Bogleheads.org

I would think you would have a 401(k) since being self-employed does not prevent you from having one. Instead of FSIVX, consider FSGDX. Wow. That's news to me. No one had ever told me that. I will look into that for sure! And thank you for the recommendation of FSGDX. Was also considering: FSRVX vs...

Livesoft is correct, if your assets are in tax-deferred accounts then tax efficiency is not an issue. If in taxable, then the tax cost ratio is an indicator of tax efficiency. It's not designed to give you an actual tax number because that depends on several variables specific to your situation. It...

Since you wrote "So I have my retirement accounts at ...", guess what? The whole question of tax cost is moot since these are tax-advantaged accounts. I tried to hint at that in my earlier post. Sorry, didn't mean to mislead. I call them my retirement accounts but I'm including in that my...

Am I correct that by dividing the transaction cost ($7.95) by the tax cost differential (.34% average over 5 years) I can figure out that as long as I'm investing more than $2338 at a time (7.95/.0034) it's worth it to use the Vanguard ETF instead of the Fidelity Fund? Sorry, no you cannot say that...

Am I correct that by dividing the transaction cost ($7.95) by the tax cost differential (.34% average over 5 years) I can figure out that as long as I'm investing more than $2338 at a time (7.95/.0034) it's worth it to use the Vanguard ETF instead of the Fidelity Fund? Sorry, no you cannot say that...

You can compare tax efficiency on M*. Here's a link: http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/tax-analysis.action?t=VFINX&region=USA&culture=en-us This is VFINX, which is very tax efficient. To look at another fund, put the ticker in the stock/fund box at the top of the page. Paul Thanks for...

You can compare tax efficiency on M*. Here's a link: http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/tax-analysis.action?t=VFINX&region=USA&culture=en-us This is VFINX, which is very tax efficient. To look at another fund, put the ticker in the stock/fund box at the top of the page. Paul Thanks for...

livesoft wrote: Maybe the Fidelity Spartan funds are less tax-efficient than the Vanguard funds?

How do I figure the tax efficiency of the various funds?

Thanks everyone. I understand now. Think I will make the switch into the Fidelity funds. I didn't really know what an expense ratio was (just that lower is better) but I see that when you break it down like that with the math it really does save money. And that those fees will add up over the years....

Hi, So I have my retirement accounts at Fidelity and accordingly was doing research into Fidelity alternatives into some of the Vanguard funds I have (so that I could lower/eliminate my transaction fees). I had a few questions... 1) If I was looking at a Fidelity Fund which had a .10% expense ratio ...

I Imagine this has been covered extensively but I didn't see anything when I searched for it (admittedly I don't totally understand the search function). I currently have my investment accounts at Fidelity. But nearly every fund I have is a Vanguard fund. Would there be any advantage/disadvantage to...

Isn't it kind of weird that a Vanguard Target 2040 retirement fund would be weighted so heavily toward stocks? I had also heard that John Bogle recommended having one's bond ratio be roughly equal to one's age and that's the way I've set up my own portfolio the past few years. My wife and I are 34 ...

I would pick a TR fund with approximately the % equity that you want overall and then don't worry about rebalancing. They have a $1000 minimum starting investment. If you have $3000, another choice would be Life Strategy conservative (40%), moderate (60%), or aggressive (80%) based on the % equity ...

You can try here too: http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=VFORX&region=USA&culture=en-us Thanks for that. Isn't it kind of weird that a Vanguard Target 2040 retirement fund would be weighted so heavily toward stocks? I had also heard that John Bogle recommended having one's bon...

Thought we would start her off this year with a Roth IRA and put all the funds in the Vanguard Target 2040 fund (VFORX). 1) Does that make sense for her? Our tax bracket at the moment is 15% but presumably will be higher by retirement... http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10910...

I am (relatively) recently married. I have a pretty decent retirement fund building but my wife has no retirement savings. Thought we would start her off this year with a Roth IRA and put all the funds in the Vanguard Target 2040 fund (VFORX). 2 questions. 1) Does that make sense for her? Our tax br...

Thanks dbr! A couple of questions: Usually you should harvest existing tax losses and would prefer VXUS as a replacement anyway. I'm still getting my head around tax loss harvesting. Do the losses have to be losses incurred in the current tax year or can/do they include losses from the date of orig...

