Search found 2220 matches

by 1789
Sun Sep 18, 2022 11:49 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401k vs Taxable Brokerage account portfolio
Replies: 11
Views: 1472

Re: 401k vs Taxable Brokerage account portfolio

Is there a brokeragelink offered with zero or low account usage fee? Imho, sp500 in 401k along with a short/intermediate term bond and 100% VTI in taxable looks reasonable. 10-15 years time horizon is not that long so make sure to have cash and bonds, nominal/inflation protected bonds in the tax deferred space.
by 1789
Sun Sep 18, 2022 11:44 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: To international stock or not to international stock
Replies: 154
Views: 15815

Re: To international stock or not to international stock

4% in bonds is not going to make a difference. It looks to me you can get rid of international and small cap value and invest 100% in vtsax assuming you have some cash for emergencies.
by 1789
Fri Sep 16, 2022 12:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Invest or Buy a House? - 30 years old
Replies: 29
Views: 2941

Re: Invest or Buy a House? - 30 years old

I am not clear why you want to buy a house. Looks like it would be a serious mistake. You need to pour all the money you have into stock index funds now, preferably in the tax advantaged accounts. It is a great time to invest and maybe not so great time to buy a house. House prices wont go up 50% in next three years as they did in last three years.
by 1789
Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: So much for diversification
Replies: 12
Views: 1799

Re: So much for diversification

Dont worry too much. Keep it simple and stay the course. We invest in two funds, SP500/US TSM and $CASH. Good enough for us.
by 1789
Sat Jun 11, 2022 11:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I want to buy Docusign stock
Replies: 99
Views: 12406

Re: I want to buy Docusign stock

I would just buy the best business and not a dead horse like Docusign
by 1789
Sat Jun 04, 2022 10:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: RSUs down 50%
Replies: 73
Views: 10966

Re: RSUs down 50%

Just get rid of it (always when vested) and move on with your life. One less thing to worry in life —> more things to enjoy. You deserve to spend your time with other things and not with thinking how your company stock doing.
by 1789
Wed Jun 01, 2022 8:01 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Fidelity UI dark patterns
Replies: 44
Views: 4454

Re: Fidelity UI dark patterns

rkhusky wrote: Wed Jun 01, 2022 5:43 am
1789 wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 8:27 pm
student wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 11:33 am I have a very different perspective than you. To me, comparing to S&P 500 is good. Maybe be one can see how sucky the portfolio is doing, so the only logical conclusion is to buy an S&P 500 index fund.
Exactly.
So, if your whole portfolio isn't keeping up with the S&P 500 for the last month, year, 5 years, you will switch to 100% S&P 500?
Nope. If you are in the right course you pretty much don’t need to change anything.
by 1789
Tue May 31, 2022 8:27 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Fidelity UI dark patterns
Replies: 44
Views: 4454

Re: Fidelity UI dark patterns

student wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 11:33 am I have a very different perspective than you. To me, comparing to S&P 500 is good. Maybe be one can see how sucky the portfolio is doing, so the only logical conclusion is to buy an S&P 500 index fund.
Exactly.
by 1789
Sat May 28, 2022 3:00 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is a top-heavy market different from a bubble?
Replies: 4
Views: 941

Re: Is a top-heavy market different from a bubble?

Imo, this not a correct way of thinking. Because in recessions, total market index is still top heavy. Nothing changes in cap index methodology during recessions or bubbles. It could always be top heavy depending on how you look. For example, top
10 companies may be forming the 20% of the index or 30%. These are all relative numbers. Blindly buying the total market index wont create a bubble as the money would be distributed according to cap weighting of all companies which changes all the time.

Now please help me to understand how would it make any sense to equally distribute my 2$ between AAPL and Shopify. Of course the more of my money should be going to the best business in the world and not to the other one.
by 1789
Sat May 28, 2022 10:26 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home mortgage pay off strategies
Replies: 54
Views: 6879

Re: Home mortgage pay off strategies

IAmJustAnAverageDude wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 1:28 am 1. Is it a bad idea to put more money in the house to get to 80% LTV so as to get rid of PMI?

