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[Piecake]

So is this math about the same as seen here http://www.estimatepension.com/Retirement-Withdrawal-Calculator.aspx and putting retire age = 65, life expectancy = 95, final savings = 1,000,000, rate = 4% (7% return - 3% inflation).

That shows a yearly withdrawal of $55,605. And a 3% rate shows $49,533.

But actually that doesn't include the SS money, so not too sure now. . .

I didnt consider any interest rate when I did that just to make things a lot simpler. Honestly, I doubt many of us are going to be making a whole lot of money through interest since I would imagine that a good deal of anyone's portfolio would be in bonds. I think 3-4% interest would be a good bet. One thing that you should note though is that calculator does not seem to factor in inflation. So while I think 4% is a decent estimate before inflation, I think 7% is much too generous unless you have all your money in stocks (I defintiely don't think you should at that point).

Also, I think that calculator makes things much too neat. Since it does not take inflation into account, your standard of living/buying power will weaken every year if you take out exactly 49,533 dollars every year. that 49k will be worth a more when you are 65 than when you are 90. So while 50k every year looks good now, we really don't know how 50k will look like when we are 65 or 90.

You are right though that the calculator does not seem to factor in social security.

 

[jesalr]

I just started working, and I'm based in the UK. Wanted to get started on investing for retirement early.

I was looking at opening an ISA with Fidelity (still in the 20% tax bracket), but the fees are 0.95% for a fund management charge and a 0.35% service fee. 1.3% seems pretty high to me, but I can't find much cheaper elsewhere, and other places seem to charge per trade too. If I'm planning on investing into an ETF, why would I even need to pay a fund management charge?

Maybe I'm just a bit confused because of being new to all of this.

 

[Link]

I've been seriously thinking about moving my money from the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX) to the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX). Anyone care to weigh in to talk me into/out of it?

 

[GhaleonEB]

I've been seriously thinking about moving my money from the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX) to the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX). Anyone care to weigh in to talk me into/out of it?

It really comes down to your own risk tolerances and goals. Personally, I do not own any bonds, and don't plan to own any until much closer to retirement. So I would not invest in a retirement date fund as those usually hold some bonds even early on. My reasoning is, the primary purpose of bonds in a retirement portfolio is to make the portfolio less volatile. I don't care if the market is volatile this far out from retirement - I want the higher returns that stocks are likely to bring. I will fold some bonds in when I'm closer to retirement so as to make for a more stable investment portfolio. But some see the stock market drop a certain amount, get nervous and sell when it's low in a panic. If you think you might do that, holding bonds is a good idea.

I should note however that an all stock approach is a more aggressive retirement strategy than is typically followed or recommended. And it then puts it on you to decide when to add bonds, and at what pace, as you near retirement. If you don't want to deal with managing that, and are okay with a less volatile but likely not-quite-as-high growth rate fund, then the retirement date fund is a very good option.

 

[Darren870]

I just started working, and I'm based in the UK. Wanted to get started on investing for retirement early.

I was looking at opening an ISA with Fidelity (still in the 20% tax bracket), but the fees are 0.95% for a fund management charge and a 0.35% service fee. 1.3% seems pretty high to me, but I can't find much cheaper elsewhere, and other places seem to charge per trade too. If I'm planning on investing into an ETF, why would I even need to pay a fund management charge?

Maybe I'm just a bit confused because of being new to all of this.

Paying a fee on an ETF is pretty normal. In the UK you aren't going to get the low fees that you will see in this thread. I think my UK pensions are about the same with fees. Not much you can do really.

HOWEVER, in the UK you are allowed to make £11,000 tax free in Capital Gains. Which is pretty handy. You don't have to pay as high mgt fees as if you bought something within an ISA.

ISA's are great since there is no Capital Gains Tax and you can withdraw at any time. However, you will pay more in fees. I'd probably do a mix and match of the two I guess. Its a weird situation to be in and without crunching numbers I couldn't say what is better.

How much do you think you could invest each year for example?

Read these guide for a bit more understanding.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/ISA-guide-savings-without-tax
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas

 

[Piecake]

I've been seriously thinking about moving my money from the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX) to the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX). Anyone care to weigh in to talk me into/out of it?

I am personally not a huge fan of target date funds. I want control over what asset I sell. I mean, if there is a stock market crash when I am 68 I would much rather have the ability to sell a bond fund than be stuck with selling shares from my target date fund, since the bond fund will likely have not dropped as much in price.

