Search found 385 matches

by Rosebud
Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 27/m. Wanting to Quit My Job. Any Words of Wisdom?
Replies: 55
Views: 10499

Re: 27/m. Wanting to Quit My Job. Any Words of Wisdom?

I was just thinking to myself as I read the responses that, "It's much easier to get a job when you have a job," and then I saw the last reply. Totally agree from many years of looking for jobs and hiring people who were changing jobs or were out of work and looking for jobs. When it is time to move on, it's often a good thing to do so.
by Rosebud
Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Obsessing towards zero balance on credit card.
Replies: 158
Views: 25435

Re: Obsessing towards zero balance on credit card.

On the 25th of the month, I check my Vanguard and TSP balances and do a transfer from my checking account to pay the credit card balance in full. It's just a little reminder of what's going on in my finances and I think if I paid it off intermittently throughout the month that I would lose track of how much I was charging. I have it calendared to come up with a reminder every month and it is a system that has worked quite well for me.
by Rosebud
Fri Jun 26, 2015 2:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Rent a studio to save money or 1-bedroom that is twice the cost but in my "dream" area?
Replies: 36
Views: 10347

Re: Rent a studio to save money or 1-bedroom that is twice the cost but in my "dream" area?

Friends don't let friends drink and drive, and they shouldn't let anyone buy condos. Terrible terrible terrible idea. Single family detached is always the better financial move, or, if those aren't available (which is only the case in Manhattan and Shanghai as far as I've experienced) you should rent and not buy because the owner clearly isn't financially savvy for buying (or its Chinese or middle eastern or Russian folks with more money than sense). Oh, and this is a rental not a purchase, so get the studio and save money until you can buy, unless you're in Manhattan or Shanghai, in which case see above. Can you be more specific about why you advise against buying condos? For people who don't want to deal with maintenance issues, aren't c...
by Rosebud
Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Rent a studio to save money or 1-bedroom that is twice the cost but in my "dream" area?
Replies: 36
Views: 10347

Re: Rent a studio to save money or 1-bedroom that is twice the cost but in my "dream" area?

Go with the one bedroom in the area where you might want to buy. Twenty-eight years ago I wanted to buy a condo on the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay (I live in the East Bay) and while I was trying to find one to buy, ended up renting a studio in the same complex. The six months I rented the studio taught a huge amount about different locations in the condominium complex. I rented on the second floor and realized how incredibly noisy the people above me were. My unit faced North and things didn't dry very well and there was very little direct sunlight. Six months later I found a unit for sale on the top floor that was over a swimming pool and faced West over the bay towards San Francisco. It turned out to be a very quiet, peaceful, sunn...
by Rosebud
Thu Jun 11, 2015 3:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: iPhone 6 or 6 plus for light business travel?
Replies: 27
Views: 4477

Re: iPhone 6 or 6 plus for light business travel?

6 Plus would be my recommendation if it isn't a problem carrying it. My iPad gets very little use and my 6+ is used all the time for email, photography, reading things on Kindle app, maps, Google, etc., etc. I have a little purse that has an outside pouch that the 6+ fits perfectly. Friends of mine have the 6 and I personally find the larger size of the 6+ to make a huge difference, particularly when I'm researching something on Safari.

If I were planning on primarily carrying it in a pocket, I'm not so sure how comfortable it would be.

Also, if you're planning on doing any word processing or anything that requires heavy use of keyboard, a tablet with an attachable keyboard would probably work better.
by Rosebud
Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Leaning towards buying a 1-BR condo in Bay Area
Replies: 21
Views: 3435

Re: Leaning towards buying a 1-BR condo in Bay Area

Conventional wisdom says 1 bedrooms have poor resale value and prospects. The complex where I live in Emeryville has 1,249 condominiums, the vast majority of which are studio and one bedroom units. There are a very limited number of two bedroom units and there is always a battle with developers trying to get them to include anything larger than one bedroom units because they make most of their money on studios and one bedrooms. This results in a premium being paid for two bedrooms because they are not as common as they might be in other parts of the country. San Francisco is skyrocketing in rentals and sales because of the Technology boom and that has really increased pressure on the cost of renting and buying in the East Bay as well. The ...
by Rosebud
Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What to do with 401K portfolio moving from TSP Gov
Replies: 18
Views: 2571

