Search found 68 matches

by civi68
Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any Subaru owners out there?
Replies: 53
Views: 7919

Re: Any Subaru owners out there?

I have a 2002 Subaru Impreza with 125,000 miles. Great car with minimal problems.
by civi68
Sun Sep 01, 2013 6:47 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with PA retirement choice: PSERS or Vanguard?
Replies: 10
Views: 2269

Re: Help with PA retirement choice: PSERS or Vanguard?

I am a PA state employee that is in the state employee fund. It is similar to the school pension fund. Hands down, the pension fund offers the best deal over a 403B if your wife plans on making teaching a career. I have been saving significant amounts of money for retirement and would have to save even more to match the pension plan. My guess is that you would need to contribute 25% of your salary towards retirement to come close. The big issue is that the pension plans are underfunded. In a few years, the state needs to contribute about 24% of employees' salaries to the fund for about 20 years to keep it funded. Most school and state employees stay in their job for the pension plan. Except for current employees possibly paying more in the ...
by civi68
Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: green tea lotion
Replies: 4
Views: 738

green tea lotion

After reading about the possible benefits of green tea lotion, I was wondering if anyone had any good or bad experiences with using it?
by civi68
Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What the best value in anti-virus software
Replies: 63
Views: 9117

Re: What the best value in anti-virus software

A good site with reviews on anti-virus and other programs.

http://download.cnet.com/windows/
by civi68
Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:32 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: how much international equities should be in your portfolio
Replies: 10
Views: 1568

Re: how much international equities should be in your portfo

For those of you nervous about holding a large percentage of international equities, I took the plunge in 2002 and kept 50% of my equities in international. I never lost sleep over it and never regret it. (Although I did lose a night or two over having 30% of my bonds in international bonds).
by civi68
Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:13 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Winter Boots
Replies: 27
Views: 5112

Re: Winter Boots

I have ordered from Backcountry.com, REI, Amazon, and Sierra Trading Post. Sierra Trading Post has the best prices, particularly if you sign up for their email coupons. The coupons average about 30-35% off. They send you one daily. Brands such as Columbia, Merrell, Garmont, Salomon, and Teva have winter boots on at least one of these sites. When ordering online, sizing can be tricky. Columbia, Merrell, and Salomon tend to be narrow so ordering a half size larger is often needed. Ordering a full size larger on Teva is recommended. As for warmth, you have the choices of 200 to 400 grams of thinsulate. I have a pair of 200g Teva Wraith Storm and Salomon Snowtrip waterproof that I like. There are also good reviews for the Garmont Momentum. I fo...
by civi68
Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:50 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bogleheads 11 - TIPS - Jack Bogle
Replies: 13
Views: 1793

Re: Bogleheads 11 - TIPS - Jack Bogle

The Vanguard TIPS fund has about a 6% return this year so far. Doesn't sound like a bad return to me.
by civi68
Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying shoes
Replies: 17
Views: 2320

Re: Buying shoes

It has been a while since I started this post but I received some interesting information from shoe manufacturers that I wanted to share. Below is a compilation of their responses: You should be concerned about dry rot, even if they’re stored in a dry, cool place. You’ll see this mostly on the rubber and the glues in the midsole. Our warranty department says that this can be prevented by air flow. If you’re storing them in a place that you’ll only open the door once a month, you should highly consider moving them somewhere that you’ll open the door once a week. Other than that, you should be good to go. I personally wouldn't store boots for more than 3-4 years without wear. Also consider they may be several seasons old by the time you purch...
by civi68
Sun Sep 09, 2012 6:24 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: 5K or 3K oil change?
Replies: 91
Views: 19005

Re: 5K or 3K oil change?

by civi68
Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why I Don't Like the International REITS & Real Estate Fund
Replies: 66
Views: 10806

