Search found 2621 matches

by asset_chaos
Thu Jul 06, 2023 11:41 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Implications of investing in SPY [Australia]
Replies: 3
Views: 1360

Re: Implications of investing in SPY [Australia]

Where did you buy SPY? On the ASX? A recent thread discussed this. ASX:SPY does not seem to be legally direct ownership of the US etf SPY. As an Australian you are probably ok with tax on ASX:SPY, but you probably should also want to stay away from any enmeshment in the US tax system, so that you're probably better off using an Australian domiciled etf. I think you should go for most diversified ex-AU, something like VGS.

See how it goes, and welcome to the forum.
by asset_chaos
Thu Jul 06, 2023 3:33 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What to do with bond funds in Vanguard 529 account?
Replies: 15
Views: 1768

Re: What to do with bond funds in Vanguard 529 account?

If the conservative growth portfolio (bonds 75%, stocks 25%) is too risky, there is the commencement portfolio (60% cash reserves, 30% bond, 10% stocks). I have always used their balanced funds (conservative growth, moderate growth, etc) and chose the fund with whatever stock:bond ratio I wanted for the child's expected number of years till needing the money---and consequently accepted whatever combination of funds Vanguard had chosen for the balanced fund components.
by asset_chaos
Wed Jul 05, 2023 10:33 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Moving money from UK Stocks and Shares ISA to US-based Vanguard investment account
Replies: 3
Views: 895

Re: Moving money from UK Stocks and Shares ISA to US-based Vanguard investment account

In case you haven't seen it, our wiki has a section on US domiciled ETFs that are UK HMRC reporting funds.

£80,000 is about $100k. That may be a large amount of fx for you and me, but I don't think an fx of that size is considered large in the grand scheme of things. But as Wise has a page about What documents might I need for a large transfer?, there can be extra documentation and verification steps. For pounds to dollars Wise seems to define large as somewhat above £100,000; at least that's when they start to give some large-exchange-amount fee discounts.
by asset_chaos
Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:56 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What's Your Funded Ratio?
Replies: 106
Views: 15385

Re: What's Your Funded Ratio?

The concept seems clear, but it's not clear to me that I know (or can know) all my future expenses.
by asset_chaos
Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Switching Taxable fund to stay on AA?
Replies: 14
Views: 1338

Re: Switching Taxable fund to stay on AA?

When he stops working, can he switch gradually by selling only enough each year to keep him in the 0% capital gains bracket? I'd rather make gradual changes and "suffer" a modestly less risky portfolio, than pay tax on a large change that puts me in the 15% capital gains bracket when I wouldn't be there otherwise.
by asset_chaos
Sun Jul 02, 2023 10:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Experiences with inheriting assets in brokerage vs IRA, CDs, various bonds?
Replies: 7
Views: 684

Re: Experiences with inheriting assets in brokerage vs IRA, CDs, various bonds?

I don't know if Vanguard still has this, but they used to have a bond desk. I used it circa 2007 to sell inherited mortgage backed and corporate bonds. These were all standard bonds, nothing exotic, at 10--15 thousand worth of each bond. For a small fee a professional bond trader at Vanguard would call around and get quotes on buying your bonds, then call back to for instructions. The whole operation took about half an hour. It didn't seem like the bonds were sold at a steep discount---perhaps a year later that would have been different for the mortage bonds---but I don't remember exactly what the mark up was. The Vanguard fee was a fixed, let's say, $50 per transaction. It was worth the fee to me to get professional help to sell bonds the...
by asset_chaos
Sun Jul 02, 2023 8:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Experiences with inheriting assets in brokerage vs IRA, CDs, various bonds?
Replies: 7
Views: 684

Re: Experiences with inheriting assets in brokerage vs IRA, CDs, various bonds?

