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spencer99

can anyone recommend a fee only financial adviser in the Philadelphia area? or a good website where i could search for one? many thanks Take a look at this service offered by a blogger and BH member: https://adviceonlyfinancial.com/?utm_source=thefinancebuff.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=men...

spencer99

I read Bill Bryson's fascinating book "At Home" last year in which he writes about the history and use of each area in a family home. I recall him mentioning the high percentage of home injuries (not to just the elderly) that take place on stairs. I recall him writing that this is under reported (un...

spencer99

My circumstances were different from yours in that when I asked the question I was post FRA. (My ex was not yet 62) I called SS to ask about my ex's PIA. I was told that information could not be provided on the phone and that I should schedule an appointment at my local SS office. I did so and the S...

spencer99

Muddlehead, I first enrolled in Medicare in early 2017 and was not enrolled in Social Security at the time. I arranged to pay the Medicare premium through a monthly debit to my checking account (can't recall the process but info is readily available from SS). * See note below I applied for a spousal...

spencer99

OK, my comment is more to highlight a question I think you asked that has not been answered. Can you roll your first-year (2019) RMD (all or part) forward into the next year (2020)? - yes. Can you roll your 2019 QCD into 2020 as part of the 2019 RMD distribution taken in 2020? - I think not. I belie...

spencer99

Couple thoughts, As others have mentioned, take this a little slow. Get educated about your options (and you're in the right place to do so). Good advice by others to not deal with the salesman other than to transfer the funds. Do not be reticent about being explicit that your wishes are to limit ac...

spencer99

A well known blogger, The Finance Buff, has a service through which he recommends a suitable fee-only adviser for a reasonable fee. Google: The Finance Buff.

spencer99

The following describes only my own behavior. I've been a fairly safe driver and probably a little lucky as well. In 50+ years of driving I've never had even a fender-bender with one exception – the other driver was intoxicated and rear ended my vehicle. But, I sometimes drive too fast, I occasional...

spencer99

My mom added me as a beneficiary to all her retirement accounts, but my step-dad is also listed as a beneficiary. That doesn't seem right to me. The way she explained it to me was that I would inherit her retirement accounts, and my step-dad's kids would inherit his retirement accounts. I'm making ...

spencer99

I wanted to share a short article linked at the 'Abnormal Returns' website. The article, Active Management is Reliant on the 'Inside View,' written by Joe Wiggins references Kahneman and Tversky. It contrasts the 'inside view' and 'outside view' as we evaluate investment approaches. For me, it was a...

spencer99

> I filed for (restricted) divorced spousal benefit this year. > I am post-FRA. > I filed three months in advance of my ex's 62nd birthday in June, 2019. I was explicit that I was filing effective June, 2019. > I was granted the spousal benefit effective in July, 2019 and received my first month's ...

spencer99

Your SS benefit starts in January (the month you were born). However, your first check is paid in February since you are paid one month in arrears. There is a comment section on the form that you can explain in plain English what your intent is. The only time that you must be of a claimant age for ...

spencer99

I assume that she should: 1) sign up for Medicare Part A 2) not sign up for Medicare Part B (because she already has health insurance from work?) 3) delay taking her own SSN benefits now until age 70. I am not sure how to perform this calculation. 1) Be careful here if your mother is funding a HSA ...

spencer99

We have too much money in our bank's checking accounts that pay little or no interest. We are thinking of minimizing the amounts in these accounts and instead using Vanguard MM Prime to hold cash that we do not need on a day-to-day basis since MM Prime pays 2% or more. The only problem we foresee i...

spencer99

Barb, I filed a similar application this spring. Timeline of my experience (so far) below. Restricted spousal application filed online on March 12, 2019. (NOTE: application is based on my ex-spouse's record. She is age 62 in June, 2019. I am not clear on whether that makes me eligible for a benefit ...

spencer99

I don't have information specific to replacement of a water heater but, A family member recently wanted to upgrade flooring prior to a condo sale. The Home Depot bid was expensive and unclear (seemingly containing a number of "uncertain" costs that could add significantly to final cost). These ambig...

spencer99

I was just thinking about this the other day and found a helpful information page on the Vanguard website:

https://investor.vanguard.com/beneficia ... retirement

S

spencer99

Traditional IRA contributions are not always deductible. If you and/or your spouse are covered by an employer plan, there are income limits in place that may disallow the Traditional IRA deduction. For 2019, a taxpayer (filing single) with MAGI > 74K who is covered by an employer plan cannot take a...

spencer99

Another consideration I've seen discussed on the forum is that late-life high medical costs offers the opportunity to pair taxable tIRA withdrawals with substantial deductions resulting in little or no tax obligation. My own situation presents a possible, if perhaps less certain, argument for retain...

spencer99

Thanks for everyone's help/advice and special thanks to Mike. His book and contribution to this forum is largely responsible for any understanding I have of an important part of my retirement plan.

