Bogleheads.org

Jack FFR1846

What use is foreign currency outside of travel to that foreign country. I've got about five bucks left over from going over the Rainbow bridge into Canada 2 years ago. I can do 2 things with it. Hold on to it for some possible future visit to Canada. Put it into a tip jar at the pizza shop and let t...

Jack FFR1846

Before doing any analysis, you'd ask the question: "Who will suffer financially without her income when she dies?".

I suspect the answer is "Nobody".

If that's the case, she's wasting her money.

Jack FFR1846

With no kids and "meh" about what happens if you both pass at the same time, I'd say you need nothing. I'm a professional crastinator around this. (pro-crastinator). I'm 64 and DW and I have always had a sticking point of who takes care of the kids if we both go over the years. Well, with ...

Jack FFR1846

At 33% tax, you're crying about $11?

Really?

Jack FFR1846

If you have an exhaust fan, it is important to know where the fan exits to. I once bought a house in Virginia and during the home inspection, my inspector and I went into the attic. We could see the fan exhaust which simply exhausted into the attic. That was my first project....to add ducts leading ...

Jack FFR1846

Cities and towns set their own tax rates. Taxes can trend in a certain direction in a state. Also, what is paid for varies in different towns. How the rate can change also varies greatly. California is probably most known for this (prop 13?) while Massachusetts has something a little similar. Taxes ...

Jack FFR1846

And what happens if tax isn't paid on time? And passed on to an heir. Then she dies. And the bonds are passed to her heir. (We have bonds from as far back as 1943 that have never had tax paid and were never cashed that we're going to have "fun" with) Of course, you realize they haven't ea...

Jack FFR1846

I would look ONLY at the need to use it in the next 5 years. Should be in a high yield savings account. Sell it in the next 45 minutes today or tomorrow morning.

Jack FFR1846

And what happens if tax isn't paid on time?

And passed on to an heir.

Then she dies. And the bonds are passed to her heir.

(We have bonds from as far back as 1943 that have never had tax paid and were never cashed that we're going to have "fun" with)

Jack FFR1846

....a 4x4 with off road capabilities for beach driving. You might want to rethink this. I have seen way too many videos with a car stuck on a beach with the tide coming in. If you will be doing this then be well equipped with shovels, traction mats, and the knowledge of how to get unstuck. This is ...

Jack FFR1846

Which resort in Aruba. Some actually are worth what they sold for. My parents had 10 weeks at Costa Linda and aunt was president of Paradise Beach. My mom has sold all her Costa Linda and Paradise Beach weeks at a profit. I don't know about the other resorts. I do know that Costa Linda has a member'...

Jack FFR1846

If it was me, I would just hire a lawyer to represent my interests. We did this many years ago when our children were the beneficiaries of my wife's aunt's estate. The aunt, who was a spinster, had named my wife's cousin as executor, and my wife was not on really good terms with this cousin. Both t...

Jack FFR1846

Keeping any card at 10% or below is what keeps your credit score high. What I would do, and do with my own cards is to charge it on that new card to meet spend. Wait for it to show up online. Probably a couple days. Then pay 90% of it off. Bam.....you get you bonus and your credit score stays primo.

Jack FFR1846

In the salt belt, you're probably going to want to stick with asphalt. Cost.......you're really going to need to get quotes for your area. Smaller jobs are much higher per sq ft done because the contractor has to bring all his stuff and take home all his stuff. Very big jobs are much cheaper per sq ...

Jack FFR1846

Portable is the cheaper way. I just use long extension cords, and only power fridge, freezer , microwave , coffee maker, and a lamp. My 3750 W electric unit handles that . It is about $500. The one issue is if you could have a flooded basement when you are away. If you are not insured for it, the a...

Jack FFR1846

They have worked very hard for a very long time making close to nothing. I believe some options include: Selling the house. Moving back to their home country if it is much less expensive to live there. Get jobs. Even a minimum wage job will likely pay more than they actually made running their busin...

Jack FFR1846

Do you have an independent agent you can go through? They can shop for you and know from doing it all the time who has decided to raise prices or cut service. Prices really can be all over the map. My son bought his first car 6 months ago. He has seen the Geico ad and they quoted him. He also got a ...

