Bogleheads.org

Everyone knows bond yields will increase and prices decrease at some point. The questions are when and whether you are better off staying the course or trying to time the markets. If you go short, you're giving up some intermediate interest (i.e., spread between longer and shorter rates from now un...

100% agree, LH. Market timing is market timing. I have no problem with "short bonds always," if that's what's appropriate for an investor. But I do have a problem with "short bonds now." Here is the way I look at it. You should "stay the course" in terms of your risk p...

This is an area where the retail investor has an edge over the institutional investor. Look at this data Duration 0 (Savings account - Only available to to the retail investor) - 1% Current Treasury yeild curve Maturity ----> 1 Mo 3 Mo 6 Mo 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 5 Yr 7 Yr 10 Yr 20 Yr 30 Yr Yield% ------> 0...

Folks,

Does anyone have information on the current crediting rate for the stable value fund in the VA 529 plan? I cant seem to find that anywhere. The fund seems to be managed by Invesco, but that's about all I can determine.

- BC

I just want to point out that there are hybrid options as well. 1. Lump sum out of equities into a "short term" account, then DCA into fixed income 2. DCA out of equities into a "short term" account, then LS into fixed income Not saying any of these is better/worse than any other...

Forget about the $450k and $650k numbers. Those don't affect your current decisions. You have 2 options 1. Option 1 - Sell now for $350K and invest with some stock/bond AA mix. Your expected returns will vary on the mix. 2. Option 2 - Rent. Assuming your net income from rent (after taxes, management...

I don't think you should compare the cap rate to stocks. This is more akin to a COLA'ed annuity stream with a guaranteed "surrender" benefit (the equity in the rental). I doubt you can match 5.35% with that comparison. More and more experts (bernstein for ex.) are coming around to the view...

Folks, I have been using short term munis as a combination emergency fund and partial bond component of my AA. With SEC short term muni yields at about 0.35% and my local bank offering 1% on savings, there isn't any reason to hold munis vs cash correct? The risk reward seems inverted. High marginal ...

Hey, why slap down these metals?

Lead and antimony do far more for society than the precious metals.

If you do decide to get a diamond - go for quality over size and make sure its GIA certified. That will at least maximize resale value.

One way to get an answer could be based on the effective duration of a mortgage. If I remember right, the effective duration of a 30 year Mortgage backed security is roughly 12 years. So if you assume that home prices would correlate to an MBS price, then a 1% rise in interest rates, should cause a ...

Definitions of elaborate and expensive would help. Also, the wording of the poll reflects a pretty strong bias against travel. You might as well have said "How often do you kick defenseless kittens?"

A lot of 529's (VA for example) offer a stable value option - basically a short term bond fund with some insurance wraps. If your time horizon is relatively short, then these are likely better than bond funds to hedge away interest rate risks.

I have no kids, nor do I own a house (yet), so take my words for what they are worth. I hear this refrain from my friends who are buying houses and have or are planning to have kids. It is my opinion, based on what I've read on the subject, and my ideas on how I plan on raising children, that they ...

Private schools in the area would probably run to about $25k/yr. It would seem that if I put that 25K into a higher mortgage payment in a better school district, that would be a better use of the money, but am open to arguments. Be careful; if the school matters to you, you might wind up paying bot...

Thanks all. It would seem that most here tend to agree that a house in a good school district makes financial and academic sense.

In my area, an average house in a great school district would be $1MM. I need to wrap my head around that kind of number.

Seeing as there is no one else handing out dollar bills - I will take it where ever I can get it. It's all a question of opportunity cost. Sure, you are getting $10 now, but what if with an enhanced performance history feature, you could uncover $1000 with better insights? I think its very similar ...

I think a lot depends on you and your children. If you have bright children, they will do fine in an "average" school district. By the way, Who is the one judging this average-ness anyway? I personally think it is a bit overrated and hyper=parenting to a point. There are a bunch of websit...

Am I the only one who thinks that this ER war has gone a bit too far?

Total Stock for example went from 0.06% to 0.05%. Thats $10 on a 100,000 portfolio. I would rather that Vanguard spend the $10 on improving some features like adding performance history beyond 5 years.

Private schools in the area would probably run to about $25k/yr. It would seem that if I put that 25K into a higher mortgage payment in a better school district, that would be a better use of the money, but am open to arguments.

Folks, Apologies if this has been discussed before, but I am struggling with a decision that many on this board probably have experience with. Current situation: In an average school district, but in a county that is higher than average state wide. Late 30's with a 3 year old. Currently have saved e...

I have done this multiple times.

Tips

1. Dont go to the post office first thing in the morning - thats what everyone will do before they head to work. Go in at about 10:30 am.
2. Go to a small post office in a wealthy part of town. Pretty sure to have a small queue
3. Take a book to read

You can open an 529 in your niece's name. However, it's more favorable for the 529 to be owned by the parent from a financial aid calculation standpoint.

Sorry to threadjack, but I am a beginner cyclist looking for a decent roadbike in the $500 range. Can some experienced bikers out there offer me some pointers? Should I be looking at used bikes?

