Bogleheads.org

Just wanted to add an update that the NetBenefits issue seems to have been resolved for me as of this morning.

When I logged in I was prompted to install some updates and after doing so my NetBenefits account was syncing without issue and downloaded transactions from the past two weeks that I was missing. Currently on version R48.15 (windows)

Same issue with my NetBenefits account; hasn’t been syncing properly for over a week now. Other Fidelity accounts like my IRA and HSA are still syncing fine.

duplicate

One solution would be to switch to M1 finance: https://m1.com/

I am surprised the larger brokerages don’t seem to offer something similar.

scophreak wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:43 am and comes with a potential advantage of providing access to only a portion of the funds by cashing out individual $2500 bonds if needed rather than having to redeem a single $10000 bond.

No.........ibonds can be redeemed at minimum of $25 along with any amount above that in 1 cent increments, regardless of the lot size when purchased.

cmc89585 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:30 am My bank did add one caveat - there is a limit of $2500 for online transfers - does that come into play with US Treasury Direct or not? I wanted to do $5000 and $10,000 amounts to US Treasury Direct on a yearly basis.

That limit likely refers to the maximum you are able to "push" from your bank. A "pull" from treasury direct or other entity (like a credit card autopay) is not likely to trigger such a limit.

Cashed is referring to paper I bonds and on Treasury Direct you will not get paper I bonds. Your account will be all online at Treasury Direct I should have clarified that I never said anything about cashing bonds when I talked to them on the phone - I was explaining about how I would simply link my account to US Treasury Direct and they said no, they can't allow that. It just seems impossible that would be true if everyone else on Bogleheads is not running into this issue. Your bank doesn't need to know or be involved in this process. You can log-in to your TD account and add your bank account from there; I believe it is under the Account information section. Here is a link to a related thread that may help. https://www.bogleheads.org/for...

For someone in their 30s like me and a small but growing bond allocation I am thinking about the following: 1. 50% I bonds (and TIPS if I bond space runs out) 2. 50% long term treasuries Triple punch of inflation protection, principal protection, and negative correlation during crises (like today!) Thoughts? I think watchnerd used to do something similar to this.....seems reasonable to me. As long as you know you know your average duration and how that would compare to a total market bond fund (or total Treasury fund) which averages around 6-7 years. If you use VGLT as your LT treasury fund (duration 16 years) and combine it with ibonds and VTIP then your average bond duration is a little over 8 years. If you use EDV instead with a duratio...

Question: could I establish an individual account at Schwab and easily convert it to a joint account once we're married, or would it be easier to wait until after we're married to set up a joint account? Disclaimers/Notes: (1) We're both financially secure and extra income at this point is for investing. (2) The amount isn't material, and if something happened to us/our relationship before we get married, the amounts in question wouldn't matter one way or the other. (3) Fiancée reads Bogleheads, too, so she will likely see this (hi, hon!). Congratulations to both of you. My wife and I got married in early 2021 and the process of adding her as a joint account holder to my existing Schwab One Brokerage and High Yield Checking Accounts was ex...

If you don't travel much and are looking to redeem your miles as a statement credit you're probably not getting the most value from your AMEX cards and would likely be better off switching to a pure cash-back card that offered a flat 1:1 redemption value as a statement credit. What exactly do you have the Gold card for if you don't travel much? There are other cards that reward you for dining, travel and grocery purchases that don't come with the $250 annual fee and the "inflexibility" of the membership points.

lakpr wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:38 pm Others may differ, but I am of the opinion (and willing to take my chances with the IRS), that the employer retirement plans DO NOT COUNT for wash sales. So if you rely on my advice, you are free to do what you are proposing. I am sure someone will come along and say everything to the contrary.

I concur with your assessment. IRS publication 550 seems pretty clear on this (see page 56) https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p550.pdf
Item #4 under Wash Sales:

Aquire substantially identical stock for your individual retirement arrangement (IRA) or Roth IRA.

The IRS clarifies that a wash sale can occur with an IRA but do not make any mention of employer retirement accounts, HSAs, etc.

Some additional information such as how old your relative is, how they got into CC debt in the first place and what they are doing with their lives now might provide some additional context to the situation. But from what you wrote below, it doesn't sound like he's very good with money nor is he very productive with how he spends his time. On paper his solution seems simple: stop spending money and find a way to increase income. 20K in credit card is bad, but it doesn't have to be the end of the world. You might want to have him check out Dave Ramsey; while I don't consume much of his content, he is one of the leading finance personalities out there for a reason and I believe his information is more geared towards providing basic financial ...

