Search found 29 matches

by frontline
Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:09 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: John Bogle has died at age 89
Replies: 856
Views: 82119

Re: John Bogle has died at age 89

A selfless giant of the financial industry !
Mr Bogle - you have had tremendous positive impact on lives of millions of Americans and across the world, including ours. Rest in peace, Sir.
by frontline
Mon Feb 05, 2018 2:58 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard site is crashed now?
Replies: 188
Views: 25178

Re: Vanguard site is crashed now?

It was working till about 3-50pm Eastern Time for me... but down right now.
Phone system does not work either... was on hold and got cut off.
by frontline
Fri Nov 17, 2017 1:32 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Forgot to file form 5500EZ for 2016 year
Replies: 21
Views: 3362

Re: Forgot to file form 5500EZ for 2016 year

For 5500EZ late filers, IRS has Penalty Relief program,
https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/pe ... ate-filers
I am aware of people who took advantage of it who were filing two years late.

Follow the instructions properly (example, write in RED ink , one time fill form 14704, etc.) - nothing too difficult to follow once you get a hang of it.

Not sure who is custodian of your solo 401k - if it is Fidelity they will help you out as well.
by frontline
Wed Oct 18, 2017 4:45 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Larry Swedroe:Better To Face The Correction
Replies: 51
Views: 8876

Re: Larry Swedroe:Better To Face The Correction

While I agree with just about everything he has said here, I take a bit of exception to a couple of notable omissions he engages in to bolster his point. He references the CAPE10 as being very high. He doesn’t discuss that returns over the next 10 hears on average tend to be very muted. I agree trying to time the market to avoid a “correction” is a fools errand. Overvalued markets can stay that way a long time. I think Greenspan, one of the smartest people out there coined the phrase “irrational exuberance” in the mid 90s. The S&P was about 766. It took another 4 years before the market fully “corrected” with the S&P basically doubling. In fact even after correcting it never got below around 840, and that excludes dividends. So if ...
by frontline
Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:38 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: CEF closed end funds- return of capital
Replies: 5
Views: 962

Re: CEF closed end funds- return of capital

You may be referring to 'Undistributed Net Investment Income' (UNII). When it turns negative, it's a concern and there is possibility that CEF is paying dividends from its capital. You can find UNII on many CEF websites including MorningStar.
by frontline
Mon Jun 06, 2016 10:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Life Insurance On Child?
Replies: 48
Views: 5352

Re: Life Insurance On Child?

I agree with the idea of getting "term" life insurance for a child around college age.
A parent should not be rebuked for such an idea !
There are legit reasons - student loans, potential monetary and care support for parents by child(ren) in their adult life, it is much cheaper and less riskier to get them insured when they are young, the policy can be used to protect child's own family in early years while they are settling in their career.
by frontline
Mon Oct 19, 2015 11:12 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Dr Bernstein: Limit Muni Bond Exposure
Replies: 110
Views: 20042

Re: Dr Bernstein: Limit Muni Bond Exposure

Thank you Dr. Bernstein for bringing awareness to the Muni Exposure risk during different market cycles. Some of us may have ignored implications by simply concentrating on the 'tax-advantaged' nature of muni bonds in taxable accounts.

As noted previously by other poster, Larry Swedroe's argument that such risk can be mitigated by buying small lots of individual bond issues or have an adviser help you manage risks, etc. does not really address, imo, the topic of excessive risk of concentrating (or not diversifying) your taxable bond assets.

With the advantage of hindsight, Larry's argument that 'only had to wait for a few months for the liquidity crisis' is more of hope rather than a sound plan.
by frontline
Wed Aug 05, 2015 4:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: In search for best HSA provider; ?Fidelity
Replies: 6
Views: 11740

Re: In search for best HSA provider; ?Fidelity

Check out, Optum HSA Bank. They have Vanguard investment options and have been in HSA business for many years.

http://www.optumbank.com/
by frontline
Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:33 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard website down
Replies: 22
Views: 3799

Re: Vanguard website down

It's back up.
by frontline
Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:22 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard website down
Replies: 22
Views: 3799

Re: Vanguard website down

MnD wrote:Are you guys all like daytraders or something? :mrgreen:
:D :D
Are you suggesting that a company managing $$ Trillions shouldn't be expected to have their website up all the time!