I don't know if Vanguard still has this, but they used to have a bond desk. I used it circa 2007 to sell inherited mortgage backed and corporate bonds. These were all standard bonds, nothing exotic, at 10--15 thousand worth of each bond. For a small fee a professional bond trader at Vanguard would call around and get quotes on buying your bonds, then call back to for instructions. The whole operation took about half an hour. It didn't seem like the bonds were sold at a steep discount---perhaps a year later that would have been different for the mortage bonds---but I don't remember exactly what the mark up was. The Vanguard fee was a fixed, let's say, $50 per transaction. It was worth the fee to me to get professional help to sell bonds the ...
by asset_chaos
Wed Jun 28, 2023 12:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank
Replies: 36
Views: 3644

Re: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank

You open a Wise account wherever you're legally resident. Once logged on you can open as many currency accounts as Wise supports. I think it defaults to opening a home currency account. You don't have to send them any money to open an account. Wise requires a small deposit to open the first currency balance. It's part of the identity verification process. The second one is free. To open a balance, you’ll need to: Go to Home on the website or app. Choose which currencies you’d like to hold money in by clicking Open a balance. You’ll need to add some money and verify your identity first to keep your account safe. https://wise.com/help/articles/2897234/how-do-i-open-a-balance I just got my account unlocked after re-sending my ID. Looks like m...
by asset_chaos
Tue Jun 27, 2023 6:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank
Replies: 36
Views: 3644

Re: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank

You open a Wise account wherever you're legally resident. Once logged on you can open as many currency accounts as Wise supports. I think it defaults to opening a home currency account. You don't have to send them any money to open an account. Wise requires a small deposit to open the first currency balance. It's part of the identity verification process. The second one is free. To open a balance, you’ll need to: Go to Home on the website or app. Choose which currencies you’d like to hold money in by clicking Open a balance. You’ll need to add some money and verify your identity first to keep your account safe. https://wise.com/help/articles/2897234/how-do-i-open-a-balance I just got my account unlocked after re-sending my ID. Looks like m...
by asset_chaos
Tue Jun 27, 2023 6:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Do you read / watch the financial news? Daily? Never?
Replies: 109
Views: 6992

Re: Do you read / watch the financial news? Daily? Never?

Several times a week, I skim over headlines at Bogleheads and Morningstar to see what could be interesting. On M* I only seem to read the Rekenthaler articles regularly and sometimes Benz and Ptak have an interesting guest on their podcast; I read the transcript.

Weekly I like to browse through the Economist including the finance section.

Monthly I usually read the transcript for Bogleheads on Investing podcast.

I used to read Bill Bernstein's quarterly journal Efficient Frontier, but he stopped that long ago. I used to have access to Journal of Portfolio Management; very occasionally there was a paper worth reading.

I don't usually consume any kind of news on screens.
by asset_chaos
Mon Jun 26, 2023 10:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Wire from] Taiwan-TWD to USA-USD
Replies: 6
Views: 896

Re: [Wire from] Taiwan-TWD to USA-USD

solarpower wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 6:16 pm Converting TWD to USD at a bank in Taiwan looks best. Of course to do this you will need to have someone you trust in Taiwan who is also coming back to the US.
If you can convert for a decent rate at a Taiwan bank, can the same bank wire the US$ to your US bank account? There would presumably be a wire fee, but if the fx is already done, there won't be a hidden fx fee in the wire.

And a quick google says there is an app called Skrill that says they transfer money from TWD to USD. I've never heard of Skrill before but could be worth checking.

Either might be preferable to the trusted courier option.
by asset_chaos
Sun Jun 25, 2023 10:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank
Replies: 36
Views: 3644

Re: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank

talzara wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 2:13 pm
asset_chaos wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 11:35 pm Insurance. Wise says they don't participate in deposit insurance schemes anywhere they operate. They point out they are not a bank and don't lend money.
Wise provides FDIC pass-through insurance for US dollar balances held in interest-bearing accounts. There is no FDIC coverage for non-interest-bearing balances.
That's interesting and relatively new. While American, me and the Wise account are resident in Australia; probably why I didn't get any notice of this upgrade. Thanks for sharing.
by asset_chaos
Sun Jun 25, 2023 10:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank
Replies: 36
Views: 3644

Re: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank

talzara wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 2:08 pm
asset_chaos wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 11:35 pm You open a Wise account wherever you're legally resident. Once logged on you can open as many currency accounts as Wise supports. I think it defaults to opening a home currency account. You don't have to send them any money to open an account.
Wise requires a small deposit to open the first currency balance. It's part of the identity verification process.
Thanks for the clarification. I either forgot that or it's been added since I opened an account in 2018.
by asset_chaos
Sun Jun 25, 2023 9:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Lending Securities
Replies: 14
Views: 1443

Re: Vanguard Lending Securities

A 50:50 split; I wonder why it's so much more costly to run a lending program at the brokerage level than for the mutual funds? I think Vanguard's mutual funds' lending programs return close to 100% of lending income (prospectus says 100% minus cost of running the program). Still, lending securities seems to be lucrative: some of the small cap funds at times earn back half their costs from lending. Vanguard does certainly seem to already have the machinery and expertise set up to lend securities.

