“A dormant account is an account that has had no financial activity for a long period of time, except for the posting of interest. Financial institutions are required by state laws to transfer resources held in dormant accounts to the state’s treasury after the accounts have been dormant for a certain period of time. The amount of time varies depending on the state.”
I have an accountant but do not have a financial advisor. I do all trading and investing myself. You don’t have to be upper income to have a need for an accountant or only be middle class or lower to assume someone does not need an accountant.
In any case, I’m literally shocked that anyone would use the term “autopilot” for any type of investment account whether it be a brokerage account, retirement account or something else especially because people should pay attention to dips in their accounts to determine whether their assets should be put into other funds, stocks, etc in the first place. People who don’t pay attention to these things are not helping themselves in the long run. One should regularly be reviewing their portfolios and allocations as well as their adversity to risk or not and types of investments most suitable to them but when someone leaves something on autopilot they may be missing huge opportunities.
You can exercise all you want but if you aren’t paying attention to your assets and monetary situation which takes less time than the amount of time you exercise you’re not doing yourself any favors.
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You are definitely not a Boglehead. 
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Considering you know nothing about me or how I invest, that’s pretty funny.
Constant rebalancing, which you seem to be advocating in your post, does not mesh with the “three fund portfolio,” the cornerstone of boglehead investment mantra. 
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I am pretty sure I didn’t use the term constant rebalancing nor would I. I said people should regularly be checking their allocations and balances. Meaning, sometimes people need to send their kids to college and if they have no cash on hand and are not paying attention to their assets they may realize they need to sell on a downturn as opposed to selling high. I’m
not talking about what % of your assets are in what pot and to always have it that way. I have never done that nor do I subscribe to that philosophy.
If not people paid attention to their assets and the market then they would know about diversification, not to run and take their money out as so many did last Mar 2020 then get killed when the market came roaring back, etc.
Regardless, when you know something about my investing, my actual background and my assets then feel free to comment but otherwise please leave your assumptions out.
Since you seem to have liked John Bogle, I’ve been a Vanguard investor for more than half my life (I’m 52). I haven’t worked full time in 25 years yet I’ve successfully been able to afford to send two of my kids to college (one at an Ivy) without loans and am about to have a third in college (same cost as an Ivy) at the same time as the other two. The monies to pay for this have all come from my being a successful investor, not from my income. I also do not take unnecessary risks. We live within our means, well, relatively frugally in fact, reinvest regularly and my kids have been investors since the age of 13 as well as having IRAs since their first jobs at 16. And by definition I am part of the middle class based on my tax return, stimulus money received, etc. But yes I have an accountant but no I do not have a financial advisor. All decisions and risks are my own.
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Well that was unnecessarily defensive.
I’m curious about this Bogleheads investment mantra of the three funds portfolio, does anyone here do it? I have no particular plan that I follow, just a little bit here or there, and it seems to work out okay. Though likely a decent plan would be better.
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Some people are making general statements here and I don’t think anyone intents to offend anyone else. My posts have not intended to offend but sometimes someone is miffed. Everyone has their own unique set of opinions, circumstances and how to deal with them. Other people’s suggestions may work well for them but don’t fit into our own way to handle things or our circumstances.
We are in a changing paradigm in life. How things changed in a very short amount of time in everyday life and the world around us - we have global information at our fingertips, and all the other technology advances, products and services, etc.
While some concepts may have a lot of longevity, we are getting introduced to new things. Some of us may like some new things with technology for example, and some only utilize the new technology that is most useful to them. I don’t know a lot of features or use a lot of aps on my phone for example, while others use everything out there and are not deterred. Only when something is important to me. I think in part because of chemo (completed 10 years ago), my brain is not what it was as well as perhaps aging. I had a lot of chemo (16 treatments with 4 different drugs, and then IV Herceptin every 3 weeks for full 2 year protocol at the time), and I know even during chemo and after how it has affected me. Some have physical limitations, unique family circumstances.
The concept of ‘time value of money’ is a basic concept - if one understands early in adult working life on how to properly save some money and invest all along the way.
In retirement, people have personal choices. I just finally got a decision out of DH on where to live. He wants to stay put. So we are not downsizing our house here to buy something else. Once we ‘slow down’ to where he decides differently, then we shall see. I will email the couple that was interested in our house to let them know we are not moving anytime soon. I was looking at properties elsewhere. DH is involved in a hobby here that is pretty central to him. Once I retire, we can start both working on home improvements. DH has our yard and perennials looking great!
Now that DH is retired, he looks at the 401k and full investments often enough. Before, I was always the one bringing info to him. I still prompt the meetings with financial advisor, and also have done all the Medicare and SS legwork.
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We do a three fund portfolio, it is easy and I have basically just “set it and forget it”.
