Search found 36 matches

by serocs
Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: University of Virginia vs University of Miami
Replies: 148
Views: 17626

Re: University of Virginia vs University of Miami

I read through most, and skimmed the rest, of the comments and I think I can provide a unique prospective. Both my wife and I attended UVa (graduating just a few years ago). One of the strengths of UVa is the strength in a wide range of subjects. In my time there, I went through several declared majors, including architecture, engineering, and science, all of which are well regarded. Had I chosen a different school, I would not have had the luxury of switching between well regarded programs within the same university. My wife, on the other hand, double majored in a few liberal arts majors. Overall, we felt the classes were interesting and challenging, even with the wide ranging subject areas. I really think it is unusual to find a school th...
by serocs
Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:12 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Living in Boston/Cambridge
Replies: 31
Views: 3737

Re: Living in Boston/Cambridge

Just to be clear, Mapnificent is for transit times only, it does not do driving calculations.
by serocs
Mon Nov 25, 2013 12:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Living in Boston/Cambridge
Replies: 31
Views: 3737

Re: Living in Boston/Cambridge

What kind of housing are you wanting? Most rentals around here are 2-story homes split into two apartments with each apartment on its own floor, but you can find condo-style apartments also. Unfortunately the redline (which is the main T line to serve Cambridge and north-west) does not extend too far, so if you want good transit you will have to stick to Cambridge/Somerville. If you are wanting to live in a single-family home, your best bet is to live somewhere along Route 2 and park at Alewife station every day. Mapnificent will help with determining transit times. There is a commuter train that runs much further out, but it is quite expensive and throws a wrench into the 30 minute commute. I would recommend, especially since you are unfam...
by serocs
Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:28 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Goodbye Sprint, Hello Ting
Replies: 29
Views: 4579

Re: Goodbye Sprint, Hello Ting

GV and Ting is a somewhat complicated issue. You can absolutely port a number from GV to Ting. However, you should confirm that you actually ported over to GV and didn't just "integrate" GV and Sprint, otherwise you can just "deintegrate" the two and port the number from Sprint to Ting, which is actually what I did. See google's explanation for deintegration.
by serocs
Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:09 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

Looking at some other posts, I think International is supposed to be a percentage of total stocks independent from domestic. Thus, I think my desired allocation within stocks would be 33% international, 44% domestic, 22% small cap (or 25%/33%/17% in overall portfolio).
by serocs
Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:58 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

Thanks. I think my big question at this point is whether or not international is considered part of TSM or somehow split between TSM and value?
by serocs
Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:41 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

@Bob's not my name: You're a freakin gold mine. :sharebeer You make two points that really hit home for me: I had no idea that assisted living was deductible. That in itself is a big reason to delay taxation, but you are also right that "Things don't always work out as you plan." I certainly don't know yet that I'll be rich in retirement; the risk of making that assumption is probably greater than I'm willing to take. Wrt student loans, I didn't know it worked that way, thanks for explaining. I doubt I will be retiring in MA, so I'm not worried about the special case. Just to make sure I understand the idea, though, you are saying that I can convert a tIRA to a RothIRA (typically) without paying state tax, and only paying the curr...
by serocs
Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:19 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

Bob's not my name wrote:Do both if you can :D but you already have over $40,000 in Roth accounts, almost half of your total savings, so prioritizing 401k for a while hardly kills your Roth game. Here are three short articles that may be useful to you:

http://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-build- ... art-1.html
http://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-build- ... art-2.html
http://thefinancebuff.com/your-traditio ... -fund.html
I still have a lot to learn about the tax implications of all of the options, but these were certainly a good start. Thanks for writing these up.
by serocs
Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:50 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

