Search found 51 matches

by fickle
Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Random Musings wrote:"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.

I read it many years ago - and am reading again. Very enjoyable.

RM
http://www.amazon.com/Irreverent-Thorou ... everything

is also very funny.
by fickle
Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

tacster wrote:
fickle wrote:
tacster wrote:"The Grey Seas Under", by Farley Mowat.

Yep, I've got it on order from my local library. :thumbsup
If you like humor, try his THe Boat Who Wouldn't Float next. I laughed myself sore over his description of going out to the outhouse on the "stage" over the water and looking down and seeing the swarming sculpins awaiting a treat. I also enjoyed his book about being a young man participating in the invasion of Italy. One is always so pleased to find a good writer who has written SO many books in so many genres.
by fickle
Sat Jan 26, 2013 1:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

tacster wrote:"The Grey Seas Under", by Farley Mowat. Great factual story about the operations of a North Atlantic rescue/salvage tug during the 1930's-40's. Hard to imagine what the crewmen endured, working in conditions from gales to hurricanes.
Do pick up The Serpent's Coil. Just as good. I think I stayed up all night reading it. Who needs movies when you have such great writing?
by fickle
Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:11 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Austintatious wrote:The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965, William Manchester's Vol. 3 of his "The Last Lion" work on the life and times of English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, largely completed by Paul Reid after Manchester's death. You'll be fighting the war from the perspective of the English people and from the personal perspective of Churchill.
I just finished The Grand Alliance, the 3rd book in WC's series on WWII (I picked up a 1953 copy for pennies). Very interesting. I loved reading all his correspondence. A stroll through Amazon has bagged me most of the others for cheap.

Of all the famous people in history, I'd like to have lunch with WC. I'd promise not to ask a thing, just listen.
by fickle
Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

My bedtime reading has been rereading The Lyttelton Hart-Davis Letters.

Now that I'm older, I appreciate an entirely different slant in these letters, and I just love George (Lyttelton). When I was younger, I was wow'd by Hart-Davis's lifestyle, but now it is George I adore. Wikipedia has an entry on the book, and the "Selected Letters" are a good intro (and have footnotes more geared to people less than 70 years old and towards Americans).
by fickle
Mon Jan 14, 2013 6:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules
Replies: 10
Views: 1259

Re: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules

Was the transfer part of a divorce settlement? The basis of property transferred to you or transferred in trust for your benefit by your spouse (or former spouse if the transfer is incident to divorce), is the same as your spouse's adjusted basis. But does it change long to short? At the time of the transfer, the transferor must give you the records necessary to determine the adjusted basis and holding period of the property as of the date of transfer. Remember, Vanguard doesn't do your taxes. Even if Vanguard doesn't know the reason for the transfer, you do. You tell the IRS. Be prepared to have a dispute based on what Vanguard has told them. Pardon, where are your quotes from? I poked about and even googled some of the sentences, but don...
by fickle
Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules
Replies: 10
Views: 1259

Re: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules

If ex-hubby was never the tax-payer of record, what do I need to provide him with? There are two passages I quoted from the IRS from different points of view, his and yours. the transferor must give you the records This you is you, the transferor is he. He gives you records. When you transfer property to your spouse (or former spouse, if incident to your divorce), you must give your spouse sufficient records This you is he; you are the spouse being transferred to. He gives you records. They both say the same thing. You provide him with nothing. I see. He has nothing to provide me with. He was entirely unaware of what the stock was, etc (due to complete indifference). The stock was mailed to me, with my taxpayer ID (SS) as the ID of record....
by fickle
Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:08 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules
Replies: 10
Views: 1259

