Search found 760 matches

by statsguy
Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Social security survivor benefits questionn
Replies: 2
Views: 434

Social security survivor benefits questionn

I will be full retirement age next July. Our plan has been to wait until 70 to take retirement. Does the survivor benefit increase if I wait until 70 to take SS?

Stats
by statsguy
Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Social Security question
Replies: 1
Views: 710

Social Security question

We had planned for my wife to start SS at her full retirement age (October 2020). And I would start my SS at age 70 (July 2024), at that point she would switch to her spousal benefit. Circumstances have changed, as I have pancreatic cancer and not expected to live past next year.

The question is, can she begin taking her SS at full retirement age (October 2020) and then switch to her Survivors benefit in July 2024 (when I would have turned 70) and at that point begin collecting what would be my benefit at age 70? This is what Social Security told us on the phone. I just wanted to double check.

Thanks
Stats
by statsguy
Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:52 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: RIP investor
Replies: 22
Views: 5399

RIP investor

I regret being the bearer of sad news. Neal Hudson, a long time but occasional poster, who posted here as investor (and long ago as insane Nero) has died. He usually posted about his favorite funds Wellesley and Wellington. His posts were almost always humorous. Neal was 76 years old, worked in the aerospace field, retired in his mid-50's about 22 years ago, and had been fighting bladder cancer for over 7 years. I believe he was a military veteran.

On a personal note, he tracked me down online 2010 and gave me a phone call asking if we could talk about investing. We have kept in touch since. I will miss him.

Statsguy
by statsguy
Sat Nov 21, 2015 9:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding new SS rules
Replies: 2
Views: 889

Re: Question regarding new SS rules

Thanks for the reply. You are very helpful

Stats
by statsguy
Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding new SS rules
Replies: 2
Views: 889

Question regarding new SS rules

I know this has been hashed out and everyone is tired of reading about it. I have read the long social security changes post and want to check that I understand the rules as they apply to us. Both my wife (Statsgal) and I (Statsguy) turn 62 next year. Therefore the file-and-suspend option is no longer available to us. I will be 62 in July and Statsgal will be 62 in October and both of us have a full retirement age of 66. I think Statsgal should begin collecting social security at age 62 and that I should delay filing until I am 70. I believe that is the optimal situation for us, since as I understand the new rules. When I turn 70 and begin collecting social security, the IRS will automatically switch Statsgal to the higher of her benefit or...
by statsguy
Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Individual Stocks vs Vanguard ETF's/Mutual Funds
Replies: 29
Views: 5715

Re: Individual Stocks vs Vanguard ETF's/Mutual Funds

I'm currently 30 years old with no debt besides a mortgage on a rental property. I max out my 401k and HSA every year. I would like to begin contributed after tax money into an automated monthly investment account. I know everyone on here are big on Vanguard funds etc. However, for some reason I like the thought of buying monthly increments of individual stock such as JNJ, PG, KMB, etc while utilizing a DRIP. I would probably contribute about $1000/mth to begin with, spreading it out over a basket of low beta high. yield stocks. From what I understand, brokerage firms like Fidelity, Sharebuilder, etc charge a discounted transaction rates of around $10-12 per month with this type of automatic investing (http://www.sharebuilder.com/sharebuil...
by statsguy
Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Alternatives to Quicken
Replies: 41
Views: 33179

Re: Alternatives to Quicken

Bought a macbook July 2012. Tried iBank; it didn't deliver what was promised as far as reports go. Waste of money. Am currently running Quicken 2011 through a program called CrossOver, by Codeweavers. Cost me $40 with 6 mo. of support, rather than buying. I didn't need to call. Primarily designed for gaming. I input all transactions by hand. This forces me to a conscious review of activity and results on a regular basis. Don't down load any transactions. This program will allow Quicken to update prices, but not from each institution. Will check out other suggestions made here. This is what I am doing as well. Quicken is a little slow and clunky when using CrossOver. I am using an older version of CrossOver (probably two years old now) so m...
by statsguy
Fri Jan 24, 2014 3:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Living Off of Dividends Alone
Replies: 28
Views: 4608

