Bogleheads.org

Dandy

No, I think it makes a lot of sense. I am 70 and have "enough" and recently took full SS at age 70. That makes my income come close to covering our current life style. I had 20 years worth of draw down dollars in FDIC products and short term bond funds to cover our expenses prior to taking SS. I hav...

Dandy

Someone had a great post a while back that concluded “I have a 50-50 portfolio since I can tolerate losing half my money without any effect on my lifestyle. Because that’s the half I’m leaving to the kids.“ That’s the psychology of someone who really has “won the game”, with a withdrawal rate of 2%...

Dandy

I am 70 and in retirement. My allocation is 43/57 and I have enough given my assets and pension/SS income. So, I could take more risk but lean toward asset preservation. I am surprised that it seems many nearing or in retirement seem to continue a high equity allocation. Given that some need to stil...

Dandy

I had distributions withheld in taxable accounts at Vanguard on the old platform. When they switched to the brokerage platform that stopped (without notification to me). When I found out I asked my rep and she said it wasn't possible on the brokerage platform. RMDs on the brokerage platform can have...

Dandy

I like Dr. Bernstein's approach (if you have "enough") which I generally follow: 1. Determine the dollar amount you need to withdraw from your nest egg (after taxes) each year. 2. He suggests multiply that by 20 to 25 (years) and put that amount in "safe" products (e.g. individual TIPS/short term Tr...

Dandy

Question 1: Upon receiving the trust funds should we put all of it into a Money Market acct. first off? That would be a reasonable choice. I would choose the Federal or Treasury Money market. I have check writing on the Federal Money Market so I can invest in a Vanguard Fund or brokerage CD, move mo...

Dandy

A new house/mortgage and children on the way are often full of expense surprises. I would be careful not to put too much of a deposit down.

Dandy

I like to tell people who are concerned about the market to do the following: 1. Pick you stock/fixed income allocation 2. invest some immediately at that allocation. e.g. 20%? 30%? 3. Set up an automatic investment each month for the rest at your desired allocation to be completely invested in a ye...

Dandy

My guess is the market is reacting to tariff war concerns. Lots of bluster and threats and some tariff increases. Don't see how this won't get "worse" since nations have their economies and pride at stake. So, today might be the first of a serial decline -- or not. I have no problem with people who ...

Dandy

I think you need to take a look at your allocation. No pension, no SS for a long time, buy health insurance, fund retirement longer than you have worked. How would you fare if/when the equity market takes a big hit and stays down for a few years while you are withdrawing? Do you have skills that you...

Dandy

I like diversity in fixed income so having both bond funds and CDs makes sense to me. I currently I would lean to adding shorter term CDs e.g. 2 yrs rather than add to bond funds. But, remember the bond funds will recover as they replace older lower interest bonds with newer higher interest bonds. U...

Dandy

It looks as if the future is bright but it isn't quite there yet. Until you start you medical practice what you have is potential and debt. In a few years you probably will have a much better financial position. Actual risk tolerance is very hard to determine especially at age 26 during a long equit...

Dandy

The problem with market timing at valuation extremes are the "being right too early" problem that I posted about earlier and also the definition of "extreme valuations." First I am not making any case the current markets are overvalued or extremely overvalued. Just that the topic needs to be explor...

Dandy

thanks for the information. Don't you think Mr. Bogle should address in some detail what Bogleheads should do to determine extreme valuation and actions that should be considered? After all extreme valuation should be somewhat rare and the impact on equity assets when the "reversion to the mean" are...

Dandy

Mr. Bogle says you can/should? He did around the 2000 meltdown. He cut back his equity allocation significantly. Around 2013 when the market was up 30% or so he reaffirmed the idea of taking action during extreme valuations -- but said at that time the equity market wasn't extremely overvalued. I do...

Dandy

For most tracking monthly expenses while working is a good start to estimating retirement expenses. A big surprise can be health/dental expenses. While my company health insurance pretty much was the same --the loss of dental insurance was an expense surprise. I have a good dental history but the co...

Dandy

A lot depends on your retirement expenses and retirement income. If you don't need much withdrawals from your nest egg to cover "normal" retirement lifestyle than a more aggressive investment allocation won't be as risky to your retirement. Lots of changes for most people. No salary, bonus, contribu...

