Bogleheads.org

TomatoTomahto

tundratoy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2023 1:39 pm Thanks for the information, I do have some things to ponder now. I have 90,000 in a taxable account at this time and perhaps it would make sense to use it to pay for the taxes on a Roth Conversion. What a resource we have in this website. I appreciate all of your responses. Take care.

Remember not to convert all of your tIRA (even if that's possible).

I don't know your heirs' marginal tax brackets, and in any case those can change because of tax law changes and/or their incomes/life situation. I have kids ranging from top bracket to much lower, and I decided that trying to over-engineer their inheritances was a mug's game.

TomatoTomahto

I am always suspicious about anything a "financial advisor" recommends. Think, how can the financial advisor profit from this conversion? Perhaps he expects to manage the new Roth money? I believe that the advisor said that a conversion to Roth would remove the Roth money from the estate, thus reducing the estate taxation. I believe that this is incorrect, although the amount of the tax paid on the Roth conversion would clearly be removed from the estate. There are lots of moving parts on any Roth conversion, and I don't think that this advisor is taking everything into account. Ralph I share your suspicions, generally, but this advisor is suggesting a reduction in AUM, which makes me listen a little longer. Roth assets are small...

TomatoTomahto

TravellingTechOnFire wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2023 7:43 am
To suggest that there is not some anti-EV sentiment is a bit naive, or at least completely unaware of how much pushback exists in regards to EV adoption by some.

Heck, there might even be some anti-EV sentiment to be found among BHs.

TomatoTomahto

If it's not an April Fools joke, congratulations!

TomatoTomahto

I've only been watching this thread "out of the corner of my eye," but if she's back at work, then at least she can afford her own attorney.

TomatoTomahto

retired@50 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:13 pm I would only consider a personalized indexing strategy if I held a large chunk of a single stock that had massive embedded long term capital gains.

That’s what dying is for

My kids can enjoy the basis step-up in BRK.

TomatoTomahto

BernardShakey wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:46 am
TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:43 am
BernardShakey wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:40 am As long as one's retirement funding is in really good shape, education for the kids seems like the next best use of the remaining money.
Or, I guess you could hoard it and let it grow and then give it as an inheritance when the kids are about ready to retire and don't need it.
Exactly. Better to spend on an education early in their lives, that will then help them make the most of their human capital and earn well throughout their career.

It's not only money that compounds, education does also.

TomatoTomahto

BernardShakey wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:40 am As long as one's retirement funding is in really good shape, education for the kids seems like the next best use of the remaining money.

Or, I guess you could hoard it and let it grow and then give it as an inheritance when the kids are about ready to retire and don't need it.

TomatoTomahto

I've had pretty good luck with Warby Parker. My biggest beef with glasses is that, at some point in the last 30 years, something has changed about the composition of high-index lenses and they scratch far too easily. Before I tell the rest of my story, let me say that I work in a business where cleaning professional optics that cost $85,000 or more is routine for me. I only clean my glasses once a day, in the morning, under warm, almost-hot water, just using the microfiber cloth they supply to mostly pat dry. There are times where I have to gently wipe away grease. I rinse the microfiber cloth and let it air dry a couple times a month or so. I don't use soap, or launder the microfiber. The glasses are fine for a while, but eventually (4-6 ...

TomatoTomahto

[ And what was once an advantage of "automatic reinvestment" is much less so nowadays: Most of the transaction fees have been eliminated, for both equities and ETFs and even many mutual funds. So manually moving the dividends back into the original holding, on your preferred time schedule, often won't incur any costs. RM A major element of efficiency is time. Many do not want to have to do manual investments because they take time. To the extent that these can be automated- one less thing to do. Maybe it's just me, but there are all sorts of time consuming tasks to perform that are just part of life. We have paychecks coming in, SSA and pension, in addition to dividends. Then we have to figure out what substantial expenses (taxes...

TomatoTomahto

afan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 6:30 am Rather than turn off dividend reinvestment, just use different funds. Letting dividends sit in a money market account until you get around to investing them is inefficient. Having to check frequently to do manual investment of dividends is also inefficient.

I’m sure one of the BHs can figure out just how inefficient it is to have dividends sit in a money market account for, let’s say, 1 week post payout before being reinvested. Now, the money I have in a DDA because I have a large expense coming up next month, that’s inefficient.