Jack FFR1846

Apmex has tons of inventory (literally tons).

Jack FFR1846

In my humble opinion, the thing missing from Tesla's infrastructure is a battery exchange program. Pull in, have a robot remove the discharged battery and put in a charged battery. This would make fueling equal in time to gas. Now THAT would remove the real disadvantage of electric. It also takes aw...

Jack FFR1846

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UskzfQJt2Bc&t=1177s

Jump to the conclusion. Poster admitted he'd use his Subaru Crosstrek for long distance trips.

Jack FFR1846

I never would have spent that much time on the phone. Remember that calls are recorded and when you tell them that you don't have time for their reindeer games and will therefor pull all your money out because YOU wasted my time, the supervisor will listen to the call. Maybe if enough people do this...

Jack FFR1846

Yup, paying TUITION directly to the college (doesn't count if you write your son a check), does not count as a gift. Same for medical expenses. Paying the medical provider directly doesn't count as a gift. You don't have to report either.

Jack FFR1846

Something to be careful of is the frontage and what's nearby. You can start with a large, cheap, low tax parcel and a developer can put in houses across the street or next to your property. If the town determines that you now have building lots, your taxes can go through the roof. The land my house ...

Jack FFR1846

A friend of mine has been completely off grid for 20 years in southern New Hampshire. Some things he's relayed to me. His batteries are all lead acid. Why? Because they're easy to test, easy to replace, easy to buy. If a battery goes bad, he can go to auto zone, wal mart, sears....pretty much anywhe...

Jack FFR1846

I would double check the community college full price. My younger son was involved in a state program with his high school that exempted him from tuition at his community college (Massachusetts). So instead of $10k (tuition and fees only), he saved $300 or $400 because state colleges in Mass have he...

Jack FFR1846

Waste of time having a lawyer look. What do you think the lawyer can tell you? Options tend to have exactly the same wording for peon engineers as for the CEO and when the CEO does well (which is his only goal in life), you do well. I expect your choice will be "Yes" or "I've got a be...

Jack FFR1846

It depends. If $30k depletes your eFund, then take the 0.9%. Sometimes, there is a choice to get some more money off the car if you don't take the subsidized financing, sometimes not. At the moment, Subaru's 0.9% on some cars for 4 years is financing or no financing, no discount in lieu of financing...

Jack FFR1846

Camry? Why not a Corolla? Well, because BH approved means the choice of one of these 3: 5 year old Beige Camry. Tesla something for $150k, even if the driver lives in an apartment without charge capability and work has forbidden charging. Some Subaru if they live in snow country. Other choices are ...

Jack FFR1846

How many miles do you put on each car? I know with Covid, I'm only putting maybe 4k miles on my car a year. I usually put well over 25k miles. If you're in the same boat, don't lease, only to give back a 3 year old car with 10k miles on it so the dealer can sell it for $15k over residual. Buy the wi...

Jack FFR1846

persimmon wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 6:47 pm Am I wasting my time?

Yes. And your money if you use them.

Jack FFR1846

Does she live in a state with a low estate taxable amount? Massachusetts taxes for anything over $1M. So her estate would be subject to tax here. There are several other states like this. Oh, and Mass doesn't just tax what's over $1M. It's a cliff. Have $1,000,001 and it's taxed from dollar 1.

Jack FFR1846

50/50 here.

shrug

Jack FFR1846

Maybe I misunderstand, but I don't see anything to be probated. Insurance/annuity beneficiaries pay outside of probate. A joint account is owned by both people and either can drain it at any time including after one passes. TOD accounts transfer (I think) outside probate. Same for trusts. I'm not ev...

Jack FFR1846

Planet tends to be very straight forward and will give you the best price right off the bat. If you go, say hi to Max (sales) and Ryan (sales manager). Both are real car enthusiasts. Tell em Jack said hi. Our family has purchased 3 Subarus from them over the last 3 years.

Jack FFR1846

As an ETF, it's free and no different at Schwab, TDAmeritrade, eTrade, AllyInvest. Oh, and Vanguard. I hold VTI and have all those brokerages except Vanguard.

