Bogleheads.org

IMO, good speakers make a huge difference They also last for decades, so IMO a good pair (set) is worth pursuing if you've been bit by the audiophile bug. To limit costs, here's what I did. Set a price limit now. Spend plenty of time researching and listening to speakers within that limit. Buy the ...

It sure seems to me like the charity itself would be sending you a Receipt in order to document your giving --- even if it came from payroll deduction. You really want that receipt because it tells you the money really went to where you wanted it to go and not into the back pocket of someone in you...

If it is an after tax deduction, it won't appear on the W2. The year-end paystub should show all deductions - that should suffice for itemizing the donation if that is your intent. That's my intent. I agree it should suffice, but if I need that other thing I sure would like to get it now instead of...

2012 was my first year using payroll deduction for giving. I'm doing my own taxes again now that my bogleheaded investments have made it more simple (thanks bogleheads!). So, two questions: 1) Has the contribution already been deducted from my W2 Box 1? It does not explicitly appear on my W2. And, m...

midareff wrote:a contrarian indicator....

Do they have a chart showing previous 1wk and 6mos return versus net sentiment? I suspect (aggregate) investor sentiment would be a better lagging indicator. Edit: Nevermind, that's the correlation chart. They did 1, 2 and 4 weeks, but didn't show 26.

Op, To calculate a maximum SPL you would take the mass and speed of the object, and find its energy at the moment of impact. Assume that all the energy is converted to sound (no vibration, no friction, no heating, no recoil (bouncing). Then you would need to assume some dispersion pattern, possibly ...

Boglenaut wrote:Most places I read my paper at raised value drinks from $1 to $1.19. So I suspect it's off to a +19% start.

Edit - But I get 5 refills now instead of 4, so maybe I stayed about even?

No, because you changed your market basket.

Why would having more people save result in lower expected returns? If everyone is saving, who wants your money? Perhaps you have noticed that bond yields are very low. That is largely because everyone is trying to save at the same time in order to deleverage so no one is willing to pay you for sav...

Rising productivity is almost always ignored by those who prophecy doom and gloom due to demographics. The ratio of workers to retirees may be predicted to decline, but predicted increases in productivity (output per worker) more than make up for the decline, leaving everyone (workers and retirees)...

Does this mean that the Bogleheads are acting against their own best interests by promoting financial literacy? Yes, in the same way that if we all got together and blew against the wind, we could change the weather. Funny! But if this is all true, then why do people get so worked up over other peo...

In the article Dr. Bernstein talks about a fictional island with 5 inhabitants where the currency is coconuts. In the beginning 4 are working 1 is retired. Then a second worker retires leaving only 3 workers. Let us further assume that the candidate-retiree has planned for his nonproductive years b...

I cannot believe I'm typing this... but Bernstein is wrong. I have a question regarding William Bernstein's Retirement Calculator from Hell, Part IV. If you haven't already read it, here is the link: http://www.efficientfrontier.com/ef/103/hell4.htm In this article he states: If you want to retire e...

sscritic: Do you use HR Block software?

Just in case you're not a regular library goer...The travel guides are very good and more complete that what you will get here [although maybe not as personal]. They are free from your local library. Check out a few of them, and stuff one in your backpack. SF is full of tourists, no need to be asham...

I take your post as consumer and not medical. Here's what I can offer: About a year ago my grandparent asked me the same question. Below are the emails I sent in response. They have used the device for about 10 months, and have been pleased. The GPS works, the call sequencing works, the emergency se...

I would also question how safe the nanny's personal car is based on what a typical nanny makes. In addition to likely not having the latest safety features it could also be prone to breaking down on a highway while your kids are in the car. If the kids are still in car seats then moving them betwee...

I use Breedlove for my on-the-books nanny payroll and they are excellent. They handle all the taxes, filing, paying, notifications, unemployment insurance forms. Excellent value. They have this Free advice webpage with a video that covers your question. http://www.breedlove.com/Answers/GetAnswers.as...

