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Looks okay but not sure I would classifyl VSS as international small value (ISV). VSS Morningstar xray shows: 00 00 01 21 20 22 15 10 10 Predominately mid-cap growth Yes, I realize this. I'm a small-value tilter, and while VSS isn't really ISV, it's a popular approximation. VSS is not even advertis...

[list=1][*]Fund with roughly ~4 years worth of 2x gift-tax exemption Does anyone know the specifics of the 5 year exemption? For example: Year 1: $13,000 Year 2: 2x$13,000 Year 3: 2x$13,000 Year 4: $0 Year 5: $0 Year 6: what is my max? Year 7: If no contribution in year 6, can 3x be contributed thi...

The real question is if your human capital is more bond like or more stock like. When I graduate I am going into corporate finance. My income will probably have an equity like component to it (especially as far as restricted stock bonuses is concerned), so I feel that my career will likely exhibit ...

agree, as long as the baseline assumptions are correct: she does not need and will never need this money, not even for long term care.

you can only 'move' cash into Roth IRAs, HSAs, and 529s. In other words you have to sell the international stock, realizing any capital gains, then move the proceeds into one of the above accounts. What is happening in 2014 that the Roth IRA and HSA will 'open up' for you? Do you not have the abilit...

I think there is some mental fudging going on here to your detriment. First, if you need money in the short run - certainly less than 5 years - you should not invest it in the stock market. It is really separate from your retirement balances. It should stay in liquid investments such as CDs, I bonds...

My IPS calls for me to decrease my stock holdings by 10% when PE10 reaches 25. By the close today we should be about 24.5 and that is close enough to pull a partial rebalance today; I was out of balance anyway (although within tolerances), due to the recent runup. A few more days like this, and we'l...

seems ok to me; it's about what I do.

sounds like a good plan. You could maybe make it less Rube Goldbergesque by just opening two 529s now...

At least at public schools, the costs adjusted for inflation, labor/health care costs of employees, and student enrollment haven't risen that much at all. But state support for public schools has been cut dramatically, in most states reaching at least a negative 30-40% per full-time student adjusted...

great resource and list, thank you! Fortunately my medical school is on the list, "I make the cut." I would go in with the assumption that we would be car free and also that we would downsize our living space dramatically from our current 1100 square feet per person... :P Also, leaving mos...

if you don't even have kids yet, sure go aggressive. You might want, say 10% bonds if you want to semi-actively rebalance within account to hope for a rebalancing performance bonus, but since 529's limit transactions... probably not. I don't think there exists a rebalancing bonus when the compariso...

I also agree that higher education costs can't economically stay where there are. Just from a macro standpoint of supply and demand, students will need to eventually migrate to lower cost (and dare I say more practical) alternatives, pushing costs down. Economically speaking, students/parents will ...

It's a real challenge if you grew up with the cultural expectation that parents pay for college, no questions asked. The world has changed and will continue to change and that's been a hard pill to swallow for this Chinese-Jewish Tiger Parent of two soon to be geniuses-I'm-sure. In general the tax a...

I am wondering about the possibility of a psychiatrist job in Singapore. From what I read, the economy is booming with tons of English-speakers moving there/residing there, with a mostly first world attitude about things despite some strict interpretations of moral code, etc. More than most specialt...

where does one find a listing of the best IRA CD rates? Bankrate?

agree, since we don't know much about his (her) situation, it wasn't possible to make a specific recommendation. I just relayed what I do and plan to do. That said, the OP's children are quite a bit younger than mine, so I figure the investment time horizon is that much longer. The other thing about...

so what happens if the stock drops from $100 to $89.99, triggering your sale, then rapidly climbs to $115? More to the point, what happens if the S&P500 drops from 1650 to 1500, then rapidly climbs to 1900? And you set a stop loss limit on your index funds at 1500? If you have a written investme...

My kids are 3 and 6, their traditional 529s are 100% invested in stocks, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

My only comment is that it seems a common misconception that stable value funds are an adequate or equal replacement for bond funds. Like they are fungible. However, don't let the adjectives lull you into thinking a stock fund of that nature is somehow less volatile or equally volatile as a bond fu...

Can you confirm that you can cover all of your income needs with your current income sources excluding portfolio, and that will continue even when/if your husband predeceases you (ie, you lose his SS but keep yours or half of his, plus the joint survivor pension, plus the benefit, and you alone can ...

This was a great idea for a thread, thanks for initiating. Now instead of lists of books I need to read, I have lists of lists of books I need to read...

OP, you are doing fantastic! You have a multiple of net income and are an aggressive saver, meaning you have an even higher multiple of annual spending. At age 30, you are in great shape, congratulations. I also adopted your approach and now, nearing 40, have a 60/40 portfolio, fairly conservative t...

nvboglehead wrote:As a native of SF, CA, moved to LV, NV 16 years ago and never looked back. Very low cost of living (no state income taxes) and plenty to do. Love the weather, including the infernal summers.

