Bogleheads.org

Thanks everyone for the input. Another question comes to mind for me: What would the prudent thing to do with his 401k contributions throughout the year? Continue pouring it into the fund I mentioned before? When a rollover takes place, do assets transfer or are they sold and cash transferred into t...

Sorry, the net expense ratio appears to be .49%, so pretty lousy for an index fund like that.

This question is actually on behalf of my father. Here are the details. My father is 62 years old. He has his 401k with a company called mass mutual, and the full value (approximately 100k) in Wells Fargo Advantage Dow Jones Target 2015 Fund (WFSCX). He would like to roll this all over to Vanguard f...

Hey all, I was hoping to get some advice on a good first credit card. I found a couple previous threads, but they were fairly old. I don't trust most of what I find via google, because I figure most of what can be found there is really just advertisement masquerading as something else. I'm a 24 year...

Don't think of it as a 5-year high. Instead, think of it as "Wow, I can invest at the same lower levels of 5 years ago!. What an Opportunity to be able to invest with a Time Machine." We have had a few threads on opportunistic DCA recently, so get going. Interesting... to be honest I neve...

A question to ponder: If you can't stomach placing an investment at a market high, would you also plan on taking your money out of the market if it were all in and you thought you saw a market high? How have you arrived at your assessment of how much risk you can tolerate? Also, when you say market...

I realize this is fairly unbogleheadish, but I would like some boglehead input on this subject. I am establishing a portfolio of admiral shares funds, but simply cannot bring myself to pull the trigger when the market is at a five year high. One option I've considered is to just go ahead and invest ...

Waiting right now for the markets to fall again before I establish positions in admiral shares funds.

Oh, I forgot to link you to this - very handy tool for comparing different types of bond funds, taxation-wise: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/FundsTaxEquivForYield - you can run the numbers on your options. Personally, I see munis as being worthwhile in taxable for most brackets, but to each thei...

Thanks everyone for the additional input. As far as the municipal bonds, my parents are actually in the 25% tax bracket so in my understanding municipal bonds aren't really ideal. My parents aren't huge earners, but they received a significant windfall through inheritance and that's where this mone...

Thanks everyone for the additional input. As far as the municipal bonds, my parents are actually in the 25% tax bracket so in my understanding municipal bonds aren't really ideal. My parents aren't huge earners, but they received a significant windfall through inheritance and that's where this money...

Why don't you tilt heavily in your tax advantaged accounts, and don't tilt at all in your taxed accounts. That's what most tilters do. You insist this is a stand-alone portfolio, but you provide no evidence why this portfolio should stand alone. I'm far from an investing expert Then maybe your reas...

I've been researching and preparing to invest a fairly large sum of money for several weeks now, and have recently become stuck on the question of whether or not to slice and dice in a taxable account with regards to tax implications. I'm drawn to the idea of trying to tilt toward value and small ca...

Thanks. I'm new to taxable investing so I wasn't totally sure what kind of records would be provided by Vanguard.

This might be a fairly basic question. I wasn't able to find the information online, so I thought 'd ask here. If I hold a bond fund such as Vanguard Total Bond Market, which holds bonds with different tax implications (i.e. treasury vs. corporate), what does this mean at tax time when you have sing...

The Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund is a very suitable candidate for placement in taxable accounts. The fund is now more attractive as a taxable holding since it is no longer structured as a fund of funds portfolio (which is ineligible for the foreign tax credit). As a fund now direct...

I'm currently reading William Bernstein's Four Pillars of Investing, and came across a section where he states that he would avoid Vanguard Total International in a taxable account because it is a "fund of funds", and therefore doesn't qualify for the foreign dividend tax credit. Does anyo...

Can anyone come up with any reason not to simply park cash in a short term bond fund as opposed to a savings account? Obviously it means a bit more effort at tax time, but it seems an extremely safe way to get a decent yield on savings without tying it up and subjecting it to significant NAV volatil...

Thanks. As always, just the right search would have yielded some relevant results.

I hope this post isn't perceived as speculation about future legislation by the mods. I am assuming the current tax changes of 2013 that are on the books will remain as such. I think it's fairly obvious that there were considerable tax advantages to buying VTMSX (Tax-managed Small cap) vs VSMAX (Sma...

I think you should take your time either way. You really do not want to implement investing strategy 1 only to have buyers remorse, continued second guessing and then you abandon strategy 1 for your new darling, strategy 2. I think you need to keep pondering, reading, and asking questions until you...

livesoft wrote:For relative newcomers to the forum, here's stlutz's thread where it is explained why one really needs to tilt to value:
The Final, Definitive Thead on Value

Thanks for posting that link . I'll be sure to check it out when it isn't one in the morning.

For those who don't know, which would for example include me before I looked up VB, adding Vanguard names , this is: 25% VOO, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF 25% VB, Vanguard Small-Cap ETF 25% VXUS, Vanguard Total International Stock ETF 25% BND, Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF. Random thought #1. This isn...

I'm hoping to get a little further advice on a portfolio I'm establishing. I know I've posted several threads recently which might be an annoyance, but I greatly appreciate all the advice. I have all but settled on the Admiral Shares version of William Berstein's "No-Brainer" ETF portfolio...

I'd put all my money in unobtanium.

I'm shopping for a bond fund at the moment to hold for the long term, and am trying to balance potential returns against interest rate risk. William Bernstein refers to the average duration of a bond fund as "the point of indifference", meaning that if a bond fund has an average duration o...

