Search found 601 matches

by peterinjapan
Wed Feb 14, 2024 6:51 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
Replies: 7638
Views: 1712634

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

I'm reading The Daily Stoic, a book with a different discussion point about stoicism every day. The only downside of the book is, you have to start reading on Jan 1.
by peterinjapan
Sat Aug 05, 2023 12:03 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Disadvantages of dual citizenship?
Replies: 47
Views: 4707

Re: Disadvantages of dual citizenship?

It's quite bad actually. As an American I have to calculate my taxes four times a year and jump through dozens of hoops, and of course disclose every dime I own anywhere in the world to both Japan and the U.S. If I happen to live in a low tax country for any reason the U.S. helpfully removes that advantage for me by taking the difference.
by peterinjapan
Fri Jul 21, 2023 3:25 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Removed
Replies: 49
Views: 5588

Re: asking for a layoff?

My friend worked for Qualcomm and when they asked who wanted to be on the list of those whose jobs were cut, he raised his hand. He's doing great thanks to his stock options and the house he bought 20 years ago.
by peterinjapan
Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Determination of whether a foreign dividend is qualifying
Replies: 6
Views: 526

Re: Determination of whether a foreign dividend is qualifying

I'm an American living in Japan, and here, all "dividends" are taxed at 20%, with no difference between qualified or unqualified. Japanese citizens who taught themselves to be savvy on the Reit market could really do well since they'd just pay that 20% on incoming dividends. Sadly I'm an American and pay taxes on all income.
by peterinjapan
Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:33 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cars: Max you'd pay? How long do you keep cars? Plans to go EV?
Replies: 99
Views: 8945

Re: Cars: Max you'd pay? How long do you keep cars? Plans to go EV?

I live in Japan, a country where companies are able to buy private vehicles for their owners, and thus I get my cars for "free." For my personal vehicle I own a BMW G4 because it's my dream car, and a joy to drive. Our family car is a no-nonsense Mazda C3, the Diesel version is wonderful to drive. We buy new but drive them for 12~ years or so.
by peterinjapan
Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: If your net worth is over $3 million, how did you do it?
Replies: 913
Views: 239030

Re: If your net worth is over $3 million, how did you do it?

a) Started a company with good timing (1996), was the first anime shop located in Japan selling to customers internationally. Before, online anime shops were all located in Iowa, Florida or Texas. b) Married a very smart woman with accountant and management skills, she is the president of our company and I'm the creative guy/social media guy/blogger. Stayed married (very important). c) Bought a house in 1998 in San Diego, which my Japanese wife was totally against because she was sure prices would plummet, just like they did in Tokyo after their bubble burst. Happily we convinced her otherwise. d) Started investing early, made tons of mistakes, but focused on the "work hard enough that I don't have time to spend my money doing wasteful...
by peterinjapan
Sat Dec 24, 2022 6:39 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Miniature Plug-In Heaters
Replies: 40
Views: 4078

Re: Miniature Plug-In Heaters

I live in Japan, and there are these heaters called "oil heaters" that are basically panels made of metal which presumably have oil inside (?). You plug them in and they heat the metal and make things nice and toasty. They are quite safe, not sure how much energy they use but I love that they have timers on them, so I can pre-set the one in our bedroom and a small one under my desk at work to pre-heat the space.

Image
by peterinjapan
Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:52 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: General ETF question?
Replies: 19
Views: 1165

Re: General ETF question?

You need to understand how cap-weighted indexes work. They go by the capitalization of the companies, in order. When AAPL is the biggest company in the world, it will be #1, followed by #2 (MSFT), then TSLA, then GOOG, then BRK.B. This is why Apple or Microsoft tanking will affect the S&P 500 a lot more than the lowest ones, like Ralph Lauren, DISH Network Corporation etc. You can learn some interesting things about indexes by comparing SPY with the equally weighted ETF which is RSP. Similarly, XLY (consumer discretionary) is dominated by Home Depot and Tesla, and you can compare to the equal weight version RCD to learn some interesting things. (Which will be interesting, but won't make you any extra money, believe me I've tried).
by peterinjapan
Thu Sep 15, 2022 10:15 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: alternatives to Vanguard
Replies: 76
Views: 5764

