Search found 293 matches

by AllieTB1323
Thu Feb 01, 2024 12:21 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Asset allocation strategy
Replies: 37
Views: 3757

Re: Asset allocation strategy

We retired and in our 70s and are 68/32. The fixed income is a combination of short term bond funds and CDs split approximately 50/50.
by AllieTB1323
Mon Dec 25, 2023 9:38 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How many brokerage accounts do you have?
Replies: 164
Views: 16347

Re: How many brokerage accounts do you have?

Two brokerages.

Fidelity, Taxable and my and DW IRAs.
Vanguard, a Taxable and an inherited IRA.
by AllieTB1323
Tue Oct 31, 2023 10:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question for Married Bogleheads - % to allocate to joint accounts
Replies: 174
Views: 13259

Re: Question for Married Bogleheads - % to allocate to joint accounts

We have been married for almost 52 years. Since the wedding all accounts except for the IRAs have been held jointly.
by AllieTB1323
Wed Oct 18, 2023 7:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone using the Fidelity Rewards Visa card?
Replies: 58
Views: 11452

Re: Anyone using the Fidelity Rewards Visa card?

We’ve used it since Fidelity changed from Amex. It’s my goto card for Costco shopping since we have an Executive membership.
by AllieTB1323
Sat Oct 14, 2023 8:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What ratio are you stocks/bonds and how old are you?
Replies: 449
Views: 95636

Re: What ratio are you stocks/bonds and how old are you?

73 and DW 72

62% equities
4% bonds
32% cash as MM or CDs
by AllieTB1323
Tue Sep 19, 2023 10:14 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay Credit Card Electronically
Replies: 50
Views: 3585

Re: Pay Credit Card Electronically

For estimated quarterly taxes, I do still send a paper check by snail mail as I do for state or federal taxes. For refunds, I include my checking account information so the refund can ACH into my account. I have over a dozen active credit card accounts and another dozen I only use for specific reasons. All of them are auto paid by ACH, so they all have my checking account info. What about all the risks? I don't know. I never think about them. I push payments for credit cards. I was bribed $10/line by Verizon to allow them to pull their payment from my checking account through a debit card. I still write checks for estimate payments, but now drop the envelope in the box INSIDE the USPS post office. With the above post, maybe I will us the e...
by AllieTB1323
Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Does anyone here with net worths north of $1 mil use financial advisors?
Replies: 454
Views: 86827

Re: Does anyone here with net worths north of $1 mil use financial advisors?

When DW and I were younger we used a FA for about a year. Terrible experience. We fired him and moved to Fidelity. This forum has provided the backbone for our investing philosophy.

Thanks!
by AllieTB1323
Sat Sep 09, 2023 4:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: what kinds of careers do bogleheads like?
Replies: 45
Views: 4713

Re: what kinds of careers do bogleheads like?

STEM with a background in Chemistry. Owned and operated a regional analytical service for about thirty years.
by AllieTB1323
Sat Aug 19, 2023 4:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Couples. Did you retire at the same, or did you offset retirement years?
Replies: 51
Views: 4183

Re: Couples. Did you retire at the same, or did you offset retirement years?

My DW and I retired together once the sale of our business closed.
by AllieTB1323
Sun Aug 13, 2023 5:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Lessons from 2007 -2009
Replies: 143
Views: 18246

Re: Lessons from 2007 -2009

exigent wrote: Sun Aug 13, 2023 4:48 pm We were on a Disney cruise with our young kids when the market bottomed in the spring of 2009. I was blissfully unaware b/c we had (and still have) a plan. We just leave it alone and let it do its thing. It probably wasn’t until a couple years later that I looked back and realized when the market hit bottom and what we were doing at that moment.

