Search found 2751 matches

by Tortoise
Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:16 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Dealing With Setbacks in Life
Replies: 79
Views: 26420

Re: Dealing With Setbacks in Life

Buy a good road bike and commute with your quads, bro.
by Tortoise
Wed Nov 27, 2019 4:06 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: MMT
Replies: 9
Views: 3763

Re: MMT

Even if we never officially “go back” from digital currencies, gold will probably always be used as an unofficial parallel currency and store of wealth by billions of people. Look at India, with its population of over 1 billion. Despite being very tech-savvy with smartphones and digital everything, ...
by Tortoise
Wed Nov 27, 2019 3:39 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Regular monthly investing and trading fees
Replies: 6
Views: 2697

Re: Regular monthly investing and trading fees

I think in retirement accounts it doesn’t matter much and largely comes down to personal preference. But in taxable accounts, I personally like to put new contributions into cash until it hits 35%, then rebalance all assets. That approach seems to minimize the overall number of trades, which makes b...
by Tortoise
Wed Nov 27, 2019 3:26 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Treasurys for Sale
Replies: 19
Views: 8178

Re: Treasurys for Sale

On the secondary market, I’ve noticed that sometimes smaller trades or odd-sized trades have higher spreads than the large trades involving nice, round numbers. Whereas at auction, I believe the size of your purchase makes no difference. But for a PP investor who is trading bonds only a couple of ti...
by Tortoise
Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:17 am
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Treasurys for Sale
Replies: 19
Views: 8178

Re: Treasurys for Sale

The Treasury market is very liquid, so I doubt there’s much of an advantage of auction over secondary market.

If such an advantage existed, it would quickly get arbitraged away by big financial institutions.
by Tortoise
Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:41 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Netflix junkie
Replies: 352
Views: 128204

Re: Netflix junkie

dualstow wrote:
Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:52 pm
Regarding Jesse Plemon’s (Todd’s) weight, he had to gain a lot of weight for Fargo and, I think, other roles.
When he was thinner, he kind of looked like Matt Damon. Now he looks more like he ate Matt Damon.
by Tortoise
Thu Nov 07, 2019 3:58 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1658339

Re: The GOLD scream room

Yup, it looks like there were public announcements today by both Chinese and American officials that the tariffs on each other's goods would be rolled back in phases if a trade deal is made.

My guess is that that news was the main driver of the sharp drop in gold and LTTs today.
by Tortoise
Sun Nov 03, 2019 11:19 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: SGOL made me rich!
Replies: 7
Views: 5106

Re: SGOL made me rich!

And the punchline is? Punchline is apparently that SGOL shares were split by 10, but for some reason they won’t correspondingly decrease the share price by 10x until Nov 4. So for the weekend my SGOL balance increased by 10x and also increased my Vanguard holdings by a huge amount. Alas, just a tem...
by Tortoise
Sun Nov 03, 2019 11:12 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: SGOL made me rich!
Replies: 7
Views: 5106

Re: SGOL made me rich!

Darn. So tomorrow (Nov 4) I won’t be rich anymore.

At least I can enjoy my sudden wealth for a weekend ;)
by Tortoise
Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:33 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: SGOL made me rich!
Replies: 7
Views: 5106

SGOL made me rich!

I checked my Vanguard Roth IRA just now, and my gold position (SGOL) has grown by 10x since the last time I checked two weeks ago!

I'm rich! O0
by Tortoise
Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:32 pm
Forum: Stocks
Topic: S&P 500
Replies: 41
Views: 31101

Re: S&P 500

Has that not always been the case for the top 5 or 6 stocks in the S&P500? I.e., did market cap used to be less concentrated at the top?
by Tortoise
Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:53 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Netflix junkie
Replies: 352
Views: 128204

Re: Netflix junkie

Watched El Camino last night and thought it was pretty good. Obviously wait until after BB before watching if you already haven't (you will probably be confused by the flashbacks if you don't). Like Better Call Saul it's the continuation of the story but featuring Jesse Pinkman's aftermath. Only on...
by Tortoise
Fri Oct 25, 2019 12:09 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Did you see Joker? What did you think of it?
Replies: 10
Views: 12862

