Search found 1982 matches

by barrett
Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:40 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Homeownership is Overrated
Replies: 56
Views: 19336

Re: Homeownership is Overrated

What are these people thinking? Dualstow, did you see the one with the Hawaiian couple that had a $1,000,000 budget? His priority was "quality countertops" and hers was a "shower with no door" (so that she could move her mop around in there unobstructed). One would think that for a cool million the...
by barrett
Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:01 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Investor Education Is ‘Futile,’ ‘Totally Discredited’: Dalbar
Replies: 4
Views: 2493

Re: Investor Education Is ‘Futile,’ ‘Totally Discredited’: Dalbar

Quote from the article: So over the 30 years from QAIB’s inception to the 2013 market close — a period encompassing the crash of 1987 and subsequent market booms and busts — equity fund investors earned an average annual return of 3.69% compared with the S&P 500’s 11.11% return. I have been trying t...
by barrett
Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:30 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: The Gold Conspiracy
Replies: 7
Views: 4417

Re: The Gold Conspiracy

Didn't see the show, Reub.
It also gets into the possibility that we don't have the gold that we say we do.
Does this mean that gold ETFs are not really holding gold?
by barrett
Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:36 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: What % of your Total Portfolio is the PP?
Replies: 26
Views: 13436

Re: What % of your Total Portfolio is the PP?

82.4% give or take a bit depending on the day. I'll eventually have everything set up as PP so that I don't have to think about investments all the time (unless I change my mind!).
by barrett
Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:43 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: All is well, nothing to see here.
Replies: 2
Views: 2118

Re: All is well, nothing to see here.

I don't think Cortopassi is "screaming" about gold but maybe there should be another thread entitled "The Gold Serenity Room." We could all post there when long bond or stock gains are alleviating any pain gold is inflicting.
by barrett
Tue Apr 08, 2014 8:37 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Bubble 2.0
Replies: 22
Views: 8965

Re: Bubble 2.0

The housing market here has been slowly heating up, but it wasn't until just recently that there was a shift from apartments going for less than the ask price (happened just 3 months ago to a friend selling a 2 BR, she had her place on the market for several months) to apartments being snapped up w...
by barrett
Tue Apr 08, 2014 5:05 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Bubble 2.0
Replies: 22
Views: 8965

Re: Bubble 2.0

This is totally anecdotal but, yes, it seems that most folks are living beyond their means. I split my time between Manhattan and CT. In CT I see lots of house with four or five cars in the driveway. Went to Long Island on business yesterday with my wife and we were one of the very few cars in the H...
by barrett
Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:59 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Tulving is Bankrupt
Replies: 25
Views: 17423

Re: Tulving is Bankrupt

Let us not forget that great symbol of Canadian pride the beaver. Would love to see The Mighty Beavs face off against The Ostriches!

What has this thread come to? Perhaps someone can skillfully tie it all together.
by barrett
Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:14 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: Poll: What percentage of your gold is held in physical form?
Replies: 49
Views: 22979

Re: Poll: What percentage of your gold is held in physical form?

That's why we microwave pizzas sometimes instead of washing green leaf lettuce and making a nutritious salad. That's all I meant. Plus, let's face it, dualstow, after eating that leafy-green "nutritious salad", we are still hungry. On a side note, it astounds me that folks order gold to be delivere...
by barrett
Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:57 am
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Talking Head Predictions
Replies: 14
Views: 7790

Re: Talking Head Predictions

Regarding the "gold as hedge only," that simply can't be true in the PP.  Would you risk 25% of the value of your car or home every year just to insure it? When insuring your home or car, that theoretical 25% payment would be "an asset that went to zero" which I don't think anyone here would predic...
by barrett
Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:17 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Best way to buy long term treasuries
Replies: 21
Views: 11386

Re: Best way to buy long term treasuries

Thanks Ad Orientem. Because it's the asset I understand the least, I need to be talked down from a ledge every few days on the LTT's. Appreciate the help.
by barrett
Tue Mar 25, 2014 6:47 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Best way to buy long term treasuries
Replies: 21
Views: 11386

Re: Best way to buy long term treasuries

Just came upon this old thread and I wanted to ask for advice. I just started a PP this year and grabbed all 11/15/43 bonds (3.75% coupon) for the 25% LTT allocation. Any problem with doing that? I mean, do I need to ladder them or just sit on my backside for the next ten years? These are all in tax...
by barrett
Sun Mar 23, 2014 9:49 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Dick Bove Predicts Rampant Inflation and 8% Ten Year Bond By 2017
Replies: 21
Views: 12178

Re: Dick Bove Predicts Rampant Inflation and 8% Ten Year Bond By 2017

Based on 9%, I'm calculating a 39% hit to the bond portion of the PP between now and late 2017.  A 25% PP allocation to 10-year treasuries instead would only lose 18% over the same time frame. Are these numbers from Fragile Bill correct? For me the LTTs are the least well understood asset of the PP...
by barrett
Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:10 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Will This Time Be Different
Replies: 26
Views: 13816

Re: Will This Time Be Different

The PP's performance has been pretty robust over 40+ years.  However, I don't think we're a bunch of kool-aid drinkers.  If it stops working (which to me means ~ 3 years of negative real returns), people will bail. TennPaGa, don't you think that would only be true if it were poor performance of som...
by barrett
Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:54 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Rebalancing ?
Replies: 15
Views: 9376

Re: Rebalancing ?

