On the off chance you aren’t entirely sick of me I am randomly live reacting to Indian Matchmaking season 2, episode by episode.
6 Likes
Alright, I am back with an update and questions.
My wife and I both have a mishmash of retirement accounts from former employers. We’ve started talking about rolling them over to centralize accounts and take advantage of lower fees when possible. We’re talking about a pool of money that is in the $50K-100K range, and for ease of math let’s say we’ll retire in 30-35 years (not trying to FIRE). I’m breaking down my thought process, so please let me know if any of my plans here are wrong.
First, I want to know what I can/should move.
- I have some money in 403(b)s: it looks like I can move that into a 401(k) without issue, right?
- My wife just rolled over retirement accounts from a past employer to her current employer (there was some time pressure and I wasn’t part of the decision). My sense is that now they’re part of the current employer’s plan we can’t roll over the money again, right?
- Not a question, but once I know what the expected Vanguard (or wherever) fees are, I’ll cross-reference those against the current accounts to make sure I’m not getting a better deal where the money is now.
- My wife has some investments in Robinhood that aren’t in a tax-advantaged retirement account. My sense is that those funds are totally separate from this conversation: we couldn’t move them into a retirement account without incurring tons of fees/taxes/etc., right?
Next, I want to figure out where I’d move the money to.
- I haven’t thought about rolling over accounts in about 5 years: can I still assume that Vanguard will have the lowest fees, or do I have to shop around more?
- How should I pick an investment strategy within Vanguard? Ideally I want something I don’t have to think about, right?
- My sense is that as long as I roll over Roth accounts → Roth accounts and traditional accounts → traditional accounts, there’s no way we’ll accidentally incur tax penalties, right?
Open to other advice/questions too.
4 Likes
Yup! I did that earlier this year. No problems at all.
And that’s literally all I’m qualified to comment on 
. Fidelity has some pretty low fee options, but I think the lowest fee ones are still based on Vanguard anyways, so might as well go to the source if you can, lol
5 Likes
Pretty sure, yes.
Taxes and fees are an issue taking money out of retirement accounts, limits and restrictions are the problem with putting money in, eg 6k max to an IRA or all 401k contributions must be paycheck deducted. Not sure there’s a way to move investments directly… Either way probably just treat it as non retirement savings.
Fees aren’t the main reason I invest with Vanguard, but I’d expect them to have some of the best rates. Vanguard is investor (customer) owned, so there isn’t Some Guy that my investments are working for.
This is really individual. Sounds like you want something “set it and forget it”? Index funds will reflect the whole market but will never outperform it, by design. Mutual funds are also diversified, but might be actively managed and could outperform (or underperform). Maybe you want to do some kind of green or ethical investments, that’s a choice out there.
I wouldn’t play with single stocks in retirement funds, personally. I am not a financial advisor, of course 
3 Likes
Some randomness as I wait for a compile to finish–
Probably not, but check your plan just to be sure…some places allow in-plan withdrawals (which may or may not even be useful depending on how good the new employer’s plan is)
You probably can’t move these into a retirement account unless you’re using them for your contributions to an IRA going forward or something like that. You might be able to roll them in-kind into another brokerage though (Vanguard, Fidelity, whatever)–for that I’d talk to customer support since it depends what they’re invested in, but people tend to like it when you bring them money 
At this point both Vanguard and Fidelity have $0 fee mutual funds, and I think Schwab might too so this part’s probably not really relevant unless you’re looking for specific funds/fund types.
Should be true, but especially if you’re moving between brokerages make sure they’re rollovers and not withdrawals (or if you have to do the withdrawal/transfer yourself make sure it happens within the specified time fram)
4 Likes
Jumping back to this one because I meant to last night and then forgot…
Not a financial advisor and I don’t know all of Vanguard’s investing choices offhand, but the standard simple three-fund portfolios are a domestic fund, an international fund, and a bond fund, in whatever ratios fit your risk preferences. You can use either index mutual funds or ETFs/exchange traded funds to the same ends (ignoring the fact that there are now some active ETFs which kind of defeat their purpose), ex. for the domestic fund Vanguard’s total stock fund mutual fund is VSTAX and the equivalent ETF is VTI.
If everything you’re doing involves moving existing retirement accounts, mutual fund vs equivalent ETF probably doesn’t make much of a difference unless lower minimum investments on ETFs kicks in. For me doing contributions monthly mutual funds are a little easier to deal with because I can automate “buy $X of Y on the 1st and 15th” vs having to set up specific buys for ETFs (ETFs trade more like stocks), but I believe they’re marginally less tax efficient, and I know Vanguard just had to settle with some of their mutual fund holders for not warning them of an incoming high tax bill triggered by some changes on Vanguard’s side. And if you’re looking at active investing or for more specific funds, like fund-for-good type investments, all of this probably goes out the window
4 Likes
May I jump in and ask a question? What is the usual amount (% wise) to allocate to international funds? I don’t have anything international at present.
