Search found 117 matches

by BYUvol
Sat Mar 30, 2019 10:09 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: American Funds Europacific Growth Fund R6 has been drastically outperforming Vanguard Total International Index fund.
Replies: 24
Views: 2949

Re: American Funds Europacific Growth Fund R6 has been drastically outperforming Vanguard Total International Index fund

We had one of these funds, the Blackrock Global Allocation fund (MDLOX), that our 401(k) rep raved about and said it should be our core position, "look how good it did in comparison to the market" and he was right, it performed spectacularly through the great recession and years after that... until it didn't.

After 2012 the S&P 500 passed it from a 2008 starting point, and by 2018, the return of the S&P500 was TWICE that of MDLOX. So he switched up his recommendation to be an Alger's Capital Appreciation fund, and I suspect in 10 years it will be a similar story.
by BYUvol
Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer security
Replies: 52
Views: 5215

Re: Computer security

DPI "breaks PKI" in the sense that as neither Alice nor Bob, I can see the plaintext of encrypted traffic traversing my network, something that is required by regulation in my industry. pfSense will get you DPI and packet capturing, you can throw that on a NUC, set the SSID as "FreeATTWifi" and at less than $500 you will be able to see credit card information. We can get into semantics over the meaning of the word "break", but the fact is that just because you have the green lock in your browser, doesn't mean your communications aren't being eavesdropped by someone with access to the AP, and that the easiest way I can think to counter that specific threat is with a VPN. If someone chooses to accept the risk, t...
by BYUvol
Thu Mar 21, 2019 7:32 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer security
Replies: 52
Views: 5215

Re: Computer security

DPI "breaks PKI" in the sense that as neither Alice nor Bob, I can see the plaintext of encrypted traffic traversing my network, something that is required by regulation in my industry. pfSense will get you DPI and packet capturing, you can throw that on a NUC, set the SSID as "FreeATTWifi" and at less than $500 you will be able to see credit card information. We can get into semantics over the meaning of the word "break", but the fact is that just because you have the green lock in your browser, doesn't mean your communications aren't being eavesdropped by someone with access to the AP, and that the easiest way I can think to counter that specific threat is with a VPN. If someone chooses to accept the risk, t...
by BYUvol
Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer security
Replies: 52
Views: 5215

Re: Computer security

It's interesting that you cite a VPN as mitigating the risk. Is a VPN's security really any better than TLS? (As far as I know, it's not. In fact, OpenVPN uses TLS.) If you set up an AP w/ DPI, you would see encrypted traffic. You say you can "break PKI": I question that claim. You might be able to spoof a website using a similar-looking address, but someone typing in "vanguard.com" is going to get an HSTS site with encrypted traffic that I doubt any public technology can break. The best "off-the-shelf" software collection that I'm aware of is Kali Linux, and nothing in there is going to break TLS. It just tries to bypass it. A VPN is a control for the specific risk mentioned, a malicious actor controlling the...
by BYUvol
Thu Mar 21, 2019 2:32 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Computer security
Replies: 52
Views: 5215

Re: Computer security

Couple of corrections: If you use any public wi-fi network you are taking risks. First, do you ever know if you are connection to the place of business's access point or to someone who set up an access point and is simply relaying your traffic to the Internet but in the meantime is observing/capturing your traffic? This dramatically overstates the risk. The overwhelming majority of sites now use TLS. This includes essentially all sites that handle sensitive information. Look up in your address bar now, even bogleheads enforces HTTPS, and everything you post is fully public. If you've set yourself up on public wifi as a relay and my PC thinks you're the default gateway, you can absolutely see that I'm going to vanguard.com, along with the a...
by BYUvol
Thu Mar 09, 2017 3:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Second opinion on inheritance tax question
Replies: 7
Views: 1287

