Search found 1963 matches
- Wed Jul 05, 2023 12:31 pm
- Forum: Gold
- Topic: Gold ETF Placement
- Replies: 9
- Views: 4485
Re: Gold ETF Placement
No right answer to this one, but I keep the majority of my gold in the after-tax space, in physical form. Gold ETFs make me nervous for a whole lot of reasons. I own those in tax-advantaged accounts where physical gold isn't really an option. The idea was to make for convenient and tax-free rebalanc...
- Sun Apr 30, 2023 11:13 am
- Forum: Cash
- Topic: New I-Bond Rate for 5/1/23 to 10/31/23
- Replies: 33
- Views: 18978
Re: New I-Bond Rate for 5/1/23 to 10/31/23
Thanks Barrett! That is a good rate to grab if you can!
Hope that rate will remain the same in November....my next buying opportunity is January 2024.
Hope that rate will remain the same in November....my next buying opportunity is January 2024.
- Sun Apr 30, 2023 9:41 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: Home Freeze Drying
- Replies: 46
- Views: 75460
Re: Home Freeze Drying
I'm too lazy to post pictures, but I took advantage of the rainy/stormy weather yesterday to stay home and cook my favorite beef stew. Adapted from Julia Child's Zinfandel of Beef recipe. 2 lbs stew meat (all I had or I would have gone with 4 lbs and doubled this recipe) Saved beef, pork, duck or ba...
- Sun Apr 30, 2023 9:25 am
- Forum: Cash
- Topic: Good piece on cash by Cullen Roche
- Replies: 11
- Views: 7065
Re: Good piece on cash by Cullen Roche
If the US defaults on its Treasury debt, I think you can comfortably assume that the stock market will drop precipitously. Presumably, interest rates will also rise and more banks will fail. So that means that the following asset classes will all be devastated: stocks, bonds, and cash. That leaves g...
- Tue Apr 25, 2023 8:45 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: Home Freeze Drying
- Replies: 46
- Views: 75460
Re: Home Freeze Drying
That is a perfectly valid use of your freeze-dried treasure trove Maddy! I've always cooked in large batches, then I freeze some to pull out later. It's very little extra work to make a large pot of something than 1 or 2 servings, like you get with meal kits. I also would find it annoying to have to...
- Wed Apr 19, 2023 10:59 am
- Forum: Cash
- Topic: Repos and "Treasury" MM funds - the saga continues
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2567
Re: Repos and "Treasury" MM funds - the saga continues
Fidelity has two treasury money market funds. One is the "Treasury Only" (FDLXX) which invests only in T bills, and does not do repurchase agreements or other tomfoolery. The other is the Treasury money market that is eligible to be used as a brokerage core position (FZFXX). It's as you de...
- Wed Apr 19, 2023 10:53 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: Home Freeze Drying
- Replies: 46
- Views: 75460
Re: Home Freeze Drying
My back-of-the-napkin calculations say that a single run costs about $4.00 in electricity. Add $1.00 for mylar and O2 absorbers, and you're looking at about $5.00 a batch. This is a REALLY rough comparison, but Provident Pantry #10 cans of chicken (24 servings, they say; roughly 1 gallon?) are runn...
- Tue Apr 18, 2023 9:27 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: Home Freeze Drying
- Replies: 46
- Views: 75460
Re: Home Freeze Drying
Wonder how much food you would have to freeze dry in order to make it work dropping a couple thousand on one of these machines vs. buying the freeze dried food directly? I imagine not freeze drying enough could indeed ruin a batch. I don't know about botulism in particular but there's no shortage of...
- Tue Apr 18, 2023 9:09 am
- Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
- Topic: Don't use Fidelity Solo FidFolios to manage an ETF HBPP
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1642
Re: Don't use Fidelity Solo FidFolios to manage an ETF HBPP
Fidelity's software is very glitchy, and their settlement time is unconscionable....I've seen things take a week or more to settle though I never figured out why. My rule with Fidelity is to keep things simple and avoid relying on fancy software features, because they are bound to fail. I ended up w...
- Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:40 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: Home Freeze Drying
- Replies: 46
- Views: 75460
Re: Home Freeze Drying
Yes Maddy, tell us more! How is your freeze drying experiment coming along?
Interested to hear if you think it's worth it to reduce your freezer space needs. Have you considered fermenting vegetables? Those also can store indefinitely and don't require refrigeration if you do it right.
Interested to hear if you think it's worth it to reduce your freezer space needs. Have you considered fermenting vegetables? Those also can store indefinitely and don't require refrigeration if you do it right.
- Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:36 am
- Forum: Bonds
- Topic: Thinking of a May I-Bond purchase. Talk me out of it!