Re: Living Off of Dividends Alone

IMO, it’s certainly possible. But it is NOT bogleheadish! Fans of dividend investing will tell you that, if managed wisely, your dividends should grow with inflation. But it is theoretically more risky then a stock/bond mix. Dividend and dividend growth focused ETFs and funds are available from Vanguard and others. I plan to have about a third of my assets at retirement in dividend paying stocks, in a taxable account. I’m hoping the qualified dividend tax rate stays at zero, so that will be tax free income. I will second that this is not the Boglehead way. And also second that is is possible. We have a portfolio that is about 65% equity and 35% bonds, with about 35% in dividend stocks that yield about 4% right now. We live comfortably off ...
by statsguy
Sat Jan 18, 2014 2:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dividend Stocks in 401k for Beta Protection
Replies: 7
Views: 1180

Re: Dividend Stocks in 401k for Beta Protection

We own a portfolio of dividend stocks, which we originally purchased with funds from a mutual fund that invested in large cap US value. I would not think of them as a replacement for bonds or fixed income. They behave more like stocks than bonds. But it has been my experience that dividend stocks have a smaller beta than the market or value funds. For example, during the great recession (2008) we found our dividend stocks dropping about 30%, which was significantly less than the market. On the other hand, since 2008 (except for 2009) our dividend stocks have lagged behind the market return. So beta cuts both ways (less loss on the way down and less gain on the way up). Looking at our portfolio returns over the last decade we are still somew...
by statsguy
Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dividends/stocks and gains - please explain
Replies: 13
Views: 1590

Re: Dividends/stocks and gains - please explain

Hi all, I heard that reinvesting dividends causes double taxation. Reinvesting or or taking the dividends as income will not effect your taxes. Some say the dividends are taxed twice because dividends are paid from the profits of the company paying the dividend. So the company pays taxes on its profits (on your dividend) and then you pay tax on the dividend too. I don't see it at double taxation but I understand the argument. 1) how does dividends work? How is it taxed and when? I understand is a pay for the stock doing well (pay out related to profits) 2) Is this taxed during the sell of the stock? 3) when I pay taxes every year I pay on the gains or on the dividends of the stock? Both? What about during the sell? First off, it depends on...
by statsguy
Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Poll: House value as % of assets when mortgage paid off.
Replies: 41
Views: 4621

Re: Poll: House value as % of assets when mortgage paid off.

Let see...

In 2001, we paid off our house and it was about 30% of our net worth at the time.

In 2009, we paid off our vacation home, and it that time, it was about 12% of our net worth. Both houses together were about 30% of net worth.

In 2011, we bought a summer house (converting out 2001 purchase into winter house). Have not paid off the summer home yet, so I guess I will not include it in the poll. But the plan is to sell the winter house next Spring and pay the mortgage off on the summer house (I guess then our sumer house will just be our house). If nothing changes between then and now, our "summer" house will be about 30% of our net worth.

I chose 20% to 40% for the answer to your poll.

Stats
by statsguy
Mon Nov 11, 2013 6:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: If you were retired, how would you spend your time?
Replies: 90
Views: 12884

Re: If you were retired, how would you spend your time?

We retired in 2011. I still work January until June but the other 6 months am retired. My typical day starts at 8am and I read internet headlines and blog til 10. Then statsgal and I walk our dog for an hour. We live in the country and so the walk is very enjoyable- lots of wildlife. Mondays we go to senior center and learn tai chi and then talk investing with other retires. The other days of the week are spent on errands, some light house remodeling, or just chilling with the dog on the deck. We also travel-- went to aruba for a week, went to Gettysburg for a day when the did a reinactment of the battle, spent a couple days in Lancaster shopping, and also visited some friends in Tennessee. They are retired about 20 years and say "thei...
by statsguy
Thu Oct 03, 2013 7:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Pay off mortgage sooner or invest in taxable funds?
Replies: 28
Views: 4184

Re: Pay off mortgage sooner or invest in taxable funds?

I don't know what you should do, but this is what we did (years ago). We had a 30 year loan, figured out what the payment would be on a 15 year loan (you can find this using a mortgage calculator - there are lots of apps on web) and we paid that amount each month. We paid our house off in 12years.

