Bogleheads.org

I am good with ETF/fund share price going up after I buy and getting CG. What I don't understand is how a fund's unrealized gains affect me when I buy. In your example, When I buy a share of the fund, doesn't the share price reflect the increased market value of XYZ cooperation at the moment? Or som...

^Thank you. That's what I was wondering. I don't quite understand. If the fund's cost basis is $100M, unrealized capital gains $100M when I buy a share for $100, how does that play out?

Thank you.

livesoft wrote:........but since VBR now has a huge unrealized gain I don't look at this stuff anymore....

What happens if you buy shares in a fund with a huge unrealized gains? Thank you.

Thank you for clarification. That makes sense.

Is capital loss carryover not affected with proposed tax law changes coming up?

Yes, I maxed out ibond. Don't I have to have a mix of short/intermediate termsto have all in if it is for a long-term investment beyond five years?

I'll search for wiki for bonds.

Thank you.

Is there a rough guideline on how to spread out bond holdings between short- and long-term? I have filled my tax-advantaged space with intermediate corporate bond funds and tips. That's about 2/3 of my bond position. The remaining third will be in the taxable account.I am wondering if I should consi...

i didn't know. I imagine we can hold for 20 years. Is there any good time to buy EE?

Thank you for the link. That was the exact question I had. It seems to recommend to consider AA across all accounts. That's what we are doing now.

Isn't the Ibond rate painfully low at the moment? 0% or close to it? We do hold muni bonds in taxable. My question comes down to how to assign AA; separately for each account or all accounts combined? Is applying AA across all accounts beneficial or should one consider isolating some accounts and ap...

I edited my reply above. We have 401k. At the moment, both our 401k and Roth are 100% in bonds. We have more bonds in taxable.

We also have tax-deferred retirement 401k accounts. We are holding bonds there as much as we can. We need more bonds either in taxable accounts or in Roth or both. I was thinking more in terms of lost oppotunity to rebalance if we hold only bonds in Roth, not trying to beat the market. Should we con...

I read Wiki on Tax Efficient Asset Allocations. If I understood correctly, it recommends filling tax free accounts with bonds/REITs first. I don't have REIts and filled my Roth account with bond funds. Since the interest rate is so low over the few months after I bought bonds in my Roth, the value o...

Thank you. I was afraid of that.

If you exchange your holdings with someone else, transferring in kind, of equal value, will we be subject to the gift tax?

I am wondering about the same thing. Couldn't they sue for more than what you have?

Thank you. Any idea how I could convert mutual fund shares to ETFs? I didn't realize it costs a lot to trade mutual funds at my brokerage firm when compared to trading ETFs. Right now, we are on a fixed fee schedule that includes all trades. I'd like to be prepared when we leave this plan.

If I excahnge Total Stoxk Market funds at a loss and buy VTI total market ETF, is that considered a wash sale?

Thank you for the chart. It contains everything.

Thank you. Found it, the second line in small prints.

I do. The rest 70% is in Total Market. I just can't sell S&P because of the capital gains at the moment.

How much MC/SC does one need to add to compensate S&P holdings to similate the total market? About 30% of my domestic equity holding is S&P.

mackstann wrote:Yes, the ETF version of Vanguard Total Bond Market has the ticker BND. Vanguard's webpages for its funds have a convenient link to their ETF versions, if one exists for that fund.

Where's that convenient link located? I went to their fund listings and didn't see. Thank you.

Thank you for the Schwab fees link. $76 is a lot per trade. If we do buy, hold, rebalance, we won't be doing many trades. Is there a penalty for infrequent trading?

Holding ETFs will be a way out. If you already hold a mutual fund, it is a bit of complication.

Here's one for mid-cap index fund. Thanks.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... st=tab%3A3

Fees

Purchase fee None
Redemption fee None
12b-1 fee None

It is just that our holdings are all over. I am already dealing with 6 accounts. It would help, if they are all at the same place. Are the fees published? If in the fee chart, they say no fees, does it mean no fees whether you buy from Vanguard or Schwab?

Exactly. That's what I was wondering, too.

livesoft - Thank you. Do you research at each firm? I read them but wasn't sure. They don't seem to spell out what others may charge.

