Search found 772 matches

by MrJones
Fri Feb 16, 2024 12:01 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What email address is "okay/acceptable" to use then?
Replies: 168
Views: 18039

Re: What email address is "okay/acceptable" to use then?

Here's a thought. It matters as to what email address to *not* have much more than what to have. I don't pay attention to email addresses much (they're like vanity phone numbers), but I do a double take if someone has an aol.com address, and that makes me wonder what is going on with them.
by MrJones
Thu Feb 01, 2024 12:30 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax liabilities and asset allocation
Replies: 8
Views: 1227

Re: Tax liabilities and asset allocation

The wiki extensively addresses this in "Tax Adjusted Asset Allocation":

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-adj ... allocation
by MrJones
Sun Jan 28, 2024 12:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: California State Income Tax Brackets 2024
Replies: 20
Views: 3974

Re: California State Income Tax Brackets 2024

CAsage wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2024 2:38 pm Can you not tinker (browse the EDD worksheets, but take them as advisory) by increasing the allowances until your payroll Ca withholding is very close to your best yearend estimate? I would not tinker beyond 1 allowance to match your best tax return tax due.... but you have a lever. Adjust it every pay period until it's right (and it's an art).
This is what I did and still didn't hit the mark. I think I gave up too early. Need a couple more iterations. Thanks for the encouragement.
by MrJones
Sat Jan 27, 2024 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: California State Income Tax Brackets 2024
Replies: 20
Views: 3974

Re: California State Income Tax Brackets 2024

Hyperchicken wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2024 9:59 am California has 10% over-withholding baked into their withholding instructions on top of over-withholding caused by inflation and indexing brackets.

So for instance 8% tax bracket becomes 8.8% withholding bracket, 9.3% tax bracket becomes 10.23% withholding bracket, and so on.

Don't y'all like refunds? :twisted:
Argh. Why CA, why? So for the last several years, I've tried to fiddle with payroll to try to decrease my witholding to no avail. I usually have thousands of dollars in refunds for CA. I rarely file before the deadline, so I lose months of the money in the market. Is there anything I can do to reduce my witholding with payroll of a megacorp?
by MrJones
Sat Jan 27, 2024 1:14 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: California State Income Tax Brackets 2024
Replies: 20
Views: 3974

Re: California State Income Tax Brackets 2024

Hyperchicken wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 6:31 pm You may notice that a corollary of this is that California always over-withholds income tax. And, the higher the inflation in a given year, the more California over-withholds income tax for that year.
Ah, it all makes sense now. I'd assumed my employer's payroll was broken with respect to CA withholding.
by MrJones
Wed Jan 24, 2024 6:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How much is owned real estate (primary/secondary homes) as a percent of your net worth?
Replies: 113
Views: 8869

Re: How much is owned real estate (primary/secondary homes) as a part of your net worth?

HeavyChevy wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 4:10 pm
watchnerd wrote: Tue Jan 23, 2024 6:08 pm
jebmke wrote: Tue Jan 23, 2024 12:29 pm I have no idea what our house is but the assessed value is about 3% of our net worth
So like $20-30M net worth?

Nice.
Median US house price is $388K. Half are lower.
I wonder what the median net worth of the bogleheads forum is. That might be more relevant here IMHO.
by MrJones
Mon Jan 22, 2024 2:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Solutions for Massive Photo Library (Old Family Phots)
Replies: 57
Views: 5404

Re: Solutions for Massive Photo Library (Old Family Phots)

zincTwo wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 1:25 am Free DIY scanning solution.... find your nearest FamilySearch Center
Oh wow, fantastic recommendation. Sounds like a great org. One location even lists a negatives and a film scanner which I've been wanting. Thank you!
by MrJones
Thu Jan 11, 2024 1:07 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What's your approach to portfolio performance monitoring?
Replies: 11
Views: 1492

Re: What's your approach to portfolio performance monitoring?

Same as some of the above: simplicity (just or 3 funds or equivalents), and investing in index-funds only means that tracking is unncessary. I track only when it's actionable. I.e., if I need to know what large purchase I can afford, or how to strategize earnings, career, and such. My rebalance bands are fairly wide according to my IPS, so rebalancing is not a frequent operation.

