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Vanguard Treasury Money Market (VUSXX) has a 7-day SEC yield of 4.69%.

2 Month US Treasury Bill (Auction Open 3/28/23) has an indicative yield of 4.24%. 1 Month US Treasury Bills yield 4.036%.

What does this mean?

What is the advantage of buying Treasury Bills over VUSXX?

Thanks for everyone's responses. Through their investment advisor, I asked again what the effect of turning on the income would be. I didn't ask at the specific question level as recommended by and received the following response: "We received the following back from Brighthouse: If they are taking their annual free withdrawal amount in the form of the SWP payment the death benefit will not fall off until the account value reduces to zero (which triggers annuitization). If they define “taking income through the rider” as annuitizing then at that point the death benefit will fall off. Most people will take the annual free withdrawal amount as long as possible in order to keep the death benefit active and then annuitize once the account ...

Thank you all, and Stinky, for that reply. The way you parsed out the questions about specific scenarios let's me know that I am thinking about this issue correctly now. I will ask the advisors questions that get the answers to these scenarios, but ultimately it seems like my best next step is to contact Brighthouse directly and get answers directly from them, in writing if possible. I assume they will be willing to talk with me and explain the numbers in all scenarios.

Regarding the other statements above, I am indeed starting the process of getting away from these "advisors".

Stinky, Petulant, and Chardo, I am reaching back out with some updates, and of course some more questions. I obtained full copies of all three annuities, which are all the same language, just different values. And I met with my parents' advisors today, after they forwarded me the contracts some written answers to questions from Brighthouse. All three annuities are in IRA's, and Brighthouse has confirmed that the death benefit and/or income payouts would remain in an IRA. The annual rates of increase of 5.5% will continue through age 90 on the Enhanced Death Benefit (EDB Max II) and Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefit (GMIB MAX II). MY BIGGEST QUESTION IS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THE DOWNSIDE OF TURNING ON THE INCOME STREAM ON THESE ANNUITIES - S...

Sorry for my delayed response, crazy busy at work past 3 days.

I am grateful for the responses and discussion from all three of you - Stinky, Petulant, and Chardo. I also obtained an analysis from an outside consultant. I will try to gather some of the information and details you suggest understanding and reach back out on this thread.

-Bimmer

Thanks all for the quick responses. @Petulant. — Thank you Petulant. I will review that link now. @Rex66. — Good question. I’m not sure. I was just told they had “done some withdrawals” over the years. I will have to investigate this question further. @Chardo. — Both parents turn 77 this year. I believe the death benefit is so high because these were bought in 2011. I think yearly they make a minimum of 5.5% or get the market gains, and the market often did better than 5.5% since 2011. But I don’t understand why the cash surrender value is so low. @Stinky. — The policy above is for my father, who is 76. My father is in relatively good average physical health for his age, but has significant Alzheimer’s Dementia. He is starting to require a ...

Hello All, Big picture, I'm another Boglehead DIY child strongly considering moving my parents from Wells Fargo Advisors to Vanguard PAS. They're paying 1% AUM fee, and they were put into several Brighthouse Variable Annuities (Series VA-4) in 2011 that I never would have had them invest in but that I don't really understand. All the annuities are WITHININ IRA's, past the surrender fee period, and appear to have the same structure with different starting values. Small picture, I'm wondering what the recommendations here would be to do with these annuities, so I will use one as an example. The largest annuity was a total purchase of $175,000. Total withdrawals since issue $29,800. Cash Surrender Value $154,244.71. -- Yearly fees and charges ...

The VUSXX 7 day SEC yield is currently 4.24%. I should be in 35% federal tax bracket, 9% state and local tax rate. VUSXX is exempt from state and local taxes.

TEY = 4.24% * (1-35%)/(1-44%) = 4.92 %

Hello All,

In current interest rate environment, I'm moving all my cash out of online savings accounts into Vanguard Treasury Money Market VUSXX. Even at lower tax brackets, the TEY of VUSXX is significantly higher than any online savings accounts.

Is VUSXX expected to remain at this rate if interest rates don't come down?

-Bimmer

Slapshot wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 1:07 pm We've been driving Siennas for years. Currently on our 3rd, a 2018. Being unable to remove the middle seats would be a deal breaker for us. We remove them right away and store them away. Only bring them out if we're having visitors and need to transport them. Being retired, our Sienna is a combo RV, pickup truck, ski lodge, etc. And the dog loves the room on trips. Why they did away with removable middle seats is a mystery to me.

There are Youtube videos about how to remove the middle seats in the new Sienna. Especially if you keep them out for extended periods, it's not that big a deal. For someone that wants to take them out for occasionally transporting larger objects, it is more of a hassle.

