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archbish99

Rejoice that it's only the deductible you're hitting. I've typically had this conversation with folks who've hit the out-of-pocket max. And I've been that person, telling the surgeon that we really needed to get me in before New Year's if at all possible. Personally, I take it as given that we will ...

archbish99

elwing wrote:Short answer: we're happy with it - except never knowing how much we're going to pay for something....

Well, that's true with nearly any insurance, I think. Unless you've got a flat co-pay model, but that seems more common with HMOs.

archbish99

My employer mandated the switch -- I held on to the old plan for as long as allowed, since it was slightly net better for anyone who would exceed the deductible. That said, I have no complaints. Here's how I handle it: I save up over the year to make the maximum contribution to the HSA as a lump sum...

archbish99

And there's a big difference between demanding more and asking them to help you justify working there. I may have pre-loaded the salary negotiation -- I wasn't expecting the "anticipated salary" question when I applied (dumb college student!), and polled a few friends in similar industries...

archbish99

I'm a little confused. What is your total amount that you need to live on? If it's $55k, that's easy -- Social Security and her pension already cover it. Or is it on top of her pension? Or you anticipate needing $35k pension + $23k SS + $55k other sources = $113k/year? Regardless, I'd break the reti...

archbish99

I believe you can begin to contribute to the HSA on 4/1/2016, but not before then. If you carryover any amount in the FSA to 2016, then you'll have to wait till 4/1, even if you withdrawal the FSA money before then. No. OP is asking about the new rules which allow unused money in a 2015 FSA to roll...

archbish99

I think they may also have been tripped up by this language: ...an individual receiving an IRA distribution on or after January 1, 2015, cannot roll over any portion of the distribution into an IRA if the individual has received a distribution from any IRA in the preceding 1-year period that was rol...

archbish99

Follow-up question here -- Vanguard says that the 60-day period for a rollover starts from the first distribution from any IRA, and since we took the RMD earlier in the year, we can't do a rollover now even though we're less than 60 days since this distribution. I asked them to point me to anything ...

archbish99

An update on an old thread -- I took a few minutes and called a few of my "old moldy" medical bill holders, where they'd processed through insurance but never billed me. One had excessive wait times, so I submitted a request on their web site. Haven't heard back yet. One automatically writ...

archbish99

As far as I can tell, the existence of an HSA has nothing to do with billing. Your insurance company should provide you with an EOB that includes any reductions based on negotiated pricing and such and which clearly shows, "Your Responsibility", amounts. Bolder Boy makes a distinction tha...

archbish99

Let me suggest that, whether you get the card or not, if you're contemplating timing of the bill being due and money being tight in a given month, you may not have a solid handle on your cash flow. Take a look at You Need A Budget, because you do.

archbish99

I don't see a minimum holding period, so I'd probably go for it. Don't be scared of the "disqualifying disposition" stuff -- you're making money, it's taxable, big deal. Main thing I don't care for is that with only one-month offering periods, you'll incur a sale commission each month; tha...

archbish99

Sounds accurate. The bonds you cash will have been earning 0% for three months, regardless of what rate they were supposed to earn. If they were already earning 0%, that's not much of a loss.

archbish99

My parents initially gave me about $200/month, plus car insurance, textbooks, and access to a calling card (remember those?) to call home. My scholarships covered tuition, room, and a basic meal plan when I started -- increasing fees made it cover only tuition by the time I graduated. That $200 cove...

archbish99

Compatible with Chrome for most sites. Some neat unique features, but no plugins. Mostly a matter of taste.

archbish99

I don't really see a downside to the split policies (though you'll have to maintain two HSAs). In the worst case (expenses split equally) they're equivalent; in the "best" case you come out better.

archbish99

The confusing piece will be wash sale rules. Every 30 days you can TLH, but you can only go one direction, or you'll be buying the same thing you're selling.

