Bogleheads.org

sycamore wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 9:46 pm In-kind transfers are allowed for IRAs as well as taxable accounts. I've done it several times with various brokerages including Merrill Edge.

sfmurph, have you had a problem doing in-kind transfers with an iRA? Maybe you're thinking of a 401k or 403b, where it's rather unusual to do in-kind rollover to an IRA (or another 40x plan) -- like because the 40x plan only allows for funds with institutional share class that can't be held in an IRA.

Ah yes. You're right. I was thinking of 401(k).

virginiabirdie wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:53 pm My plan is to do a partial transfer of 250k from a Traditional IRA at Vanguard. I want to check and make sure I didn't miss anything.

1. My understanding is that I can move funds "in kind"--does that sound right?  I currently hold a bunch of Vanguard bond funds, including some admiral shares, in an IRA. (VAIPX, VBTLX, VFIDX, VFSUX). 

I don't think you can do an "in-kind" transfer on an IRA. I believe you have to sell, move cash, then re-buy. There's no tax implication of this. But, you won't be able to buy those funds at Merrill.

SeattleLaw wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 7:41 am 3. Any brands I am missing? (and no, I really do not want a Toyota, Honda, Kia or Hyundai ). Looked at Audi, but the newer ones that are made in Mexico have pretty low reliability scores.

Check out Mazda. The CX-5 and CX-30 are good sized. Built in Japan, fun to drive, and great road noise insulation. I've had like 4 in a row now, and I really like how they handle. AWD, too.

JoMoney wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 10:52 am

sfmurph wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 10:44 am... If taxes were the same between repurchases and dividends, there would be no impact on the public or the country, but the tax rates are lower for repurchases...

The shareholder's taxes on qualified dividend or long-term capital gain (if they sold the repurchased shares) are the same. The difference is that a dividend forces the distribution and that tax in the current year, whereas the capital gain can be deferred until they sell the stock. Being able to defer the taxes doesn't make them lower.

And if the capital gain is deferred until the death of the owner, the step-up basis makes that tax avoided entirely.

Gains from value-accretive repurchases, it should be emphasized, benefit all owners – in every respect. Imagine, if you will, three fully-informed shareholders of a local auto dealership, one of whom manages the business. Imagine, further, that one of the passive owners wishes to sell his interest back to the company at a price attractive to the two continuing shareholders. When completed, has this transaction harmed anyone? Is the manager somehow favored over the continuing passive owners? Has the public been hurt? When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not...

Go to a puppet show in the Théâtre des Marionnettes du jardin du Luxembourg. Even w/ a language barrier, it will be fun.

In addition to using the metro, try a city bus too. Seeing where you're going is great.

Those are fine (if expensive) choices. Maybe recommend that he talk w/ Fidelity and Schwab to get a second opinion.

I am currently allocated +/- 95% Stocks/ 5% Gold (physical ETF) I would like to slowly turn this into a 75% Stocks/ 20% Bonds/ 5% gold portfolio (periodically investing my salary) I don't know that much about bonds but I would prefer bond ETF's over individual bonds. This is a good plan. I have no idea what bond-ETF's to pick which are available for Europeans? Take a look at https://www.justetf.com/ . It's a Europe-focused ETF screening site. Would a a 50/50 bond-split of ITPS/AGGH make sense? Total portfolio would look something like 75% VWCE (Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF USD Acc) 10% ITPS (iShares $ TIPS UCITS ETF USD (Acc)) 10% AGGH (iShares Core Gl Aggregate Bd UCITS ETF EUR Hgd Acc) 5% SGLN (Ishares Physical Gold ETC) The percent...

arengarajsug88 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 3:51 pm I have too many different funds in my 401k, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA, Taxable brokerage, etc., and need help in consolidating these funds.

I think that you should start by consolidating your accounts. It sounds like you have 3 401(k) accounts and at least one IRA (not including the Roth). If your current Fidelity 401(k) has access to some low-cost funds that you like (and I imagine it does), I'd recommend moving all the funds from the two old 401(k)s plus any non-Roth IRA into your current Fidelity 401(k). This will simplify with no real cost, and emptying the regular IRA will give you the flexibility to do a backdoor Roth conversion, should you so choose.

