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Someone might have already mentioned this, but Wimbledon doesn’t start until July 3 for its 2 week run.

Tickets have already been sold for the main stadium seats via a ticket lottery.

Grounds passes for the outer court matches (and a few of the stadium seats) are secured by standing in line on the
day. Sometimes the lines are very long and arriving very early before gates open is essential. I did that in 1993.

In 2005 I got tickets for Centre Court via the ticket application lottery and we saw Roger Federer and Andy Murray matches.
Wimbledon has been my favorite in person sports experience.

The debenture tickets are for those who want to attend without regard to cost.

Since I don’t have any banks other than BoA, my transfers are easy between the various accounts.

If you want to use a bank external to BoA, be sure to check if there are limits and fees for transferring money OUT of BoA.

No transaction fee

I like the Fidelity Treasury Only Money Market Fund (FSIXX). State tax exempt and a good yield.

I was at Schwab, but last year we transferred everything to ME/Bank of America for custom $4000+ incentive, becoming Diamond reward clients. We had no problems at Schwab, except that its small local office here could do no banking or even notarizations. I wanted my wife to have someone in person to talk to locally if something ever happened to me. I have been comfortable doing everything online and by phone with the help of my Quicken software. After a year with our new BoA checking account, joint ME CMA brokerage account, 2 Roth IRA’s, 2 Rollover IRA’s, and 4 BoA credit cards…. 1. The Merrill Edge incentive bonus, plus bonuses for checking and credit cards….all was super great to receive…nearly $5000 total after the credit card signup awar...

Here are some updated numbers, for illustration: ME: 66y, 6 mo Account balance under consideration: $506088 If starting an annuity Feb 1, 2023, for example: 0% COLA: Life only, $3331 per month Life with 10 years certain to 2/1/33, if I die in that period, payments continue to wife til end of term: $3232 Joint life 70%: $3008 Joint life 100%: $2888 2% COLA: Life: $2753, Life 10: 2677, Joint 70: 2445, Joint 100: 2333 WIFE: 67y, 4 mo Account balance: $428348 0% COLA: Life: 2887, Life 10: 2792, Joint 70: 2561, Joint 100: 2443 2% COLA: Life: 2400, Life 10: 2326, Joint 70: 2561, Joint 100: 1972 The managed payout option will probably have about a 50% stock/50 bond allocation and payments will be similar to annuities, but last as long as the accou...

A helpful analysis. Thanks.
Now it gets me to thinking about each of us choosing the single life annuity….which til now I’ve always thought might be too risky. Add in a 0 COLA, and those monthly payments get very nice indeed.

The survivor option costs some to be sure, but at our current ages 66/67…plus a few minor/moderate medical issues, new life insurance would undoubtedly be much more expensive or impossible. I did some extensive calculations with my New Retirement software subscription module in the past few days. One thing that did seem true after modeling a lot of scenarios…Taking annuities anytime soon would be less beneficial than continuing to live off of our other assets for now. It’s better to make further IRA withdrawals and conversions over the next few years and utilize available tax bracket space….rather than having the brackets taken up with annuity income. Calculations also showed that after fairly sizable conversions in 2021, 2022 and 2023…futu...

Well, I received a 1099 MISC for the checks received for the taxable account settlements. I will be reporting the awards on my 1040…a 35% tax hit. But I’m glad we got the income! Thankfully, the checks received for IRA accounts were deposited and posted in our current Rollover IRAs and will not generate a 1099R. They are treated like new rollovers.

Perhaps I need to clarify:
My wife and I will EACH have only one choice: an annuity OR the managed payout. The annuity, of course, will have the COLA and survivor options.

Facts: My wife and I have a retirement benefit available from the same company. Me: Age 66 She: Age 67 We have defined contribution invested account balances that must be converted to an annuity no later than age 73. We also have a new option forthcoming: a managed payout of the account balances. The investments continue, but the monthly distributions will set annually to adapt to the account balance, inflation and life expectancy. The stock and bond funds in the accounts are private and actively managed, with expense ratios less than 1%. Today our account balances are: Me: $501,294 She: $424,432 We do not have the option of rolling out these funds or managing them ourselves. This is not the typical choice between receiving a pension or a l...

Enjoying all the conversation….
Keep those comments coming.

