Bogleheads.org

A little book called Investing for Dummies.

Age 56. I was pretty much burned out and thought I would have to suck it up a few more years before retiring, but my employer provided n early retirement offer which enabled me to go early. Definitely the right time.

First I would go through my Medicare statements and make sure it's really their error and not the Medigap insurer's error. If it really is a Medicare error all I can suggest is keep after them. They lost my mother-in-laws crossover information last year, and it took me 'forever' and several phone ca...

Facebook security? Isn't that an oxymoron?

Didn't buy one. Wife and I married only three months after we met so we went straight to the wedding ring. As I recall, it was around $500 in 1976.

The Bible.

And it changes me a little bit more each time I read it.

I have an annuity, but only because GM transformed my salaried pension into a Prudential annuity. I have no plans to acquire any more annuities unless HP transforms my EDS pension into an annuity some day.

Preparing a 30 year retirement projection is a good thing to do. It gives you some idea of how things will work out, and lets you know if you need to revise your expectations. However, in my experience, it is a mistake to rely on your projections. I have a spreadsheet that I prepared in 2001 to pro...

I also have an Excel long range projection spreadsheet, but I do a few things different. First, I group my expenses into a few major categories (e.g. medical, utilities, property taxes, etc.) and apply a separate inflation factor to each Category. Second, I consider all my other income (e.g. pension...

I'm currently going through my basement, digging out all my old high school and college yearbooks, and reviewing them again. What a difference 50 years makes.

I am finding that quality of appliances manufactured these days is getting worse not better. Since the quality is worse they break down a lot so the vendors offer extended warranties to fix them. I also noticed the last time I bought a washing machine the standard warranty was not as good as on the...

No. If you maintained your desired AA and rebalanced into stocks when the market crashed you got a great deal.

This is like comparing onions to oranges. Your advisor wants to charge 1.4% more for the onions and is telling you they will taste better.

Thanks all. I feel a little bit better. I hope I can cancel the oven maintenance plan. We didn't add the refrigerator but she said we could add it tomorrow when we come back to buy the dishwasher so maybe there is hope. (we are buying the dishwasher with all the points we earned from buying the oth...

For many years, my children drove cars owned by me, while they were attending college, some out of state. The cars were titled to me, registered to me, and insured by me. There was one claim (which occurred 700 miles from my home) which was paid with no questions asked about where the accident occu...

First I would check the legality of doing this.

Second, since the car and insurance will be in your parents' name any problems you have will affect their future insurance coverage and premiums.

If you're over 25 it's time to step up and be a man (or woman) and pay your own way.

Normally when one reaches retirement age I would expect his AA already be leaning in the conservative direction and wouldn't recommend any changes. But if you're looking at 40+ years in retirement my guess is you're thinking of retiring somewhere around your early 50s. When I retired at 56 I made su...

Can anyone recommend some resources (websites, etc) that provide current financial data on American households? It would be nice to know how I compare to other Americans in regards to overall financial health. Some helpful data would include: - Average/Median household savings - Average/Median hous...

We have all GE appliances because my wife wants to make sure the colors match. And if you know anything about GE you can guess we've had a lot of problems with them in the first year. But so far the company has covered every problem we've had.

Currently retired. My wife and I are both receiving SS, so I used the total of both.

In 2012 SS covered 52% of our spending requirements.
In 2013 I project it to cover 54%.

You just have to kind of expect this sort of thing with current interest rate environment. It's going to be difficult to have a guaranteed rate of 3% in a safe manner for a while. Most corporate stable-value funds have been trending down, CD rates are paltry, and the TSP G Fund has been under 2% fo...

CABob wrote:

Clearly a small number of stocks are responsible for a majority of the gains -- about 10 percent of stocks recorded huge wins in excess of 500 percent.

But my broker/advisor says he can pick those stocks.

They all say that.

And yet, it is what it is. Certainly puts an end to my annual Roth conversion plans. Do I convert something earning 3% now into something earning 1% so I can pay a 15% tax rate and thereby guard against higher taxes in the future? Or do I leave it alone and risk paying a higher tax rate in the futur...

Cape May, New Jersey. An old fashioned Victorian town on the Atlantic Ocean at the southern tip of NJ. Stay in one of the Victorian hotels or B&Bs and enjoy fine dining. For those with different tastes there are also standard motels or home rentals and less expensive eateries. Spend the day at t...

I've never had any problem seeing a Medicare provider in Michigan, but I've heard there are problems in Texas. I guess it depends on where you live.

Cosmo wrote:I am struggling with this. Could someone give the significance of 10%?