Dandy

Why all or nothing. Each fixed income product has certain pros and cons. e.g. Bond funds have better liquidity -- for emergencies or rebalancing for example. CDs have a known interest rate and maturity date and a government guarantee but are less liquid. A short term Treasury fund avoids state incom...

Dandy

I have no actual experience in buying one but have friends that did an regret it. Things that didn't make me want to buy 1. the sales pitch - anything that good doesn't need that high pressure sales 2. No matter how much you like the location/deal never wanted to commit to decades of vacationing in ...

Dandy

1 :happy Develop a workable plan 2 :happy Invest early and often 3 :happy Never bear too much or too little risk 4 :happy Diversify 5 ?Never try to time the market (will on occasion buy on really bad days within my equity target range) 6 :happy Use index funds when possible 7 :happy Keep costs low 8...

Dandy

i don't know about smarter but it is somewhat elementary that longer duration bonds do better when interest rates are declining and shorter duration bonds do better when rates are rising. The Fed has been pretty clear for awhile that they are bent on raising rates gradually for the next 12 - 18 mont...

Dandy

There has been a lot of discussion about new safety features and auto deaths. I don't think that is the main point. Avoiding death and injury for you and family is of course important but probably not the critical selling feature. Avoiding accidents and the repair/insurance costs/ hassles, time with...

Dandy

As a kid I had some chores and got a small allowance. The chores were not directly tied to the allowance they were obligations for being part of the family. At an early age mom took me to the bank and opened a passbook savings account so I could deposit some of my gift money (birthdays, etc). They a...

Dandy

If you can afford it go for a safer car. Not necessarily a new car. Many 2 or 3 year old cars have nice safety features especially compared to one 10 years old. But, many new cars have amazing safety features. I think the old frugal drive the car until it dies or gets 200k miles is out of date -- fo...

Dandy

Why not Wellesley Income Fund. 3.21% current yield and a nice track record. Should provide a decent level of income and some appreciation for modest growth. The current yield is comparable to a 5 yr CD. Or you could consider a CD ladder for all or some of the amount. It will provide decent income an...

Dandy

Why hold on so dearly to a strategy you no longer believe in? +1 You are right to be somewhat concerned about taxes. I would exit the riskier stocks first and partially offset that with the one that is carrying capital loss. If that creates too much taxes for this year - you could wait to sell the ...

Dandy

Here are two "strategies" I've used: In 2008-9 I stopped pouring more money into equities after my nest egg reduction reached a certain threshold. I waited until the market recovered to that threshold or a bit more before continuing to buy equities. Note - I was just retired in April of 2008 - not t...

Dandy

The problem with annuities is that they are not federally guaranteed. In fact they are not strictly speaking even state guaranteed. They are backed by state guarantee funds that will be funded after the fact by assessments on other insurance companies operating in the state. And even that coverGe i...

Dandy

life is short, health is a gift but doesn't always last long. These are great years - you have money, relatively good health, a job you like and it seems like close family. How do you want to spend the next part of your life? Living below your means is a lifestyle that helped you get a fortune. It d...

Dandy

Age 70 with asset preservation goal. I have my fixed income (57%) allocated roughly 1/3 no loss of principal products, 1/3 short term bond funds and 1/3 intermediate bond funds. That somewhat tempers the impact of rate changes. I don't overly fuss about making sure each category is exactly 1/3 so I ...

Dandy

hey should rent a place for 6 months to a year before buying to make sure they like the location. Living in Florida isn't for everyone. +1 My parents did many many years ago because they couldn't afford to live in the NY metro area. They adapted. Many others tried but couldn't adjust. North Florida...

Dandy

I don't think you need that aggressive allocation to reach your goal. I would dial back especially given we are in the midst of a very long bull market. I think 60/40 would be plenty aggressive. As you age and your assets dramatically increase I think there should be a shift from growth to preservat...

Dandy

Vanguard is offering a 5yr CD at 3.3% and a 3 yr CD at 3%. These are brokerage CDs that will pay you back all your investment if you hold them to maturity. If you want to sell them early you take market risk. The Fed is likely to announce a rate increase next week which may raise these and other rat...

Dandy

You seem to have more than enough so for me that argues for asset preservation vs growth/more risk. I am 70 and am in much the same situation vis a vis having enough assets. I roughly follow Dr. Bernstein's idea of having 20 years worth of draw down money in "safe" products. I have about 1/3 of my f...

