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I've heard tell of the existence of inflation indexed CDs (or "inflation-linked CDs", aka "CDIPs" or "IFCDs"), but I've never actually seen one in the wild. Anybody know if they are an actual product a retail investor could buy, and where? They'd probably be yielding a very low (real) amount...

We recently started the process of refinancing our house so I did some comparison shopping of lenders. I called Quicken because I thought their business model was to be a low-overhead, no brick-and-mortar, do-it-all-on-line source of competitive mortgages. I didn't find that to be the case...

Researchers looking at the appreciation of unopened Lego sets on the secondary market have found that they have done pretty well. So, good returns and apparently not well correlated with the S&P 500, so a good diversifier. I was surprised to read that only about 10% of the sets lost value...

I've managed the finances for my MIL for the last 6 years, and have just used a conservative AA mix, given her an increasing amount of the year end amount, and rebalanced. She's 80 YO now. She gets a SS check, and (for discussion) let's say this approx $400K portfolio provides for withdrawals...

I saw a write-up today on gene editing techniques tested to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common form of MD. I thought some here might be interested. Here's the magazine article. From another article (in part): Interesting that this report should come out so close to Labor...

This only affects a minority of folks here, but if you have a solo 401K with a balance that exceeded $250K on 31 Dec 2017, you likely need to file a Form 5500-EZ (or similar form) by 31 July. It is easy to forget, for many, since the filing deadline is different from the standard 1040 forms...

Caution: Maybe this is old news or very obvious--apologies in advance. I help manage accounts for a relative, and she has a significant portion of her tIRA funds in CDs with Ally bank. Ally allows account holders to make penalty-free withdrawals of funds from their CDs as required to meet...

I'm in the market for a small home near us (a house for DD, seems like the best answer right now). In the "old days," when buying a home I normally found a real estate agent to serve as my source for MLS listings, to show us properties in which we were interested, etc. Now, it's pretty darn...

About a month ago something changed (or I changed something) and now I can't see all the posts when using the ER.org app on my Android device. I can see the "Forums" headers on their menu, and if I click on one I can see post titles and the first few lines of the most recent post on each...

This is a local story near me, sad on so many levels. The four young children of a couple found their parents dead on the floor of their bedroom Thursday. Investigators say it was likely a heroin-fentanyl overdose like so many others. The husband was a pilot for Spirit airlines, flew...

An article (with video link) on a 40-doctor surgical center in OK City. All prices are posted right up front (and online). They take no government money or insurance. Most services cost less that what the Medicaid rate would have allowed, and they are generally 10-16% of what a similar...

I don't know if others will find this as interesting as I did. National Archives: How Gas Masks Were Built During WWI It's a 6+ minute War Department film from 1918 showing how US gas masks were manufactured. These masks saved the lives of tens of thousands of US soldiers during WWI, and...

DW's computer is getting slower and slower as time goes by--considerable lags in opening software, sluggish when doing Photoshop editing, etc. It worked better when she first got it, and it is still well above the min specs Adobe recommends for Photoshop. We're a Windows household. She's...

The reports of today's attacks in Paris are heartbreaking. Best wishes and our prayers to Big Nick and all our friends in France during this trying time as the situation becomes more clear, tears are shed, and civilization binds up its wounds and carries on.

I'm having trouble cutting/pasting FIRECalc results graphs into a post. Cutting/pasting directly from the "results" page doesn't work (apparently because the graph is "live", and the lines go away once it is separated from its web page). I've tried using the MS "snip" tool and also pasting...

This is an interesting article on tontines in the WashPo. From the article: The article indicates a tontine payout could be 10-20% higher than an annuity, primarily due to decreased costs. I think tontines could be a great product, for many people, if the safeguards were in place. But...

Another down day on Wall Street, and people upset that they "lost" $XXX today." I know many have deep "mark to market" allegiances, but when their accounts are down $25K, do they really feel the same sense of loss as if they had permanently misplaced an envelope with 250 hundred dollar bills...

The WSJ ran an article recently on a new approach to DUI enforcement/punishment that was started in South Dakota a few years ago. It seems to be producing very good results by taking advantage of the way humans assess risk. From the article (bold added): And there's an obvious tie-in to the...

I believe in indexing. Bogle has made his case, the results are there, and it's what I do (in general). But, I've come to think that while indexing would always work as intended in a perfect world (free markets, lots of transparency and legit bookkeeping, etc), in our real world things are...

A Spanish startup has developed a wind turbine that uses the pressure differential caused by vortices passing a single mast to generate power, replacing the blades on a conventional wind turbine. They say the benefits are: Lower noise No dead birds 53% reduction in manufacturing costs...

Well, we've had the Mustang, the Dodge muscle cars, the Camaro revised and re-introduced, as well as the Morris Mini and the Fiat 500. Are there others that automakers should be looking at? My nominees: Datsun 240Z: I think Nissan could make a great, fun car by re-introducing a 240Z. And I...

The WSJ ran an article today on the bargains available on used Nissan Leafs and Chevy Volts. The combination of low gas prices, government incentives (hard to sell a used one when a new one has a big kicker from Uncle Sam), and some concerns about battery longevity have caused some very serious...

My MIL has some land with timber on it, and she wants to sell it. I'm guessing the best thing for her to do is to sell it with the timber on it (it is ready to be cut). She's also talked about using proceeds for the benefit of some of her kids. Obviously there are lots of questions about the...

I've got a Solo 401K at Fidelity. On this board we have discussed the practicalities of beginning withdrawals at age 55 (rather than waiting for age 59 1/2) under the IRS rule that allows penalty-free distributions from 401Ks "after separation from service if separation from service occurred...

From the WSJ: Like many, I'm amazed it took so long. One of my favorites from The Onion: Even CEO Can't Figure Out How Radio Shack Still in Business (from 2007!) Hopefully they emerge and something sustainable results.