Search found 4739 matches

by xerty24
Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:11 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mid-20s w/ $2M - please review my plan
Replies: 56
Views: 6697

Re: Mid-20s w/ $2M - please review my plan

If you've got $2M you can reasonably expect ~40k+ in dividends/interest annually, so there would be no need to draw down any principal. And you can reasonably expect inflation to erode the value of your portfolio by about $50k/year (~2.5% presently), so in some sense OP is really just cashing out his principle each year rather than actually saving. Unless that 40/60 allocation beats 2.5% inflation per year, which it probably should on the stock side but probably won't on the bond side, OP will be treading water before taxes. If you figure stocks might earn 4-5% over inflation and bonds are about breakeven, you'd expect a 40/60 AA to earn about 1.5-2% real, but of course that depends almost entirely on the stock market performance and can't...
by xerty24
Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:01 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Gold
Replies: 56
Views: 6387

Re: Gold

GLD. It's an ETF. IAU is another.

Vanguard's fund invests in the stocks of mining companies. That's not the same thing, and it's not even particularly close.
by xerty24
Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:00 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Hedging against a bull market
Replies: 19
Views: 2819

Re: Hedging against a BULL market

the problem with bull markets is that if you're not in the bubble, you may never catch up and there's no guarantee that labor returns will keep pace with asset returns. Think about it as a type of "inflation" that mainly hits poor people (those with few invested assets). You may find yourself like a young person has over the past 10 years or so in any big US city - NY, DC, SF... property values ran up a lot and now you're lucky to have a job, let alone one that will let you buy a house in the $500k-1M range in any reasonable timeframe.
by xerty24
Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:41 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Elderly Parents Who Did Not Plan
Replies: 26
Views: 4505

Re: Elderly Parents Who Did Not Plan

lots of bad deals for reverse mortgages out there. i wouldn't go that way unless i could make a reasonable deal with a relative; otherwise just sell it or get a HELOC to cash out the equity.
by xerty24
Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:38 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 100% Small Cap Value not risky enough for you? Try this:
Replies: 30
Views: 4890

Re: 100% Small Cap Value not risky enough for you? Try this:

OP - I'm not going to try to address all the inaccurate comments you got, but suffice to say most of the people commenting on shorting have likely never shorted a share in their life and it shows. If you or someone else actually wants to try something like this, feel free to PM me.
by xerty24
Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:22 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Stock and Fixed Income Investing Decisions.
Replies: 17
Views: 1954

Re: Stock and Fixed Income Investing Decisions.

joe8d wrote:
xerty24 wrote:There are so many stocks to choose from!
All you need is TSM and TInt for stock, It's the FI that's the problem.
Well I hope to do better than just TSM/TISM, but along those lines why not just buy TBM? TSM doesn't actually have all the stocks, in the same way TBM doesn't hold all bonds, but maybe they are both "close enough" for lazy portfolios.
by xerty24
Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:09 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Stock and Fixed Income Investing Decisions.
Replies: 17
Views: 1954

Re: Stock and Fixed Income Investing Decisions.

There are so many stocks to choose from!
by xerty24
Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:50 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 100% Small Cap Value not risky enough for you? Try this:
Replies: 30
Views: 4890

Re: 100% Small Cap Value not risky enough for you? Try this:

happymob wrote:And while margin rates are very low, I can't believe any small-cap value premium exceeds current margin rates.
You must have a very pessimistic view on the size/value premiums.
by xerty24
Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:44 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?
Replies: 100
Views: 11534

Re: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?

we are very lucky to have lived in the US and other stable countries for purposes of accruing wealth. This old Bogleheads thread may give some perspective on that surivorship bias.

