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+1 I confess to having a simple mind, but I believe the M* quote is correct. I believe M* is talking about only one of four possible outcomes, whereas our discussion is mixing apples, oranges, and taxes. Apples/Oranges Distribution-producing investment Non-distribution-producing investment I need c...

... What about this? A retiree living off the Equity Income dividends/distributed capital gains versus a retiree living off the S&P 500 dividends/distributed capital gains, plus selling shares for whatever the differential is between the two amounts, might look a bit different. The Equity Incom...

You might consider a motorized bicycle (new or convert your own). Some get 150 MPG. And if it fails to start, you just pedal it home. Some even fold for storage/shipping. Depending upon engine size and jurisdiction, it may not need to be licensed as a motorized vehicle. I remember reading the accoun...

I must check daily to avoid missing an opportunity to: capture rebalance momentum, TLH, RBD buying opportunity.

Strut replacement should not require steering alignment. Have never changed struts (only shocks) so don't know how much clearance you need below vehicle. If jack stands (cheap) in your driveway are not enough, then locally a DIY garage advertises lift bays for customer use and will supply as much/li...

Compare the cost of keeping your vehicle running with the utility you get from it, not the KBB. If you would be happy with your CR-V, if it didn't need repairs, then this suggests you should fix it and keep it, as it's cheaper to fix than buy new. If you would not be happy with your CR-V, even if it...

Recently upgraded my ~30 yo SAK *Classic SD to the Rambler model. *It now lives in a desk drawer with my pretty little ~40 yo rosewood/brass/stainless steel 3-blade Japanese-made gentleman's pocket knife, both serving as letter openers. Tried larger/more expensive knives (pocket, belt, keyring) but ...

It worked for me yesterday, and just now when I double-checked it. I have noticed that the macro sometimes didn't work in the past. On those occasions, I learned that it would start working again I rebooted my PC. So I suspect that something that got downloaded from a previous website was interferin...

The short answer. In answer to the topic's second question, factory-trained mechanics using factory parts and working for good independent dealers make the best dealerships... for keeping your vehicle near factory-new. (The only better option would be a true factory repair facility. I'm not aware th...

I use both IT and LT TE bonds and set aside a portion as an EF. If you worry about a 15% price drop, increase your EF allocation to cover it. s time passes and your EF grows, you will stop worrying about it. On the plus side, the recent TE bond price drop makes it cheaper to buy more TE bonds. You c...

The short answer. We can't get rid of auto dealerships because they serve necessary functions not covered by the manufacturers. You may believe that by negotiating a low online *price that you don't need a dealership, but you are overlooking two major components: (1) Online sites are tied back to B&...

I seem to remember woof755 doing this a few years back for his medical colleagues. You might PM him and see if he still has his presentation.

A small 1xAAA keychain penlight by Titanium Innovations, the aluminum model "Illuminati": 3/30/115 lumen. Or you can get it in titanium for twice the price.

Hi everyone. Lets say I bought 10k of tax exempt muni bond fund 3 monhts ago. Today the value of that fund is $9500. I have received $100 in dividends over 3 months. If I sell the fund today, can I tax loss harvest the $500? thanks! Starting Assumptions: I'm assuming you bought your 10k in Mar 2013...

5. If you expect to be in a higher tax bracket during your withdrawal phase, it might be better to save your higher cost basis for then, rather than TLHing today which would lower your cost basis and generate higher taxes during withdrawal.

... Has anybody considered a solar solution ? I have a lot of roof space on my garage and Houston gets a lot of sun. Just a thought. The solar solutions without battery backup do not operate during a power outage. Englishgirl has a solar/battery system and described it here: http://www.bogleheads.o...

Submitted for what it is worth. I've house sat for my adjacent neighbors for >10 years---pets, plants, mail---for a week at a time. Just assumed it was a part of being neighborly, because this is what we did growing up in the south. This is the first I've thought about being paid for this service. (...

