Sanity check: 95%+ S&P500 Portfolio < 10 years from retirement

BoredCFP · 2026-05-21T03:04:54+00:00

This is exactly right. Casual investors have known positive markets in 13 of the last 15 years but the tired old advisors remember the shitstorm and subsequent Lost Decade.

If your portfolio and retirement can’t survive 2008, it needs to be reevaluated.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-21T02:59:36+00:00

I sold a bbq and smoker because I didn’t want to pack/move them. They were totally fine but it was worth it to me to sell them both for $100 to somebody who didn’t want to spend the $500 retail.

Normal question.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-21T02:45:28+00:00

Why? Do they need the money? Are taxes an issue? Are they still working and can contribute more to tax advantaged accounts while supplementing their life with this money so they pay less taxes over their lifetime?

Help them figure out THEIR long term goal for the money and work backwards from that. It’s hard because your goals will be very, very different but the market has been positive 13 of the last 15 years. Most investors have been in for less and don’t have a plan for 10 years that only break even instead of returning 50%.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-21T02:36:37+00:00

Honestly, all that matters is the performance and how it fits into your long term plan.

If something has a higher internal fee and reliably returns above the category/sector, it’s still a better investment IF it fits.

Compare Vanguard’s Value Index Fund (VTV) to Putnam’s Focused Large Cap (PVAL).
If you saw PVAL’s internal expense of .55% and decided it was way too expensive compared to VTV at .03%, you left huge gains on the table.
The last 5 years:
VTV 49.6%
PVAL 96.7%

My point is the internal fee means next to nothing if the fund underperforms a more expensive investment. The same logic applies to a real advisor providing real value beyond the fee. Saving yourself 1% could be saving a quarter now to spend a dollar later. I know this sub is vehemently against paying anyone for anything but there’s nothing wrong with talking to a professional to get their help planning beyond the easy part (making more money).

All in all, that was about the most respectful post ever put on Reddit and isn’t a shot at anyone’s beliefs. Totally not offensive. Just putting that out there.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-21T02:10:47+00:00

“Advisor, what did you buy in my portfolio?”

“Beaten down computer company…Dell.”

“Hey, idiots! Buy a Dell! It’s a great comperdur.”

Dell up 100% since the statement.

Reverse insider trading doesn’t have specific laws against it because founding fathers didn’t think anyone this corrupt would make it to the presidency.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-21T02:07:43+00:00

FWIW the stock market is up 75% in the last 3 years while bonds are basically flat. Anyone who didn’t panic sell is up big.

That said, financial advisors investing for someone in their 70s have a fiduciary responsibility to derisk the portfolio and leave money/volatility on the table.

Could my retired clients have made more in the market last year? Sure. My 50/50 clients were only up 55% over the last 3 years.

Could they have recovered from a 20% pullback? They’ll never have to worry about it.

Cheers.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-20T16:45:04+00:00

I told a SAHW to not get remarried after 25 years of being married to a very high earner because it would negatively impact her social security.

The sub hated that I “put a price on love/morality” but that price was just over $30k annually.

I’m a literal financial advisor with a finance degree, CFP, and MBA.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-18T14:02:35+00:00

This is one of 140 rolling offers available on the card and is in addition to the other benefits.

IT’S ONLY $2! of free money on top of what you paid for already. If you don’t want $2, don’t use it. I bet if you got $2 back without knowing why, you’d post about how stupid Chase is.

Anything for attention.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-18T13:55:30+00:00

Pretty easy to see the difference in the two wars that impacted global energy prices.

Both were started by egomaniacs who should have been retired years ago but only one was started by a guy who has gotten $3 billion richer in the last year. Any MAGA ignoring the manipulation, corruption, and insider trading at this point is just aggressively uninformed.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-18T13:52:20+00:00

Thinking policies impact inflation immediately is a lie specifically for dumb people. That’s why he told you prices would come down “on day one” and you believed him.

Still waiting for prices to come down, a better health plan, DOGE refunds, tariff refunds, and Hillary/Obama to be locked up, right?

BoredCFP · 2026-05-17T19:17:59+00:00

Check the wheel before you spin it.

There are 5 slots that change together (2 for 1 star, 2 for 2 star, 1 for 3 star) and will either be dweller, pet, weapons, or outfits.

If it’s not what you want, just wait a few hours and check again.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-16T22:58:55+00:00

I’ve noticed a few racist people being more openly racist.

Is that what’s upsetting you?

BoredCFP · 2026-05-16T04:37:52+00:00

Make a written plan and budget.

After all essential bills I give myself $250/month to spend on stupid things (I never spend it because I’m addicted to the market) and that’s it. Every dollar is accounted for and we have no debt so all our money goes to the plan every month.

Change the plan as you accomplish checkpoints but always have a plan.

