Search found 194 matches

by therub
Sat Sep 02, 2023 12:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity as a one stop shop
Replies: 6053
Views: 1036818

Re: Fidelity as a one stop shop

JoMoney wrote: Fri Sep 01, 2023 5:37 pm
daw007 wrote: Fri Sep 01, 2023 5:34 pm... Ideally, Fidelity would implement passkeys and disable SMS and even e-mail at some point...
I'm all for giving people options they want, but "disabling" a service that some people prefer would be less than "ideal".
It needs to be disabled to defeat SIM swap attacks.
by therub
Mon Aug 01, 2022 8:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Inadvertant market timer
Replies: 11
Views: 1155

Re: Inadvertant market timer

Hyperchicken wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 2:50 pm
therub wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:55 pm [...]
The most irritating part of this is I'm not sure what I could have done better!
Depends on what other assets you have.

If you have enough bonds elsewhere (preferably in a tax-advantaged account), you could have exchanged stocks into bonds in your old 401(k), and exchange the equivalent amount of bonds into stocks elsewhere. Thus you would maintain your asset allocation and market exposure unchanged.

Then, you would roll over bonds, which are less volatile. After the rollover is done, you can exchange the funds back to where you want them to be.
Thank you for addressing my question! I didn’t think of that and it’s a great suggestion.
by therub
Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Inadvertant market timer
Replies: 11
Views: 1155

Inadvertant market timer

What should I have done? I rolled over an old 401k into an IRA. They had no option to transfer in-kind, and insisted on sending me a check written out to my IRA custodian. Once the funds were received by the custodian and available to invest, I had been out of market for about 5 days and the market was 4% higher... The 401k balance is low 6 figures so 4% is real money - about $6000! Now I've found myself, against all of my boglehead training and years of "ignore the market" practice, watching and waiting for an entry point. If I start DCAing back in, I'm just eating the loss little by little. If I lump sum back in, I take an actual loss. The market is up about 5.5% and I plan to continue waiting. The most irritating part of this i...
by therub
Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:34 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Safety of logging in to retirement account using unsecure wifi?
Replies: 33
Views: 3782

Re: Safety of logging in to retirement account using unsecure wifi?

I'll just note that a password manager prevents MITM attacks too, because the password manager won't be fooled by similar looking URLs. Password manager will prevent attacks where you click a bad link, but it won't protect against DNS man-in-the-middle, which is what I understand is the biggest threat from public wifi. In the DNS attack, your type the correct url, and are sent to the wrong site anyway. I guess we're getting a bit wonky, but the site would also need to MITM attack the certificate authority in order to get a valid https certificate for a domain which they do not actually control. It's not a trivial nor common attack vector, but if you can show me I'm wrong by someone other than people who sell VPN services, I'd love to learn...
by therub
Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Safety of logging in to retirement account using unsecure wifi?
Replies: 33
Views: 3782

Re: Safety of logging in to retirement account using unsecure wifi?

senex wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 5:09 pm Financial firms have used https for years. It only protects against very simple attacks (plain text sniffing).

As I understand it, the big threats on public wifi are man-in-the-middle attacks via DNS spoofing, which https doesn't prevent. A hospital wifi is unlikely to be deliberately setup for fraud, but it may be easily hackable by someone on the network (say, if the hospital uses public routers with default/easy passwords).

If you want to be safe, use your own hotspot, or your own vpn, or just wait until you get home.
I'll just note that a password manager prevents MITM attacks too, because the password manager won't be fooled by similar looking URLs.
by therub
Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Safety of logging in to retirement account using unsecure wifi?
Replies: 33
Views: 3782

Re: Safety of logging in to retirement account using unsecure wifi?

As a professional in the industry, I dont't worry about public WIFI, because most of the internet is now https - it's something we've done a good job on in my estimation. Things we haven't done a good job on that you should focus on: - weak passwords - phishing attempts (clicking on an email link and then providing your username and password to an imposter website) - identity theft - social engineering scams (someone calling you and convincing you to send them money) - device security. ipads and chromebooks are pretty secure by default, as long as you don't install untrusted browser plugins For passwords, most users' security can be enormously improved by using a password manager (i recommend 1password) and 2fa (2 factor identification). Th...
by therub
Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:43 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: What is the deal with "DW"?
Replies: 104
Views: 11652

Re: What is the deal with "DW"?

