Search found 54 matches

by adrift
Thu May 05, 2022 3:44 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Maturing CD
Replies: 8
Views: 1463

Re: Maturing CD

I have a 6 figure CD (share certificate technically) in a Navy Federal IRA that is maturing on June 7. It's earned 3.68% APR for 40 months which has been pretty nice. I have another 6 figure Navy Federal IRA CD maturing in a year earning 2.96%. I have versions of both of these CD's. While mine obviously have different amounts and maturity dates, they are the same Navy FCU offers. You may have an additional option. Here's a description of the 2.96% (APY 3.0%) CD that you have maturing in a year link . It indicates the CD is "capped at $150k. Additional deposits are allowed throughout the term, subject to the $150k balance cap." I'm not sure if that allows you to add deposits up to $150K or you can add funds if your balance (deposi...
by adrift
Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:43 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bogleheads Live: Submit ?s for Larry Swedroe on ESG Investing
Replies: 47
Views: 5058

Re: Bogleheads Live: Submit ?s for Larry Swedroe on ESG Investing

WoodSpinner wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 8:43 am Who is the arbitrator of what qualifies as an ESG, what criteria do they use and how are the decisions made.

WoodSpinner
It depends on what is "woke" at the moment.

If war mongering becomes "woke", then arms dealers becomes acceptable:

ESG Rules Bend With War: SEB Says OK to Invest in Defense Stocks Again
by adrift
Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:53 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Travel to Vietnam, Thailand, or India
Replies: 88
Views: 10431

Re: Travel to Vietnam, Thailand, or India

I have spent time in Vietnam and Thailand and unless you really want exotic I would think twice. In both places I felt that I had to watch myself all the time as there are a lot of scams trying to get rich American wallets. If you go to the super safe, high end resorts then you really aren't experiencing the country. I stayed at a brand new Sheraton in Ho Chi Mihn city and in the day it was amazing. I went for a walk at night and thought I was going to get killed. Right outside the hotel down the road was a bar called "Apocalypse Now". The sign was red and said "no photography" so you can only imagine . I ran back to the hotel and waited for the sun to come up. Unless you literally have seen all there is to see in the U...
by adrift
Sun Dec 27, 2020 2:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Favorite Christmas Movies
Replies: 85
Views: 5543

Re: Favorite Christmas Movies

pezblanco wrote: Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:25 pm Bad Santa only gets mentioned once??? Wow, just wow. :D
I agree wholeheartedly with this. We re-watched this on Christmas day. It's been a long time since we've seen it. Billy Bob Thornton was born for this role. It holds up better than I remembered.

So, my top picks are:

#1 Die Hard (by far)
#2 Bad Santa (by far)
#3 It's a Wonderful Life (One can quibble about this. It did go downhill after Jimmy Stewart decided not to jump off the bridge.)
by adrift
Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: My Christmas Gift to You Seventy-Five Years Ago
Replies: 74
Views: 8824

Re: My Christmas Gift to You Seventy-Five Years Ago

Exactly seventy-five years ago on Christmas Eve , I was very cold Exactly forty-five years ago on Christmas Eve , I was very cold ... Exactly 30 years later, I was serving in the Army in West Germany. I had guard duty on Christmas Eve guarding the PX with an empty M-16 rifle. At age 18, I wasn't a great soldier. At one point, I was sitting on my butt shivering on the stairs in the back of the PX. Just after I got up to resume my duty, I was confronted by a senior staff of officers, full-bird colonel if I remember correctly. I think they recognized that I was shirking my duty. But, they ignored it in order to properly honor you and your fellow heroes. I was a junior bureaucrat while in the Army, I get embarrassed when people thank me for my...
by adrift
Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyonw driving Uber for fun and pocket money in retirement?
Replies: 111
Views: 14569

Re: Anyonw driving Uber for fun and pocket money in retirement?

