Some perspective - Page 10

**Want2retire** · 07-07-2008, 09:32 PM

What beautiful poetry, Ladelfina!!

And as for the market, I don't think it is that bad yet but who knows, perhaps it will be! Either way, what will be, will be and IMO we can neither predict it with any accuracy, nor keep changes from happening. The silver lining is that this is a great test for us to find out if we have a good, sound, plan that we can live with. And that is my opinion.

Hal3 · 07-07-2008, 09:45 PM

Well, you see, the entire baby boom generation was all going to retire at once on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Everyone. All on the same day. Then we would all sell our stock at once and the market would crash for everyone else before word got out.

But ... someone leaked the plan.

Now THEY are crashing the market so we won't be ABLE to retire.

It's as good an explanation as any!

NW-Bound · 07-07-2008, 09:49 PM

Well, since this thread has been flown to, AND LANDED in Cuba already, what's one more post?

Do you and your husband like Fausto Leali or Andrea Bocelli singing this song? Both are very good, but I prefer Bocelli since I heard him first. To my ears, the languages that I love songs written in are English (of course), French (which I understand), Spanish, and Italian. So many songs in the latter two are just, well, music to my ears, though I always have to search on the Internet for the lyrics translation.

Dawg54 · 07-07-2008, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire

And as for the market, I don't think it is that bad yet but who knows, perhaps it will be! Either way, what will be, will be and IMO we can neither predict it with any accuracy, nor keep changes from happening. The silver lining is that this is a great test for us to find out if we have a good, sound, plan that we can live with. And that is my opinion.

Bear markets are bad. It may be a test, but not one I wanted to take this soon into retirement. My opinion as well.

FIREdreamer · 07-07-2008, 09:52 PM

W2R,

The real silver lining is that you've invested a big chunk of your money in Wellesley!

Don't you love its whopping 4.73% yield! This thing is a rock... I am also very impressed with its cousin, Wellington, down only 3.5% in the past year and yet 65% stocks! I am buying more of them at the end of the week...

Notmuchlonger · 07-07-2008, 09:55 PM

If Wellesley is the magic bullet why doesnt everyone do it?

FIREdreamer · 07-07-2008, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger

If Wellesley is the magic bullet why doesnt everyone do it?

I really don't know... It's not for lack of publicity on these boards, is it Unclemick?

**Want2retire** · 07-07-2008, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREdreamer

W2R,

The real silver lining is that you've invested a big chunk of your money in Wellesley!

Don't you love its whopping 4.73% yield! This thing is a rock... I am also very impressed with its cousin, Wellington, down only 3.5% in the past year and yet 65% stocks!

I LOVE my Wellesley!

And it is on sale right now, too!! The dividends just keep coming every three months.

Notmuchlonger · 07-07-2008, 10:03 PM

Did it return 4.73 % after inflation?

**Want2retire** · 07-07-2008, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger

If Wellesley is the magic bullet why doesnt everyone do it?

It's not a magic bullet! It's a very conservative investment with a low but steady and predictable yield, so when the market is hot, Wellesley's not.

When the market picks up (like it did back in 2003), everyone will be talking about their 28% and 43% yields, and I'll have 4.5% or something. Wellesley would not be a good investment for someone in the accumulation phase, with 25 years to go before ER.

Notmuchlonger · 07-07-2008, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire

It's not a magic bullet! It's a very conservative investment with a low but steady and predictable yield, so when the market is hot, Wellesley's not.

When the market picks up (like it did back in 2003), everyone will be talking about their 28% and 43% yields, and I'll have 4.5% or something. Wellesley would not be a good investment for someone in the accumulation phase, with 25 years to go before ER.

Well then if you have a big enough egg. You can afford losing it to inflation and withdrawls. Good deal!

FIREdreamer · 07-07-2008, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger

Did it return 4.73 % after inflation?

4.73% is the dividend yield. The one year return is -1.9% (before inflation). So you need to reduce that by the inflation rate but then the question becomes, which inflation rate do you use? Yours, mine, the government's? I am not even going there. Besides Wellesley is not a real return fund and it does not promise to keep up with inflation. It just so happens that over the long term it has if you kept your SWR near 4% (its average annual return since 1970 is over 10%).

