Search found 117 matches

by Peppe
Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:38 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Average amount saved for retirement by age
Replies: 148
Views: 40583

I would just judge it based on where you are at vs where you want to be. Say we set a target income level? 50k after taxes. Multiply by x to determine a safe balance to withdraw that 50k from. If you believe a safe withdrawal will be 4% then x = 25. Somewhere in the 25-35 range should be a good approximation. 50k * 30 = 1.5 mil after tax balance with a 3.33% withdrawal rate. If the balance doubles roughly every 10 years and you do the max contribution available to most of us through 401k and ira type accounts (16.5k + 5k = 21.5k). I will estimate it at about 17k after tax. So with contributions you might get: Today's balance = 100k 10 Years = 200k + 170k = 370k 20 Years = 740k + 170k = 910k 30 Years = 1.82 mil + 170k = 1.99mil If you have 1...
by Peppe
Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:42 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: VERSX or VEIEX -- question
Replies: 3
Views: 1237

Why not get the admiral shares direct from vanguard at the same expense ratio (.27) and no transaction cost?

You only need 10k to get admiral shares in a personal account.

VEMAX
by Peppe
Sat Jan 22, 2011 8:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Good laptop to recommend?
Replies: 54
Views: 7178

PatentLawyer32 wrote:Try the Dell Scratch and Dent program. Great discount on good laptops.
I second this, the dell outlet is fantastic. Deep discounts on fine machines with as long a warranty as you want (comes with 1 yr standard). I got a studio XPS 16 for ~$900 a couple years ago (retail ~$1500). The 16 is probably a little overkill for what you would do, so maybe look at the new 15? or 14 i haven't been following it closely.

The dell business lines are durable and available in the outlet as well.

I like the XPS line for the HDMI output, so it is easy to hookup to a tv or a/v receiver. The inspiron line i believe also has this on some machines. Not likely to find this in the business lines.

http://outlet.dell.com
by Peppe
Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:53 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Who's website/blog is this? [allocationofassets.info]
Replies: 8
Views: 1709

Looks to just be sites trying to get some money through amazon affiliate/referral system.
by Peppe
Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:23 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Portfolio managment side work?
Replies: 60
Views: 9025

Admittedly bored at work.... cruising around the net on this topic. If you are managing less than 25 million then you can file with your state securities regulator office as a RIA. For most states it looks like you can be a RIA with a couple hundred in registration/licensing fees and document filing. Then recurring annual fees after that ~$150. The minimum expertise needed in my state to register as a RIA: Series 65 exam (or the Series 7 and 66). Other ways to meet this requirement are to hold one of several professional designations (CFP, CFA, CIC, ChFC, CIMC, CIMA, or PFS) Not sure how much the certs cost the first time or annually, but Series 65 was $120 on the site i looked at and seems like its good for life once passed. Errors and omi...
by Peppe
Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Portfolio managment side work?
Replies: 60
Views: 9025

Edward Jones model would be good for wannabe advisors... if you could use Vanguard or low cost funds for your clients (don't think you can). Their model is to have a lot of small advisor offices around the country. I am not too familiar with how they operate, but seems to be a local office of about 3 people. Something like one main Investment Advisor and 1-2 advisors in training (salesmen?) that build the client list of the main guy for a few years to get the opportunity to be the main guy at a new location. I think you are graded on pushing funds the company gets kickbacks for (think that made the news a few years back). You probably can't set your fees or the fees Edward Jones itself charges your client, but you would be the advisor and t...
by Peppe
Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:30 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Portfolio managment side work?
Replies: 60
Views: 9025

There are some tools coming online. You might start with Fidelity RIA site:
https://fiws.fidelity.com/advisor/porta ... HTML&pos=T

You might Google 'Rick Ferri' before you take his advice lightly. What he was getting at is the hurdle to managing other people money is pretty high due to all the rules and regulations. You need a lot of fish to get to break even.
by Peppe
Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard Commercials and costs
Replies: 27
Views: 4387

I have seen a couple during the NFL pre-season. I think it was CBS, or on NFL network re-broadcast. I can't imagine pre-season spots are very expensive.

It was simple and short ad as I recall.

Will be interesting to see if they carry on into the regular season.

