Search found 61 matches

by baldeagle
Sun Aug 14, 2011 4:40 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Master Thread for Portland, Oregon
Replies: 161
Views: 94375

Yes! There are meetings in Portland! We've been holding them once per quarter for the past few years.

If interested in being on the distribution list, please PM me. Current list has 34 names. Typical attendance ranges from 8 to 12.

Ron
by baldeagle
Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Medicare Advantage Programs
Replies: 34
Views: 4148

We faced the same decision last year when we became eligible for medicare. It was very confusing for quite a while with SO MANY options compared to the 3 choices of group insurance offered by my prior employers. With much study and many marketing visits, it all became clearer, though MA plans remained the most complicated because of all their copays, etc. The way we finally made the decsion was to make models of our annual health care needs (office visits, labs, xrays, meds, etc), one for a sick year, another for a well year, make a mix, and run the number of competing providers. For well years, all the MA plans were the cheapest (at that time). For sick years, Medigap was the cheapest, though one MA plan was in a dead heat with it. We fina...
by baldeagle
Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:39 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Recommendations for lodging at Sanibel Island, FL?
Replies: 14
Views: 2941

The Island Inn
by baldeagle
Sun May 16, 2010 6:11 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dell Computers and Fraud
Replies: 19
Views: 3510

Same as Judsen. I currently have 4 Dells, both LT and DT. I've had at least as many before. And I've bought many for others. The product quality and buying experience has always been at least as good as any of the alternatives. Especially HP!
by baldeagle
Sun May 09, 2010 10:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bringing your own wine to a restaurant
Replies: 30
Views: 4867

"Corkage" service is VERY common in mid to high level restaurants here in Portland, OR. Probably even more common at the high end as dinners may be more particular, the restaurant understands that, and caters to that clientèle.

For the typical $10-$20 fee, the diner gets high quality glassware and an opportunity to savor a cellared bottle that may simply not be available in restaurants.

If the bottle is unfinished at the end of the meal, diners may take it home or give it to their servers. I've done both.
by baldeagle
Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Determine if a Microsoft Office XP CD has been activated
Replies: 6
Views: 2294

There is usually an activation limit of three times. But I don't know how to tell how many activations remain until trying. That's why buying a used, but legitimate license may be a waste -- there may be no more activations left.
by baldeagle
Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Withdrawals from retirement portfolio
Replies: 3
Views: 1969

j elwood,

I've been retired about 5 years, have about the same asset allocation as you do, and withdraw about 3.5% annually. I have followed your second strategy in combination with a "yes" answer to your question.

I.e., I feed all dividends into money market accounts for spending and rebalance when allocations move outside 5%-age point bands. I also keep about 3 years of expenses in MM or short term bonds. It is a combination emergency fund, opportunity fund, extraordinary expense fund (car, house painting, etc.), and plain old "help me sleep at night" fund. With a 60/40 allocation, I saw quite a hit during this "great recession," but I never waivered and always slept well.
by baldeagle
Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My Dell Rant
Replies: 38
Views: 5543

Nothing but good experience with Dell. I own 3 desk tops and 2 laptops currently with OSes including Windows 2000, XP, Win7, and Ubuntu Linux. All solid.

I also configure, buy, and install systems for other people and chose Dell exclusively. Never a problem -- all machines are solid, fast, and economical.

Some people I know have had problems (DVD drive, Video driver). All received good service when making a claim.

Maybe there is another Dell? An evil twin?
by baldeagle
Thu Oct 22, 2009 1:23 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Master Thread for Portland, Oregon
Replies: 161
Views: 94375

Just a reminder for all interested in joining the Portland Diehards -- PM me with your email address so I can add you to the list.

Ron
by baldeagle
Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:01 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Master Thread for Portland, Oregon
Replies: 161
Views: 94375

mr.ajandkj --

PM me and I'll put you on the list. We have a standing, quarterly meeting on the second Tuesday of the last month of each quarter. December 8th is the next. But, as Munir wrote, Oregonians are pretty laid back, so we miss a meeting sometimes.
by baldeagle
Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Dedicated Computer Used Solely for On-Line Investing?
Replies: 64
Views: 9885

Thanks CyberBob. Yes, I have current virus protection, firewall, anti-phishing, multiple anti-spyware, etc, on all machines.