Re: Did you see Joker? What did you think of it?

moda0306 wrote:
Fri Oct 25, 2019 9:14 am
Xan wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:53 am
As the parent of a five year old kid, this is utterly horrifying.
Wow I assumed you were older... must be the "wise old man" vibe I get from ya...
Technically, Xan could be old and still have a 5-year-old kid -- if he adopted, or if his wife is a lot younger ;)
by Tortoise
Thu Oct 24, 2019 3:53 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Did you see Joker? What did you think of it?
Replies: 10
Views: 12862

Re: Did you see Joker? What did you think of it?

doodle wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:56 pm
Saw it last night. Sat next to five year old kid..great parental judgement that one. :o
Dang, doodle. Disturbing.
by Tortoise
Tue Oct 22, 2019 4:49 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: the Vanguard mobile app
Replies: 2
Views: 4804

Re: the Vanguard mobile app

I haven’t used that app, but off the top of my head, have you enabled background app refresh? Perhaps you’ve blanket-disabled it for all apps to save battery but might want to try enabling it for the Vanguard app to prevent immediate auto-logout?
by Tortoise
Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:39 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Cracks emerging in money markets?
Replies: 49
Views: 67450

Re: Cracks emerging in money markets?

Sounds like a de facto standing repo facility, which the Fed proposed earlier this year.

If so, maybe at some point they'll just "make it official" and replace their current ad hoc repo market interventions with a standing repo facility.
by Tortoise
Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:15 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Did you see Joker? What did you think of it?
Replies: 10
Views: 12862

Re: Did you see Joker? What did you think of it?

I saw it last week and thought it was an outstanding film.

Great character development, interesting symbolism and metaphors, and an amazing performance by Joaquin Phoenix.

I also felt that it wasn't too overtly preachy politically, which is rare in movies these days.
by Tortoise
Tue Oct 08, 2019 1:39 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: Auto-rolling T-bills at Vanguard
Replies: 7
Views: 16322

Re: Auto-rolling T-bills at Vanguard

Not to my knowledge.
by Tortoise
Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:45 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Gold / Stock / Bonds at highs or near highs?
Replies: 95
Views: 63772

Re: Gold / Stock / Bonds at highs or near highs?

Trying to market-time one's transition into the PP is like deciding to go on one last bender before finally going sober.
by Tortoise
Fri Oct 04, 2019 12:48 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: 10 Year Treasury in ETFs
Replies: 23
Views: 27128

Re: 10 Year Treasury in ETFs

You would weight the maturities. The "10-year" in "10-year Treasury" means the bond matures in 10 years.
by Tortoise
Tue Oct 01, 2019 1:53 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Figuring Out Religion
Replies: 4052
Views: 1386525

Re: Figuring Out Religion

Kriegsspiel wrote:
Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:26 pm
Jesus was a winer, but this guy ales.
Alcoholic fermentation produces CO2 gas as a byproduct, so this guy also burps -- a lot.
by Tortoise
Fri Sep 27, 2019 12:51 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: What if the unicorns die off?
Replies: 11
Views: 6167

Re: What if the unicorns die off?

Tortoise, any data to indicate that the #of drunk driver incidents has dropped since Uber came on the scene? If that's true, it would be a great plug for them. The data seem to be mixed. From what I can tell, there's not yet a lot of evidence that Uber and Lyft have noticeably reduced drunk driving...
by Tortoise
Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:59 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Gold / Stock / Bonds at highs or near highs?
Replies: 95
Views: 63772

Re: Gold / Stock / Bonds at highs or near highs?

Nasty day today for gold and long term treasuries....this is what scares me about the way they seem to be joined at the hip...the supposed yin and yang can be quite powerful and nasty when things that are supposedly uncorrelated stay bedfellows Does anyone here know if an analysis has been done of ...
by Tortoise
Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:23 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: What if the unicorns die off?
Replies: 11
Views: 6167

Re: What if the unicorns die off?

If Uber and Lyft were to go out of business, I'm pretty sure the number of drunk drivers on the road would increase noticeably. For drunk people whose judgment is impaired, I suspect the main benefit of Uber and Lyft over taxis isn't that they're cheaper; it's that their apps are so much more conven...