@ PS I agree debt is the devil in finance.  Hate it, might not be providing enough details to make this apparent online... @TenPaGa I can understand your reasoning, w real estate I have been holding off for years for all of those reasons, there is a tax consideration w/ real estate that factors in t...

I understand your sentiment completely. I myself have been "unexcited" about the long bond position for some time. To play the advocate, I must admit many market turns, and subsequent effect on $, Stocks, Long Bonds or Gold, were not necessarily predictable by myself at least.  I think thi...

From Wikipedia "The fund is reported to contain: 30% Stocks (for instance, the S&P 500 or other indexes for further diversification in this basket) 15% Intermediate Term Treasuries IEF (7- to 10-year Treasuries) 40% Long Term Treaasuries TLT [20- to 25-year Treasuries] 7.5% Gold IAU 7.5% Co...

I wondered about the relationship after a friend sent me one of his papers, which I am not finding now.  He called his "The All Weather Portfolio" as per the below quote.  The paper quoted even has a nice 4x4 graphic square... :) "The All Weather approach exploits these reliable relat...

Question to the group, excess $ would you recommend allocated to

1. Paying off student loans with interest rate at 2.6%?

Or

2. Contributing to a PP in a taxable account?
(Assume Retirements maxed)

Or

3. Take on more debt to Buy home/condo/place to live?

Xan's comment was spot on.  At this point, I think its time for a brief excerpt from Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne.  I've edited the text for brevity, keeping the original meaning. Rule #6:  Don't Expect a Trading System to Make You Rich If someone were to tell you he'd discovered a foolproof...

@Sophie  :) I've already had some PP holdings for some time, just added another account.  In the set up phase, it was tempting to rotate purchases, i.e. make a purchase of one of the four assets that seemed to be down, then one of the remaining three next month, etc.  I was lucky to be 100% stocks 2...

No need to sell under 30 days.
My reading of the verbiage was that is would encore a selling fee of $0.03 per $1,000 value sold at any time.  However, I think I made a decimal point error when calculating the impact on a trade, thanks for correcting me!

Good for your Uncle!  Medicine is changing, the financial situation of the future physicians will be markedly different than the past imho, with Obama care, the rise of Advance Practice Nurses, Physicians Assistants, etc. PS (Is it heresy to post a BH link :) http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Paying_do...

Thank you for all the replies.  I don't think the situation is as unusual as it might seem, I talked with a medical student recently who claimed to be borrowing nearly 100k PER YEAR!  I don't know how this could be, but I would believe they are borrowing over 50k easy as many schools tuition approac...

Ozzy, Thanks for your response, say Hi to Sharon for me :) I use Fidelity, 3 of the 4 fund can be bought commission free: ITOT total stock market TLT bonds IAU gold SHY cash I read the fine print, as below, "Free commission offer applies to online purchases of Fidelity ETFs and select iShares E...

Thank you for your input PS! I was proposing a concept of student loans in relation to bonds for- Current Students - paying tuition instead of buying bonds, probably unlikely People who have graduated and still in repayment, those w 100-300k in student debt (professional degrees), contributing extra...

If one were in the building, accumulation phase of life to middle age, what might the group consensus be toward devoting 25% towards paying student loans instead of buying bonds / LTL?  Obviously the student loans won't appreciate like a bond will with decreased interest rates to allow the portfolio...

MG, Thanks for your response.  There are reasons, i.e. the person I am sharing advice with, their employers choice, etc, that recommendations towards Fidelity, Etrade, and Well's Fargo Advisors (would be another third option, but suspected they would be fee heavy.) I essentially need advice on both ...

I realize the PP philosophy purports the difficulties, or maybe impossibilities would be more accurate, of market timing.  However for a new PP, considering yearly trends, such as http://seasonalcharts.com and tax season selling/ira contributions, what time of year/season/month would be best in the ...

Curious to hear input regarding -

What 4x4 ETF Suggestions for a Fidelity Account?

What 4x4 ETF Suggestions for an Etrade Account?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101890512 From CNBC Declining credit standards among bond issuers may be worrying analysts, but the papers' buyers, especially exchange traded funds (ETFs), could also pose big market risks if liquidity dries up. "The ownership is more sensitive to retail flows," wit...