Search found 194 matches
- Mon Jan 04, 2021 12:08 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The Final, Definitive Thread on Brokerage Transfer Bonuses
- Replies: 2820
- Views: 447255
Re: The Final, Definitive Thread on Brokerage Transfer Bonuses
Does anyone know if you can transfer Vanguard Admiral Shares to Citi? I was able to transfer from Vanguard to Chase for a previous bonus, and I'd like to transfer to Citi for another bonus. VTSAX FTW.
- Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:01 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Series I Savings Bonds - buy from Total Bond and TIPS?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1179
Re: Series I Savings Bonds - buy from Total Bond and TIPS?
I'd make the switch now and lock in the gains on the bond fund. That's probably market timing, but you can also look at it as doing an arbitrage when rates are significantly better on the I bonds right now. Who knows if the rate difference will still be there in May.
- Sat Jan 18, 2020 6:45 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Medical Billing, is this typical?
- Replies: 51
- Views: 5063
Re: Medical Billing, is this typical?
Update: Talked the the Dr. Office and the office manager told me to come to the office and they will help me. Went in this morning and they took off all of the charges that was billed at their office and made a copy of the lab bill and said they should be able to resubmit it to the lab as annual ph...
- Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:31 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: “Beating” the market with i bonds
- Replies: 30
- Views: 5425
Re: “Beating” the market with i bonds
With current rates, I assume the consensus is to max out Ibonds before Nov new rates?
- Wed Aug 28, 2019 10:59 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: MBS (Mortgage rates) not Rallying with Treasuries
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1109
Re: MBS (Mortgage rates) not Rallying with Treasuries
With mortgages, more people will refinance if rates go down. Could that explain some of the divergence?
- Sat Aug 10, 2019 10:37 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: I bonds now a good buy?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1910
I bonds now a good buy?
For those who haven’t maxed out their I bonds this year yet, it seems like it would be good to by before Nov. Current fixed rate is 0.5%, 5 year TIPS is at 0.15 so the Nov fixed rate will probably be lower?
- Mon Aug 05, 2019 11:54 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Annual review was disappointing, what should I do next?
- Replies: 44
- Views: 6079
Re: Annual review was disappointing, what should I do next?
WEAKNESSES - I am an average programmer, despite having worked on it for a few years. I can get stuff done with what I know and copying from the web, but I am nowhere near writing production quality code. - Having said that, I understand the data workflow, mining, and machine learning fairly well a...
- Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:04 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Chase "You Invest" account - Biggest complaint
- Replies: 26
- Views: 5612
Re: Chase "You Invest" account - Biggest complaint
Maybe that’s how they make money? I haven’t found a way to get interest in cash while able to immediately use the cash like a settlement fund.
- Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:59 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: I-bonds vs TIPS
- Replies: 3
- Views: 871
I-bonds vs TIPS
The new fixed rate on i-bonds as of Nov 2018 is 0.5%, and 5 year TIPS is about 1% real yield. Which is better, assuming TIPS would be held in taxable?
- Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:00 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: CA property tax > $10K, any options to deduct all?
- Replies: 45
- Views: 6453
Re: CA property tax > $10K, any options to deduct all?
And remember that if you were in the AMT, we were not deducting real estate taxes anyway so you may not notice a big difference this year. Try running some projections with some of the online tax projection programs to see what you're in for. This is an important point. In high tax states like NY a...
- Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:12 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Maturing Credit Union 3% CD's this year
- Replies: 52
- Views: 6781
Re: Maturing Credit Union 3% CD's this year
How do I pull money out of NWFCU and do I need to do it by a certain date to ensure it doesn’t roll into a new CD?
- Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:21 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Vanguard Municipal Money Market VMSXX 1.39%
- Replies: 455
- Views: 77619
Re: Vangaurd Municipal Money Market VMSXX 1.39%
Muni mm went from a no brainer at 1.55% yield to 1.03% now which doesn’t make sense at my bracket. I switched to prime. I look at the extra yield as free money. Yes, but the point is that the muni MM yields seem to be cyclical, and it looks like we are at the bottom of the trough of the cycle, and ...
- Tue May 29, 2018 7:35 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: It's 529 day!
- Replies: 1
- Views: 765
It's 529 day!
