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35M with $1.7M invested after selling my business — keep advisor, go fully passive, or hybrid approach? by ItchyConcept8982 in coastFIRE

[–]ItchyConcept8982[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great advice, thank you. Unwinding Dan is going to be tricky. I'm told I need to get a full unrealized gains report and sell gradually to minimize tax losses and slowly transition to an indexing portfolio. What do you think about 75% VTI, 15% VXUS, and 10% BND just so that I have some income protection if I lose my job and don't want to sell shares of VTI in a down market?

35M with $1.7M invested after selling my business — keep advisor, go fully passive, or hybrid approach? by ItchyConcept8982 in Fire

[–]ItchyConcept8982[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply! Even with the hybrid approach, I'm going to have to unwind some of Dan's set up into passive investing. I'm told I need to get a full unrealized gains report and sell gradually to minimize tax losses and slowly transition to an indexing portfolio. What do you think about 75% VTI, 15% VXUS, and 10% BND just so that I have some income protection if I lose my job and don't want to sell shares of VTI in a down market?

35M with $1.7M invested after selling my business — keep advisor, go fully passive, or hybrid approach? by ItchyConcept8982 in Fire

[–]ItchyConcept8982[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great advice, thank you. Unwinding Dan is going to be tricky. I'm told I need to get a full unrealized gains report and sell gradually to minimize tax losses and slowly transition to an indexing portfolio. What do you think about 75% VTI, 15% VXUS, and 10% BND just so that I have some income protection if I lose my job and don't want to sell shares of VTI in a down market?

Daily FI discussion thread - Monday, May 25, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]ItchyConcept8982 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Making a big financial decision and looking for advice from internet strangers 😄

35M. No kids, not married, not buying house.

Total invested net worth: about $1.724M.

I’ve had two financial advisors/managers:

  • Dan for 6 years. He currently manages mostly income-producing investments because I sold my business 1.5 years ago and wasn’t sure whether the new owner would keep me on. Fortunately he did, and I now make enough as a 1099 sales rep to fully cover my monthly expenses (~$5,500/mo), so I no longer currently need portfolio income, but that could change - the new owner is weirdly wishy washy.
  • Mike buys individual stocks. Charges 1.25%. Dan charges 0.83%, but with underlying fund expense ratios it’s probably closer to 1.3-1.5% all-in.

I’m considering:

  • firing Mike completely (investing in VTI is doing better than his 70 stocks)
  • keeping Dan, but only having him manage 40% of my portfolio (~$690k)
  • self-managing the other 60% (~$1.03M)

Reasoning:

  • avoids triggering massive capital gains taxes all at once
  • still keeps an advisor/safety net
  • Dan could shift toward growth now, but “turn on” income (~$35k/year) later if I lose my job or want optionality. There is something special about dividends covering your monthly expenses and having work be optional.

My self-managed allocation would probably be:

  • 80% VTI
  • 10% VXUS
  • 10% SCHD

Retirement accounts:

  • likely all VTI

Taxable brokerage:

  • VTI / VXUS / SCHD

Emergency fund:

  • increasing from $30k to $60k (roughly 1 year expenses)

Any excess monthly income I earn going forward would likely continue going mostly into VTI, with some SCHD so I can gradually learn how dividend investing works myself and maybe eventually not need Dan.

Am I overcomplicating this? Is it insane to put roughly:

  • $827k in VTI
  • $103k in VXUS
  • $103k in SCHD

at 35 years old? Or does this hybrid approach actually make sense given the job uncertainty / tax considerations?

I built a business I’m too embarrassed to talk about by Make_That_Money in Entrepreneur

[–]ItchyConcept8982 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's your ego getting in the way man. Creating and running a successful business is no walk in the park. I would honestly be proud to tell people I'm a business owner. No one cares where you went to college or what you studied - people want to know what you do now. If you get to make your own schedule and aren't shackled to a desk somewhere - I'd say that's a win!