Bogleheads.org

How important is a school district? Not as important as individual school leadership. To give you a little background, I work for State College and I am the fiscal manager of two charter high schools located on our campuses and in the midst of opening up two more. Our high schools are considered to ...

I'm a saver first and automate as much of this as I can.

403(b)/Defined Benefit Plan
Roth IRA
Regular Savings
Rent & Utilities
Groceries
Variable necessary expenses (i.e. gas)
Entertainment
Remainder of any monies I can do whatever with.

While I'm not surprised by my savings rate, I am extremely surprised (thanks to this forum) by my financial and investment knowledge and at how I save money and make it work for me. So, much better than I expected.

My international allocation represent 30% of my equities. For the past year and half, I've felt that this was a bit low but haven't made any changes and don't really plan on making any changes either. Being in the accumulation phase, I know my savings rate is much more important than fine-tuning my ...

Based on my current savings rate, I think I'm on track to save about 2m by the time I retire. I would like 3m but know that 1.3m is the absolute lowest I would need to have and be okay. All of these figures and assumptions will change in the future once I get married, have kids, buy a house and the ...

Watch an episode of extreme cheapskates on TLC and be happy that you've got balance. I don't ever want to live like these people do. Create a budget and allocate a portion for entertainment and wants. Whatever you don't spend at the end of the month rolls over to your next month's entertainment and ...

Anyone have experience with planning a trip completely by yourself versus going with a tour company and what you would recommend? Most of my travel in the past has been either through student organizations or tour companies, but for the first time I fee like I want to plan this Ireland trip as oppos...

Can anyone point me towards sites geared to planning a trip abroad? I'm planning on going to Ireland this December and really don't know where or how to start planning. Frommer's Fodor's Rick Steves Can anyone point me towards sites geared to planning a trip abroad? I'm planning on going to Ireland...

Can anyone point me towards sites geared to planning a trip abroad? I'm planning on going to Ireland this December and really don't know where or how to start planning.

Awesome. I hope to be able to say that when I get up there. I started investing when I was 22 as well. I'm 24 now and just chugging along.

I feel for you. It's the same way with my employer. I get paid on the last day of the month, payroll usually doesn't cut the check until about two days after payroll, then accounts payable has to process it which is another day, then it gets mailed and I have to wait till Vanguard processes it. My i...

Other - Hoping that Vanguard can automate my 403b deposits. Right now, my employer has to cut a check and since I only get paid once a month, my investments don't hit my account until a week to two weeks after I get paid

Congrats Munchkin Man, that's awesome!

Saw this posted on slickdeals and plan on giving it a try. If you have the Chase Freedom card with the rotating 5% categories for the months that we have gas as a reward category. You can buy the gas gift cards and get the 5% cash back on that as well. So basically, you buy $200 worth of gift cards,...

$88.00 for high-speed Internet and cable with 150+ channels including HBO. Normal cost was $89 + tax, but I have fifteen dollar loyalty discount that reduces it to $88. I actually just called yesterday to get my rate lowered after my bill jumped to $111 after the 6 months of loyalty discounts ended....

You can do a charm bracelet and add a charm every year on her birthday until she's 16 or so.

Self-taught. And Part luck. My parent's aren't good with money and so just from observation, I came to the conclusion at a young age that I didn't want to live hand to mouth with no clear path of how I was going to fund tomorrow. That combined with the fact that I'm a natural saver and someone that ...

Awesome. If for nothing else than I'm financially literate and feel/know I'm in control of my financial future. I found bogleheads when I was 22, I'm debt free, I'm investing and saving as much as I can, and I'm enjoying life. My parents didn't make wise financial choices while I was growing up and ...

The same place you would find Mr. Boglehead?

What are the risks of international bonds as opposed to international stocks? If you wanted to increase your internal allocation in your portfolio, you now have the option of doing it in two places. Your fixed allocation or your equity allocation. Where should you increase it and what should your th...

It's not even a whole book... but I'm taking a shot at "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. See, someone in the forum complimented me on quoting Emerson and I felt like a total phony, because the sum total of all I know of Emerson is "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that ir...

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. Fell in love with the movie and just had to read the books. They're actually pretty awesome.

The most expensive concert for me will be actually flying to Ireland to see Van Morrison. If he doesn't do a concert in America in the next year, I am planning to vacation to Ireland just so that I can see him sing live.

I'm a major concert goer. And yes, ticket prices suck, as does paying for parking and drinks :annoyed . But I enjoy going to concerts so if it's someone I love, I'm all in. I only go to concerts for bands that really, really like and I usually purchase tickets for myself and my best friend(s). If my...

