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Thanks David. I will ignore the forms then.

Thanks. My question is really, whether do I need to make any estimated payment or not in 2013?

I think I am a little confused by the 1040-ES printed out by Turbo tax -- first time for me. I guess it is because my 2012 withholding/credits are about 87% of the total tax. According to the following link (http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc306.html), there are three possibilities to avoid under-payme...

All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis
Bethany McLean, Joe Nocera

Finished 40% so far.. fascinating story..

Is America run by those too-big-too-fail banks? (Mod - delete this sentence if not appropriate)

Bump... any more pointers / referrals to reasonably-priced lab service and ultrasound service? PS, I am always puzzled by US Healthcare system (as I came from another country). How can the university hospital facility charge so much? Aren't there any regulations on this? What is the role of "in...

Logged into my optum health bank account and was pleasantly surprised that the three Vanguard funds are also added. Weird that there is no email communication on this change. And, this was contradictory to what my company benefit representative told me 3 weeks ago, who said there is no plan to adjus...

Here is a situation. Wife needs to do semi-annual check on some health situation, and do semi-annual lab service (blood sample) and radiology service (ultrasound) before visiting the doctor. She always goes to a local University hospital (referred by our PCP). The hospital is reputable but also expe...

Awesome! Never noticed this.. shame on me (being working on some user-oriented projects for a while).

I love the vanguard web site, simple yet easy to use.. It must be designed with serious user experiences considerations. Just a quick question: I dislike seeing those funds with 0 balance listing there. Anyhow to configure my account to hide them? Searched around account settings but I could not fin...

Saturna Capital is an interesting idea. Did a quick reading on their brochure: 1. It claims "no-fee" HSA If you invest in any of Saturna's no-load mutual funds, we will not charge you a custodial fee on your HSA or ESA account. There is never a fee on contributions or distributions, nor ar...

Yep a few confirmed that 3 vanguard funds are added; however, not to my account

I've sent an email to my employer's benefits representative, asking for the possibility to add them. If those vanguard funds are added, I agree this would be simply the best choice for me.

Thanks for the information. Logged into my Optum Health Bank account and I am disappointed those vanguard funds are not available. I am going to email my employer's benefits representative asking about the possibility to add them. @jlg: Yes different plans include different fee schedules and, likely...

Good information from EmergDoc's blog. Just realized that Fidelity has HSA and fee is waived under some conditions. Since my 401K is with Fidelity, it seems a good choice for me to move to Fidelity for its spartan funds. PS, first year with HSA and the employer-picked custodian is Optum Health Bank...

typically a lurker... I have to login and bump. Happy Birthday Taylor. Wish you all the best!

Good information from EmergDoc's blog. Just realized that Fidelity has HSA and fee is waived under some conditions. Since my 401K is with Fidelity, it seems a good choice for me to move to Fidelity for its spartan funds. PS, first year with HSA and the employer-picked custodian is Optum Health Bank ...

Re: Do I need to set up the Traditional IRA and convert to the Roth IRA before the end of 2012? I also wanted to do a back door Roth IRA conversion. I just called Vanguard about 20 min ago, and the customer service explicitly told me the "conversion" is "calendar year" event, whi...

Thank a ton Allan! I already opened Traditional IRA accounts for spouse and myself with Vanguard, and funded $5000 each. I will call Vanguard to do the conversion soon. Still, isn't it weird if I do the conversion before 2012 tax filing? I mean, IRS clearly knows I am over income limit, but here we ...

I might fit what she is looking for. Since last September, I've gradually consolidated wife's and my Roth IRA from four different institutions into Vanguard, and also liquidated all my taxable accounts from various institutions and opened a Vanguard account with 3-fund portfolio. I will email her to...

Thanks Alan. I will follow route #1 and do the Corrective distribution after 10/15/2013, using the Vanguard form and indicating deadline has passed. I will create a multi-day all day event in my calendar to make sure I do not forget! Your example of someone choosing 6% penalty intentionally is fasci...

