Bogleheads.org

jsprag

So look at the chart that jsprag posted. That's a "box-and-whisker" plot, where the central values (medians or means) are horizontal lines, and the boxes contain some reasonable amount of the data. So the boxes are confidence intervals (maybe including 50% of the data - it's common to plo...

jsprag

I'll second the answer of "invest it when you have it". With respect to Jeremy Siegel, I think that: (a) The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a terrible index to represent the market (b) Even if the observation was actionable in 2012 for timing purchases, there's no certainty that it remain...

jsprag

Who uses 7% for which calculations??? We can make a lot of money off of those who naively make such assumptions. Every government pension does. Unfortunately, I don't think you can make money from them - in fact, they will take your money through tax if they don't make these returns. https://www.na...

jsprag

So what do you need a robo for? It would be to see what advice it gave me in terms of fund choices and balancing, given my risk preferences. I don't want it to make trades for me. Yes, I could do this myself, and if decided to do, say, a n fund (n < 5 or whatever) strategy, then I don't really need...

jsprag

You turn 50 on the day before your birthday, which matters for people born January 1, I think. Anyway, yes you can start the catch up in January of the year you turn 50. Wait, what?!! Are you saying that if your birthday is 1/1/1971, you could have started your catch-up last year? You must have had...

jsprag

[...] The very specific question posed by an_asker is if someone who had their 50th birthday on Jan 1, 2021 can make catch-up contributions in tax year 2020. [...] My question was specifically to ThisTimeItsDifferent. Did you read what he/she had written? Yes, but then I got sloppy. You turn 50 on ...

jsprag

I always hear 7% being used as the de facto rate in calculations. Who uses 7% for which calculations??? We can make a lot of money off of those who naively make such assumptions. Every government pension does. Unfortunately, I don't think you can make money from them - in fact, they will take your ...

jsprag

You must have had your 50th or higher birthday within the taxable year to be “catch-up eligible”. Reference: Treas. Reg. 1.414(v)-1(g)(3) The Vanguard App will include the Catch-up addition as a maximum contribution for IRA, if the op is 50 this year, then the option is available, the amount is $70...

jsprag

You turn 50 on the day before your birthday, which matters for people born January 1, I think. Anyway, yes you can start the catch up in January of the year you turn 50. Wait, what?!! Are you saying that if your birthday is 1/1/1971, you could have started your catch-up last year? You must have had...

jsprag

The Social Security Administration Acturial Life Table might answer your question.

jsprag

There is a trivial amount of REITs and it is now much easier to find out than it used to be, because in 2017 REITs became a GICS "headline sector," called simply "real estate." REITs are stocks, and the only "real estate" found in index funds are REITs. (REITs which re...

jsprag

Simbilis wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 1:29 pm
jsprag wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:31 am Script updated to reflect 1 July changes to TSP funds:
- Remove L 2020 fund
- Add L 2060 fund
- Add L 20x5 funds
Courtesy of jsprag, the new funds are now in the csv file. I'm running his code now. Except I'm Simbilis, not Simbills .

Fixed!

jsprag

I've been a long time user of the script, but I'm trying to update it to Python 3 now that Python 2 is deprecated. Running into an issue, so I figured I'd check here to see if maybe Simbilis had already updated to Python 3. I am a complete new to Python user, so it's bee interesting. See if this wo...

jsprag

You’re not missing anything with VTMNX + VEMIX.

See this chart from Vanguard.

Note following mutual fund to ETF equivalencies:
VTMNX => VEA
VEMIX => VWO
VFSAX => VSS

jsprag

1. I’m assuming she can offset the gain with her loss in next year’s taxes. She’s held both for years. I'm sure you meant "the taxes for this year that she will file next year", but let's be more specific: if the loss and gain are realized in 2020 then one will offset the other in her tax...

jsprag

You are using today's market weights to calculate initial share purchases. Try finding and using Jan 2017 market weights to determine the number of shares you would have bought then (and thus own today). As an example, assume the market consists entirely of two companies, A and B and you have $100 t...

