Search found 18401 matches

by Jack FFR1846
Thu Jun 29, 2017 1:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help! How do I choose a FA (I have to...)?
Replies: 16
Views: 2257

Re: Help! How do I choose a FA (I have to...)?

This is a real "Indiana Jones" question. Do I want to jump into the pit of venomous snakes or be shot by the Nazi soldiers. Good luck.....I'd pray for the John Williams music to start.
by Jack FFR1846
Thu Jun 29, 2017 1:28 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Deleted]
Replies: 41
Views: 5204

Re: Why is it ok to avoid Chinese A Shares?

I want absolutely nothing to do with China.....or Russia....or other Banana Republics so choose Developed International. You might point out that "East Mango Tree grew 9000% last year and I missed out on that". Ok. I missed out. My choice and I'll stick with my choice. If you want to invest in China, that's your choice.
by Jack FFR1846
Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: converting term life insurance to permanent insurance
Replies: 8
Views: 1724

Re: converting term life insurance to permanent insurance

I think you'd want to get some quotes to know what some real numbers might be.

From what I've seen (and paid over the years), any type of permanent type life insurance typically costs about 10 times as much as 20 year term.
by Jack FFR1846
Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:02 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying house - Very important decision
Replies: 228
Views: 33407

Re: Buying house - Very important decision

I don't think buying would be a mistake. I think buying such a mansion would be a mistake, though. Find something half the size and half the price. 1800 square feet is fine for a family of 3 (or 4 or 5). Our first 2 houses were each 800 square feet and more than enough.
by Jack FFR1846
Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:23 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: what would you do? considering relocating and visiting area first
Replies: 10
Views: 1434

Re: what would you do? considering relocating and visiting area first

jebmke wrote:I've moved about 20 times as an adult. Most were work related.

This may sound weird but one thing I started doing after the first couple of times was to go to local pubs, diners and other places where the locals frequented. I wanted to get a sense of the place and chat casually with a few people. Most like to talk and they will tell you a lot about their community and won't hold back on the things they don't like. Sometimes I would just sit at the bar, sip on my beer and listen for a while. Bartenders know a lot.
This is an excellent suggestion.

A comment from a waitress at a restaurant in the town we were looking to move into: "well, you know about the superfund site, right?".
by Jack FFR1846
Thu Jun 29, 2017 6:31 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Investing help please
Replies: 9
Views: 1167

Re: Investing help please

It sounds like you've already thought about your acceptance of risk and allocation. You're fine with your proposed allocation. Fire your FA. He's useless to you, going against your own stated wishes and quite honestly, from your description a real clown. Lump sum the money in.
by Jack FFR1846
Thu Jun 29, 2017 6:27 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Time in the market is more important, But seriously ?
Replies: 60
Views: 10851

Re: Time in the market is more important, But seriously ?

The market hits a new high on average every 18 days. If you are uncomfortable with buying at a high, look into CDs.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Wrecked Vehicles and Whether or Not to Keep Them
Replies: 34
Views: 4288

Re: Wrecked Vehicles and Whether or Not to Keep Them

The time to have made this decision was before you had your car repaired. You could have taken whatever payment was offered by the insurance company, sold the car as-is and gone off and bought a car. Now you're stuck with what you have. Financially, you're better off keeping the car as long as possible. 100k isn't a magic number anymore. In the 60's and 70's, sure. Because cars simply didn't last to 100k. Now 100k probably means you need a timing belt (if your car has a timing belt) which is somewhat expensive but Hondas are actually dead simple to replace (I've done 2 of them as a DIY mechanic). But also, the car is 12 years old so there are likely things that should be replaced on time.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:59 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review and Personal Financial planning - Suggestions needed
Replies: 11
Views: 1767

Re: Portfolio Review and Personal Financial planning - Suggestions needed

The cash should at least be in a high yield savings account. Redneck pays 1.25% up to $35k. Ally pays 1.05%. I agree to pay off the car. I'd also get out of company stock and anything related to gold. Both are super high risk (gold has lost its shirt over the last few years).
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:28 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you buy phone outright or pay it off monthly...
Replies: 63
Views: 9460

Re: Do you buy phone outright or pay it off monthly...

