Search found 980 matches

by smurff
Tue Dec 17, 2013 5:08 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Left Fidelity
Replies: 22
Views: 12957

Re: Left Fidelity

If you have a meeting with a financial advisor and they bring in someone else to participate, ask who that person is and why they're present at your meeting.  If you don't want them there, ask them to leave. My banker asks for permission before bringing any other employee to meetings.  You are entit...
by smurff
Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:55 am
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160254

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

A couple of days ago the security guard in my building asked me if I had heard about Bitcoin. He seemed really excited about its potential. After the security guard, you only need two more to yield a warning of something big and terrible about to happen with Bitcoin.  It goes according to the Law o...
by smurff
Sat Dec 14, 2013 2:34 am
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160254

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

Bitcoin is in a bubble.  It reminds me of the dot-com days, late 1990s. My only question is when will the bubble pop, and what will bring it (the pop) about. There.  I said it. Now that I've said it, being in a bubble does not mean bitcoin will not survive.  It could be like Amazon.com--it crashed a...
by smurff
Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:10 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Amazon.com: Making their workforce disappear
Replies: 23
Views: 14259

Re: Amazon.com: Making their workforce disappear

I believe the term is 'countermeasures'. Just guessing, but I think it's probably some kind of Federal offense to shoot down FAA-approved aircraft/drone. And I doubt people would try that very often in the urban areas they claim to be getting these ready for. But, I agree with Benko and I admit tha...
by smurff
Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:53 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind - new Mike Maloney video
Replies: 13
Views: 7587

Re: The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind - new Mike Maloney video

I think all gold bugs eventually sound like Peter Schiff.
by smurff
Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:05 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: New I Bond rates have increased!
Replies: 36
Views: 22991

Re: New I Bond rates have increased!

Rates are not allowed to go negative with savings bonds, like E- and I-bonds. 

The rates can go negative with some treasury securities, but I've forgotten which ones.
by smurff
Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:02 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Account Executive for PP
Replies: 20
Views: 9062

Re: Account Executive for PP

Good luck (best wishes) with getting the license. 

The more professionals out there who are familiar with the PP concept, the better off investors will be.
by smurff
Sun Dec 08, 2013 4:21 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Nelson Mandela-A Mixed Bag
Replies: 13
Views: 7815

Re: Nelson Mandela-A Mixed Bag

All of what you wrote, MedTex, makes me think of Mandela being more like George Washington than like Ghandi.  Fighting over oppression is not pretty, no matter which side you're fighting on.  One of the things about Mandela was his ability to get the oppressed and the oppressors to sit at the same t...
by smurff
Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:45 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Amazon.com: Making their workforce disappear
Replies: 23
Views: 14259

Re: Amazon.com: Making their workforce disappear

They might even have their own defenses onboard in case they encounter someone about to use them for target practice.  Imagine skeet shooting where the skeets shot back! Even if someone managed to shoot them down, there would be actual images of who the shooter was and where to find them.  By the ti...
by smurff
Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:29 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Variable Annuity as part of PP
Replies: 9
Views: 4115

Re: Variable Annuity as part of PP

HB said it could be appropriate in some cases to allocate a portion of your portfolio in an annuity for some guaranteed income. I bought one back in 2009 for a third of my money. It grows 7% a year compounded off the top line (not what you cash it in for but the amount that is used for computation ...
by smurff
Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:06 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoins
Replies: 20
Views: 9195

Re: Bitcoins

I'm ready to celebrate with some weed, myself. 8)
by smurff
Fri Dec 06, 2013 10:43 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Amazon.com: Making their workforce disappear
Replies: 23
Views: 14259

Re: Amazon.com: Making their workforce disappear

There have been a couple of drone crashes in NYC in the past few months, mostly into skyscrapers while being operated by amateurs. I remember pieces rained onto the street, just missing pedestrians on the street in one case.  So leave it to the droners; they'll destroy their own equipment and indust...
by smurff
Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:05 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Account Executive for PP
Replies: 20
Views: 9062

Re: Account Executive for PP

If I can do the PP myself anybody can, and save a lot of money on fees in the process. If you follow HB's advice you just check it once a year so what are those people you are paying going to be doing for the other 364 days? Sometimes there is a lot of money, scattered among various personal, corpo...
by smurff
Sat Nov 30, 2013 11:39 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Fred Reed Reflects on Veteran's Day
Replies: 18
Views: 7622

