Bogleheads.org

We have a checking account with Chase and have for years now. We use it as a backup to our Fidelity CMA. Chase charges high fees, has inconsistent, outsourced service and their information technology platforms have numerous bugs. Chase has deteriorated over the years, sadly. Your mileage may vary. Counterpoint: I've had a Chase Checking account & credit cards for a very long time, and more recently I've opened Chase brokerage accounts as well. Over the years I've also had a mortgage and car loan through them as well. I've had nothing but excellent customer service from Chase, and I find their web platform & mobile apps to be excellent as well. As far as fees, my brokerage balances qualify me for Private Client status and this waive...

My CMA limit is $100k; most of my brokerage accounts are showing $500k (!), but interestingly a newish revocable trust brokerage account shows only a $1000 limit.

It looks like you’ll be able to purchase annual subscriptions to windows 10 security updates after its EOL next year, but the price has not yet been revealed:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/want-to-k ... -will-cost

When I logged into Bogleheads today, I got a notice from Google that my password was exposed in a data breach, and that I should change it immediately (which I did). It was different than all my other passwords. I have not received that notice when I logged into other sites. I thought I should notify the community, in case others experience the same thing here. It was probably just me, but I am concerned that it could be the site. Have you received a notice like this? Were there any consequences? Hmm, it's not clear to me how Google (the search engine and internet/cloud company) was aware of what password you use at Bogleheads. Was it Chrome (your web browser, which is made by Google) that alerted you? Do you use Chrome's password manager?...

Is Windows 11 more secure then 10? I still don't really know and I consider myself it'ish. Lots of info here: Windows 11 Security Book I find it to be an interesting read 8-) but it may bore you to tears. :beer From the technical perspective: use Linux use a VPN use a dedicated password manager, not your browser. Linux's native password manager is called pass Linux is not really more secure than Windows or MacOS. However malware targeting specific OS will probably go with the one with the highest market share. VPN does not protect you from being hacked. It only blocks your ISP from seeing your traffic. A dedicated password manager in my opinion is better than the one from a browser, but many of the browsers have made good progress. I agree...

This book (unfortunately out of print) is very useful in providing guidance on how to negotiate a severance package: https://www.amazon.com/Fired-Downsized- ... 0805060847

Does anyone mind elaborating what specifically is wrong with PayPal or Zelle? What did Clark Howard say about it? In trying to use less as well but more for control and simplicity. Clark's objection is that you have no consumer rights with Zelle & Venmo. If you get scammed you have no recourse. Pay for goods that are not delivered or not as represented? Too bad, so sad. They are fine to use with friends and family, but never with a stranger or business. Yup, Clark is very colorful with his wording, I think people just remember the, "Never Never not ever!" part............Got to go....I got Clark stinks on my long run right now 8-) I agree 100%. I don't like Clark's hyperbole of "never never not ever." Nuance is impo...

https://www.e-verify.gov/employees/employee-self-services/mye-verify/self-lock Has anybody done this? Is it worth doing? It locks your SSN so e verify doesn’t work keeps someone else from working under your SSN. Is this a common thing? Yeah, did this a while ago. I already had a Login.gov account tied to my SSN so it was pretty easy to do, just took a minute or two. Are you sure? I signed up within the last couple of weeks and it did not allow me to use login.gov. In fact, it was a bit of a PITA to sign up: - Create a new username/password - Register my 2FA authenticator - Create and answer five (yes, FIVE) of those security questions (who was your first grade teacher? What's your favorite pizza topping? etc). And since you NEVER answer th...

https://www.e-verify.gov/employees/employee-self-services/mye-verify/self-lock Has anybody done this? Is it worth doing? It locks your SSN so e verify doesn’t work keeps someone else from working under your SSN. Is this a common thing? Yeah, did this a while ago. I already had a Login.gov account tied to my SSN so it was pretty easy to do, just took a minute or two. Are you sure? I signed up within the last couple of weeks and it did not allow me to use login.gov. In fact, it was a bit of a PITA to sign up: - Create a new username/password - Register my 2FA authenticator - Create and answer five (yes, FIVE) of those security questions (who was your first grade teacher? What's your favorite pizza topping? etc). And since you NEVER answer th...

