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Ed 2wrote:

deleted in response of criticism as well,sorry Victoria!!!!, ... [updated with Ed 2's apology -- admin LadyGeek]

[Response to prior comment removed by admin LadyGeek]

Even if it has been posted before, it is worth seeing again.

#4... Spending money to open up time... that's it, right there.

Thanks, backofbeyond, for posting.

nisiprius wrote: Warning: I used Excel, the same tool used by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff to make a huge mistake that has misguided public policy for several years... When your stess level goes down a bit, will you enlarge on this a bit? I'm familiar with the authors (and see them quoted by ...

I just made the jump and bought an ipad. And, with that, comes the world of apps. I would like to poll the forum: Which apps have you found to be the most essential, useful, fun, and/or innovative? I'm looking for both financial and non-financial suggestions.

I have two questions which I hope are relevant to this discussion. I do not want to hijack the thread, but simply solicit a bit of detail on two travel and spending issues. First, our investigations thus far have brought up some concerns about car rentals. For those who have rented cars in Israel, h...

La Bella Signora and I will be in Israel in June. It appears that protagnist's questions mesh well with ours. I look forward to hearing the insights and recommendations of those who have been there.

Per the chart that nisiprius included in his reply...

I would like to see the PIMCO fund compared to Wellesley Income-- a far better fit in terms of a managed fund of multiple assets-- that the total stock fund. That, I suspect, would be a very different looking chart.

What kind of annual expense ratio are you paying for this fund?

Diogenes wrote: Actually, the most successful expats I have engaged with have one thing that is far more important than language - adaptability. While it is true that fluently speaking the native language of any country you happen to be in is best case, it is not really needed at first - as long as...

So much of one's "experience," whether in retirement or for other extended stays abroad, will depend on a very interconnected combination of personality type and language attainment. Unless you are exceptionally self-sustaining (socially), you will miss out on dimensions of social interact...

nisiprius wrote: GLWBs... Am I the only person who see and thinks "Gay, lesbian, W, bisexual... what's the W for?" I suspect that the "W" in this case may be an abbreviation for "whatever" . By the way, congrats on 20,000+ thoughtful and well-crafted posts. :beer

Thanks for posting this, Paul. If these two don't tell all: 6. There are tens of thousands of professional money managers. Statistically, a handful of them have been successful by pure chance. Which ones? I don't know, but I bet a few are famous. 7. On that note, some investors who we call "leg...

Sam I Am wrote:

Thanks, Alex, for making this exception. Very thoughtful of you, very appreciated!

Yes, just that.

What a remarkable outpouring of congratulations and concern. Without a little flexibility in the rules, this would not have happened. Thanks Alex, indeed.

linenfort asked,

I own the other one mentioned in the article. Intermediate-term tax exempt.
Should I be bailing on that?

In a word, no. There are lots of good reasons for holding this fund, especially in taxable accounts. Those reasons haven't changed.

I don't want to side track this thread, but I was wondering if anyone has an opinion about American Federal Rare Coin and Bullion and Nicholas Grovich, its president? We recently received a large mailout with lots of glossy pages and a CD from this group. They appear to visit locales to conduct revi...

Gordon,

On the other hand, if you don't want to be Gordon anymore...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trl499RByEo

Victoria, Yes, but... wouldn't it be easier to open a separate account attached to a separate e-mail with a new, dictinct user name? (Uh, oh... am I suggesting something that is strictly verboten here?) That way, you could indulge your alternative persona, and still maintain your solidly-establishe...

Gordon... I'm curious. Do you want to modify your user name (so that we still know that it's you), or do you want to change it altogether (and simply start over as a new person, so to speak)? If that latter, why? With almost 4000 posts under your belt, you are pretty well established around here. A...

Picking up on what Victoria just wrote... For those who have already read The Black Swan and might want to dip back in, let me suggest the audio version. I have found that encountering an author and his/her work via a different "gate" (in this case, the ear rather than the eye), yields new...

First off, an excellent list of "gems" from what looks like an insightful and important book. Thanks to Taylor for picking out such a sweet selection and to Larry for the good work. I liked this idea from GettingCloseNow : I printed this, will post it in my home office and made myself a pr...

I voted for spend and give more, though not beacuse it would be my preference. I liked "both." However, a poll like this can bypass a sober truth: a nice 50% pop in net worth may not be the sole variable in finding oneself able and ready to retire. For me, making it to age 60 at work means...

I like the thread title, but think that the asteroid bit steers the main idea in the wrong direction. Usually, it takes something like a health scare or the unanticipated death of a close friend or family member to serve as a wake up call. There are lots of commonly occurring, everyday kinds of fact...

Jeff,

A good reminder and another good example of, "if something looks or sounds too good to be true..."

So, ryuns , first off, what did you do with your avatar?? I took one look and started to hum Monty Python's "Lumberjack" song... Second, your first post states that you are a "semi-irregular" poster? You are closing in on 3000 posts. Them's ain't small potatoes. To the topic at h...

My Roth IRA is 100% in Wellesley Income, a nice balance of stock exposure and bond stability. It will do a good job for your Mom (and you) whether she never touches the funds in her lifetime or beats all the odds and lives to 101 years old. Also, it's stock/bond allocation may be a nice averaging of...

