Bogleheads.org

I think you should be looking at around $300k+. You want to be at least 20-30% above your VP direct report.

How good are you at stealth wealth? You may not think you're showing it off but it may appear that way to others.

Is your profession known to have big incomes?
Do you live in an expensive house? Drive nice cars? Have toys like a boat, RV, pool, etc? Share pictures about your nice vacations?

Kandinsky wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:31 pm

hachiko wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:23 pm Why would you be fine living in South Dakota or Alaska but not Wyoming?

I know I'm stereotyping but Wyoming just sounds boring. Alaska would be preferable out of the three you mentioned just from the views I've seen on the History channel.

Wyoming is beautiful too. Check out Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons and Jackson. There's some very expensive properties around Jackson. They also have one of the best ski resorts in the country.

Only you can decide if it's worth $2,000 a month to keep living in your hometown around your family/friends.

There's great places to live in the tax-free states and you can make some new friends too. Leaving family can be tough though. You could always move back home if you don't like it.

We moved to a tax-free state over a decade ago and have no regrets. Saved hundreds of thousands already (on all taxes combined). To us it's worth it.

Looks good to me. You might have to watch your budget a little closer and watch out for any large expenses. If your spouse wants to stay home with the kids for a few years then I say go for it.

Assuming no large increases in income and that you're going to have another baby, I'd suggest targeting around $500k for a home.

My feeling with this agent was that their motive in trying to discourage me from considering Plan G* was tied to their COMMISSION. :moneybag It is my understanding that it is based on the premium of the supplement policy. Higher cost Medicare supplement plans = higher commission for them. Is this correct? Almost certainly correct. Most Medicare Supplement plans pay a very high commission percentage of annual premium. It is often in the 20-35% range for several years. I've seen some that are 25% for 7 years and then drop to 10% after that. If you're really curious, you can download the rate filing from your state insurance department to see the commission schedule. Also, the high deductible plan sounds like a great choice for you. You save ...

tibbitts wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 12:09 am

PowderDay9 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:26 pm When calculating this ratio, do you use inflation adjusted historical earnings to compare to current net worth?

This seems like a critical question; where are you finding convenient access to you adjusted earnings?

I've used an excel file from the physician on fire in the past but you can get the factors from ssa.gov.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awifactor ... %2C575.07).

When calculating this ratio, do you use inflation adjusted historical earnings to compare to current net worth?

smooth_rough wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 8:22 pm South Lake Tahoe isn't real airport. Only serves Reno, Sac, and Stockton? This discussion doesn't feel real. Looks like some realtor with over-priced listing that is about to expire is trying to get insight into buyer behavior.

Private jets can fly into South Lake Tahoe airport from all over the country. You can fly private from the bay area in 1 hour.

With $28M in taxable buy a $4M house and don't rent it out. You should fly private as well. Sometimes the 3 hour drive from the bay to Tahoe is much longer in the winter. Fly public or private to reno airport, still need car to get around. There are almost no properties at tahoe that are slope-side with ski-in / ski-out access. Everybody still drives to the same parking lot at the base of the mountain in the morning regardless of their bank account. In the rare event a home hit the market within walking distance of ski lift, it would blow up with offers and be way over $4M. Fly into the Truckee Tahoe airport or the South Lake Tahoe airport. Both airports are 10-15 minutes away from ski resorts. Reno is way too far away. Northstar has plent...

With $28M in taxable buy a $4M house and don't rent it out. You should fly private as well. Sometimes the 3 hour drive from the bay to Tahoe is much longer in the winter.

H-Town wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 4:29 pm I didn't feel like a millionaire when we crossed $1 million of investable assets.
I still don't feel like a millionaire now that we crossed $4 million.

We don't live a life that Vanderbilt families lived back then. A penthouse in New York for half a year, and the other half at Biltmore estate in the Blue Ridge mountain.

Anytime somebody compares themselves to somebody rich from long ago it reminds me of one of my favorite articles.

https://fee.org/articles/you-are-richer ... ckefeller/

You say you're risk-averse but you have $5.2M in 100% equities and you want to take out a mortgage for $2.5M at 6%? Feels like unnecessary leverage for a risk-adverse couple.

What is your basis on the $5.2M? How much is index funds vs company/single stocks? You can afford the $3.1M house but why not put down much more money or pay cash for the house?

KlangFool wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 2:44 pm
zeldak,

When you asked the wrong question, you would never get the right answer.

How does losing 5 millions sound like a good option for you?

You are reaching a point that you can win just by not losing money. More gain does you little good. But, the loss will hurt you badly.

