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bberris

To clear up any possible confusion, the tax torpedo applies to other income (earned, investment, roth conversion ...) not to social security income. So you should test roth conversions using tax software to see if it really makes sense to do it. This needs to be emphasized since the torpedo leads so...

bberris

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑
Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:38 pm
What does your divorce decree say about Social Security benefits?

Irrelevant, since you can't assign or transfer your benefits.
It seems that there must be some way to get this information from SS, though I can see why SSA would want you to appear in person with documents (marriage and divorce).

bberris

OP, The biggest reason to file a patent when you reach a certain technical level is to be able to tell the world what you know and what you are capable of. Patents are public information. For many technical folks, unless you worked with them directly, they could not disclose what they did and what ...

bberris

I hold LT treasuries in my portfolio because they are very negatively correlated with equities. https://ep60qmdjq8-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-09-at-10.20.43-AM.png https://thereformedbroker.com/2014/12/09/long-bonds-still-uncorrelated-after-all-these-year...

bberris

Vanguard is not a public service. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is different from any other mutual fund sponsor because it is non-profit. That does not mean the same as "sold at cost". Profit is still the motive. I am not getting romantically involved with a business.

bberris

My kitchen cold water bypasses the water softener. The white deposits are mainly calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. If this water has passed through a working salt-based water softener, the deposits are likely to be sodium bicarbonate or carbonate. Nothing to worry about. If you have trouble...

bberris

I'm sure you can sell a low-mileage toyota on craigslist or some similar. Just ignore any non local offers or sight-unseen bids. To minimize the risk, have your test drive at a police station. Some places are organized for this. You probably run a greater risk of being carjacked at a stop light than...

bberris

Someone in metro Atlanta recently lost $35,000 to one of these scams. https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/darn-believable-cobb-woman-lost-35k-during-hour-call-with-scammers/66ZhrkQrC16Iyv9IIalB1J/ I still do not believe people can honestly think that the government would accept gift cards, iTunes c...

bberris

There's no point in waiting for dividend x-dates. The price drops when the stock goes ex-dividend. Just sell the individual stocks, preferably not right at opening and closing when sometimes weird pricing happens. And there is also no point in waiting for this big runup to reverse. You are invested ...

bberris

But this was block-chain marble. With marijuana.

bberris

No brainer to keep the pension. You are looking at sub optimally.

The right way: what annuity can you buy for 22,000? I don't know, but here's what you get for 30,000 at age 40 for a non-indexed annuity starting at 65: $4,188 per year.

bberris

The trouble with a stop-loss order is that it does not stop the loss. It just enters a market order as the stock is crashing. Where your order gets filled no one knows.

bberris

michaelsieg wrote: ↑
Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:30 pm
The beauty of doing this is that on the upside you can gain 1000%, but on the down side you can only loose 100% - so the odds are clearly in your favor....

Yes, some people actually believe this joke. If I draw to an inside straight, I either get my card or I don't. 50-50 odds.

bberris

You may not want to do conversions even up to the cliff. Every dollar converted is taxed by the fed, state, and 9.8 % for loss of subsidy. For us, 28 % total. That was not a whole lot less than we saved in taxes putting money in. I used excel1040 to try with and without conversion.

bberris

"Need" is a much more nebulous concept with huge variations in cost for vision correction and dentistry.

bberris

I understand now. So you are "wresting control back" by hurrying to collect and spend some money as early as possible at the expense of future benefits, before the across-the-board cuts kick in (at which point your benefits will be cut the same as others'). Okay. We can agree to disagree if that is...

bberris

I'm not sure about avoiding state income tax. You would have to establish residence in a no tax state first and then sever all ties with the state you left. Some states are very aggressive in collecting from non residents.

bberris

It doesn't matter to you, but the insurance company is probably getting kickbacks from the hospital, so they may not be paying that much. They set rates that way so that the patient gets socked as much as possible.

bberris

If both spouses are already over 55 can the catch up contributions go into the same shared account? Nope, to use catch up for both, you have to have two accounts. A minor nuisance. We keep one at minimal balance by using it for expenses, and have let the other do the major accumulation. Interesting...

bberris

I will be attempting to get the $75 fee waived on the 2nd card, saying we don't need the 2nd priority pass. I want the 4.25% equivalent value on dining/travel points redeemed for travel. My Uber card is going bye bye. My wife has the CSR and we decided to simply forego having a second card. I can s...

bberris

You might want to own bonds to lower the risk of a portfolio. High yield stocks don't do that. If you don't want to own bonds, you need to have a higher risk tolerance.

bberris

HI all, I'm helping out a friend on a annuity buyout offer. I'd appreciate any comments on my thinking. In 2007 he put $105,000 into a variable annuity with a guaranteed minimum income benefit (GMIB). It was with ING and is now with Voya. Contract value is now $137,000. He's 51. If he were to exerc...

bberris

... Correction: the Sapphire card gives 3 points per dollar on Travel. When redeemed at 1.5 cents per point on the Chase travel portal, the value of 3 points becomes 4.5% of the original spending. 1.5 cents per point? I only get 1.25 cents from Chase Sapphire Preferred ultimate rewards. Is there a ...

bberris

I have a Chase Mileage Plus card, a Chase Mileage Plus Business card, and a Sapphire card, all of which I use strategically to get the maximum points on United. For instance: the Sapphire card gives 4 points per dollar on Travel, and my gym is attached to a hotel, and the annual charge comes throug...

bberris

OP. In what way does this matter to you? Are you in on the deal and trading on margin? Trading on margin is not for most of us here. OPM for sure, but there is no guarantee you you won’t lose it. Then where are you? Paying it back. Leverage is what got us into 2009 dire straits. If Robinhood went u...

