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Get the first class (whatever it's called) train rail pass - makes it very relaxing when dealing with the trains, which can otherwise be a little crowded. And as someone else pointed out, you have to purchase it before you go. It will be valid on almost all trains - some local lines are private.

That is 97.6% of your listing price. If there was nothing else that came up in the inspections and it would otherwise be pretty much a "done deal" if you signed off on it then I would take it. If relist it and another buyer has it inspected again then they might find something that the first home inspector missed. A big problem is that if it takes three months to sell it for the full listing price then the carrying costs could eat up the extra money that you might get. For example if the house is paid off then you could get a check for $330K and have it earning 5% a couple of months earlier than if relist it you don't close on a full price sale until May or June. Likewise you might also save some on homeowners insurance and prope...

Down the road (next 6 years) I'll need to decide what to do with my TIAA traditional funds. An annuity pays more but looking at the site it looks like another option would be to take RMDs beginning at 73. I'm not in need of the money and I'm thinking RMDs (which would be lower from my understanding) would help keep (potentially) keep me from jumping into the 24% bracket (as things stand now). Thoughts? I know the variables of future tax brackets, tax rates and stock market returns, etc. are only predictions. I am doing Roth conversions over the next 6 years and in retrospect I wish I had done that sooner! I know I can/should talk to someone at TIAA but that involves a time commitment I don't want to make and in general I found them to be p...

Trams are a constant all over the city ... staying out just a very little way from centraal means a 5 minute tram ride. I stayed at the Park Plaza along the Vondelpark - a lovely little neighborhood and very reasonable. Actually, being out a short distance like that was nice - peaceful and very walkable, small grocery stores, bakeries, etc. On the other hand, stayed in the center district another time and was OK, but a little seedy and can easily turn a bit overwhelming with the tourist thing.

I (still) find myself asking why the bond fund for instance (assuming your math is the way to look at this) shows no change in value OTHER than the dividends Getting into the weeds here (for me) .... Dale, this statement is incorrect. Although the previous quarterly price is not shown, there is $57.34 increase in total Vg Bond value shown. BTW, do you know that Vanguard does not distribute LT/ST Capital Gains every quarter? They are reflected in the NAV until they are distributed. And, those distributions are only for sales the managers made. Increases in bonds not sold are simply reflected in the NAV. In most retirement accounts, Capital Gains are eventually (not "now") taxed as Ordinary Income when you take the money out to spe...

OK, called back in (with my mother) to TIAA. New rates (reset was March 1?), roughly 5.122% RA, 4.430% SRA. I see no particular advantage in keeping money in the lower earning SRA, so if we keep the same basic structure, we'd likely move it all to the RA/RA rate, for a little more income/interest. Alternative is to annuitize the income. The annuitization rates were attractive, about 17-18% better than the estimate for ~same demographics, same terms that I got on immediateannuities.com One point confused me. For a given structure (dual life, 10 year guarantee), she quoted a rate ($1000/month) and a separate, lower, "guaranteed rate" ($573). This was not well explained, but what I *think* is implied is that TIAA will basically make...

Notice that $50 is about the amount in the other gain/loss. I don't understand your concern. Let's use Vang Inst Idx. You have 5.4095 shares as of Dec 31. In 4th quarter, they substracted 0.0009 shares due to fee, added 0.0266 shares for dividend and added 0.0543 for capital gain. Let x be the number of Vang Inst Idx shares your had at end of the 3rd quarter. Then x-0.0009+0.0266+0.0543=5.4095. So x=5.3295. Now loo at your 3rd quarter statement, is this the correct number of shares? Thanks for taking a careful look like that. I (still) find myself asking why the bond fund for instance (assuming your math is the way to look at this) shows no change in value OTHER than the dividends, i.e., so the dividends in a bond index are the only thing ...

