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I am shopping around my insurances right now and I have found that the supposedly scientific calculations each company does vary wildly for home value. Almost a factor of 100% between companies. This is before you get to the extra 25 or 50% some companies add on for rebuilding.

I gave up on visible right before it switched to having two plan tiers and supposedly not losing priority if you are in the higher tier.

We realized we weren’t using unlimited data enough to pay for it and went back to paying by the gB with us mobile. Two lines and 8 gB for about $34 total a month. Much better service than the old visible was. And if I get near my cap they email me and I just add a gB at a time for $2.

A few other military aspects that people usually mention but haven’t yet in this thread…
Are you ever going to be deploying to a place where you’ll eligible for the super high savings deposit program? If that appears on the horizon you could plan around it.

Also, you should transfer your GI bill to your son asap after you hit year 6, unless your wife has already used it up.

I’m in the same boat. Just did my 2022 contribution and conversion this week. Just to confirm, my (and OP’s) 2022 8606 will have $6000 on lines 1,3 and 14, and every other line will be blank right?

JDave wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 10:17 am Your wife would lose 100% of her 1099 income if she let her license lapse. I'd deduct 100% of license fees, and similar costs from 1099 income.

Just to play devil’s advocate, isn’t the converse also true? The license is just as much an unreimbursed employee expense for the w2 job, which is no longer deductible since 2017.

I recently rolled a fidelity IRA into their solo 401k without dealing with a check. Would using that as a middle point cut out having to deal with paper checks?

This is a common problem in my field (musician). I have had accountants tell me to do it the prorating way, but I also have colleagues whose accountants tell them to deduct the entire expenses on the schedule C.
FWIW, one time I stumbled upon a TurboTax interview where I was depreciating a large purchase and it asked me whether the expense was entirely for the business, and if I said no, it asked me what % was for the business…with no guidance how to figure that % out.

I just did all of this in the past month at fidelity (well, haven’t done the back door Roth part yet). Opening up a solo 401k was not very hard, they can do the forms mostly online now (although it is more of a docusign pdfs and upload to a portal thing.). They do require an initial contribution to open it (have to do that by mail or in person). I calculated and submitted the employer contribution for January 2023, although the guy on the phone made very clear that I could still do employer (profit sharing) contributions for 2022. Rolling over other accounts into it was also moderately easy but took a phone call + mailing in more forms. For ease, he had me combine all the incoming accounts into one IRA (already at fidelity), so there were f...

I run into this every year. TurboTax is too dumb to separate out the employee and employer amounts when you click maximize (and/or, it doesn’t necessarily know you maxed out your w2 401k). The correct number is the lower one. Besides using an independent calculator, you can also double check this by momentarily choosing the maximize SEP option, which should be the same as the employer side of the solo 401k.

Is it confusing how to split up the state taxes? That is the only part that TurboTax might be bad at

Thanks for this. It is really helpful. We have a furnace and water heater that are both between 15 and 20 years old. I am really hoping both make it until this program is implemented and we can take advantage of the point of sale rebates. According to the calculator, we can't make more than $129k before falling off the rebate cliff. We made about $12k more than that last year, but that was with $20k extra income due to the sale of a classic car. I am thinking for this one year we will make all of our 401k contributions traditional in order to lower our AGI and hopefully stay under the income limit. Again, thanks for putting this together. I've been googling for months but kind of struggling to link all the pieces together. I got in touch w...

Her company offers an 11% match I believe, that she does not do. I really want her to get on this ASAP. That is a fantastic match but it almost sounds too good to be true so it would be good to check to make sure that the details about that are right. She would need to contribute about $7K to get that match which would put $14K into her 401k. She would save some taxes so her take home pay might only be reduced but about $5,500. That is too good of a deal to pass up. If she cannot fit that into her budget then it would be really worth while her her to get a part time job so that she could afford to get that match. I agree, what field is she in that she gets both a pension contribution AND an 11% match? I wonder if it’s not something more li...

In addition to depreciation, you are in a great position to explain things to her many musicians don’t like to think about, like how every penny she earns teaching and gigging is taxable and needs to be tracked, whether she gets a 1099 or not! And keeping track of mileage, expenses, etc. One other thing she should be aware of soon…if the instruments are insured on parents’ homeowners policies, there are likely coverage exceptions for “business” property. Many horror stories of insurance companies finding out that you played one paying gig and refusing to cover the instrument after it is stolen/damaged. Much better to pay a few hundred bucks a year for an instrument insurance policy from a carrier that specializes in it and covers it in all ...

