Bogleheads.org

I have family outside the U.S. and when they call, the caller ID says "unknown number" so I can't skip answering. I've never listed my number online anywhere, so that's not the problem. I had not thought of having it unlisted by the phone company. I'll try that and maybe it will help. Than...

I'm being bombarde by calls from two telemarketers. I'm on both the sate and national Do Not Call list and they don't work. Is there a place you can pay to have your name removed from lists? Does anything short of getting rid of the land line stop this? I'm getting up to 4 calls a day offering a fre...

I also use Tide HE for my front load washer. I've used Tide for many years and never had a problem with it. I did switch to a cheaper detergent once, but had problems like you've mentioned with what appeared to be bleach spots on clothing, even though bleach was not on the ingredient list. I went ba...

Fidelity ticked me off with their incompetence, so I moved everything to VG and left a whopping 64 cents in an account at Fidelity. It's been sitting there for a decade or longer. I get quarterly statements on my account. I wonder what that has cost them over the years?

You left out an option of "I've already made changes to my bond allocation". I moved a portion of my bonds to a shorter duration fund.

Your contribution deadline for any IRA is not Dec 31 of the tax year in question, but the April 15th tax filing deadline. Your contribution was before April 15th of 2013 for your 2012 contribution, so no problem exists. You weren't contributing to a "non-existant" 2012 Roth because you hav...

I've always had great service from Vanguard. I had a nightmare with Fidelity service that cost me huge IRS problems that took ages to sort out and should have never happened in the first place. My husband's account at Fidelity also had similar problems. Everyone we talked to assured us they were sen...

Age: 59

Tax Adavntaged 50% of total portfolio
50% Short Term Tips
50% Total Bond

Taxable 50% of portfolio
60% Total U.S.
40% Total International

I think something a lot of people don't even consider is that you start out planning retirement income based on saivings and both spouses receiving social security. All too often, one spouse dies early and leaves a gap in that plan. We could have made it on both our ss, but unfortunately my spouse d...

I was invited to participate when it first started. I only went to the forum a couple of times. Not much happening on it. I saw on here that it closed, but an odd thing, after the site closed, I got an email from Vanguard saying they hadn't seen me there in a while and to visit the site. I thought i...

My husband had terminal cancer. When he started at home hospice care, we showed the hospice doctor the DNR and the notarized forms saying no feeding tubes. She said she couldn't accept those. She had to have him answer a series of questions to show he was competent and then sign a hospice form which...

1.) Allow different beneficiary designations on different accounts rather than, for example, forcing all TIRAs to have same beneficiary
2.) Better password capability

I LOVE your posts! I'm in the same boat. I'm going to check WalMart's "Straight Talk" plan. It's supposedly unlimited text, talk and data for about 50 a month. The up front phone charges may be more, but it will be much cheaper in the long run. I refuse to pay 200 a month for a phone with ...

Thank you both for your replies. I appreciate the input.

I do understand I'll have to rebalance. My question is will Tips keep up with inflation for the long term or do they only help with unexpected inflation? If i had enough money today to last 40 years and I put it all in a Tips fund, whould those dollars still have the same spending power in 20 years ...

I recently read the Wiki on the distribution phase of retirement and found it extremely helpful. The scenario that made the most sense to me was to keep several years worth of expenses in a bond fund and move more from stocks to bonds depending on market returns to smooth the year to year ups and do...

Thank you for your replies. I now realize, as with most financial quesstions, the answer is "it depends". The SS site shows the income related premium adjustment starts at 85000 (2012 info) for singles. Best I can tell is that TIRA to Roth conversions are also included in MAGI and therefor...

Does it make sense to take withdrawls from your IRA before RMD kicks in if it would help put you in a lower tax bracket once RMDs started? My assets are roughly 50/50 in taxable and tax advantaged holdings. I wouldn't need to touch any tax advantaged holdings until RMDs were required, but don't know...

10% Cash
12% Mortgage free home
39% Equities
39% Bonds

I don't consider my home part of my investments, but it would have to be considered as part of my net worth, so I've listed it.

I also have a problem designating beneficiaries the way I need to with VG. I just got a Flagship Customer Service Survey and they asked what was the number one thing they could do better. I gave them two, and number one was the beneficiary problem. The second item I said I'd like to see was better p...

Thank you both for your replies. They were helpful.

I know bonds don't behave like stocks. I think, thanks to reading and questions on Bogleheads, that I understand bond funds. My question is what kind of loss can one realistically expect in bond funds when interest rates rise? I've learned that the NAV can drop by interest rate increase x bond durat...

Once you are receiving medicare, keep in mind that any conversions that up your income could result in extra income related premiums for Medicare. I did a conversion a couple of years ago and got unexpectedly nailed with that extra premium, which I hadn't considered in the calculations for the cost ...

My husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer in Sept of 2009. The doctors said he had 12 months max life expectancy. That year for Christmas he wrote me a beautiful love letter saying what I and our time together had meant to him. I treasure it above all the other material things he ever gave me. I...

Halfline, you misunderstood my post. I was talking about a U.S. citizen dieing and leaving assets to a non citizen spouse. My husband was from U.K. I didn't know there was a difference in inheritance laws if the spouse wasn't a citizen. Our tax advisor said he should become a citizen to avoid the mu...

