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[Sirpopopop]

If y'all didn't have your fill with the stupid false equivalencies this week, here's another one -
Democrats are equally as anti-science as Republicans:



http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...ty-isnt-really-the-anti-science-party/281219/

Sadly, this is an issue. They aren't too far off the mark.

Now, it's nowhere near the levels that Republicans are sustaining for now... however, the anti-GMO left seems to be getting stronger, at least anecdotally speaking. See: annoying anti-GMO rallies, & actually getting items on ballots.

 

[WayneMorse]

Democrats rally behind president in defence of Obamacare: Nancy Pelosi says website problems will be fixed and 'Democrats stand tall in support of the Affordable Care Act' (The Guardian)

 

[Shao Kahn on the Lawn]

Democrats rally behind president in defence of Obamacare: Nancy Pelosi says website problems will be fixed and 'Democrats stand tall in support of the Affordable Care Act' (The Guardian)

This is what needs to happen.

The website has been an undeniable disaster and they could have easily used this as a segue into reforming the way that government contracts are given out (An area that nobody is talking about but sorely needs to be addressed). CGI Federal has a long and well-documented history of fucking up projects of this type: why did they get the contract? Instead, they squandered the most significant unforced error that the Republicans have made since Iraq and ran around like the world was ending.

The website needs to be fixed. It's an important aspect of PPACA: it IS NOT the entirety of PPACA.

 

[Oblivion]

No, it's more subversive. Alternative medicine, anti GMO, and the like.

Dude, seriously?

Yeah, this is complete garbage.



Let's look at those:
-Astrology- Never in any platform or policy proposal. The only connection I can think of with astrology and Politics is Reagan's wife supposedly listening to an astrologer.

-Nuclear Power - Leader of the Dems, Obama, was heavily backed by the Exelon and got the first new nuclear power plant approved since the 1970's. So this is just wrong. Are there some anti-nuclear people on the left, yes . . . a small fringe but they are basically powerless.

-Genetic modification - Not pushed by the Dems but there are occasional GMO ballot measures from the left on just labeling . . . and they failed in both California and Washington. Weak sauce.

-Industrial and agricultural chemistry - They don't stop this. The only thing I can think of is labeling for organic. So it doesn't stop anything, just gives people that don't want the stuff a chance to buy their stuff. And some dangerous chemicals are banned. So? Does the writer want lead in gasoline, asbestos in insulation, and lead in paint? WTF?

Yeah, complete false equivalency. There certainly are anti-science people on the left but they are generally complete mocked (like the anti-vaccine people and astrology) or at best they push for being able to do their own thing on the side (labeling).



And on the right . . . this rationalization of "Oh they believe in climate change, they just don't like the policies" is stupid. That's like saying "They believe smoking causes cancer but they are going to continue smoking." Believing in something bad but refusing to do anything about is WORSE than not believing in it. At least those that don't believe it have a chance of figuring it out eventually.

Pretty much this. Plus, I wouldn't even mention the nuclear stuff. That's a policy dispute. It's not like anyone on the left denies that nuclear energy exists.

Doesn't mean Hillary would have wasted months playing kick-the-football with Olympia "Lucy" Snowe on healthcare. Nor would she be an atrocious negotiator, ie constantly giving up concessions before even reaching the table, thus allowing debates to be fought on conservative territory.

Would Hillary get healthcare passed? Who knows. She would have gotten some major policy passed I'm sure, just as any democrat president would have in that situation (soon to be 60 senate super majority, majority in house).

I ragged on Obama for the same thing during the HCR debate, but thinking about it, I don't know if Hillary would have done any better. She's way more right-wing than Obama (who himself is pretty right-wing as well).

 

[Hitokage]

No, it's more subversive. Alternative medicine, anti GMO, and the like.

Regarding that book you mentioned previously on this, does it acknowledge that personal health isn't the only objective with labeled organic food, and does it acknowledge that the label takes on two different meanings with respect to produce and meat? When you see some deride "organic" you often also see these two points neglected and not given proper responses.

Because I looked over "Science Left Behind", and without having opened the book itself, the rhetoric in the promotional materials and surrounding discussion sounded a lot like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism's_rejection_of_the_primitive

Being "pro-progress" or otherwise affirmatively modernist isn't a scientific position. The author's credentials and past activities in the political sphere also aren't comforting. Far more alarming was an amazon review that digged into the footnotes and found misrepresented sources, reminding me of Dixie Lee Ray's past position as the conservative's darling scientist who would trash liberal interests with cherry-picked data and faulty research.