When you can earn more after tax on low-risk bonds than on the mortgage, you can create a "mortgage payoff fund" in those bonds, and use that to make the mortgage payments. You will earn more in interest than you pay, and if interest rates ever change to make that not the case, you can sell your bonds for a capital gain to pay off the mortgage in the future. I am doing this right now. What do you suggest the durations of the bonds should be? The mortgage has 28 years left on it, but I’ve been getting 1 or 2 year bonds right now because they had the highest yield. I figure if the new yields are below my mortgage whenever they mature I will just put the money toward the mortgage instead. But is there a more scientific way to do thi...

Seems very unlikely. If she did have any benefits they would be through the company she worked for, not the union. Unions negotiate the collective bargaining agreement with the company who provides the benefits. If the company is still in existence she could contact their HR department. If they had a pension but went out of business, you could see if the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corp. has any records and is providing benefits. This is not necessarily true. A retirement plan could have been through the company, but many unions also run pensions themselves. These are called multi-employer pension plans and are actually backed by a different government agency than the PBGC. (Many are also in a failing position in dying industries, and had t...

I think we might have scared OP away!

Is the dishwashing rule about avoiding plastics and/or dishwashing them? We tried to be cognizant of that early on but it’s literally impossible to avoid all plastics when it comes to sippy cup stuff, so we settled on top shelf of the dishwasher for those. Silicon for the plates and bibs and they can to straight in the dishwasher too. It’s not what I would prefer but I’m not willing to hand wash everything. Now that our two year old is off purées, we don’t do bibs and just strip shirt or pants after dinner if they’re dirty. Baby just runs around in a diaper for the last half hour til bed time.

Sure. I didn't say the risk was necessarily high (depends on the investment.) Do you need it? Do you need the additional complexity? Let's say it's a $200K mortgage and you have $200K that you could invest at 4.3% or use to pay off the 2.75% mortgage. That's only 1.55% * $200K = $3,100 a year, and that's pre-tax. Does that move the needle for you? And that 1.55% assumes that the 2.75% is completely deductible to you, which is often not the case. I think when we finally paid off our mortgage it was around $250K and investing that amount on leverage was going to have zero bearing on our future financial security. Yet after paying it off it seemed easier to take the significant career and business risks that did have a bearing on our future f...

CoastieFIRE wrote: ↑Thu Oct 20, 2022 9:16 am
Need to research ibonds - looks like a great option for us!

Just be aware, ibonds for education start to phase out at $128k MAGI, sounds like you will likely be above that a lot of the time with that pension + private sector job.

We have a joint account and I buy, sell, tax loss harvest, and gift things to a DAF all without having to get her to log in or do anything. It’s just like a joint checking account, spouse doesn’t have to sign every check.

Just received an offer from Ally. 1% bonus on new cash moved to Ally. 90-day lock-up. Bonus capped at $500 for $50,000. Just enrolled. So this new money should probably beat VMFXX through the end of the year, so we'll throw the ~$4k I was just about to put there into Ally for the time being. Not worth it to make any other moves. Better than nothing...barely. 2.25% (annualized)+ 1% bonus for three months lockup = 6.25% annualized for the next three months right? Isn’t that better than anything else right now? I get 6.37%. =(1.01)^(365/90)-1 = 4.12% + 2.25% = 6.37% Kevin I agree with you. My guess is feehater did an approximation and called 90 days a quarter, then computed the rate per annum compounded quarterly, this gives an APR of 4%. Sin...

stoptothink wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 11:19 am

MikeG62 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 9:47 am Just received an offer from Ally. 1% bonus on new cash moved to Ally. 90-day lock-up. Bonus capped at $500 for $50,000.

Just enrolled. So this new money should probably beat VMFXX through the end of the year, so we'll throw the ~$4k I was just about to put there into Ally for the time being. Not worth it to make any other moves. Better than nothing...barely.

2.25% (annualized)+ 1% bonus for three months lockup = 6.25% annualized for the next three months right? Isn’t that better than anything else right now?

I love the RAV-4 Prime, and we’ve been Toyota people, but a huge part of the satisfaction for me is not having to deal with or think at all about an engine and all that comes with it. All I do is clean my car, check tire pressure every so often, and charge at night. I absolutely hate car maintenance more so than the average person, so taking that almost completely off the table has been well worth it for me. I just wish they could make a lot more, faster, and cheaper. And rotate the tires every 5-7k miles right? I am all for EVs and will almost certainly get one with my next purchase. But tire rotations are already the thing that I have to bring my Corolla in for the most frequently (tire rot every 5k, tire rot+oil change every 10k). How d...

Yes, VA should give him a gravestone if you desire.

Re: credit cards. Very few accounts that were opened in the past few decades are truly joint. Most are in one person’s name with the other as an authorized user. We’ve seen some instances here on bogleheads where a widow with not much credit history of her own had to open some brand new credit cards because what they thought were joint cards were solely in the husband’s name. I hope that doesn’t end up being the case for your mom, for simplicity as much as for any other reason.

