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Try FBALX. Very solid and very good performance record. I also like AVMA.
FBALX, FXAIX, VIIIX. VIIIX is in my 403b and I didn't put it there. I know it and FXAIX have a lot of overlap. Thanks
Hello, everyone. This is my first post ever, and I need some help. I am 25 and started investing in December of last year (When the market was at its all-time high). I am maxing my Roth and traditional IRAs and have 4k in each account. I want some insight from more experienced investors on what I should do. I own some investments that track the SP500, which I bought at its highest. Should I buy more of the SP500 and take advantage of the dip, or should I stick to my plan with smaller caps with a higher upside since that is retirement money I won't touch in the next 35 years? I am employed, making 8k a month. My current holdings are VFIAX, SPY, and FSELX (I plan on buying VIMAX, FCPGX, SCHD, VTIAX, FCNTX, and FBALX.) Open to any feedback
I dropped out of tech sector funds in Jan and moved to balanced funds like FBALX. Too much uncertainty in the market with tariffs and international instability.
Search for "Balanced" in the fund name. Everybody and their dog has an S&P 500 fund, everybody and their dog has a total market fund, and everybody and their dog has *some* kind of a Balanced Fund. Sometimes they're called Equity-Income funds, too. Fidelity has FBALX. Janus has JABAX. Vanguard has VBIAX. TRP has PRWCX (I think). AmFunds has ABALX and AFMBX. And so on, and so forth...
I just looked into FBALX today, seems like a decent option.
Did you know there are ETFs called balanced funds that are designed for the purpose. Funds like FPURX, FBALX, and AOM.
Sounds good! Fidelity has some nice zero-fee index mutual funds, those are a darn good bet - FZROX, FNILX, etc. Fidelity also has some good actively managed funds, like FBALX, FCNTX, and FAGIX - but nowadays the trend seems to be to go for the free ones!
60/40 is a reasonable (and common) default for someone who is retired (or semi-retired). Fidelity charges transaction fees for VBIAX, so that's probably not the best idea. Go with either Fidelity's version (FBALX I think?) or VTI+BND and rebalance yourself annually. It's also common in retirement to keep money you know he'll need in the next 5 years in a fixed-income investment (HYSA, MMF, Treasuries, etc.). New car, medicare supplement premiums, etc. But that's beyond the scope of this sub - you'd need a full retirement plan to determine what those needs might be.
Oh yeah I should’ve clarified those are just my funds of choice im not looking for an equivalent allocation I’ll look into FBALX though! Can’t deal with the crazy fees of ABALX
It's your decision. ABALX is a balanced allocation fund. If you want to switch to another balanced fund from Fidelity - that would be FBALX - not FXAIX. If you want to change your allocation to be US large cap equities - they are lots of options like FNILX, FXAIX, VOO, etc. VTI is not a US large cap equity fund.
Yeah. Which is why most people with a fuckload of money stick it in shit like FBALX or.some other 65/35 fund, and spend their time on other shit.
100% stock until very recently as I am now rapidly transitioning to a more balanced portfolio for retirement. I have always believed in buy and hold unless the underlying fundimentals change on a stock. My majority of my life its been a simple Growth Stock mutual fund and some small intial positions in individual stocks, some of which of done extraordinarily well and others that didnt. I currently only own FXAIX, FBALX and 3 individual stocks, MSFT, NVDA, and RACE. I did not include the individual stock postitions as part of by 11.5% return.
I think that’s a different one. The email that went out today specifically mentioned Vanguard and Dodge & Cox. Those currently carry a $75 fee, soon it’ll be $100 (or 5%, whichever is less). And it’s per buy transaction, so unless you’re doing something huge like rolling over your 401k it’s not worth it. Why pay a fee for VBIAX when you could get VTI+BND or FBALX?
Don’t let someone day trade your money! Omg please. That’s a horrible idea. It’s basically gambling. You might want to max out your 2024 IRA (Roth or traditional depending on your income) which is $7000. If you don’t have an IRA and don’t know how to invest in one, choose a target date fund or put it in a total market index fund for now. I recommend Fidelity if you don’t already have an IRA or brokerage account. Invest the rest in index funds within a brokerage account. You can buy bond index funds and stock index funds. Even a mutual fund like VBIAX or FBALX would be an okay thing to do while you figure out what you want. Don’t let someone gamble it trying to time the market.
