I just finished a free session with a Vanguard financial advisor, which I used as sort of an "am I really ready to do this?" double-check. He answered that question with an emphatic "yes," but he did have a couple of bits of advice. I'm coming here to see if my fellow Mustachians agree with him.
If it makes any difference, I'm 40 years old, married, no children, homeowner/no mortgage, but my finances are separate from my husband's. He will continue to work, and I don't want to rely on his income except in the most dire of emergencies, so other than filing taxes jointly, please treat this as if I'm single!
I'm currently in 90% stocks, 10% bonds in all of my accounts (brokerage account, SEP IRA, Roth IRA), and I plan to draw down on my brokerage account first, for as long as it lasts (he says it'll get me to 59.5). He recommends changing that to mostly bonds in the IRAs and mostly stocks in the brokerage account, for an overall balance of 60% stocks and 40% bonds. He says this will protect me from capital gains taxes and from wild fluctuations in the stock market, but to me it seems like I might be giving up a lot of potential earnings, too...?
Also, I have 100% domestic stocks/bonds now, and he recommends changing that to about 30% international. The only reason I hadn't done that before is that I thought it was wise when someone here said that the large U.S. companies (Coca-Cola, Apple, etc.) are international companies, too, so owning VTSAX is kind of like having international stocks as well. Though I suppose the U.S. stock market could crash and possibly not take the rest of the world with it...?
If these are solid pieces of advice, then I have a dumb question... how do I go about fixing this without incurring major fees, taxes, etc. upon making the switch? Can I just sell some stocks and then turn around and buy bonds? I'm currently in VTSAX and the bond equivalent (can't remember the 5 letters off the top of my head).