Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
@VintageKing,
My understanding of Roth contributions (so take this with a grain of salt) is that the contribution can not exceed the yearly limit nor can it exceed total earned income.
You can "substitute their money with your money" as far as th…
A couple of Correlation Tools:
What's the correlation of one Vanguard fund to another...find it here:
https://adviseronline.investorplace.com/parts/tools/correlation-tool.html?fund1=500+Index&fund2=Wellesley+Income
Portfolio Correlation tool (e…
MUNGER ON BUFFETT BEING ‘SEMI-RETIRED’
“He sits around reading most of the time and thinking, and every once in a while he talks on the phone. I can’t see any difference … Warren is very good at doing nothing.”
Remind me of the saying:
"Don't ju…
@Maurice, not if she inherits these shares upon death that might reside in his taxable account...stepped up basis would avoid his capital gains (tax consequences). This is where death and (capital gains) taxes die together. We should all be so lucky…
Hold S&P 500 for 10 years...20 years...not 10-20 minutes
“The S&P 500 Index Fund is the one to use. That’s the one I used in that bet I made for ten years. It’s the one I’ve told the trustee for my wife to put 90% of the funds I leave her in…
Recent M* article on "2 Ways to Upgrade Your 401(k) Without Leaving Your Job"
employees may not have to wait until they retire or leave the firm to be able to make improvements to their 401(k)s. If their plans offer what's called an "in-service dis…
Looks like the devil is in the details:
529 account penalty and financial aid
Families, however, can encounter problems when grandparents withdraw the money to pay for college expenses. The 529 withdrawals must be reported on financial aid applicati…
Alpha in the descriptor doesn't help either...
funds-with-alpha-in-their-name-actually-underperform-their-benchmark
I guess so long as your fund has at least "80% special" in its make up your fund manager is safe to call it that...
Investor Protect…
Not "special", but a few other "not so special" mutual fund descriptor's:
A few other names and descriptive terms the fund companies use to try to get your attention:
Enhanced
Unconstrained
Ultra
Moderate
Aggressive
Core
…
I use a dedicated Amazon CC when I buy anything at Amazon. That card offers 5% back on Amazon purchases.
Details:
Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card
From Chase Bank, the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is similar to the Amazon Rewar…
@VintageFreak, I own a number of funds that focus on sectors...Tech and Healthcare has worked long term (10+ years). I believe it will continue to be two important growth sectors going forward.
Sector performance in Healthcare sector funds like (V…
Is M* portfolio manager is still available at T. Rowe Price? Lately the Portfolio X-ray tool is only available when the total asset exceed $50K.
That may still be the case. I sometime make the effort to meet these minimum by consolidating my hold…
Obviously counter intuitive, but down markets are buying opportunities. For long term investors, down markets are the most important "buy & hold" time frames for investing success.
In periods of market stress (I'd mentally try and change this w…
The Simplicity funds and the Target Date funds have the virtue of keeping life simple. Some how that got lost in these discussions.
What I like about these funds is that if the allocation is too conservative or too aggressive an investor could simpl…
Vanguard Article:
History suggests that commodity-related investments may at least partially hedge the risk of inflation. It also suggests that exposure to metals, agricultural products, oil and gas, and other hard assets can help to diversify portf…
Yes, the projections and probabilities and especially the tax thing are all nice, albeit the tax advice sometimes dismays.
Especially when it recommends spending down your Roth account early in retirement...seems counter intuitive.
How ORP works :
…
@davidrmoran, nice addition. Not only are safe withdrawal rates important, but (the ORP calculator) optimally selects which savings to spend first to maximize tax efficiencies.
From the ORP website:
The Optimal Retirement Income Planner (ORP) uses …
Great Catch @Catch22, here are some others:
Investopedia Academy:
https://academy.investopedia.com/?aca_ref=header_home_link_1
Boglehead Wiki:
https://bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page
@msf, this article reminded me of your forgetfulness:
Seeking Alpha Article:
long-term-growing-income-open-end-mutual-fund-possible
Also came across this strategy,
Adding Manage futures to a retiree's safe withdrawal plan:
trend-following-managed-f…
@msf, even a well diversified allocation fund (in this case a retirement fund) IMHO still poses risks. My thinking (not @MikeM) is to understand the risks that haven't been properly diversified away or hedged very well by the fund's construction.
…
@MikeM,
I think holding a target date fund, which holds the equity/bond mix that suites you, as your core and largest holding and then supplementing it with a few other funds is a great strategy.
For the vast majority of investors: A retirement dat…
Why should or does ones RMD withdrawal rate increase as they get older?
@Mark, my understanding is that RMD rates increase as a retiree ages because the government needs to capture the "tax" from your "tax deferred" investments.
Retirees with larg…
@Catch22 - Keep the chart posts coming...
Charts are a visual history of events...knowing where the water is deep, where the harbors form, where the shoals lurk...was every bit as important yesterday as it will be tomorrow. The charts at the bottom …
Also, @msf, I wonder if any investors would place their entire portfolio into a single fund, even one as diversified as these Simplicity RMD Fund offerings?
(FIRWX is a fund of "26" funds)?
PDBZX is not having fun this year in the rising rate environment.
Other funds I own that are struggling:
- VWINX struggling, which I realize its apples to apples with PDBZX
- FRIFX struggling over YTD, 1 YR & 3Yr timeframe
Don't own but follow…
@Maurice, maybe its time to jump onboard HSGFX...up 4.31% YTD. Maybe not.
Related topic to your comment:
As the authors stated, “As the size of the fund increases and because the manager’s investment ideas are finite, the new money flows are not abl…
@Flack, a few good reads on "How to Manage Sequence Risk":
4-approaches-managing-sequence-returns-risk-retirement/
And,
Part 1:
theretirementcafe.com/2013/09/clarifying-sequence-of-returns-risk.html
Part 2:
theretirementcafe.com/2013/09/clarifying…
