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Fidelity 401k options (self.personalfinance)

submitted 4 months ago by root to c/[email protected]

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My employer recently switched to Fidelity and for now I've chosen the LIFEPATH IDX 2050 A option. It looks like this one provides quarterly dividends, but the yield is 0.0%(?)

I'm looking for some fairly risk adverse options or blends that provide dividends that will be reinvested. Anyone have any recommendations?

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[–] root 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Wow, great advice! Thanks so much. My rIRA is through Vanguard, and I do want a brokerage account at some point in the future for mid/long term savings.

I'll likely go with a blend of the Vanguard options, but just so I know, why might it be better to do so if I have an IRA and plan to have a brokerage in the future? Just so I have more "dials to turn" to match my tolerances?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It's more about tax efficiency. if you open an IRA, you're likely going to be contributing on a Roth basis, meaning that you'll never pay taxes on the growth, whereas in a 401k, you're likely contributing on a pre-tax basis, meaning you will pay taxes on that money. With a taxable brokerage account, you'll be paying taxes on every disbursement, meaning anytime you sell or receive a dividend.

So, generally speaking, you'll want:

Roth accounts (Roth IRA, Roth 401k, etc) - highest expected growth
pre-tax accounts (IRA, 401k) - lowest expected growth
taxable brokerage - lowest capital gains (so low dividends)

In practice, that usually means:

highest growth - growth stocks
lowest growth - bonds
lowest capital gains - value stocks

This can be as complicated or as simple as you'd like. For me personally, I have:

Roth - US stocks - i think these will continue to outperform longer term
pre-tax (401k and HSA) - other stocks & bonds - this is where I rebalance
taxable brokerage - international stocks (for the foreign tax credit)

My overall portfolio composition is the same, I just shift around where I keep each asset class based on tax efficiency.

[–] root 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Ah that makes sense, thank you. For now I'm doing backdoor Roth IRA contributions as I can't do direct contributions. Eventually I hope to be able to also use the mega backdoor after I fill up the pre-tax federal contribution limits for 401k. That will be "after-tax" that is converted to Roth.