TomatoTomahto

OP, it’s just a little bit of extra work to not automatically reinvest dividends, plus it gives me the opportunity to figure out where I want to invest the “next” dollar. I don’t very often sell anything so it’s not a matter of avoiding wash sales as much as it is being intentional with dividends and maintaining a balance between US and international equities.

TomatoTomahto

Onlineid3089 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 1:32 pm
the_wiki wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 12:27 pm I wish more employers had a Roth 401k option. It makes more sense for most people.
I disagree that it is better for most unless they also have a pension or some other retirement income filling their standard deduction and bottom bracket.

My wife and I had no idea that we'd have $millions in our traditional deferred accounts or perhaps we'd have opted to put more into Roth (not available then) when our marginal rates were lower. OTOH, I didn't think we'd want to make extensive use of QCDs, which would be silly with Roth accounts.

Things often have a way of sorting themselves out.

TomatoTomahto

chinchin wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 1:46 pm People thought 60-40 was "safe" until the Fed started jacking up rates and bonds tanked.

People thought Vanguard Target Date funds were great until they unleashed a tax bomb.

Plausible deniability is valuable.

OP, I recommended a Vanguard Target Date fund to a relative who is extremely challenged with financial matters, math, following directions with more than 2 steps, etc. There was no way to explain rebalancing and such to them.

When that tax bomb hit, I was kicking myself, and it was only because of some good (and costly) good deeds that we had done previously that the relative didn't think it was intentional.

No good deed goes unpunished.

TomatoTomahto

Journeyman510 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 11:13 am
stoptothink wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 11:10 am
Journeyman510 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 11:00 am
stoptothink wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 10:52 am
Journeyman510 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 10:39 am

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Some of us find this thread entertaining, and hope it doesn’t get shut down. Take it offline, please.

TomatoTomahto

JoMoney wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 8:28 am.
... one might expect the people who actually hold lots of money in bank(s) wouldn't want that, but that didn't stop Peter Thiel from telling people to get out of SVB, and their are plenty of short-selling profiteers out their, as well as people with a variety of anti-fed anti-bank anti-current system ideas floating around.

Yeah, that might be the last hope for crypto

TomatoTomahto

yes, sorry .I ment Battery only and I am actually going to place it on the deck, next to our back door slider. No door bell currently in place there I have installed 3 ring doorbells (one at my house, 2 at my parents) and know lots of others that have them. Unlike prior posters contractors mention of issues - no one I know ever had an issue. Mine is the original or 2nd gen and still going strong - hoping it dies as the new models have better night vision and detection technology (might replace it anyway). But ALL my experience is with hard wiring so you don't need to manage battery swapping. Maybe someone else will chime in that isn't hard wired if they don't find that to be a hassle. I would consider getting an electrician out to put in t...

TomatoTomahto

The numbers seem outdated.

FWIW, at 50% marginal rate and with employer matching, a 401k is still a no-brainer for us.

TomatoTomahto

I volunteer the information that I would warn them in advance if our annual gifting might be curtailed, whether because of exorbitant expenses, legal changes, or disastrous market performance. I have told them it is unlikely, but my advice was to use the gifts as investment opportunities and not to bolster a lifestyle. I would imagine that the annual gifting in and of itself "tells" them a lot, although certainly not the entire picture. They know I’m conservative financially, so they should know that I’m not gifting them our last nickel. I imagine some people must have gotten themselves in trouble by being overly aggressive in gifting. It would be beyond embarrassing to have to go back to them with an outstretched cup :D I know t...

TomatoTomahto

I see a lot of parents spend large sums of money thinking they will come out ahead with a full ride. My son is in 7th grade and plays competitive lacrosse. We spend maybe 15k a year on club team fees, private coaching, travel, gear, etc. He is pretty good but we have zero expectation that he will get a scholarship or play college lacrosse. We are just supporting his passion. The parents who are in it for the scholarship are frequently irrational and would be better off saving all that money. Ditto. I spent 2yrs working at a world famous athletic training facility that trains professional athletes in pretty much every sport (focusing primarily on NFL and NBA combines), and we would get parents calling every day asking about training their 6...

TomatoTomahto

If it were me, first port of call would be an Estate Attorney; whether or not you have children, you'd want some means to provide for your GF in the event of your death. They can direct you to additional resources. What questions or things would you propose to the estate attorney? What would you be looking to accomplish? Just curious how others think - - would you want to protect assets before marriage for yourself in the event of divorce? - provide some level of security to your future spouse in case something happened to you? - How much would you allocate to her/him in the event of your death? - How would you structure taking care of potential future kids? Obviously these are very personal questions but I often hear people say, oh talk t...

