Search found 28758 matches

by Watty
Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:23 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Auto Loan. What to do?
Replies: 8
Views: 451

Re: Refinance Auto Loan. What to do?

RickBoglehead wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2024 7:42 pm Subaru won't refinance.
+1

That is a promotional rate to sell cars and often the selling price is higher to make up for the low interest rate.

One time I was buying a Toyota with a 0% promotion and with several dealerships that I talked to I got the same story that the price would be $1,000 higher if I took than instead of paying cash or getting my own financing because the dealership had to pay $1,000 to get the 0% financing.
by Watty
Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:16 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help | 85 Year Old about to Lose Home
Replies: 25
Views: 2003

Re: Help | 85 Year Old about to Lose Home

madbrain wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:08 am Even if it was, assuming the 401k is depleted after paying off the CC debt, she is left with no savings, and nearly $6k of monthly expenses - twice as much as her SS. That is clearly unsustainable even for one month, let alone long term.

She should have taken a reverse mortgage or reverse HELOC at 62 , and would not be in this position if she had. But it's probably too late for that now. I don't think you can do a reverse mortgage if you still have a forward mortgage.
A reverse mortgage can be used to pay off the mortgage and she would still have $475K in home equity. ($850k-$375K)

If the balance on the reverse mortgage is $400K at 7% that would cost $28K a year.
by Watty
Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:08 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Your insights on our retirement prep?
Replies: 10
Views: 1499

Re: Your insights on our retirement prep?

If you are like us we pay all our expenses out of one checking account including things like credit cards. If you do this and easy way to figure out your expenses it to look at each months checking account statement for the last year and combine all the money that was paid out of the checking account. You can then adjust it for anything which was not a true expense like an IRA contributions if you paid that by check. You will also need to consider things like health care insurance which were paid through payroll deductions. That will not tell you a lot about just were the money is going but it will give you a usable high level number for your expenses. It is important to also keep in mind that number will be after taxes. Your insights on ou...
by Watty
Wed Mar 27, 2024 11:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help | 85 Year Old about to Lose Home
Replies: 25
Views: 2003

Re: Help | 85 Year Old about to Lose Home

The_Dude wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2024 10:17 pm Savings
  • 401K <100K
There is no way that you should be stepping in and supporting her while she has a significant amount of money in the 401k.

Would that money, after taxes, be enough to pay off the credit cards and get her current on the mortgage?

Am I missing something?
by Watty
Wed Mar 27, 2024 1:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Take Social Security Now?
Replies: 47
Views: 2387

Re: Take Social Security Now?

Keep in mind that if you expect SS to provide 40% of your retirement income and there is a 20% reduction in SS then that is a 8% reduction in your retirement budget.

There are lots of other future unknowns which could have a bigger impact.
by Watty
Wed Mar 27, 2024 10:16 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Recommendation of Biology Major. UW\UCSD\UCDavis\CaseWestern
Replies: 48
Views: 2715

Re: Recommendation of Biology Major. UW\UCSD\UCDavis\CaseWestern

When I was helping my son pick out a college one quote stuck with me, "Picking a college is not about picking the best college, it is about picking the college which is the best fit for your kid." I am not familiar with any of those universities but I would assume that they are all very creditable choices for someone wanting to go into medicine so it is not be like you need to try to steer her away from a bad choice. The question is then which is the best fit for where when it comes to campus size, competitive or collaborative students, urban or rural setting, distance from home, weather, social environment, etc. Some kids who were top students in high school are shocked to find out that all their other college classmates were too...
by Watty
Wed Mar 27, 2024 9:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Take Social Security Now?
Replies: 47
Views: 2387

Re: Take Social Security Now?

See this website to see when it suggests that you should start SS. https://opensocialsecurity.com/ It varies a lot but often for a couple it makes sense for one spouse to start SS early and the other to delay starting it until they are closer to 70. I do not recall exactly but it may allow you to also change the assumptions to build a reduction in SS into the calculations. Once it gives the optimal dates you can go down to the bottom of the screen to see how that compares to alternative starting dates. It is also good to really understand how your SS will be taxed since it can put you into a higher than expected tax bracket. The details of the calculation are complex but there is a color chart lower in the wiki which will show you the effec...
by Watty
Tue Mar 26, 2024 7:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What is an easement worth?
Replies: 20
Views: 2018

Re: What is an easement worth?

