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I have been using Morningstar Tools via TRowe Price website. For last couple of weeks the Portfolio Xray is not working. It shows 0% for everything in the portfolio. It shows the breakup for S&P 500 benchmark, but not for the portfolio funds. Any idea?

If 100% of the investor's buy low cost index funds, who will make the market?

"Saving account earning 4%"

Thats a pretty good deal. Are you sure this is a saving account? Anyhting earning more than 2% currently has to be lot more risky than saving account.

This applies only if you get eligible using last month rule and make $6150 full year contribution for 2010. If you don't use last month rule, and get eligible only in 2011 then you don't have to worry about it. Just make "annual contribution limit"/12 every month to your HSA account if you...

This is not a tax credit. This is a direct subsidy. A family of 4 making $50000 would not be paying enough taxes to get enough tax credit. Where does the $9000+ come from? I am guessing the other tax payers. Assuming it is not a "refundable" credit, it is not coming from anyone but yoursel...

That is exactly my point. The law does give some certainty to early retirees. I am starting to warm up to this law. I just wanted to know your opinion on if new health care subsidy go into effect starting 2014, won't it be wonderful for people retiring early? It looks the law will pay for premium ov...

Come 2014, if this part of the law stays as is, why not? If you are planning to retire early in 2015, how much do you plan for health care expense?

zinnia wrote:I wouldn't approach early retirement with any certainty over health care costs.

One of the biggest unknown and hurdle for someone who is planning to retire early is the health care cost. I just wanted to know your opinion on if new health care subsidy go into effect starting 2014, won't it be wonderful for people retiring early? It looks the law will pay for premium over 9.5% o...

Would the conversion result in capital gain tax? I am impressed that VG made it so easy for me to convert my 3 funds that are over $10k and not previously Admiral-qualified. It took me less that 5 minutes to convert them to Admiral. Then again, why didn't VG just convert them w/o me? I guess there i...

Wow! Could you please tell how much of $200K is tution and how much other? Is this Ivy league school expense? $200K/kid, meaning $100K/kid in todays dollors? So I guess I need minimum of $1.2 mil to retire. For two kids to go to college in 15 years (more or less), I'd figure $200K a kid, minimum, fo...

"working part time and earning $1,000 per month" Could you please give few examples of these kind of jobs. I definitely don't want to work in retail. The job I do currently, I have never seen a part time person. so that option is more or less closed. 4. Anything else you want to share. Whe...

$200K/kid, meaning $100K/kid in todays dollors? So I guess I need minimum of $1.2 mil to retire. For two kids to go to college in 15 years (more or less), I'd figure $200K a kid, minimum, for tuition, room and board. And that's conservative. Of course, you can always send them to community college f...

Real estate taxes and current health insurance premiums are included in $40000 expense. This also included $5000 misc expenses. So based on 25 times I atleast need $1 mil. plus whatever you want to pay for college? If I want to pay for all of their tution and boarding, how much minimum should I incl...

Most of the people I see retire early including on this forum seems to have pension. If you retire before your children have been through college, doesn't it complicate figuring out how much to save? Lets take my example and please help figure out how much I need to save to call it quits. Age 40. Ch...

Thanks for your reply. If you don't mind asking, do you have children? I also plan on retiring early, preferably before 50. I am 40 now, and my youngest one is only 2. I would like to hear from those who have retired and have no pension. Some of the things I would like to know - 1. At what age did y...

I would like to hear from those who have retired and have no pension. Some of the things I would like to know - 1. At what age did you retire? 2. How do you have your portfolio invested? 3. Level of anxiety due to absence of fixed income like pension? 4. Anything else you want to share. Thanks!

Real rates are falling, so the value of bonds, including TIPS, goes up. TIPS are treasury securities, which benefit from moves to safety and liquidity in bad economic times. These are more than enough to counteract deflation influences. You would expect real rates component of the TIPS to go up, if...

When I look at this TIP under INCONE PRODUCTS section of Fidelity website, it shows the price as 126.667112. I also own this TIP, and when I look at it via my portfolio positions, it lists most recent price as 109.523. What gives? I changed the CAPS in your title to lower case. CAPS are for forum an...

Here is the listing of AIG bond from Fidelity, showing yield to ask of 7.3%. Considering that AIG is owned by US govt, isn't it a good buy? AMERICAN INTL GROUP INC MTN BE 5.45000% 05/18/2017FR At a guess there is a risk of being called early. It's a Medium Term Note, rather than a bond, which has i...

Here is the listing of AIG bond from Fidelity, showing yield to ask of 7.3%. Considering that AIG is owned by US govt, isn't it a good buy? AMERICAN INTL GROUP INC MTN BE 5.45000% 05/18/2017FR At a guess there is a risk of being called early. It's a Medium Term Note, rather than a bond, which has i...

Here is the listing of AIG bond from Fidelity, showing yield to ask of 7.3%. Considering that AIG is owned by US govt, isn't it a good buy? AMERICAN INTL GROUP INC MTN BE 5.45000% 05/18/2017FR I don't know what AIG's relationship to the U. S. government is. It's probably pretty complicated. 7-year ...

