Bogleheads.org

time machine.

I reached $100,338 in net worth on January 8, 2011, a few days before my 29th birthday. Salary was about 67K. I remember the moment auto-sum showed 6 figures at the bottom of my spreadsheet, I immediately got up and starting clapping. Great feeling. Neighbors probably thought I was watching basketba...

Thanks Larry. I dont have a written IPS because I dont think I need one. But it might be helpful to go ahead and do one just to keep me focussed if things start deviating from my thought out plan. Ill use your article as a guide.

People have different ideas for what an investment is, or should be, or do.

What is your definition of an investment?

cant say that I belong, but to BUMP your post I bet youll get a lot of "adds more diversification" answers.

I read the article. He seems a little smug and unrepentant for his crimes, but I think he is genuinely trying to give good advice to people about avoiding investment scams.

We had to call a wrecker yesterday to winch a truck out of a ditch. $600 for 15 minutes worth of work! The wrecker operator said that he would lower the cost to $550 if the bill was paid in cash, but he couldnt provide a receipt if that option was chosen. We had to have a receipt, so we went ahead a...

+1 vote for Tobias book the only investment guide you'll ever need. Plus a personal friend of mine who is a member of these boards.

This is some bull-market talk in this thread. :) What I am questioning is the idea that when (or before) you reach some "number" you should be very conservative. My own opinion is that you should take a moderate amount of risk to get there, and continue that style after you get there. Why ...

For me its Chipotle. It will literally make my day just eating a burrito there. Unfortunately I have to drive 40 minutes to the nearest location. Ive burned out on food before, so I try to keep my visits to once a week. mmmmmmmmm looking forward to Sundays visit. :D Still kicking myself for not buyi...

My questions are: 1) How do you recommend I allocate the $100k from the old 401k? I thought I had it figured out but now I’m really confused given the backdoor roth opportunity and other stuff I read recently. 2) Do you recommend I make changes to my current asset allocations? Dont let the advisors...

The real estate company that owns the apartments around here has a policy where it's generally impossible to get the full security deposit back -- they always send in the painters & the crime-scene cleanup van when someone moves out, so that takes up most of the security deposit. Supposedly if ...

Would you add/change anything I said? I wouldnt have given direct advice, just some options that she should consider for her situation. She's 40 years old and neither she nor her husband have much in the way of retirement savings, so its important that she get into the habit of contributing somethin...

Not sure what the OP means, but start by reading this...

http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Principl ... _Placement

If youre looking for RichDad advice, You two could get divorced, split all assets evenly and he could slowly gift everything he owns over to you post-divorce.

Nobody has mentioned it yet so I will. If you are set on investing that 1500 immediately, consider the Vanguard Star fund. Its minimum balance to open is $1000.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/FundsS ... IntExt=INT

congrats LadyGeek, but is this thread actionable? Lock please.

So what?

Surprised nobody has asked/mention this yet... Why would you buy the S&P 500 (presuming an index fund following it like the Vanguard 500) versus buy a total market fund that inherently includes the S&P 500 and a cap-weighted average of all the US Market (except micro-caps)? Any particular r...

Is investing different for the "rich"? Something that came to mind and I think this would qualify... My 401(k) currently allows an investment option for VINIX (Vanguard Institutional Index) and the expense ratio for that fund is .04. Its basically the same as the VG 500 index (VFIAX) only ...

Mine would probably be the way I handled my ESOP payout. Instead of rolling it over into my company 401(k), I decided to cash it out. Absolutely crushed me in penalties/fees and taxes.

I have no idea what is going on here.

Unfortunately Arkansas doesnt have an option for a direct debit from my checking. Do you know that DF&A has an online payment system for your taxes? ATAP (Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point) allows taxpayers or their representatives to log on to a secure site and manage their account online. You ca...

OP here, thanks for the responses. Yes, I sent the check with the AR1000V form. Unfortunately Arkansas doesnt have an option for a direct debit from my checking. Too bad too, as it is so much more efficient. The IRS already has my federal money and I have the bank statement to prove it. All I have f...

I ended owing the state of Arkansas for tax year 2012. I e-filed using Turbo Tax, and it was accepted. Then I mailed a check to the Arkansas Finance and Administration po box. I paid an extra 5 bucks or so at the post office so I could get a tracking number. Unfortunately the tracking number has not...

What are the tax consequences with bitcoin? Does anybody know? If you have a capital gain selling your bitcoin for 400% in a year, does bitcoin exchange send you the tax forms? What if you lose 400%? Can you write it off? Or is this yet another mystery???