In addition to getting a driveway to the property you will also need to figure out how to get utilities to the property.


An additional complication is that if property has a mortgage then the owner cannot sell a sliver of it or grant an easement without the permission of the lender. They have no reason to do that so getting that approval from the lender is unlikely.
by Watty
Tue Mar 26, 2024 7:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Kindle Users--Please help
Replies: 24
Views: 1414

Re: Kindle Users--Please help

I have a kindle and a fire but I am not a guru. I would suspect that she may have approved notifications in some app. Some games can be bad about that. Basically a some third party may be showing her the ads and not Amazon. In the setup she can try turning off all notifications but she will likely need to do a lot of these.

Another thing you can try doing is to save any photographs or documents that she has on the kindle then in the setup menu there is an option to wipe the kindle and restore everything to the factory defaults. She will need to sign back in then she can download her books again.

I have add supported kindles and Fires and the only thing I see is an add on the signon screen.
by Watty
Tue Mar 26, 2024 10:51 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How am I doing?
Replies: 25
Views: 2462

Re: How am I doing?

As for my car, I feel pretty comfy in it. Never gave much thought to the safety features. Something I’ll have to think about. Thanks for bringing it up. There are all sorts of opinions about when to replace a car but I have found that buying modest cars and replacing them when they are about ten years old works for me since I can wait until I find a great deal to buy my next car. I will start watching the car market when my car is about 9 years old and I can wait until it is 11 years old if I need to. The "great deal" also includes what I can sell my current car for so that is also a factor. If you keep your Corollas another six years until it is 20 years old it will have very little resale value. I figure that buying when there ...
by Watty
Mon Mar 25, 2024 11:08 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How am I doing?
Replies: 25
Views: 2462

Re: How am I doing?

Will I make it to millionaire status before 2030? You can plug your numbers into FireCalc to see how you would have done in the past. https://firecalc.com/ ..... would love any advice. Try to picture what your retirement will look like and start doing some of those things now since you can afford to do some things like take nice vacations or hobbies. At the age of 38 it will not be long until you get into middle age and some things will be more difficult to do as you get older. Trying to become a millionaire by the time you are 50 is fine but there is not guarantee that you will even live that long so don't put off the things on your bucket list too long. Make sure that your will and related paperwork are all in order, single people often ...
by Watty
Mon Mar 25, 2024 10:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Would you do a house upgrade?
Replies: 49
Views: 3554

Re: Would you do a house upgrade?

I'd agree to give consideration to how the move affects your kids. They probably care more about staying with the friends they've already developed than having a nicer house. It's the same school district. They love the potentially new house and want to move. My situation was much different but I once did a corporate job relocation when I had a kid in middle school. The area we were mainly looking at was within a huge suburban school district which had over a dozen large high schools. The various areas ranged from pretty affluent to lower middle class. We were visiting a high school in one of the affluent areas to check it out and when we were leaving we happened to drive through the student parking lot. There were a noticeable number of M...
by Watty
Mon Mar 25, 2024 10:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 2026 Tax tables impact on Roth conversions! Act now?
Replies: 10
Views: 1539

Re: 2026 Tax tables impact on Roth conversions! Act now?

OK so no hard and firm numbers from IRS yet but it seems like the 2026 Tax table might look approximately like (per the guess at eFile page): 2026 MFJ 15% $20,226 - $83,550 25% $83,551 - $168,625 28% $168,626 - $256,950 (Sorry if your brackets not included, the idea works across all filings and incomes, I think) versus 2024 MFJ 12% $23,201 - $94,300 22% $94,301 - $201,050 24% $201,051 - $383,900 You also need to consider the 0% federal tax bracket. If something happens like you or a spouse goes into long term care then you may have a lot of medical tax deductions and owe no federal income taxes those years. Your personal tax brackets are a lot more complicated since you also need to consider your state taxes, how your Social Security will ...
by Watty
Mon Mar 25, 2024 9:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Approaching parents about removing oneself from their estate
Replies: 35
Views: 3912

