A reader writes in, asking: “For the last several years I’ve been following a basic Boglehead strategy with a few index funds. How big does a portfolio have to be before it makes sense to start moving into other strategies?” There are certain portfolio-related considerations that …
Category: Finance
Investing Blog Roundup: Market Valuations and Retirement Asset Allocation
Housekeeping note: We have family and friends visiting from out of town this week and early next week, so there will be no article on Monday. This week researchers Wade Pfau and Michael Kitces released a new paper looking at an assortment of different asset allocation strategies in retirement — …
A Look at Vanguard’s Managed Payout Fund
A reader recently wrote in asking for a discussion of the Vanguard Managed Payout Fund — how it works and what it might be good for. In short, the fund is meant to be a tool for investors who are spending from their portfolios (i.e., retirees). It’s an …
Investing Blog Roundup: Fixed Indexed Annuities
As I’ve written on several occasions, I’m a big fan of annuities as a tool for providing retirement income. But that doesn’t really extend beyond boring lifetime annuities. Fixed indexed annuities (a.k.a. equity indexed annuities) are an entirely different animal. And as Allan Roth explains …
Investing Blog Roundup: Active Management Risk
The big news last week and early this week was the abrupt departure of legendary bond fund manager Bill Gross from PIMCO. (For those who don’t bother to learn the names of mutual fund managers: Bill Gross was one of founders of the company, and he ran the firm’…
Financial Advisor Fees Are Irrelevant, If You’ve Already Paid Them
A reader writes in, asking: “After reading your books and others on the Boglehead reading list, I think I’ve determined that my new money should go to Vanguard index funds. But I’m thinking about keeping my existing savings with the advisor I’ve been using for several …
Investing Blog Roundup: Spending in Retirement
This week, two articles dealing with recent retirement-related research came across my radar — one discussing income, spending, and overall satisfaction in retirement, the other discussing mental health in retirement: Despite Curveballs, Most Retirees Manage from Tom Lauricella (The study’s press release can be found here.) Retirement: …
Investing Blog Roundup: 20 Years of the “4{04524d497bea0ade6defd1388b5c9b25998d95475e2938b4fa9d615e63ad1540} Rule”
The retirement planning concept of “safe withdrawal rates” (and the accompanying “4{04524d497bea0ade6defd1388b5c9b25998d95475e2938b4fa9d615e63ad1540} rule” concept) can be traced back to an article by financial planner Bill Bengen — an article that was published 20 years ago this month (October, 1994). This week, the Journal of Financial Planning published a piece …
Tax-Gain Harvesting with Bonds
Tax-loss harvesting is a very common tax strategy in which you sell a holding when its value is less than the amount you paid for it, then reinvest the proceeds from the sale in a similar (though not “substantially identical”) investment. The idea is that you then …
When to Tax-Gain Harvest Your Bonds
Last week’s article about tax-gain harvesting with bonds drew quite a bit of correspondence from readers. (To recap, the general idea is to sell a bond that has increased in value since you bought it — and which you have held for more than one year – and …
When Switching to ETFs from Mutual Funds Makes Sense – ETF Trends
ETF TrendsWhen Switching to ETFs from Mutual Funds Makes SenseETF TrendsMichael Kitces, a CFP professional and director of planning research at the Pinnacle Advisory Group, argues that shifting assets away from mutual funds and into ETFs makes sense for some retirees, especially for those more well off, reports Chris …3 reasons …
Equity mutual funds outperformed Nifty by 10 per cent since 1997: Rating Agency – Economic Times
NDTVEquity mutual funds outperformed Nifty by 10 per cent since 1997: Rating AgencyEconomic Times"Equity funds in the past 17.5 years have given annualised return of 22.6 per cent. They have generated 10 per cent additional returns when compared to the 13 per cent returns given by the CNX Nifty," Crisil Research President Mukesh Agrawal …
3 Best Performing Mutual Funds of 2014 – Zacks.com
euronews3 Best Performing Mutual Funds of 2014Zacks.comMeanwhile, stock funds witnessed net outflows of $6.7 billion. However, stock mutual funds saw inflows of $330 million. High-yield bond funds witnessed its biggest inflow in seven weeks. It attracted $1.3 billion in new cash, a week after losing $2.3 …Take a …
Cerulli: Ignorance about mutual funds widespread in Asia – LifeHealthPro
LifeHealthProCerulli: Ignorance about mutual funds widespread in AsiaLifeHealthProForty-three percent of mass retail investors aren't investing in mutual funds because they don't know about the products. Americans, it seems, are not alone in being woefully uninformed about investment topics. A knowledge gap exists too among retail …Many Asian …
The US recovery looks sustainable this time
Next week will see the sixth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. No single financial event in the post-war period has cast such a long shadow. Until now, the scars of the financial crash have dominated the economic landscape. The utilisation of labour and capital resources in the …
No hard landing yet in China
© STR/AFP/Getty Images China’s economic rebalancing has been the main downside risk to global economic activity in 2014, and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. The industrial production figures for August were the weakest seen since the 2008-09 recession, and they were followed by a statement from…
Labour under-utilisation in America
Much of the attention at the last policy meeting at the Federal Reserve was focused on the FOMC’s indication that interest rates would stay unchanged for a “considerable time”. But a more fundamental issue concerns another key phrase in the statement, which is the FOMC’s assertion that …
It’s Draghi versus Weidmann on ECB QE
© CARLO HERMANN/AFP/Getty Images Last week’s press conference by ECB President Mario Draghi left the markets disappointed and somewhat perplexed about the shift towards quantitative easing that had just been sanctioned by the governing council (GC). Because this was focused on private sector assets, in the form…