Bogleheads.org

If you could live off 3% withdraw from savings and use SS as your hedge against inflation would you go all in with 30 year treasury bills? Not taking more risk than is necessary thinking. If you are going to do this, use long-term TIPS, not Treasuries; long-term bonds have a huge inflation risk, an...

The private equity folks need new sheep and pigeons as some of the institutions are now wising up and moving more towards passive management. Anybody who plays with private equity that is publicly available is getting the worse of the worse as the "good stuff" if there is such a thing stay...

Can we be apprised as to WHAT happened that caused the site to be "taken down"? I am sure it needed to be done but seems quite extreme. Was there a virus or attack?

It sounds like you are a physician. It freaked me out but now has become commonplace (I am 60) that beginning at about age 50, guys (I can't remember a female) would drop dead. You'd either hear about it or read it in the alumni quarterly journal. Several of them were making 600K a year. You get the...

OP has deserted so we may be wasting our time. There is critical information needed regarding billing. If OP has insurance, the $400 will become either a negotiated rate and maybe paid for almost entirely by insurance or OP can offer to pay reasonable and customary per the EOB when he gets it. We ha...

It's going to be very interesting to see the conversation when the stock market has its next downtrend. Very true. That is when Staying the Course will surely be tested. Indeed. At that point we will all applaud ourselves for sticking to our IPS plan for bonds as we always knew that bonds were more...

I am frankly delighted he said all of this and it makes me more comfortable holding my IPS in bonds. First the guy's insurance companies hold plenty of bonds so he's not exactly telling the whole truth. Second, anything he says has to be viewed in that he is a CEO of a company so cannot say anything...

imgritz wrote:I suggest simple things like marriage counseling, church counseling or a self-help course from landmark education. I have seen all three save a marriage.

Why in the name of God would she want to save this marriage? The man is bringing her down. Without him changing how could this be salvaged?

My advice is stay out of their marriage unless asked to do something directly. It sounds like your family is trying to meddle based on your post. Sorry if I misread that. While your post makes money a huge reason for separating, keep in mind your sister took a vow of "richer or poorer" wh...

I've read it all. OP, I know one hates paying taxes in big hits. It so disturbs me that when you hear talks about whole life they always talk about the loans literally for free but never talk about the tax liability that will come one day. If you make 80K and take the 200 or so one time hit, you may...

I will post this warning in every Lending Club thread: absolutely do not use Lending Club if you live in a state where you're not allowed to purchase new-issue notes . Residents in many states are restricted to using the note-trading platform only. Don't do it, for many reasons (see previous thread...

Op, KEEP OUT OF THIS. The coworker made a significant portfolio maneuver with the advice or blessing of his/her adviser. If you offer any advice and it goes wrong, this will not be good or at least any postives will not be much. If your advice is good, it will be forgotten. Let him/her work with his...

Very nice article. Obviously a bit of hyperbole to make the desired point as nobody would really talk that way in that sequence without some interlude and it is unlikely that somebody who is a professional would offer unsolicited advice to strangers with whom he is not involved in a conversation. Bu...

OP, if you are 26, I would be VERY cautious about the amount you will get from a pension. Read up on the various states and municipalities funding problems and cuts being instituted. This is not to frighten you but rather so that you can plan more efficiently. Just to throw up some more clouds, you ...

If you can save the tax return as a password protected pdf, do so on a thumb drive and then take it in to Fedex or one of the office supply stores to print. When I did this, I had to enter the password myself and the attendant was facing away from the screen. I suppose they could keep a copy and ha...

No way would I rent it while selling. The place might be a mess. No matter what they say or write what if they tell you they cannot move on time for some reason.? One could be in the hospital, injured or on an undercover operation (the policeman). For the small profit I'd pass and just sell the plac...

I have done this for a few years. The FICA tax is paid on the business profits. That goes on Schedule C and then to page 1 of the 1040 "above the line". This is what is used for the SE tax calculation. It has nothing to do with self 401K contributions. These are below the line as adjustmen...

What do you or anybody know about the future of interest rates that are not already baked into the prices? I have concluded we know nothing so am sticking to my IPS.

Sell the condo and marry her before school starts. 4 out of 50 women in my class were engaged when they entered med school. All left their fiancées for classmates before graduation! I have heard this too. Same things applies to law school. Instead of paying for her education, loan her the money at ...

Documents that would be difficult (or expensive) to replace are kept in the safe dep box: birth &marriage certificates, vehicle registration, title to property, etc . dd, you would be amazed how easy it actually turns out to be to replace all of these things. I once had to do these and between ...

Why would anybody buy this? That's even under optimal circumstances. But now there is a large purchase fee and high ER. If one did want it, what's the rush? Do you really want bonds from Turkey, Russia, Brazil and who knows where else?

OP, you will give her the best possible gift if you help her get educated so she can do it herself. You don't need to tell her that the engagement might fall through (probably 50%) or that you get divorced (50% if married) if you don't want to. Rather that something might happen to you or whatever a...

You are missing that your mother has accumulated 6 MM and a safe lifetime income stream that enables her to sleep well and not worry. Although I do not do individual bonds and use Vanguard MFs, what are you going to do if she gets upset from a possible loss of principal even if you explain to her th...

Documents that would be difficult (or expensive) to replace are kept in the safe dep box: birth &marriage certificates, vehicle registration, title to property, etc . dd, you would be amazed how easy it actually turns out to be to replace all of these things. I once had to do these and between ...

I keep ALL statements & tax returns electronically (and very few receipts for warranty purposes only). The only things I keep in paper are things that have to be original paper: Birth certificates, marriage certificates, passports, deeds, Federal permits, proof of insurance, etc. That is a reas...

