I wanted to put this topic out there is see how others are managing their portfolios and what tactics they use at different times perhaps with different types of accounts , whether those be your Roth IRA's , your 401K or your brokerage accounts.

Please share .

Marcopolo

We are saving up front 12% (4% company match) on our 401k and 2% for Roth IRA. We currently also have investments in mutual funds. We'd like to diversify more and perhaps earn more with our nest egg.

My 401k is invested in market index index funds. I don't like my employers other choices. My other investments are in stocks that pay dividends. Look up dividend aristocrats. Thy are companies that have a long track record of increasing dividends. I figure it's hard to pay dividends on bogus profits for any length of time.

Keep saving...

For my TSP (like 401(k)), I prefer to use the lifecycle funds, where you choose your target retirement decade and it automatically rebalances your portfolio as you age to account for risk. I'm not well versed in investing, so it tends to perform better when I leave it in the lifecycle funds. As for personal investments, I'm a huge fan of index funds. Again, no real active management on my part, but Warren Buffet I am not.

As an investment advisor, and human being that saves for retirement, I hope my insight may be of use to some of you. I own Goldberg Financial, LLC in Clifton Virginia and help many people with these questions and issues.

Your allocation to IRA's or 401k's or just your standard old investment account should really be determined by your Adjusted Gross Income and tax situation. Of course, a 401k match by an employer is attractive in any tax bracket but 401k plans are loaded with fees and worse off most you receive no advice on how to invest that money. In my opinion the average investor is a sitting duck waiting for the next market crash. It's terrible the way things work, its not right that people have to hope the market doesn't crash a few years before they hit retirement because then they have to keep working longer. Even worse for college funds because it can't be delayed.

The main problem is that assets are all moving together now more than ever. Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate Investment Trusts, High Yield Bonds, Gold, etc are all currently at 3 year highs. Of course this can happen when we have a lot of fed stimulus but my point is that whether you are in stocks or bonds or any above investments I believe they will all crash again at the same time when the market in fact crashes again within the next 1-2 years. Index funds, Lifecycle Funds, TSP plans, will crash again.

Asset correlation has become staggeringly high. Due to this problem I have developed a market trending and timing approach to combat this. I utilize this to keep my clients from losing any money in the market on any crash by utilizing etfs and market rotations.

Michael Goldberg
Goldberg Financial, LLC
Clifton Virginia
you can follow my blog here: http://financeinlife.blogspot.com/2012/ ... watch.html

You really seem to be generalizing here. It is certainly important for people to understand their employer-sponsored retirement plans, to include how much they pay in administrative fees, etc. And, yes, I've heard of many whose fees are unseemingly high. However, not all are. I paid .025% in administrative fees in 2011 for my TSP. Considering I receive a 5% employer match, it's a great deal overall.

The point I'm trying to make is that it would seem to be better advice if you told people to make sure they understood how much they are paying in fees for their retirement plans and how to identify lower cost options if needed.

I put 6% in my 401k, which is what my employer matches. I have it all going into the lowest fee funds - 50% us-based stock fund and 50% global stock fund.

For my husband, he puts 3.5% into IMRF because he's a municipal employee. We also opened an IRA for him where we put another 3%. That goes into a couple different vanguard funds - nice low fees and one is a dividend focused fund.

I also opened a ShareBuilder account when ING had the promotion where you got $50 when you put in $25. Right now I'm not adding to it, but I get about .19 per month of dividend income from the vanguard bond fund it goes into, and sharebuilder does dividend reinvestment and no fees.

I have about $1100 in P2P investing - mostly through prosper but I'm starting to move stuff to Lending Club because I feel that their borrower prescreening does better. Obviously this is a bit high risk, but i've never had a month where i lost money in 2 years - most months I make about 14% ROI. Overall my ROI has been 12% since I started. I'm not adding money to this, I simply reinvest my earnings. I'm hoping to build this up until it becomes a small income stream.

I also have a bunch of stock in the company where I work - I didn't buy it, received it as a bonus several years back. I make about $50 a quarter in dividends, which isn't bad.

Kitty ,

Interesting that you have done the Prosper investing , as have I . And my interest dwindled as I realized that these folks applying really didn't have much credit worthiness or willing to be that serious . I have also checked out Lending Club and liked what I saw . I am planning on taking a portion of my 401K and moving let's say $2500 over to Lending Club and working a portfolio of loans there in an IRA and see how that does . My sense that it will be more reliable based on their screening process . Good thinking .

**Marcopolo

Kitty ,

Interesting that you mention ING . I have had savings accounts at ING and Ally . I like the sub-accounts that you can setup at each . For me , ING is the winner for a variety of reasons that include transfer times/ dependability of transfers to my regular checking account , setting up of subaccounts, iphone access , transfers on the iphone to external accounts. I will have to check out their Sharebuilder account . Thank-you for the reminder .

I am using ING to make my saving automatic into my reserves , non-regular expenses accounts and my emergency fund .

**Marcopolo

Personally, I have 2 Roth IRAs. One Roth is my "aggressive" Roth. It's mostly invested in individual stocks. My other one is my "conservative" Roth. It's invested in mutual funds.

I contribute the annual max to my 401k, no matching (boo). That's a mix of index funds. I have three linked ING accounts; one is the emergency fund, one is a down payment fund, the third is travel or other (smaller) target savings as needed. I own a condo but am still paying off the mortgage.

My husband and I invested $100k this year in a local real estate LLC, which was an unusual opportunity -- we know one of the founders and have worked with him for many years, as well as one of the investors, so after doing our own research we jumped in. That's paying 6% and we are reinvesting that (for now).

I wouldn't call our portfolio successful just yet. We do have a mix of stocks, bonds, short-term, and real estate, but we need serious help reducing our tax load where we can, and we're not saving enough for retirement. I think in 2013 we'll likely start an IRA, and we'll be meeting with a financial adviser to help us get things in order.

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