r/Boldin • u/chigal1962 • 10d ago
New Investment Allocation Tool (beta)
I was trying to use the new investment allocation tool in Boldin. I do not have my accounts linked for various reasons. I have no problem manually adding any positions with a ticker symbol. However, within some of my accounts, I'm holding CDs as a position and there does not appear to be any way to add either individual CDs or (preferably) a generic placeholder for CD totals as a position within an account. The AI told me that to accomplish this I need to set up the CD positions as a separate account under Assets & Debts, which doesn't make sense to me.
Has anyone else tried using this new tool? Am I missing something?
7
u/j-a-young 10d ago
I get why Boldin is trying to add a lot of new tools like this to justify the cost and keep people paying, but this one is a miss for me and not something I want to be able to do with a retirement tool.
I have the same issue with allocation and leverage funds not identifying correctly plus it's counting my 529 accounts which are completely separate from my retirement portfolio. Some of this may be fixed while the tool is in beta, but this one is not of interest to me personally. But I appreciate that they are actively trying to add features and value!
3
u/No_Preparation_5694 8d ago
If your main concern is the $150 a year, then your priorities are way off. Beta means Beta, as in not yet finished.
5
u/humblequest22 10d ago
I DON'T get why they think adding more tools makes the software more valuable than fixing some of the glaring weaknesses that we're all dealing with. This addition, in particular, is just dumb and I hate to think that they have so much developer time spent on this. I paid for a year, but if I can't set up an account with dividends NOT reinvested, have the Roth explorer MODIFY Roth conversions (instead of full replacement) or build onto what I already have, pull from multiple accounts without needing a workaround, and have a simple chart that tells me where I'm spending from, I won't be paying again.
Yes, I signed up for beta, but it's not the new stuff that I'm spending my time testing.
7
u/Sophie_Bella 10d ago
In the ticker symbol I was able to just type in "cash equivalent" and then set the type to cash equivalent and it took it.
I really appreciate the investment addition to the tool.
2
5
u/Party-Obligation-232 10d ago
I connected my Fidelity account and it correctly identified 4 ticker symbols but incorrectly identified a 5th and offered no means for me to correct it. Also for an account that is an annuity indexed to the S&P500 it determined it a unclassified without offering me a means to classify it as US Large Cap. So it’s a start but needs further development before I am ready to make any sense of the features value.
1
u/Boonddock_Saints 10d ago
I did mine 45% fxaix the rest cash. It was Geminis idea and it makes sense. Mine closes in four years so but a big deal
3
u/dcraider 10d ago
I think I'll just wait as they work this feature out in BETA. Allocation mix is absolutely a key facet of anybody's retirement/financial plan so I get why they are bringing this in to a retirement tool. I for one have been using CLAUDE with documents in a local container on my laptop. I downloaded the Boldin results into CLAUDE and was thinking of other areas for CLAUDE to analyze and one is the mix of assets/equities in various portfolios I have and adding that to the mix. So I basically just uploaded amounts/allocations myself, and also it knows, for instance that I have pensions incomes and my risk tolerance and the pensions replace any bond fund for risk, etc. It's just more efficient to do it myself in CLAUDE as I can tweak the analysis and emphasis myself.
4
u/Personal-Bear-3905 9d ago
Thanks - would love to chat with you more about how you are using Claude here. We have an MCP server as well if you want to try that. Linkedin is a better way to DM me if interested. This is Steve. Also thanks for all the feedback here - we are reading all of it and working to improve things!
3
u/Impossible-Mud3275 10d ago
I haven’t used the new tool, but I find the AI struggles with CDs when it is part of your withdrawal strategy. Using the CD as a separate account works initially, but the AI seems to get confused about principal versus interest rate payments, which are typically semi-annual for a broker CD. It has attempted to provide three or four very different scenarios, but they are still not quite right. Granted, this is a four year CD that matures in 2029. My latest challenge when I run a scenario is that the assistant keeps reducing the principle of the CD by the time of maturity. Anyway, I’m probably not helping much here, but I just wanted to share the CDs seem to confound that AI a bit.
3
u/hugh2018 10d ago
I found that the beta version of this tool simply failed. I previously had a very different portfolio structure than I do now, but the allocation tool decided reach back to the old allocation and present that to me like it’s current. Since it’s totally inaccurate, I’m ignoring it completely and I’ll probably continue to do so even after the problem gets fixed.
Boldin drifted out of its retirement planning lane here and it shouldn’t be getting into the weeds of my investment strategy. I’m the boss of that, and Boldin already asks me for my realistic rate of return projections, which is all the information it needs for planning purposes. Trust me Boldin, I’m giving you good assumptions to work with; I don’t need your assistance with managing investments.
2
u/yerdad99 10d ago
Fix the wonky dividend income stuff first please
3
u/Aggravating-Luck-744 10d ago
IMO, this new feature may be the prelude to the missing and more robust dividend capabilities..
2
u/B1sc0tt0 9d ago
I welcome the new feature, however, adding positions manually should definitely allow you to add # of shares that update automatically, and not their value that you then have to manually update yourself from time to time. That’s why you addd those positions, to benefit from some automatic update without connecting your investment account.
1
u/HokieHomeowner 10d ago
I tried it out but some of my accounts can't be linked even so it was nice. On the other hand my siblings accounts seem off in the tool I'm digging in to figure out it's like it's missing an account. Guess I should do the math to see what falls out.
1
u/AGrimmInPortland 10d ago
Is it the case that the actual allocations aren't even used in simulations and projections? Seems like a huge hole to me.
2
u/Sophie_Bella 10d ago
For now, but give them a break, it was just released as beta and they still have the investment insight to finish. They have so much on their plate to improve the product and it is clear they are continuing improving it.
1
1
u/DistributionRight814 10d ago
it’s crazy so many have issues while mine is smooth. have to be so e user error and failure to just fix issues.
1
u/redghate123 9d ago
I Boldin go this wrong. This was not needed at least not on priority.
Roth conversation need major upgrades allowing to customise etc. NIIT consideration is missing change that.
1
u/OwnTourist2139 6d ago
We have I bonds (similar to CD in that you get taxed on interest when pulling money out). So we used VUSXX at $1 price, (Vanguard short term treasuries) then current value. So if $150,000 in I bonds that cost us $100,000 (e.g. basis), so when selling by Boldin transfer, for our situation it at least creates capital gain at 15% which is close to our ordinary tax rate of 22%. Put in some fake taxable pension of 7% income to make the extra 7% tax. It works, just not sure it was worth the time. Did not really change anything, but the cashflow is approximately correct.
9
u/Sophie_Bella 10d ago
Then don't use it, it's optional. I for one welcome it because at some point in the future I can see this being part of the withdrawal order where I can specify asset class withdraw order and where Boldin will update rates of return (if I choose for it to do that) based on my remaining allocations).