2008 Feb Issue of Money Magazine

[rhschulz2000]

Hi: My name is Bob and this is my first entry. I am a 64 year old married male who is still working full time. I teach a retirement seminar at my current employer focused on covering the critical issues that people need to consider before they retire. I have broken my program into five sessions titled; Are You Ready, Social Security, Medicare, Finances and Leaving a Legacy. If you are interested, let me know and I will be happy to send you my powerpoint presentation. I am not selling anything nor do I recommend any specific company, product, person, etc.

I do have a personal question. In the 2008 Feb issue of Money magazine, they named 27 Vanguard mutual funds as part of Money's list of the best mutual funds you can buy. I have my money invested at Vanguard in a variety of their index funds, but was interested in anyone's opinion about why one might allocate their bond investments in Vanguard's Short-Term Bond Index Fund versus their Total Bond Market Index Fund.

Thanks, Bob.

 

[REWahoo]

Hi: My name is Bob and this is my first entry. I am a 64 year old married male who is still working full time. I teach a retirement seminar at my current employer focused on covering the critical issues that people need to consider before they retire.

Welcome to the forum Bob.

I hope you have a very good sense of humor because on an early retirement forum, your statement above may lead to some comments relating to "If you can't do it, teach it..."

 

[TickTock]

Short-term bonds in general have a lot lower volatility and slightly lower return than long-term bonds. Assuming you have them in your portfolio to dampen volatility, short-term bonds make more sense.

 

[Nords]

I have broken my program into five sessions titled; Are You Ready ...
If you are interested, let me know and I will be happy to send you my powerpoint presentation.
I am not selling anything nor do I recommend any specific company, product, person, etc.

I'm guessing your answer to your first session is "No"?

Welcome to the board, Bob, but while you may have a lot of cojones for posting this on a forum named "Early Retirement", you lack a certain cachet of credibility.

At least Bud Hebeler is retired. Otherwise you have to figure out why you're different/better than Scott Burns.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Bob, welcome.

I think comparing Vgd short term to Vgd total bond is apples and oranges. The total bond market fund acts mostly like an intermediate index fund. For my money I like the intermediate bond index fun over the total fund, but both do what they're supposed to. I use short term bonds almost like near-cash.

 

[Rambler]

Welcome Bob
Are you in HR in your current employer? or did they pick you to do the seminar for another reason...i.e., you are already close to retirement, you volunteered, etc. Would be interested to know.

I teach a course at a university as a volunteer, not related to FIRE, but someday, after I'm FIREd myself, I would like to do something similar on retirement planning, only on a volunteer basis. I still have a while to go yet, but when I do it, I would probably would want to do it as an adult education seminar or course at the local JC. Those of us who take the time to educate ourselves, then actually do something about it will likely be OK in FIRE, but there are so many people out there who don't even think about it and don't have a clue...If I could just share some of the knowlege I have and help even just a few people, I think it would be stimulating and rewarding.
Thanks
R