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Re: How Much Did You Spend on Your Engagement Ring??

About $2,500, 32 years ago.
Worth every penny.
by Hexdump
Thu May 16, 2013 8:17 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How Much Did You Spend on Your Engagement Ring??
Replies: 252
Views: 9626

Re: Another Wellesley vs Target Retirement Income Question

This was my reasoning when I was deciding on a 1 or 2 fund portfolio, necessitated by my advancing years, and a younger wife that has 0 (zero) interest in asset allocation, rebalancing, tax implications, etc. I looked at both Wellesley and TRI trying to decide on one or the other or a 50/50 split. I...
by Hexdump
Sat May 11, 2013 10:52 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Another Wellesley vs Target Retirement Income Question
Replies: 40
Views: 2310

Re: Books that have actually changed your life, in a way.

Not a book but an essay, Letters from Earth by Mark Twain, coupled with Your Most Enchanted Listener by Wendell Johnson.
They changed my life in that they affirmed what I had suspected/thought.
by Hexdump
Thu May 09, 2013 10:07 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Books that have actually changed your life, in a way.
Replies: 149
Views: 8686

Re: I bonds for vacation and emergency fund

We bought ours and continue to do so in lieu of a Long Term Care policy.
If we need it, they will be there and inflation protected though probably not sufficient to cover health care inflation.
If we don't need them, then so much the better.
by Hexdump
Wed May 08, 2013 10:27 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: I bonds for vacation and emergency fund
Replies: 14
Views: 1052

Re: Valuethinker - thank you for Winston Churchill

[OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek]
by Hexdump
Sat May 04, 2013 10:18 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Valuethinker - thank you for Winston Churchill
Replies: 25
Views: 1457

Re: FIRECalc Question

I am curious to know if Firecalc, FIDO RIP, or any other predicting calculators have worked out.
I know that it's past history and probably no one has tracked it but has anyone kept their projections from say, 20 years ago, and how have they panned out.

Just curious.
by Hexdump
Fri May 03, 2013 7:29 am
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: FIRECalc Question
Replies: 14
Views: 1393

Re: Can You Ace FINRA's Financial Literacy Quiz?

This is really good and I agree with you Nis. I stopped for a bit after reading that one. I am also using the test for another purpose. One of my concerns about when I pass is leaving the management of our assets in my wifes hands when she doesn't have a clue. I gave her the test and she got 66%. Sh...
by Hexdump
Wed May 01, 2013 12:02 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Can You Ace FINRA's Financial Literacy Quiz?
Replies: 111
Views: 4553

Another Social Security question

We are trying to figure out what my wife's benefits will be when she becomes eligible, eligible+1, eligible+2, etc., and at FRA. She will be retiring this Sept. at age 57 1/4. The SSA web site assumes she will continue working at her present salary, when they do their projections of her benefits. Ar...
by Hexdump
Tue Apr 23, 2013 10:40 pm
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Another Social Security question
Replies: 3
Views: 398

Re: Review my plan to ditch satellite service

We did this and are still working out other solutions. We had DirectTv to the tune of about $80.00/month. 4 TVs with 3 DVR 2 were HD We installed an outdoor antenna in the attic and used the existing DirectTv wiring for the antenna. I think the antenna cost about $100 and we installed it ourselves. ...
by Hexdump
Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:09 pm
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Review my plan to ditch satellite service
Replies: 45
Views: 3219

Re: Why have an inflation target?

And then that begs the question "Do Bogleheads make any kind of adjustments if inflation ramps up and stays up ?" Our plan provides for an inflation rate (IR) of 3% and I am not sure what we would do (if anything), if the IR went up like it did in the 70s. Those holding TIPs would be ok bu...
by Hexdump
Fri Apr 12, 2013 9:22 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why have an inflation target?
Replies: 8
Views: 460

Re: Permanenr email address

I looked at Gmail but rejected it in favor of Fastmail.fm What I didn't like that was important to me, and that Outlook and Fastmail had, was the ability to create and organize a lot of folders and sub-folders, by topic. At the time it was cumbersome to organize saved messages and then be able find ...
by Hexdump
Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:36 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Permanent email address
Replies: 45
Views: 2810

Re: So, when the eventual bond rate increase begins…

The most interesting thing I've gleaned from this forum is this: one should carefully compare bond funds to the absurdly simple alternative of FDIC-insured bank CDs. Nis, just a question on how you do your comparisons. Do you look at CD rates with an equivalent term to the duration of a bond fund ?...
by Hexdump
Tue Apr 09, 2013 6:49 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: So, when the eventual bond rate increase begins…
Replies: 49
Views: 3677

