Bogleheads.org

Here's the article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/yale-unive ... _permalink

(anyone who is a subscriber can share a certain number per month)

When I had a near-death experience with my dissertation committee in the early 90s and slunk home licking my wounds, my mother paid the TM fee ($200 for a student at the time) for me to learn. I had tried meditating on my own with no success, but the first time meditating with the teacher, I entered a blissful state where I felt out of the world. I meditated regularly for about 20 years (and I did complete my degree!), got slothful for a few years, then resumed regular practice during the pandemic. I have also taken the complete midfulness course developed by Jon Kabatt-Zinn and taken a couple of yoga classes focused on savasana with Glenn Black. I rarely practice mindfulness or do yoga/ savasana, but I meditate every day and I feel it give...

I have had Alliant Credit Union for 5 years (like others who have posted, have always used credit unions - since I was 18) and have had no problems so far with it being online only.

An additional consideration is state tax treatment of 401k vs IRA. California taxes EVERYTHING, so if you intend to stay there, it doesn't matter for you. In Maryland, I get up to 34k withdrawn from 401k but not IRA tax free.

If I understand this IRS page correctly, you can file while awaiting the correction https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/heres-what ... -documents

I grew up in a mid-19th century farmhouse in Connecticut with hot water radiators and owned a Wisconsin home with forced air heat and in my opinion hot water radiators are far superior to forced air/minisplit. Radiant heat is quiet and efficient. As mentioned by another poster, heat pumps struggle to operate well at the coldest temperatures, which is right when you'd be looking for a minisplit to provide heat. I think hot water baseboards are less likely to get air pockets than steam radiators, but the suggestion that you have lime buildup in the radiators is quite reasonable. Theoretically that boiler is plenty large enough for your size house. It may have lost efficiency over the years, but it's equally possible that you need to do more w...

The social security site now allows you to tailor the results to your situation. For example, if you are retiring from work at age 65, but not planning to take social security until 70, you can enter 0 for projected income from age 65 to 70 (or 5k, 10k etc if you intent to work part-time) and it will provide an estimate based on that projection.

You could consider doing COBRA first, doing your Roth conversions during those 3 years and then switching to ACA. Definitely go to your state's ACA site and see what kind of subsidy you might get and what kind of medical plans are available. I was surprised to see what a high subsidy my sister could get in Connecticut in spite of an income in the 70k range, whereas I had to keep my income in Maryland below 50k to get any kind of subsidy.

A very nice explanation of the potential downside of a financial advisor. Just sent it to my sister, who extricated herself from a Humpty Dumpty portfolio last week.

I left my money in my 401(k) when I left a job 5 years ago. Because I worked for a megacorp, my fund choices are all institutional class with very low ER. And my annual managment cost on top of that is $20. I have complete control over my funds. It's true that I am limited to about 20 funds, but they include index funds for US equities, international equities, and bonds, as well as target date funds - what more could you ask? And under Maryland law, I can withdraw up to $34,000 a year tax-free from my 401(k) - but could not do so from a rollover IRA. I am planning to retire to Maine soon, and it is one of the states that doesn't protect IRAs from creditors. I didn't know either of these facts when I held on to my 401(k). Waiting and watchin...

Congratulations on a windfall that can bring some real joy to your life. If you will be waiting on the travel for 5 years, than opening Roth IRAs for both of you seems like the best option to me. As noted above, you can put $7000 each for 2022 and $7500 each for 2023 in it right now. Put the remaining $6000 into a high yield savings account, which will provide around 3% interest. If you set up the Roth with something like 50% total stock market mutual fund and 50% total bond market mutual fund, your returns should exceed 3% over that 5 year period. So the money is poised for your travel plans, but able to grow a bit more than the savings account. The Roth rules are that you can withdraw contributions in less than 5 years with no penalty, an...

