DFAS

StandardBumblebee620

That's the whole premise behind looking for funds like DFUS/DFAS, which are based on fundamentals instead of blinding following market cap.

portlandlad

S&P500 is too narrow for me. SPTM looks like a solid broad market option. Their low fees compared to funds like DFAS/AVUS them attractive. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hungry-Storage6789

i average swings out over 5yrs either way, im 6 figures deep in TQQQ, QQQ, DFAS, DRGN, and many others ..... as a random joe it is hard finding the ETF's that show high volatiliy

brewgeoff

DFAS has consistently outperformed the Russell 2000, its relevant benchmark. Solid fund. At first glance DFAX doesn’t look spectacular compared to IEFA or VEA but DFAX actually includes emerging markets, not just developed markets. Compared to VXUS it has shown a slight but consistent edge.

brewgeoff

There are some factual inaccuracies here. The relevant comparison for DFAS is VTWO, which DFAS has consistently beaten. Also, calling DFA an active management firm is semi-accurate at best. They’re factor based which falls somewhere between active management and passive management. Finally, VTV is a large cap value fund, not a small cap value fund. Vanguard’s small cap value fund (VTWV) has underperformed DFA’s Targeted Value fund and Small Cap Value fund over the last 10 years (DFAT and DFSVX). Vanguard’s VBR has done better than the dimensional offerings but it leans more into mid caps than the others and mid caps have outperformed small caps over the last 10 years.

Clean_Brilliant_8586

Maybe not direct payments to service members, but cuts to the funding for the infrastructure that supports them. Retired pay (DFAS) employs many. At one point some of it had gone over to contractors (I was part of that), then I think government had absorbed the function again. I heard RFK at some congressional hearing talking about lowering costs with AI nurses, I'm sure they have no problem rolling it out to government bureaucracy and eliminating staff.

UnitedPurpose

Hi all. Any advice appreciated. Just invested last week: || || |Name|Symbol|  Cost Basis % | |Berkshite Hathaway Inc|BRK/B|8%| |Blackstone Inc|BX|8%| |Blue Owl Cap Inc Class A|OWL|8%| |Energy Transfer L P LP|ET|7%| |Enterprise Prods Part LP|EPD|7%| |Dimensional U.S. Small Cap ETF|DFAS|3%| |Innovator Equity Managed Floor ETF|SFLR|12%| |Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund ETF Shares|VO|5%| |Cascade Private Capital Fund Class|CPEFX|12%| |DFA U.S. Micro Cap Portfolio Institutational Class|DFSCX|8%| |Stepstone Private markets|SPRIM|12%| |Cliffwater Corporate Lending|CCLFX|6%| |Cliffwater Enhanced Lending|CELFX|4%|

Sergeant_Crunch

Make sure you're getting the full match from DFAS. Also, look at what fund your TSP is going into. The C Fund is basically an S&P 500 index fund like VOO. Make that the fund your money goes to.

alfapredator

im not against small caps but too many indexers don't know wtf they're doing. look at $IJR and $DFAS vs $IWM. $IWM has too much garbage in it

LostLT97

Your first issue of uniforms is free. You get a $300 advance in the form of the eagle cash card because your banking info isn’t established with DFAS yet. Also…who cares because you can’t spend money in basic.

texag0512

Advice for taxable brokerage Hi - 30year old looking for feedback on portfolio used for extra investment cash in a taxable brokerage account. I have separate retirement accounts maxed out with boring/traditional total us market, total international market, total is bond holdings. Here is the idea, all equal weight: DFAC SPLG SCHD QQQM DFAS DFAX SCHY My questions: Should I bother with a small cap fund? Same for the two internationals? I picked dimensional instead of a VTI etc. for the profitability tilt and active management with somewhat low expenses for a potential edge. I’m tempted to just scrap all this complexity and go 100% SPLG like the Oracle says.

