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OP here: I looked on the medicare.gov site at plan G pricing. I saw that AARP had a plan G medigap plan that was "community pricing" which is supposed to be the same price for everyone regardless of age or gender (as opposed to attained age or issue age). However, when I put in various ages, I got different premiums ($152 age 65, $224 age 75, and $238 age 85). So I don't get that at all. How is it community based pricing if everyone is being quoted various amount? According to the link in the post about changing Medigap plans annually there are no community rated plans in CA. Maybe “community pricing” is just a marketing buzzword. Community rating (also known as “no age” rating) means that rates do not vary with age at all, but t...

My 2 millennial kids are credit (cash back) all the way.

Financing, or lack thereof, is not relevant to cost basis. Look at it this way, how much would you have paid if you had $1mm of cash in the bank, so no loans whatsoever?

there are dozens/hundreds(?) of threads on 'Why International'?

Regardless, what you are suggesting is the 2-fund portfolio (US only). And that is what allows me to sleep well at night.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Two-fund_portfolio

Went thru this process during covid, when I was laid off, but severance and pro-rata bonus kicked me into IRMAA levels. Year 1 was approved quickly. The Year 2 appeal was rejected, but they did not state why the letter. I called and asked why it was rejected, what was wrong with my numbers as I was clearly laid off (with a letter from VP HR), but they couldn't tell me; said I could appeal this decision, So had to appeal the appeal. And once that was approved, I received a refund.

My wife received a solicitation from what appeared to be from an unclaimed property investigator. Previously, she contracted with an unclaimed property investigator, for a 30% commission, to receive her percentage stated in the will of unclaimed property from an aunt in CA. Being a Boooglehead and DIYer, I thought I would bypass the unclaimed property investigator and work with her to claim the property herself. Online, I looked at unclaimed property in states in which her deceased relatives have died. I found five assets totaling amounts in the low five figures for the same aunt for whom she as a beneficiary of the probated estate in Alameda County, CA. Her share of these unclaimed properties probably is in the low four figures. She wrote...

oxothuk wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:38 pm Have you gotten a quote from an electrician for what it would cost to install a 240v outlet in your garage? Ideally 50 amps, but even 20 amps would be a huge improvement over trickle charging.

If you are even considering a $50k Tesla, then don’t cheap out on the electric upgrade

Recommend to upgrade to a 60 amp circuit. The labor is the same, and the heavier wire is a small increase in cost.

I've owned EVs in the past. Would not recommend if you can't charge from home. Agreed. I have advised my adult kids not to purchase an EV until they can charge at home. (Own two Teslas, no ICE.) Many folks I know charge at local places but to me, that would be a PIA. And its those urban superchargers that can fill up in the evenings, for example. I'd contact some local electricians for bids to run a line for a wall charger. (The Tesla charger is faster, but more expensive.) I make 400 mile trips up and down CA with no issues. A full charge from 10% can take 40 minutes, but that can be inefficient. (It's what I do as I take a potty and snack break, and prefer to just make one stop.) Best to charge up enough to get to your Supercharger, say ...

I don't know what real estate agents charge in the OP's area, but they charge 6% in my area (maybe less for land?). On a $1.2MM sale that's a $72K expense that would be avoided by selling to the friend. $72K is equal to an extra 2% of interest over 10yrs paid upfront. $600K financed 4% rate = $6074.71/mo = $728,964.99 over 10yrs 6% rate = $6661.23/mo = $799,347.61 over 10yrs = $70,382.62 difference If you looked at future value vs present value, assuming 3% inflation its more like a 6.4% note. I'm not a finance guy, so my math may be off. Whether a real estate agent is used can be separate from who property is sold to, and for how much. One would want to use a real estate attorney to make sure all the docs are in order. And IF an agent wer...

The price is likely too low, as is the interest rate. Back in the day, seller-financed property usually got a risk premium at least on price.

But seller-financed property can be great for a senior for the steady income. If the income stops, you get the house back. If mom passes before ten years, the estate takes over, so I'd include a clause that the buyers would have say 180 days to come up with the cash to buy out the rest of the loan from the estate.

do some online research and pull up the previous year's Form 990....

Fundraising is a key part of the ED role. if the VP of Dev is making $244k, I'd ask at least 20% higher, if not 30%.