Sure, you can sell a target date fund and split it up when you retire, but why not just do it now and save on fees?

I just started working, and I'm based in the UK. Wanted to get started on investing for retirement early.

I was looking at opening an ISA with Fidelity (still in the 20% tax bracket), but the fees are 0.95% for a fund management charge and a 0.35% service fee. 1.3% seems pretty high to me, but I can't find much cheaper elsewhere, and other places seem to charge per trade too. If I'm planning on investing into an ETF, why would I even need to pay a fund management charge?

Maybe I'm just a bit confused because of being new to all of this.

I am pretty sure Vanguard is operating in the UK now so you might want to check them out. I can't imagine their fees are as high as that. I am sure they will be more expensive than the US, probably somewhere close to Canada.

 

[Darren870]

I am pretty sure Vanguard is operating in the UK now so you might want to check them out. I can't imagine their fees are as high as that. I am sure they will be more expensive than the US, probably somewhere close to Canada.

They range from .22% - .40% some cheaper, some more, depends on the fund though. You can't open a vanguard account though, only buy the etfs/funds through the market. Which is where other fees start coming in.

Its the same here in Australia.

 

[Lumination]

Does anyone know how Vanguard can afford to charge such low expense ratios?

Is it really just the minimum limits?

 

[GhaleonEB]

Does anyone know how Vanguard can afford to charge such low expense ratios?

Is it really just the minimum limits?

It's in the nature of index funds, and through the philosophy of the company to minimize fees. Passively managed funds do not need highly paid fund managers, and do not incur trading fees at anything near the level actively manged funds do.

Vanguard's fees are low but not uniquely so. For example, the Vanguard total US market index has an expense ratio of 0.17%, while the Fidelity equivalent has 0.10%. (These drop to 0.05% and 0.07% for their "admiral" and "advantage" class funds, respectively.)

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Does anyone know how Vanguard can afford to charge such low expense ratios?

Is it really just the minimum limits?

It's in the nature of index funds, and through the philosophy of the company to minimize fees. Passively managed funds do not need highly paid fund managers, and do not incur trading fees at anything near the level actively manged funds do.

Vanguard's fees are low but not uniquely so. For example, the Vanguard total US market index has an expense ratio of 0.17%, while the Fidelity equivalent has 0.10%. (These drop to 0.05% and 0.07% for their "admiral" and "advantage" class funds, respectively.)

Cynical followup answer: They're not robbing you blind.

 

[Cyan]

Vanguard is also owned by its own funds, which removes any external pressure to raise fees.

 

[Makai]

Vanguard is also owned by its own funds, which removes any external pressure to raise fees.

How does that work?

 

[Cyan]

How does that work?

Typically a management company would be owned by stockholders of some form, who would want to extract a profit. In the case of Vanguard, the stockholders are the funds themselves--meaning that everyone investing in a Vanguard fund is also buying a piece of the company. Thus, rather than having to earn a profit to pay shareholders, Vanguard can focus on low costs. Effectively, excess profit can be routed back into paying the expenses of the funds.

 

[Chris R]

Admiral is 10k right?

 

[Link]

It really comes down to your own risk tolerances and goals. Personally, I do not own any bonds, and don't plan to own any until much closer to retirement. So I would not invest in a retirement date fund as those usually hold some bonds even early on. My reasoning is, the primary purpose of bonds in a retirement portfolio is to make the portfolio less volatile. I don't care if the market is volatile this far out from retirement - I want the higher returns that stocks are likely to bring. I will fold some bonds in when I'm closer to retirement so as to make for a more stable investment portfolio. But some see the stock market drop a certain amount, get nervous and sell when it's low in a panic. If you think you might do that, holding bonds is a good idea.

I should note however that an all stock approach is a more aggressive retirement strategy than is typically followed or recommended. And it then puts it on you to decide when to add bonds, and at what pace, as you near retirement. If you don't want to deal with managing that, and are okay with a less volatile but likely not-quite-as-high growth rate fund, then the retirement date fund is a very good option.

I am personally not a huge fan of target date funds. I want control over what asset I sell. I mean, if there is a stock market crash when I am 68 I would much rather have the ability to sell a bond fund than be stuck with selling shares from my target date fund, since the bond fund will likely have not dropped as much in price.

Sure, you can sell a target date fund and split it up when you retire, but why not just do it now and save on fees?

Thanks, guys. I took the plunge.

