I think it is quite simple: Buffett is more concerned with the return of his money than he is with the return on his money. In other words, safety and liquidity must come before yield.

@ barrett: Congratulations on your first world problem. A few suggestions, if I may: -Create a spreadsheet from now through final end of I-bond maturity. It could show you that it might make sense to cash some of them in early to smooth out that “lumpiness” of redemption years. -One way to stem tax ...

@ barrett: -I like the idea of “re-loading”: I also switched from EE bonds to I bonds after our daughter graduated from college. So far, it seems like a workable plan. -In the short term, the upcoming minimum variable interest rate guarantees a minimum one year yield on 1 May 2022 of 1.77%. That bea...

@ Barrett, My Cash is currently split as follows: 20% of Cash in tax exempt accounts (FDLXX in Roths) 18% of Cash in tax deferred accounts (FDLXX in T-IRA) 37% of Cash in tax deferred I-bonds 25% of Cash in taxable accounts (FDLXX in Fidelity brokerage) -I am currently holding more Cash than usual i...

@ ppnewbie: 1. Fluctuation in net asset value is fine for stocks, LTTs, and gold-- in fact, that is what the PP investor should want and expect from those volatile assets. Cash, though, is in the PP to create a pool of safe and liquid funds. A money market fund is designed for principal stability, u...

FDLXX did close to new investors when interest rates collapsed in 2020. It has since re-opened. The yield has been close to miniscule, but it remains all invested in US Treasury-issued securities. Yes, the ER is outrageous, but I would rather have a Treasury money market fund than an ETF. @ppnewbie:...

Can you hold FDLXX in your 401k plan? It is less likely to have a net asset value fluctuation than the ETFs, and (as mathjak indicates) part of the expense ratio is currently being waived by Fidelity.

Really appreciate your I-bond updates and generally keeping these great financial tools top-of-mind around here, jhogue. Thanks, Xan. 1. I continue to regard I-bonds as the “swiss army knife” of Cash. They come with multiple unique and cool functions, such as: -30 years federal tax deferral -30 yea...

Vinny, 1. You are correct. Every tax filer has until May 15 2021 to file their 2020 tax form with the IRS this year. An extension form can be returned with the $5,000 overpayment in addition to any tax that you may already owe. I use Turbotax software and have found filing an extension with my overp...

Tipswatch has announced that the new variable component of I-bonds will reset to 3.54% on May 1, 2021. Even if the new fixed rate is announced as 0%, that means that the composite rate for the next six months of I-bonds is guaranteed to be at least 3.54%. 1. If you have not yet purchased your quota ...

The HBPP prescribes a Treasury money market fund for safety and liquidity, not yield. Chasing yield in cash is not necessary and can potentially lead to problems with safety and liquidity at the moment that you can least afford it. BTW, the nominal yield of a 1 year Treasury zero stands at -0.01% to...

Actually, my wife still believes it was her idea to check out the repair video on youtube before calling the professional.

Vinny,
The youtube videos can help diagnose the problem too. To be clear, I did not say that I would never call the repairman; just that I now try to make the repair myself before calling in the costly repairman.

The effect of the internet on home repairs is deflationary: I am not very handy at all, but I have fixed the family washing machine twice by watching youtube videos. You can watch a repairman do the job over and over again until you can break down the repair to a series of steps. Each step requires ...

Just to be clear, the managers of FDLXX have done some tinkering around the edges. I noticed on a couple of FDLXX monthly fact sheets in the past year that they have sometimes invested in short maturing TIPS. I am not sure whether that makes them state taxable too.

@ Maddy: The risk of using a Treasury money market fund that employs repos is very small. I use FDLXX, Fidelity's Treasury money market fund specifically because it does not invest in Treasury repos. However, kevin K is correct: FDLXX has a 0.29% net expense ration, or slightly more expensive than y...

I don't think someone who holds 50% of their portfolio in US Treasury securities qualifies as an alt-right extremist.

1. Have you PM'ed blue_ruin17? He is a Canadian investor who frequently posts here and has even written his own book on the HBPP. See: Investing Equanimity: The Logic And Wisdom of the Permanent Portfolio. 2. Harry Browne warned against the use of leverage for "money you cannot afford to lose&q...

I have never invested in Treasury futures so I can’t really advise on their characteristics. Why would you want to hold a synthetic derivative rather than the real thing?

I own both TLT and 30 year T-bonds. When I first established my PP I bought TLT exclusively. I liked the ease of buying and selling an ETF inside of my IRA. After I was comfortable with LTTs, I started shifting into actual T-bonds, which I now have laddered. No annual expense ratio, no counterparty ...

"dodgy" sounds like a financial product no thinking person would want to buy.

I'm not even sure how to pronounce "Dogecoin."

"dog-gy-koyn"?

"doze-koyn"?

Likewise, I sold TLT and bought stocks (ITOT) back in March of 2020.

Reducing stock exposure (30.8% --> 25.0%) in the midst of the mania over GameStop feels good right now, doesn't it?

I rebalanced out of stocks on Monday.

It seemed like the right thing to do, given the frothy activity in the equity markets. There were no tax consequences because it was within my Roth IRA.

1. I remain a perennial buyer of both paper and electronic I bonds as part of a long term strategy to accumulate more "Deep Cash" over time. They currently account for about 10% of my total portfolio. The longer I hold them, the more I realize they are a great hedge against inflation and t...