Bogleheads.org

A frequent response among more learned Bogleheads than I might be to ask the questions: "As a Virginia resident, if I didn't own a home today in the Detroit, MI area, would I purchase one to rent out in order to ride anticipated market appreciation over the next 5 to 8 years?" "Would ...

The Carlyle Group, along with KKR and Blackstone, are making their private fund investment prowess available to the little guy. Carlyle's new funds will allow investors with as little as $50K to join the moneyed elites. Per the WSJ, Carlyle will impose its standard "money management" fees ...

Background: DW and I are raising three boys -- currently mid-late teens. Their college will largely be covered by 529 accounts. From an early age, we tried to instill a sense of savings/investing. We provided a relatively generous allowance, encouraged them to work odd and summer jobs and look for o...

Recently refinanced with PenFed's 5-year 1.99% Program. Some observations: Pros: - Simple process -- entire exercise done on-line, including initial joining of credit union -- small donation to charitable organization. (However, I did make several calls throughout to try and push the effort along.) ...

Amerisave seeks to sell its loans within hours/days after closing. It never/rarely holds them for its own account. Highly unlikely it is lowballing the appraisal to keep you in the current mortgage. I would see if there is an appeal process on the appraisal. Seems you've got a good argument it's off...

Looking at the 5-year PenFed HEL and had two quick questions I'm hoping someone can answer:

1. Is the current 1.99% rate fixed for the 5-year term?
2. Does the loan straight line amortize or does it have a 30-year amortization schedule with a balloon?

Thanks.

sscritic, thanks. I keep looking for that free lunch with social security but, alas, haven't found it.

I'm in a similar situation -- high earner with low earning spouse whose recovery as a spouse will exceed amounts based on her earnings. To clarify one of the points made, if dw files early, e.g., 63, and receives payments for a period of years and then later for spousal benefits when I file and susp...

Appreciate the thoughtful responses. Assumed there wasn't a free lunch here but wanted to confirm through the collective wisdom of those far wiser. To the extent there is a free lunch, appears it would be little more than a small appetizer. Now I'm back to the oft asked inquiry of whether or not to ...

Refinanced about six months ago with Amerisave -- basic terms. Term: 10 year fixed Rate: 3.25% Loan Amt: $195K Closing Cost Credits: Approximately $2200; Actual costs were around $2000, so got a check back for a couple hundred bucks. Yes, the credit is the full amount, not a max up to closing costs ...

Thanks all for your responses and conclusions which are as I suspected. Looks like I can stick with my passive index strategy and worry about more important things in life. Regards.

With apologies for belaboring a basic tenant of bogledom. . . I get the theory behind passive investing in broad index funds and how such an approach will outperform over time active investing due (in large part) to higher fees. So are there any rigorous studies that demonstrate the theory holds tru...

Another thumbs up for Amerisave. Went with a 10 year fixed at 3.25 with no closing costs. Smooth process all in 30 days. I also like their website where you can check rates/costs daily without putting in any personal information. Good luck.

For those of you that adhere to a higher cash/cash equivalent holding so as to avoid the need to sell stocks in a down market, when do you decide to replenish your cash position? Do you try to time the market to avoid those "downturns" (something I've never been able to do) or simply sell ...

We bought a 2004 MDX new, driven by my wife through our boys' teenage years. Currently has 110k miles. Been very happy, with no material problems. Only issue has been so-so gas mileage (as noted above) and several dings from "errant" lacrosse balls over the years.

My folks just went through a similar situation with a road widening that took a portion of the farm, the farm house and a portion of a commercial business. I can't emphasize the importance of compentent counsel, i.e., an attorney that specializes in emminent domain issues. It's a subspecialty that i...

For the majority of respondents who discourage remortgaging a home for investment purposes, I have the following questions. If I have stock/bond investments AND a mortgage, am I not engaging in the same behavior? I.e., using leverage to increase my investment holdings? Shouldn't all us who blanch at...

Okay, I'll bite. Not sure what the definition of "successful" is but as a low 50s fellow with income in the 500K/year range, I recently discontinued my life insurance when I concluded our net worth would satisfy the family's needs should I have an unfortunate encounter with the proverbial ...

The drumbeat continues castigating mortgage lenders for their nefarious acts. Robosigning this, unfair lending practice that. The states are looking to negotiate a settlement with heavy fines, penalties and compensation to ensure such terrible deeds never happen again. (Understand California is opti...

I'm the first in line for low cost index funds but before breaking out the sparkling cider, I would note that the reduction in costs is 2-4 basis points. If my math is right, the savings on a $100K portfolio would be $20-40/yr. Yes, buys a nice lunch but let's keep things in perspective.

Lumpr, your description on points is correct, as is your note on buying down or up the rate based on the charge or credit. What I found curious is how lumpy the credit/charge was as I moved up and down the mortgage rate continuum. Odd that the "cost" of each 1/8% varies so widely. You woul...

Was just approved by Amerisave for a refinancing. Second one with them in the last 12 months. They're good to work with for those interesting in a refi. Hard to believe we're seeing rates this low. Here's my question, I've always wondered about the methodology for calculating the closing cost credit...

Check with your state. Some allow an income tax deduction for annual contributions up to a stated cap PER account. In such cases, you'll benefit from having one account per child/beneficiary.

As an executive in a Fortune 200 company, I've observed a continuing strong bias against candidates sporting degrees from for-profit institutions. We get hundreds of resumes for individual positions. Fair or not, a common culling technique is to weed out those with credentials from such schools. Hav...

Not sure I fully understand how the "returns" of extinct funds are put back in the mix in order to eliminate the survivorship bias. Is the pre-extinct period of performance simply extrapolated over to the extinct period? If so, is that over correcting, inasmuch as one would think some of t...

Refinanced with Amerisave a few months ago. Their rates were some of the lowest I found on the web. Also appreciated the fact that I didn't have to provide contact information to get the rate sheet updates. Found the process relatively painless. The entire effort was done almost entirely by e-mail, ...

Excellent thoughts. Thanks. The approach I've taken in the past is along the lines suggested, namely to elect options when the stock is trading at multi-year lows (I'm in a fairly cyclical industry) and then opting for restricted stock when the markets and the company's stock price are relatively hi...

First time poster with a question for wise bogleheads who have dealt with this situation. I assumed this has come up before but couldn't find a relevant discussion in the folders. Each year I am given the option of selecting stock options or restricted stock as part of my compensation. (I work for a...