I check in at the beginning of each year to check the ratio of the three funds (Total Stock Market, Total International Stock Market, and Total Bond Market - all with Vanguard). If the ratio is out of balance (let’s say for example I wanted 80% stock/20% bond but it has changed via market movement to 95/5) - then I will allocate incoming monies (IRA, 401(k), HSA, 529) to try to get back to my preferred allocation. I try my best not to sell to rebalance, but that’s personal preference as I am still in the accumulation stage. It is easy enough to set your accounts up to make rebalancing through selling tax efficient if need be.
I only check ratio and allocation once a year, I don’t react to market movement during periods of high volatility. In my opinion, one only reacts to highly volatile market movements when they haven’t had an appropriate asset allocation in the first place. Understanding risk and your comfort with risk in terms of your asset allocation is the 2nd most important rule of investing (imo). The first being (of course) cost. I am a huge proponent of low cost, no load mutual funds (obvious from my three fund portfolio choice). I think my blended rate of mutual fund cost is something like 0.06% (the cost per fund ranges from 0.04% to 0.11%). So my gains stay with me, not going off to a brokerage house or financial advisor.
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I was on autopilot for 30+ years. Would only review year-end statements during tax time. 100% equities, nearly all low-cost S&P500 (one of Bogle’s first funds) and Total Market Index funds. 401k’s went into same. The ultimate buy-and-hold investor. No need to rebalance. No need to move investments to “other funds.” Within a few years of retirement, started moving some % from Total Stock to Total Bond on a quarterly basis. Now sit with a two-fund portfolio. No fuss, no muss.
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@bluebayou with your annual review and investment strategy, did you come out better than overall S&P?
How do you feel about the risk/return now as you are close to retirement or are retired - do you want to stay on same strategy?
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Interesting, @beebee3. Do the bogleheads recommend those specific type of funds, or are these by your choice? I have decided I’m pretty adverse to international funds, and not crazy about bond funds either. We do have a fund that has only high quality bonds, that never goes down, but only goes up about 2% per year.
by definition, no I never beat the S&P bcos I was the S&P. (Jack Bogle: ‘buy the haystack’).
Retired now, but in the last four years of working, I de-risked by lowering by AA from 100% equities to 65/35, again, essentially two index funds. (no tax consequences since nearly all the movement was in tax-advantaged accounts.) Once SS kicks in (in a few years), I’ll start building equities back up (for the heirs).
In the meantime, taking advantage of any market downturn for Roth conversions at a ‘discount’. Last year was great for conversions, for example.
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Busdriver: yes, Bogleheads definitely recommend Total Stock Market Index and Total Bond Index, aka Two-Fund Portfolio. There is a huge division on the need for adding International (ex-US) Market Index (Three-fund Portfolio), however.
And then there are those BH’s that prefer US Treasury Index to Total Bond for a little more safety on the ‘bond’ side, but that is just splitting hairs.
btw: the purpose of bonds is not so much yield, but safety/protection during a market crash.
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Bee bee, until last week, I had the same 3 Vanguard funds (admiral).
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Thanks for that information, @beebee3. Worth looking into. I’m kind of tired of moving things around randomly, sometimes doing well, sometimes not.
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@busdriver11 First and foremost, I believe you have to be comfortable with your asset allocation. If you don’t feel comfortable with International stock funds or bond funds - don’t buy them. There isn’t anything magical about the three fund portfolio (which, yes is made up of the three funds I purchase), it is just one way to manage asset allocation, risk and cost. I like it because once I understood the pros and cons of my asset allocation, it was super easy to realize my plan through purchasing the requisite percent of each fund. And it is super cheap. I am beyond frugal on some things, paying to invest my own money definitely falls into my frugal zone. 
It is also easy to maintain, which means I don’t think about investing except at the beginning of each year. I like not spending time and energy on worrying about market returns and breaking news as it relates to my retirement plan throughout the year. When Covid hit and the stock market was dropping, I could shrug and move on. I know a lot of people found out their asset allocation had more risk than they were prepared to endure with a drop and then tried to play catch up as they followed the daily perambulations of the market 
.
If you are happy with the funds you have and they give you the asset allocation you are comfortable with, and they don’t cost very much (anything over 0.25% is way too much imo), then go forth and be comfortable. Its your money, you care the most about it and you are the one who has to live with your choices. 
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@bookworm out of curiosity, can I ask what you changed to? I learn so much when I read what choices other people are making and why.
P.S. Love those Admiral fund expense ratios!
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BusD: another option is a Balanced Fund. Vanguard’s is 60:40, for example, and if that AA works for you, such a fund is truly set it-and-forget it. Or, a target date fund or LifeStrategy fund, both types of which do the rebalancing for you. Adding links to the Vanguard funds as an example, but all of the big brokerages offer something similar.
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Yes, target date funds give investors the peace of mind to only check quarterly or annually. 100% Total Stock Market Index would leave you exposed to a correction if you don’t rebalance a few years before retirement like the poster above.
Now would be a challenging time to be in 100% equities unless you wouldn’t experience any discomfort from a correction.