Although CREF variable annuities in general roll dividends into NAV without issuing new shares, it is not true for mutual funds. https://www.tiaa.org/public/pdf/2/2022_estimated_annual_taxable_distribution-institutional_share_class.pdf I checked my December quarterly statement, and the divided was listed under a separate section. Your statement from the 4th quarter 2022 did not include dividend from Vanguard when there should be? Thanks - I'm unable to follow the balancing (?) of the statement as the dividends from Vanguard, while listed, don't seem to be part of the overall crediting and/or gains. Without them all values of the account(s) work out fine. These are all normal Vanguard funds - VBITX, VTSNX, VIEIX, VIIIX. Just trying to figur...

Although CREF variable annuities in general roll dividends into NAV without issuing new shares, it is not true for mutual funds. https://www.tiaa.org/public/pdf/2/2022_estimated_annual_taxable_distribution-institutional_share_class.pdf I checked my December quarterly statement, and the divided was listed under a separate section. Your statement from the 4th quarter 2022 did not include dividend from Vanguard when there should be? Thanks - I'm unable to follow the balancing (?) of the statement as the dividends from Vanguard, while listed, don't seem to be part of the overall crediting and/or gains. Without them all values of the account(s) work out fine. These are all normal Vanguard funds - VBITX, VTSNX, VIEIX, VIIIX. Just trying to figur...

I'm wondering if someone has figured this out - a BH archive search suggests TIAA has a recognized history of rolling dividends of their own funds back into shares. That is consistent with a local sales reps description some years ago when I asked ("we don't do dividends"). But now with Vanguard funds the dividends are listed (broken out) on the quarterly statement yet I can't find where they're "credited" on that statement as part of the account value or growth and total -- and reinvestment doesn't seem to be the case, or if it is I don't see evidence of that either. The simple arithmetic of share price and number of shares, value this quarter vs value last quarter, etc all works out - but NOT with (if you include) the ...

This year our tax filing situation exposed us to a small penalty for underpayment for the year since wifes SS had no withholding - fixing that now (and by juggling IRA vs Roth contributions I can probably avoid the penalty - this time). That got me to thinking about the impact of tax withholding in converting to Roth from IRA in the near future. Even a modest conversion (to top of lower brackets) incurs somewhat substantive tax obligation, and indeed it will be in the early retired years when any other income (and thus withholding) is probably low. How have others handled that? Do Vanguard or Fidelity, etc., offer a withholding option on the conversion? Without something like that it seems a given you're going to be paying penalties for und...

retiredjg wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 9:45 am Worked out fine for me. Pulling the trigger on the unknown is difficult, but I suggest doing it anyway.

Losing one's work identity can be an issue for some, but staying longer makes the problem worse, not better.

Interesting that you would point that out (staying on makes it worse) - thank you. Am in the roughly same position as original poster, and read / reread every one of these threads carefully.

DM

Buying the green beans, here. About $30 for 5 lbs via a vendor in NJ (ebay).

Roast them about 1 cup of beans at a time in a little roaster in the garage, an amount that will last about 4-5 days.

Grind fresh just enuff for one 4-5 ounce espresso (and another, and another ...).

Drinking fresh roasted, fresh ground, thick and creamy - worth it. And kinda fun to go through the process.

It pains me to see someone at work come in with a cup of thin swill from a quick-stop.

https://www.tiaa.org/public/pdf/understanding_your_new_retirement_choice.pdf Note that the minimum for the year is subject to change after 10 years. This is the answer to people who are exercising their daytrading muscles to arbitrage and churn the "liquid" TIAA Traditional options and beat-the-dealer. The dealer's not as dumb as we thought. (Not whipping the OP, who has a simple, reasonable question. But the issue of TIAA Trad guarantees is a very complex, 100-year old issue.) Thanks for the point to the 10 year period. Now if I could get someone from the company to acknowledge it as factual. Yes, the document (2021) exists, but when the expectation is that a few mouse clicks finds you committing perhaps a couple hundred thousan...

