Search found 757 matches

by VaR
Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Did I make a mistake?
Replies: 12
Views: 1608

Re: Did I make a mistake?

I’ve read about compounding interest and the remarkable difference a few years makes. Did I make a mistake by selling and - for lack of a better term - “resetting” the compound interest that I had gained during the ages 21-27? You should not worry about this for a few reasons: 1. Generally, active mutual funds have much higher turnover rates than ETFs. This means that they will be required to distribute gains to you every year and you'll have to pay taxes on these gains every year. You can see the effect of this if you compare the fund returns before-taxes on distributions and after-taxes on distribution. This means that over time, you'll pay less ongoing taxes on your ETF investments in a taxable account compared to an actively managed mu...
by VaR
Tue Jan 03, 2023 4:31 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Anyone feel like they missed out by not buying real estate?
Replies: 232
Views: 37741

Re: Anyone feel like they missed out by not buying real estate?

My experience in real estate: 1. 20% appreciation on my first house over 16 years - 1.1% annualized 2. 300% appreciation on my second house over 27 years - 5.3% annualized 3. 30% appreciation on my third house over 15 years - 1.8% annualized These were in major metropolitan areas in three different states. With each of them, I experienced a period of buyer's remorse due to either problems with the house or going way underwater in my mortgage. No one should feel that they've missed out - especially if you're looking at special situations over cherry-picked time periods. The other thing to remember is that it's generally true that as investment property goes, you'll probably have big negative carry in areas that are known for higher appreciat...
by VaR
Mon Dec 26, 2022 10:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best Overall Credit Card?
Replies: 127
Views: 20044

Re: Best Overall Credit Card?

What do CSR and PYB stand for?

I'd recommend the best cash-back cards that have already been recommended upthread.

That said, I tend to use loyalty point-related cards to keep my hotel points from expiring, and also have the Schwab Amex Platinum in an attempt to see if I can get enough value out of it each year to keep it.
by VaR
Mon Jan 17, 2022 1:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: An Easy Way to Frontload (temporarily exceed) I/EE Bond Annual Limit?
Replies: 218
Views: 42204

Re: An Easy Way to Frontload (temporarily exceed) I/EE Bond Annual Limit?

What happens if the recipient pre-deceases the gifter? That is, in the examples where spouses are pre-buying several years of gifts with delivery scheduled for several serial years, what happens if the receiving spouse dies?

Do all the bonds get delivered at once? If so, what happens since this would exceed the annual limitation for the receiving spouse?
by VaR
Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:37 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Selling Apple (AAPL) stock
Replies: 60
Views: 6278

Re: Selling Apple (AAPL) stock

OP, regardless of whether you decide to sell out the position over time due to your commitment to only holding broad-based index funds, do consider keeping your exposure to a single stock, AAPL in your case, to no more than 10% of your investment portfolio. At the very least, try to keep it below 10% of your net worth.
by VaR
Sun Dec 12, 2021 4:38 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cash or Finance Solar
Replies: 13
Views: 1009

Re: Cash or Finance Solar

Not sure what your motivations are for thinking about financing, but I'd pay cash.

We paid cash for our system a few years ago. I think of it like a 10-year amortizing bond investment.
by VaR
Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:06 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 2 years later, windfall invested, now what?
Replies: 16
Views: 3313

Re: 2 years later, windfall invested, now what?

Remember to read the Bogleheads wiki article on Traditional versus Roth.

I'm also a bit iffy on increasing traditional contributions at the expense of converting capital gains into ordinary income, given that you may not have the usual situation of having a lower tax rate in retirement. Take a look at the breakeven rates in the table at: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Traditi ... cal_values
by VaR
Thu Dec 02, 2021 5:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I include social security in my retirement planning?
Replies: 80
Views: 7157

Re: Should I include social security in my retirement planning?

