Bogleheads.org

Just to be clear - an MBS tranche is a financing mechanism by the lenders used to offload loans (risk) to third-parties. If the MBS mechanism was not available, the amount of lending capacity would drop precipitously as the banks would have to hold capital on their books in reserve. In other words,...

Read between the lines - investors if you will, were buying packaged MBS securities, yes. The ultimate end-user (the home purchaser) had no idea that an oligopoly was instrumental in causing an overheated marketplace by assigning worthless valuations that led to severe overpayment of assets finance...

I made no argument against them paying any price for fraud, if they did in fact commit fraud. I was specifically addressing the comment that today's S&P ratings are worthless. They aren't. If in fact S&P committed fraud and provided worthless ratings in the past, how can you be certain they...

A 2012 RAV4 V6 (182in.) is a smallish car with a v6 (269hp) and under $30K (if you hurry, you should still be able to find it new).

Not sure about the AC etc.

In case anyone else was also curious, FTSE Global All Cap ex-US covers three countries that MSCI ACWI ex-US IMI didn't: Morocco, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. On the other hand MSCI has around 9,000 positions, while FTSE has only about 5,300. The only thing that concerns me is the 5yr tota...

Thanks, I'm not sure I'm convinced of the value of tilting to small -cap value yet, so i'm holding off -instead i'm aiming to hold as much of the market as is feasible at the market weights.

I've been thinking about REITs; however, what's the case for holding more than the 3% or so that is in TSM?

After browsing around the forum a bit, I found out that Total Bond Market does not contain high-yield bonds, so I'm probably going to replace some of my TBM allocation in my Roth with that; likely in Rick Ferri's recommended 6:2:2 ratio. Are there any other funds I should be aware of?

Thanks.

I’m getting some new Vanguard funds in my 401k (listed below) to replace our collective trust index funds, and I’m looking for recommendations for how to best complement them with my Vanguard Roth. I don’t know the share class yet, but we use the institutional version of the Vanguard TIPS fund, so I...

An E-Class Wagon should be at least as large and is only an inch taller than the Taurus.

I don't get why I should care - I'm not liable for fraud in my personal checking/saving accounts. Worst case scenario, there's a small risk I pay my credit card bills a little late one month - the card company will most likely waive the late fee when I explain. Just doesn't seem worth the tine and h...

@Eagle784 You're right, we're not too big for Vanguard. I was confused. Current assets in our plan are in the mid single digit millions with 200+ participants. We've hired a third party fiduciary. He is liable for investment selection. Not sure if that's the same thing as a 3(38) fiduciary but I wi...

A few thoughts: - How are you too big for Vanguard, but only have A-shares at ML? Vanguard recordkeeps billion dollar plans. Something's not right here. - Your plan probably has less than $50M - if you want to stay at ML, expect your plan admin costs to rise if you put a lot of assets into cheap ind...

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the SSgA target dates - I believe it's generally an assortment of index funds underlying them. See if the fact sheet has any information on it. Edit: They should be disclosing the expenses somewhere, even if it's not the usual place because it's a collective trust. ...

The rending of garments in the replies over the dogwalker are hilarious. I wonder if people in the third world have the same reaction when hearing about someone who can afford multiple pairs of shoes. Your shortfall is practically a rounding error compared to your income, and you're saving plenty. I...

They are almost certainly disclosing the fees somewhere - it's either buried in a footnote somewhere in the annual report for each account, or it's in the plan's annual report. Probably in the annual report (IRS 5500) that must be provided on request to participants. You don;t get it unless you req...

They are almost certainly disclosing the fees somewhere - it's either buried in a footnote somewhere in the annual report for each account, or it's in the plan's annual report.

Since the manager of this stable value fund has an almost unlimited transfer restriction authority, what is more important is the credit quality of the underlying investments than the credit quality of the insurance company. If interest rates rise too fast for the depth of their pockets, they can s...

OK bogleheads, let it rip - have you relationships been adversely affected because you count pennies and keep your numbers to yourself and others pay 14% APR? Maybe some of them have found a middle ground between keeping $2M in the bank and paying a 14% APR. In any case, how will people find out if...

It's not entirely sporting to compare C shares of other companies to American Funds' A shares. I see American Funds doesn't offer a C share of this fund, but the R1 share with a 100 bps 12b-1 probably isn't far from the expense ratio a C share would have, is at 1.61%. If the R1 was a retail share c...

The target type funds are a different matter. Very over priced. Yes and no. Let's use the Vanguard website to search on funds from many fund families that have "2040" in the name :) Fidelity, Vanguard, then, the next five hits in alphabetical order and sort the whole thing by expense rati...

Thanks for everyone's help thus far. We got a new fund in our 401k, the Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund Institutional Class (VIPIX). The rest of the funds remain the same as above. I was planning on reallocating my portfolio as follows: ML Equity Index Trust (S&P 500 Index) 46% ML I...

Who says 'starve the beast' doesn't work?

Maybe this will be a good reallocation of resources. Maybe some smart grads will work on the next Microsoft or Google, and benefit society to a greater degree, than just make money for large corporations by learning how to shift money around and sell AAA-rated boxes of turds. Maybe not, but we coul...