Again. Recognizing that the interest rates change annually, I'd interpreted that the minimum interest rate on Traditional: 1) per a specific contract, 2) for new funds deposited and 3) in a given period of time (vintage) was "fixed" ... for that account (RC vs RCP, etc), for those funds, and for that period of deposits. Just the minimum, the floor ... NOT the ongoing, variable interest "additional amounts" which change(s) annually per the mysterious ways of TIAA. Currently the RC is showing 2.8 as a minimum. https://www.tiaa.org/public/investment-performance/investment/profile?ticker=47933637 Having contacted the best rep I have access to, they have responded to my quick inquiry to confirm the above with the following: &...

So, during the last crash, at the low point, we were down about $250,000 from our all-time portfolio high point in Dec 2021. So, I updated my spreadsheet last night since it was the beginning of the month, and I was quite pleased to see that we're only $50,000 down today. BUT... I'm still working, and that includes all the money we've saved over the past year... So it's not accurate as far as portfolio returns. It includes the money I've invested in my 401k and the match from my employer over the year. Plus it's just nominal numbers... Not accounting for inflation at all. YET... It still makes me feel pretty good to see we are almost back to our all-time portfolio high. But, I was thinking that if I was retired this last year, and was PULL...

I appreciate the input. The kid is my brothers son (the brother who was gone at 41). He's been given a lot more than 8+5+5 - hence the "etc" at the end of that in my original. In the early stages I argued for disbursing it toward educational uses only ... then the evictions, "we're homeless again" etc., etc. The mother had been doing that to MY mother for years plucking her heartstrings (and thus / then the inheritance). Fines, medicine, court costs, on and on. OK, that's enough sordid details. I could go on of course. The one thing I keep trying to weigh into it is that he was dealt a really bad hand, and after losing the father (about 10 yrs ago) has had to pretty much support the mother. Seriously, I really can't imag...

Thanks to those who've offered suggestions. That several have suggested that advice will be perceived as a lecture is indeed a consideration. The only thing like this in my own background to compare it to (at about that age in fact) was a grandparent giving a similar amount for me to install some windows in a rough old house and admonishing me "just don't spend it on wheels" (car stuff) ... I used it as was intended and it was the first step of moving out of the all too common dead-end finances of independence at that age, i.e., sold the house for more, which helped with the next place, which helped pay for grad school, etc etc. It was advice (a mini lecture and help) I needed at that age. In this case it's been a considerable amo...

I've been responsible for distributing a small inheritance of sorts and have come down to a last distribution to a 24 yr old of about 8 thousand dollars. He's blown thru all previous over the past 3-4 yrs and does indeed have a lousy home environment ... father died of alcoholism at 41, mother is a real creep who doesn't work so he (the kid) has to more or less support her. Kid dropped out of HS and has had a few scrapes with the law. My suspicion is he is stoned much of the time and so the judgment is poor. He is in a distant location (another state) from me. As the attorney said at the beginning of this, it ain't gonna go well (he'd seen it all before). So is there anything that can be said -- that in looking back to when any of us were t...

Thanks, I will try that -- I also (just) noted a link in another thread running right now that does seem to show it:

https://www.tiaa.org/public/investment- ... r=47933637

While the interest crediting rate has dropped tp 6.25 (from 6.5), the min rate of 2.8 is there (top).

dm

I have searched for this in my own TIAA account and would appreciate knowing where or how this can be viewed and confirmed (?)

I have a number of RC contracts and this minimum of 2.8% is something that sounds too good to be true.

Yes, I know it's possible as my RA contract has a min rate of 3%

It sounds from the original post that the information showed up (only?) upon confirmation of an exchange/purchase?

THANKS!

Monroe WI is some sort of odd ground zero for half the bottom feeder catalogs on the planet and gosh knows what else - not surprised (but disappointed) to hear Vanguard has climbed on their bus (for printing somebody has suggested?) I know this because my sister is in a nursing home with dementia and hasn't had access to banking in several years, but one of the garbage catalog companies nevertheless gave her an on-line catalog credit line, and then their sister company did the same and I had to fight with them and went through the Monroe addresses initially. I even called the city attorneys office there to try to understand why these companies use Monroe - never got an answer, but if you pay attention to the dregs of mail order catalogs (al...

