Useful Links

pb4uski · 10-23-2015, 09:46 AM

+1 I think you have made a wise choice that will serve you well. Once you have set things in place it should not take much time at all... less than an hour a month.

Since you have some concerns on Wellington's interest rate risk, one thing that you might keep an eye out for on these boards is if PenFed offers a year-end CD special as they have in 2012 and 2013 (but not in 2014). Many of us snagged a 5 year 3% FDIC insured CD back in December 2013. That could cover up to 25% of your $1m nestegg since the FDIC limit is $250k.

If you do that it would make your AA more conservative (~25/75 vs 35/65) and you could then decide if you prefer to keep it that way or shift some money from Wellesley (35/65) to Wellington (65/35) to adjust your overall AA is back to the 35/65. Vanguard could help you calculate how much you would need to swap over to Wellington to hit your target if you chose that route (or you could ask here).

Ian S · 10-23-2015, 11:09 AM

Wellesley sounds like a reasonable choice for you and if you don't care about bricks and mortar, then having it at Vanguard makes sense. Re interest rate exposure, I would assume, since Wellesley is a managed fund, that the experts running it would plan for higher interest rates by gradually moving to shorter maturities. Good luck!

Bestwifeever · 10-23-2015, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

I spoke with Vanguard and all in all, it would be better to transfer the Fidelity 401K and IRA to them and get monthly checks from Wellesley (the other payout funds are too high), based on 3%. Wow, their expense ratios are much lower than Fidelity! Kind of scared putting it all in one fund but when I look at their performance stats based on me having 10-12 positions, they obviously know what they are doing. I will do it in three major transfers to get my feet wet. The one sticky point is the average duration of their bonds is 9.5 years which is scary when interests rate rise.

I am loving the new Fidelity online interface though, must see if V is as user friendly. At first blush their website doesn't seem as easy to use.

When I think of retirement I envision not having to deal with all this number crunching, AA monitoring anymore, I just want to have the money from the three legged stool flow into our checking account and then our only responsibility is to live within our budget and do what you're suppose to in retirement: ENJOY THE REST OF ONE'S LIFESPAN! If I have to spend more than one hour a month on this that would be too much.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I don't need a CFP except for perhaps an annual hourly session.

Nice. And you're not married to 100% Wellesley--if the other legs of the retirement finances strengthen or weaken, you can easily move some around a little within Vanguard--my second rebalancing was when virtually riskfree SS entered the picture, so we moved a little into Wellington and the S&P funds. I check the balance every day but that's it for time spent on my part.

One nice thing imo about the people on this board is their variety of investment styles--I have learned so much.

jazz4cash · 10-23-2015, 12:52 PM

Cheesehead
Congratulations on taking the bull by the horns. I am not nearly so pro-active but I think I have plenty of time to sort things out since I have a ladder of CDs (with a rung or two missing). Your decision to move over to VG is a bit scary to me as I am really happy with Fido. I like the revamped website and they seem to have a lot more resources than VG. DW has a VG IRA so I have used both websites. As far as I know the only way to move from Fido would be an IRA rollover (e.g. direct transfer) but I would lose access to my 401k stable value fund, access to 401k loans, and a state tax exemption that applies to 401k but not IRA. Also I think 401k has more protection against legal judgements (not sure about that one).

hnzw_rui · 10-23-2015, 01:15 PM

@Cheesehead
You mentioned you're going with Wellesley right now. Just one thought. You might want to put something like $50,000 in Wellington Admiral Shares (VWENX ER 0.18%) in case the fund gets closed to new investors. At the very least, you can put in $3,000 in Wellington Investor Shares (VWELX ER 0.26%).

Sunset · 10-23-2015, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash

I don't agree with this at all...at least not until OP is certain that Fido cannot satisfy his needs. At this point it looks like Fido may be able to do this.
No need to rush into anything, and I favor Vanguard but Fido has done an excellent job with my workplace savings and they do have plenty of investor centers in my area. Also, since these are 401k funds, I do not believe the "IN KIND" transfer would apply.

I was mentioning "IN KIND" to be sure OP did not trigger a big taxable event in case he was going to move a taxable account.
For anything in a tax sheltered account (IRA/401K/ROTH) a person can sell all and transfer the cash or I believe you can still transfer "IN KIND".

The benefit of transfer "IN KIND" with large accounts (over $500K) is that once its at Vanguard, the stock sale costs just $2, and vanguard etf sales are free.
Transfer over $1 MM and the stock sales are free.

NW-Bound · 10-23-2015, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

... When I think of retirement I envision not having to deal with all this number crunching, AA monitoring anymore, I just want to have the money from the three legged stool flow into our checking account and then our only responsibility is to live within our budget and do what you're suppose to in retirement: ENJOY THE REST OF ONE'S LIFESPAN! If I have to spend more than one hour a month on this that would be too much...

Congrats! It does not have to be that tough, does it?

About spending time on the market, some of my friends here and myself are active investors, and although I trade less frequently than some posters here I spend quite a bit of time looking at economic news.

