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bottomfisher

2 year old twins - only children; so built-in playmate already helps us. We keep them going through a steady rotation daily. Grandparents watch most weekdays. Start out in child proof play room attached to living area & kitchen; so they can be constantly monitored from a distance. Put nursery rhymes...

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Browser wrote:Fidelity released a study discussing a performance breakdown for their accounts. The clients that did the best were the ones who were dead. The second best performing set of clients forgot they had Fidelity accounts.

My new favorite quote from this website! Thanks for sharing

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novicemoney wrote: With the REIT portion so small, should I even worry about it? Or just be rid of it and simplify? Thanks for looking.

Reminder - "The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.”

http://johncbogle.com/speeches/JCB_AZ_Republic_3-00.pdf

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The Social Security criteria for disability due to a condition of the respiratory system can be found here: http://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/3.00-Respiratory-Adult.htm#3_01 His treating physician should be able to help guide you through the required testing to substantiate his co...

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Had similar interest recently. Was using borrowed 1st generation IPad for streaming children's songs, cartoons. I was not happy with it. Wanted more reliable, easier to use tablet. Was looking for 12 in, but didn't find any for good price; but didn't search extensively. Didn't want to spend a lot du...

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Thank you for the input. Appears no consensus thus far. A little further background in light of above comments. My guess is if your door frame is pretty square it should not be a problem. House was built early 80's. But was custom built for prior family/owner and solid/square construction around thi...

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Question: anyone's opinion on is it easier to replace an exterior wood door via placing new door against old hinges, outlining hinge, and routing new door hinges and hang or purchasing entire new door + frame/casing replacing old frame/casing without regard to needing to preserve old door frame/casi...

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"There’s A 67 Percent Chance Someone Will Win The Powerball Jackpot Tonight" http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/powerball-lottery-jackpot-february-11/ A $500 million advertised Powerball jackpot typically means about 191.7 million tickets will be sold, based on a polynomial regression. Given that le...

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I was wondering if there are any tax benefits to using a personal LLC to pay off student loans? I have an LLC for tax (and additional) benefits since I am a 1099 contractor. Could my company get any tax breaks for paying the student loans for my employee, AKA myself? There are likely no benefits fr...

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Due to this does it make sense to only invest in international equities that are hedged back to the USD? My opinion - no. This statement from the paper sums up my thoughts "A reasonable forward-looking assumption is for an unhedged and a hedged investment to produce similar gross returns over long ...

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I'm with livesoft on the variable need for having access to cash during a disaster. A good friend spent 6 months helping document the devastation, but that doesn't mean that each person impacted needed a 6 month emergency fund. For many it was a great idea. For others perhaps not needed. I think hi...

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Edit to add: I lived in Manhattan during 9/11, in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina and more recent BP oil spill. I recognize the economic devastation of catastrophes and the absolute importance of back up plans and emergency funds. I have lived through several natural disasters including Hurricane...

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I maintain primary emergency fund as savings acct linked to checking acct. Its got about 1 - 2 mo of expenses. Then have separate taxable account earmarked for retirement, but secondarily intended for emergency-emergency account. Its got quite a few months of expenses if needed. Withdrawals would re...

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529s are stupid Postby davebarnes » Fri Jan 23, 2015 1:18 pm 529s are a horrible "investment". You are better off buying gold bars and stashing them in a safe place. States have different 529 programs. I am not aware of the drawbacks of your state's 529, but ours appears appealing with few negative...

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Currently - 0%. Previously invested Vg Energy fund and Vg Precious Metals & Mining fund. But have since exchanged them for TSM/TISM in effort to simplify portfolio. Occasional temptation to tinker into such allocations again, but so far have resisted...

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Portfolio Returns Portfolio performance statistics Are in order of listing here , I could not paste it any other way: Initial Balance,Final Balance,CAGR, StdDev, Best Year, Worst Year, Max. Drawdown Sharpe Ratio, Sortino Ratio, U.S. Mkt Correlation, Intl Mkt Correlation 1 $264,000 $654,660 5.84% 13...

