Bogleheads.org

As the mom of a kindergartener, I can wholeheartedly tell you that it is obvious and apparent what she learned in two years of preschool. I can't imagine her starting K without the foundation of the wonderful preschool we attended for 2 years. Private school is a separate matter, and one you will ha...

Thanks. I'll remove the graphic in that page and put the link to the wiki instead. When I made the spreadsheet, I don't think that page of the wiki existed.

Thanks for the props, LadyGeek. I made that spreadsheet a long time ago; I hope it helps somebody. Also, if anybody wants to save it as a Google doc somewhere, that'd be awesome.

We are in a similar situation that you are in. Our first choice right now is the Chevy Traverse. Not quite a minivan, and not an SUV. It drives like a car, has 8 passenger seating, and still has cargo room when all 8 seats are in use.

I have a related question. What is the best streaming option if you are a sports fan? I realize I can get ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox over "rabbit ears", but what about the ESPN network or Fox Sports Network? A minor consideration is watching CNBC. Topper - There is an ESPN app on the XBox but ...

Do you pay for cable? Or, how does this work? Thanks. We do pay for cable. We do not have a cable box, however - comcast supplies us with a cablecard that goes into the HDHomerun. The cable TV comes into the house, and goes into the HDHomerun, which sends it all over our home network, including my ...

Regular PC with HDMI out. Everything runs through Windows Media Center (Netflix, Hulu, Video Podcasts). Also acts as a DVR and we get over the air (OTA) stations in HD quality with just a USB Tuner card. XBox in another room connects to it over Wifi and allows shows recorded on the main PC to play ...

Ducks wrote: You might try the steps outlined here: http://hints.binaryage.com/iphone-5-blu ... t-working/ Your link says a new receiver may be the ticket. A last resort, but at least an option. But how would I know which receiver would work with the iPhone 5? I wouldn't know where to start selecti...

You might try the steps outlined here:
http://hints.binaryage.com/iphone-5-blu ... t-working/

However, it's ridiculous that they would design a closed system like that.

stlutz wrote:Because accounts get locked after X number of incorrect login attempts, I don't know that a 45 character password is more secure than a 10 character one.

I always liked this xkcd cartoon about password strength:

http://xkcd.com/936/

We bought our house in 2010 with a 4.5% 30 year fixed and thought we did great. Earlier this year we refi'ed into a 3.65%.

BuckyBadger wrote:We interface everything through an xbox 360 and it's pretty good -- at least, as good as it CAN be, I think...

We've been very happy with the various XBox 360 UI's as well.

The only thing that's missing is a "Favorites" list on the XFinity app.

I got some good advice on this thread and via PM, and I've appreciated everybody's suggestions. I'm still processing it, but here's what we've done so far. - My dad has informed him that I'll be handling his financial needs from here on out. He is unimpressed by this new change. - I've opened up an ...

Hulu Plus has commercials, and they're not trivial. The commercial breaks can last over a minute, and you can't skip them. Personally, I have little use for the service, but my wife watches some shows on it and that keeps our DVR's storage free for other things. I dropped Hulu Plus because of this....

Hi Bogleheads, I was hoping you folks might have suggestions for me on how we might go about helping a mentally disabled relative. Here's the situation. He is a ~50 year old man who is somewhat mentally disabled. "Somewhat" in that C can take care of his day-to-day needs, but he is unable ...

Thanks NAV & Mel. Prognosis looks good - it looks like he'll be out of work for 6 months, and then be in the Cancer Survivors Club. And a PSA for all you men out there: Men can get breast cancer too. So let your wives feel you up. Or feel yourself up, or something. ;) If something seems amiss, g...

I know I haven't been around these forums much lately, but I wanted to say thank you to all the Bogleheads for showing me what a good plan looks like and how to make it happen. My husband and I purchased a Foreclosed home in January. We used our old home (which we owned outright) to pay for half of ...

The end-result of food off a Traeger grill is so far and above anything you'll ever pull off of a gas grill, and it's so much easier and cleaner to use than a charcoal, I'll never go back. Ribs done on the Traeger are better than any ribs I've ever had in a restaurant, ever.

I recommend a Traeger.

http://www.traegergrills.com/

Thanks Pam - I'll check into Key Bank too. Dave - I feel the need to keep this as simple as possible for him. He is not, err, financially inclined like those of us are here. It is important to me that he not fail with this new home and the responsibilities that come with it, so I am going to help hi...

I'm helping a young family member / new homeowner get set up financially so all his finances are organized and simple. As the title says, I'm looking for a bank that has good online personal finance tools. For example, Wells Fargo has "My Spending Report" and a Budget feature hooked in wit...

Does anyone use Quicken for the Mac? I've read some poor reviews on it. Yes. From the sound of this thread, I think it's comparable to Quicken Premier. -- Tet It's actually almost a completely different program. I switched from Mac to Windows in 2007 and was much happier with the Windows version.

Something that is missing and that causes some of the numbers to be very misleading is the ability to exclude certain transactions based upon the category. As an example, a transfer of $$$ from a Fidelity brokerage account to a Vanguard joint account shows up as a huge expense and a huge income. I ...

What Chuck said. I know you said you already have two drills, but it is the first that comes to mind -- Hubs has his eye on this Bosch mini drill: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E281E0/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000E84A86&a...

