Bogleheads.org

Woodshark

One more hurrah for Taylor and the mods!
This place is like nothing else on the web. It really is having a bunch of intellegent, thoughtful and well meaning friends at your disposal 24/7.

Woodshark

Two things today. We have a rewards credit card where they give you bonus reward points and the first year is free. After the first year there is a $95 annual fee. It's been a full year and we still had unused points remaining so I called the credit card company and asked them to waive the $95 annua...

Woodshark

Oil changes are so crucial and inexpensive. Just take it to the dealer and let them do it. The problem with using a dealer is that usually they try to up sell you to additional service you likely don't need. Things like "fuel injectior cleaning" that is not a required service under warranty. I beli...

Woodshark

Thanks for the heads up. I used H&R software last year so for only $25, I could not pass up this offer. Sure if might get a few $ cheaper but I'm happy at this price for sure.

Woodshark

I was 100% stocks and stock funds until my late 40's. Why? Well, at the time I just didn't know better. The 2008 market crash was an eye opener for sure. Even through the loss I held fast and waited till the market came back to the same levels many months later. When it did I sold any individual sto...

Woodshark

JET 16/32 wide belt sander for woodworking. Thinking about a Midi-lathe also.
Rooba robotic vaccum for the house.

Woodshark

We are a childless couple who bought a minivan almost 22 years ago. It was a Plymouth Voyager. We still own it and as our furniture mover, trash hauler and Home Depot vehicle, we cannot imagine life without it. (We do a LOT of home improvement) It's a great road tripper. The seats are much more comf...

Woodshark

Found out our dental insurance covers two cleanings a year but only 1 exam. So now we have to tell the dental hygienest the we are choosing to skip an exam every other visit or we end up paying an extra $60-$70 for a 3 minute quick exam with small talk.

Woodshark

As a recently retired (30 years+) full time professional photographer I'll weigh in. Yes the 5D is a great camera. But.....does she absolutely need the latest and greatest with all the new bells and whistles? If so, why? The 5D, 5D Mark II and 5D Mark III are fantastic cameras and you can buy them u...

Woodshark

I've been very pleased with eBags ( https://www.ebags.com ), especially the TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible backpack and the TLS 22" Expandable Wheeled Carry-On. I second both of these. I've had the TLS Mother Lode for a few years and LOVE it. It has room and sections for all my stuff. It can...

Woodshark

I hold a couple of years of cash in a Vanguard MMA. Some folks say that's way too much and it should be invested in bonds. It makes +/- 2% which is close enough to a short term bond fund that I don't care. I sleep well at night and that's all that matters.

Woodshark

Pre WWII Stanley hand planes. They were well made back when people and industry needed and used them. After everyone switched to power tools, the quality took a nose-dive.

Woodshark

Did a little more research this morning. Most of all our I-bonds were purchased from 2012 through May of 2014 so we are just past the five year mark. Also most are at a fixed interest rate of 0.0%. Since we're past five years I can sell without a penalty. The only question I have to ask myself is, i...

Woodshark

Mel Lindauer wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 11, 2019 11:57 am

Are these paper or TreasuryDirect?

Sorry, that detail should have been included in the original post. They are at TreasuryDirect.
I have edited the original to include that information.

Woodshark

We have about 6% of our investable assets in I-Bonds. All are held at Treasury Direct, some in my name some in my wife's. I’m considering selling them for the sake of simplifying our portfolio. If I’m figuring it correctly, the average compounded interest rate we are earning is around 1.7%. With mon...

Woodshark

I'm not sure what you are asking but I'm a few week shy of 59. Last October I was a little rattled about the 10 year bull market so I ran the figures, looked at the results and took us from 60/35/5(cash) to 50/45/5. It's not a huge difference in outcomes but it made a huge difference to me. I sleep ...

Woodshark

Am I getting rid of my gas appliances? No. I prefer to cook on gas and just purchased a new gas range last week.

