too many changes to our AA in the past... gonna make up for it by having too few changes to it in the future... 2007 will be the first year ever that there hasn't been any tweaking of %s or adding new asset classes.  and i'm not getting that burning feeling to add or change anything on 1/1/08, either... so, we'll see if it goes 3 years w/ no changes/additions.

rebalanced when any asset class hits rebalance targets (a combination of absolute dollars and % out of balance) and have done that a few times this year. 

100% index funds and ETFs. no individual stocks.  fill up pre-tax and tax deferred accounts to the max when possible. anything left over goes into only one thing: after tax TSM (VTI ETF).  do not pay down or pay off 30 yr mortgage (rate is 5.25% fixed). pay cash for new cars ~5 yrs (10 yr cycle - 2 cars).  no debt but mortgage. no shorting, no options, no investing on margin. don't bother w/ 529s for kids (roths will be pseudo college fund). married, late 30s, 2 kids.  no emergency fund, no cash 'on sidelines'.

any and all suggestions, comments, tweaks are more than welcome. 

the key to the colors are on the far right, so one has to scroll to see it... but here's a summary for current portfolio (80/20, w/ 45 US / 35 intl equity):

Congrats chuck d for your role in the recent Minneapolis Star Tribune article:

The Common-Sense Cult of John Bogle

Congrats chuck d for your role in the recent Minneapolis Star Tribune article:

The Common-Sense Cult of John Bogle

[/quote]

hey, thanks.  kara mcquire was trying to find a local angle to a vanguard story, and asked vanguard if they have any local offices, etc.  they said no, but the person knew about the local chapters of vanguard diehards that meet in person.  she googled "mn vanguard" and found our mn diehard blog, and my email.  then, after being a guest at some meetings, knocked out the story.  she is still holding our boglehead hostage, tho.  hope she's at least feeding him.

Photo illustration by Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

she is still holding our boglehead hostage, tho.  hope she's at least feeding him.

[/quote]

I don't know what a boglehead eats, but if it's money, he's good to go according to the picture.  Though ones don't go as far as they used to! :)

M*_Darrin

 

Hey Chuck:

 Couldn't you have put a small circle in the middle to make your graphs look more like the PE gunsight?

Al (the man with two names)
 

Hey Chuck:

 Couldn't you have put a small circle in the middle to make your graphs look more like the PE gunsight?

Al (the man with two names)
 

[/quote]

hey, pinky... good to see you're one of the few, the proud, the old school diehards.  i think we've debated this in the past, but why don't you also post at the 4400 member diehards.org?  i try to keep m* cooking along, too, but it's like pushing water uphill... once everyone leaves, nature abhors a vacuum, and it's scary what marches in to replace the true diehards... (for proof, look at the instantaneous negative ratings mel gets whenever he posts anything here... really sad... it's like the huns invading civilized cultures, burning books for warmth, desecrating anything left behind 'holy', etc)

if only m* would allow graphics, i'd be all over putting that target logo everywhere... but alas, it's going away

hey, pinky... good to see you're one of the few, the proud, the old school diehards.  i think we've debated this in the past, but why don't you also post at the 4400 member diehards.org?  i try to keep m* cooking along, too, but it's like pushing water uphill... once everyone leaves, nature abhors a vacuum, and it's scary what marches in to replace the true diehards... (for proof, look at the instantaneous negative ratings mel gets whenever he posts anything here... really sad... it's like the huns invading civilized cultures, burning books for warmth, desecrating anything left behind 'holy', etc)[/quote]

  I see things a little differently.  When "The Orange Thingie (TM)" hit, if Mel or I or Petro said anything about steps M*Darrin was taking to fix things, we instantly got negative ratings, which I soon took as a badge of honor.  If someone posted that M* was terrible, they got plus 10 ratings.  A new thread that attacked M* quickly ran to the top of the list with positive 20 ratings.  [The people who claim to hate the ratings are the first to use them!]  So who were the people giving Mel those negative ratings?

Until the latest "Look Who's Been Banned" thread started, the hottest topic was "Kill the Idiot Rating Flags"  Again, who are these posters?  I mean, why bother?  I also read the TIAA-CREF forum, and no on ever writes about the Orange Now Blue Thingies. 

 Maybe you are right that this is just filling the vacuum, but many of these same people post at the other forum.  I guess when all the negativity started, I took those posters to be people who had already made the switch or were in the process of going over to the other side.  In short, I took my resentment of the negativity and focused some of it on the other forum.  Perhaps I am being unfair, but I still resent how people couldn't work with the changes instead of spending all their energies complaining. 

Al.
 

  I see things a little differently.  When "The Orange Thingie (TM)" hit, if Mel or I or Petro said anything about steps M*Darrin was taking to fix things, we instantly got negative ratings, which I soon took as a badge of honor.  If someone posted that M* was terrible, they got plus 10 ratings.  A new thread that attacked M* quickly ran to the top of the list with positive 20 ratings.  [The people who claim to hate the ratings are the first to use them!]  So who were the people giving Mel those negative ratings?

Until the latest "Look Who's Been Banned" thread started, the hottest topic was "Kill the Idiot Rating Flags"  Again, who are these posters?  I mean, why bother?  I also read the TIAA-CREF forum, and no on ever writes about the Orange Now Blue Thingies. 

 Maybe you are right that this is just filling the vacuum, but many of these same people post at the other forum.  I guess when all the negativity started, I took those posters to be people who had already made the switch or were in the process of going over to the other side.  In short, I took my resentment of the negativity and focused some of it on the other forum.  Perhaps I am being unfair, but I still resent how people couldn't work with the changes instead of spending all their energies complaining. 

Al.
[/quote]

al (from a two-named guy also)... i threw in the towel since this orig. post... not that it matters, of course.  but i think your resentment may be misplaced.  i doubt the cascades of thumbs down and sniping are from transplanted bogleheads.  i think they must have come from the politics forum, mutual fund forum, etc.  why would transplanted bogleheads come back here to downgrade mel?  i agree that the m* diehard forum is now full of negativity amid occasional threads like the old days.  there's a very different vibe at new place, free of the cautiousness needed around here.  to each their own, of course, but it's not just a difference between a well-lit patrolled parking lot vs. a dark, unsafe one.  it's also where a critical mass is and where it used to be.  i'm not leaving m* due to the blue thingies or any technical issues, i'm leaving for the people issues and lack of that critical mass needed to support a forum. 

and this place is becoming the go-to place where the banned go to complain about the boglehead forum. no wonder you may feel negative about the new forum...

anyway, thanks for stopping by