Search found 120 matches
- Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:36 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Bloomberg article on lump sum vs dollar cost averaging
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1618
Re: Bloomberg article on lump sum vs dollar cost averaging
Moto, I think that's fine if we're talking about something like your year end bonus. But what if you get a once in a lifetime injection of cash, as might be the case with an inheritance or the sale of a business. Would you lump sum that money as well?
- Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:33 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Divesting gun stocks
- Replies: 11
- Views: 945
Re: Divesting gun stocks
If you have strong political views about not investing in a given industry or company, then don't buy index funds. You can pretty much replicate what an index fund does by picking 15 stocks at random (minus those that offend your sensibilities).
- Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:39 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: What to do with windfall
- Replies: 11
- Views: 941
Re: What to do with windfall
With mortgage interest of only $3600 or so, you're probably going to be taking the standard deduction under the new tax law. Unless the two of you are really generous with charitable contributions, the 3.875% interest rate will be your after tax cost as well. You might as well pay that mortgage off ...
- Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:22 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Bay Area - Switch Companies to Avoid Price Out?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2182
Re: Bay Area - Switch Companies to Avoid Price Out?
Can you get a transfer to a lower cost of living area? Even if they pay less there, you'll probably find that after adjusting for the difference in housing costs and state taxes that you'll do better somewhere else.
- Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:19 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Is refinancing to 30 year worth it?
- Replies: 20
- Views: 1980
Re: Is refinancing to 30 year worth it?
In your case, I'd cut back your 401K to the 10% for a year or two because a) you're in a low tax situation and b) your assets in your only taxable account (checking acct.) is too low. Your housing payments are high for your income but I'd have a hard time switching to a higher interest rate mortgage...
- Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:15 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Buying shares in Demutualized bank
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1027
Re: Buying shares in Demutualized bank
Assuming the bank is solid, this is as close to free money as you can get in the stock market. The current value of the bank prior to the IPO is owned by no one so those who buy shares in the IPO become owners of that previously unclaimed value. Buy as many shares as you can. If you have time prior ...
- Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:44 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Donor Advised Fund (DAF) - Which Company to Use
- Replies: 41
- Views: 3509
Re: Donor Advised Fund (DAF) - Which Company to Use
drzzzz, you're not required to distribute a certain percentage although the fund as a whole does and they do have the right to make account holders make donations in order to meet this. Since the minimum is 5% and the typical fund (Fidelity is what I'm familiar with) donates 15-20% per year, this wi...
- Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:19 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Priority of Investments in California?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 686
Re: Priority of Investments in California?
First priority should be your 403b. You can do an IRA only if you max out the 403b first. And if you do an IRA, why would it be a Roth? You're looking at a combined 34% tax burden (assuming you won't be itemizing with the new standard deduction.)
- Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:46 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Using Emergency Fund to pay off loan
- Replies: 7
- Views: 525
Re: Using Emergency Fund to pay off loan
Paying off the home equity loan will bring your emergency fund down to $45K, or four months' salary if I understand you correctly. Unless you have special circumstances, this would seem to be a more than adequate reserve, which you can now rebuild with the money that's no longer going toward the hom...
- Fri Feb 16, 2018 4:01 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Laid off ...next steps
- Replies: 31
- Views: 5176
Re: Laid off ...next steps
Given that you have specialized skills, it may take you longer than the average person to get a new job. At least you have a good explanation, from a hiring company's perspective, as to why you lost your job. First, I'd see if they will give you more COBRA than six months. Twelve or nine months? You...
- Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:54 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Connecticut is charging sales tax on out of state purchases
- Replies: 40
- Views: 2767
Re: Connecticut is charging sales tax on out of state purchases
The Supreme Court case currently pending involves the obligation of out of state sellers to collect the appropriate sales tax from their customers. All states with sales tax already require their residents to pay what's called use tax at an equal rate for goods brought into the state, whether purcha...
- Sun Feb 04, 2018 1:09 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: "Bitcoin is my potential pension"
- Replies: 54
- Views: 8013
Re: "Bitcoin is my potential pension"
The desire of something for nothing will never go out of style.
- Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:32 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: How to pay off margin and not get killed on taxes
- Replies: 28
- Views: 2511
Re: How to pay off margin and not get killed on taxes
So you have only $150K in investments after margin debt. Sell it all now. Margin debt is a foolish thing to have if you're well off. It's absolutely insane to have it in your situation. Your tax situation will probably be minor if you inherited it and received a stepped up basis upon the death of yo...
- Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:42 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: AMT People...
- Replies: 4
- Views: 935
Re: AMT People...
