Bogleheads.org

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on the progress you have made on tackling debt so far. It must have taken some determination. You may already be familiar with Dave Ramsey. If not, I think he has some great overall advice on how to prioritize things in a household budget, the Cliff's Notes ...

I moved from the east coast to the west coast recently, on my own dime, and had a great experience with a company called ABF http://www.upack.com/. How it works: they drop off an empty semi trailer at your house and you load the trailer at your own pace. You pay only for the space you use, as measur...

I recommend the Hominy Grill--it's fantastic! http://hominygrill.com/

BrianJone, I checked out some of your previous posts/threads... it seems you are REALLY OVERTHINKING this starting a Roth IRA deal!! You are just getting started in this whole investing deal, right? The important thing for you now is to start and contribute. You're splitting hairs over which total ...

the split between domestic / international looks great

i think you pretty much nailed your 70/30 desired allocation and have the proposed funds placed optimally in the most tax-efficient accounts Bond 29.1% International Stock 21.4% US Stock 49.6% was that the balance between domestic/international stocks you had in mind? not sure i added anything here,...

Hi, Olerong. Nice job saving up and staying out of debt. 1. I'm not sure what I should do with the $125K; currently getting 0.85% interest. I have no immediate plans to touch most of that money and would like some advice on where to put it to get a higher rate of return, but still relatively little ...

i budget in about 10 broad categories that i monitor in mint, but i subcategorize individual transactions so that i can see within an individual category what is driving that area's expense. I started tracking everything about 7 years ago with quicken and then moved to mint.com...i used the budget i...

Hi, Jetpack, Yes, I would personally contribute up to the maximum match and then temporarily use anything extra to try to get yourself out of the car and/or get yourself in a position to refinance since you anticipate keeping the house a long time. ...if you can get just one of those two things done...

Hi, congratulations on getting started on taking control of your finances. for her 403b, most of the options are too expensive...but she does have a few good funds available. I agree with Default User BR that the 4 vanguard funds named could be used to get to her desired asset allocation. I have a d...

setting up the solo 401k and maxing it out sounds like a very smart move, would keep going with your 3-fund portfolio

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this will show up on form 8606 when you file taxes. you want to file this form every single year now to keep track of your "basis", the amount of aftertax IRA you are backdooring into a roth. If you have enough cash to make both your 2012 and 2013 contributions now, it will be easier to ma...

you're off to a great start. I have to ask, what is your plan for the mortgage? after maxing out the tax advantaged accounts, as a personal preference I'd focus on paying off the mortgage before you turn 40 instead of adding so much to the taxable account. If you haven't already read it, I would re...

DCP after tax (which allows in service rollover/conversions to Roth IRA) Hi, Kidshrink, are you a university of california employee? If so, I have a question for you. I work for UC and am trying to find the documentation that says I can do in service rollover of DCP aftertax to Roth IRA with no pen...

i definitely like the advice you are getting about selling the sharebuilder things with losses and long-term gains. If I were in your shoes, I would use all of those proceeds and some of your cash to pay down or pay off the mortgage. Others might disagree with getting rid of the mortgage, but you sh...

I think that is right. I think you want to acknowledge the 2012 after tax contribution on form 8606 in the filing due this year so that it is recorded as part of the basis when you show the rollover in the filing due next year.

Hi, I have a question about making use of tax advantaged accounts and the best order to make contributions/conversions. As background, I am a university of california employee and max out my 403b and 457b and have just started doing the backdoor Roth in the past 2 years. I have no debt and have a ye...

For more step by step investment advice I'd really trust this website more than any particular book I've read. http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_Started In general, I'd say that Liar's Poker and The Big Short by Michael Lewis and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre are all fantas...

It could benefit my tax situation if I have some (paper) passive real estate losses to balance the passive farm income, as I understand it. I am not an expert, but it's hard for me to imagine a scenario where the benefits to your tax bill could outweigh the actual passive losses you would seek out....

I would personally not feel comfortable with the spending plan because you use up most of your cash in year 1, and if your plans to fund year 2 or 3 don't work out for some reason, you don't really have the backup of student loans to keep you on track (not that i like the idea of loans anyway!). Giv...

...but did do the back door ROTH. Thanks for your help. I have read that it is common this year to have trouble with turbo tax calculating backdoor roth correctly until you manually adjust form 8606. This happened to me, and was a cinch to fix once I read in the forum how to correct the problem, bu...

rj49 wrote:There's also a good Masterpiece Theatre film called "The Way We Live Now"

+1

an energy-efficient house is a good boglehead house, in my opinion! i think you're on the right track to prioritize what parts of green building can fit within your budget, and folks here have made great comments about starting with insulation and passive solar design. -you said you have eliminated ...

I would pay off the mortgage entirely and save/invest as much as you can over the next few years. If you decide to make investments outside the boglehead portfolio--and it is not clear to me that you should take on hassles that divert your time away from your practice and your family--at least be su...

Hi, I am hoping to get your opinions and hear your strategies on how you balance saving/investing for retirement vs mid- to long-term saving/investing. As background, I'm 33 and have my home and car paid off, have no debt, and live very frugally. I keep a 1 year emergency fund and don't regret payin...

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