Search found 23 matches

by Blimpalot
Wed May 29, 2019 4:33 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Avoiding the echo chamber?
Replies: 22
Views: 2742

Re: Avoiding the echo chamber?

Before I learned how to drive a car, it seemed like an incredibly complex and difficult endeavor. So many things to know and try to remember! It took a little time, and then a little practice, and soon driving the car was pretty easy, and the basic rules of safe driving became like second nature: seatbelt on (always), eyes on the road, hands on the wheel, signal and look before changing lanes, leave plenty of room between me and the car ahead, slow down in rain or fog or snow, don't drive under the influence, avoid distractions, obey traffic laws. I'm now 51 years old. I've been driving for 35 years. Almost all of what I know about how to drive I learned decades ago. I don't feel like I need to learn a whole lot more about it. Following the...
by Blimpalot
Thu May 16, 2019 5:30 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Invest or Payoff Home
Replies: 38
Views: 3447

Re: Invest or Payoff Home

OP: Another option to consider. You could sell the house and invest the equity AND the money you have in savings, and find a place to rent for less than your mortgage payment. I made that move a few years ago and it was one of the best things I ever did, financially speaking. Now, of course, it depends a lot on your own situation. Could you rent for less than your mortgage payment in your area? Do you have substantial equity in the house? Is it a seller's market in your area? Do you like owning? Do you hate renting? Do you have kids and are pretty much tied to a certain school district? Stuff like that. Personally, I never lost any sleep when I had a mortgage; nor do I lose any sleep now that I am "homeless." I'm confident in my a...
by Blimpalot
Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: "Never time the market" vs. lump sum investment
Replies: 168
Views: 23719

Re: "Never time the market" vs. lump sum investment

Hi all, Just to update - despite all of the opinions against “timing” I did think, that market would drop (due to world politics situations) - meaning I did speculate, and I did time the market - in December 2018 I invested half of my sum and it’s currently up 16%. Although I do understand the sound logic of why it’s not a good idea, in these turbulent times I think that for big sums like mine it’s better to wait for a “crash” while the money is in the bank account and seize the opportunity when it’s there, than to invest it blindly - of course this is a guess, I’m aware of this, but I think/hope it’s an educated one :) my last (and first) investment certainly supports it. That's awesome. The S&P500 was at 2749.76 the day you made the ...
by Blimpalot
Wed Feb 13, 2019 12:16 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Why international?
Replies: 636
Views: 55617

Re: Why international?

I looked at your link and added gold to the matrix. Gold over the time range you selected (more than 20 years), has outperformed total international, with a much much lower correlation to US stocks (basically zero). Yet people hate on gold ... Gold, bad. Lowers ulcer index, raises SWR. International stock exposure, good. Raises ulcer index, lowers SWR. The thing is, in a 60/40 portfolio if you are going to diversify away from US stocks and bonds, the space has to come from somewhere. If I am in a mix of Total US and Total Non-US Stocks, am I not already invested in gold (through my holdings of stock in gold companies)? I don't see how buying gold adds to my diversification, though I understand why some might think it reasonable to add gold...
by Blimpalot
Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Two Choices for Emerging Market Fund: FPMAX vs VEMAX
Replies: 7
Views: 2440

Re: Two Choices for Emerging Market Fund: FPMAX vs VEMAX

MikeMak27 wrote: Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:12 am Fidelity merged all of its classes of index funds into one, the lowest cost institutional shares. Fpmax is now fpadx and it’s the exact same thing with a lower expense ratio. A true win win for all!
Thanks! I figured that was it, but also knew that someone here would know faster than I was able to find the answer from the great Google machine.
by Blimpalot
Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Two Choices for Emerging Market Fund: FPMAX vs VEMAX
Replies: 7
Views: 2440

