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Not an option for me. I buy active funds in order to beat the market, not make the market. And it almost always works. I refuse to change my investment strategy when no law exists that prevents US clients from owning US mutual funds while they live abroad. In fact, the SEC rules for each mutual...

Just had long conversation with TD Ameritrade. They basically told me to technically lie because from their standpoint, they would rather keep their clients than help the government enforce the rules They have an option for "physical" and "mailing" address, which normally defaults to the...

I'm aware this forum does not necessarily have a lot of expatriates and there are other forums that might be a better place but in the interest of "you never know", I am posing the question: If anyone happens to be in a similar situation or thinks they may be affected by the new FATCA rules, I...

I do not deny anything you say. However as you an probably tell from our posts we simply don't want to stay in the Bay Area. Neither of us are from here and we wish to try expatriating. Good comments for anyone interested in ER that wants to stay

Thanks but politics has nothing to do with it. Expatriation was the plan for five years now because we would like to try it. The cheap cost of living and healthcare is a bonus but not the primary reason. We like Asia. My wife is Chinese. Obama is as useless as Bush to me. Disaster is getting...

It is not my intention to blame or even judge ACA. That is too political for this forum. I was presenting an opinion that was based on several responses to a thread relating to ACA and ER. Perhaps there are some that may have been thinking about expatriation but we're not aware of inexpensive...

I do not disagree with anything you said. Overpriced for a couple with the means we currently have would have been a better choice of words. For what it's worth, Malaysia has Grand Prix, many concerts by well known western artists, dozens of internationally acclaimed film festivals...

The policy I referred to was our current employer based policy, not an ACA policy. However, as an example, you pay $10,200 annually for what is now the law of the land, the fact that you MUST purchase insurance. Not that anyone over 50 should be without insurance in America. But that is mainly...

No, not looking to fight; I do, however, wish to point out that those bunches of posters that said nobody would even think about expatriation as an option because of healthcare cost concerns are simply incorrect. You can't know this by using your opinion; you would have to actually visit other...

I guess I was thrown by that one thread because the question posed was "Could the ACA make expatriation an option". The implication was that due to healthcare costs, would some be forced to choose another country? As I read through I saw a lot of "no", "nope", "nobody would do that", "expats are...

No problem. We love Thailand. However, there are some things to be aware of: Language can be a barrier in Thailand although most signage is in both English and Thai. Be aware that the country is much less developed than Malaysia, the banking system is inferior and the currency is thinly traded...

Here are links to options offered by AXA and Allianz in Malaysia. If you obtain an MM2H status, (a social visit pass valid for 10 years allowing unlimited entry and exit), you should be able to qualify. The details of what is covered is in the brochures. The point is this: If something...

I just read a thread on the ACA as it applies to potential expatriation as an option due to potential cost issues. Like almost all posts anywhere in America regarding this topic, the responses were overwhelmingly against the idea and made various comments that are simply incorrect and probably...

I'm curious what you plan on doing with all the proceeds from your bond funds in 2014? Do you intend to be fully invested in equities? Not all fixed income gets clobbered when rates rise. GNMA'a have negative convexity to help ease the losses ; you can buy funds that are in local currency and...

I'll even take that one step further. The bond market has priced in the start of QE tapering and possibly even the first rise in rates. They started doing this a few months back before the huge sell off in global bonds. I don't deny that duration will need to come down in any properly balanced...

I was reviewing our progress towards ER and was fascinated by some of the results so I wanted to share some thoughts about why it’s imperative to ignore the financial headlines, build an asset allocation plan that works for your situation and stick to that plan. Disclaimers first: I am 48, my...

Any advisor that is worthy of his or her certification would have to suggest alternatives because , as you say, bonds are simply probably not going to be able to play the role in most portfolios that they have in the past: Convertible preferreds: Not a bad alternative since they kind of act...

I suppose I misstated my thoughts here; Yes, one of the mandates of monetary policy is in fact maximum employment; What I meant was that the Fed broke protocol awhile back by labeling QE as "QE Infinity" by stating that QE will remain in effect until the unemployment rate hits 6.5%. Having...

Yes. I guess I should have just said that

I never look at daily gyrations; I look mostly at what the bond market is telling the investing world; they are usually pretty accurate; They have priced in such a significant increase to yields so as to suggest that it will be detrimental rather than beneficial to the entire recovery...

If you listen to what the entire global bond market is saying, nothing could be further than the truth; Usually the bond market is much smarter at predicting trends than the equity market mostly due to the higher complexity of FI securities and their extreme ties to interest rates and central...

My company had a stable value fund in the 401k as an option but dumped it last year in favor of several non-proprietary open ended FI funds. I can say from experience that it's an excellent option if available to you during periods of high volatility and in extreme down markets due to insurance...

No; I meant if the S&P is down 1.0% for the day, I aim to lose no more than 0.5% to 0.75% of the entire portfolio. (which is comprised of a 401k, 403b, 457b, 2 IRA Roths, an IRA Rollover, a noncontributory DCP and one taxable account). I use the S&P only because it's a relatively good gauge of...

HI W2R Thanks very much for the post; exactly the kind of information I was looking for; mostly confirmation from someone already retired that I need to stick to my plan; I am a 30 year employee of the financial services industry in fixed income (not necessarily proud of that, not a revenue...

I am shooting for ER in 2017 at age 53 , wife will be 47. My portfolio strategy is to lose no lore than .5 to .75 of the S&P on a day when the index is down. I do this by keeping a very diverse portfolio of fixed Income including US intermediates, emerging market sovereigns, CMBS abs ABS funds...