Dandy

New baby, new stay at home mom, new? house, 6 months E fund, thinking of 100% stock allocation. I'd say whoa. Lots of unanticipated expenses with homes/babies, used to 2 incomes now only one and we have had an 8 year bullish equity market that lulls people into the real equity risks. It is great tha...

Dandy

Pensions, annuities, salaries, social security etc. are income streams. They reduce the need to withdraw money to meet expenses. They allow you to take more risk in your investments if you want -- but you don't have to. No need to count them as part of your investment fixed income. Keep it simple, b...

Dandy

Great convenience. You can rebalance in the taxable account as well as the TIRA to minimize timing issues. How early in the year do they do this? As soon as they Dec. 31 figures can be calculated? And do they help with withholding tax? 1. I try not to use the taxable account to rebalance to avoid un...

Dandy

Interesting way of looking at risk. Recently, a town in Maryland had a 1000 year flood for the second year in a row. This year a tree limb fell on my car in my driveway causing $9500 worth of damage. I've lived in this house for 44 years. In 2008 a mortgage crisis cost me a job in a mutual fund subs...

Dandy

I had my first RMD this year. I decided to have VG take the RMD proportionately from my several TIRA funds. In my TIRA I have a large CD ladder using VG brokerage CDs. VG will ignore non fund assets when they take a proportionate RMD. I decided that after VG takes the RMD I will review my TIRA and r...

Dandy

I'm retired age 70 and have a nice nest egg invested conservatively. I roughly follow Dr. Bernstein's idea of having 20-25 years of "safe" assets. For me that is CDs, Savings Accounts, Money Market funds/deposit accounts, some legacy EE bonds. as well as short term bond funds. So fixed income is abo...

Dandy

my TIRA and joint account switched. One difference was in the joint account under the old platform you could have Federal and state taxes withheld on distributions (to avoid or limit estimated taxes for example). When they switched in mid year that option is not available for brokerage accounts and ...

Dandy

Good for you -- no debt and maxing out savings. Tax Managed Balanced is a very good fund but not often mentioned. I think most would rather invest in taxable 50% in Total Stock Market and 50% in Intermediate Tax Free Bond fund in case there is a chance to tax loss harvest or to do rebalancing. But, ...

Dandy

At age 35 your allocation seems reasonable and glad it helps you not panic. To me the real test of risk tolerance is the dollars at risk. As your human capital fades the ability to make up lost dollars declines i.e. fewer or no contributions, bonuses, company matches, etc. So, I don't take much comf...

Dandy

I favor a mix of equities and fixed income in almost all type of accounts even Roth. In an TIRA only a modest allocation to equities, in a Roth and taxable only a modest allocation to fixed income. (mostly muni's in taxable if that makes sense tax wise). In your case I wonder why a short term bond f...

Dandy

Pay off the highest interest rate loans first. You have 3 loans with over 6% interest you can pay off the top two with less than 5k. The extra and the monthly money freed up should go toward the last 6%+ loan. When all three of the 6% loans are freed up you can think about some $$ toward a Roth whil...

Dandy

I like the idea of gifting the downpayment but I think the idea of him owning vs renting could be looked at. For a single person who might not like rising rents from an affordability standpoint home ownership is often way more expensive. Insurance, taxes, landscaping, repairs, more expensive heating...

Dandy

when I was just starting my career and interest rates were soaring an old timer said he was loading up on 30 Year Treasuries for himself and his grandkids. I forget what the rate was then but it was, i believe in the high teen digits or better. When rates are rising (a bit like now but it was more r...

Dandy

My understanding is that you are looking for higher fixed income dividends vs stock dividends. If that is true and you are looking for those higher dividends in a taxable account, the major concerns are taxes and reaching for yields can tempt you to buy riskier assets. Risks might be in default or g...

Dandy

I have no problem with people who choose simplicity. I think it is sometimes overstated as to how difficult it is to manage a portfolio that is a bit more "complex". To me the equity side of the allocation is easy -- basically Total US and Total International seems to fill the bill. On the fixed inc...

Dandy

No retirement investing/withdrawing approach is without risk when you are trying to project over a decade or two. Retirement "normal" run rate expenses often decrease in time as they stop traveling as much etc. of course for many increased health care related expenses can increase or spike dramatica...

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