Search found 3734 matches

by Geologist
Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pro Rata Rule
Replies: 5
Views: 373

Re: Pro Rata Rule

Do you really mean the 401k/now IRA has $130 or the total is different from that?
by Geologist
Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: how long for a vanguard order?
Replies: 10
Views: 511

Re: how long for a vanguard order?

2ball wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:51 pm
Ls208 wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:06 pm Vanguard puts a seven day hold on new money when I transfer funds in. I’ve had this happen on Monday of this week, last month, and (I think?) in August 2024.
I hope there is not a 7 day hold every time I transfer money.
Wires are different from other methods of transferring money into financial accounts and less likely to result in holds.
by Geologist
Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:09 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: how long for a vanguard order?
Replies: 10
Views: 511

Re: how long for a vanguard order?



Accounts do not update in real time. Transactions will post (be visible to you) after the close of business on the day that they happen.

I'm not clear then on what your sequence of transactions was.

What account did your wire go into? Shouldn't it have been your settlement account (which is a money market account)? The prospectus describes the timing of events that go with purchases.

Did you then purchase a different money market account?


The settlement account is a money market account? Like it automatically went into a vanguard fund? While I’m not sure, that didn’t seem to be the case. I put the money in VUSXX.

This is my first brokerage account. Everything else I have is in a deferred comp account.


The default settlement ...
by Geologist
Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: FRSXX vs VUSXX
Replies: 4
Views: 454

Re: FRSXX vs VUSXX

FRSXX is the institutional class of the Fidelity Money Market Treasury Only fund with an initial investment minimum of $10 million. There are other share classes of the same fund with lower minimums but, I believe, higher expenses and lower yields. VUSXX has a much lower minimum investment.


It may be that you can invest in FRSXX at some brokerages because they are aggregating all their customer's accounts. I'm not sure about that.
by Geologist
Wed Feb 05, 2025 8:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: how long for a vanguard order?
Replies: 10
Views: 511

Re: how long for a vanguard order?

A key paragraph from the Dec 2024 prospectus for Cash Reserves Federal MM, Federal MM, and Treasury MM funds:

For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. You generally begin earning dividends on the business day following your trade date. When buying ...
by Geologist
Wed Feb 05, 2025 8:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: how long for a vanguard order?
Replies: 10
Views: 511

Re: how long for a vanguard order?

Accounts do not update in real time. Transactions will post (be visible to you) after the close of business on the day that they happen.

I'm not clear then on what your sequence of transactions was.

What account did your wire go into? Shouldn't it have been your settlement account (which is a money market account)? The prospectus describes the timing of events that go with purchases.

Did you then purchase a different money market account?
by Geologist
Wed Feb 05, 2025 7:35 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: taxes [Finding cost basis and how to note state tax-exempt income]
Replies: 9
Views: 589

Re: taxes

Officially, the taxpayer has always had the responsibility for keeping track of the cost of acquisition of securities, not the broker.
by Geologist
Tue Feb 04, 2025 7:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: VMFXX state tax exempt portion
Replies: 13
Views: 1237

Re: VMFXX state tax exempt portion

You have received good replies. I will respond to something you did in your OP. You cannot simply add up the current holdings of the fund. The holdings of the fund can change and what is important for state tax exemption is the percentage of income throughout the year (and for certain states, the percentage in USGO at each quarter end).
by Geologist
Tue Feb 04, 2025 7:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Non-Covered Shares and issue with AvgCost vs Spec ID
Replies: 11
Views: 878

Re: Vanguard Non-Covered Shares and issue with AvgCost vs Spec ID




If specific shares are not identified, then tax laws say the shares were sold FIFO (first-in, first-out). That goes for both Average Cost and for Specific Identification and covered and non-covered shares. However, for Average Cost one cannot specify anything but FIFO anyways. See IRS Publication 550. That is, the brokeage can only use one single method, namely FIFO, for the shares sold if the client doesn't specifically identify shares sold.


What tax law states that when there are both non-covered and covered shares of an identical security that, by default, non-covered shares are sold first?