When starting out, you might track for a few weeks or months out of curiosity. After that, it might help to answer *why* you want to track. That would answer how frequently and how closely you need to track. Curiosity? Feel-good? Rebalancing? House purchase? Career decision? Watching for FU money threshold? Retirement threshold?
by MrJones
Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Early Retirement Plan - Age 38 w/over $2 million
Replies: 120
Views: 28649

Re: Early Retirement Plan - Age 38 w/over $2 million

Dear OP, Allow me to present an unpopular opinion here: not only can you retire, not only are you not missing anything, I'd even go so far as to say you are being financially quite conservative. Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I truly appreciate it...but it is slightly frustrating that some of the replies are in regard to lifestyle opinions, as opposed to critiques on the financial aspects of the plan. I agree, with you. Every forum has its culture and biases. And you're running into many biases of bogleheads, all in one thread. So what is the antidote? One thing to do is to consider a forum/space with either a more objective bias (but how would one know?), or even a seemingly opposite bias. And then compare the two to figure out an o...
by MrJones
Sat Dec 30, 2023 6:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Rate of return on primary residence
Replies: 56
Views: 6801

Re: Rate of return on primary residence

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Sat Dec 30, 2023 9:56 am My first house was easy. We bought it in 1995 for $125k. We sold it in 1992 for $125k. Don't even need a slide rule for that one.
You shorted a house? So cool. :wink:
by MrJones
Tue Dec 26, 2023 3:00 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any good and free EMAIL REMINDER services?
Replies: 13
Views: 1298

Re: Any good and free EMAIL REMINDER services?

teelainen wrote: Mon Dec 25, 2023 11:47 pm
raveon wrote: Mon Dec 25, 2023 11:36 pm google calendar?
If you put it on Google calendar, does it send you an email reminder?
Yes, certainly:
Create event -> Add notification -> Email

- You can select how far in advance you want the email
- You can set multiple email reminders
- You can use GMail's snooze feature if you choose to receive email notifications there
- You can setup a default email notification for all your calendar entries
by MrJones
Thu Dec 21, 2023 2:42 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity account downloads as QFX files
Replies: 10
Views: 2154

Re: Fidelity account downloads as QFX files

As a poster above said, reds-importers has templates for a handful of direct ofx downloads. Netbenefits is here:
https://github.com/redstreet/beancount_ ... mplate.cfg

But I imagine you're using the right ofxtools command already since you have Brokerage working. Yes, I'd try calling Fidelity, and assuming it's enabled, you might want to double confirm what your netbenefits account number is.
by MrJones
Mon Dec 18, 2023 2:09 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity account downloads as QFX files
Replies: 10
Views: 2154

Re: Fidelity account downloads as QFX files

Yes, Fidelity provides this directly, no need to convert from a csv. QFX has more data than CSV. For example, a list of positions, your balance, and current prices of tickers, etc. If you're technically inclined and have a software background, it's very simple to get: https://github.com/csingley/ofxtools

It's just one single command you have to run each time you want the latest qfx.

Also see my post here.

And please send feedback to Fidelity on this ofx/qfx issue directly via this thread. The more people they hear from, the better:
https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityinvest ... d_options/
by MrJones
Fri Dec 08, 2023 2:42 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance plan for recent homebuyers
Replies: 11
Views: 1888

Re: Refinance plan for recent homebuyers

Here's a different view: it's up to the business to factor in their costs correctly, and they almost always do. The client's job is to ensure they select the highest value for their money. If that means refi a few weeks out, so be it. Lenders account for this and typically have healthy margins regardless, or if not, will offer competitive refinancing early to ensure they retain your business. You have no visibility into their accounting sheet, and making decisions based on what you heard on the internet about somone vaguey possibly losing some unquantified bonus on your account doesn't make much sense IMHO. My two cents. You can either crunch the numbers and pay for closing costs, or do a no-cost refinance, which may or may not be optimal, ...
by MrJones
Wed Dec 06, 2023 6:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pitfalls of withdrawing from 401k for a home loan but not using it?
Replies: 23
Views: 2342

Re: Pitfalls of withdrawing from 401k for a home loan but not using it?

