i love your web site and i visit often. 99% of the time i agree with your every opinion. i am bothered however by this very broad and negative opinion of auto technicians.

my family owns a repair shop and has for years. prior to working with my father, i worked in two automotive dealerships and then managed a import repair shop in my town. i can honestly say that in my years of having been in the business, the dis-honest technicians i encountered i could count on one hand. i now work as a tech in the HVAC field (just about to open my own place – yeah!) and i can say the same for the people in this field.

if the shop(s) you frequent are trying to sell you things that your vehicle doesn’t need, then one of two situations exist. either you actually do need (or will, possibly prior to your next time in the shop) whatever the repair is or you need to find yourself a mechanic you can trust. the public is smarter than your giving them credit for here and as a result, most dishonest persons in ANY field can have their intentions exposed if common sense is used in dealing with them.

there is plenty of legitimate work to be had out there. never once, ever have i ever attempted to sell work to someone that wasn’t needed and in the customer and their vehicles best interest.

and there is plenty more like me than not.

They are not the same. Vanguard has a $3,000 minimum on certain funds, where other firms do not. For example, my wife had a T. Rowe Price account that let her invest $50 min each month with no other minimum investment. When that account was large enough, we transferred it to Vanguard so all our funds are in the same place.

Hope that helps Anne.

As for the “trusty” internet — I know what you mean. It’s trusty to us, but most people feel the opposite about it. They still see the Internet as a bunch of nobodies posting intentionally fake information online. They think blogs are online diaries instead of actual, valuable information.

Trent, I’m glad home and auto repair is simple for you. It’s not for me. I’ve tried a bit of it and rapidly (and expensively) learned it’s just not one of my skills. It’s not a moral failure if you can’t rewire an outlet; the failure is in assuming that everyone should be able to do all the same things.

Yes, people should give it a try. If it doesn’t work for them, however, call for help. I’m not going to drill my teeth, or take out my appendix, or represent myself in court. It’s not what I do. However, when you need a sermon preached (I’m a minister), a hand held, or even a corporate marketing plan developed (I’m also an MBA-toting management consultant) I’m your woman.

To each their own gifts; to each their own experts.

But today I set up a high interest online savings account which is earning me about 8% per year.

In my country (Poland, member of European Union) there are two common options for government-regulated retirement investmenst:

OFE (IRA-like, compulsory, banks invest your capital only in government bonds and local stock exchange market)

IKE (optional, quite exact copy of american Roth IRA, weaker tax protection than in USA).

Recently the government decided, that the only possible way to withdraw money from OFE is via government agency ZUS (Social Security Office). You will be paid annuity, minus any handling fees, minus any capital gains (who heard of compound interest?!?). Not a chance for your grand-children to inherit a cent. Forget about buying beach house on Bahamas, too.

More fun: ZUS already is on the verge of collapse. It needs *half a billion USD a week* of extra tax-payers money just to stay afloat and keep on paying state pensions (for which everybody in the work force is to pay (insufficiently?) big tax).

The chances for people our age to get any (better than pathetic) state pension: 0.0%. The chances of getting any capital accumulated in OFE: maybe twice as much? ;)

The second investment vehicle – IKE – will be robbed as OFE rather sooner than later.

The moral is: investing in IRAs is a bet that for the next 30 year there will be no incompetent morons and bandits in the government. I pass the chance despite capital gains tax.

… I totally did not realize it worked like that. And I thought I was doing so well. Proof that maybe I need a little more than Suze Orman and a few Motley Fool articles. I think perhaps it’s off for a few more articles and maybe a trip to the library. Many thanks :)

And, at that point, understanding my limitations, I hired a professional. And, I love to throw the switch now !

A little bit of research plus 3 hours of sewing and I have a room full of brand new curtains for the price of a single ready-made set. Plus, now I know how to make curtains. And how not to wash them.

I have a Roth IRA at Scottrade and it is very easy to do. I actually prefer it to Vanguard as you have the option to buy other funds/stocks if you like. You can of course just by vanguard though if that is your cup of tea.

One correction though on your recommendation. The minimums from Vanguard are there no matter what. You cannot buy just a single share of VFINX. Scottrade, or any brokerage, still makes you adhere to the minimums set by the fund. I’m 99% sure that is the case unless they changed something since the last time I bought a fund which was less than a year ago.

So yea, DIY. But there are legit reasons to not.

Just open a Roth IRA at Scottrade and, if you like, purchase Vanguard funds that way. This allows you to get around the minimums set by Vanguard — you can buy a single share of VFINX, for example, if you like (although I wouldn’t recommend buying less than $1000 worth at a time, to avoid having brokerage fees eat away at your returns).