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Tom_T wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:00 am My health is excellent. I exercise and I don't take any medications.…….

- Medicare Advantage from Blue Cross will cost me 420/year. Max OOP is 6700. Annual medical deductible is zero. I live in NJ, there are plenty of doctors around, and all my doctors are in this plan. It does include routine dental and eye care……

I feel like I'll end up spending a lot more on Medigap without really needing it, especially prescriptions.

I think that you’re an ideal candidate for Medicare Advantage.

My situation is similar to yours, and I chose MA from my local Blue Cross. I’m very satisfied with my decision.

As an update to prior posts on this thread, I fortunately ended up having a whipple rather than a total pancreatectomy. Unfortunately, this has not made getting additional life insurance any easier since there’s a risk of my remaining pancreas having further issues. After having discussions with a few different agents/advisors, a couple of them independent and one with NW Mutual’s private wealth group, there doesn’t appear to be a path forward on that front within the next couple of years. When presented with the scenario, all companies said it would be a No until 3-5 years have passed since surgery (which medically doesn’t make much sense given my risk increases as time goes on, but that’s a different story). My firm’s open enrollment per...

LVW Advisors, the firm whose founder was quoted in the WSJ, charges a fee of 1% on portfolios of up to $10 million per the firms SEC disclosures.

I’m sure that they’ll do an EXCELLENT job of picking individual stocks.

Is it possible your dad received two checks that total to the amount on the Form 1099-R? Asking the issuer to explain the amounts and to correct, if necessary, the Form 1099-R is the appropriate first step. If you believe it is incorrect and the issuer does not issue a timely corrected Form, read this IRS Tax Tip for guidance: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/what-to-do-when-a-w-2-or-form-1099-is-missing-or-incorrect#:~:text=Taxpayers%20may%20need%20to%20file,U.S.%20Individual%20Income%20Tax%20Return. No, he only received one check. I actually dealt with Equitable on this in 2022 because my dad is elderly and cannot hear well on the phone. They had my dad verify that I was authorized to act on his behalf. Yesterday and today I explained what t...

Was there a policy loan on the policy? If there was, it would be netted from the gross cash value when the policy is surrendered.

muitu wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:03 am I understand how a trust works. I understand how life insurance and LTC works. I was unsure if this is a common strategy.

My parent's lawyer worked with them over the past few months to create it - I have absolute faith in them that they chose the most effective and efficient plan. Again, just wanted to know if this is a common strategy.

I doubt that many Bogleheads have used this strategy.

Maybe some of the lawyers who post on this Forum will weigh in on the overall strategy compared to alternatives. (I am not a lawyer).

Bogleheads aren’t generally fans of buying permanent life insurance except in very limited situations. And you’ve given no information that your parents NEED life insurance protection.

Further, most Bogleheads aren’t fans of adding LTC riders to permanent life insurance.

Thst being said, have your parents asked for your help in assessing their purchase? And did they have competent legal advice when they set up the trust?

I’d tread pretty carefully in offering unsolicited advice.

My brother (32) and I (25) just signed as trustees on my parent's (63) trust. I tried to consume as much information as I could but all the legal jargon had my head spinning by the end. Regardless, the strategy that (from what I understood) was purposed was: - Parents use available assets for all retirement expenses (401k, 403b, pension, etc.). - As a replacement for the amount of assets that may be used, a LTC policy was purchased that will grant my brother and I the equivalent of their retirement funds that pays out upon 2nd death. The LTC policy is acting as the source of assets that will be passed down. - My parent's house is also in the trust as well. Is this a common trust strategy or did their financial advisor swindle them with a L...

I know a number of advisors but the one i'm probably the closest with I met a number of years ago. We met at a golf outing through a mutual friend and now we do a number of fundraiser charity events fairly regularly and have a lot of time to talk. we have all sorts of conversations on mutual funds, etfs, stocks, the market, portfolio construction and he's basically like I don't know anything about this product or that. He only really had a wrong super simplified idea of what index investing or "bogleheading" entailed. Never seen a SPIVA report. He just knew he needed clients and these were the products they should be in. His mentor and the managing partner of the firm really only /knew/knows American Funds and he's been doing thi...