Woodshark

Whatever you do, don't feel like you have to make a quick decision. Since it's already in cash it's not going anywhere. You can take some time to research what might work best for you. Take some time to come up with a investment plan that meets your needs and lets you sleep well at night.

Woodshark

I'm retired (late 50's) and currently have around 5% of my portfolio in a Vanguard MMA. It serves as a place to park a couple of years of withdrawls while still earning over 2%.

Woodshark

Cooking efficiently in a house does not require expensive knifes. But expensive knives are very dangerous and slow down many operations. I cut myself periodically, and i am very happy I don't have an expensive knife. Now if you take cooking at a passion level the conclusion is very different. But a...

Woodshark

I have a 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager with only 165,000 miles on it. We bought it new and it's been a dependable ride for over 21 years but I'm now hesitate to take it on long trips. The transmission is original and is starting to act up a bit. Still, it has gone way past the 60-100K miles most other...

Woodshark

Here's the thing. Are you a person who does lots of woodworking/reno projects and anticipates a lot more projects in the coming years? Or are you just looking for a saw that will get you through this one and a few more down the road? If the former, then a spring the big bucks and get a Dewalt or Mak...

Woodshark

I would recommend contacting Sunsail. (Sunsail.com) They are a large and well trusted charter service in the islands. Tell them what you are looking for and they can make recommendations on boats, itineraries, skippers, etc. Have fun!

Woodshark

I've always owned a substantial percentage of international equity. It has been a blight on my portfolio ever since, but I refuse to reduce it. Regardless of what anyone else predicts about the markets, I am quite confident that the day after I divest myself of all these stinkers, ex-US equities wi...

Woodshark

Welcome back Rick. Glad to hear that you are out from under the NCC. I think you're one of the good guys and I look forward to seeing you back on the forum more often. I know that you have a few detractors but I'm sure you are used to that by now. It's a new day.

Woodshark

I would recommend a tour of the Yorktown for sure. It has a lot of old aircraft on deck and in the hangers for them to see. Plus, just outside they can also tour a submarine. (It's included in the tour) If you take the last boat over to Fort Sumter, then the park service will allow the kids to help ...

Woodshark

In short, yes you can. Since you are young and have decades before retirement, invest almostly entirely in equities (stock funds). This will give you the best returns but there will be rough years. When you are in your late 40's, early 50's you can start moving into bonds funds. Worked great for me....

Woodshark

I'm a self professed bipolar beer drinker. I don't care for porters, or stouts or even wheat beers. I tend to drink from the opposite ends, either a refreshing Corona or a fresh hopped IPA. My current favorite is Huger Street. It's an American IPA style beer brewed in Charleston, SC. It's sometimes ...

Woodshark

You obviously have enough investments to meet your current goals. The points that I think you are making is that you would like to get away from your current higher cost advisors and possibly simplify your overall investment plan. Both Schwab and Vanguard both have wealth management services with fe...

Woodshark

Good question. Really good, but unfortunately no easy formulas to plug in and follow. Time is time. It does not wait, so travel when health and the markets say you can. Maybe withdraw 4% plus a heathy travel allowance during good years and cut back if we have a major correction. I'll admit it's a bi...

Woodshark

Have I supposed to have heard of either Chris Cole or Artemis? Chris Cole is probably one of the smartest guys you will ever meet. In the immortal words of Lucy Van Pelt: "He never got his picture on a bubble gum card. Have you ever seen his picture on a bubble gum card? Hmmm? How can you say someo...

Woodshark

I'm no fan of loaded funds but those charts posted above do seem to indicate that, at least for the last 20 years, the funds have done better than a standard S&P 500 fund while pretty much mirroring there volatility. I'm not jumping horses mid-stream but they do seem to have the special sauce. I won...

Woodshark

Probably not that uncommon but two items stick out to me. I have a pair of black leather dress shoes I purchased around 1982 that I still wear on occasion. They've been resoled a couple of times but otherwise look great. Another item is a terry cloth house robe that is easily over 33 years old. It n...

