Search found 371 matches

by Archimedes
Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: how much do you think you need to retire?
Replies: 296
Views: 62661

Re: how much do you think you need to retire?

40mm is my current number. It was 10mm a decade ago, but things change. I’m still working. My spouse is retired. I don’t want to stop working, but I have flexibility at work as the founder and owner of a business that I run. I have a large team that keeps the business running when I am away so we travel frequently and I keep in touch remotely. The value of the business fluctuates greatly with variable profits year to year. Our net worth outside the business is currently 28.8mm. We spend about 300k on ourselves each year and we currently spend almost 400k on an extended family member for round the clock home care. We also spend a six figure sum on charitable causes annually. Current annual income is a few million but it fluctuates greatly. I...
by Archimedes
Tue Mar 26, 2024 6:52 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Real estate investment question
Replies: 5
Views: 689

Re: Real estate investment question

The property is cash flow negative. You are gambling on appreciation to make a profit.

If you like investing in real estate, why not sell and invest in something that generates a profit? The only thing that says keep this current property is the low mortgage interest rate. If the appreciation of the property is high and the mortgage rate is low, then that would generate a nice profit.

Maybe sell before you lose the capital gains exclusion for a primary residence. Otherwise you will owe a ton of taxes when you sell in the future, especially in California.
by Archimedes
Sun Jan 21, 2024 3:08 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Selling rental property to max our retirements (good idea?)
Replies: 12
Views: 2019

Re: Selling rental property to max our retirements (good idea?)

For the rental property, there are several areas of return on investment. Cash flow is how much is left from the rental income after paying all the expenses. Mortgage pay down is how much less you owe on the house each year. Market appreciation is the amount that the market value of the house has increased each year. Tax savings is how much the paper loss of depreciation deductions has saved for the year. When you add up all four components, how much did you earn for the year? Then take the amount you have invested in the property and calculate your return. Our leveraged real estate has earned about 7% in cash flow, but when you add in the other components, it is more like 25% earned per year over many years. Example, we put down 55,000 on ...
by Archimedes
Mon Dec 04, 2023 2:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

On March 12th of this year you posted "I used to be a doctor making around $300k-500k. My side gig became a business and I quit my previous job to build the business. I now have hundreds of employees and my income this year will be the highest of my lifetime, in the range of $6M." Contrast that statement to your current post which says you expected only $3 million. Others have broached the subject but I'd say you, your CFO and your CPA at a minimum have some serious work to do. There was a business event that was expected in 2023 that would have increased profits by ~2.5M. That event got deferred to 2024. I therefore expected lower profits this year, but it did not turn out that way. So that event has now been deferred to 2024.
by Archimedes
Mon Dec 04, 2023 2:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

I get out of bed every morning and ask myself how I can serve others. Our business is service, and I also work hard to do my best to serve our employees with great jobs in a supportive environment. It is way out of my league but it sounds like the next big question is what you want to do with your money after you are gone. If you will be leaving a lot to some charity to continue your service to others then maybe now is the time to start some of your money into some sort of foundation or donor advised fund. With good tax advice and planning that could also greatly reduce your tax bill both now and when estate taxes become an issue when you die. It likely is not too late to start this in the 2023 tax year. I was thinking I should at least fu...
by Archimedes
Mon Dec 04, 2023 8:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

I also got the recommendation to give 1% ownership to my COO, my second in command. The advice was that a small piece of ownership would change everything. And if the CPA is at all correct, one percent ownership could be worth $470,000. Not a bad supplemental bonus! My COO currently earns around 600k.
by Archimedes
Mon Dec 04, 2023 8:15 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

djtx34 wrote: Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:49 am
Remember two things...no one will love this company more than you and you are not replaceable.

I would start with two things. (this is where I am at). Build out an org chart you think would allow you to step away from the business per your desired time...1 day, 3 days, 5 days a week. Then implement a delegation/operation strategy (I recommend EOS from Gino Wickman).
I got a recommendation to pursue EOS from someone else. This advice is coming from many directions. I think I have to take a look. Thank you.
by Archimedes
Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:05 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

CletusCaddy wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 8:53 pm Why are you distributing so much company profit to yourself as ordinary income?

