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Sven
Lynn,
Thank you so much. I am planning on a 3-year ladder since I am a year away from retirement. Lots of spreadsheet work to calculate the income replacement needed. This ladder will create a steady income stream. So thank you for all your help.
I moved back to high quality bond funds this year. Some of which you covered in the SA article. For now, I will stay with agency bonds to the bond ladder. I will pick active managers for corporate bonds.
Sven
Tough call without knowing the person's risk tolerance, financial goals, and sources of funds. Since she has account with Vanguard, it would be equally as wise to talk with Vanguard advisors, even without using their advisor services.
@Charles,
Thank you. My global portfolio is up modestly 3.8%, and that is good enough for us. EM equity, REIT, domestic bonds have contributed positively while developed market lagged.
S&P500 bond index is available at Vanguard as Vanguard Intermediate Term Corporate Bond index, VICSX Admiral Share
ER 0.10% with 0.25% purchase fee; SEC yield 2.96%
The ETF equivalent, VCIT, has the same expense ratio and SEC yield, but withou…
Who is next if UK leaves the EU? Certainly, the stronger export-oriented countries such as Germany who benefits the most. But Greece's problem demonstrates the downside of the EU as well. The common currency, the EURO is another problem.
I watched that show and thought that was pretty funny. In fact it is sad how these investors are taken by John Hancock (or any other insurance companies) as their 401k plan administrator.
That is a very generous % for profit-sharing. The term "profit-sharing" has disappeared in private sector several decades ago. Several companies I worked for paid less than 1-3% as year-end "bonus".
Total return since inception (Nov, 2011) indicates about a 3.6% annualized total return rate.
Decent annualized return. Other risks must also be considered (currency, geopolitical, and credit) when invest outside of US.
All the bad news appears to have been priced into emerging market funds, so any good news translates into gains almost immediately.
Other parts of EM besides China are not in good shape either. Think there is more downside risk in the near term.
Leading up the recent weeks, the polls was against BREIT. As of this week polls are too close to call. In the near term, there is likely a pullback across the globe. Will this worsen further in light of weak economy and low yield environment? I …
Hard to argue with the low yield in US and Japanese bonds, and in some case negative yield in European bonds. All the QE around the globe is not helping for those who need income in their retirement.
@Catch, I will get you the details in the next few days after I talked with my colleague.
For now, I recalled that there is special IRS site that you need to sign up to start getting your tax record straight. Also you need to inform your local po…
@Catch,
Sorry being late to your discussion. Several of my co-workers who filed their tax return electronically got instead notification that someone else had already filed the tax return on their behalf. They have to take a number of step to mak…
IMHO this is a lot to pay for convenience. These days, I'll buy what's cheapest, with convenience being secondary. How hard is it to purchase/sell via ACH? So that might mean buying directly from the fund or paying a TF to come out cheaper in the lo…
Does anyone know why his long time co-manager, Ken Feinberg, suddenly left the firm?
Invested with hid father in the past, but do not like funds concentrating in financial sector.
From year to year, the difference is small between institutional and retail shares as msf pointed out with T. Rowe Price funds. The compounded returns say a 10 or 20 year period is much larger. If the retail shares carry 12-b-1 and other expense,…
Good trading opportunities this year. Took profit on energy ETF last week and waiting for precious metals to peak.
Let cash to build while waiting better entry points. Anything can happen in election year.
even a blind squirrel occasionally finds acorn
How true! He needs to focus in managing his funds now that the Total Return fund is lagging his peers including the benchmark.
It is important to pay attention to the two layer of fee involved: the advisor and the underlying funds. Sometime they add up to well over 1 -2% total - that amounts to over $1,000 -2,000 for $100,000 asset.
Contacted by Vanguard Personal Advisor Services several months ago. Vanguard is not totally robotic and there is a specific advisor assigned to each client. It charges an annual fee of 30 basis points on managed asset In addition of fund fees vers…
It also means that it is time to take some stock off the table. I am not impressed with the earning reported sofar with most guidance is trending downward.
Undterstand the debt issue within EU. In the end I don't think UK will leave. Wall Street is expecting Clinton to win. If Thump wins, ther will be a trade war with China and others, don't think that is good for everybody.
@kevindow, I want to ensure you that I am sincere. Over 10 years ago I was seeking an all-weather fund and seriously considered FPACX, but picked T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation, PRWCX instead. Even though the smaller AUM, Steve Romick' track …
@kevindow, I like your approach that the Vanguard's combination offer better return while offering much lower expense ratio. Wonder how this combination perform in down markets including 2000-2002 and 2008? Thanks
it is sad (or funny) that these investors look at their long term investment as trading games. If excitement is what are seeking, there is always Las Vegas. Unless these trading are done on tax deferred accounts, these trading will likely resulted…
@kevindow, as much as I like MACSX in the past, I invest with Andrew Foster's new fund, SFGIX since inception. Better diversification and risk profile.
Through my 401k I have access to the Institutional shares at even lower expense ratios. Check out government employees who use Blackrock's index funds in their TSP accounts. Also they have similarly low ER.
Right now it is a decent entry point for Canadian market with depressed oil prices and weak Canadian dollar. In time it is likely to return to norm sometime down the road. Given the strong US dollar, traveling to Canada has been great for our fami…
I think US market is performing better than other parts of the world, and the money follows that trend. The earning season is around the corner while the corporate profits have been declining for several consecutive quarters, and that does not bode…