Bogleheads.org

nisiprius wrote:Here's a chart of dividend yield that Google found me: phooey, phpBB doesn't like it as a direct image link:
http://tinyurl.com/brrfxgv

Yes, great graphs! Here's that uncooperative one:

I agree! I try never to miss one of his posts because I always learn something useful. Always insightful. Always thorough. Always boils the complex down to something simple enough for me to understand. Never snarky. Thank you David for all that you contribute!! Winthorpe +1 Couldn't agree more!

Personally, I don't think including it in the subject is particularly helpful, and to some people it comes across somewhat negatively. However, the use of "physician" or "doctor" in the subject headling pre-dates LG trying to be helpful by including it. There will always be newbi...

Why the need for every new post by a physician to also include a tag reminding everyone that they are in fact a physician. They seem to be unique in this sense and most of the time it isn't even relevant to their post. No kidding! Good question. I worked a long time for one of the major pharmaceuti...

lazyday, I read your response and I'm not sure (sometimes I have trouble being sure of exactly what's being said in posts, and I've missed the mark before), but I think you were given the impression that I was attributing "motivations" in a negative sense to the suggestions being made by s...

I recorded the the Frontline show and watched it tonight. I learned a lot and would recommend younger workers see it. I am approaching retirement and am in good shape, thanks to very steady employment and a willingness to invest for the long haul. I am certain I could have done better by learning y...

Seriously, though, is it too simplistic for me to just use 5 years since I don't plan on cashing in any bonds prior to 5 years and I don't think the inflation rate will go down to 0? (yep, I'm using the same crystal ball that I use to predict my date of death). Nonnie I would use a duration of zero...

+1 What Nisi said, that is if this is for just part of your Asset Allocation plan. Are you asking about this with respect to a portion of your inheritance which would go into fixed income? Or are you just parking the money until you come up with an AA plan? If that's the case, I would not put it in ...

For planning purposes, you can assume it's zero. If you've held an I Bond for less than one year, you might count the time remaining up to 1 year as its duration. I generally agree that zero is an appropriate way to look at it, much like cash. Still you will find other opinions on this, especially ...

I continue to believe that even our most favorite Bogle-oriented investment planners and advisors are capable of generating "noise", and do so frequently! Not intending to be disrepectful, for I think that much of what they say is prompted by the demand within our community, and I genuinel...

No doubt, he knows his SS. I'm a little ways away from needing that kind of info, but I like to follow the threads.
Anyhow, one thing's for sure, whatever he's doing right now, he's not suffering any fools.

We're on the same page when it comes to the possibility of selling prior to maturity. I'm still having trouble though wrapping my brain around the notion of valuing per the yield curve as if our EE bonds were marketable. I just can't see any logic to giving them this ability to change in value (and...

In a recent discussion about the oddities of the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index used by the Total Bond funds, Rick Ferri mentioned a possible way to get around its 70% (approx) in government bonds. I believe his suggestion was the following: -- 60% in the Total Bond Market Index Fund -- 20% in the V...

You're absolutely right in saying that the "burden" to get it right falls on the individual saver/investor. One must start with the presumption that those in the financial and investment industries are not looking out for the interests of those they profess to serve. Happily, there are in...

Yes, I'll mark the values lower when rates rise, but never below the redemption value. I don't have an "iron-clad commitment" to holding these bonds until maturity--if rates go up enough, I'll sell them and buy higher-yielding Treasuries. Given that I'm planning to use these bonds for edu...

For those who hold a lot of equity (I'm at about 80%, if I include REITs) I believe that LT bonds can help balance this volatility and facilitate rebalancing opportunities, but it kills me how EE bonds can't do this in that they don't have a marketable value that goes up and down. Take "kills ...

By certain measures, EE bonds might well be the "best performer" LT bond. I've been buying them for 4 years now and as long as the 20 yr. doubling period holds and rates are low, I'll probably continue to buy them. But as far as functioning as a counterweight to the volatility of equity, t...

