Search found 310 matches

by Exige
Thu May 23, 2019 9:10 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New 401k transfer old or not??
Replies: 10
Views: 771

Re: New 401k transfer old or not??

If the Total Stock Market index fund is the only decent choice in your current 401k plan, I would suggest leave the old 401k plan alone. I am not a fan of putting bonds into Roth accounts. The main advantage of Roth account is tax free growth. To constrain such growth using bond funds in that space is criminal waste of opportunity. So for the sake of preserving the 3-fund portfolio approach, I suggest use your Roth and current 401k for stocks and international equities; use your old 401k for bonds. That is a unique approach considering the old 401k has a good amount I could slowly just allocate more and more of it to bonds to keep my AA. I do need to look into the old 401k and make sure that there is no weird fees or anything attached to i...
by Exige
Wed May 22, 2019 8:14 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New 401k transfer old or not??
Replies: 10
Views: 771

Re: New 401k transfer old or not??

Thank you for the replies I have compared most of the funds and to keep my AA and low fees I would end up having to have the 401k all in the vtsmx option in the new 401k.

Old 401k has ever top vanguard option and about 45k total
Roth has about 45k total and is in vanguard as well. We are in no danger of being above the Roth limits yet.

If I roll my old one to the new one and hold all vtsmx I can hold my bonds and international in my Roth and hit my AA might be the best bet or leave the old 401k as others mentioned.
by Exige
Wed May 22, 2019 6:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New 401k transfer old or not??
Replies: 10
Views: 771

New 401k transfer old or not??

Hi all!

I am about to get my new 401k finally setup at my new job... and I normally just transfer the old one over and continue on my way. However, This last job my 401k was with Vanguard so it is making me wonder if it would be best to just roll it into a traditional and leave it with Vanguard and just start my new one with (transamerica) from scratch. I cant seem to find any reason this would be positive or negative other then maybe harder to deal with AA?


Luckily our Transamerica options are decent they have a VTSMX option etc. If it makes any difference my wife and I have our Roth accounts through vanguard as well so I am always on their site etc.
by Exige
Tue Oct 30, 2018 5:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks in free fall
Replies: 36221
Views: 4651324

Re: U.S. stocks in freefall

BanditKing wrote: Tue Oct 30, 2018 2:41 pm Stocks are up. Must be 401k purchase day.

(checks calendar)

Yup! Never fails. :D
HAHA! I did our Roth contributions all today
by Exige
Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:52 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 3 Fund allocation assistance
Replies: 11
Views: 1670

Re: 3 Fund allocation assistance

Great thanks I think I would feel better with my AA if it was 20% of the 80% stock allocation I will just need to modify the rebalance spreadsheet I took from the wiki :D Thanks again!
by Exige
Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:15 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 3 Fund allocation assistance
Replies: 11
Views: 1670

Re: 3 Fund allocation assistance

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:10 am Typically, we talk first about percentage (of total) in stock and percentage (of total) in bonds.
Then divide the stocks within itself (100%) so for example, 60% domestic stock, 40% international stock.

So for a 50/50 stock to bond and 60/40 US to Int, you end up with total percentages:

Bond 50%
US stock (.6x.5=) 30%
International stock (.4x.5=) 20%

I used those numbers so the worked out easily, not as a suggestion for you to do that.
if this is the case then my original thinking was correct? meaning that I would be allocating 20% international stocks from the total stock allocation or the 80% of the portfolio not the total portfolio? so 20% bonds $ amount would NOT = 20% international stocks $ amount?
by Exige
Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:02 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 3 Fund allocation assistance
Replies: 11
Views: 1670

Re: 3 Fund allocation assistance

Thanks Duckie!