bberris

Which one is better? in Youtube, it looks like dividend investing is all in the rage. I know that every dividend payout results in lowering stock price of equal amount. How are people bragging about getting a force selling event every month on their shares in the form of dividend? Enlighten me :? W...

bberris

Sounds like a good plan. You might also consider a simple decreasing benefit life, if such a thing exists. What you want to avoid is having a very long term level-premium life that you later think you don't need or that you may cancel. These contracts make you pay extra in the early years while gett...

bberris

I think you have it right. I quit my job and claimed $X of income this year and they wanted me to prove it for the ACA subsidy. Well, how do you prove how much you won't make????? I think if you had lower income in the prior year (qualifying) you get the subsidy upfront and if you don't, get it on ...

bberris

This aptly named web article ignores:

Inflation indexing of SS
Risk free annuity of SS
Sequence of returns risk

So to paraphrase the article, if you remove all of the benefits of delaying social security, and the risks of investing, it is better to claim early.

bberris

The only reason to worry about cryptos is if you happen to own any.

bberris

Looks like spouse and I will exceed the ACA MAGI limit next year (2020). So, no more subsidy for us I visited Healthcare.Gov The cheapest bronze policy is over $2,000 per month with lots of co-pays and out of pockets should I actually need healthcare. Not exactly encouraging. I could see a policy l...

bberris

I stopped doing this after a salesperson told me that this is his livelihood and you had no intention of buying so I was being selfish and abusing the system.He was right but the timeshare companies do the same.I did that same deal in Princeville but was not offered the second trip with the points....

bberris

Bonuses are ordinary income and subject to income and payroll taxes just like other wages. The percentages you quoted are just withholding rates. Withholding rates are higher on bonuses because salary is subject to the standard deduction and lower marginal rates. You settle the difference with your ...

bberris

Two possibilities: You may have checked the All-or-None box. This would prevent a partial fill, and also puts your order at the end of the queue. In these days of 0 commissions, there's no reason to specify AON. The broker may have routed the order to a market where the price did not cross your limi...

bberris

Nate79 wrote: ↑
Fri Oct 18, 2019 7:20 am
You don't even know if the sellers were even aware they were selling a stolen car.

They would still have to give the buyer his purchase money back. Not sure about all the other expenses.

bberris

After the year has closed and all claims have been paid, I download the summary from the insurance co which shows the out of pocket expense for each claim. We have a high deductible plan and there is no problem generating enough expenses to deplete the HSA. I have made large claims from my HSA based...

bberris

Just a side bar for electric cars. People in California are having problems with their cars because the electricity had to be shut off because of the fires going on there. This is a problem that I didn't think of with them. This is a consideration for those who drive electric. birdy That's why you ...

bberris

.... This method has meant I haven't needed to sell any investment, which would mean capital gains, which would increase my taxable income, which would mean I would lose my ACA tax credit. I have enough investments that I can sell with no capital gains that I can do the same thing next year. Probab...

bberris

Don't take it. They are not going to make an offer that is advantageous to you. Unless of course you know something that they don't (your date of death). All of these net present value calculations are difficult and not very useful because they require assumptions about future interest rates and you...

bberris

barnaclebob wrote: ↑
Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:34 am
Some hotels have systems that automatically detect when you move something and charge you for it. I had a lot of charges that had to be removed just from picking stuff up to look at it.

So that means you can't drink a $10 beer and replace it with a 1$ one that you got at the store?

bberris

The professional court-appointed guardians are a shady bunch. A few have gone to jail for abuse of the elderly. Judges were apparently complicit in getting these aholes appointed. As POA, all expenses should be documented. I think paying yourself for time crosses the line. What will the other benefi...

bberris

There's near universal hate for whole life here, understandably. At the same time, BH loves level-term (as opposed to increasing premium term or decreasing benefit term). Ironically, level-term has a whole-life aspect to it. You pay an extra premium when you are young and get a bargain when you are ...

bberris

matthewmon wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:58 am
Just so you know you could have clicked on the AON (all or none) box and you wouldn't get partial fills.

That puts your order at the bottom of the queue. So I wouldn't have filled any.

bberris

Sorry, I meant the CL poster.

bberris

I avoided using limit orders under commission regimes because the market maker would abuse the order with microfills. For example, order for 1000 shares, and I get a partial fill for 3. The $7 commission was nothing with a $25,000 buy, but really oppressive on a $75 buy. Just to teach me a lesson ab...

bberris

Obviously the poster has never been to NYC. CL does not monitor ads, except maybe by some AI. These are obvious scams. There may be some legitimate vacation rentals on craigslist, but anyone posting there must know that they will be suspect. So CL is not a good place to find a vacation rental.

bberris

Metered softeners also regenerate overnight, but you can set the regeneration time for your schedule. After the meter runs down to 0, it regenerates next night. During the regeneration cycle, the softener is bypassed so hard water is delivered. Not so bad, but if you use hot water during the regen, ...

bberris

How do I find CPG hardness? I tried researching my city’s water reports, but can’t find anything regarding. I live in South Texas so my water is very hard. As for the purpose: I’m looking to preserve my appliances without the space requirement of a salt system. We just got a tankless water heater a...

bberris

For those retirees who may want to see doctors a few times (3~5 times) for not serious problems, when you switch from ACA to Medicare, have your total medical expenses (insurance premium plus out-of-pocket money actually paid) increased or decreased? Based on my understanding, ACA premium could be ...

bberris

I keep my health insurance card in my wallet. Is there any legal way add a note with it to say that I must be treated by an in-network hospital/provider? And if no in-network provider is around and it's a life threatening event, that they will bill at the in-network rate? Sure you can add a note, b...

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