Re: Second opinion on inheritance tax question

I'm not persuaded by the "short window." It wouldn't have taken any more time to have prepared a Will with a trust for the fourth one (or, better yet, a Will with trusts for each one, just with the first three getting to control their trusts but the fourth one not controlling his/her trust) than to have prepared the Will that they did. Indeed, it probably took more work to prepare the Will that they did, since it's so unusual. Well, the deceased person inherited everything less than 6 months ago themselves, and then found out about 4 months ago that they had an extremely rare and fairly aggressive cancer. For most of that 4 months they were in a drug haze with only a couple minutes a day where they were awake and alert. Obviously...
by BYUvol
Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:20 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Second opinion on inheritance tax question
Replies: 7
Views: 1287

Re: Second opinion on inheritance tax question

MP123 wrote:Is it possible that the first three could each disclaim a portion of their inheritance (prior to receiving it) that would then fall to the fourth by default? That way it wouldn't ever pass through their estates.
This is an interesting idea that I was not aware of as a possibility. Definitely something to check out, thanks!
by BYUvol
Thu Mar 09, 2017 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Second opinion on inheritance tax question
Replies: 7
Views: 1287

Second opinion on inheritance tax question

A family member recently passed in Oklahoma who had 4 children. The oldest 3 are responsible and capable adults, but the youngest has many legal, emotional, and mental challenges. When the family member passed, their will directed the 3 oldest to each receive 1/3 of the estate and each fund a portion of their inheritance to create an equal spendthrift trust for the youngest child. The 3 eldest are all interested in complying with the deceased wishes. (I personally would have directed 1/4 to be put in a spendthrift trust straight away, but there was a very short window while the deceased was capable of responding and I was not consulted.) The estate lawyer who drafted the will said if the 3 eldest children transfer the assets in-kind to the ...
by BYUvol
Wed Jul 02, 2014 3:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How risky is https: over public wi-fi?
Replies: 15
Views: 3282

Re: How risky is https: over public wi-fi?

BYUVol: with https, only the domain part of the URL is visible to an attacker. The rest is already encrypted. Same for cookies, at least for sites that take their security seriously like gmail and facebook (the latter has been more lax at times in the past). Bogleheads sessions are exposed but arguably far less valuable. I like VPN because it protects me from mental lapses, i.e. doing too much on unencrypted sites or some such. But it's not strictly required if one is careful. If a site uses analytics (Google or Piwik), the full URL query is sent in the referrer header, those connections are often unsecured. I haven't been asked to do any audits in the past year, so maybe as a result of heartbleed sites have gotten smarter about their use ...
by BYUvol
Wed Jul 02, 2014 2:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How risky is https: over public wi-fi?
Replies: 15
Views: 3282

Re: How risky is https: over public wi-fi?

I ALWAYS use a VPN when accessing the internet through a router I don't have administrative access to. The primary danger, in my estimation, of using public wifi is the amount of data leakage that can be passed through the URL, disclosing a lot more info than you would think. The secondary danger are session fixation attacks. Its not difficult over public wifi to capture cookies, so that when you log into gmail or facebook, they can use that same cookie to hijack your session. From there they can change your security questions, or gain access to a host of information needed to socially engineer their way into other sites. TL:DR. Yes, most (not all) of the data is encrypted over HTTPS, but that doesn't offer as much protection as most people...
by BYUvol
Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Am I gonna Live or Die, make up your mind !
Replies: 10
Views: 2382

Re: Am I gonna Live or Die, make up your mind !

Living to 100 is a realistic possibility for millions of Americans.
For most of today's retirees and near-retirees, living to 100 is still fairly unlikely
If only there was another group, millions strong, who were neither retirees nor near-retirees.