KlangFool

Agreed. OP is almost 100% stocks and wants to retire soon. What could go wrong!?!

scorcher31 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 5:43 pm So in general, my interpretation is bonds are more risky and have generally more potential up and down side. When the fed rate drops/savings account rates drop, money markets will also come back down. To me money markets are an alternative to a savings account.

When you say risky, are you specifically referring to interest rate risk? If rates drop, the NAV on the muni bonds will go up and you'll gain faster than the muni money market?

The duration on VMLUX is 2.6 years while VMSXX is 9 days. The yield curve must be inverted since the MM is paying more than the bond fund as these are both muni.

So given all the above is there a clear winner for my situation VUSXX? VMRXX? VMSXX? It looks like in general these all exceed my Ally savings. I'm currently leaning toward VMSXX. It looks like My marginal federal tax is 35% and marginal state tax is 8.97% although that seems much higher than what i pay. This is assuming I don't have to pay state tax on VUSXX and no Federal tax on VMSXX. I had this exact same predicament. I've had emergency cash in Ally no penalty CDs (yielding 4% currently). Plugging in your effective tax rate into the spreadsheet I had made for myself, here are the returns after taxes (0.35% marginal rate as you state) and fund fees: - Ally: 2.6 - VMRXX: 2.84 - VSMXX: 3.59 You might want to check the numbers, but VSMXX s...

It's a tough question, and one for which there is no great answer. Unless you are in one of the minority states where you can change medigap plans without medical underwriting, this is a bit of a guessing game. Because there is no way to predict what future rate increases will be. This is not unique to medigap insurance, but it is the inability to change policies without medical underwriting that is is unique. Don't be fooled into thinking that there is one rating method better than others - attained age, community rated or issue age. These methods are important, but only represent a small piece of the total rating changes you will see over your Medicare lifetime. Even with attained age policies, insurers can change the age bands (Blue Cro...

"If you want to get rich, treat your savings as a bill that must be paid. It's not your money to spend anyway. It belongs to your 65-year-old self. You'd be a real jerk to rip off that old man." -WCI

2,289:1

OP,

Which mountain towns are you considering and have you spent much time there? Can you find houses in your price range? Finding child care could be a challenge. You should look into this before house hunting.

This sounds like an amazing lifestyle with all the outdoor activities and I think you should go for it.

lakpr wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:10 pm

PowderDay9 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:06 pm If this isn't the classic "don't let the tail wag the dog" then I don't know what is.

How about you not spend $10k extra to get $1k? Otherwise just shift your monthly expenses from your Costco card to this one for 3 months.

I disagree. What's being suggested in this thread to the OP, is to "bunch the foreseeable expenses" at once to meet the spend limit. Isn't that what we do with taxes too? 10% cash back is too lucrative to not take the offer.

Where did the OP say they were trying to bunch the foreseeable expenses? Or are you saying that's supposed to be implied?

If this isn't the classic "don't let the tail wag the dog" then I don't know what is.

How about you not spend $10k extra to get $1k? Otherwise just shift your monthly expenses from your Costco card to this one for 3 months.

riverant wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:14 pm If I leave the company for any reason prior to retirement, the entire balance is paid to me as a lump sum, creating a potentially large tax bill

How does your company define "retirement"?

A large lump sum would not be ideal. If you're deferring in a high tax bracket then the taxes paid and savings might be a wash though. The most ideal way is to spread the distributions out over the years after an early retirement.

As long as you feel like you have enough liquidity to meet your needs, I think you should pay down the 6% mortgage.

One of my favorite quotes came from the long thread looking for people who may have regretted paying down the mortgage. Some people said you should put the money in a taxable account instead.

eye.surgeon: "Because my kids don't sleep in my taxable account"

viewtopic.php?p=5946436

If family is important, why not move to Madison?

thedaybeforetoday wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:40 am

PowderDay9 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:57 pm Last year we put a deposit on a new Toyota Sienna on a Tuesday. By Friday we were told they had allocated one to us with the exact specs we wanted. Limited, AWD, interior and exterior colors, packages, etc. We took delivery about 45 days later. Paid MSRP plus $2k of mandatory dealer add ons (tint, extended warranty, etc).

The Toyota dealership we bought from was the closest one to our house and only 10 minutes away. Maybe we got lucky but it's not impossible to pay MSRP and get a new Toyota within a couple months.

You didn't pay MSRP, per your post.

We were fine with the add ons and would have probably bought them anyway. There's always fees and taxes added on to MSRP and the add ons we're less than 4% of the purchase price.