In other threads people have mentioned that IBKR has an opt-in securities lending program. Perhpas Vanguard introducing this is from competition for brokerage clients.
by asset_chaos
Sat Jun 24, 2023 11:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank
Replies: 36
Views: 3644

Re: Best option for receiving international wire transfer from European bank

So if you want to transfer funds from a European bank to USA via Wise, are you supposed to open a Wise account with EURO currency which will receive the funds? Is the balance FDIC insured? Then you can exchange it to USD at a later time? You open a Wise account wherever you're legally resident. Once logged on you can open as many currency accounts as Wise supports. I think it defaults to opening a home currency account. You don't have to send them any money to open an account. There is a tile that says open other currencies, though which you can open whatever other currency accounts you like. If you open one of the currencies where they support you receiving that currency directly (euros is one), they create bank account numbers for you. F...
by asset_chaos
Sat Jun 24, 2023 10:50 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: UK citizen living in Australia, ETF Portfolio Help (Unsure where I'll retire)
Replies: 9
Views: 1679

Re: UK citizen living in Australia, ETF Portfolio Help (Unsure where I'll retire)

I think the ASX listed entities that seem to be US listed ETFs are in fact something slightly different. As I invest in Australia only through my super fund, I'm not across the details, but I think the US looking ETFs are really CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs), akin to an ADR in the US. For instance, the ASX has for ASX listed SPY extensive information on CDIs and their tax position. As I read it, if you invest in ASX:SPY, you receive economic exposure to, but not direct ownership of the US ETF SPY. See section 6 of that document for the tax opinion. Pertinent to the OP's position is that the tax situation is described for those who "will continue to be an Australian resident for tax purposes". My cursory reading is that tax is ...
by asset_chaos
Sat Jun 24, 2023 1:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Receiving International Wire Transfers
Replies: 26
Views: 3042

Re: Receiving International Wire Transfers

iln1980 wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:08 am I realize this is an old thread. But, I'm wondering if Wise would be the best option for my dad who is receiving a Norwegian pension wire transfer every month? Currently it is going to Chase bank which charges $15 per incoming wire. Also, they have parked $15k in a savings account at Chase to avoid a monthly maintenance fee. I'm trying to figure out a better option for them. I'm not sure how Wise works at all and the Norwegian krone is not one of the 9 currencies that you can receive at Wise like a local.
Wise has a page Send money to the USA from Norway. A cursory read suggests it needs a Norway bank account to get NOK into Wise. If dad still has a Norway bank account, the Wise route might work.
by asset_chaos
Fri Jun 23, 2023 3:25 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: New fee for Vanguard mutual [and brokerage accounts - July 2023 updates]
Replies: 2094
Views: 217810

Re: New fee for Vanguard mutual accounts [June 2023 update]

When I convert my mutual fund accounts to brokerage accounts, will my connection to bank checking accounts remain intact, or do I need to re-establish those arrangements. If I need to set those up again, how long should I expect that process to take? I don't want to lose access to my money for any significant time. Similarly, I have an automatic transfer to from a Vanguard MM fund to a checking account. Will that need to be reestablished? If these arrangements are not established quickly, I would have cash flow problems and I would need to take some pre-emptive actions to avoid problems. Those actions would include moving money from Vanguard to checking accounts before the conversion occurs. Unfortunately, that would result in loss of inte...
by asset_chaos
Thu Jun 22, 2023 9:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much time for the second million?
Replies: 57
Views: 13312

Re: How much time for the second million?

