Search found 341 matches

by youngpleb
Mon Sep 05, 2022 12:57 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Ex-US stock fund dividends
Replies: 14
Views: 1224

Re: Ex-US stock fund dividends

I’m trying to gain a better understanding of how dividends work with international funds and ETFs. Distributions from US funds like VTI and VOO seem pretty consistent (excluding major crises like GFC and Covid) but with Ex-US funds like VEA or VXUS the distributions seem to vary radically from quarter to quarter. What are the causes of this? Is there a reliable method to estimate income from Ex-US funds? The variation from quarter to quarter comes from the fact that a lot of companies in the index do not pay quarterly dividends. Most of them only pay every six months, so you will see that the June and December dividend distributions are often very close. So there is a method to the madness! If you just see the quarterly list though it does...
by youngpleb
Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:54 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling an old 401k into another old 401k?
Replies: 14
Views: 1305

Re: Rolling an old 401k into another old 401k?

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've emailed the benefits specialist at my old company so hopefully will hear back soon!

And yeah, like I stated in my OP I am not going to roll it into Traditional/Roth IRAs because I will have to start doing backdoor Roth conversions in 2023 and do not wish to pay taxes on this amount. As far as I'm aware, if I did have funds sitting in a Traditional IRA then I would have to pay taxes on the entire amount of funds across any Traditional IRAs when I performed my first backdoor Roth conversion, correct?
by youngpleb
Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:08 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling an old 401k into another old 401k?
Replies: 14
Views: 1305

Re: Rolling an old 401k into another old 401k?

David Jay wrote: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:33 pm The only way to know is to ask HR at the old company. The SPD (Summary Plan Description) should say.

Typically this is not allowed.
Yeah I should send them an email. I read the SPD and it included something like “A Participant may rollover any eligible account into the 401k” and later defined “Participant” as anyone who possesses accounts in the 401k so I think there might possibly be a chance. Thanks for the feedback.
by youngpleb
Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:19 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rolling an old 401k into another old 401k?
Replies: 14
Views: 1305

Rolling an old 401k into another old 401k?

Hi all, I've got the following financial set-up right now: 1) Old 401(k) w/ great fees ($60/year) 2) Old 403(b) with mediocre fees (0.5%/year) 3) Current 401(k) w/ terrible fees (1+%/year) I would like to get my money out of the 403(b) and preferrably roll it into 401(k) #1. Is such a thing possible? I've never heard of anyone doing that and have tried to google a ton but haven't had any luck as results are all about either rolling a 401k into IRAs or rolling things into current 401k plans. You might wonder why not just roll things from my 403(b) into some IRAs, but I'm trying to avoid having a traditional IRA as I believe I will need to start doing backdoor Roth conversions next year since I will pass out of the Roth IRA phaseout limit. I ...
by youngpleb
Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Decided To Move Towards Dr. Bernstein's If You Can Portfolio
Replies: 29
Views: 4669

Re: Decided To Move Towards Dr. Bernstein's If You Can Portfolio

EDV? Prepare to be obliterated once rates start to rise. I would definitely stick to short/intermediate term for the bonds.
by youngpleb
Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:31 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Preparing For First Homebuying Experience
Replies: 11
Views: 1121

Re: Preparing For First Homebuying Experience

How much you put into your 401K and HSA is your business, not the lenders. They will make a loan assuming you will stop doing those, so if you want to keep doing them you probably want to borrow less than the maximum the lender would loan to you. Your pay stub should reflect what your gross is, how much you pay in taxes, and what you put into 401K or other savings. Ok, that's great to know! Thank you. Little do they know I will not stop doing those things though muahaha :mrgreen: I've worked for two banks where for mortgages 740 was top score for conforming and 800 was top score for jumbo. Both score tiers are 20 points at a time Everyplace is a little different but 760 is definitely safe for best rates on conforming loans pretty much ever...
by youngpleb
Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Preparing For First Homebuying Experience
Replies: 11
Views: 1121

