Search found 235 matches
- Thu Sep 28, 2023 6:58 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: [Safe Withdrawal Rate] Are you 3% and why/why not?
- Replies: 222
- Views: 24438
Re: Are you 3% and why/why not?
Even a conservatively invested portfolio should sustain 3% withdrawals for over 50 years in the current rate environment. Purchasing a 30 year TIPS ladder today to cover 3% should cost no more than 2/3rd of a portfolio, and investing the remaining 1/3rd in the longest dated TIPS currently yielding 2.351% should double in real terms in 30 years. Even if real interest rates were only zero percent at that point in time, having 22x expenses remaining in the portfolio should be able to fund a new TIPS ladder for another 22 years. When I used the TIPS ladder tool from kaesler to estimate the durability of a 3.5% withdrawal rate, 14x expenses remained after 30 years. What about taxes on the inflation adjustment? That would depend on the asset loc...
- Thu Sep 28, 2023 1:59 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: [Safe Withdrawal Rate] Are you 3% and why/why not?
- Replies: 222
- Views: 24438
Re: Are you 3% and why/why not?
I'm 3.5% only because I have a 40-45 year retirement period. Else I would be higher I am just a random internet nobody, but this seems crazy-high to me for what is basically a perpetual portfolio. Irresponsible, even. I'm in agreement with Random Poster, some comments above. But again it's just my opinion. Good luck to you. Even a conservatively invested portfolio should sustain 3% withdrawals for over 50 years in the current rate environment. Purchasing a 30 year TIPS ladder today to cover 3% should cost no more than 2/3rd of a portfolio, and investing the remaining 1/3rd in the longest dated TIPS currently yielding 2.351% should double in real terms in 30 years. Even if real interest rates were only zero percent at that point in time, ha...
- Wed Mar 24, 2021 5:56 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Suggestions for best listening and work call headphones?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 284
Re: Suggestions for best listening and work call headphones?
Pairing with 3 or more devices appears to be exceedingly rare as there only appears to be one listed on RTINGS.com, and that one (https://www.rtings.com/headphones/revie ... n-wireless) does not seem to have a mute button.
You can customize a table like this to try to narrow down what's most important to you:
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/table/51332
You might have to consider using a wired connection for some of your devices, but be aware that not all headphones support using the microphone through the wired connection.
You can customize a table like this to try to narrow down what's most important to you:
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/table/51332
You might have to consider using a wired connection for some of your devices, but be aware that not all headphones support using the microphone through the wired connection.
- Sat May 02, 2015 9:09 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Who's Buying I Bonds Now?
- Replies: 43
- Views: 8953
Re: New I bond rates out - not good news
We still might buy our full I bonds this year (I already bought $5k from my tax refund) because it's not inflation this year I'm worried about: it's inflation in 20 years. And once I don't buy this year's I bonds, I can never buy them again. Am I thinking about this clearly? Also, I don't see how the EE rates can be considered bad news by the author in your link. The 20 year doubling period remains intact. The rate went from 0.1 to 0.3%, so it's better than before. I'm planning to buy EE bonds for the first time ever, since 20 years from now I should be safely into some kind of early retirement. I might be contrarian to most users on this forum, but I would actually consider January 2016 to be an ideal time to dump all of my I bonds, since...
- Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:41 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Convince me to not spend my HSA
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1000
Convince me to not spend my HSA
I have what I now consider to be an "orphaned" HSA, which due to a change in my employment situation has a low probability of seeing any added contributions in the near future. Pushing the issue, the current custodian has also begun charging a $3 monthly maintenance fee. The current balance is just over $2k, which seems to limit my alternatives to very low yielding savings accounts or investment options with excessively high expense ratios. Up until now I had subscribed to the Boglehead principle of treating the HSA as an additional retirement account, but the additional drag of lower yielding accounts or higher fees has me thinking that I would be better off keeping the funds in taxable space, such as Series I savings bonds. Next...
- Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:08 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: HSA pre-tax contribution rules
- Replies: 19
- Views: 2912
Re: HSA pre-tax contribution rules
This is a function of the company policies and their payroll processing. You could certainly check with HR, but it might not be possible. Company HSA contributions are very often contingent on employee contributions in the pay period. So a company might use the method you describe to ensure that contributions are spaced evenly. I can confirm this. For me personally I was able to go from 0 contributions for 2014 to maxing out my HSA using the last 9 paychecks of the year. The online tool did this for me. I am also able to arbitrarily select any amount I want deducted. Definitely worth contacting HR since it's possible to deduct arbitrary amounts. As for my company contributions it's just a flat $10 per pay check, makes no difference what I ...
- Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:25 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Best place for cash in HSA?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 840
Re: Best place for cash in HSA?
Their website states "All funds may be purchased at net asset value (NAV) without a front end load. Redemption fees may apply." so there seems to be an exemption. None of the funds list a redemption load. That is certainly a relief. All four of the fund options still have moderately high expense ratios, but the more important question to ask is whether any of them fit into your desired asset allocation. At first glance, it appears that only PAGNX might have averted losses during 2008, so the other funds are higher risk alternatives. My personal opinion on these as well as the fixed income funds that were offered for investment in my HSA is that the expenses take away so much of the yield that it is not worth taking on the additio...
- Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:01 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Best place for cash in HSA?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 840
Re: Best place for cash in HSA?
I'm also currently considering my options for investing some HSA funds, so I thought I would contribute my thoughts on the topic. Are all of those funds really charging a load? If so, then it would take many years before any of those funds would come ahead of the simple 0.4% interest on the cash account. As long as you are needing to keep a fixed income allocation within your HSA, I would say that the 0.4% cash account is the simplest answer right now. At the cost of additional complexity, perhaps you could roll over the excess cash above the minimum into an HSA somewhere else. I am considering rolling over my HSA to Lake Michigan Credit Union. You might have additional options in your area based on this list: http://www.depositaccounts.com...
- Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Wells Fargo "Wells-Trade" Brokerage Questions
- Replies: 23
- Views: 6059
Re: Wells Fargo "Wells-Trade" Brokerage Questions
Those two funds (both Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt) reported that error, while other Vanguard municipal bond funds did not. Didn't Vanguard recently close Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt from retail purchases outside Vanguard? I recall a thread about that sometime last year. In my PMA-linked WellsTrade account (grandfathered pricing), I hold VWLUX (Long Term Tax-Exempt) and have no restrictions. I also hold VTSSX (Total US Index Signal) and VFIDX (Intermediate Investment-Grade Admiral). And livesoft has got it. Trading Vanguard MFs count as one of my 100 annual free trades. Thus, I would imagine new customers get the no-load w/ transaction fee charge ($35 it appears to be). Thanks Brandon! I had not heard about that change from Vangu...
- Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:34 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Wells Fargo "Wells-Trade" Brokerage Questions
- Replies: 23
- Views: 6059
Re: Wells Fargo "Wells-Trade" Brokerage Questions
I do not believe that Vanguard funds are NTF funds at WellsTrade nowadays. Furthermore, I just tried to place an order for VTSAX, and the message is: The mutual fund symbol entered is not available for purchase online in this account. I suppose it might be available to purchase by phone, but I doubt it. If I try to place an order for VTSMX, then no such message appears for VTSMX and it states there are no fees for me. HOWEVER, … I am also grandfathered into the old system, and I received that same error message for the tickers VWITX and WVIUX, and online customer service indicated to me that those funds are "not available online", but that I could call for "assistance with placing the order at the online commission rate"...
- Sun Jul 13, 2014 6:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Thoughts on 100% stock allocation for 33 year old
- Replies: 85
- Views: 17126
Re: Thoughts on 100% stock allocation for 33 year old
Consider what recent research has shed on this topic and decide for yourself:
http://wpfau.blogspot.com/2011/06/getti ... ement.html
Looking at Part B of the first table (35 year olds), does changing the stock allocation percentage from 80% to 100% make a significant different in the predicted retirement age? It is entirely up to you whether or not it is worth staying 100% in stocks.