You're almost entirely at the mercy of markets as to how long it will take your investments to double. That's because your fresh savings only amount to 0.6% of your current portfolio amount. Everything else has to come from the market, and what the market returns over the next 10 years is the luck of the draw. In the 1990s you could have doulbled your money in 4 years with a string of 20% stock market returns. In other time periods it would have taken 20 years to double. By the way, that's not a criticism of your savings. Do Boglehead type investing for long enough and your portfolio will transition from its growth being dominated by your savings to its growth being dominated by market returns. It's just a fact of your portfolio becoming mu...
by asset_chaos
Thu Jun 22, 2023 12:59 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: WisdomTree Blockchain-Enabled Digital Funds
Replies: 60
Views: 4541

Re: WisdomTree Blockchain-Enabled Digital Funds

This is where I wish financial innovators and their investors well on their journy into the land of unanticipated risks. I look forward to reading about their adventures taming the wilderness. But I will be well back behind the trailing edge of such investment innovations.
by asset_chaos
Wed Jun 21, 2023 2:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I feel like I'm missing out on Tesla
Replies: 62
Views: 6343

Re: I feel like I'm missing out on Tesla

passive101 wrote: Wed Jun 21, 2023 1:28 am I'm probably not smarter then the market. I'm impulsive 🤦‍♂️
In that case, impulsively get a nice bottle of wine and impulsively share it with new people. That's a better way to channel your impulsiveness. For serious retirement money, stick with the index funds.
by asset_chaos
Wed Jun 21, 2023 1:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I feel like I'm missing out on Tesla
Replies: 62
Views: 6343

Re: I feel like I'm missing out on Tesla

A quick google tells me Tesla's 2010 IPO price was $17. As total world stock index fund was (and still is) my core stock holding, I've owned some Tesla since a quarter or so after its IPO. I got my fair share of Tesla's run up from, let's say, $20 to $100 and on to whatever price it is now. As a total market kind of investor, I've gotten my fair share of Tesla's growth. And as a total market investor, I get my fair share of every company's growth. I never feel I'm missing out on any public company's success because I'm not.
by asset_chaos
Sat Jun 17, 2023 6:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I am going International, but how?
Replies: 5
Views: 940

Re: I am going International, but how?

The question on my mind however is, whether I should select VTI & VXUS in some split, let's say 70/30, or whether I should go VT. I do not really understand which is a better strategy. The latter is market cap weighted if I am not wrong? What factors should I consider when deciding between the two. I am a US-based investor (non-citizen) if that matters. The reason you do not understand which is a better strategy is because either will be a fine way to invest in stocks. Neither is intrinsically better, rather each approach shades a bit towards reducing something: the two funds are a little bit cheaper, while the one fund is simpler, can be easier on the mind to hold because you don't have to see which part of the portfolio is doing bett...
by asset_chaos
Fri Jun 16, 2023 7:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: "Original" Vanguard signed or sealed statements needed for foreign resident visa
Replies: 8
Views: 466

Re: Getting a “certification of funds” letter from Vanguard for a house purchase offer

We (Vanguard and I) live in a first-world country. It should be fairly easy for someone at a company where I have been a client for 40 years with my life savings held by them, to spend five minutes to sign twelve documents and send them to me. In that way, I could be sure to satisfy their stated requirements. My time-consuming past attempts have not been successful, so that is why I am asking this forum for help. Not guaranteed to work, but with the right Vanguard person you could remind them that in certain situations Vanguard itself requires documents with a wet signature posted through the mail to them, situations where they will not accept you signing, scanning, and secure messaging them the documents. Yours is essentially the same sit...
by asset_chaos
Fri Jun 16, 2023 6:53 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Flexibility is Overrated (Latest ERN SWR Post)
Replies: 32
Views: 5954

Re: Flexibility is Overrated (Latest ERN SWR Post)

we already know that if 4% is the failsafe, then consuming 5.5% over the entire retirement horizon will not be safe
We don't know that. Saying 4% is the fail-safe suggests they are referring to the Bengen study. But 4% was the highest withdrawal rate that never failed (to the study's criteria) in any, even the worst, time period. All other time periods in the study, except for the worst, supported higher than 4% withdrawal rates. It's perfectly possible, even more likely than not, that your retirement period will not be the absolute worst 30 years for stock and bond returns. As we can't know the future, the only thing we really know is that the higher the withdrawal rate, the higher the risk of exhausting a portfolio.
by asset_chaos
Fri Jun 16, 2023 6:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Total Bond vs Short Term TIPS
Replies: 11
Views: 1194

