Bogleheads.org

brad.clarkston wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 3:15 pm

coffeeblack wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:33 pm Why not a short term treasury fund like VUSXX?

Why would I pay 0.09% ER for T-Bills? Save the ER and buy a rolling ladder yourself.

I would hate managing a rolling ladder of T-Bills. I am willing to pay the ER to have a fund do it for me.

OP,
Welcome to the frustrations of booking travel to, from, and within Spain! This kind of problem (credit card being rejected) occurs frequently with both Iberia airlines and Renfe (the Spanish rail company). Your bank is not at fault. The fault is with the terrible websites of Iberia and Renfe.

an emergency fund must meet at least two criteria: 1. It must be liquid and accessible 2. It must be principal-protected To me, this strongly suggests an emergency fund consists of assets like cash in a savings account, iBonds held >1 year, short-term Tbills, etc. Correct. If you have to "sell low" or at a loss to raise emergency cash, it's not an emergency fund. It's a mistake. You can twist yourself into a pretzel trying to justify a stock portfolio as constituting an emergency fund. All I can say to that is, "good luck." You'll need it. This year I've been hit with ~$50K+ of emergency expenses. Without my emergency fund, I would have had to sell stock holdings at a loss. Not good. Why do you think it is worse to sell...

I only fly United (has nearby hub), American (also has nearby hub), or occasionally Delta (if flying to one of their hubs). I check their websites directly. I don't mess with Kayak, Google Flights, or other such sites.

OldSport wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 12:27 am I've missed out on several days interest because of these additional hoops.

Are you sure about that? If your order for a mutual fund or money market fund is placed on Friday night, anytime Saturday, anytime Sunday, or Monday before 4pm, it executes Monday evening.

This is not unique to Merrill Edge.

Most credit card experts advise that you keep a new credit card open for at least one full year before closing it. That shouldn't cause you any hardship. After all, you don't have to use the card once you have earned the bonus. Why are you so eager to close it as soon as possible?

stan1 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:09 pm TSP G Fund yield right now is 4.125% annualized

Inflation is 6% through Feb 2023.

So negative real return of 1.875% at least for the time being. Safety comes at a cost.

What are your ages and how long until you retire?

^^^ This is a comment about fixed income in general, not about the G Fund in particular.

jeffyscott wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:03 am Schwab lets me effectively do exchanges of any mutual funds, while holding no cash (and no margin). I can do this by entering separate buy and sell orders. I also can, for example, enter an order to sell a mutual fund and then enter an order to buy a CD (again this is with no cash and no margin) with the anticipated proceeds. I can not do that on E-trade (nor Vanguard, Fidelity).

Will Schwab permit me to exchange one money market fund for another without waiting for a sell to settle before making the buy?

Schwab for sure.

Here's a good summary:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/as ... gement.asp

cowdogman wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 6:48 pm

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 6:44 pm Yes, you need liability insurance to protect yourself from claims arising from work you did years earlier before you retired.

OP said he was keeping his professional liability policy going. I think he is just talking about his slip-and-fall policy.

I would keep it.

As best as I can figure it out as a T-Mobile customer, they still accept credit cards for payment of monthly bills. What seems to have changed is that they no longer give the 5% discount for using autopay if you pay with a credit card.

Yes, you need liability insurance to protect yourself from claims arising from work you did years earlier before you retired.

I hold my cash at Schwab in their Value Advantage Money Fund® – Investor Shares (SWVXX) at 4.49% So would you say it's a good idea to move it to a safer place like Schwab U.S. Treasury Money Fund - Investor Shares at 4.31% I'm guessing the answer is "yes"? Edit: Wow, I skimmed thru the SWVXX holdings and I think I have to change that answer to: DEFINITELY YES! :D I'd still like to hear any views on it tho. Schwab already saw $8.8B in net outflows from its Value Advantage funds this week. You would be in good company. What is motivating the exodus of funds from SWVXX? I thought that the SEC regs would keep the problems with Schwab bank from spilling over into Schwab brokerage. It's a Prime money market fund. Prime money market fun...

nps wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 4:33 am

theac wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:38 pm I hold my cash at Schwab in their Value Advantage Money Fund® – Investor Shares (SWVXX) at 4.49%

So would you say it's a good idea to move it to a safer place like Schwab U.S. Treasury Money Fund - Investor Shares at 4.31%

I'm guessing the answer is "yes"?