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... 36#p544336
by xerty24
Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: 100% Small Cap Value not risky enough for you? Try this:
Replies: 30
Views: 4890

Re: 100% Small Cap Value not risky enough for you? Try this:

It follows from the Two Mutual Fund theorem that one can squeeze out even more expected returns by placing 100% of capital set aside for domestic equities in small cap value, and shorting the rest of the stock market. There is no "everything but Sm-Val" ETF but one can short VTI or SPY to estimate this. Of course one can also buy more of their position on margin. Under some models of rationality it would be the correct thing to do if the expected value of Sm-Val exceeds the margin fees. But of course over time, your debt level increases as interest charges accrue against you. As debt increases, the interest charges increase, and so on. Margin is not for long-term. Yes, long riskier assets and short lower return, lower risk assets...
by xerty24
Mon Oct 15, 2012 12:09 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Trips of a Lifetime
Replies: 60
Views: 8751

Re: Trips of a Lifetime

JupiterJones wrote:... remote places that you'd go to once, at great time and effort, and probably never return. Literally "once in a lifetime" destinations.
There are plenty of places like that - Benghazi, Libya, and northern Mexico come to mind. All the same, I'd rather return in one piece.
by xerty24
Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:12 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: POLL: Which is more diversified?
Replies: 31
Views: 3459

Re: POLL: Which is more diversified?

I think I have to observe that both of these funds were a great way to turn ten thousand dollars into nine thousand or seven thousand during the time when a stock fund turned it into fourteen thousand. And I have to observe that both of these supposed diversifiers are moving in pretty much the same direction as stocks, and both tanked worse than stocks just when it really counted. But from 6/18/2008 to 2/28/2009, DJP and presumably the DJ AIG index lost "only" 55% while GSG and presumably the GSCI index lost 67%. So over the particular rather short period of time I am eyeballing, DJP looks less volatile. So what you're saying is that short commodities would have made for a great hedge against stock market volatility - high correl...
by xerty24
Sun Oct 14, 2012 4:40 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?
Replies: 100
Views: 11534

Re: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?

tibbitts wrote:Basically this is a forum of people who mostly have been unusually successful in life - or at least believe they will be...

Sometimes, things work out well, but probably not with the high probability reflected in the typical posts here.
Good point. [economic discussion and link to economic article deleted by Mod.]
by xerty24
Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:25 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Trips of a Lifetime
Replies: 60
Views: 8751

Re: Trips of a Lifetime

Antarctica?
by xerty24
Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:49 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: $800 to burn on fitness related expense
Replies: 35
Views: 3043

Re: $800 to burn on fitness related expense

sscritic wrote:
newkidontheblock wrote: I will buy a concept 2 rowing machine now and take training lessons in January when I will have another $800 to spend
You could still get the swimming machine using a credit card; pay $800 now and $800 in January. :)
be careful with that, most of the time the purchase date is what counts and that's the day they charge your card (regardless of when you get around to paying it). You'd need some sort of layaway plan where they charge your card twice, once now and once next year.
by xerty24
Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: explain change Sara Lee
Replies: 7
Views: 1401

Re: explain change Sara Lee

my name wrote:I'm also thinking of selling the Bank of New York stock that is back to the same value it was 15 years ago. Shady dealings seems to have caused this.
I don't blame the market for being 'shady' when it doesn't go up or down as much as I hoped. What exactly are you referring to?
by xerty24
Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:03 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: my third quarter update on performance of hedge funds
Replies: 4
Views: 791

Re: my third quarter update on performance of hedge funds

dailybagel wrote:Thanks for this post and the article. I agree the absolute returns are absolutely disappointing.

My question is, is this index truly representative of the world of hedge funds? How many hedge funds are included? Do they try to include every one available to institutional US investors, or do they perform sampling?

Slightly different than the point of your thread/article, but I looked at the HFRI website and couldn't find any info.
Discussed some here

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... 5#p1233640
by xerty24
Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: MLP
Replies: 15
Views: 2249

Re: MLP

Rick Ferri wrote:Here's the concern. Investors "discovered" MLPs a couple of years ago. ETFs and ETNs are all over it. Three years ago there were no funds. Now there are now 10 differnt funds covering a relatively small number of securities (about 25 in the US). Billions have come in these products sending prices up about 40% over the last 2 years.

Proceed with caution.

Rick Ferri
So are we early in the MLP bubble, or late? Only 2 years in, with record low yields on traditional fixed income - I'd bet we've got a ways to go on the bubble front.
by xerty24
Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:24 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why Does Quantitative Easing Help Stocks ?
Replies: 11
Views: 1722

Re: Why Does Quantitative Easing Help Stocks ?

