Bogleheads.org

It's a lot more complicated and nuanced than you would imagine. Not all Advantage plans are the same for instance, some are PPO's and some are HMO's, which relates to being in a network or not. Most if not all Advantage programs require pre-approval to see a specialist, which usually means an additional visit to your PC doctor. Some Advantage programs cover the patient well when they travel, some don't. Deductibles and co-pays on both Advantage plans and Original Medicare are normally worse than the providers reveal, and can change at periodic intervals. Original Medicare normally doesn't require a referral to see a specialist, but as stated earlier, it's best to get a Part D policy for prescriptions and a Medigap plan. Every Part D and Me...

We have a Tile device taped to our TV remote which has a habit of disappearing from time to time. Works great. I suggested to spouse that we should find a device that could attached to the door frame of the TV room. Anyone getting close to leaving the room with the remote would receive a reminder to leave it.

I've noticed lately that if a program goes overtime, that Comcast will record the extension for that show. I think this is primarily for Sports. However Comcast will not extend the next show so you still have to record the next show and possibly the one after. Direct TV at one time allowed you to adjust the start and stop time but Comcast does not AFAIK.

Usually buy 90/10 Ground sirloin. Occasionally 85/15 ground chuck. Cooked on a hot Weber. Both fresh ground at a small local grocer. There's usually enough left over for one burger the next day. I've been noticing lately that the day old "aged" burger seems to taste better although I'm not sure why.

[ Curious. What is the maintenance cost to get it to 15 years? Let’s assume that other than putting gas in it and topping off the oil, I won’t be doing any maintenance myself. Once a year sharpen the blades, change the oil, and replace the air filter. Maybe change the spark plugs and replace a belt every 5 years or so. Depending on how you treat it a battery can last from 2 to 7 years. I keep mine on a maintainer and tend to get 5-7 years out of a battery. My neighbor uses a service that picks up his mower every Fall and does any required maintenance then stores it inside for the winter and brings it back to him in the spring ready to go. I don't remember what he pays, but he told me once and I recall thinking it was reasonable. I also win...

I paid $3.85 a few weeks back (Central CT). Highest price I paid this season was $4.60 back in August. My average for the season is about $4.25 for a little over 500 gallons which will probably last until October or so..

It may depend on the state but in most places, you got title when you bought the land and all improvements on it. Of course your deed likely was recorded on the local land records at that time.

I've had a BOA checking account for 40 years without a problem and no fees since I have direct deposits. I did move money to Edge a few years back for the rewards and the bonus. The Edge website is a little clunky but buy and sell orders get executed the same as every place else. I'm not pleased with lack of email support and waiting on the phone line. Bottom line is if rewards went away, I'd probably move the money tomorrow.

CMD1 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:15 pm Has anyone gone through Costco for their furnace? The vendor Costco uses in our area wanted 100% paid before they get to the job site. They claim the funds are held by Costco until completion but have nothing to back that up. This was disclosed after the contract and the contract also didn't back this up. Seems like a non starter, but have any other Costco customers faced this?

I got a quote from Costco for a mini-split system (think it was a Carrier product). Contractor told us up front Costco wanted full payment when the contract was signed and there would probably be at least a 30 day wait. We went with a Fujitsu mini split for about 20% less and it was installed in a few days and it has worked out very well

Mel Lindauer wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:45 am FWIW, $1300 sounds like an awful lot. You either need to pay it or else buy the TurboTax Business version that handles K1s and do it yourself. Others have stated that TT handles theirs, so you may want to check that out for next year's return.

Is OP producing K1 forms or just inputting them? TT Deluxe (download/cd) handles most K1 forms including the QBI deduction. If you're creating K1 forms (estate/S-Corp/Ptrnship) then you would need TT Business.

Regarding pugs and French bulldogs, which were mentioned above - neither are good choices if you are looking for healthy breeds. Both have the brachycephalic problems (pushed in faces and breathing issues, which can be severe). It's really not fun for the dog to go through life not being able to breathe well when awake or asleep. And it can be heartbreaking and expensive for owners as well. They are each also prone to a variety of other health problems. On top of that, French bulldogs are very, very trendy right now. That means they're quite expensive. This tends to bring in a lot of less reputable breeders just looking to make money on the hot trendy breed, rather than breeding for health and temperament. (The reputable breeders will stil...

FI4LIFE wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:26 pm Go to your local lumber yard and describe the work you need done. I'm talking about real lumber yard (not home depot). Ask the sales clerk if he/she can recommend anyone or tap on a contractors shoulder and ask. Professional paint stores are a good place to shop around too since a lot of painters are handymen as well or they will know one that they use when they come across rotten boards, sheetrock repairs etc.