Building on your numbers: His 401k (35% of portfolio) 18% Northern Trust Collective Russell 2000 Index Fund (0.05%) 17% Northern Trust Collective All Country World Index (ACWI) ex-US Fund (0.09%) His Roth IRA at Fidelity (27% of portfolio) 09%, Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ), er = 0.10% (I had no idea VNQ was so much better than IYR) 16% Spartan® Total Market Index Fund - Fidelity Advantage Class (FSTVX) er = 0.06% 02% Something in Russell 2000, maybe PCPEX (er = 0.76%) or maybe just throw it into FSTVX for now His Rollover IRA at Fidelity (01% of portfolio) 01%, Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ), er = 0.10% Her 401k (16% of portfolio) 04% Northern Trust Collective Russell 2000 Index Fund (0.05%) 12% Northern Trust Aggregate Bond Index Fund (0.04%) Her Roth...
by serocs
Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:31 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to pick this apart and try to understand. Therefore $11,000 of Roth IRA contributions are costing $5,500 of unnecessary taxes Why is the tax unnecessary? It will be taxed eventually and I believe taxes will go up eventually. Sure, our income will be lower during retirement, but it does seem unreasonable to me that we would be taxed at about the same rate as we are currently at. and they could instead be making $17,000 of 401k contributions without reducing spending an extra dime. When you have great 401k options and a 33% marginal rate prioritizing Roth seems pretty crazy to me. Agreed. The 401k options are pretty nice. They may be in this high rate situation for a while. Next year their rate should be o...
by serocs
Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:04 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

I'm busy at work today, so I'm going to respond in pieces instead of all at once. I have lots of questions, so it may take me awhile to get through it all. Thanks for everyone's help so far! [quote=""serocs"]Age: 24 Desired Asset allocation: 90% stocks / 10% bonds Desired International allocation: 33% of stocks (30% of total) I tend to weight towards slightly smaller cap. My current goal is 27% core, 11% small, 11% micro, 11% real estate within US stocks. (All percentages of total investment unless stated otherwise.) In my opinion your desired asset allocation is within the range of what is reasonable, although i would ordinarily suggest a minimum of 20% in bonds. Please see: wiki, "Never bear too much or too little risk...
by serocs
Wed Aug 14, 2013 2:17 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

The TIPS are paper bonds, so I guess that they are taxed in a sense. Because they are such a small percentage, I have not really considered their tax implications. I would love to simplify, but I'm not really sure how to do that. Do you have any recommendations?
by serocs
Wed Aug 14, 2013 11:16 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Re: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

ieee488 wrote:
serocs wrote: 2. Should we put more towards 401k instead of roth?
I would with the low expense ratio funds that you have available in both 401Ks.
Good point, I'll keep that in mind.
by serocs
Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:55 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation
Replies: 26
Views: 2571

Portfolio Review - Help with Allocation

My wife and I work at the same company with approximately equal salaries. I’ve been working 1.5 years, my wife 1 year, and we have spent most of the past two years building up our emergency fund and paying back student loans. I was not too concerned last year about our allocation because of the fact that we had so little anyways, and focused more on saving as much as possible. Now that we have built up an emergency fund and have a decent chunk of change saved up, I thought it was time to make sure the allocation was up to snuff. Emergency funds: Six months, planning on growing to 12 Debt: Student loan ~15k @ 4.3%. Paid off by end of year Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly Tax Rate: top of 25% Federal, 5.3% State State of Residence: M...
by serocs
Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:24 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: DuckDuckGo or Tor Browsers
Replies: 28
Views: 7746

Re: DuckDuckGo or Tor Browsers

I tend not to respond to these types of posts (although I find them interesting). I'm surprised no one has mentioned https://startpage.com/. I have used DuckDuckGo in the past, but I found, as someone mentioned, that google's search results are MUCH better. StartPage actually uses google, but does so anonymously. It is missing some of google's features, but if you are just looking for a private, secure, google search engine, this is where you want to go.
by serocs
Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: iphone DSLR camera emulator apps
Replies: 6
Views: 1240

Re: iphone DSLR camera emulator apps

Sorry. It doesn't exist.

