Search found 1506 matches

by mas
Tue Apr 11, 2023 1:21 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 1099-DIV Box 12: Tax-exempt Munis or also US Treasuries?
Replies: 26
Views: 1675

Re: 1099-DIV Box 12: Tax-exempt Munis or also US Treasuries?

You seem to know better than your account and should probably file yourself.
https://investor.vanguard.com/investor- ... -are-taxed
by mas
Wed Apr 05, 2023 6:15 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Swapping to and from Muni Money Market Funds
Replies: 15
Views: 2460

Re: Swapping to and from Muni Money Market Funds

Electron wrote: Wed Apr 05, 2023 5:42 pm Attached is my latest chart showing the 7 day SEC yields for VMFXX, VUSXX, VMSXX, and VCTXX.

Image
These look like the raw yield? I thought I had seen a chart floating around showing tax adjusted yields. Was that one by you as well?
by mas
Thu Mar 30, 2023 4:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Editable tax software?
Replies: 12
Views: 854

Re: Editable tax software?

H&R block software lets you see the raw forms and if you right click, you can override the automatic value with your own. I cannot guarantee that you'll be able to efile if you override an important value.
by mas
Mon Mar 06, 2023 9:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Accounts keep switching to paperless
Replies: 49
Views: 5015

Re: Accounts keep switching to paperless

gavinsiu wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 9:37 pm I might just turn on popup blocker for the bank to see if that allevates the issues.
A lot of those nag screens are designed in a way that pop-up blockers wouldn't impact.
by mas
Sun Feb 26, 2023 9:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Professional email address/buying Domain ?
Replies: 17
Views: 1675

Re: Professional email address/buying Domain ?

Top Google result:
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business ... -services/

Yes, you'll need to pay/renew every year.
by mas
Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Emergency fund/cash reserves in VMRXX?
Replies: 9
Views: 1949

Re: Emergency fund/cash reserves in VMRXX?

slalom wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:11 pm do the money market funds often trail savings rates by a ton like that?!

I want this to be my permanent emergency fund, but I assumed it was better returns than bank savings with the slight risk of no FDIC protection.. if it's sometimes worse returns and not protected, I don't want it..
There is no cash equivalent investment that is always at the highest rate. You either have to settle for less in some periods, or always be watching and shifting.
by mas
Fri Jan 27, 2023 1:39 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Could this be the beginning of the end [predictability of market direction]
Replies: 45
Views: 3789

Re: Could this be the beginning of the end

tradez wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 10:25 am Is there an argument that the future may be so different to the past that we cannot assume markets will move the same way? Could they stagnate for the next 10 years, could they even decline?
Think of all the people put out of work by the electric motor.
by mas
Thu Jan 05, 2023 9:41 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: iORP: plan for future of the software (?)
Replies: 6
Views: 1254

Re: iORP: plan for future of the software (?)

Thanks. That's the one I intended to reply in, but search led me astray.
by mas
Wed Jan 04, 2023 4:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: iORP: plan for future of the software (?)
Replies: 6
Views: 1254

Re: iORP: plan for future of the software (?)

Not sure the back-story, but it appears to be functional again:
https://i-orp.com/Plans/index.html
by mas
Sat Oct 15, 2022 1:14 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Brokerage - ETF Purchases
Replies: 3
Views: 445

Re: Vanguard Brokerage - ETF Purchases

1: I do not believe you can have automatic/scheduled purchases.

2: you can either reinvest in the same fund, or send them to your brokerage sweep account (defaults to a money market fund). I don't think you can automatically transfer them to an external bank.
by mas
Mon Oct 10, 2022 11:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why don't they do 1 big interest rate hike instead of small incremental ones?
Replies: 17
Views: 2504

Re: Why don't they do 1 big interest rate hike instead of small incremental ones?

I have read that it takes 12-18 months for a rate change to trickle through and impact the economy.