Not a boomer, but I find it endearing. Certainly not worth getting outraged over...
by therub
Fri Jan 22, 2021 4:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Clarifying feature of Chromecast (or other TV Interface)
Replies: 13
Views: 1110

Re: Clarifying feature of Chromecast (or other TV Interface)

jabberwockOG wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 4:33 pm I have helped a friend set this up in his regular and summer house. It's a kluge at best. Honestly you would be way better off just buying a new smart TV. Many these days are not expensive and the TV's built in gui interface for streaming content is 1000% less clunky and more capable. Ditch the old TV.
Roku is what you are looking for. It's best in class, and neutral in terms of content (it's not a google product, an amazon product, or an apple product). It does all of the things that you are asking.

You can buy a "roku TV", or you can by a roku and attach it to your TV.

No need to throw away your old TV.
by therub
Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:24 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Christmas wish for a Boglehead radio show
Replies: 15
Views: 925

Re: Christmas wish for a Bogglehead radio show

A big problem with this kind of show is that the Boglehead way gets boring pretty fast if you're doing it right. Unless you're discussing different topics each time, which by their nature will only apply to a subset of listeners, it would get very repetitive. If this were true, this forum itself would be dead. If you follow very successful shows/podcasts such as Ramsey, there's also not much to his message, and it's really repetitive. There's a reason for that: Teaching requires repetition. If you have the best strategy in the world, it's not enough to announce it one time. It needs to be repeated, over and over, for years and decades. That's what is done here, and that's what is done on successful shows. XKCD has a great comic (as always)...
by therub
Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:13 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Please review my AA
Replies: 21
Views: 3188

Re: Please review my AA - 10 year retrospective

You had your reasons for choosing your portfolio 10 years ago. What has changed since then? Two things, I think. First, I was wrong. My goal was to increase my risk and returns, and in fact I may have accomplished the first but not the second. It's disappointing to look back through what may be the largest bull market of my lifetime and realize that I failed to fully capture it by a material amount. Second, I'm no longer intoxicated by the idea of equally weighting the entire world. For one, I'm more skeptical and less interested in certain economies than I once was. For two, for various geopolitical reasons I'm comfortable 'taking my chances' on the US. You gotta do what you gotta do, but I am alarmed by your second response. Seems like &...
by therub
Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Please review my AA
Replies: 21
Views: 3188

Re: Please review my AA - 10 year retrospective

dogagility wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 5:40 am You had your reasons for choosing your portfolio 10 years ago. What has changed since then?
Two things, I think.

First, I was wrong. My goal was to increase my risk and returns, and in fact I may have accomplished the first but not the second. It's disappointing to look back through what may be the largest bull market of my lifetime and realize that I failed to fully capture it by a material amount.

Second, I'm no longer intoxicated by the idea of equally weighting the entire world. For one, I'm more skeptical and less interested in certain economies than I once was. For two, for various geopolitical reasons I'm comfortable 'taking my chances' on the US.
by therub
Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Please review my AA
Replies: 21
Views: 3188

Re: Please review my AA - 10 year retrospective

It's been nearly 10 years now, and I've faithfully stuck with this asset allocation through the decade. In retrospect, I'm kicking myself a bit for thinking I knew best and trying to equally-weight the world and over weight small cap, which has evidently acted as a boat anchor on my returns relative to the Vanguard 2045 fund. Based on quick math and taking into account dividend reinvestment, this asset allocation has returned approximately an 8.55% annualized return. Meanwhile, Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX) shows a 9.66% annualized return - a reasonable and conservative benchmark to measure against my portfolio. As for individual funds, the following 10 year annualized returns are interesting: - Vanguard Total Stock Market ET...
by therub
Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: I wanted to teach myself computer programming.
Replies: 64
Views: 8480

Re: I wanted to teach myself computer programming.

