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LinusP

When I was in college, I needed a tux for orchestral concerts I was performing in. I couldn't afford a new tux at that point, so I bought a used one from a place that had rented then out. Think it was about $100 with accessories, including shoes. That was over 20 years ago, and I've probably worn it...

LinusP

Others make good points about the dangers loans can pose. But if you're going into it for the right reasons, not to spend more than you have, I think TSP loans are perfectly fine. Two things I gleaned from the What so scary about TSP loans? thread: If you already have the amount of the loan in the G...

LinusP

I don't see anything related to Turbo Tax on the Summary tab - for All Accounts, or any of the individual accounts. I have Brokerage, Cash Management, HSA, and Visa credit card accounts with Fidelity; <$5k in each except Brokerage, which is just over $100k. I'm not particularly disappointed; just a ...

LinusP

I think you’re trying to ask if it matters how your available 0% space is allocated between QDI distributions, LTCG distributions if applicable, and LTCG voluntarily realized by TGH. Yes, I think this is essentially what I'm asking. Thanks, this is a much clearer way to both think about it and say ...

LinusP

More info: We might leave California sometime in the next couple of years, but doing so would probably be for a higher-paying job that would reduce or eliminate our space in the 0% long-term capital gain bracket. I hope to retire on the early side, but not before my minimum retirement age of 57 sinc...

LinusP

Bump - it would be nice to get some feedback on this.

LinusP

You are on the right path. There are threads that talk about the small differences in FSKAX and FTIHX. You are looking for bigger fish to fry. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=268311 You need to be looking for ways to get your nest egg out of taxable and into retirement accounts (Ro...

LinusP

First, the question: Other things being equal, is a fund that has higher qualified dividends and/or long-term capital gains distributions any less tax-efficient for taxpayers in the 12% bracket (who pay 0% tax on long-term capital gains) , if they plan to tax gain harvest? How I got to that question...

LinusP

why did you choose not to roll your other retirement accounts into the TSP, if you had such an option. I don't think you can rollover a Roth IRA into TSP. I also have a taxable account; if I ever had trouble finding cash to max out TSP contributions, I'd raid those funds...but haven't needed to yet.

LinusP

By the way, TSP can directly simulate TSM with a 80%/20% C/S allocation. Actually, it's closer to 87%/13% these days. See Thrift Savings Plan in the wiki for a reference. Do you simulate this fund or use the L fund in your portfolio? I started out with an age-appropriate L fund and a target date fu...

LinusP

I consider your savings to be your net income (gross income minus taxes minus expenses) that is invested or held in cash or cash equivalents. Just because "savings account" and "savings rate" share a word doesn't mean they're that closely related. When you contribute to a stock fund in your 401k, t...

LinusP

...and just like that, VMFXX's TEY advantage over VMMXX/VUSXX is pretty much gone. After a small bump in VMFXX's yield, it's dropped 7 basis points in the last two days.

LinusP

[...] I had been using the following =index(importhtml("http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/"&B12,"table",3),2,5) [...] This used to work. However, for the past few days, it seems this method is broken as the nasdaq website just shows "n/a" for the data. Anyone with the smarts to help figure out how to ge...

LinusP

[...] I had been using the following =index(importhtml("http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/"&B12,"table",3),2,5) [...] This used to work. However, for the past few days, it seems this method is broken as the nasdaq website just shows "n/a" for the data. Anyone with the smarts to help figure out how to ge...

LinusP

Yields have been dropping, and Vanguard Prime Money Market (VMMXX) is no exception. Reported 7-day SEC yields for 9/17/2019 are 2.06% for VMMXX, 2.05% for Federal Money Market (VMFXX, the default sweep account), and 1.96% for Treasury Money Market (VUSXX, $50k minimum). By my calculations (adding VM...

LinusP

Folks - all of this conversation about international has no place in the "U.S. stocks in free fall" thread. Can we get back to the inane banter about "buying the dip", please?

LinusP

By doing this, you are missing out on growth potential of the money you take out of the TSP. I think it is a bad idea. If he has at least the loan amount in the G fund, he could change his allocations just prior to taking out the loan, such that there would be very little "opportunity cost" lost - ...

