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Instead GM should have been worrying about about loosing there franchise Vette market to the Tesla roadster. The Volt does nothing to stop this lose of market in an area where price is not an issue. Many Vette loyalists are switching. See last nights Dateline report. Current Vette loyalists who hav...

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This week I read a couple of blogs making the point that maybe Japan in the 1990s isn't so bad. It could be worse. They are correct. A few over-leveraged people got smacked, but not much else really happened. Listening to News about international economics and/or politics is subject to a lot of pro...

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When the U.S. goes 100% nuclear for electric production, these cars will catch on. Not true. 100% nuclear would drop the price of oil, and petrol cars would still be used.. If US went 100% crude for energy generation, price of crude would go up and people would have to buy electric cars. These cars...

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A new 09 base manual corrolla with A/C can be bought for $12.5k. A new base fit with a/c and power windows can be bought for $14.5k.

There is almost no cost savings buying used on those cars. I think people can save more money buying used underwear at goodwill.

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The yield curve seems to be pretty steep too, with 30 year bond over 4%, while cash is near zero. I assume this should mean the bond market is anticipating the opposite of what inverted yield curve indicates that it is anticipating :?: . I don't think it is so much that the bond market anticipates ...

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is a house a good investment right now? 6% commission. another $500-$1000 in finance fees. 10k down the drain. Not a good idea at all. Spend the extra money to rent a nice downtown apartment and live it up. Your commute time will be nil and you will be around a lot of nice males/females. The housin...

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I recently purchased some $30 ramps, and $20 Fumoto drain valve.

http://www.quickoildrainvalve.com/

Oil change now requires no tools. Open valve by hand, let out oil.
Twist off oil filter by hand, twist on new filter by hand.

The time driving to an oil change place is just not worth it.

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there was no financial crisis.

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I did a quick lookup at the government debt website. Less than 9% of Government Debt are in TIPs. Now factor in GNMA and Corporate Bond market. People allocating more than 25% of their bond portfolio into TIPs are clearly swimming against the market. Ie. gambling. Not investing. http://www.treasuryd...

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Imagine the day when riding in a carbon composite electric transportation vehicle is more carbon friendly than walking. I'd hate to get carbon taxed for taking a hike. IIHS will then come out with studies showing that 150lb individuals are more prone to injury when they run into 300lb individuals wh...

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I guess you could consider a pre-nup as divorce insurrance, but very few go that route, and it would have to be iron-clad. But even so, it doesn't remove the psychological impact of divorce (which heavily affects any children involved). I'm beginning to think a loyal relationship with will/benefici...

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DSInvestor wrote:I chose to reduce my workload.

I second that.

It goes two fold. Reduce work load to use my golf club membership.

I'm in my 20's and assume I will be working forever. Might as well stay healthy in mind and body. I see way too many 30, 40, 50, yearolds burned out.

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I wonder if their are more car on car head on collisions than car on stationary object collisions.

I'd really like to see the outcome of micro cars, midsize, and suv's hit a tree at 40mph.

My bet is that the effects are not as differentiable, ie. all 3 types of drivers would be dead.

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Ron wrote:I stayed married (40 years, so far :lol: ).

Ron

So is staying single frugal or not frugal?

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Thanks for the insights. After all is said, Ginnie is the only one of the three that has never disappointed me, and that's the fund I've held the longest. GNMA has more duration risk than any of the holdings you've mentioned. I wouldn't go over-board on it. Ie. If interest rates rise, people will b...

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chicagobear wrote:I use gold bullion to protect against dollar depreciation. My guess is that most currencies would inflate together against gold.

Gold prices have more to do with supply and demand than inflation. Simply because there is inflation does not mean there is less supply, or more demand.

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I don't disagree. But WD has been around for about 30 years. And I think I bot my first policy with them about 10 years ago. Agreed in this economy, especially, nothing is sacred. That being said, I just bot a policy on my Honda CRV with WD, so I'm betting that they'll make it. Did you get quotes f...

