Bogleheads.org

read it yesterday -- very easy read. Learned a bit more on charity options. Best part for me was some of the framing questions asked -- provocative and I will be discussing some of these with my spouse. I do best with math examples (the RMD area is an example of where I would love to have seen an example). Love the summaries. I will be recommending this to a few folks.

Colorado Guy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 7:25 am

FB01 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 07, 2023 12:38 pm Can anyone recommend good desk chair from Ikea or anywhere which is good for kids between 10-13 and should work till their teenage years.

I recommend a gaming chair, not a desk chair. Teens will be in front of that computer quite a bit. I transitioned from a nice executive style chair to a gaming chair a few years ago, no regrets. However, more expensive (I would expect) than an Ikea chair.

If interested, look at Secret Lab chairs. https://secretlab.co/?stop_redirect=tru ... b0824b61bb

we have 2 secret lab chairs for the kids and they are great -- better than way more $$ chairs.

37% federal tax and 12% state tax brackets
max out 401k with employee match
get 100k in 1099-NEC annually

what are my options for tax-deferred retirement accounts with the 100k from the 1099-NEC income

ETA It looks like SEP IRA would allow me to put 25% (25k) into account and save about 25k in taxes are there other options? I don't understand if solo 401k is an option.

just a reminder that first car is often a security/identity challenge so posting publicly IF you have also provided other personal information that makes you identifiable is a risk.

my sibling & spouse and I/my spouse have a general understanding of each other's -- discussed job offers over the years, know value of houses etc

kids (older teens) have a good understanding in part because some of our income is publicly available with a google search and they know what they have in 529 plans. They can also zillow home price etc. We talk about money at the dinner table on occasion. I have one friend who I discuss estate planning etc with -- similar net worth makes it easier.

I'd review this
https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/re ... ident.html

his HR team should know if there is anything special for federal employees.

+1 for a mazda cx-5

a company that spouse started may be purchased for $5-$10m -- this is a couple of years out and this year we will get more insight into the chance this would happen. We currently live in CA. The business is located in MA. If it begins to look likely this will happen, and if we decided it would be worth it to move to avoid state taxes, does anyone have any sources or experience with this?

our kids have robust 529 plans that should cover just about everything. If a car in college makes sense we would provide that. We will pay for their travel home, etc. We expect them to have jobs over the summer. First goes this fall!

I can generally do 2 weeks in an Away carry on (larger size) -- hard sided with wheels and a backpack (work and vacation)
We just got back from africa and used duffle bags for 2 weeks due to the limits of the internal flights (soft sided, 7kg per bag).

Weight is never an issue for me (for luggage!). I have some Tom Binh bags I love depending on the situation (no wheels, convert to a backpack or duffle).

can of tuna, relish (mix at work), rice crackers, fruit, Very filling. Salad with left overs for protein (an ice pack works very well for most things). I have to agree PB&J is a good stand by.

I do well if i pack it up the night before.

we pay USAA $725 for $5m in umbrella. We have 2 teenagers, a pool, and assets outside of 401k funds of about 3m. For us it is a good use of $725.

we will pay off our mortgage in April. We will then put more into post tax investments. We are cancelling our life insurance as we are self funded (and work has quite a lot on me at no cost). One of us will work to get a side gig (board seat) to have a plan for pre-retirement from megacorp. Need to keep less in cash so will open a HYSA and also do some more auto investments (we both seem to like cash).

ETA: we also need to buy a car at the end of 2023 so that will be something to research and plan for.

Based on a search I did earlier this year, for 2022 small SUV or sedan with highway safety ratings that were excellent. Sorry for the ugly formatting. Also the GBP is really USD. I ended up looking at only >39 inch of headroom for drivers. We got a CX-5 and are very happy with it (we bid it vs a Forester and ended up with better pricing for the CX-5). Added to say primary driver is 6'4" and very happy with leg room etc. Size Make Model MSRP Head room Fuel efficency Drive Package safety Package Small car Honda Civic £27,700.00 39 31/38 FWD Touring Mid car Subaru Legacy £22,300.00 39.4 27/35 AWD Mid car Honda Accord £25,700.00 39.5 30/38 FWD Small SUV Hyundai Tuscon £27,700.00 39.6 26/33 FWD Umtimate, sport or limited Small SUV Mazda CX-...

