Please give me some advice on my case as well - it's been about 1 month.

Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:50:27
156.**.54.52

My husband and I are 61 years old. About 6 years ago, after rolling over into a Traditional IRA, our total combined balance reached about $1M.

Since we came to the US late, all of our funds were in Fidelity mutual funds (FBGRX, FDGRX, FDSVX, FXAIX) under a 401k prior to the rollover.
I liquidated some of it, and I also closed out positions in stocks including Nvidia as well as penny stocks at a loss.
Right now, mutual funds account for about 40% of the entire account.
I put money into the T-IRA on a monthly installment basis.

Over the past 7 years, although I did not know much about stocks, I studied and managed our portfolio by frequenting the MissyUSA message board.

Having a large portion in those mutual funds made it difficult to invest in other things.

Was the time spent putting money into mutual funds a mistake? ...
Or ... should I increase holdings like JEPQ and QQQI from this state?

With retirement about 6 years away ...
Regretting it is useless, but I don't know how to adjust this going forward.
I am slowly increasing dividend stocks like QQQI.
QQQ, JEPI, and SPYM are also in my account. I started them last year.

My husband doesn't know much about stocks.

I feel that we are very ignorant about retirement preparation in the US.

* Looking at our status this year, I heard our annual income exceeds $242,000.

In that case, do I just leave the existing T-IRA running as it is and open a new Backdoor?

Tags: FBGRX FDGRX FDSVX FXAIX IRA JEPI QQQ QQQI SPYM Traditional IRA

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Comments 8

157.**.164.5 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:53:09) | Reply
I plan to gradually shift to dividend stocks starting two years before retirement.

227.**.59.127 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:52:30) | Reply
If you ask a few AIs, they give really good answers, so try referring to them as well. And try discussing it with a fee-for-service financial professional as well. It would be good to plan while taking your other assets into account too. Given your age, it would probably be better to get a more professional opinion rather than making a decision based only on the answers you get here.

79.**.31.61 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:52:54) Like

When I asked a question saying I had five mutual funds, I was told to reduce them to about two because the dividends were small and they all overlapped... That's right. So I withdrew some money from two or three of them—FDSVX, FOCPX, FNILX—and invested in other stocks. But now that year-end dividends are coming in, when I try to put some of it into a Nasdaq-related mutual fund, the prices have gone up so much in the meantime that I can't buy many shares... Should I just leave them as they are and only put future income into dividend stocks...? My account has gotten so complicated that I've lost my direction.

91.**.104.91 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:51:13) | Reply
We held those kinds of mutual funds for over 10 years until last year, but this time we pulled everything out and rebalanced. The fees were way too high. Looks like we'll adjust with ETFs. My goal is 10 years from now as well. For now, I'm putting money into VGT, VOO, and SPMO, and I plan to move to dividend stocks later. I think I need to study more, too. Whether I transfer it over or just allocate more of my contributions into dividend stocks down the road, I'll have to do something like that.

48.**.44.145 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:52:09) Like

It's a Fidelity account, and the fee wasn't high.

184.**.105.209 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:50:51) | Reply
Is there a reason you aren't doing a Roth IRA?

91.**.201.121 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:51:30) Like

My income is right at the limit.

231.**.51.46 (Created at Aug 16, 2026 04:51:52) Like

If you do a Backdoor Roth IRA, there is no income limit. However, it is better because the calculation is easier if you don't have a traditional IRA balance, or if you can open a new one with no balance. For married filing jointly, the income limit went up a bit to MAGI $242k for 2026. (Look into it if you are in a situation where you can do a lot of itemized deductions.)