Bogleheads.org

As has been discussed before, this is what you get with formula based investment advice. You answered the risk questionnaire and scored aggressive. That's it. The tools also factor in time horizon, but anything over 8-10 years (don't know their scale) is long term. So you have a long term aggressive...

You cant pay transaction costs from outside the IRA.

As for an article that thousands of people with limited understand of investing will read, it's a great point. It helps take the focus off of just the capital growth (or the index value) and looks at total return. In practice, though reinvesting dividends is not that big of a deal. If someone takes ...

Given the rate environment, even the buy and hold investors would have a hard time arguing with decent CDs over traditional bond investments. That is because the CD option effectively inverts the yield curve if thrown into the mix. And in that scenario, taking interest rate risk is not usually the b...

Yes, I realize the stock market has been up for 4 years. But only recently have we been breaking away from the highs set in early 2000 (NASDAQ is the exception). I perceive the market has having been basically flat since the year 2000. Adjusting for inflation, we are probably still below the 2000 h...

What is the question? Bond ladder and Roth IRA dont have any interdependence. Is the question bond fund vs ladder (one discussion), or bond vs stock in the Roth (another discussion.)

That is not apples to apples here. Assumptions: 1) I have $10,000 to invest. 2) $10,000 original investment grows to $20,000 in X years. 3) Ignore dividends. Over the span of X years, in a TIRA the dividends will be taxed at ordinary rates upon withdrawal rather than preferred 15% rates as in taxab...

If the trust is set up correctly, the IRA assets would move into the trust and the beneficiary would then take out the RMDs annually over the expected life time of the oldest beneficiary. If the money is taken out slower it could invalidate the trust (and then a stretch may not be allowed resulting ...

You'll get a lot of replies on this - most will recommend avoiding Ameriprise, then a split of opinions between VG and TIAA with more advocating for VG. The annuity option and perceived tax advantage is a fallacy. The idea is that the annuity is tax deferred whereas investing in a conventional taxab...

Siena is a great small town. I don't have any particulars for "must see" there because you'll see just about everything in a day or two. They are best known for the horse race in the town square which races a horse from the various Italian provinces against each other (edit: it's a race pi...

I think theres a lot of misinformation here. Theres a stark difference between someone being pitched a VA by a sales person and comimg here to ask about it, and a well versed DIYer thinking about it for some of the portfolio. The downside always pointed out is cost. If the added m&e fees are 20 ...

We, the grandparents, are funding the plans. We are gifting the money to our daughters who are the owners of the plans. Reason: Minnesota has a fairly low inheritance tax and my wife and I want to get some of our assets out of our names. This is totally fine, but if you own the 529 with grandchild ...

- Are annuities tax-deductible when the contribution is made? Or is the only tax benefit a deferral of the earnings? Are contributions taxed when removed from the annuity? - What are the withdrawal rules typically? Can I withdraw funds on demand, such as for a down payment? If I expect to have more...

Over my lifetime I have probably gotten back about 5% of what I have paid for car insurance, 5% of what I have paid for homeowner's insurance, and 5% of what I have paid for health insurance. Compulsive gamblers do better than that. What? So let's be clear. You're saying that your net "return&...

If you stop paying your premiums your policy lapses and is effectively cancelled. Theres a 30 day grace period if you miss a payment. No "penalty" other than you no longer have coverage and would have to reapply if you still want it. I would pay annually not monthly (typically lower cost a...

are you on SS yet. If not i would wait until taking it at 70 and use that as your annuity. I do not like annuities in general but if the choice was SS at 70 or annuity i would do SS at 70. Not sure what this means but the OP isn't talking about a SPIA. Your taxable account, if held in an equity ind...

My MIL will be in a similar place when she finally retires. No assets and will have to live on SS and very small pension. Though benefits are regionally dependent, does anyone know how to best find out what resources are available to low income families?

Its not very clear what youre saying you can/cant do, but the employer plan rules can basically do whatever they want as long as it doesnt disqualify the plan. Anything you read outside of your employers rules doesnt matter.

Not sure if theres a question in there. Since the plan is discontinued it sounds like you can roll it somewhere before leaving employment which is typical. Usually if the plan is active it cant be moved until you leave

Buying a home (vs renting) has very little to do with financial considerations (assuming it's affordable anyway). Buying a home has everything to do with lifestyle. It's incredibly common that your spouse would want security and stability by buying. My spouse would have a heart attack if I had to ne...

Ohio allows you to take $2000 deductible/year/beneficiary. They also allow unlimited rollover. So if you contribute $4000 for a child, you can claim $2000 deduction for this year and the next. Or you could open up an account for you and your spouse, and claim tax deduction. In your case, you can op...

Start saving your surplus into a cash account or money market starting today. Automate it so something like 5k per month moves.from your checking to saving/money market. Then take as much time as you need to do some reading and figure out how to invest, even if thats 6 12 18 mos. The key at this poi...

They stay on your record for 10 yrs. If its been 8 or 9 you shouldnt have too much trouble getting credit assuming you have a good record since the discharge

On a pure investment basis its reasonable to conclude DFA could outperform long term bc of they way they passively screen, especially when it comes to S/V and possibly EM. Whether or not they can give an investor alpha above the annual fee is debatable , so you would have to need/want the other aux...

Just to clarify, you want to invest the property sale proceeds and use interest to pay the monthly mortgage payments? If so, why? Are you planning to buy another property so paying off the mortgage now limits liquidity? And why do you need monthly interest? If you want monthly interest youll need to...