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions. He will be working with the insurance company on this starting tomorrow, and we certainly may use one of the suggestions or options above. Thanks again.

When I was 37 and purchasing term life insurance for my wife and I, I decided to get 30-year term for myself and 20-year term for my wife. This seemed like the best balance with my salary being higher and her life expectancy being higher. I also got a higher policy amount for myself than her given the salary difference.

I’m 51 years old and quite happy with this balanced plan. Yes, I have the potential to cancel the plans in a few years if we don’t feel we need the insurance, but I likely won’t given how low the premiums now are compared to salary increases across the years.

Hey All, I figured I would crowd source a little problem to get your suggestions or creative ideas. My brother was in a car accident outside Cleveland Ohio several weeks ago - btw, I think his new Subaru saved his life! He got back to his home in Boston and cannot drive for 6 months. His car was taken by insurance company to be appraised in a town called Lorain Ohio. The insurance company just told him the car is totaled. The issue is that he has a locked hard Thule roof rack still locked to the roof of the car with some significant personal items and raw materials, as well as a few smaller items in the car. The roof rack is well packed, but there are some semi-fragile items in it. And he doesn't know how he can get these items and roof rac...

See this thread in which I derive the formulas for Taxable equivalent yield (TEY) . For Treasuries or any other securities taxed by the fed but exempt from state taxes, this is the formula to use: TEY = y * (1-f)/(1-f-s) where f = federal marginal tax rate (including NIIT and anything else that impacts marginal rate), and s = state marginal income tax rate. The numerator give you the after-tax yield (ATY), and the denominator converts that to a fully taxable yield (TEY). I see that this is what you are calculating, but be sure to include NIIT, etc. for your Fed marginal rate. Your muni TEY formula is correct as well, with the above caveat for the 35% fed marginal rate. Latest published SEC yield for VUSXX is 3.52%, which is 4.09% TEY at yo...

Does this online calculator work for VUSXX Treasury MM fund? I'm not sure how to compare using this calculator, which I had seen.

Not sure why I am struggling with these Tax-Equivalent Yield Calculations, but I am. Hoping someone will confirm my calculations or correct them. Trying to compare Vanguard MM funds to online savings accounts which are running 3.0-3.5% for my cash. I am in 35% federal tax bracket (Married Filing Jointly). State and Local Taxes are 9% (Maryland). For Vanguard Treasury Money Market (VUSXX), 3.49% 7-day SEC yield, I calculate the TEY of 4.05% using the following calculation: 3.49 * (1-35%)/(1-44%) = 4.05% For Vanguard Municipal Money Market (VMSXX), 1.86% 7-day SEC yield, I calculate the TEY yield of 3.02% using the following calculation: 1.86 * (1-9%)/(1-44%) = 3.02% Are these correct? Can anyone give me the equivalent calculation for Vanguar...

bump - any replies appreciated

VUSXX (Treasury) is up to 3.4% yield today.
VMFXX (Federal) is up to 3.58% today.
VMSXX (Muni) is down to 1.99% today.

Could someone please refresh me with the Tax Equivalent Yield calculations for each of these three funds to compare to VMMXX (Cash Reserves) which is at 3.60% right now? I live in Maryland if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

Thanks Kevin. I've always wondered about the TEY yield for Federal. 2.77% is still good, but Muni MM seems significantly better, at least for the moment.

So, I started this thread in 2018, and I learned that there are lots of factors that go into these money market rates, and there is significant cyclic variation. When MM rates went down, I moved money out to high yield online savings accounts. Now I'm considering swinging the money back. My question today is what is expected to happen to these money market rates in this rising rate environment? Should we expect Vanguard MM rates to be above high yield savings accounts for the near future? Some current rate information for comparison: -- Vanguard Federal MM - 7 day SEC yield 2.77% (3.22% for my tax bracket) -- Vanguard Municipal MM - 7 day SEC yield 2.18% (3.54% for my tax bracket) -- Dollar Savings Direct - 3% -- Synchrony Online Savings - ...

Any update??

My high yield savings accounts are all around 1.6%, so better than VMSXX. But by my maths FederalMoney Market has a TEY > 2% in higher tax bracket, so I’m keeping most cash there right now.

Fair question Soxfan10, I’m not really sure. I agree with you, but always feel like there’s something I don’t understand about the tax code. She has been excellent in every other respect. She actually initially quoted me my overall federal tax rate of 26% or so, which seemed silly, and she also hadn’t considered local taxes with my initial question.

So with the Medicare tax on top, it seems like a worse proposition for me if I’m not going to be full time in two years.

Appreciate your responses.

