Search found 222 matches

by Joel
Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Affording a CA (Sacramento) Home - Single Buyer Early 30's
Replies: 27
Views: 4516

Re: Affording a CA (Sacramento) Home - Single Buyer Early 30's

West Sacramento is worth checking out if you work downtown. Easy commute and more reasonable prices.
by Joel
Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:47 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 231465

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

The Stone Wall wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:52 am
Joel wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:08 am Random data point, the air conditioning in my 2018 civic hatchback doesn’t seem to be working anymore. I had it cranked down to Lo yesterday and over a 20 minute drive the air never became cool. Not sure if it’s related or what, but my first actual negative experience with this car.
There is a known problem with the air conditioning condenser on the 2018 civic (actually 2016-2018). Look up technical service bulletin 19-091. There is an extended warranty as a result.
I found that, but apparently my VIN is not covered by the TSB. Either way, I’ve got an appointment on Monday with the dealership to look at it and hopefully get it fixed. We will see if they expect me to pay.
by Joel
Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:08 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 231465

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Random data point, the air conditioning in my 2018 civic hatchback doesn’t seem to be working anymore. I had it cranked down to Lo yesterday and over a 20 minute drive the air never became cool. Not sure if it’s related or what, but my first actual negative experience with this car.
by Joel
Thu Oct 08, 2020 1:01 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I be investing all Roth for short term future?
Replies: 6
Views: 576

Re: Should I be investing all Roth for short term future?

Do you mean use traditional 403b to lower my tax bracket into the 12%? Yes. If you make no traditional contributions and $65K is your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), you will be in the 22% bracket. The first $12,475 of traditional contributions will reduce your tax by 22% for each dollar, until your AGI drops to $52,525. Below that, you are in the 12% bracket so additional traditional contributions would reduce your tax by only 12% for each dollar. Might as well contribute to Roth at that point - see Traditional versus Roth for more. My main concern is how I should be investing in my 403b throughout school and basically if I should do all Roth while I am still making less money and continue to let the 30k in traditional continue to grow as is...
by Joel
Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Career Advice
Replies: 15
Views: 2473

Re: Career Advice

As a higher level finance/accounting profession in a smaller market, changing jobs at the higher levels (controller and above) requires patience as these roles don’t turn over regularly. I could never imagine going back to public accounting after being out.
by Joel
Wed Mar 18, 2020 12:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 231465

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

prd1982 wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 9:03 am
Joel wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:08 am Did anyone else get a notice in the mail about the class action lawsuit against Honda in the State of Minnesota?
Yes. I'm in CT. I'm taking the default choice: extended warranty plus software fix, and giving up opportunity to sue. No noticeable problems with my CRV so far.
Same here. I didn’t expect to be the first to post in this thread about it though!
by Joel
Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:08 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 231465

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Did anyone else get a notice in the mail about the class action lawsuit against Honda in the State of Minnesota?
by Joel
Sun Feb 02, 2020 11:47 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2020 IRS Withholdings?
Replies: 15
Views: 2217

Re: 2020 IRS Withholdings?

mroe800 wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 2:31 am I presume he means the adjustment for inflation. More of my income is taxed in the next bracket down than was last year, resulting in less of my income taxed at my marginal rate in 2020 - a net reduction in tax.
Yes, I meant the tax brackets shifted up as opposed to tax rates went up.
by Joel
Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:23 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2020 IRS Withholdings?
Replies: 15
Views: 2217

Re: 2020 IRS Withholdings?

I think the calculator is incorrect. I didn't change anything from 2019 and suddenly in 2020 my tax witholding per paycheck is less than it is in 2019 (should not have changed). Furthermore, when I use the withholding calculator, it says that I have over-withheld in my current paycheck and the solution is to submit a revised W4 form to withhold even more money. (I set the calculator so that I would get $0 refund). If I have overpaid in taxes, why should I withhold even more? Doesn't seem real to me. If you changed nothing, I would expect your tax withholding per paycheck in 2020 to be slightly less than 2019 because the tax brackets shifted up but I'm assuming your income stayed the same (at least with the 2 paychecks you are likely compar...
by Joel
Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:41 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2020 IRS Withholdings?
Replies: 15
Views: 2217

Re: 2020 IRS Withholdings?