Jack FFR1846

I lived in several college towns over the years. Most in New England. Just off the top of my head. Westfield, MA, home of Westfield State University. This is the last city (mayor form of government) before hitting the Berkshires. The college is not located near downtown, but instead about 3 miles we...

Jack FFR1846

Regarding the time, see my other post, my friend who had the trees on his 35 acre home was a landscaper. Like most landscapers, winters were filled with snow plowing driveways, cutting and delivering firewood and selling Christmas trees. He also did a lot of skiing and snowmobiling when Christmas pa...

Jack FFR1846

You have more choices than you think and it's not as hard as you think. First, put the money into a high yield savings account. Ally is well respected. If you have a good local credit union, that could be even better. Now that you have that money stored and available, increase your 401k to contribut...

Jack FFR1846

Some is the school and a lot is the major. If she goes to private and majors in East Greenland Women's studies, she'll be saying "would you like fries with that?" a lot. If instead, she goes to state college and gets her BSN, then she'll have a job right out of college that she can stay in...

Jack FFR1846

If you use eBay, you really need to do your homework. Check ratings on buyers and read reviews. If they all sound alike, it's likely that they are a scammer and will use one of many scams to keep you flatware and your money gets refunded to them, so you end up paying shipping to give it away. Don't ...

Jack FFR1846

I have not done this myself, but my best friend did on a few acres of his 35 acre home. I believe he mailed away for saplings and planted them. There is work involved, trimming the trees as they don't stay nice "Christmas tree" shape all on their own. You may be able to get a state discoun...

Jack FFR1846

So, quite a bit that you describe existed in my house when I bought it. The difference is that my lot is on the side of a hill, so grading and water release is a simple task of getting the water to the downhill side of the house and off it goes. Clearly, something like gutter cleaning needs to be do...

Jack FFR1846

A) Did you buy the stock in March 2020 in spite of it going down 30+%? Yes. My buying consists of my 401k, which is all S&P 500, DW's 401k, which is all total Bond. As we hit cash targets, this is used in taxable to buy total US stock ETFs. All of this went as usual. B) Did you hold the stock i...

Jack FFR1846

If the client has custody of the Will and it can't be found, there's a presumption that the client destroyed it with the intention of revoking it. We had such a case where we think that someone who would be much better off absent the Will caused it to go missing. The case was settled. If the law fi...

Jack FFR1846

Sorry, you can't quit. The 529 isn't going to go very far unless your kids get scholarships or somehow have their schooling paid for. My older son started at a mediocre engineering school (didn't do well in high school) at $44k a year, but with an $11k scholarship. After the first year, he aced out ...

Jack FFR1846

Work from home has greatly accelerated my biggest money saver. That is feeding my wood burning, forced air furnace to heat our home. When working at the office, I'd light it up after work and keep it going until I went to bed. Now, I light it up right after breakfast and it's going until I go to bed...

Jack FFR1846

She has no income and no prospects for income. She has zero chance of getting a refi. What savings/retirement funds etc might she have? I sort of assume nothing as it wasn't mentioned. For housing, clearly she doesn't need the house. She should sell it and move into a rental. If she is poor with mon...

Jack FFR1846

Cool. Finally a topic I know a lot about. I bought a '73 911S for $12.5K in 1986 and it subsequently sold on Goodings 20+ years later for $214K. I drove it all those years and put 180K miles on it. Restored it twice. I now have an absolutely pristine, original, low mileage 1975 Carrera; a 1990 trip...

Jack FFR1846

Go buy $100 of junk silver from craigslist, pawn shops, coin stores. Take a magnet and be amazed how many coins stick to the magnet. There are TONS of fake silver coins out there. When you go to sell on craigslist, pawn shops, coin stores, they'll all do this and either reject all of your coins or c...

Jack FFR1846

The good news is that you're able to build a McMansion with 4000 square feet for only peanuts. That house in my town would easily be $1.5M to $2M. My own house is 2800 sq feet with an 864 foot detached garage on a bit over 13 acres across the street from a state park lake. Worth about the same $600k...

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