Bogleheads.org

learnfpga wrote:+1 for UESP. I have my 529 with them. They have age based option as well as fully customizable option too.

I use both Utah and Ohio.

If it would be any help, I am a very experienced IT person and would be glad to offer assistance to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again--either such a long outage or loss of data. Just a quick investigation shows that the website is hosted at a small computer company in New Jersey (which...

Thanks for getting us back up. We appreciate it! I only had my coffee this morning, instead of my usual Bogleheads and coffee routine.

Here's a recent article Allan Roth just posted on what he deems are the best 529 plans.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162- ... ege-plans/

OK, how about "they should have found that their portfolio went up just in the last 6 months by the full cost of a 4-year public college education"? :) Depends where this public school is located? If it's a CUNY - then probably. If its a public college like a SUNY or Rutgers, not quite - ...

This may be sacrilege in this thread, but I would guess that many folks here are insensitive to the price of a college education. Lots of folks here describe how they are maxing out retirement accounts or starting 529 plans before their child is even conceived or how they are helping their grandchi...

The previous owner of my home had termites - back then it was treated with a DowChemical baited trap system. I purchased the home and took over the old contract of quarterly inspections when that exterminating company stopped honoring the old contract - more than 10 years of inspecting without findi...

Sorry, I wrote that in an confusing, and misleading way (by "70/30 bonds" I meant 70 % bonds and 30% stocks). I am surprised that there seems to be less difference among those funds in later years than the names suggest. I guess my question is whether people are comfortable with the 30% i...

I'm not concerned about your exposure to bonds as much as I am about you holding 11% of your overall portfolio value in just 2 equities. That is what we call undiversifed risk - how would you feel if the value of it dropped by half tomorrow and doesn't recover? What are your plans for those 2 equiti...

I was planning on moving some money from our home state plan to Utah, as we are no longer actively contributing, but I confess I find the age-based allocations very confusing. For example, "age-based moderate" (which used to be " diversified B") is 50/50 stocks/bonds at age 10-1...

someone should calculate the chance of winning if you don't buy a ticket. it isn't zero. It's infinite. People are getting a little too giddy on the lines at the store - saw one feller tonight (not me) drop a cool Benjamin on it, then proceed to tell the store clerk he was buying more when he got h...

I caved and bought a couple of tickets, but hedged my bet and bought some more VTI today. So, in the off chance my tickets fail to hit, hopefully those shares will more than make up for it in about 30 years.
Now I don't feel like I squandered my hard earned money.

Listened to a few diferent radio shows, the Dolans, Bob Brinker, Bill Bresnan, read Money Magazine, read Bogle on Mutual Funds. Got tired of paying higher fees for uneven performance and tired of constant manager changes.

Looks like the flavor of a Merriman type portfolio with the inclusion of S&P 500 and then Value Index along with various other slices for equity only. I don't recall him ever recommending the use of "junk" in fixed income.

Hello, I just retired, and at mid April was in the process of moving money from 401K to Vanguard, with plans to invest in Index funds. the transfer was as cash. Market started to run up and I waited and waited for the right time to buy Index Stock fund and now it is really scary to buy into stock m...

You know the standard advice if you do win - Tell no one!!! Obtain legal counsel, set up a trust, have the trust claim the ticket. Purchase super high limits on personal umbrella. Be sure to share your largesse with charities that have low overhead including the John C. Bogle Financial Literacy Pro...

My wife and I both graduated from Penn State. We're doing pretty well for ourselves and would have no problem sending our two kids to a State U at a much lower cost than an expensive private school. Just a note that Penn State is one of the most expensive state colleges/universities. Yes, it has go...

I find the online transition interesting. It appears to me that many institutions view this as untapped potential revenue. That perception reminds me the empty buildings back in the day after the last classes let out in late afternoon. Now all those buildings are full well into the evening (more cl...

I've heard don't sign your winning ticket. Put it in the safe deposit box, set up a trust, then have a designated trust representative sign the ticket in the legal name of the trust. If you sign the ticket in your name - you have to show up and claim it in most states. Maybe I'm naive but I don't f...

I think college administrations should be allowed to charge what the market will bear. Supply and demand. When people refuse to pay their prices, then those prices won't be paid anymore. It is that simple. Fine, limit the issuance of credit to those who can afford to pay back the loans based on the...

The media certainly isn't blowing the insane increase in tuition costs out of proportion. At some universities (as I noted earlier, including where I did my undergrad) tuition has tripled in the past decade. To say that is cause for concern would be a mild understatement. Yes, some areas are more e...

I personally think college costs are the next thing to crash. This has bubble written all over it. The ROI is just not there in a lot of cases... There is an entire generation... strapped with tremendous debt, little means to repay, and the debt cannot be discharged in BK. Granted they should have ...

My wife and I both graduated from Penn State. We're doing pretty well for ourselves and would have no problem sending our two kids to a State U at a much lower cost than an expensive private school. Just a note that Penn State is one of the most expensive state colleges/universities. Was about to p...

For those who were worried about funding their kids college savings or even thinking about doing so, read this: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dear-class-of-13-youve-been-scammed-2013-05-17 The first real article that talks about the realities of today, as opposed to the usual drivel we've been ac...

So you have your e-fund, you have your down payment money. Now what is your asset allocation plan look like? 100% all in equity, 80/20 or 70/30? You can think of your next taxable move as this - say it's 70/30 - 70% of your next contribution goes into Total Stk Market Index/Total Intl Stk Index, 30%...

One note of interest with the Hussman Fund - at least since duration, he has done a good job of picking equities. Not that is may continue moving forward, but his unhedged portfolio would have done pretty well. I think he takes into consideration valuations when choosing his picks. RM You could jus...