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Stonebr wrote: 3) Paying for WSJ subscription with frequent flyer miles that are about to expire.

-I look up WSJ and FT articles on news.google.com to get it free.
-I don't donate money to charity.

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Jeepers creepers, look at the durations: GNMA: 1.4 years. Short-Term Investment Grade: 2.2 years. Total Bond: 5.7 years. Looks like Total Bond has a hugely greater interest-rate risk than the other two. I was afraid to put more money in GNMA at its current high price, but now I'm more scared of Tot...

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I haven't seen discussion of BWX on this forum but it is the only ETF/index fund that tracks an international bond index that I'm aware of. What doesn't make sense to me is that it does not pay out a regular dividend. According to Google Finance it had a pseudo monthly distribution from 10/07 (ince...

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We've long since moved past the notion that the skill of reading/writing is optional, yet we still consider math skills to be that way. I don't think so. We've made literacy optional at the university level. A vast majority of students need a councilor or parent to read them the course handbook. Ie...

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I should add that many people are successful in fields that do not require mathematics, but the act of learning math helps you solve the problems that do not involve math. It teaches you to set up the problem, sort the red herrings from the problem, and solve it in a logical fashion. Yup, its a red...

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The flagship In & Out next to UC Irvine is great. I think being next to the Taco Bell HQ has something to do with it also.

Very hard to beat. As for other locations, I'm not so happy.

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The Honda Fit is a terrific value, in my opinion, even if it's not a hybrid. The other part of my opinion is that almost all cars these days, particularly good Japanese ones like Hondas, last a long time with low maintenance. So keeping the car you have is probably the best deal economically, but n...

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2)Life span/Cost/Waste: Hybrids are meant to be thrown away. Most hybrid owners will probably own two of then within 10 years. Obviously this costs the consumer more, and they also create more trash. Can you substantiate that? 'meant to be thrown away?' My bet is hybrid owners will try to keep thei...

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I don't disagree with the general tenor of the responses here -- the cheapest car is the one you already own -- but what are these higher maintenance costs with hybrids? For example, I remember reading that Toyota hybrids have been used as taxis is SE Asia for a number of years, and many have accum...

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I don't get hybrids at all. Guess you look more socially responsible driving around in them. The "what to do with the battery question'", the higher maintenance and insurance costs seem to be important. Without the tax incentives , they don't seem smart. You do understand hybrids. In Japa...

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total bs.

When do normal rules ever apply to finance?

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. My personal take away on bonds : If I was ever to hold corporate bonds as fixed income, I would not likely hold them through an ETF. good chart. The reverse can be said. Anyone purchasing the bonds at NAV are out of their mind. If the ETF is selling at a discount, odds are many of the bonds canno...

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Some of those ETFs such as the iShare EM (EEM) one are *very* liquid and trade 20 million shares a day. Our current credit crises is not normal and has caused all kinds of abnormalities. To the point it sometimes takes several days after the discount is pointed out by the press before its taken adv...

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I try not to predict taxes, but I am not sure if it is wise to take losses this year especially if you receive a big chunk of dividends that would qualify for capital gains tax.

Ie. The losses may be more valuable when/if capital gains tax as we know it phases away.

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Median prices don't really mean much. They just show the value of what's selling at the moment. Right now low end houses are booming so that drags the median down. In some cases condos are off 65% in San Diego. The Case-Shiller index actually compares an existingtstructure based on what it sold for...

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What restrictions does the Patriot Act impose in regard to network security? You may not transmit wireless data that is encrypted unless the federal government has the master key. I can't find any wording in the bill that I would interpret in that way. Can you point me to the section of the bill th...

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SarahShaw wrote: What restrictions does the Patriot Act impose in regard to network security?

You may not transmit wireless data that is encrypted unless the federal government has the master key.

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I think a welcome bit of advice would be in learning to recognize what makes a network safe. Eg, when traveling for business, I'm ALWAYS online at hotels, conference centers, etc etc. They usually give you a username/password, but how often are they genuinely secure? No wifi network is "genuin...

