Search found 2401 matches

by dumbmoney
Sun Jan 28, 2024 8:35 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Verizon Wireless price increase
Replies: 52
Views: 5532

Re: Verizon Wireless price increase

onourway wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2024 4:30 am I also think most MVNO users don't accurately calculate the cost of the hardware that is otherwise subsidized if you choose a big 3 carrier carefully.
Speaking as a veteran phone cheapskate, it's really the opposite, the big 3 will only give you a "free" phone if you subscribe to their most expensive plans (which incorporate the cost of the phone!), whereas you can sometimes get genuinely good phone deals from MVNOs.
by dumbmoney
Wed Aug 30, 2023 4:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Lost TV Signal
Replies: 14
Views: 1698

Re: Lost TV Signal

nisiprius wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 2:09 pm It is disturbing that on inspection, I noticed that the RCA antenna actually did not say whether or not it receives VHF. It just said "HDTV."
Before the analog shutdown and repacking, 100% of digital TV broadcasts were on UHF. So UHF antennas were marketed as "digital" antennas or some such nonsense.
by dumbmoney
Sun Jul 16, 2023 11:56 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is International allocation even a thing?
Replies: 190
Views: 15722

Re: Is International allocation even a thing?

Northern Flicker wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2023 8:21 pm S&P500 -- 37.5% tech
Total world -- 29% tech

That includes communication services sector companies (such as Google) as part of tech.

Markets of countries other than the US with 37.5% in one industry sector generally are considered undiversified. Is there a different criteria for one's home country?
That seems like a surprisingly small difference? Anyway sectors aren't handed down on stone tablets. They get redefined from time to time in order to maintain a rough balance. If some companies definitionally move from tech to a different sector, that doesn't make your portfolio any more diversified.
by dumbmoney
Thu Jul 13, 2023 2:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bill Bernstein and Corp Bonds: Is there an ideal amount?
Replies: 23
Views: 2807

Re: Bill Bernstein and Corp Bonds: Is there an ideal amount?

Basically corporate credit risk is a diluted form of stock market risk. It doesn't add anything special. So zero is acceptable - and actually ideal for taxable investors, since a higher stock/lower bond split reduces taxes.
by dumbmoney
Thu Jul 13, 2023 1:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: New money market fund rules
Replies: 15
Views: 1713

Re: New money market fund rules

It looks like they removed the option of redemption gates and liquidity fees. Isn't that the opposite of protecting the NAV in the case that there are lots of redemptions? "To address concerns about redemption costs and liquidity, the amendments will require institutional prime and institutional tax-exempt money market funds to impose liquidity fees when a fund experiences daily net redemptions that exceed 5 percent of net assets, unless the fund’s liquidity costs are de minimis. In addition, the amendments will require any non-government money market fund to impose a discretionary liquidity fee if the board determines that a fee is in the best interest of the fund." Gates are gone but there can be redemption fees. Gates always s...
by dumbmoney
Thu Jul 06, 2023 6:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Swelling Cell Phone Battery
Replies: 14
Views: 1295

Re: Swelling Cell Phone Battery

My understanding is that this is what caused all those Samsung phone fires a while back - not the battery swelling alone (which is a common problem), but swelling combined with the fact that the phone design didn't have enough "give", so the battery ruptured.
by dumbmoney
Wed Jul 05, 2023 11:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Aldi supermarket?
Replies: 106
Views: 11164

Re: Aldi supermarket?

Second Round wrote: Wed Jul 05, 2023 8:52 pm My point is this: take a look at the house brand breakfast cereal boxes at Aldi. If you don't think the graphics and color scheme on those boxes are designed to fool the casual shopper into thinking they're buying the name brand, I don't know what to tell you.
It's informing the customer which brand it's similiar to, not fooling the customer into thinking it is the brand. For whatever reason nobody writes on the package, "this is similiar to [brand]", instead they give you clues.
by dumbmoney
Tue Jul 04, 2023 3:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: VPN and password managers
Replies: 21
Views: 1431

Re: VPN and password managers

You don't actually need a VPN for security; that's what HTTPS is for. But anyway, I suggest using Cloudflare's "1.1.1.1" app. It's free and Cloudflare is a reputable company.
by dumbmoney
Sun Jul 02, 2023 8:05 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Have Stock Buybacks Benefited Broad-Market Index Investors?
Replies: 14
Views: 1726

Re: Have Stock Buybacks Benefited Broad-Market Index Investors?

