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SamB

I have taken Amtrak from DC to Portland, and also from DC to LA via New Orleans. The northern route went through Chicago where you connected from the Capital Limited to the Empire Builder. I just had a coach seat on this trip, which was interesting, but those days are over. I did the southern route ...

SamB

I will pay an attorney (legal issues), CPA (tax questions), or some kind of insurance expert, which is rarely a salesman. But asset allocation - what to own and when? You must be kidding, right?

SamB

It might be time to shop around, but I hate to break the news to you. Your dental health is a direct function of what you eat and when you eat it. I am speaking of the dental decay problem. Maybe you should start thinking about it, and look up Westin Price. I am not making any food recommendations,...

SamB

It might be time to shop around, but I hate to break the news to you. Your dental health is a direct function of what you eat and when you eat it. I am speaking of the dental decay problem. Maybe you should start thinking about it, and look up Westin Price. I am not making any food recommendations, ...

SamB

I got bored with it about 20 years ago. It took years, reading numerous books, and thinking about it to realize what was possible. That effort was necessary because it established a working frame work, and the realization that I could not do any better. Of all things financial asset allocation is th...

SamB

I use Outlook so I have not decided whether I may use the Gmail account only or stick with AOL. It really bothers me that now I have to suffer the ads on the AOL interface. There are no ads on the Gmail interface, but you have to downgrade the Google security setting in order to make a connection w...

SamB

Maybe I missed it, but there is a simple option involving keeping your verizon email address and using a different server. Go to options, then mail settings in the AOL email interface and select forward all email to your favored address. I did this for Gmail and it worked fine, without any delay. Yo...

SamB

I am 70 years old, and I am sure glad that when I was 40 we went camping for vacation, and the restaurant meals fell into the category of almost never. In fact, since both my wife and I cook, restaurants are one perpetual disappointment. Looked at from a financial perspective, life is one big trade ...

SamB

You are wasting your time. The whole passive/Vanguard investment idea is extremely simple and very counter intuitive; being average in the short term at the lowest possible cost will compound to make you above average in the long term. Most people will never, ever get this. For those who do and have...

SamB

You need to open up the ceiling and locate the source of the leak. I have had active leaks in copper pressure pipe (a pin hole in an elbow fitting), a joint in a PVC drainage pipe that did not get enough adhesive, and a vent pipe that actually sheared in expansion because it was constrained by a woo...

SamB

I stopped looking at percentages about five years ago. The risk is handled by the total bond type investment, which in this case turns out to be the TSP G fund. You step back and ask yourself what is the maximum in this fund to hold during the zombie apocalypse? That is your insurance policy. In oth...

SamB

Maybe I missed it, but I did not see Financial Engines mentioned. That may be helpful. I used to use it, but I am passed the time when it is really relevant, and I don't need it now. My experience, dating from 1978, is that you can get long stretches (10-20 years) when the return stays low, and long...

SamB

I am 69 and have owned a 1995 Subaru Legacy L wagon (AWD). This car preceded the Outback. It is an AWD wagon, but has a slightly lower center of gravity, and is slightly smaller than the Outback. It is interesting that the Outback actually has a smaller hatch opening than my old Legacy L. My wagon h...

SamB

I would not insist that Toyota fix the car. Very often dealerships contract out a repair to a local shop depending on the make, age of the car, and type of repair. In fact, if you had a very old Toyota it might be more likely that they hired a subcontractor to fix it.

SamB

If you are cooking most of your food, I would not be concerned about the grocery bill. Take a keen interest in nutrition, and it will pay off financially in the long run, especially for your children. In fact, I would monitor what your children eat outside of the house. It may not be as healthy as y...

SamB

I use a Stihl backpack blower and I also use a chipper/shredder to mulch the leaves. I recommend getting professional quality equipment. You will only have to buy it once and it will last twenty years. The leaf mulch is used on plant beds near the house rather than wood mulch which might draw termit...