Recommend consult with tax professional. If she is in an assisted living facility or memory care facility for a chronic health condition (dementia) then it is likely that all her costs (including the “rent” , not just the care plan, is qualified medical expense) - it was for my parent in assisted living with medical care which effectively pushed her taxes to 0 / lowest tax bracket last several years. Make sure all beneficiaries are established as desired in her accounts, and if you live in certain states (like CA) that you have evaluated the potential $$ and time impact of probate, if assets are not in retirement accounts. Best of luck - this is a not any easy period of life for anyone. I'd amend this advice to "recommend consult with...

meowcat wrote: ↑Honestly, in your opinion, what do you think happened?

Here’s a possibility: it’s possible that the atm behavior was changed to make them safer. I have a recollection that in the past, it didn’t log me out after a withdrawal, but in order to make a withdrawal, I’d need to reenter my pin. So it’s possible that the thief simply shoulder-surfed the pin and then entered that after the victim walked away.
I don’t believe that the bank would ever have the atm programmed in such a risky fashion as alleged in the article.

If your question is "any other options for cash at JPMC that don't require $100K, but I'm ok if it's not automatic", then you can simply open a JPM self-managed investment account, and then invest your free cash in a money market fund they offer (such as VUSXX)

One new attack I have read about recently involves ATM. The way it works is that the attacker uses super glue to mess up the ATM slot so you are force to use the tap feature to access the ATM. If the person is sloppy and just leaves after the transaction is complete, the attacker then rush in and withdraws money. The reason this works is when you leave your ATM without closing it out and someone attempts to perform a transaction, the user is required to enter their pin, preventing the attacker from piggybacking. However, if you use the tap feature, the ATM does not prompt you to re-authenticate. Chase even initially denied fraud because they claim that the system was secure, but eventually relent after repeated request. https://abc7.com/ch...

One new attack I have read about recently involves ATM. The way it works is that the attacker uses super glue to mess up the ATM slot so you are force to use the tap feature to access the ATM. If the person is sloppy and just leaves after the transaction is complete, the attacker then rush in and withdraws money. The reason this works is when you leave your ATM without closing it out and someone attempts to perform a transaction, the user is required to enter their pin, preventing the attacker from piggybacking. However, if you use the tap feature, the ATM does not prompt you to re-authenticate. Chase even initially denied fraud because they claim that the system was secure, but eventually relent after repeated request. https://abc7.com/ch...

I asked a similar question last year Investing for elderly mother in law in anticipation of assisted living; got some good advice in the discussion. As I posted, I ultimately chose this AA:
- 10% Equities (total stock market)
- 60% Intermediate Term Bond
- 20% Short Term Bond
- 10% Money Market

KlangFool wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2024 7:20 am
A) I have used COBRA several times. It never works as advertised. Even in a normal circumstances, bad things tends to happen. So, to assume something like this will work perfectly is not something that I am willing to risk.

B) You may want to do a search on multiple COBRA adventures posted by the forum members.

Clearly this depends on the COBRA administrator. I have been on cobra for the last 13 months (5 to go before I switch to ACA) and it’s been perfectly smooth; no glitches. I was last on cobra about 13 years ago; I don’t recall having a problem then either.

Experian uses “dark patterns” to hide their credit freeze capability. It would be almost laughable if it wasn’t so frustration inducing. I have found that they hide all mention of credit freeze from their high level menus, trying to get you to sign up for a credit lock.
Anyway, to actually do a credit freeze, you have to go into their “Support” menu, where you will finally find a link to manage your credit freeze.

Thank you Taylor for all your contributions to Bogleheads.

