Bogleheads.org

sketchy9

I came from a background where I never really experienced debt and was privileged to graduate college debt free. When my future wife told me about her student loans, I had a borderline panic attack. I never in my life thought I would ever owe anybody any number with that many zeroes. I can sympathi...

sketchy9

I just logged in and had the new interface. I'm on a desktop PC-- I refuse to do anything of financial consequence on my smartphone. I hate this interface, as it continues the "smartphone-ization" of the web. It's quite obviously designed for viewing on a smartphone or tablet, and a touch interface....

sketchy9

If you have T-Mobile you get free international 2G data, which is good enough for Uber.

EDIT: Nvm, just saw that you have an MVNO

sketchy9

Also bear in mind that if your motivation for going electric is at all environment-related, the "greenest" option is one that does not involve the manufacture of a new car, even if that means driving a gas engine car, simply because the amount of resources consumed and waste created to make a new ca...

sketchy9

I don't cruise so can't comment on that. I never tip in hotel rooms-- my philosophy is that I've exchanged the nightly fare for a room and amenities such as a turndown service. Why would I pay more than the price I've agreed to? Like all tipping, it boils down to whether or not you feel it's your pe...

sketchy9

This whole thing sounds like some C-level suit got a bee in his/her bonnet and decided that something that was never a problem had to be addressed with no thought whatsoever about how to roll it out, how to communicate the change, or what the reaction would be. This would have been the last straw fo...

sketchy9

Hmm.. you sure about that? The average diagnostic radiologist I know pulls in $500-600K. I currently live on less than 1/6th of that quite happily. With the real estate gains and tax benefits I am seeing, I won't need twenty years to reach $10M. However, having $10M in the bank has zero appeal to m...

sketchy9

Hmm.. you sure about that? The average diagnostic radiologist I know pulls in $500-600K. I currently live on less than 1/6th of that quite happily. With the real estate gains and tax benefits I am seeing, I won't need twenty years to reach $10M. However, having $10M in the bank has zero appeal to m...

sketchy9

Fairly silly article with lots of holes. I would agree to be considered truly wealthy $10 million is a logical threshold. While I agree $1 million may not be enough, he ignores impact of social security. $40k swr+$30k SS = $70K is livable, although not at all extravagant. $5 million would give you ...

sketchy9

There's a reason the saying says that you can't avoid death and taxes. As a similarly high-earning W2 employee at one point in my life, I can share that there really aren't a lot of options. Livesoft's list covers them. You can frame the situation in such a way as to make it more palatable, e.g. it'...

sketchy9

Sounds almost like you're buying points, as you would with a mortgage. In this case, the points reduce the interest rate to 0. The thing with points, though, is that they still get factored into the APR, which is not the same as the interest rate. So it seems to me that what you're really asking is ...

sketchy9

If you made $50 then live off of $25k? For a family, you are getting close to a poverty level of expenses. Perhaps if your house was already paid for, and you live frugally in a LCOL area. I imagine some MMM types could do it. But they have a fairly extraordinarily frugal lifestyle. Perhaps some fa...

sketchy9

I put 40% down because, at the time I bought my place, I was working less (with a lower monthly income) so I couldn't afford the monthly payment with a 20% down payment. This is confusing. If you had the money to put down 40%, couldn't you have used that same money to "afford the monthly payment wi...

sketchy9

Why do you do this? munemaker....You ask a fair question; I shall answer. ... munemaker, I hope this helps. I wanted to answer your question in a way where you'd understand why we did what we did. Thanks for the explanation. Sorry you had to go through all that. Glad you were able to pull yourselve...

sketchy9

Just remember your mortgage including taxes and insurance should be 25% of your net monthly income. That is incredibly conservative and would likely rule out homebuying for a large percentage of the population. OP: I put 40% down because, at the time I bought my place, I was working less (with a lo...

sketchy9

I've always felt that, unless and until you can make one lump sum payment to eliminate the mortgage, you should hold on to extra cash. The bank isn't interested in the fact that you're 12 months ahead of where you should be on your mortgage; your payment is due every month on the 1st. Lose your job?...

