Bogleheads.org

Unfortunately, this is one area where Vanguard is not the best. It's a factor that you have to weigh in deciding which fund company to invest with. For me, BlackRock isn't so much better that it would make up for the fees that they charge individual investors. Does anyone know of a company (like, sa...

Does the gift cards at grocery stores thing work for Blue Cash Preferred? I thought they excluded cash equivalent purchases. If you have a bunch of stuff on your grocery bill, how can Amex know whether you bought gift cards, ice cream, or cheese? Does your local grocery store submit that informatio...

It doesn't "hurt" me. However, the increasing complexity of Vanguard's fund offerings and the never ending growth in Vanguard's investor base probably does make it harder to offer a quality product. I really wonder about the way Vanguard ads pursue me around the web, begging me to invest ...

It looks like Penfed requires opening a .1% savings account just to apply. Does Northrop Grumman require opening a savings account? They reference "your regular share account". If so, do you have to open it before you can apply? Those are credit unions. You need to put about $5 in a basic...

Yes, in theory, I could hold for 5 years after each interest rate increase and I'd earn the interest rate prevailing at the time of the interest rate increase. But, at what cost? If instead, I purchase individual bonds and hold them to maturity, I never suffer any NAV loss regardless of what intere...

I find Vanguard a little inconsistent, admiral shares of TSM and the S&P 500 funds are .05% but their Large Cap index which is in between the two has twice the expense at .1%. I tax loss harvested TSM to Large Cap Index back in 2009. Now I have large unrealized cap gains so I feel stuck with La...

BTW, this portfolio is based on a very elaborate modeling of economic/market data, and every holding was selected for a very targeted reason. Are you familiar with overfitting? "Overfitting occurs when a statistical model describes random error or noise instead of the underlying relationship. ...

Dulocracy wrote:C) Should a tithe be on gross or net income? What do bogleheads do?

An investing forum cannot usefully advise you on your religious obligations to your deity.

You can convert Investor or Admiral shares to ETF shares, but you cannot convert ETF shares to Investor or Admiral shares.

There's no "list of holders" that you would search. Only individuals with holdings above 5% and individuals who also happen to be directors are reported.

Yes, but does the Barclays Index exist now, or is that something new being created for the Vanguard fund? If it exists now, where can I find it's duration and yield? I could not find it on Barclays website. I think the index is created for Vanguard. It's tailored to Vanguard's specific needs/wants:...

SP-diceman wrote:Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.

it's no longer called that.

Certificates of Deposit.

i don't think he is saying be 100% stocks. He would probably agree that instead of bonds one should hold cash, cds (with guaranteed early withdrawal penalties), ibonds, etc. cheers, He probably doesn't know that savings bonds and certificates of deposit can have reasonable interest. There's a minds...

I don't know, but that's interesting. I hope someone who does sees this thread.

Have you considered certificates of deposit?

Use a bank or credit union.

Money market funds were created as a higher-yielding alternative to bank accounts. The alternative to the alternative is the original.

For bond funds that pay monthly, it's based on how many days you held it. For this reason, there is no sudden drop in the price at the start of the month.

TIPS are different, they work like stocks.

What is VTINX?

This doesn't directly answer you question, but: (1) Why do you (or your friends) want to buy individual corporate bonds, rather than hold them in a diversified, low-cost mutual fund like Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund (VFICX)? (2) Why do you (or your friends) want to buy corporate ...

Typically, pre-approvals are sent based on the credit report, which does not reveal the person's occupation or income. Those only come up when you complete the application. It is conceivable that the company would turn your daughter down, but offer to reconsider if she gets a co-signor. Alternativel...

I like Jack Bogle's thoughts on this: I work in the US, I live in the US, and I spend money in the US. I live in Maryland, I work in Maryland, and I spend money in Maryland. I'm proud to be a Marylander. Why don't I just invest exclusively in Maryland stocks, or invest disproportionately in Marylan...

I like Jack Bogle's thoughts on this: I work in the US, I live in the US, and I spend money in the US. I live in Maryland, I work in Maryland, and I spend money in Maryland. I'm proud to be a Marylander. Why don't I just invest exclusively in Maryland stocks, or invest disproportionately in Marylan...

I'm so enthusiastic about I bonds that I have trouble understanding why anyone would debate buying them up to the maximum. From my perspective, they are a free lunch compared to all other fixed income options. Often, a few deli sandwiches every month.

Congratulations!

I didn't realize that the majority of the community's history was at Morningstar. I assumed that it was a few years before 2007 at most. How would one go about finding the first post?

A huge mutual fund is constantly receiving orders to buy or sell from investors like you. It can choose what assets to buy or sell, keeping its allocation close to its target. If this proves insufficient, it might actively rebalance, but the details are not public. In general, index funds try not to...

