Search found 29 matches

by MikeK
Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:08 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Problems getting bond quotes via fidelity?
Replies: 9
Views: 5940

Problems getting bond quotes via fidelity?

I'm using a google docs spreadsheet to track my portfolio and the recommended method for getting the current prices for treasuries seems to be broken.  Anyone else having the same issue? Here's the cell contents for fetching the current price: =index(ImportHtml("http://fixedincome.fidelity.com/fi/FI...
by MikeK
Tue May 14, 2013 4:03 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Need suggestions with a challenging rebalancing dilemma
Replies: 9
Views: 4990

Re: Need suggestions with a challenging rebalancing dilemma (resolved!)

Thank you all for the suggestions and thinking out side the PP box I had cornered myself in! I've got a spreadsheet (again, based on many forum members examples) that tracks everything already.  I removed the 401k/403b portions and now I've got the opposite problem, way over weighted on gold! I'll p...
by MikeK
Mon May 13, 2013 8:47 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Need suggestions with a challenging rebalancing dilemma
Replies: 9
Views: 4990

Re: Need suggestions with a challenging rebalancing dilemma

You can't buy a gold ETF or something in your tax-deferred account? If not, I assume this is a 401k without a brokerage window, which sucks. :( My 401k has a mutual fund window, just not one that has a view of gold.  I've got plenty of ways to slice/dice the stock/bond market (both local and global...
by MikeK
Mon May 13, 2013 7:59 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Need suggestions with a challenging rebalancing dilemma
Replies: 9
Views: 4990

Need suggestions with a challenging rebalancing dilemma

With the recent drops in gold, I've got a rebalancing problem coming. Most of my PP assets are in tax advantaged accounts: 53% tax deferred 22% roth 25% NQ The problem is gold allocations: 0% tax deferred (just isn't anything available I can buy for gold) 19% is in roth 81% is in taxable Finally, he...
by MikeK
Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:31 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: I'm Done!
Replies: 327
Views: 145052

Re: I'm Done!

HB PP up .95% today. We should change the name of this thread from "I'm Done!" to "Gettin' It Done!" The gold I bought back in the end of January has finally gone up some (some 4% for the day!!). Though it's still down 3-5% overall.   Being gold was the hardest pill to swallow of the HB PP, it's be...
by MikeK
Fri Jun 01, 2012 1:59 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: I'm Done!
Replies: 327
Views: 145052

Re: I'm Done!

HB PP up .95% today. We should change the name of this thread from "I'm Done!" to "Gettin' It Done!" The gold I bought back in the end of January has finally gone up some (some 4% for the day!!). Though it's still down 3-5% overall.  Being gold was the hardest pill to swallow of the HB PP, it's bee...
by MikeK
Wed May 30, 2012 2:16 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: I'm Done!
Replies: 327
Views: 145052

Re: I'm Done!

MediumTex wrote: HB PP up .60% today.

Like a clock in a thunderstorm.
Out of curiosity, how are you tracking this?  I assume it's not the performance of your particular instance of the PP?
by MikeK
Tue May 15, 2012 8:33 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: I'm Done!
Replies: 327
Views: 145052

Re: I'm Done!

Hi all, I started my CA PP in mid-January 2012. Ditto!  Of course Gold was the hardest pill to swallow and it's currently down 10%!  However, I'm planning on putting more of my assets in the PP and figure that Gold is 'on sale' now comparatively to when I bought it 3.5 months ago.... When I start t...
by MikeK
Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:52 am
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Treasury Bond Buying Tutorial
Replies: 129
Views: 243026

Re: No bonds listed at Vanguard?

I had the same issue when I first tried searching for bonds with Vanguard.  What time/day were you performing the search?  I found that results only show up if you search while the market is open.  At least, after getting no results the first time (on a Sunday afternoon), I went back in on Monday m...
by MikeK
Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:23 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Treasury Bond Buying Tutorial
Replies: 129
Views: 243026

Re: No bonds listed at Vanguard?

foglifter wrote:
MikeK wrote: Based on the recent news about TLT, I figured it'd be a good time to go look into how to buy LTT bonds directly. 
What news about TLT did you mean? I haven't been following the market  lately...
http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/ht ... ic.php?t=9
by MikeK
Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:20 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Treasury Bond Buying Tutorial
Replies: 129
Views: 243026

No bonds listed at Vanguard?