I have been with AT&T for a very long time. They have superior coverage in my region. I am unlikely to go to another carrier, but if I did I have (had) that option. I decided I didn't like the iPhone and sold it shortly after purchase and went back to Android. It was easier to part with because it was unlocked so the second hand market was larger. Have you looked into Cricket? We switched from a corporate discounted 20 year old AT&T plan to Cricket, added a phone and pay less than half. That isn't some teaser rate either. No extra fees and when you run out of data, they simply throttle so you don't get those complimentary $10 adders with 3 hours left on the month. Cricket runs on the AT&T network. We did all of ours at Gamestop...
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you buy phone outright or pay it off monthly...
Replies: 63
Views: 9460

Re: Do you buy phone outright or pay it off monthly...

keaton wrote: I spend more since there is an insane difference between the 4S and the 6S.
I'm honestly curious. What differences are there? Here's what I do with my phone:
make phone calls
text
do email (both personal and work)
browse the web
take occasional pictures
use the calculator function
use the compass
use the alarm and stopwatch
look at my calendar
check maps once in a while (usually use the garmin in my car)
check selected stock etfs and markets
use the flashlight

That's it. I do NOT use it for music and don't even know my itunes password. I don't use apps besides 1/3 of those that came with the phone. I don't social media ever (on phone or computer) or instachat or facetube or any of that because I've got things to do.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Best Alternative to Vanguard (Taxable Investing)
Replies: 20
Views: 3894

Re: Best Alternative to Vanguard (Taxable Investing)

Schwab or TDAmeritrade. I have taxable accounts at both and would recommend them. I hold SCHB at Schwab and VTI at TDAmeritrade. Get the bonus going in and sign up for free ETFs at TDAmeritrade.

Fidelity is also not a bad option but I believe the bonuses are currently not available. (I have IRA and Roth there)

All of these places have good investment options, good web pages and 24/7 support. Oh....they all have brick and mortar offices in case you want that kind of thing.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you buy phone outright or pay it off monthly...
Replies: 63
Views: 9460

Re: Do you buy phone outright or pay it off monthly...

What I do:

I got my iPhone 4s from my previous employer for free. I refuse to upgrade (downgrade) the operating system so as a result, I don't have the memory/battery issues that newer phones have. I bought the same phone for my son used on Amazon for $100. I really don't understand why anyone would ever spend more. I guess I'd rather pay for lunch out for a year instead of having a new phone all the time.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:34 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Purchasing physical gold??
Replies: 71
Views: 14345

Re: Purchasing physical gold??

50% depreciation?

Sounds like what my silver coins have done. Now that I want to sell to pay for kids' tuition, it's no longer such a great store of value. Should have put those $100 bills under my mattress. Would have been ahead of the game by quite a bit.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Credit cards' credit lines - pros/cons of requesting reduction?
Replies: 36
Views: 4745

Re: Credit cards' credit lines - pros/cons of requesting reduction?

Banks may look at your total outstanding credit and adjust your card limits accordingly. I recently opened some BoA credit card for the sign on bonus with some $$ of spending. They gave me the new card but lowered the limits on the 3 BoA cards I already had. Fortunately, I don't use them and they're really no good for tradelines because.....well....they're BoA. I've always been under 3% utilization.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:10 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: DCA to fund or to sweep and then invest on low days
Replies: 33
Views: 2129

Re: DCA to fund or to sweep and then invest on low days

My definition of NOT market timing (which yes....I practice) is to invest without looking at the price or price history of the investment. This avoids thinking that the price is "high" or "low". It's just the current price.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: DCA to fund or to sweep and then invest on low days
Replies: 33
Views: 2129

Re: DCA to fund or to sweep and then invest on low days

When you market time, saying "this isn't market timing" doesn't make it so. You're talking about market timing.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:13 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Traveling with 5 and 2 Year Old from Atlanta to Orlando - Is It Worth Flying?
Replies: 46
Views: 3274

Re: Traveling with 5 and 2 Year Old from Atlanta to Orlando - Is It Worth Flying?

