Our portfolio for BH review (questions below):
Emergency funds-not part of retirement assets: 150K (Vanguard money market and ST T-Bills)
Debt: Zero
Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly
Tax Rate: 22% Federal, 0% State
State of Residence: WA
Age: Him-56, Her-58
Desired Asset allocation: 70% stocks / 30% bonds
Desired International allocation: 20% of stocks
TOTAL PORTFOLIO: $3.5M
Current retirement assets:
Joint Taxable
33.0% VTSAX (Vang Total Stock Market Index)
2.7% VSMAX (Vang Small-Cap Index)
2.8% VSIAX (Vang Small-Cap Value Index)
2.8% VVIAX (Vang Value Index)
6.0% FLK (Fluke Corp.)
0.6% VMFXX (VANGUARD FEDERAL MONEY MARKET FUND)
His Trad IRA at Vanguard
1.7% MSFT (Microsoft)
10.9% VTIAX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK INDEX ADMIRAL)
15.8% VTBLX (Vanguard Total Bond Market Index)
5.0% VTABX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL BOND INDEX)
His Roth IRA at Vanguard
1.0% VTSAX (Vang Total Stock Market Index)
His HSA at Fidelity
2.9% FXAIX (FIDELITY 500 INDEX CL PRM MF)
Her Trad IRA at Vanguard
4.3% VTIAX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK INDEX ADMIRAL)
4.4% VTAPX (VANGUARD SHORT TERM INFL PROT SECS INDEX)
Her 403b
2.7% BSPIX (I S&P 500 INDEX CL INSTNAL MF)
Her Roth IRA at Vanguard
0.9% QQQ (INVESCO QQQ ETF)
2.8% VTSAX (Vang Total Stock Market Index)
Other Assets:
HOME: $1.5M (no mortgage)
ANNUAL EXPENSES: $160K
Future Income:
His SS (age 70) $43,812
Her SS (age 62) $12,984
Her Pension (age 65) $10,124-COLA starts at her age 65
EXPENSES:
Questions:
We find ourself in a transition and both not working the last few months. We want to see if we could start retirement now. Our plan has been to draw down taxable assets first. The Joint Taxable account value includes roughly 70% capital gains. Should also we begin Roth Conversions this year (we have zero earned income in 2024)? Up to what bracket? Our thinking has been up to 22%, but is there a good reason to go up to 24% or higher? Or is it better to focus on realizing our Cap Gains in the coming years and do conversions later? Or some hybrid approach? Other ideas/thoughts on general withdrawal or Roth strategies given our portfolio make up, age, etc?
We were always pretty ok with Total Bond funds for their simplicity and, despite recent losses, we’ve stayed the course up til now. But now to guarantee income in these pre-SS years, we’re wondering if laddered CD’s or nother option are worth the effort as some suggest?? Can’t I just withdraw from the bond funds as necessary?
We are using the Boglehead VPW worksheet to estimate our monthly withdrawals with the understanding we would have to significantly have to cut back in line with the worksheets estimates in case of a big market correction.
We’d appreciate any thoughts or tough questions regarding asset selection, allocation or location. We’re generally pretty frugal and can cut back our expenses by 25% if necessary. We have been trimming down some of the FLK stock over the last few years and will continue to reduce our exposure in that single stock.
Note: we are currently buying health insurance from our former employer using a HDHP and an HSA account for savings (contributions to our HSA each year are part of our annual expenses). We’d probably continue with this approach at least for the near term and compare what’s available on the ACA exchange each year.
THANK YOU!!
Emergency funds-not part of retirement assets: 150K (Vanguard money market and ST T-Bills)
Debt: Zero
Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly
Tax Rate: 22% Federal, 0% State
State of Residence: WA
Age: Him-56, Her-58
Desired Asset allocation: 70% stocks / 30% bonds
Desired International allocation: 20% of stocks
TOTAL PORTFOLIO: $3.5M
Current retirement assets:
Joint Taxable
33.0% VTSAX (Vang Total Stock Market Index)
2.7% VSMAX (Vang Small-Cap Index)
2.8% VSIAX (Vang Small-Cap Value Index)
2.8% VVIAX (Vang Value Index)
6.0% FLK (Fluke Corp.)
0.6% VMFXX (VANGUARD FEDERAL MONEY MARKET FUND)
His Trad IRA at Vanguard
1.7% MSFT (Microsoft)
10.9% VTIAX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK INDEX ADMIRAL)
15.8% VTBLX (Vanguard Total Bond Market Index)
5.0% VTABX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL BOND INDEX)
His Roth IRA at Vanguard
1.0% VTSAX (Vang Total Stock Market Index)
His HSA at Fidelity
2.9% FXAIX (FIDELITY 500 INDEX CL PRM MF)
Her Trad IRA at Vanguard
4.3% VTIAX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK INDEX ADMIRAL)
4.4% VTAPX (VANGUARD SHORT TERM INFL PROT SECS INDEX)
Her 403b
2.7% BSPIX (I S&P 500 INDEX CL INSTNAL MF)
Her Roth IRA at Vanguard
0.9% QQQ (INVESCO QQQ ETF)
2.8% VTSAX (Vang Total Stock Market Index)
Other Assets:
HOME: $1.5M (no mortgage)
ANNUAL EXPENSES: $160K
Future Income:
His SS (age 70) $43,812
Her SS (age 62) $12,984
Her Pension (age 65) $10,124-COLA starts at her age 65
EXPENSES:
Questions:
We find ourself in a transition and both not working the last few months. We want to see if we could start retirement now. Our plan has been to draw down taxable assets first. The Joint Taxable account value includes roughly 70% capital gains. Should also we begin Roth Conversions this year (we have zero earned income in 2024)? Up to what bracket? Our thinking has been up to 22%, but is there a good reason to go up to 24% or higher? Or is it better to focus on realizing our Cap Gains in the coming years and do conversions later? Or some hybrid approach? Other ideas/thoughts on general withdrawal or Roth strategies given our portfolio make up, age, etc?
We were always pretty ok with Total Bond funds for their simplicity and, despite recent losses, we’ve stayed the course up til now. But now to guarantee income in these pre-SS years, we’re wondering if laddered CD’s or nother option are worth the effort as some suggest?? Can’t I just withdraw from the bond funds as necessary?
We are using the Boglehead VPW worksheet to estimate our monthly withdrawals with the understanding we would have to significantly have to cut back in line with the worksheets estimates in case of a big market correction.
We’d appreciate any thoughts or tough questions regarding asset selection, allocation or location. We’re generally pretty frugal and can cut back our expenses by 25% if necessary. We have been trimming down some of the FLK stock over the last few years and will continue to reduce our exposure in that single stock.
Note: we are currently buying health insurance from our former employer using a HDHP and an HSA account for savings (contributions to our HSA each year are part of our annual expenses). We’d probably continue with this approach at least for the near term and compare what’s available on the ACA exchange each year.
THANK YOU!!
Statistics: Posted by TheSpaniard — Wed Jun 26, 2024 10:03 pm — Replies 0 — Views 45