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I live in Catonsville - just outside the Beltway, and its almost Howard County. Low crime, nice people all around, downtown Ellicott City is close by, and Inner Harbour is a 15 min drive away. Almost all places in Howard County(Columbia, Elkridge, Ellicott City especially) are great places to live, ...

Hello DC Bogleheads,
Is there a meeting for DC area Bogleheads on March 17? Could someone provide me information on meeting location and time? I found an older thread about the meetings, but I am not sure if the information in it is current.

VictoriaF wrote:Off-off topic: In another thread you mentioned Goa. I'd like to hear more about it, if you have a few minutes after the meeting.
Victoria

Sure, I'd be delighted to.

Just turned 31. It took a while to save up enough money to complete grad school without any loans. So, my entire twenties were spent garnering skill sets. At present, my net worth is somewhere in mid five figures, but growing up in a tight financial family situation had distilled frugal lifestyle lo...

dbr, SSSS, tfb, FrugalInvestor and nisiprius,
Thank you for the replies. They helped clarify the use of Money Market funds for me.

Hello, What is the utility of Money Market Funds? They seem to maintain a stable value of $1 for every $1 invested, and could also potentially lose the value. But even the lowliest of checking accounts seem to offer somewhat better yield than than, and they also are backed by FDIC. Why then do peopl...

What you should really avoid here is a corrective distribution of the non deductible portion as the earnings will increase your MAGI and further reduce your deduction in a vicious circle. For that reason full or partial recharacterization is best, and a partial recharacterization is the same amount...

kaneohe wrote:Contact the broker or financial institution and have them recharacterize the whole contribution.

Thank you for the reply.

There's been a little gain in the time since the contribution to the traditional IRA - will that be a problem?

Hello, This is the first year I started making contributions to a traditional IRA. On Jan. 15, 2013, I made a $5000 contribution to traditional IRA, assuming that my MAGI would be under the income limits. But when I completed my taxes in TaxAct, I realized that I was only eligible to make $2850 in c...

31 here, and just started to scratch the surface with my retirement planning. Long march till I hit my numbers.

Is there a downside to 401(k)s that makes it palatable that the contribution limits for small business employees are lower than those who are offered the 401(k) plans? No, some people are luckier than others. Even within the class of those with 401(k), some have expensive plans with actively-manage...

401(k) allows upto $17500/year to be tax deferred. But for people whose employers do not offer a 401(k), and instead some other form of retirement plan(which the employee cannot contribute to), they really miss out on the higher contribution limits. Is there a downside to 401(k)s that makes it palat...

Have you considered tax-exempt muni bonds (VWITX) or I-bonds? Good ideas for helping with investment income. I think the issue with the OP is reducing tax cost on salary income from a job. The big deal with a 401K is to not pay taxes now on the principal diverted into the 401K. However, one would h...

I am assuming you are single, don't own a home, have high income, and may be returning to a foreign country someday??. There is not a lot you can do, but maybe something. You can save money in a tax efficient way using low-cost index mutual funds ( available at Vanguard and Fidelity, eg.), municipa...

I am trying to reduce the amount of tax I pay. My employer offers only a profit sharing plan, and I am not allowed to contribute to the plan. I already max out my IRA limits(and my spouse included). 401(k) limits seem to be much more higher than what goes into my profit sharing plan currently. Is t...

I am trying to reduce the amount of tax I pay. My employer offers only a profit sharing plan, and I am not allowed to contribute to the plan. I already max out my IRA limits(and my spouse included). 401(k) limits seem to be much more higher than what goes into my profit sharing plan currently. Is th...

Consider India. Goa is a small ex-Portuguese colony on the western coast of India. Its very beautiful, and has a sizeable expat population. The place does have a reputation for hippies, but its overblown in my opinion. I think a decent American pension would buy a very good lifestyle there.

Thank you for the answers. Its very obvious to me that I need to do more research.

Also, I missed out on reading the newbie guide on the format of questions to post to the forum. I will do better next time.

Hello, I just turned 31. I intend to max out my retirement contribution this year. This is also the first year that I am contributing towards my retirement savings. I am not sure about how to split up the max allowable IRA contributions($11k, married filing jointly) between Roth IRA, and traditional...