So, the lesson here is that we did exactly nothing… other than ignoring what was happening, and it was by far the best move we could have made.
We were at the Weston on Kaanapali. The beach was deserted. DW and I rebalanced our AA back to 70/30.
by AllieTB1323
Tue Aug 08, 2023 4:29 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Paying Quarterly Estimated Taxes
Replies: 8
Views: 1948

Re: Paying Quarterly Estimated Taxes

We’ve used the EFTPS site for years both for our private C-Corp and our personal return. Once it is setup it is very easy to use. Bonus, before seeing the accountant we go the the site and print out a history of our estimated payments.
by AllieTB1323
Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:51 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Locked-out of Treasury Direct
Replies: 50
Views: 9453

Re: Locked-out of Treasury Direct

mmmmbrisket wrote: Sat Jul 22, 2023 12:43 pm I had this issue just this past week. I called and got right through. I had to answer the security questions on the phone and they reviewed the answers afterward and pointed out my mistake. They unlocked my account right away and was able to log back in while still on the phone
Same here, they were very easy to deal with. It was my mistake answering the security questions.
by AllieTB1323
Mon Jul 24, 2023 4:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity Requires POA for Elderly Father
Replies: 27
Views: 3110

Re: Fidelity Requires POA for Elderly Father

Isn’t Fidelity required to maintain an At Risk Team because of FINRA Rule 2165.

It seems the brokerage houses have to proactively search out potentially at risk clients.
by AllieTB1323
Mon Jul 03, 2023 4:08 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone still favor Vanguard?
Replies: 359
Views: 48429

Re: Anyone still favor Vanguard?

We use VG and Fidelity for equities and fixed income. The split is about 30/70. We have never had issues with either shop. DW doesn’t trust putting all our assets at one brokerage.
by AllieTB1323
Sun Jul 02, 2023 12:41 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What are you up YTD? [Year To Date]
Replies: 5249
Views: 900180

Re: What are you up YTD? [Year To Date]

We’re retired with a 65/35 AA and after minor withdrawals the portfolio is up 7.1% YTD.
by AllieTB1323
Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Investments you wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole
Replies: 242
Views: 26578

Re: Investments you wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole

Stinky wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 7:14 am
AllieTB1323 wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 7:02 am Any annuity.
So -

You wouldn’t consider a couple of kinds of annuities that many Bogleheads like - multi year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) and single premium immediate annuities (SPIAs)?

And you don’t draw from Social Security or a defined benefit pension plan, both of which look like SPIAs?
Social Security unlike privately sold annuities isn’t voluntary. No I do not have a pension. During most my fifty years of work I paid both sides of the FICA tax.
by AllieTB1323
Sat Jun 10, 2023 7:02 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Investments you wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole
Replies: 242
Views: 26578

Re: Investments you wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole

Any annuity.
Any flavor of whole life insurance policy
Any high cost actively managed mutual fund
Any investment advisor
by AllieTB1323
Tue Apr 25, 2023 4:51 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: In a big investment hole
Replies: 70
Views: 9820

Re: In a big investment hole

calmaniac wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:17 pm Most of us have crashed and burned in the past. I was invested in all sorts of individual stocks during the 2000 tech bubble in my early forties and lost about half of our investments. Fast forward 23 years largely in index funds, and we are doing very, very well.

Time to move past the sunk cost fallacy and into investments for the long term.
That’s a Big Plus One.
by AllieTB1323
Tue May 31, 2022 6:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New to investing in taxable account
Replies: 15
Views: 1809

Re: New to investing in taxable account

rkhusky wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 5:56 pm I would avoid holding the same funds in both taxable and tax-advantaged accounts to avoid complications with wash sales.
Excellent advice.
by AllieTB1323
Fri Jan 07, 2022 6:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Unable to setup Vanguard RMD Service
Replies: 8
Views: 1168

Re: Unable to setup Vanguard RMD Service

Odd, I setup my RMD from an inherited IRA a few days ago. The total yearly RMD should be in our brokerage account next week.
by AllieTB1323
Mon Jun 28, 2021 8:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: substantial windfall - management questions
Replies: 14
Views: 3051

Re: substantial windfall - management questions

From AB609:


Last piece of advice is to keep your financial situation to yourself. That kind of money can make a lot of people jealous.
[/quote]


Excellent advice.
by AllieTB1323
Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:53 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: You ever have an investment actually go to zero?
Replies: 126
Views: 12613

Re: You ever have an investment actually go to zero?

WAMU. The only upside from that dog of an investment was it made me the indexer I am today.
by AllieTB1323
Fri Jun 18, 2021 8:47 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What Is Your Longest-Held Investment?
Replies: 147
Views: 15509

Re: What Is Your Longest-Held Investment?