Why not model both extremes, with full social security and without any social security, and see what impact it has and how much you have to take it into account in your retirement planning?
by VaR
Thu Dec 02, 2021 5:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to communicate with wife?! [about investing]
Replies: 77
Views: 8424

Re: How to communicate with wife?! [about investing]

Not to hijack the thread, but I have the opposite problem: wife wants to be 100% stocks (even <gasp> individual stocks!) because the thought of minimal gains with bonds makes her cringe. At 5-10 years from retirement, I'm happy with my (to me) fairly aggressive 70/30 allocation. She thinks we should "swing for the fences". :annoyed Both are difficult issues to deal with... Have you agreed with your spouse on your long term goals, particularly retirement planning? Agreeing on this can serve two purposes: 1. It will help establish the goals part of your investment policy statement. The next step is planning on how to achieve your goals. 2. It will build a base of collaboration that the two of you can build on. Agreeing on retiremen...
by VaR
Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to communicate with wife?! [about investing]
Replies: 77
Views: 8424

Re: How to communicate with wife?! [about investing]

OP, have you agreed with your spouse on your long term goals, particularly retirement planning? Agreeing on this can serve two purposes: 1. It will help establish the goals part of your investment policy statement. The next step is planning on how to achieve your goals. 2. It will build a base of collaboration that the two of you can build on. Agreeing on retirement goals will generally be easier because you're more likely to be aligned with her. You can build on this positive experience when you move on to the planning. It'll probably be easier for you to jointly visit a fee-only financial planner to get an objective view. Another option is to talk to someone about a low-cost roboadvisory service. You'll have to have the sales resistance t...
by VaR
Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Dispersion b/w US vs Ex US has never been this stark
Replies: 128
Views: 10865

Re: Dispersion b/w US vs Ex US has never been this stark

I hate burying a US vs global ex-US allocation question in one of "those threads", but... Do the people who say it's hard for them to stomach the "constant rebalancing" out of US and into ex-US do so because they are running a fixed US vs ex-US allocation? Because if you're market cap weighted US vs ex-US, you wouldn't have to rebalance, right? Because US outperformance would lead to a commensurate increase in allocation/weighting to the US, right? During this period of outperformance, I wonder how much the market weights have changed? It does strike me that people might think about running something like a "50% of market weight" international allocation to avoid the psychology of rebalancing instead of using a...
by VaR
Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High Cost Once-in-a-lifetime "Vacation"
Replies: 196
Views: 23485

Re: High Cost Once-in-a-lifetime "Vacation"

I'll add myself to the "just do it" camp.

Here's a trip that the wife might find more attractive. She can meet you at the pole.
https://white-desert.com/adventures/sou ... -emperors/
by VaR
Sun Nov 28, 2021 3:20 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Computer science as a college major
Replies: 146
Views: 10315

Re: Computer science as a college major

As far as what people with CS degrees do all day, sitting in front of a computer and programming all day only happens intermittently, mostly earlier in their careers. Software engineers don’t really sit in front of screens any more than any other office worker nowadays. Agree. I yearn for days when I could program all day (which really means for less than all day, but really means pursue my own individual contributions all day). Reality is many days of endless meetings. Not every day, but certainly for planning days and such. Even on "good days" there's sprint planning, daily scrum, story time, sprint review, and retro. There's also architectural sharing, helping others, review with SRE, reviews with QA, interviews, tech talks/pi...
by VaR
Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:42 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help please- Managed Bonds vs Bond Index funds
Replies: 22
Views: 2658

Re: Help please- Managed Bonds vs Bond Index funds

I met with my Fido advisor last week and asked a similar question about bond funds. My advisor recommended that I stick with my actively-managed bond funds. Based on my experience, I agree with my advisor. In 2020, I added FNDSX (Fido sustainable, intermediate-term bond fund) and FNSOX (Fido short-term bond fund). I have been in the red on both funds since the moment I invested in them, even after pouring more money into them. That is, they have "underperformed" my MM fund. OTOH, the actively-managed bond funds that I added in 2020, such as FBND, have stayed in the black. My experience has been that passively-managed S&P 500 index funds are hard to beat with active management, but this does not seem to apply to fixed income, ...
by VaR
Sat Nov 27, 2021 8:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Predict the next technology in equity investing after low-fee index ETFs?
Replies: 80
Views: 5279

Re: Predict the next technology in equity investing after low-fee index ETFs?

