Bogleheads.org

skierincolorado wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 1:25 am I could see that a bank that is just under 250b doesn't want to go over. Those that are a lot under 250b would be taking a substantial risk and have less free capital. But what about banks already over 250b? Why no interest from them?

The hassle? If you're already at $2T, the $100B of assets is only 5%. Plus you have to pony up the cash for the assets. When you're already making money hand-over-fist, why dither around with another 5%?

It's incorrect to say that the protections are the same. Aside from the obvious that the one who has the cash is in a better position, there are legal differences. First, for fraudulent transactions, you have 60+ days for credit cards and 2 (business?) days for debit cards to notify the issuer. For debit cards, the liability increases with time. FCBA > individual contractual provisions which may be subject to a variety of exclusions basically at the whim of the bank (and can generally be changed any time). While the dispute mechanism will sound similar, banks can give you a real hassle with debit cards. My brother had his debit card skimmed with the PIN. He and the thief just happened to use the card at the same time 800 miles apart. When ...

Has anybody seen how SVB bondholders made out? I assume they will be wiped out, but one article said FDIC was looking to dispose of the remaining 90B in assets in a way that minimizes losses to themselves and investors. Hopefully the part about protecting investors was a mistake in the article. Well SIVB bond holders are owed money by the bank holding company, not the bank. That entity has several billion in cash, as well as some other VC-related businesses that seem to be valuable (wealth management, etc), and of course also owed the now worthless bank. One small sticking point, over which $10M’s at least in legal fees will be wasted, is the issue that $2B worth and the majority of the HoldCo’s cash is held at... their own bank that was s...

New to this forum, appreciate your input. 61 yr old, 6 weeks away from retirement. In the process of cleaning up and consolidating my retirement accounts. I have 6 accounts (401k, IRA, Inherited IRA, Roth IRA, 2 Brokerage Accounts). I am considering working with Vanguard PAS for 1 yr (> 500K, 0.30% AUM fee, dedicated advisor), to get these reorganized, then taking over myself within 1 year. I would like a simple investment strategy that I can manage myself. This question is specific to the Inherited IRA account. It is made up of primarily individual stocks (as inherited, I have not selected - Starbucks, Wells Fargo, Novo-Nordisk, P&G, Texas Instruments etc ). I am overallocated in stocks given my age, I need to reduce my exposure. Vang...

toddthebod wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:28 am

exodusNH wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:24 am

toddthebod wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:06 am

exodusNH wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:52 am They are tracked separately

This is the part where I am confused how OP can't find the $1,400. Can he not see the balances of the two accounts?

With my 401k, the page that shows employer vs employee contributions don't show individual investment balances. If you're not sure what you're looking for, it can be hard to find.

I don't have a breakdown of Fidelity 500: $x.yz employee / $a.bc employer.

But do you have a breakdown of Roth versus pre-tax?

On the screen that shows me my total contributions and company match, yes. But not on the balance screen, it just shows me total shares in the few funds I have. It does not partition it by match and tax status.

Hi All, This is technically not an investing post per se but if you save on your home loan that savings should then be properly invested, correct? I'm interested in how others have located and their experiences with banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers in securing financing for modest owner occupied homes. (less than $250,000.00) Yes, bankrate.com is out there and you can Google but is there any site which vets theses lenders? Ex. if you found a smaller bank (e.g. regional bank) how did you find them and what reassured you they would be good? Thank you. I refied in January 2022. My balance was only about $130k. It was hard to find good rates. I wound up working with a friend of a friend who's a broker. When it comes to mortgages, all ...

I received a text message which looked exactly like what I receive when I am signing on to my V account - the exact verbiage, with a 6-digit security code. Except neither I nor my wife had attempted to sign on to the account. I subsequently signed on and checked to see if there was any activity on the account - and there appeared not to have been. I then changed my password. Next, I sent a message to V asking why I received this text message, and after 2 days received some gooblygook about "financial aggregation tools and services" which they said I wasn't enrolled in, but if I had been it might have caused the issue. They seemed totally unconcerned about a text message looking like it originated from V which was not requested by...