CrisisAverted wrote: Wed Dec 06, 2023 12:39 am
MrJones wrote: Wed Dec 06, 2023 12:22 am
CrisisAverted wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 11:57 pm My primary concern is taxes. Since most of the 401k contributions have been pre-tax from my paychecks, would I owe income tax for taking out the loan? If so, that may defeat the purpose of the loan.
No taxes. As it's a loan, not a distribution.
Great! Do you know how the interest that I paid to myself would be calculated? Does that count as interest income?
Many providers do this all online now. You should be able to get a loan estimate in a couple minutes if your provider does this online (else, call them). This will include the interest rate, and other loan terms.

Because the interest is getting paid back into your 401k, it is not reportable as income on your tax return.
by MrJones
Wed Dec 06, 2023 12:22 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pitfalls of withdrawing from 401k for a home loan but not using it?
Replies: 23
Views: 2342

Re: Pitfalls of withdrawing from 401k for a home loan but not using it?

CrisisAverted wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 11:57 pm My primary concern is taxes. Since most of the 401k contributions have been pre-tax from my paychecks, would I owe income tax for taking out the loan? If so, that may defeat the purpose of the loan.
No taxes. As it's a loan, not a distribution.
by MrJones
Mon Dec 04, 2023 8:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Can I retire in 4 weeks?
Replies: 109
Views: 19668

Re: Can I retire in 4 weeks?

Raspberry-503 wrote: Mon Dec 04, 2023 7:52 pm FiCalc.com is good at letting you enter additional income and spending streams and runs through the last 80 years to see how
Ficalc.app? Or firecalc.com?
by MrJones
Mon Dec 04, 2023 8:14 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Contribute to ESPP or mega-backdoor Roth?
Replies: 33
Views: 3073

Re: Contribute to ESPP or mega-backdoor Roth?

Easily answered by running the numbers.

N years from now in retirement, what would the the savings in LTCG because your $100 is in Roth and not taxable?

Vs

What would your net (after tax) income be in N years if you put $115 in taxable now (the additional $15 is the extra money you get because of ESPP). Usually, the Roth will win.
by MrJones
Fri Dec 01, 2023 12:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: USPS labels: cover with clear tape or not?
Replies: 32
Views: 3985

Re: USPS labels: cover with clear tape or not?

I've taped over the entire printed label for years. I'm careful to ensure there are no wrinkles, but that's about it. I use an inkjet that would cause ink to bleed on the paper if moisture came within an inch of it, heh.

I occasionally take some of these packages to the counter, and they have no trouble scanning them at the counter if that's an indication of how their internal scanners are.
by MrJones
Fri Dec 01, 2023 3:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?
Replies: 17
Views: 1573

Re: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?

The likelihood of CA FTB auditing you is perhaps low. In the event you are audited, then I think you'll have a hard time finding documentation to justify the fact that Fidelity reports the cost basis much lower than you reported on your tax return. If it didn't cost me much, I would use their cost basis. If it cost me more, I would try to get them to change it. I would not report something different than my broker's tracking. Ultimately you don't *have* any dated documentation supporting your cost basis, because you didn't select it at the time of sale, which the Fidelity UI does allow you to do. Makes sense, and sounds like good advice. True. I'll perhaps give it one more shot trying to get Fidelity to change it, and if not, give up and u...
by MrJones
Fri Dec 01, 2023 3:35 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?
Replies: 17
Views: 1573

Re: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?

You should read 26 CFR § 1.1012-1 - Basis of property. I don't see the words "taxable account" or "HSA" anywhere in there. I see no reason why the same regulations wouldn't apply to your HSA in California or New Jersey. (On the other hand, the regulations allow you to specify the shares "Within a reasonable time thereafter." Of course, I assume you called Fidelity to ask before posting on this forum, right? Thanks for the CFR. That was interesting and helpful, and you're right, it doesn't distinguish between accounts. I guess the question is, do these CFRs apply to state laws and taxation? I imagine most states would have their own regulations that respect Federal CFRs. I did call Fidelity before posting, two ...
by MrJones
Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?
Replies: 17
Views: 1573

Re: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?

