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Hi Bogleheads, The Vanguard Short-Term Treasury Fund Investor Shares expense ratio (0.20%) is higher than its SEC yield (0.12%). The admiral shares fund has a $50k minimum. Does this mean that VFISX is a fundamentally bad investment? Isn't it guaranteed to lose nominal value unless the short term in...

Hi Bogleheads, I started lurking over a year ago (I'm still new) but this is the first youtube video I have made: Why own REITs? I won't post any more videos here I just wanted to say that 3-fund portfolio is so elegant and I have converted a few of my fellow young coworkers. REITs are one of many e...

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000158038 "prepare for at least two declines of 25-30%, maybe even 50%, in the coming decade" "We went down very fast and it took us about 4 years to come back which is relatively normal" Mr Bogle comments on government policies especially on...

Infinite Chocolate (Replace with Gold bars for infinite money)

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Thanks Eric I will chew on and thoroughly digest this data and analysis you have brought to light

Recency Alert! :happy Bond returns during all 12 month periods when TSM declined (1963-1999): 1mo = +7.4% 1yr = +7.8% 5yr = +5.0% 20yr = +1.1% Eric Thanks Eric I am very interested to find your source on this. I am having trouble finding data all the way back to 1963 like you did. I can provide a b...

"The purity of noncallable, long-term, default-free Treasury bonds provides the most powerful diversification to investor portfolios". -David Swenson PhD, CIO Yale Endowment I am a young aggressive investor. In my portfolio the only role of bonds is as a diversification to my massive alloc...

Define "well." An asset class that exploits rising interest rates for an outsized gain. In other words, "well" == better than just keeping your fixed-income really short (or in cash). I asked this question a few years ago. The consensus was: nothing. There are some gimmicky fund...

Hedge fund exposure can be part of a diversified portfolio because some offer "Absolute Return", that is they can get returns regardless of which direction the stock market is going. However most (but certainly not all!) people on this forum don't have connections and/or capital to use hed...

For the low-cost champions out there, Individual stocks have a 0.00% Expense Ratio

When you invest in foreign stocks don't you take currency risk? They are priced in Euro, Yen, Sterling, and others. Doesn't this add an extra layer of risk that encourages you to allocate less than the true market cap? I'm a proud American and I will never have more foreign than domestic stocks. 67/...

As interest rates rise your bonds become less valuable on the secondary market. Intervention by the Fed has been good for stocks and a rise in interest rates would imply the end of these activities so rising interest rates would also be bad for stocks. So if both stock and bonds lose value in an env...

If you have 2 more years of undergrad plus law school it is likely you will spend all this money within 6 years. Tuition is higher than some of the older folk on this forum realize. So you're right to not want to take risk. I agree with Chief Wiggum, a money market account sounds good. You might wan...

Thanks again everyone to your replies. I will try to respond to you all: My portfolio wants treasuries because it is the only investment that pays you to hedge against the stock market. Some people short SPY in their portfolio of individual stocks, some buy put options on SPY. Obviously those 2 stra...

Is it possible to buy TIPS-like inflation tracking bonds offered by governments outside the United States that track currencies like Euro, Yen, and Sterling?

This does not sound like the kind of investment a Boglehead would make but it would be interesting to know if these exist. Thanks!

Sidney wrote:I don't pay anything to trade treasuries with VG.

Wow you're right I didn't realize I can buy treasuries commission free at Vanguard. Thanks a lot. Is the process easy to learn for a novice? Will my bonds show up on my Balances & Holdings?

Thanks for your reply

If you really want to buy treasuries right now, why use a fund or ETF and pay the extra fees? Treasuries are simple and inexpensive to purchase and you do not need the diversification of a mutual fund or ETF. Treasuries are exempt from state tax if held in a taxable account. Thanks I was about to d...

Hi Bogleheads, I am taking David swenson's advice and making all my non inflation tracking bonds treasuries. This means no corporate bonds, mortgage backed securities, etc for me. I have my money in a brokerage account. Can I buy treasuries by buying VGIT? I prefer ETFs. Would I pay Federal/state ta...

Is there reason to buy individual bonds nowadays when there are low-cost bond funds like BND/VBTLX? An individual nominal bond held to maturity will have increasing real returns in a deflationary environment. Is the same true in bond funds? I'm racking my brains trying to think of a situation where ...

David Swenson of Yale says that in 2008 panic scenarios, all that matters is Risk asst vs Safe Haven. All risk assets will go down together and money will go into safe haven assets.

Thanks all for the replies. While I don't think treasurydirect would default, I am worried they might use a lowball metric and I-bonds will yield way less than what my family experiences in inflation.

Can anyone speak to this worry of mine?

Thanks guys you are all great

If inflation gets as high as 7%-10%+ like it did in the 1970s and 1910s will I-bonds bought from treasurydirect seriously yield that much too? It sounds unbelievable. Would TIPS be a better investment in that kind of scenario?

Thanks.

Should I buy VEU (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF) or VXUS (Vanguard Total Intl Stock Idx ETF ) for my 3-fund portfolio? I prefer ETFs. Thanks

Sean

Percentages are expected real return:

Large U.S. Stocks 3.5%

Large Value Stocks (foreign and domestic) 5%

Small Stocks (foreign and domestic) 5%

Small Value Stocks (foreign and domestic) 7%

Source: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Historic ... ed_Returns[*]

Thanks guys!

