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.
@anna I was thinking of the Dunning-Kruger effect which used the word ignorant. Perhaps you would like:
In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein people of low ability suffer from illusory superiority, mistak…
This is a great opportunity to come up with some one-liners ala Jeff Foxwotthy's redneck descriptions (http://www.countryhumor.com/redneck/mightbe.htm).
To the statement You might be a narcissistic, impulsive, child if.....
1. You're so ignorant yo…
I use an asset allocation model that I rebalance twice a year. The rebalance takes some money off my winners and invests it in my losers. This implements a buy low sell high method. Or think of it as taking some, not all, money off the top.
The …
I find it inconvenient because of the need to store the coins, cost to store, and the weight of the coins, especially silver and lead, strains my aging back. Surly there's another way to invest in precious metals, maybe using mutual funds or ETFs.
I think I remember Trump proposing to reduce the national debt by negotiating to pay it back pennies on the dollar. What would happen to the concept of full faith and credit? Which poison do you prefer?
BTW what would it be like if we had no US de…
My first computer was an IBM 701 as part of a class in programming at UC Berkeley around 1958, 59. It was the last class given on the 701 before it was decommissioned. Vacuum tubes comprised the circuitry; a power substation was located just outsi…
Ah, but what about the next month? As stated in Pudd'nhead Wilson’s Calendar of 1894:
“October: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, Dece…
@msf Thanks for the comments and link to the Uniform Principal and Income Act. I will check with my attorney but I do remember him indicating I should leave the principal intact and take distributions of income. Note that I should not have mentio…
Note that 10% of Buffett's money invested bonds would generate enough income to live on while letting the equity portion accumulate. Would investing 10% of your wealth in bonds plus other sources of income (pension,etc.) generate enough income for …
I don't think most people realize the extent of the information that can be deduced from your purchases. Consider the following link showing how Target figured out a girl was pregnant before her father did.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/…
We learn how much technology (and the world) has changed since 1976! Apple was not incorporated until January 3, 1977; so possibly in 1976 $800 was a reasonable price given the circumstances.
If I remember correctly, in 1976 there was the Apple Mo…
It appears to me they use a strategy of "buy high and sell (short) low". My asset allocation strategy uses "buy low and sell high". I don't feel too sorry to them; their losses are the cost of education.
Speaking of baseball, here's more wisdom from Warren Buffet:
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/things-that-warren-buffett-learned-from-ted-williams-cm112004
And another graphic showing how Ted selected which balls to swing at.
http://tedwilliams.co…
I've always wondered: When some indicator confirms a new bull market, does that mean "buy,buy,buy" or "If you are already in that's great, but if you're not it may be too late."
Also , this in only the first part of a Dow Theory Bull Market Confir…
@Mona: No, I am saying that markets do not like uncertainty and that the intentional creation of uncertainty is a warning. But it's a general warning not a prediction of some specific event, e.g. problems with Valiant. How confident are you with …
@junkster said
Sometimes we fret too much over the financial nuances of our retirement and how long we may or may not live. All this at the expense of enjoying the simple pleasures of everyday living.
Exactly! Our house has too many "things". So I…
Should we be surprised about healthcare lagging? Given that Republicans have tried over sixty times to repeal the ACA without having any coherent replacement proposal, should we be surprised that the healthcare industry is uncertain about the futur…
I utilize an asset allocation scheme where I periodically rebalance my portfolio. A rebalance effectively implements a buy-low sell-high strategy. The answer to should you sell or hold depends on the rebalance operation which would sell if your…
"To err is humam, to really foul things up takes a computer." Computer programs are conceived by humans; and thus can fail given complex real-life/real-time situations. Example: the flash crash of 2010.
Crash the system? How do we avoid becoming collateral damage? Consider how to keep a game of Monopoly going when all but one player are nearly bankrupt. This is scary.
Looking at my VFIAX 500 index fund, if I had sold in May I would still be gone (although there have been some nice dividends). The result is that I am not in a rush to buy a new Apple watch. If the question is "What (non-portfolio goodie) are you …
YES, the market is always RIGHT! The reason we question this statement is that commentators mis-speak when they say things like "the market missed expectations". What they should say is "expectations missed market performance". The market does no…
@BobC: An excellent point; an annuity should be bought with AFTER-TAX dollars. One possible way people would have $600,000 to invest would be to sell a house. The resulting income stream could then be used to rent/lease other living accommodation…
I recently rebalanced my asset allocation because my birthday is in February. I consider rebalancing on market or portfolio performance as timing the market which I wish to avoid. Thus I have chosen a calendar event to trigger a rebalance.
The pa…
As @Derf points out, taxes are a consideration. In addition, A’s heirs will inherit considerably more money than B’s heirs.
If A were to buy a single premium annuity with $450,000, he would increase his income by $30,000 per year ($450,000 is 3/…
The following links describe how markets really work. These videos were posted in early 2008 indicating to me how perceptive comedians can be. Note: these presentations are by English comedians; the term “vest” in English refers to an undershirt, …
@little5bee The less tinkering I do, the better...the "set-it-and-forget-it" approach appeals to me. I just wonder what the criteria are for selling one sector and buying another...hopefully, at the top!
Have you investigated lazy portfolios? The …
@LewisBraham - I also live in Southern California. Last Sunday we returned from a trip to Big Sur and Carmel. It was raining!
What I like about LA is that a 2 hour drive can take you to the beach, snow in mountains, desert, etc. So we take on…
@MJG - I remember there was an article in “The Economist” many years ago. At that time England was suffering through the Mad Cow Disease and the article was about picking a best alternative. I expect there may be research papers on this topic, but…
“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all.” attributed to John Maynard Keynes
I do not interpret this as a definition, rather it is what can go wrong with…
“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all.” attributed to John Maynard Keynes
I do not interpret this as a definition, rather it is what can go wrong with…
I believe there are three ways to get money out of the Traditional TIAA account (not the IRA, the one teachers and staff get). 1. 10 essentially equal yearly installments. 2. Required Minimum Distributions. 3. A single preium annuity. Not a liquid…
With the amount of money to invest, Buffet's family can live off of interest without drawing down on equity positions. I was thinking about Buffett's method when I bought an entry position in VFIAX on 9/10/15. It is now almost 8% higher.
I recently read a book “The One-Page Financial Plan” by Carl Richards. This book starts out by asking why is money important to you. As a result, the top item in my financial plan is to spend time with my spouse enjoying the adventure of life. Di…
@mark - Note that I am trading ETFs, not mutual funds. I believe the important concept when rebalancing is to trade in a quiet market of low volatility. Mainly I want to avoid trading at the end of a year with crosscurrents involving yearend tax…
@hank: Thanks, I'm also 70+ and like the Lazy (asset allocation) Portfolio model because it forces me to Buy Low and Sell High. The rebalance operation makes me take a bit from a winner (Sell High) and apply it to a loser (Buy Low). This assumes …
