VBTLX
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares
Mentions (24Hr)
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Seeking Suggestions for Parents After Disappointing Financial Advisor Experience
Why buy bonds if the yield has been consistently negative?
Buying VBTLX to increase my bond allocation to what I'm comfortable with?
What's the best way to buy and hold bonds?
Vanguard Bond Holdings (e.g. VBTLX) versus holding in settlement fund (e.g. VMFXX)
3-Fund Portfolio Comparison: Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity
Confused about whether I should invest in mutual funds or ETFs as a new investor.
Taking a 401K loan to invest in a brokerage account?
Should I transfer VBTLX/VTIAX into VTSAX (Roth IRA)
Would you alter any of the investments in this portfolio (it is a 457b account)?
Bond Allocation - Bond Index Fund vs. Treasuries Ladder?
Question about diversifying assets between different accounts?
Does this allocation between Traditional and Roth make sense?
Generally speaking, does rising interest rates lend itself to selling bonds?
Advice on changing bond funds and minimizing tax loss
Retirement fund advice - Target Date Funds vs 3 Fund Method
The most optimal way to invest Bond Mutual Funds Dividends and Capital gains.
Mentions
These three get you the global stock market with ease: * Vanguard Developed Markets Index Admiral (VTMGX) * Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Admiral (VEMAX) * Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Admiral (VTSAX) Add some bonds if you need to. I'd say no more than 10-15% for age 35. You may need none at all: * Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral (VBTLX)
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
New here. If I go to Charles Schwab I’m assuming they’ll offer a similar service? I want to leave them to manage it. Appreciate the tip I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
1. Vanguard • AUM: ~$8+ trillion • Known for: Low-cost index and actively managed funds, investor-owned structure. • Flagship Funds: • Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSAX) • Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFIAX) • Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBTLX) • All funds are no-load 2. Fidelity Investments • AUM: ~$4 trillion in mutual funds • Known for: Both active and passive funds, strong research platform. • Flagship Funds: • Fidelity 500 Index Fund (FXAIX) • Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX) • Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index (FZROX – 0% expense ratio) • Most are no-load 3. T. Rowe Price • AUM: ~$1.4 trillion • Known for: Strong actively managed funds, long-term track records. • Flagship Funds: • T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth (TRBCX) • T. Rowe Price Growth Stock (PRGFX) • All funds are no-load I have been in TRowePrice since my early 20s and I am now nearly 60. Market timing is for suckers. And every time I think I can pick stocks, I relearn I am an idiot. Regular monthly money to fill your Roth account is the secret. Extra $ into funds for your savings. (Don’t forget to get your emergency funds set up) — I hope one day 55 year old remembers these days when you committed to your savings and thanks you.
VBTLX has an average inflation adjusted return of [.38% per year since 2001](https://totalrealreturns.com/s/VBTLX) while VBMFX has an average inflation adjusted return of [2.24% since 87](https://totalrealreturns.com/s/VBMFX). At least VBMFX is somewhat respectable. >Either way everyone constantly compares bond funds to stock funds, that’s not the point of bonds >Either way everyone constantly compares bond funds to stock funds, that’s not the point of bonds If you want to deep freeze your money and barely beat inflation, then bonds are definitely the way to go I guess. I don't see the point in that myself. But to each his own.
Now do VBTLX since 01 or VBMFX since 86. Either way everyone constantly compares bond funds to stock funds, that’s not the point of bonds
Index funds. Read up on that bogleheads three fund portfolio. Super simple and gives great diverse exposure Something of the equivalent below in equal 1/3s Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX) Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTIAX) Vanguard Total Bond Market Fund (VBTLX) https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio
I'm about to turn 40 and had a similar thought but my approach was somewhat different. My student loans will be paid off at the end of the year at which time I'll be contributing approx. 44% or 264k per year between employer profit sharing, maxing out 401k's and taxable accounts. My spouse and I's retirement goal is >=10 mill in equities by 57/58 when our daughter goes off to college. We can either continue investing into FSKAX/VTSAX for the full 264k until our goal retirement age which at a 7% RoR would be > 10 mill or go 214k in index funds and 50k per year into VBTLX to build up a dividend portfolio that could generate 250-300k per year without ever having to touch the principle. The latter method would total about 9 mill in equities and 5 mill in VBTLX (2 mill through yearly investing, 1 mill from conversion of equities into VBTLX, and another 2 mill from the sale of our home). We can absorb the taxable dividends due to our combined income but figured this was a better method than a huge tax big from large equity sale closer towards retirement. Thoughts are appreciated.
Put 500k in: —>mutual fund variants:(VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX) —>ETF variants: (VT + BND + BNDX) Live off of the passive income
Think of (investing in the stock market), like this. By investing in “assets that are good long term assets.” Either (ETFs or mutual funds). You are achieving (capital appreciation + earning dividends). —>Capital appreciation = total value of your stock portfolio. Capital appreciation = unrealized gains/money on paper. People who are long term investors do not care about (capital appreciation as much). They will only care about capital appreciation, when they are going to sell shares/convert unrealized gains into realized gains. -when you sold share because of a dip. You just converted (unrealized gains, into realized gains). —>Earning dividends = earning passive income, without even having to sell shares. You are getting a guaranteed return on your investment, without even having to sell shares. -Aka: You have manually allocated ($10,000 dollars to your investments). In return, you could be receiving ($300 dollars in dividends per year). ($300/$10,000 = 0.03 * 100% = 3%). ->You have manually allocated ($10,000 dollars to your investments). You are receiving (capital appreciation, but can also become capital depreciation). You are receiving (dividend income, and perhaps long term dividend appreciation, but can also become dividend depreciation). ->You have manually allocated ($10,000 dollars to your investments). And you are receiving a (3% APY interest rate — because of the ($300 dollars in dividends per year). And the amount of dividends could potentially grow, if there is “long term dividend appreciation.” Good long term assets to invest in: -ETF variants: (VT + BND + BNDX) -mutual fund variants: (VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX). (Total world stock market = 100% equities) + (Total US bond market) + (Total international bond market). Bonds are essentially debt assets. (Financial institutions/banks), mainly make their profits from (debt or debt interest). Bond holders get to receive a percentage of this (debt or debt interest).