Here is the listing of AIG bond from Fidelity, showing yield to ask of 7.3%. Considering that AIG is owned by US govt, isn't it a good buy?

AMERICAN INTL GROUP INC MTN BE 5.45000% 05/18/2017FR

It's like asking whether ice cream should be considered ice or cream. Non-investment-grade bonds are fundamentally different from investment-grade bonds because the chance of default can't be ignored, and therefore the value of the investment depends on one's judgement of the business prospects of ...

Hi Yield bond funds - Do you consider them part of bond allocation or equity allocation? In my opinion, any thing that produces equity like returns should be considered part of equity allocation. Any opinions? If I were to use them, which I don't and probably never will, I'd consider them part equi...

Hi Yield bond funds - Do you consider them part of bond allocation or equity allocation? In my opinion, any thing that produces equity like returns should be considered part of equity allocation. Any opinions?

I want to stay at fidelity. Any suggestions for Fidelity comparable fund for Vanguard total bond index fund? May I suggest, though, that rather than using that Fidelity mutual fund, you simply buy BND within your Fidelity account. That is the Vanguard TBM index ETF, ER 0.14. I think the Spartan Tre...

zeusrock1 wrote:Fidelity US Bond Index (FBIDX). Expense ratio is .38 and it's not really an index fund, but it's pretty close. I have it in my Fidelity accounts.

I just checked, it looks the expense ratio for FBIDX is reduced to .32. Why do you say it is not really an index fund?

I want to stay at fidelity. Any suggestions for Fidelity comparable fund for Vanguard total bond index fund?

I am looking at Secondary Treasuries via fidelity. Could somebody please explain what is "U S TREAS SEC STRIPPED INT PMT 0.00000% " , and why they have higher yield than for similarly maturing treasuries with coupon?

Thanks!

With deflation lurking around you probably want new issues where there isn't any accumulated inflation portage of the TIPS bond. Existing 30 year TIPS on the market can their large inflation portion "consumed" by deflation. Paul If you are planning to keep TIPS for atleast 5 to 10 years, ...

I haven't seen the 2X number, but I have seen a 1X number. Also, our old insurance company wanted proof of assets when the numbers got up there before they would issue such a policy. What does umbrella policy has to do with how much asset you have? If you have assets of $2M , have umbrella policy o...

[quote=I don't understand what that has to do with paying off your house. The hefty tax is there regardless. Or move to an area that doesn't have hefty taxes.[/quote] No relation, but emotional upside is tempered quite a bit with a huge monthly tax still out there with yearly increases more than inf...

Amen to that, congrats. We paid ours off when I was 35, so we're in the same ballpark. I have no regrets and you won't either, way to go. Now-a-days real estate tax is becoming like another mortgage payment. I am getting close to paying off my mortgage, but I would still be left with a hefty real e...

Pay off the mortgage. Unless you buy a bond and keep it until maturity, it can also go up and down in value. Since you are already maxing out on all the opportunity to invest, I think you should pay off the mortgage.

It looks that the current plan under consideration in House will kill HSA. I don't understand how they can do that under the grab of reform. HSA brought down my monthly premium from $1000 a month to $258. I understand my deductible went up from $600 to $3500, but this money is still in HSA account u...

If u have the money, should u pay off your house? rate is 6.5. or invest it? If somebody had to make this same decision any year in last 10 years, what decision would have turned out right? paying off the house!!! If you are contributing max to your retirement account, and have enough emergency fun...

I'm still working through HSA's and how they work. If an HDHP has a deductible of $5000 for family coverage, can I contribute $5950 to an HSA, or am I limited to the amount of the deductible of $5000 for a yearly contribution? Is it true that a yearly contribution to an HSA is allowed only to the m...

I'm still working through HSA's and how they work. If an HDHP has a deductible of $5000 for family coverage, can I contribute $5950 to an HSA, or am I limited to the amount of the deductible of $5000 for a yearly contribution? Is it true that a yearly contribution to an HSA is allowed only to the m...

He is keenly aware that anything he says will be taken as sound investment advice / a direct recommendation by many, many people. Maybe just being very, very cautious. His track record is not one of deceipt. He did not seem that cautious when he wrote that article in NY times in October. He does no...

On this weekend in Omaha, a shareholder asked a straight question. Is he in 100% equity in his personal account as he suggested in October 2008? Warren Buffet did not answer this question, other than simply saying we can't guess bottom.

Treasury yields have gone up quite a lot in last few days. Why TIPS yield are stuck at same level?

Bought 01/15/2025 TIPS at 3.25% yield couple of minutes ago. Started buying at 3.05% last week.

jeffyscott wrote:I think Vanguard's footnote explains it:

E — BASED ON HOLDINGS' YIELD TO MATURITY FOR 30 DAYS AS OF END OF PREVIOUS WEEK.

So, how does this yield relate with TIP's. As far as I remember, even last week TIPS were yielding above 2% real.

I am new to TIPS. Could you please explain why VIPSX yield is just 1.67%, if real yield on TIPS currently is above 2%.

Thanks!