Bustoff wrote:Am I the only one that does not understand why Quantitative Easing results in higher stock prices ?

When stocks are bought the price of stocks go up. So why wouldn't the Feds massive bond buying help the bond market ?
Because there's a broad belief that the Feds are basically just printing new money (electronically these days) to buy bonds, and hence the money supply is increasing. If dollars are becoming more numerous, everything priced in dollars should go up - stocks, real estate, commodities... everything except debt obligations to repay in dollars (those go down).
by xerty24
Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:22 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Market Manipulation
Replies: 12
Views: 2482

Re: Market Manipulation

your characterization is not what is being reported. What is being reported is that the orders are put out to: 1)the clog up data pipelines - where clog is relative since they are talking milliseconds, so that their already inherent advantage in being first in line, is drawn out more. 2)used to obtain information about others positions, by putting out an order, receiving the acceptance, but by the time the acceptance is received, the order is already gone. So they get the info. Make another trade based on said info. What's being speculated by Nanex is that one of those reasons might be a reason for this, not that there was any proof offered to suggest that either of these allegations were reasonable explanations or that something else less...
by xerty24
Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:23 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Putting a partnership in an IRA?
Replies: 3
Views: 506

Re: Putting a partnership in an IRA?

If you're mostly in the investment club for networking instead of because the club is a group of stock picking geniuses, I would forget about putting your IRA money there. Yes it's possible, but it's a bunch of expense and headaches, and it wouldn't make your employer's contribution tax free.
by xerty24
Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Market Manipulation
Replies: 12
Views: 2482

Re: Market Manipulation

Is this an open and fair market? 4 percent of the activity are false trades? all canceled? The headline and your summary are both misleading (the former probably intentionally so). There were NO trades - not 'false' trades, not broken trades, just nothing. Talk about getting all upset about nothing, since thats what happened - nothing. There was just a bunch of quotes that no one thought were competitive enough to trade with... they might as well have not been there at all. Now it might have been 4% of quote activity, possible I guess but I haven't seen the data, but in that case it's just a waste of the exchanges CPU cycles and if it matters enough, they'll shut down the offender. It's not like there hasn't been a buggy program sending to...
by xerty24
Tue Oct 09, 2012 1:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Market Manipulation
Replies: 12
Views: 2482

Re: Market Manipulation

Anything from Nanex might as well get tagged for Trolling. They allege serious crimes and present no evidence, just a few pictures that they seem not to understand. If their counterparty wouldn't get hung in the court of public opinion without getting in a word edgewise, they'd have a fine case for slander. And for those of you who think there might be something to this, ...the algorithm never executed a single trade... The point of market manipulation is to make money. Funny thing is... if you don't trade, you can't make any money! And if their quotes were anywhere close to the market, someone would have likely traded with them. My conclusion is that the quotes were all for like $0.01 for AAPL from someone testing their computer program, t...
by xerty24
Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:00 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?
Replies: 100
Views: 11534

Re: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?

Now personally I think this forum is biased against thinking it's possible to beat the market - they tend to think everyone who does better through active management just got lucky. I would say, rather, that the forum is against believing it is possible to beat the market perpetually - whether those wins are from luck, pluck, or wisdom. Bogleheads are focused on the best investing results over a lifetime, not the short term or even the relatively short term of 5, 10, 20 years. If someone offers to beat the market for 5 years for me and doesn't blow up on the way out, that's good enough for me. Of course that assumes that their statistics are good enough for you to infer when they have lost their mojo and move on before they start trying to...
by xerty24
Mon Oct 08, 2012 6:40 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?
Replies: 100
Views: 11534

Re: *Sorry for asking* Is this forum biased?