Re: What to do with 401K portfolio moving from TSP Gov

The reason to leave money in the TSP is the G fund, which is better than anything available at retail; Vanguard has comparable funds to the F, C, S and I funds at barely higher costs. Therefore, if you have more in the TSP than you will want to have in the G fund, you can make your one partial withdrawal from the TSP to roll part of it into a Vanguard IRA, leaving the rest of the TSP in the G fund until you are ready to annuitize it or spend it gradually, and using the Vanguard IRA for unscheduled expenses. +1 I took about 3/4 of the money in my TSP account and moved it to Vanguard when I retired in 2008. The abysmal investing opportunities for the next several years made me once again appreciate the value of access to the G Fund. Ultimate...
by Rosebud
Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:02 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Ultimate Buy and Hold - 8 slices vs 4
Replies: 770
Views: 410582

Re: Ultimate Buy and Hold - 8 slices vs 4

This is an interesting topic and I'm replying simply because I wanted to subscribe to followup comments.
by Rosebud
Sun Sep 07, 2014 6:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: POLL: Has a financial firm made a mistake with your money?
Replies: 52
Views: 5310

Re: POLL: Has a financial firm made a mistake with your mone

Many years ago I purchased some TIPS from Vanguard. At the time, I did not have access to the internet and I made a phone call to Vanguard to make the purchase. When I received the confirmation in the mail from Vanguard, they had not done what I had asked them to do. I called them and they retrieved the recording of the phone call, acknowledged they had made an error, and corrected it.
by Rosebud
Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: RMD Process
Replies: 13
Views: 1570

Re: RMD Process

Thank you, Alan S.! That information is very helpful since I will turn 70 in January and have been giving a great deal of thought to just how I want to take the RMD.
by Rosebud
Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: RMD Process
Replies: 13
Views: 1570

Re: RMD Process

Gill wrote:Just another twist; There has been so much discussion here about dying without taking the RMD that year, that I've arranged to have mine transferred automatically to my taxable account every January 5th
Gill
What is the rationale for having it automatically transferred in January rather than December? This may be obvious to others, but I don't understand it.

Thanks
by Rosebud
Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Kaiser vs Blue Shield
Replies: 83
Views: 26708

Re: Kaiser vs Blue Shield

At Kaiser it is five minutes to review the medical record, five minutes with the patient, and five minutes to write things up, order tests, etc. If you want to ask questions, you are basically out of luck. Additionally, if you want to ask questions via email you are really out of luck. That has not been my experience, at all, especially regarding email. I have sent a number of emails to my personal care physician, as well as to the physical therapist I've worked with, the orthopedic doctor after I fractured a small part of my elbow, and others. I have ALWAYS had a pertinent response. It's one of the aspects of Kaiser that I really treasure. As in most situations, I think most of us have individual experiences that do not always reflect the...
by Rosebud
Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Kaiser vs Blue Shield
Replies: 83
Views: 26708

Re: Kaiser vs Blue Shield

I've had Kaiser in Northern California (Oakland - which is the home base for Kaiser) for three years and have been very happy with them. They diagnosed several problems that I was not aware of, including emphysema which I had most likely had for over thirty years since I had been a heavy smoker and had stopped smoking in 1978. A number of times I had told my previous physician (under Blue Cross) that I thought I had lung damage from smoking, but he assured me that nothing was wrong. Once I joined Kaiser, my primary care physician ordered pulmonary function tests just based on the fact that I had been a heavy smoker in my younger years. To my shock, it turned out I had mild-moderate emphysema and since then I've attended pulmonary function c...
by Rosebud
Tue Aug 05, 2014 2:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: XC90 [Volvo XC90 SUV]
Replies: 40
Views: 8515

Re: XC90

As a recent purchaser of a late model XC90 (3.2 I6) my impressions are as follows: I'm fascinated by the several comments from Volvo owners in this thread that the things have some rather crummy characteristics (such as being gas hogs, having lousy suspension) but people love them anyway. I have the feeling there must be Volvo people and then there is everybody else. :) My car to date actually has great suspension. It rides very smoothly and handles potholes the way I would expect it to. You know you've hit a pothole, but it is not overly disturbing. It is a gas hog and initially I was dismayed; however, the car is so incredibly comfortable, roomy and handles so well that I don't really think about gas all that much. Initially, I was worri...
by Rosebud
Mon Aug 04, 2014 10:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: XC90 [Volvo XC90 SUV]
Replies: 40
Views: 8515