Re: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules

Was the transfer part of a divorce settlement? The basis of property transferred to you or transferred in trust for your benefit by your spouse (or former spouse if the transfer is incident to divorce), is the same as your spouse's adjusted basis. But does it change long to short? At the time of the transfer, the transferor must give you the records necessary to determine the adjusted basis and holding period of the property as of the date of transfer. That sounds like long stays long. But let's keep looking. Incident to divorce. A property transfer is incident to your divorce if the transfer: Occurs within 1 year after the date your marriage ends, or Is related to the ending of your marriage. A divorce, for this purpose, includes the endi...
by fickle
Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules
Replies: 10
Views: 1259

Re: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules

z3r0c00l wrote:Are you sure you did not reinvest dividends? Those purchases become short term lots, imho.
No way one quarter of dividends added up to 30K of stock to sell. The amount they listed as short term is exactly the number of shares I moved from JT TEN to just mine.
by fickle
Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax question on long v. short term gain rules
Replies: 10
Views: 1259

Tax question on long v. short term gain rules

I just got my yearly statement from Vanguard and they listed a chunk of some stock I sold as short term gain (and some of the same stock as long term gain). I have had all the stock for over 10 years, but this year I got my ex's name off the certificate (it was in JT TEN) so that it was only in my name instead of in both. That is the amount they are calling short term gain.

Do I have to pay short term gain if I made this simple change within the last year? That's all it was done, the dropping of one name, not that adding of any.

The reason I ask is I want to know if I'm "in the right" before I become "an iron fist in a velvet glove" over the issue. I have kept copies of all the stock power forms.

Thanks.
by fickle
Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:46 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How am I doing for being a 25 year old?
Replies: 40
Views: 4793

Re: How am I doing for being a 25 year old?

Can you moonlight some and pay off those loans? To quote Ben Franklin or somesuch person: those that strive arise at 5, those that have striven arise at 7.

When I was your age I was working 50+ hours a week most weeks to make ends meet.
by fickle
Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:41 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard question on funds requiring 50K min.
Replies: 4
Views: 1540

Vanguard question on funds requiring 50K min.

If a person has over 50K in, say, a Roth, and has it invested in a fund that requires 50K minimum, and THEN they roll some money over into a tIRA, but it isn't 50K, can they buy the same fund? Or is it 50K per each account a person has, rather than per a person's complete holdings?
Thanks!
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help i Just signed up. [Where to start?]
Replies: 18
Views: 2352

Re: Help i Just signed up. [Where to start?]

gold5050 wrote:Thank you all for the info so far. it looks like i was correct. im in a deeper ocean with more valleys than i can count. i will have to do alot of reading. this is like work... does it ever get fun.... or is fun only gauged by success in the market.
The human mind, I am convinced, is hard-wired to enjoy what we know about, so the more you learn, the more you will enjoy it. Try to make it more about learning about finance than "my personal stash". That helps take the fear out of it. I found Eric Tyson's Dummies book a painless way to start. Investing for Dummies comes to mind.
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Re: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

Maybe just a typo on your part fickle, but it is not the basis that is taxed, but the (selling price - the basis). If the basis was 5K on a 100K sale the tax would be based on the 95K gain. The tax would be more like 95,000 x .15 = 14,250. What I meant was that if the c.b. turned out to be 5K, and rather than going through much work and perhaps a professional, I just paid the capital gain on that 5K (as well as the rest), I'd only be out $750. I know I'm paying c.g. on the 95K. Yes, when the stock was given to me, over a few years, each allotment was under the yearly limit. Very precisely just under it. I may be an economic and financial ninny, but I promise you he isn't. Once, years back, Quick and Reilly misplaced my money for a whole we...
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Re: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

IMO, everyone is making this much too complicated. Make a reasonable good faith estimate of the cost, which you appear to have already done, and use that figure. Do you really think the IRS is going to question the basis on a sale when 95% of the proceeds is reported as LTCG? If you were claiming $100,000 as the basis it might be a different question but probably not even then. I've estimated basis on countless tax returns and never once seen it questioned. Put a note in your file as to how you estimated the basis and don't give it another thought. John Really? What does one fill in on sched D and form 8949 or whatever the number is? If the cost basis was about 5K in 1992, and I think the stock was obtained in the 60s and 70s, before the c...
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Re: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

Okay, another question. This was a privately held company for the first 20 years. This is when my benefactor got his shares (it was basically a start up by one man who borrowed some money, and brought on some Bright Young Men who took a risk that paid off well). It "went public" in the 1980s, and I know how much the stock was offered *at that time* (or at least I know what wikipedia claims).