2. Is it a bad idea to get the house interior painted prior to move in? It’s a 8 year old house.
1) Bad decision - this wont help you or family in any way (both financially and emotionally)
2) Good decision because house has emotional value, so you and your family would feel better living in a nicer/cleaner/refreshed house.
by 1789
Fri May 27, 2022 10:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Home Prices
Replies: 61
Views: 7957

Re: Home Prices

swaption wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 9:42 pm Kind of speechless folks. Been involved in these forums now for decades and the wisdom on this topic has seemingly not evolved one iota. Of course housing is consumption, but it’s not discretionary. Allocating capital to a house is very much an investment. BIt’s not unlike investing in solar panels, it pays you money you don’t have to spend on electricity.
This is not correct. A lot people who buys a house would not rent the same house that they bought. Because people are much more selective when they are buying a house. They look for the things they would not ask for in a rental home. Therefore, they stretch their financials when they are buying vs renting.
by 1789
Fri May 27, 2022 10:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home mortgage pay off strategies
Replies: 54
Views: 6879

Re: Home mortgage pay off strategies

At your income level i would focus on the follwings

1) Max both 401ks
2) Max family HSA
3) 2x backdoor Roth iras
4) Continue in megabackdoor Roth, max if possible
5) If you prefer to have a large amount of cash easily accessible then after 3) put money into taxable account or split betwern 4) and 5)
6) Sell Espp and RSUS as soon as possible and put the money in taxable
7) Don’t put any penny more on that house payment. Thats a very bad decision.
by 1789
Fri May 27, 2022 5:47 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Home Prices
Replies: 61
Views: 7957

Re: Home Prices

Almost no one borrows 500k and put that into an sp500 index fund, but they do that when purchasing a house. It is for a very simple reason.

Most people don't see their primary residence as investment. A house has an emotional value attached to it.
by 1789
Mon May 23, 2022 8:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I've been buying VTSAX instead of VTI for years and I just found out.
Replies: 58
Views: 10944

Re: I've been buying VTSAX instead of VTI for years and I just found out.

retired@50 wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 7:18 pm
billaster wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 7:04 pm ... A lot of the so-called expense advantage of ETFs seems to be a mirage.
Amen brother. :beer

Which is why I'm perfectly happy to trade my mutual fund shares at NAV, every time, and avoid the temptation of trying to buy an ETF at a discount. For me, ETFs would be a behavioral trap that I'd rather skip.

Regards,
Absolutely.
by 1789
Mon May 23, 2022 1:33 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What broker to open account?
Replies: 20
Views: 2463

Re: What broker to open account?

The winner is Fidelity
by 1789
Sun May 22, 2022 3:38 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: er999's Bear Market Adventure (update ended)
Replies: 59
Views: 7898

Re: er999's Bear Market Adventure

There has been many mutual funds from Fidelity that crashed QQQ’s performance by far including and excluding the dot com bubble period.
by 1789
Sat May 21, 2022 8:46 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Stock or Active Fund?
Replies: 25
Views: 1831

Re: Stock or Active Fund?

If you are lucky picking a winner stock over a couple thousand is easy. Just understand that by analyzing company fundamentals, cash flow etc.. (almost) no one can pick a winner stock. This is because investing is not like physics. Otherwise you would expect economy professors to be the richest people on earth as they can analyze and understand all sorts of data available to public better than you or me.

With that 10k i would probably still gamble with stock, as i believe both of your options would lose at the end. And single stock gambling is more exciting than a boring active fund.
by 1789
Thu May 19, 2022 11:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When asset prices go down, does the value evaporate?
Replies: 22
Views: 2316

Re: When asset prices go down, does the value evaporate?

Marseille07 wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 8:54 am Value absolutely evaporates. When you buy a new car, as soon as you drive off the lot, the value of your car is down.

Josh is wrong because "that gap in value has to go somewhere" is false. It doesn't go anywhere since the dealership still has your money no matter what happens to your car.
Josh looked pretty confused about this. Michael was right.
by 1789
Thu May 19, 2022 11:36 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Permanent Portfolios
Replies: 39
Views: 4589

Re: Permanent Portfolios

Gold/silver/crypto are all speculative assets. There is no earnings or anything that comes out from them. Their value depends on human emotions.
by 1789
Mon May 16, 2022 1:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Fidelity Taking a Turn for the Worse?
Replies: 38
Views: 3170

Re: Fidelity Taking a Turn for the Worse?

jebmke wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 1:38 pm maybe we need a Thunderdome between Fidelity and VG fans.
The clash of cultures :wink:
by 1789
Mon May 16, 2022 1:31 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What is Yardenni? Are they any good?
Replies: 14
Views: 1667

Re: What is Yardenni? Are they any good?

