Author Topic: Too much VTSAX?  (Read 1928 times)

therethere

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Too much VTSAX?
« on: August 29, 2018, 11:17:47 AM »
When I started reading MMM I had a load of high interest student loan debt. I was only contributing minimums to 401k's and IRA's. I never thought too much about what I was putting my money in. Everything either ended in a Target Retirement Fund or VTSAX. Now that the loans are gone we have a ton of free money every month however, by default I'm funneling it all into VTSAX as that was my previous strategy. With the market runup the past 2 years balances have increased and now I think I need to start thinking about my asset allocation. I don't have an IPS. Well, my IPS up until now was "throw everything into VTSAX."

Age 34, Married (holdings and NW are combined)
Next Life stage up in the air - Throwing around RTW backpacking, quitting and becoming nomadic for a year, buying a house (DP ~80k), or holding out until getting closer to full FI.

As for my holdings:
VTSAX or sp500 funds (310k,  ~55% of NW) - all of brokerage, 401k's, IRA's, HSA
XOM (32k, 6% NW) - old 401k
2045 and 2050 Target Retirement Funds - multiple vendors (185k / 32% NW) - 401k's

Am I over-investing in VTSAX (especially since my entire "accessible" money is VTSAX)? I'm concerned because of how quickly and high the market has gotten recently. I'm wondering if I should switch my auto-deposits to another fund for the remainder of the year to balance it out.
Any recommendations for a new IPS/asset allocation or where to start? I need to keep it simple.






catccc

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Re: Too much VTSAX?
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2018, 12:15:12 PM »
There are many here that will say VTSAX all the way.  What other fund are you considering and why?

My portfolio is not currently set up like this, but I am working towards it.  Just exchanged all of my target date funds for VTSAX and whatever the international version is.  JLCollins thinks the international portion is unnecessary, and I'm inclined to agree, but I just happened to remember re-read about that after I did my exchange.

It takes some guts to stick out such an equities heavy portfolio, but I think in the end it is worth it.  In February 2014, the market was looking great, and despite this, I lump sum invested 80K into a taxable account, having exhausted my tax-advantaged options.  (I put 30% in bonds and 70% in equities, since this was a taxable account and I was thinking about buying a house, and wanted to be conservative.  4+ years later, I still don't have a house, don't know if we will ever buy one, and all the bonds have done was limit my upside.  Although, I will say in defense of these bonds, less so than my still cash heavy position as done.  Future investments are going VTSAX.

The market is always on a run up, except when it's not, and when it's not, you just buy more if you can.  I think your VTSAX heavy portofolio is a really good way to go.

Roothy

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Re: Too much VTSAX?
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2018, 03:17:24 PM »
My personal opinion is that you are too light on international stocks.  Your target retirement funds probably have them, but they aren't the largest part of your portfolio.  Having internationals in your taxables is the best place to have them, from a tax efficiency standpoint-this way you'll at least get a refund of some of the foreign taxes you are paying.  VTIAX is a great international ex-US fund.

Depending on your years to retirement, you might also consider bonds.  Again for tax reasons (bonds tend to pay a lot of dividends), if you buy them you should probably have them in your retirement accounts. 

Bottom line: there's nothing at all wrong with being so heavily into VTSAX.  It's a great fund that owns pretty much everything (small/large, value/growth, etc.).  It's "owning the (US) market."  Your only real considerations are if you want to own more of the market than just US, and if you want to temper your ownership of the market with some bonds.