Buybacks have costs that dividends don't - brokerage fees, bid-ask spread, etc. If these slippages are minimal, then the choice between buybacks and dividends is cultural/aesthetic, or possibly motivated by tax avoidance.
by dumbmoney
Sat Jul 01, 2023 6:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Mouse Living in My Car
Replies: 32
Views: 3696

Re: Mouse Living in My Car

Mice can do a lot of damage - they will strip the insulation from wires for example. Old fashioned mouse traps (such as https://www.amazon.com/Tomcat-0373312-M ... B012RDT44U) are cheap and effective.
by dumbmoney
Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:30 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Paper: "Smart beta" is a mirage due to data mining in backtested indexes
Replies: 115
Views: 9951

Re: Paper: "Smart beta" is a mirage due to data mining in backtested indexes

Morningstar considers vanilla value/growth index funds to be smart beta (or strategic beta as they call it). These funds are offered in pairs that net out to be dumb beta. They don't fit the category in my opinion.

Probably wouldn't change the conclusions to omit them but would make the category significantly smaller in terms of assets.
by dumbmoney
Fri Jun 16, 2023 10:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Can't enter Fidelity debit card PIN at grocery store - Update
Replies: 14
Views: 1353

Re: Can't enter Fidelity debit card PIN at grocery store

I don't know what the problem was, but for your information, you probably didn't need to enter a PIN (unless you're getting cash back). Just hit enter when prompted for a PIN and the transaction should be processed as a credit card rather than an ATM card.
by dumbmoney
Tue Jun 06, 2023 1:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What's Going On With AT&T?
Replies: 17
Views: 2200

Re: What's Going On With AT&T?

Did you order directly from the web site? It kind of sounds like you ordered through some salesman. If so that was a mistake.
by dumbmoney
Tue May 30, 2023 9:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Power outlets off and on
Replies: 40
Views: 4789

Re: Power outlets off and on

Note that loose electrical connections are a fire hazard (although being contained in electrical boxes mitigates the risk). So there's reason to demand a fix besides the nuisance factor.
by dumbmoney
Mon May 29, 2023 10:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Sony X90CK
Replies: 9
Views: 1303

Re: Sony X90CK

rtings.com is the best (by far) review site for TVs.
by dumbmoney
Mon May 29, 2023 11:58 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: HD TV & "looks fake"
Replies: 45
Views: 4177

Re: HD TV & "looks fake"

On better TVs motion interpolation has multiple settings, not just off and on. I use moderate interpolation on my Sony TV because otherwise, there is obnoxious flicker on film (24fps) content - most apparent in scenes with high contrast and camera movement. All decent modern tv's offer 120hz refresh rate which (with proper settings) eliminates this problem. Most films and higher-end tv content is shot at 24fps. 'Normal' tv is often shot at 30fps. A typical inexpensive or older 60hz tv will have to convert 24fps content into a 3:2 cadence where every other frame is displayed three times. If all motion smoothing is off, it will typically look 'better' but have judder in panning shots also noticeable with lots of motion. Motion smoothing 'int...
by dumbmoney
Sun May 28, 2023 10:19 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: HD TV & "looks fake"
Replies: 45
Views: 4177

Re: HD TV & "looks fake"

On better TVs motion interpolation has multiple settings, not just off and on. I use moderate interpolation on my Sony TV because otherwise, there is obnoxious flicker on film (24fps) content - most apparent in scenes with high contrast and camera movement.
by dumbmoney
Mon May 08, 2023 11:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Index funds that "seek to track" vs. "track" an index
Replies: 17
Views: 1505

Re: Index funds that "seek to track" vs. "track" an index

Northern Flicker wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 10:28 pm Many indices have investability screens to ensure adequate liquidity of stocks in the index. It appears to me that VTI uses full replication and the index itself filters out illiquid microcaps.
Last time I checked Vanguard Total Stock definitely used sampling. Even though it might hold every stock in the index, the small stocks are not all held at index weight. Nevertheless it has had no trouble tracking the index.