Am running 10.15 on a 2008 MB Pro after upgrading to an SSD and using the Patcher.

This works: https://dosdude1.com/catalina/

My other machines for the most part are holding at 10.13 and doing fine, as beyond that would lose the access to older Office programs that I prefer.

THANKS ! Will set about looking for the form.

Now if I can just find a workaround for that penalty :-0

I am following this thread as our income for 2022 included a full year of spouses SS for first time (I am still working) and no withholding from her SS. Now HRBlock software says we owe a penalty for underpayment in my initial review of our tax situation this yr. I'm surprised as the difference from last year in what we owe isn't that great (800 last yr vs 1100 this yr).

My intent (and question) was to initiate withholding from the SS -- is that possible?

Thanks

I'd called and expressed concern that a single password to both made for an increased possibility of bad actors accessing, since I've had the experience of fraudulent charges showing up on credit cards a number of times. While recognizing that gaining access to the CC number (dishonest emplyees, etc) isn't the same as gaining access to the actual account, it just seems a bad idea. In the end the reps argued otherwise (duh) and said the system would be fully implemented by December - obviously there's been some resistance or other delays. Also that those not complying would lose access to the bank side until resolved. I did it (signed in with CC credential to savings) and so am stuck with it that way. Wish I wasn't. And I never go near bank ...

I use TRAD for my fixed income in my 403b. I've tried to figure out the TRAD black box myself - clarity is not a word I would use to describe it. If you figure it out - please let me know. Here's some light reading material about TRAD that I've collected over the years: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y08d3qbmvisayex/AABHL2u3-zMN-_De9ICjQrZIa?dl=0 Cheers, oldzey Thank you for the readings … you've been at this awhile. I have been doing the same, that is, searching for what you might consider objective (?) information on the company to supplement their own marketing materials (no shortage of those). I noted the 2014 doc among yours that came from (chicken or egg?) this, a rare paper not seemingly penned in-house: https://pensionresearchcouncil.w...

Thanks very much for the replies - several of you all referring to their Traditional as fixed income, as obvious as that is, seems helpful. - dm

Currently weighing transferring some 403b investments in TIAA system to their Traditional (currently mostly in Vanguard funds in that plan)... I've been considering this for several months as interest rates have climbed, and while searching for reasonable clarity on their complex plan rules (vintages, crediting).

As the expectation seems to be that prevailing interest rates will continue to go up in the coming months -- the question now is whether to wait for their March reset (new vintage as I understand it) or go ahead and allocate some funds now?

Given the black box that their system seems to be (trust?) -- do you think it will matter?

Maybe I'm just slow on matters like this (OK, not maybe) but it helped when someone I was working with on financial plans, reports, etc., pointed out that the software we were working with would use the higher rate of inflation adjustment that I was requesting as an input to the plan as a constant, i.e., having that effect on every succeeding years report. It would have to be a pretty sophisticated analysis to be able to employ a different value for inflation for this month, next month, this year, next year, etc. And all of those data just loosely predictive.

Sounds like you're doing it in the right order ... always best with something to look forward to on subsequent legs.

I did a fairly substantive addition largely by myself. NOT in CA. I would have to wonder if further codes might be difficult to work with, even if you do have the initial permit. The building permit office guys I worked with (suburban locale) were actually really helpful, stopping by to check on things of course but also to offer guidance and make suggestions. I built it on piers (elevated platform - it was in the south) and a more typical foundation might take some more serious looking into and heavy work. Framing is not hard ... setting windows also pretty straightforward (toward getting it weathered in). Trim work on the exterior (soffits, etc) is surprisingly fussy to do well. Most of the electrical is quite doable, as is the majority o...

One of the requirements for delaying medicare w/o penalty is that you are working full-time . So educate yourself on the topic before taking a sabbatical or going part time! The words they used at my employer's benefits office about existing insurance: "It is primary over Medicare." The number of employees at the company may be a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the plan to qualify. I am in a similar situation, and sadly had to stop my HSA contributions earlier in 2022 to avoid a potential conflict (I continue to work, but that's OK). I learned on another Bogleheads thread that I should probably go ahead and sign up for part A, for the hospitalization benefit. You can still contribute to your HSA but it'll take some b...

