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As a physician, I think this is one of the biggest travesty in our current system. There is no link between real costs and the billed costs. I think it evolved over time when the insurance company agreed to pay 80% of the billed amount, so the providers increased the billed amount to compensate. Th...

As a physician, I think this is one of the biggest travesty in our current system. There is no link between real costs and the billed costs. I think it evolved over time when the insurance company agreed to pay 80% of the billed amount, so the providers increased the billed amount to compensate. Th...

Thanks all for the help.

My mother who is 90 is in the final stages of Alzheimer's and is mentally incompetent. My sister living in the same town has POA for her. My father passed away several years ago. We have decided to sell my mom's car and use the proceeds for her ongoing care. Is my sister allowed to sign over the tit...

I am in the same position as yourself. Since you have no income, you have no tax. Other than the meager interest from your taxable accounts. This will work in my favor for Obamacare for health insurance subsidies for 2014. I also plan on moving some IRA money to Roth. I'll probably have an 'income'...

Thanks for the replies. I was going to edit and add the statement it would seem like a good time to do a Roth Conversion. Glad that was validated.

If all stays true to plan I am looking at full retirement next year at age 62. I have been a high income earner for a number of years and with years of diligent saving, we should be fine. Wife and I have traditional IRAs and I have a 401k at my present position which we will not need to touch until ...

Thanks everyone. So to be sure I am clear. Our joint filing is over the 183k limit. We are both over 50 but less than 70.5. I am the only one working and max a 401k at work. Thus we can both can make a non-deductible $6000 contribution. Wife's contribution is not deductible.

Background: Wife and I both over 50. Wife does not work,hence no earned income. I am still working and our joint filing is greater than the limit for a "deductible" traditional IRA contribution. I have a 401k at work that I max each year. Wife and I both have a traditional IRA which we hav...

If so, my guess is no. Not because it isn't "legal," but because it will violate the corporation's agreement with the health insurer, which almost certainly requires that to be covered by the policy the person has to work some minimum number of hours for the corporation. Once you stop wor...

I gather you are asking if the corporation can keep you on their plan and include their cost of insuring you and your wife as part of the money you are due as part of your buy-out. If so, my guess is no. Not because it isn't "legal," but because it will violate the corporation's agreement...

My plan is to retire soon after my 62nd birthday which will mean I will have to bridge the health insurance gap for myself and my wife who will be aged 61 until Medicare eligible. Our corporation (of which I am a shareholder) offers employee health insurance in which my wife and I participate. When ...

Thanks for the help. Wife was paniced thinking she was going to need to find a job.

Think I answered my own question after doing the advanced forum search on this topic. It seems she does qualify at age 65 (I will be 66 and already qualified) for free Part A based soley on my work record. Please advise if I am wrong in this interpretation.

A question about Medicare eligibilty. I have over 40 Social Security credits and am eligible for full retirement benefits at age 66. My wife has only 37 credits but will be taking spousal benefits which is 1/2 my benefits at age 66. My question is she eligible for premium free Part A, and the same p...

Thanks Steelersfan, appreciate the help.

There is a program that provides income to spouses of veterans that go into assited living and nursing homes. It was for the spouse of a WWII vet, and I am not sure if it is for other wars spouses. We did not apply for it until after the veteran died, so we do not know if it applied to vets or not....

Thanks so much for the help. I agree with not trying to "hide" any of the money. I had a relative on my side that tried that and believe me "big brother" did not take kindly to that. The suggestion of the annuity is intriguing but I will try to couple that with finding a lawyer i...

My mother in law (father in law died 9 years ago) is only receiving SS benefits of about $550.00 per month and no other assistance. She was too proud to tell us of this fact until recently. This is far below the poverty level. She owns her own house and car with 200k miles but has no other assests. ...

Not all but a portion. It is market timing. I had a Stable Value fund in my 401k and used it to hold about 2/3 of my 401k (the 401k was about 2/3 of my portfolio). I loved it. Talk about offsetting risk on the equity side it was like a 1 yr CD without penalties - though not guaranteed by the Feds. ...

I know this is not "boglehead-like" but I have a question I would like to pose. I do not wish to debate the effect of failure to resolve the debt ceiling by the deadline but I do believe it will affect the markets in a negative way if not resolved. On that premise my 401k has a Stable Valu...

I'm curious who would be "a company's financial advisor." Most companies don't staff FA's as part of human resources or some such other service. Would it be this is somebody who comes along with the 401K plan who has put foot in door as part of collecting fees from the plan under the guis...

Thank you SS critic. Kind of scary the companies FA didn't know this basic info.

Want to be sure if I have this right. After I finished college and graduate school my wife "retired" from her work as an executive secretary. She paid into SS up until that time but at this time has not enough "quarters" for full benefits. I am not planning on SS until age 66 and...