LinusP

I-bonds can be rolled into 529 accounts tax-free Note- subject to income limits. (May be exceeded by someone with enough income to have fully/over funded 529s.) Thanks for pointing this out. IRS Form 8815 spells out modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) for 2018 under $94,550 for single, head-of-ho...

LinusP

Does anyone have any suggestions/advice on where to put the money for an approximate 6 year time horizon? We stopped funding 529s for our kids to be cautious about over-funding. My current favorite idea is to start buying Series I Savings Bonds in the 5-7 years before they start school - the nice f...

LinusP

I haven't talked to Ally to confirm, but I'm guessing I didn't get an email because I have a $0 balance in my savings account.

LinusP

Is anyone else having trouble with the Excel Quotes Add-In? I've refreshed many times, but can't seem to get any new data since last Tuesday's close (July 30th).

LinusP

Yeah, people just don't understand the numbers. As you said if during the course of their career they use up 1 year of annual leave (credit time, comp time, etc.) instead of sick leave, they are throwing away one full year of salary to get 1% extra on a pension that is somewhere in the neighborhood...

LinusP

Yeah, people just don't understand the numbers. As you said if during the course of their career they use up 1 year of annual leave (credit time, comp time, etc.) instead of sick leave, they are throwing away one full year of salary to get 1% extra on a pension that is somewhere in the neighborhood...

LinusP

I recently was sitting at the outdoor patio of a hotel on an insanely hot day... they had this amazing overhead fan that sprayed the perfect amount of mist on you while you sat. It never made you feel wet and the water never collected. [...] Our back patio gets super hot in the sun and something li...

LinusP

Something like this makes sense to me:

Code: Select all

        VTSAX -> VFIAX -> VLCAX
      /
VTWAX            VTMGX
      \        /
        VTIAX
               \
                 VEMAX

LinusP

2) DAF makes it very flexible to meet your SALT (such as every-other-year) and tweak your marginal rates when needed. (DAF is an excellent tax tool) A friend told me about this strategy a year ago, and since then I have set up a DAF to facilitate it. As others above have mentioned, it also goes wel...

LinusP

For me, even if I was in the highest tax bracket, that would be a huge savings since saving half of 39% is more than saving half of 10% or 12%! If my marginal tax rate rate were 39%, I'd be pretty skeptical about paying "19.5%" tax (after a 50% drop) if my marginal tax rate could be lower than that...

LinusP

IMHO - There's nothing wrong with TLH, but it's generally a waste of time, especially if you're investing in big, broad-based index funds or ETF's. Assuming that you're using the famous 3-fund portfolio (or some similar variant) and you rebalance with cash flows, then you probably don't have any re...

LinusP

I think the definition of "taxable income" that's relevant for capital gains calculations is essentially the last line on Form 1040 before the calculation of tax. So yes, it's after subtracting adjustments to income and standard/itemized deductions.

LinusP

No. In this scenario, he would pay 0% tax on only $1 of LTCG. Or maybe $0 depending on what the limit represents. The rest would be taxed at 15%. I'm not sure this is right. My understanding is that the capital gains rate is based on taxable income, so since he's coming in $1 under that, all gains ...

LinusP

bgyt wrote: ↑
Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:15 pm
By the way, TSP can directly simulate TSM with a 80%/20% C/S allocation.

Actually, it's closer to 87%/13% these days. See Thrift Savings Plan in the wiki for a reference.

LinusP

Average net worth for my age is will over one million dollars. https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-average-household-net-worth-in-america-is-huge/ I was feeling good about my returns and the increase in the value of my stuff but the numbers put me in my place. You should read up on the difference ...

LinusP

No one can predict the market's next move. DCA is nice when the market keeps rising, not so nice when it keeps falling, unless it turns up again quickly and you bought low. When you have a choice between investing a lump sum and dollar cost averaging, lump sum is better if the market continues to r...

LinusP

Kevin M wrote: ↑
Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:02 pm
[...] if the income from USGO for VMFXX is about the same percentage as last year, the TEY also is slightly higher for me than for VUSXX.

I pulled the trigger on switching back from VUSXX to VMFXX today - no sense leaving 5 bp on the table, right?

LinusP

I think Watty's approach is spot on. My wife is staying at home with our two kids (ages 10 months and 1 year 10 months). We had saved up a bunch of extra cash to use in supplementing my income after she stopped working. I also have some taxable stock funds slated for retirement, and intend to sell t...