My understanding: I'm purchasing 1 US Treasury with a coupon rate of 2.750% with a face value of $10,000, discounted by $181.70. I am not sure what it's origional issue date was, but I see it has $112.84 of accrued interest . If I hold it to maturity, on 02/15/2024 I will receive the $10,000 principal. Between now and the maturity date I will receive interest payments each 6 months which will be 2.75% APY of the $10,000 principal amount. From a tax perspective, at maturity date 02/15/2024 will this be: $298 ordinary income $181.70 Long term capital gain Is that correct or am I misunderstanding something? Thank you You get to treat the $112.84 of accrued interest paid as a return of capital, so I believe this amount is deducted from your ca...

RetiredAL wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 12:29 pm I do UTMA's for 2 grandkids, age 3 and 7. 100% equities split Schwab SP500 and Schwab1000. I'll start adding Fixed Income when they reach 15.

I gain harvest each year in late Dec by selling the LTCG of one fund, having been held near 2 years, and buying the other.

I'm just curous, what is the purpose of buying the other fund when selling instead of repurchasing the same one? Is there a reason why you didn't choose either SP500 or Schwab1000 as opposed to both?

I assume you meant UTMA account?

We opened one for out infant son last year and and 100% of contributions are invested in VTWAX (Vanguard Total World Stock index fund). We also have a Treasury Direct minor account with $0 in it but will be available in the future if we feel fixed income would be a good option for him.

Doc7 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 12:31 pm Don’t forget to tax gain harvest annually (sell and immediately repurchase all) so that when child receives control of funds, it does not have a giant tax headache.
Lots of annual gains over the next 20 years will likely fit under their tax deduction threshold .

+1

I wish TD worked with one of the numberous agregators out here; I was able to connect my TD account to Fidelity's Full View last year but it only connected my current holdings would not update monthly.

I use Quicken to track my ibond holdings and will import price updates with a .csv file after I look them up on the TD website or using one an online tool like this one: https://eworkpaper.com/ibond.php

I dont know how one could speculate on what the fixed rate will be based on recent inflation data. Look at the history of fixed rates here: https://treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/i-bonds/i-bonds-interest-rates/ There doesn't seem to be any correlation to inflation and the offered fix rates to me. My wife and I have 20k in CDs expiring in two weeks and we will use the funds to make our annual ibond purchase in January. If the fixed rate rises in May, that's ok.......we will NOT be frontloading ibond gift purchases like people have (incorrectly) suggested to do in prior years. Its an inexact science but just look at trend on the 5 year TIPs yield chart. The non-zero yield was fairly predictable for many people. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/...

I'm a long-term ibond investor and this sounds like market timing to me; speculating that one can time the fixed rate of ibonds accurately. There were several of these same sorts of threads last year around November......encouraging people to buy ibonds before 11/1 to lock in the higher variable rates (9.6 vs 6.9% I beleive). Those who did so lost out on the the 0.4% fixed return for the next 30 years. For a long-term I Bond investor, I think it makes sense to wait until April 12 to make a purchase decision. And even then the decision might be to divide your purchases, half in April and half in May, if a higher fixed rate looks at all possible. Key date: April, 12, 2023. At 8:30 a.m. ET on April 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will relea...

I can't believe I did this. I was supposed to sell $50k of VTI and buy $50k of SPTM to take a $7k long term capital loss. Instead I accidentally bought $50k of VTI. Realizing the mistake (and not thinking), I immediately sold $100k VTI and bought $50k of SPTM. How does this affect my tax loss? I believe I am okay and didn't trigger a wash sale.... I think this depends on whether you have remaining shares of VTI and if so, which specific lots of VTI you sold. You say you inteded to sell 50K of VTI and bought 50k instead. Then you proceeded to sell 100K of VTI; did that 100k sale include the lot(s) you accidentally purchased? If so then there is no wash sale here; you sold the shares that would have triggered the wash. If instead you sold 10...

HSA compatible health insurance plans allow for HSA contributions even if coverage is obtained via COBRA. Assuming the covered individual is unemployed during an 18 month COBRA coverage period, and not earning at all, would contributing after tax savings into the available HSA be equivalent to contributing to a Roth IRA? How do you figure that? The 18 month of COBRA premiums should be documented so that you can withdrawl tax-free from your HSA against those expenses in the future, but this is true of any medical-related expense. You also still get the pre-tax deduction even if you are not working; this is included on IRS form 8889: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8889.pdf What about your situation do you think makes this comparible to a R...

