Bogleheads.org

VEMAX no longer has a redemption fee, so you're safe there. You'll get a more tax-efficient portfolio if you put your International holdings in taxable, so I'd consolidate to Total International there and use the 401k to fill out the rest. Also, investigate I-Bonds as an alternative to TIPS -- bette...

bb wrote:No dissenting opinions?

Just caveats, not dissent. OP's spending seems really low to me to be sustainable indefinitely. But if it truly is, the numbers work.

Yes, anything that happens inside a tax-advantaged account is a non-taxable event, regardless of whether that account is Traditional or Roth. The American Funds are likely to be higher-expense than other options. If this is her only retirement savings, especially if it's small, the best option would...

I believe the current assumption is that 5% of non-retirement assets per year are "available" to contribute to a child's schooling. That includes the 529 balances. You're correct that OP's children are unlikely to receive need-based aid anywhere that tuition is below $110k/year. That doesn...

tbradnc wrote:I do wish there was a way to get paper bonds. Dangit.

Maybe play dumb -- call the IRS, tell them you've received an excess refund (since your I-Bonds are on the way) and ask what you should do. And then ask when you should expect the I-Bonds.

Colorado13 wrote:

archbish99 wrote:... you'll be a happy man.

Or woman? I don't believe the OP specified gender in this post.

A happy being, then. No intention to discriminate.

You're set, provided that your expense estimate is both accurate and sustainable. What do you intend to do with your time? If the answer is "travel," you've got a problem. If the answer is "start a small business that won't make huge profits but will excite and fulfill me," you'l...

As noted, the $80k/year is 3.2%, higher than I'd be comfortable with over that long a time frame. The "perpetual" withdrawal rate that I've read is around 2%, though you probably don't need to go quite that low as 45 isn't perpetual. You'd be admirably set to retire, but I'd hesitate about...

As you surmise, you would be committing mortgage fraud if you state that you intend to occupy the property as your primary residence for the next year when that's not actually your intention. You could: ⋅ Inform the lender, who will probably call off closing while you work out a new, non-o...

Yes -- anyone who has earned income is eligible to contribute to a Roth using one of those two methods. Depending on their tax bracket, it may not be advisable unless they already contribute the maximum to that 401k, though.

Did the recipients earn at least that much? This is the key question. You can't contribute to an IRA for a minor based on your earnings, you have to contribute based on their earnings. If they worked while in school (or are getting a job immediately after graduation), you're set. Otherwise, you'll ...

I can't speak to any military tax quirks that may impact you, but you can certainly do a partial Roth conversion. I would maybe even stay out of the 28% bracket, though that can be debatable. I think that Roth conversions are part of the "Modified" in MAGI used to determine Roth contributi...

Re: the minimums, most funds have several share classes -- you were in institutional shares, and the minimum was met by everyone in the 401k together. Now you're on your own, which just means looking at smaller share classes. The separate funds are probably fine. Most funds do have some minimum on n...

@Random Musings -- do a little reading on Backdoor Roths. The taxation is based on what percentage of your Traditional IRA assets were deductible. By having a large amount in a Traditional IRA, the OP would pay taxes on almost the entire conversion amount taxed again in addition to having already pa...

You haven't provided us enough information, such as salary, equity %, and competing job offers to make an informed decision, but it looks to me like you're getting completely screwed. I'm guessing they're offering to pay you about $50k a year, when you could get $100k/year at a large company as an ...

What would you say the ideal mix is for the emergency fund, between ibonds, CDs, and money market (others too??). I've been reading some about breakable CDs and think I might put some of my emergency find there. What should I look for? Since you can't withdraw from I-Bonds for the first year, you c...

I assume that's near the top of the 15% bracket considering all your deductions and such, and not gross income? Married filing separately disqualifies you from several different things and generally doesn't work out well, but it's certainly something to consider. Try using TaxCaster and plugging in ...

suming wrote:Where and how to buy I bonds? The interest is the same everywhere?

You can't buy I-Bonds anywhere except from the Treasury -- treasurydirect.gov.

They're not ordering you to do anything. They're saying that you've committed a crime by not doing it, and they can indict you. Once you have an out-of-state indictment, there are jurisdictional proceeding for extradition. (Though for misdemeanors, they may not go to much effort.)

Can you please explain this? Seems like a max earning year before 60 would be worth more since it would be adjusted up in nominal dollars. The max is the same in real dollars every year. So earning the max 5 years ago, adjusted to age-60 dollars, is the same number of nominal dollars as earning the...

I have an update that may shed some more light and answer some questions. ... All benefits have COLA. I agree with lump sum, especially if this is a non COLA annuity. Investing the lump sum even in moderate AA should have good change of producing comparable income to annuities while preserving prin...

I suspect you've got a profit on those bonds, since those coupons are likely at a premium given current interest rates. (You list them as having been purchased at a discount; I assume those aren't current prices.) You might also check whether the bonds have a survivor option -- they're not an unreas...

See this post, which suggests that lenders really care about making sure the taxes are paid, and may let you pay insurance yourself.

If everything is held over a year, then the first question is your tax bracket. You can sell off enough gains each year up to the top of the 15% bracket, if your unpredictable income stream dips you down into that well-treated category. Long-term capital gains in the 10% or 15% bracket are taxed at ...

One relevant issue here and something missed by people who don't have to do the tax returns is the tax accounting or compliance cost. E.g., people can say stuff like, "Well, don't be a crybaby about the tax accounting... computers and software make this work easy." No, I only mentally app...