Re: Two Choices for Emerging Market Fund: FPMAX vs VEMAX

Does anyone know what happened to FPMAX (Fidelity Emerging Markets index fund)? I hold shares of it in my 401(k) and I noticed a while back that the price as reflected on my iPhone's stock page was remaining steady at 9.79. I thought it was just a glitch in the stock tracker on my phone. I went to look up the price today and there is no such thing anymore. Apparently, all the shares I thought I had in FPMAX are now showing up in my 401(k) as FPADX. I did a quick Google search and could find nothing on the switch. A number of pages that come up when searching for FPMAX now give 404 error messages. Is FPADX basically the same fund, just a different class that I got put into without anyone telling me? If that were the case, I would think FPMAX...
by Blimpalot
Wed Dec 26, 2018 12:08 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why call them "losses" when you still own the shares?
Replies: 103
Views: 6558

Re: Why call them "losses" when you still own the shares?

Would you rather buy shares of company x at $10 or $50 if you have only $100 to invest? The former gets you 10 shares and the latter gets you only 2 shares. The goal of the accumulator is to simply buy as many shares as possible so they an sell it at some future date and generate (hopefully) money to live off when needed when their labor income goes to zero. The goal is NOT to look at their portfolio and go, "Wow I am rich now". That would be like stopping in the middle of a marathon and giving yourself a pat on the back. By this logic it seems we should all be 100% in penny stocks, since we can buy more shares of penny stocks per dollar invested than, say, Amazon or Google or Apple. But I think I will continue to buy the total s...
by Blimpalot
Wed Dec 19, 2018 5:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks in free fall
Replies: 36221
Views: 4652575

Re: U.S. stocks in free fall

Here's some perspective: when this massive thread started, on 8/8/11, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) was ~$60 per share. Today, the same VTI is at ~$128 per share. And that's just price (not including dividends along the way). VTSAX (Vanguard Total Stock Market Admiral Shares) was $27.89 on 8/8/11. It closed today at $62.40. So, yes, I suppose "Free fall" is relative. Of course, I paid $73.30 in September, so there's that. That's a 15% drop in three months. But most of what I own I bought for less than what it's at today, and I have a lot more shares than when this thread started (several thousand versus literally zero), I expect to have a lot more shares when it climbs back up above that $73.30 peak it hit in Septembe...
by Blimpalot
Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:21 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks in free fall
Replies: 36221
Views: 4652575

Re: U.S. stocks in freefall

Question please: with the US Stock Market in free fall I need an advice as I I am planning to liquidate what would be equivalent to $150,000 from my Vanguard portfolio as a downpayment to a new house. I built that Vanguard portfolio earlier this year and I paid for the stocks when they were in their peak price. I already lost quite a bit in the past few days. The portfolio is 80 ETFs and 20 bonds. Any recommendations on what would be the best strategy to sell, in order to suffer minimum possible loss. Should I sell bonds only or any other mix?? Thanks a lot. When you made your investments in stocks earlier this year did you know you were going to be needing to sell stock for a house purchase this year? If so, were you aware of the frequent...
by Blimpalot
Tue Aug 21, 2018 5:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Anybody Investing with 'Betterment'?
Replies: 37
Views: 9442

Re: Anybody Investing with 'Betterment'?

Got it. Thanks for the additional explanation.

I started out with Betterment as a noob investor--it was very easy to open an account and get the ball rolling. If I'd known then how easy it actually is to use Vanguard or Fidelity or Schwab, I'd have done that instead.
by Blimpalot
Tue Aug 21, 2018 1:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Anybody Investing with 'Betterment'?
Replies: 37
Views: 9442

Re: Anybody Investing with 'Betterment'?

6. Mr. Money Mustache's experiment comparing the results of similar portfolios at Vanguard and Betterment shows Betterment's performance lagging and getting worse: The Betterment Experiment MMM's experience at Betterment wasn't bad at all. Betterment is still a better solution for: 1) People who have no interest in investing, 2) People who think they can time the market, 3) People who think they can pick winning funds, 4) People who only buy VTI (100% stock) and think they can stomach a market crash only to find out that they can't take it and sell all of their portfolio at 40-60% bottom. Investing takes a lot of discipline, humility, and lack of emotion attached to your portfolio. That's why it's much easier to manage someone else's money...
by Blimpalot
Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Anybody Investing with 'Betterment'?
Replies: 37
Views: 9442

Re: Anybody Investing with 'Betterment'?