Under your plan, one of three things happen: 1) OP is still working and pays 15-23.8% capital gains taxes to access taxable account 2) OP is still working and cash flows college, but cutting back on current savings, including some tax-advantaged savings. 3) OP is retired, can sell taxable investments to fund living expenses and college. Certainly will significantly affect ACA tax credits, and perhaps drive then into higher LTCG space. All of those outcomes will be costlier than using money with tax-free growth from a 529. marcopolo, 4) OP is still working. Instead of the additional annual savings going into the taxable account, it pays for the college education. OP has 50K per year. 5) OP is retired, can sell taxable investments at 0% LTCG...

Just a couple years ago there were so many threads on long-term treasuries and how well they had done over the last decade. Interesting how the tide has turned.

Remember this thread?
viewtopic.php?t=287627

Last year we put a deposit on a new Toyota Sienna on a Tuesday. By Friday we were told they had allocated one to us with the exact specs we wanted. Limited, AWD, interior and exterior colors, packages, etc. We took delivery about 45 days later. Paid MSRP plus $2k of mandatory dealer add ons (tint, extended warranty, etc).

The Toyota dealership we bought from was the closest one to our house and only 10 minutes away. Maybe we got lucky but it's not impossible to pay MSRP and get a new Toyota within a couple months.

Long-term bonds are the appropriate counterparts to a long-term mortgage. If interest rates rise, you will keep the bonds, which are now earning much more than the mortgage rate; they will recover their value by the time they are needed for the payoff. (And if interest rates fall, you have the option of selling the long-term bonds for a capital gain and paying off the mortgage then.) This is easiest to see with a bond ladder. If you have a 30-year mortgage, you could buy zero-coupon bonds maturing in 1-30 years, using each year's bond to make that year's mortgage payments. You would then not care what happened to interest rates, since the bonds will make the mortgage payments as they mature. In general, I think this makes sense but OP said...

StevieG72 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:11 pm I don’t live on a busy street but my kiddo was never out front without me! Unless the traffic noise is a big issue I would not worry about it. Tell the kiddos to head out back as they please but the front yard is off limits unattended.

In my opinion the days of letting kids have the run of the neighborhood have long passed, but others may disagree.

Totally agree. Put up a fence or don't let your kids play in the front yard.

OP - Is there a back yard or park nearby?

- Mortgage: $680k at 3%, 29 years left, $4,200 monthly all in - I don't want to be chained to my job and the income that comes with it. I want the option to take a dramatic pay cut and work a more humane job. I would not feel comfortable making my current mortgage payment with a job paying 150-200k, which is the range I'm looking at. If I decide in two or three years that I want to trade down to a lower salary (very likely), I don't want to be in a position of having to sell equities at a loss (if the markets are down) in order to pay for living expenses. You don't need to pay off the mortgage now to do this. You can invest the money that you would be using for the payoff in a municipal-bond fund, and if you decide later that you want to p...

You could FIRE right now as long as you're willing to be flexible with your $300k expenses, if it came to that. It sounds like you don't dislike your job and you make $1M a year. Why not work a few more years to make certain that you can always spend at least $300k?

If you were to retire and wanted to go back to work, could you make $1M again or are you in a unique one way out type of position? If the former then I think you can retire now without any worries.

No need to worry about the ACA. They can't deny you because of health conditions and they have to rate at an aggregate level. So the insurance company can't raise only your rate because you have a lot of claims.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful responses. The overwhelming vote in favor of non-payoff is not surprising, but perhaps what I needed to hear to make the decision that's not mentally comfortable for me. However, I do think I should add some additional context, given the multiple comments regarding my low level of savings and seemingly high expenses. First, my income has escalated fairly quickly over the past ~5 years, from about 250k in 2018 to ~650k now, with roughly linear increases. I'm a lawyer at a large firm, I just recently made partner, and as a result (counterintuitively) my income will probably plateau somewhat for the next several years (if I stick it out). During that period, we went from roughly 0 net worth (thanks to law sc...

safari wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:56 am

PowderDay9 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:03 am

bling wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:18 am paying down your mortgage right now is a guaranteed 3% return. given that there are savings accounts and CDs paying more than that, you shouldn't accelerate payments.

Just need to make sure OP accounts for taxes. His marginal tax rate is probably 40-50% so he'd need to find a CD that pays 5-6% to break even.

Not really. If the OP itemizes his taxes, he gets the benefit of the mortgage interest deduction, so a 4% CD will more than cover it.

I'd be surprised if OP had $27,700 in deductions to where they needed to itemize. Even if they did, it's only the dollars above $27,700 that are tax deductible, which wouldn't be many. Their mortgage interest amount decreases every year and the MFJ standard deduction increases too.

bling wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:18 am paying down your mortgage right now is a guaranteed 3% return. given that there are savings accounts and CDs paying more than that, you shouldn't accelerate payments.

