Bogleheads.org

watty said:

There is also a wiki on this with some more dates.

Thanks. I checked it out. It's a very good resource.

bsteiner wrote: If one has enough other assets to live on and to pay the tax on the conversion, and if the lump sum can be rolled over into an IRA, there could be additional value in taking the lump sum, rolling it over into an IRA, and converting it to a Roth (perhaps spreading the conversion over ...

12 Important Retirement Planning Deadlines http://news.yahoo.com/12-important-retirement-planning-deadlines-144636408.html# Although I have passed most of these milestones, I thought others would appreciate this list for retirement planning. I got much of this information on this board the past sev...

I intend to get an answer to my question through this contact:

For general information or inquiries please contact the California Health Benefit Exchange at (916) 323-3502 or info@hbex.ca.gov.

Most likely there is a contact for inquiries in other participating states.

I didn't know anyone who invested growing up, in my middle-class family or otherwise. My college roommate talked about the stock market, and I thought her family must be rich. My parents "invested" in insurance products and when the opportunity to invest in an annuity was presented to teac...

We converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2010 and spread the related income across our 2011 and 2012 tax returns, so now we have income-related increases in our Medicare Part B premiums in 2013 and 2014. (The good news is, Social Security uses the most recent tax return provided by the IRS to...

Cali teachers don't get SS. They get a pension with no COLA and fully taxable. The pension can slip down to 85% of spending value, then it is maintained at that level.

When we reconfigured our portfolio in late summer of '09, we put TIPS in our ROTHs and later rolled over the Vanguard Health Care Admiral Fund into my ROTH. We plan to roll over the Capital Opportunity Admiral Fund into DH's ROTH account this year. Those are the only two non-index funds we have in V...

$30,000 mortgage No additional debt About $5,000 in the bank (in the '70's) Started investing in a variable annuity through work. (Thought the stock market was for rich folks.) Got interested in mutual funds, sold annuity and invested in Vanguard Wellington and a money market fund. Our well-diversif...

Englishgirl said: I have tried to move it a few times, but with newer banking rules, nobody else that I've asked will open an account for someone with a US address. Sigh. Wow, Englishgirl. We are planning on moving money from a bond fund in the UK to the US this year. I didn't expect it to be diffic...

Springman wrote: Minor correction, Vanguard's Capital Opportunity is not a closed end fund. It is an open ended mutual fund, symbol VHCOX/VHCAX. Apparently, I used the wrong terminology. That's what I get when I try to know something. A closed-end fund is not the same as a fund with a closed status....

We have a combined portfolio of Vanguard and Fidelity (Institutional) funds. Our overall ER is .15%. Our most costly funds are Vanguard Health Care-Admiral (.30 er) and Capital Opportunity-Admiral (.30 er) which is a closed-end growth fund. Those are the only two actively managed funds we own. Beyon...

Peter,
I think the RMDs could put us in a higher tax bracket because they will be so huge.
I don't think estate taxes at a $5M cutoff will be an issue unless the portfolio does extremely well. THAT would be a fortunate problem, to be sure.

Alan and Peter, DH is 65 and doesn’t know when he will join me in retirement and start taking SS. I did not pay into SS so I do not qualify for it, and teachers do not receive SS survivor benefits. Our AGI puts us in the 25% tax bracket, and with DH’s SS and our pensions, our bracket is not expected...

Is there some benefit/requirement to make ROTH conversions before taking SS? We were hoping to convert tax deferred funds each year up until RMDs kick in, keeping below the next tax bracket.

This may help if your brother has not already checked it out. Illinois Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (IPXP) http://insurance.illinois.gov/HealthInsurance/highriskpools.asp The Affordable Care Act established eligibility criteria for federally-funded temporary high risk pools like the IPXP. T...

We plan to join Kaiser Permanente Advantage. My mother has had this plan since Advantage was first offered, so we have been able to make comparisons with HMO plans offered by our employers throughout the years. Kaiser Advantage has evolved into a first rate plan, a fact I have closely witnessed now ...

I thought some may be interested that my son found a solution to the Bluetooth issue, at least temporarily. It is simple. He deleted the old phone profile and reconnected the iPhone 5. It works beautifully. I contacted Handsfreelink, and they said it is a temporary fix and will go back to disconnect...

1475.01

Changed due to duplication. I do not want to share the winner's crown.

Ducks wrote: You might try the steps outlined here: http://hints.binaryage.com/iphone-5-blu ... t-working/ Your link says a new receiver may be the ticket. A last resort, but at least an option. But how would I know which receiver would work with the iPhone 5? I wouldn't know where to start selecti...

I like products from Honda and Apple very much, but I found out the hard way, they can be incompatible. I purchased a 2012 Honda CR-V in June and my iPhone G3 worked perfectly with the blue tooth connection. I replaced the G3 with the iPhone 5, and now I have no blue-tooth connection. Here's the run...

teacher wrote: I need a couple things cleared up first. I don't know how easy it would be to move money from the Ally money market to checking in the credit union when needed. Jerilynn wrote: Very easy, just a couple clicks on their web site. Oh, and you want the Ally high yield SAVINGS account, not...

sscritic wrote: Back when money market funds paid interest, I used Vanguard as my online bank. Although I sometimes sent them deposits through the mail, I never went into a Vanguard office, so I have always considered it online. I don't consider using Vanguard as foreign. This occurred to me; why wo...

We keep savings for long term expenses like new car, insurances, vacation, house renovation/repair, taxes, and enough to cover a year's expenses in a credit union money market with a .20% AYP. We are way over the federally insured limit. It is about 8% of our portfolio. I have been considering using...

