MachineGhost wrote:I think the trick is to be in a place that isn't going to grow into that over time.

Or let it grow into that, sell high, repeat.

There's also the potential for "summering" in one place and "wintering" in another. Surely more expensive than just picking one, of course. But you could do things like spend 183 days in a non-income-tax state and avoid state income tax altogether. If this is for retirement that ...

From: An Explanation of Martin Luther's Small Catechism, Field Test Edition, July 2016 © 2016 Concordia Publishing House. IMHO your latest posts don't strike me as being in the spirit of this thread's title - "Figuring Out Religion". Because you've obviously figured it all out already. Ma...

I didn't find a Cash FAQ, but did find pages tagged "cash". It wasn't much. But maybe somebody else can find more.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140425133 ... /tag/cash/

All that said, for my PP that's in my traditional IRA (I have a PP in each different tax treatment, at least at the moment), I'm 33/33/33/0, with no cash. But that's money that won't be touched for decades.

The other thing about cash is that it's the way to benefit immediately from interest rate increases. Yes, in this 0% world, it seems like cash is "parked" and useless. But that won't last forever. Historically, 100% cash actually hasn't had such a bad return. It's also the only part of the...

There are also advantages to being a bit counter-cyclical. Yes, it stinks to be lagging a bit when stocks are hot. But then when there's a crash you can do things like buy a nicer house than you'd normally be able to.

The article seems to be entirely about a single 30-year period. This guy badly needs to visit Tyler's site.

What's the advantage of a mutual fund over an ETF again?

Has "black lives matter" officially lost all sympathizers from mainstream society?

With 30-year rates at or near all-time lows, why not get the cheap fixed-rate money? Harry Browne recommended a variable rate when rates were significantly higher than now. Because 30-year variable-rate mortgages are even lower. Something on the order of 2.5% instead of 3.5%. In general they're cap...

Leaving aside the debate about whether to keep a mortgage or pay it off... What are everyone's thoughts on fixed-rate mortgages as opposed to variable-rate? I'm thinking of doing a 7/1 ARM. IIRC, Harry Browne at one point recommended variable rate, but I forget exactly why.

Kbg wrote:relative: There is no way to decide upon absolute truth.

The only problem is that that's an absolute truth statement. So is all truth relative apart from that one? :-)

We aren't going back! It took me 2+ days to rebuild everything from SMF's last crash. I don't blame SMF, it was the old hosting provider that was a large part of the problem. But I had problems with SMF in the past (especially with plug-ins and upgrades) and just wanted to do something new that had...

Mountaineer wrote:An angry god like those other primitive gods that people thought required child sacrifice to appease (e.g. Pele or Molech).

The modern god of reason requires child sacrifice too.

This isn't blind faith: it's faith handed down from the very beginning. It's prophecies made and fulfilled. And primarily, it's the historical accounts of a dead man no longer being dead.

Faith in your own reason, now that is blindness.

Rarely will someone admit that he believes himself to be his own god. Typically that gets denied. I sure am glad I have my God rather than myself! why does it have to be an either or choice? an anthropomorphized, separate from us, big sky daddy, or a (derogatory always implied) "you are your o...

We each create our own reality with our beliefs. I don't understand how you can get after people for their "mysticism", and for believing in things that are unprovable, and then turn around and make assertions like this one. Well obviously you don't agree with it because you're already a ...

MachineGhost wrote:We each create our own reality with our beliefs.

I don't understand how you can get after people for their "mysticism", and for believing in things that are unprovable, and then turn around and make assertions like this one.

I've done this unintentionally countless times and immediately self-diagnosed the "blindness" problem. So not only are these people idiots, but we have medical doctors prescribing MRIs and heart tests. And my health premiums keep rising...argh. I saw that and thought the exact same thing!...

Mountaineer, you're hurting your own cause more than you're helping. Yammering on about Jesus isn't going to convert intelligent, skeptical people. It isn't even going to "plant a seed." If anything it's erecting a tent over the garden and making it barren. Intelligent skeptical people do...

Yeah I understand. Recognizing a weakness and striking it from your life is not a bad thing. If it's AA and pills that's fine with me. Whatever works. I know people who were helped by AA beyond just the drinking aspect so I don't think throwing it out entirely is a great idea though. That's really ...

God won't violate His justice nor His promises.  The wages of sin is death.  We were told that before the Fall and chose to do it anyway.  That can't just be hand-waved away. That's an interesting theological concept that "We" were warned before the fall and made a choice to do it any way...

God won't violate His justice nor His promises.  The wages of sin is death.  We were told that before the Fall and chose to do it anyway.  That can't just be hand-waved away.  Fortunately for us, God Himself chose to come down and bear the penalty on our behalf! As for having "other people&quo...

Tom wrote:The Kool-Aid is tasting pretty good right about now.

Oh yeah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n69H0JwsGI&t=0m11s