Hey, guys, I have an option to purchase long term care insurance for myself and my husband via the federal employee long term care insurance plan. He and I are both in our upperish 40s. I'm struggling with this decision. What do you guys think? A prudent thing to have? Yes/no? Thank you for any inpu...

https://www.quora.com/How-is-China-able-to-provide-enough-food-to-feed-its-population-of-over-1-billion-people-Do-they-import-food-or-are-they-self-sustainable Interesting read. Wow... They're going to take over, aren't they? I call BS on a ton of different parts of that article. I'm typing with my...

Mom it is so great to hear from you! Have you been lurking all this time? What country are you living in now? Awww, thanks, WiseOne! That's kind of you to say. We're back in the US of A! WOOHOO!!!! I haven't been lurking recently, actually. For a while we lived overseas in a place where internet wa...

Actually, I started this thread because everything I read made it sound like the Secure Act was certain to pass the Senate and be signed into law imminently, but I just saw this: https://www.planadviser.com/exclusives/secure-act-ensnared-senate-flying-house/ and also, I saw that Bogleheads has close...

Hey, all, I'm trying not to panic about the following: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jlange/2019/06/11/the-hidden-money-grab-in-the-secure-act/#4b8be7e3bbd7 ...but it's difficult for me not to. My husband and I have a nice amount in our TSPs (we're federal government employees, but just change that ...

dualstow wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:22 pm Mom.2.Boys. Blast from the past. I miss your China posts

Awwwwwww!! That's very kind of you to say, but trust me, I do NOT miss China, lol!

Now Japan, on the other hand...

Hey, all, I'm trying not to panic about the following: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jlange/2019/06/11/the-hidden-money-grab-in-the-secure-act/#4b8be7e3bbd7 ...but it's difficult for me not to. My husband and I have a nice amount in our TSPs (we're federal government employees, but just change that t...

We have our investments at Vanguard, and I've been reasonably happy with them (not outrageously thrilled, but reasonably happy) for many years until this past Friday. Background: I've been getting emails from Vanguard about some vote they're having (I totally don't know what it's about and don't car...

These are all such awesome suggestions. You guys are just fantastic. Love this forum.

Hey, guys, I think I actually posted a question like this years ago when my older son was at a school that did this exercise, but now my younger son is doing it (in the same type of school) and I'm interested to hear y'all's take. Okay, so here's the exercise, and it is NOT PP friendly (not my fault...

I'm not sure what they would have to say about a journalist from a country (Japan) that only gives logistical support to the Allies' effort in the mideast. Maybe beheading is the default punishment when they can't think up something more poetic. Thank you so much for bringing this up, Dualstow.  Th...

I know Apple thinks that internet connections are ubiquitous, and maybe they are in Silicon Valley, but try telling that to Newark airport and Amtrak.  Or to hotels that insist on charging $15/day. Amen, sistah! Hotels charging for wifi make me crazy. Might as well charge me for sheets on the bed o...

Oh my goodness, MachineGhost - that's... wow.  I had no idea there were bear rescue facilities in Chengdu, but there obviously are.  Thank you for posting that, and thank you for donating.  There are some fantastic folks on this forum, there really are. Dualstow , believe it or not, I *have* seen th...

Wow, guys! Thank you all so much for your kind words! Dualstow - Yes, I think each and every one of us could wake up every morning grateful to not be an animal in China...particularly any animal through which or with which one could make money. For example, the big animal-linked expat outrage while ...

Hi, guys! So... in another thread, WiseOne and Reub both were asking about my time in China (by the way, I live in Japan now). Reub said: "Yes please share your insights on China with us. Did you live in a big city and for how long? Is there any pure capitalism going on there? Is the economy to...

Hi back, Sophie!! We are NOT living in China any longer, thank goodness. We are now living in Japan.  Our lungs barely survived living in China, lol. The pollution was so heinously bad that a normal American truly cannot even imagine the horrors of it. There are a couple things that we miss (the foo...

Hi, guys, I need someone to slap me, please. So my kids (ages 20 and 16) have Vanguard investment accounts. These accounts have basically been funded with grandparent birthday and Christmas checks over the years. They're super small accounts (something like $2,500 per kid) and over the years I've so...

sophie wrote:
Nice to hear from you MomTo2Boys! 

Thank you, Sophie! 

HB Reader wrote:  
I switched from CSRS to FERS in the 1980s. 

May I ask why you switched?

My husband and I often moan and wail because we came in too late to be CSRS and had to be FERS...

I would also encourage most Federal employees to use the TSP Roth option.  I wish it had been around when I was contributing.  It may not offer many immediate tax benefits (if I understand it correctly), but after having done a number Traditional IRA to Roth IRA conversions in recent years I think ...

I second what Sophie says. My husband is a federal employee and has been for 14 years or so. We are contributing the max to our TSP. And, quite frankly, we're doing pretty much a 60 (stock)/ 40(bond) split in that bad boy. It's just easier that way. We're a few years older than you guys - but not wa...

Just so we're all clear, "Justice Department" actually means "FBI."

Carry on...

  Perhaps the fair thing would be for all the tax returns of federal employees to be made public. My husband is a federal employee. You have no right to see my family's tax returns, our address, the names and social security numbers of my children, etc. Many federal employees are law enforcement of...

MachineGhost wrote:
Boobus Americanus

That? Is awesome.

By the way, SORRY to everyone! I had meant to post this under "Other Discussions" and now I see that somehow I mangled where it was supposed to go and inadvertently stuck it under "Variable Portfolio Discussion!"  I'm a moron. Well, and my horrible internet is no help. Sorry! Car...