Bogleheads.org

I think variable annuities are given a bit of a bum rap on this forum. If a person 1. is in a high tax bracket, 2. has a long time horizon, 3. wants space to invest tax inefficient assets, like REITS and high yield bonds, and 4. sticks to low cost variable annuities like Vanguards, then I think the...

This isn't a response to your question, but please... if you store personal information on portable media (hard drive, USB stick, DVD, etc.), you should encrypt it. Unfortunately, theft of these items is very common.

A free application called Truecrypt will do this conveniently and reliably.

I don't see that as being attractive at all. A fee of 32bp even if you maintain $20K, and much more if you don't. It would take most Bogleheadish savers at least 4-8 years to build up that kind of balance depending on their marital status. Any comments on my alternative above, which is basically jus...

My employer is just starting with Health Equity. My plan is as follows (are there flaws or better options here?): 1. Open a second account with HSA Bank, to be used as a stealth IRA 2. Pay for actual medical expenses out of pocket 3. Ensure that the combined contributions to both accounts don't exce...

I don't know if I'd move from a 50th% district to a 25th% district just on the numbers. I'd also want a better quality of life. In our case, we had the opportunity to move 5 miles to a school district ranked in the top 1% nationally. That was a no-brainer, and it took private school out of the pictu...

My wife is also a professional, and was able to switch to working half-time, while maintaining her same hourly rate of pay and benefits. This allowed her to maintain her career and professional relationships while spending plenty of time with the kids. I'm not sure if this is an option for your wife...

~80%, not adjusted for inflation, over about 25 years of earnings. ~70% adjusted for inflation.

68%/59% if I net out anticipated future child college expenses.

My body just can't take the heavy weights. My joints (not muscles) start hurting too much, and I have to back off to avoid injury. I've adapted my goal to be healthy longevity, not brute strength. As such, I'm shooting for merely above average strength, but high endurance. My doctor says that I'm no...

I said AMT >$5,000 but that is not strictly true.

I would have had large AMT, but I decided to do a Roth IRA conversion to replace what would have been AMT with regular income tax. Had I not been in this situation, I would not have done the conversion.

So technically I did not pay any AMT.

IMHO, "Expected Returns" (Ilmanen) is a great book that provides broad coverage.

I'll warn you that it's not light reading.

What was the CPI-U number (2xx.xxx) released today? How does it compare to October of last year. Is it still lower? If yes, then we're still looking at a possible 0% for the next component... I think I have this right: Today (Feb 2013): 232.166 Sept 2012: 231.407 Sources: ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/spec...

I have a long-term cap gain from a sale with VBS. The first time I imported from Vanguard into TT in February, it was a disaster.

I ended up having to delete all the imports and reimport yesterday. I just checked the sale in TT, and it was characterized as long-term, with the correct calculations.

I only changed it because we recently added a bond fund that was 40bp+ cheaper to the 401k.

The new fund happens to have a 1.5 year shorter duration, but that wasn't the main consideration.

My inclination would be to use the cash (assuming that it's not part of your ER) on the outside to pay off the student loans. The guaranteed return of 1.625% is much better than leaving cash sitting. Build your fixed-income allocation in your 401K or IRA by exchanging out of some equities. My prefer...

I am in my mid 40s. I hope to retire in 10 years. I am budgeting $110K annually, $30K of which will cover medical expense/insurance. I am also assuming that our SS benefits will be reduced by 50% one way or another, so we'll need to withdraw about $90K annually. Playing around with Otar-ORB/Firecalc...

red5 wrote:

nisiprius wrote:a) Seamless connection between Vanguard mutual fund accounts and VBS accounts.

+1

+2

Also:
A better "Portfolio Watch", preferably using M* X-Ray data as a source.
Additional funds: IntDev SV, EM SV, CCF.

Thanks DSInvestor.

It would seem that the solo 401(k) is a good choice.

My parents are in their early 70s and still in the accumulation stage (late financial bloomers). Family history would indicate that there is a high probability of life expectancy past 100. My father runs a sole propietorship from home, which generates earned income placing them in the highest federa...

Mostly with people who had no savings to begin with, need to work into their 60s, lose their job, then have a hard time finding even part-time work or anything else to do. Depression and isolation sets in, they become less physically active, and their health goes into decline. It seems really import...

My portfolio (when run through M* Instant XRay) has style values almost identical to to DFA US Core Equity I (DFEOX). I would guess that I'm considered a moderate tilter.

About 25% of net.

Still raising three grade school kids, but just finished paying off the house and funding the 529s.

Plan to save 60% of net going forward, and hopefully retire in 10 years.

Rick,

Excellent article.

There's also a lot of noise about increased insider selling, and that being a broad sell indicator. Perhaps this could be a topic for another article?

Thanks for helping us all.

I've been reading a book titled "The Fine Print" (David C Johnston) that among other things, details the deregulation of these businesses and all the sneaky fees the lobbyists keep getting inserted into our bills. I've had decent success getting my bill lowered by threatening cancellation....

The level of protection that it offers is average at best, but no single solution is perfect. I'd recommend pairing it up with something like a nightly scan by Malwarebytes. That will significantly close the gap without affecting performance.

lindisfarne wrote:

baw703916 wrote:People with bad 401k fund lineups.

exactly - even bogleheads.