Does this change things?
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:51 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Re: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

livesoft wrote:
Sidney wrote:...
You need to know what the original person paid for it. An alternative that is accepted by the IRS is the market value on the day it was bought by the original person. Then you have to run through all the calculations for splits etc....
... unless they also received the shares as a gift and couldn't figure out the basis so they gave the shares away.
I believe it was in lieu of salary, or as year-end bonuses.
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Re: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

HueyLD wrote:You may want to go to your local library and someone there may be able to look up old stock value data. I think you should exercise your due diligence in order to substantiate your cost basis on the tax returns.
I don't know the various dates the stock was gotten by my benefactor. I believe it was very early on in the company history, for he eventually gave away just oodles of it. When it was given to me, it was about 75 cent a share. I sold it for nearly $19. I was quite young, and the only message that came with it was "I hope you hold onto this". So I did, being the obedient person I was.
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:41 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Re: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

Sidney wrote:I

If you want to give it to charity, the relevant number is the market value when you donate it -- that is the value of the potential deduction.
A ha! The dawn comes up.

Since no one is rushing with a simple answer on how to find out cost basis, I'm assuming this is a complex as I fear.
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Re: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

You mean you do not pass this on and give it away to someone else or to charity? That's what you were supposed to do in order to avoid this problem. Perhaps you can give $5,000 away to charity to get the tax deduction of more than $750. Wouldn't I have to show (or know) that the cost basis is 5K? I don't know exactly. It might be 2.5 K, it might be 6.6 K. I would think the IRS would want something more substantial than "someone I know says its pennies on the dollar". And I'm sure they are right, given the company was founded in 1962, but I don't know how many pennies. Also, if I just go ahead and pay the c.g. on the whole amount, do I just include a note stating I'm doing this. Is the IRS going to look a gift horse in the mouth?
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Cost basis question: when you don't know it.
Replies: 49
Views: 19361

Cost basis question: when you don't know it.

This is a slightly odd situation, but here goes: Many, many years ago I was given stock (as a certificate... an actual piece of paper) by someone who got it as part of their compensation many years before that. I sold it this year for around 100K. I am not about to bother this generous person, who is the kind of person who visits US presidents in their private homes, chairs boards of large charities, and is invited to the weddings of the children of celebrities, over the cost basis. I did contact another person who got the same gift, but sold it in the 90s. He had a letter from the financial people of the this generous giver about the cost basis, and it says, basically, that these stocks were obtained at various times, there have been split...
by fickle
Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:38 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Thanks and Happy New Year !
Replies: 7
Views: 1234

Re: Thanks and Happy New Year !

My boglehead is bobbing in agreement.
by fickle
Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:02 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Jack Bogle’s 6 books that every investor must read
Replies: 10
Views: 1737

Re: Jack Bogle’s 6 books that every investor must read

Random Walker wrote:I'm sure each of us might come up with a different list of 6. But I do think it is important to note that 1 of his recommended books is a history book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Madness of Crowds.

Dave
This is a wonderfully amusing book. It was in my brother's library and I read it one weekend 30 years ago. How delightful that, aside from my chance find of it then, I've not heard it mentioned anywhere else but here. I particularly loved the tulip craze.
by fickle
Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:16 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dinner Guest Issues
Replies: 149
Views: 16358

Re: Dinner Guest Issues

I had enough boors to convince me the old-fashioned informal potluck makes more people more happy than my carefully planned feasts. Perhaps if I ran in more elite circles! Then I'd probably be too run down at the heels for them.
by fickle
Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:16 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Vacuum for hardwood and carpet?
Replies: 21
Views: 4960

Re: Vacuum for hardwood and carpet?

