Bogleheads.org

Is anyone here dabbling with Harry Markowitz's Modern Portfolio Theory for portfolio optimization/design? Thanks, Nathan In order to use Markowitz's optimization model (efficient frontier), you need to know the future standard deviations and returns of each of the investment instruments (stocks, bo...

why? All bonds and bond funds are going through tough times. Unless you are considering a different asset class, it really does not make sense to me.

Fair enough The idea of the Wall Street Casino is that trying to "beat the house" is a fool's game. There is nothing wrong as such with stocks and bonds. What you want to do , one way or another is to own the house. I am a firm believer in stock index funds and have about 60% of the pot i...

Why not keep it all in Wellesley as you seem satisfied with that investment? Note that Wellesley is most definitely an offering of the "Wall Street Casino" as much as anything else you might consider. Assuming we are talking about Vanguard Wellesley, if I may ask, why are you saying that?...

Why not keep it all in Wellesley as you seem satisfied with that investment? Note that Wellesley is most definitely an offering of the "Wall Street Casino" as much as anything else you might consider. Assuming we are talking about Vanguard Wellesley, if I may ask, why are you saying that?

A beauty. Required to all of our children. A test will be given to them to make sure that they got the point!

I wonder if any of you find yourselves in a similar situation... My (single) mother has, counter to all advice and despite about $200k in inheritance, retired early and managed to spend down everything, including a mortgage on her house. :confused (If I sound a little bitter it is because it could ...

The discussion here has focused on reinvesting the bond fund yield. But what happens to those in retirement that need that income, are they suppose to only cash out that part of the yield over the advertise SEC yield when they purchased the fund to stay even? Sorry, I meant to only take the SEC yie...

The discussion here has focused on reinvesting the bond fund yield. But what happens to those in retirement that need that income, are they suppose to only cash out that part of the yield over the advertise SEC yield when they purchased the fund to stay even?

I think there's a lot of assumptions underlying the question. What do YOU think the point of investing in bonds is? roymeo For people in retirement, it is well defined: risk mitigation plus INCOME. If one needs $1M to generate $25,000 a year, for most retirees the risk mitigation becomes less of a ...

I think there's a lot of assumptions underlying the question. What do YOU think the point of investing in bonds is? roymeo For people in retirement, it is well defined: risk mitigation plus INCOME. If one needs $1M to generate $25,000 a year, for most retirees the risk mitigation becomes less of a ...

I looked at Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF, a tool that invests in a basket of investment grade corporate bonds maturing in 2020, 7 years from now. As of 5.17.2013, the weighted average yield to maturity for the basket was 2.51%, potentially even less than expected inflation. This f...

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...