doushioukanaa
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- May 9, 2006
- Messages
- 52
I just did a phone call with my Vanguard financial planner today, a certified financial planner. The process is I answer a few questions online, schedule the appointment, receive a report, and then get to discuss it for 45 minutes. You get this service for free if you are a "Flagship" client.
Some observations:
- He recommended a SWR of just under 4%, reinforcing that magic number
- We own mostly Capital Income Builder and Capital World Growth and Income because they beat the crap out of the indexes while being a lot less volatile. For example, Capital Income Builder actually went UP in 2002, when the total market went down 21%. Both funds include US investments without any fixed proportion in the US. The mix of the two places 67% of our equity exposure in international stocks. We also like that they are team managed which is better than having somebody like Peter Lynch who does a great job and then could leave at any moment. In short, we are happy with our fund choice and are unlikely to make drastic changes.
- He suggested the following portfolio:
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index 31.7%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index 16.0%
Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund 11.1%
Vanguard Intermediate Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund 15.6%
Vanguard US Value Fund 11.1%
Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund 10.2%
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund 4.4%
- His recommendation was to go with 16% non-US exposure which seemed low especially since we already have a lot of US dollar exposure via real estate and the dollar is heading down the toilet.
- It struck me as funny that he recommended tax exempt bonds without really probing into our income levels or marginal tax rates. At what marginal tax rate do munis make sense?
- He didn't come up with a recommendation to recharacterize my IRA into a Roth which I thought was an oversight, something I intend to do this year if my income allows it.
- I personally think we need a good, small, well managed small cap fund to round things out a bit. The one from American Funds is just too big. He recommended the Vanguard Small Cap Value Index Fund, natch.
Any thoughts on this? Did he do a good job? I think it was okay for cookie cutter, mass advising, but I wasn't blown away.
Some observations:
- He recommended a SWR of just under 4%, reinforcing that magic number
- We own mostly Capital Income Builder and Capital World Growth and Income because they beat the crap out of the indexes while being a lot less volatile. For example, Capital Income Builder actually went UP in 2002, when the total market went down 21%. Both funds include US investments without any fixed proportion in the US. The mix of the two places 67% of our equity exposure in international stocks. We also like that they are team managed which is better than having somebody like Peter Lynch who does a great job and then could leave at any moment. In short, we are happy with our fund choice and are unlikely to make drastic changes.
- He suggested the following portfolio:
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index 31.7%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index 16.0%
Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund 11.1%
Vanguard Intermediate Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund 15.6%
Vanguard US Value Fund 11.1%
Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund 10.2%
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund 4.4%
- His recommendation was to go with 16% non-US exposure which seemed low especially since we already have a lot of US dollar exposure via real estate and the dollar is heading down the toilet.
- It struck me as funny that he recommended tax exempt bonds without really probing into our income levels or marginal tax rates. At what marginal tax rate do munis make sense?
- He didn't come up with a recommendation to recharacterize my IRA into a Roth which I thought was an oversight, something I intend to do this year if my income allows it.
- I personally think we need a good, small, well managed small cap fund to round things out a bit. The one from American Funds is just too big. He recommended the Vanguard Small Cap Value Index Fund, natch.
Any thoughts on this? Did he do a good job? I think it was okay for cookie cutter, mass advising, but I wasn't blown away.