When a person I met heard I'm knowledgeable about investments, she asked my suggestion for how she should invest in her SEP IRA, where she had most of her investments. Because she had her account at Fidelity, I suggested that she picks a Fidelity [...]
Schwab Target Index Funds: Hidden Gems For Your IRA, Solo 401k, or Brokerage Window
With the growth of indexing, Charles Schwab's response is basically "We have them too." They created some in-house index funds and ETFs. The expense ratios on those index funds and ETFs match or slightly undercut the expense ratios on funds from the [...]
Vanguard Proxy Voting 2017
I received an email from Vanguard asking me to vote on some proxy proposals. As a responsible shareholder I read the proxy statement and I cast my votes. I'm recording my votes here for future reference. I'm not trying to influence your votes. I [...]
Now With Small Caps: New Fidelity International Stock Index Fund
[Updated in August 2018.] If you invest in a Fidelity account, the international stock index fund of choice had been Fidelity Global ex U.S. Index Fund (FSGDX). With an expense ratio of only 0.06%, this fund holds over 2,000 stocks from both [...]
Mutual Fund Or ETF Dividend Frequency and Compounding
Over on the Bogleheads forum, for a short while, a number of posters were wondering why they didn't see a dividend posted from certain Fidelity funds. Fidelity Spartan Total Market Index Fund, for example, typically pays dividend twice a year in [...]
Who Manages Your Investments Versus Who Manages Your Accounts
Your investments and your accounts are two different concepts. You don't "buy" an IRA. Your IRA is an account, a container. Your mutual funds, ETFs, CDs, and so on are your investments. You buy investments inside the container. Likewise, who [...]
Backdoor DFA: Buy DFA Funds Without An Advisor
If you read enough about investing in index funds, sooner or later you will come across DFA funds. Authors who are also investment advisors mention DFA funds in their books and articles. DFA funds are said to be better in that they capture the small [...]
Bond Closed-End Funds: Good Or Bad?
Reader Rosemarie asked me to comment on closed-end funds, because they are sort of a stepchild that everybody ignores in favor of the more popular open-end mutual funds and ETFs. A few weeks ago TIAA-CREF announced it was buying Nuveen, which is a [...]
Are Vanguard Long Term Muni Funds Really Long Term Or Just Long Term In Name Only?
Questions from some readers on my post about PenFed CDs versus bond funds in the next five years reminded me something I'd like to bring to the attention of all readers, not just those who follow the comments. Back in February I wrote Invest In Long [...]