 

[teiresias]

I think thats what I did. Opiate suggested to spread it evenly. Previously it was 100% bonds. Now for future allocations its 25% bonds, 25% large cap index, 25% small-mid cap index and remaining 25% international stocks.

How old are you? 25% in bonds seems awfully high if you're in your twenties or even thirties. Also, you really need to redistribute your existing balance out of 100% bonds rather than only correcting your future contribution's distribution.

 

[Oblivion]

Good god...the panel on MTP today was utterly insufferable. Two right-wing hacks, one beltway nimrod, and the "liberal" Chris Matthews. You couldn't fucking tell any of these people apart.

 

[teiresias]

There's a column by Juan Williams on the Fox News site tearing down those saying the President lied and telling people to blame the insurance companies. I'm on my phone otherwise I'd link.

I wonder how long until he gets ravaged on air for it.

 

[AntoneM]

How old are you? 25% in bonds seems awfully high if you're in your twenties or even thirties. Also, you really need to redistribute your existing balance out of 100% bonds rather than only correcting your future contribution's distribution.

indeed, I'm 32 and have maybe 10% of my contributions going to securities and that is only so that if there is a crash or burst bubble I can quickly redistribute the money in securities into my other stock based funds and clean up while the market is low.

I figure that some time around 45 I'll up my savings in securities, but even when retired I'll still have a good portion (probably less than half) in stock based funds.

Kinda hard for me to relate though as the funds I'm offered are managed by the Thrift Savings Plan and it's not exactly a 401k, but it's close.

 

[RustyNails]

How old are you? 25% in bonds seems awfully high if you're in your twenties or even thirties. Also, you really need to redistribute your existing balance out of 100% bonds rather than only correcting your future contribution's distribution.

Oh wow, I didn't see that the new allocation was only for future contributions. Yes, change that immediately.

Done.

 

[Diablos]

There's a column by Juan Williams on the Fox News site tearing down those saying the President lied and telling people to blame the insurance companies. I'm on my phone otherwise I'd link.

I wonder how long until he gets ravaged on air for it.

Yeah, I posted it a couple pages back.

 

[The Librarian]

Hmmm. All this talk of investments has me curious.

Okay, so I have one more semester of college left (wooo!). As someone just out of college, what should I invest in — and how, most importantly — once I get my first full time job?

 

[teiresias]

indeed, I'm 32 and have maybe 10% of my contributions going to securities and that is only so that if there is a crash or burst bubble I can quickly redistribute the money in securities into my other stock based funds and clean up while the market is low.

I figure that some time around 45 I'll up my savings in securities, but even when retired I'll still have a good portion (probably less than half) in stock based funds.

Kinda hard for me to relate though as the funds I'm offered are managed by the Thrift Savings Plan and it's not exactly a 401k, but it's close.

Yeah. I'm in the TSP too. I've been toying with going all in in one of the retirement year-targeted funds and just having it automate everything and stop thinking about it (I do that with my Roth IRA), but I feel their default behavior is a little too conservative and goes to hard into securities too early.

 

[Oblivion]

So I finally checked out the exchanges, and it took me literally less than a minute...

Spoiler

though Covered California.

The cheapest silver plan is $214, with no subsidies.

 

[Oblivion]

Okay, so I decided to see how the website is working through a state that doesn't have an exchange or the medicaid expansion (picked Louisiana) and I didn't run into any loading issues, whatsoever. Everything was pretty fast. However, I didn't get too far cause it tried to ask me to confirm my identity.

WTF?

Why would you ask people to do this BEFORE they can even see what the pricing options are?

 

[The Librarian]

Depending on what kind of job and where, you might have a 401k plan. Sign up for the plan and try to contribute as much as you're able, ideally at least up to the max match amount at your company. Investment choices vary by who manages the 401k plan and what your company has signed up for, but typically index funds will be the best options, as they offer broad diversification without incurring a lot of fees like managed mutual funds do. You'll want a stock/bond index fund mix with the allocation depending on your circumstances and personal risk tolerance.