Admiral is 10k right?

Yes, sir.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Cynical followup answer: They're not robbing you blind.

I don't think that's cynical at all.

 

[demosthenes]

Busy season ended back in April. Finally getting around to a project I've wanted to do for a while. Reassess my budget and all my holdings. I'm currently 28, 29 soon. Have 71k set aside for funds that I would never like to touch again in retirement. This year between IRA and 401k I'll put away about 13.5k. I'll probably have some questions for people in the coming days as far as personal preference and what not.

Budgeting seems to be my biggest hinderence at the moment. I want to get a better grasp of where my money is going each month without being totally crazy like a coworker where he puts cash in enveolopes and can only spend that cash on said things. No thanks. What do you use?

 

[anonymous_abc]

Busy season ended back in April. Finally getting around to a project I've wanted to do for a while. Reassess my budget and all my holdings. I'm currently 28, 29 soon. Have 71k set aside for funds that I would never like to touch again in retirement. This year between IRA and 401k I'll put away about 13.5k. I'll probably have some questions for people in the coming days as far as personal preference and what not.

Budgeting seems to be my biggest hinderence at the moment. I want to get a better grasp of where my money is going each month without being totally crazy like a coworker where he puts cash in enveolopes and can only spend that cash on said things. No thanks. What do you use?

YNAB (you need a budget) is awesome!
https://www.youneedabudget.com/

 

[Cyan]

YNAB (you need a budget) is awesome!
https://www.youneedabudget.com/

YNAB is indeed awesome! I use it myself and can highly recommend it.

...but it's essentially the digital representation of the envelope system that he says is too crazy for him, so maybe not the right recommendation here.

 

[Akira]

Since opening my IRA account with Vanguard last year, I have just been purchasing into the Total US Market (VTSMX) and converted it into VTSAX once it went over $10,000. I was thinking of just purchasing into that fund until I have enough to balance into International Stock Market and US Bonds. Is that a good strategy or should I stop purchasing VTSAX and start buying International Stock Market?

 

[anonymous_abc]

YNAB is indeed awesome! I use it myself and can highly recommend it.

...but it's essentially the digital representation of the envelope system that he says is too crazy for him, so maybe not the right recommendation here.

YNAB ist as detailed or as course as you want to make it. I think it's a good place to start.
If you want to get a handle on your budget to see where you are spending what, you will have to get into the nitty gritty of it at some stage.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Since opening my IRA account with Vanguard last year, I have just been purchasing into the Total US Market (VTSMX) and converted it into VTSAX once it went over $10,000. I was thinking of just purchasing into that fund until I have enough to balance into International Stock Market and US Bonds. Is that a good strategy or should I stop purchasing VTSAX and start buying International Stock Market?

I think there's a compelling argument to be made about not owning any international stocks at all. A large proportion of the earning from US corporations come from overseas (last I read it was 40%, but it's probably shifted a bit now). So by owning the total US market, you are actually also buying into international markets.

If you still want to own some international, keep that in mind, as it is easy to overweight if you don't factor it in.

 

[Wellington]

Busy season ended back in April. Finally getting around to a project I've wanted to do for a while. Reassess my budget and all my holdings. I'm currently 28, 29 soon. Have 71k set aside for funds that I would never like to touch again in retirement. This year between IRA and 401k I'll put away about 13.5k. I'll probably have some questions for people in the coming days as far as personal preference and what not.

Budgeting seems to be my biggest hinderence at the moment. I want to get a better grasp of where my money is going each month without being totally crazy like a coworker where he puts cash in enveolopes and can only spend that cash on said things. No thanks. What do you use?

I like to know where my money is going but I don't like to "budget" is what I have found over the years. To that end I have used Mint basically since I have heard of it and it has been a big help. I have started using Personal Capital as well as it's better investment-wise and I like that it keeps the historical data on my net worth. I check Mint every morning for my CC balances and to make sure everything is going smoothly... But I am admittedly obsessive about pretty much everything.

Either way, one thing I recommend is reducing how much you spend with cash and going with CCs so that you can easily just refer back later on. Of course this should only be done if you can control your spending and can pay off the cards every month.

 

[demosthenes]

YNAB is indeed awesome! I use it myself and can highly recommend it.

...but it's essentially the digital representation of the envelope system that he says is too crazy for him, so maybe not the right recommendation here.

