Vanguard ideas

[JP4CY]

Looking to diversify my vanguard account. Any other people out there have recommendations on what to invest in stocks/mutual funds. I'm just concerned about not having enough in bonds and relying too much on stocks. I'm late 20's so I still have years away from retirement so I'm very open on ideas to what other people are doing.

Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares 70.00%
Vanguard STAR Fund 10.00%
Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund 5.00%
Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund Investor Shares 15.00%

[delt4cy]

My company's latest model (US Bank Port. Mgmt) for Aggressive growth investors is a 73/24 mix with 3% in commodities. We just changed allocation to 16-18% for emergin mkts so you're spot on there.

You would seem to be fit with a growth objective since retirement is so far off. Your Vfinx is the S&P so it's a large blend, not sure what the Star is and don't have enought time to look, while your long-term and longer duration bonds are a riskier bond asset.

I would go into an Int. term bond fund if you want to let is sit for 2+ years. The whip on the long-term is going to be risky as inflation swings back in the horizon. (which is why I would stay out of the short-term stuff as well)

hopefully that helps.

[kg-cyclone]

I'm in mid 20's...currently at

Retirement 2040 Fund 34%
Retirement 2045 Fund 37%
"Company" Match 29%

[JP4CY]

I'm in mid 20's...currently at

Retirement 2040 Fund 34%
Retirement 2045 Fund 37%
"Company" Match 29%

Has one of them been outperforming the other one?

[CyCy]

Depending upon your tolerance for risk and the amount you have available to invest, I would look at Vanguard Precious Metals or Vanguard Energy.

Precious Metals has a minimum investment of $10,000 and Energy has $25,000. They are the top 2 Vanguard funds over 5 and 10 years. Both were both down worse than average last year, so there is more risk involved.

[Bobber]

At your age, I wouldn't have any bonds. They'll just drag your return down. Bonds aren't going to look that good if interest rates go up and quite frankly they really can't go any lower then they are right now.

You might lower your 500 index 25% and stick it into a small or mid cap value oriented fund.

[CySmitty]

I think you need to diversify a little more. 70% in the 500 is to much in one place for me. I do agree however that you should have some bond exposure. I really like the website mymoneyblog. I think he does a pretty good job of reasoning through his choices. You may have to search a little but its at least a good discussion starter. Good Luck

[JP4CY]

Thanks for all the help guys. I hope other people can use some of this info too!

[LivntheCyLife]

Looking to diversify my vanguard account. Any other people out there have recommendations on what to invest in stocks/mutual funds. I'm just concerned about not having enough in bonds and relying too much on stocks. I'm late 20's so I still have years away from retirement so I'm very open on ideas to what other people are doing.

Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares 70.00%
Vanguard STAR Fund 10.00%
Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund 5.00%
Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund Investor Shares 15.00%

I just wanted to give a shoutout to the message board I visit the second most on the internet: http://www.bogleheads.org

It's a site made up of Vanguard investors or at least people that believe in investing for the long-term with index funds like Vanguard's founder, Jack Bogle. Be sure to check out the references on the right hand side. Like any message board, some posters and threads are better than others but I think it's worth checking out. Three of the more frequent posters even wrote a book entitled The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. (Which makes me wonder what a Cyclone Fanatic book would look like)

With regards to your portfolio, I think it looks like a pretty good start to me. The first decision I would make is what percentage of stocks and bonds do you want and then examine what funds to use to get it. Personally, I do everything with only three funds: Total Stock Market Index Fund, Total International Stock Index, and Total Bond Index. I like those because they're a little more diversified than the funds you listed but there's not a big difference.

[wartknight]

Is this your entire portfolio or just your Roth, 401(K), or nonqualified account? Do you own Real Estate or have any individual stocks or CD's, MMA's?

[JP4CY]

Is this your entire portfolio or just your Roth, 401(K), or nonqualified account? Do you own Real Estate or have any individual stocks or CD's, MMA's?

Yes, entire portolio.

None on the rest.

[wartknight]

You may want to consider going a little heavier into the bonds and backing off the S&P until you have some more liquid savings built up. Tough situation if something comes up that you need money for and you don't have it due to a downturn.
Are you doing this as part of a Roth or 401(k) , or a non qualified account?

[JP4CY]

You may want to consider going a little heavier into the bonds and backing off the S&P until you have some more liquid savings built up. Tough situation if something comes up that you need money for and you don't have it due to a downturn.
Are you doing this as part of a Roth or 401(k) , or a non qualified account?

This would be my 401. The company I work for places a certain amount into it each year. They don't do a matching %, they do a set amount, and it's a pretty good number, money wise.

[dmclone]

I'm in mid 20's...currently at

Retirement 2040 Fund 34%
Retirement 2045 Fund 37%
"Company" Match 29%

When you say "Company" Match 29%" does this mean that the match is only allowed to go into company stock? 29% seems very high to me for company stock. It can be either real good or real bad but it's not very diverse.