Bogleheads.org

I am not yet retired but I track actual dollars spent each year. I also keep a running average of the last 3 years of spending and the last 5 years of spending. This gives me 3 data points that change a small amount (usually) each year they are updated. It seems to be good enough to get a rough idea of how things are going.

I went about 20 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The comments about being hassled for sales, etc. in the streets are accurate. Keep an eye on your valuables. I found the people to be welcoming and respectful of a definite "no" when appropriate.

We have a yard of a similar size and I use a John Deere S120 which works quite well.
I also support the idea of getting from a dealer as opposed to a big box store.

stan1 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:09 pm TSP G Fund yield right now is 4.125% annualized

Inflation is 6% through Feb 2023.

So negative real return of 1.875% at least for the time being. Safety comes at a cost.

What are your ages and how long until you retire?

Ok, sure. But what is the alternative for a TSP investor? F fund (=total bond) is the only other fixed income product available. No fixed income? No thanks.

I use the G fund for all of our fixed income. I consider our 65/35 (stocks/g fund) to be approximately the risk/volatility of a 60/40 (stocks/total bond) allocation. Based more on a gut feel than a rigorous analysis.

I like the G fund and use it for 100% of our fixed income.
If you you can't decide between the two I don't think you could go wrong with 50/50 G/F.

abracadabra11 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 2:26 pm I didn't realize anyone actually watched it. What's the allure?

My wife likes the fashion aspect of the event. I like none of it.

Do a free 2 week trial of youtube TV.

You may spend most of your life in your office chair and bed ((8hrs+8hrs)/24hrs = ~67%).
Don't cheap out on either.

The wrongdoer should leave his or her job, not the employee who didn’t cause the problem. Unless she is truly able to find something suitable (and so far she hasn’t) it’s too big of a sacrifice to leave one’s job because others can’t get their act together. If she quits a senior management job she may not get another management job. Plus, unfairly, it will be construed that she couldn’t hack it etc. both internally at her company and externally. Certainly there are internal corporate and external coaching and legal resources she can draw upon to address this. If she’s being mistreated reporting it is an option. These days some companies take such things seriously. Maybe that’s just my perspective as a single person who doesn’t have the lux...

health > wealth. get out now.

I vote for the buying part but not the renting part.

I typically jog 3 days a week and walk for 30-50 minutes 3 other days a week. I am not particularly athletic but I am someone who feels the need to move around somewhat frequently. I find the walking helps reduce stress, improve sleep, improve balance/coordination and keeps the lbs off. I have also found that you don't have to do a ton of "hard core" working out to stay relatively healthy. It seems to be regularity rather than intensity that works for me (including a healthy diet).

I think I was somewhat traumatized by the G fund's horrible returns over recent years. I think the annualized yield got down to around 0.75% at one point. Sure felt important to have some stocks during those times. And could I imagine another financial crisis forcing the Fed to slash rates to near 0 again in the next 13 years? Yeah, sure. That's why I like a diversified portfolio that includes equities. The L Income is about as conservative as I'm interested in going, and I say this from experience, having tried (and felt) an all-G allocation at one point. It's just not for me. The highlighted portion may fit your circumstances well but keep in mind your circumstances are likely not the same as the OPs. For what it's worth, were I to wish ...

4.125 I believe.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/newIssueRates.html

So I hit my "retirement" number 1-2 years ago and have managed to maintain it thanks to added contributions. Spouse and I both in early 40s. Health and job situation(s) willing, I don't see myself actually retiring until age 50 at the earliest. For my spouse, probably closer to age 60. So we will keep saving and adding to the stash for a while. I'm already fairly conservative with a 60/40 AA. But lately I've been fighting off the compulsion to just dump everything into CDs and treasuries as they get near the 4-5% interest level. Obviously not a good idea I'm guessing. But maybe I should lower my stock AA? I was thinking maybe not sell any of the stock I own but ALL new contributions go to short term treasuries and CDs. Anyway, I ...

