Search found 163 matches

by Lollytiger
Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks in free fall
Replies: 36221
Views: 4652383

Re: U.S. stocks in free fall

Stef wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 5:09 pm I'm starting to think that I'm not on Bogleheads.org anymore. Did the whole community just throw their investment philosophy out of the window? Lol.
Well, the thing with being a pure Boglehead is that you have nothing to talk about. I decided on a 50/50 portfolio 9 years ago and haven't changed the portfolio or posted since then.
by Lollytiger
Sat Feb 28, 2015 2:39 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How does one increase their typing speed and accuracy?
Replies: 70
Views: 12361

Re: How does one increase their typing speed and accuracy?

sharpjm wrote:Has anyone switched to a Dvorak keyboard after mastering the QWERTY keyboard?

I was considering getting one. I am stuck at 80wpm in qwerty. I can go faster but my accuracy drops below 100% at that point. I've heard that people can do 120-150wpm with 99%+ accuracy on Dvorak keyboards. But qwerty is so engraved in my head it seems like it would take a ton of effort to switch.
I don't think there's any need to switch to Dvorak. The top guy at typeracer.com uses Qwerty, and I get very good wpm with Qwerty as well.
by Lollytiger
Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:20 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: retired at 37?
Replies: 52
Views: 7511

Re: retired at 37?

This link is pretty relevant for the discussion: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ ... 54346.html

Unfortunately, although I can find that VTSMX returned 5.54% annually over the last 15 years I don't really feel like finding the exact numbers since 2001 for both VTSMX and inflation (to calculate the real return). Besides, investing aggressively can mean anything, he may have had his own judgment on how much money is needed to retire, etc. However, the chart gives a 63% of net savings rate to be necessary if you work for 14 years with 2.5% real return, which I presume is approximately what 100% VTSMX would have given. That sounds doable if you make 100k+.
by Lollytiger
Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Need advice: Lost lot of money in trading.
Replies: 65
Views: 9242

Re: Need advice: Lost lot of money in trading.

I think the main thing to keep in mind here is that 1) the decision to buy the stock was a bad idea, even if the stock proceeded to go up, and 2) selling your shares now would be a good idea, again even if the stock proceeded to go up. If you take everyone's advice and sell, and then it goes up, the lesson learned shouldn't be that you lacked enough determination and should have stuck to your guns etc. And if you sell and the stock goes down, the stock going down doesn't validate the advice. People aren't advising you to sell because they specifically believe it will go down or up but rather because the risk of tying up so much of your net worth in a single stock is too great. Another way to think of it is like this: if you wouldn't buy 113...
by Lollytiger
Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Poll] What was your 2013 return?
Replies: 209
Views: 18650

Re: [Poll] What was your 2013 return?

11% (50/50 portfolio) according to the Vanguard site, which was slightly disappointing given all the talk about this being a Very Good Year, but I guess it's to be expected with the significant bond allocation.
by Lollytiger
Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much did your credit card rewards cost you in 2013?
Replies: 104
Views: 9787

Re: How much did your credit card rewards cost you in 2013?

Presumably ajcp is referring to how just as how credit card users on average pay interest, but Bogleheads members generally don't, so the average net worth of the population is not as high of the average net worth of the population here. No one believes we are lying when we claim to not pay interest on credit cards or to have a higher than average net worth. It follows that just because people pay more on average when using credit cards vs cash, it doesn't mean that everyone who replied 0% on the poll is engaging in "personal behavioral deception". I admit I didn't read the papers but from the summaries I saw on how they worked they don't seem so convincing that you would just automatically assume that the conclusion applies to an...
by Lollytiger
Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Why Can't I Bring Myself to Buy Me a Nice Watch?
Replies: 193
Views: 25318

Re: Why Can't I Bring Myself to Buy Me a Nice Watch?

The watch is hardly going to put you in the poorhouse, so you might as well get it. 40 years is quite a long period of delayed gratification. At worst, you definitively settle the question of whether you should have gotten the watch or not, as opposed to all this worrying.
by Lollytiger
Sun Mar 17, 2013 4:51 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Samsung Galaxy S 4
Replies: 16
Views: 5724

Re: Samsung Galaxy S 4

coolguy954 wrote:Nexus 4>>>>>>

pure google>>>>>
I used to run a stable CyanogenMod 10 on my phone but then I found out that company security policy forbids it so it was a choice between CM10 and being able to expense my data plan. I regretted not getting a Nexus 4 after that :(
by Lollytiger
Sun Mar 17, 2013 4:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fired my Smartphone Carrier
Replies: 39
Views: 7037

Re: Fired my Smartphone Carrier

If you can live with 100 minutes a month (with additional minutes buyable at some cost) then the T-mobile/Walmart prepaid plan with $30 for 5GB data is still really good.
by Lollytiger
Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:05 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What % of your income are you saving for retirement?
Replies: 228
Views: 35123

Re: What % of your income are you saving for retirement?