Stats
by statsguy
Tue Sep 24, 2013 2:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Young Guys [and Gals] Making Good Money
Replies: 242
Views: 36082

Re: Young Guys [and Gals] Making Good Money

It's not what you make but what you save. We retired while I was 56 with more than a million in our portfolio, about $900k in real estate, and a small pension of about $42k per year. I never made more than $92,000 in a year and my wife retired when she was 40 to bring up the kids. Making a 100k a year was never my goal, in fact I turned down a couple of jobs paying over a $100k with reputable drug companies because the jobs would have required me to fire people who were underperforming. I chose to stay in my safe academic position though the pay was not as good. My point is that if you live below your means, save as much as you can, that you do not need a large salary to retire comfortably. Stats Does that pension include Social Security o...
by statsguy
Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Young Guys [and Gals] Making Good Money
Replies: 242
Views: 36082

Re: Young Guys [and Gals] Making Good Money

It's not what you make but what you save. We retired while I was 56 with more than a million in our portfolio, about $900k in real estate, and a small pension of about $42k per year. I never made more than $92,000 in a year and my wife retired when she was 40 to bring up the kids. Making a 100k a year was never my goal, in fact I turned down a couple of jobs paying over a $100k with reputable drug companies because the jobs would have required me to fire people who were underperforming. I chose to stay in my safe academic position though the pay was not as good.

My point is that if you live below your means, save as much as you can, that you do not need a large salary to retire comfortably.

Stats
by statsguy
Tue Sep 10, 2013 11:45 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: We have the money—now what? Real estate?
Replies: 31
Views: 5085

Re: We have the money—now what? Real estate?

My only thought is, you should keep the mortgage on the rental and payoff the new house. This gives you a better tax situation than having the mortgage on your personal residence. We did that five years ago and are very happy with the choice. We get a bit of monthly income and pays down the mortgage. Plus at tax time we get another 5k about in deductions

Stats
by statsguy
Sat Aug 31, 2013 7:31 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Should retirement portfolios tilt toward dividend stocks?
Replies: 27
Views: 4121

Re: Should retirement portfolios tilt toward dividend stocks

nisiprius wrote: Vanguard says: "This fund is designed to provide investors with an above-average level of current income while offering exposure to the stock market." Blue, the high-dividend Equity-Income fund. Orange, 500 Index (S&P 500). For comparison, green, Total Bond.

Image
Not that it affects your argument very much, but wasn't Vanguard Equity Income a Utility fund until about 2000? I do not follow this fund (though do allocate 25% of our portfolio to dividend stocks) but remember many being upset when it switched from pure utility fund to its current form.

Stats
by statsguy
Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:55 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 27 years old - Attempt to pay off mortgage early???
Replies: 21
Views: 4088

Re: 27 years old - Attempt to pay off mortgage early???

I think it is great to payoff the mortgage when you are so young. I would have no qualms about liquidity since you have such a large free cash flow. And worst case scenario you could get a Home Equity loan. That said, if your plan requires you to not max your IRAs and 401ks then I would not pursue paying off the mortgage. This is because you only get so much space in tax advantaged accounts in your lifetime and losing some of it can add quite a tax bill.

Best of luck
Stats
by statsguy
Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:15 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Solar for Home - Is It Worth Doing?
Replies: 44
Views: 7141

Re: Solar for Home - Is It Worth Doing?

FWIW- Update on our Solar Panels.

We have had our Solar Panels for 10 years now. This year our electric bill was $549 for our 2400 sq. ft. house. This is less than what one of our neighbors paid last month for his bill.

Stats
by statsguy
Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: dividend vs stock price
Replies: 16
Views: 1894

Re: dividend vs stock price

I don't follow a dividend stock strategy. It's not the craziest idea in the world, but the benefits are nowhere near as clearcut as advocates suggest. As you note, dividends are not a free lunch. It's not as if there were two kinds of stocks, otherwise equal, whose prices grows at the same rate only one kind also pays dividends and the other doesn't. To a rough approximation, if a company pays out dividends, you get them can can invest them somewhere else and make them grow. If it doesn't pay out dividends, it ploughs them back into its own business, and it makes them grow. That is, if a company is expanding and needs money to expand, it will expand faster if it uses its earnings to finance its expansion than if it starves itself by paying...
by statsguy
Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:09 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: So... long term investors should IGNORE a bond fund's NAV?
Replies: 59
Views: 6719