True, but on the flip side, many HSA brokers don't even track cost basis. I guess my question is, what makes Fidelity's cost basis tracking official? Why would my own tracking of it not be the official one? With regular taxable accounts, the broker is required by law to track cost basis and share that with the federal government via 1099s. There's no such thing done with HSAs. Congress and the IRS set FIFO, and make Fidelity's cost basis number official. You might be able to convince them to change the lots, but if not, have you calculated how much is this going to cost you? Might be less than you expect Sure, Congress and IRS set FIFO for taxble accounts. AFAIK, they don't set such requirement for HSA accounts, since according to Congress...
by MrJones
Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?
Replies: 17
Views: 1573

Re: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?

nalor511 wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 12:22 am You still own those lots that weren't sold, and there's no way to reassign it after the T+2 settlement... unless you can get someone at Fidelity to reassign the lots for you, if they even have that ability. Hopefully not too expensive a lesson for the future
True, but on the flip side, many HSA brokers don't even track cost basis. I guess my question is, what makes Fidelity's cost basis tracking official? Why would my own tracking of it not be the official one?

With regular taxable accounts, the broker is required by law to track cost basis and share that with the federal government via 1099s. There's no such thing done with HSAs.
by MrJones
Thu Nov 30, 2023 12:11 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?
Replies: 17
Views: 1573

Re: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?

That's helpful and interesting to know about the regulations, thanks!

If the regulation is Federal and doesn't apply to HSA accounts, would California allow me to present a different set of lots than what Fidelity picked? In other words, can I ignore Fidelity and track my own lots given federal law doesn't cover this situation?
by MrJones
Wed Nov 29, 2023 9:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?
Replies: 17
Views: 1573

Specific identification retroactively in Fidelity HSA account?

I sold a bunch of HSA ETFs from my Fidelity HSA a couple weeks ago. I made an error in assuming that HSAs don't offer specific identification of shares since similar to IRA accounts. But they do, and it matters in CA.

Of course, Fidelity automatically chose the ones with the lowest cost basis, making it the worst choice. Is it possible for me to fix this retroactively? I've never sold in this account in the past. Anyone have experience with this? Thank you.
by MrJones
Wed Nov 29, 2023 1:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What is my "true" wage income?
Replies: 33
Views: 3855

Re: What is my "true" wage income?

If you use a double entry bookkeeping system like gnucash and enter your paychecks into it in full, these types of questions can be answered any time in seconds. And can be computed and analyzed for and period and such, accurately down to the penny.

I know it doesn't help you right now, but mentioning it in case this type of tracking is of ongoing interest.
by MrJones
Wed Nov 29, 2023 5:25 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What's the easiest way to donate appreciated shares to a non-profit?
Replies: 9
Views: 1296

Re: What's the easiest way to donate appreciated shares to a non-profit?

jebmke wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2023 5:19 am Right. The mechanics is their issue to solve. If they won’t open a brokerage account they might check with a community foundation about a pass through account. The foundation will certainly have a brokerage account but will take a small cut for the transaction..
Good question, will ask.
by MrJones
Tue Nov 28, 2023 11:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What's the easiest way to donate appreciated shares to a non-profit?
Replies: 9
Views: 1296

What's the easiest way to donate appreciated shares to a non-profit?

I would prefer to avoid opening a donor-advised fund, if at all possible. I generally donate cash, and don't need a DAF. This is the one time I want to donate appreciated shares. How do I do this, but make it easy for the receiving organization, so they don't have to open a brokerage account, and receive the shares, sell them, do the paperwork, etc.?
by MrJones
Tue Nov 28, 2023 2:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?
Replies: 67
Views: 8640

Re: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?

cchrissyy wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2023 7:52 pm An agent's guess is almost worthless tho
+1. At best, it's worthless, at worst, it might be misleading. I'd suggest getting a general contractor to come out there and give you a ballpark.
by MrJones
Tue Nov 28, 2023 2:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?
Replies: 67
Views: 8640

Re: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?

