Bogleheads.org

I have Online Shopping as my 3% choice for my CCR credit card. Will purchasing airline tickets (from Alaska Airlines website) come under Online Shopping or should I change my category to Travel ? Not sure about directly purchasing but if you can purchase with PayPal, Google, or Amazon pay it should count as Online. I use PayPal with American Airlines and Airbnb and it counts as Online. Also, you can change categories anytime in the month and you can again after the 1st of the month, you don't have to wait 30 days or anything. Wenchleaf, have you been charged these fees at PayPal while using your BofA card? I was considering registering my CCR at PayPal, but then learned "Is there a fee to use a credit card on PayPal? Yes, PayPal charg...

We found ours that sold our home through an open house when we were looking to buy the house we just sold. She seemed to always close the home at or above asking (this was before the pandemic where above wasn't always the norm) quickly, even on homes I thought weren't worth it. Fast forward to late last year and we interviewed a a few agents (Including one who owned the high end agency in our area), including her for selling our house. We felt the best about her and she closed over asking in a day. 100% worth it. I'd say get recs, interview a bunch and go with the gut feeling. The agent mentioned above was excited about the house and knew the neighborhood really well. She used her network to find a buyer quickly - no showings (except the on...

Artsdoctor wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:36 am At this point, very short-term T-bills don't really offer much of an advantage over Vanguard's Treasury Money Market fund (VUSXX). If you can build something that uses 6-month T-bills, it might be worth your while.

VUSXX has repurchase agreements so may trigger some folks state laws on tax exemption for Treasuries, so factor that in for folks impacted (and huge YMMV)

stan1 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 6:56 pm The heroes:

1) The civil service workforce at the FDIC, Treasury, Federal Reserve and others who knew what the risks and consequences were, took decisive action quickly (not too soon, not too late it appears), and kept the wheels on the bus (at least so far). They are not politicians; they did their jobs.

If their response is anything like the closing of IndyMac, FDIC had folks on the ground in days just to talk to folks waiting in line to assure them of the process.

rockstar wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 12:08 pm

Tom_T wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 10:04 am

GoodOmens wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 9:18 am

Tom_T wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:08 am For anyone who grabbed or considered Treasuries at 5% -- that window seems to be closed, at least for the moment.

Yea what the heck happened?

Look at the bond market Friday and today. Flight to quality? Anticipating of Fed slowing down increases? Combination of both? Whatever, the prices have soared.

This could swing tomorrow with a hot CPI print. I’m waiting to buy for now.

Yea wondering if I should sell my 1 year that's at 4.44 .... then rebuy in a week or two in park in TTTXX...

When did the fed signal they were slowing down? Thought they stated they wanted to not...

Tom_T wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:08 am For anyone who grabbed or considered Treasuries at 5% -- that window seems to be closed, at least for the moment.

Yea what the heck happened?

quantAndHold wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 9:29 am If companies are willing to relocate experienced people, it’s because they can’t find anyone with the right experience locally. I would ask $200-210k, plus a one time $15k to make up for the lost 401k money. They might say no, but you need to ask. Also compare your current health insurance coverage and costs to the new company. Mega corps tend to have better, cheaper healthcare than small companies.

And make sure the relo actually will cover your relo costs before you sign anything. Some companies are better about that than others.

Just be weary you'll pay taxes on relocation expenses. Ask for it to be comped/ gross-upped as well.

quantAndHold wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 9:29 am If companies are willing to relocate experienced people, it’s because they can’t find anyone with the right experience locally. I would ask $200-210k, plus a one time $15k to make up for the lost 401k money. They might say no, but you need to ask. Also compare your current health insurance coverage and costs to the new company. Mega corps tend to have better, cheaper healthcare than small companies.

And make sure the relo actually will cover your relo costs before you sign anything. Some companies are better about that than others.

Just be weary you'll pay taxes on relocation expenses. Ask for it to be comped/ gross-upped as well.

We were in that boat just this Jan and chose to sell.

Here's what we did: Open a terrible ME account and buy US treasuries paying >5% (Treasuries are state income exempt and CDs are not). Get the $1k sign up bonus and enjoy the 5% online cashback card.

Yikes - thanks for posting about this. I checked and hadn't set this up like I thought. You saved me a few $$.

What a mess setting up autopay is in BoA.

