Search found 4744 matches

by jhfenton
Wed Aug 09, 2023 3:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Small debt sent to collection- what to do
Replies: 65
Views: 7696

Re: Small debt sent to collection- what to do

Not true. I have several of these a year and my score is above 800. The credit score issue is a myth. The collectors wont sue unless it's serious money and any credit ding is wiped out in a few months assuming you pay your credit cards every month. My credit score will drop twice as much from American Express deciding to increase my credit limit than it will a collection agency reporting unpaid debt. Never pay a collection agency. They are toothless, the idea that they can hurt you is propaganda. Just to be clear, are you advocating that OP and others should not pay their debts when they've been turned over to a collection agency because they can get away with it? Because that's what your last sentence seems to suggest. I'm on team countme...
by jhfenton
Wed Aug 09, 2023 2:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bid - Ask spreads and settlement accounts
Replies: 10
Views: 890

Re: Bid - Ask spreads and settlement accounts

1. How much is the usual bid / ask spread for a modest sized transaction on a large (Total Stock) fund? VTI trades within a penny. Bid 222.37 x 1100 Ask 222.36 x 1100 Source: Yahoo Finance. And in my experience 99% of Vanguard ETFs execute at the midpoint of the spread (e.g. 222.365 in your example) at Vanguard. Vanguard claims >95% (https://investor.vanguard.com/about-us/brokerage-order-execution-quality). Midpoint trading effectively means no spread, since you can buy and sell at the same price. I see midpoint execution on small lot orders of even less liquid ETFs like VFVA/Vanguard US Value Factor that shows an average spread of $0.09. (Admittedly, I'm generally only buying. But I assume sell orders would see similar execution.) Regardl...
by jhfenton
Mon Sep 26, 2022 2:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard to Liquidate U.S. Liquidity Factor ETF (VFLQ)
Replies: 18
Views: 2169

Vanguard to Liquidate U.S. Liquidity Factor ETF (VFLQ)

For the first time, Vanguard is liquidating an ETF. When I saw the headline, I could immediately guess which fund it was.

https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/ ... 92622.html
by jhfenton
Fri Apr 22, 2022 8:54 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Color Laser Printers
Replies: 38
Views: 3928

Re: Color Laser Printers

Bronco Billy wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 7:05 pm I LOVE my HP laser printer until I have to buy Cartridges for it.
I've always bought third party toner cartridges for our HP M452nw. A set of the HP-branded ones cost quite a bit more than the printer cost. (I paid $175 for it in 2016). And when I say always, I mean once in the six years we've had it. With the modest amount we print, they last a long time. (In our experience, ink-jet printers don't do well with sporadic use.)
by jhfenton
Fri Apr 22, 2022 8:15 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard will restrict trading in most OTC stocks
Replies: 59
Views: 13772

Re: Vanguard will restrict trading in most OTC stocks

might not surprise you, but vanguard CS didnt have the option to hold your place in line and the wait time was like 2 hours to speak with the investment team (I hung up). I havent gotten an email but assume that I wont be able to buy more GBTC after this month. Per OPs email, it looks like we can still sell what GBTC we have after the cut off date (just cant buy more). a bit of a bummer-- since I drew up a plan to split my BTC holdings into half BTC and half GBTC, and my only selling for rebalancing purposes would be GBTC in my roth (therefore avoiding hefty cap gains taxes). Best laid plans... It will be interesting to see if GBTC is converted to a spot ETF (the Securities and Exchange Commission has a July 6 deadline to rule on it). If t...
by jhfenton
Tue Mar 29, 2022 12:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard now allows purchase/sale of dollar amounts for Vanguard ETFs (fractional purchases)
Replies: 217
Views: 33256

Re: Vanguard now allows purchase/sale of dollar amounts for Vanguard ETFs (fractional purchases) (might be in pilot phas

lostdog wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:03 am
KarenC wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 9:18 am I bought some VXUS this morning, and saw the new option to buy using a dollar amount. Very much appreciated!
I tried this morning. No luck for me.
Same. Neither my wife nor I seem to have it.
by jhfenton
Mon Mar 28, 2022 7:18 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bloomberg, "Vanguard Stumbles In Pivot From Cult of Jack Bogle"
Replies: 60
Views: 12527

Re: Bloomberg, "Vanguard Stumbles In Pivot From Cult of Jack Bogle"

CurlyDave wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:58 pm
nisiprius wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:16 pm Please! It's strait and narrow, not straight and narrow.
I disagree. While strait refers to a navigable body of water, the common expression "straight and narrow" is a conglomeration of bible quotes about "straight" paths and "narrow" paths and gates.
I've always written "strait" based on the understanding that it came from the passage in Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV):

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
by jhfenton
Sun Feb 27, 2022 10:11 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Country-backed bonds, is anyone buying?
Replies: 12
Views: 1670

Re: Country-backed bonds, is anyone buying?

