text: Joe, VIPSX is an intermediate-term fund because it indexes the entire TIPS market. It is very similar to the TIP ETF. Vanguard lists its duration at 7.5. Vanguard also has a short-term TIPS fund, the VTIP ETF, that has a duration of just 2.3 years, so it is less risky but also has a lower return.
  Do you consider VIPSX a short term tips fund. It has a duration of almost 9 years I believe. I think barclays does have some short term tips funds of a few years and it is possible to lose money if the real yields are negative and inflation is low.
  Grant, I also own that TIPS maturing in April 2029. It is a great holding — among the greatest TIPS investments in history. A lot of people would have said ‘sell’ it during the time of recent ultra-low yields, but that isn’t my style either. Hold to maturity and keep it simple. Even with inflation running at 1%, you are still pulling down 4.875% with that TIPS.
  Joe, the only problem with short-term TIPS funds is that their total return is extremely low, even negative over 2013. That could improve over time, though, especially if inflation picks up. On the other issue of hyper inflation, the whole nation would be in big trouble if that happened, just about every aspect of American life. So I guess I’d rather hold taxable TIPS than no TIPS at all. Tax-deferred is the best option, of course.
  The important thing is if you keep the duration of the your TIPS mutual fund, like VIPSX, you will be okay. The issue is buying when they are expensive and selling when they are cheap. When you buy the TIPS and keep to maturity, there is no issue.
  Its impossible to tell how high TIPS will go, I’ve now been buying them individually in my IRA at auction. So for my 2014 roth ira, I will buy the 30 year TIPS at auction in February, should get a better real yield than the 0.625% I got last year. But then again, I plan to keep it until maturity, and it will perform really weel if inflation shoot thru the roof because all the profit will be mine tax free.
  I think there is an inherent diasaster risk by keeping TIPS in a taxable account. What do you do if you get Weimer like inflation, That would wipe you out tax wise, I think.
  
  The National League of Cities (NLC) is the voice of America’s cities, towns and villages, representing more than 200 million people. NLC works to strengthen local leadership, influence federal policy and drive innovative solutions. Learn more about NLC at www.nlc.org.
  
  On January 8, 2011 By Jeff FenskeIn Forgiving/Grudgless/No Hate, Fun–or–AMAZING Stuff!, Music Videos ToBeFree	
  More at http://www.xfactor.tv – Can he get any better? Rhydian fights for his place with Barbara Streisand’s Somewhere
  
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  The CBI carried out searches at the residence of the additional director general of shipping on Friday after charging him for allegedly receiving Rs 50,000 for delaying an ongoing case in the Gujarat High Court, officials said.
  The case has been registered on a complaint from CBI police inspector RS Gosain against ADG Sandeep Awasthi and after a preliminary inquiry.
  It is alleged that Mr Awasthi received Rs 50,000 from Prakash B Rajput “for being favourable to them in the High Court of Gujarat by means of not pressing the matter, taking adjournments and also delaying filing the counter affidavits of DG Shipping in Special Civil Application and other related matters”.
  Through the application, an order of the Directorate General of Shipping, was challenged in the high court by exporters Prakash B Rajput and Prashant Shukla.
  The agency had received source information that Mr Awasthi had allegedly demanded Rs 6 lakh from them, with two individuals Adam Haroon Bhaya and Haresh Lalwani negotiating on behalf of him, following which it started surveillance on their activities.
  It emerged that Mr Awasthi was scheduled to meet them at Lalwani’s residence in Khar, Mumbai, on March 15.
  The agency alleged that it came out during the inquiry that Mr Awasthi was in regular touch with Rajput, meeting regularly in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and had received Rs 50,000 on March 5, according to the officials.
  The agency has alleged that the amount was collected by signing receipt book of a company through which money was sent.
  
  If you missed Thursday night’s sold out opening of “Josephine’ you still have five more chances to see it. But you better purchase your tickets sooner than later because word of mouth indicates that it may well turn out to be a hit at Fringe`17.... read more
  
