Search found 613 matches

by icefr
Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Suggestion for updating "Asking Portfolio Questions" thread
Replies: 287
Views: 38154

Re: Suggestion for updating "Asking Portfolio Questions" thread

Hi all, I would like to kindly request that you revisit the gendered pronoun language present in the template. I do personally find it offensive. It is 2019: my marriage license used the terms “Spouse A” and “Spouse B” and so many bathrooms in my city are now gender neutral. I don’t see why we need to know the gender of either the OP or of their spouse in order to be providing them with factual information about their financial situation. Additionally, the OP doesn’t always even indicate their personal gender, so we aren’t even sure which of the two spouses is the OP from the current template in order to use their correct pronouns. Thank you for your consideration. I've given this a great deal of thought over the years. In theory, I agree....
by icefr
Sat Jun 22, 2019 9:44 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Suggestion for updating "Asking Portfolio Questions" thread
Replies: 287
Views: 38154

Re: Suggestion for updating "Asking Portfolio Questions" thread

Hi all, I would like to kindly request that you revisit the gendered pronoun language present in the template. I do personally find it offensive. It is 2019: my marriage license used the terms “Spouse A” and “Spouse B” and so many bathrooms in my city are now gender neutral. I don’t see why we need to know the gender of either the OP or of their spouse in order to be providing them with factual information about their financial situation. Additionally, the OP doesn’t always even indicate their personal gender, so we aren’t even sure which of the two spouses is the OP from the current template in order to use their correct pronouns. Thank you for your consideration.
by icefr
Mon Jun 10, 2019 9:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Update:High interest ARM extra payment vs. 401K...yes another one
Replies: 22
Views: 1344

Re: High interest ARM extra payment vs. 401K...yes another one

Refinancing would be ideal, but it might be tricky to find a lender that will do so at a reasonable cost when your mortgage balance is under $100,000. Worth a try if you can find one though.

I wouldn’t pay a fee to recast this mortgage since that essentially happens once a year when the rate adjusts anyway.
by icefr
Sat Jun 08, 2019 2:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: No term life on a visa?
Replies: 24
Views: 2852

Re: No term life on a visa?

Does your employer offer life insurance for spouses? That could be worth checking if it doesn’t have this restriction.
by icefr
Tue May 14, 2019 10:54 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is my 2018 W2 wrong? Mismatch on last paystub
Replies: 4
Views: 345

Re: Is my 2018 W2 wrong? Mismatch on last paystub

HSA or FSA contributions, medical, dental, vision premiums would all count to reduce Social Security and Medicare wages. Also, in 2018, you didn't pay Social Security tax beyond $128,400 of income. You do pay Social Security tax on 401(k) contributions though.
by icefr
Sun May 12, 2019 9:55 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Delinquent tax filing - how to account for carryover losses?
Replies: 14
Views: 959

Re: Delinquent tax filing - how to account for carryover losses?

Have you looked at what it takes to fill out a 1040X? No, but I assumed it was even more of a pain than doing a regular 1040. Anything more than using TurboTax to file electronically gives me nightmares. I also don’t understand how it works conceptually . For example, do I first fill out and submit the 2016 return, wait for it to be accepted, and then fill out and submit the 2017 amended return , then wait for that to accepted, and then fill out and submit the amended 2018 return, and wait for that to be accepted? You could mail the 2016 return and 2017 and 2018 amended returns all at the same time. Just make sure to use a different envelope for each year! A 1040X is pretty easy to fill out - you basically just indicate what has changed an...
by icefr
Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: At a crossroads on how much to put down towards new home
Replies: 32
Views: 2911

Re: At a crossroads on how much to put down towards new home

My spouse and I were struggling with this recently. We live in a different state from you and are buying a $1.4M place. We ended up deciding to put 30% down from index funds and cash and then we will reinvest the proceeds from our apartment once it’s sold back into our Vanguard taxable. Why did we come to this decision? If we reinvest the proceeds, then we are on track for our total investments # goal at our ideal retirement age and we can afford the annual payments on the new mortgage with current income. If you don’t touch your Vanguard taxable or your tax-advantaged accounts to buy this house, you should have about $2.1M at age 60 in today’s dollars, which at a 4% withdrawal rate, if you spend around or less than $83,342/year means you’r...
by icefr
Sat Apr 20, 2019 8:13 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Advice on non warrantable condo in Bellingham
Replies: 17
Views: 2014

Re: Advice on non warrantable condo in Bellingham

I am surprised that one owner can capture the HOA. My condo association has 350-400 units. There are 14 board member - 1 for each of 7 buildings. The president and treasurer come from members of the board. These individuals don’t have total control of money. All members should have copies of the budget. Get to know the rules and bylaws of the condo association. Also check out State and perhaps federal rules for minimum reserves. It’s really easy if it’s a small building. Owning two units in my condo association would put them owning over 10% of the building, which can be problematic for getting a mortgage. OP, my condo association is small (see above statement) and our reserves are awful. I would only recommend buying into a small HOA if y...
by icefr
Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:13 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I refinance?
Replies: 16
Views: 1875

Re: Should I refinance?