SamB

Costco over torqued my lug nuts and most of the stud bolts had to be replaced. I pay my local shop $20 for a rotation when they change the oil and filter. I used to do this all myself, but I figured at age 69 I would rather do something else - like wait while someone else does it. Costco is overrate...

SamB

Wood is problematic and I would spend money replacing it, not trying to redo what you already have. I used to paint my own wood trim and brick molding. I regret wasting my time even though the saved money went into index funds. Wood deteriorates over time, and the average moisture content will gradu...

SamB

I think that it is prudent to have back up food, water, medical, power, etc. in case of a disaster, natural or otherwise. I think the term "prepper," or worse yet, "survivalist" have become pejoratives and that is unfortunate in my opinion. Politics gets wrapped in the history of these terms, but ba...

SamB

I have two PC's and one laptop. The only PC I have successfully installed 10 on was the oldest, running 7. I initially went through the upgrade and then decided to take the revert option because it was slower. The reversion was unsuccessful and the result was that I could not reboot in any mode. I i...

SamB

I don't know what roof geometry you have, but I would consider the soffit vents and vent ridge. The last time I had the roof done, which involved complete shingle removal, I had the attic fan removed. It never lasted more than five years, and you could hear it when it ran. Adequate soffit vents alon...

SamB

I am not going to bother with the monthly cash flow analysis. I have been at this for 38 years and my increase in wealth over that time did not come from real estate. It came from saving and investment in the equity market, and that investment pretty much followed the approach on this forum way befo...

SamB

My experience is that it is really difficult to generalize about sex and financial interests. I have known women who had the financial responsibility in their family which was abdicated by their husbands, and vice versa. However, I will hazard to generalize about money and compatibility. It would be...

SamB

If you scroll down the linked page you find, "Fat: The New Health Paradigm." This is one of the most unbiased nutritional assessments I have seen. I guess it is because they don't really care how it all comes out. They are just attempting to predict public perceptions and spending patterns based on ...

SamB

Watch this movie, [Link removed by admin LadyGeek, see below.] , and start looking into the hormonal theory of obesity. The Germans lost the war, but they sure got this one right. Things have been down hill ever since the endocrinologists lost their minds on this one. Note that the guy in the movie ...

SamB

My growth rate since 1989 has been slightly more than 8 percent. However, I am a lot more pessimistic now than I was in 1989, and I use 6% for an 80/20 portfolio. I just cannot see stocks march ahead at 8% nominal with GDP at 2% or less. There would have to be wholesale changes in the US economy, in...

SamB

I exercise every day, but not because I think it has anything to do with my BMI, or health for that matter. I like being outside, and I am a life long biker. So, every day I either walk, or bike, just because I enjoy it. The thought of going to a gym, and working some type of exercise machine, would...

SamB

[OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek]

SamB

I am 68 and I can say without any reservation that I am thankful every day I get out of bed that I was a cheap SOB, and put every dime I ever had in the stock market beginning about 1978. The fact is your body is going to wear out on you. Eventually, you will have health problems or at least limitat...

SamB

Apparently you are not an oncologist, but I would start with Thomas Seyfried (Boston College) and go from there. What do you have to lose? You might be able to tilt the odds in your favor over your life span. Apparently, your ancestors did just that. It could be that you really do not have all of th...

SamB

I used to drive 25 miles to our old vet to buy Science Diet until I got interested in my own nutrition and then my cat's. I read the label on the bag and could not believe what I was reading. Start doing some research. Your cat is a carnivore. The only reason farmers feed their livestock grain is to...

SamB

1yr - .9% 3yrs - 11.6% 5yrs - 10.7% 10yrs - 7% Basically, it has been a lousy 15 years. I started in 1978 and I don't ever expect to see what happened between 1980 and 2000 in the stock market again in my lifetime. That said, the last 15 years have been a good time for young people to place their be...

SamB

In any market, up or down, active investors (stock pickers) will collectively earn the market average return minus that group's collective expenses. If you are in the group indexing the entire market then you earn the market return with 100% certainty minus the expenses which ought to be substantial...

