Vanguard retirement plan

I have a Roth IRA with Vanguard, it's a targeted fund (i.e. retirement 2040 fund) - but it's pointless since I've been working at the government for the last few months and have a targeted fund through my govt. plan (401k) I have a regular IRA with another company, not Vanguard, I want to terminate my Roth IRA with Vanguard and change my other IRA into a Roth IRA. How would I do this?

I am going to open up a Roth IRA account with Vanguard VFORX retirement plan and I wanted to know if I could deposit more that the set amount that will be set once I start the account. By that, I mean if I agree to deposit $100 to my account every month and for whatever reason I have an extra $200 on a given month can I deposit more than $100?

Several years ago, Cliff began investing in stocks and bonds. He made his selections on the basis of articles he read describing good investment opportunities. Some have worked well for Cliff, but others have not. Cliff has never taken the time to evaluate his portfolio performance, but he feels it isn't very good. Cliff currently has about $90,000 invested. He has been dating a woman lately and hopes to marry her in three years, at which time he will need $20,000 for marriage expenses and a honeymoon. Cliff's only other objective is to accumulate funds for retirement, but he does not have a specific dollar target for this goal. Cliff feels that he has a moderate risk-tolerance level. 1. Explain some disadvantages of Cliff's current investment approach. 2. Construct a portfolio for Cliff, limiting your selections to 5 mutual funds (assume that he sells his current stock and bond holdings). Make sure your plan indicates specific dollar amounts for each portfolio component. Make sure your plan also explains your selections for each portfolio component. Visit an investment firm that deals in mutual funds, such as, Vanguard.com, AmericanCentury.com, Fidelity.com, etc. and select 5 mutual funds that will diversify Cliff’s portfolio. Record the fund name, ticker symbol, 5 year average annual returns (can use 3 year if 5 year is unavailable), the amount to be invested in each fund, and the amount returned in 3 years using the 5 years average annual return for the wedding. 3. Explain how Cliff should periodically rebalance his portfolio, indicating how frequently rebalancing should be done.

I'm 22 years old and with the money I'm now making I'm ready to start contributing $5,000 annually into a Roth IRA. I have been looking at Vanguard, but I would like to know who you would recommend for me and what type of funds I should invest in? I plan on retiring in about 40 years or so (age 60-65) with comfort. Any advice would be very much appreciated!

I am 25 and make less than 20,000 a year. I with ShareBuilder and have a automatic investment plan to invest $145 in VTI and $105 in BND every month for $4. In three or five years I will sell them and open a Roth IRA and invest for retirement in Vanguard 2040 Retirement mutual fund. What is your opinion on this? Is this smart? The expense ratios are cheap and $8 a month equals $96 a year in commisions. Etc?

Or who else would be able to help me with this? I'm 27 years old and it's through Vanguard. Thanks. These are the choices... Allocation for DEFINED CONTRIB MATCH PROGRAM Balanced Funds (Stocks and Bonds): Vanguard LifeStrategy Consrv Grwth VSCGX0724 Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund VASGX0122 Vanguard LifeStrategy Income Fund VASIX0723 Vanguard LifeStrategy Mod Growth VSMGX0914 Other plan investments Short-Term Reserves: Stable Income Fund – 4248 Bond Funds: Vanguard Total Bond Mkt Index Inst VBTIX0222 Balanced Funds (Stocks and Bonds): Vanguard Wellington Fund Inv VWELX0021 Domestic Stock Funds: Alger Capital Appreciation Instl I ALARX3117 Marsico Growth Equity Fnd —2486 Vanguard Explorer Fund Investor VEXPX0024 Vanguard FTSE Social Index Inst VFTNX0223 Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Investor VPMCX0059 Vanguard Total Stock Mkt Idx Inst VITSX0855 Vanguard Value Index Fund Inst VIVIX0867 International Stock Funds: AllianceBern Global Growth Adv ABZYX7642 T. Rowe Price International Discovery PRIDX1603 Vanguard International Growth Inv VWIGX0081 Values must total 100%

Also, is it best to open an Vanguard retirement plan with this economy? I'm 23 yrs old. I have a 401k plan which I contribute the minimal 3%. My employer sometimes matches at 1.5%, most of the time lesser. I should be happy my employer offers a 401k plan as some don't even offer one but I'm unhappy with the contribute amount. I'm thinking of opening IRA account with Vanguard and contribute $50 a month or maybe more. I'm clueless to retirement plans. Can I have a 401k plan and IRA account with Vanguard or I can only have one retirement plan? How does vanguard works? What is the best retirement plan? I have research online but have come up with too much info and it just seem so complicated.

