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paulsiu

I don't have any personal experience with self-employee tax, but looking at the forms, I would think that you file the quarterly payment on the 1040-ES for both federal withholding and self-employ tax and then file schedule C and SE at tax time. If you think you won't get a penalty because it's less...

paulsiu

I was mostly thinking of forums on child development. We are not friends with kids the same age. For most of my friends, their kids are in high school. For most of my wife's friends, the are mostly single. Majority of my church group are of advance age, but there have been younger family members. Th...

paulsiu

I used to have a wide range of hobbies including reading, hiking, cycling, investing, bird feeding, etc. After kids, I find that I have less free time and concentrated on hobbies that are still compatible. I still do bird feeding and gardening, but not to the extent I used to. I still cook, but is m...

paulsiu

I speak a second language other than English. My wife also speak a totally different second language. My thought was wouldn't it be nice to teach each other and the kids each other's language. This may be a good time to do it when they are pre-Kindergarten. For Bilingual or even Trilingual household...

paulsiu

Are there good forums for parents? We have been winging it with reading books for the past couple of years, but often I have questions that needs answers. I find that my mom's knowledge appears to be out of date. While Bogleheads forum is great, it is not necessary the place for these types of quest...

paulsiu

Incandescent and Halogen tend to run really hot to begin with, so the issue is not with the bulb but with the material in the enclosed space. CFL don't generate a lot of heat and has the opposite problem with cold temperature. They tend to be dim until they warm up. LED are more sensitive to heat th...

paulsiu

To the original poster, make sure that you do check if the 1/2 benefit is higher than your mom's benefits. If this is the case, this is a no brainer. The benefit will only increase on the death of the ex-spouse and SSA do not need permission from the ex-spouse to process the claim. The benefit is li...

paulsiu

If possible, I download the manual in PDF format and recycle the paper form.

Paul

paulsiu

My company matches in stock, so every year or so, I sell off the company stock so that I have about 4-5% max. I would strongly advise anyone to diversify. I know several people who held most of their money in their company stock because their company was doing so well. As a result, they end up not h...

paulsiu

I thought Redcard only allow you to purchase items from Target. Are Vanguard funds available for purchase now at Target :-p.

Paul

paulsiu

The goal is not to save everything and then live like a king at retirement. The idea is flawed, since you may not reach that goal due to early death and by the time you retired, you may be too old to enjoy some of the activities that you would have enjoy when you were younger. What you should thinki...

paulsiu

Would you considered having them spend down their asset instead of contributing your own? Retiring early means you can give them better oversight as someone else said. If they are in their 90's, you may not have much time left to spend with them.

Paul

paulsiu

How much are they wiring per year? If it's less than the annual gift exclusion, then there's There is hot much to worry about. Just do a wire transfer. For large amounts, if the giver is not a Us Citizen, you may not incur a gift tax, but make sure you wire it from a non-US bank from outside of the ...

paulsiu

(EFC counts retirement contributions as part of income, because they are discretionary spending.) This is so true and was a real eye opener when I learned this 5 years ago. Bogleheads are so used to the mantra of maxing out retirement plan contributions that they treat these as a mandatory expense ...

paulsiu

Mines is quite comfortable. I had mines since the early 90's, so it's pretty broken in. One issue with leather saddle is that you have to maintain it. If you let it sit in water and dry it out it will be ruined. If treated well, leather saddle last a pretty long time. One note with saddle is that no...

paulsiu

JRE is JAVA Runtime Environment. Think of it as a component on your computer that Java program has to call to do its functionality. Frankly, I don't know of too many sites that uses Java. I notice an article dated back in 2012 that 0.2% of all worldwide site still uses Java. When I think of Java usa...

paulsiu

Hi Paul, yes her care is #1 priority. Even mom knows she isn't ready because she isn't crying to go home yet like she did before. I could get the money (post tax retirement investments) or since I have excellent credit could get a mortgage and seriously considered it but then started to think of al...