Woodshark

OK. My example fulfills the two criteria asked for. (A) A common everyday inconvenience (B) I'm intentionally suffering for frugalilty I like sleeping at a cooler temp, but hate getting out of bed in the morning in the cold. I would like to have a programable thermostat that automaticlly turns on th...

Woodshark

HEDGEFUNDIE wrote: ↑
Tue Dec 25, 2018 1:19 am
Spent $1100 for professional family photography (gift to my parents)

As a retired professional photographer, I thank you.

Woodshark

During 2007, 2008 I was younger and 100% in stock funds. It was a mentally brutal lesson. I listened to those smarter than me and did not sell during the recession. Once the market returned I did gradually move some over to bonds. Now I'm in my late 50's and I'm so glad to now have 50% in bond funds.

Woodshark

OK, I'll admit I've not read all the responses but I'll give my 2 cents. Like others, we don't budget. In over 34 years together we just live frugally and have saved the rest. I'm a off and on detail person so occasionally I will track our spending over the course of a year to see what we are spendi...

Woodshark

I like the concept of "buckets" but it seems to be more of an vague idea without tested investment guidelines. I've never gotten definitive answers to questions like... Say you got two years of cash. Under what condition do you spend cash instead of selling a mix of stocks and bonds? Market down 10%...

Woodshark

My SawStop table saw. Woodworking is one of my hobbys and this saw has a flesh sensing technology built it that pretty much prevents you from accidentaly injuring yourself. (Search SawStop on Youtube) It was expensive for a table saw but cheap if it ever prevents one trip to the ER. A close second w...

Woodshark

Linginvest,

I've never taken the time to explore the VPW method before, thinking it was probably too complicated. Thank you for your detailed explanation. It is now something I will look further into.

Woodshark

You can get 2% back on several cards but the $100 bonus after spending only $500 sounds like a great deal to me as long as there is no annual fee.

Woodshark

I buy nice stuff when I think I'll enjoy using it. I retired in 2012 and buy my daily use/fishing/yardwork pants at Tractor Supply. They're light canvas and when they're on sale they're marked down from $14.99 to $11.99. I'm cheap at heart. Blue Mountain! I've got a closet full of more expensive pa...

Woodshark

Watch out if you share cards. It's been over 24 months since my wife had a Chase card so we re-applied. She has great credit and has not opened a card for years yet she was denied. It took some effort but we finally got a customer service person on the phone. She said my wife was denied because she ...

Woodshark

I think I was awakened to the possibility of retiring well, even with a modest income, by a book I read back in the 80's called "The Wealthy Barber" The one key thing that I remember was "pay yourself first and then live off the rest" . Basically invest the first 10-15% of your income for retirement...

Woodshark

About a month ago I was feeling that the market was getting a little "frothy". Things were so good that I was nervous and thinking about taking some chips off the table in my AA of 60:40. I'm close to 60 years old so I was seriously considering a change to 50:50. Not too drastic but it would help me...

Woodshark

I still do the early morning BF thing but only to Home Depot and maybe one other store. For the past several years one of Home Depot's best BF deals has been on poinsettias. They're only $1 each, with a limit of 6 to 12 depending. I always buy the max and then place them on the front porches of loca...

Woodshark

Of things to worry about this would be way down on my list. The car is in your town, the missing key is in another. What are the odds of (A) someone finding the key. (B) That person finding the key being a criminal and (C) The criminal somehow having the thought of and the ability to, track this sin...

Woodshark

If your class of car is not available, you don't always get an upgrade. We've recently returned from Italy. I had reserved a midsized car from Hertz in advance. The pickup location was not at an airport but in downtown Trieste. After we found the rental location (hidden in an industrial parking area...

Woodshark

FYI, I think the decision has been made since the original post is years old.

Woodshark

I would have lost that bet. It was in April of 1997. There I was, only 37 years old. Standing in the lot at CARMAX looking at buying something needed. Needed but definitely not wanted. Not a vehicle that screams down the highway but one that clogs the parking lot of local farmers markets. Not a vehi...

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