I think that nisiprius has an excellent idea.

You can make the individual transfers larger or smaller, and the spacing between transfers shorter or longer, as you see fit.

neilpilot wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:59 am We must be doing something wrong. We own 2 deeded weeks, not points, with Marriott/Interval at Hilton Head. Bought on secondary market.

While maintenance fees have gone up, we have been able to trade into properties we wanted. Two weeks ago spent a week in SFO, and I’m posting this from Marriott Marbella in Spain. Next week we catch a cheap flight to Mallorca for a week in the Marriott TS there.

Maybe when we can no longer travel we’ll change our tune, but our TS has worked for us. A comparable AB&B or hotel would have cost way more.

Do you have any idea how what you paid compared to what the original buyer paid?

Somebody got “hosed” here. Maybe it just wasn’t you.

NavyIC3 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:06 pm I was told this many years ago by a salesman.
"If you can't screw your friends, who can you screw?"

Classic!

I have reviewed the "Required Disclosure Information" document for my plan. I notice the following fees: In-Service Withdrawal Fee: $25 per transaction (does anybody know what this means?) Minimum Required Distribution Fee: $25.00 per distribution year (an automatic $25 fee every year I need to do a required minimum distribution?) Looks like fees I will have to incur once I start withdrawing money. I get a generous match from my employer, which I max out, but I'm hesitant to put more money into the 401(k) for fear of getting fleeced with fees. I'm already 100% in a Target date fund to minimize transactions and the associated fees. Also the document says: "please keep in mind that fees are subject to change". Thank you f...

I’ve been retired from the insurance industry for several years now, but I still keep up with many aspects of the industry. I’ve just seen an annuity “new sales” report for 2022, and MYGA sales are soaring. Sales in the 4th quarter of 2022 were up almost 30% from the third quarter, and were up 217% from the fourth quarter of 2021. Sales for all of 2022 were up 105% from sales for 2021. Evidently, people were really liking the MYGA rates compared to alternatives like CDs. As I’ve mentioned upthread, this may go to explain (but not excuse) why some folks have reported slow processing times on MYGAs. Getting interest rates above 5% seems to have unleashed a torrent of MYGA business. Stinky, with all the new money flowing in at high interest r...

I’ve been retired from the insurance industry for several years now, but I still keep up with many aspects of the industry.

I’ve just seen an annuity “new sales” report for 2022, and MYGA sales are soaring. Sales in the 4th quarter of 2022 were up almost 30% from the third quarter, and were up 217% from the fourth quarter of 2021. Sales for all of 2022 were up 105% from sales for 2021.

Evidently, people were really liking the MYGA rates compared to alternatives like CDs.

As I’ve mentioned upthread, this may go to explain (but not excuse) why some folks have reported slow processing times on MYGAs. Getting interest rates above 5% seems to have unleashed a torrent of MYGA business.

Is there any income rider out there where the death benefit isn’t reduced by withdrawals/income? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure you got the correct info above. I know Jackson has one, so I suspect there are others. Have your cake and eat it too. Take your withdrawals, and have all of them paid to the beneficiary too. I think that the question of "how much does the death benefit decline when income benefits are received" is of critical importance. And I expect that there is some diversity amongst policy forms and company practices. If the death benefit declines dollar-for-dollar as income benefits are received, I would regard that as "fair". If the death benefit doesn't decline at all (as Chardo mentioned above), that...

Thank you all, and Stinky, for that reply. The way you parsed out the questions about specific scenarios let's me know that I am thinking about this issue correctly now. I will ask the advisors questions that get the answers to these scenarios, but ultimately it seems like my best next step is to contact Brighthouse directly and get answers directly from them, in writing if possible. I assume they will be willing to talk with me and explain the numbers in all scenarios. Regarding the other statements above, I am indeed starting the process of getting away from these "advisors". Yes, contacting Brighthouse directly is what you need to do. The “advisors” are just salespeople, some of whom have very limited knowledge of the nuances ...