I'm a professional programmer, know a bunch of languages, and have opinions on all of the above. So, I'll give my $.02 which may be a bit different than the language discussions that have been offered. I've hardly been successful, ever, in "i just want to learn a language". I've done that, and then read a book, but at the end of reading a book about programming, at least with my learning style, I still know nothing. Rather, I've always been most successful when I've approached it within the context of solving a specific problem. So OP, I'll ask you - what problem do you want to solve, or what project do you want to build? Starting with a specific project or problem in mind narrows the problem set, and gives context to the learning...
by therub
Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:48 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help - Talk to me like I'm 4 y/o please
Replies: 97
Views: 12613

Re: Help - Talk to me like I'm 4 y/o please

0.09% on 315k is $283.50 per year in expenses. You’re currently paying (let’s say 0.75% average ER) $2,362.50 plus the $3,150 to the advisor. It's the "leaving" part that is tough but for the savings of $100K in my retirement over my lifetime - I can pull on my big girl pants and get it done! This is almost certainly a severe underestimate of the true cost of the advisor plus the high expense funds. Taking k3vb0t's numbers, you're paying $5,229 in excess every year (2362+3150-283). That will eat up 100k in less than 20 years, but it's not considering that it's a compounding loss, and that the expense will go up over time due to your portfolio increasing. I would expect the difference in this decision to be many multiples of 100k....
by therub
Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Career Advice: Side hustle on resume?
Replies: 15
Views: 1506

Re: Career Advice: Side hustle on resume?

My thoughts, as an individual in a similar role that often is involved in hiring. First, don't call it a side hustle. It makes it sound like you're delivering pizza or driving uber, and isn't a professional term. Depending on where you're applying, side business can be a positive or a negative. The way to relay the information so that you're both not hiding anything, and able to talk about your valuable experience from it, is to list it as a hobby. I can see that you take it quite seriously, and that it has income, so feel free to consider it a business personally. But professionally, if you call it a hobby, it becomes something you can talk about as much as you'd like, without any risk of employers or potential employers getting nervous or...
by therub
Tue Dec 18, 2018 10:03 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Adult Games / Board Games - Recommendations
Replies: 55
Views: 5488

Re: Adult Games / Board Games - Recommendations

In the last 10-15 years, there has been a huge renaissance in board games. There are so many really great, new, highly rated games of all types. So first, you kind of need to know what genre of game you're looking for. For example, my wife likes party games - loud, obnoxious, you get the idea - such as Head's Up, Catch Phrase, etc. I prefer strategy games - 7 Wonders, Dominion, etc. The best resource on the internet, in my estimation, is https://boardgamegeek.com. Beware though, it is a very content rich site and so navigating it can be overwhelming at first. Here's my recommendation: Browse by overall best ranked games at https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame. Browse by game category. Start at https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgam...
by therub
Tue Nov 27, 2018 3:52 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dual Monitor Set up
Replies: 52
Views: 4817

Re: Dual Monitor Set up

Matching 24-27” IPS monitors would work the best if you really want dual monitors. With that much screen real estate, your viewing angle is not going to be straight on, so it’s worth it to spend money on a better quality monitor. At my last company they gave us the choice between dual 27”, or a single 34” curved ultra wide monitor with 3440x1440 resolution. Within a couple of months, nearly everyone who had originally chosen the dual monitors had switched to the 34. After I left the company, I missed the 34” monitor enough that I bought one when it went on sale a few months later. Still love that monitor. This one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PXYRMPE/ This. I used to have multiple (as in 3-4) monitors, but now live quite happily on a singl...
by therub
Fri Aug 31, 2018 12:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Piano for a child
Replies: 60
Views: 4577

Re: Piano for a child

Digital pianos are not dissimilar to digital cameras. Less expensive, less maintenance, less carrying cost, lighter, faster, easier, and more features than their mechanical counterparts. There's still a place for film cameras and mechanical pianos in terms of their artistic value, historical authenticity, and style, but from a practical perspective (especially in the op's case!) there is no compelling against digital. Enjoy!
by therub
Mon Apr 30, 2018 4:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Alternatives to Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player
Replies: 63
Views: 12134

Re: Alternatives to Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player

VictoriaF wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:03 am
Lynette wrote: Sun Apr 29, 2018 8:59 pm Victoria, if you don't have WiFi in your apartment, how do you connect your computer to the internet? I'm assuming that you access Bogleheads from your apartment.
Hi Lynette,

I use an Ethernet cable to connect laptops to the router, which in turn is connected to my ISP.