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:52 pm My daughter who is just one year younger than her ex-husband and recently divorced will inherit his IRA and 401k account because of the beneficiary designations.

Is there reason not to rollover his IRA and 401k account into her IRA, rather than maintaining a separate inherited IRA?

To be clear, the ex has died? If so, he died after the divorce was final?

Cicero123 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:57 pm At the risk of hijacking this thread, does anyone know what info is available to supermarket cashiers when they scan the bar code on the back of your license? When I buy alcohol at Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, they never look at the front for my birthdate, but they always scan the back before proceeding. Are they just getting a “yes, over 21” message, or do they see more info? Not that I’m paranoid, but…

They taking a picture of it with your phone. It may be able to read the barcode.

NH's has name, address, DOB, date issued, date expired, plus other data I can't determine.

So I have to ask. Why do they assign a different drivers license number from what you have now? In my state, the number used to be social security number. Maybe a decade ago, they changed to some different number. I've renewed many, many times and besides that one change, it's never been changed. It would sure sound like a bad practice to include a social security number right on your drivers license that you need to show in all sorts of places, like buying some wine at the supermarket. Is that what they did in MA? It wasn't an uncommon practice. When I was in college '96-'01, the college ID was your SSN. Grades were commonly posted by SSN. NH's driver's license numbers are a convolution of your name and DOB, with a sequence number added a...

I read https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/SIPC_protection_for_mutual_funds which concludes that SIPC protection does not add any protection to an account that is not a brokerage account. But I don't understand the reasoning. I have three accounts with Vanguard: a taxable brokerage account for purpose A; a taxable mutual funds account for purpose B; and a Roth IRA (mutual funds account, not a brokerage account). I am concerned about the lack of SIPC protection for my mutual funds accounts. But the Wiki is saying that I shouldn't, but I don't understand why; what does SIPC protection do then? I like having the two separate accounts for the two separate purposes. Thank you in advance for your help. SIPC protects you from dishonest brokers. Basic...

CloseEnough wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:57 am Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll check further with insurance companies,

I don't think you're going to save as much as you think. As noted above, insurance pays out more claims like hail damage to the roof or a tree falling on your house. The $50,000 claims are what are driving your rate. Total losses are relatively rare, which is why they can insure a $400,000 house for $1,000/yr.

You can probably save more money every year by having your HVAC serviced, keeping your tires properly inflated, and switching cell carriers. (On the latter, I switched and am saving $80/mo, which is my entire home insurance amount with liability coverages set high enough to get an umbrella.)

toddthebod wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:06 am

exodusNH wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:52 am They are tracked separately

This is the part where I am confused how OP can't find the $1,400. Can he not see the balances of the two accounts?

With my 401k, the page that shows employer vs employee contributions don't show individual investment balances. If you're not sure what you're looking for, it can be hard to find.

I don't have a breakdown of Fidelity 500: $x.yz employee / $a.bc employer.

I don’t know where the cash is in the account, but I was looking through the contributions. On 3/6 and 3/10 of this year their are 2 contributions. The totals are $1480.72 & $1480.71 These 2 together equal $2961.43 which is exactly 4% of my total gross earnings of $74,035.86 Maybe the cash just goes into the Vanguard S&P 500 fund that I have chosen for my investment here. I’m not certain. I don't see how that's possible: Yes, your employer can make matching contributions on your designated Roth contributions. However, your employer can only allocate your designated Roth contributions to your designated Roth account. Your employer must allocate any contributions to match designated Roth contributions into a pre-tax account , just li...

Lifeisgood445 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 4:17 pm I'm trying to figure out my risk exposure and decide what to do.

ALL of my investments are in various Vanguard Index Funds held by Charles Schwab. The total is well over $250,000. My only Schwab investment is $40,000 in a CS money market fund. If something happens to Charles Schwab how safe is my money? Would FDIC insurance cover the $40,000 money market investment? What would happen to the Vanguard Index Funds held at CS? Is holding Vanguard investments at Vanguard safer than holding Vanguard investments at Charles Schwab? Does it matter? Thanks much.

