Search found 647 matches

by ks289
Wed Mar 25, 2020 1:54 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Why not stand on the sidelines for a little while?
Replies: 302
Views: 19069

Re: Why not stand on the sidelines for a little while?

If OP believes this crisis will result in a "L" shape recovery and we are far away from the bottom, then I don't see anything wrong with "standing on the sidelines for a while" stance. Plenty of analysts/economists think there is a likelihood of L shape recovery, not "V" nor "U" shape. It is up to you to decide who to believe. The point is that future outcomes cannot be reliably known, and coming up with a rigorous yet simple to apply strategy which will outperform the market long term is really not achievable for retail investors like most of us. In other words, who the heck really knows if its going to be L, V, U, or W or something else? The super simple strategy of buy and hold/avoiding market tim...
by ks289
Wed Mar 25, 2020 12:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I timing the market?
Replies: 34
Views: 2343

Re: Am I timing the market

tomwood wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:29 pm
ks289 wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 12:13 pm I’ve changed my new contributions from 100% bonds to 100% stocks, but I’m still half a million short of restoring 54:46 so I’m selling a crap load of bonds also.
Is the only reason your switching to 100% bonds because your AA has changed?
yes-
AA changed and needed major stock purchases to restore prior AA
by ks289
Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:54 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Should I have seen this coming?
Replies: 107
Views: 9053

Re: Should I have seen this coming?

Ari wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:28 am
james22 wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:09 am
CyclingDuo wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 7:43 pm
Image
Were it a FACT that buying low and selling high NEVER worked, it wouldn't be so tempting.

The problem is buying low and selling high does SOMETIMES work.

It is a SCARE TACTIC to claim it never does, and Bogleheads who won't admit it will struggle convincing others against market timing.
Read that card again.
+1
by ks289
Mon Mar 23, 2020 5:52 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.
Replies: 1439
Views: 157432

Re: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.

Here’s why I don’t market time. I’m quite certain I have no clue about the future of the markets, even while working in healthcare during this coronavirus pandemic. It is incredibly difficult for me to translate forthcoming hospital shortages of personal protective equipments and ventilators and intensive care beds into a fair value for the S&P 500. As a result, I’d have a difficult time being correct 74% of the time as some experts have stated below is required for market timing to outperform. Dr. William J. Bernstein, financial expert, once said “There are two kinds of investors, be they large or small: those who don’t know where the market is headed, and those who don’t know that they don’t know. Then again, there is a third type of...
by ks289
Sun Mar 22, 2020 12:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I timing the market?
Replies: 34
Views: 2343

Re: Am I timing the market

If you truly believe that stocks are currently on sale, then temporarily increasing your contributions is not a problem, regardless as to what label someone wants to slap on it. In general, few BHs will sling mud at someone who is increasing their saving rate. The bogleheads investment philosophy covers when one should invest (early and often). As you know, the belief that market timing is a suboptimal long term strategy is a core element of the bogleheads investment philosophy as well: #4Never try to time the market There is a large amount of research showing that typical mutual fund investors actually perform far worse than the mutual funds they invest in because they tend to buy after a fund has done well and tend to sell what they own ...
by ks289
Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:55 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I timing the market?
Replies: 34
Views: 2343

Re: Am I timing the market

Who cares whether it's timing or not? I'm dead serious. A good point. Though I’m associating market timing with a negative investment action. So my OP might be better asking if the idea of putting more money into stocks (one chunk in the coming days) is a positive action or would the BHs recommend investing every couple weeks into my desired AA as I’ve been doing for years? If you truly believe that stocks are currently on sale, then temporarily increasing your contributions is not a problem, regardless as to what label someone wants to slap on it. In general, few BHs will sling mud at someone who is increasing their saving rate. The bogleheads investment philosophy covers when one should invest (early and often). As you know, the belief t...
by ks289
Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Am I timing the market?
Replies: 34
Views: 2343

Re: Am I timing the market

Who cares whether it's timing or not? I'm dead serious. A good point. Though I’m associating market timing with a negative investment action. So my OP might be better asking if the idea of putting more money into stocks (one chunk in the coming days) is a positive action or would the BHs recommend investing every couple weeks into my desired AA as I’ve been doing for years? If you truly believe that stocks are currently on sale, then temporarily increasing your contributions is not a problem, regardless as to what label someone wants to slap on it. In general, few BHs will sling mud at someone who is increasing their saving rate. The bogleheads investment philosophy covers when one should invest (early and often). As you know, the belief t...
by ks289
Sun Mar 22, 2020 7:16 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.
Replies: 1439
Views: 157432

Re: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.