There are much more tax efficient ways to accumulate this wealth for you and your family that does not involve paying 40%+ effective taxes. Especially as it does not sound like you are actually spending that much money annually.
The business is structured as an S-corp. So whether or not I take distributions, I get taxed on all of the profits.
by Archimedes
Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:04 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

I am a business owner who also is facing similar situation and with similar feelings. I found 2 recent books for business owners to be helpful: Bo Burlingham “Finish Big” and Dan Andrews “Before the Exit” Be wary of knee jerk advice to just sell the business (a lot of sad stories of founders above who regretted selling until they and business were ready. The theme that stuck with me from all the examples in these books is hire (or promote) someone to run the business for you (or do the things that take up a lot of your time) before you sell. The investment in a CEO is a relatively small risk for you compared to a mistake of selling a business that really as a Founder is a part of you. Thank you. Reading and learning can help. Unfortunately...
by Archimedes
Sun Dec 03, 2023 8:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

JBTX wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 8:24 pm First your tax planners are doing a lousy job if they missed the bottom line by 75%.

The key to scaling back is having a highly competent #2 that can take over. That doesn’t happen overnight.
My CFO changed things up this year so that it became harder to track the financial growth path. We will need to fix that.

I have a competent COO, but I would say he only does half of what I would need in order to cut back to where I would like to be.
by Archimedes
Sun Dec 03, 2023 8:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Re: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

Normchad wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 8:18 pm

From your post, you sound a lot like my former boss. He founded a company. Ran it for 25 years. Massively financially successful. I think it ultimately made him miserable, and unwinding it was very, very ugly…..
Building the business was for many years a labor of love. More recently, there are so many challenges and stresses, which we have managed to navigate successfully, but the joy that I used to feel in building has become less joy and more stress in the face of these increasing challenges.
by Archimedes
Sun Dec 03, 2023 8:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?
Replies: 39
Views: 6095

Massive tax bill, is it worth it to keep working?

I am nearing retirement age. I built up a very successful business that I started from the ground up, founded in 1989. It grew slowly for a long time, but it took off in the last decade and even more in the last couple of years. I am still working hard to keep the business running. I have hundreds of employees. I get out of bed every morning and ask myself how I can serve others. Our business is service, and I also work hard to do my best to serve our employees with great jobs in a supportive environment. Our median employee earns over 200k, and they get bonuses, profit sharing and employer 401k contributions as well. I met with my CPA this past week, and it looks like our household income this year will be around $5,252,000 and our combine...
by Archimedes
Sun Dec 03, 2023 7:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Thinking about a 5 year interest-only ARM - rent or buy?
Replies: 13
Views: 1438

Re: Thinking about a 5 year interest-only ARM - rent or buy?

The risks of ownership are so much greater than the risks of renting, but renting has its risks as well. Rent downsides: escalation of rent being forced to move inability to make the changes you might want Upsides: Flexibility to move Someone else is responsible for repairs, but the hassles and the cost Ownership downsides: responsible for all major repairs both hassle and cost market can go through down cycles and you can be forced to sell at a loss, or stuck if you don't have the cash to sell at a loss Very expensive transaction costs if you want to move, as in 10's of thousands of dollars Upsides: Make the changes you want Move, or not, when you want as long as you can sell and can afford the transaction costs Grow equity over a long per...
by Archimedes
Sat Dec 02, 2023 8:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice for nephew, 25, raking in that Silicon Valley pay
Replies: 76
Views: 14514

Re: Advice for nephew, 25, raking in that Silicon Valley pay

Advice only helps if followed. We have two young adult children. We promoted development of a strong work ethic and a solid educational background. We also taught financial literacy. Child 1 works in tech and spouse works in tech. They have a seven-figure annual household income. They are frugal to the extreme and more than happy with their lifestyle, likely living on less than 10% of annual gross income and as a result they already have an outsize net worth. Child 2 is high income, working in health care. Spends every dollar and more on wants, not needs. Doesn’t want advice and despite knowing all the financially responsible behaviors, follows none of them. We have a substantial net worth. Maybe we should completely skip a generation with ...
by Archimedes
Sat Nov 18, 2023 1:59 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Dealing with health insurance denials clearly in error
Replies: 26
Views: 3108

Re: Dealing with health insurance denials clearly in error

I work in health care. The insurance companies’ business model is to deny many claims, whether they are legitimate or not. They know that many people will not fight a denied claim. Some will, but they still profit massively by denying legitimate claims for frivolous reasons.
by Archimedes
Wed Oct 18, 2023 9:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 529 - paying off a student loan for my daughter's husband? Pro / Con?
Replies: 58
Views: 5871

Re: 529 - paying off a student loan for my daughter's husband? Pro / Con?