Regulations, such as 26 CFR 1.1012-1(e)(2)(i) use the term "the broker's default method", without any indication that the broker's default ...
by Geologist
Mon Feb 03, 2025 6:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?
Replies: 83
Views: 4859

Re: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?



I'm with rkhusky and White Coat Investor. The difference in expense ratio is not material. 0.03% is $30 per $100,000 invested per year. Even compounded over many years, this is not going to make a significant difference (50 x 30 = $1500).


If the difference is immaterial, what’s the rationale for Vanguard not charging zero expense ratio like Fidelity?


The zero funds still have expenses. Fidelity's parent company (FMR) is paying these expenses. Based on Fidelity's comparable funds, these expenses amount to millions of dollars a year. Where would Vanguard get this money? FMR gets it by making a profit on rather higher expenses for other funds (for example, SPAXX and FZFXX, two of its main money market funds have expense ratios of 0 ...
by Geologist
Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:42 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard Cuts Fees across range of Mutual Funds and ETFs
Replies: 133
Views: 10979

Re: VXUS ER down to 0.05

Expense ratio cuts for many funds, including VXUS is already in a thread on this board.
by Geologist
Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:37 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Impact of Tariffs to stock market
Replies: 38
Views: 3830

Re: Tariff Discussion - Why are they banned here?

From Section 4b of the Forum Policies (Unacceptable Topics):

"If readers can't do anything with the content of a topic other than argue about it, it does not belong here. Examples include:

US or world economic, political, tax..."

Tariffs are certainly economic and tax policies, so even if people avoid political statements, then the discussion will have to deal with economic or tax policies.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 7:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?
Replies: 83
Views: 4859

Re: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?





Mutual funds must distribute essentially all their net income each year, but there is no requirement they hold the dividends they receive in cash until they distribute them. What else can/do they do with dividends they receive from the holdings until the next distribution by the fund? Many stocks pay dividends quarterly so if a fund only distributes them once a year they must keep them somewhere. :confused


As I have replied upthread (to others, if not you), the dividends may come in quarterly but generally not on the same date, so the cash is just another cash flow to be balanced with additions/subtractions from shareholders buying/redeeming shares, deducting money for fund expenses, and so on. If there is net cash, then the fund ...
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 6:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard marketing corporatiton?
Replies: 12
Views: 994

Re: Vanguard marketing corporatiton?





From the bottom of https://investor.vanguard.com/




Presumably then, payments of dividends and interest on individual securities held in the account are remitted to VMC and the payee in their system is “VMC”? A fund or ETF would be the payee for securities held by the fund. And then the fund would remit to VMC?


Certainly individual stocks and probably ETF's as well are in street name, so the transfer agent for the stocks and the ETF won't even know who the individual holders are at each brokerage, just the total shares held by the brokerage. The brokerage gets a lump sum and then uses its records to distribute to individual holders.

Edit: as an example, the April 2024 SAI for Vanguard Index Funds reports that Vanguard ...
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 6:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accumulating ETFs in the US?
Replies: 7
Views: 541

Re: Accumulating ETFs in the US?



Why do US-domiciled ETFs lack accumulating share classes like their European UCITS counterparts? In Europe, accumulating ETFs automatically reinvest dividends, which can defer taxes in jurisdictions where dividends are taxed only when distributed (e.g., Belgium, Poland). Given the potential tax advantages for long-term investors, why hasn’t this structure been adopted in the US?


In the U.S. we have retirement accounts (401k and/or IRA) that allow accumulators to avoid taxation during their working years. Even though the funds inside those plans still pay dividends, they are beyond the reach of the taxing authorities. The U.S. Congress and/or the IRS set the annual contribution limit(s) for such accounts.

If however you're saving ...
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 4:23 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard marketing corporatiton?
Replies: 12
Views: 994

Re: Vanguard marketing corporatiton?

Look there are all sorts of possibly confusing corporate names out there. Fidelity's broker dealer (a wholly owned subsidiary) is National Financial Services, which doesn't even have Fidelity in the name. People should just not worry about it.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 4:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Inherited Roth
Replies: 9
Views: 929

Re: Inherited Roth

Inherited traditional IRA's cannot be converted to Roth IRA's, that is true.

