Search found 236 matches

by investorjunkie
Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone using Quicken 2013?
Replies: 77
Views: 20140

Re: Anyone using Quicken 2013?

jwa wrote:This is off-topic but somewhat related. Has anyone explored Mint as an alternative to Quicken? It's sort of curious but Quicken owns Mint.
Intuit owns both. Mint.com is really geared towards younger investors, but with fewer assets/investments. Quicken is really geared towards the full gambit, and has features that Mint.com doesn't even offer.

[Commercial solicitation removed by admin LadyGeek]
by investorjunkie
Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone using Quicken 2013?
Replies: 77
Views: 20140

Re: Anyone using Quicken 2013?

I just reviewed Quicken 2013 on my site:

[Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek]

Overall I like it. I like the mobile integration and alerts. While it's concerning how many patches they have now (up to R5), look at the bright side they are actively getting input from users and fixing the problems. Though you would have thought that had a more extensive beta testing of the product.

For those you dislike Quicken, what real viable options are available for local desktop? Anything else out there doesn't have all of the features Quicken has.

Also for those who are interested, I have a contest and giving away copies of the product.
by investorjunkie
Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:30 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Financial Blogger Conference
Replies: 6
Views: 1146

Re: Financial Blogger Conference

I'll be there! See all there and will be great to talk in person.
by investorjunkie
Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Recommendations for brokerage firms
Replies: 15
Views: 2083

Re: Recommendations for brokerage firms

Hi, I've looked into a few brokerage firms. Options House, Trade King, and Zecco seem to have the lowest fees ($4-$5 per trade) (though I may have missed some of the stuff they tack on). Other than that, Scottrade ($7 per trade) has okay fees and a solid reputation. I briefly looked into ShareBuilder (I already have accounts with ING), but their fees seem a little high. As I mentioned in a recent post on my site, [commercial promotion removed by admin LadyGeek] . Also are you buying individual stocks or ETFs? You don't mention your investing strategy (meaning you could be buying sectors that are cheap, not individual stocks) If you are going this route, many brokerages have commission free ETFs. I have a list of the brokers on my site and ...
by investorjunkie
Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard vs. Scottrade
Replies: 28
Views: 22565

Re: Vanguard vs. Scottrade

livesoft wrote:
investorjunkie wrote:
livesoft wrote:^Ah, yes, the SmartMoney "review". I suspect ratings are based on advertising dollars spent at SmartMoney.
Actually at least according to the writer of the article this statement isn't true. It was Vanguard declined to participate in the survey. Though participate could mean "paid advertising dollars". :-)
I guess I meant that the rating of WellsTrade as the most expensive was curious since under the parameters specified in the article (I think it was $50,000 account, 5 trades a month), WellsTrade would have been complete free. So why WT was rated most expensive was a complete fail.
Agreed, especially if WT was involved with the survey.
by investorjunkie
Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:30 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard vs. Scottrade
Replies: 28
Views: 22565

Re: Vanguard vs. Scottrade

konungur wrote:I am currently reading as much as I can get my hands on about investing.
I suggest reading: "The Four Pillars of Investing" -William J. Bernstein

IMHO the best book on asset allocation for beginners.
by investorjunkie
Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard vs. Scottrade
Replies: 28
Views: 22565

Re: Vanguard vs. Scottrade

livesoft wrote:^Ah, yes, the SmartMoney "review". I suspect ratings are based on advertising dollars spent at SmartMoney.
Actually at least according to the writer of the article this statement isn't true. It was Vanguard declined to participate in the survey. Though participate could mean "paid advertising dollars". :-)

Either way, Vanguard is great for Vanguard products, but pretty much poor for anything else. Unlike Bogleheads like to think, the world doesn't revolve around Vanguard. :-)

My personal favorite broker is Fidelity, which DumbMoney so happen to rate as #1.
by investorjunkie
Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:11 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard vs. Scottrade
Replies: 28
Views: 22565

