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RetiredAL

We live in the Seattle area. Our EQ cover is a little over $3,500/year with a $425K+ deductible. We have an expensive house with no mortgage, so the house is a material part of our net worth. I think about dropping EQ cover every year, but a total loss of the house would be painful--painful enough ...

RetiredAL

Looks like is has problem today. I got access denied after submitted username and password. NFCU locks online access if you have not logged in the last 12 months, as a security item. Regardless as to why it's locked, you need to call them to re-enable it. Last time I got dinged by this, about 2 yea...

RetiredAL

Yes, the are quite protective parents. Beside the Mom fake, Dad showed up too. Last year, when the babies were about a week old and I was watching them bob around in the adjacent lawn area, both she and Dad alerted, the babies all ran under Mom, and Dad flew off towards a hawk as distraction. Mr haw...

RetiredAL

Nice! One neat thing about the parents is that they will pretend to be injured if you get too close and will sort of limp away from you - you're supposed to be drawn away from the nest to go after the parents. They'll fly off once you move far enough away from the nest. Broken wing display https://...

RetiredAL

My son did that exact thing 15 month's ago using part of what had been his UGMA money.

RetiredAL

Killdeer nest from last week. Same place as last year. The nest is out in the open. Mom was nearby and was not happy. When they hatch, they quickly vacate the nest, are only thumb sized, and not discernible in the grass unless they move, then they look like a moving fuzz ball. https://i.postimg.cc/4...

RetiredAL

First Goslings of the year.....

RetiredAL

Fellow Bogleheads, I am a long-term reader, first-time poster. I would like to invite your thoughts on the following proposed plan. My musings on this subject all came from Spirit Rider's thoughts in a prior thread: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=229903 Some numbers are fu...

RetiredAL

My advice is diversify your tax-location just like your asset allocation . For decades, I always assumed (with good reason) that I would have a lower tax rate in retirement so went all in on pre-tax retirement deferrals. Well, behold here I am in the final stretch before retirement and I really rea...

RetiredAL

Cold hard fact I found now that I am retired: With our $50K in SS, anything past approx $25K additional ($75K gross) puts us into the current 22% bracket. So every $ I convert to my Roth, I pay 22% as Fed Taxes. As a comparison, 22% normally starts around $115K gross for working folks. What was you...

RetiredAL

Cold hard fact I found now that I am retired: With our $50K in SS, anything past approx $25K additional ($75K gross) puts us into the current 22% bracket. So every $ I convert to my Roth, I pay 22% as Fed Taxes. As a comparison, 22% normally starts around $115K gross for working folks. What was you...

RetiredAL

I got a 20 seer heatpump with a variable speed compressor and air handler. Running a motor at variable speed is not a big deal nowadays and since they are dc motors no caps to go bad . Most of the time it ticks over at 18 - 50 % which is apparently more efficient and definitely quieter and nicer. T...

RetiredAL

For the most part, only a small minority of retirees will be in a higher tax bracket than when they were working (unless they move to a state with higher taxes). And I don't feel sorry for those who are because it will nearly always (apart from the potentially lost child tax credit) mean that they ...

RetiredAL

I got a 20 seer heatpump with a variable speed compressor and air handler. Running a motor at variable speed is not a big deal nowadays and since they are dc motors no caps to go bad . Most of the time it ticks over at 18 - 50 % which is apparently more efficient and definitely quieter and nicer. T...

RetiredAL

Do look at how much of that "lump" rollover IRA can be converted each year without raising your tax rate for that year. Doing it multi-year achieves the same result at a potentially lower tax cost. While doing this multi-year conversion, you can continue to yearly contribute non-deductibl...

RetiredAL

Do look at how much of that "lump" rollover IRA can be converted each year without raising your tax rate for that year. Doing it multi-year achieves the same result at a potentially lower tax cost. While doing this multi-year conversion, you can continue to yearly contribute non-deductible...

RetiredAL

Nate7out wrote: ↑Sat Apr 10, 2021 9:45 am I think you need about $250k in vtiax before yo have to worry about the extra form.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

+1

RetiredAL

I did not get this msg but had issues with a HRB between a personal stock sale vs Sched C stock/capital sale. Towards the end of the Sched C (1099 income) questionnaire, which is before the investment questionnaire, it asked about 1099 capital sales, which I thought was the start of investment quest...

