Search found 26 matches

by snackontransite
Sat Feb 16, 2019 9:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

You mentioned in passing that you have an engineering degree. Unless your grades were truly terrible, I have to think you can do better than 75K at a job that requires that long a commute. If your grades were bad, a couple of years experience at your current job can mitigate that. Keep looking!! My grades were good. Everyone seems to think engineers make significantly more than they actually do. 75K is a very reasonable starting salary. Just because the media continuously cries that there is a shortage of engineers does not actually mean there is. You can look at the Bureau of Labor statistics for yourself. For my field, there are ~35k positions total, with projected growth of 2,500. ASEE shows 9000 graduates in my field in 2014-2015. The ...
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

A catch on carpools is that you really should consider liability insurance (yes, another expense) as I always had the concern that should an accident occur, I could be held liable financially for multiple high earners. I had a coworker once who was able to carpool via an enterprise van that split the cost of the van. Ironically, my spouse recently told me of a similar situation she was aware of a couple weeks ago. The other option that you may consider is trying to rent a room from someone living closer to the work area. It doesn't have to be a full time thing, but renting a room 1-2 nights per weeks closer to the facility might help better manage the commute. That may or may not make up the the commute costs, but it can help mentally help...
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 1:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

No, it isn't an ideal commute, but it is a job and might be your best option at this point. Short of finding another job, I'd vote for the car. You can run errands if needed to an from work, stop for a break if needed etc. Can't do that on the bus. It's shorter. Time is money and not being in a commute for an extra couple of hours a day is huge. I'm in my car 4-6 hours every morning for a 1/3 of what you make. Also not ideal, but some perspective. I actually don't mind it too much. It's tedious, some of it is actual work (delivering the paper), but it's 4-6 hours nonetheless. However, I listen to around a book a week, sometimes more. I listen to a ton of interesting podcasts (listen at 1.5x speed, get more in that way). I have plenty of ti...
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:35 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

Honestly all those options sound pretty brutal in terms of time No disagreement there, need to do the best I can with the options I have. How much will the driving commute actually cost per mile? Is the IRS reimbursement estimate reasonable or is there a better estimate to use? I bought a used vehicle (1999 model) in 2010 for 7K and have put 85K miles on it since then. It's still worth 3.5K. It has been extremely reliable and only had brake jobs, oil changes, and one set of new tires. Including gas, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, I am at approximately 27 to 28 cents per mile. That's about as cheap as you can get unless you get lucky or really research and make some good choices. If you have a more expensive car or have to pay more i...
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

Personally, I would take the bus. I’ve done both long driving commutes and long bus commutes, although not as long as yours. Not sure what kind of job you have, but most commuter buses have WiFi, and you can use your laptop. You can also read or sleep. In the car, you can listen to the stereo, and drive. Then drive some more. My experience was that the bus was more relaxing and I got to work in better shape. I think I favor the bus primarily for this reason, and financially it seems much less expensive. In addition to not having to deal with the mental taxation of driving, I get the benefit of sleeping/reading as well. The cost of the longer commute is not insignificant though. I am not forced to commit to one or the other, so maybe I will...
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

Why can't you just live near the remote facility? If you can't live near the facility, can you at least live near some coworkers and carpool? There are only two closer option for living, "option C" i mentioned, and another location that would be a 2 hour commute/day as opposed to 2.5 hour commute/day. Option C has its own set of issues, but either way is not an option at this time as there are no places available to rent and I would have to purchase a home, which is not something I am willing to do at this time. As for this The costs of driving seem irrelevant compared to extra 1.75 hours per day! I think this really depends on what the actual costs of driving are. The IRS business rate would mean it would cost me $16k a year to ...
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

Smorgasbord wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:54 am I had a 2.5 hour (round trip) driving commute at an old job of mine. I lasted 18 months in that nightmare.
18 months, challenge accepted :twisted:

Yeah, it will be unpleasant.
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:16 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

I'm a little confused - is the extra 1.25 hrs in your 4.25 hr daily commute getting to and from the bus? Would there be an option to carpool with one or more of your coworkers? Honestly I would be hesitant to take the job under those conditions and for that salary. Do you have any other options? The extra 1.25 hrs is from driving to the bus station, and the bus arriving early/leaving later from the work facility. The bus goes to other facilities further away, so to get those people there on time the bus arrives at the facility I would be at a half hour early and leaves a half hour later at night. A lot of people carpool and it is likely that I could as well if there was an open spot in one of the carpool groups. I can't bank on getting a s...
by snackontransite
Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2095

Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

Edit: I will note here that there are only two closer locations to live due to the nature of the work facility. "Option C" would be the closest, and is not something I can do at this time. There is only one other closer location that would be ~2 hr/day commute, which I will start looking into. 2nd Edit: From the responses, I will be making it a priority to find a carpooling group ASAP. Carpooling is common, so it is just a matter of finding an open group, waiting for an open spot in a group, or starting a new group. It will not be immediate but I am sure I will be able to carpool after some time there. For a new position, I will be moving to a major city and having to commute to work at a remote facility. I will have the option of...
by snackontransite
Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:03 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: ELI5: Diversification, risk parity and volatility
Replies: 3
Views: 505