Giving money to adult children can work out fine, or not. I have one financially responsible child who I wouldn’t hesitate to gift money to. She’s hard working and financially very responsible. Another child is also hard working but spends money like it’s water. Giving this adult child money has created entitlement issues and has worsened his poor financial habits. Finally we had a discussion and said we’re done. No more. Looking back, I wish we had never given this financially irresponsible kid any money. He earns enough but he simply needs to learn how to live on the 200k+ per year that he earns himself. Big problems here were created in part by our misplaced generosity. I don’t know what your daughter and spouse’s spending habits are, bu...
by Archimedes
Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: When does buying real estate (and claiming real estate professional) make sense
Replies: 7
Views: 1062

Re: When does buying real estate (and claiming real estate professional) make sense

My spouse and I used this strategy to invest in work force housing. We bought a building for 10M, 2M down payment. She worked the requisite 750 hours on other RE activities to qualify for RE professional status. The bonus depreciation deduction saved us 800k in taxes in the year we bought the property. 83 families now enjoy living in high quality, affordable apartments. The government incentivizes RE investment, and we took advantage of those incentives.
by Archimedes
Sun Aug 20, 2023 6:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: REALLY thinking of selling rental property
Replies: 20
Views: 3271

Re: REALLY thinking of selling rental property

So you could sell and earn $7500 per year before tax in CDs. You did not mention your tax bracket. Perhaps you will have around 5k left after paying taxes on the interest. Or you could keep it and earn $15,000 cash per year, likely tax free as you have depreciation deductions. Then you have mortgage paydown building your equity, and you have market appreciation, magnified a bit by leverage, but you are not very leveraged on this property. Perhaps your appreciation on this property might average 15k per year, and your mortgage paydown perhaps another 5k per year. So all in, you are earning 15k in cash flow, and likely increasing your equity about 20k per year, all of that tax free. So this could be 35k net increase in net worth each year if ...
by Archimedes
Sun Aug 20, 2023 5:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: REALLY thinking of selling rental property
Replies: 20
Views: 3271

Re: REALLY thinking of selling rental property

How is the property cash flowing? What are your annual profits? How is the neighborhood and what are the future prospects for market appreciation?

Could you put cement board siding on the house to reduce maintenance costs?
by Archimedes
Sat Jul 08, 2023 3:58 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Economics of Buying an EV without a Home Fast Charging Option
Replies: 123
Views: 10803

Re: Economics of Buying an EV without a Home Fast Charging Option

I have owned 4 EVs since 2012. I have charged them all at home. This is very convenient.

Without home charging, however, owning an EV is very inconvenient. I wouldn’t do it. Too much hassle.
by Archimedes
Tue Apr 18, 2023 2:23 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Rental home, planning for sale in 1 year
Replies: 5
Views: 817

Re: Rental home, planning for sale in 1 year

Assuming that you have sufficient profit, then you can deduct the entire cost of painting as a maintenance expense.
by Archimedes
Mon Apr 17, 2023 6:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Filing a tax extension - avoiding a penalty
Replies: 13
Views: 686

Re: Filing a tax extension - avoiding a penalty

You should pay what you will owe and a little extra to be safe. That way you will avoid any penalties.

As far as an overpayment, the IRS will give you options when you file your return and have an overpayment. You will be able to specify if you want the extra money back in the form of a refund, or you can elect to apply the overage as a credit toward the tax you will owe for 2023.

We are high income and due to depreciation deductions related to an apartment building we bought last year, we had a six-figure refund coming to us from our 2021 tax return. We elected to apply that amount to our 2022 taxes and got credit for the payment.
by Archimedes
Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can we afford a $2M home?
Replies: 70
Views: 11209

Re: Can we afford a $2M home?

