Bogleheads.org

For those of you that have brokered CDs through Vanguard, how does VG handle the 1099s? Do you get a consolidated 1099 form or a 1099 for each individual brokered CD?

Sounds like you're not really looking for an "alarm" system per se, just something to let you know if a person leaves the house. If your loved one doesn't mind being "watched," a set of Wyze cameras could accomplish what you want. Just point one at each exit point (and turn on motion detection) and it will send a push notification to your phone and upload a video clip when it sees movement at the door. It also gives you two way audio so you could talk to the person. If there is a concern about the loved one being "watched," you could use one of their newer water resistant v3 cameras and place it outside looking at the door. Wyze cams are cheap. I've been running them a couple years now and they have been *extre...

22twain wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:44 am ...
Have you tried Settings --> Display & Brightness --> Auto-Lock --> Never?
...

That setting is not always available if you're hooked up to an exchange server. Sometimes the server enacts a security policy that deletes the "never" option.

02nz wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:59 am ...
I'm in the camp that slightly prefers Touch ID but I don't understand your complaint. When music is playing, the lock screen shows back/forward, volume, and play/pause controls - those are accessible without unlocking, just tap the screen and the controls appear. And if you're connected by Bluetooth (or CarPlay), your car's audio controls (whether in the center stack or on your steering wheel) also work for those functions.
...

True. But if you get the music screen up and let it time out, then have to go back to nav, you're screwed (which happens often enough to be irritating). CarPlay? LOL - I drive boglehead cars - CarPlay won't be available to me for another decade or so.

FaceID is an awesome piece of tech. It works great regardless of hats, caps, glasses, etc. I can't think of more than a couple of times that it hasn't worked instantly. I despise FaceID. It was a major downgrade from TouchID. Why? Because FaceID essentially requires you to hold the phone in your hand and point it at your face. TouchID, on the other hand, only requires a finger on the button. You can unlock without even looking at the phone. Why does this matter? Typical use case for me is to have the phone mounted on the car dash to use for music/navigation. Using it for nav is not usually a big deal because nav apps usually keep the screen on. But music apps may or may not. If they don't and the screen locks, you *must* grab the phone and ...

MoneyDance.
There are threads around here about it.

I am also not a lawyer and am not even a TSP participant, but I think you may be mixing terms. A "beneficiary participant" is not the same thing as a "non-spousal beneficiary." For example, assume a TSP participant passes and had designated two beneficiaries; a spouse and an adult child. The adult child would be a non-spousal beneficiary and could, as you point out, roll his inherited death benefits into an inherited IRA. The spouse on the other hand could choose to do the same thing (roll death benefits into an inherited IRA) or could choose to remain in the TSP as a beneficiary participant. Should the spouse choose to become a beneficiary participant, when he passes, *all* funds in his beneficiary participant account *...

acegolfer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:39 am ...
Can anyone confirm Moneydance auto-downloads transaction data from Ally Bank? It doesn't seem to.

I don't think it does. Here's the list of supported banks:
https://infinitekind.com/fi

And a support article:
https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb/o ... -downloads

But, for me, I never understood why anyone even wanted that ability. I much prefer entering the data myself so that I understand what's going on. With auto downloads/imports, I'd be depending on the downloaded data to have correct and consistent categories every single time.

LifeIsGood wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 4:39 am I have been using Callcentric for E-911 service and their free phone number since switching to Google Voice. It appears that effective March 1st, this service will increase to $2.50/month. Is everyone staying with Callcentric or is there another company to consider these services? The Caller ID is VERY important to me.

I use GV as the front end ($0) and I'm currently paying $1.50/month with Anveo for E911. But I had to pre-fill my Anveo account with a minimum of $25.

02nz wrote: ↑Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:52 pm OK, I'm going to be the grammar Nazi: It should read: Do others dislike Vanguard's new website as much as I?

Unless you're asking whether we dislike the website as much as we dislike you.

+1, and thank you for not letting me be the only one who hears fingernails on a chalkboard when I read that.

But as to OP's question; I agree the website is not as good as before. Similarly, I utterly despise the forced migration to brokerage accounts and the additional clutter that came with it. My simple, easy-to-follow mutual fund statements have become significantly more cluttered, complicated, and confounding.

But then, I am an old fogey who doesn't like change (or bad grammar).

RickBoglehead wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:37 pm

targ wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:33 pm

RickBoglehead wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:01 pm ..
Right. $30 or less and it's at GV forever.