Here’s why I don’t market time. I’m quite certain I have no clue about the future of the markets, even while working in healthcare during this coronavirus pandemic. It is incredibly difficult for me to translate forthcoming hospital shortages of personal protective equipments and ventilators and intensive care beds into a fair value for the S&P 500. As a result, I’d have a difficult time being correct 74% of the time as some experts have stated below is required for market timing to outperform. Dr. William J. Bernstein, financial expert, once said “There are two kinds of investors, be they large or small: those who don’t know where the market is headed, and those who don’t know that they don’t know. Then again, there is a third type of ...
by ks289
Sat Mar 21, 2020 3:52 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do people keep saying you have to be right twice?
Replies: 213
Views: 10822

Re: Why do people keep saying you have to be right twice?

100% correct that you only have to be right once -assuming you avoid a big loss you don’t have to buy back at the absolute bottom to come out ahead (after capital gains taxes).

However, the clear difficulty is that being right ONCE is difficult. More often you’ll be wrong about the tops and bottoms. And you’ll end up losing out on some gains and failing to avoid some losses over the long term.
by ks289
Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:55 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.
Replies: 1439
Views: 157432

Re: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.

No one knew it would be this bad, In 2003 we experienced SARS in China,and the SP 500 was up 29%, No one knew that this Corona Virus would spread so rapidly Wrong. I knew, many others knew. Anyone who was following statistics, infected rate, gov response in China and leaked videos knew in January and once it hit Italy it was super clear. People knew. We didn't act because of dogmatic religious thinking. Yes, 99.9% people didn't know. 0.1% knew. This 0.1% were stupid to follow Boglehead dogma in this particular case. The dogma applies for 99.9%. I'm not talking about hunches, I'm talking about clear logic. I knew 100% what will happen. 100% , yes, 100%. Not 99, not 95%, 100%. I understand statistics and that exponential growth and gov react...
by ks289
Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:06 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.
Replies: 1439
Views: 157432

Re: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.

OP did the smart thing. Same thing I should have done if not listened to Boglehead brainless dogma. This time it actually was 100% (not 99%, 100%) clear what was going to happen once cases outside China started popping up and China went full lockdown. It's not brainless. It's good advice the vast, vast majority of the time. The part where it fails is the certitude that you can never know if a crash is coming. This situation is one of the rare instances where this knowledge was possible. Governments were well ahead of the markets here, and if you followed what the governments were doing, knowledge of a coming crash was obvious before the fact. It''s brainless, because some people follow specifics and after following Corona daily for several...
by ks289
Thu Mar 19, 2020 10:02 am
Forum: Non-US Investing
Topic: Over rebalancing
Replies: 25
Views: 2510

Re: Over rebalancing

Scary/risky idea to overbalance but some experts like William Bernstein have discussed this. Intuitively it makes perfect sense that your (LONG TERM) future returns are higher with any strategy that increases your stock %. I'm not sure I have the stomach for the added risk during times like this.

viewtopic.php?t=199349
by ks289
Thu Mar 19, 2020 6:18 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.
Replies: 1439
Views: 157432

Re: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.

Bit of a role reversal going on here :) I'm just wondering where all these fellow market timers were when I was getting booed off the stage 2 months ago. :wink: But wow seems like I was just one of dozens who cashed out before the drop and they all went even further than I did. I wonder why none mention it before :confused Good timing for sure. I’ve never correctly predicted tops or bottoms let alone acted upon any of these thoughts. The gambling side of me is tempted to to break from the boring conservative allocation (age in bonds) during this downturn to not only rebalance (which I’ve done few times on the way down) but now to consider overbalancing like Dr Bernstein has advocated. Any thoughts on this? https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/...
by ks289
Sun Sep 08, 2019 7:06 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Mensa membership
Replies: 90
Views: 9067

Re: Mensa membership

Mensa is not really all that exclusive anyway. Top 2% (or one in fifty people) is an equivalent of ACT 33 or SAT 1500. That is below average at many top universities. If you have to join somewhere really snobby, the Triple Nine Society accepts top 0.1%, so only one in 1,000 people (or one out of 20 Mensans) would qualify. I joined TNS many years ago, got a t-shirt that I never wear, and didn't renew my membership past the first year :twisted: The test scores which qualify for triple nines also fall in the range you mentioned for Mensa. http://www.triplenine.org/HowtoJoin/TestScores.aspx Act 32 or 34 (depending on when it was taken) Sat 1450 or 1520 (depending on when it was taken) As you said, these are not mind blowing but certainly high ...
by ks289
Mon Jun 10, 2019 1:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to get good at a racket sport without coaching?
Replies: 43
Views: 2513

Re: How to get good at a racket sport without coaching?