Lol you want to quit work because your employer is asking you to come back to work? Employees these days.... It is truly amazing how many posters willfully ignore the fact that 83% of the department was laid off, and focus their anger on WFH. The anger should be directed at the company. Why should there be any anger directed towards the company? They decided that most of what that 12 person team used to do is no longer needed. It may be a poor business decision, but that was the decision. I've been the survivor of a Dept of 30 which was cut to 8, and we just spent a few weeks brainstorming of all the former work duties that were must-dos vs nice-to-haves. The latter were eliminated immediately. No harm no foul. Other duties got dropped to ...

Just notify them of the parent's death, and all interest, penalties and notices will stop (by federal law). No need to pay now, let the Trust bank account pay them later. Credit card companies know that they are the last to get paid. That said, since they know that they are last in line, they can be open to settlement negotiation to get paid faster. Wait a few months and offer 75% for full and complete payment. (End of quarter works the best.)

SmileyFace wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:40 am Briggs&Riley maybe?

B&R is still around

In addition to considering annual price increases, don't forget the difference in premiums. In my CA zip code, Plan F is ~$400 more per year than Plan G, so G is a no-brainer even after paying the deductible. CA does not require underwriting for downgrading plans, so I switched last year.

I'd accept the buyer's offer IFF they remove all other contingencies, particularly inspection(s) and close in 30 days. And this assumes that the buyer is taking care of his/her own agent, i.e., you aren't paying them.

"Home Depot will happily rekey a lock for you." So will build.com (Ferguson) if you have the key number, or if you order locks from them. Our neighbor needed new exterior locks after 32 years. Each of her 3 exterior doors had a Schlage deadbolt and knobs that were keyed outside with a twist lock on the inside. It was a matter of figuring out how to use the web site to get 6 locks keyed alike. I did the replacements and they all fit with minor chisel work on the holes. Now she has 12 matching keys. Funny thing, her old knobs would open from the inside when locked by simply twisting the knob. Now they offer an option and call it a "panic proof function" that's "new and improved." I'm guessing someone once tried ...

It's an individual insurer thing. Some price Tesla's high as they'd rather not insure them. Call around for different quotes.

fwiw: adding my new Tesla was only a few dollars more in premium than our thee-year old Audi A3.

I'm trying to buy a new Honda Odyssey. After reading a number of car buying threads here I decided to contact multiple dealers within striking distance -- according to their www sites, none has an acceptable (color, trim level) vehicle in stock. Of the 8 or so dealers contacted, two have given what I would call serious replies, with the others instead putting out the usual flim flam of when can I come in to the dealer to discuss yada yada yada. Dealer 1 says they can order me the exact color and trim that I want, says that Honda takes orders between the 15th and 25th of each month, it will take 60-90 days to get the vehicle, and the price is full sticker plus taxes. A non-refundable $500 deposit is required. Dealer 2 says Honda does not ta...

The Executor-Daughter has a responsibility to get the best price for the heirs. (If she is the only heir, she can sell for whatever she is comfortable with.). If I was her, I'd contact 2-3 RE brokers about selling the unit and ask for a full analysis with comps -- selling as-is. Alternatively, she could spend a few hundred dollars for an appraisal to obtain a market value estimate as of date of death. That way she and you can negotiate a reasonable selling price. City assessed valuation is of no value. Not sure of RE sales process in WA, but in CA we use escrow agents to process the deal, and they generally perform the legal review as they can also issue Title Insurance. Otherwise, an attorney can review the docs to ensure that Daughter has...

have you run the numbers on OpenSocialSecuirty?

https://opensocialsecurity.com

Dunno what is exactly legal, but the paralegal at our Trust Attorney said to go ahead and process the interest & dividends paid to the Trust on the Trust's tax return, particularly since the Trust would be receiving the 1099's. (The total was about $3k if I recall.)

(The Trust had a loss after selling property, so the interest/dividends got rolled up into the net loss on the K1.)

z91 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:24 pm Yep, my guess is they didn't flash them properly. Not an issue with the windows per se, but think of it like a big gaping hole next to the window that you can't see.

Flash and/or didn't ensure the paper underneath the siding was wrapped properly. (That was our problem with stucco. Had to re-stucco two walls around the windows.)

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there's some good info here. (But Zillow is whatever folks want it to be, unless its a Licensed Agent making the post, which should follow local/state rules).

https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/de ... #leave-out

if your name is your location (California), definitely contact your own insurance carrier. By state law, they cannot raise yoru rates when the other guy/gal is at fault.

Have purchased from HD and Costco, but generally prefer the latter since I'm a homeowner and prefer a higher quality appliance. Since you will be renting, you might not care as much.

