Bogleheads.org

I was going to +1 "on the back" but you can also install a hitch receiver on the front, if you want to mount a winch, have a good tow/recovery point, use a cargo thing on the front, etc. I've read that it can be easier to park a trailer if you hitch it to the front, but I've never thought about it or tried it.

I keep a checklist of all the "topics" that are relevant to me in a Google spreadsheet. Each "topic" is a thing I need to make sure gets handled. W-2 from employer, 1099 from each bank/brokerage. If I get a new bank account, or do something weird (like a backdoor Roth or a options box spread) I add it to the checklist.

The checklist has two columns, one for "received the necessary paperwork" and the other for "entered into the tax form." Then I just sit down for a half hour every week or two starting in February and poke stuff in. Once all the things are checked off (usually early to mid March), I just press the E-File button.

Vanguard has at least one money market fund that is only treasurys. I think it's fair to say that doesn't need FDIC insurance. It's probably safer than an insured deposit account.

Although some states are more tax friendly than others, choosing a tax free state may not always cost you less. In tax free states, keep in mind, you'll end up paying either way. Tax frees states have higher property taxes, higher car registrations, higher sales taxes etc. This is just generally, of course, but try not to assume that you'll spend less in a tax free state, the state makes up for the loss in taxes in other ways. Several organizations (CATO and KFF for example) maintain "per capita tax burden" data by state, to compensate for this. It includes the average tax paid per citizen including income, property, sales, and other taxes. It doesn't cover cost of living, however, so it's never a full picture. Knowing that every...

If you work for 40 years, the idea of having 25% of your lifetime's wealth taken away (equivalent to 10 YEARS of labor) by someone doing a few hours of work per year, is nothing short of horrifying.

I'm really surprised and not surprised that you're not sure you convinced anyone.

I will begin with bonds from 11/2016 that have no penalty and a 0% fixed rate. In May the 6.48% rate will expire.

I have deferred a lot of spending while I-bond rates were sky-high. I will be redeeming a lot starting in May.

Any reasonable quality cooler with a good amount of ice (I usually do 1/3 by volume) will do it, even a shipping box from Omaha Steaks. I wouldn't recommend dry ice in a car. If the HVAC is off (like when it's parked) it can replace all your oxygen with CO2.

It would be nice if the fixed rate was at least enough to pay the tax on the inflation component, otherwise it is guaranteed to be net negative after tax, which to me is not a good long term investment.

SevenBridgesRoad wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 10:13 am We're like a dysfunctional family rehashing the same tired arguments at the dinner table every night.

I haven't hit a rebalance band in 3 years, so there's not much else to do.

I think the SS advice on this forum is very good. Take it if you need to, defer it if you can. Bias your decision based on any knowledge you have about whether your expected life span is shorter or longer than the average.

My strategy:

• Buy a used phone for $100-$150 on eBay from a seller with over 10,000 or maybe even 100,000 sales.
• Be prepared to send back the first or even second phone if a function doesn't work or its too scratched. A high volume seller like that will accept the return with no questions.
• When you get a solid one, keep the phone for 3-4 years

davedci1 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 5:25 pm This happened to me recently with a Chase card. I payed the balance on the exact due date but was still charged an interest charge. Called them right away. He explained that the statement closes a couple days before the due date. So for instance, my statement due date was the 25th but they close it off on the 22nd. Not sure why they do that but they were able to refund the charge and now I make sure to pay a couple days before the statement due date. Hope this helps.

That seems odd. Most of my cards have 15-20 days between the statement close and payment due date.

I see, you are right, that makes sense. You can make any other denomination besides $10,000 that way. If you're exploring, technically you can use any index option. RUT, NDX, VIX, etc. There are a bunch of others on https://www.boxtrades.com/. I have no idea how they all compare regarding spreads or liquidity.

D.Edelstein wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:39 am Anyone have experience with liquidity using xsp? I would like to take some smaller spreads but don't want 2million options for a 20k loan.

I used XSP when I was playing with boxes to practice with small dollar values. I don't recall anything negative about it. However for $20k, you'll use 10x fewer options and pay less commission if you use SPX.

OP, there is a lot of differing advice here, and I believe none of it is wrong. It just shows there is a wide range of choices, and what matters are your values and preferences, as long as your choices are deliberate, and not a result of being uninformed or by not making a choice. Good luck and keep us in the loop.