How do people calculate their savings rate? I've tried to do this before but I always felt unsure of what it actually was. I tried to add up all my credit card bills for the year, multiply rent + some arbitrary number that approximates other bills by 12, add them together, compare to net worth change over the year. But this ignores things like investment appreciation and if your income includes bonuses, vested stock, anything that can be clawed back (and thus doesn't really belong to you) it gets hard to even figure out how much you got paid. I'm pretty sure it's easier to save a high percentage on a large income, even if the percentage is vs gross although I'm inclined to calculate vs. net since one expects that if you save 30%, that means...
by Lollytiger
Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:26 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Advice Wanted On A New Cell Phone
Replies: 40
Views: 3855

Re: Advice Wanted On A New Cell Phone

Lollytiger would suggest that a cell phone for the Munchkin Man's needs can be easily purchased for under $400. The Nexus 4, arguably the best smartphone, costs $350. Lollytiger understands that the Nexus 4 is something of an anomaly. Nevertheless, the original statement holds true. Given that a cell phone costs less than $400, Lollytiger thinks there is no reason to pay off a cell phone in installments. But Lollytiger would strongly advocate that the voice plan be a monthly prepaid plan. Lollytiger believes that the contract system is an abomination. Although Lollytiger does not endorse it, AT&T's GoPhone is an example of a prepaid plan. Unfortunately, Lollytiger suspects that only smartphones would have good cameras. Improvements in t...
by Lollytiger
Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Chase Bank new checking account free $200
Replies: 44
Views: 7034

Re: Chase Bank new checking account free $200

The last time I heard about this promotion, you had to have one of the checking accounts that has a monthly fee attached to it, such that you still get free money but not as much; enough that I decided it wasn't worth the bother. Did they change that now?

I've been considering applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred since it has a $400 signup bonus. It used to be $500 but they got rid of that. I'm waiting for it to go back up to $500 before applying, which obviously means that will never happen and instead they'll lower the bonus.
by Lollytiger
Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:13 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Indexing vs Investing in Berkshire Hathaway
Replies: 47
Views: 6557

Re: Indexing vs Investing in Berkshire Hathaway

LondonJimmy, maybe you could try a long term experiment that you document here or on a blog (and link to here). Tell us what your current holdings are and take note of any trades you make. There are lots of people who make claims on the internet, but the only way to verify their claims when it comes to stock picking are those who document in real time (or close enough to real time). Then over a span of years you can get an idea of whether or not their stock picking abilities are a result of genuine skill or luck (good or bad). Usually in the case of people making bogus claims about stock picking they come up with a convenient excuse for why they cannot document their trades as they occur. If you look up MarketTimer on here you will see a v...
by Lollytiger
Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:04 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: US Dept Homeland Security urges Disable Java
Replies: 123
Views: 16916

Re: US Dept Homeland Security urges Disable Java

The correct response to being enlightened is not to make passive aggressive remarks towards the person doing the enlightening. And yes, Java and JavaScript are completely different and share basically nothing in common.
by Lollytiger
Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Walmart to offer unlimited iPhone 5 plan for $45/mo
Replies: 45
Views: 7763

Re: Walmart to offer unlimited iPhone 5 plan for $45/mo

Straight Talk is one of many MVNOs, like SimpleMobile, Good2Go, RedPocket etc. They buy coverage from the major carriers and sell it to customers. You've always been able to buy the unlocked iPhone (well, it's not available unlocked immediately after release but the iPhone 5 has been available unlocked for a while) and use it on an AT&T MVNO. Walmart offering the iPhone is really a non-event since you can already buy it directly from Apple. There actually are a couple of catches, which apply to MVNOs in general: 1) You don't get LTE, 2) You may or may not be lower priority than the carrier's direct customers (I've heard speculation, but I don't know if it is actually the case) 3) The data is not really unlimited. Straight Talk is especi...
by Lollytiger
Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cyberattack & Spending Money ?
Replies: 18
Views: 1701

Re: Cyberattack & Spending Money ?

pjstack wrote:
Victoria wrote:I have plenty of paper I Bonds that would feed me for many months.