Usually you should harvest existing tax losses and would prefer VXUS as a replacement anyway. Thanks dbr! A couple of questions: I'm still getting my head around tax loss harvesting. Do the losses have to be losses incurred in the current tax year or can/do they include losses from the date of orig...

Thank you for your response! May I ask a few follow up questions? 2) I think holding some TIPs is a good idea, especially since Vanguard Total Bond does not contain any. I'm sorry if this information is posted somewhere else but is there a particular percentage of one's overall holdings that you cou...

Hello everyone. So it's been a couple years since I first set up my portfolio, with help from this site. I am now 32 and married. I'm still in music (with an income that fluctuates year to year). The past few years have been fairly dry in terms of really being able to put too much more into retireme...

I know that one of the things people on here say often is not to try to time the market.... But here I go anyway... I was looking at making a big bond buy in my Roth IRA. My outlook is very longterm (30+ years). But since EVERYONE is saying there's gonna be a bond bubble "burst" might it n...

Saferthansome, What your doing is sticking with your plan, good. Taking the 3% for bonds from your equities is such a minute percentage, it hardly matters where it's coming from. So leaving your REIT allocation as is and taking a little from domestic and international is fine. And the small differe...

Hi... It's been a long time! I've been plugging along and my own and things are going well. I have a question about adjustments to my asset allocation... When I was 27 I had the following asset allocation: 45% domestic stocks 7% REIT 36% international stocks 6% nominal bonds 6% inflation protected s...

Yeah, that's the plan, But I wanted to see if anyone thought all the doom and gloom meant it might be worth waiting a week before rebalancing...

Thanks!
M

Hi,

It's time to rebalance my portfolio... I'm in a few different total market funds and they are all a bit out of wack. Is now as good a time as any to do this or should I wait until things settle down a bit?

Thanks,
M

They are EE bonds. But you said that doesn't much matter, so I should plan on selling them while I am in a lower tax bracket?

M

Sorry... what is an I bond? Are there different types of savings bonds that it might be, and if so how can I tell (and following up would that affect any of this as far as the tax issue is concerned?)

Thanks...

Hi... So I am sitting down trying to rebalance my portfolio, and I have hit upon a question. I recently discovered that I have a significant amount of savings bonds that my mother took out in my name... They will not mature until 2023, but their face value is worth about 20% of my overall portfolio....

Thanks, will do...

M

Sorry, I should have been able to put that together myself based on the info in your 1st post. Thanks for helping to hammer that one home. This question is perhaps really for a Fidelity representative, but do you know where on their "research" page for a particular fund one one can find a ...

Also, having an MBA from a top program and taking advice from journalists who write those publications is like a Phd scientist taking advice from a Papua New Guinea cannibal witchdoctor. Not commenting on the MBA-->Journalist aspect of your comment at all, you'd probably be surprised at what a PhD ...

Ok, a few more questions before I'm ready to make some moves... Thanks for your time! 1) When I use the FINRA mutual/ETF expense analyzer (I would put the link in here but since I'm a new member I'm not allowed), the Fidelity Spartan International Index (FSIIX)beats both the Vanguard Total Internati...

What about buying a home that has an apartment built into it and then renting out that apartment while you live there... Would that make sense (financially, that is)?

Ok, so playing with that ETF calculator some it really seems like as long as I'm holding oto these things for the long term they are a much lower cost option for me....

I agree that savings rate is the most important thing. The poster saferthansome should have called himself saferthanMOST, since the average 27 year-old is in debt and certainly not even thinking about the future (other than maybe the upcoming weekend). Immediately dropping out of college, driving a...

Welcome to the forum! Thank you! And thank you for such specific advice.. I have some specific questions... and some ETF reading to do... I recommend selling Fidelity Balanced (FBALX) (0.61%) Permanent Portfolio (PRPFX) (1.11%) The former is tax inefficient. You shouldn't put a fund containing taxa...

Thanks for the input and the reading... To be sure the plan is to increase the ratio of bonds to stocks (roughly 1% a year)... but I'll have a think about that. Any suggestions? While I grant that my job involves a certain amount of risk, I wouldn't characterize it as being risky, not particularily ...

Hello, and thank you for your time... Getting Started... Emergency funds = Yes. 6 Months... Debt: No Debt Tax Filing Status: Single Tax Rate:My income varies widely year to year (I'm a musician), so 2007 fed rate was 28%, whereas 2006 was 15%. City/State combined is about 10.5% Age: 27 Desired Asset...