Search found 285 matches

by Runner01
Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:21 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: My co. is switching HSA providers; Is HSA Bank best?
Replies: 16
Views: 3285

Re: My co. is switching HSA providers; Is HSA Bank best?

My employer uses HSA Bank and I have never been assessed fees, not even for investing with a savings balance under $5,000. I guess my employer pays all of the fees.
by Runner01
Sun Feb 01, 2015 11:46 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Emergency fund investing - muni fund
Replies: 10
Views: 2088

Re: Emergency fund investing - muni fund

See this thread. You could potentially get ~5% FDIC insured return on $20,000 (using only Mango and Union Plus). The original post is a little dated but page two has some more recent information.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=94135&newpost=2358444
by Runner01
Sun Feb 01, 2015 2:51 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: POLL: Do you personally own a cell phone?
Replies: 92
Views: 10473

Re: POLL: Do you personally own a cell phone?

I own my iPhone but my employer reimburses me for the total bill.
by Runner01
Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When should you stop contributing to an HSA?
Replies: 31
Views: 5193

Re: When should you stop contributing to an HSA?

I will continue maxing mine out as long as I can contribute through payroll and save 12% in FICA, state, local, and UE taxes (in addition to federal income taxes). My HSA is at HSA Bank right now so my employer pays all fees and I have over 100 ETFs (many Vanguard index ETFs) to choose from commission free.
by Runner01
Thu Jan 29, 2015 6:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Adopting
Replies: 29
Views: 4213

Re: Adopting

There are a lot of well mannered teens in the foster care system that need the love and support of a family but are unfortunately overlooked by people who want infants. Unless you have your mind set on an infant, consider at least fostering a teen. The best part about adopting from the foster care system too is that in most states you receive a stipend while fostering and the adoption costs you nothing. And don't forget, the need for stable parents doesn't end when the children become adults.
by Runner01
Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Thanks.
Replies: 12
Views: 2320

Re: Prepaid Tuition Vs 529 plan

What happens if your child has no desire to attend college? Do you receive the original balance back or do you receive the $24k plus growth? This is the main reason we will not be saving specifically for our newborn's education in a 529 or prepaid scheme (but we will be prepared if he wants to attend one of the local schools).
by Runner01
Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Transition to a single income household
Replies: 16
Views: 1961

Re: Transition to a single income household

Is the SAH parent interested in part time work? My wife specifically went back for her masters so she could work part time but still earn a good hourly wage. Our child was born recently so after her maternity leave she is going back part time (15 hours but only 10 outside the home). This will add about $25k to our HH income and allow her to avoid any gap in employment. We also saved/invested like crazy the past few years and are "done" with retirement savings assuming a 6% real return until age 66 (we are 29 now and obviously we will continue saving).
by Runner01
Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Will I be able to retire at 55?
Replies: 13
Views: 3069

Re: Will I be able to retire at 55?

Can I ask how you decided on needing $300k per child for college? The average annual tuition cost at state universities is only $9k per year and $30k per year at private universities. I sure hope tuition costs don't dont increase that much beyond inflation...
by Runner01
Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:09 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Suze Orman: $100 into $860k, and cfiresim
Replies: 47
Views: 9981

Re: Suze Orman: $100 into $860k, and cfiresim

JamesSFO wrote:So Suze is now saying 11%?!? Shame on her, usually she's less crazy than Ramsey.
The annualized return of the s&p 500 over the last 40 years (with dividend reinvestment) has been 11.8%. Of course, the real annualized return over that period (with dividend reinvestment) has been about 7.7%.
by Runner01
Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Preparing for baby and one income
Replies: 41
Views: 4681

Re: Preparing for baby and one income

We bought almost everything except the car seat used for very little money. The biggest expense by far was the pregnancy and birth. The pregnancy carried over two years so we had to spend about $2k the first year and an additional $7k (c section delivery) the second year. My wife only works 15 hours per week (5 of which are at home doing paperwork) so we have very little childcare costs.
by Runner01
Tue Aug 26, 2014 6:53 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 529 question for adult student
Replies: 4
Views: 566

529 question for adult student

I searched around but couldn't find an answer to my question so I was hoping you Bogleheads could help. I will be attending college at least half time next year and would like to use a 529 to save on state income taxes. My question is can I remove money from a 529 for qualified expenses the same year I contribute that money? And am I correct in assuming that I can also contribute the college's qualified living expenses ($16,000) since I will not be living on campus? I live in Pennsylvania if that helps.

Thank you.
by Runner01
Tue Jun 10, 2014 2:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Exercise stock options to max retirement accounts?
Replies: 6
Views: 607

Re: Exercise stock options to max retirement accounts?

One thing to consider is the risk associated with the 457 plan but it being a government plan negates most of that concern. Personally I would go ahead with your plan if I was in your shoes.
by Runner01
Thu Jun 05, 2014 11:09 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Gold and Silver as an Insurance Policy?
Replies: 37
Views: 3730

Re: Gold and Silver as an Insurance Policy?