Bimmer, you are in a strange situation, and it does not speak well of these products that they are so difficult to parse, even with the advisor who sells them. It is not clear to me exactly how the death benefit interacts with the income based on what you said. If it were me, my next step would be to identify specific factual scenarios and ask them: if mother starts income on her birthday, then if account value drops to $80K due to withdrawals and poor market performance two years later, then she passes away, what is the death benefit? Then repeat the same for dad, then maybe for a few years later, then maybe for 10 years later after the account value is 0, etc. I agree with Petulant that it’s really disappointing that the contracts are no...

As others have said, do nothing now.

Next year, strongly consider filing electronically. You’ll avoid the backlogs that exist with snail mail filing.

Just a few months ago, in November 2022, I decided to invest $200,000 in a MassMutual life insurance contract through Fidelity with a three-year term and a guaranteed return of 4.75% ($9,500 per year). At the end of 2022, I received an annual statement from MassMutual saying my investment had earned $943 in the 5-6 weeks since I purchased the contract. However, I subsequently received a 1099-R form that says I received a gross distribution of $9,422 in 2022. I had thought I would not receive any income until the three-year contract was ended (like a CD), and I do not see this large distribution reflected on my account. As a result, I supposedly owe approximately $2000 in federal income tax. Is this correct? Is this how investments in life ...

Merionman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:50 am I do not invest in junk bond funds because I realize the risk involved and choose not to take that risk. I just hope Vanguard will clearly tell shareholders in such funds if they were impacted and to what degree in the narrative of the next report on the fund rather than bury a loss deep in a profit/loss jumble of inscrutable numbers you would need a forensic accountant to untangle and understand.

If you don’t invest in junk bond funds, why do you care about what Vanguard communicates to shareholders of those funds?

White Coat Investor wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:19 am I find it fascinating that I may be one of the most anti-whole life people on the internet and yet here I am on Bogleheads seemingly defending it.

That’s a really nice explanation of the sales tactic.

I don’t see what you wrote as a defense of the tactic - just a balanced, sober explanation.

I’ve bookmarked this thread for the next time that “Infinite Banking” comes up. And I’m sure that it will.

) Theoretically, since it's worth less and if the bank were to sell it ...could I make a cash offer less than $200K? Maybe I would need to assume the bank was in a liquidity crisis and needed immediate cash for this to be a practical question? Or maybe this would never happen? Sure you could make an offer to pay it off for less than $200k. And they wouldn’t accept it. If they were to offer to buy back individual mortgages for less than full balance, the word would get around. And everyone who is selling their house would pay back their mortgage just before the sale closed. People would actively “select” against the bank, with those who are selling their houses getting a discount on loan repayment and everybody else keeping their 3% mortgag...

I’ll take a minority position in this thread to say they this COULD be a situation where whole life makes sense, as a part of the fixed income allocation in a large, well balanced portfolio. OP has stated a number of interesting characteristics - —- An apparently very high income, with ample free cash flow —- Other tax favored investments have been maxed out —- Residence in a high tax state, which (a) reduces the attractiveness of alternative fixed income investments and (b) makes the income-tax-free nature of the death benefit more appealing —- A stated desire for life insurance coverage Of course, a whole life policy will usually underperform a strategy of buying term life and investing in equities. But might a minimum death benefit/maxim...

Whew certainly a lot to digest but I have a feeling there is a lot more to come. My advisor told me total fees are 5.4%. Maybe it's a scare tactic but I can't find a way to check them myself. -- Do you feel comfortable managing the investments yourself? Not totally. I do have an account through Etrade that I buy a little, but I don't think enough confidence to handle my whole portfolio. He does charge fee based on "assets under control" which is much too high (please dont scold me) and he'll lower to 1% if I put the annuity assets into the brokerage account Wow! The total fees on your variable annuity are 5.4%? That is the most ridiculously high fee that I have ever heard of. You definitely need to be out of that VA. (You probabl...