I used to have a lot of wood and tile floor. I found that quieter and more effective was something I got at Home Depot. Imagine a thinnish broom handle going down to a swivel-joint holding a 10x15 flat panel with some grippy foam on the bottom. Over this bottom you place a microfiber cover or a terry one. The microfiber one is pushed about like you would a vacuum and neatly along the edges. Every little bit comes up. It is light and maneuverable....easier than a vacuum, and doesn't ding the feet of your wood chairs. The terry one is used with a "Laminate and Hardwood" cleaner or polish (there are several brands, I get a big bottle at HD), and it is a quick "mop and polish" you need not rinse between complete moppings. Th...
by fickle
Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:07 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Which Financial Software do You Use?
Replies: 51
Views: 6093

Re: Which Financial Software do You Use?

Rob5TCP wrote: It takes about 30 minutes a week and I usually do it while watching a movie
or TV.
Pardon a naive questions from someone who doesn't use financial software:
what do you get back for your 26 hours a year, i.e. what is the benefit? I understand the idea if you run a business or have long, complicated itemized tax deductions, but if neither of these, what am I missing?
thanks.
by fickle
Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:23 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: VTI
Replies: 21
Views: 4725

Re: VTI

STC wrote:

Marketing dollars spent to exploit the human emotions of fear and greed. It really is that simple.
And ignorance and peer pressure. There are plenty of people who fall like 9 pins when given a forceful "pitch". Especially when the pitch is from the grandson of your parent's best friends for 60+ years, and you live in a tight community where you buy CutCo knives and Avon products to "help so and so's newly graduated kid get a start in life." If you don't buy, it's gossip, gossip, gossip.

I married into that, and if I hadn't, I would have never dreamed such situations existed. I particularly *love* it when the product being touted is from some respected mucky-muck at your church. Not.
by fickle
Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:25 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Money Market vs. online bank: what am I missing?
Replies: 6
Views: 1084

Money Market vs. online bank: what am I missing?

This is a very basic question:
ING right now is offering 0.75% interest and no fee.
Money Market accounts have an e.r. (Vanguards went down to 0.16 today).

Are the books I am reading just a couple of years out of date, and the MM are no longer the best place to keep your emergency stash? None of the books even mention online banks.

What am I missing?
Thanks.
by fickle
Thu Dec 27, 2012 6:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Medical student seeking advice - taxable investment account
Replies: 17
Views: 1695

Re: Medical student seeking advice - taxable investment acco

DFWinvestor wrote: snip- snip--
So if I were you I'd set aside at least $5K or perhaps as much as $8K to help pay for a move when you graduate (and/or interviews for residency programs),
All of the above is excellent. Remember, if you are going into something competitive, you'll have quite a bit of travel and application fees for residency.

Also, keep in mind there will be people who will pass on your name to commission-hungry salesmen. Any young man in a $500 dollar suit willing to meet you in a grungy cafeteria in a TB and AIDS filled hospital on a Sunday evening, praying his nice car is okay in the parking lot, isn't trying to sell you disability insurance because he loves you.
by fickle
Wed Dec 26, 2012 9:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Medical student seeking advice - taxable investment account
Replies: 17
Views: 1695

Re: Medical student seeking advice - taxable investment acco

Thanks for the responses. I definitely need to read more on taxes. I have never had to personally pay taxes in my life and pretty much all of my education has been in science, so I'm definitely a novice. I will read the suggested literature that you mentioned. I am not paying back any of my loans right now as I am still in school and actually taking out more loans, but I imagine my highest interest rate will be 6.8%. Is the interest being charged now (I did this with a loan through the school, and interest didn't start accruing until I graduated)? I found that people who worked to make their loan burden the least were simply happier people in the long run. This may mean driving a beatup car and not going to the Bahamas, but it IS possible ...
by fickle
Wed Dec 26, 2012 8:06 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Medical student seeking advice - taxable investment account
Replies: 17
Views: 1695

