Bogleheads.org

That seems all very sensible, but also seems like it takes the romance out of it, which, if there is a point, strikes me as the only point. I'm thinking about all those 1940s movies where Clark Gable shows up at the most inopportune moment down on one knee as she opens the box, bursts into tears an...

I live in a largish town, and the local paper is thin and fairly low content. However I like living in the kind of town that is able to support a local paper, so we subscribe (digital and print for one price). In addition to coverage of school board debates and front page feature articles about the ...

IMO women want a very visible sign that somebody loves them more, as you said men get a similar ego boost from buying way too much car or house. It isn't necessarily a display of wealth, but it is all about image. The ring represents the man's image, not the woman's. Plenty of men get a big ego boo...

IMO women want a very visible sign that somebody loves them more, as you said men get a similar ego boost from buying way too much car or house. It isn't necessarily a display of wealth, but it is all about image. The ring represents the man's image, not the woman's. Plenty of men get a big ego boo...

Actually if the ring is being purchased as a form of wealth display it does make sense to spend two months salary on it, or even more if you can afford it. In that case the ring needs to reflect well on the man's earning power, and actually can be important to both husband and wife since it fits the...

I recall reading in Emily Post years ago that if she breaks the engagement, she returns the ring. If he breaks it, she gets to keep the ring. Now I will contemplate for a moment why only women receive engagement rings. That must have been back when you had to prove adultery or something equally das...

I don't have empirical proof to back this up, but I think it's better to start with a chord-based instrument (piano, guitar, harp) than a melodic instrument (violin, horn, etc.). The piano is probably the most versatile of these, and will open up a lot of other instruments if the kids want that. I ...

If you are an avid Apple product user, just get the mini. I've never met anyone who doesn't love the thing. I love mine. I have amazon prime and read kindle books on the mini sometimes, but I prefer e-ink to a backlit screen so I actually prefer my original kindle for books. If you want to save a fe...

A gift given in contemplation of marriage (e.g., an engagement ring) must be returned to the giver if the marriage is called off. I think in most states, it is treated as a no-fault situation, so regardless of whose fault it was, the ring is returned. Yep, a "conditional gift" in most sta...

Well, I'm still married 39 years later so I guess the answer is to find out what your wife wants rather than asking an online forum. 113 replies and counting, and this right here is the only answer needed. There is no amount you "should" spend. The ring is objectively worth little, and ce...

The recent MMM discussion got me wondering what you would do if you reach your "number" and for whatever reason, continue working. I can think of several possibilities and would like to know the Boglehead's thoughts and/or experience on these (or others). 1. Carry on as usual. Keep being ...

gkaplan wrote: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.

Since this forum is designed to limit conversations within fairly narrow confines I've been migrating over to reddit as an alternative for most discussions. Unfortunately reddit skews very young. I did find this post with a list, but it's an old list and the few links I clicked on look dormant. Stil...

I wish bonds would just go ahead and plunge already. I'm getting so tired of this. Plus I want to be putting new money into bonds this year.

Whether your phone gets the latest OS update ASAP seems to be a bit of an odd argument except for those who work in the tech industry, especially those who need the latest for development and testing. The most important feature in the latest version of any operating system is that it contains the l...

One step at a time, dude. The right way to approach this will depend upon a million other little decisions you've made over the course of raising them. Taking into consideration their innate personalities of course, which may differ significantly - what works for one may not work for the other. You ...

My SIL outearns my brother by a very large margin. They have a very stereotypic division of roles, with mom taking care of the meals and laundry, and dad taking care of the repairs, cars, and yardwork. Egalitarian parenting, with him doing a lot of coaching of his kids' teams. He does do his share o...

Don't know about hicabob, but the reason I have to pay online is because I owe a significant amount - checks can only be used for smaller amounts. We citizens voted ourselves a state tax hike this year, retroactive, and this extra tax was not withheld from paychecks. Of course high income taxpayers ...

The idea that some poorly paid day care worker is going to parent your kids just as well as you can with your highly educated mind and your highly motivated heart seems foolish. If you use a good daycare, the day care workers have college degrees in early childhood education and far more training a...

My son has an expensive chronic illness, and we switched to a high deductible plan this year. It's saving us a bundle.

Those of us who are saving more aggressively than most have an even lower chance of hitting that value, because our tax advantaged accounts are filled with bonds.

Similarly, the stay at home parent that ignores their kids and puts them in front of a TV all day is not so great either. I worked part time when my children were toddlers, and had a colleague who was quite smug about his child being raised by a stay at home mom. At lunch one day he was bragging ab...

I'm not impressed by anyone's thriftiness by running an iphone under such limited conditions - it just shows you're not choosing the best tools for the job, as an iphone was not designed for low-data access usage. I'm not sure I understand your argument here. The iphone works every bit as well as a...

To each their own - I would still prefer my child to have the Tracfone with no data if I wanted to decrease to odds of them pestering me for a high cost data pla to maximize that iphone potential in the next few years once they see all their friends with one, but to each their own. Do you have kids...

Everything mentioned here is great - our two kids, ages 10 and 12, love taking daytrips into SF. The exploratorium is truly a don't miss. The cable cars are more fun than you might think, and will take you between the touristy waterfront and chinatown (not just for lunch; kids in this age range are ...

