Bogleheads.org

James O'Shaughnessy is a well known value investors that uses a bottoms up strategy for picking stocks. If I understand, the program uses this author's stock screening. You can read his popular book "What Works on Wall Street" and decide for yourself its validity. Like him there are many o...

For those that invest in high yield bonds, would you consider any of those guggenheim bullshares ETFs that have a defined maturity?

I know that this has absolutely nothing to do with investments, but this group knows it all. My question is: I have a noisy water pump that bothers my neighbor. Will enclosing it in a sound proof plastic box do damage to the pump? Does the pump need air flow?

For a retired individual seeking income, not wanting to take additional risk (increase % stocks), if bonds are not the answer, and it seems that currently it is not, and other fixed income like CDs are yielding close to zero, what is the alternative?

To @BruceA
I read with interest your comments and I cannot disagree with anything you say. Since you refer to a model you use, I was expecting that your intention was to share the model with us, or you were just warning us to be more discipline with our money?

Emerging Markets are a conglomerate of bonds from many countries, all very different from each other, Mexico and Argentina are like day and night. Thus, unless something really horrible happens, which I assume will impact developed countries alike, if a fund is well diversified, no more that a few p...

I just received a letter from the Department of Health & Human Services. Question: Do I want to participate in the Medicare Part B program? I live/retired overseas and wonder whether it is worth the US$100+ per month cost. Could/would anyone in a similar situation comment on this dilemma! Thank ...

Stay in an apartment. We make a practice to only book apartments if our stay is more than a few days. Just returned from Buenos Aires and Santiago and very happy about our apartment choices. Last year we were in New York and the year before in Florence, and again apartments only. More convenient, an...

Everybody's comments focused on expected returns. My intend was to use the site to get historical portfolio risks (standard deviations). Typically, returns are all over, thus, i would never recommend the site for this purpose. But standard deviations historically seem to be more stable, and to me it...

Since RiskGrades discontinued providing services, and with it my ability to understand the impact of portfolio additions/eliminations to portfolio risk, I have been searching or other options. I just run into portfolio monkey (https://www.portfoliomonkey.com/) and although far from risk grades, whic...

For many years I owned a portfolio of diversified index funds, the sort of portfolio you typically find in this forum, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. However, at the beginning of 2011, and as a result of the messy past decade, I began looking at the funds you mentioned and finally, ...

For many years I owned a portfolio of diversified index funds, the sort of portfolio you typically find in this forum, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. However, at the beginning of 2011, and as a result of the messy past decade, I began looking at the funds you mentioned and finally, ...

I have not followed the boards but there is a Flyertalk board that is mostely about frequent flyer miles but there are lots knowlegable people over there. I would post your question over there. http://www.flyertalk.com/ Be sure to check to see if that flight is actually an Iberia flight. You might ...

Does anyone have any experience with airline strikes? We are flying with Iberia from Madrid to Buenos Aires in March. Iberia's pilots are in dispute with management and have declared their intentions to strike right on the day that we are flying. What would you do?

Does it have to be with Vanguard While Past performance (you knowthe drill) T.Rowe Price Capital Appreciation has had a terrific long term performance in spite of multiple manager changes. The company is very proud of that record and so it is likely that it will continue to be managed conservativel...

Dear Bogleheads Trying to help my mom! My dad recently passed away and my mom age 70 have about $250k saved. I was wondering where to place that money. Should she get a vanguard immediate fixed annuities or is there a better way? thanks Lucky222 You may benefit from reading The Bogleheads' view on ...

My entire and very sizable equity allocation is in Wellington. I have had more funds, but at the end of the day, I found no reason to do anything more complicated.

I have held a Total Bond fund for as long as remember and I have done so because building an individual investment gade bond ladder (like Thau recommended then) was not possible for me given my limited availability of money. I could not create the diversification that a total bond fund can provide. ...

I would certainly consider it, but the ER is currently in the 0.24% range. I think I'd still be more likely to build a CD ladder with rates what they currently are and with those expenses, though. That said, awesome product if the cost comes down significantly (say, below 0.10%?) I understand that ...

I am resubmitting my question hoping to get some input! I just became aware of the existence of fixed income ETFs with defined target dates. Guggenheim Investments (see http://guggenheiminvestments.com/Products/etf/Profiles) offers investment grade corporate as well as high yield corporate ETFs with...

I just run into Guggenheim fixed income ETFs, see http://guggenheiminvestments.com/Products/etf/Profiles. They offer investment grade corporate as well as high yield corporate ETFs with defined target dates. These ETFs allow for the creation of short term bond ladders with diversification. They seem...

Do not! Bogleheads strategy is not GOD!

sscritic wrote:

mpt follower wrote: I need to find another balanced fund that holds about the same % of bonds as Wellington does, but my search always returns to Wellington.

Why do you need another? What is your goal?

I am a bit concert about giving all the money to just one fund. Am I wrong?

Does anyone use ONLY Vanguard Wellington for stocks? I need to find another balanced fund that holds about the same % of bonds as Wellington does, but my search always returns to Wellington. Today I own a combination of Wellington and Wellesley, but Wellesley is too low in stocks to accomplish my go...

PP has been discussed to death! Just use this website search tool and you will be able to get enough opinions to keep you busy for a week. My opinion is that it looks great, it has a great history in terms of performance and risk, but it has scary assets, each independently rather volatile, making m...