paulsiu

Strategy will depend on a lot of factors. I am trying to figure out each factor. This is why the question was specific. http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2013/01/02/2013-simplified-guide-to-expected-family-contribution-efc-and-college-aid/ According to the site, I will be in the yellow area, whi...

paulsiu

I would advice that she apply for the medicaid and you do not buy her house (unless it is a good investment). If you had a lot of cash to spare, then it would be doable, but it appears this is not the case. In the end, a house is just a house. The house will give her a place she is used to living, b...

paulsiu

I have read the moneycrasher article but was suspicious of the accuracy because it runs counter to the other articles. Basically what I can determine is: * 529 are counted as an asset, which mean it gets counted as roughly 5.6% if it's under the parent's name. The withdraws are not counted in the EF...

paulsiu

The consensus on this board appears to be that contributing to an Roth IRA is superior to a 529. Roth IRA can be used to pay education expenses tax free.

However, I did notice that Roth IRA withdraw are counted as income for financial aid and 529 is not. is this true?

Paul

paulsiu

The IL Schedule M does not ask who contribute the 529, just how much, so I imagine that it doesn't matter who contributed the 529 when it's joint owners.

paul

paulsiu

Based on a lot of searching, I was able to find the term for this type of appeal "equitable relief". Basically, you have to file an "equitable relief" indicating that you were misled by an agent of the federal government. Here's the social security page on this: https://secure.ss...

paulsiu

It's always good practice to keep up with the security updates. This mean OS patches, flash, PDF, java, etc. If you don't install a component like Java, you can probably uninstall it and reduce your target. The problem is that some product comes with their own embedded JRE, which may not be up to da...

paulsiu

OK, I decided to just drop the snow blower off at Ace Hardware to be tuned up. It's been 6 years since I got the blower, so a tune up is overdue any way and I barely have time to work on it. Frankly, I am happy to just shovel the snow by hand. I did this for decades, but my wife insist that I get on...

paulsiu

This is a followup with a medicare issue I previously posted. Basically, they retired a year and a half ago. Their former employers offers some sort of retirement benefits in the form of retiree insurance. They visited the Medicare center in person and ask about how to proceed. The medicare person i...

paulsiu

How often do people ring the door bell. There are a number of Pay as you go plan that charges about $0.02 to $0.05 per minute. Wifi over 1/4 mile is possible using a really large dish type setup. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Get-WIFI-Signal-From-14-Mile-Away-or-more/ Another possibility is...

paulsiu

When my mom moved from the East to the West Coast, she used DAS because it wasn't a lowest bidder type shipper. I can't recall the cost, but I thought it was roughly $1000.

I'll ask my mom.

Correction:
My mom said it was $1295.

Paul

paulsiu

There's nothing wrong with dual health insurance. When you go to the doctor, they will ask if you have additional insurance. What is not covered by the primary insurance gets covered by the other.

Paul

paulsiu

My Toro snow blower stopped working after a few years. Based on what I read, I am supposed to do a tune up every year and drain the gas. Of course, I didn't do that :D . However, my father-in-law indicated that he never maintain his Toro for 20 years and it never seems to failed to work. I have drai...

paulsiu

I noticed my insurance recommend an appraisal every 2 years for Jewelry and the nearby Jeweler quoted me a appraisal fee of around $90-$100. What are your opinion of how often the appraisal should be and how much it would cost? Is there a certification that the appraiser must have to make it accepta...

paulsiu

The sibling discount is 10% for the older child, while the corporate discount is 10% for both child. Apparently, they won't give out both discounts

.

Paul

paulsiu

The following is a summary of what I have tried so far: 1. Check for corporate discount. Kindercare does have a 10% corporate discount for my wife. Good for about $250 per month. 2. File for dependent care FSA for my workplace. The limit is $5000 a year, which would only cover about 2 months of expe...

paulsiu

Thanks.

Daycare only takes discover and debit cards, they won't take the citibank card.