Re: XC90

What jimb_fromATL says is something to consider. I bought my car from the oldest Volvo dealer in the United States. They had two sales locations and just recently they closed the original location, although they are maintaining another local location. I had not heard the rumors he mentions, but it would not surprise me if they turn out to be true at some point. I've had my car for quite a few years and there are a number of auto repair shops that do full service on Volvos in the SF Bay Area. There are many Volvos of all ages floating around Berkeley and San Francisco, so I'm not concerned about my car but I would give it some thought before buying a new Volvo.
by Rosebud
Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: XC90 [Volvo XC90 SUV]
Replies: 40
Views: 8515

Re: XC90

In 2008, I bought a Certified Pre-Owned 2004 Volvo 2.5T XC90. I haven't put many miles on the car (current odometer is less than 70,000 miles) and awhile ago there was a message that the Anti-Skid device needed service. The dealer told me it would cost $3,200 to repair, but that I didn't need to repair it. I chose not to repair it at that time and the message went away shortly after that. Other than that significant possible expense, the car has been very reliable and most of the expenses have been oil changes and other routine maintenance. It has an extremely comfortable ride that always feels to me to be far more stable on the highway than when I'm riding in cars owned by my friends. The seats are great, it handles far better than I expec...
by Rosebud
Sun Dec 01, 2013 10:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Repair to 4-wheel drive on Volvo XC90
Replies: 2
Views: 845

Re: Repair to 4-wheel drive on Volvo XC90

Thanks, ResearchMed! The warning light stayed on steadily for four days and one of the comments the service advisor made was that they couldn't get the warning message to go off. Well, today the message went back to the average miles/gallon of gas and the warning message didn't come on at all today. This dealer, unfortunately, runs the next closest dealer also.

The other dealers are far enough away that it would be somewhat inconvenient. I think I'm going to wait a little while and think about it some more.

I had a 1980 244 Volvo that was 20 years old when I traded it in. I was always a little sorry I hadn't just kept the car. Thank you for your response.
by Rosebud
Sun Dec 01, 2013 4:40 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Repair to 4-wheel drive on Volvo XC90
Replies: 2
Views: 845

Repair to 4-wheel drive on Volvo XC90

My 1994 Volvo XC90 recently displayed a message that the anti-skid device needed service. The car has 66,000 miles on it. Service said that it needs a new gear and a new sleeve to the transmission and that it would cost approximately $3,500.00 to repair. They also said it didn't have to be fixed, since what it does is put two additional wheels into gear, primarily during bad weather and/or snow. I live in Northern California and only drive around 3,000 miles a year, mostly in good weather. My initial reaction was that I would have it fixed, but now I'm not so sure if it makes sense to do so. The main reason to do it would be for trade in value or resale; however, I'm very fond of the car and have no plans to sell it or trade it in in the ne...
by Rosebud
Sat Nov 09, 2013 12:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions
Replies: 71
Views: 6124

Re: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions

I'm guessing it's usually more of a licensing-the-name relationship - like Schneider and all the companies they license their name to. I'm pretty sure that lens on the front of my $100 camera bears very little resemblance to a Apo-Digitar. The Sony RX100-II ($750) and Sony RX1 ($2800) have Carl Zeiss lenses. I'm not trying to push Sony since I'll probably get either a Nikon or Canon for a DSLR, but just want to point out that making reference to a "licensing-the-name relationship" and comparing it to a $100 camera, is not the same as more expensive cameras that have quality lenses. Of course not, it just makes saying "have Carl Zeiss lenses" relatively meaningless. My point is that the widespread industry trend to licen...
by Rosebud
Sat Nov 09, 2013 10:42 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions
Replies: 71
Views: 6124