-Bimmer

I truly appreciate all the responses. One last tidbit if information is that, once vested, once can only sell 20% of vested stock per year unless you leave the company. Then it is their decision whether to buy your stock back or not. Overall I realize that this is a very small monetary decision, and ultimately more of a personal decision about whether I want to be full time with this company or not, and there are layers to that decision that are just up to me. That said, GeMoney, two things: Can you clarify what the federal supplemental rate of 22% is??? My tax accountant says my overall math is correct, but she recommends thinking of it as 30% for federal, not 35%, so a 5K decision instead of a 10K decision. The 40K bonus is also taxable, ...

Yes, restricted stock. The value of the stock is established by the company board "based on guidance provided by independent third parties" and company performance.

The 83b is required, otherwise you do not receive the grant. They say this is to our tax advantage and theirs. It converts any gains on the stock to capital gains, and you don't have to pay taxes as you vest each year.

Hello All, Hoping you can help with a decision, or at least tell me if my calculations below are accurate. My new company is offering a stock grant of $75,000 which vests over 5 years (first 25% in 2 years), and is giving me a $40,000 "bonus" which is supposed to cover the federal and state taxes on this stock grant. An 83b is required, so all taxes on the entire $115,000 are paid in the same tax year. Using turbotax online tax calculator and doing my own math it seems like the total tax burden on the excess $115,000 income will be more than the $40,000 bonus. Without this stock grant, our total income (married filing jointly) is expected to be approx. $482,000 before 401K contributions of $52,000 (we're both 50 this year). We liv...

Thanks for the quick responses. The $2000 total is for my daughter as a secondary driver, not with her own car.

I appreciate any thoughts on the risk of switching insurance providers after 20 years.

Thanks.

-Bimmer

Hi, Just need a quick reality check. Have had USAA insurance for past 20 years - I am not a military service member, but my father-in-law was in the service many many years ago, which made us eligible. My policies have included a $5 mil umbrella policy, and feel "attached" to it. Service has overall been good in handling minor issues - one car accident all these years. But prices have risen relatively rapidly, especially for my house which goes up every year, and seem high to me. And now adding a new teen driver increases our premium by $2000 - $1500 for auto policy and $500 increase to umbrella. Questions: (1) Am I crazy not to shop around to other insurers like Geico and other companies I see people on this board use? Will there...

retiringwhen wrote: ↑Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:40 am Google is rate limiting importhtml calls (or their servers are overloaded and they are failing more.)

It will fail intermittently for no apparent reason on your side.

If you look at this thread, we have been discussing alternative solutions.

I have a google sheets implementation using Google App Script with caching that seems to improve performance overall. Here is a link to the latest version: Cached Ticker Tracking v0.05

Thanks so much RetiringWhen. I copied your "BestTickers-noMS" to the bottom of my Net Worth spreadsheet and am using it to pull quotes. Seems to be working well for all types of investments - MF, ETF, Stock.

Thanks again.

MadAsgardian wrote: ↑Thu Dec 09, 2021 5:08 am It works for me in Google Sheets, just tested it. Note the forum is shortening the display of the link code due to length. Formula with complete link code is:

Code: Select all

=VALUE(Right((Index(ImportHtml(CONCATENATE("https://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=VTI&insttype=&freq=&show=%22,C16,%22&insttype=Fund"), "table"),3,1)),6))

Thanks for all the replies. The string you posted is slightly different from what I had before. It seems to be working at least intermittently now for ETF's and stocks, but not for mutual funds.

Do you use a different string for mutual funds?

Thanks.

-Bimmer

My Google Sheet hasn’t been working for several weeks to pull stock or ETF quotes. I’m using the following to pull the quotes:

=VALUE(Right((Index(ImportHtml(CONCATENATE("https://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quick ... ttype=Fund"), "table"),3,1)),6))

Any suggestions how to fix this or better option to reliably pull quotes? I honestly can’t believe that Google can’t fix this for their own functions to pull stock quotes reliably.

Thanks.

Thanks for all the replies. I use USAA and total yearly cost to insure my home (worth approx. 1.5M) is $3662.86 with the $2000 deductible. I will call them tomorrow to increase the deductible to $5000 to reduce my premium to just over $3100 and see what the next option up is!

I have all my policies with USAA - including large umbrella. Have been afraid to leave, as the service has been excellent on some smaller motor vehicle claims. I also feel like there is less likelihood of just being dropped by USAA than other insurers, but I'm not sure if this is really true.

Any suggestions on getting over fear of leaving USAA and shopping around?

Thanks.