Re: Why I Don't Like the International REITS & Real Estate F

Pete,

I agree with Pete that having an International REIT fund can be a good part of your portfolio and devote half of my REIT investments in international. Best to stay diversified and that means going outside of the US.
by civi68
Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:44 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Need Help Deciding on Defined Benefit Pension Plan
Replies: 15
Views: 2460

Re: Need Help Deciding on Defined Benefit Pension Plan

The DB plan wins hands down. If you chose the DC plan, you would regret it when you get older. Choosing the DC plan means you will have to work to age 65 or longer and never be able to match what you would have gotten in the DB plan. Although never say never, it is highly unlikely that states will take away what you already earned in your plan. They may freeze future contributions, give no COLA's, increase your contributions, or raise your retirement age, but taking away from what people already earned is protected by state law. So, the worst that may happen is that you are only given the years that you earned before any changes. So far, Rhode Island has taken the most away from state workers than any other state. But the worst they did was...
by civi68
Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New PA Teacher - Pension Fund Class Choice Help
Replies: 8
Views: 2341

Re: New PA Teacher - Pension Fund Class Choice Help

I work for the state of PA. The 2.5 is the best deal hands down. When it first came out, the only people that didn't take it were the ones with poor money management that lived paycheck to paycheck and didn't care about the future. I wouldn't worry about any future changes to the pension influencing your choice. If there are major changes for current employees, the money saved with the 2.0 choice won't matter much. The changes being discussed are a 401k for new employees, freezing the pension for current employees, or having employees pay more into the pension. Who knows how it will go.
by civi68
Sun Aug 05, 2012 6:57 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Do you include cash in your asset allocation?
Replies: 50
Views: 8776

Re: Do you include cash in your asset allocation?

I think it depends on how much cash. If you hold a significant amount of cash as part of your assets, it may be best to include it. I keep 20% of my money in cash so if I don't include it and only look my stock/bond ratio, it is not an accurate view of how much money I am invested in stocks for the long run. But if you only have cash as an emergency fund and it is not much (maybe $10,000 or so?), it is probably not worth including.
by civi68
Mon Jul 02, 2012 5:38 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Overweight Emerging Market?
Replies: 8
Views: 2429

Re: Overweight Emerging Market?

A great book to read about Emerging Markets is, "Breakout Nations." It gives you a great perspective on how Emerging Market countries differ and that they don't always do better in the long run.
by civi68
Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:33 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: stable value fund - stay or go??
Replies: 14
Views: 1978

Re: stable value fund - stay or go??

I have a significant amount of money in my stable value fund and I am not worried. The rates have been going down a half percent every quarter so I don't believe these funds are offering something for nothing. My fund pays 3.4% but the fees are .4% so I am really getting 3%. When it drops below 3%, I am putting new money into the bond fund. If interest rates don't rise this year, I think stable value funds will give low rates as everything else.
by civi68
Sun May 06, 2012 6:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pension--how concerned should I be?
Replies: 17
Views: 2690

Re: Pension--how concerned should I be?

I would agree with other posters that your fund appears solid although the funding level is going down. If it drops below 70% and your company does not make efforts to put more money to keep it solvent, then I would be concerned. To give you an example, I work for the state of Pennsylvania. Our fund used to be one of the best funded state pensions in the country. But the state doubled its prison capacity in the 1990's that included adding thousands of state prison workers to the retirement plan but did not raise taxes to make up for pension short falls. Basically, they added thousands of workers then and worried later about not having the money for their pensions later. Now, I think we are around the 75% funded range. Since the state is obl...
by civi68
Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: shoe sizes
Replies: 5
Views: 932

shoe sizes

I have brought a few hiking shoes over the years and find that sizing is the most challenging thing. I am looking at a Scarpa brand of shoes. Does any know if this brand tends to fit small or need ordered a half size or a size up? From the hiking shoes I have, I have found the following brands seem to fit as such:
Asolo: tend to be a half size too small, also need to order wide size if possible, tend to fit narrow
Garmont: true to size
Vasque: true to size
Merrell: true to size
Salomon: true to size
by civi68
Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:03 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Roth 403B
Replies: 2
Views: 334

