[USMCBunny]

Folks,

Thanks so much for the great (and fast) response.

The Last para in the letter states…

“This stock option grant is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the XXX inc Amended and Restated 2006 Long Term Incentive Stock Option Plan. You should recieve your grant documents for your acceptance via the E*trade system w/in 60 days.”

So – I suppose the vesting sched, and timelines will be in there, I will fire more questions as they come.

As for the professional advice…. I agree in principle. We hired some financial planners about 1.5 years ago. They accepted a check for 1,000.00 and produced a massive folder which basically assumed I had never heard of compound interest, and then tried to sell me overpriced life insurance.

I have the basics down. Long/Medium/Short term investment plans have been successful thus far. I am considering sitting down with Rich and his associates, or some other planning outfit that I feel I can trust. My issue, is that I want more than a vanilla graph of historic investment trends … USAA told me 6 months ago to get out of gold, that it was too volitile, and that it was due for a fall. I would have lost a nice chunk had I taken that advice.

I post very rarely, but read this blog (and a couple others) pretty religiously. Is a financial planner going to do more for me?

Thanks again for the info (this particular bit, and the last couple years)

[USMCBunny]

Folks,

Thanks so much for the great (and fast) response.

The Last para in the letter states…

“This stock option grant is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the XXX inc Amended and Restated 2006 Long Term Incentive Stock Option Plan. You should recieve your grant documents for your acceptance via the E*trade system w/in 60 days.”

So – I suppose the vesting sched, and timelines will be in there, I will fire more questions as they come.

As for the professional advice…. I agree in principle. We hired some financial planners about 1.5 years ago. They accepted a check for 1,000.00 and produced a massive folder which basically assumed I had never heard of compound interest, and then tried to sell me overpriced life insurance.

I have the basics down. Long/Medium/Short term investment plans have been successful thus far. I am considering sitting down with Rich and his associates, or some other planning outfit that I feel I can trust. My issue, is that I want more than a vanilla graph of historic investment trends … USAA told me 6 months ago to get out of gold, that it was too volitile, and that it was due for a fall. I would have lost a nice chunk had I taken that advice.

I post very rarely, but read this blog (and a couple others) pretty religiously. Is a financial planner going to do more for me?

Thanks again for the info (this particular bit, and the last couple years)

[USMCBunny]

Folks,

Thanks so much for the great (and fast) response.

The Last para in the letter states…

“This stock option grant is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the XXX inc Amended and Restated 2006 Long Term Incentive Stock Option Plan. You should recieve your grant documents for your acceptance via the E*trade system w/in 60 days.”

So – I suppose the vesting sched, and timelines will be in there, I will fire more questions as they come.

As for the professional advice…. I agree in principle. We hired some financial planners about 1.5 years ago. They accepted a check for 1,000.00 and produced a massive folder which basically assumed I had never heard of compound interest, and then tried to sell me overpriced life insurance.

I have the basics down. Long/Medium/Short term investment plans have been successful thus far. I am considering sitting down with Rich and his associates, or some other planning outfit that I feel I can trust. My issue, is that I want more than a vanilla graph of historic investment trends … USAA told me 6 months ago to get out of gold, that it was too volitile, and that it was due for a fall. I would have lost a nice chunk had I taken that advice.

I post very rarely, but read this blog (and a couple others) pretty religiously. Is a financial planner going to do more for me?

Thanks again for the info (this particular bit, and the last couple years)

[USMCBunny]

Folks,

Thanks so much for the great (and fast) response.

The Last para in the letter states…

“This stock option grant is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the XXX inc Amended and Restated 2006 Long Term Incentive Stock Option Plan. You should recieve your grant documents for your acceptance via the E*trade system w/in 60 days.”

So – I suppose the vesting sched, and timelines will be in there, I will fire more questions as they come.

As for the professional advice…. I agree in principle. We hired some financial planners about 1.5 years ago. They accepted a check for 1,000.00 and produced a massive folder which basically assumed I had never heard of compound interest, and then tried to sell me overpriced life insurance.

I have the basics down. Long/Medium/Short term investment plans have been successful thus far. I am considering sitting down with Rich and his associates, or some other planning outfit that I feel I can trust. My issue, is that I want more than a vanilla graph of historic investment trends … USAA told me 6 months ago to get out of gold, that it was too volitile, and that it was due for a fall. I would have lost a nice chunk had I taken that advice.

I post very rarely, but read this blog (and a couple others) pretty religiously. Is a financial planner going to do more for me?

Thanks again for the info (this particular bit, and the last couple years)

[USMCBunny]

Thanks Raybyrnes … so this is sort of a no lose deal, if the price of the stock goes up, do we buy the stock at the reduced price and then sell them at the higher price? Seems to easy, though, that presupposes the stock will go up. Guess I should check and see.

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

Thanks Raybyrnes … so this is sort of a no lose deal, if the price of the stock goes up, do we buy the stock at the reduced price and then sell them at the higher price? Seems to easy, though, that presupposes the stock will go up. Guess I should check and see.

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

Thanks Raybyrnes … so this is sort of a no lose deal, if the price of the stock goes up, do we buy the stock at the reduced price and then sell them at the higher price? Seems to easy, though, that presupposes the stock will go up. Guess I should check and see.