Re: alternatives to Vanguard

I personally love Fidelity and have most of my money there. Fundamentally I really like Schwab, mainly because they have the honesty to have a low-cost target date fund, whereas Fidelity charges something like 1% for their target date fund, as the "target" of such a fund are dumb, casual investors who don't know how to compare costs.
by peterinjapan
Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:16 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: bucket list ideas?
Replies: 77
Views: 7757

Re: bucket list ideas?

Walk across Hadrian's Wall. (Going to do this one day.) Walk from the top to the bottom of Manhattan. (I have done this, and don't recommend doing it in sandals as your feet will regret it.)
by peterinjapan
Tue Dec 14, 2021 7:43 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
Replies: 7638
Views: 1712634

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Money for Nothing by Thomas Levenson, which is a fascinating history of modern money, how government paper first began to be used and traded in lieu of gold and silver. I am sure many here would love to discover it.
by peterinjapan
Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why is stock investing not as popular in Europe?
Replies: 154
Views: 17337

Re: Why is stock investing not as popular in Europe?

I once met a tourist in Tokyo from Norway who asked why I was working so hard. (I live here was was pecking away on my laptop in a cafe.) I replied that hard work and being industrious is viewed as a positive thing in Japan, and it gets rewarded. She said, "In Norway we want to work as little as possible, and relax and have fun as much as possible." Both approaches seem fine to me! :sharebeer
by peterinjapan
Tue Sep 14, 2021 7:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What ratio are you stocks/bonds and how old are you?
Replies: 449
Views: 95594

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

Age 53, 94% stocks and 6% cash. My "bonds" are two rental properties that generate income, an investment I'm receiving over 6 more years for a business I sold, and social security. I do plan on switching to bonds once I reach retirement age in another 5 years or so.
by peterinjapan
Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:13 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Charles Schwab & Co. jacks up mutual fund commissions 50% to $74.95 on retail investors to counter freeloading by Vangua
Replies: 132
Views: 21071

Re: Charles Schwab & Co. jacks up mutual fund commissions 50% to $74.95 on retail investors to counter freeloading by Va

This odd drama about buying and selling unsupported mutual funds through companies like Schwab or Fidelity is a big reason why I am 100% invested in ETFs, except for one fund I've been riding for a decade or so and don't want to take profits on.
by peterinjapan
Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:41 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Chinese real estate about to go *pop*?
Replies: 56
Views: 8518

Re: Chinese real estate about to go *pop*?

I'm fascinated when I read that 20% of the homes in China are unoccupied because the country over-invests, building things it can't use yet so the economy will grow. And Japan, where I live, has 20% empty houses because people's parents die, and the adult children inherit the homes but don't need them because they've already got a home closer to Tokyo where they work now.
by peterinjapan
Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:35 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Are ETFs the future?
Replies: 78
Views: 6449

Re: Are ETFs the future?

I believe they are. But when I posted a playful meme about ETFs being better than mutual funds my account was threatened with deletion. I have learned that bogleheads sometimes do not have a sense of humor about mutual funds, and I should never try to make fun posts.
by peterinjapan
Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:32 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why Did/Would You Choose Schwab Over Fidelity?
Replies: 167
Views: 32593

Re: Why Did/Would You Choose Schwab Over Fidelity?

