Investing. In a year of elevated valuations.

The mathematically right answer depends on the interest rate differential, but the rules of thumb that work for most people:

Always capture the 401(k) employer match first — that’s a 50-100% instant return that no credit card or student loan rate can match. Pay off any debt above ~7-8% interest before investing more — credit cards almost certainly, some personal loans, some private student loans. For debt below ~6% (most federal student loans, current mortgage rates), it’s reasonable to do both in parallel — the long-term expected return of a diversified equity portfolio exceeds those rates on average, though never guaranteed.

The middle ground (6-8%) is judgment-dependent — depends on your tax situation, the loan type, and your personal preference for being debt-free.

For most investors holding broad-market funds in tax-advantaged accounts: no, the difference is negligible. An S&P 500 index fund and an S&P 500 ETF will produce essentially identical returns over time.

In taxable accounts, ETFs have a structural tax advantage: they use in-kind redemptions that avoid forced capital gains distributions. Index mutual funds occasionally distribute capital gains even if you didn’t sell. For very long holding periods in taxable accounts, ETFs tend to be more tax-efficient.

One exception: Fidelity’s ZERO funds (FZROX, FNILX, FZILX) charge 0.00% — true zero expense ratio — but they’re mutual funds, not ETFs, and they’re only portable within Fidelity. If you’re committed to Fidelity, they win on cost. If you might move brokerages, VTI or VOO (at 0.03%) is the right pick.

The market has been “expensive” by historical multiple standards for most of the past 15 years. If you’d stayed out of stocks every time someone said “the market is overvalued,” you’d have missed nearly the entire post-2010 run.

The honest answer is: high valuations correlate with lower expected forward returns over 10-15 year periods, but they’re terrible at predicting one-year direction. Bonds, cash, and “I’ll wait until it crashes” are usually worse choices than just continuing to dollar-cost average into a diversified portfolio.

If high valuations make you nervous, the productive responses are: (1) make sure your asset allocation matches your actual risk tolerance, (2) ensure you have an adequate emergency fund so you don’t need to sell during a downturn, and (3) keep contributing through the volatility. The unproductive response is going to cash and waiting.

Foreign exchanges generally don’t issue Form 1099-DA to US taxpayers — the IRS reporting requirements apply to US “brokers” as defined under the final regulations. So if you used a Binance Global, BitMEX, KuCoin, or other non-US exchange, you likely won’t get a 1099-DA from them.

That doesn’t mean the IRS doesn’t expect you to report the income. You’re still required to report all digital asset gains, losses, and income on your federal tax return regardless of whether you received a 1099-DA. The change in 2026 is that for transactions on US brokers, the IRS now has matching data — a mismatch between what you report and what they have will trigger a notice. For foreign-exchange transactions, the honor system still applies, but penalties for unreported income are unchanged.

FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) and FATCA filings may also apply to large foreign crypto balances. See the full 1099-DA guide and your tax advisor if any of this might apply.

Pure cost math favors DIY: a self-managed three-fund portfolio at Vanguard or Fidelity costs ~0.03-0.05% in fund expense ratios, with no advisory fee. A robo-advisor adds 0.25% on top — so for a $100K portfolio, you’re paying ~$250/year for the robo’s automated rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, and goal-tracking interface.

For some people, the $250 is worth it — particularly if you’d otherwise not invest, would panic-sell during downturns, or wouldn’t actually do the tax-loss harvesting yourself. The robo’s automation means it happens whether you want it to or not.

The intermediate option: Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charges 0% advisory fee but holds a mandatory cash allocation that creates a hidden drag. Fidelity Go is 0% under $25K balance. If you want a robo without the fee, those are reasonable starting points.

There’s no single right answer, but the defensible range is 20% to 40% of equity allocation. Three reference points: Vanguard’s target-date funds use ~40% international at most ages. Most academic literature suggests global market-cap weighting (~40% international currently). Bogleheads convention is often ~20-30% as a compromise between full global cap and US home bias.

The arguments for less: US has outperformed international for ~15 years; some of that is the dollar; transaction costs and complexity. The arguments for more: avoiding home country bias; valuations are cheaper overseas; diversification benefit when US underperforms. What you don’t want is 0% international — that’s a concentrated bet on US-only that’s hard to justify with portfolio theory.

Two reasons. One: the data on individual stock picking by retail investors is consistently dismal. Studies have repeatedly shown that the median retail stock picker underperforms a simple S&P 500 index by 1-3% per year, mostly from behavioral mistakes (selling too soon, buying after gains, concentration risk).

Two: even if you’re skilled, the work involved to maintain even 20-stock diversification, monitor positions, and avoid concentration risk is substantial — and unforced. A total-market index fund gives you ownership of ~3,500 US stocks for an expense ratio of 0.03% and zero ongoing effort.

The compromise that works for some people: keep 85-95% in low-cost index funds and use a small “fun money” allocation (5-15%) for individual stocks. The cap limits the damage if you’re wrong; the index allocation does the heavy lifting if you’re right or wrong.