You are already good if not exceptional if you're pushing to that level. I'm not familiar with squash, but reaching 5.0 in tennis at age 42 would be truly phenomenal (attaining the level of a former Division 1 player in the top 125 now in their 40s). https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/pdfs/10013_experience_player_ntrp_guidelines.pdf I think that you are better equipped to give advice to us than the other way around! Even most tennis teaching pros are not currently 5.0 rated players, which doesn't mean that they wouldn't be able to help your game of course. Here's my two cents: 1. youtube lessons for your level may be insufficient. Even your random instructor may not be particularly helpful. You'll have to ask around to find someone who w...
by ks289
Sat Jun 01, 2019 2:06 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: For those who earn $500k+ per year. How'd you do that?
Replies: 369
Views: 59848

Re: For those who earn $500k+ per year. How'd you do that?

Physician (gastroenterology) - 3 years medicine residency, 3 years fellowship
My income has ranged $500-600K for the last 9 years depending on productivity and vacation. Wife is also physician.

Work an average of 50 hours a week with 6-8 weeks of call a year (which may average out to another 20 hours of availability a week). Revenues are driven mainly by outpatient procedures done in the early part of the weekdays (7:30 start, 3pm or 4pm end). Seeing patients in the office and hospital is just as important but not reimbursed that way by insurances. Being on call has been paid for (neglibly) at times, but even then really is still just an obligation which detracts from quality of life.
by ks289
Mon May 27, 2019 6:43 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: is A in accelerated better than B in honors for undergrad application.
Replies: 22
Views: 2398

Re: is A in accelerated better than B in honors for undergrad application.

The point scale you’ve presented gives clear values for the grades at the different levels. An A in accelerated is worth 4.25 vs B in Honors is worth 4. This suggests what other posters have stated that a B is likely below average in many classes. It is clear that given the choice between these two outcomes, one should probably prefer an A in accelerated over a B in honors. Colleges probably would agree. Even though colleges are looking for students to challenge themselves, this really assumes that one is not going to perform below average in those rigorous classes. That is counterproductive in my opinion if one consistently is at the B level with grades being higher these days. The expected value is another story. One needs to decide based...
by ks289
Thu May 23, 2019 6:37 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public
Replies: 278
Views: 26683

Re: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public

You think every kid, to be successful, needs to do aix hours a week of extra academics outside of school as a GRADE SCHOOLER? No. Just no. If the school offered a language, would do that. But elite elementary does not, so we provide it. Math sucks too, 1700 kids in her first after school math program. For what it's worth, she's been doing math competition since first grade. Believe it or not, this is not considered unusual in silicon valley. And also for what it's worth, I am one of those engineers people sneer at, although I am in management now. Good for you. It’s mostly unnecessary but if it makes you feel better. Other countries do that too. Some of my guys in China tell me about the hours of homework they do with their kids every even...
by ks289
Thu May 23, 2019 5:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public
Replies: 278
Views: 26683

Re: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public

We do pay for additional enrichment - about four hours a week of high quality math instruction, two hours a week of Mandarin language training, plus some non-academic stuff such as gymnastics and martial arts. I also personally tutor her in random programming languages on occasion and in Chess. Public or private is a decision all parents need to make is best for their kid, but in either choice the quoted above is how a kid becomes successful. No school in the U.S.(except few) will do all the teaching the kids need to fulfill the potential. Challenging the child beyond what is expected at their level is how they become advanced in anything. Only makes sense (at least for me). I don't know ANYBODY who is successful who did not do MORE then w...
by ks289
Thu May 23, 2019 4:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public
Replies: 278
Views: 26683