As others have said, the fed didn't and still doesn't know how high rates need to get, so incremental changes are really the only logical strategy.
by mas
Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:25 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Market capitalization of TIPS / Sudden Popularity
Replies: 178
Views: 15809

Re: Market capitalization of TIPS / Sudden Popularity

Poe22 wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:35 amwhy is their market capitalization so little?
This is essentially driven by the US treasury's choice of what bonds to issue. I don't blame them for wanting to borrow most of their money at a fixed rate.
by mas
Wed Oct 05, 2022 2:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bond Fund Yields very low
Replies: 20
Views: 3439

Re: Bond Fund Yields very low

miket29 wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 11:25 am I'm not sure I follow the sentence "a lot the fund's total return will come when the bonds mature".

As you wrote, the funds NAV will rise as bonds priced less than par approach maturity. But doesn't this happen smoothly? Each month closer to maturity the NAV will rise. So the total return doesn't seem like it should be lumped at the end when the bonds mature.
Phrased poorly. At that moment I was thinking in terms of the cash flows from the bond(s). But you are right that it happens steadily through their rising price over time.
by mas
Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:25 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bond Fund Yields very low
Replies: 20
Views: 3439

Re: Bond Fund Yields very low

I think you are conflating a couple of different concepts. Distributions vs total return and past vs future (I think your statements are not helping for either of these). Short Term Investment grade bond fund VFSTX. Balance on 9/1 was $10,173. No withdrawals in Sept. Interest paid was 18.30 in sept. Statement says estimated yield is 1.74% and annual income 196.20 I'll just focus on this fund and pick out a few details from Vanguards page: https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vfstx#price 30 day SEC yield: 4.46% (as of 10/03/2022) Yield to maturity: 4.5% (as of 08/31/2022) Average coupon: 2.9% (as of 08/31/2022) SEC yield is the best estimate of what an owner of this fund will earn if they hold it for "a...
by mas
Wed Oct 05, 2022 12:05 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bond Fund Yields very low
Replies: 20
Views: 3439

Re: Bond Fund Yields very low

Mannyjim wrote: Tue Oct 04, 2022 10:46 pm...the short term investment grade fund....
You never mention any specific fund, so it is impossible for anyone to research this. Just for comparison, let's looks at Vanguard's fund of this type:
https://investor.vanguard.com/investmen ... fsux#price
Mannyjim wrote: Tue Oct 04, 2022 10:46 pm The 7 day yield listed is 1.74% as of 9/30/22. Annual income is estimated to be $677. This is way lower than I am expecting now. Money Markets are paying more than this. Why is that?
For VFSUX, I see a 30 day SEC yield of 4.53%. You either own a terrible fund with absurdly high fees or you are misreading/misinterpreting the data.
by mas
Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Interest rate hike and leverage
Replies: 4
Views: 652

Re: Interest rate hike and leverage

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases ... eet/chart/

Looks like households do have more debt, but also much higher level of assets.
by mas
Mon Sep 26, 2022 2:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Don't time the market...but
Replies: 124
Views: 20314

Re: Don't time the market...but

freelanceeer1972 wrote: Sun Sep 25, 2022 8:24 pm I am beginning to think now MAY not be a good time for DCA.

Here are 3 sober indicators
What did your indicators show in Jan or Feb this year? Have you been DCA-ing since then and only now deciding to stop?
by mas
Tue Sep 06, 2022 3:59 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax loss harvesting is confusing, question
Replies: 12
Views: 1181

Re: Tax loss harvesting is confusing, question

What you are saying is true... limited downside and 'use it or lose it'.

On the other hand the present value of future tax savings becomes smaller the farther out you go. And since a TLH decreases your portfolio's basis, it is best used against regular income rather than portfolio sales.
by mas
Tue Sep 06, 2022 2:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax loss harvesting is confusing, question
Replies: 12
Views: 1181

Re: Tax loss harvesting is confusing, question

IMO building up huge tax losses is not as helpful. The $50k she already has will last her 16 years ($3k per year) if she does not realize capital gains. On the other hand this time period would be perfect if she wanted to adjust her investments.
by mas
Tue Sep 06, 2022 2:14 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax loss harvesting is confusing, question
Replies: 12
Views: 1181

Re: Tax loss harvesting is confusing, question

You can't use capital losses to offset dividends
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes ... 00/2546905
by mas
Thu May 05, 2022 1:01 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Which is the most secure 2FA ?
Replies: 15
Views: 2220

Re: Which is the most secure 2FA ?

