I'm 45, wife is 40. Plan to retire in 10-12 years. Getting close to maxing out 403b/401k. I earn 72.5k, wife earns 102k. No bonuses. Currently have no IRAs. Because we are allocating extra money toward our mortgage principle, we will pay off house two years from this posting. Rate is 2.5%, so I don't want to put even more money toward it.
I have 10k that I want to pull out of a money market and use it to start Roth IRAs - one for me, one for my wife. Money was already taxed as it was from work earnings. Do I trust the Vanguard employee that I talk to on the phone regarding how to allocate the funds?
I suspect that I have to look at fees and past 5 or 10 year history. I also suspect that if I want to move the money into another fund later that there will be a fee for that transaction, thus obviously I want to pick well. Any advice? Many thanks.