+1

I've taken the Swedroe tilt because NAESX is the only usable fund in my 401K. Almost all the ERs are >1%. I don't feel like small caps are more risky when I'm saving 80-150 bps relative to everything else.

I agree with HomerJ.

Also, you can be sure that when Buffett wins, the excuse will be that the hedge funds did a better job of managing the risk.

My recollection from previous articles is that expenses are accounted for, but taxes are not.

CNBC had Ray Dalio on this morning. He was also espousing risk parity, and mentioned lengthening duration or levering up bonds as techniques used to accomplish it.

I'm unconvinced and will be changing nothing.

I've been hearing about the bond bubble and muni bubble for years. Thankfully I ignored Meredith Whitney et al. By doing so, I'm confident that I've already made more than I'll ever lose when the rates do go up. And when there is the eventual dip to my bonds, the odds are pretty good that my other h...

Leaving things alone may be easier for some (particularly retirees) because there are fewer variables. There are several factors that affect the management of my portfolio, like: * Highly variable pay based on factors outside my control * Employer changing 401K plans * 401K plans with poor choices *...

I use VGSLX and VNQI because they are the cheapest way for me to get a well diversified REIT portfolio. I would consider active funds if they could match the ERs of my index funds, but almost none do.

It is far more than sometimes. Yahoo used to have a decent finance site, and I now rarely use it. I use an excel plugin to update my portfolio performance, and I gave up on Yahoo some time ago. They are often inconsistent in their accounting of dividends, which makes the data pretty much useless. It...

What is the solution for minor beneficiaries of IRAs ior ROTH IRAs? They need a trust; they need a trustee; the trust needs to distribute assets or at least relinquish control over time; but at the same time the trust should attempt to preserve the stretch indefinitely if in the best interests of t...

Yes, I have multiple. The investment choices and ERs vary from plan to plan. The plans with the best ERs for typical core holdings may not have other classes such as REIT.

I don't have a cheap REIT in my 401K, so I shelter some REIT in the Nebraska 529, but hold core 529 funds in other states.

You could sell call options instead of shorting.

But I do think it's pointless in the overall scheme of things to single out a single stock out of thousands.

Didn't think it was possible to move an IRA into a 401k although I know you can do the reverse, i.e. roll a 401k into an IRA. Perhaps I'm wrong. Yes, you're wrong. From IRS Pub 590: Kinds of rollovers from a traditional IRA. You may be able to roll over, tax free, a distribution from your tradition...

A lousy retirement is the price people will pay for playing keep up with the Joneses...

I refuse to buy my kids the latest tablet, cell phone, and fashionable boots. I teach them to take care of what they do have. Being in the minority is quite a challenge.

sscritic wrote:

Jackhenryport wrote: for a total of $40,000in one year for the two of us?

With a living trust each you can get $40,000 a year, but not doing what you propose.

+1

Not that there is any reason to doubt sscritic, but I also get to $40K using this method.

From: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/articles/res_invest_articles_purchaselimits_0406.htm "the purchase amount of electronic savings bonds you transfer, deliver as gifts, or de-link to another TreasuryDirect account holder is applied to the receiver's annual purchase limit in the ...

I wouldn't give up the flexibility and diversity of the IRA for a few basis points.

If you are looking at doing backdoor Roth conversions in the future, that is sometimes a reason to hide the IRA assets in a 401K (to avoid the pro rata rule).

Sorry for the bump of an old thread if this was previously asked and answered...

Should we conclude that the original FF size factor premium was really composed of a liquidity and size premium? And now that small stocks are more liquid, that we should expect less of a future smallness premium?

No I think he means to actually take opposite positions, such as a long and short position of the same security so if one goes up the other goes down. It would have to be something very volatile so that it doubles within a year from one of the positions. Well, the opposite positions part I think is...

Why don't you put your proposed portfolio into the M* Instant X-Ray, and see if you get the desired result?

I believe you can purchase an IRA CD directly from Pen Fed.

Would it be wise to increase stock allocation to say 70-75 from 60 percent given the poor bond outlook for someone still early in accumulation? Anything else we can use instead of bonds, precious metals? You shouldn't change allocation based on outlook in the early accumulation stage. Some bond fun...

Disclaimer: I am far from being an expert. I don't think you'd want the remainder of your estate being valued as part of the probate process (Who would do the valuation, and would it be done the way you would have wanted?). Perhaps put everything else (as appropriate) in a revocable trust, and updat...

I've tried almost all of them this year. Futureadvisor, Sigfig, Personal Capital, etc. My goal was to track performance and asset allocation. Unfortunately, none of them could track more than 90% of my investments, and I found significant problems with their asset allocation engines. Too many funds ...

I believe that you can contribute to the previous calendar year's Roth right up until the tax filing deadline (usually April 15). So for example, one could still contribute to their 2012 Roth for the next 3 months. Also, most people can very accurately estimate their income well before the end of th...

With a 3 year time horizon, I wouldn't be in bond or equity funds.

Find the best CD rates (Ally or Pen Fed right now?), or possibly I-bonds.

I would go with the PTTRX for ER and tax-efficiency. If you have any other bond holdings, just use an index or short-term treasuries to balance the risk.