The world's largest pension fund, $680 billion, designed to provide monthly living income for all of the retirees in a sovereign nation of 5 million people... That's not actually what it's for. It's funded entirely by oil revenues, and it's designed to help contribute to the government budget once ...

I asked a Vanguard representative a year ago if I could sell fractional shares without selling the entire position, and he said no.

Alternative explanation: for the most part, Vanguard is indexing. The theory underlying this approach says nothing about proxy voting. Forming opinions on shareholder proposals and selectively voting take time and cost money. I am not aware of suggestions that doing so increases the returns to the ...

As others have noted, the issue of transparency of executive compensation is important. Normally, it would be illegal for a public company to fail to disclose this information, but Vanguard avoids having to do so through a legal loophole. It's simply indefensible that Vanguard provides no informatio...

Why doesn't the Blue Hills Weather Observatory use the metric system? It's not ignorance, nostalgia, or home bias. They do it for the same reason as they use antique-design weather instruments: total comparability and continuity in their long-term weather records is more valuable to them than havin...

If one doesn't own a home or a car, is it still possible to get umbrella insurance?

I find this forum to be great with very respectful users but would be nice to block post by certain user that I don't care to never read. Like this frequent poster: That's pretty silly. He posts in very few threads, usually ones he starts. It's not too difficult to check who started the thread and ...

Note that it's called a Roth, not a ROTH. It's named after the late Senator William Roth of Delaware.

johnanglemen wrote:I have $5M in Munis and around $60K in losses. Is that not worth harvesting?

For you, it might not be a lot. Unless you're willing to stay in whatever fund you buy permanently (such as the USAA California fund), you might have six figures worth of capital gains to eat.

How much in losses could you possibly have?

It looks like the all-time high of the fund was 11.93 in December 2012, and it's currently 11.72, so the most you could have lost is 1.7%. That's not a lot. What happens if the national municipal fund shoots up 1.7% in thirty days?

Can we keep this thread to issues regarding tax advantages/disadvantages, malpractice issues, and asset issues? I didn't ask a question regarding "what is the meaning of marriage? of commitment? is this moral?" That was not the question I asked. One could argue that a marriage must be eve...

I suspect that it would decrease your credit score in the short term. One thing that you might do that might help slightly is spend only $40 a month on your credit card, which would reduce your credit utilization rate to 1%.

1. I suspect that there wouldn't be a problem if you overpaid your New York taxes by not claiming some of your income as exempt.

2. A basic principle you should understand is that typically a state doesn't tax municipal bonds from that state, but does tax municipal bonds from other states.

I don't see that it is required by law. The Census Bureau employees are bound under penalty of law to not disclose the provided information. Where does it say, your response is required by law? (a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secre...

This is a civic duty. You get to live in the United States of America, and I'm sorry if sometimes that means you have to fill out some forms. I'm sure that there are fewer forms in Somalia.

What does that have to do with whether it is compensated? Its like betting on coin flips. Maybe I am not clear on what exactly it means for risk to be compensated. I thought the possibiliy of a gain due to dollar up, other currencies down was a type of compensation, but maybe not. It isn't compensa...

McDonalds has sales in yen that it converts to dollars, and Toyota has sales in dollars that it converts to yen. Neither company's value is entirely tied to a particular currency. On the other hand, bonds pay a fixed amount in a single currency.

Wait, are you all saying that it doesn't hurt your credit score to cancel your longest-open card? I was told that having one card open 7+ years was a requirement for the highest credit score. Why are the FICO formulas so opaque? Wouldn't it benefit lenders to clearly articulate how they expect cons...

Also if the Feds tax muni rates I would assume that the states would then tax Treasuries to make up for the loss of revenue!!! The courts have held that it is unconstitutional for a state to tax a U.S. government obligation, and this prohibition has been codified in federal statute. But the federal...

I assume the OP's job as a firefighter is hazardous. If the unthinkable happens, who is going to help his wife raise three children?

If these are taxable investments, remember to adjust the yields for federal and state taxes.

I think the best route is hunting a little bit for a good CD rate at a good credit union.

I don't think you're going to be able to get a card with a chip ("EMV") without getting a new card. I doubt that it is worth it. The major card companies say they will be rolling out EMV on a large scale in the United States sometime in the future. But that is probably years from now, and ...

It's worth remembering that some people do not have spouses. In fact, only 51% of American adults are currently married. How should those people answer Question 4?

Fortunately, this is what prospectuses are for. Each Fund may suspend redemption privileges or postpone the date of payment for redeemed shares (1) during any period that the Exchange is closed or trading on the Exchange is restricted as determined by the SEC; (2) during any period when an emergency...