how much international stock to have vs domestic stock is almost a religious war at this point. Pick whichever you like (I like 0% international personally), and then stick with it. The most important variable will really just be the Equities vs Bond ratio; and even that is nibbling around the edges unless you’re making 1000basis point changes (shifting from 10% to 20% in your case). And stick with that too unless YOU have a reason to change it, not because you think the market has a reason for you to change it, such as becoming more risk averse due to age, life circumstance, etc.

ETA: FWIW at 30yo, even 10% bonds might be unnecessary. But that depend on you and your risk tolerance and when you expect to need that money.

ACA.

But it could have been better. Like ALL things done, they are never perfect, they are never everything I want because I’m not the only person in the country, but if it moves the needle in the right direction I support it.

Hmmm perhaps I wasn’t totally clear. I have never claimed Kamala ran a great campaign. Or that her and the Dems did a great job engaging a very vocal part of the party concerned with what’s happening in Gaza or the US’s policy in Gaza.

I have however been attempting to consistently argue that 1) they had a LOT of other constituencies to court so it was never as simple as “Gaza policy bad = lost election; Gaza policy good = win election”, 2) the general election protest vote (or abstention) is going to find out here fairly soon if their protest was worth it once Trump takes office and 3) That so far, Trumps rhetoric SINCE THE ELECTION, and his appointment choices are not giving great indications that he intends to do anything to stop the dying of innocents.

But we might just find out that the most recent developments concerning a cease fire agreement preempts us all Finding Out just what Trump might do in Gaza.

Not an apples to apples comparison of primary elections and general election. Regardless that isn’t an argument against my point that an 11% undecided vote is hardly a “fairly significant public statement”. The point you’re addressing is if I said 11% hardly made a difference. Which I didn’t.

Sure I wish we had those votes, though I don’t think “the gaza protest vote” would have won the election for Kamala if it went the other way. Way too many other reasons she lost.

I also hope you don’t find yourself wishing you had those votes go to Kamala as well. Which is to say, I hope you don’t realize the leopard has eaten your face, because that would mean the incoming administration actually enacting policy that moves the needle in the direction of less violence in Gaza.

We’ll both find out the answer in the coming months if it was really worth it or not.

I don’t agree that 11% undecided in the primary is a “fairly significant public statement”, I mean, literally 11% is like, you know, small. Nor does a lack of policy change during the election cycle (which has a lot more factors than just Gaza to consider) immediately mean Kamala wouldn’t be open to changing tactics post election. But we’ll never know because, like I said, Trump won and now we get to find out if voting for him was net good or net bad for the Gaza cause.

But I can appreciate the emotional investment you have in “both sides-ing” this and ignoring the material differences between a narcissist that is already talking about lifting arms restrictions to Israel and Kamala.

Weather you agree with me or not is immaterial. On the issue of both parties being the same, you’re wrong. See how easy that is to say and it means nothing to an actual debate?

-Cheers

I didn’t ask which has the different policy now (ignoring my opinion about the truth of your assertion) but which is most likely to be responsive to public opinion; and I’d add, which one actually cares about the plight of others and which is an unofficially diagnosed narcissist.

But I’m fairly certain we won’t agree and sadly we’ll never know what Kamala coulda/woulda done. But with trump we’re about to Find Out. I hope we’re both wrong about him.

Exactly.

And the real irony is that of the two candidates, which one is most likely to respond to post-election pressure to adjust the policies?

Sure sure sure, Trump can be influenced by money and flattery, but the people that are going to pay and flatter him are not exactly the ones arguing to save the lives of innocent civilians.

So the irony remains, of the two candidates to choose from, the people complaining about what is happening in Gaza picked the one least likely to do anything helpful once elected (“do” as opposed to what they said to get elected).

“curing at birth” != “Eugenics”

Still, the spirit of accommodation is spot on.

It is possible for two things to be true at the same time. Sure Kamala might have lost for the reasons you suggest. And it can also be true that another group is about to Find Out what Trump is going to do. Just the last few days alone are giving a lot of evidence that the Palestinian people are not going to be better off with Trump in office.

As for it not being strategic, well, that depends if you think the strategy was ONLY to win the election as opposed to trying to do what he thought best in a horrific and complex situation; and ONLY if you think there was an alternative course of action that would have actually won the election.

I’m not sure why folks are only hearing, or responding to, the coulda/woulda/shoulda side of the conversation. A side for which I haven’t really disagreed with in spirit, namely yes Biden/Harris surely knew there were electoral consequences to their actions, among other much sadder consequences, but you continue to ignore the actual topic of conversation … What the future holds.

Okay I can take a guess why [shrug] but such is life. Feel free to have one more reply, I’m done beating a dead leopard.

If we’re lucky he’ll last less time than a Scaramucci and we’ll have a new unit of measurement.

Not going to debate what Biden (since as VP Harris has no actual power to do anything) has done or not done nor your opinions of what he’s done or not done. I do take issue that you think he doesn’t care, at a human level I just don’t think that’s true. What he’s done to express that humanity given geopolitical realities is the real issue.

But anyone who actually thinks Trump cares at all about innocent life, or anyone’s life but his own, or cares about the legacy he leaves behind may find themselves rethinking that opinion in the coming year.

Now that the election is over, I truly do hope something good gets done. We of course won’t know what Harris could have accomplished, but we’ll certainly know if Trump tries and if he succeeds. Keeping fingers crossed.

ETA: I’ll just drop this here https://www.reuters.com/world/us/muslims-who-voted-trump-upset-by-his-pro-israel-cabinet-picks-2024-11-15/

ahh gotcha. 100% agree! aka FO in full effect haha

I say this with no sense of irony or desire for the fall to happen; but he hasn’t even taken office yet, time will tell [sigh].

I still struggle with the internal conflict of 1) wanting this to all just work out and we come out the other side 4 years from now with our democracy intact, albeit with a lot of changes I disagree with or 2) hoping for stage 2 of FAaFO to unleash the leopards while I laugh and the idiots who voted against their own best interests cry that their faces are being eaten. The human in me really hopes for the former, but the wanna-be-standup-comedian in me has a darker heart.

Time for the 2nd stage of FAaFO for all those that fucked around.

No both sides were not equally bad choices for trying to stop the slaughter of non-combatants.

I feel seen

no no no, you gotta inject it, directly to the forehead!

Action complete. Two more Virginian’s have voted early.

Nothing more satisfying than pulling up to the front door, walked past a LOOOONG line of people waiting to vote “in-person early” to drop my mail-in ballot into a secured drop box at the polling location, then driving off to get some grocery shopping done before the Wegman’s gets too crowded :)

We will. tomorrow is the first day to drop off our mail-in-ballot in a box close to us (the “satellite locations” in VA) but we’re busy. We’ll get it done in the next few days.

Sadly not really. 1995 man, no digital cameras. I think I have one somewhere of me and my buddy in the jet, but it just looks like two dudes sitting ass to nuts on the floor of a plane with a bunch of other people hahah and one of me half dropping trow to show off my hip tattoo in tent city.