Thank you Stinky Its a variable annuity No surrender charges, I have held it long enough. He told me he wanted to put the fund into the brokerage account. Unless I miss understood him. Yes. The advisor even though a fiduciary is still human and needs to look out for their own pocket. And I do question his "in your best interest" With that information, let me give you a few comments: --- If you surrender the variable annuity, you'll save the fees. Many variable annuities have base fees of roughly 1%, PLUS fees of roughly 1% on mutual funds that could purchased outside of the VA for almost zero fees, PLUS rider fees (if any). So you could be saving that 2% (or more) annual fee. --- Do you feel comfortable managing the investments y...

Welcome to the Forum!

My one word answer - UGLY!

(Others have already made most all of the points that I would make, so no need to repeat them).

So, I'm on my own out there in looking for one and at the risk of being sincere, I'm not the best in searching for such products; hence, asking the wonderfully, brilliant folks on this site. My suggestion above was to go to immediateannuities.com and blueprintincome.com, input your information, and get some on-line quotes. No obligation to buy anything from them, and no need to talk to them at this stage of the process. (Of course, if you want to talk to them now, you can call during business hours, and I'm sure they'll be happy to help.) When you've gathered your quotes, you can post your information here, including the names of the companies that you have quotes from, and folks can give you their comments. SPIAs are such a simple and com...

Thanks Cruncher for the annuity calculation it was helpful. My initial thoughts are it's a lot of work saving up for that annuity for 20 yrs. It probably works out financially better to do the annuity but a lot of effort to get there. IDK. After all the comments (thank you so much) I'm leaning towards the 100% Jt & Survivor. I think I'm leaving some money on the table as there may be a way via life insurance and/or annuities to get similar (but not exactly the same) coverage for cheaper then the $835 monthly I'm giving up if I went with the 50% Jt & Survivor which kind of bothers me. Why pay more for similar coverage? But in the end it is maybe more trouble and possible pitfalls with an annuity or life insurance product than it's w...

Many thanks to all for your responses and for also not chewing me out! Yes, a SPIA is the type of annuity I would like to purchase. Given we are still dealing with a rollercoaster market and could be for quite a while, I would feel comfortable with 1/3 of my retirement funds in this type of annuity with guaranteed monthly payouts. It's currently invested in a "Flexible Premium Annuity (fixed @ 3%) with Modern Woodmen of America which was purchased back in 2008 , but I haven't drawn any funds, but did rollover funds from an old employer's 401k. Actually, quite glad I did as I watched my 401ks and IRAs drop considerably while this grew at 3%. Since I've owned it for 10+ years there would be no penalties or fees for pulling it out and pu...

Hello all, long time lurker so much to learn. I have a non qualified Annuity my new financial advisor wants me to sell and put the money into a brokerage account because the high fees on the annuity. I am 51.5 yrs old and would like to retire in 10 to 15 years. I understand I have to pay taxes on the gains. My adviser tells me there is no IRS 10% penalty, in which I don't understand why there isn't since everything I read online says there is because I have not reached 59.5 yrs old. My take is my old adviser sold me the annuity and made the commission. Now my new adviser wants a piece of the pie and wants the money in the brokerage account so he makes money on it. I see his point due to the high fees on the annuity I have potential of maki...

WarAdmiral wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:32 am What i learned about a good policy design:

Policy Design:10/90 split - 10% base premium and 90% PUA (Also includes term rider to increase the MEC limit)

Policy 1
100K per year (10K base, 90K PUA) for 5 years, nothing after. Cancel term rider after year 7.

Do you own such a whole life policy?

If so, that places you within the small sliver of Americans who have $100,000 per year of free cash flow to devote to the product. Presumably, you also live in a high tax state and have maximized all other tax-sheltered opportunities.

Congratulations on what I assume is your financial success.

blimp wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 1:41 am I have a separate one for each kid, but as people have mentioned, it probably doesn't matter much. I psychologically like the idea of an account with each child's name on it. Then when they question me as teenager, I can say, "Listen punk. I have been saving for your college education since you were in diapers. Go clean your room."