I even put my 4 year olds' machine on Ubuntu once they stopped supporting Windows Me.
Boglenaut, try also running as a Limited User instead of as Administrator, which is what Windows defaults to. It adds yet another level of protection against malware.
by baldeagle
Mon Nov 17, 2008 3:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Which companies have the reputation for good 401ks?
Replies: 11
Views: 2973

Yes, still true about IBM.
by baldeagle
Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:53 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Retiree Spending Survey
Replies: 45
Views: 10316

Hi Rick, We are aged 64. Regarding your questions: 1) How long you have been retired. 2) If you are spending more or less than you anticipated. 3) How your spending has changed over the years. 4) How you anticipate your spending will change in the future. 5) If the current market downturn has changed your spending plans, and if so, how. 1) 3.5 years. 2) Spending what we expected (and what we spent while working). 3) Spending nearly the same every year. 4) Expect spending will rise next year because of increase in health insurance, then return to current the following year when we go on Medicare. 5) Current downturn has not yet changed spending. We live pretty much on the yield of portfolio plus SS and a micro pension. We will examine 2008 y...
by baldeagle
Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:44 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: IRS wants FREE e-filing
Replies: 29
Views: 6390

MickeyD -- how do you get the free TT from Vanguard? CD in the mail?
by baldeagle
Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:38 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Which investment book should I read next?
Replies: 18
Views: 4325

hudson 4351,

I'll relate a conversation I had recently with Bill Bernstein about the two books of his on your list.

I had asked him to autograph my copy of Intellegent Allocator. Then I asked him if should read Four Pillars. "Did you understand IA?", he asked. "Yes," I said. "Then, you don't need to read 4P."
by baldeagle
Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:23 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Master Thread for Portland, Oregon
Replies: 161
Views: 94375

Greensky -- Please PM me with your email address.

Mel -- Thanks for those options. After we have the meeting, to determine what our future is, I'll get back to you.

Ron
by baldeagle
Tue Aug 12, 2008 1:39 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Master Thread for Portland, Oregon
Replies: 161
Views: 94375

Bruce,

Yesterday (finally!) I sent email to all 15 names I have on the list to discuss an organizing meeting in September. I thought you were one of them. Did you receive it?

Ron
by baldeagle
Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [poll] When will (or did) you retire?
Replies: 63
Views: 15357

Three years ago I retired from 40 years in the high tech business. I was 60.5 years old. Celebrated my 59.5 birthday as a prelude to independence just one year later. I'm loving every minute and have never looked back. Never have a spare minute either! So much to do.

I volunteer 1-2 days per week at a retirement community making computer help house calls, typically 5-10 calls per day. They love it. So do I. Also, I do a tiny business in computer consulting and I help friends and family with investment questions.
by baldeagle
Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:22 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should fixed income securities go in your Roth?
Replies: 23
Views: 5321

LH, interesting idea...

I'm doing some of that but not intentionally for that reason. I am putting a substantial amount of money market in my Roth as I will have spent down the taxable account within the next couple years, and will still need to have an emergency account. So, part of the Roth will hold that.
by baldeagle
Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Firefox
Replies: 42
Views: 9715

I'm a long-time user of FF and Yahoo email.

I installed FF3 straight from the can on the day it came out. Zero problems with anything, including Yahoo email.
by baldeagle
Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The New Retirement Challenge
Replies: 15
Views: 4337

Taylor -- Thanks for the answers to my questions. Much appreciated.
by baldeagle
Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:24 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The New Retirement Challenge
Replies: 15
Views: 4337

Taylor, thank you for that informative post about annuities. Could you share a bit more of your decision-making process? For example:
  • What coverage were you seeking to annuitize? Just routinr living expenses?
    Did you chose single or joint annuity?
    Did you chose inflation-adjusted annuity?
Thanks!
by baldeagle
Sat May 24, 2008 8:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retirement withdrawals
Replies: 11
Views: 3274

bobbyrx,

I agree with dbr -- you will probably have to model your alternatives with a spreadsheet or program. There is no one-fits-all solution.

I had the same questions you have three years ago when I retired. I had most of the portfolio in IRA with a small amount in taxable and an even smaller amount in Roth. My model said to live on the IRA, pay taxes with the taxable, and Roth convert to the top of the 15% bracket. Tax diversification.

But I have remodeled the process and it shows that it is a bit better to live off the taxable until it is gone, and consequently Roth convert even more until I am 70.5 (I am age 63 now). My model shows that to be a superior solution for me using total portfolio value over time.
by baldeagle
Wed May 21, 2008 1:53 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Master Thread for Portland, Oregon
Replies: 161
Views: 94375

Hello all interested Portland Diehards.

I organized the coffee meeting with Bill Bernstein on Mother's day, and have an email list of around a dozen local folks of whom about 5 attended.