Rob Berger discussed this: https://youtu.be/wz64z1YuL0A

Brokered CD’s do not compound on their own, but they pay interest every 6 months or some monthly, which regular CD’s do not. I've never heard that the brokerage CD pays different times than the Bank CD. I thought the bank was 'the decider' as to when they pay. I'm new to CD's , so maybe I'm wrong - but when I read the rate details through the brokerage listings, they say different payout time periods. If the brokerage is consolidating them a paying you from their brokerage funds - then that would be a middle-man-psuedo-mutual-fund behavior...(my technical term) which I would not consider a cd really. it states when it pays out interest. Most common is every 6 months. If you buy a 5 yr CD in the amount of $10,000 you will get $250 every 6 m...

Safe deposit boxes aren't as safe as many people think. (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html) The article is paywalled. I assume that it is reasonably safe since you are part of a large number of boxes so unless you are targeted. Oh, I surf with cookies and JavaScript blocked. I didn't realize that. Then, on April 7, 2014, he lifted the thin metal lid. Box 105 was empty. ... There are no federal laws governing the boxes; no rules require banks to compensate customers if their property is stolen or destroyed. ... he began piecing together what had happened: Wells Fargo had apparently tried to evict another customer for not keeping up with payments, and bank employees had mistakenly removed his box instead...

I noticed a callable CD with a good rate that wasn't callable for several months. It would have been a good deal for those several months. Unless interest rates went up while you were holding it, in which case the bank wouldn't call it, sticking you with the lower rate until maturity. (Or forcing a sale at market rates.) But you'd be in the same situation if you had any non-callable security, "sticking" you with the lower rate... Callable CDs build in an interaction of interest rate risk and reinvestment risk, in that the counter-party gets to decide whether to call early or not - of course, they are likely to call at exactly the time that is advantageous to them and disadvantageous to you. This excess risk is most prominent when...

I think the benefits of having a physical bank that one can actually walk into and deal with another human being have been underestimated any more. Also aside from accounts there are still such things as safe deposit boxes, places to unload ten pounds of coins, and places to obtain newish $100 bill if travelling to Argentina (at least once upon a time), places to obtain a cashier's check, and possibly the service of a notary public. At the same time one has to be schooled to bypass the desk in the lobby of the investment advisor. Yes, but a lot of banks are now gutting their physical branch. At my bank, they have gotten rid of their safety deposit box and tellers and are just glorified atm stations. I had to drive to a different branch to ...

Also would withdrawing excess make sense or better to be double taxed? My new employer has one of the best 401k matching programs (they match 50% up to the IRS limit) and so I don't want to lose out on that match money. From what I understand, I can also do nothing? But will be double taxed (not sure why I would be double taxed if you don't pay taxes on 401k until you take out the money). Or do you get taxed on the excess and does turbo tax automatically handle excess 401k for you? You have to pay taxes on that $2,000 this year (2022 tax return). Then if you do not get the money returned by April 15th, it becomes a regular part of your 401(k) subject to the same distribution and taxation rules as the rest of the money in that account. No n...

hudson wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 7:17 am I noticed a callable CD with a good rate that wasn't callable for several months.
It would have been a good deal for those several months.

Unless interest rates went up while you were holding it, in which case the bank wouldn't call it, sticking you with the lower rate until maturity. (Or forcing a sale at market rates.)

I have a family member in India who needs a fairly substantial loan in the near future and is asking for my help. Let's say for argument that I am going to agree to loan them the money. I am based in the U.S. The loan will be money sent from a U.S. bank to a bank in India (not via Bitcoin (I think)). The loan amount will be anywhere from $9k to $25k. A bunch of questions: 1. Do I just walk into my local bank (Wells Fargo) and do a wire transfer? What is the preferred way to do this? 2. Is using a wire transfer company a less expensive way to do this (get a better exchange rate). Are they safe for this amount of money? 3. I understand that transfers of more than $10k will require filling out an IRS form. What about multiple transfers made t...