Re: Approaching parents about removing oneself from their estate

-This has never been a topic with my parents and I sort of doubt it will be unless I bring it up. On a scale of highly communicative to less so, we are down near the bottom. With this background don't even bring it up since many people are touchy about kids talking about an expected inheritance. If you do decide to bring it up then do it in person when both your your parents and no one else are there. That way you can discuss it and clarify any misunderstandings. If you do something like send them a letter then you will not be there to do damage control if they do not like something in the letter. It also does not sound like they have actually discussed their wills with you. For all you know they could be leaving most of their estate to a ...
by Watty
Mon Mar 25, 2024 9:13 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pressure Washer
Replies: 20
Views: 1587

Re: Pressure Washer

Can anyone recommend a pressure washer for a homeowner? I would be using it a couple of times per year for house siding, concrete etc. Like most things, there are so many choices out there. You need to be aware that you can damage all these things with a powerful pressure washer or even a small electric power washer if you hold it close to something. Be especially careful with your house siding. An important thing with power washers is to get a brand where you stand a good chance of being able to get parts for it a few years from now. This can be a big problem with off brands. You may not have heard of them but Karcher is big brand name in power washers. I would just suggest buying a small electric Karcher power washer for around $100 so t...
by Watty
Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Timing my retirement date
Replies: 15
Views: 1688

Re: Timing my retirement date

If I retire Sept 1st, then the money I need to live on is taxed at an income level that includes all my W2 income from January to August. Just to be clear so there is no confusion. If you would make $100K if you work for an entire year but then retire midyear after having only made $50K then; Your payroll withholdings for the first half of the year would be withheld as if you are going to have $100K in taxable income unless you make special arrangements. Thigh might put you into a highest tax bracket. When you do your taxes your actual income with be $50k which might put you into a lower tax bracket. For taxes this will be the same as if you had a lower paying job and worked an entire year and only earned $50K. If you do end up in a lower ...
by Watty
Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:26 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Off-market home purchase - best practices?
Replies: 33
Views: 1982

Re: Off-market home purchase - best practices?

I want to make the process as easy as possible for her, to get it done quickly and not scare her off. This is why I don't want to approach her with a lawyer and a 20-page sales contract. I think a very simple 1-page contract would be ideal and I could get a lawyer to review it. And yes, require the property to be vacant! Do not do this without a lawyer! You can have a lawyer draw up the contract to give her and you may not even need to have to tell her you used a lawyer if that would scare her. Do not draw up something then have the lawyer try to fix it, that will cost more of the lawyers time and some problems may be hard to fix. In some states it is required to use a lawyer for at least the closing. One thing that has not been mentioned ...
by Watty
Sun Mar 24, 2024 3:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Number of healthy years with no dependents
Replies: 23
Views: 1628

Re: Number of healthy years with no dependents

Wannaretireearly wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:17 am 1. Current Age: 45.
This life expectancy calculator is very simplistic but according to it there is about a 27% chance that at least one of you will not make it to be 66.

https://www.kitces.com/joint-life-expec ... alculator/

Your finances may limit what you can do now but the key is really to have a good balance with doing as much as you can with what you have instead of deferring it until later.
by Watty
Sun Mar 24, 2024 2:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I really really afford a 3 million mortgage?
Replies: 104
Views: 9022

Re: Can I really really afford a 3 million mortgage?

We have been living away from family for 5 years and the travel is really difficult with young children. I’m an ethnic minority and I want my kids to be exposed to my culture- this is not possible where I live. Another factor to consider is what living there will be like for your kids when they grow up. Even when I lived there years ago one thing I saw was that some of my older coworkers had grown up kids who were well into their 20s who were still living with them. This was not a cultural choice and it was not always a good situation, it was just that their kids did not have high paying jobs so that they could not afford apartments even with roommates. I have moved a couple of times since then and I ended up retiring in a medium to low co...
by Watty
Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:00 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What are your "hidden" tax tips?
Replies: 56
Views: 4796

Re: What are your "hidden" tax tips?