There is no problem with having an inherited IRA and the backdoor Roth IRA process.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 3:57 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard marketing corporatiton?
Replies: 12
Views: 994

Re: Vanguard marketing corporatiton?

Vanguard Marketing Corporation is the correct name to use for entering the 1099.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 3:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Understanding the recent performance of Intermediate treasuries vs. munis
Replies: 4
Views: 550

Re: Understanding the recent performance of Intermediate treasuries vs. munis

Are you sure that what you are showing is just price change over the last five years or total return?

The reason I ask is that Vanguard's website is showing average annual return for for VWIUX of 1.12% and for VGIT -0.48% (as of 1/31/25).

Charts from places like Yahoo or Google are notorious for just showing price changes (if you aren't careful) and for bond funds, a lot of the return is in the monthly dividend payments.

The Vanguard return, which includes dividends, still shows the municipal fund ahead but the return is rather different.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 12:44 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accumulating ETFs in the US?
Replies: 7
Views: 541

Re: Accumulating ETFs in the US?

Funds must distribute to shareholders. Reinvesting is not distributing to shareholders (who then pay taxes). There is also an excise tax (beyond potential corporate income tax liability) to the fund if it doesn't distribute basically all of its net income (I've forgotten now how "basically all" is defined in this context but it is at least 90%).

The only way for shareholders to defer taxes in the long-term in the US is to invest in various tax-advantaged accounts.


(If you mean by "reinvesting", the shareholder reinvests, that changes nothing from a tax perspective. That is just a convenience: the fund has distributed and rather than the shareholder sending the money back in to make a new purchase, the fund does it for them.)
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 12:39 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: SGOV yield vs Fidelity cash management MM funds (FZFXX, SPAXX)
Replies: 14
Views: 2219

Re: SGOV yield vs Fidelity cash management MM funds (FZFXX, SPAXX)

There certainly won't be an official 7-day (SEC) yield for SGOV because it is a bond fund. Bond funds have 30 day SEC yields. Only money market funds have 7 day SEC yields.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 12:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accumulating ETFs in the US?
Replies: 7
Views: 541

Re: Accumulating ETFs in the US?

Because tax law requires that investment funds in the US distribute essentially all of their net income annually to shareholders.

Among other things, this allows investment funds to be exempt from the corporate income tax.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: FEHB Retirees can now delay Medicare B w/o Penalty?
Replies: 41
Views: 3939

Re: FEHB Retirees can now delay Medicare B w/o Penalty?

I don't have any particular stake here, but I am impressed that no one is posting a link to a written government document that FEHB retirees can delay Medicare B without penalty. There are just statements that people have been told verbally that it is so. Verbal statements will be of no avail down the line if such retirees delay/drop Medicare B and then get a penalty later.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:35 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?
Replies: 44
Views: 5746

Re: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?

White Coat Investor wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:23 am
Geologist wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 9:57 am It would help if you gave the fund names and not just the tickers, because most on this board have not memorized tickers especially for non-Vanguard funds.
True, but the actual funds aren't particularly relevant to the discussion. These are common funds owned on this board. I also don't memorize tickers, but I think most Bogleheads at least know VTI and VXUS at a minimum, no?
VTI, yes. VXUS, no. Further, if actual funds "aren't particularly relevant", why did you use them?
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:22 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Can I buy just 1 tips bond through Vanguard
Replies: 5
Views: 900

Re: Can I buy just 1 tips bond through Vanguard

I think your family member needs to try when the market is open and not on the weekend.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:16 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?
Replies: 44
Views: 5746

Re: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?

The question is whether you can generalize from your limited sample about small cap value or small cap funds. I own Vanguard Tax-Managed Small Cap. In 2023, it had about 0.7% non-qualified dividends and in 2024, it had 0%. Thus, there was no increase last year.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:06 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Impact of Tariffs to stock market
Replies: 38
Views: 3830

Re: Getting Defensive Due to Tariffs?

