Search found 4080 matches

by dhodson
Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Sunscreen
Replies: 65
Views: 6185

By the way there are tons of physical sunscreens on the market. I don't sell them or get free lunches etc but ones I currently like include neutragena ultra sheer and of the physical variety blue lizard but that one can be a little thick.
by dhodson
Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Sunscreen
Replies: 65
Views: 6185

You do realize I am a dermatologist. While we could discuss vit d if desired, there is nothing wrong with milk or pills for vit d. I'm not really offended if you get a bunch of sun, since my subspecialty is MOHs surgery, I just make more money. Again, I get sun exposure bc it is how I chose to live my life but I'm not silly enough to think there isn't a risk.
by dhodson
Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:32 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The annuity puzzle
Replies: 145
Views: 12504

out of curiosity why do people feel it is unlikely for more than one insurance company to fail at the same time in the future? i imagine they invest in similar things and such.
by dhodson
Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Sunscreen
Replies: 65
Views: 6185

Depends on what you are trying to do: As an over simplification: in general the lighter your skin, the less sun exposure you can get in your lifetime before it causes skin cancer in particular basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. Additionally the more sun exposure will lead to premature signs of aging such as wrinkles, brown spots, sun keratoses, and easy bruising. The most vulnerable areas to these type of problems are the face in particular the ears and nose, neck, distal arms including back of hands and distal legs. Basal cell almost never metastasizes and squamous cell does so but infrequently. Melanoma also has a sun component but there are other factors with a strong genetic contribution. Burning may have more of a component to mel...
by dhodson
Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:09 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The annuity puzzle
Replies: 145
Views: 12504

it seems to me to be silly to have no faith in SS but to also have perfect faith that 40-50 years down the road an insurance company could have zero problems paying their policies regardless of what shape they are in today. To me both are low risk although ill be betting SS will be modified some. Ill be interested to see down the road if insurance companies have serious problems with solvency from difficulties with LTCi sales but thats another matter. Too often things that are considered safe become unsafe and thus for me, i prefer liquidity but ill need to plan accordingly and save more.
by dhodson
Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:46 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The annuity puzzle
Replies: 145
Views: 12504

my problem with such an article is that it pretends to be giving non biased advice. This author undoubtedly is aware of the disadvantages, cherry picks just a few he can somewhat counter, and isnt trying to present them fairly.
by dhodson
Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:22 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Using Life Insurance for LTC Insurance
Replies: 18
Views: 1500

to me the idea about using whole life in this situation is as follows..... if you already were suckered into whole life as an investment then you have limited options on what to do. You can cash surrender, exchange into an annuity, or change your focus to now the primary reason for keeping being having a permanent death benefit. With that last reason in mind, if its a large whole life policy then the cash surrender value in retirement could be enough to use for ltc costs. Not likely a great way to start a plan but once you have paid the upfront costs of whole life, something to consider. there are numerous potential prbs with ltci. as has been stated previous policies had tons of loop holes that the industry purposefully has exploited. the ...
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 4:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Variable annuity for retirement income
Replies: 15
Views: 2453

it would be great if it were a savings account since she wouldnt need to pay taxes like when taking out from an ira. id suggest putting all the details on the table. her health, where the money is located, other potential sources or drains of the income matter.
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is 50x current earnings possible (life insurance policy)?
Replies: 15
Views: 1475

academics is also the only real numbers you can get. all other numbers are pretty much worthless since high paying specialties "try not to fill out these surveys".
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Military Investing
Replies: 125
Views: 65481

awesome post a few additional thoughts i had: the comments about car dealers preying on you is very true. this is inparticularly true while deployed. i deployed for the invasion in 2003 and even then there were associations in kuwait selling cars and bikes to soldiers. these seem like good deals at the time since you are given the impression you will have a lot paid off before you return home but they are not good deals. You should do as emergdoc suggested with saving the money. it will make a huge difference in your life down the road. The GI bill benefits can be transferred to kids. Do it now if you know you wont use the benefits before this gets changed. its a great deal. while im actually not a big aafes fan (not that i hate them just t...
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Variable annuity for retirement income
Replies: 15
Views: 2453

