Hi there,
My wife and I are hoping to leverage the collective knowledge of the MMM forum for an old investment we have. My wife had an inheritance from her mother that, when we started dating 5 years ago, was just sitting in a savings account. So, being the smart guy that I was, I told her to go put it in a mutual fund. No idea what kind, but I figured the fine people at Wamu could advise us.
Into a branch we went with $61k in cash, out we came with a class A mutual fund, SABPX (edited), charging us 5% on the front end. This was in early 2008, more or less the peak of what this mutual fund has ever seen. On comes the recession, the $61k dips into the high thirties, but we don't sell, and still haven't.
Today, it's back up to $51k, roughly 10k in unrealized losses. Every few months we have a discussion for what to do...continue to hold on to the investment until we get back to even? Or lock in our losses, and put the funds into the current asset allocation we have:
Coward's Porfolio:
25% VFINX
25% NAESX
25% VBISX
25% VDMIX
Here's the high level view of our financials that may help:
-We are in the 15% tax bracket so we only put in 5% pre-tax my 401k, and get a 5% match from the company; aiming for the same asset allocation above
-We also make a 5% Roth 401k contribution into the same plan
-Max out both her Roth IRA and mine
-$65k left on the mortgage
-Wife is in a PhD program so she doesn't earn an income, beside a small stipend
-Will likely be moving in 5 years when she starts applying for professor positions...may want to use these funds for downpayment
-May want to keep and rent out the current house in that case
-No debt besides mortgage, no kids
Thanks in advance for your help!