Hi
I'm 32 and have had an IRA for a few years now. I don't make a lot of money, but I'm pretty frugal and try to contribute regularly. I set up my current IRA with my parents' financial advisor when I was in my 20's. She doesn't charge me an fee or commission since we speak so infrequently. My portfolio currently looks like this:
FTGTX - Franklin Templeton Growth Allocation Fund C $1402.65
gross expense ratio 2.07%
FBMCX - Franklin Templeton Balanced Fund C $1243.68
gross expense ratio 1.87%
FCISX - Franklin Income Fund C $1149.60
gross expense ratio 1.14%
I contribute $100/month....so $100 to each fund every 3 months.
Total Value $3797.93
After spending the past few months learning a bit about investing, I'm ready to go ahead and open a Vanguard account (IRA). In addition to the above funds, I have $3100.00 in cash that I can safely invest.
1. I'll probably use the $3100.00 in cash to invest in an Index Fund...either total stock market or S&P 500.
2. I'm thinking I should also think about rolling over the above funds into the new Vanguard IRA to cut down on expenses. I'm assuming if I roll over, it won't count towards my $5,500 limit for 2013? Should I roll this money into the same Index fund as the $3,100 cash, or a different Index fund? If so, which funds might make sense?
I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions! Feel free to ask questions if I'm leaving out info.