The main issue that you are dealing with is that the camera on the iPhone is simply not complex enough to allow for the features you are looking for. I know the title of this thread includes "emulator", but the fact is that you can't emulate some of the features that you are looking for. Just as one example, the aperture length is fixed on the iPhone and is not something that can be simulated. Think of it this way, anything that you can traditionally change afterward (in Lightroom or something similar) is likely something that could be baked into an app. If you can't change it there, you can't change it in an app either.
by serocs
Wed May 22, 2013 11:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you pay for access to www.nytimes.com ?
Replies: 30
Views: 3734

Re: Do you pay for access to www.nytimes.com ?

Absolutely. The provide a quality service that I don't want to see dissapear. I'm more than happy to pay the ~$40/month to get my news.
by serocs
Wed May 01, 2013 11:35 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Windows 8/7
Replies: 69
Views: 7066

Re: Windows 8/7

Not legally. $79 actually sounds like a pretty good deal.

Edit: Unless you are a student or teacher, then you may be able to find something for cheaper.
by serocs
Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:39 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Do you trust Mint.com or similar services?
Replies: 29
Views: 6654

Re: Do you trust Mint.com or similar services?

The main reason I stopped using Mint when I started making money (after college) is not based on whether or not Mint is secure or not, but on the way that I think financial institutions would handle any losses due to Mint being hacked. I have no reason to believe Mint is less secure than any of the banks, and due to its wide exposure, I would actually expect it to be somewhat more secure. Unfortunately, any web-based service can be hacked, however unlikely it may be. The main issue arises from how your bank would respond to, for example, a illegitimate fund transfer caused by Mint being hacked. My understanding, which is admittedly limited, is that they would have no obligation to protect you in that instance. They could obviously decide to...
by serocs
Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:03 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: is window 8 good ??
Replies: 49
Views: 4866

Re: is window 8 good ??

patrick, most likely you have seen the same sources as I have for this. You are correct that a patched version of XP is much more secure than an unpatched XP (where the numbers are drawn from). I didn't go into details because most people just want a computer to work and aren't as concerned about the details. But since you seem interested in the details, here are some facts about why Windows XP is still more insecure than Windows 7: 1. Windows XP requires security patches at a faster rate than Windows 7, implying it is less secure overall. This is based on 2009 data, so it may not be as relevant any more. I wasn't able to find an update to the news article and didn't feel like crawling through the Microsoft patch data. 2. Windows XP is more...
by serocs
Wed Feb 20, 2013 3:39 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: is window 8 good ??
Replies: 49
Views: 4866

Re: is window 8 good ??

This article describes my feelings about Windows 8 exactly. I am a techie and love trying new software, but the longer I have used Windows 8 (about two months full time at this point) the more I feel like I am constantly searching for things. Things that used to be one or two clicks in Windows 7 have increased to three or four.

But PLEASE don't install Windows XP on it. It is one of the most insecure OSes out there, meaning it takes ~2 minutes for an unpatched XP system to get infected when connected to the internet. I.e., before you can patch it, it is already infected. Windows 7 is really the way to go.
by serocs
Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Green / Energy-saving home. New build or Reno experience?
Replies: 48
Views: 3949

Re: Green / Energy-saving home. New build or Reno experience

Excellent info BillyG. You are absolutely right. It is important to keep water issues in mind. However, if the wall is designed correctly (with some sort of rain screen as you mentioned), drying to the inside should not be necessary. You may have implied this, but I wasn't sure and just wanted to reiterate it. Ideally a house should have no unplanned air/vapor exchange with the outside. This does mean that in an air-sealed house you will need mechanical ventilation to keep the air from getting stuffy (or worse) inside. Luckily mechanical ventilators are inexpensive. Another thing that BillyG touched on: ventilated attics (and crawl-spaces) are a thing of the past. Not all builders like this new science, but they are indeed better. I don't r...
by serocs
Fri Feb 15, 2013 4:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Green / Energy-saving home. New build or Reno experience?
Replies: 48
Views: 3949

