Bogleheads.org

I see how to do this, but is there a way to change the order of categories displayed on the website? If I change my accounts to save and spend, it works right in Mint but then I have to scroll way down to see them on Fidelity's site. I don't see a way to move them up in visibility. Even if I create a new display category, it still shoves that category below all the other investment and retirement accounts. Ideally, I want my "cash" account to be at the top. But the only way I can figure out how to do that is to categorize it as an investment account. I have the same gripe. I especially don't like how retirement account sits above spend/save since my active 401k is there. My only thought was to force other accounts down by using t...

We do have a B&M bank, but only for two reasons: (1) To deposit cash occasionally, (2) For safe deposit box. My third reason is that I use Quicken (on Windows 11). In Quicken, the CMA shows up as a brokerage account and not a checking account, so the transactions show up differently and there's always lots of 'extra' entries for funds (and associated share balances) that move in and out of SPAXX and, in my case, FSPXX (Calif Muni Money Mkt Fund). It's just not as smooth an experience in Quicken as using a checking account. If those two funds could just be designated as Cash, along with a monthly interest earned deposit, that would make it much more smooth, and I would move our joint checking account to another Fido CMA and nuke the ban...

1. Determine if you need monitored or not: - If you 100% of the time respond to every alert on your phone within seconds, you may be ok with an unmonitored system. If you sometimes miss a notification or text because you do things that involve your attention as opposed to having your phone at the ready, you may wish for the system to be monitored. I wanted a monitored system, so then monitoring costs and contracts came into play. 2. Determine the primary and backup systems Most modern alarms have the plug in power as their primary power, and internet as their primary communication. I wanted backup for both with battery backup and cell backup. 3. Determine if your house is wired for a system or not: - If it is prewired, there are usually lo...

Some people have success creating a completely new home in the google home app, moving the old devices to that home, then deleting the entire home.

Sometimes though this does not work. I sent bug reports about this to Google, specifically for old linked services like Logitech harmony remotes, which are just permanently stuck in homes and can't be forcibly removed or moved.

If you have $100k in stocks or cash in taxable and can move it to Merrill Edge to park, you can do this:
https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit ... 9-edition/

It is basically 5.25% on online or dining or other categories with a $2500/quarter spending cap per card. Plus a card that has unlimited 2.625% cash back rewards on everything. The site describes the details.

Take single experience customer service issues with a grain of salt. Every brokerage has some incompetent or new people on the phone. I'd measure by hold times and availability. And time of day they'll answer (hint, Vanguard has way more limited hours and options). My experience is that Fidelity has better customer service, but I'm sure it all varies based on the specific person you happen to talk to that day. For instance, a couple years (can't remember, maybe longer) ago I called Vanguard to convert VTSAX to VTI. I had to go through 3 or 4 people who insisted I was wrong, the only way I could do this was to sell one and buy the other. They kept trying to get me to say yes to that over the phone. Finally, I got someone who knew what I was ...

Not sure, but now I'm googling if a Viking funeral is legal in my state... That sounds awesome.

Have you looked at the specific lots you'd be potentially selling in taxable? Do you have any at a loss to sell without tax cost? Do you have any harvested losses banked on your tax return? You may not be paying as many taxes as it sounds like depending on your gains vs losses when selling funds.

Paying cash? Really? I wasn't even thinking of that as an option. I do have $900 thousand in my taxable account, so I could potentially do this. And that would certainly cut down on the closing costs (unless one considers capital gains as a type of closing cost). I guess I never thought of it since I hear of so few people purchasing a home with cash. Could you (or another Boglehead if they want to chime in) expand on why you believe paying with cash might be preferable to getting a mortgage? I'm paying with cash for a 2nd home now. Mortgage rates I can get are terrible. Margin loan rates just don't seem that competitive compared to historical stock market returns. Who knows if I'll ever be able to refinance lower if I get a mortgage, let a...

Even if you decide to go with straight T Bills, I would first purchase $1 million of FSIXX. That will basically unlock access to FSIXX at any amount for a later date if you change your mind. The balance can drop below $1 million after the first initial purchase yet you will still be able to buy any amount.