I can't believe I did this. I was supposed to sell $50k of VTI and buy $50k of SPTM to take a $7k long term capital loss. Instead I accidentally bought $50k of VTI. Realizing the mistake (and not thinking), I immediately sold $100k VTI and bought $50k of SPTM. How does this affect my tax loss? I believe I am okay and didn't trigger a wash sale.... I think this depends on whether you have remaining shares of VTI and if so, which specific lots of VTI you sold. You say you inteded to sell 50K of VTI and bought 50k instead. Then you proceeded to sell 100K of VTI; did that 100k sale include the lot(s) you accidentally purchased? If so then there is no wash sale here; you sold the shares that would have triggered the wash. If instead you sold 10...

bh_tikli wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:13 pm

WinstonTeracina wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 4:19 am Good luck to you, it took us 11 from application to approval.

Was it 11 months or years...

Haha thank you, it was 11 months….

Brought my wife to the US in February 2021 in a K1….don’t get an attorney. I second the suggestion to sign up for an account on VisaJourney.com and post and specific questions you may have there. Good luck to you, it took us 11 from application to approval.

TedSwippet wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:51 pm

WinstonTeracina wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:36 pm

EddyB wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:33 am Do you have space for some of this in an IRA? If so, did you also consider UCITS ETFs?

Would this subject the Op to PFIC related tax? ...

Outside of an IRA or treaty-covered non-US pension, a UCITS ETF is of course a US tax disaster. Inside should be fine, though. PFIC rules don't apply to holdings in an IRA:

Passive foreign investment company: US Pensions - Bogleheads

Thank you, I had no idea.

EddyB wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:33 am Do you have space for some of this in an IRA? If so, did you also consider UCITS ETFs?

Would this subject he Op to PFIC related tax? Following this thread closely as a future EU expat. Have considered IGOV in he past but opted to just sick with treasuries for now due to reduced costs and better state tax treatment.

Another Mint user here who has been very satisfied with their service. As someone who travels abroad often, I particularly like the pre-paid feature of the service as opposed to receiving monthly bills. I could never avoid roaming charges with T-mobiles Magenta plans regardless of how I modified my phone settings. With mint and iphone dual esim capability, I can easily buy a cheap esim on my phone and use my mint mobile number while aborad for free over wifi calling.

Their customer service has been fine, but I still decided to pay the $15 a year for MINTech to get a dedicated support number 24/7.

I frequently hear posters ask some variation of this question; "if I hold the bond fund for the duration will I be guratanteed to retain the investment value?" The answer to me seems to be "no" since bond funds maintain a constant duration which means the duration changes from the standpoint of the original investment. If you invest in BND for example with a duration of 7 years, then after one year your duration (from the perspective of the prior year) is now 6 years but the fund duration is still 7 years. You've effectively "rolled" one year of funds into a new 7 year duration window. Instead, if after 1 year you took 1/7 of your initial investment so that your portfolio was (1/7 * cash) or short-term treasuri...

Question for the group: If you have been buying the max of EE Bonds for the last ten years, would you sell some or all of your EE bonds given the current environment. If you would sell some of your bonds, How far back your you sell? The issue is that a ten-year-old $10000 EE bond is only worth about $10,617 today (rate was 0.6% this time in 2012), but in ten years will be worth $20,000, for a 6.54% yield, so you would not sell because of this huge $3,530 "early withdrawal penalty" you pay since the EE bond doubles at the 20-year mark rather than receiving an even 3.53% per year. It's more dramatic for 0.1% bonds which are the only ones issued since November 2015. It would definitely make sense to hold off and see what the Novembe...

Fremdon Ferndock wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 1:05 pm Not sure this is correct. I zeroed out an IRA years ago, only to find recently that it was still there. Maybe because I still had active accounts at Vanguard but don't know. I had to close it myself.

Agreed…..I moved my funds/accounts out of Vanguard in 2018. I was surprised to find a taxable brokerage account was still open with 0.00 balance last week when we opened an account for our son.

mongstradamus wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 10:33 pm Edv but It’s an small portion of overall portfolio.

I use EDV as well.

PersianCapitalist wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 10:41 pm

mongstradamus wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 10:33 pm Edv but It’s an small portion of overall portfolio.

Okay. Why did you choose EDV?

Your question wasn't directed at me, but since my wife and I use EDV as our primary bond holding I'll share my reasoning: our estimated investment horizon has an average duration of 40.1 years. EDV has about a 24-year duration which is as long as we could go while still keeping the expense ratio reasonable.