If you want an EM bond fund, I’d look at Vanguard’s active VEGBX. I’ve owned it since the day it launched December 6, 2017. (It had been in closed incubation since early 2016, so I’d discount the blowout performance prior to its real launch.) I keep it around 5% of our portfolio. Even with the recent downturn, it is up 24.95% since launch, compared to VWOB’s 7.5%, EMB’s 4.3%, and losses (-3.4% and -7.5%) for EMLC and LEMB. To me emerging market bonds are not well suited for indexing. There’s not a single efficient global market, and it is worth a little extra expense to me for active management to research credit and manage risk. There is definitely risk, though. It’s not quite equity risk, but you can see what happened in March 2020 where ...
by jhfenton
Fri Feb 25, 2022 7:36 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: TLH: Switching from mutual fund to ETF
Replies: 40
Views: 2659

Re: TLH: Switching from mutual fund to ETF

In fact, I did it this morning, adding to a position in my an emerging markets ETF in my IRA and then selling just the right amount of VSIGX (Vanguard Intermediate Treasury) to cover it. Easy peasy. Fidelity will not let me do the same thing. You have to have margin—or at least limited margin in a retirement account—but they don't support margin in an HSA. Wow, I did not think it could work this way. Did you have to do this transaction over the phone? No. I never call Vanguard. As long as it's not a new account, you're not under any restrictions, and the transaction is reasonable in relation to the size of the account, you can buy before funding with the sale of something else or a transfer in. We make monthly Roth IRA contributions of app...
by jhfenton
Thu Feb 24, 2022 8:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: TLH: Switching from mutual fund to ETF
Replies: 40
Views: 2659

Re: TLH: Switching from mutual fund to ETF

If I enter a sell order today, how long will it be before the funds become 'available to trade' such that I could buy another total market ETF? Mutual funds settle Trade + 1 day. Stocks settle Trade + 2 days. Assuming you are selling mutual funds held in a brokerage account you can immediately turn around and buy stocks. ETFs are stocks. Note that this does not go in reverse. If you sell stocks you have to wait a day to buy mutual funds. Or you could sign a margin agreement with your broker. That would gloss over so many issues. Without a margin account, how could you buy ETF same day? I didn’t think funds from MF sale are avail as funding source to trade same day (except in $ denominated exchange of MF to MF) You can't at Vanguard. Work a...
by jhfenton
Sat Feb 12, 2022 10:05 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Different question about Wordle (access location)
Replies: 8
Views: 1036

Re: Different question about Wordle (access location)

It also kept my statistics (36 games played) after the redirect to nytimes.com. I assume it's cookie-based, as there was never any login, and if I open it up in a separate browser, I have no history.
by jhfenton
Mon Feb 07, 2022 9:48 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Capital One - Fraud Case, heads up, interesting turn of events
Replies: 36
Views: 7112

Re: Capital One - Fraud Case, heads up, interesting turn of events

anon_investor wrote: Sun Feb 06, 2022 7:39 am
egrets wrote: Sun Feb 06, 2022 7:27 am
peetsperk wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 1:06 pm I've said it once and will say it again; Capital One is not a company I want to be involved with in any way.
CapitalOne has been fine for me, including a few fraudulent charge episodes. The companies that I won't go near again are BofA and AmEx, both trash.
Wow really? In my experience Amex has always been excelent when it comes to fraud resolution.
Same For me, AmEx has been the gold standard for convenience in dealing with both outright fraud and unscrupulous merchants.

