Bogleheads.org

DarkHelmetII

Now if it’s a variable annuity then the sub accounts are not typically invested within the insurance company’s general account unless you picked that investment. A fixed annuity would have the money invested in their general account as well as if you annuitize. Agreed this is a key distinction. If ...

DarkHelmetII

Was talking to my advisor. He pointed out that I have 0 REIT. he said I should look at moving some of my sideline cash and get some. he said take a look at HTA and FRT. Anyone have any favorite REIT they like? Thanks! Why not VNQ? Like you I have zero REIT (aside from small % in S&P 500) but re...

DarkHelmetII

In my last forum thread, 50% pay cut: moving advice , I outlined my plans for a career change and move from Big City to Small Town. In that thread, all (well, most) of you fine folks made a compelling case that I should sell my old house ASAP rather than become a long-distance landlord. That was in...

DarkHelmetII

I have a TIAA-CREF VUL holding funds for a down payment however with no clear timeframe - I'd say 50% chance we rent for next 5 years. Happy to be a "wealthy renter" and keep socking away $$ (above and beyond the allocated down payment) into stocks & bonds bogleheads style. The asset m...

DarkHelmetII

1) 50 % total stock 50% mid term treasuries
2) Use Fidelity because they have brick and mortar locations?
3) for the Chevron stock can you at least funnel dividends into the diversified portfolio?

Just some thoughts ...

DarkHelmetII

I would like to to protect stock market gains made in the last ten years. Would selling lets say 10% and investing it in a variable annuity with income guaranties make sense ? The earnings are outside retirement accounts and I would not need to tap the annuity payments for at least 5 years. My tax ...

DarkHelmetII

Any recommendations on a roof (not rear) bike rack for a 2015 Honda Accord? Flexibility for skis a bonus but not required (a skis-only configuration does not meet the requirement).

DarkHelmetII

nocturne wrote: ↑Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:50 pm There are policies in place to prevent abuse.

At my Costco the log line for returns is enough to prevent abuse!

DarkHelmetII

My work place health insurance includes a no-cost annual physical exam. I would like to have another physical exam in mid-year every year, paid out of pocket. I am looking for actionable advice on how to get my doctor to do this, and to determine the price *in advanced*. I am *not* looking for advi...

DarkHelmetII

Hoping to get some input from fellow Bogleheads! We've been trying to upgrade in house for the prior ~two years. COVID threw a wrench in this, seen significant annual price increases and not finding anything decent. We've seen the quality of house we want go up-and-up in price. We're trying to &quo...

DarkHelmetII

1) For what it's worth, I have similar age kids (< 5) and went with 20 year-term idea being 20 years from now presumably there should be ample cash / investments 2) Costco has had some competitive rates via Protective 3) HealthIQ had a competitive rate - slightly better than Protective but took ~ 1 ...

DarkHelmetII

Why not writing a salary just above the one you would find of your liking ? 1) They may be willing to pay more than this # 2) By definition this # is above what OP would accept, and hence may lose the opportunity I think best option is to ask for a phone call - as mentioned by previous poster - and...

DarkHelmetII

My 2 cents as a non-attorney: any legal agreement is only relevant to the extent it is upheld in a court of law. Meaning that for the repayment agreement to mean anything, a judge would have to "force" you to pay realizing that the employer changed your compensation after the fact. I assum...

DarkHelmetII

Caution. Literally every cpa I’ve used has screwed up at least one thing every year in my taxes. In one case I didn’t catch it for years and couldn’t fix it. Cost me thousands. Even big boys like kpmg. No one cares as much as you about your money and your chance of audit. +1. I have never NOT caugh...

DarkHelmetII

JimMolony wrote: ↑Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:29 am Some coding in "R" and the older SAS with some computer classes is highly sought after.

"Traditional" accounting / business + industry knowledge + SAS / R / Python could be a killer combination

DarkHelmetII

Work with a guy who’s retiring at the end of the year. He said that in January he moved his entire $1 million 401k into a stable value fund in order to preserve it for this year and at least 2 years into retirement. He said he’s protecting himself from series of returns. Apparently he has other inc...

