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ramsfan

Hi All Finishing off our 2018 Fed taxes using Turbo Tax online as usual. Paid total of $915 in foreign tax per our 1099-Div forms, but the foreign tax credit recieved on Line 48 is only $158. Can anyone explain why so low or share some info on how I can figure that out? Last couple of years it was ...

ramsfan

I was just getting ready to make the same post. My Foreign tax paid was a little over $1,000 in 2018 (VG Mutual Funds, and Vanguard ETF). Normally I get the full amount as the Foreign Tax Credit. This year, I am only getting $224. I am using Turbo Tax Online, as I have done for many years. I will di...

ramsfan

In my first job out of college, we had an option of doing a 401k contribution. My manager had a bias for financial planning (eventually went into that field), and when I told him I wasn't going to contribute "because I can't touch the money until I am 65", his reply was "start by contributing the ma...

ramsfan

Not sure if this is a factor for you, but Minneapolis Police are very problematic. I witnessed some egregious behavior, and since then I have done research that has lead me to the conclusion I won't travel there again, and I certainly will not live there. The suburbs - fine, but not Minneapolis. You...

ramsfan

If your kid wants to retake it, my only concern (and I have two kids who recently went through something similar) is that say they get a 31 or even worse the next time. It CAN hurt their confidence. You know your kid better than us, so if you think they can handle that, then there is no logical reas...

ramsfan

I would recommend selling all of it and diversifying. However, I do understand the emotional part of wanting to keep it in the family to hand down. It creates a story that can be passed down, learn from, etc... One idea would be to sell 90% of your holding, and retain 10% long term. To pass down. Ju...

ramsfan

I was early in career during the dot.com error, I had some good options, but many peers of mine had 7-figures worth of in the money options. Of the 20-25 people I knew about, only one person sold (diversified) his in the money options every chance he could. He is the only person who came out of the ...

ramsfan

Hi there, I am going to share some advice I have for you, based on things I experienced while a similar situation as you. Basically, when I was in my 30's, I started doing very well earnings wise, and was still living my normal frugal lifestyle. The mistake I made is that I took all this money I was...

ramsfan

Not sure if this has been considered, but not many kids have cars at college as Freshmen, and so what can happen is those that do end up giving rides to lots of others. Even if your child is a responsible person, they can get pressured into some crappy situations... something to consider.

ramsfan

Hi all, thanks for all the great feedback. We ended up using freefillableforms for Federal, and a handwritten form for state. As someone else mentioned, I feel good have all the documentation for any future issues that may arise.

Thanks again for all the help!

ramsfan

I used to use HR Block online free file, and they kept me as a customer for several years because they made it easy to import last year's data as my return grew. I now use freefilefillable forms because I enjoy the challenge of filing myself. :beer Here are some free file software companies endorse...

ramsfan

golfCaddy wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:25 pm
I always fill out the fillable forms. I can't imagine there's anything complicated enough about a minor child's taxes to where it couldn't be done by hand.

Hi there golf caddy, can you let me know where to go to do this?

ramsfan

neilpilot wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:31 pm
Will she also be under the cutoff, or be subject to self employment tax if she files?

She earned $5,250 last year, I think that is under the cutoff.

ramsfan

Hi All, very sorry for last minute question. I just filed my taxes today, and from what I know, my minor daughter should file (but does not have to).She was 17 in 2017, and made some good cash babysitting, tutoring, etc... she is under the $6,350 limit, she has no unearned income, and she chose to c...

ramsfan

Anyone that is suggesting loans here is missing the forest for the trees. This is not a short term cash flow issue but a fundamental cash flow issue. There is a reason that lenders will not lend to you if Requires half of your take home pay going to housing. They have teams of statistical data sayi...

ramsfan

You are getting great advice here on reducing spending. That is the right answer. However, if you just are not willing to do that to meet any cash needs this summer, I have one other suggestion. That is seek out a HELOC with no closing costs. I recently arranged a HELOC with Bank of America, with no...

ramsfan

I collect tequila and have visited many tequila distilleries in Mexico. I also love a good margarita. My suggestions: 1) Buy only 100% agave tequila. This is the most important thing. If it doesn't say 100% agave on the bottle, don't buy it. 2) There are four common types to look for: blanco/silver...

ramsfan

Not an expert at all, but I agree with you it seems odd for a 16-18 year old to need to declare a specific major in their application. However, our experience at large public universities is that my daughter put down Mechanical Engineering, but once accepted to the School of Engineering, she has bee...

ramsfan

Freefun wrote: ↑
Thu Apr 05, 2018 9:31 am
Chase sapphire (either one) is a good overall card.