I store cash at a suboptimal rate not because I am old, which I am, and can't get around, which I can because I can use a computer, but because the whole issue is not important enough to waste time on or to add more accounts to keep in the data base. There are most likely investors for whom the actual financial consequences are more meaningful, or at least those investors think the consequences are meaningful. Your example above would evidently qualify as a case where serious questions would be asked about the use of that money. Perception or misperception of risk would seem to be the dominating factor. The physical branch does grant some additional security. If I received a large check or if I need a cashier check in a hurry. If my accoun...

They offered me a monthly loyalty discount in December. 2 lines, no change in service (5G start), $89. I am 39. The deals seem to be silently and selectively showing up. I think they are trying to compete with the Verizon MVNOs. I have two lines with US Mobile in a 7 GB pool. Total cost is just under $33/mo for both. Because my phone has 5G, I get "priority" data, which puts it on par with Verizon prepaid and Xfinity premium service. (Verizon has only two priority levels for the general public.) Yep, IMHO US Mobile is the Verizon MVNO to pick especially if you can live with a limited pool of high-speed data. The two lines I have on it with 5GB shared high-speed data (up to 5G) costs only ~$29/month. I switched to US Mobile becaus...

Do people still pay for these plans :oops: The start plans for verizon are junk. Seriously it is criminal to charge that much and that is even supposed to be some special deal? The start plans are bottom priority plans. You get no benefit from being with the mothership at all. Literally everywhere else offers more for less on the same verizon network. eg Visible is owned by verizon and offers pretty much the same unlimited plan for $25 a line. Even comes with unlimited hotspot. Pay just $10 more per line and you get priority data like the big boy plans. No extra taxes. Part of it is the financing offered. You get locked into a plan until you pay off your phone, either monthly or by lump summing it. The average American can't afford a $600 ...

I guess I am not entirely clear on how treasuries are set, since I have not invest in the directly. Treasuries sold directly by the US Treasury are sold at auction where bids are submitted by the likes of JP Morgan. Primary dealers are obligated to bid at on a regular basis. (https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/primarydealers.html) Oversimplifying, the Treasury accepts the bids that are most favorable to the US taxpayer. If you bid on these through Treasury Direct, you're putting in a noncompetitive bid, which just means you accept what the bigger bidders get. Then there's the secondary market. Those prices are also set by at auction, but by a much larger group of participants. When you hear "the yield on the 10 year went up by 0.2%&qu...

They offered me a monthly loyalty discount in December. 2 lines, no change in service (5G start), $89. I am 39. The deals seem to be silently and selectively showing up. I think they are trying to compete with the Verizon MVNOs. I have two lines with US Mobile in a 7 GB pool. Total cost is just under $33/mo for both. Because my phone has 5G, I get "priority" data, which puts it on par with Verizon prepaid and Xfinity premium service. (Verizon has only two priority levels for the general public.) It puts you on par with verizon postpaid . All the better plans above start that people pay $$$ for. It's QCI 8. For the general public, Verizon only has 8 and 9. 8 is "priority" data. US Mobile was QCI 9 like nearly all MVNOs, ...

Third party verifier? Hahahaha. LexisNexis. Buncha clowns. Wouldn't verify me because I would not acknowledge my mortgaged house address in 1960. I was 3 years old. Those questions are terrible. I opened a HELOC with just my driver's license. I misplaced the paperwork and requested a copy of the docs. They sent me through the verification process, which I failed. I think the one that pushed me over the edge was asking me what car I was "associated with". My mother's fiance owned a three family that he lived in and rented out the other two floors, including one floor to my mother and sibling. When my mother moved into his apartment, I moved in with my sibling. The list of cars included the make and model that my mother had registe...