Here's a link to someone who tried it for week. It's a bit long. But, he writes well:

The Uber Experiment

Here's a youtube video that's pretty funny:

uber bet
by adrift
Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:22 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Domestic returns next 10 years
Replies: 45
Views: 4224

Re: Domestic returns next 10 years

CurlyDave wrote: Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:17 am But he does have one more Nobel Prize than either of us.
[Political comment removed - mod oldcomputerguy] Also, there is no Nobel prize in economics. So, you, I, and Krugman are equal.
by adrift
Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:13 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Domestic returns next 10 years
Replies: 45
Views: 4224

Re: Domestic returns next 10 years

The Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman, was asked how long they would take to recover and said "a first pass answer is never." Less than 10 hours later the markets opened higher than the previous close. If Professor Krugman can have a prediction of "never" reduced to 10 hours by the stock market, what makes any of us think that we can do better? Or that some other "expert" is able to make a sound prediction? Paul Krugman doesn't have a particularly good track record at much. But, particularly at predictions: Paul Krugman wrote in 1998, “The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in ‘Metcalfe’s law’—which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to...
by adrift
Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:14 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Changes to Morningstar Website?
Replies: 154
Views: 16840

Re: Changes to Morningstar Website?

nisiprius wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:14 pm (Added) As someone mentioned above, URLs like

http://quotes.morningstar.com/chart/fund/chart?t=VTI

still access the old charts. But for how long?
This already doesn't really work. Once you get to that page, try to add a comparison to Fidelity's new zero fee Total Stock Market fund, FZROX. You could before the downgrade. You can't now.
by adrift
Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:39 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Canada as an EM substitute
Replies: 11
Views: 1532

Re: Canada as an EM substitute

ochotona wrote: Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:00 am My investment thesis is basically to own it as a play on commodities, which have been mercilessly beaten down... mining since 2011, oil since.
You should look at the current Canadian government policy risk here as well. Currently, the Canadian government is exerting as much effort as it can to eliminate fossil fuel development. That may change in the October election. But, the election is currently a coin flip.
ochotona wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2019 10:10 pm They have lots of Russia (ugh)
Russia is betting on oil. If you are too, you might be better off betting on Russia.
by adrift
Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:47 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Navy FCU 40 month 3.75% IRA/ESA Cert
Replies: 15
Views: 2493

Re: Navy FCU 40 month 3.75% IRA/ESA Cert

Bfwolf wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:43 am With treasury yields having fallen in the last 6 months, this seems like a deal worth jumping on. I can't imagine it will last.
This has been around since December. When I opened one in late January, I was told that their plan was to offer it "through the tax season". If that's correct, it may be going away in a few days.
by adrift
Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:26 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Northwest FCU 3-year 3.04% Add-On CD
Replies: 371
Views: 46688

Re: Northwest FCU 3-year 3.04% Add-On CD

So to be clear, you're saying the CD was opened, and thus the 3 year clock started, when you opened your account. But since the money arrived a bit later, there wasn't a full 3 years' worth of interest earned. Right ? That's what I was saying. But, I think it's more complicated. I tried to confirm this. But the oldest NWFCU statement I saved was December 2015 and the online ones at NWFCU don't go back that far. I do have statements from the 2 banks I funded it with. Given that, I'm pretty sure I know what happened. First, these CDs were quirky. You could only initially fund them with $15K and then add more later up to $100K. My timeline was 10/2 opened for $15K from Bank 1; went through the agonies you alluded to including establishing a l...
by adrift
Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:34 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Northwest FCU 3-year 3.04% Add-On CD
Replies: 371
Views: 46688

Re: Northwest FCU 3-year 3.04% Add-On CD

RustyShackleford wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:15 am Yeah, definitely some days elapsed; see the earlier posts in this thread about the agonies people went through to get their funds to NWFCU. I guess it depends on if the CD was opened when the account was, or only after the money arrived. I'm not gonna lose sleep over $30 anyhow, just curious.
I went through it. At first glance, it looks like it took 9 or 10 calendar days for me to get money into the CD.
by adrift
Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:37 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Northwest FCU 3-year 3.04% Add-On CD
Replies: 371
Views: 46688

