Bogleheads.org

I reckon OP has spent nearly as much time writing this post and reading the replies plus any other research that might have been done as it would take to amend. But I wouldn't do it either.

samsoes wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 10:37 am That is very important.

Can you explain why?

longshower024 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:51 am I want to invest $100,000 into VT for the long term (10+ years). The banking crisis and uncertain economic conditions are making me hesitant though. I can't stomach a big drop in the market after investing such a large sum. For context, I've always been someone who keeps everything in savings, and I'm new to investing. So naturally investing this sum into the market makes me a bit nervous especially in these economic conditions.

Any suggestions on what to do in terms of timing?

How much of your total savings/net worth is this? The statements "I want to invest in VT" and "I can't stomach a big drop in the market" are incompatible, since big drops in the market can and WILL happen.

Yeah just fudge it to get the right answer. IRS won't care.

White Coat Investor wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:21 pm

arcticpineapplecorp. wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 9:05 pm fixed income/bonds is better for tax deferred space, so your 401k or traditional IRA.

This "common wisdom" is incorrect.

A tax-deferred account is best conceptualized as a combination account. It is a combination of a Roth IRA that you own and a government/tax account that you are investing on behalf of the US Treasury.

I thought the common wisdom was because, all things being equal, one would want the Roth larger than the 401k for smaller RMDs/more flexibility? Guess I need to go back to the wiki.

It’s not possible to make this decision without a purpose or goal for the money. So what’s it for?

Whose money is this? Are these UTMA?

FreetaxUSA is my vote.

xxd091 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 3:00 am Your Asset Allocation should have been set in the “stable” times to suit your personal needs and risk tolerance

There are no "stable" times.

The good boglehead way is choose a low-cost diversified intermediate-term index bond fund and use it for something like 20-50% of your portfolio. Honestly most people could completely stop their bond education right there and be fine.

grtwallchina75 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 9:10 pm How does IRS knows and tracks that my return is indeed in the disaster zone and thus will not pose penalty if I pay my tax-due before Oct 15 ?

Your address is on the return.

5) buy a used laptop then when you’re done resell it for close to what you paid
6) how long exactly is “several weeks”? You may be able to buy a new laptop and be done using it within the store’s return window.
7) borrow from a friend. I bet most of your neighbors have an extra laptop they don’t need for a few weeks.

I would take the discount and pay up front just to not have to worry about it. You're talking about tens of dollars of optimization. I did just take an interest-free loan for a much larger amount for new roof/solar. So who am I to talk. But it wasn't 5k. There is one more consideration to make here, her insurance will cover $1,750 worth of the treatment cost. However, it's possible that within 18 months she will leave her employer and lose this coverage. If that's the case, would monthly payments impact the way they cover their portion of the treatment cost? In which case, maybe it's best to make the lump sum payment and have them also make a lump sum payment. You can ask the provider how they are going to bill the insurance but I'm guessin...

edgeagg wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 9:46 am Well, Bernstein's "If you can" booklet might be ideal.

If they didn't ask, this is the answer. Short, with lots of suggestions for further reading if something interests them.

If they actively want something, I like Bogle's Little Book.

I hope you're planning on giving them a real graduation gift too.

Banks will sometimes offer higher CD rates for an IRA because they want you opening an IRA with them. Most people once they do that will leave their IRA with the bank long term. The real world doesn't have transfer bonus threads

I found the challenges of trying to fulfill athletic and academic commitments helped prepare me for life after college. As an electrical engineering major, I was on the wrong end of the bell curve much of the time. As an athlete I was more successful. But I don't regret anything about that experience. It taught me important time management skills, and discernment about what to prioritize when. As someone who works with competitive students (not athletes) I see this kind of thing backfire as often as it helps prepare for life after college. Students balancing multiple major commitments with little downtime often become burned out, depressed, and worse. If they make it to graduation it can feel like the end rather than a transition to a life...

