25 YO needs some advice on investment/ what to do in current situation and how..

[gnatnoop]

To improve

Been reading the forums for a little while now and have decided its time to get my stuff together, but don't have everything figured out like most of you.

-25 years old
-Job making 50k a year (not including side jobs/ selling misc stuff etc. This nets me an extra 2-5k depending on ambition)
-House paid with cash in 2011 (no mortgage)
-1k in roth ira (vanguard) invested over a year ago- in retirement date vanguard fund
-4k in 401k with 75% match up to 6%. 401k with Merrill lynch, invested in vanguard total stock market, vanguard s&p small cap 600, and jpmorgan retirement date funds. Dont remember what the allocation % is.  Currently have 15% of my paycheck going into 401k
-Contributing 10% to employee stock that I will immediately sell when I can (jan 1)
-10k in a emergency savings account

-2k in credit card debt (0% interest until September)

What do I need to change, improve etc. I know I need to start budgeting better as I have accumulated 2k in cc debt right after I hit the 10k mark in savings (got lazy/ didnt have a goal past the 10k mark) was saving 1000 a month before that, not putting anything into emergency fund now.

[mskyle]

Really hard to give you any advice without info about your expenses and goals! You should probably work towards maxing out your 401k and Roth IRA, though. How good of a deal are you getting on that employee stock? How much tax will you owe when you sell it?

[gnatnoop]

My goal is to max the 401k and roth ira, considering using emergency fund to put in 5500 this year. Employee stock is a 15% discount on lowest price during 6 month period. Tax will be in 15% tax bracket as current income because of adjustments to my income putting me under 37500. I will be selling it in 2017 when I plan to ramp up contributions to 401k to 50% (max allowed)

I dont currently have a budget, so Im not exactly sure how much my expenses are per month, but I figure total expenses are somewhere around 800 or so a month. (property taxes, electricity, cable, garbage, water, gas, food etc.)

After health insurance, 25% of my income going to 401k/ employee stock, taxes (0 allowances) etc I net ~2200-2300 a month

[BallerOnABudget]

I just want to say - love the username. We used that back in college for an intramural team name and few people ever got it.

[mskyle]

My goal is to max the 401k and roth ira, considering using emergency fund to put in 5500 this year. Employee stock is a 15% discount on lowest price during 6 month period. Tax will be in 15% tax bracket as current income because of adjustments to my income putting me under 37500. I will be selling it in 2017 when I plan to ramp up contributions to 401k to 50% (max allowed)

I dont currently have a budget, so Im not exactly sure how much my expenses are per month, but I figure total expenses are somewhere around 800 or so a month. (property taxes, electricity, cable, garbage, water, gas, food etc.)

After health insurance, 25% of my income going to 401k/ employee stock, taxes (0 allowances) etc I net ~2200-2300 a month

Would it be better to hold the stock longer and pay long-term capital gains tax on it instead of short-term? At your AGI you should be paying 0% tax on long-term capital gains (but I believe this is a little more complicated for ESPP than for regular stocks, but at some point your gains go long-term and you save on taxes). Figure out how much longer you would need to hold the stock to save 15% tax on your gains (of course if you don't expect significant gains or you're worried about the stock declining in value then this is less of a big deal).

You should figure out what your expenses are but fortunately there are lots of nice lazy ways to do that. I use Mint. You could put $800 a month into your checking account and use that to pay all your bills - if you routinely end up short then you're underestimating.

[gnatnoop]

Planning on maxing my 401k and roth in 2017.

Currently my 401k is 90% vitpx (total stock market (us) index .02% expense ratio) and 10% VBMPX (total bond market .04% expense ratio) Do I need to invest in anything else? The only other options my 401k has is.

-jpmorgan target date funds with ~.6 % expense ratios
-Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Index Fund Institutional Shares .08% expense ratio
-DFA Emerging Markets Core Equity Portfolio Institutional Class .62%
-American Funds EuroPacific Growth FundŽ Class R-6 .5%
-T ROWE PRICE BLUE CHIP GROWTH .55%
-BLACKROCK RUSSELL 1000 VALUE INDEX FUND .08%


What should I put in my roth with vanguard?

[DavidAnnArbor]

Your Roth with Vanguard could have total international index if you want some more diversification.

[erutio]

Planning on maxing my 401k and roth in 2017.

Currently my 401k is 90% vitpx (total stock market (us) index .02% expense ratio) and 10% VBMPX (total bond market .04% expense ratio) Do I need to invest in anything else? The only other options my 401k has is.

-jpmorgan target date funds with ~.6 % expense ratios
-Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Index Fund Institutional Shares .08% expense ratio
-DFA Emerging Markets Core Equity Portfolio Institutional Class .62%
-American Funds EuroPacific Growth FundŽ Class R-6 .5%
-T ROWE PRICE BLUE CHIP GROWTH .55%
-BLACKROCK RUSSELL 1000 VALUE INDEX FUND .08%


What should I put in my roth with vanguard?

If I were you, I would:
- put $5.5k from your savings account immediately into Vanguard Roth IRA account.  This money will act as part of your emergency fund pool now, since contributions can be withdrawn from an roth IRA at anytime without penalty.  Emergency fund still effectively 10k.
- pay the minimum on the credit card until Sept next year.  Before the 0% APR jumps next year, pay it off completely with the money from the savings account. 
- in the meantime, if you feel you will be disciplined enough, see if you qualify for a rewards type credit card.  Then put on your monthly spending on that CC, and pay it off in full each month.  This will consolidate your spending, making it easier to track, give some cashback on your spending, and give you a monthly 25 day buffer to pay off spending.  Again, this is only if you will be disciplined enough to not spend more than you would without the rewards credit card.
- Try to contribute as much as you can afford to to your 401k for the rest of the year with the remaining paychecks you have coming in. 
- Depending on your risk tolerance and anticipated investment horizon, I'd even suggest going 100% VITPX in your 401k. 
- Next year, if you really can max both roth and 401k, i'd still put 100% VITPX in the 401k, and consider putting 100% of your roth money in vanguard international stock index fund.  That will give you some diversification. 
- When you max out your roth next year, you'll have 11k in emergency funds in your roth, plus ~2.5k cash in your savings account. 
- the only 3 fund you should be investing in within your 401k are the 3 vanguard funds. 
- relax, have fun, enjoy life.  You're only 25, with a well paying job, a paid off house, seem to have a good head on your shoulders, you are already ahead of the curve.