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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

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  • Another link to the above for those who couldn’t access it. https://morningstar.com/articles/1108848/i-bonds-forever
  • One has to read the fine print carefully as marketing tactics are often used to get your attention. If the number sounds too good to be true, go check out the rates offered in new issued CDs from large brokerages such as Schwab and Fidelity.
  • Small cap space rotates quickly between growth and value styles, similar to those of the larger caps. Now value funds are in favor. I prefer active managed smaller cap funds since there are many more opportunities in stock picking. We have small ca…
  • Thanks @yogibb and @junkster, Having a large cash position dampen the blow in down days and there were many in this year. We have been slowly adding since July, largely in value, dividend growth and defensive sector funds. So far it has worked out…
  • Really appreciate your opinion. Market rallied recently from softer July CPI number, 8.5% versus June’s 9.1%. Small additions, but nothing radical.
  • Thanks for the update. Is AAII sentiment a reliable forward looking indicator?
  • That is what Warren Buffet said about S&P 500 index fund.
  • Concur with LB. The days of Peter Lynch no longer exist. Today out-performing the broader stock index consistently is very challenging. For me the ability to capture the market return by using low cost index funds is good enough. Among smaller ca…
  • The human toll, i.e. hunger and famine is unnecessary due the Ukraine war. Hope the agreement remains intact for the foreseeable future.
  • PBS provided a nice interview on grain shipment from Ukaine. https://pbs.org/newshour/show/ukraine-resumes-grain-shipments-amid-global-food-shortages Hopefully this will head off hunger in the middle east and Africa. On the investment front, whe…
  • If you buy new issues and hold to maturity, you will get the accrued interest in full amount plus the principal. Still learning about the brokered CDs.
  • At the time, interest rates were near zero, tech companies were expanding, and Americans had extra cash thanks to stimulus checks from the federal government. Two years later it is quite the opposite now with rising interest rate and that put cons…
  • Just checked Fidelity and there are at least 5 more banks offering 1 year CD at 3.0%.
  • IRS likes to get their tax throughout the year, not at year end. This is no difference with having too high of withholding and getting a large refund -essentially give Uncle Sam a free loan on your tax dollar. Unexpected large mutual fund year end d…
  • Still think you are okay to pay in the 3rd quarterly estimate. When to and how to change your withholding or pay estimated taxes Check your withholding often and adjust it when your situation changes. To do this fill out a new Form W-4 and give it…
  • Why do you trust this company? Many investors got burned badly by Bernie Mandoff. Even then, he fabricated many of his private reports.
    in TBO Capital Comment by Sven July 2022
  • Thanks @yogibb. You can drag your finger or mouse pointer from one location to another, and the rates pop right up. The site also indicated that CD rates are much competitive in larger cities than those of smaller ones. The top 1 year CD rate is…
  • Our local banks and credit unions does not offer rates competitive to those found in brokerages. Fidelity and Vanguard offer the same 1 year CDs that yield 3.05%.
  • @yogibb, really appreciate your inputs on this thread.
  • It is a matter of the seaport capacity to transport large tankers equipped for liquidated natural gas. Both US and Canada have sufficient capacities but I am not sure if that can meet the entire need in Europe. Generally it is preferred to transport…
  • FMOC is meeting this week and will likely to raise rate by 75 bps. Also earning reporting has been coming in ok for many companies with lowered expectations. I will wait until things settled a bit.
  • @finder, please see David Enna, who also covers TIPS and treasury topics. The Q&A section should able to provide information you are seeking. https://tipswatch.com/why-tips/
  • Thanks for your comments. I will study these products more throughly. There is no free lunch.
  • Other than small position on shorting of S&P500, what else can D&C do on the bond portion of the fund? YTD of D&C Income vs VG Total bond index, is -8.1% vs. -8.8%, respectively. Few variables they can use - credit quality and duration.…
  • Here is a list of buffered ETFs from the above article. The YTD performance would be interesting to track their upside as well as their downside. https://etfdb.com/themes/buffered-etfs/
  • The seed of dependency on cheap Russian gas was planted when Chancellor Gerard Schroder was in power in mid 1990. Germany funded the pipeline construction throughout much of Europe in exchange for cheap gas supply. https://nytimes.com/2022/04/23/wo…
  • It is interest to read about BlueRock funds since private assets are not so readily accessible for small investors. This is an internal fund and has rather limited to advisors. Seem to me that is more suitable for institutional investors including …
  • Europe has few choices to replace Russian natural gas when they are heavily depend on them. Recently Germany started up several coal powered plants. Also they are exploring options using liquified gas but at added cost from transporting it. Canada …
  • Gas is turned back on at a reduced level. https://bbc.com/news/world-europe-62249015 In the article it shows the wide distribution of Russian gas to the European continent. Russia wants to get paid in Rubles instead of Euro in order to keep their …
  • I cringed whenever see him not wearing mask and being in indoor meetings. At least he is vaccinated and having mild symptoms. The only risk factor is his age. My prayer go to his family for speedy full recovery.
  • My only reservation on VWINX is that the duration of the bond portion is at 8.2 year, which is on the longer end of intermediate term corporate bond index. This implies it will be affected more in rising rate environment. Having said that, the Wel…
  • It would be a good idea to do some homework on this shop first. Here is a link to their website. https://simplify.us
    in FIG Comment by Sven July 2022
  • Next week FOMC meets to decide how much rate hike will be. They have been hinting 75 bps. Perhaps there will be more clarity afterward. So this tread is helpful to see what the MFO’s wish list.
  • Not surprising at all. Many Russian bonds either defaulted or not pay in USD. Either way this bond sector is struggling this year,
  • Sold most of commodities and energy several months ago. Adding to existing positions slowly and keeping a large cash position. Building TIPS and STIP to deal with inflation. Don’t know enough of alternatives to invest in and not get disappointed. …
  • Well stated. Think he get lots of contribution from oil and coal industries. This is no surprise when it comes to climate control.
  • USD is strong this year and it posted challenges to oversea investing. Yes, my EM exposure was reduced considerably since COVID pandemic. Most are focus on the more conservative int’l value funds.
  • Other folks here including Professor Snowball has written about Andrew Foster. By nature SIGIX is not an aggressive EM fund and it deviates from its EM benchmark (i.e. Spliced Emerging Markets Index) which which contains 37% exposure to China. It is…
  • Seafarer's Andrew Foster, a former fund manager, is far better communicating with their investors than that of Matthews Asia. In addition, Matthews Asia is having a number experienced managers leaving for elsewhere, and that is not good. Seafarer'…