Explore TIPS One Year Anniversary: 50% Off PDF Edition
I published my small book on inflation indexed bonds Explore TIPS around this time last year. Back then I had no idea how it would do. I heard most self-published books sell no more than 100 copies. I used Amazon’s CreateSpace service because it has low fixed cost.
The results far exceeded my expectation. 700 people bought this book in the last year. Well known financial advisor and author Larry Swedroe wrote a favorable review. Boston University professor Zvi Bodie also gave it a thumb up. Both reviews are unsolicited. Being an anonymous author, I could not have dreamed to receive attention from these thought leaders.
If you bought my book, I thank you for your support. I hope you found the book helpful. I also would like to hear from you what I should cover in the book but didn’t. Which parts are not clear or too difficult to understand?
How to Do a Free Wire Transfer
The most commonly used method to transfer money is by ACH. It’s typically an overnight process, although some banks make it slower than others. There’s technically international ACH, but I haven’t seen it offered to consumers. If you need the money transferred sooner or if you are transferring money to a different country, you can make a wire transfer.
I did a wire transfer recently. It didn’t cost me anything. I’m documenting some info here in case someone hasn’t done it before.
Domestic Wire Transfer
Baby Boomers Can Retire After All
I read a lot of gloomy views in the news about baby boomer’s readiness for retirement. Survey after survey say baby boomers don’t have enough money to retire. The latest 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey from Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) contains many sorry statistics:
- 68% of workers report they and/or their spouse have saved for retirement (p. 15) – which means almost 1/3 haven’t saved, ever
- 59% of workers say they and/or their spouse are currently saving (p. 16) – good, at least most who have saved are still saving
- 56% of workers have less than $25,000 in household savings and investments, excluding the value of their primary home and any defined benefit plans (p. 17, workers include those who are still young)
Despite all these grim statistics, I say baby boomers can retire after all. Why? Because generations after generations retired, both in this country and in other much poorer countries. I just don’t see how baby boomers in the United States will be an exception.
DALBAR Study Overstates Investors’ Bad Timing
We just passed the two-year anniversary of a recent stock market bottom. Numerous articles in the newspaper and on the web show investors as a whole are dumb. They took money out of the stock market near the bottom and they are now putting money into the stock market after the market recovered almost to its previous peak.
No doubt such behavior exists. How bad does it hurt the investors’ return when they buy high and sell low? The most widely cited study is probably DALBAR’s Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior. This study compares the investors’ returns against market returns. Mutual fund tracking company Morningstar also calculates investor returns for every fund and compares them against the fund returns.
Investor return is a dollar-weighted return (or more generically "money-weighted return"). It takes into account the size and timing of investors’ purchases and sales. If investors put a lot of money into a fund and the fund does poorly after that ("buy high"), the investor return will be low relative to the fund’s published return. Same if investors pull a lot of money out of a fund and the fund does well afterwards ("sell low").
Marriage, Home Office Deduction, and Dumb Money
Work continues to consume a lot of time and energy of me. From what I can tell, the economy has really turned around. Here are some noteworthy articles I read lately.
Getting Married To Save Money On College Tuition? by Jonathan at My Money Blog. So many policies key off marriage. They are misguided and outdated. If you are married, you are poor students. If you are not married, you are a resourceful family’s kids.
The Home Office Tax Deduction by Nickel at Five Cent Nickel. I’m taking the home office tax deduction for the first time this year. I used to think the home office deduction is only for depreciation, which is then recaptured when you sell the home. Actually many other expenses count too and they are not subject to recapturing. I’m not claiming depreciation.
Credit Card Concierge Service: Free and Helpful
Credit card companies keep inflating the status of their cards. 20 years ago a Gold card was something worth bragging about. Now everybody gets at least a Platinum card. Look at the credit cards in your wallet. Chances are you have a Visa Signature or MasterCard World card.
These cards come with a free concierge service. You may remember seeing it in the welcome brochure when you first received the card. The concierge service can be of service if you let them do the legwork for you.
Some time ago I was asked to find a hotel room for one night in a small town in southern Russia. Because I don’t trust the Russian taxi service at late night, I also wanted to have the hotel pick up the passenger from the airport.
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