DarkandStormy

Not super familiar with either, but have been poking around and reading some from each. Some interesting stuff there. I'm definitely on a "super saver" plan when I compare to friends and peers. I may dive into my expenses more and see where I can trim some stuff out, but I want to get through one year of consistent income and expenses first (new job, new house) to see where things shake out.

You'd basically be asking this question of yourself since 2013 with just a couple minor dips along the way. Best strategy is to stay the course - no one really knows when this bull market will end, and most of us won't be able to "time" it very well. Every significant sell-off since 2009 has been immediately followed by a new record high within a month or two. Are we really set up for a 2000 or 2008 style crash? Again, we don't know. I'd personally stay the course until we see signs of an '00 or '08. If and when we get to that point, you could consider buying the SDS ETF from ProShares.

Markets open with record highs in the cross-hairs.

Believe the proposal calls for 400 rooms in that "Hilton extension." I'm not sure there's a single developer who wants to / has the ability to add a 1,000 room tower. For reference, the Hyatt is 20 stories and has 683 rooms.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170525/suburban-growth-remains-strong-in-central-ohio Suburban growth remains strong in Central Ohio. Grandview, Hilliard, and New Albany saw the largest population increases in 2016.

Wait, what? They're opening a bar with rooftop patio in Franklinton and a brewpub in the Short North? In addition to their tap room / hotel / complex in Canal Winchester?

http://www.financialsamurai.com/a-massive-generational-wealth-transfer-is-why-everything-will-be-ok/ ^Interesting post (article?) here from a few years ago. Millennials have a reputation for not saving enough for retirement, emergencies, etc. but as the author points out, A LOT of young people are set up to inherit quite a bit of money from their parents, perhaps even assistance with buying a house. So why save 15+% when they have a few hundred thousand dollars (if not more) coming their way in the future?

Have been following this for a little while - https://seekingalpha.com/article/4075363-quadruple-leveraged-etfs-sec-second-thoughts The SEC is reconsidering its approval of quadruple-leveraged ETFs. There hasn't been a whole heck of a lot of history with leveraged ETFs, as most have only been in existence during the current 8-year bull run. UPRO for example, which seeks to track 3X the daily rate of the S&P 500, started trading in June 2009 around $7.20/share. It's now worth over $100/share. Of course, when the next bear hits, if you hold that ETF, you will be hit much harsher. Volatility kills returns for any leveraged ETF, but like I mentioned, we haven't seen that side yet as a majority of the trading days have been to the positive side over the last 8 years.

This is good advice for a lot of people, especially for those taking a passive approach with their investments. Most people don't understand how much money they lose with high cost funds over their lifetime. I'm waiting for the Warren Buffet bet to finalize next year. He plunked $100K into Vanguard's S&P 500 fund and let it ride and then asked for hedge fund or active managers to compete to see who had the better ROI after fees. He's up huge.

There are phaseout limits on a Roth IRA (are those people here, though? kidding) and if you make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA, you can backdoor convert to a Roth. I have heard/read that some people prefer a Traditional IRA over a Roth for a couple reasons. 1) You get that tax deduction now (i.e. more investable money) and 2) if you're not planning on having a large taxable income in retirement, you probably won't pay a lot of tax on an IRA distribution anyway -> if you're just living off of retirement money and social security. A Roth does save on paying tax on that distribution, of course, but if it's not going to be taxed anyway....just a thought (I still contribute to a Roth, fwiw).

So as not to muddy up other threads with off-topic conversations around investing, I figured it would be helpful to have a specific thread on personal finance, investing, the stock market, etc. All major indices are trading just below major highs (S&P 500 ~2,400 / DOW ~21,000 / NASDAQ ~ 6,150). Nearly the entirety of the "Trump Bump" ended on 3/1 (at least from an S&P/DOW outlook). Indexes are up ~6% YTD, but again...flat or slightly down since March 1st, although the NASDAQ is up another 4% since 3/1, meaning it's up ~13% YTD. Take this thread in any direction you want - advice, questions, discussion. Investor Profile: Years investing: ~7 Major Goals: Retirement (early if possible), meaning my horizon for the majority of my investments is 25+ years Risk Tolerance: Aggressive Investment Knowledge: Good (not great and definitely not advanced, e.g. have not executed any calls, puts, etc.) Feel free to use the above mini-profile or add more to your own profile, if you wish to share.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/a-look-back/2010/06/one_nation_columbus_restaurant.html This history of restaurants/bars at the top of skyscrapers in Columbus is...well, it's not littered with success stories.

