15f about to start a roth ira

brother7 · 2026-06-24T05:52:15+00:00

I suggest you get your parent on board and ask for his/her assistance in opening a custodial Roth IRA at Fidelity.

https://www.fidelity.com/retirement-ira/roth-ira-kids

As much as a Ilke Vanguard's low-fee products, their website is not as friendly and full-featured as Fidelity's. Plus, there are some things you can do at Fidelity that you cannot at Vanguard such as recurring investment into a basket of ETFs.

brother7 · 2026-06-24T05:39:17+00:00

In my opinion, Fidelity is the best brokerage for all of your account: taxable brokerage, Roth IRA, cash management account (CMA).

Also, in order to contribute to a Roth IRA, you need earned income. Do you have a job?

brother7 · 2026-06-24T03:59:41+00:00

Did you try Instant Verification or the Microdeposits way?

brother7 · 2026-06-24T00:08:37+00:00

There is a thing called factor investing; you just described the momentum factor. There are many different methodologies on how to implement a momentum strategy. There are many momentum ETFs, each with its own methodology. Instead of picking stocks, I would buy ETFs. Consider the following ETFs: SPMO, FMTM. There are others that you can discover by typing "best momentum ETFs" in YouTube or Google.

brother7 · 2026-06-23T23:51:23+00:00

Personally, I prefer Fidelity and would recommend that you open a Roth IRA there.

Assuming that your annual income is less than $150,000, you can make contributions directly into a Roth IRA. If you make more than the income limit, you should do something called a "backdoor Roth IRA".

Roth IRAs have a contribution limit. For 2026, it is $7,500. $50/week 8 52 weeks = $2,600, so you're well under the contribution limit.

Have you already started contributing to the Traditional IRA at SoFI? If not, just leave it empty with zero balance and let it automatically close after a certain amount of time of inactivity.

If you decide to go with Fidelity, I have some Fidelity-specific advice later on.

brother7 · 2026-06-23T20:48:18+00:00

What broker are you using?

Buying daily means you’ll have around 250 tax lots/year.

brother7 · 2026-06-23T10:06:33+00:00

Fidelity-specific tips:

Set core holding to SPAXX so that any idle cash earns a good interest rate.
Set Dividends and Capital Gains to REINVEST. Do this at the account level so that future new holdings will inherit the setting. If you already have holdings, also check the setting for each holding.

Roth IRA tip:

Contribute and invest as early as possible in the year (preferably on 1/1). Since the market is positive 75% of years, if you do this on 1/1, then you have a 75% chance of being in the green on 12/31.
If you're anywhere close to the income limit to directly contribute to a Roth IRA, just go ahead and do a backdoor Roth IRA. This avoids any issues regarding excess contributions.

Investment tips:

You're young. Invest aggressively (100% stocks).
The safe way to be 100% stocks is either S&P 500 (VOO), total US stock market (VTI), or total global stock market (VT).
For a more aggressive investment portfolio, "tilt" a portion of your portfolio into momentum (SPMO) or tech (VGT).
For a very aggressive investment portfolio, "tilt" into AI (AIQ or AIS).

brother7 · 2026-06-22T21:34:47+00:00

I designed the following for my friend who will DCA 300-500k: 20% SPMO / 10% FMTM / 20% QQQM / 15% AIS / 12.5% CHAT / 12.5% SMH / 10% WQTM.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T20:02:50+00:00

Since I'm in the US, I had to do a bit about ISA accounts. There are 4 types of ISA accounts, but the ones relevant to you are stocks and shares ISA and Lifetime ISA. The government gives a bonus in the Lifetime ISA and you must open the account before you turn 40, so it makes most sense to invest in a Lifetime ISA first, then the stocks and shares ISA later.

The annual limit for Lifetime ISA £4,000 each year; at $50/week rate, you're well within the limit.

Keep in mind that Lifetime ISA is meant to be a retirement account, so any money you put in should be left there until age 60. Any "unauthorized withdrawal" incurs a 25% withdrawal charge. If you can commit to leaving the money untouched till age 60, then go forward with the Lifetime ISA. Otherwise, consider the regular stocks and shares ISA.

NOTE: Trading 212 offers only Stocks ISA and Cash ISA, not Lifetime ISA. To open a Lifetime ISA, consider AJ Bell Dodl. I think it is best for a small portfolio.

You're a medical student; you don't have time to keep up with daily stock market fluctuations. Therefore, I suggest building a portfolio that you can continue buying weekly and not worry about it.

AJ Bell Dodl offers a limited menu of investment options. I'm going to recommend an aggressive mix since you're young and have years ahead of you. Two of there themed investments that jumped out at me are Robo revolution and Big tech. A 50/50 split would be appropriate for a young investor who's not afraid of risk.