Personally, I'd just leave it all in FSIXX because it is perfectly liquid, state tax free, and good enough. You can even use it to cover debits from your Fidelity account to pay bills, etc.

That said, setting up T Bill ladders at Fidelity is also easy.

If you intend to buy and hold Vanguard funds and/or ETF’s, Vanguard IMHO is the best place to be. I will most likely do the exact same thing your are contemplating. Good Luck with whatever you choose. I would argue that if you intend to buy and hold Vanguard ETFs, Fidelity is the place to be. Vanguard is only the place to be for Vanguard mutual funds. But to better answer OP's question, we'd need to know what funds he has in his Roth IRA. He can do an ACATS transfer to do it in kind. If I was set on transferring to Vanguard, I would first switch to Vanguard ETFs in my Fidelity account (Roth IRA, so no tax issues to do so) so I was sure that Vanguard could transfer them in kind and I wouldn't be out of the market during the transfer.

FZDXX is probably the best in the $100k initial investment range.

FMPXX and FSIXX are the best in the $1million initial investment range. FMPXX is the higher class of FZDXX; it is taxable to both federal and state. FSIXX is a treasury only money market fund, so if you're in a high tax state it may be better TEY than FMPXX.

The nice part about any of the above funds is that you only need that much for the initial investment. After that, the balance can drop to whatever as long as it doesn't go to 0.

If you are instead talking about small amounts, you can't go wrong with SPAXX. It's a good rate and is the default settlement fund for brokerage accounts. This makes it the easiest by far.

Can you give me a sense of your income, assets, other debts, credit score, etc? If I could get $100k between my two cards I'd be pretty happy. I think at the time I was 800k household income, a little under $200k left on a mortgage, 780ish credit score (varies between 760 and 810 usually depending on if I'm churning or opening any new cards), and 400k in VTI at Merrill. I asked if it would make a difference if I transferred more VTI to Merrill Edge, and they said no. I'm not sure if it matters, but my spouse also has 2 BOA credit cards with a 20k limit on each. Might have also factored in to why they wouldn't increase my limit any more. I would assume they pool spousal limits together, but who knows. I guess our total spousal combined limi...

I'm not entirely sure what your total credit limit at BOA is for all of your cards exclusively from BOA. I don't think credit limits from elsewhere matter for what you're trying to do. I basically tried playing the same game as you last year with BOA. I had 1 premium rewards card and 2 cash back rewards cards with all of them totaling $100k in credit. They denied a credit limit increase for me, however, they were happy to reallocate my credit across existing cards. I was able to put $80k on my premium rewards card and $10k on each cash back card. That let me pay my tax bill in one payment on the premium card, so I was content. In my discussions with BOA while this happened, I got the impression they didn't care how much my income had increa...

Thanks for the detailed reply. That was very helpful in making the decision. Another follow-up question... Any balance offset up to $3000 of income per year. If you have long and short term losses, I'm not sure which you must "use up" first. Say I have losses ( >$3k) from 2023 and another $3k loss from 2024. Can I offset $6k gains in 2025? You have to use $3k capital losses each year to offset ordinary income. If you have more losses than $3k, you can bank them to offset future capital gains. So if your bank of capital losses is X, then you can offset X gains in a year. However, for most people in this situation their capital gains tax rate is lower than their marginal tax bracket. So it's actually ideal for most people to be abl...

grabiner wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 11:15 am
But in either case, other factors may be more important than the small tax difference. If the only low-cost fund in your 401(k) is an S&P 500 index fund, then you should hold US stock in the 401(k).

I don't disagree with anything you wrote. All good advice. But for me personally (knowing what I know now when filling out my taxes) if taxable was the only place I could invest with low ER internationally, and I knew there was a chance I'd one day have over $200k or more VXUS or equivalent in taxable, I might lean towards the all US allocation camp in the great international vs US debate.

That opinion is probably not fully rational/math based, but here I am.