The Maltby charts (Golfworks) for Ping and other clubs is eye opening…
The current super game improvement club Ping G710 is a little less playable the 2006 G5 model.
I guess it shows that with golf clubs needing to conform to USGA standards, there’s only so much to be
updated or tweaked over the years, but they’ve got to do “something” to market new clubs…

Changing to a different shaft within a certain segment of clubs (game improvement, player, etc.)
may be the biggest enhancement a golfer can make.

Good questions Sandtrap. Question for you: a) Are the lower score averages higher because of the loss of that 20 yards on your drive? Yes, having to hit a 5 or 6 iron into some tighter pins is more challenging that a 7 or 8 (Ping G5). b) Do you chart your scores as you play? **Carry a blank card, on each hole note: Drives remaining in the fairway. How many strokes to on the green. Penalties per hole, OB, etc. Putts per green Chip/pitches inside 30 yards per hole Layups per hole I haven't been charting, but I review my scorecards to some extent: driver accuracy is fine; it's the short game that hurts. c) Have you ever taken "playing/on course/game" lessons with a certfied PGA pro golf teacher? Strongly consider that. Only had two l...

I did try a senior flex shaft recently. Still too whippy, with big duck hooks, so I'm probably going to need to get fitted for a specific shaft (whether it's a regular or stiff probably depends on the manufacturer, since there are no standards in the industry).

I think it's almost a crap shoot sometimes. Trying out golf clubs, shafts, paying retail....then trying to get rid of them...trying something else.

I think that's why I just played with my G5's and G25w woods these many years (and Ping Zing2 and Ping Eye2 before that!)

Yes, I've watched a few of those TXG youtube videos. Love Ian's commentary and how he can make anyone with any shot feel good even if they've duck hooked one 40 yards offline on the simulator!

Piratethecat,

Funny that you mentioned your True Spec experience at Pine Needles here in NC. I had just been looking them over on their website since it's only about 2 hours from my house. I'm reminded also of a couple of fun outings to play at Pine Needles back in the 90's. One was a 2 day/1 night winter golf package (went alone), a quick break from work. I drove over in the morning; I had the place to myself on an off-season couple of days: played 4 and a half rounds in less than 24 hours (shot 2 rounds of 80 and 2 of 90), was back in the office late the next afternoon.

I later noticed that Pine Needles had discontinued the 2-day/1 night winter package!

Sandtrap and bhwabeck3533 and Piratethecat and arsenalfan Thanks for your timely and extended responses. Analysis of my recent scorecard results has reminded me of one thing: winter golf and tight lies have exposed a struggle with hitting those 30 yarders or less up and over sand trips to narrow pin positions. Inevitably I have dumped more than a few shots into traps, etc. due to the thin dead damp Bermuda grass, whether from the center of the fairway or worse yet, a short-sided lob wedge from near the green. A few disasters! In many rounds, I have still had a decent 9 holes (42-44) only to be destroyed by a couple of disaster holes on the other nine. Last summer, I even managed to carve out a few decent rounds in the 80's. However, my &quo...

I suppose the watch battery is empty, but you could try the “find my device” feature on your iPhone and try to prompt it to offer one last chirp for old times’ sake…

It has been warm enough here in NC to play golf twice this week. However, at age 66, and the scores I’ve had the past few months have got me thinking not only about needing more practice and better technique, but maybe some new clubs for the first time in 10-15 years. My Ping G5 irons and G25 woods have served me well since my early 50’s, but with their weight and flex built for me at a time when I was more flexible…I’m wondering about the future of my game. I was formerly a decent player with scores in the 80’s and drives about 240. Lately, I do well if I hit them 220 and break 90. I haven’t given new clubs any thought over the years, but now I’m tempted to see if they can add some new zest to my play. I’m sure many of you have been in the...

I just had this same situation (which we discussed on another thread).

I had Merrill deposit it in my current Rollover IRA (not at Schwab). They have coded it as a rollover to rollover transfer and not a contribution.

(And I then converted it to a Roth).

I only used a roboadvisor for about a year….total DIY with most assets invested in VT, VTI….

I initially deposited all 4 of our settlement checks into our brokerage account (at Merrill). But after reading the fine print in the explanatory info online, I called Merrill to get them to redeposit (transfer) the 2 checks that were intended as settlements for our old Schwab Unintelligent Rollover IRA accounts. Now they won’t be taxed until I withdraw those amounts, since they are being redirected to our current IRAs. As for the 2 settlements that were for our old Schwab Unintelligent brokerage accounts, now I’ve got to figure out if those will be taxable for 2022, since I’m sure Schwab will be sending a 1099 (Misc?, Int? Div?). I had no idea they would be coming, didn’t receive them until Jan and deposit them this week. There will be sev...

