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However, it is a $3000 minimum to open an IRA, causing my son to open it in Schwab instead. It is also a $3000 minimum for all funds except the Star Fund, causing my daughter to invest in the Star Fund.

What about the theory that you need a few thousand dollars in cash on hand in case of a disaster (financial or natural) and the banks and ATMs are closed? I do not do that but I think it is a good thing. I figure I won't need my gold bullion for the first couple months of the crisis

I think the range of numbers is the range that people inherently understand. It is a range around the number $10,000, not too high and not too low, so people are comfortable with it. The Nasdaq's range appears low and the US debt's range is too high to be comprehended by many people. The range for t...

Thank you very much for the answer. I had been looking all over for it.

If an young employee who has worked 3 of the last 5 years turns 21 in a certain year but does not work after her 21st birthday, would I, as the employer, need to give her a SEP. It is a family member so there are no repercussions on the employee no longer working. (My guess is yes, since she would t...

If you crunch the #s, I would have to say no. There are the years at med school wherein you do not earn money and have loans. Applying to med school can cost $15000--easy--given all the fees, the tests and the travel to interviews. (I have a son in med school and a son who is pre-med so I know of wh...

I thought about this one for awhile when picking my allocation. I chose SCZ for my developed foreign small cap and I think it has more of a value tilt. VSS seems more of a blend. I had started accumulating VSS which I am now using as a core holding for small foreign.

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1) When looking at all the different types of sector ETFs, it seems like the fundamental ones do the best, such as Alphadex ETFs from First Trust. It is not a bogle-like philosophy though, so I tend to use them for sectors, not for any core holdings. 2) Schwab just put in Rydex Equal Weight Funds wi...

As to inexpensive greeting cards, my mother gave my sister and I a box of nice quality greeting cards for different occasions, a few years ago from Costco. The cards looked "unique" and "upscale". My brother and sister-in-law just had a baby and went the family went over, my sist...

I am a 56 yo married female physician with 3 kids in college/med school and my husband is retired (no income) All that education....just started asset allocation in 2010 so have not yet put all my ducks in order... equities 19 19 18 10 11 6 6 5 6 Bonds 0 8 26 0 8 5 0 0 0 Long% Short% Net% Cash 30 - ...

After my son's first birthday party, we left all the decorations up--including the big poster on the door saying happy birthday--until we moved. We just loved the first birthday party. And, whenever we got pizza delivered, they thought that we were having a party.

I'd say yes. My state is one of the more expensive state university systems and I presume you can't move to another state and disrupt your family. An engineering degree will make your child marketable--and what more could a parent want? The expensive private schools are now running $65,000 to $70,00...

You can't get a Maytag like that anymore. They do not make them; I don't know about the parts. I just bought a SpeedQueen which is said to be like the old Maytag and the salesman said it would last 20 years. Thirty years seems like the most you will likely get. The SpeedQueen is like our old Maytag ...

I am a physician and had looked into locum tenens before. I also looked into being a JCAHO "inspector" after I got a hospital ready for accreditation. I found that they paid much less than a hospital job and private practice. You also end up being a moonlighter--though not a resident. You ...

If it is the prep school associated with the Air Force Academy, then it is likely he would be accepted if his grades are good enough. If he is being recruited for a team, then he would very likely be accepted He would still have to get a nomination. However, there are budget cuts and the service aca...

I thought only one spouse can take a spousal benefit.

I have been accumulating VNQ and RWX for my Real Estate portion since 5/11 and am continuing to do so. I have this account in TD Ameritrade wherein these 2 funds are commission free, and I buy a small amount at a time. I don't exactly dollar cost average but I am still buying in over time. I persona...

In the Weimar Republic, the people who had mortgages did the best. Usually, they were farmers, they paid off the mortgages with near-worthless money and owned the land. I have been thinking about that, but I presume that if the US gets into super-inflationary levels, here will be some sort of regula...

Introduction--I am slowly converting to boglehead investing but not fully converted yet. I have gotten my children on board as well--which was an easy sell because of their long time horizon. It seems like everything is based on the investing time horizon. I think the mid-50s is an age when others m...

I own TIP and WIP and these funds in my portfolio went up 23% in the past 2 years. I was somewhat wary of buying them and they are 4% of my entire portfolio. I am already changing my longer term corporate bonds to short term ones. I think changing this TIP/WIP allocation would be market timing. I fe...

I keep waiting for the interest rate to shoot up and/or for Mr Market to realize how bad the economy is, but it is not happening. I think that the Fed is trying to keep the market up, but I can't understand why is it working. I was incredulous when I looked at the computer today.

You have 2 small children and you are voluntarily buying a problem house that you can never be sure will not have caused whatever health problems your family gets. Moving is stressful and buying a house is stressful. You are not going to want to do it again soon. The kids are young, why not wait unt...

My husband only has a Roth and I have numerous accounts. He is 10 years older and we do fund his Roth first through back door or conversion. He also will start getting a SEP from working for my business and I will convert that the same year. I think I give him the SEP, convert the SEP, then fund the...

I have VBR, IWN, and IWC. I tend to use Ameritrade's commission free funds. I also tend to have more slices in my categories. Morningstar does not like the microcap funds but it has done well and can capture those companies that most indexes will not get.

Vanguard has a minimum of $3000 to open a Roth IRA. My son just started one with $1500 so he went with Schwab and intends to switch to Vanguard when he has enough money. Schwab does have competitive expense fees with a low basis but obviously Vanguard has been doing this for longer. I have also foun...

I keep my receipts in an annual folder--prescriptions on one side, vision, dental, etc on the other. I use Quickbooks (I guess you can do this with Quicken) and have made an HSA account and put the virtual payments in as checks. Then I print it out at the end of the year and put it in the folder. I ...

As per Morningstar, VO tracks RSP very closely. When you do an equal weighting, it ends up like a mid cap fund...logical.

I keep a lot in cash (6 figures) so that I can buy into the market. I have been through gyrations. It is hard to keep the course but it is more difficult to sell something to buy something else. Hence the cash.