Search found 1427 matches

by MindBogler
Wed Oct 25, 2023 2:12 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Billionaire in 70 years???
Replies: 37
Views: 6901

Re: Billionaire in 70 years???

Me in 70 years: A billion ain't what it used to be.
by MindBogler
Mon Oct 23, 2023 10:45 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fast Money: Verizon $10/mo discount per line retention credit
Replies: 40
Views: 8890

Re: Fast Money: Verizon $10/mo discount per line retention credit

I just went through the process, we have 3 lines. We'll see in a day or so, I guess.
by MindBogler
Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any tips about owning a bunny?
Replies: 106
Views: 8778

Re: Any tips about owning a bunny?

Bunnies will eat the carpets and chew on the drywall. Ask me how I know.
by MindBogler
Mon Sep 04, 2023 7:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: There is a winner and loser for each stock trade?
Replies: 62
Views: 5058

Re: There is a winner and loser for each stock trade?

Winning or losing in the transaction is all relative. All you can say is that for every buyer there was a seller or vice versa. Whether the trade was profitable or not depends on what happened before or after that moment, holding periods, etc.
by MindBogler
Fri Sep 01, 2023 9:24 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay down your Mortgage
Replies: 60
Views: 8632

Re: Pay down your Mortgage

fiverus wrote: Fri Sep 01, 2023 9:10 am Looking for suggestions to pay down my mortgage.

My interest rate is 3.75%. Sending the back a separate check each month, marked PAY-DOWN OF PRINCICPAL?
I agree with not aggressively paying it down. It's better to make a separate fund and invest, especially with earning more on cash than your mortgage paydown. In a couple years if the return on cash is lower than 3.75% it might make sense to lump sum into the mortgage. That itch sometimes needs to be scratched though so if you feel compelled to do something, split the difference. I throw about $300 a month at mine and invest the rest (1-2k+). It's not optimal but it feels productive.
by MindBogler
Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Donating I bonds to avoid capital gains tax
Replies: 33
Views: 3206

Re: Donating I bonds to avoid capital gains tax

Why not hold on to them until you retire? They're a great income bridge if you want to do Roth conversions.
by MindBogler
Wed Aug 30, 2023 12:31 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Being scammed, what to do next?
Replies: 40
Views: 5901

Re: Being scammed, what to do next?

02nz wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 11:25 am If it sounds too good to be true ...
:beer
by MindBogler
Thu Aug 17, 2023 8:00 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Portfolio Analyzer
Replies: 14
Views: 2283

Re: Portfolio Analyzer

LifeIsGood wrote: Thu Aug 17, 2023 4:49 am
MindBogler wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:16 am Interactive Brokers has a tool that is called Portfolio Analyzer. Unfortunately, it isn't working correctly with Fidelity right now due to some changes they are implementing (at Fidelity).
I'm finding Portfolio Analyzer on IB. Is that what I'm looking for?
Yes, that is the tool.
by MindBogler
Wed Aug 16, 2023 5:51 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Millionaire by 40 and How you Did it?
Replies: 352
Views: 74765

Re: Millionaire by 40 and How you Did it?

I was almost 42 (close enough) when it happened. The story is nothing special around these parts. We bought our first house when I was 22yo, which was a major strain on our budget. We paid off all our non-mortgage debt, maxed out two 401ks, did backdoor Roth and saved the remainder we could afford after living life in taxable accounts. We didn't start investing in large amounts until 2012 or so. We aren't frugal but not spendthrifts, either. We take at least one big vacation a year, typically to a foreign country. Dual income, upper-middle class, 1 kid. Neither of our families are wealthy and we've received zero external financial support. The market over the last 10 years did much of the heavy lifting.
by MindBogler
Wed Aug 16, 2023 5:33 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Lessons from 2007 -2009
Replies: 143
Views: 18234

Re: Lessons from 2007 -2009

jebmke wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2023 5:05 pm
MindBogler wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2023 5:01 pm The lesson I learned is that many investors who starts their journey in a bull market overestimate their risk tolerance.
Depends how old they are :P .

