Master Thread for Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads

steve.s · Post by **steve.s** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 8:51 pm

The DC chapter's move to NOVA makes it too far/too much time to participate.
I've noticed someone in the NE corner of the Maryland looking for a chapter.
Anyone in the Baltimore/Westminster/Frederick area interested in forming a chapter?

Gardener · Post by **Gardener** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:17 pm

I live northwest of Baltimore and would be interested in a Baltimore chapter. I have seen several Maryland posters, so hopefully others will be interested as well.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:26 pm

I live in Kingsville, MD (near Fallston/Bel Air) and yes ... I would be very interested in a Baltimore Chapter.

spocksynder · Post by **spocksynder** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:30 pm

I live in Ellicott City, MD, and would be interested in the Baltimore chapter.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:46 pm

If there's enough interest, where should we have the meeting?

South of the city: Columbia - Draw some DC members from Silver Spring, Bethesda, Annapolis and Rockville (this might be too close to the DC Chapter meeting to be successful)
North of the city: Hunt Valley/Lutherville - might even draw some members from as far as York, PA

Gardener · Post by **Gardener** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:17 pm

I'm in the Westminster, MD area.

swimirvine's suggestion of hunt valley/lutherville is a good one and seems fairly central to me.

Post by **Mel Lindauer** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:34 pm

Sounds like you have enough interest to officially start a Baltimore Area Local Chapter. All I need to get you started is for one of you to agree to be the Local Chapter Coordinator. That person doesn't have to be an investing guru. Rather, they would communicate with the members regarding meeting dates, olaces, times, agendas, etc.

Let me know via PM if you'd like to volunteer to the the Local Chapter Coordinator. I'd need a first name and an email address that you'd use for this purpose (suggest you get and use something like "BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com".

Good luck!

Best regards,

Mel

Post by **Mel Lindauer** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 1:04 pm

OK, it's official. We now have a new Baltimore/Southern PA Local Chaper. Stephen (swimirvine) stepped up and agreed to be the Local Chapter Coordinator. The email address for those interested will be baltimorebogleheads@gmail.com

Stephen suggested that the area of interest might also include Bolgleheads from nearby Southern PA (York, Lancaster, Harrisburg, etc.), so the Local Chapter name was changed to include that area as well.

Good luck to all the new Local Chapter Members. Feel free to use this sub-forum to communicate with each other.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 8:23 am

Looks like we have enough people to start a Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads Chapter.

Please e-mail me directly with any questions - BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com

The next step will be to pick a date and a location. I'm assuming everyone will want to wait until after the holidays.

Options:

Dates:
1/11
1/25
(so we don't compete with the DC/Northern VA meeting on 1/18)
or we could wait until Feb and have the meeting during even number months since the DC group meets during odd number months.

Locations:
Hunt Valley Mall
Lutherville
Greenspring Station

All 3 are close to 695 and 83 and there are lots of restaurants to choose from.

Let me know if you have any other ideas/suggestions.

PapaGeek · Post by **PapaGeek** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 2:51 am

I was, and still am, planning to attend my first meeting with the Philadelphia group on 2/7. I’m definitely interested in attending the first Baltimore group meeting before that, After all, you guys might be more comfortable with my Raven’s jersey.

I live in North East Maryland. That is both the location and the name of the town! All three meeting locations sound good to me, we should just check on which one has the most private meeting rooms. Have attended meeting where the other noise in the restaurant makes it hard to hear the speaker and you feel bad about speaking up for all in our group to hear. I prefer a business meeting vs a lunch meeting! I’m fine with meeting for lunch, just make sure the room is private enough so we can speak up, and out as the situations happen!

Either date if fine also, but I prefer 1/11 only because it comes sooner! Just make sure the time doesn’t interfere with the Raven’s kickoff for the Divisional Championship game SMILE !

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 8:37 am

It looks like we have a good group of people interested in coming to the meeting. Right now we're at 8 including me.