Re: Vanguard vs. Scottrade

If you are going with just Vanguard funds then you are foolish IMHO to use another broker. BUT with that said Vanguard is a poor choice with other services (ie buying individual stocks). IMHO you should have accounts at multiple brokers. Not every broker can be everything, and each has their own features. As others have mentioned Scottrade isn't the top of my list as well, but not awful. If you are not wanting to use Vanguard, you are best to pick a broker that has commission free ETFs. I have comprehensive list of the brokers with the ETFs they offer list on my site: [Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek] Scottrade does have some commission free ETFs, but missing bonds from that list. So you won't be able to get a complete asset alloc...
by investorjunkie
Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bill Bernstein interview on Fixed Income/Bond Funds
Replies: 63
Views: 9291

Re: Bill Bernstein on Fixed income

No mention of I bonds either? Much better than TIPS especially in a taxable account.
by investorjunkie
Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lending Clubs
Replies: 39
Views: 4682

Re: Lending Clubs

Speak to your state. Each state can approve/disapprove P2P lending. Basically the state is saying it's too risky of an investment. Keep in mind you CAN invest in the secondary market as a backdoor. Though I don't recommend do this for various reasons.
by investorjunkie
Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:13 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lending Clubs
Replies: 39
Views: 4682

Re: Lending Clubs

I read this on another site, http://www.wiseclerk.com/service-fees-on-25-notes-t202.html Most of my notes are $25 in 3 year loans making the monthly payments around $0.75. Since LC rounds the service fee up, the actual service fee is can range from 1.1% to 1.6% on the sub $1 payments. I'm guessing those numbers will go up when more of my 5 year notes with smaller monthly payments start coming in. My question is, is it worth it to invest $50 to $100 per loan so that the service fee on each payment is closer to 1%? Is the gain on reducing fees worth lessening your diversification thus increasing risk? At first glance I would think the $25 notes would make the most sense but maybe this person is on to something. btw, I have never done anythin...
by investorjunkie
Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:42 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lending Clubs
Replies: 39
Views: 4682

Re: Lending Clubs

RenoJay wrote: I agree. I do not loan on businesses, cars or vacations on LendingClub. I pretty much stick to credit card consolidation (which, for all we know is used to fund small businesses) because at least it provides that the thought that some credit card company who knows more about underwriting than I do decided to extend credit to this borrower and if I can refi the loan at a lower rate it should make the borrower more likely, not less likely, to pay it.
The stats also don't lie. Though cars aren't so bad.
by investorjunkie
Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lending Clubs
Replies: 39
Views: 4682

Re: Lending Clubs

Lending clubs take what could easily be a diversified loan portfolio and undiversify the exposure by having you pick specific loans that you want to take on personally. The borrower presumably would be willing to pay the same interest rate - whether they were paying back a loan pool or an individual? So, if you have the choice to get the same rate of return in a diversified manner or an undiversified manner - why would one choose the undiversified option? There is arbitrage profit to be had there. I am not sure that I understand you. As has been mentioned Lending Club does have a feature where it automatically chooses loans depending on the desired ROI. I don't like it much as I am not convinced that their risk calculations are particularl...
by investorjunkie
Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:13 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lending Clubs
Replies: 39
Views: 4682

Re: Lending Clubs

PennySaved wrote:I have also considered starting Roth IRA with Lending Club next year. They require $5,000 investment to get the no-fee Roth IRA. It would make more sense to keep the peer-to-peer lending inside of a Roth IRA for tax reasons. But my taxable investment could also serve as emergency cash source if I need it. I could sell the loans on the secondary market (Folio) or I could take the interest and principal repayments as cash, instead of reinvesting them as I do now.
Yes Lending Club is not tax efficient. In addition it really could never be used as emergency cash as it takes way to long to wind down investments (via the poorly designed secondary market they have).
by investorjunkie
Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lending Clubs
Replies: 39
Views: 4682

Re: Lending Clubs

I've also a regular investor of Lending Club (no s) and been doing it for 3 years now. I have over $9k invested and earning approx 8.25%.

[Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek]
by investorjunkie
Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 15 or 30 year mortgage?
Replies: 53
Views: 6613

Re: 15 or 30 year mortgage?

ebotrd wrote: if you know you'll be moving & selling the house in less than 10y you should consider other shorter term loans (to get a lower rate). Sounds like this house is a little too pricey to make a worthwhile rental property.
I agree with your points.

This is also discussed on another Bogleheads post.

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... st=1410230

I also have a post to my site discussing the same thing.
by investorjunkie
Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?
Replies: 2483
Views: 291497

Re: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?

Paying down a 6% mortgage (lets say 5% if you include mortgage deduction), is risk free or guaranteed. We aren't talking about at that rate. We are talking about the current 3-4% rate. At that rate yes it starts making more sense to pre-pay a mortgage. The chances to beat that return gets much harder. You must look at similar savings vehicles when making the comparison... that would include FDIC insured CD's, shorter term treasuries, FDIC insured savings accounts. Right now you can receive a return of 1.7% on a 5yr FDIC insured CD. I think paying down the mortgage looks more and more tempting... If you are considering your mortgage as part of your bond portfolio, yes. If you were going to invest that money in stocks, no. As far as the &quo...
by investorjunkie
Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?
Replies: 2483
Views: 291497

Re: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?

3CT_Paddler wrote: Anybody have another place to get a risk free return north of 1 or 2% right now?
This is recency bias. What matters isn't now, what matters is 5+ years from now if we are doing long term investing.

There are plenty of dividend stocks that generate +3% and dividend aristocrats, just to give one specific example.

There is no such thing as a "risk free" investment at least in terms getting you money back in real dollars. Sure you can put your money into a 10 year treasury, but you really think you'll do better than the rate of inflation?
by investorjunkie
Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:12 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?
Replies: 2483
Views: 291497

Re: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?

teacher wrote:We bought our current home in 1979 when mortgage interest was 13.5%. When rates dropped to 9.5%, we jumped at the chance to refinance to a 15 year loan.
This is a prefect point in time when individuals should have been paying off their mortgage as fast as possible. Why? because how easy is it to find long term (10 - 15 years) returns higher than 13.5% or 9.5%?

I'm making the point that a mortgage is like a long term bond. By prepaying you get a guaranteed rate of return. Right now 3.75% on a 30 year fixed (2.5%ish with tax deduction). Debt prepayment should be looked at like any other investment, can you get a better return elsewhere in the next 10-15+ years? I would say without question yes!
by investorjunkie
Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?
Replies: 2483
Views: 291497

Re: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?

stan1 wrote: Borrowing money to invest in a business you have a large degree of control over and which produces income is a different situation.
Yes and no. You cannot control the marketplace for your product/service, nor the economy. Taking out a loan for a business is not without risk. In fact if you look at all the different types of loans, small business loans are the riskest (right up there with student loans). We would agree interest rate is somewhat a good measure of risk? There is a reason why you can get a 30 year fixed mortgage on a home for 3.75% now, and why current business loans go for 9%,12%, or higher and tied to LIBOR or some other measure of inflation.
by investorjunkie
Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:02 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?
Replies: 2483
Views: 291497

Re: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?

steve r wrote: What we do know is that the TIPS market and the bond market is signaling deflation, not inflation. The much less liquid gold market is signalling the opposite.
The gold market is expecting another round of QE from the FED, hence the disconnect. Though as a side note if the 10 year is at 1.5% and the purpose of QE is to lower rates for long term bonds, how much lower would rates go if another round of QE occurred?
It stikes me that a hedge strategy may be best. If you pay off the house, be more aggressive with your equity portfolio. I you use mortage money to invest, be conservative and have bonds.
I'm glad someone sees this more intelligently than making the statement "it makes me sleep well at night".
by investorjunkie
Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:54 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?
Replies: 2483
Views: 291497

Re: Anyone regret paying off mortgage early?