There is also a tax law involving the estate tax for a non-citizen surviving spouse. You would owe estate tax on anything over $133,000 (2009 amount) rather than the much more generous exemption for a citizen spouse. This is the law that made my husband become a U.S. citizen. I would assume this app...

I got mine today. It was "signed" by my Flagship rep, so maybe it's only going to Flagship members.

Thank you so much for all the work you put into this. I had done some basic calculations on my own, but this is a lot more detailed and helped me to ultimately decide not to convert.

Crow

poppa23, Vanguard offers an annual checkup and financial plan for Voyager Select or Flagship level investors. I think you can also get one free when transferring 100,000 or more to Vanguard. Their website gives you more info. Look here: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatweoffer/personalservices/f...

I live in Houston and we have torrential rains here. We also have lots of pine trees and the pine needles will clog almost any gutter out there. I bought LeafGuard Gutters and have had absolutely no problems in 7 years now. Even pine needles don't clog them. The flowers from oaks and pines and the s...

Thank you all for the replies. To YDNAL, yes, you've explained my feelings about this money perfectly. I don't have job worries, so this is safety net money. My husband passed away in Sep 2010, so I'm still getting used to budgeting on an income that's 25% of what it was previous to his death. I wan...

My spouse died in 2010 and I had to deal with this. If the funds are at Vanguard, they have a separate department that handles this exclusively. They were very helpful to me in taking care of the switch. The funds weren't yet in distribution mode, so I had several options. The person I spoke with to...

My savings for retirement are currently split about 50% tax advantaged and 50% taxable accounts. I have sufficient income to not have to touch these until at least 65 or older. I am currently 58 years old, 100% disabled and widowed. In addition to the accounts listed below for retirement, I have 210...

I am a Vanguard Flagship client. I recently contacted my account rep and asked if I could make a beneficiary on one IRA account different from all my other accounts. I was told this was impossible. I have two TIRAs, one Roth and an individual taxable account. I do not understand why this is impossib...

I second the Nutro Lamb and Rice formula. I have a 75 lb. boxer with a sensitive stomach and allergies. This is the only food I've found that doesn't give her any problems.

I've bought and paid cash for two cars since 9/11 and I didn' t have to fill out a credit application for either of them.

I've cruised to Alaska, Scandanavia & Russia, Norway/Iceland/Greenland, South America & Antarctica, and am going back to Alaska next month. My favorite line for the money is Holland America. My favorite ship is the Prinsendam. It's a smaller ship and you avoid some of the "cattle call&q...

I recommend Ecuador. Language is Spanish. Cost of living is dirt cheap. Nice rental property available at reasonable prices. Choice of areas near coast or inland. My favorite is inland, Cuenca area, which is base of Andes, so cooler. People are friendly, scenery is gorgeous, crime rate is low, and t...

I was just there for 2 weeks in May and it was my first trip. I stayed in Jackson as my base as it was close to every thing I wanted to see and do. I had a one day guide service, Eco Tours, that took us to Grand Teton National Park. It was a spectacular day. The guide was knowledgable about the anim...

I have a 4 year old boxer. She is the sweetest tempered, smartest dog I've ever owned. She is protective without being in the least agressive. She is great with kids. The first time we encountered a small child that wanted to pet her, she went to the ground and didn't move while the toddler petted h...

Thank you both for the input. At least I know it's not a big mistake either way I decide to go.

Regards,
Crow

My husband passed away last Sept. I have finally gotten most of the estate settled. I would like to revisit with the BH's my AA and I have a question on bonds. I am 57 years old, permanently disabled, with current income covering living expenses until age 65 when my private disability insurance paym...

I'm so jealous! Fort William is one of my favorite areas of Scotland, that and the Isle of Skye. Beautiful country. I'm looking forward to see more photos and hear about the trip.

Crow

If you have a hobby or special interest, try organizing a group lunch with others from work who might share that interest. If there's a bulletin board, post a notice saying "looking for interested persons who'd like to join a lunch group for ***" where *** can be anything from book club, t...

I just had to go through the probate process in Texas after my husband's death last September. The total cost for probate, including attorney fees, filing fees and 6 copies of the letters testamentary was 1500. I don't know how this compares to other states. I think your court fees will be the same ...

Combination I read lots of books and articles before ever finding this forum. Scott Burns affected my AA the most, but this forum helped me fine tune and definitely gave me invaluable information about bonds, bond funds, and tax efficiency. My current AA is 25/25/25/25 Total U.S. index, Total Intn'l...

So many wonderful tips. Thank you all. I will check back here before leaving. Right now, it looks like we'll be heading out about 15th June, so still time to plan and modify as needed.

Thank you all for the input. I just got back from Grand Teton and Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago, so may not spend a lot of time there this trip. The input on California and the coast road is especially helpful as I've not been to that area before, other than San Fran. Thanks all.

Crow

I'm planning a long road trip. Starting in Houston, going west to Calif, hitting Sequoia and Yosemite Nat'l parks, then to hwy 101 and up the coast to Washington. Coming back through Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Total time spent to be about 5 to 6 weeks. Anything anyone would recommend not missing...

Not to hi-jack this, but what if you drive very few miles annually? I have a 2004 Corrola, bought new, and I still only have 25000 miles on it. I have changed the oil every 6 to 9 months, even though the mileage was short of the required, but don't know when to do a lot of the other stuff. I don't t...