Bogleheads

I wanted to post again on some further experiences and thoughts.

I had gone to price out 3 bonds on 11/6/2009, and have some comments upthread about that.

On 11/16/2009, I priced the same bonds, ...

Has anyone done a due diligence through bond fund documents to see if any vanguard bond funds hold auction-rate securities? They are in the news again with wells fargo agreeing to buy back some of th ...

I know some people do not like these posts, especially the hardcore bogleheads who do not believe much in valuations and consider thinking about it as timing, but it seems like right now bonds are jus ...

I'm reviving this dormant thread, because I still face this issue, and was hoping maybe folks here might have suggestions.

I priced out some possible muni bond sales last Friday. A total of 3 bond ...

scary stuff. time will tell how it will play out. all i know is as the market goes higher i'm going to be selling.

Liz Weston had a recent article about this:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomebuyingGuide/weston-remodeling-its-a-waste-of-money.aspx
Mike

Great article. Thanks for sharing. My d ...

Bogleheads when you make a major home improvement do you see it as a sunk purchase, investment, zero sum expense or a little bit of the three?

Some people I know see home improvement as an invest ...

thank you all for the comments. Our house is small (1200 sq ft) and only one floor and a basement. Would you recommend a two stage system and variable speed fan for this type of house?

Hi all,
I'm 28 and discovered bogleheads in 2008 at which point I started accumlating shares of VTSMX (total stock) and VFWIX (ftse ex US). As I was buying on the way down to 7900 dow (missed the bo ...

Can you give a better description of the system you want to replace? Is it a gas-pack (natural gas) that is a combination heating and cooling system? Are you interested in qualifying for the energy ...

Hi All,
Time to upgrade the 30 year old GE HVAC. It is a gas furnace. This reliable beast will be though to part with, but it has done us justice. We got a quote for the following:

bryant unit l ...

This may be old news to some, but I just found out today that the IRA custodian for Madoff is getting sued for now meeting their fiduciary duty. I guess they are saying that the IRA provider should h ...

to the despicable corruption at the highest levels

Yes.

And your point is?

Oh - why invest in the stock market? Because what are the alternatives?

Loan your money with nearly zilch return ...

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/353831/Prudent-Bear-David-Tice-Battles-Bull-Run-Says-Market-Will-Make-New-Lows?tickers=BEARX,%5EGSPC,%5Edji,SPY,DIA,FPGIX

I remember in march there bein ...

I bought my wife's engagement ring in late 2008. The market price of the diamond, as determined by bluenile which is trying into a good market maker, has not changed. I guess I got a great deal! ...

I bought my wife's engagement ring in late 2008. The market price of the diamond, as determined by bluenile which is trying into a good market maker, has not changed. I guess I got a great deal! ...

It's been great holding VWLTX and VPAIX. What a year for long term muni's. I guess investors think they are not so risky anymore.

Which means they are! Razz

(or more precisely, that there is now ...

It's been great holding VWLTX and VPAIX. What a year for long term muni's. I guess investors think they are not so risky anymore.

"One of the things that I did was lay out a very detailed history of correlation between valuations in bear market bottoms and bull market tops and do you know what the correlation is? Zero. Th ...

Hi Nisi,

Well, P/E 10 was up to 19 as of a few days ago, but personally I'm waiting for 20 to really start to worry . . . now, is it now down to 18 because all of the insider sellers were one step ...

A 30 year old has a 100k portfolio split 80/20. At age 60, he has $1 million split 80/20. Stocks decline 50%. Loss of $40k vs $400k. Which had the greater risk?

Risk goes UP with time.

John No ...

The risk of loss diminishes the longer you hold stocks.

That is an important point that is often overlooked in this issue. The probability of a positive outcome grows with time. The pessimists wi ...

How quickly we all forget inflation early in 2008 backed up with deflation in the second half. It looks like for the year we may see some deflation in the 1-2 percent range for the year. I don't see ...

Hi all,
I'm in the process of dumping about 50k into a tips fund as my quest to build my portfolio that started in 2008 moves forward. What is your favorite TIPS fund and why? Do you believe all ti ...