I am actually very aggressive with my CDs (which are often direct rather than brokered). Most of the loss on raised rates is already priced in for brokered CDs, so it is pointless to sell; direct CDs, on the other hand, normally have an ability (with penalty) to end the investment, which can allow for reinvestment at a far better rate than delaying. There is a difference between trading them and attempting to squeeze out returns by utilizing every option embedded in the CDs. Can you say more about buying direct? I've read that banks hold their best rate CD rates only for brokers. I guess they don't want to hassle with individuals? Whenever I look online at direct CDs they always seem a lot lower. Where do you search for them? With brokered...

StayTheCourse60 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:42 pm They offered me a monthly loyalty discount in December. 2 lines, no change in service (5G start), $89. I am 39. The deals seem to be silently and selectively showing up.

I think they are trying to compete with the Verizon MVNOs.

I have two lines with US Mobile in a 7 GB pool. Total cost is just under $33/mo for both. Because my phone has 5G, I get "priority" data, which puts it on par with Verizon prepaidpostpaid and Xfinity premium service. (Verizon has only two priority levels for the general public.)

kurious wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:25 pm

exodusNH wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:13 pm
The IRS will let you setup a payment plan. The IRS has a scary rep, it the people who work there really do want to help.

Thank you for your kind words. We can pay off the amount by selling funds in our taxable account. Should we do that or are we better off getting on a payment plan? Seems like the plan has an interest rate of 4%. I would much rather sell from taxable and pay it for peace of mind.

Well, if they lend you money at 4% and you can get 5% from a CD, you can maintain liquidity (and potentially reduce capital gains taxes) by taking the payment plan. It's probably worth mapping it out in a spreadsheet.

Ah I see the point about not selling options on your own stock as the downside of the above strategy for me is a lot of taxes. You’re playing with big stacks and trying to make it into a full investment strategy. To back up a bit, I’m down to my highest gain shares in taxable (all 45%+). That’s somewhat prompting me to evaluate all options including taking out a 5-5.5% loan :shock: I was just sniffing out a free lunch. Aside from the downside risks (as I don’t want to sell these tax lots, especially during a downturn) and my own time investment, it should be profitable, no? It sounds like if the strike price is above your average cost - premium, you'd not lose money. However, if the options are assigned, you will no longer own the shares. ...

Hi All - after all this hubbub with the banks, I'm inspired to pay off my home mortgage as quickly as possible. I had been doing a combination of paying down the mortgage and buying VOO/SPY/etc. in a taxable account. Given the below, what do you think is the most optimal way to pay off my mortgage quickly? Should I liquidate my taxable account to pay down the mortgage? Or liquidate it in a few years? Or avoid selling altogether (capital gains tax!)? 30 year fixed mortgage at 3.3%, paid down balance from $925,000 to $742,000 over the last four years. Monthly payment is $4047. I can make $60,000-$120,000 per year in extra principal payments, depending on bonuses, overtime, etc. I have a taxable account that holds mostly SPY and VOO held for ...

What was the reason (at the time) for doing the roth conversion? My stupidity and ignorance. I had 8k of tax loss in our taxable account. The rollover IRA had gains of about 10k at that point. I mistakenly assumed the losses from taxable account will offset most of the gains from the Roth conversion. I did not know that the entire amount being converted will be counted as income. Additionally, I also underestimated how much we will owe in taxes. Thanks to the expenses associated with pregnancy and birth the of our son as well as the fact that we bought a condo, I was delusional that we will likely get a refund. Because you didn't pay tax when the money went in, you pay it on the way out, as you learned. As noted above, this is a frustratin...

My husband and I have been debating purchasing a winter home for a year now. We have rented in different greater Phoenix areas for 5 winters and have settled on an area we like the most. We have decided that buying is going to be our best chance to get the home we are comfortable in and has the amenities we need to want to stay for another 10 years or so. Full time in this future home is always an option down the road. At this point we don't plan to do it until late this year or early next year. We see forecasts and have realtors telling us that home prices in this area could go down anywhere from 15% to 25% over the next year. We recognize that the current banking/interest/government situations could change all of this in a very short tim...

