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mega317

Sure, it grows in value, but I fail to see the gains. Huh? If you contribute $1,000 and later have $2,000, then you have $1,000 in gains. I'm glad to read this information, but boy the more I read, the more difficult it is to want to pull the trigger on moving to SoCal. Taxing HSA gains used for me...

mega317

You make 75k, have 1.4 million at age 49, and you think you need to take a lot of risk? What do you expect your retirement expenses to be? I don't mean to judge, but I wonder if you're overestimating how much you need. Do you plan to retire very early? Or have health issues? 1. I'd hold stock index ...

mega317

Ok I'm missing something.

401k $7,650
Health insurance ~2k?
Fed tax ~12k?
Student loan $5,376
Car $4,200
Rent $7,800
Investment $3,600
Total = $42,626.

So you spend over $40,000 on things besides rent, debt, federal income tax, and savings?

mega317

You might want to add some specific questions to your post, I think that would help people respond. Also your numbers don't add to 100%. I will give my thoughts. To me the first step is really to decide your desired stock/bond ratio. We can't dictate that for you. I'm not sure what "As high a % of s...

mega317

If this was my plan I would use the S&P500 fund and hold bonds in the traditional IRA. But really with $7,500 the difference between 0.88% and 0.7% is $13.50. So I just wouldn't do anything until the provider changes. I hope you update this thread with the new options and we can help more. A wider s...

mega317

Agree with above about renting. A strict financial rent vs. buy decision is not as straightforward as you seem to imply, even before considering the life uncertainty. Most 25 year olds have no idea if or what type of person they'll marry, where they'll be working, how many kids, etc. All of those wi...

mega317

Thank you for the correction on #2.

mega317

Please add the expense ratios to the fund list. It's very possible the S&P 500 fund is the least expensive. PIMCO total return is another popular good fund. I wouldn't pay 0.88% for a target fund if I had a cheaper option.

mega317

The allocation looks fine. I agree in your Roth you should get out of a concentrated fund and out of anything with an expense ratio greater than about 0.1%.
What are the fund choices in your 401k?
Why are you using a mix of target date funds and individual funds?

mega317

1. Correct
2. Both 403bs + employer contributions + mandatory employee contributions = no more than 55k.
3. After. Trying doing a dummy 1040 for yourself.
4. Yes

mega317

It's worth considering bonds in taxable if you want the total taxable value to be more stable. I have a lot of bonds in taxable; if stocks drop by half I'll still have the total dollar value that I consider my floor, since it's also my emergency fund and I have some large but flexible expenses on th...

mega317

Yeah I missed the easiest calculation of extrapolating the emergency fund. Oops. That just leaves more unaccounted for.

mega317

One way to approach would be to estimate retirement expenses, then estimate a monthly contribution to retirement accounts in order to reach 25x expenses by your 60s. That will give you a ballpark. I would recommend trying to reach that target before setting aside money for college. Without more info...

mega317

If you're not a member of the plan, just call their customer service and explain that you need the info to make a decision. They should be able to help you price the drug. In my own case, the customer service rep practically laughed at me and told me they won't share that info with non-members. My ...

mega317

Welcome to the forum. Your question is not answerable as you asked it. You are presenting a choice between investing in a type of account (that we have no information about) or with a company (but have not said what type of account). You may need to go back to basics. I'd recommend spending some tim...

mega317

Welcome to the forum. 1. After-tax 401k contributions count towards the 54k, not the 18k limit. (And I'm not sure if you were clear on this, IRA contributions do not count towards either of these limits.) 2. (If your employer allows it) you can roll the after tax 401k money into a Roth tax- and pena...

mega317

Your plan is good. For the sake of discussion I'll say I wouldn't do it this way. I have everything automatically set up to add to my portfolio at my desired AA. About once a year I tally accounts up and rebalance if needed. I don't want to think about it more often than that. Just my own different ...

mega317

By goals I mean what are you going to do with your money? Some examples would be: pay off student loans, buy a car, take a vacation, retire early. If every free dollar is going in to 401k, Roth, and HSA, you won't be saving towards a down payment on a house, for example. I'm not saying what you're d...