Roth 403B

My job will soon be offering a Roth 403B. I was contributing the maximum to the traditional 403B and the max to a Roth Ira. Am I correct that I can not fund the IRA if I max the Roth 403B? If so, can I contribute to a traditional IRA if I max the 403B Roth?
by civi68
Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:06 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Using 3.25% Stable value fund as bond allocation
Replies: 17
Views: 4333

Re: Using 3.25% Stable value fund as bond allocation

I have a stable value fund that earns 3.7%. It has gone down every quarter over the years of its high of 6%. However, one of the ways the fund has kept it's return is the fees have gone up. Not a lot, but enough to bring the real return to 3.2%. So, maybe they will guarantee the rate but the fees can go up.
by civi68
Sun Jan 29, 2012 7:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How many Bogleheads do not marry due to financial reasons?
Replies: 154
Views: 15320

Re: How many Bogleheads do not marry due to financial reason

A big challenge is finding someone that thinks like a boglehead. I remember reading in Scott Burn's book, "Spend til the end" that research indicated that 70% of Americans live for today and only 30% were savers. From my dating experience and what I see from people at work, (my work has 700 employees and the pay is good. Most live beyond their means and save little) it seems to be the case. Add in that many people divorce even when the other spouse wants to stay in the marriage, and you take a lot of risk. When I was in my mid 20's starting my career at my job that I have had for 20 years, a lot of people that worked there were married and saved for retirement. 20 years later, it's filled with divorced and single people that eithe...
by civi68
Sun Jan 15, 2012 6:59 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New Europe credit card standards
Replies: 6
Views: 1305

New Europe credit card standards

Guys,
In the latest Consumer Reports Money Adviser Newsletter, they mentioned that our credit cards may not work in parts of Western Europe. Europe is using a more secure credit card system, the EMV smart card (Europay Mastercard Visa). You will need to contact your credit card company to see if they have upgraded yet to this new system.
by civi68
Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:12 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying shoes
Replies: 17
Views: 2320

Re: Buying shoes

You are right about the China thing. The shoe brand I am buying, Asolo, are made in Italy. They have a sale on REI. Amazon has them for 200 some dollars. Some of my former favorite brands seem to use cheaper materials. Also, gore tex has gone up so many shoes are made with water proof materials and not gore-tex I bought some Merrells made in China and I really see the difference in materials between them and my Asolos. I consider my Merrell's just sneakers anymore.
by civi68
Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying shoes
Replies: 17
Views: 2320

Re: Buying shoes

Also, an inflation hedge. With my bank account almost zero interest, it' best to buy a $200 hiking boot for $85 even if you don't need it now. I won't need another pair for many years now.
by civi68
Sat Jan 07, 2012 4:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying shoes
Replies: 17
Views: 2320

Re: Buying shoes

I recently read that not wearing shoes everyday does help the inside last longer due to sweating, odors, etc.
by civi68
Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:13 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying shoes
Replies: 17
Views: 2320

Buying shoes

Does anyone buy shoes although they don't need them and pack them away for the future? I saw some great deals on hiking boots. However, I probably won't need new ones for a few years. I wonder if shoe materials wear out over time even if you don't wear them.
by civi68
Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:00 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Consuelo Mack interviews Charles Ellis
Replies: 10
Views: 1552

Re: Consuelo Mack interviews Charles Ellis

Depending on the topic, Consuelo Mack's show provides some good information. I enjoyed El-Erian, Francois Trahan (The Era of Uncertainty), David Rosenberg, and others. It is always good to hear different perspectives.
by civi68
Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:05 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Coming shortage of equity investors
Replies: 21
Views: 3078