If your company doesn't offer a 401k plan, you might want to start an IRA, an individual retirement account. The advantage is that you can choose your own investments, the disadvantage is that you'll get no company match. There are two types, Roth IRAs and regular IRAs, which have different tax-exemption structures (short version: the Roth makes you pay taxes now and none later, the regular makes you pay taxes later and none now). Investment choices should be the same as above.

It all sounds very complicated, but there are some simple rules of thumb to follow. Very much depends on your personal circumstances.

Okay, what's an index fund? And how would I start an IRA? Is there a website I go to?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Oblivion]

From CNN:

 

[Anno]

Okay, what's an index fund? And how would I start an IRA? Is there a website I go to?

Thanks for your help!

Index funds passively mimic the holdings of broader indexes (like the S&P 500, Russell 2000 or really almost anything) instead of having a manager actively buying and selling stocks based on a defined strategy. Because of this they have very few fees (no management fees and very little turnover which holds down taxes) and don't suffer from the whims of investment managers, very few of which manage to beat the broader market with any kind of consistency. It's the "boring" way to invest, but also the one that actually makes you money. Actively managed funds might have a place in your portfolio, but usually in more niche markets and with a very low allocation.

An IRA can be opened with basically any major bank. If you like who you use now see what their options are. If not, I've never had any complaints with eTrade. I think a number of fund management companies (most notably Vanguard) may offer them directly as well, though I'm not 100% on that.

 

[Diablos]

Why would you ask people to do this BEFORE they can even see what the pricing options are?

Sticker shock, apparently? It was a stupid idea.

From CNN:

S.E. Cupp is so beautiful, too bad her politics are unbearable :\

 

[Oblivion]

S.E. Cupp is so beautiful, too bad her politics are unbearable :\

Indeed. It's quite the difficult proposition to choose between someone who's politics you agree with, or true love. <3

 

[Diablos]

Indeed. It's quite the difficult proposition to choose between someone who's politics you agree with, or true love. <3

I don't think I could marry a Republican, or date one. A true moderate, okay.

 

[Frank the Great]

Yeah, I posted it a couple pages back.

Amazing that a Fox News contributor has more backbone in responding to the cancellation debacle than the fucking president who pushed the law in the first place.

Indeed. It's quite the difficult proposition to choose between someone who's politics you agree with, or true love. <3

Some time ago, I started dating someone who leans conservative. However, after about six years, I have fully propagandized her and she is now your typical American "liberal" and suitable for marriage. I remain much more to the left of her though, still working on that.

 

[Diablos]

Amazing that a Fox News contributor has more backbone in responding to the cancellation debacle than the fucking president who pushed the law in the first place.

Indeed.

 

[Oblivion]

I don't think I could marry a Republican, or date one. A true moderate, okay.

I think I might be able to pull that off, but it would depend on how extreme she might be.

My hope is that there'd be lots of potential for make up sex.

Some time ago, I started dating someone who leans conservative. However, after about six years, I have fully propagandized her and she is now your typical American "liberal" and suitable for marriage. I remain much more to the left of her though, still working on that.

My man.

 

[Diablos]

I think I might be able to pull that off, but it would depend on how extreme she might be.

My hope is that there'd be lots of potential for make up sex.

I met a girl who I thought was awesome at a previous job a few years back. We hit it off really well, the first three months were great (as in getting along at work, texting, calling). We spent some time together after work often, went out a couple times.

Not even kidding, all of the sudden (maybe because she opened up to me enough) she started saying Obama is the antichrist, and if the world ends in 2012 it'll be his fault.

I haven't talked to her in at least two years; keeping it that way.

I MISSED OUT ON TEA PARTY LOVE.

 

[Aaron Strife]

I met a girl who I thought was awesome at a previous job a few years back. We hit it off really well, the first three months were great (as in getting along at work, texting, calling). We spent some time together after work often, went out a couple times.

Not even kidding, all of the sudden (maybe because she opened up to me enough) she started saying Obama is the antichrist, and if the world ends in 2012 it'll be his fault.

I haven't talked to her in at least two years; keeping it that way.

I MISSED OUT ON TEA PARTY LOVE.

I was at a theater festival a year back and met a girl who seemed really cool until I added her on Facebook and saw she was a proud member of the tea party.

I kind of avoided her for the rest of the week.

Theater Republicans truly confound me.