sketchy9

I absolutely LOVE it when the market tanks. I generally prefer to sell into market euphoria (sell high) at the tail end of a bull market (like around now), to accumulate cash positions before it tanks. When it stops tanking, I BUY. I buy on a small scale during limited corrections (ie 10%) and go a...

sketchy9

My portfolio value gets updated daily thanks to Quicken. I do virtually nothing with the information. The only time it's useful for me is when I get dividends, as none of my dividends are set to reinvest. I look at which of my investments are furthest away from their targets and buy accordingly. Oth...

sketchy9

Hello darkness my old friend...I wonder if today is a harbinger of sustained losses or more of the same volatility that we've been dealing with this whole year? My IRR (prior to today) was essentially zero for the year on a 70/30 allocation, but I feel like we've had several days of heavy losses (co...

sketchy9

Great TLH opportunity!

sketchy9

Don't discount location in this decision. San Francisco is considerably milder (and more expensive) than Baltimore, for instance. However, your child will be spending the better part of a decade in the city they choose, and that's a long time to be somewhere they don't want to be.

sketchy9

I'm saving for an 8 year horizon and have settled on an equity allocation that is, essentially, the time left minus three years, times 5%, but at least 10%. So, as time marches on, I will slowly wind down my equity portion until it hits 10%. I arrived at this formula after reading a few threads here...

sketchy9

Am not currently using the 2FA. Should probably start. So ... does the code get sent from VG every single time you want to log-in? I download all my transactions and balances every day in Quicken and dread the inconvenience of going through the text message process everyday. Of course, I dread the ...

sketchy9

Brand new kit. I don't understand all the metrics (sorry my bad, haven't yet gone through their website) - but here are screenshots of my performance. 30 minutes each. What does each of them mean ? How am I doing ? Day 1 https://i.imgur.com/iwxvEKB.jpg Day 5 https://i.imgur.com/JRsmLsf.jpg Agree wi...

sketchy9

My Mom uses Edward Jones, in spite of my exhortations. Why does she do it? Because, like many Americans, money/saving/retirement are scary and don't come easy. She thinks if she gives money to a "professional" every month, she is being taken care of and doesn't have to "worry" about her finances. T...

sketchy9

This article is like an advertisement for index funds. Baron funds are overseen by nine directors. Seven are listed as independent. Four of those seven have served as trustees since Mr. Baron established his first funds 30 years ago. One of them, David A. Silverman, has zero financial experience: He...

sketchy9

It's not clear exactly how CA will deal with the federal cap on SALT deductions. Consider the following: federal schedule A, line 5 is State and local Income or Sales taxes. Line 6 is Real Estate Taxes. Right now, there is no cap on the combined amount but we know that it will be $10k next year. Now...

sketchy9

It's ridiculous and, frankly, a little irresponsible that various tax calculators out there do not include all aspects of the individual tax code, especially one as pervasive as the AMT. In my own case, using frugal professors spreadsheets (which do include the AMT), My taxes will decrease ~$800, o...

sketchy9

Wife and I pay in excess of $80,000 in state, local and property taxes. No kids. We can now only deduct $10,000 of that (perhaps double if filing jointly?). Guessing a small offset to that sizable hike via lower rate but the net is . . . suboptimal. We're fine financially. My primary concern is the...

sketchy9

It's ridiculous and, frankly, a little irresponsible that various tax calculators out there do not include all aspects of the individual tax code, especially one as pervasive as the AMT. In my own case, using frugal professors spreadsheets (which do include the AMT), My taxes will decrease ~$800, on...

sketchy9

One data point: I just ran a dummy return using TurboTax 2017, adding projections for my final paycheck (due next week). Thanks to the AMT, it makes absolutely no difference whether I make an extra property tax payment or not on my tax liability for 2017. I'm in CA.

sketchy9

Why not 100% of emergency funds ? I would say for the same reason why it's not recommended to have only one credit card or have credit cards with only one bank. If you ever need to use your emergency funds you don't want it to be when the Treasury Direct website is down for maintenance or you get l...