I just found a document that further explains:
This distribution may be taxable depending on the SIP Account Type you held, which was used for the distribution calculation. If the distribution is related to a Qualified account (such as an IRA), the distribution will not be taxable if it is deposited in the same Qualified account or another Qualified account you hold. If the distribution is related to a non-qualified account (such as a taxable brokerage account), this distribution may be taxed and you may receive a Form 1099.

We had a lot of money invested in four Schwab Intelligent Portfolio accounts back in 2018-19. I remember reading afterwards that there was some sort of legal issue related to Schwab's marketing of those accounts at the time and that a settlement was underway but forgot about it. Today I opened the mail to four checks totaling over $3400 as our share of the settlement. The checks are dated 12/30/22 and the accompanying letter says that a 1099 Form would be sent in January 2023 for filing our 2022 taxes. So, in fact, will this be taxable income? If so, I will have a 35% unexpected tax on the amounts (which are nice to have!), but if they had come with a January date (when I deposited them just now), they would only be taxed at my projected 12...

Florida

My wife and I drove from mid NC to Key West one winter…the warmer weather was nice, a couple of days on the beach in the Keys was were nice,
but overall, there was nothing about our stays at Miami Beach, Ft Lauderdale and the Keys that were enough to make me return. Traffic, crowds and terrain…nah.

My wife and I enjoy great museums and historical sites, great theater, and great tennis.

International: London during the Wimbledon tournament
US: Charleston SC during the women’s Credit One Charleston tournament or New York City during the US Open

My single most expensive mistake was paying an architect $40000+ to design a custom home for a steep mountain slope.
After the contractor bids came in much higher than expected, we abandoned the project.
We had thought since the lot was “free,” a gift from my parents adjacent to their home, we had the beginnings of a good location
for our retirement.
We ended up not moving to that community either, since we unexpectedly had to relocate my mother to an out of town assisted
living/nursing home.
Everything worked out okay when we bought a decent home in that location.
However, there are still some nice plans for a house going unused in NC!

A Part D plan has all the complications and gotchas already noted. Tiers, formularies, preferred pharmacies, premiums…there is something to review every year.
I have come to think of my plan as “catastrophic” insurance. With each prescription, my wife and I shop for cost each month or 90 days by comparing the insurance price vs the GoodRx price. For example, today there was a refill that was $91 for a month on our Part D plan, but $31 on GoodRx. They would have charged the insurance price had we not asked for the lower price.

I bought a new 2018 BMW X3, but it was totaled by a freak storm event in 2021. I enjoyed the X3, but did not replace it with another. Instead, we bought a new 2022 Lexus RX350. Why? Though we had not experienced any mechanical or maintenance issues, the potential service costs vs the Lexus seemed too much. Lexus reliability is well documented. Also, one little thing: BMW’s come with run flat tires and no spare. A small annoyance, since those tires can be harder to replace, and more costly. I also like the V6 engine in the RX350 vs the 4 cylinder X3. Last spring, the car supply was fairly narrow. The RX350, a low trim unit, popped up in my search. I got it through the Costco pricing program at around MSRP. If you go with the X3, you will enj...

Thanks all…good responses.

Currently I am invested heavily in the Fidelity Treasury Only Money Market Portfolio (FSIXX) and the Fidelity Money Market Treasury Portfolio (FISXX), both offered at Merrill Edge and now paying over 3%. I know that these Funds are not insured: there will be no withdrawal limits or gatekeeping fees: and they will try to keep each share at a price of $1. However, I noticed a news report saying that the $24 trillion Treasury market has been experiencing low levels of market liquidity in recent months. Does this report imply that there is a higher level of risk associated with these money market mutual funds? I am using these exclusively for our cash/short-term bond investing since bond funds have been doing so poorly. They pay less than buyin...

