Bogleheads.org

I have thought that for awhile. Not that all fixed income should be in CDs but that Stable Value Funds, Cds, I bonds, Online Money Market and Savings Accounts should be a decent part of most people's fixed income allocation. We should stop saying bond allocation and use the term fixed income. When C...

I would get out as soon as possible if in a tax advantaged account. If not, I would pay some cap gains to get out. If the cap gains are great then at least have the divs and cap gains distributions from those funds in cash rather than reinvest. You are young so the tax losses by selling will be made...

all the books mentioned are very good. After a basic read I would try the 4 Pillars of Investing by Wm Bernstein. There are some tough parts but you can skim them - it gives a good history of investing so you get the feel for bubbles and crashes. It makes the ups and downs seem part of a "norma...

Oh - I forgot a big one. During hurricane Sandy the power was out for days - cash was king - no credit cards were useable neither were ATMs. Food, transportation, meds, entertainment etc all were on a cash basis only. So, if you don't carry cash at least have some cash available for extended power o...

Not a fan of debit card or swiping credit card for minor purchases. Like to pay cash for gas and save 10 cents a gallon. Like to leave tips in cash vs putting them on credit card - heard that tips on credit cards don't always get allocated fairly - heard wait staff prefers cash.

Professionals have always had an edge - sometimes an illegal one. They often have access to vast analytical resources, high speed computers, access to company executives, sometimes visit company locations etc. They also seemed to have an edge in trade execution. This is just another advantage vs an ...

Just another guideline to evaluate when determining retirement withdrawals. My guess is that these low interest rates were not baked into the 4% guideline assumptions. Retirees who are currently taking 4% (plus inflation) related withdrawals and are just meeting their expenses have a problem. In my ...

Thanks Blues - I didn't want to suggest Mr bogle recommended Prime. I wanted to illustrate an "extreme" example where someone should alter the course and suggested that mr Bogle might agree. Hayden - I agree. This is especially interesting since in the earning/accumulation stage you could ...

Bogle's stay the course is a bit more flexible than purists. He seems to adjust to extremes in the market while generally staying the course. e.g. add a little exposure to Corp bonds since Total Bond seem heavy in bubble -ish Treasuries. I don't believe he is saying exit Total Bond fund - but maybe ...

I don't have a problem with Vanguard offering managed funds along with index funds. I do think it is odd that many forum members seem to exclude Wellington and Wellesley funds from the critique normally given to managed funds. It sets up an odd philosophy - managed funds are not generally recommende...

My bias would be to tilt toward Roth in your early earning years/lower tax bracket and if/when your income puts you in a higher tax bracket tilt toward IRA. An even split is close enough.

It is amazing how we can accept the risks associated with equities but when it comes to bonds we get sick - I'm with you on that. I have no problem with having lots of money in CDs, I bonds, on line Savings accts etc. I am about 1/3 intermediate duration, 1/3 short duration and 1/3 "no loss&quo...

Others will give more detailed comments. The only good fund in her 401k is the BR S&P 500 with a ER of 48 bps. The rest are very expensive funds. So, I would look to put as much of her money in the S&P 500 fund as possible and then use the access to other, lower cost funds in your accounts t...

I take my withdrawal in a lump sum from Vanguard and put it in an on line bank that pays competitive interest. It is easy to set up a transfer between Vanguard Prime and your bank checking/savings account (and vice versa). Each month I have $x (my monthly withdrawal) sent to my brick and morter (no ...

I think 90% equities is way to aggressive. If you have access to a stable value fund I would use it for at least 30%. If not then split between an intermediate and short duration bond fund, FDIC vehicles, I or EE bonds. Age in bonds is a nice guideline. You can vary from it but you should have good ...

Nice article. Count me in as waiting till 70 to collect SS. If you and spouse are healthy and have normal longevity prospects, I think it boils down to 2 issues: 1. How is your financial situation at age 62? If it is great to somewhat tight then you can and proably should benefit by waiting to at le...

