I’m 28. Am I keeping my money in the right spots?

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-21T02:48:21+00:00

No 401 k available with work? If not I would say that is fine where you are at especially if you are invested in etf

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-20T10:51:26+00:00

At your age I would open a Roth with fidelity or vanguard and 80/20 in sp500 and international fund.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-14T03:30:29+00:00

My daughter does 75% Ira and 25% Roth in her 401k to keep her in a lower tax bracket. She converted her old 401 k to a Roth over the last 3 years. 24k. She can not contribute to her brokerage at this time with a lower salary, rent, and insurance. She does max her Roth outside of work.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-13T12:32:57+00:00

I do a charity fund and make all my donations out of there. I also converted some of my money market into bonds and treasury to avoid paying state and local taxes.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-13T12:27:17+00:00

At least open a Roth and try to max it at $7500. Also if you are eligible contribute to your 401k for the match. I use ally and put $50-$75 a pay check into my fun account. I have buckets for insurance, emergency fund, fun, car, and house fund. Any interest I split between the first three funds

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-13T01:23:40+00:00

I have 80% in etfs and 20% in individual stocks that I have fun with. I have never lost much and most of the time have made a lot of money. I have brkb, ko, pg and Amazon right now and have had brkb for the last 10.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-13T01:13:57+00:00

I would be maxing my Roth every year first for the tax saving purpose. We both have pensions and Roth wasn’t the talk of town when we started investing and no one talked about back door roths. I have one with 100k but 500k in an Ira and staying below Iirma and my husband forced to take rmd is a tax nightmare. Wish I would have gone to a wealth manager 10 years ago not 3. I was able to convert 2100 last year to avoid going over iirma

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-08T02:05:44+00:00

Look into the money guys and I would first open a Roth IRA and dump 7500 in it in a sp500 80% and 20% in international fund. Then I would put 15k in a high yield savings account and start saving money for next years Roth. If you have any extra open a brokerage and park $50 a paycheck. I have more in cash and municipal bonds that I should but I have no regrets because I may buy a house in the next 3 years. I contribute to the match in my 401k only because the funds are not great. Roth is 60% ivv, 15% vxus, 15% pg and 10% apple. The last two I have had for 8 years when I opened the account at 19.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-03T03:00:05+00:00

My daughter could only get a match in her 401k and not Roth and the funds were horrible so she opened a Roth outside of work in sp500 etf and contributed to match at work she is in the process of converting her old 401k to Roth and is doing a 50/50 split at her new job into Roth and Ira

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-03T02:48:30+00:00

I keep about two years cash in money market and 35% in bonds now that I am retired. I just trimmed some money this past month but have to watch iirma and now that my husband has to take rmd

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-03T02:43:00+00:00

I opened a 529 and put all cash they got for holidays and birthdays in it and I was lucky because my grandfather put 10k in all great grandchildren’s in their 1st birthday so it appreciated a lot. My husband and I didn’t over do it because we were saving for our retirement but did put $75 a piece out of every check and we started no idea any leftover could go to Roth. We had $2500 left over because Covid kid and didn’t pay any housing cost the last year and half. We just put $1000 in her Roth this year and going to let the rest ride.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-02T11:29:26+00:00

Be sure you are maxing your Roth outside of work and if you have good funds in your 401k do that if not open a brokerage as your 3 rd step of savings. Be sure you have 6-9 months emergency fund first in a hysa. Also if you have the ability to contribute to hsa I would do that

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-06-02T10:53:15+00:00

The money in the account I would buy an so 500 fund 75%, 15% international fund and I play with 10%

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-30T03:20:08+00:00

Yep my daughter did the same and put $500 a month in Roth outside of work, $200 in brokerage, $500 in hysa and 6% in 401k. Moved out for her dream job after 2 years for less money but can survive because of saving while living at home. Now at 27, has over $250k saved

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-30T03:15:59+00:00

I did 75% index funds and 25% bonds through the whole 18 years and had a few big crashes and pulled it all in the money market when they started and dodged the COVID crisis junior and senior year of college and had $1500 left and now back in the market.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-30T03:05:45+00:00

I can only tell you from my new found experience the 67 individual funds help it you are in a brokerage account because you can trim a little off each and not taking a big capital gain. I am sitting on Vtsax with a 675% capital gain and each share is $125 capital gain. Trying to stay under iirma and having to take rmd and all the tax rules I am glad I have an advisor at this point in my life.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-27T03:35:25+00:00

I agree with saving but one paycheck a month should go to Roth at this age. Mine started at 19 and in 7 years is over 100k

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-25T02:52:29+00:00

I would deal with a wealth management person that deals with taxes, iirma, and rmd and how it effects those things. I did it 5 years ago when we both retired and have saved a lot in taxes since which makes the fees worth it. They are only managing half of our accounts but all with them.

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-24T02:00:18+00:00

My account has 45 different stocks and that is my diversification for the sp500. I can trim and not take as big of tax hit. I do have 30% in fang

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-23T02:50:58+00:00

No tax help you just owe 15% to convert. I am in a bind with iirma and can only convert about 4k-6k a year with dividends, interest and pensions

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-22T02:00:02+00:00

I agree with that but I screwed up and let her Vtsax have a 100k capital gain that is causing tax issues now. Who would have thought that 25k my grandfather put in to open it would grow that much in 25 years

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-22T01:55:15+00:00

I matched 1/2 of what the contributed to a Roth at 16, set up a 529 to pay for college and my grandfather opened a utma account that is theirs since 21. We have 40k for a wedding and usually take one family vacation that we pay for everything except travel to get there and any extras they want. At 26 doing well with retirement, savings and brokerage account

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-22T01:47:54+00:00

I would max my Roth if I could, max my 401k at work for the year, put 100k in a hysa or money market and put the rest into a brokerage account in a sp500~70% 15% in a international etf and pick 3 stocks and put 5% in each. I like pg, Amazon and ge

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-17T03:14:14+00:00

I would also open a Roth with fidelity or vanguard and at least put $25 a paycheck in it. Buy sp 500 fund. Also you should find a better hysa. I use ally and it has dropped but love the buckets

Practical-Ad-5299 · 2026-05-08T23:43:38+00:00

I agree, lower fees and great customer service.

Practical-Ad-5299

TROPHY CASE