Yup - 12d does add up to $17035.

For $35, it probably is not worth pursuing a distribution anyway, and the employer does not legally have to return your excess deferral. This will also make your tax filing easier, since when you enter the W2 boxes into the tax program it should add the $35 automatically to your line 7 wages on For...

Did you get a W-2 from company A? Did you get a W-2 from company B? You stated you worked for both A and B during 2012, so I do not understand why you do not have W-2's from both companies. I did get W2's from both. When I enter them into Turbo tax, it says basically - "you have contributed $3...

Thanks livesoft. The thing is - I dont have a w-2 for this excess $35. So, I could modify a W2, but then there is a mismatch between my W2 and the copy the IRS gets. The other option is to report it as other income, which I believe goes into line 21. Think that accomplishes the same thing - can you ...

Thanks. Now just need to figure out how to do that in Turbo tax

Folks, Running into an issue with a 401k over-contribution that I am hoping someone can help with. Worked for Company A till Aug 2012, Worked for company B for rest of the year. Between the 401k contributions for both companies, I am $35 over the 17K limit. I rolled over all the money from Company A...

Tofu is one of the most processed food items out there. Munchkin man would do a lot better with whole grains and lean meats.

Rick will be the first to tell you that he cannot (cost) effectively serve certain smaller portfolios for example. That is true at this time. I'm working hard to find a technology solution that will offer very low cost portfolio management services to clients who have any size account. Unfortunatel...

Hi there,

There are a number of factors to consider, but first - what are your monthly expenses now and after SS kicks in?

It depends. How far away from retirement are you? Are you depending on income from the bond funds in the immediate future? What's your emergency fund look like? If bond funds dropped 10% tomorrow, but recovered in 4 years, would you be ok with that?

Assuming that you are at least 10-15 years away from retirement, put it in the total Bond index now and forget about it.

I had a similar impulse a few years ago. What I finally decided was that I would have more fun in a car where I could approach it's limits during normal driving. As a fun second car, you can't beat a mazda miata. You can pick one up for 5-10k and it will be a blast. That's what I did. Well it was a ...

You deserve a fun car, but why buy new? Expensive sports card depreciate like a brick. What sports car are you looking at? Bet you can find one a few years old for half the price or less.

Interesting, but you have to look at what the options are. iBonds are backed by the full faith of the US govt and guaranteed never to lose principal. Where are you going to find a better performing asset that's 100% insured?

Thanks for the feedback all. A year of missed savings now will probably equate to 2 years of retirement postponement. I am ok with that. What is harder to quantify is the potential loss of future income. But I think that we have built up enough savings so the worst case wont be so bad. Guess it boil...

Thanks for the replies all. As for health insurance, a policy that covers both international and US for a year prices out to about $10k. Don't think ACA will help here since that will cover only Us geographies. As for cost of the trip, I guess it will work out to about $75k for the trip + 1.5 years ...

Op, what is it about a Rolex that you like? There is a boglehead solution to this. If it is the artistry of a fine mechanical timepiece that you want, there are some good options in the $1500 range. Hamilton,Raymond Weil, longines etc. On the other hand a properly documented Rolex is one of the most...

Thanks folks. I agree that 4.5 is a little young but I do think that you absorb experiences at that age even if sub consciously.

Financially I guess it's never going to make sense, but I am trying to calculate how much of an impact this will have on my retirement.

Thanks folks,

Victoria, we live in a decent school district now, so she should be ok when we come back. I don't think our employers would allow long yearly vacations.

As for current employment. He: middle management in hot software sector. She: healthcare (Aca) policy consultant.

Folks, Would appreciate some advice here, especially from those who may have done this before. The wife and I are considering taking a year off to travel the world with our kid before she has to start school. She will be 4.5 years at the time. This would be about a year or so from now. I am 38 now, ...

Easy - buy when everyone is selling and sell when everyone is buying.

Much much harder to have the guts to implement though.

Most people would consider success to be generating enough income to live a middle class or higher lifestyle from their business. Almost no entrepreneur I know would consider themselves a failure if their business generated, say, $150k per year rather than $1 million. If the business doesn't fail a...

In addition, how wealthy you feel is much more to do with who you associate with. $1M on this forum is average - it is immense by average US standards. $50K is average by US standards - it is a lot to 90% of the world's population To each his own, but a driving desire to build your life around wealt...

There are 2 types of human activities. Linearly scaling activities - where increasing the input by a factor of x gives you x times the reward. Example: most professions (doctors, lawyers, handymen etc.) Exponentially scaling activities - where increasing the input by a factor of x gives you x^y rewa...

Everything you say may be true, but Appl is the most analyzed company on the planet. So, whatever info is out there is factored into the current price. Sure buy Appl, but don't kid yourself that you are buying it for any rational reason. What I would do with 10k of play money is look for a small co...

Boggler you are right. The bond markets expectation of future interest rates and inflation is coded into the yeild curve. When people say "bonds are a bad investment now" that is incorrect. That assumes that bonds are a monolithic asset class. What they should be saying is "based on y...