P.S. I use Quicken for budgeting, expense tracking, tax organization, etc. I also download my investment accounts into Quicken to get the market value held in each account. I put those #'s into Excel and use that for rebalancing, as Quicken's solution for that is quite lacking.

I download from Discover and Vanguard into Quicken. I don't have the other accounts so I can't say for sure about those, but if I try to set up a new account at Wells Fargo I get two options for Wells-Fargo-related institutions, ING I get 4 options, and Charles Schwab 2 options. So it seems to me li...

I admit - I was up in the wee hours last night. Too many things swirling around my brain and hubs was snoring too loudly for me to settle down (that happens when he goes to bed too tired). When that happens, I take a Tylenol Simply Sleep, come downstairs and poke around on the computer for a half ho...

You might ask a flooring person directly about scratching, but so far it seems as tough as nails.

I'm not a fan of tile. It's brittle, and the worst thermally conductive flooring out there. Not to mention all the stuff that gets caught in the grout. Did my own concrete countertops in an effort to avoid grout lines. In that case, check out wood-look resilient flooring. We put some in our basemen...

is anybody using it for organizing and analysis of the investments? just got it and trying to learn if it's useful at all... I think Quicken's investment organization/analysis leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't break down asset classes very well, so I do not use it for rebalancing -- I use Exce...

Yep - been using Quicken for 4 years now.

Trying to figure out how I can still keep track of data but spend a little less time on it this year.

We have cheapie cable ($13/month) and Netflix. We use our XBox 360 as an extender, and use my computer as DVR. Works awesome.

Will work even more awesome when we get one of these jobbies:

http://www.cetoncorp.com/products.php

Replace your carpet with ceramic title. Get a good wet mop, and vac. This. If you're handy, laying tile is an easy DIY job, especially if you get 18x18 or larger tiles. I have two Bissell Healthy Home vacuums: The first one was an Open Box at Best Buy and cost about $180. I bought a 2nd one with Se...

Yeah County. Not Country. My new zip code would be ... hmm ... maybe 25th or so on that list.

Also - Ducks is a she.

Ducks & Family are embarking on an exciting new phase... we closed on our new home this afternoon. :D We are using the equity in our current home plus a large but doable mortgage to purchase a home in arguably the best zip code in the county. It is a foreclosure that only ever got to 90% complet...

I don't want to reward intuit for giving non-substantial improvements to their product. I'll wait until they fix the 3 things I want them to fix, or until they sunset me.

That is a good deal for those who are about to be sunsetted or do not already have Quicken, though.

jared wrote: I'm already scared to see what my "dining out" category will look like.

This is our #1 biggest money-sink. We knew it was, of course, but seeing it all added up there in black and white (err - and red ) with the $ in front of it, it was a shocker.

XtremeSki2001 wrote:Thoughts and advice are welcome

It is a great time to buy diamonds.

Check around for jewelry stores that are going out of business. I recently purchased a pair of 1.9 tcw diamond stud earings for my dad to give to my mom that were 60% + 10% off. Quite a deal.

MWCA wrote:Ah that was the other reason. Our PenFed visa card would not get rebates when shopping at Costco. Since we do our shopping exclusively with a cc card.

I have a Costco Amex card that I use only for Costco purchases.

Also agree with Fletch. If you are looking at buying a HDTV or such, their warranty/return policy cannot be beat. Use the Costco Amex + Executive Membership for 3% back on all purchases (in form of costco gift check). A single person can do okay with Costco... if you have a secondary freezer. ;)

How is the Neatdesk working for you? What is its error rate at recognizing text and numbers? Did you look at competitors? I bought it with J&R Computer World gift cards I got from my credit card, so I was limited to looking at what they had. The only other one I looked at was the Fujitsu ScanSn...

We will never go back to entering all that information ever again! Ahhh I wish life were so easy for us. We live in a state with no income tax; only sales tax... so all our sales tax is deductible. The feds' standard deduction is about 1/4 of our yearly sales tax spent (does this mean we spend too ...

I'm guessing our wedding was around $35,000; 140 in attendance. It was a blast.

My parents paid. I am their only daughter, and it's the only "Big Bash" my parents will ever throw. My dad said he was thrilled to write the check. What a guy.

My favorite book is a series of books (yes i am a cheater ): George RR Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire series.

Can't wait for the port over to HBO.

I like Quicken. It takes a bit of work to keep everything entered, reconciled, and updated... but it's been very helpful for us, especially around tax time.

I use the 2008 version. The subsequent upgrades seem mostly cosmetic in nature, so i haven't bothered.

It's hard for me to give you advice on what you should do; you can guess the best on what's coming in your future. I'll tell you what we decided to do, though: We fund hub's 401k to the match, then both our Roth IRA's. My 401k is the "floater." I expect that we will be in the same or highe...

Taylor - We do have individual stocks, but they are not for retirement, just 'long term savings.' We will probably use this for a house down payment(?) or charitable giving. Hubs has a small amount of company stock, but this is a privately held very small company (150 employees) and I'm not sure if ...

I am getting my Ducks in a row by reading this forum. I googled an image of "ducks in a row" and came up with my avatar.

Add me to the numbers who never got livesoft's joke.

I funded our Roths and my Roth 401k today. Since this is my first rebalancing, I thought I'd post this up and see what you all thought. I appreciate everyones' insights very much. :) Emergency funds = 6+ months of expenses, not included in below AA. Debt: None. Tax Filing Status: Married filing join...

impressive tracking website. kudos to whomever created it.