  “Showing up” is a term that is sometimes used in sports when a player performs well, has an exceptional game, or makes ESPN’s top ten plays. In reality, it doesn’t actually mean what it says.
  Great players and great leaders “show up” every day for every play. The great ones don’t pick and choose which day or which game that they intend to excel in. It’s ingrained in their DNA to “show up.”
  Of course they have days when they don’t feel like giving 110%, but they dig in, they grind it out, they push through the mess and they make it happen.
  Being easy causes you to take your eye off the big picture. When you take your eye off the big picture, everything around you becomes a little fuzzier.
  I want to ask you about doing a trade walk every day. First, let’s make sure we’re on the same page as to what a trade walk happens to be:
  2. Every morning, all the members of the management team, plus any available sales people, will hold a meeting in front of each unit, discussing how high or low we might be in it, its pros and cons and conclude a disposition and a unique strategy for that unit.
  4. Strategy meaning, using my life cycle management process to determine the allocated shelf life of each unit and how we intend to retail it within the assigned life cycle.
  At this very moment you might not have an aging problem with your used car inventory. But, trust me on this; at some point you’re going to wake up one day and have a real mess on your hands.
  Dealers have different definitions for what they consider to be an aged unit. For me, it’s anything around the 45 day mark.
  1. If you have aging problems, one of the causes is that you haven’t previously been pricing your inventory competitively.
  Once you start pricing your cars “to market,” you’re going to see your grosses go down. Do not blame your vAuto pricing tool for the lack of average gross. Do not blame Auto Trader. Blame yourself for not taking action sooner.
  2. If you have aged inventory, it’s choking you to death. You will never maximize your new car and used car sales potential as long as you have aged inventory.
  Sure, you will get lucky once in a while and have a good month, but you will never be consistently great until you fix the problem.
  3. Asking your management team to work you out of your aged inventory isn’t the fix. Some of your managers may have helped put you in this problem, but the reality is your lack of discipline and enforcing a 60 day turn is the root of the issue at hand.
  Asking your managers to retail you out of your current mess is only prolonging the agony and hampering your ability to “do business” today.
  I realize this is painful and difficult to do, but once you get on a 60 day turn you will never want to go back. Your challenge will be to have the discipline not to let anyone talk you into keeping units past 60 days.
  There are always excuses. Your motto should be “talk to the hand.” That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs
  You may have seen the New York Mets lose game 5 to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. Even if you didn’t see it, you’ve probably heard what happened. Kansas City won the game in the 12th inning by a score of 7 to 2.
  Matt Harvey had pitched a brilliant game for the Mets through the first 8 innings. At the end of 8, the Mets led 2-0. Three more outs and they live to see another day.
  When the Mets were at bat in the bottom of the 8th, Terry Collins, the Mets’ manager, had the Mets pitching coach tell Matt Harvey they were going to put their ace reliever, Jeurys Familia in the game to close out the 9th.
  Harvey approaches Collins in the dugout, has a very heated conversation and is adamant that he wants to pitch the 9th. The crowd is chanting “We want Har-vey!” they roared. “We want Har-vey!” The fans are going crazy.
  Harvey had already thrown 102 pitches, but rather than go with his smarts, Terry Collins allows Harvey to start the 9th.
  Harvey walks the first man he faces. It gets worse. Collins allows him to pitch to a second batter, Eric Hosmer, who rips a run-scoring double to leftfield that silenced Citi Field and cut the Mets’ lead in half. Familia replaces Harvey and Hosmer scores after a bad throw from first baseman Lucas Duda. Game tied in the 9th.
  As many of you know, I refereed NCAA college basketball for 17 years. I’ve had calls booed and cheered that I’ve made. They weren’t exactly booing or cheering me, but it certainly can feel that way. (Ok, they were booing me.)
  Here’s the point. Booing or cheering, it was my job to get it right based on what I’m seeing, my knowledge of the game and my knowledge of the play in front of me.
  It was Terry Collins job to get it right based on his expertise and all the factors he knows about managing the game of baseball. He let the cheering crowd affect his decision making.
  Sometimes dealers let people cheer them into making bad decisions when they know better. They know they shouldn’t keep units past 60 days, but they get cheered into doing so.
  I wrote an article this past week about paying on volume VS paying on gross profit. When the dealer tosses out a trial balloon about paying on volume the crowd boos. The dealer doesn’t want to hear the boos, so he says ok, let’s stay with paying on gross. The crowd cheers.
  I sold my first car off my dad’s clunker lot on Broad St. in Richmond, VA when I was 12 years old. The summer of my junior year in high school I sold cars at Manchester Mercury on Semmes Ave.
  Back in those days the customer signed 3 or 4 blank contracts and got roughed up by the dealership personnel. The keys to their trades were thrown on the roof, trades often hidden, and they were told they had to buy a car because their car had already been wholesaled.
  Back in 1972, after a couple years of teaching and coaching I, like many of you, got in the car business until something better came along. Obviously nothing better came along.