... it would be nice to see them write an article showing how someone can retire on less than $1 million, successfully. It's the Wall Street Journal. That was their story about poor people just scraping by. Yes, the WSJ is often looney-tunes in regard to the "lifestyles of the rich and famous" ... but as I tell my students (teacher) when discussing an article on something like education that was published therein, you should try to understand what everybody is thinking. The bigger disappointment in personal reading being that their occasional articles on personal finance (like the one being discussed in this thread) aren't very sophisticated or informative, Jason Zweig being the exception. But yes, loads of dumb articles on twent...

My wife and I are considering buying our first home. We currently rent in a VHCOL area but are considering moving back and purchasing a home near our LCOL hometown in the Midwest. My job is remote, but my wife would have to seek new work and realistically once we have children she will likely stay home anyways. We are both 27 years old and we have no children yet. Our situation is a bit unique in that I was recently laid off, but I will be starting a new position in January. I work in tech, so layoffs have been happening with some frequency lately. I think the layoff concern is what is giving me the most hesitation in buying right now. Beyond the routine news of layoffs in tech these days, what weighs on me as a person also interested in r...

Our newest car is 2001 model year (two of them - identical models). Next newest is 99 pickup. Then an 88 small SUV (from before they became a thing).

Bought all but the 88 used. Cars are a money pit. I hear that boats are worse

The insurance alone is enough to put me off a new car.

Just another perspective, and to each his own.

I am going through the same (similar amounts) and have opted for HYSA at 3% or a little more currently - just plain easy, no expenses. Have started gradually putting some of it in 3/6 month T-bills at FIdelity, too, as the aggravation with auto-roll is minimal and the break on state tax when the time comes will be nice.

nps wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 6:49 pm $3k is not the annual allowable TLH. It is the annual allowable offset against ordinary income. There is no limit to offset against capital gains.

Thank you, NPS. That's really been tripping me up.

Just when I think I understand the TLH rules. Here's a paragraph from WSJ over the weekend (Tax Loss Harvesting Comes With Hidden Risks - author Lori Ioannau) that confuses me ... she refers to offsetting ("eliminating") 10k taxes in gains and then chasing down loss left over additionally: < quoting article > "Here’s a specific example. Assume an investor in the highest tax bracket has realized $25,000 in short-term investment gains this year. He faces a 37% tax rate as well as a 3.8% net investment income tax on these gains resulting in a tax bill of $10,200. In 2022 he also made a bad investment that is worth $30,000 less than what he paid for it. He sells the money-losing asset before year-end to offset his short-term gain...

Sounds like you know what you're doing since you've kinda done it before, but using Tracfone as a short term (inexpensive?) intermediate service wouldn't be my recommendation. I've been with them for years, but when there's a need for anything that the automated sys can't handle, don't expect much in the way of competent help. Setting up my latest "forced" upgrade to 4g (?) went badly and I could hear dogs barking in the background as the last in a long line of hapless reps tried to piece the most basic of service back together.

My mom tried for some time to share with me details about her finances, and I gently resisted, suggesting there was no hurry, and that yes, it made me a little uncomfortable. She eventually went thru some health scares and I relented, listening carefully and taking notes, agreeing to be put on accounts, noting her wishes for the house and siblings, etc. Also met her designated attorney. I even learned she'd been talked into some dumb, costly holdings in her very modest portfolio by local bank. When she died things were still sometimes a challenge to sort out, but nothing compared to if I'd had to hunt down passwords, find the accounts, go through the probate mess. In the end you want to know as much as possible - and maybe you'll even have ...

As a former public school teacher, anything other than a modest gift certificate for a local store or restaurant would have seemed very awkward to receive. Food items (small baked goods, etc) or something like that far more typical and comfortable ... but then that was some yrs ago.