LinusP

Thanks all, this is making more sense to me. In many ways, I think what's most advantageous is to have a mix of high-gain and low-gain lots so you preserve options - for high gains, make charitable donations or leave to heirs (who get a step-up in basis); for low gains, harvest future losses, or, fo...

LinusP

So do you sell those assets with the higher percentage gain or the lowest. Assume no matter what choice you will harvest the same dollar amount of gain. Any thoughts as to which is best and under what circumstances? Sell from assets with higher percentage gain, because those with lowest percentage ...

LinusP

Tomwood (the OP) is talking about contributing the max to TSP, which is $19k this year. Whether you contribute to Roth or Traditional, you still have that $19k in your TSP (plus any gains or minus any losses). TSP doesn't take out anything for taxes. If you contribute to Traditional, it's possible y...

LinusP

I currently hold DODIX in my PayFlex Health Savings Account (HSA). There are so many better bond funds with lower expense ratios, but none of those are available in my HSA, so DODIX is what I'm stuck with for now. It's acceptable, but I don't know why one would choose it if lower-expense options wer...

LinusP

Actually the Roth TSP does have RMDs, but this is easily avoided by transferring your Roth money to Roth IRA before your RMDs start. Thanks, I edited my post so there wasn't bad information lurking in the thread. I removed the incorrect portion of my post, too. And I learned something new today! :w...

LinusP

Lots of feds retire to PA because it doesn't tax pensions. But what if you plan to retire in FL where there is no state income tax? If so, a traditional TSP is for you. I searched for states who don’t tax pensions and there are quite a few. If I plan to retire in PA, FL or a similar state, should I...

LinusP

I'm revisiting this, after letting Dodecahedron's comments sink in a bit and doing more reading. In the adjustment from two incomes to one, I had been quite focused on having enough liquid assets to cover any shortfall. Tallying up our various options for shortfall funds, though, has been eye-openin...

LinusP

A three fund portfolio is very easy to build at the TSP. The TSP C Fund is indexed to the S&P 500. The S Fund is indexed to a completion index of smaller capitalization stocks. The ratio changes a little with time but if you go 80% C Fund and 20% S Fund you'll replicate Total Stock Market. Actually...

LinusP

A three fund portfolio is very easy to build at the TSP. The TSP C Fund is indexed to the S&P 500. The S Fund is indexed to a completion index of smaller capitalization stocks. The ratio changes a little with time but if you go 80% C Fund and 20% S Fund you'll replicate Total Stock Market. Actually...

LinusP

Does the G fund offer the same projected return as the bond fund suggested in the 3 fund portfolio? Not precisely, no, but I would say its overall function in your portfolio is essentially the same. I believe the 'classic' 3-fund portfolio uses Total Bond Market for bonds, which would be the F Fund...

LinusP

Congrats on your new job! There are challenges to being a fed, but many rewards as well. First, read Thrift Savings Plan in the wiki. There's a bunch of helpful info in there. Depending on how you want to look at it, the G Fund is either a (usually) higher-rate money market account or a bond fund wi...

LinusP

I pay out of pocket for current medical expenses, scan/file receipts and keep track of the total amount of HSA funds I may withdraw tax free. This amount is figured into my emergency fund. Anytime I pay a medical expense, I view it as a deposit into my EF. Does that mean your emergency fund is stil...

LinusP

TSP does not allow after tax contributions to their plan. This is incorrect - TSP has offered a Roth contribution option since 2012. You can't do in-plan Roth conversions in TSP, but that's a different animal. I wasn’t talking about Roth TSP, but about making after-tax contributions (similar to mak...

LinusP

livesoft wrote: ↑
Fri Jun 14, 2019 2:33 pm
(...) it usually pays off because a lot of dentistry is not an emergency in my opinion.

In my opinion, a lot of dental work isn't important, let alone necessary or 'an emergency'. The Atlantic: The Truth About Dentistry

LinusP

Some states have TOD deeds that work just like a TOD bank account (the mechanics of that were that after the last parent died, we (the kids named as TOD beneficiaries) sold the house by providing a death certificate at closing; that was all the paperwork required). That assumes you have heirs that ...

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