I'd like to see real-time NAV and basis calculation for ETFs.

Also, it would be kind of nice to be able to trade the most liquid ETFs after hours on a when-and-if basis with automatic conversion.
by VaR
Sat Nov 27, 2021 8:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: So many metrics!
Replies: 11
Views: 1094

Re: So many metrics!

In an effort to boost my own knowledge of investing, I decided to sign up for a class. I'm currently learning about metrics and ratios, and frankly, I feel like the more I learn, the less I know! If I'm looking at 3 different allocations, A has the highest Sharpe ratio, B has the highest CAGR, C has the lowest drawdown, and the list goes on and on. I guess my question is, how do folks make decisions if the metrics and ratios are all over the place and there's no strong consensus? (p.s. I thought my current fund of 70/25/5, domestic, international, bond is pretty solid but turns out it only has a Sharpe ratio of 0.52. Wha-?) As others have said, you don't need to understand any of these ratios in order to determine an age-appropriate asset ...
by VaR
Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Core bond fund which lost -40% in 12 months (2008-9) rates five stars today
Replies: 70
Views: 7757

Re: Core bond fund which lost -40% in 12 months (2008-9) rates five stars today

nisiprius wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:09 am Do you get access to that data with a paid Morningstar subscription? If not, how did you find it?
I have access to data like this through work.
by VaR
Sat Nov 27, 2021 2:28 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Core bond fund which lost -40% in 12 months (2008-9) rates five stars today
Replies: 70
Views: 7757

Re: Core bond fund which lost -40% in 12 months (2008-9) rates five stars today

Candor wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:31 am Any way to find its M* rating prior to 2008? I did a quick search and wasn't able to find anything.
The class A shares were 2 star in 2007 and slipped down to 1 star in 2008. The Y shares were 5 star through the summer of 2007 but slid down to 1 star by the end of 2008.
by VaR
Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Ritholtz argues inflation will be mostly transitory
Replies: 87
Views: 8257

Re: Ritholtz argues inflation will be mostly transitory

carolinaman wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:07 pm One thing many people tend to ignore is the psychology of inflation. Companies are now raising prices because it is almost expected by consumers since so many price increases have occurred, even though there is not a commensurate increase in costs by these companies. There is more to inflation that just supply and demand.
I take solace in the fact that corporate margins are at highs. I wonder how much of the CPI increase that isn't due to energy and the housing bubble is due to expanding profit margins?
https://insight.factset.com/sp-500-is-r ... 008-for-q3
by VaR
Wed Nov 24, 2021 2:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Hi! I'm high inflation. Nice to meet you.
Replies: 980
Views: 110511

Re: Hi! I'm high inflation. Nice to meet you.

Except then, how do you explain the sharp spike in housing prices? Transitory? It is possible to have multiple sources of inflation. I view the sharp spike in housing prices as a sharp spike in housing prices in certain areas. 2 of the 3 properties I own haven't gone up in price lately. I live in hope, though. Note: I don't really because I view the sharp spike in housing prices as just that. @cryingshame, I also bought one of the three properties during the 2006-2007 real estate bubble in South Florida. The current bubble has finally brought its price above what I bought it for 14 years ago and then some so I'm looking at about a 1.6% annual return. Real estate as an asset class and more specifically residential rental real estate is a go...
by VaR
Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:47 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: International stocks keeping pace with US stocks?
Replies: 61
Views: 5860

Re: International stocks keeping pace with US stocks?