You might want to look into HSBC. I only know them because of their online savings account.

Theory. For simple-to-understand investing theory/market realities, I like ... Buffett's story about the Gotrock's family and "How to Minimize Investment Returns", p 17: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2005ltr.pdf and Shape's Arithmetic of Active Management : http://www.stanford....

... When/How do you guys/gals decide to TLH? ... Like I said above, when my total TLH potential is >$3K. (This caused me to miss a $2K TLH last year, but as I still have the higher cost basis, I can use it later. And if I move into a higher tax bracket, a higher cost basis will be more valuable the...

If an investor sells shares/lots That we're acquired as dividends but then decreased in value,, how does this affect the decision to TLH versus shares that were purchased? Gotta pay taxes on dividends obviously? So loss must be significant to make up for tax burden? Sorry for beginner level questio...

I don't believe what you want exists, yet. And don't believe anyone is working on it. This may be an entrepreneurial opportunity for you. Automatic system. To run your apartment, you would need a system to automatically disconnect from the grid and connect to your solar array/inverter. The array wou...

Noticed my REITS were above the rebalance band at the beginning of the month. Waited to see what would happen. They kept climbing. Eventually rebalanced out and watched them continue to climb until it was almost time to rebalance again. (Should have taken more out the first time?) Now they are down ...

It's been a few years since I last TLHed, so I may be forgetting something. Wash sale issues. A wash sale is created if *replacement shares are bought in any family account within +-30 days of your TLH date. (*Replacement shares can be bought by a direct purchase or a distribution reinvestment.) In ...

My neighbors heat by hot water baseboard radiators---they are small and not too noticeable. They have a backup Buck Stove wood burning fireplace insert which can get too hot if over stoked. They struggled with ways of heating their new workshop, an enclosed breezeway between garage and kitchen (~20'...

You are on the right path and you found it much more quickly than I. (1) If your in-law's FA can not prove he is beating an appropriately constructed market index every year, then he is losing to it. It should be easy enough to show your in-law's how to compute the annual return of an appropriate to...

Dividing 2.1 percent in fees by the 5.3 percent expected market return before fees provided a true picture of investor cost. A 5.3 percent expected (before cost) return divided by into 2.1 percent per year in total costs comes to 40 percent of expected return lost to expenses.

Assumed intent.

A recent topic on tax-deductible contributions linked back to this old topic, and I was checking for completeness.... Could the information at the "Support this Site" link be updated to include instructions on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to this forum? As I'm suggesting this ...

Funny story. Back in the '80s, while I was traveling with the military, my realtor *WB was unloading some of his properties using the greater fool theory of real estate investing. I knew better than to buy them from him and hope for my own greater fool. But I had not fully learned my lesson and was ...

This is an example of the Excel spreadsheet I use to rebalance: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1641382#p1641382 This is an example of how to compute the target AA percentages in above Excel spreadsheet: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1639713#p1639713 Go forth and ro...

Good luck getting over 3 years out of a battery, seems the general consensus is they are not made like they use to be. ... I've gotten really good service out of Interstate batteries and used them exclusively since the early '70s. I've never needed to change one because it failed. (In practice I've...

Could do a google search for: backup camera site:cartoys.com

I'm really enjoying driving our new Ford C-Max Energi, which is a plug-in hybrid. I've gone as far as 25 miles on the battery alone and driving a battery powered vehicle is really a pleasure. It cost about $0.70 to recharge it after that 25 mile trip, BTW. Consumers gave the C-Max Hybrid "only...

Remember the BH basics. We thought through this situation when our minds were calm and captured our thoughts in our IPS. Now we should be following our IPS. In my case... It is against my religion to rebalance if it results in paying additional taxes. It is acceptable to rebalance with new money and...

Good book. 2005 version should be okay as neither the 2005 nor the 2011 version will account for the newest tax-law changes. Otherwise, the basics don't change that much. I read a late '70s version of the book. Followed almost everything in the book, except the advice to being investing with Vanguar...

