Author Topic: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments  (Read 8712 times)

starguru

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good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« on: August 26, 2014, 08:49:08 AM »
My wife are I are searching for a good fund/set of funds into which to route automated withdrawals.  My wife found this

ETF fund IJH

but I am concerned about the limited range of a midcap fund. 

I know everyone here loves Vanguard; we use Schwab and Fidelity and prefer to use just some equivalent funds.  So is it as simple as picking a fund like SWPPX or SWTSX?

grettman

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2014, 09:14:42 AM »
Aside from all the other factors you should be considering (risk tolerance, asset allocation, goals, and etc.) the SWTSX is the fund I am in for my wife's IRA which is with Schwab.  It has a low expense ratio (.10% I think) and I don't think you can go wrong with that fund if it matches what you are looking for. Is it as simple as picking that fund?  Yes if it matches what I said earlier.

starguru

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2014, 09:23:59 AM »
Yes, we are ~35 so are in the accumulation phase.  We have significant investments already (~1MM liquid, together), this is just another tactic as I really try to tighten the screws on our savings habits.  We are willing to be aggressive, we are at least 10+ out before we would consider FIRE, so we have some time to recover if something happens in the markets. 

On the other hand, I could find a total bond index and do an 80/20% split on those (stock to bond) just to add a bit of balance. 

Rekon

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2014, 12:36:59 PM »
I like SCHX for large-caps

Pyrroc

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2014, 04:10:52 PM »
For Fidelity you have their Spartan Index Funds which have very low expense ratios (a few examples):
  - FUSVX - S&P 500 Index - .05% Net ER
  - FSEVX - DJ Total Market Index - .07% Net ER
  - FSCKX - Russell Midcap Index - .09% Net ER

They also have their Select sector-targeting funds...  I have had incredible returns over the past 2 years with FBIOX, their Biotech industry fund.

-Pyrroc

starguru

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2014, 05:15:07 PM »
Hmm this is for a fire and forget scenario.  Does it make sense to go for DOW or S&P, or just total market?

Frankies Girl

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2014, 05:57:49 PM »
If you're looking at Fidelity:

SPRTN TOTAL MKT INDX FID ADVANTAGE CLASS - FSTVX


livingthedream

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2014, 06:19:12 PM »
Marketwatch columnist Paul Merriman's recommendations
http://paulmerriman.com/mutual-funds/

Fidelity Tax-Deferred Portfolios
Fund

Symbol   Aggressive   Moderate   Conservative
Fidelity Spartan 500 Index   FUSEX   11%   6%   4%
Fidelity Large Cap Value Enhanced Index   FLVEX   11%   7%   5%
Fidelity Spartan Small Cap Index   FSSPX   11%   7%   4%
Fidelity Small Cap Value   FCPVX   12%   7%   5%
Fidelity Spartan Real Estate Index   FRXIX   5%   3%   2%
Fidelity Spartan International Index   FSIIX   9%   6%   3%
Fidelity International Value   FIVLX   18%   10%   7%
Fidelity International Small Cap Opp   FSCOX   9%   5%   4%
Fidelity Spartan Emerging Markets   FPEMX   9%   6%   4%
Fidelity International Real Estate   FIREX   5%   3%   2%
Fidelity Spartan Intermediate Term Bond Index   FIBIX   0%   20%   30%
Fidelity Spartan Short-Term Bond Index   FSBIX   0%   12%   18%
Fidelity Spartan Inflation‐Protected Bond Index   FIPBX   0%   8%   12%
 

Scandium

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2014, 07:44:13 AM »
Marketwatch columnist Paul Merriman's recommendations
http://paulmerriman.com/mutual-funds/

Fidelity Tax-Deferred Portfolios
Fund

Symbol   Aggressive   Moderate   Conservative
Fidelity Spartan 500 Index   FUSEX   11%   6%   4%
Fidelity Large Cap Value Enhanced Index   FLVEX   11%   7%   5%
Fidelity Spartan Small Cap Index   FSSPX   11%   7%   4%
Fidelity Small Cap Value   FCPVX   12%   7%   5%
Fidelity Spartan Real Estate Index   FRXIX   5%   3%   2%
Fidelity Spartan International Index   FSIIX   9%   6%   3%
Fidelity International Value   FIVLX   18%   10%   7%
Fidelity International Small Cap Opp   FSCOX   9%   5%   4%
Fidelity Spartan Emerging Markets   FPEMX   9%   6%   4%
Fidelity International Real Estate   FIREX   5%   3%   2%
Fidelity Spartan Intermediate Term Bond Index   FIBIX   0%   20%   30%
Fidelity Spartan Short-Term Bond Index   FSBIX   0%   12%   18%
Fidelity Spartan Inflation‐Protected Bond Index   FIPBX   0%   8%   12%