Buy & hold index investing has a lot of advantages - it's cheap, it's low maintenance, and it's tax efficient. The main downside is that you have to take what the market gives you, and sometimes that means taking a big loss or treading water for a decade. Some people manage to beat the market by meaningful amounts and with lower risk - however, there are very few of these people and they have to work very hard to do so, basically investing is their full time job, and they'll charge high fees to manage investments for others if they'll take other people's money at all. Until you have a lot of capital, you shouldn't be thinking too much about how to invest as opposed to how to improve your skills and your career. Later on you can think ab...
by xerty24
Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:53 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: [Portfolio help - deferring] Suggestions Following Election
Replies: 3
Views: 786

Re: [Portfolio help - deferring] Suggestions Following Elect

BL wrote:Another risk-free choice would be up to $10,000 per person in I-Bonds at treasurydirect.gov. Currently it is 2.2 % per year for 6 months and later this month you can find out what it would be for the next 6 months as it is based on a CPI number.
Remember those you have to hold for 5 years or you lose 1/4 of a year of interest.
by xerty24
Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Gus Sauter interview
Replies: 17
Views: 2140

Re: deleted

natureexplorer wrote:
Taylor Larimore wrote:Post deleted.

I tried to provide a working link to Gus's interview but it didn't work.
I guess the following link then won't work either: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... DcWhvsGUew
This one worked while the OP one didn't for me.
by xerty24
Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How do HFT get around the SEC fee?
Replies: 9
Views: 1676

Re: How do HFT get around the SEC fee?

If I understand correctly, a good part of the controversy surrounding high frequency traders is all the orders they enter and then swiftly cancel. A good part of the controversy surrounding high frequency trading is that someone else is getting rich while you aren't and in a way you dont really understand. Envy is a natural response that the media plays well too, and their reporting on HFT has been uniformly terrible and riddled with inaccuracies. There is no commission or fee (that I know of) for placing an order depends on the markets, some options and futures markets have cancel fees; stocks typically not. But exchanges can get annoyed if you send too many orders with too few actual trades and fine you or charge you other high fees for ...
by xerty24
Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:59 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: The Long-Term Care Insurance Gamble
Replies: 81
Views: 7018

Re: The Long-Term Care Insurance Gamble

bluemarlin08 wrote:I wish the government would increase the look back to 10 years to take some of the strain off Medicaid and discourage this type of planning that we all end up paying for.
While we're wishing, I wish they'd just make the exclusions more complicated so most people can't figure it out even with help (and smart people get a pass). Or you could wish for funding decisions made by actuaries instead of politicians so we didn't have this problem in the first place...
by xerty24
Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:48 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Federal Estate Planning prior to 2013
Replies: 12
Views: 1963

Re: Federal Estate Planning prior to 2013

I've just had a comprehensive briefing with an expert attorney regarding this. I'm told Romney supports elimination of the estate tax and Obama supports a 3M exemption. The legal industry believes that "some" estate tax will remain. And it should IMO. Pardon this tangent... Consider Bill Gates. He has not yet "realized" vast amounts of his gain in MSFT stock. It has therefore never been taxed. If there was an unlimited exemption, that huge gain (never taxed) would goto heirs who would get stepped-up basis.... with no tax. IMO, there should be an estate tax but with a high exemption, say even $50M. To me, it is just not fair to allow massive unrealized gains to pass without any tax. You don't actually make any arguments ...
by xerty24
Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:48 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: [Portfolio help - deferring] Suggestions Following Election
Replies: 3
Views: 786

Re: Suggestions Following Election

woodedareas wrote:...most conservative (least risk) that I could purchase and let sit for 12 months?
... I do not need to take on risk and my first objective is not to loose principal.
Sounds like you want a 1 year CD. Getting 1% on them would be decent, Ally Bank for example.
by xerty24
Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How do HFT get around the SEC fee?
Replies: 9
Views: 1676

Re: How do HFT get around the SEC fee?

The people who trade the most pay the SEC's bills. Conflict of interest? You be the judge.
by xerty24
Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Distributing funds to many people
Replies: 18
Views: 1468

Re: Distributing funds to many people

I'm a participant in a project by a large non-profit institution that intends to distribute an honorarium to about 1,000 participants. They're trying to figure out the best way to do this. For internal reasons, they can't send checks directly to participants, as this would require excessive internal procedures and due to the expense of processing and mailing many checks. Their first thought was to buy everyone a Citibank electronic gift card, which is essentially the equivalent of a credit or debit card with a dollar limit and no physical card. Citi can do this, but after getting feedback on problems people have had with Citi gift cards, they rejected this approach. Their second thought was to buy everyone an Amazon gift card. This seems f...
by xerty24
Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:59 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Are employer after-tax 401k contributions taxed?
Replies: 3
Views: 573

Re: Are employer after-tax 401k contributions taxed?

harkness10 wrote:are employer after-tax contributions also withdrawn without being taxed?