Re: Charitable giving, one time vs weekly

We generally write about $5,000 annually to the church and it's a toss up whether or not we get to itemize. Normally I would be withdrawing the $5,000 above and beyond the RMD in order to fund the donations as part of our annual budget. Since you are right on the bubble as far as itemizing, start g...
by Hexdump
Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:40 am
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Charitable giving, one time vs weekly
Replies: 9
Views: 755

Re: Charitable giving, one time vs weekly

Are you referring to a "qualified charitable distribution" allowed in 2013? Have you attained the age of 70.5 at the time of distribution to the qualified charity? Have you taken your "required minimum distribution" prior to making the QCD? A qualified QCD is a distribution from...
by Hexdump
Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:33 pm
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Charitable giving, one time vs weekly
Replies: 9
Views: 755

Charitable giving, one time vs weekly

I saw that it is possible to do a rollover from an IRA to a charitable organization, thereby avoiding any thought of having to pay taxes on the IRA withdrawal. Would that be preferred rather than writing a check once a week ? In theory, the weekly check comes from a RMD from the IRA which would be t...
by Hexdump
Sun Apr 07, 2013 12:23 pm
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Charitable giving, one time vs weekly
Replies: 9
Views: 755

Re: 30 year bond prices up 2-3% today!!

Hexdump, Re your username and icon: does anyone still read hexdumps in this day and age? I used to, for a living, in the early and mid-1980s. Even then it was becoming a lost art. Lol, Scooter. I still do it once in a great while just to impress my java and c++ enabled, son. I love the 404040404040...
by Hexdump
Sun Apr 07, 2013 12:19 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year bond prices up 2-3% today!!
Replies: 39
Views: 3892

Re: 30 year bond prices up 2-3% today!!

^I think grayfox made a ton in investments (i.e. stocks and LT bonds) and did not want to lose those gains by leaving his money in those investments. So he sold his risky assets and bought fixed income funds paying 0% to 0.3%. For the most part, I have been selling risky assets, both stocks and LT ...
by Hexdump
Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:20 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year bond prices up 2-3% today!!
Replies: 39
Views: 3892

Re: 30 year bond prices up 2-3% today!!

For the most part, I have been selling risky assets, both stocks and LT bonds, and buying short-term CDs and Treasuries. They are only yielding 0 to 0.3%. But I've made a ton in the past few years, up about about 48% the past four years. That is like 15 or 20 years of withdrawals. Why risk it? It s...
by Hexdump
Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:22 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 30 year bond prices up 2-3% today!!
Replies: 39
Views: 3892

A single fund, Wellesley, in a taxable account

Because my wife is quite a bit younger than me and has no interest in rebalancing, etc., we have settled on a one-fund solution and the fund is Wellesley. So, is Wellesley "OK" in a taxable account or is there another fund we should consider ? I will need to leave her instructions on how t...
by Hexdump
Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:47 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: A single fund, Wellesley, in a taxable account
Replies: 5
Views: 514

Re: Buying a car for my daughter

We did something similar for our son with a proviso. If he made the honor role through high school, we would buy him a new car upon graduation. He did and we did and it was a 2003 Toyota Corolla and importantly, a stick shift. He hated it at the time but thanks me now. Oh yeah, he also now owns a Co...
by Hexdump
Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:38 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying a car for my daughter
Replies: 70
Views: 3763

Re: Low Cost Computer/HTPC [Home Theater PC - Raspberry Pi]

If anyone is looking for a low cost solution for basic computing or a media PC, check out Rasberry Pi. I learned about this neat little piece of tech recently and am planning on building a HTPC to replace my Roku (lack of youtube really killed it for me): http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs http://en.w...
by Hexdump
Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:48 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Low Cost Computer/HTPC [Home Theater PC - Raspberry Pi]
Replies: 22
Views: 2810

Re: Jack Bogle on CNBC warns about bumpy ride next decade

Bottom line: Don't invest more than an amount that if it did drop 50% and took 15 years to come back wouldn't ruin your life. So, what happens to the dividends and cap gains of say, Wellesley and Wellington, if the Black Swan event of a 50% drop does happen ? Looking at those 2 during 2008-2009 and...
by Hexdump
Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:40 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Jack Bogle on CNBC warns about bumpy ride next decade
Replies: 35
Views: 5816

Re: any ideas for a slightly higher yield than MM?

What we use is with Vanguard, VMLTX, Limited Term Tax Exempt.
It works the same way as the money market as far as being able to write checks on it.
by Hexdump
Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:34 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: any ideas for a slightly higher yield than MM?
Replies: 19
Views: 1794

Re: Early retirement and planning for medical costs

I think somewhat related so,,,,,
Does anyone know what the plans being offered by the exchanges will look like ?
Deductible ?
Office Visit costs ?
Annual exams ?
Prescriptions ?
Etc ?
Etc ?