CapitalOne has been OK for us. Their big advantage is the Eno virtual credit card numbers. I use those for any new online merchants and for recurring subscriptions that may be hard to cancel (i.e. newspapers).
by jhfenton
Tue Jan 11, 2022 2:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard New Factor Funds Portfolio Statistics
Replies: 276
Views: 55304

Re: Vanguard New Factor Funds Portfolio Statistics

Vanguard has never closed an ETF, so I wouldn't lose sleep over VFLQ or VFMV closing, but I also wouldn't put the risk at zero. And I wouldn't buy them in taxable, even if I believed in them. Vanguard recently shut down the factor ETF suite that was being offered in Europe. I was only referring to the US. Vanguard ex-US has always been a different animal. I eventually concluded that they were separate because they were nominally "active" funds, not index funds. All of the ETF-mutual fund dual share class funds are index funds. I suspect it is a legal limit in Vanguard's original exemptive relief that approved the dual-share class funds, but I didn't care enough to track that down. It is more than just that. They also have one or ...
by jhfenton
Fri Jan 07, 2022 12:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard New Factor Funds Portfolio Statistics
Replies: 276
Views: 55304

Re: Vanguard New Factor Funds Portfolio Statistics

Since this was bumped, figured I'd add latest AUM: VFVA: $515.09M VFMO: $203.04M VFQY: $193.68M VFMF: $118.74M VFMFX: $51.6M VFLQ: $53.71M VFMV: $51.93M Small fry compared to the Vanguard norm, but steadily growing and probably not a whole lot of closure risk at this point. Thanks. I only watch VFVA closely, since that's the one I own. Given Vanguard's track record. I would think that VFVA, VFMO, VFQY, and VFMF are safe. I could see VFMFX being merged into VFMFX if they weren't getting traction enough to justify the costs of managing a separate fund. (A merger would be non-taxable, and Vanguard has merged funds into similar funds before.) Vanguard has never closed an ETF, so I wouldn't lose sleep over VFLQ or VFMV closing, but I also would...
by jhfenton
Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:20 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How often do you DCA into the market?
Replies: 39
Views: 4071

Re: How often do you DCA into the market?

Our 401(k) and HSA contributions go in every 2 weeks. I typically make double Roth IRA contributions every month equal to approximately $583.33 each ($7,000/12). (But I usually buy the ETF first and then contribute to pay for it. So on Monday, the contributions were $580.xx and $590.xx.)

Now that we're over 50 and have catchup contributions—and have one son in college with another starting this fall—we no longer have any taxable retirement savings, so that's moot. We also do not have excess cash sitting around to front-load $14K in Roth IRA contributions.
by jhfenton
Fri Jan 07, 2022 8:50 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Experience/thoughts on Apple Fitness?
Replies: 12
Views: 1343

Re: Experience/thoughts on Apple Fitness?

I would not subscribe to Apple Fitness+ as a stand-alone, but as part of the big family bundle that includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, 2 TB iCloud, and Apple Fitness+, I find value in it. I use the yoga workouts more than anything else. They have 4 instructors, 1 male, 3 female, with different builds and styles. I like Jessica and usually pick 30 or 45 minute routines. The routines have seemed to get a bit more advanced over time, but they don't retire the old ones. Jessica now has 76 sessions recorded, with a new one added each week. I occasionally put rowing or treadmill routines on while I am rowing or running. The instructors are positive and mildly entertaining, but the sessions are 100% focused on workouts, which I simply ...
by jhfenton
Fri Jan 07, 2022 8:30 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard New Factor Funds Portfolio Statistics
Replies: 276
Views: 55304

Re: Vanguard New Factor Funds Portfolio Statistics

There also is a question of why there are two multifactor funds, VFMF and VFMFX. At first blush, a Vanguard investor would expect that these are each share classes of the same fund, but that is not the case. They not only are different funds but they have different portfolios. If Vanguard is disseminating their reason for having both, they only are doing so through advisors. Some of us were surprised by this when the funds launched, because we assumed they would be share classes of the same fund. I eventually concluded that they were separate because they were nominally "active" funds, not index funds. All of the ETF-mutual fund dual share class funds are index funds. I suspect it is a legal limit in Vanguard's original exemptive...
by jhfenton
Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 1 or 2 HSA accounts for married couple questions.
Replies: 8
Views: 848

Re: 1 or 2 HSA accounts for married couple questions.