I assume this thread will be locked because there are earlier threads that on this topic already locked (viewtopic.php?p=8235654#p8235654)
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:02 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?
Replies: 44
Views: 5746

Re: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?

From Wikipedia
To be taxed at the qualified dividend rate, the dividend must:
• be paid by a U.S. corporation, by a corporation incorporated in a U.S. possession, by a foreign corporation located in a country that is eligible for benefits under a U.S. tax treaty that meets certain criteria, or on a foreign corporation’s stock that can be readily traded on an established U.S. stock market (e.g., an American Depositary Receipt or ADR)

Consequently, international or world stock funds will have lower proportions of qualified dividends.
by Geologist
Sun Feb 02, 2025 9:57 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?
Replies: 44
Views: 5746

Re: Anyone else surprised by how much non-qualified dividends their index funds paid out this year?

It would help if you gave the fund names and not just the tickers, because most on this board have not memorized tickers especially for non-Vanguard funds.
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 4:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: TurboTax Import of Vanguard 1099-R--No Document ID on Vanguard 1099-R
Replies: 20
Views: 1769

Re: TurboTax Import of Vanguard 1099-R--No Document ID on Vanguard 1099-R

I don't know. My Vanguard 1099-R has both an account number and a document ID. However, I don't import tax forms, but enter them manually and I certainly wasn't asked for the document ID (not sure about the account number), so it didn't get entered.
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 3:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Are paper savings bonds still available?
Replies: 9
Views: 1330

Re: Are paper savings bonds still available?

I don't think paper savings bonds are still available. Like many institutions, the Treasury has been trying to cut down on paper.
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 2:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Forgot 2024 W4 Withholding
Replies: 3
Views: 512

Re: Forgot 2024 Q4 Withholding

Let me make sure I understand. Your total tax in 2023 was $5k (not that you owed $5k at tax filing time).
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 2:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Missed the Foreign Tax Credit the last two years - next steps?
Replies: 16
Views: 999

Re: Missed the Foreign Tax Credit the last two years - next steps?

How big a difference does this make? (For example, my foreign tax credit in 2022 was $38, so if I had missed it, I might not find it worth the effort to amend my return.)
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 9:38 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where do I find cost basis for my Vanguard funds?
Replies: 7
Views: 402

Re: Where do I find cost basis for my Vanguard funds?

What is your history, if any, selling funds?

The default cost basis is average cost and it sounds like that is what is showing for your funds.

If you have sold funds using that basis, you are locked into average cost for all lots acquired as of the date of that sale for that fund. If the shares are noncovered, then Vanguard will only list average cost (but you can/should have your own records for purchase dates and cost).

On the other hand, you can change your basis to "Specific ID" and then you will get lot-specific cost basis. (It will take a day or two for this to go into effect.) You probably want this and you want to do it before ETF conversion.
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 9:04 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where do I find cost basis for my Vanguard funds?
Replies: 7
Views: 402

Re: Where do I find cost basis for my Vanguard funds?

On the Vanguard brokerage platform, when I first log in, there are set of drop down menu choices toward the top of the page. Under “Portfolio” is “cost basis”.
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 8:35 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Post tax contributions in trad IRAs
Replies: 11
Views: 732

Re: Post tax contributions in trad IRAs





I wouldn't call this being "stuck". I and many other taxpayers are in the same boat. We basically made a bargain with the government:
- the government didn't tax us each year on dividend and/or cap gain distributions while we were working/accumulating
- in return we pay income tax when taking withdrawals during retirement

(as noted earlier, any post-tax contribution amounts - your basis - are not taxed upon withdrawal)


Thank you. And when withdrawing from Trad IRA, is there a way to withdraw post tax contribution amount first or are we forced to withdraw all pre-tax contributions first? We’re trying to keep our taxable income as low as possible for 2025 because we are having to withdraw for a home project. When we file 2025 taxes ...
by Geologist
Sat Feb 01, 2025 6:56 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?
Replies: 83
Views: 4859

Re: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?


