2025 Fund VTTVX

[almost there]

Am thinking of putting my entire 401k into VTTVX and letting it ride.
Tired of fooling with it. Plan to retire in 5 yrs, but will keep some $$ in this fund after retirement. Thoughts? I know many here like to do there own thing. It just seems hard to beat with an expense ratio of .18%

Just mentioning it as these funds don't get talked about much here.

Thanks in advance........

[Animorph]

As long as that's the fund with the equity allocation and glide path you like, it should serve well. My DS is just a year into his job. He doesn't want to think about investing much yet, so the farthest out retirement date fund works for him.

[almost there]

Ok...............

[Alan]

I rolled my entire 401k to VTENX (Tgt 2010) in Jan, 2010. I don't intend to do anything with it. Let the VG computers manage the re-balancing and changing of the AA as the years go by.

[james7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by almost there Am thinking of putting my entire 401k into VTTVX and letting it ride. Tired of fooling with it. Plan to retire in 5 yrs, but will keep some $$ in this fund after retirement. Thoughts? I know many here like to do there own thing. It just seems hard to beat with an expense ratio of .18% Just mentioning it as these funds don't get talked about much here. Thanks in advance........

If you are planning to retire in 5 years (2017), and planning to keep some money in the fund after retirement, you should have a target fund that coincides with when you will be taking the money out, not 8 years after that time. Generally target funds take more risk the further out they are dated so you may not have received the return that you expected on your money.

[Animorph]

Quote:

Originally Posted by james7 If you are planning to retire in 5 years (2017), and planning to keep some money in the fund after retirement, you should have a target fund that coincides with when you will be taking the money out, not 8 years after that time. Generally target funds take more risk the further out they are dated so you may not have received the return that you expected on your money.

The target retirement plans probably assume retire-at-65. For RE, and for those with more aggressive tastes a later date might be better. Given the wide range of allocations between target date funds from different companies, it's all pretty much whatever makes you feel good anyway.

[almost there]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Animorph The target retirement plans probably assume retire-at-65. For RE, and for those with more aggressive tastes a later date might be better. Given the wide range of allocations between target date funds from different companies, it's all pretty much whatever makes you feel good anyway.

I dumped it in last week. & Feel good.
Plan to retire at 55, & just let the fund roll till 2025 when I'm 65.
Talk about simple........ Could it really be that easy?
Have had my Roth with Vanguard in a 2020 fund for a while now & am very pleased with it. I guess it can be just that easy.
And am now looking back at the thousands of hours I took over the past 25 yrs trying to figure things out. Am pretty sure I would have made much more just doing something like this from the get go.

[Focus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by almost there And am now looking back at the thousands of hours I took over the past 25 yrs trying to figure things out. Am pretty sure I would have made much more just doing something like this from the get go.

After reading a multitude of books in anticipation of slicing and dicing my portfolio, I came to the same conclusion. Best to keep it simple.

My preferred alternative (for the nontaxable portion) is the Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund, which has a 0.16 expense rate and was recently changed by Vanguard into a combination of index funds. From the Vanguard website (as of 11/30/11):

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares 42.7%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund Investor Shares 39.2%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Investor Shares 18.1%

No glide path, of course. So, which one you prefer depends on whether you think it's best to stick to one allocation (what LifeStrategy funds offer) or have it adjusted for you as the years go by (what the Target funds offer).

[Animorph]

I'm a slicer & dicer. I like larger small-cap and value and international allocations, and no bonds to speak of. It also allows some additional rebalancing opportunities. But it does take some work to set up, track, and rebalance. I enjoy that, but it's probably not for most people. The target date funds give you some nice diversity without all the work.

[RAE]

Nothing wrong with VTTVX, but I would personally not be comfortable with putting a chunk of my retirement funds into any fund (or mix of funds) and just ignoring it for 5+ years. It might work out just fine, but it's always possible to have another year like 2008, too. If you are prepared to accept that kind of loss right before retirement, then no problem. But if not, then I would at least keep an eye on your investments, and be prepared to take defensive action if necessary. I guess that makes me a market timer, but so be it.......

[almost there]

Here is what it boils down to.

Vanguard Total Stock Mkt Idx Inv 50.89%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Idx Inv 27.36%
Vanguard Total Intl Stock Index Inv 21.72%

Just over 2% yield, .18% expense ratio & auto re balancing down the road.