Just to add: if OP buys, there is a tradeoff in terms of how much it makes sense to pay down vs take out a mortgage on. Given the high interest rates currently, one might might tempted to conclude that paying as much as possible down makes sense. But it might or might not. Running the numbers is prudent IMHO. Here's why: 1. Paying down by liquidating involves paying capital gains taxes, and the effects of permanently losing those. For example, paying $1M down might involve $100k of capital gains taxes (your numbers may vary). So you lose the $100k and its compounding permanently. 2. The mortgage interest deduction for 750k seems on first glance like it would significantly reduce your interest costs on that 750k. But it may be less than you ...
by MrJones
Tue Nov 28, 2023 12:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?
Replies: 67
Views: 8640

Re: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?

Keep in mind that interest is tilted significantly towards the beginning of a 30 year loan, meaning if/when you refinance, you've paid (lost) far more interest already than you'd imagine.
by MrJones
Tue Nov 28, 2023 12:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?
Replies: 67
Views: 8640

Re: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?

whodidntante wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2023 12:48 pm A 2M dollar, low expected return, undiversified asset with high carrying costs is not a great addition to your portfolio. It's spending on a lifestyle choice.
+1, great summary.

Dozens of spreadsheets and data crunching using real world numbers give me complete confidence in the statement above.

Add "low liquidity" to the above. Because of high transaction costs, all or nothing capital gains taxes, very high hassle of selling, and sales being entirely market dependent.
by MrJones
Tue Nov 28, 2023 12:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?
Replies: 67
Views: 8640

Re: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?

Would it be wise if I think of buying this house as an investment for my kid? As he grows up , I can leave this house for the kid? As another poster said, if you run the numbers, you'll see that you'd lose millions in 25-35 years in buying over renting. Two main reasons: a) current mortgage interest rates, and b) house appreciation is significantly less than index fund appreciation over the last 30 years. In your area in that time period, houses have appreciated between 4.5% and 6%. S&P500 has been about 8 or 9%. Definitely not a good idea from an investment perspective. Might be fine for other reasons. Btw, where did you find Cupertino houses historical appreciation data? https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ATNHPIUS06085A Santa Clara c...
by MrJones
Tue Nov 28, 2023 1:00 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?
Replies: 67
Views: 8640

Re: Can I afford this $2M house in bay area?

morpheus1958 wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2023 11:28 pm Would it be wise if I think of buying this house as an investment for my kid?
As he grows up , I can leave this house for the kid?
As another poster said, if you run the numbers, you'll see that you'd lose millions in 25-35 years in buying over renting. Two main reasons: a) current mortgage interest rates, and b) house appreciation is significantly less than index fund appreciation over the last 30 years. In your area in that time period, houses have appreciated between 4.5% and 6%. S&P500 has been about 8 or 9%.

Definitely not a good idea from an investment perspective. Might be fine for other reasons.
by MrJones
Mon Nov 27, 2023 12:20 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Would people have been better off if there was a way to automate?
Replies: 22
Views: 2538

Re: Would people have been better off if there was a way to automate?

My point is, all automation is overridable. Therefore, building up basic discipline to create and follow a plan is critical, and solves most behavioral errors.

Could you perhaps state how this thread is actionable? That will allow us to help you.
by MrJones
Sun Nov 26, 2023 11:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Would people have been better off if there was a way to automate?
Replies: 22
Views: 2538

Re: Would people have been better off if there was a way to automate?

There are at least three ways to automate I can think of

1. Target retirement funds which are even more automated than life strategy

2. Robo advisors (expensive)

3. Simplifying so much that automation is unnecessary. Picking one stock and one bond fund and maintaining the target percentage

The problem is all three of the above are prone to behavioral errors such as the one you mentioned. Although probably to less of a degree than a complex strategy.

Automation or not, what helps is writing an investment policy statement and intentfully building up the muscle of following it with discipline. This discipline also helps in other areas like expenses. My two cents.
by MrJones
Sun Nov 26, 2023 4:11 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Inexpensive Smartphone & Plan
Replies: 17
Views: 2373

Re: Inexpensive Smartphone & Plan

US Mobile has been an excellent experience so far with respect to very professional website, and very quick and intelligent customer service.

Was with Red Pocket for a couple years, and it was miserable. Every couple months, the annual plan would stop working, and would take a 1-1.5 hour call with customer service to restore.
by MrJones
Sat Nov 25, 2023 10:00 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What non-index fund investment made you a lot of money?
Replies: 141
Views: 26491

Re: What non-index fund investment made you a lot of money?

