Bogleheads.org

+1 on the Van Gogh Museum, but reserve tickets online. When I visited several years ago, there was a huge line (which I'm sure there often is), so I pulled out my smartphone, got a ticket online, and walked right past the line.

I agree that for travel (especially overseas travel) you need to have more than one card, preferably a different network and a different issuing bank. Why bother trying to figure out who (the merchant, the payment processor, MasterCard, or the issuing bank) is at fault, when you can just use another card?

BTW YTD Vanguard's mid-cap index fund (VIMAX) is up 5.04%, a bit better than VTSAX at 4.4%. OP likely invested in an active fund that underperformed.

I have never seen this type of variance in the Mid-Cap fund from the other broader market indexes. What you describe is hardly much "variance" beween mid-cap and the total stock market, but if that's what's bothering you, why in the world are you invested in a mid-cap fund rather than total stock market? could this be why: https://i.postimg.cc/vBXKPJrP/total.jpg source: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&timePeriod=4&startYear=1985&firstMonth=1&endYear=2023&lastMonth=12&calendarAligned=true&includeYTD=false&initialAmount=10000&annualOperation=0&annualAdjustment=0&inflationAdjusted=true&annualPercentage=0.0&frequency=4&rebalanceType=1&absoluteDevia...

Taylor Larimore wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:06 pm Bogleheads:

The search for market-beating performance goes on forever--it seems so easy. Unfortunately, it usually results in disappointment.

Yep, fresh evidence here.

I have never seen this type of variance in the Mid-Cap fund from the other broader market indexes. What you describe is hardly much "variance" beween mid-cap and the total stock market, but if that's what's bothering you, why in the world are you invested in a mid-cap fund rather than total stock market? could this be why: https://i.postimg.cc/vBXKPJrP/total.jpg source: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&timePeriod=4&startYear=1985&firstMonth=1&endYear=2023&lastMonth=12&calendarAligned=true&includeYTD=false&initialAmount=10000&annualOperation=0&annualAdjustment=0&inflationAdjusted=true&annualPercentage=0.0&frequency=4&rebalanceType=1&absoluteDevia...

mhalley wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:25 pm Night time charging is better right now, but what happens when EVERYONE is charging their ev at night? Many places are having problems with their electric grids already.

A typical EV using L1 (110V) charging gains about 30-60 miles of charge overnight, more than enough for the average American driver. That EV draws about 1KW while charging - about the same as a couple of gaming PCs. Are you concerned that gaming PCs are going to bring down the power grid? And do you believe that the power grid will not need any upgrades, in the absence of EVs?

Add to that, there's other costs such as many EVs go through tires much faster I didn't know this. Why do EVs go through tires faster? They don't use the same type of tires that many passenger cars use because they are very heavy vehicles to begin with and thus the tires wear out faster. They also do more damage to a roadway vs. their ICE cousins. Amazing to me how easily de-bunked anti-EV talking points keep getting repeated. Weight of Tesla Model 3: about 3700 lbs, not much more than the almost identically dimensioned BMW 3 series, at about 3600 lbs. Weight of my 2020 Kia Niro EV: about 3800 lbs, again not much more than the same-size Mazda CX-30, at about 3500 lbs. Check your facts. Per this article Tesla vehicles weigh from 2723 to 539...

enviroian wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:27 am Thanks all. Good tips and will contact BOA today regarding a Merrill account.

If you're still banking by going into the branch or calling the 800 number, you're doing it wrong. You can set up a Merrill Edge account (the Edge part is key, you're going to get fleeced otherwise with Merrill Lynch) in less time than it takes to wade through their phone menus.

Lots of banks offering close to 4% now on "high-yield savings accounts," favorites here include Ally and Marcus by Goldman Sachs. FDIC insured. Ally also has a no-penalty CD at 4.75%.

enad wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:47 am

watchnerd wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:33 am

RobLyons wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:09 am Add to that, there's other costs such as many EVs go through tires much faster

I didn't know this.

Why do EVs go through tires faster?

They don't use the same type of tires that many passenger cars use because they are very heavy vehicles to begin with and thus the tires wear out faster. They also do more damage to a roadway vs. their ICE cousins.

Amazing to me how easily de-bunked anti-EV talking points keep getting repeated.

Weight of Tesla Model 3: about 3700 lbs, not much more than the almost identically dimensioned BMW 3 series, at about 3600 lbs.
Weight of my 2020 Kia Niro EV: about 3800 lbs, again not much more than the same-size Mazda CX-30, at about 3500 lbs.

