Bogleheads.org

arpit13 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:00 pm Hi All,

Looking for advice on best way to transition stocks portfolio to indexing to 4 ETFs as per bogleheads suggestions. Few questions:

1. Is there a science of doing this over 1-3 months or should i simply sell all my stocks portfolio and immediately allocate to index funds?
2. Is there a right way of doing this?
3. Should i spread this over 1-2 years? For a large portfolio?

Context is important.

Size and type of account, cost basis, tax bracket, etc.

Wow! Lots of great ideas. Thank you all for the useful information. 1) Irrevocable Trust seems to be the most viable option. With me managing it while I am alive. I would spend some time researching this option. 2) Variable annunity also looks very promising - no need to worry about taxes or trustee and it is inherently long term. The main issue is being able to find one with low costs since it now seems like Vanguard sold its business and is no longer offering them. I need to research if there are any companies that offer passive funds at low cost. The ones I checked seem to have expensive fees. 3) I dont see how Roth IRA is a viable option. Children are not going to be earning anytime soon and hence cannot contribute. Since so many are b...

Outer Marker wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:58 pm I'm too cheap to do it. I think turbotax is missing their market. At, like, $9.95 I'm a buyer for the convenience, but $25 seems really excessive, especially as my signifcant other and I file separately.

I can’t justify thinking about whether I should incur a once a year $25 expense. It will never make a difference.

You must have more meaningful things to worry about.

I read the whole post thinking it was $1.5M in RIVN and wondering why nobody was questioning it.

idoc2020 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 6:45 pm That’s how the bond funds work. When certain bonds mature they roll that money into new bonds. When you buy a bond fund you are buying a huge basket of funds with different maturities. So they are always expiring and buying.

I thought they were talking about fund distributions.

Get lost. Over and over.

howard71 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:47 pm I own a little bit of TLT but I mostly buy my own bonds.

One advantage is that you have control of where the money from the coupon payments goes. If I'm overweight in bonds I can invest the money in something else (don't laugh - there have been times in the past when I had to sell bonds because they outperformed other assets).

If it's a fund, it's automatically going to be invested in more bonds.

Why does it have to automatically be invested in more bonds?

ThankYouJack wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:07 pm

pizzy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:51 am

ThankYouJack wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:49 am

pizzy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:28 am

ThankYouJack wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:21 am

I actually hate shopping.

Did you throw away all the clutter yet?

Plan to start going through this weekend. Will set up the give-away, trash/recycle, and keep bags. Will be a team effort and I'm sure we'll have other things we'd rather do.

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

Yep, one room (and a lot of trash bags) down! Plan to tackle another kids bedroom tomorrow. Bird by bird.

Nice!!! Happy to hear.

I should.

Marseille07 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:13 pm

pizzy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:15 pm

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:13 pm

pizzy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:53 pm

RobLyons wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:48 pm Age 41 and I continue to hold no bond funds or treasuries.

Any cash?

Any other kind of fixed income investment?

Any pension? A large multi year "emergency fund" ?

"I don't count that" is a response I've seen here a lot.

Give them a break. All they said was they don't hold bonds. Why do they have to be inquired about cash or pensions?

Because it’s a thread about asset allocation.

groceryguy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:34 am Spouse and I both have sole prop income. Totally separate lines of business. Can we set up a single solo 401k or do we each need our own plan?

Thanks!

Two

The good news… she’s 86

Not including the house in her “total assets” makes me think you and the wife view the house as “yours”… she has $440,000 in assets

Many posts here are focusing only on how to get rid of stuff. Good suggestions but equally important is to stem the inward flow. If you find water in your basement, before installing a sump pump you need to understand where it is coming from. Often simply stopping or diverting the flow solves the problem in the long run and a sump pump may not solve the problem if the source of the water doesn't get addressed. I agree. Get the dopamine hit through an activity that isn't shopping. I actually hate shopping. Did you throw away all the clutter yet? Plan to start going through this weekend. Will set up the give-away, trash/recycle, and keep bags. Will be a team effort and I'm sure we'll have other things we'd rather do. TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

What scares you about jury duty?

I’ve gotta ask… why 2?

Have you inquired if there is a price difference between loan and cash?

