Bogleheads.org

Perpetual, I will also add that Mint.com doesn't track investments correctly. I wouldn't really follow that. With regards to tracking performance, I personally look at it as how much did I put in and how much is it worth now. As others have said, not sure what you would do with this information, but...

We have done our taxes but have not sent them yet. our AGI for 2012 after 401k deductions and health was $35,696. I never knew about this savers credit thing that you are all talking about. I guess I don't understand how we can claim a savers credit on his 401k contributions and our IRA contributio...

Jared,

Yea, I guess this was my question. Thanks for finding that source of information for me. It seems to me the most straightforward way to figure it out is to just ask the school.

OK, so even though the 1098-T may show the amount billed for 2012 as $10,000, you didn't pay all of it (my 1098-T does not show amount paid, only amount billed). If it were me, I'd do whichever was to my advantage depending on my tax situations in 2012 vs. 2013. Otherwise, it doesn't matter, since ...

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm not sure if my question was clear or if I made clear what my question was. I think it boils down to this. Let's say, Tuition Spring 2013: $10,000 Room Spring 2013: $5,000 In December 2012, I pay $5,000 to cover some of the costs of 2013; In January, I pay the re...

Hello all, I have a question regarding the American opportunity tax credit; specifically, it is regarding the calculation of qualified educational expenses. An example below shows my confusion: Tuition for Fall2012 and Spring2013: $20,000 Room and board for Fall2012 and Spring2013: $10,000 Paid out ...

I only have basic cable because my internet is actually cheaper bundled with it rather than stand-alone.

So basic cable and internet for me costs $45/month; cell phone is $30/month.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans

I would try T-mobile monthly plan. I have my wife on the $30 1500 minutes text and talk. Cheapest option for us even though we don't necessarily use up all those minutes.

billyT, EDIT: I'm assuming billyT just made a mistake in contributing to a tIRA instead of a ROTH (not that there were excess contributions) I had a similar problem as you: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=101421 I contributed to a tIRA but then afterwards realized that I woul...

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I agree with the excel recommendation. Set up it up so that you can enter in your monthly income and expenses. If you use mint, it can help greatly for categorizing things. For example, you could have a Bills category, with sub-categories for Electricity, gas, phone, internet, etc. You can use mint ...

Have you been paying an advisor fee all these years as well? That you may be able to get back or at least pro-rated. Ameriprise has a form for such purposes. http://www.ameriprise.com/global/docs/refund-request-form.pdf I was able to get some money back after my "advisor" said he was only ...

Yea, the co-worker invited everyone in the office, not just my wife.

Of course, you can't attend the party since you already have a family reunion (or something like that) on your schedule 8-) , but a small inexpensive gift is perfectly fine for someone not attending, especially since there is no real tangible (or positive) relationship between the two. If this pers...

Linuxuser, I know nothing about computers, but how would one clean the vents on a laptop? My wife has a laptop and I would like to prevent such issues if I can. Thanks. You can take compressed air and do quick spurts into the air vents. That should get out some of the dust balls. The best thing to ...

My wife was invited by a co-worker for her child's 1st birthday party. This co-worker originally didn't really like my wife for some reason and behaved very rudely towards her. For example, my wife says hello and the co-worker would ignore her. Then about a month or so ago, this co-worker does a com...

I would have to say no. Are you currently having issues right now with downloading/streaming video? Here was my experience. I was on the promotional Performance plan which offered 20Mbs down. Ok, everything works great, netflix, hulu, youtube, general video streaming, etc. The promotion ends, so I s...

I pay $38/month for cell phone and $30/month for internet. Cell phone is $30/month T-Mobile pre-paid plan for my wife since she uses the phone to talk/text to her family. 1500 minutes a month is more than enough to do that. For myself, I do the $100 for 1000 minutes a year so it ends up being $8/mo...

I pay $38/month for cell phone and $30/month for internet. Cell phone is $30/month T-Mobile pre-paid plan for my wife since she uses the phone to talk/text to her family. 1500 minutes a month is more than enough to do that. For myself, I do the $100 for 1000 minutes a year so it ends up being $8/mon...

Ok. Thank you everyone. I will call Vanguard and let them explain it to me and tell me what to do. I didn't know if they would handle it for me or not. This makes it easier for me then, since I don't have to figure it out by myself. I will also include a letter explaining what I did when I send in m...

I have bought my engagement and wedding rings from bluenile. I'm not an expert on diamonds, etc. but I can vouch that they are are legitimate company. For the engagement ring, we got all the certified documentation along with it. They sometimes have a 10% discount promotion so you might want to wait...

Hello, Let's say that one needed to recharacterize a tIRA contribution to a ROTH. I've been reading about recharacterizations and just wanted to make sure that I have this understanding correct. On May 21st, I made a $5k contribution to VEIEX (emerging markets) in my tIRA bringing the total balance ...

Maybe I am old school but I never buy extended warranties or protection plans. It always bugs me when I play a major appliance or car and they want to sell me protection. Quality of design/manufacturing should be enough protection. Did i mention i was old skool I once was buying furniture and was a...

I would check with HR about the 401k plan regarding load fees. Most times, the load fees are waived in the 401k plan. I was in a similar situation. My company was switching 401ks and gave us a list of new funds to choose from. I started doing research on them and looked up the funds on Morningstar. ...

