Municipal Bonds

[Danny]

I want to buy individual Munis - actually ones from our local school district - I see them listed on Scottrade - seems straightforward to buy I think - not certain what it would be like to sell before they mature.

Appreciate any help in getting my feet wet.

(I'm swinging back to being very investment conservative again - been reading Seymore Hersh's article in The New Yorker about the White House preparing to take out Iran nuclear facilities and have another regimer change... )

 

[maddythebeagle]

why buy bonds when you can buy GOLD. I think I read that CFB was really into muni bonds, so lets hear what he has to say

 

[Danny]

why buy bonds when you can buy GOLD. I think I read that CFB was really into muni bonds, so lets hear what he has to say

 

[brewer12345]

Dan, you can likelybuy the bonds at Scottrade if t hey really have them in inventory. I would call their bond dept. and ask. If they don't have them in inventory, they can go look for them, but it will probably cost you in the form of a dealer mark-up from Scottrade. If at all possible, don't buy individual bonds that are not exchange listed that you would want to or have to sell before maturity. You wil get scalped by the dealer bid-ask spread.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Maddy's been reading too many threads.

About 2 years ago I bought a small...IIRC single digit percentage of my portfolio in CA intermediate muni bonds. Principally because they made sense for my tax situation at the time. Since then I've been repeatedly accused of being a major dealer in muni bonds on a number of occasions

I've now been through the 12 step program, have a good non-job, and i'm learning to make something of myself without the crutch of owning muni's. Heck, it wasnt even my muni, a friend left it in my car and I was just taking it down to the store to throw it away!

Never bought local muni's, but we had some muni bonds issued by the local water district to put in clean surface water to a portion of the area, and IIRC the news info had a contact through which you could buy the bonds directly in minimum purchase amounts.

Were I buying them, I'd be planning to hold them to maturity, and would therefore want to believe that I'd be in the 25-30% tax bracket for that entire time period. Otherwise, probably not a good idea. I'd also make sure I wasnt going to be whacked for AMT on the bond interest before getting into it.

Damn you Muni Bonds! I keep trying to get out and they keep pulling me back in!!!

 

[Nords]

I'm swinging back to being very investment conservative again - been reading Seymore Hersh's article in The New Yorker about the White House preparing to take out Iran nuclear facilities and have another regimer change...

Well, gosh, if you read it in The New Yorker... Who cares what the American investor thinks, as long as Iran believes what they read in the New Yorker!

The U.S. won't do anything about Iran until they-- Iran-- actually demonstrate that they can produce a mushroom cloud. Even with President Cheney Rumsfeld Rove Bush's best efforts after the mid-term elections-- quack, quack.

 

[Danny]

Well, gosh, if you read it in The New Yorker... Who cares what the American investor thinks, as long as Iran believes what they read in the New Yorker!

The U.S. won't do anything about Iran until they-- Iran-- actually demonstrate that they can produce a mushroom cloud. Even with President Cheney Rumsfeld Rove Bush's best efforts after the mid-term elections-- quack, quack.

You sound like you think the boys in the WH are a logical bunch - It's a fun read - we got forces in Iran right now making contacts and marking targets...if you can believe Hersh...

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We might do something about iran because we cant pull out of iraq while the current regime is there.

Georgie Porgie might just decide to reshape the entire middle east. Hopefully we're all done before Gabe turns 18.

 

[HFWR]

Hopefully the military will push back hard on this stupid idea...

 

[azanon]

why buy bonds when you can buy GOLD.  I think I read that CFB was really into muni bonds, so lets hear what he has to say

The 100 year return on gold is maybe 2-3%.  I think i'll pass.

 

[Danny]

Hopefully the military will push back hard on this stupid idea...

that's what the article says they are trying to do (WH wants to use bunker busters (nuclear)) - WH doesn't want to listen ...again

The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he added, and some officers have talked about resigning. Late this winter, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sought to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans for Iran—without success, the former intelligence official said. “The White House said, ‘Why are you challenging this?

 

[brewer12345]

Time to impeach him before he decides Russia is a big threat. After all, they have oil and nuclear ambtions...

 

[azanon]

Time to impeach him before he decides Russia is a big threat. After all, they have oil and nuclear ambtions...

Damn straight.