Re: Green / Energy-saving home. New build or Reno experience

This is in response to the original post. I skimmed through the rest of the posts, but some of them were tomes that I didn't make it through. I am not a professional builder, but I have worked extensively on two homes in Virginia: one was a build-from-scratch energy efficient home (LEED Platinum) and one was a energy efficient renovation (left before end of project so not sure LEED level). I was the mechanical engineer on both of these projects, so that is the approach I have to efficient design. Something that you need to know building in Virginia (and by extension, around DC): the majority of days in Virginia are heating days (approximately 2 out of 3 days). This means you need to worry far more about heat retention than avoiding heat. Yo...
by serocs
Thu Jan 31, 2013 12:39 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Update on new desktop PC
Replies: 46
Views: 7628

Re: Update on new desktop PC

As harland mentions, if you think will ever want to OC your computer, make sure you get an unlocked processor. To qualify what ensign_lee said, you will only really have a need for a custom cooler if you are planning on over clocking. The default fan is just fine if you don't plan on overclocking and it is certainly something you could add later on.

In response to kenschmidt, I recently built a VERY similar computer to OP and spent about $1300. Specs for comparison:
Graphics: EVGA 670 superclocked+ 4GB
Case: Corsair 550D
Motherboard: GA-Z77X-D3H
PSU: Seasonic 660XP
Processor: i7-3770K
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
RAM: 16 GB
Windows 8 Pro
by serocs
Wed Jan 30, 2013 1:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Update on new desktop PC
Replies: 46
Views: 7628

Re: Update on new desktop PC

@ensign_lee
OP already said they have a external 2TB drive and want the SSD space for "quickbooks, dental software, and some games". I don't think OP is interested in getting an internal HDD right now.
by serocs
Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Update on new desktop PC
Replies: 46
Views: 7628

Re: Update on new desktop PC

Just to revise my link above: the 670 only differs from the 680 by about 7% in performance. So you just have to do a cost/benefit analysis on that one. Link to correct comparison (670 instead of 570): http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvid ... at-evga/20
by serocs
Wed Jan 30, 2013 11:58 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Update on new desktop PC
Replies: 46
Views: 7628

Re: Update on new desktop PC

@neurosphere Of course I meant 680, not 580. Thanks for the catch. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the 680 is a bad card by any stretch. It is certainly one of the best cards on the market. I was more implying along the lines of the recent memory conversation: you spend significantly more on a 680 vs 670 than you gain in performance.

@mike143 Kind of curious why you only use/recommend Intel SSDs. Any data or experience to back that up?
by serocs
Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Update on new desktop PC
Replies: 46
Views: 7628

Re: Update on new desktop PC

This is very similar to a computer I just built for myself. A couple of tips: The 580 is an excellent graphics card, but you actually get more for your money with a 570. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4051/nvidias-geforce-gtx-570-filling-in-the-gaps/16 for more details on that. The 570 was released after the 580, has similar performance, but is cheaper and uses less power. The main limiting factor I see in your setup is your power supply. If you ever wanted to add another graphics card or anything else power hungry, you would need to upgrade the power supply too. Not an issue now, but something to keep in mind. One final thing, I'm kind of curious why you chose an Intel SSD. They are a bit cheaper than Samsung 840 pro series, but their perfo...
by serocs
Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is Mint a security risk?
Replies: 21
Views: 3495

Re: Is Mint a security risk?

The way I look at it, as a computer security analyst, (ignoring the legal implications others have mentioned) is that it broadens the attack space. Mint probably does use the same security as banks, but the fact that there is another option available for attackers to get your password make the likelihood that your information will be stolen much higher.

Just think of it like this, if you wrote down your bank account information once at work, once at home, and once in your car, it would be much more likely that someone could get your information than if you only had it written down at home. The attack space is just bigger, no matter how secure mint is. And as far as I know, Mint doesn't guarantee the security of your money.
by serocs
Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student Loans or Home Down-payment
Replies: 6
Views: 1410

Re: Student Loans or Home Down-payment

Thanks robocop, your comments have been very helpful. I was hoping for more comments, but I suppose I'll take what I can get.

I think what we will probably do at this point is save the money at this point and reconsider our options in a year. I can see the need for a larger EF, which is now a goal of ours for the future.