House Blend wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:17 pm
Joel wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 3:39 pm The Wage Bracket Method Tables for Manual Payroll Systems with Forms W-4 From 2020 or Later on Page 7 was exactly what I needed. I can confirm that the paycheck city calculator was in fact correct and should have resulted in $0 withholding from this paycheck since we had listed an amount in Step 3 that was enough to bring it 0. I've added an additional amount to step 4a for good measure to hopefully make sure it gets to 0.
I hope that was a typo--putting amounts in 4a will result in more withholding, not less.
Correct. Typo. 4b, not 4a.
by Joel
Thu Jan 30, 2020 3:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2020 IRS Withholdings?
Replies: 15
Views: 2217

Re: 2020 IRS Withholdings?

It’s very hard to get anything clear online that explains how the form should work I think the salary paycheck calculator is correct, as we have used it for several years and it was always accurate under the previous withholding scheme. I’m predicting that my wife’s employer isn’t properly handling the new withholding tables. Any advice on how to fix this? The rules and format have changed. While it's possible that your payroll office has messed up, paycheckcity is almost certainly wrong unless it has been updated very recently. If you do not need a wizard to tell you how much you should have withheld from your paycheck, you should read Worksheet #1 on p. 5 in Publication 15-T. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15t.pdf It reveals exactly ho...
by Joel
Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2020 IRS Withholdings?
Replies: 15
Views: 2217

2020 IRS Withholdings?

Alright, I’m trying to make some changes to our withholdings for this year, and I’m now being required to use the new withholding form. First of all, change sucks. I’m using the salary paycheck calculator here: https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/ I’m trying to set our federal withholdings at my wife’s employer to $0 since my severance payout had more withheld than we would owe for the entire year. I got everythign filled out at the salary paycheck calculator above said that $0 would be withheld for federal taxes, but then we get the first paycheck and they withheld almost $94. Ugh. It’s very hard to get anything clear online that explains how the form should work I think the salary paycheck calculator is correct, as we have used...
by Joel
Sat Nov 03, 2018 9:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Potential new job. SIMPLE IRA -- lower limit? Any options?
Replies: 7
Views: 557

Re: Potential new job. SIMPLE IRA -- lower limit? Any options?

You should also be aware that some simple IRAs allow you to choose a different custodian. I don’t remember the details, but I remember I was able to help my parents setup their simple Ira contributions to vanguard instead of some American funds Set-up.
by Joel
Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Solar Panel Installation?
Replies: 19
Views: 2087

Re: Solar Panel Installation?

California has net metering, but the annual excess payout is pennies on the dollar. So 100% is good, but anything above that’s worthless.
by Joel
Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Solar Panel Installation?
Replies: 19
Views: 2087

Re: Solar Panel Installation?

Another consideration, we may end up getting an electric car in the future (no immediate plans), and at that point the additional usage (an extra 3k+ kWh) could be a sizable enough expansion to the solar array that it could make sense to expand. Idk.
by Joel
Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Solar Panel Installation?
Replies: 19
Views: 2087

Re: Solar Panel Installation?

We currently have an almost 1yo and plan for 1-2 more, so we are definitely likely to see increased usage in the future (how much? I don’t know?) that will be offset some by the savings as a result of the new hvac unit (entirely? I don’t know)

I definitely am struggling with how to weight and factor these situations into the calculation.
by Joel
Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Solar Panel Installation?
Replies: 19
Views: 2087

Solar Panel Installation?

Advice needed. We live in Northern California (greater Sacramento area) with great sun exposure and lots of AC usage. We purchased a new high-end HVAC system in May that did an excellent job this summer. The previous 12 months energy usage was only 5,050kwh for a 2,300 sq. ft. house. With the big HVAC upgrade, I expect our annual consumption to decrease even further as October through May were with the older HVAC system that was not nearly as efficient, however, it is difficult to quantify at this point. With that said, I want to purchase solar panels for both financial reasons and environmental reasons. I'm hugely incentivized to do this by the end of 2019 to take advantage of the 30% tax credit before it gets slightly reduced. I plan to p...
by Joel
Tue Sep 18, 2018 11:09 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 231465

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

CULater wrote: Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:21 am Far fewer oil dilution complaints filed with Carcomplaints.com on the Civic. Three for 2017 and one for 2018. The problems exists but the CRV engine is the worst.