EmergDoc wrote:

mayoman wrote:Sorry, I apparently asked a stupid question. Didn't think Bogleheads would be condescending.

Sorry didn't mean to offend. Estate tax/gift tax deductibility can easily be confused with income tax deductability.

Like I said to Bob, I misinterpreted the comments. All is well

Bob's not my name wrote:We're not being condescending. Emergdoc just extrapolated to a fantastic (in the original sense of the word) tax evasion scheme.

No question is stupid if you learn something from the answer.

Okay, just misinterpreted.

Sorry, I apparently asked a stupid question. Didn't think Bogleheads would be condescending.

Thank you Bob

I know that the wife and I can both gift up to $10,000 apiece to our children and we can deduct from taxes. Does this have to be cash or could it be "merchandise" such as travel trailers, cars, jewelry, etc if it were appraised?

Thanks, tried the "search" but didn't bring that thread up for some reason. Good discussion.

I am in a postition where I have enough cash on hand to pay off my mortgage (~150k @4.75% interest rate) and still have a hefty emergency fund. My interest on the mortgage last year was only $8500 and I am in the 33% federal tax bracket, no state tax. It seems this "tax deduction" is not a...

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good bank loan ETF? Looking for possible taxable account investment--what is your opinion?

Thanks for the help

I am a partner in a corporation with a 401k plan. I am 58 yrs of age and our plan allows distributions at age 55. To stay simple, would I be allowed to roll a percentage of the plan out each year into an IRA while still continuing to participate in the plan? Through the 401k I am able to save a fair...

As you are aware I started this post because my father recently passed away (he was a B-29 pilot in the Pacific Theater) and before he passed, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to him about his childhood and his service for our country. We had talked many times before but the details were ofte...

To get your uncle's records, start here http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/get-service-records.html jej Jej, I have already been to this site and do not and cannot get his service number nor social security number. As I replied my aunt is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's so...

To get your uncle's records, start here http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/get-service-records.html jej Jej, I have already been to this site and do not and cannot get his service number nor social security number. As I replied my aunt is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's so...

Thank you all for the kind help. My father's bomb group and his crew is documented on 39th.org and I have just about all his history listed there. I have his medals and now his flag from the burial which will be proudly displayed in my home. The trouble I am having in documenting my uncle's experien...

Dad must have been somewhat confused in the late stages of his illness. The Black Hawks were not involved in the Battle of the Bulge since that occured in late 1944 and Jan 1945. The Black Hawks arrived in Europe in March 1945 it seems. It doesn't seem that they were a "special forces" uni...

Taylor, If I recall correctly you were involved in the Battle of the Bulge and at Bastogne. My father passed away last week-he was a B-29 pilot flying in the Pacific Theater based with the 39th on Guam. Before he died I had several days to speak one on one with him about the war. He, like most of yo...

Could someone help me to understand this article which I have read several times at the Vanguard Website. Specifically is it suggesting new bond monies better in long term vs. short term, TIPS, or ST Corporates?

Sorry for the somewhat dumb question but how do I purchase "paper" I bonds? Can I do it through Vanguard or Scottrade? I already have some electronic through Treasury Direct.

My retirement horizon is within the next five years, so I am not trying to make huge tactical changes. Just would like to see my bond portfolio perform as well as could be expected with the choices I have. Everything I have been reading seems to say that short term bonds will peform better in an inf...

My possibilities in 401k include the following bond funds: D&C Intermediate (DODIX), Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasuries (VFITX), Vanguard TIPS (VIPSX), and Vanguard Short Term Bond Index (VIBSX). My overall AA is 60% equities 40% Bonds with the bond portfolio presently divided equally between...

How you should invest money like this depends very much on how the rest of your assets are invested. You can ask this question following the format in this sticky: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6212 If you do not want to go down that path and just to answer the question as posed h...

My emergency fund was originally in Vanguard Prime but with the low yields I switched to EmigrantDirect and am getting 1.50% APY. My question, I have been fortunate enough to be able to keep contributing to this account and now have a sizeable amount. At present I would only need about half of my &q...

About 15 years ago was sold a fixed 4% annuity by my previous SEP IRA custodian. The contract is renewed every 5 years and is coming up for renewal in the next few weeks. The contract is with MetLife. I know annuities are usually expensive and I am wondering if this would be a good time to transfer ...

Thanks for the prompt replies, will pick up the book.

It was suggested on another thread I posted, Municipal bonds would be a good place to look for investing if I had extra cash in a taxable account (vanguard prime money market) to get a better yield. I tried searching the forum for a "mini" tutorial on how to evaluate and purchase a municip...

You really haven't provided much information. However, depending on your tax staus, you may want to consider municipal bond funds. Any investment outside of Treasuries, monet market funds and CDs are going to have some level of risk. So, you should be clear about your goals and timing for this mone...