Bogleheads.org

Just to follow up on JustinR's sensible response, when you reinvest dividends, you increase the number of shares owned. Op, does that make sense, and address your question?

I can't speak to the moderation burden this would bring -- one would hope that nice people discussing how best to give back to society wouldn't descend into flame wars too often! I just wanted to add that I would find this useful. I currently need advice about starting a volunteer program at my work...

Do you know the current interest rate on the first-listed stable value fund? If you answer this, perhaps you can mention whether the rate is before or after expenses?

I just filed a NJ return, and had made Roth 401(k) contributions in 2012. I didn't find any deductibility or advantage to such contributions. But then again, my assumption is that they would not reduce AGI, and I didn't specifically look into the matter. If you have a particular form and line number...

Just trying to make sure I understand - This is because you can sell I bonds back to the Treasury after holding them for min one year, and you get full face value plus the interest less an interest hit of months? vs the case of other bonds (not government), if the interest on future bonds goes up, ...

I'd agree with the jsuggestion to put this in the bank first. If you have a checking account, and youre happy with your current bank, I'd set up a savings account there. I think it's great that you're thinking about a business: the idea of a job with lots of potential upside, or at least control ove...

Are you looking to give a physical gift, or a check?

First, I am very sorry for the loss of your brother. It's admirable that you want to use these funds for the benefit of your nephew. So, there are two questions here: how to best distribute this money to your nephew, and how to invest the money for the next 3 to 15 years. If I were you, I would offe...

Welcome to the forum. Ca I make a couple of suggestions? 1. If I were you, I would increase your written allocation in the "Other" category in your budget to include entertainment. Say, $200 per month, instead of $30? This may be surprising suggestion from this forum, but I think it's bett...

The dividends will be taxable whether directed to a MM account or re-invested, yes. No difference on the tax on dividends. One separate factor is that when you have dividends reinvested, the purchased shares comprise many small "lots" with a different basis, for future capital gains accoun...

So, certainly, you can do this, and you would be diluting the risk by putting half your money into a traditional CD. As you wrote, you would have 0.9% guaranteed (1.75% on half your investment), plus an unknown rate on the other half. My question above was not about the concept of a structured CD. M...

Has anyone considered a secondary market annuity? http://www.immediateannuities.com/secondary-market-annuities/ John Are these annuities that pay for a fixed term, e.g. Quarterly payments for 10 years? Or are they life annuities that pay o for the lifetime of a person? If the second case, you would...

I understand that structured CDs pay a variable amount of interest based on the behavior of an index. Can you tell us in one or two sentences, how would this particular CD's interest be determined, and what is the range of possible interest rates? I think the general consensus is that these products...

Ou of curiosity, what were the funds? Did you have "Magellan Mania"?

Based on how you phrased this question, you should absolutely NOT do a PhD. The research work is long and tedious, and if you don't have a strong commitment, your PhD could easily take longer. Even if you only take 4 years to get the PhD, it will be an extremely painful 4 years if you aren't 100% c...

For the amount of money you're talking about, I would hire an actuary to review your insurance contract, and show you what options would be best. Spending $200 to $400 service now might be prudent.

Thanks for that info. It should be pretty simple for me: 0. There is no mortgage. I own the house free and clear. 1. That taxes and utilities - That should be easy to calculate in advance. 2. There is no commission to me. The deal is that commission and closing costs are paid by the buyer. 3. There...

I used to allocate closing fees in real estate closings -- I worked as e clerk who prepared such documents. They were all fee-simple properties, not condo units, however. I never did an escrow transaction. If you don't mind answering, why do you need funds in escrow? When I worked in this area, duri...

And here's the other nominations that didn't receive a "second" .... think these should be in the poll or not? Cancel unfilled mutual fund orders online. More fund offerings (both VG and non-VG) Statement and annual report householding More CD choices Moneymarket fund with competitive rat...

What security? And what exchange would you expect it to be on?

There is after-hours electronic trading on some us equities markets.

I once held a part-time job preparing these HUD-1 forms. What the clerk wrote you was true -- he or she will probably work on the form after getting the final loan description from the mortgage company. That could reach the title company 2-5 days before closing. While the clerk would have the inform...

There was a recent thread, in fact.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=115019

I suggest this thread be merged with the existing thread.

I don't have any advice, but if you want to search for information about similar plans, I believe the term used here is "nondeductible," as in non-deductible IRA contributions. Referring to the fact that contributions are not deducted from your income when filing a tax return, as they woul...

Do you know what questions the audit is seeking to answer? I can't really picture what could be audited, other than contributions being under the annual limit?

In calendar 2013, my income will be such that I am not eligible to contribute directly to a Roth IRA. I would like to contribute to a non-deductible IRA, and then rollover to a Roth, I.e. make an indirect or "back door" Roth IRA contribution. I opened a traditional IRA at Vanguard in Febru...

In another case, I would ask, are the returns net of fees, or not?

But I know that TSP expense ratios are so small that they couldn't explain the difference here.