I would just take Option 1 in case you want to refinance again. A no cost refinance always wins out.
by icefr
Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:10 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Which Mortgage/Refinance Loan would you choose?
Replies: 12
Views: 979

Re: Which Mortgage/Refinance Loan would you choose?

I would not do a cash out refi. So, option 1! Looks like it would break even in terms of interest costs after just under a year since you would save ~$2,175/year in interest over your current mortgage.
by icefr
Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:59 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HCE: What to expect when having to pay tax on excess 401k contributions
Replies: 17
Views: 3374

Re: HCE: What to expect when having to pay tax on excess 401k contributions

zeugmite wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:05 am What about the 10% early withdrawal penalty? Does it apply to these forced distributions?
No, it is treated as wages on the 1040, since it is a return of contribution, which would have been wages had you not contributed to the 401(k).
by icefr
Thu Jan 31, 2019 9:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should we simplify our accounts, and are we grossly mishandling our retirement plan?
Replies: 12
Views: 1524

Re: Should we simplify our accounts, and are we grossly mishandling our retirement plan?

okdan wrote: Thu Jan 31, 2019 7:49 pm My rollover is a little more complicated, as the $15k is 50% pre-tax and 50% roth.
I would roll the pre-tax portion to your new 401(k) and the Roth portion to your Roth IRA. That's what I did when I left my first job. Keeps things simpler.
by icefr
Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Balancing LTCG tax hit v. getting out of high ER funds in taxable
Replies: 7
Views: 625

Re: Balancing LTCG tax hit v. getting out of high ER funds in taxable

Do you donate regularly? Have you considered donating some of these older funds? That would avoid the capital gains to get rid of these older funds.
by icefr
Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Documenting Savings Bonds for home purchase
Replies: 1
Views: 318

Documenting Savings Bonds for home purchase

I have bought Series I Savings Bonds regularly over the last six years, so I have several purchases. My spouse and I are buying a new house soon and I'm trying to figure out how to document them so that I don't have to transfer them in before the statement periods we will show the mortgage lender. I do plan to cash in some of them, but haven't figured out which ones yet. I have two questions: 1) Does anyone have experience documenting Treasury Direct Savings Bonds for a mortgage lender? If so, how? 2) How would you decide between Series I Savings Bonds and index fund shares to fund a down payment? I have $10,000 worth from each of 2013 (0% fixed, no interest penalty anymore), 2015 (0.1% fixed rate), and 2018 (half at 0.1% and half at 0.3% f...
by icefr
Thu Nov 29, 2018 6:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2nd marriages - any debt or credit implications
Replies: 4
Views: 763

Re: 2nd marriages - any debt or credit implications

Possibly! It sounds like a prenup or at least the discussions of one and its process could help them.
by icefr
Wed Nov 14, 2018 10:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wait, do I need a prenup?
Replies: 63
Views: 8851

Re: Wait, do I need a prenup?

I found it to be impossible to keep the gains on pre-marital 401(k) balances separate property per our state law, so we ended up keeping retirement accounts entirely separate in our agreement. I care less about the current balance and more about the growth on that balance over 30 years because assuming 8% growth, a $100,000 balance would acquire an additional $900,000 over the course of 30 years. Taxable accounts, on the other hand, were easier to keep separate. My understanding is that generally if you hold title to your home as a married couple, the home becomes owned 50/50 by each of you, regardless of the ratio of the deposits to it. So one option is to each only put in 50/50 and the other option is to do an amendment to your prenup whe...
by icefr
Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What's the best method for immediately selling off my ESPP shares?
Replies: 25
Views: 3155

Re: What's the best method for immediately selling off my ESPP shares?

