Bogleheads.org

I find the flat rate boxes to be the best deal from the USPS. I assume it has to do with standardization of equipment to handle standard sized boxes, similar to why container-shipping dominates the shipping acvoss the ocean. I don't have an Office Depot nearby to compare. Is it that Offoce Depot use...

I think college administrations should be allowed to charge what the market will bear. Supply and demand. When people refuse to pay their prices, then those prices won't be paid anymore. It is that simple. Fine, limit the issuance of credit to those who can afford to pay back the loans based on the...

This is the tax tail wagging the dog. The attorney is saying to avoid expenses after death (taxes) but pay him/her attorney expenses now, and tie up the money. No advisor should be causing her distress. She has plenty of money, why should the attorney be causing her grief? I'd forget such a scheme a...

3) Regarding MIT and stanford: the 50k= 26k fees + 6k books+ living expenses. As someone mentioned, a lot of senior/freshman have textbooks lying around. You are a little off. Books are nowhere near $6K. Tuition alone is over $42K plus abou $1K extra in various fees. The total with living expenses ...

I have kept up with college costs, and was more worried when my kids were young than when they became college age. Keep putting an increasing amount of money away (I maxed the ROTH, and just put small amounts in 529s.) By college time I could just stop putting money away and pay out of pocket. State...

Been discussed. Ain't gonna happen.

I suggest you use the search feature to see that it was proposed and why it was rejected.

Read the Ebri notes at: http://www.ebri.org/publications/notes/index.cfm?fa=notesDisp&content_id=5209 Among the bottom income quartile (bottom 25%, not bottom half as in the Bloomberg article) about 1/2 (48%) averaged a 17% withdrawal. To be in the bottom quartile, they prabably had very little ...

I keep 6 months expenses in the local bank, and the rest of my ROTH CONTRIBUTIONS serves as a second tier emergency fund. I would keep at least 1 month's worth, or $5K local which ever is higher so that you can get at it fast. You can even set up a ROTH account at my Credit Union, so it would be loc...

Try a credit union, and maybe a shorter term

I just got a fixed rate HEL on a $45K balance, 7 years though, not 15.

I got mine from the local FIRST FRC Robotics team. They sell them to support the team. Kind iof like Girl Scout Cookies. Two 60W equiv. for under $50 with tax. This year is even better, the local electric utility is giving a $10 per bulb rebate (assuming they more than $10). Disclosure: My son was o...

I just refinanced a 15 year loan with a $45K balance (7 years left) at 4.875% to a no-cost 7 year Home Equity Loan at 3.875% at a local Credit Union. It dropped my payments, and added nothing to the loan. I tried for a 2.75% fixed but they upped it to 2.875% for the small balance and wanted $1600 in...

I started when my eldest was in 5th grade. I started with a portion of what I expected to need each year and increased it each year, using a Roth. By the time he went to college, I was saving as much as I needed so I just stopped adding to the Roth and paid directly not having to tap the Roth. If I ...

I think you meant up 25% the first year, down 20% the next. A more striking example is down 50% one year, up 70% the next year. Simply adding % gains and subtracting %losses gives you a gain of 10% over two years, but you went from $100 down $50 to $50, then up by $35 to $85, a loss of 15% over 2 y...

I don't really understand this effect. Could you explain it? Ideally, wouldn't we hold lots of funds rather than just a handful to maximize this effect? Try this explanation ... You are up 20% one year down 25% the next. Average growth of 2.5 (5/2) $100 grows to $125 then loses one fifth its value ...

No. I live to far north to make it even close to practical financially. I'd like to, for non-financial reasons, but have other priorities. I've long used CFL's and plan to switch to LEDs in some places. Not using energy is even better than using renewable energy, so I'll focus on that until solar be...

$300 for 1/4 carat engagement ring and two bands, and I had to finance that. I was poor and in grad school at the time. Spent about the same on the honeymoon. Her parents were in the middle of the farm crisis, so her folks, she and I split the wedding costs, she worked a second job to pay for her pa...