I am familiar with the Palace and it is a wonderful place. Good luck with your new home!

I am content at present running Windows 10 but I believe Microsoft support, security & updates may not last sometime beyond a year. Is it appropriate to upgrade to Windows 11 now ?? As it is usually the case, new software often comes with bugs & the ways to interact with Win 11 may be different than with win 10. I will appreciate if members can throw some light on Win 11 . I just configured two new computers and gave Win 11 yet another chance. No. I hate it, from the installation procedure to the actual usage. It's aggravating that Microsoft forces you to create an account to install the software, and it quickly becomes clear why they're doing this: they're making money on you at every turn. And ads are all over that crazy software...

Ladygeek, have you looked at Duplicati? https://duplicati.com/ The application itself is open source and cross platform. You supply the backend (local disk, NAS, or cloud). Numerous clouds providers supported, both blob storage like S3 or Azure, as well as file based services like Dropbox or OneDrive. (Personally I’ve used it with OneDrive as I get a terabyte of storage included with my O365 subscription). All encrypted end to end. To add to the catalogue of no-cost, encrypting backup software, I use both borg and kopia. Thanks... borg won't work for me as it doesn't have (non-experimental) support for Windows, but Kopia looks very interesting and similar in concept to Duplicati. Need to give it a spin..... Thanks. I'll give Kopia a spin a...

Harri88 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 9:25 am In reading the other posts it appears that Schwab and Fidelity are having similar issues.

I was able to log into Fidelity but can't log into Schwab. I also saw similar reports on Reddit that Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard are all having login problems.
I am a little surprised that all three would buckle under increased demand today.

chassis wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 11:27 am

ez_mode wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 7:23 am

chassis wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:04 am What situation where a cashier’s check is contemplated would not be solved with a bank wire?

Apartments and rentals. Most require a cashier check or money orders for first month rent and move-in deposits these days. Wires are not an option I've ever seen in the rental space.

I have first hand experience to the contrary.

I wrote about my daughter's experience where the landlord required a certified check (and only sprung this on her after the lease was signed.)

I’m glad insurance worked out for you. It may be because the home still has furniture in it (as another poster mentioned).

I had a problem with my insurance many years back when I was doing a home renovation. We moved out due the the scope of the construction, so I called up my insurance company and told them I needed a renters policy. Well, I found out that not only did they NOT offer renters policies, but also because I told them I had moved out, they CANCELLED my homeowners on the vacant house. Had to scramble to find someone to insure the vacant house. (And I put that insurer on my “never do business with in the future” list)

You should evaluate your UM coverage limits by trying to determine what you are comfortable with paying for when considering lost wages, your medical policy deductible, potential expenses beyond the limits of your health insurance (rehab and associated expenses, etc., especially with a catastrophic injury). It's difficult to put a finite number on it. As far as the "limited UM" policy that sounds unnecessary to me. Hi, I appreciate the comment but it didn't really answer my question. I am happy to pay for $500K/$500K UM on my auto plus another $1M UM on my umbrella. (The UM problem is HUGE where I live). The issue that I'm trying to understand is, with only one car, is there any benefit to taking stacked coverage? Or should I sav...

It's a month later and still showing the same glidepath. I disagree with those who say "Vanguard just screwed up and used the wrong graphic." I do think that this is the intended glidepath for THIS institutional fund.

afan wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 5:17 am Would Fidelity properly treat this as a nontaxable receipt of money?

Yes, the Fidelity planner lets you designate income (one-time or ongoing) as Taxable or Non-Taxable.

marshall wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2024 1:46 pm I was just list it as income in one projected year. You can be conservative with the projected year. You also need to show how the money is currently invested and if you want it to be inflation adjusted.

Once it is entered, it’s easy to turn this one year income source on and off within Fidelity Retirement Planner to determine how the potential inheritance will impact your overall plan.

This is what I do as well. I’ve picked a conservative year and a conservative amount for the inheritance, and put it into the planner as income for that year.

