Bogleheads.org

RM, House Blend's interest rate is a combination of "vintage" rates determined by the years in which he contributed to Traditional. You can find what you personally are earning by logging on to your account. Click on VIEW INTEREST RATES at each of your accounts. Here are all the vintage ra...

Traditional's accumulation rate is subject to change at the end of every month, but that doesn't mean that it might go below the 3% minimum. I see no reason to suspect that the 3% guarantee will be removed from RA, SRA, GRA, and GSRA accounts. Such a change could not be done lightly or easily. I am ...

D. Short periodically gives the inflation-adjusted S&P 500 index for four bear markets. His latest is April 21.
http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Four-Totally-Bad-Bears.php

John

Simpler still would be the Life Strategy Growth fund. And they will throw in rebalancing.
John

The glide path usually refers to the percentage of stocks, so the steeper the glide path the faster the amount of stocks is reduced, which seems to me to be safer. No, if a steeper path meant arriving more quickly at the final allocation, it would be safer. But the date of the final allocation is f...

It's true that Vanguard is no longer starting Coverdells, which is unfortunate. There are other companies that can be used, such as T. Rowe Price. The steeper the glide path, the higher the risk. I cannot see that one should prefer a steeper glide path for funds that will be spent over 4 years than ...

Where does Mr. Bernstein find the 3% dividend yield? Vanguard gives a "current unadjusted effective yield" of 3.54% and a "current adjusted effective yield" of 2.42%. Is either of these the number that Mr. Bernstein refers to?
John

Vanguard uses the word 'retirement' in the names of these funds, but they can be used for any target. One of their benefits is that they are "set-and-forget" funds for those of us who cannot cound on being around for as long as needed to moniter and adjust them.
John

I use Vanguard Target Date funds for my grandchildren's Coverdells. It seems to me that this is just what they are designed for--saving for a future goal that will arrive at a predictable time. I also like the fact that these funds will stay on automatic pilot if I die in the meantime. I don't want ...

I concur with MN Finance's view that you should wait until 70, but your wife should not wait. You can file and suspend at FRA (66) so that your wife can start collecting spousal benefits before you start your own. Mike Piper is a good source for information: http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/social-s...

Now, you either accept 1.57% for 5.3 Years for the Bonds you get above, or you don't. ◘ If rates increase, you have some capital loss offset by more yield over 5.3 Years. ◘ If rates stay, you get what you signed-up to get. ◘ If rates fall (yes, possible), you get some capital gain and lower yield. ...

I trust Buffett's judgment in general on investment matters, but you don't need Buffett to tell you that bond investments aren't too good right now. We're somewhere near the end of a 30-year bull market in bonds. It may have already ended; it's too soon to tell. Since we're talking about bonds, peop...

Like Imbros, I compare LS G to Wellington. I use Wellington, but keep thinking about including LS G. Wellington beats LS G in all 6 periods. Maybe I need to just forget about LS G.
John

Owl, I think that TIAA told you the truth. I'm about to annuitize Traditional myself and have done some investigating and thinking about it. Unless you are thinking about taking money from elsewhere to buy a Traditional annuity (making it a sort of SPIA), your payout rates are already set from the p...

In the 2012 paper linked by BobK, after showing that present interest rate conditions make delay clearly advantageous for most people, Shoven and Slavov say: "we find little empirical evidence that actual claiming behavior is related to the actuarial advantage of delay. Indeed, most individuals...

What a concept, Prune: think about old age insurance as insurance! Seriously though, thank you for your post. I think that too many people on forums like this one approach social security as an investment problem. How can I die with the most money? It seems to me to be wiser, in most cases, to take ...

Stats, if annuitant A experiences rising rates after annuitization, while B experiences falling rates, A will surely end up receiving more nominal dollars--because of greater additions by TIAA. But it's difficult for me to see that it could matter where, in the eternal cycle of varying of interest r...

TIAA Traditional Annuity is a stable value fund. We count it as part of our bond allocation. This is a very special investment. In my opinion, you would be crazy to shift it to another investment. The main drawback are the restrictions on withdrawing your money. It takes nine-years and a day to wit...

TIAA-CREF's distinctive specialty is annuity accounts. These have quite reasonable expense ratios, and at the end of your career you can annuitize all or any portion of them. I would use them exclusively in preference to the TIAA-CREF mutual funds, especially the Access funds. TIAA Traditional, with...

Landy, if your conjecture were right, there would not be an SEC yield published for the Target Retirement funds.
John

Vanguard's Target Retirement funds, which have large foreign stock components, publish SEC yields. If they can publish those, why can't they give SEC yields for their foreign stock funds? John What did Vanguard say when you asked them? I didn't ask Vanguard. I asked Bogleheads--out of idle curiosit...

Vanguard's Target Retirement funds, which have large foreign stock components, publish SEC yields. If they can publish those, why can't they give SEC yields for their foreign stock funds?
John

This is a powerful illustration of the effect of perspective. We often see (even if we forget) the effect of a logarithmic scale and inflation adjustment. I've never seen a perspective that also takes population into account. Which is true? All of them.
Thank you, RTR, for the link.
John

The mystery's solution must lie in the yield of the foreign component, but I have a hard time believing that any fund is allowed to use a distribution yield to compute SEC yield. If this could be done, why would Vanguard's foreign stock funds never report a SEC yield? By the way, why don't they repo...

How can the SEC yield for Target Retirment funds be higher than the SEC yields for either TSM or TBM? The only other component in TR is Total International, and it doesn't publish a SEC yield. For example, TR 2030 has a yield of 2.14% and TR 2045 has 2.17%, while TSM is 2.03% and TBM is 1.74%. It do...