I read one of his recent books. It was NOT an interesting book. (In praise of profits)
by 1789
Mon May 16, 2022 9:27 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 2 funds vs 1 fund, pros and cons ?
Replies: 22
Views: 2305

Re: 2 funds vs 1 fund, pros and cons ?

I prefer one fund over two. But not one of those TDF or life strategy funds. We only own US total market/SP500 index fund as one fund with some CASH. Works for us.
by 1789
Wed May 11, 2022 12:47 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Have a hard time believing most people here are not "timing the market" just a little
Replies: 86
Views: 9555

Re: Have a hard time believing most people here are not "timing the market" just a little

When you start playing games like market timing, stock picking , its close to 100% you will lose money in the long term. Most of the people in the forum have done market timing and lost money. Almost no one around here started investing as an indexer with a long term focus. So yes, most BHs including myself are dogmatic in a sense that we consider investing long term. The earlier you stop doing this the more money you would accumulate in the future. Don't believe me? Ask Taylor, he has done it all his life and lost a bunch of money :wink:
by 1789
Thu May 05, 2022 6:33 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Where My 100% Equities Peeps At?!?
Replies: 387
Views: 54611

Re: Where My 100% Equities Peeps At?!?

We are here with 8 months of worth of CASH and the rest in US stock index fund/sp500. This simple portfolio works for us.
by 1789
Thu May 05, 2022 6:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: BND (or similar) vs. Using multiple bond funds
Replies: 39
Views: 4068

Re: BND (or similar) vs. Using multiple bond funds

UpperNwGuy wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 2:10 pm I tried using multiple bond funds, and it was too much work, so I tax loss harvested them all into BND. The one-bond-fund solution has been much easier to manage.
Congratulations. I am relatively new investor and from the get go I understand more funds mean more trouble for me. It doesn't work for me to have multiple stocks/bonds etc.
by 1789
Thu May 05, 2022 6:27 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do I need international stock
Replies: 199
Views: 22350

Re: Why do I need international stock

Marseille07 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 6:20 pm
1789 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 6:17 pm It doesn't matter much what you do. But what matters is if you change the course and add international and then drop and than add again depending on the performance.
Depends. For example, by 1979 it was evident Japan was doing really well. And adding Japan then would have been the right call even though this is what you call performance chasing.
My thought is that if someone wants Japan one can have Japan or a collection of others (ex-us index etc.) . I would not “add” Japan and then “subtract” it later.
by 1789
Thu May 05, 2022 6:17 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do I need international stock
Replies: 199
Views: 22350

Re: Why do I need international stock

It doesn't matter much what you do. But what matters is if you change the course and add international and then drop and than add again depending on the performance.
by 1789
Thu May 05, 2022 6:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Market timer of 2007 2008 crash
Replies: 92
Views: 13089

Re: Market timer of 2007 2008 crash

Bogle got lucky. Your luck may turn out different than him.
by 1789
Mon May 02, 2022 1:30 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Just Keep Buying by Nick Maggiulli
Replies: 3
Views: 1168

Re: Just Keep Buying by Nick Maggiulli

Looks like an interesting book. Looking forward to buy and read this one.
by 1789
Mon May 02, 2022 1:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Warren Buffett's 90/10 portfolio strategy using only QQQ and cash
Replies: 128
Views: 17628

Re: Warren Buffett's 90/10 portfolio strategy using only QQQ and cash

We met an intelligent young man today who owns a small cell phone repair shop (he repairs cracked screens and does other small repairs). He is only 28 years old, but he told me that he is a big fan of the Warren Buffett 90/10 portfolio strategy. However, instead of the S&P 500, he uses QQQ instead. He doesn't own any other stocks. The remaining 10% he puts in an online savings account with Ally Bank earning 0.50%. The idea of using QQQ instead of the S&P 500 seems pretty brilliant. I personally never thought about it. If America does well and the S&P 500 does well, then chances are that QQQ will outperform. Any thoughts on this strategy? I am confused! I thought Mr. Buffett’s advice was very clear. S&P 500 with cash/Treasur...
by 1789
Mon May 02, 2022 1:22 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: anyone buying in this market?
Replies: 177
Views: 21695

Re: anyone buying in this market?

