Bogleheads.org

I have a great idea! Get let go from your job of 11 years at age 58 after being employed full time in your profession for 23 years. Be unsuccessful finding full time employment again. Start taking small parttime jobs for a grand total of 20 hrs a week of work---and what do you know, you are down to ...

The last home we sold was by using a "do it yourself" company called For Sale By Owner. For an upfront fee they came and took pictures of the house, put it on MLS, and gave us a packet of forms and directions on how to do everything else. I have to tell you it worked out really well for us...

Thanks leonard & nisiprius, I had PAAIX and VEXMX in my column for all my international funds by mistake. I didn't pick up on my mistake when I was typing them in for my post. What Vanguard says is: Of my stock/stock market mut. fund holdings which are 61.2% of All Portfolios: .International is ...

.Thanks DSInvestor for the links to Altruistafa--very interesting information .Thanks Bnac--In the past I held only a small amount in International funds, so I have just kept what I already have .Thanks Nisiprius- You are absolutely right--I have had some tunnel vision. The 59% figure is the TOTAL a...

EXACTLY Default User BR! I have kept my different (non-VG) mutual funds because they have done well for me over the years. A few of them have higher expense ratios (they are 401k accounts) but I have hesitated to consolidate into VG Total International (and a few are my husbands 401k funds he doesn'...

INTERNATIONAL MUTUAL FUNDS: VTIAX VG Total Internat Stock Index 1.5% VPACX VG Pacific Stock Index .3% VFWIX VG FTSE All-world ex US index .2% EMIEX Columbia Internat. Value 2.5% RERGX American Funds Europacific .8% TIVRX Thornburg Internat Value 2.0% These are my international mutual funds. Current ...

Includes only your international stock and stock mutual fund holdings, which are 11.2% of All Portfolios. Developed markets Market Your Stock Portfolio Stock Markets Outside the U.S. Difference From Market Europe 51.3% 45.0% 6.3 Pacific 26.2% 23.0% 3.2 Canada 9.4% 8.0% 1.4 Emerging markets Market Yo...

Hi everyone: I need more emerging markets in my foreign stocks. I looked at the Vanguard emerging, but am disappointed with its returns. Any suggestions for an emerging mutual fund other than Vanguard? Of course I want as small a expense ratio as possible with a good Morningstar rating. Any suggesti...

Thanks livesoft. I am just going to call Janus this a.m. and talk with them about it. I know you are a busy person and I don't want to take up any more of your time. I appreciate you talking with me!
birdy

No annuity. Just our buying individual funds through Janus when we finally had some money to start investing with. Hubby is very sentimental about Janus as we actually way back then had to go to the library and look up fund info! Internet is soooo much easier than the almost "secrete" worl...

These are some of the very first mutual funds we bought oourselves when we first started to invest. These are/were not in a 401k. After 38 years of marriage, I don't think he could hide that secret bank account from me! Besides he's too lazy to be bothered, which is why I do every thing financial (y...

Hi everyone! I have a question. When updating my net worth, I noticed that some of my husbands' Janus (old and he won't get rid of them) funds have no movement in the number of shares. The balances in them go up and down, but the shares don't move. I always have an increase in the number of shares i...

I have a neighbor friend who has gone organic for at least 10 years now. She tried to get me to do it, but seeing how many weeds she has has not convinced me! Her grass always looks sick to me and I would not want to walk through it in bare feet. Here in the Dallas area we have "sand Burrs"...

I opened a CD with them a few years back. At that time they had the highest APY for a 5 year CD. I have had no need for any of their other services. I have been happy with my access to my CD account online.

birdy

I adoped a cat from cat rescue about 8 months ago. She is around 5 years old and is not declawed. I am fortunate that she allows me to cut her toe nails. Also, as soon as I brought her home I would not allow her on my Leather couch. I have a scratching post for her and she uses it all the time. But ...