-Bimmer

My homeowner's insurance cost keeps going up and is quite high. I checked today, and my deductible was set at $1000. Increasing it to $2000 reduced my premium by about $250 per year, so I made that change today. $1000 difference would not be significant. Increasing my deductible to $5000 (which in reality would not be a hardship) would reduce my premium another $500 per year. I have not made a homeowners claim in 16 years of homeownership. But it would take 6 extra years to recoup one deductible if I had a claim.

Where do you have you homeowner's deductible set? Anyone keep theirs as high as $5000?

Thanks.

-Bimmer

Agree with all the positive comments above! As long as no major structural issues on inspection, go for it! Congrats!

I would be interested in an online meeting.

Klangfool,

He did say in his original post that living debt-free allowed him to pay off debt. He didn't say how much, but that is important.

I think it will be tight, but with that family support for childcare (and likely more $$ in the future), as long as feel they could live in this house for a long time (or possibly forever), I think it could work. In this HCOL area, a $510,000 is a very modest house and you likely cannot find a better deal.

-Bimmer

My accountant filed for me just before July 15th and I have already received my Federal and State refunds. Federal came about a month ago, state just came.

Best wishes Taylor! And thank you!

The following is working for me. I can't tell you why, but it is.

=VALUE(Right((Index(ImportHtml(CONCATENATE("https://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quick ... ttype=Fund"), "table"),3,1)),6))

For each ticker on my spreadsheet, I copied the exact web address when I search for that ticker on Big Charts from Market Watch and pasted between the first two quotes. C17 is the ticker on my spreadsheet. I had to change the last number to 7 for one quote that went out to three decimal places.

I did this manually for each price cell on my spreadsheet.

We'll see if it lasts.

-Bimmer

Thank you LadyGeek. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this or alternatives? I just switched to a single large multiquote from bigcharts. Manually entered tickers in column A and quantities in column B. Top of column G does a single large importhtml to pull all my quotes into table in column G and H. =array_constrain(importhtml(concatenate("http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quotes/multi.asp?view=q&msymb=", join("+", unique(A:A))), "table"), 1+countunique(A:A), 2) Then column C grabs the correct quotes out of the table. For example C10 contains: =vlookup(A10, G:H, 2, FALSE) Seems to be working and not throwing up N/A errors. [Edit: and you don't have to worry about the number of digits in the pri...

Thank you Milktoast. That seems to be working for me!

Thank you LadyGeek.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this or alternatives?

My Big Market Watch price quotes stopped working, and the GoogleFinance prices are not reliable.

Any other suggestions for reliably pulling in Stock and especially ETC prices into Google Sheets to monitor my investments? It shouldn’t be this hard in 2020!

Thanks.

- Bimmer

That sounds like a good plan to me!

I am a big fan of YouTube TV, but with this price increase it’s not worth it anymore and I will definitely be canceling right before the bill with the price increase. The two options I am considering are: — Hulu w/ Live TV — Sling with extra Cloud DVR (as discussed above) I already have regular Hulu (wife and kids insist), so adding Hulu Live adds only $50, less than the new $65 for Youtube TV, but no change from current. Hulu Live TV meets most of our needs, just a smaller DVR than YouTube TV. Incredibly we now have YouTube TV, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple Plus (1 yr free trial), and we just got Disney Plus for 1 year as a birthday gift. I get it as being nice during the pandemic, but crazy!! I think the key is monitoring and canceli...

pointyhead wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:12 pm Mortgage Professor refinance calculator estimates that I will save $54,630 over 15 years (the life of the new loan) which makes it seem like a no brainer even with the high closing costs.

You're ignoring the most important question in your response - will you hold that mortgage for 15 years and reap the full benefit of the refi? 15 years is an extremely long payoff time. I would not reconsider refinancing unless I could pay back the cost of refinancing in around year, two at the very max. I would never refi for a 50K savings over 15 years, even if I was close to 100% sure I would be at that address for 15 years.

Find a loan with a shorter period of time required to pay off the cost of the refi.

Good luck.

-Bimmer

If I were you, I'd hold off on investing the money from the Iowa home sale. Wait until your work situation is more certain, now is not a good time to be low on cash. Maybe stash the money in a savings account that pays a fair rate of interest. (Marcus, Ally, Capital One) are all potential options. Once you are back to work, paying down or re-casting the mortgage as planned could be a good option. Just my 2 cents. Regards, +1 Hold this money in a Vanguard Money Market account or in a high yield online savings account until your job is stabilized and your income is back online, then proceed as you would have with your mortgage if you hadn't been furloughed. Do not put this money into mutual funds or bond funds - way too risky for money you h...

Thanks Aloha Joe.

Well, that was not a particularly helpful read.

Agree with the above two posters. Your friend was doing you a favor. I am assuming you weren’t paying him for that. You cover the bill. And I agree, don’t let him pay if he offers.