How is it the digital version? Are you able to put holds on a credit card or something for type of purchase?

edit:

I like to know where my money is going but I don't like to "budget" is what I have found over the years. To that end I have used Mint basically since I have heard of it and it has been a big help. I have started using Personal Capital as well as it's better investment-wise and I like that it keeps the historical data on my net worth. I check Mint every morning for my CC balances and to make sure everything is going smoothly... But I am admittedly obsessive about pretty much everything.

Either way, one thing I recommend is reducing how much you spend with cash and going with CCs so that you can easily just refer back later on. Of course this should only be done if you can control your spending and can pay off the cards every month.

I'll check both of those sites out. I try to use my CC for 100% of purchases. The only items not are: rent, car payment, car insurance and a couple of other items like that. Otherwise, everything is on CC.

 

[UpperCaseN]

I had to check, it says:

Fund Total Expense Ratio (net): 0.76% Fund Total Expense Ratio (gross): 0.76%

Is this good or bad?

OK, so I'm shifting my allocations around on my 401k. There's 3 index funds to choose from, all with less than 0.08% expense ratio and trending up (like, double) on the 10 year graph provided. Add to that a 4th line of company stock that I didn't know I had. Do you guys think I should completely shift everything out of the "Retirement 2045" package or just a chunk of it? Like I can take it to 50% or whatever and shift the rest into the Index Funds or I can kill it completely considering the high expense ratio.

 

[Wellington]

I've been seriously thinking about moving my money from the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX) to the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX). Anyone care to weigh in to talk me into/out of it?

Dumb question, is this within a retirement account or taxable investments?

 

[Link]

Dumb question, is this within a retirement account or taxable investments?

Roth IRA

 

[jesalr]

Paying a fee on an ETF is pretty normal. In the UK you aren't going to get the low fees that you will see in this thread. I think my UK pensions are about the same with fees. Not much you can do really.

HOWEVER, in the UK you are allowed to make £11,000 tax free in Capital Gains. Which is pretty handy. You don't have to pay as high mgt fees as if you bought something within an ISA.

ISA's are great since there is no Capital Gains Tax and you can withdraw at any time. However, you will pay more in fees. I'd probably do a mix and match of the two I guess. Its a weird situation to be in and without crunching numbers I couldn't say what is better.

How much do you think you could invest each year for example?

Read these guide for a bit more understanding.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/ISA-guide-savings-without-tax
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas

The fees across Fidelty's SIPP and S&S ISA are the same, so I figured an ISA works since I'm in the lower tax band at the moment.
I'm looking at about £4800 a year, or about 20% of my take home. Figured it's worth starting with something at least.

 

[MikeDip]

Fellow Canadians, how many of you filled up your tax free to the new 10k limit?

My banks keep calling me for this (Even though I am already full, but at a different bank so they don't know I guess), I find the aggressive approach here interesting.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

OK, so I'm shifting my allocations around on my 401k. There's 3 index funds to choose from, all with less than 0.08% expense ratio and trending up (like, double) on the 10 year graph provided. Add to that a 4th line of company stock that I didn't know I had. Do you guys think I should completely shift everything out of the "Retirement 2045" package or just a chunk of it? Like I can take it to 50% or whatever and shift the rest into the Index Funds or I can kill it completely considering the high expense ratio.

Personally, I'd want to get everything out, but it's up to you.

List your index fund options and (if not obvious) a short description. If your desired strategy is a target date strategy, you'd like to see if you can completely mimic one given your available options. For example, Vanguard's 2045 fund is composed of:

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund 59.0%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund 30.9%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund 7.5%
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund 2.6%

So it's roughly 67 / 33 split between domestic and international, and 90 / 10 between stocks and bonds. Do you have similar options available? Once you know your options, then you can decide your allocations, and further decide if you want to deviate a bit.

 

[PflargBlarg]

Fellow Canadians, how many of you filled up your tax free to the new 10k limit?

My banks keep calling me for this (Even though I am already full, but at a different bank so they don't know I guess), I find the aggressive approach here interesting.

I still have a bunch of space left over from before I started investing so I can't say that I'm full. That said, I did still put 10k in. I'm trying not to get too attached to that number anyhow as I'm hoping that the NDP will get in, and they'll most likely roll back the TFSA increase (which is a good idea).

I also am planning to go for RRSP first so I may not have enough savings to fill them both up right off the bat.

 

[UpperCaseN]

Personally, I'd want to get everything out, but it's up to you.