tk3786

First off, thank you for your service and bravery! You deserve every cent of that tax free pay. I am currently AD Air Force and love it when I see veterans and service members getting after their finances. There’s some really weird stereotype that being in the military = poor and it drives me insane. To echo the above comments, yes, put that entire $130k into a HYSA to start ASAP until you decide what your game plan will be. My wife and I use Ally because of the bucket feature. We can organize into categories but the entire sum compounds at 3.30%. So that would be an extra $4290 guaranteed annually for you right there. You can chase T-bills and money market accounts, but for an extra few percent, it’s really negligible. Ally (and other HYSA’s) is entirely liquid, no waiting for money to mature and not having full access. Since your military annuity will continue until you pass away, you’re all set with income. It’s unfortunate you can’t open a Roth IRA to stash that money but when you think about it, it’s almost like your annuity IS an IRA “withdrawal.” The purpose of an IRA is to make withdrawals to live on. Most people strive to only withdraw 3-4% of their IRA annually so that their nest egg can continue to compound for the longest time possible. So if you’re currently collecting $7900/mo, if that figure represented 3% of your annual nest egg, it’s the equivalent of always having at least a $3.16MM balance ($7900*12 /.03). You are totally set (as you should be) so now it’s all about setting your kids up for financial success. There are 2 main pieces of the puzzle: (1) your $130k lump sum and (2) your guaranteed monthly annuity. The other variables are how old are your kids, and how much of the $7900/month do you save after expenses? If I were in your shoes and if your kids are under 18 or 21 depending on which state you live in, I’d open up custodial brokerage accounts for them with you as the owner. Give each kid half of your $130k and immediately invest it all in a total market index fund like VTI. This is an excellent fund for long-term investing as it checks both boxes of super low expense ratio (0.03%) and diversification (3,995 stocks). Although it’s down in value currently (think of it being on sale) historically it has 10-12% growth, plus it pays a dividend of 1.66%. If you wanted to increase the diversification, you could also buy some VXUS (international index fund). 90 VTI 10 VXUS will perform very well in the long term, as would 100 VTI. Using a dividend calculator for 100 VTI and reinvesting the dividends (DRIP), $65k after 20 yrs would be worth $490k, and $1.2MM after 30 yrs, both numbers after 15% taxes. Just invest it and forget it. You’ll want to get with a Financial Advisor to confirm how the “kiddie tax” works on custodial brokerage accounts because each account will eventually be responsible for taxes on the gains and it will be at your tax rate as the account owner. Also read up on what your limit is to gift your kids annually for these accounts. It might be the same as the general $15k gift limit. You could work through MilitaryOneSource or the Military Family Readiness Center for these questions. I call MilitaryOneSource all the time with tax questions, they have a 24/7 hotline: 800-342-9647. If custodial accounts sound too complicated or aren’t the route you want to go, just invest the entire $130k into your own brokerage account and make sure your kids are the beneficiaries. $130k all in VTI with DRIP would be worth $983k after 20 yrs and $2.5MM after 30 yrs, both numbers after 15% taxes. With your $7900/mo annuity, I’d use a HYSA like Ally to save for all of your kids’ future expenses. Make buckets for their major upcoming milestones: car, college, wedding, house down payment, etc. Just take whatever your net is each month, divide by 2 and set aside for each kid. So if you have $5k remaining each month, each kid gets $2500 into their respective bucket. That’s $30k annually/kid! Pretty incredible. Do that for a few yrs and you can really set up your kids for a bright financial future. Plus all that money would be liquid, safe, and compounding at 3.30%. One other idea for college: are you able to transfer your GI Bill to one or both of them? It sounds like you are an ultra-conservative investor and just want to be able to sleep at night knowing everything is in order. So the next step would be making sure you have an updated will or trust with both kids as beneficiaries on your HYSA account balance. Then the custodial accounts will become theirs at age 18 or 21 depending on which state you live in, or set them as the beneficiary on your brokerage account. Also find out how much of your military annuity can be passed on to your kids after you pass away. My guess is you’ll need to work with myPay, DFAS, or VA to lock that down. I don’t know all the rules but a quick Google search shows that it’ll depend on their age. Finally, like Dave Ramsey always says, you can do three things with money: spend it, save it, and give it. Once you have your kids set, make sure you treat yourself every now and then, and choose a charity or other people in your life to give generously to. You’re in a great spot, sir! Best of luck to you-