mega317

Can you clarify your plan? You have a car fund, and an emergency fund. You're asking about investing the car fund. But then you say you'd borrow against the emergency fund to invest? I'd leave the 6 mos expenses alone. If you have additional money in taxable on top of that you can explore options. W...

mega317

I'm new here, so correct me if I'm wrong, but assuming: - you will spend money on kids college in the future - you have access to a 529 plan, with a state credit or deduction, and viable investment options The grossly overly-simplified tax scenario would look something like: Roth IRA: - fed + state...

mega317

If you're happy with VGIT, in my opinion you should be satisfied with ITE. They are virtually the same. Another option, especially if you're not using the HSA for current expenses, is to use a tax-efficient stock fund and hold your bonds in a tax-deferred retirement account.

mega317

That's pretty funny. We can hope the borrower was researching several view points and chose the right one

mega317

I would prioritize weight over screen size if you're traveling with it, which would push me to 13 inch rather than 15 inch. Then if you really need real estate and are usually home get a separate monitor. I have loved all of my Lenovo laptops. Currently a Yoga, bought used for 300 bucks and handles ...

mega317

Forgive my ignorance here. Will the income be subject to US taxes? If so you might also consider tax-exempt bonds (VTEB) depending on your situation. It would be similar risk to BIV with slightly greater tax-equivalent yield beyond the 25% bracket.

mega317

Welcome to the forum. I have a few thoughts: +1 rent until your life takes shape. +1 active funds that have performed well are not guaranteed, or even particularly likely, to continue. IMO there is no reason to pay more than 0.09% ER in your 401k. You are extremely lucky. I think you're putting the ...

mega317

Bump childcare expenses up 2k, and mortgage/property maintenance up 3k/mo and you will be living paycheck to paycheck with little mouths to feed. Doesn't sound very exciting to me. This hits the nail on the head. And add another 2k for a second child before your incomes have time to catch up, if th...

mega317

My point was that the 20k is going to see a return on investment no matter what account it's in. 20k in the old 401k, new 401k, or a new traditional IRA will see the same hypothetical 7% if invested in the same fund as the new 401k at 7%. For this reason we usually recommend choosing based on things...

mega317

marklar13 wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:26 pm
[*] Assume you can earn 5% nominal in the market with your 60/40 AA (which I think is pretty conservative

I think this is not particularly conservative. And yes, any loan is worth keeping as long as possible if you are assuming a higher rate of investment return.

mega317

First of all a "conservative estimate" of future income would take into account job loss, not 5% increase for 2 earners. Second of all, 1M house on salary of 220k is IMO too much. Q1. You are making a decision to shift assets from whatever you would hold in a Roth to real estate. That's a risk. It w...

mega317

Agreed, it's too late. And agreed on the non-necessities. We were you planning to buy them cars, or school trips, or something along those lines? You could spend down at least some of it. I just had a big talk with my 10 year old who spent all his yard sale money on comic books and then realized he ...

mega317

My feeling is if I can afford to contribute 200k to a 529, then the downside of overfunding (might not be needed, limited flexibility or penalties) is worse than the downside of underfunding (use taxable investments or cash flow to make up the difference). Some people wouldn't have trouble reassigni...

mega317

I wouldn't pay 5k in capital gains taxes now if you can pay off a huge chunk of it and then pay the rest off quickly for "free".

Edit to add it might not even be worth a refi if you're going to pay it all off within in a couple years.

mega317

I'm sorry you haven't gotten what you're looking for yet. I thought mhalleys past was a good distillation. Can you specify further questions? I wouldn't use anything besides FUSEX. In the 401k. What I meant by throwing the $20,000 into my 401k is because i thought since it compound interests, I woul...

mega317

What's your tax bracket? Do you itemize? If so, a 3.1% mortgage starts to look real attractive to keep. Are you investing in tax-advantaged accounts? Is the 2k leftover after maxing out an employer plan and a Roth? If you paid it in full, what would be your tax cost of selling said investments? What...

