Bogleheads.org

I don't have a dog in this fight, but Ramsey did not look very good when he doubled down. It's because instead of addressing the issue or issuing a retraction or apology, he went to the age old tactic of bragging about how rich and successful he is. I agree it's not a good look. I guess if a company tasked with getting you out of a timeshare takes your money and doesn't do it, then that is indeed a disaster. He's been quick to unload on sponsors who went off the rails, don't know why he'd falsely defend TSET. Wyndham and Hilton have a lot of money to pay governors (i.e. "lobby") or whomever to get the ankle biter exit companies off of them. Why wouldn't the Governors outlaw timeshares themselves as opposed to the second derivativ...

A lot like Whole Life, probably some very specific cases where it makes sense but not for the other 99-99.5%. I'd say fewer than 3% of the people that buy them know all the important terms such as the assessments and fee schedule. But like anything else, it's instant gratification, free trip for listening to a 3 hour presentation or something like that. If the asset were so great the price to sell back on the primary or secondary market wouldn't be $1. Automobiles depreciate at the speed of molasses compared to Timeshares. Most TS's have no intrinsic value the day after you purchase. I've seen where someone sold it back for $1 and they charged a $400 "processing" fee so it cost them $399 to divest, hilarious, couldn't even give it...

What would hypothetically happen to the buyer if your mom injures someone in an auto accident with a substantial liability well above policy limits? Has she disclosed her umbrella to the buyers?

I have no need for cash rates from a broker, nor in depth customer service (like for RMD's I guess), nor mutual funds. I use Merrill because they had nice bonuses and let you have a superior BoA cash back credit card for keeping money under their BoA umbrella. I have some retirement accounts at Fidelity and it is very easy to use and their staff was a dreamboat to deal with on my in kind HSA transfer from Lively/TDA. They do partial ETF purchases on your mobile (not desktop for some reason) which is very nice for more expensive ETF's like VTI. Years ago I used TDA as they used to have competitive bonuses but more importantly they had a nice secure message service so you didn't have to phone in every time, they took 24-48 hours to respond so...

Please keep us updated on the inspection report.

This appraiser was very arrogant, even laughed at me and FSBO sellers in his comments, "didn't use realtors for MLS listing, and led to significant over-priced"...

I would be livid with my appraiser for hurling insults at the seller of a home I was trying to buy.

Or you could have the BoA 2.625% card and the day they had "earn an extra 2%" on every card in their lineup back in Nov, paid whatever you owe that day, and gotten 4.625% with a 1.875% fee. Instant 2.75% on your taxes paid.

Would love if VTI also did that for HSA purchase purposes

All of these mathematical suggestions have been good, I'll take the overhead view of psychology and interject the concept of insurance/care vs risk. Not seeing a Dentist for 10+ years (while clearly having the means to do so) is not wise on a risk adjusted basis, particularly if one is to attribute this to a few alleged schemers/scammers in any particular line of work. With any insurance, it always appears that it's a waste...until you need to "file a claim." One major dental situation easily costs more than 10 years of dental visits in addition to major discomfort and possibly permanent loss. I can always (or try to) make more $ to fix monetary issues but issues with health left unattended often cannot be reversed no matter your ...

Put in two week notice immediately, then work 40 hours max. Having people work 90 hours is essentially asking them to quit. 90 hours indefinitely without serious equity in the company just seems like it's not worth it, not even close actually.

SquawkIdent wrote: ↑Tue Mar 07, 2023 2:10 pm Several great posts. I won’t give my specific opinion but when “tough” decisions like this come up for me and it’s hard to make the 100% correct decision (because of unknowns), consider what I do.

Do a 50/50 decision. Sell enough taxable to pay off 50% of your mortgage balance and keep the other 50% invested. Similar to balanced portfolios. No one knows the right answer, so cover both of your bases.

YMMV. Good luck.

I like this approach when markets are at all time highs. We hear a lot about do this or that, but how about split it down the middle. But for now, I'm not selling equities unless it's one of those "life happens" moments.

What are unrealized gains/losses on your VTSAX position? If we made the above described sale we would realize about $200k in longterm gains, so we would end up with a $30k tax bill Eh, not if you have a $400k HHI, even assuming $330k AGI on that $400k of income, realizing $200k in a long term capital gain will put a lot of that $200k LTCG at 23.8%, not 15%. It won't be life changing, but certainly a nice chunk of additional change. 6.5% interest on a 600k loan is already 39k of mortgage interest, well over 10k Mortgage interest has nothing to do worth SALT. However, you can only deduct mortgage interest on 750k of mortgage balance. OP, it sounds like the home you want is well less than 2x HHI, I'd probably steer clear of liquidating my tax...