The extensive analysis that I'd like to see is international against US ex FAAMG. 12/31/2009 Market Cap US 17,288 trillion Apple 0.191 trillion Facebook 0.063 trillion Amazon 0.060 trillion Microsoft 0.269 trillion Google 0.392 trillion 9/30/2021 Market Cap US 48,567 trillion Apple 2.36 trillion Facebook 0.967 trillion Amazon 1.66 trillion Microsoft 2.17 trillion Google 1.82 trillion Data from: https://siblisresearch.com/data/us-stock-market-value/ https://companiesmarketcap.com/alphabet-google/marketcap/ So roughly 25% of the return of U.S. equities since Jan 2010 was from these 5 stocks. Global market cap 2010: 54.259 trillion mid 2021: 116.78 trillion Continuously compounded US market cap increase: 9.39% Continuously compounded US market...
by VaR
Sun Nov 14, 2021 11:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: HELOC for solar?
Replies: 36
Views: 2808

Re: HELOC for solar?

RobLyons wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:06 pm Payback is 6.5 - 7.5 years depending on company I go with.

I have obtained 10 quotes (3 on my own, the rest thank you energy Sage)

I would plan to pay off the HELOC very early.
How soon do you plan to pay the HELOC off?

If it's reasonably soon, I'd say go for it. OTOH, I don't think you'd lose much by waiting a year or two until you saved up the money to pay cash.

OTOOH, taking the HELOC or fixed home equity loan now would seem to not have that big of a downside as long as you paid it off early.
by VaR
Wed Nov 10, 2021 12:29 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why would I buy corporate bonds?
Replies: 45
Views: 3563

Re: Why would I buy corporate bonds?

VBTLX is made of 50% corporate bonds. If the economy tanks, wouldn’t both stocks and corporate bonds be impacted as companies go under? Where do you get that? It seems to me that Vanguard Total Bond Market Fund is 40% Treasury notes/bonds, 5% Agency debt, 20% Agency MBS, 30% corporate bonds, and 4% sovereign bonds. I'd have no reservations about investing substantially all my fixed income allocation to it. That said, there's nothing wrong with going 100% Treasury. Addressing your second statement, the corporate bond market is correlated with the equity market, but let's not confuse that with investment grade corporate debt actually defaulting. I've read that over the past 35 years, only 5-10% of investment grade corporate debt has defaulte...
by VaR
Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fancy toilet recommendation?
Replies: 13
Views: 1474

Re: Fancy toilet recommendation?

I have an aftermarket Toto and can highly recommend it from an end-user satisfaction perspective.

One thing I looked for was the instant-heated water feature, which also results in unlimited heated water for the unit. It also eliminates the need to keep the reservoir heated, so water is only heated on an "as needed" basis. I don't know how much electricity this saves.

I also like the heated drying feature, but make sure that you realize that this doesn't eliminate the need for tp for drying, it only augments it.
by VaR
Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why would I buy corporate bonds?
Replies: 45
Views: 3563

Re: Why would I buy corporate bonds?

OP, the two common lines of thought that I've seen the most around here and that represent the mainstream from investment advisors and also @dbr 1. some would allocate to government bonds instead of a mix of government and corporate bonds, using your risk budget as represented by annual standard deviation or daily VaR more on the equity side than corporate bonds or mortgage bonds, etc. 2. go with a total bond fund There are also one other strategies that I think are worth mentioning. No need to consider it if you aren't super-interested in overthinking the topic: 3. overweight corporate bonds - this is a bit of an unpopular choice, but you see it from those who look at annual standard deviation more than daily OP, are you in the accumulatio...
by VaR
Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Multi-WAN Internet Setup
Replies: 74
Views: 9007

Re: Multi-WAN Internet Setup

@TomatoTomahto, you seem to have good answers on different routers to use for dual wan. I have an Asus setup which also supports dual wan. I use my old Asus routers as "Asus AI Mesh Wifi" access points. A couple of things I wanted to suggest is for your in-house distribution network. 1. Were you thinking of upgrading your in-house wired network? I have dual cables on my trunk run and have found that useful in a couple of different use cases. Currently it's supposed to be for bonding, but I am still working on that upgrade. You could you it to run two separate LANs to each room. 2. You could run two networks over a single physical ethernet network by upgrading your switches to be VLAN aware. Then you would set up a VLAN for each of...
by VaR
Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I still carry Term Life Insurance?
Replies: 39
Views: 4248

Re: Should I still carry Term Life Insurance?

