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‘High-yield bonds in the U.S. are less expensive by comparison with Treasury securities than a decline to record-low yields would indicate, if history is any guide. As the CHART OF THE DAY depicts, the yield on the Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index fell below 5 percent this week. That hadn’t ...

.19 which includes 3 relatively high er's of 3 DFA funds which make up 20.5% of portfoilo

Assuming one has decided to add a little HY to one's portfolio (which I haven't yet by the way :happy ) AND using whatever valuation measures you feel are best for high-yield bond funds/ETFs, do you think that right now is a "good" or "bad" time to dive into this asset class ?? ...

I feel horrible about this. When going out to restaurants, I normally do not like to ask to have a dish prepared any differently than it normally is. It can make things difficult for a busy chef. As one who has interest in two of the most booked/popular restaurants in the area, I can tell you that ...

Are high yield bond funds worth the extra relative risk to get a higher return? It's got to be the wrong time in the credit cycle to be investing in high yield. Corporate defaults are at record lows, leverage is at record highs. Wait til the shoot hits the fan... Looking at the data since this 2007...

Advisors are paid to set up a plan (strategic allocation ), implement that plan ( buy the appropriate products in the proper amounts ) and MAINTAIN the plan. The products and proportions are often posted/published/revealed by advisors and can be implemented by many. The most important benefit of emp...

Hi guys. Funny how a financial advisor's personality can change instantly when you tell them you're taking yo since the conversation went so sour with the ML advisor ...............we instead just placed an electronic "in kind"/custodian-to-custodian transfer. My thinking is that we'll ju...

Once set I have not made any significant change to portfolio other than dropping small allocation to micro cap and replacing one SV with another SV from another firm. 08-09 did get my attention but having been an avid reader of the “classics” in addition to this board and it’s predecessor I never ev...

For those who do not own this book (authored by Boglehead Rick Ferri, 2004), I highly recommend it. This is what I keep handy for "bathroom reading." What I noticed over time is that it has very easy to understand explanations of investing concepts. Rick is an excellent teacher, and his g...

Thanks for posting. Those numbers are truly amazing.

Bradley

Larry,

Thank you for your explanation and measured response.

Bradley

The Vanguard fund has outperformed the DFA fund over the past day, week, month,YTD, 1yr, 3yr, 5yr, and 10 year periods according to M*. Both good choices but Vanguard has had the edge in performance over at least the past ten years.

Bradley

Is it not the diversification across all factors that actually make up the Beta in the TSM?

The total market already incorporates average exposure to both the risks and the rewards of value and small cap investing. Investors who believe that the markets are efficient start by holding total-market portfolios which have average exposure to both the value and the small-cap style . The researc...

If you own say a TSM and total international portfolio you are broadly diversified, owning the most stocks and have diversified across US, developed and EM and you own large and small and value and growth stocks. But, what most investors don't understand is that you have NO diversification at all a...

Troutner used to be a regular here, constantly trumping up DFA funds and saying that the unwashed masses of Vanguard diehards were too stupid to understand DFA strategies. He and his small band of cohorts would jump on anyone who questioned any aspect of DFA. I was their victim as well. When I aske...

I must admit that the reason that this article caught my eye is that it has Bogleheads in the title. Claims that the media is biased in favor of VG. Are we all fanatics? While there are legions of Vanguard fanatics out there, the good folks at Equius are confirmed DFAheads, as many advisors are. Tr...

I went to a couple of Merriman seminars in 2007-2008. I found their presentation to be compelling. I liked what I heard about the DFA funds. Below is a reference which is dated but does have some helpful information. There are many advisors authorized to sell DFA products that charge less than 1%. ...

The other is the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, or NAPFA. These members will also hold the CFP or CPA/PFS designation and will serve as your registered investment advisor. They are generally compensated by "Assets Under Management", or an annual % value of the invest...

nisiprius wrote: The fact that I can't find the fee on their website makes me suspect that it's high.