SamB

This is a real do-it-yourself proposition. I stumbled over a local shop about 30 years ago; they are not a chain, but a family owned business. The quality of the work I get on my car is totally a function of who they hire. Their shop works on all makes and models, trucks, RV's, even boat engines. Th...

SamB

I have a 1995 Legacy L wagon AWD with about 155kmiles on it. I can see why many people like the Subaru, but AWD is basically twice as much trouble as 2WD, and the Subaru engine is prone to engine seal leaks. So in the 20 years I have owned the car, all of the wheel bearings have been replaced and I ...

SamB

I have used the basic Monte Carlo simulation for the last 25 years. It is very useful for estimating future uncertainty, and doing sensitivity analysis involving time, rates of return, and variance. The worst thing you can do is type mean values in a spreadsheet and base your planning on the results...

SamB

Geormetric mean since 1989 is 8% and the arithmetic mean is 8.8%. One standard deviation is about 13%. The difference in the returns reflects the risk, or about one half the variance. The last five years have are hardly been what I would consider normal, or what I would base an estimated return on. ...

SamB

I use the USAA buying service. You can see the price immediately, and you do not have to trigger the dealer notification. The real advantage of this immediate feedback is that you can track the prices throughout the year. You can also change zip codes to see the price fluctuation. Depending on inven...

SamB

For me this is an apples and oranges comparison. In my area Trader Joe's is a step down in quality from Costco. Costco has reasonable prices on fairly high end items. I would put Trader Joes's in the middle as far as quality is concerned. I have yet to get a consistent definition of organic. Althoug...

SamB

This is not specifically Bavaria, but there is a paved bike trail along the Danube south of Vilshofen. We did the river boat cruise from Budapest to Vilshofen and there was an option to take the bike for 20 miles on the bike trail along the shore and meet the boat at the next city, Durnstein to Melk...

SamB

I've done some simple math and concluded I've saved over $500 on gas alone, but that is negated by the cost to fuel the extra 600 cals a day :). I would be interested to know how you came up with 600 Kcal/day. 3500 kcal/pound has never been confirmed by any starvation or overfeeding study. In fact,...

SamB

I was driving a VW beetle when the rest of the world was blowing past me in a 4000lb, 400 HP monster averaging about 10 mpg. These people invariably bought a new car every two years. I buy a new car every 10 to 20 years, and even when I worked I never drove more than 10K miles per year, and now it i...

SamB

Whenever I am faced with a comparison like this I just go to the Vanguard website, pull up the fund, switch to "price and performance," and then look at the ten year return plot. I then superimpose the alternative fund to see what the difference amounts to. Most of the time, and this case is no exce...

SamB

I did not know this. It might be a reason to visit a McDonalds in the future. There is little else on the menu that I would eat or drink. If I bought some kind of combo meal I would have to eat the burger without the bun and throw out the fires. I keep hoping to see some fast food place that goes Pa...

SamB

Be sure to check the exact description of your property for tax purposes. For 15 years the county assumed I had five bedrooms instead of four. I got a refund of the assessment error for five years.

SamB

You mean people get paid for this?

SamB

I have not started RMD's yet, but I must start in 2017. The first thing I did was set up a spreadsheet to see what happens with taxes, and reinvestment relative to the balance over time. I suggest that you do this. The biggest variable is the rate of return on the remaining balance. In fact, it matt...

SamB

If you fix the dishwasher, and are completely satisfied that there is no other water leak, I would suggest putting a bead of caulk on the three sides of the dishwasher where the floor intersects the cabinet wall and also the back wall. In the future when there is a leak the water will build up and f...

SamB

I started growing up in the lower class, not the middle. Some people would consider where I was raised to be a tenement house. I would say your attitude is the most important. I have been running scared since the age of ten or whatever age it was I figured out my predicament. If you don't have fear ...

SamB

I made a bet on the US equity market when I was 30 years old. In other words, I bet that the average return over the next thirty years would make me above average in the long run, and it did. Of course I had to save as much as possible, which meant cutting consumption, and doing most things myself, ...

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