Search found 72 matches

by rex
Fri Feb 02, 2024 11:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fairbanks Alaska in Feb - rent a car or Uber?
Replies: 6
Views: 934

Re: Fairbanks Alaska in Feb - rent a car or Uber?

Thank you.

Are taxis / Uber easily available in Fairbanks or involve a long wait ?
by rex
Fri Feb 02, 2024 7:44 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fairbanks Alaska in Feb - rent a car or Uber?
Replies: 6
Views: 934

Fairbanks Alaska in Feb - rent a car or Uber?

Hi all,

We're planning a trip to Fairbanks in late February. I'm not used to driving in heavy snow. So I was wondering how difficult it'd be to get around Fairbanks using Uber / taxi ? We're primarily going there to see Aurora and maybe see the city of North Pole + Chena hot springs.

Also, in case Uber is not an option should I rent a car with snow tires ?

Thanks !
by rex
Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Seeking estate planning advice for Canadian on H1B with Indian citizen wife
Replies: 6
Views: 686

Re: Seeking estate planning advice for Canadian on H1B with Indian citizen wife

Hyperchicken wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:20 pm
investor4life wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:00 pm How are you in the India queue for a green card? [...] Being Canadian, shouldn’t you be in the Canada queue, which I imagine is much shorter.
It is by country of birth (what USCIS calls "chargeability area"), not by country of citizenship.
That is correct. I only moved to Canada as a teenager - country of birth is India.
by rex
Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:31 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Seeking estate planning advice for Canadian on H1B with Indian citizen wife
Replies: 6
Views: 686

Seeking estate planning advice for Canadian on H1B with Indian citizen wife

Hi all, The recent thread [ H1B Exit Strategy 401K vs Roth vs Brokerage ](https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5286493#p5286493) made me realize that estate planning is a topic I should get educated on. Here's my situation: - Myself Canadian citizen on H1B in US since 2009. Greencard not in sight for at least another 6-8 years - Wife is Indian citizen - Son has a US and Canadian citizenship - State of residence : Washington - Current Assets for our family include: - HIM : 401k, Roth, HSA, Brokerage at Fidelity and Vanguard - HER: Roth at Vanguard - HIM & HER Jointly owned: House, Bank accounts in US and India - Wife is designated beneficiary for life insurance proceeds via Employer and private insurance (State Farm) At this ...
by rex
Fri Sep 20, 2019 1:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: IT compensation comparison
Replies: 269
Views: 32821

Re: IT compensation comparison

Yes- its accurate. Recent L62 offers I've made is north of 220k usually. There's a bit of variability depending on how bad the team wants to hire the candidate. L62 can go as high as 250k AFAIK. What gets lost in the translation though is the amount of filtering and hard work people have to go through to get that offer. In the most recent l62 case, there was a phone screen and a on site containing 5 interviews grilling the person. We were looking to fill this position for many months and the interview panel rejected many candidates before this particular individual. The recruiter tells me that they select maybe 10 % of the resumes they get for sending to hiring manager. Out of that the ones who land on the hiring manager's desk, around 30% ...
by rex
Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Switch to Schwab International?
Replies: 7
Views: 1552

Re: Switch to Schwab International?

Thanks all ! I'll give interactive brokers a call and discuss my situation with them.
by rex
Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Switch to Schwab International?
Replies: 7
Views: 1552

Re: Switch to Schwab International?

In light of the difficulty of operating a vanguard account from overseas, I was wondering if it'd be prudent to open a Schwab international account now and start transferring all taxable account assets there. Then follow up with 401k once I've moved to Canada. I'm not sure that's possible. You might need to be a Canadian resident first. But beyond that, I don't know if Schwab can accept new accounts from Canada per Canadian regulation. Their site says call when I tried which often means they can't. But call and find out. Another option is Interactive Brokers which is structured to operate just about everywhere. If you are under $100k, which I don't think you are, then there is a $10/month minimum commission fee. I assume there is no Estate...
by rex
Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:17 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Switch to Schwab International?
Replies: 7
Views: 1552

Switch to Schwab International?