Happy St. Paddys all.

S

spencer99

The statement below, from the Vanguard website, caught my eye as I think it varies from information I've gathered from Bogleheads and Mike Piper's book. "If you're going to collect on your ex's record—unlike collecting on your own record—there's no advantage to waiting past your ex's full retirement...

spencer99

I think maxing the Roth 457 would be the first thing to do. The interest gain withdrawals will be tax free where as the interest gain withdrawals from the WRS will not be. ^ This. I'm also a WRS member and would not contribute post-tax to a pension where earnings are then taxed when I could contrib...

spencer99

The article linked below by Matthew Yglesias offered the best explanation I've read. From the article: "And the big story here is that as a result of the new tax law, the Treasury Department tweaked things so that on average taxpayers’ withholdings fell by more than their actual taxes owed." (Acknow...

spencer99

spencer99: You can make it very simple like I do: Simply exchange into a worry-free money market fund for 30 days, and then exchange back into your desired fund. The advantages: * If the 30-day interim fund goes up in value, the gain is taxed at income tax rates. Money Market funds do not have taxa...

spencer99

livesoft wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:47 pm
One can always learn to worry about things in the future if they want to. In the meantime, I wouldn't worry.

Got it. Thanks. And thank you too for your previous posts on this topic.

S

spencer99

Simplicity is always nice, preventing problems from happening is always better than correcting them when they arise. OTOH, if you are retired and turn off dividend reinvestment wash sales should be pretty easy to avoid. Thanks mhalley, Yes, I could turn off dividend reinvestment but I hadn't planne...

spencer99

The OP's approach is fine if the broker is Vanguard because 1. No commissions on Vanguard funds. 2. Vanguard will do any bookkeeping of wash sales for the investor, so there is nothing to worry about. 3. If you don't look at your account, then you wouldn't even know if you had a wash sale or not. 4...

spencer99

Hi, Thoughts appreciated on this approach to tax loss harvesting: My retirement savings are in tax-advantaged accounts, but I opened a first taxable account early in 2018. (Retired with no future access to tax-advantaged contribution) I thought I'd add a tax loss harvesting objective to my IPS and p...

spencer99

As a general rule, the spouse with the higher benefit should postpone until age 70 while the spouse with the lower benefit should claim at 62. I don’t know if the 8 years difference in your ages would alter the advice. This is a popular calculator on the forum that takes your personal information i...

spencer99

I enjoyed many of the movies others' have mentioned. OK, here are two that relate to finance more tangentially: "It's a Wonderful Life" for it's savings and loan sub topic. (Hey, it's coming up on holiday season!) "Tulip Fever" has a peripheral, but interesting, story line relating to the Dutch tuli...

spencer99

When it works well (mine is so far) it is pretty nice. Sometimes I feel I'm living in lala land. Others' very real concerns about sustainable withdrawal rates, longevity risk, market volatility, etc. are things that just do not impact me. It helps to be a beneficiary of one of the more responsibly r...

spencer99

My advice, as a fellow WM patient, is to live your life the same as if you did not have it. For me, this disease has been little more than a nuisance - constant monitoring with occasional treatment here and there. The worst part of the disease so far was the fear it caused in the first year after d...

spencer99

You have a 457b. So, I assume you are a public sector employee. That poses two questions: 1) Are you covered by a defined benefit pension? 2) Are you covered by Social Security? These factors may, but do not necessarily, affect your desired asset allocation. ... and Is your federal tax rate 35% afte...

spencer99

CurlyDave wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:37 pm

CAGR of stocks has been ~10% for about a century. This beats the 8% guaranteed increase of SS benefits.

