Search found 33 matches

by AllStarDaniel
Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
Replies: 7638
Views: 1712740

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Just started Bogle's Stay the Course. RIP.
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:19 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Maxing out Roth IRA ASAP vs Monthly
Replies: 11
Views: 1327

Maxing out Roth IRA ASAP vs Monthly

Can someone help my wife and I out? What is the advantage (if any) of maxing out your Roth IRA ASAP, as opposed to contributing monthly and maxing it out before the end of the year?
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I Investing Too Much?
Replies: 18
Views: 2338

Re: Am I Investing Too Much?

Apologies for the lack of information. I am worried I am repeating myself. I am 30, my wife is 27. She brings home $38,00 after taxes, and I have a stipend of $26,000. We have some side stuff which brings home some extras. Conferences are my biggest expenses (we have worst case budgeted for $6,000) because of the nature of the academic beast and my wife is in grad school and we are paying cash, $9,000 for this year. A big question is what the career prospects are for the fields that you are in. If you are in fields where you are likely to each be making $100K+ three years from now when you finish up your studies then you should really consider reducing the savings so you can enjoy life more now since you can easily save an extra $10k later...
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Dec 15, 2018 6:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I Investing Too Much?
Replies: 18
Views: 2338

Re: Am I Investing Too Much?

Tal- wrote: Fri Dec 14, 2018 3:40 pm
AllStarDaniel wrote: Fri Dec 14, 2018 3:20 pm
If you wanted, I'd support you stopping the $6K that you're investing into a normal taxable account. But, if you want to keep saving that $6K, I'd suggest that going into your money market fund to accelerate when you can buy a house.

You really are off to a great start.
Thanks. That is what we are debating. We wondering if we should just horde the cash and not invest... but... we are also in a good position to do so.
by AllStarDaniel
Fri Dec 14, 2018 3:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I Investing Too Much?
Replies: 18
Views: 2338

Re: Am I Investing Too Much?

Apologies for the lack of information. I am worried I am repeating myself.

I am 30, my wife is 27. She brings home $38,00 after taxes, and I have a stipend of $26,000. We have some side stuff which brings home some extras. Conferences are my biggest expenses (we have worst case budgeted for $6,000) because of the nature of the academic beast and my wife is in grad school and we are paying cash, $9,000 for this year.
by AllStarDaniel
Fri Dec 14, 2018 3:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I Investing Too Much?
Replies: 18
Views: 2338

Re: Am I Investing Too Much?

Tal- wrote: Fri Dec 14, 2018 3:05 pm Assuming Meg's post is accurate, and you make ~$65,000/year, your savings look spot-on. I wouldn't suggest changing them up or down all that much. You're doing great, just stick with it. It does get easier, I promise :)
Close, we are $75K (including our side hustles). Sadly our biggest expenses are travel due to me as a budding academic.
by AllStarDaniel
Fri Dec 14, 2018 1:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I Investing Too Much?
Replies: 18
Views: 2338

Am I Investing Too Much?

So my wife and I did the 2019 budget from 10,000 feet and we think we have figured out our maximum potential earnings, savings, and investing for the year. We think we can put away about $10,000 for the savings account (money market saving for our future home), $12,000 for Roth IRAs ($6,000 each), and then $6,000 for Indexing and Bond allocations. How does this sound for you guys? It is possible we shall save more by spending less, but this is our worst-case scenario budget (failing losing a job and not going over in our budget, which is already really conservative). Keep in mind we already have an emergency fund for six months, as well as a nice nest egg of $28,000 growing in our money market. What do you guys think? Saving too little? Inv...
by AllStarDaniel
Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:54 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to tell if online watches are legit?
Replies: 15
Views: 1386

Re: How to tell if online watches are legit?