I actually started playing with some of the rebalance spreadsheets yesterday and realized that when talking about the 60% domestic stock 20% international and 20% bonds it might be referring to the overall portfolio not just 20% of the stock allocation thus meaning I would have the same $$ in bonds and I would in international stocks is this the correct thinking that most go with for the 3 fund portfolio or do they go with 20% of the stock allocation only not the overall portfolio value?
by Exige
Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 3 Fund allocation assistance
Replies: 11
Views: 1670

Re: 3 Fund allocation assistance

Ok please look at this plan and let me know what you think also if the Fund choices seem appropriate for Example VITPX vs VIVIX?? 401k 100% into DSPIX Dometic stocks $16,723 (ER .20) 403B VBMPX $20,942 (100% of bond allocation) (ER .03) Roth #1 VGTSX $8376 (50% of Int Stock AA) (ER .18) Roth #2 VGTSX $8376 (50% of Int Stock AA) (ER .18) Roth #1 VTSMX $18,416 (50% of Dom Stock AA) (ER .15) Roth #2 VTSMX $23,183 (50% of Dom Stock AA) (ER .15) 403B VITPX $8,694 (Remaining of Dom Stock AA) (ER .02) This ideally should give me 80% stocks 20% bonds with 20% of the stocks being international. Total Portfolio as of today is $104,710 As I mentioned earlier would the choice of VITPX be closer to VTSMX than something like VIVIX? I assume these would b...
by Exige
Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 3 Fund allocation assistance
Replies: 11
Views: 1670

Re: 3 Fund allocation assistance

mega317 wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:16 pm I would put her entire 401k in the cheapest fund, all of your bonds in your 403b, and then distribute the rest of your stocks among the 403b and Roths.
Thanks this is kinda where my head was going would be the simplest approach and probably allow me to get the lowest ER.

So Ideally I would do 100% DSPIX in her 401k

then my full bond allocation of 20,352 into VBMPX My 403b

and split the remaining in the 403b and Roth accounts to a 60/20 Domestic / international stock allocation (factoring in that the full 401k is domestic stocks)
by Exige
Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 3 Fund allocation assistance
Replies: 11
Views: 1670

Re: 3 Fund allocation assistance

jriding wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:19 pm You'll want to build a spreadsheet to figure out exact allocation across each account and track your re-balancing bands. Do you know how to do that?

In her 401(k) I'd put 100% in the Dreyfus Instl S&P 500 Stock Index as that's the cheapest available fund that meets your 3-fund goal. Your other accounts have good index fund options. A spreadsheet will make allocations across the other accounts pretty straightforward.
I actually do not but I should be able to search and figure it out. I am glad to hear you felt the same about the Dreyfus index as I did.
by Exige
Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:51 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 3 Fund allocation assistance
Replies: 11
Views: 1670

3 Fund allocation assistance

Hi all, I have always planned on going with the 3 fund portfolio approach however with the lower balance of our accounts I simply went with target funds that were close to our AA. The 3 funds I am interested in are below however I do not have these in all of our different accounts so would like to get as close as possible. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VGTSX) Vanguard Total Bond Market Fund (VBMFX) The issue I am having currently is we have 4 different accounts and I would like to look at them as 1 big portfolio if possible. I am not sure which accounts are best suited for which investments and my wifes new 401k starts next month with new options. Her new 401k is through pruden...
by Exige
Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:52 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: AA is much harder than I thought...
Replies: 45
Views: 6710

Re: AA is much harder than I thought...

This is extremely true in the early accumulation phase as the OP, you and I are at. I was struggling with AA and went back and compared my 80/20 to a full 100% stocks and the difference I would have made over the last 10 years was so minimal my contributions were making up WAY more.

TheHouse7 wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 2:26 pm It is not.

I'm 30, with 80/20 25% stock international.

I keep thinking I need to buy more stock when I really mean save more. :)

Contributions matter so much more than AA it's not even funny.
by Exige
Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:18 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Paying off mortgage before investing at all?
Replies: 75
Views: 10201

Re: Paying off mortgage before investing at all?