If a thief takes over my cell phone & gets the original code, would I also still get the code? Or would I be locked out of my phone if this happens? My understanding is that you will no longer get texts. The technical term for this is "sim swap" and you can read about it further if you'd like: https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-mobile-sim-swap-fraud.html If the thief asks for another code how is he going to enter it into my PC's browser? Thats what I was trying to describe. They don't need access to your browser or PC to be successful. If he just logs into my bank & requests a password reset wouldn't he need the account's username or have to answer a security question? If he doesn't need to provide any identification ...
by mas
Mon May 02, 2022 9:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Which is the most secure 2FA ?
Replies: 15
Views: 2220

Re: Which is the most secure 2FA ?

Puzzled wrote: Let's say someone hacked my phone either way & got the code. How would they use it? It has to be entered into my home PC.
It would work like this
1) they take over your cell phone so that they can get your text messages
2) they initiate a password reset from their device
3) receive code via text
4) set a new password on your account

It's true that they cannot do much with the code that you initiated, but they can ask for another one and they can do it from any device.
by mas
Sat Apr 30, 2022 6:08 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Learning the math behind investing
Replies: 10
Views: 1315

Re: Learning the math behind investing

You should start with:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/ddm.asp

It is more in the realm of theory than a practical need of index fund investors, but I think that is what you are going for.
by mas
Sat Apr 30, 2022 5:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: The Cloud--What Exactly Goes There?
Replies: 3
Views: 781

Re: The Cloud--What Exactly Goes There?

I know the basics of the cloud concept for saving files, etc., but what exactly goes there? In other words, is it just stuff I "SAVE" to my computer such as documents, photos, etc., or is EVERYTHING I do on my computer sent and stored in the cloud, such as: 1) any email I send/receive 2) any password and user name I enter when using a shopping or banking site 3) every website I visit/view 4) whatever else... Thanks for any comments. Unfortunately "the cloud" is just a vague and unhelpful marketing term. If you understand it, you may be the first - and I say this as a software developer who has implemented "cloud" systems. I think the most basic rule of thumb is that if the data is in a web browser, then the da...
by mas
Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ETF vs Mutual fund for BH-style portfolios
Replies: 35
Views: 3931

Re: ETF vs Mutual fund for BH-style portfolios

I used to trade stocks/futures/options for a very short period, before I became a bogle head. From what I have learned here, ETFs are more like stocks/futures/options. ... This leads to a question regarding placing big market orders on the ETF book. Let’s say I want to place a big market order to buy a large amount of shares of an ETF, is it guaranteed to get fulfilled for all shares at the same price at the moment when the order is placed? In stocks/futures/options markets, when a big market order comes in, it can first get fulfilled at the best price, then the second best price, and so on until all shares in the order get fulfilled. Is this also true for ETFs? Or is the fulfilled price locked at the market price when the order gets place...
by mas
Sun Apr 10, 2022 10:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How do you monitor your Stocks and Bonds portfolio?
Replies: 67
Views: 6979

Re: How do you monitor your Stocks and Bonds portfolio?

IRouteIP wrote: Sun Apr 10, 2022 4:21 pm What is the most accurate way to track the CIT versions of the mutual funds in my 401k in Vanguard's Outside Investments?
...
Do I divide my number of shares by 109.34/25.815?
That is how I have done it. Beware that CITs typically do not distribute dividends, so at least quarterly your tracking will diverge.
by mas
Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:26 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Reporting Tools?
Replies: 15
Views: 1485

Re: Reporting Tools?

zratis wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:33 pm I'm also a software engineer and have always been wondering what solutions are missing out there that could automate a lot of the things we do, like rebalancing (or realistically at least remind us to).
I had downloaded a rebalancing spreadsheet from the wiki and customized it heavily. I'm currently pondering making it into an app, although it may only be of interest to me. Ideally, I'd like for it to be easy to use, with only local data storage. The spreadsheet works, but once you have several accounts and a moderately complicated asset allocation, things start to get tricky even for advanced excel users.
by mas
Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Two things I don't understand about TIPS
Replies: 24
Views: 2443

