Bogleheads.org

onthecusp

So if you are open to preowned that opens up a world of great value and a small amount of additional risk. We bought my wife's diamond, about 40 years ago, from a small independent jeweler. Might as well call him a pawn broker but they were technically not legal at that time and place. She loves it ...

onthecusp

What do you mean? So some people are not allowed to trade while others can trade freely. Is that what you understand from capitalism and free markets? Maybe I'm confused. When you said: What they have done was beyond disgusting. Who did you mean by "they," and what did you mean by "w...

onthecusp

Questions: 1. To ..., can we each open a solo 401k and still file jointly and avoid creating any other issues ? By attribution you are also each deemed to own 100% of the other's business. As such these two businesses constitute a controlled group and the two of you should only adopt a single one-p...

onthecusp

buttWould any BHs be willing to offer career advice? Speaking from personal experience or simply knowledge of career path? His children just need to become members of the Shareholder Class and reap the rewards of Capitalism. It works. I've made more money this year sitting on my butt doing nothing ...

onthecusp

I prefer Bob's Red Mill regular steel cut oats (not quick cook) to McCann's. How long does the Bob's Red Mill regular steel cut oats take to cook? Same question for McCann's, if you happen to know. Thanks in advance! That depends upon whether you like it al dente or mushy. Here's Bob's official rec...

onthecusp

Another recommendation for opensocialsecurity.com. The answer will probably be close to your plan unless there is something unusual in your work histories. Then you may want to decide if postponing the first social security in favor of bigger Roth Conversions makes sense. You have enough in retireme...

onthecusp

When my father passed he left my sisters and me the house on a lake that was originally a cottage that we all grew up visiting regularly. We would have loved to keep it in the family. We sold it for what we could get because every other option was an imposition on someone. Everyone gets what they de...

onthecusp

I'll second the COBRA suggestion to at least consider it. You can take it upon retirement and keep it (for typically 18 months, they will give you paper work with details) or drop it during ACA open enrolment assuming that stays an option. I also consulted with a Health insurance broker (you should ...

onthecusp

This is all great information. All of your input is so helpful. I feel better about being able to stop working. I don’t have a Roth IRA. Have 401k’s ,457 and traditional IRA as well as taxable account. I would withdraw from taxable account first. Do I just sell stock and bond fund shares to do this...

onthecusp

Spirit Rider, Thanks for all the excellent detail. More info than I hoped for! Less deferral than I hoped for! :D I want to study it a bit and I'll probably impose on you a bit more in a few days. Until then a procedural question. I'll read the IRS regs on this before pestering you anymore. How woul...

onthecusp

Time for some new decisions regarding solo 401k funding. I would appreciate a little more advice or commentary. In my previous thread (thanks retiredjg & HomeStretch) :D https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=319027&p=5348637#p5348637 I received great guidance about Solo 40...

onthecusp

After watching these threads for a couple of years I've made a decision. April 3, 2020 is the plan. Tired of the megacorp culture all the time. I had hoped to make the jump this year, after one more year I'm certain we can make it work now. A little more in savings, a little more understanding of w...

onthecusp

In the single malts I'm a fan of Glenmorangie original 10 and also had quite a bit of the Famous Grouse blended which a friend kept for our weekly board games. It is excellent value especially for the second on. Recently had a bottle of Dewars and found it to be too heavy for my taste. It is kind of...

onthecusp

It ticks me off too, but it is how it works. I have a medication that I can get 90 days for $9 using a manufacturer coupon that stays on file with the grocery pharmacy. Invariably if I forget to tell them to change it from my insurance to the coupon they want over $1,000! When I tell them they look ...

onthecusp

Even a bad active manager can knock it out of the park over a short period like a year or two. This is a choice for the long haul.

onthecusp

Superficially, I would add it to the 80/20 index fund allocation. You are very heavily skewed towards local real estate. Not necessarily a bad thing, just the way it is in farming. You should start to think about what portion of that represents your "home" and what portion is an "inve...

onthecusp

As I add it up the OP has about $1.3 million saved and owns 2 homes. Assuming no downsizing or selling the vacation home, this is the amount they'd have to draw down for expenses if they start drawing down relatively soon. At 4% that would be about $50K/yr pre-tax, If you go by the "3% is the ...

