Bogleheads.org

At your age, and assuming you are in excellent health you will pay the cheapest rates for term life insurance over the next 10 years or so. At age 40+ it gets progressively more expensive for insurance terms of 20+ years. If I were in your shoes, I'd pick up enough insurance to provide for mortgage,...

Any body figure in the cost of doing business such as: Commuting (or running that second or third vehicle), maintaining a business wardrobe (all those suits and dress shirts or blouses and skirts now in the back of the closet), business lunches. We moved to a community in warmer climes so that wint...

+3 I can not see the point of having to accumulate 12-15x gross income, especially since my expenses are not 100% of gross or net income. It's just a ploy by the money management business to grab more fee income. And there will be social security income, it's not going away.

I think its time for international index to rise! PE ratios are lower than US. Plus international has underperformed for a while now, and is trailing the US by a large amount this year so far. Has anyone increased the % in international? I have. Overbalanced to international to an extent. What's yo...

You all have definitely given us something to think about. I brought up using the money to pay off the mortgage with my H, and he was very enthusiastic about the idea. Our current investments: Me (age 41): $21,000 in a 403b from previous private school employment $4600 in a brokerage (38% Oppenheim...

Hello and welcome to the forum! Take out the mortgage - you will be buying peace of mind and reducing your husbands stress levels. The stock market can provide returns, but those two I mentioned are something it will not deliver. You will save $5,360 in interest payments in the first year the mortga...

I have had an umbrella insurance policy for about as long as I remember, at least beginning when I was 40 (I'm now 67). My brother, a lawyer, advised me to get a policy to protect assets against litigation. I just renew it automatically now and probably should give it another more thorough review. ...

The only problem is that very few IRA, 401(k), or 403(b) custodians will actually accept the "retained in trust" beneficiary designation, since this requires a contingent testamentary trust that springs into existence only under specified circumstances. Just try it with Vanguard for examp...

Talking a former co-worker out of a new job with a competing company shortly before 1 World Trade Center fell down. The potential new employer with whom this co-worker had a firm job offer with and had already accepted but then reneged, lost all of their staff that morning. I pissed the hiring manag...

EmergDoc wrote:Best answer is that sometimes active management DOES work.

Believe the Total Intl Stock Index excluded Emerging Markets at one point. The Value and Growth funds have the abiity to go "anywhere".

I think it is a mistake to wait. Within 24 months you will be married; it is not indefinitely in the future that you will have a dependent (you didn't say if your wife is financially independent or not). A lot can change about your health in 24 months. You can at least get $500,000 for twenty years...

You may want to aim for financial independence before 65. Young people do not realize the extent to which (some) older people wear down. Social Security, which is solvent for decades despite the claims of various individuals, and would continue to be solvent almost permanently if the salary cap is ...

$3K each or $1K per each trust arrangement?

Maybe BSteiner can opine on this - believe he's a estates and trust professional.

The only way you can control it through age 26 is by using trust. Bruce The main reason why I wanted to separate that from my portfolio is that I wanted a 100% AA in addition to the convenience to separate 2 different purposes. Are the costs for a trust worth their still small portfolio? A Trust is...

Expecting my first in August So I'm probably right along with you. Things I have noticed: Life insurance...I still need to look into this. Avoiding all of the additonal not nessecary baby crap they sell, garage sales are great for clothes. Do you need a new vehicle? My two seat pickup wouldnt of wo...

It's okay to take a gamble with a little bit of your money. Had I done so, I'd have a few million in the bank. :oops: It is far easier to recoup from minor mistakes earlier in life than to recover from a major mistake later in life. Work for the government - every single person I went to high school...

Why I do it? Simple or perhaps not so simple: - grew up in household where resources were scarce - have seen mega corps in practice gut their rank and file pensions/salaries/benefits to pay for outlandish compensation to inept senior executives - job insecurity and/or age discrimination - financial ...

You would have to withdraw more like $180,000 to end up with $135,000 assuming a 25% tax rate. However, if you took out $180,000 you would end up in the 28% federal bracket - possibly even 33%. Plus we haven't accounted for state taxes. Personally I think this is a bad strategy. I would probably ju...

For a moment, I thought the bull....was inferring something else.

Grt2bOutdoors, I'm not sure anyone who purchased a 30-year treasury bond in 1990 is laughing all the way to the bank. I can't give you a chart with specifics because of time constraints but a quick perusal of the historical CPI-U suggests that a hypothetical $100,000 30-year bond purchased January ...

I don't like ARM's in a rising rate enviornment. If you do use a 5/5 option, make sure you have the funds to pay off in 5 years, otherwise you'll be rueing the day you refied from your current low rate.

Sheepdog wrote:A RBD are for those living in storm damaged communities in Oklahoma this week and Texas last week.

Thanks for putting it all in perspective. Of course, you are right.

Toons wrote:RBD=RGD(Really Good Day)for long term investors,it is nice when hamburger goes on sale

Better yet, I really like it when the filet mignon goes on sale for 1/2 off.

A 30-year treasury bond is risky! You will be eaten alive with inflation. There is no such thing as a risk-free investment. Ultimately, you'll have to decide how much and what type of risk you're comfortable with. Yes, and that's why those who purchased 30 year treasuries in the early 1990's have b...

Drywall paste will flake and is not suitable for trafficked areas. It also seems you have not solved the problem with the crack. It should not have a depression - that indicates that the surface crack may be 1/8 of an inch, but below it there is space - a deep crack. I would have either used two app...

It's better not to be emotional about your holdings. Obviously since there is that familial connection and you desire to hold them, then do so. Overtime, it's important not to let them grow to an unwieldy size.