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1444
Re: Thinking of a May I-Bond purchase. Talk me out of it!
I buy I-Bonds every January. That way I don't have to obsess over stuff like this. If I'd chosen to hold off in order to get the fixed rate increase, I'd probably stick with that decision and buy in May. There's no reliable prediction for what fixed rates will do in November, for all we know it may ...
- Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:27 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: Another Covid thread (2023 April)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1281
Re: Another Covid thread (2023 April)
Well you could look up the info on the CDC website about symptomatic COVID infection in vaccinated people. But, that info has been out for a long time now, and it's in everyone's personal experience too. I'm sorry that your parents have cut you off over something like this. I guess all you can do is...
- Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:20 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
You might be able to get a directive to not feed you, then when you start starving/dehydrating, be put into hospice (morphine drip). Hideous. Maybe I should get that Wingsuit. Yes, advance directives are very important and you should get that done. Make it as specific as you can, because many of th...
- Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:45 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
You might be able to get a directive to not feed you, then when you start starving/dehydrating, be put into hospice (morphine drip). Hideous. Maybe I should get that Wingsuit. Yes, advance directives are very important and you should get that done. Make it as specific as you can, because many of th...
- Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:41 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: Another Covid thread (2023 April)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1281
Re: Another Covid thread (2023 April)
Sophie, I'd still love to hear your thoughts about the COVID vaccine in general if you feel inclined to share them with us. But if not, I understand why you might not care to respond. The political environment we live in does not allow for the safe and free expression of opinions. Certain topics ha...
- Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:53 pm
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
One of the biggest problems with Alzheimer's is that the victims have no insight into their condition. They could be standing in an unheated house with no food in the fridge, poop all over the floor etc, and they will insist they're managing just fine and don't need any help. A trueism in neurology ...
- Fri Apr 14, 2023 2:04 pm
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
Yes that's part of the problem. Which children are you going to count on to take care of you in old age, when they're part of a generation that currently can't take care of themselves? Back in the day, children did indeed help take care of elderly parents, but it wasn't something that could go on fo...
- Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:38 pm
- Forum: Bonds
- Topic: What happens to I-bonds if rates plummet again
- Replies: 46
- Views: 50675
Re: What happens to I-bonds if rates plummet again
I've got a big slug of cash in I Bonds, built up slowly over the years. I just bought them automatically each year, and then this past year - jackpot. The returns are still way better than anything else right now, including stocks. And....tax deferred! You don't buy these for their current interest ...
- Thu Apr 13, 2023 8:57 am
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
Some of those 15k/month places will take your estate, then keep you after you've burned through it at 15k/month rate, so it works out to less 15k/month. Also avg life span in nursing home is 2 years. Once you burn through your savings, you get put on Medicaid. If you had a private room you'll be mo...
- Wed Apr 12, 2023 5:38 pm
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
Sorry I've been away for a bit, indulging in some Mom care.... As per usual, Maddy asks some really good questions. My answers below. The tenor of this discussion is revealing that it is not saving for retirement that is the problem; it's saving for medical care. <== TRUE!!! The retirement savings a...
- Fri Apr 07, 2023 2:37 pm
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
All any of us can do is to do our best and we’re going to end up with whatever we end up with. People have been retiring that way forever. That they have. But several things are different now. First, people are living longer while getting substantially less healthy. That means far more time spent n...
- Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:39 pm
- Forum: Bonds
- Topic: When is it time to load up on bonds.
- Replies: 40
- Views: 41974
Re: When is it time to load up on bonds.
Here's a big reason why I've been having a really hard time with the PP's bond allocation: That is the one asset that truly is dependent on the US dollar being the world's reserve currency. Long bond rates are lower than the Fed would like because they are the universal flight from the stock market ...
- Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:09 pm
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
Thanks @boglerdude! I found something similar in northern NJ, where my mother lives: Fox Trails. They have similar houses in the community and they specialize in dementia care for small groups. Cost was about $7-8K/month but they had a much better staffing ratio (3 aides to about 20-30 residents) th...
- Wed Apr 05, 2023 1:03 pm
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
CCRC's are a response to an almost intolerable situation that is guaranteed to get much worse over the next 20-30 years. I agree that a CCRC could be a risk if it suddenly implodes or gets mismanaged, but that's true of just about any arrangement you might make. You can move on from other arrangeme...
- Wed Apr 05, 2023 1:00 pm
- Forum: Other Discussions
- Topic: How much to save for retirement
- Replies: 101
- Views: 98792
Re: How much to save for retirement
Hiring privately means finding aides who aren't employed by an company providing formal home care that is registered with the state. They may be entirely independent, but more often I've found that they work in organized groups with usually one person acting as a matchmaker. This gives them many of ...