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Iowa David

I was reading this article in the WSJ regarding Gary Gensler, nominee for the SEC Chair, and his financial disclosures seem to indicate that he’s a Boglehead at heart. Mr. Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs banker who chaired the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2009 until early 2014,...

Iowa David

In addition to your high mutual fund fees - your advisor is also likely charging 1%-1.25% for advisory/assets under management.

Iowa David

I was in the same boat as you a few years ago and I outlined the steps I took to unwind everything. Sharing in case it helps you: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247902 I bit the bullet on our taxable gains, but also had a mindset that this was a good problem to have and we wanted t...

Iowa David

Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a subforum for people of more modest means. It's tiring to scroll past so many threads of people wondering what to do with their spare million dollars. But I think people are walled off into categories a lot nowdays and don't have enough exposure to people...

Iowa David

One suggestion is to compare the monthly insurance for each vehicle you’re comparing. I was recently surprised to see that the insurance for a new vehicle was nearly double when compared with my current vehicle. The Sequoia may be higher of the two and may sway your decision.

Iowa David

I opened a Roth IRA early in my career and made regular contributions, however, did not realize it was invested in a CD. It took me at least 5-7 years before I understood that a Roth wasn’t the actual investment.

Iowa David

1. 21% (home is paid off)
2. No other direct real estate except for what may be in a REIT from other index funds

Iowa David

Pay it off and be done with it. While you have a lot of "calculations" being discussed about inflation, rate of return and bond yields the bottom line is bonds yield 1% and your mortgage is at 3%. It's like a big negative bond. Oh and it's a guaranteed return of 3% on your money. Plus you...

Iowa David

In the event you ever have children or want to pursue additional education for yourself, how about a 529 savings plan?

Iowa David

I have a LTD plan from Guardian. https://www.guardianlife.com/disability-insurance While my work provides LTD covering 60% of my salary, I opted for this plan based off of: 1. "True Own Occupation" disability definition 2. Guardian was well-recommended by many on this site (I believe it's ...

Iowa David

When you ask many Bogleheads the secret to their financial success, many will cite the importance of their partner/spouse. Generally speaking, there are 3 "B"s that can make or break a relationship: 1. Babies - (The desire to have children as well as agreement on how you will raise them) 2...

Iowa David

I have not read the previous thread, but is your income this year projected to be lower than in 2019? You wrote "22% Fed + 5% state" tax rate in the original post. For married folks in the 22% tax bracket, a direct Roth contribution can be made, no need to do a Backdoor Roth .... the top ...

Iowa David

retiredjg wrote: ↑Sun Oct 25, 2020 3:09 pm Do you mean 2018 and 2019 returns? You have not yet filed your 2020 return.

You're correct - I updated the previous post.

Iowa David

I provided an update to the original thread. Thanks again for those who took time to provide some perspective.

Iowa David

The key fact is what are the investment options and costs in the 401k. The ability to see dividend reinvestments shouldn't even be a remote factor. The only thing that matters in a tax-advantaged account is the total return. Currently, I’m in vested in a target date fund - Black Rock Life Path Inde...

Iowa David

I am debating whether or not it’s worth moving my Rollover IRA to my current 401K to qualify for the non-deductible Roth IRA contribution (back-door Roth) to be able to save an additional $6K/year (currently). My Rollover (and Roth IRA) is currently with Vanguard and I’m invested across Total US Sto...

Iowa David

Even easier - there should be a “call me” feature that will prompt you for your phone number and will call you to join. Easier than entering the pass code.

Iowa David

My wife has been uploading all of our photos and videos to a site called SmugMug. We have been using the service for probably 10 years. Thanks, I’ll check this out. All these are electronic storage formats that can disappear in an instant if the media get corrupted or accidentally erased, or even a...

Iowa David

Our family photos and videos are one of our most important possessions so I take some extra step to help ensure that we protect these memories. Here is our current back up approach: 1. Folders are manually created in Mac OS Finder for the date the photos/videos were taken and the files are manually ...

Iowa David

+1

Great post - the knowledge and input from this community has drastically helped my family be on a better financial path.

Iowa David

Pay off the Mortgage. Psychologically, you will have the benefit of feeling like you did something actionable with the bonus, you'll have a sense of relief knowing that the mortgage is paid off, you'll appreciate the additional monthly cash flow to help then make a decision on what you do with the h...

Iowa David

Was able to qualify and max out contributions to 401k, HSA, After tax/Megaback Door Roth and company ESPP (10% discount) for the very first time in my life. Feel very fortunate to have come across this site, which has helped build my awareness of these options and for being able to work for a compan...

Iowa David

A couple items: 1. While a generalization, how a house is maintained maintained externally, is usually a good indicator of how well it has been maintained internally. Also - well maintained yards and landscaping have a domino effect on your neighbors who will feel the indirect pressure of maintainin...

Iowa David

I invest because I: 1. Get more satisfaction from saving vs spending money 2. Enjoy seeing my wife and I’s net worth grow over time 3. Aspire to have financial flexibility - to spend my time as I see fit 4. Feel an obligation to put my children in a better financial situation, just as my parents did...

Iowa David

Your employer may participate in Microsoft's Home Use Program, which allows for employees to purchase an Office 365 subscription at a 30% discount. Check it out as it may help sway which direction you choose. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/home-use-program/frequently-asked-questions Also, Microsoft...

Iowa David

+1 on a utility sink in the garage. We use this all of the time to clean various items.