The specific amount of fixed income is usually the amount needed to keep you sane that will keep you from capitulating when equities are down 50%. For Buffett, since 1970, he could have probably been down 80% of his equities, sold, and probably still been worth (inflation adjusted) $5M (which still probably puts him in the top 0.25% of NW in the US at the time). The rest of us are are playing a different game and cannot be 100% equities and lose 80%. I don't worry about a Japan style problem (again Buffet is fine with this probably as far back as the 70s), not that I don't think it can't happen, it's just not something I find actionable other than my current AA, which is designed to keep me in the markets when equites tank 50%, as they like...

The answer is Fidelity for my needs. They let you make partial purchases on ETFs and I would venture that everything else is identical between TDA/Etrade/Schwab/Merrill Edge etc. etc. (Although I keep one account at Merrill for credit card rewards). I believe by next Fall Fidelity will be the only non employer HSA that has no fees/minimums to invest. I've already made that change from Lively who served me well for a few years.

GP813 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:52 am You can approximate this investment in portfolio analyzer. He made the bulk of his purchase in 1988/89. You can run KO(Coca Cola) vs. VFINX(Vangaurd 500) in portfolio analyzer from March 1989, turn off dividend reinvestment, this gives you a ballpark that is close to what his return has been.

Buffet's Coca-Cola investment has never lagged the S&P 500 in return, this is without even factoring in the huge amount of dividends Berkshire has collected.

Thank you. Looks like the money was made in the first two years on this play.

tadamsmar wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 7:38 am I was surprised to see (in a recent thread here) Bogleheads who (based on other posts) were conservative investors who saved sufficiently for retirement were taking Social Security at age 62 and their spouses were apparently doing the same. I always thought buying this annuity was the best deal in town for a conservative investor except in some special cases.

I think everyone's situation is different, but yea, this isn't whole life where the exceptions are very rare. For SS, most people who have 15x+ need to wait until 70, but there are quite a few exceptions out there, not just a few.

Lawrence of Suburbia wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 5:51 pm I just put KO through Portfolio Visualizer ... wow. A great performance. Wishes, horses etc.

That's sort of why I got interested in this specific play, all the chatter from the media on Berkshire's KO play. It appears as though KO has been dominated by the S&P since 1992 (I can't seem to find free software to run it from 1988 when this was his biggest investment apparently). Either way, the gain was very early (which makes sense since I can't see past 1992ish) I think unless I'm looking at this incorrectly. I just don't see how it's that big of a deal vs the market. He would have been better off getting out of coke in the early 90's after holding for 2 or 3 years?

Just curious, I see this touted over and over from various pundits/sites. He bought it I think from 1988-1994, probably got a discount(?) and the dividends he gets from it are often publicized. Looking at a chart since 1990, it appears the S&P has dominated Coke? Am I missing something, I know Buffett gets sweetheart pricing and other advantages, but isn't the S&P well ahead of Coke over this time frame ?

A lot is more dependent on if you have kids, are they still in the house and then the 19-25 range, and then ultimately adults. Slippery slope with kids in the house and another family member is their guardian in the case. I have written instructions for each account with phone/account numbers, several fee only advisors that are ranked, and communicated there is "plenty of life insurance money" to take the kids to age 25 without mentioning specific assets. This family member is extremely close and knows the personal side as well. Done. After that, and hopefully I'll be around much longer, ultimately, the goal is for there to be no surprises either way. I don't plan to have my assets be a source of confusion for any heirs or anybody...

I know it's easy to do using tax software. I just somehow convinced myself the IRS didn't want them. In other word, I just made a stupid mistake. Seems like everybody makes them from time to time. 1099 forms (whether it's a taxable event or not) are not generated as an FYI. I don't want anything on or off my tax return that isn't as accurate as I and my CPA know it to be. They could use this potentially as a flag for the next 36 months and then go back as far as they wanted . Ask anyone who's had an audit, they generally don't walk away without their pound of flesh without either your time, money, or both. That pointless 1095-c for proof of healthcare seems pointless since I do not think there is a penalty otherwise, but I still include it...