Then you can pick the funds afterwards.

Journeyman510 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 5:56 pm It's all about probabilities. Is the probability that a Stanford grad eventually makes 1m the same as a high school graduate? I think the answer is no. There is no debate to be had.

I don’t think that’s the right comparison though. I think it’s this: for a student who is accepted to Stanford, what’s the probability of making $1M a year by going to Stanford, Cal, or Santa Clara? Cal is cheaper, and Santa Clara would give great merit money for that kind of student. Is Stanford worth it for that type of student?

Hi Bogleheads, My wife and I have been fortunate to amass $100,000 in savings - $60,000 in high yield savings, $12,000 in Chase savings and $30,000 in Vanguard taxable account. I’m most interested in how we make this money work best for us? On the surface, it seems like a lot of cash to just have sitting around, so I’m looking for where is the money best utilized? $60,000 is equal to one year of EF expenses for us. We still owe $320,000 on our mortgage (home valued at $465,000) and we are only 2.5 years into the mortgage. We have no other debt. I max my 401K, my wife is close to maxing hers, and we contribute $250/mo to our 3 y.o. child’s 529 (approx $25,000 balance). Help us with how we best move forward? 1. Throw some of this money at th...

It depends.

Some companies (and most closed-end funds) have a "fund-sponsored" dividend reinvestment program (DRIP). These can offer a discount or immediate reinvestment. You have to be a "registered owner" of the shares, and this is not supported by all brokerages. Fidelity makes it easy and automatic. Others require a phone call. Others (e*trade and Interactive Brokers) don't support this at all.

What can be confusing is that lots of brokers have a program that they also call "DRIP" that will buy shares on the open market for you. These never have any favorable terms, and can't always purchase fractional shares.

Dividend.com has a good intro article on DRIPs.

Schwab has an international thing: https://international.schwab.com. I'd recommend a phone call there.

parval wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 3:03 pm Can I verify this trade with yall?

If I hit transmit here, I'd get $485.38 cash credit and owe $500 on 2024/12/19, is that right?

You missed the multiplier. You'd get $48,538 cash credit and owe $50,000 on 2024/12/19.

BogleMelon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:26 pm US Mobile is a decent choice

US Mobile would be a terrible choice for OP. They don't support Apple Watch cellular, and don't have the ability to call to international numbers. It does have the ability to call US numbers when out of the country though.

Take a look at the Reddit group /r/NoContract. There's a pinned post that has a filterable database of US providers.

The risk adjusted returns of LTT are terrible. This is a terrible idea and this thread should honestly be locked. This is a silly critique of a recommendation no one has made. The risk-adjusted returns of LTT as the sole holding in a portfolio are of course terrible. But neither the OP, nor any of the proponents on the thread, recommend that LTTs be the sole holding in a portfolio. The recommendation is that LTTs be the sole bond holding in a stock-heavy portfolio, i.e. an 80/20 portfolio. The risk adjusted return of an 80/20 Total Stock/LTT portfolio is higher than that of an 80/20 Total Stock/ITT portfolio. https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-asset-class-allocation?s=y&mode=1&timePeriod=4&startYear=1972&firstMont...

sadly Merrill doesn't allow me to buy this It isn't too difficult to get around this restriction if you really want NTSX (or just don't like the restriction). They have a document called "Client Representation Letter for Purchases of Blocked ETPs" that you can sign. I just tried this and was declined. Talking with a trade rep, NTSX is "blocked on the platform." Now, it may be that I just got a rep who doesn't know, but I wouldn't say it "It isn't too difficult to get around this restriction." I don't see any form available for me to just sign and send in either. I don't see a form on Merrill's website either. I just get the usual "call this number" for more information. If they are just going to tell...

tj wrote: ↑Wed Aug 11, 2021 11:28 am Why do you have to use Merrill? Just open a brokerage account somewhere else.