Well, at least until Google kills GV.

In that case it will be stuck in GV forever, because Google will never plan ahead for killing off a product.

Touche!

RickBoglehead wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:01 pm ..
Right. $30 or less and it's at GV forever.

Well, at least until Google kills GV.

diy60 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 11:10 am ...
So we opted not to port our number (not sure you can port a landline to Google Voice anyway).

To bad they don't make some kind of docking station that has all of the call/receive functions handled thru the iPhone lightening connector. I don't know if that is even possible.

You can port a landline to GV, just not in one step. We ported to Ting since BestBuy sells a sim for $10 that includes $30 of Ting service. Then ported that over to GV. Total cost to port was $30 ($10 for the Ting card + the $20 fee to Google).

They do make those:
https://www.amazon.com/Docking-Station- ... desk+phone

I realize you want your current number(s) to ring your landlines so this is not really what you want, but presumably you used to have a "house" phone so if you're willing to have that again... Get a free Google Voice number and an ObiHai. The Obi would light up all your house phones easily. But, there is no 911 service with GV so if you need that, you'd have to add one. I use Anveo for 911 and it's something like $25/year. There are several other 911 providers that work with GV. If you have an old cell phone lying around, you could also get yourself a FreedomPop sim card, sign up for their free plan, and get an Xlink BTTN like was mentioned above. You'd pair that cell phone with the BTTN and leave it on a charger right next to the...

...My data goes back to 2000, but don't feel passionate about it. Moneydance can import QIF files exported from quicken, and has a 90 day money back guarantee, may play with it. I may also decide that I don't need the online functionality all that much and stick with Quicken 2016. ... I have not tried this in a very, very, long time, but my experience with trying to import my Quicken data into MoneyDance was a disaster. Granted this was way back around 2000 and MD has come a long way since, but, Quicken and MD are fundamentally different* so it was going to be a significant effort to convert my data. So significant that I just started fresh in MD. I did keep all my old Quicken data files and installer files. I even keep around a virtual wi...

AstroJohn wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:27 pm Gnucash has a pretty steep learning curve, but does a good job once you master it.

Moneydance is the best alternative to Quicken I have found. Works great on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Reasonable cost and upgrade cycle, and so far no talk of an annual subscription approach.

Ditto on GnuCash. And it's more of a "checkbook" interface than what I consider a Quicken-like tool. But I've only dabbled in it off and on over the years so my knowledge is limited.

+bazillion on MoneyDance. Been using it (on multiple platforms) since I dumped Quicken in the late 90s.

Search the forum for either GnuCash or MoneyDance and you've find several discussions about them as alternatives to Quicken.

For me, the easiest path I've found is Make a bootable backup of the old machine to an external drive via SuperDuper, CCC, or something similar. Remove drive from old machine, put it in an enclosure so you can access it externally if needed. Store that drive in a safe location (preferably off-site) Set up new machine from scratch, no migration assistant, nothing - totally from scratch. Pull must-have items from old machine's backup. Keep the old machine's backup handy for a few months, pulling data as you realize you need it. After six months or so of not needing the old machine's backup drive, wipe it and start using it as a backup drive for the new one. After a year of not ever needing the old machine's safely stored drive, wipe it and st...

I can’t recall exactly, but the last time I checked it, seems like it used about 500Mb in a workday (8hrs). Basically that would imply a bitrate of 128Mbps.

Basically, it’s a data hog like any streaming service.

O, and I have the app set to use the lowest quality stream available to save data. So you could use even more if you choose.

2pedals wrote: ↑Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:51 pm ...
The disadvantage to using E911 rather than a land line is, if you lose power to your VOIP device and access to your internet service you are out of luck.

You can put your VOIP device on a UPS so a power outage won't take it down. But, as 2pedals notes, that is only part of the potential problem since it's still dependent on the internet. But, where we live, it's a moot point these days anyway since it's almost impossible to get copper wire phone service any more. We had it, but eventually went with cable/voip and now we can't find any providers that would reconnect the copper. It's voip or nothing now.

mrmass wrote: ↑Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:26 pm I'm considering cutting my "land" line but I want the 911 service to be 100%. Does anyone have any first hand experience dialing 911 from an e911 provider? It appears there are lots of subscribers but few people that have used it.