Re: ELI5: Diversification, risk parity and volatility

Constituents with high correlation mean they behave similarly. Hence are not independent sources of risk. E.g. if one goes down, so will the other. I would just add that high correlation does not mean they both have to go down. But it does indicate they are likely to behave in that manner. You are probably aware of this, but I felt it was worth mentioning. I would also mention again that the future may not resemble the past, and that past correlation data may not represent future correlations in a different setting/situation. Of course, the past is all we really have to go off of, and there are an infinite number of future hypothetical scenario's one could make up. Because diversification is mainly about finding constituents with low corre...
by snackontransite
Thu Jan 31, 2019 9:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: ELI5: Diversification, risk parity and volatility
Replies: 3
Views: 505

Re: ELI5: Diversification, risk parity and volatility

Sorry, I’m new to this. At Portfolio Visualizer you can optimze portfolio by diversification, risk parity and volatility (stdev) among other things. Could some help me understand the difference between these? By example if possible. Why isn’t the most diversified portfolio the one with the lowest volatility? I always thought of diversification as of finding assets with low correlation coefficients. And what the heck is risk parity? Here are some thoughts, but do not assume I know what I am talking about: Standard deviation is a measurement used to indicate how much a number varies from the average value in a series of numbers. I am assuming here we are talking about the standard deviation of the yearly return of a portfolio. Thus the st de...
by snackontransite
Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Engineering school
Replies: 83
Views: 9820

Re: Engineering school

KlangFool wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:34 pm An internship is a beaten path too. Someone could find a part-time job to gain the relevant experience if they so inclined.
KlangFool
Very true. Perhaps this is why I never found the experience I was looking for. It might be better to have a part-time "real" job than an internship. I expect less time is devoted to interns because they do not expect you to be sticking around for a long time. All my "engineering internships" were seasonal(summer months). I did work full time in my last year of university, which was worthwhile for the financial head-start if your able to do it.

If I were to travel back in time a few years and do it again, I would not necessarily put "intern" in my job searches.
by snackontransite
Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Engineering school
Replies: 83
Views: 9820

Re: Engineering school

I worked part-time at the university computing center for 5 years while I was doing my degree. When I graduated, I started working as a person with 5 years of relevant working experience. Nobody even cares to look at my degree and/or my CGPA since I am not a fresh graduate. So, you could follow a common beaten path. Fight among the fresh graduate for jobs requiring no job experience or bypassing the whole crowd and start working at a job requiring 2 to 5 years of working experience when you graduated. KlangFool Strongly agree that relevant work experience is extremely important. I would say it is more important than ANYTHING else, aside from the degree itself. However, I have found it is very difficult to get internships that are actually ...
by snackontransite
Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: MMORPG games
Replies: 63
Views: 8135

Re: MMORPG games

Been playing MMO's most of my life. Started with runescape when I was 9 years old or so. Shortly after started playing WoW from mid/end vanilla to end of Wrath expansion. Then I moved away from mmorpg's into just mmo-games and played path of exile for about a year. Then I played cs:go for about 2 years and almost got to the highest official matchmaking rank. Quit playing because the official mm is awful and I didn't want to deal with climbing ranks again to play on 3rd party mm. Tried to play WoW again last year around when antorus came out. Geared up in like 2 weeks and got ~1/2 way through mythic before stopping. Just not as fun as it used to be for me. Now I just "play" runescape (more like afk runescape and watch youtube) and ...
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:45 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Re: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

nix4me wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:36 pm International is terrible!
Your not wrong, but ill take my chances. :D
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Re: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

I can retire and collect my pension as early as age 58 if I so choose, 22 years from now, so I would consider buying into a bond fund around there. It would have to do with my annuity options for taking a lump sum withdrawal at the time and what our insurance/health situation looks like. I would probably invest the lump sum into a bond fund and keep the rest invested in stocks as is without having to rebalance immediately. -TheDDC If I decided to add more bonds at a certain point in my life, is there much difference between slowly adding bonds before that point to get up to the new asset allocation compared to just selling stock and buying the new allocation in bonds all at once? Would this just be a matter dependent on how quickly I could...
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Re: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

TheDDC wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:11 pm Go hard... You are only young once when starting your saving. 100% stocks all the way (VTSAX/VTIAX) in tax advantage. I'm 36 and my fixed income component is my pension and EF earning safe 2%. However, I believe I would still be 100% stocks either way. I started saving maxing out tax advantage space until later so I appreciate the exposure.

-TheDDC
Is there an age or point in your life you are planning to start adding bonds and/or sell stock to buy bonds?
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Re: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

RobLyons wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:24 pm I would allocate very lightly towards, or not buy any position in, bonds... 80/20 VTI / VXUS.
Buying some VOO or VUG wouldn't be a bad play either IMO
I would probably stick to mutual funds rather than ETFs, but I am sure there are versions of VOO/VUG that are not ETFs. Is there a specific reason you are using ETFs rather than the mutual funds? I do not know much about ETFs, they just seem like extra layers of complexity.

