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There was no ER listed on the Target Retirement funds.

Thanks for the advice, y'all. I figured the Dodge & Cox Balanced would probably be the consensus choice, but wanted to make sure there weren't any considerations I may have been overlooking.

I recently started a job and the 401k options are less than ideal. In addition to a stable value fund and a bunch of SSgA target retirement funds, I have these choices: PIMCO Real Return (PRTNX) 0.90% expense ratio PIMCO Total Return (PTRAX) 0.72% Dodge & Cox Balanced (DODBX) 0.54% John Hancock ...

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll go ahead with a 50/50 TBM/TIPS split.

I know this a subject that comes up quite a bit, and the differences amount to roughly nil, but I wanted to run this by my fellow Bogleheads to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I'm looking for a Vanguard bond fund, not a fund anywhere else or treasurydirect or anything like that. I have a Roth I...

I'm a 21-year-old grad student and I still live with my parents. I guess that makes me a bit of a loser but I get everything free. That means more money for vacations, booze, and gambling. (I'm mostly kidding about the booze and gambling. Not about the vacations, though.) It would not be feasible to...

My 2 cents: go 100% stock, but diversify. I'm in a similar situation--I came into a bunch of money at 19 (I'm 21 now), although unfortunately, compared to you, it was more of a one-time deal. (I'm no poker pro, although I'm working on it). I went with a mix of Total Stock Market, Small Value, and in...

On a slightly tangential note, I'm amazed at the way Mastercard has gone up and up--it's the only part of my fun money portfolio that has done better than the market. As for Google, sure it may (or may not be) overvalued, but it is consistently making lots of money--it's dominating the online advert...

It seems like we have this debate once a month. So if I'm repeating myself, I apologize. Why any good student would pay more than they have to and rack up debt to go to college (or why their parents would pay for it) astounds me. I got a full scholarship to one of the top ten regional universities i...

The thought of people having access to the TSP and not investing in it makes me a little bit sick to my stomach.

First of all, are you comfortable with just 20% in bonds? That seems awfully low for someone your age. Second, if you want something more complicated than a 3-fund portfolio, you could do better than that eight fund portfolio. If you want to tilt to value, fine; but if you don't want to tilt to valu...

teege wrote:That's definitely an interesting index fund. I can look into that. The min buy-in is a bit more than I have right now, unfortunately.

Buy-in? Leave the gambling for the poker table, eschew active funds, and get yourself a Vanguard Target Retirement Fund.

Excellent post, especially the latte factor. It amazes me how some people get so silly with little food costs. I was talking to one of my fellow grad students the other day and he mentioned that it was such a great deal to buy a Domino's pizza for $5 because he'd get two meals out of it-$2.50 a meal...

I've been happy with my 13" MacBook (it's about a year old). I had a Powerbook G4 before that, and unfortunately it broke when it was a little over three years old. Unless you absolutely need it, I see no reason to get a MacBook Pro over a MacBook if money is an issue. Sure a bigger screen is n...

Sometimes credit cards are more of an inconvenience. At my former university the convenience store took cash, credit card, or the school's express card. The express card was simple--one swipe. Cash took a little longer, but not much. Credit cards, on the other hand, required the cashier to swipe th...

so all of you old codgers who insist on fumbling/paying with old fashioned paper and coins in the checkout line and holding up and slowing down everyone else behind you better get with the program. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-L5QGllGfU Sometimes credit cards are more of an inconvenience. At my...

What's the point of this money? Is it for her to spend should she need it in the very distant future? Does she want to donate it to charity when she dies? Or is this essentially your (and your siblings', if you have any) money? There's no way to make a suggestion without knowing the purpose the mone...

I'd say give them the $100 and tell them to (insert your favorite offensive comment here). Even if you have a 100% of succeeding, if you spend 20 hours on this you aren't making minimum wage. Of course, if you enjoy dragging them around, then by all means do so. But ask yourself, "Is this how I...

I'm currently a grad student and teaching assistant. I receive a full scholarship (non-taxable) and a stipend as payment for my teaching assistant duties. I know the stipend money is taxable income. My question is whether it counts as earned income for the purposes of an IRA. The applicable IRS publ...

From espn.com's Page 2 and Tuesday Morning Quarterback by Gregg Easterbrook: Measured per million miles traveled, the fatality rate for passenger cars has been declining for three decades on an almost annual basis, from 3.68 in 1975 to 1.55 in 2005, the 2005 number being the lowest fatality rate eve...

Index funds with low fees don't work...

...for brokers.

It's an interesting question, but I think that the cause and effect is probably the other way around. My gut instinct says that people who retire early (or even at the usual 65-or-so age) are probably less healthy (and less happy) than people who love their jobs so much that they keep working at 80 ...

The advice is given for taxable accounts because it's easier to rebalance, and because it makes less of a tax headache (fewer small lots bought with dividends). It's also possible that if you sold some shares to capture a capital loss and then had dividends automatically reinvested, you would have a...

2. the track record is extraordinary. So far out on the right tail of probability outcomes as to be almost unimaginable. I think the reason for that has a lot to do with 1, the way they manage their investments and their portfolio companies. It also has to do with Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger. ...

There's no way I could see myself taking out a loan just to invest. But if I had student loans (which I don't) at a very low cost, I wouldn't feel bad about not paying them off and investing in stocks instead. I don't have a house, either, but again, if the interest rate were fairly low, I wouldn't ...