mega317

So you've calculated that in the worst case scenario you are saving $700 plus tax deductions? What's your question? Right now I don't think twice about a premature doctor visit with a kid that has had a fever for just a day or two. I am not sure how I will feel once I find a doctor visit is going to...

mega317

I don't know if my answer will be entirely relevant for you but I prefer the flexibility of mutual funds. If I want to sell some stocks in taxable but don't want to change my asset allocation, I will exchange some bonds for stocks in tax-advantaged. I can do that in any amount with a few clicks. I h...

mega317

2016 Mazda CX-5, almost 2 1/2 now. My concern is that it will be tight with 2 adults, 2 car seats, an 80 pounds dog, and a stroller. Will probably go with a roof rack for the stroller, and leave the dog out of trips that require any amount of luggage. She hated camping anyway. Otherwise love it and ...

mega317

Spirit Rider wrote: ↑
Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:47 am
There should be no reason not to max the TSP deferrals.

Unless the maximum you can contribute is less than (18k + 6% of the per diem). I would get that match which is an immediate 33% return on the 6% contribution. It would take a lot of fees to cancel that out. Please do update us.

mega317

I'm in the same boat as you. Is your timeline 9 1/2 years or a typo? I have been doing 3 month CD's yielding 1.10 %. Please share the name of the bank - have not seen 1.1% 3 months CDs.... THANKS! 13 week T bills are around that, and not taxed in state. For the Maryland muni fund I see an SEC yield...

mega317

Not enough information but here are my thoughts: Most people say transfer it to a trad ira Who says that and what's their reasoning? If you have traditional IRA money it complicates the back door Roth if that's relevant for you. You would have more freedom of fund choices with a tIRA but you likely ...

mega317

Thanks, everyone. The mortgage is 640k @ 3.875%, 30 years. Also 17k on a car at 0.9%. Both decisions were with an eye towards having this liquidity. I'm not debt averse, just exploring and considering options. Will probably look at a refi once we make sure the family is healthy and cash flow is ok w...

mega317

I'm considering transfer of Roth IRA from Fidelity to VG. Agree with the others, you need to answer the why. On the other hand, if I first sell the Fidelity funds at Fidelity --> then do a cash transfer --> and then buy equivalent VG funds at VG, since the process can take 2 weeks normally (maybe m...

mega317

I would probably consider the 403b, 401k, and 457 equally. You only need one good fund to make it a very usable plan. None of those fees would affect my decisions. After a few years of contributions the 60/year is nothing. 0.1% on top of VIIIX is still pretty great. I'd move the HSA way up the prior...

mega317

In my opinion this is about the best you could possibly do. Good work.

Now, unless you make 180k, work on getting that contribution rate up.

mega317

I do live in Southern California and considered stopping retirement savings for 1-2 years to buy a house. It will definitely set your retirement back but isn't an unforgivable sin. Run some numbers to see exactly the damage you're doing.

I ultimately couldn't stomach it and we delayed our purchase.

mega317

I'd use the old employers up to what you've already paid (to avoid the headache and uncertainty of getting your money back), and then just compare the rates of the two options after that. Keep in mind the new employers' premiums would not be taxed. I don't know how the old employers' would work. I a...

mega317

Hoo boy, that's a little bit of a mess. A few ideas to simplify: 1. Consolidate your emergency fund into one account; the Capital One would work fine. Why is it scattered? 2. Your current 401ks seem to have good options. Can you roll the old ones into one of those? I don't think you can max 2 401ks....

mega317

I think seeing parents work is a good role-modeling thing for the kids, to instil a bit of a work ethic. We see this opinion a lot on the forum. I don't see any reason to doubt it. But I always wonder about the opposite. If parents retire early might the kids worry their inheritance is being spent ...

mega317

Thanks for your replies. I'm encouraged that no one replied with a major factor to consider that I'm not.

For clarification this is our second and planned to be last house, and most of the work will be outside, though I don't know if either of those details affect the answer.

mega317

Welcome to the forum. We need way, way more information. You could post your whole financial situation like this: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6212 if you want seriously thoughtful answers. At a minimum we need to know something else about your debt, portfolio, and your goals. If...

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