Cliff Swatner is single, 33, and owns a condominium in New York City worth $250,000. Cliff is an attorney and doing well financially. His income last year exceeded $90,000, and he has sufficient liquid assets to supplement his condominium and other tangible assets. Several years ago, Cliff began investing in stocks and bonds. He made his selections on the basis of articles he read describing good investment opportunities. Some have worked well for Cliff, but others have not. Cliff has never taken the time to evaluate his portfolio performance, but he feels it isn't very good. Cliff currently has about $90,000 invested. He has been dating a woman lately and hopes to marry her in three years, at which time he will need $20,000 for marriage expenses and a honeymoon. Cliff's only other objective is to accumulate funds for retirement, but he does not have a specific dollar target for this goal. Cliff feels that he has a moderate risk-tolerance level. 1. Explain some disadvantages of Cliff's current investment approach. 2. Construct a portfolio for Cliff, limiting your selections to 5 mutual funds (assume that he sells his current stock and bond holdings). Make sure your plan indicates specific dollar amounts for each portfolio component. Make sure your plan also explains your selections for each portfolio component. Visit an investment firm that deals in mutual funds, such as, Vanguard.com, AmericanCentury.com, Fidelity.com, etc. and select 5 mutual funds that will diversify Cliff’s portfolio. Record the fund name, ticker symbol, 5 year average annual returns (can use 3 year if 5 year is unavailable), the amount to be invested in each fund, and the amount returned in 3 years using the 5 years average annual return for the wedding. 3. Explain how Cliff should periodically rebalance his portfolio, indicating how frequently re balancing should be done. This is what I have so far but i need help with choosing the 5 mutual funds Can anyone help me out? Some disadvantages of Cliff's current investment approach are that he has not kept track of his investments. Having made the investments Cliff should have kept track of them. He should hold on to the investments that are doing well and sell the ones that are not. Investing without any specific targets or goals, doesn’t help when he is trying to accumulate funds for retirement. Different investments have different risk and should be kept in mind while investing. He has no dollar amount as a target, while investing it is important to have the dollar amount that he wishes to acquire. Based on these and the expected returns, a monthly allotment can be made. Without the target, it is difficult to put aside any amount of money. His portfolio should if possible be a diversified portfolio so that the instability in returns is reduced. This means that he should include some low risk securities such as Treasury Bills. Advantages of Mutual Funds: Professional Management - The primary advantage of mutual funds (at least theoretically) is the professional management of your money. Investors purchase funds because they do not have the time or the expertise to manage their own portfolio. A mutual fund is a relatively inexpensive way for a small investor to get a full-time manager to make and monitor investments. Diversification - By owning shares in a mutual fund instead of owning individual stocks or bonds, your risk is spread out. The idea behind diversification is to invest in a large number of assets so that a loss in any particular investment is minimized by gains in others. In other words, the more stocks and bonds you own, the less any one of them can hurt you. Large mutual funds typically own hundreds of different stocks in many different industries. It wouldn't be possible for an investor to build this kind of a portfolio with a small amount of money. Economies of Scale - Because a mutual fund buys and sells large amounts of securities at a time, its transaction costs are lower than you as an individual would pay. Liquidity - Just like an individual stock, a mutual fund allows you to request that your shares be converted into cash at any time. Simplicity - Buying a mutual fund is easy. Cliff can invest the $90,000 as follows: Asset HoldingsAmountProportion Growth stocks$27,00030% International stocks$18,00020% High quality bonds$22,50025% Zero coupon bonds$13,50015% 3 to 5-year CDs$ 9,00010% Total$90,000100% Rebalancing the portfolio means moving from risky assets to safer assets as you time passes. The logic behind that is that an investor would not like to lose capital as he grows older, since the sources of income would be limited. As people approach retirement, they tend to become more risk averse. Their investment strategy also tends to emphasize capital preservation. This increased conservatism is a very normal response. However, this shift in risk tolerance requires tha