2012 Honda CRV.
This is my third CRV, all paid for with no financing.

Very important thread. How often should usernames and/or passwords be changed? I couldn't find mention of that question in the Vanguard site on security.

Amazon doesn't plan to collect tax on anything sold by its vast array of third-party sellers – the thousands of retailers, large and small, that use Amazon's Internet platform to market their goods. It's no small change. Third-party sellers accounted for about 40 percent of the goods ordered by Ama...

DB wrote: This is not correct. If you had invested $12,472 on 12/01/1998 and reinvested all dividends and capital gains, the account would be worth $44,971 on 08/31/2012, for an annualized return of 9.77%. Thanks so much for pointing out the impossibility of my fantasy. I just researched contributio...

In Dec. 1998, I transferred $12,472 out of an annuity into the Vanguard Health Care fund. (It seemed like a good idea due to upcoming health care needs of the baby boom bubble.) I have not added new money since. Today it is $126,386. I moved the entire amount into my ROTH the last two years. It's my...

livesoft wrote: "In retirement, the sustained withdrawal rate from your retirement portfolio is often said to be about 4% which includes fees. If you pay 2% in fees, then that is like a 50% tax on your retirement withdrawal. If you pay 1% in fees, then that is like a 25% tax. And you still prob...

Wagnerjb wrote: Those new hires simply need to put the medical costs into their planning, and if they want to retire before 65 they need to save enough (today) to pay for it. Fidelity estimates medical costs in retirement WITH Medicare is $240,000 per couple starting at age 65. Good to know if one n...

"I would love to learn more about the Affordable Care Act and how it might impact retirees..." This is from the Kaiser Family Foundation which is described as a non-profit, non-partisan, private operating foundation. I found it very helpful. Medicare and Health Reform Overview http://www....

I just checked. It's .16%. THANKS, DSInvestor!

There was an article in today's local paper that stated: "The percentage of US households that own individual stocks or mutual funds declined to 46% last year, down from 59% in 2001, according to the Investment Company Institute." I thought that was remarkable, since the direction has been...

We bought our current home in 1979 when mortgage interest was 13.5%. When rates dropped to 9.5%, we jumped at the chance to refinance to a 15 year loan. That cut our payments a great deal, so we put all money saved by refinancing in our investments every month. And when the home was paid off in full...

I have had close observance of my 94 year old mother's care at Kaiser for at least two decades. I would be quite satisfied with her care and the convenience is outstanding, but she has never had a unique situation develop requiring unique specialization. My access to specialists have diminished in m...

At the expense of sounding naive, aren't insurance companies compelled to provide life saving surgeries, procedures and medications as long as they are the gold standard? For example, if your HMO does not have a surgeon qualified to do a necessary surgery, mustn't they transfer your care outside of ...

Interesting article on the subject.....

Fidelity® Estimates Couples Retiring In 2012 Will Need $240,000 To Pay Medical Expenses Throughout Retirement
http://www.fidelity.com/inside-fidelity ... costs-2012

This is an important thread. I thought pre-existing conditions were not an issue in Medicare plans simply because it is rare bird that does not have some medical issue by the time they reach Medicare age. What an eye-opener.

mur44 wrote:

Once you drop your Medigap plan, you may not have the
right to re-enroll in the Medigap plan.

Why would you be able to move from an Advantage plan to a Medigap plan during open enrollment, but not the reverse?

When I saw this thread, I thought it was about actually getting a good purchase price from a car dealer. We plan to buy a Honda CR-V this week. We have the cash saved in a Money Market Fund so a loan is not an issue. So far, I have an offer of $500 over dealer invoice. It sounds good to me, but I wo...

needtoknow wrote: Frankly, I would not trade my CALSTRS pension for anyone's private pension plan. I would suggest you should not wish to make that trade either. Our pensions are provided to us by the State of California in a binding contract with the legislature. The private pension can go belly up...

I expect those not aware of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation protections will jump at the chance to take the gold and run. Putting it in an annuity seems counterproductive because workers can receive up to $4,500 per month (or $54,000 per year) who retired at age 65 at the end of 2011 under...

13% so far. Hope to convert another chunk from tax-deferred to ROTH next year, the last year before DH's SS starts. After that, we won't be able to convert much without impacting his SS benefit. Our motivation is the RMDs in waiting.

I agree with chaz. "You are a good parent." You already know whether your children are just "takers", or whether they have pulled out all stops to get on their feet. If it is the latter, I would contemplate doing what you propose. These are tough times. But, if they are comfortab...

I'm sure I'm sure. That's for sure. Cali teachers pay 8% into the CalSTRS pension fund; I think the Social Security contribution is 4.2%, so rarely do teachers qualify for survivor's SS. We do not have the option of a lump sum, and I wouldn't take it if we did, because the pension is the only guaran...

I have the exact same question as the OP. I am a retired teacher. DH will be 65 in August and plans to work until the spring of 2013, but maybe longer if he feels like it. I will definitely NOT get survivor's SS due to my teacher pension. We wonder if we should use savings to postpone SS or take it ...

Cash is king. You can get a better deal with it.

Is that for sure? We always pay cash but wait until the end of the purchase process to tell them we are not taking out a loan. I thought we would get a better deal if the dealer assumed they would get interest off a loan. Now I am confused.

I did not write these, which means I lifted them from this forum. They are in my Investment Policy Statement. "Design a personal long-term, low-cost, diversified, asset allocation plan--then stay-the-course." "Minimize what you can control (costs and taxes) and don't worry about what ...

We had 100% equities for most of our investment years and moved to 80/20s in our late 50's. In the summer of 2009, after reading comments on this board and with the help of contributors, we moved to 50/50. It was painful because I felt like I would just be maintaining and had little opportunity for ...