Search found 1892 matches

by SSSS
Sat Feb 10, 2024 2:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?
Replies: 46
Views: 11599

Re: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?

02nz wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2024 1:52 pm You can convert stock index funds that have a corresponding ETF, e.g., VTSAX to VTI.
Bond funds too, I did VTABX to BNDX last month

I'm not sure why I didn't do it years ago, maybe because bid/ask spreads on the ETF were crazy when it was new? I honestly can't remember.
Geologist wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2024 1:56 pm The patent has expired. Within the last week, someone posted on this board that Morgan Stanley has applied to created the same mutual fund/ETF system for some of their funds.
will be interesting to see who follows suit
by SSSS
Sat Feb 10, 2024 1:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?
Replies: 46
Views: 11599

Re: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?

Reading through this thread was a little confusing. Am I correct to assume that you can convert Vanguard mutual funds into their corresponding ETF version? Also, do you need to have a Vanguard account? What if you hold the mutual fund at another brokerage firm? Are there benefits to the mutual fund having a corresponding ETF if you continue to hold the mutual fund? If so, what are they? Thank you. mutual fund to ETF conversions can only be done within a Vanguard account and as far as I know Vanguard is the only company that has ETFs as share classes of mutual funds I think they have/had a patent on it although it's been like this for quite a while so I'd be curious about the expiration date if you have Vanguard mutual funds outside of Vang...
by SSSS
Wed Jan 17, 2024 12:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?
Replies: 14
Views: 1365

Re: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?

another TD oddity encountered -- apparently you can't hold "Zero-Percent C of I" in a Conversion Linked Account, and yet, the "redeem to Zero-Percent C of I" option still exists there. And I attempted to use this option for some bonds, because I didn't yet realize you could easily transfer them to the main account, and I didn't yet have my current bank account linked in the Conversion account.

So what happens if you do this? Does it transfer to the "Zero-Percent C of I" balance in the main account? Nope! It redeemed all the bonds to the first bank account I ever used with Treasury Direct, 20+ years ago. Fortunately I still have access to that account!
by SSSS
Wed Jan 17, 2024 11:08 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?
Replies: 14
Views: 1365

Re: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?

It's also interesting how they're able to verify bank accounts without doing trial deposits/withdrawals I researched this further and it turns out they use ACH prenotes, similar to how employers verify direct deposit targets. https://www.sage.com/en-us/blog/glossary/what-is-a-prenote/ https://www.moderntreasury.com/learn/what-is-an-ach-prenote So they just do a $0 ACH (which doesn't show up in the transactions of the target bank, at least not with any of mine) and wait to see if the bank rejects it or sends back an error message. That definitely verifies account validity but I don't see how it verifies account ownership per se.... although the ACH file format does seem to have a field for destination customer name, so I guess it might get ...
by SSSS
Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:54 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?
Replies: 14
Views: 1365

Re: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?

Another discovery I just made, you can transfer bonds from the Conversion Linked sub-account to the main account at any time, without having to mail in a form. "Transfer Security" in ManageDirect. It's the same system you would use to transfer to someone else as a gift, but instead, you just transfer to yourself, using the account number of your main account. It went through immediately, despite the holiday.

So adding banks to the sub-account is kind of pointless. Just transfer to the main account and be done with it.
by SSSS
Mon Jan 15, 2024 12:42 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?
Replies: 14
Views: 1365

Re: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?

turns out the "conversions" sub-account has its own set of contact information and it had an e-mail address from about 20 years ago, so that may be why I didn't get a notice, even though the main account had the correct e-mail

digging into the history, it seems like the conversions happened on the 9th
by SSSS
Mon Jan 15, 2024 12:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?
Replies: 14
Views: 1365

Re: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?