Over the past few years I have been winding down my taxable international holdings due to the foreign tax credit headache. Whenever I donate to a DAF, I've been using VXUS shares. Even if my VXUS shares aren't the ones with the highest long term gains. I don't have concrete numbers, but it feels like the amount paid in foreign taxes keeps increasing relative to VXUS holdings, and the FTC easy button limit of $600 seems forever stagnant. Years ago when I first started looking at tax efficient fund placement on this site, it seemed that the overall consensus was to hold VXUS in taxable, or at least that it didn't hurt anything. I feel like that trend has shifted and the recommendation is to now hold VXUS in tax advantaged accounts only. Every...

I can't imagine getting RSUs consistently without the supplemental cost basis sheet Fidelity provides.

I'd find this as an issue to address with HR. Surely they aren't saving any money by using a small time brokerage.

engineerbme wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:59 pm small pet peeve but wish Fidelity would do true 2 day early payday direct deposits to clear; the fact that it's only 1 day bugs me a bit lol

I thought 1 day early was awesome and unheard of. Who does 2 day early direct deposits?

If you look at that article there is this quote: "There is a way to take advantage of the new tax break without marrying yourself to NJBEST for all of your college saving years. “For our clients that meet the income limits, we are advising them to make initial contributions to the New Jersey 529 plan to take advantage of the tax deduction and roll over the balance to other 529 plans that have lower costs,” Vaughan said." https://www.nj.com/news/2022/01/njs-529-plan-now-offers-a-tax-break-but-is-it-enough-of-an-incentive.html What I did was put 10k into NJbest for a month and then I moved it into my much better Utah 529. I hope that NJ still gives me the deduction because I did have 10k in the NJbest plan (just not for long). I do...

As someone who has custom built a home before, your building estimate seems low. Most custom home builders in our area build at cost plus 10-15 percent. They will give you estimates, but those estimates are usually for the absolute cheapest options unless you specify exactly what you want for your estimates. And I mean exactly what you want line item by line item, from type of granite to budget on light fixtures. You'd be amazed at how if you go to a light fixture store with a budget how hard it will be to stay in the budget. That's true of just about all the options if you're just going by the builder's estimate. Custom picking out home materials and options on a budget is both exhausting and time consuming. I wouldn't recommend it if you ...

What balance can I trust to spend in my CMA? I sold some shares in my brokerage account. It settled. I transferred to my CMA. And I put in an order for SPRXX. Making up numbers but not far off. Cash available to trade: $1k Cash available to withdraw: $5k In the positions tab: SPRXX $1k and Cash Credit from Unsettled Activity is $4k. This is a dry run as I do tests before migrating for it to be my primary checking. Looking to pay a credit card bill that is $1500. Am I good to go or do I need them all to get to the $5k first? The cash available to withdraw usually is the same or less than the cash available to trade. The cash available to withdraw is how much you have available to satisfy payments. So make sure any payments are less than the...

Do you actually have Voyager stock? Or do you have Voyager VGX crypto tokens?

If you just have VGX tokens, I bet legally you have no direct claims for option B. You'd probably want option A, and to hope that you'll get some small percent of the value back.

If you have actual Voyager stock, there probably aren't many people who can properly answer your question.

I've been to all of those places and love all for different reasons. They're all very personal preference depending on what you want to do, how much you mind driving around, and budget. As far as bears go, we love searching for and viewing bears on vacation. If you have children, they are like their own little hiking bell that the bears will hear from miles away and stay away from you. We've also carried bear spray on hikes for peace of mind more than anything. Also, bears near the major hiking spots and roads in any national park are pretty tame and used to bears. They treat humans and cars like scenery, especially in Yellowstone/Tetons/Smokies. Usually there are park rangers near all these bears when there are lots of humans viewing them,...

I remember when I first setup accounts with Fidelity, it did take a long time for funds to settle. Especially large deposits. Now years later, I get same day ACH pushes from other banks, or 1 day ACH pushes max if I do it later in the day. If I pull funds from other banks, it varies from 1-2 days to settle. If I pull or push funds and then try to invest them at Fidelity, I can invest immediately. For direct deposits, I actually get them to settle 1 day earlier than any other bank. For instance, pay day is supposed to be every other Friday. It hits my Fidelity account and is available the Thursday before. I imagine there is a hidden formula on settling times based on both how long you've been a customer and what percentage of total funds bei...

