Bogleheads.org

1.Will BOA send a physical check or is it electronic? 2.If I choose 6/1 as the date of payment, will my APT office receive the payment on this date? Will my checking account also be debited on this day? 3.6/1 is a Saturday - is it a biz day for bank? 4.Any other things to be considered for rent pay...

Really depends upon whether or not this includes removing the old ones. For the ones on the second story, I would figure it will take 20 minutes per leaf (includes dealing with the ladder, relocating it, removing the old, etc.), so 1 hour 20 for the 2nd story. For the lower level, I would figure 15 ...

Anyone see any significant downsides to these alterations? No downsides. MUCH better plan. Try to NEVER give up Roth space, and remember money is fungible (and I don't take credit for that quote - someone else on this board posted it a year or so ago, but I can't remember who so I can't give proper...

But I wouldn't worry about a big tax hit for the following two reasons: ⋅ Given that you're now age 35 by the time you reach age 65, at most only the I Bonds you buy this year will have matured. Ones you purchase in subsequent years will reach maturity after your planned retirement. &sdot...

I am surprised you state Pen Fed does not want to do it. Based on my experience you should not have a problem getting a no closing cost $50k loan from PenFed.

1. Fully fund your and your spouse's Roth. You can take money from that with no penalty for your kids college if needed. 2. Fully fund your and your spouse's 401k. 3. If you have extra money after that, only then consider saving for the kids college. a. Set the expectation that the kid will work. Us...

1. Fully fund Roth and use Roth as emergency fund (as noted above) - do a search on Backdoor Roth. You will be able to, and should, continue Roth contributions even after you reach the income limit, via backdoor. Perfectly legal. 2. Money is fungible. After I posted the above I was thinking about it...

1. Max out your Roth. Use the Roth as your emergency fund. Do that before paying student loan debt. NEVER leave any available Roth space unfunded - it is a use it or lose it scenario, and you will be sorry you lost it 20 years from now. Since your employer does not match, the 401k vs debt payment is...

Now that the graduation season is upon us, so is the graduation gift dilemma. I went through a litany of possible gifts with the parents, and was told "we already got her that" to EVERY one of them. Putting aside that these parents may be overindulging, this really creates a challenge. The...

I think my problem is with number in the singular. There were no sideways glances until we attained a number that would make us self-sufficient in any reasonable scenario (I.e., without everyone living in caves). Then, the next number would provide for a more comfortable retirement, and maybe somet...

...You also want to understand the ground rules. What days will you fly? Leaving Monday and returning Thursday or Friday is very different than leaving Sunday and returning Saturday. Returning every Friday to spend the weekend at home is very different than spending two weekends away from your fami...

gerrym51 wrote:i like this one

http://money.msn.com/retirement/retirem ... lator.aspx

Played around with this one. Seems to have a fatal flaw - it's max. number of years in retirement is 40. If someone wants to calculate to 99, and is under 59, it won't let you.

A recent thread about Firecalc revealed it has not been updated since 2007, and calculates on data through 2006. Not including the 2008-2010 market seems to me a fatal flaw. The Wiki lists Firecalc, T Rowe Price Retirement Income Calculator, and Motley Fool Withdrawal Calculator. In the Firecalc thr...

As another poster wrote, it depends upon how you define reaching your number. I would define it as reaching a point at which firecalc will give you 100% success rate at your lowest possible yearly spend, with your preferred AA. At this point, theoretically, you don't NEED to continue working. You ma...

livesoft FIREcalc is interesting as a quick and dirty approximation of "am I on track to retire". ... However, it has not been maintained for years. Interesting. It says it goes back to 1870, but does not say how far forward it goes. Does anyone know if it includes the last several years ...

I do donate to charity, give to my religious institution, and give to my alma mater and high school. However,If you are asking about tithing in it's strictest sense, I would have to say I don't. I have to agree with the this: I get paid in net dollars, therefore I pay out of net dollars. I can't use...