Firing my adviser was easy too. I sent him an email and said I was transferring my assets to another institution due to personal reasons (which was a result of finding this forum and learning to do it myself). I didn't even explain this and just went with, it's not you, it's me. I don't want to talk...

Can you tell me where this feature is located?

The capital gains tax rate issue is true. It could be 15% or 20% is what was presented to us. It is definitely something to consider as well.

Do you really lose the exercise money if the stock isn't bought out? Wouldn't you still own the underlying shares? What happens if, 8 years from now, the company does an IPO or something? .... Again, though, the goal is to maximize your after tax return not minimize taxes, so you still might make o...

I have a question regarding whether to exercise my current stock options as incentive stock options (ISOs) or let them convert over to non-qualified stock options (NSOs). The difference between the two is that NSOs are taxed at ordinary income no matter how long you hold them while ISOs can be taxed...

I hate Ameriprise so much. I was in a similar situation as you last year so I feel your pain. I moved all of my accounts at Ameriprise over to Vanguard with help from people here though. I didn't have a variable annuity, but I did have a variable life insurance policy with Ameriprise. In reading thi...

My VUL is with ANPAC or ANICO. I'll have to give them a call and see what my options are. As for the wifes - do I need to worry about taxes on her cash out? or will it be a wash since we probably put in more than it's worth? My understanding is that if you paid more in premiums that the surrender v...

My suggestion would be to call up Ameriprise and ask them questions until you are clear on what happens if you do x, y, or z. They should be able to answer your questions. By no means am I an expert on this, but here is what I have learned in my situation. My Ameriprise VUL has a variable account (e...

It is interesting to observe the human instinct to constantly compare ourselves to others. In reading accounts of people who suffer big losses we can scoff at their poor choices. However, WE have a choice to make as well. We can ridicule others for their lack of financial education and feel comfort...

I enjoyed the topic titled "your dumbest financial move". I'm used it as an opportunity to learn from others. I thought I would present another topic which might be helpful as well. What is the smartest financial move you ever made? The smartest financial move I've made happened 9 years a...

I can't help but laugh because my company pretty much has offered us the same thing. I raised concerns with the high expense ratios to HR but it probably fell on deaf ears. Also, since you are small (as is my company) the explanation that I got was that, "as a company, we do not have enough inv...

Quick scan of OP's prior posts indicates: 1. Both he and his wife are covered by employer plans, so they are fully eligible for deductible TIRA contributions only if their MAGI is under $92,000, which his declared tax bracket suggests it is not. 2. They live in Massachusetts, which taxes TIRA contr...

Hello, Forgive my ignorance on the following question. Maybe I just haven't thought it through or maybe i'm just missing the big picture. Typical advice on whether a Roth or tIRA is better for a person is what tax bracket they will be in the future relative to the present. So, if a person is going t...

Are you sure? Normally a change of custodian is not a qualifying event. Has the company actually sent you documents offering the opportunity to take distribution without penalty? Brian I'm not sure what you are referring to. I am not planning to take any distributions. A distribution means taking t...

VGSailor, you kind of dodged the question. Have you received any information from your company that you will be allowed to roll your 401k out at the time of the custodian change? You only said I initially thought that I had to do a 401k to 401k conversion, which I filled out paperwork to essentiall...

Are you sure? Normally a change of custodian is not a qualifying event. Has the company actually sent you documents offering the opportunity to take distribution without penalty? Brian Hi Brian, I'm not sure what you are referring to. I am not planning to take any distributions. As I mentioned, my ...

Hello, My company is in the middle of transitioning from Fidelity to ADP for our 401k. Unfortunately, that means going from Spartan funds (0.1% ER) to the lowest available in the ADP plan of 0.7% ER. I understand that I can rollover the current 401k into my Roth. What are the tax implications of thi...

I don't know much about biology Don't know much trigonometry. Don't know much about algebra, Don't know what a slide rule is for. Don't know much about a science book, Don't know much about the French I took. But I do know that I love you And I know that if you love me too What a wonderful world th...

Are there any concerns about opening up so many credit cards? What do you do with all these credit cards after the signup?

If you like Android and don't talk a lot, unlimited data and texting for $35/month at virgin mobile. Can't really beat that deal. It's prepaid if that matters to you.

These are the bookmarks on my Chrome browser that I frequently daily... Lifehacker - blog.lifehacker.com : hacks for living life. Gizmodo - blog.gizmodo.com : gadgets and electronics Engadget - engadget.com : gadgets and electronics IGN - ign.com : gaming and tv news Digg - digg.com : news aggregato...

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I got the samsung RF266AEPN one. It has the LED lights for the interior. I like it a lot, it isn't noisy at all. It's pretty expensive now, $1800 at besbuy, $1550 at ajmadison. Fortunately, I got it on sale for ~$1200 at Bestbuy when it was on sale at some point. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+...

I tried it for a few weeks and gave up. It had problems updating Vanguard account information and I got really tired of all of the advertising and found the promotions disguised as "recommendations" to be annoying. I understand the need for advertising, but I found the Mint.com site adver...

To clarify, ailment is probably not the word I should have used. This didn't happen to me specifically. I'm trying to help someone else figure out what to do. He went to the emergency room twice, the first time which was mis-diagnosed. It seemed to me that the second visit should be on the hospital...

To clarify, ailment is probably not the word I should have used. This didn't happen to me specifically. I'm trying to help someone else figure out what to do. He went to the emergency room twice, the first time which was mis-diagnosed. It seemed to me that the second visit should be on the hospital ...