Re: Northwest FCU 3-year 3.04% Add-On CD

I suspect that it took a few days from when you opened the account and when the money you used to fund the CD arrived in the CD. If so, you were not accumulating interest on those days.
by adrift
Tue Dec 25, 2018 1:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: PenFed 3% CDs maturing: Thank you Bogleheads
Replies: 22
Views: 4771

Re: PenFed 3% CDs maturing: Thank you Bogleheads

greetje wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 1:04 pm As mine is in a IRA, I will renew into another 5 yr P Fed Cds @ 3.5%.
PenFed currently pays less for CDs in IRAs. the 5-year is 3.4%.
by adrift
Fri Dec 14, 2018 1:24 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Robinhood to offer 3% cash management program, not a bank account]
Replies: 153
Views: 15443

Re: 3% Interest on checking and savings account - Robinhood

Morgan Dollar 1921 wrote: Thu Dec 13, 2018 1:01 pm I drilled down, chuckled when I found they were using an old line small Ohio bank, "Sutton Bank, founded in 1878, I thought, well they survived the Great Depression, so that was the first thumbs up. It ties right in with their marketing of trust.
When I saw your post, the first thing I thought of was the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton's possibly apocryphal quote "I rob banks because that's where the money is".

The second thing I thought of was Barings Bank
by adrift
Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:39 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When did you start flying business class?
Replies: 155
Views: 18966

Re: When did you start flying business class?

While I've flown business class a few times when I was working, I've never ponied up the money (or frequent flyer points) to do so on my own. I do remember the first time I flew 1st class. In the mid 1970's, I was 17 years old and in the US Army. At that time, the airlines had something called military standby. I purchased a ticket at a reduced rate which entitled me to a flight only if there was a seat available. I was flying from Tulsa, Oklahoma to South Carolina. My standby seat turned out to be in 1st class. In the seat next to me was a stuffed wild boar's head. Someone had shot a wild boar, stuffed its head, and bought a 1st class ticket to fly it home. One of the stewardesses was creeped out enough that she eventually brought a blanke...
by adrift
Sat Feb 17, 2018 11:57 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Laddering CDs: 6 mos v. 1 year?
Replies: 11
Views: 1851

Re: Laddering CDs: 6 mos v. 1 year?

diyinvestor wrote: Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:27 am Ally is now paying 2.05% for a 1-year CD and 1.75% for a 6-month term.
Actually, Ally is paying 2.00% for a 1-year CD and 2.05% for 18-months (minimum $25K in both cases).

NASA FCU (free to join) is paying 2.25% for 11-months (minimum $20K).
by adrift
Thu Feb 08, 2018 2:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: free dinner investing seminar
Replies: 396
Views: 46430

Re: free dinner investing seminar

I'd be tempted to go once to see how good the steak was. We once went to one of these presentations. The venue was a conference hall owned by a local vineyard. I figured I'd at least get a nice glass of wine out of the deal. They really do have nice wine. This was in either 2006 or 2007. Before I went, I speculated on what they were likely to try to sell me. I guessed it would be Variable Indexed Annuities which were then and now one of the worst investment choices. Even though I knew this was a bad investment vehicle, I did a bit of preparatory research to be able to counter any false claims. The evening went like this. - No glass of wine. I think they are missing a trick here. If you want to sell financial snake-oil, plenty of free booze...
by adrift
Sat Jan 23, 2016 4:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wash Sale question
Replies: 14
Views: 1335

Wash Sale question

If I have the following purchases and sales of stock XYZ

Jan 01, 2015 Buy 1,000 shares @ $40
Dec 01, 2015 Buy 100 shares @ $60
Jan 01, 2016 Buy 50 shares @ $55
Jan 15, 2016 Sell 150 shares @ $50

When I sell, I use specific ID to identify the last 150 purchased. Do I have a wash sale?
by adrift
Wed Dec 23, 2015 1:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard TurboTax - Not Available 2015?
Replies: 327
Views: 64133

Re: Vanguard TurboTax - Not Available 2015?

Fidelity is offering a free version of TurboTax Premier if you are at an appropriately exalted level.