Wakefield1 wrote: Tue Jan 02, 2018 5:37 pm Or pay just a little extra against the mortgage but not too much!
this is actually our plan my wife Hates the mortgage even though she understands the math wants it gone. We found that even a small amount 140$ cuts about 14 months off and we only have 11 years left at 32 so for now thats what we do.
by Exige
Tue Jan 02, 2018 12:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When married, whose contribution should you prioritize?
Replies: 30
Views: 3675

Re: When married, whose contribution should you prioritize?

My wife and I are invested in the same AA in our Roth accounts and split it even. We not max them so it means less but before we could we found it fair.
by Exige
Mon Sep 19, 2016 4:25 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Pay mortgage down (PMI) or invest
Replies: 33
Views: 11174

Re: Pay mortgage down (PMI) or invest

I did what a few others have said we had PMI of 180$ a month we did a refinance to a 15 year load had 26 left on the previous it dropped the pmi and made our payment 80$ more than it was previously (including the PMI).

I could not have been happier we dropped 11 years off the life of the loan are savings thousands in interest and not wasting money on PMI and only pay 80$ more a month than what we did the first 4 years of the loan.
by Exige
Mon Aug 08, 2016 4:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Amazon Echo & Tap
Replies: 28
Views: 4325

Re: Amazon Echo & Tap

I just got the echo for a birthday gift, I have never looked into it prior but we are loving it. Its fun and we have been using it in many useful ways. Timers, quick questions, movie times, weather, sunrise time, shopping lists.
by Exige
Mon Aug 08, 2016 3:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Which Credit Card Should I Open?
Replies: 27
Views: 15435

Re: Which Credit Card Should I Open?

Wife and I go with the citi double for all main purchases and supplement a few categories with the costco Citi card (Gas, restaurants, Costco). Works well for us always get enough points to cover all christmas expenses we dont spend enough to get any crazy cash back but ill take it.
by Exige
Fri Jul 15, 2016 9:31 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?
Replies: 7203
Views: 1413239

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

We recently got the Costco card.

We will be using the costco card for:

Gas 4%
Restaurants and travel 3%
and costco purchases 2%

Everything else we use the 2% citi card

This has worked well for us and we have very low expenses so our cash back does not equal much more than 1000$ for a year putting everything possible on the cards. We usually take the cash back and use it for all of our christmas expenses.
by Exige
Mon May 23, 2016 2:49 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: guaranteed 5% vs stocks?
Replies: 213
Views: 41591

Re: guaranteed 5% vs stocks?

what I am wondering is why %5 return attracts so many people here in this forum? It's simple: because the yield on other safe, fixed-income alternatives is closer to 2% or less. Yield on a 5-year Treasury is about 1.4%, and that has interest-rate (term) risk, while the alternatives being discussed here have none. To earn more than 1.4% on fixed income on typical fixed-income investments (e.g., bonds) you must take credit risk or more term risk. This is telling me even the expectation from a simple S&P 500 return is less or close to %5 which is pathetic. No, it is not telling you that. It doesn't make sense to compare the expected return of a very risky asset class (stocks) to a very safe asset class (fixed income with no term risk or c...
by Exige
Mon May 23, 2016 2:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bernstein says emergency fund part of your "asset allocation?"
Replies: 62
Views: 10706

Re: Bernstein says emergency fund part of your "asset allocation?"

I consider ours separate from our AA however its included in our Net worth if that matters....
by Exige
Mon May 23, 2016 1:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What to do with $500 a month
Replies: 27
Views: 5511

Re: What to do with $500 a month

could always explore the netspend, brinks 5% account up to 5k I have 3 of them. Earning 5% on 15k its a nice solution for things like an Efund however it wont solve your issue long term and most of the previous advice is better about a taxable account.
by Exige
Mon May 23, 2016 1:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Excessive Expense Ratios for Index Funds in 401(k)
Replies: 10
Views: 1156

Re: Excessive Expense Ratios for Index Funds in 401(k)

thats not so terrible nothing in my wifes 401k is under 1.2 Sigh.........
by Exige
Tue May 17, 2016 3:31 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: guaranteed 5% vs stocks?
Replies: 213
Views: 41591

Re: guaranteed 5% vs stocks?