Dave,

It sounds like you may not agree but do you see how many would not consider an extremely risky/volatile investment as an alternative to almost perfectly secure, COLAed income?

S

spencer99

Not sure the OP has provided enough background. > How realistic is a return to work? > Spouse's age? > How long spouse may continue to work? > Each spouse's projected PIA? It is possible that their relative ages, earnings, etc may result in OP's claim at 62 with spouse's future delay being reasonabl...

spencer99

Lots of good thoughts in this thread.

The advice that resonates most strongly for me is Taylor Larimore's choice: (I'm paraphrasing) To lock in a liability-matching income stream and then gift much of the remainder while you are alive and recipients are very likely to need/appreciate the help.

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spencer99

Here's a thought - work out what your 2 year cash bucket is as a percentage of your portfolio, maintain that percentage by spending it down if necessary or rebalancing. Thanks Jo, that is the answer I was missing. There's something I'm not understanding here. It doesn't strike me that the "X years ...

spencer99

Ace1, thanks. So my spouse would be deemed to be filing for all benefits, but could not actually receive any (reduced) spousal benefits until I file for my earned benefits? That would be a bad situation! I looked into a Social Security planner from Financial Engines and they advocated this strategy...

spencer99

The last change I made, several years ago, was to move about 75% of fixed income to TIAA Traditional (liquid, guaranteed 3%). My objective was to maintain reasonably competitive earnings while protecting against loss of NAV. Any change I make in the future will be a trade-off/balancing between the f...

spencer99

Good westerns are rare now days, but I watched a good one this week. "Hostiles" is not a classically traditional western - more morally ambiguous than typical of the genre. But certainly set in that place/time, wonderfully acted, beautifully filmed, with exciting action scenes,. The film is structur...

spencer99

I forgot to add a tidbit. I do have a pension, so I will be getting taxed on that, too. I will be taxed on my pension as well as my 457 when I retire. This makes me want to add a Roth for both myself and my wife so we have some income that is not taxed at retirement. Does this seem logical or am I ...

spencer99

OP,

It is your father who should read Condon's "Beyond the Grave." The author's experience and judgement is enlightening, especially with respect to the impact of poor estate planning on families' future relationships. Your father's real legacy is the well-being of his family, not money.

S

spencer99

Jackson12, I've had some of the same questions although more related to the combination of RMD and delayed SS claim positioning me very close to first tier IRMAA jeopardy. Nevertheless, based on reasoning others in this thread highlight I've decided to delay. I waiver occasionally because I'm single...

spencer99

Your spouse's claim will have no impact on your benefit or your ability to delay until age 70. A question. Have you considered your option to file a restricted spousal claim after your wife files allowing you to earn one half of your spouse's PIA from that time until age 70 and how those earnings ma...

spencer99

The only difference that I know of is that I had a relatively recent (opened 2013) store credit card with a low limit of $2000 which I never used & it got closed this month. The store went into bankruptcy and is closing all outlets. My account was closed "at credit grantor request" for this reason....

spencer99

Personal Shopper A highly focused personal shopper cruises around Paris on her motorcycle taking care of the shopping needs of her wealthy celebrity employer. She is constantly texting and spending more time with her phone than with any human being. The personal shopper, Maureen(played by Kristen S...

spencer99

Personal Shopper A highly focused personal shopper cruises around Paris on her motorcycle taking care of the shopping needs of her wealthy celebrity employer. She is constantly texting and spending more time with her phone than with any human being. The personal shopper, Maureen(played by Kristen S...

spencer99

My local store recently offered a Guinness "200 Years of Stout in America" sampler. Four good stouts, two of which were outstanding - as good a stout as I've ever enjoyed. 1) First is Guinness Original, the only type I can usually find (other than the Guinness nitro-type stouts which I do not like)....

spencer99

Hi alamander, I had the something of the same question when I received my recent SS statement. My FRA is 66, I'm currently almost 67, and I am delaying. My statement also shows an estimate at age 66 . Current statement shows a benefit greater than last year's age 66 PIA. That benefit is a little mor...

spencer99

I used the outline below when asked to speak to a young relative. I kept things very general but volunteered to send background/reference material should he want more detail. 1. Live below your means 2. No debt except a mortgage 3. Emergency fund 4. Save for the near-term – wants (be your own bank) ...

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