I'd be happy to organize a meeting of interested Portland Diehards in the next month or so, but I'm going out of town for a few weeks, and will be incommunicado. PM me with your email address if you are interested, and I will add you to the list and will take action when I return

Ron
by baldeagle
Sun May 11, 2008 3:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: S.S. at 62 or 66?? What would you do?
Replies: 61
Views: 15854

Spirit Rider -- your point of SS being 85% taxable sure applies to me. So I included that in my spreadsheet.

Christine_NM -- a good question about how asset location would affect things. I might be able to make some changes to find out. If I do, I'll post back to this thread.
by baldeagle
Sat May 10, 2008 8:45 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Oregon/Washington Diehards
Replies: 4
Views: 3225

Just to update...

This meeting is ON. Bill will be doing a "booktalk" on The Splendid Exchange at 7:30 pm at the main Portland Powell's, 10th and Burnside. Thereafter, he will be joining about half dozen of us for coffee and discussion.
by baldeagle
Thu May 08, 2008 8:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: S.S. at 62 or 66?? What would you do?
Replies: 61
Views: 15854

This decision has always been a thorny one for me too. So I did a big spreadsheet to model 7 scenarios, described below. Scenarios 5 and 6 apply to this discussion. The results of the model are shown in the first three charts, for three different economic climates, at http://www.geocities.com/baldeagleNW/. Conclusion for us: 1. Stick to our plan of having taken SS a year ago at age 62. Per our model, total portfolio value over time is only improved with late SS during protracted down economic conditions. 2. Stay open to the idea of paying back and restarting SS at age 66 or 70 anyway. Behaviorily, we may want some annuity in our portfolio out then, and SS is the best annuity I've seen. Here's the legend for the graphs: 1. Min RMD -- Target ...
by baldeagle
Tue May 06, 2008 2:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Expected Longevity of a car
Replies: 17
Views: 4993

Longevity? In miles? In years? FWIW, here's my experience:

1984 Peugeot 505 STI 4dr sedan, 4 cylinder (gas engine)
Bought new
24 years old
185K miles
Could last forever, I think, if I keep maintaining it.

1988 Toyota Camry 4dr wagon, 2.0 liter 4 cylinder
Bought new
20 years old
170K miles
Ditto the forever

1989 BMW 750iL 4dr sedan, 12 cylinder
Bought used with 3 years on it
19 years old
120K miles
Ditto the forever

It's all about taking care of them.
by baldeagle
Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: IRA distribution plan to avoid SS penalty
Replies: 66
Views: 14064

Hello Prentis, Seems like you have the same concern as I -- how to get cash for emergencies or big ticket items (e.g., new car) without having to liquidate in a down market or impose higher than normal taxation. In our case, social security is not relevant to the picture as it is taxed at 85% anyway. Here's how I'm handling it 3 years into retirement at age 63. Most of our portfolio is IRA, with maybe 10% in taxable accounts and another 5% in Roths that we have had open for many years -- just not much in them. We have been doing annual, partial conversions from IRA to Roth to the top of the 15% bracket for 3 years. An extensive spread sheet modeling of all the possibilities showed it to be the best for us. In fact, the model shows we can ke...
by baldeagle
Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Car question
Replies: 24
Views: 6222

Sotol,

In my book I'd ask myself: Why spend 25K now when I could wait five years at $1K/yr and buy a plug-in hybrid station wagon?!

Kinda what I'm doing with my 3 oldies, one of which is an '88 Camry wagon still in great condition throughout.
by baldeagle
Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: do you use software to manage your AA??
Replies: 31
Views: 8037

Quicken.

I use it for all our accounts (investing, IRAs, Roths, checking, savings) and those of both my adult kids. Quicken will manage many things, but I use it mostly for investing -- asset allocation and income monitoring -- and for overall expense tracking.
by baldeagle
Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Favorite Scotch?
Replies: 62
Views: 24047

Another vote for Lagavulin. Chewy stuff. Almost needs a fork to get through all that smokey peat. Love it!

But it is SO expensive! Around $85 per fifth now in Oregon. Five years (or more) ago, it could be had for $35 per liter in UK duty free stores. No more. One of the things I learned about duty free stores back then was that the best deals on liquor were in the duty free stores that were in the country of origin of the liquor. Obvious, I guess.