Preparing For First Homebuying Experience

Hi everyone, I'm planning on buying a house in the next 6 months, and had some questions that I'd like some clarity and opinions on. This is all so new to me, and I just want to make sure I've got things straight. 1) I'm currently saving a lot to my retirement accounts. I know during the mortgage preapproval process they examine your income and like to see take-home pay amounts. My "take-home pay" is only about 50% of my actual paycheck due to my 401k and HSA savings. My estimated mortgage payment (including taxes + insurance) will be about 25% of my actual monthly take-home pay that hits my checking account. Do you think the lender will not like this? If so, should I temporarily reduce contributions so my paychecks looks beefier?...
by youngpleb
Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
Replies: 7650
Views: 1723902

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Currently reading Dune for the first time! It was a little tough to get into at first, but I’m now about 15% in and am really enjoying it.
by youngpleb
Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Coinbase and taxes
Replies: 25
Views: 4136

Re: Coinbase and taxes

I used Bitcoin.tax the one year I had to. Just downloaded all my CSV trade histories from the different trading sites and it read them in and calculated the taxes. It then produced a nice file that I was able to upload into my tax software, so it was easy. Paid $40 I think because I had less than 1,000 transactions.
by youngpleb
Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: If you're 30-ish years away from retirement, should you have any bonds?
Replies: 94
Views: 5984

Re: If you're 30-ish years away from retirement, should you have any bonds?

I've read about this issue and can't seem to find a definitive answer to this question. And maybe there isn't one! But I'd really appreciate any feedback here :) Let's say you are in your early 30s and investing in your Roth IRA. You wont pull out that money for about 30 years. The charts I've seen show that investing fully in the market will out perform having some allocation in bonds over a 20 year period. So what's the downside to just keeping it all in VT for 20 years and then adding some bonds as you get closer to retirement? Thank you! From a completely cold and unemotional standpoint, no you should not have any bonds because they drag down your total return. However, most people can probably not handle a 100% stock allocation becaus...
by youngpleb
Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:33 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: If you bought travel/leisure stocks in March 20 what is your plan?
Replies: 20
Views: 1901

Re: If you bought travel/leisure stocks in March 20 what is your plan?

No travel stocks, but I did scoop up a couple of small oil companies’ stocks about five days before the market bottomed out. It was the day after OPEC had their big Saudi/Russia fight too lol. Still just holding on for now! One is up about 500% (ah, a shame to not have bought more) and the other is up about 120% after I DCA’d into it from March to November. I might sell the one with the big gains once they turn into long term gains just because they have a negative EPS, but I plan on keeping the other one since they actually have profits and are actively expanding and paying down debt. This is less than 2% of my portfolio though.
by youngpleb
Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:01 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Individual stock regret
Replies: 57
Views: 6697

Re: Individual stock regret

This is why it's good to keep 95%+ of your portfolio in index funds, and if you want to use individual stocks with a bit of it then do it with the remainder. Then just let them ride! If they go up, that's great. If they go to zero, it's only a small piece of the pie.

And don't worry about the whole "they went up after I sold" thing. After about the 5th time it happens, you become numb to the pain lol. You might even start to find it humorous.
by youngpleb
Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: TAx loss harvesting of Crypto?
Replies: 12
Views: 1217

Re: TAx loss harvesting of Crypto?

I bought some crypto around that same time and was able to tax loss harvest in either 2018 or 2019. I used a site called Bitcoin.tax which automated the whole process. I want to say I paid about $40, but it was worth it because I had over 200 transactions and was able to claim losses of about 6K or so. Essentially the Bitcoin.tax site can either pull in CSVs or use the APIs of pretty much all of the major trading sites to calculate the taxes for you. It then provides a file you can import into either Turbo Tax or H&R Block, which is what I use. I’m sure there are other sites which do the same thing, but that’s the one I used and I was satisfied with it.
by youngpleb
Tue Dec 29, 2020 6:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Anti-Boglehead Confessions
Replies: 102
Views: 13620

Re: Anti-Boglehead Confessions

I too had over 300 price checks on one of my Robinhood stocks :mrgreen: It's insane!

I find the small sum of money I have in Robinhood to be a great distraction from the actual "real" market though, at least for me.
by youngpleb
Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:45 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 10 year update from a Panicked Investor
Replies: 51
Views: 7951

Re: 10 year update from a Panicked Investor

Hmmm good job! But why are you worried about having a 40/60 portfolio when you’ve got 5.7 million invested? That still means you’ve got almost 2.3 million in stocks!
by youngpleb
Mon Dec 21, 2020 8:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What is the Worst Financial Decision/Mistake You Have Made?
Replies: 657
Views: 134508

Re: What is the Worst Financial Decision/Mistake You Have Made?