My wife has Window Vista, and for as long as she has the computer, she has wanted to switch out of it. My question is what to do? My inclination is to upgrade her computer to the most up to date OS version, Window 8, but I understand that this OS was designed mainly for tables, and she has a convent...

I just paid $1,700 for a root canal + porcelain crown in a front tooth (no insurance). It is a really good piece of work, but for 2 hours of work plus materials $1,700, it seems to me very excessive to me. I have not been to a dentist for years, are this the current prices?

I have a small amount of HY, my fund managers see value (for now) and I don't second guess them. I personally wouldn't own HY if I managed my portfolio because the misleading long term correlations don't hold during crises. I've come to the conclusion downside protection is paramount, as opposed to...

What other fund follows similar strategy than Vanguard Wellington, with the same outstanding historical peformance but with no or less bonds? Historical performance of Wellington is meaningless. IMHO +1 historical performance for any active fund is meaningless John I see no clear advantage of index...

What other fund follows similar strategy than Vanguard Wellington, with the same outstanding historical peformance but with no or less bonds? Historical performance of Wellington is meaningless. IMHO +1 historical performance for any active fund is meaningless John Johm, dadgumit, you beat me to it...

If you examine the history of Wellington you'll find that it absolutely does not have an "outstanding historical record", except during certain periods. Actual shareholder experiences have varied all over the map relative to an appropriate benchmark (and that appropriate benchmark has bee...

Frugal Al wrote:

mpt follower wrote:... I have felt very comfortable with this fund for too log to believe otherwise. Unfortunately, for tax reasons I need to revisit this fund.

"Feeling comfortable" with a fund is not a concrete reason to own it.

I again agree, but in life much as to do with perceptions...

If you examine the history of Wellington you'll find that it absolutely does not have an "outstanding historical record", except during certain periods. Actual shareholder experiences have varied all over the map relative to an appropriate benchmark (and that appropriate benchmark has bee...

What other fund follows similar strategy than Vanguard Wellington, with the same outstanding historical peformance but with no or less bonds?

The Wizard wrote:The calendar year deadline may be for conversions from a Trad IRA to a Roth...

Do you mean that for conversions from conventional IRA to Roth IRA is 31/12/12?

What is the last day to contribute in Roth IRA for 2012 ? 31/12/2012 or 15/4/2013 ?

Does anyone have a spreadsheet or know of a program where I can do some tax planning? Specifically, I want to answer the question of if it makes sense for me as a pensioner to convert from conventional to Roth IRA, and how much per year. I am 64 and my IRA has grown substantially in the past years, ...

I've never been sure how Taleb's own investing philosophy differs from "I like to play long shots." (I'm still trying, unsuccessfully, to come up with a wisecrack that would include the word irrefragable , which means irrefutable or indisputable. I ran across that word in Jack London's no...

I am interested in more details of mpt follower 's and Diogenes 's stories and stories of any other Bogleheads who have pursued doctorates in retirement. Were the faculty members supportive of an atypical student? Did it take more or less time than the normal duration of getting a PhD in that depar...

I am a working computer engineer. My bachelors degree is in Chemical engineering from a top international institute. I came to US 15 years ago for a master's program. Due to the industry scenario at the time, and being a novice, I switched to computer science (got master's degree). For last 12 year...

To MPT, Well, of course we're on a Bogleheads board, so the basic answer is that the strategy does not beat the market overall and entails more risk generally. But I'll be a bit unorthodox here. A covered call strategy does not necessarily need to beat the market. What matters is does it meet your ...

Far more challenging is your final question: "How can you build a taxable account around this fund?" For many years, I've owned both Wellington and Wellesley in tax-deferred accounts. But I'm wary of either fund in taxable, preferring munis and something like Balanced Index. In my view, o...

" This strategy is sometimes marketed as being "safe" or "conservative" and even "hedging risk" as it provides premium income, but its flaws have been well known at least since 1975 when Fischer Black published "Fact and Fantasy in the Use of Options". A...

You want to take your money and learn a strategy to beat the market :oops: If you need more income try a SPIA. The markets are efficient ,there is no free lunch john Covered calls are one of the safest strategies, and certainly NOT intended to beat the market, in fact if you think about, they have ...

Does anyone here do Covered Call writing? I am retired, with lots of available time, with a healthy portfolio of fixed income yielding almost nothing, and living from income, although enough to live more than comfortable. I am risk adverse and having been in this game over 30 years I know not to do ...

The standard reasons given here for not investing in this fund are that it is managed, and that is certainly an issue, and that past record is not correlated with future performance, but at the end of the day this fund has had an exemplary performance for many years, not only based on return but als...

How about growing some in the back yard.

From all these very interesting discussion, one thing stayed in my mind, and it is that.... "You are not well diversified if at any given time you DO NOT HATE (at least) one of the asset classes in your portfolio" And that is so very true in the Permanent Portfolio, you always hate one of...

From all these very interesting discussion, one thing stayed in my mind, and it is that.... "You are not well diversified if at any given time you DO NOT HATE (at least) one of the asset classes in your portfolio" And that is so very true in the Permanent Portfolio, you always hate one of ...

It's all about the Gold. The PP consists of a fairly low equity allocation and a large Treasury bond allocation. Nothing wrong with that for a conservative investor, and it certainly has paid off over the last decade and longer as interest rates have dropped and bonds have outperformed their histor...