Anyone recommend a suspended garage for more basement storage?

Iowa David

The only standard that remains for craftsmen, are cheaply made tools from China. Unfortunately, they pretty much sold out the brand a few years ago. No point of wasting money on that brand anymore. Yeah unfortunately they've been crap for quite a few years now. Like others have said, Husky (Home De...

Iowa David

I’ve slowly acquired a vast set of Craftsman hand tools over the last 20 years and have generally felt like their quality was perfectly fine for consumer use. I recently bought a new adjustable wrench and was disappointed with quality and how “cheap” it felt in my hands. I know a lot of their manufa...

Iowa David

Thanks all - appreciate the validation. I’m going to move the funds to the online bank.

Iowa David

I recently swapped a HDD on a 2014 Mac Mini with a SSD and it runs like a brand-new computer. Not only did I get the increase in storage, but the computer runs much faster. This upgrade will give us at least another 2-3 years of meaningful use.

Iowa David

Good morning - I currently have funds set aside in a Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) that I use to dollar cost average into my Vanguard Brokerage Account. I am thinking about moving the cash held in the MMF to my online bank to achieve a greater yield. When I purchase new shares with my V...

Iowa David

Our intent/goal was to have at least 75% saved to help cover the cost of our children with the option of being able to cash flow the remaining depending on the kid's individual situation. We believe that it's important to help set our children up for success by them not staring down a mountain of de...

Iowa David

Thanks all - appreciate everyone's input.

Iowa David

I think you are both doing great - kuddos to already hit the max 401K contributions, HSA & Roth. (You may want to add any of your employer's 401K match, which will help provide a more accurate review of what is being contributed annually for retirement.) I'd also look at an umbrella insurance po...

Iowa David

While my earnings still are less than our contributions, I had one of my first light bulb moments after I rolled my 401K into a Vanguard IRA and saw that my investments generated a dividend, which then automatically purchased more shares of the underlying funds. Previously when I would review the 40...

Iowa David

Hello - I am trying to track my 401K as an outside investment within Vanguard's web site. The 401K is - BlackRock LifePath® Index 2040 Fund N I don't believe I am using the correct ticker (LIKIX) because the expense ratio listed & price is different than what I see from the custodian web site, F...

Iowa David

Bumping this thread since there are many home office tips that may now be relevant to folks who have recently switched remote work.

Iowa David

+1 in the Term camp and this is coming from one who just surrendered a whole life policy after 10 years. I'd take the extra savings from term and apply it to your own private disability policy. You have a higher likelihood of being disabled than dying during over the next 20 years. Protect your earn...

Iowa David

DW and I are both 40 so mid Accumulator Stage. The unstable market doesn't bother me - it's the longer-term impact of companies missing their financial targets, putting projects & new purchases on hold and layoffs that scare me more. It's great to have a steady paycheck coming in to support 401K...

Iowa David

You may want to take a look at Office 365, which is Microsoft's subscription-based service to their productivity tools. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/office-365-personal/cfq7ttc0k5bf?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab This would allow for you to have the rights to download the latest desktop applica...

Iowa David

If you can afford it, buy it. Life is short, enjoy it! And, then when you tire of it, get a motorcycle! Now you’re talking, thanks Racy. IMO the reasons you presented for buying are not great. If you will eventually need to replace two cars how does it help to spend some of the money now rather tha...

Iowa David

--Update - 10/25-- I think what I will do is hold tight for 6 months and wait until the 2021 models are close to hitting the lots. By this point the dealers may be more incentivized to make a deal and we should have a better sense of what long-term impact the Corona virus has had on supply chains a...

Iowa David

You may want to take a look at Office 365, which is Microsoft's subscription-based service to their productivity tools. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/office-365-personal/cfq7ttc0k5bf?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab This would allow for you to have the rights to download the latest desktop applicat...

Iowa David

Every 3 months we divide the cash balance in our taxable brokerage account by 12 months.

That amount is used to auto purchase total us market each month until we recalculate at the next quarterly interval.

This way we are always investing despite our cash balance or market conditions.

Iowa David

The biggest lesson was that I needed to hold more cash. I could live with my retirement accounts being down by 50%, but the fear of job loss was what kept me up at night. This! I was only 6 years into the professional world (2007-2008) and did not have much invested so I didn't feel the pain and wa...

Iowa David

I'm a big fan of splitting the difference and Dollar Cost Averaging. For example - take the $200K in savings and have $16K/month ($8K towards mortgage/$8K towards taxable investments) for 12 months. This provides a nice psychological factor that you're both paying down debt and investing while hedgi...

Iowa David

I like your expense break down - did you use a specific application to generate this or was this done manually?

Iowa David

Iowa David, when you have a chance, please list the dates for everything that has happened (dates of contributions and dates of conversions) including what you did in March of 2018 for 2017 (was that a direct contribution?). Please be clear about whether a date applies to him or her or both. It's a...

Iowa David

Let's back up a minute here. There should have been two 2018 Forms 8606, one for him and one for her. You have presented this as if you only did one form. Did you do 2? If yes, who does this one belong to? Correct, we filled out two 8606 forms in 2018 - one of myself and one for my wife. They were ...

Iowa David

Thanks for the quick response, Livesoft. The balance of the tax-deferred/rollover IRA on 12/31/2018 was $308,473.18. So that number should have been on Line 6 of your 2018 Form 8606, right? Time to file an amended return. Added: Plus the dollar value of your traditional IRA on that date and any oth...

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