Log in, click "Guidance & Retirement", click "Taxes". If it is available to you, you should see "TurboTax® Online Premier

Receive a free federal tax return with e-file." on the right.

Even though it says online, at some point you get to choose desktop instead. It'll charge you if you want to e-file state.
by adrift
Sun Oct 12, 2014 3:00 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Draw down taxable saving first?
Replies: 43
Views: 5385

Re: Draw down taxable saving first?

I plan to retire in 2 years. I will have to start using savings to fund retirement. Does it make sense to draw down taxable savings first? Most of mine in in TSM and Vanguard International. Have you seen the "Optimal Retirement Planner" website and calculator? If you take the time to put in your information it will give you an output showing the highest value way to draw down. The calculator : http://i-orp.com/ The overview : http://i-orp.com/coverORP.html Be advised that you should not trust the "Optimal Retirement Planner" website and calculator. It gives tax advise but it does not really consider the tax code when it does so. Please, see this comment from the developer of this dangerous tool here: http://www.early-re...
by adrift
Mon Aug 04, 2014 1:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Opinions on Denver Bond program
Replies: 15
Views: 1848

Re: Opinions on Denver Bond program

bridenour wrote: The reason the rate is so high is because this is basically a gift to Denver &/or CO residents.
The bonds are all sold out. That rate is indeed a "gift".
by adrift
Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:53 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tax Bracket Management at 15%/25% Boundary
Replies: 33
Views: 4649

Re: Tax Bracket Management at 15%/25% Boundary

livesoft wrote:Here is the ZERO taxes thread with some ideas: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87471

You will need to be handy with TurboTax and http://www.i-orp.com
I agree with your comment about TurboTax.

For i-orp, not so much. People seem to like i-orp. I think it's because it generates a lot of numbers. But, as the developer of i-orp says here it only crudely considers the tax code in its tax advice.
by adrift
Sun May 25, 2014 2:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Roth IRA/RMD/Obamacare questions
Replies: 13
Views: 2110

Re: Roth IRA/RMD/Obamacare questions

Play with i-orp.com a bit. It helpfully models pensions, SS, federal and (approximate) state taxes, and lots of other things. It will propose a scenario, and while I initially was pit off by what it suggested for my parents, I realized two key things: The difference was one of assumptions -- I-ORP tells you how much can be spent and then how to manage that maximum spending, while my parents want to maintain their standard of living and leave the rest to grow. Increasing the desired estate size until spending matched what they actually want, the plan it proposes looks more reasonable. With the target spending level it assumed, it was the numerically correct answer. Just a word of caution about relying on i-orp. Here the developer of i-orp s...
by adrift
Wed Feb 26, 2014 4:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bitcoin price plunges
Replies: 246
Views: 30203

Re: Bitcoin price plunges

She can go online and transfer money from her bank account to any other bank account in the country. Then, she e-mails proof of the transaction to the recipient and she is done. (To the recipient the bank transaction is only identified by a transaction ID, not by the sender's name or account number.) I posted a link to this article earlier. What you describe is susceptible to the "transaction malleability" bug with bitcoins. From the article: On the other hand, watching for a transaction ID is an easy mistake to make, and it is kind of odd to call something a transaction ID when it can be changed. This is certainly a rough edge in the Bitcoin design, which could have been avoided and will likely be fixed in the future. This was a...
by adrift
Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:24 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bitcoin price plunges
Replies: 246
Views: 30203

Re: Bitcoin price plunges

Leeraar wrote:So, here's the question:

Bitcoin is better than USD on PayPal because ...?