In the event that equity markets have collapsed I find it hard to believe that precious metals would be valuable in the short term. It may be better to store food, water, guns/ammo, and other survival supplies. Some time after the initial collapse precious metals may become the currency of choice but until then the favored currency would be the aforementioned survival supplies.
by Runner01
Tue May 13, 2014 7:44 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Soylent
Replies: 93
Views: 9873

Re: Soylent

The only thing I would worry about in subsisting solely on Soylent is the huge lack of knowledge that we still have about human nutrition. We are constantly learning new things and revising past information. Choline is a good example of a vitamin that previously was consider non-essential. It turns out however that dietary choline is essential and a deficiency takes quite a while to manifest itself in the body. However even though we now know that dietary choline is essential we really don't know how much people should be consuming on a daily basis (a study did find that less than 50 mg caused decreased liver function).
by Runner01
Tue May 13, 2014 7:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Hybrid bike recommendation (around $500 max)
Replies: 23
Views: 14486

Re: Hybrid bike recommendation (around $500 max)

I would recommend going to a local Specialized dealer and checking out the base Sirrus. If it a good shop they will help you out with a basic fitting which is one of the most important things when buying a bike.
by Runner01
Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: advice requested from engineers
Replies: 85
Views: 8231

Re: advice requested from engineers

It could just be the fact that I live in PA but we have a large number of engineering majors (civil, mechanical, electrical) that graduated from one of the Penn State engineering schools. Our CTO, half a dozen VPs, and a couple dozen directors all attended Penn State.
by Runner01
Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Children: Are they worth every penny?
Replies: 68
Views: 8106

Re: Children: Are they worth every penny?

HomerJ wrote: And you're right... Two kids, you can pay for college and camp, an old used car, and educational vacations... 5 kids, and all 5 are going to have student loans, and no luxuries...
Why would they have student loans? I graduated debt free two years ago by working full time and I don't feel like I missed any of the "college experience". My wife and I are only going to have one child and have already decided that we will likely not pay for it's college education. And I am not sure what luxuries they would miss out on. My parents were poor when I was growing up and I always had nice clothes and toys (from thrift stores) and we always had fun tent camping, fishing, hiking, etc.
by Runner01
Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:28 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: $25K Budget for a Fun Car
Replies: 64
Views: 10823

Re: $25K Budget for a Fun Car

MX5 with a 5.0 in it. Don't bother doing the swap yourself (unless you want to) as it is cheaper just to buy one already done. I have seen a few MX5 NBs with 5.0s in them but I think the best is the old stock looking MX5 NAs.
by Runner01
Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: faith based investing and impact on capital markets
Replies: 16
Views: 2164

Re: faith based investing and impact on capital markets

pezblanco wrote:The obvious question here is why isn't there an index fund SPECIALIZING in sin stocks??? A new factor!! :D
You may be interested in the VICEX mutual fund. The expense ratio of 1.64% sure makes it a sin in our community though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_Fund
by Runner01
Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:59 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Display and password protect videos (software question)
Replies: 1
Views: 271

Display and password protect videos (software question)

Hello all,
I am hoping that some of the many IT professionals that post here may be able to help me. We are making training/procedures videos for our operators in the field and would like to load the videos on some Windows 7 industrial tablets that we have. We are looking for software that may exist that provides an interface for the operators to browse the videos (based on machine platform) and enter a key code/password that we provide to watch the training video (we don't want them watching videos for things they are not trained on). This must all be done local on the tablet as the tablets won't have access to the internet in the field.

Thank you for any help you can provide.
by Runner01
Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:13 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is there a low cost cell phone plan, limited minutes?
Replies: 66
Views: 7910

Re: Is there a low cost cell phone plan, limited minutes?

Airvoice is $10 per month for 250 minutes and uses AT&T's network. You can use any AT&T locked phone or GSM unlocked phone, I used the one in the link.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007X6 ... UTF8&psc=1
by Runner01
Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is living without credit cards a dangerous idea?
Replies: 66
Views: 5785

Re: Is living without credit cards a dangerous idea?

BuckyBadger wrote: Also, you say you use debit cards for everything. I would seriously consider switching that to credit cards. If we've learned nothing else from the Target data breech we should have learned that credit cards are many times more secure than debit cards.
Mostly not true. Sure, your money will be on hold until you are reimbursed (1 day after discovering the fraud in my experience) but a simple work around is to not have all of your cash in a checking account. If your debit card is swiped as a credit card you receive the exact same protections from Visa/Mastercard as a credit card does.
by Runner01
Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:09 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is living without credit cards a dangerous idea?
Replies: 66
Views: 5785

Re: Is living without credit cards a dangerous idea?

BuckyBadger wrote:
Runner01 wrote:If you use your debit card like a credit card (no pin) you receive the same zero liability protections from Visa/Mastercard as a regular credit card would.

I didn't think this is true. Are you sure?
Common misconception.

http://usa.visa.com/personal/security/v ... ility.html
by Runner01
Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is living without credit cards a dangerous idea?
Replies: 66
Views: 5785

Re: Is living without credit cards a dangerous idea?