Victoria
If the electricity is out the bank can not run your bonds through their little gizmo to compute the correct interest they owe.
When I first saw this quote I really thought Victoria meant she had enough I Bonds that she could eat them for several months...
by Lollytiger
Sun Oct 14, 2012 4:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: In the end, we're all stock market timers aren't we?
Replies: 33
Views: 3208

Re: In the end, we're all stock market timers aren't we?

This is a very broad definition of "market timing". In general any time that someone defines a certain activity such that everyone is performing that activity, the term ceases to have any meaning. When people talk about market timing the general context is that the market goes up and the market goes down and a market timer seeks to buy when the market has gone down and sell when the market has gone up. On the other hand, someone who buys and holds believes that the market generally goes up and so over a lengthy period of time (the period between when he buys and when he will sell, which can be decades) he will make money. These two ideas are very far apart. Although you could characterize the buy and holder as market timing on the...
by Lollytiger
Sun Oct 14, 2012 4:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Knives set recommendations
Replies: 43
Views: 6303

Re: Knives set recommendations

I'm more or less repeating what everyone else is already saying, but don't get a knife set. Get 1-2 knives and then add other knives only as you actually feel the need for them. The main knife you need is a chef's knife. This will probably be 8 inches although the pros use bigger knives. You could probably use this for everything but it's also useful to have a paring knife. For example, the following two knives are basically the cheapest "good" knives, which I used for about two years and was pretty happy with even though I never sharpened them (that doesn't mean they don't need to be sharpened, that means it didn't bother me that they were dull): http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2/ref=pd_s...
by Lollytiger
Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Whole Disk Encryption?
Replies: 37
Views: 3079

Re: Whole Disk Encryption?

I've been told that if a reasonably knowledgeable person gains physical control of my computer, a screensaver lock is not going to protect against anything. The screensaver lock is to prevent someone from casually walking by and having easy access. If my computer is stolen, encryption is the only meaningful protection, which is why I encrypt what I know is sensitive data on my hard drive. Right, the screensaver lock only prevents the person from getting back into the OS but there is nothing stopping the person from say, booting from a USB drive and looking at all your files that way. If someone has physical access to your computer, the main problem is something like the person taking out your hard drive, putting it in an external HD enclos...
by Lollytiger
Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay bills when they are due or ASAP?
Replies: 39
Views: 4564

Re: Pay bills when they are due or ASAP?

I've long given up trying to do a calculation of things like incoming bills, rent payments, portion of signing bonuses that would need to be returned, stock that still needs to vest etc. simply because it's too much of a pain.

As for the original question, the best is probably to autopay when they are due, but if that's not an option the amount of money you lose from paying ASAP is probably less than the inevitable penalties for paying late.
by Lollytiger
Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:39 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tailoring Clothes
Replies: 30
Views: 4252

Re: Tailoring Clothes

I always wonder exactly how you go get clothes tailored, like if you want to get a pair of pants tailored are you supposed to go there wearing the pants and have a second pair to change into so you can drop off the original pair??
by Lollytiger
Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Apple Computers & Laptops
Replies: 55
Views: 6359

Re: Apple Computers & Laptops

I understood that people feel very strongly pro or anti Apple, but refusing to eat apples and substituting them with other fruit sounds way excessive. I mean, do you also evaluate the worthiness of people based on the brand of their smartphone? Like you think less of them if they have an iPhone, but they rise in your estimation if they have a Lumia since this shows greater intelligence?
by Lollytiger
Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: I don't get the iphone hype
Replies: 56
Views: 4334

Re: I don't get the iphone hype

I've been "researching" smartphones for several days now in preparation to buy one and it seems like Apple is always a divisive topic. There's lots of hype and lots of backlash and people really like to make unsupported superlative assertions about the types of people who buy Apple products (negative) or Apple as a company (positive). For my part, Apple is claimed all the time to be so masterful in design and user experience but from playing around with the iPhone and other smartphones at the AT&T store its design did not seem especially remarkable, whereas Mapgate is shaping up to be a remarkable debacle. Also, the length/width ratio of the 5 (2.11x) makes it look awkward. The phone I liked the best (although it was a year ol...
by Lollytiger
Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Will you get an iPhone 5?
Replies: 108
Views: 9878

Re: Will you get an iPhone 5?