It was specified in the Old Testament law. Some people and churches believe it still applies. Others don't. Can't say any more without turning this into a religious discussion.

gkaplan wrote:My take home pay is about $500 biweekly. Can you guess how much I tithe?

Somewhere between $0 - $500 every other week?

When I was working I used to tithe on take-home pay. Now that I'm retired I include 10% of my IRA withdrawals in my tithe too. I fell off a little during the first decade of this century by excluding medical insurance and tax commitments from my tithing requirement, but am going back to gross income...

I can’t advise you what to do except to be sure you understand the requirements and demands of the staff job first. Also be aware that you may be older than your younger, more energetic peers and your performance might be judged in comparison to theirs. I made the move from management back into the ...

What is an Investment Solutions IRA? Is this a different class of IRA than my current Traditional and Roth IRAs, or just a fancy name for the same thing?

Just curious as to what grade you gave that student that semester.

I have to smile. What "business" are you taking elsewhere? If you have less than $300 in your account with them, you really are just a nuisance, not a criminal. Sorry, but look at it from their point of view. I had a similar experience. I kept a small amount in a bank savings account beca...

If you have a complaint make your case to the moderator in a PM. They have been known to unlock a thread when a logical reason is presented to them.

musbane wrote:So I guess I'll have to do what my wife says.

That's a good husband. It's always best to do what the wife says.

In spite of the previous comments I feel it's better to be safe than sorry. About a year ago they had a spot on the local TV news where a reporter was in the airport with a computer security expert. The computer guy was sitting there with his laptop open highlighting various user connections on the ...

If your wfi is unsecured that means it is not secure. DUH. It is possible for others to intercept your unencrypted transmissions and possibly, depending on your computer's security software settings, also hack into your computer. I wouldn't want to transmit any sensitive data such as fidelity accoun...

Resisting the urge to jump into tech stocks in the late '90s. Fortunately in this case reason prevailed over emotion.

It was an informative program. However, it was a little disappointing that it appeared to say that most people just cannot understand this by themselves I was listening to Rick Edelman while getting ready for church this morning, and naturally he jumped on this as an opportunity for touting adviser...

I agree. I get so angry when people question a liberal arts type of degree. As a scientist, I do too. The devaluation of the liberal arts is I think a factor in why we are graduating so many science majors who cannot think. I would suggest that it is incorrect to think of liberal arts and science a...

If you kill Buddy Holly in a plane crash, the rest of the Crickets will just disappear except for Waylan Jennings who went on to have a 30+ year career in country music...Gordon Not quite. Don't forget Cricket Blake on the old Hawaiian Eye TV series. Coincidence that this series started the same ye...

How about an almost dumbest financial move? In the early '70s a new football league (World Football League) was being formed, and the new local team (Detroit Wheels) was offering shares for public purchase. The NFL - AFL merger had occurred only a couple years before, and professional football was b...

With a Medigap plan you can use any provider that accepts Medicare. You aren't limited to the providers in a specific group, and no referrals are required. IMHO as one ages and health deteriorates the added provider choices are worth the higher Medigap premiums, especially when looking for specialis...

Way back in the '80s with GM I learned the 'Golden Rule of Business'. It goes like this... "The guy with the gold makes the rules." In today's tight job market the employer has the gold, and people thankful to have a job aren't going to rock the boat. p.s. In case anyone hasn't figured it ...

I agree with the junior college recommendation, assuming she can use her scholarship there. If not which is the least expensive. JC without scholarship or UNIV with scholarship?

I get prescriptions for my dogs filled at a local grocery pharmacy with a similar rewards program. The vet puts the prescriptions in my name. I can only imagine what sort of information about me is floating around in databases. "Holy cow that woman has a lot of yeasty ear infections!" Not...

HardKnocker wrote:They want to be able to send you emails for Viagra.

They already do that.

I just learned about this plan yesterday when I was picking up some prescriptions for my wife. At first this looked like a good deal since she needs 4-5 prescriptions each month. I passed since she is mostly home bound, and getting her in there to sign the HIPAA notice could be a hassle. After readi...

Start reading at Section 3: Your Right to Buy a Medigap Policy..

http://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/02110.pdf

I'm going to follow sscritic's lead and let you read it for yourself.

Pacific wrote:This is a great site though I have often wanted to send someone like Barry Hall to deal with a few of the unruly posters!

I'm not an Aussie, but I know enough about footy to know Barry retired.

btw, GO CATS!

I call that "churning the account". Care to elaborate? Churning the account refers to frequently trading of your account to generate larger sales commissions for the manager. Even if they don't charge you commissions on their trades there are still trading costs which someone has to pay. ...