Dale

And no estate tax. Good place to persuade your wealthy parents to move.

When I read posts like this (regardless of which company is being praised) I always wonder how much of the great experience was because of the amount of assets the customer holds at that firm. Some places look up accounts by caller ID while the phone is still ringing, and based on the customer's va...

it seems like your best financial option is to die.

This seems like such a cautionary tale about WL policies and the promises made about their 'tax-free income' etc. What a shame.

That's a good point - would I keep rebalancing and/or following a valuation-based AA if it meant selling stocks in taxable and generating capital gains to do so? Assume all tax-deferred space is bonds, all new money goes to bonds, and all taxable dividends/capital gains are not reinvested... I'm not...

Nope, not crazy. Just a typical human being, and therefore, a terrible investor.

Health care is too big an uncertainty, so I'd say you have enough to stop saving but try to find some occasional part time income of $10-$30k per year. It grows your SS benefit a little and delays your initial drawdown.

$1M in a 529 could save you $350,000 in federal estate taxes alone. That doesn't count for something? In my state it *will* save me $190,000 in estate taxes. That pretty much overwhelms any disadvantage a 529 might have.

Long bonds, stocks, and gold are all at or near all time highs. I just can't get excited about the future return prospects of PP from current levels.

I use both NV and UT. The fee difference is not significant, in my opinion.

Qtman wrote:Give him $50 and a Bogle book so he can get off on the right foot early in his investment knowledge.

Superb. +1

I think that there are some important things that you are missing in your analysis of annuities vs. 529 plans for retirement. 1)Estate taxes depending upon the state. For example, if someone is in the state of MD, $1,000,000 in an annuity will result in $160,000 more in estate taxes as compared to ...

First be clear we're talking about a 457(b), because there are other 457 plans: 457(f), etc. Does your 403(b) have the same fees as the 457(b)? If so, the 457(b) is better. If not, the 403(b) is better. Beyond that, as a teacher thinking about a pension, I assume you are thinking of long-term employ...

I'd like to hear from others on stock market success. I know that most here do not advocate picking individual stocks, and those that do advocate it suggest no more than 10% of funds. I've got a sense that few people can buy and hold great companies over years, have never met anyone in real life th...

Isn't number six advantage 529?

It's an option, if your investment time frame is long enough, your 529 expenses low enough, your current tax bracket including Medicare investment taxes high enough, and your future marginal tax bracket - ie, because of (early) retirement low enough. I also consider 529s more flexible than most. I h...

I will never understand why folks use valuations. Vanguard itself did a paper that looked at a whole bunch of valuations as a forward predictor and the best of the lot was the heralded PE10 which gave a correlation of 0.41. That means using PE10 would have only predicted the direction of the market...

what do you think about the own occupation and mental health clauses?

I want to replace the current individual policy I have with a larger one, so that when/if I leave my employer I have something to fall back on. In other words I would drop the current individual policy once I have a new one. These AMA sales pitches I get imply I can get substantially more coverage t...

But isn't the point that a 5% annualized return for a very safe investment pretty darn good these days? In other words this is part of one's fixed income investments?

similar thread, similar situation, similar conclusion, math somewhat different:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110711

I currently have two disability policies, both 'the cheapest money can buy.' 1. an individual policy from Unum, bought as a resident, which I'm sure is really just an extended group product and therefore mostly junk. $100 per mo for $4000 of benefit. 2. a group policy, free from work, for $10,000 pe...

I do know that. You just don't get the state income deduction if you use another state's 529. This went unchallenged above, but you might reconsider your 529 options. They have protection from bankruptcy under federal law, and creditor protection varies state by state. They are excluded from your e...

I will never understand why folks use valuations. Vanguard itself did a paper that looked at a whole bunch of valuations as a forward predictor and the best of the lot was the heralded PE10 which gave a correlation of 0.41. That means using PE10 would have only predicted the direction of the market...

Why not defer 100% of your military pay into the very cheap TSP and less into your other accounts.

Absolutely and I have since I started investing in the 1990s. With pe10 24 I am in the do nothing camp, ie, age in bonds. If pe10 hits 25 I need to drop my stock allocation by 5%. In 1999 I was 0% stocks, in 2007 25% stocks, in 2008 35-50% stocks, in 2009 70% stocks, now 60% stocks.

I just look at bookshelves in the library and choose. Latest author I "discovered" was Kazuo Ishiguro. Yeah, I'm kind of late to the game. Never Let Me Go is not letting me go. I've got this indelible stain of sadness and horror and tearful thankfulness for all those things we take for gra...

I still say 25%+ federal in addition to state tax of whatever percent is not a tax I want to pay now, voluntarily. The higher you are the less I want to pay it.

Remember you can always convert later. You can't unconvert twenty years down the road if you see your tax bracket is going to be dropping.