Re: Total Bond vs Short Term TIPS

MY QUESTION: What are the implications of the switch from Total Bond to Short Term TIPS? My answer: It is UNKNOWABLE what the future implications of your switch are. If I were you, then I would not worry about it. I sometimes have an allocation to VCSH/VSCSX (short-term corporate bond index) in addition to the standard BND/VBTLX. I would rebalance between the two based on looking at charts made at Morningstar.com. My allocation to VCSH ranged from 0% (as it is now) to say 50% and for BND from (100% to 50%). Here's an old comment from 2018 with a chart of VBTLX and VSCSX https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4039508#p4039508 I guess if you wanted to, then you could make some rules-based algorithm in a similar way based on recent ...
by asset_chaos
Tue Jun 13, 2023 10:51 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Single Stock in Foreign Market a Good Idea???
Replies: 18
Views: 1196

Re: Single Stock in Foreign Market a Good Idea???

As total world is my core stock holding, I already own foxconn: my tiny share of the 620,514 shares that total world fund owns. From the fund's holdings (the find a holding search box from Vanguard's institutional webpage for the fund), Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd. < 0.01% Electronic Manufacturing Services TW—$1,091,081 620,514 (There's also a separate listing for Chinese company Foxconn Industrial Internet Co. Ltd. Class A Electronic Manufacturing Services CN that's a little larger than Foxconn TW, but I don't know for certain if they're the same company.) If the magic metrics work out and the stock goes up 1000%, great, I'll get my fair share of that growth. If the thesis of enormous growth doesn't pan out, also ok, I'll continue to get wh...
by asset_chaos
Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Check made out to me instead of trust
Replies: 12
Views: 1393

Re: Check made out to me instead of trust

How much is the check for? In a similar sounding situation I got a check for a few thousand dollars made out to me instead of the trust. I did what you mentioned: deposited the check into my account and immediately moved the funds to the trust account. However, if the check had been for a few hundred thousand dollars, I'd have insisted on observing the formalities and asked for a reissue of a correct check. I don't think (but am not certain) that there're tax issues to worry about, rather that if someone complains there's funny business going on, you can produce the documentation to say, no there's not. You have to decide where to draw the line between where you won't go to the extra hassle for that amount of money to for that amount I hav...
by asset_chaos
Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Choosing how to invest my kid's trust fund
Replies: 25
Views: 3597

Re: Choosing how to invest my kid's trust fund

-Are there any mutual funds or ETFs that are good candidates for a trust fund. In an ideal world this might be a balanced fund that's designed to be more growth than income to simplify taxes? As I believe these assets in trust will not get a step up in basis on your father's passing, the investments should be funds that pretty much anybody could hold as a core investment throughout their life. To me that suggests total market funds, total US stocks, total, international stocks, total world stocks. As you're asking on Bogleheads, the funds should be low cost index funds. I would not use a balanced fund because that will have bonds that push up the taxable income, which may not be desirable in this situation. Stock index funds will minimize ...
by asset_chaos
Mon Jun 12, 2023 8:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Check made out to me instead of trust
Replies: 12
Views: 1393

Re: Check made out to me instead of trust

How much is the check for? In a similar sounding situation I got a check for a few thousand dollars made out to me instead of the trust. I did what you mentioned: deposited the check into my account and immediately moved the funds to the trust account. However, if the check had been for a few hundred thousand dollars, I'd have insisted on observing the formalities and asked for a reissue of a correct check. I don't think (but am not certain) that there're tax issues to worry about, rather that if someone complains there's funny business going on, you can produce the documentation to say, no there's not. You have to decide where to draw the line between where you won't go to the extra hassle for that amount of money to for that amount I have...
by asset_chaos
Sat Jun 10, 2023 7:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard's Personal Rate Of Return Calculation Is Embarassing
Replies: 73
Views: 8183

Re: Vanguard's Personal Rate Of Return Calculation Is Embarassing

I'd prefer them to not display return numbers automatically on the landing page in a big graph that I can't avoid seeing when I log in. Why do they want people to obsess about performance? The graphic below the performance graph that shows asset mix seems like a better thing to put front of mind. Asset mix is at least something I have control over, whereas performance is largely out of my control. Oh well, as I only log in about quarterly, I can ignore whatever they put on the landing page.
by asset_chaos
Sat Jun 10, 2023 6:50 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Is Real Estate a better investment than the index in Australia?
Replies: 9
Views: 1661

Re: Is Real Estate a better investment than the index in Australia?