CountryBoy wrote:Bob b

Wow! That is an incredible price. So seriously...........what did you do with the old battery..honestly now.

cb

The auto center where I buy my car batteries will accept any lead-acid battery for turn in. They get a credit (or something like that) for each. Doesn't hurt to ask yours.

I've used the hose-end sprayer and Weed-B-Gon. From suggestions here will add a spray bottle for smaller areas. What is the correct dilution when used in a spray bottle? I also like the *green Weed Hound (not the yellow one) tool to pull weeds standing up. That, plus a 5-gal plastic bucket, and I wa...

CPF. US history. Your CPF scheme sounds a lot like our Social Security (SS) system. ... I would strongly disagree on this comparison. Social Security never had individual retirement accounts... http://www.ssa.gov/history/35act.html ... Read the linked article and also did not find any mention of in...

My neighbor said it was easy to change the battery (12V, ~7-8Ah, SLA) for their home security system. They were getting email notifications to do so.

Took old battery to local Batteries Plus, bought a new one, and turned in the old one.

A recent topic. Maybe you will find something there that could be of use to you. "16, Singaporean, need advice" http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=115334 Stocks. Own a global stock portfolio. My own preference is to limit my home country exposure (Singapore) to its we...

Within a thread, does the site's software permit highlighting the thread starter's original post and any subsequent posts by him or her? I've seen this feature in use on other boards, and it makes it a lot easier to keep track of any replies by the original poster (OP), if there are any. It also pr...

Travel, hotel, rental car search engine: You could try kayak.com. It is supposed to do a search of multiple travel/hotel websites (expedia.com, hotels.com,...) at once and show you all of the results. Airport transportation: A vote for the private airport shuttle services. Signs will direct you to ...

Displaying my ignorance and suspicion here. How are bond specialists compensated? Are they paid by the bond issuer for their recommendation and sales? Does a bond specialist give you your money back if a recommended bond defaults? If compensated by the bond issuer, do they still come out ahead? Indi...

Several years back, read/saw a report on "container manufacturers" claiming this business was a leading indicator of general economic activity, as everything sold gets shipped in some form of container/box, which must be ordered early. Transportation of manufactured goods happens after the...

... It is not of concern with me b/c my family has a tradition where each generation makes their own money. The furthest the previous generation will go is sponsoring the current generation up till they are a legal adult, no further. My family strongly believes that it is pointless to freeroll the ...

I'm all for avoiding the dividend tax but what I am worried is about the decrease in diversification when going from VTI + VXUS(over 9000, heh, holdings) vs ~3000 holdings, VWRD + VUSD. Also, how correlated is VTI + VXUS compared to VWRD + VUSD. Do they give the same returns over a long period of t...

Is it possible to find a low-cost non-US equivalent to Vanguard's VT (total world index ETF)? If so wouldn't this reduce OP's search to one (equity) fund? That would be a single VWRD holding. Domiciled in Ireland, 0.25% TER, and tracks the FTSE all-world index. Combine with VUSD as mentioned above ...

Is it possible to find a low-cost non-US equivalent to Vanguard's VT (total world index ETF)? If so wouldn't this reduce OP's search to one (equity) fund? Seached for "total world index ETF" and found: USNews, Vanguard total World Stock Index (VT) [ETF]: http://money.usnews.com/funds/etfs/...

We don't have a better answer to offer. The answers we have are US-centric because that is were our investing solutions are found, and the investing academic research (the forerunner of the investing solutions) discussed in the books familiar to us is US- or British-centric. I have followed this thr...

Short answer. Probably yes. Long answer. Need to know all of the numbers and conditions to tell how good this offer is. It was suggested that a fee was involved and would be rolled into the back of the new 2.625% loan. It was suggested that if the fee were paid up front, that you could get a still l...