I don't see that there are any pros, none. VAs with such features have such high costs that portfolio growth is so hampered that you're all but forced to take out one of the withdrawal options. Given that outcome, you (someone) is better off investing in an entirely different vehicle from the start....

I don't know what the other threads were about but it's going to have a limited use. It's one thing to compare two otherwise equal options like mortgage A or mortgage B, but it's entirely different to compare mortgage A with investment portfolio B (I'm assuming by your OP that's one of the issues). ...

On a pure investment basis its reasonable to conclude DFA could outperform long term bc of they way they passively screen, especially when it comes to S/V and possibly EM. Whether or not they can give an investor alpha above the annual fee is debatable, so you would have to need/want the other auxil...

Thank you everyone for weighing in! MN Finance - you are exactly right. I don't need the money; I just want to do something with my time that I thought would help people manage their finances on a professional basis, while at the same time preventing people from buying crap they don't need - I've h...

This was an interesting thread. I'm a face to face person, but sometimes it's better to write a note for fear of 1) not being willing to say what's needed in person or 2) saying too much in person. I recently had to write an email to someone and ran it by my attorney. I typed a balanced, non-emotion...

Policy Type: 30-Year Level Term Amount: $1,000,000 State: NY Sex: Male Age: 55 Select: $13,566.83 Preferred: $10,819.95 Preferred Plus: $9,329.95 Policy Type: 15-Year Level Term Amount: $500,000 State: NY Sex: Male Age: 55 Select: $2,347.49 Preferred: $1,542.49 Preferred Plus: $1,233.24

The answer depends greatly on if you need to make money doing the job, which obviously sounds a little odd. Just because of the pure economics, if you need to make income, especially being new, you'll be forced to sell products and work for a firm you wouldn't be excited about. My assumption is that...

I'm in a similar boat. Getting married next week, and the wife-to-be is pregnant (due in fall). Does it matter whether to get the policy before the kid is born, or after? Can I add/change a beneficiary after obtaining the insurance? I'm 27; she's 38. We have a hefty mortgage, so the goal was for bo...

Insurance could make sense, but its a neutral proposition - ie, the pension plan bases the survivorship payments on actuarial tables and so does an insurance co. If you take the single life, you could supplement that with a modest policy but you probably dont need to if they both have pensions. When...

Other than an academically interesting question, there really shouldnt be much debate. Get it = no downside, dont get it = potential problem. Given that logic, theres no reason to carry any risk. We could all opine about a certian situation but its not even needed.

I agree that the listed posted by meowcat is not realistic, though it's a desirable yard stick. I would edit your better list by saying "Nasty" plans start to make the case for not investing in the plan beyond the match depending on time horizon. Somewhere around 1.75% and 20 years means ...

While I don't completely disagree, I think you have to be realistic. Most people will have trouble changing their employer's minds about their providers, and most small employers use higher-fee providers. I've provided a more limited list of fees and descriptors based on this perspective. 0-0.5%: G...

the difference is 5% regardless of the time horizon But it is not actionable because know one has crystal ball John I didn't say it was actionable, nor did I say it should impact someone's strategy. If anything it shows that investing 5% more or 10% will forever result in the balance being that muc...

Wait, investments can fall in value?

the difference is 5% regardless of the time horizon

You can do a quick search on the board to see discussions about variable annuities. They are the highest cost product in the marketplace, which means you have the lowest potential retun. Fees include fund fees, m&e fees, and riders which generally total above 2%. IMO, I wonder how ethical adviso...

Classic example of behavioral finance. One looks at the missed opportunity of 250k to 270k rather than 80k to 250k. Read "Your Money and Your Brain" by Zweig, Jason.

@ieee488: I am just starting to learn about investing. When I said "transfer" to 401K, 403(b), or 457 plan I meant I will make voluntary deductions from the paycheck and use money from the taxable account to pay for living expenses. I didn't know this, but if true it's odd: You're saying ...

You could obviously choose to annuitize some in each method (like portfolio design). Technically you can annuitize any of the other 8 annuity accounts but it would generally be unheard of. You don't "choose" an allocation "within" the "graded" payments. You annuitize w...

Being in TIAA-CREF, annuitizing and market exposure are not mutually exclusive. Have her read up on the TIAAA 'graded annuity.' Roughly speaking it's an annuity (meaning you pool mortality risk) but you can still choose asset allocation within it. If the return in your portfolio exceeds 4% your pay...

MNfinance: I will check into the content of her annuity. I had assumed that her annuity was a simple non-inflation-indexed lifetime Immediate annuity (her comments on the annuity seem to corroborate this assumption). But, if invited to do so, I'll see whether her annuity includes market exposure. 9...

If we assume that she has a tendancy to overspend, then annuitizing everything is indeed probably best. First, it provides the highest possible income near term, yet still assures theres money there in the future. Your statement about needed market expsure is correct, but not that it means annuitizi...

I have an IRA for my 2 year old Do you mean you have an IRA in your name and you plan not to touch it but leave it for your son to inherit, or do you mean the IRA is in your son's name and at age 2 he has earned income? Don't want to change topics - but the kids have done some modeling work, so yes...

Jack wrote:Keep in mind that you are creating the pressure yourself by trying to avoid a capital gains tax. Don't let the tax tail wag the dog by rushing into a transaction you may regret. In tennis this is known as an unforced error, one that you create for yourself.

Well said

Well, it certainly doesn't make me "mad." In fact if I had to write an article for everyone to read, it's at least a good start. That said, the best way to accurately forcast the retirement need is not hard at all for most people. As mentioned, you just start with today's net income and th...