Hey Aaron, you are doing great. An easy way for you to learn more about your portfolio is to look up all those 3- and 4- letter acronyms on the Internet, and just write out the name of the stock or mutual fund.

Ok, thanks to Weathering's comment, I took another look at getting a FERS deferred annuity by adding in my Peace Corps service (which no one advised me about!) and therefore reread the rules. OP, you are eligible when you turn 62 to get a deferred annuity that is calculated based on (the average of 3 highest annual salaries) x 1% x 7 years of service. Do the math to see if receiving that annuity for say 20 years is better than rolling over into your retirement plan. If your average pay was $50,000, you would get $3500 per year. In addition, you can pay a deposit of 1.3% of the pay you received for your military service plus annual interest for the 7 years since you left the military to receive an annuity of 1% of highest pay x 29 years of s...

I don't see that anyone else has mentioned this. Social Security benefits are not taxed by Oklahoma. Up to $10,000 of federally-taxed income from private, federal government, and designated Oklahoma state and local government retirement plans is exempt. So how much of your income is taxed will depend on what portion of your retirement income is SS and what is pension.

You don't need to roll it over - have you considered just waiting until 60 and getting the FERS pension?

I am still reeling over the statement that Captain Kirk is a grade C celebrity!

As someone who was diagnosed with cancer at age 39, I have spent a lifetime making sure I had continuation of coverage and avoiding insurance underwriting, so I stick with Medigap.

I find this concern about market losses sort of odd in a group that is all about passive investment and resisting market timing. You could as easily save money as lose it by being out of the market for some days. To me the most important thing is keeping your money in a 401(k) with ERISA protections, since not all state laws fully protect rollover IRAs from creditors, California being a notable example.

Since the TSP now allows you to take partial balance distributions, wouldn't it be wiser to start managing your own RMDs? You can now receive distributions as ACH transfers rather than checks. This could mitigate a lot of the problems people are having, I think. I have not yet tried to take a distribution from the TSP, so I don't know for sure whether this would improve things. It did take them about 6 weeks to deposit a rollover check this year (actually saved me a big loss, because it was right when the market really dropped).

It's in the Russell 3000 Value Index. Just saying.

You have demonstrated that you could probably do fine if you don't work again, so just quit the soul-sucking job. It's been 5 years since I left my terrible, awful, no-good job. Although it was to take another job, through a series of fortunate events I ended up working part-time at a couple of different jobs for another 4 years. I was astonished to find that at 62, I was very employable, and I ended up in a job where I was valued and praised more in one week than in one year at the old awful job. Allow yourself some time to recover, your outlook may change, and you could find a new career/job/life where you have more than $20k per year.

I live in Maryland and the TurboTax state product found me a number of great state-specific deductions of which I was unaware. I also use it for North Dakota. For each state, the software asks a great number of specific questions, which makes me believe that it does incorporate all the state-specific deductions. My MD AGI is significantly lower than my federal AGI.

I am a subscriber and I think this link should give people access to the article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/case-again ... _permalink

Thanks for the link, I put it in the OP - moderator prudent

Wow. This is what makes horse races. New Orleans - fabulous food and live jazz on every corner, especially when you get off Bourbon St. Yeah it's dirty, but NOLA has really been part of the developing world since Katrina. Santa Fe - desert, sky, short drive to world heritage site Taos pueblo, and one of the finest opera companies in the US. Rome - being able to walk around the corner and see a wall built by Augustus Caesar or an ancient temple, fabulous food and drink, the Sistine Chapel or the Pieta in person is nothing like a picture in a book. I'm with you on Wisconsin Dells. Ocean City is the MD equivalent.

[/quote]
Hope he didn't lose the bet on delaying!
[/quote]

IMHO he didn't lose the bet if he spent his last years at a comfortable spending level without fear of running out of money later.

Does he _need_ to switch to ACA? In a situation where he knows he'll need surgery soon and has docs he likes, he might be better off keeping COBRA until after the surgery and recovery.

