Bogleheads.org

I have $4000 in a HSA and $2000 in an ESA in cash that I've been waiting on for a few weeks. It's a small enough thing to where I know I should just do it, but I haven't.

I'm not sure I understand the direct connection often made between how trepedation on when to enter the market equates vs one's risk tolerance. I have a piddly $10k or so in cash from filling 2012 Roths and ESAs in April, and even going all in with that has bothered me. However, once I do go in I'm ...

Interesting information. I haven't bought any more REIT funds in 18 months or so and they're still a few percentage points higher than I would like in my asset allocation. Sounds like it is a good time to be not buying more of them while my future contributions continue to rebalance my REIT % down.

Thanks for posting the article. Seems as though the minimum standard of living in retirement is better than it's ever been and easier to attain than ever. The typical sky is falling for baby boomer retirees with no savings angle is more about the harsh reality that so many that view themselves as be...

My child is very young, but I intend to stick with 100% equities at least up until age 16. I think we'll be able to afford thier college one way or another so I'll try to hit a home run with the dedicated tax free growth portion of it.

This certainly causes me some psychological warfare. I really hate that the market has run up like it has in 2013 right now because last week I maxed my 2012 Roths, my 2012 HSA, and my 2012 ESA. I felt a lot better lump summing in prior years.

Interesting and potentially very good news. Especially for those of us with Schwab self directed accounts within 401ks.

I have some major goals that happen to require a lot of money. I set our savings and frugality at just the level to reasonably meet those goals and no higher. Savings comes out first and the game plan is to have as much fun as possible with the remainder. It does not pain me to spend, even on items...

MnD wrote:When the US half-cent was eliminated, it was worth 13 cents in 2012 purchasing power.
Meaning in 1857 the smallest remaining coin (the penny) was equivalent to 26 cents - more value than a quarter today.

Very interesting. I did not know that.

Gotcha. Saginaw would be OK, though she won't like that commute a whole lot to class. Loop 820 and I-35 are both rough headed from Saginaw south and east. I would advise ruling out anything that will make you drive into Fort Worth from the north headed down I-35. Saginaw is west of there, but you'll...

Do you have kids? What will your budget be? I assume you'll be working at Carswell Field / Base on the west side of town? Is there a commute consideration for spouse?

I know Fort Worth pretty well; hopefully I can help some.

They use slightly different fundamental factors than Powershares. I don't think it matters much. SFENX has the same frictional loss issues that PXH has. I'm not crazy about it. I was using it a while before my 403B choices added DFEVX to the menu options. Now my only two EM holdings are DFEVX + DGS...

I charge all my day to day expenses, but I keep $500 in cash in my safe in 5's, 10's, and 20's at all times. Never know when you may need to transact after the power has been down a few days.

it would be nice to put together a concise statement for Ramsey followers who may want to understand where he and the Bogleheads differ. "Dave Ramsey's investment advice is poor and dated. Once you get to Baby Step 4 read Bogleheads Guide to Investing for modern frugal investing concepts to li...

I don't find 529's particularly appealing in their current configuration anyway. Getting a tax break of some sort on contributions would change my tune on that. (No state income tax here.) I certainly like the idea of getting to turn it into some sort of Roth if unneeded for college. I have full fai...

I'm always looking for the perfect book to give to people based on the stage of financial literacy I perceive them to be in. In reality I just accumulate personal finance and investing books and read them all, but rarely seem to pull the trigger on the right opportunity to give them away. I just ord...

For the record, "Read Bogleheads Guide to Investing" is the most common advice you would hear for investment questions on a Dave Ramsey themed forum I was on before coming here. I think most people that get to the point of saving 15% for retirement in stocks and bonds (Baby Step 4?) end up...

I enjoy Dave's show in general and particularly like his advice on family finances and family business and inheritance and the like. I have come to believe Dave's advice on buying his sponsored loaded actively managed funds to be less dubious than I used to. I think he's ignorant to mutual fund inve...

I have a few lumps (2 Roths, ESA max, HSA top off) sitting in cash right now. With April 15th looming it's time to get my 2012 final contributions to work, but I'm having a hard time with going in at this price. I know better and don't have a problem with my ongoing monthly contributions doing their...

If you throw out punitive damages, I'm trying to come up with scenarios where I would end up on the hook for much more than say a $400,000 auto policy liability max. I suppose if you have break failure and nail a public bus causing it to roll over onto a Bentley and send 12 people to the hospital yo...

Interesting discussion. In my head I pictured umbrella insurance as something that would protect me in the case of some sort of devastating jury reward against me, but the logistics of that actually happening sound both far fetched and likely unprotected against anyway according to this thread. I do...

A great article. I've known some sharp brokers that really believe that index funds are bad in a down market compared to actively managed funds.

Grap, you seem to have not put Schwab's EM Value (SFENX) or International SV (SFILX) "fundamental index" funds in the mix. Do you have thoughts on these?

I couldn't be happier with my Schwab "PCRA." Without it my 401k options through the work plan would make me sad.

Sure, it would be more ideal for my 401k to actually have good fund options, but that is not the case.