I believe it was Grocho Marks, who when told that government bonds paid low rates and therefore were not good investments, said relative to low rates, "not if you have enough of them". Yes rates are low, yes Buffett is a successful investor, but everyone's situation is unique. I struggle ...

Waiting to 70 is likely the best. I'd find out what effect the pension has on the widow's benefit, assuming you pre-decease her. If she can benefit neither from neitrher the sposal benefit nor the widow's benefit, then the call is much closer. Then your health situation is probably the primary deter...

Assuming safety can be measured as a fuction of a time interval, the only other options are 1) Stocks are safer the shorter time they are held 2) Stocks are equally safe/unsafe no matter what the time interval. 3) No way to know. I have a hard time believing 1). Do the people voting NO mean 2) or do...

The ROTH is a good idea due to the ability to use the CONTRIBUTIONS as a second-tier emergency fund. CONTRIBUTIONS to a ROTH can be withdrawn (but not put back in) at any time without taxes and without penalty. Contribution to a ROTH can then do double duty. I'd fill it up with contributions to at l...

Consider renting. We bought a trumpet and violin after renting for 3-4 years thinking it would be cheaper, and after one more year, both wanted to quit. Of course, then there was the "but we just bought the instrument battle", and both boys stuck it out for one more year before quitting. I...

We started when our youngest was 5, old enough to do most of the walking himself. Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone were our favorites in the US. We also liked the Columbia Icefield in Jasper Natl. Park in Canada. Where else can your kids walk on a glacier? You can even pay to get bussed ...

I rebalanced into equities, but did not see that option, so I selected
stay the course.

We are going to be in the UK in May and would like to get a cheap phone for UK (England & Scotland) only calling. One cheap phone is shown here at Carphone Warehouse under Pay as You Go plans: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/categories/price-plans/pay-as-you-go Anybody used this or ano...

Well, again, I dont necessarily agree I am in the top tax bracket In retirement I will be in a much lower bracket Hence when i do the math, doesnt supercharging the roth make more sense? By my calculations it does - power of compounding in a tax free account? where doesnt the math add up? Actually,...

Op, You can certainly go ahead and do this. Remember that you are taking a calculated risk. The finance buff article makes it clear that this will not be an obvious winner. For this to be a certain winning strategy, you need to make the following 5 assumptions: 1) Stocks will do better than bonds ov...

My very sincere thanks to everyone who responded. Based on suggestions from many of you, we will delay SS at least until full retirement age. I've also run several scenarios that show various market changes, including 2-3 years of losses with only partial recovery, and average returns of only 3%. E...

Your SWR should be a floor on what
you could withdraw otherwise it
is not safe.

Without Ins Comp profits, an inflation
adj annuity should always provide
a higher return than your SWR, since
the pooled risk means they need
the rate to be the Ave real return
not a minimum real real return

This may be heresy, but I do not ascribe to idea that the standard deviation(SD) of yearly return is directly proportional to risk in the sense that I think of as risk. (E.g being in a plane crash or getting hit by a bus) The biggest issue in equities is short term volatility. If you need the money...

I am very cautious in general, so you'd think I would be mostly or all bonds since equities are so "risky". I actually rebalanced into equities in 2001, 2003, and twice in fall 2008, spring 2009. I've been investing since 1989, so I have seen the big market declines of 2001, 2003 and 2008/...

Just back from France last Aug. The best exchange rates I got were from my credit union before I left (ordered two weeks ahead), and second best was using an ATM in France. Let the credit union know you are going, and up your maximum daily withdrawal. Also let CC companies know you are going and whe...

I also have one son in college, another going this fall. Don't use a for-fee planner. That is just a scam. Always fill out the FAFSA, particularly for private schools. Some financial aid may be available, and they generally use the FAFSA to decide on the need portion. Also, when you have two in coll...

I never repair a tire. I would just replace the pair. Though I am frugal, I don't skimp on repairs to tires, brakes or front end In my opinion it is a safety issue. A blowout at highway speed can cause a crash. I've done extensive car repair, sometimes saving a little is not worth it.Just go to a t...

