Bogleheads.org

No doubt electronics, automobiles and clothing are better "values" than ever before. Not much surprise, due to continued innovation. I expect the trend to continue. But as a grown-up, I lament the passage of the nickel candy bar, potatoes for a nickel per pound, and ten cent bread. If we e...

I presently own PCY (Powershares Emerging MKT Debt). When the Vanguard ETF becomes available and the premium settles down, I'll probably move half of the PCY money to the Vanguard fund. It probably won't be much of a horse race.

Dale

My wife and I are a few years senior to you. Both of our sons have a ball park knowledge of our assets. One of them (who is likely to manage assets for my wife should I depart first) has "seen" our accounts. But I see no need at all for them to have even viewing access to our accounts. Van...

Verrrrry interesting. I'd like to see the thrashing continue until it is possible to reach some conclusion - probably based on real portfolio returns and longevity.

I am surprised that no academic papers have been cited so far. It seems like fertile ground that should have been well plowed.

Dale

When I converted a different fund many moons ago, the conversion was done at NAV. You can call Vanguard to make sure, but I would bet the policy has not changed.

Dale

Yes - I changed my IPS - a pretty serious matter. Beginning in the mid-nineties I maintained tighter rebalancing bands than most folks, and I always rebalanced back to my target allocation. I followed those rules during the 2008/2009 crunch to the tune of moving 7 figures from bonds to equities. It ...

.085% - and that includes a couple of pricey international bond funds from other vendors. Vanguard's international bond ETFs won't be cheap when they finally come out, but it might drive down my overall expense ratio by another .001%.

Every little bit helps

Dale

1.4% fee? I can think of a lot of analogies, but the first two that come to mind are: 1. Starting a marathon with your shoelaces untied 2. Competing in an Winter Olympic downhill race using your great grandpa's old skis. You have no chance of succeeding in the investment game if you start with an e...

The fund holds $18 billion in assets. Not too shabby for a class of bonds held in such disdain by some. https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0529&FundIntExt=INT#tab=0 And 70% is held in the form of Admiral shares. Not too likely held by widows and orphans down to their last th...

You just got done telling us the reason to own it is to get a yield that beats inflation. This is exactly what yield chasing is, no matter how long you do it. snip .......The point is that it's a hybrid investment with a strong correlation to equities . ......when investors ought to know that HY an...

I'd say 1% per month. Not free for the borrower, not a big deal for the lender and some incentive to pay at the first convenient time. The rate is high enough to make your friend feel comfortable that he is actually "borrowing" at a fair rate - and not so high that you appear to be greedy....

Grandma and ma may have erred in assessing the ability of the OP to handle/manage the money, but it was/is prudent of them to err on the side of safety. I say "let sleeping dogs lie", the OP will soon have the assets within his control and then he can do as he wishes. While the OP may be e...

I did a couple of medallion guarantees a couple of days ago at a main office of Bank of America. It took about two minutes to get the stamp from the vault and another two minutes to sign and stamp the papers. I only brought the signature pages. There were no questions about the nature of the transac...

There is no doubt that one or more alternatives to a 60/40 portfolio may outperform. The question is: "Which one(s) - and over what time period?

I dunno - and neither does anyone else.

Dale

For me the yield (nominal or real) does not define a bubble. What does define a bubble is a frenzy to buy at any price (or yield) in order to either buy while they can still afford it or to later sell the asset to some other sucker at a higher price. Folks camping overnight on a sidewalk in order to...

The store credit expires? That isn't very nice. I would talk to the manager and tell him I might want to take the ring. Ask him how much he will pay to buy it back. There are a couple of possibilities: a. He might be too embarrassed to offer less than $1500-$2000. b. He might say, "Sorry we do ...

David - the Variable Annuity is already tax deferred. jam71 - It makes no sense to cash out. Do a 1035 exchange to Vanguard and be done with it. BTW - I annuitized my Vanguard VA last December after 25 years of tax deferred growth - during which time the original investment grew by a factor of 6. Dale

I took a brief look at their website: 1. The reported returns of their investment scheme (since 2003) look great superb terrific! 2. The apparent 2% wrap fee looks terrific for them, not for the investor 3. Their "disciplined, model driven investment approach" utilizes market timing and le...

Rick failed to mention that DFA employs: 1. Screens to avoid call risk (optional for the less sophisticated) 2. Block trading (apparently no one else does this) 3. Patient trading (apparently no one else does this either) These three factors clearly explain the superior performance as I have showed ...

I own PCL. It is my only individual stock. It is less than 2% of my equity. I began purchasing in 2011 at prices in the low to mid 30's, intending to accumulate about 5% of equities. I can handle 5% non-compensated risk in the portfolio. The attraction was "timber" plus the fact that the d...

Great cartoons though.

Dale

I still have no understanding of what the risk is that should generate a momentum return, while cheerfully stipulating that the data is unambiguous that momentum exists. The risk is that there will be no "greater fools" around to buy when the trend reverses. Internet stocks had great mome...

And to be sure, small value never takes a hike "just when you need it".

I am wondering just who the cultists are.

Dale

I am outside the boundary on the aggressive side.

Why?

1. I am very unlikely to spend much of the money, so it is largely invested for younger heirs.
2. If I were their age my equity allocation would fall close to the "moderate" line.