Re: Fred Reed Reflects on Veteran's Day

*** Another kind of funny thing I learned is that there is a "jam room" on board the ship where sailors can book time to play on Navy-provided guitars, drums and amplifiers.  Over the course of a cruise, several different "bands" will typically form, mostly with a heavy metal style.  Near the end o...
by smurff
Sat Nov 30, 2013 11:25 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Direct Registration (in your name) vs "street name" for top SIPC protection
Replies: 9
Views: 5081

Re: Direct Registration (in your name) vs "street name" for top SIPC protection

It's a useful idea--Manywhich means you'll be dissuaded at every turn from doing so. Brokerages charge a steep fee to transfer securities from street name into your name.  It varies from broker to broker, but $30 - $75 are familiar fees for doing this, per security.  You might be able to eliminate a...
by smurff
Sat Nov 30, 2013 1:29 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Doom, Gloom and Zoom Zoom
Replies: 18
Views: 10099

Re: Doom, Gloom and Zoom Zoom

Thanks for the advice, Buddtholomew.  I should take up weight training, so relating it to the PP has given me some insight.
by smurff
Wed Nov 27, 2013 11:14 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Bitcoin Instead Of Gold In PP?
Replies: 8
Views: 3112

Re: Bitcoin Instead Of Gold In PP?

Gumby wrote: A collapse of a power grid, for whatever reason, would instantly make the Bitcoins untradeable and a fairly useless currency in an emergency.
An important point to remember.  It would seem obvious, but lots of obvious things are hard to grasp in the middle of a bubble.
by smurff
Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:42 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1657145

Re: The GOLD scream room

Did anyone else grab any gold today? Seemed like a good day so I pulled the trigger on some coins. Hopefully they get here instead of being lost/stolen like all of my other coins that I don't have. Do you use a signature delivery from a big coin dealer or a local coin shop? Or are these lost to Dav...
by smurff
Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:39 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Doom, Gloom and Zoom Zoom
Replies: 18
Views: 10099

Re: Doom, Gloom and Zoom Zoom

buddtholomew wrote: I cropped and uploaded the avatar. Thanks!!
LOL.
by smurff
Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:41 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: The Decline of Violence
Replies: 557
Views: 142901

Re: The Decline of Violence

Actually, doodle, my main issue with Pinker is his use of violent death, especially during war, as a proxy for all forms of violence (lethal and nonlethal) that may have ever happened on Earth over time--especially without acknowledging that this is a major shortcoming of his thesis.  That's a lot o...
by smurff
Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:21 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: The Decline of Violence
Replies: 557
Views: 142901

Re: The Decline of Violence

Is it worth saving one life if it has the side effect of causing 5 rapes? Or 20 birth defects? Or 50 maimings? These are ridiculous examples of course, but I think it's always important to look at things like substitution effects and unseen consequences. Thanks, Pointedstick; actually these are com...
by smurff
Wed Nov 20, 2013 8:29 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: The Decline of Violence
Replies: 557
Views: 142901

Re: The Decline of Violence

Governments have improved aggresive violence to such a high degree that if you truly want to express your violent tendancies there is no better place than in the government. Armies, police, you name it.....liscense to kill. So few even oppose it they can do the most insane things.....and it just ke...
by smurff
Wed Nov 20, 2013 5:49 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Funds
Topic: Help With Setting Up PP
Replies: 14
Views: 12933

Re: Help With Setting Up PP

This looks like a great plan.  The 2-coin version. ;) If you put the cash in a CD and keep rolling the CD over, you might have to pay a penalty when the time comes to rebalance.  I would do that only after you've been running the portfolio a few years, and only put "deep cash" into a CD (same as wit...
by smurff
Wed Nov 20, 2013 5:11 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: New I Bond rates have increased!
Replies: 36
Views: 22991

Re: New I Bond rates have increased!

When I get the time (really distracted right now by life events) I'm going to drum up a petition to require the Dept of the Treasury to provide, at least twice a year, an optional paper statement listing all of an owner's electronic treasury securities holdings, including Savings Bonds (I and E) and...
by smurff
Wed Nov 20, 2013 1:11 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Pay off debt with Roth
Replies: 19
Views: 7226

Re: Pay off debt with Roth

If you have spare cash outside the ROTH, or have some miscellaneous things around the house or the business that you can sell for cash, or have a spare car or two that you can sell, it's better to do that than dip into the IRA to pay off the business debt.  One way to make debt less stressful is to ...