Search found 32 matches

by DriftWood
Thu Jan 12, 2023 10:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: H&R Block 2022 software offer
Replies: 281
Views: 33611

Re: H&R Block 2022 software offer

Newegg currently has a promotion on H&R Block. I just snatched Deluxe+State (physical key card) for $20. Premium and Business are also on sale.
by DriftWood
Wed Jun 03, 2020 3:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: It's Not Different This Time
Replies: 379
Views: 48718

Re: It's Not Different This Time

Two months later SP500 is back at 3100 territory. I wonder how those panic sellers are doing.
by DriftWood
Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:40 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Millennial Looking for Creative Alternatives for Loan/Mortgage
Replies: 77
Views: 6264

Re: Millennial Looking for Creative Alternatives for Loan/Mortgage

I only borrow money from socially responsible lenders. Why? Cause I am a millennia with higher education degree.
by DriftWood
Tue Dec 24, 2019 10:14 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: NYT: "Want a Bigger Say on Corporate Behavior: Move Your Money"
Replies: 45
Views: 2926

Re: NYT: "Want a Bigger Say on Corporate Behavior: Move Your Money"

DriftWood wrote: Tue Dec 24, 2019 10:02 am Leave investment as investment as it is and keep those social justice propaganda out of my investment choice. Thank you!
By the way, I had a PhD in experimental particle physics (as a minority immigrant) if that matters.
by DriftWood
Tue Dec 24, 2019 10:02 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: NYT: "Want a Bigger Say on Corporate Behavior: Move Your Money"
Replies: 45
Views: 2926

Re: NYT: "Want a Bigger Say on Corporate Behavior: Move Your Money"

Leave investment as investment as it is and keep those social justice propaganda out of my investment choice. Thank you!
by DriftWood
Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:25 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]
Replies: 3353
Views: 888655

Re: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]

What's the CAGR of 60/40 TMF/UPRO during the period of 1982 to 1998 when the correlation between 10 year Treasury and SP500 is positive?
by DriftWood
Sat Jul 13, 2019 11:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]
Replies: 3353
Views: 888655

Re: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]

MoneyMarathon, thanks for the study of adding IEF to the portfolio. Excellent job! Improved standard deviation and max drawdown at the expense of CAGR is interesting. One question, is quarterly rebalance used in your study?
by DriftWood
Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:04 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]
Replies: 3353
Views: 888655

Re: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]

I have been following this thread since the start. Today is the day - I sold all the IVV shares in my Fidelity HSA account and bought 55/45 TMF/UPRO. Total portfolio size is $34k. I plan to do a quarterly rebalance and an annual contribution of $7k. Let's see how good will this strategy go in the next 20 years. The majority of my asset is still in Vanguard 3 funds portfolio and I will keep it that way. What percentage of your portfolio did you dedicate? Will you be making 7K contributions indefinitely? I have about 890k in Vanguard (half in taxable and half in SEP-IRA). Another 120k in IL 529 plan which also holds Vanguard index funds. So HSA is only about 3% of my total asset allocation. HSA is a beautiful investment vehicle and I plan to...
by DriftWood
Fri Jul 05, 2019 9:01 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]
Replies: 3353
Views: 888655

Re: HEDGEFUNDIE's excellent adventure [risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs]

I have been following this thread since the start. Today is the day - I sold all the IVV shares in my Fidelity HSA account and bought 55/45 TMF/UPRO. Total portfolio size is $34k. I plan to do a quarterly rebalance and an annual contribution of $7k. Let's see how good will this strategy go in the next 20 years. The majority of my asset is still in Vanguard 3 funds portfolio and I will keep it that way.
by DriftWood
Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much cash do you keep at any time on checking?
Replies: 183
Views: 23741

Re: How much cash do you keep at any time on checking?