L.
Can you buy heroin with PayPal?
by adrift
Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:11 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Bitcoin price plunges
Replies: 246
Views: 30203

Re: Bitcoin price plunges

Can something be a currency if everyone is either trading it instantly for USD or storing it under their "tech mattress", as opposed to being a medium of exchange? Today, I tried to understand the "transaction malleability" bug with bitcoins. I found this article that I thought explained it pretty well. One of it's throw away comments was: Typically your transaction will appear in the public ledger within about ten minutes. If this is true, you can't trade it instantly, at least not on an exchange that is taking responsible precautions. It's use as a currency is suspect as well if it takes an indeterminate amount of time for bitcoin miners to add the transaction to the public ledger and to then to be able to verify the ...
by adrift
Tue Feb 11, 2014 4:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Marginal tax rate: statutory 15%, effective 30%
Replies: 100
Views: 14009

Re: Marginal tax rate: statutory 15%, effective 30%

Kevin M wrote: I think the chart does a good job of helping to visualize the calculation of tax on line 44 with respect to how LTCG&QDI are treated.
I don't disagree with that. It took me a while to figure out when I first encountered the situation.

I want to thank you for something you posted in an earlier thread. I've been using the online version of TurboTax for years. Mostly, based on your comments about "Forms" in an earlier thread, I've converted to the desktop version. I wish I'd done so years ago.
by adrift
Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Marginal tax rate: statutory 15%, effective 30%
Replies: 100
Views: 14009

Re: Marginal tax rate: statutory 15%, effective 30%

^adrift, can you be more specific. What do you mean by "total tax"? Your hypothetical tax increased by a certain amount. You can then divide the additional tax amount by different amounts of taxable income to get different ratios. If you divide the additional tax by the additional income, you get 30%. If you divide the additional tax by some other income value, like your total income, the denominator will be larger and the ratio (%) will be smaller. So what are the numerator and denominator you use to get 24.54%? Kevin I'm using " Tax " (line 44) and " total tax " (line 61) as they appear on Form 1040. I have to file Form 1116 to compute my Foreign Tax Credit (line 47). I can only take credit for part of the F...
by adrift
Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Marginal tax rate: statutory 15%, effective 30%
Replies: 100
Views: 14009

Re: Marginal tax rate: statutory 15%, effective 30%

Kevin M wrote:Of course for completeness, more sections would have to be added ...
tfb wrote:I agree it's too complicated ...
It is complicated. But, it is not complete.

I've been aware of the 30% rate for several years. I attempt to do ROTH conversions as close as possible to the top of the 15% bracket as I can.

Using Turbo Tax, I just simulated adding an extra $5,000 beyond the top of the 15% bracket to my Roth conversion. What I see is that indeed my Tax on this extra $5,000 is 30%. But, that my total tax on this extra $5,000 is 24.54%.

Do you know what the additional complication is?
by adrift
Sun Dec 15, 2013 2:03 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How much to replace a watch battery?
Replies: 59
Views: 92024

Re: How much to replace a watch battery?

mike143 wrote:Now I wear a Seiko Kinetic so no batteries for me.
I tried this route. It was a clunky watch that died faster than any battery watch I ever had. I had it fixed once. It died again in a few months and I tossed it. I've owned several Seiko's over the years. I really liked the first one. It took a string of subsequent crappy ones to make me resolve never to own a Seiko again.

My wife's $20 watch recently had its battery die. We bought 2 name brand replacement batteries off of e-bay for $1.99 (almost the same cost as buying 1). We replaced it ourselves. We'll see how that works out.
by adrift
Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Bitcoins as investment
Replies: 210
Views: 22578

Re: Bitcoins as investment

arkerr123 wrote:Short story - Dont mine bitcoins.

Long Story - Since everything is distributed in the bitcoin world - IE: no bank system. User's computers can do calculations in exchange for bitcoins. Basically every time a transaction is completed (anywhere), more number crunching is necessary.

I have a nice computer - it is for gaming. However, over three days it only earned about 4.5 cents.

So, dont waste your time on mining for bitcoins. I spent more in electricity than I earned.
You're bringing a knife to a gunfight.