I would be so delighted to see our troops in Iraq loading up on C-5's and C-130s in single-file lines as far as the eye can see. * ahem * I can only dream.

 

[poboy]

Meanwhile, bought closed end muni bond fund back in 1989, reinvest dividends monthly, paying about 5.4, down a little this year .  I am retired and will one day start getting monthly paid to me if I need the money.  

This story may or may not be true, but, I suspect some terrorists might be a little afraid:

[HOW TO STOP ISLAMIC TERRORISTS......  it worked once in our History...

Once in U.S.  history an episode of Islamic terrorism was very quickly stopped.  It happened in the Philippines about 1911, when Gen.  John J. Pershing was in command of the garrison.  There had been numerous Islamic terrorist attacks, so "Black Jack" told his boys to catch the perps and teach them a lesson.

Forced to dig their own graves, the terrorists were all tied to posts, execution style.  The U.S.  soldiers then brought in pigs and slaughtered them, rubbing their bullets in the blood and fat.  Thus, the terrorists were terrorized; they saw that they would be contaminated with hogs' blood.  This would mean that they could not enter Heaven, even if they died as terrorist martyrs.

All but one was shot, their bodies dumped into the grave, and the hog guts dumped atop the bodies.  The lone survivor was allowed to escape back to the terrorist camp and tell his brethren what happened to the others.  This brought a stop to terrorism in the Philippines for the next 50 years.

Pointing a gun into the face of Islamic terrorists won't make them flinch.

They welcome the chance to die for Allah.  Like Gen.  Pershing, we must show them that they won't get to Muslim heaven (which they believe has an endless supply of virgins) but instead will die with the hated pigs of the devil.
/quote]

 

[Danny]

Meanwhile, bought closed end muni bond fund back in 1989, reinvest dividends monthly, paying about 5.4, down a little this year . I am retired and will one day start getting monthly paid to me if I need the money.

This story may or may not be true, but, I suspect some terrorists might be a little afraid:

so, poboy what muni cef do you have.....

 

[brewer12345]

so, poboy what muni cef do you have.....

Beware of leverage, Dan.

 

[poboy]

DWS Municipal Income Trust (KTF)
Closed-End ETFs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fund Quick Facts
As of 04/10/2006  
Closing NAV: $11.96     Current Market Yield: 5.45%
Closing Share Price: $11.34     Premium/(Discount): -5.18%

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Taxable Equivalent Yield: 7.57% 52 Week High-Low NAV: $12.61-$11.99 As of 03/31/2006
52 Week High-Low Share Price: $13.1300-$11.4100

Not an endorsement, suggestion, hint or anything else.  

 

[Danny]

Beware of leverage, Dan.

Agree. ETF Connect lets you know when they employ it. I've used NUV in the past when it was in the lower 9s....got up near 10 and has come down to 9.50...concerned there is more of a fall to come - if so will wipe out the 5% return for a while


poboy - thanks I'll put KTF in my watch list.

 

[Nords]

Hopefully the military will push back hard on this stupid idea...

that's what the article says they are trying to do (WH wants to use bunker busters (nuclear)) - WH doesn't want to listen ...again
The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he added, and some officers have talked about resigning. Late this winter, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sought to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans for Iran—without success, the former intelligence official said. “The White House said, ‘Why are you challenging this?

Several Vietnam-era flag officers have said many times that they wish they'd resigned (retired) rather than put up with McNamara & Johnson. It's a topic of many ethics discussions & magazine articles.

Ric Shinseki went toe-to-toe against Rumsfeld about the number of troops required in Iraq, saw his relief get nominated a year early (effectively making the Army Chief of Staff a lame duck), and was subsequently proven correct. It was quite a search for his relief, too, with another wave of "No thanks" retirements.

Gen Pace has the reputation of being a real grunt's Marine, the first since Gen Gray. I think he's right up there with Colin Powell and won't take any crap from the administration.

The military has over 180 contingency/operations plans for various countries. PACOM attempts to update their share on a two-year cycle, and each two-year update seems to take 30-36 months. (No, that's not a typo.) So the military will eternally be working on a plan to invade (or otherwise operate in) Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Khazakstan, Uzbekistan, India, South Dakota, and so on... while every couple months the newspapers milk a few headlines out of their latest "discovery".