Bogleheads.org

Finding and correcting an internal leak in our plant that saved several 10's of million dollars per year. It was something that could leak either way, both cases were very bad. Sometimes the leak would not exist do to the pressures being roughly equal on both sides of the leak. Ten year old data sho...

Retired 3/28/08, a Friday, about 3 days too soon. I unfortunately listened to HR's recommendation that I retire at the end of the pay period (every two weeks) instead of the end of the month to simplify paperwork. They assured me that it would not change my pension. A couple of months later I receiv...

You can download SS AnyPIA SSA Benefit Calculator. Enter all of your history, choose future earnings in each year, set the inflation factor and see what happens. The exact answer to your question will, I believe be dependent upon all of your other history, how many quarter worked, how much was earn...

You can download SS AnyPIA SSA Benefit Calculator. Enter all of your history, choose future earnings in each year, set the inflation factor and see what happens. The exact answer to your question will, I believe be dependent upon all of your other history, how many quarter worked, how much was earne...

June??? The black flies and mosquitos in 'da U.P.' will carry you away in June. +1 We have visited the UP many times, and mid-June can be an annoyance, particularly with the black flies/noseeums. Take along plenty of DEET if you insist. Certain locations like Mackinac Island may be less prone to ha...

Looking at the 30 year secondary TIPS data available at Fidelity. The Bid yields for those that have positive yields was shown to be as follows: Mat Date Bid yield 02/15/40 0.299 02/15/41 0.32 02/15/42 0.388 02/15/43 0.414 I would cut and paste the data but always manage to mess it up so, here is t...

Looking at the 30 year secondary TIPS data available at Fidelity. The Bid yields for those that have positive yields was shown to be as follows: Mat Date Bid yield 02/15/40 0.299 02/15/41 0.32 02/15/42 0.388 02/15/43 0.414 Why is there a nonuniform effective yield for these bonds? Twenty-one basis p...

Do you know the design of your tank/system? I did not, having moved into a 15 year old home, nearly 25 years ago. I had the tank pumped out a couple of times in the 90s but the system never worked as well as I might have expected. The last time I had someone out to pump it out, he poked around and p...

My credit cards autobill my checking account for the full balance every month. I keep one of those online savings/MM accounts (1.1%) that allows 6 transactions per month. There usually is enough to pay off the credit cards for perhaps 6 months in it. Typically the only transactions are the autobill...

VSS@93.52 (close was 93.77) Yahoo! chart shows 93.52 wasn't a low at any time during the day. These shares probably got executed shortly after your other shares but VBS just didn't get the confirmation. Then finally at 4:11 pm it got the confirmation. There were several times that the price dipped ...

Good program. It is available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/. A transcript of the interview with Mr. Bogle is at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/retirement-gamble/john-bogle-the-train-wreck-awaiting-american-retirement/. From t...

Welcome to the forum! I am in my 40. I am looking to refinance my house. I am paying PMI until now. My house has 20% equity now, my mortgage says I no longer required to do escrow, anymore. What I am thinking... - is to invest the escrow amount (close to $400/month) in any of vanguard funds This is ...

It is a sad commentary on us that loyalty between company and employee is non-existent in today's economy. But I guess that it has disappeared with much of the values that existed in years gone by. My former company went down this path nearly 10 years ago. First they ended DB pensions for new hires,...

Soccerdad

I rather not discuss some of my less than Bogleish interests on this forum as sometimes they may touch a nerve or not be in the spirit of those that frequent this board. Good luck with your endeavor, but it would be too risky for me.

You do not mention the market you are in, but I do not believe that virtually any market in the midwest is selling for anywhere near what housing cost in 2007. My son's house was sold in 2005 for $220k. He bought it for $132 two years ago. It was just reappraised for $145k. Take a deep breath, you a...

I've been pleased with 35/35 size pants ordered from Eddie Bauer, although the best ones are relaxed fit.

