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archbish99

Thanks everyone for your responses. Taylor, I'll be sure to check out the book. It seems like the piece of the premise you're missing is that tax-efficient placement doesn't say you don't put stocks in your tax-advantaged accounts, just that if something's going to hang out, it's going to turn out ...

archbish99

401k: No employer match currently. It is with theonline401k.com. I am not pleased with its fund selection and it seems the only index fund in there is SWPPX. All the other funds seem to be actively managed with expense ratios between 0.64% - 1.5%. I would recommend rethinking this. Tax-advantaged s...

archbish99

I read that it is real PITA to get a mortgage lender to remove PMI from your mortgage, so I do not like option D. If you somehow got in a hurry to buy a house, but didn't have the down payment, then I would think maybe option E would be borrow some from the 401(k) to avoid PMI and pay the 401(k) lo...

archbish99

I've never bought individual stocks before and only invested in a 401k or Roth in mutal funds, so this is a pretty basic question which I would like advice on. Many moons ago, my wife worked for Walmart. They granted her free stock grants. We were getting some small dividends for the past couple of...

archbish99

The general wisdom is to draw down taxable first, and use the low-income time that gives you convert your pre-tax assets into Roth accounts up to the top of the 15% tax bracket each year. However, with the pension, you may not have a lot of extra room. The other thing that substantial assets let you...

archbish99

I've used the easy deposit service at UPS stores several times and never had any problems. I would use deposit@home, but I am non-military and there for ineligible. Military has nothing to do with it. I'm non-military, and I've got D@H. I think the criteria be that you have (or have had) both insur...

archbish99

In Seattle the only option for voting is by mail so the official deadline doesn't matter much... So Seattle doesn't have walk-in polling places? Interesting; how long has this been going on? All of Washington state, actually. The legislature made it an option counties could choose in 1987. By 2009,...

archbish99

(a) I will find out about "Open Architecture". Should my expectation be that we literally move existing funds out of actively managed funds into low cost index funds that meet the same basic target asset class (large cap active to S&P500 index for example)? That makes me a little nerv...

archbish99

I'm looking to start a new Roth IRA for myself and my wife. We're looking to start with a TR fund from Vanguard. Would it make sense to fund both with $1,000 and start with the same 2 funds or would that overlap? We're both age 29 and I feel pretty comfortable with the TR2050 fund. I would fund bot...

archbish99

Can you use mobile deposit? Not sure if there's a dollar limit. https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/mobile_banking_dm $5k limit for the Deposit@Home feature. I suspect the same applies for Mobile and UPS Store. If so, you'll need to mail it. You can understand why they'd want the original check for lar...

archbish99

I like this idea: On the back of my cards, I sign in permanent ink "SEE MY I.D." and sign the pads the same way. I feel that is a bit of protection. The gel pen does not allow your check or signature to "washed". I tried doing this. I tried using that card at the post office. Th...

archbish99

Interesting about the vouchers. That explains why I read so often that people who had their credit card info stolen report that airline tickets were purchased with the info. I've read that it's quite common for hackers to buy gift cards and sell them on ebay using the same MO, but I can see that ai...

archbish99

Till you are experienced, I'd watch it every month or so. If your contributions reflect the same ratios you want in your portfolio, the portfolio should be OK unless there is a market crash. Obviously, the portfolio is going to wander around the percentages you choose. People vary greatly on how of...

archbish99

Tax Filing Status: Single, getting married in May '12 This is just around the corner. You need to provide spouse's details to get a complete picture. For example, if your new spouse has high interest rate loans you would want to pay them off before taxable investing. Incidentally, if you're getting...

archbish99

A recent study you may want to peruse is this one by Jim Otar: "Perpetual Withdrawal Rates for Foundations, Endowments and Charitable Trusts: A Non-Gaussian Analysis" Though it's directed at foundations and endowments with perpetual withdrawal needs, it's findings are equally applicable t...

archbish99

I'm going to have a total roth IRA contribution of 5k this year. There are no other deductions (unless I can think of some). I'm single and 22. I guess I didn't know exactly what head of household meant. I just tried working the numbers again and I got this ($5k in roth IRA not shown). Roth contrib...