Apparently there are about 4 million babies born each year: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ ... f-20174206

So lets take any age group, not nearing retirement, who possess the ability to read. Perhaps this article was addressed to the millions of twenty-somethings such as myself?
by BYUvol
Wed Aug 14, 2013 2:17 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Has anyone used Ascensus for 401K admin?
Replies: 9
Views: 3307

Re: Has anyone used Ascensus for 401K admin?

fcox85 wrote:I will say that I'm not the biggest fan of their online interface, run through PlanServices.com (Ascensus' site).
We have Ascensus manage our plan offered by Merrill Lynch. They frequently make small changes to their site which breaks communication with Mint.com.

I'm one of those people that uses Mint every day for bill tracking, investment goals, and checking all transactions in one place, so it is a major deal to me. Over the past 2 years I have had about 2 months where I couldn't sync with it. Otherwise I don't have any complaints.
by BYUvol
Wed May 29, 2013 1:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Park City, Utah VACATION !! Any Suggestions??
Replies: 5
Views: 786

Re: Park City, Utah VACATION !! Any Suggestions??

Unless you have an activity planned (skiiing or the sundance film festival for instance), you're going to blow through the sites at Park City pretty quickly. Mid-October is an awkward time temperature wise where it is equally likely to be snowing or 75 degrees, so most high-altitude parks close in early September.

Salt Lake will have much more to see and do. If it was me personally, I would stay in SLC and spend a day in Park City, rather than the other way around.
by BYUvol
Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:37 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Small Cap Indexes and Diversification question
Replies: 6
Views: 802

Re: Small Cap Indexes and Diversification question

What you have is a great strategy, until it isn't.
by BYUvol
Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: 2013. CR-V or RAV4.
Replies: 7
Views: 1809

Re: 2013. CR-V or RAV4.

I really like Honda's maintenance minder. I'm not sure if Toyota has something similar, but I like being reminded when its due for scheduled maintenance and oil changes without needing to crack open the manual.

That feature on our Civic is reason enough for me to give first chance to Honda for our next larger vehicle.
by BYUvol
Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:34 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Good quote from Berkshire Report
Replies: 4
Views: 1171

Re: Good quote from Berkshire Report

bottlecap wrote:If Berkshire would guarantee my losses on that call, I'd take him up on it. But it wouldn't; his reassurance is a farce. Telling businesses to throw caution to the wind, uncertainty or no, is irresponsible. Of course the target audience of that little ditty wasn't really CEOs.

JT
If you wanted to make a wager sufficiently large, I'm sure one of his insurance businesses would be happy to cover you... for a price.
by BYUvol
Fri Mar 01, 2013 4:49 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Good quote from Berkshire Report
Replies: 4
Views: 1171

Re: Good quote from Berkshire Report

325e wrote: Since the basic game is so favorable, Charlie and I believe it’s a terrible mistake to try to dance in and out
of it based upon the turn of tarot cards, the predictions of “experts,” or the ebb and flow of business
activity. The risks of being out of the game are huge compared to the risks of being in it.
I came here to post this exact quote. To me a "legend" is one who can excel in their industry across generations, and by any measure Mr. Buffet is an investing legend. Failing to at least weigh his advice could prove costly.
by BYUvol
Tue Feb 19, 2013 12:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Ready to buy a house....
Replies: 58
Views: 10900

Re: Ready to buy a house....

xram wrote:Have always rented. My wife and I are ready to buy a house. Any hints or thoughts from those who have bought a house? Things you wish you would have known? Would have done differently in hindsight? Good interest rate websites? Buying points? I know this is vague. Any info is appreciated.

Thanks
Xram
In hindsight, I wish I had spent more money to buy a house within walking distance to my work. I absolutely hate my 40 minute commute, and honestly believe it will kill me if I can't move closer in the next 10 years.

There are several large transaction costs in buying a house though, and I feel locked in for at least the next 3-4 years.
by BYUvol
Sun Feb 17, 2013 4:52 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: TF ER's when international bond kicks in?
Replies: 2
Views: 473

Re: TF ER's when international bond kicks in?

umfundi wrote:
tsturbo wrote:This may have been discussed previously, but is it expected for the Target Retirement and Life Strategy ER's to remain the same or increase when the international bonds portion kicks in?

