Bogleheads.org

I would not be bothered by a sewage pump and we do have one servicing 2 shower/toilets and washing machine. There are several models at home depot, so not uncommon given the stock levels they have - Just make sure you don't confuse these with sump pumps. It's a somewhat unpleasant task when it dies but easily a DIY thing... Make sure it has an alarm because that is the bad scenario where you just don't notice. Be careful what goes down - last time mine died because "someone" (quotes because it was no one in the house did this of course) flushed a pair of latex gloves that clogged up the impeller. Not sure why the rest of the toilets are sealed over... did they "winterize" the house or something as no one there? I would g...

If Vanguard doesn’t let you do any of these things, how did they get so big and popular? Did they use to be more user friendly or modernized? In the old days, there were no ETFs and no Vanguard brokerage accounts. And also in the old days, at regular brokerages you couldn't buy fractional or even single shares of stocks (without exorbitant fees). There were dividend reinvestment programs sponsored by the actual public companies, but this was done through specialists, not at any brokerage you would deal with normally. The prosaic things that you can do at Vanguard today were really quite different from how investing used to be "normally" done. In the old days prices were not decimal but fractions - made excel harder :D This is ano...

Broken Man 1999 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:20 pm Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert

Best covers of Dylan's songs ever, IMHO.

That is a great concert - I say that as someone who loves Dylan's songs but is less keen on his voice (I know I know... I'll walk myself to the wood shed and someone will be along shortly to beat me ) . I love that Tracy Chapman version of times are changing...

Edit: Should have added one to roll the thread forward. Here is one that most here probably would not know - but one of the great singer/song writers IMO - Paul Kelly

Grab one of these. It's better than the flip ones for most uses IMO as it just steals some of the water already flowing down the downspout to fill the barrel. No maintenance... no fuss...

I have no real idea as I've never been playing.... I save what I can when I can and invest using a plan that I think is best and adjust to stay on that path. Then I cross my fingers, earn some $ and execute... I'm not sure there is much else to do short of a windfall.....

StevieG72 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:47 am

rob wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 9:07 pm My bank things I have three heads because I insisted they remove the debit facility and give me an ATM only card... Apparently not common. The protection is better on credit card... but even if it were not then your just arguing to get your own money back and dealing with the time gap to resolution instead of a future bill.

I go a step further and ask for credit only. No debit or ATM.

I'm with ya... but I like to have an ATM card as a couple of places I go often are cash bar sort of stuff, so like to be able to get cash at an ATM and with no visa/mastercard on the ATM card - they would have to guess a 6 digit PIN or make me take $ out physically at an ATM, I guess - not a remote crime like fraud.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Digital-Camera-2-8-Inch/dp/B009B0MZ1M 50 times optical zoom Newer version - https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Powershot-20-3MP-Digital-Optical-dp-B07HH1PVRZ/dp/B07HH1PVRZ/ref=dp_ob_title_ce comes with 65 times optical zoom. Interesting it offers 50X optical zoom. Is that actual zoom? Seems the lens says 4.3 - 215 mm. So does that correspond to just 4X true zoom ? You have to convert it to 35mm equivalent first, which would be, ~1200 mm. Edit: so equivalent to 24x magnification if using 50mm (in 35mm equivalent!) as 1x. This site had the best explanation of why these numbers are converted like this. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/understanding-crop-factor Basically it is...

A runny egg on top.... Needs to drip down to your elbows while eating

Valuethinker wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:33 am You have to make the hydrogen. Right now that is done in a very "ungreen" way by reforming natural gas. Then you have to transport the hydrogen.

"ungreen" describes most people's electric also... and more so when more cars are dumped on a grid that can barely get thru summer without pleads to curb AC use in some places. That's even before you get to the manufacturing processes. I wish there was a real conversation but it's been taken over by electric is angelic and ICE is the devilish stuff.

My bank things I have three heads because I insisted they remove the debit facility and give me an ATM only card... Apparently not common. The protection is better on credit card... but even if it were not then your just arguing to get your own money back and dealing with the time gap to resolution instead of a future bill.

cognovimus wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 6:54 pm Thanks, that's kind of what I thought, but apparently the letter came from the benefits person at his small company, not Fidelity. Could it be that they have to pay Fidelity a % of the assets held in the 401K?