archbish99

Lost in this 10 page debate, are the questions of whether Vanguard the corporation and Vanguard the mutual funds even qualify as related organizations, subject to transfer pricing rules, to begin with. IIRC, they all have the same board members. That could change, certainly, if they wanted to try b...

archbish99

Yes -- each month you're suspended counts as if it were a month you'd waited to claim. So having received SS for 1-2 months before suspending will end up the same as if you'd claimed 1-2 months before age 70. The other advantage for Roth conversions is that you can precisely hit the 15% bracket, bec...

archbish99

My employer allows a lump-sum from payroll out of the first paycheck of the year (or, I presume, the first paycheck of a new-hire). So a lump sum doesn't necessarily lose the FICA savings. Also, if you're past the SS cap, that savings is only about $100 -- nothing to sneeze at, but also not world-en...

archbish99

Timing with respect to the ex-dividend date doesn't matter; timing with respect to market movements does. Converting $10k to Roth on the lowest day of the year gets a larger percentage of your Traditional IRA converted at the same price compared to $10k converted on the lowest day of the year. Of co...

archbish99

Obviously. The MM is in the IRA; there isn't a concept of "sweep account" outside of brokerage that I can find, unless you have one of the combined MF/brokerage accounts (we don't). For each fund, you pick whether you want proceeds to be reinvested, go to a different fund (MM is an option ...

archbish99

Not terribly much -- under $300. I wouldn't need to front the money out of pocket -- I have access to the taxable account as well, so I could just transfer it from there.

I keep their money and mine far apart, just to avoid any confusion.

archbish99

There is a MM fund which is the sweep account for the brokerage stuff -- they just didn't use it. I haven't called to complain about that, but if i can't flag it as a rollover on the web site, I'll have to call anyway....

And to the timing question, the distribution was last week -- 9/24.

archbish99

In my father's IRA which I manage, I had fund A set to direct its distributions to fund B. Later, I exchanged everything out of fund B, so there was no fund B for the distribution to go to. When fund A paid out dividends at the end of this past quarter, Vanguard apparently sent a check directly to m...

archbish99

I for one, appreciate the value of a PCP that knows me and wants "my business." The idea of your own personal physician is fading fast. Patients don't know what they are missing. Instead they will interact with a rushed Primary care doc, if not a NP or PA, who is more interested in genera...

archbish99

I also had my PCP jump to the concierge model. I also declined to follow. We have excellent insurance, and I don't feel the need to pay a retainer on top of the premium, deductible, and coinsurance. Another office my wife visited offered a model where, for a flat annual fee, they would include a cer...

archbish99

Inverted ownership because RICs are required to be independent corporations, and Bogle wanted the management company beholden exclusively to fund shareholders -- no shareholders of the management company, no private owners, just the funds. I'm sure there are other arrangements that could achieve the...

archbish99

I think the compatibility check only verifies your computer can handle Windows 10. It can't verify all the non-Microsoft software on it can work with Windows 10. No, it can check whether you have something installed that Microsoft knows has a compatibility issue. The list changes as compatibility m...

archbish99

I contribute the max annually, pay expenses as they arise, and invest the amount above my remaining OOP for the year. Works for me; others have found other approaches. A difference in ER of .03% means $3 more per $10k invested. If you're contributing around $5k/year and can invest it all as a lump s...

archbish99

If your computer is prompting you to update, the water is likely fine. Open the notification on the task bar (the little Windows icon near the clock) and there's an option to check compatibility. If it's not prompting yet and/or the check finds issues, you might prefer to check back in a few weeks.

archbish99

How easy is it to convert 4Ever from rear facing to front facing ? Am thinking about purchasing it so we can still keep kiddo rear facing but eventually front facing. Do you have to re-do everything to change from rear to front and vice versa? So far, I haven't needed to do that. There's a very det...

archbish99

No, that's a wash sale. You purchased replacement shares before selling the old ones.

archbish99

We have the 4Ever, on the theory that we won't need to buy another carseat for our son. It transitions from rear-facing to forward-facing to backless booster.