With 900k in investments you should be able to get a relationship discount from the major players (BoA, Morgan Stanley, Schwab etc) for bringing that in as new investments with them. Usually the best way to play this is get a decent quote elsewhere and use them to add their discount on top, so does require some legwork and phone calls. But with 900k you should be able to get a .25-.5% discount, so could be worth it - specially if you combine with other bonuses they offer for brining in new money. There is a long thread in this forum on that topic YMMV. Typically you don't need to keep the money there past closing so if you really like your broker you can just move it temporarily. If you are already with the major players might be worth gett...

I have nothing of financial advice to add - but just to add you'll never get that time back so doing all you can to make it work will probably be worth far more then whatever salary you give up.

Not sure her line of work but if her resume ever came across my desk I wouldn't blink at any perceived gap. Managing two young kids is no different then managing coworkers/clients/work at times, if not more challenging. My negotiating tactics have gotten far more persuasive after having a young one, not to mention time management.

Capital One savings accounts CANNOT be linked to brokerage accounts electronically, only to savings/checking/monkey market accounts. ME rep said if they made a note on the account I *COULD* transfer funds to BoA first then to Merrill even though the terms explicitly say that doesn't count. He said they've done it "hundreds of times" but I am absolutely sure at the end of the 90 days I won't get the bonus and they'll say the terms say that doesn't count. The Merrill Edge account has cash management features (hence the name CMA). It comes with a checking account number (not to be confused with the alpha-numeric ME account number) and routing number that you can use for ACH transfers from external banks just like a checking account....

Against my better judgment I decided to get an ME account set up for the bonus - I was going to add $100k from outside. Having a horrible time so far - BoA is my main bank account so I can't transfer anything to that first since it won't count for the new funds for the bonus. I have a Capital One 360 account that I tried to link, but after going all the way through the final verification with both the OTP method and the 'approve in app' method, even though it clearly worked, it says verification failed. Ditto with another savings account I tried for laughs.. How the hell can I get money into this thing and have it count toward the bonus? One option is to call them and ask for your "Check writing number" and use the associated che...

Realtors with good reviews who do high volume of home and condo sales may know little or nothing about selling 5 arces of land. I know this very well from trying to sell land in Colorado. We were stuck until the end of the listing contract with a congenial, well reputed realtor who knew nothing about raw land. All his success selling residences wasnot at all meaningful for sale of our property, which he did not get done. Despite his promising eagerness at the front end. Additionally, keep in mind that any commission earned on a sale this small will be of no importance or incentive to a successful busy realtor. Be sure to question this when interviewing candidates. Make sure you engage a realtor that knows about selling land in Colorado. Go...

We sold our house last month for 25k more then the Zillow/Redfin estimates. Not surprising after we sold the Zillow estimate went up to what we sold it for. YMMV

beatle2020 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:39 am I have a mortgage balance of $30,000 at 2.6 %,20 year. Payments of $400 per month. I have $100,000 in a money market account earning 3.5% interest. I do not need any of the money market account funds for living expenses, just extra money for additional purchases. I do not qualify for any mortgage interest deduction. Does it make sense to pay off the mortgage?
Thanks!

Paying off would not be the most net worth maximizing decision but paying off debt is never a bad decision, if that makes sense.

For me I'd ride out that 100k in US treasuries earning 5+%. When those begin dipping down below 4~3% I'd look into paying off the balance.

First order needs to be via a phone call. Cut off shows 5pm EST but have not withdrawn any money from PD. I initially had thoughts of doing something similar but gave up after a few interactions with ME customer service. No way to contact them other than over phone call that had hour+ wait’s almost all the time. Many agents had no clue on the topics. For regular cash management, this is not worth the hassle if I run into issues or even need clarifications. Wait, you call them once, order 100K+ in PD and call it a day right? Your balance falling below 100K thereafter wouldn't cause issues? While the initial call wait time being 1 hour+ certainly is bad, it is palatable if it is a one-time deal. Yes, that’s what I was told by customer servic...

aragorn1 You can definitely buy secondary issue T-Bills at Merrill Edge - the minimum for most Bills is only $1k with no fees. You received almost instant confirmation of execution. We have built a ladder of weekly T-Bills going out several months along with some preferred deposit for instant availability. There are tens of millions of bills available each week. With cash management notes and other treasury securities, there can be multiple maturities per week. The reason for using both is the extra interest on the T-Bills @30 bps over Preferred Deposit - along with the state tax exemption. One interesting thing I've noticed is that the quotes for limit-at-market FOK T-Bills in the secondary market are different at ETrade, Fidelity, ME and...

aragorn1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:52 am Could we buy T bills with Merrill Edge ?
I bought a few with Fidelity. The process was very simple.