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

Thanks Raybyrnes … so this is sort of a no lose deal, if the price of the stock goes up, do we buy the stock at the reduced price and then sell them at the higher price? Seems to easy, though, that presupposes the stock will go up. Guess I should check and see.

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

Sorry – the METLIFE rider is $5.00 per 1,000.00 unit

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

Lendingbubbleco…

Some background – I am military here at Miramar, about 3 weeks from my third trip to the sandbox. Just found out my wife and I finally hit the jackpot and she is pregnant.

I am mid 30’s, wife is same, our combined income is around 200K annual. I have to plan for the contingency that she may decide not to work so I consider my future income to be less than 1/2 of what it is now. About 200K in savings and mid-term investments (gold funds / tax free bond funds). Another combined 100K in Roth IRA’s for both of us. Renting a house, with no intent to buy for a couple years. My current insurance is SGLI (250K coverage) and a stupid 50K WRLOC universal life investment program that is an absolute dog. (If I had just buried the 100 bucks a month in the backyard over the last 8 years it would be worth twice as much). I will be able to retire in 5 years (regular military pension) follow on career TBD. Wife is vested for a small pension (small change right now).

So it’s obvious I need more insurance to protect my new family. My questions.

1) Should I be looking at Term / whole / universal? I admit the failed WRLOC investment has turned me off a bit to Insurance as an investment vehicle. Am I missing something – our should I be buying Term and investing for retirement elsewhere?
2) I fly jets, in combat – apparently my “risk level” is sort of high. Though I do most of my stuff thru USAA, our IRA’s are thru METLIFE, and I am considering life insurance thru them. They want to attach a $5.00 per 1,000,000 annual fee to whatever program I purchase. Thats 5K a year just to get in the door. Is this normal? Can I do better?
I know asking for investment “advice” is sort of frowned upon here – but I would like to hear your thoughts on this scenario. Anybody else would like to pitch in – I have thick skin.

Thanks

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

PD,

I am a hornet guy, and probably know your husband. Not a lot of hornet drivers called Bunny that I know of around here.

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

MH,

I’ve sort of homesteaded here in SD for 8 years bouncing between flying at NKX and ground tours at CAMPEN (wife chooses to handle the deployments rather than picking up and leaving her career)

Currently rent a townhome in Solana Beach, no kids yet, and it is a great mid point for the two bases. When we have kids we intend to rent/buy in the Black Mountain, Rancho P area.
(Rent til I see a true bottom, which as a Marine and potential mover means I can rent it at near PITI – then buy)

The enhancements to the 56 have eased traffic north of Miramar and are make the areas north and south of the 56 more accesable. The old merge traffic at the 805/5 has eased greatly, though the 5 north still turns into a parking lot at rush hour further north at the race track. The 15 is still bad north of Miramar – both direction during rush hour.

From Solana beach – easy traffic going north on the 5 in the morning all the way to CAMPEN (20 mins to camp del mar), generally some slowing coming south in the PM (about 40 mins). Going south to Miramar, again easy traffic in the morning, (10 mins to Miramar rd) but traffic past the merge going north in the PM causes the return trip to take about 40 mins.

The guys who live up the 15 generally come in before 0600 and PT on base to aviod traffic, and endure it going home.

There’s the traffic report. On housing, there are several guys in my unit that are losing sleep trying to sell properties, some of them underwater. You appear to have a pretty good nut to put down on a place (I am in the same boat). I personally will not buy until the rent vs own numbers get down to the 1 to 1 range.

Good luck, welcome aboard

Flywestcoast

[USMCBunny]

PC is right on, most of the units had had almost zero maintenance / upgrade since they were built. Most of them are (or were) race rentals. When the boom hit and they started to get some $$$ put into them, the problems came to light. Some neighbors did not even know they had mold probs until they tore down a wall to upgrade some windows. This happened in several units, then the inspections started, then the red rocket went up and the HOA started talking “assesment”.
It’s amazing to me that with HOA dues at $500.00 a month (for years) so little maintenance was done, and that no money is availible now.
Fun place to live, great unit to rent – wouldn’t own it if my landlord gave it to me for free.

[USMCBunny]

Monster,
That’s us (Saratoga West) – current HOA assesment against various owners is anywhere from 15K – 55K for mold / water damage reconstitution.
I have heard there are lawsuits by some owners … not sure what good that is going to do – the HOA ain’t got the $$$ to do the fixes either way.

[USMCBunny]

Saratoga West (the white 1970’s era condo’s looking over the race track from the north) units are also feeling the settle in Solana Beach. Last summer the top ones with the best view were going for 1 mil-ish, the middle ones (my row) for up to 800K, and the bottom ones for 600K. anywhere from 8-12 units currently on and off the market, I think one sold.
A neighbor tried to put his mid level 2/2 on the market for 890K in Jan, still has not sold, though the list price has adjusted up and down monthly. (Low of 800K – then back to 850-ish) This guy has gone thru about 6 realitors over this time frame.
A couple of weeks ago, a top level 2/2 went on the market for 750K – apparently an out of state owner that just wants to get rid of it. I suspect this will crush comps in the complex.

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