Edit: Wow,
I skimmed thru the SWVXX holdings and I think I have to change that answer to:
DEFINITELY YES!

I'd still like to hear any views on it tho.

Schwab already saw $8.8B in net outflows from its Value Advantage funds this week. You would be in good company.

What is motivating the exodus of funds from SWVXX? I thought that the SEC regs would keep the problems with Schwab bank from spilling over into Schwab brokerage.

What's going on with SWVXX? If the fund in some kind of trouble?

gotoparks wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:38 am Personally, I keep 2/3 months worth of spend in my checking account and everything else in money market funds, T-Bills, and a couple of CDs. I also have an HYSA with not much in it right now. Money markets were not paying much recently, and everything was in HYSA but I switched last year to mostly money market. If/when money markets go down and HYSA is doing as well or better like before, I will switch back.

This is exactly what I have done.

One week.

The problem is that you still hold mutual funds. If you convert those mutual funds to ETFs, the proceeds from ETF sales become available immediately for your next investment, but the proceeds from mutual fund sales don't become available until the following business day. I used to dislike the concept of ETFs, but now I love them.

I would go with VMFXX rather than FDIC insured. Both of them fall into the category of "very safe parking lots for your money," but VMFXX currently has better yields.

Macawi wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:38 pm

ResearchMed wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 9:46 am OP,

Perhaps I missed it, but before the move, did you have unrestricted access to the money in the "stability of principal" account?
Or were there already some restrictions about removing money?

Often those "stable value" funds have some liquidity limitations, which is part of what allows them to offer the "stability" they provide.

RM

I would have been able to exit out of my position prior to my company’s migration out of voya. I was not notified of this possibility.

You would have been able, but would you have done it?

Morningstar undoubtedly gets its data from Vanguard. I don't trust either one to be always current with the data they display on the internet.

1. Adding a few luxuries to my life.
2. Leaving money to my kids.
3. Donating to good causes.

See the other thread about problems with general slowness across the entire boglehead site.

Still slow for me at 7:50pm eastern daylight time.

If you did the conversion earlier today, I wouldn't be concerned until after the overnight processing runs. If that's the situation, check back tomorrow morning.

wojo8625 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 1:35 pm Just kinda curious as what some of your decision making processes are when it comes to repairing things yourself vs. hiring someone else.

My decision making process is fast and simple: always hire someone else to do the job.

VMFXX pays on the last day of the month.

With money market funds you should be focusing on the yield, not the ER. I would much rather hold a higher ER fund with a higher yield than one with a lower ER and a lower yield.

Disclosure: I have owned VMRXX, FZDXX, SWVXX, and VUSXX, and I was happy with all four of them. I was about to switch my VMRXX holdings over to VUSXX when I learned of Vanguard's recent decision to buy repos within VUSXX, thereby negating some of the tax advantage of what used to be an all-Treasury fund.

iamlucky13 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:24 pm

Glockenspiel wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:23 am Lululemon are what the stylish slimmer men are wearing in my upper class part of town.

Definitely not the Dockers Pleated Pants suggested above.

Why not Dockers? Some of us have style literacy worse than the average American's financial literacy, so being specific would be helpful.

Dockers are fine, but not the ones with the pleats. Get the plain front Dockers in slim fit.

I would love to see VOO and VTI split. Their share costs are much higher than ITOT and SCHB. I realize that I can buy partial shares, but I refuse to own partial shares until Vanguard fixes the process for selling those partial shares.

JoMoney wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 10:36 pm

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:01 pm I've thought about buying Schwab stock because then I could say that I am one of the owners of my brokerage. Perhaps now might be a good time.

If you own index funds, you already own Schwab stock, it's an S&P 500 constituent.

