Opened my first VTSMX account!

[Tyson]

I'm so stoked - all debt is paid off (except mortgage), 401k is maxed out (and getting 6% employer match), and today I opened a Vanguard account for the first time ever!  I am so stoked. 

Don't know if this qualifies as "truly" badass, but I sure FEEL badass!

[forummm]

That sounds pretty good to me--nice going!

[Telecaster]

Sounds badass to me too!

[Tyson]

Here's the slightly amusing story to go along with it.  I was only going to do $2k to get started, and just have more cash in my checking account for "unexpected" expenses.  But when opening the account, the Vanguard  rep told me "The minimum for VTSMX is $3k".  So I said "OK, lets do $3k".  Bam!  DONE.  Prior to MMM I'd have been all like "Oh, well I need to wait for my next paycheck, just in case."  But now I know I can easily make it to my next paycheck even after going in for an extra $1k. 

Ah, the beautiful combined power of having a budget and increased frugality.

[Tyson]

Another update - less that 2 weeks after opening this with 3k, I have another $4500 that I just added to the pot.  And most likely I'll be able to squeeze out another $2k by the end of this month. 

That's $9500.  I can't believe I've been able to save/invest this much, this fast!  Part of it is that we re-financed our mortgage, so we didn't have our normal monthly payment, so that was a huge part of it.  But a much larger part of it is that I have put the kibosh on being a spendypants.

[wordnerd]

Nice! Just keep going!

[johnny847]

Nice!

They'll automatically upgrade you to admiral shares when you hit $10k, but there's typically a delay. You can request it manually. You have to dig around in teh website, I forget exactly how you do it.

[Tigerpine]

Great work!  You are an inspiration!

[Kimchi Bleu]

Fantastic!  Great job.

[Tyson]

Thanks!  It feels really good.  Although it also feels a bit surreal.  After living hand to mouth and paycheck to paycheck for so long, it doesn't quite seem "real" that we actually have savings.

You know your thinking has shifted when you stop dreaming about getting a new fancy car and start dreaming about getting several months worth of staple foods at Costco :D

[ImCheap]

Only thing you need to do now is decide how you want to treat your dividends!

I don't care to auto reinvest in taxable some people do. I don't care to keep track of all the small transactions, more so if you have a bond fund with its monthly distributions. With todays reporting it may not be such as it used to be. I like shares in round numbers as well, call me weird.

[forummm]

Only thing you need to do now is decide how you want to treat your dividends!

I don't care to auto reinvest in taxable some people do. I don't care to keep track of all the small transactions, more so if you have a bond fund with its monthly distributions. With todays reporting it may not be such as it used to be. I like shares in round numbers as well, call me weird.

Vanguard keeps track of all the transactions for you. You can choose whichever basis method you like. Specific identification lets you sell the exact shares (even fractions of shares) when you go to sell. Very easy. Auto reinvest is a good idea usually.

[MakingSenseofCents]

Awesome. Great job!

[johnny847]

Only thing you need to do now is decide how you want to treat your dividends!

I don't care to auto reinvest in taxable some people do. I don't care to keep track of all the small transactions, more so if you have a bond fund with its monthly distributions. With todays reporting it may not be such as it used to be. I like shares in round numbers as well, call me weird.

Vanguard keeps track of all the transactions for you. You can choose whichever basis method you like. Specific identification lets you sell the exact shares (even fractions of shares) when you go to sell. Very easy. Auto reinvest is a good idea usually.

I don't have mine set to auto reinvest because it can cause wash sales. You can certainly turn it off when you TLH but I'd rather not forget.

[Tigerpine]

I don't have mine set to auto reinvest because it can cause wash sales. You can certainly turn it off when you TLH but I'd rather not forget.

Pardon my rather expansive ignorance, but what is a "wash sale"?

[forummm]

I don't have mine set to auto reinvest because it can cause wash sales. You can certainly turn it off when you TLH but I'd rather not forget.

Pardon my rather expansive ignorance, but what is a "wash sale"?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wash+sale

It's where the IRS disallows the tax loss (and changes your basis in new shares) if you buy new shares that are essentially equivalent to the old shares you sold at a loss. Happy to answer specific questions if you have them.

[Tigerpine]

I don't have mine set to auto reinvest because it can cause wash sales. You can certainly turn it off when you TLH but I'd rather not forget.

