I'm new to investing and have been putting it off for years. I'm 34, Australian but currently residing/working in the US. I've got a bunch of money just sitting in the bank ($120k USD + ~50K AUD) at a very low interest rate and want to do something more productive with it.
I've been reading MMM's Betterment article (
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/betterment-vs-vanguard/) and am strongly considering investing my cash with Betterment since it looks fairly simple, but I've seen a few people in the comments recommending going through Vanguard directly due to lower expense ratios. Dodge suggests either:
Opening a Vanguard Lifestrategy account:
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/lifestrategy/#/ with 80/20 stocks/bonds
or open a Vanguard account and allocate as follows
56% Total Stock Market Index Admiral Shares – VTSAX (3804 stocks across the USA)
24% Total International Stock Index Admiral Shares – VTIAX (5785 stocks across the world, excluding USA stocks)
20% Total Bond Market Index Admiral Shares – VBTLX (6948 bonds across the USA)
Any thoughts on the best way to go? Other options instead? I'm planning on reading and learning more about how to manage things myself, but want to get started as soon as possible so that I don't put this off for another few months.
Since I have a fairly large (to me) amount to invest, should I put it all in at once, or DCA over a longer period of time? I've read a few things about this, and since this money is all of my savings I'm leaning towards investing it over the course of a year.
Thanks for any advice!