Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Rotel and NAD

My employer puts in 5% each pay period regardless of my own contributions. I love my benefits. I'm so spoiled in that regard that I'm sure whatever job I end up having next will have to be a step downward in that regard.

About the numbers, I think my FiL meant that my long-term personal rate of return on an S&P-following fund would be 75% of 25% -- which works out to 18.75%. I'm not sure why it works out that way. He just said that if I was doing significantly worse than that I should re-evaluate which funds I had.


I deeply apoplogize for hijacking this thread, everyone -- but I sure love the greatly varied amounts of info we can get around here.

Ken, the American Funds are a good group, but unfortunately they all carry high sales loads(except in rare instances where a very large employer has made special arrangements). What sort of plan are you in, and are you sure that's the only group available(administrators lie on occasion)? If it is, the Growth Fund of America has performed well(but with the huge burden of a load of up to 5.75%)and that might be your best option. You need no income or bond investments, you should be 100% in stocks.

Yeah, it's that one. So no bonds or income, huh? Makes me kind of nervous, that.

Peter, since your own contributions don't affect the employer's contribution, you should in part consider Roths for yourself and your wife instead(you'd have until 4/15/04 to make a contribution for 2003).

Possibly I was a bit hasty in praising your father-in-law. If he implied that you could expect anything like a 18.75% average annual return in the long run, that just isn't realistic. The very long-term average in the market has been about 10% a year.

Wow, did you boys ever take that thread for a hijack and then some.
I'm going back to fhw in his opinions.
I love Arcam stuff.
I love Anthem stuff.
I've heard the Denon 3802 (although i'm positive it is adding some type of funky echo DSP over the top which i have to look into).
The Outlaw stuff is also proving to be a real true piece of hardware for price.
But to throw out an often overlooked brand, Onkyo is also tried and true. Certainly no problems here to date.
For the cash you can get newer features from some brands such as Yamaha though. This is really the latest craze and consideration.

I would have to agree with JohnK here even from a Cdn perspective.
10% annual return is pretty reasonable but over the past 2 years, 5-8% is about the average.
Perhaps us Cdns don't need as much $$ to get by. Certainly our real estate is a ton cheaper. I really pity my relatives in Virginia.

In reply to:

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Certainly our real estate is a ton cheaper. I really pity my relatives in Virginia.

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Was that a joke? Please tell me you were joking.

A joke?
Uh, no.
My brother just paid nearly 225k USD for a condo, looking at 300k+ USD for 2 bdrm houses in Virginia (and not much different in Washington nor Florida nor California where we have other relatives).
We just paid 113K Cdn for a 2 story, 3 bdrm, 11yr old house with extra long lot, fenced yard, attached garage in a very new neighborhood.
I would say our real estate is a rather better scene unless you really live in the boondocks somewhere. I don't think California applies as 'boondock' locations though.

Sorry spiif.
Canada is a cheap place to live comparitively (minor exceptions for 3 major cities).

I figured Canada was cheap, but my mother just moved to VA, and it was pretty darn cheap there too!

I've been looking at buying a place here in LA, and have come to the conclusion, that it's simply not going to happen. The STARTING point for a CONDO is about $400,000. Small 2 bedroom houses begin at about $525K, but most are at least $600-700.

I love this place, but I guess I'll be flushing rent down the toilet as long as I live here.

Hey chesseroo,

I take it you're probably in Alberta. Possibly Calgary!! My friend bought there recently as well. Pretty cheap. Unfortunately we don't see those kind of prices here in T.O.