I always calculated the minimum share price to not end up with a loss after commissions and did a limit order for that. Why did I not want a loss? I often had new shares being purchased within 30 days and didn’t want to end up with a wash sale. Why is a wash sale a problem? I mean, I see why you want to avoid wash sales when you're selling specifically for the purpose of creating a capital loss for tax loss harvesting purposes, since a wash sale won't give you the capital loss you want. But if you're selling for another reason, what's the problem with a wash sale? Because of the basis adjustment rule, the capital loss isn't gone forever, it's just deferred by transferring it into the new shares you bought, so if you need to harvest the los...
by icefr
Sun Sep 30, 2018 10:02 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What's the best method for immediately selling off my ESPP shares?
Replies: 25
Views: 3155

Re: What's the best method for immediately selling off my ESPP shares?

I always calculated the minimum share price to not end up with a loss after commissions and did a limit order for that. Why did I not want a loss? I often had new shares being purchased within 30 days and didn’t want to end up with a wash sale.
by icefr
Fri Aug 24, 2018 9:48 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Pay off mortgage with 5.12% interest rate?
Replies: 12
Views: 1091

Re: Pay off mortgage with 5.12% interest rate?

I would either refinance or pay it off. We recently refinanced with Third Federal to a new ARM and got a good rate.
by icefr
Sat Aug 04, 2018 12:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HDHP vs PPO with Family Planning
Replies: 16
Views: 2128

Re: HDHP vs PPO with Family Planning

Not all HDHPs are the same. I would review carefully. Ours has a $3,000 family deductible, a $3,000 individual out of pocket maximum and a $6,000 family out of pocket maximum. So if one person uses all of the services, then you don’t pay anything more once they hit their individual out of pocket maximum.

We also have another plan available without an HSA, but same premiums and its numbers are all family, no individual. So double check that part of the plan!
by icefr
Fri Aug 03, 2018 10:34 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Seattle Area Chapter Meetings - Master Thread
Replies: 259
Views: 113979

Re: Seattle Area Chapter Meetings - Master Thread

TheMadEph wrote: Wed Aug 01, 2018 11:30 pm Eastside should have their own chapter... Seattle meetups should be in Seattle proper, so people can walk, bike, transit to the meetup. Eastside is a mess of horrible traffic.
+1
by icefr
Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:45 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Mobile deposit of Rollover Check
Replies: 15
Views: 2149

Re: Mobile deposit of Rollover Check

I was able to deposit these checks into my Vanguard Roth IRA from my iPhone in 2015 and 2016, if that helps at all.
by icefr
Wed Jun 20, 2018 6:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: ARM options, thought process
Replies: 8
Views: 1146

Re: ARM options, thought process

2022 is a long ways away to really worry about what the rates will look like.

We just refinanced into a new 5/1 ARM with Third Federal Bank on a 10 year amortization at 3.09% a few months ago. Our plan is to pay about 1/5 of it each year for the next five years and then it’ll be paid off. That’s the balance I would strive for if I were you and not comfortable paying it off in full in four years’ time.
by icefr
Tue May 15, 2018 2:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bringing individual assets into joint account
Replies: 27
Views: 2037

Re: Bringing individual assets into joint account

One thing I would caution is how the cost basis gets transferred if you move the account from individually titled to jointly titled. I did some similar research this year because my husband transferred some separate shares to my separate taxable account. The cost basis was a huge pain to transfer over and we concluded that even if we void our postnup at some point, we will leave the separate taxable account as is because we don’t want to deal with making sure the cost basis for all of our shares transfers correctly.

My other suggestion would be to use this money as a house down payment or for paying down the mortgage at some point as a way of bringing it joint, if you want, versus transferring it into a joint brokerage account.
by icefr
Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:09 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I refi and still get a lower rate right now? UPDATE: Bonus HELOC??
Replies: 31
Views: 3460

Re: Can I refi and still get a lower rate right now?

Awesome, Tamarind! Hope it works out well for you. We just closed on the same mortgage terms and things went mostly smoothly and quickly. It only took us 5 weeks to close from application. We refinanced from a 5/1 ARM that had just had its first adjustment to 4.125% so we are very happy with the 3.09% rate! That's good to hear. Any hiccups I should keep an eye out for? Another review of Third Federal said they required property taxes upfront despite not escrowing, but we didn’t have that experience. Our only hiccup was related to us wanting to add my spouse to the deed as part of the refinance - it took quite a bit of asking for us to get a hold of the deed before closing and it wasn’t actually what we had asked for! We did manage to close...
by icefr
Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I refi and still get a lower rate right now? UPDATE: Bonus HELOC??
Replies: 31
Views: 3460

Re: Can I refi and still get a lower rate right now?