 

[Diablos]

I was at a theater festival a year back and met a girl who seemed really cool until I added her on Facebook and saw she was a proud member of the tea party.

I kind of avoided her for the rest of the week.

Theater Republicans truly confound me.

 

[speculawyer]

If you think people know who the Iraqi Tariq Aziz is, you're far crazier than I am.

Sure . . . but most people know how to use the internet and it shows up in Wikipedia. People need to think these things through.

In a democracy, you are indeed accountable for the terrorism your government commits. As am I. That's why I work to try to stop it from occurring. You don't get to beg off in a democracy. The government is an agent of the collective, and you are part of the collective. You are accountable for what your agent does. This is agency 101. While it is true that one could argue (as I do) that the US is not really a democracy in a meaningful sense, this is not the perception most people have of the country. And in any event we shouldn't let that diminish our sense of responsibility for (and duty to prevent) our government's terrorism.

C'mon Empty. I know you are a lawyer. You failed to address intent . . . you know, what I mentioned in my posting. No intent, then no problem. I suggest you can bring up the fact that they should know that they'll likely kill innocent people . . . and that is what they (and you) should focus upon. But calling all Americans 'terrorists'? What a complete fail of a tactic.

Unlike those delusional people, my view of the world accords with an external reality. It's a high octane American exceptionalism that permits--nay, requires--Americans to be exempt from being accurately described. The drone program is terrorism. The government that commits it is engaged in terrorism. And the government's principals--we--have a duty to stop it. Some jackass reactionary telling me that I "blame America first" is the least of my worries.

Well, those delusional people are your fellow countrymen. If you want to preach to the choir and mutual-masturbate with your fellow far-left people then keep on doing what you are doing. But it will accomplish NOTHING. But if you want to change the world, I suggest you change your tactics.

 

[Piecake]

Hmmm. All this talk of investments has me curious.

Okay, so I have one more semester of college left (wooo!). As someone just out of college, what should I invest in — and how, most importantly — once I get my first full time job?

Ooo, a retirement investment question. I love those. The best piece of advice is to save and invest as early as possible thanks to the magic of compound interest.

If you start investing 5k a year, do that for 40 years and get an annual return of 7% you'll have 1.1 million

If you start investing when you are 50 years old, invest 25k for 15 years you'll have 750K

Another important difference is that you only had to save 200k to make that 1.1 million while you had to save 400k to make that 750k

As for what, invest in your 401k up to your company match if you have it. After that, I prefer a Roth IRA at Vanguard. But yea, definitely do the company match since thats free money. Try to fully fund your Roth IRA (5.5k a year max), and then if you have any money, fund the rest of your 401k (thats like a 17.5k a year max)

I recommend Vanguard because their business model is awesome and I like to support that

Vanguard is owned by the funds themselves and, as a result, is owned by the investors in the funds.[2]

I like that a lot better than enriching some wall street dbags. As for the minimums, you can invest in an ETF instead of a mutual fund. Those are basically the same thing, you just buy and sell those differently (total stock market etf and total stock market fund have the same stock in it, you would just buy and sell the thing differently)

 

[Giant Panda]

Piecake, what makes you choose a Roth IRA over a normal IRA?

 

[Diablos]

I think everyone in this thread needs to go to Wu Tang Financial.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I met a girl who I thought was awesome at a previous job a few years back. We hit it off really well, the first three months were great (as in getting along at work, texting, calling). We spent some time together after work often, went out a couple times.

Not even kidding, all of the sudden (maybe because she opened up to me enough) she started saying Obama is the antichrist, and if the world ends in 2012 it'll be his fault.

I haven't talked to her in at least two years; keeping it that way.

I MISSED OUT ON TEA PARTY LOVE.

I meet a cute girl who worked for Bachman once...

Did not even think twice about not even entertaining it.

 

[StopMakingSense]

I was at a theater festival a year back and met a girl who seemed really cool until I added her on Facebook and saw she was a proud member of the tea party.

I kind of avoided her for the rest of the week.

Theater Republicans truly confound me.

Yeah, when I was in HS and doing theater there were a lot of evangelical girls in theater, along with us usual weirdos.

 

[RustyNails]

Piecake, what makes you choose a Roth IRA over a normal IRA?