TomatoTomahto

I volunteer the information that I would warn them in advance if our annual gifting might be curtailed, whether because of exorbitant expenses, legal changes, or disastrous market performance. I have told them it is unlikely, but my advice was to use the gifts as investment opportunities and not to bolster a lifestyle. I would imagine that the annual gifting in and of itself "tells" them a lot, although certainly not the entire picture. They know I’m conservative financially, so they should know that I’m not gifting them our last nickel. I imagine some people must have gotten themselves in trouble by being overly aggressive in gifting. It would be beyond embarrassing to have to go back to them with an outstretched cup :D

TomatoTomahto

stoptothink wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 2:56 pm
vbdoug wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 5:18 pm "Sherlock", my favorite Netflix show of all time, is currently available on Prime. It is not available on Netflix.

"Extraordinary Attorney Woo" from South Korea is on Netflix.
It is excellent.

Kudos forever to "The Big Bang". On reruns everywhere.

I am both amused and entertained by shows with mildly autistic characters.
As someone with high-functioning autism, IMO "The Big Bang" is darn near unwatchable. I have no clue what the appeal of that show is. "Sherlock" is fantastic though.

I have watched a few minutes of The Big Bang. No idea why it was so popular, except perhaps for the combination of eye candy and disdain for science. Unwatchable except for a few minutes.

TomatoTomahto

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?

IANYL, but keeping accounts separate is preferable. I’m pretty sure that most brokerages will not let you commingle them anyway.

TomatoTomahto

harikaried wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:25 pm
windaar wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 9:08 pm
harikaried wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:14 amWe've taken both our Teslas with friends on 1500+ mile road trips as it was much preferred over driving ICE.
I’ve heard tortured (and unconvincing) arguments that an EV is “as good” as ICE for a road trip, but preferable? By what stretch? This assertion needs a LOT of explanation.
Maybe the road trips we take are different from yours, but quite literally our friends have asked to drive our Tesla for multiple road trips instead of driving their relatively new ICE vehicle.

I’d better not let my friends know that I have free lifetime charging on my Tesla. I still charge 99% at home, but it’s nice.

TomatoTomahto

For local news (eg, weather and traffic) on the rare occasions that I’m interested, I just use an antenna.

TomatoTomahto

BBC Select is a BBC streaming service available to stream on Amazon Prime Video Channels, the Apple TV app or The Roku Channel. You can try BBC Select for free for 7 days. After the free trial, the subscription price is just $4.99 per month.

TomatoTomahto

livesoft wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:52 pm I tell them anything they want to know. So far, they don't want to know anything.

I volunteer the information that I would warn them in advance if our annual gifting might be curtailed, whether because of exorbitant expenses, legal changes, or disastrous market performance. I have told them it is unlikely, but my advice was to use the gifts as investment opportunities and not to bolster a lifestyle.

Our one child who will handle the investment decisions if we can’t, knows more but we also know more about his finances as we enjoy discussing the topic.

TomatoTomahto

Call_Me_Op wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 8:21 am
TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 8:15 am But, according to the insurance company, there's no way to "under insure" our home in the state of Massachusetts. If it did burn down, we would get a check for the replacement value and can build (or not) whatever we like.
One could certainly under-insure by foregoing insurance altogether (not recommended). I have an elderly uncle in Mass who is doing just that.

True enough, but I would not forego liability insurance under any circumstances. I don't think my insurer would write policies for the cars and umbrella without the house.

TomatoTomahto

I am a Male. 7+ years of relationship (her age is not mentioned) and her net worth is still <100K and dependent on you. So, from a pure practical purpose, why get married and worry about all these ? Do you plan on having kids? That is the ice breaker / deal braker in these type of relationships She wants children. I know that I want kids by 40-42. Regardless, if I do not get married but have kids - what kind of attorney should I speak to? Family Law, Divorce Attorney, Estate Planning attorney, anyone else? So many options - having some guidance would be appreciated. If it were me, first port of call would be an Estate Attorney; whether or not you have children, you'd want some means to provide for your GF in the event of your death. They c...

