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it doesn't really work that way. You are generally not going to be able to take a capital loss because the cost basis of the bond will adjust downward (amortize downward) over time. It's possible if interest rates spike and you sell before maturity that you might be able to take a capital loss. But...

Thanks, Grok. Yes, I was talking about munis, and the reason the question arose is because I was recently looking at an offering that was just the situation you described: a choice between two Cal GO bonds maturing on the same date, one with a 3% coupon and one with a 5% coupon, and both supposedly...

Hi, i ;m looking at a breakable 10 year cd at 1.95 from discover bank. their fine print says to break it early is 15 months of interest . any opinions In general you want to make sure, in the fine print, that you have the right to break the cd. Some banks have weasel words in their disclosure that ...

Apologizing in advance if my question displays too much ignorance, but I was wondering whether purchasing an existing-issue bond at a premium and holding it to maturity will result in a capital loss at the time it matures, and if so, whether this factor is generally priced into the premium of the b...

I can prove that today's market is a stock picker's market. In the Bogleheads Hedge Fund contest ( http://libra-investments.com/hf/bh.html ), participant "Mudpuppy" has picked a stock that is up 142.1% for the year. That was a good one to pick. Mudpuppy is handily beating the benchmark (V...

Since we are making predictions

I predict the foreign developed hedged bond fund will have a yield of 1.4% and a duration of 6.75%

Grok, On the topic of tip #7, is Vanguard's decision to include foreign bonds in TR funds justified? Thanks, Brad Hi Brad, It's a good question. I'm kind of waiting for the fund to come out and see the stats before I do some more analysis on the issue. I think the EM USD fund is out so presumably t...

You have to use the treasury rate that's equivalent to your time remaining. 10 yr treasuries are at 1.97% right now. I think I modified that down to ~1.8% to get to a 9 year estimate. Also, the denominator is the ratio - 1 so in your example it is now 0.375 not 1.375 Agree. So the formula math is: ...

One of the issues with ordering things delivered by UPS or FedEx, is the issue with packages being left on porches, etc. Amazon usually uses UPS, in my experience. I just ordered (and received yesterday) something in a small package (size of a hardback book), and used the new delivery address that ...

jginseattle wrote:Only short-term credits have sufficiently rewarded investors. But, as Ilmanen says, they're risky with the worst losses occurring during bad times.

Agree.

Question to Grok: why do you think does Jack Bogle recommend intermediate to long corporate bonds? Hi Munir, I was not aware that he recommended long corporate bonds. Do you have a source/reference? cheers, Hi grok, I did a quick forum search. Here's a recent thread: Bogle again calls for a total c...

Hi, Munir, I don't think Jack Bogle went so far as to recommend long corporates. He's been advocating a true corporate index fund and he's advocated an institutional share class of intermediate corporates specifically. I think Grok is talking about true long bonds; for example, the estimated durati...

Thank you grok! Very timely and useful IMO! Hope this will be an interesting thread and I recently was wondering under what cases would folks here recommend investing in these. Regarding reasons - Swensen, in his book, describes why to avoid any corporate bonds, and one basic reason is that it is n...

Munir wrote:Question to Grok: why do you think does Jack Bogle recommend intermediate to long corporate bonds?

Hi Munir,
I was not aware that he recommended long corporate bonds. Do you have a source/reference?
cheers,

tip 14 is out
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tip 14 is out
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tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Tip 14 is out
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116549&newpost=1697631

Grok's Tip #14: Avoid long-term corporate bonds It's a tough fixed income investing environment out there, no question. Bond yields are brutally low with the 10 year treasury yield under 2% and t-bills yielding 0%. There has been a lot of talk about corporate bonds, and in particular some may think ...

Article does not say anything about "current yield". I guess they would not have that number until they'd actually start buying bonds. But without having that number, we don't know what is the potential "reward" is in "risk / reward" equation. For a SWAG I would guess ...

Article does not say anything about "current yield". I guess they would not have that number until they'd actually start buying bonds. But without having that number, we don't know what is the potential "reward" is in "risk / reward" equation. For a SWAG I would guess ...

I was speaking with a high school student the other day who mentioned one of the projects in his consumer ed class was to evaluate the students stock picking abilities. Each student was given $100,000 in fake money to see what they could earn by picking stocks over a 3 month period. They are graded...