Most of the time, I have around $60k cash sitting across money market and checking accounts.
by DriftWood
Wed Feb 07, 2018 11:53 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lively HSA offers first dollar investing
Replies: 352
Views: 78334

Re: New HSA provider Lively offers investments for $30/yr fee

I planed to switch my HSA from SelectAccount to Lively. But those SPDR core ETFs on TDA commission free list had me worried. They have smaller market cap, wider bid/ask spread and lower trading volume, compared with Vanguard counterparts (VTI, VXUS and BND). Another unknown for me is how good could the SPDR ETFs track their index. I will hold off switching and see if situations change.
by DriftWood
Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Why different return of VTIAX and VXUS today (2/6/2018)?
Replies: 12
Views: 1774

Why different return of VTIAX and VXUS today (2/6/2018)?

Difference of today's (2/6/2018) return between VTIAX (1.02%) and VXUS (2.41%) is so large. I don't think bid/ask spread of VXUS can explain it. There is no dividend expected at this time of the year. Then what causes the big difference?
by DriftWood
Mon Feb 05, 2018 2:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard site is crashed now?
Replies: 188
Views: 25159

Vanguard site is crashed now?

I can't log in. Anyone else has the same issue?
by DriftWood
Fri Jan 26, 2018 3:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with AA on a 529 (kiddo 2.2 Yr old)
Replies: 3
Views: 668

Re: Help with AA on a 529 (kiddo 2.2 Yr old)

I have been contributing $20k per year to IL 529 plan (Brightstart) since my daughter was born 4 years ago. I was 100% in equity (a predefined mixture of Vanguard funds) since the start until Brightstart switched management from Oppenheimer to Union Trust in the summer of 2017. Since then my portfolio changed to 60% in Vanguard SP500, 30% in Vanguard Total International and 10% in Vanguard Total Bond. Over the years I contributed $90k and now it's worth about $118k. I will contribute another $10k next year and stop there. My plan is to let the portfolio glide smoothly (by rebalancing) to a more conservative allocation over the next decade or so. Brightstart does have an age based equity portfolio (mixture of mostly Vanguard funds). Dependin...
by DriftWood
Wed Dec 20, 2017 11:39 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to hit full 401k contribution limit of $55,000?
Replies: 20
Views: 7875

Re: How to hit full 401k contribution limit of $55,000?

My employer provides SEP-IRA in lieu of 401k. At the end of year, HR writes a check 25% my income and contributes to my Vanguard SEP-IRA account. For the last few years my income is slightly over 200k, and that makes my SEP-IRA contribution pretty close to the 55k limit.
by DriftWood
Wed Nov 22, 2017 10:41 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA
Replies: 7
Views: 1148

Re: Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA

Today, I got a reply email from a SelectAccount specialist regarding add Vanguard Total Bond Market fund in their HSA offerings. There is a hope at least.
Thank you for your inquiry.
SelectAccount's investment partner, Devenir, chooses our mutual fund offerings. They are reviewed periodically and I have forwarded your suggestions to Devenir for consideration.
Please let me know if you have any questions or additional suggestions.
by DriftWood
Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:30 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA
Replies: 7
Views: 1148

Re: Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA

aristotelian wrote: Mon Nov 20, 2017 2:44 pm Why not just use Vanguard Target Retirement Income? That effectively puts 70% of your HSA in bonds. That seems to be the best choice if you are unwilling to go with Schwab.
Yeah, a Vanguard Target Retirement fund could also work. I do prefer stand alone bond fund in that when market plummet, I can sell some bond shares to buy more equities.
by DriftWood
Mon Nov 20, 2017 2:30 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA
Replies: 7
Views: 1148

Re: Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA

aristotelian wrote: Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:48 pm When your balance hits $10k, you can take the Schwab brokerage option and find any number of good bond funds. Until then, I would use Vanguard Target Retirement Income, which is 30/70, and just hold a little bit more than you would if you had access to Total Bond Market Index.
My HSA balance is over $10k. If only a decent Vanguard bond fund is available in their basic investment, that would be simple and works for me. I don't really want to go through the hassle of Schwab brokerage route.
by DriftWood
Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:39 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA
Replies: 7
Views: 1148