Of course, if we have a second before he's out of the booster, we'll need another at that point. We'll see.

archbish99

barefootjan wrote:EDITED TO ADD: Is it just me, or is this "what's trending" page actually outdated?! - it looks like it's for 2014, not 2015.

2014 returns, looks like, so filed in 2015.

archbish99

Yes -- my point is that the IRS should only be looking for verification in that case. They don't check overreporting of income or underreporting of mortgage interest deductions....

archbish99

What are the odds you will actually have this house and this loan for the full 15 years? Any chance you might prepay or move, even if refinancing again seems unlikely?

I probably wouldn't pay for a lower rate that I wouldn't recoup in 2-3 years max.

archbish99

It makes sense, but it doesn't. The taxpayer claims they have already received $2400 of their $2800 refund, and only requests $400 from the IRS. The IRS isn't sure they've already paid out $2400, and thinks the taxpayer could be entitled to the full $2800. Shouldn't this be a case where the IRS says...

archbish99

I bought a new computer a couple of years ago with Win 8 and soon upgraded it to 8.1. I hated it so much that I continued to use my old computer with XP for several months. When Microsoft support for XP went away I gradually moved to the 8.1 computer and eventually got comfortable with it but still...

archbish99

Is there merit to this? Would our expense ratio's rise as Shareholders? To summarize the thread: Legally, it sounds like there is merit, though everyone seems to agree that the application is a bit silly in this instance. Our expenses would rise by a tiny fraction at most, and could likely be avoid...

archbish99

Yep. There are two phase-ins for Social Security taxability, and the presence of more income (whether or not taxable) moves you across those phase-ins. The first phases up to 50% of your SS income, the second up to 85% of your SS income. Depending where you fall, that $100 (while not taxable itself)...

archbish99

Have colleges changed that much from when I was in school? I remember at the beginning of Fall semester every year, there were all sorts of people on campus trying to get students to sign up for credit cards. They'd be giving away something simple like a T-shirt for applying, and there would consta...

archbish99

Got our daughter a cc in her own name when she was 12. Filled out the form with a birthdate making her 21. I have this nagging suspicion that was illegal.... Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or report ... for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of ... any institution the acc...

archbish99

We got each of our kids authorized user cards with me when they were in college with a $5K credit limit. They were instructed that it was just for emergencies and expenses we agreed upon BEFORE they charged it. It gave both of them my excellent credit history and they were both able to get credit c...

archbish99

I think sls239 was saying that the auto-update of drivers wasn't posing a problem for him, not that he wanted the driver updated.

There is a tool on download.microsoft.com to block the installation of a specific driver update if you know it causes problems.

archbish99

The Get Windows Ten app will prompt you to upgrade if there is another computer "just like yours" (PC model, set of installed apps) that has already upgraded and appears to be doing well. If you're getting the notification, I'd say go for it. If not, and you're not tech-savvy, I'd wait unt...

archbish99

^^I just learned that a divorced spouse whose marriage lasted for at least 10 years can get the same survivor benefits as a widow or widower. Thank you, archbish99. Yes, in something of a black-humor situation, I've known more than one barely-scraping-by elderly woman who could finally afford to re...

archbish99

You're younger and female, so odds are good that you will outlive your husband. That means in addition to whatever benefit you receive, either spousal or your own, you also have the option of his survivor's benefit if it's larger. Usually, that means the spouse with the lower PIA and longer life exp...

archbish99

Thanks for all the input. It really helped. I still have some reading to do on the ESPP around when to sell. My company stock is currently close to as low as it has ever been. I tend to think that means selling immediately would not be the way to capitalize on that investment. But... I'll have to s...

archbish99

The reason people don't like "bucket" approaches is that it leads you in the wrong direction. If you're going to replenish your "buckets" no matter what the market conditions, then you're essentially keeping a fixed asset allocation and the buckets haven't bought you anything exc...

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