As per https://thefinancebuff.com/treasury-bil ... rrill-edge:
"Merrill Edge doesn’t support buying new-issue Treasuries online. Placing an order through a representative by phone costs $30. You can buy Treasuries on the secondary market online without a fee."

You can buy TBills at auction via the phone - the fee is (as of a few weeks ago) still being waived. Just the hassle of being on hold...

Posted rates don't mean much. Once you have a hard quote from another bank you can use that to shop around - typically the bank should throw on their relationship discounts on top to sweeten the deal.

There is another thread on here regarding relationship discounts. I know some banks there are certain people/ key words you need to say to get them as others might be unaware of what's available. Sometimes it's "new" money that needs to be brought over to qualify.

Being in the 500k+ range you should be able to get at least a 1/4 point off your lowest quote.

You have any investments to throw around? You might need to do some hustle. The key to getting lower rates now is to play banks off each other.

Some of those banks mentioned should be able to match First Republic and give a relationship discount (.15+) if your willing to move 250k+ in retirement/personnel investments. Typically you don't need to keep it their long, but ask to make sure. Also an opportunity to take advantage of other bonuses (e.g., Merrill/BoA 1k for 250k deposits etc).

I've even heard some banks (Chase?) will even count the down payment, even if its in their hands for only a few days. Another option if you have an Amex is to get Better to match and use the Amex referral to get either 2k or 6k (for Jumbo) as a bonus.

... On Merrill you can only buy treasuries on the secondary market. No new issues. No auto-roll. That's all I mean there. ... I'm going to open an ME account tomorrow and the rep I spoke with today assured me that I can buy new Treasuries at auction. It's not a deal killer for me if he turns out to have been wrong and I will find out soon enough. You can (have to call on or after the announce date). The fee (currently) for phone orders is waived for treasury auctions less then 1 year (So basically all tbills). Also can't ladder. The broker I spoke to said he's repeatedly asked for the ability for folks to do it online - my assumption is because he doesn't get a commission for them. Some money market funds don't count for settlement periods...

What is the appeal of TTTXX over GOTXX?

GOTXX is 100% Us Treasuries and US Agency debt (No repurchase agreements) and has a similar (2pm) cutoff. Both are within a .02% of each other so just curious.

headedwest wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 12:11 pm I think the fee on treasuries applies if you buy them by phone.

For those wondering, just participated in this weeks auction and had to call in to place the order. Was informed that any treasury auction for 1 year or less the fee is waived (So basically for tbills).

nalor511 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 6:05 pm I use OLT.com because they are the fastest at updating new forms, and right now they're the only software correctly calculating ACA PTC, fed return is free, and state is $9.95. I also like HRB Deluxe Download version which is about $15 on sale. I do not like TT download and TT online, which are both more expensive, and not ever ready until the end of Feb at the earliest. Any software will do your taxes.

Interesting - I've been a big freetaxusa fan but may try them next year when we have to file state taxes, they seem a few bucks cheaper.

But our taxes are simple - 1099s etc.

I'm the original poster in this thread. Still having trouble withdrawing money from my Merrill Edge IRA. I would prefer to withdraw money without having taxes withheld. My state does not require withholding if no federal taxes are withheld. I would rather do all tax payments with estimated payments. But Merrill won't let me do this without filling out a paper form and mailing it in. I know others above have said this is an easy online transaction at Vanguard. Is it still an easy online transaction if you don't want taxes withheld? Merrill does allow for electronic transmission of documents like the withholding form. From Merrill's Main Menu, click on Help and Settings, then click "Send Document" and follow the prompts. You will h...

Morik wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 10:36 am

GoodOmens wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 9:06 am Thanks that's what I assumed. Of course FFTXX is slipping once I buy. We'll see in a few days but GOTXX might be better...

Right now FFTXX has 3.39% 7-day vs 3.98 on GOTXX.
If your marginal federal rate is 12% GOTXX is now better. If you have a higher marginal rate FFTXX is still better right now.

With my state/local tax rate (~8.5%) they are even and if you look at the one day yield for yesterday GOTXX is better, but like I said will wait and see if FFTXX begins trailing back up.