All those good things that I worry about ?
by Hexdump
Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:07 pm
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Early retirement and planning for medical costs
Replies: 19
Views: 2528

Re: Some Social Security Questions

Guesswork, but the number you stated for her survivor benefit of $1395 at 60 seems to be your current benefit amount. That's judging from you saying her spousal at 62 is $371, implying your PIA is $1140. (That looks like you delayed SS past 66 somewhat). Her PIA seems to be around $1057 if she is g...
by Hexdump
Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:54 am
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Some Social Security Questions
Replies: 5
Views: 685

Some Social Security Questions

These have to do with my wife's benefits and are based upon my fumbling with the various calculators which is another frustrating story. 1st, just the facts maam. My age = 73, estimated death year = 2025 based upon SSA mortality tables. Her birth date=5/30/1956 She is working now but plans to stop a...
by Hexdump
Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:48 am
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Some Social Security Questions
Replies: 5
Views: 685

Rollover IRA withdrawal to HSA

I think that this is possible in that I saw some questions on a form somewhere asking if any part of the IRA withdrawal was going into an HSA. It appears to be a once a lifetime event and I think it will make sense to us next year. My questions are these. My wife's HSA is with Optum Health and the I...
by Hexdump
Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:56 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: Rollover IRA withdrawal to HSA
Replies: 2
Views: 282

Social Security benefits

I am looking at my wife's statement and when they project her benefits at FRA they estimate a certain figure for her remaining working career. My problem is that I would like to estimate what her benefit will be at 62 and 66 1/3, if she were to stop working in 6 months. According to the SSA, her FRA...
by Hexdump
Tue Mar 26, 2013 6:29 pm
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Social Security benefits
Replies: 2
Views: 324

Re: Where are Vanguard declared dividends posted?

Are dividends pro-rated ? A google search says that it is a rare event, but I seem to remember getting partial dividends. Hmmm, it might have been when moving some funds from Fidelity to Vanguard, but I am not sure. I always thought they were, even though you sell the fund before the record date. An...
by Hexdump
Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:31 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: Where are Vanguard declared dividends posted?
Replies: 25
Views: 1673

Re: Where are Vanguard declared dividends posted?

Hmmm, I don't see any bond funds there, specifically VBMFX. Also, is it accurate to say that the funds like VSCGX, Life Style Conservative Growth, which is made up of 28+-% of VTSMX (div=0.166), Total Stock Market Index, would post a dividend of 28+-%, of VTSMX (0.166 x 28% = 0.04648) ? Phew, that's...
by Hexdump
Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:57 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: Where are Vanguard declared dividends posted?
Replies: 25
Views: 1673

Re: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info

70% equities seems risky for 3.7% withdrawal and 30 years of joint life expectancy. My guess is the risk of portfolio failure is high. have you thought about annuitizing part of this? It also would satisfy your simplicity requirement. You're absolutely correct Tarn, and I had the numbers backwards....
by Hexdump
Sun Mar 17, 2013 11:29 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info]
Replies: 10
Views: 748

Re: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info

Thanks for the reply. I think that what it proves is that if the past (1996-2013) 17 years were to repeat exactly the same starting today, this where I will wind up. Are you trying to look at funds for withdrawal optimization? One thing I can guarantee is that the next 17 years will not be anything...
by Hexdump
Sun Mar 17, 2013 12:08 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info]
Replies: 10
Views: 748

Re: What to do in San Diego?

We always liked to go to the Reuben Fleet Space Theater in Balboa park, I think. Along with the zoo and the wild animal park.
Though it's been a lot of years since we have been there.
by Hexdump
Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:16 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What to do in San Diego?
Replies: 16
Views: 1100

Re: Floundering seniors must preserve capital - maximize inc

Hi. We are in somewhat the same boat, though your paid off house is better. We too have about 1.25m in assets with about 1.1m of that investable. What we are going to do is settle on one fund whose track record is attractive. IE, didn't lose too much value during the recessions. So far we have boile...
by Hexdump
Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:25 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: Floundering seniors must preserve capital - maximize income
Replies: 15
Views: 2497

Re: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info

Maybe a naive, but sincere question--what are you going to do with this data? Paul Well, I have crafted a spreadsheet that back tests various funds. It takes a fund from inception, and then quarterly, reinvests the distributions, and sells enough shares to meet my quarterly budget. I then look at h...
by Hexdump
Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:14 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info]
Replies: 10
Views: 748

Re: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info

I use Yahoo, but that is simply because that's what Perl's Finance::Quote module uses. What specific errors have you seen that make you want a different data source? And probably more importantly for alternate recommendations, what download format do you need the data to be in for your purposes? Ex...
by Hexdump
Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:28 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info]
Replies: 10
Views: 748

Re: TV streaming help/advice

retiredjg wrote:Since you no longer have your old TV channels, is it possible that others in your home are also streaming stuff at the same time more often than in the past? I'm no techie, just guessing.


