Search found 304 matches
- Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:57 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Poll: Intermediate Term Investment Grade Admiral
- Replies: 66
- Views: 5600
Re: Poll: Intermediate Term Investment Grade Admiral
There's a lot being said about CDs, and I have nothing per se against CDs. On the other hand, many folks on this Board have 50% or more of the overall portfolio in fixed assets, and for many on this Board that means $1M, $2M, $3M or more to be invested in fixed assets, and using bond funds is a really effective way to invest that kind of money in fixed assets. Also, since the bond funds are being held potentially for the lifetime of the investor, these ups and downs don't mean quite as much as they do to shorter term investors. As for distribution yield, I look at what I get in the real world when the distribution is made as representing what I just got paid, and that's the distribution yield.
- Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:28 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Help me manage a $7 million portfolio.
- Replies: 105
- Views: 24220
Re: Help me manage a $7 million portfolio.
You need an estate or elder lawyer to draw up a living revokable trust for your mother and to gradually get the amount of her portfolio below estate tax limits. As it is now, the gov would get 40% of about $2M that she holds in excess of the $5mil + limit. This can be done by gifting to children (both of you) and to deductible charities. This is excellent advice, and you should see an estate attorney immediately. Your mom needs to get her inheritable assets below the current $5M mark, which is adjusted upward each year for inflation. Her assets include not just her investable stuff, but also house, car, and anything else of value. Not only can she gift to you and your sibling (and spouses), but also any grandchildren. She also can pay for ...
- Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:05 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Help me manage a $7 million portfolio.
- Replies: 105
- Views: 24220
Re: Help me manage a $7 million portfolio.
I would call Rick Ferri and also Larry Swedroe of Buckingham Asset Management and see what each one can do for you and their fees. I wouldn't just go with the lowest fee advisor because one firm may have a slightly higher fee but give you more personal attention and better advice with regards to taxes and estate planning. Both Ferri and Swedroe have finance books that you can get from the library. Since you and your mother do not have much experience with the markets I would use one of these firms to manage your money and then later on down the road you can always manage it yourself when you have more experience and you have read a bunch of books. I would go with Rick, because Larry uses too much hocus pocus for my tastes, but that's just ...
- Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:01 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Today's WSJ: Old School Stock Picker Struggles w Index Craze
- Replies: 17
- Views: 3329
Re: Today's WSJ: Old School Stock Picker Struggles w Index C
I guess poor Wally might have to sell one of his many vacation homes. Too bad, so sad.
- Fri Jun 07, 2013 8:59 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Poll: Intermediate Term Investment Grade Admiral
- Replies: 66
- Views: 5600
Re: Poll: Intermediate Term Investment Grade Admiral
I'm holding my intermediate investment grade, with the thought of actually moving some of my short-term investment grade to it or possibly TBM. I've got intermediate in my IRA. While I'm fully retired now, I have no reason to touch it until RMD time, which for me is further off than the duration of the intermediate fund. If I understand bond funds correction, and I might not, this would mean that any drop in current net asset value would be more than offset by the increase in yield that would pay me back prior to RMD time. Anyway, I'm holding intermediate investment grade for now.
- Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:41 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The Case for Lower Interest Rates
- Replies: 20
- Views: 2510
- Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:24 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The Case for Lower Interest Rates
- Replies: 20
- Views: 2510
Re: The Case for Lower Interest Rates
Rick, Under current market conditions, do you still advocate the use of the Total Bond Market Index fund as the core bond holding in a retiree's 50/50 asset allocation plan as opposed to any other bond funds? I do use TIPS and H-Y in percentages approximating 10% each in addition to the TBM. Yes. The index it follows is well diversified: 44.1% Treasury/Agency 44.1% 25.8% Mortgages and Comm mortgages 23.2% Corporate (ind, fin,util) 5.7% Foreign bonds (Yankee bonds) 1.2% Other Rick Ferri Rick, for what it's worth, I think your article is spot on. I don't think anyone really knows what is going to happen in the context of all the governmental and regulatory manipulation of basic finance and economics. Governments everywhere want interest rate...
- Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:33 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Selling a diamond ring
- Replies: 10
- Views: 2277
Re: Selling a diamond ring
You're probably much better off using the diamonds to make a totally different piece you wife might like to have. Use your imagination.
- Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:40 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Count social security towards your bond allocatiion?
- Replies: 65
- Views: 5092
Re: Count social security towards your bond allocatiion?
It all boils down to the "Sleep At Night" rule. A person needs to be comfortable with their investment allocations, or some call it risk allocation. That might call for a 50/50 portfolio, not counting SS or pensions. It also could call for counting SS and pensions as a full member of the fixed allocation. Whatever floats your boat, so they say.Frugal Al wrote:The idea that if one has a pension or annuity and SS, one can just swing for the fences with the rest of their portfolio is problematic. Behaviorally that is a real challenge for a prudent investor to do. The danger being relinquishment of an aggressive position at just the wrong time, which we see over and over again.
- Tue Jun 04, 2013 3:05 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Discussion with Adviser
- Replies: 32
- Views: 3912
Re: Discussion with Adviser
Thanks so much everyone for the replies, all are very helpful for a new investor. Gbrainer: when you mention the tax benefit of separating growth and value funds within a nonqualified plan not helping much in retirement, i understand that given index funds have lower expense ratios. But if I withdraw a larger sum of money to buy a car let's say from an underperforming fund, rather than having only a single larger fund, say a VF total stock market, to withdraw from, won't that result in substantial tax savings? I guess that's as good a reason as any for deliberately putting together a portfolio that has at least one fund that has capital losses so you can withdraw without paying taxes. Seems to me that the better course would be to have fun...
- Mon Jun 03, 2013 2:13 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Most assets in taxable - Should I get a variable annuity?
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2281
Re: Most assets in taxable - Should I get a variable annuity
You do realize that you'll probably be paying more in gross fees than the taxes you would have to pay. I have two-thirds of our overall portfolio in taxable funds with Vanguard. I keep my bond funds in IRAs, plus a little more in bond funds in taxable to fill out my fixed asset allocation. The equity funds are in taxable, along with a bit of the fixed assets as mentioned previously. I would never, ever, ever purchase a variable annuity. Good luck.
- Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:18 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Safely filling the retirement cash flow gap
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1010
Re: Safely filling the retirement cash flow gap
Well, to secure $30K per year would require around a $750K portfolio, reasonably diversified between equities and fixed assets. Could you do it on less, yes you could, but not a lot less. Could you actually need more, yes you could, but who knows for sure. Bottom line: It takes some real coin to produce $30K per year for 30 or more years, inflation adjusted. Just saying.The Wizard wrote:Safely?
Too "safe" and you won't have any inflation protection.
It doesn't take a huge investment portfolio (stocks & bonds) to throw off $30K per year. I see no reason for excessive creativity beyond that...
- Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:44 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: More Unconventional Failure
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2952
Re: More Unconventional Failure
Great article, but we all know (because most financial advisors so say) that simple index funds are just fine for simple people who don't have much to start with. On the other hand, the sophisitcated folks all know that a more complex and demanding strategy is needed in order to meet the needs of the sophisticated ones. After all, the more it costs the better it must be.
- Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:54 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: How Commodities Can Help a Portfolio
- Replies: 129
- Views: 13923
Re: How Commodities Can Help a Portfolio
I find that it usually makes sense to ignore anyone who says that they "know" how to make money by any method other than working for it.
- Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:45 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Low Air Flow - Central Air Conditioning
- Replies: 20
- Views: 7718
Re: Low Air Flow - Central Air Conditioning
I doubt this would be the problem given the age of your system, but many newer systems have multi-speed fans, and it's possible that the high speed has broken for some reason, thus leaving you only with the low speed. By the way, 21 years old is very old. I'm surprised it has lasted this long. A newer system likely would save you a lot of money on energy bills.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:31 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: how have you performed recently
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2353
Re: how have you performed recently
You asked for clever comments.... How have I performed recently? I don't know, you would have to ask my wife.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:06 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
My thanks for all the comments.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:04 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
.... I'm not suggesting that it would make sense to invest most of a person's fixed allocation in HY, but if a person isn't going to touch the money for 7 to 10 years,.... I'd say one might as well invest in equities with a 7 to 10 years time frame. Be sure to change investment when getting close to end of time frame because the time frame in 7 years would then be 0 to 3 years, wouldn't it? But this then leads to another problem with defined "time frame" investing as already hinted at: Since time marches on, the time frame is shortening continuously. I guess that's the point. If HY risk is acceptable, then why not just put the money in equities. This has been discussed many times in the HY discussions, and there's real merit to t...
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 3:18 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
But, if a person is holding the HY fund for a long period (at least as long as the fund's bond duration), then should the same results apply to HY as apply to investment grade? No, a bunch of the bonds in HY might default and be marked down, sometimes to zero. In an extreme case, all of them... This risk exists with investment grade as well, but it's much lower. The duration math excludes credit risk. OK, I understand what you're saying. On the other hand, Vangaurd's HY fund is high quality junk bonds (if that makes sense) in that the bonds are almost all "B" or "Baa" or some combination. Yes, they default from time to time, but overall the Vanguard HY fund has an excellent track record when it comes to quality and low ...
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 3:03 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
But, if a person is holding the HY fund for a long period (at least as long as the fund's bond duration), then should the same results apply to HY as apply to investment grade?ogd wrote:The credit risk of HY is the only difference, but it's a big one. In many situations, credit risk and interest rates move in opposite directions. 2008-2009 was one such instance, in an improving economy you'd likely see the opposite. So the bond market rules sort of apply, with a bunch of equity-like behaviour mixed in.OverTheHill wrote:Do these same rules or whatever apply equally to HY bond funds, or is HY something so different as to not follow the same financial rules as ordinary bonds. I realize that HY has a higher default risk, but other than that. Thanks.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 2:42 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
Do these same rules or whatever apply equally to HY bond funds, or is HY something so different as to not follow the same financial rules as ordinary bonds. I realize that HY has a higher default risk, but other than that. Thanks.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:56 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Asset Allocation
- Replies: 24
- Views: 2351
Re: Asset Allocation
Banjo player here, also age 63. Between all the musicians around here, we could put together quite a jam session.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:52 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: What you tell yourself when you end up buying at a peak
- Replies: 47
- Views: 5153
Re: What you tell yourself when you end up buying at a peak
Well, going off to the beach is a good thing to think about, rather than buying at a peak. Just remember that today's peak will always be a low at some point in time. The market has never just kept going straight up. On the other hand, the market is way up over where it was 100 years ago.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 10:37 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
Thanks. Now, another question. I'm fully retired due to health issues at age 63. I won't be touching my IRA until RMD time, which is over 7 years off. Given the time frame, it would seem to make no sense for me to have any of my IRA money invested in short-term bond funds, since intermediate term bond funds have a duration of less than 7 years. Thus I could get the intermediate term yield at no real risk over the short-term fund to my IRA and RMDs. Am I right about this?Call_Me_Op wrote:You should have $100K*(1.01)^5 = $105,101.01 before taxes, assuming you have kept the money invested and reinvested all dividends.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 10:26 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
You guys are killing me. When I start to think I understand the long-term ramifications, I read something that makes me wonder if I truly understand. Let's assume I bought $100K of intermediate investment grade at a point when interest rates were 1% and duration was 5 years (I'm just making this up for use as an example). Let's further assume interest rates go to 2% the next day and stay that way for the next 5 years, and that I reinvest all interest along the way. At the end of 5 years, will I have an amount equal to $100K plus the 1% in annual yield that existed when I first invested the $100K, even though the rates are now at 2%? Thanks.