I'd like to know where 175K/year is a normal salary. But I give up. His fans will invariably come up with some defense for any reasonable argument. Noob: Not sure where you got $175k/year. If you are referring to my earlier posts, your "restatement" lacks accuracy. Please be reminded I st...

bayview wrote:14/15, and of course, I missed the bond price vs interest question!

+1 Kind of embarrassing, but the other issue is that the supposed correct answer has not been true lately.

The recent MMM discussion got me wondering what you would do if you reach your "number" and for whatever reason, continue working. I can think of several possibilities and would like to know the Boglehead's thoughts and/or experience on these (or others). 1. Carry on as usual. Keep being f...

Perhaps I can answer some of my own questions through further study. However, here is one big question I have: What is a non-taxable vs. taxable account? ..... Non Taxable accounts are accounts in which the earnings are not taxed. Taxable accounts are accounts in which the earnings are taxed. Non T...

I'm far from an expert, but the following is what I recall from when I researched this issue: 1. Title insurance protects the lender. 2. Owner's title insurance protects the borrower/owner. 3. If you bought an owner's title policy when you initially purchased the property, it should theoretically co...

Plus I've always been a bit uneasy with his tale of achieving 800k in net-worth in 9 years while in his 20s. Sure, it is entirely possible with a high salary but that's not very reproducible by your average 20something. It seemed he benefited from a bit of luck or isn't telling the whole story. Thi...

I was very concerned about the quantity of data I would use when I switched from Blackberry to Android. I use my phone ALL the time. I'm pleasantly surprised that my monthly data usage averages between 0.1 and 0.2 gigs per month. There are two HUGE caveats to my data usage: 1. My provider is TMobile...

I currently use Mint.com (just for my checking account and credit card) and a spreadsheet that I manually enter for all of my investments. You will find Quicken to be a much better tool than a spreadsheet I'd rather not have any passwords on a third party server so I'm thinking about switching to so...

But, interestingly, I see no mention of "Badassity" on the site's masthead now... Masthead, right side of the image of the head in the coin... ... and the "MMM Recommends" pull-down has linked pages for credit cards and banking products. So perhaps he decided that the word wasn'...

I went through this research as well for my LLC, which was for consulting, rather than real estate. 1. For real estate, LLC as asset protection is debatable. Many will advise you to just get a good umbrella policy. 2. For registered agent, I did try to find a law firm that would be the agent for a c...

Since this thread revived, I got to thinking and really need to add Airtran. I can't say the same for my experience with Southwest, who bought them out and now owns Airtran.

I've been thinking the same thing. Here are some questions I've come up with. This might be the all time best post ever on BH!!!!!!!!!! Now I'm really curious about the answers, to see if I got the quiz correct. I don't have any idea how such things are done, but it would be SOOOO cool if there wer...

Thanks! I hope that's true. The system is so confusing you can tell it was designed by insurance company lobbyists. Criminal that they get to prey on old people. I have an advanced degree and can barely figure it out. A very smart friend who is older than I am gave up and asked me to figure out the...

Amerisave was mentioned above. Went to their website and was wondering if anyone has a clarification for the following: 30 year fixed: Rate = 3.5%; Payment $763; APR = 3.585% However, for the exact same loan amount, same ratio, same everything: 30 year fixed FHA: Rate = 2.875%; Payment $902; APR =3....

Default User BR wrote:With a backdoor, no taxable money, there's no reason to have separate IRAs. When doing other conversions, some people like separate Roths to make recharacterization a bit simpler. That wouldn't be a concern here.

Could you please clarify when this might be a concern. I'm not following...

One consideration would be your own personal opinion of the long term cap gains rate and if it is likely to change, but that discussion is not allowed here; you sell when you think the rate is lowest. No matter when you sell, you will be subject to LTCG. As far as I know, this rate is currently the ...

The other optimum time to TLH is when the loss puts you under some sort of absolute limit, such as: - max $150k when rental losses phase out - the new max of $400k or something associated with ACA The time to NOT TLH is in years you have sold holdings and realized long term cap gains. The losses wil...