Im loving mine 1 setup is done and on auto pilot about to sign up for a second one.
by Exige
Tue May 10, 2016 4:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital
Replies: 8
Views: 1466

Re: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital

Just got an update see below.


Thank you for contacting Personal Capital Support.

I understand that you experienced a problem with updating your Netspend account in Personal Capital. I've investigated this error and can confirm that you saw the problem because of an error on our side. We need to investigate this further and have escalated it to our technical team. Please don't delete the account in question, as our team will need it to be in the error state so they can review the issue. I will send you an update once the issue is resolved.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.

Sincerely,

Ashley
Personal Capital Support
by Exige
Tue May 10, 2016 2:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital
Replies: 8
Views: 1466

Re: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital

I never got a response as well I checked out mint and it worked correctly right away I have thus moved over everything to Mint for tracking.

aw82 wrote:I'm having this issue as well. NetSpend previously showed up properly, but now it does not. So my dashboard shows a $5,000 loss in net worth :?

This is one of several ongoing issues I'm having with Personal Capital. None of my tickets created with their help desk have resulting in resolutions to my problems, so I've quit bothering.
by Exige
Fri May 06, 2016 9:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital
Replies: 8
Views: 1466

Re: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital

surfstar wrote:Did you add Netspend to PC prior to having the saving account opened/funded?
You might try deleting the Netspend account, then re-adding it. I think Mint would/did have similar issues and solved the same way.

Ill give this a try as I did have it added prior to the savings. Thanks
by Exige
Thu May 05, 2016 4:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital
Replies: 8
Views: 1466

Re: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital

Ice-9 wrote:This sounds like a question for Personal Capital Support at support@personalcapital.com. I've found them to be very responsive to similar questions I've asked them. Sometimes all that is needed is a tweak on their end. I do have one bank account that they were not able to support and so I instead created a manually updated entry on Personal Capital. You may have to do that too, but it's probably worth sending them an email and asking first.

Thanks I have sent them an inquiry I will respond here once I hear so others might be able to use the information in the future.
by Exige
Thu May 05, 2016 3:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Mango Money - Worried about Direct Deposit
Replies: 21
Views: 5832

Re: Mango Money - Worried about Direct Deposit

I would give it another day or 2 I actually just had the exact same thing happen to me with moving funds from Ally to Netspend for the 5% savings. took about 2 days longer than normal and than what they said. made me nervous since the money was not in either for a bit...
by Exige
Thu May 05, 2016 3:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital
Replies: 8
Views: 1466

Netspend 5% Saving not showing on personal capital

Hi all,

Quick question I finally have our emergency fund set up on netspend earning the 5% however I am unable to get the savings to show on personal capital. Has anyone had this problem and fixed it or know of a resolution? I have been searching with no luck personal capital shows the card and balance fine but not the savings. I transferred the money from the card to savings on Monday so it has only been a few days.

Thanks,
by Exige
Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:33 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Target Day Fund & Asset Allocation
Replies: 9
Views: 1260

Re: Target Day Fund & Asset Allocation

CABob wrote:Rather than blindly accepting someone else's opinions on suitable asset allocation I an I suspect most on this forum would suggest that you independently decide on a suitable allocation based on your desires and factors and then if you decide on a target date fund ignore the dates and find one with an allocation that matches your desires.
Ding Ding Ding
by Exige
Tue Apr 19, 2016 3:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: mortgage pre payment, why?
Replies: 103
Views: 17684

Re: mortgage pre payment, why?