If you are really concerned about getting the most, why not get a part time job on top of your full time job. The hours you spend looking for rates, you can be doing some side jobs for extra $. That would probably amount to more than what the higher rate at XYZ bank will give you. :lol: Exactly how...

If you are really concerned about getting the most, why not get a part time job on top of your full time job. The hours you spend looking for rates, you can be doing some side jobs for extra $. That would probably amount to more than what the higher rate at XYZ bank will give you. :lol: Exactly how...

tj-longterm wrote:
But I guess we should just throw out the rule of law because this guy did something bad.

Yes, cases like this always separate those who prefer the mere appearance of justice from those who truly believe in it.

To me it kind of sounds like you made a mess in the hopes of greater benefit down the line, but later it turned out that it was still just a mess. And now you're mad about having a mess on your hands. To quote you: I am not taking any blame for this mess. Complicated schemes are indeed complicated ...

I made an assumption in an early post that was incorrect. Wife's 401(k) has access to American Funds Class R3, she uses RGACX (Growth Fund of America R3) which has an expense ratio of .96%. I think the R in R3 stands for retirement account. I thought R3 was class C but I was not aware that American...

Met Income wrote:I don't believe Warren Buffet's personal life is relevant to us. Or it shouldn't be, anyway.

If only Buffet would extend us the same courtesy, instead of petitioning Congress for new taxes of all sorts.

Word of advice - you'll have the best results if you tell the PS3 to output video at 1080i.

Also, I recommend getting ps3 component cables from monoprice.com

http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

Are you certain that those expenses are not one time administration fees assessed to rollovers, loans etc.?

I was skeptical at first, but it does look like you should add 40bps to your ERs. My plan document in contrast says "These expenses were comprised solely of benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries." What I don't understand is how this isn't a line item on your statement. Are your i...

Yes, she her company contributes 1% if she contributes 4%, and she is contributing 4%. She'll contribute about $2500 a year as a result.

It's her first job, so she does have a long time horizon. I'll try to get her to read that.

A friend wants help with her first 401k. This will be her entire portfolio for now, though she may open a Roth later on. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have any index funds, and though she has a lot of choices, most are quite expensive. Below are her 30 cheapest options. I recommended the Fideli...

If you gave a 224 billion dollar plan to any major recordkeeper, including Vanguard, they would happily subsidize any index fund you'd like down to fractions of a basis point, just as barclays has done.

Assuming your numbers are as of 6/30/2008, here is a comparison. 1yr 3yr 5yr 10yr ML Core Enhanced Bond Index 6.66% 3.88% 3.78% 5.60% Vanguard Total Bond Market 7.23% 4.02% 3.77% 5.42% Lehman US Aggregate Bond Index 7.12% 4.09% 3.85% 5.68% ML Core Enhanced Bond Index doesn't look awfully off. Hello...

[deleted]

[deleted]

Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I think I'm going to follow Laura's advice and just switch my regular contributions over to the Roth 401k, and invest in the Target Retirement fund, which does seem more diversified as well. I'm just a little unsure if it's worth paying around 15bps extra for this...

Thanks for all the help so far everyone. I implemented PiperWarrior's recommendation in my 401k. I just realized the implications of the fact that my employer provides a Roth 401k. Two questions: 1. What do you think about using my Roth 401k instead of my Traditional 401k going forward? I understand...

Thanks for the detailed reply. I understand it's unlikely, I just thought that it might be cheapest to get coverage now, before I've had any serious health problems and eaten into the maximum. This is actually the first I've heard of such maximums for mainstream policies, none of my friends in simil...

The health insurance I have through my employer is fairly comprehensive, however it has a 3 million dollar lifetime benefit which makes me nervous. Does anyone know of anyone who will write a policy with a $3 million lifetime deductible for a reasonable premium? I'm 23.

Thanks.

Unfortunately, even the new faster 12c is painfully slow compared to the BA II Plus Pro when doing valuations.

Thanks for the advice everyone, and I'll be showing the thread to him.

He has owned the fund for 2 years and it has paid exactly 9% consistently, so he's reluctant to move out of it. I'm not sure how closed-end funds work, and how they differ from ETFs. For example, the NAV has fallen from $19.50 to $18.75, but it continues to pay dividends of 9% of the original $10,00...

My father recently bought 513 shares of the Eaton Vance Risk-Managed Diversified Equity Fund (ETJ) for $10,000 in a taxable account at the recommendation of my broker. The broker guaranteed it would pay 9% on the $10,000 every year, regardless of changes to NAV. Can anyone explain how this works, an...

You are correct Laura, this is ML Core Enhanced Bond Index's objective: The Trust will seek to provide a total return approximating the Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Index, its Benchmark Index, while actively seeking to reduce downside risk as compared with the index. And it's performance numbers: ...

Thanks for your input Piper, you've been very helpful already. I added the index each index CT follows above. I just had a couple of follow up questions: Why do you recommend the pimco total return over the cheaper ML core index CT? Somewhat offtopic, but do you know what the tier structure means fo...

I am looking for comments on my current 401k portfolio. I am 23 and am open to taking reasonable risk for my age. I am fortunate enough to work for a large company that provides institutional share classes of the following funds: Fund Expense Ratio  * AMERICAN GROWTH FUND OF AMER R 0.38%  * ARTISAN ...