It is also worth noting that if you are able to reach 4x your anticipated retirement expenses by age 35 and sustaining a 15% savings rate (the table assumes expenses will be 50% of income), then you will be right on track for retiring at 56!
http://wpfau.blogspot.com/2011/06/getti ... ement.html
Looking at Part B of the first table (35 year olds), does changing the stock allocation percentage from 80% to 100% make a significant different in the predicted retirement age? It is entirely up to you whether or not it is worth staying 100% in stocks.
It is also worth noting that if you are able to reach 4x your anticipated retirement expenses by age 35 and sustaining a 15% savings rate (the table assumes expenses will be 50% of income), then you will be right on track for retiring at 56!
- Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:24 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Deleted
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4921
Re: 15% bracket: convert IRA or tax gain harvest?
For those like me the path is clear as I diligently performed tax loss harvesting during market downturns and so gain harvesting would accomplish nothing except wiping out carryover losses to no benefit. Indeed, carryover losses close the door on the 0% LTCG bracket being useful. For others, I can see two general scenarios: 1) If someone never expects to live to spend their taxable account assets, then raising the cost basis using the 0% LTCG bracket would not do anything useful, because step-up in basis will occur at death anyway. Heirs would likely prefer Roth assets over IRA assets, so performing the Roth conversion also makes sense here. 2) If someone does expect to spend most of their assets, then the marginal tax rates of each decisi...
- Sat Jun 07, 2014 1:12 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: The 2 comma paradox
- Replies: 155
- Views: 20871
Re: The 2 comma paradox
Reaching the two comma level is easier if one simply uses the lakh (1,00,000), particularly if held in rupees.sscritic wrote:Use a base other than 10 for your number system, and you can easily change the number of commas to suit your taste. Or, you can change where you put your commas as is sometimes done in ChinaOne wan (萬, 万) is 10,000. In speech, one million is 100 wan. With 100 wan, you only have 1 comma. You need a wan of wan to get two commas, i.e., 1,0000,0000 (100,000,000). You aren't anywhere near two commas.thus 1,234,567,890 is regrouped here as 12,3456,7890
On a more serious note, if someone is risk averse why not buy TIPS?
- Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:11 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: 529 vs taxable for 15% marginal tax bracket?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 5979
Re: 529 vs taxable for 15% marginal tax bracket?
The wash sale rule only applies to capital losses, not capital gains. As sunnyday noted, you could both tax gain harvest and tax loss harvest to your advantage. Vanguard's frequent trading policy does not apply to ETFs.sunnyday wrote:asif, I would call Vanguard to ask them about the wash-sale rule and short term trading fees for the specific funds that you have.
You are in a good spot to both tax gain harvest and tax loss harvest.
- Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: 529 vs taxable for 15% marginal tax bracket?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 5979
Re: 529 vs taxable for 15% marginal tax bracket?
If you do end up going with the 529 route, you might consider the Colorado 529 which offers a stable value fund currently yielding 2.64% : http://thefinancebuff.com/colorado-stable-value-plus-529-plan-3-04-percent-return-guaranteed-through-december-31-2013.html That's a very attractive short-term interest rate, but it still has to be weighed against the potential disadvantages of the 529 account. Tuition paid using 529 plan withdrawals isn't deductible on your tax return, while tuition paid from a taxable account (up to a certain limit) is deductible for most in the 15% tax bracket and in some instances can even be a tax credit. Given that 529 assets are treated no more favorably than taxable assets in financial aid calculations, the 529 d...
- Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:22 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: 529 vs taxable for 15% marginal tax bracket?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 5979
Re: 529 vs taxable for 15% marginal tax bracket?
If you do end up going with the 529 route, you might consider the Colorado 529 which offers a stable value fund currently yielding 2.64% : http://thefinancebuff.com/colorado-stable-value-plus-529-plan-3-04-percent-return-guaranteed-through-december-31-2013.html That's a very attractive short-term interest rate, but it still has to be weighed against the potential disadvantages of the 529 account. Tuition paid using 529 plan withdrawals isn't deductible on your tax return, while tuition paid from a taxable account (up to a certain limit) is deductible for most in the 15% tax bracket and in some instances can even be a tax credit. Given that 529 assets are treated no more favorably than taxable assets in financial aid calculations, the 529 do...