Thank you :beer
I suppose it depends on the ER of the International Bond Fund. Do we know that yet?

Keith
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insigh ... t-02062013

First column ER, second minimum deposit.

Investor 0.23% $3,000
Admiral 0.20% $10,000
ETF 0.20% None
Instit 0.12% $5 million
by BYUvol
Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The end of an investing era (Market Watch article)
Replies: 13
Views: 2853

Re: Purpose of investing.

Taylor Larimore wrote:BYU:
I'm one of those people that enjoys finding enjoyment in non-mainstream activities.
In my opinion, investing is not for enjoyment, it is for reaching our financial goals.

When we are out of step in the parade, it's probably worthwhile to reconsider what we are doing.

Best wishes.
Taylor
Some people may also feel work is not for enjoyment, but for the paycheck, to reach their financial goals. Fortunately I am not one of those people.

If you are suggesting that enjoying investing is not normal, then I can take solace in the knowledge that my enjoyment of the subject is at least non-mainstream, even if my medium is becoming less so. Thanks Taylor!
by BYUvol
Fri Feb 15, 2013 2:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The end of an investing era (Market Watch article)
Replies: 13
Views: 2853

The end of an investing era (Market Watch article)

I found this article interesting. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-end-of-an-investing-era-2013-02-15?pagenumber=1 Of particular note was this paragraph, emphasis is mine: The research on individual stock ownership is voluminous and overwhelmingly damning. Just one example: Brad Barber and Terrance Odean of the University of California showed in a 2011 study that individual stock pickers made every mistake in the book: underperforming index funds; selling winners and keeping losers; not learning from past errors, and holding undiversified stock portfolios. And through it all, they evinced a delusional overconfidence in their own abilities. The note about individuals pouring into equity index funds gives me pause. I'm one of those people...
by BYUvol
Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard "Risk Potential" for Mass Muni Fund
Replies: 3
Views: 1000

Re: Vanguard "Risk Potential" for Mass Muni Fund

As most of you know, Vanguard rates funds for their "risk potential" on a scale of 1-5. The Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund is rated as a 3 on this scale. This is the same risk rating it gives to 60/40 balanced funds. It seems to me that this muni fund, with mostly AAA and AA rated bonds and a 6 year duration is far less risky than a fund holding 60% in equities. This fund hardly budged in 2008 when the balanced funds headed south. Can anyone explain why Vanguard would rate this muni fund as being so risky? https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0168&FundIntExt=INT There is a risk of default by the municipalities that wasn't realized in Massachusetts 2008. Personally, I don't think it is that risky, but after al...
by BYUvol
Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:46 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How much do valuations matter to you? US vs Intl stocks
Replies: 17
Views: 1597

Re: How much do valuations matter to you? US vs Intl stocks

In order to make money in that fund, is it essential to buy during the notches? Isn't it good enough to buy at any old time and just wait a reasonable length of time before selling? Do you think anyone, including those who subscribe to inefficient markets, would be compelled by the lack of notches in a graph of a balanced fund over 90 years (~ 3 working careers worth of time) ? If i had more time, I'd dig up a 100% US stock fund, for just 30 years, and then we could gander at a few nice sized notches. And maybe besides that, we could throw up a ST treasury fund (what you could move in and out of), or perhaps a graph of Japan, for that nice contrast effect. Most people around here have a balanced portfolio consisting of both stocks and bond...
by BYUvol
Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: PIMCO Foreign Bond USD Hedged
Replies: 5
Views: 862

Re: PIMCO Foreign Bond USD Hedged

Beat The Street wrote:What do you guys use for International Bond exposure? From what I can find there are no passive funds that hedge against currency risk. PIMCO has an international bond fund that does but it is an active fund. Does anyone use this? Any thoughts about this fund? Thanks for your replies.
I use FGBRX (Templeton Global Bond R) for the sole reason that it is the cheapest bond fund available in my 401k. I know Swensen, who I greatly respect, shuns international bond, but costs matter and the next closest bond fund is .5 er higher.

