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Looks like the 401k passed a particular threshold of plan assets to become eligible to use Collective Investment Trusts. They are similar to mutual funds but they don't have a ticker, are usually offered at lower cost, and are only available to investors in certain qualified plans. Check the wiki about CITs if you want to learn more. If you were happy with your original allocation, you have the same allocation with these new funds. Up to you whether you want to make any adjustments. You haven't provided any context about your overall portfolio in this thread, so unknown whether other changes are necessary. Is this a good thing for me meaning CIT? I would not be concerned about it, personally. You'll want to determine for yourself. See this...

THANK YOU! This was extremely helpful. My situation is unfortunately even more complicated than I remembered. Not only did I not file a Form 8606, I now remember how this money ended up there in the first place. I contributed to a Roth IRA in 2019, and then later realized I was over the income threshold to do so. So I had to take a distribution from my Roth IRA, and then the money got "rolled" into the TIRA. I remember now that I talked to Vanguard about it and this is what they told me to do. It's a total mess and I blame it on the fact that this all happened when my 2nd daughter was 2 months old and I was barely sleeping. I am going to file a Form 8606, but I'm curious if you know if any of the info I shared above changes how I...

I think you first need to determine whether the IRA contribution you made "years ago" was deductible or not. To do that, you should check your account page at the IRA custodian you had when you made that TIRA contribution. Look for a tax information section. You'll want to look for Form 5498. This form documents your IRA contributions (Trad. and Roth). The online records should probably go back at least 5 years. If you need to back further than what's available online, you can probably contact the IRA custodian for information going back 10 years. Then you'll need to look at the tax return for the year in which you made the TIRA contribution. Look to see if the contribution was deducted from your taxable income. You should be able...

Looks like the 401k passed a particular threshold of plan assets to become eligible to use Collective Investment Trusts. They are similar to mutual funds but they don't have a ticker, are usually offered at lower cost, and are only available to investors in certain qualified plans. Check the wiki about CITs if you want to learn more. If you were happy with your original allocation, you have the same allocation with these new funds. Up to you whether you want to make any adjustments. You haven't provided any context about your overall portfolio in this thread, so unknown whether other changes are necessary. Is this a good thing for me meaning CIT? I would not be concerned about it, personally. You'll want to determine for yourself. See this...

Welcome to the forum! New annual Contributions 100k VTSAX brokerage account You could put some of this in annual Roth IRA contributions for him and her via the backdoor Roth . Not recommending it, but if it is something you want to consider, read the wiki page to learn more. 2. Our goal is to FIRE in 5 years with 150k in annual income. I lean towards selling all of our real estate, but my wife wants to maintain the annual cash flow instead of selling and investing in the market. Looking for anyone who was in a similar situation who could provide pro/cons, or any general advice. If you want $150k in income, you should probably target a portfolio of at least $4.5mm at your ages ($150k x 30). What's your plan to get there in 5 years? There's ...

If this is true, I will NEVER be FIRE and my entire life will be spent slaving away at 12+ hour days, evenings, weekends, and long commutes , that is if I'm lucky to keep my job: Sounds like you need to find another job or find a way to take more time off from your current job. Good luck! It's not the entire weekend or every evening. I have so many meetings that I need to work extra just to get actual work done. I probably get paid twice total compensation than I'd get doing anything else. Knowing this, I'm trying to keep this as long as possible, and I do save 50% of my take home and live a lifestyle that I were working a much lower paying position. I really like the actual "nuts & bolts" of the work itself. Well then, it so...

OldSport wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:44 am If this is true, I will NEVER be FIRE and my entire life will be spent slaving away at 12+ hour days, evenings, weekends, and long commutes, that is if I'm lucky to keep my job:

Sounds like you need to find another job or find a way to take more time off from your current job. Good luck!

oldcomputerguy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 9:14 am curo, some of the tickers you list here are frequently discussed and well-known, while some are not. I would suggest that you go back and edit your post using the "edit post" button and add fund names alongside the tickers. This will help the members give you better answers.

I agree. I recognize 3 of those options.

I went from renting to buying a house that’s turned out to be a money pit. I paid $65k down on a $200k house and have about $18k into repairs/updates and a lot more to come. 3) I figure I need about $15k in my emergency fund for 6 months of living expenses. I have more than that in checking, savings and money market, but use it as a cushion for if I can’t cash flow my house repairs from my salary. Is that ok or should I be doing something else? Given what you wrote about the house being a money pit and needing to spend a lot more soon, I think it would be reasonable to hang onto more cash. 1) I max my 401k, IRA and HSA. I’m currently doing all Roth in my 401k but being in the 24% bracket, at what point should I go traditional? Income tax r...

