Search found 36 matches

by pkempfur
Wed Jan 13, 2021 11:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Job hunting while pregnant
Replies: 53
Views: 4541

Re: Job hunting while pregnant

BEGIN RANT: I view pregnancy as any other temporary disability. You can hire someone today and then tomorrow find out that they need to take a month off for back surgery or cancer treatments or something else. Even in those cases, there is a chance that the person might take a leave of absence and not come back. Heck, somebody could decide to quit at a moment's notice. However, for some reason, some people view pregnancy through a different lens, which is a shame in this day and age. END RANT :happy Amen. If an employee taking a few months of leave causes excessive stress to their coworkers, the organization is not being run well. Leaving no margin for the human condition is not an ethical business plan. Show me a business where an employe...
by pkempfur
Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:02 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: ISP email account vs Gmail
Replies: 28
Views: 2880

Re: ISP email account vs Gmail

Soon2BXProgrammer wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:30 pm
pkempfur wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:25 pm My concern with gmail is if the personal consumer account is disabled for whatever reason, there is little to no recourse e.g
https://www.businessinsider.com/google- ... rs-2020-10 but that's likely true of most consumer facing services offered by any large corp.
Per my other comment, if this is your concern. you must pay for your own domain name, and pay to have it email hosted somewhere.
This means you can always move the domain, and you are in charge.
My point was that for all the security that gmail offers, it comes with other kinds of risks that should be factored into any decision to use it. Using a separate domain name and provider comes with a different set of risks.
by pkempfur
Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: ISP email account vs Gmail
Replies: 28
Views: 2880

Re: ISP email account vs Gmail

02nz wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:06 pm Gmail "reads" your messages to target ads. But that's not a security concern.
That has changed since 2017 - https://blog.google/products/gmail/g-su ... ely-align/ - email content is no longer scanned for ads.

My concern with gmail is if the personal consumer account is disabled for whatever reason, there is little to no recourse e.g
https://www.businessinsider.com/google- ... rs-2020-10 but that's likely true of most consumer facing services offered by any large corp.
by pkempfur
Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:20 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: subaru outback limited or audi 4 quattro?
Replies: 49
Views: 5208

Re: subaru outback limited or audi 4 quattro?

Consider replacing the Subaru wheels with lighter ones. My outback 3.6 is a lot more fun with it's lighter wheels - but perhaps it's all psychological ;)
by pkempfur
Sun Aug 18, 2019 3:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you get value out of Clear (airport screening)?
Replies: 31
Views: 4346

Re: Do you get value out of Clear (airport screening)?

I'm curious - since Clear only gets one in front of the line, why do they need biometric data (fingerprints and iris scans)? Seems like a regular ID should suffice
by pkempfur
Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:31 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Sharing information with insurance agents.
Replies: 18
Views: 2178

Re: Sharing information with insurance agents.

Thanks. This was for auto+home+umbrella and the claim is that the umbrella limits needs to be justified.
by pkempfur
Wed Aug 23, 2017 12:26 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Sharing information with insurance agents.
Replies: 18
Views: 2178

Sharing information with insurance agents.

Hello,.
I'm curious how much information one should share with their insurance agent when applying for policies. Is there a difference when applying for life, auto, home, umbrella, etc. policies?
I've been asked to show proof of income/assets and am not sure if I should.
Thank you.
by pkempfur
Wed Jan 18, 2017 7:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Question reg 529 rollovers, beneficiary and account owner changes
Replies: 4
Views: 776

Re: Question reg 529 rollovers, beneficiary and account owner changes

Only one rollover per beneficiary is permitted in a 12-month period. If I understood it correctly, a rollover is a transfer between state plans, whereas a beneficiary change or an account owner change is within the same state plan and unlimited beneficiary or account owner changes can be made within the same state plan even if it means opening a new account (as vanguard seems to require). Is that accurate? Are you saying you need to open a new account just to change the beneficiary? What are you trying to do? So it appears - see Sec. 4 in http://www.vanguard.com/pdf/s403.pdf. Spouse and I have multiple 529 plans from various states that we are now trying to consolidate into Vanguard. Is the '"one rollover per beneficiary per 12-month ...
by pkempfur
Wed Jan 18, 2017 4:41 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Question reg 529 rollovers, beneficiary and account owner changes
Replies: 4
Views: 776