I'll be so bold and raise my hand to state paying your mortgage off right now is a foolish idea. Primary Reasons: - Too much NW into one asset (that's illiquid to boot!) - Your primary residence is not an investment - In the long haul will get better returns elsewhere I go into details on my blog why: [Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek] I find it very interesting Bogleheads are all about asset allocation, yet many recommend paying off their mortgage. For many, owning a home outright will make their home more than 1/3 of their total net worth (I could even assume 1/2 in some cases). Would Bogleheads put that much into one asset class that also is very illiquid? I can understand if you are retired and doing it because of cash flow. My...
by investorjunkie
Wed May 30, 2012 8:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Social lending - worth the time?
Replies: 23
Views: 3312

Re: Social lending - worth the time?

Muchtolearn wrote: You should sue the estate.
You cannot try to collect from the borrower (dead or alive). The P2P company is the collector of bad debts.
by investorjunkie
Wed May 30, 2012 9:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Social lending - worth the time?
Replies: 23
Views: 3312

Re: Social lending - worth the time?

3CT_Paddler wrote:They did revamp their system to cut out those with really poor credit, but I also wonder if you would see much the same thing when the next recession hits... those lending to low quality borrowers have their previous returns wiped out.

I don't doubt that people can and do make good returns on there, but I think a couple years of good returns could lull some people into underestimating the systematic risk.
Prosper isn't really a good example, Lending Club would be. Notes from Lending Club did OK during this period.

Investing in either P2P company should be thought as in the junk bond category.
by investorjunkie
Tue May 29, 2012 7:24 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Online Tools for Investment & Asset Allocation
Replies: 6
Views: 2740

Re: Online Tools for Investment & Asset Allocation

I agree with the OP. While Personal Capital isn't perfect, it definitely has the chance being much better than Mint. I've found Mint to be too buggy and too much up sell to be useful lately. As a business model Personal Capital also targets an underserved niche of net worth individuals from $100k - $2M (though not via Bogleheadish means). Mint seems to focus on newbies just starting out and the focus is with budgets. Though with web 2.0 apps there is no reason to just use Mint.com for budgeting and Personal Capital for investing. Out all of the ones mentioned in the list, they certainly have the most "buzz". I detail them in a recent review I did. [Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek] They also just released a neat feature I...
by investorjunkie
Tue May 29, 2012 6:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Social lending - worth the time?
Replies: 23
Views: 3312

Re: Social lending - worth the time?

Here is a recent cheer-leading article on P2P lending. http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/29/peer-to-peer-lending-crosses-1-billion-in-loans-issued/ I am surprised at the growth that this has shown. When I looked into this myself as an investment opportunity I felt that this required too much effort for too little incremental gain. In order to diversify appropriately, you would need to invest in a ton of loans, which in turn would require too much time for vetting, mgmt compared to the increased (risky) yield vs. risk-free investments on a smaller principal vs. total portfolio (probably would never invest more than 5% of portfolio in this). In the end this seemed more like complicated entertainment to me than a true investment vehicle that I sh...
by investorjunkie
Fri May 25, 2012 11:04 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?
Replies: 21
Views: 4320

Re: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?

livesoft wrote:
investorjunkie wrote:
livesoft wrote: Commissions are ZERO nowadays on stock trades if you use a no-commission broker like I do, so that is not an issue.
I assume you are referring to ETFs and not stocks? If stocks who offers zero commission for stocks? Zecco no longer offers this.
No, I am referring to stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. Everybody knows WellsTrade has free commissions. It's a perennial topic on the forum.
Yes, but WellsTrade has some gotten some very bad reviews in service and time to execute the trade.
by investorjunkie
Fri May 25, 2012 11:00 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?
Replies: 21
Views: 4320

Re: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?

livesoft wrote: Commissions are ZERO nowadays on stock trades if you use a no-commission broker like I do, so that is not an issue.
I assume you are referring to ETFs and not stocks? If stocks who offers zero commission for stocks? Zecco no longer offers this.
by investorjunkie
Fri May 25, 2012 10:58 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?
Replies: 21
Views: 4320

Re: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?

livesoft wrote:Bottom line: Not worth the trouble at all to create your own index fund and own the individual stocks for a dubious potential savings of $500.
Good point.
by investorjunkie
Fri May 25, 2012 10:52 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?
Replies: 21
Views: 4320

Re: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?