H-Town wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:32 pm 2) An honest look at your financial picture. How much is his, how much is hers, and how expenses are shared? Although it may be uncomfortable, you should both talk about it and agree how it should handle since you make more much than your fiancé.

Very good thoughts in general.

I especially agree with the above. OP, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably be looking for a pre-nuptial agreement.

Great summary above.

Coordinate your desired overall portfolio asset allocation across all accounts.

I would use a broad market stock index fund in the Roth IRA, but not any that you use in taxable or the 401k.

So something like VTSAX/VTI or VFIAX/VOO would fit the bill, in my opinion.

Welcome to the forum! New annual Contributions 100k VTSAX brokerage account You could put some of this in annual Roth IRA contributions for him and her via the backdoor Roth . Not recommending it, but if it is something you want to consider, read the wiki page to learn more. 2. Our goal is to FIRE in 5 years with 150k in annual income. I lean towards selling all of our real estate, but my wife wants to maintain the annual cash flow instead of selling and investing in the market. Looking for anyone who was in a similar situation who could provide pro/cons, or any general advice. If you want $150k in income, you should probably target a portfolio of at least $4.5mm at your ages ($150k x 30). What's your plan to get there in 5 years? There's a...

placeholder wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:29 pm You been around long enough how to do this: viewtopic.php?t=6212

+1. Use link to request a portfolio review.

Kinda impossible to offer thoughtful feedback without more context.

Looks like the 401k passed a particular threshold of plan assets to become eligible to use Collective Investment Trusts. They are similar to mutual funds but they don't have a ticker, are usually offered at lower cost, and are only available to investors in certain qualified plans.

Check the wiki about CITs if you want to learn more.

If you were happy with your original allocation, you have the same allocation with these new funds. Up to you whether you want to make any adjustments. You haven't provided any context about your overall portfolio in this thread, so unknown whether other changes are necessary.

Pinecone Research is one I've used and had no issues with. $3/survey that usually takes <5 minutes. They notify you of a potential survey opportunity and then you complete a few questions to determine if you're eligible. I generally only get 1-2 notifications per month.

I've used InboxDollars and Survey Junkie for surveys too and had no issues. YMMV.

Welcome to the forum! - We will likely have to refinace the balance on the mortgage at current rates (~35k/year in additional costs) Why would you have to refinance the current mortgage? - P2 job is extremely stressful and takes a toll on his health Why doesn't he look for a new job? Seems unnecessary in your situation for him to put up with a job that takes a toll on his health. I'm very aware we are in a great position here. It feels like we can choose a bunch of great options, but I struggle with feeling like we can choose them all. Starting a family, giving P2 the option to leave job, and having option to leave current business in ~5 years are the top priorities - a 90k car is a nice, not need to have. OTOH, I know that our income is ve...

quantAndHold wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:26 pm I would also start diversifying out of the vested company stock, but that’s a separate issue.

Agree. The vested company stock is almost 25% of the investment portfolio.

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:44 pm With no pension and just $165k in traditional tax-deferred accounts in the 22% tax bracket, I suggest traditional rather than Roth contributions to your 401k for the benefit of the tax deduction.

FYI, OP updated the original post to indicate they're in the 12% fed tax bracket.

muffins14 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:35 am

cat5 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:33 am Concerned about not knowing what I don't know... If there is nothing to know more than duplication, I will leave things the way they are.

Thanks for your reply.

Be well,
cat5

Just be mindful of tax lots and dividends when donning tax-loss harvesting

Related to this, I recommend turning off automatic reinvestment of dividends and capital gains on all holdings in taxable.

I don't see a "mistake." May be unnecessary duplication, but nothing wrong with it. What's your concern?

I think you should completely eliminate option #4. Doesn't seem like your current home would make a good rental and you'd miss out on the capital gains exclusion if you rent for more than 3 years. I would make the current house work, without a renovation. What's the current square footage? What is a teen's room? Do your daughters each have their own room? You have 3ish years until the oldest is out of the home, so I would make what you have work for that short time. Your oldest will likely spend less and less time at home as she gets older and can drive. So you may not need that "teen's room." Doesn't seem like you and your spouse would need extra space when both daughters are gone. Up to you and your spouse what you want to do, o...