When redeeming Marriott points , take a look at their flights and hotel packages - best value in their program IMO.
http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi

Good luck!

Excellent advice, thank you!

ramsfan

madbrain and others, I would like to describe what I am currently doing with my credit card rewards. I do try and live as simply as possible, so my objective was to get really good rewards balanced with really low effort. I am OK not maxing out my rewards to keep the effort low. For a long time, the...

ramsfan

sport wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:10 pm

golfCaddy wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:05 pm
You can get a 5 year CD with a 2.65% APY.
You can get a 3 year CD with a 2.8% rate.

Where can you get a 3 year CD at 2.8%? Thanks in advance!!!

ramsfan

I am not a tax expert but I believe that from a tax standpoint a "swap" would violate the "Wash Sale Rule" https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/washsalerule.asp. You can do a sale, wait 30+ days and rebuy the same asset, but you would miss any "benefit" of the investment during that window of time. ...

ramsfan

Is it the extra cushioning of the Hoka that help your feet or is it the lower incline between your heels and toes? You might be able to replicate the cushioning with insoles, but the incline is inherent to the design of the shoe. I think the HOKA incline (from toe to heel) is 4mm. All of the other ...

ramsfan

Hi All, I have had moderately sore feet for what seems like forever. After switching to Hoka running shoes, and then also wearing hoka recovery slides and flops around the house, my soreness has greatly diminished. I am looking for a recommendation. I wear Sperry type shoes for work frequently, and ...

ramsfan

I had this condition 10 years ago. I drove to a family owned running shoe store a few towns away. The owner spent 45 minutes with me, he suggest a pair of Hoka running shoes. They weren't cheap $145, but it did over time completely cure me. My wife has this every few years and wears shoe inserts, b...

ramsfan

I did apply the HELOC draw to pay down principal on the mortgage. I did pay more per month, but it was manageable, and saved considerable interest charges. I think the HELOC had an option to pay interest only, so although it was an additional monthly payment on top of my mortgage, the tradeoff was w...

ramsfan

I am on my second HELOC with Bank of America. We do all our checking and bill pay with them. My first HELOC expired after 10 years, and I just opened a new one recently. I did not pay fees of any kind to open either credit line. I have used it a few times to have easy access to large cash sums to ma...

ramsfan

After reading this very interesting thread, and contemplating my own college experience, I am warming up to one idea that came up from a few posters. That is if parents can afford it, they pay for non-tuition costs, the student is responsible for tuition. If a kid has a good scholarship at a state s...

ramsfan

Whether this is cost effective or not, I love it when my wife grows herbs. She does well with Cilantro, basil, rosemary, etc... I HATE paying 3-4 bucks for those small packs of fresh herbs, so when we can go clip off exactly what is needed, it is awesome. Plus, fresh herbs taste better than dried, a...

ramsfan

Not sure I have any actionable advice, but I think there's some lessons to be learned from my experiences as the kid going through college. Approach my parents took was that if I'd contribute my scholarships and what I earned from working towards school, and room and board expenses. They'd cover wh...

ramsfan

A good friend of mine has four siblings. All five of the children worked for their father's business. As their father aged, he wanted to retire and sell the business to his five children at a very fair price. Three of the children accepted the offer, two declined. Thus, three children owned the busi...

ramsfan

We are doing a nice family trip in March (not so frugal, but worth it to us). The travel insurance is something I was contemplating, as we have some risks related to the trip, due to health issues of family. The insurance was about $110 a person. I wanted to have this trip insured, and took the time...

ramsfan

You are doing fine and the good thing is that one can change drig plans every year during open enrollment. Basing it on current drugs and the local pharmacies being preferred is the way to go. I just enrolled for January for the 1st time. I want to applaud you for getting her out of Medicare Advant...