I started investing ~ 1980. There was a pretty good run up after that until we had a small hiccup in 1987 and the market dropped 22% in one day. My wife was in the investing business at the time. Tensions were high. After that there were several ups and downs. The tech bubble was a setback. But, by 2007 we had a pretty good feel for our risk profile and how it might change given my pending retirement (December, 2007).
This is true. I started investing in 1998 so I learned my lesson early, before too much damage could be done. :beer
by MindBogler
Wed Aug 16, 2023 5:01 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Lessons from 2007 -2009
Replies: 143
Views: 18234

Re: Lessons from 2007 -2009

The lesson I learned is that many investors who start their journey in a bull market overestimate their risk tolerance.
by MindBogler
Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:16 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Portfolio Analyzer
Replies: 14
Views: 2283

Re: Portfolio Analyzer

Interactive Brokers has a tool that is called Portfolio Analyzer. Unfortunately, it isn't working correctly with Fidelity right now due to some changes they are implementing (at Fidelity).
by MindBogler
Tue Aug 15, 2023 11:08 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How much gold should you hold in your portfolio?
Replies: 195
Views: 17936

Re: How much gold should you hold in your portfolio?

I don't hold any gold, but if it helps someone sleep well at night to have a small allocation, who cares? People make plenty of suboptimal decisions to help them sleep at night. Gold is likely to retain its value beyond most of our lives unless we start mining asteroids soon, so it isn't any worse than having too high of a % allocated to bonds, which are almost all losing real value at this point.
by MindBogler
Sun Aug 13, 2023 10:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is it always worth it to spend down savings in order to defer Social Security benefits?
Replies: 132
Views: 12622

Re: Is it always worth it to spend down savings in order to defer Social Security benefits?

I think many people overestimate how long they are likely to live. People in general are very unhealthy (overweight, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes) so while this may not describe you, on average it describes many. I think people should analyze their own situation as honestly as possible. If you are in the unhealthy camp, particularly if retired, you have all the time in the world to improve your health. Removing the above risk factors is likely to improve your odds of living longer where delaying SS becomes a net benefit. If you fall into the above camp and have no desire to change, I would take SS as early as possible.
by MindBogler
Fri Aug 11, 2023 8:30 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why not liquidate all assets and buy tbills @5.5%?
Replies: 116
Views: 13919

Re: Why not liquidate all assets and buy tbills @5.5%?

It wouldn't be so crazy if you kept at least 25% of your stocks to mitigate the risk that you are wrong and the market keeps going up. If I were going to do something like this, I would lean towards the 1 year, maybe even a ladder of 4 quarters. I don't think 100% of anything is a good idea.
by MindBogler
Tue Aug 08, 2023 9:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Moving abandoned 401K to IRA
Replies: 14
Views: 956

Re: Moving abandoned 401K to IRA

Hi everyone, Wife left her job a few years ago for a nice opportunity but it didn't include a 401K. We do taxable and backdoor Roth for her. Her old 401K (balance ~$100K), is increasing the administrative fee up to 0.9% (it was .4). The fund options are pretty crap so I have her in a target date that has a .5% fee. I try to follow the 3 fund portfolio as best I can. I do mean .9% and .5%, not .09% or .05%, just to confirm. I would like to roll this over to a tIRA, for simplicity, and better fund management. However, will this ruin our backdoor Roth process? I would like to keep doing that but maybe it's time to just do a deductibe tIRA going forward since she gets no tax break at all (annual income ~$120K). Any advice or thoughts on this, ...
by MindBogler
Tue Aug 08, 2023 9:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to evict skunk family living under shed?
Replies: 69
Views: 8045

Re: How to evict skunk family living under shed?

Call a pest control company.
by MindBogler
Sun Aug 06, 2023 9:23 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Getting rid of my wallet?
Replies: 101
Views: 10637

Re: Getting rid of my wallet?

