Bogleheads.org

Leatherman. I have at least 4 of them. One rides in my bag, one stays in my desk at work, one is on my keychain, and one is in my bike toolkit. I have assorted other knives, spyderco, buck, and a bunch of fancy dive knives. But for every day i only use the leatherman. The one that is generally alway...

Tripadvisor is your go to forum for all things Costa Rica. I suggest you explore this forum. There are various Americans in the Costa Rican tourism industry there who will give lots of good and unbiased advice: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g291982-i813-Costa_Rica.html As for where to go spec...

I hate new car shopping as much as the next person. I also hate used car shopping as much as the next person and have been burned that way too. That said, I suspect some form of dealership will always be around for parts and service. If all car sales are online, where you going to go to get any warr...

I think it kind of also depends on what you use it for. My commute is 5 minutes and is just outside of walking range but an easy 10 minute bike ride. I would bike to work rather than drive if I did not have do drop the daughters at school on the way and pick them up after. The kind of car I drive ha...

Costa Rica July is not the high season. It's what they call the "green" season because it rains more than in peak season (Nov-Feb) but not enough to really hamper a vacation. You get the occasional afternoon thunderstorm but that's about it. You can do beaches but you can also explore fasc...

I for for quality for things I use every day Running Shoes (I buy high-end Asics for the fit) Pretty much any cycling gear Knives (leatherman multi-tools and kitchen knives) tires (always buy the best michelins Costco has available) Vacuum cleaner (Dyson) iPhone 5 Weber Grill (I use it nearly daily ...

My guess is that the biggest savings most people will achieve is with a programmable thermostat to prevent running air conditioning and heating when it isn't needed. I'm willing to bet there are millions of houses around the country with air conditioning running all day when no one is home. Improved...

I am relatively new to federal service and projecting the number of years I have left until retirement and whether I can remain in this position and still maintain my sanity. It occurs to me that sometime in the next couple years, my primary objective will not be income, but rather, doing time unti...

I recently rebalanced after the run up in stocks in the past few months. I find a very easy way to rebalance is to just shift my target date forward or back one step to add or reduce my fixed income portion of my overall portfolio. If you are rebalancing with a target fund, should you be in a targe...

It was a nice story. I caught it while out walking the dog this morning. Maybe I'm just paying attention more but it seems we are starting to hear more of these types of stories in the press with the recent Frontline story and now this. Although the message is still overwhelmed by the financial porn...

I view folks like Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman in the financial arena they same way I view Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda in the fitness arena. They are entertainers and motivational specialists first. And they all have products to sell. Nevertheless, I expect they do a lot of good for thousands of pe...

The question itself is somewhat wrong. It's like asking should you trust your retirement to a mutual fund. There is no such thing as a generic target retirement fund. They all do share the common characteristic of shifting away from stocks and into bonds as time goes by but that's about the only cha...

I have 3 daughters and 3 529 plans, one in each daughter's name. Rationale is as follows: 1. It should be pretty obvious why the account should be in the parent's name and not the child. First, the child's assets are assessed at a higher rate on the college aid formulas, and Second, if the account i...

No suggestions either but it does sound like a great trip. I did read your packing and tool list with interest as I'll be doing an 800+ ride with my daughter this summer. I have to admit that I needed google to figure out what a "Hypercracker" is. Turns out I carry a Stein tool which does ...

I don't use them exclusively because the three largest retirement accounts that my wife and I own do not have good target funds available. Well, my wife has access to T-Rowe Price target retirement funds but not Vanguard. And I do have target funds in my TSP account but I use that almost exclusively...

I live in a very squirrel intense area. Haven't had to deal with rats, but definitely squirrels. My ultimate solution was to stretch a steel wire between the fascia board on my house to a nearby tree. Then I hung a squirrel-proof birdfeeder from the wire with the addition of a squirrel baffle on top...