Preds advance to Stanley Cup Final, even after losing #1 center (and former Blue Jacket) Ryan Johansen to a scary injury a few days ago (acute compartment syndrome). Nashville has the best blue line in the league (at least top 4) combined with great goaltending from Rinne....they've been a tough out these playoffs. They've lose a total of four games in the playoffs against Chicago, St. Louis, and Anaheim. The Preds were the 2nd wild card (8 seed). It seems like the Penguins will come out of the East - we'll find out tonight (Game 6 in Ottawa).

Embarrassing performance by LeBron.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170522/south-village-grille-heads-for-memorial-day-opening-in-former-easy-street-digs Easy Street's replacement is eyeing a Memorial Day opening.

I guess it's Ohio Center Way instead of Goodale?

^It's absurd to me that season averages of 27/7/7/2 only got him 2nd team All NBA in 2005 and 27/7/6 and leading a pack of nobodies to the NBA Finals in '07 also only got him 2nd team.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19411428/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-all-nba-record-tying-11th LeBron named to a record-tying 11th All-NBA 1st team. There was some jabrone who didn't vote LBJ or Westbrook first team and they should immediately be launched into the sun for gross incompetence.

He's at or near the peak intersection of his physical ability and a mental awareness of the game around him. His physical ability is at or near the top and his mental awareness of the finer points of the game continues to climb. In terms of pure athletic physical ability, everyone "peaks" around age 23-24. Should we go pull up video of some of his insane dunks from '04-'08? He's certainly a better basketball player over the last few years, but he's way past his athletic prime (again, in terms of physical abilities). Still, I think he'll age like Tom Brady. Both guys are absolute tacticians about everything they do and both have invested heavily in dieting and training. I wouldn't be surprised to see both of them get another ring or two (it helps that LeBron is what, 7 years younger?). Modern day science can prolong careers via diet and training. Most guys in the past didn't care (or didn't have the science available) to try and prolong their careers.

LOL Boston fans chanted "We want LeBron" at the end of their Wizards series. No. No you don't.

The Indians so far in 2017 are up a mere 1k over average attendance in 2016. As for % of capacity...Progressive Field is ranked #27 in the MLB by capacity of seats. At its heyday, the Jake would rank #9 today. The Jake held 45,569 in 2010 but has since slashed over 10,000 seats (which is freaking embarrassing). Guess they need to slash 10k more so games look full?

Nothing like a near 9-year bump, right? http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/us/penn-state-fraternity-piazza-family-interview/ A 19-year old died in early February following his first night as a pledge at a Penn State fraternity. He was going through a ritual called "the gauntlet" and evidently fell multiple times during the night, including down a 15-foot flight of stairs. No one bothered to call 911 until nearly 12 hours later the next morning. The timeline read is absolutely sickening. Nearly 1,000 charges have now been filed related to Timothy Piazza's death, including against 18 of the fraternity brothers who were there that night as well as the fraternity chapter itself. No one from Penn State or the fraternity attended his funeral or wake. The family is now advocating for wholesale changes to policies and procedures among Greek Life and universities across the country in regards to underage drinking, binge drinking, etc.

A true dumpster fire.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance Lol.

That's hard to say without knowing the source of the electricity used to power the car. 22% of electricity is now generated by a renewable energy source (wind, solar, etc.). So if you are using a renewable energy source which produces no waste to charge your EV, then you are much better than "20%" of an internal combustion vehicle. Gas powered cars are only about 20% efficient given how much waste they produce. Electric cars are about 60% efficient if they are powered by coal-based electricity. To your last point...the next key is to stop burning coal at the power plants. Like oil/gas, there is only a finite amount in the world which are burning through at speeds thousands of times faster than it took to form. As we shift our transportation to electric based, we're going to have to massively increase the supply of clean electricity via solar and wind.