So, just to clarify…. If my FRA is at November 2022 from July 1956 birthdate (66 years, 4 months) and my estimated benefit at FRA is $1595, AND, if I file for benefits to begin in December 2022, will they add the new COLA (est at 8%), plus 1 month of delayed retirement credit, and it will be paid in January? Est of $1733 per month in 2023 (1595 + COLA + 1 month DRC) Similarly, if my wife files for Dec 2022 to receive her spousal benefit (she is already 67, past FRA), and has no record on her own, her benefit will be 50% of my FRA benefit, plus the est. 8% COLA, ($798 + $64)= $862, payable in Jan 2023? Total of our benefits estimated at $2595 in 2023. I understand that spouse will get no delayed retirement credits. Do we file for spousal ben...

Yes…that is my understanding as well.
With my wife already past her FRA, the max she will get off my record is about $800 per month present value.

Wife will only get spousal. Doesn’t have her own benefit. My PIA is 1595 in Nov. We depend on our portfolio and a minor pension. We have done some decent Roth conversions and IRA withdrawals this year and last; don’t want to do much more in the next 2 years and pay more “taxes in advance” plus the IRMAA surcharges that we will pay in 2023/2024 due to my conversion exuberance. I use the New Retirement module and it looks like I will be served well by letting the portfolio recover from the bear market. (Hold about 60% in equities, 25% in bonds, 15% cash…down about $420000 from highs last Dec 2021). Taking our SS benefits at FRA plus a couple months seems attractive rather than waiting 3.5 more years. It will get us about $100,000 in income th...

Hello all. Some of you might help answering these questions: 1) Having watched our portfolio decline this year (by several hundred thousand dollars!), I am now considering starting our Social Security benefits shortly after my FRA in November, 2022. Rather than waiting until 70 or so (in 2026), it seems that not further draining our portfolio will help stabilize things, rather than hoping for a greater total return in benefits in our 90's. Yes, we have the cash to pay for our expenses until age 70, but delaying benefits just seems like a gamble that we will both live a long life. Has anyone else made a similar decision to start benefits sooner than 70? I use opensocialsecurity.com and the maximizemysocialsecurity tool and know the effects o...

It took my wife and me 7 trips to Europe to see and experience the sights and culture of most of the places on your itinerary. We were in our 30’s and 40’s, and we were able to take our then 9 year old daughter on one of those vacations. Your proposed itinerary will leave you and your children tired, weary and frustrated after about the first week to 10 days. You will then wake up and ask, “now what city are we in today?’ The children will ask, “Can we just go somewhere and play?” Even when seeing some of the greatest cultural treasures in the world, you will experience travel overload. The next museum, the next cathedral, the next train ride, the next city center plaza, the next whatever will all start to run together and you will be ensla...

Oh no. Just got an email from Quicken saying that Bank of America account holders will need to do a migration.
I also went through the Schwab debacle.
However, Quicken has served me well for the decades I have used it. I still have to manually edit some of the downloads coming from the banks and brokerages, but not very often.
I also love to use TurboTax.
If anything ever happens to me unexpectedly, my wife will always be able to open Quicken and see how we stand financially, since I manage our assets.

For whatever it’s worth: During our working years, my wife and I took lots of trips, with several to Europe and other places. We were middle/upper middle class, and definitely not wealthy at the time. We had an emergency fund, but mainly lived off our 2 salaries, with an expected decent inheritance at some point in the future. At the time though, a financial planner would probably have recommended that we save more for retirement and not spend so much on travel. Fast forward: The inheritance did come through. We retired. But then came the pandemic. And we also had some new health issues that would make it harder to walk now as much as we did in those trips years ago. The world also seems like a more vulnerable place today, and traveling mor...

As the original poster, I would like to say that I am much less anxious since discovering the New Retirement financial planning module, and using it to create a plan, and update it as time unfolds. I was pleasantly surprised to hear it affirmed in the latest Bogleheads podcast with guest Rob Berger. It really is a comprehensive tool at a very low annual cost of $120. It allows for so many variables and can be easily used on a desktop, IPad, etc. The way in which one can sample a variety of returns, withdrawals, conversions, tax brackets, expenses, real estate transactions, etc. is really helpful in the process of seeing how all the moving parts of one’s financial life work together. For example, I have discovered that that for our situation...