Thanks! I actually opened a ROTH IRA last week (have only contributed $100 to it so far). I wanted to open an IRA rather than contribute more to my 401k because: 1. I wanted to have more investment flexibility than my 401k offers. 2. I plan on increasing my contributions to my 401k in the next couple of years to the point where I will be capping it out eventually. 3. Using money from my side business to contribute to the ROTH. Side business income varies significantly so I wanted the flexibility to contribute more or less to the IRA depending on my side business income for the month. I have read the IRS income limits and am confused if I am over them or not. I think this will help you decide: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/07/401...

I have no problems using a 401k loan to buy a house, but as others have pointed out you do seem to be looking at the interest the wrong way since you will end up being taxed on the interest payments twice. I wouldn't take out any more than you need to get to 20% down and avoid PMI/higher rates, and then pay the loan back once you sell your current house. This source disagrees: http://www.401khelpcenter.com/faq/faq_29.html#.ZCD9SvbMLVs The interest payments, which are from after-tax income go into the 401k. When those interest payments come out, you pay income tax on them since the "already-taxed" status is lost. From your perspective, you're paying income tax twice on that slug of money. The gains on securities purchased with the...

Hi, I want to open up a traditional ira, to save for retirement and to lower my taxed income for 2022. Got to do it before the deadline in April. Tax deductions for IRAs have some restrictions, based on my income and ALSO whether I participate in a workplace retirement plan. That's what I read. I understand that without 401k available in workplace I can contribute $6000 and I can write off my entire IRA contributions. But if there is an available 401k plan in workplace, this becomes a bit more complicated. I have an available 401k at in workplace but it is too late to contribute for 2022. Also, I am not sure if I want to contribute into this plan, it has awful funds and high fees. My question... Is the limitation regarding having 401k plan...

I am a bit confused on the income limits on opening a 401k and IRA. Currently, we have the following: Myself - 401k through my employer which they match up to 7%. I am currently making approximately $105k and have a side business making approximately $10k more. I am contributing 10% on my 401k (about $10,500 a year) Wife - She is a teacher. She makes approximately $60k and besides her pension, has an IRA which she is contributing 5%. Can I open an IRA too? What kind of IRA? Anyone can open a standard IRA and contribute up to the limit. If you want to deduct the contribution from your income, then you need to look at the rules controlling that, which take into account both your income level and whether you have an option to contribute to a ...

Marseille07 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:36 am

martincmartin wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:51 am Because they might want to access the money 1 month from now, and in that time, a 3M or 6M might be selling for less than purchase price +4.29%/12. Who knows, they could even be under water.

Well, as another poster also said, MMF is available at 4.45%. That's much more liquid than 1M. So 1M at 4.29% continues to be nonsensical.

That's only true from the perspective of someone who has complete discretion over the types of instruments they can hold. Organizations may be limited in what they can hold. Others may be limited by their 401k options.

retiredjg wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:18 am Does "top heavy" apply after one leaves employment?

Only in the final year of employment. E.g., if they left on March 1 and contributed $22,500 in Jan and Feb, those contributions would be part of the test. But for next year, the existing balances don't matter. Because you have to fix the situation yearly, by either returning contributions or making contributions for the other employees, you start fresh each plan year.

Could this be a reaction to a Top Heavy 401k? Forgive me as I have no real experience with that situation. It was said it was a small company so maybe his balance is pushing the plan into the Top Heavy designation. I'm not familiar with the term "Top Heavy 401K." What are the triggers for this? The person in question is > 65 and had hoped to keep the funds in the 401K until he needs to access them when RMDs apply. His spouse is working and my understanding is that they do not need to take distributions at this time. I understood that 401Ks had slightly better legal protection in case of bankruptcy (which is unlikely). In my case (different employer but also a company with fewer than 50 employees), I'm reasonably happy with the fu...

