The Motley Fool

MAY 19, 2024

Image source: Getty Images There are many excellent options for investors right now, including high-yield certificates of deposit (CDs) and mutual funds. Meanwhile, mutual funds give you access to a large portfolio of different investments, like stocks and bonds, with the potential to grow your money over the long term.

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The Motley Fool

JULY 22, 2024

Although it's not unheard of for a 401(k) account balance to reach the seven-figure mark, it is rather rare. Mutual fund company Vanguard Group reports that the average workplace-retirement account for clients aged 65 or older is only $272,588, while the median (or midpoint) balance for these folks is a much smaller $88,488.

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The Motley Fool

MARCH 23, 2024

Mutual fund giant Vanguard has officially crunched the numbers. There comes a point when the gains made on your previous gains are far greater than the benefit of adding more funds to the account in the meantime. You can contribute up to $23,000 of your wages to a 401(k) account in 2024, all of which is tax deductible.

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The Motley Fool

JULY 29, 2024

You don't need to be a Wall Street insider to beat most actively managed mutual funds. A simple investment strategy has outperformed nearly 88% of funds over the past 15 years, and its relative performance typically gets better over time. Here are the most recent results for large-cap funds. Image source: Getty Images.

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The Motley Fool

OCTOBER 28, 2024

And in an ironic twist, the less competitive you are, the better you'll be able to stick with a strategy that can lead you to after-tax returns that beat 98% of professionally managed mutual funds. All you have to do is buy a broad-based index fund and hold it for years. That's why mutual funds charge fees.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 31, 2024

38% of mutual fund investors think they don't pay any mutual fund fees or expenses. Expense ratios : An expense ratio is an annual fee charged by mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). If you're paying, say, 2% on an account worth $500,000, you're looking at forking over $10,000 annually!

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The Motley Fool

SEPTEMBER 2, 2024

It's a quirk of stock market mechanics that makes a simple investment strategy far better than the average actively managed mutual fund. While it might be possible for many professional funds to outperform over the short run, it gets harder and harder as time goes on. There's a big drag on active funds' investment returns: fees.

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The Motley Fool

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

Image source: Getty Images One of the benefits of saving for retirement in a 401(k) is potentially getting access to money in that account that's put in by your employer. So if your employer will match 100% of up to $3,000 in contributions, the minimum amount you should aim to put into your account is -- you guessed it -- $3,000.

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The Motley Fool

SEPTEMBER 22, 2024

Given that the average 401(k) balance for the 65-and-over crowd is in the ballpark of $270,000 (according to Vanguard), it's safe to conclude there aren't many 401(k) accounts worth $1 million or more. Indeed, the average is weighed down by a whole bunch of people with much smaller retirement accounts. That's fine.

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The Motley Fool

MAY 30, 2024

Read more: unlock best-in-class perks with one of these brokerage accounts Also, the way 401(k)s are funded could make it easier to keep up with your savings efforts, since contributions are made through automatic payroll deductions. Instead, that account gets funded before your paycheck even hits your bank account.

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The Motley Fool

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

The biggest fees in 401(k) plans are often the investment fees charged by mutual fund companies. You should aim to avoid actively managed mutual funds with high expense ratios. Instead, opt for a low-fee index fund if your 401(k) plan offers it.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 22, 2024

You can also contribute to a taxable brokerage account regardless of where the money comes from. So if you want the option to retire at, say, age 52, then you'll need to keep some of your long-term savings outside of a tax-advantaged account. Sure, you could choose one specific mutual fund over another in your 401(k).

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 20, 2023

Of course, before investing, you should probably create an emergency fund (in a bank account, CD, or other easily accessible but super safe account) with three to six months of living expenses in it. Probably the best-known option here is a mutual fund , but most mutual funds require more than $500 to get in the door.

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The Motley Fool

JUNE 3, 2024

In particular, people with net worths of $1 million or higher tend to have more of their money in the following: Stocks/mutual funds Real estate Business interests Those in the $10,000 and $100,000 tiers invest in those, too, but not nearly as much. Prioritize investing through retirement accounts. The key is consistency.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 22, 2024

Fortunately for me, my full-time employer sponsors a tax-advantaged retirement account, and offers a contribution-matching program. Not to mention, my employer only allows access to those funds once a person is no longer employed by them. After doing so, however, I could buy whatever ETFs, stocks, or mutual funds I wanted.

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The Motley Fool

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

Average 401(k) balance for 55 to 64 year olds Mutual fund company Vanguard crunches the numbers every year using data from its own clients. As I noted recently , a relatively small number of individuals' 401(k) accounts have been boosted by unusually fortunate circumstances. investor stands. The number is a bit misleading.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 19, 2024

Millions of us have 401(k) accounts , sponsored by our employers or former employers. And hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of us actually have accounts worth $1 million or more. That's not the norm -- millionaire accounts only made up about 1.8% of 401(k) accounts administered by Fidelity, for example.

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Indeed, the 401(k) retirement account has been hailed as a game-changer since its inception over 40 years ago, establishing an effective means of saving for retirement once pension plans were no longer up to the task. Such employer-sponsored plans aren't necessarily your best first choice for building a retirement fund, however.