Re: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public

We do pay for additional enrichment - about four hours a week of high quality math instruction, two hours a week of Mandarin language training, plus some non-academic stuff such as gymnastics and martial arts. I also personally tutor her in random programming languages on occasion and in Chess. Public or private is a decision all parents need to make is best for their kid, but in either choice the quoted above is how a kid becomes successful. No school in the U.S.(except few) will do all the teaching the kids need to fulfill the potential. Challenging the child beyond what is expected at their level is how they become advanced in anything. Only makes sense (at least for me). I don't know ANYBODY who is successful who did not do MORE then w...
by ks289
Wed May 22, 2019 11:59 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public
Replies: 278
Views: 26683

Re: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public

- research shows that there is little difference in going public vs private in life salary outcomes (when you control for everything else) This was one of my big reasons of us doing public. IF private can guarantee better pre college education or better test scores or better college acceptances or better starting earnings or better lifetime earnings I would give them TWICE the money they are asking. What they are asking is GUARANTEED a larger outlay then public (free) with no substance they produce much better returns. It is interesting folks on this site who are so against active management because there is not guarantee of better returns despite higher costs are so willing to give money to folks who have NOT shown any data they can produ...
by ks289
Tue May 21, 2019 11:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public
Replies: 278
Views: 26683

Re: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public

- research shows that there is little difference in going public vs private in life salary outcomes (when you control for everything else) This was one of my big reasons of us doing public. IF private can guarantee better pre college education or better test scores or better college acceptances or better starting earnings or better lifetime earnings I would give them TWICE the money they are asking. What they are asking is GUARANTEED a larger outlay then public (free) with no substance they produce much better returns. It is interesting folks on this site who are so against active management because there is not guarantee of better returns despite higher costs are so willing to give money to folks who have NOT shown any data they can produ...
by ks289
Sun May 19, 2019 9:08 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Guidance on choosing between UMich and Brown
Replies: 102
Views: 11467

Re: Guidance on choosing between UMich and Brown

Specifically about the joint CS - economics concentration, it sounds somewhat rigorous for B.S. (or ScB as Brown calls it) with 20 required courses vs 16 for the B.A. (or AB at Brown). This is made more palatable by the Open Curriculum (complete absence of non-major requirements) and lenient grading policies (ABC/No credit or Satisfactory/No credit). Grading without pluses and minuses (just aim for a 90), Ds, and Fs, and being able to drop classes at any time can greatly reduce stress about outcomes. I’ve mentioned before that the average GPA for Brown graduates is 3.63 which just looks great when compared to similar schools. The problem is this is widely known. I really expect a high 3.X GPA from an Ivy grad, since many classes give As to...
by ks289
Sun May 19, 2019 7:54 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Guidance on choosing between UMich and Brown
Replies: 102
Views: 11467

Re: Guidance on choosing between UMich and Brown

Please see note from my son regarding his college choices and share your thoughts (once more). This is pursuant to the previous post (link below), which was pivotal in helping him make his choice at that time. He was waitlisted at Brown at the time. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=278725 "A while back I was deciding between UC Berkeley and UMich and this forum provided solid advice as to the job prospects, atmosphere, and merits of both schools. I ended up deciding on going to UMich for CS and a potential minor in Business (there is a selective application process). However, I was recently offered admission to Brown University for a joint Computer Science and Economics major, which is more interesting to me t...
by ks289
Sun May 19, 2019 4:37 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public
Replies: 278
Views: 26683

Re: High net worth, elite private or “good” public

Be very careful about hidden costs of forced donations. Its mostly with top 10 boarding schools but has trickled down into many day schools. It usually requires an additional 25-50k a year in donations depending on the school. They get you 2 ways. One, if you have a sibling they will not allow that sibling to get in, the other way is that they wont endorse you to apply to colleges of your choice. That's crazy. Do you have a source for that? I don't doubt you, I'm just curious about it. Yes have had extended family members and one colleague experience this. No link or source. Talking elite boarding schools ones that attract many top foreign students and place more than half the class in ivy caliber schools. No extortion, no pressure, its ju...
by ks289
Sat May 18, 2019 5:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very High Net Worth, elite private or “good” public
Replies: 278
Views: 26683

Re: High net worth, elite private or “good” public

The individualized attention, course and activity offerings, and academic rigor of the private school need to be clearly superior in order to be worth the money and hassle of changing schools. It sounds like this school would meet those requirements. Be sure that’s the kind of place which would fit your kids of course. More importantly, some private schools really emphasize having nice kids and strictly maintain a welcoming and warm environment. For our kids, we found that all of these measures were met pretty darned well when we switched from a good public elementary school to a well regarded private school. The peer group has really been the biggest benefit where now it is cool to be smart. This type of environment doesn’t exist at all sc...
by ks289
Sat May 11, 2019 8:13 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: College Expenses
Replies: 234
Views: 18039