Victoria
Hi Victoria,

Take one of those android phones out of their box. Turn it on. Put it into airplane mode (disables all wifi, cellular, bluetooth, etc).

Connect it to your computer via provided USB cable. Copy your media files to it. You now have a portable media player with a speaker that does not use any wireless frequencies.
by therub
Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:08 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I retire at age 40?
Replies: 158
Views: 27213

Re: Can I retire at age 40?

Play around with https://firecalc.com. I put in 120k spending on 2.5M portfolio for 55 years and it said there's a 45% chance you'll run out of money. Obviously it does not predict the future, but I think it does give a good indication of the riskiness of your decision.
by therub
Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: In Praise of Classic Works on Kindle
Replies: 20
Views: 2238

Re: In Praise of Classic Works on Kindle

balofagus wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:41 pm
alex_686 wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:06 pm Project Gutenberg has many classic books free in multiple formats. In fact, many of the free books on Amazon come from here.

https://www.gutenberg.org/
In addition, I’d suggest Standard Ebooks.
Thanks - that does look great. Project Gutenberg output can be a bit "raw".
by therub
Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: In Praise of Classic Works on Kindle
Replies: 20
Views: 2238

Re: In Praise of Classic Works on Kindle

... it is particularly irksome when the Kindle price exceeds the paperback or even the hardcover edition of a book. The classics deliver a splendid exception. Another resource for free book that are out of copyright is https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Free_Kindle_Books I find the overpriced ebooks (defined as ebooks that are more expensive than physical books) particularly frustrating. My personal strategy - and this is not legal, but it is ethical (in my opinion - please tell me if you disagree) - is to buy a used paperback and then pirate the overpriced e-book. It removes a copy from circulation, but allows me to read it in my preferred medium. I love the convenience of ebooks, but, we've really lost something when media are no longer tran...
by therub
Mon Dec 18, 2017 8:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Help Me [Recover] My Bitcoin!
Replies: 126
Views: 23328

Re: Help Me Cash Out My Bitcoin!

Okay. I logged into my blockchain.info wallet and I see the .05 BTC there. Its now worth $946. The wallet says that I received the BTC on Nov. 9th, 2013, which is correct. When I click on Settings and then Addresses it shows the BTC and the public key but says Watch Only. Now how do I export it? Can I export it? It's giving me the option to archive, transfer or spend. To spend, I require the private key so no go. It does seem to be allowing me to transfer it but I'm fairly certain that once it's transferred it'll be as a watch only status again. How many more subs must I eat before I get my reward? The thing you might not be realizing is that everyone's public wallet is just that: public. The only secret part is that nobody (usually) knows...
by therub
Sat Nov 18, 2017 4:02 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Buy
Replies: 199
Views: 39612

Re: Buying and Spending Bitcoin

I really appreciate your approach here :) A few thoughts that might help clarify things if you want to actually have a good experience with using crypto currencies day-to-day. Bitcoin is full of drama - the folks who maintain it would prefer it stays easy to run a "node", so that there are many of them available, and therefore are reluctant to raise the number of transactions that the network can handle (because then it may become more expensive to run a node). They want to see solutions outside of bitcoin handle the day-to-day transactions. As a result, fees are skyrocketing and Bitcoin is no longer at this time suitable for small transactions . For those of us who have watched this for a while, this is disappointing. Somewhat of...
by therub
Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How many money accounts do you have? And how do you Keep track of them?
Replies: 28
Views: 4715

Re: How many money accounts do you have? And how do you Keep track of them?