In hindsight, we should have kept her policy since it was inexpensive. Since it was term insurance, there probably isn't going to be *that* much of a difference if you pick up a new policy for her now, especially since you can shop around. Don't let regret stop you from making the right forward-looking choice. We had a term policy on my wife even back when she didn't work outside the home. We figured it was more prudent to do that so I could get a full-time nanny instead of depending on me to get a new flexible job and become superdad. I also liked what nisiprius said about protecting your spouse's ability to continue to hit their retirement savings objective. Over the years I've read a number of posts here from surviving spouses where the...
by VaR
Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [Is it worth flying first class?]
Replies: 265
Views: 30170

Re: Never fly first class

I usually think about buying first class tickets as an alternative to wearing compression socks to prevent developing DVT - so about 5 hours or more. However, I think flying domestic first class or international business class is one of those things that's just a matter of personal choice of luxuries. Some people buy luxury cars, others think it's a waste of money. Some people like wearing nice clothes, others are fine in Walmart shorts and a t-shirt (I upgrade to Target class). Some people enjoy fine dining, others think that anything over $50 a person is a waste. Some pay for luxury hotels, others balk at anything over mid-tier. Note: We can afford paying for first for any flights. I hesitate only because we grew up poor. I enjoy the nice...
by VaR
Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:05 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Apple users - setting up a charging station.
Replies: 14
Views: 1714

Re: Apple users - setting up a charging station.

I have a couple of these that work because the bamboo look goes with the decor of our home.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C96KDB8

My wife says that's not quite true but does think that it is marginally better than the black plastic look.

The back slot is more than big enough to support a MacBook Pro.
by VaR
Mon Sep 06, 2021 11:09 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tesla Solar - Experience and Worth It?
Replies: 47
Views: 6291

Re: Tesla Solar - Experience and Worth It?

The biggest challenge will be estimating your annual electrical usage, especially if you've just moved in. Adding to the challenge is your plan to convert to a HPWH, though you'll be able to estimate the effect of that change based on your household size and hot water usage. How much air conditioning and heat do you expect to use, and do you think that your usage is high or lower than the average household? Do you have a pool? Do you expect to get an electric vehicle or two? At any rate, the ideal thing would be to defer committing to a system until you can get an accurate estimate of your usage because the last thing you want to do is to overbuy. Do you know if your power company will force time-of-day metering for you with your solar mete...
by VaR
Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: EV charging solutions in dense urban environs
Replies: 80
Views: 5680

Re: EV charging solutions in dense urban environs

skis4hire wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:16 pm Otherwise I would look at geo grid for your yard which let's you have grass but drive on it
I'd like to second the idea of installing a grass surfaced parking system so you can have your lawn and park on it too.

I don't know how hard it is to find street parking, but perhaps this could increase your convenience factor.
1. street parking available when you come home from work -> park on the street
2. no street parking available -> park on your grass surfaced parking space in your backyard and charge the car

Plus if your parents live close by, they'll complain less about your parking situation if you can tell them you have a parking space for them.
by VaR
Sat Jul 31, 2021 8:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Retiring on 12 acres, considering gifting 1.5 to son
Replies: 12
Views: 2812

Re: Retiring on 12 acres, considering gifting 1.5 to son

What about other options like building the house yourself and just letting them live there? This avoids the problem of subdividing. Is a long-term land-lease another option?