Awesome, Tamarind! Hope it works out well for you. We just closed on the same mortgage terms and things went mostly smoothly and quickly. It only took us 5 weeks to close from application. We refinanced from a 5/1 ARM that had just had its first adjustment to 4.125% so we are very happy with the 3.09% rate!
by icefr
Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is a prenup required to establish a list of separate property before marriage?
Replies: 67
Views: 4711

Re: Is a prenup required to establish a list of separate property before marriage?

Does anyone want to bite on whether the value of the equity in a house owned by one person before a marriage can be considered separate property in the event of a divorce, if the couple refinanced the house after marriage, resulting in both their names ending up in the deed? If a prenup doesn't help with this situation, I see no reason to bother. The rest of my premarital assets are not worth it. This is exactly why my spouse and I got a prenup as well. I had about 75% equity in our primary residence when we got married. We are married, so I can’t speak to the divorce part. With a prenup, you agree on a current value at the time of marriage and how you want to consider all growth going forward, which is helpful if it has appreciated substa...
by icefr
Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Third Federal Mortgage experience
Replies: 7
Views: 2011

Re: Third Federal Mortgage experience

Thanks tenkuky! Hope it works out for us. I do plan to ask our current lender if they will match Third Federal’s terms before we fully commit to the loan, but it seems like a good strategy.
by icefr
Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Third Federal Mortgage experience
Replies: 7
Views: 2011

Re: Third Federal Mortgage experience

Do you still have your mortgage with Third Federal? Are you happy with them as a servicer? How has making extra principal payments been? What did they do with the property tax payment they wanted upfront at closing when you aren't escrowing? I noticed that in our application and was a little confused by it. Still have them, servicing been fine though the website is quite primitive. I only added one principal payment as several things happened personally to prevent additional pay-down.You can’t do online, additional principal only sending in a check. They sent the property tax to the county assessor and we were credited. Subsequent prop taxes we paid, no escrow. . Thanks! Our current servicer's website is also quite primitive, but we can ma...
by icefr
Sun Feb 18, 2018 12:41 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Third Federal Mortgage experience
Replies: 7
Views: 2011

Re: Third Federal Mortgage experience

Do you still have your mortgage with Third Federal? Are you happy with them as a servicer? How has making extra principal payments been? What did they do with the property tax payment they wanted upfront at closing when you aren't escrowing? I noticed that in our application and was a little confused by it.
by icefr
Mon Feb 12, 2018 12:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance into new ARM or 10 year FRM?
Replies: 2
Views: 665

Re: Refinance into new ARM or 10 year FRM?

Nothing extra has been paid to principal in over three years now. I bought the place when my single income was 1/3-1/4 of our now current household income, so the mortgage isn’t nearly as stressful now as it was at the beginning. At 5 years, with the balance around $62,000, we could quite easily pay it off. We could now with our taxable accounts, but we are happy with the 34% of our net worth the property represents and paying it off would bring it much higher. Our current theory is that we would get bored of it by another 5 years and then would probably pay off the rest. It seems a worthwhile tradeoff with that theory. The last 5 years on the ARM I assume could be much worse, so we should only take this if we think we would pay it off by t...
by icefr
Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance into new ARM or 10 year FRM?
Replies: 2
Views: 665

Refinance into new ARM or 10 year FRM?

Current mortgage is a 5/1 ARM that recently adjusted from its initial 2.50% to 4.125%. It will continue to adjust every 12 months going forward. 300 months remaining. Balance is ~$115,000. At today's index value, it would reset next to 4.50%. It was a huge shock to go from $240 in interest with January's payment to $395 with February's payment. A lot of principal only payments were made in the last several years and at 2.5%, there were 11 years remaining on the mortgage amortization. Before the adjustment, the required payment was just over $1,000/month, which worked fine in the budget. It looks like refinancing could be a very good idea - I used https://www.mtgprofessor.com/calculators/Calculator3e.html to compare the current ARM to a 3.59...
by icefr
Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:42 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K sub-accounts juggling: making sense? actionable?
Replies: 2
Views: 624

Re: 401K sub-accounts juggling: making sense? actionable?