Thank you @Nyc10036

I had gone through that support page already but eventually the troubleshooting and commentary becomes way too technical for me. I did reach out to Microsoft support who suggested restoring Windows. I was later able to build a bootable USB drive after watching some instructional Youtube videos. Appreciate your reply.

Hi Bogleheads, I'm not a very technical person, so I'm hoping I can get pointed in the right direction to troubleshoot an issue on my personal computer that started this morning. When turning on my Surface Pro X, the device failed to start up past the Windows logo Screen. The logo appears for a few seconds and immediately the screen goes black as it it's shut down and gone to sleep. I've done the obvious things like connect to different power sources, force hard restarts but none of these actions seem to work. After browsing through Microsoft help pages, I'd guess based on description of issues that the instance Windows 11 on my Surface Pro X has been corrupted and needs to be restored. Based on the below support page, it looks like my best...

But I haven’t looked into UTMAs too much as I find them inferior. Find them inferior to what? If you are referring to a 529 plan we have compared the pros/cons and determined this account would not be right for us. Sure, instead of trying to control things too much, spend the next 18 years teaching your newborn how to be responsible with money. That way, when he turns 18 you won't have to worry. I also say this knowing it is easier said then done. I sweated a bit wondering if she would blow it all on fast cars and shoes. And she may have. But, not my circus after a certain amount of time. Kids grow up and make choices. If the account is to give them agency, then come what may. If the account is for you to direct how they spend the money, t...

Why not create a Section 2503(c) aka minor's trust with a Crummey provision at 21? We aren't talking a lot of money here so I'd prefer to avoid the time, effort and cost (minimal as they may be) in setting up a trust. IANAL, but my gut says no. If you could, then why can’t I domicile my accounts in a different state with a lower state tax rate without establishing residency there? I can set up a 529 account in a different state, so I'm not sure how this would be different. And I (my child) would still pay taxes in our home state, not the state the account was established in so there's no state benefit I'm trying to take advantage of. Interesting question. It's causing me to wonder if this could be used as a way to "ladder" gifts ...

Hello All,

My wife and I would like to open a UTMA account for our newborn son but would ideally like the account to transfer to him when he turns 21 or older. Unfortunately we reside in a state where our child would gain control of the asset at 18 years old. We would like to open or designate the account in a state like Wyoming where we could specify the transfer age but are not sure if this is allowed. I contacted Vanguard with my question and the representative I spoke with seemed to indicate that Vanguard would allow this but was unsure of any legal restrictions with what we are trying to do. Any BH thoughts on the matter?

Here’s a website that can link you to your state guaranty fund. https://www.nolhga.com/policyholderinfo/main.cfm/location/ga Per https://www.califega.org/FAQ: “ What if I move to another state after buying insurance? The guaranty association of the state in which the policy owner lives at the time the company becomes insolvent provides protection. Although all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have Guarantee Associations, the amount of protection may vary. If you move to another state, you should contact the Department of Insurance or guaranty association in that state for more information. I am a resident of California and I have a policy issued by an insurance company that is not licensed in California. Will I recei...

I've been interested in implementing a strategy like this with a poriton of my fixed income; one isse I can't seem to find good information on is what happens if your state of residence changes part way into your MYGA or SPIA?

If I buy a 6 year MYGA in the state of CA but then relocate to FL in 3 years what happens? Is my annuity no longer insured? Am I allowed to transfer to another policy in state? Do I assume the state insurance protections? Similarily what would happen if I attempted to buy an out of state annuity becaues of a higher rate?

Thanks in advance.

I've used both products extensively as an S-Corp (no payroll) for consulting businesses in the past. Both QB and Xero have three plans (call them Basic, Standard, Premium) that offer a variety of features; you should research that list extensively to see what meets your needs. For me, that was the Premium version for either company. if you all need is basic accounting/transaction history that the basic version of each will meet your needs. Once you start needed additional features like bank reconciliations, customer quotes, recurring transactions, etc. then the prices start to climb. I required the Premium version of each as I needed a way to track expenditures by client (Project Tracking) and the ability to flag certain expenses as reimbur...

OP, A) Are you setting up a joint account with your wife or an individual account for your wife? B) It is always a bad idea to have a debit card. Use a credit card instead. KlangFool I was setting up an individual account. I thought things might be simpler if we could keep track of who earned which money. A joint account is something I'd be willing to do if the other options don't pan out. Regarding the debit card, the debit card she has now is from a foreign bank with a transaction fee for US dollars. I wanted to remove that obstacle. How is she earning any money without a green card? As a K-1 visa holder he/she can apply for an EAD as part of the green card application. These are generally approved much quicker than the actual green card.