MrBobcat wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 3:38 pm I've been really happy with my Ridge Wallet, carry it in my front pocket.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M5 ... =UTF8&th=1
+1

I carry 3 credit cards, drivers license and a health insurance card. It's perfect.
by MindBogler
Thu Aug 03, 2023 8:02 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Did Morningstar rate a 94%-stocks fund to <50%-stocks peers?
Replies: 15
Views: 2431

Re: Did Morningstar rate an all-stocks fund in comparison to balanced-fund peers?

nisiprius wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 7:56 pm
syouth1 wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 4:27 pm ...I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Jeff Ptak
Morningstar Research Services
It does indeed, thank you.
One of the mods should confirm whether the poster is legitimately a Morningstar employee or an elaborate troll. It could be totally legit but I prefer to err on the side of caution.
by MindBogler
Tue Aug 01, 2023 8:52 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Kid friendly, all inclusive resort in Mexico/Caribbean? Feb 2024
Replies: 18
Views: 7589

Re: Kid friendly, all inclusive resort in Mexico/Caribbean? Feb 2024

We have done a few. Best bang for the buck is The Grand at Moon Palace. Quieter than the main moon palace resort as it’s more expensive, but worth it. A decent water park for a resort, couple of big slides and lazy river. The restaurants are easy, you just walk in to most. They have an indoor kids play area with arcade, bumper cars and rope walks. You want to stay near the family pool which is also near water park. It’s spread out so you do need to wait for a golf cart to come around to get to main hall but it’s frequent. Absolutely agree with the above. The kid-friendly Palace resorts are outstanding. Pay the extra money for private airport transportation to and from the resort, they'll pick up in a Suburban or similar. If the price of Th...
by MindBogler
Sat Jul 22, 2023 9:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Noise Canceling Over The Ear Headphones
Replies: 32
Views: 3216

Re: Noise Canceling Over The Ear Headphones

guyfromct wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2023 3:32 pm
LAFiddler wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2023 3:27 pm Another vote for the Sonys
How do they handle the gym?
Another vote for the Sony here. I used to travel for work, hundreds of flights a year sometimes and I wouldn’t trade the Sonys for anything. I don’t like over the ear headphones at the gym because I think they are too hot. If that isn’t an issue for you with other over the ear headphones then they will be comfortable.
by MindBogler
Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: My wife and I just closed on our first house
Replies: 33
Views: 2931

Re: My wife and I just closed on our first house

chantana wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:36 am My wife and I just closed on our first house and I am shopping for a mortgage. She is a physician so we are looking at doctor loans.

I am getting quoted:

30 yr fixed 6.75%
10 yr ARM 6.625%
7 yr ARM 6.50%
5 yr ARM 6.375%

What would you do in this environment?
Always fixed. If rates drop you can refinance, if they don't you could get squeezed by the ARMs.
by MindBogler
Tue Jul 11, 2023 11:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2023 raises [Salary]
Replies: 47
Views: 5884

Re: 2023 raises

Just got the call, I received the max of 3% at my megacorp. My understanding is that in better years the cap has been much higher.
by MindBogler
Tue Jul 11, 2023 9:55 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2023 raises [Salary]
Replies: 47
Views: 5884

Re: 2023 raises

Well they just announced raises for this year - they go into effect September 1 Performance reviews determine your raise on a 1-5 scale 1 - no raise 2 - 1.65% 3 - 2.65% 4 - 3.65% 5 - “no limit” I’m actually blown away how small they are considering last year it was 2.5%/3.5%/4.5% due to “high inflation” and prior 5 years it’s always been 2%/3%/4%. Seems like they’re clawing back that extra 0.5% they gave last year. I’ve gotten 4s the last 3 performance cycles but a change in how they calculate your score will possible knock me to a 3 this year. I will not be a happy camper. Wonder what other mega corps are doing. 3% hard cap at my mega corp. Earlier in the year we were told no raises at all, so I'll be less disgruntled with 3% but there is...
by MindBogler
Thu Jul 06, 2023 7:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: At what point in job search should I lower salary requirements?
Replies: 45
Views: 4652

Re: At what point in job search should I lower salary requirements?