Brand recognition can be a critical component for consumers. I know most people i meet in real life have never heard of Vanguard, so a little brand awareness can probably go a long way.
by Peppe
Sat Aug 29, 2009 8:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: NY Times Article - Active vs Passive Investing
Replies: 21
Views: 3470

One can always look backwards and find a winner. I was thinking about this last night, so I decided to look at the details for each and every active fund in my portfolio vs. their benchmark and here's what I've found (using details from Morningstar albeit over the last 7 years of readily available information): PRWCX beat it's index 6 of the last 8 years (including YTD) RPMGX beat it's index 6 of the last 8 years (including YTD) PRSVX beat it's index 6 of the last 8 years (including under performance YTD) PRGFX split with it's index (4 to 4 including YTD) PRCIX beat it's index 5 of the last 8 (including YTD) So maybe I should get out of these active funds while they are ahead? :) You may want to dig into what index is being claimed as its ...
by Peppe
Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard's Website
Replies: 14
Views: 2719

I was actually looking at their site the other day to use as an example of a simple tiered horizontal menu to duplicate on an intranet site...

Now their menu is doing all sorts of stuff... horizontal tiers + drop downs.

Seems to work pretty well, but will take some adjusting.
by Peppe
Sun Aug 23, 2009 11:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard is owned by its investors. What does that mean?
Replies: 36
Views: 7204

Someone can probably explain these better than me... but this is how i reason it out: One thing to note is Vanguard has a unique structure in the mutual fund business (out of the top fund families). The fund family is structured to seek the lowest cost for investors. Each mutual fund is owned by its investors. Part of the expenses of each fund pays into an overhead pool that runs the 'Vanguard' brand that we interact with at the top level. Fidelity, as mentioned earlier, is owned by the Johnson Family. It is the largest fund family by assets under management. I believe it started owned by just one guy, and ownership shares have been inherited by his children/family members etc. In some areas Fidelity offers lower cost funds than Vanguard, b...
by Peppe
Sun Aug 23, 2009 12:41 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard is owned by its investors. What does that mean?
Replies: 36
Views: 7204

Some details of the plan would be nice, but taking guess at it: For the 'partnership plan' to gain X bonus dollars they have to save the company (which is the collection of vanguard funds) some amount greater than X. Net benefit to investors is a lower cost. Benefit to employees is increased pay. Benefit to investors is lower cost. It will always be true that the bonus/incentive program will cost investors, and without it vanguard could run lower expense ratios... that is until all the employees leave for greener pastures. I imagine running the funds, infrastructure, etc of the company requires some people. Without the people running Vanguard everyone loses access to the lowest cost fund family. From the article describing the program it so...
by Peppe
Sun Aug 23, 2009 12:26 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How does average US consumer spend his paycheck Chart
Replies: 25
Views: 6449

My budget comes out pretty similar... 2 people 2 dogs.

Taxes and Pre-tax Retirement comes out to just about 33% of gross pay.

About 75% of net pay goes to expenses. 25% left for Roth/fun.

Interesting to see how much money goes through our hands vs how much sticks.... happy to not be 'average' with no savings rate.
by Peppe
Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:38 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Totally Recovered From Losses
Replies: 51
Views: 7850

Balances at all time high, passed breakeven a while back... but like Emergdoc my contributions made up for all/most of the recovery. The current run up has brought the new 'net worth' highs. My 401k only lets me calculate a return up to 24 months, so today to august 2007 the account which includes company matching is ~15% away from recovering all investment loses. I have a second 401k account that doesn't receive company matching funds, which is about ~10% from recovery all loses over the same period. If i could move company funds weekly i guess both accounts would be at this 10% down mark. My Roth was hit the hardest, but only had 2 years of contributions in it, so its at a high for the account with this year's contribution, but still has ...
by Peppe
Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:47 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Retire at 38: Fantasy vs. Reality
Replies: 42
Views: 7293

