Bogleheads.org

http://www.coveredca.com/news/press-releases/pr-05-23-13-plans-anounced.html "The rates submitted to Covered California for the 2014 individual market ranged from two percent above to 29 percent below the 2013 average premium for small employer plans in California’s most populous regions. This ...

I am a board certified ophthalmologist (although I did not practice in that exact area). I buy my sunglasses at Staples ($19 for polarized glasses) and reading glasses at Costco (the 3 packs for very little money). I think you can buy 98% of the quality for a fraction of the price of expensive glas...

My icemaker /water dispenser required that the cable harness gets repaired/replaced every 18 months because the cheap crappy wires they use break from the flexing when the door is opened/closed. Brilliant design for a $2.2k fridge kitchenaid! I fixed it after the warranty expired (and 3 doors later ...

I want to put my son's car into his name, from mine, to limit my liability. My insurance agent says I will still be liable until he turns 21 as long as I am supporting him...which I am. This doesn't sound right to me, but the agent would actually generate a much higher premium if I "spin off&q...

In California (and many other places), termites are endemic and part of life. Where I live, you can just count on getting your house tented about every 10 years. Out here it costs about $1000 bucks give or take to have your house tented. Local treatments really do not work. The life cycle of the te...

consider medicare/medicaid their insurance (it's charity) pay what you owe or stay out of hospitals. disclosure : yes , i am a physician. wahnfried Really? The medicare / medicaid that comes out of my taxes is a charity and people shouldn't expect to use it when they need it? What one may or may no...

Financially I can retire today. (62) Emotionally I'm not sure I can. I help people and it's gratifying that I can, :confused so it's hard to go to pasture. Any thoughts on overcoming my mental state? Noah It's the "out to pasture" attitude that is wrong I think. Not retired yet here, (10 ...

Nice older gentleman at my gym has one - says it's the best car he has ever owned. We were discussing the predicament that the Tesla shorts have found themselves in and both agree that the stock has probably overshot. Kinda funny, but when at the gym he parks at the organic food supermarket across t...

Clark Howard, whom I consider Mr Travel, has been advocating purchase 1-2 months prior to departure recently. This seems to fit quite well with my recent experience.

There seem to be a lot of these articles recently saying we are all doomed due to low returns but return on a balanced portfolio have not been low over the last couple years - in fact thanks to the equity portion of a balanced portfolio, returns have been very good.

It's harder to rent a car if you are under 25. Rent-a-wreck used to be a good option for such things and a few more dings don't matter too much. I think they are still around

The modern cars with 30 or so computers, sensors up the wazoo etc. may become very difficult to get parts for which may effect their desirability so value . I think I'd go for something with very minimal electronics - how about a '65 289?

It is kind of amazing. When I use Gmail I get all these targeted ads. They know that I am retired from GM and received a pension buyout offer. That's how specific the ads are. Keith gmail is great but there is certainly a reason it's "free" - I wonder how far back in time they parse the l...

Starting my small business and then some years later ... selling it. Sounds like the proverbial boat.

investingdad - when you do your beer pilgrimmage to Europe, since it seems you like Belgian brews, Brussels is definitely worth stopping by - for a mouth-puckering beer :shock: try a real Lambic ale at the Cantillon Brewery http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_1 - the tour is interesting and educational too...

Having the money in Kroner's is an interesting diversification although 100% is probably too much. Norway has been doing brilliantly it seems.
Perhaps 50/50 USD/Kroners, US funds in VTI, Kroners in a Norwegian index if such exists? Of course Norway's tax rules may have a huge effect??

benus217 wrote:Yes, thats right ...but i dont see where it says that this property is sold for $495000 in 2005.

I think there were a couple others in the development - Zillow shows previous sales prices, it's worth learning - lots of data from the Bay Area

benus217 wrote:@ Honobob - Which property are you referring to ?? and where did you check the 2005 price..

Not Hono here - but is it this one? (Zillow is quite the database!)

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4937- ... 7289_zpid/

I sympathize - My kid has been looking at 4-plexes in Santa Clara - they seem to go within a week or so if desirable - it's like deja-vu all over again. SF Bay Area real estate has been volatile for the many decades I have lived here but like stocks, it's hard to market time until after the fact whe...

An interesting article from Atlantic on the original purpose of engagement rings as "virginity insurance"

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... gs/255434/

One of my nieces just received a full ride academic scholarship to Western Kentucky - not quite Harvard but not bad either and worth $23k/yr for 4 years conditional upon her maintaining a 3.7 or better gpa. I was impressed and my sister is of course ecstatic since before the girl won it, her ex (an ...

I picked up some 75 watt replacement dimmable recessed type bulbs from costco for about $10 each (on special) - very nice. The HD Cree ones are very decent too. One thing to look for carefully is "dimmability" if you need it since some led bulbs are not dimmable.

I would have checked a "not sure" box. If I do eventually buy an annuity (spia of course), I expect the frugalness in me would turn me into more of a health/nutrition aficionado very quickly!

Ameriprise is infamous for usurious fees. It's a testemant to investor naivety that they are still able to pull this off.
I've always had good experiences with ING.