There is no consensus about whether and how much international stock to hold. Recommendations range from 0 to 50%. 20% to 30% seems like the moderate recommendation. I think 20% is reasonable. I have seen those large recommendations as well. Given the current world climate I did not want to be heavily invested in international stocks, but I did want to at least "dip a toe" into them. Right now I believe that I am around 15% diversified into international stock funds. I wouldn't be worried about the "current world climate" as it relates to your desired int'l stock allocation. I suggest picking something you feel you can live with long term. I definitely would not use a taxable brokerage account before you put money in yo...

So if I convert the non-deductible contribution back to my roth ira in the 2023 tax year then I will owe taxes on that conversion right? I guess what I'm asking is is that conversion the backdoor roth method or simply a conversion to roth where I pay taxes? You will not owe tax on the basis in the TIRA. You would only owe taxes if the amount converted exceeds your 2022 tax year non-deductible contribution. You will need to ensure you know how to fill out Form 8606 properly. You will need to fill out Part 1 with your 2022 tax return and include an explanatory statement about the recharacterization. I recommend reading the wiki about backdoor Roth and the White Coat Investor blogpost tutorial to see properly completed tax forms. In 2024, you...

Welcome to the forum! Tax Rate: 22% Federal (12% after deductions I believe); 6.5% State I agree with user above that knowing your marginal fed bracket will be very helpful, especially with respect to your question about whether traditional vs. Roth 401k makes more sense for you. For example, if you're in the 12% bracket, I would say you should definitely do Roth 401k. Becomes murkier if you're in the 22% bracket. Desired International Allocations: I am thinking around ~20% of stock, but am unsure and open to suggestions There is no consensus about whether and how much international stock to hold. Recommendations range from 0 to 50%. 20% to 30% seems like the moderate recommendation. I think 20% is reasonable. Questions: I am on the fence a...

A 529?

PNWpilot wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 12:55 pm We invest 15% of our monthly income to employer 401K and Roth IRA. We save an additional 15% towards a house-fund. Our house fund has grown to about $240k. Ideally, I'd like to use some (or all) of that money towards a home at some point, and then max out Roth/401K moving forward.

One thought I have that is not directly related to your specific question - I think you should stop saving in the house fund.

$240k should be plenty for a 20% (or more) down payment and moving costs in a MCOL area.

I would put more in the 401k(s) and Roth IRAs, to the extent you have room. If not, then move on to using tax-efficient index funds in a taxable brokerage account.

muel87 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:02 am

tashnewbie wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:25 am She should have included an explanatory statement re the recharacterization with the 2021 form. See the Form 8606 instructions for more info: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8606.pdf

I just didnt have a statement attached. I need to file an amended return to attach a statement?

I'm not sure. I don't think an amendment is needed because the tax liability does not change. But I don't think you can just file the statement by itself. She could file the 8606 again along with the statement or perhaps attach the statement to the 2022 return. I would wait to see if other forum members have thoughts.

Conversions are recognized in the calendar year in which they are done, so if she converted in 2022, then that conversion would be reflected in 2022 Form 8606, not 2021 (even though the contribution associated with the converted money was for 2021). She would have needed to document the non-deductible contribution and recharacterization on 2021 Form 8606 filed in 2022. Her end-of-year 2021 IRA balance does not matter if she did not do any Roth conversions in 2021. Her end-of-year 2022 IRA balance, if any, matters because she did a Roth conversion in 2022. Thanks. She did the recharacterization in 2022 for the 2021 contributions, after it had losses. Her 2021 8606 (filed after the recharacterization) shows just the contribution (not includi...

My example is similar... In my wife's account, she made the 2021 contribution in 2021, and recharacterized and converted to Roth in early 2022 (with losses). 2021 8606 only shows $6k contribution on lines 1, 3, and 14. In my account, I did similar moves, only difference is my 2021 contributions were in early 2022 (in addition to the recharacterizations/conversions). 2021 8606 is same as my wife's. Im trying to determine if I need to amend them. Also, my tax preparer didnt include my wife's total IRA account value at end of year, although there were no conversions done in 2021, so maybe he didnt need to include that. For HeelaMonster's example, when you say "If you took no distributions and/or did not convert in 2022.... xyz would only...

Food/Supplements/Vitamins: $800 Utilities: $300 Home Repair/Maint.: $200 Dates and fun: $200 Gas: $250 Car Insurance: $200 Cell Phones: $100 Cleaning/Household Items: $100 Car Maint/Registration/Renewal: $100 These are your biggest non-rent categories. Some seem to be non-discretionary such as utilities and insurance. You could shop insurance to see if there's potential savings there. Cell phones can be easily trimmed with an MVNO. There's likely room to cut in the food category. Dates and fun could be cut completely or reduced. $100/month for cleaning and household supplies seems high, depending on what comprises supplies. $100/month for car maintenance, registration, renewal also seems high. What's the breakdown? What cars are you all dr...