We bought Wellington in maybe 1990. Our next oldest holding is probably Disney which was purchased in 2002? At about $17.00 per share.

The Wellington is a single purchase into an IRA is showing a 1950% gain. There must be something to that “time in the market” claim!
by AllieTB1323
Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should we keep most of our $ at Vanguard or split across brokerages?
Replies: 18
Views: 2890

Re: Should we keep most of our $ at Vanguard or split across brokerages?

We split our accounts across VG and Fidelity not only as a protection from brokerage risk but also to avail ourselves of Fido’s excellent CC.
by AllieTB1323
Thu Sep 24, 2020 10:08 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Buckets in Retirement
Replies: 97
Views: 9707

Re: Buckets in Retirement

Nope, we worry more about our AA, asset location and maintaining a tax efficient withdrawal strategy.
by AllieTB1323
Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:50 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Be not afraid
Replies: 9
Views: 1938

Re: Be not afraid

It was one of the fastest recoveries in history - wait till you live through a downturn that lasts years . I’m in my seventies and have survived too many crashes. One of my friends who I gave emotional support to during the 2008-09 crash totally bailed out of this market late March. I’ve always maintained something close to a 60/40 AA but the Market violence of this year makes me reconsider the game plan. There was an interesting statistic that I saw recently - it was that the average investor was under-performing the funds they own by 2 to 3%. Which, on the surface, seems illogical, but makes sense when you realize there's a lot of investors making changes in up and down markets that are detrimental to their returns. Me. or I should say m...
by AllieTB1323
Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:02 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Be not afraid
Replies: 9
Views: 1938

Re: Be not afraid

burritoLover wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 7:43 pm It was one of the fastest recoveries in history - wait till you live through a downturn that lasts years.
I’m in my seventies and have survived too many crashes. One of my friends who I gave emotional support to during the 2008-09 crash totally bailed out of this market late March. I’ve always maintained something close to a 60/40 AA but the Market violence of this year makes me reconsider the game plan.
by AllieTB1323
Wed Sep 02, 2020 6:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What is your age and asset allocation ?
Replies: 1156
Views: 150814

Re: What is your age and asset allocation ?

BestCoast123 wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:16 pm
AllieTB1323 wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:11 pm
BestCoast123 wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:42 pm
AllieTB1323 wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:56 pm I'm 70, and DW is 68

Stocks: 54%
Bonds: 29%
Cash: 3%
RE Contracts: 14%
Would you consider expanding on your RE Contracts? If all goes well, I should have $25k to $50k in K-1 Passive Income in the next year or two, which I will shovel into passive real estate investments to generate some depreciation to defer the taxes. Assuming the RE Contracts are direct mortgages?
Nope, we have no urge to dabble in additional RE Contracts. We sold our privately held C-Corp to a key employee. We also sold him our personally owned real estate the business uses.
I was probably unclear. Sorry. Meant to say "what are the RE Contracts?" Private mortgages?
I sent a private message
by AllieTB1323
Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What is your age and asset allocation ?
Replies: 1156
Views: 150814

Re: What is your age and asset allocation ?

BestCoast123 wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:42 pm
AllieTB1323 wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:56 pm I'm 70, and DW is 68

Stocks: 54%
Bonds: 29%
Cash: 3%
RE Contracts: 14%
Would you consider expanding on your RE Contracts? If all goes well, I should have $25k to $50k in K-1 Passive Income in the next year or two, which I will shovel into passive real estate investments to generate some depreciation to defer the taxes. Assuming the RE Contracts are direct mortgages?
Nope, we have no urge to dabble in additional RE Contracts. We sold our privately held C-Corp to a key employee. We also sold him our personally owned real estate the business uses.
by AllieTB1323
Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:56 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What is your age and asset allocation ?
Replies: 1156
Views: 150814

Re: What is your age and asset allocation ?

I'm 70, and DW is 68

Stocks: 54%
Bonds: 29%
Cash: 3%
RE Contracts: 14%
by AllieTB1323
Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I was looking at getting the 1% cash back discover card. How many of you use debit cards all the time?
Replies: 79
Views: 5506

Re: I was looking at getting the 1% cash back discover card. How many of you use debit cards all the time?