With Anveo, you can dial 933 to verify your Obi setup is working correctly and has your information correct. But if you want a true test, you'll need to call your local 911 center's non-emergency number and set up a pre-arranged time to make a real call to 911.

open_circuit wrote: ↑Mon Oct 29, 2018 8:57 am I have subscribed to the Anveo service for several years. I have never needed to use 911 on that line, so I can't comment on whether it actually works from first-hand experience. It is easy to set up and only $15 per year. Additionally, when Anveo detects loss of connection to my obi device, I get an e-mail notification. The side effect of this is that I know when the internet service at my home loses connection or reconnects, since Anveo notifies me of these events.

+1 on anveo, but their prices went up to something like $25/yr a while back. But, if you look carefully at their website and pick the right buttons, you can get it for $18/yr.

If the Glow was so much better because of the physical page turn buttons, why not recommend one of the two models (Voyage and Oasis) that have physical page turn buttons in addition to the touchscreen? I love my (first gen) Oasis, though I don't get the opportunity to read as often as I'd like. Lots of audiobooks while walking the dog though. Honestly, I've been out of the ereader scene so long now that I was unaware of those. I'd pass on the Oasis because its asymmetry would annoy the heck out of me. The Voyage though looks pretty good. But wow, that's a big price delta just to get real buttons. O - and one other reason the jailbroken glow was better was because you could have it show the current book's cover art when "off." So ...

Best ever was a jailbroken Nook Glow running the Kindle app. Best of both worlds - superior nook hardware with superior Kindle experience.

Nook Glow was better because it had physical buttons (in addition to screen touch) to turn pages. Very handy on the beach when the (touch-only) Kindle Paperwhite becomes useless because wet hands can't turn pages.

Kindle Paperwhite reading experience is great - the screen is just awesome.

Anyway, I'd go with the Kindle Paperwhite if I were buying something new today.

There are numerous ones out there.

Look into GRAMPS. It's open source and cross-platform.

If you are interested in going a bit further, there is an iOS app called FamilyTree. It's also free and ties into the Mormon database. Also accessible via web browser.

And of course, for Mac types, my personal favorite is Mac FamilyTree.

Before you do anything, peruse this site: https://www.scanyourentirelife.com/start-here/ Particularly, read the three part series on filename conventions and read all the comments on all the parts. The naming convention you choose and how you uniquely ID each photo will either make your effort almost trivial or gargantuan. Also, it *might* be worthwhile for you to buy some software that will identify your duplicates. I've scanned thousands of photos and have run across some that were part of those "double-prints" packages from back in the day, but the multiple copies were strewn across multiple albums and boxes so you'd recognize you had a duplicate, but would have no idea when/where the various copies were. Now I just scan as I g...

I should hope someone in the medical profession would know better than to have "Hey Siri" or "Ok Google" or anything similar turned on. IANAL, but that's *got* to be a HIPAA violation of some sort since everything you say following one of those commands gets sent to the ether rather than being processed on the phone like when you use the basic voice control. Even if not a violation, that's just too big a risk to inadvertently send potentially private data out unsecured.

I was really hoping the new models would bring back some form of touchID. FaceID in a car is beyond annoying. It is far too finicky about lighting conditions, mounting location, and mounting angle.

If you really, really, need to access the phone for a call while driving, your best bet is to find an app that keeps the screen on all the time (a nav app like Waze is good for this).

That said, even with Siri off and no app keeping the screen on, you can can still use the side button to activate voice control and make a call without ever taking your eyes off the road.

Alignment? I drive on solid axles. There's nothing to align or adjust (except toe-in) unless something breaks.

I once had a tire shop place tell me I needed an alignment. Since I knew it was BS, I asked the guy what, exactly, would he be adjusting. After stammering a second or two he finally said that well, I had solid axles so basically there's nothing to adjust.

Never went back to that shop.

I had one of those little Generac inverter units. It was a piece of junk. With fewer than 50 hours on it, the inverter module died. And those 50 hours were primarily just the monthly start/run cycles I did just to keep the gas fresh. It might have had 10 hours of real use on it. A replacement module would have cost nearly as much as a whole new generator so the whole thing went to the trash pile. Maybe I just got a lemon, but I decided that like most things, you get what you pay for so I got a Honda to replace it and never looked back. A word of warning too, whatever you get, try your best to put real gas on it. The ethanol kills these little things. If you can’t avoid ethanol where you live, either drain the crab every time you use it or s...

parigi723 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 29, 2018 4:07 am Hello everyone!
Are many of you subscribed to Consumer Reports?.Do you trust them?
Many thanks! parigi.