As I said above, it looks like you have to request that data be added to the $10 plan at AirVoice. If you don't do this, then data won't be available even if you are using a SmartPhone. That should probably be confirmed with Customer Service if there would be any concern about "data abuse"...

Good point! But I do think your eyes are all the evidence you need. Really? If I agreed with you I'd say she should probably keep working. And I say that from the vantage point of a stay at home mom. However my real opinion is that she should leave work if she is sure that is really what she wants ...

I'd consider both working until the kids are closer to 5, when they start getting into sports &music. All the working couples I know report it being more difficult when the kids get into elementary school vs when they are really young. Actually afterschool programs are a good option until maybe...

Honestly, I don't think it's a great idea to have an iphone with a voice only plan, even for a younger family member. For them, if you want them to have a phone that limited, a tracfone will be the best. The iphone will just be screaming for them to get onto a big juicy data plan the moment the iph...

A provision like that would defeat the purpose of the trust. I am assuming that the elder will end up unable to work sooner or later, and I want his portion of the trust to be saved for later. But his prognosis is unpredictable; he may be disabled young or he could have decades of productive earnin...

This is not a financial decision, it is a life decision. My second child coincided with the elimination of my department, so it seemed a good time to take some time off. Due to various life events, I never got back on track; we are now in the position where it is best for a parent to be at home, and...

Yes, although my son is not currently disabled, his younger brother is accustomed to having our lives revolve around his older brother's health needs. He understands and is very protective of his big brother, but it is a psychological burden that we need to handle delicately. What I would ideally l...

mike143 wrote:mrmoneymustache.com: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans

Thanks Mike (and Browser) - this appears to be exactly what I was looking for!

The recent long thread about smartphones has been very useful to me. We have a surplus iPhone 4 - it's a good phone but the new employer requires use of a phone they own and control, so it is no longer being used. We have decided to give it to our 12 year old, but I would prefer him to not have a da...

An allowance is a great way to teach children the value of money, the rewards of saving, even spending money wisely. I think it should be seperate from chores. To me chores are what you do as a member of the family. It is probably good to define what expenses the child is expected to pay for out of...

I will encourage her to get disability insurance. I am also not going to write her out. I'm thinking along the lines of 2/3 and 1/3. The lord willing, I also hope to have several rewrites as time goes on. But you have provided good food for thought and I do appreciate it. Maybe I will voluntarily p...

One of my children will most likely end up disabled at a young age. We don't know how soon, since we are doing everything we can to postpone the more serious impacts of his condition, but it's too early to begin thinking of a special needs trust. For the moment our children are set to inherit equall...

OverTheHill wrote:He told me once that the important things in life are Country, Wife, God, and Kids...in that order.

This fascinates me - I'd love to hear him talk about how he came up with this order.

Far beyond my parents by just about any measure.

It's pretty good for large developments built by a single builder. It's not bad for towns that went through discrete periods of fairly recent growth, where lots of the housing stock is comparable. It's not so hot for urban areas, regions with heterogeneous housing stock, or homes with proximity to h...

Before we get into a discussion of how we should all be using Flobees to cut our hair ourselves, the real question to me is not how much the tip is, but why you mentioned the cost of the cut and color doubling. Did it just double? Or has this been a slow, gradual thing over a number of years? I am ...

You could always put Lenny on, who is a bit hard of hearing and got a call about this same issue just last week. But if the telemarketer stays on the line long enough he'll hear about Larissa, who is really quite bright and has been telling Lenny about the very same thing.

http://www.itslenny.com/

When we drove from the East out to Denver...we sure could have used a paper map. I-70 in Kansas outside Topeka was completely closed in both directions...the detour took you off the interstate and that was it...to get back on was a 40 mile detour which was not marked (we had arrived just when the c...

Interestingly, I have even heard strategies of going out farther on duration because if things stay flat, you get better yield. If stocks tank, then long bonds should do well as a safety net. If stocks soar, and the bonds get hurt, well, who cares because stocks soared booyah. Well, I have no numer...

My number is 33x expenses. Which vary.

So my personal opinion is it's quite useful. In fact, I don't think it would be a bad idea to be on DST all of the time (just make it standard time). People who wake up at 4am probably have a different opinion. The reason that has trouble gaining traction is the problem of kids walking to school or...

Since the election? What an odd question. I reduced our bond duration a small amount early last year at the normal portfolio review in the spring, but that was linked to both of us passing 50 - we're at most 15 years from retirement, so duration should be adjusted accordingly.

FYI :happy "The ability to touch, tap, swipe and pinch on Windows 8 computers is what makes the new operating system come to life. You can still use Windows 8 without a touchscreen, but that's kind of like tossing aside the remote, getting up, and repeatedly pushing buttons to change the chann...

Oops! Or maybe not. Just went and looked at the wife's MacBook Air (a gorgeous machine, and no mistake). It has a key marked Delete, but it's really a Backspace key. The iPad I'm using to write this has only a Backspace key. But I see in the image in your post a key marked "delete" and an...

We subscribed to CR for decades, but I found as I got older I consulted it less and less and eventually we let the subscription lapse. Quite often I disagree on the ratings, or on their priorities, or they don't provide the detail I'm looking for. For example the most important feature for our fridg...