If you think you will end up in a higher tax bracket a decade or two from now, should go with Roth. Obviously tax burdens are higher the more you make. All savings in Roth are already taxed at your current level. Going the regular 401k route, you will pay the tax burden when you withdraw the money during your retirement. I have put a higher share in Roth than in normal 401k, also in a mutual fund separate from my retirement account.

 

[Piecake]

Piecake, what makes you choose a Roth IRA over a normal IRA?

Certainty

Unlike a traditional IRA, you pay taxes now, but when you take out your money when you are retired, you do not pay taxes. That means you do not need to worry about the tax rate in the future since it doesnt matter to you.

A Roth IRA definitely makes sense for low income earners since there is a good possibility that your tax rate now will be less than when you start taking money out. For high income earners its a bit more iffy. A high income earner will likely have less income in retirement. Does that mean that he will pay less in taxes? Probably, but who knows? In that case, a traditional ira is a reasonable gamble. A Roth IRA simply gives you certainty in case the govt jacks up income taxes up to 80% or something

Plus, A Roth IRA sounds a lot cooler too

 

[RustyNails]

Certainty

Unlike a traditional IRA, you pay taxes now, but when you take out your money when you are retired, you do not pay taxes. That means you do not need to worry about the tax rate in the future since it doesnt matter to you.

A Roth IRA definitely makes sense for low income earners since there is a good possibility that your tax rate now will be less than when you start taking money out. For high income earners its a bit more iffy. A high income earner will likely have less income in retirement. Does that mean that he will pay less in taxes? Probably, but who knows? In that case, a traditional ira is a reasonable gamble. A Roth IRA simply gives you certainty in case the govt jacks up income taxes up to 80% or something

Plus, A Roth IRA sounds a lot cooler too

Basically we have to make sure empty vessel/Bernie Sanders don't become President.

 

[Piecake]

Basically we have to make sure empty vessel/Bernie Sanders don't become President.

Yup, The Roth IRA is a hedge against those dirty socialists

 

[Oblivion]

I was watching my sister-in-law on Fox News Sunday (yes Liz, in fifteen states and the District of Columbia you are my sister-in-law) and was very disappointed to hear her say "I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage."

Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 - she didn't hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us.

To have her now say she doesn't support our right to marry is offensive to say the least

I can't help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other.

I always thought freedom meant freedom for EVERYONE.

Mary then shared her wife's status, adding, "Liz - this isn't just an issue on which we disagree - you're just wrong - and on the wrong side of history."

I was watching my sister-in-law on Fox News Sunday (yes Liz, in fifteen states and the District of Columbia you are my sister-in-law) and was very disappointed to hear her say "I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage."

Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 - she didn't hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us.

To have her now say she doesn't support our right to marry is offensive to say the least

I can't help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other.

I always thought freedom meant freedom for EVERYONE.

Mary then shared her wife's status, adding, "Liz - this isn't just an issue on which we disagree - you're just wrong - and on the wrong side of history."

http://gawker.com/mary-cheney-says-liz-cheney-is-on-the-wrong-side-of-hi-1466232044

 

[NYCmetsfan]

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who -- all of a sudden -- their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were.”

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/a...common-core-shows-their-kids-arent-brilliant/

 

[GhaleonEB]

Basically this, though I'd go to a brokerage to open an IRA. Mine is at Schwab, and I've never had any big problems with them. Vanguard has the best index funds (they literally invented the index fund), but they have high minimums, so aren't ideal for a brand-new IRA.

I use Fidelity, who has a $2,500 minimum to open an IRA. But you can start with $200, and set up automatic $200 monthly contributions for a year, and they won't charge the fee so long as you get over $2500 in 12 months. (That is what we did when I shifted over to them.) Other than a fee if you sell a fund purchase in 90 days (to keep fund flipping costs down), there are no fees for the account. They have a set of index funds that are quite good but not as comprehensive as Vanguard. It's a good option if you can't make Vanguard's minimums and just want to hit the major indexes. (The high Vanguard minimums are part of the reason I went with Fidelity over them.)

 

[eBay Huckster]

While we're somewhat on the subject of education policy...

Sometimes the private business of state school board members overlaps into their roles deciding policy for Ohio.

At least four board members have business and private interests that compete directly for education dollars. Two are lobbyists cruising the government hallways urging lawmakers and staffers to make decisions beneficial to their clients who have a stake in public education money and regulation of schools.