And, it may not even be a fair gunfight.
by adrift
Sat Jul 06, 2013 5:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is there any way to shield elderly mother from phone scams?
Replies: 46
Views: 4555

Re: Is there any way to shield elderly mother from phone sca

It was about my computer having a virus or malware something, the scammer was really convincing. By the way, the scammer's phone number was 206-456-0661 I received a version of this as well. The claim is that they are from Windows (I guess trying to make you think it's from Microsoft) and that they are getting messages from your computer because of a virus. They want you to install some software to allow them to log in remotely. Then, they dump the system error log to show you what a mess things are. For a charge to your credit card they will clean things up. So, they've managed to steal both your credit card and your computer. Multiple scammers are involved. All of them have heavy Indian accents. I was called from 222-555-7777 . At the ti...
by adrift
Sat Mar 30, 2013 1:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [POLL] Are zillow price estimates accurate for your home?
Replies: 62
Views: 8337

Re: [POLL] Are zillow price estimates accurate for your home

When I consider how to answer this, I have to bear in mind the caution that is required for purchasing mutual funds in mind.

"Past Performance is Not Necessarily Indicative of Future Results"

In zillow's case, this should read,

'"Past Estimates are Not Necessarily Indicative of Previous Estimates"

For mutual funds, this says you're on your own for predicting the future. For zillow, it say we were clueless then; but, we'll modify our past prediction to make it look like we were not. zillow generates a very nice chart for past value. However, it does not map very closely to past predictions.

Caveat Emptor
by adrift
Wed Feb 13, 2013 4:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Invite For Free Dinner CFP
Replies: 53
Views: 4462

Re: Invite For Free Dinner CFP

I'd be tempted to go once to see how good the steak was. We once went to one of these presentations. The venue was a conference hall owned by a local vineyard. I figured I'd at least get a nice glass of wine out of the deal. They really do have nice wine. This was in either 2006 or 2007. Before I went, I speculated on what they were likely to try to sell me. I guessed it would be Variable Indexed Annuities which were then and now one of the worst investment choices. Even though I knew this was a bad investment vehicle, I did a bit of preparatory research to be able to counter any false claims. The evening went like this. - No glass of wine. I think they are missing a trick here. If you want to sell financial snake-oil, plenty of free booze...
by adrift
Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:57 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Developed+Emerging=Total International (Not)
Replies: 14
Views: 1748

Re: Developed+Emerging=Total International (Not)

Clearly_Irrational wrote:
SSSS wrote:Sometimes I regret that Canada is missing from my portfolio. But I have to wonder, does anything interesting (good or bad) ever really happen in Canada?
Tar Sands? Seems like a big deal to me.
I'm glad I have a dollop of Canada in my portfolio. My lovely wife ... she's even sweeter than Tar Sands.
by adrift
Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are YOU Currently Reading? Part IV. (07/04/2010)
Replies: 1507
Views: 401911

Re: What Book Are YOU Currently Reading? Part IV. (07/04/201

Greece's 'Odious' Debt by Jason Manolopoulos

Interesting read on what's going on in Greece and the broader Euro "odyssey".
by adrift
Wed Aug 17, 2011 1:53 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why is gold not a bubble - yet
Replies: 138
Views: 15705

Findelglorin wrote:Why do people worry about gold being in a bubble in the first place?
In 2007, it was pretty obvious to me that housing was in a bubble and that the sub-prime lending was unsustainable. I owned a house I wasn't going to sell. I didn't have a mortgage. I wasn't smart enough to understand why I should worry about the bubble popping. By 2009, I understood a little better.

I don't directly own any gold. Nor, will I. I don't know if gold is in a bubble. It seems likely. Assuming that it is and that it pops, is there something that I should be worrying about that I'm not smart enough to understand?
by adrift
Thu Apr 22, 2010 11:16 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Holiday in India in July
Replies: 30
Views: 4575

I am leaning towards Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur. If you are going to be in Agra, I'd recommend including a visit to Fatehpur Sikri One extremely important bit of advice that I have not seen mentioned (although I may have missed it), is that you need to negotiate prices. Walk up to any taxi stand and you can negotiate a great price for a 1/2 or full day of service. I negotiate aggressively, and then add on a generous tip at the end of the day. Myself and another westerner traveled with my friend from Mumbai. He'd have us stand out of sight and negotiate the best deal with the taxi driver. Then, he'd call us over. The driver would then typically balk that it should be more if it involved western tourists. But, they always honored the agreement.
by adrift
Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:01 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: VG Financial Engines Tool
Replies: 23
Views: 6170

CyberBob wrote:It's actually in a column going down the right-hand side of the page, not left.
Ooops. Sorry. It is the lower right.