I have just enough at Merrill to get Preferred Rewards for the credit card cash back rates. I'd prefer to own NTSX there, but oh well. I do own it elsewhere.

pepys wrote: ↑Sat May 29, 2021 9:39 pm

newguy123 wrote: ↑Fri May 28, 2021 10:17 am sadly Merrill doesn't allow me to buy this

It isn't too difficult to get around this restriction if you really want NTSX (or just don't like the restriction). They have a document called "Client Representation Letter for Purchases of Blocked ETPs" that you can sign.

I just tried this and was declined. Talking with a trade rep, NTSX is "blocked on the platform." Now, it may be that I just got a rep who doesn't know, but I wouldn't say it "It isn't too difficult to get around this restriction." I don't see any form available for me to just sign and send in either.

As others have said, there are a few different account types at Merrill. There is an advisor service, which is kind of expensive. So would steer clear of that. From what I can tell, the Merrill account is just a place where the money is being parked. It's not an AUM and I seem to have access to Merrill Edge with my login credentials (though I haven't tried actually using the Edge services to check that they work). However, I will look into transferring to a Schwab or Fidelity account as those seem more aligned with my future investing interests. And yes, the first order of business was thanking my dad! He did a great job by setting and (literally) forgetting the stock purchase. You should consider staying with Merrill Edge (if that is the ...

State of Residence: … Australia is a possibility next year pending a forthcoming visa (hello, FEIE!). … My plan: • Immediately transfer the inherited taxable account from the Big Bad Brokerage it’s currently at to Vanguard, effectively firing the financial advisor and eliminating the tagalong fees. Sell all the stocks and high-fee/poorly diversified ETFs, then buy VT & VTI such that I hit my asset allocation percentages. The effect of selling off all the positions on my taxes will be minor since their cost basis was stepped up upon death (though part of me worries forthcoming legislation may eliminate the stepped-up cost basis upon death retroactively). • Exchange all the positions in the inherited IRA for VT, VTI, and BND such that I ...

The degree of typical Boglehead approval for these four seems to be along the lines of: Mortgage: 100/0 is risky, but we will pretend the mortgage doesn't exist and won't complain much if you are young and have an emergency fund. Small Cap Value: Are you sure you can wait for many decades to see if higher returns materialize? If so, fine but it's not for most of us. Leveraged ETF: The SEC tells buy-and-hold investors not to do this, so don't do it. Callable leverage: Have you read markettimer's thread? You will die penniless and in misery. 1, 3 and 4 are different ways to get the same thing: leverage Grabiner expanded on 2: I increase risk by holding riskier stock, rather than more stock. I overweight small-cap, value (even more now than i...

HawkeyePierce wrote: ↑Thu May 20, 2021 1:51 pm I'd love to see a total world version. I also wouldn't complain about an ex-US small cap version.

I'd also like to see a world version. I could see WisdomTree creating a fund-of-funds with NTSX, NTSI and NTSE that would keep the ability to deduct foreign tax (unlike the issue with VT).

I'd also be interested in a S&P 600 style small cap version

Read the bogle books and leaning towards: VT 90 percent Reits and Cefs like qyld nuvi divo for 10 percent. No bonds due to faith based preferences. No bonds is an interesting limitation. In your case, I would consider a gold ETF as part of your "ballast." Another consideration would be to have small cap as a counterweight to VT. 45% VT 45% IJS (S&P 600 small cap blend) or IJR (S&P 600 small cap value) 10% GLD (or GLDM, IAU or SGOL for cheaper ER) Account is in fidelity and would it buy wise to buy the zero cost mutual funds instead ? If so that would limit my ability to sell monthly for retirement because they are not as liquid as ETFs? Those would be fine, especially in a tax-sheltered account. There are no liquidity iss...

I am under 30 so that is not as much of a concern for me at the moment since I would like to take on more risk. From what I have seen this is the best strategy, is that correct? For under 30, 100% stock isn't wrong , but it's worth thinking about what role fixed income has in your portfolio, both as "ballast" and for providing yield. There's a thread here about always putting the first 20% of bonds in long-term Treasuries , for example. Something to consider, decide on, and write down a plan. That’s a really good suggestion. Long treasuries are best to balance equity risk especially with such a long investment horizon. Losses due to rising rates will be recovered by the funds duration, but probably sooner and very well could turn...

