Bogleheads.org

Congrats!

I just hit 100k.... I am going to catch you! (some day)

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am now officially a dual citizen If anyone has any questions on doing this, especially for Portugal, feel free to PM me!

Thanks for all the input... Bogleheads rock!

Hi all, I am still learning the ins and outs of holding an investment account, but something does not seem right with my recent Dividend payment for my Vanguard International ETF. My only guess is that I have not held the fund long enough? I bought the fund in early March, and dividends were distrib...

Are there any good portfolio analysis apps (better/more accurate than vanguards)? Wouldn't mind paying a few dollars for a good one.

Vanguard has all the right ideals behind its core mission, but their administration is really painful at times. I tried upgrading to Voyager, and had to call in 3 three times, apply several times over a period of 3 weeks, only to find out -- 'Oh, 401k balances held at vanguard do not count towards V...

Other.
My portfolio is smaller, so I've gone all I-Bonds, and converted all tax deferred accounts to equities. I am loving the recent run-up!

For a cheap hotel in Paris... check out this place. e-mail: hotel.esperance@wanadoo.fr Web site: http://www.hoteldelesperance.fr Very convenient location, and decent enough accommodations. The staff can be hit or miss, but for the price, cannot be beat! I think it also includes some kind of breakfas...

If you like wine... I have heard Bilbao, Spain is a nice place and Rioja region is right around the corner... and I have also been to Santiago de Compestela which is one of my favorite places on the earth (if you like white wines, seafood/shellfish, this place is heaven.) Northern Portugal has great...

Hi, So I am soon to become a dual citizen (U.S., and now Euro) and hope to travel to Europe a bit more frequently. Maybe every 2-3 years. For now, I do not have any immediate plans to stay in Europe for an extended period time, so I am hesitant to open a Euro savings bank/savings account abroad. So....

VBS is painfully slow and feels very outdated.

I think they can improve on this, and stay true to their core mission.

Going to turn 26 in a couple of months. On my own, my net worth is 40k, but with my fiancé, joint net worth is at 100k. Working together makes a HUGE diffence. She has finally let me start to manage her portfolio in boglehead fashion. I would say that we are both extreme savers, live in an expensive...

I am personally mixed on boglehead tax efficiency fund placement. Yes, you will be taxed less with fixed income in tax deferred accounts as opposed to taxable .... BUT with a longer time horizon, shouldn't one also want tax deferred accounts to grow as much as possible, hence stocks for long term gr...

When moving to a foreign country the OP should also consider healthcare when retired. SS pays also into other countries, but Medicare does not. Presently Portugal with its financial problems might be low cost in healthcare, but many other European countries are high cost. A friend of mine just expe...

Thanks Kyle. I will have to look into this. I can't imagine taking in much more than $80k while living abroad, so this may be a fix for me. The actual number for 2013 is $97600 (http://www.irs.gov/uac/2013-Inflation-Adjustments-to-Various-Tax-Benefits). In addition, one would need to look at the Fo...

I think unless you make a lot of money, you don't really have to worry much about taxation issues. I think up to $80k or so of foreign income is exempt by treaty. Not sure what the current law is, but you should definitely look it up before you take the leap. That said, if I wanted to live abroad, ...

My general position is to take the citizenship because it gives you more options where to live/ retire in the world. In northern Portugal we were spoken to in the cafes by people with broad New Jersey accents-- they had emigrated as young men to America, and returned to live on Social Security in P...

Hi all, So my parents were born in Portugal as citizens there, which allows me to apply for Portuguese citizenship. I have done a bunch of research and have thought a lot about this, but wanted to pose this to the Bogleheads, as I truly value everyone's advice and wisdom around here. Hopefully some ...

kevin21 wrote: As a boglehead, I was doing ok with a $40k salary in DC. Are you raising a family on 40k per year? Tough to do around Valley Forge, PA. I had another part-time job when I worked at Vanguard, as did many of my fellow crew members. I didn't say anything about raising a family. I was co...

No it doesn't. Montgomery county is an affluent area and the cost of living (while not NYC) is not cheap I was trying to convey that $35k in Manhattan would be very poor pay. I personally lived on $40k in Washington DC for one year, and I was able to do ok. Therefore, I hypothesized that $35k to wo...

Well, I know that the majority of workers at Vanguard do not even make what most people would call a reasonable salary. The other benefit to being located in Valley Forge as opposed to Wall St, $35k goes a long way. If the employees have any sense about them, they should be doing just fine. As a bo...

I'm terrified, not so much the stock market, but with the shrinking job market. I heard that something like 1500 ppl apply for each vacancy and you have folks with MBA's working as a Barista at Starbucks. I have thought a lot about this recently. In the US, it is a huge taboo for people to take on ...

We know, that we don't know how to time the market.

I'm 25. I been working for 2 years now. I'm actually glad I starting out during these "tough" times. I feel like if I started my working life when things are booming, I might not understand what it will mean to be financially prudent. I might think that stocks/houses/other assets only go ...

I always recall Jack Bogle relating some advice he got from a trader in his early days on Wall Street: "Nobody knows nothin'". The talking heads have to talk about something because that's what they get paid for. The columnists have to turn in a certain number of words on deadline every w...

I suppose I have a decent shot at certain points. 3rd quarter looks particularly good.