TomatoTomahto

If you have no plans to rebuild in the event of total loss, and there is substantially more value in the lot (land) than in the home structure, would it make sense to underinsure the dwelling coverage to reduce premiums? Especially given the relatively low likelihood of a total loss? Thoughts? Thanks. I'm not sure your insurance company would allow it. We have been forced to overinsure our home, because of the insane amount it would cost to rebuild it to the same standard. In real life, in the event it would burn to the ground (do fieldstone houses ever do that?), we would build another structure using modern materials and modern building techniques. I'm not even sure that most masons would take on the job if it happened. But, according to...

TomatoTomahto

If I had more than $10 million in today's dollars I wouldn't stop investing in stocks, but would probably make things like gold and real estate a sizable part of the portfolio. Because I wouldn't need the high return anymore as much as I'd need the non-correlation. That will never happen. I don't see any other game in town better for me than stocks. What you said about not being able to access/control your portfolio was interesting. If that were the case I too would not want the investment. Same would apply to bank accounts that started limiting my abilities, I'd find some other way to store the value. There are thousands of things that hold their value with time. To give an random example, plant a bunch of black walnut trees and you'll st...

TomatoTomahto

If I had more than $10 million in today's dollars I wouldn't stop investing in stocks, but would probably make things like gold and real estate a sizable part of the portfolio. Because I wouldn't need the high return anymore as much as I'd need the non-correlation. That will never happen. I don't see any other game in town better for me than stocks. What you said about not being able to access/control your portfolio was interesting. If that were the case I too would not want the investment. Same would apply to bank accounts that started limiting my abilities, I'd find some other way to store the value. There are thousands of things that hold their value with time. To give an random example, plant a bunch of black walnut trees and you'll st...

TomatoTomahto

Florida Orange wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:59 am Don't take unnecessary chances.

Or to continue the sports metaphor, "you've won the game, the league won't register a win until time runs out, so for God's sake don't pull your goalie."

TomatoTomahto

I make burgers via sous vide. I then sear them on the stove top.

Condiments are whatever the guests prefer. I usually don't use a bun.

TomatoTomahto

I tell my kids, whose personal capital is larger than their financial capital, that there's no reason to invest in bonds at this point in their lives, but 10% or 20% isn't that big a deal. Given that I'm in my mid-20s and pursuing FIRE, would it make sense to invest around 15% in bonds with the hope of retiring around my mid-40s? Since my understanding is that you want to invest more in bonds the closer you are to retiring? Or does this guideline not apply to FIRE? It's okay to do so, and there are technical reasons why some bonds can increase returns without raising volatility (or some such effect of the efficient frontier, Google it). Bonds and equities are more correlated than they have been in my recollection, but in any case 15% bonds...

TomatoTomahto

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:06 pm
I'm going to discuss with my wife tonight. She should be primed for the conversation, as she has spent the day, so far, cleaning out last year's bird boxes, which entails a lot of moving them, emptying contents, bleaching, hosing, moving them back, etc. God bless her. She'd probably get a chuckle out of driving a UTC.

Timing is everything. I mentioned buying one of these to my wife as she started winding down from her chores that she's been at for around 4 hours.

Her response? "Cheaper than buying a second home."

TomatoTomahto

NauticalRounder wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:01 pm Those who do not see the general utility of a “golf cart” (or equivalent) with dump cart probably don’t have continuous property maintenance requirements. Properties needing moving items around (ie feed, gravel, soil, firewood, branches, etc) require more than a wheelbarrow and a strong back. Best purchase I’ve made in a long time. I’ll never be without one

I'm going to discuss with my wife tonight. She should be primed for the conversation, as she has spent the day, so far, cleaning out last year's bird boxes, which entails a lot of moving them, emptying contents, bleaching, hosing, moving them back, etc. God bless her. She'd probably get a chuckle out of driving a UTC.

TomatoTomahto

As to the suggestion of a Deere Gator in another post, my previous neighbor had one for years. That thing must have been a workhorse. I noticed last night in a cursory search that Deere now has an electric version, but it retails for about 15k. Intriguing--pricey but not as expensive as I would have thought. I like to throw work to the various handy-persons, gardeners, snow plow drivers, etc. because they are salt of the earth hard workers. But, I also feel like I should do more myself because it will help fight off aging. However, I'd have a hard time looking at $15k in my garage and not thinking "should have given that money to _____." I assume they probably haven't been around long enough to have a used market. I don't know wh...