If I had access to a bond fund that tracks Barclay's aggregate bond index at a reasonable cost, I would use that instead.
by BYUvol
Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Previously owned home papers
Replies: 7
Views: 1293

Re: Previously owned home papers

The only ones I would keep are the satisfaction or release (depending on state) that were recorded indicating you are no longer responsible for the mortgage payments and the deed to indicate you are no longer responsible for taxes or liability concerns.

You could safely trash those after a few years, but could be potentially useful in the next year or so if you are unlucky.
by BYUvol
Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:25 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: markets are heading up
Replies: 11
Views: 1625

Re: markets are heading up

Value is in the eyes of the beholder. If you are going solely off of price/book or price/earnings, European bank stocks are a "value" right now.
by BYUvol
Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:37 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Glidepath Illusion (it doesn't work)
Replies: 134
Views: 17122

Re: The Glidepath Illusion (it doesn't work)

Interesting article by Rob Arnott concludes you're probably better off maintaining a static allocation to stocks and bonds instead of investing in a Target Date fund. Young adults should buy stocks; mature adults should favor bonds. Or so we’re taught. It makes intuitive sense. Young people have modest savings and lots of time to recover losses from any bear markets. People approaching retirement have more to lose and less time to recover from bear markets. Typically, they want greater certainty as to how much they can safely spend in retirement and less risk that a decline in the value of their investments will demolish their retirement plans. This type of logic has spawned a huge retirement planning industry, with a wide array of target-...
by BYUvol
Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Apple Experts: Macbook Air vs Pro to run Parallels/Quicken?
Replies: 34
Views: 5195

Re: Apple Experts: Macbook Air vs Pro to run Parallels/Quick

I am relatively new to the Apple world and am using a Macbook Air 2011 with 4 GB of RAM. To use quicken, I have to allocate 1.5 GB to a virtual Windows machine; leaving only 2.5 GB for the Mac OS. Parallels and Windows take too long to load. My machine is mostly docked or used in a condo (not for travel). I am considering either a Macbook Air 2012 with 8 GB of RAM or a Macbook Pro 15" Retina (SSD, 16 GB of RAM) to replace my current MBA. Would a Macbook Air be sufficient or is it worth moving up to the Macbook Pro to run Parallels and Windows? I don't video edit but clearly need more RAM. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. Roosevelt. The extremely high resolutions of the Retina display cause applications to use alot more memory. User...
by BYUvol
Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Taking Some off the Table?
Replies: 69
Views: 8784

Re: Taking Some off the Table?

Easy Rhino wrote:I thought this article from Money Mag (via fidelity) was (almost) timely:

https://news.fidelity.com/news/article. ... -off-table
Thanks for sharing that! This part actually helped me conceptualize this:
So you haven't really taken anything "off the table." All you've done is move $10,000 to a different place on the table.
Its better to adjust your allocation to less equities when they are doing well, rather than after they have performed poorly, so who's to say its wrong in all circumstances, as long as you realize what exactly you are doing.
by BYUvol
Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: UPS shipment notice scam
Replies: 14
Views: 2591

Re: UPS shipment notice scam

I keep getting an apparently fraudulent email from "UPS Support" with the subject title "UPS shipment status ID#12584". GMail puts it into the spam folder, and I have no knowledge of any actual UPS shipment to me. This seems like it would be a tempting and effective spam (or worse) email that most people would open to read. I'd like to do the same, but don't want to take the chance of acquiring a virus. Is there any way to "quarantine" this thing to be able to open and inspect it? Whenever I get a new computer, the first things I do are download "Ghostery", "Adblock Plus", "NoScript", and "Lastpass" for the browser I use. If you have NoScript, it will be safe to view the...
by BYUvol
Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:08 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Why are I bonds rates higher than CD rates
Replies: 8
Views: 1936

Re: Why are I bonds rates higher than CD rates

ray.james wrote:How does I bonds yield so much almost 1.5 percent higher than CD rates while the risk is almost the same.
The CD rates are backed by FDIC which is full faith of US government which is pretty much same as the I-bonds. Any reasons for this disparity.

