Bogleheads.org

Midpack

Is assuming 6% return for a 50/50 mix of stocks and bonds reasonable over the next 15 years? Indeed, but you have to be ready for actual returns to be significantly better, or significantly worse. The longer your holding period, the lower the historical variation in return, but it never becomes pre...

Midpack

Thanks Rick - your right. I am probably one of the few that would benefit from a low-cost fee-based adviser that just has me stay the course. I know it isn't the Bogle way to burn an extra 1-2% a year, but maybe there a place for them for people like myself. A "low-cost fee-based advisor"...

Midpack

Some, but not all, of the recommendations you've received above clearly fail the 'reliable' constraint. Do yourself a favor and consult Consumer Reports for reliability ratings before you select any of the above. Some will fare well, others won't. And though some luxury cars have excellent reliabili...

Midpack

I have sold two cars to CarMax instead of trading them at dealers, got quite a bit more from CarMax and their process was easy and fair IMO. They were late model cars though, CarMax does not want older cars and will give you a very low offer on an older car. Not that I blame them, they want an inven...

Midpack

I thought you were mistaken, but I guess it is "next year" now isn't it :lol:. I plan to sell/realize some cap gains by the end of next year if legislation doesn't change rates (not taking a position for or against).

Midpack

Rick Ferri wrote:Maintaining discipline through thick and thin is the key to investment success.

Rick Ferri

+1. Darn it, that's what I was trying to say with my (in retrospect) long-winded post...

Midpack

Thank you, I will have to read the article. I've always been with smaller, regional banks fortunately - not because I'm smart, but I've lived in various smallish towns (30-90K) all my life where there were few if any mega-banks.

Midpack

I don't have any actual friends who are Bogleheads that I know of, but then I refrain from talking investing with family, friends or co-workers - so who knows. Personal finance is just that, personal, so we're probably better off here speaking anonymously at online forums. And I don't have any desir...

Midpack

You've already gotten some great suggestions. I'm planning to relocate and our criteria are similar - since you didn't mention cost of living as a constraint, I'd add Santa Barbara CA & La Jolla CA, they're just about perfect! We're not willing to move somewhere that spendy...YMMV

Midpack

Good call!

Resisting the emotional temptation to buy a (new) car is at least half the battle, it rarely makes $ense. And you can always buy one later, but you can't undo the purchase without losing $ in the process.

Midpack

Anti-lock brakes have not proven to be a safety factor. Seems counterintuitive that ABS technology doesn't reduce some types of accidents. Clearly there are many severe accident scenarios where no braking or stability control system can help (IE, a car that leaves the road, acutely inadequate dista...

Midpack

I have never bought a car without consulting Consumer Reports reliability ratings (at your newstand or local library unless you're a subscriber already). http://www.edmunds.com/ is a good resource also, though there are others much like them. Honda and Toyota have historically been the most reliable...

Midpack

That was clever/fun.

Adm shares are always (marginally) better, has anyone ever actually calculated their Adm vs Inv share expense savings? Has anyone with more than the Adm threshold $ amount ever insisted on holding Inv shares instead? I'd be really surprised... :lol:

Midpack

A 80/20 portfolio will give you close to the same return at a 100% portfolio but with less risk. I was 100% equities, individual stocks only early on, until my early 40's and (luckily) did well, partly by virtue of the times I lived in then. However, 80/20 in (mostly) low cost broad funds would hav...

Midpack

I don't have a better answer than those above. There's no reason to get a degree if your job is completely secure, though I don't know how anyone can say that these days. If you do lose your job or just want another opportunity and you don't have a degree, you will be at a considerable disadvantage....

Midpack

I currently have about 20% allocated to small cap, but since I am 30 yo and can't touch that money for another 30 years, wouldn't it make sense to increase the amount allocated to small cap? 1. The expected return over 30 years on small cap vs S&P 500 should be quite large; any short term setba...