Question reg 529 rollovers, beneficiary and account owner changes

My head hurts trying to reason this out, so hoping you learned folks can help me out. This is all with respect to 529 plans. Only one rollover per beneficiary is permitted in a 12-month period. If I understood it correctly, a rollover is a transfer between state plans, whereas a beneficiary change or an account owner change is within the same state plan and unlimited beneficiary or account owner changes can be made within the same state plan even if it means opening a new account (as vanguard seems to require). Is that accurate? Is the '"one rollover per beneficiary per 12-month period" applicable across account owners or per account owner? For e.g., say both the spouses have a 529 plan for a child and wish to roll them over - wil...
by pkempfur
Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:43 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Revealing Usernames
Replies: 108
Views: 32653

Re: Revealing Usernames

Instead of changing user names, why not allow registered users to post anonymously; it could be as simple as a checking a box "mark this post anonymous" or "contains personal details" -just like the "notify me when a reply is posted". Those posts would say "registered anonymous user" instead of "pkempfur". Admins can always identify who made the post - it just won't be displayed to non-admin users.
by pkempfur
Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:15 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Liking the new Citi CC at Costco
Replies: 204
Views: 52819

Re: Liking the new Citi CC at Costco

To supplement the nerdwallet link, here is the actual Citi website for the card. Everything "official" is in the FAQ... https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/creditcards/citi.action?ID=citi-costco-credit-card-conversion I agree - this card plus the Citi Double Cash card will make a nice pairing and serve all my needs well. I'm stuck at trying to figure the first FAQ "How/when do I get my new Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi? You do not need to apply. In May 2016, Citi will mail it to the basic cardmember or authorized officer’s mailing address provided to Citi . You can begin using your new card on June 20, 2016. If your address has changed, please call the number on the back of the card to update it." Reminds me of anoth...
by pkempfur
Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bad customer experience or am I being unrealistic?
Replies: 30
Views: 5952

Re: Bad customer experience or am I being unrealistic?

In my experience citi has the worst customer service as well as a fraud detection system that has a high false positive rate; so my sympathies are with you. I wouldn't get my hopes up for Wednesday.
by pkempfur
Sun Dec 27, 2015 4:21 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do we call it "investing"?
Replies: 35
Views: 4917

Re: Why do we call it "investing"?

Thank you all for the comments, and esp. to lack_ey for the pointer to Bernstein's note on this topic.

It is also very tempting to agree with beardsworth that investing does sound better esp. if one is trying to convince others of their superior "investing" abilities.
by pkempfur
Sat Dec 26, 2015 4:40 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do we call it "investing"?
Replies: 35
Views: 4917

Re: Why do we call it "investing"?

Cullen Roche has explored this topic quite a bit if you are interested. e.g. http://www.pragcap.com/the-savings-portfolio-perspective/ That says: Our portfolios actually look more like saving accounts than investment accounts. Um well since my portfolio isn't FDIC insured and since the value depends on how the investment the company has done in itself pays off, I will still consider it investing because returns are dependent long term on the productivity of the assets which is what I own. Whether or not you agree with the point of view expressed there is one thing, but do you mean to completely ignore the point and express an idea about certain words used by taking them out of context and addressing a different meaning than the one intende...
by pkempfur
Sat Dec 26, 2015 4:32 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do we call it "investing"?
Replies: 35
Views: 4917

Re: Why do we call it "investing"?

stlutz wrote:Cullen Roche has explored this topic quite a bit if you are interested. e.g. http://www.pragcap.com/the-savings-port ... rspective/
Thanks for this. Makes a lot of sense to me.
by pkempfur
Sat Dec 26, 2015 12:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why do we call it "investing"?
Replies: 35
Views: 4917

Why do we call it "investing"?

When a member of the public buys stock (directly or via a mutual fund/etf), the underlying compan(ies) do not receive any of the proceeds. They are in effect buying something that they think will be valued higher in the future.

It is only when the shares are bought directly from the company (as in the case of angel investing or VC), does the company actually trade off equity for capital.

So shouldn't the term "investing" be applied only to the funds in the primary market and funds in the secondary and other markets be called something else?
by pkempfur
Mon Oct 19, 2015 12:20 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Understanding Expense Ratios of Share Classes
Replies: 8
Views: 1331

Re: Understanding Expense Ratios of Share Classes

Geologist wrote:If you look at an Annual Report for a Vanguard Fund, you will see the table of Operating Costs (Statement of Operations).
That's a good tip.Thanks.
by pkempfur
Sun Oct 18, 2015 2:46 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Expense Ratios and Yields for Money Market Funds
Replies: 3
Views: 1034

Expense Ratios and Yields for Money Market Funds

The Vanguard prime money market fund [1] has an expense ratio of 0.16% and a yield of 0.08%. Since the share price is fixed at $1, does this imply that Vanguard generates a return of at least 0.24% or is Vanguard subsidizing the fund with earnings from other places? This fund specifically has an average maturity of 40 days and a weighted average life of 80 days and invests primarily in high quality government obligations. [2] , which I may be reading incorrectly, seems to indicate that returns of 0.2%+ are only for maturities > 6months. How does this work at all? [1] https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0030&FundIntExt=INT [2] http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?...
by pkempfur
Sun Oct 18, 2015 2:39 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Understanding Expense Ratios of Share Classes
Replies: 8
Views: 1331

Understanding Expense Ratios of Share Classes

I'm trying to understand how the expense ratios of the share classes of mutual funds are determined.