Re: Coming shortage of equity investors

Another trend I see is that instead of putting money into retirement, people are putting more money towards their mortgage to pay it off quicker. They want to get the house paid off quicker in case they have to accept a lower paying job in the future.
Some people on this board may feel that the strategies outlined in my posts are not the way to go. But investing in stocks requires that people have a feeling of having stable, growing income in a secure job. If people have other concerns, stocks are the last things to think about.
by civi68
Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:53 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Coming shortage of equity investors
Replies: 21
Views: 3078

Re: Coming shortage of equity investors

A few of my friends and I feel the same way. We do not plan on adding much stocks to our portfolio. But we don't plan on selling stocks, either. Basically, we are moving from a 60/40 stock/bond mix to more like a 40/60 or 30/70 mix. Unless stocks go back to how they were in the mid 90s to 2007, I have little interest in getting more. The risk was worth it for 10% returns but I could care less about stocks if they won't have those kind of returns anymore. Stable value/TIPS/Total Bond Market is where I will add more money. Some people I know are only sticking to stable value funds. Several years ago at my job, investing was a common topic. Most people in my workplace of 700 employees don't even want to talk about investing anymore. Part of th...
by civi68
Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:57 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Europe's Financial Crisis - The European Perspective
Replies: 50
Views: 5208

Re: Europe's Financial Crisis - The European Perspective

T.R. Reid has a good book, 'The Healing of America" on comparing healthcare. His book indicated that Germany and Japan had the best systems which were a partnership of government and non-profit businesses. The trade-off was that employees in the medical field made less than here.
by civi68
Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:14 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Europe's Financial Crisis - The European Perspective
Replies: 50
Views: 5208

Re: Europe's Financial Crisis - The European Perspective

I would like to add to my post that I am not criticizing prison or military employees. I myself work at a prison and retired from the National Guard. In my small city, most of the better paying employment opportunities are in these fields. I feel very fortunate to have a small military pension and healthcare as well as a state pension if things don't change too much. As for the argument about people expecting a pension, that is what state employees are told and what is a selling point for state jobs. I see nothing unreasonable about state employees or Europeans depending on a pension since governments acted until now as if these things were guaranteed. If anything, I blame governments for not addressing these problems years ago. Just like t...
by civi68
Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:01 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Europe's Financial Crisis - The European Perspective
Replies: 50
Views: 5208

Re: Europe's Financial Crisis - The European Perspective

I have traveled over the years and always enjoy talking to Europeans. Many of them thought we would tank first because of our high personal debt and consumption. I think there are European countries/people like Germany, Austria, etc, that have the model of balancing your budget, saving for a rainy day, and providing government services for the people. Then, there are the ones that spent beyond their means and thought being a part of the Euro meant that didn't matter. I always envied European countries where you didn't have to be married to your employer because of health insurance or a pension if the employer offered it. Europeans also seemed to be more pleasant and educated about the world. Anyone who is critical of Europe needs to remembe...
by civi68
Mon Nov 14, 2011 5:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: online back up
Replies: 29
Views: 2412

online back up

What is everyone's experience with online backup services? I found a free one, Bee Cloud. Has anyone had experience with them or other ones?
by civi68
Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:01 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Prudential long term disability insurance
Replies: 2
Views: 549

Prudential long term disability insurance

I work for the state of Pennsylvania. Prudential offers long term disability insurance to state employees at 60% of your salary plus an optional 3% cost of living adjustment. Anyone have any experience with these plans? Do they tend to fight people when they get hurt and not want to pay? Or is it difficult to get approved if something does happen? I also wonder if this insurance is something that is necessary.
by civi68
Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:23 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanity Fair Article: California and Bust
Replies: 5
Views: 1102

article

Thanks for the article. It is extremely difficult for governments to ask for concessions from public safety and correction officers. Most say take from other employees first or cut other services. Most of these jobs provide a middle to upper middle class life for blue collar workers that no longer exists anywhere else. Every raise creates more cost down the road for pensions. But there may come a time when there is no choice. The situation is very similar to the UAW and the auto industries' problems with wages and pensions, as well as Greece. And we know what happened to them. In the next few years, states will have difficult choices on what to do with pensions and how to pay for them. A lot also has to do with prison and sentencing reform....
by civi68
Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:39 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Article from USA today
Replies: 5
Views: 1263

