Bogleheads.org

I already maxed both the I bond ($10K + $5K tax return) and the EE ($10k) in April. I think they are two of the "least worst" fixed income options now, as long as you have a 20 year time horizon. Even if inflation starts to pick up in a few years, it is surprising how much return spread y...

Definitely use iTunes.

I see that treasury direct supports accounts for trusts. Is it possible to purchase 10k in an individual account plus 5k in IRS refund plus another 10k in a trust account? Or are the trust and individual accounts mutually exclusive if under the same SSN? The trust is a separate entitly so it's enti...

I see that treasury direct supports accounts for trusts.

Is it possible to purchase 10k in an individual account plus 5k in IRS refund plus another 10k in a trust account?

Or are the trust and individual accounts mutually exclusive if under the same SSN?

Thanks for all of the help. I'll try these ideas. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I was getting spoiled thinking a Mac can do everything. There's also the Spotted Snake savings bond software. I'm not sure it's being upgraded any more, and once when I tried it it was buggy. --...

This is my hometown, though I haven't lived there for many years. Dad was a physician at UH and, as a college student (Case), I worked in the predecessor to the Intercontinental. You should stay there, without a doubt. The hotel restaurant is probably very good -- it was a destination when I worked ...

For the mac, there is Savings Bond Tracker, of which I am the author.

Trial version available here:
http://spottedsnake.net/

I know I am not answering you question, but ... Once I could not directly contribute to my children's Coverdell accounts, I opened 529's. A lot of the reasons why I initially opened Coverdells are no longer in effect. The 529's seem just as good and serving my purposes just fine. 529s are not usabl...

ESA contributions are subject to an income phase out. However, I recently read of a workaround and am curious if anyone here has implemented it. You gift the 2k to the child, subject to annual maximums before gift tax. The child opens the ESA for herself and funds it with your gift. I know that ESA ...

I'm changing jobs (a good thing) and am trying to decide what to do about the money I've accumulated in a Cash Balance Plan at my old employer. It's about 7% of my retirement portfolio. If I leave the money in place, I'll continue to earn interest based on the 30-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate...

I don't understand. This is just buying an individual stock at a discount? How much of a discount are we talking about? Like the 15% off employees typically get in ESOPs? How fast can you resell the stock you bought at a discount? Not all ESOPs sell at a discount (my company's does not). I don't th...

I'm curious what bogleheads-who-own-individual-stocks (they do exist) think of http://www.loyal3.com/ . Their idea is called a CSOP -- customer stock ownership program. Similar to an employee stock ownership program, but for end consumers. The idea is that individuals who like a company and its prod...

Many people in the East Bay who work in the City or Oakland take BART to work. They pass by the cars on the freeway as they sit on the train reading the paper. Houses are expensive relative to the rest of the U.S., but long time residents have low property taxes and for most years, have benefited f...

This can work! http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Placing_Cash_Needs_in_a_Tax-Advantaged_Account I had not seen this approach previously. Are very many people doing this one? I have a Stable Value fund in my 401(k) that has a yield of about 2.2%. That's an appealing prospect compared to paying my top t...

I used the web-based version for a long time. Then, last year, I encountered a bug for which the only fix was to use the downloadable software version. Can't recall what it was, but that was the answer I got from intuit support and it did work.

SPY goes to $130 per share? It doesn't matter what the share price is if the math is the same. I'll gladly put up $13,000 for another 100 shares if I can sell a deep ITM call and have the same math. A percentage return on a trade will always return the same percentage, regardless of how much money ...

The problem is that in practice it's quite hard to reproduce that result with any regularity. So you made 12% annualized for 18 days -- getting that in the rest of the year may not be so easy. One scenario is that the underlying shoots up and your shares get called away. You've missed out on the &qu...

Trader Joe's has a nice selection and I enjoy shopping there. However, there are a couple of things they could change that would make it better: * less plastic packaging -- those clamshells can't be recycled efficiently * incent (or disincent) use of own bags. Either offer a credit for shoppers who ...

GRT2BOUTDOORS wrote:How much electricity does these food dehydrators consume? I'm wondering if it's worth it if it uses alot of electricity.

You have to run it for many hours -- as much as 12 in some cases. And you have to clean the equipment, which is a dishwasher cycle. Definitely a consideration.

A friend sent me a gift subscription to Family Handyman, also available at my public library. It usually has one or two insights in each issue, though I"m sure they loop over the same topics after a while.

I have a rollover IRA funded by 401(k) monies from a previous employer. That IRA has also received SEP employer contributions. I would like to transfer the account into my current employer's 401(k) so that it is not a factor in my Roth conversion -- I converted a non-deductible traditional IRA accou...

I agree that you might not profit immediately from your skill but you can still buy-and-hold this gem for a couple of years until the market becomes rational. What do you see changing in a couple of years that would cause the market to "become rational" ? I understand that you aren't givi...

Wall Street Journal reporting that equity correlation is on the rise and that fundamental analysis and valuation can't achieve alpha because index/ETF volume is driving the stocks that make up indexes in lock step. What's the end game here? http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/07/12/stock-pickers-ov...

Would appreciate insights from the tax mavens out there. I have a traditional IRA with after-tax contributions that I'd like to convert to a Roth IRA, given the new (lack of) income limits. I understand that I'll have to pay tax on the gains over my basis. From what I can tell, the formula for how m...

So a 10 year TIPS auction is coming up. Looking at Bloomberg, I see that 10 year TIPS have a real yield of 1.37%. That's below the 1.50% threshold in Larry's shifting allocation/maturity table. Am I correct in understanding that those who follow Larry's guidance would: 1. not buy bonds in the aucti...

