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California is very diverse.  The major dividing line is coastal paradise or inland hell.  Then there is northern, central (e.g. Monterey through Santa Barbara), and southern coasts.  The northern coast, except for greater San Francisco, is pretty wild; the southern coast has been so heavily...

Although a Daytona might not be my choice of car to drive in hilly San Francisco, I do not find them as heavy to drive as some would say, certianly not truck like.  I like them.  They were not really competitive in their day, although a few special cars competed, but with little success. ...

For those 55 and older, one possibility is to buy into a retirement community, while maintaining a second home elsewhere.  Here in the Santa Barbara area where housing prices are high, you can buy into a retirement community for much less than a condo would cost. One of the nicest such...

I don't subscribe to such an age formulaic rule.  I prefer to keep 10 years of future income needs in fixed income securities.  Of course, this presumes you are able to estimate future income needs.  I use Quicken to track all our accounts, checking, credit cards, portfolio, and so forth, and...

I haven't read the book, but we adopted 10 years of future income in fixed income securities as our fixed income asset allocation some time ago.  By future income needs I mean after social security and pension income has been subtracted.  We use a combination of Vanguard's total bond, short-term...

Martha, Presumably the money you "lost" in stocks when their value dropped isn't just gone, but will return when the value of the stocks go up.  That kind of risk is the risk that money wont be available when you need/want it, a risk common to equities.  The other kind of risk is that your...

ERD50 writes the usual that folks will assume medical care is free and thus waste it.  I think that may be more ideology than fact. I would argue that utilities, and health care is a form of utility in the sense that you have no alternative, should be removed from the profit system.  The need...

Grumpy, I read LOL's reply to be in the spirit:  I took my old Ferrari 250 GTO to the dealer and traded it for 100 new MB S 55 AMGs.  I think the OP may have a bridge or two to sell as well.  I'll take the Golden Gate over which I can drive the 100 AMGs. Personally, I like to buy an as-new...

Charlie, This is the first year of RMD on my own IRA, but I have been taking an RMD on an IRA I inherited from my dad for several years now. Not having the financial instutuition withhold taxes has at least two other benifits as well:  (1) It lets you keep the money until the followng April...

Rich, The fixed income buffer that makes me feel comfortable defines my allocation to fixed income securities.  So the answer is yes.  I want to protect against the risk of having to sell equities in a down market that could last 10 years.  Of the 10 years of future income, a bit over 3 years...

Taking your question literally, unlike the other replies, I start the year with 5% in Vanguard's prime money market fund, which deposits monthly into my checking account.  I buffer that with 10% in the short-term corporate bond fund, which feeds the money market fund as necessary. My allocation...

Interesting dilemma:  This thread has been concerned with a high-equity portfolio to fend off the effects of inflation; another thread (probably at a different site) was concerned with pronouncements by Bernstein et al. that return from stocks was likely to be little more than from bonds going...

Nords, I read all the way through the messages, but I didn't find a link to the high-equity portofolio being discussed, if there is one.  Can you provide a link to that portfolio?  At 70 and entering my 14th year of retirement, I've been targeting 60/40, allowing a 10 year buffer in fixed...

Re: Covering a mortgage without losing your ass(et I'd add a 6th reason for not paying off a mortgage (or 7th if webmester's 6th is accepted) by liquidating portfolio: If all, or most, of a portfolio is held in tax deferred status so that taking the funds to payoff a mortage would invoke...

YTD Q3 ROI is 4.5%, not 5%. db

Our portfolio: 40% VTSAX 20% VGTSX 15% VGSIX 15% VBISX 5% VWEHX (tax mananged high yield) 5% Cash was up about 5% YTD at the end of Q3. I realize this portfolio may be too heavy in REIT index, but VGSIX just keeps churning out those dividends. db

Tommy, Your name says it all. Listen to uncle mick, and do little, except perhaps add 10% VGSIX, Vanguard's REIT Index. Wish I had continued along those lines myself -- I'd be wealthier. Also, avoid getting bitten by the prancing horse. db

The current buzz word seems to be conflating, but it seems to me that the above discussions conflate, or at least don't distingush, (1) an emergency fund to cover short-term emergencies, e.g. the roof falls in during a rain storm, (2) an emergency fund to cover living expenses if another source...

jarhead, We try to do our part. Within the next 10+ years, I'm likely to inherit my 91 year old mother's estate. One of her brothers recently died 4 months short of 104, and she has a sister almost 99 and a brother 98, so I hope she has at least 10 more years. Right now, our trust leaves our...

I've been retired about 12 years, my wife about 10 years. We aimed at an annual income of $60K, but gifts from my mother have pushed it higher, and our situation is further complicated by an inherited IRA that has an RMD (Required Minimum Distribution). I reinvest all dividends and draw a fixed...

What would worry me about BabyApe's asset allocation is that he says he "needs" 4% and is working a little longer to achieve a "cushion." That suggests his asset base is close to the minimum he needs. Very low equitiy allocations might work and be comforting for those whose asset base is large...

I have a problem with the premise that started this roll: Namely that you shouldn't worry about trying to establish SWR to any high degree of certainity because of variables that could intervene. Now I might agree that trying to determine if the correct SWR rate is 3.14159265 or 3.14159266 to...

I thought I had responded to this, but guess not. Age 67; all in Vanguard IRAs. 40% Total Stock Market Index 20% Total International Stock Index 10% REIT Index 20% Short-Term Bond Index 5% High-Yield Bond Index 5% Cash Plus two currently insignificant holdings in tech stocks, Cisco & Nuance...

kenepp1, Putting Charlie's response another way, I would determine how much I plan to draw from my portfolio annually, then keep some number of years of that amount in fixed income assets. I use 10 years. If you plan on a 4% draw, that works out to about a 60/40 split; 3% a 70/30 split. Of...

Re: How do you deal with a down market day like to Obviously I botched the quoting. db