That doesn't entitle me to vote. Owning Schwab via an S&P 500 index fund is no better than owning Vanguard via owning Vanguard funds.

I've thought about buying Schwab stock because then I could say that I am one of the owners of my brokerage. Perhaps now might be a good time.

Whenever this happens, check the calendar. If it's the wee hours of a Sunday morning Vanguard is doing system maintenance. Try again on Monday morning.

Seems like the tax tail is wagging the dog.....

Why do people here place such a high importance on transferability? I have never transferred anything between brokerages and don't think most people do. Seems like a purely theoretical advantage that appeals to the boglehead mindset.

Back Dr wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 2:59 pm

hoops777 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 2:10 pm I think a lot depends on your age.
At 71 and 73, we have a very nice SS payout and a good amount of IBonds that provide inflation protection to a degree.
Zero equities and fixed returning 4 pct works great for us and our portfolio actually grows.

If we were 40 that is a different story.

Point being, everyone is different with their own unique situation.

Very true. Retirees, especially in this current Fed situation, should IMHO be primarily in fixed income.

Seriously?

cbox wrote: ↑Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:17 pm This is why you buy mutual funds. ETFs promote trading behavior and distract people throughout the day.

That is simply not true.

Just buy the car that fits your needs and be done with it. There is no boglehead way of owning a car.

Do not stay in Alexandria, Arlington, Bethesda, Silver Spring, or Friendship Heights. Stay in downtown DC. Half the fun of going to DC is being able to take long walks after dark around the monuments or along the waterfront. This is so much easier if you can walk directly to your hotel after your late night wanderings.

chrismckay wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:38 pm After a rough period, are Bonds still the "go to" for your safe % of your portfolio?

Yes, intermediate-term treasury bond funds.

Just drive over to the Schwab office and chat with the people who greet you when you enter. Most of these misunderstandings evaporate quickly when you talk to people face to face. (Vanguard would do well to learn that lesson.)

saycanyouc wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 2:11 pm Basis of this question: I'm getting what I consider unacceptable customer service from Vanguard. For convenience's sake, lets not discuss why I feel that way. My interest is in competence and low fees. For those of you who are Vanguard customers, if you HAD TO move your account, where would you move it to?

Fidelity or Schwab, in that order.

mreed911 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 5:28 pm After a disastrous experiment with their checking account last month, I walked away from Schwab completely. Transferred out things to where I already had other accounts, essentially simplifying things.

No regrets.

Can you provide more details? What kind of experiment?

delamer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:40 pm Despite my searches, I haven’t been able to find a fund the invests in Intermediate Treasuries and has a low turnover ratio (under 20%, preferably).

I’d prefer a low turnover fund to investing in individual treasuries.

My goal is to buy-and-hold for several years. So I want to know what my principal will be in 10* years, and not have to worry about unknown fund valuations at that time.

Any suggestions?

*(Could be a bit shorter or longer.)

I recommend VGIT, SCHR, and SPTI.

Every year it amazes me how many otherwise frugal bogleheads waste $25 on this absurd fee. I value my time too, but ~10 seconds of printing and ~2 minutes at the post office while I'm already out is a small price to pay. (Of secondary concern, I also trust the post office with a hard copy of my return more than I trust turbotax with an electronic version--despite what they claim about not storing my data.) That's exactly the camp I'm in. Was rather surprised. I thought the resounding response around here would be a firm "NO." On my significant other's state tax refund of $200, that's a more than 10% of her refund, and since I owe, its just plain money out of pocket. $25 pays for a nice dinner entre. I don't worry about tracking o...

10,000 steps every day.

On a grammatical note... bi-monthly means every two months. Twice a month would be semi-monthly.

I don't consider Warren Buffet to be an expert on personal finance for the average guy.

Outer Marker wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:58 pm I'm too cheap to do it. I think turbotax is missing their market. At, like, $9.95 I'm a buyer for the convenience, but $25 seems really excessive, especially as my signifcant other and I file separately.

I am happy to pay the extra money to Turbo Tax to get it over and done with. $25 is not excessive.