[USER]

Hello,
We are about 1.5 years from FIRE and recently met up with a financial planner who recommended our non retirement portfolio to be 50% stocks/etfs and 50% bonds (or at the very least 60/40).

He also recommended we have 2-3 years cash in savings/HYSA/money market on top of that.

We will be in our early 40s and will also have real estate cash flow that will cover 1/4 our expenses and then will cover almost half of our expenses 2 years later as another rental home will be paidd off.

I feel like his bond allocation is too high (agree with cash savings amount), am I being too risky?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and knowledge

[John]

Seems reasonable in your non retirement portfolio. I assume your retirement portfolio is 100% stocks.

Good luck.

[James]

I would not do nearly that high in bonds. With 2-3 years of expenses in hysa you should be able to use that during any major corrections to support your lifestyle until the market comes back.

I wouldn’t even consider anything higher than a 20% bond allocation at your age or you’ll be missing out on a lot of growth.

I personally plan on keeping 2-3 years of expenses in hysa and 100% in stocks/etfs when I fire with a 30% allocation in dividend etfs instead of bonds which have historically underperformed.

[Brandy]

Sounds like he’s just following the “traditional” roadmap of what all advisors tell old retired people.

[Jeremy]

If you’ve made it to the point of being 1.5 years away from financial independence, why in the world are you talking to a financial planner?

How far away from financial independence is he?

[Jeff]

Always remember financial advisors are salesmen first. I personally know 2 that were car salesmen and 1 that sold granite before moving to finance.

You are your best advocate, they are just trying to make a living.

[Scott]

That’s way too conservative. IMO and I’ve been fire’d 10 yrs now. Especially considering you get real estate cash flow.

(consider your real estate, your bonds) therefore your bond to growth stocks can be more like 80/20.

The cash is about right, keep that in a money market they pay 4.25

[Berry]

60/40 split in your 40s is way too conservative. I would think more like 70/30 at the very least

[Author]

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