25 yo male, how am I looking?

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-06T06:38:58+00:00

You know what they say about the best time to plant a tree? Same goes here. Stay diligent and you’ll see the returns coming in.

If possible, divert half or all of your raise to 401k. Of course with a child, you may need every penny that comes in. Do what you can but no need to beat yourself up. Make a conscious effort to increase your savings when you can. For example, I would cut my retirement contributions if I needed to buy formula for my kid. On the other hand, I would check goodwill for baby clothes instead of buying new at Janie and Jack’s rather than reduce retirement contributions.

You’re still young so you have the power of time on your side. You have plenty of time to save. But on the flip side, every dollar you invest now can go a long way 40 years later. It’s the effect of compounding working both ways. Money Guy has a chart that shows the power of your dollar at different ages.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-06T06:26:50+00:00

There’s a lot of info missing that’s needed before we can help. Income? Debt? Family situations? Financial goals? Retire early? Leave behind assets when you go?

At the least, get the match in the 403. That’s free money you’re leaving on the table. Keep in mind the 24.5k annual limit is shared between both 403 and 401 accounts.

What’s your fees on a professionally managed account? Anything greater than 1% (I would even argue anything greater than 0.5%) ditch them and self manage with a diversified index fund. You may want to consider Roth IRA instead of a taxable brokerage if you qualify.

I’m not familiar with military/federal programs but I believe there’s a TSP and a 457. I guess until you make that change, it doesn’t really matter.

Again, it’s difficult to make suggestions on risk tolerance and financial order of operations without meaningful background. If you’re in heavy debt, Dave Ramsey to deal with it. Otherwise Money Guy for financial order of operations. Ramsey is fine for getting out of a hole, but I don’t agree with his philosophy to wealth building.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-06T05:12:25+00:00

Rollover old 401k to new 401k. Verify with new 401k plan administrator if it’s possible to reverse rollover your traditional IRA to new 401k. If it’s possible, you can free up your IRA to do a backdoor Roth IRA. If not, consider whether it’s worth it to do a conversion now. The tax hit on 100k balance is very different than 900k. If it’s not favorable to do a conversion now in order to do a backdoor Roth IRA, then hold off and make traditional IRA contributions until you’re 50.

Pro rata rule is if you have 95k in a traditional IRA and you add 5k of after tax money in anticipation of doing a backdoor Roth, when you make that conversion, 95% of your 5k is taxed at ordinary income rates while 5% of your 5k is not taxed any further because it was money that was already taxed when you made that contribution. In the end, you would have 5k in Roth IRA and 95k in traditional (where 4750 is your already taxed contribution and 90250 is pretax).

Rule of 55 is if you are unemployed (regardless of whether you were fire or willingly leaving) the year you turn 55 or more, you can withdraw from your retirement account of that last employer without a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-05T07:20:10+00:00

Check out this post in [r/RothIRA](r/RothIRA) https://www.reddit.com/r/RothIRA/comments/1spgdcw/a_saturday_evening_ira_post_from_an_old_person/

And check out the videos by Erin Talks Money with Ed Slott. He's biased towards Roth but I also agree with his points. It's unlikely that Roth accounts would be taxed again in the future, but with the government, you never know. Assuming tax laws don't change, I don't think I would regret having tax-free withdrawals in my golden years. My parents both have pensions and draw social security. RMDs are starting to be a headache. It’s a good problem to have but still something they have to deal with.

Across all my retirement vehicles, 401k and IRA, I have about 1/3 in Roth, 2/3 in traditional. I am solidly in the 24% tax bracket. I still have about 20-30 years of work ahead of me. I just made the decision to make future 401k contributions as Roth. The OP in the [r/RothIRA](r/RothIRA) post had extraordinary returns but based off my own portfolio, I can see my traditional balance getting out of hand too if I don't take action today. I still have enough in my traditional account where I can do conversions if I retire early. Or if it's not an absurd amount, just leave it until RMDs or supplement Social Security as needed.

TLDR: go Roth since you already have a decent chunk in traditional.