Not sure if it's included in the flight time, but when I covered the southeast for work, the airplanes would seemingly drive all around the airport for a full 45 minutes coming in and leaving. I know there are numerous runways and it always seemed like all airlines were assigned whatever runway took the longest time to get to when taking off. I'll add my vote to drive. My max drive time is 13.5 hours. From my years flying for a living, seeing all the delays, cancelled flights and reroutes, I've found that any trip that would take less time than this, on average will be shorter driving. Plus, of course, you don't pay for all the plane tickets, car seat rentals, car rental etc.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:14 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Annuity VS cash
Replies: 16
Views: 2376

Re: Annuity VS cash

As a comparison, I have a pension that'll pay me about $350 a month at 65. I can take a lump sum of about $58k. Your monthly is much higher and lump sum much lower. Seems like you are way better off with the monthly.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard Voice Verification
Replies: 35
Views: 6857

Re: Vanguard Voice Verification

Fidelity is doing this too. I passed. I've suffered through finger print logins that don't work or that stop working. I've yet to have to get a medallion signature ever in my life and don't expect I ever will need one. If for some reason I do, I walk past my credit union every day at lunch time and can just drop in and get that done for free.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:04 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How many "accounts" do you maintain at your investment firm?
Replies: 31
Views: 3493

Re: How many "accounts" do you maintain at your investment firm?

Investment firms

I think 12.

I have no desire to reduce this number.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:02 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Unused plane ticket
Replies: 6
Views: 1670

Re: Unused plane ticket

If it's non changeable, then throw it away.

Seats don't get wasted. If a plane has 200 seats, they've likely sold 225 tickets and expect more than 25 people won't show, will take an earlier or later flight or change it. Airlines don't save seats for you, just because you bought a seat.

I have a jet blue round trip ticket that I have not used and won't use. I could change it and use it for $75 each way but won't. It's going to expire in 9 months.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:51 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Financial advisor question
Replies: 58
Views: 8073

Re: Financial advisor question

I'd like to address a few of your statements. You have done pretty well with this adviser over the years, so feel that perhaps he's added some value. My response is "bunk!". Some years ago, I transferred an old 401k into a rollover IRA. Then I did the thing that a Fidelity study says brings investors the biggest returns.......I ignored it. So without a manager, I managed to get to $1.56M. Then I found Bogleheads. Ok, so the next part is easy. When you don't know what funds to put your money in, a really safe place to put it all is into one of the Vanguard target date funds. Pick the date closest to when you want to retire and put it there. All $3M of it. As you learn more, if you want to choose your own asset allocation and actual...
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Lease New Car?
Replies: 38
Views: 6521

Re: Lease New Car?

But what about the fees. Figure the dealer's bogus "doc fee"....aka...dealer profit is going to be in the $400 area. You still pay this with a lease. There are "lease origination fees" that add maybe $400 more. With some cars, you pay a turn-in fee of somewhere around $250. Either way, you are paying the bogus "doc fee" so I'll pull off that $400. But you're left with $650 in fees for absolutely nothing of value to you. If you want to see what the cost is, get both lease and loan figures. Lots of sites will do this for you including a lot of manufacturer and dealer sites. Do the math. It is almost never cheaper to lease unless there is some tax benefit. Yes, you will save on sales taxes with leases but if you b...
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:23 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Certified Pre-Owned Honda/Toyota
Replies: 9
Views: 1735

Re: Certified Pre-Owned Honda/Toyota

Ask for a price without the car being certified. I know that for Subarus, they include the 7 year, 100k mile warranty which is about $2000 if you buy it without a discount from the dealer. So if you don't feel the need for the extra warranty, ask to have the car not be certified and take the money. When we bought a certified Subaru, the dealer actually openly offered to sell the car to us at the lower price without it being certified. The only difference between a certified car and not certified is the extended warranty.
by Jack FFR1846
Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Middle age job blues
Replies: 86
Views: 13631

Re: Middle age job blues

This post will be gloomy. It is not the skills that the new kids bring, it's the low pay, the lack of experience that means they'll accept orders from management to do absolutely stupid things, their good relative health and lack of potential disability time. I was the victim of an active program within megacorp where employees over 50 were targeted and pushed out. For me, it happened with the start of a new year. Before the new year, my weekly meetings with my manager were "everything's great, don't worry about the spreadsheet that keeps track of sales opportunities because you're not a salesman and the salesman has an accurate accounting anyways because that's how they're paid" to "You haven't kept up your spreadsheet and s...
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do you check your dividends?
Replies: 16
Views: 2432

Re: Do you check your dividends?

