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I think you're asking 2 different questions. One, does Iowa allow passive activity losses, and two, how to enter nonresident passive activity income and losses in Turbotax. I can't answer the second, but as to the first, not all states allow passive losses, but Iowa does. As a Wisconsin resident, i...

I'm pretty sure my passive loss for non-resident states question is universal to most states. I think if I bought Oklahoma and Nebraska, TT would handle it the same way. Whether that same way is the right way, though, is the question. Hopefully someone has run into this before. I really don't want t...

I have a burning tax question. I tried to create a Fairmark login, but I am still waiting for their confirming email, and I know my Boglehead friends seem to know all this stuff, so I figured I would try, even though not really a tax-focused community. Here's the initial question. I have some follow...

Thanks - I didn't shell out for Premier.

Thanks - embarrassed I couldn't find it without assistance, but I appreciate your help!

I have done my taxes with TurboTax Deluxe for many years. In recent years, I have started receiving (and later investing in) shares in various real estate partnerships. I have dutifully entered the K-1 info into TT Deluxe every year. I worry though, that when things start to get more complicated wit...

Does anyone know if this deal is still available? I scoured the Amazon site and could find nothing. TT Deluxe is $44 now instead on 39.99, so I'm thinking it might be over.

I suggest you ask yourself this- are there some days that you enjoy work? Do you get a feeling of accomplishment? I'm guessing the answer is yes. I think the smarter you are and the better you are, the more likely you are to feel like a fraud. I believe it is called "impostor syndrome" - t...

Sorry to revive this old thread, but I wanted to give an update for those in my position. As a general matter, I would recommend what others have recommended in the past - a careful reading of Form 8606, its instructions and Pub. 590. After spending hours creating a spreadsheet, my calcs show that i...

So like a good Boglehead soldier, I learned all about Roth conversions for folks with income in excess of the normal Roth limits at the end of 2009. I converted significant Traditional IRA balances on the first business day of 2010, and I also did a backdoor 5K contribution for each of my spouse and...

Thanks. I tried the bankrate.com one, and it says that I can recoup $800 closing costs on even a 3.70% loan (so in other words, a 5 basis points change in interest rates) in less than 9 months. So it's even more aggressive than erate.com. Not sure why there is a difference with erate on that calc. B...

I have refinanced twice in the last two years. In 2010, I went to a 3.75% 15 year fixed. I am now considering whether it is worth it to go to a 3.25% 15 year fixed. Mortgage balance around 300K. Closing costs all-in are pretty cheap, between $750 and $1,000. Two issues: 1. Will my credit rating be a...

This is sad news, especially after they forced us to change card numbers due to data theft... Aargh.

I don't think it's that simple if you have deductible contributions that you converted in the 2010 conversion. You would have to go through the proration formula, etc. such that your backdoor conversion would have some tax consequences (since it would be as though your 2010 conversion never happened...

[bump] Anyone have any thoughts on this issue? I thought it might be a common question.

My MAGI is too high to do a normal Roth contribution. I did a 2010 roth IRA conversion in early 2010 of an existing TRAD ira (it had some pre-tax amounts that will require payment of tax). At the same time in early 2010, I also did a backdoor new $5k contribution for 2010 (i.e., I contributed to a T...

I have had my kids in the WV Smart 529 Select plan since late 2006. The reason for doing this was that WV offers DFA funds. Based on my reading at the time, I felt that even if I couldn’t be in DFA funds, it would be worth it to get my kids in them. My oldest is 12 years away from college, and I hav...

Thanks Taylor - the bonds are coming (I had a more recent post that wasn't linked title "The Case for Bonds for Aggressive Investors" where I have decided some amount of bonds is appropriate), so this is just the equity side of the portfolio. I know that quite a number of Bogleheads prefer...

I am trying to decide if I should create one “equity side” of my portfolio that can last me for pretty much the rest of my life (with bond percentages increasing over time), or if it is better to have an equity allocation that adjusts as I get older as well, in addition to the bond percentage changi...

But didn't he also say that it was not a good time for bonds (which implies good time for stocks)? Aargh, I was just starting to convince myself I need bonds. The problem with "stay the course" is that it is so ingrained that it is hard to know when you truly should change course...

Here's was I do. Every single contribution to tax-deferred goes into bonds or cash. It's been this way for a couple of years. This keeps my bonds more or less in balance, but growing slightly which is just fine for me since I have net spending from my portfolio this year (decumulation phase). Then ...

I played around with Tip$ter last night, read a few articles about whether there is a bond bubble and looked at historic US stock market returns. A couple of thoughts: 1. Tip$ter gives me exactly what I was looking for, in a sense – it dictates an optimum answer. It tells me I should have exactly 76...

Has the stock market just not been substantially negative over a ten year period? the obvious problem with Firecalc et al. is that you're still analyzing probably the best case scenario: 20th century United States. you need a Firecalc that incorporates a probability of 1940s Germany, 1990s Japan, e...

According to Otar and many others, if you have a big pile of money and your sustained withdrawal rate is low, then it doesn't matter what your asset allocation is. You are in the green zone. The question is, "What if I don't have a big pile of money?" One answer is to keep working until y...

It's good to ask these questions, but I think you should try to be a little clearer in your cost/benefit analysis. The cost of adding stocks is greater uncertainty about your $2M retirement date. The benefit is an earlier potential retirement, in expectation. Why don't you convert this asset alloca...