5% is not much of a discount. I remember getting 15%. In any event maybe ask yourself if you would buy this stock at full price? If it is that attractive then a discount makes it even better. There are usually restrictions or tax issues that tend to make it desireable to hold stock for 1 or 2 years....

You are comparing a balanced fund to an all stock fund. The Wellington and Wellesley funds have great tract records. They are are not index funds and are "actively" managed. They have low fees but not as low as VG index funds, especially Admiral shares for Total Stock Market and Intermedia...

Lunch and learn = lunch and get burned and Learn at Dinner = assets get thinner. If you want to help your residents give them a book on this forum's reading list. My eye opener was Bernstein's 4 Pillars of Investing.

I give information, philosophy of my investing, discuss costs, risks, allocation importance, why rebalancing might help keep risk in check, what duration means on bond funds etc. I tell them no one knows what the market, interest rates or the economy will do -- no broker, Cramer, or me. If they ask ...

Wow. I can't imagine trying to save for a downpayment for an $800k house that will proably even cost more in 8 or 9 years - and the have to pay the mortgage and taxes. A lot depends on the answer to what if you find out that you can't afford a house in 9 years? Are you comfortable renting for 5 plus...

Wow! 26 and you are managing a 7 million dollar portfolio. What is the goal? Obviously, there is enough money to last several lifetimes. So, is it income? growth? capital preservation? Charity? It is hard to blow 7 million -- but it can be done - lots of celebrities and lottery winners can attest. M...

I own neither of the funds but if the only disadvantage is placement due to it holding both stocks and bonds then Tax Managed Balanced in a taxable account might be a candidate. Hard to find that fund and VG tax managed funds in general when you go the the VG site and click on all funds it ignores t...

My thought is that you are way too aggressive. At 23 you have plenty of time till retirement and you probably don't have much experience with investing. You can read books and take courses but until you have experienced the ups and downs of the market you really don't know your risk tolerance. I thi...

fixed income is "dry powder" especially if some of it is in short term bonds and vehicles that don't lose value e.g. FDIC or Stable Value funds. To me there should almost always be some "safe" assets or you are not truely diversified. Having an aggressive equity allocation doesn'...

There has to be a buyer for every seller but when a few sellerd sell their shares of XYX Corp for $2 less than the previous day that can set the value and if there are a million shares outstanding the value of those shares dropped by $2million - even though a relatively few shares were sold. The Cra...

All places you put your money have some risk. Sometimes it is the risk of loss of some of your investment sometimes it is that your money won't keep up with inflation --so you lose purchasing power. Loss of purchasing power is subtile - you think you are doing ok but actually you are not. This is a ...

I tell myself you can't predict the market. I can have some mild buyer's regret when I buy at a recent high. When I have to move a big chunk of money I don't do it all at once -- a bit of a lump and some DCA. I find it less painful mentally then jumping in all at once. You can do the math and say 70...

There is taxes and there is tax law. With a goverment looking for revenue on a federal and state level who knows what the tax rates and tax laws will be. That could mean put money in Roth before "they" do away with it or take the tax deduction for Traditional 401k while you can. If it were...

I have a decent amount of older EE bonds paying 4% and inherited some HH's paying 1.5%. Not looking at adding any current EE or I bonds.

12% of portfolio 28% of equity

If jack bogle said stay the course a thousand times and then advocates having more corporate bond exposure (and also discusses "tactical allocations")to me that means "stay the course" is a guidline, maybe a strong one, but not a command never to change your approach once you sel...

Bogelheads often have a passion for the "stay the course" - our inspirational leader however doesn't seem to always adhere to that phrase. Maybe "stay the course" is more of a guideline than a commandment. Maybe there are extreme situations, new products etc that should prompt yo...