Re: Medical student seeking advice - taxable investment acco

What interest are you paying on the loans?
by fickle
Wed Dec 26, 2012 6:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Valuethinker wrote:
So Lem is telling us something about modern society under communist rule, and its future.
Some of his work. Chain of Chance is really rather about chance in our life. The only "space" connection is the man is a retired space pilot.
The Futurological Congress is something of a Brave New World, only very funny. And his Perfect Vacuum (a book of reviews of books that don't exist) he said were reviews of books he never got the chance to write. His autobiography is remarkable in that he doesn't talk about his ancestors, but merely describes how his life was when he was age X, thus at 6 he talks about food and pets.
Yes, Lem is a man of his own time, but I think he was more interested in science than politics, over all.
by fickle
Wed Dec 26, 2012 6:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax contribution question .... short and hopefully easy.
Replies: 5
Views: 911

Tax contribution question .... short and hopefully easy.

I can't find this on the IRS website and both times I called to ask I was informed my wait would be at least 30 minutes. I thought I'd ask the helpful people here. I have a lot of capital gains to pay taxes on for 2012. The money to cover this is piddling around doing just about nothing, and I'd rather send it NOW. Will the IRS happily take a check with all pertinent info on it, with a short note on my whys, and credit my SS number? The only voucher I can find on line to send with it is the 1040V you send in with your return (which I would not be sending at this time). The "estimated tax" pages for those self-employed, etc are WILDLY verbose and complex, and I'm talking about a one time payment, not a schedule of them. Should I se...
by fickle
Tue Dec 25, 2012 4:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Looking for advice to reduce / avoid "clutter"
Replies: 88
Views: 37665

Re: Looking for advice to reduce / avoid "clutter"

I "halved it all" about 2 years ago, and every now and then I regret a little thing here or there gone, but for the most part it is so NICE. I try to go through every room yearly and get brutal about things I just never get around to using. Do I really need a staple remover? I remove a staple about once every 3 years, and a flat-blade screwdriver does fine for me. I had a good time giving things to people who'd like them: an oldfashioned ice cream maker to a ruralish family with 4 young kids. Clothing to the homeless shelter. An extra dinner table to a single mom. A crib to a very young couple having unplanned twins. You get the picture. My advice: be ruthless, and do it regularly. BTW, I can't get my spouse online to this idea, b...
by fickle
Tue Dec 25, 2012 4:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

I just re-read His Master's Voice by S. Lem (I read it in the 80s). Not all novels I enjoyed in my 20s have had staying power for me, but this one has. Wikipedia has a good description of it, if a few spoilers. I don't mind spoilers but some do, however, if you can restrain yourself to just the opening paragraph of the wikipedia entry, you'll get a tantalizing hint as to what it covers. I would classify it as Fictional Science not Science Fiction, and Lem wrote many books of that genre. This is a translation, but it never seemed awkward, and I think Lem is so beloved, good translators have gone out of their way on his books. Essentially: a recurring signal not consistent with space's "background noise" is identified by someone loo...
by fickle
Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: End of year hankie-biting: are my assumptions true?
Replies: 11
Views: 2006

Re: End of year hankie-biting: are my assumptions true?

[quote="baw703916"]I'm pretty sure the merger will be a taxable event for you (at least, that was the case for every individual stock that I ever owned that ended up being a merger target).

The information to shareholders regarding the merger should say if it is a "taxable event". I'm assuming it is, but you should verify this.