I mailed my bonds off on December 20, didn't get any kind of confirmation that they received them, but when I logged in to TD today, the conversion was already completed. I can't tell exactly when it was completed. Nothing in the inbox, no e-mails (including spam), nothing in the postal mail so far. But it got done pretty quickly at least. It's kind of frustrating that the "conversions" sub-account has its own list of linked bank accounts. Also frustrating that "redeem multiple" doesn't have a "check all" box. The way they handle linked bank accounts is so weird. You can't promote a non-primary bank account to primary without calling them, but you can just delete it, re-add it, and click "make primary"...
by SSSS
Sun Jan 14, 2024 9:25 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Backdoor Roth IRA requires new accounts?
Replies: 9
Views: 1403

Re: Backdoor Roth IRA requires new accounts?

there's definitely precedent for outlets asking AI to write clickbait articles against a popular thing, or in favor of an unpopular thing, in hopes it will go viral due to people sharing the link everywhere saying "get a load of this nonsense". Given the limitations of AI, some points will have some level of connection to reality, but it's likely to also make some stuff up wholesale

a somewhat well known example from the gaming world, with a number of completely fabricated statements, such as that the game has a difficulty setting, mistakes that a human is unlikely to make.

And the strategy works! I just gave them another link an entire year later!
by SSSS
Sat Jan 13, 2024 10:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Backdoor Roth IRA requires new accounts?
Replies: 9
Views: 1403

Re: Backdoor Roth IRA requires new accounts?

this feels like AI text that a human tried to pass off as his own without sanity-checking it

this is becoming increasingly common
by SSSS
Mon Jan 08, 2024 5:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?
Replies: 23
Views: 2354

Re: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?

well I got my first-ever trade violation but they didn't liquidate any of my stuff so that's good

this one was definitely my fault -- last week I thought Vanguard hadn't yet credited the contribution when they actually had, leading me to accidentally over-invest by $7000, requiring me to sell a small chunk of every security in my IRA today in order to stay in balance

I do agree with the comments saying that the way Vanguard conveys this information could be better

and the new-ish "sell ETF by dollar amount" feature works great
by SSSS
Mon Jan 08, 2024 11:23 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?
Replies: 23
Views: 2354

Re: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?

I think I've sorted out my mess

it still shows "Available balance: -$465.10" but I have $466.00 in mutual fund sales scheduled so I expect when I check tomorrow I should have approximately $0.90 in available balance
by SSSS
Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?
Replies: 23
Views: 2354

Re: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?

I got through to somebody, seems like I might have messed up after all... early last week, I took the "funds available to trade" number, and since the contribution was still showing pending at the time, I added $7000 to it & plugged that into my rebalancing spreadsheet as new funds... but apparently that "funds available to trade" already included the $7000 contribution so the number I plugged into my spreadsheet was $7000 too high. Ordinarily I would have noticed this, but I did a bunch of 401k -> 401k rollover stuff in December, buying ETFs in my 401k's self-directed brokerage and selling the same amount from my Vanguard IRA to maintain approximate balance, so I started the year with a non-trivial amount in my IRA'...
by SSSS
Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:56 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?
Replies: 23
Views: 2354

Re: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?

exodusing wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:49 am By bank draft do you mean ACH transfer? Did you initiate from Vanguard? Is this a relatively new account?

The best alternative is to wait patiently to talk to a Vanguard rep.
ACH transfer initiated through Vanguard. The Vanguard account is about 20 years old but the bank account is new (opened in December).

The hold music is terrible...
by SSSS
Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?
Replies: 23
Views: 2354

Re: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?

I'm in the phone queue... "abnormally high call volume"... no option to receive a callback this time assuming they're not able to sort this out today, I'm trying to figure out what to do since I don't want them selling stuff at random I have both ETFs and mutual funds in the IRA my first idea was to sell $7000 out of VIPSX (inflation-protected securities) and then re-buy it when my contribution is credited, but since it's a mutual fund, I think if I sell from it, it might restrict me from buying back in for a while so I'm thinking I should probably sell out of one of the ETFs instead... probably BND.... I know the "proper" thing to do would be to sell proportionally out of everything so balance is maintained but I really...
by SSSS
Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:02 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?
Replies: 23
Views: 2354

Vanguard "you don't have enough money to pay for a recent trade" but I made an IRA contribution on January 1st?