They will have to pay you rent for the thing right? Hire a lawyer, he should at least be able to get you a fair deal on rent.

...aaaaannnndddd...just for some perspective, the S&P500 ended down 6.7 points, or 0.43%. No, this was not a Really Bad Day. Just another day in your life that you may or may not have worried about your stock portion of your portfolio. If you worried about it, you are being too aggressive. Do so...

Total international is supposedly pretty tax-friendly as you can claim some tax breaks due to having paid foreign taxes if its held in a taxable account. After just having filed for 2012, I was somewhat disappointed with this tax break, but I guess it was better than nothing.

I get phish emails from someone impersonating a manager at FedEx regularly. Most companies with an online presence will have a fraud department that deals with unsolicitated phish emails, impersonators and the like. I advise anyone to report these emails to the appropriate company fraud team for in...

With the PPACA law you will need to maintain USA health insurance year around, even when you are not there, or face non-compliance penalties until you establish a bona-fide residence some place overseas (which does not sound like your plan). And your PPACA plan may very well not cover you abroad be...

I get phish emails from someone impersonating a manager at FedEx regularly. Most companies with an online presence will have a fraud department that deals with unsolicitated phish emails, impersonators and the like. I advise anyone to report these emails to the appropriate company fraud team for inv...

How much is your PMI? I dont fully understand your apprehensiveness towards paying the mortgage down. Thats a guaranteed 4%. Are you sure you are eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA, knowing that your salary is largely dependant on performance/sales? Check the fees and commissions at Tradeking. You...

Daddy, I want a golden goose!

uh oh, I smell a hair-dressing bubble.

I keep about 100 to 400 in my wallet. I did win a few hundred from a bookie this past football season, and that got "hidden" around the apartment until my wallet-cash ran low because I didnt feel like going to the ATM.

10% takes care of rent.

Personally, I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

Help me out, what does this mean... Company 401K. Guaranteed 3% contribution of EMR (NOT a match.) To retire in 20 years, 100% stocks should theoretically get you the highest net worth you could attain. I wouldnt necessarily recommend this strategy however. :shock: Have you checked out the early ret...

$800 a month on entertainment? Face it, poor people cant afford $800 a month in entertainment. Make your own entertainment until this gets under control. $100 a month on haircuts? Come on. To the OP, I realize youre a first time poster, but there are tons of ways to reduce that budget. I havent paid...

Mine is administered by Chase. Anything less than $2000 must be kept in cash. (I have only recently started it, and have $625 in there) After $2000, they allow for investments in managed funds with high ER's. Kind of sucks in that aspect, but I plan to draw it down on an annual basis anyway, so the ...

I keep a word file of some good quotes and messages I come across on here and on the ER forums. After reading this post, my file has greatly increased! Thanks for posting, Mr Larimore.

Best wishes.

start a poll.

I have no kids of my own, so I hesitate to comment, and this also means that any comments I have should be taken with a grain of salt. But kudos to your 5 and a half year old daughter being interested in investing...I think. Nothing wrong with teaching her saving, and budgeting, but investing in and...

Wee going to need more information to make proper recommendations, (see the sticky on how to ask portfolio questions) but here are a few points worth noting... -The ER's of these funds are pretty high, and wouldnt be recommended by a Boglehead. Also, we do not look at past performance, as it does no...

Welcome to the forum. All about Asset Allocation is an excellent reference. Good choice. Some general observations: You state that you desire roughly 30% International stocks. Youre only at about 20% with my rough estimate, and that portion is only going to shrink, as your portfolio grows, since you...

Jen, how did you (she) get 2 Roth IRA accounts? I didnt even know that was possible. The one at Waddell and Reed is a rip-off. To answer the questions IMHO, 1. Yes, consolidate. Way too many accounts, and some of them are charging way too high expense ratios. 2. I havent done the math, but its proba...

Im not clear about your pension. Is it worth 70K now, or are you expecting 70K annually in retirement?

Good forums? No, or at least not that I am aware of. But if you want to get a perspective of completely opposite points of view, go to yahoo finance, type in any ticker symbol, and read the message boards.

The poster's on this site who are in their late 20's are very self-selective. Since they're so far from retirement, they seem to fall into the following camps: 1) Money-conscious super savers 2) Heavily in debt and need help 3) New or soon to be new physicians 4) Mid 5-figure debt or net worth look...