onthecusp

So you plan to continue working and want a handle on when you can slow down on saving. Spending a lot more now might make it hard to adjust to less in retirement. You could do that, 2MM plus pension and health care means you won't be poor. If maintaining a constant spending ability through retiremen...

onthecusp

Thinking only in terms of a mortgage for personal housing to leave off the variables involved in rental properties. If, say, I could get a (no cost) mortgage for 2.75% then inflation has to average well over that to make it worth my while to make payments and think about it every month. I won't be s...

onthecusp

123 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 1:53 pm Even if you end up unhappy with your MLPs you can find comfort in the fact that the financial adviser that sold them to you was happy you bought them.

No FA involved here. I make my own mistakes!

And although I am not unhappy with them they do complicate my life.

onthecusp

Just as another example of the complications you get into with MLPs. USAC is seen as a pretty good business for now. ET owns a good size chunk of USAC so you already own some through your ownership of ET. I don't know what has happened since, but in 2018 when ET contributed some compression assets a...

onthecusp

Just another vote here not to invest in them, no matter the industry. I exited because of all of my tax complications, they even screwed up my K-1 one year and it was an absolute mess to get straightened out. Also, I got dinged with UBTI in a Roth account when I sold. Look into that wrinkle, if it ...

onthecusp

The tax complications are real. The tax advantages for which one might put up with them is the opportunity for tax deferral in a taxable account. For the most part, distributions from MLP are not taxed when they are paid. The tax is paid (mostly) as a change in basis when the units are sold. This mi...

onthecusp

barnaclebob wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:25 pm
onthecusp wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:27 pm I would pass on a house on a street with speed bumps, all else being equal.
But thing are almost never that equal when looking at a house

So true, but "value" is the result of the equation

Good - Bad = Value.

I put speed bumps in the Bad category.

onthecusp

I would pass on a house on a street with speed bumps, all else being equal.

onthecusp

Going from saving a bunch to hardly at all can be stressful in and of itself. Sort of like actual retirement without the withdrawals. In five years you may be really questioning yourself even if the math continues to work out. Or not. I would say your plan is probably OK if inflation or big economic...

onthecusp

Retail diamonds are not a good investment (in the money sense, my wife may disagree). If you ever try and sell the question is if you might get 1/4 or 1/2 of the original "value". Personally I'd rather lose half or more on a cheaper diamond. Realize you can still go natural but with lower ...

onthecusp

You could retire, with some tradeoffs/cutbacks. I suggest continuing in "one more year" mode which can relieve much of the stress. While still fully employed look for and find part time lawyering for a similar rate. $180 an hour is cheap for a lawyer with corporate experience, 1500 hours g...

onthecusp

I was investing, I mean randomly speculating, :( back then. I put, I think about $12,000 into OnSale.com which became part of egghead.com later on. Ticker ONSL. A few weeks later a short squeeze sent it into the stratosphere and I was a dotcom millionaire, literally I saw that position worth more th...

onthecusp

Not in CA. I use Chase bank "billpay" which sends a check if they don't have an electronic system linked directly to Chase. I set it to automatically send the same amount every month timed to get there a couple of days early. Super convenient, more so than logging into yet another mortgage...

onthecusp

You will get more responses if you post in the following format. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Asking_portfolio_questions +1 A fairly generic answer in the meantime is: contribute to 401k and other tax-advantaged accounts (IRAs, other plans you may have at work). Invest the contributions into a &...

onthecusp

Welcome back and thanks for helping it along in the early days. :D I'm in the camp that since your rate goes down after only 8 years that 4 (or even 5% in a big spending year) is quite conservative plan. Maybe look into the VPW spending plan in the WIKI if you can accept a little variability. And yo...

onthecusp

If your career is likely to include pretty regular pay increases then I would stretch for the 15 year like we have the last 4 houses we bought. This is the case for my job. If we try 15 and it’s just keeping us too thin as years go by, is it a difficult or wasteful process to ReFi to a 30 year? As ...

