Search found 57 matches
- Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:58 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: I wish I could ignore it...but I can't (ZILLOW!)
- Replies: 68
- Views: 9240
Re: I wish I could ignore it...but I can't (ZILLOW!)
If this is too unsettling for you, have you considered getting an appraisal done? (admittedly, a costly affair)
- Sat Aug 10, 2019 8:31 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Bond funds in an HSA
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1651
Re: Bond funds in an HSA
I don't think FIREchief is proposing a 100% stock retirement portfolio at all. I think he's saying that if you are going to let the HSA grow from age 30 till retirement, and you're not going to use it to meet medical expenses, you should place either a tax-inefficient holding (RIET, for example) or...
- Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:08 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Bond funds in an HSA
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1651
Re: Bond funds in an HSA
If I were 30 years old and utilizing an HSA for a long term investment tool (a great approach btw), I would be 100% equities. I've often read similar statements vis-a-vis bond funds (or lack thereof) and HSA. However, when I see the chart here https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_plac...
- Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:06 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mega backdoor roth or something else?
- Replies: 12
- Views: 983
Re: Mega backdoor roth or something else?
If you have already done that, then I suggest exploring in-plan Roth conversions than In service Roth distributions. Can some explain the difference (with pros and cons) between " in-plan Roth conversion " vs Mega backdoor roth ( => after tax 401k-->roth IRA (contribution)+tIRA(earning)...tIRA(earn...
- Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:54 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: $480K, no job, special needs kids, what to do?
- Replies: 52
- Views: 6093
Re: $480K, no job, special needs kids, what to do?
I've no financial wisdom to give. Just wanted to send best wishes to your kids. *hugs* Also, you mentioned " ... I'm concerned that I won't find a position. " . Probably, try polish you resume, learn new relevant skills via online course. How about some freelancing? ( I know it can't substitute for ...
- Wed Mar 13, 2019 8:23 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: TaxAct entering consolidated 1099-B
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1079
Re: TaxAct entering consolidated 1099-B
Thank you all ! That was greatly helpful. 

- Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:45 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: TaxAct entering consolidated 1099-B
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1079
Re: TaxAct entering consolidated 1099-B
Thanks @livesoft! I looked around more, that this is what I found in one of the help sections If you received a consolidated Form 1099-B from your broker that lists more than one sale during the year add a separate Form 1099-B in TaxAct for each sale. So, I guess I will have to enter each transactio...
- Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:15 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: TaxAct entering consolidated 1099-B
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1079
TaxAct entering consolidated 1099-B
Hello, I'm using TaxAct online, for the first time to fill this year's taxes. While adding 1099-B information for my VG transactions, I thought of adding the "consolidated" version (i.e. one entry reflecting the _combined total_ of each individual ones). Thus, on date sold and acquired I wrote "vari...
- Wed Feb 20, 2019 10:34 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: My First Mega Backdoor Roth
- Replies: 21
- Views: 2148
Re: My First Mega Backdoor Roth
OP, I'm a novice, so this is all based on the information I have collected from here, and numerous calls to 401k admin customer care. 1) Someone suggested to keep after-tax money in stable funds. Just fyi, many 401k plans don't allow selective "source-wise" tracking of investments. That is, money fr...
- Wed Jan 30, 2019 9:38 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
- Replies: 29
- Views: 1967
Re: After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
Just to wrap this up, I finally saw the first after-tax contribution coming through. I then proceeded to the roll it over to my VG roth IRA. Towards the end, my 401k admin site stated that there will be a "distribution fee" of $25 charged with this rollover. I was planning to do this every month. I ...
- Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:05 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
- Replies: 29
- Views: 1967
Re: After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
Thank you retiredjg and Spirit Rider for that excellent explanation and providing clarity. I just got off the phone with my plan's admin's representative. She confirmed that the after-tax portion is indeed tracked separately :) . The only thing is, as far as investing goes, the entire 401k money ( p...
- Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:05 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
- Replies: 29
- Views: 1967
Re: After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
Thanks LadyGeek for creating a separate thread for me, and also posting the reply. ======== First, you need to define what you mean by "after tax". There are two different ways that 401k plans can hold money that has already been taxed. It can be in Roth 401k or it can be in a separate after-tax acc...