One of the yardsticks I use for measuring a broker is, do they offer low cost target date funds for a cost something close to Vanguard, or do they assume they can soak unsuspecting customers by offerings target date funds with a 1% ER. Sadly Fidelity and TD Ameritrade failed this test, offering only expensive choices and a huge $75 charge if you dare to try to buy Vanguard's mutual funds on their platform. Schwab impressed me with their inexpensive target date offerings, which is why I would recommend them even though I use Fidelity.
by peterinjapan
Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:01 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [Is it worth flying first class?]
Replies: 265
Views: 30164

Re: Never fly first class

One thing I'm amazed at is how rare it is to see discussion of the benefits of having a company to do certain things for us. When I fly, it's on business and thus my company is picking up the tab. I usually fly business, though sometimes it feels silly as NTR to LAX is only 9-10 hours and JAL's economy is so good I often don't bother. My upcoming trip is a whopping $5500, but my company can afford it. For cars, here in Japan vehicles can be purchased by companies, as Japan likes to promote buying more automobiles for the local economy. I bought myself a cherry BMW Z4 a few months ago, knowing that if I didn't pull the trigger I might have to wait months or years due to the silicon issues. Couldn't be happier. My car in the U.S. is the cheap...
by peterinjapan
Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:56 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Are Your Simple Pleasures?
Replies: 313
Views: 42938

Re: What Are Your Simple Pleasures?

With the lockdown, focusing on fixing things that could be better at home. Bought new beds, remodeled our patio to be an exotic place to take in the sun since we can't go to vegas. Bought a nice car too...or even better, I had my company buy it for me, which is a thing here in Japan.
by peterinjapan
Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:51 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Would You Invest Most Of Your NW In Stocks?
Replies: 35
Views: 4833

Re: Would You Invest Most Of Your NW In Stocks?

My stock portfolio is 100% in stocks, with 7% in cash, which I will deploy soon.

My "bonds" are the condo I live in part-time (which generates income when I'm not there), a rental property I own, a debt that's being paid to me over the next 7 years for a company I sold, a "retirement bonus" my company will be paying me in 4 years at the age of 57, and social security. Also, my wife invests herself and is heavy invested in bonds of various kinds, so she should zig if I zag and vice versa.
by peterinjapan
Mon Aug 23, 2021 10:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Dual Citizen US tax question
Replies: 16
Views: 1667

Re: Dual Citizen US tax question

I'm an American living in Japan, and this is a mucky issue for me too. I can hardly complain overall, but it's not fun basically preparing/filing tax returns four times per year, then when a new year dawns, starting the process all over again.
by peterinjapan
Thu Aug 19, 2021 8:01 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Ditch Macbook for iPad - anyone done it?
Replies: 19
Views: 1767

Re: Ditch Macbook for iPad - anyone done it?

I have special workflows and need to do things like use Applescript and Keyboard Maestro to do my social media and translation work, so I could not do this. When I had to be 100% iPad (plus my iMac which I was mostly remotely accessing through Parallels) while I got my computer keyboard fixed, it was frankly hellish. Now that it's fixed, I couldn't be happier.

If you have more general computing needs, it could be done. But honestly, the M1 Macs are *so* good, why miss out of them? 15+ hour battery life, no more noisy fan noise, faster processing speed in almost all tasks.
by peterinjapan
Wed Aug 18, 2021 2:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: 1Password users: Are you leaving?
Replies: 26
Views: 5562

Re: 1Password users: Are you leaving?

I'm a happy user of 6.x, purchased outright. It's no longer supported but works fine. I'm sure it's better than writing them down in a Notes document or something
by peterinjapan
Tue Aug 17, 2021 5:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone buying cars right now?
Replies: 261
Views: 32345

Re: Anyone buying cars right now?

Yes, I just got a sweet 2021 BMW Z4 convertible. They had one on the ship that was on its way to Japan, and I grabbed it, knowing that waiting a month might mean waiting a year. I couldn't be happier with it.
by peterinjapan
Fri Aug 06, 2021 12:49 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Need to Replace a Macbook Air. Recommendations?
Replies: 66
Views: 6504

Re: Need to Replace a Macbook Air. Recommendations?

The M1 chip is a significant improvement over Intel, meaning you get long-as-hell battery life and no fan/zero fan noise plus 15+ hour battery life in real conditions. This is truly an amazing improvement in computing. Note that we're in "inning 1" of the future and the next Macbook Air will come in 3-6 (?) months, tho it's suggested the current model will stay as a place-holder for the low-end market. Personally I DO NOT SUGGEST ever getting 8 GB of ram. I have done so twice (in a Macbook Air and Mac Mini) and have regretted it both times. Basically you never know if the super slow performance you experience is due to heat throttling or memory swapping. Always get 16GB, and if you/re buying right now, Macbook Pro > Macbook Air.
by peterinjapan
Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: I want an Airstream!
Replies: 70
Views: 17574

Re: I want an Airstream!