List your index fund options and (if not obvious) a short description. If your desired strategy is a target date strategy, you'd like to see if you can completely mimic one given your available options. For example, Vanguard's 2045 fund is composed of:

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund 59.0%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund 30.9%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund 7.5%
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund 2.6%

So it's roughly 67 / 33 split between domestic and international, and 90 / 10 between stocks and bonds. Do you have similar options available? Once you know your options, then you can decide your allocations, and further decide if you want to deviate a bit.

I got hasty and decided to go halfway for the first year just to see how things turn out. I took half of the 2045 Retirement plan and went:

Vanguard Total Bond Mkt Index Fund 34%
Vanguard Inst Index Fund 33%
Vanguard Ext Market Index Fund 33%

Future contributions are now go
2045 Retirement 40%
20/20/20 on each of those Index funds

 

[Randolph Freelander]

I got hasty and decided to go halfway for the first year just to see how things turn out. I took half of the 2045 Retirement plan and went:

Vanguard Total Bond Mkt Index Fund 34%
Vanguard Inst Index Fund 33%
Vanguard Ext Market Index Fund 33%

Future contributions are now go
2045 Retirement 40%
20/20/20 on each of those Index funds

OK. 34% bonds is a very heavy, considering the Vanguard target fund is at 10% (domestic and international combined). You might want to consider an adjustment. Similarly, your other two funds cover large caps (Institutional Index) and small/mid caps (Extended Market Index). The weights Vanguard would do here would be 72-75% large caps, and 25-28% small and mid. It's up to you, but if I'm working with 60%, I'd consider allocating it like

40% Institutional Index
14% Extended Market Index
6% Total Bond Market

I'd be tempted to use just those funds and omit the target date fund entirely. You've got good exposure with those funds, the only thing missing is direct international, though your domestic stock will give you that by proxy (this follows the same line of thought as GhaleonEB's recent post). If you're determined to have direct international exposure, you might poke around at an available international stock fund, check its strategy, expenses, etc., and just allocate a slice (say, 20%?) towards it and then split 80 between the funds mentioned above, keeping the ratios relatively consistent. But that's just my opinion.

Your call. My plan lets me cancel adjustments, or re-adjust rather quickly (if I were in certain managed funds, there are time restrictions, but I'm not in those).

 

[Cyan]

How is it the digital version? Are you able to put holds on a credit card or something for type of purchase?

Oh no, it's not quite that crazy. It's more of a tracking and aiming system--you enter paychecks in there as they come in, and assign each dollar received to a spending category. Making sure you always know how much you have available to spend in a given category. Of course there's some flexibility for if you over in a category.

For more info you can see this old budgeting thread I made: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=458142&highlight=

 

[UpperCaseN]

.

oh wow, thanks again for the advice. I went ahead and did just that. this first year will be a bit of an experiment for me. assuming all goes well, I'll wipe out the 2045 retirement option and shift it around.

 

[Smiley90]

YNAB is indeed awesome! I use it myself and can highly recommend it.

...but it's essentially the digital representation of the envelope system that he says is too crazy for him, so maybe not the right recommendation here.

Does YNAB have any advantages over Mint? I use Mint for everything and it's amazing given I don't have to enter and categorize anything

Personal Capital WOULD be great, but Canadians get shafted quite hard on it in terms of accounts linkable. Mint has everything.

 

[andrerobot]

oh wow, thanks again for the advice. I went ahead and did just that. this first year will be a bit of an experiment for me. assuming all goes well, I'll wipe out the 2045 retirement option and shift it around.

What? You shouldn't touch 30 year long investments in a year, especially if they don't pan well.

 

[chaosblade]

Does YNAB have any advantages over Mint? I use Mint for everything and it's amazing given I don't have to enter and categorize anything

Personal Capital WOULD be great, but Canadians get shafted quite hard on it in terms of accounts linkable. Mint has everything.

Many would argue this is an advantage of YNAB. It forces you to be more hands on and gives you a stronger understanding of your spending.

 

[Makai]

I used Mint for a few months, but I prefer Personal Capital. I just want a coarse view of spending trends and the value of all of my accounts.

 

[UpperCaseN]

What? You shouldn't touch 30 year long investments in a year, especially if they don't pan well.

The advice I got was that the 2045 retirement option has a high expense ratio, which now that I'm comparing it certainly looks that way.

 

[Smiley90]

What? You shouldn't touch 30 year long investments in a year, especially if they don't pan well.

