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I agree with CAsage that it doesn't matter much, unless the older spouse is getting close to RMD age. Then prioritize converting the older spouse's tIRA account.

I will second the idea that different walkers/rollators are better for different purposes.

My wife bought multiple rollators at the local Goodwill store for $8, $10, etc. Her Mom now has one on each floor of her house. My Dad has one for each floor, and one for the car (and a stair lift). He really prefers a walker with the nylon(?) skids for the car because he finds it easier to load and unload. Outdoors, he will use the seat on the rollator if he needs to rest.

The 3lb Estwing is a nice drilling hammer. It is not a sledge, but is intended to strike tools like chisels, brick sets, star-point drills, etc. It is not the right tool for breaking a concrete slab.

The easiest way to break a concrete slab is by lifting an edge so the slab is no longer supported, and hitting it with an appropriate tool (e.g. sledge hammer, jack hammer, or a hydraulic breaker). Once the slab is not supported it will break much easier because concrete is brittle.

My gastroenterologist has me on the "No Caffeine, No Alcohol, No NSAIDs" diet, along with a PPI and iron supplements. My health insurance pays 100% of the PPI, but I buy Vitron-C myself because it is a dietary supplement. There is likely GI surgery in my future. Do you think I am saving any money doing this?

I had this discussion with my Dad recently (again). He files MFJ with the standard deduction, too. The way I phrase it to him is that the dollars in the taxable account are worth more to him than the dollars in the tIRA, but the dollars in the tIRA are just as good as taxable dollars for the charities that will get the QCD.

It's not magic, it's just chemistry. And if it is already liquid then you are buying a lot of water.

At my work place we plant most stuff in commercial light peat mixes (i.e. non-nutritive substrate). We mainly use Jack's 20-10-20 Peat-Lite water soluble fertilizer in our fertilizer injector system, but adjust with KNO3, CaNO3, chelated iron, MgSO4 as needed. No idea what this costs compared to whatever Aerogarden sells. We get a price break at 40 25lb bags of the Jack's, so we usually buy that much at a time.

Yeah, think sediment or maybe rust blocking the drain valve.

Draining the tank will stop the water from leaking out, and potentially damaging something. Also, the plumber will need to drain the tank before he can remove it (because water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon), and you don't want to pay him to sit there while it drains.

If you have turned off the gas, and relieved the pressure in the water heater, and arranged things so that the loss of the whole tank full of water will not damage anything, then there is no emergency. Just the inconvenience of having no hot water. Get the tank drained, even if you have to poke something in the open drain valve to get it to pass water.

Your carryover loss will not be adjusted for inflation so carrying it for ten years is unlikely to provide the best financial benefit. Of course, I could be wrong.

The OP said he lives in Ohio. This should apply: Pining for Answers in Ohio Tree Law

I haven't seen any near me yet. My wife saw tons on a recent trip to NYC.

Penn State U. Ext. Spotted Lanternfly Management

Lindt Excellence 90% Cocoa bar for me. I have a milk protein allergy so a lot of what is sold as "dark" chocolate is quite dangerous to me. Lactose and milk fat ingredients are often contaminated with milk protein, so I avoid them assiduously.

BTW - the Lindt Excellence 78% bar mentioned earlier in this thread contains milk fat, unlike the 70%, 85% and 90% bars.

Target Date Funds are generally considered to be fine in a tax-advantaged account, but might generate more taxes than you want in a taxable account.

I am a fan of giving users who are "security naive" Chrome boxen. All they have to do to keep their software up to date is turn it off and on every few days.

I serve as tech support for several of the older less sophisticated users in my family, and while I am not sure that running a ChromeBox has improved their life, I am sure that it has improved mine.

How irreplaceable are these recordings? Self-recorded bootlegs from Grateful Dead concerts (many performances downloadable) are totally different from interviews or performances of your grandparents before they passed (truly one-of-a-kind).

Naomi and Wynona & Friends: Why Not Me

As real as it gets.

In most such systems the thermostat call for heat opens the zone valve, and the end switch on the zone valve turns on the pump. So the thermostat circuit can be just fine and the pump will not come on if the zone valve does not actually open, or if the zone valve opens but the end switch circuit does not turn on the pump.

