A portion of the dividends from muni bond funds and ETFs is also exempt from state income tax. Find the percentage and calculate it for your tax software.
Which Schwab Money Market Fund Is the Best at Your Tax Rates
Charles Schwab offers 8 money market funds. Which one is the best for you depends on your risk preference and your federal and state tax brackets.
Which Fidelity Money Market Fund Is the Best at Your Tax Rates
Fidelity offers 18 money market funds. Which one is the best for you depends on your preference for convenience and your federal and state tax brackets.
Which Vanguard Money Market Fund Is the Best at Your Tax Rates
Vanguard offers six money market funds. Which one is the best for you depends on your preference for convenience and your federal and state tax brackets.
Bond Closed-End Funds: Good Or Bad?
This articles explains how bond closed-end funds work and how they are better or worse than the traditional open-end mutual funds and ETFs.
Are Vanguard Long Term Muni Funds Really Long Term Or Just Long Term In Name Only?
Vanguard long-term muni bond fund offers a much higher yield with a duration not that much longer than that on the intermediate-term fund. What gives? Is it a free lunch?
Higher Yield On Brokered CD vs Early Withdrawal Option
Bond interest rates came up by about 1% after the Fed started talking about tapering Quantitative Easing. We are starting to see some higher rates in brokered CDs. This makes sense because brokered CDs compete directly with bonds. Brokered CDs don’t have the early withdrawal option. If you want out, you have to sell them […]
Whole Life Insurance vs EE Bonds vs Munis
In a low interest rate environment, the long forgotten EE bonds come back as appealing again, because they offer a guarantee to double the nominal value in 20 years. That comes out to a 3.5% compound annual return if you have the fortitude to hold them for 20 years. After I wrote the previous post […]
Obama Budget Limits Tax Deductions On 401k, Health Insurance, and Muni Bond Interest to 28%
The Obama budget proposal is officially released last week. The proposed tax related changes are further explained in a Green Book. $3 Million Cap On Retirement Accounts First on the proposed $3 million cap on retirement accounts (p. 175 in the Green Book PDF), it’s not exactly $3 million, but actually an amount enough to […]
Invest In Long Term Bonds Now?
Back in June 2012, a reader asked in a comment on my post What to Do When Interest Rate Is So Low: What would you think about this Vanguard Bond Fund for the next couple of years of low interest rate – VWESX [Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Fund]? I said I wouldn’t be comfortable with it […]