I am finally next on the list for a new 2023 Toyota Sienna XLE with AWD. The ‘out the door’ price for me is 52k after taxes title and fees. I told them I’d take it. It’s essentially everything we want as far as trim and features. I feel like I can’t haggle or pass up this opportunity since I’ve been on the list for so long now at multiple dealerships. I’ve never spent this much money on a car before but we are in need of a bigger newer vehicle. We currently have a 2011 Toyota Highlander and a 2007 Toyota Camry. These are the only two vehicles we’ve ever owned and we bought them new and now they have +175k miles each on them. Tell me it’s going to be okay (or not). I’m planning on having this vehicle for +10 years hopefully. Is there anythi...

Make sure to stop by Bird in Hand, Intercourse, and of course Blue Ball…

z91 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 4:37 pm As much as I try to use email and paperless preferences, I still have a slew of documents at home. Things from vehicle registration paperwork, house purchases, medical bills/information etc..

I have a filing cabinet, but I've got a lot of stuff that's fairly old, and unsure if its safe to dispose. I have some tax documents that are over 10 years old that I'm not sure are worth keeping, but also other things like birth certificates which I will of course keep forever.

Do you have a system/process you use to track documents? Part of me wants to just scan everything, but I also think its still worth keeping originals in case something comes up.

Cloud storage for everything paper.

We've been wanting to try a Disney World Vacation for the longest time, but never managed to pull the trigger. Our oldest will be 11, so thinking this year or next year, before it's too late. I know it will not be cheap, and we can afford it. Is it worth getting in this life experience at least once? Any tips on doing this right in the current system? How much time is required to do Disney World "right"? How much time in advance to book? That is tough, because my job demands makes it very difficult to book anything more than 3 or 4 months in advance. I can book holidays or Spring Break far in advance, but those tend to be ridiculously crowded & more expensive than summer. I'm just starting to plan for 2023 summer vacations ri...

Years ago I lived in a large city and had my car broken into twice — once when it was locked and once when it was unlocked . A co-worker advised me he always left his doors unlocked and the windows rolled down halfway. I left the hole in the dash empty where the stereo had been stolen and followed the roll down the windows advice and never had to replace another broken window. Sounds like and absolutely wonderful place. Like most large cities - they’ve pretty much turned into cesspools. Lol. In the United States, crime is down more than 40% from the early 1990s. Most of us on this board were either growing up or younger adults in the 1990s. If one tree falls in the forest every week and the news media reports on it every week, you'll sudde...

retiringwhen wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 8:54 pm Moral of the story? Don't file your taxes until mid-March.

You spelled October wrong

NateH wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 8:40 pm

burritoLover wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 8:48 am 5 million is the new million.

Yup, a million dollars is not what it used to be. They let almost anybody do it.

Check out "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley, preferably at your library.

Book not worth owning?

Greetings, DH and I are planning a trip with family to Europe in May/June. My SIL is planning the first part of our trip around Italy: Rome, Venice, Amalfi Coast, then back to Rome. However, we will be staying longer than they will and I'm trying to get some ideas for the second leg of our trip (to last about 11 days). I'm thinking that we can start in Milan, spend a few days there, take a train to Zurich and rent a car. From there, we could drive west to Basel, then cross into France and drive north on the French side of the Rhine River. From there, cross over at Strasbourg, then drive back down the German side and come back to Zurich, where we will fly home. We are trying to avoid excessive walking due to some physical limitations, but w...

ducksauce9 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 8:07 pm I looked at the IRS Transcript site. My returns are there for 2020 and 2019, but for 2021 there is a Verification of Non-Filing Letter even though I filed and got my refund. Very odd.

Have you reviewed your saved copy of your 2021 return for SSN accuracy?

I am new to the Bogleheads forum and this is my first forum post. I have been index investing with Vanguard for over 25 years and am sold on the idea of passive investing as opposed to chasing the latest high flying fund/stock. I got that fad out of my blood early in my investment pursuit, and learned by making mistakes early on. On reading 'The investor's manifesto' and 'Bogleheads guide to investing' recently I was introduced to this forum and am astounded by the wealth of information that is available here. Thankyou everyone involved for putting this together. (Sorry about the preamble) My question is: I'm 58+ and have saved and invested well enough to support the simple lifestyle that my wife and I are accustomed to. Our primary focus ...

Greetings, DH and I are planning a trip with family to Europe in May/June. My SIL is planning the first part of our trip around Italy: Rome, Venice, Amalfi Coast, then back to Rome. However, we will be staying longer than they will and I'm trying to get some ideas for the second leg of our trip (to last about 11 days). I'm thinking that we can start in Milan, spend a few days there, take a train to Zurich and rent a car. From there, we could drive west to Basel, then cross into France and drive north on the French side of the Rhine River. From there, cross over at Strasbourg, then drive back down the German side and come back to Zurich, where we will fly home. We are trying to avoid excessive walking due to some physical limitations, but w...