I am still not convinced on going 100% stocks, but I will think about how comfortable I am with 10% bonds.
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Re: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

Taylor Larimore wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:52 pm Dr. Bernstein recommends your Three-Fund Portfolio.
Taylor, your recommendation of the three-fund has been more influential to me than anything said by this "Dr. Bernstein" :D
I should probably learn to listen and not over-complicate things.
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Re: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

Thesaints wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:52 pm To begin with, given the very long time horizon, you would be better served by lengthening the duration of your bond component.
I mean Vanguard Tot Bond Mkt Idx has more than 40% of assets under 5 year maturity. Why would you want those ?
I had not even thought of this. I honestly do not know enough about how bond duration effects the risks and returns beyond the very basics, and see I have got some learning to do now. I would imagine the benefit to holding exclusively long and/or medium duration bonds would be slight, but with very little added risk. So this seems to me like something I need to research, but sounds very promising. Thanks!

Edit: little risk added for someone who already has a long time horizon, I meant
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Re: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

100% total stock market or sp500. Don’t worry with bonds until you get close to retirement. I would like some bonds, because not having them might cause me to do something stupid if stocks start to crash. Then again, having the bonds might be stupid in itself. Maybe there are some asset classes that are not super correlated with stocks that I could use to replace bonds? Or maybe I just need to see why I do not need bonds, and once I understand that I will not be as worried. I guess the question is, does the stability of bonds provide me enough mental well being to be worth the loss in potential returns. I will have to think about this more. If I can reasonably stomach it, maybe you are right. Emotions should not have a place in decision ma...
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:46 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?
Replies: 42
Views: 2892

Is the 3 fund asset allocation my best option?

I am looking at investing for retirement with a 35+ year time span (I am 23). I have determined that the 3 fund portfolio of van. total stock, van. total int'l stock, and van. total bond would be good. I am looking at something like 20% to bonds, 20-30% to int'l, and the rest to total stock. If I can't get those funds as options for my 401k I will try to approximate them. That being said, I do wonder if there is any merit to picking out another fund/asset class or two in hopes of greater returns, given the long time span I have. What I have seen mentioned in other threads is mostly to just reduce the amount in bonds and increase the amount in stock rather than add another fund/tilt, but I am doubtful that going below 20% bonds is a great mo...
by snackontransite
Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Recent Engineering College Graduate can’t get job interviews, needs advice
Replies: 149
Views: 18684

Re: Recent Engineering College Graduate can’t get job interviews, needs advice

My Son recently graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering from a highly regarded State University. I graduated a little over a year ago with a degree in chemical engineering, which I would imagine is probably the closest major to industrial engineering. I went to a top school, and my GPA was ~3.4. The job search was absolutely brutal and took months. I was told throughout school what a great major chemical engineering was. Maybe it is a great major, if you do not intend to actually work as a chemical engineer. My experience has been that no one will hire you for an engineering position straight out of school. As far as I can tell, the only way for that to happen is to have personal connections or to go directly from an internship t...
by snackontransite
Wed Jan 02, 2019 3:12 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Can I trust a fund/index?
Replies: 12
Views: 961

Re: Can I trust a fund/index?

Phineas J. Whoopee wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:26 pm Long ago I held shares in a midcap index fund from Dreyfus. Mellon, now Bank of NY Mellon, bought them and promptly de-indexed it without warning and without even changing its name, realizing a large capital gain for me to pay tax on.
Wow, that is quite something. I was concerned I was wasting my time looking through things this much, but my concerns seem pretty reasonable in light of stuff like this. I will have to check up every now and then to make sure any funds I pick up do not drift from what they were "supposed" to be.
by snackontransite
Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Can I trust a fund/index?
Replies: 12
Views: 961

Re: Can I trust a fund/index?

mhc wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:10 am I would rather have a passive fund over an active fund because I would not trust the active fund manager.
Yes, I should have mentioned I plan only to look at passive funds, which eliminates some level of complexity. There may be good active funds out there but I am too clueless(and busy) to find them. Thanks for your post & insight.
by snackontransite
Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:56 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Can I trust a fund/index?
Replies: 12
Views: 961

Can I trust a fund/index?

I am new to investing, I apologize for what is likely a silly question. I am also young & dumb :D. When I looked at Vanguard Total Bond Market I realized that the name of funds can be very misleading from a newbie's point of view. Vanguard total bond market is really more like vanguard total investment grade bond market from what I can tell. Obviously, that is not necessarily a bad thing. But it did make me think that I should probably do more research when it comes to looking into funds. I would like to have a better understanding of funds and what they invest in. I will use VTSAX as an example. When I read the prospectus of VTSAX it says it is "designed to track the performance of the CRSP US Total Market Index", and gives s...