Recent content by GregfromTexas

Yes. I mentioned that in my probably too long post a few back. I will never do the 1% thing. My point was just that I think there is a model where this profession called "Investment Adviser" makes sense. It's not that guy asking for 2%.

The knowledge is free, most is, if you take the time to study up. While in my opinion nobody should be financially illiterate, not everybody can or should know everything on the topic of investing that an adviser might learn. But he didn't "teach" me, I knew most of this stuff (the ebanking...

I think "To IA or not to IA" is dependent on services and pricing. I am pretty confident that IAs who claim they can find "better" "market beating" investment opportunities without corresponding increased risk and use that to justify a higher % wrap fee are always either liars -or-...

LOL yeah. I guess I've gone from being annoyed at the dolts who think success in life is about luck and/or that I owe them for whatever success I've achieved to almost literally not even hearing them any more, so I didn't factor that. Shame on them. Ironically enough, some people I've known...

I made a strategic decision recently to increase my equities. I'm going from a super conservative less than 50% equities (I'm in my late forties) to a model where I keep 6 years of living expenses in cash and bonds and the balance in equities, replenishing the cash reserve whenever I don't have...

I know some people saving little or nothing for retirement and living large. I suppose it's a choice and a tradeoff and I won't judge them unless they have their heads in the sand about it. I could accept that they would rather live better while younger. The cost of that in exchange is either...

That said, the fed does not actually have total control over interest rates, there are market forces in effect that they influence. So regardless of what they say, if interest rates start to rise in the market...interest rates are rising, with the same effect on bond values either way.

Interesting topic. I try, in every instance I can, not to infer too much personally from the decisions and action of others because I believe you can never really get inside someone's head. Thinking you know why people do things, especially things you can take as slights, is a recipe for...

Patricia might be smart or foolish, I won't judge her because I don't know her or how she got to where she is. Sounds like she's in a pickle though. Were she here my advice might be... Social security is mainly intended to supplement other income or maybe keep you alive but not maintaining...

I think it depends on your investments and if you are making trades every time you "withdraw". To use an extreme (and unlikely) example, if you have your own handpicked selection of 50 stocks and "withdraw" means selling a portion of each then even at a discount brokerage that's $350 in...

Rentals work pretty good for me and I have a low tolerance for hassle. I get a manager. Good managers have handymen who do more for less and only charge you cost. Realtors or managers (usually the same) will charge you 75% of one month to find a replacement tenant when needed and negotiate a...

Trust is simply not part of the equation :coolsmiley: I was looking for ideas, information and analyses to evaluate on their merits. I know there are a lot of snake oil sales folks (loved that movie btw) out there and the whole retail advising industry is often seriously conflicted. That...

Looking historically though, there does seem to be some basis for believing in reversion to the mean within 5 years or so IF you are highly diversified. A 100% return in a relatively short period following a 50% drop is not such an unrealistic expectation. As my dad used to tell me, the stock...

I went through the same logic. A couple people have pointed it out, but yeah the achilles heel to this comforting assessment that at this point you could simply spend $62,857per year is inflation. True, but after even 20 years of 3% inflation that would let you live like you were spending...

I bet if you do a real basic excel you'd find that... [(12 years mortgage + maintenance)-(net equity in 12 years assuming appreciation = inflation)] < [12 years rent -(200,000 +12 years of reasonable returns). If so, I think it would only make sense to sell if you prefer what you could rent...