Great work on paying down the debt. My previous advice still holds. DO NOT miss out on the power of compounding. You are young. I thought like you did when I was young - pay down debt. Today, I realize 1 or 1.5 extra years of debt and it's accompanying interest payments because I put +/-$40k in tax ...

If you have income from consulting, you can put up to $17.5 (+$5k catch up) as employee's contribution in a Self Employed 401k. The amount you put in cannot be more than the net from you business. If your consulting nets more than $17.5k (+$5k catch up if applicable) the employer (your LLC) can also...

REI, Amazon, Costco, TMobile and USAA. What is really interesting about this list is that the following companies which have been mentioned a few time: REI, Amazon, Costco, TMobile, Nordstrom, Alaska Air are all based in Seattle. Seems like a higher than average concentration. Starbucks is also base...

Yes, all newer elevators and most older ones are ventilated. There is a small fan in the top of the cab. The shaft is also ventilated, with a louver at the top. You may also be interested to know that there is also usually a hatch at the top of the cab. And the op is correct - the doors are not all ...

Elaborate & Expensive is all relative. I answered 1. Last year's was a long weekend trip to an expensive city; total cost including airfare, hotel, all food & entertainment was $1,600. Compared to what I usually spend, it was elaborate & expensive. Take an 8-10 day international trip an ...

A helpful Vanguard Rep suggested to a friend of mine that the sweep account in the taxable brokerage be Vanguard's Tax Exempt Money Market. Since the regular MM only pays pennies, there does not seem to be any downside of going with the Tax Exempt MM.

The advice to seek the help of a broker is right on. You are correct to be concerned about the issue. If you are healthy with no preexisting conditions, obtaining health insurance is really not that difficult. You may be surprised at the cost because most employers heavily subsidized the premiums. E...

I think the poll is closed. The estimates are about 20-25% off in my area. Zillow has been off in my area ever since it started. I think it works better in suburbs with subdivisions where most houses sell for the same per sf and they can do that analysis. In older neighborhoods, there are so many ot...

I'm a coding compliance specialist. (aka medical party animal, not) This ^^ is mostly correct. If they didn't know that you had polyps, the first-listed diagnostic code should be the screening code, because that's why you had the scope. The second-listed code should have been the polyp, which was f...

You and spouse are in good shape in regards to paid off house, no debt, college savings, emerg fund. I'd second the comments about making sure 401k and Roths are fully funded. I would also concur with the comments that a 15 year old house does not need renovations. Mine is 17 years old and I would n...

Don't possibly see how this could happen. I've been maxing out 401k, IRA & Roth every year for almost 20 years (and participating without maxing out before that). 401k includes a few years of self employed 401k so I could throw more than the regular max at it. Even with all that, I'm not even cl...

I had a colonoscopy late last year... they found a polyp it had to be biopsied, which I ended up being responsible for paying at the negotiated rate... I paid $138.24 for the biopsy. I'd appreciate some insight on this issue from someone knowledgeable. I had colonoscopy also. Prior to the procedure...

If you already have blown, I'd just get a few more bags of similar stuff and dump them in the attic. You may not even need to blow it in. Spray insulation is an awesome product, but you need to be careful. Spraying it onto the underside of your roof framing can void your shingle warranty. I would al...

non physician: I find the whole medical insurance game to be a racket. You quote cash payers one price, bill insurance another, accept yet another then sometimes bill me what the insurance doesn't pay and some times I am not required to pay anything else. Yes, it is a rather opaque pricing system. ...

Since I am single, I plan to turn my finances over to somebody like Rick Ferris when I turn 70. I don't trust that I will know when I've declined to the point where my judgement is flawed. Will his firm take that responsibility? Seems like you would need to give him complete and irreversible POA. I...

Ieee488, Find a local attorney you feel comfortable with whose practice involves administering trusts and who charges reasonably for that kind of service. They can act as your POA and pay your bills and interface with whatever financial manager you select for your assets if they require more than s...

I don't budget at all. My expenditures are way below my income and I'm naturally . . . thrifty (my brother says cheap). The only thing I have done at all is mock up an average monthly spending model for the purposes of determining the size of an emergency fund. So I spend what I spend, and save the...