Re: College Expenses

For medical school admissions I agree that undergraduate GPA matters a great deal (probably more than the reputation/ranking of the undergraduate school), but what is missing from the analysis above is the fact that the average GPA at Harvard is 3.65 vs. Ohio State 3.17. This may reflect different student populations but likely not entirely. "Weeding out" students is probably much more prevalent at big state universities than small private schools. Here's a sampling of Acceptance Rate and Average GPA. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure admission decision make some sort of school adjustments. https://blog.prepscholar.com/average-college-gpa-by-major I'm surprised by the relative selectivity of University of Alabama (1 o...
by ks289
Fri May 10, 2019 11:05 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: College Expenses
Replies: 234
Views: 18039

Re: College Expenses

My son's high school NMF had a full-ride scholarship to study at the University of Virginia. Her parent (my co-worker) took a student loan and send her to Northwestern instead. If the odds of getting into med school are improved by getting the undergrad degree from Northwestern, that is a reasonable choice, in my opinion: 2018 Best Pre-Med Schools . Entirely different topic but that list conflicts with other data. Not an expert but did lots of research on this. In fact those schools might be the worst places to go for med school admission. Many brights students go to these schools for pre-med. Due to curves many are weeded out or do not get the grades needed to get into med school. I did not go to med school but have learned that very litt...
by ks289
Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:52 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Are academic enrichment courses for school age kids worth it
Replies: 61
Views: 4892

Re: Are academic enrichment courses for school age kids worth it

There are no easy answers here since kids have such different strengths and weaknesses. I share your concerns about pushing your kids to excel, since your kids may resist (a lot) which may be counterproductive for many reasons (resentment, stress/anxiety, etc). There isn't always a clear boundary for strongly encouraging vs. excessively pushing. The reality is that most public elementary schools are not trying to push your kids to excel either, so that may be 1) perfect, 2) ok, or 3) terrible depending on your kid. For our kids we have done many enrichment courses (math, robotics, academic competitions, private music lessons, sports) and switched to private middle school and TRIED to strike the right balance with fun and free time. We've ba...
by ks289
Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Will you pay for your kids' college/graduate education?
Replies: 366
Views: 22798

Re: Will you pay for your kids' college/graduate education?

Both my wife and I had parents who supported our education. Neither of us did any jobs while getting an education. My daughter graduated from high school in 2010 and it is anticipated that by June 2019 she will have BSc, MD, MPH degrees and will start a medical residency and then support herself. We promised her 250K for all of her education. Balance if any would be hers to keep. If she had attended her first choice schools where she was accepted her cost of education would have been as follows: Undergrad: Johns Hopkins..................240K Med school : Northwestern, Chicago......300K MPH: Harvard 18 months ...................!20K Total ...........................................660K Instead the path she actually took was: College credits...
by ks289
Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Will you pay for your kids' college/graduate education?
Replies: 366
Views: 22798

Re: Will you pay for your kids' college/graduate education?

So you accept that beginning at a CC to save money does not impact one's ability to get into medical school, therefore, your point is what? My point is that doing 2 years of CC alone because that is what you can afford to send your kid vs. paying (which you may not be able to) for additional 2 years would limit one's employment opportunity. Good luck. You are making a point that nobody has, will, or can dispute; so, no point at all. Saving (possibly) tens of thousands by attending a CC initially does not impair one's chances of becoming a physician at all. Staythecourse is correct in stating that it is more difficult to be accepted to medical school when taking medical school prerequisites at a community college. Medical school admissions ...
by ks289
Tue Aug 07, 2018 4:01 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Will you pay for your kids' college/graduate education?
Replies: 366
Views: 22798

Re: Will you pay for your kids' college/graduate education?