UpperNwGuy wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 6:59 pm I never use debit cards. I only use credit cards. Two reasons: First, debit cards don't have the same protections as credit cards. Second, credit cards have better rewards. I pay my credit cards in full each month, so I never pay interest.


Same here. Our goto card is Fidelity’s 2% rewards card.
by AllieTB1323
Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:41 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Money Market
Replies: 13
Views: 1603

Re: Vanguard Money Market

Orpheum wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:33 pm Also, thanks for the welcome. Capital One or Ally seem like a good play. 1% while keeping an eye on the market - unless anyone else has any other suggestions.

Be sure to stay below the FDIC limits. Spread the funds out. Beyond Ally and Cap One look at Marcus, AMEX etc. Most are in the same yield ballpark.
by AllieTB1323
Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:40 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Any suggestions for where to safely park money that will be needed in 1 year?
Replies: 8
Views: 899

Re: Any suggestions for where to safely park money that will be needed in 1 year?

Any of the online HYSAs, be it Ally, Amex and Marcus, etc. We use Amex and Marcus and both are linked to our local Credit Union.
by AllieTB1323
Sat Apr 25, 2020 9:21 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: IRS Get My Payment up and running
Replies: 369
Views: 32430

Re: IRS Get My Payment up and running

mtmingus wrote: Sat Apr 25, 2020 8:44 am Successfully entered my banking info today instead of having to wait in July:

You have successfully submitted your bank account information. Your payment will be direct deposited into your bank account using the information you provided.

Bank Account Type: Checking
Bank Account Number: ************xxxx
Bank Routing Number: ******xxx

Owed and filed 2019 Tax using TurboTax.
Direct Pay settled the owed amount before filing the tax so the tax owed on our 1040 was ZERO.
Yes. Finally and I almost didn't believe the screen after the never-ending error messages.
by AllieTB1323
Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Marcus or Ally
Replies: 176
Views: 24985

Re: Marcus or Ally

Have both Marcus and Amex and am happy with both. Marcus does offer a slightly higher interest rate than Amex.
by AllieTB1323
Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:39 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: EFTPS vs IRS DirectPay for making conversion tax payments?
Replies: 8
Views: 861

Re: EFTPS vs IRS DirectPay for making conversion tax payments?

Once you are enrolled EFTPS is simple to use. The ability to schedule a years worth of quarterly payments really simplifies record keeping.
by AllieTB1323
Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:54 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Why is VFORX down almost 4% today?
Replies: 16
Views: 1716

Re: Why is VFORX down almost 4% today?

corner559 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:08 pm This level of incompetence is totally unacceptable on Vanguard’s part.
This was glaring to the point of being humorous but how many smaller exhibits of their incompetence aren’t noticed.
by AllieTB1323
Thu Jan 23, 2020 9:10 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How do you deal with taxes?
Replies: 40
Views: 4452

Re: How do you deal with taxes?

We're retired with substantial 1099 MISC income and make quarterly IRS payments using https://www.eftps.gov website.
by AllieTB1323
Wed Dec 18, 2019 5:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is there any fundamental difference between auto "reinvest dividends" and buying more as soon as you get a cash dist.?
Replies: 14
Views: 1696

Re: Is there any fundamental difference between auto "reinvest dividends" and buying more as soon as you get a cash dist

livesoft wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 5:22 pm
octreotide wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:56 pmWhat about cost basis? I noticed in my fidelity account for things that are bought by auto reinvest it says they have a cost basis of 0, which seems odd.
I think you are mis-interpreting parts of the Fidelity account, so you may wish to work that out somehow.
Perchance is this an IRA or another type of tax sheltered account, if so then then Fidelity would show reinvested dividends with a zero cost. There wouldn't be any TLH in the account.
by AllieTB1323
Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:09 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why did Fidelity Total Market Index fund drop -1.55% today?
Replies: 77
Views: 8535

Re: Why did Fidelity Total Market Index fund drop -1.55% today?