Request of Vanguard bond fund in SelectAccount HSA

I have my HSA in SelectAccount for two years now. My main goal of HSA is to use it as IRA, that is put as much as possible of the HSA balance into mutual fund investment and don't use it to pay medical bills. SelectAccount suits my need pretty well in that they charge a total $36 ($18 management fee + $18 investment fee) annual fee and I get a decent choice of pre-selected mutual funds. On the equity side, I can choose Vanguard 500, mid cap and small cap Index funds, that's pretty good. The real issue here is lack of decent bond fund. The only bond fund with low ER they provide is Vanguard High Yield Corporate Bond Fund which is not much useful for diversification. I just called SelectAccount customer service and also wrote an email to them...
by DriftWood
Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:39 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: WSJ- ‘Passive’ Investing Frenzy Pushes Vanguard to $4.7 Trillion in Assets Assets topped $4 trillion for the first time
Replies: 3
Views: 1364

Re: WSJ- ‘Passive’ Investing Frenzy Pushes Vanguard to $4.7 Trillion in Assets Assets topped $4 trillion for the first

Assuming there are 10 million individual investors that have investment in Vanguard. The average portfolio size per investor is $470k, that's a quite impressive number, I have to say.
by DriftWood
Fri Sep 29, 2017 10:22 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lively HSA offers first dollar investing
Replies: 352
Views: 78334

Re: New HSA provider Lively offers investments for $30/yr fee

SelectAccount charges $36 per year in fees, that's about $6 more than Lively. The available fund choices are quite limited for basic investment in SelectAccount. Most relevant ones are Vanguard large/mid/small cap index funds, while no Vanguard bond fund is available. Also you have to put $1000 minimum cash deposit earning nothing there before any access to investing.

Lively does have better investment choice (Vanguard ETF) through TD Ameritrade brokerage. No cash deposit required. Most likely, I will wait for a few years and see how Lively business will go in the future before transferring my HSA in there.
by DriftWood
Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:10 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 30yr Mortgage Refi Rates
Replies: 16
Views: 3435

Re: 30yr Mortgage Refi Rates

We bought our house in 2012 with 15 yr mortgage at 3.125% from BoA. Last September, we did a refinance to 10 yr mortgage with 2.5% rate (zero closing cost) which is from PHH. Monthly payment is slightly up around $100. That was right before the rate hike after presidential election.
by DriftWood
Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:49 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital One $400 bonus for new checking account
Replies: 108
Views: 28386

Re: Capital One $400 bonus for new checking account

Thanks for the info. It looks like ACH deposit from Chase checking account is not considered Direct Deposit by Captial One 360. I did two $260 transfers from my Vanguard brokerage account on 8/15. Then the next day Cha-Ching! New Account Bonus of $400 is posted! Can you tell me how you do ACH transfers from a brokerage account? Does that mean that you have to sell some of your holdings and transfer that money to your bank account? Not the person you asked, but I simply pushed the money from Ally to Vanguard. Once it was in my settlement fund, I pushed it from Vanguard to C360. Exactly. I just first send money to the settlement fund in my Vanguard account. When money in Vanguard settle fund is available, ACH them to Capital One 360 account....
by DriftWood
Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "Vanguard fund shareholders encouraged to vote as proxy campaign gets under way."
Replies: 89
Views: 32766

Re: "Vanguard fund shareholders encouraged to vote as proxy campaign gets under way."

In the introduction message of proxy vote from Vanguard, it says
Shareholders are also being asked to vote on several fund proposals that will harmonize policies across Vanguard's U.S.-based funds. If the proposals are approved, the funds will have more operational flexibility, helping them run more efficiently and effectively.
This is a misleading info from Vanguard, some proposal like the one in question definitely don't help fund run more efficiently.
by DriftWood
Thu Aug 17, 2017 9:51 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital One $400 bonus for new checking account
Replies: 108
Views: 28386

Re: Capital One $400 bonus for new checking account

runfast4 wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2017 3:05 pm
DriftWood wrote:I did two ACH transfers of amount $255 and $265 from my Chase checking account on July 10. Still no bonus posted on Captial One 360 account yet. Under Captial One 360 checking accounts, both ACH transfers are marked as "Transaction Type: Deposit" and "Info: Ext Trnsfr". Are these eligible as Direct Deposit?
The deposits that triggered the bonus for me are noted as "Direct Dep" in the Info section.
Thanks for the info. It looks like ACH deposit from Chase checking account is not considered Direct Deposit by Captial One 360. I did two $260 transfers from my Vanguard brokerage account on 8/15. Then the next day Cha-Ching! New Account Bonus of $400 is posted!
by DriftWood
Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital One $400 bonus for new checking account
Replies: 108
Views: 28386