I think another reason FZROX has outperformed and may well continue to outperform is that in addition to waving the ER, Fidelity pays no licensing fee to the benchmark owner--no sliver to S&P or Wilshire. I just checked, Portfolio Visualizer reports that as of 1/31/2025, FZROX has outperformed VTI and VTSAX in every measured time period, by 10 basis points annually for VTI, 14 for VTSAX. Just as Mr. Bogle explained "invest we must," it is also true that "choose we must." Choosing the best performer takes no more time or effort, so that's my approach.


First, the expense ratio (ER) includes the fee for using the index for any index fund. Therefore, this is not “another reason” FZROX can outperform because the fee is in addition to the ...
by Geologist
Fri Jan 31, 2025 8:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: TurboTax Importing of VG Mutual Funds after merging accounts to Brokerage
Replies: 11
Views: 872

Re: TurboTax Importing of VG Mutual Funds after merging accounts to Brokerage

For the Brokerage 1099, you don't enter the individual mutual funds separately. You will just have "Vanguard Marketing Corporation" or something similar and the total dividends and other boxes for all mutual funds together. I'm not sure what happens in an import because I always enter the data manually.

Then for the 1099's that come for the individual mutual funds before you converted to the brokerage platform, you enter each separately (presumably as you have in past years). You don't add the distributions from the brokerage 1099 to the totals for the separate 1099's.

This is an advantage of the brokerage platform: you no longer have to have an entry for each mutual fund (or other security) separately on the tax form.
by Geologist
Fri Jan 31, 2025 4:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inherited IRA and Deceased RMD
Replies: 5
Views: 544

Re: Inherited IRA and Deceased RMD

Paullmas wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 4:48 pm So it is finalized that Trad IRA beneficiaries must take an RMD every year and then have the account cleared out by the 10th year? I had read that this rule was not finalized and in flux and that the account only needed to be cleared out by the 10th year.
See the wiki (https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Inheriting_an_IRA) and particularly Note 4, which states the regulations requiring annual RMD's were finalized in July 2024.

Edit: here is another source: https://irahelp.com/slottreport/annual- ... k-in-soon/
by Geologist
Fri Jan 31, 2025 1:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tax Implications of Land Gifted to Child
Replies: 32
Views: 2726

Re: Tax Implications of Land Gifted to Child

There is the gift tax form question and you have some good responses. It is not clear to me that you understand that your child's cost basis (for capital gains calculation upon later sale) will be your cost basis of $35k. (I say this because you write "she receives the land at fair market value as required by the IRS". Gift tax forms are for you; she doesn't have any tax implications for that value.)

The fair market value on the date of the gift has nothing to do with the cost basis associated with a gift.

(You might want to provide your child with documentation of your cost basis, so they have it on hand when a later sale takes place.)
by Geologist
Fri Jan 31, 2025 12:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?
Replies: 83
Views: 4859

Re: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?



Practically all funds maintain some cash in a money market fund for short-term liquidity purposes.

Having said that, most of the time the distributions are much larger than the size of the money market account. For example, in the 2023 annual report, the Vanguard 500 fund cash had a money market fund of $2.5 billion (and it had been about that size in semi-annual and annual reports for several years). However, the total distributions for 2023 for the fund (all classes) were nearly $14 billion. So this means the dividends were invested in the stocks of the index until distribution time. That also seems weird, because then two funds holding the same stocks but having different distribution schedules would likely have different dividend ...
by Geologist
Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?
Replies: 83
Views: 4859

Re: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?

I suppose there could be one reason why Fidelity Zero funds pay distributions annually: there is some level of administrative expense in paying distributions. Since the expenses of the Fidelity Zero funds (except for the fees and expenses of the Independent Trustees) are being paid by Fidelity Management and Research (the parent company of Fidelity), it lowers their expenses if distributions are only paid once per year.
by Geologist
Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?
Replies: 83
Views: 4859

Re: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?

I'm with rkhusky and White Coat Investor. The difference in expense ratio is not material. 0.03% is $30 per $100,000 invested per year. Even compounded over many years, this is not going to make a significant difference (50 x 30 = $1500).
by Geologist
Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?
Replies: 83
Views: 4859

Re: Move VG Roth to Fidelity for ZERO fund?