Re: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions

tibbitts wrote: I'm guessing it's usually more of a licensing-the-name relationship - like Schneider and all the companies they license their name to. I'm pretty sure that lens on the front of my $100 camera bears very little resemblance to a Apo-Digitar.
The Sony RX100-II ($750) and Sony RX1 ($2800) have Carl Zeiss lenses. I'm not trying to push Sony since I'll probably get either a Nikon or Canon for a DSLR, but just want to point out that making reference to a "licensing-the-name relationship" and comparing it to a $100 camera, is not the same as more expensive cameras that have quality lenses.
by Rosebud
Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions
Replies: 71
Views: 6124

Re: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions

The Sony RX100 and RX100-M2 have Carl Zeiss lenses.
by Rosebud
Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:08 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions
Replies: 71
Views: 6124

Re: Looking to purchase a Camera... Any Suggestions

Love my Sony RX100-M2 and Canon SX50. The Canon SX50 has a 50x zoom which I thought was ridiculous when I bought it, but I wanted the viewfinder. I live on San Francisco Bay and so I see shorebirds every day and it turns out the 50x zoom is really quite wonderful for getting closeups of Great Blue Herons, Egrets and countless other birds that are either here yearround or stop over when they are migrating during the winter and spring. My friends say they think the pictures have been amazing and the quality of the photographs have been much higher than I was expecting, so I've been quite happy with it. The Sony only has a 3.6x zoom, but with 20.2 mp it actually performs quite well with the digital zoom or the clear zoom which I had not used p...
by Rosebud
Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Federal Retirees: Why Medicare?
Replies: 58
Views: 10781

Re: Federal Retirees: Why Medicare?

For what it's worth, a lawyer in the D.C. suburbs who deals with lots of retired Federal employees said that most of them sign up for Medicare A and B and Blue Cross. My recollection is that if you have FEHB, that you are required to sign up for Medicare Part A when you become eligible, since it is free. I've also read that some of the Blue Cross plans require that you have Medicare A and B if you are eligible for Medicare. I'm in Northern California and when I changed over to the Kaiser FEHB Medicare Advantage Plan, they asked to see my Medicare card because they said that most of the members of the FEHB Plan have Part A, but very few have signed up for Part B. So I think it varies depending on what part of the country you live in and whe...
by Rosebud
Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Federal Retirees: Why Medicare?
Replies: 58
Views: 10781

Re: Federal Retirees: Why Medicare?

baw703916 wrote:You're right--I need to get the terminology straight. :oops:

Is there any reason that someone with FEHB as secondary would need or want to get Medicare advantage, though? Honestly, I don't know.

Brad
I had Medicare Parts A and B and for several years I used Kaiser FEHB Standard. For 2013, Kaiser implemented a deductible for the Standard coverage as well as some higher co-pays. Kaiser has an FEHB Medicare Advantage Plan, that does require that you belong to Medicare Parts A and B, and the benefits made it worthwhile to change to their FEHB Medicare Advantage Plan.
by Rosebud
Sat Sep 14, 2013 11:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Got fired earlier this week, now the boss wants me back
Replies: 123
Views: 20540

Re: Got fired earlier this week, now the boss wants me back

"That *might* be the only reason I would stay temporarily. However, the office manager (who is an outstanding and upstanding person) has assured me that I will get a good reference for future employers (as an aside, my firing occurred despite her strong objections.)" In my experience, employers will sometimes view a good reference as an indication that the previous employer does not want to be sued if they give a bad reference. If someone is employed they can at least reassure themselves that you must be performing reasonably well or you would have lost your job. If you are between jobs, they don't really have any way of knowing what the real reason is for your status. You're in a much stronger position if you look for a job while...
by Rosebud
Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:48 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Got fired earlier this week, now the boss wants me back
Replies: 123
Views: 20540

Re: Got fired earlier this week, now the boss wants me back

tylerdurden wrote:As others have stated, I would also go back to the old job while you look for a new one. Whether or not you get more money out of it is your choice, but I think having the job provides you additional time to find a different job, and might make you more "employable" since you are currently working.

