Bogleheads.org

czeckers

From a father of 9: Commercial grade breast pump if breastfeeding. Tons of formula if not. I'd caution against using formula as a bridge to breastfeeding as mentioned above. Milk may not come in if baby is getting food elsewhere. +1 Chico key fit seat and stroller combo. Get an extra car seat base i...

czeckers

My experience is that how a house is laid out and how usable the spaces are is much more important than square footage. You can get a very functional 4 bedroom house in 1800 square feet if it has a basement. Or you can have a terribly laid out 3000 sq ft house that still won't work well You didn't s...

czeckers

I overweight emerging markets substantially--50% of ex-us, 25% of equities--but my preference would be to hold separate developed and emerging markets funds, not an all-in-one fund with a side of EM. The only way that I would hold both VTIAX and VEMAX would be if my 401(k) had only VTIAX. As it is,...

czeckers

Clever_Username wrote: ↑
Tue Dec 24, 2019 7:46 pm
It's true, but I also won't under-perform it by a meaningful amount.

+1

czeckers

15 year term should be plenty. That's the high risk eriod for your family. After that, house will be paid off and kids through school. At your current savings rate, you should have a $3M+ portfolio which should be plenty to sustain your wife. If you feel that wouldn't be enogh, you can use a 20 year...

czeckers

Paycheck gets deposited into multiple accounts, each designated for a specific purpose: Local bank checking for spending money for gas, groceries, clothes, etc. Nearly zero interest but easy ATM access. Local bank checking for charitable spending. Online bank high interest checking for fixed recurri...

czeckers

You may get better prices in the summer.

czeckers

I think the fuel line ruptured in the engine bay. A clear liquid was noted under the engine immediately after the accident and the car was completely engulfed 10 minutes later.

I chuckle when people say you shouldn't get an electric car because the batteries might catch on fire.

-K

czeckers

As you've pointed out, most of today's tech is wireless. First, think about where you will put the modem, usually near where utilities enter house. Make sure there is an outlet nearby. Next, you want to think about where to put your router(s) and have an outlet and coax cable drop there. Run cat 5 f...

czeckers

"I started with nothing, and have most of it left." I wish I remembered where that quote came from. -K My wealth progression: Started with zero, went way negative after education, then clawed my way back to zero through maxing out my retirement plans. Now, 12 years of maxing out my retirement plan c...

czeckers

Andrew Hallam actively writes articles on his website as well as on the assetbuilder.com site and the posts are generally interesting. He lives outside the US and travels quite a bit and thus has a unique perspective on what's going on in the markets.

czeckers

2009 Subaru Legacy, got to 163K and then it burned down after my son hit a deer.

2013 Nissan NV3500, 170K

czeckers

For 2020 the limit for a conforming loan will be $510,400.

czeckers

I would put down enough to not have a jumbo mortgage. For 2019, that would be cost of house - $484,350. No sense in paying extra interest.

czeckers

I'm not sure back testing is very useful for anything other than seeing how a portfolio will perform under certain specific market conditions that occurred in the past. For example, testing a portfolio while looking at specific time periods of inflation or deflation. The type of back tests you are t...

czeckers

There of course are ways to do very precise calculations, however precision does not equate to accuracy since the future is unknowable. There are also philosophical differences in how people arrive at a desired AA. Depending on whether your focus is on maximizing income, minimizing downside risk, or...

czeckers

The approach of using leverage early on in life sounds great on paper, but is harder to do in real life. The problem with leverage is that it can wipe you out if you face a crash early on. Look at past posts by market timer: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5934 . He did exactly that...

czeckers

As you’ve alluded to in your example, the answer depends on your personal situation. 40% is quite conservative but maybe appropriate for someone at or near retirement. If I was 40% for a simplified AA, I would agree with you. But I am 50% for simplified AA and 40% for enhanced AA. My general feelin...

czeckers

Porter Cable is Black and Decker's mid-grade brand, not the same level as the others mentioned. I'd compare them to Ridgid, and some of the better Ryobi and Craftsman tools. Still a good choice for general use, though. I'd put Bosch roughly on par with Makita and Milwaukee. Definitely not "the rest...

czeckers

I'd check whether it's time to re-balance between stocks and bonds to make sure that my asset mix is in line with my desired asset allocation. That's about it.

-czeckers

czeckers

As you’ve alluded to in your example, the answer depends on your personal situation. 40% is quite conservative but maybe appropriate for someone at or near retirement.

czeckers

Whatever brand tool you buy, you are buying into their entire lineup. Because batteries are so expensive and not too nterchangeable between brands, people will stick with the same brand and swap a couple of batteries between all their tools. Festool is the top of the heap but super expensive Then De...

czeckers

A number of zeros might feel good, but the better yardstick is a multiplier of your gross income (1X, 2X, 4X, 8X). I was at 3x of gross income, but then I got a new job with a substantial raise and am now at only 2x income. :) or :x Hmmm :D Probably a multiple of annual spending would be the most r...

czeckers

If you are in your 20s and have $400,000 in investments, you are doing very well. Congratulations! I would say that a defensive strategy, though not as exciting is much more appropriate for your situation. Even if you invest very conservatively and only get a 5% annual return, and don't add another ...

