Bogleheads

I'm not an insurance agent.

With payments to the policy required every month and a huge surrender charge, wholelife enforces a saving discipline that's not in buy term and invest the rest.

There ...

In 2009 I contributed the family max of $5950. to an HSA because I was enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) through my employer. Because my employer did not allow for a payroll deduction ...

That said, I disagree that CPI rider is inherently more costly than nomimal fixed immediate annuities. You have to calculate the breakeven point and THEN decide if it is worth it. Here is an example ...

I recently resigned from my employer at the end of Aug. 2009. I am looking to rollover my 401(k) that I currently have with my previous employer that is with Vanguard to a Traditional IRA with the sam ...

It is good you're reading your HO policy. Most don't

A couple of points to watch for:

1. Structures: make sure the coverage is adequate to replace your home should it be lost to fire or tornado. ...

Bruce,

I certainly understand that a DBP is never going to avoid taxes, just delay them until the benefit is paid. However, the cost of the plan over 6 years should be $12,500, assuming I am bein ...

Blue and Independent:
Great analysis.
Thanks for your input to help understand what is not terribly intuitive!

BruceM

I consider an immediate annuity a type of insurance. I buy insurance only because I'm concerned about some unlikely worst-case scenario.

With the annuity, the "bad" scenario is some co ...

Note that, if your earnings for a particular year aren't quite enough to make the required contribution, you could just contribute some cash into your company from your taxable account -- so the compa ...

I think the issue here is how declining term insurance is defined.

As a form of 'Credit Life' or 'Mortgage Insurance', this kind of LI is generally regarded as more expensive than straight level te ...

The negatives to the PDBP that I know of:
1) I have to retire at 50. If I continue working, it will cause IRS problems. This should not be a problem, as this is actually later than I want to retire ...

Hi All,
My wife recently changed jobs. Her old employer had traditional health insurance with an FSA she was enrolled in. Her new employer uses a high deductible plan with an HSA. Her employer contri ...

I am looking at my liabilty exposure. I have half interest in a farm that seems to be fully exposed to liability claims even if I declared bankrupcy.
The farm has a tax value of $400,0000.

I have ...

In order to consolidate our Traditional IRAs accounts can my wife do a direct rollover to my IRA via some agent transfer/name change , etc?

The "I" in IRA means individual. There is no su ...

There is a misconception that HSA's are only for the healthy. Most of the time, yes, but not everyone has to be healthy to benefit from an HSA. We have high medical expenses but the HSA still works ...

The just released Senate Banking Bill has provisions for tightening up on credit rating agencies and making it easier for those damaged by poorly researched or 'reckless' rating scores provided by the ...

I'm finding myself confused by Vanguard's forms, though. First of all, they want an employer identification number. I understand that I can get one from the IRS pretty easily, but I'm a little apprehe ...

Besides the money being harder to spend and tax deferred, a 403(b) is also more protected than a taxable account. The taxable account can be seized if you are sued to pay a settlement or declare bankr ...

I am grateful that I am still alive and that insurance was not needed.

Meph....

Be sure to read slowly Smile

I agree completely. Its not the NEED I'm speaking of.

Its the excess that is N ...

Interesting, that today I attended a conference call updating the progress of this legislation.

Bottom line is nobody is quite sure how this is going to come out.

The idea of a single standard o ...

Income requirement from a deceased spouse who did not work outside the home and was not planning to in the future?

Perhaps. It really depends on the couple.

Is the working spouse willing to ste ...

Over the past several decades, I suspect costs have dropped for two principal reasons....

1. Mortlaity expenses have declined, as life expectancy has extended for every age group.

2. Competition ...

Two questions.

First, in general, when can whole life insurance make sense?
Almost never.
If you asked about permanent insurance, there are conditions where this might make sense.

My unders ...

The Canadian system has another feature I wish we had in the US system. Canada's system will allow you to make up for years where you didn't make max contribution. Canada tracks your income, your m ...

Bogleheads when you make a major home improvement do you see it as a sunk purchase, investment, zero sum expense or a little bit of the three?

Some people I know see home improvement as an invest ...

