Search found 654 matches
- Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:14 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: You and Your Dumb Money
- Replies: 17
- Views: 4039
Re: You and Your Dumb Money
[OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek]
- Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:39 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paid off mortgage today
- Replies: 26
- Views: 4202
Re: Paid off mortgage today
Can I ask, did you make a Sept 1 payment and then this as a "payoff" late in the same month? Our mortgage is with PenFed and I project us to be able to pay if off Jan 1 but am hoping to just do it late in December so it's in the current calendar year. (going to call and ask if possible so...
- Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:06 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paid off mortgage today
- Replies: 26
- Views: 4202
Re: Paid off mortgage today
Thanks - I guess it became official yesterday or so - got the bank alert that they cashed the check, logged into the mortgage company web site (Wells Fargo) and my account said "PAID IN FULL", so that was a nice feeling. I don't know if they send me back much in the way of official paperwo...
- Sat Sep 27, 2014 9:12 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paid off mortgage today
- Replies: 26
- Views: 4202
Paid off mortgage today
Well, given the interest rate was only 3%, it was probably a lousy financial decision in terms of absolute dollars, but it feels good not to have it hanging over me...
- Fri Apr 04, 2014 6:57 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Help me understand Michael Lewis' "Flash Boys"
- Replies: 175
- Views: 38726
Re: Help me understand Michael Lewis' "Flash Boys"
Good questions Nisi - I suspect there might be some issues with question/assumption #1 (at some point, they need to buy X (or make buy/sell for X cancel out), but from what I recall, even in the good old days of elder respect, there was a lot of profit skimming/risk taking about when/if the actual b...
- Thu Apr 03, 2014 1:20 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Free "If You Can" Kindle and .pdf eBook
- Replies: 54
- Views: 21747
Re: Free "If You Can" Kindle
Many thanks - I posted the info to my FB page and hopefully some of my younger friends/family will bite (a few are mentioning funding IRAs and such, and it's good to see folks starting out early). I remember 4 Pillars of Investing being very helpful back when I was getting started. I also picked up ...
- Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:55 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Boglehead Cruise Line Preference
- Replies: 57
- Views: 10371
Re: Boglehead Cruise Line Preference
My family (wife, 3 kids ages 8-6), sailed on the Disney Magic for 3 days in Feb this year and had a blast. We're looking into a 4 day cruise on the Disney Dream for the kid's spring break next year. The kids loved the Oceaneer's Club & Lab and the water slides (especially the AquaDunk - heck, ev...
- Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Hypothetically living off investment dividends?
- Replies: 34
- Views: 4483
Re: Hypothetically living off investment dividends?
Well, one potential concern is inflation/increases-to-expenses-that-exceed-inflation (college, medical care, etc). But I think the basic idea is great once one has enough money invested (and expenses reasonably controlled) - I think this is kind of what some of the folks mean when they refer to &quo...
- Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:00 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Flagship Rep called me
- Replies: 22
- Views: 5234
Re: Flagship Rep called me
My Flagship rep has camped out in the mountain behind my home, he knows exactly where I live. "Hey Dad, I think our Vanguard rep is living in the woods behind our house! I found some really worn out Bogle books on top of a sleeping bag near a lean-to made from tree branches" "OK, let...
- Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:46 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Warren Buffett's portfolio for his wife: Vanguard index fund
- Replies: 70
- Views: 16444
Re: Warren Buffett's portfolio for his wife: Vanguard index
It would be interesting to find out more on why he choose the S&P 500 index vs Total Stock (although really, there's not a lot of difference in historical performance between the two, so he might have just stuck with the tried & true).
- Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:12 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Art Cashin
- Replies: 28
- Views: 2229
Re: Art Cashin
Was he given the name "Art Cashin" at birth? Because really, that is such a perfect name for a finance guy.
- Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:42 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: What do you do with index funds when...
- Replies: 49
- Views: 3333
Re: What do you do with index funds when...
bigfoot12 - it does seem like there are some fundamental communication gaps / assumptions in what you're talking about (i.e. the notion that buy-and-hold is only done "once", or that folks only buy either a stock or bond index fund rather than having both and rebalancing, or that dividends...
- Fri Feb 21, 2014 4:12 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: What do you do with index funds when...
- Replies: 49
- Views: 3333
Re: What do you do with index funds when...
