500k to invest - possible to get a 5% risk-free return ? (trust, Vanguard)

[TaxPhd]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

and what i said is the investment is not risk free and " nothing you say will change the truthfulness of what i said" .

I've never said anything different. There you go, with another straw man. Isn't it getting tiring?

[1insider]

[Yippeekayay]

I declare that the winner of this argument is the last person between the 2 to comment on it.

[Maple47]

Originally Posted by TaxPhd

Sure there is, but not at 5%. Current t-bill rate is 2.42% on 10 year t-bills. Lower for shorter terms.

Is there a bond fund or ETF for 10-year notes, please? I have never used bonds, and am not sure I can use them properly...

[mathjak107]

i-shares IEF is 7-10 year treasuries ..

[harpoonalt]

Most people think of " risk free" as in, if I invest x dollars, I get y return with no variations or loss of x. Mathjak delves into the finer definitions of risk. That's fine but comes across sometimes as answering the question of "what color?" Where you answer "blue" and he comes back with, "no, it's robins egg blue". Yes, there are finer points to EVERY question, but not everyone wants or needs that answer.

[mathjak107]

losing money OR PURCHASING POWER TO INFLATION is a loss . it is not the same thing as a different shade of a color which might have zero consequences . .

you have very inexperienced people here as well as those with a very low understanding of investing and risk .

while to them on the outside something appears risk free , it really is not , it just has risks they have failed to consider or are not able to see yet at their level of understanding .

these forums are about getting educated in the area's you may be lacking . there is no such thing as being made overly aware of dangers ,risks and pitfalls . .

[harpoonalt]

And it is those very inexperienced or uneducated people who you turn off by making every simple answer into a complex one. I've learned that you have to start off in simple terms and ease into finer points or you lose your audience quickly.
No matter the answer, you point out flaws in it. This is a forum for the masses, not Dr. Pfau and his cronies. I deal in .0001 at work, but if someone tells me something is 6", I don't run over and measure 6.0435 to prove them wrong. Most questions posted here aren't looking for that level detail or info. It's fine to point them to further reading but not to argue they are wrong because they didn't provide every single detail.
Maybe they need a Mathjak sub-forum as not everyone thinks the same as you. And believe it or not, doesn't make them wrong.

Cheers!

[mathjak107]

easy answer . don't read my posts ! if you feel they are not for you or if they feel they are not for them don't read em .

these forums are for learning on ALL levels . if i feel a response is skewed , incomplete or wrong i will certainly state my reasons why .

Cheers !

[SportyandMisty]

I suppose you can goose it with a risk-free arbitrage (the data is from a few weeks ago, but you'll get the idea)

• Recent US T-bill: +0.98%
• Recent Japan T-bill: -0.34%
• Recent difference between spot USDJPY, and 1yr forward USDJPY: 1.91%

So, starting with dollars, you can make 0.98% if you just buy a 1yr T-bill. Straightforward & risk-free.

However, you can make 1.57% if you change your dollars to yen, buy a 1yr Japanese t-bill with the money, and simultaneously enter a 12mo currency forward to change your yen back into dollars at the end of it all. Less straightforward – but also risk-free.

So the arbitration, which you can lock in for 1yr which is a pretty long time, is 59 bps right now.

Hmm… probably too much work to try to take advantage of it.