Check out the Urban Gentry's Youtube series on this.
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008
Replies: 249
Views: 26924

Re: What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008

We were 66/33 stocks/bonds. I rebalanced once on the way down, then got freaked out as the market kept crashing and the talking heads starting mentioning total global financial meltdown (aka Great Depression II). I had a couple of neighbors and friends lose their jobs. I never was too tempted to sell stocks, they had already dropped too far. I was very thankful for our bonds. I did stop rebalancing on the way down. I set a hard limit on our bond money at $200,000 and I wasn't going to risk any more of it. We had three kids, and I wanted a solid floor that would keep them warm and fed even if the Great Depression happened again with 25% unemployment and bread lines. New money (for 401k contributions) went 100% into stocks though. It is weir...
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:30 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008
Replies: 249
Views: 26924

Re: What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008

stoptothink wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:15 pm I was in my mid-20's and in the process of losing nearly my entire life savings (~$300k, retirement consisted of nothing but a low 5-figure amount in a Roth IRA) in real estate development and investing. I am fortunate that I had a full-time job (I was not leveraged at all), was responsible for nobody but myself, and that I learned those lessons early enough to recover, many of the people I had business relationships with lost everything and have yet to recover.
Holy crap. You lost 300k?!
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:54 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008
Replies: 249
Views: 26924

What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008

A part of 'staying the course' is riding the market, including really bad times. So I am curious, and would love to learn from people's experience, what happened to you and your stocks and savings during the financial crisis of 2007–2008? How did you ride it out? How did it go? What lessons were learned and what advice would you give to someone just starting who remembers it as a young person. Apparently, studies are showing young people are not willing to invest because of what they saw during 08.
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 9:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)
Replies: 15
Views: 1462

Re: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)

Unfortunate. Don't see a difference between having an online MM but a physical savings account. Everything is FDIC insured. And having $10k in checking with little to no interest, especially for people your age (vs. a 70 year old that doesn't trust the internet) is crazy. But I do understand having a happy wife. :D Edit - although, if you do start investing with Vanguard, they have Prime Money Market Fund, which is paying 2.36% currently. Once you cross that bridge of investing non-retirement funds at Vanguard, perhaps you could shift some of the balances around. Cut checking balance down, shift some to savings, shift some of that to MM, and some of that to Vanguard Prime MM. Maybe keep $20k in the three other money holdings. What is the P...
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:59 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)
Replies: 15
Views: 1462

Re: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)

Because our money market gets 2.05 (just checked it this morning). So I just don't find CDs compelling because they are so comparable to High Yeilding accounts. What's the reason to have any savings account? You're getting 1.5% on $18,000, when you could move all that to the MM and get 2.05%, or 0.55% more. On $18K that's $100+ a year. It is my wife's home bank. I have tried talking her out of this into a better account but she won't change on it. When we go home to visit the in-laws, she likes to know its there and I think she likes the piece of mind that it is a *real* physical building. Evening getting her into the money market account was tough as it was all online. She says see will likely change when we move but I can see us still go...
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)
Replies: 15
Views: 1462

Re: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)

aerosurfer wrote: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:44 am Why limit your Roth’s to only 1000/month. You have liquid cash elsewhere. Fully fund them as quick as you can. After that, up her 401k contributions to get the tax deferred savings, towards the max $19k in 2019.
I think we were going that way to make it automated via Vanguard, so we can set and forget.
I agree with the above poster about Ally’s no penalty CD. I have closed/opened them when the rate rose 5bp too. It’s a good balance to accessible money and higher savings rate for the cash reserves or short term savings.
Because our money market gets 2.05 (just checked it this morning). So I just don't find CDs compelling because they are so comparable to High Yeilding accounts.
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:15 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)
Replies: 15
Views: 1462

Re: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)

"Admiral shares" are not an investment, they are a class of shares with lower expenses of many Vanguard mutual funds. You have your liquid cash in 3 places: $10k in a checking account earning nothing(?) $18k in a savings account earning 1.5% $28k in a money market account earning _____ (you didn't say) That's $56,000, a bunch of which is earning interest below what is easily obtainable. I'd open accounts at Ally. Checking, online savings, and 11 month No Penalty CDs to start. Put at least $25k in an 11 month no penalty CD at 2.25%, then once a month go to Ally's site and see if the rate went up - if it did close the CD and open a new one at the new rate. Put the rest except for a month's bills in Online Savings, and then fill up ...
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:12 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Too Much Savings Regret
Replies: 112
Views: 20145

Re: Too Much Savings Regret

Plus, my fondest memories at the moment are those nights hanging out with friends, playing video games and eating pizza. Or going for coffee dates with my wife and spending just a little on lunch to be together. Or going on a hike together.

