Bogleheads

DSInvestor

Thanks for making another effort to explain it to me. I think I understand it better now. It still spins my brain when I think about how the mutual fund distributions can be short/long t ...

AGI = $500 + $1000 - 3000 = $-1500
Capital loss carry over to 2010 = $1000

I suggest running this scenario through tax software.

So the losses are capped at 3000 to offset any gains? I thou ...

Cap losses offset cap losses; not dividends. Your QDs should be taxed at 0% (assuming they're all contained in the 15% bracket.) Short term dividends (??) / interest are taxed as ordinary income. I ...

This is not quite correct. For the hypothetical given, there will be AGI of $1,500. The standard deduction and exemption(s) will reduce taxable income to more than negative $3,000, so that none of t ...

So I sold some losers this year Wink

.

But at the same time I had some long term/short term gains (mostly qualified/non-qualified dividends/interest). Now I read some place that for people in 15% mar ...

Congrats Bill.

I like the outcome you experienced and hope to get to that point soon.

Meph, DDb, EmergDoc

Thank you all for your responses. I think I will follow EmergDoc's advise in addition to what I read in Bogleheads guide. Did not mean to start a thread to cause heated debate a ...

Thanks for the responses.

I will read the chapter about buying Life insurance.

Thank you also for the pointers regarding the pursuit I have. I am mostly of normal health and was getting a varie ...

II used 2 websites and received about a dozen calls from various agents and companies.

Fbone,

Thanks for your response. Which two did you use?

OK. So I discussed Return on Premium (ROP) on term life policies in another thread. I had a few more questions in that thread that are getting buried in other details so here I will ask them.

1) Wh ...

I started my search for quotes from my existing insurance agent and also from another agent close to home. I have also checked some online places to get quotes like accuquote.com. I have a couple of q ...

I am an insurance salesman. I say, do not buy return of premium term. Keep it simple. This is not rocket science.

mephistophles,

Can you elaborate any reasons that have not already been discu ...

nisiprius, I agree with what you are saying. I got a 20 yr $150,000 term life policy just before I got married. That time the idea was to provide some income for my soon to be wife if something were t ...

What is the face amount of the policy?

- DDB

$500,000. She provided three quotes. Super-Preferred, Preferred & Standard. I gave the numbers for the middle of the three. Thanks for the tip ...

Have you looked at www.mint.com

DDB, BruceM. Thanks for your responses.

The agent is quoting a 30 yr term life for

$685 per year without ROP
$1225 per year with ROP.

DDB, how did you calculate the IRR on your example. My ...

So I was looking at additional term life for myself and approached this local state farm agent. She says they have a term life product that at maturity returns all my premium if I am still breathing t ...

I was looking some more. Google spreadsheets may have the solution. Haven't tried it myself yet but seems promising. Will post an update if I get it to do what I want.

Real question though would be ...

earlyout,

Thanks for the link. I know another way to accomplish this but this is not what I am looking for. I am looking for the annualized returns of mutual funds for 1, 3, 5, 10 yrs etc.

I wil ...

Is there a known way in excel to get last 1, 3, 5, 10.. years of return information for a given mutual fund/ETF? I found a way to get the current price of the stock/fund but that does not provide a wa ...

Just stumbled on the fact that for 2009 one can deduct up to $1000 in real estate taxes on top of the standard deduction. That makes it a sweeter deal to stick with std deduction with total deduction ...

If you itemize, dont you then have to include federal and state tax refunds and rebates as income following year?

If itemize for higher deductions then the following year you then include all refun ...

Whatever you do regarding the house, might want to consider bumping up your emergency fund from 6 to 12 months. Reasons would be you did mention your wife might stay at home and based on the economy m ...

Just did a quick math to project what our itemized deductions will be this year and we fall short of the standard deduction. By quite a bit. If I pay my real-estate taxes for 2010 before Dec 31, we go ...

Just did a quick math to project what our itemized deductions will be this year and we fall short of the standard deduction. By quite a bit. If I pay my real-estate taxes for 2010 before Dec 31, we go ...