Because of this forum posting, I've become a fan of Famous Grouse for ordinary sipping, and keep my Lagavulins (both 16-year and special 10-year cask strength) for special occasions.
by baldeagle
Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:25 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Share Your Withdrawal Strategy
Replies: 28
Views: 7186

avgjoinv, We retired about three years ago at age 60. We have a 60/40 portfolio comprised of about 85% IRA, 15% taxable, and 5% Roth. After SS (taken at age 62) and a micro pension, our living expenses require a withdrawal rate of about 3.2%. We are well within the 15% FIT bracket. Answers to your questions: OVERALL STRATEGY Withdrawals are taken from taxable account first in order to use our entire 15% tax bracket to do partial Roth conversions every year. We project that we can keep doing conversions until about age 80 at which time we run out of bracket, and the RMDs finally exceed what we would withdraw from the IRA if it were our choice. When we run out of taxable in about 2 years, we will withdraw living expenses from IRA and taxes on...
by baldeagle
Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:57 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retirement Tax Planning
Replies: 6
Views: 1780

Midpack,

I think you can only use the existing tax code in your spreadsheets and then try sensitivity analysis as noted by Magellan. When the code changes you change your spreadsheet and run it again.

In my post on "Best" withdrawal decisions I had to face the same issue as you. I built columns for AGI, tax bracket tops, deductions, and exemptions, all annually inflated, and finally taxable income computed from the preceding columns.
by baldeagle
Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: "Best" withdrawal decisions
Replies: 8
Views: 3109

CABob,

Both -- I only did the SS analysis for both of us together.

I could run it the other ways (repay/restart her not me, me not her), but I am guessing that whatever I do with my benefit will dominate the results because my benefits are slightly more than 2x my wife's.
by baldeagle
Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: "Best" withdrawal decisions
Replies: 8
Views: 3109

Thanks all for your valuable comments. I finally figured out how to get a crude web site going at Geocities to post some of the Excel charts I made from my model. You can see them here: http://www.geocities.com/baldeagleNW The first three charts show how portfolio value changes over time for the seven scenarios. My original post only described five scenarios but I've included two more here: 1. Min RMD -- Target Roth converting so as to keep MRDs from ever exceeding our personal IRA withdrawal needs. I.e., we wag the tail, the tail doesn't wag us. 2. Min 25% bracket -- Target Roth converting so as to keep us out of the 25% bracket for life after age 70.5. These are both pretty heavy conversions, especially the second one. Neither fares well ...
by baldeagle
Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: "Best" withdrawal decisions
Replies: 8
Views: 3109

"Best" withdrawal decisions

We are a couple of 63-year-olds who retired about three years ago, and took SS at age 62. I have always felt that financial decisions made in the ten years between when we retired and age 70.5, when we cede withdrawal and tax control to MRDs, could be significant for the rest of our lives. In particular, the multi-variable decisions of account withdrawal sequencing, Roth conversion, and SS repay/restart seemed particularly important. But what decision is “best?” I have read many books, articles, and posts that address these decisions individually, but saw nothing that I could map wholly and quantitatively to our situation. So, this post describes what we did to figure it out for us. Have any of you done something similar? Did you come to si...
by baldeagle
Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:48 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Your withdrawal rates in retirement?
Replies: 82
Views: 20324

rwwoods,

Yes, i-orp is an interesting calculator. It takes a perspective of tax minimization. It was recently updated to correctly capture the lowest Fed brackets.

Downside is that it assumes annual portfolio returns are equal to whatever average rate of return you specify up front. As we know, any given year's return is very likely not to equal the average.

It's another useful tool in the kit.
by baldeagle
Mon Dec 24, 2007 11:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Simba's backtesting spreadsheet [a Bogleheads community project]
Replies: 1370
Views: 824457

Malachi -- "Trev's awesome spreadsheet"? You mean Simba's?
by baldeagle
Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Turbo Tax by Vanguard
Replies: 45
Views: 22481

I'ved used them both for many years. Mostly use Turbo Tax now because of sucky customer service with Tax Cut.

Pricing varies a lot for TT. Each year Intuit sends me a CD for both state and federal that I can load, activate online, and pay for online. That's the most expensive approach. Costco sells the combo package for about $35 now, but the $15 discount coupon just came in the mail, so in January the whole thing will be $20. For that price, I sure will walk the Costco parking lot :-)
by baldeagle
Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:54 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Filling 15% bracket with IRA withdrawals
Replies: 28
Views: 7320

Rich_in_tampa, We do something like you described at 63 years old and retired 2.5 years. We have assets in both taxable and (mostly) tax deferred locations. We live comfortably under the top of the 15% bracket taking withdrawals from IRAs, and paying taxes on them from the taxable account. Even so, I have forecast MRDs will probably force us into the 25% bracket for many years once they commence. So we also do a partial Roth conversion each year where the combination of withdrawals and conversions takes us to the top of the 15% bracket. Taxes on those Roth conversions are also paid from the taxable account. Re-forecasting the effect of MRDs with this plan shows we should avoid the 25% bracket most of the time after age 70.5. This gets money...
by baldeagle
Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:29 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Windows Vista.....whaddaya think?
Replies: 105
Views: 28314

