made it into money magazine

[mathjak107]

made it into the march issue of money magazine in the portfolio makeover article...actually not much correction needed...they felt we could use more commodities exposure and more small cap stock holdings but otherwise plan looked pretty solid...it felt wierd seeing our pictures in the magazine......

 

[REWahoo]

Here is a link to the article:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2006/03/01/8370203/index.htm

 

[Martha]

Interesting that the planner thought that you should not "self insure" for long term care unless you have at least 4 million dollars.

 

[SteveR]

So, what are you actually going to do with all the "advice" they gave you?  

Do you get anything out of it besides free advice and having your personal fiances plastered all over the place?

Not being critical...just curious.  8)

Their is no way I would ever share that much info with the rest of the world.  Not even my family knows about my personal fiancial situation.  Maybe it is just my nature to keep these things private.  How do others feel about this?

edited to remove a stupid question that I was able to answer by reading the page the article was on. :

 

[wildcat]

I often wonder what the incentive is to share your personal finances with a magazine and the rest of the world. I don't know about the rest of you but I am way too private.

 

[Spanky]

The advice:

31% cash? - seems excessive
VGPMX is closed.
Borrow $200K to buy a house? Why take on more debt? Why not use the cash returning 4% while the mortgage is over 6%?

 

[mathjak107]

i was kind of surprised myself at the advice of needing 4 million to self insure

as for the high cash position,hey we got 3 weddings to make for our kids over the next 2 years or so...yikes! as well as undecided wether to just pay cash for the house...i have to agree im not to keen on taking on more debt at this age by only putting down 100,000 or so..
as far as the corrections to the mix...just this year we started to sell off our more volatile small company growth funds and went more into growth and income..the daily swings we were getting were wild and since we got closer to our goal i figured i would cut it back some......
im not convinced gold and commodities are the play we all expect them to be in a meltdown...look at our history over 30 years...i do go in and out of energy and precious metals funds all the time..but its more hit and run then a continual position.......i think i will add some to the mix but not as high as 6%',...
as far as financial info being read by all...so what..i think the only people who want that info kept hush hush are those that pretend to be richer than they are or pretend to make more than they do.....its funny but most people will admit to some elicit affair to strangers before they talk about finances....to me its no big deal...it is what it is.......

 

[wildcat]

as far as financial info being read by all...so what..i think the only people who want that info kept hush hush are those that pretend to be richer than they are or pretend to make more than they do

That's fair but I have always been under the impression that it is the other way around.

 

[shiny]

That's fair but I have always been under the impression that it is the other way around.

I think for people on this board it is the other way around. Maybe lots of people who live above their means are doing it to fool others.

 

[dusk_to_dawn]

No way I would let my family members or neighbors know my financial position. I drive a 15 year old car and paid cash for a house in a modest neighborhood. I am OK with people thinking I have no money. I'm not chastizing anyone for being in Money magazine, I'm just saying I am too conservative to put my assets out there for everyone to see.

 

[sgeeeee]

No way I would let my family members or neighbors know my financial position.  I drive a 15 year old car and paid cash for a house in a modest neighborhood.  I am OK with people thinking I have no money.  I'm not chastizing anyone for being in Money magazine, I'm just saying I am too conservative to put my assets out there for everyone to see.

Yeah. I think if my neighbors and friends new my financial situation it would change my relationship with some of them . . . and not in a good way. Maybe I'm wrong, but why find out?

 

[kramer]

But isn't your financial situation pretty obvious when you early retire? What do you tell your neighbors, and especially your family, who know more about what is going on?

My family has always been pretty open with me about finances. Mostly because they ask for my help (not money but time and expertise). They just know I save a lot, but I don't think they have an idea quite how much. I talked with them recently about me semi-retiring now that I could get laid off. Maybe I made a mistake.

Maybe this merits its own thread.

Kramer

 

[mathjak107]

ha ha ha well we dont have have any friends.............
its funny but it makes me think about when my son was small...he wanted this skeletor sweat shirt when the he-man cartoons were popular.well we go to the store and they dont have his size.the only one they have is much to big for him...we are arguing with him over the fact he cant wear that one,its much to big...it looked silly ...he's crying and upset and i stopped to think for a minute...why couldnt he get it?  was it people will think we are bad parents because his shirts too big?..it wasnt so big he would fall over it...well after really looking at the reason i couldnt really come up with a reason..other than it was to big and we are taught cloths should fit .so we  got it for him....point is we all grow up knowing ssshhhhh no one should now your financial stuff .but when you think about it whats the big issue...worst case is maybe someone will try to sell us something....