The hiring manager and/or team who makes the hiring decision couldn't care less if you are paid 70k, 100k, or 200k. If you get an offer, at that stage you can consider what you want to negotiate for based on other factors Are frontline recruiters trying to nickle and dime you before you talk to anyone? No, that’s not the issue. There are just a lot of jobs that I’m qualified for that only pay $60k, so I don’t apply to them. I'll let you in on the first secret of making more than your peers: salary bands on job postings are not set in stone. If the job looks like a good fit you should apply anyway. I always avoid salary negotiation up front by talking about total compensation. If I'm forced to discuss salary early I always go too high. Trus...
by MindBogler
Thu Jul 06, 2023 7:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: At what point in job search should I lower salary requirements?
Replies: 45
Views: 4652

Re: At what point in job search should I lower salary requirements?

The hiring manager and/or team who makes the hiring decision couldn't care less if you are paid 70k, 100k, or 200k. If you get an offer, at that stage you can consider what you want to negotiate for based on other factors Are frontline recruiters trying to nickle and dime you before you talk to anyone? No, that’s not the issue. There are just a lot of jobs that I’m qualified for that only pay $60k, so I don’t apply to them. I'll let you in on the first secret of making more than your peers: salary bands on job postings are not set in stone. If the job looks like a good fit you should apply anyway. I always avoid salary negotiation up front by talking about total compensation. If I'm forced to discuss salary early I always go too high. Trus...
by MindBogler
Thu Jul 06, 2023 7:38 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: 718 Cayman GTS 4.0. Can I? Should I?
Replies: 103
Views: 9609

Re: 718 Cayman GTS 4.0. Can I? Should I?

You make a great salary and have saved a large amount for your age. If the car gives you pleasure, buy it. Why do you need the external validation?
by MindBogler
Wed Jul 05, 2023 12:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How Can I Self-educated on Airline Points/Miles
Replies: 166
Views: 13294

Re: How Can I Self-educated on Airline Points/Miles

This seems to be a complicated topic - I've listened to a few podcasts to get the feel for it, but I really need some kind of "points for dummies" tutorial. Any advice on where to start? Apparently people are fanatical about this. I don't need to get fancy, I just don't want to leave easy money on the table. An example of what I mean by confusing. I called AA to have them add miles from a recent trip to my AAdvantage account. The person I spoke with said "can I send to an offer for a Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®?" I said yes, and now I have an offer for this card, which includes 50,000 miles and $99 fee waived for first 12 months. Looks good, but there must be a hidden negative for someth...
by MindBogler
Tue Jun 20, 2023 6:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Confirm laptop screen brightness (nits)
Replies: 23
Views: 2418

Re: Confirm laptop screen brightness (nits)

You can buy a relatively cheap lux meter on Amazon or elsewhere and convert that value to nits. You'll need a 100 IRE test pattern to display full screen and you can find that on YouTube.

You could also spend a bit more and get a Spyder colorimeter and calibrate it. The meter measures brightness with the supplied software if I recall.
by MindBogler
Mon May 29, 2023 7:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: "Should couples combine finances or keep personal accounts?"
Replies: 236
Views: 25888

Re: "Should couples combine finances or keep personal accounts?"

Bogleheads: An important decision that all couples face is whether to keep separate or combined financial accounts. Pat and I were married 62 years. We started out with combined finances. She was a spender and I was a saver which began to undermine our marriage. Fortunately, we decided early to change to separate accounts which solved our problem. Accordingly I disagree with the findings of the study . What do you think? https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20230528210/should-couples-combine-finances-or-keep-separate-accounts-one-option-leads-to-a-happier-marriage-study-finds Best wishes. Taylor Jack Bogle's Words of Wisdom: “Learn every day, but especially from the experiences of others. It's cheaper!” Married 22 years and always ...
by MindBogler
Thu Apr 27, 2023 2:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?
Replies: 69
Views: 4733

Re: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?

quantAndHold wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 2:31 pm
MindBogler wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 2:14 pm
quantAndHold wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 2:09 pm Having a hard time figuring out why someone would be opposed to good corporate governance.
Because "good" is subjective in this context. Many investors are more interested in financial outcomes which may not be aligned with ESG's stated objectives.
You mean like Enron investors?
You're going to have to help me on your train of thought here.
by MindBogler
Thu Apr 27, 2023 2:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?
Replies: 69
Views: 4733

Re: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?

quantAndHold wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 2:09 pm Having a hard time figuring out why someone would be opposed to good corporate governance.
Because "good" is subjective in this context. Many investors are more interested in financial outcomes which may not be aligned with ESG's stated objectives.
by MindBogler
Thu Apr 27, 2023 1:52 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?
Replies: 69
Views: 4733

Re: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?