HSA accounts are in individual names. That said, you can contribute to accounts for one or both of you, up to the family limit, in whatever mix suits you The exception is catch up contributions. Those $1000 contributions must be made to an account for the specific individual who is eligible. So if both are eligible and are making the contributions, at least $1000 needs to go in an account for each spouse Mike Thanks Mike so I have to open 2 accounts and put in $3,600 max in each account ? If either of you have family HDHP coverage, you can put the entire family limit in one HSA or any combination divided between your two HSAs. If you each have self-only HDHP coverage, you each may contribute the individual limit to your own HSA. If either ...
by jhfenton
Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:22 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard Factor Funds/ETFs
Replies: 3
Views: 903

Re: Vanguard Factor Funds/ETFs

The Vanguard quant factor funds (VFMF, VFVA, VFMO, VFMV, VFQY, VFLQ) are all "active" in roughly the same sense that Avantis and DFA are active. They are quant funds with flexible rebalancing.

I've personally owned VFVA (Value) since launch, and it is currently our second largest—and largest non-401(k)—holding.

I don't personally own any funds that focus strictly on quality, but I do own Avantis, DFA (in my 401(k)), and other funds that use a quality filter in conjunction with value.
by jhfenton
Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:30 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Which Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF?
Replies: 19
Views: 4469

Re: Which Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF?

grabiner wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 5:45 pm My own preference is VFVA (Vanguard Factor Value ETF). It includes both small-cap value and large-cap value, but it offers better value exposure than any of the conventional ETFs.

It also matters how much small-cap and value exposure you want. I have limited room in my Roth IRA for value stock funds, so I want the best value exposure I can get there. If VBR is sufficient for the value exposure you want, then it makes sense to use it because it has the lowest cost.
+1 I scrapped the complications of having multiple value funds when VFVA launched and consolidated into VFVA. It's 1/3 large, 1/3 mid, 1/3 small by design and offers the consistently deepest value exposure you will find.
by jhfenton
Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What is your age and asset allocation ?
Replies: 1156
Views: 150758

Re: What is your percentage split between stocks and bonds?

Ages 51/51
Retirement assets currently:
82% Stocks (50% US/25% Developed Ex-US/25% EM, tilted heavily small and value)
10% Safe Bonds
5% EM Bonds (VEGBX since inception)
3% Merger Arb

Target for end of 2022 is 80% equities, probably 80/11/5/4. I'll be rebalancing gradually, mostly with new money.

We're probably 10 years from retirement, maybe a few years less for my wife. Right now we have a freshman in college and a senior in high school starting college next year. We'll see where we are when the kids finish their undergrad. (They're both on their own paying for med school if they stick with their current plans.) Our mortgage will conveniently be paid off about the same time.
by jhfenton
Fri Dec 03, 2021 1:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard issue with Yubikey : Won't support U2F API soon?
Replies: 73
Views: 9276

Re: Vanguard issue with Yubikey : Won't support U2F API soon?

hudson wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:29 am The Yubikey error message isn't coming from Vanguard.
Where is it coming from? Google??
The message is coming from the browser. I started seeing it this week (?) on Microsoft Edge on Mac. Edge is based on Chromium, so it will usually have the same issues as Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers.

Vanguard has never supported Yubikeys on Safari, so it drops back to SMS codes on there as always.
by jhfenton
Fri Dec 03, 2021 12:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: VSS holding 5% cash? (Vanguard international small-cap)
Replies: 2
Views: 614

Re: VSS holding 5% cash? (Vanguard international small-cap)

It's come up in the past with VSS:

viewtopic.php?t=201488

It's basically two things: (1) cash held as collateral for securities lent out and (2) cash held for liquidity with respect to futures contracts. I believe it's usually, mostly #1.

You can see how the fund tracks its index. Thanks to the lucrative securities lending market for small-cap stocks, it has out-performed its index slightly over 5 years and barely trails by 2 bp over 10 years.
by jhfenton
Wed Nov 17, 2021 11:59 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Converstion VFIAX to VOO
Replies: 3
Views: 1472

Re: Converstion VFIAX to VOO

As others have said, you have to call Vanguard and ask to convert VFIAX to VOO. You will listen to a series of disclosures, and then give your consent. They will convert at that day's closing NAV for both funds, not the ETF closing market price.

I haven't done one in a couple of years, but the position used to disappear overnight and then reappear the day after in the new fund.
by jhfenton
Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How would a Boglehead buy a new Apple laptop?
Replies: 65
Views: 6715

Re: How would a Boglehead buy a new Apple laptop?