While I take everything chatgpt says with a grain of salt, it says it does. It says I still start at a loss, and would do better building one myself. However, it readily admitted they're complicated to set up, and thus, maybe you do pay for something. But I guess that's the heart of my question, really. I mean, why not just VTSAX+VBTLX+VTIAX instead?
Invest in these mutual funds: —>VTWAX: total world stock market. —>VBTLX: total US bond market. —>VTABX: total international bond market. Live off of the dividends. You will probably be earning a consistent (2%-3% APY interest rate), just from dividends alone. VTWAX, has a higher percent chance of achieving (long term capital appreciation + long term dividend appreciation). Aka: With earning dividends from (VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX): —>You will probably be earning a consistent (2%-3% APY interest rate), just from dividends alone. Even during (bull market cycles + boring market cycles + bear market cycles). —>You will also have a good chance of achieving “long term dividend appreciation from VTWAX.” So, based on manually allocating $500k to investments, you could hypothetically be earning (4%-greater APY interest rate), because of VTWAX. (Long term dividend appreciation + long term capital appreciation). Aka: (VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX) = you will have a very good financial future. Earning passive income all the time.
Nope. But go for it! We have close to $1M spread across 40% VTSAX, 40% VBTLX, and 20% VTIAX. My spouse and I are content with a set it and forget it three fund portfolio. It provides stability and flexibility, which is what we want in life. Do you have at least $100k invested? Before gambling, at least have a foundation that'll continue to grow when your bets don't provide the return you expected.
give it to me... /s but honestly just invest in VOO or SPY. if you're older, look into a bond fund like VBTLX, but honestly you could lock in 4% with some treasuries right now too. Do 80% in VOO and 20% in bonds/treasuries if you're close to retirement. If you're young... 100% VOO should be fine. Then just keep some cash in a HYSA for emergencies. Calculate your living expenses, and put 6 months of cash in a HYSA. So if you lose your job you have 6 months of cash. That's what I'd do!
Hey all, I am looking to get some clarity on the right balance to target with a four-fund portfolio, diversifying from my current positions to include small-cap value (probably AVUV since that seems to be the gold standard). I am a pretty simple set-it-and-forget-it investor and don't want to complicate things. Currently, I have the following positions in my taxable and retirement accounts: * **Taxable**: VFIAX/S&P500 (75%), VTIAX/Total International (20%), VBTLX/Bonds (5%) * **Roth IRA**: VFIAX (80%) and VTIAX (20%) My new positions would be balanced as follows: * **Taxable** (No change) * **Roth IRA**: VFIAX (60%), AVUV (20%), VTIAX (20%) Are there any additional things to consider when diversifying from large-cap, or is it as simple as throwing 20% into AVUV for the long haul? Is 20% too high, too low, or just right? Please let me know if there is a resource I can follow, as opposed to seeking general public opinion. More info about me: 23 y/o American with a medium-high risk tolerance. My time horizon is 40 years for retirement. My taxable account could be anywhere from 10 to 40 years, which is why I have a small bond position.
The total bond portfolio is VBTLX, which has a 6 year duration. I would not use that for funds that need to be spent in < 5 years. Use the Ultra Short (which is 60% cash equivalent or ultrashort bonds) or the Cash and Cash Equivalents funds.
Sure, do exactly this: 170k split into these three categories: 60% - VTI / VTSAX 20% - VXUS / VTIAX 20% - BND / VBTLX Set it and walk away, don't look for at least a year. Continue to contribute with the same 60/20/20 split when you have available funds. 5-7% returns most years. Stop gambling.
Basically what I meant is that i know my dad who’s almost 60 and even his MAGA friends at the same age are going from stocks to bonds. Like for example im young so my 401k is 95% stocks 5% bonds with vanguard index funds, but I could just move my money from the stock index fun to the bonds index fund (ie VSTAX to VBTLX)
Looking for some opinions. 40/F, based in California. My partner passed away recently and I am now a single parent with 2 kids. After insurance payouts, I have about $1.25 million in the bank. This is currently sitting in a HYSA. My main debts are a car loan and a very reasonable mortgage for the area I live in. CC debt is paid off each month. My financial advisor says to keep 300k in cash to cover my ongoing needs and expenses (I am working but my single income is not enough to cover everything) and to transfer the rest to my existing Vanguard brokerage. I currently have holdings in VTI, VTIAX, and VBTLX. Once the cash is gone I can start drawing from the brokerage. I’m not sure I can stomach dropping a lump sum this big into the market right now, but I logically understand why it would still be a good option. I know I’m relatively young and have a good amount of years to work with before retirement age, but given the situation everything just feels much weightier now. My priority is making sure I am responsibly handling this money for my kids and my own financial future. I trust my advisor’s advice but am hoping to see any additional thoughts or even differing opinions, in case there is something I haven’t considered. I’m not able to ask people in my life as I am not comfortable (ever) divulging the amount of money.