I don't feel pressured by anyone to buy, I just have a strong desire to do so. But I do see your point in making certain we're ready.
by serocs
Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student Loans or Home Down-payment
Replies: 6
Views: 1410

Re: Student Loans or Home Down-payment

Let's see: 4. I agree the rates are pretty high; it is the main reason we are on the fence. 5. Great points that I hadn't thought about. In my case it is very unlikely that my wife will be changing careers in the next few years, though a satisfactory explanation of this is well beyond the scope of this post. I would definitely consider myself still in the honeymoon phase of employment, so it would be completely possibly for me to change paths in the next several years. This being said, I am going to say, for the sake of this conversation, that we will be staying in the area for the next 5 years at least because of my confidence in my wife's job and career choice; admittedly this is without any support. 6. You say this (12 EF) as though the ...
by serocs
Mon Dec 10, 2012 12:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student Loans or Home Down-payment
Replies: 6
Views: 1410

Student Loans or Home Down-payment

Should we pay off student loans before buying a house? I know this question has been hashed and rehashed, but I'm still on the fence with what to do and I think that every situation is different. My wife (24) and I (23) are just out of college; I have been working for ~1 year and my wife for ~4 months. We are both in secure jobs in growing fields, and even should we need to find jobs, the area we are in is excellent for both of our careers. We expect to stay in this area for at least 5 years. We both have high credit scores, high 700s last I checked. We would really like to buy a house as soon as is reasonable, though the exact time table is not really part of my question. The non-financial parts of the equation: I know that many first-time...
by serocs
Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Electronic Network & Backup of Personal Finance Data
Replies: 23
Views: 2487

Re: Electronic Network & Backup of Personal Finance Data

I'd also support Truecrypt + Dropbox (I use it for all my sensitive documents). The main issue that it doesn't address is using the data on multiple computers at one time (see http://superuser.com/a/274303 ). Technical details: Essentially the files can become out of sync with each other, which is not a big issue when dealing with a single document, but finding the issue within a Truecrypt volume would require mounting both volumes and comparing (diffing) the files within them. This can become a big pain since you are talking about such a large file. Since the speed of dropbox is relatively slow, dealing with the two different versions would require dropbox to download each version of the file (at 2GB+ per file) before you could determine w...
by serocs
Wed May 30, 2012 1:51 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anti-Spyware & Anti-Virus Program
Replies: 34
Views: 4128

Re: Anti-Spyware & Anti-Virus Program

I do malware research for a living and have to say that the particular virus scanner you use is somewhat inconsequential. Virus scanners only catch ~70% of infections (though this increases another 10% or so 6 months after the virus is in the wild). As others have said, you shouldn't have more than one virus scanner on your system, but any of the big names will work fine (MSE included).

The point is to make sure you have SOME virus scanner and not to open suspicious emails.
by serocs
Tue Feb 07, 2012 4:51 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Basic Tax Education
Replies: 29
Views: 2976

Re: Basic Tax Education

Thanks for all of the great responses.

Regarding TurboTax: I will certainly give this a try. As for itemizing, how would I have any idea without giving it a try? archbish, I only made about 10k in 2011, so in that respect I should have no problem qualifying for the free version. But from a "learning about taxes" pov, would it be worth trying the Deluxe (itemizing) version this year?

Gauntlet, NAVigator: thanks, those look like great places to start.

gkaplan: Thanks for the correction. Does that mean that I take out the moving expenses before taxes essentially?
by serocs
Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Basic Tax Education
Replies: 29
Views: 2976

Basic Tax Education

I have found a lot of good resources on learning to invest, but most of what I can find on taxes says to either hire a CPA, use a program like TurboTax, or do your own. Since I am just out of college and have never had to do my own taxes before I would like to give it a go on my own and figure now is the best time to do it, before my taxes get more complicated. I know that using the basic 1040 form is relatively straightforward, but I am more interested in learning to itemize deductions. For example, I moved this past year and happened to find out that certain moving expenses are tax deductible. I know the boglehead wiki contains a tax page, but I am looking for something that can take you through the whole process from "this is what a...