I look every day on Schwab when I'm looking in my account. I don't re-invest them, I pull them out to my checking account so it's pretty easy to see they're there. Takes 5 seconds from the main page. This is a taxable account.


Oh....thanks for this topic. I checked my TDAmeritrade account and had a dividend available to withdraw. Not as familiar with that site so took about 30 seconds.
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Consolidating banks accounts
Replies: 8
Views: 1588

Re: Consolidating banks accounts

I wouldn't. In general, credit union fees and benefits greatly outweigh those of commercial banks. With the Co-op network, credit unions share operations so you can walk into any credit union and do your business as if you are at your own credit union. Because of this, the number of credit union branches greatly outnumbers any bank in existence. Instead of dropping the great credit union account, consider dropping the bank and open an account in a local credit union and then your fiance and you can both do business in the same physical location. Just a few things my credit union does.....free notary, free medallion signature, cash US savings bonds with instant credit to account with no hold, refund all ATM fees, refund overdraft fees by sim...
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to stash cash for a car?
Replies: 5
Views: 1272

Re: Where to stash cash for a car?

Ally if you want to be conventional, Redneck if you can get past the crazy horse and sound effects on page 1. I have money in both and tilt towards Redneck for the 1.25% Megamoney account.
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:26 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Schwab Intelligent Portfolio
Replies: 9
Views: 2679

Re: Schwab Intelligent Portfolio

Been talked about before. Their used ETFs are high fee ones. Big cash drag. I'm a Schwab customer and my take is "pass".
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the use of hedge funds an issue for preservation of capital goal
Replies: 6
Views: 702

Re: Is the use of hedge funds an issue for preservation of capital goal

The cost of a typical hedge fund is 2/20, meaning 2% of AUM and 20% of all gains. If the goal is to gift all his money and he doesn't know who to gift it to, this is as good a way as any. If, as stated, he wants to Preserve money.....then just no.

Look up the Warren Buffet bet against hedge fund managers. Warren put all his money on the S&P 500 and cleaned the clock of the hedge fund managers.
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can you share some of your financial goals?
Replies: 68
Views: 11999

Re: Can you share some of your financial goals?

1) Pay for kids education
2) Pay for health insurance once retired
3) Pay for retirement expenses
4) Buy a Nissan GT-R
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:01 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Things to consider when going from employee to independent contractor
Replies: 13
Views: 1992

Re: Things to consider when going from employee to independent contractor

I know a number of engineers who have been contractors and have been fortunate enough to get offered full time jobs as regular employees. Things they've told me: Hourly pay as a contractor needs to be double what employee hourly is. Working on the business (non billable hours) is about equal to billable hours. Thus, net income for hours paid is only half what the billable hourly is. Contractors get the honor of paying both sides of payroll taxes, get to pay their own insurance (non group rates), usually need business liability insurance, need to file taxes quarterly and likely will have a CPA bill on a regular basis. Contractors get to take regular "vacations" since there is usually some downtime between jobs unless there is very ...
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 9:43 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Compelling Beneficiaries to Respond - Trust
Replies: 14
Views: 2057

Re: Compelling Beneficiaries to Respond - Trust

Are these people who might be active on facebook or easily found on google or linked in? Perhaps do a little digging, find their current phone, email, facebook contact info and get in touch to let them know that this isn't some scam. I know I get things that look like certified letters every day that turn out to be car dealer sales and such and sometimes throw them in the trash unopened.

I don't think you can "compel" them to do anything, however. If they want to ignore the letters, this is America and there's nothing in the Constitution requiring them to answer a letter.
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Realtor fee negotiations
Replies: 27
Views: 4216

Re: Realtor fee negotiations

Something you'd want to consider: Real estate agents are going to work for their own interest above and beyond yours. If you're giving them....say 3% and the aggressive seller down the street really, really wants to sell now, so put a 10% commission in place and everyone else is at 6%, who is getting the visits? A buyer flies into town and has time to see 10 houses. Well, if there are only 9 on the market, they'll look at your house. If there are 15, then you're out of luck. I saw this first hand when on a house hunting trip. The agent hard pushed us to look at a condo. We had zero interest in a condo....wanted a house. We agreed to look at the condo just to get him off our backs. We moved on. I was able to pick up the MLS listing on the co...
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 7:25 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Which Dealer Cost/Invoice does one use?
Replies: 20
Views: 4075

Re: Which Dealer Cost/Invoice does one use?