1st quarter - 3,1 ; 1,9
2nd quarter - 3,8 ; 9,4
3rd quarter - 4,4 ; 6;0
Final score - 0;8 ; 9,3

If I win, I am going to try and resist buying more Ibonds --- daddy needs a refurbished mac-air!

crowd79 wrote:Very poor investment option. Risk $5 and likely lose it all with a 1% chance of winning

It's a good investment, because it makes the game more interesting.

Turbo Tax cost me and fiance near $200 for state and federal last year. I also don't like that they try to trick you into upgrading the service, and once you upgrade, there's no going back. They use very passive aggressive means to suck out more money. If they just charged a decent, straight forward...

Question. How do I account for the fact that "If I don't use my savings bonds/CDs for an emergency, then they are part of my bond allocation?" Or am I being confused by some mental accounting/investor psychology blind spot? That means that you have avoided emergency, and have unlocked the...

Is this sound thinking? Am I missing anything? Thanks for the help! I think you're missing several things. 1. As a 25-year old, the bonds will mature in 30 years when you'll probably in your prime earning years (high tax bracket). The taxes are due when the bonds mature, even if you don't redeem th...

That sounds fine, but just remember not to conflate your emergency fund with your bond allocation. It sounds like conflating is exactly the OP's proposition (quote: "- Whatever amount I have in Ibonds, I can decrease my bond allocation in retirement funds "). I wasn't too clear in my writ...

One concern to keep in mind is that if I Bonds are 100% of your bonds and your equities are all in 401k/IRA/etc. accounts it may be difficult to rebalance. If the stock market tanks, are you going to redeem I Bonds to buy more equities in taxable accounts? Would that cause you to not have enough mo...

Hi all, So my fiance and I have already maxed out our ROTHs for the year, and are working on maxing out 401k space with match. I've been toying around with what to do with additional savings, and the idea of buying Ibonds seems appealing, even though we are only 25/26. I see several strong advantage...

livesoft wrote:The OP must not be watching CNBC.

I usually say "Right" or spell out R_E_I_T.

Guess I need to watch more CNBC

As a 20 year old in college, A Random Walk Down Wall St by Malkiel changed my perspective, in every which way. It was light, and fun to read, and convinced me of the wisdom of the Bogle approach. Must have been the short version. This is the first book I could find when looking for something differ...

As a 20 year old in college, A Random Walk Down Wall St by Malkiel changed my perspective, in every which way.

It was light, and fun to read, and convinced me of the wisdom of the Bogle approach.

What happens if John Doe buys a home with a third party - Jane Dix? Well, one of three things - they get married, they stay together - not married, they break-up. Well, in the last case, this happened to a relative of mine - names are on the deed, they don't speak to each other and then they decide...

I use the S&P500 fund in my principal 401k, and balance it out by purchasing VEXMX in my Roth.

Hello, So... my fiance and I have been together for 7 years, and have been paying rent together for 4. We're getting close to wanting to buy our own place, but we are unsure about picking a location and staying put for the next 10 or so years. Mobility is important to us. BUT, her parents recently a...

Hi all, My college aged brother will be in town soon, and I wanted to get him up to speed on basic money principles, and boglehead views on saving and investing. Understanding the time value of investing money NOW and future growth potential for invested money is an important foundation. I remember ...

]Looks like you're doing great. Not much advice I can give to you except to keep doing what you are doing. Congratulations on the engagement! Thanks! Always great to hear positive feedback. Congrats. Couple comments (get it, couple...): 1) Yes sell her stocks. Any TLH opportunities or lock in 0% LT...

Hi all, I just got engaged to my girlfriend of 7 years. We've been living together for the last 3 years, so our day to day lives will not be changing much, but I would like to get my around around our joint portfolio for planning purposes. There is a lot coming up,so I just want to make sure I'm mak...

I do not own a car, so do not buy car insurance.
However, whenever I rent a car, I make sure to get CDW and ALI so as to cover those bases.

I also use zipcar, which automatically covers you at your state's required minimum levels.

For acoustic- Yamaha FG series is great, and I believe they start at $200 retail.

It helps to try them out, or have someone experienced go with you. There can be wide variation between individual guitars, and salesmen sometimes try to unload the bad ones.

Also, contact your state representative if you would like a tour of the White House, Congress, Supreme Court, Libraries of Congress, etc.

Check out the pricelines, hotwires, kayaks, etc. My parents have scored great deals there as opposed to going directly to a hotel's website. You can probably find something closer to $100/night if you do not mind the hassle of putting some time into it. Arlington/Alexandria will be closer to DCA, bu...

Here is what we have under principal with my employer. I only use the S&P500 fund. 401k options available: (Fund name; expense ratio) Blackrock Inflation Protection R5 Fund; .66 PIMCO Plus bond I R% Fund; .82 JP Morgan Target Retirement Funds; range from 1.2 - 1.43 American Funds Wash Mutual Inv...

I enjoy how the interviewers feel stumped by his simple reasoning.

"Ok, there is no way to predict day to day market swings... (what are we doing here again? Ah, let's act important and say big market words.)

These segments are amusing...

"Jack, what should investors be doing today? The market is down, europe is stalling, etc etc ..."

"NOTHING!"

The .25% fee is annoying... but the ETF doesn't have this?

I am 25 years old and faced this exact situation. My girlfriend was being pulled in two different directions, between me and her dad. She would get easily flustered by finance, and would become stressed thinking about what to do with her money. Her father took this as an opportunity to tell her whic...