There was an incident years ago where Vanguard Total Bond deviated significantly (and to the disadvantage of owners) from its index. It necessarily uses sampling because, except for treasury bonds, bonds are numerous and illiquid.
by dumbmoney
Fri May 05, 2023 3:00 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why did interest rates fall when the Fed announced a rate hike?
Replies: 21
Views: 3112

Re: Why did interest rates fall when the Fed announced a rate hike?

The bond market is basically expecting a recession, which if it happens would cause the Fed to rapidly lower the overnight rate.
by dumbmoney
Wed Apr 19, 2023 7:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When Is A New M.2 SSD Needed For PC?
Replies: 26
Views: 2492

Re: When Is A New M.2 SSD Needed For PC?

It's just an advertisement which at worst, forces you to close the browser. If you had an ad blocker installed (highly recommended) you would probably not have seen it.
by dumbmoney
Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:08 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: LifeStrategy Growth has 6% short term reserves?
Replies: 3
Views: 952

Re: LifeStrategy Growth has 6% short term reserves?

Tom_T wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:10 pm Total Bond is going to contain some amount of short-term reserves (it is "total" bond, after all.)
Total bond's target index excludes bonds of under 1 year maturity.
by dumbmoney
Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: YouTube TV
Replies: 127
Views: 16714

Re: YouTube TV

Pay TV is a poor value regardless of how it's delivered. For less money you can subscribe to multiple ad free streaming services. Plus you can rotate between services without penalty, so there's no need to subscribe to everything at the same time. Live sports and news are free.
by dumbmoney
Thu Apr 06, 2023 4:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Anyone getting worried about their MM accounts? Is there safer Vanguard MM Accounts?
Replies: 43
Views: 7394

Re: Anyone getting worried about their MM accounts? Is there safer Vanguard MM Accounts?

nisiprius wrote: Thu Apr 06, 2023 3:19 pm Supposedly, this couldn't happen today in a retail money market mutual fund, because they only invest in the very safest assets. Today, Reserve Primary would have been classified as an institutional money market mutual fund. And supposedly this couldn't happen today in an institutional money market fund because they are required to mark to market, instead of maintaining a redemption value of $1/share, so you would no longer have a mismatch where the fund's assets were less than the stated net asset value.
There was actually a run from non-government funds in 2020 (only briefly, because the Fed intervened). So the post-2008 reforms failed, and the SEC is trying again:

https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105535
by dumbmoney
Wed Apr 05, 2023 12:27 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: AQR: Re-Emerging Equities - EM Positioned for Higher Returns
Replies: 128
Views: 9520

Re: AQR: Re-Emerging Equities - EM Positioned for Higher Returns

watchnerd wrote: Wed Apr 05, 2023 11:17 am Personally, I don't even try, because I can't think of a framework that doesn't get into active management decision making, beyond the liquidity requirements the index makers use.
I think most index investors basically want to mirror the return of peer investors. As long as index investors are holding a roughly proportionate share of China stocks held by foreign investors, it's fine.
by dumbmoney
Fri Mar 17, 2023 6:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity Cash Mgmt account?
Replies: 24
Views: 2807

Re: Fidelity Cash Mgmt account?

Autopay normally means you authorize the merchant to debit your account at any time and in any amount. So that's different from "bill paying" where the timing and amount is under your control (even if you automate it).
by dumbmoney
Fri Mar 17, 2023 8:11 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What is the benefit to the government for issuing inflation-protected securities
Replies: 75
Views: 6959

Re: What is the benefit to the government for issuing inflation-protected securities

It's not "one sided" because like any bond it's priced (mainly) on expected return. So ignoring fine details, it doesn't change the expected cost of servicing the debt.

