Bogleheads.org

denismurf

Strictly my opinions. 1. You should save the excess of your income over your expenses. You're already doing that. Worry no more about saving too much. 2. Join inexpensive or free activities that you are comfortable with that require you to interact with people more or less your age. Take a couple of...

denismurf

It's pretty safe to say that a post that includes the word "Obama" has switched into politics. Please take this stuff to the Politics topic in the Morningstar forum.

denismurf

More sources of info are always welcome. Another record of bond trades has been around for a while at: www.investinginbonds.com

denismurf

To Larry and other contributors to questions about fixed income investments: Hard to find words strong enough to express my gratitude for your willingness to explain yet again questions that SEEM to have already been answered on this forum before. Every time you all use different examples or words, ...

denismurf

Click on the link and read the article, folks. You don't have to be a tax lawyer to figure out that these people set up a scam to steal money from the US treasury - that is, from the rest of us.

Scumbags like this get zero sympathy from me.

denismurf

I'm halfway through a great garage sale pickup: The Metaphysical Club, by Louis Menand. It's an intellectual history of the US roughly from the civil war to just before WWII, structured around short biographies of Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James, Charles Pierce, and John Dewey. Books like this ...

denismurf

I get confused just looking at all these different things. If I inherited what you have, I'd consolidate all domestic equities into VG Total Stock Market, all international equities into VG Pacific index, and all bonds into VG TIPS fund and then forget about it all until January next year. But, if y...

denismurf

Thank you, Lauren. I'm going to try to get there on individual TIPS before trying to master TIPS funds. Still have 2 questions. When a TIPS bond matures at a time when the net inflation adjustment for the life of the bond is a minus number, does the treasury have to pay you at least (1) the face amo...

denismurf

Please define "blue line" (livesoft), "real yield" (Larry), and "SEC yield on Vanguard TIPS fund" (anybody). I admit it. I'm trying to find a good reason to keep TIPS in my mix without resorting to buying individual bonds. If it's as simple as selling the fund now, when...

denismurf

I can tell you from personal experience what NOT to do in this situation. Don't become the team know-it-all by formally proposing well researched ways other people can do their jobs better. Underemployment within a full time job is a common problem in good and bad economic times, particularly in lar...

denismurf

Pardon my thick skull, folks. I used to think TIPS was a buy-and-hold proposition as ballast against inflation. Now it seems that's not quite true, because either allocations or valuations can get ot of whack. I'm retired and not withdrawing anything from investments. Allocation is equities - 15%, i...

denismurf

I've been using one Gillette Sensor per week for at least a decade. I get them for just over a dollar each from Razors Direct with no s/h added. Drug store price is about $1.50 each.

denismurf

For me, a forum without politics is like a garden without weeds.

Thank you, weeders.

denismurf

How do these trusts - such as SJT, MTR, and BPT - fit into an allocation scheme? How does one separate the "good" from the "bad" at a given time?

If you own one or more of them, why?

If you would never own them, why?

denismurf

I get my dose of China through AAXJ, with .74 ER.

denismurf

Zionsdirect offers access to the bonddesk inventory and sells bonds to its retail customers for the bonddesk price plus a $10.95 commission. It's easy to compare what you pay for a bond at Zions with the identical one offered without a commission, but with a markup, at Scottrade. Easy, that is, if y...

denismurf

Zions Direct charges $10.95 per online bond trade, regardless of how many bonds are involved. Also, they do not mark up the bonds they act as broker for. Finally, most of the humans on their bond desk know what they're talking about if you have questions about a particular issue or process. I've bee...

denismurf

I starting turning my TV off during daylight hours a couple of days after my original post. It stays off off until the evening entertainment shows come on. Now I get all my facts from the Financial Times and streaming quotes on Scottrade. I've come to believe that anybody who gets their current affa...

denismurf

Last night, a CNN "reporter" was interviewing an older guy with some claim to expertise in Somalia. The "reporter" kept trying to get the expert to tie these pirates to Al Qaeda. After several leading questions, the most he could draw from the expert was an acknowledgment that Al...