- Sun Jan 20, 2019 11:43 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
- Replies: 29
- Views: 1967
After-tax 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion - confused about tax treatment
[Split into a new thread from: 401k + aftertax 401k -> roth methodology --admin LadyGeek] tmcc, If you rollover the after tax contribution then you have to rollover the earnings on this after tax amount as well. This earning can be rolled over into tIRA and the contributions to Roth IRA. If you rol...
- Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:07 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: HSA Records: For the IRS, how much is enough?
- Replies: 18
- Views: 1297
Re: HSA Records: For the IRS, how much is enough?
Not sure if this answers your question, but for record keeping, I take a picture of the bill and the receipt right away and send it to my cloud storage (as pdf version). The receipts are stored in a per_calendar_year folder.
- Sat Jan 19, 2019 6:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: 401k + aftertax 401k -> roth methodology
- Replies: 20
- Views: 1661
Re: 401k + aftertax 401k -> roth methodology
1) continue maxing pretax 19k 2) reduce taxable brokerage savings and begin the aftertax 401k targeting 37k for CY2019 ($56k total for pre/post contributions) 3) in 2020, convert all after tax contributions to a roth ira 4) rinse & repeat ...are there any other tactical risks that I am not consider...
- Tue Jan 01, 2019 7:12 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
great idea ! Will certainly do. 

- Tue Jan 01, 2019 6:57 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
As promised, here's the result of my TLH done in my VG taxable account. 1. Details: What are you selling at a loss? -- > VTSAX and VTIAX In which accounts? ---> My taxable account. Neither my spouse nor any of the IRAs have these holdings. When did you last purchase shares in what you are selling? -...
- Mon Dec 31, 2018 4:04 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
And you have to do us a favor. After you make these exchanges, please come back next week and tell us what is shown in your accounts about wash sales (if there is even anything shown about wash sales or not). Most definitely ! I finally planned on doing both - (a) sell all shares in one go b) sell ...
- Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:00 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
Thanks ! That helps clarify this.
Happy new year !!!
Happy new year !!!
- Mon Dec 31, 2018 2:21 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
Thank you - rkhusky and livesoft (as always!) Can you explain how a sale that has both gain and loss mixed will be handled here? Pub 550 states Loss and gain on same day. Loss from a wash sale of one block of stock or securities cannot be used to reduce any gains on identical blocks sold the same da...
- Mon Dec 31, 2018 1:44 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
What are you selling at a loss? In which accounts? When did you last purchase shares in what you are selling? In which accounts did you make those purchases in? https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4289994#p4289994 and my other replies should have answer to some of these. But I'll try t...
- Mon Dec 31, 2018 1:21 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
Thanks, @kaneohe for the reply and re-upping this. Appreciate it ! I'm about to TLH, and I'm upping this to confirm if the my understanding of my loss-profit mix case is correct. Thanks in advance ! I'm not sure I saw your understanding of your loss-profit mix case, so I cannot comment. My understan...
- Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:25 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
I'm about to TLH, and I'm upping this to confirm if the my understanding of my loss-profit mix case is correct.
Thanks in advance !
Thanks in advance !
- Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:57 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
@kaneohe Thanks for the reply and explaining these two points. My (and my spouse's) IRA does not have the same MF that I want to TLH in my taxable account, so I think I should be good. Also, I just checked my VG account and the SpecID details are now visible :) . Thanks, again ! Further, after readi...
- Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:21 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
Re: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
3. Wash sales are NOT illegal. Wash sales happen all the time. IRS Publication 550 and other places describe how to treat wash sales on on one's tax returns. One can have partial wash sales. IRS Publication 550 and other places show how partial wash sales work. I had a long thread not for the faint...
- Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:45 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: More TLH questions...(pl help!)
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1586
More TLH questions...(pl help!)
Hello All, I'm trying to dabble into tax loss harvesting (TLH) for the first time and have a few questions related to it. I have gone through some of the latest posts on this topic, and also read a few personal finance blogs on this. I wanted to make sure my understanding is correct on the following...
- Wed Jun 20, 2018 7:55 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund (VMMXX) breaks 1.00 (% not $)
- Replies: 236
- Views: 50223
Re: Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund (VMMXX) breaks 1.00 (% not $)
How often does VMMXX pay interest / dividend (i.e it gets deposited to the account) ? Is that a fixed scheduled ? Where can I find this information ?
Thanks !
Thanks !