The YTD percentage is specific to 2024, the average is more historical. When in 2022 did you buy? The fund started around $30/share in 2022 and ended at $23 a share. Of course there are peaks and valleys, but 2022 wasn’t a great time to buy in, and it is slowly creeping back up. June 2022 the fund was worth less than it is now, so something might be off, but it really depends on when you bought in. You can Google FBALX and look at the chart for the last 5 years, hopefully that helps.
Some mutual funds are good which gain more than some stocks. I had 3 mutual funds since 2015, I did sell one since it was only 27% gain. I still have FBALX at 123% gain and FSPHX is 105% gain. They are set to auto reinvest. They are more actively managed than some others.
If you hd e FBALX you'll say it's very good to invest in them at least, it's always about 120% gain for me, I have it set up to reinvest, I could put more money into it, 9 yrs ago I got it and just let it be, got 275 shares now for not doing anything with it 😂
I'm already on fidelity platform so sometimes I look at markets where it shows top losers, gainers, most active. But some only do AI or technology. That AAOI was honestly lucky 😂. Under trade I just typed a letter and that happened to pop up, but that was then. A lot of times you mainly see big name stocks. But it seems when I look up a certain category just thru Google says semi conductors and AI or technology ones pan out. I really don't have a method, but it seems to work just by trying to Google stuff and what some investors have for their picks. It's good to have mutual funds and/or ETF, those are likely to bring in more. I have 6 different fidelity funds so since they reinvest over and over I have a lot in each. I have all this in my roll over IRA. I know there's all those seasoned traders out there, they prob pay more for each stock. But it seems when I Google things just a few times then more and more just comes in my Google feed. But since I searched cathie wood yesterday I put various stocks on my watchlist - she put what she invests in most. I've search buffet on occasion, Mr frugal 😂. But those mutual funds or ETFs are the best start, fidelity doesn't have a fee for their funds, some do, but there's over 100 for fidelity when I search one day 😂. I have 6, but 3 have had for 10 yrs almost and FBALX seems to outperform the others
I use fidelity, but some of those mutual funds are good. I have FBALX, FSPHX, FSRNX. FSRNX seems to be the one that doesn't perform as well as the other 2 since other 2 I'm always over 100% gain and shares keep on reinvesting so I have over 250 shares in each, I've had those awhile though. There's plenty other funds too, those are the 3 that I currently have.
Those are all mutual funds not ETFs - but there seems like quite a bit of overlap FXAIX is an SP500 fund with large cap US stocks - FSKAX is a total US stock fund so 60-80% of it is FXAIX already - you don’t need both - same with FNILX FDEEX is a target date fund which includes the US funds mentioned above and FZILX - you don’t need all of these here either The balanced fund FBALX doesn’t add a whole lot here and is lower risk compared to those, plus it has a much higher ER at 0.5 Dividends with FEQTX is a tax drag in taxable accounts Just do the TDF or do a FSKAX/FZILX mix (plus bonds if you want bonds)
Would like anyone’s take on my blend of ETFs in my main investing account. This is in addition to my 401k and Roth which I max. I’m in the use and won’t need this money for 20+ years - FXAIX 33% - FBALX 8% - FEQTX 5% - FDEEX 15% - FSKAX 19% - FZILX 10% - FNILX 10% I’ve bought at those % using a fixed amount of $ each month for about a year, thoughts?
FBALX underperforms relative to S&P. You can look at 1Y, 3Y, 5Y, and 10Y — the gap only widens. https://preview.redd.it/4k0jve9b6wrb1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c57385c5283f6d067d2012b23fc12741c172104
Go buy a mutual fund. Like FBALX and let it grow.
There's nothing wrong with VSMGX and related lifestyle and target date funds. It can be very convenient if you want to be hands off and just contribute to the same fund. Note that because VSMGX is a Vanguard mutual fund, there is a load or fee associated with investing in the mutual fund outside of a Vanguard account. For example - you typically would not invest in VSMGX if you had a Fidelity account. Instead - you would choose a similar mutual fund or construct your own allocation. A similar mutual fund at Fidelity could be FBALX. Also - I missed the part where you mentioned you are "low tolerance". Someone with a low tolerance usually means that you do not want to risk your capital and you seek capital preservation strategies. Mutual funds like VSMGX and FBALX are considered balanced funds and may be inappropriate for someone with a low risk tolerance. So it really depends on your financial goals and what you mean by "low risk tolerance". That said - people in their 20's can usually afford a bit more investing risk unless you are saving the capital for a short term goal like buying a home, etc. or you have a time horizon less than 5 to 10 years. You can also learn a bit more with some of these resources: [https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/index/gettingstarted/](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/index/gettingstarted/) [https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE\_investing\_start-up\_kit](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE_investing_start-up_kit) there are also some recommended books here - [https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/readinglist/](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/readinglist/)
>Was thinking something like FNILX OR FBGRX. Those are both still full equity funds. That's fine, but it's a heck of a lot closer to the straight investment side of things than the e-fund thing. It's not clear which side of the aisle you want to lean towards, but that's worth remembering. Alternatively, you could pick a blended fund like FBALX or something similar and steady with a history like VWELX.