I'm surprised that the promised estimate of total retirement savings for not buying a smartphone has yet to materialize. I feel responsible for providing one now. Assuming a 32GB iPhone 5 is $300 and the data plan is $50/month that makes a nice total of $1.5k (ignoring the effect of inflation during the two year time period). Plugging this into Fidelity's calculator indicates that with 5% real return per year over a 25 year period gives you about $5k. Alas, if only I were a personal finance blogger I would have the motivation to boost that number for shock value by assuming a 10% return, ignoring inflation, and choosing a longer time period. Anyways, I don't have a smartphone but am looking for one and delayed the purchase so I could check ...
by Lollytiger
Sun Sep 16, 2012 4:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much mortgage does a 90,000 salary qualify for
Replies: 51
Views: 63861

Re: How much mortgage does a 90,000 salary qualify for

I don't understand why the rules would be different in the Bay Area (or any other place with high home costs). If it's not financially safe to go beyond X mortgage to income ratio, that should hold true regardless of where in the US you are. If houses are so expensive that the only way to buy them is to take on a >X mortgage to income ratio, that doesn't mean it suddenly becomes safe, it just means that buying a house is not within one's financial capability without significant risk. An exception would be if rent costs are similarly astronomical, but even then, you take on a much smaller burden at a time with renting than with a mortgage. I wouldn't count on income increases over time. IMO when taking on some kind of large debt or obligatio...
by Lollytiger
Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:46 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Make-Believe [investing for maximum returns]
Replies: 31
Views: 2667

Re: Make-Believe [investing for maximum returns]

Use the 10,000 to start college studying software engineering. Work your butt off and get straight A's then apply for financial aid and scholarships. Get a job after 3 years (if you work hard enough you can graduate in that time frame) with a uptrending software company who will grant you some hefty options (whatever the next Apple, Google, Amazon is). After 5 years when your options are vested, exercise them for $500,000, pay your $150,000 in tax, put $200,000 in the bank so you won't have to kill yourself, and donate the rest to charity. Guessing which company will have the megabucks stock options is probably even harder than stock picking. The suggestion to save 20k per year would be by far the most reliable way to get 200k, although yo...
by Lollytiger
Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:25 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Make-Believe [investing for maximum returns]
Replies: 31
Views: 2667

Re: Let's Play a Little Make-Believe

Roulette probably has more upside potential than any portfolio. Gamble all your money every time and the rate of return, assuming you always win is monumental.

Of course, the initial conditions aren't very clear since "risk of loss is no object" and "end his own life if his portfolio tank" are kind of contradictory since dying is a pretty big loss.
by Lollytiger
Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:05 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Beginner Credit Card Question
Replies: 5
Views: 779

Re: Beginner Credit Card Question

I'd get the collateral from the secured credit card back. I don't quite understand your option 1 and how it helps you, maybe you mean closing the secured credit card instead of the unsecured one?

About a year ago I closed an old credit card which I had never used. This cost me about 40-50 points as per CreditKarma's score. CreditKarma's rating is not the real FICO score but I assume it serves as a reasonable approximation. Since then I've recouped the losses and more and it never actually mattered anyway since I didn't do anything in the meantime. In general I would agree with kayo that your credit score should be your servant and not your master.
by Lollytiger
Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I feel like my friend just won the lottery...
Replies: 31
Views: 10453

Re: I feel like my friend just won the lottery...

I would take $1MM and buy annuities with it, or at least up to whatever amount the state ensures (might have to buy multiple annuities if it's per-annuity insurance, but I'm not clear on the details). This will ensure that he never goes broke no matter how badly he mismanages his money. Beyond that, I'd probably just be conservative with investments because there's just no need whatsoever to take risk.
by Lollytiger
Sun Jun 17, 2012 3:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...
Replies: 249
Views: 59430

Re: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...

zaplunken wrote:And how long will they have to work to get it, again the GHU site indicated 2600 years to crack the password using 100 trillion times per second.
As mentioned before, this is only true if the encryption has no known weakness. Encrypt an old WinZip archive with that password, then run a WinZip cracker against it (note: make sure it's an old version of Winzip). It will be broken extremely quickly; the last time I opened up a .zip file like that was a long time ago but I think it was in seconds. You are assuming that the strength of the encryption is solely a matter of the key space, but the encryption itself matters as well. Hence you do not want to rely on Microsoft Word's password protection for a file.
by Lollytiger
Sun Jun 17, 2012 1:41 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...
Replies: 249
Views: 59430

Re: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...