[edited thread title for clarity - moderator prudent]

I am not.
No, not at all.

My personal experience with T-mo is a mixed bag. Where it works, it's great. But the rural areas where I frequently go have no coverage so it's not an option.

If you're happy with ATT's footprint and are only trying to save $$, look into Cricket. They have some cheap plans and your existing ATT phones *should* work just fine.

nisiprius wrote: ↑Mon May 14, 2018 11:06 am ...The point is not that they had different opinions, the point is that nobody thought there could possibly be a difference of opinion. ...

And I'd like to think recognizing this about our own opinions is a sign of wisdom.

... All the OP is asking for is for the front page to be consistent with the professionalism of the sub-form pages. ... Then might I suggest the OP load this as his bookmarked link: www.bogleheads.org/forum/search.php?search_id=active_topics Thank you! Much easier to read than the home page. :D You're quite welcome. And this is not a dig at you, but I completely disagree with that being easier to read. I just find it fascinating that what seems so good to me is so bad to you and what seems so good to you is so bad to me. It kinda reminds me of a programming course once where we had to do a lo-hi game example. To me (and maybe half the class) lo-hi was displayed in an over-under layout (there was no instruction on how to do it, this was jus...

Tamalak wrote: ↑Mon May 14, 2018 9:51 am ... All the OP is asking for is for the front page to be consistent with the professionalism of the sub-form pages. ...

Then might I suggest the OP load this as his bookmarked link:
www.bogleheads.org/forum/search.php?sea ... ive_topics

UpsetRaptor wrote: ↑Mon May 14, 2018 9:28 am I agree with OP.

The look and simplicity of the entry www.bogleheads.org page may be fine for those of us who already know/love this site, but remember that all the clueless noobs out there are inundated with financial "advice" from many directions, and don't know what's good and bad. FAs all have professional looking sites. I fear the first impression here can be a turnoff.

Can't beat the price though.

If flashy-blinky modern crap is required to catch someone's interest, I seriously doubt that person is BH material to begin with. Part of the beauty of BH is that it *IS* different.

Please change nothing. BH is a refreshingly simple, easy to read, easy to navigate site. We don't need no flashy-blinky Vegas lights here!

jehovasfitness wrote: ↑Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:02 am
Maybe I'm being non-PC here, but a lot of that stuff seems to just help out bad drivers lol.. as in people not paying attention

+1
Side note, is it wrong of me to drive in a manner that causes those goofy side warning indicators to go off on the cars adjacent to me?
Another side note, we probably wouldn't need half of these 'safety' bugs, er features, if people would just hang up the effin phone and drive.

Jack FFR1846 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:52 am
I'm at a loss how this pertains to ABS. ABS simply releases pressure on the brakes when the system detects wheel lockup. Rust or initial bite or type of pad are all independent of ABS/non-ABS.

Agree that is how it is supposed to work (if it's a true 4-wheel ABS system). Just saying in my cases, it hasn't. If I were to speculate, in all my cases, these were early ABS systems with no visible sensors at each wheel. It's entirely possible the system wasn't capable of detecting a lock condition at a single wheel.

It's interesting too that you indicated problems started after brake upgrades. On my XJ, it never had any issues at all until after I replaced the pads. Then, every time it rained, one or the other front wheel would lock upon the first application of the brakes. Every. Time. Without. Fail. That was similar to the truck I had before that slid me through an intersection. The brakes would lock every time it rained, but only on the first application of the brakes. In both cases, I *know* but can't prove the problem was the inferior 'upgraded' high metal content pads/shoes. Ever since they outlawed asbestos, brakes have gained stopping power and have less fading when overused, but at the expense of a light rust film that happens when the humidit...

... My daily is a 2001 Cherokee and it doesn't have ABS. It's been a dependable car for the past 7 yrs but there have been a few times after upgrading the brakes that I've locked them up and skidded. So, I've since learned to be even more cautious at braking distances and not braking too hard. ... How did you get an '01 XJ without it? My '99 Sport model had it and it was not even an option. It did take a really really hard stop to get it to activate though. For the longest time I thought it wasn't working. I was close to taking it in to have it checked but decided to do an intentional 'panic' stop in a parking lot. It sounded like zip ties getting pulled under the dash when it finally activated - but it worked. I have had both good and bad...

