i’m planning on taking advantage of the current market discounts as follows:

keep emergency fund $9k in HYSA/no penalty CD

$9k SPLG (S&P500 ETF)

$6k FTEC

$1k META (already bought last week, don’t really know what inspired that tbh)

i don’t plan on touching any of it at least for a few years. if so, it wouldn’t be more than the $9k i’m keeping accessible to me. i’m not the type to panic during market downturns. i was going to buy it all tomorrow.. but after reading on DCA, would it make more sense to space it out? any advice?

For retirement in a Roth IRA I've got $203,000 in the Fidelity Freedom Fund 2040 (FFFFX) (was $215K or I think even more just a few days ago!!). Wife has similar amount in Vanguard's 2040 fund. It has been hard to determine the fees within the fund. It lists a fee of .73%. Its hard for me to determine if there are additional fees from the investments within the fund. Does anyone know the answer for this for sure?

Either way, it seems like I could invest in something like 50% VTI; 30% VXUS; 18% BND, 2% money market for a much lower fee structure and similar portfolio.

Would this be a good move at 53 years old? I plan to work to 68 or 69 possibly scaling back to more part-time at some point - pending health. I'm in perfect health at the moment.

If I did make the move, should I sell and transfer from FFFFX or just leave it be and just change monthly contributions into these?

Interested in hearing thoughts from this community.

I have liked the complete hands-off of the current investment but looking into it I could easily once a year go in and slightly change my investments and reallocate once a year to a more slightly conservative approach.

Hello guys,

I'm newbie about these ETF but i'll check this combination.

100% VT

70% VTI and %30 VXUS

70% VT and %30 SCHG

I think the last one is the best option. Because you'll stay in US market stocks and almost get the ex-US markets.

Hi to all. I have been thinking to add VXUS to my portfolio. I’m 100% in VOO right now. I’m 34 years old. Where I’m stuck is what percentage of VXUS to hold. I’m leaning to 85% VOO 15% VXUS, which is the best scenario I’ve seen in portfolio vizualizer; but open to suggestions. Any advice will be appreciated.

I've been investing since 2017. I haven't diversify before due to a lack of financial knowledge basically. I made a few investments that paid off and I earned enough salary to take some risks.

Over the last couple of years, my outlook is much different. Layoff meant I had to decide if I would FIRE or find another job. Chose FIRE even though I am not fully ready from a logistics perspective.

So now I find myself in a wealth preservation phase with a horribly complicated portfolio. Half my portfolio is in my 401k VFORX and Tbills. The other half is in taxable Mag 7.

Given the beating my portfolio has taken, some positions even at a loss, is now a good time to sell and move into VT (or similar diversified)?

Since we're down across the board I figure I can still get a decent proportion of VT as I could have before i.e. it's not like the bulk of my positions are down more than VT over the 8 years I have been investing and I'll owe less tax through losses and lower threshold selling now.

The options going through my mind are:
1) Sell, go to VT immediately
2) Sell a portion to VT that make the most tax sense (losses or minimal gains and LTCG)
3) Go to cash initially, see what EU and China do with tariffs in the next couple of weeks then go to VT

There is lots of discussion about VT versus VTI/VXUS - simplicity and lower behavioural risk versus the foreign tax credit and more flexibility. 

Does anyone see possible future tax policies as another reason to hold VTI and VXUS separately? 

I am a US citizen living/retiring in New Zealand. As one example of what can happen, their current tax laws (which are hopefully going to change soon) are essentially a wealth tax on non-NZ investments: 5% of the value of your international investments times your marginal income tax rate. 

Is it so unlikely that the increasingly protectionist U.S. does something similar (i.e more punitive than non-qualified dividends) to encourage domestic investment, making you wish you held VTI and VXUS separately so you could adjust accordingly?

As a side note/question, it looks like New Zealand's new system will be more reasonable: tax 100% of dividends - but only 70% of cap gains - at your marginal income tax rate. Would other Bogleheads switch to a lower VXUS percentage due to the extra tax drag of dividends in this system? I'm not sure it's worth tinkering with, mainly just commenting that VT not allowing tinkering is a double-edged sword!

63 and retiring $5000 month over 3 pensions House paid off no significant bills so I can save more Only 50K in market after paying cash for house may move to safer investments in stocks now Thoughts?

The sea may rise, the sky may fall, The winds may whisper, roar, or call, But through the storm, the compass knows— The heart beats on, steady as she goes.

Like the title says. If you most likely will profit down the road why worry about wash sale

Because it's the day my auto-buy is set up at Fidelity

I'll be putting $350 into FZROX and $175 into FZILX like I have every month since 2012 and will every month until I retire in 25 more years...

The stuff I bought in 2012 is up 500%! I'm a stock market genius.

This Vanguard article highlights the importance of not panicking and staying the course during severe market downturns. People who move to all cash have a greater than 70% chance of underperforming the classic 60/40 portfolio when trying to time the market.