1) You can roll iBonds into a 529. 2) I think most people overestimate their retirement tax rate. A couple can have $40K in Social Security and $20K in taxable income and pay no federal income taxes. With a paid off house and no more child raising expenses that is enough for an above average middle class lifestyle where I live. 3) People also worry too much about RMDs. They only start out at about 4% and if your portfolio is growing at 7% then you will not need to actually start drawing down your IRA until you are in your late 80s when the RMD gets to be above 7%. Paying taxes on an unneeded 4 or 5 percent RMD in your 70s may not be fun but it is still a really good deal. People who are facing high RMDs may not have that because of bad plan...
by Watty
Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I really really afford a 3 million mortgage?
Replies: 104
Views: 9022

Re: Can I really really afford a 3 million mortgage?

One thing that I forgot in my prior post which has not been mentioned yet is that you also need to consider the earthquake risk. It was a long time ago but I was living in that area area(Sunnyvale) when I was thinking about buying my first house. I researched the earthquake risk and the best guess was that if I bought a house there that I might expect to have significant earthquake damage maybe once in 200 years. (Do your own research and come up with your own numbers.) By significant damage I was not thinking that the house would be flattened and need to be demolished, just that it would need major work to repair. That does not sound too bad but that means that if you live in the house for 20 years then there is about a 10% chance that you...
by Watty
Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to avoid getting ripped off on urgent home repairs?
Replies: 47
Views: 3580

Re: How to avoid getting ripped off on urgent home repairs?

It is not the cheapest option but I do preemptive replacements and replace some things before they fail.

For example;
1) Water heaters when they are 10 year old.

2) HCAV systems when they are about 20 year old, in my area September is a very slow month for HVAC companies since it is between the cooling and heating season so you can get very good priced then.

3) Cars when they are 10 year old

I also keep a close eye on my roof when it gets to be about 20 years old.
by Watty
Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I really really afford a 3 million mortgage?
Replies: 104
Views: 9022

Re: Can I really really afford a 3 million mortgage?

redfan11 wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:20 pm 3 million dollar mortgage will cost about 22k at 6.5 % for 30 years.
You would be paying $195,000 a year in mortgage interest and maybe $45K a year in property taxes.

If you put your million dollar down payment into a 5% CD that would generate $50K in interest.

Likely a lot more than $10K a year in townhouse HOA fees and maintenance too.

Combined that is $300,000 a year.

Your tax rate will be painful so you might need something like $500K in income to pay $200K in taxes and to have $300K left to pay for the townhouse.
redfan11 wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:20 pm This sounds like a stupid decision. Please knock some sense in to me.
Consider yourself knocked.
by Watty
Sat Mar 23, 2024 9:24 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HCOL in retirement - mortgage vs. paid off vs. rent?
Replies: 25
Views: 2075

Re: HCOL in retirement - mortgage vs. paid off vs. rent?

What would you choose? There can be lots of non-financial reasons to decide one choice or another. Our situation is a lot different but having a paid off house is a slam dunk easy choice for us at least financially because of taxes including; 1) We get a large owner occupied property tax break. If we were renting the rental company would not get that that and the higher property taxes would be passed on to us. If you itemize your taxes you may also be able to deduct your property taxes if you own the house. 2) We are not taxed on the imputed rent. For example if we had a $100K mortgage at 5% and a CD at 5% then they do not cancel each other out since we need to pay taxes in the interest the CD pays. We are not able to deduct mortgage inter...
by Watty
Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:52 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should we have Long Term Care Insurance?
Replies: 34
Views: 2966

Re: Should we have Long Term Care Insurance?

A couple of things to keep in mind when considering long term care. 1) The cost of care varies a lot depending on where you are are at. This website can give you an idea of how much it will cost in your area. https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care.html Keep in mind that you would still be getting your pension or Social Security while in LTC so the net cost after those will be less. I lucky to be in an a below average are but it will be a lot more challenging if you are in a very high cost area. 2) "Long Term Care(LTC)" is a terrible term since if mixes very different levels of care including home care, assisted living, skilled nursing facility(Nursing Home), and dementia care. The assisted living level of car...
by Watty
Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:06 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retirement Plan Suggestions
Replies: 13
Views: 1434