My wife and I do not have any credit cards and instead swipe our debit cards as credit. If you use your debit card like a credit card (no pin) you receive the same zero liability protections from Visa/Mastercard as a regular credit card would. We receive cash back from our credit union every time we swipe our debit card as credit. One thing to note is that we do have about $25,000 in readily available funds for "emergencies". I really see no problem with credit cards but I just have never had a reason to get one as I have had no problems renting cars, booking hotels, buying airline tickets, etc.
by Runner01
Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:27 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Transfer ETF shares to mutual fund shares
Replies: 17
Views: 1348

Re: Transfer ETF shares to mutual fund shares

livesoft wrote:OP is asking about the settlement time T+3. I will guess it depends on the brokerage, so let's assume the brokerage was Vanguard BS.

It doesn't matter about the wash sale because the cost basis would transfer in that case and the loss, while not allowed immediately, would not have an effect. But let's assume this was a tax-advantaged account.
The brokerage is Vanguard and is a Roth account. Sorry for the lack of details in my initial post.
by Runner01
Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:23 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Transfer ETF shares to mutual fund shares
Replies: 17
Views: 1348

Re: Transfer ETF shares to mutual fund shares

A related question. Assuming the ETF and mutual fund are both Vanguard TSM does he have to sell, or can Vanguard just reclassify his shares? If he sells he may be subject to capital gains taxes. You can't reclassify in that direction; you can only convert mutual fund shares to ETF shares. Thus, if you sell in a taxable account, you have a capital gain or loss (and you can't deduct the loss if you sell the ETF and buy the same mutual fund immediately, as that is a wash sale). This is in a Roth account so capital gains are not an issue. I know I can't directly reclassify the shares but I don't know if I have to wait for the ETF sale to clear before buying the mutual fund shares. I would hate for the money to be uninvested for several days.
by Runner01
Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:05 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Transfer ETF shares to mutual fund shares
Replies: 17
Views: 1348

Transfer ETF shares to mutual fund shares

I recently accumulated over $10,000 in the total stock market ETF and would like to transfer the money to the admiral share class of the mutual fund for the ease of automatic investment. If I sell the ETF version will I have to wait for it to clear (3 days) before I can invest it in the mutual fund?

Thanks for your help.
by Runner01
Sun Jan 05, 2014 1:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: POLL: Bogleheads' Favorite Social Media Site
Replies: 54
Views: 5081

Re: POLL: Bogleheads' Favorite Social Media Site

As an avid runner and cyclist I use Strava which is technically speaking a social media website.
by Runner01
Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:34 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: is anyone using FreedomPop? (phone plan)
Replies: 5
Views: 865

Re: is anyone using FreedomPop? (phone plan)

My wife has one of the 3g/4g Mifi wireless routers that she uses for work. It was $50 for the device and included 500 mb of 4g data per month at no charge but we pay $3-$4 per month for access to the 3g towers (it uses the Sprint/Clearwire Wimax 4g which is spotty in our area). I have only had one customer service interaction with Freedompop and I would rate it a 10 out of 10 (the battery that came with the device didn't hold a charge).
by Runner01
Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I think low cost of living trumps retiring in a no state in
Replies: 80
Views: 7837

Re: I think low cost of living trumps retiring in a no state

Pennsylvania is always a good option for retirees. SS and IRA/401k distributions are not subject to state income tax and groceries and clothing are exempt from sales tax. Property taxes vary wildly but a lot of school districts are very affordable.
by Runner01
Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Have you noticed Amazon often does not credit your refunds?
Replies: 26
Views: 4618

Re: Have you noticed Amazon often does not credit your refun

Amazon credits my returns as soon as UPS does an origin scan on the Amazon return labels.
by Runner01
Fri Dec 13, 2013 2:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New Monthly Bill -$60
Replies: 18
Views: 2330

Re: New Monthly Bill -$60

wageoghe wrote:
Runner01 wrote:When making decisions like this I look at the cost over a 10 year period. This will cost you almost $9,000 over 10 years in today's dollars (using a real return of 4%). Depending on your net worth and income this may be a drop in the bucket for you.
I don't see it, but maybe I'm missing something. I get about half that using this calculator:

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/ret ... lator.aspx

I entered:
10 years
7% rate of return
$360 initial investment
$360 annual investment
3% expected inflation
15% tax rate

Check to increase investment with inflation.
Check to show values after inflation.

and got $4696 after 10 years.

You are correct. I mistakenly calculated that the OP would be renting year-round.
by Runner01
Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 28 y/o Investor With 1M Portfolio Needs Advice
Replies: 31
Views: 6545

Re: 28 y/o Investor With 1M Portfolio Needs Advice

I would recommend spending a few thousand to rent a Lamborghini for a week if you have not already done that. I went through a sports car phase when I was in my early 20s (though not on the Lambo level) and I got tired of the car pretty quickly.
by Runner01
Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New Monthly Bill -$60
Replies: 18
Views: 2330

Re: New Monthly Bill -$60

When making decisions like this I look at the cost over a 10 year period. This will cost you almost $9,000 over 10 years in today's dollars (using a real return of 4%). Depending on your net worth and income this may be a drop in the bucket for you.

Edit: Ignore this post as this calculation is based on renting the garage year-round.