Bogleheads.org

retiredjg, My tax-advantaged space is 100% bonds, and I've been maxing out 401(k) contributions since my career started, so I don't think I can do too much better here. My allocation is also more conservative than most for my age, in part because I'm in a volatile industry, where that volatility is ...

Thanks for the advice guys. With everything said, I'm leaning toward paying off the loan. While it sounds like there is some lost optionality to doing this, the mental distraction of continuing to weigh the pay-off vs. don't-pay-off decision into the future, monitoring bond rates, etc. doesn't seem ...

If I don't own a home now, is it right that, even if I wanted to "roll" the student loan into my mortgage, there is no need to hold the student loan until I get the mortgage? That is to say: I could pay off the student loan now, and get a larger mortgage later than I would have, had I not ...

Thanks for the reply G-Money. The loan amount is under 2% of our net-worth, so we won't miss the liquidity. No other debt. We don't own a home, but there is a good chance we will in the next few years. If we bought a home, I assume the interest rate would be well above 2.875%? That said, I realize t...

My wife has a student loan of 2.875% This is a great rate, and I was originally not inclined to pay off the loan. However, our income is high enough that the interest is non-tax-deductible, and this will likely be the case every year from here out. So in that sense, the rate is not as low at it look...

My wife and I own a house that my wife's mother lives in. Currently, she is the sole owner (the house was purchased before we married), and I am not on any of the documents. We are considering refinancing the loan, though with my wife's income alone, she may not qualify for a refi. With my income, w...

I didn't read your post or the other replies. Just from the title of your post alone, you should rent.

Back in 2000, I was running a successful penny-stock daytrading strategy.

I once doubled down on a stock rather than closing out the position; by the time I'd realized my mistake (~15 minutes later), a $1000 gain had turned into a $7000 loss.

If the pension fund manager continually picks loser hedge funds, can't he be sued for breach of his fiduciary duty? (Well, that's a dumb question, of course he can be sued). But, how often does it happen and when it does, how often is the pension fund manager found liable?? My guess would be: pensi...

I think we need a few more options:

>50K
>25K
>10K


Seriously though; in before lock.

For many of us, 401(k) withdrawal taxes will be in the tens of thousands. Unless you routinely ignore other items of this size in calculating net worth, I don't see how you ignore this one. There is a big difference between money in the bank and money in a 401(k). As for calculating the after-tax va...

Hi Folks, On the forums and on the Bogleheads wiki, I'm constantly hearing that it's most tax efficient to allocate bonds to tax-deferred vehicles, saving equities for taxable investing. For some reason, I'm having a hard time convincing myself this is true. I can see that it's clearly true in a sin...

I highly recommend buying used; you get much more for your dollar. This is the main trading post: http://www.audiogon.com/

I have a stereo that cost $8k; all of the equipment was purchased used. I listen to it every day, and it sounds great.

The salesman didn't sell you the product because it's not available in the store. It's no problem of yours; if the salesman doesn't like the situation, he can take it up with Costco.

If they're offering you less than what you made before, why would they think you'd accept? Are they aware of your current compensation?

Do you have a plan for the case where your parents default on their loan and you've lost your job? Why do your parents feel the need to buy, rather than to continue renting? If you're working on a tight timetable, as you said you are, it's much easier to find a rental in two weeks than it is to exec...

I once put in a six-figure buy order for a VG fund that was similar to the one I wanted, but wasn't exactly the right one. I wanted the Intermediate Term Bond Index, but I accidentally bought Intermediate Term Investment Grade. The order was placed on a Saturday. Later that day, I realized the mista...

To be honest, I never understood the point of dollar cost averaging. If I want my money to be at a target allocation, and I'm currently at some other allocation, I want to get to the target allocation now. If I instead move to the target over a period of time, that only means that my money is sub-op...

I'm about your age (27), and my 401k and IRA accounts are also 100% equities. One thing I'll mention is that, as far as foreign stocks go, it might be worth making sure you have both developed and emerging markets exposure.

Outside of retirement funds, I hold much less than 100% equities.

As a relatively recent MIT grad, I figured I'd say a few things. When I first got to MIT, my inclination was that I would study a hard science. That changed during freshman year, when I decided I wanted to pursue an economics or finance-related career. While I was at MIT, I worked with a prof on a p...

Unless you are managing huge numbers of passwords, I think these password tools aren't that useful. It's sort of a manufactured need for most people. Passwords are like keys, and you hang your keys on a hook next to the front door. I try to use the same passwords for as many things as possible, and...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a poorly constructed index. The price-weighting of stocks makes no sense; when a stock splits 2:1, the fund needs to cut its holding in that stock by half.

I'm against it. Typically, restaurants already provide this information. Just ask for it. This is just another feel good law that will make it more expensive to do business in California. For restaurants that already have this information, there aren't any costs involved, except those for printing ...

If you don't think you need the calorie counts to determine what's healthy on a menu, consider this: the salads at California Pizza Kitchen have more calories than the pizzas. You can see this on the menus in their NYC restaurants.

I believe that in many states, if a piece of property is jointly owned, and one of the parties wants to sell, the courts will force the property to be sold.

See the attached link:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/c ... 28_vc.html

It seems like people want it both ways: if your account rises above $1m due to market conditions, commissions should be cut from $13 to $9, but if your account drops below $1m for the same reasons, commissions shouldn't be raised from $9 to $13. If this were the case, people who had $1m worth of tec...

How much did an MRI cost in 1934?

Do what people always do when capital gains rates go up: don't sell until they go back down.

I think you have to look at the United States in the early 1800s as an emerging market, one that you'd never have put all your money into anyway. It's pretty obvious that if you buy stocks in a country that ends up being the world's biggest economy 200 years later, you make out pretty well.

In general I support non-unionized workers, and this weighs into my decision about what cars to test drive.

They do that so they can show you more ads.

Here's a related question: if you stay in a hotel for one night, do you tip the housekeeping staff? Many people in this thread say they tip for personal service, but if you stay for only a night, the housekeeping staff does nothing while you're there; they clean the room before you get there, and af...

As far as the charitable aspect is concerned, rather than paying for a life insurance policy to create a charitable windfall, they would be better off just taking whatever money the policy costs and donating that to charity directly.