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The stock, dividends, and/or capital gains may be considered a "resource" to Medicaid. There are resource limitations to be eligible. The eligibility requirements are complicated depending on personal circumstances and state you reside in. But hopefully, the local office can provide you with further...

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No. Have 12 mo. old twin daughters. So I only recently got started with 529 plans for them. Currently have too many other financial obligations - recent 15 year mortgage refinance, retirement, student loans, home remodel, wife wants to stop working, etc. So we'll just continue as such and cross that...

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I saw this unique 3D chess board on Popular Mechanics website (and other unique designs in slide show):

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol ... -4#slide-5

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However, Swiss stocks fell by more than 10 percent at one point on the news, and the Swiss franc gained up to 30 percent against the euro. "(Swiss) companies will find that their exports suddenly become much more expensive, with the resultant hit to margins that will entail, while broader European ...

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Man, I wish I invested in the Vanguard Reit Fund Admiral last year! It's has been on fire! As , Nedsaid has told me, it is very high now , and overvalued, so now is not the best time to invest. I see it continuing to go up and up and looked at this past year. I really wanted to add it to my boring ...

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FYI for Vg Total Int'l Stock Mkt fund investors - Chinese stocks encompass 4.0% of the funds net assets and Hong Kong 2.6%.

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Will very likely be starting a new job soon. Currently have a personal investment account, Roth IRA, SIMPLE IRA, and traditional IRA. Then new employer will provide Thrift Savings Plan. In effort to simplify investments, plan to exchange entirety of Total Stock Market in SIMPLE IRA position for Tota...

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Investing and/or trading in stocks is a zero sum game. Some will inevitably do well and some will inevitably do poorly. Knowing who will do well and who won't is the question? The zero-sum game is a theoretical concept underpinning why indexing can serve as an attractive investment strategy. The con...

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So, who has the statistics on FUND-picking skill? https://pressroom.vanguard.com/content/nonindexed/Updated_The_Case_for_Index_Fund_Investing_4.9.2014.pdf Can investors consistently pick winning funds? Two critical questions for investors, therefore, are: “Do I have the ability to pick a winning fu...

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packet wrote:
Busting Myths wrote:imgur. Free, simple, and account not required.
+1 imgur

:beerCheers,
Packet

+1 more for imgur

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Like I said, I go with actively managed mutual funds. I've owned OAKIX, DODFX, and others. All the ones I owned over the last 19 years outperformed VXUS/VGTSX significantly. The Ex-US index funds underperformed actively managed funds over long periods of times and throughout multiple cycles. I don'...

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I am in a similiar situation. My current place of employment has been sold very recently and I am now working for a new employer and was recently offered a new employment agreement. I have also discussed other employment opportunities with a federal agency falling under FERS ( Federal Employees Reti...

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-Without going into too much detail, the topic would lend itself to personal "consults" specific to each patient. This would be something more lenghty and involved than a reply to a forum post. Would it be possible/wise to set this up as a paid service? This would involve reviewing medical reports ...

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So far the consensus has been to walk away from the deal. I agree. Its difficult to do so when you've invested so much time and emotion into the process. However, as others have noted above, it will inevitably require much more time, money, emotion to mitigate all the issues from water damage. I als...

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There is no steadfast fundamental reason why REIT should have a higher expected return than the broad market. There are times when certain asset classes may have the appearance of better valuation compared to other asset classes. But there are too many other variables affecting returns to reliably a...

bottomfisher

"Stuffing money in a mattress is also diversification, but I wouldn't do that either."

Rick Ferri

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13547&start=50

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I have a relatively low bond allocation considering I'm at least 26 years from retirement (41 y.o.). I have not yet decided when I'll increase my bond allocation in effort to lower my risk as retirement nears down the road. But I was pondering the role of long term bonds in my stock heavy portfolio....