- Thu May 24, 2018 9:40 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buying Treasury Bills: Treasury Direct or Vanguard / Fidelity
- Replies: 86
- Views: 25368
Re: Buying Treasury Bills: Treasury Direct or Vanguard / Fidelity
ThisJustIn, mega317
Thanks for posting detailed instructions. Yes, I can now see the "buy" option. Also, I found this written when I selected to buy 3 months Bills ... "Notes:
Yields include commission."
Thanks, again !
Thanks for posting detailed instructions. Yes, I can now see the "buy" option. Also, I found this written when I selected to buy 3 months Bills ... "Notes:
Yields include commission."
Thanks, again !
- Wed May 23, 2018 10:08 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buying Treasury Bills: Treasury Direct or Vanguard / Fidelity
- Replies: 86
- Views: 25368
Re: Buying Treasury Bills: Treasury Direct or Vanguard / Fidelity
Hello, Bumping this up, as I was also interested in knowing how to buy T-bills through Vangaurd. I want to buy "new issues". I selected "Market" type as Auction and this what came up. As you can see, there's no place to select "buy". How does one go about buying (or placing an order for the next auc...
- Mon May 21, 2018 6:33 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1653
Re: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
Thanks to all for reading and replying to this thread ! I've learnt a few new things today. And yes, I was more concerned with having confidence (or lack thereof) in the choices I make, rather than explaining it to someone. Your responses and link to resources have helped me with that. A few quick p...
- Sun May 20, 2018 9:02 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1653
Re: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
Thanks for responding ! There are some funds that seem to have better performance than the typical Boglehead Index fund, BUT once you calculate the added fees COMPOUNDED, the performance is below the Index funds. I looked at 5 year, 10 year and Since inception. Did I miss something? So, let's take t...
- Sun May 20, 2018 8:50 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1653
Re: Please help me rationalise 401k investment choice
Thanks for your replies ! My follow-on comments: And why would you need to rationalize your choices to this person? Mostly to be confident in my choice, backed by sound reasoning ( which at the time of discussion with my colleague, I was unable to provide) Were there other index funds available that...
- Sun May 20, 2018 8:07 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1653
Please help me rationalise this 401k investment choice
Hello to all, I've been following this forum for a few months now, and have learnt a lot. Alas, with some knowledge comes plenty of doubts ! I was discussing the geenral Boggleheads philosophy and specifically the 3-fund portfolio with my colleague. I shared with him how that this has informed my se...
- Sun May 13, 2018 5:06 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Why are rising Bond Yields bad?
- Replies: 37
- Views: 5529
Re: Why are rising Bond Yields bad?
a) If the bond yield is rising, then why all VG bond mutual funds show -ve YTD ? Is it because the price of the bonds, within these funds is falling ? How this works ? b) How to read SEC yield ? If the rates are up, bonds should give better returns, right ? Is that reflective in SEC or YTD number ?...
- Fri May 11, 2018 8:34 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: CDs for non-resident aliens?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2346
Re: CDs for non-resident aliens?
Hello,
Yes there are. A few like Live Oak have this categorically stated that only US citizens can open CD account with them.
Others, like FIB, Ally have no such restriction.
Hope this helps.
Good luck !
Yes there are. A few like Live Oak have this categorically stated that only US citizens can open CD account with them.
Others, like FIB, Ally have no such restriction.
Hope this helps.
Good luck !
- Sat May 05, 2018 11:46 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Backdoor Roth (Vanguard) Do I "buy" or "exchange?"
- Replies: 8
- Views: 804
Re: Backdoor Roth (Vanguard) Do I "buy" or "exchange?"
OP,
You can call them. They will do it for you. I know, this is not an answer to your question. Just suggesting another way.
Good luck !
You can call them. They will do it for you. I know, this is not an answer to your question. Just suggesting another way.
Good luck !
- Tue May 01, 2018 8:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Berkshire Hathaway B
- Replies: 65
- Views: 8602
Re: Berkshire Hathaway B
(Stupid question?) If I’ve mutual funds of total stock market (like VTSAX), does it also mean I have Berkshire H shares? Asking mostly, if I can use this logic to get some Geico discount 

- Sun Apr 29, 2018 9:47 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: ESPP taxing rules, to hold or not to hold
- Replies: 39
- Views: 6123
Re: ESPP taxing rules, to hold or not to hold
Hey OP! I'm a newbie and wanted to limit the context of my reply just to the ESPP's taxation aspect. I've always get confused about this, and have found the following explainers as useful reminders: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/investments-and-taxes/employee-stock-purchase-plans/L8NgMFpFX ht...
- Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:25 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Why are rising Bond Yields bad?
- Replies: 37
- Views: 5529
Re: Why are rising Bond Yields bad?
(Apologies to the OP, if this digresses the issue being discussed...) In the similar vain of what's been discussed here: http://i63.tinypic.com/9kyrv6.png a) If the bond yield is rising, then why all VG bond mutual funds show -ve YTD ? Is it because the price of the bonds, within these funds is fall...
- Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:59 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buying T-bills ..help needed
- Replies: 17
- Views: 3043
Re: Buying T-bills ..help needed
Sorry for the late reply. Thank you all !!! Very helpful, as always ! I called VG today. He agreed the two - YTM and YTW should be same for T-bills. It was a weird conversation, where both of us were looking at the same CUSIP number, and while his YTM and YTW were same, it was showing different on m...
- Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:02 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buying T-bills ..help needed
- Replies: 17
- Views: 3043
Buying T-bills ..help needed
Hello Friends, First of all thanks again for being so helpful ! I was trying to buy T-bills. I looked for the information online. It appears there are 2 ways to buy it - treasurey direct or secondary market (brokerage account). I couldn't fully grasp the process via TD (bidding, etc.), so thought of...
- Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:34 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Foreign national - Trouble opening Ally account - Help !
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1117
Re: Foreign national - Trouble opening Ally account - Help !
Thanks everyone for sharing your views. HueyLD wrote: You should leave it blank. @HueyLD : Ally's equivalent W-9 is different. There's no provision to leave anything blank or redact. I have to declare that I'm exempt from FACTA. @dknightd Yes, I do have SSN. I can see what the general direction mood...
- Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:06 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Foreign national - Trouble opening Ally account - Help !
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1117
Foreign national - Trouble opening Ally account - Help !
I'm a foreign national ( i.e. non- US citizen ). I'm a US resident alien (for tax purposes ). I was trying to open online checking account with Ally. Everything went fine, till I reach step -4 of "Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification". They want me to certify that : 1. The nu...
- Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:26 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: I bonds rates and returns
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1727
Re: I bonds rates and returns
Thank you all for your replies. @lahob wrote : 2.58% is the annualized percentage, so no. You'll get 1.29% over that six months. and then 1.16% That's very useful. May I know how did you arrive at these numbers ? (for educational purpose) OP wrote : Assuming rates remain the same.... Savings Bond Ca...
- Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:38 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: I bonds rates and returns
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1727
I bonds rates and returns
Hello Friends, I have three rudimentary questions, that I'm struggling with. 1) https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds_iratesandterms.htm mentions that the I-bonds are currently giving a rate of return of 2.58%. It is also written that The interest is compounded semi...
- Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:55 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: A Basic Investment Question
- Replies: 4
- Views: 892
Re: A Basic Investment Question
@grabiner, @sport ... that was educational. Thanks for your replies !
- Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:22 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: A Basic Investment Question
- Replies: 4
- Views: 892
A Basic Investment Question
Hello Friends, A basic question on investing. Consider someone has decided on her AA - 90% Share are 10% fixed income (bonds/CDs/etc). Further, consider she has a mortgage of around, say 3.8 % APR. Assuming yield from bonds/CDs is around 2-2.5%, I wanted to know, which of the following two choices i...
- Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:40 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Any way to raise credit score 3 points in a month?
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1703
Re: Any way to raise credit score 3 points in a month?
Not sure, if it applies to everyone or how big a factor is in determining credit score, but this is what I have seen. I've always paid monthly statement amount in full, before the due date, but also always in lump-sum , at the end of the month. I tired a different approach recently, where I pay almo...
- Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:35 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Roth IRA tax help !!!
- Replies: 4
- Views: 445
Re: Roth IRA tax help !!!
Thank you all !! _/\_
You guys are awesome !!!
You guys are awesome !!!

- Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:45 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Roth IRA tax help !!!
- Replies: 4
- Views: 445
Roth IRA tax help !!!
Hello Friends, My wife and I contributed to non-deductible traditional IRA ( $5500 each ) for 2017 tax year and later converted it to Roth IRA. This amount ( of non-deductible contribution ) was mentioned in 8606 form. The tax return was filed and refund received. It was only yesterday, that I reali...