Retire At Age 35 (or 45 or 55) Without Being A Millionaire Paul Terhorst was a successful CPA for an international accounting firm. At 33, he was making about $125,000 a year. When he gave it up, he was able to retire at age 35. He realized he could live a better life than ever before -- without making a salary. He traveled around the world, writing, playing the saxophone, and enjoying the best the world has to offer. http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9022/death.html#retire 27 year old INTP here... Interesting article... incidentally 400k in 1980 is pretty close to 1 mil today (inflation adjusted). If i eliminate house and cars my annual expenses are about 20k, so i can see how 750k-1mil could go a long way. All things being equal i thi...
by Peppe
Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:39 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Get ready for Commodity Crash II
Replies: 32
Views: 5190

After writing that post, I just sold 2000 barrels of oil for October delivery and bought 2000 barrels of oil for September delivery, picking up a credit of $2.13/bbl. Going to close the trade within two weeks. Will be interesting to see what happens to contango between now and then. Can you run through the logic for me on how this works to your advantage with low risk or whatever the risk is? I am not a sophisticated trader and am only curious. You buy current month contracts You sell an equal amount of the next months contracts. The spread between the two is some amount, say $2.00 Buying current and selling future isolates you from oil price fluctuations? Then as USO enters the market to do their monthly roll from current to next month th...
by Peppe
Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:48 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: co-worker arguing for actively managed funds
Replies: 13
Views: 2279

LikeLivesoft said, compare the actively managed fund to an index that is similar to the stocks they are selecting. I believe the hot area this year is mid caps.

So you would compare active mid cap funds to indexed mid cap fund (VO up 7.4%).
by Peppe
Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Do Bogleheads Budget?
Replies: 113
Views: 18598

Same as a lot of you we don't have a budget just track the month to month expenses and make sure things are accounted for. Initially it was a budget to make sure our projected expenses where below our income once that was established we went about living.

As the checking account accumulates we move it around to savings and eventually investment accounts. And every year or so we might talk about a vacation to take the place of the next savings -> investment move.
by Peppe
Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:56 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to get leveraged 30x ?
Replies: 19
Views: 3703

I don't know what rules the 'investment' banks had to operate under, but other US banks use fractional reserve system which appears to be an easy 10:1 leverage. If they buy any leveraged assets with that money then the effective leverage skyrockets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking
by Peppe
Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:28 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Boglehead Sunny Sarkar in the news
Replies: 30
Views: 9916

Not sure if Sunny is using the FDIC insured account or just a brokerage account. I'm 26, so have been paperless banking from almost the start. Once i found the fidelity my smart cash account I was happy with my banking needs and finally stopped switching banks. Also find Yodlee invaluable for organizing/tracking accounts (free as well). I found out about the fidelity MySmart Cash account from the fatwallet finance forum, which has many similar minded folks to the bogleheads just focused on a different aspect of our financial lives. 0% credit card arbitrage and squeezing every nickle out of your cash are the major topics over there. I use a very basic setup for the account with just that account open at fidelity. I keep a couple months livin...
by Peppe
Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Current S&P 500 P/E ?
Replies: 18
Views: 5175

Not sure how often this is updated, but Vanguard lists it for its S&P 500 fund, under portfolio & management:
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/JSP/Fu ... ist::tab=2
by Peppe
Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:44 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

I went to imageshack to upload the image:
http://imageshack.us/

Once it uploads they give you a link to the image.

Use the Img button on the post to start the image tag, enter the URL you got from imageshack, then close the image tag by clicking the button again.

You should end up with something like this:
(img)http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9639 ... .gif(/img)
With brackets instead of parenthesis.
by Peppe
Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:01 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

'Investing - Theory, News & General'

MT has an investment theory. The theory has been applied by him and he discovered some implementation errors and we all learned from it. It has been more risky than the typical accumulators path, but that is not the question.

Why should we ban talk of an ideas? The specific section is supposed to be about discussing theories/ideas...
by Peppe
Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Automatic value averaging?
Replies: 6
Views: 1821

That would be very nice to have, but I think most places reserve that for their Asset Management service. I don't think anyone offers automatic portfolio management to a target allocation. I would think it could be done with a web application, but no one has taken the time to do it. The closest existing thing is automatic contributions of fixed amounts, which will slowly get away from your target allocation as asset performance varies. If you don't want to pay for asset management, and you don't want to control the flow of funds manually or rebalance yourself then I think a fund of funds is the closest to those. You just have to live with the target allocation the fund of funds has set. It would be cool if vanguard made fund of funds compos...
by Peppe
Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:13 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Automatic value averaging?
Replies: 6
Views: 1821

Some balanced funds or target retirement funds might fit your goal.