I've tried ignoring everything. I've tried budgeting everything. What I discovered is that by simply tracking my net worth on a regular basis, I cover all my bases and it's not too granular, time consuming, or gappy. I do this once per month, but if I miss a month it's not a big deal. I usually look forward to it but in bear markets sometimes I would ignore it for a few months as a coping mechanism :) Simple online spreadsheet, columns are today's date, cash (checking/savings accounts minus CC balances), taxable investments, retirement accounts, home value (the only property I bother counting), then a total assets column (sum of the former). Then liability columns: mortgage balance, other loans (if any), total debts (sum of liabilities), th...
by therub
Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:25 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Minnesota BH Qtrly Meeting 8-12-2017 + Summary
Replies: 19
Views: 3449

Re: Minnesota BH Quarterly Meeting August 12, 2017

Section 7 . Subtraction for contributions to 529 plans. Allows an income tax subtraction of up to $1,500 ($3,000 for married joint filers) of contributions to any state’s section 529 college savings plan or prepaid tuition plan. The subtraction excludes amounts that are rolled over from other college savings plans. The subtraction is limited to taxpayers who do not claim the 529 contribution credit in a later section. Effective beginning in tax year 2017. I wasn't able to attend today. I presently am a MN resident and contribute regularly to Utah 529s. Is there any reason to open a MN 529? I don't think they're transferable between states, and based on the language above I think I will still be able to deduct/credit contributions. Stay the...
by therub
Thu Jun 22, 2017 4:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What's the Best Way to Invest in Cryptocurrencies?
Replies: 16
Views: 6731

Re: What's the Best Way to Invest in Cryptocurrencies?

Trying to cherry-pick future winners from this list is very risky, and there are currently no index funds available for this asset class. Therefore, I am considering creating my own index fund by investing $100 into each of the top, say, 100 currencies on this list, and holding them for at least 10 years. I index into cryptocurrencies based on their market cap (just like stock). With regard to market cap, there's a really long tail. Here are all cryptocurrencies with 0.1% or higher market cap: COIN CAP 1. BTC 40.22% 2. ETH 27.92% 3. XRP 10.21% 4. LTC 2.25% 5. ETC 1.73% 6. XEM 1.51% 7. DASH 1.18% 8. MIOTA 1.05% 9. BTS 0.72% 10. STRAT 0.64% 11. XMR 0.63% 12. ZEC 0.53% 13. SC 0.47% 14. WAVES 0.45% 15. GNT 0.44% 16. BCN 0.43% 17. STEEM 0.42% 1...
by therub
Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do You Take Your Credit Card Receipts?
Replies: 85
Views: 11572

Re: Do You Take Your Credit Card Receipts?

For everyone who takes their receipts and reconciles them later:

Please roughly calculate the hourly wage this has returned over the last 5 years. (How many errors caught * average error amount) / (hours spent saving and reconciling)

I stopped bothering with it years ago. I'm sure mistakes have crept through, but somehow I am still solvent and happy.
by therub
Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: My 401k Fees
Replies: 30
Views: 2793

Re: My 401k Fees

One other consideration I have not yet heard mentioned.

You're 24. How long will you be at this job? The fees are a little high, but as far as 401k's go they're better than average. Once you change jobs, you can roll this 401k into an IRA and control it completely. In such a case, you are only paying the fees for the duration of your employment with your present company, but the money remains tax advantaged until withdrawn. Is 50 years of tax deference (or tax-free growth in the case of ROTH 401k) worth a few years of 30 basis points of fees (assuming you change jobs a few times during your career)? I think so.
by therub
Wed Jun 07, 2017 11:14 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University ??? worth it?
Replies: 120
Views: 19620

Re: Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University ??? worth it?