I like reading real books, and my collection is still hundreds of volumes. Many of my physical books are knitting or weaving books that don't work as e-books or old favorites that came from my childhood home or from my time in the Peace Corps. Oddly enough, I am ok reading books on my smartphone, when it's something I can't get as a real book - either because most libraries don't seem to hold on to fiction older than about 15 years or because I'm on vacation somewhere and want something to read right now. In addition to Project Gutenberg (which is only books out of copyright, so pre 1925 or so), I love the Internet Archive, which has borrowable books older than 10 years as well as access to many unusual archives. I found original copies of ...

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how having extra space supports the acquisition of extra stuff. At some point, you will have to deal with that, and it can be painful and/or expensive.

When I left my ACA healthplan to go on Medicare, I learned that I could still get dental insurance through my state healthcare marketplace. I think because there is no subsidy for the dental insurance. It is real insurance, not a discount plan. See if this is offered in your state.

When you take a withdrawal from a 401(k), the 401(k) administrator is legally required to withhold 20% for federal taxes and some percentage for state taxes (10% in Maryland, not sure if it's the same for all states that have a state income tax). This may cover what you owe, but quarterly payments may still be required. As mentioned above, some states exempt certain kinds of retirement income from state income tax - see https://www.kitces.com/blog/state-income-tax-retirees-top-marginal-rates-social-security-pension-income-age-exemptions/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=MichaelKitces&utm_content=The%20Most%20Tax-Friendly%20States%20For%20Retirees%3A%20How%20To%20Compare%20State%20Income%20Tax%20Options%20For...

TravelGeek wrote: ↑Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:17 pm Booked an award flight to Europe on Saturday. From SEA to central Europe via IST on Turkish Airways, in business class. 77k UA miles + $59 in taxes/fees. Not as good as years ago, but a pretty good deal overall. Award space (4 seats, actually) was available on the date I ideally wanted to travel, in March 2023.

If you are an elite MP member, you should get expanded award space without having a UA credit card with a fee.

Thanks for the tip. I see a trip to Istanbul in my future!

Just to update on my comment about getting dental insurance through ACA, I was lucky that the person I talked to when I canceled my healh plan because I was going on Medicare told me that was allowed. I pay $44 per month, 2 cleanings and 1 x-ray series per year are free, and quoted price for fillings was in the $30 range, crown for $400, and plan pays 60% of the costs for other procedures. And because it's Obamacare, yes, pre-existing conditions ARE covered.

I am on Medicare and get my dental insurance through the ACA (aka Obamacare) healthcare marketplace. This is real insurance, not just a discount plan. I did make sure that my very good dentist accepted this plan before signing up.

A lot of harsh and ill-informed assumptions on your part articpineapple. IRA = tax-advantaged all the way. And FYI my sister's anxiety means that she somtimes makes poor choices, which she recognizes. She is as trusting as the average investor who thinks an investment advisor is on her side. She asked me to fix it because she recognizes that I have better understanding and interest in financial matters and I am her true fiduciary.

Actually Marcus is named after Marcus Goldman, the original partner of Goldman-Sachs (no "e")

I needed to vent to someone who would understand. I've been helping my sister with her finances - she made many smart choice over her life and retired at 60 with plenty to see her through. Then Fidelity got hold of her and convinced her to roll over one of her IRAs and let them "manage" them. I didn't realize this until she had me look a her account today. [Expletive removed by admin LadyGeek] Her $550k portfolio went from 4 funds (I had been planning to get her to scale down more) plus stock of the mortgagae company she used to work for that has been and always will be golden (lost that of, course) to TWENTY ONE FUNDS, including: DOUBLELINE TOTAL RT BOND FD CL N 0.73% management FIDELITY MORTGAGE SECURITIES JPMORGAN HEDGED EQUITY...

Limiting the scholarship to relatives of members of the foundation means you don't meet IRS criteria for awarding scholarships. Normally college scholarships are not taxable for the recipient, but the IRS would view your foundation as a vehicle to evade taxation of the funds for your relatives' education.