Parkinglotracer wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2023 9:56 pm
UpperNwGuy wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2023 9:51 pm What is the actionable part of this question?
Maybe give some folks new ideas of what other people have been successful investing in (which seems of interest to many investors).
Which would be exactly against all Bogleheads principles. Encouraging people to invest in individual stocks is not doing them a favor. Even worse, encouraging people to invest in an individual stock based on its history is outright dangerous. Trading stories of how one got lucky without discussing how dangerous it was is what these threads generally devolve into.
by MrJones
Sat Nov 25, 2023 9:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What non-index fund investment made you a lot of money?
Replies: 141
Views: 26491

Re: What non-index fund investment made you a lot of money?

UpperNwGuy wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2023 9:51 pm What is the actionable part of this question?
Writing an investment policy statement for the post-time-machine era, of course. Or is it the pre-time-machine era? Post-pre? :shock:
by MrJones
Thu Nov 23, 2023 1:15 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Company wants Consultant’s Tax Returns Before Contracting
Replies: 16
Views: 2255

Re: Company wants Consultant’s Tax Returns Before Contracting

Never heard of this, and it's way too unreasonable to even consider entertaining.
by MrJones
Tue Nov 21, 2023 1:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Cost - And Who Do I Need to Prepare a Will in California?
Replies: 18
Views: 2043

Re: Who Do I Need to Prepare a Will for US in California?

If you don't have a trust, your estate will be subject to probate and be tied up in the courts for at least a year and your estate may will end up paying more for a lawyer than what you would pay now to set up your estate planning documents. Fixed that for you. Getting a simple trust done in California isn’t that expensive. California probate, however, is stupidly expensive. It may cost more if the original poster uses a lawyer who knows to coordinate with local counsel in the foreign country where they own property to make sure the plan works for the property in that country. For example, in some countries there are significant tax disadvantages to putting real estate in a revocable trust. Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that (the ...
by MrJones
Tue Nov 21, 2023 1:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Cost - And Who Do I Need to Prepare a Will in California?
Replies: 18
Views: 2043

Re: Cost - And Who Do I Need to Prepare a Will in California?

FromAto401k wrote: Mon Nov 20, 2023 11:28 pm California estate planning attorney here.

$2,500 for a trust-based basic package is more than reasonable, and in fact, I would say is on the low end. Meanwhile, anytime you throw in a non-citizen spouse and/or foreign assets, the complexity goes up. You want to make sure it's done right.
True, but OP mentioned this was only wills. No trust is included in this package.
by MrJones
Mon Nov 20, 2023 1:29 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Roth 60 day loan and tax paperwork
Replies: 7
Views: 1095

Re: Roth 60 day loan and tax paperwork

Asyouwish wrote: Sat Nov 18, 2023 10:19 am It will help to keep a copy now of the account statements showing the withdrawal date and the Re deposit date in case you get a CP2000 document matching notice. The 1099-R will be dated 2023 and the 5498 will be 2024. This may flag your return for a document mismatch. It’s a simple step to respond by showing the 60 day time frame was met with the account statements. This CP2000 may not show up until very late 2024 or even in calendar year 2025. If you have these documents with your 2023 return at home, it’s easier than trying to backtrack and get statements that are 12-18 months old.
Very good point. I tend to save all documents anyway, but will ensure I file these relevant ones.
by MrJones
Mon Nov 20, 2023 12:11 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Which online Mortgage lender has the lowest interest rates?
Replies: 17
Views: 4522

Re: Which online Mortgage lender has the lowest interest rates?

