Bogleheads

I plugged it into Vanguard's fund research tool and this message came up:
This fund is not available for purchase or transfer
This fund is not available for purchase and cannot be transferred to you ...

taylor said:
When I started investing in the early 50s, the S&P was fluctuating around 25. Today it is over 1,100.
My experience is similar, except that in the 50s I was around 25 and now I feel ...

I have to admit that the idea of holding a 30-year treasury makes me nervous. If interest rates move up significantly both stocks and long bonds will get trashed. 50% of the PP is exposed to the ris ...

The largest cruise ship ever built sets sail. Cost over a billion to construct. All aboard!

http://i.usatoday.net/travel/_photos/2009/11/20/oasisx.jpg

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/20 ...

Have we run out of things to argue about on this forum? Poor Larry can't catch a break even though he's taking a vacation from the bogleheads. Give the guy a break. peace

Bob said:
Anyway, when I reverse the order for large stocks, 5-year Treasuries and inflation, I get a 5.1% SWR for the 30-year period ending 2008 and using a 50/50 allocation.
I was curious, so I ra ...

dbr - thanks for the "fine print" regarding the 4% rule. I still think it has achieved the status of a "myth" in the popular media that is in need of debunking.

Bob - Milevsky's example is intended to be illustrative, not definitive. He's not "gaming" the results. He himself says: "Granted, this is a very high and unsustainable spending rate, ...

The finding from the Trinity study and others that a 4% annual withdrawal rate from a retirement portfolio can be sustained for at least 30 years is time-period specific. It is based on the stock mar ...

BHChinook- Have you checked the returns on ST treasuries lately? Can you spell z-e-r-o? Well, not quite but almost. Me - I'd rather hang onto the TIPS I have. What advantage would there be to trad ...

In his book "Are you a stock or a bond", Milevsky provides an instructive example of the "buckets" approach on pp. 99-105. It is a contrived example which compares the results of ...

I've already done the work for you, Bill. On that web page right below the chart, I offered these results:
Nice work Bob. I should have read your website. I'm still wondering whether the "bond ...

FYI:

http://www.indexuniverse.com/images/Inflation-linked_5.jpgAccording to the chart above (taken from the latest Barclays Capital Inflation-linked Monthly, released last week), ten-year inflation ...

Even if the "buckets" or "bonds first" strategy outperforms standard portfolio diversification and rebalancing, this can be explained because the "bucketeer" has implicit ...

Bob wrote:
This is illustrated in the bear market starting in 1973 and taking 5% inflation-adjusted initial withdrawal:
I appreciate your charts illustrating the results of the "bonds first&quo ...

nisiprius said:
All of these near-term-cash, long-term stocks plans trouble me because obviously they are going to work fine at the beginning. All the risk is postponed until the end. What if when y ...

Once again, it is very wise advice to develop a portolio that you can stick with (during all market conditions) and stay the course. I've been in & out several times, and it's never worked.
Agree ...

fluffy said:
From what I've read the "buckets" seem to just be a mental re-arrangement of asset allocation. Having, say, 5-year bucket of cash + 5-year bucket of 10-year treasuries + 10-yea ...

I knew Adrian had a big head - but this is ridiculous! Wink

raywax wrote:
In my experience you only have to complete the form certifying one's marital status once (unless that has changed). Thereafter you simply write in "On File" in the appropriate ...

Thanks for the link Bob. Your approach sounds a lot like the strategy that Milevsky describes. I find this approach makes a great deal of sense, as opposed to the 4% rule. BTW, I noted that Milevsk ...

Disagreement does not equate to "trollism." But some of the exchanges with Larry that I recall were somewhat less than gentlemanly. Besides, I think many of us (including me) turned him in ...

YDNAL - At the simplest level, I think the majority of people agree that you can afford to take more risk with a larger allocation to stocks early in your career. However, they probably believe tha ...

bob - thanks for your links. It does look about the same as Lucia's buckets approach. What's your personal take? If you want inflation adjusted income for life, why not just sock it all into TIPS, ...

I personally have benefitted greatly from the info that Larry provided free of charge to us. I'll regret not having access to the opportunity to ask questions and exchange ideas with him, as opposed ...