If I open an account at a discount brokerage firm, what fees should I expect? Is it just fees per trade? Also, if you buy an outside open-ended fund, do outside firms charge a fee? I heard that if you buy a Vanguard fund in you Schwab account, Vanguard charges a fee while you wouldn't pay anything i...

Do you mean dollar amounts?

I already sold what I could. What's left have gains except commodities. If I sell commodities with losses, i can use the losses to cancel gains from selling REITs or one or two other funds. That still leaves me with funds in each class. I could keep them and try to emulate index funds as well as I c...

OK, if you could start from scratch without any tax consequences, what would your desired portfolio look like today? Maybe just 4 funds? 35% TotalStockMarket 15% TotalInt'lStockMarket 20% TotalBondMarket 30% TaxExemptBondMarket without more info, what else could one say? That sound good to me. Not ...

They are all individual accounts. I just combined them since we file taxes jointly. In many cases, they duplicate each other.

I did follow the link about asking questions. Just crossed out a few items that I thought didn't apply to me. I am sorry it is hard to understand.

I am.

Could I do 5 fund portfolio with domestic stocks split among large cap/mid cap/small cap? I already own funds in mid-cap and small-cap. I have to wait before I can liquidate.

REITs is in the taxable account. The funds have sizable gains that I can't liquidate yet.

Thank you. Emergency funds = 3 months of expenses Debt: none Tax Filing Status: Married filing Jointly Tax Rate: 35% Federal 3% State State of Residence Age: 68, 62 Desired Asset allocation: 50/50 Intl allocation: 30% of stocks Currently, we own; Fixed Income 10% in 403b - fixed annuities (9%) short...

Does it have to be in one check to meet the requirement one roll over per year?

Instead of rolling over to an IRA, could you roll into a Roth IRA directly?

sscritic wrote:One thing you could do is lower your income for this year so you are in the 15% bracket so that your rate on long term capital gains is zero. Zero is a good shield.

Is that how long term capital gains are taxed, your marginal rate -15%?

Under present law, the lifetime gift tax exclusion is $5.12 million in 2012 and $1 million in 2013. If someone gifts $750,000 in 2012, does this mean they will have $250,000 remaining in 2013 ($1 million minus $750,000) or the full $1 million ($5.12 million minus $750,000 leaves a remaining 2012 ex...

It is a simple situation tho. It is a retirement fund that the government treats favorably to encourage savings since SS may not be able to cover everything. When retireds pass away, need to treat it favorably disappears, it seems.

How does it pass onto beneficiaries? Do they get the lump-sum subject to the inheritance tax if applicable?

What happens to a Roth IRA balance when the account holder dies? Does it get forfeited if not used up?

I am about to retire and downsize anyway and the land will still be there in the case of a catastophe. I won't be happy but I'll survive the worst possible. The insurance company is doing a survey to "reasses".

If you are not required to have a homeowner's insurance by the mortgage company, do you still need to have one? For the last 20-30 years I had the insurance, I didn't have a claim to make, not once. My mortgage is just about paid off and I am thinking dropping the insurance.

I know. I have no excuse. I've been trying to get it out of their hands. That's why I am turning it over to my daughter if I can. It seemed like the easiest way to fire them.

Sometimes the description says nothing has been taken. Other times there is talk about current income.

I meant nothing taken from the principal. Income didn't amount to much, $2-3K per year which I received.

Older generation skipping trusts were not an estate tax problem and were frequently used to bypass a generation of estate taxes. I believe this is the case. Something pretty standard at that time. I am happy to give up the entire account. This particular coorporate trustee is not very accomodating....

1. What was the trust value at the end of every year. Can you find some indication of a point in time when things went badly? No, Interestingly, it had been consistently around $500K until about 7 years ago when I brought the isuue and they switched to mutual Funds. 2. What disbursements were made?...

What should I look for in the statement? My brother has basically the same trust/assets. He was caring for everyone's finances after parents' death. The assets were divided equally and we all have the same portfolio. He is getting old and would like to stop managing everyone else's accounts. So we a...