Period buying is in progress in 401k accounts. No market timing here.
by 1789
Mon May 02, 2022 1:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Inflation could be 20% in the next three years [Sell bonds?]
Replies: 307
Views: 49171

Re: Inflation could be 20% in the next three years [Sell bonds?]

A lot of people is overreacting to this inflation and rate increases. It is not the first that this is happening. World wont crash and things will be alright. Stay the course. Don't fall into the trap of fortune telling.
by 1789
Sun May 01, 2022 9:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Individual stock ideas
Replies: 43
Views: 3537

Re: Individual stock ideas

It is hard to say. NVDA was one of the best performers in recent years. The problem with this type of stock is that when SP down 10% (like this year) hot stocks are down more than 30% (NVDA/AMD etc..) So if SP goes down 50%, that type of stock could likely be down 80%.

I never understood how would it make any sense to put more penny to a stock like AMD/NVDA when i see a company like MSFT/AAPL generating incredible amount of cash flows. Market cap weighing makes sense to me.

For gambling purpose i would throw money on much smaller companies, something that might work/or not in the future.
by 1789
Sun May 01, 2022 3:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: I Bonds Mega Thread (I Bond Heads Rejoice!)
Replies: 6651
Views: 1202304

Re: Another I bonds thread - what am I missing?

You are not missing much. Both of your points are valid. Basically there is no inflation and interest rate risk to worry about with i bonds.
by 1789
Sun May 01, 2022 9:37 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Home purchase in 4-8 years, move out of 100% stock?
Replies: 8
Views: 802

Re: Home purchase in 4-8 years, move out of 100% stock?

OP If you started thinking about this it may not take 8 years to buy it. Especially being in good school district is particularly important if you have kids. I agree with your decision and we did move very recently due to same reasons. In order to minimize the tax hit from taxable i would focus on the following 1) Built cash in a taxable account for this purpose 2) When time gets closer sell the current house and use that money along with some cash savings to put down on next house. There maybe a short term you need to rent in between. (In our case it worked beautiful and we closed both houses couple days apart so “net” from first house went into new house closing.) Please focus on doing this transaction w/o selling a huge amount from your ...
by 1789
Sat Apr 30, 2022 12:06 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: I Bonds Mega Thread (I Bond Heads Rejoice!)
Replies: 6651
Views: 1202304

Re: I Bonds Mega Thread (I Bond Heads Rejoice!)

whodidntante wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 5:02 pm Bunch of procrastinators, LOL.
Did you buy 10k ibonds out of your million bucks 😜
by 1789
Fri Apr 29, 2022 11:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: College Decision
Replies: 225
Views: 20955

Re: College Decision

Congratulations! UPItt is a great school and the right choice. I lived in Pitt about 3 years. It is a great city. Ton of activities.
by 1789
Fri Apr 29, 2022 11:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Using 529 plan for living off campus housing
Replies: 17
Views: 2982

Re: Using 529 plan for living off campus housing

Normchad wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:52 pm
1789 wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:47 pm
Vulcan wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 9:10 pm Yes, up to the school's official allowance.
How is this calculated exactly? For example living on campus on a single room cost is different than sharing the room with another student?
We used the Room&Board number for the universities official “Cost of Attendance” page. I recommend screen shooting that page each year for your tax records just in case anybody ever asks.
Thank you. I always wondered about it
by 1789
Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Using 529 plan for living off campus housing
Replies: 17
Views: 2982

Re: Using 529 plan for living off campus housing

Vulcan wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 9:10 pm Yes, up to the school's official allowance.
How is this calculated exactly? For example living on campus on a single room cost is different than sharing the room with another student?
by 1789
Fri Apr 29, 2022 9:57 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retiring Dec-2023. Current portfolio nearly 100% stocks. Need suggestions
Replies: 39
Views: 7949

Re: Retiring Dec-2023. Current portfolio nearly 100% stocks. Need suggestions

You can have 3-4 years expenses in CASH or some sort of short term bonds maybe, and the rest in VTSAX. I don't think you need Primecap or VTIAX.