Would it be possible for me to buy Samsung, Hyundai, and SK Telecom (Korean AT&T or Verizon) in my Vanguard brokerage account? Thanks!

Both are quite low risk, low reward in the world of investing. But the TIPS is even lower risk, and lower reward. This isn't exactly true and another Boglehead will hopefully give you the nitty gritty details.

Hi Bogleheads, My girlfriend's parents are not very well off, and have $3,000 that they would like to open a retirement account with. The father is a partial owner and chef of a small restaurant chain and the mother gets paid under the table as a waitress and a photograph editor. They are immigrants...

Hi, Does Vanguard's Total Bond Market fund hold any tax free bonds? If it does hold a mix of taxable and tax exempt bonds, wouldn't it be a waste because you want to keep the tax inefficient taxable bonds in a tax advantaged account and the tax exempt bonds in a tax free one? If it does not, is ther...

I saved $5,500 with the intention of making my 2013 Roth IRA contribution but on Jan 2 the market shot up and I'm worried I missed a window. I DCA'd $2,000 only to have the market dip the next day and now I am tempted to sit on the remainder until I see a better buying opportunity. Can someone be my...

Gold seems overbought. Bond interest is pitifully low. People are driven into stocks (especially high yield) to get their income, which makes them overbought. Real estate investors are traumatized.

Hi Bogleheads, What is the Boglehead way of taking more risk than something like 67% Total US Stock Market, 33% Total International Stock Market? Let's say our hypothetical Investor X "Develop a workable plan" -- That's what I'm here to do! "Never bear too much or too little risk"...

http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/COLA-Increases-for-Dollar-Limitations-on-Benefits-and-Contributions $17,500 for 401k $5,500 for IRA The additional amount of money you can contribute as a "catch-up" if you are over 50 remains the same. Is it weird that this news makes me excited? On the...

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/10/investing-gangnam-style A MID-SIZED sized Korean semiconductor firm named DI makes products with distinctly un-sexy names like “Monitoring Burn-in Tester” and “Wafer Test Board”. It has lost money in each of the past four quarters. And there have been no...

Huh? I don't follow. The total stock market has a positive return, so shorting it will reduce your returns. Only by using leverage could you increase returns, but only if the small value premium itself has a better return vs. risk than the stock market, and enough so to overcome the cost of margin ...

You're not a 3-fund portfolio kind of guy. You're not even a slice'n'dice tilter. You want to maximize expected returns. Nuts to standard deviation, you're young and you're passing wealth to grandkids and you've got years to ride out the bumps. So you went for a portfolio full of risky asset classes...

Apmex charges shipping fees

eBay is risky. you might get scammed if you are inexperienced

in california, local stores must charge sales tax on purchases under $1500

These are some hurdles I've encountered trying to buy physical silver.

I have Unit Investment Trusts in my Vanguard brokerage account and they are categorized as Other

This thread will get locked but I'm willing to be the martyr. This forum is called "Investing - Theory, News & General" We need to be able to discuss how QE3 and unlimited QE will affect investments. Not just the short term but also the long term. However this forum has a policy that t...

I'm sick and tired of these overused phrases: "Develop a workable plan" "Invest early and often" "Never bear too much or too little risk" "Diversify" "Never try to time the market" "Use index funds when possible" "Keep Costs Low" ...

I am now sold on Index funds for taxable investing. My current portfolio is in blue chip stocks (e.g. MO, DIS, ORCL, ...) but I'm ready to take the plunge and switch to a TSM portfolio. I have ~$40k I know I shouldn't time the market, but is it really a good idea to sell EVERYTHING all at once right...

nisiprius: Thanks for your post. That image is really tempting me to time the market and buy a lot of BND as soon as I can after interest rates go up. I want to be a Boglehead but you are tempting me...

When interest rates rise, your old bond with the lower interest rate will go for a lower price on the secondary market. From this perspective this makes sense. But it seems cooky when you look at it from another perspective. When interest rates rise, bond funds will yield more interest, thus becomin...

The main reason to rebalance is to keep your risk tolerance levels the same. But some say that rebalancing has another benefit: you are forced to buy low and sell high. when stocks rise and you rebalance into bonds, you crystalize some of your gains and protect them from the vicissitudes of the mark...

Why does this matter if it happened 999 years ago?

Hi Bogleheads, I am looking at my entire retirement portfolio as one big portfolio but now I have the question of which funds to keep where: Which investments/asset classes are more appropriate to keep in the Roth IRA, and which are more appropriate to keep in the 401k? On one hand, I want to take a...

If you are saving for a major purchase like a down payment on an expensive house (e.g. you need to save $100,000 in 10 years) then I would do taxable investing before maxing out the 401k. You need to understand why this rule of thumb is so applicable to most people and then you can drop it. Climb th...

I'm 24 and in the past 6 months I have started to save 20% my income to my 401k and I maxed out my Roth IRA, thanks mostly to the educated, articulate people on this forum.

As a California resident let me tell you guys that Stockton was the first city to declare bankruptcy, with other cities like San Bernadino to follow. The general attitude here is that we are only harming the super rich by defaulting on these bonds and we can live with that. The reality is that the f...

A real boglehead who "buys the market" ought to be more heavily invested in international equities than domestic. However the most popular allocation on this forum is 3:2 US:Int'l. Are there any REAL bogleheads here who actually buy the market at the appropriate weights? This question of &...