There are threads here claiming multiple ways to transfer vanguard taxable account to fidelity DAF. For me, it was going to require paper forms and weeks of wait. So instead it was by far the easiest to create a taxable account at fidelity also, transfer the stocks I wanted in kind via acats, and then move it with one click from fidelity taxable to fidelity charitable. The systems are just designed to play well with their own company. So if I were giving 25k a year like you, I would have stuck with a vanguard DAF for the same reason.

I did the online renewal trial in August (which is expanding next year). No mailing of anything required. Took the picture on my phone and paid online and the new passport arrived within a month. This was for standard service, not expedited. I would definitely recommend. Tell me more. It was just a brief trial? So it's not available any more? It sounds like this article addresses it: on and off monthly trials that should expand in the new year. Possibly check their website again October 1? I found it very convenient to not have to deal with getting a picture made, or going to the post office. I didn’t mail in the old passport but was warned it would become invalid as soon as I clicked submit. https://thepointsguy.com/news/online-passport-r...

I did the online renewal trial in August (which is expanding next year). No mailing of anything required. Took the picture on my phone and paid online and the new passport arrived within a month. This was for standard service, not expedited. I would definitely recommend.

Outer Marker wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:20 am Interest on ibonds is tax-deferred and is tax free if used for higher education.

Be aware OP, the income phaseout for ibonds being tax free for education starts at a magi of 128k this year. Sounds like you might be close to that or above it depending on all your tax deferred accounts.

Honest question, is this credit card churning thing really worth it. I did some research on this and its seems so nickel and dimey. Or is there some big prizes spending hours on the internet and filling out credit applications etc etc for $2-300 bucks? or am I missing something? I have regularly found offers worth around a thousand dollars or thereabouts. I posted on the previous page listing the accounts that my wife and I opened last year. It resulted in income over $11k. A married couple who each open 2-3 credit cards per year could easily make around $4k/year. Let’s say they are young (in their 20s or 30s) and they invest an amount equivalent to that $4k they earn from credit card bonuses each year and not a penny more beyond that. Usi...

With a 7 year old furnace, any chance you can get by for a few years with stopgap/portable solutions and then get a heat pump for both heating and cooling? Especially if your income is low enough to qualify for both the IRA tax credits and the point of sale rebates.

OP, are you self employed? Or employed by a university or some other w2 job?

For the rebates for middle-income people (not the tax credits), is there a calculator available yet that explains how the 150% of area median income is calculated? And is it a cliff right at 150%? AGI or what? The Kiplinger article just ends without explaining it in much detail.

glashutte wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 7:51 pm
Has law ever changed that works against veterans regarding our GI Bill?

Yes, they added some restrictions on who could transfer benefits four years ago. You now have to transfer before your 16th year. I personally find it highly unlikely they would ever change the benefit for people who already transferred like you.

I’ve been wondering this too. At the very least you can withdraw the amount of “scholarships” penalty free, so you get the tax free growth, but then you have to pay income tax on it. The higher rate of income tax vs capital gains on a theoretical taxable account may or may not have made it a good gamble on the tax free growth.

Apparently one can still have the account fee eliminated by using e-delivery... except for those with 403b plan accounts. Each participant will be charged $5/month, and there doesn't seem to be any way for that to get waived. When our 403b plan was still at Vanguard (until 2020), e-delivery would also eliminate the fee. Yet another reason we are very glad that Employer moved the entire 403b plan back to TIAA (which has vastly improved since Employer moved the "moveable bits" of the 403b out of TIAA and over to Vanguard (with a choice to use Fidelity as well). I wonder why the 403b plan participants can't have the fee waived by using e-delivery, other than the fact that Vanguard "can" impose the fee and no Employer is (y...

willthrill81 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:04 am
At any rate, those who are berating the OP for potentially poor prior decisions does not help the person now.

+1

It seems like some people think OP can easily trade in this house for one with a lower price. Since mortgage rates have doubled since OP bought this house, that price would have to be a massive amount lower to actually make the monthly payment be lower.

VA loans typically have a *somewhat* lower rate than conventional (like, .25% was what it was back when rates were rock bottom?). But you have to be very careful of closing costs. If you left the military without any disability rating, there is a large funding fee that makes it actually less desirable than a conventional loan for people that have a 20% down payment.

:happy Have folks out there who have sole proprietorships set up their own retirement accounts (and figured out the taxes themselves - including the permissible ER contribution amount), or have they hired CPAs to manage all this? I feel pretty confident that the BH way is a great one and perfectly attainable handling myself (with help from this forum), and better than having some financial advisor manage my portfolio (yes, I drank the BH Kool-Aid 100%). But I wonder if most folks who have their own (small) business get a CPA/have someone else do their taxes. Anyone have experience with this? Am I nuts for just using TurboTax and trying to navigate it all myself? Two sole proprietorships in my marriage, one with a SEP and one with a solo 401...