I have been in and out of the AKC/UKC dog show circut for over 40 years. I have owned German Shepherds (parents had a kennel), Poodles, Brittany, Bouvier, and Pap. I agree with camiboxer. A Dogo is a very powerful breed. Their size alone can make for difficulty in controlling them. I researched this...

Thanks MarcMyWord for the link. I figured out why I was having difficulty getting the info --my computer is not displaying the charts because something is wrong with my Micromedia Flash. I will get my computer wiz (husband) to fix it for me! The wizard--I am not chasing gains. Every year at this tim...

Thanks BHCadet for the additional info on VGTSX/VTIAX. That explains alot when I add all my international together!

birdy

Thanks EDN: I have 58% Stocks (82% US, 17% International) 18% Bond funds (Intermed-term, Total Bond Mkt) 24% Short term ( 5 year CD ladder, EE Bonds, MMkts, ect.) I have been wanting to increase my International exposure up to the recommended 20-30%. Your suggestions/thoughts are greatly appreciated...

Thanks, asset_chaos and rkhusky: I have a 401K that I have RERGX American Funds Europacific and TIVRX Thornburg International Value. My % of Foreign includes these two funds also. These two funds have both done ok (I don't like their expense ratio though!) so I was going to keep them for the time be...

Aptenodytes:

I was going to increase my Emerging Mkts to 24% within my International funds. I also have looked at DEMSX Emerging Mkts Small Cap fund as I also tilt small cap in my domestic funds.

Thanks, Aptenodytes. I was going to increase my overall allocation in International as I know it is a little low anyway. I was just going to increase it if I could with more emerging markets.

birdy

I am reviewing my asset classes and discovered I have too much Europe stock (53% of my International stock) and too little of emerging markets (13.2%). I know that my VGTSX has some emerging stock but could not find the % in the fund currently. I sent a e-mail to Vanguard to ask them what the % in e...

I really missed the forum also! Like many, I hadn't paid attention to how often I get on just to see whats "going on". Thanks so much for having a site where I can get financial questions answered without worry of a "hidden" sales motive. I have recommended this site to so many p...

In 2001 my husband and I took a 30 day cruise on Princess. Our portion of the cruise ended in sydney so we decided to spend 3 extra days there. As this was quite a long time ago now, what we did may not be the "it" things to do now but we really had a fun time! We stayed at the Old Sydney ...

I had landscaping done this spring in my backyard. I had a concrete stamped/stained patio installed. The concrete guy told me that they would spray a sealer when finished. They told me that to continue to have the patio look like new, I should power wash/reseal it every 2-3 years. The sealer is some...

My husband worked for a company that let go all but 2 employees. Then the company went bankrupt. I tryed to get my husband to immediately roll his 401k over when he was let go, but being the procrastinator he is he didn't do it. Needless to say he ended up with the exact same set of problems when th...

Thank you so much for the update on your trip! I got to relive my time there! Did you swim in the "blue Lagoon"? That was one thing I wish we had had time to do.

birdy

I also would like to see what you thought of the country! I enjoyed it very much when we were there. Then people were just nice as could be and the countryside was very different from what we have here!

birdy

The screen retracts just like a pull down type shade on a window-it rolls up into the frame that houses it. The "extra" part that holds the screen when closed sticks out into the doorway about 4 inches on mine. I just have a regular front door type door on the patio. If I had a bigger open...

I must add that all the times the dogs ran through the retractable, the screen was NOT damaged. When they would hit it the screen would just release and smack closed. I am also really surprised that the dogs kept running into it when open! I think that partly was because I used the screen infrequent...

When I read about the retractable screens about 5 years ago I thought how great they would be for my house. I had wanted one for my front door and one for my patio door. The salesperson told me not to get one for the front door. He pointed out to me that these screens are held closed with magnets an...

When I would visit my parents out in Washington State, I use to fill up a suitcase with the books I had already read and give them to my mom (we like the same thing). Can't do that now since all the luggage fees became so popular. Now, I have been: 1) when I have a garage sale, I sell them 2) I take...

