View Poll Results: Do you prefer us lobbing Potatoes or Grenades to take care of spammers?
Lob potatoes to just stun them
2
18.18%
Lob grenades and remove them from the TMS pool permanently
9
81.82%
Voters: 11. You may not vote on this poll
Mustangs Coast to Coast
3/11/12, 02:34 PM
Join Date: December 5, 2006
Location: Trapped in Minnesota
Posts: 31,619
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Sunny here though. 
3/11/12, 03:01 PM
Team Mustang Source
what makes it so great?????
3/11/12, 03:16 PM
Team Mustang Source
Great economy.
Great scenery. You have every type. Mountains,forest,swamp,beach, plains and hill country.
Lots of wildlife.
Great people.
Cost of living is lower than most places.
Plus, Gary lives here which would make it easier for him to adopt you.
Great scenery. You have every type. Mountains,forest,swamp,beach, plains and hill country.
Lots of wildlife.
Great people.
Cost of living is lower than most places.
Plus, Gary lives here which would make it easier for him to adopt you.
3/11/12, 03:22 PM
NTTAWWT
3/11/12, 03:27 PM
Legacy Tms Member
3/11/12, 03:44 PM
Legacy Tms Member
i dont like extreme heat....over 90 degrees and i am a literal zombie....then again i hate cold ...so somewhere in the middle all year round would make me happy...
3/11/12, 03:45 PM
Post *****
Join Date: December 14, 2007
Location: State of Jefferson Mountains USA
Posts: 19,993
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I would rather track how the options that each company react for the next year considering how the economy may be getting better, but we will see how it reacts to $5 a gallon gas effects it, with Obama publicly backing Israel anything they do towards Iran could draw us in a conflict, with Republicans saying that we need to intervene in Syria and prevent any more bloodshed it seems to be a very volatile time and it would be interesting to see how everything reacts during this so I could get a better understanding of the options they offer.
Another thing I've observed - last year's top fund is this year's dog. I've been following funds since 81 and it is amazing how many times this has been true. So forget 'watching it this year'. Pick a good fund that has good 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr - all of which is skewed right now because of the plunge and subsequent rebound. The 3 yrs look super - take it with a grain of salt.
Back in the day before cell phone coverage was widespread on my rural coffee route, on days I heard the radio news say the market was plunging I would pull over at a pay phone and move funds from the safe money market over to my growth funds. I shop for groceries, tires, etc. on sale - why wouldn't I want to buy my investments on sale? I made chunks during the mid-late 90's that way.
And over time, the US economy is incredibly dynamic and "owning" a piece of that - vs "loaning" to banks, insurance skags, etc.; is the best way to accumulate wealth over the decades of your life. That and the security of buying/owning your own home.
Go to the list of funds and then click on the various one's that interest you. This page has 'balanced' and 'stock' funds listed.https://personal.vanguard.com/us/fun...&sortorder=asc
Then after clicking an individual fund, there's tabs that take you from returns (numbers & 10k over time), fees, etc. You can also use the 'compare' tool. And their ETF section. Their site is pretty awesome - if not the best - I think. Once you add a portfolio, you can analyze it 9 different ways from Sunday.
I also like marketwatch.com.
A good all around fund to start is the total stock market fund (vtsmx). You are buying a little piece of the whole stock market - big, med, small, sectors, etc. with each share. I think their lower entry fund is the STAR fund (vgstx).
Bond funds suck! So many are rushing for 'safety' and yield right now. Which sends the total returns much higher on the charts than the historical performance of bond funds. But the Fed can't keep rates at 0 forever. When rates start to climb, bond fund's share price declines. Which means your principle declines! The pro's will start dumping - which will cause the principle to drop faster, while the amateurs will be scratching their heads saying 'what happened? I thought bonds were safe?'
The current 2-4% yield won't make up the 10-20% loss to your principle.An ETF is a way to buy & sell index mutual funds 'real time' (simple explanation). They trade real time during the day like stocks (funds are only bought at the close regardless when you enter the order), but are a basket of many stocks tied to the index they track. Normally you would pay a ($10) commish on each trade, but many of the brokerages now have made arrangements with some etf's to trade commish free - so you can add small amounts monthly. I use TDAmeritrade but there are a number of good brokerages. But its a little more complex than buying a mutual fund.
The deadline for IRA's is the IRS filing deadline - 4.17 this year*. If you have cash, and have income for 2011 you want to offset, you can still open an IRA before the 17th and deduct that contribution from last years income. That could increase your refund which offsets your IRA cost.
You could plop 3k in a VG fund, then add $100+ monthly. Or explore TDA's site - VTI is the etf for VTSMX. Or the free SP500 etf is IVV.
https://www.tdameritrade.com/trade/etftrading.html
STRICTLY IMO. NOT OFFERING ADVICE. NOT SELLIN' NUTHIN'!
[*The traditional tax return filing deadline is April 15 of each year, but April 15, 2012 is a Sunday and April 16, 2012 falls on Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia.]
Last edited by cdynaco; 3/11/12 at 05:09 PM.
3/11/12, 04:07 PM
Team Mustang Source
3/11/12, 04:17 PM
Calgon Take Me Away!
Originally Posted by 2k7gtcs
Once you get to Texas you'll never want to leave
I know I never will
Except maybe Alaska
Always wanted to live there
I know I know
I know I never will
Except maybe Alaska
Always wanted to live there
I know I know
Originally Posted by Treadhead
I hear ya! That is one of the few places I would consider. Especially since that is my home state. We moved out here when I was 11 (I was so pissed) but, I have really grown to like it here.
3/11/12, 04:22 PM
Legacy Tms Member
i loved Ukraine...and living in NJ i hate it here....cant wait to one day move, and it is cool being part of this forum and learning about all the places people live