DarkHelmetII

I’m a little worried about my bond portfolio with interest rates going up . Most of my bonds are in vanguard total bond market index . Would switching some into short term tips reduce my risk ? Any advice or alternative strategy appreciated You are at risk of selling low and buying high if you exit...

DarkHelmetII

Don't consider yourself their manager. Consider yourself a resource to help them excel. +1. As a corollary, within reason, don't dole out tedious / mind-numbing tasks to underlings just because you "can." This is of course part of their job and they get paid to do so, but the point is tha...

DarkHelmetII

Hi to everyone. So I have a 403 b , 457 b and pension. My allocation on 403b is as follows VIEIX 45% VIIIX. 40% TCIEX. 15% Wanted to pick up VEIRX. Trying to get rid of the TCIEX. Is that a good move or not. I am new to this. Perfectly fine if you want 100% equities. Don't ditch TCIEX unless you wi...

DarkHelmetII

Is there some sort of calculator that shows the incremental "boost" to placing money in a whole life insurance product vs. taxable account? I get it, probably still garbage for the commonly discussed reasons but still I am curious as to what an empirical analysis says.

DarkHelmetII

Hi all, I have been working as an engineer now for 2 years and have recently gotten a promotion and a pair of job offers from within my company to go along with it. I have been struggling as to which offer would be best from a career advancement perspective. Option 1 is by a pretty decent margin my...

DarkHelmetII

I need to get a few people in a room to talk through some serious stuff. Beyond the meeting space we likely need some professional help to mediate and ensure physical peace as well. Are there services (to pay for) that provide this kind of stuff? If I were to coordinate myself the best I can come up...

DarkHelmetII

Hi Everyone- So I sold a lot of stock (mostly in IRAs, and at a profit) over the last year, wanting to have more cash on hand. I was guessing (incorrectly it seems), that the Pandemic would cause the market to tank, and I could follow Warren Buffet's advice and "be greedy when others are fearf...

DarkHelmetII

My brother purchased a Fixed Indexed Annuity back in 2019. When I do his income taxes for him he always includes the year end statement he gets from this annuity although I really don't need it since he hasn't withdrawn anything yet. When I compared the year end balance from 2020 to the prior year ...

DarkHelmetII

Theoretically: no. Practically: yes. Why? For behavioral reasons, IMHO having a smallish bond allocation 10 to 20 percent can help one from making large mistakes. Positive psychological effect of rebalancing in a major equity downturn should not be discounted.

My 2 cents.

DarkHelmetII

1) Starting point was a $57,000 balance in a Fidelity 401k post-tax account comprised of $47,000 principal and $10,000 in growth 2) In-plan Roth conversion not allowed 3) We have withdrawn the $47,000 principal into a Fidelity Roth IRA and the $10,000 growth into a Fidelity Rollover IRA 4) Fidelity ...

DarkHelmetII

I am finalizing a listing agreement with a realtor to sell my property and want to know what is typical for the scenario of dual representation in case a buyer directly approaches my sellers agent. What is most typical, if there is a definition of "normal" here: 1) Sellers agent gets all o...

DarkHelmetII

Any practical means by which to secure HOA documents before making an offer? Idea is to get a view across multiple HOAs not just reviewing a single HOA.

May not exist but if possible though I would ask. And yes, I realize first course of action is to perhaps avoid any HOA altogether.

DarkHelmetII

Any recommendations on an Android phone recorder App that captures both ends of the conversation while using earbuds? Multiple I have tried capture neither or only one side of the conversation while using ear buds.

DarkHelmetII

There are lots and lots of threads on engagement rings that you can look up by using the search box which is in the top right corner of most screens. ...looking to get the best value for my budget. I am not an expert or anything but you will likely get the best value by buying man made diamonds. Se...

DarkHelmetII

Hold a little bit of in bonds. Even 5 or 10% can satisfy the urge to "do something" by way of rebalancing.

DarkHelmetII

45 minutes of web searching while watching TV and finally deciding to drop last digit of model number for broader search potential yields ... https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/FRT18G4AQ.html Click on “Specs” for the dimensions. This is a discontinued unit so likely what you are looking fo...