You file in the year of the gift.
See p. 5 of the instructions for completing the 709 at

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i709.pdf

BruceM

the future of HSA's is very limited, perhaps even curtailed, in the health care bills being debated by congress...the WSJ reported today.

I think the fate of the HSA's future is still in the 'propo ...

One point to keep in mind when considering two HSAs instead of one family HSAs....the cost of the HDHP insurance itself.

Now, I'm making up the following numbers, but consider the calculation:

C ...

One of my projects this weekend is to research Health Saving's Accounts. I currently have my medical insurance through my wife's employer and we were just notified of the premium increases which are ...

I have been offered an attractive rental property that I would not mind acquiring it as long as I can do it through my IRA (i.e., not withdrawing the money from my IRA). I am retired and my thought is ...

Hi all,

I'm a longtime lurker, but infrequent poster.

I'm getting ready to begin a job where a 401a appears to be my best retirement option (the alternative is PERA). I can contribute 5% of my e ...

Why do the parents hold this obscenely expensive cash-value LI policy? I mean, its their money and they can spend it as they see fit. But if for some reason they feel the need to own a LI policy on th ...

Why limit your stays to just that one area? Why not rent in Arizona, Seattle, florida, mexico, over the years?

Sure...but where else can we find a clean community with little to no crime, 80 degre ...

Hi i have a research project about AMT and buying a home in California. The client is a first time home buyer and wants to buy a $1,500,000 home. The client has 1 million in investments and a steady i ...

Thank you
BruceM

I'm taking the six courses through a local university. Each course is 10 weeks long and meet one night a week for 3hrs. After I complete the six courses they have a 30 hour, 4 day review session to ...

Thanks for the informative responses.

Yes, we are also mulling the idea of simply renting for the 3 months or so in the Winter.

But I think the best observation is to go down and live there for ...

I would recommend you take a live review.

The 'Live Reviewers' must be approved by the CFP Board, and you can see the list of about 30 or so approved Live Review programs at
http://www.cfp.net/bec ...

My wife and I returned from a kind of exploratory trip to Arizone, just doing some preliminary scouting for a possible second home there. We love our home in the Northwest, but the cold and rainy wint ...

With the employer continuing the 15% discount, it sounds like this plan did not reduce the 'look back' period to zero in order to qualify the ESPP for the safe harbor so as not to have to expense the ...

What is best study guide for passing the CFP exam?

Thanks.

LH

Not sure what you mean by a 'guide'

Are you challenging the Exam? That is, do you hold a CFA, PhD (finance), DBA, CPA, CLU, JD ...

I heard a local investment advisor on the radio yesterday. He stated that bonds are ok but as they come due people should invest in other vehicles like private riets.

This was a statement to the ...

In my opinion, this depends on the 457 plan. Is your employer a non-profit or a government?

If the former, generally, I'd avoid the 457 plan, as these plans are not transferrable, are at risk to th ...

There are 3 alternatives in 'building your own'

1. Hire the contractor using plans you've had drawn up. I think this is the best choice. Your energy will be towards picking the 'right' contractor ...

The allocation % looks ok at first glance.

I'd suggest that you use a site like Morninstar to learn some fundamentals of investing and from that, asset allocations. M* has a portfolio analyzer that ...

Hi,
My wife is a sole practitioner and I have had her set up with a SEP IRA for the last 4 years. I would like to open a Solo Roth 401K for her at Vanguard. My question is, besides opening the acc ...

I appreciate help. I bought lots of IBM stock each pay period in an ESOP plan from 07/1999 to 02/2006. I want to figure out the cost basis to compare lots and help determine which lots to sell firs ...

were they on a three-hour tour?

http://cruiseferret.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/thurston-howell.jpg

Yep...with enough suitcases to last a few years.
I always wondered how they got all the ba ...

I think you can satisfy the entire educational requirement for less than $3K through an online college like The College for Financial Planning. If you're good at self-study, this is probably the bes ...

How do you know an investment in VTSMX will be more than the returned premiums?

I don't, any more than the insurer knows that their market return over the period in question will exceed the ROP ...