archbish99

Don't have any specific stats, but I know many people who tithe 10% of their gross. They don't talk about it much, but it's an important part of their faith. That and some others pretty well sum it up. We started at 10% and have been increasing over time. We're up to 18.5% now. Our retirement savin...

archbish99

Look at it this way. You're paying 30% marginal rate on taxes. For every dollar that you put into a taxable account, you could have put $1.42 into the 401k. Compare that to the extra ~1% expense on the funds in your 401k. Assuming a constant return, that 1% drag takes about 37 years to overwhelm the...

archbish99

While accumulating, if you use DCA, say twice a month, and you have 3 ETFs, and both IRA and 401k accounts, then you would have to place 144 buy orders a year. That's a lot of time to enter those orders and wait for executions, as well as commissions. True. My strategy is to contribute to mutual fu...

archbish99

For walking I prefer New Balance. For hiking (the shoe has heavier construction and more agressive tread) I prefer Nike. I prefer the shoe style, not the boot style. The shoe style is fine in everything but heavy snow and they tend to breathe better. I live in Minnesota and there are only a half do...

archbish99

We barely use it, though. We got spoiled using a Tivo with cable for a long time before we canceled a couple years ago, so either broadcast or cable feels handicapped without a DVR. Live TV commercials seem nearly unbearable after getting away from them for a while. We get by with Hulu and Netflix ...

archbish99

One of the life insurance is with New York Life. The proceeds is currently sitting in the bank idle. The New York Life representatives suggested the following investment strategy for the proceeds: - 50% for mutual funds - 30% for my daughter's whole life insurance - 20% for her annuity I think the ...

archbish99

Anybody can recommend a fee-only financial planner in (west) Chicago area? It turned out I'm the benefinicary of my ex-wife's 401K and I just received a letter from the plan administration that I'll need to take a minimum distribution this year. Is this expected? I'm trying to reach them for clarif...

archbish99

I find it quite interesting that many of the posters advocating the OP should have kept the $100 use rationalizations such as-- salvage rights, finders keepers (haven't heard that since the 4th grade), the person who dropped the bill won't return, Walmart employees will steal it, etc. To those folk...

archbish99

I would've put the $100 bill in my pocket and left the store. I don't see how that is somehow "dishonest." How much does it have to be to become dishonest? $500? $5,000? $10,000? If the ownership is easily determined, it's stealing even if it's a penny. If the ownership is not conclusive,...

archbish99

As you mentioned, highly location dependent. Also dependent on whether you can get the mount on the roof. We bought a moderately cheap (~$50) Antennas Direct antenna and put it in a closet in the upper corner of our house and got fabulous picture quality on our local channels. However, there were al...

archbish99

The IRS is much more concerned about under-reporting of capital gains. That's why reporting is now required. Example: John buys 1000 shares of XYZ in 2008 for $50/share. (his only holding of XYZ) He sells the 1000 shares in 2011 for $100/share for a gain of $50K. When he goes to do his taxes, he ca...

archbish99

Leesbro63 wrote:I can't say that dad is "robust" but he's still in pretty good shape for the shape he is in.

Aren't we all?

archbish99

This site indicates that the medical insurance deductible cannot be covered by a LPFSA: http://www.aetna.com/members/fsa/eligibleExpenses/limitedFSA/limitedFSAexpensesO.html Useful.... Not straight from the IRS, but good details. Of course, it does say that all dental work (including more surgical ...

archbish99

I've been told by my dentist and an orthodontist that I should seriously consider orthognathic surgery (surgically adjusting the jaw to correct alignment problems too severe for braces). I've been told this in the past by other professionals, so while I'll probably seek a second quote on the prices,...

archbish99

Well done on working to make yourself financially secure. I don't see any reason why you can't contribute to a Roth. The limit is $5,000 per year (if you can't contribute new money this year, consider moving some from your other account). Only if you are making a lot of money will the ability to co...

archbish99

I use to do be an obstructionist but I gave it up recently. Here is my obstructionist psychology: If you put your car in cruise control and go about 5 miles above the speed limit in the left lane, then you basically never have to slow down or kick off speed control. It's easy. There is no more effo...

