Where to start with financial planning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks all! I really appreciate the advice, and bogleheads looks like a good place to dig for some more info.

To clarify—I’d love to invest in stocks but as a federal employee, the ethics rules don’t allow for it. I think ETFs are ok.

How hands-on do you want to be? I used Betterment with a robo advisor. They take a small fee (very low compared to a real person financial advisor) and it’s set it and forget it. I am switching to E*trade soon after my divorce because I know what to do now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks all! I really appreciate the advice, and bogleheads looks like a good place to dig for some more info.

To clarify—I’d love to invest in stocks but as a federal employee, the ethics rules don’t allow for it. I think ETFs are ok.

Ah, that makes sense. Most of the time you don't want to invest in single stocks anyway unless you really dedicate a lot of time to study companies. ETFs are great - mainly what I invest in.

[Anonymous]

Bogleheads for sure. Not enough info here for people to advise you. If you’re a fed, assuming you have a TSP? You’ll want to look at that allocation. As for post-tax money, yes to emergency fund and low fee index funds. I like VTI and VXUS, or you could do the Fidelity zero fee funds. How much you alllcate to these funds will depend on age, kids, etc. The Bogleheads Guide to Investing is a great place to start by the way.