Practically all funds maintain some cash in a money market fund for short-term liquidity purposes.

Having said that, most of the time the distributions are much larger than the size of the money market account. For example, in the 2023 annual report, the Vanguard 500 fund cash had a money market fund of $2.5 billion (and it had been about that size in semi-annual and annual reports for several years). However, the total distributions for 2023 for the fund (all classes) were nearly $14 billion. So this means the dividends were invested in the stocks of the index until distribution time.

Keep in mind for a mutual fund where shareholders reinvest distributions, nothing needs to be done (the reinvestment is just an accounting shift). Stocks ...
by Geologist
Thu Jan 30, 2025 5:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Seeking assistance on settling a simple estate
Replies: 36
Views: 2596

Re: Seeking assistance on handling an estate

Many states have a small estate process and I think you would do well to go to the county courthouse of the county where your mother resided to inquire about it. There are some actions you can't legally take without being officially appointed as the estate's representative and almost surely a clerk at the courthouse can explain how it is done. (For example, I'm not sure you can legally donate those personal items that you mention without legal authority.)
by Geologist
Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:10 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: VG Tax Exempt Bond Offerings
Replies: 5
Views: 872

Re: VG Tax Exempt Bond Offerings


I think the BND credit distribution is due to it being a mix of treasuries, mortgage-backed and corporates.

I don't necessarily believe the bond credit ratings perfectly map into risk but that's all the data we have.


BND is an index fund, so its holdings are a matter of the composition of the index it follows. That index is the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, which includes government, corporate, asset-backed, and international dollar-denominated taxable investment grade bonds. Probably most people on Wall Street wouldn't think it strange.

For what it is worth, the percentage composition for BND is not "after the market close on 1/29/25" but as of 12/31/24. I haven't looked, but I would suspect, if you looked on ...
by Geologist
Thu Jan 30, 2025 6:58 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to withdraw from 401k incurring least amount of taxes
Replies: 30
Views: 3420

Re: How to withdraw from 401k incurring least amount of taxes

The title of your thread refers to a 401k, but your OP just refers to an IRA. Is there a 401k (or is there just the rollover IRA that came from a 401k)?
by Geologist
Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:32 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Crazy news from Vaguard [Funded account has zero balance]
Replies: 33
Views: 4591

Re: Crazy news from Vaguard [Funded account has zero balance]

Buford T Justice wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:30 am I would think that a Form 5498 would have been generated annually and sent to the account owner.
Form 5498's are only generated for IRA's. If the OP described this account as an IRA, I missed it.

Edit: I see that a later post said it was a Roth. However, it could have been set up so 5498's were posted online and only an email was sent about them. I'm not sure there is clarity that the daughter didn't change her email address without notifying Vanguard.
by Geologist
Tue Jan 28, 2025 5:30 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 10 year TIPS
Replies: 16
Views: 1895

Re: 10 year TIPS

PersonalFinanceJam wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 12:13 am
Church Lady wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 11:05 am
I don't know about TD, but it is if your account is at Fidelity. When I saw what a good real rate I got at auction, I tried to buy more. Fidelity did not have any to sell, even on the secondary market.
The issue date for the recently auctioned 10 year TIPS is not until Jan 31. No one has possession of any of these specific TIPS to sell on the secondary market yet.
In fact, Treasuries (among other securities) can trade on a "when issued" basis. (For an explanation, see https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wi.asp). It may be, however, that this might only be practical for institutional-size blocks (i.e., $1 million plus).
by Geologist
Tue Jan 28, 2025 6:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Rate of change in AI [DeepSeek (Chinese AI) impacting market]
Replies: 366
Views: 33951

Re: DeepSeek -- AI Haircut

watchnerd wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 12:39 am
gunny wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 12:12 am
You're right; one day = the entire picture of the market

:oops:
The market is forward looking.

Do you think you know something the market doesn't?
I think Benjamin Graham’s statement applies here: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”

One day’s result is a voting machine, not a weighing machine.