Search found 20 matches

by chentastic
Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:17 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: DR recommending i stay home from work for entire 3ed trimester of Pregnant Fiancé
Replies: 46
Views: 4584

Re: DR recommending i stay home from work for entire 3ed trimester of Pregnant Fiancé

1130Super wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:28 pm I think it would look bad on a resume for a 6 month gap and I don’t know what I will do for 6 months.
What? You think you'll be sitting at home for 6 months twiddling your thumbs bored while your fiance takes care of the baby by herself?

You have to weigh the risks. If you stay at home worse case is not being able to find a job 6 months from now. If you go to work, worse case scenario is that you get sick and bring it back to your family and a baby with a very weak immune system. Is the pediatrics hospital nearby any good?
by chentastic
Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:38 am
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Cannot access the wiki
Replies: 8
Views: 1485

Re: Cannot access the wiki

clearing my browser cache for a day did the trick. thanks!
by chentastic
Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:41 am
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Cannot access the wiki
Replies: 8
Views: 1485

Cannot access the wiki

I get this message when I try to go to the Wiki. Anyone else see this?
------------------------
Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties.

Try waiting a few minutes and reloading.

(Cannot contact the database server)

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by chentastic
Tue Jun 24, 2014 12:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Stop-n-Go on the freeway? Or Nice and easy (and long)?
Replies: 7
Views: 1460

Re: Stop-n-Go on the freeway? Or Nice and easy (and long)?

Have you tried the smartphone app Waze? I use it to tell me if there are quicker routes if I'm stuck in traffic. Sometimes it works well. Or it will tell me if there is an accident ahead.
by chentastic
Fri Jun 20, 2014 4:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Home security cam: remote video recording
Replies: 11
Views: 2292

Re: Home security cam: remote video recording

maybe look into dropcam? or trendnet cameras? I got the Trendnet TV-IP572WI that emails me a video clip and I can play it on my computer. You can also remotely view the camera from your smartphone but it takes a bit of setup with external IP addresses.

But I ended up using an older version of this Avtech camera
http://www.avtech.com.tw/index.php?opti ... tem&id=283

Its pricey at $200. Add a 32gb speed 10 SD memory card to it and it can record the video to the card.
But when it detects motion, it notifies me on my iphone and I can review the recording from its memory card. Or I can remotely view whats currently playing.
by chentastic
Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:09 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bay area Public vs Private School
Replies: 67
Views: 32686

Re: Bay area Public vs Private School

newjr wrote:
Also someone mentioned earlier about Palo Alto High, after some research I think that's going to be way out of our budget. I recently also heard about Carlmont High from Belmont. Not sure if any one here has any experience with it. For us that would be the same commute as Fremont, so we can consider that as well.

Carlmont I heard is very good.

The movie Dangerous Minds was based off of a book by a teacher who worked at Carlmont. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_Minds
But its gotten much better since then.
by chentastic
Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:11 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bay area Public vs Private School
Replies: 67
Views: 32686

Re: Bay area Public vs Private School

I grew up in the Bay Area and went to public elementary and middle schools and then went to a private HS, Bellarmine. I would say that I liked it but overall I think its really how smart and hard working your kid is. I feel like I would have been successful if I had went to either a public or a private high school. My smart friends at my public middle school all worked hard and went on to good colleges like I did. I did feel like at the private HS, the majority of the kids around me were very motivated to be there learning while at public school, 2/3rds didn't want to be there. I also coasted through much of public school and I was in accelerated learning in public elementary school and when I hit public middle school they did not have an e...
by chentastic
Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:30 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Age 26, 200k in cash...
Replies: 14
Views: 3740

I say take out all that info about your gf because even if its a serious gf, you aren't married and things can change. And you never know when relying on others. So now you have 185k in cash and 15k in stocks. Do you have any retirement 401k, IRAs? How many years before you graduate? Is part of the cash going to be used to pay off law school? If I was a law student with say 2 years left to go with no current job I would leave at least 150k in cash to pay off school, help pay for living while finding a job, house downpayment and emergency fund. I would take the rest to invest for retirement so the 50k is my retirement portfolio. Since you are 26 I would put everything in Vanguard total stock market index and Vanguard FTSE All-World Ex-US, pr...
by chentastic
Tue May 20, 2008 6:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review advice needed
Replies: 11
Views: 2265

Thanks Landy and Alec for your advice. And Piperwarrior for your help. Greatly appreciated.
by chentastic
Tue May 20, 2008 3:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review advice needed
Replies: 11
Views: 2265