I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, because that seems like too good a deal.
Employer contributions are always pretax.
by xerty24
Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Another take on the risk of stocks vs bonds
Replies: 18
Views: 3464

Re: Another take on the risk of stocks vs bonds

as an aside, here's the excellent blog where i ran across this picture as a sidenote in other discussion. Be aware the blog is mostly about value investing and is a lot more in depth than most discussions around here. Well over 1000 words per post and you do have to actually think.

http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.com/20 ... value.html
by xerty24
Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Another take on the risk of stocks vs bonds
Replies: 18
Views: 3464

Another take on the risk of stocks vs bonds

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so here's the picture. Note that these are real returns. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kUWKahFTn5U/UGYDGcHdceI/AAAAAAAABRs/Dcw3OqkF3ZI/s1600/aaa4.JPG Assuming the bottom bucket isn't wildly skewed (hiding huge stock losses but only small bond ones) and that you really are investing for 10+ years, there seems to be a reasonable case to be made that holding stocks is less risky than holding bonds in terms of their inflation adjusted returns. Of course the volatility of the stock distribution is bigger than the bond one, but when most of that "risk" is upside, it's not clear you should be too worried about that. On a bucket per bucket basis, it's hard to argue bonds are safer when all the worse buc...
by xerty24
Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:08 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: ETFs move the market, mid caps unloved
Replies: 0
Views: 479

ETFs move the market, mid caps unloved

On Monday 10/1/12 there was some peculiar activity arising from huge sales of midcap ETFs. The WSJ took note: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443768804578034490298038174.html?mod=googlenews_wsj When midsize stocks retreated as their large and small counterparts rose Monday, traders scratched their heads about the unusual activity. The culprit, traders later surmised, was heavy selling in two exchange-traded funds—underscoring the rising influence such funds have on the market. "The tail was wagging the dog. The midcap weakness was driven by the ETF flow," said Jenkins Marshall, managing director of equities sales and trading at Knight Capital Group Inc. KCG -2.99% Despite gains in both large and small-cap indexes, th...
by xerty24
Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:22 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Shifts in VG Tracking Indexes Announced
Replies: 155
Views: 24611

Re: Shifts in VG Tracking Indexes Announced

Baer Pettit, Head of MSCI’s Index Business, said, “We are disappointed that Vanguard will no longer use our indices as the basis for these exchange traded funds. The ETF market in North America is competitive and as it evolves, we will work with those ETF providers who seek to utilize independent, well-respected, and high-quality equity indices in their products. MSCI indices have been developed over 40 years to meet the specific needs of the world’s most demanding and sophisticated investors.”
Apparently thats the sound of about $25M in annual licensing revenue departing MSCI.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/msci-comm ... 00233.html
by xerty24
Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:32 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Understanding the VIX as hedging tool
Replies: 3
Views: 942

Re: Understanding the VIX as hedging tool

good article on a less well known topic.
by xerty24
Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:17 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Will Your (TSM) Equity Bet Pay Off?
Replies: 222
Views: 15620

Re: Will Your (TSM) Equity Bet Pay Off?

I know it worked that way in the past, but I question any obvious free lunch/dessert going forward in this day of highly optimized factor portfolios and quant hedge funds.
by xerty24
Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: SS Dependent Benefits into a 529
Replies: 6
Views: 1371

Re: SS Dependent Benefits into a 529

dickenjb wrote:Although some states give a tax break for investing in 529's and not ESA's. Also Vanguard stopped opening ESA's but existing account holders are grandfathered.

