Investing at this point isn't something that you're going to get a great return on because time in the market (*decades*) is where all the magic happens.
Investing for a timeline less than 10 years is also very risky because there's no time to recover losses.
If the market crashes 4 years from now and they plan to retire in 5, they would have lots of losses and no time to recover from it.
You could invest in bonds, which are less risky, but there's not much that can be done 5 years out.
You may find these links helpful:
- [Retirement Accounts](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_retirement)
- ["How to handle $"](/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics)
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>so I have only put a portion into VOO
They can't afford to be 100% in equities, you don't invest for a 60yo with no savings the same way you invest for a 30yo with 3 decades of career left.
As much as they can afford, up to $16k per year, in a 2030/2035 TDF. But there's no "maximizing" limited savings on limited time that's going to grow to any appreciable balance.
You might look at a target retirement fund for 2030 (e.g. just over 5 years from now) and either match its asset allocation or just buy into it if one is available. But you should probably sit down and think about their whole retirement picture: will there be pensions? Social security? Will the house be paid off? and start from there.
> For reference, my dad is the only one working and each month there's not much left over to contribute.
So it's probably not going to matter all that much.
For a 5 year timeline, I certainly wouldn't go 100% in equities - too much risk. Perhaps a target date fund would work.
Investing at this point isn't something that you're going to get a great return on because time in the market (*decades*) is where all the magic happens. Investing for a timeline less than 10 years is also very risky because there's no time to recover losses. If the market crashes 4 years from now and they plan to retire in 5, they would have lots of losses and no time to recover from it. You could invest in bonds, which are less risky, but there's not much that can be done 5 years out.
You may find these links helpful: - [Retirement Accounts](/r/personalfinance/wiki/index#wiki_retirement) - ["How to handle $"](/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>so I have only put a portion into VOO They can't afford to be 100% in equities, you don't invest for a 60yo with no savings the same way you invest for a 30yo with 3 decades of career left. As much as they can afford, up to $16k per year, in a 2030/2035 TDF. But there's no "maximizing" limited savings on limited time that's going to grow to any appreciable balance.
You might look at a target retirement fund for 2030 (e.g. just over 5 years from now) and either match its asset allocation or just buy into it if one is available. But you should probably sit down and think about their whole retirement picture: will there be pensions? Social security? Will the house be paid off? and start from there.
> For reference, my dad is the only one working and each month there's not much left over to contribute. So it's probably not going to matter all that much. For a 5 year timeline, I certainly wouldn't go 100% in equities - too much risk. Perhaps a target date fund would work.