Thanks for clarifying your finances. Your rental property equity is 400k and you are earning net cash flow of 48k per year after expenses. These RE investments are doing well. Given the leverage, your annual return from net cash flow, mortgage pay down, appreciation and tax benefits is likely north of 25% per year. I am also a RE investor, unlike most bogleheads, and I would say keep the rental properties. If they are located in a desirable area, this RE is a great builder of net worth with total returns much higher than the stock market when done well with reasonable leverage. As far as the house, if you leave yourselves with a 200k emergency fund, which seems reasonable given the RE investments and the tech jobs, then you can sell the con...
by Archimedes
Sat Apr 15, 2023 12:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can we afford a $2M home?
Replies: 70
Views: 11209

Re: Can we afford a $2M home?

The way you outline your current finances is confusing. You put down your RE debt in one place and your RE equity in another and your rental income in yet another place. It is very hard for me to get a clear sense of where you stand financially.

It might help to list cash holdings, stock market holdings, and then to fully explain where you stand with current personal use RE, and also with investment RE. If you do that it will give a better sense of your current finances.

A good general rule is a mortgage at 2x income is reasonable. What do you consider to be your stable guaranteed annual household income based on the fact that half your income is in the form of stock grants?
by Archimedes
Sat Apr 15, 2023 12:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: All Business Class Airline: La Compagnie
Replies: 7
Views: 1214

Re: All Business Class Airline: La Compagnie

I have been tempted to try La Companie, but I have not yet been a passenger on this airline. A friend had a positive experience, and that made me even more interested. I am always trying to find good prices on business class flights. We go on lots of international trips, and we always fly business class these days. When we were younger, we flight hacked for the cheapest flights in economy. Now that we are older and have plenty of net worth, we are still travel hacking, but now for the business class seats. We just got back from a trip to the Dolomite Mountains in Italy. We ended up flying on Singapore Airlines A380 in business class. It was an amazing experience, both the heart product and the soft product. We connected in Frankfurt on a sh...
by Archimedes
Sun Mar 12, 2023 3:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High Earners - What's Your Profession?
Replies: 1217
Views: 223986

Re: High Earners - What's Your Profession?

I used to be a doctor making around $300k-500k.

My side gig became a business and I quit my previous job to build the business. I now have hundreds of employees and my income this year will be the highest of my lifetime, in the range of $6M.

Growing a highly successful business is likely one of the best ways to have a very high income.
by Archimedes
Sun Mar 12, 2023 3:08 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [Bank failure discussion mega-thread]
Replies: 2482
Views: 214042

Re: Should I be worried about my bank?

To me it seems a widespread bank run is inevitable this coming week, Small depositors are fine as they have under 250k in their accounts.

But every business of more than small size has more than 250k in their operating accounts. They will be looking to protect their funds as they need them to run their businesses and to meet payroll. So yes, my prediction is a widespread bank run that will have the FDIC burning the midnight oil this coming week. Just one man’s opinion, but this week is likely going to be one for the history books.
by Archimedes
Mon Jul 25, 2022 7:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Rent or Sell the first home? Which is better
Replies: 20
Views: 1705

Re: Rent or Sell the first home? Which is better

The first step is evaluating the home as a business, as a rental property. You make money in real estate through cash income, appreciation, and tax benefits. If the cash return is strongly positive and the appreciation is good, you will increase your wealth. But many homes make very poor investments. You need to run the numbers.

Here is a link to a calculator for rental properties.

https://www.calculator.net/rental-prope ... lator.html
by Archimedes
Thu Apr 28, 2022 4:41 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Building A Home - What are my rights as a buyer?
Replies: 37
Views: 3518

Re: Building A Home - What are my rights as a buyer?

When you are building a house, your relationship with the builder is critically important. There are thousands of small decisions to be made, on an ongoing basis. It is like a marriage. It requires a lot of effort to get it right.

It sounds like you are going to be unhappy with the outcome. If you want certain things, you likely won’t get them. Lawsuits can be time consuming, expensive, and create sleepless nights and negative energy. Lots of communication and compromise may help here, but backing out of the contract could also be your best option if you are going to end up unhappy with the house.
by Archimedes
Sun Apr 17, 2022 7:32 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High income relative to net worth ... When to quit?
Replies: 121
Views: 18257

Re: High income relative to net worth ... When to quit?