Article from USA today

Interesting allocation advice. If you're the type of person who likes to wrestle anacondas while defusing a bomb during an earthquake, this column isn't for you. No, this column is for people so unnerved by the stock market, the European debt crisis and the Kardashians that you're utterly paralyzed. The cure for volatility is diversification into different types of investments, called "asset classes" by people who like to talk like that. The three broad investment types are stocks, bonds and money market securities, or cash. If a 50% stock position makes you quail, then lower it until your eye stops twitching, and invest in money funds or bond funds instead. Just remember that bad markets don't last forever, even though it seems l...
by civi68
Tue Sep 13, 2011 5:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: social security
Replies: 3
Views: 1057

social security

At my work at a state agency, we have age 50 retirement. If a person retires at this age and does not work again, how much would social security be reduced for each year that is calculated at zero since a person would not be working?
by civi68
Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:22 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Total Bond Fund or Stable Value Fund
Replies: 19
Views: 5784

SVF

If you noticed, a lot of stable value funds have been dropping their yield by about .25% every quarter, probably due to interest rates continuing to stay low. The question will be whether to continue with Stable Value funds if they drop below 3% after fees. My stable value fund earns 3.7 but the fee is .5%.
by civi68
Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:17 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: International diversification's effect can be tenuous
Replies: 47
Views: 8373

USA today

USA today had a similar article that international investing in developed markets did very well until recently due to the rise of the Euro and drop of the dollar.
by civi68
Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:41 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "The Great Age-Wave Ruse"
Replies: 20
Views: 2999

baby boomers

I think about this potential problem as well. I wonder that if takes until 2020 to get out of our recession and high unemployment, we will then be challenged by the decades of more people retiring without much saved and healthcare costs going up. A great book by Scott Burns and Lawrence Kotlikoff on this issue is "The Coming Generational Storm." A lot of people rely on income from their jobs as they overspend and save nothing. Then, they will fall off of a cliff as they go to making $1000 a month from social security. Another of Scott Burn's books, "Spend til the End," I believe mentions that behavioral economics suggests that about 70% of Americans are spenders and 30% are savers. How I see others live leads me to belie...
by civi68
Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Illinois pension vs. 457b, 403b
Replies: 24
Views: 5820

pensions

I am a state employee in PA. We have a shortfall of 18 billion. PA raised the retirement age to 65 for new hires and new employees pay more with the option of increased payments by new employees if the fund goes too low. Legislation will be introduced in the fall to freeze the plan for legislators in 2014 and then for all employees at a later date after 2014. All future earnings would be in a 403b with the state matching a miserly 4%. If I were you, I would continue with the plan. State DB plans will give you much more when you retire than any money you could save in a 403B DC plan. That is why they are struggling. You would probably have to max out your 403b plan yearly for your money to match the state's plan. And when I mean max out, I m...
by civi68
Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:21 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone allocating more to Stable Value funds?
Replies: 27
Views: 3563

stable value funds

I have most of my bonds in stable value. Maybe there is some unknown risk out there but from my understanding, stable value funds will not drop in value but just not earn anything if things get bad. Every quarter, my fund goes down a quarter of a percent. Except for my Vanguard TIPS fund, I don't see much benefit to having short/intermediate bond funds that pay 2-3% when I can have a stable value fund. As someone here said, why take the interest rate risk of having a bond fund if it only pays the rate that a savings account did years ago. If my stable value rate drops below 2%, I will probably stop investing in the stable value fund, too, invest future money into stocks and move more stock Roth IRA money into Vanguard TIPS even if it means ...
by civi68
Sun Aug 14, 2011 12:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: stable value funds and bonds
Replies: 3
Views: 722

