Bogleheads.org

Inherited assets have a basis reset for the date the former owner died, (called step-up or step-down) so your tax loss could be different or you may have a gain. Look up the value on that day to find the answer.

Edit to clarify: The cost basis shown by your broker may not reflect the step-up or down.

Yes, it can take 20 months or more for a refund. Still waiting on 2020 refund.

Even buying a conventional bond risks lower interest rates on the periodic interest payments. What OP wants is a zero-coupon bond. I don't follow. When you buy bonds directly, your coupon payments are fixed (hence "fixed income"). The relative size of coupon payments against the principal could vary, but you will be made whole when you hold till maturity. Being made whole was not OP's goal, at least that's how I read it. OP wants to "lock" the interest rate. So if interest rates have fallen from the time you buy a T bond, you would be reinvesting the coupon payments at a lower rate. To maintain today's interest rate on the entire investment and it's return, the best vehicle is a zero coupon bond, where the payments were...

Marseille07 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:07 am Bond funds don't lock in rates, as the fund manager keeps shuffling bonds.

If locking in is your goal, you need to buy bonds directly.

Even buying a conventional bond risks lower interest rates on the periodic interest payments. What OP wants is a zero-coupon bond.

Two things:

How about 4 week tbills or something similar
FDIC is implicitly (explicitly?) guaranteeing all bank deposits without limit, possibly temporarily. Select a bank that is TBTF, such as BofA, or Chase.

Thailand and Malaysia are great. Lots of locations where you can snorkel from shore, and no shortage of tours. Puerto Morelos outside of Cancun actually has some of the healthiest coral I've seen in many many years, I think its actually a national park reef if I recall. You have to do a tour, they require you have special reef safe lotion - was $25 a handful of years back. The area has kinda blown up a bit since I was last there but if they've maintained protections it should still be great. You can also just snorkel off the beach at PM. There's great fish variety there, we saw huge eagle rays and a lion fish, which is an invasive species. The coral is better on the boat tour. Also don't miss the "ojo de agua", a cenote pouring f...

K72 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:52 pm If you are even just slightly techie, I've found the Linux dd command works well, for either a byte-byte clone or binary image. All you need to do is boot from a Linux live USB flash drive and run the command.

Clonezilla is a live usb drive that works well, with lots of options for backup and restore windows system drives and others. No need to be a tech expert. You will need to boot the flash drive, but I think with a system drive it's better to do that anyway, even with a windows based backup like macrium reflect.

Does anyone know if you need to answer the question about what's your annual salary during the presentation? My wife and I don't discuss our salaries in front of the kid since we don't feel it's appropriate for them to learn that right now while they don't fully appreciate the value of money. We are debating whether to bring the kid (9 year old) you the presentation or let them check in to childcare during the presentation. The presentation we plan to attend in Mexico during our stay has a requirement for minimum annual salary of $60K, which we qualify. We were wondering if we can just leave the response as "our annual income is and the qualification limit" or will they push for more specific salary ranges. You don't have to say ...

nisiprius wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 7:22 am ...
]My question is: is it true that banks don't mark their bonds to market if they plan to hold them to maturity?

If this is acceptable accounting for a bank, why wouldn't it be acceptable for an individual?

1st: I don't know.
2nd: What is acceptable for a bank is important because they are regulated. As for an individual, the question might come up when you present a balance sheet applying for a loan. But for your own information, it just seems a bit of mental accounting. Some people want to ignore market losses because it is ego damaging to admit a mistake.

[Thread merged into here --admin LadyGeek] Last month I added a brokered CD from Silicon Valley Bank ($10,000) to my laddered CD's. The last couple of days there has been alarming news regarding what they were doing with their bonds and the individual stock has plummeted. My question is could their current financial problems result in problems from my FDIC insured CD? I'm thinking not but starting to wonder. Thanks for any feedback. The insurance covers your principal and interest up to the default date. But you could have a loss if you sell the CD before that happens. In most cases the FDIC assists in the takeover of the failed bank by a stronger bank and there would be no effect on a CD holder. Assuming you don't sell on the secondary ma...

Do you really need an appraisal for this purpose? I don't know, but a real estate agent would do a competitive market analysis for free.