Johm221122 wrote:I hope she lives to be 100+. if marc thought it was serious enough he would just take it out of capital.this is his mom ,why gamble,anuities immediate have never lost money.What if we have 50% drop
of course it is his mom. im actually not aware of anyone investing to support a robot so i assume everyone who is investing for someone cares about that person.

taylor pretty much covered the other reasons
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 1:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Variable annuity for retirement income
Replies: 15
Views: 2453

all depends on how serious the heart problems are. if they are significant then she isnt likely to make it to 100 (no offense to the OP or his mother).
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 11:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is 50x current earnings possible (life insurance policy)?
Replies: 15
Views: 1475

i personally think you should consider SS. You may wish to consider a reduction in benefits compared to current projections but i wouldnt ignore it totally. While there may seem like no harm to extra savings, there are opportunity costs for 529 plans and just things you give up like a car (just an example which may not be your passion). in my view the people who want you to totally ignore SS are doing so bc they want to put you into something they get a commission from. Id consider SS a weak pension that will likely pay for just the extreme basics in a lifestyle below average but liveable and leave no room for any enjoyment. It must be added to for pretty much everyone.
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:38 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: PC Speed Increase from 8 GB RAM + 10,000 RPM Drive?
Replies: 41
Views: 4044

I think you are better off buying a new i7 computer. Look at the hot deals forum on slickdeals.net. The costs of these upgrades are such that you will be very close to a new computer. While a SSD is great, it's really still for serious computer users. A new computer will come with win7 and likely 6-8gigs of memory. Usually once a week there is a really good deal.
by dhodson
Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:10 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best high speed internet provider
Replies: 24
Views: 3933

Dsl is all about how close you are to the CO.

The review sites can tell you. Additionally you can call AT&T and find out what is the fastest speed they can offer you. If they say 3 then avoid.
by dhodson
Sat Jun 04, 2011 11:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is 50x current earnings possible (life insurance policy)?
Replies: 15
Views: 1475

While I feel brudude is a good person, in his example, if the client did develope an autoimmune disorder within the first two years, many carriers would take a second look at his medical record to find some evidence that possibly he had the condition earlier and might recind the policy.
by dhodson
Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is 50x current earnings possible (life insurance policy)?
Replies: 15
Views: 1475

Really no such thing as a specialist for docs.

Agents like docs bc we have larger policies so many will say they are.

If it were me I'd just wait bc your risk is so low for the next 1-2 yes that you will either die or become uninsurable and since the longest you can go is a 30 yr policy, you are missing out on the policy you do purchase covering a higher risk year of your life. With that said, you might not feel comfortable with that risk for the next year or two. Of course you can just reup in a few years to solve that problem. How old are you and at what age do you think you will not need insurance.
by dhodson
Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Best high speed internet provider
Replies: 24
Views: 3933

Stick with cable

AT&T will typically be slower

Typical max dsl is 6 down but you need to be close to their CO

I live in Roswell and only option is dsl to my house

My network is wired and I have pauses with Netflix
by dhodson
Sat Jun 04, 2011 5:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is 50x current earnings possible (life insurance policy)?
Replies: 15
Views: 1475

Just don't use guardian for your investing/retirement planning. I unfortunately made that mistake.
by dhodson
Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:00 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Job offer advice: Need to negotiate?
Replies: 21
Views: 2290

your post says they offer a 401k and a defined contribution plan but a 401k is a defined contribution plan. They may offer a defined benefit plan (pension) in addition to the defined contribution plan (401k) and if they do then that is great. if not then you may wish to edit your post.
by dhodson
Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:32 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cordless electric lawn mowers - yea or nay?
Replies: 26
Views: 4397

id vote no bc there will be times when the lawn is too wet or too long for this to work. batteries over time will probably equal cost of gas.
by dhodson
Tue May 31, 2011 12:18 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Most complex, "anti-Boglehead" investments
Replies: 52
Views: 7865

there is no particular reason why keeping it simple should provide the best returns or is the best investment per say.

