Bogleheads.org

There must be an equal sector weight fund out there somewhere. First Google link: http://www.alpsetfs.com/eql-index.php

If you really have an itch to move quickly and both accounts are for retirement, the simplest thing would be to transfer both accounts to one of Vanguard's Total Retirement funds, say TR 2040. A slightly more complex setup would be Roth IRA: $10K in Total Bond, $34K in Total Stock. Taxable: $16K in ...

tc101 wrote:

Its over 90% international companies, so if you buy it count it as part of your international allocation.

Does that mean you should have it in taxable account because of the foreign tax credit?

You would also need to check out the percent of qualified dividends to make that determination.

I would suggest you have at least 20% or 25% in bonds. Good idea since MWTIX and MPGFX are higher risk than the corresponding Vanguard funds. For the 401k you could use: Metropolitan West Total Return Bond I( MWTIX), er = 0.42%, intermediate term bond fund, http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/su...

Most commercial-grade printers store digital images, which snoops can search through if they want. I doubt many office supply stores wipe the memory before scrapping them.

Rkhusky, I inherited a bond fund with a 14 year duration that some investment genius had put my parents into. A 2% rise in rates would cause a 28% drop in that fund. But a 3% rise in rates in some intermediate bond funds would also cause a 15-18% drop. Given that 5% was considered an insultingly lo...

So this one is ~1.2% extra yield at least, not 0.5%... still, not sure if that's good enough to go from FDIC/NCUA with 1% early withdrawal penalty to A quality with 6yr duration... ? If you are going to need the funds in a couple years, you are better off with the CD. If you don't plan to sell for ...

I briefly owned the tax exempt HY fund last fall when it's NAV soared and then sank within a brief period. It was too volatile for me, and that volatility was a big piece of what got me researching how bonds work. I couldn't see the point of taking on that kind of principal risk for a yield less th...

That may be the long term purpose of bonds, but if you put your eyes forward, instead of in a historical slant, it is very possible you could see the risk of loss from bonds (and thus the volatility) is almost as high right now as that of stocks. That is the main reason I say there is really very l...

I tried to take out a 1.99% Penfed HEL last year, but things dragged out and fell through. How did it fall through? Things were slow last year, but most I heard about eventually finished. Mine took about five months , but some of that was my fault. Brian We had a HEL fall through a year or so ago d...

If you try to allocate your assets by looking back in history, you are destined to fall in the same trap as most active managers who try to out think the market. All you really need to do is invest in something as simple as the 3 fund portfolio listed on this board, which requires that you know not...

Rkhusky, The return you are citing in the bond fund is worthless unless you sell the fund now, while the rate is suppressed as it correlates with the decline in yield. It disappears as soon as rates rise and you will be stuck with the lower rates. I look at long term gains with fixed income--5-10 y...

The only hitch might be if it's a teaser rate that drops to nothing in a few months. Exactly. My savings account now pays 0.03%. And watch out for CD's that have a flat fee for breaking early (years worth of interest) or have language preventing early withdrawal (only a few instances of this happen...

Exactly right. There are lots of areas where property values went down, but corresponding tax rate increases were applied so that the total combined tax revenue stays the same. But if you're taxes actually went down, then just enjoy it until the county reassesses everyone again. I am glad that in m...

By the way, if anyone is thinking of taking one out, it should be noted that the 1.99% rate is history these days. The best you can do from PenFed is 2.49%. Brian Glad I got mine a couple months ago. :happy The difference in interest calculation between the HEL and a mortgage threw me for a few days.

Probably a typo, since 1/0.066257 = 15.0927.

The return on Total Bond was 3.47% for 1-year and 5.33% for 3-year. For those that jumped into CD's 1 year or 3 years ago, have you received equal or greater return? The return on Intermediate Tax Exempt was 4.62% for 1-year and 5.6% for 3-years. Did one receive after-tax return equal or greater tha...

I mainly use the TSP to rebalance my whole portfolio. I rebalance somewhat frequently (1% bands) because I fear a big market move just after I do a large rebalance.

I think the best method is to retain options - have some money in cash and CD's and some money in a short term bond fund, but have most fixed income funds in intermediate term fund (or long term bond fund if time horizon is much beyond the average duration). One can then choose from where to withdra...

For me, that includes ST and IT bonds, mostly corporate. I know I will incur a capital loss whenever interest rates rise, but over long term should be ok unless interest rates really spike which appears doubtful considering tepid economy. If you hold the bond fund past the average duration, you wil...

I buy mostly with new money since am in accumulation phase. My rebalancing bands make it so that this would be a rare event. As far as buying stocks on the cheap during bears unless you keep rebalancing, it always seems that they will go lower and it is not clear when to buy exactly. I remember tha...

Dandy wrote: For some people buying an EE bond may make sense but don't expect Vanguard or any other brokerage or mutual fund company to recommend it. They are not going to recommend products that they don't offer or offer but don't make money on.

Do you have evidence of this for Vanguard?

These Vanguard links provide information on various fixed income options: https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/s343.pdf https://personal.vanguard.com/us/content/Funds/FixIncOVContent.jsp It would be interesting to see an analysis of market timing fixed income, i.e. getting out of bonds and into CD's wh...

Morningstar says that average turnover for the category is 229%, so 80% seems rather small. Wonder if that is 80% of the bonds are turned over or 80% of the value in the fund is turned over?