$2.5M at 22 is easily $8M in real terms at retirement. I would put it all in VTI and pretend it doesn't exist for 30-40 years. (Although I would tap it to pay for college and when the time comes, to buy a house, or for any other "responsible" needs.) Just live your life doing what you would if it didn't exist, but knowing that retirement is "solved." There will be a lot of small issues along the way (such as "I have a $2.5M taxable account, should I contribute to my 401k?") just ask those in this forum. There is no need for PAS, you will have enough time to become your own expert. Keep it quiet, no "financial advisor", no whole life, no variable annuity. You might use a CPA for this year or a couple o...

Regarding series I - most people (including me) say let's wait until we see the March CPI number in April.
Series EE - It's not looking good unless you highly value tax deferral or guaranteed principal. (The value of an EE bond will not go down if/when interest rates go up.)

exodusNH wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 10:33 am Can you take a 401k loan if you're no longer working for the employer that's sponsoring the plan?

No.

TFB did a great treatment of this.

https://thefinancebuff.com/401k-loan-do ... -myth.html

OkanePlease wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 2:48 pm Adding to my previous comment, a new problem. On my current 1099, e-Trade attributed one of my monthly dividends as a long-term capital gain. Now on hold (interminable) to figure out how to get this fixed. Might have to wait for an amended 1099, which delays filing my tax return. I'll be glad when e-Trade is finally history for me.

Are you so certain you didn't receive a capital gains distribution?

RJC wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:51 am This is my concern. It is just a one-off so hopefully no issues.

Will feel very weird trying to deposit a big wad of cash though.

Everyone on this thread, including me (the most paranoid), concur that a one-time $6K cash deposit is not an issue at all. However I think it's a good thing to be aware of potential risks and I compliment you for thinking of it and asking.

HueyLD wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:24 am Unless you have engaged in illegal activities, there is nothing to worry about.

This is definitely NOT true. I have read more than one news story about a legitimate business making regular deposits between $9,000 and $10,000 just because of the natural flow of business, and getting their account seized and getting into legal trouble for structuring. Regardless of whether those issues are ultimately resolved, this is a situation you don't want to be in.

For this reason, it is best to avoid any activity that APPEARS illegal, and it is worthwhile to make some effort to know what these appearances are.

Also, in my experience, I usually have to POLITELY remind the bank employee that it's none of their business where I got this cash from.

[Unnecessary comment removed by admin LadyGeek] However anything under $10,000 is not something that I would give a second thought about. Let's say it were true that you would get put on a terrorist watch list for having $6,000 cash, it's actually a fairly small amount of money you could just put it in a drawer and use it for regular expenses until it is gone. Just with groceries and normal shopping and whatnot I would have it recycled in about 3 months.

TIPS are certain to earn 1.5% above inflation for whatever time period you choose.

I transferred some ETFs from Vanguard to ETrade and the cost basis updated in a day or two, so I think giving them 4 weeks is more than generous!

When I've needed help, I emailed my rep and he called me the same day or the next day. I did not have to be on hold. If he didn't know how to fix my problem, he went and found whoever he needed and called me back.

Yes, and then we'll know if it's "a must"

same as everyone else, including:

Checking account routing/number for ACH
Frequent flyer IDs
Nonsense answers to security questions
Keypad lock codes
Cryptocurrency keys
Volume encryption keys (truecrypt, etc)
Gift card numbers
Medical insurance card info (group/policy/phone numbers)

Yes of course if you want to lock in the rate for a year, a CD or Treasury is the way to go. However Ally Bank doesn't compete directly with I-Bonds, I expect the savings account rate to follow short-term interest rates, not the future I-Bond rate. Savings account rates are never guaranteed, so I didn't mean to suggest that.

With the CPI basically unchanged for 6 months, I'm expecting the next I-Bond variable rate to be zero, or near zero.

6.89% for six months, and 0% for another six is 3.4%, which is lower than money markets. An Ally savings account will give you that.

We'll know for sure when the March CPI is released. Until then, I'm with everyone else who is NOT loading up.