Another is married to a lobbyist for private schools who has attempted to sway the state board as recently as this month, and a fourth generates income from public education programs also administered by the board.

They suggest there is no problem with this activity, they police themselves, abstain as necessary and file the necessary statements with the Ohio Ethics Commission.

 

[Diablos]

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/a...common-core-shows-their-kids-arent-brilliant/

LOL, that is a pretty inflammatory remark!

 

[PhoenixDark]

http://gawker.com/mary-cheney-says-liz-cheney-is-on-the-wrong-side-of-hi-1466232044

Ouch that sucks. Throwing away family relationships just to win an election. And it's not like she's going to win either.

 

[The Librarian]

Index funds passively mimic the holdings of broader indexes (like the S&P 500, Russell 2000 or really almost anything) instead of having a manager actively buying and selling stocks based on a defined strategy. Because of this they have very few fees (no management fees and very little turnover which holds down taxes) and don't suffer from the whims of investment managers, very few of which manage to beat the broader market with any kind of consistency. It's the "boring" way to invest, but also the one that actually makes you money. Actively managed funds might have a place in your portfolio, but usually in more niche markets and with a very low allocation.

An IRA can be opened with basically any major bank. If you like who you use now see what their options are. If not, I've never had any complaints with eTrade. I think a number of fund management companies (most notably Vanguard) may offer them directly as well, though I'm not 100% on that.

I use Fidelity, who has a $2,500 minimum to open an IRA. But you can start with $200, and set up automatic $200 monthly contributions for a year, and they won't charge the fee so long as you get over $2500 in 12 months. (That is what we did when I shifted over to them.) Other than a fee if you sell a fund purchase in 90 days (to keep fund flipping costs down), there are no fees for the account. They have a set of index funds that are quite good but not as comprehensive as Vanguard. It's a good option if you can't make Vanguard's minimums and just want to hit the major indexes. (The high Vanguard minimums are part of the reason I went with Fidelity over them.)

Basically this, though I'd go to a brokerage to open an IRA. Mine is at Schwab, and I've never had any big problems with them. Vanguard has the best index funds (they literally invented the index fund), but they have high minimums, so aren't ideal for a brand-new IRA.

H'okay, this is starting to get a bit complicated.

First off, what's an index? How do I know what's an index fund and what isn't? If my company offers a 401k, do I get to choose (typically) what the 401 is invested in/tied to? If I have a 401k, is it still advisable to open up an IRA? Is Vanguard/Fidelity a bank? A minimum is the money you have to put into your account to start off with, right? Or is it a minimum you have to put in every year/month/week?

Thanks for the help, all. Please explain all of this like I'm very, very stupid.

Ooo, a retirement investment question. I love those. The best piece of advice is to save and invest as early as possible thanks to the magic of compound interest.

If you start investing 5k a year, do that for 40 years and get an annual return of 7% you'll have 1.1 million

If you start investing when you are 50 years old, invest 25k for 15 years you'll have 750K

Another important difference is that you only had to save 200k to make that 1.1 million while you had to save 400k to make that 750k

As for what, invest in your 401k up to your company match if you have it. After that, I prefer a Roth IRA at Vanguard. But yea, definitely do the company match since thats free money. Try to fully fund your Roth IRA (5.5k a year max), and then if you have any money, fund the rest of your 401k (thats like a 17.5k a year max)

I recommend Vanguard because their business model is awesome and I like to support that



I like that a lot better than enriching some wall street dbags. As for the minimums, you can invest in an ETF instead of a mutual fund. Those are basically the same thing, you just buy and sell those differently (total stock market etf and total stock market fund have the same stock in it, you would just buy and sell the thing differently)

Thanks, I might do a Roth IRA.

 

[AndyD]

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/a...common-core-shows-their-kids-arent-brilliant/

LOL, that is a pretty inflammatory remark!

It is, but the full quote also says:

“You’ve bet your house and where you live and everything on, ‘My child’s going to be prepared.’ That can be a punch in the gut.” Overcoming that will require communicating to parents that competition is now global, not local. When confronted with the truth through lower test scores and other indicators, the unhelpful response, in Arne’s view, is to say, “Let’s lower standards and go back to lying to ourselves and our children, so that our community can feel better.” The more productive response for a community or a state is to ask, “What can we do to get better, so our students can graduate from high school, succeed in college and be competitive for good jobs?” Because other communities and states are asking themselves that question and making smart improvements to their schools and education systems.