Huh? The only physician in my extended family, a cousin, attended a CC before transferring to a little known State U...and graduating with a degree in "liberal studies". He's now a gastroenterologist. Of the 3 members of my staff that left in the past year to attend medical school, one of them started at a CC and is now on a very significant scholarship at Baylor Med. They are NOT CC grads. Look at their diplomas they are grads of whatever school the transferred to. I am pretty sure you knew that already and just wanted to debate. Look at my post I said "CC grad". That is NOT the same as going to CC and transferring and GRADUATING from another college. Good luck. So you accept that beginning at a CC to save money does n...
by ks289
Sun Jul 29, 2018 1:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dual language vs Traditional Public School
Replies: 23
Views: 1999

Re: Dual language vs Traditional Public School

sailaway wrote: Sun Jul 29, 2018 11:06 am The benefits of being bilingual outstrip anything a translator can do. Bilingual individuals tend to have more advanced verbal abilities than their monolingual peers, as well as being better problem solvers and decision makers.
This is a very interesting assertion since I am monolingual.

I do not doubt the benefits of studying and mastering two languages, but I wonder whether the association between 1) being bilingual and 2) having advanced problem solving/decision making skills is CAUSAL in this way. In other words, are those blessed with more ability or opportunity to develop skills in problem solving and decision making then going on to master two languages? Those of us who weren't as good just gave up or failed or something.
by ks289
Mon Jul 23, 2018 6:56 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New book based on Millionaire Next Door
Replies: 120
Views: 21995

Re: New book based on Millionaire Next Door

My parents were convinced that if you were a doctor you wouldn't have any money problems and that's just not true. :thumbsup Absolutely. It comes from the mindset that income equals wealth, but that's just plain wrong on several levels. We have a friend who's a gastroenterologist in his mid-30s. With all of his debt, he will probably be in his mid 40s before his net worth reaches zero . Granted, if he can hang in there and not burn out, he stands a good chance of having significant wealth by the time he's in his 60s, but I certainly wouldn't trade financial places with him. There is a lot of interesting information on this thread regarding poor wealth accumulation among physicians. Granted, for many physicians spending habits likely exceed...
by ks289
Sat Jun 16, 2018 5:58 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Job in MA, live in MA, RI, or CT?
Replies: 67
Views: 4716

Re: Job in MA, live in MA, RI, or CT?

Like I don't wish to pay taxes. Live in New Hampshire then and commute down 495. NH property taxes are actually the highest of the bunch Yep, and the lack of income tax will be no benefit because Mass will tax you as a non resident employee. Worst of all worlds. Contrary to reputation, Mass is actually barely middle of the road in taxes. And the “services” you don’t want include world class hospitals that may save your life someday, Access to some of the best education in the country, and infrastructure supporting lots of high paying tech and finance jobs. Sounds good to me........ I agree with you. The pure tax % aspect is actually a good value for the services available in Massachusetts. However, high real estate prices relative to the r...
by ks289
Sat Jun 16, 2018 5:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much money do you want to retire?
Replies: 1367
Views: 207753

Re: How much money do you want to retire?

A typical suburban house with 2500 sqft and 4 bedrooms will have taxes around $12K in Bostom Metrowest area *WITH* good school system. I live about 40 miles from Boston and my taxes for that house are over $13K. The assessed price is around $700K. My RE portion had been always higher than PI since the day we purchased the house 20 years ago! Interesting article on property tax rates in Massachusetts, with a cool interactive map. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2017/02/03/where-you-pay-highest-taxes-and-lowest-suburbs/dFSg5UKt1cIDxX6908UX8O/story.html Looks to me like a budget of $1k a month ($12,000 a year) is perfectly reasonable for large parts of that HCOL area. Twenty-three of the 151 municipalities analyzed now have ...
by ks289
Mon Jun 11, 2018 9:41 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How much to invest in elementary education?
Replies: 37
Views: 3772

Re: How much to invest in elementary education?

I attended public school but both my children are going to a private elementary school. I am also on that schools school board. My observations are this: Private school tends to attract parents who want the best for their children and they tend to be more involved with their child's education as a result. Not always but most of the time. I have long believed that the more a parent is involved with their child's learning, in a private or public situation, the better their child will be. In the school that I am on the board, I can think of a number of children their whose parents virtually ignore them due to careers, work loads, or other reasons and are rarely seen at the school. These children are almost always at the bottom of their class ...
by ks289
Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:40 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Bogleheads' College Philosophy question
Replies: 68
Views: 5110

Re: Bogleheads' College Philosophy question

Excellent advice above from other posters about minimizing college costs.

If loans are necessary, be aware of loan forgiveness programs which may be available to certain professions (teachers, healthcare professionals, etc) and with certain employers (government, 501c3 organizations).

