Bogleheads.org

I may invest in a Samsung Galaxy S4.... http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzAzLzE0Lzc5L3NhbXN1bmdnYWxhLjIxMjJmLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg1OTA-CmUJanBn/bfa931c8/dbf/samsung-galaxy-s-4-2-of-35.jpg Fwiw, that picture shows an iPhone 3 model which debuted nearly 4 years ago . . . .

Law business is tough. I did my 2 years as an associate and got out before it got me out. Barely survived!

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1. We need some final encouragement to push us to move from our “full service broker” to Vanguard. Our concern is that we are not financial experts who are watching the global markets daily as our broker supposedly is doing. I realize that our portfolio may not be considered large compared to most ...

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=111597#p1622331 Above is my explanation in another thread. To answer your specific question, you don't lose the "opportunity" to avail yourself of the offset. Because of depreciation, even properties with positive real cash flow can ...

I assume you are aware that passive activity real estate losses offset ordinary income if MAGI is less than $150K. Max offset is $25K (at $100K MAGI). FYI, this includes prior years' unallowed. Social security (when you start taking) doesn't count toward MAGI. Thanks. I am not sure I understand wha...

Probably not a bad idea. You might want to check to see if this comingles your assets if the two properties are in corporate entities though. Thanks for the heads up. Both properties are held personally. The condo was purchased near the bottom of the market as a potential retirement home. Great pla...

Thanks for the replies everyone. The risk of not having a home or missing payments on any of my loans is fairly low given the equity in the properties and my other assets. I'm just trying to save money by swapping a higher interest loan for a lower interest loan. What about the interest expense - I ...

Bump.

Appreciate any feedback.

Thank you in advance.

Hi all, I currently have an investment property condo with a 15 year mortgage at 4.75% and a balance of $100k. Equity in the property is approximately $250k. I tried to refinance last year but was declined likely due to poor cash flow showing on my tax returns (I defer over 50% of my income with a 4...

Happy Birthday to you Taylor! You welcomed me warmly when I first found Bogleheads six months ago and helped steer me in the right direction to leave Merrill Lynch. I always appreciate reading your posts and refer to the three fund portfolio thread and investment gems resource to help me stay the co...

Let me try a clarification, assuming I am not misreading the question: I own a bond fund in taxable. It pays dividends monthly which I reinvest. In April I sold some of it using average basis, but all the sold shares were non-covered as average basis is FIFO in terms of shares sold. I still own all...

Do you mean the value today is only very slightly more than the value on the day you bought? Two months is too short a time to make any judgement about intermediate term bonds. As long as the reason you bought them still applies what you've observed is nothing to worry about. The value of your inve...

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Hi all, Newbie question on bond fund NAV. I've been watching the NAV decline slightly in my Total Bond and Corporate Intermediate Term Investment Grade bond funds the last two months. Are interest rates actually rising so I can expect higher yields in the future or did I simply overpay? I have more ...

HedgeTrimmer Equity Fund
Where Fees Come First

Long
AAPL (Apple)
BAC (Bank of America)

Short
FB (FaceBook)
ZNGA (Zynga)

1567.82

Since these are covered shares with no prior position before 2012, then the average basis that Vanguard is giving you is believable. Since there are alread buy & sales, it seems the you and Vanguard have previously agreed to treat those with the Average Basis method, so you have to stick with t...

Hi everyone, My return after I started to move my assets to Vanguard last July is around 7%. This is almost twice the rate of return I was getting at Merrill Lynch the first half of the year!!! A heartfelt thank you to all Bogleheads for your kind and generous help at each step along the way, it's b...

See if you can do it online. Go to your tIRA and look for "rollover" and then pick "to Roth IRA" . When I did this at Vanguard a few years ago, it seems like it was a couple of clicks of the mouse and it was done. Thanks, Vanguard walked me through it, all I needed to do was exc...

Are these covered or non-covered shares? Did you file a tax return with any words like "Average" or "AVG" listed on Schedule D for this fund? If you did, then I think you are stuck with Average Basis if these are non-covered shares. I am not sure about covered shares. They are c...

If you are using Average Basis AND you have done some buying after you have previously sold, then you pretty much have to trust Vanguard on this. I don't know anyone that can calculate their Average Basis themselves after some sell transactions, so there is no way to double-check if Vanguard has do...

If you are using Average Basis AND you have done some buying after you have previously sold, then you pretty much have to trust Vanguard on this. I don't know anyone that can calculate their Average Basis themselves after some sell transactions, so there is no way to double-check if Vanguard has do...

I recommend you forget about the web site and look at actual statements that you have. Maybe those statements are on the web site, too. How much did you actually pay for the shares you wish to sell? That would be a basis unless for some reason you decided to use Average Basis earlier this year. Tha...

I am considering a TLH for TSM in my taxable account. On the Vanguard site when I look at the "Cost Basis" for this fund it shows a loss of $4100. However when I look at "Personal Performance" for the fund it shows a gain of $2200. I did some buying and selling of the fund earlie...

