Happy New Year- Resolutions

[Bob_Smith]

Thanks John,

That's not too far from where I plan to be except I'll have mostly stock funds where you have real estate. Comments posted here by you, Cut-Throat, and Ted have led me to do some research on real estate. After some study on the issue, I plan to add about 5% of my total portfolio to the Vanguard REIT fund. Next I plan to look into High Yield Bonds.

I have a brother in the Twin cities who has made a ton of money by buying and selling real estate. For example, he bought his log home for about $250,000, put about $125,000 into improvements, and could get $750,000 for it today, about four years later. (Cut-Throat, it's a few miles from Stillwater.) I'm not the high flyer he is, but I have toyed with the idea of buying a small house and renting it out, or possibly a duplex and renting one side and living in the other.

 

[JWR1945]

This is my recommendation for TH.

Skip the dieting phase. Go directly to your weight maintenance phase. Eat what you intend to once you have shed the pounds. Doing that means permanent weight loss with little strain, if any.

I recommend against planning to lose 30 pounds. Set your goal at 20 pounds or less. Also, be sure not to lose more than 2 or 3 pounds per month. If you lose it faster, which is quite tempting, you are in danger of putting it back on. Remember, your goal is a permanent weight loss, not a dieting yo-yo.

What is more, if you try to lose weight rapidly, your body will fight back. Your metabolism will drop as your body goes into its survival mode.

After you have lost 20 pounds, you might consider losing ten more. But be careful. It is much better to hold a steady weight than it is to shed those last ten pounds.

Think about it. If you lose 2 or 3 pounds per month, you will have met your goal well within a year. And, much more important, you will never put those pounds back on.

Have fun.

John R.

P.S. Your girl friend has the right idea. That's the right way to splurge.

 

[JWR1945]

This is my answer to John Galt's question.

Your aunt probably remains in stocks because she feels comfortable with them. If she has held stocks for years, she probably has enough experience with the market to accept its fluctuations in stride.

I am not saying that this is what she should do. I am suggesting that this is why she does what she does.

In addition, she may be very satisfied with her financial condition even though she is not wealthy. Her desires are likely to be much less than ours because of her age. When you compare her vision of a good life as a child and as a young adult with today's reality, she may be rich in her own eyes. Think back to your childhood and think about things like owning a car and owning a television. Cars as comfortable as today's were luxuries. We even have air conditioning! And our inexpensive color televisions ($200 to $400) are much more capable than the black and white sets with small screens from yesterday.

She may intend never to dip into her stock portfolio. She may be holding them in trust for her heirs. That is why I hold stocks. I don't need them for myself. My pension is more than enough to cover my needs. Of course, the portfolio might come in handy to handle an unexpected, unknown emergency of some kind.

Have fun.

John R.

 

[Bob_Smith]

Cut-Throat,

That is a nice area. Haven't been to the Wisconsin side. My brother is just east of Marine on St. Croix, maybe a mile or two from there. He has seven acres and a massive log house. He bought it as an investment, but now he can't bear to part with it. Property in that area has exploded in value the last few years.

 

[Bob_Smith]

Yes, Cut-Throat, I meant west. I'll pass the Bob White link on to my brother.

 

[John Galt]

Hello cut-throat. Every summer we take at least one
motorcycle ride along the Mississippi. We angle north from north central Illinois to LaCrosse, then ride along the river, up the Wisconsin side and back down the Minn. side (or vice versa). Farthest north we ever got before
turning back was Red Wing. Beautiful country,
especially on a motorcycle.

John Galt