Based on the responses and the e-mails that I've received (BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com) we're going to set the date for the first meeting:

Sunday, January 25th, 2015

There are no NFL games scheduled on this day (for those who are interested).

As far as location, there are a couple of restaurants but the only one that I know of that has semi-private rooms is Tark's Grill. It's a little on the expensive side. Here's the lunch menu:

http://www.tarksgrill.com/images/menus/Lunch-Menu-2014.pdf

I was thinking 1pm would be a good meeting time as the Brunch customers are leaving.

Let me know if you have any suggestions.

FlamingoTime · Post by **FlamingoTime** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 10:05 am

I am interested in joining. Are there any other chapters near me?

PapaGeek · Post by **PapaGeek** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 12:58 pm

Tark’s is a great place for a business meeting. Paying a dollar or two more for a decent lunch is not a big deal, and their meeting room has a monitor on the wall with cables for HDMI and I believe VGA for our use. I believe they also have WiFi, but I’m not positive.

No NFL game makes it easier, but I still plan to wear my personalized Raven jersey since we will be playing in the Super Bowl the following weekend!

iWantToLearn · Post by **iWantToLearn** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:09 am

I'm closer to Frederick and may be interested in joining/attending when I can since I believe this would be the closest group (I'm new and still learning my way around).

Forgive my ignorance, but are meetings just an opportunity to get together to discuss and learn from one another?

VictoriaF · Post by **VictoriaF** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:09 am

iWantToLearn wrote:Forgive my ignorance, but are meetings just an opportunity to get together to discuss and learn from one another?

These meetings are different things for different people. At the DC meetings, we frequently have new people who seldom post, have basic questions and are shy to ask them publicly. Some discussions are much easier in real-time face-to-face interactions than in posting and waiting for replies. Some questions involve more privacy than a public forum allows. Some people have become good friends and talking to them is a social event.

Sometimes, chapter meetings provide an opportunity to discuss Bogleheads threads, to ask for clarifications and apply them to one's own circumstances. We also have several people who volunteer to make presentations, which are always very stimulating and generate discussion.

Good luck with your chapter!

Victoria

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:47 am

Happy New Year to everyone.

It looks like we have a healthy amount of interest in the first Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting. Currently I have around 12 members interested in attending.

We are scheduled to meet on Sunday January 25th, 2015 at 1:00pm at Tark's Grill in Lutherville, MD
2360 WEST JOPPA ROAD
SUITE 116
Lutherville, MD 21093

http://www.tarksgrill.com/index.php

If you e-mail me directly at BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com I will put together an e-mail list and send out a reminder before the meeting. I will always use the BCC function to keep your e-mail address confidential.

Stay tuned for more updates.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:30 am

This is a reminder that the 1st Baltimore Bogleheads Meeting will take place on 01/25/15 at 1:00pm at Tark's Grill at Green Spring Station.
2360 West Joppa Road #116, Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093

Please let me know if you plan on attending so I can get a head count and adjust the reservation as needed. We might have as many as 15 in attendance.

If you send me your e-mail address, I will put you on the e-mail list.

The general outline for all of the meetings will most likely be:

1. Introductions
2. Open to general questions
3. Topics of discussion

At the end of this first meeting we will have a presentation by PapaGeek. He's a software engineer and has written software that can help you analyze the performance of your investments. He will be offering the software to the Baltimore Bogleheads at no charge in exchange for beta-testing. He will also be offering the software to the Philadelphia Bogleheads chapter.

The general questions portion of the meeting is where regular attendees or one-time attendees can bring in specific questions regarding their finances/investments and get feed back from the group.
e.g. "I just retired, should I leave my money in my 401(k) or roll it over to an IRA"

The topics of discussion would things like:
"Asset Allocation - International - Jack Bogle's approach vs. Rick Ferri's approach"
"Safe withdrawal rates, the bucket approach, etc."