I'm preparing to call Vanguard but I expect it'll take me a while to get through to somebody and this has me really worried so I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or has gone through something similar to this January 1 (yes I know it's a holiday) I initiated my $7000 IRA contribution for tax year 2024 by bank draft January 3 the money was removed from my bank account on the Vanguard side, the transaction moved from "order status" to "transaction history", with both the "settlement date" and "trade date" listed as January 3 throughout the week last week, I made investment/rebalance trades, some already settled, one lists today as a settlement date (a small mutual fund purchase), and some (a fina...
by SSSS
Fri Jan 05, 2024 6:03 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard now allows purchase/sale of dollar amounts for Vanguard ETFs (fractional purchases)
Replies: 217
Views: 33261

Re: Vanguard now allows purchase/sale of dollar amounts for Vanguard ETFs (fractional purchases)

I somehow missed the memo on this... I finally finished my rebalancing today, ending off with a bunch of 1-share buys and sells to account for the market fluctuations that happened while doing my earlier, larger trades... I know it's pointless to try to perfectly hit a moving target, but ah well, it was fun. Then, after hours, I came back to the trade screen on a whim and I noticed what I apparently managed to overlook previously: "Trade in dollars or whole shares" I guess I never got an e-mail notice about this, or I overlooked it. Seems like a cool feature but someone once told me (on here probably, many years ago) "never place a market order because there's a small chance something could go wrong and it could get executed ...
by SSSS
Thu Dec 28, 2023 12:51 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?
Replies: 46
Views: 11599

Re: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?

techbud wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2023 10:01 am
SSSS wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:19 am
Jack FFR1846 wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 11:19 am call the Vanguard ETF telephone number. Not the main, wait for an hour to speak to a high school junior, the ETF number.
what number is this? I'm finding way too many numbers online and I bailed out on the first couple I tried since I seemed to be barking up the wrong tree.
Hmnm, I just did the conversion by calling the main Vanguard phone number. I told the automated system I wanted "ETF conversion". It put me in a queue and they said they'd call me back in 20 minutes, which was accurate. The conversion was simple and mostly consisted of them reading out the terms and conditions.
That got the job done. Long queue today but it's done.
by SSSS
Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:19 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?
Replies: 46
Views: 11599

Re: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 11:19 am call the Vanguard ETF telephone number. Not the main, wait for an hour to speak to a high school junior, the ETF number.
what number is this? I'm finding way too many numbers online and I bailed out on the first couple I tried since I seemed to be barking up the wrong tree.
by SSSS
Fri Dec 22, 2023 4:45 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?
Replies: 46
Views: 11599

Re: Tax free conversion of Vanguard Mutual Fund to ETF - how to do it?

I have a fund that's eligible for conversion but it's in an IRA -- in this case, is there any benefit to conversion versus simply selling the mutual fund and buying the ETF?
by SSSS
Mon Dec 18, 2023 6:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?
Replies: 14
Views: 1365

Re: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?

Steelersfan wrote: Mon Dec 18, 2023 5:38 pm How much is it going to cost to send one manifest in it's own envelope?
tricky question... the naive answer would be $0.66 (excluding cost of envelope), assuming a 50/1 split, but it might be more efficient to redo the manifests for a 39/12 split, which would put the 2nd envelope just under one ounce, potentially bringing down the postage on the first envelope.
by SSSS
Mon Dec 18, 2023 5:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?
Replies: 14
Views: 1365

paper savings bond conversion -- multiple manifests per envelope?

I have 51 paper savings bonds to convert but there's a limit of 50 bonds per manifest so I ended up creating one manifest with 50 and another manifest with just 1

The documentation seems unclear about whether you can send multiple manifests (and the associated bonds) in one envelope or if you have to send them separately.

Has anyone tried multiple manifests in one envelope and if so what were the results
by SSSS
Sun Dec 15, 2019 12:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Not Experiencing Any Problems With Vanguard
Replies: 175
Views: 16357

Re: Not Experiencing Any Problems With Vanguard

I haven't logged into my account for about three months so I have no idea whether I'm experiencing a problem or not.

It's possible that there could be a problem that I'm yet unaware of.

I was having a great day but now I'm starting to feel nervous.
by SSSS
Tue Feb 05, 2019 6:32 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Credit Karma Tax
Replies: 26
Views: 4008

Re: Credit Karma Tax

It's pretty good. My main issue last year was that they didn't support 1099-OID, and after arguing back-and-forth with them for a few days, the best they could come up with was "pretend it's a 1099-INT" which I guess makes a certain amount of sense because they both end up on the same line on the 1040. Much to my surprise, this year they actually have proper 1099-OID support so I didn't really have any issues with them this time. I do still think it's best to always prep your taxes with at least two services to make sure the numbers come out the same. TaxAct and TurboTax both let you prep for free and only require payment to file or to print for filing. Previously, TaxAct actually let you preview your 1040 (with a "do not fil...
by SSSS
Sat Sep 29, 2018 10:32 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard - You'll need to sign up for security codes soon
Replies: 194
Views: 35801