My girlfriend's house has what I consider to be minor cracks in one brick exterior wall. She has contacted a company that jacks up foundations to prevent further damage and seems sold on the idea. Cost would be approximately $10,000. The guy from the company says the work is needed. I don't know wh...

When I buy stock for 20k, does that get reported? When I buy a car for 20k does that get reported? What exactly is the 10k rule? The only one I knew is that going out of country 10k is the cutoff there? I recently found an error in my SpecID cost basis for a 2012 purchase. Per Vanguard, they report...

BruDude wrote:

Sunny Sarkar wrote:Here's another recommendation I received: Ohio National
https://www.ohionational.com/portal/sit ... t/ratings/

Good company, pretty conservative underwriting.

Ohio National has a comdex rating of 89. My source for that was customer service rep Stephen Herrmann on Feb 14, 2012.

I put this list together in Jan 2012 when I was shopping for term. I went with Columbus Life. The comdex rating is an average-of-ratings score. It's supposed to rank insurers in their percentile of relative strength, strongest getting 100, weakest getting 1. That's my lay-person understanding anyway...

Clark Howard says you should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NOT EVER give credit card or bank account info to collections agencies. He would recommend you 1) Get a written statement from the collections that if you pay those amounts the debt will be reported to the 3 bureaus as "Paid in full" In ge...

Clark Howard says you should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NOT EVER give credit card or bank account info to collections agencies. He would recommend you 1) Get a written statement from the collections that if you pay those amounts the debt will be reported to the 3 bureaus as "Paid in full" 2) get...

I have a co-worker who bounces his finance situation off me with some regularity. He uses an Ameri-something financial planner who does market-timing, and sells loaded funds. Today coworker mentioned that his planner wants to get him into munis in his taxable account. I decided to calculate if his a...

Desired Asset allocation: This is what I am thinking... Targets, not implemented. Similar funds are fine. Large Blend - VTSAX - 18% Small Value - VSIAX - 18% Intl Large Value - VFWAX - 18% Intl Small Value - VFSVX - 18% REIT - VGSLX - 6% ITT - VFIUX - 11% TIPS - VAIPX - 11% When I wrote my IPS I ha...

That's a great gift. I really like Pearl jewelry. They are big enough to be seen and can be worn casually or formally. Clark Howard loves Costco for Jewelry, so that's one good refererral. I personally bought several pearl pieces sight-unseen from a brick-n-mortar Mikimoto store that's hours away. G...

I am not familiar with the foreign tax credit as I do not have any foreign investments. If you hold a mutual fund of foreign holdings you get credit for some of the foreign taxes the fund pays. I get credit from this for holding VTIAX. Looking at my 2011 return it was something like 0.25% of my hol...

As a practical matter, if you did buy the car with 300 miles on it (as shown on the sales papers) and you developed a serious (or even not-so-serious) warranty problem at 36,290 miles, they would probably do a warranty repair. Probably. But I have denied warranty like that, but usually with the car...

Secondly, the ability to change the trustee is governed by the terms of the trust instrument. You need to review that document to see if you or anyone else has power to remove the current trustee and appoint a successor. Often beneficiaries are given the right to remove a corporate trustee but they...

So, looking at the Nissan warranty, it is not 100% clear. https://owners.nissanusa.com/content/techpub/warranty/2012_N_WIB.pdf It states this THE WARRANTY BEGINS The warranty period begins on the date the vehicle is delivered to the first retail buyer or put into use, whichever is earlier. FOR HOW L...

I believe the just-above post is incorrect and that the warranty is 36,000 miles period. When leasing, they do add current miles...so a 36 month, 36,000 mile lease would allow the odomoeter to be 36,300. But the warranty will still run out at 36,000 miles even. I have first hand knowledge of warran...