But you don't want to fund it and use it on the tuition of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. It's only good if you hold it for exactly 20 years. Ok, it's probably fine if you hold it for 21 or 22, but nevertheless, EE bonds only beat treasuries, or just about anything else, if you hold it fo...

For EE bonds, unlike I bonds, it's hard to fund college, since you really had to purchase most of them before you ever had children. That's foresight that most people don't have. Really? I don't find it so hard to imagine such foresight, even if I'm a little too old to claim it. But let alone EE bo...

I can respect anyone who has the strength of their convictions, and if you truly are able to come up with an AA that you can commit to, come hell or high water, that's wonderful, but be sure you have a full, complete understanding of what risk entails in "The Long Run", before acting upon ...

Hi LOTL, I'm not sure how much you've found so far, but there are a variety of resources you might find helpful in the Bogleheads Wiki . If you're not already familiar with it, check out the Wiki's Getting Started page . It also has a link in it for posting one's portfolio for evaluation by our comm...

Well, the ticker symbol RBD appears to be available. :idea: Oh my... such a marketing opportunity, waiting to be snapped up. It would have to be packaged as an index though, an index strategy at least, eh? An "enhanced indexing strategy". And so it could be applied to all sorts of present...

All the above having been said, do you think Yesterday was a RBD? I found it to be a RGD, actually. The long end of my FI barbell (EDV) had gone up so much in value by mid-morning that I sold a good chunk of it and bought VBR, which I was conveniently already a little short on d/t recent contributi...

That should be a hint that the durations are not zero and are not the same. Here are three Savings Bonds that I currently own: Jan, 2008 EE Bond with 3.00% rate Jan, 2012 EE Bond with 0.60% rate Oct, 2007 I Bond with 1.30% rate Can you tell me the durations I should be using for each of them how th...

To say that value is the redemption price is to imply a flaw in what I have written above. Once again, I see no attempt. Don't disagree with your definition of duration, just your definition of value. Have not addressed that. I think we're pretty much just dancing on the head of a pin here (or what...

I'll repeat what I said earlier even more simply, and I have yet to see even an attempt to contradict: (1) The way to value a non-marketable bond with no redemption option is by using present value. In the case of a high coupon bond, this would be at a premium. (2) It is not possible for (1) with t...

I'm surprised at the "Duration is meaningless for a non-marketable security" line. If there is a market for a security the price tells us the value of the security. (Efficient Market Hypothesis) The lack of a market means we have to evaluate it for ourselves . So net-present value and dur...

I'm surprised at the "Duration is meaningless for a non-marketable security" line. If there is a market for a security the price tells us the value of the security. (Efficient Market Hypothesis) The lack of a market means we have to evaluate it for ourselves . So net-present value and dur...

To address the OP: I'm in the "No Duration" camp. I think duration is meaningless wrt a non-negotiable security. That's not to say that rate changes won't have an impact on how I value an I or EE savings bond that I own, but there's no neat formula for predicting it. My question though: If...

Thanks for your help. Tax computing sounds very easy. I see that the fixed rate of 0.00 is a permanent rate for all I-bonds purchased during that rate. The rate resets I see after April 30th. Does anyone think that the rate is going to reset at a higher rate? I am thinking of purchasing 10,000. I w...

I don't think 1970's inflation should be considered as anything close to "hyper-inflation".

I don't know if you can still do that kind of thing at a bank, but I think you can still redeem savings bonds there. If you haven't looked yet, download the pdf of the form(s) you need. They should be here: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NC/FoRMSHome?FormType=SBF&site=indiv You need to read them....

Hey, no kidding! That is a great little chart, or collection of them.
It really made me think, if not conclude. I found chart #2 much more encouraging than #4.

Now maybe there's something about the top of the alphabetic that's not representative of the entire index, but I was impressed, and a little confused given what's already been said in this thread. I initially felt the same way as you--upon a quick scan, I saw plenty of AGAINST votes in the "Fo...