Also feel free to add any inputs to my assumption here - "risk is almost the same"
CDs track nominal interest rates, I-Bonds track CPI.

If we were to enter a deflationary period, CDs would seem much better than I-bonds which would yield 0%.
by BYUvol
Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mortgage Note in Hand post payoff Question.
Replies: 8
Views: 1729

Re: Mortgage Note in Hand post payoff Question.

The instrument that matters is the one in your county's public records. Because our land records system has been in existence since before the postal service, most states have some rather "magical" statutes. For instance, when a document is recorded with the county, the "original" document is no longer the one with the wet signature, but rather what has the official county recording label placed upon it (which may or may not be the one with the wet signature). If there is a question down the road, you can always request a copy from the county recorder/register of deeds, no need to hold on to it. You physically holding a copy doesn't provide you with any additional protections. While this is true for the deed of trust, t...
by BYUvol
Thu Sep 13, 2012 3:54 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Mass adoption of index investing = diminished returns?
Replies: 5
Views: 1098

Re: Mass adoption of index investing = diminished returns?

Don't they say in investing that you get diminishing returns for the greater number of people using the same investing approach? Let's say that 100% of institutional and at home investors eventually flock to index investing. Would this in effect make the approach completely redundant? I'm not suggesting this is going to happen, but wouldn't index investing returns be negatively correlated with the number of people adopting it? No, the reason why index investing is interesting is that is the only investment approach that is not subject to this effect. If you own the total market, everyone else's shifts balance out and do not affect you. It doesn't matter whether they shift from one stock to another, from one strategy to another--not even if...
by BYUvol
Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mortgage Note in Hand post payoff Question.
Replies: 8
Views: 1729

Re: Mortgage Note in Hand post payoff Question.

The instrument that matters is the one in your county's public records. Because our land records system has been in existence since before the postal service, most states have some rather "magical" statutes. For instance, when a document is recorded with the county, the "original" document is no longer the one with the wet signature, but rather what has the official county recording label placed upon it (which may or may not be the one with the wet signature). If there is a question down the road, you can always request a copy from the county recorder/register of deeds, no need to hold on to it. You physically holding a copy doesn't provide you with any additional protections.
by BYUvol
Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:17 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "New global research on Graham / Shiller..."
Replies: 3
Views: 1144

Re: "New global research on Graham / Shiller..."

solonseneca wrote: Question: Is this stuff valid?
Sure, it has some Face Validity.

The major problem I have, is even if CAPE does have some reliability with LONG TERM, using that to predict "real returns on local equity markets over the next five to ten years" seems silly. Over a period of 5 to 10 years, the market can easily defy expectations through changes in multiples. Like Buffet says, short term the market is a beauty contest, long term it is a weighing scale.

I enjoy reading other peoples opinions, but I don't think there is anything actionable here.
by BYUvol
Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cloud Based PBX
Replies: 5
Views: 1105

Re: Cloud Based PBX

I'm certainly no expert, but we ditched an expensive Cisco setup for this: http://www.asterisk.org/ Our primary goal was to avoid the "maintenance" licenses that Cisco forces you into, with the savings each of our 50+ employees got their own personal external number. We are using all the same hardware, so the only difference is software. Not sure how you are defining cloud, we host the hardware at our data center, so we aren't using a SaaS type approach a la google voice, but there is the option for them to host it for you if you want a turn key solution. We experienced no technical issues so far, and have been using it for about 10 months. The administration interface is much more intuitive than Cisco's administration, where they...
by BYUvol
Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:48 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Ray Lucia charged by SEC - "Buckets of Money" Sep 5, 2012
Replies: 136
Views: 17780

Re: Ray Lucia charged by SEC - "Buckets of Money" Sep 5, 201

Alot of Bogleheads say backtesting has little benefit, so maybe Ray was a true Boglehead after all.