To the original poster: Yeah, you'll get tarred and feathered around here, but I did the same thing as you. I finally acknowledged my risk tolerance is lower than I previously thought, and the best time to acknowledge that is when stocks are up. I would not tar and feather for risk control. I appla...

In no particular order...... You can use a health savings account as a "Stealth IRA" http://whitecoatinvestor.com/retirement-accounts/the-stealth-ira/ Contribute to a 529 if your state gives you a tax credit keep your foreign funds in a taxable account for the foreign tax credit. tax loss ...

I only have a suggestion for you, because I have not studied investing from the eurozone. My suggestion is to use a world stock fund instead of trying to slice the eurozone/world ex-eurozone. The vanguard Total World stock fund is ticker symbol VT.

Your warranty will be 3 years from date of purchase and 36,000 miles from mileage at purchase, i.e. to 36,300. when I worked for a car company they had to get special permission to ship cars with more than 25 miles. I put that number in my offer when I buy cars... no more than 25 miles. Last one I b...

Hear, hear.
I've learned many things from sscritic, most recently that states can be classified as "common law" or "community property."

And the direct quotes of IRC are impressive

" Remember that you can create a 1, 2, 3 year ladder of CDs that are all 5 year CDs. It is the early withdrawal penalty that matters, not the term. So, for example, if you use ALLY 5 year CDs at 1.72% they only have 2 month EWP, so one year from now you will earn 1.72%, and pay 1.72*(2/12) = 0...

Care to make an actual prediction with a ticker, date and price? I doubt VFSTX will vary more than a penny. Certainly it will, eventually. Let's see how long it takes to close above 10.86 or below 10.84. Will you update this thread when you do something with the cash? You can rub it in, or get your...

The only one I know of is in my 401k. TBM index fund with ER of 0.08%.

It tracks the index within its ER yet Lipper gives the fund a 2/5 (1 being worst). Thank you bogleheads for teaching me how to construct a portfolio so I don't have to depend on Lipper.

This website allows you to input your holdings by account type, and income by type, and it will tell you the most tax efficient way to withdrawal. One limitation is that it cannot predict future tax law changes. :D Somebody spent a lot of time building this site. It's thorough. http://www.i-orp.com/

Keep saving, you'll get there.

The Honda Accord Crosstour has active noise damping using the audio system. I've heard it described as "sound chamber quiet." Never been in one myself.

If you really want to know, get an oil analysis on your 5,000 mile oil. It will cost you $25, but it should give you some peace of mind that 5,000 miles is OK. And those mechanics may give you a little more respect. http://www.blackstone-labs.com/gas-engine.php To get started with our program, just ...

Remember that you can create a 1, 2, 3 year ladder of CDs that are all 5 year CDs. It is the early withdrawal penalty that matters, not the term. So, for example, if you use ALLY 5 year CDs at 1.72% they only have 2 month EWP, so one year from now you will earn 1.72%, and pay 1.72*(2/12) = 0.287% pe...

john94549 wrote:Alas, I will do nothing with the cash. I plan to sit on it.

That's a contradiction.
And for the record, I didn't ask what you planned to do, I asked for an update when you "do" something with it. By "do" I mean "reinvest."

Care to make an actual prediction with a ticker, date and price? I doubt VFSTX will vary more than a penny. Certainly it will, eventually. Let's see how long it takes to close above 10.86 or below 10.84. Will you update this thread when you do something with the cash? You can rub it in, or get your...

Care to make an actual prediction with a ticker, date and price?

Something FDIC or NCUA insured, like high-yield savings or CD. You can compare rates here http://www.depositaccounts.com

Remember the term of the CD doesn't matter, but the early withdrawal penalty does. Check out the Ally bank CDs with 2 month early withdrawal penalty.

COLA is bogus in the free market. I don't pay more for groceries or ink cartridges because gasoline goes up. I pay more for things because I buy them on the open market, and I have to pay what others will pay. You should get paid based on what it would cost them to get someone else to do your work. ...