Re: Two things I don't understand about TIPS

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield 1) 10 yr TIPS are yielding -0.79% (real), so with 7% inflation payouts you would get 6.21%. The difference from I-bonds is that there is heavy demand for TIPS in the market and people bid up the price (and lower the yield). I-bonds have no secondary market and purchase limits. 2) They DO protect against expected inflation in the sense that they pay out based on the full CPI. When people make statements like "protecting against unexpected inflation" it is really just semantics, but the market adjusts the current price/yield based on investor expectations and availability of alternate (nominal treasury bonds) investment choic...
by mas
Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Charitable Giving from Taxable?
Replies: 6
Views: 666

Re: Charitable Giving from Taxable?

CheeseHeadInParadise wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:09 pm Would it make sense for me to make sense for me to make an in kind transfer of assets (ETF) avoiding the substantial Long Term Capital Gains?
It would. It would however need to come from a taxable account (and not an IRA like the QCD would).
by mas
Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:56 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard website broken. No new accounts???
Replies: 56
Views: 9554

Re: Vanguard website broken. No new accounts???

Makefile wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:38 pm
lazynovice wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:35 pm This issue has been going on for months.
I see that, but I'm asking if it's a flat-out "no new accounts online" or some error than 1 in 100 get (still a lot).
I was able to create an account in November with no issues.
by mas
Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:22 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: IS a fixed income fund essentially a bond fund ?
Replies: 34
Views: 3347

Re: IS a fixed income fund essentially a bond fund ?

dbr wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:04 pm There are funds that actually hold a collection of bonds that mature at a set target date, but I forget what they are called.
BulletShares?
https://www.invesco.com/us/en/insights/ ... -faqs.html
by mas
Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!
Replies: 5577
Views: 619174

Re: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!

Nathan Drake wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:03 pm Market cap weighted funds
Thx. Didn't find it in the abbreviations wiki page.
by mas
Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!
Replies: 5577
Views: 619174

Re: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!

Nathan Drake wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:02 pm I have a lot of MCW funds too and I am reinvesting their dividends into SCV while it’s still cheap
Curious... what is MCW?
by mas
Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:46 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Best way to consolidate multiple brokerages and exchange redundant ETFs / Index Funds?
Replies: 6
Views: 619

Re: Best way to consolidate multiple brokerages and exchange redundant ETFs / Index Funds?

tboher84 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:39 pm I have multiple brokerage accounts (Schwab / TD Ameritrade / Fidelity, etc.).
Schwab and TDA are merging, so this might become a smaller issue.
tboher84 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:39 pm For example, Is there any way to convert SCHD (Schwab's dividend ETF) to FDVV (fidelity's dividend ETF) without triggering a taxable event?
No, you either live with both or pay taxes to switch.
by mas
Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:11 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Starting in 2000 withdrawing 4% I compared Wellington vs. 85% S&P 500 and 15% Cash. The Wellington won why was that?
Replies: 9
Views: 1677

Re: Starting in 2000 withdrawing 4% I compared Wellington vs. 85% S&P 500 and 15% Cash. The Wellington won why was that

iamblessed wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 10:52 am Ending in 2021. Can anyone explain?
Comparing apples and oranges.
Have a look at wellington actual portfolio (at least right now).
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/vwelx/portfolio

Virtually nothing is similar about it and your comparison portfolio.
by mas
Thu Dec 30, 2021 8:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 30-year Market Forecast
Replies: 29
Views: 3784

Re: 30-year Market Forecast

BernardShakey wrote: Thu Dec 30, 2021 8:24 pm Anyone go back and see how close Vanguard's predictions are year-to-year ?
These are 10 yr forecasts, so you'd need to find their 10 year old version.
by mas
Thu Dec 30, 2021 8:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 30-year Market Forecast
Replies: 29
Views: 3784

Re: 30-year Market Forecast

Vanguard periodically updates this forecast: https://advisors.vanguard.com/insights/ ... cember2021

Don't take it too seriously.
by mas
Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: WA new 7% capital gains tax for gains over 250K, should I sell my stocks
Replies: 56
Views: 6623

Re: WA new 7% capital gains tax for gains over 250K, should I sell my stocks

If the state wasn't enacting this change, would you be realizing that much cap gains in any single year?
by mas
Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:19 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Timing of going to all BND
Replies: 11
Views: 2205