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K earning/saving by Dec 2009. So I plan to distrubute them in the following wayL 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending I plan to buy a house in like 4-6 years. Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K earning/saving by Dec 2009. So I plan to distrubute them in the following wayL 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending I plan to buy a house in like 4-6 years. Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not Thank you.

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K earning/saving by Dec 2009. So I plan to distrubute them in the following wayL 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending I plan to buy a house in like 4-6 years. Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not Thank you.

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K earning/saving by Dec 2009. So I plan to distrubute them in the following wayL 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending I plan to buy a house in like 4-6 years. Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not Thank you.

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K earning/saving by Dec 2009. So I plan to distrubute them in the following wayL 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending I plan to buy a house in like 4-6 years. Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not Thank you.

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K saving by Dec 2009. I plan to do the following investment/finance based on the 50K: 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending Short term goal (marry and buy a house around 28-30) Medium term goal (have enough for kids college) Long term goal (safe retirement if possible) My income now is 58K, but it will raise to 65 next year, and will be between 70-90 avg in the future....(mechanical engineering) Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not Thank you.

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K saving by Dec 2009. I plan to do the following investment/finance based on the 50K: 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending Short term goal (marry and buy a house around 28-30) Medium term goal (have enough for kids college) Long term goal (safe retirement if possible) My income now is 58K, but it will raise to 65 next year, and will be between 70-90 avg in the future....(mechanical engineering) Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not Thank you.

I am 24 and have absolutely no experiences with investing. After payaing off student loan and cost of living/expenses, I will have about 50K saving by Dec 2009. I plan to do the following investment/finance based on the 50K: 401K --> 16.5K (I contribute the max allowed) CDK --> 20K (I will use this for future house buying) Roth IRA --> 5K (Will open with Vanguard or Fidelity, likely to do with Vanguard Retirement 2050 Fund) Scottrade --> 7K (I buy stocks from about 10 companies I like or know GE, Boeing, BOA, Citigroup, Macys, etc) Savings --> 2 K for emergency/extra spending Short term goal (marry and buy a house around 28-30) Medium term goal (have enough for kids college) Long term goal (safe retirement if possible) My income now is 58K, but it will raise to 65 next year, and will be between 70-90 avg in the future....(mechanical engineering) Please help me and give me suggestions. I am not sure if I am making the right choices or not Thank you.

Cliff Swatner is single, 33, and owns a condominium in New York City worth $250,000. Cliff is an attorney and doing well financially. His income last year exceeded $90,000, and he has sufficient liquid assets to supplement his condominium and other tangible assets. Several years ago, Cliff began investing in stocks and bonds. He made his selections on the basis of articles he read describing good investment opportunities. Some have worked well for Cliff, but others have not. Cliff has never taken the time to evaluate his portfolio performance, but he feels it isn't very good. Cliff currently has about $90,000 invested. He has been dating a woman lately and hopes to marry her in three years, at which time he will need $20,000 for marriage expenses and a honeymoon. Cliff's only other objective is to accumulate funds for retirement, but he does not have a specific dollar target for this goal. Cliff feels that he has a moderate risk-tolerance level. 1) Explain some disadvantages of Cliff's current investment approach? 2) Construct a portfolio for Cliff, limiting your selections to 5 mutual funds (assume that he sells his current stock and bond holdings). Make sure your plan indicates specific dollar amounts for each portfolio component. Make sure your plan also explains your selections for each portfolio component. Visit an investment firm that deals in mutual funds, such as, Vanguard.com, AmericanCentury.com, Fidelity.com, etc. and select 5 mutual funds that will diversify Cliff’s portfolio. Record the fund name, ticker symbol, 5 year average annual returns (can use 3 year if 5 year is unavailable), the amount to be invested in each fund, and the amount returned in 3 years using the 5 years average annual return for the wedding? 3) Explain how Cliff should periodically rebalance his portfolio, indicating how frequently rebalancing should be done. SHOW ALL WORK FOR EACH ASSIGNMENT AND EXPLAIN EACH STEP CAREFULLY.

