Bogleheads.org

Just the same old boring Victorinox Tinker I've been carrying for 30 years, although it's gone back to the factory more then a few times. And I can indeed cut up chicken with the 2.5" blade.

I used Azek which is PVC, it does indeed get very hot. I've not had PT rot, it warps and has a bad tendency to get small splits or some such making splinters common. I believe the PT we get around here is yellow pine.

I just got done replacing my PT deck with plastic, couldn't go barefoot on the PT anymore (15-20 years old), PT railings look like heck after a while too. I'd look at your material options again if you'll be in the house long term. Sometimes when your doing these things yourself it pays to pay for p...

I get the best I can afford in many areas, a few I can think of that may be classified as Premium would be

Tires
Cigars
Outdoor/Backpacking gear

http://www.vermontinntoinnwalking.com/

Google turned up a lot of them.

Kind of bucking the common knowledge, I always hear folks say they wish they had retired earlier.

Thanks to you both.

It's a subject I know next to nothing about, can anyone steer me towards a site or book that would help me learn about optimizing income tax savings in retirement?

Something that sounds like it would be of concern is Tung Oil has a strong odor. I use Woodcrafts 100% TO on all my canoe trim and it certainly has a strong smell, very slow drying when it's cool, like the 50's. I've no experience with polymerized. Oh ya, Linseed oil has a strong odor too.

I've had good luck with http://www.woodcraft.com/category/2007257/general-finishes-water-based-wood-stains.aspx , or if you wich give Jeff Jewett a call at http://homesteadfinishingproducts.com/ . He carries General Finishes as well as others and ships, the guy knows his stuff. Just tell him what yo...

How about those who didn't start at all? We paid out of pocket quarterly, had no savings. The kids did have to take the federal subsidized loan each year for their part, we paid what was left. Small private colleges ran about 20k a year at the time so we paid somewhere around 14k a year which was ab...

FWIW, we painted our vinyl twice now after the corner pieces went from beige to pink roughly 20 years ago. Painting vinyl is very easy, used a brush for the trim and undersides, and a pad for the flat surface. Working alone I could do a side in a day, this on a 1700 sq' ranch so I have low peaks. Th...

The wife wants to go to the islands, that's about the extent of our play $.

I did just under 20% from about age 25 till maybe 45, then added 1% a year to my current 35%. With no pension I will be okay to retire if I wish at 60. I'd think 20-25% would get you in good shape by 55ish, more if you want to be FI before that. Save all that you can afford.

I don't think you should do anything with your cash right now, leave it where it is and spend some time figuring out a good asset allocation that lets you sleep at night. Once you come up with a plan, then act. Go read the Wiki then pick out a couple books to read that are in the reading list. Call_...

A couple months ago I looked an Inflation adjusting SPIA matched to CPI, it was paying $250 month per $100k or about 3%. I would think it could be a decent shot at a safe rate.

Well there you go, I read above about Eddie Bauer having the odd sizes and go take a look. They do indeed have everything covered up to 36's, then they skip 37 and go to 38's, I of course would like a 37 so why am I being discriminated against??? By the way, I'd like those in the non existent 31&quo...

So far, everything is working 'OK.' A neighbor suggested trying an aquarium fish tank or septic tank aerator for a while and run a plastic pipe to pump air into the septic tank to allow bacteria to multiple rapidly. He stated it helped with 'biomat' in the drainfield as the bacteria seemed to chew ...

Best I've come up with is keeping the grass as full as possible. Fertilizer, cutting a bit long, and water. I still get weeds but it's a losers game to try and get rid of them all, chemicals cost too much and never do that good a job anyway. There is a tool for cutting the root of dandelions as thos...

Welcome to the forum. We Bogleheads believe trying to time the market is a losers game, which is what you're doing. I would suggest you learn the basics by doing some reading from the Wiki list of books http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Category:Books_and_Authors . I personally would suggest starting w...

FWIW, we spent 5% of the homes value on home related expenses last year, not including any mortgage.

Taxes, Utilities, Home Owners, and normal maintenance. Our tax rates are $14 per thousand.

It's deviating from the OP's main question but Sam I Am and Garco point out the conundrum with early retirement. Retire as early as you can while you have the health to do what you want, because you never know about tomorrow. Or hold off retiring early when you have just enough, because you never kn...

For a mere $12k we bought into a campground in the late 70's, hey the free set of pots and pans just to listen to their spiel sounded like a win win to this pair of broke newly wed GI's. Finally sold the lot 15 years later for less then 20% of what we paid for it over a 10 year loan, not to mention ...

Have you run the numbers through one of the online calculators? Your situation varies just a bit from my own as your spouse makes more then mine and were both the same age. I come up with waiting till 70 to collect as giving me the most spending $ if I were to retire at 60 with my wife putting in fo...

We're about the same, $815 a month according to Quicken if I add in all money spent on food. I've looked at it and not found anything I care to cut, I do like my peanut butter pretzels. I would think a decent chunk of our goes into the grand kids. Food eats up 18% of our spending.