For me; it recommended only minor changes. It calls for more International exposure. This may be reasonable but it's hard to say since it doesn't understand about DLS. It also recommended selling short term bonds to buy long term bonds. This just seems like bad advice.
by adrift
Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:03 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: VG Financial Engines Tool
Replies: 23
Views: 6170

Is the FE your referring to different than Portfolio Analysis and Portfolio Tester Tool. I have never had either of those recommend a fund or replacing a fund with another. Maybe there are tools elsewhere on VG's website that I am not aware of? Yes it is different. You may or may not qualify. Available as a complimentary service to investors with $100,000 or more in assets at Vanguard, Financial Engines helps you develop, refine, and implement your financial plan—a $300 value. If you do, go to "My Portfolio" and look under "My Services" in the lower left. It'll import your portfolio from Vanguard and you can manually add additional holdings. However, it doesn't understand certain holdings. For example, it doesn't know w...
by adrift
Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:41 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "...but we deserved a nice home"
Replies: 61
Views: 19222

"You should run the numbers through a mortgage broker right now" to see what you can and can't afford, Glassman said. The advantage to calling a mortgage broker now, Glassman added, is that "most brokers have more time than mortgage applications right now."
I did get a chuckle out of this advise
by adrift
Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:05 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How much of your portfolio is in index funds?
Replies: 35
Views: 14508

Rick Ferri wrote:.
My first mission was to create the Rick Ferri Index . It is composed all the investments I already own, including Berkshire Hathaway. But since BRK and other normally active investments are now in my index, I must have a 100% indexed portfolio!
Rick,

Is there an ETF I can use to short this index? ... I'm just trying to keep the market efficient. :lol:
by adrift
Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:16 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Can Safe Withdrawl Amt be "Reset" aftr Good Yrs?
Replies: 70
Views: 28441

Daryll40,

What you are describing is addressed here:

http://www.retireearlyhomepage.com/popr.html
by adrift
Wed May 30, 2007 4:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ROTH / IRA eligibility question
Replies: 11
Views: 5251

Re: That's what always thought.

In order to be eligible to contribute to an IRA, she needs to have earned income (i.e. from a job, not passive income from investments). Furthermore, foreign earned income does not count. So, she's not eligible. That is what I have always understood and thought! But can anybody find that in Pub 590? Dave Dave, I don't have a Pub 590 reference. But, when we worked out of the US and had foreign income, that's how the major accounting firm retained by our company treated it. From what I can tell from your post, this probably does not apply to your daughter. But, for us when we had any business trip to the US, this was considered as US income and to the extent it occurred was considered eligible as US income. And we were able to fund our IRA's...
by adrift
Tue May 29, 2007 1:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: ROTH / IRA eligibility question
Replies: 11
Views: 5251

In order to be eligible to contribute to an IRA, she needs to have earned income (i.e. from a job, not passive income from investments). Furthermore, foreign earned income does not count.

So, she's not eligible.
by adrift
Sun May 06, 2007 3:34 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Total Return Charts
Replies: 24
Views: 19799

ruud wrote:
Paul Douglas Boyer wrote:Wouldn't it be awesome if there were a charting tool where you could enter a whole portfolio of symbols and back-test its entire performance? Even better than just a chart, also include a computation of the annualized return and the standard deviation. And allow you to adjust the percentages of each symbol to make up the 100%. And then swap in and out other symbols.
Icarra.com comes close, I think.

- Ruud
Perhaps. It tells me I have an IRR of 975468172.33% for one of my funds over the last 2 years. :shock: Seems to be a good way to boost your returns to me.
by adrift
Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Car colors
Replies: 36
Views: 17799

If you can tell what colour it is under all the mud, you just aren't having enough fun.