I am 25 years old and am rolling over about $4,000 from my 401-k into a new Roth IRA since I am starting a new job with a different company. Which option would you recommend if I were looking to retire between 2045-2050? Are S&P 500 index fund and the TR funds very similar? I am not very savvy when it comes to this, so I don't plan on managing any of it on my own, and I know the TR funds are good for this because they are less risky as I would get closer to retirement. I am also going to start a 401-k with my new company and start out with investing up to what the company will match, then the rest of my investments will go to the ROTH IRA. Thank in advance!

I have 200,000.00 in a Vanguard retirement savings plan account at work. I plan on retiring at the end of the year at 62. I feel I should take the money out of the account knowing I will have to pay the taxes on it before I retire, so I can then use it if needed. If I wait until after I retire I am thinking it will effect my social security because of the amount of money you can earn while retired if I then started to withdraw it and it exceeded the retirement limit that you can earn. Which would be the best way to go?

I am 51 years old Internist making about $160,000 a year in a very stable group practice. I have about $400,000 in SEP IRA and regular IRA when I used to be self employed. Most of it are in Vanguard Target retirement fund 2025. My home is completely payed off and worth about $280,000. I contribute max to my current 401K, and have about $300,000 in cash. I have no kids and divorced. No alimony. I have zero debts. How am I compared to other 51 year olds? Will I be OK for retirement when I'm 65? I'm planning to keep working part time after 65 as well. Thanks for any input. Current economic condition has me a little bit scared.

I am 51 years old. My house which is worth about $280,000 is payed off. I have about $400,000 in Vanguard target retirement account at this time. Was over $500,000 I have about $300,000 in cash. Mostly money market and CD. I contribute maximum to my 401K $21,500 a year. I make about $150,000 a year in a job which is very secure and no chance of being lay-ed off. I'm planning to retire when I'm 65, but my job will let me work till I'm dead if I wanted to. i have no kids, and been divorced for 12 years. I know I'm a lot better off than most but am I going to be OK? With the stock market continuing to decline, I'm getting worried.

I was planning on purchasing shares in Vanguard's 2055 retirement mutual fund. However there is a $3000 minimum initial deposit to start a fund. Does this minimum still apply if I bought shares in the fund through a low-cost broker such as Tradeking that let me purchase individual funds and stocks? Or would this fund not be available through them? If it is, would it make sense to buy it through them and avoid the fees associated with Vanguard? Tradeking is $4.95 per trade. I don't believe there are any other fees with them.

I was planning to meet with a financial advisor after I am married next spring and organize my 401k, current Roth IRA in Vanguard, my fiance's retirement accounts etc. But when doing my taxes, I found if I got my AGI down a couple thousand dollars, it would be very beneficial. So I would like to put some money into an IRA now. I can't go through Vanguard since the amount is less than 3000 dollars. Since I would like to be able to move this money in ~6 months, I don't want to put it in anything risky. How do I go about getting something like a CD traditional IRA. I'm not concerned with getting a high interest rate. Who do I call?