I believe vanguard's target retirement funds use new funds for daily balancing.

I don't think you will find one fund or fund of funds that has the specific allocation you are after. 70/30 equity split/bond isn't too common and a 30% international weight is high for a traditional investor.
by Peppe
Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

Graphed:

Image

Edit: didn't notice the different dates across the posts, Updated.
by Peppe
Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:32 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Mythbusters: You Need Large Equity Allocation in Retirement
Replies: 39
Views: 8434

Re: Mythbusters: You Need Large Equity Allocation in Retirem

Gray: The 4% SWR typically leads to a large positive portfolio balance at the end of 30 years. Your example consumes all assets entirely. What happens if you live past 30 years? Not only that, but there's a much easier way to accomplish your task. A 60-year old male can buy an immediate annuity with a 3% COLA, with first payment of $40K on 02/15/2009, for around $700,000 (got quote for $705,466 from a highly-rated company just now). Not only is this less expensive than your option, but also removes longevity risk. For the person with $1 million for retirement, this still leaves $300K to set aside for unplanned or one-time expenditures. You may say that the annuity option carries the risk of early death and losing all principal. True, but y...
by Peppe
Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:15 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When do you jump back in?
Replies: 53
Views: 11327

You have given to little information for any real advice.

What types of accounts are your current funds in? Tax differed? Taxable? Roth?

How much money do you need for your expenses?

How much will you get from Pension and Social Security?

The size of the gap between expenses vs your expected income will decide how to allocate your savings.

Do you need to just cover the time between now and when you can start taking social security?


If you are risk adverse an immediate annuity to cover the remainder of your expenses may be good and use the rest for the long term, unplanned, or large expenses.
by Peppe
Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:39 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When do you jump back in?
Replies: 53
Views: 11327

No one knows where we will be, so now is as good as tomorrow.


You might start with the sticky in the 'Help with Personal Investments' forum. Investment planning: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6211

Working through those steps should help you define what kind of portfolio you need and what risks you can take. You can also post portfolio questions in that forum and get excellent feedback and advice.
by Peppe
Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:09 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to calculate asset allocation in tax deferred accounts
Replies: 26
Views: 4361

Peppe, Are you applying the "Taxable = .85" to the whole balance or only to the cap gains? If the latter then it's pretty much what I do. I just ened up adding like three columns to my AA spreadsheet: basis, tax rate, and after-tax balance. Too simple to patent, but easy enough to use. Some here have argued for use of average tax rate, rather than marginal, for IRA assets. And others place a higher penalty than cap gains onto the taxable location, arguing that years of taxable dividends await. Again, mine I see as a relative weight today approach. There are indeed some finance journal papers on this, and I believe what I do is sufficiently consistent with those papers that I can follow. My taxable is only about 1% of my total, so...
by Peppe
Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to calculate asset allocation in tax deferred accounts
Replies: 26
Views: 4361

I normalize my accounts to their after tax value.
Account / Multiplier
Roth = 1
Roth 401k = 1

IRA = .75
401k = .75

Taxable = .85

I use my current federal tax bracket as the modifier for tax deffered (25%) and capital gains rate for taxable.
by Peppe
Tue Oct 28, 2008 3:01 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

market timer wrote:...
The funny thing I realized today, after the liquidations overnight, was that I felt less anxious and was laughing more. All the stress of being near the barrier had gone away. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Margin Call. My utility increases on both sides of the barrier. Maybe that's what the end of life is like.
I think he was liquidated yesterday, so he missed today's rally.
by Peppe
Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:16 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

Can someone do a quick summary on what's the big deal with markettimer? from my glance at this posts, seems like this permabull unwisely tried buying the dip fallacy and got heavily burned, not once, not twice but multiple times. I don't really care about his loss of money. What i'm interested in is his supposed barrier options? Are there such options listed? As far as I know, these exotic options are privy to institutions only and OTC. He has been buying S&P e-mini futures. There is a lot of content on the web about futures and the (S&P e-mini /ES). I haven't traded futures so take the rest of this post as my rough understanding.... One ES contract is 50 times the S&P index, but you don't have to have the full amount to buy a ...
by Peppe
Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:32 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Equity Futures markets suspended
Replies: 14
Views: 3714

Lostime wrote:Limit Down... you can still trade but not at any lower price until the market opens.