- Sat May 31, 2014 2:43 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Telecom Quandary
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1759
Wi-Fi Calling
I realize that you still may not feel that you are getting the full value of your service when doing this, but are you able to enable Wi-Fi calling on your device?
http://support.t-mobile.com/community/c ... fi-calling
Not all phones support this feature, but many of the devices sold thru T-Mobile do.
http://support.t-mobile.com/community/c ... fi-calling
Not all phones support this feature, but many of the devices sold thru T-Mobile do.
- Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:19 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Please explain a 3% SWR to me
- Replies: 92
- Views: 29057
Re: Please explain a 3% SWR to me
I wonder if there is a general bias against SPIAs among Bogleheads, or if there is some other consideration that I am missing. Most of us love SPIAs... It's only "good" annuity... It also means no inheritance, so few of us want to go 100% SPIA. When I retire with $2 million, I definitely see myself buying a SPIA for $200,000 every 5 years until our expenses are fully covered. Indeed, by using SPIAs, the same effective spending power can be achieved with less than 100% of the portfolio. As an example, opting for a 4% SPIA instead of a 3% SWR would leave the remaining 25% of the entire portfolio to be passed along to heirs. Meanwhile, the inheritance would have a lower risk of being depleted due to future market volatility because ...
- Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:34 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Please explain a 3% SWR to me
- Replies: 92
- Views: 29057
Re: Please explain a 3% SWR to me
starbux wrote: I think the desire to pass things along to heirs must be a bigger driver in this. No, it's not money to pass along to heirs. The "safe" withdrawal rate is based on a specified failure rate of going broke. Most people want only a 10% chance of failure and the safe withdrawal rate is determined on market returns and volatility. Of course, this means that while 10% may fail, 90% will not only not fail, but they will grow. I know, it's just bad luck. :wink: The safe rate is defined as a starting withdrawal rate with inflation increases each year, come hell or high water. That means a complete idiot should not run out of money, even if they made no adjustments for any events. The rate was 4%, then it was recently change...
- Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:46 am
- Forum: US Chapters
- Topic: Austin Chapter Meeting February 15th
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1510
Re: Austin Chapter Meeting February 15th
I will plan on being there!
- Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:06 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The new safe withdrawal rate
- Replies: 292
- Views: 29490
Re: The new safe withdrawal rate
I don't understand why anyone of normal retirement age would need to accept living on less than 4% of their assets to meet their minimum acceptable lifestyle, when a 60 year old female can purchase a life annuity with an inflation protection rider yielding 3.99888% :
http://www.principal.com/retirement/inc ... income.htm
http://www.principal.com/retirement/inc ... income.htm
- Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:58 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Meet CoRI: Your Retirement guide
- Replies: 10
- Views: 2398
Re: Meet CoRI: Your Retirement guide
The ELM Income Annuity currently offers inflation adjusted rates in the 4% range: http://www.principal.com/retirement/inc ... income.htmRanger wrote:From Blackrock website " The CoRI Retirement Index (CoRI Index) provides a daily "level" that can be used to calculate an estimate of how much annual income your current savings could generate beginning the year you turn 65 - as early as 10 years before retirement. Specifically, your CoRI Index level helps you determine an estimate of how much money you need today to generate each dollar of cost of living adjusted-annual income in retirement"
So one needs to inflation indexed annuity figure to compare CoRI figures
- Sat Aug 03, 2013 1:16 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Meet CoRI: Your Retirement guide
- Replies: 10
- Views: 2398
Re: Meet CoRI: Your Retirement guide
It seems like an interesting concept, but unfortunately they seem to assume a SWR in excess of 5%. The CoRI index for a 64 year old retiring at 65 was 19.03, but I'm fairly sure that most Bogleheads aim to accumulate at least 25 times annual spending for retirement.