I am older than you but have a similar dilemma. Current net worth is getting well into the 8 figures, and current annual compensation is well into the 7 figure range. I have adjusted my personal life to have tons of support, as in a full time chef and personal assistant to take care of many life tasks. I have adjusted the work life to be about 50% remote and we live 5 minutes from work in a beautiful home surrounded by gardens. I enjoy work to a certain extent, but I have also established enough support at work such that we take many vacations every year, often once a month. I feel that I am already living much of the retired life but at the same time I am still able to maintain the high powered job and the high income that goes along with ...
by Archimedes
Wed Mar 23, 2022 1:49 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Sell house in super hot market or wait for appreciation?
Replies: 36
Views: 4287

Re: Sell house in super hot market or wait for appreciation?

Your proposed landlording adventure could turn out to be a good investment… Or not…

What if inflation is high and persistent, leading to continuously rising mortgage rates, which eventually tanks the residential real estate market? Current prices are due to extremely low mortgage rates that have persisted for a long time. What happens if mortgage rates get persistently very high and the market seizes up because of a lack of affordability? No one knows the direction of the housing market, just like no one knows the direction of the stock market.

And I agree, you haven’t figured capex into your profit predictions. Things like a new furnace and a new roof are quite expensive.
by Archimedes
Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: [Invested in real estate. How can I protect my assets?]
Replies: 8
Views: 1031

Re: [Invested in real estate. How can I protect my assets?]

What type of real estate do you own? Residential? Commercial? Other? How many properties? Generally, the first layer of asset protection for real estate assets is a primary insurance policy. The second layer of protection is an umbrella liability policy. The appropriate amount of coverage for the umbrella would depend on the value of the assets, and your overall net worth. The third layer of protection is to leverage the assets with high LTV mortgage debt, so there is less to go after if there is a judgment against you. But often the financial considerations regarding debt may be more important than the asset protection components of this decision. The 4th layer of protection is to place each RE investment property into an LLC. You can use ...
by Archimedes
Sat Mar 19, 2022 10:23 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 401k HCE Nondiscrimination Test Failed; make lemonade?
Replies: 8
Views: 1185

Re: 401k HCE Nondiscrimination Test Failed; make lemonade?

We had a similar problem with fairness testing. In the end, we had to reduce 401k employer contributions to some of our top employees.

Our nurse practitioners fall right around the highly compensated threshold. If they make less than 125k, the government protects their pension contributions through fairness testing. If they pick up a couple of extra shifts, they make over 125k, and they lose the non-highly compensated label and the benefits that go with that status.
by Archimedes
Wed Feb 16, 2022 7:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Report your rent increases - Is reported inflation correct
Replies: 67
Views: 7366

Re: Report your rent increases - Is reported inflation correct

Rents are rising. We don't raise rents much at all for tenants who are good to the properties and who stay long term. Turnover is expensive. But when apartments and homes turn over, we jack up the rents to the current market rates for new tenants. For our NY suburban properties: 3 BR/ 3.5 Baths from $4,900 to $6,000 for new tenants 3 BR/ 2.5 Baths from $5,100 to $5,950 for new tenants 3 BR/ 3.5 Baths from $6,000 to $7,000 for new tenants For Chicago suburbs: 2 BR/ 2.5 baths from $2,300 to $2,400 for a long term tenant, but we are selling to the tenant for $315,000. For Minnesota apartments in 83 unit building: 1 BR/ 1 bath from $1,050 to $1,200 for new tenants, but only half that raise for renewals 2 BR/ 2 bath from $1,200 to $1,400, and ag...
by Archimedes
Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:47 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Passport renewal time - what’s the current time frame?
Replies: 203
Views: 31258

Re: Passport renewal time - what’s the current time frame?