I opened a Betterment account in 2013 when I rolled over my 401(k) from my former employer into a traditional IRA. Pros: 1. It was very easy to open the account. As a newb at doing anything more than having money taken from my paycheck and put into my 401(k), it was less daunting then trying to open an account at a brokerage (or so I thought at the time) 2. The auto-rebalancing was attractive 3. The fees were low at the time I opened the account 4. They use primarily low-cost Vanguard index funds Cons: 1. I didn't have control over the specific funds they chose to invest in. As time went on and I began doing a lot of independent research on personal finance and investing, this became much more important to me 2. They have me invested in abo...
by Blimpalot
Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:05 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Advice on re-balancing efforts
Replies: 6
Views: 899

Re: Advice on re-balancing efforts

Thanks to everyone for the replies (to this and to my other post about doing my backdoor Roth). I appreciate the thoughtful responses. Food for thought. This forum is great.

On my allocation, I am aware of the recommendations based on age. I am comfortable with a 90/10 allocation for now, but will be adding bonds/fixed income and reducing stocks at defined points in accordance in with my IPS. I may start another thread at some point on my IPS and let the Bogleheads have a go at it. I feel like I have a decent handle on the issues, evidence, and arguments about asset allocation, but am less comfortable with the nuts and bolts logistics of getting things in the right places for maximizing tax efficiency.
by Blimpalot
Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Advice on re-balancing efforts
Replies: 6
Views: 899

Re: Advice on re-balancing efforts

Peter Foley wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:17 pm The easiest way to do this with your current holdings is to change your wife's Target Retirement account to an earlier date with a higher percentage of bond holdings.
Thanks. But I don't think that will quite work. The Target Date Fund she has in her IRA is only 4% of the total $144,000 in the fund right now, or about $6,000 (about 2% of our whole portfolio, if my math is right--it's been a long day). About 50% of that is bonds, I think, since it's a 2020 target date, so even if I just sold that and bought an all-bond fund, it wouldn't be enough alone to get my allocation to 10%.
by Blimpalot
Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Advice on re-balancing efforts
Replies: 6
Views: 899

Advice on re-balancing efforts

Under my IPS, I re-balance my investments twice a year. Recently, (with the help of the Bogleheads here: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=254669 ) I began the process of rolling out my pre-tax contributions and earnings from my Betterment tIRA and into my 401(k), leaving behind $17,496 of after-tax contributions in my tIRA, which I intend to transfer to Vanguard and convert to a new Roth IRA there. My Betterment account had about half of my portfolio's total bond holdings, so now my asset allocation, which was already a little under my 10% bond target, is about to be quite a bit out of whack if I use the $17,496 to buy equities. My initial thought was that I would just take the $17,496 and dump it all into VBTLX (Van...
by Blimpalot
Wed Aug 15, 2018 11:03 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Windfall proceeds - what to do?
Replies: 17
Views: 2471

Re: Windfall proceeds - what to do?

RRB214 wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:15 am I feel like the bull market has to come to an end,
I'm pretty sure you could do a search and find people saying the same thing in 2011. And 2013. And November 9, 2016. And January 2018. I mean, I'm not saying you're wrong or anything. Eventually, the music will stop and a correction will happen, and whoever was the last person to say "I feel like the bull market has come to an end" will then be able to say "See--I told ya so!" and then make money on their newsletter for a few years.
by Blimpalot
Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Moving from Vanguard to Fidelity
Replies: 64
Views: 17450

Re: Moving from Vanguard to Fidelity

cegibbs wrote: Mon Aug 13, 2018 7:38 am Also, if I moved some active funds from Fidelity to Vanguard I will save over $2,500 a year in expenses. My Fidelity rep said that is a meaningless amount of money to be concerned with
I think my response to that would have been something along the lines of "Ok, send me a check for $2500 and I'll stay. Surely, if it's a meaningless amount of money, Fidelity will have no problem sending it my way. Thanks!"
by Blimpalot
Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)
Replies: 10
Views: 919

