Bogleheads.org

The real question is just how long this thread will be allowed to run. It has absolutely nothing to do with investing. [OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek] But it has no place on Bogleheads, or does it?

For the funding of a new taxable account with a relatively small amount, say $1,000, what about one of the Vanguard Target Retirement funds having
minimal allocation to bonds, like the Target Retirement 2060 fund? I'm talking about tax efficiency and not about stock market risk.

I remembered seeing this somewhat dated table on returns for various allocations, having recently read Bogle's 2010, revised Common Sense on Mutual Funds . Ch. 3, On Asset Allocation includes, in table 3.2, page 83,annualized total returns from 1971 -2009: 100/0 9.6% 80/20 9.7% 60/40 9.7% 40/60 9.6%...

If nothing else, the EE Savings Bonds will give older Bogleheads a reason to keep on ticking since you know they're going to want to get their money's worth, compare notes and "told ya so's" down the road. :P :wink: Indeed. Lord knows I can always use a bit more motivation. Thanks for the...

There's a program to be aired on public television's Frontline tomorrow (4/23) evening that might be worth your dad's attention, and yours. It's my understanding that it will discuss the shortcomings of our retirement savings programs and how the average investor's interests have been sacrificed to ...

Electronic bonds are sold at face value (not half of face value). They start to earn interest right away on the full face value. Treasury guarantees that for an electronic EE Bond with a June 2003 or later issue date, after 20 years, the redemption (cash-in) value will be at least twice the purchas...

I'm just about 34, so my strategy is to keep buying these every month for the next 16 years up until I am 50 (assuming Treasury doesn't change the terms, which they probably will sometime during the next 16 years :x ). I will guarantee myself a doubling of my investment every year from 50-70 years ...

snyder66, I know that there are a number of Central Markets in PA. If you are reasonably close to one, I suggest that you visit and talk to the individual who manages their wine selection, or to one of his/her lieutenants . Introduce yourself and tell him/her about yourself and your quest. You might...

Austintatious, Interesting. Thanks for the thoughts. VICBX, at first glance, looks very much like VCIT (the ETF). Although the ETF costs just a little more with ER and bid/ask spreads, it'll probably be the closest most of us will get to VICBX unless our 401k's offer it through our employers. In fa...

Munir & Arts Doctor, Some time back, when I was trying to find Bogle commentary regarding his views on having corporate bonds in one's portfolio these days, I came across a Reuters interview of Bogle wherein they asked him about his portfolio. He said he had significant amounts of corporates in ...

I'm just about 34, so my strategy is to keep buying these every month for the next 16 years up until I am 50 (assuming Treasury doesn't change the terms, which they probably will sometime during the next 16 years :x ). I will guarantee myself a doubling of my investment every year from 50-70 years ...

I'll try to remember to watch it. I'm really glad to see that John Bogle is involved this time. I've love to see his capacity for bringing out change expand from the mutual fund business to the 401K industry. (Is there a Nobel prize for personal finance?) Reports like this make me hopeful that more...

austin If you get demand shocks then certainly LT Treasuries should perform better than ST My research shows that if you equity allocation is very high you should consider longer term Treasuries--you get the term premium but portfolio's vol will be dominated by stocks vol anyway But if have low sto...

austintatious Not only bonds, but very high quality bonds!! BTW-the role of a good advisor IMO is to remind people continually about the opposite of what is currently happening--so in bad times remind them that these were expected, built into the plan and that it's time to rebalance and buy low, an...

Larry, this is a very timely article. It seems to me that perhaps the lesson to be learned from that history of frequent and pronounced stock market volatility you so effectively described in your article is the continuing value of having bonds in one's portfolio. At this time when so many are think...

dontrunaway, I know that you're getting a lot of good responses to think about but you have plenty of time to sift though it all. Take a look at the http://www.longtermreturns.com web site, another excellent learning resource for new investors. Just the posts for Saturday, April 13 will give you som...

So, a titillating but certainly not severe 266 point drop in the Dow, a modest 2.30 % loss in the S&P, serves as a timely lesson on why we have bonds in our portfolios in the first place. Filed away, then, and remembered, hopefully, amid all the noise.

I'm wondering if the real news with this article is Bogle's comments about dividend-paying stocks, a bit further into the article. In the overall context of the commentary, it seems to me that he's buying into Malkiel's suggestion that dividend stocks are a reasonable alternative, even for retirees...

I'm wondering if the real news with this article is Bogle's comments about dividend-paying stocks, a bit further into the article. In the overall context of the commentary, it seems to me that he's buying into Malkiel's suggestion that dividend stocks are a reasonable alternative, even for retirees ...

Larry Swedroe, this excellent article out to be required reading for every American, to be read on a recurring basis. In fact, I'm forwarding to to a number of family members and friends. Thank you.

livesoft wrote:What about your bike? You both should have $5,000 bicycles.

much more economical to go with a $6,000 tandem

me-67 and She Who Must be Obeyed-60 basic 60/40 split for retirement accounts: Vanguard Total Stock Market - 42% Vanguard Total International - 18% Vanguard Total Bond Market - 20% Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate - 20% pension and SS income (considered FI) Lindauer-inspired savings bonds progra...

I just read a timely interview of Charles Ellis in the May, 2013 issue of Money mag. I cannot find it on their web site. I'm thinking that my providing a brief sketch of the interview would be permissible, here. I expect that our moderators will let me know if I'm wrong. The interviewer is Penelope ...

Yes I agree. So how to mitigate it? Take a look at your investment plan. Is it something you have faith in? If so, stick with it. I'm looking at soaring markets too, but my investment plan, documented in an excel spreadsheet, is a source of solace and stability when the completely human urge to &qu...

