Bogleheads.org

I bought a set of paula deen cookware on sale at wal-mart. great stuff, heavy bottom, stainless, cheap. (pause for snark on part of readers re paula deen...but it's good stuff) I buy a cheap nonstick pan and throw it out when the teflon wears out. I do have a le cruset heavy enameled cast iron pot t...

The people featured are carefully selected to look foolish and irrational, which is in line with the media/Hollywood view of anyone who doesn't agree with them.

Thanks for the advice to call amazon. I did, and they are sending a replacement kindle at no charge provided I return the one that's defective. They will send an email with a shipping label so it's no charge for me to return via ups. I guess they do operate on the razor and razor blade principle. I ...

I will give amazon a call.

In response to a question on downloading already purchased material, just go to the manage your kindle page and you can find your stuff. It's easily downloaded to another device.

I'm curious if other forum members who use a kindle have found that it seems to wear out in about two years? I've had two kindles, a keyboard model, and a newer touch, and have used them daily. The first failed and second seems on the verge of doing so, despite repeated hard restarts and a return to...

frugalinvestor --

that does clarify....

thanks


tim

My wife, do handled the computer systems at the library before she retired, is adamant that what symmantec wanted was the password for the email account, and that they have requested this from them at the library in the past. Further, she said she received an email from symmantc noting that our acco...

I've tried contacting norton and have gotten no response. I was wondering if I got it wrong -- I was certain it asked for the password to my email account and not just a password to the norton site. I wondered if I was wrong so tried googling -- apparently some others have had a similar experience. ...

I have new washer and dryer.

Worthless. I should have kept my old maytag.

My advice -- if they can be fixed do it. Newer washers in particular do not wash clothes like old ones. Do not listen to any nonsense about how new appliances are friendlier to the environment.

tim

My wife was upgrading our online norton security account and I noticed that it wanted not only our email but also the password to our email account at yahoo. I couldn't believe that this was anything but a phish, occasioning some dispute between DW and myself. Is this accurate? Does Norton require y...

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit once posted that he had a laptop he used only for financial transactions and accounts. I emailed him to ask him about it, and he replied that it was an old laptop that had a new hard drive. He said he realized it was essentially a virgin machine so he relegated it to fi...

I use the cheap vicks warm air mist humidifiers for 16 each at wal mart. With a 1100 sq ft house, two of them will bring the humidity up to about 52%, compared to about 30% without.

tim

FWIW, transferring an EJ taxable account to Vanguard is possible -- all the American funds will end up in a brokerage account where you can sell them at your leisure. tim

I ran across an interesting statistic the other day -- that the sales of companies in the SP500 are increasingly international -- at this point the writer claimed they were 48% and estimated that this would increase steadily in the years ahead. My question: are the increasing global sales of large U...

An article on John Bogle http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/3071953/Mutual-Fund-Giant-John-Bogle-on-Investment-vs-Speculation.html (From intro -- ) There’s nothing like 60 years’ experience in the financial industry to provide one with hindsight and a few lessons learned. According to John...

Personally, I think it's hocus...

Just saying...

tim

Thought I would resurrect this thread to mention how good the BBC adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma are. They are very well worth ordering on dvd and watching. I didn't find Northanger, Mansfield Park or Persuasion as good. Considering the much shorter length of tho...

Browsing the web and reading a book are two different activities. A plain and simple kindle (very cheap now) is best for the latter; an iPad better than the kindle fire I think for the former. If you don't do an enormous amount of reading you could probably get by with an ipad for both activities. B...

While TRP's index offerings are meager, what they do offer can be used to make up a basic three-fund portfolio. They offer indexed versions of a total us stock market, total international and total bond. Which is basically all you need. tim

You can make yogurt by adding fresh yogurt to scalded milk (after it cools), leaving it overnight. Then drain to get a nice greek-style yogurt.

tim

My wife has a 2005 taurus and really likes its dependability. My understanding is that the present taurus is simply a rebranded larger ford. They simply didn't want to abandon the taurus name. tim

And for those interested in Ben Graham's comments on a 50-50 portfolio, here's a link to a speech he gave many years ago. (The site will provide a link to a pdf file with a typewritten copy of Graham's speech. It's a companion piece to his comments in the Intelligent Investor. ) http://www.jasonzwei...

Read some of the basic material. A quick introduction to index investing came be found in the very short books of Dan Solin. A very key thing to do is figure out what percentage of assets you want in stock and what in bonds. You may find it very easy to invest using one of the Life Strategy Funds. T...

LifeStrategy Conservative Growth Fund.

40-60 stock bond ratio, automatically rebalances daily between Total Stock, Total International, Total Bond.

Expense ratio is .16%.

Quit agonizing, keep a large emergency stash local, put the rest in a simple fund, get on with your life.

tim

This subject comes up periodically. Basically the advice you need is the same....as for someone with a lot less money. Bottom line, I would advise using Vanguard's financial advice. Depositing that amount of money "definitely" gets you a financial plan and a talk with a financial adviser. ...

I recently had a credit card "hacked" -- in the sense that someone charged two JetBlue airline tickets to my card. I received a call the next day from Capital One alerting me and I disallowed the charges. Kudos to Cap One, but how did someone get my card in the first place? I do use it for...