Moral of the story: If you are going to be an advisor, do lots of things you don't truly believe in to cover your own tail.

*Edit* 2nd moral: Honesty and transparency are good business practices in the long run.
by BYUvol
Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Took a Tad Off the Table
Replies: 24
Views: 4708

Re: Took a Tad Off the Table

letsgobobby wrote: I'm just trying to figure out how this is a winning strategy, to miss 2/3 of the run up in stocks so far this year. It is one thing if you don't need to take risk, but another if you are just frankly timing the markets (and thus far, not very well I might add :D ).
This is his play money, let him have some fun with it. It's not like he is buying a $5k watch.
by BYUvol
Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:59 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Windows 8 on old computer
Replies: 11
Views: 1229

Re: Windows 8 on old computer

I had Windows 8 RTM on a laptop for a couple days. I couldn't get used to it. I'm a "power user", and the interface kept getting in the way. The first things I did were to make a shortcut to cmd.exe and control panel on the desktop. I'm not a big fan of mouse gestures, which it relies heavily on.
by BYUvol
Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:46 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Folding bike
Replies: 22
Views: 2705

Re: Folding bike

My wife used this for 6 months until we could afford a second car.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UL5MQU/

I drove her to the bus stop with that in our trunk, then she rode it home from the bus stop, since I had to work well after she got to the bus stop. She hated the thing.
by BYUvol
Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:56 am
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: hijacker (PWM) - READ THIS
Replies: 130
Views: 15911

Re: hijacker (PWM) - READ THIS

My worry is what happens next. A denial of service attack? I'm not sure what steps he's taken to mask his IP, but LastPass has a way to prevent connections from TOR nodes (its a setting you can enable). Perhaps there is an easy way to implement this, without manually blacklisting known TOR nodes. Most TOR exit nodes are Amazon EC2 instances, maybe blacklist Amazon's EC2 range in iptables. I doubt many legitimate users will want to be connecting from there, there are cheaper proxies out there for an individual. If this was my baby, I'd go the route of limiting anonymous access, so if someone does do a DoS, it will be easier to trace them. As long as the web service is patched up, its hard to do a DoS that isn't distributed, and it sounds li...
by BYUvol
Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bogle's Bet
Replies: 8
Views: 1661

Re: Bogle's Bet

by BYUvol
Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Oil Well Investing - Anyone dabble in this?
Replies: 41
Views: 5422

Re: Oil Well Investing - Anyone dabble in this?

Nathan Drake wrote:Seems too good to be true
You already know the answer. With $10k net income it would pay back in 20 months, investments that nice don't exist. Sounds like the wells are about to dry up.
by BYUvol
Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Many die with almost no financial assets
Replies: 20
Views: 3424

Re: Many die with almost no financial assets

RadAudit wrote: I don't know whether to be happy for them - they didn't leave anything on the table on the way out the door - or sad.
It doesn't matter if you are Athiest, Agnostic, Christian, Jew, Muslim... No one believes those people, who are dead, have any use for their assets after expiration, so I don't think you need to be happy or sad, it just is what it is.

The only scenario that I can think of where it would be beneficial to have assets one minute before death is if those assets could afford some medical treatment that would prolong your life in a meaningful way, that medical professionals would otherwise be unwilling to give. I hope to leave some money to my children when I pass on, but if I can't, they will get on just fine.
by BYUvol
Thu Jul 26, 2012 10:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Google Fiber
Replies: 42
Views: 5643

Re: Google Fiber

toinquire wrote:Wow!! Can't wait until I get this in my neighborhood.

