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If I am reading it correctly (probably not), my spouse still gets more than her current benefit (claimed at 65 and much lower earnings), when I claim at FRA and she switches to spousal benefits, just not as much as it might've been had she also wai…
His perspective is primarily on dollar differences; breakeven points are almost incidental. If one is focused on breakeven points, one ignores nominal dollars altogether. His "Level 2" adjustment just straightens out the green nominal dollar line …
"What you don't know can't hurt us."
Well there's that, but more to the point there's the positing that if you don't observe a problem it doesn't exist. A variant of "if a tree falls in the forest ...", but more insidious:
“If we stopped testing r…
The ages you posted suggest that you'd come out better waiting.
The breakeven point (assuming one gets the same after tax returns with investing as with inflation adjusted, state-exempt SS) is around 81, give or take, depending on which two ages …
And the wife, who took her benefits at 65, gets a bigger (spousal) benefit at the same time
FRA = full retirement age, PIA = primary insurance amount
Wife spousal benefit (if less than her own benefit) =
1/2 (or less, if taken before her FRA) x …
Several large conversions include DFAC, DFAT, DFAS, DFAX, DFIV, DFUS, DFUV, FELC, JIRE, JMTG.
I'd looked at the Dimensional Funds. These are not conversions but clones. For example, DFAT (US Targeted Value, ER 0.28%) and DFFVX (ER 0.29%) coexist…
Do you mean your FRA was 66+ (born between 1955 and 1959 inclusive) or actually 67 (born in 1960 or later)? Those born after 1959 haven't yet reached FRA, so at least one of us is a bit confused.
As yogi's chart above shows, a plurality of peop…
$8.7785 (as of Sept 19) for RSIIX. Interesting. Thanks.
I've not seen that before and CrossingBridge only quotes its fund price to the penny. It looks like Schwab shows four decimal places for other CrossingBridge funds as well, e.g. CBLDX.…
So Gretchen Morgenson wound up at NBC. For many years she was a muckraking business reporter at the NYTimes. Mostly excellent, though IMHO she occasionally latched onto something so much that she went over the top. There's some of that here.
T…
Can SEQUX be far behind? It's up to 215~
Sequoia a whole 'nuther beast. While all OEFs can redeem in kind, Sequoia actually does this. As they wrote to the WSJ in 2016:
For many years Sequoia Fund has clearly disclosed that we can and do pay la…
Some VAs display prices with 4 decimals
Some VAs (e.g. TIAA) even display prices with six decimals:
Fund Name Current 30 60 90 120
Unit Days Days Days Days
Value Ago Ago Ago Ago
Calamos Growth & Income 64.6400…
OTOH, which sounds better: my fund went up a buck today ($1 on $100/share), or I made a dime (10¢ on $10/share)? If we're talking appearances, it looks like easy money if the share price is high.
Do people here even look at the share price of an O…
With SS benefits to be cut in 2033, unless more money is found to finance it, may also play into your plans for when to take SS
This is discussed in the piece as one of several risks in deferring:
https://www.kitces.com/blog/discount-rate-delaying-…
Unnecessary? Yes. Useless? No, at least not according to D&C that offers this explanation:
Why is Dodge & Cox conducting a share split?
New mutual funds generally launch with an initial NAV of $10.00 per share. Given their earlier incept…
I'm trying to understand how adding a screen reduces turnover as claimed. Since the proprietary index starts with the investible US equity universe and filters out the 14% least fundamentally sound securities, it seems to me that any turnover compa…
Giving some more thought to risk and needs ...
Derivatives - in a sense, insurance policies are derivatives - they value depends on the state of the asset being insured. Insure a car against vandalism and the value of the car plus policy is consta…
Since you're retiring mid-year, you don't have any choice in the matter. You have to front load to get full benefit from your 401(k). But others who are working a full year, have a choice whether to front load (if they're maxing out).
The plu…
Morningstar Category for Funds Definitions (April 2025) can also be found here (download not required):
https://advisor.morningstar.com/Enterprise/VTC/MorningstarCategoryClassificationUSFunds_April2025.pdf
PDF Host does seem to be working for me t…
I agree that securitization per se does not create derivatives, at least the way many (me included) think of them. While securitization can create (or diminish) risk via structuring (e.g. tranches), risk in securitized assets also comes from the u…
Securitized securities often carry another form of derivative risk, though it is hidden.