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^^^ Further tinkering on "EDGAR Search Results BETA" with filing type N-CSR yielded this page: http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000734383&type=N-CSR&dateb=&owner=include&start=0&count=100&output=xml Listing of shareholder reports - annual and semi-annual. This is (simil...

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A question and a metaquestion. The fund's prospectus contains this statement: The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets directly in gold, silver, or other precious metal bullion and coins. Currently, it has holdings of platinum bullion amounting to 0.1% of the fund's market value--2009 troy ...

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neurosphere wrote: The main point to this long post? --> shop around.

The issue for the OP is that he/she is currently applying for disability insurance through their employer. Hence, only one option through the employer route.

target2030 wrote:I applied for LTD coverage through my employer ...

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Liberty Mutual is a very frustrating insurance company to deal with. They are popular amongst employers because of favorable pricing. But they are able to provided competetive pricing because they deny claims more frequently. Chondromalacia patella is a degenerative change associated aging. We are a...

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If I were in S&P's marketing department, I would seriously recommend that the S&P 500 Index be rescaled, multiplying it by a factor of ten, making it bigger than the Dow. Surely if they did that, it would only be a matter of time before newscasters started announcing it first, and soon it, rather t...

bottomfisher

Many energy and oil ETFs are down significantly. What are the arguments against buying an oil ETF now, on the premise that it's currently cheap? I have friends that trade "oil." Every now and then they discuss how much they made (or loss). I listen. I doubt they have outperformed a well balanced po...

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No. The R-value of any insulation material assumes a complete air seal against convection. For example, the R-value of 10-inch unfaced fiberglass batts is essentially zero without an air seal. With an air seal it's R-30. I would suggest you read either or both of these two books before wasting time...

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All this has led to some guilt about discussing a possible better physical home as if somehow we are doing less for our child. Has anyone else been tied down for a school district? Or is this an over blown hot button raising a child? We have twin girls 11 months old. We moved 1 year ago for this re...

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We have a variety of flat screens. I believe they're all LCD. Our recent purchases have been Vizio 1 large screen for living, and smaller screen another room. I am very happy with these purchases considering price acquired. These seem on par with other brands. But in full disclosure, I'm not a techn...

bottomfisher

Thanks for the comments.

I realize such questions will get limited participation on a personal investment/finance forum? Does anyone have suggestions for a reputable DIY home improvement forum. I see there are many out there. Just curious others if anyone has a favorite(s)?

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The bottom line is that personal trainers have become a commodity. Competition among trainers is often on the basis of price, which drives down what he can charge his clients. When he posts a job for a trainer (odd hours, no benefits), he's swamped with applicants even though the pay is low. (They'...

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It is sales , period. It doesn't matter how good you are, you have to sell. I agree with this. I am not a good 'salesperson' per se. But I let my work sell me/my services. I would keep my clients moving at good pace. The majority of my clients were interested in training for health reasons, not to ...

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Prior to my current profession (physician), I was physical therapist. I did some personal training as well. My undergraduate degree was Kinesiology and my Masters in Physical Therapy provided exceptional credentials. But I don't recommend pursuing a degree to work in this line of work. I obtained ad...

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Stop what you are doing right now and airseal the floor of the attic. Google attic airsealing, read a bunch, and avoid a painful mistake. Drywallers leave a gap between the ceiling drywall (attic floor) and the framing at the tops of walls (called top plates). Added up, this is like having 2-5 sq f...

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LadyGeek wrote:FYI - bottomfisher had two simultaneous threads, which I merged together. This thread is in the Personal Consumer Issues forum.

This was intentional. They are 2 different questions requesting input from others on both.

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I would recommend blown in fiberglass insulation for the attic. I just added an additional layer to my attic this fall. Much easier than roll insulation and it creates a seamless "blanket" of insulation in your attic. Both Home Depot and Lowes give you the machine for free if you buy 10 bales of in...

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For perspective this how much area I considering - pics of attic area in link:

http://imgur.com/a/e4PIe#XGWACJM

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