Also, she informed us that she got a job today, and will be starting in two weeks. She also told us that she has managed to squirrel away $1000 from the money that relatives have sent her over the past semester, and asked if she can deposit some of it with me to get the 50% return. Music to my ears...

Great trip report. I do a lot of riding and bike touring in TX but have never felt compelled to road tour the Big Bend area. I think it would be interesting to tour some of that back country with mountain bikes. One thing I've never done is a multi-day mountain bike trip in the desert. Regarding all...

I'm no real expert on this but one strategy would be to simply invest it in a normal taxable account in the child's name and then when the child starts earning any money at all from summer jobs or after school jobs you can move it into a Roth for the child in amounts equal to the child's earned inco...

My wife and I plan to avoid this by hitting the road when the youngest finally turns 18. My parents basically did the same thing. They moved across country my junior year of college. Moving back home is far less of an appealing idea when it isn't your home but some random uninteresting small town yo...

The stepdaughter part makes me a bit nervous. Knowing nothing about your family dynamic I wouldn't want this to drive a wedge in your family, especially if there are other children who fairly or unfairly may be perceived to be treated differently. I've dealt with that one to some extent and it can b...

it should be part of the medical school curriculum, it's amazing how unsophisticated and unknowledgeable the physicians I work with are with regards to investing. My wife's residency program actually had seminar courses on financial management and practice management for the 3rd year residents abou...

Honda Odyssey...best kept secret? We owned one years ago and it seems this bit of magic is still true in the 2013 model... CARGO ROOM: The 3rd-row seats flip down into a floor well (larger folks can pull on a strap and do it one-handed). The 2nd-row seat backs flip down easily, and if the seats are...

Frankly one could say the same thing about pretty much any topic. Scientific literacy Fitness literacy Health literacy Geographic literacy Environmental literacy I don't think financial literacy is different from any of these or any other area of study. The American public is just horrifyingly ignor...

Not in any order: - Downtown Alexandria VA - lots of restaurants and river park. -Astoria Queens..... I recall well dressed beautiful women from all over the world. -New England coastal towns, with scenic ocean or LI Sound views and compact shopping areas with town greens/squares. -Providence, RI -...

All responses so far defaulted to the U.S. locations. I understand--but have not been there myself yet--that Thailand offers fantastic beaches and cheap living. Victoria My guess is that one of the biggest issues with Thailand (or other nearby parts of SE Asia such as Bali or the Philippines) is th...

People have already mentioned Seattle, Portland, and NYC. Of the places I'm familiar with I would have to add Washington DC. I lived there for a year in the 90s on rotation from my home office in Seattle at the time and didn't bother to bring my car. Didn't miss it frankly. The cost of parking in DC...

All responses so far defaulted to the U.S. locations. I understand--but have not been there myself yet--that Thailand offers fantastic beaches and cheap living. Victoria My guess is that one of the biggest issues with Thailand (or other nearby parts of SE Asia such as Bali or the Philippines) is th...

The lower fee Admiral Funds are only available within individual accounts (IRAs, Roths, and taxable accounts). If you are investing with Vanguard through a group plan (401k or 403b) then it is very unlikely that Admiral funds are going to be available at any account balance. My 401(k) has some Vang...

What is the difference between owning the target retirement fund which has many different funds inside and actually owning the different funds outright like in the lazy portfolios. One benefit is the lower fees on the index Admiral funds (if you have enough to meet minimums and a reasonable AA). No...

The parents of my best friend from college did exactly what you propose. They sold out and moved to Sanibel Island Florida. Which was extraordinarily nice but rather too upscale for my taste. Five years later they burned out with it and are back living in the NW where their grandchildren are. That s...

I'm more inclined to give advice as to investment vehicles rather than investment assets or funds. For example. I teach at a large public HS in Texas that has lots of young teachers. We get the typical bottom feeder "advisors" who crawl through the school district web site to "harvest...

