Need help investing $15k-$20k

[rennigade]

I should start off by saying im 27 years old and have no debt. I'm looking to invest $15k-$20k ish. I'd like to hear some suggestions on what to do with that money. This will also be for long term, 15+ years. Also my emergency fund is taken care of.

My employer 401k is fully funded, along with my roth ira.

Here are my investments so far.

roth ira - VTIVX
401k - FFFFX
VBTLX - $10k
VWINX - $7k

My risk tolerance is average or slightly above. Should I just buy a couple more mutual funds? Do I need to expose myself to international ones? Or is that playing it too safe since I'm still pretty young? I'm not a huge fan of individual stocks. I just don't know enough about them to make educated decisions on which ones will go up over time. I have no desire to "get rich quick." I'd rather play it semi safe longer term and flirt a little bit with disaster.

[jIM_Ohio]

I should start off by saying im 27 years old and have no debt. I'm looking to invest $15k-$20k ish. I'd like to hear some suggestions on what to do with that money. This will also be for long term, 15+ years. Also my emergency fund is taken care of.

My employer 401k is fully funded, along with my roth ira.

Here are my investments so far.

roth ira - VTIVX
401k - FFFFX
VBTLX - $10k
VWINX - $7k

My risk tolerance is average or slightly above. Should I just buy a couple more mutual funds? Do I need to expose myself to international ones? Or is that playing it too safe since I'm still pretty young? I'm not a huge fan of individual stocks. I just don't know enough about them to make educated decisions on which ones will go up over time. I have no desire to "get rich quick." I'd rather play it semi safe longer term and flirt a little bit with disaster.

All your investments with the same time horizon should have the same allocation.

If you don't know what that means, read it again.

Time horizon is "long term"=retirement
asset allocation is the % stocks and % bonds, and the risk the investments take.

If you understand this, the asset allocation makes the decisions for you.

For example if FFFFX is a Fidelity Freedom fund (just a guess, I did not look it up), it has an allocation of %stocks and % bonds...

I would question then why the Roth would not be invested in the same fund? Or why is the Roth at minimum not the same % stocks-% bonds using Vanguard funds instead?

You have 17k in taxable accounts (VBTLX and VWINX). That second one is either Wellesley or Windsor, and I recognize the ticker, just not sure from where.


Focus on the allocation- if all those funds are for retirement, they should all be fitting into the same asset allocation.

Think of asset allocation as the picture on the cover of the jig saw puzzle, think of each fund as a puzzle piece- you need to paint a picture for a given investment goal (retirement for example), and each piece needs to help that puzzle get put together.

If you have different goals (like buying a house) with a different time horizon, you will likely reduce risk relative to goals like retirement with those investments (meaning choose a less risky investment for the house money).

[jpg7n16]

I should start off by saying im 27 years old and have no debt. I'm looking to invest $15k-$20k ish. I'd like to hear some suggestions on what to do with that money. This will also be for long term, 15+ years. Also my emergency fund is taken care of.

My employer 401k is fully funded, along with my roth ira.

Here are my investments so far.

roth ira - VTIVX
401k - FFFFX
VBTLX - $10k
VWINX - $7k

My risk tolerance is average or slightly above. Should I just buy a couple more mutual funds? Do I need to expose myself to international ones? Or is that playing it too safe since I'm still pretty young? I'm not a huge fan of individual stocks. I just don't know enough about them to make educated decisions on which ones will go up over time. I have no desire to "get rich quick." I'd rather play it semi safe longer term and flirt a little bit with disaster.

Not buy more funds, just invest more into the 2 you hold in your Roth and 401k. I don't know how much those balances are at, but overall you probably have too much held in bonds. (both funds where you list a balance, are highly bond oriented)

The two funds you hold in your retirement accounts already have an international allocation, so you wouldn't need an international fund specifically. Just keep investing in them, as they allocate well for your time horizon.

Any period 5 years+ calls for equity investments (stocks). The 10k fund has 0% in stocks, and the $7k fund has about 35% in stocks. In my opinion, for a 15+ yr timeframe, this is too low. A 70S/30B ratio would be more in line with your risk tolerance and time horizon (high risk would be 90S/10B or 100S/0B)


Long story short - don't change your retirement accounts and buy more stock funds (but not too much).

[Scanner]

Or you could stick it Vanguard Wellsley fund and get the same return for lower risk since you seem to be average or slightly above.

I don't know though. . .I am starting to wonder now if everyone shouldn't own at least some bit of commodities with the Brave New World and trade wars that seem to be starting.

Not sure if Stocks/Bonds applies any more. . .