Re: Retirement Plan Suggestions

Nest Egg: 615k Currently in a mix of stocks and cash. Need approx. 50k/yr to live. S.S. and Pension (guaranteed til both die). 36k/yr. S.S. Am I missing something? If they just set the investments in their nest egg to not automatically reinvest their dividends and interest that would generate about 3% or $18K a year which with the $36K in other income would be $54K a year before taxes which would be more than you say they would need to live on. They would work best in retirement accounts because they are not tax efficient but they could just use a target date fund and not have much of anything to manage. My situation is no doubt different from theirs but after I retired most of my retirement money was in retirement funds so I but most of i...
by Watty
Sat Mar 23, 2024 7:44 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: It is really that simple to do it the Bogleheads way?
Replies: 87
Views: 8195

Re: It is really that simple to do it the Bogleheads way?

So is investing really as easy as buying and holding some recommended index funds? (I have a three-fund portfolio in mind) The projected returns are 8-9% PA, which is better than what my FA gives me, and does not seem unreasonable given Vanguard's performance. It is important to understand and accept that just through random chance that in the short term a FA will beat the averages about half the time before expenses, some will beat the averages by a lot in the short term. After expenses fewer will. There is also a lot of what is called "survivorship bias". Just with bad luck many financial analysts and mutual funds will do much worse than average. Those will often disappear so that most of the surviving mutual funds and financia...
by Watty
Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Toys Have You Bought That Have Been Worth it?
Replies: 259
Views: 18722

Re: What Toys Have You Bought That Have Been Worth it?

Replaced my DSLR camera and lenses with Mirrorless last fall.

I could have gotten by just fine with the DSLR equipment but I love the new features and it was worth it.

Being a Boglehead I bought it on the Canon Refurbished web site during a Black Friday sale when it was more than a third off the new price.
by Watty
Fri Mar 22, 2024 5:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do you assume legislative cuts in Social Security and other federal benefits?
Replies: 49
Views: 2127

Re: Do you assume legislative cuts in Social Security and other federal benefits?

I'm not sure what numbers to use for planning purposes. I don't have a clue as to what numbers to make the math easy if you assume that SS will provide 40% of your retirement income and you want to be prepared for a 25% reduction then combined that would be an overall 10% reduction in your retirement budget. An additional twist is that many people will pay taxes on their Social Security so if it is taxed at 20% then that would mean that with a 10% reduction would only result in an after tax reduction of 8%. I am not planning on a tight retirement budget so an 8% reduction in my spending would not be too painful. There are also lots of other uncertainties in retirement planning like; 1) You investment return 2) Your retirement living expens...
by Watty
Fri Mar 22, 2024 4:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New homeowner advice
Replies: 32
Views: 2291

Re: New homeowner advice

One more thing. Watch a youtube video on how to change the capacitor in your AC system. It is not hard to do. The capacitor is sort of like a light bulb in that it is normal for them to wear out and fail over time so it is just a matter of when it will fail not if it will fail. It is very likely that it will fail on the hottest day of the year. When you get a chance look to see what the numbers are for the capacitor and order a replacement so you already have it to put into the AC when it fails. It will cost somewhere around $20. You can switch it in about ten minutes but if you need to call an HVAC company they may not be able to get to your house for a day or longer, when it is very hot, and they will charge you several hundred dollars or...
by Watty
Fri Mar 22, 2024 1:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure
Replies: 49
Views: 5286

Re: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure

Several people mentioned that they can just move back if it does not work out.

The big question with that is how common jobs are in a mid to low cost of living area which pay their current salary of $240K.

The girlfriend is in even a worse situation if they move back since she might not be able to get back into the same pension plan and they might not even end up getting married.
by Watty
Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:48 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New homeowner advice
Replies: 32
Views: 2291

Re: New homeowner advice

3) Any other unconventional advice for long-term home ownership? I do preemptive replacements of; 1) Water heaters when they are about 10-12 year old. 2) HVAC systems when they are about 20 years old With water heaters they can cause a lot of damage if they fail and leak, especially when you are out of town. When you do not need an urgent replacement you can get it done when when it is convenient for you and you can call around and get a better price if you can wait a week for the company to replace yours. It varies with your climate but with HVAC companies there is often a very slow time of year in about September when it is between the cooling and heating season and they have very little work to do. That makes it very easy to get good bi...
by Watty
Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: When one is ready to retire and pull out of the market.
Replies: 44
Views: 4883

Re: When one is ready to retire and pull out of the market.

