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I decided to break out my 401(k) contributions to the following, to be replicate the 3 fund portfolio (I believe): VANG INST INDEX PLUS ---- 81% VANG MD CP IDX IS PL ---- 6% VANG SM CP IDX IS PL ---- 13% Just so you're aware that the above three funds make up just the US stock portion of the "...

Just an update -- I have decided to contribute 6% to my 401(k) as I will still be able to fully fund my Roth IRA and also put $700/mo. towards my student loans. I decided to break out my 401(k) contributions to the following, to be replicate the 3 fund portfolio (I believe): VANG INST INDEX PLUS ---...

mnvalue wrote:Also, what is the stable value yielding right now?

If you're referring to the UHG STABLE VALUE FD? The return on that YTD is a measly 1.70% with an ER of .26%.

Thanks for the help mnvalue, that makes complete sense. I appreciate your insight!

Thanks guys I really appreciate it! Any helpful tips as far as what to do for a split between making loan payments and contributing to the 401(k) without a match? Would it be worth it to just use the emergency fund that I have to completely pay off the student loans? That is a possibility at this po...

Thanks Twins Fan,

Would there be any problem with choosing some combination between the following? Or am I not hitting each bucket with this combination?

VANG INST INDEX PLUS (VIIIX) 07/07/1997 0.02%
VANG MD CP IDX IS PL (VMCPX) 12/15/2010 0.06%
VANG SM CP IDX IS PL (VSCPX) 12/17/2010 0.06%

I have updated my current situation due to a new job, so any helpful advice on my now current situation would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Hey Charlie, Good to see a fellow young person checking out the forums and really focusing on their future. I myself am 23 years old, so we are in a somewhat similar position. One question I have for you is: "Do you like your line of work?" I know for myself, funding my advanced education ...

I am in a financial analyst role within a health care company, what form of computer programming language do you guys feel is most suitable for my industry? [...] Doing a majority of my work in excel but we are starting to use more of SAS enterprise guide. Within EG we have a large amount if report...

I'm attempting to learn this now due to possible career advancement.. I am in a full time position and have graduated school so I have extra time to be learning and further educating myself. What are your current job responsibilities? Are you in the IT field? I ask because "how do I learn SQL ...

select * from sql_dialects; :D I find that databases need a different mindset than other programming languages. You need to think in terms of queries and records. In other languages, you think in terms of process flow, e.g. a = b + c; Does the job opportunity really get into the details of coding, ...

I did a lot of SQL related stuff as a financial analyst for a large growing online retailer. As data gathering becomes easier and cheaper I think SQL is going to be a skill for the future. It is pretty fun if you have an interesting database to work with. I was fortunate enough to have access to on...

Thank you guys! So my SQL and Microsoft SQL server express are both free to download? My company has been willing in the past to pay for classes in applicable areas, do you guys know any good institutions/companies that have training locations across the country? I am in a financial analyst role wit...

Does anyone have experience of learning SQL coding on their own? What are some good ways to go about educating myself on learning the language? Any good book recommendations? Is there anyone working in a profession where they are dealing with creating SQL on the daily basis? Any helpful tips to help...

A great program to use for a business in place of Excel is a program called SAS Enterprise Guide, allows you to create models, filters, sorts -- Basically anything that excel can do, but allows you to create a process flow that you can schedule for a specific time/recurring date. The front end point...

This must be for only select states? Not finding any information for it here.

But Ramsey always tells people to knock out the smallest first and use that cash flow to "snowball" into bigger debts. I don't understand this philosophy at all.. $13.4k in debt is $13.4k in debt. It's not as if knocking out the loan at 2.6% will somehow magically allow you to pay more on...

' I'm a big fan of those Vanguard Target Retirement funds. If I was your age, I'd put all my money in that 2060 Fund and not make my asset allocation any more complicated than that. The 2060 fund has significant international exposure, and takes as much risk as anyone would recommend. +1 I'm a 23 y...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2013/01/10/walmart-to-offer-iphone-5-off-contract-unlimited-service-for-45-monthly/ What are your guys' thoughts/opinions on Walmart's "Straight Talk" service? It's a no contract, monthly plan for unlimited data, talk and text - and only $45/month...

Out of those 2 scenarios, I would pay the tax on the premium. If you are disabled and can't work, you aren't going to want money to be taken out of the only source of income you have coming in. If at all possible, I would look into your own policy outside of work though. Generally better benefits, a...

I would say it is a great professional networking tool, but not much more than that. I have been contacted about 3-4 times for jobs on there, but they are usually sales/commision style jobs with huge turnover rates on employees, so I have ignored all of them. Statistically, it is the least checked s...

Thank you, I appreciate the help. I do not have a Visa/Mastercard credit card, however I do have my Mastercard debit card. I will be bringing that with as well, I was just preferring to use my credit cards over a debit card when out there because of the dispute process should that come up.

I am leaving for NYC tomorrow morning. I currently have 2 credit cards that I use; a Discover and an American Express. All rewards and cash back stuff aside, which would be the more logical card to bring with? Which is more accepted? I really am not looking to bring 2 CC's with just for security rea...

And be careful with a permanent policy... What they try to convince you is that the expenses don't matter when they are front-loaded because "You are in it for the long run anyways". A common sales pitch that I was given was "Regardless if you eat the fees up front, it won't matter in...

2) My parents paid some of my tuition, and as a graduation present offered to pay my subsidized student loans (which is huge because they are not that well off, so any help/advice I could offer them for tax breaks would be great, but I doubt unless they can't and I can I don't think I have any tax ...