Banker here also. You can have your bank turn off "Reg E" which will make your account not able to ACH in or out and it will also disable the possibility of a debit card. You could still write checks and send wires. This is free at my bank. A more sophisticated account may want to turn on ...

Your opinion on this is of equal standing to your husband's. I don't care who's sibling it is. I agree with your instinct to not enable this person based on her / his track record. Now, while your family doesn't yet have obvious cash to help with, would be a great time to tell this sibling that they...

At 29 I was in lots of debt and had a negative net worth. This was not so long ago.

I suspect a lot of Boglehead posters die with a significant net worth : ) :D I suspect so indeed. But yes, OP I think you're on your way to easily being able to retire under your predefined assumptions before 50. I assume your question is theoretical, but I would echo the sentiment that if you star...

Thank you for the correction. I read long-term care insurance on the approved list and thought long-term disability insurance in my head. Sorry for the careless info.

We self insure our dog and cat with an annual sinking fund, but then we also use a low cost (relatively) local vet, I give them vaccinations and wormer myself, and we are are not overly quick to pull the trigger on a vet visit. They both live indoors and we love them, but our boundaries for pet expe...

All of the choices in your 401k are not poor. From that list, I'd use: MM S&P 500 Index (Northern Trust) MMILX (.40%) Bond Index (Northern) NOBOX (.47%) Is there a reason most of your money is in a taxable account? Is that money for retirement? Plus, the international equity index at 0.56% is n...

1. EF cash 2. Credit Cards (about 40k in availability) 3. Sell House and use equity. 4. Roth IRA principal contributions 5. 401ks 6. Pension cash value I would hate hate hate to use the credit cards instead of 401k and IRA withdrawals, but due to the bankruptcy protection of the latter, I would go a...

Speaking of HSA's I just found out my wife's Disability Insurance premiums are qualified HSA expenses. Which is nice. I'll go ahead and place those receipts into the "save this forever" folder.

Interesting that you include business as "getting educated in foolishness that doesn't teach useful skills" while lamenting power "tilting to the capitalists."

Swampy, what is the primary reason that you want to be 50% equities? Is it because you need to take risk, because you would hate to miss out on the gains, seems like the right thing, something else? I agree that right this instant seems like a bad time to lump sum into the stock market and there are...

crowd79 wrote:No worries, you're doing far better compared to the sad truth of the majority in this country:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/10/15/17-frightening-facts-about-retirement-savings-in-/

Feel better?

No!

My parents have always been practical with their spending and life choices in general. That's no small thing that I learned from them, but so far as money goes that's about all they taught me. Both are retired on government pensions (thank goodness) so they never really knew anything about the type ...

Only the bogleheads could make me feel uneasy with my mere 24% of gross retirement savings rate! Early 30's. I'm not yet maxing all available tax advantaged space, though once I do, I honestly think that will be plenty. Running the numbers I feel comfortable that 25 more years of my exact same savin...

I still consider myself young at 32. I feel very fortunate for my interest in financial literacy which led me here. I feel very fortunate that I am able to live beneath my means and am married to a lady that is on board with the plan. I feel like we're currently in as good a position as possible wit...

The correct answer is to call Schwab and they'll sell it to cash for no charge.

On a related note, I sold my shares of SCHZ ETF (bond fund which I had set to reinvest dividends), and a fractional share remains valued at $2.36. The Schwab website will not let me sell it, being less than a share and all. Anybody know how to work this? I assume I could call Schwab, but I hate to w...

The poll should have had one more category. How many are diverting money from a 401K or Roth IRA (i.e. not making the maximum contribution) to pay down their mortgage? Or the opposite of that. We refinanced from a 15 to a 30 and increased 401k contributions by the exact monthly cash flow savings. I...

schwab appears to be the best option: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/accounts/college_savings/educational_savings_account Thanks for the link. Looks like it's free with free trades amongst Schwab funds and ETFs. Schwab has lots of good fund choices. And in the spiri...

I thought you could just have an HSA at any company you wanted. The benefit if having it go through an employer is that often they'll pay account fees, and you don't have to pay Social Security and Medicare on the income. If you claim a deduction later, you don't get the SS and Medicare back -- jus...

Just wanted to thank everyone for this very thoughtful thread. I commonly have the conversation in my head about going "all in" on small and value, though it does seem to make more sense as a plan once you're in a position to need significantly higher percentages of fixed income than this ...

Nice article. I sent it to a doom and gloomer co-worker.

My thoughts have mostly been covered: 1. Probably have to be much more frugal starting now to have a chance at this. 2. $5MM seems like a good number. 3. "Never work again" retired at 40 just doesn't seem like something most people with the means to do so ever actually do. Consulting work,...

I'm sure you've checked, but are in-service roll overs allowed? Man I wish that was common or even required of plan providers.

Very level and reasoned response. In a former life I read one of Schiff's books. I took no action on his gold prophecies, but it's easy to be drawn in to that based on all the anecdotal and overly simplistic "evidence" that the government is doomed to fail if that's the kind of thing you'r...

Sounds like all good things. Thanks for the update!