Other than the Apple store, is there a better (read: cheaper) place to buy a Macbook? Is there an older, similar version that might be a better value? Do they ever go on sale? As a PC/Android guy I'm not terribly familiar with the Apple ecosystem. Certified refurbished laptops purchased directly from Apple can be a good deal. That's where I bought our older son's MacBook Air this past summer. (He's a freshman in college this fall.) They come with the normal warranty and are indistinguishable from new. At this point, though, you can probably find comparable new MacBook prices on the same model. I couldn't at the time. Under no circumstances would I buy a MacBook at this point with an Intel processor. They just can't compete with the Macs ru...
by jhfenton
Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:19 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When does an old smartphone become unsafe to use.
Replies: 41
Views: 6069

Re: When does an old smartphone become unsafe to use.

I did a quick search of the forum and could not find any threads that specifically addressed this issue. I purchased a Google Pixel 3 two years ago. My understanding is that since the phone has been out for three years it will no longer be supported for updates beginning October 2021. I hope to keep my phone at least a couple more years. Will my phone be unsafe to use? . I would think there are many Android and i phones in use that are no longer being supported for updates They may even outnumber supported phones. I have not read or heard about peoples phones being hacked. How unsafe is not getting updates? Does it matter how you use your phone? Is there anything I can do to help make an old phone more secure? I know some of you would say ...
by jhfenton
Sat Oct 23, 2021 7:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Seen new Dune Movie? Your opinion??
Replies: 226
Views: 19267

Re: Seen new Dune Movie? Your opinion??

As a fan of the book, I loved it. It was exactly what it needed to be. Sure, I'd be happier if Part 2 were already in the can, but I'd put money on that happening.

My brother-in-law went to the theater with me, and had no background in the story. He also really enjoyed. I had warned him that it was half the story, so he was not caught off guard by the ending.
by jhfenton
Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Attempted identity theft
Replies: 11
Views: 2071

Re: Attempted identity theft

This happened to my wife this week. Someone opened a new checking account at a bank with which we have our mortgage and a barely used checking account that we originally opened in conjunction with the mortgage. Taken collectively, the whole thing is odd: 1. They had her SS#. 2. The other information did not match our existing account. 3. They used a valid email address that would probably been associated with her SS# in one or more prior data breaches. It's not the email address associated with our existing accounts. We both have freezes at the Big 3 plus Innovis plus ChexSystems. It didn't stop them opening a new account. (For what it's worth, it also didn't stop me from opening a new "high yield" savings at a major online back ...
by jhfenton
Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Attempted identity theft
Replies: 11
Views: 2071

Re: Attempted identity theft

This happened to my wife this week. Someone opened a new checking account at a bank with which we have our mortgage and a barely used checking account that we originally opened in conjunction with the mortgage. Taken collectively, the whole thing is odd: 1. They had her SS#. 2. The other information did not match our existing account. 3. They used a valid email address that would probably been associated with her SS# in one or more prior data breaches. It's not the email address associated with our existing accounts. We both have freezes at the Big 3 plus Innovis plus ChexSystems. It didn't stop them opening a new account. (For what it's worth, it also didn't stop me from opening a new "high yield" savings at a major online back t...
by jhfenton
Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:58 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard new desktop site doesn't work
Replies: 45
Views: 6134

Re: Vanguard new desktop site doesn't work

Thank you to everyone reporting this issue. I freaked out today when my login button did not work despite clicking on it several times. This was through Firefox. I thought maybe my laptop is going. Normally I have no trouble accessing Vanguard.com on my laptop via Firefox or via Chrome. Anyway, I rebooted my computer and retyped everything carefully and got in pronto. Do you use a password manager. Note that some browsers have a built in capability to remember and automatically enter ID/PW for you. Th reason I as is that I had a similar problem (on a non-Vanguard site). I had to manually clear the automatically entered ID/PW and actually type them in to get it to work. I've noticed this too at times on various sites. I don't have to delete...
by jhfenton
Fri Aug 27, 2021 12:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Waiting period between buying/selling ETF/MF?
Replies: 11
Views: 2424

Re: Waiting period between buying/selling ETF/MF?