As that starts to look more achievable, it seems more foolish to be taking big risks. Congratulations on your progress. Ben Graham has suggested a range of 25% to 75% equity, and the rest bonds, IIRC, with 50% as default. One possibility is to slowly or quickly work your way up to 25% cash and bond...

I always thought that my goal was to make as much money in investing as possible... It probably isn't. I don't know why people think it is sophisticated or expected to say that their goal is to earn as much money as possible. I have no doubt at all that there are people who really do have this as a...

The Jim Otar's website (http://www.retirementoptimizer.com) has the book available as a .pdf for $5. I ordered the book from Amazon and think it is really worthwhile information and it is presented in a somewhat different fashion than other finance books I've read. I highly recommend it. Just curio...

Chapter 19 in Otar's book is titled "Optimum Asset Allocation -- Accumulation Stage". I found it interesting because he does not recommend something simple like "age in bonds" initially. He describes three stages "Seed money formation", "Mid-life growth", and...

I think you probably need to do some more research and reading. The articles at http://www.fundadvice.com (as previously mentioned) are good. But also you should get Jim C. Otar's "Unveiling the Retirement Myth" and use his free software retirementoptimizer to get "aftcasts" and...

Each increment of marginally higher returns make little difference to the first year I achieve $2M and could theoretically retire. Each increment of marginally lower returns, however, make a BIG difference to when I could retire. Your math is wrong somewhere. If you use a public spreadsheet where t...

Thank you for all of the replies so far. Some thoughts: 1. I probably should have titled the thread "The Case for Fixed Income for High Income, Aggressive Investors." Sorry about that. 2. I have never thought about my savings "goals" before now, and I think that is the theme runn...

Although I am not a prolific poster on this board, many of my posts have been about whether bonds are truly needed in the portfolio of an investor with a long time horizon and high risk tolerance. Here is a link to my most recent portfolio post:http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57864&a...

Thanks for all the responses. A few follow up notes. 1. I manage all my own funds now, so that's not an issue. I see little advantage to me getting directly involved with their finances. 2. Livesoft's link was very illuminating, but I'm not surprised. My company's 401k advisers have a similar attitu...

As I have mentioned in other posts, my mom and her siblings stand to inherit money from their father. It is likely that a taxable gift will be given this year to each of them in the amount of between $300K and $600K. This will be at least half of what they receive when he dies. They have received tw...

Sort of on topic, accounts at the same bank entitled in the same name only get $250K of total protection, right? somebody was trying to tell me recently that if you have different accounts (i.e., a checking, a savings, a CD), they are each entitled to $250K of protection. That somebody is wrong. ht...

Sort of on topic, accounts at the same bank entitled in the same name only get $250K of total protection, right? somebody was trying to tell me recently that if you have different accounts (i.e., a checking, a savings, a CD), they are each entitled to $250K of protection.

Thanks everyone. this was very helpful.

Thanks - I guess i would use the 30 year spot rate at 5.9%. That reduces the lump sum to about $900,000.

You can get a rough idea of the amount by inputting your $3,500 on immediateannuities.com. This will tell you how much you need to pony up to buy such a benefit on the open market. For a male age 60 with no dependents the purchase cost for a life annuity would be about $616,000. This would be rough...

Wow - good thoughts. So what would current bond rates be for the discount rate? If I assume a 3% COLA, a 3% discount rate and living to 95 without discounting for mortality, that yields $1.427M in NPV. Obviously it would be less if I discount for mortality.

The following is a purely theoretical question to, in a sense, value someone's net worth. No actually conversion will be done. If a ~60 year old has a pension that pays $3,500 a month, what is that worth in lump sum terms? Would you just divide by 4% or 3% as a SWR and that's the answer? For example...

I am obsessed with increasing my net worth but not specifically because I want to be "rich". The real obsession is saving enough so I can quit working as soon as possible. So in reality I am obsessed with not working and I need "net worth" (money) to do that. +1. That matches my...

I got a 3.75, 15 year fixed, so slightly better than I had hoped. I hope any future comments will support this decision, as now I'm locked in and need validation...

What if you took option A, but payed it down using the monthly payment associated with the 10-year? That way, you have the benefit of being paid off nearer to your target retirement date, but the flexibility to lessen your payment in the event of the unexpected loss of income/cash/etc. That's an id...

With interest rates so low, I am mulling over refinancing again. I already refi'd in Spring 2009 for a 4.75, 30 year fixed. I could now choose from the following options: a - 4.25, 30 year fixed b - 3.875, 15 year fixed, payments increase by $600 a month over option a c - 3.75, 10 year fixed, paymen...

BigROI,

If you open a bank account to get say $100 and then close it right after that, is there a downside to your credit rating? You seem to be suggesting yes.

I guess I was thinking that I could wait about 3 more years and then start adding some bonds. So I would only be at odds with the conventional wisdom for three more years. It seems to me I should maximize returns while I am young (and I would think, all things being equal, 100% E is a higher expecte...

I have decided it is again time to request an expert portfolio evaluation from the Bogleheads. I think I have been getting along fine with my plan, but it is always good to get some outside advice. Here are my particulars: Emergency Funds: Not much to speak of, $10K or so. I figure that I could sell...

Livesoft - in the linked thread, why did you say it doesn't matter what the market has done in the days leading up to what you call the "worst day?" Assume the following: Day 1: ETF X is at $10. Day 50: ETF X has risen to $15, but it did so slowly during the past 50 days. Day 51: ETF X dro...