Good luck.
+1 (It is much easier to get a new job when you are currently working.)
by Rosebud
Fri Jul 12, 2013 12:11 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: All Wheel Drive vs. Front Wheel Drive
Replies: 59
Views: 19888

Re: All Wheel Drive vs. Front Wheel Drive

I had an Audi A4 and now a Volvo x90 SUV that both had AWD. I live in California, so don't run into snow at all and ice hardly at all. However, I do think the vehicles with the AWD handled much better than the FWD cars I've owned. And, people I know say they are definitely safer in bad weather.
by Rosebud
Fri Jul 05, 2013 1:50 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: PM seems stuck in Outbox
Replies: 4
Views: 1250

Re: PM seems stuck in Outbox

That happened to me, too, recently and then I resolved my issue on my own and ended up deleting the message from the outbox. It would be interesting to know how that works since I was also concerned that I had done something incorrectly and had perhaps missed a step.
by Rosebud
Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:39 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Bogleheads Without Avatars
Replies: 197
Views: 24127

Re: Bogleheads Without Avatars

Grayfox,

You inspired me to go ahead and do it and all of the instructions about how to actually go about it, made it possible. Just bought a new digital camera and am still stumbling about in figuring out how to edit, resize photos, etc. and the tips on going to Paint to resize was something I had been trying to figure out for awhile. So, thanks to all for your helpful suggestions.
by Rosebud
Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:17 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

Abuss,

The 1-year average for the VBMFX is .75% as you reported. I just wanted to point out that the ending date for that report (as cited on the Vanguard site) is May 31, 2013, which means that it does not include the drop in principle value for those bonds that occurred the past several weeks.
by Rosebud
Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:01 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

Intermediate Term Inflation Protected Securities Bond Fund - YTD - a loss of 8.7%. Who needs that for the "safe" portion of their portfolio? This is incredible. I am so glad I got out a while back and have no plans to go back in. We are following Jack's lead and advice - Total Bond Market all the way. Total Bond has now pulled ahead for the YTD, 1 year, 3 year, and the 5 year is not that far off. Keep bond investing (and all investing) simple. Comparing the returns of a fund with a duration/maturity of 9.4/8.3 years with one with 7.3/5.3 years in a time of rising yields is a questionable comparison. According to Google Finance, BND (Vanguard's Total Bond ETF) is down 4.39% for one year. VBMFX (Vanguard's Total Bond Mutual Fund In...
by Rosebud
Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bonds
Replies: 28
Views: 3365

Re: bonds

Over the years reading here I've sensed a bias about bonds along the lines that they are safe, provide solid predictable income and total returns and will act as as a shock absorber - moving up smartly in price during times of declining stock prices. I don't disagree with some of that in general/sort of/usually, but i believe the 30-year bull market in bonds with declining interest rates has resulted in far too rosy a scenario being painted for bonds going forward due to anomalously good past performance since the 80's to the present. If you just look at the past 30 years you might think bonds are a sort of "Stock Light" with a steady stream of income, positive capital gains on top of that in most years and all with much lower vo...
by Rosebud
Sat Jun 22, 2013 8:13 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: High Quality Bonds: The Only Effective Diversifier Left?
Replies: 29
Views: 4045

Re: High Quality Bonds: The Only Effective Diversifier Left?

[quote="Chris M]
I haven't read Bernstein's book yet, but it's on my short list. And thanks for pointing out that it's available in a paperback version from Amazon--I thought I would have to finally break down and by an e-reader!

Chris[/quote]


You can actually download a Kindle to your PC for free from Amazon. I don't buy many e-books to download, but did buy the Kindle version of Bernstein's.
by Rosebud
Sat Jun 22, 2013 2:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: Postmortem

[quote="#Cruncher"]For example, the Jan 2025 matures two years later than the Jan 2023 and has a 0.225% higher yield (0.739% vs 0.514%). But, because of its higher coupon, the duration is only 0.7 years more (10.2 vs 9.5). The 0.31% figure in the far right column indicates that one gets a good "reward" in additional yield, with only a slightly higher "risk" in additional duration. But after 2029 extending to later maturities doesn't garner much additional yield per year of duration. quote] Thank you, #Cruncher. This chart is very helpful. The day before the auction, I bought some of the April 2029 TIPS. I vacillated back and forth between the 2028 and the 2029 and settled on the very slightly higher coupon sinc...
by Rosebud
Fri Jun 21, 2013 10:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Good email program suggestions
Replies: 41
Views: 3737

Re: Good email program suggestions

frugaltype wrote:
Sidney wrote:I've been using Thunderbird for about 5 years now. Quite satisfied with it.
What he said.