Anything for 10+ years should be in something like BND, which has a 7-year duration. The fact that shorter-term bonds are yielding more right now would make me second-guess that a bit, but I think I'd still go for locking in that longer-term yield.

snackdog wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:59 am Can the Chatbot program it to show me threads based on others I have commented on??

It should just summarize the threads so you don't have to read them.

In 5 or 7 years, the conventional loan rate could be horrible.

Power move would be to take the 7-year ARM, and pay it off in 7 years.

I use OTA exactly once a year to watch the super bowl, because I don't subscribe to anything.

Mel Lindauer wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:43 pm And, if for some reason you decide to redeem them because the rate drops drastically, you may want to wait three months so that you're not losing three months at 6.89% but rather, three months at that new lower rate.

You're talking about I-Bonds that you're already holding, right? Because if you buy in April you're holding until next April no matter what.

The CPI change from June to December was 0.16%. If this trend continues through March, you'll be looking at 6 months of near-zero to average into your 6.89%.

https://eyebonds.info/ibonds/index.html will show you the value of an I-Bond as far in the future as is knowable.

I kind of agree with everyone so far.

• There is a simple beauty in surrendering the policy. You will be free of the shackles of this thing. No more agonizing over what to do. Financially, this decision is either pretty good, almost optimal, or optimal.
• A raw number-crunching approach may reveal that the IRR is higher if you keep the policy, and do some things. Financially, this decision is either really bad, ok, pretty good, almost optimal, or optimal.

By surrendering the policy, you guarantee the outcomes of "pretty good" or better. By keeping it, you have an additional shot at finding the "optimal" but "really bad" is out there, too.

Yeah, that's tough. People talk about whole life policies "blowing up" due to loans, and I'd say this is a pretty good example of blow'd up.

The net tax hit is around $11,000 then, I'd just eat it and forget all about it. Your annual income is around $400,000, so this is small beans for you.

I am not an anything (lawyer, accountant, comedian), but do you have a mortgage lien on your son's house? If not, then your son has a personal loan, not a mortgage, so I'm guessing a 1098 would not be proper.

(Mortgage interest is tax deductible to the borrower, so if people could just say a loan is a mortgage, I expect it would open up opportunities for tax fraud.)

Let me toss out an example. Let's say your AGI is $69,450 (making it easy for myself). The 12% tax bracket is $89,450, so you could surrender $20,000 and pay 12% tax ($2400) and use the remainder ($17,600) to pay down the loan. Repeat this every year until it's gone.

It would take 10 years to unwind it this way, but in the end you'll only pay 12% tax (which is 40% of the cash value) instead of potentially 22% tax (or 75% of the cash value), given this set of tax bracket assumptions.

This also assumes the premiums and dividends are more or less fair. If the policy contract is a raw deal, then taking the full tax hit and getting out while you can may still be the play.

What is your tax bracket?

Does your policy dividend have direct recognition of the loan balance? If so, what is the spread between the loan rate and the direct recognition dividend rate? If this spread is not large, it wouldn't cost much to sit on it while you're thinking about it, or wait until you're in a lower tax bracket and surrender it then, or do partial surrenders over time to stay in a good tax bracket.

prozario01 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 3:51 pm For purpose of IBOND holding period (3 months penalty, 12 months holding etc) - my understanding is if you buy any time during the month, it is counted as whole month. So we should always buy near end of the month like 28th or so (allowing a few days for processing) & gain the whole month's interest, right?

At same time - for 3 month penalty, you sell at 1st of month - so essentially it'll be 2 months penalty - correct?

I believe that's right, you could consider the minimum holding period 11 months and 2 days if you choose the timeline carefully and nothing goes wrong.

I still have all free cash in I-Bonds. In June, they will stop earning 6+%, so we'll see then.

I have been using the spreadsheets from this site (http://www.taxvisor.com/taxes/) for many many years.

Makefile wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 5:04 pm If this continues through March, there will be many sad faces on the next variables Series I bond rate.

Not me! I've been wanting to use the money but I can't bear to withdraw it until the 6% rate is over!

For cash flow, a 0% for 18 months promo credit card was not bad to have. My wife and I each signed up, and we got a combined $35,000 credit limit.

I recently went through this, and one thing that is not typical that I would do from now on is hire my own inspector prior to listing. Having to deal with the items from the buyer's inspection after accepting an offer prolonged the process so much.