Are the points paid and closing costs the same? I'm surprised the difference between rates is so small. Have you seen the difference in monthly payments? They'll be more than 15% higher under the bigger loan. What is that, about $400 more? Have extra cash up front would be nice, but I'd be more comf...

If we do rent it out and go to try to get a mortgage on our new house a year from now, how is this condo she’s linked to going to affect the that process? We’re planning on having 20% down for a ~300k house, 735 & 780 + credit scores. Do we need it to be rented for a certain amount of time for ...

My take on it? If I was in your situation, I would let your brother do what he wants with his money. You feel your sister is irresponsible with hers, so why give her any of yours? I would just stick with your plan. However - you say you have "mentally earmarked" your estate to be divided ...

This year (2013) will be the first time I carry out a Non-deductible IRA to Roth IRA conversion ("backdoor Roth"). Here is my situation, as of Jan. 2013: Roth IRA: $28,000 at Vanguard, all ordinary contributions when I was eligible, plus some gains. Started 2006 or '07. Traditional IRA: NO...

[merged from separate thread on same topic - admin alex] Reminders from a New York Times story: alternative investments often come with highly-touted yield, but it's virtually certain that significant risk accompanies those high yields, even if those risks aren't likewise highlighted. I thought thi...

Overall, you're doing really, really well. Congratulations on getting to this point. I'm a year younger than you are, and in absolute terms am way behind. Just to verify, the Kenyucky provision includes IRAs, not just 401(k) and pension amounts, correct? In your tax bracket, would a traditional IRA ...

I think two facts would be very important: your current age, and the age at which you are eligible to retire with this healthcare plan. Oh, and your anticipated age/year of retirement.

In the spirit of contructiveness, what are the lessons we can take from this?

Here is one: maintaining a hefty emergency fund, to keep from having to dip into retirement savings?

I'm not sure whether it handles special needs you would have as an overseas filer, but you can look at OpenTaxSolver. But it's UI isn't pretty.

I sympathize with the OP. The tree company knows better; they should fix it. The soil in this area is very soft right now -- temps have mostly remained above freezing and the ground is wet. It is a huge amount of work to fix this but with the right equipment and strong crew they can do it quickly. ...

An all-expenses paid trip to New York? I'll put together an entry with my best efforts. I've always wanted to see the Cloisters and the Frick.

Just to be clear, the ultimate goal would be for the software to automatically fill in a government-provided fillable PDF. The user would enter data -- currently by editing a text file, which isn't ideal -- and then the software would produce a PDF he/she could print, sign, and mail.

Billy's and BL: thanks for the correction. I will edit the incorrect information out of my post.

Would bogleheads use free, open-source tax software? That is free as in free beer and also as in free speech . The example I'm thinking of is Open Tax Solver , which is written in the C programming language. The reason I'm asking is that I'm considering porting the project to another programming lan...

airahcaz wrote:
Well aware of the greeks - delta, vega, theta - delta will increase significantly as the underlying increases, As will vega, but theta erosion is against us.

Haha, the answer to my above question, whether you can figure the fair value of an option, seems to be YES.

Be careful and good luck.

First, welcome to the forum! I hope you'll find it helpful. Can you tell us your current marginal tax rate? For federal income taxes, take a look at the graphs here: Tax rates visualized. Then add state tax rate. The reason that is important is that you're saving all those taxes when you contribute ...

Very cool point, Mr. Ferri, thanks for posting. So is this at all a predictor of active manager performance? How do I pick the next rock star? I think a better way to think of it is this: say we take a morningstar style chart, with nine boxes. Let's compare the different sets of stocks that are incl...

Thus a gamble. But curious, how was the 99% chance calculated? Ca I pose a related question? The probability of payoff that hollowcave was referring to is surely related to whether the option is a "good buy." At what price do you think this option is a really good deal? At what price is i...

I have a few thousand dollars of "play" money. I am tempted to just start buying stocks and selling them the next day if they go up by a few dollars. Is that a good way to start or should I read pages after pages of literature? Please advise Thanks I think that would not be a good idea. W...

I think there are some past threads that focus on whether property ownership is a worthwhile investment, compared to a default choice of a traditional passive investment like a mutual fund. I suggest you search for posts about becoming a landlord, and post back any specific questions you have here. ...

Why? It's taxable income that determines the tax paid and the marginal bracket. AGI is only the starting point for computing taxable income. Brian Yes, graphing that would involve fewer assumptions, but would basically be graphing the tax tables. I wanted to create something a little more informati...

There are tax statistics available which show filing status, AGI, taxes paid, etc. It would be interesting to see if reality matches what you have graphed. My perception is that the average tax rate (red lines) are really about half of what you have shown. Here's a link to 2008 data: http://www.irs...

c. The calculations do not consider any "phaseouts," since those would affect AGI directly. Not sure what this means. Phaseouts don't affect AGI. AGI affects phaseouts. To obtain an accurate graph you need to take credits into account, and make your y-axes both go negative. Credits and th...

By popular demand, here is the same graph covering a larger income range, and showing more "break points." As not-Bob has pointed out, this graph may be less realistic, as upper-income taxpayers may have itemized deductions that exceed the standard deduction. Furthermore these plots do not...