What was the other company that got gold for its target date funds?
John

See the three decades until about 1981 for what a "bond crash" looks like. It's not spectacular. it's rather like the legendary Chinese water torture. There's no noticeable onset of pain. Perhaps like the slow-motion collision of galaxies? Frog boiling? It's like the past few months, but i...

Thanks, Brad, this is useful comparative data.
John

Would you sleep on leather sheets? Cloth is more comfortable in all conditions.
John

I'm with you, Rocket. Cloth seats were one of the big reasons I bought my 2006 Azera. Now, though, cloth no longer seems to be an option. I don't understand the popularity of leather upholstery. I may just have to hold onto my Azera for a while longer. I still enjoy it.

John

A thread like this is a conversation--not an exam. MN's first response was a step in the right direction. It didn't make clear that F&S was not merely unrequired but the wrong procedure. So at that point others could have chimed in with corrections, statements of important conditions, and other ...

MN, I am in agreement with you. I explicitly defended your answer earlier. Where you quote me, I was simply trying, in a friendly way, to end a dispute with sscritic that was jamming the thread. Human communication can be sensible without being narrowly logical.
John

You've described the best strategy if Spouse 2 is younger and has a smaller PIA. If spouse 2 is older or has a larger PIA, you'll probaly need to run the numbers to see if you should do it the other way round.
John

I agree with Paul: insurance is for the black swans in life. It is not to pay for routine care. That is the main reason that I'm leaning toward the Medicare Advantage. For $0 per month I'm limited to $3.400 annually out of pocket. That is the sort of protection that I want from insurance. To pay mor...

So, and I'm guessing here, it must be possible to unsuspend and then claim spousal benefits. Usually file and suspend is done to allow a spouse to get spousal benefits while you wait to claim your own later. But, from what you've been saying, I am now suspecting that you can unsuspend without having...

I'm happy to see this thread because I'm in the throes of the same decision. I don't have a good choice for high deductible F, so I am weighing K (plus Part D) versus Medicare Advantage. I'm leaning toward Medicare Advantage. It has no monthly charge, $450 annual deductible, and a fairly low (someth...

OK, you're right: the answer to the OP is "No" and MN shouldn't have said "Yes."
Now I have a question for you, sscriic: Is there any way for mutually divorced and unremarried spouses both to get spousal benefits between FRA and age 70? If so, how?
John

Until the full moon dissipates, I'm baffled by sscritic's persisting questions about file and suspend. The OP wanted to know if it was possible for two mutually divorced and unremarried persons to get spousal benfits from FRA until 70. Yes. Some of us, including me, on this thread have ex-spouses wh...

I must be wrong somehow. I don't see how the PIAs are relevant. I thought that so long as a divorcee filed at FRA for spousal benefit only he or she could wait until 70 to file for his or her own. This is not correct?

John

No, one who files and suspends is not eligible for a spousal benefit.

Again, as I see it, the key is that neither files (is entitled)--in any way--for his or her own benefit. Then both can be spouses. Right?

John

OK, I'll give it a shot. If Tom and Jane both file and suspend, neither gets anything until he or she "unsuspends." If one files and suspends, the other can claim spousal benefits, and, being FRA, can wait until 70 to claim his or her own. But, if both divorcees file (at FRA) for spousal b...

If "no, but" is correct, is not "yes, but" wrong? No, not always. I take it that you are thinking about MN's orginal answer to the OP. His "yes, but" appropriately affirmed that the OP can accomplish what he wanted, but not in the manner he specified. Your "no, bu...

Yes, 3 out of 4 is pretty good--for me. Wizard had already caught my error on the last question. One who wants to take spousal income while waiting until 70 for his or her own must not start before FRA, but the spouse on whose record one claims doesn't have to be FRA. My fourth answer was wrong. Yes...

I don't know who Siri is, but Socrates did not leave questions unanswered. Yes, the OP mistakenly spoke of file and suspend. 10 years married and 2 divorced. Yes, just like any other spouse. No, that spouse must be FRA. Now, please enlighten us with your answers to the badly expressed questions with...

sscritic, please stop teasing us! Are you objecting to all the talk about "file and suspend?" To get spousal benefits, you don't file and suspend. But you can do a limited filing for spousal benefits if you have been married and then divorced for the respectively required numbers of years....

Wasn't MN correct in the first answer? Neither files and suspends. Each makes a limited filing for spousal benefits. They both get spousal benefits, but people who are still married (edit: or now married to someone else) can't do this. Only one person in an ongoing marriage can get spousal benefits....

JW,
Your strategy is inferior to the one advised by MMSS and SSS. If the husband takes spousal benefits until age 70, they will get $1350 per month, rather than $1200. These two companies gave good advice to tsplinter.
John

tsplinter, I note that SSIP did not defend its projection in responding to you. What they said was true, but irrelevant: " Your wife can file for 132% of her benefit at age 70 and start receiving a spousal at age 72 when you turn 7O and file for benefits." Everyone agrees about this. What ...

What you call the "real 'real yield'" is usually called the nominal yield. Real yield + inflation adjustment = nominal yield. I think that TIAA's calculation method is hopelessly mysterious, but Doc is right: form your expections of nominal yield by adding your best estimate of annual infl...

Browser, If you watch the yield that TIAA reports for a while, you'll find that it jumps around wildly. Vanguard's yield is the one to use to get an idea of the current value of a TIPs fund. Over at M* we've had discussions about why TIAA's reported yield is so erratic, but it is still somewhat myst...