At any rates, W2R said it all, in an up market Wellesley is a big BIG yawn... But right now it is the star of our portfolios!

Notmuchlonger · 07-07-2008, 10:16 PM

Well of course! I was just wondering it gets pssst and spoken of like the holy grail. I was just curious as why it was so good. Now I know! Nice fund.

**Want2retire** · 07-07-2008, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger

Well then if you have a big enough egg. You can afford losing it to inflation and withdrawls. Good deal!

Historically, share prices of Wellesley have exceeded inflation. The dividends are on top of that and I guess that the idea is that the dividends are intended to provide what is needed. Of course, past performance is no indication of future trends. But then hey, if you want to REALLY lose money, you could take your pick these days.

Edited to add: Wow, you guys are FAST!!!

ladelfina · 07-07-2008, 10:25 PM

W2R, thanks, but it's not mine; I just translated NW-Bound's favorite song for him.

NWB: DH was trained at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome and hates hates hates hates hates Bocelli. I imagine he's ok for a pop singer but does not have the real, requisite opera lirica chops do be doing what he's doing. I guess kinda like real jazz musicians hate Kenny G, or R&B fans hate Michael Bolton. More power to these artists, I guess, if they can make a buck and make people happy, but they're not at the real level of the craft. One hopes that they popularize it enough to get people interested in the good stuff, though, like the real Ray Charles or Louis Armstrong.

I don't know what his opinion is of Leali. Send me a PM of your 'favorite hits' and I'll see if he can recommend something. It's true, the first time you hear something, that continues to seem like "the original" or "the way it should be".

Music is a GREAT way to help you in learning another language: I bought many random Italian pop CDs when I was studying and they really helped. Italians laugh at my uneducated choices, but I still have a fond spot in my heart for Mimmo Locasciulli. So sue me!

UncleHoney · 07-07-2008, 11:32 PM

Gee, you all make me feel good. I pulled the plug on my 401K early last October and stuffed it into a 5.56% IRA. A 5.56% five year IRA.

Four years from now I may wish it were in something else, but for now it's earning it's keep.

Bestwifeever · 07-07-2008, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleHoney

Gee, you all make me feel good. I pulled the plug on my 401K early last October and stuffed it into a 5.56% IRA. A 5.56% five year IRA.

Four years from now I may wish it were in something else, but for now it's earning it's keep.

What did you put it in, if I might ask? DH's 401K allows an in-service withdrawal at 59-1/2 and we're likely going to do the same thing into something at Vanguard for most of it.

UncleHoney · 07-08-2008, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever

What did you put it in, if I might ask? DH's 401K allows an in-service withdrawal at 59-1/2 and we're likely going to do the same thing into something at Vanguard for most of it.

It's in a CD at our credit union. Within a few days of the rollover rates started going down, so I got lucky on that one.

MichaelB · 07-08-2008, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladelfina

Isbcal (or is it lsbcal?).. yep, but at some income point which is unclear (roughly $150k?) you wander into AMT territory so 28% min on everything w/no exemptions (? IIRC). Hard to know when you're nearing that, esp. when some of my div. & interest comes in after Dec. 31 and I love those revised 1099s that come in in March. If anyone who's reading this has been subject to AMT I'd appreciate their advice. I have only sold off all of my IWM which is recent, plus some AMX for a CG of around $42k so far. I would like to sell more. Income last year was $58k AGI with no adjustments. About $25k of that was an involuntary CG - stock liquidation of a bank failure from the S&L days (gee, I just seem to go from bank crisis to bank crisis!).

If you use tax preparation SW, just run the numbers using last year's program. Include distributions at last year's levels to find your highest tax scenario. Many funds - especially vanguard - tell you how much realized gains they have YTD. This helps to estimate distributions.

AMT has a base exemption of $45k (joint) which congress changes at the last minute each year (last year to $66k). No guarantee it will change this year, so you can do a calculation at the base and updated levels. You would need to get directly to the AMT form in your tax program and change the exemption amount.