DarkHelmetII

Any advice on how to find the dimensions of an old appliance. Specifically Frigidaire FRT18G4AQ4 (a refrigerator).

Note: I have found PDF's of the owners manual online and can't find height / width / depth

DarkHelmetII

Can anyone clarify for me the "Time in Force" options for Market Order? Three options are Day, On the Open, and On the Close. A few different scenarios below, is my understanding correct on any or all of these? 1) Order Type = Market Order, Time in Force = Day, order placed after hours -->...

DarkHelmetII

I like that Geico answers the phone 24x7 with a licensed agent, no need to wait for core business hours. I don't know what Progressive does ... but for example with State Farm after-hours I only got "good neighbor service" or whatever they called it which was a real shell of a service and ...

DarkHelmetII

Who is "correct"? Redfin or the traditional agents I have spoken to? Context: I am selling a condo this spring valued at < 10% of household net worth and < 50% of annual income. By virtue of being a condo market is lukewarm - not horrible but certainly not blazing hot like nearby townhomes...

DarkHelmetII

Mind-numbing work, completely void of any intellectual stimulation. To make this actionable ---> when I evaluate job opportunities this is one such criteria I consider.

DarkHelmetII

What is the significance of the $500k? I assume this is something other than FDIC insurance?

DarkHelmetII

Preface: this is for play money < 1% of net worth. Question: are there any recommended trading platforms that support a Buy Stop Order for Fractional Shares? Fidelity, for example, offers Fractional Shares however you can only place Market or Limit orders; you can place a Buy Stop Order but in that ...

DarkHelmetII

The tax law that passed Congress at the very end of 2020 contained a provision that may boost sales of permanent life insurance in the future. This part of the law hasn't been widely reported upon. I first learned of it last week from a post on LinkedIn. The first press article that I've seen was i...

DarkHelmetII

I've always been an equities investor and believe in the Peter Lynch principal of staying fully invested at all times. But I'm now at a stage where our investments have done very well. We have more than plenty and will begin taking RMD's this year. To simplify the discussion, let's focus just on my...

DarkHelmetII

Two-part question about finding a good seller's agent for my condo that I plan to sell in Spring. Part one is about the interview process - specifically how much time is "appropriate" to take up - and part two is about three specific agent profiles . Question 1: what is a fair amount of ti...

DarkHelmetII

1) FDIC 2) job posted is only a 4 day window, from 12/31 to 1/4 - very odd to do this over the holidays, in this case likely posting the position just to go through the motions? 3) any SES resume scoring engines - automated / real-time feedback - that can give your resume a "score"? As I d...

DarkHelmetII

How does one qualify for Senior Executive Service positions within the Federal Government if applying from private sector? Is this even possible? Trying to make sense of this page: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/senior-executive-service/ . For any given posted...

DarkHelmetII

There is nothing to negotiate. Rates are regulated by the state. You can reduce your coverage, or switch to a different insurer. +1. Only possibility of "negotiating" would be to find a sleezy agent (for insurers that have non-direct sales channels) who know how to and is willing to game ...

DarkHelmetII

cutterinnj wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 5:21 pm Buy a cheap tracfone for $50-$90 and just don’t activate it

What does this mean, don't activate it? Can you then activate with a different carrier? Is it unlocked?

DarkHelmetII

livesoft wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 8:53 am This says that apps are backed up:
https://support.google.com/android/answer/2819582?hl=en

Thanks. My ignorance I guess.

DarkHelmetII

Any recommendations on a way to "backup" all of the apps on my phone so I don't have to reinstall all of them after a factory reset or a new device? Google account already in place to capture key things like contacts and pictures. Apps are the main thing of interest to me that the standard...

DarkHelmetII

rent.com?

DarkHelmetII

The cost of working with someone and a brokerage with poor results is that you have to wait out the listing contract before signing up with another. As a fail-safe, can I put in a buyout clause? Of course idea is to avoid this altogether, but I'd like the idea of being able to pay $X to get rid of ...

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