My wife entered the U.S. in February 2021 with a K-1 visa. We married at the end of the month and I believe received her SSN around April 2021. Once we had her SSN (and eventually her EAD) we too had difficulties opening bank accounts for her. In the end, we were able open a Joint Investor Checking (and Brokerage) account and Schwab and she was able to open a Roth IRA with them. I would highly recommend Schwab as I specifically remember the minimal hassel with them after we had tried so many other banks.

Peakcock works fine abroad and in hotels without any sort of VPN. Can’t say how easy it is to cancel as I purchased the yearly plan to save a few bucks since I’m and avid premier league fan. Keep in mind not every match is available live; Arsenal palace was delayed by a day for example. Overall though I’ve been happy with the service and will renew in a couple weeks

Hi Bogleheads,

Does anyone know how to connect the Treasury Direct website to Quicken, or other personal finance software? I noticed playing around with Fidelity's Full View that I was able to connect to my TD account; I logged in through TD through the Fidelity Full View website, recieved my TD 2FA e-mail and was able to successfully connect to my paper bond, Series I and Series EE holdings (with updated prices). Full view is the only place I can remember having the ability to connect to TD; is this ability not possible through Quicken or am I doing something wrong?

I would write a letter to the VP of customer service, stating what you said, and asking for reimbursement. I wouldn’t go all nuclear with a lawyer or court until you’ve exhausted the less drastic options. You are unlikely to prevail with the lawyer route, because it’s a he said, she said situation, and they have all sorts of ways to get out of paying anything. Well, maybe unless it is United Airlines. I've been waiting for a response from the UA VP of Customer Service since a screw up in 2013. They sent me a postcard saying they would look into my situation and get back to me. Yeah, right. You might want to check out Chris Elliott's advocacy website https://www.elliott.org/ They offer a lot of advice about how to rattle cages in the travel...

This is my porno name.

Winston = first pet
Teracina = street I grew up on

Subscribing to this thread (and others like this) as I am also a U.S. citizen who will likely be moving full-time to Romania in 2023 or 2024 as my wife is a Romanian citizen & U.S. green-card holder. Having lived as a digital nomad the last few years, I found that maintaining a U.S. bank account was the most difficult part. I've resorted to using a family member's address and a private mailbox as the mailing address; as other users have mentioned, your bank/brokerage will threaten to close your account if you try to use a commercial address as your residential address. The State Department Federal credit union will allow for foreign addresses. https://www.sdfcu.org/ My biggest concerns with moving our family to Europe full time are unde...

Great insights! Can there also be a loss of the foreign tax credit on the bond side too if buying BNDW (Total World Bond) instead of the constituent BND (Total Bond Market) and BNDX (Total International Bond)? I think not as BNDW is a fund of funds. Why is BNDW a fund of funds and VT isn't? Is there a reason? I have no idea why, just that it's clear and evident on the Vanguard investor page. BNDW's only two holdings are BND and BNDX: https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/profile/portfolio/bndw My limited understanding is that because this is a fund of funds, you can claim foreign tax credit even if the BNDX portion, regardless of it's weight in the fund. VT is the NOT a combination of VTI + VXUS, so in order to claim the foreign tax credit, th...

byline0802 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 12:31 am Great insights! Can there also be a loss of the foreign tax credit on the bond side too if buying BNDW (Total World Bond) instead of the constituent BND (Total Bond Market) and BNDX (Total International Bond)?

I think not as BNDW is a fund of funds.

MattB wrote: ↑Sat Dec 25, 2021 11:58 pm

muffins14 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 25, 2021 10:39 pm My real argument is to use EDV not VGLT . It seems like your horizon is longer than 20 years

You're right, of course.

You should pick the a bond fund that matches your horizon. I'm 37 with a 29 year old spouse. If I want to retire at 60, draw SS at 70 and assume we both live to 100, our target duration is something like 44 years. Any bonds we buy right not should be as long in duration as possible, which for us means maxing out ibonds and then EDV.

I think a bigger choice is nominal vs. TIPS. There are some great threads on this topic but we have settled on nominal bonds until our Fixed Income allocation exceeds 30% at which point we will begin to add TIPS.

I took the bait and signed up in 2020 I believe and was told the product would be ready in the Spring….of 2021.

I regret even putting my name on the waiting list and giving these charlatans an accurate name and email address.

This took me over 4 hours to fix by the time I reinstalled quicken, reestablished my schwab accounts and then cleared out the duplicate transactions that redos loaded but thankfully didn’t post yet due to my register settings. I really feel for the people that automatically set their registers to update and don’t do frequent backups. What a mess