I started investing 10–15 years ago, around age 35. My initial allocation was roughly 80% U.S., 20% international, and some bonds (following the usual guidance, maybe around 20%).
I quickly realized that international wasn’t performing very well, so over time, through multiple TLAs, I almost reached 100% U.S. equities. I then stopped seeing the point of holding bonds, and now I’m almost (excluding my emergency fund) 100% in stocks.
About two years ago, I added a single stock (NVDA) in my Roth IRA. Given how late I started contributing to my Roth, I felt that investing only $7,500 per year in VTSAX wouldn’t get me very far, so I decided to take a gamble, and it paid off. I was late to NVDA, but the returns were still much better than what I had before.
More recently, I re-diversified into international this year. Given the instability of U.S. politics, I’ve started to feel more unsettled, so I moved 20% of my stock allocation from U.S. to international in my retirement accounts, the easiest adjustment to make for now. Will see how it goes...
I’m also questioning my position in NVDA. It now represents about 10% of my portfolio, so I could take the win and reinvest into my mutual funds, but I’m not quite able to make that move yet.
In terms of my emergency fund, I was very conservative at first, keeping maybe two years of expenses on the side. Now I’m closer to three months, though I probably need to increase it to six months.
Overall, I’ve learned a lot from this forum and revisit it regularly, just in case I pick up something new to further tweak my allocations.
I quickly realized that international wasn’t performing very well, so over time, through multiple TLAs, I almost reached 100% U.S. equities. I then stopped seeing the point of holding bonds, and now I’m almost (excluding my emergency fund) 100% in stocks.
About two years ago, I added a single stock (NVDA) in my Roth IRA. Given how late I started contributing to my Roth, I felt that investing only $7,500 per year in VTSAX wouldn’t get me very far, so I decided to take a gamble, and it paid off. I was late to NVDA, but the returns were still much better than what I had before.
More recently, I re-diversified into international this year. Given the instability of U.S. politics, I’ve started to feel more unsettled, so I moved 20% of my stock allocation from U.S. to international in my retirement accounts, the easiest adjustment to make for now. Will see how it goes...
I’m also questioning my position in NVDA. It now represents about 10% of my portfolio, so I could take the win and reinvest into my mutual funds, but I’m not quite able to make that move yet.
In terms of my emergency fund, I was very conservative at first, keeping maybe two years of expenses on the side. Now I’m closer to three months, though I probably need to increase it to six months.
Overall, I’ve learned a lot from this forum and revisit it regularly, just in case I pick up something new to further tweak my allocations.
Statistics: Posted by loklav — Tue Jan 13, 2026 10:02 am — Replies 26 — Views 1262