Well if you’re going to try and change your portfolio, you might as well take a ‘Before’ snapshot for comparison later. I entered our retirement account holdings as of today into Morningstar’s X-Ray tool and got the following asset allocation:
This is based on our current holdings of only two mutual funds:
[Read more…]
Of course, as soon as I say how simple my investing is I go and try to complicate it. I spent this weekend reading my new copy of The Intelligent Asset Allocator as part of my upcoming portfolio recontruction. Man, it is some dense stuff. Let’s just say it’s no Harry Potter.
In addition, for my portfolio research I will also be referring back to my two favorite investing books so far – The Four Pillars of Investing (same author) and A Random Walk Down Wall Street.
[Read more…]
Although I blog about everything money, I want to make perfectly clear that the amount of entries I devote to a particular topic does not directly correlate with its importance. For example, out of 20 posts I may talk about easy ways to make $100 or the latest savings account rates for 15 of them. Maybe only 1 or 2 talk about saving for retirement. Why? Because saving for retirement is dead simple for me:
1) I save money regularly, and put it in tax-deferred accounts.
2) I buy an auto-pilot retirement fund – Vanguard’s VTIVX.
It takes hardly any time at all, but that is the most important thing I am doing for my future. The rest is just gravy. Obviously, I love gravy! 😉
Everyone who sent me their Form #2 in January as part of my Emigrant Direct Bonus should have gotten paid last week. If not, please e-mail me. Thanks to all who participated, I paid out over $100 this month.
Wow, I just reread all the thought-provoking comments in my Don’t Be A Victim post. After some good discussion with friends, I’ve put a finger on why I feel so strongly about this – Entitlement. When people feel entitled to things it just irks me. I’ve also linked it to why many people have problems paying off their student loans after college…
*Newsflash* It is not your inalienable right as a college graduate (focusing on new grads here) to receive any of the following things:
[Read more…]
Although I messed up my Treasury Bill Ladder by switching to 6-month T-Bills, they continue to be a pretty good cash investment alternative for those people in states with high income taxes, as they are exempt from such taxes. For example, the most recent 6-month T-Bill paid a rate of 4.754%. Using my Equivalent Rate Calculator, and a federal tax rate of 25% and state tax rate of 9%, that’s the equivalent of a regular 6-month bank CD paying 5.40%. The 4-week T-bill equivalent rate is 5.07%.
For all my posts on Treasury Bills, please see here, reads bottom to top.
For those that have an Roth, Traditional, or SEP IRA at Vanguard like me, you probably noticed that they charge a custodial fee of $10 a year for each mutual fund you have with a balance of less than $5,000. This can add up if you own multiple funds in different IRAs. The only way to get around this is if “the IRA owner?s Vanguard account assets (including IRAs, employer-sponsored plans, brokerage accounts, annuities, and nonretirement accounts) total $50,000 or more.”
I just discovered that for joint accounts, the total value goes towards both account holders. For example, if my wife and I hold a joint taxable account with $50,000 in it, we would both be exempt from IRA custodial fees no matter what our IRA balances were, even though the $50k is shared between us. Might be helpful for those near the threshold.
For those that are looking for a new discount brokerage, TradeKing is currently offering a $100 bonus for opening a new account with them. They offer $4.95 market and limit orders, both online and broker-assisted. No minimum balance requirements, no annual or inactivity fees. After talking with them, here are the offer details:
» Use the promotional code ‘(expired)‘
» Open with at least $1,000, and place your first trade by 4/15
» The bonus should credit ~2 weeks after your first trade
» You still need to keep $100 equity in the account for 6 months after your first trade to keep the bonus.
Per their fee schedule, they do charge a $50 fee for IRA closures or transfers, but there is no fee for an ACAT transfer out of a regular taxable brokerage account. This means that if you open this account and don’t like it, you can just move out all your shares of stock without having to sell them or pay transfer fees.
Here’s a possible plan for me:
1) Open with code and $1,000
2) Buy 1 share of EEM or other ETF at about $100 + $5 commission.
3) Take out rest of money except for maybe $25 in case EEM tanks.
4) Get $100 bonus, take it out too.
5) Treat it like I got a free share of EEM and move for free it to my Ameritrade I-Zone account if I choose, or just keep it there if I like the brokerage more than I-Zone (which also has $5 trades).
Seems like an easy way to try out another brokerage without any commitment
The Best Credit Card Bonus Offers – 2026
Big List of Free Stocks from Brokerage Apps
Best Interest Rates on Cash - 2026
Free Credit Scores x 3 + Free Credit Monitoring
Best No Fee 0% APR Balance Transfer Offers
Little-Known Cellular Data Plans That Can Save Big Money
How To Haggle Your Cable or Direct TV Bill
Big List of Free Consumer Data Reports (Credit, Rent, Work)