1) Automate as much as possible. Have money automatically be deposited in 401K and any IRAs you have. Having to deal with the money with so many choices can cause decision problems. Set up auto-rebalancing or a target date funds to avoid having to decide when to move money. 2) Have some fun. It does...

Somebody has to own the stocks. Peope like to invest in their own countries stocks. How does US ownership of stock compare to the market cap of other countries? Maybe people in the US just own more in total. Also the economies of the EU would seem to be in worse shape than the US. Is this just an is...

I never repair a tire. I would just replace the pair. Though I am frugal, I don't skimp on repairs to tires, brakes or front end In my opinion it is a safety issue. A blowout at highway speed can cause a crash. I've done extensive car repair, sometimes saving a little is not worth it.Just go to a ti...

I'd move it all into a traditional IRA at Vanguard, or some other low fee fund provider rather than into the new 401K. It is doubtful that the new plan will have lower fees, and they often have restrictions on moving money out before retirement, with the TIRA you have more control. You can always do...

our experience was that insurance was not affected by permit/practice driving, and the insurance would only change after the license was granted. i guess insurance company feels risk is low with an adult in the car "instructing". we use State Farm, but i asked the agent to write a note to...

Each had different AAs based primarily on when I anticipated I needed the funds to be available.  Perfect, that's just what I was wondering. And I'll also research Roth IRAs more closely- I didn't know that about being able to withdraw contributions. Thank you both! You can also think of using your...

Suggestions: Check with a tax accountant (after tax season) on how to proceed regarding the Capital Gains issue. I think that under current tax law that Long Term Capital gains are taxed at 0% for those in the 15% fed. tax bracket. (Someone please correct me if this is wrong.) A tax accountant shoul...

The purpose of school is to learn to be a part of society, and the more diverse the society, the better you can understand it. The purpose of school is to learn. To be a bit harsh about it, a "good school" seems to mean, to many people, a low proportion of lower class and minority familie...

Thanks all. It would seem that most here tend to agree that a house in a good school district makes financial and academic sense. In my area, an average house in a great school district would be $1MM. I need to wrap my head around that kind of number. You're probably on one of the coasts. I passed ...

So is it ok to mail my taxes out April 15 Monday first thing in the morning? Talk about last minute. :oops: E-file? Maybe next year? I mailed mine early and I've already got the refunds back. (Kids in college, so its best to file in Feb to get the FAFSA in by Valentine's day, as suggested by Fin. A...

This is one that I am passionate about. I grew up poor, and decided when I was young that education was the only way out. Short answer: In my opinion,extremely so, and I'd go further and say to look for GREAT schools, not just good ones. Don't impoverish yourself, but you don't have to fully fund yo...

I am retired. Income from Pension and SS: Not clear on the following: 1. Can one still make contributions to an IRA? Would such contributions be tax deductible or not? 2. Can a retired person contribute to a Roth or must contributions come from "wages" 3. I have a few funds in an IRA. Wou...

You are just multiplying 18K/year times 30 years. That assumes you earn 0% nominal on it (e.g. you bury it in the backyard). If you earn 3 and 1/3 % it will last forever at a constant 3% withdrawal rate (3 1/3 per year * $540K = $18K per year. If you earn 3% real (that is: 3% above say a 2% inflatio...

I may need to move for financial reasons or to get away from cold winters, but other than that, I'd stay in the same town. Otherwise, I lose all the personal connections, church, community organizations I've belonged to. If I have to, I will, but those will be even more important to me in retirement...

I prefer Ben Graham's definition. From wikipedia: An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative. Reference: 4th Edition of Intelligent Investor, Chapter 1, page 18. I'll ...

If the stuff needs to be shredded it, I would not take it to a public place.

I'm in TIAA-CREF also.

By minimum guaranteed amount, do you mean the 3% guaranteed minimum or are you
referring to someting else, amybe in the retirement phase?
Thanks!