Re: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)

Update (and a couple more questions): I have initiated the process of converting what I can from my traditional IRA at Betterment to a Roth at Vanguard. As an initial step, I had to contact my employer's 401(k) provider (Empower Retirement--they have been very helpful and responsive) to obtain a letter from them saying they would accept an incoming rollover. I had to provide that letter, along with a written letter from me asking and authorizing Betterment to release the pre-tax portion of my traditional IRA and leaving behind the $17,496 in after-tax contributions). I had to include Empower's letter, my own letter, and a copy of one of my Betterment statements in a letter that I had to mail via old-fashioned snail mail to Betterment. I'm n...
by Blimpalot
Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:30 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)
Replies: 10
Views: 919

Re: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)

Thanks for the head's-up about the 401(k) plan potentially not accepting a rollover from a tIRA to which I have made contributions. I've read my plan's description and it's not entirely clear (there is nothing expressly prohibiting it, but there is language indicating that the plan administrator can "adopt separate procedures limiting the type of rollover contributions it will accept. For example, the plan administrator may impose restrictions on the acceptance of after-tax contributions or Salary Deferrals (including Roth Deferrals) or may restrict rollovers from particular types of plans....Any procedures affecting the ability to make Rollover Contributions to the Plan will not be applied in a discriminatory manner." To my knowl...
by Blimpalot
Tue Jul 24, 2018 12:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)
Replies: 10
Views: 919

Re: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)

Follow-up questions: I'd like to get out of Betterment entirely. If I roll the ~$50K of pre-tax contributions and growth into the 401(k), I'd like to take the $17K in after-tax contributions I've made between 2015 and 2017 and put it into an IRA at Vanguard. I want to leave Betterment because I don't like how many different funds they use and my lack of control over choosing specific funds. Plus, my wife has an IRA at Vanguard and that's where we have out joint taxable account. I am interested in simplifying. Logistically, how do I accomplish this? Is there a specific order in which I need to do things? Should I open a new Vanguard account first and have Betterment directly roll over the $17K into that, and then have Betterment roll over th...
by Blimpalot
Mon Jul 23, 2018 9:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)
Replies: 10
Views: 919

Re: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)

Thanks for the quick and helpful reply.

Yes, I have filed an 8606 reporting each of the non-deductible contributions made for the last three tax years.
by Blimpalot
Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)
Replies: 10
Views: 919

Rolling over portion of tIRA to 401(k)

I'm 50 years old. I have a traditional IRA through Betterment that I opened in 2013 after leaving my former employer. At that time, I rolled over from my former employer's 401(k) approximately $31,000 (consisting of pre-tax contributions that had been deducted from my paycheck as well as all the earnings on those pre-tax contributions). I left the account alone for a few years and simply allowed Betterment to automatically reinvest all dividends. I've never taken any distributions from the account. In tax years 2016, 2017, and 2018 I made the maximum contributions. These were all after-tax contributions, as I have a 401(k) through my current employer (begun in 2015) and am a high earner (according to the IRS). These after-tax contributions ...
by Blimpalot
Thu Jul 19, 2018 6:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I'm about to inherit a single stock with a worth of just over 7 figures....
Replies: 103
Views: 11517

Re: I'm about to inherit a single stock with a worth of just over 7 figures....

A client asked me to review her portfolio a couple of months ago (she knows I am a Boglehead investor and understands what that means). She had about 9% of her portfolio in G.E. When I asked her why so much, she had been buying GE for 30+ years. Long story short, at one point it was over 1/3 of her portfolio. GE was the most valuable company in 2001 - by 2006 it was number 2, by 2011 it was out of the top 5 and now... Her FATHER got her into G.E. and encouraged her to buy more and more. She has sold about 1/2 of what she has left (so she is down to 5%). I would never allow any one equity to be more than 5/6% of my net worth. YMMV -- Yes. Heck, I even worry sometimes that my holdings in VTSAX are not diversified enough. I mean it sounds gre...