You should evaluate your UM coverage limits by trying to determine what you are comfortable with paying for when considering lost wages, your medical policy deductible, potential expenses beyond the limits of your health insurance (rehab and associated expenses, etc., especially with a catastrophic injury). It's difficult to put a finite number on it. As far as the "limited UM" policy that sounds unnecessary to me. Hi, I appreciate the comment but it didn't really answer my question. I am happy to pay for $500K/$500K UM on my auto plus another $1M UM on my umbrella. (The UM problem is HUGE where I live). The issue that I'm trying to understand is, with only one car, is there any benefit to taking stacked coverage? Or should I sav...

I like Clark in general but was disappointed in his website article today about Storage Unit Pricing . The article correctly notes that storage unit prices can double after the initial "teaser" period. Clark's solution? Don't use storage units. OK Clark, what should you do if you actually have to store your stuff somewhere? His answer: “My preference usually is if you’ve got a really good friend who’s got space, pay them to rent space in their basement if they have one, garage, whatever, as long as it’s temperature-controlled,” Clark says. “[It] would be better than having it in a storage facility.” Sorry Clark, that doesn't cut it. Mooching off friends and family is not a long term solution. And what if you don't have f&f tha...

Bumping this old thread as I have the same question as the OP. I also reviewed this discussion and this one . I moved to SE FL last year, and just signed up for auto insurance with my same provider (Geico) without putting a ton of research into it. Finally got around to reviewing my coverage levels and I see that I have stacked $500K/$500K UM coverage even though I only have one car. I went online to price out changing it to unstacked and it would be $192/yr cheaper for unstacked. Note that I am also have an additional $1M UM coverage on my umbrella policy (which adds approx $400/yr to my umbrella premium) Now, that's not a ton of money in the scheme of things, but on the other hand, if I understand it correctly, it seems like a no-brainer ...

Clark Howard does not recommend Zelle. Clark Howard is wrong. Zelle is exactly the same as checks or cash. Does he recommend that people don't use checks or cash? Person after person has had their money absconded with by crooks using check fraud and banks often have said "Tough on you", if they decide you were negligent with security or didn't review your accounts promptly. Far more money is lost to check fraud every year than Zelle fraud. Agree 100%. Clark has good advice most of the time, but he's off base with how emphatically he tells people to avoid Zelle. In and of itself, Zelle is safe and convenient. The issue is, many scammers use it as a method to con or steal from people. That's not a problem with Zelle. I think of Zel...

Nathan Drake wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 9:01 am

occambogle wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 1:56 am

Lastrun wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2024 8:09 am Looks like it is official that Fidelity will be phasing in allowing authenticator apps for 2fa.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityinves ... xaCjoNuW3j

This is amazing news, it's been asked for by many and looks like it's finally happening soon.

Would enabling this break personal capital?

No. Presumably you already are using another form of two-factor authentication (SMS or the existing Symmantec Authenticator), so this is just a third option for 2FA. So linking with Personal Capital or other aggregators will work just as it does now.

I'm going to ask a related but more specific followup question: Is it possible to use a generative AI tool (ChatGPT, Copilot, etc) to summarize a long discussion thread, and to be able to ask specific questions against that thread? Here's my example: I'm interested in the discussion about the Retiree Portfolio Model . This particular discussion has almost 1900 posts spanning over 38 pages. I have to be honest, I am not going to read or review all 1900 posts before asking a question. Sure, I could do a search, but that still would require me to come up with the right keywords and synonyms, and would require me to wade through potentially many results. It would be really useful if I could somehow point ChatGPT or Copilot at this thread, and ...

I'm going to ask a related but more specific followup question: Is it possible to use a generative AI tool (ChatGPT, Copilot, etc) to summarize a long discussion thread, and to be able to ask specific questions against that thread? Here's my example: I'm interested in the discussion about the Retiree Portfolio Model . This particular discussion has almost 1900 posts spanning over 38 pages. I have to be honest, I am not going to read or review all 1900 posts before asking a question. Sure, I could do a search, but that still would require me to come up with the right keywords and synonyms, and would require me to wade through potentially many results. It would be really useful if I could somehow point ChatGPT or Copilot at this thread, and t...