Boog wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 2:55 pm I am under 30 so that is not as much of a concern for me at the moment since I would like to take on more risk. From what I have seen this is the best strategy, is that correct?

For under 30, 100% stock isn't wrong, but it's worth thinking about what role fixed income has in your portfolio, both as "ballast" and for providing yield. There's a thread here about always putting the first 20% of bonds in long-term Treasuries, for example. Something to consider, decide on, and write down a plan.

Overall, it's really just an annoying issue Ya think! ? Lots of not-great options. I think margin is your best choice. What is your plan for bonds? Are you just 100% VT at this point? I think I would recommend adding TLT or ZROZ, though AGG or BND would work too (but you would need more of them). I have been buying blue chips like BRK.B, so that could work. But the margin method you mentioned sounds like the best option. The other thing I was thinking is that I could sell a put 1 day before expiration for VT using margin, then once assigned just sell x amount of shares at market open to cover the outstanding margin. I have never used margin, but from what I understand from this link Cost of margin for 2 days = $8500 * 1.56% * 2/360 = $0.73...

Looking again at that list of broad ETFs with options available, I think that VT is your best choice. The question, then, is what should you do with your accumulated cash while you build up enough to sell a put on VT. Leaving it to earn 0% interest seems like a poor choice. IBKR has a 1% notes offering, but it's only for "US persons," so that's out. Other options would be to directly buy " baby bonds " or preferred shares . These are traded, and have a par value of $25 (typically), but they trade up and down. The commissions might make this not worth it. Another idea would be to buy shares of BRK.B, to get "in the market" while you build up enough to buy. Again, the commissions might make this not worth it. Ano...

Ooh, tough one. I see that barchart.com has a list of ETFs with options that you can sort by last price:
SPYG (SPY Growth) is about $50, so you could start there until built up enough for VT? Not ideal, but something. Peruse the rest of that list and see what grabs you.

… On the bond side, I consider stability important, so I have little to no junk bond exposure. … Since I use a portion of the bond side of my portfolio to actively rebalance against the stock side, I'm looking for bond funds that don't tank when stocks tank. This is why I prefer Short-Term Federal (VSGDX) over, say, Short-Term Bond Index (VBIRX). Another portion of my bond portfolio is to act as a higher-yielding substitute for money market. The Ultra-Short fund (VUSFX) is my choice for that. I agree. The bond portion of my portfolio has 3 parts: Stability Rebalancing Yield I don't think that there's a single bond fund that could possibly do all three, so I think of these 3: Cash Treasuries Corporates, etc As for managed or unmanaged, I th...

I'm also attracted by the idea of a TIPS fund, but I don't think it makes sense for me, far from retirement.

Some folks don't, but I also consider my "cash" as part of my bonds (and also emergency fund).

I don't have a stable value fund available, but I think that sounds like an interesting option. You say that you're 60/40 stocks/bonds right now, maybe split that 40% into half stable value and half cash?

All are great. By investing in ETFs, it will be trivial to move to a different brokerage in the future. Mutual funds are not as portable (and the Fidelity Zero ones are not portable at all).

There is something to the fact that Fidelity and Schwab have physical branches, but see if any exist near you.

One reason I like Fidelity is that they have an easy 2% cash-back Visa that deposits in a brokerage account, which can help boost.

My whole issue with Betterment is that all of it seemed rather haphazard. I totally get why you think of all the accounts holistically but due to the way the assets had been allocated between the three accounts my Traditional IRA from 2019 until present made less than 2.5%. And I couldn't rebalance without creating a taxable event. You can never rebalance w/o creating a taxable event, at least in a taxable account. But it seems that they put a lot of bonds in taxable, which is not the recommended place. It looks like you have 6% in bonds? 6% presently in the Taxable. I'll have more in the IRA's so I'm okay with an aggressive taxable if that makes sense. Yes, that makes sense. But it's important to have a high-level AA plan, starting w/ a s...