TomatoTomahto

+1 for UTV over golf cart Not intending to hijack OP’s thread, but I think we might be looking for the same thing. We still enjoy our 1/4 mile walk to the mailbox, as does our little dog, but there are times when moving heavy items is more time/energy consuming than I’d like. For example, lugging firewood from where it was split to the woodshed requires going up a pretty steep hill and if I’m being honest, I’m as likely to put it off until the landscaper comes by with his equipment rather than dumping split firewood into a wheelbarrow, trudging up the hill, and re-stacking it in the woodshed. Are there affordable electric UTVs? I don’t know what affordable means, but I would feel awkward spending more than a 4 digit amount. I don’t have mu...

TomatoTomahto

My wife seems to have signed up for FIRM: Financially Independent, Retire Maybe.

TomatoTomahto

I enjoy Audio Video Science forum (www.AVSforum.com). People there tend to skew younger than me, and over-emphasize bass in their setups, but it’s a fun site.

TomatoTomahto

Ok I will chime in on the original issue. I have a child who chose a more “prestigious” school for his major despite not truly feeling it. He liked it but he really loved his other choice but his other choice wasn’t “name brand” - it was in the top 100 privates - chosen school was top 10. He originally thought he could grow to love his school and he tried so hard it almost did him in. He was miserable but didn’t show it to anyone until the end of sophomore year when he came home for break and lost it; couldn’t get out of bed and looked terrible. Finally fessed up that he was truly miserable and felt guilty on top of that. His grades were dropping as was his motivation. Long story short - he spent a year at home “regrouping” and taking on l...

TomatoTomahto

Correcting "AA mistakes" in tax advantaged accounts doesn't have a tax cost. It might have a market cost.

I can't speak to international vs US equities. There are dozens of threads on the topic. I personally believe in buying the haystack, not just the US haystack.

I tell my kids, whose personal capital is larger than their financial capital, that there's no reason to invest in bonds at this point in their lives, but 10% or 20% isn't that big a deal.

TomatoTomahto

Let me say that I am not one who will advise that "the IRS will never catch up to you, don't file a 709." Or, "nobody files 709s."

I am also someone who pays his estate attorney annually to file a 709 even though his gifts are under the annual reporting exclusion.

All that said, unless you think the gift amount totals might be material in your state (eg, MA) by the time you die, I would file a 709 for the amount of $70k. It is not an unreasonable reporting position.

Again, not a lawyer or CPA, advice is worth only what you've paid for it, but it is what I'd do in your circumstances.

TomatoTomahto

kojima wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 4:09 am Seems like you would fill out a form with 100k and your daughter would fill out a form for 30k

I am not a CPA or lawyer, so take this for what it's worth: I think you have a reasonable reporting position that your gift to her was $70k since:

The exchange took place in one calendar year.
It turned out that you didn't have $100k available for gift giving purposes after all, so $30k was returned to you, not as a separate gift from your daughter but directly related to a miscalculation on your part as to your ability to gift $100k. For that $30k portion, it wasn't a gift since there were "strings attached."

TomatoTomahto

My wife recently got her passport renewed and was surprised that they did not return the old passport; in the past, the old passport would be returned with a hole punched in it. She inquired (there was a needed visa in the old passport) and was told that the old passport would arrive under separate cover. It would have been more efficient to mail old and new passport in one mailing, but the old passport did arrive a week or two later. Note the return addresses. The old passport is usually sent from a separate office than the passport centers that create passports. Sending them together to you would require additional steps and first mailing them to one consolidated shipping office first. Too late to check (no longer have envelopes), but th...

TomatoTomahto

This isn't very helpful, but multiple states is the sole reason that we have a CPA. If it were just the federal return, I would do it myself.

TomatoTomahto

I’m not sure I understand the OP situation, but my wife’s family had all the siblings chip in financially to make the “residential” sibling whole after they made changes to their home to accommodate my MIL.

It’s not a job anyone else was well placed to perform, and while it was done out of love, it just felt wrong that they’d be out of pocket for it.

RTA: as mega317 said, it’s not your bequest to worry about.

TomatoTomahto

stan1 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 8:49 am There are a few people who seem to have high income, high taxable account contributions, and expect high capital gains in the future such as from sale of a home with over $500K of gains who are fans. Even still, replacing 3 basis point index funds with 40 basis point management is a hurdle, and you are right that the account will be come a mess with thousands of tax lots and a 50+ page 1099-B each year.

High income

high taxable account contributions

High capital gains in the future

Still not a fan. It would turn my taxable account into a dog's breakfast. I can do (relatively limited) TLH without direct indexing.

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