Based on the recent news about TLT, I figured it'd be a good time to go look into how to buy LTT bonds directly.  The above instructions for Fidelity are very helpful and I'll be using them when I've accumulated enough cash to need a rebalance.  I also have an account with Vanguard and figured I'd l...
by MikeK
Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:04 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 6025

Re: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts

Switching asset allocation strategies is stressful and not very cost efficient.  So it is not something to be done lightly or often.  I recommend doing enough research that you feel confident that you will stick with your new allocation for a number of years.  If you are at that point, then I would...
by MikeK
Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:44 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 6025

Re: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts

KevinW wrote: Let us know what you find in the 457.
Appears my choices in the 457 are

VantageTrust PLUS Fund
VantageTrust Cash Management (Dreyfus Cash Management money market fund (Participant Shares))
VT BoA MMDA (1,3,5 Year CD)
by MikeK
Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:58 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 6025

Re: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts

- Can you merge your two Roth accounts into one? No. One each for myself and my wife. - Does the 457 have viable fund options for anything besides stocks? It definitely doesn't have gold.  I'll look and see if it has anything for cash/bonds, but I'm not optimistic... - Does the 401(k) have viable f...
by MikeK
Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:55 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 6025

Re: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts

Make sure you use Individual Security Selection basis recognition method, and choose the highest price shares to be the ones you sell. OK, so that'd be one of the choices I have when I go to sell?  Or is that some global setting I make with the brokerage service? Loss-harvest if you can. That means...
by MikeK
Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:46 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 6025

Re: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts

It's not off-topic. But I think more specifics are needed. What kinds and percentages in the allocations do you have and how are you looking to split things up? Of the total I've allocated to my PP, here's how I'm looking to break things down. Stocks * 401k 12.5% * 457b 12.5% Bonds * 401k 12.5% * r...
by MikeK
Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:49 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help moving investments around in taxable accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 6025

Help moving investments around in taxable accounts

Having recently decided to transfer my assets into the PP allocation, I'm finding that while I've been buying for a long time (I 37 and still in accumulation mode...), I have little experience selling/trading them. Moving money around in tax advantaged accounts (401k, etc) is a easy (one might say t...
by MikeK
Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:41 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Putting your mouth in the money: What is your current allocation?
Replies: 45
Views: 23924

Re: Putting your mouth in the money: What is your current allocation?

Note, I'm only a few weeks in to converting to the PP and that I've only transferred funds in my tax advantaged accounts, still trying to figure out what assets I should sell in my tax disadvantaged accounts (and also trying to over come the thought of buying that much virtual gold...) stocks 43% bo...
by MikeK
Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:14 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Master list of PP component ETF/MFD options
Replies: 48
Views: 36600

Re: Master list of PP component ETF/MFD options

I just looked at the spreadsheet again. Any or the iShares/Vanguard fund with "Yes" in the HB OK column would be fine. That's S&P 500 or Total Stock Market. So VTI, SPY, IVV, or IWV from iShares (which is not listed). The All world index funds like ACWI or VT could be OK if you satisfied that havin...
by MikeK
Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:42 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Master list of PP component ETF/MFD options
Replies: 48
Views: 36600

Re: Master list of PP component ETF/MFD options

Or a separate tab. But some of the funds need big asterisks next to them! I realize this is an old thread, but I'm currently in the process of assessing what funds to use as I start putting together my PP and would like to know if any of the funds listed on the linked spreadsheet should have the "b...
by MikeK
Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:57 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: 401k discussion with HR
Replies: 44
Views: 16460

Re: 401k discussion with HR

If multi-billion dollar corporations weren't smart enough to know how to invest in a retirement plan, how do employees stand a chance on their own? That is my basic frustration in a nutshell. I don't necessarily have a solution, I just see this problem and the ways in which it is concealed, re-fram...
by MikeK
Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:41 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Borrowing from crappy 401k to invest in PP
Replies: 27
Views: 11944

Re: Borrowing from crappy 401k to invest in PP

How exactly will borrowing help? I'm certainly no expert, but AdamA suggested that to me as well.  Best I could come up with was it would make all the funds immediately available and you'd just buy other positions within your 401k as you paid back the loan. I'll also wait for the 'real' answer :) m...
by MikeK
Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:38 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help with multiple accounts and a twist...
Replies: 10
Views: 5780

Re: Help with multiple accounts and a twist...

The basic concept of the PP is very simple.  The implementation can get a little more complex. That's an understatement!  :) Here is one way to divide your investments assuming you go with 60% of your total assets, using 15% from each account type. 50% stock 401   TSM index 50% stock 457   VPFIX 50...
by MikeK
Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:03 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: gnucash bond quotes
Replies: 19
Views: 13544

Re: gnucash bond quotes

ZedThou, I've been a gnucash user for close to 13 years now, but quit trying to track my portfolio with it many years ago.  Now that I'm considering moving to the PP, I might just have to give the portolio parts of gnucash another try and will be sure to use your patched Finance::Quote perl module f...
by MikeK
Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:09 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Help with multiple accounts and a twist...
Replies: 10
Views: 5780

Re: Help with multiple accounts and a twist...

Well, after some spreadsheet thrashing, I've come up with a way to put ~60% of my assets into the PP with the optimal 4x25% using the balance of the 457b acct as the ceiling.  Leaving the rest in a VP (of sorts), with the goal of towards getting it into the PP over time as I learn how it works. I lo...