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I know a great deal about the finances of my parents, but I don't have and wouldn't want the passwords to their accounts. All that information is in a meticulously organized compilation of documents that my father has set up for when/if the unthinkable happens. In a nutshell, as a previous poster sa...

Hmm, I always thought that a "lazy portfolio" indicated a three fund portfolio. 8 funds doesn't seem that lazy to me - it seems like a lot of work! Is there a reason you can't/won't use total US stock, or total international? You could still tilt to small cap if you wanted to. Also, 9% in ...

Remember, too, that at 19, it's unlikely that there will be many pensioned jobs when you're in your working years. The number of pensions these days (not to even discuss underfunded ones) are decreasing, and even jobs that are known to have pensions now may not have them in 10-20 years, or may be ph...

We are investing. You're speculating

You're not going to get a lot of support for stock picking on this board. Bogleheads are of the low cost/high savings/index fund/own the whole market/rational asset allocation/rebalance when necessary persuasion. I would stop investing in these companies. I would come up with an asset allocation tha...

Maybe I missed something, but does the Munchkin man not own a belt? Your wardrobe will increase greatly with the purchase of a handsome belt.

In the same way you probably treat a birthday card from your insurance agent different than you treat a card from a loved one, the source of money often drives how people feel about it. For many people inherited money is about legacy, tradition, and relationships. It is one thing if a beneficiary o...

What if you *gasp* DON'T get divorced? At what point should you then use the money to the benefit of the family as a whole? 1/4 of divorces are for those over 50 http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-27/news/ct-x-0227-divorce-after-50-20130227_1_divorce-rate-marital-estate-health-insurance Oka...

I'm with livesoft on this one. Ever since we got married everything has been "ours." All the money comes in, goes in one pot, and is distributed as necessary. There is no question. It doesn't matter who makes more. I applaud your sentiment, but with 50% of all marriages ending in divorce,...

In my mind, that money that your spouse inherited really isn't "her" money either. I think if you had continued to view it as your wife holding in trust for her mother, than maybe it wouldn't have irritated you so much. The money I inherited from my father when he died, I continue to view...

BFG, I think that your issue isn't about earning, it's about POTENTIAL. I see two different "out earning" scenarios: 1) Both he and she are employed to the best of his/her ability in a field that they enjoy. He or she is dedicated to his or her profession and is committed to his or her job...

A couple years ago after spring cleaning I took a few boxes of paper to a local shredder - you can watch them dump your boxes on the belt then see the paper get decimated by the monster shredder - Seemed very safe to me. I don't have any experience taking papers to Staples or the like to have them ...

Starting a couple of Backdoor Roths wouldn't hurt, either. As long as you can stay away from having pretax money in any IRAs, you can start doing backdoor Roths for you and your wife for every year going forward. Since you can put anything in it that you want, It'll give you space to put in whatever...

If you switch over to a three fund lazy portfolio you'll save yourself headaches AND tons of money, and you'll probably do better overall.

As it will be HER IRA it will have to be HER Vanguard account. You can link them after, but she needs to establish her account first. My husband and I can both see all out IRAs and taxable accounts from each other's log ins. The only thing we can't see are each other's 401k accounts, which I find an...

There are HIS Roths and there are HER Roths.

There are no OUR Roths.

What are you trying to do exactly?

I know this isn't really helping to answer the question -- but I kind of think that the question is unanswerable. It's so dependent on the personality and strengths and weaknesses of the child. It's foolish to treat children the same simply because they are children. They are individuals and must be...

We are very fortunate to be where we are right now. Both our families were able to send us to college debt free, and we then put ourselves through grad school as research assistants. But grad school did mean that he didn't start earning a real salary until he was 27 and I didn't until I was 29. As s...

Also, before you start investing in taxable, you should max out your 401(k). Why are you planning to put only 5% there? I'm putting 5 this year because I still want to have extra money to......buy a newer (not brand new) car in November. But in January I would bump it to my company's max which is 1...

As my investing plan falls into place and be comes automatic, I find myself in a strange position. I'm not sure how to set goals for myself. For 2012 we saved in investment accounts about $70k (maxed 2 401ks plus company matches, maxed 2 backdoor Roths, maxed an HSA account earmarked for retirement,...

Yes .

For those not aware of Confused's history, please don't pay much heed to his/her recommendations on health insurance. There have been a number of threads (although none recently) where he/she discusses his/her rather unique view on health care. It has been hashed and rehashed that he/she does not be...

I would absolutely do it. If it would wipe you out cash-wise, maybe not, but if you would still have 6-8 months of emergency fund I would absolutely do it.

Thanks for all your help! I filled out the 2011 form for my husband last night and dropped it in the mail this morning. I included a note saying what it was and that I wasn't including a new 1040. I'm hoping that it works out. At least I tried! How to fill out the form makes total sense on paper -- ...

Looking at the form specifically, I feel that I need to submit a 8606 for 2011 that fills in line 1 ($5,000), line 2 ($0), line 3 ($5,000), and then skips to line 14 ($5,000) because the Roth conversion was NOT made in 2012. This $5,000 basis will then be justified when I put it on the 8606 form thi...

I have question about the ever so popular Form 8606 that I'd like to sort out before I file this year because I'm afraid that I made an error paying my 2011 taxes. I think it's an easy fix -- assuming that I've read and understood the IRS's instructions about filling out that form. I'm wondering if ...

I would much rather freeze my credit and actually PREVENT fraud than simply be told about fraud after it has already happened and then be left to pick up the pieces...

