I started a brokerage account a couple years ago to have fun and hopefully give me some extra cushion for an early retirement. This account is in addition to my state pension which I will be eligible for in 8 years at 51 years old, a professionally managed account which holds a similar amount of money, and my wife's 401k in which we have always maxed out contributions each over the last 18 years. My wife and I are debt free and have a more than sufficient emergency fund in place (HYSA + SGOV). To date, I have not sold a single investment so all numbers in brackets here are current unrealized gains/losses.
After reading through a lot of Boglehead info I decided to go 70% VTI (+$5600), 20% VXUS (+$300), 10% BND (-$260). I did okay at contributing regularly for a while, but then found myself falling victim to over thinking the share prices and not contributing (bad idea, I know).
The account sat pretty stagnant for about a year, until 8 months go when I decided that I should get back in the game and give auto investing a shot. As a Schwab customer, I cannot auto invest in ETFs so I had to switch to index funds. I setup an auto investment of $500 every two weeks with a 80/20 split in to SWTSX (+$420) and SWISX (+$9).
I would like to double or possibly triple my monthly investment starting now. However, I am torn on if I should continue the auto investment in the index funds or if I should try to go back to the ETFs and be more disciplined with making sure I put the money in regardless of how "expensive" prices seem. I understand the ETFs are a bit more tax efficient, but at the dollar amounts we are talking I don't think the difference is a big deal. What should I do? Is there reason to believe a VTI/VXUS heavy portfolio will out perform the equivalent index funds?
If I continue with auto investing, should I leave the ETF's stagnant or should I sell, accept the tax bill, and roll that money into the index funds?
After reading through a lot of Boglehead info I decided to go 70% VTI (+$5600), 20% VXUS (+$300), 10% BND (-$260). I did okay at contributing regularly for a while, but then found myself falling victim to over thinking the share prices and not contributing (bad idea, I know).
The account sat pretty stagnant for about a year, until 8 months go when I decided that I should get back in the game and give auto investing a shot. As a Schwab customer, I cannot auto invest in ETFs so I had to switch to index funds. I setup an auto investment of $500 every two weeks with a 80/20 split in to SWTSX (+$420) and SWISX (+$9).
I would like to double or possibly triple my monthly investment starting now. However, I am torn on if I should continue the auto investment in the index funds or if I should try to go back to the ETFs and be more disciplined with making sure I put the money in regardless of how "expensive" prices seem. I understand the ETFs are a bit more tax efficient, but at the dollar amounts we are talking I don't think the difference is a big deal. What should I do? Is there reason to believe a VTI/VXUS heavy portfolio will out perform the equivalent index funds?
If I continue with auto investing, should I leave the ETF's stagnant or should I sell, accept the tax bill, and roll that money into the index funds?
Statistics: Posted by BrighterFuture — Tue Nov 05, 2024 2:20 pm — Replies 8 — Views 554