Index Funds: Jack Bogle has convinced me.....sort of.

[bennkar]

After reading this thread.... methinks that smk is trying to make a name for himself. Whether that has been a good name or a bad one remains to be seen

So if I understand you correctly, there should be no standard rules of thumb ever?

The logical extension of that is that no one can learn about personal finance, and should instead rely solely on paid professional advice. Is this an accurate summary of your point of view?

[Petunia 100]

it seems you wish to make accusatory statements. i am not going to play that game with you. i know what i said and i know my intentions. at no point did i make a definitive statement that in beegee's case he absolutely should use a trad ira due to an analysis of his tax status. the point i was making is that you were being irresponsible by quoting "expert advice" indicating he should max his roth first when you had no knowledge to support this point. IF the opposite were true and he listened to you, you could have cost him a good deal of money...

my previous comments stand on their own for anyone to read...

At no point did I make a definitive statement that Beegee absolutely should ignore his own personal circumstances and assume standard expert advice is custom made for him. Yet, you continue to pretend that I did.

Yes, your comments do stand on their own for anyone to read. I have read some of your past comments in other threads as well. You are well-educated and more than capable of adding a great deal of value to these forums; I sincerely hope you will choose to do just that.

[smk]

i explained why i was here in a different thread: "
i was reading the intro to "life cycle investing: financial education and consumer protection," professor zbi bodie traced the history of protection for people like us. he explained how prior to the 1900s, the elderly were cared for by their children. in the 1940's they developed the pension fund. by 2000-2010 the pensions pretty much went south because they did not take up asset-liability management to protect themselves from shortfalls. now people need to rely upon themselves to fund their own retirement for the first time in history, and they are completely unprepared for it. the advisers out there are just doing what the pensions did, which caused them to belly flop, and individual investors know even less. looked at in aggregate, this is really scary."

as it turns out, i am not just educated in finance, but in how to teach. if the methods used on this site to guide newbies reinforce the same problems mentioned above and i support them, then i become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. some methods propagate ignorance while others promote learning.

so perhaps if i point something out that is going the wrong way, you might consider thinking about it instead of flipping out. but make no mistake. we had a thrift bail out in the 1990's, a pension destruction currently and we are looking at the implosion of our social safety net when baby boomers retire and stocks have a couple of bad years. bailing out banks is unpleasant; watching retirees living on the streets will be far worse. i am not going to be a participant in that...

[Baby_nurse]

Geez, poor OP. I'm sure he came here looking for general advice and not to start a war.

[willuc8]

Of course one should always do the math. General rules of thumb are just that

[willuc8]

401K is a traditional for sure