From their website: "A dividend of 1.383 per share, declared on 12/13/2019, will be posted to your account on 12/16/2019."
by AllieTB1323
Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:23 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard system problem: buy reversed
Replies: 20
Views: 2453

Re: Vanguard system problem: buy reversed

Seems the problem is wide spread. From the "Independent Advisor for Vanguard Investors" "And once again, I regrettably have a service issue to alert you all to. On Tuesday, one eagle-eyed subscriber noticed that Vanguard had initiated a withdrawal from his Schwab checking account into his Prime Money Market (VMMXX) account. This was apparently a duplicate of a transaction the subscriber made and completed earlier in the month. When he contacted Vanguard about the issue, he was told that they knew about it and were working on it but didn’t have an answer on when he would get his money back. (I hope it has been resolved since we spoke.) Vanguard said that this problem has affected a “small number” of clients and that they are i...
by AllieTB1323
Tue Jul 09, 2019 10:02 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "Vanguard hits back at Fidelity's loss-leader strategy by courting higher-margin businesses, like China and private equi
Replies: 19
Views: 2385

Re: "Vanguard hits back at Fidelity's loss-leader strategy by courting higher-margin businesses, like China and private

This only reinforces what I have been saying for the last 10 - 12 years. People have been repeatedly extolling the virtues of the mutual ownership structure of Vanguard vs. the private ownership of competitors. I have always maintained that history has repeatedly demonstrated that the profit motive drives cost efficiencies that do not tend to occur in mutual ownership structures. There reaches a tipping point where economies of scale do not increase in mutual ownership structures and they hit a wall with cost containment. There really have been clear signs over the last five years that Vanguard has had a marketing strategy to increase higher margin business and not necessarily on its core focus of lowering costs championed by John Bogle. I...
by AllieTB1323
Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "Vanguard hits back at Fidelity's loss-leader strategy by courting higher-margin businesses, like China and private equi
Replies: 19
Views: 2385

Re: "Vanguard hits back at Fidelity's loss-leader strategy by courting higher-margin businesses, like China and private

This only reinforces what I have been saying for the last 10 - 12 years. People have been repeatedly extolling the virtues of the mutual ownership structure of Vanguard vs. the private ownership of competitors. I have always maintained that history has repeatedly demonstrated that the profit motive drives cost efficiencies that do not tend to occur in mutual ownership structures. There reaches a tipping point where economies of scale do not increase in mutual ownership structures and they hit a wall with cost containment. There really have been clear signs over the last five years that Vanguard has had a marketing strategy to increase higher margin business and not necessarily on its core focus of lowering costs championed by John Bogle. I...
by AllieTB1323
Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: (Tall) Buyer Beware: Honda Accord.
Replies: 77
Views: 15481

Re: (Tall) Buyer Beware: Honda Accord.

kjvmartin wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:37 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 6:54 pm How tall are you?
6'4 or 1.93m for our non-USA Bogleheads.
I know your pain, over the last decade the only "car" I felt comfortable in is a Silverado pickup.
by AllieTB1323
Sat Jun 22, 2019 10:19 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Fidelity Balanced Fund
Replies: 20
Views: 3181

Re: Fidelity Balanced Fund

Contrary to a earlier post, according to Fidelity's website VG Balanced Index fund has a $75.00 transaction fee. The $4.95 fee refers to equities and ETFs.
by AllieTB1323
Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do you carry Umbrella Insurance?
Replies: 142
Views: 13653

Re: Do you carry Umbrella Insurance?

We carry 5M.
by AllieTB1323
Mon Jun 03, 2019 4:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What percent of your assets do you have in investment property (excluding your personal residence)?
Replies: 73
Views: 4850

Re: What percent of your assets do you have in investment property (excluding your personal residence)?

None now. About four years ago I sold our personally held commercial property and the the privately held C-Corp that used it as an office. Being an ex-investment property owner allows us to sleep better.
by AllieTB1323
Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:45 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How did you all do in the month of May, 2019
Replies: 126
Views: 13270

Re: How did you all do in the month of May, 2019

Considering the combined portfolio we dropped 5 basis points less than our benchmark which is VG Balanced Index Fund VBIAX.
by AllieTB1323
Mon May 13, 2019 2:42 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Email to my Edward Jones Rep
Replies: 46
Views: 5343

Re: Email to my Edward Jones Rep

Mlm wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 2:08 pm Don't waste the nice mans time and absolutely don't tell him how much you expect to net from the sale of your business.
+1, telling the EJ salesman how much you are netting on the sale isn't a good idea.

When I dumped the family RBC advisor I sent him a note saying "I was going in a different direction..." as Fidelity was pulling the funds.