For starters, you'll now get 10K for SALT deductions. AMT remains but only for an elite group of income earners, which is as it was originally promoted and should be.
- Fri Feb 02, 2018 2:57 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Best Movies of 2017
- Replies: 35
- Views: 3034
Re: Best Movies of 2017
For those of us who saw the original Blade Runner when it came out, this year's version was a disappointment. By the way, I was talking with a good friend who's an expat in China (born there, came to US for grad school then became an American citizen), back home to visit HQ. He was surprised that BR...
- Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:38 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What the New York City subway looked like in 1980
- Replies: 2
- Views: 737
Re: What the New York City subway looked like in 1980
Okie, I lived in NYC during the late 1970s when this was universal for all subway cars. When the city finally decided to get serious about the lack of civic order (it was common back then to see cars with the sign "No radio" on their dashboard to hopefully discourage car break ins), a key thing they...
- Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:42 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Tax help - DAF contribution
- Replies: 31
- Views: 2159
Re: Tax help - DAF contribution
Oops, upon reading this again, I'm confused. Did you contribute shares out of 401K or IRA account?
- Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:41 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Tax help - DAF contribution
- Replies: 31
- Views: 2159
Re: Tax help - DAF contribution
The cost basis is the fair market value on the day you donated the shares. You should be receiving Form 8283 from Vanguard that provides you with this information. At least that's what Fidelity did when we donated appreciated shares to our account.
- Sun Jan 28, 2018 3:44 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: "Muni Bonds Time Bomb" Barron's
- Replies: 47
- Views: 5042
Re: "Muni Bonds Time Bomb" Barron's
Captain Kangaroo, short to intermediate treasuries (or more useful for most of us, a fund of them) would be the logical place to park your cash. I'm not willing to bet that long term treasuries can continue to remain at their current low yields. I'm willing to take term risk for two year notes in or...
- Sun Jan 28, 2018 1:18 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: "Muni Bonds Time Bomb" Barron's
- Replies: 47
- Views: 5042
Re: "Muni Bonds Time Bomb" Barron's
The burden of public sector pensions and retirees health care costs is, if anything, greatly underrated. Those of you who would like to follow this subject more might want to check out the site pensiontsunami.com. Relying upon the rating agencies to tell you if there's risk is nonsense. Perhaps you ...
- Fri Jan 26, 2018 6:55 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Help with my mother's portfolio
- Replies: 9
- Views: 699
Re: Help with my mother's portfolio
Your mom is pretty close to $4K/month already. If we use a 4% withdrawal rate on $315K, let's call that $12K, or $1K/month. Combine that with her SS and pension, she's just about there. If she's willing and able to work a couple more years as you suggest, she should reach that number.
- Thu Jan 25, 2018 8:52 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Strategy to take a step off from work at age 35
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1765
Re: Strategy to take a step off from work at age 35
Do you follow Mister Money Mustache's site? Your situation is similar to him and his followers. If I were in your shoes, I might want to first have an idea as to what my plans, initially, would be for my life rather than go all in with the Take This Job and Shove It path. Especially since you and yo...
- Wed Jan 24, 2018 3:07 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Roth Conversion within the Standard Deduction
- Replies: 10
- Views: 493
Re: Roth Conversion within the Standard Deduction
I'm confused as to your question about "standard deduction." When you convert a 401K or a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, the money converted counts as ordinary income in that year. Standard deduction will not be changed by this or any other income producing activity.
- Tue Jan 23, 2018 7:44 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: 50% of my portfolio in FANG - 15% in NVDA
- Replies: 64
- Views: 6488
Re: 50% of my portfolio in FANG - 15% in NVDA
Wrong site to be asking this. I suspect most of us would say, "Way to go! Now sell it all and put it into index funds!"
- Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:26 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Am I being greedy?
- Replies: 51
- Views: 6180
Re: Am I being greedy?
The stock market does not know how much you "need" to make your goal. I'm a strong believer in heavy equity exposure when you're young as long as you can deal with the inevitable bear markets and have a job or career that will not be at risk when the next recession hits. If I were in your shoes, I'd...
- Mon Jan 22, 2018 12:21 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Fund net assets
- Replies: 2
- Views: 183
Re: Fund net assets
Mutual fund shares are different from shares in a company. Every day after the market closes, the fund's accountants calculate the value of the fund's net assets and divide by the number of shares outstanding that day to report a net asset value per share. If you redeem shares today, the number of s...
- Mon Jan 22, 2018 12:03 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Does anyone here with net worths north of $1 mil use financial advisors?
