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RNJ

Hi All. I'm in the process of tidying up and simplifying my portfolio. I've got about 30% of my VG Total Stock Market holdings in Admiral shares (my first purchases) beginning many years ago, but much of them purchased after 2012. If I converted these shares to the ETF version (VTI), how would those...

RNJ

As our friend and mentor Taylor has said, "There are many roads to Dublin." There are fine suggestions above. For my taste, your proposal for taxable account is too complex. The questions I have for you is this: At age 59 with a high six-figure portfolio, how did you come to be 100% cash?...

RNJ

As our friend and mentor Taylor has said, "There are many roads to Dublin." There are fine suggestions above. For my taste, your proposal for taxable account is too complex.

The questions I have for you is this: At age 59 with a high six-figure portfolio, how did you come to be 100% cash?

RNJ

Seriously: go to Portfolio Visualizer and try some backtest and I think you will see that if you stay anywhere near the broad general area of intermediate term, and investment grade, that tinkering with the exact composition would have made virtually no difference. For example, let's start with por...

RNJ

I like the 50/50 split between VG Total US and VG Total International because over performance of either asset can be managed. More conservative bond tent approaching retirement makes sense as you have won the game. I recommend reading about rising equity glide path in retirement to ensure inflatio...

RNJ

It sounds like you are in really good shape, congratulations! I like the idea of "sauntering" towards retirement..... For a lot of people, they don't get to go out on their own terms. They are forced out, or need to leave to care for loved ones. I think it's awesome, that you are able to ...

RNJ

My spouse and I (mid-50s) have reached a point where, based on a 3% withdrawal rate, we have saved more than enough to retire today. We may continue working for another year or so, mostly to leave our professional relationships and responsibilities in good order and, of course, both to put a few mor...

RNJ

Thanks for all of your responses. This has been my practice for years. A friend recently questioned whether this was a legitimate practice. A write-off for the donation AND a step up in basis feels a little too good to be true, so I thought I'd check with the good people here. Thanks again. We just...

RNJ

Thanks for all of your responses. This has been my practice for years. A friend recently questioned whether this was a legitimate practice. A write-off for the donation AND a step up in basis feels a little too good to be true, so I thought I'd check with the good people here.

Thanks again.

RNJ

Good morning. I am wondering if there is a "wash sale" analogue when donating appreciated securities. Suppose I want the tax benefit of donating and ETF that's appreciated over many year, but to not want to change my asset allocation. Is there a problem in donating the appreciated ETF and ...

RNJ

I will add though that there were a handful of really great chapters in the book. I didn’t feel it was a total waste of money. But there are certainly some chapters that made me roll my eyes and skim quickly to the next chapter. My take, as well. Of particular interest: advisors discussing decision...

RNJ

Over 10 years the performance of these funds perfectly mirror each other. You're good either / both.

RNJ

Steadfast wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:00 am
RNJ wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:51 pm 50% VT
25% BND
25% BNDX

Not a perfect match, but not too shabby.
Why split the bond funds when there is BNDW available?

Well, now you don't have to! My post (quoted above) pre-dated the advent of BNDW.

RNJ

See this great series of posts by Robert T: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7353

RNJ

HomeStretch & Jack:

Thanks!

Not sure how I missed that.

RNJ

RNJ

Hi all. My spouse and I do not qualify for the IBond higher-ed related tax breaks. Assuming we trust our children to follow through with the plan (i.e., using the funds only for college/grad school expenses), would it be reasonable to supplement their 529 plans with IBond purchases in a "Minor ...

RNJ

Barry Ritholtz, "Masters in Business"

RNJ

A relationship with the private banking arm of one of the large banks should do the trick. In fact, you (the client) will often be on the bank's radar before the bank appears on yours. And the banks will come with offers to lend large sums of money - often at very good rates. You may have to sit thr...

RNJ

We rebalance with new inflows (salary, dividends, interest) and with contributions of appreciated securities to our DAF. Beyond that, to the best of my recollection, I have formally rebalanced (sold one asset to rebalance into another) on maybe two or three occasions since 2012.

RNJ

Agree completely in theory. In practice, we can tolerate a lot of volatility on equity side. On the bond side, we've made a choice to keep "safe" assets safe. To that effect, we sold out of a state LT tax-exempt fund at the beginning of the year as the upside volatility was concerning. Pr...

RNJ

All, First, thanks to all of the “Bogleheads”. The thoughtful advice and analysis offered over the years has been invaluable. I've learned a lot and am very grateful to the good people on this board. I write now as we are considering semi-retirement at some point over the next 1-3 years. My spouse ...

RNJ

Small cap value is yielding 2.4% while Intermediate treasuries are yielding 0.3%. Your tax cost on SCV is 0.8% annually, while your tax cost on intermediate treasuries would be 0.1%. If you switched Treasuries into taxable and small cap value into tax-advantaged, you'd be saving / increasing your r...

RNJ

Every retirement calculation is based on expenses. Once you have a projected level of spending you can determine portfolio levels. If we use 3% as a reasonable withdrawal rate for early retirement and look at your portfolio (I'll use $6M, the smallest portfolio that I would call "high 7 figure...

RNJ

All, First, thanks to all of the “Bogleheads”. The thoughtful advice and analysis offered over the years has been invaluable. I've learned a lot and am very grateful to the good people on this board. I write now as we are considering semi-retirement at some point over the next 1-3 years. My spouse a...

