Do you plan on staying in the energy field or make a career change ?
Roth IRA anyone?
- Thread starter parshisa
- Start date
I certainly would love to stay in it, but not sure if that's doable. Being in a directional drilling business that directly depends on the rig count, the odds I'm gonna land in a new position in 2020 are very slim, close to zero. I've got a degree in mechanical engineering but was in the oilfield my entire career...soooo
vanguard balanced index fund. don’t overthink it.
as others said, do your absolute best to make full ira contributions an annual never-fail habit for both you and spouse. when it inevitably arrives retirement is a sobering moment, only tempered by savings.
have you purchased some short term disability, long term care and life insurance now while you are young and healthy, and these costs are much cheaper?
check out the boglehead forum, which is the financial world’s equivalent of bitog, if you want to overthink it.
as others said, do your absolute best to make full ira contributions an annual never-fail habit for both you and spouse. when it inevitably arrives retirement is a sobering moment, only tempered by savings.
have you purchased some short term disability, long term care and life insurance now while you are young and healthy, and these costs are much cheaper?
check out the boglehead forum, which is the financial world’s equivalent of bitog, if you want to overthink it.
Last edited:
started a roth IRA today with Charles Schwab. spent quite a few hours exploring the options to invest in and it looks like they have some balanced fund and indexes just like vanguard does. let the journey begin.
as far as all the insurances, I doubt me and my wife will retire in US. depending on how world is we'll likely try to go overseas in 5-7 years. we shall see.
Back to CS: does anyone has a good tips on decent funds with them?
The basics as mentioned earlier is the S&P 500 index fund. A couple other good ones would be the Total stock market also. You should go over to Morningstar and research a few funds. My suggestion is to keep over half in the S&P 500 and good luck trying to find funds that beat it. There's a few out there, but not many.
See Which Mutual Funds Beat The S&P Over 1, 3, 5 And 10 Years
Browse this list of elite funds that outperformed their indexes recently and in the long term.
www.investors.com
I have a Roth for two reasons. I won't ever make much more than I am now, and I can afford taxes much better now that I will be able to when I retire. Vanguard if you're not a 'trader' per say. Dollar cost averaging is so tragic. Putting some fancy name on laziness that has you completely ignoring highs and lows. It's the extreme opposite of trying to play the market. Don't drive yourself nuts, but gee whiz don't deliberately buy into something during a big upswing. It's not that hard to just wait a few days.
Schwab index funds vs. Vanguard index funds. The differences would get you a ham sandwich after a decade. If you really want Vanguard in your Schwab account many Vanguard indexes are available as ETF's. You will pay Schwab extra for non-ETF Vanguard funds, although their ETF's are really a subclass of the fund. I don't think you can buy Vanguard Admiral through Schwab at any price, although they will bring Admiral funds over from Vanguard and hold them without issue. I've continued to have Schwab hold my Admirals, and buy new Vanguard index ETF's and Schwab index funds and ETF's. They're all about the same.
I don't think you want a Roth within your bank. Most of their brokerage services aren't very good and of course bank savings instruments pay (almost) nothing. Schwab has a great site, much more comprehensive (and frankly more fun) than what I had with Vanguard, although most of my funds are still Vanguard Admiral Class brought over to Schwab.
i worked overseas for 29 years straight, and thankfully still bought disability, ltc and life insurance policies, plus saved prodigiously, when young. decent insurance policies pay out anyplace, just as retirement accounts do.
my wife isnt american and i spend 4+ months of the year (post retirement and pre flu) overseas. i speak her native tongue. as much as a part of me wishes to enjoy a higher living standard in an overseas retirement, and as much as the u.s. is sometimes frustrating, very objectively thinking, i can’t imagine permanently expatriating, and i write this not out of jingoism but practicality. retirement and living abroad deserves its own thread.
congratulations on your new roth ira. retirement money should be “fire and forget.” find schwab’s lowest cost, no-load, broadest, stock and bond index fund, and max it out every january for you and wife. max contributions should even be a bit painful, because then we look hard at our spending habits too.
thank you for sharing your experience with regards to living overseas. With myself and my wife, neither one were actually born in US, we've moved down here almost 7yrs ago (for my work) and pretty much built our new life from scratch. Arrived with two bags with nothing (literally nothing) left behind. Now, entire life including 2 beautiful girls is here in Texas. And as much as I love this country in general and texas in particular, there are still a handfull of things that are a norm for those born and raised in US and absolutely foreign to me. But, just like you mentioned, this subject is worth a separate thread.
Now, back to Roth and funds. you mentioned you max out in January, so you essentially throw in the max amount allowed for the year all at once and forget it till next January? for myself with newly opened account, can I max it out all at once for 2020?
I would dollar cost average into your IRA by making a contribution every month.
If the max is, say, $6,000, then you set up an automatic contribution of $500 on the 1st or 15th of every month. Set it up to be debited from your bank account. Vanguard or Schwab can help you set this up. It’s easy.
This ensures that you max it out, and that you buy when the market is down.
If the max is, say, $6,000, then you set up an automatic contribution of $500 on the 1st or 15th of every month. Set it up to be debited from your bank account. Vanguard or Schwab can help you set this up. It’s easy.
This ensures that you max it out, and that you buy when the market is down.
Schwab has some really low cost broad index ETFs. I would look into those. They include US domestic as well as international and fixed income if those options suit you.
My plan right now to start with index funds (S&P and total market, those are no load 0.03%ER) for roth IRA, and do the same but with ETF and some mutuals for brokerage account. Gonna start low and slow and see how it goes
Sam_Julier
$50 Site Donor 2024
Vanguard will automatically with draw and deposit any amount from your account on any time frame of your choosing.
Most institutions will do that. It is the best way.
hello parshisa: when working i always contributed the full year to my ira in january to get growth (hopefully!) for a complete year. i didnt worry about market swings, i just wanted to commit my funds asap.
if you have already worked 7 years in the u.s. you need three more years here to vest in social security retirement. we have social security totalization agreements with some countries, canada included, to combine different years of minimal coverage into one full benefit. i mention canada because you “moved down here.”
if you have a green card be sure to get a reentry permit before relocating out of the the u.s. to preserve your opportunity to return. the u.s. doesn’t prohibit dual nationality if you have naturalized but it does require u.s. citizens and green card holders to file u.s. income tax returns if one earns income out of the u.s.: you must file to avail of the foreign earned income exclusion.
if you have already worked 7 years in the u.s. you need three more years here to vest in social security retirement. we have social security totalization agreements with some countries, canada included, to combine different years of minimal coverage into one full benefit. i mention canada because you “moved down here.”
if you have a green card be sure to get a reentry permit before relocating out of the the u.s. to preserve your opportunity to return. the u.s. doesn’t prohibit dual nationality if you have naturalized but it does require u.s. citizens and green card holders to file u.s. income tax returns if one earns income out of the u.s.: you must file to avail of the foreign earned income exclusion.
Last edited:
If you put in an equal amount weekly, monthly or annually and do it the same way year after year, you're still dollar cost averaging.