Haha, I was just coming here to say, it makes no sense* but I preordered a Cybertruck too. Because I want one and can afford one.

* Actually I have an S-corp (which I feel everyone should have as part of their portfolio) and buying a large truck like this would be an instant write-off for my company. Even better, I live in Japan most of the time and could rent the truck out for income through a rental agency, making it generate income for me.
by peterinjapan
Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:56 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How much did you spend on Furniture?
Replies: 70
Views: 9775

Re: How much did you spend on Furniture?

I live in Japan where inflation is hard to find, even now. I was shopping for a fire pit for my balcony, and the prices seem to be $200-400? Seems super cheap to me for a unique thing that’s so specialized.
by peterinjapan
Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:55 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Are Private Universities Worth It Compared to State Universities?
Replies: 220
Views: 23300

Re: Are Private Universities Worth It Compared to State Universities?

I’m from California, and feel I got the best deal of my life from my education at SDSU. The perfect education in English, Japanese language and linguistics, which I use every day in my career of choice 30 years later. My per-semester tuition at the time was…$444 a semester. And yet, the teachers were all great, the education was great, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
by peterinjapan
Thu Jun 17, 2021 11:09 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What Is Your Longest-Held Investment?
Replies: 147
Views: 15498

Re: What Is Your Longest-Held Investment?

When the first iPhone came out, I bought APPL stock and rode it up to 10x my investment. I recognized that things were getting unsustainable and exited my position, at the peak last September and a little later. Felt weird to do but it was clearly a good time to take profits.
by peterinjapan
Mon May 24, 2021 12:53 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What is the BEST thing you spent money on?
Replies: 461
Views: 69269

Re: What is the BEST thing you spent money on?

Yes, my university tuition at SDSU, 1987-1991. It was $444 a semester, and I got a super education: an English degree with a focus on creative writing, plus minors in Linguistics and Japanese. I'm one of the rare people who uses these skills every day.

2nd best thing was building a building for our company, wihch we founded in 1996. The large office building cost $180,000 in 1998 dollars (well, yen as this is in Japan), but man, we've gotten so much value out of this building it's ridiculous.

(I did just reward myself for my smart purchasing decisions by buying a 2021 BMW Z4 convertible. Well, my company bought it for me, so I guess it's still a Boglehead-approved purchase.)
by peterinjapan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:28 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to lose the desire of outperforming the market?
Replies: 112
Views: 10261

Re: How to lose the desire of outperforming the market?

I did a very un-Boglehead thing last year, getting tired of having my knees cut off and becoming more of a trend following investor, though I still hold my core positions. I have "enough" so that even if I mess some stuff up, I will be fine. Whether I'll outperform the market depends on how lucky I get.
by peterinjapan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do you LOVE your tax professional?
Replies: 19
Views: 2014

Re: Do you LOVE your tax professional?

My American tax guy has to work through the Japanese tax returns I send him. My Japanese tax guy has to study U.S. tax law and figure how what's different between Japan and the U.S. I love them both for working so hard on my behalf.
by peterinjapan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:52 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What's Your View Of the Fidelity 2% Cash Back Visa Credit Card
Replies: 78
Views: 12245

Re: What's Your View Of the Fidelity 2% Cash Back Visa Credit Card

I love the Amazon card that gives 5% back. We run our company's AWS through this card and I get a ridiculous number of points to use because of this.
by peterinjapan
Mon Mar 29, 2021 11:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Moving to hometown?
Replies: 49
Views: 5325

Re: Moving to hometown?

My default advice is "live in a place where you'll best the best/closest emotional connections to." I'm an American living in rural Japan, and have I have more connections here than I do back home, so it works for me.

