Bogleheads.org

Iorek

brought me to the conclusion that my first investments to be held in a Roth IRA will be index funds. That being said, I'd like to learn all I can about investing in mutual funds The reason nobody talks about this is that index funds are better. This is all you need to know about actively managed mu...

Iorek

You might want to check out EV possibilities-- they are naturally high in torque (leave aside Tesla and its "ludicrous mode"-- IIRC even the EV version of the Chevy Spark has 300+ ft-lb) and are a lot of fun to drive.

Iorek

I would investigate i-bonds and (given low rates and low expected inflation) EE bonds-- those are are good tax-deferred ways of investing in fixed income (many of us use i-bonds as a place to store an emergency fund). I would also get consider (and get more confortable) with long-term investing in a...

Iorek

We max out our 401k, do backdoor Roth, and have an automatic monthly debits from our bank account with 1/3 going to i-bond, 1/3 going to EE bonds (should be in retirement in 20 years) and 1/3 going to VTSAX (taxable). I consider the savings bonds to be tax-advantaged savings-- would rather have I bo...

Iorek

FYI, T-mobile doesn't ever charge for data in Europe, but they say they will limit speeds (that's why the promotion is free LTE speeds). In my experience, you can usually get free 3G speeds, with speeds sometimes being faster and sometimes slower. Three of us traveled with tmo phones, both before an...

Iorek

... The increases for Federal Employees are similar to the increases everyone else has already been seeing. Nothing new. ... _D_ I admit I don't have hard data but as I tried to say above, I disagree with this in the sense that fed employees had a similar increase a few years ago and should have an...

Iorek

In Tuscany you could look at the Val D'Orcia. Lots of smallish towns that could be base for daytrips to other small towns (might try to find a place with a pool, so you do shorter day trips combined with afternoons at the pool). Thinking of places like Montalcino, Montepulciano, San Quirico, Bagno V...

Iorek

Vieques.

Iorek

I find the calculators at the mortgage professor to be very good, but my answer is to always look for a no cost refi, where the lender offers you a slightly higher rate plus a credit against closing costs (in effect, a negative point-- instead of you paying them to lower the rate, they pay you to ra...

Iorek

For what it's it worth, I think it's important for feds to distinguish LTCi generally and the fed offering. There are lots of questions about whether to get LTCi generally, but then there additional questions about whether, if you want LTCi, you should get the fed version or your own policy. Note th...

Iorek

I am not retired (10-15 years out) but fairly conservative and spent some time thinking about this because most of our assets are in TSP which has no EM. I would be fine holding EM in an index but I decided not to try and fill in the TSP for two reasons. One, as you point out, is that it doesn't tur...

Iorek

mikep wrote:For no cost refinancing I would always do it for 0.25%. I would not pay $2500 closing costs though, more like $0.

Agree. Amerisave usually has a good variety of options that allow you to do a no cost and then you have no sunk costs if you want to do another (or move).

Iorek

... The reason I created the Trust was Estate Taxes. My estate was larger than the $600k exemption in the '80's. ... Including a credit shelter trust in your Will or in a revocable trust may save estate taxes. However, creating a revocable trust won't save (or cost) any estate taxes. I don't quite ...

Iorek

Might consider refinancing to a fixed rate mortgage-- either 15 or 30 yr just for the certainty. I don't think there's anything wrong with carrying a mortgage in retirement, esp. if you've got a pension plus SS, but I wouldn't want to have to deal with a floating rate in retirement. OTOH, if she wan...

Iorek

Need to start with what is her cash flow now and what is her expected cash flow in the future. I have an older relative who I thought was pretty aggressive (at 50/50) but it turns out she manages to love on SS and a small pension, which makes a big difference in how you see things. For similar reaso...

Iorek

Been using turbotax for a long time but I prefer to print out my return and mail it-- cheaper and I know -- and have a copy of-- exactly what information is going to the IRS.

Iorek

Is 500k the taxable gain, or are you eligible for the principal residence tax exclusion?

Iorek

You buy the house that makes you happy, as long as you can afford it, period. This. As a side note, I never agreed with people who choose a house based on expected resale, but maybe it's because I've never lived someplace with a really slow RE market. I figure if a house has a feature that makes it...

Iorek

In general I would do it-- pretty much anytime I can lower my rate by .25% or more at no cost to me I will do it, but just to compare rates I would check Amerisave and see what a no cost refi would be with them.

Iorek

I think bond funds pay monthly as a courtesy/convention because they assume fixed income investors are more interested in current income than long term investing.

Iorek

One of mine updated but one never did so I manually updated it (following instructions from Amazon).

Iorek

I recently came across this article which discusses yet another issue regarding the backdoor roth -- the step transaction doctrine. In all these years of reading recommendations for how to participate in the backdoor roth, this is the first article that points to a risk. https://www.kitces.com/blog...

Iorek

Congrats!

I will admit when I get that mortgage statement every month I want/wish I could pay it off even though it's a very low rate and we are saving plenty.

Iorek

I would probably suggest going with MD and if they get to the point where they have a substantial amount ($50-60k) then they can decide to roll it over to Utah. MD does not (as of now at least) have any recapture provision for people pulling money out that was previously deductible. This. Start wit...

