Bogleheads.org

I learned my lesson peppers. This is my fourth year at this and the last three have been mild and I have been able to plant peppers in early to mid May. "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." On a positive note, the hardy plants are really looking great. The broccoli is growing well as are...

Well, the "heavy frost" Monday morning nailed the sweet potatoes, tomatos, and pepper plants. I covered the plants (tarp) but the plants are brown and drooping. I gambled with the early planting and lost. The 10 day forecast looks pretty good and we are past the "average last frost da...

Great article....could have been my life about 125 east of St. Louis. My mom dad were great people and while we didnt have much, it was more than enough.

Ed

Sometimes one must make a lateral move in order to advance. This might be one of those times for you.

Yes, the C.O.L will be considerably higher. Use the trip to determine the actual cost of rental properties in the area.

Ed

Just a quick update. We are attempting to grow sweet potatoes this year. The Home Depot had sp last night and I picked up a box of 9. These are plants that are about five inches tall. Planted 4 Roma Tomato plants this morning in addition to the sp. Our 2 12 x 12 plots are now filled. Awaiting the ch...

Planted Yukon Gold potatoes last night in a raised bed (12 x 12). I spaced the seed potatoes about 12 inches apart and the rows 12 inches apart, using recommendations from My Square Foot Garden on line. This is the same as last year and we had great production. Temps were up in the low 80s yesterday...

Equities are over valued at this time IMHO. Fed has pushed investments into equities for several years.

Ed

I have two kettlebells (20 and 25 pounds), a resistance band, and bike.

During the winter I go to the YMCA and use their stationary bike. Now that spring has arrived, I bike outdoors.

Pushups are added to this.

Ed

Update on the asparagus... I trenched out a row about 12 ft long by 12" deep and 18" wide. Went all the way down to the clay, then "double dug" by inserting the spade about every 6 inches, but not breaking up the clay. I then placed about 2 inches of compost mixed with bagged man...

I had a pretty busy week with the following activity: 1. Transplanted broccoli and cauliflower and kale (purchased plants). 2. Planted pototoes - red and Yukon gold. 3. Planted spinach, lettuce, carrots, leeks, mustard, Swiss Chard, scallions from seeds. 4. Onion sets I have two more plots to plant ...

Well, that was certainly enlightening...and a bit depressing on a cold rainy day. But, no one said all days would be bright and sunny, nor that all would have returns which exceeded the market. We are really setting up for a retirement disaster down the road. The government pensions will require fun...

Our 401k had similar type fees for a couple of years....wrap fee of around .7%, high ER's based on the funds, plus a 1.25% advisor fee if people wanted "help'.

I took a spreadsheet into the CEO and HR folks and the numbers after 10 years were shocking. Changes were made within a year.

Ed

Echo chamber here. My take on DR is slightly different. He was available to me on radio back around 2004 and I listened to him for a short period of time, as did a young college grad who I was mentoring (lots of drive time in the car). Even tho I only listened for a short period of time, he influenc...

Small Town by Lawrence Block.

A pretty good erotic murder mystery set in New York City. This is different than most of Block's in that this is an independent book without continuing charactors.

Ed

Sorta been down the same path as you BFG. This is the second marriage for both of us. Late 50's two kids each, only one of mine living with us. Early in my first marriage my wife earned more than I did, some years 2x. At first I was ok with that, but found that I really didnt have much say over fina...

A little update... Garlic - I am the proud gardener of 20 garlic shoots which popped thru the ground last Saturday. This is year 3 for garlic and my first level of success. Cold frame boxes are growing quite well. Spinach plants are probably 1.5" tall. Lettuce and radishes are growing. The plat...

I havent been to Charleston, but recommend reading the Pat Conroy book "South of Broad". It gives a pretty good look at the historic area of Charleston.

Ed

Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay.

Has anyone else read any of his books? This was the first for me and I enjoyed it.

Ed

My individual equities did quite well during the 2008-09 era. Probably the reason for the collective returns was the lack of financials in my holdings, other than American Express. There were no banks held, although AMEX might be considered a bank by regulators. Perhaps that is luck. What I have lea...

prudent: The house I grew up in sold for $5000 back in 1994....I understand your background. We werent really poor because we didnt realize it. My parents were rock solid people and I was blessed to have them. One thing they were deficient on was teaching me the value of setting goals for my life. I...

I will address this from a completely different perspective. I went thru the death of a spouse so while my financial goals and results were completely different. While the loss of my wife was emotionally devastating the financial aspect was covered by very good health, disability, and life insurance...

patriciamgr2: I am giving considerable thought to this, but more on a short term basis. My AA has remained about 45/45/15 for most of the past 10 years or so. I understand that I have been giving up return on the cash portion, but I live on a variable income. Also, I have been somewhat on auto pilot...

Great point.

Does anyone believe we are overbought with this market? I am tending to lean that way. While I do not time the market, I certainly make purchases when stocks are on sale. My issue is that I am not much of a seller, only a buy and holder.
Ed

Now I am really confused... At age 57 with a 40/40/20 or so AA Iam just about ready to sell some equities and to lock in gains. Nothing dramatically, but trim back some. Now Rick makes very compelling case of: 1. Long term Fed turning Japanese and buying bonds for the next 20 years. 2. Thus bonds yi...

It is understood that the majority of members of this forum keep things simple and use rebalancing in order to maintain their ideal AA. But, given the current high levels of the equity markets, and the belief by some that it is over bought...is there any selling or planned selling occuring out there...