There is a really excellent article on saving (and how difficult it really is in a consumer society) at the Atlantic (by Megan McArdle, one of my favorite columnists): http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/saving-the-new-year/250554/ But most of the research on consumer finance shows t...

There are two Vanguard etf's focused on dividends -- one is the dividend appreciation and the other is a dividend high yield.

Here is the Vanguard starting page on etf's -- before you invest I would spend a lot of time reading.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/etf

Tim

It's nice, but doesn't like water. I would actually look at linoleum (the oldie but goodie) for kitchens and bathrooms and reserve cork for living rooms etc. Tim

I think what it boils down to (assuming your friend actually held those long bond and gold positions for a decade) is that your friend gambled and won. Without looking up long bonds and the price of gold, I know those assets have done well over the last decade or so. Such positions having done well,...

The economics of an RV are really tremendous!!

In fact, I'll sell mine to you just to prove the point!

TW

If you've saved the money in a 529 to pay for tuition/room/board, then spend it. There's no point in the kid having debts when he graduates. Working is worthwhile. If his spending money is what he earned, he will be way (hopefully) cautious on spending it on foolishness. So my vote is spend the mone...

I think it really depends on the home. A manufactured home that looks like one won't have as much appreciation as a stick built home. A lot of people don't want to buy an older manufactured home. (A manufactured home, fyi, is not trailer in a park.) On the other hand, one that looks like a tradition...

There's a reason landscapers refer to strips of soil in this particular place as "hell strips." Try something besides grass. (And I'm not sure what would work -- possibly day lilies?) Tim Edit: Here's a link to an article on hell strips from brooklyn botanic garden http://www.bbg.org/garde...

The cattle dogs I've seen (they're a favorite of the amish in our area) are very high energy outdoor working dogs. They need to be outdoors and they need a lot to do. Coop them up and they go nuts.

TW

While the comment on total return was interesting, the rest of the website seems to cater to etf traders. As you suggest, not the best use of an investor's time and money. Tim

Kenner -- I think you are right -- that information is available to investors -- about ETFreplay I have no idea -- however, a lot of beginning investors are misled by brokers etc. comparing price appreciation on one hand and total return on the other. (Comparing the total return of the fund they are...

A lot of people come to this board who may not understand total return, and this was an interesting comment.

Rudeness seems to be a way of life on the internet.....so be it.

T

Interesting comment on total return: http://www.etfreplay.com/blog/post/2011/07/21/Total-Returns-And-Footnotes.aspx The comment notes the price only appreciation compared with total return over a decade of Vanguard's VBINX. .... the Vanguard 60-40 stock-bond balanced fund returned +20.1% for the 10 ...

Both Rick Ferri and Larry Swedroe bring a lot to this forum. Since I've only quickly scanned this series of posts, I hope my reaction is not off-target. However, it seems to me that some forum members believe if someone is in the business of financial advising, then any post he makes is automaticall...

I have a kindle and use it every day. Worried about it being harder to read than a book but I find it's actually easier. Physically, it's just very light and easy to handle. I like that it's black and white. No distractions. Just the text. Maps on it however are so small to be illegible. A military ...

I think the safety concerns about using kero or paraffin fuel are overdone. An aladdin lamp (go to lehman's hardware online) is very safe, uses a mantle, provides about 60 watts light, good for reading etc. Add in a couple of dietz lanterns and you're good. I keep about a half dozen kero lamps in my...

I read these comments and couldn't believe they came from a group of people (BG's) that ordinarily are wary of popular delusions and foolish thinking... I've owned a American Staff Terrier....lovely sweet dog. My next door neighbor had a lab/golden retriever mix...growled angrily at me every time I ...

If I had an old top loading washer I would continue using it until h--- froze over. I think the water saving regulations driving the industry to front loaders have resulted in washers that don't do the job that the old machines do. I long thought that, and a recent conversation with an appliance rep...

That link from Penonmydesk definitely stuck a trojan on my mac. I didn't think such a thing existed -- but "google" mac scareware and apparently it does. Norton antivirus scan took care of it. (Found four trojan files which it never has before.) I'm pretty hesitant now about clicking on a ...

Something you didn't discuss is how the trust is set up? To buy mutual funds from Vanguard you have to set up an account in the trust name at Vanguard. If the trust is actually situated in a bank trust dept. they probably won't be buying Vanguard funds for you. What I've done with several trusts I'm...

What about Vanguard's tax managed funds? The Tax and Growth and Income (SP500) and TM International (Developed Markets) work on keeping current income down. TW Also there is the TM Capital Appreciation. Here's a link: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0102&FundIntExt=INT

I think the first thing to do is kill the tree down to its roots. I've found that a round up solution works. First cut off the tree where you can with a level cut (even above the fence if that's all that's possible). Then drill holes in the cut portion of the tree, concentrating on the outside of th...

Interesting comment on shiller's 10 year PE, etc., along with a link to video.

http://oldprof.typepad.com/a_dash_of_insight/2011/04/shiller-explains-how-to-use-his-trailing-pe-ratio.html

Tim W.

Movie made in G.B. -- Whiskey Galore aka Tight Little Island. Simple little movie about a band of islanders who hijack a boatload of whiskey. Absolutely delightful.

TW