Recent content by wabmester

I don't think the solution to all of this angst has been mentioned yet: annuities! Some people seem to have pension envy. Annuities! The real reason we're all sticking with stocks and bonds is greed, right? :) We're basically betting that worst-case won't really happen to us.

I have about a dozen old digicams. Tried to sell some of them at a garage sale for around $5/each. No sale! And they all included cables, cards, etc. So, I tried to give one to my 4-year-old as a kidcam. "Where's the LCD? No thanks, Dad." "Uh, I don't like having to hold down the...

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury: My esteemed fuzzy colleage would have you believe that stocks are like the weather and have you place your faith in "persistence." He did his own "firecalc-like" analysis and determined that the fund will provide you with the current yield (4%) +...

Have you tried using a device with no keyboard that doesn't run your favorite apps before? In my experience, the novelty wears off pretty quickly. I often carry a 4lb laptop with me when I travel, but Sony does make a sub-2lb laptop if you're really wimpy weight conscious.

Right, but only if you're using an SWR with a 100% success rate. For whatever reason, some people feel that, say, 90% success is "close enough." In which case, the algorithm you're suggesting is known as "searching for the failure sequence."

[OK, I'll walk right into this one. I can't wait for the punchline.] Vanguard sez the current yield on Wellesley is 4.27%. It looks like it might have been a few basis points lower in 2005, but this looks to me to be pretty close to a historic low for both stock and bond yields. Please tell...

That's true to a large extent for capital gains. Human behavior is unpredictable (not just at the quantum level, but at the complexity level). BUT... "physics" tells you that Wellesley's returns come from a combination of capital gains and yield. SO... if the current yield is at a record low...

That brings up an interesting point: what is good investing advice? Some people like to hear the word of god their favorite pundits. Some people like to hear what fits best into their existing belief system. Some people like to hear what the historical data says. Some people like to hear...

Hey, we do what we can for edutainment around here. :) I tried to spin it a little differently this time by shifting the debate to past performance vs the predictive power of current yields to spice things up a bit....

We have two commercial property listing services that I know of in our region. I was browsing them recently (don't ask), and there wasn't much of interest on either one. Then I found these guys. Korean owned and staffed. With quite a bit of interesting inventory: link I never really...

As long as you don't need the funds for 6 months, take the higher yield and guaranteed principal of the CD. If only all investment decisions were so easy. :)

They paid top dollar, but they were buying with virtually free dollars that came from their domestic bubble. I'm sure it all came out in the wash. I assume Lenovo is doing better with their purchase of the IBM PC division. And Singapore is seen as model from the equity returns on their central...

That may be true, but that's largely a function of the nature of the investors. Our central bank doesn't invest abroad. Japan, China, and others do need to prop up the dollar. It'd be interesting to see what happened if they stopped. Or if they started buying US companies instead of US treasury...

:)

That's an interesting spin on our current account deficit. Last I heard, we were borrowing all of that foreign capital to pay off our huge federal debt. Foreign central banks are loaning us money to pay for stuff we already bought, like the Iraq war. Aren't Japanese investors (and their...