I have not paid much attention to investing until about 6 months ago and have read a lot about it, especially here. I had my Traditional IRA with LPL Financial. After realizing the high fees and little use I got from them, I believed I could manage it myself and just transfered it all to a vangaurd IRA. I just got the confirmation letter in the mail and now need to decide how to allocate/manage it. Theres only $1300 in it, my plan was to add more money and invest in their index funds BUT we are planning a move very soon and want to hold up putting money into it until we move and settle in.
So, I know many funds at Vangaurd requires a certain balance. Right now its just in their prime money market fund. After some research I came across the ETF (VTI) and think it may work until we have a larger balance. Then, I had a suggestion about vanguards star fund, seems it has a stock to bond ratio that's less risky then the VTI? At this point, the thought of risk doesn't scare me, but of course there's a small balance right now.
I would love suggestions. Although I have learned a lot lately, I still have a ways to go and could be missing something important. So, will the VTI work with the low balance and is that the best option at this point? Or is the star fund something to seriously consider?
Another question, with the balance so low right now, do we really need to allocate money and diversify much until the balance grows? Is it ok to just stick it into one thing like VTI or should I put it into 2 or more locations within vanguard?
Some info of us.
I'm married, husband and I are late 20s. No kids, but maybe next few years. This is the ONLY retirement account we have, both self employed with rental properties and lawncare business. Would like to open another IRA in my husbands name in the near future. Short term goal is to remain self employed and continue to save drastically over time. Longer term is to reach FI by 40-50s. This is something I'm still working on and figuring. We enjoy what we do(since we do not have typical 9-5 jobs) but in time would want to be fully FI. So just a little info on us.