Good advice. You can also ask at your local hardware store for handymen (Ace, True Value, etc)

Rental reimbursement from USAA is $40/six months per vehicle in CT so $160/year for two vehicles (standard class). I don't think that's a minor cost (and one reason why we have RR on only one of our cars). That's considerably more than we pay for Comprehensive coverage on two vehicles (about 7 years old) which makes no sense. But I do remember the old days when RR was $10/car. Fortunately, we've never had to use the RR coverage. You get comprehensive coverage for 2 vehicles for <$160/year but rental reimbursement costs $160/year? I agree that makes no sense. If you can self-insure it probably isn't a significant cost and if you can't self-insure it probably is. I look at that as insuring at a rate of 1-2 rental days per year of the policy ...

funxional wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:00 am Not directly related to the OP's frustrating issue, but any time that I have looked at rental coverage it's been a VERY minor cost of the policy (like $20/yr or something like that). I generally haven't felt that I needed a rental but it was so low that it wasn't worth dropping.

Rental reimbursement from USAA is $40/six months per vehicle in CT so $160/year for two vehicles (standard class). I don't think that's a minor cost (and one reason why we have RR on only one of our cars). That's considerably more than we pay for Comprehensive coverage on two vehicles (about 7 years old) which makes no sense. But I do remember the old days when RR was $10/car. Fortunately, we've never had to use the RR coverage.

Do you have collision coverage? If not your company will probably not intervene

GoldenFinch wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 5:12 am We bought a cottage in Massachusetts and the tax rate was set by the sale price. Where our cottage is (on Cape) they seem to reassess every year, so the taxes are going up. They even have a separate tax for a shed on the property, which is not something they do in Ohio, my home state.

If taxes go up. its because the town is spending more money. If property values are increasing, the mill rate should be decreasing (in an ideal world) .

Its the same in CT. Assessed values are set by the Assessor in each of the 169 towns. Every five years, the values are updated. In reality most of the towns contract with one of the four or five major assessment firms working in the state to do the grunt work of data gathering .

If you have not been there yet, Mystic CT is a nice coastal town to visit. When do you plan on doing this? Soon? RM What a great idea! It looks pretty but I'm wondering if warmer weather is better since it's mostly shop strolling and aquariums. LMK if you disagree. Yes, for spring break in late march. If it's a last minute thing to make a reservation, you can check the weather when it gets closer. Most likely, I would save for warmer weather. The train down to DC (mentioned above) is a good idea, but I would stay two night for that. Weather is typically a bit warmer there and you can be flexible indoors/outdoors. RM I'd second the Mystic Seaport suggestion. In addition to several old wooden ships, there are several shops of the type you wo...

Fairfield and Litchfield County CT, up Rt 7 to the Berkshires. Norman Rockwell Museum, etc.

Note that Merrill has some strange policies. One example is mandatory withholding in CT on traditional IRA withdrawals. You can get around that by filing the CT W4P form and selecting no withholding but you have to get the form every year, fill it out, send it in (they do have secure document transfer) and let Merrill know about it. And since Merrill has no secure email, you may be waiting on the phone for a bit to take your RMD. Fido does not have that requirement.

45.6 cents per kWh in the most recent bill. 35 mpg. Gas is today $3.19 a gallon on rt 9 west in Framingham. My co-worker has a Camry hybrid and an engineer generated spread sheet. 59 mpg summer, 56 mpg winter. So with our expensive electricity and cheap gas, he's 1/2 the price per mile than a m3 single motor. Is there any other part of the US besides the greater Boston area that has this combination of markedly above-average electricity costs and below-average gas costs? Honest question, not rhetorical. The Model 3 would be cheaper to fuel on a per mile basis than the Camry Hybrid where I live with average gas costs and average electricity costs, but it isn't a big difference. Even my predominantly suburban/hilly driving costs are only abo...

They have a deal with Shaw. Shaw makes quality products. That deal involves an arrangement with a local flooring company, and they may or may not have one in your local area. If there's a flooring kiosk near the exit, they have one. Costco does have some requirements in terms of reputation, so the local company is probably among the better local options. They also impose some pricing constraints on the local company, so the pricing should be decent, but it's not like their own warehouse pricing. Flooring can be a bit hard to comparison shop, as most manufacturers private label everything to retailers. Shaw has a set product list, but they'll happily private label all of it, so you won't find the same name for the same product at two differ...