Best is relative and varies wildly. Do you want a cloud DVR system or home DVR system? Personally, I only really trust Amazon's Ring and Google's Nest if you're going with the mainstream cloud options. Trust isn't even the right word. That isn't to say there aren't better options, but all these connected devices are one hack away from lawsuits, and require either deep pockets from the company or a big software support staff to keep them secure over time. Google and Amazon also have connected speaker devices and home integrations with doorbells, lights, etc. There are lots of great home DVR based systems though, from low end to high end. On most of those, you'd have to secure it yourself and setup your own external internet connection to it....

I'm a little confused as to what you mean on duplicate entries for different URLs. I could understand if the mass import didn't go smoothly, but it sounds like you're having problems other than import. In 1Password, you can add multiple website URLs to the same password entry and it will autofill for all of them. There are some Android apps where the app just refuses to allow autofill. Sometimes they even refuse copy/paste. It's really annoying, but not something the password manager can fix. Paypal used to be one of them, and I think they finally fixed it semi recently. That said, websites like bogleheads should autofill easily. So I'm not sure what your issue may be. Bogleheads definitely autofills fine on my Android phone in chrome. Ther...

... And I've found, as others pointed out, pushing funds to Fidelity is better than pulling. Little things, but as you pointed out, it can be tricky. I've found the opposite, in my experience. That's true with Bank of America, at least, which charges a fee for faster transfers. Pulling from Fidelity is faster than pushing from Bank of America, since I'm unwilling to pay for the privilege. My only transfer activity between the two is moving my Preferred Rewards monthly credit card cash bonuses to Fidelity. The small amounts involved may affect the speed with which Fidelity makes it available. Apologies if someone already mentioned this and I missed it. But I just wanted to make sure you were aware that transfers from Merrill Edge to Fidelit...

Mel Lindauer wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 4:38 pm

anon_investor wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 1:37 pm

Mel Lindauer wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 8:05 pm Still waiting for my check (wife got hers), but did get a check in the mail today for a different class-action lawsuit against Apple storage. The check was for $0.16 (yes, 16 cents)!

How much does postage cost now? Lol.

Those were my exact thoughts when I opened the envelope and saw the sixteen-cent check.

With a 16 cent check, I would just hang on to it and never cash it out of spite. Just frame it on the wall. I'd hope that they can't reconcile their books or even better would be to mail you a letter asking if you received it and they spend another postage stamp on the letter. See how many stamps you can get them to buy for your 16 cents.

I feel like your local coworkers will have better info on this. Some insurance carriers are better than others just based on who locally accepts what.

In my area, the two main choices were GEHA with the high deductible plan and access to a HSA. That was for everyone young, or anyone who could afford to use an HSA as a separate retirement account. The 2nd main option was the BCBS standard or premium plans.

But I heard different bases have different opinions on this, so I think the best options are pretty regionally dependent.

The FERS deferred annuity is not inflation adjusted when you don't get a full retirement. So there's that. I believe there is a cutoff at 10 years that makes deferred annuity a no brainer vs a lump sum payout. I think in almost all cases, the deferred annuity is better if you qualify for one. I think the analysis might be more along the lines of will the future annuity be enough to even be worth filling out the paperwork for, or would you rather just consolidate and get a lump sum? The case where the deferred annuity loses is if we have rampant inflation until you retire, since it's only inflation adjusted once the annuity pays out (not in the years leading up to the payment). For what it's worth, I took a deferred retirement/annuity with ...

The FERS deferred annuity is not inflation adjusted when you don't get a full retirement. So there's that. I believe there is a cutoff at 10 years that makes deferred annuity a no brainer vs a lump sum payout. I think in almost all cases, the deferred annuity is better if you qualify for one. I think the analysis might be more along the lines of will the future annuity be enough to even be worth filling out the paperwork for, or would you rather just consolidate and get a lump sum? The case where the deferred annuity loses is if we have rampant inflation until you retire, since it's only inflation adjusted once the annuity pays out (not in the years leading up to the payment). For what it's worth, I took a deferred retirement/annuity with 1...