Our emergency fund is the utilization of the 4% rule. For this year, we have up to $28k for an emergency; that amount is what we'd use if we were to retire on $28k/yr for 30 years. So yes, the bulk of it is invested using 40% VTSAX, 40% VBTLX, 20% VTIAX. We do hold on to $15-20k in a hysa though, so that's where we'd pull from first.
I am keeping enough cash for a year of predicted living expenses because I'm worried about my job doing another round of layoffs and the tech industry slowing down hiring again. Usually this is only six months and eventually when things stabilize I'll use this money to invest. After that, every two paychecks I keep enough to pay the bills. Almost everything is on my credit cards so the math is easy: ((paychecks * 2)) - (statement balances + mortgage)). Anything leftover I do the following every month, in order: 1. I refill the savings if we tapped into it because of unexpected spending the past month 2. I will fill out my IRA if I didn't do it yet 3. I invest with Vanguard, right now my distribution is: * VBTLX: 1% * VTIAX: 29.70% * VTSAX: 69.30% Been doing this same pattern (with different distributions) for the past 15 years.
Its hard to beat ETF’s. They have proven to be foolproof. A one fund portfolio is VOO and chill. 100% VOO. A two fund portfolio, also knows as the “buffett allocation” is 90% VOO and 10% bonds such as bnd, sgov, etc… A popular 3 fund portfolio, “the Bogle allocation”, is majority broad market ETF such as 60% VTI, 30% international etf VXUS and 10% bonds VBTLX. Could be a different mixture of those. Doesnt matter.
Had $100k to invest today, bought $10k VTSAX, $80k VUSXX, $6k VBTLX and $6k NVDA. Was going buy $4k VTIAX but I think this lags the US market. (Overall $20k 70-30 in boglehead method and the rest in VUSXX.
I prefer funds - I have the standard 3 fund in vanguard - International VTIAX (50%), US VTSAX (40%), and Bonds VBTLX (10%) -> after all this I might weight this 60-40. I am in my 40s which is why my bond position is 10%
Moving my entire 401k in Feb to VBTLX was supposed to just be defensive. At this point it's going to end up as a legit money maker.
The boglehead formula uses VTSAX, VTIAX and VBTLX. VOO is my benchmark.
My daughter was in a similar age/situation a couple of years or ago. We opened an account for her at Vanguard and set her up like this: VBTLX (VANGUARD TOTAL BOND MARKET INDEX ADMIRAL CL): 13% VTABX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL BOND INDEX ADMIRAL CL): 7% VTIAX (VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK INDEX ADMIRAL CL): 30% VTSAX (VANGUARD TOTAL STOCK MARKET INDEX ADMIRAL CL): 50% We also created a Roth for her and put it all into VSVNX-Vanguard Target Retirement 2070 Fund For everything but the Roth (since it was pretty small and would get an annual addition), we invested 10% of the total every couple of weeks until she was fully invested. I understand the appeal of bitcoin, but I really worry it will underperform going forward. It's small enough and you are young enough that it shouldn't hurt, but I'd advise that you keep good records and circle back in 5 years to see if it is doing as well as everything else.
I was 100% VIIIX but now: Fund Name,Ticker,Allocation (%) Vanguard Institutional Index Fund Instl Pl,VIIIX,54 Vanguard Mid Cap Index Institutional,VMCIX,15 Vanguard Small Cap Index Institutional,VSCIX,8 Vanguard Total Intl Stock Index Admiral,VTIAX,15 Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral,VBTLX,8 Still aggressive but less so.
Every bond fund has market risk. Bonds took a beating in 2022, to the tune of -20-25% gains, because of 15 years of near-zero interest rates. VBTLX or BND. If interest rates go to zero again, sell off the bond funds after the NAV spikes and tilt more into equities.
Check out (r/BogleHeads) — for information, related to “how to be a very safe investor.” If you want to retain your wealth, long term — invest in (ETFs) or (mutual funds). —>ETF = a basket of individual companies —>mutual fund = a basket of individual companies (1)Your investment platform, will either allow “partial shares for ETFs” or “partial shares for mutual funds.” You want to mainly purchase (PARTIAL SHARES). Not (WHOLE SHARES). (2)Perfect mutual fund portfolio set-up: —>(1)VTWAX = tracks the “FTSE Global All Cap Index.” VTWAX, invests in “small cap companies + mid cap companies + large cap companies.” Invests in every country, in the world — (minor exposure to developing markets + moderate exposure to emerging markets + major exposure to developed markets). —>(1)VTWAX = total world stock market. Cannot achieve better diversification than this. If you want 100% equities. Pays out dividends, 4 times per year. —>(2)VBTLX = total US bond market. Only includes US bonds. Bonds are considered as (debt assets). Figure out how banks mainly make a profit. Banks earn profits from “debt.” Bond holders, will get to receive a percentage of this debt money. You will be earning a steady dividend income stream, during (bull market cycles + boring market cycles + bear market cycles + black swan events). —>(3)VTABX = total international bond market. Excludes US bonds. Figure out how banks mainly make a profit. Banks earn profits from “debt.” Bond holders, will get to receive a percentage of this debt money. You will be earning a steady dividend income stream, during (bull market cycles + boring market cycles + bear market cycles + black swan events). —>Common shares = 1st ones to cut their dividends during (bear market crashes). —>Bond shares = last ones to cut their dividends during (bear market crashes). PS: bonds are considered as debt assets. Figure out how banks mainly make a profit. Banks earn profits from “debt.” Bond holders, will get to receive a percentage of this debt money. —>Invest in the mutual funds that are (VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX). —>Sell 50% of VTWAX, when you are in your senior years. After selling 50% of VTWAX, you would have gained a significant amount of money. Money that can be used as “spendable cash for everyday purchases.” —>Live off of the dividends generated from (VBTLX + VTABX). —>Bonus: If your assets of (VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX). If the previous assets, are in a “brokerage account” — which is a taxable account — brokerage accounts, “are the most inheritance friendly type of investment accounts.” —>(VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX). Post the above information into (ChatGPT) — for a better explanation.