Real estate investing is like a sport or religion to Australians. Having lived in Australia for several decades, but not having been born here, perhaps I can see the difference more clearly, but I think most Australians are willfully blind to the risks of real estate and delude themselves about how safe it is. Sure, the tax breaks are real but under fire, e.g. Victoria just raised taxes on investment real estate. There is political risk. The leverage advantage is real---in times past you could get 20:1, though now it's more like 5:1---still much more than you can get on margin for stock investment and the loan is much less likely to be called too. But that's due to the biggest delusion about real estate, that it never decreases in value. Th...
by asset_chaos
Fri Jun 09, 2023 1:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Does vanguard engage in ESG for funds not specifically demarcated as ESG?
Replies: 28
Views: 2486

Re: Does vanguard engage in ESG for funds not specifically demarcated as ESG?

As far as I know the index funds track the index they say they'll track, and Vanguard's index funds mostly (all?) use full replication to track their index. Active managers, like those that run Wellesley and Wellington, may take account of anything they like when choosing stocks or bonds. At Vanguard Australia they're explicit about separating the full index funds and the screened ones. As an example, there is Vanguard International Shares Index Fund that tracks the MSCI World ex-Australia Index and separately listed is the completely different Vanguard International Shares Select Exclusions Index Fund that tracks the MSCI World ex Australia, ex Tobacco, ex Controversial Weapons, ex Nuclear Weapons Index. I think you'll be ok with any of th...
by asset_chaos
Tue Jun 06, 2023 10:06 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Difficulty converting Vanguard mutual fund accounts to brokerage accounts?
Replies: 14
Views: 2687

Re: Difficulty converting Vanguard mutual fund accounts to brokerage accounts?

It's easy unless you have a few special---or even not so special---situations. I have a Roth account for which pushing the upgrade button converted that account with no problem whatsoever. On the other hand, my personal account was listed as ineligible to convert for reason(s) the website could not specify. It turned out---and thanks to the Boglehead who suggested this---that if you ever had direct deposit set up for any fund in your account that that halted the conversion. And I had to find where direct deposit is listed and manually remove the authority. But that did do the trick and made the upgrade button appear and the conversion went through. Be aware that if you have a bank account attached to your Vanguard account that conversion wi...
by asset_chaos
Fri Jun 02, 2023 4:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to generate [$120,000/year] from investments
Replies: 58
Views: 11584

Re: How to generate $120m/year from investments

Thread title asks how to generate $120 million/year from investments. Doesn't quite match the OP's text, but what's a few zeros between friends.
by asset_chaos
Wed May 31, 2023 8:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Leaving USA and would like to invest 50k for toddler's future
Replies: 5
Views: 1011

Re: Leaving USA and would like to invest 50k for toddler's future

If certain you'll want the money for child's education expenses and are certain there won't be any other reason or activity to use the money for before then, can you open a 529 account for her? If so, I'd do that. I'm pretty sure you can front load $50k into a 529: I recall you can add 5 times annual gift exclusion in one go to a 529, that may vary by state. In a 529 I suggest picking one of the target commencement date funds that start off aggressive in stocks but gradually get more conservative as the date approaches for spending the money. You don't want it to happen that the day before you write the first tuition check, the stock market halves and all the tuition funds are in stocks.
by asset_chaos
Tue May 30, 2023 10:15 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Does anyone think it's odd that Vanguard has some of the best mutual funds and ETFs but also has some of the weirdest?
Replies: 47
Views: 5284

Re: Does anyone think it's odd that Vanguard has some of the best mutual funds and ETFs but also has some of the weirdes