Re: So... long term investors should IGNORE a bond fund's NA

It is my understanding that Bogleheads ignore bond NAV because they hold bonds to mute the volatility of their portfolio. So you own enough bonds to sleep well at night. It has little to do with being a long-term investor

Stats
by statsguy
Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where do MLPs fit into your AA
Replies: 17
Views: 2079

Re: Where do MLPs fit into your AA

I use and asset allocation model that has domestic stocks, international stocks, emerging markets stocks, bonds, inflation protected bonds and REITS. I would like add add some MLP (the vehicle I use is FEN). Where would they fit? Whose percentage do I reduce? I assume it would be either REITs, Bonds or Inflation Protected Bonds. Thanks in advance for your insight. First, since the income for MLPs and CEFs is mostly return of capital holding either in a tax-advantaged account (IRA, 401k, etc) sidesteps the major tax advantages of holding MLPs. For example, the return of capital in a taxable account adjusts the share price and is treated as a capital gain, while in an IRA the same return of capital will be considered ordinary income on withd...
by statsguy
Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Invest in one Kraft (KRFT) or Whole Foods (WFM)
Replies: 23
Views: 2731

Re: Invest in one Kraft (KRFT) or Whole Foods (WFM)

I dont see whole foods market slowing down and on the other hand Kraft makes products that we all use and will slowly go into healthier foods as well. We invest in individual (dividend) stocks. I have considered both in the past, but don't think either is a very solid dividend stock. WFM cut its dividend during the great recession showing that its commitment to the dividend is not what I would prefer. The share price has recovered and, in my opinion, is currently vastly over-valued. I think purchasing now you have probably missed most of the share price growth, but I really don't know. I would not consider buying this company for more than $26.50 per share and probably less. The company has solid same store sales growth and seems to have f...
by statsguy
Fri Jul 19, 2013 6:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How and when did you do it - to get to 1 Million
Replies: 129
Views: 31288

Re: How and when did you do it - to get to 1 Million

I didn't get a real job until I was 28 years old. I decided that I wanted to reach a number by age 40, but that number was not a million. I was married and we basically just saved/invested the entire salary of the higher paid spouse while paying living expenses and taxes with the lower paid spouse's salary. As for reaching a million, that happened about 15 years after starting the plan. We were living near NYC at the time, so the cost of living was higher back then for us than it is now. In particular, rent was the most I have ever paid in the past 28 years and so were state income taxes. So some takeaway lessons: 1. You don't have to earn 6-figure salaries. 2. You don't have to start before age 28. 3. You don't have to live in a low cost ...
by statsguy
Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:33 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Does your home have solar panels?
Replies: 77
Views: 8884

Re: Does your home have solar panels?

We did put our solar panels on 20 year old roof. It cost us an extra $3500 (that is what I recall it may have been more or less) when we replaced our roof eight years later. On the positive side, we had 8 years of minimal electric bills (Around $600/year) that made paying for the roof easier.

Stats
by statsguy
Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Choosing a Fidelity account executive
Replies: 13
Views: 1955

Re: Choosing a Fidelity account executive

I don''t know how to choose one. Our account executive helps us with dealing with Fidelity. When we were charged an odd fee, he researched it and figured out a way for us to avoid it. Rather than fill a form out and fax it to him, I can call and have him do it for me. For example, I was having trouble getting all our accounts I manage (ROTHs, IRAs, 403b, taxable, daughter1, daughter2, and mom) so that I could see them on one account. He made that happen without me filling out more forms. We have talked about our portfolio, for example, he knows we prefer index funds and that we are asset allocators with 65% stocks and 35% bonds. He has never suggested we buy or sell any investment. When we bought some preferreds at a huge discount in early ...
by statsguy
Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:28 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Retiree poll: What are you doing with your interest/dividend
Replies: 24
Views: 2547

Re: Retiree poll: What are you doing with your interest/divi

Retread wrote:
CABob wrote:I am reinvesting dividends within my IRA and am taking dividends from my taxable account into a money market/savings account. This is perhaps not suitable for all, but, seems to be the generally recommended consensus from this board.
Me too.
Bruce
Us too.
Stats
by statsguy
Wed Jul 03, 2013 8:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How should i start to save?
Replies: 14
Views: 2386

Re: How should i start to save?