Just a quick question...bfg....how old is your "adult child"? My youngest is 18 and going off to school in the fall. This is really affecting me, know that we will be empty nesters. Could that be an issue here also? Do you feel the need to fill your life due to the "independence"...

Snow: I think you made a great comment. If you are going to purchase individual stocks as I have...what are the factors. My accountant called yesterday with the news that my taxes are done. We had a conversation and he commented about the number of stocks I have and the dividend income. I jokingly t...

Yet another post to you BFG...we have similar situations. Consult your attorney regarding who they would recommend for the estate work. Perhaps there is someone in their practice who handles that. It might not be too expensive...but I wouldnt skimp on this either. My wife's divorce attorney handled ...

I was widowed at age 45 with 2 kids and began a long term relationship at age 49. We married when I was 54 (3 years ago). My youngest son lived with us and is going off to college this fall...so we will be empty nesters. It has worked well. But, we really took our time getting into it and maintained...

EyeYield: While my dividend reinvestment program (DRP) doesnt go back nearly as far as yours (mine began in 1994/5), I faced the same situation. My cash flow didnt generate large sums and it was much easier to write a check for $100 - $500 on a quarterly then monthly basis. Mutual funds were used fo...

I purchased a new Toshiba three weeks ago and it was the last one in the store with Win7. I paid $200 more than comparable model with Win8...and am glad I did.

Ed

Peppers seedlings update...

Today two popped up. Yesterday I placed a plastic cover over the trays and left them in the sun. Heat works for peppers.
Ed

Thanks peppers...I needed internet encouragement!

Ed

Statsguy: You are my proxy on this thread. You and I think similarly except I have no MLPs. A minor correction...PAYX increased dividend from 2008 to 2009....barely. It went from $1.22 to $1.24 per share. A quick review of my 16 holdings at the time shows that 2 dramatically cut dividends - Pfizer f...

I am a little concerned about my pepper seeds. It has been over 2 weeks and still nothing has spouted. I put them in the sun (inside) but no luck.

Any suggestions?

Ed

Update on the garden: 1. The temporary cold frame is seeing signs of life two weeks after planting. Radish plants are pushing up as are the lettuce and spinach plants. It took a weekend of 50 - 60 degree temps plus good sunshine to see plants. Friday there were 2 radish plants showing, yesterday the...

It is truly amazing how much food can be grown from a small raised plot. As mentioned this will be our fourth year of gardening. The first year my wife wanted to do this and we built the 4x8. I kidded her that we would spend $100 for a couple of salads. WRONG. We ate spinach and lettuce salads for n...

I use SPY not SDY. Also use a couple of Russell Value ETFs - 2000 Value and I believe the 1000 value. I probably have too much overlap on certain things. I havent really used a good analytical process for accumulating. Yes, my methods tend to mirror Mr. Buffet's...that is on purpose. No airlines and...

I have been sipping the dividend koolaid cult drink since 1995 when I purchased two stocks and converted to Dividend Reinvestment Programs. Back then it was quite laborious...buy 100 shares of stock, have the brokerage issue you the stock certificate, and mail the certificate to the bank. Today it i...

Well, I improvised. Our town had old recycling bins about 24" x 18" x 15" tall. I added soil/compost and had an old piece of glass which I place over the top. The bins have holes in the bottom so water can drain out. Let's see if this works. Today the temp was 80 degrees in it. Next f...

ddj: The important thing is you got your hands dirty the first year and learned from "mistakes". Gotta be careful with squash and other space eaters in a 4x8. Our first garden was a 4x8 and it has done quite well. There is a great website for square foot gardening...My Square Foot Garden. ...

Lawrence Block's "Getting Off"...oh, is it dark. One of the best crime / mystery writers out there.

Ed

This will be our fourth year. We started with a 4 x 8 raised garden which we built and did the square foot gardening. It produced an incredible amount of food. Now, we have 2 - 12 x 12 plots at the community garden plus a 12 x 18 lot at the church garden in addition to the square foot garden. The ab...

This is a great thread. Today is my wife's 57th birthday and we are celebrating this entire weekend. Last night we picked up a Samsung Note 2 smart thing. She is learning that today. There is a section in the "Dummies" book called "Find yourself" (GPS). Somehow that seems appropr...

Here is an update... The cold frame is registering temps in the 70s-80s during the day as we have had considerable sun this week. However, here in NW Indiana it has been very cold with lows in the teens and highs in the mid 30s. Tomorrow and Monday we are to have snow, possibly up to 4 inches. So, I...

Not sure if I had a midlife crisis or not, but there were a few "events". Here is the story... My wife was diagnosed with cancer when I was 43 and she passed away when I was 45, leaving me a single parent of two boys, ages 5 and 14. No time for mid life crisis. With needing something to oc...

I am in Northwest Indiana, 10 miles from Lake Michigan.

Last year I planted lettuce, spinach, and peas on March17th...not this year.

Ed

I am starting the gardening, mostly planning at this time. I did plant garlic on March 17th, hopefully it will grow. Also signed up for two lots at the community garden. Also trying a cold frame this year. I know it is a little late, but I devised on using a plastic container (holes in the bottom fo...

I cannot answer why his SS number was in his card, but it was probably due to neglect. He has been told over and over again to protect the card. He simply does what he wants to. It is far too difficult to remove it from his wallet and place it in a secure spot. Perhaps this is the lesson he needs in...

There is great advise here. I am in late 50's and really enjoy my place in the world....great family and wife, great career, interests, health, etc. My first son was born when I was 30 and number two at 39, so my 30's were pretty well set. One thing that I did wait too long (34) was to make a career...