Lesson 9. Your Portfolio Recipe (Be sure to check out the video at the bottom.)
The purpose of this lesson is to hold your hand and walk you through exactly how to set up your age-adjusted diversified balanced portfolio. Note that I am in no way affiliated with the company Vanguard. I simply recommend them because they have the lowest priced index funds, greatest variety and superb service.
Option 1: Choose the Vanguard Target Fund and they will do the diversifying and re-balancing for you. (Min deposit is $1000)
By Phone: Call 800-252-9578 and they will guide you.
On Line: Go to Vanguard’s Target Fund Page, scroll down to “Which Target Retirement Fund fits your timeline?”, select the colored bar that matches your age or years to retirement, click on on it and a popup will appear below which gives you the name of the fund. Click on the red button to the right that says Invest Now and follow the instructions.
Option 2: Create your own diversified portfolio and do your own rebalancing (Min deposit is $3000)
(1) Open a Vanguard account (On-line or call 800-319-4254) and deposit your money into their Prime Money Market Fund, VMMXX.
(2) Go to No-Brainer Spreadsheet and type in your age and amount of money you deposited. Note: new users must first go to No-Brainer Spreadsheet Access Form to get editing permission.
(3) Transfer money from your Vanguard Money Market Fund to each of the funds listed on the spreadsheet in the amounts specified.
(4) Once a year type in your new age, new total amount of money and then re-balance your portfolio according to the new numbers in the spreadsheet.
Finally, if my spreadsheet doesn’t meet your specific need, think about creating your own, have someone create it for you, or as a last resort, I could do it for you but then a little money (I don’t know how much) would have to change hands!
It’s been a challenge for me to put this website together and I hope you receive some value from it…