Re: Vanguard - You'll need to sign up for security codes soon

Does anybody else use Mint, and if so, any recent reports of how well it's handling the Vanguard security code situation? When I tried activating Vanguard security codes last year, it seemed to work with Mint... in theory you only have to give Mint one of the security codes and then it should be good going forward. In practice, I started getting Vanguard security codes texted to me at random times including in the middle of the night. Consequently I turned off Vanguard's security code feature, but now they seem to be making it mandatory so I'm a little concerned about what's going to happen when I turn it back on.
by SSSS
Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard to offer non-Vanguard ETFs commission-free
Replies: 245
Views: 32041

Re: Vanguard to offer non-Vanguard ETFs commission-free

tooluser wrote: Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:21 pm
whodidntante wrote: Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:59 pm 0% ER funds next, let's see if Vanguard can bring a date to that party.
A desired endgame for the investor. But I wonder where they would make up the difference. I worry less with Vanguard but it’s still a concern.
Advertisements in the prospectus.
by SSSS
Tue Feb 07, 2017 8:06 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Fundrise eREIT
Replies: 19
Views: 4709

Re: Fundrise eREIT

Mint.com decided to e-mail its customers an advertisement for Fundrise, with the ominous subject "You’ve been selected for an investment opportunity". From the subject it looked like pure spam, but it appears to be a legitimate e-mail from Mint, linking to this page: https://fundrise.com/campaigns/mint They claim to offer lower expenses than a REIT index fund, although it's hard to see how that's the case. I guess the logic is that with a fund, you only see the expenses of the fund itself, with the expenses of the individual REITs being much larger and hidden from you. Their own expenses do not seem to be listed in an easy-to-read format, but spread throughout offering circulars that are all 250+ pages long: https://fundrise.com/oc
by SSSS
Sat Jan 28, 2017 6:08 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone Switched to Vanguard Account Upgrade?
Replies: 48
Views: 26498

Re: Anyone Switched to Vanguard Account Upgrade?

Doc wrote:Hey guys do me a favor. Since you have Vanguard checks look up the bank they are drawn on and let us know what it is. It's just curiosity on my part. Maybe it's the First National Bank of Valley Forge.
For my non-upgraded account, the checks say Wachovia -- obviously I haven't had new checks printed in a while. The router number now resolves to Wells Fargo.
by SSSS
Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:49 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: google spreadsheet function, 'GoogleFinance'
Replies: 50
Views: 19479

Re: google spreadsheet function, 'GoogleFinance'

I am typing: =GoogleFinance ("POAGX", "expenseratio") The cell shows .62 but when I click format, number, percent - it shows as 62%, not .62%. The raw data the function returns is just "0.62" with no context specified, as the function only returns a numeric value, it has no way to directly specify that "0.62" means "0.62%"; perhaps they should have programmed the function to return "0.0062" instead, but they didn't. If you tell the spreadsheet to force formatting to "percentage", then displaying 0.62 as 62% is correct behavior. You have at least a couple options to display it the way you want to: 1. Leave default formatting and modify your formula to concatenate a % to t...
by SSSS
Thu Aug 11, 2016 5:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rebalancing template/spreadsheet
Replies: 14
Views: 3800

Re: Rebalancing template/spreadsheet

There are apparently quite a few people using my spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Alz0CwPKYu7QdHBleG5IdG9ZUzdPU25vZWVTSktxOWc&usp=sharing That's great that people find it useful, but every week I've been receiving several requests for write access to my master copy, and it doesn't make sense to grant those requests. Anybody who wishes to use the spreadsheet can use the "Make a copy" functionality to copy it to their own Google Drive and then do whatever they want with it. Once you've made your own copy you should have full write access to your copy, and other people (including me) won't be able to see your copy unless you choose to reshare it. Here's a screenshot in case anyone has trouble finding it: ...
by SSSS
Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone Switched to Vanguard Account Upgrade?
Replies: 48
Views: 26498

Re: Anyone Switched to Vanguard Account Upgrade?