Our experience with Rocket was simply excellent. Lowest rate, and very smooth, end to end, and they worked so well through a couple complications. The catch is this: we went through Schwab, and they have apparently senior folks who handle Schwab clients. Schwab also gives you a discount of 0.5% or more if you have a certain amount in assets with them. The person who was our mortgage agent was particularly just excellent. Highly dependable, very competent, and very trustworthy. No sales pitch, just very quick work. I've worked with a couple dozen or more agents through the years, this one was outstanding. Happy to pass on his info, just PM me. Better.com was sloppy for us. Got stuck with some paperwork and the agent had no clue how to move u...
by MrJones
Sun Nov 19, 2023 1:23 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Rates and Returns
Replies: 7
Views: 1350

Re: Rates and Returns

So based on that, what is wrong with it? Can we look at times or markets where rates were rising, QE or excess money was not being injected into the system at where equities still yielded 7-10% returns on average over a meaningful time period? You're taking the act of making the claim to be valid, and then trying to prove it wrong with data. Instead, the act of making such a claim itself is likely suspect. For example, I'm sure one could squeeze the data somehow to show how rain in Kansas has always been correlated with the SP500's rise and fall. By definition it would be impossible to disprove that claim because it's the data that made up the claim. That doesn't mean that the claim holds water. Just means it's overtrained data. If your cl...
by MrJones
Sat Nov 18, 2023 12:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: ChatGPT just wrote me a POA that is better than the attorney's
Replies: 150
Views: 21097

Re: ChatGPT just wrote me a POA that is better than the attorney's

find a reputable but responsive and reasonably priced attorney? These are hard to come by. How does one find such a unicorn? Why would a reputable and responsive attorney work at anything other than a premium price? Yes there are a few market anomalies but most people will try to get paid commensurate with their skills and abilities. I agree these take a little bit of work to find, but I wouldn't call them unicorns either. And might be valuable for the long run. OP is probably paying average prices but getting a substandard service. It's not terribly hard to call around, get recommendations from friends, see online reviews, post here and such to get a handful of recommendations to follow up on. Specifically, it sounds like if the OP could ...
by MrJones
Sat Nov 18, 2023 5:38 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Roth 60 day loan and tax paperwork
Replies: 7
Views: 1095

Re: Roth 60 day loan and tax paperwork

Celia, good to know on how the forms work for this, thank you!
toddthebod wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 10:31 pm It doesn't matter if you cross the calendar year. You enter the distribution on line 4a, 0 on 4b, and you write "rollover."
Perfect, this helps, thanks much!
by MrJones
Sat Nov 18, 2023 1:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I Buy A House?
Replies: 79
Views: 8326

Re: Should I Buy A House?

A lot of negativity in this thread. But we don't know how much the OP has saved for retirement already, whether local family could help in an emergency, how stable is his and his wife's employment, what's their preferred situation regarding kids, and whether they possibly stand to inherit. While I agree with others, that at the moment, buying is too risky, we have to ask ourselves: if not now, when? Never? Is "never" a reasonable answer? The key is to save and grow your wealth faster than the real estate market and pounce when you are cash flush. … What if the local real estate prices rise faster, than the OP can accumulate money, even with maximally aggressive savings? If the OP saves $60K/year, for cash to be set-aside (in addi...
by MrJones
Sat Nov 18, 2023 12:48 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: ChatGPT just wrote me a POA that is better than the attorney's
Replies: 150
Views: 21097

Re: ChatGPT just wrote me a POA that is better than the attorney's

The fundamental problem is if you had the expertise to evaluate the ChatGPT work product, you could have written your own POA. And since you don't have that expertise, you still need a lawyer to evaluate and very likely fix the document. So ChatGPT created something that superficially looks good but didn't advance your situation any. +1. ChatGPT is simply excellent for jobs like writing a small program or even creating a spreadsheet **where it is trivial to evaluate the output for correctness**. Unfortunately in this case, there's no way for you to evaluate this doc, which would make it completely useless in my view. Why not use software designed for this specially, if something like that exists? If not, find a reputable but responsive and...
by MrJones
Fri Nov 17, 2023 1:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I Buy A House?
Replies: 79
Views: 8326

Re: Should I Buy A House?

Mortgage rates are 7%. Even the most expensive areas in the country (eg Bay area, CA) have house appreciation rates of 5.5% in the long run. Meaning you're losing a lot if you leverage right now.

Have you run the numbers on nytimes calculator? In a VHCOL at current interest rates for me, renting wins by humongous margins. Don't believe FOMO based reasons to buy. You might be surprised if you ran the numbers, which most folks don't.

The driver of personal wealth is discipline to save. If you'll only save if you had a mortgage, sure, it's something to consider. But I'd argue you have deeper problems then to work on rather than buy.