Is PIMCO's real return fund analgous to the absolute return fund? From reading this board over last year and a half it seems that many bogleheads invest in the PIMCO product. I have heard bad things ...

I have more or less decided not to invest in the stable value option for the following reasons:

Expenses – the fund has a higher expense than an intermediate bond index fund, so I can expect low ...

Can someone help me to understand the risks associated with stable value funds? Perhaps there is an online resource or book with information about these products. Any recommendations would be apprecia ...

thanks for all of the feedback. i opened an ING account with a very small amount and will test it out for a while. if all goes well, i will consider moving a bunch over.

question for you guys who ...

Because the economy grows. The economy has been growing for 10,000 years or so, sure there are dips, but it grows.

Is this true?? Wheere is your data Smile

How is your other $5.28 million invested? Don't you think that will have some impact on how you would invest $0.029 million? What about your debts? Your Roth IRAs? Your 401(k)?

Seriously: I wou ...

in addition to my stock holdings, i have VG Muni Money Market and VG Muni Bond fund. the yield is minuscule on the MM. i'm tempted to move ~$200K over to the TE (Tax-Exempt) Bond because of the HUGE y ...

in addition to my stock holdings, i have VG Muni Money Market and VG Muni Bond fund. the yield is minuscule on the MM. i'm tempted to move ~$200K over to the TE (Tax-Exempt) Bond because of the HUGE y ...

So here's a really basic question. Everyone says to diversify with bonds and stocks (The Boglehead Guide to Investing recommends 80% stocks and 20% bonds for a 'young investor', which at 26 I'm guessi ...

0% at the moment.

When Vanguard creates an intermediate-term investment grade international bond fund that has a 0.15% fee, then I might consider it. But, that is not in something that will happen ...

I've noticed many people have claimed to be back to even, INCLUDING any new portfolio additions. I think while this is technically a true claim, it doesn't really carry any meaning.

Ridiculous exa ...

Some inspiring stuff here. Very Happy

I also hope to be semi-retired in my 40s. Although since I got a late start on taking my finances seriously, I have some catching up to do.

Although i've had wild ...

she is hot too for those into smart financial types.

This has been partially discussed in other threads, but I wanted to hear from others who also think that 50/50 bonds/stocks is the only allocation that makes sense for them, regardless of age.

Fund ...

Plan B isn't part of the Boglehead philosophy, and won't be in the next iteration of the Boglehead's guide.

The unfortunate truth is that not all folks and not even all folks that stumble their way ...

It seems likely that the TSP is largely subsidized by the employer (Fed Gov't), because there's no way the total plan costs could only be 3bps. Between the asset management and administration, somebo ...

However, the OP may be interested in variability (lack of) in the payout, or coupon. Indeed a single bond will pay the same fixed dollars every payout period even though the mark to market value and ...

The bonds are marked to market. A bond with a 5% coupon will yield 5% at par. If the market price falls by 10%, it will now yield 5/90 = 5.56%.

I thought it had to do to with the price relative t ...

Hi all,
sorry if this question has already been answered a thousand times on this forum. I understand how bond fund NAVs fluctuate because the value of the underlying bonds on the open market relati ...

...consider the Cap Weighted Market to be some magical, ideal, absolute best way to hold equities...
I don't know about magical, but market-cap weighting is a completely neutral weighting when you co ...

In theory, as I read and learn more about AA models, I cannot find any substantial reason to go past a 50/50 stock/bond AA.

It seems to me that stock allocation is a diminishing return... you take ...

the best place to get financial and investment news is on this forum.

I second that. The media has no clue what they are talking about some time. They mostly have analysts up there trying to pre ...

I actually hope growth and population levels off. The earth can only handle so many people. From an investment standpoint I was thinking: can you really have economic growth without population grow ...

John Hussman's latest commentaryUnfortunately, as I've noted before, there is little information content in mean reversion following extreme moves, and that's what the LEI is picking up here – to a ...

with respect to international, I see what he is saying but it is good to have some insurance if Asia kicks the west's butt over the next 20 years.

I am always in awe when I hear Mr. Bogle speak. His words resonate with me and I feel compelled to follow his guidance. However; there is always some desire to either tilt my portfolio to Small, Value ...