They will likely be paying something... but yeah if they want to stay they cannot be forced out with that balance.

knightrider wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 6:48 pm

rob wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 6:44 pm Sometimes a phone is not the camera you need... I know that's not popular. There are lots of options depending what your doing but the trick attachments to phones are not a solid answer.

Here's an example of something I took with my cell phone/Nikon method:

Yes - I can see that. We all have different levels of what is an acceptable image, so it's a matter of matching that expectation up with results.

Lots of people here bet against total markets by holding zero non-US, and the bet has paid off recently. There are non-US listed companies that sell lots of stuff inside the US also.

Sometimes a phone is not the camera you need... I know that's not popular. There are lots of options depending what your doing but the trick attachments to phones are not a solid answer.

Hybrid's are a transitional abomination... Terrible to drive and worst of both tech with both bits of pluming.

Picking electric or ICE is rational in my view, not both. Right now, electric is still more expensive and in my view (this will get screamed down) worse for the environment on a total basis - although allows the drivers to pretend they are "part of the solution". Big 4x4's that are popular in the US are worse than reasonable sized or smaller cars regardless of drive tech.

guyfromct wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 9:49 am Barista or Coast FIRE, seems to have its own litany of issues. Namely the “less” stressful job simply isn’t, it just pays less. I’ve seen this with friends who exit financial services or consulting and go to a not for profit or government job and they’re just as unhappy. Also, a lot of the FIRE people seem to have materially worse lifestyles like tiny homes, a glorified trailer in my opinion.

This never made sense to me because replacing $x with a fraction of that is just not sensible IMO - I'd prefer to work less for more $ then stop. Now if it's charity work or a cause you believe in or something you've always wanted to try for a bit (and I mean for a bit not as a long term thing) - great but its not for the $ in that case.

Decided to be in a Neil Finn (with his brother and recent and older bands) mood this weekend.... Been part of my music background forever....

Hey everyone! I'm bumping this up because I've been exploring how to roll my TIRA balance into my employer 401k, and I'm stuck. My employer 401k is at Fidelity and they will only let me do the rollover if my TIRA contributions were pre-tax. But they are a mix. Most of it - $27k - is from rollovers from old employers, so that was pre-tax. But about $3k of is post-tax contributions I made years ago when I didn't have an employer plan. I am looking through old tax returns and I don't think it was ever written off, probably because my husband and I made above the income cap and also he participated in an employer 401k. I'm having a really hard time tracking this down because Vanguard doesn't even show me my contribution history before 2022 :ey...

tfunk wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:54 pm

rob wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:33 pm Yeah the retroactive enroll in cobra is worth it but keep in mind there might be a state penalty for the missing month.

How do you miss a month if it is retroactive?

The idea is to NOT activate cobra at all.... Use it as a backdated safety net. Once you don't use it, there will be uninsured months which some states penalize (fed no longer does).

keyfort wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 6:53 pm I was just about to ask this, as I'd been thinking about it. So let's say I have a heart attack and have to go to the ER - the hospital will demand payment from us and we have to get reimbursed from COBRA, or more likely in that case the hospital will bill the insurance company if we explain?

I realized it's not so simple after all, if something goes wrong health wise.

I just signed all the paperwork and left it at home... then just destroyed it when started the next role. Only once did I take up the option and use for a few months and it was a simple continue with a login to pay the bill each month. Rest of plan was identical and deductibles etc just carry over from memory.

New mini's are huge but they are generally expensive as they get older (why you likely see some cheaper ones kicking around the 10 year mark) - they are essentially BMW's with expensive bits.

WhiteMaxima wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 6:19 pm

rob wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:28 pm I would get that balanced fund out of there and break into primary pieces.... then pick the best placement for each class across the accounts (taxable, roth etc.).

My ultimate goal is to put everything into one balanced fund (60:40) and let the fund manager to rebalance. Due to high inflation and interest increase, I am use Tips and real asset to hedge inflation.

