Squeezing the lemon

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Jerry476
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Squeezing the lemon

Post by Jerry476 »

With fixed income lagging this year, I’m trying to find new ways to squeeze more juice out of the lemon. First, I went from TBM to VBILX. It seemed like a good way to squeeze out more basis points and worked until 2021. Now, I’m wondering about moving to Vanguard Core Bond Admiral. Morningstar gives it 5 stars but hasn’t assigned an analyst yet. Any thoughts? Many thanks.
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willthrill81
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by willthrill81 »

You should be exceedingly careful with chasing yield. It has gotten many before you into trouble.
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livesoft
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by livesoft »

Just buy more lemons and you will get more lemon juice. Bond funds dropped about 0.7% in the past 2 trading days. That's a buying opportunity. Since equities popped bigly last week and bonds dropped it is time to rebalance into bonds for a few days.

However, will equities keep going up after last Monday's drop? Will bonds stop going down after Thursday's drop? Who knows?
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retired@50
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by retired@50 »

I think the changes you mentioned like TBM to VBILX are subtle and probably won't matter much.

If your success in achieving a suitable retirement portfolio rests on getting an extra 25 basis points out of your bond investments, then I'd simply suggest you find a way to save a bit more of your income.

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UpperNwGuy
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by UpperNwGuy »

Jerry476 wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 3:35 pm With fixed income lagging this year, I’m trying to find new ways to squeeze more juice out of the lemon. First, I went from TBM to VBILX. It seemed like a good way to squeeze out more basis points and worked until 2021. Now, I’m wondering about moving to Vanguard Core Bond Admiral. Morningstar gives it 5 stars but hasn’t assigned an analyst yet. Any thoughts? Many thanks.
If you're looking to get more juice from the lemon, focus on the equity side of your portfolio, not the fixed income side. By continually changing bond funds, all you're doing is rearranging the deck chairs. Go look at the engine that drives the ship.
backpacker61
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by backpacker61 »

Jerry476 wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 3:35 pm With fixed income lagging this year, I’m trying to find new ways to squeeze more juice out of the lemon. First, I went from TBM to VBILX. It seemed like a good way to squeeze out more basis points and worked until 2021. Now, I’m wondering about moving to Vanguard Core Bond Admiral. Morningstar gives it 5 stars but hasn’t assigned an analyst yet. Any thoughts? Many thanks.
I use the Investor class of the Vanguard Core Bond fund, and like it okay. It's a good fund, as you noticed from the Morningstar review. I would think hard about what you will be able to stick with long term; shifting from bond fund to bond fund is a losing game.
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000
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by 000 »

Time to buy CCC bonds? :twisted:
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tennisplyr
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by tennisplyr »

Think long term…
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Sandtrap
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by Sandtrap »

If investing for the long term (short term investing is somewhat of an oxymoron), then have a long term comprehensive plan.

Rather than try to squeeze more juice out of the same number of lemons. . .

1. Adjust your allocation but in a semi permanent way taking into account your glidepath.
(You will have more yield over a period of time this way than shifting underlying funds, but also add volatility: aka seeds).

2. Adjust your contributions. Adding a % greater to your portfolio moves the needle, adds lemons.

3. Increase your income stream, thereby increasing savings, thereby increasing contributions = more lemons.

4. Adjust your budget, reduce expenses and debt, = #3 above.

5. Post a forum portfolio review in the standard format and let's take a look at what you are doing with those lemons.

j :D
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ruralavalon
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by ruralavalon »

Jerry476 wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 3:35 pm With fixed income lagging this year, I’m trying to find new ways to squeeze more juice out of the lemon. First, I went from TBM to VBILX. It seemed like a good way to squeeze out more basis points and worked until 2021. Now, I’m wondering about moving to Vanguard Core Bond Admiral. Morningstar gives it 5 stars but hasn’t assigned an analyst yet. Any thoughts? Many thanks.
Market timing is a bad idea for either bonds or stocks. Don't do it. Invest for the long-term, not for the short-term.

We use Vanguard Intermediate-term Bond Index Fund (VBILX) for our only fixed income investment, have for many years, and don't plan to change.

In my opinion fixed income is for safety, to reduce portfolio volatility, and stocks are for seeking higher returns.
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dbr
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by dbr »

Squeezing that particular lemon is both futile and unnecessary.

To stick with fruit, just harden up to the fact that sometimes life is a bowl of cherries and sometimes just the pits.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by ResearchMed »

Just be careful not to switch all (or too many) of your investments to grapefruit because each of those has "more juice".
It's not the same juice with identical nutrients.

And it would be far worse to realize that watermelons have even *more* juice, and buy the same number of those instead.
Sure, they taste sweeter at first, but after the sugar high, you might come crashing down...

RM
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arcticpineapplecorp.
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Re: Squeezing the lemon

Post by arcticpineapplecorp. »

Jerry476 wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 3:35 pm With fixed income lagging this year, I’m trying to find new ways to squeeze more juice out of the lemon.
this year?

do you change your strategy every time something lags over one year or less (remember the year's not over yet)?

if so did you change your strategy when the stock market lagged in 2018?

If not, why do you change your strategy when your bond fund is down 1.2% but not when your stock fund was down 6%?
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