The effort required is really very low. With software like PasswordSafe all you need to do is memorize one password which unlocks the safe, and then all the passwords within the safe can be arbitrarily complicated. You copy and paste them when you need to use them. In fact this is easier than remembering a bunch of different weak passwords.
by Lollytiger
Fri Jun 15, 2012 2:46 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...
Replies: 249
Views: 59430

Re: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...

I'm curious. Instead of crypts and dropboxes and vaults et al why not just store all your passwords in a word document that is password protected? I have mine in Open Office document and the password on that document is 16 characters long. I keep a copy on 2 separate external devices both password protected with the same password. This seems pretty straight forward and with a 16 character password the GRU site indicates you'd need: Time Required to Exhaustively Search this Password's Space: Online Attack Scenario: (Assuming one thousand guesses per second) 2.60 trillion centuries Offline Fast Attack Scenario: (Assuming one hundred billion guesses per second) 26.03 thousand centuries Massive Cracking Array Scenario: (Assuming one hundred tr...
by Lollytiger
Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:00 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting Vs. Owning at 22
Replies: 83
Views: 7743

Re: Renting Vs. Owning at 22

Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good real estate and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it.
by Lollytiger
Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:04 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A case for actively managed funds
Replies: 52
Views: 4901

Re: A case for actively managed funds

There will always be lots of actively managed funds that beat the market, and for any given fund that beats the market there will always be some kind of explanation for why it did so. So the fact that a fund beats the market, and the fund manager can propose some philosophy or strategy which explains why it beat the market, doesn't really indicate anything. If you went 10 years back, and looked at all the funds that have earned returns above market for the last 3, 5, and 10 years then, you could certainly speculate as to their advantages, their processes, etc. but how many of them would have actually sustained performance?
by Lollytiger
Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting Vs. Owning at 22
Replies: 83
Views: 7743

Re: Renting Vs. Owning at 22

I think expecting to stay in the house/condo for 10-15 years is a prerequisite for buying (keeping in mind that expecting something is not a guarantee of it actually happening). Since you have not even started your job, you have no good idea how you will like it, whether you will want to switch jobs etc. and renting gives you alot of flexibility to move across the country, to move to another area of the city etc. Also, if you are not very familiar with the place where you live, then you really should fix that before buying as location is such an important part of a residence. On the other hand, if you have lots of job security, or you feel confident you could find other jobs in the area then buying a house makes more sense. I also strongly ...
by Lollytiger
Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Risk/Return and Young Bogleheads
Replies: 35
Views: 4010

Re: Risk/Return and Young Bogleheads

I never really get it when people talk about an investor's need to take risk because an inherent component of risk is that if you are taking a risk, then there is a chance that you will not obtain the corresponding return, you may in fact lose money (how much money being proportional to the amount of risk). Therefore you need to prepare for this case in which you lose money. And if you can handle the case in which you lose money, why did you need to take the risk in the first place? Maybe instead of need for risk we should just say greed. The only case in which I can imagine it really being need is if you need to pay off the mafia or something along those lines, where you really need to make X amount of money or else. One misconception whic...
by Lollytiger
Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone else value "things" over "experiences"?
Replies: 48
Views: 4910

Re: Anyone else value "things" over "experiences"?

I usually spend my money (assuming I'm spending money at all) on things rather than experiences. For example, I don't have any interest in vacations or traveling. Now, to some degree you could say that the things are bought to enable experiences, but in that case, all purchases of things are really purchases of experiences because no one buys something so it can simply sit around unused. So it helps to have some kind of clearer definition of what counts as a thing versus what counts as an experience and under any reasonable definition my purchases are definitely on the thing side. Many people consider this to be some kind of moral issue and get preachy about it, such as in this thread, and it may be that buying things is considered material...
by Lollytiger
Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: A reason to avoid using the same password at different sites
Replies: 33
Views: 6785

Re: A reason to avoid using the same password at different s

IIRC there is a way to use a compromised Vanguard account involving exchanging into a penny stock. Did a quick search for it, second to last post: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=77384
by Lollytiger
Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:38 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Forum Software Updated: Show Password Strength
Replies: 16
Views: 6071

Re: Forum Software Updated: Show Password Strength

If you use different passwords at each site and your important passwords are strong, that is enough. Mudpuppy's explanation is really good.
by Lollytiger
Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...
Replies: 249
Views: 59430

Re: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...