Not terribly useful advice I guess ^_^;; Do whatever feels right, though.
by peterinjapan
Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 100% Stock Portfolio
Replies: 68
Views: 7789

Re: 100% Stock Portfolio

I'm 52 and I have a 99.5% stock portfolio. My "bonds" are

a) social security
b) my super-conservative Japanese wife, who only invests in various bonds in her portfolio
c) a company I sold, and am receiving payments for over the next 7 years, which I consider bond-like.
d) a "retirement bonus" that my company will pay out when I retire (according to a Japanese system that's different from anything in the US)
by peterinjapan
Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Hitting your numbers. How to estimate when you have enough.
Replies: 175
Views: 23767

Re: Hitting your numbers. How to estimate when you have enough.

I'm 52 now, and have an okay net worth plus several businesses I've managed to not run into the ground. When I get to the age of 57-58, I'll unwind the businesses and retire, and my wife (president of our main company) will become chairman of the company as we hand things to the employees. Really, as long as I'm over $3 mil net worth I'll be fine, but I want to have a bigger buffer.
by peterinjapan
Sun Mar 07, 2021 11:28 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks continue to soar!
Replies: 22381
Views: 2120040

Re: U.S. stocks continue to soar!

I started obsessively watching $LUMBLER:$GOLD. With a 13 day ROC, it gives a "risk on or risk off" number if below 50, or with a 3 day ROC it gives a much more sensitive signal that's wrong a lot more. The 13 day is a Sell as of Friday but back into Buy if looking at the shorter 3 day.
by peterinjapan
Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:43 am
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Legality of US expat citizen using US address to open account (and more)
Replies: 55
Views: 17875

Re: Legality of US expat citizen using US address to open account (and more)

I'm an American citizen living in Japan for 30 years+ so far, and I wouldn't allow myself to not have a legal "footprint" for investing and other things in the U.S., because otherwise you can be shut out of good investing products and vehicles, while the government is happy to require you to pay taxes on your worldwide income and investments. I think should be taken to the Supreme Court, personally. When I sold a business in March 2020 (best timing ever, or what?), I started a new S Corp so that I could have the legal representation I needed going forward, a legal corporate address (my daughter's home), a person to have a U.S. based cell phone for certification texts (my daughter's phone). I pay my daughter a salary for these serv...
by peterinjapan
Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:39 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bogleheads who own individual stocks in "funny money" accounts, how do you know when to rebalance?
Replies: 40
Views: 3981

Re: Bogleheads who own individual stocks in "funny money" accounts, how do you know when to rebalance?

I have sadly fallen off the Bogleheads cart. Losing so much in March 2020 has made me mostly a momentium/trend investor, watching charts and MACD crossovers and RSI rather than accept 25+% drawdowns.

Sorry, Jack, I let you down. I hang my head in shame.
by peterinjapan
Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:37 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Tracking my ARK / Bitcoin - non-Boglehead portfolio
Replies: 189
Views: 21942

Re: Tracking my ARK / Bitcoin - non-Boglehead portfolio

In my opinion, you need to catch these things really early, have a system for that or things will end badly. I chickened out of my ARKG as it crashed down to my opening position and will try other, smarter things.
by peterinjapan
Mon Mar 01, 2021 11:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Any finance professional here?
Replies: 35
Views: 4164

Re: Any finance professional here?

I managed my daughter's small portfolio with Betterment and basically got exactly what they promised: a boring but reliable return of 9% a year. I recently moved it over to TitanVest, because I've been enjoying my own small investment with them. This is a robo investing platform, but one that basically holds 20 stocks based, taking cues from what hedgefunds are holding. So far I've been impressed, and every person you bring on board (like my kids) they lower your fee by .25%. It starts out at 1% so if I onboard three more family members or friends, it becomes 0% for all of us.

Not Boglehead approved, I know, but it's fun to experiment with new ideas when they come along.
by peterinjapan
Mon Mar 01, 2021 11:17 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!
Replies: 5577
Views: 619052

Re: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!