Hi all, I'm a Canadian citizen and I've been working in the US for almost 13 years . I might be moving back to Canada in the next 3-5 years. I have assets at the following institutions: - vanguard - Roth for me and DW, taxable investments - Fidelity - 401k, taxable investment, CDs, savings account - UMB Bank - HSA I do intend to keep my 401k and taxable invested in the US for the next 25-30 years. In light of the difficulty of operating a vanguard account from overseas, I was wondering if it'd be prudent to open a Schwab international account now and start transferring all taxable account assets there. Then follow up with 401k once I've moved to Canada. Any thoughts about the pros and cons of this approach? Also is there a better alternativ...
by rex
Tue Aug 21, 2018 10:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?
Replies: 12
Views: 1931

Re: Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?

Thanks for the helpful advise all.

We decided to call expedia and cancel the trip. Really not worth taking so much headache going there in uncertain times. Will try again in December.

Had a really nice experience- travel insurance that I bought from them covered everything - flights, hotel and car. They even handled all the claim process with AIG.

Highly recommend buying travel insurance from them just in case.
by rex
Tue Aug 21, 2018 4:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?
Replies: 12
Views: 1931

Re: Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?

I bought travel insurance via expedia - not sure if it covers natural disasters.

I had a fever/ infection recently and have a doctors note advising no travel. Maybe I can use that?

It really sucks though because I've been waiting such a long time for this vacation.

So cancel I'm guessing?
by rex
Tue Aug 21, 2018 3:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?
Replies: 12
Views: 1931

Re: Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?

MiddleOfTheRoad wrote: Tue Aug 21, 2018 3:50 pm We were in Hawaii during the recent hurricane Hector warning. Did not even notice the difference.
Was it generally sunny?
by rex
Tue Aug 21, 2018 3:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?
Replies: 12
Views: 1931

Maui in 2 days - August 23- cancel trip?

Hi all,

I have a trip to maui with my family this Thursday. I was wondering if I should go or cancel the trip ? Considering the hurricane Lane warning- not sure - if we should go?

I called the hotel - they said it should be fine and maui gets a lot of those warnings but it seldom materializes.

Any advice?

Thanks!
by rex
Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: First time homebuyer - need guidance
Replies: 12
Views: 1840

First time homebuyer - need guidance

Hello all,

Me and my wife are planning to purchase our first house in the coming months. We don't have much idea about the process and was wondering:

1. Is there a set of materials/books/blogs we can read to educate ourselves on the mortgage process and pitfalls ?
2. Are there any boglehead preferred lenders that we can look up for financing ?

Thanks,
Rex.
by rex
Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:49 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Hyundai Sonata Coolant
Replies: 2
Views: 898

Hyundai Sonata Coolant

Hi folks, For those of you who own a Hyundai Sonata (mine is 2010), what type of coolant do you use ? The manual says any mixture of 50:50 ethylene glycol : water will do. I recently took my car to Jiffy lube for an oild change and they recommended Preston (link below): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GKTYNI?keywords=ethylene%20glycol%20coolant&qid=1446680770&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 But the last time I serviced my car at the dealership, they seem to have used the blue Hyundai OEM coolant: http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Hyundai-Fluid-00232-19010-Coolant/dp/B008CLJC62/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446680865&sr=8-1&keywords=coolant+hyundai There's a significant price difference between the two brands. Just wondering what bogle...
by rex
Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How would you handle this situation ?
Replies: 33
Views: 4170

Re: How would you handle this situation ?

I'd just quit the group, they seem like jerks and a "homogeneous cultural group" sounds boring anyway. Definition of "homogeneous" - a group also known as the more immature term of "clique". Example - "oh, so and so belongs to the "we are hot, you're not teeny bopper" clique. :P LOL - yeah reminds me of high school. In the 14+ years I've lived in Canada and US, I've never been part of a "homogeneous group". But a few months back one of the members from this group sought out my wife and I decided to give it a go because my wife wanted it and I wanted her to be happy. To be honest, I saw this coming as most of the folks in that group are snobs IMHO , and told my wife the same. At that po...
by rex
Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:43 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How would you handle this situation ?
Replies: 33
Views: 4170

Re: How would you handle this situation ?