Don't know how legal it is but... My neighbor runs his washing machine out through the basement window, into a buried pipe in the window well that runs across the yard to the tree line where he has a Flo-well installed. Keeps a good deal of the water out of the leach field. Been this way for decades...

I can't see the tractor doing any damage to it. I have a 1500 gallon tank which is made to fill up to the outlet level, 2/3rd's according to Bilperk, at which point the liquid drains into the field. If it's going higher then the outlet then the field is bad or too small. See if you have a health dep...

Padlin, Those Items should not clog the drainfield and floating solids are caught in the tank. The liquid leaves the tank about 1/3 of the way down. Those items will increase the pumping frequency and can cause a blockage in the line leading to the tank or the inlet in some cases. Best not to flush...

Didn't read all the responses so please forgive me if this has already come up. After living in my bought new house 7 years I hired a geologist that designed and directed installation of a 2nd leach field on the side of the house where there is an abundance of sand. This cured my "backing up&qu...

Might poke around early-retirement.org, being a for profit site they do not have the topic limitations there are here where all questions need to be related to $.

Don't really need an emergency fund any more but earlier in life I used CD's, then slowly moved it to Wellesley in our Roths and a bunch of I Bonds. Both are liquid enough for our needs.

Here's an article the Rick Ferri wrote on Glide Paths that may be of use. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/2012/10/29/the-flight-path-approach-to-age-based-asset-allocation/ With 15 years to go you've got plenty of time to stay 85/15 if you wish, at 56 with 4 years to go, I'm 55/45. Keep in min...

I have my doubts about how I grew up having anything to do with me becoming a Boglehead. As far as I know I became one after performance chasing through the 90's to mixed results. I was searching for a "better way" when I came across a review of Common Sense on Mutual Funds in Barrons. Rem...

Strafe, we came across this discussion thread. We don't want to lose you as a customer, so we'd like to have someone reach out to you to discuss your policy further. If you are interested, please email your contact information to us at socialmedia@amica.com. Thank you! - Jess H Very interesting, th...

I honestly try to avoid looking when it's going down other then to see if it's time to rebalance. Unfortunately at work I can't help but see what the S&P is doing, from it I pretty much know where my investments are.

Did you read the Wiki? http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Windfalls

55/45, just changed from 60/40, ages 56/57, not retired.

40 US
15 Int
10 Intermediate Bond Index
15 TIPS Fund
20 GIC

Pretty close, at 70 our SS will be 54k, my must have is about 45k.

"is there any selling or planned selling occurring out there?" I had to beat myself up over it but I did sell some. Became a Boglehead in 2000 and haven't gone with the crowd since although when it's gotten really high or low I do look and see if I should rebalance, in accordance with my I...

Clam and Hacksaw Chowder, New England style of course.

A haircut costs me $15 plus I give a $5 tip, roughly 20%. Your arithmetic is off. 20% of $15 is $3. You're tipping 33-1/3%. Brian This is what happens when doing this while at work. I'm under the impression a "blowout" is a chemical treatment for straightening hair, maybe I misunderstood....

Since I've been able to afford it, I've always bought a new car. There's just too much uncertainty with used cars. I don't care what the dealer certification is, I just don't trust anyone in the car business. Got burned once with a used car. How many flooded cars are out there being sold as good? C...

Before we get into a discussion of how we should all be using Flobees to cut our hair ourselves, the real question to me is not how much the tip is, but why you mentioned the cost of the cut and color doubling. Did it just double? Or has this been a slow, gradual thing over a number of years? I am ...

This one is for my DW. We were talking about the doubling of the cost for her cut/color and blowout, up to $170. For what amount to 30 minutes time with her hairdresser (does multiple customers at once) the tip is now $35. This feel excessive to one who makes less then that hourly. Is 20% normal?

There are probably moves she should make but they have nothing to do with the federal budget, which is always in crisis. If you follow the Laura's guidelines for posting questions (2nd post from the top), we could see what your wife has as available options as well as what you folks have as a total ...

We put some of our EF $ into Roths when We could not fully fund them otherwise. Seems to be a better place then a CD especially when I can foresee no real need to have immediate access to the $. In a real emergency, which I've never had, knock on wood, it's liquid and safe enough for my needs.

Can't help you, I didn't find my wife, she found me. Being a city boy I wanted a country girl, which she is. I got lucky 35 years ago.

We like having a yard that looks good, so far we've put roughly 15-20k into it including blue stone walls and steps. Have another $5k to go for a back patio and walkway. None of this is done for resale, we spend a lot of time working and enjoying in the yard. This does include drip irrigation in the...

Got out of the service in 83 at 23 making a whopping 14k, started at my present job shortly there after. Was eligible for the 401k 3 years later or age 26, with company contributions I put away 17% starting at that time. 3 years later at 29 I would have had roughly 9k socked away. I started in time ...

lawn care for a year.
Mini vacation, with or without you, whichever is appropriate.
Years pass for a car wash.