I think the best approach is to use something like PasswordSafe, which stores all your passwords within an encrypted file. You need to memorize a master password which unlocks the safe. It is Schneier approved!

I'm inherently distrustful of services like LastPass and don't really see a reason to outsource password storage and retrieval.
by Lollytiger
Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do new people often take the advice offered here?
Replies: 53
Views: 5060

Re: Do new people often take the advice offered here?

I think I had been here for a year when I asked for advice. I was told to increase my stock allocation and get out more (I think?) Since then, I have decreased my stock allocation and failed to get out more. So...
by Lollytiger
Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:58 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...
Replies: 249
Views: 59430

Re: Another reason why you should never reuse passwords...

For many passwords, the limit on how fast they can be checked is how many attempts the site allows per second. For these cases it is totally irrelevant how fast any machine can generate strings via brute force.

Edit: For this reason, the fact that Vanguard only allows fairly short passwords is not that big of a deal, although it ought to allow longer ones.
by Lollytiger
Wed May 30, 2012 1:48 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Kahneman on "The Trap of Thinking That We Know"
Replies: 60
Views: 6578

Re: Kahneman on "The Trap of Thinking That We Know"

It seems pretty clear that someone on this thread has fallen to the trap of thinking that they know! Despite the risk of adding myself to that group, I feel safe in asserting that the idea that any argument with a true conclusion is valid makes no sense whatsoever and is a misinterpretation of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuous_truth.
by Lollytiger
Sun May 27, 2012 10:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Bud who is as unBoglelike as could be
Replies: 21
Views: 3334

Re: Bud who is as unBoglelike as could be

momar wrote:The interesting thing is they already lost their shirt in a similar product and are about to dive head first into another.
Presumably they felt they learned their lesson last time and therefore are fully justified in their confidence this time. The eternal cycle!
by Lollytiger
Sun May 27, 2012 9:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What's Your Risk IQ?
Replies: 50
Views: 6327

Re: What's Your Risk IQ?

Started by replying 10% and 20% to most all the questions, then adjusted it up to 30%. Apparently the test thinks that the most reasonable default position on any statement you have no idea about is 50%, but I'm doubtful about that.
by Lollytiger
Sat May 12, 2012 1:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: High End Ranges - Viking vs. Wolf
Replies: 35
Views: 16746

Re: High End Ranges - Viking vs. Wolf

leonard wrote:
Lollytiger wrote:I don't think I've ever seen a person claim to prefer electric stoves to gas stoves. I personally much prefer a gas stove, but not quite to the point of contacting my landlord and asking if I'm allowed to replace this horrific glass stovetop (although I'm tempted now...)
have you ever tried induction?
No. When I say electric I mean the ones with coils that heat up. I've heard induction is much faster than electric when it comes to the equivalent of adjusting the flame, but if I were to get a new stove somehow I would probably just go with gas and not consider the issue much.
by Lollytiger
Fri May 11, 2012 9:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: High End Ranges - Viking vs. Wolf
Replies: 35
Views: 16746

Re: High End Ranges - Viking vs. Wolf

I don't think I've ever seen a person claim to prefer electric stoves to gas stoves. I personally much prefer a gas stove, but not quite to the point of contacting my landlord and asking if I'm allowed to replace this horrific glass stovetop (although I'm tempted now...)
by Lollytiger
Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If you could hold only one fund, which one would it be?
Replies: 49
Views: 6661

Re: Changing the "glide path."

Taylor Larimore wrote:
Lollytiger wrote:Either one of the TR funds or Wellesley; I'm thinking Wellesley would be the more likely choice. It depends on how much I dislike the glide path of the TR fund and the chance Vanguard randomly changes the stock/bond allocation versus the chance Wellesley's managers go crazy.
Lollytiger:

Do you realize that if you are holding a TR fund in a retirement account that you can change to a different "glide path" (stock/bond allocation) at any time and without cost.

Best wishes.
Taylor
Oh, that response was under the basis that I was locked into one specific TR fund forever (like TR2020). If all the TRs counted as one fund, I would just use whichever one had my desired AA instead of Wellesley.
by Lollytiger
Sun Apr 22, 2012 1:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If you could hold only one fund, which one would it be?
Replies: 49
Views: 6661

Re: If you could hold only one fund, which one would it be?

Either one of the TR funds or Wellesley; I'm thinking Wellesley would be the more likely choice. It depends on how much I dislike the glide path of the TR fund and the chance Vanguard randomly changes the stock/bond allocation versus the chance Wellesley's managers go crazy.