I also started a PP this year and went with equal parts despite the fact that I didn't want to buy 30-year bonds. My investment record has to be worse than Cortopassi's. We should really find out who the worst VP investors are on this forum so that we can all figure out what not to do. tnt, that sti...
by barrett
Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:58 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Will This Time Be Different
Replies: 26
Views: 13816

Re: Will This Time Be Different

Tyler, Thought the painter brother was going to actually endorse the PP directly but I guess that is why it's a "parable." Not a bad analogy. Thanks. PS, Thanks for reminding me that I need to go see the dentist. I'll be thinking of my long term treasuries when I'm getting work done on my molars. Po...
by barrett
Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:50 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Vanguard Vs Fidelity Vs Schwab Vs ETrade Vs Other? Best In Class At What?
Replies: 11
Views: 13796

Re: Vanguard Vs Fidelity Vs Schwab Vs ETrade Vs Other? Best In Class At What?

Thanks for the recommendation, TripleB. I think I am OK with TD Ameritrade for now. It's specifically a solo 401(k) Roth that I was struggling to set up. Is that what you understood from my post? Those plans go by so many different names that it's hard to even talk about them properly. I know what y...
by barrett
Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:36 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Vanguard Vs Fidelity Vs Schwab Vs ETrade Vs Other? Best In Class At What?
Replies: 11
Views: 13796

Re: Vanguard Vs Fidelity Vs Schwab Vs ETrade Vs Other? Best In Class At What?

Don't know how many self-employed people are on here but I recently ran into a problem with Fidelity when trying to open a solo 401(k) Roth for my wife. I was told that they don't yet offer it! WTF? When confronted with the obvious fact that they were losing business (I plan to set up a solo 401(k) ...
by barrett
Sat Mar 08, 2014 10:24 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Help me get drunk
Replies: 54
Views: 22572

Re: Help me get drunk

Just ambling around The Bowery in Manhattan this morning and I think I saw PS sleeping on a heating vent. We have led him astray. On a positive note, gold seems poised to move higher after yesterday's mini correction.
by barrett
Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:42 pm
Forum: Stocks
Topic: Rookie PP Stock Question
Replies: 6
Views: 5454

Re: Rookie PP Stock Question

Thanks ns3 and Ad Orientem. NEI. Sorry about that. The stocks and LTTs in my PP are all in either tax-deferred (mostly) or tax-free accounts. Appreciate your help.
by barrett
Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:19 pm
Forum: Stocks
Topic: Rookie PP Stock Question
Replies: 6
Views: 5454

Rookie PP Stock Question

I have my 25% stock allocation set up with Fidelity's S&P 500 Fund (Spartan Deluxe Supreme, or something like that). These funds always reinvest dividends, correct? Or do some folks set them up within the PP so that the dividends just get thrown out as cash? Any plus or minus to having the dividends...
by barrett
Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:14 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: How was the PP experience in 2008?
Replies: 4
Views: 3925

Re: How was the PP experience in 2008?

http://www.peaktotrough.com/hbpp.cgi Very interesting to look at 2008 on a month-to-month basis. To blackomen's question, it looks like October was the only really painful month as stocks were plunging but gold and LTTs were also going down. Gold & LTTs were already on the way back up in November a...
by barrett
Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:15 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: How was the PP experience in 2008?
Replies: 4
Views: 3925

Re: How was the PP experience in 2008?

Excellent question and one that I have been wondering about as well. I just implemented the PP at the beginning of this year and it's easy to get the impression that it just goes up. On the other hand, it stunk being in just stocks and shorter term bonds in 2008. I know how THAT felt and it wasn't g...
by barrett
Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:08 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Trying to figure out the ACA
Replies: 0
Views: 1433

Trying to figure out the ACA

I need some help with figuring out what insurance to buy under the ACA. My basic issue is that I don't know who the expert is who I can pay to help me figure out what the best health insurance option is for me. For example, I recently met with a college financial planner and was able to figure out a...
by barrett
Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:40 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: How do "you" trade physical gold in a PP?
Replies: 13
Views: 7902

Re: How do "you" trade physical gold in a PP?

Hello Cortopassi, I am not exactly a veteran of the PP having only set mine up two months ago. It seems that all folks when they first set up a PP tend to monitor the four asset classes quite closely at first and I am no exception. But what I have noticed is that a terrible day for stocks, gold or L...