Probably my costliest mistake was going to college for 7 years instead of just 4. I did end up with some good degrees and a good job, but those missed years of full time work (nearly 4) really stack up. I should have put more thought in high school into what I wanted to major in.

Then early in my career came Bitcoin mania, and I lost a few thousand dollars in that. Tough lesson, but good to get it out of the way early. I’d like to have that money back now!
by youngpleb
Sun Dec 13, 2020 8:16 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What are your 'guilty pleasure' funds/ETFs and what is your rationale?
Replies: 27
Views: 2848

Re: What are your 'guilty pleasure' funds/ETFs and what is your rationale?

I’ve got a couple of small cap oil stocks that I scooped upon the worst day of the year (COVID decline on top of OPEC squabbling). They are not even 1% of my portfolio, but I enjoy them as they really keep my mind off of the overall market and therefore off of my main portfolio. One is up around 300% and the other up around 30% or so. I find their price movements fascinating — many days things go up or down 5-10%. I’ve thought about selling off after a year and then just going in on the Vanguard Energy fund because I’m a sucker for underperformers lol.
by youngpleb
Sat Dec 05, 2020 7:54 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Robinhood "videogame"
Replies: 163
Views: 21151

Re: The Robinhood "videogame"

Other than their messages (which are designed to look like text messages), I don’t really notice any of this stuff when I use Robinhood. All I tend to think is “wow, this site looks much better than Vanguard’s.”
by youngpleb
Thu Nov 26, 2020 7:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [What TV Show Have You Recently Watched?]
Replies: 5993
Views: 699644

Re: [What TV Show Have You Recently Watched?]

I finished The Queen's Gambit today on Netflix (short series). I thought it had a very strong start, but the last couple episodes kind of lost some steam. Still a good series though, especially if you like chess.
by youngpleb
Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:16 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Investing in an IPO
Replies: 21
Views: 2313

Re: Investing in an IPO

Haha I feel like doing a market order on an IPO, especially one with the hype of AirBnB, is a dangerous game.
by youngpleb
Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:13 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What is your age and asset allocation ?
Replies: 1156
Views: 151977

Re: What is your age and asset allocation ?

29

Asset allocation is 50/50 US and International stock. No bonds for now, but when I am 40-45 I will begin adding some since I want to leave my main career around 45-55. About 1/4 of my US stock is small cap value, and 1/4 of my international is small cap.

I once messed with crypto, but I found doing crypto taxes to be a pain in the butt so now if I want to do some speculating I just buy individual stocks with some fun money. That's less than 1% of my assets though.
by youngpleb
Sat Nov 07, 2020 12:56 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Does the fact that a CEO accelerates sales of stocks of his company mean anything?
Replies: 24
Views: 1790

Re: Does the fact that a CEO accelerates sales of stocks of his company mean anything?

He’s probably just being a good investor and seeking to diversify from his billions and billions of Amazon stock I’d imagine. I know I would!
by youngpleb
Fri Nov 06, 2020 9:50 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Post-tax 401k? How does this work?
Replies: 10
Views: 1319

Re: Post-tax 401k? How does this work?

Dennisl wrote: Fri Nov 06, 2020 1:36 pm typically, there are 3 options

standard pretax 401k
roth 401k
and a post tax 401k that you can do an in plan conversion to a mega backdoor roth. This is separate from your IRA is my understanding. Would call the firm doing the in plan conversion to get the details.
There also exists companies that offer the after-tax 401k contribution option but NOT the in-plan Roth conversion.
by youngpleb
Sat Oct 24, 2020 7:50 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How much do you allocate to international equity?
Replies: 133
Views: 18028

Re: How much do you allocate to international equity?