San Diego is great alas wrong coast

Thank you both the deed is undone.

Argh I am so stupid.

I don't qualify for a Roth (income too high) unless I back door it. Today I moved 7k from my CHECKING to my Roth account in Vanguard (it shows pending available 12/20). Of course I needed to move it from an IRA not checking. Please advise! Thank you

I do an every year (or so) estimate based on
- current real costs (insurances, property taxes, food, utilities etc) — I adjust these as they go up
- estimated health insurance (I look at the marketplace and pick plans)
- increase / add a nice gym/personal trainer for fun/health
- increase vacation budget from current spend
- re run taxes (use online calculator)

Based on this I have a high medium and low estimate that I can play with in my retirement calculators.

11 years assuming we stay put (we would most likely sell) took our fixed expenses and then added in half of our discretionary (still very generous) and added in a rough guess on taxes. I didn’t add in the kids 529s but if I could magically do that it is another 2-3 years of expenses I could accommodate.

We are in a similar bracket (a little higher) and a little older (10 yrs). That would scare me as you are spending a lot of your savings for the house. Keep in mind that often when you move to a large / $$ house other things increase too (will you need someone to care for the lawn? Plow more snow? House cleaner $? Pool?) also you will be on the hook for larger expenses like plumbing, HVAC, roof etc. Kids sometimes end up in private even if you plan for public. Of course if you end up borrowing interest rates are high (of course you know that)

Can you afford it, yes. I would really thing twice — I do tend to be more conservative on housing. YMMV

Lots of good suggestions — please check to see that she has healthcare filed and has supplemental if you think it is needed. Worst case can get worse if she has a medical issue she cannot afford to take care of/does not have insurance.

Talk to the hospital case worker as well they might have ideas

Quality baggage is a real deep rabbit hole and like many things in life what you like may be very different from somebody else. Since mid-of 2017 I have gone to one bag carry-on only and it has completely changed my travel life. Not dragging a ton of baggage with me is so freeing when I travel. The bag that I chose after a lot of research and have used for 45 countries and 300k+ miles of flying is the 30L Tom Bihn Aeronaut: https://www.tombihn.com/products/aeronaut-30?variant=31677308272703 . I pretty much use it exclusively in backpack mode except when I am making the bag look smaller when flying on cheap European airlines (then I use it in duffle mode). So far I have never had to check it and the gate dragons have never called me out on ...

We have this (the older model)
TOTO SW3084#01 WASHLET C5 Electronic Bidet Toilet Seat with PREMIST and EWATER+ Wand Cleaning, Elongated, Cotton White https://a.co/d/03e8paS

Have had it for 3 years. Very happy with it. No issues. Before that we had a different one (in a different house — similar just older model). I do like the heated seats (you get used to having them and then only want that).

I am not familiar with drake model.

We are looking for a private high school and are open to location (US only) and open to consider day or boarding that provides bright capable kids with an environment for class room discussion, exploring ideas and hands on learning experiences. Schools that we are exploring include Cambridge School of Westin, Midland School, and Putney School but we are in early stages and open to suggestions. Child is a boy. Thanks for any suggestions!

Price out a car rental vs Uber/taxi be sure to include taxes and the parking fee at the hotel (it almost always is better for us to not rent a car)
Get groceries for the room especially if you have kids be even if you don’t alcohol, sodas, snacks even breakfast items can be worth considering
Hotel dining is almost always more $$ than the place around the corner
We do a big breakfast and then skip lunch (or have a light snack) and do dinner
Avoid checking bags if you can (fees and hassle)

I would be interested

We used
https://mytapscore.com/
Based on wirecutter/nyt recommendation of best water testing

We have a reverse osmosis under the sink attached to an instanthot (runs from the water system to the sink). This is new for us (we used to have a kettle) and I LOVE the instahot. Highly recommend this approach

Couple years ago we used Costco for this and were happy with the results.