what seems to happen however is that if something is more complicated then it is easier for someone to either scam you or to put you into something wrong because they dont understand it but still want the commission.

i previously would have thought that i was more immune to such garbage but i now know this not to be true. its probably more accurate to say keeping it simple is protective in general and will provide enough returns.
by dhodson
Mon May 30, 2011 8:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Most complex, "anti-Boglehead" investments
Replies: 52
Views: 7865

412i and 412e

This what really happens

http://lifeauditors.com/editorials/whit ... -plans.htm
by dhodson
Mon May 30, 2011 7:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Permanent life insurance
Replies: 16
Views: 2412

once they start families, buy term insurance for them.
by dhodson
Mon May 30, 2011 12:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Question for doctors about NHSC loan repayment program
Replies: 12
Views: 1744

170k/5 = 34k per year A med student can enter a specialty training and more than easily make up this difference and have little hardship paying off his loans. i agree. these programs actually work out "better" if they get you to sign before you have debt. The reason for this is that many early med students dont realize they can make enough to cover this debt. I never realized i would make over 300k per year until my last year of medical school. Thus if you wait until people graduate to attract them, they wont go for it as much. Now i believe this program actually attempts to target primary care which of course makes less as a general rule. in my situation, i joined the military at age 17 to at first go to college and doubled my o...
by dhodson
Mon May 30, 2011 12:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Question for doctors about NHSC loan repayment program
Replies: 12
Views: 1744

while im not trying to say his statement is accurate, a more correct statement would be underserved are underserved for reasons. its not just luck. one of these reasons could be and is at times the malpractice environment. as a grossly oversimplified statement, in some if not many of these areas there is a higher percentage of medicaid and non insured. In that type of environment, for multiple reasons, one might find that the population has less to lose by attempting a lawsuit. now this would be just one possible reason for underserved and i think its actually a small reason. i personally believe that you will make less money and by definition it isnt an area where everyone wants to live. there are very few "gold mines" where nobo...
by dhodson
Mon May 30, 2011 10:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Permanent life insurance
Replies: 16
Views: 2412

you will find that as a general rule on this forum, most people discourage permanent insurance as an investment. if you want a permanent death benefit then buy permanent insurance. If that isnt your primary goal then don't. There are better alternatives for investing.

What i find funny is the mods seem to be perplexed and possibly irritated by all the insurance questions but in reality this should be expected. As the bogleheads get older, it actually is going to be more common to see posts about insurance. (ps i am not an agent)
by dhodson
Mon May 30, 2011 7:34 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Question for doctors about NHSC loan repayment program
Replies: 12
Views: 1744

That's different from what I've heard, although maybe I'm thinking of a different program. I've heard of a few upper years at my school getting into the scholarship program offered by the National Health Service Corps, and with roughly 10+ applicants per scholarship slot, that strikes me as somewhat competitive. It's the same spiel you mention - in exchange for having your tuition paid, you commit to service in an under-served rural area for a minimum of two years, with the underlying hope being that you'll choose to stay in the area past your service commitment since many rural areas are in need of practitioners. Besides the National Health Service Corp program, there are others that offer similar benefits in exchange for service. At my s...
by dhodson
Sun May 29, 2011 9:47 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Question for doctors about NHSC loan repayment program
Replies: 12
Views: 1744

while its difficult to know exactly why (i graduated from med school 15 years ago), i imagine the difficulty is like this....after 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and between 3-9 years of residency/fellowship, most people dont want to delay gratification any longer and thus dont want to live or feel forced to live in these locations. obviously if they are underserved, other people did not find the locations all that great. while to an outsider it might seem like another 5 years isnt a big deal, nobody is getting younger and many of these location may not have great potential from a business standpoint. Personally i joined the military to pay for my education. Glad i did. I was 17 at the time so didnt really know what i was do...
by dhodson
Sat May 28, 2011 12:50 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Annuity to pay premiums on Universal life ins
Replies: 38
Views: 2935

