Bogleheads.org

RIP Sheldon Brown

When our lousy GE gave out after 5 years I installed a Kenmore that lasted 3 years. Finally went with a Bosh. Quieter and no problems in 8 years.

The usual rationale for replacing the water pump is that it is a cheap part but the labor to get to it is expensive. Doesn't make as much sense to me when they are charging $183 for the part. 40 plus years of driving, mostly older cars and no water pump problems yet.

1. The car should have a depreciation curve that falls steeply in the first few years, and then levels off.

that was my criteria until I realized that there was a good reason for the rapid depreciation. I couldn't find a car in that group that I would be willing to own

TT was the one that did my foreign tax credit correctly a couple of years ago. Also free.

Hygienist friend told us our current dentist is good. Although she may not be able to evaluate as thoroughly as another dentist I am assuming she can tell ok to good from bad.

I have also used Crutchfield and saved some money but if you shop around you might do nearly as well with an installer.

Although someone suggested that Vanguard Reps allow unlimited security guesses, this isn't my experience. I forgot that I changed to false answers.

Will you be satisfied with holding the longer terms TIPs to maturity? You are assured a modest real return. If real returns rise, you could see capital losses. Of course if you hold to maturity you don't care. I am expecting increased nominal and real interest someday

“Saving too much money leads to a sense of nostalgic regret from a rocking chair in front of a crackling fire with a dog at your feet and a snifter of brandy at your side. Not saving enough money leads to pushing a shopping cart holding all your possessions down a wintry street and sleeping in doorw...

I pretty much know, for a reason I cannot publicly say

a mystery! Switzerland is a nice place to visit. In terms of intervention the foreign policy seems to be the exact opposite of the US.

I understand the rationale for a total stock market fund but don't see why someone would want to own a total bond fund.

So I sold the 6 2/3 % of my portfolio that was in TIPs with a 2017 maturity keeping some shorter term tips. Time will tell if this was a good idea but I anticipate higher nominal and real returns in the future so I am going with short maturities for now.

bonds are not cheap but if he has has some good ideas about how to react it would be nice to hear them.

Again, from what I have garnered (I could be vastly mistaken), if you put bonds in taxable now, they might be fine there for the next 20 years, no problem a la Japan. I'm hoping another bump will get the attention of someone with real experience and insight to educate us. Livesoft posted the link t...

"I am unwilling to incur the regret of having not realized current gains on TIPS and be sitting there locked into negative real returns while rates are rising." In 2007 my plan was to accept the small guaranteed real return (about 2.375) and hold the Tips to maturity while basically forge...

I was looking at this WSJ link which is showing a negative real return for my Jan 15 2027 TIPS, perhaps they aren't long term any more. http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3020-tips.html?mod=mdc_bnd_pglnk These were part of my long term plan but since I have a substantial capital gain and a guar...

Currently long term TIPS in the secondary market have a small negative real return. Is there any reason to buy them?

Who makes the etrade security device? I have one of the old ones from RSA. RSA was hacked of course.

For Vanguard why not just turn on the trusted computer feature? Then a hacker needs to crack you password and steal your computer.

I think the gmail 2 factor authentication is more important than having an unusually strong password. I wish there was a limit on login attempts.

I have the etrade security token (RSA) I liked the idea but RSA was hacked. I think Google's text based 2 factor is better.

I could cite a few more but I think I've illustrated the point. When we are invited somewhere we're glad to be invited, eat and drink what's offered and if we don't like something, consume it even if it's really onerous (never happened), grateful to our hosts for having taken the trouble to host us...

my bank accommodates alerts to one account (deposit credited, balance below, large transaction ) and password resets to another. I give all my financial accounts a gmail address that is set to 2 factor authentication (with trusted computers) Junk vendors and personal go to Hotmail. Probably I should...

Open dns just seemed easy to me. I had thought of also doing a little self editing of host files based on a list of common malicious sites I had seen online but I wonder if blocking a dozen sites is really productive.

I use open dns on my router largely for the phishing/ fraud protection. It blocks known bad sites. Are there better (free) solutions?

I am confident that Vanguard, the largest mutual fund company in the world, employs the top security consultants in the business. I suspect we have almost no idea what security measures they use. Vanguard is certainly not going to tell us. Exactly and the speculation that passwords are stored plain...