onthecusp

Wife and I saw a hawk in the back yard on our swim yesterday too! It hopped around the tree branches for awhile but could not see it clearly enough to determine what kind.

onthecusp

I'd do 30 if you're anywhere near being tight on 15. Absolutely. +2 Often, a 15 year makes no sense. A recent example from another thread: 3% 30 year vs a 2.65% 15 year. 15 year costs $674/mo per $100k. 30 year costs $422/mo per $100k. If you pay $674/mo per $100k on the 30 year loan, you'll have p...

onthecusp

If your career is likely to include pretty regular pay increases then I would stretch for the 15 year like we have the last 4 houses we bought. It has always given us more to put down on the next. Also it encourages you not to buy too much house. Never quite got any paid off before we moved. We are ...

onthecusp

This Bogelhead bought 4 used Audi's and have been happy with all of them. First was from a private seller, second was off lease (essentially CPO with the warranty they offered at the time), third was lemon law title from a local luxury used car dealer, and the last was from Texas Direct Auto, an exp...

onthecusp

Just googled it and it does not protect against gas leaks in the home. It is useful against major damage like excavation that hits your gas line or other pipe failure. Is this an issue anywhere?

onthecusp

Got it. Time for me to do more personal investigation. Thanks for narrowing the field for me.

onthecusp

... My plan is to make the employment move within a month or so and and talk to Fidelity where all my other accounts are, about a solo 401k. ... Keep in mind that Fidelity’s Solo 401k does not allow Roth employee deferrals or a mega Backdoor Roth. Aside from that, I use and like their Solo 401k. Th...

onthecusp

What I meant about the solo Roth 401k is that I have not explored it at all. My understanding is that currently, as a wage employee, our joint income is well over the limit to be able to contribute to a Roth. However, based on the above, it appears that using after tax money to fund a solo Roth wou...

onthecusp

Interesting points. I think I could self administer if I stay away from the Mega Backdoor Roth option, but still the current IRA might be enough for now. Good background on some of the other plans, I'll keep that in mind if I do go the solo 401k route. I don't recall hearing of difficulty from peop...

onthecusp

Do I have adequate tax-deferred: My RMDs will be more than I need so I guess the answer is yes. After 70 it should be approaching 30,000 and we will be needing around 15,000. I plan to do some Roth Conversions in the 5 years before 72. Maybe also some early withdrawals without rolling it into a Rot...

onthecusp

A self-employed 401k plan could be worthwhile for you if: 1) you will be self-employed and earning $140k per year, 2) willing to self-administer (N/A if you pay for a MBR TPA plan such as Employee Fiduciary) 3) are maxing out your (and spouse’s?) IRA space 4) have $ to contribute and/or if you want...

onthecusp

• If I make this move soon, can I establish and save anything in a solo 401k this year? If not, since I already maxed out my current plan, should I establish the solo 401k immediately or just wait till next year? You have maxed your employee elective deferral amount (The 19.5k) for this year. You c...

onthecusp

I’m probably moving from full time work to part time before full retirement, leaving the corporate life. :D It will be a more flexible part time consulting position where I will be a 1099 worker / sole proprietor for about 3 years making about 140,000/yr. I intend to save a more for retirement but I...

onthecusp

Regarding extended outages and a backup generator. Especially combined with a significant solar setup you may not need much of a generator. Without solar, we survived a 2 week outage after hurricane Ike, south of Houston, borrowing a few hours a day on a neighbor's portable generator to keep our fre...

onthecusp

1moreyr wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:46 pm This is definitely a 30th year if you will and hopefully the beginning of a semi retirement. If it falls apart and becomes pure retirement, I think i would be ok with that.

Great plan!

onthecusp

Great financial advice above. More on the quality of life side, first be sure you are fine with both being your own boss, and having a boss. I'm planning to make the jump to a similar situation to provide a "part time" retirement. Since my total income will probably go down I'm seeing that...

onthecusp

Nordictrack ski machine bought in the 1980s -- still works. No electric parts, gives a very good aerobic workout. I don't know why they stopped making them though, since years ago there were studies that cross-country skiing gave the best cardio workout. I've got one of those and yes it still works...

Search found 820 matches