Midpack

Invest in TIPS! Dollar-Cost Average! What to do about the Euro crisis? Will Social Security disappear? Well, by all means, understand these issues, but there is nothing special you, as an individual can or should do . Recognize that each presumed crisis / opportunity rests on some prediction or ass...

Midpack

During the interview, after getting an offer, or never? 1. Questions regarding compensation and benefits 2. Hours / work expectations 3. Whether travel is involved and how much 4. Upward mobility/ chances for promotion They are all questions I'd want answered before accepting an offer, so I'd ask j...

Midpack

I'm a fruit smoothie person, but I Googled "green smoothies" and got:

http://greensmoothiesblog.com/

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/200 ... thies.html

And 1.38 million other hits...

Midpack

Average, even though I should have gone with specific ID to maximize my (tax) options...

Midpack

Retirement withdrawal so far has been 0% - but then I just retired in June. DW is still working and our expenses are very low these days, so her small income is all we need so far.

Investment returns in 2011 were only +0.7%, hopefully better in 2012 and beyond.

Midpack

maj wrote:Financefun

Thanks. Your comments and the other two helped me to become a VWINX admiral shareholder as of 4:00 PM EDT, today.
maj
peace

You won't be disappointed in the long run, and that's all the really matters (don't pay a lot of attention to the short term)...

Midpack

On the surface, your ages, nest egg, income and asset allocations look great, and would provide a very comfortable retirement for most anyone, congratulations. And there's probably no reason for either of you to continue working for financial reasons. If your wife is one of the fortunate minority wh...

Midpack

Midpack.... Where did that chart come from? Tax exempt munis and I-bonds are "fine in any account", including tax-advantaged accounts? Are they serious? That's an out-of-date picture from our wiki (note the image's URL). It's been updated and should no longer be used as a reference. Pleas...

Midpack

Wow. I really don't get this one at all. Why in world would it be rude? If anything, it's rude to expect two people having a conversation between themselves to cater to the needs of every random eavesdropper who passes by. Sheesh. If she doesn't like it, she can learn your language. JJ Unfortunatel...

Midpack

Never speak a foreign language where it can be overheard by others. That is tbe best policy... +2. Selectively speaking in a language other than the norm in a workplace within earshot of someone else , would understandably make the third party wonder why - it's just human nature. You are actively e...

Midpack

I'm a DIY investor with Vanguard by choice. As for Wellesley vs Couch Potato, do you have any tax sheltered accounts? If you have sheltered accounts, it would probably be beneficial to put your fixed income in tax sheltered and equities in taxable - which you can do with Couch Potato more than Welle...

Midpack

Pick up a copy of "How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free". Great read / good insights! +1. You can probably check it out at your local library. If nothing else, complete the Get-A-Life Tree exercise from the book. I did it before I retired to make sure I knew 'what I was retiring to.' For mo...

Midpack

It's often an effective tactic for sales reps or they wouldn't do it. But I felt the same way as your friend, I rarely accepted cold calls for myself or my employees (other than our Buyers, their choice) and wouldn't give out information ('you leave your info, and we'll contact you if necessary'). ...

Midpack

It's often an effective tactic for sales reps or they wouldn't do it. But I felt the same way as your friend, I rarely accepted cold calls for myself or my employees (other than our Buyers, their choice) and wouldn't give out information ('you leave your info, and we'll contact you if necessary'). A...

Midpack

I have always bought a new car when my old one got wrecked. Currently its about 17 years old. Plenty of new guts installed, but getting a lot of small annoying problems that cost a lot of shop time. Wow, I thought I was an outlier keeping cars for 10 years. Wondering if the cost of a new car is rela...

Midpack

I wonder if anyone should think of their house as an Investment? As a Place to live I mean, I am not referring to flipping homes. I wonder if the last bubble has just caused many in America to view home ownership the wrong way? The primary home is not an investment, it's shelter like others have sa...

Midpack

We do everything we can for ourselves, the choice is not between paying someone to do it vs my personal cost unless I literally don't have time . The cost to hire someone is X, my out of pocket cost for me to do the work myself is zero - people that actually calculate are rationalizing . And I enjo...