ramsfan

As a resident of Iowa, first let me apologize for local municipalities in our state that I believe are utilizing this technology as a means to simply raise revenue. Attached are two recent Iowa newspaper articles discussing this topic. A Google search will uncover many more from our state as well. ...

ramsfan

You are doing fine and the good thing is that one can change drig plans every year during open enrollment. Basing it on current drugs and the local pharmacies being preferred is the way to go. I just enrolled for January for the 1st time. I want to applaud you for getting her out of Medicare Advant...

ramsfan

This info is all incredibly helpful.

I just glad all this medicare stuff is not very complicated (sarcasm).

Thank you all!

ramsfan

Thank you Harmony! I selected two retail pharmacies that are right near her home. one is a CVS and the other is a Walgreens. The estimated cost for her currents drugs for the Express Scripts plan was cheapest for mail order, but not much more for Walgreens. It was a fair amount higher for her CVS, s...

ramsfan

Hello, I am helping my Mother in Law with her Medicare elections. She is 83 years old. Previously, she was on a Medicare Advantage plan which included prescription drug coverage. We feel good that she has been accepted to a Medigap Plan G. So, she now retains her Medicare coverage, and has a Plan G ...

ramsfan

Hello, I have an 18 year old who wants to establish their own investment accounts. They have about $5,000 to invest, saved up from gifts, and occasional snow shoveling and babysitting. I have been education them for a long time, so this is a good development! Right now, all their money is in a low i...

ramsfan

random walker - can we get an update on your situation?

ramsfan

I am not an expert on hedge funds, but a former work colleague was very excited to tell me about the hedge fund he was going to invest in. $250k minimum. I think it appealed to his ego that he could invest with the big dawgs. He asked me what I thought, so I asked him to send me the information. The...

ramsfan

Hold on a sec here, I am not a lawyer, but how in the world are you obligated to pay fees to a check cashing company??? Personally, I would tell the check cashing company that I am not paying. That was their decision to cash that check before making sure it cleared the bank it was written against. I...

ramsfan

Thank you all, this helped clarify my options. I am going with Option 1 or 2, after just a bit more research. I want to evaluate the fund I use in Fidelity versus the comparable fund in Vanguard, and also make sure I understand if I have to pay any type of admin fee to stay with Fidelity if I choose...

ramsfan

Hi All, I just started a new job, and thus I have some decisions to make around my new 401k. Here is the situation, and I want to make sure I am thinking about it right. I have an old (recently left employer in the last 30 days) 401k at Fidelity. My new employer has a Vanguard 401k. I am signed up f...

ramsfan

It might be a good idea to talk to the 16 year-old's mom to clarify the status of the gift. In 10 years there could have been a lot of family changes. It's also possible that the "no clue" situation comes from mom not thinking the 16 year-old is mature enough to handle the funds. Maybe the child wa...

ramsfan

We always seem to mess this trip up. We cannot book until around now because of my kid's school and activity schedules, but looking for some advice. We want to get some place warm, southern florida, or reasonably close caribbean, and it must be considered safe. I have a good amount of Marriott point...

ramsfan

My two cents... First, good of you to post this personal situation here, there are many experienced folks who can help, but some of the feedback might "sting" at first, don't dismiss it. The medicine might not taste good, but it will help you get better! I don't read anything from your description o...

ramsfan

Thanks for chiming in everyone. I feel like I'm gaining valuable experience just by reading the stories in this thread. My realtor did encourage me to get a pre-approval letter from the beginning and I've been sifting through lenders and then getting specific with my chosen lender since then. It's ...

ramsfan

So, I have a couple of opinions to share. Please PM me if you want any more info as I don't check the boards often. First, some questions to consider. what interest rate would you expect to get on your home loan Second what are the tax implication of selling your ETF's Third, would you have a strong...

ramsfan

Your portfolio looks a lot like mine did when I was your age. It is very risky..... and I suffered a tremendous drop in my net worth, one that I hope you don't face. I know this is hard, but you are worried about a bond bubble, when the fact that you are almost 100% invested in stocks is a far great...

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