My only change has been to swap a high yield savings account for a money market fund. This is actually faster for me to invest/withdraw (no ach needed as I'm on the BofA/Merrill platform), generally same day instead of multi day wait for ach. Not really a big deal on speed, but the money market funds also have higher yield than the savings account I was using. Which money market fund did you go with? FFTXX -- best after-tax yield for me. I wrote some notes on all of the same-day settling funds at Merrill, plus a few of the other funds like FFTXX that settle next day: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7021537#p7021537 & https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7029693#p7029693 So questions on that - for funds that...

Have you added external accounts to Merrill Edge? If so they should be listed on your Transfer tab. The account I would like to add is PNC Bank which is the Vanguard Cash Plus account. When I enter the numbers for that it asks for my PNC login info. First off I don't really want to give them my login info. But anyway I don't have a login for PNC Bank. I get there through Vanguard. I wish they could do verification with a trial deposit. I'm going through this now as all my accounts I want connected don't allow logins (My Morgan Stanley checking shows up as another bank too). On the forms & applications tab (Under Help & Settings) there should be a Funds Transfer Service (FTS) form (Should be under Forms by Title but you can search f...

LCOL area we just listed our home last month as we are relocating for a job and it went in under a day over asking (and we priced on the high side for our neighborhood as its a unique new construction among mostly 100 year old homes). Only one offer but that's all it takes.

My only change has been to swap a high yield savings account for a money market fund. This is actually faster for me to invest/withdraw (no ach needed as I'm on the BofA/Merrill platform), generally same day instead of multi day wait for ach. Not really a big deal on speed, but the money market funds also have higher yield than the savings account I was using. Which money market fund did you go with? FFTXX -- best after-tax yield for me. I wrote some notes on all of the same-day settling funds at Merrill, plus a few of the other funds like FFTXX that settle next day: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7021537#p7021537 & https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7029693#p7029693 So questions on that - for funds that...

pmindex wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 3:15 am

GoodOmens wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 1:42 pm Can you purchase Treasury Securities via Merrill Edge? Do they auto convert to funds like they do in my E-Trade account at maturity / can I sell them if I need to prior to maturity?

Yes to all your questions.

Thanks! Including auctions? Folks in this thread mentioned (back in Aug) treasury auctions can only done via broker assisted trades but it lists the ability to do auctions online in their pricing page. I'm assuming a new feature?

Can you purchase Treasury Securities via Merrill Edge? Do they auto convert to funds like they do in my E-Trade account at maturity / can I sell them if I need to prior to maturity?

Looking to park our house down payment when we rent for a year in a new city. Figured a 4.x US treasury would be a good tax advantageous place to park it while also taking advantage of the sign up bonus / credit card boost.

Funds would be for another house so unsure if I could swing it to also getting the mortgage discount above 250k....

Access Investing accounts are no longer being offered after Dec 1st as MS integrates more with E-Trade. Existing accounts will remain but no idea if anything will replace it to satisfy the relationship with MS requirement.

Honestly though I'd like to just take the loss I have in it and move it to my e-trade portfolio....

Thanks everyone. I will also look at money market account as well as treasuries which I hadn't thought about. Yea all of the big online brokers offer treasuries on the secondary market for no fees. Basically you buy them at a discount (e.g., 90 cents on the dollar, or whatever that works out to interest wise) and they liquidate automatically at the term for the full amount. You don't have to hold to term and can sell early if needed. You'll sell at a slight discount to whatever interest rate you bought at but you won't lose money, if that makes sense, as they slowly creep up in price as they get closer to maturity, but don't rise as rapidly as the interest rate you bought at. So you get the benefits of holding the treasury but the ability ...

I'm seeing a lot of decent looking homes go into pending offers then relist. My guess is when folks realize what 6-7%+ interest does to payments. GoodOmens, If the mortgage interest rate goes up by 1%, the house's price has to drop 10% to keep the mortgage payment the same. So, why do you want to buy a house now? Rent for a year makes a lot more sense. Versus losing 20% to 30% immediately after buying the house. KlangFool Yea we are weighing that option heavily. Also takes off pressure from selling our current house as that would be the majority source of our down payment. Just depends on what's available in the area when we move (fit/finish etc). We have a few neighborhoods / school districts picked out and have a good feel on what's ther...