I somehow managed to combine the asset allocation of my roth, traditional, and taxable accounts. This is the right way to think about Asset Allocation. It's all one bucket. My roth and traditional ended up with lower earning assets and my taxable account with the higher earning assets (us stocks primarily). Perfect. …but this is not! You're right that asset location needs to be considered. So now what I will be left with is a taxable account being transferred in from Betterment of $145k that contains 20 different ETF's (I'm assuming this is part of their TLH strategy). Yeah, that's too many. Current breakdown of incoming Taxable account transfer: 45.48% | VTI - Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF 00.90% | ITOT - iShares Core S&P...

Also, consider ZROZ as a long-term treasury STRIPS fund. Why? The ER is similar to EDV (0.15 instead of 0.07%), but EDV consistently has short-term capital gains every year, while ZROZ doesn't. ZROZ also has a slightly longer duration (27 years instead of 25) which will be more interesting as a rebalance pair.

Getting to my actual question: After seeing few threads suggesting a flash crash can wipe out the whole account, I am not so sure now about keeping this margin around. My holdings are all broad market index funds(ITOT/VTI/VXUS/VWO) and with < 20% margin it will take 80% market crash to wipe me out. I have IB portfolio margin and it only requires 15% equity. So it feels like low probability but could still happen, right? Also I know there will be questions around "is the margin really needed in my case?" And I agree, I am fortunate enough to have this nest egg at 36 years and probably don't need to add more risk. But lure of 1% interest rates with very low chances of margin call are still hard to pass on. In terms of risk/reward, ...

S&P 500.

For availability, and therefore simplicity.

Most of my accounts don't have a total market fund available (401(k), 403(b), 529, etc), but they all have an S&P 500 option. So to get to total market, I'd have to evaluate the percentage of this and that to get there. Doing that would interfere with my goal of simplicity. Also, I know that I struggle behaviorally to see an underperforming fund, so the impulse to tinker is strong. I'd like to avoid that.

engel001 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:20 pm Complex topic and I am not an expert or even qualified to answer. However, my own research would indicate:

…
4. You will likely face difficulties opening a Swiss bank account or even becoming a co-signer on your father’s account. You may want to explore you banking options now.

For banking, take a look at TransferWise (now just Wise) and Interactive Brokers to be able to send and receive Swiss Francs to and from folks in Switzerland.

NabSh wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:45 pm it looks like Credit Unions may be an option, but they require 10-12 Debt Card transactions. I dont use Debt Card, because it has less protection.

Are there any suggestions

1) where money is FDIC insured for larger balance? OR
2) where I dont have to keep a large balance and I can perhaps move funds to a savings account?

Some credit unions use credit card transactions (or dollar amounts) to qualify. Also credit unions are NCUA insured. Still the government, just a different org.

EDIT: Alliant is one credit union that has "high" interest of 0.55%.

Where should I be putting my money? I can give more specific amounts if necessary. I like this "Total Portfolio" approach to the question of "where to put your money." The idea is that your investment portfolio is not really an “investment portfolio” at all despite the fact that we all refer to it as “investing”. What it really is, is a "savings portfolio". Desired Asset allocation: 60% stocks / 25% bonds Desired International allocation: 15% of stocks - Are these figures reasonable? I haven't decided these specifics yet. What you're describing here is a 75/25 stocks-to-bonds ratio, which seems appropriate. You're then splitting the stocks part into about 90/10 US/Int'l (so 60% + 15% of the total,) also reason...

It looks like he has $1M and access to a stable value fund. Keep it simple: 50/50 in fixed income and stocks, with $500K in the stable value fund, the rest of the 401(k) in the S&P 500 fund. Then in the IRA and taxable, buy SPY (or VOO). Then keep them balanced to 50/50 once a year.

Kookaburra wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:56 pm Which offers a better solo 401k and why? Trying to figure out where to open my account.