Thanks all for the support. A few clarifications and answers below: Jez sounds like her social group aspires to be a cult! :twisted: Mandatory fun and socialization is anything but that. Dump them. However, if your wife still thinks these people are worth hanging with and really wants to continue, then she needs to stand her ground and tell them that she'd like to continue with the informal pot luck socials they started with, but will not be participating in birthday and anniversary events because it's too much of a time commitment, the mandatory participation sucks the fun out of it, and first and foremost your family prefers to make their own plans for their personal "holidays". If they have a problem with that then move on. Bel...
by rex
Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How would you handle this situation ?
Replies: 33
Views: 4170

How would you handle this situation ?

Hi Folks, My wife recently joined a small homogeneous cultural group (7 families) . The group arranges for potlucks once a month and that's how it ran for a while. We enjoyed meeting up once in a while. Of late some members started getting very hyper about making themed parties and having gifts in the potlucks (extra $$$). We were somehow okay with that. Just today one of the active members announced that she want to celebrate all the birthdays and anniversaries of all members together and we all have to show up regardless of our other commitments and pony up around $25 for each of these parties (not including the night out expenses). Note that these will happen 7*2 = 14 times in a year !!! All the other members agreed to such kind of frivo...
by rex
Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:46 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: SaveUp
Replies: 7
Views: 1804

Re: SaveUp

stingray5688 wrote:so you just move money around between accounts and you get credits? are there some kind of restrictions to prevent beating the system?
+1 - does anyone know if they take into account moving money out of your account ?
by rex
Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:15 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Planning to purchase first home - need education
Replies: 11
Views: 2220

Re: Planning to purchase first home - need education

Thank you all - this has been most helpful. I'll probably circle back to this thread with questions. But for now have some studying to do in this area :)
by rex
Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:33 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Planning to purchase first home - need education
Replies: 11
Views: 2220

Re: Planning to purchase first home - need education

Thank you all for the advise - very helpful.

Can someone elaborate on how to get the best mortgage rates / how to shop around for mortgage ? I noticed that some CUs have different rates tied with different closing costs . Any thoughts on that ?
by rex
Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Planning to purchase first home - need education
Replies: 11
Views: 2220

Planning to purchase first home - need education

Hi Folks,

We're thinking about purchasing a home in the next year or so and was wondering if someone can point the various facets on which we need to educate ourselves , with pointers to some resources if possible. We have never purchased any real estate / property before and would probably need to start with the basics - from house selection to getting good mortgage rates etc.

Thanks for your help,
Rex.
by rex
Mon May 05, 2014 11:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Taxable vs 401k for house down payment ?
Replies: 5
Views: 1422

Re: Taxable vs 401k for house down payment ?

All good points - I really need to re-think my strategy here. thanks for sharing your thoughts guys.

I guess what really bothers me in maxing out 401k is that its a lot of money that's inaccessible for another 29 years....
by rex
Sun May 04, 2014 1:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Taxable vs 401k for house down payment ?
Replies: 5
Views: 1422

Taxable vs 401k for house down payment ?

Hi fellow Bogleheads, Need some advice here. DW and I are contemplating a home purchase 3-4 years down the road. We have 10% of the downpayment in cash and for saving the other 10% downpayment we were considering the following options: 1. Invest in a taxable account the $1000/month 2. Invest in a Roth 401K $1000 per month and take a 401k loan --> currently invest 6% of my income in a regular 401k 3. Take a second loan for the other 10% Some additional info: 1. We see house as a consumption item and do not wish to use any of my existing portfolio for that. We'd rather save up the rest of the money and buy whatever we can using that money. 2. We don't want to derail our current saving strategy , i.e., make less contribution to it: --> 401k 6%...
by rex
Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is this ring worth the price ?
Replies: 6
Views: 1370

Re: Is this ring worth the price ?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts folks. No I'm not looking at this as an investment and the reason i thought of this is that my wife likes pandas - she actually liked the 1oz gold panda. But i was just trying to give her something she can actually wear - a gold panda coin is pretty useless from that perspective. Anyways, yesterday i was looking at amazon for rings and a lot of them are (according to amazon) marked down in price by $1000 - that makes me wonder why would someone sell gemstone rings at such a huge discount - maybe because the price they're selling it for is the actual price and the striked out price shown is just bogus and gives the buyer a false sense of pride that they're purchasing a $1500 ring for $450. No idea. My anniver...
by rex
Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is this ring worth the price ?
Replies: 6
Views: 1370

Is this ring worth the price ?