This all usually happens at 24V AC so it is pretty safe to troubleshoot it yourself. On some zone valves it is possible to replace the actuator and/or end switch without replacing the actual valve.

I did some work on my grandmother's house that was built in the 1860's. It was not easy to do anything. The framing lumber and spacing did not match modern standards, and it was balloon framed. Considering that there was no electricity or plumbing in the original structure it is not surprising that the wiring and plumbing was a mess of different ages and types; whatever was cheapest when an area needed an upgrade. The foundation was made of limestone quarried nearby, and was well parged on the outside, but rough inside and hard to maintain. I did not even attempt to estimate the amount of asbestos material in the house, but my grandfather apparently considered it a miracle material. Unless you have a lot of experience working on buildings o...

CRC_Volunteer wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:28 am If the funds are withdrawn in kind, do you still pay income tax on the amount transferred? I do not understand how this process operates.

Yes. Your broker will report the income on a 1099 based on the days' market value of the transferred shares.

IIRC the most important factors you didn't discuss are:

1. Are there any surrender fees left on this contract? (probably not with the start date you noted).

2. What is the basis (conversely what are the gains)?

This week I guess the list is:

Tape measure

Welder

Angle Grinder

Chop Saw (abrasive)

Square

Last summer my doctor sent me to the ER (he said they would do more in a day than I could get done in a month as an outpatient), and they also had a "no clean rooms available" situation. It took 14 hours for me to get a battery of tests and 3 types of imaging. I talked to an older man who was there with his son, and he wanted to leave because of how slow things were going. After talking for a while he told me that the triage provider told him that his hemoglobin was 6.2. I explained to him that anything under 6.5 is considered life-threatening by the NIH, and that the hospital was going to give him a transfusion (packed RBCs) and then probably search for a bleed site, etc. That convinced him to stay until they had a room for him. ...

In my area (yearly avg snow fall > 8 feet), extra snow piled up could block your view of traffic as you are pulling out of your driveway.

There may be some caveats. Make sure you understand the rules for your Stable Value Fund, especially concerning withdrawing from it to invest in something else.

Qualified dividends and long term capital gains do count as income, and do affect your tax bracket. If you cross from the 0% to 15% capital gains rate boundary, or the 15% to 20% capital gains rate boundary, then it will make a difference.

It sounds like you do not really *need* a cash-out refinance, and that the "normal" case outcomes will not be too different without it.

The risk of your margin loan being called due to poor market conditions sounds like it could cause serious financial harm. This kind of loan would not give you any of the protections given to consumers in a normal mortgage.

I say, "NO".

There are no tax consequences to selling VXUS in your IRA.

In my area, extended power outages are less likely in this part of winter than they are during the transitions between fall-winter and winter-spring. The worst power outage event in my area was due to a freak early snowstorm in October 2006. The leaves were still on many of the trees so lots of tree damage caused lots of power lines down. About 350K households had no power in an area of not quite 1M people. For the first 24 hours or so you could not buy gas, food or supplies because stores were not operating. Cash was more effective than credit cards at many places for a few days. Most of the downed lines were at the neighborhood or individual house level, so it took a lot of line crews a long time to restore power. Of course, they fixed th...

My "yard slippers" are from the Muck Boot Company. I have the 16" Chore boots and the Arctic Sport Tall. No laces so they are quick to get on and off.

When I needed an emergency colonoscopy and endoscopy (D50.0, K44.9) the prep was generic Miralax dissolved in Gatorade. The nurse mixed it in front of me and told me I had to drink it all before 10PM for my procedure the next afternoon.

Diagnosing a pressure switch problem is not rocket science, either, if you have any troubleshooting ability and a few tools.

Check the hoses and fittings to be sure they are not plugged. Watch the pressure switch contacts with a test light or meter. It is awfully easy to find and order replacement parts online compared to 30 years ago.

EDIT: I replaced the 22yo Amana high efficiency furnace in my house last year because it was dripping condensate all over the place and I could no longer get the plastic parts to repair it.

Option 6 is fine unless she needs to be able to withdraw some of the money and is not yet 59 1/2.

daheld wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:45 am It is wild that the house is wired with wiring that contains a ground wire but they just didn't connect it. It's literally like 10 extra seconds per receptacle/switch.