I read (not sure if it’s true) that Fidelity’s 401k adoption agreement was so “plain vanilla” as to be undesirable.

I believe you have to fund Fidelity solo 401(k)s by paper check. I think that e*trade has changed to that as well, though I'm not sure. It's a long form at e*trade, and easy to get wrong, but they have a Roth option too. Oddly, I don't think Fidelity can do that, nor do they support the Mega Backdoor Roth.

Well, the first thing is to make sure that you don't have dividends reinvested.

After that, it depends on the size of capital gains. If the total amount is low enough, it's likely worth selling and buying what you want. It sounds like they would all be Long Term Capital Gains rates, but you would pay some taxes on the gains.

Consider leverage.

One of the things about buying property is the mortgage. With 20% down, you'd be 5x leverage on a house. You can't (and shouldn't) go that high with margin loans, but consider going to 1.2x. The risk is when the value of your holdings goes down too much and the broker sells your ETFs at a low price, which isn't a risk with a home mortgage. You could reasonably decide not to use margin, but it's worth considering.

Count of Notre Dame wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:11 pm What I am currently doing / did was to modify my mortgage to be interest only, and with the extra cash flow that would have paid the principal down I am depositing at IB.

Would you mind sharing who financed an interest-only mortgage? I assume that is has to be a Jumbo, but when I was looking to do this last Summer, I couldn't find anyone who still was financing I/O loans. Was it a refi or a new loan?

Thanks!

One more thing, you will probably want to setup some sort of mailing forward service and update the address on all of your accounts before you live. You need a physical address in the US in order to receive certain communication. Also, there seems to be a trend where US financial institutions are closing account of people living abroad so you might need to take some precautions to avoid account closure. I would call Fidelity to see what they will do "if" you move to Brazil. If they will restrict you in any way, take a look at brokers that won't. Interactive Brokers and Schwab thought to be the best, but you should call to find out. Schwab also has a 529 plan, but you might consider liquidating those. Holding mutual funds while yo...

palanzo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:26 pm

TedSwippet wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:11 am As a non-resident alien still holding a 401k and IRA from time spent working in the US, I'm certainly not your average Vanguard customer.

Are you able to use the US Treasury - Federal Tax Payment System to pay the IRS?

I have had similar experiences with Vanguard. I agree with you that having a single Vanguard Flagship representative was much more helpful to customers.

Why don't you move your 401k and IRA to Schwab because they seem to deal with overseas people better from various accounts?

Another voice for calling Schwab: https://international.schwab.com is their website for non-US folks. It would be worth it for you to contact them to see if you can open a rollover IRA for your 401(k) and IRA funds.

fung wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 12:56 pm I don't care about holding Vanguard funds in Fidelity (I'm fine with transferring to Fidelity funds). Do I need to convert my holdings to ETFs before transferring? Will I be charged anything in income tax/gains tax/anything else?

You can convert VTIAX to VXUS and VTSAX to VTI with no charges or tax events. Then transferring in-kind to Fidelity will work easily with no future charges for selling the ETFs. Then you can just hold and buy more VTI and VXUS in Fidelity. I would do it.

Debt: 30 yr. Mortgage, 270k balance, 3.625%, 25 years left. We are thinking of refinancing to get a lower rate Consider paying the mortgage off entirely. Or refinance into a 15 year, 2.5% loan. Keeping a mortgage can be a contentious decision here. Is it worth paying 2.5% when holding bonds that only pay 1%? I think it is, but others are adamant that it's not a good idea. You'll need to decide. But don't hold a 3.625% mortgage with rates so low. Desired Asset allocation: 90% stocks / 10% bonds Desired International allocation: 30% of stocks This desired AA is incompatible with the Merriman Ultimate (60% stock, 40% bonds, with 50% of stocks in int'l). Questions: 1. My husband and I have begun to educate ourselves financially over the past y...

Take a look at iShares Core Moderate Allocation (AOM). It's a 60/40 ETF offered by iShares. The ER is 0.25%, so a little higher that the Vanguard mutual fund. But you'd likely make that back by using a BofA Preferred Rewards credit card.