Thanks! I do check in now and then but I haven't posted in a while....

Anyway, no rebalancing yet. Sitting tight. Wondering what everyone else is doing?

I would love to see a gold ETF blow up. That would be really amusing. I had been thinking this could happen if the gold market were to have either a big correction or big runup (like we're seeing now). Going to check my accounts this weekend and will probably find myself having to rebalance. Most e...

OK I'm curious. What was "MAGA" or "far-right" about anything in my post? (I took care to keep political partisanship out of it, in fact.)

Very interesting thread guys! (I do check the forum now and then....) I have my own idea about the income tax: it needs to be retired in favor of tariffs +/- a national sales tax. Tariffs are how the federal government was funded before the income tax was introduced. And at the time the income tax w...

Fidelity's platform has been subject to glitches and inefficiencies for years. But, they're still the best game in town as an investment bank. I haven't tried Schwab, but I've seen plenty of complaints about their services on various forums including this one. Mostly about key things you can't do th...

Huh, I just looked it up - and Fidelity does have a robo-investing service! The catch is that the fee is 0.35% except the first $25,000. That's pretty stiff for a DIY stock fund. I think I'll pass.

Buying and managing a basket of stocks to keep them balanced is definitely a hassle. There are certainly benefits especially if you're high income, because you can selectively tax loss harvest and better control when you take capital gains. But, you need to buy at least 20 stocks if you want to trac...

Hey I didn't know about AVUV, thanks for mentioning! It looks like FISVX (Fidelity's small cap value mutual fund) is lagging it quite significantly, and it gets worse and worse over time.

What is everyone's favorite small cap value investment???

Whoah!! Almost 2300. I have the same question as the title of this thread....is this because people think the Middle East situation is spinning out of control? Or that some kind of economic apocalypse is being predicted and I just haven't noticed? Or, do we indeed have inflation, it's just not refle...

Some interesting ideas, responses here: I bond swapping: One piece of sage advice for those of you who are POA's for elderly family members: be very careful about making creative financial moves with the person's money. POA's can and often are sued by other heirs if they suspect you might have playe...

Cash: looks like these high interest rates aren’t going to last anyway. You may be right - but it's so thorny trying to predict the future. Actually you ARE right given a long enough time horizon. How long? Who knows! It's probably a good idea to make sure anything you do is reversible in case we e...

I got out of Perth Mint. Too many red flags going up. Could you please elaborate on this? Is this because of FATCA/other US tax problems or a more fundamental issue? two issues. One was their stated policy on cyberattacks, which is that if a thief broke into your account and claimed part or all of ...

Oh well - first world problems eh dualstow???

I got out of Perth Mint. Too many red flags going up. The TBD is working out beautifully and I don't need to deal with FATCA. Cost is minimal and I get to buy gold bars instead of coins.

Hey all, I got an interesting question from one of the forum members and thought I'd answer it with a new thread. If only because I don't necessary have the best answers and it's certainly a topic ripe for discussion. Like everyone else, I loaded up on cash in my taxable accounts and my Roth account...

The writer of Tipswatch usually makes a prediction after the CPI figures are released - about 2 weeks in advance of the official announcement date of November or May 1. The variable rate is completely determined by the CPI so that figure will be precisely known, but the fixed rate is only an educate...

Yeah, good idea....if the fixed rate is going up in April it would be worth waiting.

What's wrong with 0.5% storage fee for segregated gold storage? That's a great price, as usually segregated storage is more like 1% or even more. And remember it includes insurance. Coincidentally that's what Texas Bullion Depository charges. There's only 2 ways to beat this price. One is to invest ...

1.3% fixed? Nice! Should be higher though....I thought it was supposed to be tied to the 5 year treasury yield, which is 5%-ish. I'll be buying my annual $10K aliquot in January. (and yes...I basically regard the savings bonds as a non-deductible IRA equivalent, holding only cash. Neat.) The fun dec...

Not sure I understand your question. Yes there is a bid-ask spread when you buy individual bonds, but if you do it infrequently enough, that cost is less than the expenses you would pay for owning shares in a bond fund. If you're selling bonds to tax loss harvest you will either want to immediately ...

I had looked that info up the last time I tax loss harvested long bonds. As long as the years are different (e.g. sell a bond maturing in 25 years and replacing with a bond maturing at 30 years) those are considered different investments. If you're selling a bond FUND though, and intend to buy bonds...

Boglerdude, can I quote you on that??? I'm writing an op-ed to submit to the NY Times about this. I've had it. No more Ms. Nice Guy. I've got other places to send it if the NY Times refuses. I had come to that same realization. One of my statements in the op-ed piece is that the term "memory di...

Thanks for those insights, Seajay! I will say that the finances of placing a dementia patient in the UK are FAR nicer than what we've got here, which is a big fat goose egg from the government, and prices that will make your eyes bug out. I researched care facilities in my area, because I finally hi...

Thank you Seajay that's very kind!! My sister and I were wondering who will take care of us in our old age. The next generation just doesn't have that same sense of responsibility and dedication to family that was imbued into us when we were growing up. My point about the ladders wasn't about yield,...

I guess when you're retired, buying T bills yourself could be a form of useful entertainment! I'm too busy right now though. I had a long talk with my sister last night about another aunt in her 80s who (oddly enough) doesn't have dementia, but still needs a lot of help managing her finances & m...

Sounds good Barrett! Letting the ladders run down is a good escape hatch. And...sounds like you have a fee-only advisor already - ask if they'd be willing to handle financial management & transactions? If so, your wife could always arrange for that if needed when the time comes. An aside - I've ...