Eco water systems

It really depends on a number of things. In my case I have an EV, I don’t drive a lot (about 10k miles a year). I would pay about 6k a year in gas (based on current gas prices where I live) if I didn’t get the EV I have and looking at what I would have gotten instead. I don’t pay for charging (do it at work). So it saves me about 6k a year. If I charged at home it would just over 5k a year in savings but my house already has solar. Depending on tax credits it might be more. So I think you really have to look at what your situation is - what EV would you get - what gas car would you get - how much do you drive - what is charging going to cost you? What will gas cost you? - what are the incentives if any for the EV you are looking at - do you...

Tesla model 3, back door totaled/back door window also totaled. Time to get a tesla dealer service shop to REVIEW the damage was about 6 weeks. They sent us to a tesla certified collision shop, repair / replacement took about 4 weeks.

Optimistic wrote: ↑Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:02 am I'll throw my vote in for both Dominion and Ticket to Ride. They're both easy to learn but complex enough to have lots of replayability (and have expansion packs).

Ditto

Love the Apple Card to allow kids to use Apple Pay on their phones and manage budget/$ spent etc. one kid was just on a class trip to another city and it came in handy.

arcticpineapplecorp. wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:29 am

Hillview wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:13 am We sold it when she died. My mom and my uncle had no money to do that.

sorry about that difficult situation, but when does it cost money to sell a house?

houses can be sold as is and commissions are paid out of the sale.

not sure what "had no money" to sell the house means, other than they had no money to live elsewhere (or your mom and unlce had no money to help grandma?) which may be what you meant?

Yes they had no money to help my grandmother (their mom) with any of this sorry it was worded poorly

We bought my grandma’s house when my uncle put her into foreclosure (con man) — we owned it, she lived there. She paid her utilities from social security. We sold it when she died. My mom and my uncle had no money to do that. My sister and cousins were not able to/willing to help. It worked out well but was some drama with my uncle. YMMV

We have always been in a position to support immediate family. Annually that has been a big chunk of $ (houses and utilities) including for grandma, parents, mother, sister and brother all at different times. We both come from families who essentially had nothing and we have both been super fortunate. It is not the same as charity but it has been significant $. As people have stabilized (housing) the help us less (although we still pay for a parent parent property tax). 3 of them are still alive so I still worry there will come a day. Other than that we give relatively small amounts (relative to income) to charities. We will have choices in the future about charity and gifting to our children.

We have the in ground kind and I love it. use it a couple times a month and always say I need to go in more often when I am not working so dang much.

We are basically fully funded in 529s — one kid goes to college in 18 months (I hope!). We are looking at nice private liberal arts colleges and state schools. Each kid has about 250k in 529s. It is in Vanguard 529 based on age. If they go to the most expensive college we may have to cash flow a little every year which shouldn’t be an issue for us. We stopped investing in the 529 about 7 years ago (we aggressively saved the first 10 years of their lives). I am happy we are in a low risk asset allocation now given the market flux going on. I have no regrets that we over saved or anything like that — if they don’t use it for college they will for graduate school.

Depends on so much. I have some close friends from my very early days and I have paid for airfare / hotel for one of them who hit hard times. I have some other friends who are more financial peers and we don’t totally keep track — sometimes we split, sometimes one of us picks it up. They flew to see us and we paid for a super nice dinner. I also accept when another couple picks it up (and try to remember to get it next time).

We purchased a new car about 45 days ago. We were deciding between a Mazda CX-5 and a Subaru Outback. I emailed 4 dealers and asked for drive off the lot pricing and got 4 quotes on a VIN (I looked online for an available VIN on the dealer’s lot). I got 4 prices and then asked for drive off the lot pricing. I got different numbers from 2 of 4 of them (argh) and one dealer had “just sold” the VIN I was looking for and did I want the fancy one (no). Ultimately I went with the lower priced car (the mazda) all in — despite the Subaru being cheaper sticker. Went in the next day and drove it off the lot. Likely paid more than we would have 2 years ago. Paid MSRP plus some taxes. Overall easy and fast. YMMV

Beaches Turks and Caicos. Been several times. Highly recommend.