50% of my total AA. About 1/4 of that is specifically in international small-cap, and the rest in total international. I like having a 50/50 split because I don’t miss out on anything. :sharebeer
by youngpleb
Wed Oct 14, 2020 7:22 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Confused by Bogle's apparent dislike of ETFs
Replies: 103
Views: 10496

Re: Confused by Bogle's apparent dislike of ETFs

Bogle once expressed his dislike of ETFs by saying something along the lines of "Why would you want to buy the market at 10 AM and sell it at 1 PM?" He was just a buy and hold type of dude :sharebeer

He didn't appear to have any problems with ETFs themselves, just the frequency at which they are traded.
by youngpleb
Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What is your game plan as market is reaching its previous all time high?
Replies: 174
Views: 21811

Re: What is your game plan as market is reaching its previous all time high?

Continue to divert new capital towards the further accumulation of equities :mrgreen:
by youngpleb
Tue Jul 21, 2020 8:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What famous investing quote reminds you of your investing style?
Replies: 150
Views: 10254

Re: What famous investing quote reminds you of your investing style?

“To become rich, spend less than you make, do it for a long time, and invest the difference.”

I forget who says it, but I like the simplicity of it.
by youngpleb
Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:30 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: When to sell individual stock after run up?
Replies: 55
Views: 6147

Re: When to sell individual stock after run up?

I had one oil stock I picked up in March go about 6x in the span of 2 months. I was amazed, but didn’t sell. Since then, it has lost half its value and is back to a “measly” 3x return. I can’t sell it now though because I’ve seen where it can go lol. It was all fun money anyways, so I’m just letting it ride. It does make me feel stupid looking back and seeing how I didn’t sell after returns like that. In the moment though, it’s just like “wow! I wonder how much higher it will go!”

So my advice is to definitely sell if you hit 6x :happy
by youngpleb
Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:38 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Questions for Rick Ferri and Paul Merriman?
Replies: 62
Views: 8226

Re: Questions for Rick Ferri and Paul Merriman?

Does Rick still hold to and recommend the Core-4 portfolio?
by youngpleb
Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When does it make sense to stop contributing to your investment nest egg?
Replies: 15
Views: 2603

Re: When does it make sense to stop contributing to your investment nest egg?

Hmmm interesting question. Being 29, I don't think I would ever stop contributing to my retirement accounts just because of future uncertainty...maybe I wouldn't even need the money, but I would still appreciate the tax advantages so I'd probably continue to max out my 401k via pre-tax at least.

I guess if I hit some ludicrous number like 40x my most extravagantly-planned annual expenses, I'd stop. At that point I'd probably seek to use my money to be a blessing to others rather than continue to save it for myself.
by youngpleb
Thu Jul 16, 2020 4:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone else love this new working from home thing?
Replies: 89
Views: 8103

Re: Anyone else love this new working from home thing?

Haven’t worked a single day from home in all of this :(
by youngpleb
Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:37 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard's Wellesley Income fund is incredible
Replies: 716
Views: 177700

Re: Vanguard's Wellesley Income fund is incredible

willthrill81 wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:42 pm
youngpleb wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:39 pm Call me crazy, but I have recently come to the conclusion that I will be using Wellesley for what I view as the second tranche of my emergency fund. 12 months cash in a high yield savings account, then 6 months in Wellesley.
I did the same thing back when we still had an emergency fund (2/3 in Wellesley, 1/3 in cash).
Oh that's good, I don't feel as crazy now. :happy Interesting move to hold it in your Roth IRA. I'd love to do that, but I am still starting out and need the Roth space for my long-term investments!
by youngpleb
Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:39 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard's Wellesley Income fund is incredible
Replies: 716
Views: 177700

Re: Vanguard's Wellesley Income fund is incredible

Call me crazy, but I have recently come to the conclusion that I will be using Wellesley for what I view as the second tranche of my emergency fund. 12 months cash in a high yield savings account, then 6 months in Wellesley.

The bonds help stabilize it, and the absence of FAANG style stocks on the equity side help me feel a lot better. Hopefully it generates enough growth to keep my entire e-fund above the rate of inflation, which is really my main goal.
by youngpleb
Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:55 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Didn't receive Q1 2020 dividend for VFSAX (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap Index Fund)
Replies: 8
Views: 1232

Re: Didn't receive Q1 2020 dividend for VFSAX (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap Index Fund)

I noticed this too. I kept thinking there would definitely be a Q2 dividend since those are usually fairly large for international index funds. No complaints here, just confusion! How does a fund with only 16% turnover in the previous year pay out 0.82% of its value this time last year but nothing this year? It is all due to COVID19? :confused
by youngpleb
Mon Jun 08, 2020 9:15 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!
Replies: 5577
Views: 623712

Re: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!