I haven't taken FPU, but I do listen to Ramsey occasionally for motivation and entertainment value. My suggestion: if your friend is looking for information, and is self motivated, do as others suggest and pick up the book or podcasts. However, if your friend has a spouse and is looking to improve their lives, take the class. The value of going to a class, with your spouse, learning how to talk about money, learning how to budget, developing shared goals and perspective, is not something that you're going to likely get from a book. I have been considering taking FPU for no other reason than to get on the same page as my spouse and improve our relationship. (My spouse tends to be confused about how I spend money - frugal on some things, but ...
by therub
Wed May 31, 2017 8:32 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I enroll in 401(k)
Replies: 7
Views: 1060

Re: Should I enroll in 401(k)

You might as well get started with good habits now. Invest 4% (to get the full match), and then after your internship roll the 401k into an IRA at Vanguard. Once you start your next job after school, join their 401k (and contribute 15%). Once you leave that next job, roll it to your IRA at Vanguard. Rinse and repeat.

Your future self will thank you.
by therub
Fri Feb 10, 2017 12:03 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Just watched Warren Buffett's new HBO Documentary
Replies: 50
Views: 9184

Re: Just watched Warren Buffett's new HBO Documentary

oldzey wrote:It was worth watching just to hear Warren sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during the closing credits.
My favorite part was watching him go through the McDonalds drive-thru, and hearing him explain that he knows the exact prices to the penny of the three breakfasts he typically orders. He pays in exact change, and tends to get the cheaper breakfast option on down market days. It's charming, but also borderline clinical!
by therub
Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Saved too much? What do you splurge on?
Replies: 90
Views: 15042

Re: Saved too much? What do you splurge on?

Things I've always wanted to do if I ever have such resources: - Drop gold coins into salvation army kettles - Pay $100 (or whatever) forward for coffee at a coffee shop anonymously, and then just quietly sit in the corner and watch in delight - Pay off lay-away at local walmart around christmas time - Make anonymous donations through church or local charities to help families in need - Donate regularly to local food shelf With that kind of wealth, you could set up a charitable trust and formalize the giving beyond my rather superficial examples above. Set up a family college trust for later generations. I think a lot of it for me revolves around keeping enough engagement in my community so that I can be made aware of a need and be able to ...
by therub
Fri Feb 03, 2017 8:25 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Just watched Warren Buffett's new HBO Documentary
Replies: 50
Views: 9184

Re: Just watched Warren Buffett's new HBO Documentary

selters wrote:
TravelforFun wrote:
bottlecap wrote: In any event, Buffett hasn't really done better than the market for a long while, IIRC. If he can't do it, I know I can't.

JT
$100 invested in SP 500 in 1964 would grow to $2,000 in 2014, same $100 would grow to $2 million if invested in Berkshire Hathaway.
That is not correct. You haven't included dividends for the S&P 500. I don't have the exact numbers, but $100 invested in the S&P 500 in 1964 is more like $10,000 today.
I would like to know this answer as well. Berkshire famously doesn't pay dividends, so it's a really unfair comparison to just compare them naively. Does anyone know an online backtesting tool that will take dividends into account and go back to 1964?
by therub
Fri Jan 27, 2017 12:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Speed Queen
Replies: 10
Views: 2600

Re: Speed Queen

We just purchased a new speed queen top loader (with agitator). We were open minded and expected to end up with a front loader or one of those sexy agitatorless top loaders. From our research, we discovered that agitator-less top loaders are really only suitable for light loads. Combined with the limited amount of water they use, clothes only get clean if the jets of water are strong enough to push the clothes around. Forget things like comforters or more than 2 towels at a time. If it's a light laundry household, then agitator-less is probably fine. We have kids and need more of a workhorse, so we went with the traditional approach. It's still around because it's simple, and it works well. Sometimes the simple boring solution is the right ...
by therub
Sun Dec 04, 2016 7:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What value should my 401k be at age 54?
Replies: 21
Views: 5448

Re: What value should my 401k be at age 54?

