Bogleheads

I believe the purpose of the article is to dispell the popular myth that people are "wasting" money by renting or that owning is always better than renting. I hear people spout this off that ...

David Fuller of Fullermoney is worth reading (better with a subscription), not so much for the charts (he is far more comprehensible than the gibberish above) but the commentary and reader contributio ...

Question: are there any studies which show whether or not longer term portfolio performance would increase if the proportion of equities in a portfolio is increased after any significant significant m ...

1. derivatives - lots of leverage and volatility
2. penny stocks (on margin if you can)
3. buy or invest in an unlisted company
4. start your own business
5. buy the rights to a book or script tha ...

Not sure whether this should be here or under entertainment, but the following piece of investment thinking came out this morning:

0810

I've been investing for 25+ years and have absolutely no ...

I found it hard to envision many scenarios where one would have a need for income ending in a specific known year.

At the risk of stating the obvious, an early retiree might want an income strea ...

One definition is here: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/special_situation.asp

Essentially, it means they are investing on the basis of an event or circumstances that they believe will change th ...

I like to think that it's helping us focus on where our real security and happiness come from... and that's a good thing! Amanda

One of the other positive aspects of a recession is that working ho ...

One thing is certain : the bigger and more expensive the home, the less financial sense it makes to own.

In the markets I am familiar with, this is not generally true. Better quality properties (g ...

Is this another poorly written example of recency bias?

The article lists several (but not all) of the disadvantages of home ownership. There is at least an element of truth to most of them.

Ho ...

I got lucky.....very lucky.

I changed jobs at the begining of this year and received a substantial lump sum for long service etc from my previous employer in January. I put it all in the stock mar ...

If they have substantial assets, I doubt if he would be looking for a job stocking shelves.

Sensationalisim notwithstanding, these sorts of stories are still a good reminder of exactly why I have ...

I am in the camp which has limited sympathy for people who fail to do the necessary when disaster strikes. I just totally fail to understand how people can continue to spend like they do when they kn ...

"Near monies"

We could fill a dictionary with words which are routinely misused or abused.

Bubble is certainly one. If you spend enough time on the internet you will find articles claiming most of the major a ...

I'm ambivalent on the benefits of a paid off home.

A cash cushion is nice, but a mortgage costs money and there will be a negative spread between the cost of the mortgage and the deposit rate. T ...

I suppose any education is better than none Rolling Eyes

Of course, it could also get a whole lot worse - I have visions of schools being infested with agents "educating" the children on the ...

I can understand an aversion to holding cash (or cash equivalents) over anything but the short term (2-3 years) because the real value of cash will be eroded through inflation. If I understand the go ...

Unless the amount of the loan was relatively trivial to me, I would say "no" and simply claim that I could not afford it (if necessary claiming that I needed to buy my own place, was thinkin ...

100% allocation to gold is too risky.

You need to have, as a minumum, 5% in ammunition, 3% in aluminium (for the hats), and an emergency fund equal to two years supply of baked beans.

Gekko's list is a good one and will put people who follow it in a much better position than 90% of the population - not just in terms of achieving economic self suficiency but in terms of general heal ...

I find that things which cause me stress also help to motivate me. That said, there are lot's of things which motivate me without generating much, if any, stress.

Two things which may differentia ...

Seems pretty obvious to me that real estate that doesn't provide income isn't an investment.

With all due respect, the fact that an asset does not provide income does not justify claims that ...

Err.....no. Overheads, profit margin, risk premium and credit impariment charges, bankers' bonuses etc all add up. If the bank paid you 20% it would be losing money and you would be taking a subs ...

Typing this raised an interesting point: if a bank can borrow $1 from you, and loan out $5, at, say, 5% interest, shouldn't it be paying you something like 20% interest on that dollar?

Err.....n ...

"Unlike your doctor, lawyer, or accountant, your broker is not a 'fiduciary': that is, he is under no legal obligation to place your interest above his."

Some great quotes, but this one ...

Is Technical Analysis a Waste of Time?

Not at all. Just like tarot reading, you can make a good living writing books on the subject.

You'd need to look at the balance sheet (and other information) in order to make an assesment. If you are not comfortable reading a balance sheet, I'd say no for the reason you gave - don't invest in ...

With local bank deposits and money market funds yielding close to zero, I decided to put most of what I would normally allocate to cash into a mix of short term bonds and writing deep out of the money ...

Entry point and valuations matter when it comes to future returns.

Is this an endorsement of market timing? Shocked

I got 79 (estimate was 70).

Maybe I should relocate to a blackjack table in Macau or Las Vegas?

Like bluto, the low interest rate environment influenced some of my answers.

If I took the test ...

Thanks for posting these links. Some lessons for those who pull the trigger too early or without stress testing their portfolios adequately.

Out of curiosity, if you don't mind me asking, when d ...

Generally. hardcover for books that I plan to keep and use as reference materials and paperback for everything else.

I'd echo whitemiata's advice to stick with the major brands. focus on ergonomics and to allocate more money to your lens(es) than to the camera itself.

A sharp "standard" prime lens is th ...

In Hong Kong the story is much the same - investors invested in simple products like stocks, bonds and real estate. Investments in derivatives fell significantly during the crisis although there is so ...

In case you thought safe deposit boxes were all that safe: http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Front_Page/FJ06Aa01.html

The reporting is pretty poor, but essentially what happened was that DBS w ...

The clause is both reasonable and standard for many industries. for very obvious reasons, no company wants an employee to be also working for a competitor at the same time. Also, if you are a full ti ...

Once only: the bank debited the same cheque from my account twice. It only took one phone call to have the problem fixed. I also got a written letter of apology and a desk diary in the post a few day ...

Which would hurt you the most:

1. the regret factor if you switch now and MSFT outperforms the index fund

2. the real pain if you delay switching and MSFT underperforms the index fund?

It's the tax issue that is the killer.

As you point out, you get penalised pretty hard on investments outside NZ/Aus under the current tax regime. You also have to pay full tax on income received ...

#5 - Other

When the time comes we hope to be able to live of rent, dividends and interest without drawing down on capital. With a potential need for the money to last 50 years, I am concerned about ...

"Paper, rock scissors,: game theory in everyday life" by Len Fisher.

A bit basic, but an enjoyable read.

What is the rate of duty on imported wine in Vietnam? Whenever I have visited (admitedly not for a few years), I hove found the beer to be cheap and the wine very expensive - at least in part because ...

At least he is conducting the fire sale before he goes broke and is not waiting for his creditors to do it for him.

It would help if "aggressive" was defined. It means different things to different people. Some may regard 30% equities/ 70% bonds/TIPS/cash as being aggressive. Others may regard 100% in a ...

This debate makes me think that I was lucky to:

1. enter the work force in 1990 when it was already well recognised that demographic factors (aging population) made social security and the like uns ...

On a hot summer day - either a chardonnay or pinot gris chilled a little bit more than is normally recommended

For reds - depends on the food but some of the less well known names from a good vinta ...

With fees like that, maybe we should put our money in bank shares instead of bank accounts... Rolling Eyes

I've been investing in residential real estate for about 17 years. So far I have experienced none of the horror stories which others have recounted in this thread. I've also had relatively little in t ...

About 15 minutes.

I used to have a 40 minute commute and hated every minute of it.