indexfundfan @ indextown

Comments: Rebalanced into INT EAFE. Moved 1% allocation from US SmallCap to US Timber.

Comments: PrecMetal equity fell about 12% in January. This contributed to a fall of about 0.5% to the portfolio. International equities, EAFE & EM, both also fell more than domestic stocks. These explained the under performance of the portfolio with respect to the benchmark (-3.23% versus -2.26%).

Like many people, I find myself using less and less of the land line phone. A few years ago, I reduced my land line with AT&T from the “unlimited local” service to “measured” service. The current AT&T bill amount is $15.01 a month.

When I examine the bill closer recently, I find lots of fluff and taxes in the bill. Of the $15.01 bill, $7.28 is the cost of the “measured” service (I do not pay any additional toll charges) and $7.73 is the cost of taxes and all the other fluff, including

• federal subscriber line charge,
• rate surcharge,
• state regulatory fee,
• federal universal service fee,
• CA high cost fund surcharge-A,
• CA high cost fund-B,
• CA advanced service fund,
• California teleconnectFund surcharge,
• CA relay service and communications devices fund,
• local government fee,
• 9-1-1 emergency system,
• federal fees and tax, and
• local fees and tax.

That’s right, 51.5% of my payment went towards paying taxes and junk fees; only 48.5% is the actual payment for the service. Except for the 9-1-1 fee of $0.04, I consider the rest junk fees. Something is wrong here.

I have identified my land line replacement and I am now testing out the service. The replacement is essentially a VOIP (voice-over-IP/internet) service. Once I am happy with it, I would port my existing number over and rid myself of these junk fees!