I have about $10,000 in credit card dept that I really want to pay off. I am a 30 year old female and the plan only started a few years ago so I don't have much in it. This is an emloyer sponsored plan, my employer puts 25% of what i make a year into my plan every jan. my question is Can I withdraw money to pay off a credit card dept? and would this be smart? I have a little over $8000 in credit card dept and just bought a house. i wrote to my pention comany and this is the response i got, i dont really understand it Thank you for your recent e-mail to Vanguard(R). We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us---and this opportunity to reply. You can request a distribution from a profit-sharing plan account for the following reasons: * Required minimum distribution. * Separation from service. * In-service withdrawal (if allowed by your employer). * Total or permanent disability. * Hardship withdrawal (if allowed by your employer). * Plan termination. * Qualified Domestic Relations Order. * Death. Please note that distributions from profit-sharing plans are subject to ordinary income tax. If you take a distribution before you turn age 59-1/2, you are subject to ordinary income tax and a possible 10% federal penalty tax. The 10% penalty tax generally does not apply to distributions taken for the following reasons: * Disability. * Medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of adjusted gross income. * Health insurance premiums (after the employee has received at lease 12 consecutive weeks of unemployment compensation). * Distributions taken in substantially equal periodic payments (SEPPs). * Separation from service (if the employee reached age 55 or older during the calendar year of retirement). * Transfers or rollovers to another retirement account. To take a distribution from a Vanguard(R) profit-sharing plan, please complete and have your plan administrator sign the Qualified Retirement Plan Single Distribution Request form. To access the form, go to Vanguard must withhold a minimum of 20% from your distribution for federal income tax unless the distribution represents a required minimum distribution or hardship withdrawal distribution, in which case the withholding is reduced to 10%, but may also be waived. Depending on your situation, you also may be able to withhold a portion for state taxes. For more information, refer to the Special Tax Notice Regarding Plan Payments, which accompanies the form.

I've been working in a public organization for 13 yrs. We used to have 403B plan, that we had choices like: Fedality/Vanguard/.... . I had Vanguard. A year ago they cut that program through work. I didn't cash out my stocks and they went down in value. I can't close it until I am 59.5 yrs old without 10% penalty. Is there anything I can do to contribute each month and I can cash it out when I still alive?lol. there are programs they told me I can't cash out until I am 71.5, unless I pay 10% penalty. thanks in advance.

Hello im 25 and just put the intial investment into Vanguards 500 index fund which is 3000. I was thinking about putting the rest of the maximum Roth IRA money into Dodge and Cox interntational fund. Didn't know if this was a good idea or if I should hold off on the Market since its a bit shakey? Im planning on using this towards retirement so any information or advice on better funds or what to do with my money would be very apprecative. Im new and just beginnning to learn about mutual funs. I dont have a particular speciality I want to invest in but it would be nice to hear from some experienced investors. Thanks again.

I am 36. Have $16K in American Balanced Fund class B shares, started in 2005. I was naive when I got into it and now am hearing bad things about loaded American Funds that they don't perform any better than non loaded funds like Fidelity or Vanguard. It is a Roth IRA and I have no 401K plan, so it's all I have for retirement. Do I have to pay a penalty to switch over, or should I switch over?

Two questions: 1. How low will dow go? I guessed when this all started about 8,500, but I think it'll be more like 6,500-7,000. 2. Good time to buy some funds? I bought $500 of Vanguard Windsor 2 Tuesday, and bought $1000 more yesterday. I'm planning to keep buying a little at a time maybe weekly for the next 3 months or so. Good idea or bad? I'm 51 and got at least 15 years till retirement. I figure I'd take advantage of the low market. Like the Chinese saying: Crisis=opportunity.

I'm 22, and the company I work for offers a 401k plan with 50% match. I'm new to all of this and have been doing some research on my options. I don't plan on withdrawing anything from it for a long time. Any professional/experienced help would be greatly appreciated. Below are funds I have to choose from: SHORT-TERM RESERVES Vanguard Prime Money Mkt Fund Vanguard Retire Savings Trust IV BOND FUNDS Vanguard Total Bond Mkt Index Inv BALANCED FUNDS (STOCKS & BONDS) Vanguard Asset Allocation Fund Inv Vanguard Convertible Securities Vanguard Target Retirement Income Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 Vanguard Target Retirement 2025 Vanguard Target Retirement 2035 Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 DOMESTIC STOCK FUNDS Dodge & Cox Stock Vanguard 500 Index Fund Inv Vanguard Explorer Fund Investor Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund Inv Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Investor Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund Inv INTERNATIONAL STOCK FUNDS Dodge & Cox Intl Stock SPECIALTY STOCK FUNDS Vanguard REIT Index Fund Inv