They finally offered me the ability to upgrade/merge my Roth IRA account, but not my taxable account (apparently my taxable account can't upgrade because it still has Direct Deposit "active", even though I haven't done Direct Deposit to it in 5+ years). That's fine with me, because I'm thinking I probably only want to upgrade my Roth IRA account anyway. Really the only reason I want to upgrade my Roth IRA account is for the ability to rebalance from a Vanguard ETF into a Vanguard mutual fund without it taking most of a week. The reason I don't really want to upgrade my taxable account is because I use checkwriting from a short-term bond fund, and apparently there are some major changes to checkwriting with a merged account. The do...
by SSSS
Tue Feb 16, 2016 5:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What happens if I mail the IRS a 1040 with a watermark?
Replies: 4
Views: 1487

What happens if I mail the IRS a 1040 with a watermark?

TaxAct lets you view/print your 1040 before you actually pay, but with a fairly faint watermark that says "View Only".

As I've heard of people doing in the past, I was going to manually copy the data to a blank 1040, but then the thought occurred to me, what if I just submit it as-is? Would it be rejected because of the watermark?

It doesn't allow free viewing of schedule D, so I'd have to re-do that manually, not a big deal, and it doesn't allow free viewing of my state tax return, again, not a big deal to re-do manually.
by SSSS
Wed Feb 10, 2016 5:30 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Has anyone ever sold a brokered CD through Vanguard?
Replies: 7
Views: 1302

Re: Has anyone ever sold a brokered CD through Vanguard?

Longdog wrote:I have done this numerous times. When you request a bid, the request gets sent to many external bond brokers, some of whom may choose to respond to the request. After about an hour and a half, Vanguard will present to you the best bid. At that time, you can choose to accept (sell) or reject (don't sell) the bid. Given that process, I'm pretty sure people are involved, both at Vanguard and elsewhere.
Thank you for the information. Do you remember if the quotes you got were close to the current Ask price, or were they way off? Does it matter how much you're selling, like if it's just $3000, does anyone even bother to respond?
by SSSS
Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Has anyone ever sold a brokered CD through Vanguard?
Replies: 7
Views: 1302

Has anyone ever sold a brokered CD through Vanguard?

I bought a brokered CD through Vanguard last year and I don't anticipate having to sell it before maturity, but I'm kind of curious about what the process would be like if I did. Has anyone ever done this?

Even during trading hours, there's no Bid price listed so acting like I'm going to sell it goes to a "request a quote" page, and I didn't proceed from there because I don't actually want to sell it & I was afraid the request might go to a person. If you actually do hit the button on that page, does a quote get generated automatically, or does it go to a person to generate a quote?

Anyone who's actually done this, are the the bid/ask spreads reasonable or ridiculous?
by SSSS
Mon Sep 21, 2015 3:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Soylent
Replies: 93
Views: 9786

Re: Soylent

Hello. Has anyone tried Soylent 2.0? Seems like a good cost-efficient means of nourishment. The taste is rather strange and (to me) kind of off-putting, but most people seem to really like it and I'll probably get used to it. Despite not containing any milk, it tastes quite a bit like milk plus a bit of a cereal taste. It's a lot more smooth and liquid-like compared to the powder versions, especially comparing to the weird slime texture that 1.4 had. 2.0 is not thick at all, so it's easy to slam an entire bottle down in a couple seconds. Keep in mind that with 2.0 you'll need 5 bottles a day for 2000 calories. 1.5 is a considerably better value, especially considering the recent price drop. It's also a lot easier to add flavor when mixing ...
by SSSS
Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Purchasing ETFs in Vanguard
Replies: 10
Views: 1742

Re: Purchasing ETFs in Vanguard

OK, I don't have a specific MM fund in my taxable account at Vanguard so that may be the issue. Now how to figure out how to get a MM fund with no $$ in the account. You can't have a brokerage account without a Money Market fund attached to it as a sweep account, and you can't buy ETFs without a brokerage account. Are you sure you actually have a brokerage account? Each brokerage account only applies to a single account type (for example, taxable, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA). If you only have a Roth IRA brokerage account, you can't buy ETFs in your taxable account. You'll have to apply for an additional brokerage account. Keep in mind that unless you have Voyager status ($50,000 in Vanguard funds in ETFs) or above, there's an annual fee for EA...
by SSSS
Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:10 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Question about Vanguard policy on use of money market fund as temporary holding place
Replies: 11
Views: 1828