Midpack

We do everything we can for ourselves, the choice is not between paying someone to do it vs my personal cost unless I literally don't have time. The cost to hire someone is X, my out of pocket cost for me to do the work myself is zero - people that actually calculate are rationalizing. And I enjoy f...

Midpack

I am not a Prius owner, though we do have a 2007 TCH and I've lusted after a Prius for several years. So I guess I can't vote, so this instead http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2010/10/behind-the-wheel-toyota-prius-plug-in-mpg-a-viable-green-technology-that-doesnt-save-money-for-now.html . I don'...

Midpack

A totally new concept! I propose we call it: "Compounding". Excuse me while I go off to invent the idea of "Total Return". With a linear scale, any compounded item looks like a bubble. (Moore's Law, anyone?) With a log scale, unusual behavior is easier to see as deviation from a...

Midpack

With this year ending in a few days, I'd be more focused on the tax implications (capital gains, other offset losses?) than timing. Timing is relatively neutral since you're moving from equity to equity as the previous post explains. It might be best for you to sell some, all or none of your holding...

Midpack

Nowhere else, unless someone else is paying my way - then southern Germany, northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Monaco, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali...

Midpack

I can't conceive how there could be townhouses without an HOA, is there such a thing? A home owners association is only required when you have a condominium form of ownership, whether it be townhouses, apartments or single family homes. Since this form of ownership did not exist or was relatively n...

Midpack

Awesome voice, almost scary to see that voice come out of someone so young. Fortunately I don't care for the genre her music seems to fall in mostly, so she's just a curiosity for me. Clearly very talented though, no question.

Midpack

19 is too young IMO, you need to experience life on your own for a while before you can fully know and appreciate a mate. If you don't date around seriously, how could you ever be confident in choosing? May work, may not. Divorce is usually expensive and painful (lasting too). You owe it to yourselv...

Midpack

You might want to explore on Google. There are a lot of rumors that Apple is planning a seismic upgrade to their TV offering, so you might want to wait if you haven't already bought. I think it was one of the reported three major projects Steve Jobs had been working on near the end, if so I assume a...

Midpack

I can't conceive how there could be townhouses without an HOA, is there such a thing? We live in a single family home community with a relatively small HOA fee, $850/yr. Unless it's a very small community of homeowners who really know each other, It's inevitable that there will be disagreement among...

Midpack

I'm retired in a 2270 sf home, but we'll be moving in the next few years and the next home will definitely be less than 2000 sf (different bin in your poll). In the current house, we have three rooms we literally never use (LR, DR, BR4) so downsizing will be easy.

Midpack

Here's a list, their #1 has already been mentioned by many here http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

Midpack

The model produced an estimated expected real return to stocks ranging from 4 percent to 5.5 percent,

I'd be absolutely thrilled if this comes true, I have planned on a lot less in real terms...like 2%.

Midpack

But regardless, it's out of my control. I have much more important things to dwell on. For most investors, just buy and hold (and forget about!) the Total Bond Market Index Fund, and go out and play golf! :D Me too. I've shortened overall duration a little, but I own Total Bond Market Index Adm &am...

Midpack

I wouldn't try to pick ONE - how's this? And there's no accounting for taste... Top Ten 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark Top Ten 1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off Top Ten 1988 A Fish Called Wanda Top Ten 1991 Grand Canyon Top Ten 1994 The Shawshank Redemption Top Ten 1996 A Time to Kill Top Ten 1996 Michael...

Midpack

There have been many rock/pop songs that have spoken to me over the years. For me 'what song' changes ever several years as life progresses, isn't it supposed to keep changing?

Midpack

albedo wrote:"If ever the hand of God has reached into the affairs of man it was to touch the mind of Ludwig van Beethoven." I can't remember where I read this, but it rings true to me.

Considering he was still composing (Sym #9 etc.) when he was reportedly completely deaf, seemingly so...

Search found 719 matches