Again, thanks to everyone for the informative and supportive replies.
At this point, I am really liking Betterment as an alternative. With the amount of money I have, my fees would only be .15% on top of the Vanguard account expenses. For the services they provide in tax harvesting and automatic rebalancing, this fee seems fair to me right now. It's also cheaper than Vanguard's fee for their own advisors (.3%) while offering what looks to me like a better set of tools for my current value of around $140k.
Now I'm just struggling with how I can get all these American Funds into Betterment easiest. Here's what I've got:
~$81k in a "Basic Securities Account" with about $20k of that in unrealized gains - $20,134.57 Long term, $80.38 Short term. This account has AWSHX, SMCWX, ANWPX, and AIVSX.
~$48k in a Roth IRA with about $10k of that in unrealized gains - $10,304.52 Long Term, $47.82 Short Term. This account has CWGIX, AIVSX, and AWSHX.
~$6k in a Traditional IRA with about 1k of that in unrealized gains - $1,085.87 Long term, $11.11 Short Term. This account has ITSLX and ILLLX.
I think this is the information I need to start to asses what would type of taxes I'd pay to move this money, right?
Like I said, Betterment is very appealing to me for the low fee of .15%, but I'm very scared of what taxes I'll pay to move this money around now.
Any help or tips you guys might have about moving this around, or where to head with it, are very much appreciated.
Also, if anybody has any way of giving me a ballpark of preparing how much money i might be paying in taxes on this, or a way for me to figure it out, I'd sure would appreciate it.
Thanks as always for the help.
1. Betterment is
not the equivalent of Vanguard's 0.3% advisor. Betterment
is the equivalent of Vanguard's
LifeStrategy funds, for double the fee. The math I pointed to in my
earlier reply unequivocally details how the extra fee will inevitably dwarf any possible gains from tax loss harvesting. This is simple math, no opinion involved. Going with them for tax loss harvesting is demonstrably a losing move. And I didn't even get into the part where every single poster (besides one) in my
Value investing/tilting with funds is utter crap thread, agreed with the premise of the thread. Guess who uses a value tilt in all of their funds?
2. If you just need someone to walk you through things, help you get setup, Vanguard can do that for free (just like Betterment does that for free). See for yourself:
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Whether you're opening a new account, rolling over a 401(k), or adding to your portfolio, our associates in Concierge Services make investing at Vanguard easy. Call us and see how we can help you.
Here's how we can support you:
Guide you from start to finish.
Explain your investment choices.
Assist you with the paperwork.
Talk to your current plan administrator.
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Since you have over $50,000 to invest, you will also receive Voyager Services...for free:
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"We'll help you work toward your investing goals with confidence. As your assets grow with us, so do your Vanguard benefits. Our Voyager Services provide an extra level of personal assistance, cost savings, guidance, and advice"
"Investment professionals who will listen to you, address your questions, and direct you to an advice solution that best suits your needs."
"And when you receive investing help from Vanguard, know that our professionals are salaried and don't receive commissions. So you can be confident that we'll make every decision with only your needs in mind."
https://investor.vanguard.com/what-we-offer/personal-services/voyager-and-voyager-select-services----------------------------------------------
However, if you want someone to sit down with you for an hour or two every few months, to "review your portfolio, your financial situation and the general state of the economy." you won't be getting that anywhere with your current assets, without paying at least 0.3%...and sorry but that just smells like someone trying to justify their fee (and you
will be paying an additional fee for this. What in the portfolio is there to review multiple times a year? If you are 100% invested with index funds, what exactly are you reviewing that you can't login to Vanguard.com and see in 15 seconds? What does the state of the economy have to do with anything? When you're 100% invested with index funds, you don't change things around based on the state of the economy.
I guess if you feel the need to have a service like this...to each their own...but in my opinion it's a waste of time when your plan is to buy and hold index funds for the rest of your life.
3. You don't pay taxes in any IRA accounts. You'll probably pay about $3,000 on your $81k, it depends on your tax bracket. But no matter what you'll have to pay this, so it shouldn't factor into the decision of where to go.
Literally the only thing you mentioned at Betterment, that makes it different than Vanguard Lifestrategy, is:
1. Tax Loss Harvesting - which has already been shown to be an unequivocal loser
2. 0.15% fee - However you made the error of comparing it to Vanguard's 0.3% advisory service, which offers
substantially more than either Betterment or Lifestrategy. The proper comparison to the 0.15% extra fee, is Lifestrategy's 0% extra fee.
Edit: Fixed bad math. You'll likely pay about $3,000 taxes on your $81k move.