In addition to losing the commission on loans, dealers hate cash deals because financing makes it easier to slip on the extras: the service agreements, extended warranties, coatings that have huge margins for the dealer. Keep the financing separate from the negotiating.

The airline experience is largely going to be the same. People may have subjective nitpicks in the premium class of service, but in economy its all the same ~31” of seating and school lunch food. Some consideration you would want to focus on: * have a connection in Europe (vs in US) so you dont have to re-check luggage on the way home * give yourself ample connection time (say 2hr) to reduce the chance of a misconnect (even if you are “protected”) * EU carriers are more stringent on carry-on luggage and there is a non-zero chance yours will be scrutinized for size and weight The problem with a Europe connection is that you have to clear emigration in the connecting airport. Lines can be long (CDG especially) and changing terminals there ca...

Get a transcript of your account first. Then try calling. Do you have any paper from your in person visit?

Ricola wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 11:32 am I am running a WD 2T back drive but am concerned that a Ransomware attack would also lock out the backup drive, is that true?

Macrium Reflect paid version claims to be Ransomware resistant.

tibbitts wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 11:36 am

Yooper wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:34 am I used Macrium Reflect (free version) as my backup solution for a years.

Just thought I'd mention I believe the free version is being discontinued...?

Support and updates will be discontinued but the product will continue to work.

The money that you would spend on rent comes out of taxable income. The money that you saved by not paying rent is tax free income.

The funny thing about these threads is some posters' need to have their decision affirmed. The proselytizing approaches religious fervor. It doesn't matter what someone else decides, there is no effect on you.

Don't file an amended until your return has been processed and the refund paid. Otherwise the process will be delayed for years. I'm not exaggerating; I'm waiting on a 2020 refund.

This was a mistake, not fraud. Just wait for IRS to send a bill.

Get a live person at IRS:

viewtopic.php?t=395920

You can take comfort in the fact that Medicare dictates pricing. When the trust fund is gone, Medicare can cut payments to hospitals by 10 %. There are lots of other possibilities.
Medicare will still be there.

thedaybeforetoday wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 6:12 am

flyingaway wrote: ↑Sat Dec 10, 2022 9:35 pm Those who delayed and intended to take social security at 70, but did not make it to 70, could not comment here.

I think there is a point in the humor.
Those who wait may not collect at all.
Speaks to an individual's health and genetics as factors in the decision to wait or not.

And? By delaying, they still were able to spend more while they were alive than someone who took SS at 62. If you know when you are going to die, you can plan perfectly. If you die with money in the bank, you could also say that was a big loss. The premise of delaying is that you are not interested in how much you bequeath.

placeholder wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:20 pm

rockstar wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 4:44 pm Still think health matters here. The average life expectancy is 77 meaning some will die before 77 and some will die after. If you wait to 70, you might not make it.

To do an accurate analysis you want the life expectancy for your age so this calculator takes your current age and provides expectancy from current and full retirement and age 70:

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/population/longevity.html

That is accurate for a large population. Not very predictive for a sample of one. All of these life expectancy exercises are not relevant to an individual decision. They are very useful to SS administrators and insurance companies.

The service is suspended now but expected to be rolled out later. This was a trial period.

niagara_guy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 8:06 am I bought a cheap 64gb micro sd on ebay a number of years ago, tried to load it with data and it failed, evidently it was a 4gb sd formatted to look like a 64gb. I got my money back but ebay did not shut this down. So, I won't buy anything like that again from ebay.

This scam is still going on at all the marketplaces. Amazon in particular knows and still allows it. If you see a 1Tb thumb drive for 15$ it's fake . You can find dozens of them at Amazon, some with good reviews.

The only real wash sale risk is that you take a loss in the taxable and wash it in an ira, and possibly a 401k (this seems to be controversial). You don't get the tax benefit of the loss in that situation. Just make sure you don't buy the same funds that you took a loss on in the taxable. Selling an individual stock or bond and buying a fund is never a wash sale.

If you have a wash sale in taxable, don't worry about it, you add the loss to your basis.

So I agree with selling everything, but don't wait to reposition yourself.

