RTP, NC Chapter Meeting 12 Noon Apr 17, 2010

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Steve Thorpe
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RTP, NC Chapter Meeting 12 Noon Apr 17, 2010

Post by Steve Thorpe »

Hello Research Triangle Park NC Area Bogleheads,

Please mark your calendars for the next local chapter meeting scheduled for 12 Noon Saturday April 17, 2010. [EDITED to update the time - Steve]

Professor Ed Tower from Duke University's Economics Department has kindly agreed once again to host the meeting -- assuming the expected crowd doesn't grow too large in which case we can scout out a different venue. I'll post a reminder update as the time draws closer, with a strawman agenda as well as directions. For now just wanted to let folks know the date so as to get it on your calendars.

Could you please let me know if you're planning to attend? That way we can best estimate how many to prepare for.

Also FYI for those local 'heads not already on the list, I set up a Yahoo "rtpbogleheads" email list for our local chapter. Please consider joining the list to help our chapter communications (see below for joining details). From the group's description:
Welcome to the yahoo group of the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Area Bogleheads Chapter. The Bogleheads are an investing and personal finance interest group inspired by the example of Jack Bogle, the founder of the Vanguard mutual fund company.

This list is primarily to foster easy communications among our local chapter members, in particular regarding reminders and logistics on upcoming meetings which we hope to hold approximately quarterly. All are encouraged to continue use the national forum (bogleheads.org) for most postings.

Please stick to the spirit of the national chapter's forum policies and etiquette: basically, keep to investing topics and stay away from politics. Further details on posting etiquette can be found here: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=405

Initially this list will be configured to allow through all member postings in an un-moderated fashion, though adjustments may be made later as deemed appropriate by the list manager.

If you're interested to know of other local Boglehead chapters, please see the Google Map maintained by Mel Lindauer at http://www.lostsprings.com/diehards/chapters/

Thank you!

Steve Thorpe
RTP Area Bogleheads Chapter Organizer
rtpbogleheads Yahoo Group Addresses are:

Code: Select all

Subscribe:          rtpbogleheads-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Post message:       rtpbogleheads@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe:        rtpbogleheads-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner:         rtpbogleheads-owner@yahoogroups.com
Group home page:    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rtpbogleheads
Please feel free to PM me if you have questions about yahoo group logistics.

Best wishes.
Steve Thorpe
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Steve Thorpe
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Update on April 17 RTP Bogleheads Meeting

Post by Steve Thorpe »

Hello everyone,

Just want to send a reminder on the upcoming RTP area Bogleheads chapter meeting, now scheduled for 12 noon Saturday April 17 at Ed Tower's Raleigh home. Note the time has been updated from when it was first announced. Also note that light brunch food will be provided (bagels and cream cheese).

If you plan to attend, could you please let me know so Ed and I can setup accordingly?

Also please see the proposed agenda below. You may wish to consider presenting something during the "Show and Tell".

Thanks and look forward to seeing you Saturday!


RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK BOGLEHEADS MEETING 3
12 Noon Saturday April 17, 2010

VENUE
Ed Tower's Raleigh home.

Directions per offline exchange with Ed: "611 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC 27604. It is close to the KrispyKreme store in Raleigh. Go East on Peace Street, turn left at the KrispyKreme store (north on Person Street). Take your first right after 25 feet (east on Boundary Street), and then your first right (south on Bloodworth), and then your first left (east on Polk Street). Then the house is 2.5 blocks on the left."

Light brunch food will be provided (bagels and cream cheese).

PROPOSED AGENDA
Meeting starts promptly at 12 Noon

1. Welcome / Introductions (5-10 minutes)

2. Updates from our host, Duke University Economics Professor Ed Tower (~15 minutes)

Ed just finished a draft of a paper on Islamic investing and obtained some surprising results that he'd like to share.

Also he'll talk a bit about the Practical Financial History course by Smithers and Wright he recently attended. There were some useful insights there.

Finally Ed will show why most of his spreadsheet is red (bearish) -- at least the part with US equities in it.

3. Boglehead author Dr. William Bernstein's BH 8 Presentation (~25 minutes)

Bill Bernstein spoke at the Bogleheads 8 meeting on four things he learned during the recent financial meltdown. Thanks to Sunny's efforts I have the DVDs, so we can enjoy a taste of the national meeting right here in the Triangle.

4. Show and Tell

This is an open invitation to any interested attendees to do a short spiel on anything you have been thinking about. You're not required but are encouraged to share something interesting with the group. Note we hope to have wireless Internet access available, so one idea might be to bring your laptop and demo your favorite investment related web site. (Or rather, your SECOND favorite site as probably everyone is already familiar with your *favorite* investment-related site :D )

This should be a fun part!

5. (If there is time): Open Q&A: Bring your question(s) for fellow Bogleheads and let's share our ideas!