In my experience dryers outlive washers by a considerable amount. I've decided the frugal thing to do is not to worry about a "matched set" , get white though, and just buy the one that needs replacement.

An interesting non cubic zirconium diamond alternative is "Moissanite"(silicon carbide) , bought to you by the materials experts at Cree Semiconductor (the folks that make the best white leds nowadays) They run about 10% of the price of similiar size diamond. http://www.diamondsourceva.com...

otbricki wrote:$0. My wife thinks engagement rings are a heteronormative paternalistic anachronism.

You have to admire the business savvy of De Beers for starting the tradition though!

Why would you want to do that? I would think transferring it to a self-directed IRA gives gives flexibility with a lower cost in every situation, no?

One of the things we've been advised to do is get disability insurance during residency. In doing so, we can fix our rates, which are usually some percentage of current income, at a price far below what we'll ultimately be earning and end up saving a ton of money in the long run. Having worked for ...

Thanks for all the good ideas. We're arriving in Salinas by train on a Sunday and, guess what, no car rental places are open there on a Sunday! So we have to get to Monterey to rent our car. Yes, there's a series of buses we could take to get there (inexpensive, but takes too much time) or a taxi (...

Not yet, even though I am "queer for the gear" . Seems that the longer you wait - the better the deal.

Winston could certainly deliver a rousing speech .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4BVzYGeF0M Years ago while driving thru Germany listening to Ramstein and discussing language, my German colleauges mentioned Hitler was an incredible speaker too, with perfect classical German, apparently very muc...

Some people love it, some hate it - often best for single people - I have seen companies that have technicians who travel (up to 300 days/year) generally get about 60%(or more) higher pay than those that "work at the factory". With sales it usually seems to be part of the job. And get the ...

This article surprised me. For all the negativity we see about the average Americans ability to retire these days, it would seem we are in fact living in the best of times when it comes to retirement. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/05/02/the-biggest-retirement-myth-ever-told.aspx Hopefu...

If you have the correct timeframe in mind, almost certainly.

This article surprised me. For all the negativity we see about the average Americans ability to retire these days, it would seem we are in fact living in the best of times when it comes to retirement.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2 ... -told.aspx

gerrym51 wrote:

orlandoman wrote:FYI, the ACA application says that you do not have to list/count Social Security income.

you misread it. you do count ss income. You do not count SSI-supplementary ss income

Another reason to postpone taking SS until 70?

To the OP, my question would be "what do you expect them to do with the gift?" I think it is fine giving non-monetary gifts, but it helps to give them with a perspective of how the receiver can best use it. If you are not sure, would reconsider the gift. Personally, to young folks getting...

They are proud of the accomplishment perhaps? Then you have those surveyors and their fancy-dan metrology tools!

Thankyou bogleheads - the coin would be one of some I've had for decades so the original price paid is my little secret.

I was planning on giving my soon to be married nephew, whom I'm fond of, a 1 oz maple leaf gold coin. It's easy for me, I think it's a most interesting gift & it's relatively liquid for the recipients if they so desire. My only concern, is if it would be considered tacky considering modern US se...

Even though art is supposed to appreciate (from what I've heard), I'm guessing I'd probably take a loss on this thing. That's a good assumption. The gallery probably puts a 50% mark-up on paintings. If you paid $4,000, the galley likely paid $2,000. That being said, unless you've got something spec...

Money absolutely can buy happiness. Jet skis cost money. Have you ever seen anyone who looked unhappy while driving a jet ski? :) but they bring unhappiness for those other poor folk that have to listen to them - perhaps another axiom for our happiness theorem - "happiness is being happier tha...

Tell him to start a business and invest well. If the goal is to have him broke, yes. The failure rate for start-up businesses is extremely high, and at his stage he'd likely have to finance it through his own money and loans. Brian Tha failure rate (or non - completion rate) for all those college f...

I used to have one in a previous house - we had well water , so no chlorine - mildew would start growing in the pump pipes quickly even though it was used a few times a week - we had to run dishwasher detergent through to clean it properly. My kids adored it when they were little since it made very ...

My son purchased his first house in Ann Arbor. The house is all brick, but the brick is painted white. He would like to strip the white paint from the bricks. Sand blasting or high pressure water I understand will cause a problems to the brick and mortar. Any advice on other ways to remove paint fr...

Starting, growing and then selling a small hi-tech business - all in a 7 year timeframe. It has been the hardest I have ever worked but the financial rewards have been much more than expected.

Some of these responses are quite entertaining, especially from a boglehead crowd. What's the saying...'haters gonna hate'. Sure, you can quibble over whether he's actually "retired" or not...but he's financially independent and doing what he wants. Isn't that the goal at the end of the d...

My ex works at Kaiser Permanente - salary is lower than most docs expect (200k perhaps??) but benefits are great and the docs actually have a life.

As a first timer I'd suggest looking and test driving a lot of cars before you decide on anything - used car dealers are trained to be pushy but if you have the right attitude the process is not so bad. When you have decided on the perfect model for yourself then look at some private party vehicles ...