May 29 is 529 day. There are a few promotions happening right now:
https://www.savingforcollege.com/articl ... avings-day
I'll be taking advantage of California's ScholarShare 529 Day Match Promotion
https://www.savingforcollege.com/articl ... avings-day
I'll be taking advantage of California's ScholarShare 529 Day Match Promotion
- Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:11 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Forgot AMT on taxes
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1050
Re: Forgot AMT on taxes
You need to file an amended return. There will not be a penalty since you don’t owe taxes. Next year, try TurboTax or something. I don’t understand why anyone would file by hand when tax software is so much better at doing the calculations. You can still review how they fill out the form, so it’s no...
- Mon Dec 04, 2017 11:36 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Stable Value funds in 529 Plans
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1809
Re: Stable Value funds in 529 Plans
The Colorado Stable Value rate has been going down while interest rate has gone up. I've been using it as a high interest savings account (I don't have kids yet), and the new 2.29% rate is still a bit higher than savings accounts, but I think I'm going to take my money elsewhere soon.
- Sat Jan 21, 2017 1:28 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Specific question regarding relative tax efficiency (VSS, VWO, VBR)
- Replies: 13
- Views: 3960
Re: Specific question regarding relative tax efficiency (VSS, VWO, VBR)
With some of the 2016 numbers out, it seems yet again iShares foreign funds are more tax efficient than the Vanguard equivalent. Higher % qualified dividend and higher foreign tax paid. Now I just need a "correction" in the market to tax loss harvest and swap my Vanguard funds for iShares....
- Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:20 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Tax efficiency of Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund ?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1716
Re: Tax efficiency of Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund ?
I don't see the point of holding this fund at all. There are many ways to get a better yield guaranteed. Why would you risk your money for a laughable 0.7%?
- Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:34 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Looking for a good way to get some exposure to SHORT TERM international bonds via ETF or mutual fund
- Replies: 6
- Views: 816
Re: Looking for a good way to get some exposure to SHORT TERM international bonds via ETF or mutual fund
What's the point of buying short term international bonds? Wouldn't a CD at 1-2% be guaranteed to do better?
- Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Should I Buy an IPhone 5S?
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4455
Re: Should I Buy an IPhone 5S?
I am in disbelief. I consider myself a frugal person but I cannot imagine anyone using an iPhone 4 today. That was a terrible phone. The 5s is probably good for a few more years but if you use a 6 for a few days you'll never go back to the 5s. Are you seriously not willing to spend more than $30/yr ...
- Sat Oct 22, 2016 7:38 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Peer to Peer Lending
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2755
Re: Peer to Peer Lending
I think it's reasonable to put a small amount in these alternative investments since they are less correlated with other asset classes (closest is probably junk bonds but even that correlation is pretty low). I would only do it in an IRA though, and lending club has a $5k minimum for that. They do h...
- Fri Oct 21, 2016 7:34 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Very tough career choice part 2 (ego, startup, hedge funds)
- Replies: 97
- Views: 14338
Re: Very tough career choice part 2 (ego, startup, hedge funds)
Don't forget to figure out your stock option exercise and AMT situation. It would have been much easier if you had exercised earlier, but now you have to pay a lot of AMT.
Given that it's close to end of the year, you can exercise half this year and half next year to reduce the pain.
Given that it's close to end of the year, you can exercise half this year and half next year to reduce the pain.
- Sun Mar 13, 2016 10:48 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: 300 dollars for Chase savings offer
- Replies: 40
- Views: 10476
Re: 300 dollars for Chase savings offer
Where did you get the $300 savings offer? I've only seen $200 for savings and $300 for checking.
- Sat Mar 12, 2016 10:55 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Brokerage is reporting wash sale for sell within 30 days
- Replies: 3
- Views: 596
Brokerage is reporting wash sale for sell within 30 days
I bought some shares and sold them within 30 days as part of my tax loss harvesting. I made sure to include all the tax lots that were acquired within 30 days as part of the sell, but Fidelity is still reporting this as a wash sale. Is this expected? The wiki https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Wash_sal...
- Sat Jan 09, 2016 9:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Best wireless providers for managing shared data plans?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 3553
Re: Best wireless providers for managing shared data plans?
If you don't like T-Mobile's coverage, Cricket Wireless (owned by AT&T) has the best family plan: https://www.cricketwireless.com/5for100 You can get 4 or 5 lines for $100 total, and each line gets 2.5 Gb, not shared. You can upgrade the data on each line individually. PM me if you want a $25 re...
- Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:39 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Help With Job Offer in Bay Area
- Replies: 27
- Views: 3804
Re: Help With Job Offer in Bay Area
The equity sounds terrible. What's the valuation of the company right now? I've seen companies in the $100m range offering engineers 0.25%. Depending on the position, there might not be as much room to negotiate on the salary side, so at least get some lottery tickets. It doesn't really cost the com...
- Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:41 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Dear In-Laws: Less toys, more 529
- Replies: 70
- Views: 8870
Re: Dear In-Laws: Less toys, more 529
This might be exactly what you are looking for http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/05/futureadvisors-futuregift-removes-the-awkwardness-of-giving-kids-cash-for-college/ FutureGift lets you set up a contribution page, so family and friends can give to a child’s college plan online. There is even a promotio...
- Fri Aug 21, 2015 11:54 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Question on frequent Tax loss harvesting
- Replies: 4
- Views: 796
Re: Question on frequent Tax loss harvesting
If you have 3 alternative funds then you can TLH 3 times within 30 days. You cannot buy back something you TLH'd within 30 days due to wash sale rules. I'm on my third already with VWO, SCHE, IEMG. if it keeps going down I'll have to get more creative.
- Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:57 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: If you don't care about volatility, are long-term bonds better than total bond?
- Replies: 66
- Views: 10309
Re: If you don't care about volatility, is long-term bonds better than total bond?
Well, there is the theory that you can get the same portfolio effect with a smaller allocation to long bonds than to intermediate term bonds, so your bond allocation doesn't have to be as large. I barbelled between CDs and long term treasuries. I do something like this as well. I have limited tax s...
- Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:43 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: San Francisco Bound - Need Salary Advice
- Replies: 55
- Views: 8467
Re: San Francisco Bound - Need Salary Advice
Of course it's enough. Let's say you max out your 401k, after tax, you have maybe $170k left. Renting a nice 1 bdrm apartment/condo with parking will cost $60k-$70k. You still have $100k left to buy a Tesla or something. Young techies in San Francisco live reasonably well on $100k-150k salaries, but...
- Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:26 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: High(ish) earner; spending too much?
- Replies: 71
- Views: 12731
Re: High(ish) earner; spending too much?
What if your income drops to $200k? I don't know what industry you're in, but if that's a possibility, then you'll want to save up. If not, spend away.
- Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:23 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Selecting Charities for Donation
- Replies: 59
- Views: 8439
Re: Selecting Charities for Donation
I have trouble deciding where to donate because it's so hard to measure and compare the impact of your dollar. I found that Stanford now has an online course on giving, which looks pretty interesting : https://accounts.coursera.org/signin?course_id=971859&r=https%3A%2F%2Fclass.coursera.org%2Fgiv...
- Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:56 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Entry-level job with Apple - 401K / Roth 401K help - 15%
- Replies: 18
- Views: 5846
Re: Entry-level job with Apple - 401K / Roth 401K help - 15%
FutureAdvisor has your plan options and some algorithm-generated advice. I'm not sure if their list is up to date though.
https://www.futureadvisor.com/401k/apple-inc
https://www.futureadvisor.com/401k/apple-inc
- Sun Feb 16, 2014 11:07 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Do you balance your checking account?
- Replies: 114
- Views: 8445
Re: Do you balance your checking account?
I'm not sure what it even means to balance my checking account. I just check all my accounts on Mint every few days. I almost never write physical checks, although one time I did forget about an old check that someone cashed months later, and it overdraft my account. Now I just keep a lot of cash in...
- Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:28 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Issues with small employer 401K
- Replies: 27
- Views: 4185
Re: Issues with small employer 401K
Unfortunately, you are stuck with it if you want to a retirement account. The IRA limit is too low and you probably don't qualify for deductible IRA anyways. You can try to convince your employer to change 401k providers. The ones often recommended for small companies are the Costco 401k and theonli...
- Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:13 pm
- Forum: Non-US Investing
- Topic: Canadian working in U.S. starting to invest, need direction
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1222
Re: Canadian working in U.S. starting to invest, need direct
Absolutely contribute the full amount. 401k and IRAs are recognized in Canada so you can leave it until you retire. When you retire, you will be in a lower tax bracket due to not having a job, so you will be paying less taxes vs saving in a taxable account. You should really run some retirement calc...
- Fri Nov 08, 2013 1:40 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Nov I-Bonds 0.2%
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2698
Nov I-Bonds 0.2%
The fixed rate on the series I Bonds are finally back above 0%: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds_iratesandterms.htm I have some at 0% from before, is it worth it to redeem and buy the new ones? Or maybe I should just buy TIPS (although I have very limited tax s...
- Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:37 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Asset Location for International ETFs
- Replies: 4
- Views: 545
Re: Asset Location for International ETFs
In other words, is there a rule of thumb or a website which lists the right asset location for a given ETF or Fund? I don't think so. It's not that easy to find and aggregate the historical percentages for the fund's dividend, qualified dividend, and foreign tax credit. The wiki has some informatio...
- Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:34 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Best online portfolio viewing site?
- Replies: 48
- Views: 9635
Re: Best online portfolio viewing site?
I use futureadvisor.com gives me asset allocation analysis across all my accounts. I think Personal Capital is similar.
- Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:25 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: 25 year old and home purchase
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2321
Re: 25 year old and home purchase
Why would you want a house in the suburbs at this stage of your life? Also, $1 million is 10x your salary! Most people would recommend buying <5x salary.
By the way, what's your secret to $50k in Roth IRA at 25?
By the way, what's your secret to $50k in Roth IRA at 25?
- Fri Jul 12, 2013 3:40 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Savings Rate for Single Income Families
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2856
Re: Savings Rate for Single Income Families
Consider moving to a lower cost of living area when you move to single income. You could probably save $10k/year and only take a small salary hit.
- Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:19 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Credit Score
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1063
Re: Credit Score
$3k spending on $25k limit gives you a fairly low 12% credit utilization, so lowering it won't have a major impact on your score. If you really want to bring it down, you need to pay before your monthly statement comes out (i.e. 1 month before due date).
- Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:40 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Does renting current home make sense?
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1822
Re: Does renting current home make sense?
You do not say what is the market value of the house. Your break even number is irrelevant. I'm sure your realtor has already yelled at you for listing it at an unrealistic price.
Your income may be too low to qualify for another mortgage if you don't sell as the bank might not count rental income.
Your income may be too low to qualify for another mortgage if you don't sell as the bank might not count rental income.
- Wed May 01, 2013 7:28 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Historical performance data
- Replies: 3
- Views: 585
Re: Historical performance data
Thanks! I knew I saw people post spreadsheets here, found Simba's backtest spreadsheet linked in this topic.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =10&t=2520
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =10&t=2520
- Mon Apr 29, 2013 8:00 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Historical performance data
- Replies: 3
- Views: 585
Historical performance data
Anyone know where I can get 20+ years of performance data on different asset classes like US small cap value, REIT, TIPS, etc? I want to make some spreadsheets but many index funds didn't exist 20 years ago so I don't know where to get all the data.
- Wed Mar 13, 2013 12:23 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Convert Vanguard ETF to Admiral share index funds
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3711
Convert Vanguard ETF to Admiral share index funds
Is it possible to do this without selling? I want to switch to index funds in order to setup automatic contributions.
- Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:33 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Excess Roth contribution - re-characterize + backdoor?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 759
Re:
I want to bump this old thread since I just hit this issue. Has anyone done these steps through Vanguard? What is the exact process? Step 1. The recharacterization of your excess Roth IRA contributions to Traditional IRA will correct the excess contribution to Roth IRA. This will be like you made co...
- Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:46 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Startups and 401k's
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2703
Re: Startups and 401k's
1. Do most startups offer 401k's? I was guessing "no" because it costs the company money, and at the start the most important thing is to be focusing resources on the first product. 2. If not, how much more of a salary should one ask for? How would one calculate the equivalent of a $60,00...
- Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:34 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Good-to-Go on Roth IRA Withdrawal for Home Purchase?
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2085
Re: Good-to-Go on Roth IRA Withdrawal for Home Purchase?
You can withdraw the contribution portion of Roth for any reason, so first time home purchase doesn't matter. Are you sure you want to do this though? You will never get back this tax sheltered space. Consider a 401k loan if available.
- Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:50 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Divorce to save money
- Replies: 84
- Views: 7996
Re: Divorce to save money
I was disturbed as well regarding the $400,000 single and the $450,000 jointly. Why only $50k more? It is more expensive to live as a single person than being married together. One person still needs to pay the rent/mortgage for an entire property every month, electric, utilities, etc, whether ther...
- Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:40 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Rules When Buying a Home (Advice for a First Time Buyer)
- Replies: 28
- Views: 3031
Re: Rules When Buying a Home (Advice for a First Time Buyer)
Play around with NYTimes Buy vs Rent calculator http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/busi ... lator.html and double check that it makes sense to buy a particular house vs renting a similar one.