On three separate occasions, DW has parked our 2019 Odyssey in a decent, nonisolated area during daylight. She has returned to find items stolen, like credit cards used to rack up fraudulent charges. No signs of forced entry. She is 100% sure that she has locked the doors each time, either with the keyfob remote, or with the automatic walkaway locking, both accompanied by the confirmatory tone when the door locks. Any idea on how this might be happening and how to prevent it? I have read online that thieves can jam the remote signal to prevent the door from locking, or they can intercept the signal codes so that they can unlock the door later. But I didn't know if more modern cars are still vulnerable to this. Any suggestions would be appr...

Kookaburra wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:06 pm I’m feeling tired due to the relentless nature of work. It’s not my current job per se; it’s any job. Along with all the other things that have to happen each day (errands, shopping, exercise). The need to get up at a certain time, do x, y, and z on a regimented schedule to keep my job, earn $, stay healthy, etc. Then get to bed on time, only to repeat it. With no end in sight. All the while hoping that no major bad news creeps in.


How does one get a reprieve from this hamster wheel? I don’t have the financial means to quit working or ramp down. What have others done that helped?

What’s the longest travel you’ve done?

You will get a variety of answers, with a variety of assumptions. Some will include value of cars (Blue Book minus any loans), some will only include the loans as a liability (and have no asset value for the car). Some will throw in jewelry/art/collectibles, others won't. Some will include the equity in their home, some will not; even among those that do include the equity in their home, there's a ton of variety in what home value they use to determine the equity (RedFin, Zillow, or if you're very conservative as I am, the original purchase price even though the house has had considerable appreciation per neighborhood comps since you bought). And then there's timing -- how long do you have to remain a millionaire through volatility of the ...

watchnerd wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 7:48 am

Chadnudj wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 7:43 am 2. You're assumption is a 1% higher tax rate impacting 2.5 years of a $7500 catchup contribution. So let's conservatively say this is $18k. So $180 in tax. If that's a decision that materially impacts your retirement, you shouldn't be retiring.

Dude, this is Bogleheads.

People switch from coffee to tea to save $600 a year.

Thank goodness for the chatgpt created script to hide posts!

For those who have multiple holdings in multiple types of accounts, does it make sense to look at all of your portfolio with one asset allocation? It seems like a bucket approach would be better. Each type of account might have a different timeline for when you are going to use it. For example 529 should be treated as a retirement account in the aspect that you hit retirement at the time of starting college. So for this “bucket” you would need to go conservative around your kid’s freshman HS year to avoid sequence of returns risk. Same applies to HSA if you might use it for Medicare gap coverage expenses. Same goes for IRA and 401k over Roth. And then there is taxable accounts which also might be used or needed at a different time. Not all...

It’s whatever you want it to be.

Total Net worth

Liquid net worth

Investable assets

All of those per person if married.

Combined if married.

Etc etc etc etc

Sorry if I missed it but do we know she is being billed to a client by her current employer? No, but how else would she get paid? No information on the type of work was offered. My wife is an interior designer. She works for an architecture and design firm. Typically she would do much of the work and then an architect would sign off on it. I don’t know how my wife’s work is billed out, but she doesn’t fill out a time card. Okay, I work in the design field as well. It shouldn't be hard to find out her billing rate (what the architect bills to the client for her work, it would be in any proposal the architect submits to the client). If she works on a lump sum basis then she could divide the lump sum by hours work x 3 to determine what her 10...

Charles Joseph wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 1:46 pm Does anyone know if there is a time limit for a plan administrator to process paperwork for a request to rollover a 403b? I emailed scanned paperwork yesterday and called to today only to confirm receipt. The person who handles this was difficult on the phone yesterday.

I looked online and couldn’t find any statutory timeline for processing. She (works for my former employer) needs to send the paperwork to AIG so they can send the funds to my rollover IRA.

If anyone has any knowledge about time requirements I’d appreciate it.

Thanks.

Follow up in two weeks.