NLT = No Later Than

Very helpful thread! I turn 65 this year and just started looking at all the Medigap plans. I plan to move to a new state in a few years and I travel abroad a lot, so already decided against an Advantage plan. Hearing that those on Medicare recommended a gap plan is encouraging, and confirming that G is the best sub for F is great.

In the 1919 flu pandemic, one-third of the world population was affected. This was before air travel made is so easy to cross the globe in a day. I am scheduled to travel to the Galapagos in 17 days. I am about 95% sure that I'll cancel. I have travel insurance. This was probably my best international travel window this year, but I would like to be around to make other trips in the next 20 years. I'm 63, and trained in public health. And I hate adulting!

If you have government loans and refinance with a private lender like SoFi, you lose all the protections that government loans give you, like the ability to get deferment, income-based repayment plans, and possible loan forgiveness if you work in the private sector. If you can really pay off the loans in 4+ years, I strongly advise you not to do it. If you are able to make a few extra prepayments, you may save enough to bring your effective rate down close to that offer (which may be a variable rate - are you sure it's not?)

I reviewed what SoFi and Earnest offered and stuck with my government loans (a mere 30k or so ) and I don't regret it.

As someone here pointed out to me about a year ago, that Health Equity 0.0333% is PER MONTH - so almost 4% per year. And you have to keep $2000 in cash. I moved my Health Equity to Fidelity about 9 months ago and I'm very happy. It was not difficult. I don't think you need to do anything at tax time since it's a direct transfer. I guess I'll find out soon.

Thanks for the tip on My Free Taxes, Dodecahedron! Looks like it will save me quite a bit since I use just about every schedule and file in 2 states. Will donate to Bogleheads to show my appreciation.

So when you are 95, you no longer have to take RMDs? Congrats!

I appreciate your concern, hogfanboy, but I am "situationally frugal" and perfectly happy. No mortgage, anyway.

As others have said, it's a trade-off. Having once faced the situation of being a cancer survivor unable to get health insurance, I am very grateful for Obamacare. I am "semi-retired" and I carefully balance my earnings from part-time jobs because I can make enough to afford $300 a month, but can't push my hours enough so that $850 a month would be comfortable. When I hit Medicare age in 18 months or so, I can think about Roth conversions, etc.

By using GoodRx, I learned that the everyday cost for a drug I take was >$100 cheaper at Costco than from my plan's online pharmacy WITH insurance. GoodRX saved me another $5 or so. My deductible is $4500, so paying direct makes more sense.Costco's direct drug prices are really good, it's worth checking out.

Two words: Clinical trials. Although obviously financial preparation is important, clinical trials are the best way to access new cutting edge therapies that can extend life. And combined with that as others have said, go to top oncology centers like Dana Farber, MD Anderson, etc. I am a long-term survivor (with multiple advanced degrees in biology) who also worked for more than a decade in cancer research funding, so I know whereof I speak. Also, if your friend and family are not biologically/medically savvy, the experience of negotiating cancer care can be an unfamiliar and scary country. I always recommend that people read Stephen J Gould's fantastic essay on how to approach frightening statistics: https://people.umass.edu/biep540w/pdf/S...

While coffee is brewing, I put 2-3 oz water in my mug, then microwave on high for 1 minute. Pour out the hot water and pour in the coffee. It will stay hot for quite a while - long enough to sit in bed and talk to the cats while I drink it.

I have serious concerns about children who are raised to believe that mom and dad will buy me a car and pay for my college and my $100/month cell phone. I don't think you are doing your child a favor by not pushing them to be as self-sufficient as possible. Being frugal while in college is one way to reduce student loan debt and develop good habits for life.

It's really a job-hunter's market now. Looking at what's out there and interviewing could be interesting and useful to you. Just trying that doesn't commit you to leaving.