denismurf

Here are my 2 thumbs up for the moderators and the principles they follow.

denismurf

A couple of weeks ago, lots of sold signs started appearing on houses and condos on the market forever in Edmonds, a waterfront town just north of Seattle. Same for where one of our kids lives, in the Mapleleaf neighborhood of Seattle proper. Edmonds is home primarily to commuters and retirees. Mapl...

denismurf

I generally keep CNBC on as background during the day, just in case something breaks. I never watch Kudlow, Cramer, or that evening show where 5 or 6 people sit around screaming at each other. Last week, though, I suddenly realized that, even though it was daytime and the market was open, there was ...

denismurf

All other things being equal, is it better to buy a utility index fund with a .25% ER at the NAV or a managed, closed end utility fund with a 1.25% ER selling at a 15% discount to NAV? Is there any rule of thumb to compare funds with low ER to those with big discounts and high ER? Probably not, but ...

denismurf

Nothing to add to your summary, snowman, except that he isn't worried about what's going on, whatever that turns out to be.

denismurf

Today, for the first time in 30 years, I contacted a coin dealer for terms on buying one ounce bullion coins. He said only Krugerrands and maple leafs are available, at $85 over spot, with minimum 6 weeks waiting time. He confirmed that the spread and waiting time and general availability of gold co...

denismurf

Muni bonds in the secondary market with a mandatory put on a given date usually carry a significantly higher yield-to-maturity than similar bonds that either mature or are prerefunded on that same date. Is there any rational reason for the higher YTM for mandatory puts?

denismurf

Or, you can read Larry Swedroe's book about bond investing and then open an account at Zions Direct to buy individual bonds. Zions charges a flat $10.95 commission per transaction instead of marking bond prices up, and their inventory is pretty much what you see at bonddesk. It's not that hard to do...

denismurf

The most comprehensible to me was Larry Swedroe's book called The Only Bond Book You'll Ever Need or something like that. I tried a couple of others that were highly recommended, but they were just over my head.

denismurf

In case it's not clear, TDAm makes its money by marking up the bonds it sells. Zions and VG don't mark them up, but do charge commissions. I assume TDAm does not charge commissions on bond sales. Zions charges a flat $10.95 per bond transaction, regardless of the number of bonds traded. VG is a litt...

denismurf

Here are 4 from this morning's Zions inventory, by state, CUSIP, price.

AL 05265TAE5 101.727
CA 072024AH5 105.135
DE 246380SB6 105.553
FL 342815CU9 106.291

Any matches from other brokers? -- Denis

denismurf

Sure. I just checked now, and Zions does not show 64966FT79. Here are a couple of more at random from their current inventory:
649902DB6 at 104.585 and
05265TAE6 at 101.730.

Let's check these in the morning. A lot get reset overnight. I'm sure we can come up with plenty of matches. -- Denis

denismurf

Here is some of the information accompanying a muni bond I'm considering buying: underlying rating = A1 long term rating = Aaa credit watch = negative eff. 1/08 My policy for years has been to stick with AA or better. The additional information above just started appearing a couple of months ago and...

denismurf

I think you'll find that nobody beats Zionsdirect on point 4 - bond availability, execution, transparency, and commissions. I do all bonds through them and everything else through Scottrade. Caution: For some weird reason, muni bond prices that Zions shows on its "guest" inventory are much...

denismurf

As I recall, the last period of stagflation in the US was early 70's. Were any investment strategies successful under those conditions? -- Denis

denismurf

Rose, do you have a cite for concerns about the accuracy of GLD's gold holdings? This is the first time I've heard about such concerns. Matters because I own a few hundred shares. Re the larger topic, about 2% of my stash is in GLD and ASA. To be perfectly honest, these (plus some TIPS) are my insur...

Bogleheads.org

Search found 535 matches

Energy royalty trusts

CNN

CNBC worthless as information source

Low ER or big discount?

Interview

Gold

Bond-mandatory put

Muni bond ratings?

Stagflation - what to do?

GLD