Pros for the AT are the social aspect, and that it requires less planning/know how.
You can always do both?
akratic's ERE journal
@m741: my thoughts exactly! Because of year end bonuses, I'll probably eventually stop working in the month of January, which will be good timing for planning and embarking on an AT hike 1-3 months later.
@captious: if I were from the West Coast I'd probably do the PCT, but I'm from Boston, and hiking almost the entire East Coast has a huge appeal for me, plus yes, the social aspect is a big plus. If the AT goes really well, maybe I'll hike the PCT later?
I have pretty bad knees, so I wonder if I even can hike this far, even with poles and possibly a knee brace. The other concern is whether I can handle *that* much solitude. It seems appealing to me now, but I could see it getting old after a while.
@captious: if I were from the West Coast I'd probably do the PCT, but I'm from Boston, and hiking almost the entire East Coast has a huge appeal for me, plus yes, the social aspect is a big plus. If the AT goes really well, maybe I'll hike the PCT later?
I have pretty bad knees, so I wonder if I even can hike this far, even with poles and possibly a knee brace. The other concern is whether I can handle *that* much solitude. It seems appealing to me now, but I could see it getting old after a while.
In my experience few people consistently hike 20 mile days on the AT. The AT has enough road crossings from which to hitch into towns for supplies that you'll be fine at most any pace. Honestly don't sweat the details too much.
And back on topic... I also find it hard to take the plunge and actually invest. Partly because I don't think its a great time for most investments, partly because I still haven't done enough research/come up with a plan that I have confidence in.
And back on topic... I also find it hard to take the plunge and actually invest. Partly because I don't think its a great time for most investments, partly because I still haven't done enough research/come up with a plan that I have confidence in.
Akratic/m741 - I hiked the AT a couple years ago (Summer 2009). Great training for ERE, actually. Don't worry about doing 20 mile days from the start. Like most others, I started out averaging about 10 miles a day. Nice 'n' easy. By the time you reach VA/PA, you'll be able to do 15-20, although not every day.
I wouldn't worry about too much solitude, assuming you start in March/April with everyone else. You can hike alone during the day, but meet up with the same great people at the shelters or tent sites during the evenings.
If there is any other advice (or encouragement: DO IT!) that I can provide, let me know!
I wouldn't worry about too much solitude, assuming you start in March/April with everyone else. You can hike alone during the day, but meet up with the same great people at the shelters or tent sites during the evenings.
If there is any other advice (or encouragement: DO IT!) that I can provide, let me know!
@m741, I've been day hiking around 50 times, and gone on a few weekend trips, but never anything as long as a week. I probably have to quit my job before I try either the one week trial, or the AT, so I figure I might as well just try for the AT. I did live out of a backpack while traveling around the world for a year, so I've done that kind of backpacking. 
@captious, yeah, I have this need to make sure I'm making the optimal decision before acting, but this investing thing is a bitch to optimize. "Good enough" doesn't' seem to be enough for me, my plan has to be flawless... but unfortunately waiting for such a plan to materialize is costing me $1000s.
@NH, yeah, I'd love to hear more about your trip! What resources (websites, books, etc) did you use to prepare? Did you keep a journal? What did you pack? What did you learn? (small stuff and big picture stuff), etc. I'm just really interested in this topic right now, so as much as you feel like writing, I feel like reading.
@captious, yeah, I have this need to make sure I'm making the optimal decision before acting, but this investing thing is a bitch to optimize. "Good enough" doesn't' seem to be enough for me, my plan has to be flawless... but unfortunately waiting for such a plan to materialize is costing me $1000s.
@NH, yeah, I'd love to hear more about your trip! What resources (websites, books, etc) did you use to prepare? Did you keep a journal? What did you pack? What did you learn? (small stuff and big picture stuff), etc. I'm just really interested in this topic right now, so as much as you feel like writing, I feel like reading.
July 2011
Slow progress this month. Unusual expenses included a once-a-year $120 charge for the company gym, a $190 round trip ticket to Boston/Maine for mid August, and ~$70 to rent a car when my brother visited Chicago.