"Google Fiber starts with a connection speed 100 times faster than today's average broadband. Instant downloads.
Crystal clear HD. And endless possibilities. It's not just TV. And it's not just Internet. It's Google Fiber. "

https://fiber.google.com/about/
I'm jealous, I actually requested a transfer to Kansas City today, no joke. I would uproot my family right now for $70 gigabit internet.

Unfortunately my company's only tie to kansas city is a colocation data center we use there, I so I'm probably not going to be able to move.
by BYUvol
Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Efficient Data Plan/cell phone
Replies: 34
Views: 5095

Re: Efficient Data Plan/cell phone

Heya Guys, I was curious what savings ideas for data plans y'all have? I'm finding that I spend over $1,000 a year for two phones (iphones) with data plans. I do get a nice $10/month discount on my internet. I'm up for even switching networks. :sharebeer If you already have ATT iPhones, and just want cheaper service, I would check out this: http://www.straighttalk.com/ Straighttalk is a joint-venture MVO between Wal-mart and Tracphone (owned by Carlos Slim I believe). They use ATT and TMobile towers, so just order the ATT micro sim and its pretty plug & play from what I have read. I would have gone this route if I didn't have a SERO plan from Sprint. If you don't have iPhones, I would go with: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phones...
by BYUvol
Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Preventing Junk Mail after a refinance
Replies: 4
Views: 805

Re: Preventing Junk Mail after a refinance

jsl11 wrote:Where I live, mortgages are recorded by the County Recorder and are available on-line for anyone who cares to look. It is a public record.

Jeff
Like Jeff said, its all part of public record, nothing you can do about it.

I try to maintain a positive attitude, so I look at it as my refi is doing its part to keep the USPS solvent.
by BYUvol
Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:11 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Rep asked security question
Replies: 70
Views: 12591

Re: Vanguard Rep asked security question

The link describes why I said banks are very very very secure, and not impenetrable. Security firms have said the attackers had an "insider level of understanding". Like I said in my first post, you would need internal access to the databases. Banks in the US are required to have insurance to cover fraud from employees, so those people who lost money would of course be refunded (assuming the EU has similar laws). This news doesn't affect best practices in web security, and shouldn't cause people to change course and start storing all their wealth buried in their back yard. BYUvol, Thanks for that explanation which I tend to agree with, but, wouldn't the guy on the other end of the phone asking unsolicited for security question an...
by BYUvol
Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:02 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Rep asked security question
Replies: 70
Views: 12591

Re: Vanguard Rep asked security question

Of course, it is and always be a personal level of trust and comfort as to what one will accept, but, when I read things like this I have to wonder: http://news.sky.com/story/952931/fraud-ring-in-hacking-attack-on-60-banks Just sayin... As I think BYUvol appreciates, the breakins at eHarmony and LinkedIn were not done by script kiddies. They were done by organized hackers. Apparently not criminal ones, as the motive appeared to be shining light on outrageously bad security. But criminal gangs ARE attacking banks, and apparently successfully. I'm sure eHarmony and LinkedIn have competent IT people just like Vanguard. But orders tend to be given by naive management types who don't understand security. To show how bad this is, eHarmony and Li...
by BYUvol
Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:51 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Rep asked security question
Replies: 70
Views: 12591

Re: Vanguard Rep asked security question

I think you are making this out to be a bigger problem than it is. 1) They asked for his security question, not password. 2) It was Fidelity who asked for the password, and that was years ago, things have changed. 3) To quote Lord of the Rings, "One does not simply stroll into Mordor." Some script kiddie isn't going to do an SQL injection and get access to the database from their bedroom, access to their databases would be restricted to an internal IP. Then, assuming the attacker made it into their servers' intranet, taking a dump of a database with hundreds of millions of rows would take hours, long enough for Vanguard to realize they have been compromised, and alert customers to change their password. All before any work of rai...