You broke the code. Many high fee advisors fail to make their fee schedule available on their websites. On the other hand, most true low cost advisors do post their fees on their websites. Go figure.

Bradley

I figure if I have to pay 0.9% AUM fee, .................As to "expenses at ML other than the 1% AUM fee", true, it should be there but I have no idea the amount. Paying .90 for investment advise is unnecessary, unwise and will put you on the path to underperform those paying reasonable f...

I figure if I have to pay 0.9% AUM fee, .................As to "expenses at ML other than the 1% AUM fee", true, it should be there but I have no idea the amount. Paying .90 for investment advise is unnecessary, unwise and will put you on the path to underperform those paying reasonable f...

Bradley, Sectors are certainly not core holdings. Eric Eric, Again, let me clear up a few misconceptions for you. Even though the date of Rick’s Wall Street Journal article was in 09 I had held the same basic portfolio products for years. Also, the 50/50 allocations in the article were adjusted to ...

OK, great. REITs have beaten my DFA SV by 0.1% over the last decade How's my SV vs your S&P 600 Value? I hold about double the SV you do. How's my US LV doing relative to your TSM? Eric Eric, you crack me up. As indicated in an earlier post, I pointed out that Vanguard’s REIT has outperformed D...

Let' s see what others have to say................ "The Fours Pillars of Investing...." page 123 Bernstein says "...the maximum exposure you should allow for this asset class is 15% of your stock component" On page 379 of the 2012 copyright version of "A Random Walk Down Wal...

To clarify, DFA 5YR Global Fund (one of the two "high quality bond" comparisons I made, the other Vanguard TBM) underperformed Vanguard HY by 3.8% over the last 10 years Eric Eric, Below is the M* reference which will provide you with the correct data. Vanguard’s HY ( VWEAX ) has actually...

............ HY suffered devastating losses at just the wrong time in 2008. A total blood bath like nothing we'd ever seen from "bonds". Eric “devastating losses” ??? Eric, you crack me up. I have already provided the data that shows VWEAX (Vanguard’s Hy Yield )outperformed DFGBX ( Dimens...

EDN wrote:
In 2008, the spread in losses between HY and the two high quality bonds was more than -25%!


Eric

In 2009, the spread in gain between HY (VWEAX ) and DFA 5 yr Global DFGBX was in excess of 35%!

Bradley

EDN wrote:
DFA also has a few intermediate funds, ...........................DFA Investment Grade is similar to Total Bond Index

Eric

DFA Investment Grade....................DFAPX inception date 3/02/2013. M* has no “Rating & Risk” data because it’s so new.

most Vanguard index funds hold leveraged equity index futures contracts Jim Can you support your claim? Jim, Thank you for your latest post with your explanation. I was hoping you could provide a reference specific to Vanguard funds. https://advisors.vanguard.com/VGApp/iip/site/advisor/investments/...

60-20-20 :happy Below is the growth of $10,000 over 10 years as of 4/19/2013 Vanguard High-Yield ...........................VWEAX...............$21,251 Vanguard Inflation-Protected Secs.......VAIPX...................$18,412 Vanguard Total Bond Market ...............VBTLX.................$16,432 DFA ...

Well, I backtested two portfolios. Portfolio 1 is 50 TSM/50 TBM , Portfolio 2 is 50 TSM/40 TBM / 10 HY Turns out the annualized return going back to 1998 is the same, but HY significantly increases portfolio volatility. In every significant market downturn (not just 2008), the HY had a bigger draw ...

The extra money you make on HY in the good times is given back during the bad times. .......... but you also have to rebalance from your high quality bonds into your HY bonds while they are also tanking. No thanks.) ( rebalance from your high quality bonds into your HY bonds while they are also tan...

xram, I do not hold commodities nor would I but Larry Swedroe is a big fan of investing in commodities via CCFs. He has endorsed PIMCO’s PCRIX in his publications and posts. Not sure if he still uses PCRIX but if you check out his post dated below he lays out his reasons for using PCRIX. by larryswe...

most Vanguard index funds hold leveraged equity index futures contracts Jim Can you support your claim? While the total market prospectus does allow for the use of derivates, this is what it states about the use of leverage........" The Funds will not use derivatives for speculation or for the...

magellan wrote:PCRIX may buy securities that are leveraged

Jim

Can't be just a little pregnant.