Not sure how you narrowed it down to those two. If you want a minivan then choose between an Odyssey or Sienna If you want a car-like SUV then choose between a Highlander and a Pilot The minivans should be plenty adequate to navigate any roads you might find in the Bay Area. Where the SUVs might hav...

Principal is an insurance company-run plan and has very high expense ratio fees judging from the choices on your screen shot that range from 1.04% to 1.97% TIAA-CREF will most likely have MUCH lower annual expenses although without knowing the specifics of your individual plan it is hard to know for...

While not necessary, you might also consider including some of Fidelity's milestones: While every individual’s situation will differ greatly based on desired lifestyle in retirement, the average worker may replace 85 percent of his pre-retirement income by saving at least 8 times his ending salary....

Excellent start. You are WAY ahead of most of us at your age. I do have a couple of general points of advice. 1. You don't say so but judging from your language it sounds that you are not married. If you get married, ease your spouse into your way of thinking. This can be a lot to take in. 2. Try to...

I know there are quite a few physicians and fitness enthusiasts on this board and the average age is probably above the median so I expect many of you might find this article from today's New York Times alarming: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/can-statins-curb-the-benefits-of-exercise/ I'm...

I pay for the online access. I'm something of a news junkie and for me it is the best site for original reporting on national and international news. I don't pay for any other web sites other than my local paper and the online access comes free if I subscribe to the paper edition. I never tried to d...

I would take the annuity for two reasons. First as a safety mechanism to prevent really stupid spending by myself, or more importantly, my heirs. I'd like to think that I'd be different than the typical winner but that forces one to spread things out a bit. Second, for taxes. If one takes the lump s...

"Index funds are for people who know nothing about investing"?

To which the perfect response to this guy would have been "exactly!"

Why not just buy her another dumb phone and an IPod Touch? Would seem to meet her needs perfectly. +1 This is the only good answer. I've tried endless ways to figure out how to use smart phones without data plans. For example, I have my old 4Gs iPhone and I was going to let my daughter use it but w...

The Roth is more flexible than the 403(b) in terms of withdrawal. In the future you can withdraw contributions for a wide variety of reasons....kids college education, house, etc. That can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. But it is a significant difference between the Roth and 403(b) ...

The OP sounds like they are in great shape. However to truly answer the question I think it would help to know your plan B. If the unforseen happens and you either lose substantial assets or have substantial unanticipated expenses (i.e. medical catastrophe) then what is your plan B? Some of us are i...

A fascinating article about why Cooper Union ended free tuition which it has been offering the founding of the college. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/business/how-cooper-unions-endowment-failed-in-its-mission.html?pagewanted=all It is just a series of really bad decisions which include a very w...

You never have to get the plan affiliated with your state regardless of what state you live in. However some states that have state income tax do offer state income tax deductions if you have a 529 plan through them. Texas is not one of those states because Texas has no state income tax in the first...

So if one has an HSA account.....say $20,000 and that account is seized in some judgement. Does one then also owe the IRS for the taxes and penalties for the withdrawal as if it was done voluntarily?

How does the saying go about death and taxes? Bottom line. If at some point in the future the fiscal situation of the country requires some type of massive increased revenue, then we will all pay for it somehow through some type of taxes. No one in the roaring 20s when taxes were low could have poss...

First of all, there is a forum where you will learn more than you could possibly ever want to know about buying pianos: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ Second, as a mediocre pianist and parent with 2 kids in piano lessons currently, here is my advice for purchasing a first piano. 1. Be wary of used...

If teachers are having a difficult time with their own retirement plans and finances, would you really want those who don't have a clue doing the teaching? The education I got in school about finances was terrible. They told me how to balance a checkbook, but the "investment" part of the ...

Wall Street is not a zero-sum game. For every winner there is a loser. This is not correct. Yeah, if you have a winner (+1) and a loser (-1), doesn't that make Wall Street a zero sum game? 1-1=0? A win-win game is where both can be winners, for example, I buy beer (winner) and the seller (winner) g...