My daughter recently renewed her passport. She paid for expedited service on both ends as we have an international trip coming up. It took about a month to get the new passport.
by Archimedes
Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: To go Fixed or to go ARM or Fixed w/ Points - Physician Loan
Replies: 28
Views: 1956

Re: To go Fixed or to go ARM or Fixed w/ Points - Physician Loan

Unless you are quite certain that you will be moving in a few years, you should take the 30 yr fixed with no points,
by Archimedes
Thu Oct 14, 2021 6:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Business Class to Europe - Airlines and Cities?
Replies: 51
Views: 4632

Re: Business Class to Europe - Airlines and Cities?

When the net worth got to the point where we knew we could never spend it all, we upgraded from economy to business class. We have been on business class lie flat seats on many airlines, Delta, United, Turkish, Lufthansa, KLM, Austrian, Singapore, JetBlue, and others. The lounge quality varies quite a bit, but the seats are generally quite nice and almost all are lie flat these days. There are some differences in the service quality from the staff, but even on the same airline the service can be quite variable, from one flight to another. Some US based and Germany based staff have been wonderful, gracious hosts, and some have carried a bit of a negative attitude about providing good service. Our attitude is we are on vacation, we just go wi...
by Archimedes
Thu Oct 14, 2021 6:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Business Class to Europe - Airlines and Cities?
Replies: 51
Views: 4632

Re: Business Class to Europe - Airlines and Cities?

BillWalters wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 10:50 am Any opinions on Turkish Air? I have JFK - IST coming up in business.
Turkish Air business class is excellent. And the business class lounge in IST is awesome. They have multiple chef stations with tasting options. We flew to Greece through IST and we specifically wanted a few hours for our wonderful layover in the business class lounge at IST.
by Archimedes
Wed Sep 29, 2021 7:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retired + want to break up with financial advisor. Would like to move to a 3(?)-fund portfolio
Replies: 18
Views: 2352

Re: Retired + want to break up with financial advisor. Would like to move to a 3(?)-fund portfolio

Can you clarify your post?

"Fee only" typically means that you pay a flat rate for financial advice.

"AUM" typically means you pay a percentage of your asset value for financial advice.

Which of these are you paying? And what are the annual fees? A 3% withdrawal rate worked out terribly for a relative who had a trust. The all in fees over the years were over 2% between the trust fees, the fund fees, and the a la carte fees. The bank trust department made out very well over the last 5 decades, the beneficiary, not so much as a significant portion of the portfolio went to fees and the trust is pretty close to being depleted.
by Archimedes
Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:33 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to Deal with Incoming Low Ball Promotion Offer
Replies: 123
Views: 17210

Re: How to Deal with Incoming Low Ball Promotion Offer

For in house promotions, it frequently is best to keep saying no to the promotion until the increased compensation has been finalized. It can be a mistake to take the new job while waiting for the increased pay.

In any case, congratulations!
by Archimedes
Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Unwinding A Real Estate Rental Portfolio
Replies: 52
Views: 6250

Re: Unwinding A Real Estate Rental Portfolio

I like real estate because of the cash flow. And the paper deductions shelter the income from taxes. We use professional management for most of our RE portfolio. Properties without leverage earn stock like returns from cash flow and appreciation. Leveraged properties earn more than double typical stock market returns over time.
by Archimedes
Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:51 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Viking Ocean Cruises
Replies: 6
Views: 1644

Re: Viking Ocean Cruises

We went on a Viking Ocean cruise. The ship, the cabins, the food, and the service were all top notch. The itinerary, however, was not very good. We went on the Cuba cruise.
by Archimedes
Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Investment rental property
Replies: 17
Views: 2409

Re: Investment rental property

Rental real estate can give you returns that are much better or much worse than the stock market. If you know what you are doing, you can make reliable returns in the 20-30% range year after year. But if you don’t know what you are doing, you can lose the shirt off your back.

Do you want the extra work that is involved in owning rental real estate? Do you know how to do the business analysis to find good deals? There are way more bad deals out there than good deals.
by Archimedes
Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:13 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [Is it worth flying first class?]
Replies: 265
Views: 30333

Re: Never fly first class

We never flew first until we realized….

