benchmark

That might be true, but IBM isn't growing, revenue has been mostly flat, a large part of growth in earning per share has come from share buy back. I'm disappointed that he bought that much, maybe he run out of ideas! He finally bought after more than 80 years of observation (BG and WEB combined). I guess IBM's long term competitive advantage has now been satisfactorily established after a century of successful operation, as the other long term holdings mostly have a 100 year track record with excellent returns. Interestingly, my brother in law used to work for IBM. He says that IBM's new CEO is the very best manager he has ever seen.

It's a good price, i bought my first batch at 1 -- so far it's bleeding for me :(

Bac's Jan 2013 10 call has continued its downward trend. At 58c, it seems to be a good option play -- of course, you could get wiped out if things didn't improve at all for the next 14 month, though I think it's very unlikely.

So got some answers to my own question: a) Apparently, the different quote from lifequotes/GEICO is for different class (i.e., insurability), based on the agent that i talked to. b) The policies covers AD, he said that they actually double the amount in mos cases; c) Terminal illness is covered. What typical length of a term do people generally do?

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. One additional question: what is the right length for a term? my kids will be out of college in about 13 years. Thus I'm thinking about either doing a 15 year, though i have a new 30-yr mortgage @4.25%, should I have a longer term life, since I'm not in a hurry to pay down the mortgage? thanks

Thanks Kiltacular and Parsad, very informative. A couple of additional questions: a) does term insurance general insure terminal illness? b) what about accidental death and injuries? Kiltacular, I'm using Geico to get quote. It's confusing (to me) that the premium on a policies varies quite a bit, even for the same company for 2million insurance! For example, SAVINGS BANK LIFE INS. CO. OF MASSACHUSETTS A+ $175.74 SAVINGS BANK LIFE INS. CO. OF MASSACHUSETTS A+ $212.28 SAVINGS BANK LIFE INS. CO. OF MASSACHUSETTS A+ $283.62 I assume that devil is in the details, but what are the details?

Thanks for the replies. A few follow up questions: a) I've used some online quote (lifequotes.com). The amount that each insurance companies charges differs quite a bit. And they also listed the ratings for insurance companies (S&P Rating, Fitch rating). Do these rating matter? i.e., A+ rating vs B rating. Should one always go for higher rated companies? b) Is it better to have the life insurance to cover both me and my wife? or one for each? c) any recommended companies (online or offline) that you have a good experience with? thanks.

I'm in the process of getting a term life insurance -- have 9 yrs to go before the youngest graduate from high school (13yr if you count college). I'm looking for a 15 year term. What are the gotcha's that I need to aware of? and any good insurance companies that I should look for? I'm in the US and in early 40s.

I bought some Jan 13 20 call last week, so far it's down :(

it's not as beaten up as Bac's, but looks attractive, and you can leverage up much more

Here is an interesting link showing that iCloud actually uses MSFT's cloud service :) http://www.redmondpie.com/guess-what-icloud-uses-windows-azure-services-for-hosting-data/

Yes, we are looking at a few options: 1) 30yr fixed of 1M mortgage @5.125% 2) 30Yr fixed of 729k @4.5% and remaining LOC at variable rate (current at prime rate + 1% = 4.25%) 3) 5 yr fixed of 729k @3.25% and remaining LOC variable at 4.25% 4) 5 yr fixed of 1M @ 3.875% we also have 7 or 10 yr variation of 3) and 4). I'm leaning towards 2), though 3) looks very appealing, thus my question to the board. thanks

I'm also trying to get a handle on options. Are you saying that buy in the money option in this case is better that Jan 2013 25 option for $2.37, which has the largest number of open positions

For me, I think it's more of a question of the money we save before the ARM reset vs the amount that we have to pay down to get a reasonable rate. We can handle the reset, but don't want to have to put too much money in real estate/housing, as I think the price is going to be flat to down. Let's say we save $600 a month for 5 years, that's 36k. Now if we have to pay down 300k to get a decent rate in 5 years (we can handle it), then it might worth it. As I can grow 300k faster that the mortgage rate (5.125%). However, if the rate won't change much for a year, then I can still still refinance to a 30-yr fixed rate in a year and save some money, but it's a bit risky

With the QE2 ending soon, will mortgage rate going up soon? I'm buying a house with 1.1M mortgage. I'm debating if I should lock the 30yr fixed rate (5.125%) or go with 5/7 year ARM at (3.5%). The difference in payment is big, but given that eventual rise of the rate (and inflation), I'm wondering if the lower payment today worth the risk of the rate rising quickly soon. A friend strongly suggested to go with 5/1 ARM, saying that the rate won't go up anytime soon, and I can refinance in a year to a fixed rate. What's the board's view? thanks.