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I had been 50/50 US/Int. My TSM allocation exceeded its band so I made a couple of planned charitable contributions with fund shares in lieu of cash. In the meantime, I've been nudging up my international allocation (Int Value, EM, and ex-Us Small Cap) up to around 52%, just based on relative valuat...

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Interesting read, though I take such forecasts with a hefty grain of salt, as I'm sure most Bogleheads do (my cynical impulse is to interpret the article as a prelude to the apocolypse). A question for Larry: "This is the whole money illusion problem." Would you be so kind as to elaborate?...

THANK YOU for all the great responses. Yes, these are budgeted, charitable contributions we make every year. We just want to be a little smarter about it this year

Thanks for the feedback. Very helpful as always.

We are now overweight TSM. Is there any downside to using appreciated shares for a planned charitable contribution (LT cap gains only) in lieu of cash?

Tax situation: 39.6% fed, 9% state.

Thanks!

I checked "stayed the course" though I probably did so too much. This was before I became a BH, before I knew about TLHing and AA, before I understood the folly of active management, before I knew anything about finding an AA and sticking with it, before I had a clue or a plan. What all th...

I agree with momar. Forget about mental accounting and just invest for yourselves. If you want to give money to your kids, then give money to your kids. Don't make it complicated because it is not complicated. Agree. But I also want to present an alternative my wife and I are discussing (we have ki...

The thread title should be edited to read "Fixing The Obama's Finances" so that it is not misconstrued as political commentary on fiscal policy as opposed a look into and critique of their personal income tax return. I fixed it. Thank you - sorry about that! What I found interesting was t...

This is most definitely NOT intended to be a political discussion. Rather, Roth basically offers up some portfolio and financial advice to the President. Intersting recommendations consistent with what we see on the forum every day, aimed at fixing the same kind of "mistakes" we might pres...

My wife has her 401k @ Fidelity. Unfortunately her company benefits person seems utterly incapable of providing a straight, well-informed response to the the question, "what are the fees we are paying for the 401k plan above the fund expense ratios?" Where did you find such detailed infor...

Thanks!

My wife has her 401k @ Fidelity. Unfortunately her company benefits person seems utterly incapable of providing a straight, well-informed response to the the question, "what are the fees we are paying for the 401k plan above the fund expense ratios?" Where did you find such detailed inform...

I would absolutely leave it alone. This is not just about money. Consider the .7% management fee the tuition for your investment education. Continue reading and learning. Meet with the manager, get a sense of his thinking. Even if you think he's dead wrong about everything, you can still learn somet...

Re: Inflation protected bond fund? by allocator » Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:36 pm How about Fidelity Spartan Inflation Protected (FSIYX), ER .10% ? http://www.morningstar.com/invest/funds/122855-fsiyx-fidelity-spartan-infl-prot-bd-idx-fid-ad.html My apologies. It didn't register that this was for a taxabl...

How about Fidelity Spartan Inflation Protected (FSIYX), ER .10% ?

http://www.morningstar.com/invest/funds/122855-fsiyx-fidelity-spartan-infl-prot-bd-idx-fid-ad.html

Any thoughts about retiring the home equity loan?

Nope - just buying in international (VWO, VSS, EFV) according to allocation plan I began a few months ago. Hit US targets sooner with help from recent rally; three more scheduled purchases over next three months.

I wish I had time for a more substantial reply. Though my children are quite young, when the time comes we will begin what I hope will be an ongoing discussion about finances and estate planning. My parents, who were by no means wealthy, were very open about finances and estate planning, including i...

Just saw this thread for the first time - what a find!

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Inferno: The World at War 1939-1945 by Max Hastings

edited for spelling error

I appreciate your contributions to the forum.

+1

I'm at 50/50. You might want to check out this thread from the other day, "Fama French for Non US Equities" http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=113668

See especially the linked papers.

Good luck.

EDN: Thanks for the informative and relatively non-technical link. By the way, you shouldn't read this article without also reading this paper by Rex Sinquefield about how to diversify across small/value asset classes globally to enhance portfolio efficiency: https://www.savantcapital.com/uploadedF ...

A clear implication of what he is saying is that one shouldn't set a stock/bond asset allocation, rebalance, and stay the course. Rather one should be adjusting the asset allocation over time to changing circumstances. BobK It sounds like he is selling a tactical asset allocation process. It seems ...

Complete noob here, but I see two potential problems with option 2. The first is that #2 is more time and labor intensive for a questionable benefit. The second - and perhaps more important concern, is that your money will be sitting on the sidelines for relatively long periods of time. You are maki...

Billion dollar college endowments aren't beating the market, pension funds with tens to hundreds of billions of dollars aren't beating the market, but the magic elixir of a Morningstar subscription, Shiller's CAPE data, and the right mix of fundamentally weighted niche ETFs will succeed where every...