I think it's going to happen. Here are my options: Thanks!!! AMER. EUROPACIFIC GROWTH R4 ARIEL APPRECIATION FUND EQUITY INCOME FUND EQUITY INDEX TRUST GROWTH STOCK FUND MID-CAP GROWTH FUND MID-CAP VALUE FUND PENNSYLVANIA MUTUAL FUND PIMCO TOTAL RETURN ADMIN RETIREMENT 2005 FUND RETIREMENT 2010 FUND RETIREMENT 2015 FUND RETIREMENT 2020 FUND RETIREMENT 2025 FUND RETIREMENT 2030 FUND RETIREMENT 2035 FUND RETIREMENT 2040 FUND RETIREMENT 2045 FUND RETIREMENT 2050 FUND RETIREMENT 2055 FUND RETIREMENT INCOME FUND SMALL-CAP VALUE FUND STABLE VALUE COMMON TRUST FUND VANGUARD EXPLORER, ADM

Well, I just started my first real job less than a month ago and the agency that I work for offers a savings retirement plan through Fidelity. Is it a smart move for me to go ahead and set up a plan right now? It's all confusing to me! The economy doesn't seem stable at all and worries me a bit. I have a former employer based 401k with Vanguard that I have that I didn't know about not until few months ago which I received from a bonus of some kind. Should I roll that over to Fidelity? Also, my employer offers only Fidelity, Lincoln, and Valic. My agency will contribute 25% on the first 6% of total pay I contribute on a pretax basis, I make about 85k/ year. How much should I contribute per month if I do decide to follow through? Someone..please help with all the info you can give..thanks!!! 12 months/1000 hours before "100% vested." Only about $250.00 in the Vanguard account. Actually, 5 years to be fully vested..sorry. One more thing..my company does not offer 401k's but 403b's. Does that make any difference???

I recently inherited 200 thousand dollars (net) and need suggestions for income producing investments. I'm approaching retirement and this money will be a large part of my retirement plan. I will be talking to Fidelity and Vanguard very soon but wanted to get some thoughts from the "hive mind" here at Yahoo...ya never know!

I just volunteered for an involuntary retirement plan. Under the plan I get 13 months pay as a lump sum. This combined with a good bonus, and 4 months of pension give me roughly 2 years pay in 2008. I'll be paying 100k fed tax, all at 33% rate. Next year with my pension I'll be at half pay and 15% marginal rate. Too bad we can't income average anymore. I'm pretty sure I will do a "donor advised fund" at Vanguard to "prepay" the next 20 years or so of charitable giving, but this won't put too much of a dent in the 100k fed tax. I want to explore using section 179 to buy equipment and then lease it out for an income stream. Seems like it should be possible. I don't want to actively manage the equipment, although I can exert some effort if required for IRS. Are there firms set up to handle a deal like this? Or, do I need to do whole deal myself and find a customer? Also, do I have to actively manage the business that uses the equipment? Thanks.

I'm about to enroll in my company's 401(k) plan. They match 50% up to a 6% contribution. I would like to contribute 6%, but I'm about to have to start paying off my student loans, which will be quite a big payment, so I don't know if I can afford it. But I guess my bigger question is how to allocate my investments, since I have no idea where to start. Here are my options: The target date retirement funds (I probably won't go with this) AmCent Strategic Allocation: Aggressive, Conservative, and Moderate (I may go with this b/c it would be simple to just put 100% into this single fund and not have to worry about splitting it all up into funds I don't know anything about) Fixed Interest: AUL Fixed interest account Cash: OneAmerica Money market Short term govt bond: Vanguard short term federal Large cap value: Fidelity VIP equity income Large cap blend: SSgA S&P 500 flagship Large cap growth: American Century Ulta, Fidelity VIP contrafund (continued) T. Rowe Price growth stock Mid cap value: OneAmerica value Mid cap blend: Ariel, Ariel Appreciation Mid cap growth: T. Rowe price mid cap growth Small cap blend: SSgA Russell 2000 index strategy Small cap growth: Vanguard explorer Foreign Growth: Amcent Int'l growth Oh, forgot to add - I'm 23 years old, but would rather be more "moderate" than aggressive