3) I've read a few of Larry's books. I think he's great. I found this article really interesting. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/your-money/stocks-and-bonds/taking-a-chance-on-the-larry-portfolio.html?_r=0 Larry has talked about this before on this board. I think he calls it his "minimize f...

I miss on 3, 5, and 8. 3- I am 90% equities. Target date funds seem like they are 10-12% equities, so I mirrored that. I hear you. I understand what you are saying. I based my AA on Larry Swedroe's books and my need for risk due to a late start. I plan on re-evaluating my AA annually. I have re-eva...

Grok’s Tip #11: Take Grok’s pledge. 1) I will index at least half of my equities. 2) I will own some international equities. 3) I will own at least 20% bonds in my portfolio. 4) I will avoid funky bonds like junk bonds, convertibles, structured CDs, etc. (Take your risk on the equity side!) 5) I wi...

So taking Taleb's approach- sure all the formal academic stuff is pretty useless but that goes for many so called academic disciplines. It is actually THIS BOARD- THE BOGLEHEADS and others like it (not many i don't think) that exemplify what financial literacy is all about. We are the model that wo...

Don’t get me wrong. We’d all be better off if everyone were more financially literate, and some fin-lit programs undoubtedly work. But you could easily argue that technological literacy and medical literacy are at least as important to people’s well-being as financial literacy is. Even so, most of ...

However, Safari > Preferences > Security > "Block pop-up windows" box checked seems to have worked for me! This is great! I guess I spoke too soon. It only helped for a day.... :( Exactly. That's why i'm considering glimmerblocker. I guess I'm still interested in hearing from others who u...

Thanks LadyGeek for all your hard work!

Glimmerblocker is pretty great software -- unobtrusive and solid, and I only notice it when I'm on a computer that doesn't have it. That said...it does great for ad-blocking, but it's less than perfect for pop-up blocking. I've had no adverse effects since installing it, and it's free...if I were y...

retiredjg wrote:I get the MacKeeper ads every time I look at TV Listings. Very annoying.

Yep. Very annoying. Apparently MacKeeper is a pretty nasty outfit.

I can't comment on Glimmerblocker, but under Safari > Preferences > Security do you have the "Block pop-up windows" box checked? I do, and never get pop-up ads except when I've unchecked it occasionally for particular access. THanks- yes I do have that checked and still get the annoying M...

So I've gotten fed up with the MacKeeper pop-up ads on the Mac. Glimmerblocker supposedly takes care of this? Does anyone use it? Is it legitimate?
thanks
Grok

Be sure to check the forum thread: Grok's Tip#9: To Manage Risk Well, Use a Bar-Bell (Consider starting a new thread, as it will take you down a completely new path.) i looked at this thread. done when interest rates were higher. in this super low interest rate environment not sure buying a 5 year ...

Other alternatives to consider are carry trade, merger arbitrage, MOM (though IMO best to include in a fund that is focused on other assets/factors) Larry Larry, What is your opinion on the carry trade? I guess, following your argument, I have a somewhat naive view (not having crunched the numbers)...

For the CD scenario, wouldn't it be an after tax rate of 1.33% over TWO years, so annual yield would be 0.67%? well the total interest for the two year period (not annualized) is 2.7% and after the six month penalty it is 2.03%, then after tax (multiply by 0.67) it is 1.33%- again not annualized bu...

I know this topic has come up in the past, but wanted an update in the current economic environment. I'm in the 33% tax bracket and in my early 30s. I am maxing out my 401K/retirement investments and my emergency short-term fund is funded. I want to save now toward a home down payment sometime in 2...

longview wrote:One thing that doesn't get discussed in the "run from bonds" scenarios is deflation. Deflation can still give bonds some real return. (I know everyone thinks it is impossible now -- but we were very scared of it a few years ago.).

good point

Yes, but does the Barclays Index exist now, or is that something new being created for the Vanguard fund? If it exists now, where can I find it's duration and yield? I could not find it on Barclays website. I think the index is created for Vanguard. It's tailored to Vanguard's specific needs/wants:...

While the ability to break a CD is an interesting option and while all our CDs are breakable, I am going to go out on a limb and predict that in the next 20 years there will never be a time when breaking a CD in order to buy a new one will make financial sense. I make that prediction based on my ex...

grok87 wrote:So I was hoping I could get recommendations for a lawyer for a real estate transaction in Northern NJ. Anybody deal with this recently and have somebody that was good (and relatively cheap)?
thanks

Bump.