These can be suggested and agreed upon prior to the meeting.
Let me know if you plan on attending and if you have any suggestions for topics of discussion.

Thanks
swimirvine

PapaGeek · Post by **PapaGeek** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:40 pm

Thank you Stephen for letting me show the other members the software I’ve been working on for the past 6 months. The software is not designed in any way to recommend investments. It merely provides you with additional information that is not available on your broker’s website.

I posted a PDF of a basic overview of the software at http://www.papageek.com/Investing.pdf . I will bring copies of the PDF with me, but you may want to look it over before the meeting and bring your own copy in case there are not enough to go around.

Again, thank you Stephen for letting me present this software to the group.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:43 am

One last friendly reminder that our first Baltimore Bogleheads meeting will be at Tark's Grill at Green Spring Station on Sunday January 25th at 1pm.

We should have a good group of 10 to 15 people attending.

For a topic of discussion, I wanted to pick something simple but interesting. Here are two articles for your review. You may have already seen these as they have been discussed at length on the message board.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-08/jack-bogle-i-wouldn-t-risk-investing-outside-the-u-s-.html

http://www.rickferri.com/blog/investments/my-expected-investment-changes-in-2015/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RickFerri+%28Rick+Ferri+Blog%29

we can dive into more esoteric topics at future meetings.

There's still time to RSVP - just e-mail me at BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com

Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:32 pm

We had a great first meeting on Sunday.

Thanks to BobCat2 and Grabiner for coming to our meeting. Their knowledge is always greatly appreciated.

We had a good discussion about general asset allocation and got into more specifics about international equity.

We discussed the pros and cons of target date funds.

PapaGeek showed us his software which can give investors more flexibility with analyzing investment performance.

We discussed having quarterly meetings with our next meeting tentatively scheduled for Sunday, April 26th.

Thanks

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:58 am

This is a reminder that the next Baltimore Bogleheads Meeting will take place on 04/26/15 at 1:00pm at Tark's Grill at Green Spring Station.
2360 West Joppa Road #116, Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093

Please let me know if you plan on attending so I can get a head count and adjust the reservation as needed.

If you send me your e-mail address, I will put you on the e-mail list.
BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com

After addressing general questions from those in attendance, the suggested topic of discussion for this meeting is: ETFs

Please e-mail me any specific questions about ETFs so I can send to the group. Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 8:41 am

TIME CHANGE - We could only get a reservation at 1:30pm.

This is a reminder that the next Baltimore Bogleheads Meeting will take place on 04/26/15 at 1:30pm at Tark's Grill at Green Spring Station.
2360 West Joppa Road #116, Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093

Please let me know if you plan on attending so I can get a head count and adjust the reservation as needed.

If you send me your e-mail address, I will put you on the e-mail list.
BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com

After addressing general questions from those in attendance, the suggested topic of discussion for this meeting is: ETFs

Please e-mail me any specific questions about ETFs so I can send to the group. Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:47 am

This is a reminder that the next Baltimore Bogleheads Meeting will take place on 04/26/15

1:30pm at Tark's Grill at Green Spring Station.

2360 West Joppa Road #116, Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093

Please let me know if you plan on attending so I can get a head count and adjust the reservation as needed.

If you send me your e-mail address, I will put you on the e-mail list.
BaltimoreBogleheads@gmail.com

After addressing general questions from those in attendance, the suggested topic of discussion for this meeting is: ETFs

Please e-mail me any specific questions about ETFs so I can send to the group. Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 1:32 pm

This is a reminder that the next Baltimore Bogleheads Meeting will take place on 04/26/15 at 1:30pm at Tark's Grill at Green Spring Station.

2360 West Joppa Road #116, Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093

Please let me know if you plan on attending so I can get a head count and adjust the reservation as needed.

After addressing general questions from those in attendance, the suggested topic of discussion for this meeting is: ETFs

Please e-mail me any specific questions about ETFs so I can send to the group. Thanks!