ControlContentment wrote:Why I paid cash for my house:

- guaranteed 3% return
- lock in stability, schools, ect for family
- allow me and my wife to take risks and pursue passions. She is now a successful photographer and realtor. She makes more money now and is happier. She would not have done that with higher monthly expenses. I am about 5-10 years from going after running sales for a tech startup. If my expenses were higher I would not consider going after that potential home run

this is exactly why we are pushing ours. I would rather have that money to invest or save, or quit and do something we want to do hell with our low expenses and no mortgage we could go part time and still save and invest haha.
by Exige
Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:29 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What next? Cash or retirement?
Replies: 13
Views: 2587

Re: What next? Cash or retirement?

here is a "trick" my wife and I just took advantage of.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=188477

In my opinion though I would off the car payments.
by Exige
Fri Feb 26, 2016 1:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 27. $10k. Is this the most Optimal Portfolio Strategy?
Replies: 27
Views: 3855

Re: 27. $10k. Is this the most Optimal Portfolio Strategy?

When I started a few years ago I had the same questions I ended up in the 2050 target during my accumulation stage. In the next year or so I should have more than enough to break it down into a 3 fund or some other style. As others have said with this small amount and age savings rate is going to be more of a determining factor than anything get it in something easy to manage while accumulating.
by Exige
Mon Feb 15, 2016 3:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Weight Loss Plans?
Replies: 178
Views: 21977

Re: Weight Loss Plans?

5. I go to the gym 4-5 times per week. This is not nearly enough by itself - I was doing that before I lost the weight. I see far too many people who seem to think they can get by on only an exercise program, but keep in mind that each session burns only a few hundred calories at best. When I first joined a gym 30 years ago, after finishing a workout, the trainer said to me "congratulations, you just burned off a cookie". However, the exercise is still very important for maintenance and other benefits, so definitely get some exercise. + 1000 Convinced that my wife losing 61 pounds wouldn't have happened on her Weight Watchers program alone. Exercising is key. You absolutely need both diet and exercise if there is any hope of taki...
by Exige
Thu Feb 11, 2016 2:49 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: The Retirement Problem: What Will You Do With All That Time?
Replies: 67
Views: 9862

Re: The Retirement Problem: What Will You Do With All That Time?

duplin county wrote:I think my main problem has been I planned to travel with my wife of 35 years. She died and I am having to adjust my retirement traveling plans.
Seeing my retirement through a couple's eyes was very different.
I am sorry to hear this but I appreciate you sharing it. This is my plan and goal as well as my wife's however stuff like this really makes us realize we need to do as much as we can now while still saving and investing for a future since that future might not ever happen....
by Exige
Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:15 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If SS covers expenses why invest?
Replies: 89
Views: 11357

Re: If SS covers expenses why invest?

most people who are living solely on SS benefits are living below the poverty line. Do you really think SS is going to cover ALL of your expenses? maybe only if you live extremely frugally in rural Alabama or Mississippi. A married couple who had very good jobs can pull down $5000-$6000 a month in SS... With a paid off house, that's a ton of money. To the OP, I have to ask... what happens when one of the spouses dies and the SS is cut in half? That is a very good Question and honestly I did not know that if one of us died it got cut in half until I started this thread. Like I said previously we have no intentions of stopping our savings or investing it was just an interesting point we had never considered or thought about (meaning SS).
by Exige
Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:17 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If SS covers expenses why invest?
Replies: 89
Views: 11357

Re: If SS covers expenses why invest?