Here's a more detailed description of the model:

http://www.davidmacchia.com/Articles_Oct2008a.html

At the start, the adviser assigns a quarter of the assets to an emergency or bequest fund. He ...

I ran across this article about a supposedly new approach to retirement portfolio planning. The idea seems to be to divide one's portfolio into 5-year income "buckets," each with a differen ...

grabiner - Yeh, that is true about dealing with your employer plan. Like you I have multiple plans with different employers. Some are quite easy to deal with and others are a pain in the watsis. I ...

Be warned though, sticking to an allocation means rebalancing, which forces you to be buying when everyone is selling and selling when everyone is buying
There's a famous quote that the time to buy i ...

Best part of your viewpoint Taylor: You believe in diversifying your financial assets with a love of life and of people, as well as a generous spirit. Now that's an allocation plan I can really unde ...

ST bond funds do a better job during inflation than LT bond funds, and the reverse is true during deflation. TIPS, of course, are designed to protect against inflation. In his books, David Swensen a ...

Here's a free download of a monograph that helps explain how and why human capital should be incorporated into comprehensive financial planning. Both those who are skeptical of the concept and those ...

I posted this in another thread, but realized it is even more appropriate to post it here. The precise date and time (to the minute) of the next market top is hidden within this album cover picture. ...

It's interesting to pull out that Stockcharts performance comparison chart. You see pretty close tracking between spot oil and the OIL ETN until Jan 2009 when they decoupled. Oil spot bottomed out a ...

YNDAL - I think you've got to shift gears into what Milevsky calls "product allocation", as opposed to asset allocation. Products include financial investment accounts (such as IRAs, 401(k) ...

Looking at Stockcharts, it appears that the oil spot price has increased YTD by 92%, the OIL ETF has gained 19%, and VGENX (Vanguard energy fund) has gained 44%.

http://stockcharts.com/charts/perfo ...

Thanks for the link to the Milevsky interview. He says a lot of important things, such as the following:
One of the things I take inspiration from is this notion that people really have a sustenance ...

In fact, I have seen Larry write extensively on the contango/backwardation issues
Actually, I heard that Larry might be appearing on "Dancing with the Stars" next season because of his ski ...

raywax beat me to the punch. His/her link seems to answer most of the questions I posed and explains how you can go online to see the status of your Traditional and how it can be withdrawn.

Thanks HouseBlend - you are not only a tasty drink, but you provide good information. Never had seen that before. Now, what is the diff between an RA and a GRA? Second question: if there is a surre ...

raywax is correct. The only way to make sure is to call TIAA and get it from the horse's mouth. But I'd also ask the representative for something written - they can give you a link for a document do ...

Just my opinion, but Larry's TIPS strategy is a trading strategy and not a buy and hold strategy. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with using a trading strategy, but it's a lot more ...

Taylor said:
I think most of us worry too much about volatility. For long-term investors it should be of little concern.
I think this might be somewhat controversial. I generally agree with the poi ...

From TIAA website:
The TIAA Traditional Account is a guaranteed contract backed by the claims-paying ability of TIAA. Part of what allows us to guarantee principal and interest is your promise not to ...

Where did you get the idea that distributions from TIAA traditional can only be withdrawn over 10 years?
I got the idea from TIAA. If that's wrong, I'd appreciate a link to the correct information.

Bob - yeh, I think that's what it boils down to in the end: one's capacity and willingness to take on risk. If you have a solid occupation and/or multiple sources of income that are not highly correl ...

Potential income from a job, writting books, consulting, don't repair damages from investing mistakes - as you may have experienced yourself in your investing life
I guess you have to look at the tot ...

Article: "If stocks tank, shouldn't gold soar?"

http://www.elliottwave.com/freeupdates/archives/2009/11/02/If-Stocks-Tank-Shouldn%E2%80%99t-Gold-Soar.aspx

Yeh - my understanding is that the managed TIPS fund offered by Vanguard has done better than an index TIPS fund with comparable average duration would have done. Not sure why. TIPS might not lend t ...

I've done rollovers from TIAA to Vanguard IRA. You need to contact TIAA and they'll send you a form to be filled out and returned with the appropriate information. You should set up your receiving I ...