I’ve always invested Roth 401(k) funds as I would invest Roth IRA funds and the rest of the 401(k) separately, for this reason. Then when I left that first job, i rolled the Roth 401(k) into my Roth IRA and the Traditional 401(k) portion to my new 401(k).
by icefr
Sun Dec 24, 2017 12:45 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Problem donating VTSAX shares to Schwab Charitable
Replies: 19
Views: 1885

Re: Problem donating VTSAX shares to Schwab Charitable

2) Is there any way to avoid having this happen in the future? Should I include an extra note in the Schwab material? Or call Vanguard next time to give them extra instructions? I have a Schwab DAF and I decided just to set up a taxable account at Schwab to make such transfers easier. I transferred a bunch of *Admiral* class mutual fund shares in-kind from my Vanguard taxable account to my Schwab taxable account (and they retained their Admiral status at Schwab.) This is a very standard transaction, which went through easily. It doesn't cost me anything to hold my Vanguard Admiral class mutual fund shares in my taxable account at Schwab (and dividend reinvestment is also free) and then when I want to contribute some my appreciated shares o...
by icefr
Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:17 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Problem donating VTSAX shares to Schwab Charitable
Replies: 19
Views: 1885

Re: Problem donating VTSAX shares to Schwab Charitable

2) Is there any way to avoid having this happen in the future? Should I include an extra note in the Schwab material? Or call Vanguard next time to give them extra instructions? I have a Schwab DAF and I decided just to set up a taxable account at Schwab to make such transfers easier. I transferred a bunch of *Admiral* class mutual fund shares in-kind from my Vanguard taxable account to my Schwab taxable account (and they retained their Admiral status at Schwab.) This is a very standard transaction, which went through easily. It doesn't cost me anything to hold my Vanguard Admiral class mutual fund shares in my taxable account at Schwab (and dividend reinvestment is also free) and then when I want to contribute some my appreciated shares o...
by icefr
Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: COBRA For 1 Month (?)
Replies: 11
Views: 3256

Re: COBRA For 1 Month (?)

You are missing nothing. I would absolutely hold off on enrolling in COBRA. The catch is that if you do have healthcare usage planned, then I would compare the cash cost of the healthcare versus the cost of paying for COBRA and how much it would cost then.
by icefr
Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Retired, RSUs Vesting and Roth IRA contribution
Replies: 5
Views: 1414

Re: Retired, RSUs Vesting and Roth IRA contribution

I just recently retired from a Megacorp with a generous policy for retirees relative to RSUs. All of my remaining RSUs will vest on the next regularly scheduled vesting date in 2018. I have a small pension, but no W2 income, and I'm not planning to start SSI for a few more years. I would like to make once last contribution to my Roth IRA in 2018. Q 1: Will the vesting of my RSUs in 2018 count as W2 income, thus allowing me to make a Roth contribution? Q 2: Can my spouse contribute to Roth IRA as well based on this income, similar to what we did for the last few years when spouse wasn't working? A1: Yes, the vesting of your RSUs in 2018 will count as W-2 income. My RSUs have always had 25% federal income tax withheld from them, plus 6.2% so...
by icefr
Fri Jun 23, 2017 3:14 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Fees for selling ESPP shares
Replies: 3
Views: 978

Re: Fees for selling ESPP shares

At my last ESPP, the selling fee was $7.95, which was pretty reasonable. You should be able to inquire about this information from the custodian.
by icefr
Wed May 17, 2017 11:02 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can we afford a 800K house?
Replies: 52
Views: 8803

Re: Can we afford a 800K house?

After two weeks in the Seattle housing market - houses listed 600K are bid up to 800K while houses listed at 800K are bid up to 950-$1mil. The house we wanted to buy at $750K had double digit bids and closed at 920K. The next round - we liked a house for 850K went with an offer with escalation till 960K and someone won the bid at 1.05M! Finally we liked a newly constructed house that got listed at 930K - went with a bid adding escalation clause till 990K and it was bought by someone for $1mil. Few more 950K houses we liked in Kirkland went for $1.1mil! We are increasing our budget to $1mil - which can get us a newly constructed house 20miles away in Mill Creek/Bothell region or 20 year old houses in Sammamish region with 45-60 minute commu...
by icefr
Sat May 13, 2017 1:22 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Please assess our financial situation; grateful for any advice :)
Replies: 18
Views: 3519

Re: Please assess our financial situation; grateful for any advice :)

When is your wedding date? If it is in 2017, then you will need to file your taxes as Married for 2017 even if you marry on December 31st.

How much do your RSUs/ESPP/bonus usually add up to? How much do you plan to add to investments this year?
by icefr
Thu May 04, 2017 12:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Multiple HSA accounts - How to handle
Replies: 4
Views: 1285

Re: Multiple HSA accounts - How to handle

Fortune wrote:
fabdog wrote:yes, you can transfer from one to the other. Custodian to custodian is simplest. The banks should have the forms on their website... it's not fast (mine took 6 weeks) but gets done.

