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civi68

I have a 2002 Subaru Impreza with 125,000 miles. Great car with minimal problems.

civi68

I am a PA state employee that is in the state employee fund. It is similar to the school pension fund. Hands down, the pension fund offers the best deal over a 403B if your wife plans on making teaching a career. I have been saving significant amounts of money for retirement and would have to save e...

civi68

After reading about the possible benefits of green tea lotion, I was wondering if anyone had any good or bad experiences with using it?

civi68

A good site with reviews on anti-virus and other programs.

http://download.cnet.com/windows/

civi68

For those of you nervous about holding a large percentage of international equities, I took the plunge in 2002 and kept 50% of my equities in international. I never lost sleep over it and never regret it. (Although I did lose a night or two over having 30% of my bonds in international bonds).

civi68

I have ordered from Backcountry.com, REI, Amazon, and Sierra Trading Post. Sierra Trading Post has the best prices, particularly if you sign up for their email coupons. The coupons average about 30-35% off. They send you one daily. Brands such as Columbia, Merrell, Garmont, Salomon, and Teva have wi...

civi68

The Vanguard TIPS fund has about a 6% return this year so far. Doesn't sound like a bad return to me.

civi68

It has been a while since I started this post but I received some interesting information from shoe manufacturers that I wanted to share. Below is a compilation of their responses: You should be concerned about dry rot, even if they’re stored in a dry, cool place. You’ll see this mostly on the rubbe...

civi68

www.3000milemyth.org

civi68

Pete,

I agree with Pete that having an International REIT fund can be a good part of your portfolio and devote half of my REIT investments in international. Best to stay diversified and that means going outside of the US.

civi68

The DB plan wins hands down. If you chose the DC plan, you would regret it when you get older. Choosing the DC plan means you will have to work to age 65 or longer and never be able to match what you would have gotten in the DB plan. Although never say never, it is highly unlikely that states will t...

civi68

I work for the state of PA. The 2.5 is the best deal hands down. When it first came out, the only people that didn't take it were the ones with poor money management that lived paycheck to paycheck and didn't care about the future. I wouldn't worry about any future changes to the pension influencing...

civi68

I think it depends on how much cash. If you hold a significant amount of cash as part of your assets, it may be best to include it. I keep 20% of my money in cash so if I don't include it and only look my stock/bond ratio, it is not an accurate view of how much money I am invested in stocks for the ...

civi68

A great book to read about Emerging Markets is, "Breakout Nations." It gives you a great perspective on how Emerging Market countries differ and that they don't always do better in the long run.

civi68

I have a significant amount of money in my stable value fund and I am not worried. The rates have been going down a half percent every quarter so I don't believe these funds are offering something for nothing. My fund pays 3.4% but the fees are .4% so I am really getting 3%. When it drops below 3%, ...

civi68

I would agree with other posters that your fund appears solid although the funding level is going down. If it drops below 70% and your company does not make efforts to put more money to keep it solvent, then I would be concerned. To give you an example, I work for the state of Pennsylvania. Our fund...

civi68

I have brought a few hiking shoes over the years and find that sizing is the most challenging thing. I am looking at a Scarpa brand of shoes. Does any know if this brand tends to fit small or need ordered a half size or a size up? From the hiking shoes I have, I have found the following brands seem ...

civi68

My job will soon be offering a Roth 403B. I was contributing the maximum to the traditional 403B and the max to a Roth Ira. Am I correct that I can not fund the IRA if I max the Roth 403B? If so, can I contribute to a traditional IRA if I max the 403B Roth?

civi68

I have a stable value fund that earns 3.7%. It has gone down every quarter over the years of its high of 6%. However, one of the ways the fund has kept it's return is the fees have gone up. Not a lot, but enough to bring the real return to 3.2%. So, maybe they will guarantee the rate but the fees ca...

civi68

A big challenge is finding someone that thinks like a boglehead. I remember reading in Scott Burn's book, "Spend til the end" that research indicated that 70% of Americans live for today and only 30% were savers. From my dating experience and what I see from people at work, (my work has 700 employee...

civi68

Guys, In the latest Consumer Reports Money Adviser Newsletter, they mentioned that our credit cards may not work in parts of Western Europe. Europe is using a more secure credit card system, the EMV smart card (Europay Mastercard Visa). You will need to contact your credit card company to see if the...

civi68

You are right about the China thing. The shoe brand I am buying, Asolo, are made in Italy. They have a sale on REI. Amazon has them for 200 some dollars. Some of my former favorite brands seem to use cheaper materials. Also, gore tex has gone up so many shoes are made with water proof materials and ...

civi68

Also, an inflation hedge. With my bank account almost zero interest, it' best to buy a $200 hiking boot for $85 even if you don't need it now. I won't need another pair for many years now.

civi68

I recently read that not wearing shoes everyday does help the inside last longer due to sweating, odors, etc.

civi68

Does anyone buy shoes although they don't need them and pack them away for the future? I saw some great deals on hiking boots. However, I probably won't need new ones for a few years. I wonder if shoe materials wear out over time even if you don't wear them.

civi68

Depending on the topic, Consuelo Mack's show provides some good information. I enjoyed El-Erian, Francois Trahan (The Era of Uncertainty), David Rosenberg, and others. It is always good to hear different perspectives.