It's not clear to me how yahoo email is involved with your email, but I see someone with yahoo email get their account hacked about once a month. Either I have a lot of clueless friends with bad passwords, or there's something wrong with yahoo's system.
I have started to notice recently that most of my spam and otherwise unwanted e-mails seem to come from yahoo accounts.
by Rosebud
Fri Jun 21, 2013 9:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: High Quality Bonds: The Only Effective Diversifier Left?
Replies: 29
Views: 4045

Re: High Quality Bonds: The Only Effective Diversifier Left?

For a wonderful explanation of why all these global risk assets have become more highly correlated, I highly recommend Bill Bernstein's latest treatise, Skating Where the Puck Was: The Correlation Game in a Flat World . It's just 32 pages and available in a paperback or Kindle edition from Amazon (that's also downloadable to a Kindle reader on any computer). He describes how asset classes with seemingly low correlations inevitably become more correlated with the rest of the world as they become more popular and accepted by mainstream investors. Thank you for recommending Bill Bernstein's latest book. I just bought the kindle version of this book and the other book in the series. Many years ago, I read the "The Intelligent Asset Alloca...
by Rosebud
Fri Jun 21, 2013 2:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

I also appreciate these threads and have learned a lot from them. Out of curiosity, I've been looking at the charts for the yields on the 30-year TIPS and see that my current position is almost the exact flip side of a purchase I made in February of 2010 and I will post both positions to give anyone who is interested some idea of the speed of the current turnaround in yields along with the resulting change in the amount of principle value, which was up in 2010 and down in 2013. February 26, 2010 purchase 40 30-year TIPS (2/15/2040 issue at a yield of 2.125%) for a total price of $39,107. October 14, 2010 sold these TIPS (selling at a yield of 1.362%) for a net price of $47,627. Eight months: Profit of $8,520. Drop in yield: 2.125% on 2/26/2...
by Rosebud
Thu Jun 20, 2013 8:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ETF Bond Ladders
Replies: 2
Views: 782

Re: ETF Bond Ladders

A short snippet from WSJ "Investors Climbing Aboard ETF Bond Ladders":
"A way some advisers are looking to cushion an extended sell-off in fixed-income markets is by combining several target-maturity ETFs to cover a broad range of years. In that way, the funds act much like a bond ladder made up of individual securities."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... EFTTopNews
by Rosebud
Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:27 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

grok87 wrote:Re your last sentence, I PREDICT that this auction will tail badly, i.e. the auction yield will be considerably higher than the current market. I'm guessing 10 bps.
A minute ago, the buy yield on the series being auctioned was 3.50% at Vanguard Brokerage! Pretty remarkable how these rates are rising as rapidly as they are. Didn't buy any at auction, but am still curious to see the results when announced.
by Rosebud
Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:23 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

Vanguard Brokerage at close of bond market:
Buy 1 2/15/2043 Bond @$84.593
Buy Yield 1.248%
Net price for 1 = $858.08

Interesting to see the Auction price given the volatility in prices recently.
by Rosebud
Fri Jun 14, 2013 6:22 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

Care to do a chart at various real yield levels to help folks figure out the cost for purposes of participating in the auction? Sure, here are the figures per $1,000 face value at yields from 0.7% to 1.5% in 0.1% point intervals: 0.7% 0.8% 0.9% 1.0% 1.1% 1.2% 1.3% 1.4% 1.5% Yield ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- 97.996% 95.391% 92.861% 90.403% 88.016% 85.697% 83.444% 81.255% 79.129% FICalc price 991.230 964.880 939.289 914.426 890.282 866.825 844.036 821.894 800.390 Adjusted Price @ 1.01150 Index ratio 993.552 967.203 941.612 916.749 892.605 869.148 846.359 824.217 802.713 Total Cost incl $2.323 accrued interest Particularly interesting to see the spread of total cost for one bond (1 bond = $1,000 fac...
by Rosebud
Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

Now, I wish I could compute what I would need to pay for my desired face value of TIPs bonds given my estimate of the auction price. Another way to compute the price if you have an account at Vanguard Brokerage is to go to the Bond page, click on the Treasuries tab, then you can choose either "Auction" or "Secondary" market. If you choose Auction, you will see that today's figures indicate an indicative yield of 1.104% which is the exact amount of the yield for the closing price today on Vanguard's site. Then, go back and choose "Secondary" market and it will come up with a chart of all open issues. The 2/15/2043 issue, which is the issue that is being re-opened at the auction, will have "buy" and &q...
by Rosebud
Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:48 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???
Replies: 99
Views: 13377

Re: 30 year TIPs auction on June 20th, 1.25% real yield???