...I'm still surprised to see multiple people here downplay forgery. If this was more routine incompetence like delivering ordinary packages to a neighbor, I would shrug it off (and have done so) unless there was a persistent pattern. But when proof of receipt is required, forging a signature is simply out of line and absolutely should be reported. Had the package been stolen, the forged signature could have resulted in the OP being unable to make a claim for not having received the item that was supposed to be delivered directly to them. And since it did involve a firearm, in some states he could be prosecuted if the thief then committed a crime with the firearm, and I suspect he could be sued by the victim of such a crime in any state. ^...

It is reported that Southwest Airlines is unaffected by the Crowdstrike outage it is still using Windows 3.1 . I don't say it's true, I only say it's being reported. Fairly certain that 3.1 is incapable of running on modern hardware without some hardware emulation. Who says they need modern hardware? That costs money, and airlines seem to incinerate that. You do need modern hardware, or, you need a never ending supply of replacement parts. Computers can and do have parts that wear out. Capacitors on motherboards, connectors, hard drives (!), power supplies , cables, etc. Woah, woah! New capacitors on motherboards? Airlines do not have automotive company money to burn. :P I didn't mean that these components should be proactively maintained ...

whodidntante wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 8:25 pm

rockstar wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 8:07 pm

nisiprius wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 5:36 pm It is reported that Southwest Airlines is unaffected by the Crowdstrike outage it is still using Windows 3.1. I don't say it's true, I only say it's being reported.

Fairly certain that 3.1 is incapable of running on modern hardware without some hardware emulation.

Who says they need modern hardware? That costs money, and airlines seem to incinerate that.

You do need modern hardware, or, you need a never ending supply of replacement parts. Computers can and do have parts that wear out. Capacitors on motherboards, connectors, hard drives (!), power supplies , cables, etc.

SmileyFace wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 2:27 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 2:23 pm Would this have affected amazon prime days Or Is amazon completely independent with its own servers?

I doubt Amazon uses any Microsoft servers or services since they are a huge competitor of Microsoft.

That’s a incorrect assumption:

Amazon's $1 billion cloud deal with Microsoft includes 550,000 licenses for corporate employees and 1 million for warehouse workers
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon- ... ls-2023-11

SmileyFace wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 5:08 pm Or blaming impacted companies for not having good enough backup mechanisms.

Not to victim-blame, but yes, many organizations have extremely poor operational practices including inadequate backup and recovery procedures. This outages exposes that issue as they are unable to execute a simple rollback.

nisiprius wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 5:36 pm It is reported that Southwest Airlines is unaffected by the Crowdstrike outage it is still using Windows 3.1. I don't say it's true, I only say it's being reported.

Almost certainly false. The level of work needed to keep Win31 running today would be more than the effort to migrate any legacy software to a modern OS. The article you linked to does indeed say this, but caveats it with “by some accounts…”. I don’t believe it.

The issue yesterday with Microsoft Azure (which was limited to the Central US region, and had a trickledown effect on M365 services hosted in that region) is/was unrelated to the more massive cloudstrike platform. So much for Microsoft Azure's cloud computing platform, fubar-ed by sloppy CrowdStrike cybersecurity company update. I never liked the idea of relying on Microsoft 365 cloud computing & virtual machines. Actually, the opposite is true: Hosting on ANY cloud platform (Azure, AWS, GCP, etc) would make it much easier to recover from the Cloudstrike issue, as it would be straightforward to revert to prior snapshot or backup, or similarly deploy a brand new virtual server from an image that had not yet received the corrupted update ...