RNJ

Thanks! Will give it a try.

RNJ

Good afternoon. I went to Morningstar to look up the SEC yield on a couple of muni funds. I've done this countless times over the years. The layout and information are differently organized, but the service seems to no longer provide SEC yield info, which seems like a very recent change. Am I correc...

RNJ

Rebalance with inflows to lagging funds.

No longer rebalancing from bonds to stocks (moving towards retirement, so reducing risk).

Will use appreciated securities to fund charitable giving and/or to rebalance into bonds when passing 5% threshold

RNJ

Having made the move you're describing ~20 years ago, a couple of thoughts: * Many of the men I know who've made the move to CT, Westchester, certain parts of New Jersey - myself included - end up ditching the train and driving in to the city. Note that as a possibility. Either way - you will pay fo...

RNJ

Having made the move you're describing ~20 years ago, a couple of thoughts: * Many of the men I know who've made the move to CT, Westchester, certain parts of New Jersey - myself included - end up ditching the train and driving in to the city. Note that as a possibility. Either way - you will pay fo...

RNJ

Sometimes, nowhere is where you want to go. When I bought my home in 2013, my asset allocation was 100% net stock, counting my mortgage as a negative bond. I had a bond holding equal to my mortgage balance, so that I had guaranteed dollars to pay the mortgage. Everything else was in stock, for long...

RNJ

Sometimes, nowhere is where you want to go. When I bought my home in 2013, my asset allocation was 100% net stock, counting my mortgage as a negative bond. I had a bond holding equal to my mortgage balance, so that I had guaranteed dollars to pay the mortgage. Everything else was in stock, for long...

RNJ

watchnerd wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:59 pm What's the drag on performance until the crash happens?

That's the cost of insurance.

RNJ

Ages 56 & 49. Hoping to retire within 2-3 years. We were moving towards a 50/50 AA - the market helped in that process. Now a hair under 50/50. Down about 15% from portfolio high.

RNJ

WOW: 3.22% on the NJ tax-exempt MONEY MARKET fund as of yesterday. 2.2% on the NJ long-term bond fund. What does that tell us about relative risks? Look up Rick Ferri's post from monday of a Morningstar Interview Mohamed El-Erian interview by Jeff Ptak of Morningstar It is long, but worth it and he...

RNJ

I do think, however, that for this fund just holding cash for thirty days and repurchasing the position is reasonable. I don’t know, the liquidity trap in Muni’s make big moves in either direction very likely. Moving to the a Muni money market still exposes the investor to liquidity risk ( there is...

RNJ

dbr wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:14 am I do think, however, that for this fund just holding cash for thirty days and repurchasing the position is reasonable.

Agreed.

RNJ

We have long term losses in VNJUX, the Long Term Tax Exempt Admiral fund that we'd like to TLH. Any opinions of just moving it to the NJ Municipal MM, VNJXX? Similar, but not identical? Any caveats? VG Long- or Intermediate-Term Tax Exempt might be better pairings from a risk-perspective. VNJUX &am...

RNJ

Down 20% from portfolio high.

Per IPS, NOT selling bonds to rebalance. Rebalancing with new deposits only.

RNJ

I'm sorry - but are you asking whether you can sell VTI at a loss in taxable (TLH) and buy the same ETF in a 401k without it being a wash sale?

RNJ

Because "the market" can go down another 10% tomorrow. And the next day. And the next . . .

Which is not to say that if you've hit a rebalancing threshold, don't adjust. But "all in" isn't strategy.

RNJ

I use Baird Quality Intermediate Muni - BMBIX. Shorter duration, higher quality than VG Inter-Term. Lower risk, lower volatility, lower returns. But held up better than VG fund during financial crisis.

(https://content.rwbaird.com/BairdFunds/ ... -sheet.pdf)

RNJ

This WSJ gem from Roger Lowenstein is from 1997: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB868483684274856500 It was one of the first finance articles I can remember reading, understanding, and resonating with. I think it holds up really well. (No coincidentally, it also dovetails nicely with this current thre...

RNJ

The latter.

RNJ

Ani wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 1:50 pm Hello, all thank you for all these replies.

Yes , we're looking to buy a home in the 800 to 990k range and yes were are doctors.

Live where you think you can be happiest. Seriously.

RNJ

Yes, yes, and yes.

And it's only "play money" until it's gone.

RNJ

mptfan wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 2:11 pm
RNJ wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 12:44 pm If stocks decline for "decades" I would imagine that corporate bonds - especially of the high yield variety - would fare poorly, as well.
I agree. If stocks decline for decades I think we would have bigger problems though.

Yup.

RNJ

So my question is will your retirement plan work if stocks do not at least outperform bonds for the duration of your retirement or worse yet have returns below 0% real? Or another way to put it does your retirement plan have a contingency for stocks being flat or declining throughout your retiremen...

RNJ

DaftInvestor wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2019 6:23 pm 20+ years of tax free growth - use a 529

^^^^This.

RNJ

What about the federal taxes on income and the cap gains taxes upon liquidation?

RNJ

Maybe what tech brings are longer periods of low volatility and complacency. Until it doesn't. (Cf. 2000-2002, 2008-2009).

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