Spindrift wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 7:12 am I have never seen this type of variance in the Mid-Cap fund from the other broader market indexes.

What you describe is hardly much "variance" beween mid-cap and the total stock market, but if that's what's bothering you, why in the world are you invested in a mid-cap fund rather than total stock market?

I think you need a better understanding of probability. Here's a very crash course: Let's say the risk of the US under-performing is 40% (0.4) and the combined risk of all other investable countries under-performing is 60% (0.6). To determine the total risk of under-performance for a globally diversified portfolio, multiply 0.4 and 0.6=0.24(24%). This is how probability works. We don't know the exact likelihood ahead of time, but the math is still generally valid. Even if ex-US countries are riskier on their own, global diversification, including the US, is less risky than the US on it's own. Again, this is just basic probability. No, the underlying assumption was probability was the same (in real life, it's not the same). If you believe t...

Sure, but diversification means you have multiple single-country risks amounting to the same single country risk is what other posters are saying. Believing otherwise is just fooling themselves. Why stop at countries though? Why not only invest in companies headquartered in a single city or state? By this logic, being invested in only companies headquartered in California is surely much less risky than being exposed to companies headquartered in California and New York My answer would be that as an American, New York is never going say, and never could say, that residents of California can’t trade the stocks of companies headquartered in New York (unless they are New Yorkers). Russia did say that about those from unfriendly countries. If C...

Thanks for sharing this. Is there anything one needs to do to link the IRA/brokerage account to the Premier checking? Reading the terms of the offer, it repeatedly refers to the "qualifying linked accounts" I'll likely just open the IRA myself, but wonder if I need to do anything via an advisor or banker to make sure it's properly recognized for the purposes of the offer Can't answer your question because I haven't opened the account yet. I was planning to do this in-branch and have the banker arrange/confirm the link after transferring to WellsTrade. Opened my Premier checking this morning and the banker said she's had quite a few folks doing this offer the past week. Very smooth process as I've had previous personal accounts at...

Knowing a little more about why you don't like it could help us. Is the home you are living in distressed or undesirable to others? Such as has foundation problems, backs onto an 8 lane highway, under the ATL or ORD runway? Does it need modernizing? Neighborhood not well kept? Commute too long? Too far from family? Etc. Etc. Basically, is the house just undesirable to YOU or will it be hard to sell or only will be sold at a price that reflects issues? These factors could influence how you sell it. Another factor could be if you think you will need to sell it for less than you paid (because it is distressed or undesirable to others). That's a tough one, and in that case I would recommend using a realtor because getting over the hurdle of ha...

There are also Treasury notes with longer maturity periods of up to 10 years, and Treasury bonds go up to 30 years.

Generally, the advantage of treasuries is 1) exemption from state income tax; and 2) greater liquidity than brokered CDs.

Probably from all the threads asking "Is it safe to keep money at [X financial institution]?"

joechristmas wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:09 pm Previous experience with realtors was poor. While they did take the time to facilitate showings, the showings aren't very helpful, and we wound up somewhere that was not a good fit for us. I just don't think the commission was earned.

That's not much detail, but it really doesn't sound like that's on the realtor. These days, you have a huge amount of information at your fingertips about neighborhoods, schools, etc. If you wound up in the wrong area, that's largely on you. That's all water under the bridge, but you need to go into the upcoming transactions with the right expectations.

So I did 3 transfers to Public for myself and family members, they were great about posting the (very generous) bonuses. However, a couple of months later, I set up accounts on Apex to view cost basis data - and it only transferred for some of the positions in one account; the other two accounts had no data transferred over - everything shows as 100% gains! I've messaged Public and am waiting to hear, but did others have experience with getting the information corrected? Will I need statements from the previous brokerage? Yes you likely need previous statements. I had luck getting my cost basis corrected, then it went bad, and they corrected it again. I have *not* had success getting my 1099 corrected (yet, and it's been about 3 weeks sinc...

I am a Costco member so that's where I spent. Of course, those spendings don't count toward the 5% category. In that case, move 100K in ETFs to Merrill Edge to qualify for BoA Premium Rewards Platinum Honors status, which will get you 5.25% on their Custom Cash Rewards card. That's limited to $2K of spend per quarter on a category of your choice, one of the choices being online shopping. Buy Costco shop cards on their website (for the 5.25% cash back) and use in store. If you use the CCR card directly at Costco warehouses, it's 3.5% instead. For the Chase card for this quarter, you could buy gift cards at grocery stores, e.g., most carry Amazon gift cards and there are lots of others. But with interest rates where they are, only buy what y...