I buy mostly with new money since am in accumulation phase. My rebalancing bands make it so that this would be a rare event. As far as buying stocks on the cheap during bears unless you keep rebalancing, it always seems that they will go lower and it is not clear when to buy exactly. I remember tha...

If we are in the accumulation phase, than we will continue to buy more shares during bear markets even as the rest of our portfolio drops. You only buy with new money? The advantage to having bonds is that you can buy stocks on the cheap during a bear market. On the other hand, with no bonds you do...

I have seen several posts recommending having a separate email account for Vanguard or other financial sites. This would require me to check my normal email address and this special one frequently. Some suggest automatically forwarding from the special email address to the special Vanguard email ad...

If you sign up for Vanguard's Voice Verification system, you can eliminate the possibility of someone getting into your accounts. https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/c106.pdf?2210065141 Ed You can never eliminate the risk, just make it smaller so that crooks go after easier targets. This system is on...

It was suggested that Vanguard did not include CD's because they did not offer them. I responded that Vanguard did offer CD's. Therefore their exclusion must be for some other reason than Vanguard wanting to only promote their own products. How about this: Vanguard does not offer bank CDs (as I not...

Then, by definition, you did not hold to maturity. You would have only held until default. Once a security matures, it can't default. Words have meaning, so when you wrote that CDs "don't lose principal when they are held to maturity," I assumed you actually meant maturity. But we've take...

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...

Basic question:- How about having a combination of TSM and I-Bonds instead of 529 plans? How much are you going to lose this way? I see it gives a whole lot flexibility in terms of future planning. 529 earnings are tax free when used for education. If you get a lot of earnings, you could be losing ...

No. See above. Calling a brokered CD a bank CD is silly and misleading. I call a CD a CD. I look at the terms, which can vary greatly whether it is from a brokerage or a bank, and the interest rate, when making my decision. If you meant to say that CDs do not lose value due to changes in interest r...

Not sure I understand the problem. Vanguard isn't a public interest group. It's a business. Vanguard doesn't offer bank CDs, bank savings accounts, savings bonds, stable value funds, or the G fund. I don't expect Mercedes to tell me the virtues of BMW, Honda, or Ford. I don't expect Vanguard to tel...

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...

Not sure I understand the problem. Vanguard isn't a public interest group. It's a business. Vanguard doesn't offer bank CDs, bank savings accounts, savings bonds, stable value funds, or the G fund. I don't expect Mercedes to tell me the virtues of BMW, Honda, or Ford. I don't expect Vanguard to tel...

Doesn't the linked bank account have to have your name on it? To steal your money someone would have to set up a bank account with your name on it. And get your Vanguard username/password. And either get your secret question answers or spoof the Flash cookie on your computer or get access to your co...

Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 has 55% stocks, TR 2010 has 42% stocks, and TR Income (most conservative) has 30% stocks.

There is no standard probability distribution, it's a binary system. You are right that the P(heads)=a, no matter how many heads were tossed before. Not sure what you mean. The value a is a real number between 0 and 1, that's not a binary system. I think you are confusing the binary value of a coin...

Retirement is different than college. Retirement can last for 30 years. It is rare for someone to remain in college as a student for 30 years. Accordingly, a target retirement fund's glide path near retirement is probably too shallow. One wants a steep drop in equities a few years before entering co...

Not sure I understand the problem. Vanguard isn't a public interest group. It's a business. Vanguard doesn't offer bank CDs, bank savings accounts, savings bonds, stable value funds, or the G fund. I don't expect Mercedes to tell me the virtues of BMW, Honda, or Ford. I don't expect Vanguard to tel...

I am flipping a coin and have gotten 10 heads in a row. What are the odds that I will get another heads? Depends on your prior assumptions about the coin. Before you flipped it, did you assume it was a fair coin? Assume P(heads)=a. Actually, I need more information. If you are certain that P(heads)...

I have heard of people setting up bank accounts for charitable donations. They publicize the bank account numbers.

My wife works in a McDonald's. Someone once ordered a cheeseburger with no cheese. When McDonalds runs a cheeseburger special, it is sometimes cheaper to order a cheeseburger without cheese, than a regular burger. I knew a family, who were vegetarians, but whose children wanted to eat at McDonalds,...

tadamsmar wrote:Your percentage loss on each bet will be constant, it will not get safer the longer you bet.

While the stock market is more complex than coin flipping, in a similar fashion the stock market does not get safer over time.

tadamsmar wrote:

rkhusky wrote:I am flipping a coin and have gotten 10 heads in a row. What are the odds that I will get another heads?

Depends on your prior assumptions about the coin. Before you flipped it, did you assume it was a fair coin?

Assume P(heads)=a.

I am flipping a coin and have gotten 10 heads in a row. What are the odds that I will get another heads?

On this forum, we talk a lot about the three-fund portfolio, or a simple balance between stocks and bonds. Yet the Wealthfront FAQ says the following: Wealthfront employs eight asset classes in its retirement portfolio allocations, and seven tax-efficient asset classes in its taxable portfolio allo...

It is a simple illustration of rebalancing. A. Suppose you start with S and wager the entire amount. If you win, you have 2S. If you lose, you have S/2. After one win and one loss (the order does not matter) you are even. B. Suppose you start with S and wager half the entire amount. If you win, you...

If you are not getting a tax deduction for the TIRA, it seems like a no-brainer to do a Roth. Even if you do get a deduction, there is a benefit to being tax diversified. Maxing Traditional 401K and Roth IRA is good.