Today I saw a financial advisor for the first time since I became a boglehead just 6 months ago. Why did you go in the first place? Just my thought. We here may not agree with paying advisers if unneeded and streptococcus is a confirmed boglehead. So strep, why did you meet with him since you won't...

When selling options or rsu's, I never worry about taxes. There is no way to avoid the normal income taxes on RSU's unless you refuse the grant, which would normally be foolish. I always sell all vested rsu's immediately. This results in ~$0 cap gains. Everything is normal income. For NQ options, I...

You are off to a great start. That said I would ignore "nonsense: about something 20 or 25 or 30 years away and nobody has a clue what things will be like then taxwise, inflation-wise, cost-wise, pension wise, etc. Just keep saving and don't calculate yet at your age. Good luck.

Ben, with that rent there is not even a question here for me. Even if the rent was doubled. You cannot deplete yourself of everything to put a down payment on a house. I notice you are a single earner in a married couple. One layoff and you are "dead". And maybe a good thing would be to ge...

i took mine at 62.however i did not use any of your rationale. there is no question if done in a vacuum you receive more money from ss waiting if you live long enough. but it's not done in a vacuum. most people on this board have substantial amounts in retirement acounts which must start to be take...

Bond funds that will lose NAV are a very poor choice for rebalancing money as selling shares when rates have risen locks in a real loss. There are a lot of posts here that suggest people don't understand how bond funds work if rates rise. The brokered CDs you can buy from brokerages are on a par wi...

The quirks of the tax laws make tax-loss harvesting very very important for some folks. The issue is to realize that TLHing now will be important to some folks because of things that will happen in the future. Exactly, and I can give a personal example of this. In 2000 my wife received a modest inh...

What is your split of investing "space" between taxable and tax advantaged accounts? What is your projection for that split over time - meaning do you expect tax advantaged to grow, taxable to grow, or the ratio to remain about the same? One thing you lose by having all equity in 1 fund -...

Vacancy set at 10% rent and repairs at 5%. Newer homes so don't expect big repairs. Going to be impossible to get cap rates of 8% in this area unless I get a good foreclosure deal. Rents are just not high enough in this market. What are some good REITs and typical returns? Thanks for helping. Look ...

I won't go near facebook. They own your soul if you do and who knows what else.

I ask you whether it really is worth it. A nice HDTV plus sound bar can be had for 1/15th of the cost your friends have taken on. Does it really matter having perfect audio? How many movies are you going to watch? For sports, I usually turn the sound off as I can't deal with the low to no value comm...

One day soon, total world will have the same expense roughly as tehhe average of TSM and TISM> If one wants international per country rating, meaning no overweight to US, then total world plus total bond (or a muni fund) is perfect. I do like Jack and just use TSM plus a bond fund because I just fe...

One day soon, total world will have the same expense roughly as tehhe average of TSM and TISM> If one wants international per country rating, meaning no overweight to US, then total world plus total bond (or a muni fund) is perfect. I do like Jack and just use TSM plus a bond fund because I just fee...

My idea is to ban mother's day. I dread today getting together with a whole bunch of family where the mothers expect something. (I love my mother.) It's just a marketing scheme to me. Father's day is strange in my family as the father's requests for gifts (I just reiterated this last night to my old...

I don't think you are missing anything at all. TLH I believe is very important and should be done throughout the year. Of course it shouldn't be done so frequently when the losses are too small that the trading costs outweigh the TLH benefits. I don't know how to determine when a loss is large enou...

This is a very good article. It is not geared to many of us at the forum, but certainly some. It has the typical bent towards retirement investing which is that your guaranteed sources plus investment income needs to cover your expenses. It addresses not at all those who wish to leave an inheritance...

OP, do yourself a favor. Ir you have the need to play the real estate game, there are great REITs available where pros do the work and you can spare yourself the headaches. It's just so much time and from your calculations, one missed month of rent wipes out half a year of "profit". And on...

If I were he I would just get rid of the vacation house and take a vacation wherever and whenever he wants and not maintain 2 homes. It is a pain to maintain one, let alone two. Then all of this additional debt and considerations disappear.

As an older man who was once a young doctor, what in God's name is a person who just graduated medical school doing carrying a large mortgage. With 2 of you in the field there is a very good chance you will have to move relatively soon. You and she have a huge amount of total debt for a 50K salary t...

One option might be to leverage Vanguard mutual funds rather than the ETFs. Since the pricing is done at the end of the day, flash crashes won't be an issue. I thought of this too. Unfortunately, you can't leverage mutual funds. Will look into what you're saying with ETNs, although if you mean that...

OP, there is a simple rule that you could adopt and then not have to think about any of these things. Never use margin. Never. A second rule is never used leveraged anything.

It is now 0.05% for stocks which is what TSM is now. I allow 0.1% for taxable intermediate investment grade bonds (which is what it is now). I go up to 0.12% for muni funds. That's it. That's cool, the least I was thinking of 0.16 for international? But understand that domestic stock/bond portfolio...

I understand. I guess what I am saying is that when we retire we have maybe between 10 and 30 good years left. I live in NJ. I like going into NYC to see and do well, everything. I could save say $10,000 a year for example in taxes by moving to Texas or Florida Alaska or another tax free state. Taxe...

Much as I am not a fan of paying taxes, most states, even the absolutely highest taxes have max rates of about 6 or 7% (unless you are in NYC or have very, very high income eg over 500k in NJ). I would not base a retirement decision on avoiding income taxes on pension income as unless your pension i...

It is now 0.05% for stocks which is what TSM is now. I allow 0.1% for taxable intermediate investment grade bonds (which is what it is now). I go up to 0.12% for muni funds. That's it.