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Civic/2017/engine
https://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Civic/2018/engine/
That makes sense, but there are also far fewer Civic hatchbacks with this motor than CRVs on the road, so I'm still concerned about it. Possibly even more so if they only make it right for CRV owners.
by Joel
Sun Sep 16, 2018 10:32 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 231465

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

First oil change at 8,500 in my 18 civic hatchback, no major signs of gas dilution. Hopefully the tuning on this car makes the problem not as bad as the CRVs.
by Joel
Wed Jul 18, 2018 11:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 231465

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Posting to follow. Owner of a 2018 Civic Hatchback with this turbo engine. Living in the Sacramento area, so primarily dealing with warmer weather.

I’ve always changed my own oil, but I think with this car I will be taking it to the dealership to have well documented records until there is resolution on this issue.

Checked the oil as soon as I saw this discussion today. Doesn’t appear to have gas in the oil, but I’ve only owned the car since November and only have 6k miles on it.
by Joel
Thu Apr 05, 2018 11:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Taxability of State Tax Refunds w/ Limit on State Tax Itemized Deductions
Replies: 6
Views: 1099

Re: Taxability of State Tax Refunds w/ Limit on State Tax Itemized Deductions

I'll be interested to see the updated worksheet for the 2018 tax year. This is pure speculation, but what makes the most sense to me is that the (partial) reporting of a state income tax refund will be limited to the extent you needed state income tax to hit the $10K SALT limit. All this pertains to the worksheet for the 2019 tax year and thereafter (until the personal tax features of TJCA sunset). The worksheet for 2018 should be pretty similar to 2017's, since the recovery (refund) of concern will be from overwithholding/overpayments made in tax year 2017 (or prior)...so any associated tax benefit will have been attributable to the pre-2018 tax regime. Correct. I mistyped and should have said the updated worksheet after the 2018 tax year...
by Joel
Wed Mar 28, 2018 4:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Taxability of State Tax Refunds w/ Limit on State Tax Itemized Deductions
Replies: 6
Views: 1099

Re: Taxability of State Tax Refunds w/ Limit on State Tax Itemized Deductions

In previous years, any tax refund received from your state was taxable if you itemized in the previous year. It is not correct that in the past "any tax refund received" has been taxable if you itemized in the prior year. The IRS has created a worksheet that you can use to figure out what portion, if any, of your state refund may be taxable. In addition there are a number of exceptions to the taxability of your state refund. See pages 23 and 24 of the Instructions to Form 1040 . In some cases, all of your state refund may be taxable, in some cases a part of it may be, and in some cases none of it may be. I assume that the IRS will update this worksheet and/or the exceptions in the instructions in a logical manner to take the SALT...
by Joel
Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Taxability of State Tax Refunds w/ Limit on State Tax Itemized Deductions
Replies: 6
Views: 1099

Taxability of State Tax Refunds w/ Limit on State Tax Itemized Deductions

In previous years, any tax refund received from your state was taxable if you itemized in the previous year. Does anyone know how that will play out with the $10k limit on state and local taxes with tax reform? I'm on the border of being able to itemize, and I expect I will alternate years between itemizing and standardizing. For example, for 2017, I paid my January mortgage payment and property tax bill in December 2017. Without those, I will take the standard deduction in 2018. In 2019, I will be able to double up on the January mortgage payment and property tax bill again in December. What I'm now wondering is if there will be a strategy in regards to the timing of paying my state taxes based on this. I'm likely to hit the $10k SALT limi...
by Joel
Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HSA family max contribution lowered to $6850 for 2018 [and changed to $6900 again]
Replies: 128
Views: 23409

Re: HSA family max contribution lowered to $6850 for 2018

I just want to thank everyone for this discussion. I would have never known had I not seen this here.
by Joel
Fri Apr 21, 2017 6:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best DNA genealogy testing kits
Replies: 133
Views: 28585