This is a very nondescript question. I would keep the majority of my fixed income allocation in G right now because faith in the bond market is very low, which means I think that G will outperform F (or private products like VBTLX) in the near-mid term. We don't know your asset allocation or risk tolerance.
Look for a good balanced boglehead-style fund with low expense ratio that will offer both growth and income. Or split it manually into 40% VTSAX domestic stock/VTIAX 20% international stock/VBTLX 40% bonds.
If you are in BNDit is exactly the same as VBTLX. Just etf Versus mutual fund.
Bonds CBFVX USIG VBTLX
Thank you! VUSB is interesting - I've always been quite aggresive with my investing and know quite little about bonds. For reference, I was looking at VBTLX - it looks like the distribution of bond type is quite the same, but I guess the devil is in the details. The differences in performance are stark! I know nothing about how one can in invest in private equity. I always assumed I'm not wealthy enough and I don't have the social circles to get word of mouth recommendations. What do you suggest to look at?
>VTABX is down almost 12% over the last five years It is not. You should never look at share price alone unless it is a company which has no dividend. All that matters is total return. That is true of equity ETF/MF but especially true of bonds which payout a signficant portion of lifetime earnings via dividends. VTABX has a return of 0.12% on annualized basis over the last five years. GRanted is pretty terrible. Honestly I have no interest in foreign bonds. Currency changes can have completely swamp any gains. >VBTLX is down 14% It is not. VBTLX is up 0.04%. Granted that is pretty bad but it shows how looking at share price along is worthless.
There is some significant overlap with VTSAX and FXAIX, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing depending on how you want to invest, your risk tolerance, and how much you want to manage your investments. These are decisions you need to make before you rebalance your portfolio. Many people and professionals suggest that if you’re unsure, continue to regularly invest in an S&P 500 fund (relatively low long term risk) or put money into an HYSA (virtually no risk of losing capital, but may not gain as much as an S&P 500 fund.) The S&P 500 is a tracking index of the 500 largest publicly traded companies. It is generally used as a benchmark for the stock markets performance. VTSAX tracks the total stock market. VBTLX is a bond fund and does not hold securities tracked by the S&P 500.
VBTLX is all US bonds, will the new administration/president after Jan 20th affect anything regarding bond fund?
VBTLX is all US bonds, will the new administration/president after Jan 20th affect anything regarding bond fund?
The funds they use are: * Domestic stock = VTSAX (0.04% or VTI (0.03%) * International stock = VTIAX (0.12%) or VXUS (0.08%) * Domestic bonds = VBTLX (0.05%) or BND (0.03%) * Foreign bonds = VTABX (0.11%) or BNDX (0.07%) * Another option would be to combine the domestic and international stock by buying VTWAX (0.10%) or VT (0.07%) You’d save a little bit Using the current weights and the ETF options for each, I’m coming up with 0.045% overall. That means you’re paying about $3.50 per $10,000 for them to rebalance and reallocate.
Here is an outline of things you can invest in, ordered from lower-risk/lower-return to higher-risk/higher-return: 1. High Yield Savings Accounts 2. Money Market Funds (e.g. [VMFXX](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vmfxx)) 3. Bond Funds (e.g. [VBTLX](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vbtlx)) 4. Stock Fund or Real Estate Funds (e.g. [VTSAX](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vtsax) and [VGSLX](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vgslx)) 5. Individual stocks 6. Crypto Money you think you might need in the next two years should stay in 1 or 2 above. Money you don't need for 5+ years can be invested in a mix of 3 & 4. If you want to invest in 5 & 6, keep it to maximum 5 to 10% of your total invested money. That's for fun, and understand you could easily and quickly lose your money in those type of investments.
You have to touch the portfolio to balance it. BND is nearly worthless if youre not using it to rebalance into stocks when stocks crash and vice versa. Longer duration bonds are better for this goal. https://testfol.io/?s=eibBaAOsbgh BND/VBTLX had only been around since 01', even still, 80/20 stocks/long treasuries crushes 80/20 stocks/BND. The bond index is average intermediate / short duration, full of corporate debt, its just a worse diversifier.
That's because VBTLX is not a short term bond fund. It's an intermediate term fund with average maturity of over 8 years - with a current yield to maturity of 4.7%. FSHBX is a 1-2 year bond fund. It has a 1 year pre-tax return of 6.75% as-of 10/31/2024. And the 30 day yield is 4.49%.
I parked around $5k in VBTLX in January and it's still worth just $5k. Fidelity short term bond fund FSHBX has done 1.8% over the past year. If you want to safely park money, put it in a high yield savings account (HYSA) and get around 4-5% annually.
You could do a lot worse than Vanguard or Fidelity robo advisors. I'm retired 60ish and have very roughly 60% in VFIAX and 40% fixed in VBTLX and VMFXX. An advisor is helpful for me for minimizing taxes and withdrawal strategies. There are an awful lot of advisors out there selling profitable products while claiming to be acting in their clients best interests. Ask/know exactly how your advisor is paid and how much. Ideally they are fee for service CPAs by the hour. Good luck!
