Bogleheads.org

As my wife and I head into retirement this year we welcome any comments about our plans. We are 62 and 66 and both plan on taking SS and quitting our jobs. We have no Roth accounts, pensions, rental properties, or annuities. Our savings, with a 50/50 AA, consists of 86% tax deferred (401k and roll o...

My Wife and I are within one year of retirement, and recently moved across county and paid cash (from our taxable account) for a home. Our overall AA was and remains at 50/50 since we recently shifted some stock into bonds and TIPS (all three in tax deferred accounts) to keep our AA in line after ta...

That $4000 quote is crazy. Last month my wife needed a crown and root canal. Our dentist accepts our insurance company rates of $560 for crowns and $710 for root canals. We had to pay 50% as a co-pay on these two figures, or about $635. In checking around, some dentists in the area charge over $1000...

My wife and I are planning on retiring soon and moving back to the Midwest (more expensive homes) from the Southwest (cheaper homes). We want to pay cash for the home purchase so that we won't have a mortgage in retirement, and avoid the issues of dealing with getting a new loan. One problem with pa...

Here is my issue: Our Total International Stock fund (30% of our equities which is about were I want to be) is down 20% while our TIPS fund is up 13% for the year. This difference of 33% presents a tempting opportunity to switch some of our funds from TIPS to International (no taxes or fees paid for...

when I last moved the standard included insurance was 60 cents per pound. hello. that nice china piece that costs $800 and weighs in at a whopping 3 lbs would get you $1.80 if the boys dropped it. does anyone know if the 60 cent reimbursement rate is still in place?

I have been going to a conservative dentist for the past 3 years and like her. She is one of the few dentists in my community that accepts our insurance as full payment. For example, insurance pays R & C $560 for a crown. Not too many dentists in our area, that is filled with million $ homes, wi...

All good suggestions so far. Allow me to add a few: generally you will want an hourly worker vs one paid on commission. In our town, one of the largest HVAC service companies, with over 100 techs, have 20 or more of their techs getting paid $100,000+/yr. The incentive for up-selling can often times ...

For two years my wife and I were on a private insurance health plan with a $2500/each deductible. Whenever we had doctor visits, lab work, and surgeries the health care provider set the maximum amount that we would pay based on their pay schedule. As long as we went to "in network" provide...

For our situation, one nice feature of having an older car: cheaper insurance. When our two extra cars reached the 15 yr old mark, we were able to switch to the collectible category. ~50% reduction in premiums while getting more insurance coverage (specifically, we got to pick our cars' values). Our...

I agree 100% with Oblivious Investor: one needs only 3 good knives to inlcude chefs, bread (that can double as a tomato knive as well) and paring. A good 4th knive is a slicer for the turkey, prime rib roast, ham, etc. Expect to pay about $200-$200 for the 3.

We are fortunate for in our town we have a Last Chance clothing /shoe store owned by Nordstroms. No shoes over $39/pair. All are returned shoes to Nordstrom retail stores. Wife and I stop by ~monthly and pick through the racks of shoes looking for Italian made ones, only slightly worn or, if lucky, ...

Sam: we recently did a major kitchen renovation with all new appliances, and allow me to address your questions about picking 4 stainless steel appliances: -all of our research pointed us away from stainless steel; we have the cabinet panels on all appliances (except for stove and microwave) -we lik...

I don't post here too often but would like to comment on this subject. The $'s for college being saved and spent by the good folks on this board seem very high to me. What is wrong with scholarships: academic and athletic? How about miltary academy schools? What about ROTC? Isn't taking advantage of...

to answer your question about home building costs, best to call a few houston general contractors for single family homes and ask them what they charge, per sq ft, to tear down a damaged home, keep the slab, and then rebuild keeping in mind all current building codes. i have made calls like this. ha...

two things that may not have been mentioned in all the good responses that the wife and i did for our daughter's weddding: -bought wedding insurance...primarily due to liquor being served and liquor related claims are not covered under your HO's liability...this one day policy also covered other per...

Bigragu: wife and I rented from this organization only one time and that was recently in 11/2009 when we rented a flat in Rome, Italy, for 14 days. Turned out to be the best experience for us. The pictures on VBRO's web site were accurate with no false advertising. The owner was an executive with IB...

Don't think this was mentioned but never store valuable items in either your master bedroom or master bedroom closet. First place the burglars go looking for stuff. Why? usually no motion detectors in those rooms. In Scottsdale/Phx/Paradise Valley the famous "rock burglar" went into over 1...

Icetea: allow a new guy here to add a few comments...you mentioned in an earlier post that your MBA would cost you $150k for the 2 years. I assume this means for rm/brd/tuit/fees without adding on the loss of wages. I am somewhat familar with MBA programs and know that the top ~7 schools are in the ...

Icetea: allow a new guy here to add a few comments...you mentioned in an earlier post that your MBA would cost you $150k for the 2 years. I assume this means for rm/brd/tuit/fees without adding on the loss of wages. I am somewhat familar with MBA programs and know that the top ~7 schools are in the ...

Agree with the orginal poster: my auto insurance covers all perils except for "loss of use" which could cost me thousands of dollars following an unforeseen accident. I always rent from Hertz, about 18 times/yr, and they do not sell stand alone "loss of use" coverage, but rather,...

I don't live in such a retirement community but do live in the general area and am familiar with the Del Webb properties due to working with them for several years and having the opportunity to travel to all of their sites throughout the USA. When you list your positives, are you stating your observ...

Wife and I make a 3 day trip to NO each year and stay in the Quarter. Always a great time due to the jazz, shops on Royal, great restaurants, and just wandering throughout the Quarter. We enjoy the food and service of Mr. B's on Royaland Galitoires (sp) on Bourbon. I disagree re Commanders: we had a...

Wife and I make a 3 day trip to NO each year and stay in the Quarter. Always a great time due to the jazz, shops on Royal, great restaurants, and just wandering throughout the Quarter. We enjoy the food and service of Mr. B's on Royaland Galitoires (sp) on Bourbon. I disagree re Commanders: we had a...

Since I had no college savings accounts I tried to keep the costs to a minimum for our 2 kids. I encouraged both to attend miliatry schools due to quaility of education and zero costs but only the boy would follow this lead. As parents our costs were: one boy to West Point which has no room/board/tu...

I have been reading this fine web site for several weeks, but have never contributed due to having nothing to offer. However, with the 401k I can make a few comments. Yesterday, opened Van solo 401k accounts for wife and me. Since i live within a few miles of a large Vanguard office, we went on site...