RetiredAL

We have been retired 5 years. We have been doing quite fine on around 75-80K a year, not counting the year the roof was replaced. UHCOL area of CA but our mortgage has been long paid off. Our medicare part B, supplemental, and drug insurance costs are on par with my employment years medical insuranc...

RetiredAL

1) it is done and you don't forget 2) if there are any issues, there is time to correct them You can file and arrange payment for a later date if you do so electronically. +1 to sailaway -- I'm not saying to Afty that you may not have everything nailed down tight, but to others: Way too many post t...

RetiredAL

Those are pretty standard shop talk items for when we see a money bags! The belts wear and at some point of time, they need replacement. Alternator?? Unless it's whining from a bad bearing, no way. A alternator electrical failure means your battery will not be charging. Struts only if they are leaki...

RetiredAL

I have both. I would never rely on work based life insurance. I had a policy at a former employer that I checked into porting before leaving and it was unbelievably expensive. I was able to get a policy that month at 20% the price on my own. I figured either my employer was getting ripped off (not ...

RetiredAL

Nice article on the math of Roth v IRA v Taxable with some clear charts. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4417323-common-cents-roth-conversions?mail_subject=forget-tesla-these-2-high-yielding-stocks-win-no-matter-what&utm_campaign=nl-investing-income&utm_content=link-21&utm_medium=email...

RetiredAL

All printers and copiers tend to over time, get a glaze on the rubber feed rollers, caused by the paper itself.

A quick fix is to use an emery board on the rollers to lightly roughen them up.

RetiredAL

OP: If you live near a local Schwab office and your 401K people will only send the check to you (common), you take the check to Schwab and it will post to your account overnight. However, I re-iterate that the check must be made out the "Schwab, Account#, FBO your name" for a direct custod...

RetiredAL

IMO, it is foolish for one to wait to the last second to transact for an important planned money event. Any time I've had something really important, I had the $ in hand at our local bank well before the needed date, or confirmed at the brokerage before before that buy. There are many whaaaa-whaaaa...

RetiredAL

I am ridiculously conservative and discount our net worth around 50%. We could get by on a 1-2% withdrawal rate. +1 to Tomato's thoughts. When I retired, my withdrawal rate was 2%, so I knew an market drop of 50% would not have me eating dog food. Today 5 years later, and yes it's be a good run, my...

RetiredAL

I am ridiculously conservative and discount our net worth around 50%. We could get by on a 1-2% withdrawal rate. +1 to Tomato's thoughts. When I retired, my withdrawal rate was 2%, so I knew an market drop of 50% would not have me eating dog food. Today 5 years later, and yes it's be a good run, my...

RetiredAL

I quite literally cannot think of any reason why I would truly need to log in to Vanguard, and couldn't just go back on the next day. I would assume this also applies to most passive investors who are truly following the Bogleheads' strategy. Here are a few reasons why someone might need to have ac...

RetiredAL

Not a tax expert by any means but I don't believe that cost basis comes into play for 401k accounts. Presumably all the money contributed into a 401k was tax deferred and would be subject to tax at withdrawal or Roth conversion. OP: David brings up a good point. If any after-tax exists in your 401K...

RetiredAL

RM: A "Rollover iRA" is simply a pre-tax IRA when the funds come from a roll-over, rather than from new tax-deferred contributions. One difference is that a "Rollover IRA" might, depending upon state, have some extra protections vs. a plain vanilla IRA (a bit more like the 401k ...

RetiredAL

I retired effective the month I turned 66. My boss knew 2 years before that this was planned, and 4 month's ahead I set the actual date. My pro-rated bonus (for 4 months) was paid on schedule the following Feb. Of note, part of that bonus was initially directed towards my now closed 401K (I rolled i...

RetiredAL

I believe we started in 1999, 2000 for sure. I fully funded both DW's and mine contributions each year. I retired in 2016, but had enough residual income for funding 2017 and 2018. So call it 19 years of contributions in total. Today, not including conversions, our Roths are $275K $375K combined. My...

RetiredAL

I have a large holding of ISTB, iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF, and have been quite happy with it over the last 10 months, by both the return, and its lesser volatility.

