One item I would like to comment on relates to the idea that we hold the validation of the Jesus story to an unfairly high standard. Here's the thing, though: If you ask me to believe that God impregnated a virgin, that the resulting son Jesus was actually God in mortal form, that Jesus performed a...

I hadn't been by this site in forever and just happened across this.  I'm not Mountaineer but maybe I can help, or make it worse, I'm not sure. *** (I hope that's not too shrill a way to begin a discussion about a delicate topic.) That's okay, people have got to be honest without being abrasive or i...

Well first of all you have no idea how much I like to hear things like that because it’s motivation to try harder.  I’m actually trying to spend less myself and I wish I had your willpower!  I don’t think I would ever get away with 1200 any time soon but I hope to do better in time.  I respectfully ...

If your average baby boomer has only saved 50,000 dollars and draws a social security check of 1500 a month, are we just going to watch as an entire generation of people falls to the poverty level? Just a point of order: this scenario is hardly poverty.  If this is how it actually does work out (IE...

I would be so bold as to argue that any static allocation that invests in a buy and hold pattern with no speculation made in the underlying asset class is spiritually very similar in execution and ideology (and likely less turbulent than typical return chasing approaches).  I would argue that such ...

For whatever it is worth I just split between different gold ETFs and call it a day.  This carries its own risks but I really can't think of anything better that doesn't involve owning a fortified bunker.  I begrudge no one for putting more effort into it than that but I strive for the greatest secu...

I would be so bold as to argue that any static allocation that invests in a buy and hold pattern with no speculation made in the underlying asset class is spiritually very similar in execution and ideology (and likely less turbulent than typical return chasing approaches).  I would argue that such a...

I do this for open ended goals which do not have a set time frame other than being years away where I just don't know exactly how much I would spend but have a general idea. Most of my saving is for things I will need in 2 years or less and I can put dates or at least months and years to them and I ...

My gut reaction was "There is no flippin way stocks will double before any of the rest do!"

So I picked stocks because I am usually wrong about predicting anything.

It seems to boil down to opportunity cost.  As a modest salary office worker it "pays" well tor me to take on the duty of being my own asset custodian.  OTOH if I were someone who made like 2 grand or more in a week (it is crazy but it happens) I would be so good at making the cash roll in...

In hindsight (always 20 20 vision with hindsight) it is apparent that much of what Dell does went from revolutionary to commodity in a terrible hurry.

This is why I am not a stock picker.

The short version of this is I’m actually sympathetic to the argument of the state being too incompetent to administer the penalty, and that’s pretty much the only argument I’m sympathetic to, because while some cases are bungled, there have also been specific cases where there was so much proof tha...

Enlighten me oh golden ones.  The value of gold for PP purposes is its melt value yes?  American currency is illegal to melt down.  Ergo in theoretical terms it is worth only its face value yes? Now I understand not everyone cares about legality but if you do it seems more prudent to get bars or for...

KevinW has read my mind!  Well that's not true, if he read my mind he'd be traumatized. I'm not saving for RE right now, but I plan to in just a few years. Regardless I have kind of the same system.  If it's a cost to be incurred within 1 year, or 2 years of it's estimable, I generally sock away the...

I can only tell you what I do.  I'm going to make a lot of people here laugh at how childish and simplistic this is. I wait until I feel like I have a "pile" big enough to mess with.  I generally follow the rule of thumb that if the cost to invest the pile isn't at least 2% of the "pi...

I learned I was right.  I was right to diversify.  I was right to use low cost passive funds.  I was right to stick to the plan.  I was right to ignore the news.  I came out rather smug actually.  If that disaster did not swaybme from my ideas I don't know what will. It still sucked for other reasons.

Convergent evolution?  Browne is not that famous outside of certain internet sites. He was a New York Times best selling author, presidential candidate, wrote articles, gave speeches and generally was in the public eye quite a bit. He was not unknown. It is extremely unlikely this index just happen...

I like how Tortoise described investing as an insurance policy that will payoff if we can hold the current system together. This is exactly the way I look at it. Very few people have the resources to really be able to completely insulate themselves from a systemic collapse of society to any meaning...

I find extra spending and extra spare time have diminishing marginal rates of utility at some point so it is rational to both indulge the present and save for the future just in case there is a tomorrow. !!! I don't see why this is so shocking. I have determined that with spending, for instance, I ...

This is one of those oddball questions which really has nothing to do with investing per se but the responses might be interesting.  Rather this is a question about behavior with money. The question is, what does your personal cash flow look like? I will use myself as an example.  Being a salaried s...

Well... 1.  What if the bond market changes in a year maybe less? 2.  You seem to be looking at government rates.  Thing is the government pays the minimum possible rate investors will accept for that level of risk.  That doesn't mean no one will make any money.  Also the government isn't trying to ...

craigr is exactly right.  With gold, you have a built in tax deferral to the point it almost makes no sense to have it in tax advantaged space unless you just have oodles of tax advantaged space like I do. I personally don't even try to compensate for the effects of taxes.  It'd just be madness, too...

Now please no one take this as a harsh tone, but I hear this kind of thing a lot, and I think people are the victims of their own imaginations sometimes. Everyone talks about how IRA's and 401K's are great investment vehicles because they are tax deferred. With the amount of debt that we have in the...

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet...

Will you give the 60/40 a whole 2 years I wonder?