Similar problem here. Folks advising you to just bite the bullet might overlook state taxes, 5% extra LTCG tax past a certain income, and NIIT. Depending on your situation, you may expect to have lower income years / move to a state with lower taxes and agonise over the risk of staying concentrated on nasdaq vs eating a fatter-than-needed tax bill right now. I’ve been whittling down my Mag7 positions through the year, making quarterly tax payments that really really stung (36%-ish). I am objectively worse off for it since some of the stock I sold kept ripping, but I adopt the mindset that the proceeds left after rax are now “safe” (as in, spread over VTSAX/VTIAX/VBTLX), and it could have gone the other way. Still, I’m running out of positions that are “just” 2-3x gain, and am going to eventually have to decide whether selling positions that have 5-10x is worth it at my current tax bracket.
1. ESG investing is basically a scam. You might 'feel' good, but long term you're just throwing money away. It's like sector investing, it doesn't beat the total market. Drop stuff like VFTAX in favor of VTI or VOO and VFGX(I couldn't find this one, but I assume the ESG version of VXUS) for VXUS. You're doing great and on the right path, but just keep it simple. Buy the total market (So VTI and VXUS for equities) and you already have VBTLX(BND) for bonds. I'd drop the REIT, personally.
I'd love to get some perspective on if there's something I could be doing better, as I've read up on all this a decent amount but by no means consider myself anything close to an expert. Here is my current asset & funds mix for our stock/bond investments: **Asset Class** -- **Target** -- **Funds** Domestic -- 57.75% -- VOTE and VFTAX (We also own about $100k in MSFT which my wife is very very reluctant to part with.) Intl -- 31.00% -- VFGX, ESGD, ESGE Bonds -- 6.00% -- VBTLX and i-bonds direct REIT -- 5.25% -- VGSLX Please, tell me if I can do something better. Thanks very much! Some relevant notes: * Married (both 37) with 1 young child * We have about $1.5m in stock/bond investments; currently split 55% taxable and 45% retirement. We should be able to contribute about $50k/year * We also have about $200k in equity in a rental property * We're likely to inherit about $1-2m from my parents (hopefully not for another 20+ years), which is primarily in real estate * Long term horizon -- the primary goal is growth for \[early?\] retirement. * As far as funds go, we try to skew toward indexes that align with our values while still getting at the general asset array with reasonable fees.
VBTLX free money cheat code
Totally, I’m in a similar boat with an EF. I would consider moving funds from EF to stock after a drop to be timing the market, and I would be tapping into the EF for a non-emergency reason, but like I said I’m being pedantic, and it’s not like timing the market is some grave sin (I wouldn’t do it with a ton of cash though). The key thing is knowing it is a risk, knowing the level of risk, and being comfortable with that. Another way to take advantage of crashes is to have a certain amount of low risk investments like bonds and reallocate when an event like that happens. The bonds become a bigger percentage of your portfolio so you sell bonds and buy stock (which is now lower in price) until bonds are your desired allocation. In 2008, whereas VTSAX lost half its peak value, VBTLX lost only 1/10th its value. When stocks shoot back up, reallocate back to bonds again. None of this is EF, so the EF stays truly EF, which means it also could be bare minimum EF. Have a good weekend!
VBTLX is 50% government bonds, 25% corporate, 22% securitized, 3% cash equivalents. The average duration is ~6 yrs (measure of interest rate sensitivity), while a fund like EDV's is 24 yrs. VBTLX is a little shorter than the average intermediate term fund (7-10 yrs) VBTLX wont be nearly as rate sensitive due to the vast overweight of short bonds in the total market index.
https://testfol.io/?d=eJytj01PwzAMhv9K5XMndRNw6HHqOCE0CTQxoanyGrcEsmQ43pem%2Fne8VoDEATg0pzix3%2BfxGRoX1ujmyLiJkJ8hCrKUBoUgh0k2uRpl16NsDCmQN5%2FvWvV9e3SQjzM9KaB5La2vHYoNHvIaXaQUKowvtQsHyLPvoqyZ3jVnScjupGkcnLO%2BKQ%2FWm0vvTdamsA0sdXA2qNjzGTxuLuzpfZGMEgmCLlkHbxIdoaNmWL%2BnKIXdW6OqOiO8UwEm3Q99Rbc%2FmGKrN%2BI%2Bu7%2F36fq1Ja7IS7dau0rBMDa6QJt%2BWcyKhVrMjqIoMonZcbd2IkwYd3zq1OJQVkr7l9XDfDkUso%2F6GzkUbzF9vHv6hbhqPwCurONG Looks like VBTLX is just the mutual fund version of BND. Its a total market bond index. I added it to the test, you can see theyre identical
Thank you for that information. I am largely in VBTLX and thus not a pure government bond market so I guess that explains the reason.
60 year old man, presumably single, never had $2.7M to his name before. 1. Figure out what an appropriate cash position is. 2. Provide a proper allocation for all of his money. Not three separate pools of money doing who knows what. Let's assume it is the 60/40 that's appropriate. If we're going to be simple about it, that could be 30% VTSAX, 15% VTIAX, 15% VSMAX, 40% VBTLX. I don't think this is the ideal breakout, but it's easy for DIY. 3. Establish a DCA schedule to invest the rest over a period of 2 years (8 quarterly installments) 4. Sell for long-term cap gains treatment when cash is needed His dad can consider a rev trust, but only for ease after his passing. It will do nothing for asset protection. Each state and each attorney will have different opinions on probate, so you'll have to reach out to a local one. LLC shouldn't even be consider at their asset size. Depending on where they live there could be a state estate tax liability. If only income is just portfolio income in retirement then a CPA won't be able to help with much except filing a return each year. Eventually his father will need to figure out social security, medicare and any supplemental plans. It's the right time to think about long-term care insurance if that's in the cards. Could also want to think about annual exclusion gifting and establishing 529 plans for grandchildren if that's a desired goal. If OP's father has tax-deferred assets then you can figure out if roth conversions are applicable at this point, or at which point in the future they would be before RMD age sets in. You'd also want to take the IRA/401(k) into consideration with asset location for the portfolio. The portfolio aspect is very easy. The only difficulty you typically have is understanding how much your portfolio could sustain on an annual basis vs. how much you're willing to leave behind at your death.