Eric- I appreciate your very frank and very generous response. Its now tacked above my desk. Though we (my wife and I) have done reasonably well, earning for us has never been simple or straightforward. It's difficult to come to a point cognitively to accept that investing (at least the allocation p...

Larry - thank you for your quick reply.

I have some tax-advantaged space opening up in a SEP IRA and was considering adding DGS (WisdomTree Emerging Mkts Small Cap) to augment VSS (Vanguard FTSE ex-US small cap) held in taxable. My thinking here is that although it is a less-than-perfect proxy for an International Small Value ETF, it may ...

Larry, Thank you again for your response to my question. As I began to work on my calculations, it occurred to me that expected returns for various asset classes would be based on Fama/French research using their criteria for large, small and value. As the instruments available to most investors on ...

Great - thanks, Larry.

Larry, First, I am utterly indebted and very grateful to you for improving the financial life of my family. Conceptually, I'm with you with respect to increasing the riskiness of the equity portion of a portfolio (in the hope of achieving higher expected returns in that portion of the portfolio), wh...

Personally, I'm not so sure that momentum does exist. For a good century now, investors have believed in the existence of momentum by that name. If it really ever existed, it's pretty hard for me to believe that nobody has caught on to it yet and arbitraged it away. Couldn't the same be said of the...

Before you sell, you might want to consider trading costs (commissions). Where will it be cheaper to make the sales - with your present broker or at Vanguard? Your broker might have an unpleasant and unwanted parting gift for you.

Congratulations.

Interesting analysis on the components of interest rates, and rather Bogleheadian advice.

http://www.capitalspectator.com/archives/2013/03/asset_allocatio_7.html#more

1/3 of fixed income in TIPS (VAIPX, FSIYX), 10% overall.

International is 1/2 of total equity allocation: 1/3 Developed Markets - Schwab International Equity ETF (SCHF) 1/3 Emerging Markets - Vanguard FTSE Emerging Mkts ETF (VWO) 1/3 International SmallCp (VAnguard FTSE All World ex-US SmallCp ETF (VSS) So I'm tilting Small and Emerging in International a...

Sorry about the link .

With respect to withdrawals being pegged to P/E ratios, the research was based on a 60/40 stock/bond allocation. How many of us will be going into retirement with 60% in equities?

"Say goodbye to the 4% rule". Those of you planning for, or are in, retirement (I'm guessing that's just about all of us ) might find this interesting.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... =rss_Money

SORRY!

Thanks for responding. 1. You don't list the ERs of the Intermediate Treasury and Total Bond, but all things equal I would prefer Total Bond, as it gives you a more diversified bond exposure. Plenty of people choose to stick with treasuries for their bond holdings, so either choice is probably fine....

Hi all. My wife's 401k has surprisingly added a couple of indexing options and I could use some help deciding on possible changes. We've got a 70/30 Stock bond split with a small/value tilt. First, we have about 20% of our bond allocation in Vanguard's Intermediate Treasury fund (VFIUX) (the rest is...

[quote="LadyGeek"]If you're comfortable reading Robert T's posts, perhaps you might want to look at this from a more global perspective: Multifactor investing - a comprehensive tutorial - finiki

Thank you for the link. I'll get right to it. "Comfort" is a relative term

If I understand the Fama/French perspective, the factor exposure of a portfolio is all that matters with respect to expected returns, Below I quote Robert T (who's site here has become a valued resource) from a 2007 post discussing Fama/French and factor exposure: "what matters for expected ret...

Terrific, important post. One thing I'd like to add to the above suggestions is to have an ongoing "financial dialogue" with spouse, children, and/or other heirs - one which includes reviews of all banking and brokerage statements. This serves a number of important functions throughout our...

This is for all equities:

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Thanks, Livesoft. While I own DGS and have owned DLS, I don't think you need them as VSS does that job. If you do want them, but are not committed to have 5% or more of them, then I have to ask why bother? Good question. This is exactly where I get a little stuck. My thinking was that if I do want t...

Hi all. This is a follow-up post to a request for help last December. I’ve followed up assembling the portfolio as originally posted in December http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=107474 .It’s been much more work than I’d anticipated and I’ve learned a lot - the most important l...

I made a similar post on a similar thread earlier today. What about splitting the difference? I know there are some philosophical issues with respect to prepaying a mortgage, as well as some more direct "rational" analyses. I find myself bouncing back and forth between the two perspectives...

Two more thoughts:

1) how would a rising inflation rate environment change the calculus?

2) what if the mortgagee does not wish to stay in the house "forever" - just 'til the kids are grown (let's say 15 years from now)? Does that change things?