They exist because the idea appealed to academic economists, Wall Street always likes to have more stuff to trade, and some investors like them.
by dumbmoney
Thu Mar 16, 2023 8:07 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: PBS Frontline: Age of Easy Money (Full Documentary)
Replies: 137
Views: 13156

Re: PBS Frontline: Age of Easy Money (Full Documentary)

watchnerd wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:33 am
dogagility wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:22 am So the TL:DR version of the documentary is more media fear-mongering? I generally appreciate Frontline episodes so I hope it's not.
Is it fear mongering to look at how QE and ZIRP have created issues or unintended consequences in the macro economy?
I think a lot of people who focus on those things end up doing cargo cult economics. Setting interest rates to some "ideal healthy economy" level doesn't bring that economy into existence.
by dumbmoney
Wed Mar 15, 2023 1:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 212035

Re: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]

nps wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:55 am
exodusing wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:03 am I've yet to see an example of an FDIC bank takeover in which depositors were not all paid in full, after asking here and elsewhere. If there are example, it would be helpful to see them.
IndyMac?
That's one, yes. Actually it seems to be pretty common, but you don't hear about it because most failed banks are tiny.

https://closedbanks.fdic.gov/dividends
by dumbmoney
Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 212035

Re: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]

The only alternative to this happening is for banks to be run like a utility. Another alternative is for the banks to be run soundly, meaning no maturity mismatching and no fractional reserve lending. Then there is no danger of bank runs. Of course unsound banking is more profitable... until the bank fails. For 8 centuries (at least) banking has run on the principles of: - risk aggregation - maturity transformation If you look at the Discount Bills market, which has traded in some form in London since the 1600s (perhaps earlier) there's also fractional reserve banking going on-- in the sense that no bank was ever in a position to honour all its bills, at once. When that nearly happened (in the days in July 1014 just before WW1 kicked off) ...
by dumbmoney
Sun Mar 12, 2023 12:40 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 212035

Re: [Silicon Valley Bank fails, FDIC takes over]

Whenever I get money from a trade or deposit, I move it to FDLXX as soon as it clears. Why? Because FDLXX consists primarily of t-bills whereas FZFXX consists almost entirely of repos. Yes, those are collateralized loans, so if the borrower doesn't pay the loan back when promised, they can sell the collateral. But that is a slower process that might tie up money for awhile, and could possibly involve some loss of value if the collateral loses value rapidly enough that they can't call for more. That's an unlikely scenario to be sure, but since there is basically no difference in yield (actually FDLXX has a tiny bit more yield now, which I believe is unusual), why not get the last bit of safety? The main repo participant these days is the Fe...
by dumbmoney
Sat Mar 11, 2023 11:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 212035

Re: [Silicon Valley Bank fails, FDIC takes over]

Whenever I get money from a trade or deposit, I move it to FDLXX as soon as it clears. Why? Because FDLXX consists primarily of t-bills whereas FZFXX consists almost entirely of repos. Yes, those are collateralized loans, so if the borrower doesn't pay the loan back when promised, they can sell the collateral. But that is a slower process that might tie up money for awhile, and could possibly involve some loss of value if the collateral loses value rapidly enough that they can't call for more. That's an unlikely scenario to be sure, but since there is basically no difference in yield (actually FDLXX has a tiny bit more yield now, which I believe is unusual), why not get the last bit of safety? The main repo participant these days is the Fe...
by dumbmoney
Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:32 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 212035

Re: [Silicon Valley Bank fails, FDIC takes over]

Watty wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 6:18 pm
leviathan wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 2:37 pm I am wondering what will happen to share (stock SIVB) holder of SVB. It's one of S&P 500 companies.
I did not realize that.