Good point. My wife periodocally streams Korean video and it plays heck with my speed.
by Hexdump
Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:20 pm
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: TV streaming help/advice
Replies: 10
Views: 967

Re: TV streaming help/advice

I have ROKU hooked to ATT Uverse and it also varies though seems to eventually settle down. Is your ROKU connected via wired or wireless ? I think there is an option in the ROKU box to test what speed you are getting. So, poke around in the menus and see if you can find it. I also, periodically powe...
by Hexdump
Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:28 am
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: TV streaming help/advice
Replies: 10
Views: 967

Re: Alternatives to Quicken

What I use is KMyMoney. I went from MSMoney to Quicken all the time trying other products like GnuCash and Moneydance and a few others before I settled on KMyMoney. I have 2 investment companies, Fidelity and Vanguard with about 10 accounts combined. 4 banks, 6 credit cards, and 2 credit unions. I o...
by Hexdump
Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:11 pm
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Alternatives to Quicken
Replies: 17
Views: 2397

What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info]

I used to use Yahoo for historical records of Vanguard funds. Prices, (open, close) and dividends, and capital gains, but I have found a lot of errors and was looking around for another, preferrable free. Vanguard only goes back about 1.5 years. I especially want to be able to download them so I can...
by Hexdump
Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:26 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: What site to use for downloading ? [Historical fund info]
Replies: 10
Views: 748

Re: VTSAX Capital Gains

As I read a bit more the fund supposedly holds approximately all the common stocks in the US. From the NY times: which represents approximately 99.5% or more of the total market capitalization of all the U.S. common stocks regularly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq over-the-count...
by Hexdump
Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:11 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: VTSAX Capital Gains
Replies: 11
Views: 884

VTSAX Capital Gains

I am reviewing my fund selections towards the 3 fund solution and saw something that I am not sure of. It's this. VTSAX, the total stock market fund has not distributed capital gains for the past 2 years yet my understanding is that it is a crucial component of the 3 fund solution. Equities are to p...
by Hexdump
Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:44 pm
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: VTSAX Capital Gains
Replies: 11
Views: 884

Re: The Three Fund Portfolio

***Moved to a new thread.
by Hexdump
Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:04 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Three Fund Portfolio
Replies: 454
Views: 127958

Re: The Three Fund Portfolio

Is there a link to, or has anyone done a back test to see how a 3-fund portfolio has done ?

I would like to plug in my AA %s and see how it would have performed. Understanding, of course, that past performance, etc., etc.

Terrific article Taylor, and thanks again.
by Hexdump
Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:03 am
 
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Three Fund Portfolio
Replies: 454
Views: 127958

Re: Risk free investment

What we have instead of the money market is VMLTX, Vanguard Limited Term Tax Exempt. It doesn't fluctuate a whole lot and we write checks on it.
by Hexdump
Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:29 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: Risk free investment
Replies: 10
Views: 665

Re: I'm 23 and moving out, should I get a credit card?

I would say yes, but only with no annual fees, and if you pay it off every month.
Plus, get one with some kind of rewards that help you. I am not keen on flyer miles.
by Hexdump
Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:33 am
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I'm 23 and moving out, should I get a credit card?
Replies: 46
Views: 1942

Re: Estimating Retirement Expenses

To the OP my wife and I have set a budget of $5500 per month. Living in a "no tax" state, TX, but still have 5 years left on the mortgage. Wow Trudy, no offense meant, but that's a lot. Did you consider a library card or sites like http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/ where you can get free or n...
by Hexdump
Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:51 am
 
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Estimating Retirement Expenses
Replies: 21
Views: 1328

Re: what recent retiree should learn from 2008

This is very interesting to us and pertinent. I have been retired for 8 years and my wife will retire in Sept. of this year at 56. We are invested 100% in Wellesley Admiral(VWIAX) for 2 main reasons. It is close to our AA, 38% equities, 58% bonds, and primarily the simplicity in that my wife has no ...
by Hexdump
Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:32 am
 
Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
Topic: what recent retiree should learn from 2008
Replies: 23
Views: 2433

Re: My wife ruined my stereo speakers.

I owe my Frau an apology. There were 2 things causing it, at least that seems to be the case. The speaker grill cover was loose and rattling slightly and I think there was some multi-path as Nis suggested or some other interference. I had never experienced any signal distortion from this station bef...
by Hexdump
Tue Mar 05, 2013 1:53 pm
 
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My wife ruined my stereo speakers.
Replies: 27
Views: 2269
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