Right now, beginning is more important than aiming to save some huge amount. By consistently setting something aside every paycheck for retirement you will notice one day that it has grown to quite a sum. What we did. In about 1981, when IRAs became available to us, we funded them to the maximum. It took us all year to save the $3000 ($1500/each) to fully fund both IRAs. Then In 1983, we began saving $25 a month, which we used to buy a savings bond every two months. A few years later, I got a largish raise (I think it was $4000/year). Anyway, we saved half of that raise and saved half of every raise after that. When I retired three years ago we were maxing out our ROTHs, maxing out my 457 plan, and putting over a $1000/month into our taxabl...
by statsguy
Sun Jun 30, 2013 5:58 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Am I dumb for having a small emergency account?
Replies: 23
Views: 3679

Re: Am I dumb for having a small emergency account?

I had a very secure job, Professor of Statistics with tenure, and we never had your typical emergency fund. We did have emergencies and we always found the money by taking some cash from our taxable account. Since retiring three years ago, our emergency fund has actually grown to about three months expenses. I am working on putting three years expenses into cash so I won't have to worry about selling something at the wrong time. Looking back on all the times we needed money quickly and did not have any cash, it is clear to me that our emergency fund has been our taxable account. On several occasions we sold some I-bonds and EE bonds that I usually do not consider as part of our portfolio. From my perspective, I would not consider you dumb. ...
by statsguy
Fri Jun 28, 2013 7:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: [Contributing to] 457?
Replies: 2
Views: 649

Re: 457?

Best information at
http://Www.457bwise.com

Stats
by statsguy
Wed Jun 26, 2013 6:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Scanning Receipts / OCR software
Replies: 1
Views: 1912

Scanning Receipts / OCR software

I want to scan receipts and attach them to transactions within Quicken. For this I need an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. I was thinking of getting the NeatDesk scanner. I liked the idea of the NeatDesk because the advertise that it easily attaches scanned receipts to Quicken transactions. However after some online research, I get the feeling that the NeatDesk scanner is not simple to use or that good. Many users write bad reviews about it. Even in the Intuit (Quicken) forums the NeatDesk gets bad reviews. Also, the NeatDesk comes compatible to either Mac or PC (but apparently not both, which is what I would want). My Cannon Printer is a 3-in-1 printer with scanner, copier, and printer. I am happy with the printing, scanning,...
by statsguy
Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: MSNMoney Excel Add-on Issues (& other quoting options)
Replies: 20
Views: 2837

Re: MSNMoney Excel Add-on Issues

pop77 wrote:How do you use Google within Excel? Is there an add in? Please provide more details or link to the add in.
Google finance does not use an Excel addin. Google docs has its own versions of Excel, Word, and etc... The Google docs "Excel" program has many commands that do financial calculations. The downside is that your document, though protected from view by others, is online. I decided that was OK since our portfolio tracker does not include any identifiable data.

Here is a link to what our portfolio tracker looks like (I shared this so hopefully the following link will work)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... pX1E#gid=0

Stats
by statsguy
Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:29 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is there a long-term decline in returns on US equities?
Replies: 22
Views: 2923

Re: Is there a long-term decline in returns on US equities?

I think this makes perfect sense. I know there were not classifications in 1881 like today, but back then the US would have been classified as emerging market or, more likely developing market. Today it is the quintessential developed market. As you go from emerging to developing to developed you should see a decrease in volatility and a corresponding decrease in total return. If you look closely you can see the decrease in volatility with your graph.

Stats
by statsguy
Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: MSNMoney Excel Add-on Issues (& other quoting options)
Replies: 20
Views: 2837

Re: MSNMoney Excel Add-on Issues

This program is no longer supported by Microsoft or MSN. You can get the same functionality and much more from Google finance. We switched over to Google finance about two years ago and are very happy with it.

Stats
by statsguy
Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Looking for online international banking
Replies: 14
Views: 1805

Re: Looking for online international banking

Has she checked with her bank. When we lived in New Zealand, we routinely paid US bills with the online banking through our ASB bank account. There were no charges as I recall (this was about ten years ago).