I've seen his stuff before, but the extreme slicing and dicing just seems like too much hassle. So he wants me to be in 11 funds?! And splitting large cap and large cap value, and SC and SCV? What a mess. I know he's really gung-ho on small cap value. Maybe it will outperform, I don't know. But I prefer to keep it simpler. Domestic, international, and maybe a small blend for higher risk/reward.

I use schwab and us SWTSX for automatic investments. And for 100% of my wife's roth. So she only has to deal with a single fund. There's also SWISX for international (0.19%)
If this is taxable I'd avoid bond funds, have those in 401k/IRAs.

starguru

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2014, 08:50:14 AM »
Ok, so I think I am going to go with

15% SWIIX (Schwab Intermediate term bond)
85% SWTSX (Schwab total market)

Not sure if I should just skip the bond part though.  Any thoughts?  Anything drastically wrong with this idea?

Scandium

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #10 on: August 27, 2014, 03:20:40 PM »
Is this a taxable account? If so I would not do the bond fund due to taxable distributions. I like Swtsx

starguru

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2014, 06:55:44 PM »
Is this a taxable account? If so I would not do the bond fund due to taxable distributions. I like Swtsx

Good question, yes it is in a taxable account. 

I pulled the trigger today on SWTSX; will setup ongoing contributions from my automated contributions.  Going to recommend to my wife she do the Fidelity total market fund.

Weird thing about these total market funds; they are not "total market" as I would have imagined it.  To me, total market means the entire stock market.  In this context it seams to mean US Market, and primarily the DOW.

Scandium

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2014, 07:46:17 AM »
Is this a taxable account? If so I would not do the bond fund due to taxable distributions. I like Swtsx

Good question, yes it is in a taxable account. 

I pulled the trigger today on SWTSX; will setup ongoing contributions from my automated contributions.  Going to recommend to my wife she do the Fidelity total market fund.

Weird thing about these total market funds; they are not "total market" as I would have imagined it.  To me, total market means the entire stock market.  In this context it seams to mean US Market, and primarily the DOW.
Yes, both Schwab and Vanguard "total" market is US market. Vanguard has a world stock market fund, but it's 3x more expensive or something. I prefer to use several funds to dictate my own international exposure. Unfortunately the Schwab international fund does not have small cap (Vanguard does), so you need to add something like the SCHC ETF if you want international SC exposure. How much that will get you (other than more volatility) is of course debatable.

I think you'd do well with just SWTSX and SWISX. This also simplifies automatic investments. ETFs are a pain for that.

SWTSX uses an index run by Dow, but not the DJIA. It contains about 2400 stocks as far as I can tell.
"Seeks to track the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market IndexSM, which includes all U.S. headquartered equity securities with readily available price data."

starguru

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2014, 08:00:12 AM »
Cant even do automated investments with ETFS at Schwab.  Thanx for that info re the composition of these funds -- I got worried after pulling the trigger that perhaps and SP500 index would be better...

Scandium

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2014, 10:48:11 AM »
Cant even do automated investments with ETFS at Schwab.  Thanx for that info re the composition of these funds -- I got worried after pulling the trigger that perhaps and SP500 index would be better...

I prefer total US market over SP500. More diversification (2500 vs 500 companies) and more small cap for higher returns, although not by a whole lot. This just came in my RSS, weirdly pertinent
http://www.rickferri.com/blog/investments/sp-500-a-great-2nd-place-index-fund/

milesdividendmd

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good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #15 on: August 28, 2014, 11:35:44 PM »
Schwab ETFS are wonderfully low cost.

Fidelity Spartan funds are fine.

Why not decide on your target allocation and then choose your portfolio funds from this excellent resource?

http://www.altruistfa.com/dfavanguard.htm

Md2

starguru

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Re: good fidelity/schwab funds for automated investments
« Reply #16 on: September 03, 2014, 01:34:07 PM »
Just to tie this off, I finally got my automated transfers and investments set up at schwab.

The wife is doing the same thing at fidelity, but thru a communication mixup bought FSCKX (mid cap) instead of Fidelity's total market fund.  She can't sell the shares for 30 days without incurring a fee.  sigh...getting closer...