Default User BR wrote:The procedure varies by custodian. Contact yours to find out.

Thank you.

Assuming you are filing single, then yes backdoor would be in order. Generally speaking, IRA and 401(k) contributions don't intersect. You should have no trouble doing a conversion. There is no need to do it before 12/31 specifically. The contribution deadline is normal tax day, 4/15 in 2013. You c...

Thanks for the replies.

Sent a message to my accountant have not heard back yet.

2012 MAGI estimated in the $150k range.

Thank you.

I would like to open a Roth IRA this year. I am over the income limit for a deductible contribution so I am planning to do a Backdoor Roth. I do not have any IRAs currently and I understand the mechanics of setting this up (thanks TFB). A few questions: Do I need to set up the Traditional IRA and co...

Average investor While I don't recommend that fund, there are far worse "mistakes" one can make. I would just make sure that you consider say 15-20% as equity like risk. The other thing is that there is more call risk here than if you hold the shorter term fund (and of course credit risk ...

Great article, thanks!

If I am understanding the point of the article correctly I may need to reconsider my position in Vanguard Interm-Term Investment-Grade, http://quote.morningstar.com/fund/f.aspx?t=VFIDX

Happy Holidays.

I only drive plastic cars.

Lotus Elise 2005.

Smart Car 2009.

Nice article on EE bonds by TFB, http://thefinancebuff.com/ee-bonds-vs-c ... tment.html

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Don't do it! This is the same exact annuity product my Merrill FA sold me on last July. The sales pitch was slick and I got pulled in by it assuming my FA had my best interests at heart. Boy was I wrong! After getting the Prospectus and reading parts of it and doing additional research online I was ...

livesoft wrote:Do you think June 1, 2012 was good day to buy equities?

Today was and I did.

livesoft wrote:You gotta start somewhere if you are going to tilt, so starting at 5% is OK just to see how things work out. In any event, 5% is not a serious overweight. It may take quite a while for the "increased expected return" to reappear, if ever.

Thanks and understood!

As someone with about 12% of portfolio in VSS and another 12% in VBR, I don't think 5% in each of those funds is a "serious overweight". It is almost no overweight at all since a typical small-cap and value tilted portfolio of 60% stocks would have 15% of total portfolio in each of total ...

Unless you are going to serious overweight micro caps they are not worth the effort. If you are going to serious overweight can you sleep with the added risk? Ditto emerging markets. Thanks for this insight. Would one consider a 5% allocation to a class of an overall 60-40 portfolio a "serious...

Are you holding this Fund through Duration (5.3 years)? If you are, where's the problem? http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bonds:_Advanced_Topics From the Wiki: Thus duration represents the length of time it would take for the total value of the fund, with dividends reinvested, to be worth exactly wha...

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the help -- especially on the risk issue. Based on the advice here I should probably be at 60/40 and maybe even 50/50 to start, increasing the allocation to stocks as appropriate as my risk tolerance is more firmly established. Thanks. A few more questions: Would having a...

Hi all, I recently decided to move my portfolio from Merrill Lynch to Vanguard. I've been reading posts on the site daily since early July and have read half a dozen of the recommended books so far. A big thank you to everyone on the site, I've learned a ton here and genuinely appreciate the generos...

Yes, according to treasurydirect and the code of federal regulations. You are a different person even if you share a SSN. There have been a number of threads on this issue. http://www.google.com/search?q=i+bond+trust&sitesearch=bogleheads.org Thanks a lot. Looking over the info I had found onli...

Hi all,

I have a living trust. Can I create separate accounts on Treasury Direct for me as an individual and as trustee of the living trust to effectively double the annual iBonds purchase limit? The trust does not have a different tax ID (it is the same as my SSN).

Thank you.

Kudos to Nisiprius, thanks for sharing your insight, very helpful.

Thanks everyone, appreciate the replies.

Daniel

I would like to open a BackDoor Roth IRA. I have concerns about the Caution given in the Wiki. I don't have a Traditional IRA now but I may have one in the future if I need to roll over my 401k and/or Defined Benefit Plan. Does the requirement to convert all IRA assets only apply to any IRA in exist...

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Hi Dan: Small-Cap Value (VISVX) has a Morningstar 10-year Tax Cost Ratio of .41 . Total Stock Market (VTSMX) which holds Small-Cap Value stocks has a TCR of .30 . The difference is .11% more lost to taxes. Also, placing SCV in a taxable account probably means more rebalancing with resulting capital...

Taylor Larimore wrote:

Momus wrote:I only have an account at Vanguard unfortunately, so no DFA for me... is Small-Cap Value Index Admiral (VSIAX) good enough?

Yes. Hopefully you can put this fund in a tax-advantaged account.
Taylor

Why not taxable here as with other equity holdings (TLH potential)?