A 30-year treasury bond is risky! You will be eaten alive with inflation. There is no such thing as a risk-free investment. Ultimately, you'll have to decide how much and what type of risk you're comfortable with. Artsdoctor Yes, and that's why those who purchased 30 year treasuries in the early 19...

Rather than posting my IPS here for anyone to see, I was curious if there are any people on the forums who wouldn't mind reading my IPS and providing comments or suggestions. Is there a list of users who volunteer their time doing this? Well done, for a first crack! :wink: A bit lengthy, but that's...

Sidney wrote:I believe a message will stay in the out box until the recipient reads it.

That is correct.

The intent of an e-fund is for the funds to be readily available. If you lock up the funds in a CD and are forced to liquidate it, you will incur some sort of interest penalty. The penalty at Ally is 60 days interest. If you placed 60% of your e-fund in the savings account - .60 x 1% = 60bps If you ...

If you're going to use a Target Retirement fund, using other funds in conjunction with other funds kind of defeats the purpose of it. A target retirement fund is designed to be a well diversified (domestic, international and fixed income) portfolio that automatically rebalances itself.

Thanks all. Very helpful. Follow-up question: How do I figure out what interest it earned each year (or whatever frequency makes sense) throughout the life of the bond? For example, something like this: 1992: 3% 1993: 3.5% 1994 ... ... 2013: 4% Look it up on http://www.treasurydirect.gov - there th...

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. There are no 30 year T Bills, however there are 30 year Treasury bonds. My opinion, no - I'd hold 20% equity as...

Rather than posting my IPS here for anyone to see, I was curious if there are any people on the forums who wouldn't mind reading my IPS and providing comments or suggestions. Is there a list of users who volunteer their time doing this? Post the IPS - we'll critique it for you. We are a motley crue...

azurik wrote:I noticed I forgot to include the expense ratio... I'll try to update it when I have a moment, but most of these funds have ultra low fees, there's a few that hover in the .80% range.

Welcome to the forum!

What is the ballpark size of portfolio? Then we can tell you how well you are doing.

It has already doubled in value once, as the others have said it yield 4%. If you don't need the money, leave it alone - folks can't get 4% in a 30 year bond today.

The company had been listed with NYSE since the beginning. And it is like a culure to put money in the stock. Seniors would walk to the new hires, and their first adivce is to put as much as you can to the stock. It had been a good investment, I made more profits after tax than my total contributio...

Update: 05/22/13 It's been nearly two years since making the decision to invest $23k ($10k total stock, $13k total bond). In the last two years we have increased our down payment savings for a house and continued to max out both Roths and her 401k. My wife is currently pregnant, with our first daug...

Those expense ratios are very high... And there's way too many funds... You can get a ton of diversification with just 3 Vanguard funds... Total Stock Market Index - 0.05% expenses Total International Stock Market Index - 0.16% expenses Total Bond Market Index - 0.10% expenses If you have $100,000 ...

First glance - why are you paying an upfront sales charge? Second glance - if you are paying anything more than 0.25 bps for ANY fund, you are paying way too much! Third thought - Where is your financial advisor's yacht parked? Have you been to his house? Is there Cristal in the refrigerator? Did yo...

Hello and welcome to the forum!
You may know your symbols by heart - but we don't and we don't have the time to look each of them up. Can you please list by name the investments with their expense ratios and percentage of portfolio held in each?

Nice ASICS, btw.

I understand the concern for the 30% in company stock. It is a very safe stock, to a point that I actually feel as safe as a bond fund. It weathered through the recession really well. I would not contribute less than the max limit for contribution. Safe is cash in hand or a US Treasury. Everything ...

I understand the concern for the 30% in company stock. It is a very safe stock, to a point that I actually feel as safe as a bond fund. It weathered through the recession really well. I would not contribute less than the max limit for contribution. I realize we are just a bunch of random, anonymous...

Why should the thread be locked?! We're trying to understand the language of an official, not speculating. Stopping QE will stop supplying $85B/month of new money. Stopping reinvestment (which I believe is what's meant by "roll-off") with a $3T balance sheet holding 30-year paper will des...

Is the $1,200 you get in rent, net to you? If you have to pay taxes on rental income, you may need to generate more than $1,800 in monthly income.

What is your tax bracket - Fed + State/Local? Tax efficiency in regards to home downpayment or maximize Traditional 401k over Roth 401k option? Also, if you are in a high tax bracket combined (assuming that since you live in NYC - likely paying AMT now, if not will soon be with your new addition (co...

I have about $150k cash that I would like to invest in a taxable portfolio. Was looking at Paul Merriman's Vanguard Tax Managed Portfolio. I'm in the 15% tax bracket. Do you think that portfolio would be appropriate for me? I don't know who Paul Merriman is, but truly you haven't given enough info ...

Check out - whitecoatinvestor blog written by one of the posters on the forum EmergDoc. Avoid buying Whole Life Insurance or Annuities. Take this advice from Dr. Bernstein - Your broker is not your buddy. If you can read medical books, you can pretty much manage your own money and save the expense a...

I have about $150k cash that I would like to invest in a taxable portfolio. Was looking at Paul Merriman's Vanguard Tax Managed Portfolio. I'm in the 15% tax bracket. Do you think that portfolio would be appropriate for me? I don't know who Paul Merriman is, but truly you haven't given enough info ...

Bernacke implied slow in his testimony-or i inferred it. i hate imply and inferred- I can see this becoming "locked". My take is "if its not legally binding", then it holds zero water. In other words, you can say one thing today and do something else at any time. The key word be...