Using the drop from the 2000 peak as an example, most people who were buy-and-hold investors, and who were fully invested in 2000, recovered only in 2013. That's 13 years to recover back to where you were. Do you have that much time for retirement? This soft of statement gets made a lot (whether it...
- Fri Feb 21, 2014 3:00 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: What do you do with index funds when...
- Replies: 49
- Views: 3333
Re: What do you do with index funds when...
Stay the course (which generally means keep on buying per normal (hold if you're no longer accumulating wealth), and rebalance).
- Wed Feb 19, 2014 11:34 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: How did people work out in the past?
- Replies: 36
- Views: 6065
Re: How did people work out in the past?
I'm shocked no one has mentioned "running away from sabre-tooth tigers" or "commuting to work in their foot-powered car".


- Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:38 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Yahoo changes are awful - what homepage do you like?
- Replies: 66
- Views: 8649
Re: Yahoo changes are awful - what homepage do you like?
I switched to BlueG a couple of weeks ago and rather like it - I was able to reproduce the stuff that I liked from the old Yahoo. A few of the widgets are a bit ugly, but it's functional and a lot better than the new Yahoo.
- Wed Jan 22, 2014 1:07 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: "The market is at an inflection point"
- Replies: 16
- Views: 2423
Re: "The market is at an inflection point"
From Wikipedia: Homer is traveling by air in first class and says "Look at me, I'm reading The Economist. Did you know Indonesia is at a crossroads?" and when questioned by his wife, he simply replies "It is!" Four days later, The Economist indeed had an article about Indonesia r...
- Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:51 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Anyone familiar with this? Bank asking for info...
- Replies: 86
- Views: 16337
Re: Anyone familiar with this? Bank asking for info...
It would seem if banks want to get to know their customers better, we should get to know the banks better. What's CEO's name, address, social security #, mother's maiden name, and birthdate? After all, if they want to know this about me, shouldn't they be willing to tell me the same info? Seems fair...
- Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:37 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Efficient market theory - not
- Replies: 10
- Views: 947
Re: Efficient market theory - not
Ironically, the OP's original point is more of a "proof" of Efficient market theory: - The price of NEST did not reflect that Google might acquire a similarly named company. - As soon as the acquisition became knowledge, THEN the price went up by 4900% (new information (even if wrong) caus...
- Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:51 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: "Gold to tank in 2014: Goldman Sachs"
- Replies: 112
- Views: 14268
Re: "Gold to tank in 2014: Goldman Sachs"
Time to make the muppets dance.... 

- Wed Dec 04, 2013 7:29 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Executive Counseling Services
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1124
Re: Executive Counseling Services
Must be tough being a financial adviser when you're too busy to be aware of the S&P 500 or Russell 2000. Bet he's heard about the Dow though. I think I'd stick with your Couch Potato-inspired portfolio rather than impose on such a busy person. Luckily Scott Burns isn't too busy to follow the pas...
- Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:39 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Best "Indirect Financial advice" you ever received?
- Replies: 66
- Views: 5750
Re: Best "Indirect Financial advice" you ever received?
Pay yourself first.
- Sat Nov 09, 2013 7:10 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: John Bogle's "Philosophical Disagreement" with Eugene Fama
- Replies: 104
- Views: 12090
Re: John Bogle's "Philosophical Disagreement" with Eugene Fa
If economics is a science, then I would expect proponents of the "bubbles exist and can be predicted in advance" theory would publish a reproducible method by which this could be proven. I haven't seen that (and no, the Hindenburg Omen doesn't count).
- Mon Nov 04, 2013 3:14 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Brent Arends: you can beat the market with smart timing
- Replies: 89
- Views: 8252
Re: Brent Arends: you can beat the market with smart timing
Sounds like the usual "Buy low, sell high, repeat as necessary".
- Fri Nov 01, 2013 6:52 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Anyone still investing in gold or the Permanent Portfolio?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1108
Re: Anyone still investing in gold or the Permanent Portfoli
I would think for folks who buy gold for their portfolio, it's been an excellent year to buy low. As Warren Buffett says: "When hamburgers go down in price, we sing the 'Hallelujah Chorus' in the Buffett household. When hamburgers go up in price, we weep. For most people, it's the same with eve...
- Thu Oct 31, 2013 12:17 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Active Manager Marketing Quote of the Day
- Replies: 32
- Views: 5425
Re: Active Manager Marketing Quote of the Day
I would think that "blindly" investing would remain pretty easy - I mean, if you were doing it blind before, and you're still doing it blind, what's changed? Has Vanguard made their web site less friendly to seeing-eye dogs? Personally, I prefer "intelligently investing in ETFs and in...
- Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:08 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: What's wrong with debt?
- Replies: 58
- Views: 4830
Re: What's wrong with debt?
The quote from Francis Bacon about "Money makes a good servant but a bad master" applies even more so for debt. If the money borrowed enables you to earn greater sums than is spent paying it back (with interest), keeping in mind that "risk" means that things may not go as one ini...
- Tue Oct 01, 2013 3:44 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Where are all the gold bugs?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1536
Re: Where are all the gold bugs?
If anything, the more surprising aspect is that stocks are currently going up, given the shutdown - maybe everyone sold off their gold to get money to buy on the upcoming stock plunge? :shock: I'd expect any true gold bugs to be happily stocking up (pardon the pun) on their favorite shiny, and comin...
- Wed Sep 04, 2013 9:51 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: More on evils of indexing
- Replies: 18
- Views: 3134
Re: More on evils of indexing
At least "Evil indexing" sounds more exciting than "passive investing". Just think, now when folks are talking about their investments, I can toss in "For decades I've been buying up portions of almost every company (that's stock is for sale) across the entire free world as ...
- Fri Aug 16, 2013 12:12 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Warren Buffett: How Should the Average Person Invest
- Replies: 16
- Views: 4286
Re: Warren Buffett: How Should the Average Person Invest
I'd be real curious how many people have become multi-billionaires by thinking/investing like Warren Buffet. Offhand, there's 1 (WB himself), so out of 6+ billion folks, the odds of getting really rich by following that advice seem pretty poor. However, there seem to be a couple of hundred authors o...
- Sat Aug 03, 2013 8:31 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Do you need bonds if you're ultra-wealthy?
- Replies: 43
- Views: 4023
Re: Do you need bonds if you're ultra-wealthy?
Purely in theory, if you've got $100 million and only spend $100k a year then you can live for 1,000 years and not worry about this whole stock vs bond vs anything. It wouldn't work for Mel Brook's 2000 year old man, but for anyone else - no worries!
- Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:57 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: What happens to stock prices if everyone index invests?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 5877
Re: What happens to stock prices if everyone index invests?
What happens to the Powerball lottery if absolutely no one buys a ticket ever? Would all the prize money just sit there forever, as they hold drawing after drawing? This scenario is probably a lot more likely than the index one. The truly awesome thing about taxing stupidity/greed is there's always...
- Tue Jul 30, 2013 8:31 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: What happens to stock prices if everyone index invests?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 5877
Re: What happens to stock prices if everyone index invests?
What happens to the Powerball lottery if absolutely no one buys a ticket ever? Would all the prize money just sit there forever, as they hold drawing after drawing? This scenario is probably a lot more likely than the index one. The truly awesome thing about taxing stupidity/greed is there's always ...
- Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:00 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Does EMH hold water?
- Replies: 28
- Views: 3350
Re: Does EMH hold water?
I've found a good rule of thumb is to never trust financial journalism that uses Warren Buffet as the primary (and generally only) example - if folks could achieve the same results as WB did by reading a "How to Invest like Warren Buffet" book/article, we'd have about five million multi-bi...
- Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:50 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Emergency fund contradiction
- Replies: 44
- Views: 4380
Re: Emergency fund contradiction
Markets may be efficient, but taxes certainly aren't (and selling often has tax implications)
- Mon Jun 24, 2013 4:03 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The Onion: "Price Of Money Skyrockets To $90 A Dollar"
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2638
Re: The Onion: "Price Of Money Skyrockets To $90 A Dollar"
I'll wait for the book on "How to Buy a Dollar Like Warren Buffett" to come out before I get into that market.
- Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:45 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: I love the smell of fear in the markets
- Replies: 34
- Views: 5798
Re: I love the smell of fear in the markets
It's all my fault - I bought in May rather than selling like I should have.
- Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:02 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Anybody who bought a Kindle go back to regular books?
- Replies: 74
- Views: 7294
Re: Anybody who bought a Kindle go back to regular books?
When buying books, if the Kindle price is significantly less (say, > $5), I'll go Kindle. Or if I'm in a rush and don't want to wait the 2 days for delivery. On the other hand, if I'm looking for a long-term reference (a book I can refer to while reading yet another book), then I'll go physical copy...
- Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:23 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The Perfect Storm for the Permanent Portfolio?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1115
Re: The Perfect Storm for the Permanent Portfolio?
I think you left out cash. (If I recall, PP is a 25% in each - it's not my portfolio so I don't know the details, but I seem to recall that from the discussions).Browser wrote:The theory behind the Permanent Portfolio is that you should divide your portfolio equally between stocks, long duration bonds, and gold
- Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:21 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The Perfect Storm for the Permanent Portfolio?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1115
Re: The Perfect Storm for the Permanent Portfolio?
I would think that this would be a great buying opportunity for someone with PP - they can rebalance their cash to stock up on gold, bonds, stocks.
- Wed Jun 12, 2013 12:12 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Is Market really efficient? This says no-
- Replies: 39
- Views: 3757
Re: Is Market really efficient? This says no-
It's news articles like this that prove the retail investor, buying S&P500-style index funds, has no hope of ever beating the advantages of elite hedge funds, paying for ultra-fast access to the latest info before it's available to the masses. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-22/hedge-funds...
- Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:26 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Is Market really efficient? This says no-
- Replies: 39
- Views: 3757
Re: Is Market really efficient? This says no-
The news would seem to indicate that markets are extremely efficient for any period of time longer than 2 seconds, and perhaps even 500 milliseconds. 

- Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:51 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: FINRA's new 5-question financial capabiliy quiz is out today
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1368
Re: FINRA's new 5-question financial capabiliy quiz is out t
So do they update the average when someone takes the test, or is the average score from when they tried out the test on FINRA advisors first? 

- Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:34 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Today's WSJ: Old School Stock Picker Struggles w Index Craze
- Replies: 17
- Views: 3017
Re: Today's WSJ: Old School Stock Picker Struggles w Index C
Oddly enough, it was precisely 68 million years ago today that the Denver Dino Journal ran an article about how tough it was for an Ornithomimus named Wally to find eggs to eat, with the craze of small mammals infringing on it's territory.
- Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:48 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Will we get rich off index funds ?
- Replies: 40
- Views: 6878
Re: Will we get rich off index funds ?
I'd say it all depends on the definition of "rich". That, and the amount invested and the time period, etc. I suspect many Bogleheads feel that they've gotten rich because, by saving a moderate percentage of their income over a long period time (say, 30-40 years), they've seen their invest...
- Sat Jun 01, 2013 9:58 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: France - Paris / Nice - Must do List
- Replies: 92
- Views: 15509
Re: France - Paris / Nice - Must do List
Saint Paul de Vence near Nice is a must see. It's probably only 2-3 hours to walk through all the art shops, etc and admire the view - but a wonderful spot. I've been to Nice many times, and Saint Paul is my one "must do". Also, in Nice itself, on the section called "Old Nice", t...
- Tue May 28, 2013 12:55 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Financial Literacy Must Be Taught!
- Replies: 55
- Views: 4849
Re: Financial Literacy Must Be Taught!
Back when I was in high school in the early 80s, there was a mandatory semester-long class called "Consumer Education" which basically covered it. One part that was pretty effective was the famous Cosby Show bit where we had to figure out a basic monthly budget (we actually predated that e...
- Wed May 01, 2013 4:31 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Will Indexing Kill the Market?
- Replies: 16
- Views: 2672
Re: Will Indexing Kill the Market?
I wonder if active fund managers get depressed about the futility of their jobs, or if the money is good enough they don't care, or if it's something like what generals felt during WW1 were they'd send off 20,000 soldiers to die each day to no real effect, and they'd do it again day after day becaus...
- Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:38 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Do you Fancy Yourself as a Contrarian ?....Prove it !....
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2147
Re: Do you Fancy Yourself as a Contrarian ?....Prove it !...
If you think you can dare a contrarian into doing something, you don't understand contrarians very well. They're probably pretty immune to reverse psychology as well - just from experience of folks tryng that angle on them. And you'd probably be horribly outmatched trying to prove yourself smarter t...
- Fri Apr 19, 2013 1:19 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Are bitcoins something like internet tulips?
- Replies: 62
- Views: 6150
Re: Are bitcoins something like internet tulips?
The NPR Planet Money podcast has some info on bitcoins, as does the Economist magazine. Wikipedia also covers it. As you point out, if you don't understand it, don't invest in it. Also, just because you understand something, doesn't mean you should necessarily invest in it. And it's probably very ar...