I already know the budget capability and the 2023-dollars expense (it is a repeat of a vacation we took one month ago). You haven't told us any vacation details so maybe this post is not relevant. But we took the same vacation 11 months apart. The second time flights were more than double, hotel was exactly the same. But from a purely mathematical standpoint, if TIPS have a real yield of 1.5% and I know the exact investment horizon duration to the calendar day, what factors that aren’t market timing or speculative would instead make me choose a HYSA or an I Bond? I think your premise is flawed that you know the exact dollar amount. But maybe tell us what the expenses are. For HYSA or maybe a very short treasury fund the factor would be sim...

The feelings-free rational move would be to change your allocation to what you want right now. A possibly more rational move would be to realize that humans are not feelings-free, and you especially based on this post. So it could make sense to make the change more gradually.

I wonder what is the longest stretch that Bogleheads has not seen a post worried about and imminent recession, excepting the times there is an ongoing recession. There is always a recession looming.

Most schools around my area have big flat walls next to big flat paved surfaces where I often see or become someone hitting pickle and tennis balls against. Another easy free option.

Always passive wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:34 am It seems to me that I would get a better yield without taking any additional risk

That's not an opportunity that comes up often in investing. And immediately after typing this you typed the risk.

It also probably doesn't matter too much on the shorter end.

I think it "makes sense" to do that. It also makes sense not to do it. I agree with everything above. How do you know your vacation costs will increase with CPI? The likelihood is low that the difference in real returns between short TIPS and short nominals is going to make any difference for you. You've already given us an error margin >10% of the cost.

Another question: the vacation is in February but when are you paying for it? You said you're looking at TIPS maturing January 15. So you're going to buy flight/hotel/whatever else the month before you go?

My vote is do half your TIPS plan and half another plan, then report back here after your vacation with all the deets on what happened.

OP you will easily be able to answer this question in your own tennis community. Things will become clearer in high school and at camps and clinics and tournaments.

In my own experience: the best player in the history of my high school, state finalist, got a scholarship and washed out at a d3. The second best player on that team couldn’t even play club at the state college.

If anyone knows any high school kids who run a 4.2 at 265 I will personally pay their tuition if they promise to try to walk on at my alma mater.

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:17 am The Empire of Ice and Stone, by Buddy Levy.

This is a history of he last voyage of the Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–16, with ended with the ship trapped in the ice, drifting across the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and sunk when crushed by the ice. The crew was stranded on the ice, 14 of the 25 man crew were eventually rescued from Wrangel Island north of Siberia.

Recommended.

Sounds just like In the Kingdom of Ice, Hampton Sides. About the USS Jeanette. I enjoyed that one.

MtnTravel wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:08 pm Second, unless you are a SERIOUS churner, are the rewards that good? For instance, if you’re spending 100k a year on a personal credit card, and paying it off, presumably you have a high-ish income. Even with a 2% cash back card, you’re getting an 2k a year in cash back.

Well, if your expenses don't change in retirement that's an extra week of spending every year for doing literally nothing. No new cards, no churning, no needing to unfreeze credit, no MS games. Over a 30 year career that's over 7 months less one would have to work.

I accept your addend. Free money is only desirable when it is free to oneself but expensive to someone else. If it were free for everybody, well where is the reward in that. One would want it to cost oneself nothing to obtain, but still be worth something when time to spend. You see the problem there, right? Money is a game marker for some people, and a store of value for others. You completely lost me at this point. Do you think people who take advantage of credit card cash back and points are playing a game at the expense of--who, exactly?--and have no consideration for the value of money? "Words mean things" and "Language is arbitrary" cannot both be true. Of course they can and are. Maybe you missed the literal exam...

Surprised at all this "insulting my intelligence" stuff. Because of the dictionary definition of "reward"? If they renamed it from "cash back" "rewards" to "if you use our credit card everything you buy costs less" would that change everything for you? It's just words. If you are that much of a stickler for proper definitions of words how do you function in life? If someone asks you how to get to some destination do you say "car, bike, taxi, walking, lots of options!"? But everything I buy would not cost less. It's just that someone else would bear the cost. Wow. Ok addend my hypothetical renaming to "if you use our credit card everything you buy costs less to you". &quo...