Iorek

I would probably suggest going with MD and if they get to the point where they have a substantial amount ($50-60k) then they can decide to roll it over to Utah. MD does not (as of now at least) have any recapture provision for people pulling money out that was previously deductible. One thing to be ...

Iorek

I trust you've done some web research here - Kiplingers, Morningstar, etc. all have ratings of various plans. From what I recall - the Utah and NY Plans (which others have mentioned) are both typically at the top of rankings for good plans at good prices. I don't think you can go wrong with either....

Iorek

I reccommend reading the EPA information on this before proceeding.

Iorek

I think earlier intergenerational wealth transfers make a ton of sense if you are comfortable with it. Not really sure why some people see a stigma against it. I will confess I benefited because my parents gave me excess college savings when I graduated (back in the day, I guess, when there was such...

Iorek

I like Utah-- Vanguard and DFA funds and you can design your own age-based portfolio if you want. IIRC NY has some odd provision on changing beneficiaries, but you could always roll out of NY if you needed to.

Iorek

If people want to make a judgment that the likelihood of the IRS challenging their specific transaction is exceedingly low, and the issue will be addressed (if ever) by legislation, then I am not going to argue with them. However, when people say that they have made a judgment that the step transac...

Iorek

I think it's very telling that the people who are most certain about the application of the step transaction to backdoor Roths are not lawyers, much less tax lawyers. I have a lot of respect for WCI, but I would no more rely on him for legal advice than rely on a tax lawyer for surgical advice. I'm...

Iorek

It depends both on state law and on the institution. Not sure if it's worth researching state law or local banks (small enough that they don't have to worry about cross-state conpliance but large enough to want to offer different forms of ownership)?

Iorek

I think it's very telling that the people who are most certain about the application of the step transaction to backdoor Roths are not lawyers, much less tax lawyers. I have a lot of respect for WCI, but I would no more rely on him for legal advice than rely on a tax lawyer for surgical advice. Subs...

Iorek

You should be able to do elect joint tenants with right of survivorship (not as tenants in common) which for most purposes is the same as tenants by the entirety. I think TBE has some additional protections againt creditors of one spouse but I also think it's only available for real property.

Iorek

I don't cut my own grass, so I totally get that you may decide it's just not worth your time. That said, we did it ourselves and it was not that hard at all. Took a couple hours to get things set up, and then maybe 20 minutes a quarter (but YMMV depending on your state). The federal taxes can all be...

Iorek

There was some discussion of the OP's question recently-- https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=184833 I haven't really come to a conclusion on this. I think if you really think about the rationale behind the wash sale rule it shouldn't matter whether you hold the funds in a target fund o...

Iorek

I have never seen circumstances where the worked could legally and legimitately choose whether to get paid by 1099 or W2-- the paperwork is determined by the nature of the employment not vice versa.

Iorek

Thanks-- I think this confirms what I've been thinking, which is we should consider leaving TSP when we retire but if we don't we might as well skip the Roth.

Iorek

We have been following a strategy of maxing out our traditional TSP and doing backdoor Roth in IRAs. We are getting closer to the time when we could do catchup TSP contributions and I've been wondering whether we should try to use that as an opportunity to increase our Roth balances. From looking ar...

Iorek

Is 3% the fixed rate on the i-bond or the accumulated/current composite rate?

Also, are these my only investment assets?

Iorek

Zillow has a reasonable estimate for us-- would like it if that's accurate but probably high by maybe 5-10%. Redfin's estimate is way high-- 50% higher than Zillow.

Iorek

I usually wait about a month or so, but I think I am the exception.

Iorek

My understanding (for whatever it's worth!) is that the $500 carryover is simply that-- you start the year with $500 more than you asked to be set aside out of 2016 payroll deductions. I think you can always push an elective event to the following year to pay for it out of next year's funds, and be ...

Iorek

I like the Apple news app and find I read a lot of stories on the Independent (I added it because I used to like to read in when I lived in the UK).

Iorek

I would cash the bonds and then see what you get as a 1099-G. It may be that the Treasury just issues a 1099-G in the year they were cashed, even though that's not technically correct. If that is what would happen, I would just pay tax on what appears on the 1099. Note that I think you may need to l...

Iorek

Looks like DW prefers "volume" for the AM commute. Would a super auto producing an Americano be the way to go? We have a drip coffee maker, but she would switch over to an Americano. The regular espresso(s) would be made on the weekend or perhaps once or twice on weekdays. We have a saeco...

Iorek

I think Seattle Coffee Gear is a great place to shop-- tons of helpful info on their site, nice people and very good prices.

Iorek

Ordered Termidor and treated exterior of 2800sf home and detached stroage garrage 5 years ago...Lots cheaper do it your self if your up to the task. Not impressed with Companies selling services...contracts, reinspect, bait stations...Lots of info on DIY sites. Leaving aside other issues, it's a vi...

Iorek

Small cameras, including smart phones, are now allowed (still photos only).

Iorek

Unless your wife has bad investment options, I tend to think you should max both your and your wife's traditional TSP/401k and then do a backdoor Roth if there is money left over for retirement savings.

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