If you think you might qualify for fin aid, it is wise to get it into either a 529 or ESA as this will make it a parental asset. For sure about 529 not sure about ESA.
Other brokers will still open ESAs, although the long term future for these accounts is uncertain - you may not be able to keep contributing if the relevant tax code doesn't get extended. I'm not sure how FAFSA treats an ESA either, but that's why I mentioned the rollover option to a 529 which will get the better (parental) treatment.
by xerty24
Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: SS Dependent Benefits into a 529
Replies: 6
Views: 1371

Re: SS Dependent Benefits into a 529

You can also put it in an ESA for him instead of a 529, which has a little more flexible educational uses (schooling expenses prior to college for example), but the limit is $2k/year. You can always roll the ESA into a 529 later if you want.
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:08 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: coping with 9/80 schedule ?
Replies: 68
Views: 8268

Re: coping with 9/80 schedule ?

Christine_NM wrote:What never made sense to me was that it was done supposedly in the name of energy saving. That would only work if everybody stayed home on the Friday off. In reality, it gave everybody an extra day to drive around or take flights on the long weekend off. No savings there. I never figured out what the real reason for 9/80 was.
It certainly saves gas and time for the employee, cutting their costs by 10%. Not sure what the employer gets out of it - I figure a lot of them would just hope to work the salaried staff 10/90 instead.
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:44 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: iPad app for this site?
Replies: 6
Views: 1711

Re: iPad app for this site?

Yeah, I read it on my iPad all the time without issues. Can'tyoutellfrommy typing? ;)
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: coping with 9/80 schedule ?
Replies: 68
Views: 8268

Re: coping with 9/80 schedule ?

linuxuser wrote:Because of my long commute, the 9 hour days turn into 11.5 hours (9 + lunch + commute).
2 hours a day of commuting is a lot, even if you avoid it 1 day in 10 with this schedule. I would think about moving closer to work, or working closer to where you live :).
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: If you could retire anywhere, regardless of healthcare, etc.
Replies: 118
Views: 17876

Re: If you could retire anywhere, regardless of healthcare,

An Edward Abbey quote: "It has been said that if you can survive in New York, you can survive anywhere, but if you can live anywhere, why would you choose New York?" Even assuming you can afford the 10%+ extra taxes, NYC seems like a bad place to be old. The subways have tons of stairs and the sidewalks are icy and slippery for 1/3 of the year, treacherous even to the young who can bounce back if they fall down. Traffic is a mess and the taxis/buses/your own car are all lots slower than the subways because of this. while it's fine if you can take the subway, I think any sort of mobility issues would make NYC pretty unattractive. If I slip and fall when I'm old, I want it to be on a nice sandy beach because I was watching some you...
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: A new endeavor - wish me luck!
Replies: 21
Views: 3501

Re: A new endeavor - wish me luck!

Hope your knee gets better soon so you're ready for the next time.
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:08 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Consumer Forum Reopened
Replies: 48
Views: 8735

Re: Consumer Forum Reopened

sscritic wrote:You wouldn't be complaining in public about moderation, would you? Watch out for the slap coming your way.
Not at all. I'm just requesting clarification for which topics are allowed here, as distinct from all the topics I'm going to cover in the private board I'll be inviting the top Bogleheads posters to (at least those who might want a civil and censorship free forum to discuss all the important aspects of investing that aren't allowed here).
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:19 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Consumer Forum Reopened
Replies: 48
Views: 8735

Re: Consumer Forum Reopened

LadyGeek wrote:Exactly. That's what's meant by actionable. As described in the first post:
All topics must be both personal and actionable, i.e., readers should be able to use the information provided to make better informed decisions on how to spend their money or their time.
Doss this mean we can't discuss math, because that's what a brain teaser is? I find a good understanding of conditional probabilities to be useful and actionable in making my investing decisions, thinking about correlations, etc. Most people are quite bad at this and educating them through an entertaining example seems within the scope of the forum mandate.

Perhaps we should ask Nisiprius and Grabiner for their opinions? :)
by xerty24
Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:30 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Brain Teaser
Replies: 31
Views: 2512

Re: Brain Teaser

woof755 wrote:Both options suck.
Spin the chamber and aim at your opponent.