Bogleheads.org

I'm 27.5ish...

$20k in Roth IRA
$20k in 401k
$10k cash
Around $25k equity in home, mortgage at 3%
Car loan of $15k-should be paid off within 15-18 months
2,000 stock options with private employer, potentially worth $200k pretax in 5 years
Income of $65k to 75k in 2013

That's me in a nutshell.

It shouldn't affect your ability to obtain the mortgage, but it may affect the rate just a bit. Typically your lender will pull 3 reports from the 3 main bureaus and use the middle score for each person. The lower of his and her score usually needs to be 740 or above to qualify for the best rate pos...

Thanks all, car loan was what I thought but I needed some validation.

Hello, I'm trying to decide whether to allocate a portion of my monthly savings towards my car loan or mortgage. Details: Emergency Funds: 4 months (recently reduced to make 2013 roth contribution + car down payment, building this up to 6 months before prepaying anything) Mortgage: $182,000 at 3%, v...

An adverse action notice does not do anything to your credit; it is just a notice required to be sent out by the Federal government. Typically if the application is withdrawn, a notice will not be sent. But some Banks probably are extra safe and just send them out in these cases. Compliance regulato...

As a lender I can tell you that the estimates on the GFE are always on the high side because if the cost comes in a certain % higher than the estimate, the Bank must pay for it. Title insurance costs also vary state by state and county by county, sometimes substantially so. As a borrower you do have...

Did you choose this because the number lines up roughly with when you would like to retire? Or because you like its glide path I chose this because it was about the allocation that I desired. It gets my total international exposure to around 14% of portfolio and had about the amount of bonds I was ...

$4600 sounds like an awful lot to be bringing to closing, unless a large chunk of that is going towards escrowed taxes, which seems unlikely for this time of year (assuming RE taxes are due at year end). $4600 may include points, so you're essentially buying down that interest rate. Also, if a simil...

Hello, could I get some feedback on my current portfolio? Emergency Funds: 5 months Debt: $185,000 mortgage at 3.75%, value of $240,000 Tax Filing: Single 25% Federal Tax / Approx. 5.6% MO (Effective Federal was 9.93%) Age: 26 Target AA: somewhere between 90/10 to 95/5 Current Portfolio: Approx. $25...

I max out my Roth, put 4% into my 401k (plus another 4% from the employer), plus another $250/month or so towards my emergency fund (gradually building up to 12 months). That would total up to savings of ~28% of gross income.

You just let us know when it hits that floor you speak of. In the meantime I'll keep buying monthly as per usual.

age: 24
emergency funds: $3,000
roth ira: $5500
401k: $1600 (includes employer matching $)
taxable: $350 - pointless i know
income: 40k, started 1st post college job last march
side income: $150/month
rent: 825
debt: none

I live off of 40k pretax (and about 150/month side income), and am able to save about 750/month. I rent, have no debt, but still go out most weekends and have a good time.

I realize that the Savers Tax Credit does not apply to many people on the forum, but I'm hoping someone with some tax knowledge may be able to help. With my agi for 2009, I'm able to qualify for the 10% savers tax credit. Now I know the credit applies to 401k contributions made in calendar year 2009...

Laura, I've actually been meaning to sell that Citigroup stock. I also still have about 80 shares of Lehman stock, so I'll sell both of those and use those losses to offset income for this year. I'll probably add that money to my Emergency Fund ASAP. My 401k bond options are as follows: Short-Term F...

Emergency funds = 2 months (just started working a couple of months ago) Debt: $5000 CC debt at 1.99% for 15 more months (paying it down by $450/month) Tax Filing Status: Single Tax Rate: 25% Federal 6% Missouri Age: 23 Desired Asset allocation: ~90/10 Intl allocation: 30% of stocks Current portfoli...

If it sounds too good to be true it is. Do a search for covered call and you'll come across a payoff chart. If the underlying stock falls enough, you can and will lose money. The drop in the the stock value is offset slightly by the money you get from selling options. If the stock goes up, you'll ma...

I read the terms and conditons, and it should be fixed at 3.99. It's a promotional offer that lasts until 12/1/2010, at which time the rate will raise to whatever the then current APR is. Regardless, whether I put 300 or 400 or 450 towards it, it should be paid off within 15 months or so. I will be ...

Thanks Taylor. That was the order that I have been thinking, but not doing.

Here's the deal...I have about $5500 in credit card debt built up from college and the 6 months of unemployment following college. I'm a year out of college now and started a job a little over three months ago. The CC debt is at 0% now, and starting in August, will be locked in at 3.9% until Decembe...

I'm not a drug user, but the night before the drug test for my first real job I was attending an outdoor Santana concert. Not unexpectedly, pot smoke wafted towards me from every direction. Suddenly my brain registered a moment of sheer panic, and I pushed through the stoners and got out of there. ...

Well, I'm 23, and essentially have a 0 net worth. Just started my first job out of college, have ~2500 in roth ira, ~450 taxable, and ~750 in emergency fund. I'm also in the process of paying off around $4000 in debt accumulated from college and a post-college Europe backpacking trip (worth every pe...

Hello all, I recently became society's newest employed member (1st job since college). I am trying to come up with a rough budget and am asking for help in estimating my take home pay. If I were to make ~$40,000, what do you believe would be the best estimate of my take home pay (I'm in Missouri)? I...