Remember Vanguard serves individuals, advisors, and institutions. At any given time each of those broad groups may have wildly differing priorities, needs, and, yes, whims or fads that are exercising their minds. If Vanguard creates a fund because enough institutional investors or advisors want such a thing doesn't mean it's meant to be good for or aimed at me. I just ignore the Vanguard funds that don't apply to me---or at best look at them as curiosities.
by asset_chaos
Sun May 28, 2023 8:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts
Replies: 70
Views: 10870

Re: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts

While failure to do things correctly is still failure and worthy of censure, let's not go too far overboard with the Vanguard bashing. The article quotes the FINRA order as saying, "The errors didn’t affect the market yield paid to customers nor the holdings information displayed on their statements". I read that as saying that no Vanguard account holder lost money; they had an incorrect percent return reported. Not good, but not losing anyone's money nor charging fees for nothing nor engaging in a host of ripoffs documented at other financial institutions. My reading of the article suggests the fine was mainly because 100 account holders contacted Vanguard pointing out the wrong numbers on their statement, and Vanguard didn't do...
by asset_chaos
Sun May 28, 2023 8:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts
Replies: 70
Views: 10870

Re: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts

As for the fine, the money to pay it probably comes from the same place that Vanguard used to subsidize the money market funds by $100 million during nearly the same time as they were making this error in money market statement reporting. What?!? Vanguard has "loss leaders"? I am now waiting for all the hand wringing from people that were appalled that Fidelity might be doing this with their zero funds. /s I'm doubtful that loss leader is exactly the right term here. The subsidies were when rates were near zero and made presumably to keep the money markets' yields from going below zero. The most important thing to note about the money market expense subsidies is that, as of the last annual report I looked at, they've stopped.
by asset_chaos
Sun May 28, 2023 3:23 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ETF ( or Index Fund ) That Mimics NASDAQ?
Replies: 10
Views: 1818

Re: ETF ( or Index Fund ) That Mimics NASDAQ?

Google is your friend for such questions. When I google the thread subject line, the first item is a blurb about the Invesco QQQ Trust with a link to an article at the Motley Fool entitled "Best Nasdaq ETFs in 2023". Yes, ETFs, plural. I didn't read up on Nasdaq ETFs because I don't think it's a reasonable investment, but google immediately reveals where to look to answer the question.
by asset_chaos
Sat May 27, 2023 7:50 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts
Replies: 70
Views: 10870

Re: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts

As for the fine, the money to pay it probably comes from the same place that Vanguard used to subsidize the money market funds by $100 million during nearly the same time as they were making this error in money market statement reporting.
by asset_chaos
Sat May 27, 2023 7:41 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts
Replies: 70
Views: 10870

Re: Finra fines Vanguard $800,000 for misleading information on money market accounts

While failure to do things correctly is still failure and worthy of censure, let's not go too far overboard with the Vanguard bashing. The article quotes the FINRA order as saying, "The errors didn’t affect the market yield paid to customers nor the holdings information displayed on their statements". I read that as saying that no Vanguard account holder lost money; they had an incorrect percent return reported. Not good, but not losing anyone's money nor charging fees for nothing nor engaging in a host of ripoffs documented at other financial institutions. My reading of the article suggests the fine was mainly because 100 account holders contacted Vanguard pointing out the wrong numbers on their statement, and Vanguard didn't do ...
by asset_chaos
Fri May 26, 2023 9:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What is the "Blend" stock category?
Replies: 9
Views: 670

Re: What is the "Blend" stock category?

In other words, if I own... VTV: CRSP Large Cap Value VUG: CRSP Large Cap Growth VOE: CRSP Mid Cap Value VOT: CRSP Mid Cap Growth VBR: CRSP Small Cap Value VBK: CRSP Small Cap Growth ...do I effectively own the whole market (including "blend" stocks)? One possible test is to add up the numbers of stocks in these 6 funds and compare to the number of stocks in the CRSP total market index fund. Do you get about the same number or about 2/3 rds of the number in total market? There's also a wiki page describing the CRSP methodology. And this methodology is the reason that counting stocks doesn't work. Stocks moving between indexes can be split between two indexes. If a small-cap stock moves too far into the mid-cap range, then at the ...
by asset_chaos
Fri May 26, 2023 7:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What is the "Blend" stock category?
Replies: 9
Views: 670

Re: What is the "Blend" stock category?