Every dealer I've used in the last 10 years will show me the invoice simply by asking. I never work with trying to get a price at or under invoice by some certain amount or percentage. If a dealer tells you he'll give you a car for $1000 under invoice, do you feel like you're done? What about a factory to dealer incentive of $5k (pretty regular with VW over the past 2 years). Heck....some put invoice right on their website. Others include that $5k and put their "price" right on the website. By checking websites of multiple dealers, you can often find all the info you're looking for. There are, of course region or even dealer specific incentives that you'll only find out about by getting into the business office of a dealer and loo...
by Jack FFR1846
Tue Jun 27, 2017 7:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Making the jump from Edward Jones
Replies: 41
Views: 4769

Re: Making the jump from Edward Jones

You don't need to speak with EJ about anything for the transfer. Talk with Vanguard. They already know what funds are over at EJ. The should be able to tell you the costs at EJ and the costs at Vanguard to liquidate. They did that when I transferred some money from Fidelity some years ago and gave me the costs either way. For me, it was free to liquidate within Fidelity and $75 to do it at Vanguard (1 Fidelity fund). You have a lot of funds to get rid of because EJ purposely puts clients in a lot of funds specifically to make it expensive to leave. I don't think there's a free way out unless someone like Schwab or TDAmeritrade deals with the funds you're in. If so, you could make in kind transfers to save closing fees and then sell them at ...
by Jack FFR1846
Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Won an ATV in a raffle...now what?
Replies: 39
Views: 7704

Re: Won an ATV in a raffle...now what?

I'd love to have a nice AWD ATV for my property to pull logs and ride trails. HOWEVER.....I'd learn some things first. Worst case scenario: The ATV is a leftover model where the new model year has significant upgrades. Think of a recent post with a Honda ATV that had a known clutch problem in the model. If it's one of these, knowledgeable buyers are going to stay away in droves. Worse yet, likely the manufacturer has added rebates and the dealer would heavily discount the prior model year (but still new) machine. So let's say that the actual buying price if you went into a dealer was now $6k. This drives the used market so a perfect condition unit is worth maybe $4k. So you've got to pay tax on $12k MSRP. So in the 25% bracket, that's $3k. ...
by Jack FFR1846
Mon Jun 26, 2017 8:47 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Stupid Security Questions
Replies: 46
Views: 7542

Re: Stupid Security Questions

Keep a log with the answers written in it. Do NOT use "real" answers. Why? It's the easiest way to break into an account. A little Google work and I'll be in your email, changing your password and sending spam to all your friends. Or maybe I wait for notice of bank statements and break in there. It really isn't hard to break into accounts and this is how 13 year olds do it (my kid taught me this when he was 13). So if your favorite color is blue, answer the question 4544%$^&(B2$39xxxxxx.
by Jack FFR1846
Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Aging parents
Replies: 13
Views: 2595

Re: Aging parents

Would your father hand over his finances to you entirely? What I see, if so is that you give him cash when needed and remove all checkbooks. This should eliminate most of the leeches who are taking money from him. When he doesn't have the money to pay for a cup of coffee, he might think twice about the clown looking for $20 here and there. You could set up auto pay for regular bills. Now, if he won't, then I don't know what you can do. We have an elderly relative who sounds the same. She has some kind of monthly anti-fraud payment on her checking account and gives money to anyone who's able to find her address and send a sob story or plea for money. Save the whales....send them $20. Kill all the communist whales....send them $20. Stop the p...
by Jack FFR1846
Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:15 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Keeping track of a taxable account
Replies: 15
Views: 2088

Re: Keeping track of a taxable account

Having 3 funds in a tax advantaged account allows you to rebalance with no tax for doing so. Now, for the rest of your accounts, it makes no difference how many funds you keep in each and certainly trying to keep your AA in every account makes no sense. Yes, put tax efficient funds in taxable accounts so that you are not paying tax any time you do anything in them. For an example, about half my portfolio is in a rollover IRA. That's where I rebalance and has all the funds available. My wife and I have 8 other accounts. Every single one of them has exactly one fund in them. Why do we have all these accounts? Rollovers from previous 401k plans, 401k, roths, taxable with some opened to collect bonuses (Schwab and TDAmeritrade). How do I keep t...
by Jack FFR1846
Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help me help my 92 yo grandfather
Replies: 11
Views: 1395