I'm late to this thread, but I'll quote myself from a different thread a while back: You have half of your pay deposited in your account, half in hers. She has half her pay deposited in her account, half in yours. You have a joint account that pays for all joint expenses. At the end of the month, you each re-fund the joint account 50/50 for whatever it spent. Doing this allows you to honor that you are a couple by sharing all income and joint expenses evenly. You will have to talk to each other about those joint purchases and act like a couple. But at the same time, you can respect that you are individuals with differing ideas and approaches to things. What you spend from your account is your business, what she spends from hers is her busin...

You could get a used phone that is compatible with FreedomPop and have a $0 phone bill every month. A word of warning though, you have to sign up for a non-free plan first, and they'll try to hook you with premium services, but once you're set up, you can log in and cut your plan back to their basic completely free plan. I have this plan set up on an old hand-me-down iPhone and it works great. You could also get a used, unlocked, GSM phone and get yourself a TruSim. There's a small upfront cost for the sim and you would fund your account with a small dollar amount. There's no time limit, and no need to "top up" on a regular basis. It's truly a pay as you use it thing. I also have a funded TruSim sitting in a drawer that I only pul...

I'm running FV2 on a 2010 vintage MBPro and a 2010 vintage Mac Mini, both running Sierra, no noticeable impact.

I can't speak to CCC since I use SuperDuper! for my backups. With SuperDuper!, I use FV to encrypt an external drive and then just back up to it normally with SD's Smart Update feature. Doing it this way, only deltas are updated, no need to redo the entire thing each time.

Young is anyone 20 years behind you, old is 20 ahead.

Would anyone be willing to post a redacted copy of a VG brokerage statement?

VG's mutual fund statements are incredibly simple and easy to understand; I currently have a TDAmeritrade brokerage account and their statements give the impression that they are designed specifically to muddle, confuse, and hide information. They are decidedly NOT user-friendly. Where it takes me maybe five seconds to understand my VG statements, I spend maybe a half an hour trying to figure out all the junk in the TDA statements.

I've been avoiding transitioning my VG accounts because I'm afraid their brokerage statements will be as bad as TDA's.

If you want a free "cellular landline", and if your house is already wired for a landline, get yourself a bluetooth gateway and a FreedomPop cell phone. After the upfront hardware cost ($100-$200 depending on the hardware you need and choose), you can have basic "landline" service for free. Using a FP cell phone and a BT gateway, whenever someone calls that cell number, all the landline phones in your house ring. Conversely, when you pick up one of your landline phones, the call goes out over the FP cell phone via the BT gateway. Of course, the basic FP free plan has only a small number of minutes so it would only really work if you have little need for calls over the "landline." But, if you need more, there ar...

You have half of your pay deposited in your account, half in hers. She has half her pay deposited in her account, half in yours. You have a joint account that pays for all joint expenses. At the end of the month, you each re-fund the joint account 50/50 for whatever it spent. Doing this allows you to honor that you are a couple by sharing all income and joint expenses evenly. You will have to talk to each other about those joint purchases and act like a couple. But at the same time, you can respect that you are individuals with differing ideas and approaches to things. What you spend from your account is your business, what she spends from hers is her business. But your joint payback has to have priority. If one of you becomes unemployed or...

I stand corrected. I forgot that I had mine set to a very low threshold.

Copying and pasting passwords through your operating system should be avoided. If I recall correctly, all open applications have access to the clipboard, which could be a major problem if you have any malware running. That’s the main advantage of the browser extensions and auto fill scripts, along with convenience I think you're right about open apps having access. But I disagree with this being something to avoid. It's a matter of trust. I personally trust my knowledge of what's on my machine more than I trust a browser extension to do its job correctly. It's perfectly fair and valid for you to feel otherwise. We're both right, and both wrong. ;) But, specifically in the case of KeePass, once the info in the buffer has been pasted somewhe...

Not sure how a standalone app would fill passwords in the browser without it. I cant speak for any others, but KeePass does this using an Auto-Type function. Its kind of a scripting feature that can send keystrokes to any window. For example, if I go to my bank website and click in the username box, then just press the shortcut to tell KeePass to do its thing and it sends my login id, hits TAB a few times, fills in the password and hits ENTER. It recognizes the browser url or window title to resolve what site you are on and retrieve the correct user id and password. Occasionally one needs to modify the defaulf auto-type script to accomodate how a certain website handles login. For example, one of my credit card websites asks for user id th...