/quote]

In this case it is a not, but the point is moot, as I have decided to sell off before the merger. This has been a fairly juicy tick hanging off my dog, but it is bigger than the dog's back leg now, and surgical intervention is needed. I thank you all for standing by while I chewed my hankie. No hankies were harmed.
by fickle
Sat Dec 22, 2012 9:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Your International vs. U.S. Stock Allocation?
Replies: 73
Views: 12628

Re: Your International vs. U.S. Stock Allocation?

My complete newb answer is based on these thoughts:
1) that the larger US companies have more and more international economic influence in them (I think I read this in Swedroe, and it made sense.)
2) that a few percent EM reduce volatility.
3) that I'm heavier in stocks than typical for my age (due to extreme longevity running in my family).

With this in mind, my goal is 25% international with 5% of that EM. This would be the same raw amount of total international if I were doing about 35% of a more conservative % of stocks or 40% of a very "play it safe" % of stocks. This may be voodoo hogswill, but this is my thinking.
by fickle
Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: End of year hankie-biting: are my assumptions true?
Replies: 11
Views: 2006

Re: End of year hankie-biting: are my assumptions true?

Clever_Username wrote:R

However, owning JEF is clearly a high risk, anxiety-producing situation for you.
In an amusing thought, owning it for more than a decade has not produced any anxiety in me. It's the selling that is stressing me out.
by fickle
Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:13 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Fallible wrote:
It will depend on your children's ages of course, but I think the best recommendation for the appropriate graphic novel on financial literacy for kids should come from your librarian.
Sadly, most books I want I have to get through interlibrary loan. Additionally, our library is following a trend I hear lamented on education boards: it is more and more about computers and DVDs than books. Our local staff is tech savvy, but certainly not the Miss Smith I remember from my childhood.

I'm looking for the 4th-6th grade level, but I'd take less storyboard books for older kids if any has seen a good one. Surely we have some parents here who have made a point of teaching their kids about economics and finance!
by fickle
Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: End of year hankie-biting: are my assumptions true?
Replies: 11
Views: 2006

End of year hankie-biting: are my assumptions true?

Short of clairvoyance there is no right answer for this, but I am trying to make sure my unknowns are all unknowns, and there are no knowns I'm missing because I'm such a newb. I'm trying, of course, to balance gain with risk, but the end of the year is approaching and I'm weighing the now vs. 2013. I have quite a bit of a single stock, JEF. I am not planning on holding onto it forever. My cost basis is 5% (no typo) of what the stock is worth now. 1) It has had a decent year and a good 4th quarter. Today it was 18 and change per share. 2) Its dividends are being paid out this quarter to shareholders who owned it on the 21 Dec (today). 3) It is being bought by Leucadia, LUK, which is 23.84 a share today. I think this is taking place in ?Marc...
by fickle
Fri Dec 21, 2012 6:31 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Fallible wrote:
fickle wrote:Oooh, a book thread....
P.S. It's always nice to hear what readers think of their books so others can decide whether they'd also like to read it.
Well, if this is the spot for book junkies, any graphic novel type books for kids on the world of finance? (I know this is a long shot....)? Something less polemic than Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?

How do you teach your kids about economics and finance?
by fickle
Fri Dec 21, 2012 9:21 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V
Replies: 3372
Views: 1560959

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Oooh, a book thread.

I'm reading The Snake and the Fox: An Introduction to Logic by Mary Haight
and
Prelude to Mathematics by W.W.Sawyer, a man I dearly wish I'd met.
by fickle
Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

letsgobobby wrote: I bet you are just *loving* your decision to fund the GET 529. The rate of return has been spectacular for a safe instrument.
As long as the state doesn't default on it, this will be the best thing I ever tripped over and fell into. I don't think it is a great deal buying it now, but I was fortunate to pop out a baby just at the right time to benefit from this. I knew the 7% yearly increase cap would never hold ....
by fickle
Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

