Search found 46 matches

by grapesofwrath
Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:36 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: Treasury Direct account security discussion at Bogleheads
Replies: 37
Views: 49778

Re: Treasury Direct account security discussion at Bogleheads

I would think Treasury Direct is safer than Vanguard/Schwab/Fidelity because it has virtually no customer service.
by grapesofwrath
Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:33 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Treasury Direct Safety
Replies: 11
Views: 12336

Re: Treasury Direct Safety

..and I would have legal systems at my disposal to get back any funds that were lost or taken
I guess when main street banks "take" your money you need all those legal avenues. :(
If treasury "takes" your money then I guess this is when you need your gold, canned food and ammo.... :)
by grapesofwrath
Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:29 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell
Replies: 32
Views: 31462

Re: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell

If you're willing to give up LTT's why hold the PP at all? Or maybe, you no longer wish to hold the PP. I'm not a strict adherent to the PP - never was, never will be. I hold the same three components : stocks, treasuries and gold, but not in the proportions advocated by PP. I like the fact that th...
by grapesofwrath
Sat Aug 12, 2017 10:57 am
Forum: Bonds
Topic: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell
Replies: 32
Views: 31462

Re: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell

Another issue with a ladder: who knows where rates are headed. I'm assuming that until the Fed calls it quits on interest rate increases, I should stick with short durations. Exactly, since I don't where rates are going I will sit in the middle. I figure a 5(/7)yr ladder will keep track with inflat...
by grapesofwrath
Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:25 am
Forum: Bonds
Topic: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell
Replies: 32
Views: 31462

Re: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell

How do you all use the ladder in your cash allocation? I actually buy T-notes at auction every month - extra grief but that fine granularity insures the coupon payments are evenly distributed, rate fluctuations are well averaged, and a maturing rung is only a month away if I need. To start in the f...
by grapesofwrath
Sun Aug 06, 2017 7:49 am
Forum: Bonds
Topic: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell
Replies: 32
Views: 31462

Re: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell

More recently, Mr. Melvy has moved to a bogle 3-fund portfolio and holds TBM. Desert, Thats interesting. I wonder what caused his change of heart. In my mind the only really significant differences between the PP and 3-fund boglehead portfolio is gold and the two camps seem to hold opposite extreme...
by grapesofwrath
Sun Aug 06, 2017 7:10 am
Forum: Bonds
Topic: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell
Replies: 32
Views: 31462

Re: 5 year ladder vs Cash and 30 year barbell

I just hold a ladder of 5yr(7yr) T-Notes to maturity. This choice is in large part due to my behavioral reasons not the subtleties of barbell/bullet and tax. I would not have the stomach to watch the fluctuation of long term bonds and likely be inclined to panic. To me its like Goldilocks and the Th...
by grapesofwrath
Wed Jul 26, 2017 1:02 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: All America Bank 1.5%
Replies: 57
Views: 59448

Re: All America Bank 1.5%

Treasury has a limit on how many you can buy: $10,000 per SSN + $5,000 with your annual tax return. You can however get an additional $10,000 in a trust. Sorry, for hijacking this conversation off at a tangent, but the above caught my eye. My wife and I each have personal TD account sand buy I-bond...
by grapesofwrath
Mon Jul 17, 2017 3:48 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: Question on Treasury Ladder
Replies: 4
Views: 5888

Re: Question on Treasury Ladder

I have been setting up ladder held at Treasury direct. My target maturity was 5yr but now gradually increasing to 7yr (max). I don't hold "cash" nor any bonds with maturity greater than this (rate risk outside my comfort zone) other than ee bonds. My portfolio is more Swedroe/Desert like. I vaguely ...
by grapesofwrath
Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:59 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: ee bonds
Replies: 21
Views: 18221

Re: ee bonds

jhogue - thanks for the reply and taking the time to dig up those links to previous discussion on I and EE bonds. It would be interesting to know if the participants in that discussion are still around and if their views and enthusiasm have changed given the real rates for these products have sunk w...
by grapesofwrath
Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:11 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: ee bonds
Replies: 21
Views: 18221

ee bonds

Would it make sense to consider ee bonds for the "cash" component of a PP ? I know they only give 0.1% but there is the provision that they are guaranteed to double in 20 years if one can handle that time frame. I assume one could liquidate them in emergency. Also if interest rates do rise significa...
by grapesofwrath
Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:44 am
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Golden Butterfly Portfolio
Replies: 539
Views: 350348