Just throwing out some ideas - good or bad.
by VaR
Sat Jul 31, 2021 8:46 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Atlantic: A Major New Index Fund Should Unnerve Climate-Skeptical CEOs
Replies: 109
Views: 16043

Re: The Atlantic: A Major New Index Fund Should Unnerve Climate-Skeptical CEOs

Not sure whether to post this here or in a new thread, but in a related development Fidelity International (not Fidelity Investments) has said that it will vote against company boards that fail to meet its expectations for tackling climate change. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-26/fidelity-to-vote-against-climate-laggards-starting-next-year https://www.institutionalassetmanager.co.uk/2021/07/26/304087/fidelity-places-climate-expectations-centre-new-voting-policy I've also heard that Blackrock is incorporating climate risk into their capital market assumptions. This is different from making socially responsible investments, but rather both making individual investment choices being aware of the impact of climate change on bu...
by VaR
Thu Jul 15, 2021 11:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Colleges for STEM/CS kid - (Update - MIT in particular)
Replies: 355
Views: 31919

Re: Colleges for STEM/CS kid - Overall rank or engineering/CS rank?

It's been a while since I graduated from college - engineering CS degree from a top Ivy that's not Harvard. All the advice here is good. I'm particularly taken by talk of making sure to solve for the problem of "changing one's mind." I went in thinking maybe Math, maybe Physics, maybe EE, but ended up in CS because those ended up being both enjoyable and also the easiest classes for me relative to my other classes. I say this because when you find something that you enjoy doing/thinking about that is difficult for everyone else but effortless for you, it's some kind of magic like love at first sight. You want to be somewhere where you can act on this. OP, it does sound like this might have gotten enough experience in high school t...
by VaR
Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:54 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: selling Vanguard fund where ETF trades at a premium
Replies: 1
Views: 263

selling Vanguard fund where ETF trades at a premium

Hi All,

I think I've worked out from previous posts that when the ETF version of a Vanguard mutual fund regularly trades at a premium, that it's slightly better to convert your mutual fund shares to ETF shares before selling them.

The funds I'm selling is the Vanguard Intermediate Term Corporate Bond Fund (Admiral vs ETF share classes). The mean and median premium of the ETF over NAV is 0.21%, which is consistent with the purchase fee of 0.25% on the mutual fund share classes.

So all other things being equal, is the recommendation from the board to convert to the ETF share class and sell? I'm not concerned about timing.

Thanks!
by VaR
Mon Feb 08, 2021 12:15 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Unwinding a Northwestern Mutual account
Replies: 48
Views: 3789

Re: Unwinding a Northwestern Mutual account

Great idea to transfer from high fee/ER/load NWM funds. If your plan is to move to Wells Fargo because your 401k is there, for low-cost you want to go with WellsTrade and not Wells Fargo Advisors. My plan was to move to Wells Fargo because everything I read said that you can’t have any other IRAs if you plan on Backdoor Roths. Okay I see, you want to rollover your IRA into your WF 401k rather than transfer it to a WF IRA. Agree that’s the right move to be able to do a backdoor Roth without being subject to pro-rated taxes. Are you sure your 401k is still with Wells Fargo? Mine got "switched" to Principal at the end of the year as part of Principal buying Wells Fargo's Institutional Retirement and Trust business. https://investors...
by VaR
Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Whats the most gross expense ratio you would consider when buying a mutual fund?
Replies: 73
Views: 7892

Re: Whats the most gross expense ratio you would consider when buying a mutual fund?

OP, please note that there are really two questions embedded in your choice of funds here. I want to focus on the question of whether you want to focus your investment into small cap growth, instead of investing in the market as a whole.

I want to encourage you to select an asset allocation first, and then choose specific funds.