- Tue Apr 23, 2013 10:48 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Short term savings/emergency fund
- Replies: 24
- Views: 3258
Re: Short term savings/emergency fund
This and a few other similar ideas have been posted by tfb in his 'Double the Bond Yield' series:notoriousfinch wrote:A savings account at Mango can earn upwards of 4%
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =2&t=94135
http://thefinancebuff.com/tag/by2
- Tue Apr 23, 2013 9:15 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: "really bad hour" at about 1:10pm today?
- Replies: 34
- Views: 4848
Re: "really bad hour" at about 1:10pm today?
There are some things you cannot control. But here, I think it's a terrific reminder that if you're placing an order to buy an ETF, you'd probably be better served by placing a limit order and avoiding "market price" altogether. Artsdoctor Indeed, these types of events make me no more fearful of using ETFs, though they do make me thankful that I'm past my pre-boglehead days when I used to think that leaving a trailing stop order open might be a good idea. Nowadays I'm tempted to think I could benefit from leaving an open buy limit order at some wildly low price with the slim chance of catching a deal on some market glitch. Your order would be cancelled. You better then hope you don't immediately turn it around and sell when it re...
- Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:51 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
- Replies: 557
- Views: 387637
Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
I've just left my account generally idle, aside from the monthly deposits. Then I occassionally spend small amounts on the prepaid card from time to time while pulling up to $100 cash back at the checkout during the purchase. Micromanaging it any more than that just doesn't feel like it is worth the effort to me.
- Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:46 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: "really bad hour" at about 1:10pm today?
- Replies: 34
- Views: 4848
Re: "really bad hour" at about 1:10pm today?
Indeed, these types of events make me no more fearful of using ETFs, though they do make me thankful that I'm past my pre-boglehead days when I used to think that leaving a trailing stop order open might be a good idea. Nowadays I'm tempted to think I could benefit from leaving an open buy limit order at some wildly low price with the slim chance of catching a deal on some market glitch.Artsdoctor wrote:There are some things you cannot control. But here, I think it's a terrific reminder that if you're placing an order to buy an ETF, you'd probably be better served by placing a limit order and avoiding "market price" altogether.
Artsdoctor
- Sun Apr 21, 2013 3:34 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Article: EE Bonds are the best Long Term bond
- Replies: 84
- Views: 9394
Re: Article: EE Bonds are the best Long Term bond
The same thing applies to 401k, 403b and other retirement plans. You could say they're all tax time bombs. Well, Mel, I'm not withdrawing my TSP all at once, but I take your point. Certainly the RMD's will represent a fairly significant tax nut over time. That's why I'll be finished converting my wife's traditional IRA to Roth over the next ten years, before I'm required to begin taking distributions. Hey, I'm not complaining...having to manage money is a lot better than having to manage without. :sharebeer Redeeming $20,000 in bonds in a year would be no different than taking an RMD, as you correctly pointed out. Smart investors do tax planning to minimize their taxes, whether the bill is from redeeming Savings Bonds or having to take the...
- Sat Apr 20, 2013 11:25 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Where to Put Money Set Aside for Kids
- Replies: 18
- Views: 2864
Re: Where to Put Money Set Aside for Kids
If you are able to truly commit to a 20 year time horizon, then EE Savings Bonds are one of the best deals out there right now given that they guarantee 3.5% over 20 years. Being free from state income tax (and federal income tax when used for education) is an added bonus.
- Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:55 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Available cash for 3 years. Best investment alternative.
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1917
Re: Available cash for 3 years. Best investment alternative.
As others have noted, your options for a short time horizon are very limited. The best you can do is to thoroughly search for the best CD rates both nationally and in your local area. This blog gives a summary of some of the best rates currently:
http://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/201 ... -2013.html
CDs from either Ally or Barclays have reasonably short early withdrawal penalties, would could give you the advantage of being able to withdraw the funds anywhere between 2 years and 5 years without sacrificing as much yield. That is, if you end up needing the funds a little earlier or later than 3 years, there would be little loss.
http://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/201 ... -2013.html
CDs from either Ally or Barclays have reasonably short early withdrawal penalties, would could give you the advantage of being able to withdraw the funds anywhere between 2 years and 5 years without sacrificing as much yield. That is, if you end up needing the funds a little earlier or later than 3 years, there would be little loss.
- Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:44 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Help w/ a $55M portfolio?
- Replies: 51
- Views: 9289
Re: Help w/ a $55M portfolio?
Although I would find it difficult to spend $700k annually myself, in the context of the OP it is not unreasonable at all. At about 1.1% of net worth, it could easily be argued that this is a very conservative spending level even for someone who is no longer working. Based on that relatively low spending level I would assume that the primary goal is for bequests (and possibly charity as well) rather than sustaining consumption at the current rate, which is easily achieved. A very long term investment horizon is appropriate then, which would ordinarily call for a higher percentage of stocks. I have to admit that I would be tempted to do somewhat less "Bogleheadish" things if I found myself in the OP's situation such as overweight l...
- Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:22 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Dave Ramsey recommends 2 funds on the air
- Replies: 53
- Views: 25999
Re: Dave Ramsey recommends 2 funds on the air
With regard to Mr. Ramsey, it's plain as day that he has helped many, many people with their finances. And I genuinely applaud him for that. But I don't think we do anybody any favors when we gloss over the fact that, while some of his investing advice (recommending against timing the market) is good, some of it (using actively managed funds) is mediocre, and some of it (recommending an 8% withdrawal rate) is abysmal. When we see somebody giving bad advice, I think the most helpful thing we can do is to point out (hopefully in a respectful manner) that it is in fact bad advice. +1 The 8% SWR is abysmally bad indeed. I did some back-testing in a spreadsheet (based on quarterly performance data from Yahoo) withdrawing at a fixed annual rate ...
- Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:46 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Dave Ramsey and 7%
- Replies: 46
- Views: 10847
Re: Dave Ramsey and 7%
Like others have said Dave gives good debt reduction advice, but I don't necessarily like his investing advice. It's not for the squeamish and definitely not for a Boglehead. A pet peeve of mine is that Dave tells all his callers that you need a budget and you can't do it without one. Well I must be a freak of nature because I completed all of Dave's baby steps and I'm currently on the last one where I have to build up wealth. Guess what, I never did a budget in my life. A budget would allow me to spend far more than I ever did throughout my life. Any time I've projected expenses I've always came in way below. So why bother. +1 I don't need to track how much I eat and how much I exercise (a calorie budget) to avoid gaining weight, and so I...
- Sat Apr 06, 2013 7:16 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Tax advantaged cap proposal
- Replies: 2
- Views: 621
Re: Tax advantaged cap proposal
Seriously, the budget proposal hasn't even been printed yet, much less passed into any law. Per forum policy, "discussions of proposed laws or regulations are prohibited":
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=405
As much as I would like to discuss other elements of the proposed changes, they are clearly not actionable at this time.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=405
As much as I would like to discuss other elements of the proposed changes, they are clearly not actionable at this time.
- Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:32 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Places to find inflation-adjusted lifetime SPIA quotes
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2571
Re: Places to find inflation-adjusted lifetime SPIA quotes
Some rates for annuities from Principal are listed in a table found here:
http://www.principal.com/retirement/inc ... income.htm
http://www.principal.com/retirement/inc ... income.htm
- Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:38 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Are Boglehead SWRs Too Conservatve?
- Replies: 62
- Views: 7182
Re: Are Boglehead SWRs Too Conservatve?
This is actually a risk tolerance decision. How comfortable are you with the idea that you have a 1 in 20 chance of running out of money? For me, that seems scary high, for someone else it may be excessively cautious. Including reverse mortgage? I'd hate to run out at 78. But I can live with a 1 in 2 chance of no assets by 95. Kudos to you, personally that idea scares the heck out of me. That's probably more easily solved with a deferred annuity though. Or just have a self-imposed rule that you will buy an annuity (SPIA of course) if your net worth gets down to N , (N being perhaps 25% of your starting net worth). Sort of a self-imposed safety net? That is more or less what Oblivious Investor described in a recent blog post: http://www.obl...