Which makes a whole lot more sense. Having a house in the "right" suburban school zone can be a 20-30% price premium where we live so to find out it's based on a sham can be tough to swallow.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Good thing about exchange trouble? Makes it really hard for Ryan to sell his 'reform' of Medicare

 

[WayneMorse]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/bernie-sanders-2016_n_4295872.html

Bernie Sanders is considering a 2016 run if there's no progressive candidates running.

 

[Anno]

H'okay, this is starting to get a bit complicated.

First off, what's an index? How do I know what's an index fund and what isn't? If my company offers a 401k, do I get to choose (typically) what the 401 is invested in/tied to? If I have a 401k, is it still advisable to open up an IRA? Is Vanguard/Fidelity a bank? A minimum is the money you have to put into your account to start off with, right? Or is it a minimum you have to put in every year/month/week?

Thanks for the help, all. Please explain all of this like I'm very, very stupid.

An index is just a certain cross section of a stock market weighted a certain way. The most common index is the S&P 500, which is just 500 large companies listed on US stock exchanges weighted by the relative worth of the companies stock (their "market cap"). If it helps try thinking of an index as "all XBLA games" or "all FPS games" amongst the universe of all video games. It's just a curated list who's value changes based on the day-to-day rise and fall of the underlying stocks. Sorry, I'm terrible at explaining things so I hope that's a little more understandable. You'll know if a fund is an index find either in the name of the fund or in its prospectus and semi-annual report detailing what the fund holds, its investment strategy and how it's performed recently.

If your company offers a 401k you usually have a select group of investments to choose from but you're free to allocate as you wish within those confines.

Contribute enough to your 401k to at least capture of the matching funds your company may offer, which most do. Otherwise you leave "free" money on the table. Anything after that can go to either your IRA or 401k up to their yearly maximums fairly interchangeably depending on how much flexibility you want in your investment options.

Vanguard and Fidelity are broad investment services companies as opposed to traditional banks. They'll manage your stock portfolios, run mutual funds and so forth. Many banks have a subsidiary that does similar things, but I think most would agree that dedicated brokers are a better option to manage your money.

A minimum in mutual find parlance is the smallest amount that a fund will allow to be initially invested from any given person. So if a fund has a $3500 minimum then you can't invest in it at all until you have at least that amount. This is something you need to worry about in an IRA, not so much in a 401k where you can generally invest any amount into anything.


Hopefully this helps somewhat. If not I'd encourage you to stop by the Stock thread where a lot of very helpful people reside that probably explain this stuff much more clearly than I do!

 

[Piecake]

H'okay, this is starting to get a bit complicated.

First off, what's an index? How do I know what's an index fund and what isn't? If my company offers a 401k, do I get to choose (typically) what the 401 is invested in/tied to? If I have a 401k, is it still advisable to open up an IRA? Is Vanguard/Fidelity a bank? A minimum is the money you have to put into your account to start off with, right? Or is it a minimum you have to put in every year/month/week?

Thanks for the help, all. Please explain all of this like I'm very, very stupid.

Like other's have said, index funds and actively managed funds are different because one follows an index, which could be the biggest 500 companies in America (SP 500) or the Total Stock Market of the US. There are no managers or stock pickers, it passively follows whatever the biggest 500 companies are, etc.

Actively managed funds have a fund manager who picks stocks to put in the mutual fund.

The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is the name and the expense ratio. Total stock market or SP 500 is definitely going to be an index. Mid cap, small cap, whatever, is probably going to be an index too. You should also look at the expense ratio as well. If its .05-.2% then its definitely an index fund. If its .8 - 2% its definitely an actively managed fund.

Why is that important? Well, we can use my example from my previous post to show you the difference

The 5k a year plan for 40 years will only net you 670k instead of 1.1 million if your fund has an expense ratio of 2%. That's because it drops your annual rate of return from 7% to 5%. Expenses are a HUGE deal, so that is why every sane person recommends investing in index funds

 

[cooljeanius]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/bernie-sanders-2016_n_4295872.html

Bernie Sanders is considering a 2016 run if there's no progressive candidates running.

If only he weren't so old...