Steve Reading wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:38 pm Wait, I forgot. Are us SCV heads supposed to rejoice when they rally a lot, or when they're beaten down to a pulp and extremely attractively priced?
Yes.
by youngpleb
Sat May 23, 2020 5:16 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Examples of why NOT to hold individual stocks
Replies: 93
Views: 9765

Re: Examples of why NOT to hold individual stocks

You can't just pick a random stock that tanked and use it as an example to not hold single stocks...

Counter example: my small oil stock is up nearly 200% since I bought it 2 months ago. But that isn't a reason to hold individual stocks.
by youngpleb
Thu May 14, 2020 10:00 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!
Replies: 5577
Views: 623712

Re: Small Cap Value heads Rejoice !!!

Rebalancing into my SCV fund today! It started to lag behind enough for me to notice, against international small cap of all things :mrgreen:
by youngpleb
Sat May 09, 2020 5:50 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What are you up YTD? [Year To Date]
Replies: 5250
Views: 906792

Re: What are you up YTD? [Year To Date]

My individual stock-picking portfolio is up 183% YTD, but unfortunately for me it makes up less than 0.5% of my actual portfolio :mrgreen:
by youngpleb
Tue Mar 31, 2020 7:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Making the most of COVID-19. What deals have you taken advantage of?
Replies: 19
Views: 4012

Re: Making the most of COVID-19. What deals have you taken advantage of?

I bought a few cheap oil stocks that are small companies which were (pre-OPEC and corona madness) about to start paying dividends for the first time. They instead just pushed off dividends to a later quarter. With no dividends, they aren't bleeding as much cash as the bigger companies. They have a ton of their oil hedged too, and have laid out plans to weather this oil price storm.

It was mainly just a "for fun" investment. The plus side is that I've been much more interested in their performance lately (one is up 70+% since I bought) so it keeps my mind off of my other "real" investment accounts.
by youngpleb
Wed Mar 04, 2020 6:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: stop playing the game, 0/100 and hyperinflation scenario
Replies: 60
Views: 5397

Re: stop playing the game, 0/100 and hyperinflation scenario

alexfoo39 wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 8:55 pm
youngpleb wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:54 pm
alexfoo39 wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 7:49 am how does stop playing the game (i.e., accumulated 25x annual expense, and moving to 0/100) hedges against hyperinflation scenario?
You know, I've read a lot of finance books (40+) and countless articles, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen anyone ever recommend going 0/100. The minimum % of stock allocation I've seen in all of that was 20 or 25 percent.
Hmm... When William Bernstein says stop playing, he actually meant 30/70?
Lol not sure where you pulled that allocation from, but yeah I'd say that's a good one if you have enough.
by youngpleb
Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:54 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: stop playing the game, 0/100 and hyperinflation scenario
Replies: 60
Views: 5397

Re: stop playing the game, 0/100 and hyperinflation scenario

alexfoo39 wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 7:49 am how does stop playing the game (i.e., accumulated 25x annual expense, and moving to 0/100) hedges against hyperinflation scenario?
You know, I've read a lot of finance books (40+) and countless articles, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen anyone ever recommend going 0/100. The minimum % of stock allocation I've seen in all of that was 20 or 25 percent.
by youngpleb
Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:23 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Millionaire Next Door compared to Dave Ramsey research
Replies: 31
Views: 5415

Re: Millionaire Next Door compared to Dave Ramsey research

Well, a million in 1996 had the buying power of 1.64 million today for starters. Honestly it doesn't seem difficult to reach millionaire status today...get a decent job, buy a house, put away 15% in your 401k and let sit for thirty years. You'll probably be one on paper at least.