ETA: Ignore this! I’m going to do some reading on Bogleheads as suggested below.
7 Likes
Folks have covered most of the questions, so here are less answers, more general resources to help out!
-
It’s a little wonky to navigate, but the Boggleheads wiki does a good job of addressing a lot of topics around financial planning and investment strategy. They are, of course, focused on index investing. Their pages on developing an investment policy and asset allocation are I think kind of the questions you are asking?
-
For a more readable but long-winded approach, you can try the JL Collins Stock Series. It’s a long series of blog posts (also available as an ebook). Fewer 'how to’s and more general.
-
And the r/personal finance wiki is generally pretty good.
-
There are also a bunch of ‘classic’ investing books floating around, but I’ve never actually read any of them. I think the list on the boggleheads wiki give the best coverage that I can quickly find.
-
I haven’t gotten a ton of mileage out of it, but Vanguard does have a bunch of ‘investor education’ materials on their website. Their investor questionnaire is probably a good place to get started.
And re: Vanguard vs other companies. I have both. My post-tax general brokerage long-term investing and IRAs are with Vanguard in Admiral-level index funds. My solo 401k, an old 457b, and HSA, are with Fidelity. Any of the big brokerages will give you low fees, and as long as they’re in the less than 0.1% range, you’re probably fine. Vanguard is great and I love their ownership structure, but a bit slower to offer more account types (like HSA) and their solo 401k stuff was a pain with worse investment options than Fidelity (Vanguard limited me to their ‘investor’ class funds vs the ‘admiral’ class with lower expense fees, Fidelity lets me put literally whatever in that account and there is an office nearby that I can drop assorted paperwork off at). Much like chasing the Absolute Highest interest rate on savings accounts, it’s fine to pick one that is generally good and move on with your life.
6 Likes
Thanks, everyone! Lots of good stuff to noodle on here. One thing that’s come up: I’m not considering prioritizing funds that are marketed as green, more ethical, etc.
4 Likes
One more thing - if you find you Just Can’t right now, you’ll do fine with a target date fund from either Vanguard or Fidelity, and it’s better to get started now rather than wait six months (or six years) figuring out the absolute perfect way to get started.
8 Likes
This has already been answered but this may provide a little more detail.
You could use them to fund your annual IRA contributions. There are contribution limits.
When you sell the funds to get the $$ to move them into an IRA, you will incur a taxable event. You will get a 1099-B, which will show you how much you sold for, the cost, the profit (what you’ll be taxed on) and if it is considered short-term or long-term capital gains. LT capital gains get much better tax treatment.
Read IRS Publication 17, starting around page 81 for tax implications around rollovers. One of the things I learned last year that surprised me was
Application of one-rollover limitation.
You can make only one rollover from an IRA to another (or the same) IRA in any 1-year period, regardless of the number of IRAs you own. The limit applies by aggregating all of an individual’s IRAs, including SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, as well as traditional and Roth IRAs, effectively treating them as one IRA for purposes of the limit.
However, trustee-to-trustee transfers between IRAs aren’t limited and rollovers from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs (conversions) aren’t limited.
Example. John has three traditional IRAs: IRA-1, IRA-2, and IRA-3. John didn’t take any distributions from his IRAs in 2021. On January 1, 2022, John took a distribution from IRA-1 and rolled it over into IRA-2 on the same day. For 2022, John can’t roll over any other 2021 IRA distribution, including a rollover distribution involving IRA-3. This wouldn’t apply to a trustee-to-trustee transfer or a Roth IRA conversion.
I don’t follow all of the logic or details (@anomalily might) but you might talk with someone who does just to be sure. It doesn’t look (to me) like this rule applies to 401k rollovers but maybe that’s in a different section of Pub 17 / I just don’t know enough.
Since it sounds like you don’t know where to start with investing, I’d pick a target retirement fund. They make all the investment decisions for you based upon what year you plan to retire.
3 Likes
lol, I was just coming here to say this! Target date funds are easy, and generally cheap!
4 Likes
Thanks! This is exactly what I’m thinking: I feel like we’re in a stage of life where so much is happening all the time (maybe that’s how life always feels, idk) that I think a target date fund makes the most sense. Good > perfect for sure.
4 Likes