Pardon my rather expansive ignorance, but what is a "wash sale"?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wash+sale

It's where the IRS disallows the tax loss (and changes your basis in new shares) if you buy new shares that are essentially equivalent to the old shares you sold at a loss. Happy to answer specific questions if you have them.

So this is only a problem for taxable investments (i.e. non-retirement accounts)?  How much of a problem is this with Vanguard index funds?

[forummm]

I don't have mine set to auto reinvest because it can cause wash sales. You can certainly turn it off when you TLH but I'd rather not forget.

Pardon my rather expansive ignorance, but what is a "wash sale"?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wash+sale

It's where the IRS disallows the tax loss (and changes your basis in new shares) if you buy new shares that are essentially equivalent to the old shares you sold at a loss. Happy to answer specific questions if you have them.

So this is only a problem for taxable investments (i.e. non-retirement accounts)?  How much of a problem is this with Vanguard index funds?

"Problem" meaning?

You can only harvest a tax loss in a taxable account (with one exception that doesn't apply here). If you do harvest a tax loss in a taxable account, but buy a substantially identical security in an IRA, that triggers the wash sale rule. The wash sale applies to all securities, including Vanguard funds.

[Tigerpine]

I don't have mine set to auto reinvest because it can cause wash sales. You can certainly turn it off when you TLH but I'd rather not forget.

Pardon my rather expansive ignorance, but what is a "wash sale"?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wash+sale

It's where the IRS disallows the tax loss (and changes your basis in new shares) if you buy new shares that are essentially equivalent to the old shares you sold at a loss. Happy to answer specific questions if you have them.

So this is only a problem for taxable investments (i.e. non-retirement accounts)?  How much of a problem is this with Vanguard index funds?

"Problem" meaning?

You can only harvest a tax loss in a taxable account (with one exception that doesn't apply here). If you do harvest a tax loss in a taxable account, but buy a substantially identical security in an IRA, that triggers the wash sale rule. The wash sale applies to all securities, including Vanguard funds.

Oh, so the only way the wash rule would come into play is if you sell shares from your taxable account and use those proceeds to reinvest in say a Roth IRA or some similar situation?

The "problem" I was afraid of is whether having the dividends automatically set to reinvest could somehow trigger a penalty with the IRS, even if you let your funds stay put.  I don't want to inadvertently piss of the IRS!

[johnny847]

I don't have mine set to auto reinvest because it can cause wash sales. You can certainly turn it off when you TLH but I'd rather not forget.

Pardon my rather expansive ignorance, but what is a "wash sale"?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wash+sale

It's where the IRS disallows the tax loss (and changes your basis in new shares) if you buy new shares that are essentially equivalent to the old shares you sold at a loss. Happy to answer specific questions if you have them.

So this is only a problem for taxable investments (i.e. non-retirement accounts)?  How much of a problem is this with Vanguard index funds?

"Problem" meaning?

You can only harvest a tax loss in a taxable account (with one exception that doesn't apply here). If you do harvest a tax loss in a taxable account, but buy a substantially identical security in an IRA, that triggers the wash sale rule. The wash sale applies to all securities, including Vanguard funds.

Oh, so the only way the wash rule would come into play is if you sell shares from your taxable account and use those proceeds to reinvest in say a Roth IRA or some similar situation?

The "problem" I was afraid of is whether having the dividends automatically set to reinvest could somehow trigger a penalty with the IRS, even if you let your funds stay put.  I don't want to inadvertently piss of the IRS!

Tigerpine, I realize you're new here to this forum, but it seems that you didn't get forumm's hint. Reading some resources on tax loss harvesting and the wash sale rule would be a MUCH faster way to learn. Right now you're asking about the basics of wash sales and tax loss harvesting.

First read: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax_loss_harvesting
Then read http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Wash_sale

Then if you still have questions, come back and ask them.

[Tigerpine]

Tigerpine, I realize you're new here to this forum, but it seems that you didn't get forumm's hint. Reading some resources on tax loss harvesting and the wash sale rule would be a MUCH faster way to learn. Right now you're asking about the basics of wash sales and tax loss harvesting.

First read: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax_loss_harvesting
Then read http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Wash_sale

Then if you still have questions, come back and ask them.

"Seems" is too kind.  It completely went over my head, although I did click on forummm's link.
Sorry about that.  Investing and all the IRS rules that go along with it are all new to me.