I use TSM + SV for my domestic equity holdings. TSM gives me what the S&P 500 gives me while also giving me the entire US market; SV lets me tilt to small and value simultaneously. My main reason for using fewer funds is to get to Admiral status sooner (although, alas, there are no Admiral share...

It's interesting that a fundamental index can consistently manage to outperform both a cap-weighted (i.e. growthier) fund and a value fund simultaneously. It certainly seems like it should be possible to combine a value fund and a total market cap-weighted fund and have them perform compaably to a f...

I just view it as value tilting under another name. And I'd rather just own a normal, cap-weighted value index fund than a fundamentally-weighted broad market fund.

John C. Bogle has to be number one. He pioneered two important things: index investing and low-cost mutual funds. Using low-cost index funds will do far more for my wealth than anything else, so Bogle is number one on my list. Without him, we may never have had either--that's quite a scary thought.

One idea would be to max out any 401k ... before starting a taxable account. This is indeed the case if you are investing for retirement or another goal in some distant future. But if you need money in a few years, say for a downpayment on your home, then you can't "lock" that money into ...

One idea would be to max out any 401k/Roths available to you before starting a taxable account. The Roth contributions can always be withdrawn without penalties or taxes (and there's an additional provision for withdrawing money to put toward a house), so that can go towards a house (it could even b...

Vanguard just thinks that people with larger amounts invested in funds deserve a break on their expense ratios. It's a good thing! Vanguard Investor share expense ratios are good. Vanguard Voyager share expense ratios are better. Admiral shares are classes of mutual fund shares. Voyager only refers...

FWIW I'm in the non-ETF Vanguard Small Value, but even then I don't think I'm losing enough in tax efficiency to erase the value premium.

I know that small value isn't terribly tax efficient, and it's best in tax-deferred accounts, if possible. But I had never seen anything quite as cut and dry as Laura's comment in the "questions for the experts" thread: In my opinion it is not worth holding small value in taxable. You can ...

I seriously doubt any reputable, major company (including any of the four you list) would say "Tough luck" if you're a victim of fraud. There would be way too much negative publicity. And really, would you be that much better off if only half of your money were robbed? You'd be mighty upse...

We're moving to a place where prices are a bit on the high side and may see a slow slide in the next few years. But the truth is, I can ride out a big drop in housing prices. I'd just feel really ticked off I suppose. But remember: a house whose value drops $100k, $200k, $300k overnight in a housin...

It looks like you're in fantastic financial shape. You've done a great job building a Boglehead portfolio. A few things: 1. There's no need to have both VFINX and VTSMX. They behave very similarly. I would suggest getting rid of the VFINX and converting it to either VTSMX or another fund. VTSMX incl...

If she says "No thanks," and she's got plenty enough to live on, then I think you pretty much have to butt out. Yes, it's entirely possible that her money is being managed irresponsibly, damaging either you and your family's future inheritance or money she could donate to charity when she ...

One thing to consider with Roths vs. 403b's, traditional IRA's, and the like is that you've already paid taxes on the Roth, but you still have to pay taxes on the non-Roth. That is, $1000 in a Roth is worth more than $1000 in a 403b. If you withdraw that $1000 from your 403b and you're in the 25% ta...

FWIW, while I've never tried to pass off chores and the like as earned income, I do work for various theatre companies, and I mostly get paid in a quasi-under-the-table fashion. I believe the threshhold for companies to have to send out a 1099 is $600, and I only had one company pay me that much (an...

Why not go into SV and REIT right away? You won't be at your target, but having 2% of either is closer than having 0%.

Since aproximately only 20% of active mangers beat the index, and the 20% is not always the same, why would a knowledgeable investor pick one of the boxes with an unknown amount inside? Regards, Wick My portfolio is all indexed (except for less than 5% fun money), but this is a bit of an unfair com...

Hello Kevin, Funny you write that. I went to a Catholic school, and the theology department was liberal...and the philosophy department very conservative. (I don't like using these terms, they tend to obscure things as much as they clarify but...) Perhaps, there was a similar phenomenon at your sch...

Please keep in mind that most economists are closet socialists. To be sure, there are those from the Chicago school and others who are strong advocates of free enterprise. But my observation is that they are more the exception than the rule. Best wishes, Michael Well, I went to a very liberal Catho...

No, unless you're not a U.S. citizen (maybe U.S. resident?) or unless you're subject to backup withholding.

Thank you all for your prompt and informative replies. I completely understand why tax-managed funds lower the income tax and how that is important to long-term returns. I am probably missing something basic, but I still don't understand why the distribution is bad if you are only taxed on a percen...

B185CS wrote:You probably only need VBMFX plus either VFINX or VGTSX. There is a lot of overlap between VFINX and VGTSX so having both would be somewhat redundant. And you wouldn't be as diversified as you might think you are.

There isn't any overlap between the 500 Index and Total International.

Max out your 401k. Does your wife have a 401k? Max that out too. And fund Roths for you and your wife. All told, that's about $40k a year. Hopefully you can afford that on a joint $100k income. If not, you're probably spending too much money. What funds to recommend depends on what's available to yo...

My advice: 1. Live below your means and save as much as possible. 2. Invest in low cost mutual funds. There's nothing wrong with having some "fun money"--about 5% of my portfolio is in individual stocks--but limit it to 5% at most. Everything else should be in a well-diversified group of m...

Correct me if I'm wrong: in a nasty bear market, interest rates go down, so long term bonds benefit more than short term bonds. And all bonds benefit because people run from stocks in a panic. I guess this is an argument for longer term bonds, but the risk is that interest rates will skyrocket at so...