People are not concerned about online, live password guessing (e.g. the three guesses at Vanguard's website) when they are concerned about a short password length. They are concerned about someone cracking the hashed password file. I understand your concern and it is legitimate although none of us ...

I use Keypass with the "random" password generator. If I use 10 characters using just lower case and numbers I have (36)^10 = 36,000,000,000,000,000 possible combinations. It seems like the odds of guessing the right one in 3 tries would be rather low. Vanguard turns off your account after...

What about a phone call to the number on record with a one-time code? A few years back I was at an internet cafe and tried to log onto my Chase account. I got a message that this was an unrecognized computer and I would need to have a one-time PIN to access it. They sent me the number via my cell p...

are folks worried that someone can guess a random 10 character vanguard password in 3 tries?

security questions can hurt you if you have weak answers but they don't help much if they aren't applied to logins from unfamiliar computers. I have been happy with gmail's text login procedure for new computers. I wish more websites would allow this.

You can also configure your Vanguard account so that it only allows login through a recognized computer. If you plan to use one PC then that might be a good idea. There might be some hassle involved in getting access again if you have a disk crash on that one computer. Adding this level of security...

We have a whole house generator running off natural gas. No fuel issues. $250/year maintenance. Runs 15 minutes a week automatically for exercise. Quiet enough.

I know some of you were saying Sandy was not a big issue but it looks bad enough to me.

Since Intuit owns both Mint and Quicken, Intuit knows everything about you no matter which product you use. It also knows all about your taxes if you use TurboTax. You cannot escape from the clutches of Intuit unless you avoid all their products. Almost. I don't link my investment accounts to Mint ...

Couldn't hurt. I joined PBK but many science majors at my school didn't have enough upper level humanities courses to qualify.

Nice article. Thanks for posting. Too of the box for some of course. Good to hear from Kramer who is always full of info about the expat life

26 years for me and no card but I am glad that the "king of thee bogleheads" got one

bengal22 wrote:Since it is impossible to forecast the Sock Market I would recommend using the buy one pair a month method to even out the fluctuations.

I agree. You can't time the sock market.

The invention of the synchromesh in 1928 removed the need to double clutch.

but do you really want to rely on this new unproven technology? my great-grandfather (rip) would surely have recommended double clutching

Definitely would say cancel it. Been driving Hondas for 30 years and can't imagine you getting your money back on the warranty. Bogleheads and Consumer Reports both agree that extended warranties are money makers for manufacturers... so that must mean that they are what for consumers? Probably wort...

So I want to make my old netbook a "trusted computer" for hotmail to increase my security (va password alone.) this requires me to get "windows live essentials" which includes stuff I don't need or all ready have. That is, Messenger, Photo Gallery, Mail, Writer, Family Safety, To...

We have more room now that the kids are not using car seats although I Civic is a bit tight for 4. 95% of my use is local so I can't see buying a bigger car for the occasional multi-state road trip.

Stay aware. I do not know how to not dress as an American. I will be buying a money belt if I travel again.

For men I think this would involve not wearing white athletic shoes and a baseball cap

our 1988 mattress still seems to work fine.

As a retiree, I often read the articles on "best places to retire" with a modicum of interest. I was wondering if Bogleheads had any perspective. Personally, my wife and I will probably stay here in California, thanks to Prop 13 and the total exemption of social security from state income...

can't you just record then with google voice?

I think I waxed one of our cars sometime in the mid 90s. Have had new cars come and go over a decade w/o any waxing.

I also listen to American Life and Freakonomics. I like Science podcasts like: Science Friday Nasa JPL NYT Science and Environment 60 Second Science Ted Talks Hidden Universe spitzer Space Telescope Also music: NPR live in concert NPR all songs considered Also a few Christian oriented podcasts I don...

Why do you want to upgrade the 2nd gen? Missing functionality, speed, other? I have wifi connectivity issues (and I was angry at apple for a while since it started with a software upgrade and my wife doesn't have this problem) My main motivation is that I want to try a Rhapsody subscription. Rather...

Both these dentists are expensive by local standards which to me is a good sign. Kramer, it makes sense to me to get the most expensive dentist in an inexpensive country versus a cheap dentist in an expensive county :o This working thing is keeping me from traveling so I have to pay the big us cost...