Bogleheads.org

Target Retirement 2045 (VTIVX).

Nevermind. Took like 1/2 an hour to receive a passcode in my email. Tried calling but no one was available, of course. That was a nerve-wrecking 1/2 hr, yeesh......

I tried logging into my Treasury Direct account today to purchase an EE Bond. I entered my account number, then it prompted me to check my email listed which only shows as "yahoo.com" to get a one-time passcode. I never received it. Had it resent, still no success. Has anyone had this prob...

Thank you very much Jack for your thought-provoking ideas and expertise. You have helped me learn a lot about investing for the long term in the past few years by sticking with primarily low cost index funds. I am proud to share the same birthday with you!

This thread is nothing but pure speculation as to what the ECB might do. I get a feeling this thread will get locked....

401k: 9 funds (Nationwide-all with high ER's unfortunately)
Trad IRA: 3 funds (Vanguard)
Roth IRA : 1 fund (Schwab)
Taxable : 1 fund (Oakmark)

The above doesn't include savings, CDs, I and EE bonds.

So, I guess 14.

-0.5%

My monthly rent has gone down by $10 in the last 5 years and I no longer pay for cable tv.

With spring/summer finally here in MI (yay!), we are planning to visit the MI Upper Peninsula in June and enjoy the scenic beauty there. Just wondering if you anyone from here has been there and has any recommendations on which places in UP must be visited and which ones are to be avoided. We'll be...

The only "good" debts to have are student loans and a mortgage. All other kinds of debts or loans are consumer loans and are classified by many as "bad." I'd pay off the car loan.

When you really think about it there is no choice in NOT keeping your present checking account. It would be a royal PITA having to revise the routing and checking account number to all your accounts where you make recurring monthly payments. As someone else mentioned how on earth can you just keep ...

I've been thinking about this all day and reading this forum from time to time. I guess on the end, the convenience factor wins out and I'll suck it up by adding another $300 to the account....

Banks profit on the difference of the interest they pay me and turning around and lending that money to someone else. I don't care if it's $1 million or $50. To say that the bank makes nothing off of consumers with small balances is wrong. Are you just pulling all of our legs, or do you really beli...

Banks profit on the difference of the interest they pay me and turning around and lending that money to someone else. I don't care if it's $1 million or $50. To say that the bank makes nothing off of consumers with small balances is wrong.

Problem is, I have to weigh whether having the convenience of River Valley Bank branches exactly between my work and home and my home and the YMCA (where I work out at) outweighs me giving them $300 for them to use for free to keep my checking account balance permanently above that level when I coul...

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. So you think it's ok for banks to charge people to borrow their money? This is j...

So I got a letter from my local bank (River Valley) yesterday stating that beginning June 1st, a monthly service fee of $5 will be billed unless I keep an "average ledger balance" of $300 or more per month for all Checking accounts. What the heck do they mean by "ledger balance" ...

Trading the Forex market.

Stopped trading Forex as a way to grow a retirement account. Huge mistake. Took my remaining balance minus $400 and putting it into a new traditional IRA through Vanguard. Then, finding out about Bogleheads.

Just an example as to why not to use "stop losses" when you are in it for the long haul.

If I set up to buy end of month it looks like I can put in dates 6 months in advance, to buy at the end of the month. Is this the best way. There is no one "best way", just what works best for you. If you prefer to set 6 months of purchases and then just log in twice a year to update that...

As Johm said, CD's are about it. Any money needed in less than 5 years should not be in stocks.

I've always felt that EE bonds are dismissed a little too quickly by many bogleheads. A lot of posters here seem to think that EE bonds basically have no value and that I bonds are the only savings bond worth having, but the reality is that we have no idea what inflation and interest rates will be ...

Not to be mean, but there are a lot of old folks out there that should not be driving. As you age, your ability to react quickly to situations slows considerably. Older people should be given drivers test every 2-3 years and pay higher insurance rates than someone in their 30's-50's...

I've always felt that EE bonds are dismissed a little too quickly by many bogleheads. A lot of posters here seem to think that EE bonds basically have no value and that I bonds are the only savings bond worth having, but the reality is that we have no idea what inflation and interest rates will be ...

My concern with EE bonds is that they don't offer much in the way of inflation protection. Whay good does 3.56% do me if inflation averages 3% over the course of the 20 years I'm holding the bond? Well then, I'd diversify with a mixture of EE and I-Bonds, with the latter tracking actual inflation &...

I am struggling a bit with whether to purchase some EE bonds. On the one hand they might be nice insurance against the possibility of longterm low nominal returns. On the other hand, things change a lot in 20 years and EE bonds are not a good investment unless you stick the 20 years out... It was a...

