I’ve done Janus (original), T. Rowe Price, and Dodge & Cox previously; I moved everything to Vanguard / Mairs & Power about 10 years ago because I didn’t like so many smaller funds.

For myself, I own a piddly $2k of Berkshire Hathaway B through Vanguard Brokerage, DRiP’s with Disney, J&J, General Mills, and also have the Mairs & Power Growth Fund as well as several Vanguard Funds.
I’m a long-term holder and just keep doing the automatic monthly purchase; last year (age 51) I did realize that I need to max my Roth IRA investment each year so I’m doing that and not adding any more to the regular funds.

I started out with my mom “helping” me pick two Vanguard funds ($2k each) back when I was 18; I laughed yesterday with my son that the same scenario is taking place between him and me now.
I don’t think he’ll do much with his investments until his 30’s; I’ve been open with my three boys about my investments so they do know how important the long-term investing is.

My idiot (separated) husband knows nothing about investing (and he’s the type that gets freaked out when the market has a downturn), my parents are 87 and my mom is of the CD’s and Savings Bonds era so I needed someplace to think aloud - because in real life I can’t just go talk to anyone that we have $108k sitting around to give to our boys, lol.

As if anyone cares, lol. I changed my mind after looking at funds.
I think what I’ll do is $25k to Mairs & Power Growth and add $10k to his Vanguard Healthcare Fund (which will then be $25k) and then he can decide later if he wants to move money around.
I’m still going to show him my comparison of different Vanguard funds (Growth Index, Total Stock, and Balanced Index) to see if he has any strong feelings.

Thank you for the suggestions, I researched a bit more and I think I like these:
Vanguard Growth Index $10k (minimum to open acct.)
Mairs & Power Growth $25k (or ?)
Vanguard Total Stock $ ?

Mairs & Power Growth is another one that has done well for me and it seems to weather the downturn in the market (which I’m afraid is going to happen in the next couple of years); they also invest heavily in Minnesota based companies which I’m partial to since we live here.

The Vanguard Total Stock seems similar to MP Growth so I’m not sure if I should do that one.

I guess I’m aiming more for long term for him as I do my researching. When he eventually gets a job he should be making decent money as an actuary. This son doesn’t spend money, like at all, so if he lives at home for a year or so (and I’ll have him maxing out his Roth with automatic investing) he should actually be okay for a house downpayment (he already has a decent car).
I really stay away from bond funds, I know I should invest in them but I just can’t stand the low returns.

Vanguard Healthcare Fund mutual fund: “(invests in) domestic and foreign companies involved in various aspects of the health care industry, such as pharmaceutical firms, medical supply companies, and research firms.”

It’s done really well for me; example, twenty years ago we were given $10k that I invested in it. Didn’t add to it, just left it be for college funds. It’s now at $107K. Since my son had scholarships that covered all of his college expenses, he’ll get his 1/3 given to him. When I looked at the “gift tax”, I can give him the full amount this year since he’s still our dependent (next year he should be working and I probably won’t be able to claim him).

My 23 yr old has currently invested: $15k Vanguard Healthcare Fund, $5k Vanguard Prime Money Market, (and $3k Vanguard Healthcare Roth IRA).
He will be receiving $35k; I’m thinking he’ll want to pull funds out for a home down payment within 10 years. He isn’t working so putting into IRA isn’t doable right now. What Vanguard fund type do we look at putting this gift into?

I’d like to keep it semi-simple for him by keeping it all at Vanguard, one other possibility is Mairs & Power Growth Fund.
ETA: he has no debt.

…
Back when I started investing in mutual funds, there were a lot less choices; I look at Vanguard now and I’m so confused. I’ve had my Vanguard various funds for over thirty years and they’ve done very well so I haven’t looked at what else they have to offer.

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For those interested in purchasing Wusthof for decent prices, I recommend EverSharp.
It is a family-owned store and I think they are the only Wusthof outlet-approved store in the U.S.
(Free Shipping for $49+ purchases)

@marcopolomle said in DNA testing: 23&me $69 or $139 (Health Reports) OR Ancestry.com $59 thru April 25th:

Why would anyone pay to give their DNA to anyone ?

For me personally it was for the health portion, my son has an incurable immunology disease that no one else in either family has ever had. I spotted an ad by 23&Me looking for people like him and he was able to do his for free. Then I became curious about mine and my parents (both elderly, so gotta do that now or lose out) health concerns, the genealogy portion is a fun side thing for us.

I have a friend from from school days that was adopted, she did one of these tests to see if she could find relatives - she did! It’s been fun seeing her find her family this past year (1 full sibling, several 1/2 siblings), her birth father passed but she was able to meet her birth mother (adopted mother has passed). While there doesn’t seem to be a connection with her birth mom, she is wonderfully discovering her sisters and they enjoy visiting each other.

Here’s how bad RoundUp can be… I asked my husband to buy some Marsh Hay (no seed heads) to cover my strawberry bed garden for the winter. Instead, he brought home “ditch straw” that a friend of his cut from his hobby farm. That ditch straw received years of overspray from the farm fields and became immune to RoundUp and all other weed killer (general use and farm use).

The ditch straw that my idiot-husband put in my garden completely ruined it. It is a raised garden bed that had been filled with a clean, weed-free garden soil and was basically weed free for over 10 years. That ditch straw seeded itself, we could not get rid of it by any means… pulling it, various types of weed killer, the vinegar/salt/dishsoap killed the leaves but not the roots. We even covered the garden in heavy black plastic for a year to try and bake it out. I battled those farkin’ weeds for over 5 years and they only multiplied every year.
We finally had to remove all the soil and haul in new soil.

My brother has had bee “colony collapse” twice with his bee hobby hives, the problem was his neighbor using RoundUp; once my brother talked to the neighbor and the RoundUp use was eliminated, he hasn’t had a problem the last three years.

My mother grew up on a farm (1940’s) and she raised me to be natural (“semi-organic”) as well. As a little girl in the summer, I took the nightly dishwater out to pour on the weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalk or driveway. She gardened the same way her father farmed, very few chemicals were used. In my cheapness, the only chemicals I use in my garden is fertilizer.

This isn’t political, it’s using common sense. Think back to when you were growing up, there was a lot less “stuff” out there that now pretends to make our lives easier. I’ve been making a lot more items myself the last few years, including windshield washer fluid, washing machine detergent (powdered), glass cleaner, stinky shoe refresher balls, etc. I never set out to be a “granola cruncher” but when I saw how few cents it takes to make my own cleaners that work just as well as the $$ stuff, I don’t look at myself as “granola-y” but more as a smart consumer saving money and the environment.