We just got quotes for a mortgage & explored all the options. Short term rates are higher than long currently, so there's no benefit to an ARM in the current market. Even the gap between 15 and 30 was pretty small. Things may change over the next few months but it's a weird market today. Fully understood. I guess I should re-ask this when I actually have quotes on the table, but I thought I saw a slight (.5%) discount from ARMS, but maybe it depends on the lender. Ideally this would be a >10 year house. Anticipation would be to refinance within 5-10 years and benefit from the ~$100ish savings in interest . Savings would probably just be added as an extra payment toward the house as if interest rates are >7% we will just put extra money...

Sadly we will need to move early next year cross country to a HCOL area. For the housing we are looking at I should be able to put 25-30ish% down.

Is now the time for a 5 or 7 year ARM then refinance when (hopefully) mortgage rates get more tame? With them already at 7% and another hike coming in November I fear we will be at 8-9% when we go look for a house in Jan. Ideally this would be a 5-10+ year home.

Another option would be to rent for a year but the thought of moving twice in a year seems awful.

I was able to snag 2.53% savings account with NASB before they shut down new apps.

Curious... how are people being notified about the transfer to different mortgage company? This thread made me check my online Lenderfi account and I notice no payment was made Aug-1, no balance loan amount is listed and no way to set up a payment. I have been traveling for the past month or so... perhaps a letter is waiting for me at the post office? Are there instructions in this notification how to setup payments etc? I got the goodbye/welcome letters in the mail, about 2 weeks ago or so. If you want to try to sign up with the new servicer without waiting to check your mail, try going to https://netwkcap.servicingdivision.com/ and create an account using your old LenderFi loan number. This is an option on the first page when creating a ...

Kookaburra wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 11:00 am

frugalor wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 9:58 am

Kookaburra wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 9:56 am How does one buy t-bills on the secondary market at Fidelity?

https://thefinancebuff.com/treasury-bil ... arket.html

Instead of selecting "New issues", just select "Bonds"

Thanks, this is helpful. I noticed the article frequently says “you pay no fee only when you buy at auction.” Does this mean there is a fee to buy t-bills on the secondary market?

If Fidelity is anything like E-Trade then there is only a fee (For treasury bonds or bills) if you buy via representative, for either the auction or secondary market.

I can post Amex points back to my Morgan Stanley account as cash at a 1CPP rate if I like effectively translating my gold card to 4% back at groceries or restaurants but I find the points more valuable elsewhere.

There are tax attorneys and firms who specialize it and only ask for a cut of the savings (The fee for the one I hired last year was only half of my first years tax savings, think commercial was 1/4). Really worth it! For us turned a nearly 40% increase in assessed value into ~6%.

Wealthfront and E-Trade just bumped to 1.4%. Curious when others will follow suit.

Anyone with this also open a preferred savings account?

It’s being advertised (contact your advisor!) in my account and offering 1.5% APR with up to 10 transactions a month. Seems reasonable…

Attempted to sign up and got the dreaded FS Form 5444 required email. My credit union refused / had no clue how to handle it but fortunately another banker friend had a staffer with a medallion stamp. So crazy in 2022 they'd require something few bankers know how to handle.

Anyways mailed it off yesterday. Anyone know the typical turnaround?

Just got mine last month. Don't forget those with corporate green cards get a $100 annual credit for gold cards - you can call and they will add it for you. $150 annual fee is easier to stomach.

Just got three round trip domestic AA tickets via a point transfer to BA at around 1.9 cents a point redemption. So there is a lot of value there. Coupled with the MS Platinum I think I'm going to stay in the Amex sphere for a bit. More places take it now too.

Set this up a few weeks ago to replace our checking (was in USAA). Other then long times to clear funds (~ 1 week for the full amount - don't know if that's typical but USAA always cleared things instantly), that I hope might shorten as we use the account more, I'm happy.

While I'm not super happy about the Access Investing side, would prefer to just buy and hold funds, I might as well try it out. The 25k minimum is just shifting our emergency fund around, so its earning more now then it did in the HYS I had it in.

Has anyone who refinanced earlier this year received an email from LenderFi about a no-cost rewrite? This is what they said: "We want to remind you that your loan with us comes with rate insurance: if our rates, for the no cost option, drops by as little as .25 percent from your current rate, you have made 6 on-time payments, and are not currently delinquent on your mortgage, we will rewrite your loan at no additional cost. This excludes prepaid interest and lender payoff fees." My refi was a 20-year loan at 3.25%. Looking now I can get 3.0% just paying $222 at closing. I calculated this would save me about $6K in interest by the time I retire in 8 years and sell the house (moving overseas). If it truly is no cost, seems like a g...