I want to cancel my home internet. My split is $18.50/mo, and I lose a lot of utility from having internet at home, because I waste gobs of time on it doing unproductive things. Here is a recurring mistake that I make: say it's 10pm and I have nothing to do. Rather than just go to sleep -- and feel great the next morning -- I browse the internet completely aimlessly for the next hour or two or three. The next morning I have to wake up to my alarm clock as a result, and I feel terrible, and it sucks.
I find this behavior utterly irrational and short-sighted and akratic. But it's a recurring theme in my life, in a number of different areas, such as eating junk food or playing video games.
My diet has stalled a bit. It's time to get more serious about it. I created a new eating plan.
I included a chart of my asset allocation to shame myself into investing. I love the idea of the permanent portfolio, but I still can't seem to stomach the 30Y bonds at 4%.
Slow progress this month. Unusual expenses included a once-a-year $120 charge for the company gym, a $190 round trip ticket to Boston/Maine for mid August, and ~$70 to rent a car when my brother visited Chicago.
I want to cancel my home internet. My split is $18.50/mo, and I lose a lot of utility from having internet at home, because I waste gobs of time on it doing unproductive things. Here is a recurring mistake that I make: say it's 10pm and I have nothing to do. Rather than just go to sleep -- and feel great the next morning -- I browse the internet completely aimlessly for the next hour or two or three. The next morning I have to wake up to my alarm clock as a result, and I feel terrible, and it sucks.
I find this behavior utterly irrational and short-sighted and akratic. But it's a recurring theme in my life, in a number of different areas, such as eating junk food or playing video games.
My diet has stalled a bit. It's time to get more serious about it. I created a new eating plan.
I included a chart of my asset allocation to shame myself into investing. I love the idea of the permanent portfolio, but I still can't seem to stomach the 30Y bonds at 4%.
The thing with the PP is that it is a package. Looking at one of the investments individually, it might not seem to make any sense in the short term, but as a package the portfolio seems to do well. There's no way to tell what will happen. The bond rates can still go down further.
I've had to look back at the yearly returns for each asset class a number of times when I was questioning gold or cash or LT bonds.
(disclaimer - I just put all of my 401k money into PRPFX, so I want to feel like it is a good choice)
I've had to look back at the yearly returns for each asset class a number of times when I was questioning gold or cash or LT bonds.
(disclaimer - I just put all of my 401k money into PRPFX, so I want to feel like it is a good choice)
Yeah, the whole idea of the PP is that, no matter what's going on, at least one asset goes up. Consequently, no matter what's going on, at least one asset seems overpriced. It's important to look at the entire portfolio, not individual assets in isolation.
You've been ruminating on this for a long time...maybe you could try it on a trial basis with a small part of your savings? Perhaps put $1,000 into a plain-vanilla PP and see how you feel after 3 months?
You've been ruminating on this for a long time...maybe you could try it on a trial basis with a small part of your savings? Perhaps put $1,000 into a plain-vanilla PP and see how you feel after 3 months?
Booyah!
Now I just need to find a bullion dealer in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Maine to go with my IAU position, and I'll be all set!
(Aside from my VP where I need to finish selecting some dividend stocks)
Can anyone recommend a place to purchase gold coins in New England?
My concerns are:
- not paying sales tax
- paying as little above spot as possible
- buying from a reputable physical location
Now I just need to find a bullion dealer in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Maine to go with my IAU position, and I'll be all set!
(Aside from my VP where I need to finish selecting some dividend stocks)
Can anyone recommend a place to purchase gold coins in New England?
My concerns are:
- not paying sales tax
- paying as little above spot as possible
- buying from a reputable physical location
> I find this behavior utterly irrational and short-sighted
> and akratic. But it's a recurring theme in my life, in a
> number of different areas, such as eating junk food or
> playing video games.
Sounds like you are being a bit too hard on yourself. I have a somewhat similar problem. I've noticed that as a result I just am never able to enjoy my down time. Instead, I bring out my big fat long to-do list, procrastinate over it and then kick myself in the end for all the things I *should* have done with my time. I am trying to learn to let up a bit. Life is too short for all goals and no pleasure, don't you think?