Thanks, that's kind of what I thought, but apparently the letter came from the benefits person at his small company, not Fidelity. Could it be that they have to pay Fidelity a % of the assets held in the 401K? I don't believe they can be forced out with a balance above $5000. Your friend can ask for a copy of the "summary plan document" and see if there's anything mentioning it. The company may simply want your friend out to lower administrative costs. If your friend is no longer going to have earned income, he won't have the option of a backdoor Roth. There's not a lot of downside to rolling the 401k into an IRA. In some states, IRAs don't have as good of creditor protection as 401ks. But even some states that don't protect IRAs...

https://mailchi.mp/bishoprockcap.com/bishop-rock-march-2023 Someone shared this with me and it caught my eye. I think people on this forum have figured this out over the last few months. I personally moved almost all my cash to MMFs of some sort last year. I wonder how long it will take before the banks are forced to pay rates more in line with historical levels. However, if they do, they will make no money, as this note points out, and will only make the banking crisis worse. I'm curious if anyone here is actually still holding a lot of their cash in banks at rates 2% or less? If so, why? About $4000, which is enough to cover two months of mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and credit card minimum payments. (I only c...

Andy12345 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:46 am I am wracking my brain to figure out a way to get her in a trailer home or something like that for cheap near the area where I live when she finally needs to stop working. Living with my family is not an option due to lack of space and wanting to preserve my marriage.

You need to be careful with mobile homes. Even if you can find favorable financing, if the trailer sits on rented land, your mother would be at the mercy of the landlord. Even if the current one is good, they may sell out to one of the large park-owning companies who take advantage of the lack of mobility and jack up the rents.

renegade06 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:42 am Is anyone else having an issue with Personal Capital (Empower) not updating your Vanguard accounts? Mine was working just fine until March 16. Now it will not update and there is just a "yellow" circle next to those Vanguard accounts in the Personal Capital dashboard.

Northwestern Mutual's aggregation service is having problems, too. Mine hasn't updated since Feb 26.

msj16 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 3:31 pm Thanks very much! If anyone has gone to a passport agency regarding "urgent within 14 day travel" if you can estimate how long of a wait in line and how long to get a passport that would be appreciated.

I used RushMyPassport.com. It wasn't cheap -- almost $700 -- but I got mine in 10 calendar days, better than what had been promised.

Finding a place to take my passport photo was more difficult. While supposedly Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens do it, the individual stores often don't want to take the time and so lie that their machines are broken. I had to go to 3 different locations before I found a place that was willing/able to do it.

02nz wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:27 pm

cbox wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:47 am I noticed that Capital One no longer offers the 11-month 5% CD. So perhaps you're right: act now if you want to lock in a rate that you think is attractive.

That's not an indication that rates are falling. Banks offer CDs based on their funding needs, and also Capital One (being sneaky) offers one-off CDs that will renew into much less competitive rates.

I am not a Capital One champion, but basically every bank -- including credit unions -- do this. It's the whole reason they offer odd terms -- 11 months, 13, 17, etc. It's so when it renews, there is not exact term match. They dump you into the "closest", which invariably has a terrible rate.

dips wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 9:23 pm

NateH wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 9:20 pm If you hold until maturity, you get your money back with the promised interest. That's it. Don't worry about what the Fed will do.
I would pick a term in the "for sure" zone, rather than the "probably" zone. Re-evaluate when it matures.
Likely that money markets will still be yielding something reasonable in 4-6 months, so you can always stash it there upon maturity.

Understood, thank you.

Be aware that those rates are annualized. I.e., a 5% listed rate on a 6 month CD means you'll get about 2.5%. 3 months would be about a total return of 1.25%

Not sure I would hope/plan for a successful retirement based on a prediction of what things would look like 35 years in the future. At age 46, many people are looking at another couple of decades of work for funding retirement. “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future,” or so a Danish proverb says. I wish you well. Broken Man 1999 I get the heart of your point and you aren't wrong, but if one does not attempt to predict and plan for the future, how could anyone ever retire young, no matter how much or little they had? We have to accept some rules for how we predict things, and some time horizon we are comfortable with or that conclusion could be abstracted all the way to the point of very unrealistic scenarios that...