You don't need to spend anything or too much.

I doubt I will regret saving too much but I will regret working too much and not spending time with the people who matter the most.
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:08 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Too Much Savings Regret
Replies: 112
Views: 20145

Re: Too Much Savings Regret

My father died two years into his retirement last year. Brain cancer. I think this year why marrying someone who compliments you is good. My Dad was the spender in the marriage, and my Mum, the saver. Dad encouraged Mum to live a little, but Mum always made sure it was within limits. His death had a bit of an effect on me in both directions. Turning 30 I was like... wow... I could go at any minute. But I was reacted by seeing, oh my goodness, I am nearly 30 and have nothing to show for it. So my wife and I have given each other allowances to spend on ourselves, and that is fun, plus we are planning to go on trips and make sure we have fun. It is a tough balancing act, but I think all things in moderation. I do not want to be the person who ...
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:55 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)
Replies: 15
Views: 1462

Dividing up Savings (some help and advice please)

Hey all, I posted something similar because I wanted to introduce myself but I was wondering if I could ask for some more direct help and get direct advice. This is coming from a guy who is turning 30 with a wife who is 26. As some of you know my wife and I live in a care-for-board situation with a retired professor (86 years old) whilst I am in grad school. She works from home, so she is able to check in on him and in return for no charge on rent, we do his chores, cook his meals and dine with him, play taxi when he needs to go out, host his parties, etc. It is basically a second job, but we are saving a lot. After taxes, my wife's income at her full-time job is about $37,000. In my Ph.D. program, I have a stipend of $26,000. We both have ...
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:30 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Teachers, Professors, and others with lots of vacation days: what do you do in the summer?
Replies: 49
Views: 5917

Re: Teachers, Professors, and others with lots of vacation days: what do you do in the summer?

Ph.D. Student here (29, 30 in 8 days).

Besides spending time with my inlaws and playing some much-needed video games, I do a lot of writing. I have conferences coming up and papers to present, so I will be working on them. I am currently working on an article for publication as well, so I need to get it done while I have all this free time before I am writing assignments I do not care about or grading my student's papers. I also have a lot of reading to catch up, both for pleasure and for school.

No rest for the wicked I am afraid.
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
Replies: 7638
Views: 1712740

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins.
These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore.
Reagan: An American Journey by Bob Spitz.
by AllStarDaniel
Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:25 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Nespresso?
Replies: 103
Views: 11069

Re: Nespresso?

I live by mine. I find that I don't drink as much coffee, because it is intense enough and nice enough. Before I was drinking a lot more coffee. Now I just have one or two a day. The pods can be pricey but there are alternatives on Amazon which I am currently trying but still cheaper than ordering from a cafe. Regardless, would highly recommend. Plus, they started a recycling program as well which eases my mind on that front.
by AllStarDaniel
Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:41 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Hurting Roth IRA
Replies: 16
Views: 1607

Re: Hurting Roth IRA

GerryL wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:15 pm Perspective.
I wish I could have contributed to a Roth when I was 29. But they didn't exist. I opened my Roth IRA as soon as they became available in 1998 -- when I was turning 50 and when contribution limit was just $2k a year. Maxed it out every year and held on tight through the ugliness of 2000 and 2008.
Sitting pretty with over a quarter mil. (which includes about $50k of conversions).
Your Roth is not hurting. It's just having growing pains.
I love that, growing pains. That is awesome.
by AllStarDaniel
Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Hurting Roth IRA
Replies: 16
Views: 1607