It doesn't surprise me at all. Inspectors commonly check (a few) receptacles with an outlet tester that would show an open ground, but nobody tests switches to make sure they are grounded. The builder/contractor knew what corners they could cut and still pass inspection.

My Dad (ex-military) took my Mom to Hawaii by space-available military transport (I think a C-130). So the flights were basically free.

She said it was an adventure, and she never before flew in a plane where she had to wear a helmet with hearing protection .

"Are you a fiduciary?"

If he says "yes" he is lying.

I have several chain saws, a gas powered pole saw, hand tools, and appropriate PPE. My wife, wedges, ropes and a tractor sometimes come in handy.

Over the last three years I took down all the trees within 50' of my house and barn (mostly ash and black locust). There are still a few dead ash trees near the driveway. There is a dead ash near my septic leach field that I should deal with soon.

I do not concern myself too much about the trees away from buildings and other infrastructure. The woods are mainly maple, ash, hickory and yellow birch, but the ash trees are mostly dead or dying from the emerald ash borer.

Taxes may or may not be the most important factor in your decisions. Do you need the money now, or do you just want to level out your income?

Most people who don't need the money need to figure out how to manage the taxes on the distributions in consideration of their other income. If you have a low income year then that might be the ideal time for larger distributions. If you donate to charity and you are old enough (70 1/2) then it might make sense to make Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from your inherited IRA rather than from other funding sources.

It depends on a lot of things.

Will she like her job more? Happy wife, happy life and all that...

Mrs. Uniballer retired from teaching elementary school after more than 30 years. Her NYSTRS pension pays over 60% of her last 3 years average salary, and there will be partial COLA. Based on family longevity she can expect to receive this pension for 30 years. She contributed to social security, so will also be eligible for those benefits when she is older.

So if your wife is in a similar situation then .6 x 1653 may mean 991.80 per year for the rest of her life, inflation adjusted while she is still working, and with future COLA.

If you saw one cockroach you should expect many more.

Pretty good discussion of cockroach species and control info.

FYI - the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) offers a Tree Risk Assessment Qualification credential. If you can find a certified arborist with that credential he/she has special training in assessing the risk posed by trees.

Here is a link to the ISA "find an arborist" page: Find an ISA Certified Arborist. I have no association with this organization.

chris319 wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 11:04 pm

Is it possible there's a local source of RFI that's blocking out WWV?

On three WWV frequencies? Doesn't seem likely.

On the contrary, interference from a digital device that is radiating at 2.5 MHz will likely include high amplitude harmonics at 5 MHz and 10 MHz. Perhaps spacing WWV frequencies at octave intervals was not really a wise choice .

No.

If the units you sell have appreciated 30% then you will pay taxes on 30% of whatever you sell. Since the gains are short term you will pay at ordinary income tax rates.

You don't need to drill a hole if you don't want to. Pounding a nail through it works just as well, but with a little more mess.

I replaced the roof on my house a few years ago because several shingle tabs broke off during a serious wind storm. When I went up on the roof to replace the damaged shingles I discovered that the remaining shingles had no resilience left: they would snap instead of bend. I finished my temporary repairs and started calling roofers for quotes to tear off and replace the roof.

I think the roofers were a little surprised that I wanted to replace the roof (it still looked good) until they found out how brittle the shingles had gotten.

Was that preemptive? I don't know.

BBC Live Lounge All Stars "Times Like These" (nice Foo Fighters cover)

Is the recess so steeply sloped that a 1-1/8 open-end wrench can't fit it? My local Home Depot has some in stock (or Harbor Freight if you don't mind buying a set).

There is always ebay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... =0&_sop=15

NIIT (3.8% Net Investment Income Tax) would also apply.

The real question might be what kind of deductions you can legally come up with...

Could this actually be part of a phishing attempt rather than a real report of a fraudulent transaction?

Mutual fund after-tax performance numbers generally assume the top Federal tax rate.

I hold VV (Vanguard Large Cap ETF) in my taxable account due to TLH in December 2018.

To me it implies that somebody has borrowed as much money as they started with (so now they have 200%) and invested the resulting leveraged pile equally in equities and debt instruments. So they owe 100% in cash.