So assuming that it goes to zero, then how much has someone with $1,000 in an S&P index fund lost?
Not including the big loss on Thursday, $0.19.
by dumbmoney
Fri Mar 10, 2023 5:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 212035

Re: [Silicon Valley Bank fails, FDIC takes over]

exodusing wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 4:58 pm
bobcat2 wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 3:42 pm Apparently it is beyond the ken of bankers to understand asset/liability matching strategies. :oops:
Are you suggesting that banks actually match the timing of all assets and liabilities, for example, having cash or cash equivalents to cover all deposits that could be redeemed on demand or close to it?
That's an available option. Nobody put a gun to their heads and made them load up on interest rate risk.
by dumbmoney
Thu Mar 02, 2023 8:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Indexing Bomb
Replies: 98
Views: 15863

Re: The Indexing Bomb

theorist wrote: Thu Mar 02, 2023 7:04 pm It is easy to check if price discovery is occurring. One can study the returns of the stocks in the S & P 500 individually. Have their correlations with one another changed meaningfully as indexing has grown?
Increased correlation would be a good thing though. You want stock prices to change because of a change in fundamentals, not because of random "supply and demand" effects.

The one negative with index funds is that the obsession with minimizing tracking error leads them to trade in sync when the index changes, which can cause meaningless temporary price movements. Fortunately they don't trade very much.
by dumbmoney
Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Since the market is mostly large cap, is it also mostly growth?
Replies: 23
Views: 2205

Re: Since the market is mostly large cap, is it also mostly growth?

Typically growth and value are defined to be 50% of the market each, so that doesn't meaningfully answer your question. But you can make some observations. Growth is more concentrated than value (at least in the US market at the moment). The big growth stocks are bigger than the big value stocks. The sector weightings are quite different, with growth heavy on tech and light on finance.
by dumbmoney
Tue Feb 28, 2023 6:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax Managed vs. Index funds
Replies: 15
Views: 1947

Re: Tax Managed vs. Index funds

Tax managed funds are obsolete in my opinion. Vanguard's regular index funds have generally not distributed capital gains since the 2000s. And there are benefits to choosing a more popular fund, like lower expense ratio and ETF option.
by dumbmoney
Sun Feb 26, 2023 12:53 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Buffett's 2022 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter
Replies: 76
Views: 12137

Re: Buffett's investment letter 2022 - leverage

Leverage is pervasive. The companies that make up the stock market are leveraged (everyone was acutely aware of this during the 2008 crisis). Avoiding leverage is not a practical option, but you can soften it by holding bonds in addition to stocks.
by dumbmoney
Fri Feb 24, 2023 12:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Impact of Social Security & Medicare Tax Withholding on Tax Return
Replies: 15
Views: 1441

Re: Impact of Social Security & Medicare Tax Withholding on Tax Return

If you're paid under $147K (2022), these are flat percentage taxes, so there shouldn't be over- or under- payment. You owe exactly what was withheld. Income tax is separate (except for self employed people, who take a deduction).

Not sure if that answers the question.
by dumbmoney
Sun Feb 19, 2023 10:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Teen files tax return: can he get FICA back?
Replies: 17
Views: 2075

Re: Teen files tax return: can he get FICA back?

The exemption from payroll taxes is only if the child is employed by a parent.
by dumbmoney
Tue Feb 14, 2023 3:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard's Shtekman and Xu beat Asness: Alt. Strategies (VASFX) vs. AQR (QSPIX)!
Replies: 26
Views: 3486

Re: Vanguard's Shtekman and Xu beat Asness: Alt. Strategies (VASFX) vs. AQR (QSPIX)!

It was an all-weather fund...it performed badly under all market conditions.

I guess essentially all of it was owned by the Managed Allocation Fund, which is also closing (merging with LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund).
by dumbmoney
Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:15 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is ATSC 3.0 a factor in your TV purchase decision?
Replies: 73
Views: 5752

Re: Is ATSC 3.0 a factor in your TV purchase decision?

Nope. The writing is on the wall, OTA is going the way of A.M. radio. The car I bought in 2016 receives AM stations, and in the car radio tradition, very well. There are plenty of stations on the AM dial, and the clear channel stations can still be picked up hundreds of miles away. There are six thousand AM radio stations in the United States, and often they are the medium of choice for weather emergency information. Along the same lines, OTA is not going away either. The FTC mandates that every .1 broadcast channel be free and open to the public. At some point, though, broadcasters will have the ability to put their content behind a paywall. Personally, I would pay for ESPN via an uncompressed 4K picture over OTA than via the Internet or ...
by dumbmoney
Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:00 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is ATSC 3.0 a factor in your TV purchase decision?
Replies: 73
Views: 5752

Re: Is ATSC 3.0 a factor in your TV purchase decision?