Hi Alec,

I asked that question to my Benefits department last time and they never got back to me. I'll try to get an answer to that.
by chentastic
Tue May 20, 2008 3:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review advice needed
Replies: 11
Views: 2265

Re: Portfolio review advice needed

Hi Landy, that is a good suggestion to simplify my portfolio. Should I put the majority of TIAA-CREF in Bond or part of it in Inflation link Bond too?
by chentastic
Tue May 20, 2008 1:42 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review advice needed
Replies: 11
Views: 2265

Re: Portfolio review advice needed

Questions: 1. I am thinking of putting future contributions of my 403b into Fidelity Spartan Index funds and gradually switching my TIAA-CREF into Bond funds to match my desired allocation over time. What do you think of this? What asset allocation would I use for Fidelity contributions? Maybe something like 50% Spartan Total Market, 10% Spartan Extended Market, 40% Spartan International? Would it be easier for you to just hold TSM [VTSMX] in the taxable account instead of VIMSX and VGTSX? You can get cheaper mid cap and int'l funds in the Fideilty 403(b). I think using TC for the bond funds and Fidelity for the stock funds is perfectly fine. You may have to use a fund like CREF Equity Index for some of the stocks until you can either tran...
by chentastic
Tue May 20, 2008 12:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review advice needed
Replies: 11
Views: 2265

Bump, any suggestions?
by chentastic
Mon May 19, 2008 6:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio review advice needed
Replies: 11
Views: 2265

Portfolio review advice needed

Hello, So I didn't know what I was doing my first few years working. Mostly I was trying to save to pay for downpayment on a home, which I still am. My employer offers me two companies to put my 403b contributions in. One is TIAA-CREF and the other is Fidelity. Being the weirdo I am, I went with TIAA-CREF instead of big Fidelity because it was something different. But now I am regretting it because their expense ratios keep rising. Also I really didn't understand my options when I first started working so all of my contributions the first couple of months went to TIAA-Traditional Annuity which is the default. From what I read there are certain penalties to withdraw so I left my contributions there. And now that I discovered about index fund...
by chentastic
Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:16 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: CD or MMF for emergency fund given Fed cuts
Replies: 5
Views: 1793

money in a 1 year CD is not money in an emergency fund. It should be in a high interest savings account or in a MMF.

Also 4.7% is kinda low for a CD from a year ago. You could have gotten around 6% back then. You could find better CD rates than 4.8 right now at bankdealblogs or other sites.
by chentastic
Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:30 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Poll: What you do when the market goes down?
Replies: 46
Views: 11680

I put my hands over my ears and try not to read about market news. Try not to do anything.

Everything is done automatically for me anyway. Just sit back, watch sports, read fiction, go to movies and not worry about the market. Then rebalance every other year.
by chentastic
Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Do you treat found money differently?
Replies: 14
Views: 3189

I would be happy and put it in my wallet. I'd be happy it would delay me from going to withdraw from the atm. I don't think of what I could buy with it if thats what you are asking.

Now if it was a million dollars in a briefcase lying next to a dead body by a tree after I walked past several dead bodies that obviously died from a shootout....I'd first check the briefcase and the cash for any sort of tracking system. Then dump the cash into a bag, dump the briefcase in the trash, buy a cheap used car off someone with the cash, drive off into the sunset and NEVER go back to the scene of the crime, ever!
by chentastic
Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I invest in a short term bond fund?
Replies: 4
Views: 1531

Zhiwiller: Yeah that was what I was thinking too about CDs. Its around 3 years down the line but I don't know exactly when. I did look at 3 year CDs for Penfed but felt that was too long. I might look at 1 year CDs though. That might be more reasonable.

Oh and its 80k for the 20% downpayment on a condo which is sorta a guess based on prices I've seen around my area.
by chentastic
Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I invest in a short term bond fund?
Replies: 4
Views: 1531

Should I invest in a short term bond fund?

Hello I'm saving money to make two big purchases in my life, a new car and a condo. I'm planning to purchase a car in the next 6 months and want to put a 20% down payment on a condo in around 3 years. I keep my money in high yield savings accounts and Vanguard's California Tax Exempt MMF. Should I look into investing in a short term bond fund if I plan to buy a house in 3 years? Or should I stay in savings and MMFs? Currently looking at Vanguard's 4 short term bond funds: index, fed, invest, and treasury. There's also Vanguard California tax exempt intermediate. But I think I should avoid that if I have a goal of 3 years. About me: Age: 27. No debt, single, living in California, 25% Fed tax rate, 9.3% CA Saving 1300 a month. Currently I hav...