Author Topic: 5 O'Clock Shadow investor seeking Walrus Stache strategies  (Read 1331 times)

Swamp Chomp

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5 O'Clock Shadow investor seeking Walrus Stache strategies
« on: March 30, 2019, 07:21:30 PM »
Hey,

My bride and I are starting to put together our investing plan and wondering a few things.  I am self-employed and my wife works part time, so no retirement benies.  I have both a Roth and Simple IRA.  We also have some VTSAX.  We haven't setup an IRA for my wife yet only because we're just getting to a point where we can actually have some decent cash to invest.  We recently moved from a $350K house to a $170K house (4.99% 30-year) to increase what we can put away and we have around $1,400/month to invest at as of now.  Here are some of the things we're wondering at the outset:

1 - Do we max out our IRA's before investing into VTSAX?  If yes, which one, Roth or Simple?  Also, if that's what you all are doing, I'm guessing we should establish an IRA for my wife and max that out as well before putting into the stocks, correct? 

2 - For the funds used in the IRA's, should we also use VTSAX or use one of Vanguard's "Target Retirement" funds or something completely different from either of these?

3 - ... Those are the big ones for the moment, will think of others... 

Thanks!

Travis

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Re: 5 O'Clock Shadow investor seeking Walrus Stache strategies
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2019, 10:22:39 PM »
You might want to move this into the Case Study section. This discussion could go on a few tangents and the folks who can help you the most will require more information from you.

Monkey Uncle

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Re: 5 O'Clock Shadow investor seeking Walrus Stache strategies
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2019, 04:49:55 AM »
I'm not an expert on strategies for the self employed.  But I think you should look into setting up a solo 401k.  You can put way, way more money into one of those than you can put in an IRA.  You get to put in both the employer and the employee contributions.  The employee contribution is the standard 18,500, and the employer contribution can range up to 25% of net self-employment income.

JAYSLOL

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Re: 5 O'Clock Shadow investor seeking Walrus Stache strategies
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2019, 10:02:58 AM »
I'll leave the responses to US based investors who should be able to help you out better with those questions, but just want to say welcome to the forums, you've asked a lot of great questions here and in the other thread, so I can tell you are well on the track to get everything sorted.  I second doing a full case study if there are other aspects of budgeting, spending or saving you want people to help you out with

Swamp Chomp

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Re: 5 O'Clock Shadow investor seeking Walrus Stache strategies
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2019, 10:35:31 AM »
Thanks for the tip on the 401K and the encouragement.  Didn't realize there was a case study section, so thank you for pointing that out.  Much appreciated.

harvestbook

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Re: 5 O'Clock Shadow investor seeking Walrus Stache strategies
« Reply #5 on: April 01, 2019, 09:50:16 AM »
You can generally contribute more through a solo 401K than a simple IRA.

The Roth vs. Traditional IRA is much debated and largely depends on your tax situation now and expected tax situation in retirement. I'm in the camp of trying to pay zero taxes now, and then manage the rest as it comes in, because there are lots of ways to move money around if you maintain flexibility (Roth conversions, spending out of taxable account, etc.)