Going to answer my own question :P : After further exploration, I see that there is a category called "Savings". So I am going to change the category from "Income" (which it is not) to "Savings"; eg because I am drawing from my Savings, this seems to be the most correct categorization. If you are transferring money from one account to another, it's just a transfer. I have no idea what the saving categories are for, but if it works for you. I don't disagree, but this is the reasoning behind my idea & why I am going to try it: If I was still working, twice a month my salary would show up in my checking account. In Full View, I'd categorize those transactions as "Income". I'd spend some of it, categ...

Those of you who are using Full View for expense tracking and budgeting, how are you categorizing transfers of cash from investment accounts into cash accounts (eg, checking), especially if you are retired/deaccumulation phase? When I transfer cash from my brokerage to my checking account, Full View is categorizing it as "Income". What's best practice? Leave it categorized as "Income"? Or change the category to "Transfers" (which is ignored by the Full View Budgeting tool)? Or something else? Set both end of the transfer as the category Transfer. It's not income. The IRS is not taxing you on it. Going to answer my own question :P : After further exploration, I see that there is a category called "Savings&...

FYI if you subscribe to Apple+ and have access to News+, it includes access to Barron's articles.

[Unnecessary comment removed by moderator oldcomputerguy]

Target2019 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 7:37 amthis is also an example of M$ not closely monitoring the quality of what 3rd parties like CRWD CrowdStrike are sending out in update packages.

Microsoft has nothing to do whatsoever with updates pushed by 3rd parties such as Cloudstrike.

Target2019 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 7:37 am I'd hope that major corporations would have at least one check gate to actually test what is being thrown at their infrastructure.

Agree 100%. And additionally, those in tech roles with the power to question should be questioning why EDR tools such as Cloudstrike need to run at the kernel level which is what facilitated this massive outage.

Those of you who are using Full View for expense tracking and budgeting, how are you categorizing transfers of cash from investment accounts into cash accounts (eg, checking), especially if you are retired/deaccumulation phase?

When I transfer cash from my brokerage to my checking account, Full View is categorizing it as "Income". What's best practice? Leave it categorized as "Income"? Or change the category to "Transfers" (which is ignored by the Full View Budgeting tool)? Or something else?

Did those who opted out via the Paze site get a text message? When I opted out, the site displayed this message: By selecting “Opt out of Paze,” you consent to receive a one-time verification code via SMS text. Message and data rates may apply. Nothing was received by text. I did this twice. On a hunch, I logged into my Capital One account. The drop-down list for my account (Profile, Security, Sign-Out, etc.) had an entry "Digital Wallet Manager". Sure enough, Paze SM was listed. Clicking on the link popped up a dialog box with "Activate Paze" or "Not now". I clicked on "Not now". That would explain why I didn't get a verification text. The account had not been activated. I'll have to keep an eye on ...

I got an email from PNC today that my "sock-drawered" credit card was now signed up for Paze, and if I wanted to opt-out I need to visit https://mywallet.paze.com. I did that and opted out.

increment wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 4:51 pm

techbud wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 9:06 am Ladygeek, have you looked at Duplicati? https://duplicati.com/ The application itself is open source and cross platform. You supply the backend (local disk, NAS, or cloud). Numerous clouds providers supported, both blob storage like S3 or Azure, as well as file based services like Dropbox or OneDrive. (Personally I’ve used it with OneDrive as I get a terabyte of storage included with my O365 subscription). All encrypted end to end.

To add to the catalogue of no-cost, encrypting backup software, I use both borg and kopia.

Thanks... borg won't work for me as it doesn't have (non-experimental) support for Windows, but Kopia looks very interesting and similar in concept to Duplicati. Need to give it a spin.....

wanderer wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 9:27 pm Try using the "Detailed Expenses" option. This allows adding custom expenses with custom start/stop dates as well as detailing "normal" expenses.

Have you figured out how to label those customized expenses? The “old” version of the planner let you assign custom labels, but the new planner seems to just let you put them in an expense category but no labels.