Used to think Bonds were the place, but just a few years ago many Bonds dropped double digits. Would people put them in a Money Market or into CD Ladder? Is there a game plan for investments when wanting pull out of the market? There is a school of thought that "Once you have one the game stop playing." and that it is OK to put most of your money for your core expenses into a TIPS ladder. You can only buy TIPS 30 years into the future but there are ways to work around that. With the way TIPS are taxed it is best if they are owned in a retirement account. The problems with that is that you really need a lot of money to be able to do that and that you will likely leave a smaller estate someday but many people are OK with that.
by Watty
Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:19 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: When one is ready to retire and pull out of the market.
Replies: 44
Views: 4883

Re: When one is ready to retire and pull out of the market.

Lets say you always had a magic number that when hit, one says "Cool, I am happy to retire with that amount and live how I want. Lets get out of the market." I gradually started lowering my stock asset allocation long before I retired. The reason for this is that you do not really know when you will retire and many people end up retiring involuntarily either because of health issues or they are laid off and cannot find another job with anywhere near similar pay. If you retire earlier then many people will spend a lot more per year from their investments in the first five or ten years of retirement before they are getting Medicare and Social Security and traveling more than when they are older. As you are heading towards retiremen...
by Watty
Thu Mar 21, 2024 3:52 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: London + ???
Replies: 12
Views: 1173

Re: London + ???

If you get the Rick Steves book for the England and London it will have suggested itineraries. Even if you do not plan on taking them you can also look at the itineraries that his tours take. Flying into London then out of some place like Manchester or Edinburgh, or vise versa would be a logical choice. I was not overly impressed by the Cotswolds and the Lake District because the more popular areas had too many tour busses and while the natural areas were very nice there are also lots of natural areas in the US so your time can likely be spend better elsewhere. if you do go to these then a rental car would be nice to get away from the more popular areas. My impression is that they would have been a lot more quaint a generation ago which is ...
by Watty
Thu Mar 21, 2024 12:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Using target age portfolio in 529s
Replies: 22
Views: 1451

Re: Using target age portfolio in 529s

If the asset allocation of the target date fund matches what you want then they could work just fine but that is just a coincidence.

If they will start college in 2030 you might choose to use a 2030 target date fund. The problem with that is that the 2030 fund was designed for someone who will turn 65 in 2030 and withdraw the money over about 30 years. That is a lot different than the college expenses which will need to be paid out over 4 years.
by Watty
Thu Mar 21, 2024 12:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure
Replies: 49
Views: 5286

Re: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure

That said - do you like the Bay area? I had chances to move out there in the past and while I appreciate the climate and the natural beauty, something about it didn't resonate with me. The Bay Area is a big place which lots of different personality in different areas. While there are some great places like the mountains or beaches which you can drive to in a few hours, if the traffic is not too bad, living in the South Bay in Silicon Valley is in the middle of a lot of suburban sprawl with terrible traffic. Driving past all the strip malls on El Camino Real is little different than similar roads in most of the other cities that I have been to. About six months after I left I went back for a long weekend to visit some friends and I got into...
by Watty
Thu Mar 21, 2024 8:37 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Can I Retire?
Replies: 11
Views: 2358

Re: Can I Retire?

I would like $100k minimum to spend Does that include income taxes? If not you will need more than $100K in income to be able to spend $100K a year after taxes. DW and I own a small business. What happens to your business when you retire? You are in different situations if it will be liquidated, sold, or if it will still operate and produce income for you. I have run multiple simulations, (cfire sim , firecalc, ficalc, fidelity , Schwab) are all minimum of a 95% success rate, even up to $140,000 yearly withdrawals?. Keep in mind that in these simulations "failure" does not mean that you spend mindlessly and end up broke and homeless. In the real world "failure" of a plan would more likely mean that when you are 80 you m...
by Watty
Wed Mar 20, 2024 6:13 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Xfinity equipment update
Replies: 17
Views: 866