I realize this is an old thread, but just thought I'd mention that after finding this excellent strategy for moving from a MF to an ETF without time out of the market, I discovered that while Vanguard does allow you to buy an ETF with $0 available as long as your MF sale settles in time, Fidelity does not (at least in my Solo 401k) :x So I think I'm stuck with breaking my transaction up into small pieces over several days, and hoping I don't suffer too much from 'eating' the overnight change between selling MF and buying ETF. I've experienced the same thing at Fidelity. I have one large ETF position in my HSA at the moment, but if I needed to add a second for overall portfolio balance (unlikely) I'd stick to another ETF to avoid any settle...
by jhfenton
Thu May 20, 2021 11:07 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Value and Momentum- Zero premium for twenty years
Replies: 60
Views: 6054

Re: Value and Momentum- Zero premium for twenty years

Long-Short Factor Returns: 5/20/2001 - Present Value ... -1.2 % Momentum ... 0.0 % Quality ... 3.5 % Size ... 2.9 % Twenty years seems like enough time to declare value and momentum over. Grazed away. Yesterday's news. https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/factor-statistics?s=y&factorDataSet=0&marketArea=0&__checkbox_ffmkt=true&__checkbox_ffsmb=true&__checkbox_ffsmb5=true&__checkbox_ffhml=true&__checkbox_ffmom=true&__checkbox_ffrmw=true&__checkbox_ffcma=true&__checkbox_ffstrev=true&__checkbox_ffltrev=true&__checkbox_aqrmkt=true&__checkbox_aqrsmb=true&__checkbox_aqrhml=true&__checkbox_aqrhmldev=true&__checkbox_aqrmom=true&__checkbox_aqrqmj=true&__checkbox_aqrbab=true&...
by jhfenton
Tue May 11, 2021 9:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fifth Third HSA Transitioning to HealthEquity HSA (no longer Optum)
Replies: 33
Views: 4099

Re: Fifth Third HSA Transitioning to Optum HSA

Katrina69 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:47 pm Just received an email today that the Fifth Third HSA's are moving to HealthEquity.
I'm guessing the deal with Optum fell through.
Yes. Fifth Third hasn't sent us notice yet, but I heard through work that Fifth Third would be moving folks to HealthEquity instead. We just sent employees notice yesterday that we will be moving their accounts to Fidelity instead ahead of the transition to HealthEquity.
by jhfenton
Sat Apr 24, 2021 2:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: S&P500 (1.3ER) vs S&P Mid Cap(.93ER)
Replies: 12
Views: 1447

Re: S&P500 (1.3ER) vs S&P Mid Cap(.93ER)

No question I would use the mid-cap index fund at 93 bp over the S&P 500 index fund at 130 bp. There is no reason to expect the S&P 500 fund to outperform the mid-cap fund by 37 bp over time. I would try to balance things out elsewhere.
by jhfenton
Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fifth Third HSA Transitioning to HealthEquity HSA (no longer Optum)
Replies: 33
Views: 4099

Re: Fifth Third HSA Transitioning to Optum HSA

Has anybody heard any updates on this apparent transition? Fifth Third recently made some subtle changes to their HSA login screen. Also, some of the language surrounding the transition has either disappeared or changed. The only language reads: "Fifth Third continues to work on its transition plan to a new HSA custodian. Additional information will be provided soon as it is available." It appears that all references to "Optum" have been removed. I heard today through work that the Fifth Third deal with Optum has indeed fallen through. I had been wondering what was going on, since we hadn't heard anything either. Regardless, I'm happy to say that after a quick RFP we are moving our business to Fidelity. It will make my ...
by jhfenton
Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: EEM vs SPEM
Replies: 4
Views: 1104

Re: EEM vs SPEM

snailderby wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:27 am If you want to include South Korea in your emerging markets fund, use IEMG. Otherwise, consider VWO, SPEM, or SCHE. All of these ETFs are generally liquid enough for the average buy-and-hold investor, and EEM's expense ratio is more than 6x that of IEMG.
+1 I'd use IEMG (MSCI) or VWO (FTSE) depending on whether I wanted South Korea in my EM fund or not. Since my 401(k) has VTMGX/Vanguard FTSE Developed Market Index Admiral as an investment option, I use VWO for consistency.

iShares created IEMG to compete with other cheap EM funds without having to cut the fee on their original expensive EM fund, EEM. Ordinary investors should just pretend that EEM doesn't exist now. It's purely a day-trading vehicle at this point.
by jhfenton
Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:22 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Factorheads Opinions Please VFMF/VSS
Replies: 19
Views: 2778

Re: Factorheads Opinions Please VFMF/VSS

I could see holding that. At one point a few years ago, I did swap all of my developed international (VEA/VTMGX) for VSS just to simplify things. But I still held additional emerging markets (VWO/VEMAX) separately. And I don't think it's unreasonable to hold VFMF as your core (or only) US equity holding.

