In a quick read of the VTI and TLT prospectuses, there only seem to be the standard market risks, they do not use derivatives. Perhaps TLT doesn't directly deal in derivatives, but in a market collapse like the one narrowly averted in 2008 (thank you, Obama) my guess is TLT would end up not looking...

This is one of the coolest science projects I've ever heard of. I'm pretty sure that 50 years ago it would have been considered impossible in the next 1000 years. http://www.eventhorizontelescope.org/science/index.html From their paper published in Science: High frequency VLBI work at MIT Haystack ...

If these current financial and real estate bubbles were to pop, and we had another Great Depression, could we at least expect some 1930s style deflation to lower these prices? Or would we have stagflation? I would expect the taps to open at the Federal Reserve, converting a depression into hyperinf...

My PP was up 4.76% in Jan with a normal PP up 2% (I've read). Anyone else care to share some results? The theoretical PP I track for benchmark purposes (25% each SHY/TLT/VTI/GLD, rebalanced monthly) was up 2.05% in January. My actual PP (not recently rebalanced but within 15/35 bands, and with a va...

Coal supporters in Wyoming have introduced a bill that would effectively prohibit Wyoming utilities from using renewable energy sources:

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/1201 ... nge-denial

Actually, Gates is a great example. I don't know this for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that nearly all of his net worth consists of Microsoft stock on which he's never paid a nickel in taxes . Is that true? Every time I've receive stock compensation I've had to pay taxes on the shares. Also, isn...

It always struck me as informative that even most ordinary people consider the estate tax to be distasteful, for lack of a better word. Even looking at someone like say Bill Gates, I don't find that most people think the rest of us are entitled to whatever percent of his wealth upon his and Melinda...

The money has already been taxed. Why should the government tax it again when you die, just because you didn't spend it? Actually, most of the money has NOT been taxed - consisting of unrealized capital gains. See http://americansfortaxfairness.org/tax-fairness-briefing-booklet/fact-sheet-the-estat...

LazyInvestor wrote:Does anyone know if there are any expected changes to the estate tax with Trump administration?

Trump has said he wants to completely eliminate the estate tax. Of course, this affects only the upper 0.2% of households in the US and creates a relatively permanent plutocratic class so why not?

ochotona wrote:I hate getting older

The alternative isn't that great either.

Hire a lawyer to represent your interests (e.g. not the realtor's lawyer) in the purchase and have him/her review all paperwork before closing. A little more on this. When you first start looking for a home you may end up with a realtor who "helps" you find what you're looking for. Unless...

Hey rickb, Can you please explain how you are doing your treasury ladder? When I think of laddering, I always think of having CDs or treasuries with different maturities. Are you working with a range of, say, one to three years? Also, is this with Fidelity? I am just wondering about any expenses in...

I track a theoretical PP consisting of 25% each SHY/TLT/GLD/VTI rebalanced monthly (for benchmarking purposes). I get 5.71% for the year for this. My actual PP (90% of total assets) returned about 5.92%. My "to do" list is (actually was since I've done this) to pay slightly more attention ...

barb wrote:What are the pros/cons of buying TLT vs individual bonds.

We've talked about this before, see (e.g.) http://www.gyroscopicinvesting.com/foru ... f=3&t=4223

Bonds are tough to understand pour moi. Can I ask a question(s)? When people post results of backtesting bonds (here and at sites like portfoliocharts.com) are they the results of a fund like TLT or are they the results of the cost of a 30 yr individual bond? I think most folks use data from the &q...

So a 26-year old would be 64-12-12-12, while a 63-year old would be 27-21-21-21? With what rebalanciing bands? This seems like a problem Tyler might be interested in attacking. My guess is that this wins/loses vs. a traditional HBPP about 50% of the time depending on the start date. Which means unle...

Following WiseOne's idea, I just looked at my county and city budgets. But the real scandal is school funding. It's the same thing at the state level: 42% of New Mexico's budget goes to education. And New Mexico has terrible educational outcomes compared to other states. Even more than roads and we...

stuper, My guess is that you would have had that problem anyway and it was more a discipline vs. portfolio issue. (Not that I can cast stones at anyone...I think many people have or had that challenge including me.) ...which IMO is one thing that makes the PP a good portfolio for someone in their 2...

I have now lost like 2/3 of this year's gain. Why the fuck cannot even one year work out remotely decent? It will. It never feels like it at these points, but it will. What would you have done otherwise? More stock? More active trading? Just curious. I don't track year to date returns, but I'm up a...

Trump has just saved 1000 US jobs by negotiating with Carrier to keep them in the US. Probably more jobs than than O did in 8 years. How about before we downgrade Trump we see what he actually does? More jobs than O did in 8 years???????????? Excuse me, but didn't Obama keep GM in business? Wasn't ...

On the other hand, I'm skeptical of the PP's ability to withstand an idiot congress led by an ignoramus who together seem like the perfect storm that may end up with the US defaulting on Treasuries and/or the US dollar losing its worldwide reserve currency status. Are you referring to Congress not ...

So let me get this straight. Everybody is whining like crazy for ages that rates are waayyyyy too low, and when they finally rise a tiny tiny bit, everybody goes full-mental mode...? Look at the longterm chart, it barely moved, it's still a loonnnnggg way down to get to normal rates. And it's still...

http://s19.postimg.org/a8cbj5g4z/screenshot_2016_11_16_at_13_09_27.png What's the point you're trying to make with this graph? It apparently shows the average cost of employer sponsored policies, not policies from the exchanges. The rate of growth is (approximately) 100% from 2000 to 2008, and more...

Can anyone explain this to me? http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?merkx%2C%20shy Please move the slider so the comparison is for the last week. Wouldn't uncertainty in the US intuitively drive folks away from short term US Treasuries rather than (differentially) toward them? I completely und...

So, has anyone read the book yet?