Curious what numbers you are using here. Using national averages for kWh and gas cost (which are very close to mine) on fueleconomy.gov the Crosstrek is about triple the cost of the model 3. Are you possibly in a very high cost area for electricity? Yeah, it seems almost impossible that this is true. Especially if you factor in wear and tear/maintenance. Assuming 33mpg and a gas price of $3.50, electricity would have to be 42 cents per kWh to equal out, never mind be more expensive. I guess in Massachusetts or some of the other East Coast natural-gas reliant states, that's possible? I pay ~9 cents a kWh in Minnesota in the winter with free charging available at work. 45.6 cents per kWh in the most recent bill. 35 mpg. Gas is today $3.19 a ...

Note that QBI can also be a negative number and gets carried over, in which case it can reduce the current year QBI deduction. DAMHIKT. Tell me about it. We got a massive negative Sec 199A carry over loss on a K-1 that has wiped any QBI benefits going forward in a real estate business for probably a decade. The loss happened in the first year (2018) when no one understood these things yet. Luckily, the QBI from K-1's do not interact with QBI from fund investing. They are tracked separately. Hint, this is one of the very BAD things about MLP's that is seldom mentioned when people see juicy dividends. On the other hand, if you sell an MLP, which usually generates large amounts of ordinary income from recapture, you should get a QBI deduction...

Note that QBI can also be a negative number and gets carried over, in which case it can reduce the current year QBI deduction. DAMHIKT.

Confused by my search about this. What happens in California if your spouse is in a nursing home and the LTC Partnership policy goes to zero? Does the healthy spouse keep their full SS benefit if MediCal is paying for the nursing home? I was reading about spousal impoverishment and was confused. It seemed to be saying I would be entitled to keep 130,000 and I believe the house is protected. I also read about being able to keep the amount the LTC paid out. Does this mean MediCal would pay for the nursing home and we would keep say the 300,000 that that the LTC paid out plus 130,000 plus the home? If we had 1M we would pay for all the care until we were down to the 430,000 referenced above and then MediCal pays? The healthy spouse keeps thei...

Not sure about HRB but I've been using TT Deluxe download/CD version for many years to process K1 and PTPs without a problem.

The SEC fee is $8 per million effective 2/27/23 according to
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/ ... %20dollars.

I have the same problem with Turbo Tax although in my case while there is income in Box 1 of the 2022 K1 there are also previous year unallowed losses that are more than offsetting that current income.

Where I live it starts with a careful measurement of the foundation. "Jogs and bumpouts" are carefully noted. That gives you sq footage for the first floor. Multiply by 2 for a typical colonial. Add in a Garrison Colonial overhang if present. For a Cape style, multiply by 1.67 depending on 2nd floor slope and dormers and knee walls. Once you throw in contemporary designs with cathedral ceilings it get complicated. Sometimes there's an attached garage with living space above to figure. Covered porches are noted as a feature but do not contribute to sq footage usually. Generally below ground areas (like basements) don't count toward sq footage.

Lead paint was outlawed in 1978. That means there are millions of houses built before that date that could have lead paint in the interior like window sills, door jambs, and other trim. That can be a problem if there are young toddlers in the house.

If you're in a cold climate and have soffit vents, be very careful not to block them when adding insulation. Otherwise ice dams will be the likely result.

Have you considered demolition grout? Sold at Amazon, Home Depot, etc. Dexpan is the brand name.

No card that I know of would consider this a bonus category. The best I know of would be the 2.625% flat cards from BoA with the 75% adder from Platinum Honors. There are four different ones to choose from, and two variants have no annual fee. Plus, you can get bonuses when you go to qualify for Platinum Honors and when you open a new credit card. This is a good suggestion. I am little reluctant to open another brokerage account and deal with another giant bank. But I will if it is the best deal. What are the flat 2.625% cards from BOA? Unlimited cash rewards (UCR) is 1.5% on everything with a 75% bonus for Platinum to give 2.625% total. Customized Cash Rewards (CCR) give 3% in a category (no category for GOVT) plus a 75% bonus for Platinu...

The last time I looked, Zillow was adding finished basement sq footage into total sq footage. That can skew some numbers significantly.

Ricola wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 11:28 am I just use Walmart walk-in, but during Covid, they would walk them out to me in the parking lot or mail them to me upon request with no extra charge.

Same here. I hit my deductible every year with my early January Eliquis refill. After that my generics are $1 - $3 each for a 90 day supply. I don't believe anyone is cheap on Eliquis (a blood thinner with no generic).

Contact Taxpayer Advocate or your local congressional rep. The taxpayer advocate is for situations where the individual has tried to get help from the IRS without out success. I would personally feel that contacting your congress person should be the same. It seems that lawman has not yet spoken to the IRS at all. I do not believe there is a dedicated helpline with live assistance for information on a prior year return. You will just need to go through the general line to get to a live person. I suspect your error is that you are going through the phone tree and making the selection that you are calling about a refund. You can not make that selection and get to a live person. You will need to choose a different option. If you do an online ...