Re: Xfinity equipment update

I just got a text saying it was time for an equipment update. Everything is working fine and I am inclined to leave well enough alone. Is there any reason to do this? If you rent your cable modem and router from Comcast it may not be getting security updates. Routers only get security firmware updates for about five years after they are manufactured but Comcast may have had an agreement with the manufacture to update theirs longer. Routers running old firmware is a major security problem since they can be hacked and used in botnets. They can also be compromised to infect your home network. I buy my own router and cable modem and I replaced my router last year even though it was working fine because it was no longer supported and the firmwa...
by Watty
Wed Mar 20, 2024 5:52 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Due diligence in buying used low mileage CPO car
Replies: 16
Views: 1297

Re: Due diligence in buying used low mileage CPO car

KK2020 wrote: Wed Mar 20, 2024 12:01 pm I am specifically looking at 1 owner no accident Carfax report cars
Don't trust the carfax reports.

A few years ago I was selling a Honda which had been in three fender benders(Strangers 2, wife one, me zero :twisted: ) which each had insurance claims but none of them showed up on the Carfax report.

Get it inspected. In addition to accidents it may have had a lot of warranty work which you are not seeing and it could have been repurchased just before the states lemon law took effect and it got branded as a lemon.
by Watty
Wed Mar 20, 2024 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure
Replies: 49
Views: 5286

Re: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure

I thought these were some great points, so wanted to address them: - My partner is willing to move with me, though she has a preference for our current MCOL area. Her career in education might benefit salary-wise from the move, but it introduces her to an entirely new environment. Be sure to also know what the impact for her will be if she has a pension plan. That could be significant. One thing to also think through is how being there will impact your vacation plans. You will likely want to return to visit relatives or be "home" for holidays so that could use up most of your vacation time. That could mean that you will have limited ability to do things like travel overseas. If you work there for a few years then be sure to budge...
by Watty
Wed Mar 20, 2024 8:59 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: M43rds digital camera vs Iphone 13 pro max?
Replies: 101
Views: 4967

Re: M43rds digital camera vs Iphone 13 pro max?

As others have said it really depends on what you will be doing with the pictures. This weekend you might consider going out for the afternoon playing tourist in some area near you with the iPhone and then to actually get prints the size of prints you expect to make with the photos with the photos from China. Showing the iPhone photos on your TV might also be worth trying since a great looking cell phone size photo may look terrible when it is that large. Also take some of the same photos with your camera so you can compare them side by side. Be sure to take pictures with various amounts of zoom. A couple of things which may not have been mentioned. 1) Your normal cloud backup may not work in China because of their internet restrictions. If...
by Watty
Tue Mar 19, 2024 2:06 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How Much to Convert to Roth?
Replies: 53
Views: 4440

Re: How Much to Convert to Roth?

If they do a Roth conversion now they could have unexpected things happen before the end of the year which would impact the decision about doing Roth conversions or not. It would be best for them to look at Roth conversions each year in November or December when their numbers for the year will be firmer. Tax software will be out by then and their 2024 numbers will be firmer so they can do dummy tax returns to see what the exact impact will be since that will catch things like NIIT or taxation of their Social Security. . They could then do any conversions by mid December so they would have a bit of time before the end of the year to work out any SNAFUs. The main issue they need help is how much Roth conversion they should do each year going ...
by Watty
Tue Mar 19, 2024 12:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure
Replies: 49
Views: 5286

Re: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure

- My partner is willing to move with me, though she has a preference for our current MCOL area. Her career in education might benefit salary-wise from the move, but it introduces her to an entirely new environment. Be sure to also know what the impact for her will be if she has a pension plan. That could be significant. One thing to also think through is how being there will impact your vacation plans. You will likely want to return to visit relatives or be "home" for holidays so that could use up most of your vacation time. That could mean that you will have limited ability to do things like travel overseas. If you work there for a few years then be sure to budget for the cost of moving back since you will likely need to pay tha...
by Watty
Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:26 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: 40 Minutes to Connect in DFW
Replies: 61
Views: 4660