My biggest concern with cash would be others' expectations. If they know you are getting an annuity for $9 - $30 million per year, close family and friends will expect a certain gift amount. If they know you have $350 million on hand, then those hand out expectations drastically increase. I could s...

If an active manager isn't willing to put their skin in the game, why isn't that significant? The fund is sold on beating the market hype. An active manager that isn't willing to risk a significant portion of their assets on their own fund, makes me believe they don't believe their own strategy is ...

Take the cash. The PV of today's dollar will be worth more overtime assuming you take reasonably good care of it. How much can you spend in one lifetime? Do you have any idea how much the estate taxes will be on that, even if you do place it in various trusts - you can pretty much guarantee at least...

Are their any opinions of the combination of 40% GNMA,40%short term corp 10% limited duration muni and 10% ibonds vs total bond for the next 5 years or so for a fixed income allocation? What are you seeking to accomplish that requires such a varied distribution and composition of fixed income that ...

if you don't even have kids yet, sure go aggressive. You might want, say 10% bonds if you want to semi-actively rebalance within account to hope for a rebalancing performance bonus, but since 529's limit transactions... probably not. I don't think there exists a rebalancing bonus when the compariso...

Stupid is as stupid does.

I hear those folks in my memory like it was yesterday. "What? You're an investor and you aren't in Janus Funds, Scudder Ultra and Vista and QQQ? Well you are just leaving easy money on the table - these babies earn 40% a year on average! Just look at the data...." That's Twentieth Century...

If one of your criteria for buying this fund was that the manager owned significant chunks of it, then that has changed and you should sell. If you didn't care when you bought this fund if the manager owned shares or not, then it doesn't matter what you do. I purchased this fund 3 managers ago. At ...

No, I would not sell the fund if it continues to meet your needs. The fact that the manager has little or no holdings in it should not be of any concern. Isn't it enough that his livelihood and occupation depends on his ability to outperform his benchmark? Think of it this way, the manager who by th...

Very well thought out on all these points. As many have stated, it is a huge investment, and post-MBA salary is not guaranteed. That being said, MBA gives me the chance to get into consulting or i-banking. I am a former consultant at a mid-tier firm, but would not be able to get into a top 5 consul...

Concur, hospitals and medical professionals will bill you the maximum and try to get as much as they can. You as the consumer on the other hand should make an effort to have multiple polite conversations with medical billing at both the hospital (which I assume is in network) and the surgeon (who ma...

It depends on how well you and your parents can live together. Like roommates in college who should discuss living arrangements and sign contracts, you and your parents should talk about how to live together more like "roommates". Who is going to do what chores? Who is going to pay for wh...

[quote="EmergDoc"]I also have "Valuethinker-style" sympathy, but agree that all mistakes weren't made at 18, and besides, isn't 18 the age at which we become responsible for ourselves? [quote] Where's "letsgobobby" with his frontal lobe analysis about immaturity of the ...

I've been putting away the max in my 401k, and into non-deductible IRAs for me and the Mrs. Beyond that, we've been splitting between 529s for both kids, and taxable investments. I'm interested in what others do, split somehow between 529s and taxable investments as well, or allocate solely to one ...

My kids are 3 and 6, their traditional 529s are 100% invested in stocks, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. That may be true for you, however if one has "won the game or is close to winning it" would you still feel the need to place all your chips on "red"? The OP asked...

I have a Merrill Lynch CMA account that I have been putting money into for my daughters college. The fund is doing well, but I am considering taking it out now as she will be college age in two years. Thoughts? Hello and welcome to the forum! How is the CMA currently invested? Can you list investme...

There seem to be a lot of these articles recently saying we are all doomed due to low returns but return on a balanced portfolio have not been low over the last couple years - in fact thanks to the equity portion of a balanced portfolio, returns have been very good. Yes - but results do not grow in...

Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm not much older than you (assuming normal college graduation age). I think 60/40 is possibly too conservative. If you're just coming out of college, is it going to be, say, 5 years before any future child would be born ? If so, the money will be needed over a 5...

Why is Sallie Mae unable to adjust the 7% variable to a lower fixed rate? It's done for mortgages all the time through use of a swap. There is a cost for the swap, but that is usually nominal <$1,000. Have you tried to obtain a refinancing of the variable rate loan with another provider, say Discove...

A cup of coffee and maybe some donuts...... Honestly, this fellow is going to try and sell you on their PAS service - Portfolio Advisory Services where they will manage your money for a fee, that will include all asset allocation and timing services so you can just relax and enjoy your pina colada b...

My order of preference is: The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy - Larry Swedroe The Four Pillars of Investing - William Bernstein and All About Asset Allocation - Rick Ferri I've read all three, all are chockfull of information, Larry's would likely be the easiest to read on the beach. :b...

As a teacher on Long Island, you ought to be aware of the general animosity towards teachers, school districts and administrators by those who pay those school taxes. Average property taxes are $10K on the island, ask yourself this, how sustainable are those 5%+ annual increases when the wage base i...

Hello and welcome to the forum! Reading recommendation is Ferri's book, All About Asset Allocation, Bernstein - Four Pillars of Investing is more user friendly if you are not mathematically inclined for Intelligent Asset Allocator and Swedroe - The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy. Oh, an...

my school cost more in tuition than Harvard When you were 18 tuition and fees at Harvard were $16,500. Five years couldn't have cost more than $100,000, assuming a homeless teenager got zero financial aid. It could if interest was accruing throughout the deferral period prior to loan repayment. In ...