czeckers

You can't do much to air seal the walls. Maybe you can - https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/aeroseal-rolls-out-air-sealing-technology-for-houses I've seen that and it is brilliant technology. However, it's only practical for new construction before any of the interior finishes are in. As ...

czeckers

If your driving needs primarily involve hauling a family, then a purpose-built family hauler is what you want. After you have a minivan, you'll wonder what you did without one. Look for one that it's easy to remove the seats or fold them flat. A minivan should be able to haul full sheets of plywood ...

czeckers

As mentioned in one of the posts above, lack of air sealing in the attic is your culprit. This is pretty typical, even in new construction. Warm air rises, and since there is nothing to stop it from going up through the ceiling, it escapes out of the attic. This creates lower air pressure in the hou...

czeckers

Combination of high income, frugal spouse, and aggressive saving early on combined with the good fortune to start career in 2008 around the market crash so have had a nice tail wind with the investment portfolio.

czeckers

1) I now hold only the market weight of REITS in Vanguard Total Market Index (I believe around 3% in VTI) 2) I used to hold an extra 5% in a REIT index fund. I have gone away from that without a separate REIT allocation. I realize that Rick Ferri has said market weight does not reflect the entire c...

czeckers

Buy the smallest house that you can live with. Expenses and maintenance seem to increase exponentially with house size. The key to happiness is keeping fixed expenses as low as possible.

czeckers

I very much regret getting a smartphone for my children at 12 yo. There are no parental controls that they can't defeat and the OS makers (Apple and Android) don't seem to be trying very hard to make it easy for parents to control access. By giving them a phone you give them unfettered access to por...

czeckers

Basic level calculus is usually required. Statistics not always required but very very useful for understanding research articles and/or doing research.

In practice, I use basic algebra.

czeckers

I'm curious why you write "distilled" water with the quotation marks? I sense a bias. Tap water tends to have minerals which, over time can build up in the CPAP machine causing problems. As mentioned above, water from the dehumidifier can pick up mold, bacteria and other contaminants from the air (a...

czeckers

My recollection is that socially responsible investing tends to lag the broader markets.

czeckers

I would start off by having someone look at the bikes you have. If they've been neglected for a while, most places will offer a tune up that replaces tubes/tires and brake/shifter cables and cleans/lubricates moving parts. That should certainly be cheaper than buying a new bike. Bike frames, rims, a...

czeckers

Property taxes as charitable contributions. Hahaha.

czeckers

The primary usefulness of backtesting is to look at the performance of a specific portfolio under various market conditions. For example, look at the inflationary period of 1972-1980, deflation 1930-1933 and prosperity of the 1990's. If you have a portfolio that behaves reasonably well under all of ...

czeckers

not4me wrote: ↑
Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:51 pm

What is your objection to the permanent portfolio....not solely gold?

No objection. I'm aiming for the "Golden Butterfly" variation of the PP. I was just trying to steer the discussion away from the pros/cons of the PP.

czeckers

The Merk Fund. It invest in physical gold that is held in Perth Australia. But that's an ETF, right? OP needs a Mutual Fund. I don't think you are going to get a mutual fund. I don't think it would meet the diversification test that a mutual fund has to meet by law. That's a good point.

czeckers

The OLEDs are spectacular.

czeckers

Events that make the value of your corporate stocks go down, may affect their ability to make payments on their bond issues. It is for this reason that I prefer a treasury bond fund for diversification of my stock-heavy portfolio.

czeckers

Limited choice of funds. There is a brokerage window for mutual funds but not ETFs.

czeckers

I would love to use the ETFs. Unfortunately I only have access to Mutual Funds, not ETFs. I bet you can fix that... I'm fortunate to have access to a lot of tax-deferred space through my employer-based retirement accounts. Unfortunately, the brokerage window is limited to mutual funds only. The dec...

czeckers

The Touqueville Fund is the only one I've been able to find. Unfortunately, looking at the fund info, it appears to be primarily an active Precious Metals Mining Fund that happens to hold 15% of it's assets in physical Gold. They also seem to use leverage. The ER is a cringeworthy 1.39% Investment S...

czeckers

MP123 wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:00 pm
Do you have an objection to the ETF vs. Mutual Fund structure for holding physical gold? They would seem to be quite similar from a practical standpoint.

I would love to use the ETFs. Unfortunately I only have access to Mutual Funds, not ETFs.

czeckers

We support a family of 11 on a food budget of $2,000/month. We buy all of our meat and much of our produce directly from the farms around us. Most other groceries from Aldi's, a discount grocer in our area. Eating healthy can mean a lot of things. Strictly speaking, limiting foods that have added su...

czeckers

Are there any reasonable mutual fund alternatives to GLD or IAU (Gold ETFs)?

Ideally, the fund would buy physical gold rather than gold mining stocks, have a reasonable ER, and have no load.

Thank you.

czeckers

My regular job is a 30 min commute which didn't feel all that bad until I started working within walking distance of home on a few days. You quickly realize how much that extra hour in the car every day sucks the life out of you.

czeckers

Bad things can happen... very bad things.

czeckers

I'm a relatively young investor. I'm about to turn 30 and I've only been investing since 2010 so I still consider myself relatively new to the "game". Historically I've just invested in low expense ratio index funds that stratagize to match the market. I'm talking about assets like DIA, QQQ, VOO, e...

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