bond funds

I was thinking of not 100% bond index because the description of the fund gives me the impression that it is just intermediate and long term bonds.
by civi68
Sun Aug 14, 2011 8:58 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: stable value funds and bonds
Replies: 3
Views: 722

stable value funds and bonds

My employee offers a stable value fund as part of my 403b plan. Rates have been dropping a quarter of a percent each quarter down to 3.7%. The fees for this fund bring the rate down to 3.2%. Since the rate is so low and seems to be getting lower each quarter, I am considering adding the plan's bond fund which tracks the Barclay's Aggregate Bond Index. My plan's bond fund says it consists of intermediate/long term bonds that track the index and the fees are only .02%. My question is what does everyone recommend for my bond split between stable value and this fund so it matches something similar to Vanguard Total Bond Index?
by civi68
Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Using TSP G fund as my primary bond holding
Replies: 34
Views: 5936

G fund

Feel better! You did the right thing. Although I have a small TSP fund, I have all of it in the G fund as part of my bond portfolio. No worry about interest rate risk and as interest rates rise, your G fund will benefit. More than likely, the G fund has nowhere to go but up. Keep your risk in the stock portion.
by civi68
Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:28 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Foreign Bond Fund
Replies: 27
Views: 3222

foreign bond funds

Many people here do not recommend these bonds. But others, like financial columnist Scott Burns, feel that they should be a component of your portfolio. I have 25% of my bonds in the T Rowe Price foreign bond fund. It is 95% developed market and 5% emerging market. For the most part, it has been a steady performer for me over the years even with the crisis starting in 2008. The expense ratio is higher than I prefer, .8%. SPR also has foreign bond and foreign inflation protected bond funds.
by civi68
Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:54 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: TIPS
Replies: 10
Views: 2258

TIPS

Yes, another post on TIPS. Some people and articles say TIPS are not a good investment because of their low yield. However, the Vanguard website has TIPS YTD and for 1 year earning 7%. Sounds like a good yield to me, especially when you look at the other bond funds on the site.
by civi68
Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Virus came on my computer---how do I avoid repeat?
Replies: 49
Views: 6032

viruses

Does everyone recommend having two anti-virus programs? AVG won't install unless I get rid of my AntiVir program. I tried turning off Antivir during the installation and it still won't run.
by civi68
Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Virus came on my computer---how do I avoid repeat?
Replies: 49
Views: 6032

virus

Also, every time before I shut down my computer each day, I use the Advance System care programs that delete everything. It take about 5 minutes.
by civi68
Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:54 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Virus came on my computer---how do I avoid repeat?
Replies: 49
Views: 6032

virus

I use the free versions of Avira Anti-virus, Advanced System Care, and Malwarebytes. They seem to work good together. Avira is consumer reports' top recommended free anti-virus program. When I first got it, it found several viruses I didn't know about. Go to download.com (CNET) to see reviews on different programs and to get any of these. Good luck!
by civi68
Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:32 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rule of thumb for international stock% and REIT %
Replies: 29
Views: 6013

allocation

Some people may disagree with my foreign allocation but I follow the Scott Burn's couch portfolio approach. I am 43 years old and have a 50/50 stock/Bonds mix. Stocks are 50/50 US/Foreign with 5% of US in natural resources (T Rowe Price New Era) and 10% of US in REIT. 5% of my foreign is in International REIT and the rest in Vanguard Total International Stock index. My natural resources fund seems to do much better than other stocks during growth periods but drops farther when things go bad. Some may also disagree with my bond approach. I have 50/30 US/Int Bonds. Most of my US bonds are in a stable value fund and 5% in TIPS. My TIPS allocation is low primarily because of limited space in my Roth. My stable value fund is my higher proportion...