I do not think there is any need to get fancy with the fund choices in the 401k.

Look to keep it simple. I recommend exploring something like the "3-fund portfolio" (you could make it 2 funds by eliminating bonds if you prefer): https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio

Agree with others about market timing.

Sounds like you want something like a money market fund. Don't know which ones would be available at no cost at your brokerages.

Almost all of your portfolio success will boil down to a few things. How much you save and having a stock to bond ratio that you are comfortable with in the good times and bad times. The rest (which incidentally is what most of the conversation here on the forums is about) does not matter all that much. +1000 with emphasis added. That truly is the most important thing, especially early on in your investing journey. We on BH love to talk about the stuff that really at the end of the day is probably inconsequential. :D OP: I would focus on simplicity and making things easy for you to manage. That could mean using an L fund in his TSP and a target date fund (TDF) in her 403b. If you are going to use TDFs in the Roth IRAs, just use one. No nee...

I’d pick #3, assuming these are low cost options. Up to you whether you want to use just developed markets or also emerging markets.

Your portfolio is ~$120k and if you want 20% international stock, that’s about $24k.

In general it may be a good idea to realize losses in taxable, but I don’t know if $700 is worth the time and effort. May be good to see how it works if you’ve never done it before.

Imagine this question has been asked many times, but couldn't find much. Seems like a pretty simple feature for them to implement. Each month I contribute to my portfolio (7 different etfs, at 10-20% weightings). It is time consuming to do this each month. I wish I can just contribute to one thing and set the weightings and it does it for me (market order or set limit order at .02% below market or something). What is the solution to this basic issue? Cheers Rotate between the 7 things and only purchase one thing each month. Seems like this would work. Is there enough change in the market that each holding is off by enough from your target every month (most people set rebalancing triggers of +/-5% or 20% of a holding)? Otherwise, I think M1...

Please provide an approximate size of your total portfolio: low six figures Current gross income 142k Depending on how much is "low six figures," you may have about 1x your current income saved. By some metrics (Fidelity's, I think) the recommendation is to have 2x saved by age 35. I think you're in good shape and potentially have a long runway until retirement. But it may not be a bad tradeoff to temporarily reduce retirement savings so that you can save for a home purchase. If I were thinking about the decision, I would consider what the total purchase price is. You have not mentioned that, only that $400k is not enough to buy the house you want in your area. Are you in a LCOL, MCOL, HCOL, or VHCOL area? Unless you're in a H/VH...

I agree with you in that I would not use compensation in my budget beyond the baseline. Based on the area I want to buy and your feedback, there are not any homes that meet my needs and budget together. We’ll have to continue renting and saving until those numbers align. I don’t want to decrease my tax-advantaged contributions savings rate to speed up the purchase process as I will end up paying a high tax rate to have that cash available. I do not want to dissuade you from buying a house completely (I also do not want to say you should 100% buy a house right now). Buying a house is generally more of a non-financial decision but it does have financial implications, and one should feel comfortable that you can afford the total carrying cost...

KyleAAA wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:53 am Are interest rates falling? I suspect the Fed isn't done raising yet.

I didn't know they are falling.

OP - why do you think they're falling?

Welcome to the forum. How'd you find your way here? It's always nice to hear people's stories. • $25,000 in credit card debt average approximately 21% a month in interest. • I just prepared my taxes and will owe $3,100 by mid-April. You're an intelligent and capable person, so you likely know what you need to do, but perhaps you just need others to validate what you already know? These liabilities seem like the top priorities to me. If you still have a good credit score and think you can manage a new credit card responsibly, I would look for a credit card with a 0% intro rate that you could pay the IRS bill with and then pay off the credit card balance before the promo rate period ends. You may also want to see if you can get a credit card ...

Current annual savings/investments 48k (max 401k + HSA + 2 Roth IRAs + remaining in taxable for down payment currently) Monthly fixed expenses Take home 2200: Rent 420: Car payment 110: Electric 75: Gas (utility) 100: Sewer/water/trash 25: Phones 55: Internet (total: 2985/mo) Looks like your current housing expenses are ~$2500/month and it looks like you save ~$6k/year into taxable. So back of the napkin math seems to indicate you would have ~$3k/month to devote to housing expenses, if you wanted to maintain your tax-advantaged account savings rate. You would have more buffer with the irregular income. Up to you whether you feel comfortable accounting for that when setting your baseline housing budget. I definitely would not do that. I wou...