Hi folks,

I'm thinking of buying something nice for my wife and came across this ring - is it worth it ?

http://www.apmex.com/product/65593/2013 ... rope-prong

Is there a better place to buy 18K+ gold jewelry without too much markup over the spot price ? I come from a country where 22K gold jewelry is the norm and the price of jewelry is very close to the spot price of gold. Unfortunately, in US, I find there's a huge markup on jewelry and most of them are 10K-14K in purity. Anyone else feel the same way ?

Thanks,
Rex.
by rex
Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:35 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Software engineering jobs not paying that much?
Replies: 25
Views: 4984

Re: Software engineering jobs not paying that much?

Coming from someone who has been in this line of work for about 7 years, I can say that it really depends. There is a broad range of salaries depending on your job function, location and company size. When I graduated back in 2006, my classmates got "software jobs" with starting salary ranges from 32K to 106K. My company now pays a starting salary of around 85K plus signing bonus for fresh college graduates, which is the norm for a large S/W company. Engineers working in IT (Application developers) tend to get paid less than platform engineers (think folks developing the Azure Platform or iOS). Also, the salary past senior level becomes flat as most of your compensation moves to stock awards and year end bonuses. For example, some...
by rex
Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:39 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: mind machine anyone ?
Replies: 7
Views: 1073

Re: mind machine anyone ?

Thanks guys !

I've already tried pitch black curtains and a rain machine - both helped quite a bit. Was looking for another device to boost my sleep ..
by rex
Sat Oct 05, 2013 3:11 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: timex ironman wriststrap
Replies: 10
Views: 1057

Re: timex ironman wriststrap

Thanks guys. Any recommendation on where to buy an inexpensive strap - the ones on amazon are selling for $12...
by rex
Sat Oct 05, 2013 1:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: timex ironman wriststrap
Replies: 10
Views: 1057

timex ironman wriststrap

Hi folks,

So I purchased this Timex ironman watch for $31 two years back and the Velcro strap just gave away. At this point I'm wondering if I should replace the strap for $12 or buy a new watch for $31. The two specific things I'm wondering is :

1. The strap costs about 38% of the cost of a new watch - isn't it better to just buy a new watch?
2. Even if I replace the strap on a 2 year old watch, how long will I be really be able to use it - considering the life span on these sports watches are not that long.

Thanks,
Rex
by rex
Sat Oct 05, 2013 1:31 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: mind machine anyone ?
Replies: 7
Views: 1073

mind machine anyone ?

Hi folks,

I was contemplating purchasing a mind machine as a way to combat insomnia and get off some sleep meds. The one I'm considering is :
http://www.amazon.com/Mindplace-Procyon ... cr_pr_pb_t

Its quite expensive (for me) and so trying to do my research before the purchase. Does anyone have experience with this one or similar machines ?

Thanks,
Rex
by rex
Sun Apr 21, 2013 2:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why are you a boglehead ???
Replies: 60
Views: 6224

Re: Why are you a boglehead ???

folks, my apologies if you guys found the poll confusing. But nevertheless, thanks to all who shared their valuable experiences. A few clarifications: --> I was trying to find out if growing up poor taught you to be cautious with money as much as the other way around - if you grew up in a upper middle class/ rich household, your parents probably taught you better money management and you become careful with money. I was just talking to our part time nanny yesterday and she still spends every penny she makes while she lives rent free at her parents house. She's in her twenties and does not have even basic money management concepts. On the other hand, I have colleagues who grew up upper middle class and are still very careful with their money...
by rex
Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:36 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why are you a boglehead ???
Replies: 60
Views: 6224

Why are you a boglehead ???