Bunching of ones own itemized deductions has been discussed in numerous threads. We did it last year for the first time, making our 2013 contributions and property tax payments in December. We could have itemized without bunching, but by not much. Bunching allowed us to exceed the standard deduction...

With the proliferation of smartphones that are always logged into email, access to someone's smartphone would allow easier account theft if new passwords are sent to your email.

Sounds like you might want to have a couple of million dollar term life policies on each other.

Could no longer justify holding onto our 2/2041 TIPS. Up 3% for the day, 6% for the week and about 64% since purchase including reinvested interest paid. They were briefly within 1% of their peak value on 12/10/12 when we wanted to sell but were in the midst of shuffling accounts and missed out. Gla...

Back in the 80s and early 90s we had virtually all of our IRAs in VGHCX. It was great but was more volatile than I could stand as I exchanged some out during large downswings. Overall it still paid a handsome return. Still hold some today, but it is but 5% of our overall portfolio. Since you are you...

I've noticed references in other threads about bonuses available when signing up for certain cards. Ink and Sapphire Cards appear to have significant bonuses. However when I look at the sample cards and in the documentation for them I see no reference to Visa, MC or Amex. So I wonder where you actua...

Get one of those mini IR thermometers. I got one from Radioshack for $29 a few years ago. Worked great pointing out cold spots around when I installers did a poor job with our new energy efficient windows. Of course a few of those cold spots actually moved the curtains on a very windy day. If gas is...

The deferred amounts will not be invested, will not accrue interest, and are not qualified for any special treatment. They would be paid as ordinary miscellaneous income on a 1099. If on a 1099, would they still take out FICA? If no, then you save $ now, but if yes as Svensk points out you will boo...

We dissuaded my inlaws from distributing much of their assets last year. That said, cheating or intent to commit fraud was not their intent. They just wanted to make what they deemed to be their best use of what they had. Folks of that generation grew up with nothing and are more selfless thinking t...

sscritic wrote:How many months are there from July, 2013 to September, 2014?

It would help if I read the correct date better.

You might want to revisit the 45.1% spousal benefit that you are quoting. According to http://www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc/spouse.html A spouse can choose to retire as early as age 62, but doing so may result in a benefit as little as 32.5 percent of the worker's primary insurance amount. A spousal be...

11 pages federal, 4 pages state and 4 pages school district. TOTAL: 19

TT offers to print perhaps a hundred or more backup pages, I saved some of those, and printed a few.

OP, I suspect that your option 2 will be best. Once your SS kicks in your marginal bracket will no longer be 15% but likely 22.5% if 50% of SS is taxable, on up to 27.5% if 85% is taxable. If you are truly in the 25% bracket, you may have already have filled up the 27.5% bracket and headed to the dr...

Hypothetical question regarding PBGC and survivor benefits. I see that PBGC lists max payouts for single life and 50% joint survivor pension options by age at the time of the pension being taken over by them. If worker was already deceased prior to PBGC pension takeover and the surviving spouse was ...

None for a few more years then some that gets converted or used while I'm delaying SS.

This is from the IRS website, I think the government raised it to 10% for this year: "If, for a taxable year, you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), you may be able to deduct expenses you paid that year for medical and dental care for yourself, your spouse, and your depend...

Pensions may or may not be there when you go to collect or they may be taken over by PBGC and limited to a fraction of what they would have been. Public pensions too are coming under pressure. Then again funds in my IRA are subject to the market. Even SS is somewhat uncertain. Others have noted the ...

This is from the IRS website, I think the government raised it to 10% for this year: "If, for a taxable year, you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), you may be able to deduct expenses you paid that year for medical and dental care for yourself, your spouse, and your depend...

Do what they said. The item numbers are 15a and 15b on IRS 1040. In 15a you place the total amount of the Rollover and in 15b you put the taxable amount (if the total amount of 15a was the rollover it would be 0 or blank if not taxable). You do manually annotate in the margin as a "Rollover&qu...