jsprag

I'd use the FTSE Global All-Cap Index (GEIS), which is the index used by Vanguard Total World (VT) From the latest FTSE monthly fact sheet the U.S. accounts for 55.19% of the total world market. You could then use the Developed ex-US monthly fact sheet to learn which 24 countries are considered deve...

jsprag

Within a given universe of stocks, the aggregate of active funds and the aggregate of passive funds will have the exact same return, before costs and fees. After costs and fees, the average passive fund, because of its lower expenses, must necessarily outperform the average active fund. This formul...

jsprag

Active sometimes beats passive, even after fees. It happens—for years at a time in some cases. The challenge for the active fund manager(s) is consistently beating their benchmark index by enough to offset the generally higher fees for active management. This is hard. The challenge for the investor ...

jsprag

Other threads talk about getting a new word processor and spreadsheet with the loss of Microsoft Support later this year. Will the word processor and spreadsheet become useless when the support is pulled? Thanks for the help. Can you link to these other threads so we have context for your question?...

jsprag

I've been a long time user of the script, but I'm trying to update it to Python 3 now that Python 2 is deprecated. Running into an issue, so I figured I'd check here to see if maybe Simbilis had already updated to Python 3. I am a complete new to Python user, so it's bee interesting. See if this wo...

jsprag

It appears that regret is the difference between the outcome I got and the outcome that was (in hindsight) the optimal one. That's a very natural assumption due to the maddeningly counterintuitive name. It's a tool to make a current decision, not to assess a past decision. Suppose we break down the...

jsprag

I don't have an emergency fund - I have a plan to fund emergencies. It includes a combination of current bank balances, brief credit card balances, and taxable investment accounts. To date, I've never had an emergency that required liquidating taxable investments (but I have exceptional medical care...

jsprag

I don't think people are trying to avoid "under-performance". That's minimal regret. They are trying to avoid catastrophic losses, which is maximum regret. This is spot-on. In a behavioral or emotional sense, maybe. In decision analysis "maximum regret" has a rigorous definition...

jsprag

I don't really seem to understand the concept of regret minimization. My investing approach is to calculate the portfolio allocation that gives the highest utility. Let's assume for a second that I arrived at an asset allocation of 100/0. It just so happens that 10 years later, this portfolio alloc...

jsprag

I'll add one more: to whom you were born There's plenty of evidence indicating that the best environmental predictor of economic status and financial security as an adult is...the economic status and financial security of your parents when you were a child. Access to education, learned financial ha...

jsprag

I'll add one more: to whom you were born There's plenty of evidence indicating that the best environmental predictor of economic status and financial security as an adult is...the economic status and financial security of your parents when you were a child. Access to education, learned financial hab...

jsprag

I think you’re overthinking it. Determine what asset allocation you are comfortable with and find the closest Target Retirement or LifeStrategy, and put it all in that fund. Reevaluate every few years and adjust as necessary. To relate to your proposed arrangement, consider putting 1/4 of your portf...

jsprag

Congratulations on the raise! My quick thoughts: - Pay off any consumer debt. - Max 401k - Open 529 accounts for children - Contribute to HSA if available and appropriate for family needs - Once tax-advantaged space is exhausted then open and invest in a taxable brokerage account Nothing wrong with ...

jsprag

In absolute terms: 1. College (most expensive) 2. High school 3. Diaper and daycare years 4. After daycare, before high school (least expensive) Generally more expensive with age. But our income growth easily outpaced the rising costs of having a family. Net disposable income in the high school and ...

jsprag

Curious to hear what other Bogleheads happily pay to get exposure to non 3-fund approved funds? My highest is 0.93%, but I don't happily pay it. I begrudgingly pay it to EJ because it's an IRA my wife inherited. The EJ financial advisor was truly amazing for my late MIL and more than earned her fee...

jsprag

Is it worthwhile to contribute to 401k without match In general it's only worthwhile if (a) you place a high value on the flexibility and freedom of a taxable account, or (b) you assume that future marginal tax rates are significantly higher and/or long term cap gains rates are significantly lower ...

jsprag

REITs were a disaster during the financial crisis. Total Stock may have dropped 40% - 50% (I don't recall the specifics) but REITs dropped 75% (or more possibly) providing no additional diversification. That’s true, but we can pick another starting point that tells a very different story . $10,000 ...

