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What do you do with a series EE bond when they stop earning interest? Do you have to cash it in right away?

No. You're allowed to put $5500 in, total, for 2013 tax year. You don't get credit to add to it for dollars removed from it, even if they were 2013 dollars.

_Edit_: I stand corrected; see below.

robertalpert wrote:In addition to the er's these may have sales loads up to 5.75 percent according to the first paragraph. May not be worthwhile investing beyond the company match.

Typically these are waived in a 401(k) plan, although it's worth confirming that first.

I'm surprised this hasn't been addressed yet. I'm not sure if you mistyped or if you meant this as written; in the event it's the second, I need to say something. Presumably, that 401K should be rolled over into a new Vanguard IRA and invested aggressively in index funds. Yes, the Vanguard IRA is a ...

tfb wrote:The fee is paid into the fund. It increases NAV than otherwise.

Cool, thanks!

One quick aside to JW : I don't know all the Fidelity funds, but Vanguard does have a few funds with loads. They're rare, and I think almost always (if not actually always) new funds. VTIPX is one such fund. The purchase fee feels like a load but it's not. Once you are in the fund, you benefit from...

When I asked about their performance in relation to an index fund they claimed that they can do much better than those because they use funds through Fidelity that are no-load or load-waived. Both you and your wife should know - if you don't already - that you can get many funds (both index and oth...

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet: the asset allocations can vary. Some fairly wealthy individuals will have a significantly higher equity exposure than you might otherwise expect for their age; if the stocks take a huge nosedive, well, they've still got plenty. Others are the opposite and ha...

I know a lot of people argue not to change your allocation OUT of bonds, but what about where to put new money INTO your AA? If I've got $1 of new money to put in, is anyone NOT putting it in bonds? Thoughts? I'm continuing with my stated asset allocation, so yes, thirty cents of that dollar is goi...

Thanks for the explanations about futures contracts. I guess I should pay more attention to the prospectus.

I was looking at my one index fund (SSgA S&P 500) in my 401k and comparing to Vanguard's Total Stock Market (VTSAX) - turnover is 19% at SSgA and 3.2% at Vanguard. Second eye-catcher is that SSgA's 3rd largest holding is some sort of futures contract - so this looks more like an actively manage...

I think the RB40 author (Joe) IS "retired" and is about the same age as MMM. However he also points out his wife is still working and makes a solid income . Then you're not really retired... Geez... there are 20 million house-wifes and house-husbands who could have started a blog claiming...

If this is in a tax-advantaged account, there isn't any problem converting it to the underlying funds. As to whether or not to try to "time" the market - in addition to things like "all time high" not being worth worrying about (other than the James Bond song by that name), you'r...

In regards to his rental property, MMM writes: I only clear about 5% of the value of the house in rent every year. I could do better by just selling the place and owning some REITs. Or buying a 4-plex that would deliver double the rent, even after hiring a property manager. So when you see “rental ...

The first thing that comes to mind is the cost of buying the options.

As a general rule, I'd be suspicious of any deterministic method that seems like it might be able to beat the market.

Cost of the cheapest option for a family of 3 will likely be north of $15K a year, which means that the present value of health insurance till he can claim Medicare would be close to a million dollars. Given that college costs at a selective school are over $250K, just to fund those two costs would...

The first questions that come to mind to ask are how is the 401(k) at the second employer? And, if the SEP IRA options are chosen for you, what are they and how good or bad are they? (I have no idea how a SEP IRA works).

Are you taking resumes? ;-) On a serious note, how well educated are the users of the 401(k)? My one worry would be that some people are so accustomed to looking for an S&P 500 index that they might view this exceptional 401(k) as sub-par (even though it has the total stock market, which I prefe...

On 4/1/2013, the 2-year Treasury note was auctioned. It has a coupon of 0.25%. It will pay $2.50 in 10/2013, $2.50 in 4/2014, $2.50 in 10/2014, and $1002.50 on 3/31/2014. It will do this regardless of anyone's opinon. It will in fact pay out a grand total of $1010. The auction price of this bond wa...

Hmm... nothing for me, but found approx. $50 in my parents' name (sent it to them) and another $50 in my sister's name (same).

Always great to have that reminder; thanks, Larry. It's especially important for guys like me with the bad habit of checking how the market did each day.

If the STAR fund matches your desired asset allocation, it's just fine. You might want to see if a target date fund fits you better. Depending on the total size of the IRA, you might decide to "roll your own" asset allocation, but typically this doesn't become advantageous until you have $...

Hi there, Whether any particular fund is a good place to put your money depends on a number of factors, such as your desired asset allocation, goals, and whether or not the moneys are in a tax-advantaged account. May I suggest editing your post to include the information from Asking Portfolio Questi...

Mmm... the two stock funds I hold in taxable have dropped their respective ERs in the past few months. Not bad for my first year or so of real investing! I was worried initially at the change when I noticed the 0.05% on the screen (before reading this thread); I thought I had switched total stock ma...

EXTREMELY unlikely. Here's why: I'm currently in my second year of employment in a six-figure job. I am set to max out my 401(k), and I did max it out in 2012. I will max out the Roth IRA, if I am able to do so (I have $10k in a t-IRA that I don't want to convert to Roth, so I won't do a backdoor Ro...

