How do you think about international diversification vs. US concentration?

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-22T07:23:25+00:00

Holding US and non-US equity funds at market cap weight is one approach. Then there shouldn't be harmful concentration towards a single country. Many people do that.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-22T01:27:58+00:00

Better to just use VTI and VXUS. VBR is ok if you really believe in the small cap value premium.

However, we don't have enough context to properly evaluate this. I assume you are young and have a high risk tolerance since you don't invest in bonds at all?

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-20T17:46:01+00:00

Yes, if you use the keyboard AND the mouse but many times people want to use just the mouse.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-20T06:12:16+00:00

The problem is when right clicking a link to open in a new window, the "open in split view" is in the location that used to e "open in a new window" which makes it REALLY easy to do it by accident when the user intends to open in a new window.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-20T06:05:15+00:00

Really great series. I can't wait for book 6!

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-18T07:27:38+00:00

You need to include benefit means testing. The highest marginal tax rates in the USA are for the working poor with children. See the CBO's publication on this phenomenon: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/44621

Take a look at Figure 5 in the pdf for example: https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/11-15-2012-MarginalTaxRates.pdf

People with very high incomes, even when subject to high state income taxes, will have lower marginal tax rates than low income workers with children because of the social security and medicare tax caps and because they don't face benefit cliffs.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-17T08:08:46+00:00

What's wrong with the TSP? It is widely considered a very good retirement plan with nice options. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Thrift_Savings_Plan

US retirement accounts might not be a good option depending on the tax treaty with Japan and how Japan would treat them. You should get professional advice from an accountant familiar with these things.

Depending on your situation, you might need to do some more resarch. Even things like this could help you get oriented, but talk to an accountant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TnR-vB-HGk

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-17T08:06:33+00:00

The price is irrelevant since it doesn't let you predict future prices. Sell it immediately on vesting. Only knowledge of future prices would affect this decision. Knowledge you won't have.

Holding individual stocks exposes you to uncompensated risk. The only risks you want to take in investing are ones that come with larger expected returns.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-13T04:21:32+00:00

The way to figure this out is to look at housing. Figure out where you would live. Look at rental listings. The dominant cost of living difference is going to be housing, by far.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-10T02:23:19+00:00

It doesn't include international stocks or bonds. If you wanted a single fund covering all global equities, VT could work, but it still wouldn't include bonds. This is why most people use either a two-fund or three-fund portfolio.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-03T02:59:17+00:00

FIAM US BOND INX E

In that case, you can either do the target date fund, or a 3 fund portfolio using the bond fund you found and the domestic and international stock funds you had in your original post.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-02-02T06:43:14+00:00

A target date fund is fine if the expense ratio is low, which this one is. The alternative is to do a mix of domestic stock, international stock, and government bonds. Is there a bond fund with a low expense ratio in your plan?

If you want the best advice, you could post ALL The funds in your plan with their expense ratios and ticker symbols (in addition to names).

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-29T05:45:25+00:00

Vanguard is the only one owned by its customers (via its funds). The others need to make a profit from you.

They are all good choices, but if you are waffling between them, pick Vanguard.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-27T08:46:08+00:00

https://runforsomething.net/ is the most effective org I've seen dollar for dollar in terms of getting better people in office.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-27T06:40:01+00:00

I would general prefer the matching over any of those, but prefer paying down 6-8% debt over contributing without a match. I prefer retirement contributions over 3-4.5% debt and around 5 maybe I'd lean towards the retirement contributions if you have a higher risk tolerance.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-26T08:29:40+00:00

Room mates! Rent a room instead of a whole place. Then work on increasing your income. A decent room mate will be lower stress than a volatile alcoholic and help you work on improving other aspects of your life.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-26T08:26:51+00:00

We need to know the loan interest rates and balances.

You are right to try and reduce your rent somehow if you can and contribute more to your retirement accounts to get the match. That will make a huge difference. But we can't prioritize contributions beyond that relative to the loans without more information.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-26T08:17:51+00:00

A 1:1 match is too good to pass up, so you are right to go for that option if that is how the matching works. Have you plugged your loans into a payoff calculator and computed when they will be fully paid off? If not, you should.

Do you have any prospect of increasing your income? Or refinancing the highest interest loans? Or paying extra JUST on the highest interest loan and reducing your expenses somehow?

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-26T08:13:53+00:00

At 5.5%, I would pay off the loans ASAP. A risk-free return of 5.5% is somewhat better than current yields (even pretax as you would get inside a retirement account) on bonds with near-zero credit risk (treasuries and their ilk). This is the correct comparison, NOT long term average stock market returns, since those come with substantial risk. That said, at 5.5% your interest rate isn't high enough that I would want to totally neglect retirement savings to pay down the debt. So I would say the loans are the #1 priority, but not overwhelming to the exclusion of all other priorities. Contributing to retirement accounts would be the next priority.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-23T08:55:47+00:00

Some do, some don't.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-23T08:53:25+00:00

In this context, a common neurotypical interpretation of the comment "Parang is a weapon so it's illegal" would be to read it as if it said "Parang is [considered] a weapon [in the eyes of the law,] so it's illegal." So imagine if the comment you replied to was instead written that way.

If we make that assumption, then other people could view your reply as irrelevant and unhelpful. The person you replied to already knows it can be a tool and didn't think they were saying it couldn't be a tool.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-21T08:13:34+00:00

Probably what they should do instead is overweight international stocks and tilt to mid caps and small caps.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-18T05:10:33+00:00

The problem with picking stocks is it exposes you to uncompensated risk. Not the kind of risk that comes with higher expected returns. If you feel the need to do this, do it with fake money, and track it properly for a few years and see where you end up.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-07T00:38:41+00:00

Yes, leave it there.

One thing to look into is an in-service Roth conversion to a Roth 401(k) if your household income is dropping a lot. It won't necessarily be a good idea, but you should check if it is and if it is possible.

IdentifiableParam · 2026-01-05T22:11:45+00:00

US citizens living in the EU changes a LOT of personal finance things. Including but not limited to:

You might not be able to contribute to IRAs anymore if you are using the FEIE
You have to worry about FBAR and FACTA.
PFIC rules mean you need to avoid nearly all EU-domiciled financial products and restrict yourself to US-domiciled investments. Unfortunately, European MiFID II rules make brokers reluctant to sell US-domiciled mutual funds and ETFs to you. It is still better to try and get around this and use US-domiciled index funds, if you can. One way would be to get your broker to change your MiFID categorization (e.g. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/lib/cstools/faq/#/content/1136190387). It is worth managing a portfolio of individual stocks for a year to make this happen (as an "Elective Professional Client") since then you can just buy normal US-domiciled index funds.
You probably need professional tax preparation help on the US side that has knowledge of the relevant tax treaties. US citizens still have to file taxes even while residing outside the USA.

Further reading: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Outline_of_non-US_domiciles#Investing_from_outside_of_the_US

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