Having two 401(k)s, though, with limited investment options makes things more complicated. My 401(k) has VTMGX but no other useful international funds (and my wife's has no usable international funds). So I can't keep things as simple as I would like while maintaining the exposures I would like.

Just to add a bit more complexity, I also last summer swapped one of our two positions in VSS out for AVDV.
by jhfenton
Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Thoughts on Fidelity's new Zero funds
Replies: 50
Views: 10034

Re: Thoughts on Fidelity's new Zero funds

Take a close look under he hood of those funds. Fidelity’s zero fee funds don’t track the same index. It’s a proprietary index created by Fidelity. I am betting not exactly the same as the Willshire 5000 or S&P 500. Here's an interesting article saying to wait on Fidelity's zero fee funds until they've had more time to prove themselves https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/01/06/read-this-before-buying-fidelitys-zero-fee-funds.aspx Not sure if you looked at the date of the article you send out but it was from two years ago. I was googling about these fund when I came across the article. Is 2 years enough time to know if something is keeping up with a benchmark? Yes. The Fidelity zero funds are fine. They've performed as one would expect....
by jhfenton
Sat Mar 27, 2021 9:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Third stimulus payment - mega-thread]
Replies: 387
Views: 40269

Re: [Third stimulus payment - mega-thread]

Ours finally says that our payment will also be mailed April 2.

Just to repeat what I posted above:

2018 tax year - refund to Account A
COVID payment 1 - ACH to Account A
2019 tax year - payment from Account A (filed after COVID payment 1)
COVID payment 2 - check
2020 tax year - payment from Account A scheduled for 4/15
COVID payment 3 - check

Several of us seem to have had the same 2018/2019 - payment 1/payment 2 pattern. Has anyone received a COVID payment via ACH after paying a balance due on your last filed return?
by jhfenton
Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:22 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Third stimulus payment - mega-thread]
Replies: 387
Views: 40269

Re: [Third stimulus payment - mega-thread]

For us, the IRS website still shows "Payment Status - Not Available." I did file our taxes on March 13, so it's possible the timing of that pushed us back in the line. Our income was a bit higher in 2020 than 2019, but not significantly so, and not to the level that would be relevant to the amount of the payment.
by jhfenton
Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Third stimulus payment - mega-thread]
Replies: 387
Views: 40269

Re: status of $1400 check Get My Payment

We're in the same boat. We got the first payment very quickly via DD. For some reason they sent the second payment via check, but we got it. I filed our taxes recently and scheduled our three-figure payment for April 15. Ours also shows "Payment status not available." on the IRS tool. It sounds like it may be an issue for folks who have already filed their 2020 returns. It may be an issue for folks have already filed their 2020 returns but it's also an issue for others. We qualified for and received both the first and second payments. Like yourself, we received the first via DD but the second came via check. We have yet to file our 2020 tax return. But we are also receiving the Payment Status not Available message on the IRS tool...
by jhfenton
Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Third stimulus payment - mega-thread]
Replies: 387
Views: 40269

Re: status of $1400 check Get My Payment

We're in the same boat. We got the first payment very quickly via DD. For some reason they sent the second payment via check, but we got it. I filed our taxes recently and scheduled our three-figure payment for April 15. Ours also shows "Payment status not available." on the IRS tool.

It sounds like it may be an issue for folks who have already filed their 2020 returns.
by jhfenton
Thu Mar 04, 2021 9:26 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Corporate bond market: zombie apocalypse?
Replies: 17
Views: 2056

Re: Corporate bond market: zombie apocalypse?

But if I were to own one of them, I would put it in my alternatives bucket and not count it as a bond fund. Because high yield tends to crash with equities. You're probably going to be rebalancing into your high yield at the same time as you're rebalancing into equities. I don't currently own any. Instead, I own VEGBX, Vanguard's active emerging markets bond fund, and I put it into that same alternatives bucket. It isn't quite as correlated with equities as high yield, but it is still not a reliable source for funds to rebalance into equities. I don't use the same terms but, for me, anything that's not government guaranteed goes in a separate category. Even investment grade corporate bonds would be what you call "alternatives" fo...
by jhfenton
Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:42 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Corporate bond market: zombie apocalypse?
Replies: 17
Views: 2056

Re: Corporate bond market: zombie apocalypse?