Thanks a lot for the link to those videos. I'm going to take a look at a few of them. Computer science/engineering just seems like something that I would be good at. I majored in Finance because I enjoy the act of researching and then investing. I've realized though that I don't want that as a caree...

Thanks for the comments. A couple things... How did I graduate without gaining programming skills? I'm not sure about your school, but we don't take any computer science classes besides MIS, and that was more theory and learning its applications rather than code. I would never go back to school just...

Hello all, I graduated from a respectable midwestern college this past May with a degree in Finance. I have not been able to find employment thus far. Many of the jobs I have looked at thus far in Finance are looking for people with some computer programming skills. I am considering enrolling in a u...

I admire John Bogle because of his pioneering ideas that he used, and still uses to this day, to help the well-being of individual investors. He is a man that anyone would be lucky to have as a role model, not only for his intellect, but for his desire to help others fulfill their dreams.

Do your purposely have your last date as 11/19/08. The rest of your dates are '06.

The Informant...I'm 200 pages in, and thus far, it has been excellent, with many twists already. It's a nonfiction dealing with the huge scandal involving price fixing by Archer Daniels Midland back in the 90s. It's a very interesting read so far, and highly recommend it to nonfiction lovers and/or ...

Taylor et al...I recommended your book today at the DePaul University loop campus bookstore! Someone came up and started to look at one of those "Best Stocks for 200x/for the New Age/etc". Your book was right in front of where he was standing, and I told him to take a look at your book and...

In times like this, where I would expect many companies to be reducing available credit to its customers, I am amazed by credit limits on my credit cards. I am a 23 year old, with 3 separate credit cards, which I opened merely to help increase my credit limit in order to help my credit score. I have...

Thanks for the words Tom. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I won't be spending much more time on Economics. I scored a 100% on that section of the practice exam. Good, but I really like Econ and wish I could just keep studying it... I agree that your test taking strategy is of extreme importance...

The CFA Institute released their first, and only, free practice exam today. I took it today, approximately 9.5 weeks before the exam date, and scored a 50% (30/60). I don't think it's tooo awful, considering I still have several weeks of studying the CFA books to go. Just wanted to share my results,...

As a new citizen of Chicago, I joined your Yahoo group today! I look forward to hearing about meetings and such.

Justin

Thanks...I have heard that Schweser is a pretty good company. I think I may purchase a pack of 3 online exams from them, at a price of $150...yikes. But, I think it is necessary so that I know where I stand and to further practice as exam time nears.

Hello all, I am currently in the middle of my CFA studies, and am wanting to take a practice exam to check on my progress. Does anybody have any recommendations for a guide to buy that has practice/mock exams? I just finished my undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics, and thus have already co...

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to skydive this summer in the Swiss Alps! Looking down from the plane we could see two beautiful lakes and obviously the mountains (we were in Interlaken). At the time, it was the most amazing experience I had ever had. The scenery surrounding the dive ...

Hello all- I'm a 22 year old college student and will be graduating this upcoming May. I'm able to save a couple hundred dollars a month right now, and I have between 1000 and 1500 in savings accounts right now, in addition to my Roth with about 4000. Should I keep adding monthly savings to my savin...

Just a quick note...you'll get more responses if you list the name of the fund, not just the ticker. Most of us haven't memorized all the tickers!

thank you for the replies. I knew about the work experience but like Scott said I figured I would just work as I go along. I'm a little confused by the following though, mainly just the 50% part... This is from the CFA Institute website... Amount Four years of acceptable professional work experience...

Hello everbody, I am still a student in college and have begun thinking about starting to study for the CFA exam with the intention of taking the level 1 exam next June. I feel like this would give me an edge up to many other people looking for finance/investment jobs after graduation. I recently sa...

Hopefully someone else can chime in with a comment on what I'm about to say, but...you could even put your house fund money into your Roth IRA if you will not have already maxed it out. Any contributions into your Roth can be withdrawn at anytime without penalty, and earnings from those contribution...

From now until Labor Day, you receive a 20% discount at Borders if you open up a Free Rewards Card account. You just give them your email and phone and there ya go, 20%. So I paid ~20 for the hardcover book.

I'm on my way to Borders to pick up my copy of The Boglehead's Guide to Investing! I called to make sure they had it and the man said it has been a pretty hot seller. Looking forward to add this title to my expanding collection of Diehard approved books!

The TR funds are going to have slightly lower expense ratios, roughly 5-6 basis points. There are more TR funds to choose from, so you are more likely to get the exact asset allocation that you want. If you find a Life Strategy fund with your desired AA, it will stay the same, whereas with TR it wil...

However, it seems imo dividend yield has often been affected by such factors as tax policy and if viable companies pay less in dividends and retain more of their earnings, may it not allow them to grow somewhat faster? It depends, do you trust the company to use the retained earnings wisely? There ...

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to sell out of it and split roughly half and half between my Roth and a savings account, possibly ING, but I'm going to look around. However, one question - how was the PEP position acquired? Is there any personal significance to those shares (a gift from family/som...

Hello everybody, I have been investing for several years now and have managed to save up a few thousand dollars from various jobs. My portfolio is as follows: stocks: 93.4% bonds: 6.6% broken down to: Vanguard TR 2045: 65% Pepsi stock: 35% The TR fund is in my Roth while Pepsi is in a taxable accoun...