Hard to really know what you're talking about without links to threads. But a few thoughts. I can't imagine too many people are buying brokered CDs with the intention of trading. Not very liquid. I could be wrong. Would like to read what you're talking about. If interest rates go up, your current fixed income holdings at lower rates are worth less. That's just a mathematical fact. You can ignore it easily if you want to because you aren't marking your investment to market. But it's still a fact. That doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad decision to buy. When your stocks go down do you also feel like you haven't lost anything because you're not intending to sell? "I'll just buy more" suggests you have extra money to invest--why is...

In his book Dollars and Sense, Dan Ariely cites research that people spend more with credit cards than cash. Credit cards delay the pain of paying until later, and our present selves discount pain that will be incurred upon our future selves. Reading about this convinced me that I'd probably spend less going all cash, but reducing my household's consumption isn't enough of a priority for me to do it. Have not read that book but I know a little about the research. Quite difficult to attribute causation--people who spend more anyway more often have credit cards. I believe there is pretty compelling data that credit cards compared to cash increase tipping and impulse buys. I guess one would have to decide individually the significance of that...

Surprised at all this "insulting my intelligence" stuff. Because of the dictionary definition of "reward"? If they renamed it from "cash back" "rewards" to "if you use our credit card everything you buy costs less" would that change everything for you? It's just words. If you are that much of a stickler for proper definitions of words how do you function in life? If someone asks you how to get to some destination do you say "car, bike, taxi, walking, lots of options!"?

Can always turn off S mode if you're comfortable with that.

I wonder what you'll be doing that you need technology to track your kids instead of just watching them. I like those backpack/leash things for little kids. They're basically pets anyway. I’m usually checking the S&P 500 when my child or pet wanders off. Or maybe they’re staying perfectly still, and I’m the one wandering. It’s all relative, right? Anyway, I guess the answer is to use mutual funds instead of ETFs, so I only need to check once a day at market close. Or I could wear the leash, I suppose. Got to refresh BH.org at least every 15 min to see if it's a RBD. Helps to travel overseas when your activities with children won't overlap with US trading hours. How old are these kids? Some other ideas for OP depending on age: hold thei...

mortfree wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:24 pm You are below my 100k loan amount where paying it off is “easy”.

Strong disagree. OP still owes most of his/her annual after-tax income on the mortgage, plus has a car payment and isn't maxing retirement savings.

scophreak wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:18 pm Thus, I'm not aware of any way to proactively change recording times for shows scheduled to air AFTER the live sporting event.

You can change the recording times for anything.

Take NHL hockey as an example.

Ah forgot about playoff hockey!

Thanks for the additional info. It's still a judgment call but the way you present it seems pretty easy. Do you like this car enough to be half your gross income and most of your net worth? 150+60-75-27. Sounds like no. I'd sell the car and then max retirement for at least a few years. I'd personally keep the mortgage and likely pay off the other car depending on the rate, but that's a judgment/math call.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Priorit ... nvestments

Assuming you have the means--do you really want your kid stranded? Most of their driving time will be to school or activities when time is tight and being late isn't ideal. Or they'll be out who knows where at all kinds of hours. Do you really want to drop whatever you're doing to pick them up in any of those situations? I'd spend some money, if you can afford it, so everyone has reliable transportation.

I don't know maybe kids these days can just leave a dead car anywhere, get an uber, and let mom or dad figure it out on a more leisurely timeline.

This may be helpful. https://www.xfinity.com/support/article ... -a-program

90 minutes should cover it. Used to be college football games could go longer than that but they have shortened the overtime procedures. Tennis could also do it though I think now all the majors have done away with endless 5th sets.

Not nearly enough information to even begin to help you.

If you have a high mortgage rate, other debt, aren't maximizing retirement savings, and drive the car 500 miles a year I'd say probably say.