This gives you a simple, broadly diversified, low cost portfolio in your desired asset allocation, using just seven funds, with tax efficient fund placement. You should be able to manage the portfolio and do most rebalancing to keep to your desired asset allocation by the way you direct your future contributions to the various accounts where you will be making contributions. I hope that this helps. Oh, it does. How human that just scratching multiple heads over a single problem makes it seem so less huge. I thank you very much. I can feel my heart rate slowing down already. I wish I could do you a favor in return. If you ever want advice on how to train a deaf dog, use an egg-white "raft" to make perfectly clear soup stock, or wo...
by fickle
Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:19 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

In addition, if you sell it now, you avoid the risk that capital gains tax rates will go up in 2013. Okay, I poked around the news some and decided that while no one can say for certain what the rates will be in 2013, it is likely they won't go DOWN, so I sold a good chunk of those that were really too sector-specific for my new, hopefully wiser goals. I meant to sell all these loose individual stocks at some point anyway, why not shed 2/5ths of them before a possible rise in rates? My next question is more specific. Since the proceeds of the sales will go into a taxable account, and I need to add to my international stock percentage, I was reviewing VG's offerings. On this board, the Total International Stock Index is mentioned for such a...
by fickle
Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

ETA: I have posted the link to the website that has the pdfs in my original post.

I cannot find them matching up with funds at BlackRock's own website. I do notice that the bond fund is heavier on the Baa funds than its benchmark. That stands out right off.
by fickle
Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

Oh, how I agree! But selling even half would be dumping 50K into my 2012 income, bumping me up into the next tax bracket, and costing me 7.5K in capital gains. The tax bracket won't be affected. You pay tax on your regular income at varying rates which determine your bracket, and then qualified dividends and long-term gains are taxed at a 15% rate independent of the rest of your income. (You do need to check that you won't hit some other important phase-out such as losing the $500 child tax credit.) You're right. I realized that after I posted. (As jejune as it seems, I blushingly admit to only having *bought* stock.) Well, that bucked me up. Does everyone really think c.g. tax rates will go up? In addition to being incredibly naive about ...
by fickle
Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:16 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

No single stock should be more than 5% of your portfolio, as you are taking an unnecessary risk, and even more so with a stock which is small-cap and highly volatile. I would sell at least half the small-cap stock, possibly all of it if it doesn't fit your portfolio. In addition, if you sell it now, you avoid the risk that capital gains tax rates will go up in 2013. Oh, how I agree! But selling even half would be dumping 50K into my 2012 income, bumping me up into the next tax bracket, and costing me 7.5K in capital gains. Everyone has their own personal weak spots, and doing this would hurt. I picked the name "fickle" as a joke. Losing because of inaction is far less disturbing to me than losing because of an active action I hav...
by fickle
Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:49 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

I can find no tickers. I went back and put the titles in the fund info pdfs in quotes in my most recent editions. The pdfs note BlackRock in the upper right hand corner, and rather generic names such as "Global Equity Index Fund", and under that Benchmark-- MSCI ACWI Investable Market Inex (ACWI IMI) with a Morningstar Category of World Stock. None of the funds have tickers or anything but these generic titles. In the above example, it is a blend with 45% Giant, 30% Large, 18% meid, 5.4% small and 1.5% micro with 49.7% non-USian. I don't know if BlackRock is uncreative, or if they market these to be readable to the average employee where I work, many of whom are not that literate, and those that are often have English as their 3rd...
by fickle
Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:23 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted
Replies: 21
Views: 2588

Re: Time to get a handle on my investments: help wanted

Okay, I have edited (in parentheses with the ETA lead) my original post. None of my stock is showing a loss at this time, so there is nothing to harvest. My options in my company pre-tax plans seem to be all Blackrock, which means nothing to me, other than that the name seems modern. My single large holding in stocks in NOT in my company stock. But it is in a company I know nothing about, and when I try to research it, I am get lost in the language. ETA: I'm reading and trying, and at least know a hair more than what investopedia has to say about it. It is a financial institution. Any good ideas about what international funds at Vanguard I might move into that would balance what I already have? Or should I go with my current urges and pick ...