Comments on: Financial Monthly Review (April ‘05)

By: Christy

Christy — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 19:00:03 +0000

What about health insurance? How old are you? I pay $233 a month. When I worked for a company they covered this amount, but now that I’m self-employed I have to pay it.

By: rob

rob — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:24:22 +0000

Rent budget seems low. I live in Boston where rents are typically $1100 for a 1 bedroom.
What is your target for fund performance? The S&P index and the MSCI EAFE index (intl) have a 5 yr cumulative return (ending Jun ‘05) of approx -11% and -3% resp. This is due mainly to the recession in mid 2000.
Anyhow, things are comparatively rosy for equities these past 2 years. Some people don’t believe
in timing the market and to just stay put. I think it is more reasonable to be mindful of market
downturns and to rebalance (get out of equities) at the first indication of a recessionary period.

Anyhow, most people think that an annualized return of 6-8% is acceptable. Judging from the last
5 years, you’d be lucky to get a positive annualized return.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 04 May 2005 14:26:41 +0000

Done, thanks for the reminder.

By: blog reader

blog reader — Wed, 04 May 2005 14:11:24 +0000

Thanks for the transparency. It adds a valuable amount of context to the blog. One question I have pertains to your debt. Are there any credit cards or student loans, etc?