As a side note, I wish something would be done about index funds and others voting customer's shares they do not own. It's completely immoral.
by MindBogler
Thu Apr 27, 2023 1:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?
Replies: 69
Views: 4733

Re: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?

sailaway wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 1:16 pm
SmileyFace wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:25 pm I am guessing the OP is looking for a company that isn't/won't use their influence as a large shareholder of F500+ companies to push ESG agendas on their holdings (versus one that is merely not offering ESG based holdings). The belief is if shareholder focus shifts more towards ESG achievement it will shift away from Profitability achievement.
And yet, what companies are finding is that it increases profits and investments. They are not doing this because they have some kind of moral high ground.
Sure about that?
https://hbr.org/2022/03/an-inconvenient ... -investing
by MindBogler
Thu Apr 27, 2023 1:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?
Replies: 69
Views: 4733

Re: How to avoid ESG aligned investment companies ?

This is as valid of a question as its inverse, which doesn't seem to generate much, if any, controversy. I tend to agree that ESG is generally seeking outcomes that aren't maximizing shareholder value. Unfortunately, the acronym that got the thread locked is integrally linked with ESG by virtue of being one of the "KPIs" used to quantify a company's ESG score, so this topic now is an implicitly financial one whether we want to lock threads about that acronym or not.
by MindBogler
Sat Apr 15, 2023 6:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Would you dump $800k in the market right now?
Replies: 120
Views: 17347

Re: Would you dump $800k in the market right now?

I'll be the outlier: no. The risk free rate of 4.5% is higher than the earnings yield of the PE10 of SP500 (1/29.5 = 3.34%).
by MindBogler
Sat Apr 01, 2023 6:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Global Entry Interview Challenge
Replies: 106
Views: 16124

Re: Global Entry Interview Challenge

The sad thing is the interview is a formality, at least in my case. The TSA agent asked me one question and the whole thing was done in less than 2 minutes. I did interview on arrival in Calgary. I've been through this airport dozens of times. I recommend anyone interested in interview on arrival to take a trip to Banff to ski, etc., and interview at the Calgary airport. You go through customs inside the Calgary airport where American TSA agents are stationed. You can get there hours before you flight and wait on an agent that can do the interview.
by MindBogler
Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 211949

Re: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]

The system insured system wide bank failure in 2008. Not only did the system insure depositors, it also insured bondholders and shareholders. Which made it even more expensive (and created at least some moral hazard). If bank assets suddenly all become worthless overnight we've got bigger issues. Most likely in that case the Fed would have to step in and support asset values (which also happened in 2008). Not insuring deposits doesn't make any of this better. It makes it worse by concentrating risk at big banks and accelerating the panic if something goes wrong. To summarize: we have this industry that's critical to businesses and everyday people, and it takes great unnecessary risk that cannot be truly pooled since failures can cascade th...
by MindBogler
Thu Mar 16, 2023 7:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Should we put stay off the grass sign?
Replies: 29
Views: 2996

Re: Should we put stay off the grass sign?

Get off my lawn!
by MindBogler
Sat Mar 11, 2023 9:23 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How safe is VMFXX now?
Replies: 107
Views: 19246

Re: How safe is VMFXX now?