I already maxed out my flexpay. The problem is that there's a $5k limit per family even with 2 children. As a result, it pays for may be 2 months of tuition.

Paul

paulsiu

My daycare takes several forms of payment: check, discover card, debit card, and bank account transfers. Since the amount is like $2500 a month, I am wondering if there's some way to get additional cash back or what would be the cheapest way to pay. The discover card appears to give you 1% cash back...

paulsiu

Congrats: Set up baby crib area so that baby will be ready to settle in. Setup trash can, wipes and diaper around the changing area, because you will need to do that a lot. Get diaper cream, since baby will likely need it. Make sure you have ample supply of diapers, wipes and baby clothes. Even if y...

paulsiu

These type of question is very location specific. The best I can suggest is to work out the math. For the car, calculate: Cost of car insurance Cost of registration fee per year Cost of gas (take miles driven x price as a rough) Parking Fees - if you live in the city, you may need to pay for a parki...

paulsiu

While LED uses a lot less power than a regular bulb, it can generate a bit of heat. Notice that the cooling fin on the bulb? Check the package to see if the bulb indicate that it should not be used in an enclosed space. On the plus side, the led bulb probably doesn't generate so much heat that it wi...

paulsiu

I am midway through my 40's. I gotten married later in life so didn't have that much of a opportunity to settle in before starting a family, so the 40's have been more challenging than my 30's, especially since I also relocated and essentially have to restart my life in my 40's. On the plus side, my...

paulsiu

I did some further research: http://www.medicareinteractive.org/page2.php?topic=counselor&page=script&script_id=20 Based on what I can determine, if you are working and on your employer's insurance. As long as your insurance is considered primary (some insurance forces you to make medicare p...

paulsiu

I tried to signed up for the Debit version. The credit version probably start with a crappy $200 limit, we certain spend more than that at Target each month on groceries and supplies. In the middle of processing, she told us that she needed a blank check, which I don't carry with me. I came back lat...

paulsiu

Check with the insurance company. Your rate will not be the same as when are employed, the conversion rate is often not very good.

Paul

paulsiu

In my 20's, I am an insecure individual making my way through the world. High school was a terrible time, but college was somewhat better. As I get older, I feel that I grow into the person I was meant to be. I still have more questions than answers, but now I am less bother by the lack of answers. ...

paulsiu

Are you looking for a new job or a career change? I am a bit puzzled by your desire to try other careers. IT to accounting is a bit odd. I am pretty sure accountants are in demand, but will you like the job enough to work for several decades on it? In any case, you should think about if you like the...

paulsiu

It appears the debit card version is something call a Decoupled debit card. Supposedly you can't really gain access to your bank account through the card. The card apparently send information to a server at Target, which contains the actual bank account info and then collect the money using ACH. Not...

paulsiu

Anyone have experience with Target Redcards? They seemed to come in two different version, a credit and a debit version. In the past, I was always resisted getting one, but I am thinking of using their subscription service since some of the prices appear to be better than Amazon mom and it cost noth...

paulsiu

My over 65 in-laws used to be on what is term "pension" insurance. I don't think that's the proper term for it, but it's health insurance provided by their former employers as part of their retirement package. Recently, they have been told that their insurance was ending and they hire a fi...

paulsiu

For an emergency phone, why not considered a dumb phone. One advantage is that their battery life measures in a week vs. a day. That cheap android phone probably has a crappy battery life.

Paul

paulsiu

You could say buy and hold has to do with the good kind of 'guts,' i.e., courage to fight the panic and stay the course in a market crash. Otherwise, buy and hold is a way to help control emotional gut feelings after one has invested wisely based on rational decision-making. I tend to feel that it'...

paulsiu

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11210057/Interest-rates-are-so-low-that-Germans-are-paying-to-keep-money-in-banks.html Interest rate has dropped so much that people now has to pay to keep money in the bank. The US had some deflation in the past as well. Did it ever ge...

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