The small cap growth category did fantastic in the fourth quarter of 2020 and has outperformed small cap value in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

However, I don't know that you want to bet on that small of a portion of the market. Why are you focused on small cap funds?
by VaR
Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:49 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Got Samsclub membership -- give me your best tips!
Replies: 77
Views: 8687

Re: Got Samsclub membership -- give me your best tips!

dpt486 wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 2:01 pm I find that their in house brand (Members Mark) makes great toilet paper, paper towels, and dishwasher pods. I’ve heard that their detergent is a generic tide, but cannot confirm.
I'd like to second the recommendation for the Member's Mark TP. I haven't found anything better. I anyone has, please let me know.
by VaR
Sat Oct 17, 2020 5:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Favorite Science Fiction Movies
Replies: 179
Views: 12482

Re: Favorite Science Fiction Movies

I'm glad some earlier posters mentioned Brazil and Gattaca. The other bigger movies are more often remembered but these two along with the old classics remain some of my favorites, along with Bladerunner which has benefitted from a higher profile thanks to Bladerunner 2049.

12 Monkeys also bears mentioning.

Has anyone mentioned The Matrix? It obviously belongs on *someone's* list. I can't remember anyone mentioning Back to the Future, but someone must have.

All in all, a great thread. Here are some additional movies I'm not sure have been mentioned before.
Arrival
12 Monkeys
Monsters
Children of Men
Soylent Green
by VaR
Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Best Donor Advised Fund that is NOT a bank/wirehouse?
Replies: 32
Views: 2703

Re: Best Donor Advised Fund that is NOT a bank/wirehouse?

If you're not going to disburse money from the DAF immediately, isn't it more beneficial from a tax perspective to keep the capital gain accumulating in a taxable account, then donated the appreciated securities to the DAF? Let's say you have $10k in appreciated securities, you could donate to your DAF today and take a $10k deduction. However, using a 6% return assumption, if you let the securities appreciate for 10 more years, in year 10 the securities will be worth $18k and you can donate them and take an $18k deduction.

If the DAF investments also appreciate by 6% per year, you will also have $18k to disburse, but you still will have only gotten the original $10k tax deduction.
by VaR
Sun Oct 11, 2020 9:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is programming still a valuable skill to learn?
Replies: 250
Views: 25121

Re: Is programming still a valuable skill to learn?

For most people (the younger generation joining the white collar world), I think the only serious language they should consider learning in the side on the basics is Python. I see so much potential for non-software engineer white collar jobs who know: Excel's VB / Python / SQL I think this is good advice. Programming is definitely still a valuable skill but but I believe that for most people the real leverage comes from degrees when combined with programming skills. Universities and Colleges have recognized this and been developing hybrid degrees that bring programming into various disciplines. People can be highly educated in a field and programmers can be amazing at coding solutions to problems but there can be a disconnect between the t...
by VaR
Sun Oct 11, 2020 8:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I need help with replicating a retirement pension
Replies: 15
Views: 2375

Re: I need help with replicating a retirement pension

My answer to your questions: 1. From the $8,400 annual rental income, I subtract $500 annual expenses for property tax and insurance. The renter is a business and they are responsible for maintaining the property and buildings. I am not involved with upkeep and they have been a long-term renter since 2012. They have to option to buy the property from me. If they do decide to vacate, I will use the opportunity to tear down the buildings and rebuild multiple units on the property for future rental income. Building cost in my area are approximately $35 usd per square foot ($8000 mxn per square meter). 2. The rental is located in Mexico, a few hours from where I live on the Baja Peninsula. Thanks. Based on this info, it seems like it's not tha...
by VaR
Sat Oct 10, 2020 6:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I need help with replicating a retirement pension
Replies: 15
Views: 2375

Re: I need help with replicating a retirement pension

For completeness, a joint immediate annuity for on $200k will pay out about $555 a month. This is only 3.33% a year. A couple of questions: 1. Does the $700 a month rental income account for maintenance expenses, sweat equity in fixing things, and a little buffer for periodic vacancy? 2. What are your plans for the rental property when you can no longer take care of it yourself? For that matter, how do you maintain it while you are in Mexico for 8 months of the year? The main reason I look to use an immediate annuity in my retirement planning is to raise the floor of guaranteed income when a conservative SWR doesn't provide sufficient income. Also, the later you buy it the more sense it tends to make because the "mortality credits"...
by VaR
Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Remote Job - Taxes
Replies: 31
Views: 3757