6. Planning for our next meeting

When?: 9:30 AM Saturday August 7, 14, 21, or 28?

What?: Any suggested topics?

- guest appearances by other local experts?
- perhaps we could invite NC State's economist Dr. Michael Walden?
- Other ideas?

Where?

7. Meeting adjourns at approximately 1:45-2:00 PM
Steve Thorpe
wenzee
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Sorry i won't be able to make it.

Post by wenzee »

I am hoping for a good summary of the minutes of the meeting.
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Post by Steve Thorpe »

Just a reminder about Saturday's meeting. Looks like we may have a total of around 6-7 people, based on the responses received so far. If you're planning to attend but haven't let me know, please send me a message so we can prepare accordingly. Thanks and look forward to the meeting at noon Saturday!
Steve Thorpe
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Steve Thorpe
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Post by Steve Thorpe »

Hi Bogleheads,

Earlier today five Bogleheads enjoyed the 3rd Research Triangle Park, NC chapter meeting. Ed Tower kindly hosted the event at his Raleigh home, where we enjoyed delightful springtime weather and his very relaxing back porch.

Two hours flew by in a heartbeat! Our intriguing conversation was all over the map and its difficult to recap it in these notes. However to give a flavor for those who were unable to attend I'll mention a few of the topics below:
  • A couple of books that came out at the peak of the 2000 dot.com bubble: Shiller's "Irrational Exuberance" and Smithers & Wright's "Valuing Wall Street". These were quite influential on Ed's investment approach.
  • Mutual funds with an Islamic investment philosophy that avoid investing in highly leverage companies and appear to be less volatile than many other equity approaches
  • Happiness being based on YOU and your innate baseline level of happiness, much more so than factors like the amount of $ you have, investment gains/losses, etc. whose effects on happiness are rather ephemeral
  • Bill Bernstein is a very smart guy!
  • It is fun to compare and contrast different RIA firms' ADV forms, which are all publicly available
  • Schwab's private investment services
  • Yield (risk-seeking) bond funds vs. "boring" (lower-risk) bond funds
  • The first Bogleheads book
  • Long-held Walmart stock that's significantly appreciated in value over a few decades
  • Upcoming babies and "sympathetic weight gain" on the part of soon-to-be-daddies (you know who you are! :lol: )
  • 0% long-term capital gains tax rates for certain tax brackets that expire after 2010
  • Suitability of different asset classes for taxable vs. tax-advantaged accounts
  • Burton G. Malkiel's "A Random Walk Down Wall Street"
  • Being a police officer
  • Simba's excellent backtesting spreadsheet
  • The Permanent Portfolio
  • dandan14 shared a detailed spreadsheet he developed to help evaluate expected returns on possible real estate investment opportunities
  • Recapturing depreciation when selling long-held real estate
  • I shared a spreadsheet demonstrating an MSN plugin that automatically downloads the latest prices for ticker symbols you enter
  • A different tab on the same spreadsheet showed the use of conditional formatting to adjust the cell colors (green vs. yellow vs. red) to make it easy to identify when your asset classes are nearing or exceeding your risk tolerance bands
  • Due to our active conversation, time passed very quickly and unfortunately we didn't have a chance to watch Bill Bernstein's BH 8 presentation :(
What a fun time!

We've tentatively scheduled the next RTP Area chapter meeting for 9:30-11:30 AM Saturday July 31, again at Ed's home.

One thing we completely forgot to discuss was potential topics for future meetings. Perhaps we could try again on Bill's BH8 presentation? Does anyone like the idea of inviting in a guest for a short presentation? I'm wondering if there is interest in extending an invite to NC State's economist Dr. Michael Walden? Do folks have other ideas?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Steve

PS Thanks again Ed for being such a gracious host, and Tabs thank you for the delicious sweet tea :)
Steve Thorpe
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Post by LadyGeek »

Hi,

If you come up with a new date, please start a new thread. I search this forum for new meeting announcements which are then posted on the main wiki page (under Bogleheads Happenings).

If you ever want to find old meetings, select the Current Events link at the bottom of the box, then Archive for the year in question.

BTW - I like the conditional formatting for asset classes.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
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Steve Thorpe
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Post by Steve Thorpe »

LadyGeek wrote:Hi,

If you come up with a new date, please start a new thread. I search this forum for new meeting announcements which are then posted on the main wiki page (under Bogleheads Happenings).

If you ever want to find old meetings, select the Current Events link at the bottom of the box, then Archive for the year in question.

BTW - I like the conditional formatting for asset classes.
Hi LadyGeek,

Yes the conditional formatting is a real timesaver IMO, glad you like it!

I just added a new topic for the July 31 RTP Area Meeting. Please see http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53859

Really appreciate the Current Events on the wiki. Until your post I hadn't realized the chapter meetings were posted there!

All best,

Steve
Steve Thorpe
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