There are ATSC 3.0 broadcasts in many cities, but they are redundant with existing channels. Nothing new.

Personally I doubt that a "voluntary" transition can succeed (that approach failed in the past), and the FCC will need to establish a timetable, if it wants a transition to happen.
by dumbmoney
Sun Feb 05, 2023 2:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: TiVo for Samsung HDTV
Replies: 23
Views: 1925

Re: TiVo for Samsung HDTV

Newer Tivos aren't better overall. Just use the Tivo for recording TV and use a Fire TV Stick (dirt cheap) or Apple TV (more expensive but affordable) for streaming services.
by dumbmoney
Sun Jan 29, 2023 11:32 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: could chatgpt lead to a world where picking individual stocks outperforms index funds?
Replies: 210
Views: 19174

Re: could chatgpt lead to a world where picking individual stocks outperforms index funds?

Ironically the AIs are better at creative work than anything requiring attention to detail.
by dumbmoney
Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:56 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Matt Levine on how NYSE works at 9:30 and differently at 9:31
Replies: 29
Views: 4246

Re: Matt Levine on how NYSE works at 9:30 and differently at 9:31

It makes you wonder whether the 9:31-3:59 trading serves any purpose besides entertainment.
by dumbmoney
Wed Jan 18, 2023 3:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Why very high speed internet?
Replies: 168
Views: 13813

Re: Why very high speed internet?

It's an affordable luxury. Like buying a $600 Apple phone when a $100 Android phone would be almost as good.
by dumbmoney
Sun Jan 15, 2023 11:24 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: VMFXX vs Ally Savings account
Replies: 5
Views: 1882

Re: VMFXX vs Ally Savings account

Money market rates closely follow the Fed Funds rate:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS

(click on 1Y)

Banks quote APY which is a tiny bit higher than simple yield since it includes the effect of interest reinvestment.
by dumbmoney
Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:34 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Can small cap value ETF be overvalued?
Replies: 16
Views: 1990

Re: Can small cap value ETF be overvalued?

Value is a "style". It's not synonymous with undervalued. When index publishers divide the stock market into growth and value, they aren't attempting to identify good stocks and bad stocks or anything like that. Professional investors seek out undervalued stocks whether they are operating in the growth style or the value style.

There's a theory that value stocks will outperform growth stocks in the long run (though in some versions of the theory, this is only because value stocks are riskier), which suggests an index investor might prefer value stocks. But even if true, this doesn't mean that value stocks can't be intermittently overvalued.
by dumbmoney
Sat Jan 07, 2023 12:42 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard 3.0% APY FDIC insured settlement fund
Replies: 24
Views: 5478

Re: Vanguard 3.0% APY FDIC insured settlement fund

boglehat wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:52 pm
Charles Joseph wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:01 pm If treasuries go kaput what will FDIC insurance be worth? Not much I imagine.

I'm good with VUSXX.
How would treasuries go kaput? Can’t the treasury print more money to pay them?
The Federal Reserve bank is independent of the treasury. (But the only scenario where the Fed might want to force a default is if the alternative would be hyperinflation. A deflationary financial crisis like the Great Depression wouldn't cause a treasury default).
by dumbmoney
Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard Robo Advisor - Mutual Funds and ETF's Recommended?
Replies: 10
Views: 922

Re: Vanguard Robo Advisor - Mutual Funds and ETF's Recommended?

I understand that Vanguard prefers ETFs over mutual funds. They are much cheaper to run. So all things being equal they would want you to convert your mutual fund shares over to ETF shares. I don't think that has anything to do with it. The competitiveness of Vanguard's ETFs depends on liquidity, which depends on trading volume, which depends on assets under management. So that's why they encourage ETF conversion, because it ultimately helps in the competition with Blackrock. Why would liquidity matter to Vanguard's costs? These are trading costs, costs that are born by the Authorized Participants (AP). I mean, that is one of the ticks of a ETF, right? They escape the trading costs. For a mutual fund it is the long term share holders who h...