What part of NE Ohio? You should be able to live like a king there for $45k.

Yeah I live in the Cleveland/Akron area. Cost of living is one of the major advantages.

What's the interest rate(s) on the 25k debts? Unless some are very small, like below 4 percent, I'd go full steam ahead at eliminating the debts asap. Then, come back and ask about investing with the willingness to attack that in the same way.

Look at it like you're buying financial security. As in, no I can't go out to dinner tonight because if I do, then I won't be able to afford financial security.

That is what I like about Brian, always thinking outside the box. Unfortunately, my in-laws tried to go this route by smoking and eating too much but all that really has done is leave them miserable essentially house bound drags on society at 75 years old, so if you decide to go this route choose something more life shortening. Maybe meth or heroin, or really hard drinking.

As others have stated, step 1 is pay of all your high interest credit card debt ASAP. Come back once that is done for step 2.

With what money? Need to cut major expenses IMO, not minor ones.

Yea you can't worry about building investments until you've paid off the debts - assuming they are high rate. If you have 3% student loans or whatever just keep paying the minimum. Tell us the rates if under 10%.

You might want to write down everything you spend money on every day, just log it. You don't even have to do anything with it - just the act of logging it has I think been shown to help improve your habits and maybe you'll figure something out. Obv eliminate Starbucks etc. (easy to say I know).

1) If you have a 401k match available then you actually might want to max that first even above paying debts. Let us know if you do have that option and what the specifics are (100% match up to 6% of salary, etc.).

2) Make a list of all the debts with the interest rates, and pay as much extra as you can on the one with the highest rate each month. On all others, pay the minimum. Rinse and repeat.

Does this look ok for my 401k elections if I plan to let it ride for at least 20 years?

These 4 funds are the low cost ones in my plan, everything else has an expense ratio of .45% or higher. These are all .07% except for the international fund which is .14%.

Looks good. I'd up the international to 20%, but that is just me.

Thanks.

If I up the international should I take all 10% out of the 500 index for it?

dummy question and poor googling skills:

How do you determine the beta of an etf? Is it the average beta of the individual stocks within the etf, weighted for % of etf?

What if I made some hypothetical basket, would it be the weighted average (so we account for % of porfolio each individual stock is)?

Yes but why can't you use the returns of the ETF itself

To obtain the beta of an ETF you type the ticker of the ETF and the word "beta" into google.

Either of the domestic funds.

Thank you for the input folks, it does help to get others views even if they are basic. I have a lot of work ahead of me but I accept it as a challenge and the journey itself will be rewarding.

Since the What Should I Read thread doesn't get much action, I'm bringing this question here:
Do you think Security Analysis would be OK in Kindle version, or would hard copy be preferable?

With the influx of globalization and many of the s and p 500 companies engaging in international business, I find it unnecessary to hold any international equity funds. Doesn't seem like much benefit. I'd love to hear opposing points of view.



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Hello, you're also allowed to write off the portion of your home that you dedicate to your work. So for example you are a writer so I'm sure you write a lot at home. You can write off whatever space you use as percent of your house. I worded that bad so here is an example. I use a room that represents 15 percent of the square footage in my house. I use this room for my writing and work. Now you get to write off 15 percent of your utilities and rent/mortgage that correspond to this use.

If you are in hotels a lot for work it should be an easy write off, although it does seem like you're writing the same thing off twice. Your house percent write off, and the extended stay hotels. afterall, can't be two places at once.





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They do look quite correlated recently

http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?VXUS,voo

Need some help understanding here.

Oil question for any interested.

I noticed a big separation today between OIL (+2.2) and USO (-4.7). I'm gathering that OIL tracks an index of WTI crude oil futures while USO tracks contracts on the NYME. As a long term buy, some have mentioned that OIL is the better buy long-term as it does not exhibit the contango that USO can have.

My question is that I have been looking at three, OIH, OIL and XLE as a long term prospect in the attempt to buy the closest thing to the price of oil but aren't grasping the difference or which one might be the best play. I appreciate any help, gentlemen.

After further research, I believe to have answered all of my questions. Thanks again to all who considered replying.

Responses are still accepted FTTB for the purposes of second opinions and others looking to understand themselves.

I don't buy it.

This looks like one of those quotes where they hide the author and then when they reveal, it winds up being dated 1953. That is to say- this has always been the general GoAmerica! sentiment.

I guess I'm not sure what historical P/E spreads are for domestic v. international, but it seems like they are different enough to show some convergence moving forward.

What utilities are you writing off 15% of?

Which is a better investment? I'm looking to move into either a condo or house. Let's say both are appx 180-200K (STL market). I'm not looking long term (30 years) maybe something along the lines of 8-10 years. Which makes more sense? We're a family of 4- 7 yr old daughter and 11 month old son.

Get a house with a yard if you can for the sake of your kids. Treating your primary residence as an investment vehicle is a mistake anyway. Just do your research and buy in a growing neighborhood so you don't lose money on it.

I write off 100 percent of Internet and the other utilities I write off at x percent are gas, electric, water, etc.

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