If I was a buyer, I'd find the question about if I'd be home to sign off putting, and I'd try to find a different seller. It seems like most of this board doesn't understand how hard it is to be a working person with a non teleworking job and be home to sign for packages. As a former eBay seller I totally understand but all the risk of you getting the item is on me. Signature confirmation bought me protection and at least at one point was required for eBay seller protection above $250. I get both sides of the argument but at the end of the day the seller has to decide how much risk they take and the buyer how much hassle they want. This is also not limited to small time sellers Dell often ships signature required AND prevents you from rero...

Spouse and I both got $22.82. I find it strange that the amounts seem to be varying wildly.

If I was a buyer, I'd find the question about if I'd be home to sign off putting, and I'd try to find a different seller. It seems like most of this board doesn't understand how hard it is to be a working person with a non teleworking job and be home to sign for packages.

I had an issue one time in the past many years. It was for a purchase of stocks at Vanguard (before I completely switched to Fidelity) that was for over 100k. There was not enough in the CMA, but there was more than enough in the overdraft protection account for the CMA. The ACH stock purchase from Vanguard failed. When I called Fidelity, they apologized and had me call Vanguard to process it again. It worked the 2nd time. They said someone accidentally failed it for insufficient funds and forgot to look at overdraft protection accounts. They implied that for purchases of this amount, which must have been $100k because it was something like $150k, they were reviewed manually by a real person. I remember he implied it was all computers when ...

I feel that it's a pain to fund DAFs from different brokerages. I used to have a Vanguard DAF and a Fidelity DAF specifically because it was so much easier to donate shares from the same brokerage to the corresponding DAF.

I've since moved all Vanguard funds to Fidelity, which makes using their DAF a breeze. For what it's worth, I find the Fidelity DAF much easier to use than the Vanguard one unless they've changed Vanguard in the past few years since I moved away. It's possible that is no longer the case, but that was my experience.

Year Age Income Net Worth 2009 24 $50,000 $25,000 2010 25 $152,000 $103,000 2011 26 $195,000 $230,000 2012 27 $266,000 $345,000 2013 28 $210,000 $220,000 2014 29 $273,000 $458,000 2015 30 $265,000 $550,000 2016 31 $270,000 $780,000 2017 32 $298,000 $1,105,000 2018 33 $319,000 $1,124,000 2019 34 $372,000 $1,650,000 2020 35 $376,000 $1,938,000 2021 36 $429,810 $2,548,245 2022 37 $462,000 $2,466,374 Curious what role (assuming oil and gas) pays that much? I'm in oil and gas. Only executives would have base pay that high, but not uncommon for bonus + equity to get you into the 400s. At my company, $400s all-in would correspond to pay grades 14/15 in a good bonus year, which are manager/senior manager/director level roles (but below executive p...

This thread also convinced me to use a Password Manager. I’m 65, and figure I won’t get smarter over time, so I went with my techie son’s recommendation for Keeper, since that is what he uses and I can share a folder of my passwords with him, which will make his life easier in the future, when I’m dead or perhaps less functional than now. Sharing passwords generally is the wrong way to do that. Durable power of attorney while you are alive, and a will that names an executor for your estate are the way to accomplish this. Many brokers and fund companies have their own form for de facto power of attorney privileges. People named for these roles will get their own account to use with the privileges you choose to grant to them. Sharing your pa...

I've never had a single 401k plan that allows you to contribute more than the yearly IRS limit for your personal contribution. It'll cap it at that amount. Employer contributions don't count for this limit/calculation. Employer contributions have their own maximum formula that most people never come close to reaching. If your plan has something called a "true-up", then you don't need to worry about hitting the exact amount each paycheck to get a max. Just come up with something close enough that will definitely reach your personal 401k limit, and the company will ensure they provide their amount for the year. You should only worry about over-contributing in most circumstances if you have multiple 401k plans for the year or change ...