First, gotta figure out if the dryer setup is gas or electric. That also matters for cord type, but also for vent type.

I believe Costco now includes the cords & vent tube when you purchase the White Glove delivery service. But doesn't hurt to pickup an extra from the Big Box store just in case.

yes, it is perfectly reasonable to ask for a mileage rate. And perfectly reasonable for the charity to say, 'sorry, but No.' But as others have noted, it would have to be something offered to all volunteers that use their private car in furtherance of the charity's mission.

(When I was a CFO of a non-profit, we had a policy of reimbursing travel for Board members. On occasion, a board member would request reimbursement but most did not. Either their company reimbursed them, or they just absorbed the travel cost personally.)

disappointed in the health care analysis. Having local hospitals is great, but I would be more interested in having access to major medical center and top rated hospital. Not sure why % un-insured matters. (That number is undoubtedly higher in CA, but CA also offers free health care to the poor, including immigrants.). And I would think that the cost of a Broze-level plan would be more important for a place to live.

gurusw wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:26 pm

BobTexas wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:18 pm Do you really think you might get fired? Hardly anyone gets fired unless it is gross misconduct. Much more likely to get the layoff then you get severance and unemployment

I was asking about firing because they have indicated that ratings will be taken seriously. The best case here would be a layoff.

Anyways, are there other options than COBRA? What would the health insurance for a family of 3 would cost?

Look up rates under Covered California. (unlikely to be cheaper than COBRA but worth a look.)

2) depends on your company. They have to offer you COBRA for the plan that you are currently enrolled in, but employers do have the option to allow you to enroll in a different company health plan.

3) if you have a documented disability, they need to make reasonable accommodations for you.

No, does not make sense. If his income was solely in CA he should have no tax due in NY.

He had no NY income during his period of residency, so not even sure why he'd file a NYS return.

"You are a part-year resident with any income during your resident period or you had New York source income during you..."

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/part_year_residents.htm

Your strategy (I'm trying to follow) is to get LESS income for life to avoid a small, modest, variable tax surcharge? Either look into Roth conversions to lower your RMD (which isn't likely the real problem), or accept that you have a great income! The IRMAA ranges are pretty high, and they do tier up gradually. I don't see them as Armageddon. Social security is designed to be actuarily neutral , so in theory taking it early is not any less income overall in the absence of any information indicating that you would live longer or shorter than average. I am assuming no RMDs. I neglected 401K contributions for like a decade so the vast majority of my holdings are in taxable, generating substantial dividends, even though it's index funds. It's...

why not adjust other income, i.e., dividends and interest? (for example reduce holdings in dividend-paying stocks?)

If you are a member of AAA, that might be something they can handle for you. (But as others have noted, its state-specific.)

Previous employer is refusing to allow my 401(k) to rollover to an IRA. Says it will cost him money and I need to wait at least 1/2 a year. Is this normal? I've never heard of it. He also has not deposited MY contributions in a timely manner. They were taken out of my paycheck every 2 weeks but only deposited once or twice a year. Major red flag. Should I just go ahead and report him? :confused He (and his board, if one exists) is violating all kinds of labor laws and can be held personally liable. If he does not deposit the cash and release it immediately, I believe the Dept of Labor would be interested. Also, the current Administrator has to know that they are not recieviing contributions on a timely basis, so they too, could be liable. ...

was the PNW weather forecast to be particularly bad today? If so, the feds could have easily sent folks home early. (plenty of cancellations in CA from the storm reaching tonite and tomorrow)

PSA: The unfortunate answer is that 1Password supports only 1 user on each Mac OS login. That seems to be a reasonable implementation to me given that I would not share my MacOS login with another user. Not just a matter of trust, but also a matter of separating preferences and settings across system and apps. Agreed. My wife and I share a Macbook Air, but we have separate logins (with Fast User Switching enabled) setup. I wouldn't want this any other way, as my messages, calendar (work stuff my wife doesn't need on our personal shared calendars), mail, etc, all sync to my login (and my wife's to hers). OP, why do y'all use the same login when MacOS makes it fairly simple to setup multiple users? We share a login for a lot of common househ...