I was trying to look at some different ratios for the various kinds of value and growth options available. Looking at this, IJS certainly has finally to outperform SPY, but currently doesn't look like small cap growth (VBK) is still winning? I guess we need to see where it all goes over the next few months to say for sure.

Image
by peterinjapan
Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:14 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Any Chinese Investors ?(有中国的投资者吗?)
Replies: 49
Views: 7877

Re: Any Chinese Investors ?(有中国的投资者吗?)

FWIW, I'm an American living in Japan, and I do some investing through Japanese brokers, which are all hard to use and make it feel like it's 2003 or something. As I am banned from investing in any US based stock or fund for my local NISA account for FATCA reasons, for a while I was trying to figure out how to invest through the Hong Kong exchange. Happily I found some Japanese versions of MSCI products I could buy locally and get around the silly FATCA rule.

I generally don't invest internationally, except for some IEMG. In the case of Japan, the flat-out don't have corporate governance standards that I could get behind.
by peterinjapan
Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: New "Bogleheads on Investing" podcast with financial historian Jamie Catherwood
Replies: 19
Views: 3507

Re: New "Bogleheads on Investing" podcast with financial historian Jamie Catherwood

I'm dyslexic, and read that last name as "Kathy Wood." The idea of Rick interviewing Kathy Wood for a Bogleheads podcast made me spit coffee everywhere.
by peterinjapan
Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:20 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Revealing net worth
Replies: 251
Views: 22153

Re: Revealing net worth

I’d like to drop hints that, “someday I hope to be a millionaire,” all that happened along time ago. The word millionaire is quite meaningless, anyone with a single house that they make the payments on and any kind of portfolio in the 401(k) will have $1 million. Of course I have a bit more than that, but they don’t need to know that.
by peterinjapan
Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:45 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Willing to share your Taxable Portfolio?
Replies: 381
Views: 57283

Re: Willing to share your Taxable Portfolio?

I can’t be the only one who wonders why VT is “Vanguard total world” while VTI is “Vanguard total U.S.”? “I” meaning “international” means these should be flipped.

I pick strange things to obsess about.
by peterinjapan
Tue Oct 27, 2020 11:25 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: first million [in your retirement portfolio]
Replies: 253
Views: 58976

Re: first million

First mil sort of snuck up on me. Was just investing passively and focusing on running my business, and it happened around 2012 or 2013, when I was 47 or so. Second mil comes faster, jumping up when I sold a condo I'd made a nice profit on. I'll never forget how crossing the $2 mil mark added to my stress because now, any errors I make can REALLY hurt. An emotion I shouldn't feel, I know, but...
by peterinjapan
Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:14 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is IUSB still suitable for my main bond holding?
Replies: 6
Views: 1185

Re: Is IUSB still suitable for my main bond holding?

Thanks for the detailed reply, nisprius! That was really helpful!
by peterinjapan
Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:59 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is IUSB still suitable for my main bond holding?
Replies: 6
Views: 1185

Is IUSB still suitable for my main bond holding?

Based on advice I received from a user here, I went with IUSB over something like AGG or BND for my main bond holdings, because it adds a "non-rated" (junk-ish) segment and offers a higher yield. I'd just like to get people's view on whether this is still an acceptable strategy today, or if they think I should be using some other base bond ETF.

(I'm with Fidelity, so the Vanguard mutual funds that are so popular here aren't available.)
by peterinjapan
Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:46 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Retirees: How you spend your time?
Replies: 63
Views: 9181

Re: Retirees: How you spend your time?

I'm 52 and want to retire by 58-60. Making plans to wind my companies down and manage everything. The other day I was watching a documentary on Kabuki-cho, a seedy but interesting part of Tokyo (I'm an American living in Japan), which was an NHK staffer who had grown up in the neighborhood and was now making a documentary about her mother (who's run several mah-jongg parlors for 30+ years) and her father, who are both in their 80s.

Describing her father, the woman used the words, "For my father, every day is Sunday." This really reverberated with me for some reason, though I'm still young.

I want every day to be Sunday.