A mortgage borrower can usually prepay the mortgage, whether that's to refinance at a lower rate or because the borrower is selling the underlying property t…
The Fund’s investments in derivative instruments, specifically options, swap agreements and forward currency contracts (collectively, “Derivatives”) are generally used to reduce exposure to, or “hedge” against, market volatilities and other risks.
…
That's good to know. Vanguard shows it as closed, but that could be because the fund is closed except to existing shareholders. Are you able to purchase additional shares or just hold it at Vanguard?
Electronic or paper check, there are just some funds that one has to get from the sponsor. Many actively managed Vanguard Admiral class shares are not available through third parties. Likewise, TRP class I shares (e.g. TRAIX) are not readily avail…
The site works, but it doesn't find this document. I've tried searching the site for Morningstar Methodology, MPRS, and various other terms but haven't come up with a relevant document. Just lots of COVID stuff and lots of M* reports on individu…
https://pdfhost.io/v/E..d~yHtX_MStar_MPRS_102024
Response received: The document is missing
If you own a home in an area that is at risk for 100 year floods, it is not safe simply because you haven't had a flood in the past couple of decades that y…
At least I understand the asset backing up securitised car loans. What's the asset behind student loans?
"Consumer ABS are backed by cash flows from personal financial assets, such as student loans, credit card receivables, and auto loans."
https:/…
2008 = Collateralized loan obligations
2008 = Collateralized debt obligations.
More than just substituting one word ("debt") for a seemingly synonymous one ("loan"), these are different types of instruments. Though in some significant ways (stru…
https://www.ssa.gov/manage-benefits/request-withhold-taxes
By paying by credit card that gets 2% back (e.g. Fidelity, Wells Fargo, Citibank) or more (BofA), the government pays me for paying online. Sure it's a petty amount but it's just a minor …
Don't know exactly. That was Anna's phrasing. I figured that it is a modest (mid-range) SS income stream plus a small amount of interest on bank accounts and withdrawals as needed from a T-IRA. I suppose it could also include some part time inc…
From Nationwide's website:
https://nationwide.onlineprospectus.net/NW/921925608NW/index.php
...
"Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund Equity Index
Portfolio"
I think you meant:
https://nationwide.onlineprospectus.net/NW/921925301NW/index.php
The Nation…
TIAA/CREF VAs at MFO are longer than elsewhere, including at the TIAA website
TIAA website shows CREF Stock Account (all classes) back to fund inception, 7/31/1952. Like M*, for newer share classes, "the performance shown prior to the [share clas…
There are no tickers for insurance products because they are not products that are traded or even regulated by SEC. However, there are still symbols for them which M* recognizes. Yahoo doesn't recognize them.
The symbols won't get you to M* fund…
Very old Morningstar risk scores were within the categories and were quite confusing to use.
Like star ratings, risk ratings are subject to distortion with funds that are difficult to classify.
I'm not a big fan of ETFs, feeling that they have as many downsides as upsides. Still, trading high volume ultrashort ETFs seems to be much easier than trading most ETFs. Narrow spreads (a point or two) and good intraday price stability. So even…
Lots of good funds mentioned here. We went through this exercise not too long ago. Here's my post from Aug 9 where I suggest PYLMX (mentioned by WABAC in this thread) and BBBIX and RPHIX (mentioned by Chinfist here). I also commented on the app…
People with working class retirement income get the ability to deduct $1K worth of charitable deductions without itemizing (starting in 2026). Only matters if their income is greater than the standard deduction.
Since their tax brackets are low…
It's all Biden's fault.
Yeah. I thought about pointing out that Biden never had a month where the number of jobs dropped. But it wouldn't be fair to mention that without giving Trump some credit.
Trump handed Biden an economy with so few people…
President Donald J. Trump’s firing of the commissioner of labor statistics ... for announcing that job growth has slowed dramatically
It turns out that he was right. After the firing Trump got what he wanted - another June job growth revision. …
The screener includes filters on (3 year) standard deviation and 3 year Sharpe ratio so that you can prune high volatility funds before you even start reviewing and sorting the search results.
The filters allow you to set any min and max you want b…
Its odd to me that mutual funds would include private equity investments if mutual funds calculate a daily NAV.
We've seen this question before in a different context. Fair value pricing was also questioned by many people (including people here II…