Re: Question about Vanguard policy on use of money market fund as temporary holding place

goingup wrote:I don't know how opening a brokerage account will help you automate your savings or fund purchasing.
It will make the money market fund exempt from minimum balance limits. Sweep accounts can be opened with any amount, even $0 or $1, and be kept at any amount indefinitely. You don't have to use the brokerage account, you just have to have it.


http://www.vanguard.com/pdf/vbcfaq_062013.pdf
Your settlement fund has no minimum balance requirement
by SSSS
Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:17 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Purchasing ETFs in Vanguard
Replies: 10
Views: 1742

Re: Purchasing ETFs in Vanguard

Since I don't have any funds in MM I thought I would transfer cash from the high yield savings to Vanguard then purchase the ETF but can't find a way to transfer cash into Vanguard. Your Money Market fund should have two relevant links, "Buy" and "Bank Transfer". If it's inside a retirement account, you might just have "Buy". Either of these options allow you to transfer money from your bank into your Vanguard money market fund. I would recommend using "Buy". I'm not sure why "Bank Transfer" even exists as distinct from "Buy" when it does basically the same thing; according to a one-time popup that I was never able to view again, "Bank Transfer" takes longer, so, again, ...
by SSSS
Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Question about Vanguard policy on use of money market fund as temporary holding place
Replies: 11
Views: 1828

Re: Question about Vanguard policy on use of money market fund as temporary holding place

BL wrote:I am puzzled because I tell V to withdraw money directly from checking to go into a mutual fund. Haven't used the automatic investment. I did use the MM at one time, but then I learned (or they changed) that I no longer needed that funded but could withdraw directly from bank account or CU account.
They're probably trying to avoid creating a multitude of small tax lots.
by SSSS
Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: how do i change cost basis?
Replies: 2
Views: 598

Re: how do i change cost basis?

It sounds like you might be trying to change the cost basis method through the "sell" interface. You actually have to go to this page to change it: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/XHTML/web/CostBasisAccountMaint/view/ViewPage.xhtml If you've ever sold shares from the account using Average Cost, all shares you held at the time are PERMANENTLY averaged. You can switch the account to a different method, but you can't "un-average" shares you held at the time of a previous sale that used Average Cost. Furthermore, if you have shares from before the cost basis change was implemented, you're pretty much on your own in terms of tracking and reporting. More information: https://investor.vanguard.com/taxes/cost-basis/ https://inv...
by SSSS
Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:49 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Question about Vanguard policy on use of money market fund as temporary holding place
Replies: 11
Views: 1828

Re: Question about Vanguard policy on use of money market fund as temporary holding place

If your money market fund is attached to a brokerage account, it's explicitly exempt from low balance limits. If you have Voyager status ($50,000 or more in Vanguard funds and ETFs), a brokerage account has no annual fee, so you can open a brokerage account (either specifying your existing money market fund as the sweep account or opening a new money market sweep account) even if you don't intend to actually use it. I have two money market accounts (taxable and IRA) at Vanguard attached to brokerage accounts; I've had no trouble keeping them at $0 for a long period of time (years in some cases) and they never close or deactivate or disappear like normal $0 funds do. I've also had no trouble keeping them at some low balance like 43 cents or ...
by SSSS
Mon Aug 24, 2015 7:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cancelling mutual fund orders
Replies: 31
Views: 5710

Re: Cancelling mutual fund orders

I have it set up to withdraw money from my checking account, and doesn't ACH usually takes 2 days? so if today I made purchase before 4pm, I will get today's price but money comes in 2 days later? how does it work Assuming Vanguard. ACH time doesn't really matter. If you submit the order before 4PM on a day the market is open, the order will execute that day, at the mutual fund's end-of-day NAV (which, for a normal non-ETF mutual fund, is typically the only price you'll ever see). Otherwise, the order will execute the next business day. In both cases, you may not see the transaction in your online account until late night. The transaction will normally show up in your bank account the next day. Examples from my recent transactions: Vanguar...
by SSSS
Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:38 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cancelling mutual fund orders
Replies: 31
Views: 5710

Re: Cancelling mutual fund orders

Investment101 wrote:got a question it says orders placed before 4pm EST you will be able to buy that day's funds, after 4 it will be next day but what time does it buy it? as soon as market opens? or I guess when the ACH transaction goes through?
Should be 4PM the next day. Mutual funds are only priced at market close; it's not possible for a mutual fund transaction to take place any other time.