I'm 37 and and am a late bloomer. I wish I had been taught to invest earlier, but here I am. I'm hoping it's not too late. In any event, I'm looking for help with mutual funds. I use fidelity, and really had no idea what I was doing, so just went heavy on about 8 different mutual funds. Now I'm seeing it's probably better to go with about 3. Should I get out of a few, and dump everything into 3? This is a 15 year plan for me as I am also maxing out my roth ira contributions each year. I have some blue chip tech stocks as well, but am mainly focused on mutual funds. Here's where I am. FBALX FBGRX FOCPX FPURX FSELX FSKAX FSPGX FTENX Please don't beat me up too bad here as I am brand new.
Ah! That's basically what I was going for! I didn't realize at the time that FBALX covered as many bonds as it does, I looked at the top holdings and assumed it was mostly stocks, so I was going for diversification with the bond fund, and then I thought an international fund would go well, too. But 3 mutual funds seemed like too many. I see now I was kind of on the right track, but just hadn't picked the best funds for that approach, maybe. That's promising, though, that my vague idea to do that was actually on the right track. I'll have to look more into the 3 fund portfolio idea, without knowing it I think that's what I was unconsciously heading towards. Thanks for this!
Well, that *was* kind of my goal, a glorified savings account that would earn small but reliable over time. I kinda felt in a hurry to get my money into *something* after starting the account so I did really minimal research and picked the Balanced fund because it seemed, well, balanced. Upon looking more closely, however, I saw that the top holdings were a fair amount of tech, and that it had been dropping fairly steadily for a while. So I picked the other one and just put the same amount in it and just watched them, and it comforted me that FXNAX was consistently in the green, though by very little, offsetting the FBALX which has been in the red every day since. I know that's a bad way to do it, shouldn't watch mutual funds daily like that. But until I learn more and feel more confident that I know what I'm doing, I sort of have to look at it several times a day. So that's stressful. I'll definitely look into the Freedom funds, that sounds a little closer to my goal. They're not exactly retirement funds, I'm 35 and work a temp job, I've just been saving a lot of money. I'd like to see it grow a little in the short to mid term but I also want it to be as safe as possible. Too poor for much risk. Maybe I don't have a good, clear idea of a goal, or a realistic strategy. I decided to figure it out on the fly, I'd rather make some dumb mistakes at first and learn something than be too scared to lose any money experimenting and just keep my savings in my mattress. Appreciate the input and ideas!
Is there a reason why you allocated both FBALX and FXNAX? The reason to select a balance fund like FBALX is because there is already a bond allocation as part of that fund. The only reason to also hold FXNAX is if you are intending to over-weight your portfolio with fixed income which may be fine depending on your goals, risk tolerance, financial situation, and age to retirement. As a Fidelity customer - you will also have access to funds which are reduced in expense such as their Zero funds. And if you are seeking for something simpler as you learn to understand - Fidelity has a bunch of target date funds which they call their Freedom funds. [https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fidelity-fund-portfolios/freedom-funds](https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fidelity-fund-portfolios/freedom-funds)
So, I'm new to all this, just started last week by opening a Fidelity account. I previously had like 10k in checking, basically, and I'm slowly putting it into a few Fidelity mutual funds (FBALX and FXNAX). I bought a little PHO and SMH just to see how the whole process works and they looked kinda promising but they aren't really part of my plan, more like an experiment. Then later when I'm more familiar with the whole thing and they look like they're doing well, I can always focus more on them. But my main plan for investing/saving are these two Fidelity funds. I guess my question is: am I doing something stupid that just isn't apparent to me, being new? These two funds seem to cover a lot, so I'm pretty diversified between them. In fact there seems to be a little overlap, but that's probably OK? Also, is there any major reason to go with Fidelity vs Vanguard for funds like this? Aside from some apparently minor differences, they look to operate about the same, dare similar allocations, etc. I just hate being new, I need someone to tell me I'm not making horrible decisions. (Or that I am). Lol, thanks in advance!