- Tue Mar 19, 2013 9:58 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: POLL: Withdrawal Rates For Real Retirees
- Replies: 87
- Views: 10211
Re: POLL: Withdrawal Rates For Real Retirees
I too was rather disconcerted with the large number that are withdrawing less than 1%. I guess lifelong habits are hard to break (like living well below your means). I'm still in the accumulation phase, but my knee-jerk reaction to seeing that number was hoping that I don't fall into that crowd when I get to the distribution phase. It makes me think of Scott Burns' book "Spend 'til The End" where he discusses "consumption smoothing". Of course, it's better to die rich, than die poor. But still: I'd like my family to be able to enjoy the abundance we're blessed with while I'm still with them![/i] This could be the subject of a followup poll, but I have to wonder whether the significant proportion of < 1% responses is the...
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:47 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Leveraged index funds (long term)
- Replies: 44
- Views: 3989
Re: Leveraged index funds (long term)
It seems to me that tilting towards small cap and value would be a lower cost way to push further out along the risk/return spectrum than using leverage.
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:41 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Investment help for the moderately clueless
- Replies: 5
- Views: 955
Re: Investment help for the moderately clueless
Welcome to the Bogleheads forum! Please express my gratitude to your husband for his service on my behalf. You may find the information in the wiki on Military finances helpful. 1. We plan to open Roth IRA's this month and my husband is military. Would the Roth TSP be as good of an option as either USAA or Vanguard? Given our ages, does an 80/20 asset allocation make sense? The Thrift Savings Plan actually offers Vanguard funds at a lower cost than available to the general public, so it is the best option available to you. If you are actually in the 25% or higher marginal tax bracket this year, then you may want to consider switching to the (traditional) TSP instead of the Roth TSP, as the current tax deduction is likely worth more to you i...
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:03 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: I dont understand how Ibonds are a good investment
- Replies: 29
- Views: 5793
Re: I dont understand how Ibonds are a good investment
The SEC yield on the high quality intermediate term muni bond funds offered by Vanguard is around 1.5%, which isn't really any higher than the expected inflation rate going forward. The advantage of the muni bond funds are that only the capital gains are taxed, but this comes with the disadvantage that there could potentially be some losses if interest rates increases. The advantage of the Series I savings bond is that the value is always monotonically increasing (i.e. the value of the investment never decreases from its value in the prior month). I think that Bogleheads probably consider the purpose of their investment (a portion of their emergency fund, or long term savings, etc.) in choosing which to use, as the returns currently are not...
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:36 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Personal Portfolio Advice
- Replies: 1
- Views: 828
Re: Personal Portfolio Advice
1. First: The obvious... Are there changes we should make in our 401(k)s based on the options available? Why use the American Century target fund? I have nothing against target funds, but even the BlackRock S&P 500 fund has a much lower expense ratio. Note that by making this chance you will need to adjust the holdings of your other accounts to maintain the same asset allocation. 2. I don't think we're necessarily placing investments in the absolute best spot for tax efficiency, as things are now. What changes should we make, keeping in mind that we've got some holdings which are short-term, and therefore there is a higher cost to moving them around in the short-term? Your taxable account seems overly complex. I would keep the Fidelity...
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:02 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Time to Split Between Roth IRA and Roth 401k?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1368
Re: Time to Split Between Roth IRA and Roth 401k?
Yes, that is exactly the plan I would follow to minimize expenses.JJP wrote:It's a 1-1 match up to 3%. Would it be even better for a 3% Roth 401k and 12% Roth IRA split? I'm assuming this is due to lower expenses? Fill the IRA then put the rest into the company 401?
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:54 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Time to Split Between Roth IRA and Roth 401k?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1368
Re: Time to Split Between Roth IRA and Roth 401k?
How much do you have to contribute to your 401k to get the 3% match?