These are the only mutual fund you need —> to build (long term wealth), which will correlate to (generational wealth): —>VTWAX —>VBTLX —>VTABX
Probably things like VBTLX (Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares), I don't recall but basically broad market ETFs at different times during the last ten years, in and out. I just don't get the bond ETFs... I prefer CDs, treasuries, ICLO, SGOV.
VBTLX here. Total bond market index. Point is stability and income, not growth. Bonds balance out stocks in your portfolio. Returns look rough lately 'cause interest rates shot up. Long-term they're fine though.
How do bond mutual funds pay you out? VBTLX for example on vanguards page lists capital return and income return 2022 it went -15.22% on capital but +2.06% on income for a total of -13.16%, obviously you're not selling so you don't care if price goes down but is the 2.06% return of your original value before drop or something else I'm failing to understand why someone would want to utilize a bond fund over just purchasing the bonds outright seeing as the value will never go down nor will it ever pay you less than you expect
Invest in: —>VT + BND + BNDX —>VT = total world stock market, including the U.S. —>BND = total US bond market. —>BNDX = total international bond market. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The above investments, is what I am going to invest in btw. Also, for the past several days —> I have been recording (total percentage gains “for all of the investments combined” —> for every year —> including all 12 months for every year.” My (google spreadsheet is not finished yet), but here are the results I have so far: I am investing in (VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX). The ETF variants would be (VT + BND + BNDX). I have analyzed the “price history of all of these investments. Here are the results I have so far: —>(May 31, 2013 - December 31, 2014) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 139.55%. —>(January 31, 2014 - December 31, 2015) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 36.03%. —>(January 31, 2015 - December 31, 2016) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 19.34%. —>(January 31, 2016 - December 31, 2017) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 177.38% —>(January 31, 2017 - December 31, 2018) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 56.43% —>(January 31, 2018 - December 31, 2019) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 135.4% —>(January 31, 2019 - December 31, 2020) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 140.32% —>(January 31, 2020 - December 31, 2021) -all investments has achieved a combined total of 338.68%
https://www.google.com/finance/quote/VBTLX:MUTF?window=MAX Great recession was officially 12/2007 to 6/2009. TLT went from 91 to 94. Sure there was a 2 month spike. Most prices are 90-100. >Well if I were trading I would have timed it perfectly at $120 No you wouldn't have, unless you are warren buffet. Other popular bonds like VBTLX traded even, I guess that's a win vs down? Anyone who is a big enough pussy to own bonds in the first place isn't selling into the SP500 in the first place.
Telling someone to look at the market 20 years ago is a meaningless sentiment. You literally told someone "Just take your bonds and buy VTI". There are so many 30-year olds on reddit just parroting "just VTI and chill" to literally everyone without actually understanding risk tolerances. Yes, a pure VTI or VT portfolio is probably going to get best returns over 30 years. But you don't know what the person's goals are. People often include bonds in order to cushion again economic turmoil. * From mid 2007 to early 2009 VTI lost 50% of it's value. * From mid 2007 to early 2009 VBTLX basically gained value + paid good interest. Context Matters.
Some high yield stuff like JEPI, JEPQ, AMLP (especially in a Roth). SCHD and RSP also very popular. Other stuff in small cap and similar ETFs with low mag 7 exposure. VTSAX is returning 14% yoy last five years while VBTLX is returning 0.2%. I see no reason to have a penny in bonds if you are young.
You can do it all at once. Now, you should consider adding an allocation to bonds. You obviously don’t have the risk tolerance for a 100% stock portfolio. 1) You sold in panic without anything really serious happening, and 2) you’re afraid of investing it again. I don’t know how old are you, but consider having a 60/40 portfolio VTWAX/VBTLX. I know folks on reddit will tell you that you shouldn’t have fixed income until you’re in your 60s, but your 100% stock portfolio didn’t work out for you.
Stick to a three-fund portfolio that diversifies your portfolio across domestic stocks, international stocks, and domestic bonds. A common mix is Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX), Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTIAX), Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBTLX). Fidelity and Schwab have equivalent index funds that mirror the Vanguard funds. In your 50s, a 70% stock indices/30% bonds or, more conservatively, 60/40 is common.
Sounds good, thank you! I’ll probably wait until September and work on liquidating, so I have my $20k in cash by my birthday. I’ll open up a fidelity account and probably talk to my bank. I did some more research, and I’ve seen recommendations of a 3 fund split of: - [ ] VTSAX - [ ] VTIAX - [ ] VBTLX What are your thoughts?
For a conservative portfolio, VBTLX seems like a good fit.
I've heard bond funds tend to go up when interest rates go down. As interest rates are poised to start going down, I'm wondering if it's a good time to invest in bonds in a conservative portfolio. If it is a good time, what funds would you suggest? I've looked into Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBTLX) but am wondering if there are other bond funds that may be more appealing.