Michael

07-07-2008, 09:32 PM	#181
Want2retire Moderator Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Orleans Posts: 6,061	What beautiful poetry, Ladelfina!! And as for the market, I don't think it is that bad yet but who knows, perhaps it will be! Either way, what will be, will be and IMO we can neither predict it with any accuracy, nor keep changes from happening. The silver lining is that this is a great test for us to find out if we have a good, sound, plan that we can live with. And that is my opinion. __________________ Dreaming of retirement.... " - - my greatest skill has been to want but little - - " (Henry David Thoreau, in Walden)

07-07-2008, 09:52 PM	#185
FIREdreamer Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,343	W2R, The real silver lining is that you've invested a big chunk of your money in Wellesley! Don't you love its whopping 4.73% yield! This thing is a rock... I am also very impressed with its cousin, Wellington, down only 3.5% in the past year and yet 65% stocks! I am buying more of them at the end of the week... __________________ "Fortune favors the brave" - Virgil

07-07-2008, 09:55 PM	#186
Notmuchlonger Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,986	If Wellesley is the magic bullet why doesnt everyone do it? __________________ Call the troops out in a hurry. This is what we've waited for. This is it boys, this is war.

07-07-2008, 10:03 PM	#189
Notmuchlonger Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,986	Did it return 4.73 % after inflation? __________________ Call the troops out in a hurry. This is what we've waited for. This is it boys, this is war.

07-07-2008, 10:16 PM	#193
Notmuchlonger Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,986	Well of course! I was just wondering it gets pssst and spoken of like the holy grail. I was just curious as why it was so good. Now I know! Nice fund. __________________ Call the troops out in a hurry. This is what we've waited for. This is it boys, this is war.

07-07-2008, 09:45 PM	#182
Hal3 Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 64	Well, you see, the entire baby boom generation was all going to retire at once on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Everyone. All on the same day. Then we would all sell our stock at once and the market would crash for everyone else before word got out. But ... someone leaked the plan. Now THEY are crashing the market so we won't be ABLE to retire. It's as good an explanation as any!

07-07-2008, 09:49 PM	#183
NW-Bound Full time employment: Posting here. Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 560	Well, since this thread has been flown to, AND LANDED in Cuba already, what's one more post? Do you and your husband like Fausto Leali or Andrea Bocelli singing this song? Both are very good, but I prefer Bocelli since I heard him first. To my ears, the languages that I love songs written in are English (of course), French (which I understand), Spanish, and Italian. So many songs in the latter two are just, well, music to my ears, though I always have to search on the Internet for the lyrics translation.

07-07-2008, 10:25 PM	#195
ladelfina Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 2,652	W2R, thanks, but it's not mine; I just translated NW-Bound's favorite song for him. NWB: DH was trained at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome and hates hates hates hates hates Bocelli. I imagine he's ok for a pop singer but does not have the real, requisite opera lirica chops do be doing what he's doing. I guess kinda like real jazz musicians hate Kenny G, or R&B fans hate Michael Bolton. More power to these artists, I guess, if they can make a buck and make people happy, but they're not at the real level of the craft. One hopes that they popularize it enough to get people interested in the good stuff, though, like the real Ray Charles or Louis Armstrong. I don't know what his opinion is of Leali. Send me a PM of your 'favorite hits' and I'll see if he can recommend something. It's true, the first time you hear something, that continues to seem like "the original" or "the way it should be". Music is a GREAT way to help you in learning another language: I bought many random Italian pop CDs when I was studying and they really helped. Italians laugh at my uneducated choices, but I still have a fond spot in my heart for Mimmo Locasciulli. So sue me!

07-07-2008, 11:32 PM	#196
UncleHoney Full time employment: Posting here. Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Columbus Posts: 690	Gee, you all make me feel good. I pulled the plug on my 401K early last October and stuffed it into a 5.56% IRA. A 5.56% five year IRA. Four years from now I may wish it were in something else, but for now it's earning it's keep. __________________ 100% retired and working hard at it.

07-08-2008, 08:25 AM	#200
ladelfina Thinks s/he gets paid by the post