Love the sofa cover picture!!! My grandmother did the same thing to her sofa!!! Boy did I hate sitting on that sofa as a kid when we went to visit her! I believe you have had some great feedback about how to do preventative care to your roof. You have also had great feedback about the minus of putti...

DefaultUser BR--I built my home knowing there would be a HOA. At least in my area, new subdivisions are required to have a HOA. We have an older neighborhood up the hill from us (with no HOA) that one of the homeowners has a green shingled roof. Another home in the same neighborhood painted their ho...

I forgot about ScottVest! I have one of their vests and I love it! Lots of inside pockets with zippers/velcro to protect against pickpockets. I never carry a purse or bag when I travel, I use a travel vest instead. My vest also is a "convertable" where you can zip off the arms if you want....

You must not live in a neighborhood with a Home Owners Association!!! Our HOA even specifies what type of shingle and its color for our roofs! Our house is 15 years old and here in Texas our worst damage is usually from hail. I would say 85% of the homes in our neighborhood got new roofs last year. ...

TravelSmith & Magelan's---both online I have purchased from both I found early on that the cotton ones would "feel too wet" if I was sweating and they wrinkled badly. I buy the nylon type ones now. Also, I have 3 pairs of convertible pants (Columbia, TravelSmith) but I really don't lik...

Thanks socca for the extra info. iono1--I'll be blunt--MIL will not have sex outside of marriage! I don't think her man friend would be happy about that! I know just because she is older doesn't mean she doesn't have "needs"---just against her morals/religion it's a no no with a non-spouse.

Thanks socca! I know some about revocable trusts but not irrevocable trusts. Will research that for implications for our family. Thank you all for all the information. And I am glad to hear others are benefiting from this discussion also!

birdy

Thanks archbish99. I will check into your two suggestions!

birdy

Thanks Muchtolearn. The last thing we want to do is to get her upset. Her confusion gets worse the more emotional she is. We have talked briefly about talking to her man friend and expressing our disaproval of a marriage. I really think she is incapable of many decisions as when we talk to her she c...

.Nonnie--Martindale-Hubbell site is outstanding! Now have several leads on Elder care Lawyers. The random lawyer you found had some excellent Elder Law resource links! .LadyGeek--the "What is Elder Law" was very informative. .Tortoise--your info on gift tax was a good review of that option...

Wow! Hearing from you all is fantastic! Am going to start investigating "elder law"first thing in the morning! "Financial conserved" is also something we know nothing about but will also start investigating tomorrow. I was afraid we knew so little about what to do, that it was go...

Thank you tortoise for your reply. We had already discussed doing this, but don't know what the tax implications would be for us. That was one of the things we were going to ask about when we talk with the lawyer. If any way possible, we do not want the income from the farm to cause us to have to pa...

Thank you all for bringing up all this information for us to think about!! Having a doctor evaluate her mental abilities might be a good way to keep us from totally being the bad guys in her eyes (hope, hope) with a professional opinion. MIL refuses to brush her teeth and only will take a shower onc...

We have had to fix her credit card with a lowered spending limit. We discovered she recently gave about $20,000. to various TV ministers. She could NOT afford that. She was supposed to get new hearing aids and now is going to have to wait for her next payment to come in to cover it. We have calculat...

Hadn't even thought about an elder care lawyer--didn't know they existed! Will definately bring that up at the meeting saturday! What is it that that type of lawyer does?
birdy

Yes, my sister-in-law has power of attorney. When this new potential husband became unable to care for himself, we couldn't just say tough luck divorce him! Wouldn't we still be obligated to care for him (he would be "family" now) legally and morally? Like I mentioned earlier, we are havin...

Mother-in-law had pre-nups with last two husbands. The difference this time is this new man is not in the financial shape her two other spouses were to take care of his own medical financial issues. When his money runs out and he needs around the clock care mother-in law will support him no matter w...