One stock and one bond/CASH fund is all you need, imo.
by 1789
Fri Apr 29, 2022 7:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I Still Think I Should Prepay the Mortgage
Replies: 161
Views: 17138

Re: I Still Think I Should Prepay the Mortgage

If you hate debt it doesn't matter what the rate on the mortgage is. You have to pay in order to sleep. But you better know that it is financially WRONG decision and you would very likely to have more money if you invest with a reasonable AA.
by 1789
Wed Apr 27, 2022 9:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I invest in I-Bonds?
Replies: 119
Views: 15627

Re: Should I invest in I-Bonds?

Vanguard User wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 8:34 pm
1789 wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 8:09 pm I would keep that CASH as is and not buy I bonds.
I am not putting all of my EF in I-Bonds. My EF is $3k so I plan to put $1k in I-Bonds.
I understand but getting 100-200$ return on something would hardly make any difference in your life, correct? I would just focus on more savings.
by 1789
Wed Apr 27, 2022 8:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I invest in I-Bonds?
Replies: 119
Views: 15627

Re: Should I invest in I-Bonds?

I would keep that CASH as is and not buy I bonds.
by 1789
Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: TIPS Confession
Replies: 334
Views: 33179

Re: TIPS Confession

Because it comes up so much and we keep talking about what bonds to hold I decided people can know that I finally became convinced that there is no good reason for me to hold anything except TIPS, so the whole fixed income is now in an intermediate duration TIPS fund instead of split 50/50 with intermediate Treasuries. And there is some cash around to manage cash flow transactions with reasonable convenience. Given that we have monthly SS and pension cash income cash management is pretty much a non-issue. Yes, I confess that current inflation caused this decision, but it should have been made long ago. I still contend that lots of choices in bonds are all fine for most people most of the time. Which TIPS fund you are holding in your broker...
by 1789
Thu Apr 21, 2022 9:33 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: No bond portfolio
Replies: 35
Views: 5472

Re: No bond portfolio

No bonds for us because bonds are terrible and you are guaranteed to lose money on that. Just kidding. We never held any bonds and but always held some CASH. But we are also guaranteed to lose money on our CASH as well. It works for us.
by 1789
Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Unwinding a taxable position and avoiding wash sales-am I thinking about this right?
Replies: 39
Views: 2204

Re: Unwinding a taxable position and avoiding wash sales-am I thinking about this right?

You don’t need to change anything. Please don't go into this rabbit hole. Unless you have millions and millions in that fund, it wont make any material impact whether you have FSKAX or FXAIX.
by 1789
Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should we put more toward our mortgage?
Replies: 219
Views: 21752

Re: Should we put more toward our mortgage?

Never pay any penny more than required for this mortgage. You really need to ramp up the contributions to your retirement accounts. Pretax 401k, Roth IRA, and HSA. I don't think you are in a strong financial position to think to pay down this mortgage.
by 1789
Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Worth it to keep investing in blue chip stocks?
Replies: 5
Views: 927

Re: Worth it to keep investing in blue chip stocks?

Talking the usual blue chip stocks that drive the market. AAPL gave me >30% gains in the last year, while VTI 20%. However, at the end of a the day with such a small % of portfolio in indiv stocks, big percentage gains barely move the needle. I still often ask myself questions like: should I continue DCAing into AAPL or just drop the money into VTI?. MSFT dipped, should I start a position now? How do you guys make these decisions .. those of you who use your "play money" for blue chip stocks. Or should play money be reserved for Crypto/speculative stocks :twisted: You are right. It is meaningless to gamble if it is small. Waste of time and not going to move the needle. I would either gamble with like 30% of my portfolio or don't ...
by 1789
Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:12 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 50 Rules of Investing
Replies: 33
Views: 4325

Re: 50 Rules of Investing

29. If you aren’t humble, the markets will eventually find a way to humble you.