Re: Best DNA genealogy testing kits

I did Ancestry.com earlier this year. Other than taking 2 months to receive the results, it was neat. I thought i had a good handle on my ancestry -- 50% British and 50% German. But I was surprised to find out I was 39% Scandinavian, 30% Irish, and about 8% each British and Western European with some others factored in. The Scandinavian part I can understand, many of my British ancestors lived where the Danes had occupied Saxon territory a 1000+ years ago. But the Irish? Nobody in my family had ever indicated an Irish heritage. And the low Western European ancestry was a bit puzzling also, since my maternal grandparents were both second generation German immigrants. I may try another service at some point -- I find it fascinating. Keep in ...
by Joel
Fri Mar 31, 2017 2:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Chase Credit Card Question
Replies: 18
Views: 2642

Re: Chase Credit Card Question

I was able to get a CSR, then CSP, then Freedom Unlimited. For me and my spouse. We already had the Freedom 5%. We will be collecting the bonuses for all six cards and earning 7.5% on the bonus categories, 4.5% on eating out and travel, and 2.25% on everything else for the next year.
by Joel
Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:15 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Investing 401k contributions and company match differently?
Replies: 10
Views: 1270

Re: Investing 401k contributions and company match differently?

My wife's plan splits out the difference sources in her 401k and has a 5-year vesting schedule. Because the company match and profit sharing sources are not fully vested, that's where we keep our bond allocation. The thought is that if she leaves before vesting fully, we lose the least amount that way. Of course that logic only works if stocks don't crash around the time she would be hypothetically leaving.

But once everything is 100% vested, it shouldn't really matter.
by Joel
Thu Mar 30, 2017 4:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: reduce workplace tax witholding to afford more retirement contributions
Replies: 10
Views: 1086

Re: reduce workplace tax witholding to afford more retirement contributions

dodecahedron wrote:
Joel wrote:Generally, your 401k percentage is taken out before your federal and state withholdings (but after social security and Medicare taxes). So if you set your 401k percentage to 100%, it wouldn't matter what your withholdings were.
That might be true for a traditional 401k, because the federal & state withholdings will decline to zero due to the 401k contribution, but the OP wants to contribute to a Roth plan.

My employer allowed me to set my contributions to 100% when I was contributing to traditional (tax-deferred) but when I switched to Roth, they said they would make a conservative calculation to take the withholding into account and allow me to contribute the remainder.
I completely missed that. You are correct.
by Joel
Thu Mar 30, 2017 3:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: reduce workplace tax witholding to afford more retirement contributions
Replies: 10
Views: 1086

Re: reduce workplace tax witholding to afford more retirement contributions

Generally, your 401k percentage is taken out before your federal and state withholdings (but after social security and Medicare taxes). So if you set your 401k percentage to 100%, it wouldn't matter what your withholdings were.
by Joel
Mon Mar 27, 2017 4:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: So someone drained $13k from my checking account...
Replies: 150
Views: 43839

Re: So someone drained $13k from my checking account...

Wow. The tinhats are heavy in this thread. I just review all my account activity frequently to ensure nothing is wrong. I've had some fraudulent charges on credit cards over the years that always got reversed almost immediately. Always small amounts that I caught by paying attention.
by Joel
Fri Feb 10, 2017 12:44 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why don't stock prices go up on payday?
Replies: 50
Views: 11624

Re: Why don't stock prices go up on payday?

For what it's worth, my wife and I are both paid on the 15th and last day of the month. HSA contributions are invested monthly around the 3rd. Ive set our Roth IRA contributions to be made around the 6th, 11th, 19th, and 25th so that my purchases are spread evenly throughout the month. This works for us. Sort of dollar cost averaging, to a certain extent.
by Joel
Thu Feb 02, 2017 11:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wells Fargo selling HSA division
Replies: 23
Views: 5410

Re: Wells Fargo selling HSA division

curiouskitty wrote:
michaeljc70 wrote:I called Optum. For those that don't know, it is owned by UHC, the largest insurer in the country. They said they had an agreement with Wells Fargo until 2017. In January of 2017, you could move into their normal selection of funds. I didn't ask/they didn't offer as to whether you must. I plan on just going into the Vanguard TSM from the Wells S&P 500 fund.