Chadnudj wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:34 pm 1. Set it up as a loan with some acceptable market interest rate.
2. Pay the loan back over time.
3. Every year, have your dad "gift" you back the interest (as the annual interest is likely to be well below the gift tax exclusion)

1) use the federal minimum AFR so your dad won't have to pay taxes on inputed income. Just make a simple contract agreement. Make payments and have your dad (and mom?) gift you $32k per year in the form of debt reduction. (16k each from mom and dad) Since you are married. they could double the gift by giving each of your $16k, or $64k total per year.

https://www.nationalfamilymortgage.com/afr-rates/

wolf359 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 1:47 pm Before you anguish a lot over this mess, look at your dental insurance coverage. What are its limits? Most dental insurance I have had maxed out around $1,000 or $1,500 per year.

Bingo. And since implants can cost thousands....

IMHO, the options seem to be A: Try and refute charges with your credit card company. If successful, you will most likely be banned from ever using Rental Agency ever again and have bill collectors hounding you for the next several years. B. Appeal the charges through whatever hand selected arbitrator the Rental Agency wants per the contract you signed. Not likely to win this route. C. Lawyer up, sue and lose a lot more money than being charged. D. Pay the money and chalk it up as a life lesson. "I also don’t want to let them off the hook easily." is a phrase that keeps people riled up and not sleeping well at night when life is short and in the grand scheme of things, this amount of money will most likely be inconsequential over...

I'd have her look for a job first. Unless she is a research grant-earning star, a decent academic job (aka tenure track Professor) is gonna be extremely hard to get in the BA. Sure, she might get an offer as an adjunct (not-a-professor), but that is essentially a PT gig with no benefits and no security. But if she does choose to accept an adjunct position ($3k per class), sell the house then.

fwiw: not a fan of using stock comp in figuring household budgets.

Unless you want to stay with the after-tax contributions, file an extension and wait for the corrected W2 is the correct response.

retiredjg wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 3:07 pm I like the simplicity of mutual funds.

My answer was going to be the cost difference (at Vanguard) is so minuscule as to not matter at all. However, it seems there are lots of good reasons to pay a little more for mutual funds

+1

SLO, even though is a CalState has an outstanding industry reputation in engineering, at least on the west coast. It is perceived as better for producing great engineers than many of the UCs. It is by far the top school in the CalState system. I have two kids graduating in engineering from there, and if it matters I believe it is a very well managed school. My oldest kid decided to attend in part because of how well the admitted student day was organized compared to all other schools she was admitted to, including some prestigious UCs. She now works for one of the largest FAANGs, and all large tech companies hire heavily from SLO. If it matters to you, acceptance rates are under 30% overall and substantially lower in desirable engineering ...

SLO is a fantastic place to live, but it's a Cal State and by definition, lighter on Research (than the UC's); otoh, Cal State teaching expectations are greater. So, not sure it meets your Research requirements. Consider SLO only if they give you an offer with full tenure. Also, ask about a housing subsidy.

GIGO.

Glassdoor is primarily self-reported anecdotes; it is not data. Why would you expect a bunch of self-reports to be accurate? Why would you expect those reports to be representative of the employee pop?

fwiw: Our CEO used to ask favored employees to respond, and respond with low numbers and good reviews. (And before folks get concerned about ethics, such a response was recommended by outside Corp Counsel (Big Law), who used to be an federal ADA in Cybercrimes.)

Definitely change the filter.

Then call around for HVAC folks who do a lot of ductwork and request for a Manual J where they'll come out and measure air flow by vent by room

We had a similar issue: upstairs bedroom furthest from blower was cool in winter and hotter in summer. Duct guys offered a few suggestions, from simple to expensive (knock out partial walls and add new ducting to back of house). When replacing our furnace/ac unit , we chose the simple first (new ducts in attic as the two feeding the back rooms were crushed) and instead of a 4-5 temp differential most days, its now down to 2 at most.

fwiw: SoCal home, lotsa windows, cathedral ceilings, and average insulation.

Your carrier will only pay up to your deductible. If they are successful with getting the other company to pay, they will reimburse your deductible.

I'd call your own insurer and inquire about a rental. (yeah, you don't have the rental rider, so the answer may be 'No', but its worth a call to see that they say.)

Do pre-college programs actually help with college applications? Many universities around this area (for example Brown ) have a pre-college summer program. It is paid program, which we don't mind if it actually makes a difference to college applications. Apart from good grades and good test scores what have other BH parents done to improve their kids' college application packet/profile? I am not looking for "real world experience" for my kid -- so sending them to work is not an option. We also see some local university-affiliated hospitals having pre-college programs for sophomores, juniors. These are free. Our high school student is interested in medical school. No, they do not help with college applications. Medicine is a servi...