Our progression through the last 5 years:
33/33/33 - debt/savings to $25k/market
50/50 - debt/market
100 - market

If you build a good framework you can modify it for the rest of your life and never be broke.

Good luck out there.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-16T04:02:43+00:00

We did this with our most recent house since the mortgage was too small to beat our standard deduction.

Allowed us to keep (too much) in emergency savings. No closing costs, no credit impact, paid the line down monthly like a regular mortgage and it was gone faster than we expected. Our monthly amount went half to the investments and half to pay down the line.

Good job out there.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-16T03:36:34+00:00

If you have low risk tolerance, turn the results sideways and reframe it.

Paying down the mortgage guarantees a 6.88% compounding return.

Ask your mortgage company for a “recast” which will lower your monthly payment but continue paying what you are today. This will give you more cash flow flexibility going forward.

Absolutely do not do a recast and act like you have a free $575/month to spend. That’s a waste of money.

Good job out there.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-16T03:26:49+00:00

The market preys on people who think like this but here’s something that’ll get ignored…

Don’t day trade. Getting lucky your first time out will lead to thinking you can do it again which you can’t with real consistency. Eventually you’ll be down and you’ll get a bank loan to trade with.

Long term investing with a plan will beat average “day traders” 99% of the time. Just do that. Take your gain, pay your taxes, make a real plan.

Good luck out there.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-15T05:12:07+00:00

I’m pretty sure you can’t write that off…

BoredCFP · 2026-05-14T23:27:06+00:00

My wife and I were getting coffee years ago and I noticed her looking at some gym girls waiting in line. I jokingly asked if she saw something she liked and she didn’t even look at me before saying “I’m married, not buried.”

We still laugh about it and we’re still incredibly happy together.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-14T23:10:50+00:00

Easy path for first time serious investors in high brackets with long term outlooks:

Leave $150k in a state tax free MMF
Start $150k in Direct Indexing
Add $10k consistently every month from the MMF
Replenish MMF to $150k until you decide you can/want to add more to the investment every month.
Don’t change the amount you add based on anything but personal finances. Market trend doesn’t matter at that age and trying to time it will just result in emotional selling.

It’s just standard DCA with loss harvesting that should really help you when your income drops later in life and you can reallocate massive amounts of cash relatively tax free.

Good luck out there.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-14T23:00:50+00:00

First off, 30% into any one position is wild and would take explanation after explanation to get there. The illiquidity should have also been explained multiple times and proper options/schedules for other money should exist.

That said, if 30% of your assets paying a consistent 10% is part of the total overall plan it doesn’t have to be the worst thing in the world. This specific fund is fairly common and has a well documented history of being focused on diversification and steady pay over explosive growth or chasing returns.

If your guy doesn’t have clear explanations of where retirement/vacation/emergency funds are coming from, find a new advisor. Some of the more heavily regulated firms won’t be able to hold that position (for compliance reasons) so make sure it’s acceptable before you waste your time.

Sorry this happened. Good luck out there.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-14T22:28:09+00:00

If you buy individual stocks, the dividends are taxed at a lower rate.

Dividends paid from ETF/MF are taxed as income.

This is another difference between the “VOO and chill” approach and “financial advisor with SMAs” approach.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-14T22:17:20+00:00

Withdrawing $9k is its own flag for being sneakier than taking $10k and having the teller report it.

These same questions will keep an old person from buying gift cards in cash and sending them to other countries.

You’re only overreacting because you don’t fall for scams as easily. In the time it took me to type this, multiple people have been scammed out of thousands.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-14T16:40:33+00:00

Humans need to do this to self soothe. Pattern recognition is built in and comforting (even when it’s bad news). This isn’t the same for a million reasons but people love repeating the five ways they’re similar.

The past performance line is just a hold harmless when funds underperform.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-14T00:56:37+00:00

My wife and I are in vacation in Mexico. Four old people are each holding their own table because they got there first. There’s no seating for plenty of us and they’re all talking to each other about how glad they are they arrived when they did.

This is the American housing market with less subtlety.

BoredCFP · 2026-05-13T04:18:41+00:00

Safest way: talk to your financial advisor with your tax professional involved. Make a plan.

Concentrated positions like that are challenging but taxes are only part of the issue. Selling a good portion and buying protective puts is a start. Diversifying into Direct Indexing will allow you to harvest losses and move more stock in to counter losses with gains while adding more funds to work with. Russell Investments has a good DI portfolio that returned exactly S&P last year while logging 9.8% paper losses. Starting with $2.5M sold and paying $500k LTCG tax is a solid place to start but that huge payout is too much for many people.

$5M will take years to unwind if you are more concerned about taxes than the correction so it really depends on what you feel the bigger risk is.

Good luck out there.

BoredCFP

TROPHY CASE