If you have a low mortgage rate, huge income, max retirement savings, and love the car, then probably no.

Maybe you can give a little more information.

I couldn't stand the free services, much too repetitive. Big Spotify fan and just download whatever I want. Or even if I don't know what I want. Yesterday I searched "80s workout playlist", downloaded the whole thing in a few seconds, and then listened without using data. It wasn't bad!

Spotify is well worth the money IMO just for the kids story podcasts that can keep them happy in the car for a few minutes.

I wonder what you'll be doing that you need technology to track your kids instead of just watching them.

I like those backpack/leash things for little kids. They're basically pets anyway.

HotRod140 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:55 am just looking for simplicity.

IMO managing laddering CDs is pretty antithetical to simplicity when you could get essentially the same results with a bond fund.

What happens if you become unable to manage your portfolio? Does the person who is going to take over want to deal with a bunch of CDs?

alex_686 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:02 pm So what is your goal?

+1.
Learning about the market could mean a lot of things. Do they want to go into finance? Learn about investing for themselves? Etc.
Bogle's Little Book is clear and compelling. Bernstein is also incredible.

Here is the only place I've ever actually made a post. I just joined r/bodyweightfitness and there was immediately a big meltdown, apparently over a mod trying to direct traffic to his own website. Also seems to be stated as fact lots of opinion. Guess that happens here too. Maybe harder for me to sort out there because of relative lack of knowledge and experience. Be careful out there.

I also visit https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/ and r/autohotkey occasionally but most of that stuff is way way over my head.

FreetaxUSA, efile for me. I also input all numbers into Turbotax online and ended up with the same refund amount.

I'm shocked that they wouldn't immediately catch an error that is zeroing out NIIT for high earners.

Do you have any sources? A quick google turns up a bunch of internally inconsistent fluff articles that don’t really say anything and don’t cite sources.

pizzy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 3:35 pm Same thing happened to us. NIIT "verified" and "per computer" are $0.

Interesting. Wonder if there is a bug in their system?

1a. What goes to who for the inheritance is up to the parents. It's really none of your business.
1b. Charging your elderly parents? lol. That would be I guess up to the sibling with whom they were living.

2. In before the lock.

Wrong side of Earth for most english speakers.

The loss belongs to DS no matter what age he is.
See https://fairmark.com/kids-and-college/t ... or-minors/

There’s a rule that allows parents to report the income of a child on their tax return in certain circumstances, but this option is available only when all the child’s income is from interest and dividends. If your child has capital gains or losses, all the child’s income (including interest and dividends) must be reported on a separate tax return for the child.

Jags4186 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:12 pm

BashDash wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:05 pm Thanks for the help on my shop your way question ! Another one now...I'm looking for a card with a cell phone insurance ...when reading a points blog I read that chase freedom flex has it ...I already have this card in my sock drawer..... although mine does not say flex....is chase freedom the same as the flex? Thanks!

Freedom Flex is different than Freedom. Freedom does not have cell phone insurance. You can call and have your converted. If your Freedom card is a Visa, you will be converted to Mastercard. Only loss is you can’t use it at Costco.

Another loss is you don't get the pretty easy $200 bonus if you convert, rather than sign up for a new Flex.

James.534 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 2:18 pm If I need money at that point, do I sell say 50k of VTI in taxable and then just rebuy it in Roth?IRA to maintain current balances.

Except then you might have a wash sale! The plot thickens.

Assuming this is a large amount--would a wire prevent this from happening?

I like it. I agree to roll the earnings into another pre-tax account if available. You certainly can contribute to a 529 for the state deduction and then immediately withdraw, but there is a limit so planning to do that only at the time you have expenses doesn't gain you much. I would contribute enough to the 529 every year starting now to capture the deduction. What is the limit in your state? I think you're unlikely to over-fund that way. Overall I would probably do exactly what you're doing but frame it differently. You don't want to save too much for college with so many unknowns, and you have a high income so you prefer to maximize retirement savings and plan to be flexible about college spending when the time comes. I think that's wha...