Re: 40 Minutes to Connect in DFW

Should I keep looking for better options? I would take a hard look at using the Portland or Philadelphia airports(or both) instead. I did not look but I would assume that there are lots of direct flights between Portland to Philadelphia which would have multiple flights a day which you could use if there was a problem. I would look at 1) After diner drive or take airport shuttle bus to airport(PHL or PDX) and check into an airport hotel. 2) Catch morning direct flight 3) Drive rental car or airport shuttle to final destination. That would leave little chance of there being major problems and you could likely be at your destination or return home before diner time. I don't know what the total cost would be but flights at regional airports a...
by Watty
Tue Mar 19, 2024 10:28 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Help me with my car dilemma . . .
Replies: 36
Views: 2800

Re: Help me with my car dilemma . . .

Some random points. 1) There is a non-zero chance that the dealership is trying to rip you off and the engine could be fixable. A good mechanic would also have told you how much a used engine would cost without you asking. There is a reason that dealerships are sometimes called "stealerships". Another shop may have a relationship with a tow company so it many not cost a lot to have it towed to an independent mechanic for a second opinion. if nothing else a second opinion may make you feel more comfortable with whatever you decide to do. I know that you may not be able to find one that specializes in Volvos but other independent mechanics can also work on it. If you fix it up you will also need to have a mechanic that you trust to ...
by Watty
Mon Mar 18, 2024 5:39 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Advice Needed - Can I Retire?
Replies: 29
Views: 3248

Re: Portfolio Advice Needed - Can I Retire?

Want to go to $100k to include vacations/niceties/etc.... .... Age: Me 59.5yr and my wife is 58. .... Portfolio total: Approx $ 3.2mil. ...... Social Security: His: $55.8k yearly if collected at planned age 70 1) Can I retire? This is my main question. You are making this too complicated by combining the "can I" question with the "how to" part of the question. Sometimes when the answer is not close a very rough back of the envelope calculation is better than a 10 page thesis. You seem to like buckets so you might l consider two buckets; 1) up to the age of 70 and 2) after the age of 70 when you will be on Medicare and getting at least one Social Security check even if only one of you is surviving. For bucket 1 up to age...
by Watty
Sun Mar 17, 2024 7:47 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure
Replies: 49
Views: 5286

Re: Pretty set financially, but considering relocation to VHCOL (Bay Area) for the career/adventure

Low 7 figures net worth ..... Would be increasing salary from $240K..... .... In my L/MCOL, housing prices have doubled in the last 2-3 years. ..... Even after the home prices increasing I would suspect that you have enough that you could pay cash for a house in a low to medium cost of living area. It has been a long time since I lived in the Bay Area but one thing to realize is that many houses in the Bay Area are tiny and sometimes even less than 1,000 square feet. Not only are they expensive but you don't get a lot for your money. Moving back in a few years might not be as easy if you change your mind. The problem is that you will be getting close to 40 and tech jobs can be a lot harder to get as you get older. There might also be a rec...
by Watty
Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: RMDs On A Combined IRA With RMD/Non-RMD Age Gap
Replies: 6
Views: 468

Re: RMDs On A Combined IRA With RMD/Non-RMD Age Gap

You can't combine IRA accounts other than to make your spouse the beneficiary if you want to do that.

My understanding is that you would just need to do the RMD calculations using each others ages since there is more than a ten year age difference.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Require ... stribution
by Watty
Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:13 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pointers for Buying 2024 Honda Odyssey EX-L
Replies: 16
Views: 1552

Re: Pointers for Buying 2024 Honda Odyssey EX-L

Q1: I am not keen on Dealer Installed Equipment, $995. Is there a value in keeping it? It is likely already installed on the car so it cannot be removed. They also gave you a discount off MSRP of about $2,700 so just think of the real discount from MSRP as being $1,700. Look to see what the "fees" are. One of them may be a "doc fee" of something like $500 which is just additional profit for them which would reduce their discount from MSRP to $1,200(??). You may also be able to look up the invoice price to get an idea of what the dealer is paying for the car but there are also likely other holdbacks and incentives for the dealer so they actually paid less. In normal times it is best to negotiate up from invoice and not do...