It's been mentioned a few times, but I don't think lessons are by any means necessary. The guitar is a very accessible instrument; easy to learn, impossible to master. If your wife is fine with taking a little initiative she can do just as well with the right book.

You should understand that while you can't get an actual "nice guitar" for $200, you can get quite a solid one for around $500. It's likely a $200 guitar will be poorly set-up and thus difficult to play, and worst of all, it probably won't stay in tune. As far acoustic vs electric, it's tr...

Hi all, Just looking for some quick input on this subject. I've been looking around and reading quite a bit, but haven't learned enough to comfortably settle on which vehicle to use go for a passive, long-term portfolio I'm establishing. By all accounts, it seems to be somewhat of a wash between Adm...

Jerilynn wrote:makes sense. One question, if the portfolio takes a huge hit, will someone want to sell it?

They will defer to me on those decisions I think. Unless its absolutely necessary to sell when the market is down to cover expenses of some sort, my father and siblings will be willing to wait it out.

I'm sure there are calculations and predictions to be made, and it might mean a bit better returns to invest, but I would pay down the loan. I paid off my student loans very quickly, and it's a great feeling to be free of them.

Also, physicians are notoriously lousy investors

I do not see that the father wants to give it away now. Rather he wants to "grow it" for the kids down the road. ^This is the idea. Seeing as the trust option seemed unnecessary, my father has simply created a brokerage account at Vanguard with him and my mother as joint owners. Gifts can...

See. The plot thickens!!!!!!! :happy Every situation is different. This should be interesting. ..... :twisted: So... $100k that you dad thinks.... today... that he won't need in his lifetime. Hmm. What if he's wrong? What's your dad's financial situation like? IMHO... the best answer is that your d...

Thanks everyone for all the further suggestions. In regards to what the nature of this investment really is in terms of goals, etc., it's kind of a strange case. Essentially, my father is well off enough that he's allocated 100k to be invested with the horizon and risk tolerance of my siblings and I...

Thanks for the suggestions so far. This is probably pretty basic stuff but is there really any reason to opt for mutual funds when comparable ETFs is available? I know this amount of cash opens up the option of admiral shares, but as far as I can tell the expense ratio at least is still about the s...

Thanks for the suggestions so far. This is probably pretty basic stuff but is there really any reason to opt for mutual funds when comparable ETFs is available? I know this amount of cash opens up the option of admiral shares, but as far as I can tell the expense ratio at least is still about the sa...

I like the idea of simplicity with just a few MFs or ETFs, but I'd certainly like to try to maximize my gains possibly by weighting toward small caps/value, etc.

If you had 100,000 sitting in a taxable Vanguard brokerage account that you wanted to grow over 25 years, and that would likely never be needed in the interim, what kind of portfolio would you build? Tax-sheltered space is all being utilized.

Obviously OP should chime in here, but lets discuss the scenarios raised earlier earlier, but lets double or triple the amount for argument sake so that it isn't money that could easily go under the radar as part of the annual gift exclusion Scenario 1: one of the siblings is immature Scenario 2: o...

OP, you might consider him just keeping the funds in his name and investing it as you decide unless there are estate tax reasons. Rather than ETFs, where he will have to purchase with bid ask spreads and use a brokerage, why not just use Admiral Share mutual funds? Isn't this a bad idea? If he inve...

Sorry for the delay; I'm actually in China right now so the 12 hour difference is a bit problematic for the forums. I'll try to answer the various questions. So I definitely gather there's a strong consensus that a trust isn't the way to go. I'll respond to the following questions since I believe th...

that sounds like a solution looking for a problem. What's wrong with TheGreyingDuke's suggestion: $52,000 can be distributed to you, your spouse, and your 2 siblings immediately; and another $56,000 on January 1. Why not let each individual invest his own money? It's enough money that any one of yo...

If a trust is not called for, father can simply gift you each $13000 a year and by January 2 $78000 of the $100000 would be dispersed. If Father has a spouse, the spouse can also donate a similar amount to each of you both in 2012 and 2013 and the $100000 will have been fully distributed. Thanks fo...

What kind of a trust? You actually have to form the trust before you can open an account as a trust. Ok so that's the first question I suppose. We are all a bit clueless when it comes to trusts. I've tried to find information on it online but hat haven't been able to get a clear picture of what to ...

I'm researching into this subject on behalf of my father, because he doesn't have a lot of free time. My father is seeking to allocate 100,000 to a simple ETF portfolio for my two siblings and I. This is money that my father doesn't need, and would simply set in place to grow over a couple decades o...

Just move to China. Here they tell me I look the guy who played Thor... Not to mention you could be Bill Pullman and people will still treat you like the most interesting person in the room.

House Blend wrote:StophJS,

If you want good advice, post your request in the preferred format:
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6212

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind when I have sufficient information and can take another crack at this thread.

Congratulations on taking the initiative so young. I'm 24 and just getting started.. I'd give anything to go back and get that extra 7 years.

This page might be of interest to you.

http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/8-lazy-etf-portfolios/

What other retirement income does your father have? Is this 100k the bulk of his nest egg or is it just a portion of it? This is just a portion of it, and likely a small portion at that. This was somewhat of a windfall he received, when his mother sold an apartment building she owned in Switzerland...

I realize that my dad has about 100k most likely just sitting in cash. My dad is a very traditional kind of guy who's mostly emphasized saving and working hard as a means to build wealth, so he's never really taken the time to educate himself on the ins and outs of investing. Obviously first step i...