He's still trying to find a fund to go with, not taking it out because of how it's performing

 

[Link]

The advice I got was that the 2045 retirement option has a high expense ratio, which now that I'm comparing it certainly looks that way.

He's still trying to find a fund to go with, not taking it out because of how it's performing

Yep, I just did the same thing. Moved everything over to the Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares now that I'm over $10k since the expense ratio is far lower and there's no reason to be investing in bonds this early on.

 

[led4lyfe]

Rediscovered my old SIMPLE IRA with New York Life that's been coasting since 2008. I want to start contributing to a IRA to go along with my current Roth 401k with vanguard. Is rolling my SIMPLE IRA with NYL to a IRA (Roth or traditional) with Vanguard painless???

 

[vinnygambini]

Fellow Canadians, how many of you filled up your tax free to the new 10k limit?

My banks keep calling me for this (Even though I am already full, but at a different bank so they don't know I guess), I find the aggressive approach here interesting.

Already have since the announcement! Really happy that they've done that and hoping they keep it as is.

Though still 24, I'm already planning my retirement for 55 gotta go work dat magic hahaha ;.;

 

[Lucky Forward]

2045 Retirement 40%

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but aren't target date funds managed and balanced under the assumption that you are putting 100% of your funds in it?

 

[numble]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but aren't target date funds managed and balanced under the assumption that you are putting 100% of your funds in it?

No.

 

[Lucky Forward]

No.

I'm in a federal employees' target date fund (aka L or Lifecycle fund) and I guess this is where I got the notion:

https://www.tsp.gov/investmentfunds/lfundsheet/fundPerformance_L.shtml

Use the L Funds if you are looking for a simple, low maintenance way of investing money in your TSP account. The L Funds make the investing process easy for you because you do not have to figure out how to diversify your account or how and when to rebalance.

The L Funds are designed so that 100% of your TSP account can be invested in the single L Fund that most closely matches your time horizon (or in the two L Funds closest to your time horizon). Any other use of the L Funds may result in a greater amount of risk in your portfolio than is necessary in order to achieve the same expected rate of return.

Maybe it's different in other target date funds.

 

[nitewulf]

I always kept a 90% stock 10% bond selection, lost comparatively a lot in 2008, but didnt change a damn thing, and the money kept rising. After I left that job, I decided to keep my money with the original plan, not rolling over, at my second job, I was able to contribute for a year, then financially it wasn't possible for me to contribute any longer...and now at my third job, I can contribute again, but my current employer manages its own money rather than a third party. My original plan overall did VERY well, the second plan, not so much, but I contributed very little as well, thinking of rolling that money over into my current plan and see where things go. But definitely I want to set aside a portion of my salary and invest in an index fund.

What would be some easy ways to go about doing that?

 

[MikeDip]

I still have a bunch of space left over from before I started investing so I can't say that I'm full. That said, I did still put 10k in. I'm trying not to get too attached to that number anyhow as I'm hoping that the NDP will get in, and they'll most likely roll back the TFSA increase (which is a good idea).

I also am planning to go for RRSP first so I may not have enough savings to fill them both up right off the bat.

Why do you want them to roll it back mate?

 

[Piecake]

I always kept a 90% stock 10% bond selection, lost comparatively a lot in 2008, but didnt change a damn thing, and the money kept rising. After I left that job, I decided to keep my money with the original plan, not rolling over, at my second job, I was able to contribute for a year, then financially it wasn't possible for me to contribute any longer...and now at my third job, I can contribute again, but my current employer manages its own money rather than a third party. My original plan overall did VERY well, the second plan, not so much, but I contributed very little as well, thinking of rolling that money over into my current plan and see where things go. But definitely I want to set aside a portion of my salary and invest in an index fund.

What would be some easy ways to go about doing that?

I'd recommend rolling it over into an IRA instead of a 401k. You'll have a lot more options and likely cheaper maintenance fees. Call up Vanguard or fidelity, etc for help.

Rediscovered my old SIMPLE IRA with New York Life that's been coasting since 2008. I want to start contributing to a IRA to go along with my current Roth 401k with vanguard. Is rolling my SIMPLE IRA with NYL to a IRA (Roth or traditional) with Vanguard painless???

I really have no idea. I would call up Vanguard's rollover helpline and ask them directly because I am sure that they have dealt with this situation before.

https://investor.vanguard.com/401k-rollover/

I know it says 401k, but if they don't know how to help you I am sure they can connect you with someone who can.