Ben Felix wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:29 pm

brad.clarkston wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 3:28 pm [Inappropriate comment remoived. Moderator Pops1860]


He's right but didn't make a compelling anything.

I don't really like to hear my voice, but thanks for the feedback otherwise.

I for one do like to hear your and Cameron's voices, and more importantly, your thoughts! The best podcast on personal finance, IMHO.

KlangFool wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:14 pm OP,

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/interna ... -exclusion

Why aim so low? Why can't you live outside of the USA for 330 days and qualify for foreign earned income exclusion?

In summary, saving 20+K per year of taxes is nothing compared to your income and annual savings. If you really want to save a lot of taxes, live outside of the USA.

KlangFool

The FEIE only saves a max of about $15K in federal income tax, because it's calculated on the first $110K or so of income, it doesn't come off the top, so to speak.

So I did 3 transfers to Public for myself and family members, they were great about posting the (very generous) bonuses. However, a couple of months later, I set up accounts on Apex to view cost basis data - and it only transferred for some of the positions in one account; the other two accounts had no data transferred over - everything shows as 100% gains!

I've messaged Public and am waiting to hear, but did others have experience with getting the information corrected? Will I need statements from the previous brokerage?

cbox wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:47 am I noticed that Capital One no longer offers the 11-month 5% CD. So perhaps you're right: act now if you want to lock in a rate that you think is attractive.

That's not an indication that rates are falling. Banks offer CDs based on their funding needs, and also Capital One (being sneaky) offers one-off CDs that will renew into much less competitive rates.

Brokered CDs often (but not always) have better rates. They also have the advantage that you can easily find the best rates and stay under FDIC limits with multiple issuers, all without having to set up accounts at multiple institutions. The big disadvantage with brokered CDs is that you can't pay an early withdrawal penalty to get out, and the secondary market for them isn't as liquid as for say treasuries. When you get it from the bank directly the interest invests into the amount you deposit, but not with the brokered CD. The interest simply gets applied to one’s original deposit and the coupon payments get placed outside of the CD. Not sure what you mean in the bold portion - aren't the interest and coupon payments the same thing?

cmc89585 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:15 am

Johm221122 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:12 am Cashed is referring to paper I bonds and on Treasury Direct you will not get paper I bonds. Your account will be all online at Treasury Direct

I should have clarified that I never said anything about cashing bonds when I talked to them on the phone - I was explaining about how I would simply link my account to US Treasury Direct and they said no, they can't allow that. It just seems impossible that would be true if everyone else on Bogleheads is not running into this issue.

They could've misunderstood or simply been poorly informed. Just do the ACH link, 99.9% chance it will work just fine.

#1 - JPMorgan Chase is offering a 3% right now. #2 - Bank of America is offering a 4% right now. #3 - Citigroup has a 9m 4.30% & a 12m 4.15% right now. #4 - Wellsfargo 4.00% right now. #5 - USBank 4.35% right now. So it's not that they do not have CD's on the market your just not liking the rate ? I'd even look at Discover's 4.5% 12m CD that's a very good lender. OP is looking for brokered CDs. Those often have significantly better rates than CDs offered directly by banks. But they are gone! No more JP Morgan, Wells or Morgan Stanley CDs avaiable, at least on tdameritrade. At E*Trade (owned by MS), I'm still seeing lots of Schwab, Morgan Stanley, American Express, Ally, and other big bank new-issue CDs. Maybe there's been a tendency to...

Right. I wasn't sure, and I don't think that chart (which is indeed *very* handy!) addresses what if there is less than the amount contributed, whether there is some sort of attempt to prorate earnings based upon holdings. Nope, I don't know how that would be done; I wanted to be sure OP didn't unexpectedly end up with a problem IF there were some sort of adjustment needed. That really is a terrific chart! :happy RM It’s impossible to have earnings if your losses result in a balance less than the contributions. That’s called a loss. Your theoretical isn’t possible. Cheers If there *had* been earnings... might there have been some need to pro-rate... Then the losses would have been from the combo. That's all. As I wrote, I had no idea how t...

oxothuk wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:54 pm

thedaybeforetoday wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:44 pm FYI: electric cars don't have catalytic converters....

Just wait til thieves figure out how to steal EV batteries.

Thieves are looking for something that they can remove quickly and take easily with them. An EV battery is definitely not that.

livesoft wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:59 amYes. LOL!