Always contribute enough to max out the match no matter what, because it is free money that isn't worth passing up even if the expenses in your 401k are very high (which they are not). Once you have put in just enough to get the maximum 401k match, then you'll want to work towards maxing out your Roth IRA (up to $5500 this year for those under 50).
Always contribute enough to max out the match no matter what, because it is free money that isn't worth passing up even if the expenses in your 401k are very high (which they are not). Once you have put in just enough to get the maximum 401k match, then you'll want to work towards maxing out your Roth IRA (up to $5500 this year for those under 50).
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:46 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: 403b choices
- Replies: 2
- Views: 482
Re: 403b choices
Past performance (rate of return) does not guarantee future return, but lower expense ratios are correlated with returns (particularly for bond funds). We can help provide more guidance if you can post more details in the format given in this post:
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... f=1&t=6212
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... f=1&t=6212
- Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:41 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Best place to keep emergency funds
- Replies: 10
- Views: 2071
Re: Best place to keep emergency funds
Bogleheads use a variety of mechanisms for storing their emergency fund (such as reward checking accounts, Series I savings bonds, short term bond funds, etc.):
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=89582
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=89582
- Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:07 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Chase Freedom 10% cash back
- Replies: 27
- Views: 5759
Re: Chase Freedom 10% cash back
Despite the misleading title, I appreciate this thread drawing attention to this card which I feel is under-appreciated. The reward structure actually gives me some motivation to keep individual transactions smaller, countering the common tendency for those using rewards cards to spend more which has been reported in the media.
- Fri Dec 07, 2012 12:09 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
- Replies: 557
- Views: 387637
Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
It is worth keeping the prepaid card, because without direct deposit to the card, the savings account is not eligible for the 6% promo rate. The balance on the card can be kept at zero. Mango will just continue to charge monthly fees to the prepaid card (causing a negative balance) and they'll get their fee the next time funds are deposited to the prepaid card.Rainier wrote:Do I have to have their prepaid card to have the savings account? Do I have to keep money on the card?
- Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:25 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Bloomberg Rates/Bonds page (TIPS)
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1434
Re: Bloomberg Rates/Bonds page (TIPS)
I may have found an alternative to the TIPS information formerly provided by Bloomberg in the Fidelity's bond search tool:
https://fixedincome.fidelity.com/ftgw/f ... renceName=
Selecting the second tab reveals the yield fields, which as of this writing indicated that the highest TIPS yield available trades at a mere 24 basis points.
https://fixedincome.fidelity.com/ftgw/f ... renceName=
Selecting the second tab reveals the yield fields, which as of this writing indicated that the highest TIPS yield available trades at a mere 24 basis points.
- Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:59 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
- Replies: 557
- Views: 387637
Re: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
Was there a debit posted to your Mango account equal to the sum I the two small deposits? I received that same error until after I had deposited funds using Paypal to ensure the Mango account balance was positive (it starts out with a $5 deficit), and then my second attempt in which both the deposits and the debit posted worked without a problem.jmorgans wrote:Anyone been able to do ACH push from Chase? I followed their usual procedure- Chase sends the two small deposits, I go to Chase and verify the amounts and get the following error:
We were unable to process your request. Unknown Error (50005)
Chase is pretty much unhelpful, only suggesting that I try again. Have gone through the whole procedure twice already with no joy.
- Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:34 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mango prepaid card - 4.8% (effective) APY
- Replies: 557
- Views: 387637
Re: Mango prepaid card - 6% APY
I thought a $50 or more monthly direct deposit was required to maintain the 6% rate, and a $500 monthly direct deposit was required to avoid the monthly fee. Has anyone had any experience with this?boglestan wrote:Yes. You're still earning about 4.8% which is very good. It's not as nice as 6%, but oh well.skr5e wrote:boglestan wrote:Sadly, they seem to have caught on to the monthly fee avoidance trick. They're now debiting the monthly fee regardless of my prepaid balance, and the prepaid account just sits at negative $5 until more money is transferred in. So it's now effectively 4.8% interest, if you have a $5000 balance.
If this is the case, would I be using the account to its full potential by just depositing $5000 and letting it accrue interest?