Stats
by statsguy
Fri May 31, 2013 8:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Home alarm security systems
Replies: 21
Views: 4555

Re: Home alarm security systems

We got FrontPoint about a year ago. I preferred it to ADT because of cost mostly. The setup was simple, it took us about twenty minutes mostly for us to stick the various gizmos on doors and walls. We have each door alarmed and have four motion sensors. The motion sensors are calibrated so that our 30lb dog does not set off the sensor but we do. When we leave the house we set the doors and motion sensors on, at night we just turn on the doors. We have had no false alarms and the system has worked perfectly for us. We have an app on our phone that allows us to monitor the system from the iPhone.

Stats
by statsguy
Fri May 31, 2013 4:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Looking for safe investment that pays monthly interest
Replies: 10
Views: 1673

Re: Looking for safe investment that pays monthly interest

I will get the money in six to nine months and then, say its January 2014, I will be able to buy say a 5- or possibly 10-year bond. The current 10-year treasury currently has a yield of over 2%, which would be fine for my purposes but I would much prefer a rate above 2.5%. I think there is a good chance yields will be higher in six to nine months. I am doing this because I want liquidity and realize (the conundrum) that buying a 10-year bond could "lock" me in if rates go up, unless I am willing to part with some principal.

I prefer individual treasury bonds or CDs because there is no chance that my principal will be in jeopardy. If I use an ETF or mutual fund, then if interest rates go up, I will lose some principal.

Stats
by statsguy
Fri May 31, 2013 4:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Looking for safe investment that pays monthly interest
Replies: 10
Views: 1673

Re: Looking for safe investment that pays monthly interest

Just to clarify, you want to invest the property sale proceeds and use interest to pay the monthly mortgage payments? If so, why? Are you planning to buy another property so paying off the mortgage now limits liquidity? And why do you need monthly interest? If you want monthly interest youll need to use a fund or ETF Yes that is what I would like to do (pay the mortgage with the interest). I am comfortable paying the mortgage off in seven years and could use this money to pay it off sooner, but it occurs to me that by paying the mortgage with the interest I can have the liquidity now and be able to cover the mortgage monthly without drawing from our portfolio (we are retired). The monthly interest just makes it cleaner for me, so that I do...
by statsguy
Fri May 31, 2013 9:01 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Looking for safe investment that pays monthly interest
Replies: 10
Views: 1673

Looking for safe investment that pays monthly interest

I am looking for a bond, preferably a treasury bond, that pays the interest in cash every month. In six to nine months I plan to sell some rental property that will give us enough cash to pay off our mortgage. The mortgage we have is a balloon mortgage which has a fixed rate of 2.25% for the next seven years (the balloon payment is less than the cash we will get from the rental property sale). What I want to do is invest the cash in a treasury bond and take the monthly interest to pay the mortgage interest. The problem is that Treasury bonds do not pay monthly interest and TIPS only pay interest semi-annually. Is there a safe (principal is safe) investment that pays monthly interest in cash? I am in no hurry to do this and am hoping interes...
by statsguy
Fri May 10, 2013 4:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is it time to install a whole-house generator?
Replies: 193
Views: 29806

Re: Is it time to install a whole-house generator?

We just got a bid for a 20kW whole house generator from Cummins Oman unit. The price is $9300. This system is completely automatic and runs off propane. Looking at a few other options, this is first estimate. While replacing/repairing our basement discovered mold from at least two previous basement floods. Now our $25k loss is about $5k more; at least our insurance is paying it.

Anyone know anything positive or negative about cummins generators?

Stats
by statsguy
Sat May 04, 2013 3:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Does your home have solar panels?
Replies: 77
Views: 8884

Re: Does your home have solar panels?

Yes. We installed Solar in 2003 (maybe it was 2001). Our electric bill has risen to about $800 year from about $700 a year when they were installed. Our home is rather large, with a spa and pool, and in California, most of our neighbors have at least one summer month when their rates are over $500 for one month. We love our solar panels and plan to add solar to our house in Virginia this year.

