Barbaraok

Kirk,

One of the selling points for Escapees has been that they are working to make sure RVers in Texas are treated fairly. I only found out about this through a link to the HDT section a couple of weeks ago - - I don't monitor legislative action in Texas during the legislative session. That is what Escapees headquarters should have been doing if they want to keep customers. I reported it to the office as soon as I found the link to the legislation, and they hadn't heard about it. Again, one of their selling points was that they were on top of things relative to RVers - clearly that is no longer true!

Barb

Why would you say something like that?

The law was signed by the governor in June of 2013. Introduced some 2-3 months earlier. The email I received from Escapees headquarters on January 27th thanked me for bringing it to their attention. Obviously no one was monitoring last legislative session.

Barb

My question is how did Escapees miss this so completely? Don't they monitor legislative action anymore - members have to do it for them?

Barb

I wonder what percent of registered Polk County voters are Escapees members? I bet it's significant and so gets a lot of attention from the elected officials.

Enough so that there are two precincts for Escapees.

Barb

I would bet that a lot of people will be moving to SD or some other state and Escapees will lose a lot of business.

Barb

We hit the required minimum distributions next year. Question will be whether to do lump sum or spread it out during the year. Has anyone started doing that and which way do you do it?

Barb

Derek,

I wasn't referring to you.

Barb

Apparently someone wants to make this into a political discussion.

Out of here.

Barb

Derek,

Great posts above.

Barb

That's one of the funds we're looking at - we've been with Vanguard since the mid 80s.

Barb

In answer to the original question - yes, we are still in. In fact we never completely got out. Has been an interesting few years. Now the questions is when to shift and what to shift into. We're starting to approach the age when we will have to do minimum distributions.

Barb

I was just saying you missed some great gains during the past 4 years by having so little in stocks. If you are happy with your gains, great.

Barb

So you missed a lot of the great momentum forward by not being in more during 2009? And by having so little in stock funds means that you've missed some good gains the past 4 years.

Barb

Probably will see a lot of people taking capital gains (like Apple stock) in the next week - in anticipation of a rise in the CG rates next year. Also, a lot of companies (like Wal-Mart) are paying dividends this month, again in anticipation of dividend rates going up next year. Plus mix in the fear of the fiscal curb and it should be an interesting week to watch.

Barb

Derek,

I'm now starting to think about moving some funds into less volatile funds because there will be a correction, we just don't know when. Trying to hit the exact time isn't something I'm good at.

Barb

1331951158[/url]' post='530037']

I did not mean to imply that there were not problems. Just that they were man enough to handle it, even if it took years. And it often did. Some even went round the bend. But society did not rationalize it back then. You were supposed to gut it up and move on. Almost all did. As did your Father and mine.

But how much better would it have been for them to get some help so they didn't have to go it alone!

Bob,

Yes, in each of the conflicts you mentioned, men came back with different types of problems that wedidn't understand as we do today. My dad (WWII) had horrible nightmares, he was back on the ship and could see periscopes in front of them. We knew not to touch dad when he was sleeping, he came awake 'swinging'. The nightmares lowly lessened, but it wasn't until I was in college that he really began talking about what he had seen.

My BIL was wounded in VietNam and had horrible nightmares for years.

How dare you complain that they are 'whining'. Most go on with their lives and have had to work it out without help. I wish my dad could have had some help so that he wouldn't have had to go through the nightmares, etc.

Barb

Jack,

We also have stayed in - - in fact we never got out. Added more as the opportunity presented itself.

Barb

Selling should have been done when the Dow hit about 12500.

Now is the time to look for bargains and judge when to put a little back in, or just sit on the sidelines.

Barb

It is August, a lot of traders have sold off so they can go on vacation, # of issues traded are often smaller in August, which magnifies any move. Good time to stay the course.

Barb

Overnight note on Twitter that CalPers may be about ready to get back in the equities market.

Barb

<br />I'm always in.  I take a long term view and my investment plan keeps me 70% in stocks and 30% in cash.  Or as close to that as I can keep it.  As in the decline of 08 that cash is used to add to long positions.  I recovered and prospered after the 08 downturn and expect to do the same here.  Always try to learn from the past.<br />

Sell on the highs, by on the lows. Moved some when we hit 12,500, will move again when it feels like we've reached another bottom. long term approach is best.

Barb