High yield bonds/funds are high risk. They are called junk bonds - I remember one portfolio manager was taken to task by the regulators for saying they weren't really junk in our fund's literature. He was only trying to indicate that he was investing in the higher grade "junk". High Yield ...

I am not a Cramer fan. If you ignore all the hoopla you can see he is a smart, knowledgeable person who has some excellent reasons for his stock comments. But, that is the trap. It all sounds so smart and well thought out you think - yeah why that makes some sense -- and it does but that doesn't mea...

Wow - you are in great fiancial shape. I don't think either decision will affect your style of living. I am partial to annuities since I like to diverisfy my money manager i.e. I don't want all the responsibility for investing and rebalancing etc. Having Social Security and an insurance company taki...

I understand the lure of states that don't tax retirement income. Just be careful to look at the whole picture e.g. sales tax, realestate taxes etc. before you uproot yourself. Also, given the fiscal issues that face many states - they may decide to create taxes to cover their debt. So you also want...

You have the right focus to hate debt (most of the time). Any individual stock is risky so I would sell Aetna and you have better uses for that money. I think your priorities are debt reduction and building an emergency fund. You are young and have time to build a retirement nestegg (and time to lea...

Term is really cheap - if you are healthy - may not be if you are not healty or not available at all. There are at least three things to consider insuring against: 1. covering mortage in case of your death 2. covering mortgage in case of her death (probably less coverage since you are the primary wa...

I would guess that if on line banks like Ally decided to prevent customers from redeeming early (and paying the interest penalty) on a CD that they would likely go out of business. Not saying it couldn't happen - a run on CD withdrawals might make this occur. Ally has pitched itself as different fro...

There are a lot of smart/wise people that on on both sides of the issue. Some jump right in according to their target allocation others decide to temper risk a bit even if 75% of the time they may be giving up a bit of performance. Comfort with your investment approach is important- as long as you a...

When the you know what hits the fan - Treasuries will rise in value as many investors flee to safety. That has been a major factor why Treasury funds have such a low yield - people are buying them for safety. They also avoid state taxes on income - a minor reason people hold them. Bank CDs will hold...

Emergency funds are always a problem. large amounts of money we probably won't need or won't need all of and keeping it safe and liquid mandates low returns. Early in the accumulation stage it also is a large portion of your investable assets. A typical bad case scenario is loss of the sole bread wi...

Studies show that lump summing it usually results in a better long term return. But that doesn't mean it sits well mentally. If you are concerned then a combinaton of a chunk lump summed and the rest DCA over 6 - 9 months is a good middle ground.

I realize that the fixed income market is a mess. Vanguard is a responsible mutual fund company to close their High Yield Fund. I assume that they are concerned that they could not wisely invest the incoming money in the High Yield market. As people try to find some decent yield many have put money ...

Investing future house money is a gamble. How much are you willing to lose? Most would recommend not investing but saving the money in CDs etc. Personally I would not but any money at risk that I was saving for a house. If I did I might go for 80% in a 5yr Ally bank CD (only 60 days interest penalty...

you are wise to consider reducing your equity exposure as you get closer to retirement age and your portfolio gets large. The tough part is where to put you fixed oncome dollars - such low yields and rising risks. You are lucky if you have access to a stable value fund. You can rebalance by changing...

In general I would avoid "wealth management" sales ideas. bond yields are so low and firms usually want a decent commission that I find it hard to believe that their help will be mutually profitable. Also with every retiree looking for yield lots of people are staying up late trying to fig...

In general Stay the Course makes sense. So does age in bonds and other words of wisdom. But Jack himself seems to make changes that stray from staying the course - the most recent being talking about more corporate bond exposure in general and in the Total Bond fund. Didn't he also talk about tactic...

Wm Bernsteins' 4 Pillars of Investing. Was in the mutal fund industry on a business trip. Picked up his book at the library for reading on the flight. Wow - not only outlined an approach but the rationale -- hit home. Read it again 6 months later. Also the Boglehead's guide to investing. But the lit...