Also check to make sure Canvas is licensed and operates in your resident state. It does offer annuities in roughly 35 states, but not CA, NY, CT, MA as examples.

duplicate

We've been using Invisible Fence collars for over thirty years with much success. However they will not stop a dog from digging holes if there are moles around. But the holes aren't that big - maybe two inches wide and three to four feet long.

Have someone check the aquastat (which controls boiler temp) as well the circulator pump(s) and the zone valves if you have them. If one is stuck closed, you won't get much circulation on that zone. (They can also stick open which means too much heat in the baseboard)

arf1410 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 18, 2023 12:30 pm lets suppose (for simplicity), one is covered by 2 medical plans, each with a $1000 annual deductible, and the firs bill of the year comes in for $500. You send it to primary insurance, and it is not paid, but counts towards the deductible. Since it was not paid at all, you submit it to the secondary insurance. Can it also be counted towards that deductible?

You would have to look at the "Coordination of Benefits Clause" for each policy to see how it is treated.

Wasn't the November 22 fixed rate set at .40%

Quirkz wrote: ↑Sat Feb 18, 2023 1:06 am

jebmke wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:22 pm

Quirkz wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:18 pm Do you need to file to get the social security credits? I skipped one year in college because I figured it didn't matter, but the gap in the social security history has bugged me ever since.

no; the W2 gets filed by the employer

Huh. As I think about it, basically none of my college employment is on the record. I don't know what's up with that, but as it was in the mid-90's, it's probably too late to correct the record. And also probably not a major factor in my future earnings. But I'm still not sure why it was all invisible to social security.

What kind of college employment? As I recall, SS taxes usually don't apply to graduate stipends. However any "non-college" employment should have SS withheld.

What does his W2 say? (where was state tax withheld?) The simplest approach would be to file a State return in that state, assuming he had no other income in Nebraska.

For a mailed in return, the IRS likes attached copies of any form showing federal withholding - W2, 1099R, 1099DIV (very unusual but possible), etc.

tortoiseinvestor wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:42 am I'm helping a friend who is a widow (W) from a recently deceased husband (H).

H was drawing social security at age 64. It was $1800/month.

W is 63 and receives a $4000 pension and is not eligible for social security.

The SSA online calculate says she will receive $0 for social security benefits as a widow.

This came as a shock. The ssa.gov website seems pretty clear on the calculation. We are hoping for an exception that maybe is not included in the SSA guidelines (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

Assuming her 4k pension comes from a job not subject to Social Security (like school teachers in some states) that is correct. Most of the exceptions go way back in time and usually don't apply to most folks.

I'll just add that Schedule (corrected) SE will be added to your tax return and calculate the proper SE taxes which you will add to your estimated payments.

money2churn wrote: ↑Sat Feb 11, 2023 2:25 pm Your insurance company may care(if you have comprehensive), I think garaged gets a better rate. Having a car garaged in the winter(assuming you have a genuine one) is a "luxury" that is to be savored.

How will they know? They never ask. I have a 2 car garage and 2 cars. One car gets in the garage probably once every couple of years. It's an Expedition with a 1 1/2" of clearance on either side, that I have to back in otherwise there's a steel post that prevents the car door from opening to exit the vehicle. I will say It is a pain removing snow from it in the winter though.

We just finished the process. After completing the application, they called my wife a few weeks later and asked her the amount. I'm guessing they have ways to confirm it, but that's what happened. I will say I was a little surprised in how much they lowered the social security benefit. It was about 80% of the non-covered pension. She also had earnings covered by social security as well as another non affected pension. I put a call in this past Monday to inquire (protest?), but the wait time was too long. It's probably correct, but I want to double check. She had a lot of years of non-substantial earnings which likely increased the offset. I'm also curious if she might receive a greater spousal benefit based on my earnings. I'm 68 but waiti...

Yes - we're actually getting everything power washed, sanded (where needed), and sealed with a good oil-based stain / wood protectant next month, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that improves things. If it's drastic, I might just give up on the composite idea and stick to that regimen every couple years, as it's not terribly expensive to get done. I keep going this route and it always looks so nice after that I put off ideas of a synthetic deck as well. Anther issue that holds me back is that all my deck boards were face screwed with Philips head screws. Most likely getting all those boards off is going to be a lot of sawsall work underneath and not an easy task. I'm going to show my ignorance here, but why would you have to saw deck ...