So a 10 year TIPS auction is coming up. Looking at Bloomberg, I see that 10 year TIPS have a real yield of 1.37%. That's below the 1.50% threshold in Larry's shifting allocation/maturity table. Am I correct in understanding that those who follow Larry's guidance would: 1. not buy bonds in the auctio...

Vanguard brokerage accounts do what is at best a confusing job of reporting bond positions. Every other position type -- stock, option, etf, fund -- uses the quantity column to report the number of shares or contracts and the price column to report the price. Prices are prefixed with a $ sign. If yo...

For those interested in implementing Bodie's synthetic EPNs, here is an online tool he provides: http://www.wealth2k.com/downloads/zb/epn.html Anybody able to help me understand the output of this tool a bit better? I input 21% volatility, 1% risk-free rate, 2.1% dividend rate, 108 index, 100 strik...

Despite having learned so much from this forum, I admit I used options twice: each time when I had a largish lump sum to invest, but the market seemed unusually uncertain to me. Rather than sit by & do nothing (which is usually the worst kind of market timing), I used options. I was pleased wit...

It seems to me that position management for the 90/10 portfolio would be a tremendous headache -- not at all the 'worry-free' experience Bodie touts. Say you buy the LEAP option. When do you sell? Do you just hang on until expiration day and sell it then, hoping that's a magic date? Or do you start ...

Paladin wrote:

Dale_G wrote:The 10 character password limitation is definitely not something that I fret over.

Dale

Perhaps so but there is also no reason to limit it to 10 characters and to disallow special characters.

I agree -- it's a silly limitation and makes the site less secure.

Part of the problem is in the approaches they each took. A presented allowances for windows, doors, and bathroom and kitchen fixtures. B decided (for reasons not clear to me) to exclude those from scope, though his bid does include installation. I think (but am not sure) that this would mean that i...

Had a friend with a similar situation just last week. Major home improvement project, thousands separating 2 contenders. Of course, the one his wife wanted was higher. He called up A and told him what B's quote was and asked him if he wanted to play ball. A did play ball and he got the job. A is st...

Had a friend with a similar situation just last week. Major home improvement project, thousands separating 2 contenders. Of course, the one his wife wanted was higher. He called up A and told him what B's quote was and asked him if he wanted to play ball. A did play ball and he got the job. A is st...

Been planning a large remodeling project for almost a year and contractor bids are now in. There is a sizeable gap between the two contractors I would consider using. One is a guy I have used before and who is reliable and does good work. The other has an equally good reputation and has worked with ...

Unfortunately I was traveling and my assistant who edits all my work and prepares it for the blog wrote up that piece at my suggestion --I provided the the article and he just took that information re the Dodge and Cox fund right from the piece. Obviously that is a bad analogy. Thanks for pointing ...

"You just shot an unarmed man!"

"He shoulda armed himself."

-- Unforgiven

alvinsch wrote:I go for max diversification by trying to include both muni's and corps along with short and intermediate term in our portfolio but muni's usually have a steeper yield curve so I use muni's for intermediate (VWIUX/VMLUX) and corps for short (VFSUX) in taxable.

- Al

This sounds quite sensible.

The current yield of VWITX (interm muni) is 3.23% The current yield of VFICX (interm investment grade) is 4.82% If I invest $10,000 in VWITX, I will earn $323 and pay no taxes, so I will end up with $323 in my pocket. If I invest $10,000 in VFICX, I will earn $482 and pay 28% in taxes, so I will en...

What is wrong with VWITX -- Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt? Sure, I'd love to have an intermediate tax exempt fund for Illinois but they don't make one for every state. The no federal tax is a lot bigger deal than the no state tax. If that doesn't work for you the only other option I can think of is ...

livesoft wrote:What's your marginal income tax bracket? Isn't that one of the most important considerations?

28%

for a semi-retired person with all tax-deferred accounts already given over to bonds, what makes sense for a taxable account? The allocation calls for more bonds, but there isn't room in tax-deferred. Vanguard has a long-term muni fund for the state of residence, but no intermediate, which would be ...

Since you are driving to sacramento, why not stop in Berkeley, which is more on the way than Marin county? Chez panisse?

Right now all yields are below historical averages with the bonds at around 2026 closest to historical averages. So that looks like best place to be. But I would prefer to be at higher levels before taking that much risk. Unfortuantely the curve is very steep so shorter end is well below historic a...

Again that is for typical framing - if you have strange conditions, as surveyor hinted at, then I could see the need for more fee and more drawings. tat2ng At the risk of pushing my luck, here's what we're doing (not sure if it counts as strange): raise and rotate existing home construct new founda...

We are working with an architectural firm on a major residential remodel and need to engage a structural engineer. We've gotten two bids with about $1K difference between them. The bids are to prepare "at least" 4 24x36 sheets of structural drawings to submit for a building permit. Has any...

I'll gladly sit down and listen, with freshly washed hands, if you'll come prepared and cut to the chase. Holy cow, that would be an awesome arrangement! It's funny how really simple things like coming prepared can make a huge difference. I recently read about a doctor who showed that using a simpl...

Clothes are a lot less important than body language. We all know that docs are short on time. The same 5 minutes, however, can feel like 15 to the patient if the doc just sits down for those 5 minutes. I've had docs stand in the doorway, as though they were going to bolt out of the room at any minut...

My allocation calls for more TIPS exposure and I don't have access to those in my 401(k). My plan permits an in-service withdrawal to an IRA, which looks like it could be the answer.

Any one have experience with doing these? Anything to watch out for?

Now if there was a Federal law that said, "You must put 10% of your salary into a 401(k) plan or the Federal TSP using an age-based target retirement option" then that would probably help more people than it would hurt. With the Federal TSP being a legitimate option to an employer-sponsor...