Its been close to 45 minutes now and its still down, hope they recover soon - a good test to watch Vanguard's IT systems' resilience.
Glad I still ask them to mail me the annual reports via snail mail.
by frontline
Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard website down
Replies: 22
Views: 3799

Re: Vanguard website down

As they say, don't put all your eggs in one basket :?
by frontline
Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:48 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard website down
Replies: 22
Views: 3799

Vanguard website down

FYI-

I have been trying to log into Vanguard website for several minutes and it appears to be down (June 18, 2:45 PM Central)

Called Vanguard and the Rep confirmed that the website is down and they are working on it.
by frontline
Thu May 22, 2014 1:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Solo 401k for just myself in partnership LLC?
Replies: 6
Views: 2435

Re: Solo 401k for just myself in partnership LLC?

Your situation is not typical (as I understood) ~ with one partner wanting to invest and other not. I highly recommend you speak to a professional (benefits plan adviser). Additionally check out newsgroups at benefitslink.com - you will get some good answers. some basic answers: Solo (or self-employed) 401k is a "company established" benefits plan. You/other "employees" (note the word "employees") are participants. Only salaried employees (owners have to be salaried as well) can deduct their 'employEE' portion of upto 17.5k /year as contribution. Company needs to 'uniformly' contribute 'employER' portion to all employees. There are some eligibility criteria you can set for the plan to give you flexibility, but ...
by frontline
Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Choosing HSA Custodian
Replies: 12
Views: 2096

Re: Choosing HSA Custodian

Check out http://www.optumbank.com/

They have Vanguard funds access with no transaction fees on investment trades.
by frontline
Thu Jan 30, 2014 1:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ROTH IRA - Investment Strategy ?
Replies: 5
Views: 1037

Re: ROTH IRA - Investment Strategy ?

by Jay69 » Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:38 am
I don't really see the harm myself, the one plus that I like is you can just set it and forget it.
Simplicity (not having to rebalance, etc.) is a big plus.
by frontline
Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ROTH IRA - Investment Strategy ?
Replies: 5
Views: 1037

Re: ROTH IRA - Investment Strategy ?

retiredjg - thanks for your reply. As a general rule, I also don't like segregating money.

To me, ROTH acct's characteristics influence me to treat it differently. Kind of like 'locating of funds to appropriate accounts' - such as placing taxable bond in Tax qualified accts.
I would like to test this thought with others.
by frontline
Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:39 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ROTH IRA - Investment Strategy ?
Replies: 5
Views: 1037

ROTH IRA - Investment Strategy ?

I employ slice-dice strategy for asset-allocations using Vanguard funds. As a result of allocating different funds according to my AA plan, ROTH IRA happens to have International Stock (60%) and Short-Term bond(40%) funds. On the other hand, I consider ROTH IRA $$ as very precious because of these reasons - no tax on withdrawal, no required min. distribution after 60+, spouse as a beneficiary can simply roll over ROTH without any tax implications. Even children beneficiaries also have variety of options. I don't want to mess around with those $$s and cause major tracking errors. fyi, I am 15/20 years away from retirement even if I have to use ROTH funds. My 1/3/5 year ROTH returns are lower compared to Balanced funds such as VG Life Strateg...
by frontline
Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:18 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Sad news - Pat Larimore]
Replies: 225
Views: 26838

Re: [Sad news - Pat Larimore]

Taylor,

I was away from the Bogleheads for a few days and just noticed this thread.
I am sorry to hear the news about Pat and for your loss. May you have the strength to continue.

Regards.
by frontline
Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:40 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: [merged donation threads] Dear Bogleheads - time to pony up
Replies: 277
Views: 25695

Re: Dear Bogleheads - time to pony up

Just sent in my donation. Well worth it. Much cheaper and unbiased advise than other paid publication subscriptions.
by frontline
Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA- I know revisiting a horse thats already played out
Replies: 26
Views: 2331

Re: HSA- I know revisiting a horse thats already played out

brokenrock:
I can understand your philosophical dilemma about keeping HSA asides for health reason. Though, consider this - health is always the first priority and one will come up with funds whether from HSA or after tax-savings as needed. Since HSA has a huge advantage of sheltered from paying taxes on income/growth of investments. That's too big of an opportunity to pass on and leave money for <1%.
And don't forget about real inflation eating away savings at such returns.