They do not and have never used leverage Larry Larry, You have endorsed PCRIX in publications and on this forum going so far as to declare you held it in your personal account. On page 50 in the Chapter on “Good Investments” in your Alternative Investment book you appear to endorse PCRIX but then o...

They do not and have never used leverage Larry From the 7/31/2012 prospectus under Principal Investment Strategies for PCRIX it states..............The Fund will seek to gain exposure to the commodity markets primarily through investments in leveraged or unleveraged commodity index-linked notes, wh...

madbrain First, PCRIX does not use any leverage Best wishes Larry Larry, This may be the source of confusion. From the 7/31/2012 prospectus under Principal Investment Strategies for PCRIX it states..............The Fund will seek to gain exposure to the commodity markets primarily through investmen...

OVerthehill You are correct, and I apologize. ............... As to the rude comments---even I have my limits as to patiently answering questions. Larry Larry, I accept and appreciate your apology. We all know you are passionate about defending your opinions and your inputs and have been very helpf...

Larry, speaking of wanting to learn and being able to read, I checked out your company's web site and I was unable to locate any specific information on fees. A person would have to call your company to learn them, and we all know what happens to the names and contact info of every person who calls...

Bradley All I can say is that you need to learn how to read................... as I also showed your analysis is just plain bad, let alone inaccurate because it looks at commodities in isolation. Larry, I simply posted data. I did no analysis nor did I say or pretend to do so. Because of your tone ...

Bradley Are you going to deny that HY bonds went down during the periods like 2008 and 2002 when the safety of the bond side was needed most? Larry, Nobody has denied that HY went down in 2008. But what you fail to admit, acknowledge or discuss is how your chosen commodity diversifier PCRIX behaved...

With that said, as it turns out, depending on the period (whether going all the way back to 1970 or last 20 or 10 years) including CCF has not only produced higher SR but often higher returns as well. Larry All the way back to 1970??? What CCF did you use? [Snarky comment removed by admin LadyGeek]...

Bradley One day's results? You've got to be kidding-- Larry Larry, Reread my post. I said that one day results are meaningless, I simply posted actual data to show how silly your statement; "the risk of high yield shows up at the wrong time? That is fact, not opinion." is. Your facts are ...

Yup! YTD Vanguard Int Treasury = +0.8% Vanguard Int Corporate = +1.3% Vanguard HY = +2.3% Eric, As you have shown Vanguard’s HY has outperformed all other bond funds YOU have chosen to compare it with. Also, IF you had chosen to use the more meaningful 10 year data you would have seen that VWEAX, V...

the risk of high yield shows up at the wrong time ? That is fact, not opinion. Larry Everything is relative. DFSVX -4.34% DFA small cap value PCRIX -3.11% PIMCO Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund VWEAX -.16% Vanguard High Yield One day's results are meaningless in the long run but it does refute t...

Even though CCF have significantly underperformed stocks yet in context of portfolio, despite that, the Sharpe ratios went up slightly. Best wishes larry Great, "Sharpe ratios went up slightly". Little consolation to an investor looking to increase wealth rather than their Sharpe ratio.

Bradley Exactly what happened in 2008 with commodities is what I said would happen when you have a demand shock, as was already explained to you several times, not once. Best wishes Larry Larry, Below is what you said in your Great Commodity Debate with Rick where once again you state as fact that ...

larryswedroe wrote:
B) the risks tend to show up at exactly the wrong time, like 08

Those are all facts


Larry

Arguably questionable facts.

What about commodities? How did they work in 08? Are you going to stop supporting them going forward because of their performance/correlation to stocks in 08?