Reading through this thread leaves one (me) with the notion that Vanguard is something of a rubber stamp for mgmt. when it comes to proxy votes. I figured I'd take a quick peek to see how they voted on one of my funds. So I went to Vanguard's "How Our Funds Voted" webpage and scrolled down...

i'd sold almost all of my shares in 2009, but had a few left. then in 2012 the company merged with another and i was offered a pay-out for my remaining shares. it's a mere $105. how do i go about calculating a cost basis? maybe it's not worth the effort. Dig up your 2009 tax forms and find the cost...

It's funny - I think of myself as being quite "risk averse". It's part of my nature, and I rated myself a 7, but at the same time, I have little fear of market swoons and crashes. They're buying opportunities to me, I suppose. They're history, they're interesting, but they're background no...

Seriously, I think the first year of retirement can be a bit of an anomaly. I was planning for about 2 to 2.5. My deferred accounts have gained so much that I am multiple percentage points into negative territory if I include all potential retirement resources. Nice place to be. Make hay while the ...

My spouse will never complain about her craptacular 401(k) plan. She does not want to "rock the boat". So does anybody have any advice for employees who want a better plan but who won't communicate that desire to their employer? Of course we've all noticed people on this board posting com...

After being a Boglehead for a couple of years, stayed in the market at the 2008 decline, made my money back and at the beginning of 2012 started screwing around with T theory principles, listened to the noise etc.... and missed the entire bull market being mostly in VUSTX and shorting the market. F...

It's been reported this is already fixed. New minimum is $1,000. And, I think this is important, someone says they've actually succeeded in doing it. . As noted, last year Vanguard's site would sort of tease you by giving you the impression you could buy < $10,000 and not rejecting the order until ...

Excellent news! There are now some treasury auctions open. I just checked on Vanguard's new auction treasury page and it shows both new auctions and re-openings as having a minimum of 1 bill/note/bond ($1,000) as opposed to the previous 10 ($10,000) minimum. Goodbye Treasury Direct :D Bob Has anyon...

Excellent news! There are now some treasury auctions open. I just checked on Vanguard's new auction treasury page and it shows both new auctions and re-openings as having a minimum of 1 bill/note/bond ($1,000) as opposed to the previous 10 ($10,000) minimum. Goodbye Treasury Direct :D Bob Has anyon...

As it is, Vanguard's $10,000 minimum purchase does not complement the $5,500 maximum annual IRA contribution, and I think this is a real limiting factor. It's been reported this is already fixed. New minimum is $1,000. http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1484231#p1484231 I don't know ho...

I'm disappointed only 1 other person beside myself seems to care that Vanguard requires a min. $10,000 TIPS purchase. Is $10,000 no big deal to the avg. Boglehead? Maybe I'm just out of my league, or is it because it's now March 2013 and not the end of 2008? I'm that other person. But I'm sure it's...

I'm disappointed only 1 other person beside myself seems to care that Vanguard requires a min. $10,000 TIPS purchase.

Is $10,000 no big deal to the avg. Boglehead?
Maybe I'm just out of my league, or is it because it's now March 2013 and not the end of 2008?

Other: Provide a variety of user self-customization options for the Balances and Holdings webpage, such as... - Option to click on column heading to sort by that. - Option to truncate names/verbiage in columns to be able to display more info without multiple line wraparounds. - Option to add/remove ...

Interesting approach. If I were to attempt something along these lines I would plan for withdrawals at 20 years - the date of maturity when the bonds are guarranteed to double. I think the fallacy of trying such an approach would be that the buyer would be dependent upon consistent rules for e-bond...

Those expense ratios are horrific. I would talk to HR about getting an index fund in there At some point down the road (if not already) you'll become exasperated with your employer's 401k fund choices and the high expense ratios. When you're ready, go to the Wiki and search for "401k" whe...

"early rollover"? "emergency rollover"?