Unfortunately, it seems that you didn't have a Roth IRA opened prior to 12/31/12, so you can't take advantage of 2012 contribution assuming you had sufficient "earned income" while a Senior in HS. Note that the actual contribution could be made by tax time (April). I mention this so that ...

So I'm a very basic level Boglehead -- I feel like I really nail the basics but the details escape me. See this thread for clarification: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=107392&p=1560248#p1560248 And this is my current portfolio: http://i45.tinypic.com/i1a8er.jpg Now I'm ...

Never. But that's because I don't really understand it so I feel like I should avoid doing anything. I have figured out the following things, no more, no less: 1) Asset allocation: should get more conservative as we get older 2) Three fund portfolio: simplicity and low cost 3) Rebalance: can still d...

Wait! Isn't the second "reader question" fron this link: http://www.longtermreturns.com/2013/02/cash-tips-retirement-and-rachel-fox.html word for word what was posted on a thread here recently? I KNOW that I just read that on bogleheads... Anyone else think it soudns familiar? This happen...

Wait! Isn't the second "reader question" fron this link: http://www.longtermreturns.com/2013/02/ ... l-fox.html

word for word what was posted on a thread here recently? I KNOW that I just read that on bogleheads...

Anyone else think it soudns familiar?

Now that I know more about finance, I'm even more in awe of what my dad accomplished when I was growing up. He raised a family of 4 in a very comfortable middle class lifestyle on what I realize now was at the very peak of his career $100k a year max. My mother worked until the second kid and after ...

Not addressing the company stock issue (I agree with previous posters, by the way) but to address what the original question was supposed to be... The "saving 15%" has two aspects, from what I've always understood. There is the 15% that you are saving, but also there is the fact that you a...

Although you will get some coments about "what about a divorce," in general I think we all consider our retirement as a whole. For example, we have his and hers Roths, his and hers, 401ks, and one taxable account. Bothe Roths have nothing but total US. The taxable has only total internatio...

Have you considered a 3 fund portfolio going forward? This board isn't really into active trading.

You have all these funds with <$500 in them. It seems like you could use a LOT of simplification.

I think the issue is that you can't just "find" tax advantaged space. There are a limited number of things you can do outside of work. There are a limited number of options that may be offered by your employer. There are a limited number of options that you can do if you are self employed....

Not that it is the point of this post, but I also agree that you might be looking for women int he wrong places... If you live below your means you'll meet a woman who is also living below her means. Together you will be able to retire comfortably in your 50s and spend the rest of your healthy years...

Grt2bOutdoors: You are absolutely right -- I in no way intended to discourage the OP! But I do think that filling out a full portfolio template as suggested would help a lot. I feel like we don't really have nough information about the OP's current and future investments to make very useful suggesti...

Are you sure you meant 30% bonds? That's not really what I would expect from someone who calls himself a "conservative guy." I have 30% bonds and I'm younger than you AND consider myself NOT conservative... Is this $30k all you have for investing? What about new investments? Taxable, yearl...

If you really want to accelerate your payments, do so ONLY after maxing out ALL your tax advantaged space. You'll never get that space back. The math still works out that you're financially better to not pay it off early, but if it makes you feel better go ahead and do it -- just please don't do it ...

That seems like a really terrible idea on a number of fronts.

Job stability. Liquidity of savings. Tax advantaged space lost forever. Emergency funds. Depending on benefits that can disappear. The list goes on.

I would highly recommend against such a plan.

I had been thinking about this for a while, but seeing another thread about life insurance made me decided to finally ask about it. I'm wondering about the necessity for my husband and myself to have term life insurance. We have no children. We both work and make ballpark the same amount of money (w...

I would rebalance with incoming funds. But my real question is -- wouldn't it be easier for you HSA to be only ONE fund, that - when taken as a whole with your other investments - complements your overall AA? My AA is 70/30 stocks/bonds, but my HSA is 100% total US stock. It's just a part of the who...

If I'm doing the math correctly, OP has $89k to his name? (50 + 50 - 11) That's before the penalties he'll be paying for taking his money out early. It's absurd to risk every penny of your limited funds to start a risky business. And as others have said, the fact that he has less than $100k saved up...

Not to change the subject, but isn't $12,000 into 2011 and 2012 IRAs $1,500 more than permitted? Maximum for 2011 = $5,000 Maximum for 2012 = $5,500 Total maximum for 2011 and 2012 = $10,500. He might be old enough to make catch-up contributions. I noticed that too but I wasn't going to be all like...

Not to change the subject, but isn't $12,000 into 2011 and 2012 IRAs $1,500 more than permitted?

Maximum for 2011 = $5,000
Maximum for 2012 = $5,500

Total maximum for 2011 and 2012 = $10,500.

No?

From JPMorgan website:

NAV (2013-01-25) $ 34.15

From Vanguard website:
Doesn't use the word "NAV" but I think it's the same thing:

Price as of 01/25/2013 $34.15

When I google the ticker I get this: Fund Basics Morningstar Overall Rating: Total Assets: 23.73B Category: Large Blend Annual Report Expense Ratio (net): 0.02% Which is the same as I get on the JPMorgan website. When I look it up on Vanguard.com I get the same thing: Fund facts Asset class Domestic...

I decided that I would look up my fees today -- just to see how bad they were. I knew that my Vanguard funds would be pretty good, but I figured that my old 403b and my HSA account would be pretty bad. This is what I came up with: http://i45.tinypic.com/i1a8er.jpg I was astounded. Especially by my o...