Windows Vista

My experience: 1. I bought a decent uniprocessor Compaq with AMD Athlon 64 3800+ processor, 512MB RAM, and standard 7200rpm SATA hard drive. a. Came with Vista Basic. Ran so slow it was unusably frustrating by anyone with moderate PC experience. b. I rebuilt it from scratch with WinXP home as part of a dual boot config. It ran wonderfully on XP, but was a slug on Vista. c. Upgraded RAM to 1GB. Vista ran only moderately better. Still was completely unsatisfactory compared to XP. 2. "Playing" with Vista PCs at Costco. Typical PCs are dual core with 1GB to 3GB RAM. Operating system responsiveness to most input commands is noticeably slower than similar XP systems I have run. 3. Surfing the gamers forums, I have read that Vista runs 2...
by baldeagle
Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is a hardware firewall enough?
Replies: 50
Views: 12154

I never use Defender anymore. It never showed any errors on my weekly scan. Three other Spyware programs (Ad-Aware, SpyBot, and ZoneAlarm Pro) ALWAYS showed something! Maybe they are just better at marketing (keep showing the value of their product by always finding something).

Spyware Doctor seems to be a problem. I've removed it from three PCs in the last three weeks. Sucks up huge amounts of RAM, and then just runs slowly. On my 2GB rig, it wanted 400MB all by itself.

BE
by baldeagle
Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to help Dad escape bad ML broker
Replies: 19
Views: 4452

Selling bonds

Alvinsch,

I had a similar situation a few years back -- not with munis but with taxable treasuries and agency bonds. I had thought to transfer them to Vanguard from Ameritrade, but still the charge to sell would have been about $750.

Instead, I opened an account at ZionsDirect, transferred in the bonds, and sold both of them for $11 each, a total of $22. Saved over $700! The proceeds are still there, invested in other stuff.

I have had very positive experiences with ZD since.

BE
by baldeagle
Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:57 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Another cheap computer question
Replies: 14
Views: 4048

Valuethinker, MS stopped supporting Win98. I think it was around June of this year.

I agree with you about Vista. I just bought an AMD Athlon 3800 based Compaq for my wife with Vista Basic. Soooooooooo slow. Unusably slow. I rebuilt it with XP home and it is a beauty. I think XP may be the peak of MS's OS accomplishments for the home environment.
by baldeagle
Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wanted -- easy to use backup strategy
Replies: 36
Views: 10375

Backup

I also view backup of data separately from backup of software.

For data, I've used Iomega Automatic Backup Pro for over a year now on my network of two computers, and have installed it for other people as well. We all like it and use it the same way -- namely, backing up data files in real time as they change. So we don't have to schedule anything. We are always backed up. I use two external drives -- one at home and another off site in a safe deposit box at the bank. Every so often I swap drives.

I don't backup software. Probably should, but failures are so rare that the work to rebuild a system's software from scratch just doesn't hit me very often.
by baldeagle
Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Simba's backtesting spreadsheet [a Bogleheads community project]
Replies: 1370
Views: 824457

Hi Simba,

Something happened to the 35 year run for CHP on the Portfolio tab in rev-6g. The table still shows the $481k ending value, but the graph below it tops out around $100K. Graph looks just like the run to its right for 22 years.
by baldeagle
Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:44 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How are you using Simba's backtest spreadsheet?
Replies: 20
Views: 6913

Simba's SS is immensely fun and interesting to play around with. My observations:
  • 1. The CHP is ctually a pretty optimum arrangement of its 7 asset classes.
    2. My own portfolio compares pretty well.
    3. Some of Larry Swedroe's interesting and unconventional AAs (as noted in his earlier postings and snippet of a paper he wrote) would have worked out pretty well in the past as shown by postings by gbs. "Pretty well" to me means market returns with much lower SDs and lower stock/bond ratios.

As a retiree, item 3 above is very tempting to consider. But also very scarry to consider replacing the "normal" asset classes with small value, emerging market, commodities, and REITs. But it sure is interesting...
by baldeagle
Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:44 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Retirement planning software - affordable
Replies: 8
Views: 3990

Clutch, also look here http://www.gummy-stuff.org for MANY spreadsheets.
by baldeagle
Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Has Your Portfolio Beat DFA?
Replies: 49
Views: 23495

gbs,

Your response to Richard was really quite impressive!

How did you come up with that approach to portfolio modeling? And what do you make of it for real life guidance?

I think Larry Swedroe posted something a bit like this a week or so ago, and even posted part of an client paper his firm wrote. But I lost track of the thread...