Dale

If real interests rise, folks will be made whole after a period of time. But if real rates remain negative and nominal rates rise driven by inflation, there is no recovery of buying power. Bonds lose regardless of duration. It won't do me any good if my $10,000 invested today (which buys about 3,000...

In the meantime, some folks are sitting on the sidelines with cash that they removed from the market in 2008/2009. As the market initially rose they were afraid to get back in "because another crash was coming". As the market rose further, the were afraid to get back in because prices were...

Vanguard didn't send me a hard copy and unfortunately, the link to the book (in my email) doesn't work.

I always enjoy reading Malkiel, but it is unlikely that I would make any change to the portfolio based on the book.

Dale

No one knows whether the market will be higher or lower by the end of the year. The best advice is to always invest the money when it become available according to your chosen asset allocation. It is really a great habit to get into, and will save you from second guessing yourself in the future. Dale

I've been with Vanguard for more than 30 years. I've probably only called a dozen times. Any issues have been quickly and efficiently resolved.

Dale

What am I, chopped liver? :wink: Well thank you also Leesbro63 - my short term memory is pretty good, but anything after 5 minutes ......, anyway thank you for your input! I did see an estate/probate attorney this morning. Unfortunately, he is what I can best describe as a "country lawyer"...

Thank you bsteiner for you input.

Dale

CAbob, in my case probate costs should not increase due to revocation of the trusts. All of the assets presently in the trusts are Vanguard mutual funds. Those assets will pass directly to the named beneficiary and are not subject to probate. I think you are probably right about "pour over"...

No tax returns are required for the trusts (or K1's) are required until after the death of the Grantor. Probate shouldn't be an issue because the assets presently in the trust will pass instead by beneficiary designation and with therefor not be probate assets.

Dale

My wife and I have had revocable A-B trusts since 1997. The primary reason for the trusts was to avoid or reduce estate taxes. The trusts made a lot of sense at the time, but the latest iteration of the estate tax law with the portability provision seems to eliminate the necessity of the trusts for ...

If your bonds have a duration of 5 years, and rates rise from a yield of ~1.5% on these instruments to 5% over the course of a couple of years, you're already made whole just a few years down the road, and probably much happier with your new yield. The real rate on intermediate bonds is negative to...

Hoops, I have been following this discussion and I understand your concerns about preserving your assets. I have a few years on you and I, like many other real grownups around here would like to keep what we have and maybe add a few dollars to the pile. But there are no free lunches - and some of th...

Art, you may (or not) be behind in dollars, but you are way ahead of your peers in understanding the concepts of successful investing.

You'll do fine.

Dale

Maximus, you have described a very unusual situation. Please help us understand what this is about. No one can provide good advice without having more details. Is this an annuity contract issued in the USA? If so, what is the name of the insurance company and the "name" of the annuity cont...

Well, tomorrow is April 1st.

But I would have flunked question 4, “What do you do?”.

My answer: Not much!

Dale

I read (most of) the article to my wife this morning while we were enjoying coffee on the patio next to the pool. Whenever I come across an article like this, I read it aloud if she is within earshot. This has nothing to do with a superiority complex, I'm just trying to reinforce the lesson that tim...

You are correct to be suspicious of anything this Ameriprise rep tells you. He is either misinformed, comparing apples with grapes, or just dancing around the issues. Because of the wrap, you may or may not be paying loads, but you are definitely paying the er of the funds in addition to the wrap fe...

Yeah, maybe I need to learn this the hard way. But my purpose is not to beat the market. But simply to beat currently dismal CD & bond rates. And even I underperform the market but outperform CD & bonds, while being able to sleep at night - I will consider this a success. Exactly. Lessons l...

Congratulations csmo, it sounds like you have done a remarkable job in handling a very stressful situation. You know what is best, but I would suggest that your emergency fund has to be rebuilt. I would stop contributions to the 529 plans and limit contributions to the 401k to no more than necessary...

Oops - apparently misquoted someone - sorrry.

Dale

There is no sense in waiting for a RBD - it could come tomorrow, or next year after the market has risen another 10% or 20%. While it is predictable that there will be RBDs, there is no reliable prediction about when they will occur. Sure; rebalance opportunistically if the opportunity arises, but d...

I think it is working exactly the way it is supposed to. Authority to act on an account does not give authority to view linked accounts.

The spouse should be able to set up her account to link the outside accounts, provided the spouse has the login and password for the linked accounts.

Dale

It will be a merger rather than a sale and repurchase. Funds are often merged with no tax consequences. The FL muni fund has been "FL focused" for some time now. The FL fund is a bit less than 1 bn dollars, the Long Term muni is about 8 bn dollars. I'm sure Vanguard has been planning this ...

1962 - before there were any tax deferred "retirement" accounts. Some call them the "good old days", others recall, "walking 4 miles to school in the driving snow". There is some truth to each, but tax deferred investment possibilities are definitely an improvement. Sta...

pkcrafter wrote:Thanks, Dale, I didn't know that. You said Admiral investors, did you mean Flagship investors?


Paul

Yes. Maybe age is really catching up with me.

Dale

tonic, you should also be aware of the fact that most of those giving you advice are indirect stockholders in Aegon, the parent company of Transamerica. By discouraging you from buying this contract we may be giving up a few pennies in our own investment returns in order to save you thousands - or t...