Problem 3: More tax efficient? No. Well, I guess that depends how you're defining efficiency. You will have to deal with more paper work (albeit minor) then with a single fund. Dividends are dividends, Capital Gains are capital gains. In my case I already use an accountant, so my fees/work involved is pretty much the same for this problem. For someone doing this themselves it would be only slightly more complex, since as you say you still have the same tax issues with a fund. My point being is a mutual fund has higher taxes owned because they must sell shares of stock when investors are selling their shares, not only for accurate indexing tracking. So, in theory the taxes owed could be higher for an index fund when compared to owning all o...
by investorjunkie
Fri May 25, 2012 10:44 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?
Replies: 21
Views: 4320

Re: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?

Problem 1: Buying 50 stocks is going to cost you lets say, $500 Buying VOO from Vanguard Brokerage or TD Ameritrade? $0 Buying VFINX from Vanguard? $0 Selling? At minimum $500, it will be more because of the cost of selling, how much more is a matter of how many shares. At Vanguard? $0 So at minimum you're out $1000. Your $500 is on the high end. Most brokers are sub $10/trade now. Lowest being TradeKing/Zecco at $4.95. If you use them it's $247.50 instead of $500. But that's the rub, you are out the first year and any year you must trade. So if you own the stocks for say 20 years without trading, it could be in theory much cheaper than an index fund for that long haul. Like I also said it makes more sense at higher investment amounts sinc...
by investorjunkie
Fri May 25, 2012 9:52 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Basket of stocks VS an index fund?
Replies: 21
Views: 4320

Basket of stocks VS an index fund?

I've seen this topic discussed a few places and wanted to see if any Bogleheads have further research or discussion on the subject. Any previous discussion about this topic within the forum would be helpful. This discussion isn't about selecting individual stocks to beat an index. Rather, it's about replicating an index by buying a basket of stocks. From my understanding it only takes approximately 40-50 individual stocks to then closely replicate say the S&P 500. Say pick the largest 50 companies out of the S&P 500 list. Only trading once a company say drops out of the top 50? Or is that even necessary? Only when they drop out of the S&P itself. My thought process is buying individual stocks is much more tax efficient than an i...
by investorjunkie
Mon May 14, 2012 8:21 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Another way to look at the Facebook IPO
Replies: 29
Views: 3116

Re: Another way to look at the Facebook IPO

TheEternalVortex wrote: I think that's the main reason they waited so long for the IPO. They know that a lot of engineers will leave afterwards.
Many sold stock on the secondary market pre IPO. Though I'm sure some are kicking themselves.
by investorjunkie
Mon May 14, 2012 6:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Another way to look at the Facebook IPO
Replies: 29
Views: 3116

Re: Another way to look at the Facebook IPO

dave66 wrote:I was cleaning my bookmarks out the other day and came across some oldies... One was for ICQ. The header that was on their site at the time and stored with the bookmark, reads: "Worlds Largest Online Communication Network". Hmm.
Until AOL bought it and we know how well AOL has been doing. The owners of ICQ I'm sure made out like bandits, AOL not so much.
by investorjunkie
Mon May 14, 2012 6:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Another way to look at the Facebook IPO
Replies: 29
Views: 3116

Re: Another way to look at the Facebook IPO

ilmartello wrote:Image


That means you can count me in on the skeptical side of the Facebook IPO.
You can also count me to not buying Facebook. I go as far as to state you are a patsy if you buy it:

[Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek]