Thanks Alan for the very clear explanation. I noticed your advice above is to pay $24 and report it in Form 5329 with 2012 return, and then pay $0 and report it in Form 5329 with 2013 return. Why not simply paying $24 in 2013 and reporting it in 2013 return, if I only need to pay the "penalty f...

Paying 6% penalty sounds a good solution. I can certainly pay $24 to save the headache. My question is, do I need to ONLY pay $24 for 2012, or pay another $24 for 2013 as well? Here is what I cut from a Vanguard form (bold added by me): If you remove the excess contribution after the applicable corr...

Thanks Allan. No, I do not want to do recharacterization to a TIRA. I just want the excess contribution (and earnings) returned to me, and I will pay income tax and 10% penalty on the earnings (which should be a small number anyway). This leaves me a clean plate for me to do back door Roth IRA. What...

What is being discussed by both of you are a bit beyond my comfortable zone. Thanks a ton anyway! I called Vanguard, and the customer service thought the best option is to have Fidelity calculate the gain from Jan. to Sep., then Vanguard will continue calculating the gain from Sep. to Dec. And, Fide...

Thank you Alan. I think I get the gist of your proposal, but still not clear about the details. Three questions: 1. I also transferred another Roth account from TD Ameritrade to Vanguard in 2012, and it looks like those from Fidelity and those from TD Ameritrade are already mixed together and recate...

I think I am running into a bizarre situation and need help here. 1. Sometime in September 2012, I transferred most of the assets in my Roth IRA account in Fidelity to Vanguard, and leave about $300 in Fidelity 2. Throughout year 2012, I contributed about $400 to my Roth IRA account in Fidelity; I d...

Folks, This would be the first time that wife and my MAGI exceeds the 183K, the Roth IRA contribution limit (getting tired of current position and in the process of exercising options). Tax is filed jointly. Haven't contributed anything to 2012 Roth yet. Question: Assuming my W2 is 180K, and wife is...

Thanks everyone for the great advices -- as lots of posters pointed out, I need to educate myself more and read more. @word: I am trained as an engineer and make a living by writing computer programs which emphasize "logic". What you said is spotted on. I will give the book Bernstein's &qu...

So the program spits out the following data. Now these are convincing data that VEIEX and VGTSX are doing pretty good compared to the two "actively" managed funds. Note, VEIEX has 0.50% purchase fee and I've adjusted the program to take it into account. BTW, why "expense ratio" m...

To Jacobkg: I see your point. VTSMX is only for US market and has nothing to do with international stock nor emerging market. Could you let me know what good indexes (I am particularly interested in Vanguard's offering) I can use to run my program? The reason I am feeding these three funds into my p...

Hi, I stumbled on this site recently and instantly fascinated by such an involved-community and so many savvy and helpful posters; and I like the investment philosophy of bogleheads. However, before fully bogleheading myself, I need to convince myself over a puzzle and unfortunately I cannot do it m...

I read the wiki article "Mutual Funds and Fees", and the first link in the article "Mutual Funds: Additional Costs". I think I still need help. So based on the article, the "cost of mutual fund" can be put into 4 categories: #1. "sales fees" (loads, 12b-1, red...

Thank you guys. I do not have ESA, nor UGMAs/UTMAs, so I should be fine.

I have a quick question on mutual fund close price and expense. Is the close price the so-called "NAV"? Is "NAV" already taken expense into account? And, in mutual fund's prospect document, does the "return" already deducted "expense" or not? For example, if t...

So both Oneanddone and esetter suggests that I could simply contribute max 26,000 per year to the existing account. That certainly beats my two ideas. I just need confirmation whether someone else indeed does this as real life example. Besides, when I opened my existing account, I did not include an...

My first post... Please be gentle. My kid is 5 year old, and I finally opened a 529 account for her last year and contributed almost $13,000 (the annual gift tax exclusion), after my wife had been nagging for it for a few years. Yeah wife is right, now I am thinking about boosting the contributions ...