That's a great shot, but you don't need a full frame Canon, as I'm sure Sandtrap would agree ... Here's a shot taken with a Tamron 100-400 on a Nikon d7500 (crop sensor). Handheld, maybe 10 feet away. It's a bit higher ISO (1250) and lower shutter speed (also 1250) than I like, but that's all the light I had. When a hummingbird hovers, the head stays pretty still. This image has been cropped a bit, but you could print moderately large with it. https://i.postimg.cc/2j2TYBL4/Hummer.jpg If money wasn’t a big concern what system would you go for? Either the top-end Sony full frame or the just released Nikon Z9 full frame. 6k to 8k for just the camera body. But these are pro quality all the way. Plus the expensive lenses to feed them after the ...

That's a great shot, but you don't need a full frame Canon, as I'm sure Sandtrap would agree ...

Here's a shot taken with a Tamron 100-400 on a Nikon d7500 (crop sensor). Handheld, maybe 10 feet away. It's a bit higher ISO (1250) and lower shutter speed (also 1250) than I like, but that's all the light I had. When a hummingbird hovers, the head stays pretty still. This image has been cropped a bit, but you could print moderately large with it.

If money wasn’t a big concern what system would you go for?

I'm not vineviz. But I have the 150mm-600mm's little brother, the 100-400. I like it quite well; light, decent autofocus, decent sharpness. Great value for the money. ... It doesn't quite have the reach of the 150-600, but otherwise was clearly better in every single way. Well, except for price .... ... My guess is that if you get the G2 version you'll be more than satisfied. Thanks to both of you for a nice response! I'll check out TN_Boy's link. I'm really just looking for some longer reach than I can get with my current 70-300. I'm not terribly serious about it and price is a concern so it sounds like the 150-600 will be a satisfying purchase. We have gotten excellent results with the Sigma 150-600 on full frame sensor cameras. Here is ...

wow thank you all for your feedback some updates - budget let's say 5k - want to print them out and frame them (my last Africa trip 20 years ago I had some awesome shots framed) let's say at least 8x11 in size - high school sports are soccer, football and lacrosse -- outside and in mixed lighting some are day time full sun, some are partial and some are under stadium lights -- open to having a small tripod - dustproof for sure! - will have to look into sensor tech - wow I had not idea Nikon was such a laggard - I don't think I am super keen on video -- call me old school - I am not going for photography but for sure plan to spend time taking photos -- we have a camp with a water hole hide where I would be happy to be all day I LOVE watching...

I’d love some advice for a good camera and lenses for safari and kids high school sports. I used to have a Nikon fm/fm2 so it’s been a while. I’m willing to spend a few grand to get something that will be a good flexible camera and a couple lenses. Thanks for any advice!!

We just got a Mazda CX-5 but we were considering the forester. The price was a lot better on the Mazda. Ymmv

angelescrest wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:48 am

Hillview wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 8:21 am In cali just renewed a minor passport. Same experience as you on getting an appointment at post office. We paid for expedited service and expedited mailing both ways. Our post office appt was feb 17 we got the new one in the mail march 11.

So even back in Feb it was a very long wait for an appointment. Good grief. Did you use the minor’s birth certificate and old passport to confirm their identity?

Yes original birth certificate and brought a photo copy and original passport.

In cali just renewed a minor passport. Same experience as you on getting an appointment at post office. We paid for expedited service and expedited mailing both ways. Our post office appt was feb 17 we got the new one in the mail march 11.

We look to be getting very close to our number for a successful retirement (like a year or less out). For the sake of this post assume it is “enough” including health care, college, etc. My shifting is moving to what would keep us from retiring. Would love to hear from people who didn’t retire (or don’t plan to soon but could) on what keeps you working. Have you made any other changes in job or lifestyle as a result? Are there other factors you consider (kids not in college or done with college yet)?