This is what I understand will happen when the market opens.... the limit will be 10% down. If it hits this trading will be suspended for 2 minutes.
Then it will reopen with a limit of 20% down. If it hits this it will again be suspended for 2 minutes. It will then reopen with a limit of 30% down.

If Im mistaken Im sure someone will correct me....

Hang on its going to be a wild ride!

Gene
CNBC just said the same thing and didn't quote you, so i would assume you are correct.
by Peppe
Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:42 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

One other interesting change, entirely consistent with finance theory, is my tolerance for higher interest rates. Let's assume a 5% equity risk premium and 4% interest rates. At 2x leverage, my expected return is 14%. Now, at 10x leverage, my expected return is 54%. Suddenly, I'm making minimum monthly payments on credit cards thinking 14.99% isn't that bad for noncallable debt. And the hole grows deeper and deeper. Unfortunately, I can't go back in time, read this text, and bewilderedly ask, "What the hell are you doing?" These actions would have been as incomprehensible to me back then as if someone would have told me S&P futures would be trading at 885 in a year. High interest rate debt doesn't appear to be a concern to MT...
by Peppe
Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

I'm confused you implied a few posts ago you will be averaging 300k a year for the first 5 years?

You should write a book about this cause it has been a compelling thread, very interesting to watch... it could at least be chapter one leading into how you used the rest of your human capital.

Is it PhD in Economics, graduated? Starting first job in 'finance' soon?

What sort of finance gig pays that well?
by Peppe
Mon Oct 06, 2008 3:21 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

Rally at close help you or will it die after hours? I started a paper account at ToS(thinkorswim) today on my lunch hour and bought the deepest in the money LEAPs on some ETFs: Target: 15% SPY Large Cap Index 15% MDY MidCap Index 15% IWM Small Cap Index 15% IWN Small Cap Value Index 20% EFA EAFE Index 20% TLT Long Term Treasuries 100k at Close: OPRA DESCRIPTION CONTRACTS PRICE MKT VALUE CYULM SPY 100 DEC 10 65 CALL 4 $42.45 $16,980.00 WCQAI IWN 100 JAN 10 35 CALL 6 $25.30 $15,180.00 LDEAG MDY 100 JAN 10 85 CALL 4 $36.75 $14,700.00 LXLAN EFA 100 JAN 10 40 CALL 16 $12.30 $19,680.00 WOIAD IWM 100 JAN 10 50 CALL 10 $14.40 $14,400.00 YLIAH TLT 100 JAN 10 60 CALL 5 $39.20 $19,600.00 TOTAL P/L YTD: $2,490.00 Just an experiment to see what happens ...
by Peppe
Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:08 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Don't forget: Big rally October 7th, 2008
Replies: 84
Views: 17290

Don Quixote is on Gutengburg.org, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/996
by Peppe
Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Don't forget: Big rally October 7th, 2008
Replies: 84
Views: 17290

The chart CNBC shows for the VIX with 1987 on it shows something 160+. Its not a great chart, but shows a massive spike in 1987 and the rest is just minor peaks and valleys.
by Peppe
Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:31 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

I wad reading over the early pages of the thread and most of the talk back then was about LEAPs.

I don't know if you mentioned it, but was there a reason you moved from LEAPS to S&P futures? I've heard of LEAP/Option roll can you do the same with futures and continuously roll them forward?
by Peppe
Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:30 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

Another thing on E-mini is that it is 100% electronic.

I believe the traditional S&P futures still runs in a pit.


$600 day on how much risked? That is more than most households make in traditional jobs or day trading.
by Peppe
Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A different approach to asset allocation
Replies: 1539
Views: 863244

I think i read you have been having delays with ACH transfers that has contributed to some forced selling.