Ibonds or Total Bond would be better alternatives IMO than long bonds; short term tips as you propose would also be fine. Keep it as simple and safe as you can. After reading a lot of bond posts here, I've got the impression that long-bonds provide better risk-adjusted returns and for someone with my time horizon, it makes more sense. Also to avoid corporate bonds as they provide inferior risk-adjusted returns to long gov bonds and thus to avoid total bond. I realize that's a surface level rationale so Im going to go back and find the specific data that backs this up in all the threads I've been reading. I don't hold bonds for "better returns" - I hold them for safety and security, and take nearly all of my risk on the equity sid...

Have you visited an Apple Store?

What’s the annual cost savings on gas if you switch?

Is it just the Microsoft/Apple stock or is there another reason you think you are a “candidate for direct indexing”?

At your level of assets, it won’t matter what you choose, so you could do the direct indexing as something new to look at.

I fail to see a reason beyond that.

conundrum wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 8:42 pm Thank you for the clarification. It was a broker to broker so it is a 1099-SA I am missing. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Drum

No 1099-SA will be issued. It’s a non-reportable event.

Market timing usually doesn’t end well.

I had my goals set to 100% stock, but it has been underperforming the global market. I have since switched them to better mirror my retirement accounts. Betterment says they are now more aggressive but it also shows that I can have higher returns. I did this to better get the returns of the global market and to possibly beat it. I have been doing 20-30% SCV in my portfolios and hoping for better returns in the long run compared to the S&P 500 while still having it invested in the US market. This way I can better get the performance of VT in a taxable account and have the benefits of automation and simplicity with Betterment and use their TLH, rebalancing, tax statements, etc. It was a 60/40 US/International and it is now 70/30 Original...

What is cost basis on the energy stocks? (Or are they in tax deferred?)

This is a good time to get rid of all the small accounts.

Our family spends a lot of time volunteering for a food bank. Combined we drove over 10,000 miles in 2022 doing pickups and deliveries. That turns into an actual cost of roughly $4000/yr for fuel, oil, and tolls alone. However, we don't have enough other deductions to itemize so these expenses never get offset. In addition, at these mileages depreciation is a real thing and our newer large SUV has taken a beating on some of these trips. We like helping this charity and it is rewarding in many ways but it's costing too much. Having a reliable driver with a large vehicle is a benefit to the charity. Is it wrong to ask the charity for direct compensation of expenses including some for vehicle depreciation? Would asking for the business mileag...

Starfalls wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 1:44 pm

petulant wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 1:39 pm You need to closely review your state's guidance since it depends on whether their maximum tax deduction is per-taxpayer, per-return, or per-beneficiary, and then whether there are any other exclusions/clawbacks that impact your strategy.

The state limit is per beneficiary per married couple.

What state?

Starfalls wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 1:25 pm We have two 529 accounts for each of our kids, but both are owned by one of the parent. We are planning to contribute more than state tax deduction limit this year onwards. State allows unlimited rollover deductions, but we are thinking opening two more 529 accounts with parents as beneficiaries to deduct more in each year and change beneficiaries to kids in the future if needed. Would this work or should we just use existing accounts and carry forward the contributions for future deductions?

What state?

CIT is the answer. More and more common these days.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Collect ... ent_Trusts

FishEarly wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 1:19 pm

pizzy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:57 pm The 457 $22,500 is separate limit from $6,500. Can max both.

Have her find out if 457 is governmental or non-governmental. And read the pros/cons.

Also, do they offer anything else besides the 457?

Thanks PIzzy.
That is helpful. They only offer the 457 Plan with two different options; pre-tax account or Roth. I'm pretty sure it's non-governmental. It's a small healthcare provider/hospital in Idaho.

Non-governmental has a few pitfalls to read up on. The big two: protection of assets and Non-government 457 plans can only be rolled over to another non government 457 plan.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/457(b)

Our issue is that we have a lot of stuff that is still too nice and has intrinsic value that we do not need. Items such as art work, furniture, etc. that are too valuable to just dump. The typical yard sale doesn't work for items that sell for higher prices other than pieces that are cherry picked by purchasers, donations have occurred with a variety of things, but we do not itemize taxes anymore, etc. Craigslist works for some individual items but not for others. The facts are we want to get rid of stuff but family does not want it, and it is too valuable to dump. Do other just donate items with significant value when the time to take to various consignment shops, have a yard sale, donate some items, etc. is substantial? Tim Nobody wantin...

The 457 $22,500 is separate limit from $6,500. Can max both.

Have her find out if 457 is governmental or non-governmental. And read the pros/cons.

Also, do they offer anything else besides the 457?