Same here.

I rather like the psychology angle.

Yes, the SPIA that you’re thinking about buying is considered by most Bogleheads to be a “good” annuity.

You can go to immediateannuities.com or blueprintincome.com to get quotes on SPIAs from well rated companies. I believe that most all companies on those sites have ratings of A or higher from AM Best.

Go ahead and get some quotes. Then post back here with the names and ratings of the companies you’re considering and we can make comments.

I have 1.5 million in an IRA. My wife has 190,000. I am 75 years old and my wife is 70 I decided that I would put 1 Million in 4 MYGAs 3A1A+ I have them all through blue print. Started end of December. It has become very difficult to transfer money. Hopefully now blueprint going to send me a form overnight. which I will sign and notarized and send back. I question now on the other end after reading your last post, how hard will be when they come due in 7-10 years to transfer if I have to. I live in Connecticut so we are covered for each one up to 500,000. Four of annuities allow me to take after the first year 10% of total. One allows me to take interest only very easy to meet my RMD’s. I guess I’m just getting nervous now so hard to get t...

How are you preparing your taxes for 2022?

If you are using commercial software like Turbotax etc., you could just plug in your estimates of 2023 income into the 2022 software to get a general idea of what your taxes will be for 2023. It's likely to be a little conservative since tax brackets will be higher for 2023 taxes than for 2022.

That's the first step. Once you see how your total taxes compare to withholding that you're already planning to do, you can go from there to decide whether to go the "additional withholding" or "estimated tax" route.

coachd50 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:05 pm I am missing something, or would this be a decent purchase in a Roth IRA? 6 years, call protected, 4.5% FDIC insured CD?

It sounds just fine to me.

The comparable Treasury is yielding about 3.5% right now, so you're picking up roughly 1% in yield.

Tomorrow marks the ten year anniversary of my first post on Bogleheads! I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone on this forum who has taken the time to help me secure a better future for my family. I made so many better decisions, with much more confidence thanks to all of you! My wife calls you my money friends on the internet. I can't thank you all enough! And to those of you newer to the community, I remember seeing these massive numbers from people older than me ten years ago and thinking, how will we ever get there? I'm here to say with time and work you can! Nothing is guaranteed and I have been lucky to have career progress with stock do well as part of my compensation. But the core of our portfolio is Boglehgead...

The 80% protection is an interesting moral hazard situation. I'm in California and bought some MYGA's. Due to the state not covering the full 100%, I was forced to truly consider the strength of the issuing insurance company. I went with top rated companies that offered slightly lower rates. Had I been 100% covered I would have just gone with the highest rate. I wonder if these companies ever strategically default and hose CA holders. 20% uncovered is significant I don’t recall any “strategic defaults” in the life insurance industry. Ever. :twisted: Even if a company wanted to do that, the default couldn’t be limited to policyholders in one state. All policyholders, wherever situated, would be impacted by a life insurer insolvency.

What if your wife dies first? Are you willing to live on 50% benefit?

I chose the joint and 100% option for my pension plan. And I’m happy that I did.

I reached out to the CA Guarantee Association and they confirmed that it is only the “excess interest” portion that is uninsured. But there is also the 80% cap. So an example works like this: $100k principal invested in MYGA Grows to $150k over some number of years Insurance company fails The insured interest is only $20k instead of $50k due to the Moody’s Average rule But even the $120k is subject to the 80% rule So I only get $96k back in a worst case scenario I’m glad that you called the California Guaranty Fund to clarify that the “excess” interest is what’s haircut. It’s clear that California policyholders are much less protected by their guaranty fund than those in most all other states. Thanks also for editing your post above to ind...