Re: Timing of going to all BND

You won't miss out on anything by doing it now. Fund NAVs drop when they make a distribution, so it evens out.
by mas
Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:41 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: S&P500 4% SWR < 21 years
Replies: 18
Views: 3047

Re: S&P500 4% SWR < 21 years

Your hypothetical is 100% equities?
Not surprised.
by mas
Mon Nov 15, 2021 3:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Estimating retirement spending with budgeting software
Replies: 20
Views: 1722

Re: Estimating retirement spending with budgeting software

I've also never been a budgeter, and the thought of detailed categorization is off putting. Recently I went through a similar exercise as follows: * download 5 yrs worth of of checking account transactions to a spreadsheet * divide into 5 sheets (one per year) * manually eliminate transactions that don't relate to my expectations of retirement (i.e. all salary direct deposits, irs credits or debits - tax estimated separately) * I ended up tagging each with a category (5-10 total), but the only one I found valuable was "non recurring" * summarize each year and examine for trend/variations What I found was that while my monthly spending can vary significantly, at the yearly level it largely smoothed out. I segregated out all of the ...
by mas
Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is Value investing behavioral speculation?
Replies: 133
Views: 9538

Re: Is Value investing behavioral speculation?

calmaniac wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:19 pm Can someone define what they mean by "market factor"? I assume it means the market as a whole, but could you elaborate or provide a reference. Thanks!
Yes, it is the systemic risk/reward for investing in stocks generically. See
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/CAPM_-_ ... cing_Model and expanded upon by Fama, French
by mas
Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:49 am
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Doubts about backtesting
Replies: 9
Views: 3016

Re: Doubts about backtesting

My problem starts when I try to backtest those ETFs, they are not listed on the tools I use or they are created a few years ago. How can I perform that backtesting, I think for sure that I am miss something here. You might be disappointed. I think the trend of creating funds that cover "global" is recent. Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF: VWCE -> VWRA Inception 23 July 2019 iShares Core MSCI EM IMI: IS3N -> EIMI Inception 30 May 2014 Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond ETF EUR Hgd Acc: VAGF -> IGLA or VAGU Inception 19 October 2017 US investors might use these: VT - Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (relatively recent inception also). Beware, I think this includes developed and emerging markets, so you would need to adjust the percent o...
by mas
Fri Nov 05, 2021 6:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: A Different Kind of CD?
Replies: 13
Views: 1763

Re: A Different Kind of CD?

I think I spelled out what those terms mean in the earlier post, in particular Ctf=Certificate
Unfortunately I have no idea how to make sense of "Fidelity" in this context.

I searched Vanguard's interface for this and looked up the FDIC#, it belongs to Synchrony Bank as we both suspected.
Not investing in something you don't understand is a good rule, but in this case it appears to be a vanilla brokered CD and the fuzzy details probably matter little.
by mas
Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: A Different Kind of CD?
Replies: 13
Views: 1763

Re: A Different Kind of CD?

It isn't clear what your question is (and without seeing your screen its hard to answer much else).

Are you asking about the concept of brokered CDs?
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/wh ... kered-cds/

Are you asking literally about the abbreviations?
* Synchrony Bank (I believe this is the issuing bank)
* Retail Certificate of Deposit Program
* Book Entry (https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answer ... ryhtm.html)
* Fidelity (not sure, but perhaps who is selling on the secondary market)
by mas
Thu Oct 07, 2021 12:29 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Setting Market Based Goals
Replies: 25
Views: 2835

Re: Setting Market Based Goals

I find the approach in this post to be worth digesting
viewtopic.php?p=6235808#p6235808
by mas
Fri Sep 03, 2021 6:45 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Investment Approach to counter Hyperinflation and USD Collapse
Replies: 127
Views: 11960

Re: Investment Approach to counter Hyperinflation and USD Collapse

I haven't seen anyone mention being in debt as an inflation hedge.

Not that I'd recommend it, but if you go the route of "physical real estate", then a 30-yr fixed rate mortgage would be the thing. You would be able to pay it back with literal wheelbarrows full of worthless money.