Buyers seem to be concerned about the crawlspace still but honestly there are bigger concerns, i.e., HVAC. Re crawlspace, I have been in many and mine is good I think. Insulation is not falling and vapor barrier down throughout. They want me to pay to encapsulate plus have floors sanded down to remove cupping and then restain, etc... My HVAC units are older but have been working very well. I have them inspected annually and both units had major repairs during their lifetime. As luck would have it, the upstairs unit quit the day before the home inspection; downstairs conked out today, perhaps due to overworking since upstairs is down? I have my HVAC guy coming tomorrow to see what the issue is...their HVAC guy said that both units could not...

I had been a State Farm customer for 30+ years and never did any comparison shopping until last year. When I discovered lower rates and better policies from Erie for our auto, home and umbrella, we finally made a switch.

State Farm and other companies must price some of their legacy, long term customers with the assumption that we would never leave. Surprise!

We installed an exterior lighting system that illuminates the house with soft light plus a couple of house mounted yard spots.
They come on at dusk and off at dawn via a Wi-Fi Wion plug at the outdoor control panel.
Not only does it provide a constant envelope of security, it is nice to have when stepping out after dark to take out trash or
arriving home or welcoming guests.
The LED bulbs provide years of service.

Thanks for all the posts. Very good replies and lots of good suggestions.

It’s not an annual check for insulation; it’s an inspection of Crawlspace liner; servicing and testing dehumidifier and humidity levels; checking operation of sump pump…

The company that did the encapsulation and does annual maintenance and inspection is “my dealer.”
The benefit would be: potential increase in energy savings; elimination of mouse hotel; visibility of Crawlspace ceiling for detection of leaks, etc. from plumbing above.

(We had a major toilet leak which the annual Crawlspace inspection discovered. Since there was so much water on the liner, it was easily visible. Smaller leak might have just started a mold and deterioration process of the wood subfloor in the Crawlspace ceiling resulting in $$$ project to replace tile and floor in bathroom above.)

We did a Crawlspace encapsulation several years ago with a 1) 20 ml liner plus drainage matting over the dirt 2) drainage pipe along the walls, 3) sump pump, 4) sealed the original foundation vents and 5) added a dehumidifier. The original fiberglass batt insulation on the Crawlspace ceiling under the floors was left in place (house was built in 2011). It still seems to be dry and not sagging. My dealer mentioned that I might want to take out the fiberglass and put up foam board insulation on the Crawlspace walls. From reading online and watching YouTube videos, that does seem to be the preferred method now for an encapsulated sealed Crawlspace. He also would include insulation on the rim joists (above the walls at the wood). However, with ...

If there are any seniors reading, Verizon started giving us a $40 per month loyalty discount for our “play more” unlimited plan; so, for our 2 lines with taxes and fees that’s $113 per month. That includes the free Disney bundle with ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+, which we use.

If we were on Visible, it would be $80 per month plus the Disney bundle $15 ?, plus the possible slower speeds at times (I think).

Since we are long time Verizon users, the discount makes it a pretty good plan for seniors without having to switch carriers, unless one is extremely price sensitive.

Had a 2018 BMW X3 until it was totaled in a freak storm last August. I had hoped to drive it for many years (as a retiree I wasn’t putting many miles per year on it.). Wife and I have a Lexus ES350 which is a great sedan, but we hadn’t replaced the BMW until this past week when we snagged a new 2022 Lexus RX350 on a Costco program buy. Even though I was enjoying the BMW up until the unfortunate accident, the RX350 is very comfortable and powerful. It doesn’t hug the road like the X3, but at our stage of life—comfort, quiet, and dependability win out. At first we weren’t even considering the Lexus because most of them are loaded with options that push the OTD price to 55-60k. We didn’t need panoramic moonroof, navigation (other than Apple Ca...

When I complained to the Merrill rep who processed my account applications, she put me through on a call to the bank credit card dept. Basically, they processed my complaint as a request for a credit line increase. I suppose their credit algorithm still determined that our 4 credit accounts and 75000 in availability was too much….one if them was opened last summer. But we’ve never had a late payment, and paid off a mortgage in 3 years. Really strict algorithm. Practically, all it means is that I will still get mostly 2% cash back on our Wells Fargo Active Cash Visa, instead of 2.62% with BoA Unlimited Cash Rewards Visa.

As a retiree, it’s really hard to know what to put for income on a credit or any application when you are living off assets, and delaying SS and other pension income, and you have no definite income like a paycheck. I think I put 100000 on the application to indicate what is possible to live on…

Glad I really wasn’t counting on much credit since we have about $75000 in credit availability on other cards…and we never carry a balance…