I don't understand what that means... as you have 8 things here and 1/8 cannot rebalance the rest. If your going to use a copy of the balanced fund in taxable and ira and what not then it will be inefficient in taxable. I don't see the appeal of balanced unless you have a single ira (no roth, 401k, taxable etc).

I would get that balanced fund out of there and break into primary pieces.... then pick the best placement for each class across the accounts (taxable, roth etc.).

Yeah the retroactive enroll in cobra is worth it but keep in mind there might be a state penalty for the missing month.

sleepysurf wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:53 pm Someday, I hope all brokerages will routinely provide read only portals for the aggregators.

This is such a trivial change but not in their interests to provide actual benefits to customers here. I have a single credit card that allows this - an id for reading statements and nothing else that you can deactivate.... but it's not got enough critical mass everywhere to be that useful.

I expect this is regional and involves some luck... I applied in late Jan and took about 6 weeks non-expedited (still waiting on orig doc stuff to be returned)... Sorry you seem to be stuck...

I think your fixated on the tax tail of this dog.... Think thru some of the ways this arrangement can go south.

I would not say normal but some of the component prices have dropped a lot from stupid highs.

German Expat wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 8:35 pm I would never use it for anything important without verifying the information.

You would think BUT..... I have people...
- Using it to write up their annual goals
- Talking points in leadership presentations
- Wiki pages for various things
- Likely for things I have not noticed - I shudder to think

... and I live in a part of IT where people ought to know better.... but it's faster and looks to pass muster on a glance.

I cannot imagine what this looks like in universities (and yeah I know there are tools to spot it's output but they will fall behind if they have not already).

For good or bad, I've split bonds into 1/3 Inflation, 1/3 Intermediate and 1/3 Short. I wanted more short to balance out the stock part and wanted to split the nominal & inflation options down the middle. The bulk of the short is now stable value funds and inflation includes a chunk of ibonds acquired over the decades.

Not sure it's a great position (unintended pun) but has worked for me - starting at 10% bonds years ago to 35% now days. In hindsight, it's been a drag having bonds except when it's not.

I have never tracked net worth as just don't care... I track investment assets and current savings goals against an allocation in excel... home made decades ago (bit of an excel jockey, so doesn't bother me and I prefer to keep that sort of consolidation offline). Duct taped up a solution to get online prices into offline excel automagically and manually enter the #units and some prices for non traded things in my 401K plans, ibonds etc. - every month or two... or three depending how I feel. Been struggling to track spending more recently... Trying to get some credit card downloads and steal their categorizations. Aim is to get a better understanding of expenses so can better estimate retirement expenses - I've never been a categorized budg...

8301 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 3:58 pm One ESPP tranche is available for transfer on 12/31/2098! No mistake. I checked the date many times. Others are available in 20+ years.

Oh for a transfer of broker: I think you'll find what you see is just a default "high" date..... As above there is some reporting to the W2 while your employed.

Hacksawdave wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 4:05 pm

hand wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:05 pm

DucatiScotty wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:11 pm
I was laid off recently so I'm moving that 401K into on of my IRAs.

This may limit you in the future if you wish to backdoor Roth.

I would wait and roll into my next employer 401(k)

I concur with Hand. Your next employer may allow “IRS rule of 55” early withdrawal provisions in their 401k plan should you decide to retire early after 4 years when you reach 55. Converting your severed employer’s 401k into a IRA rollover excludes those funds from rule of 55.

Most plans allow a transfer from a rollover IRA back into the new 401K plan (I would not mix with traditional IRA's since some plans still don't allow the split to roll these IN). The issue with "backdoor" roth's is real though.

Beensabu wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 11:54 am

sailaway wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 11:34 am You are suggesting a 1.7% withdrawal rate for a 40yo retiree?

I'm saying that if their spend was low enough, it would be a no brainer. But they're working with numbers right at the margin of a 3.33% withdrawal rate and unanticipated expenses would push them over.