I applaud your efforts but have to say I have no personal interest in such a goal.
I try to do the big things right (e.g. reasonable house, car, savings rate) and thereby don't feel the need to sweat the small stuff. I realize "small stuff" can be relative.
Good luck to you.

The G fund tracks treasuries with 4+ years to maturity (https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/G_Fund). Those are closer to longer term rates. I believe the yield curve is inverted right now (shorter durations having higher yields than longer durations) such that money market funds and some CDs have higher yields than the G fund. Nothing particularly unexpected or nefarious about that.

fishandgolf wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:47 am

bloom2708 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 14, 2023 4:43 pm Does any new house not have 3 garage stalls? I'd make a 3 stall garage with space for some stuff.

+1. Obsoletely!

Also, if you get frequent snow falls during the winter months I would seriously consider adding floor drains to the garage. We built a new house in 2019 with a 24' x 40' attached garage and had two floor drains installed. When the cars are full of slush the the moisture drips into the drains and prevents the water from pooling on the garage floor. Very little added cost and works like a dream!

I definitely have no need for a 3 car garage but your floor drain idea is gold (assuming it doesn't ice up).

Does your wife conceptually understand the risk/volatility of a no bonds portfolio?
Consider: Market falls 30-40% over the next year or two and with it your portfolio falls a substantially similar amount. What will your wife's reaction be?
Make sure the two of you are on the same page and use examples in your discussion to avoid future conflict and/or unplanned for changes in strategy.

8foot7 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 14, 2023 6:11 pm To be frank, I'd slow way down on my house purchases (read: stop buying houses) and make sure I understood what it is my family wanted.

This.

coachd50 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 9:59 am

muel87 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 9:02 am (As long as they can stomach it psychologically).

It isn’t just psychological. Can you stomach it financially if you do indeed have significant losses at the most inopportune time.

Remember the key to a plan is to first properly identify the objective. My personal financial plan is to have ENOUGH. If it was to have “the most” my decisions would be different.

Wise words.

see: Coast FIRE

If you believe in your plan/assumptions then do what you want with the exception of too much lifestyle creep (unless you built that into your assumption).
We are past the coasting point but I am a worrier by nature and am therefore not comfortable pulling the plug on saving/well paying work until the ability to retire is actually in hand. Perhaps a sacrifice in terms of excess time spent working but the alternative (hope my assumptions work out at my chosen date) would not be mentally acceptable to me.

I would likely let my AA drift a bit if I were in your position as your $s in bonds is still a tidy sum even if it is edging under the previously desired 40%.

accumulation = AAA ball
decumulation = Major league

I suppose when I stopped worrying about it.
When did that happen? When I realized we had a well thought out plan and the ability to stick with it.

Fencing may not be needed if you are willing to occasionally spray your plants and their perimeter with a deer repellent. We back up to a wooded area that itself backs up to farm land. We are also across the street from a pond. There is basically a deer highway through our yard. I have found that regular application of a product like "liquid fence" works quite well.
Your solution may work just as well if you don't want to fuss with occasional spraying. Keep in mind that it is almost impossible to keep deer away from something they discover is tasty, short of having a dog outside 24-7.

Get your health care and SS plans nailed down and you are likely good to go in my opinion.

We have a 2M umbrella policy. I don't know if it is "enough" but it is sufficient to give me peace of mind and is affordable to boot.

Fed employee here with similar situation a couple years ago which involved a flight to get an updated ID card.
Reimbursement was a non-starter. I chalked it up to paying the piper for having the ability to work full time from home.

The G fund is a better deal than nearly any other fixed-income option around. You get intermediate-term bond rates with no principal risk. I wouldn't bother with the F Fund. I read elsewhere that the G fund is so great, that it offers the ability to increase the portfolio equity percentage slightly while not having any more risk than a portfolio using an intermediate bond fund. Is this valid? If so, how much more of an equity percentage? 5% ? This passes the smell test for me, but I don't know what the magnitude of the reduced risk is (nor do I know a way to calculate it mathematically). I appreciate you validating that comment I read elsewhere. For what it's worth, I also use the g fund for all of my fixed income holdings and bump my equi...