Anyone know what's going on with VIOV (Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF)? Its NAV dropped by about half at open. That doesn't seem right even if there's an upcoming distribution. The NAV of Vanguard's other small-cap value ETF, VBR, is about where it was yesterday. IJS, which I believe is iShares' equivalent to VIOV, is also about the same as yesterday.

ETA: Mystery solved, they are doing a 2:1 split.

dukeblue219 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 2:41 pm The catch is that they'll want you to prepay with a prepaid Visa, Apple gift card, gas card, or whatever else.

It's a scam.

The easy way to tell is that they called you.

The other easy way to tell is that Comcast is purportedly trying to lower your bill!

EverHopeful wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 12:41 pm We received a "We will buy your car even if you don't trade or buy from us" from the Hyundai dealer good thru March 31.

Those offers are often bogus - they'll offer say $10K and when you go in they'll low-ball you with $7K. You're almost guaranteed to get a better offer from online dealers like Carvana and Vroom (or CarMax locally), all of which are much more transparent.

EverHopeful wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 12:41 pm Neither car has back up cameras, lane warning etc. which is totally fine and avoids expensive repairs.

There's a reason backup cameras became required by law starting in 2018. Expensive repairs? They are very reliable.

Kenkat wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 8:45 am Money in a brokerage account, while not covered by FDIC, is also not directly held by the bank ...

I don't know about First Republic but at many brokerages, uninvested cash is (or at least can be) FDIC insured.

Seem to me the easy way to get better yield AND the full faith and credit of the U.S. government is to just buy treasuries.

Brokerage accounts are covered by SIPC, but that's very different from FDIC protection and you should read up on that.

As for the bank deposits, they are only covered for $250K per person, per type of account. FDIC website has the details. I would not leave close to $3M at a single bank.

The bigger issue is that they're almost certainly getting fleeced on fees - to the tune of 5 figures every year - on the money under "management," when a simple 3-fund portfolio would serve them just fine at basically zero cost.

tashnewbie wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 12:13 pm I do think she should document all of the potentially illegal activities she has observed.

+1. Without getting into legal advice, I think it's very good idea in these situations to follow up meetings with something like, "As I understand it, we discussed X and you directed me to do Y." If your wife think something is illegal or otherwise problematic, put it down in writing. Print hard copies of these emails and save them.

Weird timing, but I literally just tested the Lowe's gift card and BoA online category two days ago. The points posted today. When you purchase a Lowe's gift card at Lowes.com, it turns out that the actual purchase is made through a 3rd party vendor called "buyatab". The transaction does not post as being bought from Lowe's. The Buyatab purchase is coded as "online" which is what you want obviously. However, the Buyatab merchant description is "POI Funding Transactions" which is on the BoA online exclusion list. So, no online category bonus points. My experience was for the Lowe's gift card - not a direct purchase of a Lowe's product through lowes.com. Perhaps there is a better way to buy a Lowe's gift card th...

elforeign wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:00 pm I want to buy a house because i'm tired of throwing my money away renting paying someone else's mortgage.

Something we hear all the time ... and utterly incorrect. Housing is an expense like anything else, and renting and buying are different ways of paying for it. There are pros and cons to each, but you're not "throwing money away" in rent, any more than interest payments (ETA: plus property tax, homeowner insurance, maintenance, repairs, and possible depreciation) on a house are "throwing money away."

(I didn’t mention it, since I wanted to keep the question as focused as possible, but in addition to the FERS pension, I have several other inflation-protected pensions (military, VA disability, spouse/state). By delaying SS benefits to at least 67 or so, my SS+pension net income will actually exceed my current net income. So I’ll be in good shape even if I run out of bridge money prematurely. But I prefer to delay as long as possible to provide my spouse with the largest survivor benefit). You should probably defer SS to age 70. Also, given that your retirement income could put you into a higher tax bracket, consider Roth conversions to the top of your current bracket, particularly as current tax rates are set to revert in a few years to ...

I don't see the sense in paying more for a used Long Range when, as you state, you have garage charging and will keep a ICE vehicle for road trips. The base RWD model is $43K new, with 272 miles of range (plenty even for road trips), and qualifies for a $7500 federal tax credit (although you may need to take delivery from inventory to be sure of getting in before the new battery component rules come out, at which point the credit will likely be halved for the Model 3). who is going to buy an EV with 90k miles that will need an expensive battery replacement? No one, because EVs don't need battery replacements at 90K miles, in spite of much FUD in certain media outlets. Plenty of EVs get to 200K miles just fine with relatively little degradat...