My only concern with that philosophy is that with my pension plan, I have to be employed here for 5 years to become vested in it. At this moment in time I do not see myself employed here for 5 years. Does that alter order of investing at all?

The reason I haven't been contributing to the employer program is because of the lack of employer match, which I felt the money would be better used toward an investment or student loans for the mean time. Turns out, rather than a 403(b) though, it is a 457 plan. Don't know if that really makes much...

I'd knock out those student loans. If you've got $300/mo that needs a place to go applying that to your student loan payments will make those disappear in short order. +1. And for 2013, I'd pay off your student loans first, then contribute to your Roth. You might be able to finish them next year an...

EDIT: Since this thread was started, I have now accepted a new position. I am updating the below numbers to accurately reflect my current situation. Emergency funds: ~10 months of income ~5 Months of income Debt: Student Loans – Approximately $16,000 @ 4.5% $7,000 @ 3.5% Tax Filing Status: Single Ta...

Getting 5/1 Arm at 2.75 % - after 5 years the rate can to a max of 7.75% This seems like quite a large jump. When I used to work at a bank, the most that the rate could adjust after the fixed period was 2% per year. Is 5% a pretty normal fluctuation?? (Not implying it will jump to that, but it does...

My father recommended that I begin reading these forums as a way to start low cost investing. He has been telling me about this forum for about 5 years, since my freshman year in college, but I was the kid who was always "too busy" to get around to reading these forums (aka drinking, playi...

One other bonus to starting to save for paying off your loans now: If you effectively budget out your loan payment now and start "charging" yourself that amount from your budget it will train your brain to have already marked out that many dollars from your spendable income. So, if your p...

One other bonus to starting to save for paying off your loans now: If you effectively budget out your loan payment now and start "charging" yourself that amount from your budget it will train your brain to have already marked out that many dollars from your spendable income. So, if your pa...

Fidelity Investment Rewards AmEx gives 2% cashback on everything: Link: https://www.fidelity.com/cash-management/american-express-cards Thoughts: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1466399#p1466399 In your thoughts post you state that you may use either the brokerage account w/ money m...

The Lifetime Learning Credit is a $2,000 credit phased out over $10,000 of AGI (for singles), so if you're in the phaseout each marginal dollar costs you $0.25 in regular income tax, $0.20 in lost credit, and, say, $0.05 in state income tax. Your effective marginal rate is 50% (not including SS and...

Taylor, Love the article. I am trying to create a binder for myself that will consist of some great reading pieces that I can look at every so often. Any other helpful links you know of off hand that would be great to include as well? Thanks! Mandrale: I created a website where you can learn the be...

The 10% bracket goes to $17,400 as well, not $17,000... unless I'm mistaken.

Taylor,

Love the article. I am trying to create a binder for myself that will consist of some great reading pieces that I can look at every so often. Any other helpful links you know of off hand that would be great to include as well?

Thanks!

Somewhere in that meeting, this was probably said as well: "You are guaranteed a 4.5% rate of return, without the risk of your money ever going down/backwards " --- Am I right? Yes, that is correct. I'm pretty sure that is one of their training techniques, because everyone that I have spo...

For the OP, I have been pitched permanent life insurance many times by a Northwestern Mutual agent, and I bet the pitch you are referring to is from them as well. The one thing I keep coming back to is he guarantees a 4.5% rate of return, which sounds great for a "conservative investment."...

livesoft wrote:Did you call them up yet? What did they say?

They showed me where I needed to go to link up my bank account, and showed how to do purchases for me.

One thing to understand that if you are using mutual funds there will be a minimum initial balance in the fund. For most Vanguard investor class funds this is $3000, although the Target Retirement and STAR are $1000. How much do you have in the Roth? Brian I currently have $10k in the Roth, and ano...

Are you talking only about a Roth account? Is this what you mean or is there some difficulty you are facing after having done the basics? No, I already have my Roth opened through Vanguard. I was more-so primarily talking about difficulty after having done the basics. So now that I have that alread...

Greetings all, I'm sure this has been talked about before, but I cannot figure out how to search for a thread that fits with some advice that I am looking for. Now that I have my budget all created, I have figured out what I would like to do on a monthly basis regarding my investments. I have set as...

mephistophles wrote:

dhodson wrote:For the great majority, the answer is no.

Actually, you are incorrect.

You mean that he is incorrect about the statement that "The answer to this question can be "no" if you choose a policy that is structured to pay a flat amount of death benefit only."

correct?

It's about ratings in my opinion. Would him saying "Buy an index fund and hold it for the long term" be an interesting tv show? I think not.

Pennis turn into nickles,
Nickles turn into dimes,
Dimes turn into quarters,
Quarters turn into dollars,
Dollars turn into millions.

Mandrale: Thank you for coming back. " Cancelling this policy would be "the worst financial decision i could make in my lifetime". I just thought it would be interesting to hear your guys' reaction to a statement like this. My reaction is that your adviser(?) is a good insurance sale...

I know that this has been posted before, but I can't seem to find the answer that I am looking for... For someone who is planning to make a full contribution ($5,000) to their Roth IRA for 2012, how do you figure out the best time to make your contribution? Would it be as soon as you have the $5,000...

I don't think there's much of a point trying to convince him. Clearly he has views that are his own, and look only after himself. He has that right, even though it is incredibly hard to believe one could think like that. It offends me that you just assume that I'm a "he". I'm intentially ...

Now I need to go check, but I think that my debit card-and others have a daily limit on how much can be charged to it--$500, I think. My ING Direct debit card has a $5,000/day PIN purchase limit, a $5,000/day non-PIN purchase limit, and a $1,000/day ATM withdrawal, so it definitely varies from bank...