- Replies: 249
- Views: 33941
Re: Does anyone here with net worths north of $1 mil use financial advisors?
My only dealing with a FA was when I took control of my mother's account at Fidelity when she was in her mid 80s. As i recall they charged something like 1% and would also on a regular basis move money from one Fidelity mutual fund to another. Between paying the AUM fee, paying for active management...
- Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:52 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Please recommend an allocation now ( age 31) if retiring in 20 years ?
- Replies: 33
- Views: 2373
Re: Please recommend an allocation now ( age 31) if retiring in 20 years ?
You sound like a physician. If you haven't already, spend time at whitecoatinvestor.com. They specialize in situations like yours. Main thing you need to do is to come out of the box saving lots of money before your lifestyle creeps up to your new income. Second, refinance that student loan debt to ...
- Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:02 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Help Late Early Accumulators Be Comfortable Right Now with (Bogle-appropriate) Aggressive AA
- Replies: 30
- Views: 2027
Re: Help Late Early Accumulators Be Comfortable Right Now with (Bogle-appropriate) Aggressive AA
Going from 90/10 to 80/20 is fine if it makes you feel better but it won't change things much. I'd argue that if you feel that the market is frothy (and most all of us do) then take it upon yourself to go to 50/50 for the next two years. See where you are then and possibly readjust. Lots of us thoug...
- Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:58 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Anyway to compare metrics of today w stock bubble in 2000
- Replies: 26
- Views: 2387
Re: Anyway to compare metrics of today w stock bubble in 2000
I don't have hard data for you but I was active in the late 1990s market. The thing about it was that outside of stocks in the dot com bubble along with related tech and "concept" stocks, the market then was very cheap. If you look at the Berkshire Hathaway annual report for 1999, which came out in ...
- Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:15 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: 29 years old, newly married. Need help allocating ~$3300/month
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1457
Re: 29 years old, newly married. Need help allocating ~$3300/month
Lrt, I only wish I had been on the ball as much as you are at your age. I'd guess you're at the 95th percentile plus in terms of money management for a couple still in their twenties. It's been my perception that too many people here get so carried away with minimizing taxes that they lose track of ...
- Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: pay off 401k loan or not?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 1446
Re: pay off 401k loan or not?
Pay back the 401K loan. I'm not a believer in loans from that account at all but I can understand why people do that in order to buy a home. If you must do that, pay it back ASAP which in your case means adding to the HELOC. However, once you do that you need to be very aggressive in paying that off...
- Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:05 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: 50/50 AA recommended by Benjamin Graham
- Replies: 43
- Views: 4632
Re: 50/50 AA recommended by Benjamin Graham
The Intelligent Investor was written in 1949 when the Dow Jones was at 180. Twenty years earlier, the Dow peaked at 380 in September 1929. Graham wrote at a time when the idea of being in stocks at all was widely considered to be incredibly risky. His idea of a good stock was one that had $20 in cas...
- Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:29 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Pay off student loans after kid graduates?
- Replies: 35
- Views: 2304
Re: Pay off student loans after kid graduates?
Just to make clear on Diogenes' question, the exemption on gift limits applies only to education and medical costs paid directly to the school or health care provider. Paying a lender or credit card company doesn't count.
- Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:16 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Cash-out Refi Mortgage Deduction new Tax rule
- Replies: 2
- Views: 340
Re: Cash-out Refi Mortgage Deduction new Tax rule
Nage, I don't know what the new law is but under the old one, you were limited on refinances to an additional 100K of cash out for income tax deduction purposes, regardless of what your mortgage balance was. Given that the general theme of the new law has been to reduce deductions while lowering tax...
- Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:40 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Newbie Working Mom needs advice
- Replies: 8
- Views: 824
Re: Newbie Working Mom needs advice
having done my taxes for my daughter last year here in CA, I was shocked to find that her marginal state tax rate for a taxable income of $65K (she's a physical therapist) was 9.3% Assuming your husband makes around the same as you, I'd bet that you're paying a similar marginal rate, even though you...
- Thu Jan 11, 2018 4:08 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Pay off student loans after kid graduates?
- Replies: 35
- Views: 2304
Re: Pay off student loans after kid graduates?
I can see going either way on this. It sounds like he's off to a good start with his job and career so whatI think I'd do is give him $30K (the maximum you can in one year without using up part of your exemption) and let him take care of the remaining 20K himself. Sit him down and talk about the val...
- Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:21 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Help with Dad's Portfolio - Updated with actions on bonds!