If you think this will help you understand the world better or help you in investing, don't bother. Btw I am a graduate from University of Melbourne and took that course under Nils. IMO, best way to learn macroeconomics is to learn history of economic thought. Yes, that was a part of what I had in ...

Thank you, Taylor, for the kind words and for the link. Some day, I hope to be proficient at posting links to the items I refer folks to.

I just happened to be reading Professor Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street 10th Edition (paperback, Norton & Co) when I came across a post of Scooter's in another thread discussing this book of Malkiel's that Vanguard was making available at no charge to a certain class of its investors. R...

My course for the past decades has included a generous allocation to CDs, and YES they can be invested as part of your IRA and the proceeds can be transferred to your Vanguard (or other) IRA account if you decide to take them out of the institution. I've done it. You just have to make sure when you...

My course for the past decades has included a generous allocation to CDs, and YES they can be invested as part of your IRA and the proceeds can be transferred to your Vanguard (or other) IRA account if you decide to take them out of the institution. I've done it. You just have to make sure when you...

Well, it's an interesting discussion, to be sure. To me, the biggest question in all this is just how seriously committed one is, or even ought to be, to the Boglehead principle of picking a suitable asset allocation and then "staying the course". If we buy into the idea that staying the c...

I'm revisiting the chapter on asset allocation in Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds , trying to come up with my own answer to the question of how advisable it would be to swap bond funds for CDs. I agree that returns on bonds will likely be quite low for at least several years and maybe longer bu...

I've been following that link tyler_cracker provided. Lot's of good discussion on the advisability of moving to something a bit riskier in today's low return FI environment. I'm thinking it's a FI portfolio Rick Ferri would like, for the right people in the right situation. Indeed, I kind of like to...

I believe in buying the entire stock and bond market as it exists as the cornerstone of a portfolio. So I don't need to make a case to include high yield because it's a large and growing portion of the corporate bond market. My reason for posting on these conversations is provide another side to th...

spin_echo, if you genuinely wish to have the capacity to keep your emotions in check, you must educate yourself. Asking for advice, here, is certainly a good start but, IMHO,the only way to understand just how badly emotions can affect one's investing career, how one might deal with them and why one...

Thanks for doing that! And there's certainly no need to apologize. I really do appreciate it when you (and other Bogleheads) share the articles here on the forum. I just paid my first visit to you blog. I looked for something relating to the pros and cons of having a retiree's bond allocation in in...

Hi everyone, Dan Egan, Director of Investing and Behavioral Finance at Betterment here. I'm wondering why you've chosen iShares for your value ETF's when Vanguard offers the same categories for lower ER's. I'm not married to Vanguard and it's not that the iShares ER's are outlandish, but I would ho...

More and more, I'm wondering if this is the answer to our terrible dilemma.

http://www.cajamicolchon.com

If we knew that our homeowner's policy covered the stash, it just might be the way to sleep soundly at night. Then again, remembering that old "Princess and the Pea" story, maybe not.

My wife and I have the most basic and least expensive cell phones we could find. OTOH, our daughter uses a smart phone in her business. It helps in countless ways, including getting her fees paid in real time. She uses a little attachment (Square) that allows her to swipe a client's credit card, and...

I am facing the same dilemma regarding the bond market. I would be interested to hear others' opinions of the state of the bond market. Everyone that I talk to seems to cringe when talking about buying bonds, not for the usual reasons (recent under-performance of that asset class) but rather just s...

umfundi wrote:Stockman is responding to a significant financial event: His new book is being published.

Keith

right on the money, pun definitely intended

I don't understand how he can make these predictions for the next decade, and in the same interview, say "I'm no good at market timing"? :shock: In my view, it's not "market timing" to speculate where and when the market will go up or down, how much and when; rather, it's abando...

Morningstar presented a day long individual investor conference on March 23. I sat in on most of it and I thought it worthwhile. Starting today, they're making one of the seven hour long programs available each day, through Sunday. Their discussion "Practical Strategies for Today's Bond Market&...

Just in case you haven't looked, I thought I'd mention that there are a number of threads in the website archives that discuss STAR. They may help with your decision.

Hi y'all, Jon Stein, CEO and founder of Betterment here. @Austintatious: To answer your question about fees: Betterment has no account closing fees, no IRA account fee, nor any transaction fees of any kind, at any time. If you have additional questions, I'll monitor this thread and reply publicly, ...

Makes sense. Thanks. Though I didn't say it, I really was thinking about individual investors, as opposed to institutional. That's the one I don't understand, at least, in today's environment. You are not missing anything. Just old inertia. In a taxable account just transfer back to a bank account....

Given the lack of FDIC backing and the dismal returns likely to persist for a good while, I don't understand why one would consider a MMF as suitable for stashing cash, except to serve as a sweep account. Would someone please explain what I'm sure is "the obvious" to me? Volume, although ...

Given the lack of FDIC backing and the dismal returns likely to persist for a good while, I don't understand why one would consider a MMF as suitable for stashing cash, except to serve as a sweep account. Would someone please explain what I'm sure is "the obvious" to me?

Answering 2, INTL equities vs INTL bonds... I have 30% international (moving to 50% maybe, still thinking about it -- I feel it's the right thing to do, just being a wimp), but I see no reason for INTL bonds. My thinking is basically: 1) I'm holding munis for the tax benefit, and wouldn't get this ...

For those of you who've incorporated a small/value tilt in your domestic equity investing and who are also invested in international equities, have you implemented a small/value tilt in your internationals? I have US: TSM, LV, small cap, and small/mid value. I have Int'l (32%): LV, small cap and a ...

Hey Austintatious, I will do my best to answer your questions. Yes, I tilt towards small and value with my U.S. equities. No, I do not do this with my International funds. The reason is that after a point the "slice and dice" pie gets sliced into so many pieces that any one piece cannot m...