I’ve read that the sales tax is quite steep. Not sure if that matters much if the cost of goods and services is considerably less than here in the U.S. There is no sales tax in Portugal. There is VAT. If I remember right, it tends to confuse people used to a sales tax, because the rate is high (something like 20%?), but unlike a sales tax that applies to the full sales value, it only applies to the marginal cost of a transaction. So if a store buys a gadget at wholesale for $10, and sells it retail for $20, the value added tax is applied to the $10 difference, and the tax is $2. Meanwhile, a sales tax of 10% applied to the same $20 retail sale also results in a tax of $2. I apologize if I got any of that wrong. Regardless of the mechanisms...

retire14 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:54 pm I am on Medicare and have been self insured for dental as the plan I had was not cost effective since I need only a couple of cleanings a year. Now my dentist is recommending some periodontics work, it will cost a lot more.

Is there a plan I can join now that would be cost effective? I do realize that any new plan will require you to wait 3-6 months before they cover any dental work.

Thank you.

Make sure they will cover a pre-existing condition. I doubt it.

Jack FFR1846 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:04 pm Scam..

I 619 these clowns. I take the call and play along. I get confused and ask them to repeat things and repeat back completely wrong. My goal.....since time costs them money, I want to cost them lots of money. I can tell when they've figured it out because they start swearing at me in either English or Hindi. I respond in whatever language they use.

How do you spell "eye are ace"?

placeholder wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 7:45 pm

bberris wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:01 am You're lucky. This plan lost 3 %:

viewtopic.php?t=261726
There have been lots of discussions about stable value funds becoming unstable.

I'm not sure how one thread from four years ago is lots of discussion.

There were 4 or 5. whatever.

I'm not an expert, but just using common sense it seems that you need a round trip in currencies to have a cap gain. If I buy euros in the US cheap, and then spend them when the exchange rate makes them more valuable in USD, I just don't see any capital gain there.

jebmke wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 4:38 pm

suemarkp wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 1:33 pm I think this is why some say the trust fund doesn't exist and is full of IOUs. I think that is better than putting the cash in a vault and just letting it sit. They are getting some yield on it, but that yield still comes from us just like when we buy a Treasury bond and receive interest on it.

like private pensions do

I think the trust fund exists. It is just not necessary. Social security benefits are an obligation of the US govt. T bonds are too. So why substitute one obligation for another?

student wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:21 am

Wiggums wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:11 am Another key point to remember is that these funds are stable in nature, but not guaranteed.

Stable Value is "guaranteed" by insurance wrappers. Of course, if the insurance company goes bankrupt, then the guarantee is meaningless.

Insurance bankruptcy is extremely unlikely. That is not what investors should be concerned about. When the buck is broken, it is very likely due to guarantee exclusions in the insurance contract. These events are usually associated with a change in the sponsor, or a decision by the sponsor that would cause a mass liquidation.

Is this what you are saying?
You earned US$. You exchange them for GBP. What capital gain could you possibly have?

If I visit the UK and exchange dollars for pounds, I don't have any gain.
You might have income taxes from earnings in the US, either to the US or UK or both. I'm sure there is an agreement about that, and I should think you won't be double taxed.

You're lucky. This plan lost 3 %:

viewtopic.php?t=261726
There have been lots of discussions about stable value funds becoming unstable.

These products never have a management fee. The sponsor owns underlying securities to ensure they always make money. The underlyings are generally bonds and options. Rather than a management fee, they have a spread, the difference between the sponsor's underlying securities and what they pay you. I haven't looked into this one, but the spread is usually about 3 %, on top of the commissions.

I posted this in the Reddit forum but thought it may get more views/help here. I owe 192k on a 3.125% fixed rate mortgage with 28 years left on it. I have 192k in cash that I’ve considered paying off the mortgage with but with rates so high I’d rather put it in an investment earning a higher rate than the mortgage. My monthly free cash flow is rather tight so I’m not going to invest in anything with risk. (I have risk in my IRA’s) I’ve been looking at these option…Schwab’s money market fund SWVXX, SGOV ETF, 1 year Cd earning 4.85% and also considering laddering 3, 6, 9 and 12 month t bills with an average yield of 4.78. As long at rates stay higher than the mortgage I won’t pay it off. If they drop below, I will. Of the above options what ...

visualguy wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:48 pm Google Fi seems to be 20 cents/min for calls while traveling abroad which isn't good...