I have an interest in investing and retirement planning. In my humble opinion, it is absolutely unnecessary to invest in mutual funds with a sales load. It is just throwing away money when there are so many quality companies such as Dodge & Cox, Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. that offer funds with no sales charge. I looked at my friend's retirement options through his employer. EVERY SINGLE FUND had a front-end load of between 4% and 6% and most funds also had 12b1 fees. Most of the funds offered where through Alliance Bernstein. My question is how was his company sold on these funds? Did the decision makers just overlook it? Did they not know any better? Am I overlooking something? I see no evidence that funds with a sales charge perform any better. I am curious to see what you all think. Thanks.

with my 401k payment but Vanguard just called me and told me I could not cash out my retirement. They sent me all the froms in January and waited 2 months to tell me they messed up.What can I do?Can legal action be taken?I really need that money. Thxs Vanguard told me the company they and the company were wrong but the company claims Vanguard was wrong. They both said I would have to wait till 55 years and it took them 2 months to tell me after they already sent out the forms and told me I could get it

Okay I'm 23 recent college grad and just married. I want to start a roth IRA and this will be my only retirement plan. I know to stick with a big name company like fidelity or vanguard but their websites are SO confusing. I have a high risk tolerance because I'm so young and think I want to open just a basic mutual fund and let the fund person keep track of everything for me. So my question I guess is how do I know which company to go with and which one of their funds to choose? Oh, and what is a prospectus and should I worry about looking at that?

I am currently planning to leave my current investment advisor as I am unhappy with the level of service and lack of low cost options. I plan to continue having an advisor that will manage two main retirement options (a roth IRA and a rolled over 401K from a prior job). I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket with this one group and would also like to push some discretionary income into an account with Vanguard that I will manage on my own, mostly investing in index funds. is this a relatively smart idea?

This is hard to explain, but I'll try, I really need some solid advice. :) -- Thanks in advance, by the way! Background on me - 31 yo married mom of 4. I recently left a job that had a State retirement plan associated with it. I socked away $10,387.90 in it during the 5 years I was employed there. I can either roll it over into an IRA or I can leave it in there and when I am 60 I can get a lifetime benefit of $195/month. So if I live to 90 (planning on it!) I'll receive over $70K. What would the $10K I have be worth in 30 years if I rolled it into an IRA, putting it into like Vanguard's Windsor or Windsor II? Wish I was good at math and could figure that out myself, but I don't get how interest compounds and all that complicated stuff. Second part of my ? - which would you do?

Hi everyone, I have the above plans available to me. Is there any order that I should be contributing to these? They are all linked up with Vanguard. Right now I'm filling up the SEP first and can get the SIMPLE to 50%. Wife is the W2 teacher. I'm self-employed sole proprietorship (obviously). 403B has no matching because the district matches the state retirement fund. Teachers and the district contribute 7.5% equally. They all seem to do the same thing tax wise. Anything I'm missing or any suggested order for contributions? None of these plans have matching, just an FYI. I'm the only person in my company, so I guess I can match myself.

I'm in my early 20's and I'm looking to invest 5k yearly to an Roth IRA account. I've recently decided on vanguard and I want to know which type of Mutual Funds suit me the best? Back to topic:I already have an Roth 401k plan (fidelity) with my company which I contribute to as well. I contribute about 4k yearly in this plan. ( This is my main retirement plan which I plan to go a little more risky since its a 35+ year retirement plan). In fidelity, How would I go in picking some Mutual funds ? I would like to pick 3 or 4 and they need to add u to 100 percent. Thanks. Since Im young, im thinking 100 percent STOCK Related? P.S For my Roth IRA (Vanguard) ***I MIGHT*** have to pull out my principal for a down payment for a house. ( I have an separate house fund). But if i have to answer the question now, I would say 80 percent I don't have to pull anything out. Having a certainly amount of flexibility should be nice though. With that said, what types of Mutal funds should I invest in.