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1395
Re: Help with Dad's Portfolio
I agree with you regarding moving fixed income investments into governments. The purpose of fixed income positions is to hedge against declines in equities and to have funds available to invest when the market is down. Corporate bonds are likely to decline as well if the market decline is connected ...
- Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:52 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Relocation Package - Pay 2 points for 3.5 30 year?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 961
Re: Relocation Package - Pay 2 points for 3.5 30 year?
Eight year payback. If you plan on keeping this mortgage for 30 years, not moving, not prepaying, not refinancing, then it is a no brainer. Life has a way of surprising you though.
- Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:13 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Contribute to 401k or pay off fixed 20yr 7.625% HELOC?
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1233
Re: Contribute to 401k or pay off 7.625% HELOC?
I agree with the posters who suggest paying off the HELOC with the emergency cash, then building that back up ASAP this year. If there absolutely, positively is no way to do that quickly without making this year's 401K contribution less than the max, then trim that a bit. A non-deductible 7%+ debt s...
- Fri Dec 22, 2017 11:20 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Student loan forgiveness
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1838
Re: Student loan forgiveness
You can refinance the loans at much lower rates if you don't want to use up that much cash on loan repayment. This will take away any opportunity for loan forgiveness as you will no longer have government loans.
- Fri Dec 22, 2017 6:51 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Maximizing Two Years of Low Income Question
- Replies: 5
- Views: 554
Re: Maximizing Two Years of Low Income Question
More info needed. Being able to sell stocks at zero capital gains rate is also valuable. Which one is better (or do you even need to choose) requires data.
- Fri Dec 22, 2017 4:44 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Will you take this Fidelity bait ?
- Replies: 126
- Views: 14183
Re: Will you take this Fidelity bait ?
One easily forgotten benefit of Fidelity or Schwab is that most of us have an office nearby that we can go to when a problem arises. That's been useful for me, especially when managing my mother's account in her last couple of years and after her death. Even for my account, I've had a couple issues ...
- Fri Dec 22, 2017 4:35 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paid Off $340K in Student Loans in 4 Years!
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1820
Re: Paid Off $340K in Student Loans in 4 Years!
A fabulous and inspiring story. It reminds me that we need to not just preach to the converted here but to encourage friends, family, and coworkers to spend less than they make and to invest those savings intelligently and consistently over the long term.
- Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:53 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Terminology: condo vs apartment
- Replies: 26
- Views: 2289
Re: Terminology: condo vs apartment
Daniel, you've got it right. The term condominium refers to a form of ownership. I've seen single family detached home projects in Florida for the elderly that have a condominium ownership, as the HOA does all landscape and exterior structure maintenance. The term apartment simply means a multiunit ...
- Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:07 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: To buy or not in the SF Bay Area (yes another one)
- Replies: 24
- Views: 2753
Re: To buy or not in the SF Bay Area (yes another one)
Two additional points that I don't believe have been covered here. First, the growing congestion combined with the geography of jobs can put you at a severe disadvantage if you want/need to look for a new position. The last thing you want to do is to buy a home convenient to your job in Cupertino on...
- Thu Dec 14, 2017 8:26 pm
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: I’ve made huge errors and hope it’s not too late
- Replies: 35
- Views: 5127
Re: I’ve made huge errors and hope it’s not too late
The key to long term success is to keep investing in good markets and bad. Nothing can be quite so disheartening as finally investing in equities just before the bear market begins. Notwithstanding all the talk on this site about the importance of low management fees, studies have shown that the ave...
- Sun Dec 10, 2017 10:41 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Newlyweds in West Los Angeles
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1181
Re: Newlyweds in West Los Angeles
1. You won't be able to buy anything in or near (within one hour's commute) of West LA with that income. 2. Use your next couple months of free rent to find a rental that works for the two of you. 3. Start cranking up those retirement savings. If you want compound interest to be your friend, the mor...
- Sun Dec 03, 2017 11:30 am
- Forum: Investing - Help with Personal Investments
- Topic: Want to sell my Bitcoin, but when?
- Replies: 90
- Views: 9139
Re: Want to sell my Bitcoin, but when?
I'd sell first thing tomorrow morning. Forget about tax planning, you tripled your investment in something which you (and everyone else who's bought them) know nothing about.
- Sat Dec 02, 2017 8:56 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Which crash have you seen it before it is coming?
- Replies: 134
- Views: 10641
Re: Which crash have you seen it before it is coming?
I have a friend who went to work for a hedge fund in 2003 or 04. His first day there, the general partner had a meeting to discuss how the fund could best play what the partner saw as a bubble in housing prices. Not only was he way early, they misplayed how to invest on that theory and the fund went...