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 7:57 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Re: Bond Fund Question
I guess I understand. I have all my fixed assets in Vanguard short and intermediate investment grade bond funds, with a small tad of HY. My intent is to hold what I currently have invested in fixed assets until I'm pushing up daisies. I'll take RMDs at the appropriate time, so that should diminish some of my bond funds, since 100% of my IRA is in bond funds. In order to reach my allocation, I also have a much smaller chunk of bond funds in my taxable account, and I'm reinvesting the interest, although I'll probably start to spend some of it in the not too distant future for ongoing expenses. If it's true that losses in net asset value always get replinished via higher yields, plus the loss of net asset value gets returned over time, then th...
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 7:05 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bond Fund Question
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3613
Bond Fund Question
Many of the postings on this Board talk about the fact that bond funds will recoup their losses when rates go up via the higher yield over the duration of the bonds in the fund. In other words, it seems that many folks are saying that if you hold a bond fund with a duration of 5 years for the full five years, you'll have recouped all of your losses due to an increase in rates on day one of your starting point. Does this mean that you would not have gained anything due to distributed interest payments over that five-year period, assuming you've been reinvesting the interest, since the reinvested interest went to recoup of the loss in net asset value due to higher rates?. I doubt I've asked this question very precisely, but I think most folks...
- Fri May 31, 2013 4:14 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Downpayment Money from In-Laws
- Replies: 52
- Views: 6911
Re: Downpayment Money from In-Laws
Well done.HornedToad wrote:We had a gift from parents and also took out 401k loan when we bought our house to avoid PMI.
Paid back the 401k loan within a year and the gift from parents the year after that. We didn't "have" to pay back the gift as it was a gift but wouldn't have felt comfortable keeping it since parents are retired and we had plenty of money to pay them back with. It also makes it easy to go on vacation to Hawaii or Europe or whatnot knowing that you don't "owe" money to your parents.
- Fri May 31, 2013 4:12 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: What's the right allocation to international bonds?
- Replies: 39
- Views: 5244
- Fri May 31, 2013 4:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Retiree's proposed new allocation
- Replies: 1
- Views: 616
Re: Retiree's proposed new allocation
It would be difficult for anyone to say that your plan isn't a solid and reasonable plan. This said, I would probably put less emphasis on internation bonds and stocks, but that's just me. If members of your family have a history of living to 100, you might want to up your equity allocation to at least 40%, but 30% isn't out of the question either. All and all, it looks like you have a good plan, with good reasons for doing what you're doing. I assume this meets your financial needs in retirement, so I won't comment on any of that. Good luck.
- Fri May 31, 2013 3:16 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Downpayment Money from In-Laws
- Replies: 52
- Views: 6911
Re: Downpayment Money from In-Laws
I haven't read all of the replies, so this might have already been mentioned. But, when parents say "long term loan" to help with downpayment, they usually are referring to a defacto gift to be repaid only if the parents have financial problems in the distant future. Otherwise, it would be discharged via their Wills. Just saying.
- Fri May 31, 2013 11:59 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: "My guy always beats the market"
- Replies: 20
- Views: 2900
Re: "My guy always beats the market"
Just a guess here, but I would guess that virtually nobody who claims to always beat the market has ever beaten the market. Just useless blowhards.
- Fri May 31, 2013 11:57 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: New "Flagship Select" level at Vanguard
- Replies: 47
- Views: 20981
Re: New "Flagship Select" level at Vanguard
We shouldn't criticize Vanguard for trying to attract the $10M and up group. After all, you can make some real money off of 0.1% per year of $10M. Really, with all the financial advisors and brokerage firms giving them all types of useless stuff in exchange for charging 2% to 3% per year (fees and expense ratios, etc.), Vanguard is doing a public service by offering to handle the money or the rich and famous for 0.1% or less. I'll never be Flagship Select, but I truly enjoy my average expense ratio of around 0.07% to 0.08%. Whatever helps Vanguard, I'm all in favor of it.