After reading through the FAQ, it seems like his preference is to recommend Target Funds. I think what you would find is that an advisor's first priority is if the client will stick to what he recommends. If he doesn't that's where the "this isn't a a good fit" potentially comes in. Host of other reasons as well where an advisor doesn't take on a client. You can gage pretty well after half an hour I bet and looking back at trade confirms if a person will capitulate the second we have a 10% correction (or worse obviously) . If an advisor feels a client would stick with it if in a target fund, then that's probably the correct route as opposed to any more funds. Every situation is customized and nothing matters if the client doesn't...

I thought the cost basis for all RSU's was $0 meaning you can't have a loss?

For people making payroll deductions to the employer sponsored HSA, how often do you do a transfer to Fidelity (or whoever else you may use)? I'm thinking of transferring to Fidelity, but I want to keep the contributions via payroll deduction for the FICA tax deduction plus the ability to get our company contribution. As far as I can tell my HSA company is setup to have a paper form filled out/signed and faxed to them. Shouldn't be a problem to just make a bunch of copies, but I'm mostly just curious if people do transfers monthly or every pay period, or if there are any considerations around it outside of the minor inconvenience of submitting the form? I went from HSA Bank to Lively and it took 2 weeks tops and would always leave a dollar...

I guess in practice neither greed nor ignorance is an excuse. I mean we all agree to that, but is this true ignorance? At the end of the day we all sign our tax forms (or w4 withholdings) whether it's DIY with Turbotax or whatever, or we have a tax preparer. But if you're not a CPA, they are basically saying too bad, you're on the hook if mistakes are made, even though you have zero (formal) training to do so. Easy to see how with RSU's (or options as others have pointed out) someone in the 32%+ marginal bracket get's stuck with a 5 figure tax bill they literally had no idea about as this happened passively IMO. The "trainings" at my company have been utterly useless without BH type knowledge, but that's just my $0.02 maybe other...

How could it be a loss when it was a grant? I guess if you didn't cover vesting taxes sufficiently with withholding and then the stock went down enough to not provide enough funds to cover the tax liability. I personally know one person this happened to; greed can be be painful. No I agree, that concept is the premise of this topic, getting caught where it tanks after vest and you're in a high marginal bracket and you either held on, or quite frankly, have no idea how to even buy or sell a stock in the first place, i.e. either way, you held. I know that's a "loss," but not a taxable loss to go against your $3k and/or carryover. Vesting of rsu and holding on to the shares are two separate events. Familiar story in the Silicon Vall...

I understand tilting to small cap value does not guarantee out performance, but historically, over 20+ year periods, has typically done so. I've also seen some figures estimate the SCV factor. However, I haven't seen figures estimating the potential advantage for a SCV-tilted account. So my questions are: 1. What % out performance do people hope for (assuming the better end of historical outcomes) when tilting for SCV? 2. What's the magnitude of the potential under performance? I'm just trying to determine if this is worth the complexity. I understand the future is unknowable, but what is the magnitude of the potential perceived possible benefit here? Boiling this down, nobody knows. What we do know is that if you believe in this factor, y...

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 9:17 am How could it be a loss when it was a grant? I guess if you didn't cover vesting taxes sufficiently with withholding and then the stock went down enough to not provide enough funds to cover the tax liability. I personally know one person this happened to; greed can be be painful.

No I agree, that concept is the premise of this topic, getting caught where it tanks after vest and you're in a high marginal bracket and you either held on, or quite frankly, have no idea how to even buy or sell a stock in the first place, i.e. either way, you held. I know that's a "loss," but not a taxable loss to go against your $3k and/or carryover.

I’m afraid that this is not fully correct. The RSUs will be taxed as ordinary income at their value on the day of vesting. Any subsequent growth (positive or negative) is treated as capital gains/losses. Why would any of it be a loss if it was an RSU(s) to begin with? Yes if you sell at a point higher than vest date, then yes, that's a capital gain (short or long notwithstanding) but how would any of it be a loss if the entire lot was a grant in the first place? I appreciate the other replies, and we are all BH's and probably methodically go into our accounts on vest and sell enough to cover taxes (or all and invest according to AA) but my point was more "what is the % of people who know how to do this?" I haven't really seen a c...

Just curious for people in the marginal 22%+ and above (which you likely are if you're getting RSU's), have significant RSU's that vest, what do most people do? Fed's required to withhold 20% for taxes by way of STC, but what do ordinary people who have no idea how to navigate a brokerage site do if they are marginal 22+% plus whatever their respective state takes? That could create a serious issue for someone working for a company that IPO's and you hold, and then it tanks. You've effectively taken a loan from the IRS if you don't STC to cover your individual tax burden? Am I missing something?