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The Motley Fool

MAY 4, 2024

Ramsey has referred to certificates of deposit as "nothing more than glorified savings accounts with slightly higher interest rates." He suggests investing in mutual funds instead. First and foremost, CDs offer huge benefits that savings accounts don't. Over the long term, though, the higher returns can add up.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 30, 2023

Bonus offer: unlock best-in-class perks with this brokerage account Read more: best online stock brokers for beginners The basic idea is that you'll withdraw 4% of your retirement savings during your first year of retirement and give yourself cost of living adjustments to keep up with inflation in subsequent years.

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The Motley Fool

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Bonus offer: unlock best-in-class perks with this brokerage account Read more: best online stock brokers for beginners 1. Self-directed brokerage account This option is for billionaires who want to do all of their investing themselves. There's usually no minimum amount of money needed to open a self-directed brokerage account.

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The Motley Fool

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

Minimize your investment fees Most 401(k)s give you a choice between a variety of mutual funds or index funds your employer chooses. It's easy to forget about fees because they come directly out of your account, but they chip away at your profits over time. Try to keep your total fees below 1% of your assets each year.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 10, 2024

And while it's a busy time of year for many people in the United States, it's also a smart time to check in with your investment accounts to see if there are any moves you need to make before the end of the year. We'll say that you have a $2,000 gain on a mutual fund investment like I just discussed above. Consider this example.

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The Motley Fool

OCTOBER 13, 2023

So if you don't have access to one, you may be thinking of opening an individual retirement account (IRA) instead. Bonus offer: unlock best-in-class perks with this brokerage account Read more: best online stock brokers for beginners 1. Rather, you get until the following year's tax-filing deadline to finish funding your account.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 31, 2024

Image source: Getty Images People usually don't make changes to their investment accounts too often. If any of the following are true, you should consider opening a new investment account this year. Bonus offer: unlock best-in-class perks with this brokerage account Read more: best online stock brokers for beginners 1.

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The Motley Fool

MAY 22, 2024

But that doesn't mean your options are limited just to a typical bank savings account. Along with the best savings accounts, which pay 5.00% APY or higher today, there's another type of safe, liquid, short-term savings vehicle where you can earn similarly high yields: it's called a money market fund.

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The Motley Fool

JULY 27, 2024

The SEC eventually yielded to investor pressure and a torrent of ETF applications, approving the first funds based on Bitcoin futures in 2021. Led by the popular iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT) and the converted mutual fund Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (NYSEMKT: GBTC) , 11 cryptocurrency ETFs entered the market that day.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 25, 2024

The Vanguard 500 Index ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) is one of the most popular ETFs (exchange-traded funds) , and for good reason. Vanguard made a name for itself by offering low-cost index mutual funds and later expanded its popular offerings to ETFs. The nice advantage ETFs have over mutual funds is that they allow for intraday trading.

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The Motley Fool

JUNE 9, 2024

That's saving enough to fund a nice retirement; at the very least, we'd like to maintain the standard of living we're enjoying during our working years. A recent survey by insurer and mutual fund company Northwestern Mutual indicates that the average person thinks a $1.46 million nest egg is the magic number. Target 0.5

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The Motley Fool

NOVEMBER 5, 2023

The company says that if you have a mutual fund account and your stock dividends are automatically reinvested in new shares, then each reinvestment increases the "tax basis" in the mutual fund. When you sell some of your shares in the mutual fund, the reinvested dividends reduce your taxable capital gains.

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The Motley Fool

JANUARY 25, 2024

of Americans managed to save at least $1 million in their retirement accounts by the end of last decade, according to EBRI estimates based on the latest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. While there are some cases where target-date funds use index funds and keep costs low, that's not always true.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 31, 2024

Like high-yield savings accounts , CD interest above $10 is taxable on state and federal levels. If you hold your CD in certain tax-advantaged accounts, you can avoid taxes altogether. Health savings account (HSA) HSAs are tax-advantaged accounts that let you save and invest for medical expenses.

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The Motley Fool

JUNE 6, 2024

Image source: The Motley Fool/Upsplash Savings accounts are one of the safest places to store your money. Plus, have you seen today's rates on savings accounts? The best high-yield savings accounts are currently paying out at rates up to 5.36%. on most savings accounts, I can't think of many other places to put $20,000.

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The Motley Fool

MARCH 17, 2024

Here's a rundown of the three main types of accounts self-employed individuals can use to save and invest. Plenty of options It's also worth noting that in addition to these three types of accounts, self-employed individuals are eligible to use a traditional or Roth IRA to save. Additionally, thanks to the SECURE Act 2.0,

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 13, 2023

And younger investors showed a clear preference for holding individual stocks rather than mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Bitcoin now accounts for 52% of the entire value of the crypto market, so as a general rule of thumb, Bitcoin should account for at least half of any crypto portfolio.

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The Motley Fool

SEPTEMBER 2, 2024

High-yield savings account In terms of risk aversion, a high-yield savings account is one of the safest options. These accounts earn interest steadily at a certain annual percentage yield (APY). High-yield savings accounts won't grow your money as aggressively as stocks and bonds. One risk, however, is missed opportunity.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 15, 2024

They invest heavily in stocks and mutual funds Baby boomers have the largest percentage of their wealth in stocks and mutual funds. So if you invested $250 per month in a brokerage account and earned an average annual rate of return of 10%, you'd have about $295,000 in 25 years.

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