The combination of your personal Roth TSP and personal Traditional TSP cannot exceed 22,500 for 2023 if you're under 50. The agency contributions don't count in this number. Also keep in mind that for the TSP, there is no true up. You need to contribute to the TSP on all yearly paychecks enough in order to get the full agency match. If you max out the TSP early, the government won't pay you for their portion the rest of the year. So typically that means you'd want to contribute 22,500/26=$866 per paycheck for a full match. Thanks to everyone offering the information about the max for both. Gadget, That’s some great info. Are you saying, if I make $100k gross and get a 5% match and i contribute $866 per pay check, my TSP account will have a...

If your goal is simplification, which most bogleheads agree on. The 3 fund portfolio is a great start. Pick a stock/bond ratio, and decide if you want some international stocks or not. After you come up with a 3 fund portfolio strategy, you can start to simplify your portfolio. Selling everything in your IRAs and 401ks incurs no penalty, so you can easily sell everything and buy your choice of VTI/VXUS/BND, etc. The taxable account is trickier. In taxable, look at all the specific tax lots. Depending on your brokerage, you may need to turn on specific identification so you can sell individual lots. You can immediately sell everything that is at a loss, and probably should. That's just good tax loss harvesting. If you have small gains on any...

The combination of your personal Roth TSP and personal Traditional TSP cannot exceed 22,500 for 2023 if you're under 50.

The agency contributions don't count in this number.

Also keep in mind that for the TSP, there is no true up. You need to contribute to the TSP on all yearly paychecks enough in order to get the full agency match. If you max out the TSP early, the government won't pay you for their portion the rest of the year. So typically that means you'd want to contribute 22,500/26=$866 per paycheck for a full match.

1Password offers a feature to auto fill 2FA passcodes. While convenient, does this weaken security? There’s also an unsupported python script that can replace Fidelity’s Symantec VIP 2FA with either Yubikey or 1password. Anyone know if this is legit and secure? I am not a believer in having your 2FA in the same system as your passwords. Keeping the second factor with a second vendor protects from breaches. The python script is legit. Symantec VIP is just a tweaked version of regular TOTP that they sell to the banks. Thanks. That aligns with my instincts. I like the idea of moving my fidelity 2fa to Yubikey. Similar to the first point, It doesn’t make sense that I can login to my fidelity app using the 2fa code from another app on the same ...

But what if the bad guy is able to crack enough password vaults with poor master passwords that they can see a pattern in how lastpass encrypts the data and discovers another vulnerability that unlocks everything. Then you're just out of luck. The "pattern of how LastPass encrypts the data" was published by NIST on November 26, 2001. The method that LastPass uses to derive your encryption key from your master password was published by the IETF in September 2000. These methods are secure BECAUSE they are well-known and widely-understood, they are not dependent on secrecy. Decrypting 100,000 vaults with weak master passwords like "Password123" makes an attacker exactly 0.0% closer to cracking my vault with a solid master ...

I have an assigned rep, over $500k in multiple accounts at Fidelity and still don't get the offer. I even got it last year. This year, just a $20 discount.

And if FZDXX buy/sells count as trading, I'd think I'd qualify as an active trader.

I think this is a final red flag for Lastpass users. I jumped ship years ago when their current company bought them out, which was the first red flag. Now is probably the time to switch to Bitwarden or 1Password. Sure, the odds are very low that your passwords will be compromised if you have a decent master password. Likely non existent risk if you use hardware based 2FA for your account. But what if the bad guy is able to crack enough password vaults with poor master passwords that they can see a pattern in how lastpass encrypts the data and discovers another vulnerability that unlocks everything. Then you're just out of luck. I also think it's telling in how they handled this. It almost feels like they lied about the severity, then used a...

Phillips warm glow has been the best by far for us if you want them to dim well.

safari wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 9:45 pm I've had YouTube Premium for 5 years and have never even tried YouTube Music, as I am using Amazon Music Unlimited and Pandora for music.

Youtube Music is so much better than Amazon Music Unlimited and Pandora... If you said you were using free versions of Apple Music or Spotify then OK, but Pandora and Amazon Music don't really compete with Youtube Music.