Just need to make sure OP accounts for taxes. His marginal tax rate is probably 40-50% so he'd need to find a CD that pays 5-6% to break even.

I'm usually in the "pay off the mortgage" crowd but you make $650k and don't have a taxable account. You either just started making really high income or your expenses are high.

I'd suggest building a sinking fund in taxable. Buy mostly muni bonds (VWUIX, VMLUX, state specific fund, etc). If you buy all stocks then you could lose a bunch. If you gain a lot then you're not going to want to sell and pay 23.8% federal taxes (plus any state taxes). So if your goal is to pay off the mortgage, keep the money in a safe investment until you have enough to pay it off at once. I'd recommend you still have several years of living expenses in taxable after paying off the mortgage to maintain some liquidity.

$298.49. Bummed I missed the $300 cut off for direct deposit. We only use this card for gas, travel, restaurants and Costco.

Only $2.05 was from the 1% spending category. So I made a few mistakes, haha. Will try for the elusive $0 for 1% this year!

The 2023 Sienna is pretty amazing. You can get AWD and 35 MPG. Hopefully it's reliability is much better than what you have experienced.

Mike Scott wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 3:58 pm The time on the doomsday clock has been reduced 10 seconds. You should be afraid but there is probably not much to do about it as an individual.

+1

I spent some time learning about the after effects of a nuclear war. A nuclear winter is terrifying. Billions of people could starve. I'm much more worried about this than anything financial.

Sounds like one of Bernstein's 4 deep risks. Devastation.

thedaybeforetoday wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:01 am What is the point of this thread?
Seems more like a not so humble brag than a request for guidance.

+1

If you're saying that your employer won't allow you to lump sum through payroll deductions and you are planning to make a cash deposit to your HSA, then yes you'll lose the 2.35% Medicare taxes deduction. If that's the case, I'd recommend funding the HSA throughout the year so you don't lose the 2.35%. I'm presuming that the money you would use to lump sum into the HSA will be invested in taxable. So the money is going to be invested anyway and you're going to max out the HSA eventually. I'm sure you're paying a lot of taxes already, why pay more?

I'd go with your gut on this one. The numbers and benefits are similar enough that you should choose the job that you think you'll be happier at.

How much PTO do you take? With 3 kids I'd probably prefer the unlimited PTO. What about parental leave? Will you be eligible at the new company? I believe you have to have 12 months of service to be eligible for FMLA.

Any 401k differences?

I'm surprised this thread is allowed. What is personal or actionable about this thread for the OP? It's not even open enrollment time when almost all of the ads run. But it is… Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment is January 1 - March 31. You are probably thinking of Medicare Annual Enrollment which is October 15 - December 7 I'm familiar with both open enrollments. The 1st quarter one is only for current MA members and you can only switch one time. Not many people do though. Almost all the changes and enrollments happen between October 15th and December 7th. The insurance companies know this and during this time is when almost all the ads take place. I live in Florida and Humana takes over a channel and runs TV ads 24/7. CMS calls it "...

I'm surprised this thread is allowed. What is personal or actionable about this thread for the OP? It's not even open enrollment time when almost all of the ads run.

Amazing forum, Thanks for the immense help from many knowledgeable individuals. We need some help to some questions I cannot really talk about to close friends or family. Your inputs appreciated. We don't live any luxurious life, not wear nice brand name apparels, not live in fancy houses, just drive paid off Japanese cars, don't fly business class, or stay in 5 star resorts, not flashy etc. Questions: 1.We spend $92k/year, and don't even live luxurious life! - How are others families in America spending more and live luxuriously? Are the incomes higher in this age group? 2. Is our spending in line with similar households in America? 2. What else can make a considerable difference?- Do we increase our incomes? get side cash flow? 4. We fee...

Max(10, 33 - (FRA - current age)/2))

FRA is your Social Security Full Retirement Age

Does anyone know approximately how much profit is even in a car for the dealership? I’m not talking about add-ons, financing, warranties etc…just the vehicle. Consider your typical $40k sedan or $50k truck, are we talking about $4-$5k to the dealer, or far more or far less? When I was younger, with fewer resources, I too enjoyed the grind when making big ticket purchases. But now it’s not as fun and spending hours at a dealership or even at home communicating online isn’t as appealing as it once was. The last two vehicles I purchased, one as recent as last month, I simply paid sticker + TTL and wrote a check and drove away. No warranty, sealant package, prepaid service or market adjustment just MSRP. Total time spent was <hour. So if I was...

Pictures or it didn't happen.

This thread is hilarious.