jsprag

Have you considered using the ticker symbols (added in blue) for the indices? Essentially I'm trying to compare historical returns for hypothetical portfolios with no fees or tracking error: Portfolio 1 (Note there should be no re-balancing and the starting percentages vary slightly based on purchas...

jsprag

Difficult to check your work when calculations are not included in the sheet; I am seeing hard-coded values. Agreed. Mostly gave up trying to audit when I found too many values that weren't (or couldn't be) explained. Please check my work In cell G31: =SUM(G28:G30)*(1-B24)^30 Why does formula refer...

jsprag

I don't think direct indexing would be helpful for my case because I was just thinking of using Wealthfront to get ideas on investing. Wealthfront is pretty open about their methodology and allocation based on "risk score". Some examples here or a ton of articles here . You might also be ...

jsprag

Bogleheads: Morningstar has published a study of 22 mutual fund companies. Vanguard tops the list: I see Vanguard in second place having received an overall rating of 3.85, behind Dodge & Cox with a 4.00. Whether an individual investor can objectively differentiate between any of the top firms ...

jsprag

Weird that Schwab isn’t mentioned. Does this mean they’re bad...or something about them precludes them from being rated? I wonder if for some reason they just didn't meet the criteria for inclusion. Like maybe they don't manage as many mutual funds? No idea though. Author made a choice to leave out...

jsprag

Cheez-It Guy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 7:12 pm Early Financial Independence Retire Early.

Which begs the question: Can there be a late FIRE (L-FIRE)? Or do the L and E cancel out and become FIR?

jsprag

Bogleheads: Morningstar has published a study of 22 mutual fund companies. Vanguard tops the list: I see Vanguard in second place having received an overall rating of 3.85, behind Dodge & Cox with a 4.00. Whether an individual investor can objectively differentiate between any of the top firms ...

jsprag

I'm a fairly new federal employee and I'm looking for a good resource to understand the ins and outs of the federal Thrift Savings Plan, or TSP. The Bogleheads TSP Wiki has some great information (https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Thrift_Savings_Plan), but I'm seeking more. There are a lot of rules a...

jsprag

If you don't mind sharing, what are some of your other favorite forums? WhiteCoatInvestor forum Cadillac forum Nasty Z28 forum MX-5 Miata forum [sarcasm]As you can tell, I have a wide variety of interests...[/sarcasm] Although I haven't been much on the car forums lately. I've been on quite the fin...

jsprag

She is willing to rent/buy along with one of her friends but obviously has no savings right now so most of it will have to go on the mortgage. "Buy a first home with a friend" is one of the classic blunders 1 Rent for a year. This allows her to: Build capital Become familiar with city and...

jsprag

Agreed! I'm in the fortunate position of also not being subject to host country taxes, so on the far side of the confusion and complexity there is some great opportunity. Not subject because of the particular country or because of employer tax-equalization? It's the tax-equalization, which gets US_...

jsprag

Emergency fund. Finish getting the match. Roth IRA. OP: retiredjg is right on target based on the information you presented. If you have consumer debt (credit cards, personal loans, etc...) that you haven't mentioned, then I'd supplement his advice with: Emergency fund. Pay off consumer debt. Finis...

jsprag

Cubicle wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:42 am I'm a geek who enjoys finance. This forum (one of multiple) feeds me knowledge about finance, & other stuff as well.

If you don't mind sharing, what are some of your other favorite forums?

jsprag

I recently began working overseas for US employer and have been struggling to find definitive answers to many of the same questions. I'm far from an expert, but from what I've been able to learn... Am I making a big mistake contributing to this traditional 401K? It might not have been optimal, but p...

jsprag

The final, definitive, canonical, unassailable, unanimous, and irrefutable answer to the question of “How much international?” could appear any day now.

You wouldn’t want to miss that.

jsprag

I discarded the concept of an emergency fund years ago in favor of a plan to fund emergencies.

I get paid monthly and keep 1.2 x upcoming month expenses in cash. The remainder is transferred to brokerage and invested according to my AA.

jsprag

Per this Vanguard page, the S&P 500 is about 82% of US market cap.

Anything around 80% will be close enough.

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