Loved your play on the word akratic. I learned a new word today.
Keep writing! Your journal is very inspiring and instructive. Thanks.
> and akratic. But it's a recurring theme in my life, in a
> number of different areas, such as eating junk food or
> playing video games.
Sounds like you are being a bit too hard on yourself. I have a somewhat similar problem. I've noticed that as a result I just am never able to enjoy my down time. Instead, I bring out my big fat long to-do list, procrastinate over it and then kick myself in the end for all the things I *should* have done with my time. I am trying to learn to let up a bit. Life is too short for all goals and no pleasure, don't you think?
Loved your play on the word akratic. I learned a new word today.
Keep writing! Your journal is very inspiring and instructive. Thanks.
-
jacob
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Why the low cash target?
A lot of the world's supposed wealth is due to prices being bid up by rather large amounts of leverage. Once things fall a lot, like today, people will be margin-called out of their positions and forced to sell even more. This affects the asset value of everything (including gold).
That's when you want the cash at hand to rebalance the PP.
A lot of the world's supposed wealth is due to prices being bid up by rather large amounts of leverage. Once things fall a lot, like today, people will be margin-called out of their positions and forced to sell even more. This affects the asset value of everything (including gold).
That's when you want the cash at hand to rebalance the PP.
@ktn: I'm definitley too hard on myself. The real problem with being so hard on myself is that people see me beating myself up for stuff that *they* do, and they feel that I'm judging them. I'm not though.
@JohnnyH: the thought of sending $10k+ to some random guy on the internet and hoping that he mails me gold back makes me real uncomfortable. I've heard about people getting pretty screwed on eBay. I'd much rather take the gold straight from a store to the secret hiding spot. I guess I'm willing to pay a storefront a premium in exchange for this peace of mind, especially on my first time purchasing bullion. Have you had good experiences purchasing gold on eBay?
@jacob: the cash target is mostly just a short-term accounting trick. My actual plan is a 20% VP (REIT + hand pick dividend stocks) and then an even 20% for each of the PP categories. However:
1) Every month I see an infusion of cash from my paycheck that amounts to ~3% of my net worth
2) I know myself well enough to know it's going to take me a while to select the dividend stocks for my VP, and that money is going to sit in cash until then.
Once I get the dividend stocks straightened out, I'll probably target something like 17% cash, 21% each of the others, so that I can go a month or two between rebalancing as I accumulate. Once I stop accumulating: 20% targets across the board.
Anyone want to suggest some dividend stocks to look into? I want to buy 10, each 1% of my networth, as an experiment in hand picking stocks. If it goes well, maybe in a years time I will do more of it. If it goes poorly, I'll probably go from a 20% VP to a 10% VP.
PS: it's kinda funny that I fretted about govt bonds for so long, and then on my very first day of holding TLT it goes up 3.31% (so far)
@JohnnyH: the thought of sending $10k+ to some random guy on the internet and hoping that he mails me gold back makes me real uncomfortable. I've heard about people getting pretty screwed on eBay. I'd much rather take the gold straight from a store to the secret hiding spot. I guess I'm willing to pay a storefront a premium in exchange for this peace of mind, especially on my first time purchasing bullion. Have you had good experiences purchasing gold on eBay?
@jacob: the cash target is mostly just a short-term accounting trick. My actual plan is a 20% VP (REIT + hand pick dividend stocks) and then an even 20% for each of the PP categories. However:
1) Every month I see an infusion of cash from my paycheck that amounts to ~3% of my net worth
2) I know myself well enough to know it's going to take me a while to select the dividend stocks for my VP, and that money is going to sit in cash until then.
Once I get the dividend stocks straightened out, I'll probably target something like 17% cash, 21% each of the others, so that I can go a month or two between rebalancing as I accumulate. Once I stop accumulating: 20% targets across the board.
Anyone want to suggest some dividend stocks to look into? I want to buy 10, each 1% of my networth, as an experiment in hand picking stocks. If it goes well, maybe in a years time I will do more of it. If it goes poorly, I'll probably go from a 20% VP to a 10% VP.