I was recently talking to a gentleman who does consulting work in organizational behavior and he mentioned that often our experiences while growing up shapes our perspectives - which i believe is true. Just curious to see if any of us became bogleheads to get a security blanket that they never had while growing up. -Rex *EDIT* folks, my apologies if you guys found the poll confusing. But nevertheless, thanks to all who shared their valuable experiences. A few clarifications: --> I was trying to find out if growing up poor taught you to be cautious with money as much as the other way around - if you grew up in a upper middle class/ rich household, your parents probably taught you better money management and you become careful with money. I w...
by rex
Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:22 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: VWITX(Intermediate term muni) vs I-Bonds
Replies: 8
Views: 2613

Re: VWITX(Intermediate term muni) vs I-Bonds

thanks folks for the guidance and the link to the savings bond calculator - this is exactly what i was looking for.
by rex
Sat Apr 20, 2013 1:44 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: VWITX(Intermediate term muni) vs I-Bonds
Replies: 8
Views: 2613

VWITX(Intermediate term muni) vs I-Bonds

I know this is probably not an apples to apples comparison but just curious if anyone has already done the math. If i invested 10k in VWITX 10 years back - would it have given me a better return than i-bonds for the same period of time ?

thanks,
Rex.
by rex
Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:42 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best place to buy a treadmill
Replies: 31
Views: 6955

Re: Best place to buy a treadmill

Thanks for all the pointers folks - much appreciated.

Yes , the whole situation changes when you're on parental duty -its very difficult to stick to your routine when everything revolves around the baby.

It seems like I'll be going with amazon and shelling out something like 1k for a decent piece of hardware.

-rex
by rex
Sat Apr 13, 2013 3:00 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best place to buy a treadmill
Replies: 31
Views: 6955

Best place to buy a treadmill

Hi Folks,

I never purchased any exercise equipment before - usually worked out at the gym - that is no longer possible because we just had a baby. So looking to buy a treadmill at home. Does anyone have suggestions on :

1. What price range i should be looking at to get a decent machine that does not fall apart in a few months ? Any specific brand suggestions ?
2. What is the best place to get them for a good price ?

thanks,
rex
by rex
Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Need to buy some bonds
Replies: 3
Views: 840

Re: Need to buy some bonds

do you have any other TIPS in your portfolio? if not, i think I Bonds are a good choice. see also http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/I_Bonds_vs_TIPS. EDIT: they're a reasonable option regardless, but i think they're especially worthwhile if you don't have other inflation protection in your portfolio. however, i'm nervous about your apparent motivation for choosing I Bonds: Given the low interest rate environment - I'm not feeling comfortable investing any more in these this sounds an awful lot like market timing. remember that you have bonds in your portfolio for a reason. you made a plan, you picked an asset allocation, so you should feel confident acting to keep your portfolio in line with your AA. gl! I have about 3% of my portfolio in Vang...
by rex
Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Need to buy some bonds
Replies: 3
Views: 840

Need to buy some bonds

Hi Folks,

I have spare 6K coming in tomorrow and wanted to use this to fix my AA a little - right now it's tilted more towards stocks. So here is the dilemma - I usually invested in the following bond funds in my Roth ( TGEIX and VIPSX) and VWITX in taxable( Intermediate term muni). Given the low interest rate environment - I'm not feeling comfortable investing any more in these and was wondering if i should just purchase some IBonds. Note that I currently do not have any IBonds in my portfolio.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Rex
by rex
Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:12 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Shakespearean take on diversification
Replies: 47
Views: 5923

Shakespearean take on diversification

I was dazed this weekend after being heads down on design work for the whole of last week - so decided to read some old plays. I pulled out of of my favorites - "Merchant of Venice" - and as i was reading through , one of the opening paragraphs really struct me - the last time i read this was years ago (before i knew what a Roth IRA was). It goes something like this ... In a street of Venice, the merchant Antonio laments that he is sad but knows not why. One of his friends suggests that maybe he is worried about his ventures at the sea. Antonio's reply is what struct me (now that i know a little about AA and diversification): "My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate Upon the fortune...
by rex
Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:48 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cholesterol measuring machine at home ?
Replies: 7
Views: 1238

Re: Cholesterol measuring machine at home ?

JamesSFO wrote:Google "home cholesterol test" returns several shopping results for home kits around $50-100 that seem to be geared much like diabetic test kits for regular home testing.

Not sure about accuracy but clearly there are products out there.
Yup - i did that and looked on amazon as well - but most products have very few reviews - so wanted to check if someone has any firsthand experience with a reliable device.
by rex
Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:09 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cholesterol measuring machine at home ?
Replies: 7
Views: 1238

Cholesterol measuring machine at home ?