My other large holding is FXNAX, which has been more volatile.

RetiredAL

I ditched them this year after 15 years of tax returns with them when I clicked "yes" on one button indicating I had self employment income (and thus had to upgrade to their higher tier ), then found there was no way to undo that except for STARTING THE ENTIRE FREAKING RETURN ALL OVER whe...

RetiredAL

Does Fidelity have anything comparable to Vanguard's PAS? I know whichever route I go, it will not be another "full service" wealth management service. The only reasons I am leaning towards Fidelity is that my 401k is there and my minor daughter's IRA is there and they have a local branch...

RetiredAL

I'll add to the heap that CIT's are good. My company 401K switched to these in 2013. Without a symbol, direct tracking is not possible. However, you can find an equivalent fund for relative tracking the CIT. CIT expenses are lower because the custodian doesn't have to do all the income to dividend t...

RetiredAL

OP here. Thanks for the great information so far, everyone! My parents said they would like to go this way, but I’m not sure if they understand the mechanics 100%. On the call with the lawyer where this idea was introduced, I quipped that it would be like a reverse allowance. My mom later stated sh...

RetiredAL

Thanks! I already have an emergency fund, so this would just be the “oh sh!t” double emergency fund without incurring penalties if needed (trying to payoff mortgage early with my extra, non-retirement related funds) . Was just curious on how we report. Appreciate the info! One of the drawbacks of a...

RetiredAL

All, TLDR version of the question: What percentage of your total net worth is in retirement accounts? Is there any specific reason you maintain that split? What are the questions that I should be asking myself while determining this number? We max out 401k and 457 and both Roth IRAs every year sinc...

RetiredAL

What other have suggested is all good. Do be cognizant of the swapping opportunity you have during a large market pull back, to sell some of those high flyers at the now beat down price (lowered CapGains) then quickly buy your favorites. I totally took over my elderly Dad's finances right as we were...

RetiredAL

This week I was organizing some documents and I realized we have a ton of important documents in one spot (passports, green cards, birth/marriage certs....) I don't think keeping them in the cabinet above the fridge will be the best idea going forward. I do have everything scanned but replacing it ...

RetiredAL

Does Fidelity have anything comparable to Vanguard's PAS? I know whichever route I go, it will not be another "full service" wealth management service. The only reasons I am leaning towards Fidelity is that my 401k is there and my minor daughter's IRA is there and they have a local branch...

RetiredAL

Yes, if 100% of everything not in teh trust is less than $166k. But one other advantage to PoD, is that a bank will assign the account immediately upon presentation of a death cert. If not PoD, the financial institution may want to wait the 40 days after death until the OP can file the affidavit. (...

RetiredAL

A few years back, we discovered out oven temp was way low of set-point, 75 - 80 degrees low when set to 350. Raising the set-point higher did not raise the temp by much. The pre-heat did come up to temp and then it started dropping. OK, controller whacko I thought, so I replaced it. Same! Turns out ...

RetiredAL

I have fiduciary responsibility for my blind aunt. My aunt has a checking account and savings account that are not in the trust. I do everything for my very elderly Dad. He has a Trust and I am his Trustee. His Trust holds his two houses and all of his investment accounts. His Bank and CU accounts ...

RetiredAL

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:19 pm Not sure why there's a crisis. We've all known for a decade or more that this was coming.

Some states, like Calif, were very late starting the process and when they started, it was herky-jerky.

RetiredAL

Hello and thanks for clicking. This is my first post but I have read the wiki and have a few questions pertaining to my specific situation. 1. Should I sell everything? I am definitely letting go of most of the mutual funds, but I’m not sure if I should sell the Apple or Berkshire as well as the ou...

RetiredAL

I didn’t watch the video, but yes, romaine, in particular is a problem. About half the romaine lettuce in the country is grown in the area around Yuma, Arizona, and irrigated with water that could be affected by runoff from nearby feedlots. There was a Planet Money episode on this a couple of years...

RetiredAL

I am the right age to have a Social Security card that says, right on it, "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION." But don't get me started on that . I always scratched my head at the "do not laminate" on my social security card. I mean, this is a card that is supposed to last my a lifetime, b...

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