Thanks to all for the informative and insightful responses. Neither Mrs. Cinghiale nor I have ever collected anything, and so we have no basis for comparison with other collectible items. While I do not want to put a damper on any future responses, I do want to acknowledge all the thoughtful replies...

Greetings, We have just inherited a portfolio of stamps and are trying to gain some perspective on stamp collecting before wading into the arena of selling. We have gone online and have looked up the value of the stamps, so we have some idea of the range of value. However, the only calls that we hav...

Jerry ( NAVigator ) suggested: After your steak dinner, consider opening a bottle of Bogle wine and raising a toast to the person who motivated this forum. May I second that and further suggest that you make it a bottle of Bogle Phantom ? It's an under $20.00 wine that drinks like a $75.00+ one. You...

Victoria wrote,

Thank you for reviving the thread; some of us need reminders

Thanks. And, well, since you I agree with you, I'll pop this thread back into action...

... just this one final time.

Cheers.

Boglenaut has just updated and revived the "That Frugal Thing You Do" thread, which has scores of great postings on it. I thought a quick bump of this related thread would both provide balance and keep us reminded of why we plan, save, allocate, and stay the course. My Boglenaut-like upda...

Thanks to all for the input. I appreciate both the evaluative ( grok87, Grt2bOutdoors , and VT ) and the more broad perspective ( livesoft, EmergDoc, pennstater, dyanju ) views that have been offered. As mentioned before, I wrote this as much to play with the inconsistences of thought and conviction...

Here's a year-end "what would you do if this was you?" question. For years, I have held the following four stocks in a retirement account. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) Procter & Gamble (PG) Royal Dutch Petroleum (RDS.A) Williams Company (WMB) This foursome does not constitu...

Health, happiness, a touch of the sacred, and just a wee bit of prosperity to all in the forum for 2013.

Victoria, I hope that you aren't setting yourself up for disappointment. As much as I have enjoyed most everything Taleb has written (and see his works as "core holdings" on my bookshelf), I have heard-- first hand-- that the guy's bedside manner is less than ideal. Dale Carnegie he ain't...

tfb wrote,

I get on average 3.5% on my SPG points.

SPG points? A little help with the letters?

yobria reminded us that: Paying 1%/year of one's assets for the rest of eternity is simply nuts. I want to second Nick's reminder here. It isn't about the "value" of putting the uninformed, the fearful, the just-can't-get-it, and the overly busy on the right track. It's about doing that, ...

I rather like the Capital One card. You may want to go on their web site and see if one of their cards suits you.

What could be the best red wine on the planet under $20.00 has had its yearly release. (OK, I indulged in a wee bit of hyperbole there.) I know that the winery has no connection to John Bogle or this forum, but it somehow seems fitting that a wine this good bears his name. Trader Joe's has it for $1...

peppers wrote:

It ain't the years, but the mileage.

Agreed.

And, for the record: a vintage 1955 model, but with high mileage.

The burden of proof remains on those who would modify and complicate the "three fund" approach. That said, I do hold TIPS and Wellesley Income in retirement and Limited and Intermediate Term Municipals in taxable. Time will tell whether these funds add a penny of improvement over the "...

Another vote for economist.com.

Lots and lots of international coverage. I remain dumbfounded at how U.S. news can bounce along thinking that the only news worth reporting happens within our borders. The Economist's search function is worth the price of the subscription.

I put up with a .46% ER to hold Pimco Total Return (PTTRX) in my 457 plan and twice that much to have TIAA Real Estate in my 403 account. I justify this by looking at the sum total of all my accounts (with almost all except the aforementioned with Vanguard) and the total average ER. The Vanguard off...

Per richard's mention of Benjamin Graham, I would be right around that 25% number, and not over 30%. This hearken's back of William Bernstein's recent essay on "The Worst Retirement Investing Mistake" and the challenge of "if you have already won the game, why keep playing?" http...

I want to second Alex's mention of Grand Funk Railroad, and add one: The Outlaws. Sit through the multi-guitar driven, ultra-rockin' ten minutes of Green Grass and High Tides, and you'll wonder why you didn't hear about these guys on a regular basis. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R82O...

Another vote for Wellesley. My Roth IRA is 100% in Wellesley and I recently convinced my brother to place his IRA funds in it as well. (I mention this because, for me, this is practical and personal as well as theoretical: I've got skin in this game.) It has a consistent and impressive track record ...

If you are going to use it nearly every day and plan to have it for the long haul, pay the money and buy a Vitamix. We made it our one-and-only Christmas gift to one another a few years ago (bought the Professional Series 500 model), and haven't had a moment of regret. Since green smoothies have bee...

Adjunct Professor at the Ca' Foscari, the University of Venice. Teach one semester per year. University housing provided.

SnowSkier,
Total International holds 6229 companies. FTSE holds 2327. If you are looking for the more "index-y" fund of the two, go with Total International. Personally, I think this is a more compelling reason for choosing than the .05% difference in annual expenses.

shawcroft wrote: I'll assume he probably could have chosen a better word. Agreed. It is very possible... very, very possible... that Mr. Woerth overreached with his vocabulary. Don't say that such cannot happen at the "spokesperson" level. It happens at all levels. Let me suggest a less c...

Grazie!

Bravo!

Complimenti!

OK... just a thought... perhaps a little Italian would roust sscritic from the sidelines.