I was always a saver more than a planner. Not married and no kids, so I didn't have to worry about funding college or other family expenses, but I was also aware that I needed to be able to take care of myself in my old age or in case of unemployment. So I lived below my means and saved for the future. I continued to learn about investing, but I never tried to figure out how much I would actually need in retirement and never chased returns. Shortly before I retired, I discovered that I have more than I should ever need and that SS combined with a tiny pension and dividends from taxable accounts is more than enough to live on quite comfortably. My investments are frosting on the cake of life. I have "won the game" and at this poin...
by Exige
Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If SS covers expenses why invest?
Replies: 89
Views: 11357

Re: If SS covers expenses why invest?

in response to those asking if I want to live off of it alone that was not my question. I don't want to and do not plan to live off of SS and i am too young to know either way it was just more of a question in regards to the fact that we were shocked to realize how much it could potentially cover. I have always had the mind set that all my saving and investments and the eventual 4% or what ever we draw would be my retirement and we would need at least 40k a year to live how we do now (without our mortgage). I have never factored in SS so it was more of just a curious question and yes I do understand the unfortunate events such as a roof and needing a new car. Luckily we live very cheap and happy I maintain both vehicles and we don't drive c...
by Exige
Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If SS covers expenses why invest?
Replies: 89
Views: 11357

Re: If SS covers expenses why invest?

Ron,

thanks for sharing your input I have really not thought about that side of it much as my wife and I do not have children and honestly at this point in life wouldn't have anyone to leave the money to. It just goes to show that everyone's situations are so different its hard for me to ask a question like this and looking at it one sided.

also I agree about having fun that is why we dream of saving and investing as much as we can see the world and have that wine ;)
by Exige
Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:58 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If SS covers expenses why invest?
Replies: 89
Views: 11357

Re: If SS covers expenses why invest?

most people who are living solely on SS benefits are living below the poverty line. Do you really think SS is going to cover ALL of your expenses? maybe only if you live extremely frugally in rural Alabama or Mississippi. Its not that we want to live on SS or plan to, its that we did not realize that the estimate now is about 98% of our expenses. I do have to agree with the above posts saying that you never know and we are very young so its even more of a question then for most was just an interesting thing to consider. We max our Roth's and do a ton into our 401k currently investing / saving over 30% of our take home income so its not that I do not want to save and invest. more than anything it made us a little excited that we could eithe...
by Exige
Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If SS covers expenses why invest?
Replies: 89
Views: 11357

If SS covers expenses why invest?

This is an honest question my wife and I have been talking about a lot lately and came up in another thread I was just reading and decided I would start my own topic instead of taking the thread off topic anymore. This question stemmed when we looked at our SS payout for the first time out of curiosity and what it says now would cover all of our expenses. many are saying that SS can cover most or all of the expenses they have in retirement so my question is why the huge focus on investments and returns. such as saying we finally could retire after hitting 1.5 million and can now do a 4% withdraw etc. I assume its either 1) to retire early before SS such as 50 years old and cover that gap healthcare, expenses etc. 2) have a bunch of extra fu...
by Exige
Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Retirees: What percentage of your expenses are covered by SS and/or pensions
Replies: 84
Views: 9437

Re: Retirees: What percentage of your expenses are covered by SS and/or pensions

Sorry to be somewhat off topic but honest question if SS covers most or all of the expenses for a couple then what or why is everyone focusing so much on saving and investing? simply for extra activities and expenses travel, car etc? or are most using the savings and investments to retire early then draw on SS later?
by Exige
Fri Jan 29, 2016 4:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Deleted
Replies: 131
Views: 14457

Re: perfectly happy with cable

this is just as bad as the posts about what age you maxed your retirement accounts. This is very individualized, my wife and I pay 150$ for everything cable,tv etc however our "budget" for other things such as bars eating out etc is basically 0$ we enjoy being together watching certain shows and just relaxing after we spend hours running or cycling.

Sure you can slap together some hodgepodge of netflix etc but I have friends and family weekly asking for our comcast password becuase they cant watch the newest wallking dead, or other shows.