Re: Hurting Roth IRA

Opened my Roth IRA today to see I was down 229 dollars for the year. :annoyed Man... I know you have to stay the course but gosh that hurts at the age of 29 and not having much money to burn. But... stay the course. :| at a young age percentage losses can be large, but dollar losses small at an older age percentage losses can be small, but dollar losses large example: 29 years old 100% equity $10,000 invested. stock market drops 20%. You're $10,000 just lost $2,000 (you might think this is large but keep reading...) The value of your account is $8000 not $10,000 69 years old 30/70 equity/fixed income $1,000,000 invested. stock market drops 20% again (but assume bonds are up 2%). Let's say your portfolio falls 4.6% as a result (.30 X -.20) ...
by AllStarDaniel
Mon Dec 10, 2018 6:54 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Hurting Roth IRA
Replies: 16
Views: 1607

Re: Hurting Roth IRA

I am in (VFFVX) Vanguard Target Retirement 2055 Fund.
by AllStarDaniel
Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Hurting Roth IRA
Replies: 16
Views: 1607

Hurting Roth IRA

Opened my Roth IRA today to see I was down 229 dollars for the year. :annoyed Man... I know you have to stay the course but gosh that hurts at the age of 29 and not having much money to burn. But... stay the course. :|
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Dec 08, 2018 2:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)
Replies: 6
Views: 717

Re: Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)

For your retirement money, here are suggestions for low cost, index based portfolios: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios I wouldn’t worry too much about the Admiral versus Investor designation. The difference in expense ratios is small and you’ll get converted to Admiral automatically once you reach that threshold. Choose the asset allocation that you want and invest accordingly. If there is no Investor Shares option, then go with the ETF. For emergency and house downpayment funds, use CDs, money market funds, or high yield savings accounts. Money that you will (or may) need in the short term — 5 years or less — shouldn’t be in the stock market. It is too volatile. Thanks for the link, very helpful. We have enough to go with A...
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:36 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)
Replies: 6
Views: 717

Re: Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)

nix4me wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:30 am The Roth limit was raised for 2019 - so you can put 6,000 now - so $500 a month.
That is awesome. Did not know that!
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:36 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)
Replies: 6
Views: 717

Re: Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)

stan1 wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:35 am Does your wife's employer offer a 401K or 403b? If they offer a matching contribution that's free money you want to grab even before you do the Roth IRAs. After you get the matching contribution I'd do the two Roth IRAs, then continue contributing to the 401K. The balance between saving for a home down payment or investing for retirement is really your call based on your priorities. If you aren't sure you can do some of each. You can never go wrong with saving money.
Yes they do. She is matching as much as she can. That is what we are doing, matching in her 401K and then doing our Roths as extra.
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)
Replies: 6
Views: 717

Setting up for 2019 (Married Couple M/30.F/26)

Dear Bogleheads Community, I just signed up today and I am excited to get into this forum. I am 29 years old, married, and living in the Bay Area of Cali. I am in the second of my Ph.D., so are you can imagine, as a graduate student, I am not making a lot. My wife is the breadwinner and we have found ourselves in great step up. We live in the basement of a retired professor, and in return for doing his meals, running his errands, assisting him, and such, we get to stay their rent free, with the internet being covered as well. With turning 30 this (I turn 30 in just over a week!), I realized how little I had to show for anything. My wife and I were debt free (thank goodness) and a decent amount of savings, and it was growing but we weren't b...
by AllStarDaniel
Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:21 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: A New Boglehead and Plans for 2019
Replies: 5
Views: 1295

Re: A New Boglehead and Plans for 2019

Thanks!
by AllStarDaniel
Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: places to live near Stanford University
Replies: 39
Views: 7712

Re: places to live near Stanford University

Did you get the job and are you still at Stanford?
by AllStarDaniel
Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:31 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: A New Boglehead and Plans for 2019
Replies: 5
Views: 1295

A New Boglehead and Plans for 2019

Dear Bogleheads Community, I just signed up today and I am excited to get into this forum. I am 29 years old, married, and living in the Bay Area of Cali. I am in the second of my Ph.D., so are you can imagine, as a graduate student, I am not making a lot. My wife is the breadwinner and we have found ourselves in great step up. We live in the basement of a retired professor, and in return for doing his meals, running his errands, assisting him, and such, we get to stay their rent free, with the internet being covered as well. With turning 30 this (I turn 30 in just over a week!), I realized how little I had to show for anything. My wife and I were debt free (thank goodness) and a decent amount of savings, and it was growing but we weren't b...