Consolidate into the most favorable (fees, investment options)

If you won't be contributing on your own (if you have a HDHP you can still contribute) make sure the fees won't eat you up

Mike
Can my spouse fund any of these accounts from her employer if they offer HSA.

Thanks
No, HSAs are individually titled even though they may be used to pay for spouse's medical care.
by icefr
Tue May 02, 2017 2:16 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying a diamond ring
Replies: 57
Views: 7762

Re: Buying a diamond ring

Mine was bought from James Allen and I love it! We got the matching band and the engagement ring for less than a friend spent on just the engagement ring by buying online. One catch is to watch for their return/resizing timeline in case it needs to be adjusted as it isn't an infinite amount of time. James Allen did overnight shipping once it was ready which was nice!
by icefr
Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:39 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Reached 50% of my "number" today
Replies: 20
Views: 5649

Re: Reached 50% of my "number" today

Congrats! I hit 50% for the first time last spring. I went back under 50% in the summer/fall and haven't quite re-hit 50% again, but that's life and I'm still close :)
by icefr
Thu Apr 20, 2017 4:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mortgage Recast vs. Investing vs. ??
Replies: 14
Views: 2788

Re: Mortgage Recast vs. Investing vs. ??

crazylightgirl wrote:
icefr wrote:If the $100k is your pre marriage money then putting it into the mortgage is also commingling it. Personally, I would invest it in an account in just your name if it's your pre marriage money. But others on the forum have different ideas of marriage than I do.
So would you invest the full $100k into a taxable account? If so, would a total stock market be the best option?
Yup, I'd do some combo of total stock market and/or total international depending on your preferred asset allocation. And then just never touch the money for joint things.
by icefr
Thu Apr 20, 2017 10:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Mortgage Recast vs. Investing vs. ??
Replies: 14
Views: 2788

Re: Mortgage Recast vs. Investing vs. ??

If the $100k is your pre marriage money then putting it into the mortgage is also commingling it. Personally, I would invest it in an account in just your name if it's your pre marriage money. But others on the forum have different ideas of marriage than I do.
by icefr
Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:29 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Age when you started to max out your retirement accounts?
Replies: 177
Views: 36907

Re: Age when you started to max out your retirement accounts?

forkhorn wrote:Maxing out Roth since I was 19 and started co-oping (like an internship) in undergrad. Maxed out 401k for a few years in the early 2000s, but not since then. Partly it's because I'm planning to move from a no-income-tax-state to an income-tax-state, and so I think my tax rate will rise. Partly it's due to the money piling up so fast that I just have little need to save more, so only put in enough for the match. I'm afraid I'm someone who is too prone to save, and I have to remind myself it's ok to not save as much as possible.
Why not use the Roth 401(k) then, if you have it available?
by icefr
Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Married filing separately and tax fraud
Replies: 18
Views: 2416

Re: Married filing separately and tax fraud

Is this a community property state?
by icefr
Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay off Massive Student Loan Debt with Mortgage Refi?
Replies: 46
Views: 4564

Re: Pay of Massive Student Loan Debt with Mortgage Refi?

If you have enough money in a taxable account to pay off your mortgage, can you do that? Then keep the house in your name as sole and separate property, and that will free up some cash flow to help pay down the debt if you are so inclined. Protect yourself! Don't put the house anywhere at risk, or allow it to be commingled. In community property states, paying down the mortgage with your income, which is community property, gives the other spouse a right to that house. Just a paranoid thought. Been there, got stuck... I was under the impression that in Nebraska, when you were married, he automatically become half owner in the house. I guess I'm not sure of all of the rules. It is and always has been just in my name. He owned a separate hou...
by icefr
Fri Mar 31, 2017 10:04 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Unemployed for 2-3 days- potential benefits
Replies: 24
Views: 3152

Re: Unemployed for 2-3 days- potential benefits

soccerdad12 wrote:
CAsage wrote:Since income and finances are handled annually... probably not. If you are not insured for those 2 days, don't get sick or hurt!
Rolling over any 401k to new employer would have to be done... when you are employed.
Why would anyone want to roll their 401k to a new company one? Wouldn't you always want to roll it to a IRA with Vanguard/Fidelity etc?
If you want to make Backdoor Roth IRA contributions and the new 401(k) is a good one, then rolling it is a perfectly reasonable option. My policy has always been to leave my 401(k) where it was until I started a new job and figured out what the new plan looked like, though I've always been blessed with good 401(k) plans.