civi68

Another trend I see is that instead of putting money into retirement, people are putting more money towards their mortgage to pay it off quicker. They want to get the house paid off quicker in case they have to accept a lower paying job in the future. Some people on this board may feel that the stra...

civi68

A few of my friends and I feel the same way. We do not plan on adding much stocks to our portfolio. But we don't plan on selling stocks, either. Basically, we are moving from a 60/40 stock/bond mix to more like a 40/60 or 30/70 mix. Unless stocks go back to how they were in the mid 90s to 2007, I ha...

civi68

T.R. Reid has a good book, 'The Healing of America" on comparing healthcare. His book indicated that Germany and Japan had the best systems which were a partnership of government and non-profit businesses. The trade-off was that employees in the medical field made less than here.

civi68

I would like to add to my post that I am not criticizing prison or military employees. I myself work at a prison and retired from the National Guard. In my small city, most of the better paying employment opportunities are in these fields. I feel very fortunate to have a small military pension and h...

civi68

I have traveled over the years and always enjoy talking to Europeans. Many of them thought we would tank first because of our high personal debt and consumption. I think there are European countries/people like Germany, Austria, etc, that have the model of balancing your budget, saving for a rainy d...

civi68

What is everyone's experience with online backup services? I found a free one, Bee Cloud. Has anyone had experience with them or other ones?

civi68

I work for the state of Pennsylvania. Prudential offers long term disability insurance to state employees at 60% of your salary plus an optional 3% cost of living adjustment. Anyone have any experience with these plans? Do they tend to fight people when they get hurt and not want to pay? Or is it di...

civi68

Thanks for the article. It is extremely difficult for governments to ask for concessions from public safety and correction officers. Most say take from other employees first or cut other services. Most of these jobs provide a middle to upper middle class life for blue collar workers that no longer e...

civi68

Interesting allocation advice. If you're the type of person who likes to wrestle anacondas while defusing a bomb during an earthquake, this column isn't for you. No, this column is for people so unnerved by the stock market, the European debt crisis and the Kardashians that you're utterly paralyzed....

civi68

At my work at a state agency, we have age 50 retirement. If a person retires at this age and does not work again, how much would social security be reduced for each year that is calculated at zero since a person would not be working?

civi68

If you noticed, a lot of stable value funds have been dropping their yield by about .25% every quarter, probably due to interest rates continuing to stay low. The question will be whether to continue with Stable Value funds if they drop below 3% after fees. My stable value fund earns 3.7 but the fee...

civi68

USA today had a similar article that international investing in developed markets did very well until recently due to the rise of the Euro and drop of the dollar.

civi68

I think about this potential problem as well. I wonder that if takes until 2020 to get out of our recession and high unemployment, we will then be challenged by the decades of more people retiring without much saved and healthcare costs going up. A great book by Scott Burns and Lawrence Kotlikoff on...

civi68

I am a state employee in PA. We have a shortfall of 18 billion. PA raised the retirement age to 65 for new hires and new employees pay more with the option of increased payments by new employees if the fund goes too low. Legislation will be introduced in the fall to freeze the plan for legislators i...

civi68

I have most of my bonds in stable value. Maybe there is some unknown risk out there but from my understanding, stable value funds will not drop in value but just not earn anything if things get bad. Every quarter, my fund goes down a quarter of a percent. Except for my Vanguard TIPS fund, I don't se...

civi68

I was thinking of not 100% bond index because the description of the fund gives me the impression that it is just intermediate and long term bonds.

civi68

My employee offers a stable value fund as part of my 403b plan. Rates have been dropping a quarter of a percent each quarter down to 3.7%. The fees for this fund bring the rate down to 3.2%. Since the rate is so low and seems to be getting lower each quarter, I am considering adding the plan's bond ...

civi68

Feel better! You did the right thing. Although I have a small TSP fund, I have all of it in the G fund as part of my bond portfolio. No worry about interest rate risk and as interest rates rise, your G fund will benefit. More than likely, the G fund has nowhere to go but up. Keep your risk in the st...

civi68

Many people here do not recommend these bonds. But others, like financial columnist Scott Burns, feel that they should be a component of your portfolio. I have 25% of my bonds in the T Rowe Price foreign bond fund. It is 95% developed market and 5% emerging market. For the most part, it has been a s...

civi68

Yes, another post on TIPS. Some people and articles say TIPS are not a good investment because of their low yield. However, the Vanguard website has TIPS YTD and for 1 year earning 7%. Sounds like a good yield to me, especially when you look at the other bond funds on the site.

civi68

Does everyone recommend having two anti-virus programs? AVG won't install unless I get rid of my AntiVir program. I tried turning off Antivir during the installation and it still won't run.

civi68

Also, every time before I shut down my computer each day, I use the Advance System care programs that delete everything. It take about 5 minutes.

civi68

I use the free versions of Avira Anti-virus, Advanced System Care, and Malwarebytes. They seem to work good together. Avira is consumer reports' top recommended free anti-virus program. When I first got it, it found several viruses I didn't know about. Go to download.com (CNET) to see reviews on dif...

civi68

Some people may disagree with my foreign allocation but I follow the Scott Burn's couch portfolio approach. I am 43 years old and have a 50/50 stock/Bonds mix. Stocks are 50/50 US/Foreign with 5% of US in natural resources (T Rowe Price New Era) and 10% of US in REIT. 5% of my foreign is in Internat...

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