My parents' home state doesn't have such laws, but the next one up does, and they live right on the border. They could reasonably move there if they were ever to downsize. It says: If any person being of full age, and having sufficient income after reasonably providing for his or her own immediate f...

Thanks for the response. I prefer to have all 3 funds in my 401K since I automatically invest there. It's certainly convenient to have one account with several asset classes for easy rebalancing. Since most 401ks don't have minimum balances per funds, it might be easiest to make the other accounts ...

They want to terminate the relationship because having you working for them would give them a nexus in that state and subject them to that state's laws requiring the collection of sales tax to residents of your state. Makes sense. If that's what they've determined is in their business interests to d...

As a first whiff whether it's a good idea or not, consider converting to a Roth IRA when either of the following are true: ⋅ Your current marginal tax rate is lower than your anticipated marginal tax rate at age 70.5 (including SS taxation), whether you expect to need the money or not. &sd...

Wife really doesn't want to put it on the house, because of writing off the interest (we are at a 2.5% 15 year loan), which doesn't make financial sense but I wont pick that fight. Not the most eloquent speaker ever, but I've always found this to be a useful visual example. Particularly love the end.

If you convert to family coverage and it takes effect before December 1, you get the full year's allotment "optimistically." You then must maintain family coverage for at least a year. If you drop coverage before the end of the following year (i.e. December 2014), your limit for 2013 gets ...

Close enough, at least. The ETF always has a bit of a premium or discount. If it's exactly the same when you buy vs. when you sell, yes. If it's different, you'll pay the difference.

You should also compare to PenFed's Platinum Rewards card -- 5% gas, 3% groceries, 1% everything else. No annual fee. Unfortunately, that's long since gone. It's now 5% gas, 0.25% everything else. It's been this way for quite a while now. It's my gas card, but that's all. Really? It still shows 5/3...

You should also compare to PenFed's Platinum Rewards card -- 5% gas, 3% groceries, 1% everything else. No annual fee.

I would generally question the use of a Roth option in the 30.3% bracket; even as a medical couple, it's entirely possible that you can get your tax rate lower at retirement and/or Roth conversion at some future date. I'd stick with the Traditional 403b, take the present tax benefit, and use it to f...

Can you guarantee you can manage your money or what's to be your money better and with higher returns than the adviser? What kind of yearly returns does the adviser have? How do those returns compare with yours from your money that you do manage? It would seem to me the best way to make your case i...

Folks; The additional expenses for the external manager is less than $1575 total fees for 5 years (0.07% x $450K x 5). There is no way I'd try to bulldoze my mother in law's opinions about the best place to put money for this little bit. And I'm 60 and have 30 years of investment experience. In the...

Indeed. If he's having trouble making ends meet through no fault of his own, by all means, help. If his basic needs are met and his wants aren't, then he should take on his role as the parent and acknowledge that not all wants can be met. It's not your responsibility to fund his vacations, and espec...

If you want to do something like this, I'd just DCA part of it. Put 50% Intermediate term bonds, 25% equity, and 25% short term bonds. Set up an automatic exchange to move .5%/month from short term bonds into equities. Not likely to be ideal, but if it helps you sleep better at night, it might be t...

Here's the problem.... You can hold on to investments that have gone down, knowing that they'll eventually make up the difference. But you're proposing to take an investment allocation that you don't want to hold for the long term. What if stocks go up? Even from here, they could. What if interest r...

Bear in mind that while Oregon has a 9% income tax rate and no sales tax, the Seattle area has no income tax and a 9.5% sales tax rate. That's probably still better for you (and we'd love to have you here!), but don't think you're getting away scot-free on the tax front by coming to Washington state...

No change in SE taxes for the older self-employed, sadly. If they're higher earning years than the 35 factored into your SS benefit, then your benefit gets recalculated each year. You can also take your Medicare premiums (and supplement premiums) for the SE health insurance adjustment to income.

That's a reference to making an after-tax contribution to a 401k (limit is much higher, and "after-tax" is not the same as "Roth"), then either doing an in-service distribution or waiting until you're separated from that company to roll it into a Roth IRA. Since you don't plan to...

2) sounds like most of you are happy with my allocation? i thought it might be a bit conservative (51% fixed). one thing i haven't reconciled is whether having this amount of wealth should make me more or less risk-averse. on the one hand, no one wants to lose what they have, but on the other, i ha...

Certainly. My parents are retired, but have some SE income each year -- we're transferring that amount from their taxable account to a Roth IRA each year at tax time. This is the same thing.

There's an age restriction on Traditional IRAs; no such limit on 401ks.

Note that not all employers permit that dance with a 401k, but anyone can do it with an IRA.

I see a couple options. One would be a UTMA, but you want the ability to reclaim funds at need, not disperse them, etc. Another would be to just invest the money as part of your portfolio and know you have enough to help them if/wgen you choose. The drawback there will be the gift limit, which will ...

Thanks again for the replies, especially archbish99 for such a specific write-up. I have a couple follow-up questions in light of your advice: since bonds should have a lower expected return than equities, why should I put bonds in tax-sheltered accounts instead of equities? And I should put $5500 ...

The distributions from the trust to you aren't taxable, but the trust's investment income will be, either to you or to the trust itself. So you want to be tax-efficient with your investments, which means putting as much of your bond investing in tax-advantaged accounts as possible. If you have inves...

Well, to begin with, SS doesn't "kick in" at 62 -- that's when you're first eligible to take it, but nothing requires you to take it that early, and waiting is a good option in most cases. I assume that this pension isn't inflation-adjusted, either from now until when you start payments or...