Every year – usually, conveniently, around tax time – we like to evaluate the total picture of our personal finances. DQYDJ is (at least occasionally) a personal finance web site, so that usually means an asset allocation post and a savings rate post. Today, I’ll share our broad asset allocation snapshot. If it helps with […]
bonds
Higher Interest Rates May Not Buoy Financials
Along with the bond sell-off recently, financials have had a huge run-up in the month since the election, up >20% from 11/4/2016 – 12/13/2016. At first glance, these two seem intricately linked, as higher interest rates may help the earnings of financials in general. Higher interest rates, however, do not necessarily mean there will be […]
Trillion Dollar Bond Sell-Off
For those with a close eye on the market, it’s hard not to notice a sharp selloff in bonds following the most recent election. Your humble writer doesn’t believe he can predict which ways the winds will blow in this regard but wanted to share what the potential causes are and what it could mean farther […]
What Would Negative Interest Rates Mean For Your Savings?
Although overnight negative interest rates don’t necessarily mean that your savings account is going to slowly tick negative, soon after a negative interest rate policy is implemented it’s possible that some banks will do the unthinkable: take money from you (other than fees) to hold your money for you. In short: nothing good would come […]
CCC and Lower Rated Corporate Bond Total Return Calculator
The following is a speculative grade corporate bond return calculator which computes total return of corporate bonds rated CCC or lower. Optionally, it can factor in inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index. Data is from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch US Corporate Master Index. To see other corporate bond ratings and returns: Investment […]
Maybe The Market Doesn’t Know Where Inflation is Headed
One of the topics we like to revisit time and time again is our calculation of the inflation, measured in CPI, that the market is expecting over various timeframes. We most recently looked at inflation expectations at the end of August, and noted a recent uptick. In fact, you don’t even have to wait for […]
AAA, AA, and A Rated Corporate Bond Total Return Calculator
On this page is an investment grade corporate bond return calculator which allows you to compute the total return of investment grade corporate bonds. It’s based on the Bank of America Merrill Lynch US Corporate Master Index for corporate debt in the A to AAA range. It estimates daily returns from 1996 until today, and can adjust […]
If You Prioritize Stability, Don’t Prioritize Stocks
We haven’t written about Chinese markets since our epic post comparing social and political reactions to the market fall in China and recent American market falls. We wanted to touch on it again because of a universal truth which needs to be told again: if you’ve got a short time-frame, or if it’s stability you […]
My Retirement Asset Allocation
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to play around with Morning Star’s X-Ray tool. The tool takes your entire portfolio and analyzes the asset allocation by geography, by risk level, by asset class as well as by type (growth vs. value, etc.). Here is what my current asset allocation across my portfolio is (asset type): […]
Keeping Up with the Joneses: Risk Tolerance
The idea of lifestyle creep is the slow build-up of “necessary” expenses as your income increases. I myself have experienced a bit of it in my career, noticing small purchases that I used to consider luxuries as being more commonplace. What I want to touch on in this article, however, is something I think is […]