Last year I transferred/rolled a Simple IRA at Ameriprise to my VG Tira. My recollection is a little fuzzy but do not remember receiving a check that I forwarded on. Only have a little stub stating Jan 27 as date money was withdrawn and VG noting 2/3 as date of employee asset transfer. No 1099R was ...

Be looking to a new agreement between your employer and Prudential. I received a revised notice regarding expenses early this year. Nothing was spelled out exactly what the increases were, other than the new overall expense ratios which if I dug out last years I could compare them with.

Those on this thread that have had little change in their personal cost of living validate the argument that a 'chained CPI' is adequate to adjust SS, tax rates, etc. If you can change the way you are living and keep costs down, then that is all the CPI adjustment that is required. If you always buy...

I've used TaxAct for probably the last 8 years for free from their website even though I've exceeded 51k. Filed the federal for free. I filed my state taxes via the state website because I could do that for free instead of paying TaxAct. TaxAct as well as TurboTax and probably the others repeatedly ...

The Discover CD penalties you show are nothing new for them - they were charging those same penalties a year ago. That may be, but when they claim a change to start a month from now and then state current terms that are different from the new ones, it certainly appears that it is a change. Perhaps ...

I was looking at the terms and conditions for Discover Bank CDs offered via AAA and found the following: Early Withdrawal Fees (for CDs opened or renewed through 3/14/13) For early withdrawal on Certificates of Deposit: • With a term of less than one (1) year, we will deduct three (3) months’ simple...

I sent in 2012, 2011 and 2010 Amendments today. According to the verbage, I might be able to get the 2010 credit since it's within 3 years of filing... but it takes 8-12 weeks to processess. Yay if I get it, darn if I don't... I should still get almost $400 out of it. Thank you Carl53!! :sharebeer ...

Besides the reasons cited in this thread for having both TIRAs and Roths, we have multiple Roths. When we do a conversion, we have converted more than we intend to actually do. For instance convert $X for myself and $X for my spouse with the understanding that we will likely recharacterize one of th...

OP, what size generator are you installing? My inlaws installed a 20kw generator powered by propane. They already used propane for heat. There tank is but 320 gal (or thereabouts). I'm trying to convince them to bump up the size of tank so that they would not be caught short should an extended power...

One plus for the Roth would be the use of the Retirement Savers Credit. You and your spouse should each be eligible for a 10% savings on your contributions up to $2000 each, for a potential in $400 of free money. You could still do it for 2012 as well as the current year. Your government retirement ...

After our experience on our only cruise, which was an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle, I would recommend flying in to the city of departure a day in advance. Our cruise did not board until around 5pm and depart around 7pm. We flew out in mid-August from Ohio with a connecting flight in Chicago. Long s...

My in-laws replaced a 49 year old Maytag dryer(I believe it was a DE-510) last year. The heat was cutting out too soon before the clothes were dry. I'm sure it could have been fixed as from what I read the copper moisture sensors probably just needed cleaning after many years of fabric softener. Tho...

2009 agi of $31,024 and 401k contribution of $865 50% refund or $433 2010 agi of $33,285 and 401k contribution of $935 50% refund or $467 2011 agi of $34,049 and 401k contribution of $968 20% refund or $194] Amending your old returns about $1100 :D we have been married for 10 years and always filed...

jeffyscott wrote:I don't think it is satellite, it is from a fixed antenna a couple miles away to an antenna at hi home. I am guessing it is something like this:

http://www.netwurx.net/faq/58-faq-highspeed-wireless

It appears to be similar to what your link describes.
http://www.intelliwave.com/

The description of the service that the CSR gave was that in my case the ISP came via fiber optics to a tower perhaps 10 miles away and then was then transmitted to another tower closer to me as well as others. This was understood by me to be by line of sight, but could have been via cell. The final...