It is worth calculating how much your interest deduction is worth. You only have about $4600 this year (and declining) and the standard deduction for married couples is up to $11,400 in 2009 (and inc ...

What is your tax bracket, and is the interest deductible?

If you are in a 25% tax bracket and are deducting interest, paying down the mortgage earns you 3.47% after tax, and it is a long-term ...

musiclover,
If you are itemizing and close to the standard deduction, you can most likely benefit substantially by grouping your deductions into alternating years. When grouping, you shift as many ...

There is another consideration not yet mentioned. Right now, the yield on other investments is close to your mortgage rate. So, it does not make too much difference if you pay it off or invest, othe ...

Thank you all for your input.

I think after reading the comments I am leaning towards increasing my monthly amount a little more but not too much. I am not looking for better return from the money ...

We have close to 100,000 left on our mortgage, refinanced earlier this year for 4.625% fixed 30 year. Since the first years of holding the mortgage (5 yrs) I have made additional contributions to my p ...

Is there a way to easily find similar funds to a given ETF/Mutual Fund and then compare if they are "substantially similar"?

Thank you for all your responses. The fairmark articles suggest it is hard to define "substantially similar" investments when it comes to mutual funds in similar asset classes. I wonder how ...

I have a few non-vanguard ETFs that I want to replace with Vanguard ETF/open funds in a taxable account. If sell the etfs and buy same class etf/fund will this be considered a wash sale? I will sell a ...

mas, DSInvestor

Thank you for the links. That is a good start but I also wanted to compare some non-vanguard ETFs with Vanguard Mutual Funds. In addition this tool asks for expected return rather t ...

Is there a website/software where I can compare an ETF with a mutual fund? I have tried some and most of them are good at comparing ETF to ETF or fund to fund. I am looking for minimizing fees using E ...

Problem is that the money is being generated from my wife's previous employers 401k company. It would be a real hassle to even get them to communicate with me. And from my previous experience in simil ...

Wife worked at a company till last year where she contributed to the 401(k). Since the choices sucked we transfered the money into a roll-over IRA at Wellstrade. This was about July 2008. Since then w ...

Livesoft,

Thanks for your response. You hit the nail on its head. I am worried about capital loss in my taxable account. It is from the short term bond fund that I purchased in early 2008 that turn ...

Laura,

Thank you for the response. I am not sure how putting the bond funds in a 401 instead of Roth make any difference. In the 401 no matter what I have will be taxed at regular rates and in Roth ...

I have some money in vanguard short term bond fund in a taxable account. I also have a RothIRA with 100% stock allocation (age: 32). In addition me and wife both contribute max to the 401 & 403 ac ...

Just checked my pay stub for April. The Fed tax withholding was reduced by $200 Shocked

for myself and about $65 for my wife. Both of us get a monthly pay check. Now my understanding was that the st ...

You can then put all the stock in that combination into your taxable account for tax efficiency.

How can I move money across taxable/tax-sheltered accounts?

I guess I am really confused as to ...

Sewall,

I am maxing out the Roth already.

I guess rather than be so abstract I can be more candid. I am originally from India with my kids born in US. I had been funding 529 a/c but then recent ...

I realize that it is recommended to have stock funds in taxable account and bond/REIT funds in tax sheltered account. Say if I have goal for money (that I will invest over next 15 years), to be availa ...

Thanks for your comments.

Another thing I realized was to not keep any bond funds in taxable accounts. I changed custodians of my short term bond fund (used for emergency cash) recently and I am ha ...

What is the conventional wisdom regarding dividends in a taxable account. Reinvest or move to cash sweep?

livesoft,

Thank you for your response. Specially the second one with smartmoney link. I had not realized that the deduction is considered miscellaneous. That changes everything for me as the amount ...

Hi all,

For various reasons I have stopped contributing into a 529 a/c for my son that I started in 2007. I contributed in 2007 & 2008. Claimed the state tax deduction for the 2007 contribution ...

tfb,

Thanks for the reply. I guess that makes sense. Thanks for your input.