Shhhhhhhh! I cancelled my HD cable service earlier this year, but I somehow still get a digital feed into my bedroom television. Guess I won't complain, it's Free for now.

Mel, I was just thinking about that tax deferral. If a husband and wife bought 10K each and held for 20 years they'd have a (minimum) 20K tax bill the year of redemption. Does TD allow one to elect withholding at a certain percentage at redemption as opposed to having to pay estimated taxes in adva...

I came across this article explaining that EE Bonds could very well be the best performer over all over types of Long-Term bonds, such as treasuries, investment-grade corporate bonds, and municipal bonds over the long term. http://www.longtermreturns.com/2012/12/ee-bonds-versus-other-long-term-bond...

I came across this article explaining that EE Bonds could very well be the best performer over all over types of Long-Term bonds, such as treasuries, investment-grade corporate bonds, and municipal bonds over the long term. http://www.longtermreturns.com/2012/12/ee-bonds-versus-other-long-term-bonds...

Put it in Barclays online savings. They're paying 1%. That about all you can do at this point.

Question - I see a lot of references to the three-month penalty. Are most of you planning to hold your ibonds long term, or will you chase rates if you find CDs that are higher (even if just slightly)? Just wondering. I'm buying for long-term holding (that's the plan right now anyway). I figure we ...

The 3 months penalty would be subtracted from the most recent 3 month interest rate, which would be 1/2 of 1.18%.

Buy before April 30th and you'll get 1.47% for a year (1.76% for April-Sept and 1.18% Oct-March). With tax deferral and state income tax exemption, they still beat CD's.

I would not open a new account to save $7. Then again I walked a mile yesterday to the only ATM in the town I am visiting that did not charge a surcharge for a withdrawal. But I told myself it was good exercise. I'll walk 1.5 miles to my workplace to save ~.30 cents in gas, .60 cents roundtrip. Als...

0.59% is semi-annual, so the next bond rate will be 1.18% (annualized) for 6 months for I Bonds purchased beginning May 1st. If you buy I-Bonds today before May 1st, you will get the current interest rate which is 1.76% for the first six month, and then 1.18% for 6 months thereafter, for a combined ...

Still better than a 1 Yr CD. I'll hold.

How about 1 every two years. Last year went to Mexico. Next year, planning my 2nd Asia trip through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Will cash out next years tax refund to pay for the trip.

I don't think I spend $100 per year eating out

9% drop today in gold. Ouch!

Ally's financial condition is the weakest of all the big banks in the Fed's last test. I would prefer PenFed as it's balance sheet appears sounder. They are very easy to deal with. There's this thing called FDIC. No worries. I'll go with the bank that consistently pays higher interest rates and has...

I would build up an Emergency fund of at least 3-6 months worth of expenses. Barclays Online bank pays 1% interest. Direct deposit some of your paycheck to this account. Once Emergency fund is built up, then accelerate Student Loan debt payments. Guaranteed 4.3% return on your money. I would also sk...

If any of the money you withdrew was originally converted from a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA within the last 5 years, then you pay a 10% penalty on the amount withdrawn. You did not honor the 5-year holding period as stated in IRS rules. Click the article below and Scroll down and read below the s...

I currently have a Chase Slate Card, with absolutely no benefits attached to it, and it sits in my safe collecting dust. Do you think it is possible that I could upgrade this card to a Chase Sapphire Card and get the sign-up bonuses, etc, everything attached to it, w/o actually applying for new cred...

If we know what funds make up your 401k, then we'll have a better idea as to what you should fund your Roth IRA with to start. You can open the Roth and contribute $5,000 for 2012 and put the remaining $2,000 in for 2013. You'll have $3,500 left to contribute for 2013 if you wish to max out your Rot...

"Can these points ($400-$500) be applied against any purchase that I make for my "near in the future" vacation to Asia, or would I have to wait until a future trip down the road, which would mean I would have to hold the card for a year or two and pay the $95 annual fee until I vacat...

Just got my 3% work match for 2012 at the end of March 2013. I suppose if I include that, which some people on here seem to do, then I'm saving 33% of my income (30% my own + 3% work match).

I am looking at doing a major vacation through S'East Asia next early Spring. Currently the Chase Sapphire Card has a very generous sign-up bonus of 40,000 points ($400 cash or $500 when used for travel purchases on the Chase points program??). To get this bonus, I need to spend $3,000 in 3 months. ...

I gave up the broker/financial advisor thingamabob in the nineties. +1 It's not just "stay the course" that are always ridiculed, it's the "buy and hold" and "bond allocation about equal to your age" as well! The financial world is different "out there." Bond...

livesoft wrote:Folks who had stop losses set did not fare so well on May 6, 2010.

On that day, the "Flash Crash", I would have been looking to buy everything that I could, not sell.