If you want to retire with the same life style you have now, a general guideline is: By 35 you should have saved an amount equal to your gross annual family income By 45 ....3X family income By 55.....6X family income By 65.....10X family income Another general guideline to see if you are on track.....By 55 the annual increase in the value of your saving should be more than your annual contribution...............Gordon Can you explain the rationale for thinking of needed saving as a multiple of income. The multiple you need is so dependent on your savings and tax rates. Someone makes $100k/yr, and saves $10k/yr needs very different multiple of income than someone who makes the same $100k/yr but saves $40k/yr. I have always viewed this as a...
by therub
Fri Oct 21, 2016 1:47 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to transfer huge amount of data (>500 GB) to someone through the internet?
Replies: 88
Views: 13630

Re: How to transfer huge amount of data (>500 GB) to someone through the internet?

I am surprised nobody has suggested youtube. Your video will never go away, and there are several privacy options. It is also possible to download videos from youtube, though I am not sure why it would be necessary.
by therub
Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What to do with my underwater house, sink or swim?
Replies: 29
Views: 5362

Re: What to do with my underwater house, sink or swim?

My biggest piece of advice is to check out Dave Ramsey - his radio show/podcast, books, classes and materials are designed for you and are very motivational. Once you get to baby step 4 come back and see us for investing advice. A few other thoughts: - Don't pay for an appraisal; realtors will do a comparative market analysis for free. If you end up refinancing, you'll have to pay for an appraisal then. - Call your mortgage company, be persistent but polite, and find out if you can do a HARP refinance or similar. If you are under water, your best options are going to be through your existing mortgage company. You should do that tomorrow. - You really should think about a 15 year mortgage if you can afford it... I hate to see you resetting t...
by therub
Tue Jun 14, 2016 4:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to best afford IVF [In Vitro Fertilization]
Replies: 55
Views: 9510

Re: How to best afford IVF

LiterallyIronic wrote:
dltnfs wrote:I guess it's also worth considering what you'd do if all four fail?
Thanks for running some numbers. I figured we'd then pursue adoption.
Jack FFR1846 wrote:Adopted 2 boys after that (which was far more expensive than IVF).
Uh, but on the other hand...
Here's my counterexample of the surprising affordability of adoption (provided you can front the cash for a period of time): viewtopic.php?t=94052

We will be finishing our second adoption of siblings this year and I expect the numbers to be similar.
by therub
Mon Dec 28, 2015 9:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Newbie: Investing in Cryptocurrency
Replies: 29
Views: 5124

Re: Newbie: Investing in Cryptocurrency

P.S. Can you tell us how we can watch the same video you watched? Where was it? Was it online and can you give us a link? That might be useful information. The video I saw was this http://youtu.be/5_trBSfq6-I I reported it as Spam/Fraud to youtube and I encourage others to do the same. I didn't watch it all, but I did see this gem just before I closed it out: Now don't worry if you don't understand what that means All will be made clear once you become a member. 7:04 The $145 is what it is. It would be good to study the language used in this pitch, so that you can develop red flags for when people trying to take your money (like the sentence I highlighted above). It was screaming "scam" to me before I even started it. Do you real...
by therub
Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:55 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Should I just give my wife (folded) money?
Replies: 76
Views: 13151

Re: Should I just give my wife (folded) money?

I've been with my wife for 17 years. This year, I learned that it's OK to give "useful" christmas presents (think: kitchen things, home things), but it is NOT OK to give "useful" birthday presents. I never realized there was a difference in the types of presents allowed based on the day they are given, but it explains my mixed success in the past. Can you believe one year I bought her a butter dish for her birthday? I thought that since she said she wanted a butter dish, that it would be a good birthday gift. It was not.
by therub
Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Ink Cartridges dry up on seldom used printer, any ideas?
Replies: 32
Views: 13173

Re: Ink Cartridges dry up on seldom used printer, any ideas?

Get a cheap monochrome laser printer. The brother HL-22700W I have has magnificent price/performance. http://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-L2340DW-Printing-Wireless-Networking/dp/B00LZS5EEI +1 I bought this printer about 10 months ago and it works well. I had the same issue as the OP and this has really solved the problem. I don't miss having color output. I bought a similar brother 6 years ago and have put 1000's of pages through it. I'm on the 3rd or 4th toner cartridge. No other maintenance or troubles. I think the trap most consumers fall into is a desire for color. Don't try printing photos at home - do it online or any local store that has photo printing service (walgreens/target/walmart/costco/shutterfly/etc/etc/etc). Much cheaper and b...
by therub
Mon Mar 02, 2015 1:49 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What's your average ER? [Expense Ratio]
Replies: 123
Views: 25486

Re: What's your average ER?

