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ahj3939 t1_jabjf29 wrote

Doesn't sound dumb at all.

Only thing is at Fidelity (and many other such as Schwab) they'll charge you a fee around 50-75 to buy 3rd party mutual funds.

Therefore what you should do in the retirement accounts is buy a Fidelity mutual fund such as FSKAX. It's a total market fund just like VTSAX but you won't pay the fees (it's like saying McDonalds vs Burger King, sure you might light the Burger King logo better but at the end of the day it's cheap found with approx. the same nutrition)

In fact I would argue the Fidelity fund is better since the expense ratio on that particular fund is less than half of Vanguard's.

I think the main thing is planning and setting goals. Maybe contribute more to IRA instead of taxable. Does your employer have a 401k match? If so you should take advantage of the free money.

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ninjahackerman OP t1_jabjm06 wrote

Thank you!

Do you think FXAIX is a good contender to VTSAX? Is there a reason to stay with mutual funds or should I venture into ETFs? I want to be as passive and set it and forget it as possible.

I don’t have a 401k unfortunately

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ahj3939 t1_jabl8pb wrote

Personally I like VTSAX or FSKAX better since thy are total market index (3000-4000 stocks)

S&P 500 is only the largest 500.

It's not a huge different to be honest because the indexes are market cap weighted. Meaning for example if all the "total market" is worth $100 billion (I'm making up numbers here) and all of Apple is worth $5.32 billion it will be 5.32% of the stock in your total market index (that percent is what Fidelity is currently showing for FSKAX).

So at the end of the day dollar per dollar S&P 500 makes up about 82% of your total market index, that's why they perform about the same.

However personally rather invest in the total market because you're getting exposure (good or bad) to thousands of other stocks.

Also I think the advice "just invest in S&P 500" is antiquated. it's not terrible advice, but the issue is say 40 years ago all these index funds didn't exist and S&P 500 was more or less the most diverse you could invest in.

ETF and mutual fund is the same thing. Use mutual fund in your retirement account and ETF in taxable. It's more tax efficient and also will avoid any possibility of wash sales (as long as you avoid Vanguard funds since they are technically the same fund)

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ninjahackerman OP t1_jabm6re wrote

You’ve confirmed my plan so thank you for that. Now should you be more aggressive in a taxable account or the retirement account?

I was thinking AI, Tech and Bioscience ETFs/Stocks for my taxable and simple yet promising Mutual funds for my IRA. Or would you be willing to risk more in the Roth? Looks like all tech stocks are on sale

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StarFoxMalone t1_jabkokq wrote

Yes it is, also consider FNILX or any of the zero fee products

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