Thanks

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Tue May 05, 2015 3:19 pm

We had a great meeting on Sunday 4/26.

We discussed ETFs and their nuances. I personally learned a lot an appreciate everyone that came and contributed.

Our next meeting will be on Sunday July 12th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station. The suggested topic was bonds. This is a HUGE topic so I think we'll start with the basics of bonds and then generate additional questions for future meeting topics based on the discussion.

Thanks

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:52 am

This is just a reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday July 12th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

The topic for this meeting will be bonds.

This is a very large topic. I'd like to make sure everyone has a basic knowledge of bonds before the meeting. If you're comfortable with bond basics just ignore this. If you're "clueless about bonds" like I was just 3 years ago, please review some of these references:

Investopedia - basic intro to bonds.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bond.asp

Vanguard Education Section - has links to interactive examples of concepts.
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insigh ... bonds-work

Thanks!

Swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Jul 06, 2015 9:48 am

This is just a reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday July 12th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

The topic for this meeting will be bonds.

This is a very large topic. I'd like to make sure everyone has a basic knowledge of bonds before the meeting. If you're comfortable with bond basics just ignore this. If you're "clueless about bonds" like I was just 3 years ago, please review some of these references:

Investopedia - basic intro to bonds.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bond.asp

Vanguard Education Section - has links to interactive examples of concepts.
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/saving-investing/how-do-bonds-work

Thanks!

swimirvine

crambklyn · Post by **crambklyn** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 4:40 pm

I plan on attending. :happy

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:43 am

Final reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday July 12th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

The topic for this meeting will be bonds.

This is a very large topic. I'd like to make sure everyone has a basic knowledge of bonds before the meeting. If you're comfortable with bond basics just ignore this. If you're "clueless about bonds" like I was just 3 years ago, please review some of these references:

Investopedia - basic intro to bonds.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bond.asp

Vanguard Education Section - has links to interactive examples of concepts.
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insigh ... bonds-work

Thanks!

swimirvine

crambklyn · Post by **crambklyn** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:52 pm

Sorry, I will have to cancel. I hope to see you guys next time.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:26 am

We had a great meeting on Sunday.

The topic was bonds and bobcat2 gave a wonderful talk complete with handouts. Thanks also to Grabiner for contributing so much to the discussion.

Our next meeting will be on Sunday October 11th at 1:00pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

The meeting topic will be Taxes (more specifically tax implications on investing) and Grabiner has volunteered to prepare a talk.

This should be another great meeting so mark your calendars.

I'll send out/post additional reminders as we get closer to the meeting.

Thanks!
swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:17 am

This is just a reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday October 11th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

We will be discussing taxes on investments.

We will have a formal presentation by David Grabiner (Grabiner).

Sandy Bittman (PapaGeek) has been working on a wiki page for the bogleheads website specifically on taxes on investments during retirement.
- https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/User:Pa ... calculator

He may not be able to attend the meeting but his wiki page is worth reviewing with the caveat that it's a work in process.

- Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:40 am

Final Reminder! The next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday October 11th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

We will be discussing taxes on investments.

We will have a formal presentation by David Grabiner (Grabiner).

E-mail me at baltimorebogleheads@gmail.com if you would like to attend and I'll send you a copy of the presentations to review.

- Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:48 am

We had a great meeting on Sunday! Thanks for everyone who showed up even though the lunch took place during the Raven's game.

David Grabiner [Grabiner] gave a great talk on taxes.

Our next lunch meeting will be on Sunday, January 10th, 2016 at 1pm at Tark's Grill @ Greenspring Station.

Thanks!

selftalk · Post by **selftalk** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:30 am

Swimirvine, I`M planning on attending 1/10/16, at 1 pm. I tried to email you at BaltimoreBogleheads @gmail.com but it wouldn`t go through.

selftalk · Post by **selftalk** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 5:02 pm

swimirvine my email to you works fine now.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Wed Dec 09, 2015 12:04 pm

Baltimore Bogleheads next meeting Sunday January 10th @1pm at Tark's Grill @ Greenspring station.