Hi, We plan to sell a rental home to a close relative for below market value. The house is appraised at $450K, we intend to charge this couple $200K. They will pay the $200K in cash. Questions: 1) We have about $75K in depreciation from renting this house out in recent years, we bought the house for $150K. Do we owe depreciation recapture taxes? 2) Could we gift them the difference ($450K - $200K) $250K? Do we owe gift taxes on the $250K or will it be counted into the lifetime exclusion? At today's $12M lifetime exclusion, we will not have an estate tax issue, but I understand it may revert back to $5M at which we may have to do something about minimizing estate taxes (not a concern at this point - we're in our 50's). 3) What's the mechani...

Hello, My IPS had specified keeping a set amount in a bond index fund that this year has lost over 15% of its value. I am wondering if I should capitulate and sell at a loss and move on to a different form of fixed income: TIPS or Treasury ladders? I also have a hard time understanding what “selling at a loss” means in context of a bond fund, with a standard duration around 6.5 years, what exact loss I would be locking in, in real terms. Or, if it’s better to not sell and wait an arbitrary # of years to make my money back. I did not have a set duration target. The idea for this allocation was to counteract heavy equity position and also be used in the event of emergency. Neither of those objectives seem to really be met. Or, let me know if...

American Express Personal Savings here ... rates have climbed slowly to 2.15 and go up a bit every week or so. No Expense ratio, and transfers are very easy to deal with, with very good interface ... click to transfer to my bank and it's there next day. I tell myself I trust AMEX more than franks bank of southern north dakota that's offering an extra half percent.

Also have Citi Accelerate (?) with interest rate usually the same but can't recommend them due to their inconsistent customer service.

Am gradually going to start moving the Amex funds to Fidelity ... bought my first Tbill this week (Fidelity) just to get the feel for how.

.... Here’s the rub, and it addresses the specific OP title: In a real bear market being 99/1 is orders of magnitude harder than it is in a bull market. There are a lot of investors who are only just recently finding that out. Several of the active Bogleheads who were loudly 100/0 to 90/10 a year ago are now MUCH less aggressively invested today. I’ve seen as low as 30/70. I think that’s because those sorts don’t really know what they “need”, so instead they’re just trying to get as much as possible- fear and greed are the driving factors. To use "fear and greed" seems a little strong, but probably more true than not. I'm in the situation of still working and not loving it, but the unknowns are still too dominating to feel comfor...

I did a local semi-private when getting serious about golf for quite a few years which was affordable and worth it at that point in time (I eventually gave it up). Being able to walk on almost whenever you wanted was valuable to me, and I played early early anyway, always walked, and had the whole place to myself other than the grounds folk, so would jump around holes a bit on my own short loop that I preferred, and would be coming off when the regulars were just showing up or an event was gearing up to get started. Sometimes I would go back for a few more holes in the evening when it cooled off, often staying out until it got too dark to play any longer. So the relaxed and convenient possibilities really made it worth it. A lot of places a...

Multiple 2016 SE phones in household and all have worked flawlessly ... recently did the 15.7 security updates without problem (and I don't do banking etc with phone anyway). What would a new model do that the current one can't?

At some point they'll be functionally orphaned for some program you actually might use ... that's a ways off for me. Picking up maps (maps.me) for travel and camera is 95% of use for mine. And I prefer wired headphones.

Friends 8 yr old looked at mine once and said "why is it so small?" ('Cause I like it that way...)

dm

Wondering if anyone has thought about this and how one would discount expected SS income to account for the possibility of SS fund insolvency when deciding when to claim. In the past Social Security has been tweaked in my stealthy ways when needed and I would expect more subtle cuts if needed instead of an obvious cut like you mentioned. For example they have; 1) Making Social Security taxable. 2) Raising the full retirement age 3) At least talk of changing the inflation adjustment to use a different index You also need to look at any impact in dollars and not just percentages. If the difference in starting at 62 and 70 is $10,000 a year and there is a 20% reduction then you will just be $2,000 worse off because of when you started it. And...