 

[chris2008]

You wrote:
"worst case is maybe someone will try to sell us something.... "

Really
I would be more concerned about greedy litigators that fall over their feet in front of my house or tumble in front of my car to seperate me from my savings...

 

[shorttimer]

article was interesting. I am sorry you had a loss in your life if an inheritance came down the pike.
I don't know about the investment advice, as usual they are making their best guess, who can predict the future.

I don't agree with the house borrowing though. If I could buy a house with cash I would in a second regardless of the rest of my finances, but to each his own. Yes, you will have expenses. It sounds like you intend to help kids with wedding, travel and have a pretty nice lifestyle. Good for you.

I also would look into an umbrella insurance policy to protect my assets.

 

[dex]

mathjak107,

A couple of questions.

Have there been any unplesant instances since the article?

Have people treated you differently since they now know your net worth?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

That "interesting" guy Phillip Greenspun suggests you put your net worth on your forehead to avoid people thinking you're worth more than you are, which will be their natural leaning.

Had a 30-40 second conversation with the neighbors when I first moved in when they asked "So...what do you do?". When I explained "retired early" there was a brief "How'd you do that?". Since then, nobody mentions work at all, either mine nor theirs. Kinda interesting. I'm sure my wifes family thinks we're loaded well beyond where we are. They're all in debt up to their eyeballs with no disability insurance and limited health care. Sooner or later someones going to get hurt or sick...

 

[wildcat]

mathjak -

So what happens to your asset allocation after you pay for the weddings? The cash becomes bonds I presume? 60/40.

I am not saying REITs are attractive at these levels but I am surprised there was no mention of them as an alternative place to park your money. 5% in the Pimco RR Fund is a nice diversifier if you ask me and I would take that over the PM funds.

I also think if you are trying to cut risk, some unhedged Intl Funds would be a good choice and probably more so than the 7% recommended - 10% maybe?.

Also, what kind of funds did you have prior to the M Makeover? Index or active? Money tends to reco active funds for the most part.

 

[kz]

I'm also interested in what your plans are with the home loan vs. paying cash.

And speaking from experience I can tell you that there will be some criticism from others for "putting yourself out there".   (usually jealousy) And there will be others who will be inspired by you whether they tell you or not.

Truthfully I'm always happy to read articles about people who get it. I'm tired of all the excuses others make as to why they just can't get ahead. I know sometimes it's justified but more often than not it's all the freakin' things they buy. I'll stop now I feel a rant coming on.

 

[HFWR]

I find that most of my family and friends WON'T listen to my "advice"...

They keep spending like there's no manana...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats my wifes family. No insurance, no retirement plans or savings, teenaged kids with no money set aside for college, buying hummers and motor homes, taking equity out of the appreciated residences...

Functional opposites of my family, which hates debt, saves like crazy, buys nearly nothing, plenty of insurance and money put away for retirement.

I worked on the younger kids a little bit. One nephew in his early 20's proudly told me a few months ago that he started contributing to his 401k at his new job.

The 40/50/60-somethings? You can talk to them until you turn blue...they're not gonna change.

 

[Martha]

I am from a poor family. They think I am rich, but rich to them could be .5 million.

One of my coworkers said we should look at this lovely house by his as we are thinking of moving. The house costs a million bucks. I think he believes we must have much more than we do. After all, my DH is ERed and I am working only part time. We must be rich enough to afford a million dollar home.

 

[Jarhead*]

I am from a  poor family. They think I am rich, but rich to them could be .5 million. 

The area I have lived in for the last 19 years or so, (North State of Calif. Sacramento N. to Oregon Border), the average family income is 35,000.00. Approx. population total about 2,000,000. Mostly non-union, and very little governmint jobs.

If you had .5 million amassed, the likely response from most would be that you must be dealing drugs.

Early retirement for most of these folks, is being forced to leave employment because of age, or health considerations.

I'm sure that for most of them, their definition of "hell" would be to forcibly require them to read this forum everyday, with the numbers I see tossed around.

Just another perspective.

 

[Martha]

Yes Jarhead. This forum would be considered quite unseemly in my home town.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm sure that for most of them, their definition of "hell" would be to forcibly require them to read this forum everyday...

Jarhead & Martha, I don't understand how you can say this. Sure, we have mind-numbing investment discussions, but we also have posts like this one from Justin...

I accidentally swallowed a popsickle stick whole (there was a lot of chocolate stuck to it!!). I guess it got confused, cause I peed it out instead of crapping it out.

Honest.

Even the folks in the jerkwater town I grew up in would appreciate the subtle humor expressed here.