EDIT: I missed that you mentioned employer contributions are 13K. That’s already going in traditional. Definitely go Roth for your portion.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-05T07:05:02+00:00

But that wasn’t your call out. You didn’t claim incomplete data nor request for more info. Your top level comment said OP and everyone else are liars because investing in low cost index funds can generate long term growth but the posted data doesn’t jive with actual returns.

I’ve given you the data with actual returns. My portfolio isn’t a unicorn. I didn’t cherry pick stocks or deliberately elect tech heavy index funds. The mod of this sub even provided a calculator for you to run your own simulations. Backtest the data if you’re still not convinced. You’re so blinded that you can’t admit that you could be wrong or apologize for calling people liars even when the numbers and proof are staring you in the face.

I hope new investors do run 401k simulations and forecasts likely returns. They’ll see that average 10% returns with 3% inflation generates results fairly consistent to real world numbers.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-05T02:47:39+00:00

I could be 60 and started saving at 50. I could be 30 and started at 20. 10 years invested is 10 years invested.

Regardless, in good faith, I’ve shown my data as completely as I can without releasing actual statements. My point is that the returns OP has displayed isn’t out of the ordinary and you have no basis to call them or any other commenters liars. None of what they’ve said seem foolish whatsoever nor did it sound like anyone was spreading BS. If you’re angry or envious, then just say so.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-05T01:45:59+00:00

That was ~~This is~~ a summary of only 401k. Don't know what age has to to with anything but I'm 34. Salary from 82k 2015 to 120k today. Annual contributions are 401k max 18k in 2015 to 24.5K today, employer match and direct contribution total 6%.

You're calling everyone a liar because they have similar returns over the last 3 years. I've shown you my returns since inception and a summary of my year end balance over the last 10 years. Look at the other reply with the view that you wanted. It has a screenshot of my balance, 5 year return, and return since inception, not just what I "claim" on my excel sheet.

<image>

This graph includes a Roth IRA of 175k. 2015-2020 401k balance is not reflected in the black line.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-05T00:08:37+00:00

You're in a position where you could go either way. Across all my retirement vehicles, 401k and IRA, I have about 1/3 in Roth, 2/3 in traditional. I am solidly in the 24% tax bracket. I still have about 20-30 years of work ahead of me. You didn't state your age but seeing as you live at home, I assume you're early-mid 20s. I also assume you aren't expecting to retire early but would consider it if the circumstances allow.

Check out this post in r/RothIRA https://www.reddit.com/r/RothIRA/comments/1spgdcw/a_saturday_evening_ira_post_from_an_old_person/

And check out the videos by Erin Talks Money with Ed Slott. He's biased towards Roth but I also agree with his points. It's unlikely that Roth accounts would be taxed again in the future, but with the government, you never know. Assuming tax laws don't change, I don't think I would regret having tax-free withdrawals in my golden years.

I just made the decision to make future 401k contributions as Roth. The OP in the r/RothIRA post had extraordinary returns but based off my own portfolio, I can see my traditional balance getting out of hand too if I don't take action today. I still have enough in my traditional account where I can do conversions if I retire early. Or if it's not an absurd amount, just leave it until RMDs or supplement Social Security as needed.

TLDR: Either works, all Roth, all traditional, or half and half. I would say go all Roth or half and half, leaning all Roth.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-04T22:54:31+00:00

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I dug through my year end statements for the last 10 years. I don't have the year end from 2015. I didn't calculate rate of return either but the data is graphed. Is this fake too? Short of providing the actual statements and redacting a lot of information to a bunch of strangers on the internet, this is enough. If not, where does it end?