With that said, stock market valuation is about potential (keyword to note) future growth. It is expected Facebook will grow faster than Ford, hence why it has a higher PE. Do I think that PE is justified? NO, but others might.
by investorjunkie
Wed May 09, 2012 7:02 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Does anyone own a Hyundai?
Replies: 71
Views: 9524

Re: Does anyone own a Hyundai?

johnep wrote:We bought a 2008 Sonata new primarily because it was more than $3k cheaper than Camry. We have owned several Camrys and loved them. The Sonata was ok but was not in the same class as our 2004 Camry. The Camry was quieter and had a better ride. The appointments in the Sonata seemed cheaper. My wife drove the Sonata and was never happy with it. We finally traded it for a 2007 Avalon which we both love (obviously upscale and not comparable). Sonatas do not hold their value well unlike most Toyotas.

The Sonata is a good value based on its price and performance but is not comparable to the Camry or Accord, although you will pay more for those.
The quality from the 2008 to the 2010 is much different.
by investorjunkie
Tue May 08, 2012 6:40 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mint vs Quicken
Replies: 21
Views: 6750

Re: Mint vs Quicken

FinanceFun wrote:I use mint to track spending, accounts, goal's, etc.

I use spreadsheets to manage investments.
I have some spreadsheets of my own for tracking investments. Stuff I've developed myself. I'm curious what's out there publicly to use. Does anyone have a spreadsheet they would like to share?
by investorjunkie
Mon May 07, 2012 9:44 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Does anyone own a Hyundai?
Replies: 71
Views: 9524

Re: Does anyone own a Hyundai?

I have a 2010 Genesis and love the car for the price.
by investorjunkie
Sun May 06, 2012 6:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mint vs Quicken
Replies: 21
Views: 6750

Re: Mint vs Quicken

I used Mint for several years before switching to Full View at Fidelity. Full View is similar to Mint and serves it's purpose, but Full View is not as "pretty" as Mint. I found the Mint iPhone and iPad functionality to be very useful. While I was never very successful getting the investments to work correctly in Mint I thought it was a strong product for budgeting. I agree about Mint. Mint is really great for budgeting and monitoring expenses, but poor with investing. I wished something was similar to Mint, but focused more on investing. I recently found out about Personal Capital and discuss it on my web site. [Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek] I've also reviewed Mint and Quicken on my site as well. I'm curious has anyo...
by investorjunkie
Sun May 06, 2012 9:29 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Real inflation and best source for it
Replies: 48
Views: 3601

Re: Real inflation and best source for it

ObliviousInvestor wrote:
aac74 wrote:You are quite right to distrust the US government inflation data.

If inflation (CPI) was calculated the same way as in the 1970s it would be over 10% now rather than the official 3%

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_da ... ion-charts
The first I ever heard of shadowstats was here on the forum. The context was basically, "don't trust that guy." I'm not at all an expert on this stuff myself, but here's one such thread in case it's helpful: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73073
I've found his rate of inflation IMHO is too high and doesn't match what I see around us.
by investorjunkie
Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How are you preparing the increase in taxes for 2013?
Replies: 56
Views: 6892

Re: How are you preparing the increase in taxes for 2013?

tfb wrote:
squirm wrote:What are others doing to prepare?
Moved dividend paying stock funds into tax advantage accounts. Bought munis in taxable. Bought and still buying more munis in taxable. Munis are about the only thing not affected by the laws on the books today.
For the moment yes.Though there was discussion last year about removing the tax advantage for munis. It did not pass congress.

MLPs are another option in taxable accounts.
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Use 0% Credit Card Convenience Checks to Invest?
Replies: 8
Views: 2681

Re: Use 0% Credit Card Convenience Checks to Invest?

CorradoJr wrote:What about Regulation T, which usually limits buying securities on margin (ie. credit?)
It's unsecured debt so no. I could be said then if you have a mortgage you could not invest because of regulation T.
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Use 0% Credit Card Convenience Checks to Invest?
Replies: 8
Views: 2681

Re: Use 0% Credit Card Convenience Checks to Invest?