If we don’t fly first class, our heirs will be doing so.
by Archimedes
Fri Sep 03, 2021 1:16 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High income physician seeking financial and life advice
Replies: 202
Views: 42777

Re: High income physician seeking financial and life advice

I’m a physician. Long ago, I decided to follow a different path. I did a variety of things. I took a part time academic job that offered many attractions. I also had a part time private practice, and I did some entrepreneurial things on the side. I did an interesting mix of things and the variety was stimulating. I would get too busy with one pursuit or another, and then make another pivot by pruning and changing things. It has been quite a ride. I spend time with family and friends every day. I exercise outdoors in the woods every day. Before Covid, we were traveling the world. I miss that now. But the creative, untrodden path worked out well for us. The net worth is well into the 8-figure range, and we continue to design our life in the w...
by Archimedes
Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What age did you buy your first rental property?
Replies: 12
Views: 2210

Re: What age did you buy your first rental property?

We bought our first rental property when we were in our 20’s, before we bought our first personal home. We also bought our first small stock investments when we were in our teens, and we started our retirement index fund investments with Vanguard when we were in our 20’s. After many decades, the results are outsize. But just like it isn’t smart to chase a stock by investing after the value has run up, you need to think carefully about your desire to invest in real estate after the recent run up. Real estate investments need stable tenants and decent cash flow to weather the down years. Generally speaking, if you have decent positive cash flow, then growth in market values secondary to inflation in prices over the years will lead you to beco...
by Archimedes
Mon Aug 23, 2021 9:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Why do people buy ultra large homes ? Should I splurge on one ?
Replies: 51
Views: 5803

Re: Why do people buy ultra large homes ? Should I splurge on one ?

We live in a too large home. But sometimes all the space does get used. We have 5700 square feet. At the moment, one of our children and his spouse are staying with us. They have a newborn and despite living 5 minutes away, we are all helping care for the new baby. And the great grandma will visit and stay next week. All six bedrooms will be in use, two as home offices and four for sleeping arrangements. The final bedroom suite is used for our live in housekeeper/household manager. We live in a VHCOL coastal region. The house has a market value approaching 3MM. The property taxes are 50k per year. But we have no mortgage and our net worth is about 100x our annual spend, and our income is about 8x our annual spend. My spouse has magnificent ...
by Archimedes
Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:57 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: High Income Tax Strategy
Replies: 61
Views: 10628

Re: High Income Tax Strategy

I am a highly paid professional and a successful entrepreneur. My success led to a generous 7 figure income in recent years, while living in a high tax state with a tax cliff. Once you go over the tax cliff, the combined marginal tax rate goes to over 100% combined state and federal income tax, and then with a further rise in income eventually goes back down to 47% combined marginal. We previously paid a 7 figure annual amount in state and federal income taxes. But this year we will shelter all of our income with large real estate investments that throw off bonus depreciation deductions. We will also do Roth conversions up to the top of the 24% bracket, as we expect to remain in the highest bracket in retirement. It took some major learnin...
by Archimedes
Wed Aug 11, 2021 6:06 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: High Income Tax Strategy
Replies: 61
Views: 10628

Re: High Income Tax Strategy

I am a highly paid professional and a successful entrepreneur. My success led to a generous 7 figure income in recent years, while living in a high tax state with a tax cliff. Once you go over the tax cliff, the combined marginal tax rate goes to over 100% combined state and federal income tax, and then with a further rise in income eventually goes back down to 47% combined marginal. We previously paid a 7 figure annual amount in state and federal income taxes. But this year we will shelter all of our income with large real estate investments that throw off bonus depreciation deductions. We will also do Roth conversions up to the top of the 24% bracket, as we expect to remain in the highest bracket in retirement. It took some major learnin...
by Archimedes
Wed Aug 11, 2021 2:31 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: High Income Tax Strategy
Replies: 61
Views: 10628

Re: High Income Tax Strategy

I am a highly paid professional and a successful entrepreneur. My success led to a generous 7 figure income in recent years, while living in a high tax state with a tax cliff. Once you go over the tax cliff, the combined marginal tax rate goes to over 100% combined state and federal income tax, and then with a further rise in income eventually goes back down to 47% combined marginal. We previously paid a 7 figure annual amount in state and federal income taxes. But this year we will shelter all of our income with large real estate investments that throw off bonus depreciation deductions. We will also do Roth conversions up to the top of the 24% bracket, as we expect to remain in the highest bracket in retirement. It took some major learning...