Vanguard, for instance, has a variety of share classes [1] with expense ratios for the investor shares being the highest and those for the institutional being the lowest. What is it that Vanguard has to do additional for the Investor shares that it doesn't have to do for say the Admiral classes that justifies the higher expense ratio? Or is it just a marketing/psychological attempt at getting investors to move more money into these share classes?

ps: This is true of other providers like fidelity etc. Vanguard is just one example.

[1] https://personal.vanguard.com/us/conten ... DefJSP.jsp
by pkempfur
Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:00 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Curious what you think of nextshares
Replies: 1
Views: 405

Curious what you think of nextshares

Just ran across http://www.nextshares.com; lots of fluff but they essentially seem to be etfs that can be traded at prices that are offset from NAV with the NAV determined at market close. So one could buy sell the etf at NAV +/- x and the actual price is known at the end of the day.

Curious what you all think (or don't) of idea.
by pkempfur
Mon Jun 08, 2015 7:53 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Stemikger "Volatility is far from synonymous with risk."
Replies: 152
Views: 20328

Re: Stemikger "Volatility is far from synonymous with risk."

Speaking for myself, Howard Marks' latest memo on Risk Revisited Again http://www.oaktreecapital.com/MemoTree/ ... 0Again.pdf is the definitive argument on why volatility isn't risk.
by pkempfur
Fri May 08, 2015 12:59 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: much ado about coasting (through life)
Replies: 256
Views: 63711

Re: much ado about coasting (through life)

Reminds me of this - http://www.successstories.co.in/five-le ... rds-story/

My 2c - if you can stick (without regrets) with your philosophy, life style & choices as you fall behind in the rat race, then you are all set. That will also mean your social life changing as others around you get married, have kids, change jobs/locations, buy houses, take vacations etc.
by pkempfur
Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Forbes on "How To Invest Your $600,000 IRA"
Replies: 13
Views: 4739

Forbes on "How To Invest Your $600,000 IRA"

Full article at http://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/201 ... 00000-ira/

Has a nice bogleheadish comparison of the costs of different options but the graph at the end on when rebalancing helps vs. hurts caught my attention.
by pkempfur
Tue Nov 11, 2014 6:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Questions about flying with a toddler
Replies: 36
Views: 8578

Re: Questions about flying with a toddler

corner559 wrote:Unbelievable.
Can you elaborate on that?

FWIW, I tortured myself about that same decision. Read lots of articles and saw interviews with FAs who recommended a separate seat and told horror stories. At the end of the day, isn't that risk similar to the risk when carrying an infant or worse getting the infant sick due to time spent in a closed confined space or a ton of other such risks? Where, and how, does one draw the line?
by pkempfur
Tue Nov 04, 2014 1:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: The Volatility of Amazon Pricing
Replies: 23
Views: 3335

Re: The Volatility of Amazon Pricing

I found this to be an interesting read - Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies [http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358]
by pkempfur
Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:15 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard Variable Annuity Costs
Replies: 10
Views: 1525

Re: Vanguard Variable Annuity Costs

Would you mind sharing how you went about this? Is the annuity in a trust? Who are the owners, beneficiaries? If its in a trust, the trust document/outline would be great. Also is the amount subject to a gift tax? How would one do that while also making 529 contributions?
Thanks.
by pkempfur
Thu Jun 19, 2014 11:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Percentage in Bonds vs Years (of expenses) in Bonds
Replies: 8
Views: 1682

Re: Percentage in Bonds vs Years (of expenses) in Bonds

I think the concept of "x years of annual expenses saved up" is confusing and maybe meaningless. The problem is that almost no one would actually fund a retirement by simply "saving up" and then spending the savings. :) I'm not sure. Consider a family with $100K income. If they can manage to live on 33K and save 33K with the remaining going towards taxes, insurance and the like, then essentially that family is saving a year of expenses on a yearly basis. The reasons real life is more complicated than that are the following: 1. Lifespan is unpredictable. At the very minimum one has to place a conservative estimate of maximum lifespan on this rather than an expected longevity. That is why longevity risk is major component...
by pkempfur
Thu Jun 19, 2014 1:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Percentage in Bonds vs Years (of expenses) in Bonds
Replies: 8
Views: 1682

Re: Percentage in Bonds vs Years (of expenses) in Bonds

Thanks for the perspectives.