.... and with young kids - there is nothing BUT unanticipated expenses.... They get MORE expensive as they get older not less. Seems to also be assuming they can get "free-ish" ($100) healthcare for life - I would not make that bet in the US.

There is a similar issue on their 401K side in that what the screen shows is NOT what's executed... Vanguards "investigation" backs what they did when that is clearly wrong... Pathetic but they even refuse to run the system and test to prove what I say.... I even repeated it and showed screen shots.... It's no longer a company that deserves any confidence...

I agree... bargain for the buyer - discount and cheap interest rate. Hard no.

I don't see any way this works to be honest....

A cover of the U2 song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by Peter Hollens and the a capella group Home Free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6CE5IMX_7M Six men. Singing. Plus bonus flash mob. You know when a favorite song you know takes you to a joyful place, where only the music matters, and all humanity seems a community of one mind, one heart, and a multitude of voices - that is this song. No worries here any more, the world is all right. When you hear a Home Free song you are going to have a good day. If you start down the Home Free rabbit hole you will want to experience "Man of Constant Sorrow," "Ring of Fire," and "Elvira" (with the Oak Ridge Boys). Truly amazing, and a gift to the...

There is no way there is an 80 year lock on shares....

Tonight is new for me... Running through some Mary Chapin Carpenter... Some are pretty good and she has a great voice. Some are more country but some more folk.

FiveK wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 3:34 pm

rob wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 3:03 pm Well... Hold on... You have to attest that what you put on your W4 is true... so I doubt you can "stop"....

See the flowchart at the top of Form 2210:

Complete lines 8 and 9 below. Is line 6 equal to or more than
line 9?

Yes ▶

You don’t owe a penalty. Don’t file Form 2210 unless
box E in Part II applies, then file page 1 of Form 2210.

See this quote on the W4 where you have to fill out something untrue to get to zero withholding....

"Under penalties of perjury, I declare that this certificate, to the best of my knowledge and belief, is true, correct, and complete."

Well... Hold on... You have to attest that what you put on your W4 is true... so I doubt you can "stop"....

Had it for years but dropped it this year due to a couple of <insert word> poor experiences... Forever ago it was a great experience. Full of gotchas now days - extra costs, x is not covered, y is only coved so far but the upsell is nuts. I was so discussed that I dropped it and will not likely pick up again forever at this point.

Okay... before I get the answer I gave... This is from a conversation I had with a friend and didn't really know the answer apart from dump em both when they vest and you can get your hot little fingers on them... which is what I do and believe is the "right" answer for other reasons :D . Assume: - You want to hold $x worth of employer stock and have both ESPP and RSU's (ignore the sell for taxes bit). - The ESPP is a rolling 6-months... meaning 2 years minus 6 months payroll collection giving you 18month to hold for long-term tax vs the 12 months for RSU's. I believe that the offer start is the start of payroll deduction regardless of the look-back period for discount. Which would you hold to get long-term tax rates? I couldn't t...

No but your going to have to... It's a racket.

Congrats... But remember: No more $5 Christmas calendars that you pay $5,000 for in fees, so you have to buy your own now

I've been shoveling from stocks to bonds so much recently that it's strange to do it the other way around now

This whole rebalance thing feels a lot like I'm Sisyphus in a gravel pit... but hey.

Outside of kids and charity... Spending it is the only thing I can think of...

I don't for the most part and with the recent changes to amazon music, I've almost stopped using it (an anti app recommendation). You used to be able to play x artist... now it adds "and similar" and a few songs in your nowhere close to where you started - and I mean nowhere close.

I do like these services sometimes when driving because I want noise but I'm not really listening and I like the wandering variety in this one use case. If I drove more, I would get XM radio as I liked that the times I've had a subscription because it's a tight style on those variety stations.

uaeebs86 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:48 pm If you want to tap your funds early (between 55 and 59 1/2) penalty free and plan on leaving your company during that time (voluntarily or involuntary), you would want to leave it in your 401k due to the Rule of 55.

Can anyone confirm - my understanding is that this only relates to the last employer plan.... not any or all from the past (the web seems a bit lax on details of this point).