We were about +30% over last year's Dec/Jan gas/electric bill. We did have a below zero cold stretch that lasted about a week which didn't help matters.

bberris wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 5:36 am

makeitcount wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:51 pm I believe these was a recent thread that discussed how annuitizing a portion of one's savings led to reduced money anxiety and increased willingness to spend. Perhaps someone can dig up that thread.

viewtopic.php?t=392765

Yes, that was it. Thank you for finding it.
I think a guaranteed (as much as it can be) income stream in the form of a pension or annuity would bring many people peace of mind as compared to managing one's own portfolio, withdrawal method/rate, etc. I am not yet retired but already feel some amount of peace of mind at being vested in the FED's FERS program. Having your retirement spending be at least somewhat detached from the up/downs of the market seems liberating to me.

rule 1: DON"T CLEAN ANYTHING!
rule 2: be patient
rule 3: educate yourself by using some of the above listed on-line resources
rule 4: seek a referral to a local dealer or collector for help with values and/or selling

I believe these was a recent thread that discussed how annuitizing a portion of one's savings led to reduced money anxiety and increased willingness to spend. Perhaps someone can dig up that thread.

I am in the market for a standing desk as well.
Any other recommended brands or perhaps features to search out?

bwalling wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:45 am

makeitcount wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:01 pm I've driven through FL using toll roads in the last year. I have never stopped to pay the tolls and do not have a transponder. I have received a notice in the mail a few months down the road from our trips with a bill for the tolls. No fees were added in either case that I can recall.

The toll amounts are higher if they have to bill you by mail. Or, looking at it the other way, they're discounted if you have a transponder.

Interesting. I take your word for it, though the increase (or discount) must not be huge as the amount billed was in the ballpark of what I had been expecting. If I drove there more often I'd probably look into a transponder. For once a year trips I think it likely isn't worth the hassle.

I've driven through FL using toll roads in the last year. I have never stopped to pay the tolls and do not have a transponder. I have received a notice in the mail a few months down the road from our trips with a bill for the tolls. No fees were added in either case that I can recall.

OP I am struggling with some of the same questions. Personally, I am much more comfortable using a LMP or bucketing approach than a fixed AA. Leveraging X-Years of expenses to drive my portfolio decisions has helped me weather the market turmoil since I retired in 2018. My General Structure: Year-0 (Current Year) years expenses in HYSA/Checking account Year-1, Year-2 Expenses in Treasury Notes that mature in Dec for the year needed (e.g. Dec2023, Dec2024) Year-3 through Year-10 in an Intermediate Treasury Fund (VGIT) Remaining assets in equities (75% VTI, 25% VXUS) Expenses are lumpy and represent cash-flow needs that will change over time My approach is as follows: Always spend from HYSA for current expenses Always use proceeds from the m...

Had a similar delay based on a need to cancel a previously set appointment. I was happy to sneak in ~2 months later after being on the wait list.

hoops777 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:27 pm

makeitcount wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:18 pm We have our LG OLED connected to our wireless interwebs and it typically streams from YouTubeTV at ~50MB (according to youtubetv stats).
It is plenty fast for watching 4k sources and the picture looks great.

Great. I am going to switch to You Tube TV as well.
Do you watch any sports?
My concern from dumping Directv was my experience streaming sports on Hulu Live a few years ago.The picture and quality was not good.

I do not subscribe to any additional sports packages but I do watch football, basketball, and a smidge of hockey and volleyball. I have not had any issues of note and I think the picture and sound have been at least as good as cable (Spectrum). Overall I've been pleased with the LG OLED + YouTubeTV combo.

We have our LG OLED connected to our wireless interwebs and it typically streams from YouTubeTV at ~50MB (according to youtubetv stats).
It is plenty fast for watching 4k sources and the picture looks great.