- Fri May 31, 2013 9:48 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: VG Total International Bond Fund is open
- Replies: 88
- Views: 17723
Re: VG Total International Bond Fund is open
I have no plans to invest in international bonds, same for non-domestic equities.
- Thu May 30, 2013 4:07 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: trading costs matter
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1523
Re: trading costs matter
Larry, I simply quoted directly from the article. By the way, I thought your article on bonds was really good.larryswedroe wrote:dont know why anyone turned this into a "dfa" issue"... Sad to see that single minded people raise that issue.
Best wishes
Larry
- Thu May 30, 2013 3:47 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Advice on what to do with a sum of cash
- Replies: 7
- Views: 728
Re: Advice on what to do with a sum of cash
Sounds like this is money you don't need for yourself, plus you don't want to see it drop much in value, hence your desire for bonds. Assuming this is correct, then you could put it in Vanguard short-term investment grade, or short-term treasuries (much lower yield), or mix it up some by putting half in short and half in intermediate investment grade, or just put it all in the Total Bond Index. If the money is truly going towards inheritances for grandkids, you might want to consider putting some of it in equities, like Total Stock Market or SP500, which should keep the total pot growing faster than inflation, but you'll have to put up with the possibility that the equity portion could drop at some point in time (but also go back up at some...
- Thu May 30, 2013 11:11 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Fed tigthening? What to do? How markets act
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4162
Re: Fed tigthening? What to do? How markets act
A timely and useful article. I'll admit to not fully understanding what a rise in rates will do to my overall portfolio. I think I know, but the more I read the less I'm certain about anything. Anyway, it's good to see a good "stay the course" discussion and analysis.
- Thu May 30, 2013 9:56 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Tips on answering the question - What Should I Do?
- Replies: 165
- Views: 252560
Re: Tips on answering the question - What Should I Do?
I just read this for the first time, although I have seen it listed for a long time now. Given how old it is, I thought I would read it to see what Rick had to say back in the dark days. It's a really a good read, something that should be required reading by every investor. Well stated, Rick.
- Thu May 30, 2013 9:45 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: trading costs matter
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1523
Re: trading costs matter
"Dimensional Fund Advisors is the largest provider of passively managed funds that are not pure index funds. One difference between DFA funds and index funds is that DFA avoids the forced trading that is required to replicate an index. Instead, they use the more sophisticated trading strategies that the authors mentioned. As you review the data, keep in mind that indexes don’t have any expenses—neither trading costs nor expense ratios."
What more needs to be said. Everyone should immediately sell all of the Vanguard index funds and invest via DFA.
What more needs to be said. Everyone should immediately sell all of the Vanguard index funds and invest via DFA.
- Thu May 30, 2013 8:14 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Retirement Floor
- Replies: 55
- Views: 7620
Re: Retirement Floor
We have a variation of this. Our portfolio is 50% equity and 50% fixed, give or take a percent or two at any given time. The fixed portion is mostly in short and intermediate investment grade, with some cash and HY. We could lose all of our equity allocation and probably still have enough to take care of us into our upper 90s, absent a truly worst-case situation. Even then, it should last us into our low 90s. I hope to never find out, but this is about as conservative as I care to be.
- Thu May 30, 2013 8:05 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Vanguard Bond Funds ER Drop
- Replies: 1
- Views: 670
Vanguard Bond Funds ER Drop
I just checked my Vanguard account and noticed that the expense ratios have dropped for some of the bond funds. Although small, it's always nice to see Vanguard passing along savings to investors.
- Wed May 29, 2013 4:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Need Help - Income Portfolio for my 78 Year Old Father ?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 751
Re: Need Help - Income Portfolio for my 78 Year Old Father ?
Yeah, this is one of the rare instances in which I would agree that a SPIA makes good sense.
