Bogleheads.org

Was the possibility of a "1035 exchange" of the net balance ($12k) into a low cost variable annuity ever explored? If feasible, that is the route I would take assuming it solves the tax issue.

You won't lose GFI but depending on how the splitter is designed, you might have to unscrew/unplug it in order to access the GFI test & reset switches.

There's a psychic benefit from being debt-free. But paying off the car wouldn't make you debt-free; you'd still have mortgage. Certainly the rate on your mortgage is greater than 1%, so if you pay off any debts, it should be principal reduction payments to the house. If your mortgage is inexpensive ...

I agree with the Harvard MS poster above who said if you're interested in clinical care take the free ride at Penn, but if you're interested in business, and academia go to Harvard, especially if you have a weaker undergrad school name on your diploma. Harvard will expose you to a higher caliber of...

If you happen to call them up and ask why the increase, please share the answer--that would be useful information for others going forward. I contacted Amica. The rate hike is due (a) changes in their rate schedule / underwriting and (b) the addition of the 3rd vehicle. Time to start comparison sho...

And what kind of vehicle was it? :) It was a 1985 Mercedes. The liability coverage for that car on the auto policy is the least expensive of my vehicles. I carry all my insurance including some term life with amica. If i can get the total package for substantially less elsewhere, they may lose a lo...

Go with Penn, no question. It does not matter where you go to school. Board scores, letters, grades, and emotional intelligence are all that matter. I went to a med school in the US News bottom quartile (by choice). When I applied for residency, i got interview offers at every program to which i app...

I just received my renewal for my Amica umbrella insurance policy. Have been insured with them since 2010. The premium increased from $183/yr to $323/yr. Am in NC. Anyone else have a similar rate hike? I added a 3rd vehicle to my auto policy, which perhaps is the source of some of the increase. I li...

Hybrids depreciate just as fast (if not faster) than conventional counterparts. I don't have the source handy (you may be able to locate it on google) but found this to be true also in my independent analysis. The high resale value of the Prius reflects that it is a Toyota not a hybrid. Look at used...

The issue with a site like that is that complaints will be registered according to that car's market share amongst whiners multiplied by the defect rate. Here's a similar site for Vanguard. Would you make your decisions based on that? http://vanguard-group.pissedconsumer.com/ You should use a source...

In my book, there's no question what you should do: Walk to your local Hyundai dealer and lease a new Sonata. Other brands may have similar sticker prices but Hyundai seems more negotiable, and the warranty is unbeatable Your time is too valuable to be dealing with buying/selling/repairing a used ca...

bluemarlin08 wrote:How much is your deductible and coinsurance? Somethings seems very wrong if that is all that is due unless it is a very low deductible.

The OP is talking about allowable charges. Deductible/coinsurance don't affect that.

1). You will pay interest on the residual value (which you are borrowing for 3 years). It's not a free lunch. 2) if a leased car is totaled or stolen, insurance will pay off the lease but not reimburse your down payment. Since you're putting 100% down, you could lose nearly all of your down payment ...

Grt2bOutdoors gave you the best answer. You have to look at the marginal cost of borrowing part of the down payment. You have to think of it as two loans -- the first 80% and then the amount beyond that. The marginal cost of borrowing beyond 80% LTV is approximately the following depending on your m...

If she is that risk averse, consider purchasing an immediate annuity. A $1,000/month annuity (roughly equal to her expenses above and beyond social security) at her age costs about $100,000 -- a little more if you opt for a beneficiary payout guarantee. That frees up the remainder of the portfolio f...

100% equities is perfectly reasonable for an investor in the accumulation phase. In fact, the optimal allocation is >100% for young investors (I.e. leveraged). High volatility works to your advantage as an accumulator. The risk-dampening characteristics of periodic investing over a lifetime (vs a lu...

[...] Vanguard rates the risk potential of their HY bond fund (VWEAX) a 3 as compared to a 2 for their total bond index (VBTLX)and a 4 for the total stock market (VTSAX). So HY is more risky than the total bond but less risky than total stock. However, the HY bond has also outperformed total stock ...

I own an '85 & ''98 Mercedes and have averaged less than $1800 a year for repairs/maintenance for both cars combined over the past 10 years. I change the oil myself, about once a year. I would keep the BMW. The E90/92 328 is a pretty reliable car. The cost of ownership of your used BMW likely to...

How about iPhone (or any other smartphone with a high quality camera)? The picture quality of my iPhone far exceeds my old point & shoot stand-alone camera.

I thought this was going to be a thread about parking two amazingly-good-looking Lay-Z-Boy recliners at the dining room table -- a Bogleheadish move that would save you at least $100,000*. *assuming you invest an amount equal to the cost of 2 dining room chairs in an equity index fund and let it gro...

The fuel pump issue is a non-issue. It costs at most $400 to replace out of pocket. More importantly, it is covered under the original BMW warranty for 10 years/120k miles regardless of CPO status. The more expensive repair is the turbo wastegate, which is prone to failure on the earlier models (pri...

Your non-taxable accounts should consist entirely of bonds -- no stocks. Keep the stocks in the taxable account. I would probably use TIP for the entirety of your tax-sheltered holdings since there isn't a municipal bond equivalent. The benefit of the California fund is that you gain state tax benef...

A conservative lifestrategy fund (such as lifestrategy income or one step up) would be appropriate, as would the target retirement income fund.

I fail to see how the ratio of trading volume in regular shares versus IPOs is somehow indicative of speculation. If anything, it reflects that IPOs make up only a small share of total market capitalization. There is a ton of short term trading which drives up volume. Some of that is speculation -- ...

