Minimalist Investing – EP 180

We believe investing is important, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. There is an approach for stock market involvement and saving for retirement or other large expenses that is simple and minimalist. Join us as we aim to remove some of those investment ‘barriers to entry’.

Sponsors: 

  • 7-Day No-Spend Challenge! It’s the first day of the month so it’s the perfect time to do a no-spend challenge. We’ve created a free mini-workbook that will help you plan, execute, and reflect on your no-spend challenge so that after 7-days you know what you need to work on moving forward and you have an action plan to do so. So if that sounds like something you need head to frugalfriendspodcast.com/free to get yours.
  • Keeping it Simple. Not complicating things. That’s it – just keeping it simple.

Check out these episodes for more information on investment.

Headlines

What the Internet has to say:

This article from fool.com provides us with 5 investing tips especially for those desiring simplicity in their investment approach.

What Jen + Jill have to say:

  • 1. Hold few funds
  • 2. Trade as little as possible
    • Trading tends to complicate your tax life, and depending on the broker you’re using, it can be quite costly. One of the simplest ways to reduce taxes and fees is to not trade and let your investments do the long-term work. 
  • 3. Auto-invest
  • 4. Use one discount broker
    • By making a commitment to one of them, you’re not only able to receive added services once your combined balance hits a certain level, but you can see your entire portfolio with great clarity. Having multiple accounts with multiple custodians is likely to complicate your life and is ultimately unnecessary. 
  • 5. Only access on computer

More from the Internet:

This article from Chris Reining provides more information and some examples of minimalist investment methods.

More from Jen + Jill:

  • 1 fund portfolio examples:
    • Fidelity: Freedom Index Fund
    • Vanguard: Target Retirement Fund
  • 2 fund portfolio examples:
    • Fidelity: Total Market Index, US Bond Index
    • Vanguard: Total Stock Market Index, Total Bond Market Index
  • 3 fund portfolio examples:
    • Fidelity: Total Market Index, US Bond Index, Total International Index
    • Vanguard: Total Stock Market Index, Total Bond Market Index, Total International Stock Index
  • “Take what you want, and leave the rest.” Don’t confuse complexity with ‘better’.

BILL OF THE WEEK – 

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Lightning Round 

Our minimalist portfolios  

  • Jen –  I don’t have a minimalist portfolio in terms of funds but I only trade once a year and my investing is on auto-draft
  • Jill – Currently investing in our retirement accounts on auto draft

Wrap-Up:

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Thanks for listening! See you next week!

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