Using whatsapp is free with wifi, otherwise just data charge. You would only be stuck when calling a business, but even some businesses use whatsapp. And the cost of a regular phone call is much cheaper when on wifi.

The worst is getting spam calls at 20c each.

This is the way.

viewtopic.php?t=395920

I don't think it will be a problem with the title per se, but what about your license plates and tab renewals? Are you sure you'll get the mail?

is it possible that chatGPT(future more refined models, not as of current one ) could come up with ways to accurately pick individual stocks by incorporating immense mathematical knowledge and historical data on stocks in a way that is far more accurate than active investment managers? And then it becomes a historical scenario never seen before where the average investor picking individual stocks via chatgpt yields greater returns over index funds over 30 + years, effectively shifting people away from index funds? If it was so good, everyone would use it. It's free and available to everyone, right? Then how could it get outsized returns? If someone gets outsized returns, there must be a corresponding underperformance. Who would be the lose...

White Coat Investor wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:21 pm Ha ha. If you guys hate the way your insurance company works with the ER, wait until you find out how pharmacies work with insurance, PBMs, and companies like GoodRX. I had pharmacists come after me with torches and pitchforks when I sold an ad on my website to GoodRx. Let's just say independent pharmacists DO NOT like this company even if it helps many patients get cheaper prescriptions.

I told one of my doctors I needed a paper prescription to buy drugs from a Canadian pharmacy. He did, and then asked who I buy it from because he had other patients tell him they couldn't afford the drug he prescribed. I can't imagine the drug company's and pharmacists reaction to that.

mrspock wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:58 pm I find these credit scoring systems a joke once you get to significant net worth (>$3-4m liquid). They only see the liability side of the ledger and have no clue what liquid financial assets you have, which are (along with your payment history) obviously a huge factor in your "ability to pay" a given debt.

The algorithm has proven reliable in its prediction of late payments and defaults. It is continuously modified for changes in creditor experiences. The situation you describe is very rare and won't influence the statistics.

If you don't like a prospective lender's opinion, you can appeal directly to the lender. They don't have to go solely by credit score, but that would require a human to act.

I'm doing some research for an article on how to s= spend more money and wanted to solicit some views from the Bogleheads forum. We spend so much time and effort on developing "safe spend rates" from one's nest egg and live frugally but there is another problem that I personally have and suspect many on the forum do as well. For whatever reason, many of us were programed to live below our means and build up a nest egg. After decades of building up a nest egg, the thought of spending it down is scary and our fugal behavior continues even though we know we can't take this money with us when we pass. Any thoughts on the subject, especially on how to get someone to spend more money, would be very much appreciated. Thank you! Here is ...

makeitcount wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:51 pm I believe these was a recent thread that discussed how annuitizing a portion of one's savings led to reduced money anxiety and increased willingness to spend. Perhaps someone can dig up that thread.

viewtopic.php?t=392765

YNAL. (You need a lawyer.)

I know there have been threads before. This really worked for me. Someone answered within 10 minutes. Get your account transcript first so you know where IRS thinks you stand: Credit for the author: https://amynorthardcpa.com/how-do-i-reach-a-real-person-at-the-irs/ Here are the steps pasted from the site: The IRS telephone number is 1-800-829-1040. The first question the automated system will ask you is to choose your language. Once you’ve set your language, do NOT choose Option 1 (regarding refund info). Choose option 2 for “Personal Income Tax” instead. Next, press 1 for “form, tax history, or payment”. Next, press 3 “for all other questions.” Next, press 2 “for all other questions.” When the system asks you to enter your SSN or EIN to a...

Delete your cookies.

KlangFool wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 2:40 pm

the_wiki wrote: ↑Wed Jan 18, 2023 2:33 pm The only reason you might is if you expect rates to go down.

Not good enough. The person with fixed rate mortgage can refinance whenever the rate goes down too.

KlangFool

Even if your rate went down on the ARM, you'd be tempted to refinance anyway to protect against another interest rate push.

Minnesota does not tax Roth distributions. However, they can reduce or eliminate your property tax refund; they count as income for that purpose.

Withholding from pensions and IRA is required by state law if you don't have a withholding form on file with the trustee:

https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/sites/d ... w-4mnp.pdf

After vanguard receives the form, they should give you the option of zero withholding. TDAmeritrade did.