I've been investing my Roth IRA for about 9 years now (annual limit each year). The money is split between VTSAX (total stock market) & VBTLX (total bond market), about 80% VTSAX and 20% VBTLX. The performance has been an annual average performance of 9.20%. VTSAX has actually averaged a little higher than that (about 12% annually), but the bond market has performed poorly over the last 9 years.
Index funds always perform well over time. VTSAX is good, but would allocate 10-15% to a bond fund, e.g., VBTLX.
My suggestions would be the following: 1. Pay down any credit card debt you have. No investments will even come close to the APR you’re being charged by your credit card. Being debt free is the best investment. 2. Open a Roth IRA. Since your money is already taxed, you can put upto $7k in a Roth IRA and it can grow tax free. You won’t be able to touch it till you retire(can withdraw what you put in but not the growth without penalty) 3. Open a Vanguard/fidelity/Schwab account and just invest in 3 index funds - S&P 500(VFINX) or total stock market(VTI), Bond fund (VBTLX) and International stock fund(VTIAX). This will give you broad diversification and capital growth. Reinvest any dividends earned back into the fund. If you’re under 45… use the 80-20 rule. 80% stock and 20% bonds. 4. See if you can invest some money in a HYSA or a CD so it gains some interest. 5. Finally, keep some cash in your savings account (say $5k) and add to it every 2 months. This is your rainy day fund for any emergency.
My 5 year return is 14.5% and my 1 year return is 22.4% and that's using very simple allocations in Vanguard. I was 100% VFIAX from maybe November 2021. Since January 2024, I'm 92% stocks and 8% bonds. VTSAX: 76.62% VGSLX: 7.82% VTIAX: 8.28% VBTLX: 7.28% I just picked things that matched recommended lazy portfolios. I'm not an active trader. Just figured I'd share
Target date funds are fine so long as they have similar fees as low cost S&P + bond market would have. Vanguard funds are usually a good choice, but if fees are higher than 0.3% yearly, you should just go with VTSAX/VTWAX + VBTLX instead.
With more than $50k, and looking to go lazy: VTSAX, Total stock (admiral) VTIAX, International (admiral) VBTLX, Bonds (admiral) Getting to the next level ($500k invested will get you some nice perks as well). :)
I use mutual funds rather than ETFs, both because that's how I started investing and the ability to make recurring scheduled deposits. I'm about 70/20/10 equity/bonds/cash \~5 years from retirement. VTSAX (or similar) makes up about 80% of my equity and VTIAX the other 20%. The bonds are VBTLX and the cash is iBonds and VUSXX. If I was 30 again, I'd probably have the domestic/international ratio the same, but I'd be at least 90% in equities if not 100% like you are. While I've always been 70-80% stocks, I probably should have taken on more risk in my 30s and early 40s.
Sorry, when you said "invest aggressively" I took that to mean you were planning to max your Roth IRA contributions each year. That's $7,000/year ($8,000 once you hit age 50) so you could make the max contribution this year and immediately put $4K in VTWAX and $3K in VBTLX and build out the portfolio from there, contributing more to VTWAX until you hit your desired allocation.
You can auto-invest at Vanguard either in a TDF or in a selection of mutual funds. So if you would prefer a portfolio composition other than the ones available in Vanguard's TDFs, you can buy and hold either VTWAX and VBTLX, or VTSAX, VTIAX, and VBTLX, and choose allocation percentages that align with your preference/risk tolerance. Unlike with ETFs, Vanguard will allow you to auto-invest into the mutual fund share classes.
You deleted the comment I was replying to. So, here goes for anyone else that might read it You are somehow fucking up the test. $10000 invested in SPY on Jan 1 2000, add 200 monthly. Here are the numbers. End of 2000: Principal- 10000+2400=12400. Balance $11259 End of 2001 : Principal- 12400+2400= 14800, Balance $12272 End of 2002: Principal - 12400+2400= 17200, Balance $11806 End of 2003 : Principal - 17200+2400=19600, Balance $17928 End of 2004: Princiapal - 19200+2400= 21600, Balance $22428. So, you do end up with your balance back by 04 during one of the worst run of equities. Now, if you are chucking everything into sp500, you are doing it wrong in the first place. If you had diversified and had like a 80/20 stock bond split. And Then had your stocks diversified between large, small and medium caps, and then between US and international. You would have come out way ahead. The current run has everyone going full large caps. But small caps beat large caps by a great amount in 2000s and they may do so in future again. If you need the money in short to medium term, you can't YOLO on one index and call it a day. Backtest with something like VITPX ,VGTSX, VBTLX 50, 30,20 split or whatever you are ok with. These start from end of 2001 though. Maybe someone else can give you tickers that go all the way back to 2000
You have the VBTLX bond fund, so that may help in a recession, depending how much of your asset allocation is in it. In the Great Recession, bonds gained value as the Fed cut interest rates, so it’s possible but not guaranteed it could go that way again. Paying off any debts could be a solid choice. If your debts are low interest, stick your money in a HYSA or money market fund until its rates drop below your interest rates and *then* pay off your debts.
Any target date series? >VINIX - Institutional Index Fund >VSMAX - Vanguard Small Cap Index Adml >VSIAX - Vanguard Sm Cap Val Index >VTMGX - Vanguard Dev Market Index >VBTLX - Vanguard Ttl bd Mkt Ind Adm 4 out of the 5 of these could be a good approximation of the 3 fund concept (choose 1 of the 2 US small cap funds). https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio VBTLX controls risk. Set it depending on your risk tolerance, just be aware that there's a number of people that over estimate their risk tolerance. No emerging market fund?
I’d replace VBTLX with VUSUX. Long treasuries are the best for long term investment accounts.