That's not yet an option for me - is it for anyone else?
by Joel
Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wells Fargo selling HSA division
Replies: 23
Views: 5410

Re: Wells Fargo selling HSA division

Been following this thread since I had my HSA move from WF to Optum last year as well. Update on my particular account: - $2500 min cash balance for no fees - $2000 min investment balance for no fees - Investment choices are still identical to what WF offered previously (as of Feb 2) - agreed Optum's UI sucks (slow, not as intuitive) - WF Index fund is still the lowest fee fund Question: For other folks invested in the WF Index, have you looked at your Dec 31, 2016 statement and received dividend plus a huge capital loss? The loss was almost as much as the dividends! Blah! When I was initially researching Optum Bank, it appeared as if they had much better investment options. Does anyone know if they will eventually transition from the Well...
by Joel
Sun Jan 29, 2017 7:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Claiming Exempt on W4 and filing estimated taxes?
Replies: 6
Views: 2558

Re: Claiming Exempt on W4 and filing estimated taxes?

Claiming exempt is probably extreme, but at what point do people decide it's easier to just pay estimated taxes instead of fiddling with their withholdings?

Married 2 isn't nearly enough withheld as a two income household, and it seems like just paying estimated taxes would be a lot easier than messing around wth it.
by Joel
Sun Jan 29, 2017 6:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Claiming Exempt on W4 and filing estimated taxes?
Replies: 6
Views: 2558

Claiming Exempt on W4 and filing estimated taxes?

Does anyone claim exempt on their w4 and file quarterly estimated taxes instead?

I've been considered reducing my paycheck withholdings and paying quarterly estimated taxes in order to increase spending that is eligible for credit card churning. I have no problem calculating my tax owed, and already estimate it throughout the year and adjust my withholdings as appropriate. We are married with no kids, but since we are both working, we each have to claim single + # to get the right amount withheld. Am I required to withhold at least Married + 2? What if I claimed Married + 10 or something to really reduce the withholdings without actually claiming exempt?
by Joel
Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:23 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wells Fargo selling HSA division
Replies: 23
Views: 5410

Re: Wells Fargo selling HSA division

We were told optum would take over 1/1.
by Joel
Sun Nov 13, 2016 12:42 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help me stop the 1% management fee insanity
Replies: 17
Views: 2835

Re: Help me stop the 1% management fee insanity

It sounds like you have already incurred losses this year that would offset the potential gains. I would cash out and move to vanguard ASAP.

However, you really need to do some more research and understand some of the tax implications of holding taxable investments.
by Joel
Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:44 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401k- what's your experience with contribution limits?
Replies: 19
Views: 3545

Re: 401k- what's your experience with contribution limits?

Most (all?) cut off at the limit.
by Joel
Thu Nov 03, 2016 1:29 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

an_asker wrote:
Joel wrote:My wife has access to a HDHP w/ HSA.

For just her, the plan costs $0 and they contribute $600 to the account.
For her + me, the plan still costs $0 and they contribute $1,200 to the account.
No children.

With that said, we want to sign up for her + me through her employer, in order to get the extra $600 contribution from her employer.

[...]
Joel:

My bad if I missed it, but I don't recall your having mentioned anywhere on this thread the differential on your wife's plan costs w/ and w/o you. Would you mind sharing those numbers (or pointing me to the post where you've referred to those)?
Both plans have no costs, whether it's an individual plan or individual plus one. Hell, even the individual plus family has no cost.
by Joel
Wed Nov 02, 2016 4:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

But, I will say that I did some Googling on this topic and none of the Q&A's I found online addressed this specific scenario in a clear manner. It's possible that it's possible to do what the OP wants to do and not get noticed, and it seems like the OP intends to give it a shot, so hopefully he'll post back with how it all went. OP, another thing: I think that some employers will not allow you to cover your spouse if your spouse already has other coverage. They'll usually state this clearly somewhere. This makes sense since they're often subsidizing family coverage more than they're subsidizing single coverage (and that's certainly the case in your situation since they're doubling the HSA contribution). What I'm describing here is a co...
by Joel
Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:00 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

an_asker wrote:
CT-Scott wrote:[...]Also, while I encourage you to get your HR/Benefits rep's advice, you'll need to use your opinion on whether their opinion is founded on fact or just their opinion, as I've found many of them to be uneducated about more the complicated subjects.
+1!!
Yup, I'm not going to even bother asking HR this question. They would have no idea. I've interacted with them enough to know I should do my own research.
by Joel
Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