How does one make a straightforward savings rate calculation after taxes if they, like many of us, contribute to pre-tax accounts like 401ks? Perhaps I'm overlooking a simple answer but it is escaping me.
I would vote for pre-tax rate= total savings/gross income.
I personally prefer a metric based on expenses:
rate= (# of saved dollars in the year) / (average # of dollars of expenses for a year)
I would not include income/payroll taxes with the expenses but would include property taxes.
If I can get to a rate near 1 or more I am feeling great.

Recently I transferred holdings from a joint UTMA account into a new personal brokerage account at Vanguard. On the day the account opened, the funds from the UTMA transferred, but so did a 6-figure holding of an ETF from some account unknown to me. I finally checked the account today after a month, and saw the unexpected holdings. I assume this isn't mine and placed a call to Vanguard to have them figure out what happened. They were helpful enough on the call and provided enough information on the source account of the transfer to give confidence that I don't know the original account-holder and have no connection to the money transferred. But, does anyone here have an idea of the inner-workings of Vanguard to shed some light on how this ...

Although 0% real return is a reasonable planning estimate, it's probably just a little optimistic: over the past 12 years the average real return was negative (-0.5% or so). Appreciate your input on this topic. Do you agree with grabiner's description of how to guesstimate the G fund rate using the 10 year? I would like to understand why you suggested a slightly negative return as opposed to grabiner's slightly positive. I'm not of the opinion that the difference between the two estimates would materially effect things in the long run, I'm just more curious if you think grabiner's method is flawed or if you would perhaps just make use of a different input to the outlined method. I wouldn't challenge grabiner's answer as flawed, since it's ...

I assume 0% real return for G Fund over 10 years. It has done 4.2% percent since 1990 and inflation was 2.9% over the same period but I am just counting on G Fund matching inflation going forward. That was going to be my best guess answer also. Maybe someone will come up with a better one. Although 0% real return is a reasonable planning estimate, it's probably just a little optimistic: over the past 12 years the average real return was negative (-0.5% or so). Appreciate your input on this topic. Do you agree with grabiner's description of how to guesstimate the G fund rate using the 10 year? I would like to understand why you suggested a slightly negative return as opposed to grabiner's slightly positive. I'm not of the opinion that the d...

In the long run, I would expect a slightly positive real return. A 10-year TIPS, if held for 10 years, has a known 10-year real return (currently 1.69%). This yield is usually positive, although it has been negative in the past. A 10-year Treasury should have a similar real return, since investors are free to sell Treasuries and buy TIPS if they expect TIPS to have a better return, or vice versa. Investors who buy 10-year Treasuries usually expect a positive real return. The G fund has about the same daily yield as a 10-year Treasury. (The actual formula is the average yield of all outstanding Treasuries more than four years from maturity, so the 10-year is a good estimate.) Thus, If rates don't change between today and tomorrow, the G fun...

I am a federal employee who makes use of the G fund within the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Wiki link: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/G_Fund
This fund seems to have a good number of advocates within Bogleheadland as well as a few naysayers.
Putting aside potential differences in opinion as to whether or not you think the fund is best for long term investing, what do you think would be a reasonable assumption to make if looking for a real rate to use when projecting balances into the future? If duration influences your answer, let's assume a minimum of 10 years.
Thank you.

Perhaps it is just your mindset?
The following helps me stick with my rebalancing plan:
If stocks are down, tell yourself you are rebalancing into them as if they are "on sale".
If stocks are up, tell yourself you are rebalancing out of them to "lock in gains".
Neither is particularly accurate but it works for some of us.

... I'm struggling with the idea that the TSP G fund could outperform inflation + 1.6% over the next 5-10 years. ... I don't have a good answer to your question, but I am curious about the statement I highlighted above. Can you please explain why you think the G fund could outperform inflation by the noted 1.6+%? I worded that poorly. I can't think of how it could match or beat that current TIPS benchmark over 5-10 years. Unlike nominal bonds, you don't get a price increase in the G fund if rates drop. I guess if investors soured on nominal treasuries to the point where they demanded yields better than 1.6% over inflation for a prolonged period of time it could happen, but that IMO seems unlikely. Gotcha. I use the g fund so I am crossing ...