Being frugal wasn't cool at some point? News to me...

sscritic wrote:Agree. Just look at the hit Vanguard California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt took today as a result.

VCAIX ... didn't move today... or is that your point?

(I can be dense sometimes)

Thought occurred to me today: is there a better way to do the external investments? My employer's retirement plan is through someone other than Vanguard. I periodically check it myself and enter the updated information into Vanguard so I can see everything at once. Paychecks are twice a month and pe...

I don't do what you're suggesting because in the past I've gotten surprise bonuses in the fall, from which my employer applied my 401k contribution selection. That's pretty awesome of your employer - in my 15 years of working, I've NEVER had 401k contributions come out of a bonus. I would have love...

Hi all, I'm currently set to contribute $17,500 (not counting employer matching dollars) to my 401(k) in 2013, assuming I remain employed with this employer (or otherwise eligible to contribute to one). A little under $6000 of this annual amount gets matched (not dollar for dollar, but vesting immed...

OP: have you checked out How to Campaign for a better 401(k) plan in the wiki? I found that awfully funny. It's kinda like asking Rick Ferri if he had ever checked out "All About Asset Allocation" or asking William Bernstein if he had read "The Four Pillars of Investing". :) :sh...

Vote with your dollars. Only contribute enough to get the match. If there isn't a match save in a taxable account, or use an IRA if you can. If upper level employees want a plan, they will be unable to contribute because of the top-heavy rules. What's the cut-off for upper level employees? If I wer...

What fraction of your portfolio/net worth is this stock, and are there other options? May I suggest doing a full portfolio question instead? My suggestion, regardless of the rest of your portfolio, is to sell the stock; in fact, I suggest never owning an individual stock, especially not for the comp...

At this point, I'm confused what the total portfolio looks like - you have target date funds in one place, selections elsewhere, and are trying to tilt. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can help with this.

First thought: if you already have IRAs, you can use them to do so, regardless of when you contribute for 2013 (although sooner is generally better). If you don't already have IRAs, but could have contributed for 2012, you can make those contributions first, preserving the time to add more for 2013....

I agree that 1.5% is close to noise at that point (I'm currently off on my asset allocation by about that much, but my re-balance date isn't for another three months or so). I'd go with the S&P 500 index over the target date fund. Next time you re-balance, add the 401(k)'s value to your holdings...

May I suggest a new post using the requested format for portfolio questions ? You'll get far more meaningful feedback if it's viewed as one large portfolio, and with all the information available to you viewed by those helping?[/quote Clever_Username, do you mean that I should create an entire new ...

We are currently selling stocks in our Charles Schwab 401k and getting ready to begin structuring a 3 fund porfolio there. That account needs to stay at Schwab through Drbaseballdad's employer. Here is what we are thinking and would like advice: Charles Schwab 401k $250,000 40% SWTX Total Stock .09...

Historically, they seem to be on or around the 22nd of a month (that's a week from Friday).

I have only one fund in Vanguard, just VTSAX. I would like to diversify into other mutual funds, low expense ratio, no load, in Vanguard. Good plan. While VTSAX is a great fund, having multiple asset classes in your portfolio is better. The three-fund portfolios say international stock and total bo...

OP: How long does your wife intend to stay at this job? You might be better able to tolerate something - whether it's the 2050 fund, the equally weighted S&P, or something else - if she's only planning to be there for a year or two as opposed to a career. P.S. If I ever personally see garlic ice...

The other difference, I notice is Fidelity has lower min investment than Vanguard ($2500 vs $3000) and Fidelity has redemption fee if withdrawn before 90 days. If you're going to invest $3000 or more, the difference in minimum starting doesn't matter. If you have only $2500 to start with and want t...

Bull markets are generational. Am I the only under-30 (I turn 30 at the end of this upcoming June) with a sizable bond portion? I'm at 30% - slightly more than my age, even! - and, even with the stock portion going up quicker than my bond portion of my portfolio, I'm not tempted to switch over to m...

Dividend postings are a great way to re-balance, or move closer to your desired allocation, without additional taxes. My taxable funds don't reinvest their dividends directly, but instead pay to my bank account (formerly to my MM account). I use that, coupled with whatever new contributions I'd be m...

Just did it. Follow up question: I have some individual stocks I bought about 10 years ago that are in a brokerage account. Some are in positive territory, others are not. They don't incur any expenses, other than posting dividends. Would you get rid of those, too? I feel like individual stocks don...

I can't figure out my number until I figure out my goals. In fact, my first post on this forum back in July was something like "help me determine goals." I was (still am) living a low-cost lifestyle and all of a sudden had a much bigger paycheck coming in. Since then, I've at least started...

Congratulations. That's fantastic news.

Savings bonds earn interest for a limited amount of time. I believe it is 30 years. When they mature, taxes are due on the interest (if you have not been paying annually) and interest stops accumulating. There is no reason to keep them once they reach this point. Jeff Interesting. That's going to m...

When I was looking for work about a year ago, I compared the best offers -- turns out there were two that I was comparing. The 401(k) match was among the things being compared. The one I chose matches 100% of the first 3% and then 50% of the next 2%. This vests immediately. The other one matched som...

If you have documented the purchase price of the original shares, then certainly that goes to basis. What you don't have are any reinvested distributions (well, it sounds like some are documented). I do have the original purchase price documented. I don't have the dividend reinvestments documented ...