Sorry that I'm late to the party and sorry for being the bearer of bad news, but I'm fairly certain that the OP is *NOT* allowed to be covered by his own HMO while simultaneously being covered by his spouse's HDHP. Because they do not have children, his spouse is also therefore not eligible for a family HDHP if he chooses to be covered under his HMO. If they did have children, his spouse *could* get family coverage, but still wouldn't be able to cover him under the HDHP. As such, his spouse can only contribute the single-level maximum to the HSA ($3400). However, the spouse *can* use money that is in her HSA to pay for his [HSA-eligible] medical expenses. If you want to contribute the $6750 family max, you will need to actually be covered ...
by Joel
Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: HSBC Bank- Easy (???) $350 bonus
Replies: 51
Views: 18606

Re: HSBC Bank- Easy (???) $350 bonus

I attempted to open accounts on 10/13. I'm starting to get nervous about them being open by 11/15. If they don't get open by that day, I have a feeling I won't get the bonus.
by Joel
Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:37 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

Leemiller wrote:If you can contribute the full family amount of 6,750 my understanding is that you'd still need to subtract any employer contribution. So if your employer contributes 1,000, you can only contribute 5,750.
That is correct.
by Joel
Fri Oct 28, 2016 5:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

I went through a similar research exercise last week and ultimately came to the same conclusion - I wish this thread existed at the time because there's a lot of good info here. A couple more things to note: - in addition to deductible, if you have coinsurance your costs may rise closer to the out of pocket max (6k for my current HDHP - YMMV) especially if you're having a childbirth. Maternity care in my policy only covers 90%. When my son was born a few years back, total cost for an unplanned C section was >20k and we would have had to pay 3k deductible + 10% of remainder up to OOP max if we were using the HDHP at the time. - if you're in CA, NJ or AL, there's no state income tax savings and there will be extra hassle to deal with reporti...
by Joel
Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

nolesrule wrote:Not that it effects you as you aren't that old yet, but I think that being on both plans would prevent you from making your own catch-up contribution.
You are probably right about that.
by Joel
Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

for bulletpoint a) see my revisions below:

a) if both go with A's plan, they both can have HSAs with contributions up to the family HSA limit. The contributions can be made 100% to A's HSA or 100% to B's HSA, or any split in between. Typically, the contributions will be made to A's HSA as if done through payroll deductions, you can avoid FICA taxes.
by Joel
Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

an_asker wrote:
nolesrule wrote:This thread is making my head explode. I'm glad that my workplace health insurance is so bad that the simplicity of all of us being on my wife's employer HDHP plan is a no-brainer.
Me too ... until last year that is, when the additional cost that they tacked on for a spouse was more than I could get employee-only coverage for myself at work!! :oops:

Now, I/we also get to do the mental arithmetic twice a year, given that our plans years are six months apart.
Oh man. Six months apart? At least our open enrollment periods have 9 days of overlap and the plans are both for the calendar year!
by Joel
Thu Oct 27, 2016 1:57 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions
Replies: 104
Views: 19833

Re: HSA Family $6,750 limit questions

Artsdoctor wrote:Regarding the baby, you may really want to compare plans. It may be more affordable to have the baby on the Kaiser plan because I suspect all of those well-baby visits including vaccinations are going to be covered.

But you're right regarding individual versus family. It doesn't matter who the second person is on the wife's HDHP to be considered a family plan.
That's another consideration we are looking at. Except for my Kaiser plan, it costs me $140 per month to add my wife and an additional $98 per month for a family plan.

Therefore, adding my wife (or just a child) costs $1,680 per year for the plan, while making it a family plan (3+ people) costs an additional $1,176 per year.