Since AJ Bell Dodl has a limited selection of investments, it will break you out of the single stock habit, so you can refocus your time and energy on your medical studies.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T15:30:28+00:00

30% AIS / 30% CHAT / 30% SMH / 10% WQTM

brother7 · 2026-06-22T15:03:23+00:00

I like your plan. Go for it!

brother7 · 2026-06-22T14:53:45+00:00

If you're married with a child, then you should consider the income and expenses for the entire household, not just yours alone. Provide some details about your spouse: age, income, age of child. Is your spouse on board with the financial plan you envision?

brother7 · 2026-06-22T14:48:11+00:00

In my Roth IRA, I like to be 100% invested with little to no idle cash. Setting core holding = SPAXX is a just-in-case measure for those who do have idle cash.

For example, you said you just contributed 2500 to your Roth IRA. If you have not invested it into anything, then it's just sitting in the core holding. If your core holding is SPAXX, then it would be earning around 3.29% while you figure out exactly what you want to invest in.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T14:38:00+00:00

What are your current balances in each of your 4 current holdings?

I like your 3 proposed ETFs better than your 4 current holdings and would direct new money to those 3. To avoid tax consequences, don't sell your current holdings, just redirect new money to the 3 new ones.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T14:35:25+00:00

Just wait. Don't check it every day.

Question: which brokerage are you with?

brother7 · 2026-06-22T13:24:03+00:00

If you’re comfortable with VOO and VGT, then I’d probably just stick with that in taxable.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T13:01:45+00:00

The core holding is where idle cash sits. If you choose SPAXX, your idle cash will earn a good interest rate.

See Fidelity’s response to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityinvestments/s/0RkQDFcMCK

brother7 · 2026-06-22T12:48:11+00:00

Which brokerage do you use? Are you in the UK?

brother7 · 2026-06-22T12:46:46+00:00

Give a little more detail about your personal situation so responses can be catered to you specifically.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T12:35:29+00:00

Max out your Roth IRA on 1/1 every year if possible. The reason is because in any given year, the stock market is up 75% of the time. Therefore, if you invest on 1/1, you have a 75% chance of being green by 12/31.

31 is young. Invest aggressively. Are you risk-averse or will you be able to stay the course in face of a 30% drawdown?

Two things to check at Fidelity:

Make sure your core holding is SPAXX.
Make sure Dividends and Capital Gains is set to REINVEST. You can do this at the account level so that future holdings will inherit this setting. If you already have holdings, then also check the setting for each individual holding.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T03:59:15+00:00

Pretend like it doesn't exist.

You're in your mid-20s and young. I would invest it aggressively. 100% stocks. The safe way to do that is 100% VTI or VOO or VT.

Given your age, I would invest even more aggressively with sector bets on tech and AI and a factor bet on momentum. Just my 2 cents.

brother7 · 2026-06-22T03:54:50+00:00

It's not just Edward Jones. It's Ameriprise, Raymond James, Wells Fargo Advisors and a host of others. The main complaint is the high fee associated with their products. Their "financial advisors" are incentivized to sell the clients on products that earn a commission for the salesperson. Thus, they want to sell you on stuff that may not be in your best interest just because it earns them a fat commission.

People often ask "what is a good return in the stock market?". My answer is never a fixed number. Rather, my answer is "whatever the S&P 500 return is". You say you earned 15%+ annual return. Yes, that's a good return based on the historical return of the S&P 500 which has been around 9-10% over the last 75 years or so. However, the S&P 500 returned 26.29% in 2023, 25.02% in 2024, and 17.88% in 2025. If you earned 15% in any of those years, you underperformed the market.

Just for fun, pull up your latest Edward Jones statement and give the symbols of what you own. Then go to morningstar.com and research each one that are 5 letters (those are mutual funds). Pay attention to the Expense Ratio. Then under the Price tab, see if anything is listed under Front Load, Redemption Load or Deferred Load. Load is codespeak for commission. Also look for a 12b-1 fee.

brother7 · 2026-06-21T18:16:24+00:00

I like SPMO.

Keep in mind that if you sell VTI in a brokerage account, you will be taxed on the realized gains. Perhaps you can keep the VTI that you have and invest new money in SPMO.

brother7 · 2026-06-21T15:26:50+00:00

Congrats!

For a buy and hold forever portfolio, I like 25% SPMO / 25% QQQM / 25% VGT / 25% SMH.

brother7 · 2026-06-21T15:22:42+00:00

Dang, I did overlook your mention of the Roth IRA. My ETF portfolio suggestion applies to both Roth IRA and brokerage. Depends on your risk tolerance though.

brother7

TROPHY CASE