Beautiful new charts, Tyler.  Would it be too much work to add a new column for the PP performance in 2014?  Craig wrote about that here :  +9.1 or +8.9% return depending on how cash was invested. Now you've got me wondering, does "invested in 1972, withdrawn in 2013" mean invested on 12/31/1972 and...

So... here's what I have in my spreadsheet.  From March 26, 2004 to June 5 2015: The black line is nominal returns (9.58% CAGR over this period) The blue/purple line, just below it is the inflation adjusted return.  (7.32% over this period) The vertical lines are rebalance points (15/35) Mark, I tr...

So... here's what I have in my spreadsheet.  From March 26, 2004 to June 5 2015: The black line is nominal returns (9.58% CAGR over this period) The blue/purple line, just below it is the inflation adjusted return.  (7.32% over this period) The vertical lines are rebalance points (15/35) Mark, I tr...

Some movement on the Sprott/Goldtrust front... Sprott Formally Launches Offers to Central GoldTrust and Silver Bullion Trust Unitholders The number of Sprott Physical Gold Trust units to be distributed to each Central GoldTrust unitholder will be determined on a NAV to NAV basis. For example, based ...

Your brain is 25% cholesterol by weight And of course cholesterol is a precursor to testosterone. That number didn't seem right to me.  According to wikipedia, the total amount of cholesterol in a 150-lb man is 35 g.  If it was all located in his grey matter, 25% cholesterol would imply a brain wei...

I agree, Benko.  But I don't think any researchers of, say, string theory would claim to know it to be true (that's what piqued me about your earlier statement).  They might personally convince themselves that, by golly, it just has to be true, but if it were to be proven wrong then they would have ...

When I have my self driving car, I am all for traffic lights going away... Self-driving cars was also my first thought when the traffic lights argument was raised.  If we don't have a government controlling traffic, we might devise alternative methods for road safety that don't involve lights at al...

And much of what we think we know in all areas of science are wrong. I think two distinctions should be made.  Between settled science and conjecture, and between hard science and soft science.  I would say that most of what we think we know in all areas of science is true.  Because, you know, we k...

Bean wrote: Fixed Rate = 0.00%
Inflation Rate = -0.80%
Composite rate = 0.00%

In case anyone is unaware of how I-Bond rates are calculated, this inflation rate is for the six months from September to March.  Annualized, it's –1.60%.  Even better real return at 0% nominal!

I just posted these numbers on the Bonds>"TLT Negative YTD" thread, but thought they might be of interest here, too.  The real yields over the last one, five, and ten years have all been greater than 5%.  This year has been slightly positive.  No cause for concern, yet, in my mind. YTD returns (divi...

For a longer-term view... Five-year returns (dividends reinvested; Apr 30, 2010 to Apr 30, 2015) TLT: +60.28% VTI: +95.60% IAU: –0.87% SHY: +4.31% PP Total: +39.83% (+6.94% annualized) Inflation: +8.31% (end Apr 2010 to end Mar 2015; +1.61% annualized) PP real: +5.33% annualized Ten-year returns (di...

Here you go, dragoncar.  No fun today.  Now we're on track for a below-average, yet positive, year.  But YOY, we are still slightly above average (I consider +5.2% real as my benchmark).  If I remember, I'll update the real yields and inflation numbers when the CPI-U is announced for April on May 22...