There's no guarantee that all that effort will help my performance much, but it's my nature to try to understand what is going on, and I enjoy it. But if you don't, then there's nothing wrong with it. It's not too different than my losing all interest in high-performance cars, but some geezers still like to tinker with their toys. We can do whatever that we like (as long as we do not lose 1.5%/yr for nothing). It's great!

pb4uski · 10-23-2015, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hnzw_rui

@Cheesehead
You mentioned you're going with Wellesley right now. Just one thought. You might want to put something like $50,000 in Wellington Admiral Shares (VWENX ER 0.18%) in case the fund gets closed to new investors. At the very least, you can put in $3,000 in Wellington Investor Shares (VWELX ER 0.26%).

Good idea.

FUEGO · 10-23-2015, 05:59 PM

Cheesehead, glad to hear Vanguard will work for you. Definitely call them and get things set up however you like. They'll talk to relative nobodies with $10,000 in their account, and they'll definitely love talking to someone like you. If you want auto-payments and to do most business over the phone, you might not need to use the website very much. I personally find their website just as easy to use as Fidelity. Partly because Fidelity seems to renovate their website every year or two.

Texas Proud · 10-23-2015, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO

Cheesehead, glad to hear Vanguard will work for you. Definitely call them and get things set up however you like. They'll talk to relative nobodies with $10,000 in their account, and they'll definitely love talking to someone like you. If you want auto-payments and to do most business over the phone, you might not need to use the website very much. I personally find their website just as easy to use as Fidelity. Partly because Fidelity seems to renovate their website every year or two.

With his level of assets he will have a dedicated person he can call... they will hand hold more than he thinks if he wants... they want to keep the big fish happy....

RobLJ · 10-29-2015, 11:33 PM

You can't go wrong with either Vanguard or Fidelity. I have both (my 403b and wife's current 401k is with Fido but DW's rollover is with Vanguard, which I made a passive portfolio.)
If you need/want more handholding, pay 1-1.5k to an hourly fee-based adviser.

LOL! · 10-30-2015, 06:41 AM

@Cheesehead, it seems you are infatuated with Fidelity, but also with Vanguard Wellesley.

Fidelity has done a disservice to you by not guiding you to their low-expense-ratio passively-managed index funds that are just as good as Vanguard funds. More on that in a moment.

I didn't read all the posts in this thread carefully, but it seems that they may also have done a disservice to you because it appears you got tracked into Wellsley and away from Vanguard's low-expense-ratio passively-managed index funds.

thefinancebuff's first post in this thread is where you should have stopped reading. Basically, select a single passively-managed low-expense-ratio index fund in the asset allocation that you desire and use it for all your accounts.

Fidelity has the Fidelity Freedom Index funds which are almost impossible to find on their web site. Ticker symbols are FPIFX, FLIFX, and so on. The expense ratios are around 0.2%.

Vanguard has the Vanguard Target Retirement funds which are easy to find on their web site. Ticker symbols are VTWNX, VTXVX, VTTVX, and so on. The expense ratios are around 0.2%.

I would rather pay 0.2% to get everything I need instead of 2.2%.

There are really no numbers to figure out or anything to worry about. Simply invest and get automatic withdrawals for the rest of your life.

REWahoo · 10-30-2015, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL!

thefinancebuff's first post in this thread is where you should have stopped reading.

Really? Other opinions aren't valid?

retiredinnyc · 10-30-2015, 08:13 AM

Seems steep? I was crying when I read that, heck give me your million dollars, I'll take 15,000 from you and mail you a check for 30,000. I'll also send your nice birthday and Christmas cards

pb4uski · 10-30-2015, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL!

...I didn't read all the posts in this thread carefully, but it seems that they may also have done a disservice to you because it appears you got tracked into Wellsley and away from Vanguard's low-expense-ratio passively-managed index funds.....

To call suggestions to go with Wellesley a disservice is truly disingenuous especially when the ER difference is 0.02% or less.

Wellesley Admiral ER = 0.18%
Target Retirement 2015 = 0.16%

FANOFJESUS · 10-30-2015, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retiredinnyc

Seems steep? I was crying when I read that, heck give me your million dollars, I'll take 15,000 from you and mail you a check for 30,000. I'll also send your nice birthday and Christmas cards

I can beat that I'll take the million mail him a check for 30,000 every year. I charge nothing but I get to keep the interest on the million. My plan also comes with a 33 year guarantee but with no COLA on the 30,000

pb4uski · 10-30-2015, 12:24 PM

Very generous of you.

samclem · 10-30-2015, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeDreaming

I'm often amazed at the level of knowledge some people here have regarding finances. It's intimidating sometimes - I post a question about something I think I have a pretty good handle on, and I get a load of responses that remind me just how much I don't know.

But, I've come to realize that even if I don't pick that absolute optimal solution for my particular financial problem, that I've learned enough that I can pick a pretty darn good solution.

And for me, it's important that whatever financial plan I choose, that I understand it. That is, I'm not just doing it because someone told me it's the right thing to do. I'm doing it because I understand how it works, and what the risks are. There are some good sound investment principals that are pretty easy to understand and to implement, and that don't require a lot of your time. So maybe it won't be the absolutely most tax efficient plan if I live to the age of 97, but it's still a good plan and I understand it will work good for me.

100% correct, IMO. Trying to optimize things to the 99.5% point is a fool's errand given the quality of the data we are dealing with and the assumptions we must make to build a plan. Getting the big things right is enough, and folks here are super at catching those and volunteering their time/opinions. Understanding the basic whats and whys of what you are doing and having a good foundation are key to staying on track and not being swayed by the next bit of cable TV financial pornography or the slick presentation by a high-fee ~~broker~~ "advisor".