Although you always get a 4PM price, you may not actually see the transaction in your account until sometime that evening.

So if you place a purchase request after 4PM Monday, you'll get 4PM Tuesday's closing price, and you'll see the transaction in your account sometime Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.
by SSSS
Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:21 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Four Vanguard International Equity Index changing/broadening indexes
Replies: 80
Views: 28466

Re: Four Vanguard International Equity Index changing/broadening indexes

Sorry, I just received the e-mail from Vanguard today, at 1:30PM CST. I guess I was the last person they notified.
by SSSS
Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:48 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Four Vanguard International Equity Index changing/broadening indexes
Replies: 80
Views: 28466

Changes to four Vanguard international index funds

[Thread merged into here, see below. --admin LadyGeek] http://www.vanguard.com/pdf/FCPZRT.pdf The new indexes will add small-capitalization equity securities to the funds’ portfolios. In addition, the new index for the Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund will add China A-shares* to the fund’s portfolio. The board of trustees of the Developed Markets Index Fund has also approved the addition of the Canadian market to the fund’s investment objective This is interesting to me because I've been using VPL/VGK/VWO/VSS for many years (based on an old Rick Ferri book). I'll have to rethink the VSS allocation now that VPL/VGK/VWO are adding small-caps, or maybe I'll just bite the bullet and replace them all with VXUS. Anyone have any thoughts on the ...
by SSSS
Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you buy used cars like a Boglehead actually should?
Replies: 168
Views: 40539

Re: Do you buy used cars like a Boglehead actually should?

Followup question: I'm researching a first-time new car purchase, checking inventory at my local dealer, and there are a few cars that are listed as "new" but with 100-300 miles on them, for maybe $1000 cheaper. Are these likely to be cars that people have bought & returned? Would it make sense to avoid them, or is this actually a good value?
by SSSS
Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you buy used cars like a Boglehead actually should?
Replies: 168
Views: 40539

Re: Do you buy used cars like a Boglehead actually should?

Bumping an old thread.

Researching car buying options, I see from this thread that back in 2011 there was widespread sentiment that buying a used car from a dealership didn't offer much value over buying new, due to new car prices being down and used car prices being up.

Do people still feel the same way in 2015?
by SSSS
Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:23 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why Is "Deflation" A Bad Thing??? How To Prepare/Profit?
Replies: 87
Views: 10494

Re: Why Is "Deflation" A Bad Thing??? How To Prepare/Profit

awval999 wrote:Because the majority of US citizens are in debt
...
people would stop purchasing things.
These points seem contradictory. If the majority are currently financially irresponsible and unable to practice delayed gratification, what makes you think they'd suddenly all become responsible, prudent, and forward-thinking in a deflationary environment?

Yes, the people here on this website might be more likely to delay purchases (although isn't predicting continued deflation based on recent past deflation exactly the kind of thing we don't do?), you have to consider that we're a small minority -- I think most people would think, prices have dropped, must buy things NOW.
by SSSS
Fri Jan 02, 2015 11:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Earned income calculation for IRA contribution
Replies: 3
Views: 669

Earned income calculation for IRA contribution

I was out of the workforce for a while an only started working again at the start of December. I don't think I had enough earned income to make a full 2014 IRA contribution, so I'm trying to figure out how much I actually am allowed.

Three paychecks might be a factor here:

1. Paycheck dated Dec 19

2. Paycheck dated Jan 2 but all for work done in December

3. Paycheck that will be dated Jan 16, about half December work an half January work

So can I only count paycheck 1, or 1 + 2, or 1 + 2 + part of 3?

Also, for earned income calculation, do I go by the original gross income amount, prior to any tax withholdings or deductions?
by SSSS
Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:18 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone Switched to Vanguard Account Upgrade?
Replies: 48
Views: 26498

Re: Anyone Switched to Vanguard Account Upgrade?

A couple years ago before they announced this, I got $10 for doing a survey where I read the proposed documentation & answered questions on it.

It's cool to see that they actually implemented it, but apparently like most I'm not eligible.