Sounds like you're asking about STOCK index funds?

I agree that the risk profile between a stock index fund and a CD are vastly different. Which is appropriate for you depends on your personal risk tolerance, what the money is for and when you will need it.

Because these types of decisions should be made within the overall context of your investment portfolio and financial profile, not in isolation, you might want to consider posting a portfolio review in this suggested format: viewtopic.php?t=6212

Even if you decide not to post, it will likely be a helpful exercise to prepare the information for yourself.

Hello. I am new to this forum and investing. I have $15K to invest in a ROTH, I will take this money out in 10-15yrs from now. From what I have learned from this forum, I have come to the following portfolio: FSPGX 20% VQNPX 20% VTSAX 20% VTRIX 10% VTIAX 10% VQNPX 10% FTBFX 10% This is based on the "Core Fore" and I've expanded a little bit. I don't need this money, I'm hoping it can generate some amount for my future down payment on a home in the future. So I welcome any input and thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully expand my knowledge further. Welcome to the forum. I agree with user directly above me that you should include the fund names, not just the ticker symbol. Most users don't have these tickers memorized...

The issue I ran into is running out of desirable mutual fund options to use as a TLH partner. That happened quickly for me in 2022. I used VLCAX and then didn't have a viable option (VFIAX wasn't because of wash sale concerns). Why would you think that there would be a wash sale with either the large company fund or the total market with the sp500 fund? I don't and it was not my intention to imply that. I do not use S&P 500 funds as TLH partners because I have S&P 500 funds in my Roth IRA, HSA, and 403b. So that leaves me personally with large cap and total market mutual funds as options for TLH, if I want to stick to mutual funds (may not be an issue for some who do not use S&P 500 funds in other accounts). At Vanguard, I was ...

I actually find TLH at Vanguard to be slightly easier with mutual funds. It's one transaction ("exchange") that can be entered any time vs two ("sell" followed by "buy") which must be done during trading hours and there will likely be some straggling cents/dollars which bothers some people. I did both yesterday actually. "Exchanged" VTSAX for VLCAX, sold VGSH and bought SCHO. I agree that when you have mutual fund TLH partner options, using mutual funds to TLH is easier at Vanguard because you can just hit the "Exchange" button. The issue I ran into is running out of desirable mutual fund options to use as a TLH partner. That happened quickly for me in 2022. I used VLCAX and then didn't hav...

OP: My assumption is that you're asking whether it makes sense to contact Vanguard (can't do this on your own) to ask them to do a tax-free conversion of the mutual funds to their ETF counterparts. Then you would sell those ETFs at a loss and buy different ETFs (e.g., convert VTSAX to VTI, sell VTI, buy ITOT). I did this last year in an effort to make TLH easier. It accomplished my goal. I think using the ETFs is easier for TLH because there are more options (I couldn't use VFIAX because I used it in my Roth IRA and 403b). If you have enough mutual fund TLH partner options, you could stick with mutual funds. Either way works. I'm sure you already know this -- once you convert from mutual fund to ETF, you can never go back (without selling w...

The Tipswatch page has been updated since yesterday with this disclaimer: "Note, March 13: It has been 5 days since I wrote this article, and while I think it presents a reasonable theoretical way to look at the I Bond’s fixed rate, these predictions are totally shot, at least for now. The 10-year real yield is currently trading around 1.22%, down about 44 basis points in the last 5 days. So … in this troubling environment of bank bailouts, the Fed and markets are likely to change course. Yields leading up to the May 1 decision are likely to be very volatile. (But I think this all still makes a strong case for investing in inflation protection.) Read this article knowing that it is almost impossible to predict what the I Bond’s fixed ...

Parkinglotracer wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:58 am Congrats on the money you have made.

OP has not made any money yet. See:

No i dont have 100k. I'm starting a business that I know will make 100k, and if it doesn't, one of the many in the future will.

Did you think ChatGPT would give you accurate information?

I would put more stock in trustworthy sources. Presumably you'd already done your research to understand what a limit order is.

Starfalls wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:49 pm we cannot enroll in 2023 limited purpose FSA now. We will have to wait for the open enrollment in December to entroll for the the year 2024.

When does your kid start treatment? Could you delay it until January 2024?

I agree...BH is not the best place for this type of question. I am sure there are other forums (maybe Reddit?) that might be a better resource for this.

I also agree that you should not count your chickens before they hatch.

Keep your head down. Do well in school. Build your first business.

Read broadly about personal finance and advance your knowledge base. Check the BH wiki page for book recommendations.

Then once you have some money, come back here if you want investing advice.