i would sit down with a one time fee advisor after thinking about this for a little while (not too long since money going to the UL is wasted if you cancel it). Make sure your goals are clear. you wont be able to be wishy washy. If you cancel the insurance, u wont be able to get it back. you also have to be accurate about living a long time. also keep in mind that although you paid 80k to get a 200k death benefit, if you live a long time, 200k will be closer to the equivalent of 80k in todays dollars. thus for me the issue is if i want to bet im living a very long time, then the GUL isnt so great. If i want to bet that i might die sooner then id get the most bang just keeping with what i have. ill be interested to see the other responses.
by dhodson
Sat May 28, 2011 12:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Annuity to pay premiums on Universal life ins
Replies: 38
Views: 2935

while i wouldnt want the UL if i were you, the question is do you want UL since you are you. out of the additional info you sent, do you want or will your children want to sell the house and do you think selling the house is a no brainer in terms of ease and able to get something reasonable for it. If the house has a lot of sentimental value to someone in the family, then the insurance could help out. if it is just a monetary asset that you and your family will definitely sell then that is less of a concern in my view. you also seem to have concerns over long term care. there is of course insurance for that. id personally only consider single payment or limited payment plans since other plans in my view are likely to have rates which i woul...
by dhodson
Sat May 28, 2011 8:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Annuity to pay premiums on Universal life ins
Replies: 38
Views: 2935

most would say yes that it was too expensive but you dont seem to mind that much. you also seem unlikely to be putting forth the time/energy in the future to manage this situation (which is fine), so you should expect costs that others would not be willing to pay. ill end by saying, if you come to a site about self investing then your should expect most people on this site would avoid what many of us would consider excessive fees. that doesnt sound like you. you should probably just stick with what you have then. wishing u the best.
by dhodson
Fri May 27, 2011 1:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Whole Life Insurance
Replies: 110
Views: 15053

b/c what people would do is buy the least amount of insurance possible and overfund it to the hill to pass on money to their heirs (mostly rich people which has little to do with smart people as opposed to your comment). they want to avoid the normal whole life insurance part as much as possible since that part is an extremely poor investment. as ive mentioned its useful for a permanent death benefit. As an investment, not so much.
by dhodson
Fri May 27, 2011 12:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Whole Life Insurance
Replies: 110
Views: 15053

flgatorray wrote:I have been selling insurance and investments for 15 years. It's funny to hear so many people who don't believe in whole life insurance yet the smart people keep buying tons of it.
A really ridiculous statement. Buy permanent insurance for a perm death benefit. Everything else is questionable at best.
by dhodson
Fri May 27, 2011 8:05 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Whole Life Insurance
Replies: 110
Views: 15053

depends on when u cherry pick the numbers. most whole life policies arent much over premiums at that point. i consider that "being sneaky" and thats about as kindly as i can put it.
by dhodson
Fri May 27, 2011 7:35 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Whole Life Insurance
Replies: 110
Views: 15053

that is a useless comment. if u want to say that you feel the returns are fine for the lower level of risk of an insurance guarantee then fine but with all investments one needs to look at the return for the risk. given permanent insurance isnt likely to pay off until several decades later, most people would agree that over the long haul its a poor return compared to a very likely much higher return for equities. if the world is ending and equities tank over the long haul then you wont be getting much in the way of dividends.
by dhodson
Thu May 26, 2011 6:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Whole Life Insurance
Replies: 110
Views: 15053

I'm not sure why whole life is better for term from a business perspective. If u can get 30 yr term then that would suffice for your working years and u could have invested the difference if u actually need money beyond 30 yrs
by dhodson
Thu May 26, 2011 5:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Why purchase whole life insurance?
Replies: 88
Views: 9512