In other words, if I own... VTV: CRSP Large Cap Value VUG: CRSP Large Cap Growth VOE: CRSP Mid Cap Value VOT: CRSP Mid Cap Growth VBR: CRSP Small Cap Value VBK: CRSP Small Cap Growth ...do I effectively own the whole market (including "blend" stocks)? One possible test is to add up the numbers of stocks in these 6 funds and compare to the number of stocks in the CRSP total market index fund. Do you get about the same number or about 2/3 rds of the number in total market? There's also a wiki page describing the CRSP methodology. With AR being the blended growth-value score CRSP assigns to stocks the wiki says, "The AR score style continuum breakpoint is not well defined, so CRSP defines the middle third of the AR range as a t...
by asset_chaos
Fri May 26, 2023 12:42 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Do you track your returns, and if so, why?
Replies: 103
Views: 8701

Re: Do you track your returns, and if so, why?

I update a spreadsheet once a year, usually shortly after the end of the calendar year. I check individual funds against their benchmark or whatever I'm using for a benchmark if a fund is not strictly an index fund. I could take it for granted that every fund has behaved as I expect it to, but I prefer to actually measure and check that each fund behaved as expected.
by asset_chaos
Thu May 25, 2023 7:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is VGT sufficiently diversified?
Replies: 13
Views: 2547

Re: Is VGT sufficiently diversified?

Which makes me wonder: is VGT sufficiently diversified or too dependent on these top 3 names now? No, VGT is explicitly non-diversified. Did you overlook the list of fund risks ? One of the specific risks listed for VGT is (underlining mine) Nondiversification risk : The chance that the fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks or even a single stock. The fund is considered nondiversified , which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a small number of issuers as compared with other mutual funds. Because the fund tends to invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in its ten largest holdings, fluctuations in the market value of a singl...
by asset_chaos
Tue May 23, 2023 9:37 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: De-dollarization [Other countries reducing reliance on US dollar]
Replies: 38
Views: 5007

Re: De-dollarization

What specifically is the worry? What problem will be solved by overweighting emerging market stocks and bonds?
by asset_chaos
Wed May 17, 2023 7:46 pm
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Reducing Currency Risk - [Netherlands/EUR]
Replies: 5
Views: 920

Re: Reducing Currency Risk - [Netherlands/EUR]

For this currency exposure question I like to keep my total financial situation in mind: in addition to whatever amount of home currency my investment portfolio has, my work income, cash savings, house value, state and corporate pension credits, etc, are all denominated in my home currency. Foreign stocks are (likely) the only practical, low-cost way a normal person can diversify beyond their home currency. I think if you look at your total financial picture, you'll find your non-euro exposure is actually modest, at best.
by asset_chaos
Mon May 15, 2023 8:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Total Market Index Fund/ETF Without Dividends
Replies: 42
Views: 4810

Re: Total Market Index Fund/ETF Without Dividends

I think the closest to an index fund without dividends is Vanguard's tax-managed capital appreciation fund. It samples the Russell 1000 index in a way that lowers, but does not eliminate, dividends. That fund does have the lowest dividend yield of any of Vanguard's large-cap blend index funds. But as currently Vanguard says tax-managed capital appreciation has SEC yield 1.37% versus 1.54% for total stock admiral fund, the dividend reduction is not all that much. I suppose they could raise the expense ratio to 1.37% and eliminate dividends altogether, but that might be counter-productive.-)
by asset_chaos
Mon May 15, 2023 8:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Poorly behaving stocks in active funds? Help me understand…
Replies: 6
Views: 818

Re: Poorly behaving stocks in active funds? Help me understand…

RobLIC wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 6:16 pm That makes good sense. :oops:

Aside from noting how many shares a fund holds now — which I’ll take a snapshot of — do we have access to data about the number of shares held, for example, three months prior?

Thanks for the clarity!
Isn't SEC form 13F what mutual fund managers (all public investment managers?) have to file quarterly disclosing their holdings. I think that's the name of the form, and you could look up old filings to see what was there.

I thought one of the points of using active management was to trust the active managers to know what they're doing.