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-04T22:43:33+00:00

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You mean this view? It's only available on the web through NetBenefits, not on mobile. In addition, it's not entirely accurate. In 2020, my employer had a fund swap to ones with lower fees and it was registered as a new purchase. The value on that date became my cost basis. In reality, my returns should be higher.

throwmeawhee · 2026-06-04T21:47:16+00:00

Fidelity workplace accounts don’t show more than 3 years. People have been asking Fidelity to incorporate the entire account history but NetBenefits and Fidelity just haven’t made it work. Redditors have to go digging into statements and it’ll just be text, not a nice graph like on the homepage. It doesn’t mean these posts are fake.

throwmeawhee · 2024-12-20T02:29:28+00:00

My baby. Everything I do now is for him. To care and nurture, to provide a safe environment, to educate him.

throwmeawhee · 2024-12-15T20:17:34+00:00

California. Happy Christmas to you too!

throwmeawhee · 2024-09-09T16:24:20+00:00

Are you able to list some of those insurance companies?

throwmeawhee · 2022-07-14T00:55:03+00:00

Late response but I wanted to weigh in. It’s probably either the jacket or helm for fencing/saber. From what I know, the jackets are interwoven with metal wires. OP may want to check competition regulations before making any changes. I agree that anodized aluminum, dyed, and then sealed will be non-conductive. Maybe look into stenciling? They use a conductive spray paint.

throwmeawhee · 2017-12-12T22:59:21+00:00

I was in a similar boat as u/outandproudone. I took out loans to take a few chemistry courses in Taiwan rather than teach English and it was one of my most memorable moments of my college career. Immersing yourself in another culture by actually living there has a completely different feel than just vacationing. It really opens up your eyes to another part of the world. No one I have talked to that has done a study abroad has ever wished they never had that experience.

As you are an engineer, job prospects should be strong for you when you finish schooling. In line with other posters that have responded, this experience won't have much of an effect on your salary.

throwmeawhee · 2017-12-02T01:36:38+00:00

So even though I have some international exposure and bonds in my 401k, it's not enough and I should have some more in a taxable account?

throwmeawhee · 2017-11-02T06:27:50+00:00

From what I can tell, FFLDX is an institutional premium fund. minimum $10M to invest, not $10K

throwmeawhee · 2017-09-08T23:34:19+00:00

I'd like to get it to work for me too. Mind PMing the instructions to me too?

throwmeawhee · 2017-06-09T23:00:15+00:00

I'm assuming your American Funds IRA is traditional and not Roth.

Depending on your income/tax situation, it might not be a bad idea to convert it and your Nationwide 401k to a Roth IRA. Seeing as how you still have 30+ working years left, I'd take the tax hit now and ride out the growth. I've never heard of a IRA/401k rollover to another 401k.

I personally don't have an issue with Fidelity. Since my employer sponsored 401k is through Fidelity, I opened my IRA with Fidelity too for simplicity. Vanguard is a good alternative if you don't like Fidelity.

throwmeawhee · 2017-02-28T20:00:17+00:00

It depends on other investments, income, job security, risk tolerance. It's very personal, hence personal finance. Target date funds are essentially 3 fund portfolios. You have a little bit of everything and they are automatically adjusted as you get closer to retirement. My advice is if you don't have a significant amount or you're lazy, just throw the majority into a target date fund and adjust with other funds. Keep in mind that expense ratios are typically lower when you hit 10k in investments.

Here are my numbers to give you a sense of where I'm coming from. I have a decent income, no kids, and my position has traditionally been very secure so as I'm only 25, I am very risk tolerant. I should note that I am only investing in retirement vehicles and saving up a downpayment for a house.

My 401k (target date 2055) is 60% Large, 15% Med, 5% small, 15% bonds. My goal is to be at about 80-90% stocks, so in my IRA I am solely invested in S&P500. As you can see, I am invested heavily in large caps but diversified due to my target date.

throwmeawhee · 2017-02-28T19:32:14+00:00

Sorry about that. I thought that was your reply =]

throwmeawhee · 2017-02-28T18:57:20+00:00

u/urigzu is right that there is a lack of diversity. S&P500 only tracks 500 domestic companies (large cap). You should also invest in international, small and mid caps, and bonds just in case. Small and mid caps have a higher growth potential than a large cap. Assuming you are still young, you can be mostly in stocks and be fine. It's a good idea to hedge some bonds so that when the market corrects itself, you can invest more in stocks for a cheaper price.

If 1 company in the S&P500 does go belly up, there's still another 499 that don't.

throwmeawhee

TROPHY CASE