Extra Time for Bond Ladders

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stuper1
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Extra Time for Bond Ladders

Post by stuper1 » Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:32 pm

If I put say $50k into a T-bill ladder, and a separate $50k into a T-bond ladder, how much extra time will I be looking at to calculate my values when I go to do an annual checkup/rebalancing?  I'm sure the first time would be more, and after that it would be easier, so I'm just asking about the extra time in the second and following years, after I'm over the learning curve.
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AgAuMoney
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Re: Extra Time for Bond Ladders

Post by AgAuMoney » Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:53 am

stuper1 wrote: If I put say $50k into a T-bill ladder, and a separate $50k into a T-bond ladder, how much extra time will I be looking at to calculate my values when I go to do an annual checkup/rebalancing?
No longer than it takes you to lookup and enter the extra data into a spreadsheet (ms office excel or libreoffice calc).  10minutes maybe?
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Re: Extra Time for Bond Ladders

Post by stuper1 » Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:07 pm

Wonderful.  Thanks for the info.  What data do I need to keep track of at purchase?
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AgAuMoney
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Re: Extra Time for Bond Ladders

Post by AgAuMoney » Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:59 pm

stuper1 wrote: Wonderful.  Thanks for the info.  What data do I need to keep track of at purchase?
For any investment you should track your basis.

For debt-type instruments I also like to track the yield (annual rate).

For bonds/bills purchased on the secondary market you should track what if any premium/discount to face value at time of purchase.  (Which can then be used to calculate your actual yield.)

If you anticipate any possibility of trading you should also track the CUSIP of each bond/bill.
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Re: Extra Time for Bond Ladders

Post by BearBones » Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:34 pm

Is there any Quicken-like product that does this?
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Re: Extra Time for Bond Ladders

Post by stuper1 » Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:19 pm

For any investment you should track your basis.

For debt-type instruments I also like to track the yield (annual rate).

For bonds/bills purchased on the secondary market you should track what if any premium/discount to face value at time of purchase.  (Which can then be used to calculate your actual yield.)

If you anticipate any possibility of trading you should also track the CUSIP of each bond/bill.
If I set up a rolling ladder with Treasury Direct, Vanguard, or Fidelity, will all this info be automatically saved for me, or will I need to record it myself, which sounds like a fair bit of work?
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AgAuMoney
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Re: Extra Time for Bond Ladders

Post by AgAuMoney » Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:00 pm

stuper1 wrote: If I set up a rolling ladder with Treasury Direct, Vanguard, or Fidelity, will all this info be automatically saved for me, or will I need to record it myself, which sounds like a fair bit of work?
I don't know if brokers track bond information yet.

I do not count on them to accurately track my stock information yet either.  I had to pay an additional $200 in taxes one year because trying to correct Fidelity was not worth it.  :(
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