How about using Vanguard Life-Strategy Conservative Growth or Life-Strategy Income fund. Its conservative enough yet, opportunity to be at par with inflation (hopefully).
by frontline
Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 2011 BOGLEHEAD CONTEST REGISTRATION
Replies: 374
Views: 44263

1333
by frontline
Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Quicken question: How to convert to admiral shares?
Replies: 22
Views: 9864

Quicken Conversion to Admiral Shares

Here is the method that has worked well for my quicken 2010. I have also used it with prior versions of the Quicken too. This method allows to track historical performance. Take a backup before you try! STEPS to convert Investor shares to Admiral shares : 1. In Transaction Register, enter a "Stock split" transaction. Enter old # of share and new # of shares. 2. In Transaction Register, enter a "Corporate Name Change" transaction the next day to rename investor class to admiral class 3. Rename the security in Security List to new name. 4. Change the symbol from old investor to new admiral example, VFINX to VFIAX At that time, quicken would ask to "merge old price history", select that option and you are done.
by frontline
Thu Oct 28, 2010 9:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Been Watching - You all sold me
Replies: 48
Views: 5775

VG10 - I am surprised no one has suggested to you to consult a "fee-only" planner with Bogleheads kind of philosophy to at least validate your investment plan. That is not to say that you may not be capable of handling it but I would surely consult either Vanguard Fin Svcs or a planner (some of them post on this forum - i have no relationships). Your $$$ portfolio was carefully passed down and you don't want to make mistakes. IMHO, your situation is different (with gifted stocks, large $$$ port in your lap at once, etc.) than normal situation of people building net worth slowly from earnings. I also don't see the one-large private stock you have is "very very risky" as suggested here. Diversification away from is good as...
by frontline
Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Underperformance of Bridgeway Ultra-Small Mkt Fund BRSIX
Replies: 6
Views: 1690

One advantage of passive investing is not having to worry about manager risk. This fund is a different animal, as I am learning from the annual report and discussions here (like about Liquidity risks in micro market as explained by Alex). I am almost deciding to bail out. Quant fund models/players have been going through rough times. To their credit, Bridgeway candidly explained about under-performance of their funds in the annual report, though they also tried to spin it as ~ we are a different company and can overcome the hurdle. Only time will tell, but for now there are shades of Active management in this and their other funds. There is a better chance of continued tracking error here, and last 3/4 years have not been in their favor. Go...
by frontline
Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:38 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Underperformance of Bridgeway Ultra-Small Mkt Fund BRSIX
Replies: 6
Views: 1690

Underperformance of Bridgeway Ultra-Small Mkt Fund BRSIX

Bridgeway Ultra-Small Company Market Fund (BRSIX) has underperformed its benchmark index CRSP 10 (unmanaged cap-based index representing smallest of the small companies) significantly and with a large tracking error. See returns comparison of the fund and its benchmark index from Bridgeway’s latest annual report (June 2010), all periods ending June 30, 2010: ------- 1 Year 5-Yrs 10-Yrs BRSIX: 13.30% -2.98% 8.44% CRSP-10: 33.06% 3.26% 10.32% On page 41 of the annul report, manage described reasons for BRSIX's significant under-performance against CRSP 10 index. They tried to avoid "risky" penny stocks and were 'slow" to rebalance. To me, these are clearly the judgment calls that Bridgeway failed at miserably. It is too large o...
by frontline
Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:53 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: College Investments in Taxable Accounts
Replies: 10
Views: 1790

we have planned similarly for our two kids.
Other thing to consider is possibility of merit scholarships that may complement college expenses. We decided to not over-fund the 529s (not knowing how assets will be calculated for college finaid/scholarship in future).
With index funds portfolio, even taxable investments have been fairly tax-efficient.
by frontline
Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:51 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Brokerage Lost My $60K Roth Account!
Replies: 225
Views: 52383

Thanks for sharing your experience. The issue of disappearing account at Vanguard confirms views I have had for years - Vanguard IT department is not stellar and Customer Service is not top-ranking, as compared to say Fidelity. Couple years ago, I contacted VG facing difficulties downloading transactions into Quicken. The rep suggested a fix - to separate account nos. for the same fund (say Total Bond) that appeared in different accounts (ROTH, Rollover, etc.). But he also said that I will lose the history!! Based on my conversations (and with an IT background) I got a feeling that their process/system was not foolproof and he himself was not very confident. I asked him to NOT apply any fix, I have been dealing with manual download for some...
by frontline
Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Solo 401k Question
Replies: 2
Views: 1038

1) Most Solo 401k plans (Vanguard + Fidelity) allows owner + spouse as contributors. You don't have to make your wife 100% owner just for that reason. She is eligible automatically regardless of your salary situation.
Also for your salary portion, profit sharing contribution (upto 25%, same pct for your wife) can be made (no employee contribution or salary deferral since you have maxed out)
2) I am not aware of any sunset or expiring provisions about solo 401k.

I recommend you call Fidelity solo 401 specialists, they are very knowledgeable.

Hope this helps.
by frontline
Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:11 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best Advice you've ever heard and followed?
Replies: 112
Views: 17247

Live below your means.
Don't forget your roots - where you came from.