Fidelity TIPS Ladder vs TipsLadder.com

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Kumsajack
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 1:05 pm

Fidelity TIPS Ladder vs TipsLadder.com

Post by Kumsajack »

Time for building a TIPS Ladder. I've schooled up on the topic and am ready to build and purchase.

While TipsLadder.com has been the go-to solution for creating a TIPS ladder, Fidelity now has a new tool for creating a bond ladder. https://www.fidelity.com/fixed-income-b ... adder-tool The Fidelity solution lets you use any CUSIP, so the bond doesn't have to be a TIPS (useful for years when a TIPS is not offered).

In my case, I'll be creating a six year bond ladder and both the Fidelity Ladder tool and TipsLadder.com give me recommendations. I'm leaning towards using the Fidelity ladder tool, as that's where my IRAs are held that will host the TIPS, and it's a simpler solution for creating and registering the TIPS ladder. However, I haven't read any accounts of anyone using the new Fidelity bond ladder tool.

Any reason to avoid the Fidelity Bond Ladder tool to create a TIPS ladder ?

Always appreciate the insights from Bogleheads !
Dufus
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2023 8:35 pm

Re: Fidelity TIPS Ladder vs TipsLadder.com

Post by Dufus »

I use TIPSLadder.com to help me decide which TIPS to buy and then buy them and track them at Fidelity.
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sycamore
Posts: 7629
Joined: Tue May 08, 2018 12:06 pm

Re: Fidelity TIPS Ladder vs TipsLadder.com

Post by sycamore »

I have no experience with the Fidelity ladder tool. They've had a ladder tool for quite some time (the Wayback Machine has a snapshot from 2013: https://web.archive.org/web/20130307225 ... adder-tool). Maybe you mean there's a new & improved version?

Why not try out both tipsladder and Fidelity's ladder tool using the same inputs, and compare their outputs. If they're close (say, within 1 bond per rung), that suggests confidence in the numbers.

tipsladder has a number of options. I don't know about Fidelity's. Each tool may have chosen different default settings or made different assumptions (like what to do with gap year, or preference for low/high coupon rate, etc.). That may make it hard to do an apples to apples comparison.

Schwab has a ladder tool as well. I tried it this morning but there's no option for TIPS, only CDs or Treasuries (nominal).
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