Re: Capital One $400 bonus for new checking account

I did two ACH transfers of amount $255 and $265 from my Chase checking account on July 10. Still no bonus posted on Captial One 360 account yet. Under Captial One 360 checking accounts, both ACH transfers are marked as "Transaction Type: Deposit" and "Info: Ext Trnsfr". Are these eligible as Direct Deposit?
by DriftWood
Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:15 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [News about changes to the Illinois 529 plan]
Replies: 10
Views: 3748

Re: [News about changes to the Illinois 529 plan]

Among the individual fund choices, there are Vanguard 500 Index, Vanguard Total International Index and Vanguard Total Bond Market. It would be nice to have Vanguard Total Stock Market and Vanguard Mid Cap Market there as well. That would make a customized portfolio more appealing than the preselected ones.
by DriftWood
Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Which bond funds for long-term balanced growth in 75/25 AA?
Replies: 8
Views: 1273

Re: Which bond funds for long-term balanced growth in 75/25

OP, I sort of understand your point, as I am in the similar situation as you: 30 years away from retirement, reasonably high income and high saving rate. The common goal for us is to tilt more to the growth side of investment during the accumulation stage, given moderate (or slightly more) tolerance to risk. To me, the 25%/75% bond/equity AA is a sweet spot for people of my age (mid 30s). My AA plan is to keep bond percentage as (age-10). I have about 25% intermediate term bond and 10% US REITs in my SEP-IRA (the only tax deferred account I have). The remaining 65% of US total stock market and International total stock market are in my taxed account. I agree long term treasury probably provides best buffer during bear market period, althoug...
by DriftWood
Mon May 19, 2014 1:28 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What is the best brand of 3 ton air conditioner & furnace?
Replies: 46
Views: 52995

Re: What is the best brand of 3 ton air conditioner & furnac

2. If possible choose the high efficiency furnace with variable speed fan motor. This will make inside temperature more stable, resulting in a noticeable improvement on comfortability. Another benefit is that a mid/lower end AC working with variable speed blower could increase its efficiency. For example a 14.5 SEER Rheem A/C could work at 16 SEER efficiency with variable speed motor. In this case you may not need two stage A/C units. Is there such a thing as a high efficiency furnace? Is this supposed to say air conditioner? High efficiency furnace has > 95% efficiency, while lower efficiency one usually has 80% efficiency. Most brands have fixed speed blower and variable speed blower for > 95% efficiency furnaces. Efficiency of A/C is us...
by DriftWood
Mon May 19, 2014 12:12 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What is the best brand of 3 ton air conditioner & furnace?
Replies: 46
Views: 52995

Re: What is the best brand of 3 ton air conditioner & furnac

I just had a contractor install two ACs and two furnaces for our house in March this year. Those replaced 14 years old goodman units that are builder's model when the house was built in 2000. I did quite a bit of research/reading on line and here is my observation: 1. Trane/American Standard(same manufacturer) and Rheem/Rudd(same manufacturer) are the two brands that most people agree that are of excellent quality. Rheem/Rudd quote maybe slightly lower than that of Trane/AmStd given comparable products. Choice of contractors is even more important than the brand/price of the products. Usually there is a list of certified contractors on manufacturer's website, that's where you could start on get quotes. 2. If possible choose the high efficie...
by DriftWood
Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:57 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Back door Roth IRA for stay at home wife?
Replies: 7
Views: 1435

Re: Back door Roth IRA for stay at home wife?

I am in a similar situation. Wife is a stay-home mom with no income. Our income tax is in 28% bracket (married filed jointly), over the limit of Roth IRA contribution. My understanding is that she's not eligible to make contribution to traditional IRA, because of no earned income. Therefore there is no way to set up Traditional/Roth IRA for the wife.