This site is mostly a lacking resource for credit card games and rightfully so, but for people who get in without knowing what they want to do, just remember to ask (secure message in your online profile is easiest) the last day your SUB promo is and make note. Secondly, if you're in a cash crunch and aren't close to the minimum spend requirement, you can make larger purchases in the time frame after your monthly statement cuts and before your 90 day promo runs out. Example, your statement cuts the 10th, and your 90 day SUB promo runs until the 20th, you have that sweet spot for charges from the 10th (date of your new monthly statement) through about the 16th (just to be safe give yourself 4 days before promo runs out for charges to post) a...

$100k of marginal dollars on top of $450k isn't what it looks like on paper. Probably not even bringing home $60k depending on the entire picture. Also if married with kids, some major credits go away at an AGI of 400k which is probably (?) not possible with an income of 550k, don't know how you get $150k worth of top line deductions to keep AGI below $400k for a w2 worker. Seems like a mathematical no brainer to change as well as the personal side.

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 10:45 am The contributions can be to Roth IRAs, via the backdoor Roth process.

OP said $1.8M in a pre tax IRA, so pro rata eats that up. But $15k to Roth for 2023 sounds promising if his earned income is $160k and his taxable doesn't throw off crazy dividends and/or some other alternative form of income we don't know about.

What if the account was from a sibling within 10 years age difference, does it revert back to the original stretch ?

Thoughts? I think you've gotten good advice and just go longer and higher amount if there's any doubt because life happens. I would ladder 20/30 year policies on you both and go $2M/$1M 20/30 years on spouse and then $1M/$500k for 20/30 on you. You can also forgo the ladder and just do the full amounts for 30 years, it's not much more I wouldn't think. One thing to add, I would have your policy active when you begin trying for kids for the obvious reason and my policy took 6 weeks from application to being active (it takes a week for the blood panel to come back and it can take 1-2 weeks just to schedule it in the first place). We waited on my wife until child #1 was born and we had to wait a few months which was a little uneasy and if I h...

If one thinks that the "stock market is just a gamble "and physical rental real estate is comforting and they are 80 years of age, I highly doubt a 10 minute conversation with someone whose diapers they've changed is going to move the needle. But yes, it is quite low on the risk adjusted return scale if they are charging fewer than 50 bps a month in rent (although the property has appreciated nicely 200k to 700k in 30 years, well above inflation which is what I see as a barometer for the actual property's value).

Chrono Triggered wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 4:35 pm I've had a Fidelity HSA for a few years now and it's been fantastic. No fees and I can invest in whatever I want.

No kidding, just finished my transfer and Fid gives you the option to use dollars to buy fractional ETFs (I use VTI which is $200ish) and the fractional share that came over ACAT from TDA was put to work immediately. Had to download the Fid app though to buy fractional share, couldn't do on desktop, no problem though. May bring my Roth over because of this.

If they have a different CUSIP you are not going to be hit with a wash sale by your brokerage. If you get audited by the IRS, you'd be the first person I've seen get audited on a wash sale with different CUSIPs. But again, the burden is on the taxpayer to decide beforehand what is "substantially identical" Poster jason2459 has described having gone through a "full bore" IRS audit in which everything was questioned including all capital losses as to whether they were wash sales, and looking at the prospectus to determine whether investment companies were substantially identical. See: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6699373#p6699373 for one description. Very interesting, but as he pointed out, the wash sa...

If they have a different CUSIP you are not going to be hit with a wash sale by your brokerage. If you get audited by the IRS, you'd be the first person I've seen get audited on a wash sale with different CUSIPs. But again, the burden is on the taxpayer to decide beforehand what is "substantially identical"

OP, you are likely to grow your nest egg than to deplete it, and certainly much more likely to grow it than deplete it to 0 with your ratios, meaning you're much more on the path of having to figure out where your wealth will go than to running out of money. Ratio of your SS (when the time comes) will also be a nice boost to pay for expenses, as in >30%. Given that OP took the time to start this thread and obviously doesn't want to work longer, I would be much more on the side of retiring and intentionally curtailing spending in year 1 just to get the feel of retirement than to work even one more day while living more lavishly. Your time is more valuable than another year of income IMO (and don't look at the market). Your asset level is als...

Home, Auto, and Umbrella bundled with Geico. Went from $174 to $220 this year for $1M. 2 old Hondas and personal res. I guess my surrounding zip codes had a lot of auto healthcare issues. Haven't seen a 25% increase in one year in a while. I actually did call in just to make sure they billed me correctly and got the normal "inflation" speech from the rep.