If I were going to buy a junk bond fund, it would be the iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF (FALN). If there's an anomaly to be exploited in the high yield space, it's with the bonds newly downgraded from investment grade to junk. There's some evidence that they end up cheap relative to their increased risk because of the investment grade cliff. ANGL/VanEck Vectors Fallen Angel High Yield Bond ETF is the larger and older fund in the category at $4.4B and 35 bp. FALN has $1.5B at 25 bp. But if I were to own one of them, I would put it in my alternatives bucket and not count it as a bond fund. Because high yield tends to crash with equities. You're probably going to be rebalancing into your high yield at the same time as you're rebalancing in...
by jhfenton
Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:24 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard Website
Replies: 291
Views: 35874

Re: Vanguard Website

GS wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 3:29 pm I see the Vanguard website has changed. It is very difficult to maneuver through the website now. If you click a link for a drop down box, you can not maneuver in the box as your pointer activates another dropdown box for a different link. Before I had no trouble at all. I use Safari browser. Are other people having problems also?
I'm on a Mac running the latest 11.3 beta (20E5196f). I see a slight cosmetic change in the headers in Safari, but they work the same. I'm not having any issue with the drop-down menus disappearing on me.

The site looks and behaves exactly the same way in Edge on my Mac (except that Edge supports security keys and Safari still doesn't).
by jhfenton
Wed Mar 03, 2021 10:47 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Non-fungible tokens (NFTs): anyone investing in those?
Replies: 272
Views: 32224

Re: Non-fungible tokens (NFTs): anyone investing in those?

Specifically, I don't understand the current market, where people are buying and reselling images, sports game videos, etc. Ownership of the item gives you.. nothing. You don't get the rights to resell the actual video to tv networks, you don't seem to really own anything besides something that someone else might want to pay you money for. I will admit, I don't get pokemon cards, baseball cards, etc (I somewhat can get art). I'm in the same place, except that I understand physical collectible cards a little bit. There can be enjoyment from viewing a collectible that you own, and the physicality gives you the ability to exclude others by virtue of your possession of it. Likewise, I understand the potential of NFTs for art and music. I saw a...
by jhfenton
Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:30 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Value Investing
Replies: 10
Views: 1950

Re: Value Investing

As a lifelong value tilter, I'm not a huge fan of VTV. With its market cap weighting and broad definition of value, it offers rather dilute large cap value exposure. However much value exposure you want from VTV, you can get with a smaller position in VFVA/Vanguard US Value Factor, a deep value quant fund. VFVA costs 14 bp instead of 4 bp, but you need less of it. It is also 1/3 large cap, 1/3 mid cap, 1/3 small cap by design, so you get a small cap tilt as well.
by jhfenton
Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Extended Market vs Mid and Small Cap index funds
Replies: 11
Views: 1591

Re: Vanguard Extended Market vs Mid and Small Cap index funds

vineviz wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:18 pm
Baseball30 wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:11 pm Does it bother people that it is described as growth rather than blended on Morningstar? I don’t want a growth tilt.
It shouldn’t bother you what Morningstar calls it. It doesn’t bother me.

The fund owns virtually every US stock not in the S&P 500: it’s literally impossible for it to actually have a growth tilt.
Not over the long run, but TSLA recently had an extended run as an unusually large component in the Extended Market Index. During that period, it was fair to describe the extended market index as having a growth tilt.

I would not consider Vanguard Extended except when paired with an S&P 500 fund approximately 80/20 to replicate Total Market.
by jhfenton
Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:44 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is "Amazon Day" delivery less reliable?
Replies: 23
Views: 3996

Re: Is "Amazon Day" delivery less reliable?

I've had no issues with Amazon Day delivery, but I will say that close to 100% of our non-holiday deliveries come via Amazon Logistics. So opting for Amazon Day doesn't change who delivers things, it just allows them to consolidate.

And Amazon Logistics tracking is pretty good. I get notices almost as soon as the package is delivered, and they always take a photo which appears in the notice email.
by jhfenton
Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Questions about rejected efile (TurboTax)
Replies: 21
Views: 3543

Re: Questions about rejected efile (TurboTax)

Ron wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:28 am
jhfenton wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:25 am I thought, though, that the IRS wasn't accepting returns until tomorrow, February 12. Are they really accepting them now?
I just received notification from TT that my return was accepted by the IRS this morning (submitted/filed on Monday). That doesn't mean it's being processed at the current time, but the cycle has begun...

FWIW,

- Ron
Thanks. I probably should have just gone ahead and done it last weekend too, but I procrastinated because I thought I couldn't submit it anyway.