Re: Help me help my 92 yo grandfather

If I were asked about this, I'd say to leave it all as is, no trading, not reinvest dividends.
by Jack FFR1846
Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: I-Bonds/Estate Matters
Replies: 6
Views: 1168

Re: I-Bonds/Estate Matters

As I understand it, if the bonds are issued only in the parents names and used for educational expenses is the federal tax exemption in force. I've been cashing bonds over the last several years under that assumption, so am only cashing those with my and my wife's names on them. We have lots with my kids as co-owners along with one of us and those are being left alone.
by Jack FFR1846
Sat Jun 24, 2017 8:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Stop saving and start spending
Replies: 67
Views: 12927

Re: Stop saving and start spending

What about college? Do you plan to pay the full boat....figure probably $70-$80k (each) by the time they hit college if private, half that if public.

Is saving $50k with $400k income considered "not spending"? For some perspective, our family income is a third of that and our retirement saving slightly more than yours with $2.1M saved and only a few years to retirement. I am paying 2 full boat tuitions currently.

I think the long and short of it is that you already are spending "more".
by Jack FFR1846
Fri Jun 23, 2017 8:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: HP Laptop - Black Screen - Help
Replies: 14
Views: 3995

Re: HP Laptop - Black Screen - Help

Unplug the power and remove the battery. Plg the battery and restart. This has fixed 2 of my HPs.
by Jack FFR1846
Fri Jun 23, 2017 3:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is there "better" time of year to buy older used car?
Replies: 6
Views: 1926

Re: Is there "better" time of year to buy older used car?

It depends on the car. Early summer might be the best time for an AWD car. Winter for a convertible or sports car.
by Jack FFR1846
Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Got rear-ended: any reason not to go through my ins?
Replies: 30
Views: 5382

Re: Got rear-ended: any reason not to go through my ins?

I tend to start out going to the other insurance company first. Ask them if they'll pay for a rental car while yours is in the shop. Gauge how cooperative they are and go with that. If they ok a rental and let you fix the car someplace where you want it fixed, you're golden. (still, of course report it to your own company). If they become difficult, send it directly to your own insurance. I don't pay for rental car insurance so won't get that if I go through my own insurance but have had other insurance companys pay for it. Especially if you check the "Were you injured....yes" box on the police report. They're going to want that final check signed releasing them as soon as possible and paying for a rental car is nothing compared w...
by Jack FFR1846
Fri Jun 23, 2017 11:24 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bogleheads: Please help me pick a new car
Replies: 81
Views: 12899

Re: Bogleheads: Please help me pick a new car

Alfa Romeo Giulia AWD.

Worth looking at. I don't know reliability (but don't hold a lot of hope for this car....but likely more fun than anything mentioned here....including the GT-R.
by Jack FFR1846
Fri Jun 23, 2017 11:04 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Child's Investments' impact on Financial Aid
Replies: 5
Views: 828

Re: Child's Investments' impact on Financial Aid

All would be a custodial account until she becomes of age. If it's considered her asset, 20% is considered "available for college payment" every year and if there is aid, this amount is subtracted. There is no "allowance". Parent owned assets are considered available at 5.65% and have an allowance first, depending on a number of things. So if she qualifies for aid without this, she would lose some.
by Jack FFR1846
Fri Jun 23, 2017 9:56 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Northwestern Mutual High Fees to Vanguard
Replies: 24
Views: 9625

Re: Northwestern Mutual High Fees to Vanguard

What I would do after selling off the NW mess:

Vanguard for the Roth in a traditional 3 fund portfolio of total US stock, total US bond, Total international stock.
Schwab or TDAmeritrade for taxable. With $25k, you can collect a $100 bonus. If Schwab, all in SCHB. If in TDAmeritrade, all in VTI after signing up for free ETFs.

I even consider the Vanguard recommendations to be unnecessarily complex for no reason.