Today's quotes on the secondary market at Vanguard Brokerage have 2040, 2041, 2042, 2043 issues that are over 1%, with the 2043 currently at 1.115%.
by Rosebud
Sat Jun 08, 2013 3:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: E-mail hacked..Now what?
Replies: 15
Views: 2174

Re: E-mail hacked..Now what?

About a week ago, I started receiving pretty close to 100 or so returned e-mails, but when I looked at them none of them were to people who would have been in my address book. I had two accounts that were compromised by this, one at Earthlink and one at Yahoo. I talked to a service representative at EarthLink and he said that scammers will take e-mail addresses and try to figure out passwords and then they use those accounts to send out mass mailings that would otherwise be stopped by the filters that most accounts have. I tried to change my password and it didn't work for some reason, so he walked me through it to change in one place that was needed to send outgoing mail and then again for incoming mail. Then, I went to Yahoo and did the s...
by Rosebud
Sat Jun 08, 2013 12:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you pay for access to www.nytimes.com ?
Replies: 30
Views: 3734

Re: Do you pay for access to www.nytimes.com ?

I subscribe digitally and then about a year ago I decided to have the Sunday paper delivered, which then includes the digital subscription. It's a little bit more expensive than just digital, but there are a number of features that I enjoy. Getting it seven days a week seemed a bit much since sometimes they pile up and I feel guilty if I haven't read them. This seems to be a nice balance for well-written journalism.
by Rosebud
Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: FERS or CSRS Offset choice - federal employee
Replies: 22
Views: 2811

Re: FERS or CSRS Offset choice - federal employee

[{Some of us are in FERS, but were INVOLUNTARILY switched (personel notice of 1/1/87 indicating change, despite hiring a couple of years prior -- before FERS even existed !)}[/size][/quote] Someone I worked with was in FERS and shortly after she retired, she received notification that they had erroneously enrolled her in FERS when she was hired and with her permission they changed her into CSRS and starting paying her the significantly higher payment and included the amount from before they made the change. This woman did not have much in TSP, so that was not an issue. For the OP, my opinion would be that you'd be better off forfeiting the necessary amount of TSP and taking the higher CSRS amount. As another poster noted, CSRS has the full ...
by Rosebud
Wed May 08, 2013 7:40 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Lessons from the last crash?
Replies: 44
Views: 6050

Re: Lessons from the last crash?

Mitchell777 wrote:Yes, I learned I had a bit too much in equities, dollar and percentage wise, for my risk tolerance. How I thought I'd feel and how I actually did were not the same. Or perhaps I just underestimated the chance of a 50%+ hit
+1
by Rosebud
Sat Apr 27, 2013 1:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Secondary TIPS Yield Question
Replies: 6
Views: 952

Re: Secondary TIPS Yield Question

Thanks to #Cruncher for this explanation. I've always wondered just how the varying coupon amounts affected the yields and this answered the question which I had thought about but had never gotten around to asking.
by Rosebud
Tue Apr 09, 2013 3:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: San Francisco with kids?
Replies: 39
Views: 3913

Re: San Francisco with kids?

The Exploratorium is a great place to visit and, as one poster mentioned, it has moved to the waterfront and will reopen next week. The linked article also mentions that because of the huge crowds expected at the new site, they are issuing tickets for specific entrance times. I highly recommend visiting it, but checkout this article for more details:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-n ... -wednesday
by Rosebud
Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Shredding docs at public places
Replies: 18
Views: 3799

Re: Shredding docs at public places

I had several bags of documents shredded, right in front of me, at Office Depot. I called first and said I wanted to watch and they said it was fine and to come on over. It was very inexpensive and I was happy to have it taken care of.