You can search my previous posts on solar where I give more information about cost benefits of solar

Stats
by statsguy
Sun Apr 21, 2013 6:30 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: plum creek lumber
Replies: 35
Views: 5983

Re: plum creek lumber

I like the idea of owning timber as it has historically been relatively uncorrelated with the 500 Index and bonds. If you already do not own or plan to invest in a number of individual stocks, say at least 15 though more is better, I would not invest in a single stock. PCL would not be one of the first individual stocks I would invest in either. PCL (Plum Creek) and RYN (Rayonier) appear to be way over-priced (rated 1 star at M*), WY (Weyerhaeuser) is 3*. This alone should be enough to give one pause before buying. PCL was maybe a good buy until Feb 2011, but it never was high on our list since it has not increased its dividend in more than five years. All three companies should do well when the economy can support building a large number o...
by statsguy
Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:08 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Review my plan to ditch satellite service
Replies: 45
Views: 8488

Re: Review my plan to ditch satellite service

We did just this a few years ago.

To get clearer picture we needed to add a booster to our antenna. The booster cost about $25 and it cost another $15 to put an electric outlet near our antenna, which is in the attic. We are very satisfied getting about 30 channels in our area, almost all are HD. We regualarly watch only about 9 of the channels.

Now our only cost for TV is internet service and Netflix. Which reminds me, make sure your internet is fast enough of the TV picture will occasionally freeze.

Stats
by statsguy
Sun Apr 14, 2013 1:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation
Replies: 19
Views: 1750

Re: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation

For the record, my statement above about waiting for interest rates to rise before annuitize has been proved wrong. See this conversation at M* TIAA-CREF forum http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSoc ... px#3408091

Stats
by statsguy
Sat Apr 13, 2013 3:57 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation
Replies: 19
Views: 1750

Re: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation

jjustice wrote: Stats, I am intrigued by your last sentence. Given the vintage-rates structure of TIAA Traditional, how could you exppect to get a better annuity deal by waiting for a time of higher interest rates? We currently have vintages paying, especially in payout rates, much higher than current rates; and the current rates are going to stay with us as they are "vintaged." I can't figure how there is a way to effectively time a Traditional annuity with respect to current interest rates.
John
John, I am not completely certain but that has never stopped me from replying. :-)

Edited to not add confusion to this issue. I was confusing TIAA Traditional Annuitization with a SPIA.

Stats
by statsguy
Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:59 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation
Replies: 19
Views: 1750

Re: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation

Thanks MNfinance...

I was just thinking about that very issue. Our TIAA-Traditional are all RAs. By the way, I taught at three different research institutions and my wife worked at one so we have four accounts. This both gives us more options and complicates things. Still it is a great investment.

Thanks for clarifying.
Stats
by statsguy
Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:42 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation
Replies: 19
Views: 1750

Re: Integrating TIAA portfolio into overall allocation

TIAA Traditional Annuity is a stable value fund. We count it as part of our bond allocation. This is a very special investment. In my opinion, you would be crazy to shift it to another investment. The main drawback are the restrictions on withdrawing your money. It takes nine-years and a day to withdraw your money (TPA) in substantially equal amount, so you need to plan ahead if you have a big expense that you want to fund with the TIAA Traditional Annuity. There are several other options, for example, in our case, we plan to begin withdrawing the interest (this is the interest only option) when we turn 63 and use that cash to delay our taking social security until 70. You can also, annuitize but I would not do that until interest rates are...
by statsguy
Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is TIAA-CREF pulling a fast one??
Replies: 21
Views: 3453

Re: Is TIAA-CREF pulling a fast one??

There is a poster on the m* tiaa-cref board
http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSoc ... 00044.aspx
who can help you. He goes by the name crefwatch

Good luck
Stats

edited to correct poster name and give link
by statsguy
Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:55 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do investors chase dividend paying strategies
Replies: 439
Views: 62960

Re: Why do investors chase dividend paying strategies

FinancialDave... it is possible. This is our second year in retirement and we were able to get into the zero percent tax bracket on our dividends and capital gains. It will be the last year for awhile, as we lose two tax deductions (daughter and brother-in-law) next year and we will also lose the American Opportunity Tax Credit for our daughter's college expenses. Even with all this we only made it under the limit by $500

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