Re: Remote Job - Taxes

It's a small company so they may not do things correctly, but if your wife is 100% remote, then at my company she would be considered having performed work in the state of Ohio and they would have to pay her as an Ohio employee. Note that this may not apply if she is expected to work in Connecticut but will be temporarily working from home in Ohio due to COVID-19.

I am neither a CPA nor a tax attorney, so I'm sure others can chime in with more definitive answers.
by VaR
Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:12 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Rice & Beans [limiting food expenses]
Replies: 96
Views: 15964

Re: Rice & Beans [limiting food expenses]

I'd like to emphasize that it's important to be healthy and create well-balanced and nutritious meals at home. This is both cheaper and easier to do at home than eating out, since it's a challenge to find well-balanced meals out that aren't packed with fat and ridden with excess sodium. Anyway, my money-saving tip is to learn to cook a wide variety of meals so you are able to take advantage of whatever's on sale at the store. My second piece of advice is to be able to do multi-day meal planning so that you don't end up wasting 80% of what you buy to make a particular recipe. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 stalk of celery and you buy a bunch and throw away the other 10 stalks, this is a lot of waste and wasted expense. One of my favo...
by VaR
Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:01 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Declined 2 opportunities for advancement. Should I be trying to climb the corporate ladder or is being content okay?
Replies: 65
Views: 7376

Re: Declined 2 opportunities for advancement. Should I be trying to climb the corporate ladder or is being content okay?

OP, how well do you perform in your existing role? If you're a developer, your situation is unfamiliar to me despite the fact that I have decades as a software engineering manager.

What aspirations do you have? Do you want to explore new technologies? Build more complex/scalable/interesting systems? What do you see as alternatives to these two promotions?

What kind of role does your current direct manager have? What are the other roles on your team? Are there more senior engineering roles at your company? Just off what you've said, it seems like there should be a technical career track at your company that you should be able to follow.
by VaR
Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Neutralizing TSLA in VTSAX?
Replies: 20
Views: 2437

Re: Neutralizing TSLA in VTSAX?

If you believe that Tesla's price is in a bubble now, but you've owned the VTSAX for long enough to not want to realize gains by switching to an S&P 500 index fund, then perhaps you can find solace in the fact that when you bought in, Tesla was probably less than 0.1% of your investment at the time you bought in. It has "crazily" popped up to 1% of your investment and you are "worried" that it's too big of an exposure.

One strategy would be to not worry about it. If your hypothesis is true, then in time it will go back to being 0.1% of your exposure and your problem will have been solved without you doing anything.
by VaR
Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:49 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: cool roof paint for S. Florida
Replies: 11
Views: 1346

Re: cool roof paint for S. Florida

What about painting on an elastomeric roof coating?
by VaR
Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I accidentally went into cash yesterday. What to do now?
Replies: 34
Views: 5484

Re: I accidentally went into cash yesterday. What to do now?

Escapevelocity wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:12 pm Big down days like today are normally followed by some degree of bounce-back the following day.
I don't think this is really true.
by VaR
Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: At what point do you NOT rebalance
Replies: 16
Views: 2040

Re: At what point do you NOT rebalance

OP, said another way, what is your anticipated withdrawal rate in your first retirement year? Also, what is your target asset allocation in your first retirement year?

The answer to your question will depend greatly on whether the reason you think you will have 20 years of expenses in fixed income in your first retirement year because your asset allocation is 20/80 or because your anticipated withdrawal rate is 2%.

Also, when you say you will have 20 years of expenses, are you anticipating inflation? I'm sure you are, but just checking...