I check my portfolio everyday. I do this to make sure my contributions are actually hitting my accounts and there are no discrepancies. I don't find the urge to tinker with anything though.

I have found discrepancies in the past and this is just my daily financial check.

Early twenties, single. And I save about 55% of gross just for retirement. I save another 5% for other items.

I'm single.

Her 403b = 17500
Her 457b = 17500
Her 401k = Company match of roughly 2000
Her Roth = 5500
Her FSA = 2500

So $45,000 worth.

Congrats. So awesome to hear that you got a full time job, did well in school, and are siting for your CPA. I'm sure you'll knock out the tests in no time.

Anyone know of dressy pants for short/petite women? I'm 4'10 and really struggle with finding dressy pants that fit me properly even in the petite section. I don't mind spending a bit for good quality but I just haven't been able to find anything in my size and style that I like.

1611.61

I currently help my parents out and just do direct transfers. I also gift them money at the end of the year as well with money I save up every month in addition to what I give them. It works out well, as long as I can afford do it, and since they need it, I'm happy to give. At least I'll never go hu...

Awesome list. Will definitely be checking many of these out. Thanks!

But how will you get the procedure done assuming you missed open enrollment at your new employer? I'm sure your soon-to-be former employer has done very nicely over the years keeping the unspent FSA amounts at the end of the year. PS to answer your question, I believe it's the employer who takes th...

I was lucky that my first foray into investing was the boglehead way. However, even if I hadn't found bogleheads, I think my views were pretty consistent with Bogle. I had already decided to invest with vanguard and was going to do target retirement fund based on my asset allocation and diversificat...

Happy with my AA as far as equities and bond allocation. Just sometimes feel I should increase my international allocation and also do a REIT-tilt on the equity side. So far, I've decided not to change anything as I know I'm in the accumulation phase and my savings rate is what is most important at ...

Does the plan administrator or the employer incur the loss when an employee uses up their FSA and terminates employment before all their contributions have been taken? During my last open enrollment, I decided to enroll in a medical FSA because I knew I was going to incur a few medical expenses in 2...

I worked in NJ for a couple of years and leveraged that salary to move back down to NC. NJ salary goes a long way in NC even in the high COL area where I live. Thus, I definitely think it's worth it to spend at least a bit of time grinding it out in a high COL area if you can get the salary that co...

Anything pumpkin flavored would do. Pumpkins seem to be an American thing, but the only bad part is that your nieces/nephews may not like the taste. It took me a long time to be able to eat pumpkin pie and actually like it. American candy is pretty readily available there so what about an assortment...

0%.

Max 403(b)
Max Roth IRA
Max Defined Benefit Plan
Haven't been able to max 457(b) plan yet.

That I may be overdoing it in the sense that hey, you know what, it's okay to spend money on things I enjoy more instead of saving/investing more.

In for $25. Thanks.

Part 2 If your wife has earned income then yes, you can claim the child and dependent care credit for your son's preschool costs. Whether your wife still had your daughter at home with her while she worked won't matter if you meet all the requirement's to claim the credit. 1)Filing a joint return 2)...

Does anyone know if renter's insurance goes up if you live in an area that is prone to natural disasters (i.e. hurricanes, tropical storms, earthquakes)?

Thanks Jack, for always fighting to give us a fair shake!

Is it worth anything for your resume? Most likely not, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have any value. I was a member of Beta Alpha Psi which is for Accounting and Finance majors and it really helped with networking, not only with professors, but potential future employers and other fellow students...

BruDude wrote:Since she is pregnant the PPO is probably a better option. Delivery will probably cost ~$5-15k

I agree. Plus, if your wife doesn't already have short-term disability, it maybe something to look into to cover extended maternity leave or other pregnancy complications.

I actually pulled those number from Firecalc based on 100% success rate and changing the portfolio in 50k increments, so they're very rough. The idea remains the same though. I can probably accumulate enough money by age 45 or 50 to retire with a frugal lifestyle, but how can I allocate it so that'...

Awesome. My kindle will be happy tonight.

Thanks Mike and JupiterJones!

Is it biased when 25,000 people independently come to the same conclusion about investing? No. It's not biased. It's the truth. Rick Ferri +1 What's interesting is that I found this forum after I had decided to invest with Vanguard. I'm a new investor, first job, first time investing, and so when I...

I'm in the accumulation phase. So my main concern is to save regularly, pick low cost index funds, keep it simple, weigh my asset allocations, and stay the course. Once I have a lot, then I can worry about tilting, overweighting and things like that, but for now? I just need to focus on saving. :D t...