archbish99

Don't have any legal references, and honestly this is likely to be an issue of state tax law. Consult an attorney. Gut feeling: Income which is tied to a location (wages) are taxed in the location they're earned, not your home location. Income which is not tied to a location (investments) is taxed i...

archbish99

Since I'm just starting out, it may make sense to simply eat the tax hit on earnings and convert everything to the Roth IRA (principal + earnings). Capital Gains taxes only apply in a taxable account. You could probably do this every paycheck if you wanted. Not worth the hassle, though. Depending h...

archbish99

Ah, and I see the article even covers that. Fantastic!

archbish99

Yeah -- if I could just come up with a way to qualify for Alliant, that would be a very tempting option.

archbish99

few more questions: 1. monthly bond interest or q6 months for TIPS funds, is an 'addition' to the portfolio, right? 2. but I assume capital gains distributions from either stock or bond mutual funds are not. 3. what about dividend distributions from ETFs/mutual funds? Since these reduce the value o...

archbish99

Investing and paying off debt are two sides of the net worth improvement coin. What matters is what your net worth comes to, and its potential for growth based on the money you put into it. A 6.5% debt is an asset with negative value which is growing at a pretty competitive interest rate. Reducing t...

archbish99

few more questions: 1. monthly bond interest or q6 months for TIPS funds, is an 'addition' to the portfolio, right? 2. but I assume capital gains distributions from either stock or bond mutual funds are not. 3. what about dividend distributions from ETFs/mutual funds? Since these reduce the value o...

archbish99

I am curious how we, the shareholders of Vanguard funds, supposedly the owners of Vanguard, benefit from these patents? If not, why waste time and money creating/advancing/enforcing such patents. The only answer I can see if that Vanguard is doing what is best for Vanguard business, with little eye...

archbish99

I called Fidelity about this too. Basically, they can only reinvest on securities of which they keep a sufficient supply, which implies a certain price stability and volume. He also mentioned that the availability of options on the ETF affects it, since they can hedge themselves against price moves...

archbish99

Basically, no. The only reason not to is if you have a truly horrendous set of fund choices in the 401k. If they're even moderately decent, take it. Here's the general wisdom on priority order for investment accounts: 401k with match HSA Deductible TIRA Roth IRA in low tax bracket 401k without match...

archbish99

Even if not, you can still get that 25% max benefit by putting 25% in. Up to the limit, you'll be making pre-tax (or Roth, as appropriate to your tax bracket) contributions. Past the $17k limit, you'll be making after-tax contributions which, at year-end, you can roll over to a Roth IRA. It means th...

archbish99

I have a friend who sounds a lot like you, actually. She did work after they got married, but now stays home with their kids and actively volunteers through their church. They own an extremely nice house with a relatively small mortgage. He saves very aggressively, to the point where they have fight...

archbish99

With a Roth, yes. But we're not talking about Roth 401k contributions -- those are included in the $17k limit. We're talking about after-tax contributions, which are different. Money goes in after tax. Withdrawal of earnings are taxed at your marginal rate. You're trading giving up the preferred tax...

archbish99

I don't think that's legal.... I agree, I've never seen anything that would suggest the employer can opt to do that.

archbish99

You can do this, but beware -- it's not the same as a Roth contribution. It's the same as a non-deductible IRA contribution. That means your contributions are withdrawn tax free, but earnings are only tax-deferred. In general, it's better to use a taxable account -- the lack of tax drag (i.e. not be...

archbish99

I was mentally quantifying investment placements this morning, and came up with an interesting question. The metric I was using was the number of dollars contributed to the investment account per dollar of take-home pay given up. Here's what I initially came up with: In the 25% bracket: Traditional ...

archbish99

For me, the value of cards vs. cash is the automatic history that's accumulated. There's no more "Where did that other $12 go?" My wife and I have literally talked our way stop by stop through a vacation because we were missing a cash receipt and were trying to true up our budget after we ...

archbish99

Of course the States would love to keep the discussion on how to collect more Use Taxes, and strongly favor proxies like vendors to act for them. I have no problem with that, as long as spending is reduced FIRST by each State government in real terms by say 20 percent? It is the SPENDING that is th...

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