Thanks to all for the responses, truly appreciated and helpful. I do want to clarify though that while the calculator does indeed match my expectation of $1,000,000 protected, that is not what concerns me really. Instead it is the possibility that somehow something could slip through the cracks in a situation like this. I know that I requested years ago to make the account a POD account with 4 beneficiaries, and I know that the bank said they would do this, and their web interface now seems to reflect that this occurred successfully. But if the bank actually collapsed, how do I truly know that they have all of the proper record-keeping to pass along this information appropriately to the FDIC? How do I know that the FDIC will definitely reg...
by MindBogler
Sat Mar 11, 2023 9:01 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to store $1.5mm in cash ($500k SIPC coverage)
Replies: 31
Views: 6780

Re: Where to store $1.5mm in cash ($500k SIPC coverage)

Interactive Brokers also has a program for up to 2.5m in FDIC insurance:

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/a ... rogram.php
by MindBogler
Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:53 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 211949

Re: Bank stress from bond holdings - SVB

trirunner wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:51 am No worse case scenario. SVB already shut down and FDIC took over. In my opinion, a big nothing burger, bank fail even in good times.
The risk is that this spreads to other banks. Banks aren't paying enough interest to keep deposits. The 3mo treasury is at ~5% while banks are paying 4%.
by MindBogler
Fri Feb 10, 2023 8:58 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard CEO on Direct Indexing
Replies: 94
Views: 11580

Re: Vanguard CEO on Direct Indexing

The idea of voting shares is nice, but for most investors they have so little leverage that it is worthless. It's not like anyone from the company will meet with the random investor that has $10,000 or even $100,000 invested in a multi billion dollar company. I have part of my S&P 500 allocation in the VOTE ETF and that is a better directed way to affect change, if you agree with the values of the plan sponsor. Engine No. 1 does meet with companies and force proxy vote fights but they own single digit percentages of companies, not a few thousand shares. I'm concerned less with my own voting power than I am with reducing the influence of the biggest index funds over corporate affairs. If anything, index and mutual fund owners should hav...
by MindBogler
Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:35 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard CEO on Direct Indexing
Replies: 94
Views: 11580

Re: Vanguard CEO on Direct Indexing

If Direct Indexing would allow you to vote your shares (or disallow VG, et.al. doing so) on matters of interest, then it would be worth a minor cost, if any. I don't agree with the consolidation of corporate voting power into the hands of a few.
by MindBogler
Fri Sep 23, 2022 2:31 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: POLL: Peak to Bottom S&P 500 [percentage] Drop ?
Replies: 38
Views: 3361

Re: POLL: Peak to Bottom S&P 500 % Drop ?

hoofaman wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 1:53 pm I find it strange that the original meme stock Tesla hasn't really fallen much yet, I was expecting it to fall along with GME, SPCE, and AMC
TSLA really is an enigma. I hold neither long or short positions other than my share from indexes, just an observation.
by MindBogler
Fri Sep 23, 2022 1:03 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: POLL: Peak to Bottom S&P 500 [percentage] Drop ?
Replies: 38
Views: 3361

Re: POLL: Peak to Bottom S&P 500 % Drop ?

Wanderingwheelz wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 12:56 pm We’re a lot closer to the bottom than most people think.

Our own business, which is 90% discretionary, has seen a big slowdown in the last several weeks. Whatever the feds intentions are, they’re working.
Just my opinion, but the bottom won't be in until something breaks. That could be a bank becoming insolvent or it could be a large company declaring bankruptcy. Nothing has really shaken the foundation, yet.
by MindBogler
Fri Sep 23, 2022 12:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: POLL: Peak to Bottom S&P 500 [percentage] Drop ?
Replies: 38
Views: 3361

Re: POLL: Peak to Bottom S&P 500 % Drop ?

SPX 3200 area is my call, but I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again.
by MindBogler
Fri Sep 23, 2022 11:35 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Downsizing life: Family of 4 moving into tiny house
Replies: 144
Views: 19270

Re: Downsizing life: Family of 4 moving into tiny house

nigel_ht wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 11:23 am Most of the time it works great. Of course, when you have that important Zoom meeting is when "not working great" invariably happens.

I keep my expensive but slow DSL line as backup...its pricey to have both but if you work from home and it needs to work...

Of course, when it rains my DSL gets flakey too. 50 year old copper infrastructure doesn't like getting wet either.
This is exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for, thanks!