Re: Golden Butterfly Portfolio

I do like the 40 percent equity though, and am slowly building up from 30% to 40%. You feel comfortable increasing your equity exposure at a time when US stocks are "richly" valued ? I'm well below 30% and would like to increase towards 40% but am reluctant to do so now and wish to wait for a "mean...
by grapesofwrath
Sat May 27, 2017 12:52 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)
Replies: 41
Views: 32380

Re: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)

That's how intermediate TIPS had a real return of -10% in 2013 With my limited understanding isn't such a loss just a consequence of selling in a TIPS fund? What if you hold the Note or TIPS from issue to maturity ? Looking at typical numbers for a 5yr Treasury Note vs 5yr TIPS : A 5yr Treasury Not...
by grapesofwrath
Sat May 27, 2017 5:47 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)
Replies: 41
Views: 32380

Re: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)

Thanks for the reply Tyler. I had been wondering if a short term TIPS fund (eg VTAPX) or a ladder of 5yr discrete TIPS bonds held to maturity would be a suitable/sensible substitute for a cash component in a portfolio (if one didn't want immediate liquidity). My naive understanding is the yield migh...
by grapesofwrath
Fri May 26, 2017 8:21 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)
Replies: 41
Views: 32380

Re: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)

Tyler, Didn't you once include TIPs in your Portfolio Charts and then they disappeared, or am I mistaken ? I would think TIPs would be an insightful asset class to include given their performance/correlation is (supposedly) relatively unique. Even though TIPs are relatively recent invention I unders...
by grapesofwrath
Fri May 26, 2017 2:39 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: PP exit strategy
Replies: 24
Views: 17291

Re: PP exit strategy

I have an asset allocation. I hope I can stick to it. So hopefully my exit strategy is death.
by grapesofwrath
Mon May 22, 2017 4:17 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Fortunately nothing can go wrong with this plan!
Replies: 3
Views: 4328

Re: Fortunately nothing can go wrong with this plan!

I love it ! Call me naive and old fashioned but I have more blind faith that some faceless person on the end of the phone at perth mint is going to write my purchase in their little ledger and hopefully give me my gold back sometime in the future, than I have in the "absolute security of an immutabl...
by grapesofwrath
Thu May 18, 2017 6:50 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: The Canadian Permanent Portfolio
Replies: 9
Views: 10130

Re: The Canadian Permanent Portfolio

I don't have any physical right now but will be keeping 15% (of portfolio value) with the Perth Mint soon. It's expensive though. Cost works out to 9.5% per transaction plus 1% annum. For that price I get private secure segregated storage, insurance, geographical diversification, and bullion coins ...
by grapesofwrath
Thu May 18, 2017 6:21 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)
Replies: 41
Views: 32380

Re: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)

Could you guys explain how you're calculating it? I don't know how it's done. I just know that I have bills and notes (up to 3-year notes), so I can see individually how they're doing. For example, the $10,000 block ending in ~LF4 2017-Jun-29 (bought as a 26-week t-bill) is up $27. The $10,000 bloc...
by grapesofwrath
Mon May 15, 2017 8:11 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)
Replies: 41
Views: 32380

Re: Understanding Cash Will Make You a Happier Investor (Tyler)

I wonder if anyone thought that autorolling Treasuries might spell the death of Treasury money market funds, with their high (0.4%+) ERs. One day I was horrified to discover that 70-80% of my treasury cash yield at a Schwab fund was being sucked up by their "expenses". So I decided to just use Tbil...
by grapesofwrath
Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:36 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1655787

Re: The GOLD scream room

I'm light on gold (~10%) and I get seduced by boglehead logic on the uselessness of the stuff but then i read some tweets and think history and other worlds and i struggle to refrain myself from getting some more... Its such torture.
by grapesofwrath
Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:09 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Backtesting the PP in Other Countries (Economies)
Replies: 30
Views: 24091

Re: Backtesting the PP in Other Countries (Economies)

Tyler, I would like to say I love your website and tools. So simple, so clean, so insightful !

PS. I would love to see Japan since its past is such a different beast (but one that not too improbably Europe and even US could follow...)
by grapesofwrath
Mon Apr 17, 2017 11:22 am
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: No Brainer Permanent Portfolio
Replies: 9
Views: 7140

Re: No Brainer Permanent Portfolio

The stupid article suggests a Permanent Portfolio with No Brain.
by grapesofwrath
Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:13 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: Elemetal ?
Replies: 1
Views: 2510

Elemetal ?

Anyone had any dealings or looked into company Elemetal ? Its in the news :

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-1 ... ount-fraud
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 25735.html