CorradoJr wrote:What about Regulation T, which usually limits buying securities on margin (ie. credit?)
It's unsecured debt so no. I could be said then if you have a mortgage you could not invest because of regulation T.
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Use 0% Credit Card Convenience Checks to Invest?
Replies: 8
Views: 2681

Re: Use 0% Credit Card Convenience Checks to Invest?

Another option is pay off/prepay higher debt. Could be your home or car. Though that debt should be at low rates.
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 0%-interest, no-fee cash advance is back
Replies: 85
Views: 8829

Re: 0%-interest, no-fee cash advance is back

We just got a special offer from Discover Card if we spend $3k monthly on their card from May - Sept we get $500. That's 3.33% cash back, and that's not including their 1% cash back. Good deal in principle, but my concern in practice is that many merchants do not accept Discover, and unless you would normally spend at least $3000/month on purchases for which you could use Discover card , some people might spend money unnecessarily just for the purpose of receiving the 3.33% rebate. You have to know yourself. I like the idea of Fidelity's "2% cash back any time no matter what" offer for this reason. Problem is with Fidelity AMEX, not everywhere takes AMEX either :-) I personally like the Fidelity Visa and is our primary card. If y...
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Emergency Fund in Tax-Advantaged
Replies: 19
Views: 2197

Re: Emergency Fund in Tax-Advantaged

I think it depends upon how much you think how is needed for an emergency, and how often you need to use it. Let's say a married couple living in a high cost area (ie NY or CA) you need $5k/month to survive. Not an uncommon situation and for many could be a much higher requirement. If you say wanted 12 months of an emergency fund that's $60k. The typical response is put that $60k into a money market account. Over time, that's a lot of money not to be generating interest and losing out to inflation (at least in our current economic environment) in real dollars. As someone else mentioned I would have tiers of emergency savings. Tier 1 - 2 months or $10k in a low or no interest checking, savings, or money market account Tier 2 - 4 months in I ...
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Med student trying to generate passive income.
Replies: 34
Views: 5993

Re: Med student trying to generate passive income.

A living, yes, but it's a very small subset of bloggers making more than a doc. I agree. In my case it also helps that I own a web developer/web hosting company. So the infrastructure fees are covered already. I agree with what others have said, go into related business is the best bet. In the OP case could be an online business related to healthcare where blogging is part of it. It could even be related to helping fellow docs with becoming a Dr. I know some very good bloggers who've been doing it for years that only make $1-3K a month. Not bad for a side income if someone is working full time at a regular job, but not a business. Read the story how Pat (from Smart Passive Income) started: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/my-first-online-...
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:26 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 0%-interest, no-fee cash advance is back
Replies: 85
Views: 8829

Re: 0%-interest, no-fee cash advance is back

protagonist wrote: That doesn't seem worth it (compared with, for example, Fidelity's 2% cash back offer on purchases or offers of 50000 plus airline miles) , unless I am missing something. Am I? (missing something, that is).
I agree in 2004-2007 it was much easier to get the money, and make a decent return on the arbitrage. Now not so much. Most "0%" rates are really 2-5% APR with the processing fee.

I think using cash back credit cards (and of course paying it off monthly) IMHO is a better deal.

We just got a special offer from Discover Card if we spend $3k monthly on their card from May - Sept we get $500. That's 3.33% cash back, and that's not including their 1% cash back.
by investorjunkie
Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:48 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 0%-interest, no-fee cash advance is back
Replies: 85
Views: 8829

Re: 0%-interest, no-fee cash advance is back

tfb wrote:
livesoft wrote:Perhaps there are other bonus offers that I can take advantage of?
Move your brokerage account out of Wells Fargo. Other brokers are offering up to $2,500 bonus for holding your assets.
+1

Many brokers are offering signup cash bonuses. I list a bunch of them on my web site:

[Commercial link removed by admin LadyGeek]

In addition, I'm always looking for broker deals I'm not aware of. If you know of any please contact me either via PM here or on my site.