.19(weighted). I suspect anyone under .10 to not have any meaningful amount of international - I'm (pretty much) evenly weighted domestic/international. I also only have 10% in bonds, due to my age.
by therub
Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Wiki - For new investors: The Importance of Saving Early
Replies: 27
Views: 3931

Re: Wiki - For new investors: The Importance of Saving Early

The statistic that I have always found persuading goes like this:

Saving $5000 a year from age 25 to 35 yields more than saving $5000 a year from 35 to 60.

Image

I've heard this statistic in various forms many times. Here's one such source that provides the image and math: http://www.darwinsfinance.com/start-inv ... y-amazing/
by therub
Mon Dec 15, 2014 3:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How FINRA saved my Grandma's bacon
Replies: 21
Views: 2823

Re: How FINRA saved my Grandma's bacon

Fallible wrote:Does your grandmother understand what happened well enough to prevent something like this from happening to her again? I'm wondering whether there might be other steps you and your mother could take to protect her.
Yes, I think so. The point I hoped to make in this thread is that FINRA provides a nice authoritative way to dig into the background of some of these bottom feeders.
by therub
Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:25 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How FINRA saved my Grandma's bacon
Replies: 21
Views: 2823

Re: How FINRA saved my Grandma's bacon

rakaye47 wrote:your grandma should also sue the broker. he probably already ripped her off a good deal.
No previous relationship. If you can believe it, this all happened in their first meeting.
by therub
Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How FINRA saved my Grandma's bacon
Replies: 21
Views: 2823

How FINRA saved my Grandma's bacon

This is the story of how I convinced my 86 year old Grandmother that her investment advisor did not have her best interests in mind. Last weekend, I received a phone call from Mom that Grandma had an investment advisor go out to her house and leave with a check for $50,000 (always be closing!). I asked about the investment details, and found the investment to be a new fund in a new company that was completely inappropriate for Grandma's age and risk tolerance. It all sounded common-enough, but I was quite skeptical about the advisor's motivations and aggressiveness. Of course it's hard to convince victims that they have bad judgement, especially when you are not an "expert" yourself. Fortunately enough, the advisor could not hide ...
by therub
Thu Nov 06, 2014 9:25 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Adoption [Experience from those who have adopted]
Replies: 41
Views: 8260

Re: Adoption [Experience from those who have adopted]

I think you have to be cautious of survivorship bias. You don't find a lot of people running around talking about a failed adoption process; it can be a difficult topic for them to discuss. This is true. We went with international adoption after hearing many stories of failed domestic adoptions, often after significant financial and emotional investment. As another poster said, the laws are set up in favor of biological family. A typical example - adoptive family gets involved with pregnant birth mom. Supports her financially, gets to know her (open adoption), etc. In my state, she can change her mind as late as 10 days after placement of the baby in your home. A bio dad can show up as late as 30 days after the birth. Now, I have the highe...
by therub
Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:38 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Adoption [Experience from those who have adopted]
Replies: 41
Views: 8260

Re: Adoption [Experience from those who have adopted]

Tragically, the international and domestic adoption process is extremely inefficient (in the market sense of the word - matching up kids in need of parents with parents able to raise a child), due to a variety of factors. But it is worth it.

We chose international adoption due to its certainty. We are currently in the process of our second adoption. I wrote up some of the economics of our first adoption process at http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=94052
by therub
Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Total World is 50% Intl?!
Replies: 17
Views: 2839

Re: Total World is 50% Intl?!

Gambler wrote:Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (.18% Expense Ratio)
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... IntExt=INT

50% North America
50% Intl :confused

thought 20%-25% intl is the recommended allocation?
Isn't it great? It's my favorite, and a cornerstone of my portfolio.

If you don't allocate according to the capitalization of the world, what do you know that the rest of the world doesn't about the US?