I track a theoretical PP consisting of 25% each SHY/TLT/GLD/VTI rebalanced monthly (for benchmarking purposes). I get 5.71% for the year for this. My actual PP (90% of total assets) returned about 5.92%. My "to do" list is (actually was since I've done this) to pay slightly more attention ...

barb wrote:What are the pros/cons of buying TLT vs individual bonds.

We've talked about this before, see (e.g.) http://www.gyroscopicinvesting.com/foru ... f=3&t=4223

Bonds are tough to understand pour moi. Can I ask a question(s)? When people post results of backtesting bonds (here and at sites like portfoliocharts.com) are they the results of a fund like TLT or are they the results of the cost of a 30 yr individual bond? I think most folks use data from the &q...

So a 26-year old would be 64-12-12-12, while a 63-year old would be 27-21-21-21? With what rebalanciing bands? This seems like a problem Tyler might be interested in attacking. My guess is that this wins/loses vs. a traditional HBPP about 50% of the time depending on the start date. Which means unle...

Following WiseOne's idea, I just looked at my county and city budgets. But the real scandal is school funding. It's the same thing at the state level: 42% of New Mexico's budget goes to education. And New Mexico has terrible educational outcomes compared to other states. Even more than roads and we...

stuper, My guess is that you would have had that problem anyway and it was more a discipline vs. portfolio issue. (Not that I can cast stones at anyone...I think many people have or had that challenge including me.) ...which IMO is one thing that makes the PP a good portfolio for someone in their 2...

I have now lost like 2/3 of this year's gain. Why the fuck cannot even one year work out remotely decent? It will. It never feels like it at these points, but it will. What would you have done otherwise? More stock? More active trading? Just curious. I don't track year to date returns, but I'm up a...

Trump has just saved 1000 US jobs by negotiating with Carrier to keep them in the US. Probably more jobs than than O did in 8 years. How about before we downgrade Trump we see what he actually does? More jobs than O did in 8 years???????????? Excuse me, but didn't Obama keep GM in business? Wasn't ...

On the other hand, I'm skeptical of the PP's ability to withstand an idiot congress led by an ignoramus who together seem like the perfect storm that may end up with the US defaulting on Treasuries and/or the US dollar losing its worldwide reserve currency status. Are you referring to Congress not ...

So let me get this straight. Everybody is whining like crazy for ages that rates are waayyyyy too low, and when they finally rise a tiny tiny bit, everybody goes full-mental mode...? Look at the longterm chart, it barely moved, it's still a loonnnnggg way down to get to normal rates. And it's still...

http://s19.postimg.org/a8cbj5g4z/screenshot_2016_11_16_at_13_09_27.png What's the point you're trying to make with this graph? It apparently shows the average cost of employer sponsored policies, not policies from the exchanges. The rate of growth is (approximately) 100% from 2000 to 2008, and more...

Can anyone explain this to me? http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?merkx%2C%20shy Please move the slider so the comparison is for the last week. Wouldn't uncertainty in the US intuitively drive folks away from short term US Treasuries rather than (differentially) toward them? I completely und...

So, has anyone read the book yet?

From your link: "“Once our government leaders and the authorities condemn the dangerous elements in our society, it will be the duty of every patriotic citizen to help stomp out the rot that is poisoning our country from within.”" Has it occurred to you that the above applies as well to t...

I just finished reading "The Authoritarians" by Bob Altemeyer, which summarizes his research into authoritarian personalities (followers and leaders). He wrote this in 2006 during Bush's 2nd term in office, but it has a lot to say about what is going on right now. Very highly recommended. ...

So, your answer is that you can do anything you want as long as your side wins. Got it. We are talking about politics here. Yes. That's how it works. When one side wins, they do everything they feel they can get away with. It's a razor's edge; go too far and the backlash can be intense. But general...

Why are we still talking about Hillary Clinton? She lost the election. Does anyone care about Mitt Romney anymore? As to the question in this thread's title, the obvious answer is, "no, duh." What incentive would Trump have to to use his justice department to prosecute the guy who helped ...

After having a grand old time making fun of Republicans for going whackadoodle bananas when Obama was elected president, it's awfully ironic to see Democrats now doing the same thing. I guess those tribalist impulses are stronger than they thought! I'm not sure he can help it any more than Reub cou...

But it also doesn't make a lot of sense to me that he just wants to use the presidency to make more money. The guy's already a gazillionaire. He doesn't need any more money. Just about the only money-related thing that would make an impact is repealing the estate tax so that his kids get an extra f...

It's amazing that Hillary supporters can be so blind to her misdeeds. I am not a Republican [nor Democrat] but I voted for Trump with eyes wide open as to who he is. Regardless, it's nice to have another view besides the usual echo chamber. She wasn't running for sainthood. And, I'm not saying she'...

He's 70 years old -- the oldest President ever -- and a billionaire several times over. He doesn't need to engage in crony capitalism to get richer unlike Slick Hilly or Romney. That was part of his allure as well as knowing how the corrupt game is played inside. You can't first fix a broken system...

(which certainly seems to be truth), to what a vile criminal Hillary is (which seems to be nothing but a BIG LIE). Are you Reub from an mirror universe? Are you at/under 35? Let's view some of the scandals of the esteemed Clinton family: Foundationgate (Ongoing) Emailgate (2015) Benghazigate (2013)...

Is the bottom line here that it's OK to rig an election if you win? Of all the potential examples of election rigging this year (ask Sanders about that), Comey informing Congress of factually true information pertinent to a federal investigation is way down on the list. You don't think he was delib...

Or is it illegal to interfere in elections only if your side loses? Comey knew his announcement that the FBI was looking at additional emails would be used for partisan purposes. It then was used for partisan purposes: wildly distorted by Fox ("indictment coming soon"), repeated by the MSM...

Is anyone even remotely concerned about Trump's economic entanglements. See, for example, this article http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/23/donald-trump-foreign-business-deals-national-security-498081.html Of course, most of this is completely opaque since he never released his taxes (how the fuck did...