You will want to use your HSA on at least Medicare premiums once 65. I guess it would help to know when you'll pass/martial heir status/ and the medical expenses you incur until that point, but once you hit 65, if you are retired and going on Medicare, it's a no brainer to use for that. It's not the greatest account for passing down so it is usually used first

I'm sorry, it was so many years ago that I just can't recall. I do think that part of the "hiccup" I mentioned was TDA and Lively had an issue where the "right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing". I would call Lively first and see what their protocol is. I believe they need to "release" it before TDA can allow an outbound transfer. No worries, I just initiated my transfer and used my TDA account number in the "from" field and confirmed with Fidelity over the phone this was what I am to do. I think if there is a problem on Lively's end I will have to cross that bridge with Fidelity when I get there. Prior, I have done a lot of transfers from HSA Bank to Lively (just cash) and it was relativ...

I switched from Lively to Fidelity. Fidelity has been great. You almost have to have a large brokerage like Fidelity that's willing to make it a loss leader if you want some "zero fee" experience. I bounced around several HSA providers and they obviously need a way to make money off of it. Fidelity just hopes you'll sign up for other services by offering it. Going to guess Lively was unable to complete the transfer in kind? I will be switching from Lively to Fidelity soon enough when the fees from the Schwab/TDA merger kick in. I think there was a minor hiccup, but it went through after a few weeks. I always knew I was on borrowed time with Lively before their shareholders decided they wanted to actually make money. They were hon...

illumination wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 2:08 pm I switched from Lively to Fidelity. Fidelity has been great.

You almost have to have a large brokerage like Fidelity that's willing to make it a loss leader if you want some "zero fee" experience. I bounced around several HSA providers and they obviously need a way to make money off of it. Fidelity just hopes you'll sign up for other services by offering it.

Going to guess Lively was unable to complete the transfer in kind? I will be switching from Lively to Fidelity soon enough when the fees from the Schwab/TDA merger kick in.

Thanks all, I have a lot to learn and must make clear that I indeed was not clear on QCD/DAF situations with taxes. It does appear that if one has a taxable account with gains, and if one also makes charitable contributions with a check, they should probably be going through a DAF which then sells the appreciated shares and then cuts a check to the charity or has a process for getting the money to the charity. One could hypothetically purchase the shares back in the taxable account which ultimately results in a higher cost basis ?

Just curious, read a few articles online and threads on here about these. Seems as if those over RMD age and that donate up to or over RMD amount it is a homerun to use DAF's so as to get the "above the line deduction," and if so inclined, using taxable account beyond RMD's to donate to get to desired amount to donate? If one is under RMD age, and has a taxable account, and donates to charity, it seems the move to make is to donate the shares with the lowest cost basis. If this is correct on the mechanical side, how does one know if there local charity is has the ability to accept DAF's, I assume local churches may not ?

Thanks all, seems like it's a different process at each broker. Called in at ME, took 5 mins rather than filling out the form and submitting. TDA seems be able to be done online with no issue.

Thank you both. Yes I have the Roth established. For my partner, at TDA, it looks to have an online option for this, but when I make the contribution into the Trad initially, there is no option for deductible/non deductible, I assume this is unimportant at this time and for tax purposes just make sure the 8606 is accurate next April?

I made my non deductible contribution to my tIRA and then I'm now subsequently trying to convert tp Roth without calling in (using Merrill Edge) however I see no option online to do this? Am I doing this wrong ? I called in last year because I didn't waste the time looking around on the website but I just spent ten minutes inside the account and don't see an online feature to convert Trad to Roth ?

BrandonBogle wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:14 am You misread the post. Legacy accounts are NOT being grandfathered and are subject to the fee once converted to Schwab from TD AmeriTrade.

Thanks, I certainly did, whoops.

passive101 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 3:17 pm I'm probably in the minority on this one. Most people I know contribute to an HSA monthly or weekly through their paycheck. Then they have to have 1000-3000 before they can invest money on top of that. That can take 1-2 years for them. If I had the option of just paying a 1 time fee of $24 so I could start investing my money on day 1, I'd jump on that! I'd end up making far more back then the $24 fee.

I hate fees, but is this not a decent option to be given?

Sure, but $0 is better than $24, which is what Fidelity offers.

You should be exponentially more excited to do it in Jan of 2023 as we are 20% off highs (not including divs from 2022) vs Jan 2022 when we were at an ATH.