My employer recently switched HSA custodians, so I'm having to change my allocations as some of the fund options are no longer available. I was previously invested 80/20 in VITSX/VBTLX. With the new custodian, I have access to VIIIX, VEMPX, and VBMPX (plus others, but these are the lowest expense ratios.) I understand that VIIIX tracks the S&P500, but it isn't a total market fund like VITSX was, so I'd likely want to hold some portion of VEMPX in addition to that. I'm not sure what percentage of that I should hold. Assuming I'd like to keep 20% in bonds, would 60/20/20 between VIIIX/VEMPX/VBMPX be similar, or should I go 65/15/20 or 70/10/20?
Buy a Vanguard bond index fund like VBTLX, increasing your % from a starting level of 10% gradually to up to 60% depending on risk tolerance/age.
As a long term investor, stay and hold and don't try to time the market. VBTLX is fine. I am a big believer in the 3 and 4 fund portfolio. [4 Fund portfolio](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Vanguard_four_fund_portfolio)
VBTLX is not a bond. It's a mutual fund that invests in bonds.
does vanguard bonds' interest rate chnage after I purchased it? interested in VBTLX.
does vanguard bonds' interest rate chnage after I purchased it? interested in VBTLX.
does vanguard bonds' interest rate chnage after I purchased it? interested in VBTLX.
Aren't most people holding bond FUNDS in retirement accounts? Vanguard's total bond fund (VBTLX) is down -12.85% over 5 yr and -9.1% over the 20 year life of the fund ... I look at this and truthfully wonder why I should ever be investing in bonds because it seems more risky vs diversified indexed stocks in the medium to long run.
That does change things. If that’s the case it would be hard for anyone to give you advice on indexes without knowing your overall assets and risk profile. For example, your single stock strategy to date might be just fine if viewed within the context of your entire net worth (inheritance included). And It would also depend on how much benefit you get from your ESOP (is there a 10% discount relative to market price?)..if so I might keep doing it. If your current 401k (with a single stock) is say 5-15% of your total net worth. Than you might stick with it and not index. But if it’s 30-70% of total net worth than probably take some risk off the table and diversify into indexes like you e asked about. Additionally what index to diversify into would depend on how close to your end goal you are and your risk tolerance. If your safely there already than you’d lean toward a more conservative bond index (VBTLX) and allocated between 10%-30% of your funds there and the remainder in VOO. If you value risks and growth than you’d probably go for 70-100% in more S&P 500 index (VOO). If you want diversity outside US than probably add in VTI between 10-30%. If you want high risk emerging markets than do 0-15% in VEMAX. Maybe do 0-10% in realetstate (VNQ). And 0-5% in commodities ( VCMDX). Maybe do 0-2% in Bitcoin. And maybe continue with 2-5% in a single stock strategy.
VBTLX has had a pretty bad 2.5 years. If you put money in that 2.5 years ago, you took a hit which is slowly being made up by dividends. Without doing the math, I am guessing you about even on that one. VTSAX is a fairly aggressive fund modeling the entire USA stock market. Unfortunately it hasn't done as well as just the S&P500 in this time span - just bad luck really. VTIAX is an international stock index fund. While having it is not a bad idea, international stocks have not done nearly as well as US stocks in the past 2.5 years.
For your vanguard total US stock market (VTSAX), it's only up a small percentage because you bought near the top, at the end of 2021, when most stock prices were at all-time highs at the time. Then in 2022, stocks plummeted for almost the entire year. The market started going back up again in 2023, but since you started investing near the end of 2021, when everything was near all-time high prices at the time, your investments didn't go up that much. Regarding vanguard international stock market (VTIAX), and bonds (VBTLX), their performance has been a lot worse compared to the US stock market. The US is the strongest economy in the world compared to other countries. Bonds are a safer investment than stocks, so they'll get a smaller return. Generally, the safer the investment, the smaller the returns. The riskier the investment, the potential for greater returns.
once interest rates start to fall, VBTLX will shoot up. vtiax kinda drags, I would have gone msci world index, I bought that around same time frame it has done very well.
For your vanguard total US stock market (VTSAX), it's only up a small percentage because you bought near the top, at the end of 2021, when most stock prices were at all-time highs at the time. Then in 2022, stocks plummeted for almost the entire year. The market started going back up again in 2023, but since you started investing near the end of 2021, when everything was near all-time high prices at the time, your investments didn't go up that much. Regarding vanguard international stock market (VTIAX), and bonds (VBTLX), their performance has been a lot worse compared to the US stock market.
So ... I used portfolio visualiser (https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com) to back test this portfolio since October 2021. Pardon the garbage formatting, I'm on mobile. Year VTSAX. VTIAX. VBTLX Balance 2021 40.00% 40.00% 20.00% $100,000 2022 41.79% 39.09% 19.12% $86,795 2023 40.48% 39.52% 19.99% $102,233 2024 43.31% 38.75% 17.94% $108,233 So you should be overweight VTSAX and underweight your others. A rebalance of this would be doing the math to sell the positions that are too big and add to the ones that went down. In the case of this example above, sell $3582.51 VTSAX, buy $1352.91 VTSAX, and buy $2229.60 VBLTX. Then you'd be back to your original 40/40/20 balance.
* Go to finance.yahoo.com. * search on VTSAX * click on "chart" * click on the pretty calendar button. * set a start date of 10/1/2021 * click "apply" * Click on comparison * Add VTIAX * Click on comparison again * Add VBTLX TA DA! That's what happened to your money. You lost money with all three for most of 2022, and VTSAX has been blowing the doors off since then, but your other two have not.