Why don't you use a wire transfer? They should be same day transfer instantly usable.
by Peppe
Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: TIPs went down lots why??
Replies: 21
Views: 4884

dividend date?
by Peppe
Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:31 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Cramer: Sell everything..buy gold
Replies: 99
Views: 22631

Re: Cramer: Sell everything..buy gold

ecastilla wrote:http://www.cnbc.com/id/26840500

Post subject: Cramer: Sell everything..buy gold
He only said sell 20% to buy gold. He might have used the phrase sell everything you can till you have 20% reserve and buy gold.

Still not great advice, but better than sell everything....

Mad Mondey, Best comedy show on television since Seinfeld.
by Peppe
Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:13 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is there a bit of "disconnect" here?
Replies: 20
Views: 4620

Oz, You might find this old thread interesting, What factors have the greatest impact on portfolio size?: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2954 This board can cause information overload leading to analysis paralysis. I have learned a lot from this forum and for a while it was a fun hobby to spend an hour or two a day on. I haven't checked this forum much in the last few months. In the end i got busy with life and just set things on auto pilot and rebalanced each quarter. I had a small pot, so i just tossed it in without too much worry and without baggage from past experience to influence me (only 26). Assuming you have an asset allocation set, with a lump sum ready to invest i would probably just come up with a reasonable sch...
by Peppe
Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:37 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Investing long term in a taxable account advice
Replies: 7
Views: 1935

You should consider all funds/accounts for retirement as a whole. Each one doesn't need to be diversified within itself, just the collection. Then your collection is hopefully optimized for tax efficiency. To your questions -- there are similar tax managed versions of some of the funds you listed. Total Stock Market is Tax efficient, so it can be held in a taxable account. I believe the FTSE All-World ex-US Index (VFWIX) will be more tax efficient than the total international VGTSX, but we don't have a history on the new FTSE All-World ex-US fund. For small cap and international vanguard has: Tax-Managed Small-Cap VTMSX Tax-Managed International VTMGX I don't think there is a midcap/extended market tax managed, but you might look for more d...
by Peppe
Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: portfolio critique for college student
Replies: 11
Views: 2613

The portfolio is basically Swenson's yale portfolio with just the equity side, which should be fine while you are young. Taxes will eat up a lot of returns in your current portfolio. Total stock market should be good in taxable, but total international and definitely REIT should be in tax differed. If you have earned income you should read about ROTH IRA and seek to fully fund one. This would be the best place to hold the REIT. If you decide anytime you need some money you can withdraw your contribution tax free (you indicate you might need money in 10 years). 100% stock is probably fine for your age. Your future contributions should have a larger impact than fluctuations of the market. Slice and Dice if you want to it doesn't have a huge i...
by Peppe
Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Move $1m from T bills to Bonds... timing?
Replies: 6
Views: 2268

Once you make this exchange and want to use some of your bond holding...

Someone here has described a withdrawal strategy when you have bonds in a tax exempt account and taxable investments.

When you want to draw down some of the bonds you would initiate a series of trades:
Sell stock in taxable equal to the amount you want
Move the proceeds to your bank or wherever they are needed

In the tax differed account:
Sell some bonds equal to the amount of stock you sold
Buy stock in tax differed equal to the amount of bonds sold

In this way you have reduced your bond holding, but maintained your stock exposure and maintained your tax exempt space.
by Peppe
Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:21 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard ETF and and Flagship questions
Replies: 4
Views: 3678

1. Are Vanguard ETF's considered Vanguard holdings for purposes of calculating flagship status?
I believe the answer is no if held at other brokerages and yes if held at vanguard brokerage services (VBS).
2. Is there any reason not to choose the Emerging Market ETF (VWO) over the Emerging Market Index fund assuming a one time lump sum purchase.
The ETF should be the most cost efficient in the scenario you provide.
by Peppe
Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Problems with Direct Deposit?
Replies: 9
Views: 4488

I DD a portion to vanguard prime MMF each week. Friday is my payday. The MMF is purchased at close Friday and is visible/confirmed Saturday morning.

With the markets closed Friday i would assume the purchase will go today at close, and be visible/confirmed tomorrow.

I send the majority of my DD to a fidelity smart cash account and it is consistently available in the core account ~11am EST Thursday almost a full day early.