I have a question about this defined maturity etf. It matures in Dec 2025 and shows a yield to maturity of a little over 5% because it is currently down quite a bit. If I am showing a loss of about 1300, from now to maturity does the return equal say 5% plus the current 1300 it is down, or just 5% from whatever the current nav is. Thanks. I also own this ETF. At yesterdays close of $24.27, it’s showing an estimated yield of 5.36% per the iShares website. That would be the estimated yield if you bought it at $24.27 and held it to maturity. Whether you have a gain or a loss on your current position doesn’t enter into this yield calculation. I am having a brain #%^* with this for some reason. So I should earn about 5.36 until maturity, but th...

hoops777 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 11:11 am I have a question about this defined maturity etf.
It matures in Dec 2025 and shows a yield to maturity of a little over 5% because it is currently down quite a bit.
If I am showing a loss of about 1300, from now to maturity does the return equal say 5% plus the current 1300 it is down, or just 5% from whatever the current nav is.
Thanks.

I also own this ETF. At yesterdays close of $24.27, it’s showing an estimated yield of 5.36% per the iShares website. That would be the estimated yield if you bought it at $24.27 and held it to maturity.

Whether you have a gain or a loss on your current position doesn’t enter into this yield calculation.

SteadyOne wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 8:57 am ... CDs are still show 5.45% for five year term....

Who is paying that kind of rate today?

Presuming that they're not callable and are FDIC-covered, that sounds like a heck of deal.

Well team MYGA, I may have just found the Achilles heel for California residents. Here is language from California Life & Health Insurance Guarantee Association : What kinds of plans, policies, and benefits are not protected by the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association? Policies sold by insurers not licensed to do business in California; policies issued by medical, health, or dental care service corporations; managed care plans; self-insured employer plans; fraternal benefit society insurance certificates; policy benefits the insurer does not guarantee such as the non-guaranteed portion of a variable life insurance contract sold by prospectus, or benefits for which the individual policyholder has assumed the risk o...

Per the Blueprint Income website, there highly rated MYGA writers (New York Life, Mass Mutual, and Western Southern) are slashing their rates on new MYGAs. The rate reductions are between 0.55% and 0.90%, depending on company and guarantee duration.

Based on what I’ve observed from the MYGA market, these are unusually large changes in rates.

Given the volatility of interest rates recently, it will be interesting to see if other companies follow suit.

Johnny Thinwallet wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:53 pm 03/16/23 update ...

Just got an email that YouTubeTV is hitting us next month with a sharp price increase to $72.99, up from the current $64.99.

Very disappointing, especially because they just recently dropped MLB Network.

Same here.

There’s no way I’d buy an 11 year CD that is callable in 1 year. If interest rates go up, I’m stuck with the CD until 2033. If interest rates go down, the CD will be called and I’ll need to reinvest in 1 year at a lower rate. Not an attractive situation. Sorry -- I'm not following how you would be "stuck" with the CD. Can you explain? Isn't the whole point of brokered CDs that you can sell them if you need to (albeit sometimes at a loss)? Buying a brokered CD (especially a long one) with a short call date is the classic “lose, lose” situation. If rates go down, you lose, because the bank will call the CD well short of the maturity date. If rates go up, you lose, because you either need to keep a CD yielding less than market rates...

I have a 401(k) with Fidelity. The admin and record keeping fees are a flat $80 per year. It's in a Target Retirement fund and I don't intend on making any trades. My concern is the fees for when I start withdrawing money in retirement...Do they fleece you with fees there? I am aware of the early withdrawal tax penalties and am just concerned with the fees charged by Fidelity. I chatted with a Fidelity rep and they said there were no withdrawal fees, but are they locked into that commitment until the end of time? As stated upthread, the fees you’re paying on your 401(k) are based on the arrangement your employer has with Fidelity. Fidelity has a defined level of charges for 401(k) administration. The more the employer pays Fidelity from it...

Glockenspiel wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:40 am

RANkiDEr wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:09 am
"How much risk is a bank taking on?"

If my credit union gives 0.1% interest to customers for savings accounts (even in this high-interest environment), can I assume they take on very little risk?

No, all you can say is that your credit union is making a nice spread on those who leave their money in 0.1% accounts.

To really understand the risk the CU is taking, you’d need to see its assets - especially the loans that it’s making.

That being said, seeing the NCUA sign on the door is all that I need to know about my money in my CU being safe.