Either way we are happy with ours OP and its not going anywhere.
by Exige
Mon Jan 25, 2016 12:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Am I paying too much for car and home insurance
Replies: 14
Views: 3436

Re: Am I paying too much for car and home insurance

Deaconfan wrote:Thanks for your helpful replies everybody. I will shop around and see if I can get a better rate. --Deaconfan
This is a smart idea we just used a insurance broker friend of mine since he said he would look through everything and see if we were overpaying. We told him exactly what coverage we wanted based on what we could or would want to pay for if something happened. Accident, roof damage etc and be built a plan based on that.

Found out we were not covered for most things we were concerned about or had very bad coverage. He found us the coverage we wanted in both auto and home and we are saving about 700$ a year... so it is definitely worth shopping!
by Exige
Fri Jan 22, 2016 4:47 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What was your biggest unexpected home expense?
Replies: 87
Views: 14073

Re: What was your biggest unexpected home expense?

Wife and I have been in our house for 6 years. Last year was Paint on the outside of the house 2500$ (trim was looking bad! and HOA was squawking) This year was a roof $6000 Fridge just died last week $2000 ( this was a bit of a splurge however we never eat out and use the fridge for everything and a lot so made us happy) All were paid with cash from our "House fund" high interest savings account with monthly deposits since we got the house for this crap. if we did not have enough in the house fund we would have borrowed from the Emergency fund which is big enough for 16 months of expenses and paid it back within a few months. OR could borrow from our Vacation fund which is much of the same as the above and usually has a few thous...
by Exige
Fri Jan 22, 2016 4:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What age does LBYM (being a big saver) pay off?
Replies: 81
Views: 14467

Re: What age does LBYM (being a big saver) pay off?

One of my uncle's approach to life is that "It's not a problem if money can fix it." Which, *if you have money* is a quite rational way to look at life. You can focus on the real problems, an aunt with cancer, the friend who just had their SO bail on them, etc. Things like your car breaking down turn into a mild inconvenience instead of a big problem. (i.e., no "How do I get the $500 to fix it before I lose my job and live on the street?!") I'm 36 and a big saver (around 40% of gross), and I've already noticed a lot of the payoff in situations like the above. Contrasting with what my friends from uni have worried about as we go through our careers... I've had a lot less stress. Surprise $5000 in medical expenses? There'...
by Exige
Thu Jan 21, 2016 9:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K Rollover Question with Fun Market!!
Replies: 2
Views: 427

Re: 401K Rollover Question with Fun Market!!

chikbog wrote:Go back to what you would have done if the markets hadn't dropped. If you had good reasons to make the move then, those reasons haven't changed.

If I were you I would make the move
exactly my thoughts I guess I first was thinking by "selling" the old one for the new one I was basically setting in the losses and I would not be selling due to my risk tolerance etc but didn't consider I will also be buying at lower prices so overall should be equal.
by Exige
Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:54 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K Rollover Question with Fun Market!!
Replies: 2
Views: 427

401K Rollover Question with Fun Market!!

Hi Bogleheads, I wont go into much backstory as I found this site years ago and have read constantly and taken the lifestyle to heart, My wife and I are doing extremely well in our "Retirement accumulation phase" of life. Anyways I graduated with my degree in December and happened to land a higher paying better job a month prior and now need to roll my 401k over from a previous employer. My question is about the roll over I am not trying to time the market as I know it could simply just drop more who knows! I don't have a ton of money to be that concerned anyways AND I am only 30. Anyways my old 401k is in a terrible sentry target fund with a .80 expense ratio and has lost 1100$ in the last month. (14,200 to 13,100) like I said no...
by Exige
Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Help required: refinancing + mortgage options
Replies: 10
Views: 1701

Re: Help required: refinancing + mortgage options

biscuit wrote:Thank you. Where to shop for refinancing?
Do I have to call my own mortgage company or someone else?
Would you recommend anyone?

I have always used a local Mortgage broker who took care of our initial loan and has always taken care of family it is a small outfit and we work directly with the owner of the company they are amazing. I would maybe ask some friends or family other then that I am not sure we lucked out with the company we use as they take amazing care of us and our family.