PS: it's kinda funny that I fretted about govt bonds for so long, and then on my very first day of holding TLT it goes up 3.31% (so far)
@akratic: Ha, yes I know what you mean. But I've been very happy with my ebay buying... It's the selling that would make me nervous. Ebay/paypal seem to side with buyers over sellers almost always now.
*Make sure there is adequate feedback and length of time on ebay.
*Make sure they have sold bullion during that time... You don't want to be the first to trust a seller with high end money. The higher volume of bullion usually the better. If someone has only sold a few, they might be trustworthy but they also might not understand the importance of shipping insurance. In well over 50 purchases I've never had to claim insurance, well done USPS!... Still, it's a judgement call. Some of my best deals were from low volume sellers.
My bad experiences:
*Amateur seller listed coins as immaculate, they had milkspots from gloveless handling... Silver was already up 10% so I didn't want my money back.
*A long time 100% positive seller, with much experience in bullion, sold 50 lots (huge red flag, learned my lesson) claimed that he would ship in 30 days when the mint delivered his order. Anyway silver shot up, and coins were never delivered (he must have been betting on a decline). Ebay (not paypal) came through with a refund in 2 days. I was pleased and impressed.
*Once or twice had junk silver and silver eagles sitting unattended on my porch.
-overall my gold buying experiences have been 100% positive, silver >98% positive.
-no taxes or fees.
-fairly anonymous... Although USPS employees probably know what's going on, I doubt they care. What else weighs 1 oz and has 1800 in insurance?
Importantly, you can use a credit card without a fee, unlike the dealers in my area. I've been using this one for 5% cashback:
http://www.aarpcreditcard.com/Default?CELL=66J9
Also, 2% ebay bucks, which occasionally will jump up to 4%... Combining those two, you can often get in under spot.
*Make sure there is adequate feedback and length of time on ebay.
*Make sure they have sold bullion during that time... You don't want to be the first to trust a seller with high end money. The higher volume of bullion usually the better. If someone has only sold a few, they might be trustworthy but they also might not understand the importance of shipping insurance. In well over 50 purchases I've never had to claim insurance, well done USPS!... Still, it's a judgement call. Some of my best deals were from low volume sellers.
My bad experiences:
*Amateur seller listed coins as immaculate, they had milkspots from gloveless handling... Silver was already up 10% so I didn't want my money back.
*A long time 100% positive seller, with much experience in bullion, sold 50 lots (huge red flag, learned my lesson) claimed that he would ship in 30 days when the mint delivered his order. Anyway silver shot up, and coins were never delivered (he must have been betting on a decline). Ebay (not paypal) came through with a refund in 2 days. I was pleased and impressed.
*Once or twice had junk silver and silver eagles sitting unattended on my porch.
-overall my gold buying experiences have been 100% positive, silver >98% positive.
-no taxes or fees.
-fairly anonymous... Although USPS employees probably know what's going on, I doubt they care. What else weighs 1 oz and has 1800 in insurance?
Importantly, you can use a credit card without a fee, unlike the dealers in my area. I've been using this one for 5% cashback:
http://www.aarpcreditcard.com/Default?CELL=66J9
Also, 2% ebay bucks, which occasionally will jump up to 4%... Combining those two, you can often get in under spot.
@JohnnyH: thank you for all the information.
It looks like I chose an interesting time to start investing. It's unfortunate that I didn't have my full gold allocation, due to preparing to buy bullion next week.
Since setting up my asset allocation last week, my PP is about break even, and my VP (Variable Portfolio) is a complete and utter disaster, down 8.6%.
It's a good thing my VP is a small percentage of my assets. I'm going to give the VP a few more months or a year to see what happens, but on this pace I'll probably just eventually go 100% PP and be happy about it.
It looks like I chose an interesting time to start investing. It's unfortunate that I didn't have my full gold allocation, due to preparing to buy bullion next week.
Since setting up my asset allocation last week, my PP is about break even, and my VP (Variable Portfolio) is a complete and utter disaster, down 8.6%.
It's a good thing my VP is a small percentage of my assets. I'm going to give the VP a few more months or a year to see what happens, but on this pace I'll probably just eventually go 100% PP and be happy about it.