I'm in my early 20's and I'm looking to invest 5k yearly to an Roth IRA account. I've recently decided on vanguard and I want to know which type of Mutual Funds suit me the best? I already have an Roth 401k plan (fidelity) with my company which I contribute to as well. I contribute about 4k yearly in this plan. ( This is my main retirement plan which I plan to go a little more risky since its a 35+ year retirement plan) For my Roth IRA (Vanguard) ***I MIGHT*** have to pull out my principal for a down payment for a house. ( I have an separate house fund). But if i have to answer the question now, I would say 80 percent I don't have to pull anything out. Having a certainly amount of flexibility should be nice though. With that said, what types of Mutal funds should I invest in.

I am planning to open a Roth IRA before this year ends, I’m 25 year-old and plan to invest in one of those target date retirement, is that a good idea or should I make up my own portfolio consisted of all stocks since I’m still young? In addition, I’m debating of where to open my account between Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price. I see that Vanguard has the lowest expense ratio, but what about their performance? Where should I have my account open? Please share your experience. Thanks!

I am looking to open up my first index fund or mutual fund account. I have looked at Vanguard and I was wondering If anyone had experience with Vanguard or other investment groups. I was thinking a Vanguard balanced index fund. What are other reputable investment groups I should look at that offer low fees and lots of options? Other info, I am young, my employeer does not offer a 401K and I plan on saving about 30% of my after tax income for growth, retirement and just general savings.

I received some inheritance money that I'd like to invest for retirement. I plan to open a mutual fund account with Vanguard and begin investing in index funds. Should I invest the entire lump sum at once or keep it in a high-yield money market account and fund the mutual fund account monthly to take advantage of dollar-cost averaging? Assume I have no bad debt, have already established an emergency fund, am contributing to a 401(k), and am funding a Roth IRA (also with Vanguard) to the annual max.

I am 23 years old and have narrowed down my retirement company choices to Fidelity and Vanguard. I plan to start with $50 per pay period while I pay down my debts. Which company do you think is best in regards to performance and cost?

I plan to open a 403(b) in August. I have been told that mutual funds are better (and cheaper) than annuities, and so that is what I want to put my money. (I don't intend this question to be a mutual fund vs. annuity debate). My school district sponsors 20 retirement planning companies, and their websites don't seem to distinguish the competition. Some companies include Fidelity, Primerica, Vanguard, Metro Life, Equitable, Putnam, etc. How do I choose which company is best for me whether or not I end up getting mutual funds or annuities? I teach in Florida. We have the Florida Retirement System (FRS). My school district puts money into that, which I can choose either to be a pension (with benefits after 6 years of service) or an investment plan (with benefits after 1 year). I choose the investment plan because I don't know if I will be in teaching in the long-run or if I will at least be in Florida for 6 years to get the pension benefit. According to everyone, the FRS will not be enough, so we have the option of opening up a 403(b) plan with one of these companies to supplement the FRS money. There is no matching in this 403(b). I am 23 years old.

Hello, I'm currently 18 and in college right now. Unfortunately I know only little things about retirement plans. I'm currently working and would like to open a Roth IRA since my workplace does not have a 401K plan. I know that there's different directions to go through: stock, mutual funds, or CDs,etc. My question is, what would you recommend for me to start by? Stock market or mutual funds? and with what company? Vanguard, Fidelity, Etrade, etc? (I'm hoping to make a nice long-term growth until retirement) I'm afraid to do this all alone, since my parents themselves don't know anything about retirement plans. Plus the fact that my dad lost all of our savings in the stock market with no research done on the company.

I'm turning 22 years old and I'm planning on starting a Roth IRA with Vanguard. If you compare the holdings on the two funds... https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsHoldings?FundId=0306&FundIntExt=INT https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsHoldings?FundId=0699&FundIntExt=INT The differences are that the 2045 fund has a total of $1.7 billion invested, while the 2050 fund has $78.8 million. The investments are distributed close enough that I would call them equal. The biggest thing I am considering right now between the two funds is that the 2050 fund is $24.17 and the 2045 fund is only $15.36. Also, the 2050 fund was started in 2006, while the 2045 fund was started in 2003. Because the 2045 fund is cheaper and it invests in the same holdings, is there any reason I would want to purchase the 2050 fund? I am obviously investing for the long term, and I will hold more shares with the 2045 fund, which would lead to larger growth, I would think...