- Wed May 29, 2013 11:30 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Retirement Floor
- Replies: 55
- Views: 7620
Re: Retirement Floor
It's hard to know what enough is. Do you count what happens if both spouses end up in skilled nursing at $120K each for say 10 years? Well, that would take around $2.5M to handle that kind of retirement expense, using present values. Yes, you can find skilled nursing situations that cost less, but you also can find ones that cost more. The bottom line is whether you include this type of expense in your "floor" number.
- Tue May 28, 2013 6:31 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Preparing for financial independence soon
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1707
Re: Preparing for financial independence soon
Given your your relatively young age, plus 2 kids at home, I think you're cutting it a little close to retire now. On the other hand, so long as your wife maintains her license, she should be able to get work if it becomes necessary. I don't know about your situation. You might could make it just fine, but you are cutting things a little too closely for my thinking, but that's just me. Good luck.
- Tue May 28, 2013 4:24 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Isn't it a bad time to be investing??
- Replies: 67
- Views: 9265
Re: Isn't it a bad time to be investing??
Quite true, quite true. And, by the way, if you're sitting on the sidelines, just when do you anticipate standing up?Rodc wrote:Every day you have extra money to invest is a great day to invest.
When you are running in the red is bad day.
I have felt negative for the last couple of years and I'm making money hand over fist.
So I don't let my emotions get in the way of investing.
- Tue May 28, 2013 4:18 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Individual Investment vs. Portfolio Piece (Ferri vs. Larry)
- Replies: 67
- Views: 6692
Re: Individual Investment vs. Portfolio Piece (Ferri vs. Lar
To ensure there is no misunderstanding, this stuff is NOT new to me. I have been in the investment business a long time. I hold a Chartered Financial Analyst® designation (CFA), have a strong familiarity with swaps, options, futures and other forward contracts, and held a commodities trading license when I was in the brokerage industry 20 years ago. I also used commodities back in the day, and very well schooled on how CCFs work, commodity indexes work, and why new commodity indexes always outperform the old ones. It all SOUNDS GOOD, it just doesn't work good. No one EVER made the returns being thrown around in this conversation. They are all hypothetical. Rick Ferri. Bullseye! By the way, Rick, I had no idea you were so old. Your picture ...
- Tue May 28, 2013 4:00 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Individual Investment vs. Portfolio Piece (Ferri vs. Larry)
- Replies: 67
- Views: 6692
Re: Individual Investment vs. Portfolio Piece (Ferri vs. Lar
The only thing worse than a bad strategy is a bad outcome.Investing is boring wrote:Bradley wrote:Investing is boring wrote:
IYou are confusing strategy with outcome on a timeline that is more apt to be noise than signal.
- Tue May 28, 2013 2:28 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Thoughts on high-yield bonds
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1484
Re: Thoughts on high-yield bonds
OK, I guess it was too good to be correct.Frugal Al wrote:The income goes up ONLY relative to the share price (which is going down), thus increasing yield. The actual income would stay the same barring any defaults.OverTheHill wrote: In fact, the monthly income would have gone up during the market crash, even though the value of the bond fund went down.
- Tue May 28, 2013 12:26 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Minimizing Gift Tax
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1389
Re: Minimizing Gift Tax
I'm not a tax expert, but I think anyone can gift up to $14K per year to any individual without any gift tax consequence. Thus, two parents could give $28K each year to each of their kids, plus $28K to someone else's kids if they wanted to do so.
- Tue May 28, 2013 12:23 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Thoughts on high-yield bonds
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1484
Re: Thoughts on high-yield bonds
Unless I'm mistaken, and I could be, the yield on a HY bond fund goes up when the value goes down, as during the financial crash. If true, this would mean that the HY bond fund continued to cover it's primary objective of producing monthly income. In fact, the monthly income would have gone up during the market crash, even though the value of the bond fund went down. Comments appreciated.