I guess I didn't make my point.
There is nothing wrong with what you do however, those 3rd party will not want to ruin their image with the insurance end of the financial industry and thus they either won't get involved or will only say things behind closed doors. Mostly that policy has value as a cya event. Nothing wrong with that but the client isn't getting much out of it. In my case, I had an accountant present when the agent gave wrong fair market values for the purchase of wl from the 412i. The agent now says the accountant who had never seen a 412i should have known what I was getting into and doesn't take any responsibilty.
by dhodson
Thu May 26, 2011 5:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Banking Deposits by iPhone!
Replies: 24
Views: 2277

Only prb with usaa is the 10k per day limit

Thus for large checks it isn't helpful
by dhodson
Thu May 26, 2011 5:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Why purchase whole life insurance?
Replies: 88
Views: 9512

while that may seem like a noble policy, most accountants etc wont do that either bc they are afraid it will hurt their business or they will get drawn into junk/legal mess. if u ask them privately though they will tell u stories about what x insurance sales person did or asked them to do.
by dhodson
Wed May 25, 2011 8:46 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wealth Management entry $$
Replies: 3
Views: 692

i think what happens is when advisors get enough clients that they are making a good living, they try to cherry pick the better paying scenarios. If you have more money to invest then very likely, you will be paying more dollars to the advisor. New advisors typically have fewer clients and dont have this luxury. dont think it is company specific.
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 8:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Why purchase whole life insurance?
Replies: 88
Views: 9512

Friend yes
Someone I don't know, I use bigger words
I email and post from my iPhone so I have lots of shorthand
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 4:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Travelling and Vacation Tips: What places are worth seeing?
Replies: 39
Views: 5231

Hawaii
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 3:26 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Annuity to pay premiums on Universal life ins
Replies: 38
Views: 2935

the last part of his post

am i missing something

i personally take that as the door is open for conversation on the issue about what he might or might not be missing. what is really happening in this thread is that people including myself are focusing on a very small pieces of incomplete information to make statements to support their argument. i really dont think anyone has attached the OP. certainly if this is an attack, its very mild.

OP if u dont mind, could you better spell out if leaving money at death is your primary and most important goal.
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 3:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Why purchase whole life insurance?
Replies: 88
Views: 9512

funny to see what people focus on. certainly there is no intent to offend anyone. its not like the all caps scenario where someone is trying to scream.
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 3:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Annuity to pay premiums on Universal life ins
Replies: 38
Views: 2935

u can more easily change your estate decisions the way i was proposing. i would also venture to say that squandering is much more likely when u are given a large sum of money at once. certainly statistics on lottery winners shows that. why even bring up concern about squandering then?

in the end, it doesnt matter for this conversation.
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 2:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Annuity to pay premiums on Universal life ins
Replies: 38
Views: 2935

its funny but i would have been more forgiving if someone did claim that about this OP

i will take exception to the idea that

2. Give money to kids right now. Accomplishes goal of passing wealth, but may use of some of lifetime gift exclusion, and may lead to the money being prematurely squandered.

the reason being is he/she uses the spia to give these people money yearly then if they squander it then no soup for u next year. after death, its pretty hard to stop any squandering that might occur. I plan to come back after the next rapture as a ghost in order to stop the squandering. 8-)
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 2:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Why purchase whole life insurance?
Replies: 88
Views: 9512

basically only buy permanent insurance if u want a permanent death benefit. Agents typically like to convince u that u need this and bogleheads like to think u dont bc if u invest correctly, it shouldnt be necessary. The industry has lots of creative ways to make u think its a good investment but its a good permanent insurance and really not much of a good investment. if u can buy 30 year term for the amount u need then that is what i would do. i personally believe most people dont need a permanent death benefit and especially feel that way for people who plan early and save. now if u really really want to leave money at death and feel u can do so without impacting your financial well being in the interim, then perm insurance is a good way ...
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 11:49 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Financial Advice for 32 YO couple
Replies: 17
Views: 3055

id contribute up to the match even though the loads may be bad. hard to beat doubling your money even with those loads.
by dhodson
Tue May 24, 2011 11:30 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Annuity to pay premiums on Universal life ins
Replies: 38
Views: 2935

looking on usaa.com they only offer WL and UL and not GUL. if GUL is sold, its hidden.