You've gotten good advice already and are in fantastic shape. Some thoughts: (1) Your portfolio is reasonable. The ratio of stocks & bonds in each account does not need to match your overall asset allocation. You may find it simpler to hold only bonds in one account, only stocks in another. Alth...

I agree with mhc. I would include the Roth in your emergency fund. That said, not everyone shares the same definition of emergency. So you need to have a framework with which to think about this. An emergency fund is essentially insurance against unplanned expenses. You need to balance the probabili...

I'm not sure which is more tragic -- that the NC State Treasurer is now the subject of a witch hunt because of an investment that was "less than a tenth of 1 percent of the pension fund’s global (stock) portfolio," or that Bogleheads are up in arms about it. The right way to view the portf...

(1) I disagree with most of the above posters about selling the car. You would have gotten better advice if you had told us the figures without saying it was a BMW. I would keep it (i.e. buy and hold). It's obviously your house, not that car, that is the source of your problems. At 4 years old, the...

(1) I disagree with most of the above posters about selling the car. You would have gotten better advice if you had told us the figures without saying it was a BMW. I would keep it (i.e. buy and hold). It's obviously your house, not that car, that is the source of your problems. At 4 years old, the ...

I would say yes, for the purpose of tax loss harvesting and wash sale rules.

If I were in your shoes, I would not even consider paying extra on those low rate loans unless all my tax advantaged retirement contributions were maxed out and had no other loans or plans for loans (such as a mortgage) in the next few years. Hi strafe: Would you be kind enough to explain your reas...

If I were in your shoes, I would not even consider paying extra on those low rate loans unless all my tax advantaged retirement contributions were maxed out and had no other loans or plans for loans (such as a mortgage) in the next few years. If you do pay off early, I agree with paying off the lowe...

Yes:

Taxable equivalent rate = Tax-free rate / (1 - Effective Marginal Tax Rate)

Yes, the Intermediate-Term Bond Index is a reasonable -- in my opinion, preferred -- alternative to total bond index. You could consider a TIPS fund, but they are not available in your 401k,nor are they an essential holding for most investors. Unless you are saving for a very short-term expenditure,...

I would not pay down the student loans. I would focus on building your downpayment for the home, unless you are confident that your after-tax mortgage interest rate will be lower than your after-tax student loan interest rate. Note that you can deduct $2500/yr in student loan interest from AGI and t...

The risk/return characteristics of the Wellesley and Target Retirement Income funds are very similar. Wellesley carries slightly more risk, and consequently should have a slightly higher expected long-term return, but this may get lost in the noise over your investment time horizon. TR Income is sli...

How did you end up with such a silly arrangement, where your payments and your cash flow are grossly misaligned? Wouldn't it be better to avoid all this complexity and work out a rational amortization scheme with your parents?

Med school name matters far less than for, say, law school. USMLE 1/2 and strength of letters of recommendation matter far more. I would choose based on cost and curriculum.

I am not sure what you are talking about. Short Term Investment Grade VFSUX has a SEC yield of 1.71% and a 2.47% Dist. yield. What's wrong with that? That is today's rate, as those securities mature they will be replaced with lower yielding securities. I'll bet a number of folks holding ST Corporat...

No, it is not worth getting, for two reasons. (1) Unless your auto insurance covers international claims, the credit card's default "secondary" policy becomes primary. (2) AMEX (including the 'premium' coverage) and MasterCard do not cover "loss of use" charges which can exceed t...

Keep the BMW. Skip the extended warranty. The N52 is a reliable engine. Your odds of spending more than $3,000 on repairs that would have been covered by the warranty are low. All cars eventually need repairs; trading in your car (which you should have some idea of its problems/reliability already) ...

I would take those reviews with a grain of salt. Our HE front-load washer (Whirlpool) does a good job cleaning and spins the clothes mostly dry, reducing the drying time. The mold problems stem from improper use. Just follow the instruction manual (e.g. leave the washer door cracked open when not in...

The problem isn't with hybrids per se , but with the aggressive traction control systems that stop all wheelspin. This prevents damage to the electric drive, but compromises winter traction. Unlike most conventional cars, traction control on hybrids generally can't be shut off. Winter tires require ...

The Focus gets the best reviews out of the options you listed. You should consider the Buick Verano, which is similar in size to the Cruze but an order of magnitude higher on the comfort/luxury scale. I would also expand your search to the Hyundai Sonata and 2013 Ford Fusion, which will provide comp...

The IBR program will work out for her for the time being because she will be paying $0 based on her previous year's salary and the government will subsidize the rest of the interest owed for the rest of the year. In the long haul, I'm projecting (and this is all guess work unfortunately) that the W...

I would only consolidate the 2 variable rate loans. That will convert the current rate to an equal fixed rate and merge them into one loan. I would then pay that off as slowly as possible. There is little benefit to consolidating the 6.8% fixed rate loans. In fact, consolidation would increase the r...

As others have said, go to Morningstar. Look for the "Growth of 10k" chart.

I was hoping my 1,000 post would be more monumental, but alas. Why should I change lanes? I'm in a five-lane wide road, traveling above the speed limit, and I should move for a guy being a jerk tailgating me when other lanes are open for him? I think not. For the record I was proud to maintain comp...

The cost of hedging is minimal. The developed market "total international bond index" fund is hedged to eliminate currency risk. The emerging market bond index fund invests only in dollar-denominated bonds, so there is no currency risk. Vanguard's papers suggest that ~30% of bonds is a rea...

I will owe eight dollars.