I'm not sure how they found the millionaires for Dr. Stanley's book but they all seemed to be a different type than the one I just mentioned.
by youngpleb
Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:06 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Has Vanguard deteriorated?
Replies: 114
Views: 11969

Re: Has Vanguard deteriorated?

bogle student wrote: Thu Feb 20, 2020 7:00 pm I’m a new Boglehead.Just finished “The three fund portfolio” makes a lot of sense, figured I’d move my portfolio into Vanguard from Ameritrade. But reading recent posts most of them were highly critical of Vanguard. Very surprised at so much criticism from other Bogleheads. Should I reconsider moving? Thanks
I'd say they are deteriorating through the act of doing nothing while other companies continue forwards in leaps and bounds. It is tough the stay the champ for too long.
by youngpleb
Mon Feb 03, 2020 8:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What video games are you currently playing?
Replies: 529
Views: 88301

Re: What video games are you currently playing?

Barkingsparrow wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 4:19 pm Last 3 games that I finished: The Witcher 3 and DLCs, Horizon Zero Dawn and DLC, then The Witcher 2. Kind of scrounging around looking for something else. Got my eye on Greedfall and the Outer Worlds - but I prefer to wait until at least the game has matured with maybe a DLC or two, and maybe a "Game of The Year Edition" or something.
Out of curiosity about how long did it take to complete Witcher 3 and its DLC content? I've owned it for a couple years but have never even started it as it seems like such a massive game and time is limited for me these days! Would yo recommend it?
by youngpleb
Mon Feb 03, 2020 8:03 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Allocation to International Recommendations
Replies: 23
Views: 1919

Re: Allocation to International Recommendations

There isn't really a recommended allocation % to international. It literally ranges from 0% to ~50% for people here. Bogle didn't really believe in it, which is kinda odd given the rest of his principles. But there are also others on the opposite side who recommend holding a global asset allocation.
by youngpleb
Sun Jan 19, 2020 2:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought
Replies: 8
Views: 1345

Re: Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought

mhadden1 wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:59 pm I think I would go ahead and contribute to Roth accounts, particularly if they are more than 5 years old, so you could withdraw without penalty any way you wanted, if needed.
Thank you. They are only 2 years old at this point. So the 5 year rule still applies even if we are over 59.5? The rules surrounding that have always confused me.
by youngpleb
Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought
Replies: 8
Views: 1345

Re: Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought

What are the home additions you speak of? I retired at 61 and am waiting for SS at age 69/70. Funding for income is coming from taxable and IRAs. I’ve purchased CDs for most expenses til SS and will take the rest as distributions from IRA. I want to limit SOR risk until SS is available and covers my basic expenses. Good luck. Thanks for sharing your story! The home addition would be a large attached garage. We have never had a garage anywhere we have lived, and will really enjoy the protection it provides to our vehicles as well as being able to convert parts of it into a workshop. So you have a lot of CDs and you are just spending them as needed as they redeem? Are you holding them inside your IRA (if that's even possible) or elsewhere?
by youngpleb
Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought
Replies: 8
Views: 1345

Re: Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought

You are doing great. You can absolutely afford to take out the $50,000 to $60,000 during Medicare gap years and then rely primarily on SS. Your concerns about market volatility can be solved if you consider a rising equity glide path after your initial retirement years end. I have linked an article below. In essence, you would be withdrawing from your "fixed" portfolio over the next 5 years with less rebalancing, then a higher-stock portfolio would kick in to provide inheritance and extra income. https://www.kitces.com/blog/should-equity-exposure-decrease-in-retirement-or-is-a-rising-equity-glidepath-actually-better/ To minimize your long-term tax burden, I would focus on taking out up to the top of the 12% federal bracket each y...
by youngpleb
Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought
Replies: 8
Views: 1345

Retirement Imminent, Advice Sought

Planning to retire in early 2021 after 38 years with the same company. My wife and I are pretty conservative when it comes to investing, and we second guess ourselves a lot. My wife has not worked for several years due to some moderate health issues, but she is very involved in helping plan our finances and is definitely the smart one. Please take a look at our strategy and let us know your thoughts: Emergency funds: $70K in HYSA (planning to get this to around 100K in 2020...see reasons below) Debt: none, we also own our home Tax Filing Status: married jointly Tax Rate: 22% Federal, 5.75% State State of Residence: VA Age: 62 (wife 61) Desired Asset allocation: 60% stocks / 40% bonds (also considering 50/50) Desired International allocation...