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loan ... ncellation
by ks289
Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do average kids from upper middle class families get any free college money (Scholarships / non-repayable grants etc)
Replies: 266
Views: 25005

Re: Do average kids from upper middle class families get any free college money (Scholarships / non-repayable grants etc

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/who-needs-harvard/ Pretty comprehensive review of my personal thoughts on the matter. IMO, the most pertinent statement: "The Gotta-Get-Ins can no longer claim to be the more or less exclusive gatekeepers to graduate school. Once, it was assumed that an elite-college undergraduate degree was required for admission to a top law or medical program. No more: 61 percent of new students at Harvard Law School last year had received their bachelor’s degrees outside the Ivy League. “Every year I have someone who went to Harvard College but can’t get into Harvard Law, plus someone who went to the University of Maryland and does get into Harvard Law,” Shirley Levin says. For Looking Beyond the Ivy League, Pope...
by ks289
Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do average kids from upper middle class families get any free college money (Scholarships / non-repayable grants etc)
Replies: 266
Views: 25005

Re: Do average kids from upper middle class families get any free college money (Scholarships / non-repayable grants etc

The topic of attending highly selective colleges vs less selective colleges is understandably controversial and influenced by personal biases. However, I haven't seen anybody post the opinion that talented individuals CANNOT be successful attending a lesser school, but somehow this seems to be the strawman argument that is continually being refuted. Furthermore, the ROI discussion is pertinent to most families, but less crucial to those that would qualify for substantial aid or that would be able to afford the costs. One study that has been mentioned in other threads which I found to be very interesting is this 2014 paper (abstract has link to full study) which studied the impact of undergraduate institution on future earnings (attempting t...
by ks289
Sat Jun 02, 2018 10:24 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do average kids from upper middle class families get any free college money (Scholarships / non-repayable grants etc)
Replies: 266
Views: 25005

Re: Do average kids from upper middle class families get any free college money (Scholarships / non-repayable grants etc

Your son is an extreme outlier, even among Yale graduates, of which I work with many. Perhaps, but many of his friend group are doing very well after graduation. Even the “less ambitious/successful” of his classmates have a reasonable ROI. And the overwhelming majority of my IVY (and Oxford and NYU) educated sister's friends are not doing particularly well (kinda like her, early 30's and living with their parents trying to pay their debt), despite their Ivy educations...that tends to happen when you study a combination of English lit and art history, and follow it up with graduate degrees in areas with even less (and lower paying) job prospects. Your son is a high performer, who went into a field that pays well, and surrounded himself with...
by ks289
Mon May 21, 2018 2:47 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
Replies: 23
Views: 1984

Re: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice

Maybe I'm missing something from your 401K options. Here's what I saw on your list: There are some funds that seem to have better performance than the typical Boglehead Index fund, BUT once you calculate the added fees COMPOUNDED, the performance is below the Index funds. I looked at 5 year, 10 year and Since inception. Did I miss something? I don't care if some other fund does better in the short term, because I wouldn't be lucky enough to hit it just right, for just the correct length of time to grab the rise and be out for the drop. That's was we call market timing. It just doesn't work. Even professionals can't get in and out at the right moments to scrap off the best performance. The performance data are reported net of expenses so th...
by ks289
Thu May 17, 2018 4:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Would you send your children to private school in my situation?
Replies: 93
Views: 9860

Re: Would you send your children to private school in my situation?

I'm not sure why many people on this thread throw out the money factor in this debate. With two children, each costing 20k per year, that's 40k per year for private school. Right now we're saving about 400-500k per year. Although we can spend 40K on private school, it would still eat into 10% of our savings which is not a negligible amount. We're not people with 9 figure net-worths and we follow the boglehead's savings philosophy and we don't overspend. We're driving a Honda Accord instead of a Porsche to save money and driving a Masarati off a cliff every year does drive a big dent in our savings. I think many people consider it fairly negligible in your case because it requires almost zero sacrifice. Saving $400,000 a year instead of $44...
by ks289
Wed May 09, 2018 7:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Comparing 2 physician jobs
Replies: 69
Views: 9860

Re: Comparing 2 physician jobs

I believe that working in the private practice allows more autonomy which is very valuable. If you like the partners in the private pracice group, and the practice has a history of low physician turnover, your chances for staying in the group are very good if you do a good job. The protocol for no splitting of income after the 3 buy in years allows each partner to earn what he produces, which is a very fair system. Working as an employee at a big company gives you little control over your job or salary. A very high salary in a small area may not be sustainable. Would you be willing to stay following a 30% cut in salary after 2 years? Option 2 sounds like the most likely to be successful long term. Many doctors wouldn't like a rural hospita...
by ks289
Sun May 06, 2018 3:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Comparing 2 physician jobs
Replies: 69
Views: 9860