I'm starting a new exercise and diet regimen and would like to measure my progress in lowering cholesterol every other week. Needless to say, getting a blood test twice a month is expensive. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendation for a good in-home cholesterol measuring machine ?

Thanks,
Rex.
by rex
Fri Jan 04, 2013 4:15 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: TLH fund/ etf pairs
Replies: 2
Views: 630

Re: TLH fund/ etf pairs

FireProof wrote:IEMG is a lot better than EEM

VONE is another large cap option that is slightly broader.

And the Schwab ETFs are another low cost alternative

VEA -> SCHF
VWO -> SCHE

I don't think there's a good option for VGK, but I'm not sure why you're holding that unless you are trying to market time.

Thanks ! Yeah - believe that the European assets are undervalued now and will revert back to the mean in the next 5-10 years. It' a large economy taken together and has to come around sooner or later.
by rex
Fri Jan 04, 2013 3:30 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: TLH fund/ etf pairs
Replies: 2
Views: 630

TLH fund/ etf pairs

After quite a bit of deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that dollar cost averaging by letting available money sit in a money market account is not what I want - and would go for the lump sum approach when extra money is available. If the fund/etf I buy falls in price by more than 10%, i'll switch to a similar fund / etf and reduce my taxable income. I came up with the following initial list of TLH pairs - please feel free to comment/ add to the list.

VEA <--> VEU

VTI <--> VOO

VWO <--> EEM

VGK <--> ??

TGEIX <--> FNMIX (yes, I like emerging markets bond !)

Any more pairs that you guys have found useful ?

Thanks!
by rex
Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best place to get contact lenses ?
Replies: 13
Views: 2460

Re: Best place to get contact lenses ?

livesoft wrote:My family buys contact lenses online: lensdiscounters.com
Nice!!! thanks a lot.
by rex
Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:38 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best place to get contact lenses ?
Replies: 13
Views: 2460

Best place to get contact lenses ?

Hi folks,

My wife uses the acuvue for astigmatism contact lenses and we've been getting them from the local pharmacy for $37/box. Just wondering if someone sells the same brand for less (it'll also be nice if they have the ability to bill our insurance directly) ?

thanks,
Rex.
by rex
Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:52 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Probably the wrong question for this crowd....
Replies: 21
Views: 4078

Re: Probably the wrong question for this crowd....

Joe S. wrote:
I think you need to read up on all the "great" funds that did well for a while and then underperformed. Then don't invest in a "great" fund.
Thanks for the article Joe - food for some serious thought ! i'll prob end up putting the money in VEU ....
by rex
Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:11 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Probably the wrong question for this crowd....
Replies: 21
Views: 4078

Re: Probably the wrong question for this crowd....

Probably the wrong question for this crowd.... I think you should ask questions like this, so we can tell you why we won't invest in this fund. It has had a great 5-year return, but research has shown that mutual funds that have had a great 5 or 10 year return usually end up underperforming the S&P 500 in the future. So research suggests it will underperform index funds in the future. Furthermore, it has a 1.80% expense ratio. Research has shown that high expense funds tend to perform poorly. It is a value fund, which is a plus, but doesn't make up for the high expense ratio. I suspect you are blinded by the great 5-year return, but this is not the way to pick funds. When I started investing in 1990, the big star was the Magellan fund,...
by rex
Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:08 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Probably the wrong question for this crowd....
Replies: 21
Views: 4078

Re: Probably the wrong question for this crowd....

i think the fact that it has 73% in cash is intriguing - maybe just set up to exploit the swings in the market (just playing devil's advocate here). The other thing that caught my attention is that it dropped just 9.96% in 2008 while most mutual funds including a S&P index dropped 37%.
by rex
Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:41 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Probably the wrong question for this crowd....
Replies: 21
Views: 4078

Probably the wrong question for this crowd....

but ...is anyone here investing in this Oceanstone (OSFDX) fund ( http://investing.money.msn.com/investme ... iaquotebtn ). I currently have no allocation in any actively managed fund - but to be honest, this one caught my eye. Thinking about using a portion of my play money to give it a shot... any thoughts ?