You're not leaving money on the table unless you live past the breakeven year, as you know. Otherwise, it's designed to give you approximately the same total dollars over the years, whether you collect at 62 or 70. People who claim at 62 are probably more likely to really need the money more than someone who can afford to wait, so they have no regrets because there wasn't any alternative! There are so many individual factors, it's hard to say. Waiting until 70 is a luxury that many don't have. You'd have to find someone who could afford to wait but didn't, and then was sorry when he reached 70 and wished he had a better benefit. The people who wait until 70 because it provides a higher survivor benefit likely did not save enough money to c...

123 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 5:43 pm If you're going there for something other than an FDIC insured account banks can be very financially dangerous places.

That is very true. Similarly, one should pretty much never go to an insurance company for anything other than insurance.

I wonder if the aura of security around FDIC-insured banks and insurance companies (who after all sell the sense of security, in a way) is actually part of the reason why they sell such terrible financial products. They know they can get away with it because people associate their core businesses with a sense of security.

02nz: great information, what are you thoughts on an Amazon renewed computer that is shipped from Amazon with 90 warranty? Is is any different than a new one shipped by Amazon with same warranty. HP ProBook 445 G8 14" Laptop Ryzen 5 5600U (6-Core) 16GB RAM 512GB SSD FHD (1920x1080) WiFi AX Win 10 Pro ( Renewed ) - $499- 5% coupon. This one has better stuff than the one I was looking at below...even 2nd digit A little more than the new I was looking at- New HP 14 Laptop, AMD Ryzen 5 5500U, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD Storage, 14-inch Full HD Display, Windows 11 Home, Thin & Portable, Micro-edge & Anti-glare Screen, Long Battery Life (14-fq1025nr, 2021) $428. It has the odd 2nd digit. Thank you everyone for you feedback! I've had a cou...

PC laptops are largely commodity products - there's not one manufacturer that's clearly better at any given price. I would consider Dell's Inspiron 5000 series and Lenovo IdeaPad 5 as two good values among midrange consumer laptops. On the enterprise side, there's Dell Latitude, HP EliteBook, and Lenovo ThinkPad. These are engineered to a higher standard but will also cost more, except for some occasional deals. I'm typing this on a Lenovo ThinkBook (not ThinkPad) 14p , which I like a lot; the ThinkBook range straddles the line between consumer and business. I strongly recommend looking for a laptop with AMD Ryzen 5000 or 6000 series processor, rather than anything from Intel. Intel's laptop processors run much hotter than AMD's, with worse...

From the OP: The above locations on average are more advanced than the United States in almost every way. Please explain this. Last I checked we both have color TV. Generally I would take issue with anyone saying another country is more advanced than the US. But in the case of payment processing, most of the world is far more advanced. Any country that brings a credit card reader to your restaurant table, instead of walking away with your credit card, is superior. I hate giving my card to a waiter. Aside from the process taking forever when I’m in a hurry, it also gives them opportunity to steal my card info. And using chip+pin instead of chip+signature is definitely superior. I always grimace when a European clerk has to search for a pen ...

runninginvestor wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 7:20 am Your choice. I suspect most people pay upon redemption so that they don't have to keep track of the accrued tax payments.

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings- ... st--632579

And also because for most people, deferring taxes to withdrawal makes financial sense, esp. if they will be withdrawing in retirement, when taxes are lower for most people. In tax treatment, the I Bond works basically like a nondeductible traditional IRA.

strummer6969 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 11:29 pm Or the fact that they charge on the power grid which is mostly run on fossil fuels.

This is one of the most tired anti-EV talking points. The energy mix is changing, and renewables have been going up, meaning an EV put into service today will become greener (in terms of CO2 emissions) over its lifetime. The EU is already at under 50% fossil fuels for electricity generation. The US is at about 60% fossil fuels (as of 2021), vs about 70% a decade ago, with coal (more CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced) way down. (As others have already noted, there's also a lot of regional variance.)

nura wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 9:56 am Are there any 3-row crossovers that have second rows that can be folded flat or removed entirely, the objective to camp or carry cargo in second row while having passengers in the third.

How could you camp in the second row with the third row up? Even if a crossover offered this feature, it's not wide enough for an adult to fit sideways (typical interior width is around 55 inches). You'd have to have both rows down, with a flat surface for sleeping along length of the car. Here's an example of a Tesla Model Y in "camp mode": https://www.andreaference.com/blog/tesl ... la-model-y.

511east wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 9:58 am So if there is a 90k difference between the asking and the zillow numbers, is the seller correct or is zillow?

There's no "correct" price. The market price is what someone is willing to pay for it.