Re: Comparing 2 physician jobs

I chose something akin to option 2 years ago (private practice, lower starting salary, good fit with partners). The questions and concerns I would have about option 1 include: 1. Lack of opportunities for SO 2. More call/ER coverage (you didn’t mention if there were any others in practice in the area to share coverage with) 3. Lack of mentors/colleagues to help you reach your full potential 4. Duration of the salary guarantee? On the other hand, the landscape in medicine today may favor hospital employment over private practice for more and more specialties. You should explore how the private practice in Cali is positioned for the future. How much competition do they have? What other revenue streams do they have, and what might the buy-in b...
by ks289
Sun May 06, 2018 2:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Doctor selling a practice
Replies: 23
Views: 3908

Re: Doctor selling a practice

The staff of a practice are typically a significant part of the value of a practice, and full retention is not uncommon. The value of the practice to the buyer from an asset based approach (as opposed to a market approach) can be broken down by tangible (hard assets) and intangible assets (replacement cost for staff). Depending on the position in question, the buyer would likely calculate the replacement cost for the staff members based on pursuit costs, interview costs, training period, and other variables. It is in the best interest of the buyer to have a turnkey operation and retain the competent staff members who are best able to keep the operations of the practice intact, so they may even be willing to pay the competent staff members s...
by ks289
Sun May 06, 2018 1:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Start 529 Plan?
Replies: 45
Views: 3770

Re: Start 529 Plan?

One question here. Is your statement about tax benefits just about the Illinois benefits at time or contribution or also about distribution time? Assuming my kid goes to college aren't the distributions tax free saving me money on the earnings. Doesn't this make the 529 worth it? aaja, I am answering OP's question in his context. A) He has 1.2 million at 32 years old. B) He is saving 50K to 100K per year. C) He is going to early retire. So, why should he trouble himself with a few thousands of 529 contributions? At his net worth and annual savings, it is not worth his effort. Whether it is worth your effort, that is a totally different question and answer. <<Assuming my kid goes to college aren't the distributions tax free saving me money ...
by ks289
Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:06 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: KF's simple rules to achieve FI [Financial Independence]
Replies: 451
Views: 57630

Re: KF's simple rules to achieve FI

I agree with KF's rules for the most part. However, I do think that being conservative is wise but has a cost as well. The idea of cash flowing college expenses has clear advantages over 529 in one main respect: flexibility. This allows money to be available for other purposes for whatever reason (job loss, child does not attend college, child earns scholarship, etc) and avoids the potential for a 10% penalty on gains. The clear disadvantage/cost for not utilizing the 529 is the loss of tax exempt space. The cost of this flexibility varies depending on returns, duration, tax bracket, etc. One can look at the returns for any investment and compare it to the returns after taxes/capital gains to have a rough idea (not taking into account tax l...
by ks289
Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Am I being unreasonable? [Send daughter to private kindergarten]
Replies: 70
Views: 6218

Re: Am I being unreasonable?

I know that one data point does not mean anything. But this is our story. Daughter went to public school. She was the top student in the state (State AP scholar). This includes all private schools in the state. She got a scholarship to attend Medical school. However at the present time I am paying >80,000/year for "private" school. (Harvard). I doubt if even at this stage the private tuition is justifiable. But I think it is more justifiable for a graduate degree than for KG. Also my mortgage is all paid up and I would not have spent on private tuition if I still had an outstanding mortgage. That’s terrific! I think some kids can thrive in a variety of settings, but others really would be able to reach their full potential or jus...
by ks289
Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Ivy school education. Is it worth it?
Replies: 238
Views: 23237

Re: Ivy school education. Is it worth i

Citation most definitely needed. Unless you count being born into the right family a superior talent, in which case I would agree. I don't have a citation handy. My comment is based on reading Stanford magazine when my daughter was studying there and marveling at how multi-talented the students were. The athletes were not only top athletes but also excellent students with artistic talents. Chelsea Clinton was attending Stanford at the same time, and you may argue that she was born into the right family. But apart from her parents, Chelsea had unique experiences and skills growing up in the White House and traveling around the world with her parents. Ivy League schools want to attract unique students. And students who have studied with Chel...