Would there be fewer files to transfer if you were the one who created a new ID and let her take the old one?

Nate79 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:40 am Make sure you are not paying a higher interest rate by choosing no escrow as well.

+1. In my three refinances over the past 4 years, every single one said there was no fee for not having escrow, but when you looked into it you got a worse interest rate that they didn’t exactly point out if you didn’t know to ask or compare.

Just a note that the GI bill is even more generous than you think… max is highest in-state tuition anywhere which I think is more like 25k, plus the BAH of an E5. Also many private schools do the yellow ribbon program which can top off the tuition portion quite generously depending on the school.

But if you’re definitely doing private school and/or having more than one kid, you’ll use the 529 for that. Yes, it is transferable between the two kids.

galawdawg wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 7:41 pm
Similarly, very, very few lenders will remove escrow that was a term of the original loan. In fact, to avoid escrow requirements for tax and insurance payments, most lenders will charge a higher rate or increase points to include that in the loan terms. Frankly, I don't expect your request to remove escrow would meet with a favorable response.

Good luck, hope things smooth out for you.

In my limited experience (n=2), my servicers were willing to remove escrow after certain conditions were met. Typically 1 or two years of payments, a certain LTV ratio, etc. These were on mortgages or refinances that I had initially chosen to have escrow on to get the lowest rate.

So she is attempting to max the w2 401k, and then the hope is to put any remainder of the 20.5k into her solo 401k, as well as the max allowed employer contributions? Is she a sole proprietor? If so, can’t you just take care of it when you file your taxes next year? (Along with the form you file with yourself on 12/31)

Not to take away from any nerdiness you are doing just for fun!

You will be getting two fed pensions and also both getting social security? You might be one of the rare candidates to consider putting some, or eventually all of your tsp contributions as Roth instead of traditional.

You didn’t ask these questions, but I have lots of thoughts: 1. You obviously should treat your income as a couple when thinking about maximizing all your tax advantaged options. This means maxing your 403b/solo 401k: if you only make 21k in 1099, all of that can go in the solo 401k, minus the self employment tax. Also, you guys will probably want to go traditional instead of Roth with as many of the accounts as you can. 2. You should make any large instrument/equipment purchases sooner rather than later, while you still have a significant portion of 1099 income to deduct it against. 3. If you haven’t already been following the drama of the past 20 years, the union pension fund is in rough shape and I sure wouldn’t trust it for a major por...

You didn’t ask these questions, but I have lots of thoughts: 1. You obviously should treat your income as a couple when thinking about maximizing all your tax advantaged options. This means maxing your 403b/solo 401k: if you only make 21k in 1099, all of that can go in the solo 401k, minus the self employment tax. Also, you guys will probably want to go traditional instead of Roth with as many of the accounts as you can. 2. You should make any large instrument/equipment purchases sooner rather than later, while you still have a significant portion of 1099 income to deduct it against. 3. If you haven’t already been following the drama of the past 20 years, the union pension fund is in rough shape and I sure wouldn’t trust it for a major port...

Wife logged in to a rarely used B of A credit card account last month for the first time in probably a year or two. Had to update her profile to answer the dual citizenship question. I assumed they just added it to their Know Your Customer profiles and then required everyone to answer it. She is not and never has been dual.

I think not running an iOS security update just to keep using an old app is probably not a great practice, especially when it comes to your financial information…

crefwatch wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 5:53 am Keep in mind that dual-pane units don't last forever. Weatherstrip does age and fail. You need a maintenance path for the future.

Yep. My house has a sunroom maybe 20-25 years old and the walls are mostly made of sliding doors. 10 panes in all. At least 4 of the seals are broken, one quite badly, and I can barely get glass companies to take interest in such a “small” job. The one who returned my call said replacing each glass pack would run $750. No brand or company to be found anywhere on the doors or in the room.

Sorry to bring this back up, but spouse and I each created new brokerage accounts at fidelity just for this bonus. In each of our cases fidelity actually created a ‘de minimus’ consolidated 1099 for less than a dollar of dividends. Yet the 1099-misc portion has 0s. I am still supposed to change that to 100 in the misc section in TurboTax, even though fidelity couldn’t be bothered to enter it? I understand having a minimum reporting threshold, but if they’re going to make a 1099 anyway they should at least have it right?

Why would your payment be $400 less per month and not just $158 less? Is your mortgage company also willing to recast your mortgage? Otherwise wouldn’t your monthly PITI payment remain the same?