Our suggested topic "Giving your portfolio an annual checkup"

Here's a link to a forum discussion on the topic:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=154722&p=2320207#p2320207

Please come with any specific questions you might have.

If there happens to be a snow storm I will try to send out an e-mail on Saturday evening or Sunday morning to either confirm or cancel the meeting.

Thanks!

acura301 · Post by **acura301** » Wed Dec 09, 2015 1:00 pm

Ladies and Gents,
I've read this site for years and had no idea there was a Baltimore chapter. I will plan to be there in January. Can you tell me the address for Tark's Grill? Is there a e-mail mailing list I need to get added to? Thanks.

uncletom49 · Post by **uncletom49** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:43 pm

Retired March 2015.

Looking to join this chapter.

I can show up at Tarks, but let me know anything else I need to do to join this chapter.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:19 am

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

This is just a reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday January 10th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

We will be discussing "giving your portfolio an annual checkup"

- Thanks!

swimirvine

Hikinggel · Post by **Hikinggel** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 2:54 pm

Hi Everyone,

When will the next meeting take place for this group? I am very interested in joining!

Thanks!

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Apr 04, 2016 7:35 am

We're going to have to postpone the Baltimore Bogleheads meeting. The D.C. chapter is meeting this Sunday because their location was unavailable last month and several of our members try to attend both meetings. Let's shoot for Sunday, May 22nd at Tark's Grill in Greenspring Station.

The topic will still be dollar cost averaging if everyone is okay with that.

Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon May 16, 2016 9:30 am

Finally time for our next meeting!

The meeting will be on Sunday May 22nd at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

The topic will still be dollar cost averaging.

Also, as there are several new members on the e-mail list. Please feel free to bring specific questions about your finances to the meeting and those will be addressed first. The normal format for the meeting is:

-introductions
-address personal finance questions of those in attendance
-chosen topic of discussion/presentation
-choose date and topic for the next meeting

for the last couple meetings we've had return members in attendance so we haven't adhered as closely to this format but if new members join us we certainly will!

Thanks!

swimirvine

grabiner · Post by **grabiner** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 11:58 pm

The next meeting will be on Sunday, July 10 at 1 PM at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please Email or PM swimirvine, not me, to RSVP; I am just posting this so that people know about the meeting date.

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:32 am

Thanks David, I forgot to update the thread as well...

The meeting will be on Sunday July 10th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

The topic will be International Stocks and Bonds.

Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:16 am

This is just a reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday October 16th at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

For a discussion topic we will be doing a recap of the recent Bogleheads National Conference.

- Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:06 am

LOCATION CHANGE

I just called to confirm the reservation at Tark's grill and was told that the "just went under new ownership last week and won't be opening for brunch for a few more weeks."

This means the restaurant is closed at 1:00pm this weekend but should be available for our next meeting.

I made a reservation at 1:15pm at this restaurant:

http://www.thevalleyinn.us/

it's just a couple of minutes away from Tark's Grill

10501 Falls Rd, Lutherville, MD 21093

I'm open to suggestions on a temporary location for this next meeting if anybody has any other ideas.

Thanks!

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 10:03 am

This is just a reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday April 23rd at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

- Thanks!

swimirvine

swimirvine · Post by **swimirvine** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:45 am

This is just a reminder that the next Baltimore/Southern PA Bogleheads meeting will be on Sunday July 23rd at 1pm at Tark's Grill at Greenspring Station.

Please let me know if you can attend so I can finalize the number on the reservation.

- Thanks!

swimirvine

zeusxix · Post by **zeusxix** » Fri Aug 25, 2017 10:43 am

I live in the area and would possibly like to join the group. How do I go about this?

Thanks