Regarding my goals, the idea is to retire when my savings equals (100-age) times annual expenses. Right now, I'd love to be able to retire at 50 with 50x annual expenses saved up but I'll make do with 35x annual expenses saved up at 65. Still a long long way to go but essentially keeping annual expenses low is my primary tactic.

Looks like I'm being very conservative in the amount I'd need to have saved but in some sense that's my hedge against medical expenses, livespans beyond 100 etc. Will need to mull over it. Thanks again.
by pkempfur
Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:06 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Percentage in Bonds vs Years (of expenses) in Bonds
Replies: 8
Views: 1682

Percentage in Bonds vs Years (of expenses) in Bonds

All the (responses on the) 100% equity threads have me wondering whether it is really age in bonds that is necessary or if it is sufficient to hold a certain number of years of expenses in bonds. As an example, consider a 70yr retiree with 30yrs of annual expenses saved up. The age in bonds rule of thumb would dictate that his asset allocation be 30-70 (so 9 yrs of expenses in stock and 21 in bonds). Alternately, he could hold 10yrs of expenses in bonds and the rest in equities leading to an asset allocation of 66-33 with the idea being that he normally draws down on the equity portion unless equities have fallen and it makes sense to ride out the storm drawing down on the bond portion of his assets. FWIW, (and it's been so for the past 4is...
by pkempfur
Mon Apr 28, 2014 6:47 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard response to issue of average annual returns
Replies: 32
Views: 5570

Re: Vanguard response to issue of average annual returns

Frans wrote: Definitions are important. I suggest that average means to most people the arithmetic mean and not the geometric mean and most people would argue that the term geometric average is a misnomer. So, calling the compound annual return an average annual return is in my book incorrect and misleading and I have 4 Vanguard employees as witness to how confusing it is, even to them.
FWIW, not to me. The term average/mean is very dependent on what is being averaged.
by pkempfur
Wed Apr 09, 2014 12:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: First Trip to India
Replies: 49
Views: 19884

Re: First Trip to India

Possibly provocative but http://markmanson.net/a-dust-over-india might be interesting reading.
by pkempfur
Wed Jan 29, 2014 1:04 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Download your "paperless statements" frequently
Replies: 42
Views: 14956

Re: Download your "paperless statements" frequently

What I'd really love is for the financial institutions to allow me set up a "statement encryption password" and just email me the encrypted PDF statements/transaction confirmations etc.
by pkempfur
Thu Oct 10, 2013 11:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The problem with a 3 fund portfolio
Replies: 65
Views: 13041

Re: The problem with a 3 fund portfolio

Yes and no. Let me show you an example of what I am thinking. <snip> My issue comes in at this point. If the funds were separate, you could have sold Zaibach shares when it was doing well to get the full $10,000 that you needed. This would result in owning $65,000 in Zaibach and $25,000 in Fanelia. You would have sold 133.33 shares from your Zaibach portion. You would then have 866.7 shares of Zaibach and 1000 of Fanelia. When the tables turned so that Fanelia was doing well, you would have $21,667.50 in Zaibach and $75,000 in Fanelia for a total of $96,667.5 in the portfolio. As it is separate, when you have to take the distribution again, you take it from Fanelia's Fund. <snip> This assumes that reversion to the mean happens within the t...
by pkempfur
Wed Feb 20, 2013 2:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Technological alternatives to do not call list
Replies: 16
Views: 2423

Re: Technological alternatives to do not call list

Assuming you are in the US - port your number to Google voice for a one time $20 fee and use it's Call Screening feature to explicitly allow or block callers.
by pkempfur
Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:17 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Feedback on this Asset Allocation Strategy
Replies: 2
Views: 548

Feedback on this Asset Allocation Strategy

Hi All, I'm seeking feedback on the following asset allocation strategy. I'm trying to build a general wealth building allocation that I can use for any taxable savings after all tax-deferred contributions, emergency funds, life-event savings etc. Think of it as something I'd touch before say I had to sell the house. For good or for bad, I'm most comfortable bucketing various investments; thus I'd rather think of my 401(k) to be completely independent of all my other savings, etc. I realize that this violates the general principle(s) of viewing ones assets as a unified whole and other optimizations that come from that but I just rather have these accounts isolated from each other. FWIW, I am 35yrs old, married with a stable income oscillati...