sketchy9

What's stopping the owners from charging more to pay the movers more? How did it suddenly become the customer's job to make up for poor wages? If you hired a company to paint your house would you tip the workers? Why or why not? What's the difference? I did tip the painters, Plumbers, Furnace insta...

sketchy9

What's stopping the owners from charging more to pay the movers more? How did it suddenly become the customer's job to make up for poor wages? If you hired a company to paint your house would you tip the workers? Why or why not? What's the difference?

sketchy9

I am with eye surgeon that experiences are so overrated. We went to the Galapagos islands with National Geographics/ Lindblat for one week and I enjoyed the two hour National Geographics movie I saw on cable while I was walking on the treadmill so much more. For me it is a myth that vacations/exper...

sketchy9

the Op makes somes good points Experiences vs. Things is irrelevant When i drove an italian or german exotic sports car, it was an "experience", not just a "thing" I am GLAD I spent thousands of dollars on trips to europe, vegas, and other places with friends in my 20s INSTEAD of investing in index...

sketchy9

I've never agreed with paying off debt early in small increments. Unless you can push the due date for the next payment into the future with extra payments (not common at all, and I've never heard of a mortgage that allowed you to do this), you still have to make timely monthly payments or you defa...

sketchy9

I've never agreed with paying off debt early in small increments. Unless you can push the due date for the next payment into the future with extra payments (not common at all, and I've never heard of a mortgage that allowed you to do this), you still have to make timely monthly payments or you defau...

sketchy9

What state are you in? Non-compete clauses are essentially unenforceable for non-management in CA. That being said, it sounds like you're unemployed at the moment, and, as the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

sketchy9

IMO, a dollar lost in 401k matches is worth more than $1 to you today. Your marginal tax bracket is 25%, while its true that your employer is able to deduct that match as employee compensation, that is not the question. The answer is if you had to replace that $5K match outside of the 401K plan (as...

sketchy9

So basically none of you would tip in advance? You would hit the "no tip" button and then tip at the end by leaving some cash on the table? nisiprius, I tip on the undiscounted total in your scenario. I tip in advance in all three situations listed earlier in this thread. My wife and daughters have...

sketchy9

Tipping is a direct subsidy to employers. In the US, an employer must legally pay an employee at least minimum wage-- if the employee doesn't earn enough in tips to reach minimum wage, then the employer has to make up the difference. Now, I have no illusion that everyone in the restaurant industry i...

sketchy9

The thought of entering transactions by hand, or downloading from multiple financial websites, does not appeal to me in the least. That's really the only thing I do with Quicken, and then I export to a spreadsheet. Even with that limited use it's worth the money to me.

sketchy9

I'm far from an expert, but I have also thought about this and I can share what I'm doing. It may or may not be correct, but isn't that always the case? Anyway, I have a very specific savings goal for which I will need the money 8 years from now. For argument's sake assume I'm saving for a down paym...

sketchy9

Are travelers cheques still a thing? If so, might that be an option?

sketchy9

PFInterest wrote: ↑
Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:39 pm
has anyone read this thread from start to finish?

I've read every post in this thread, but I started in 2011 and have been following along periodically. It occasionally serves up some good pearls, even nowadays.

sketchy9

I know this market is in for a tumble. Not because it keeps going up, but because it doesn't go down. The dip-buyers can't get in because there are no dips. Just what it did the last times just before it crapped out. Are you short the market? Do you have a time table for this prediction? How much w...

sketchy9

Conversely, since I'm maxing out my tax-advantaged space and don't have much (if any) fat to trim from my monthly budget, there's nothing actionable about seeing that I'm not saving enough-- I already know I'm saving as much as I'm able to. Given that there's really nothing I can do on either end, ...

sketchy9

Seems like there's quite a bit of disagreement on "portfolio value" vs. gains to determine increase in value. I personally don't see how including my contributions in calculating gains tells me anything about how my investments are doing. Why do you care how they are doing? What actionable informat...

sketchy9

For several months I became a tax-adjusted AA evangelist and dutifully discounted my assets by my (projected) future tax rates. However, the more I read and thought about it, the more uncertainty I felt about what those tax rates would be. There are any number of tax-minimizing strategies that one c...

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