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Hopefully same for those too. Our last Civic was bought in 1998 and sold several months ago. That was a fine little car, but the new ones look much more stylish (not that a proper Boglehead cares. ;)). I love the old civic look right before the redesign model. the new civic looks heavy, and ineffic...

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While I certainly don't have any inside information, I'd guess that they're afraid of someone hacking into their system and cleaning out load and loads of investors somehow. Actually, hackers have been getting into a number of government computers, so I'm sure they don't want the responsibility. Th...

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Given the current situation especially, why would anyone, unless money is no object, buy a new car if they have a decently running used one? As far as buying new vs used, I equate it to getting a dog from a puppy mill, instead of adopting from the pound, there are lot's of perfectly good used cars ...

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http://www.businessinsider.com/unsold-cars-around-the-world-2009-2 Why aren't car prices plummeting? Probably the same reason why house prices are stiff in some areas. If they sell it at lower costs, they are guaranteed to go out of business. I think we will see the price shift when the 2010 models...

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Still, I feel like a Masters degree might make me happier, might make finding work easier, and could lead to more interesting assignments at work. For $25k its worth it. It is so much easier to call bluffs at work. This occurs two-fold. 1)Your profs will teach you to read through the bull. 2)Your c...

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Over time I have become paralyzed with what to do with various income streams and have stuck them in vanguard's prime money market. I used to have a large sum in Vang's CA muni fund but eventually liquidated that and put it into the prime MM as well. Currently I don't entirely trust the muni market...

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Tax advantaged account or not?

I-bonds are a good alternative also.

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The I-bond composite rate is made up of the fixed-rate, which is set at issuance for the life of the bond, and the semi-annual inflation-adjusted interest component. I'm assuming that the fixed-rate component can never go below 0%. But can the semi-annual inflation component be negative? Let's say ...

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Lbill wrote:What did Mel say about paper I-bonds? Are they preferable to electronic bonds for some reason?

No clue.

The best part is that you can cash them instantaneously at a bank. Ie. you can exchange $5k of i-bonds for $5k in cash immediately with no wait.

They are great emergency funds.

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How @!&%^$# ignorant. I'm glad I was raised better than that. That is a complex social issue. I wouldn't necessarily call it ignorant. Much of our society has advanced socio-economically by pushing others down. They would have not gotten there, if they did not. It is a very primitive behavior t...

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In light of the new tax plan, I think I'll change my acronym for the high earners to a Gallic version. Let's call them the HENRIs, "High Earners Not Rich Indefinitely Good article. Exactly how I see it. Then again, Obama has been methodological and crystal clear. He's going to have to hire the...

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None of this is true. Sit in any business school class in accounting or finance and you discuss the priority in liquidation, liquidation costs etc. ad nauseum. Ditto CFA curriculum. Does the curriculum say treasuries are essentially risk free, that with more risk there are higher returns? If yes, w...

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Look at it another way: Capital preservation is a high priority for retirees. TIPS insure capital preservation at the cost of an inflation premium. In the distribution stage, you need the insurance to protect your capital, in the accumulation stage less so. I'm not sure we can call it "insuran...

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Sounds like you live in an area with lots of "for sale" signs and honda pilots. Sad to finally realize how many of my neighbors make payments on their cars. Actually, there are very few for sale signs that I see in our area. I have expected to see more cropping up however, there are very ...

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During the last 3-4 months I have noticed that Chase bank has built three branch banks within 2 miles of my house. Each brand new building has at least 5000sf of floor space, expensive office furniture, and is staffed by at least 8-10 employees. Sounds like you live in an area with lots of "fo...

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Search found 558 matches

Re: Purchasing a home on graduate student income

fumoto drain valve

Re: BWX?

Re: Hybrid cars

Re: Unsold cars around the world

Re: Is a masters degree worth $25,000?

Re: Is it crazy to have a 7 figure sum in Vang prime MM?

Re: Can I-Bonds Pay Negative Interest?

Re: Chase bank branches

Re: Chase bank branches