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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.

I get the sense that you’re much younger than 70.5, but just in case you’re approaching that age and have tax deferred accounts, it is much better to donate using Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD). You can donate $100k annually, have the QCD amount not affect your income that year, and continue taking the Standard Deduction.

Rather than starting a DAF, I waited for 70.5.

I wouldn’t use a DAF for miscellaneous charitable donations unless the amounts were sufficient to make bundling itemized deductions worth it. Just my 2 cents.

ETA: I think the QCD amount will be inflation adjusted as of 2026, but not sure.

adamthesmythe wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 11:33 am 3. To stay safER be thoughtful about WHEN and WHERE you drive. How MUCH you drive is much less important.

As an extreme example, good luck trying to catch me driving on New Year's Eve or shortly after.

Guy has nearly $5mm net worth and over $1mm annual income at age 34. I think you can buy a $90k car and not worry much about it. This thread is ridiculous. Unless I missed it, OP’s gender has not been established. I do, fwiw, often miss a lot. Not sure if you missed it, but you seem to have missed the part where “guy” can refer to a person of unknown gender, a group of multiple genders, or a single gender. You’ve never said “that guy cut me off” without knowing the gender of the person doing the cutting off? You’ve never referred to a group of people as “guys”, even if the group had women, or was exclusively female? Perhaps you haven’t, but doesn’t mean others don’t. True enough, I'll sometimes say "hey guys" to a mixed gender gr...

Jags4186 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:54 am Guy has nearly $5mm net worth and over $1mm annual income at age 34. I think you can buy a $90k car and not worry much about it. This thread is ridiculous.

Unless I missed it, OP’s gender has not been established. I do, fwiw, often miss a lot.

William Bernstein has a piece, in another thread today, about buying Long Term TIPS bonds-- he's bought one that will mature when he is 104. Huge volatility, but I think he makes a good point that we should look through that and see what our real long term risk is: 1). outliving our savings 2). loss of buying power due to inflation. Could you talk me in target with this thread? I’d like to understand his thoughts, and read his words. Thank you in advance, Whitecap https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7184923#p7184923 Thanks Tomato! BTW, love your avatar. That picture is from a “Little feet” my dad’s album that he used to listen to with me, many years ago. Your father raised you well! Great band, RIP to many fine musicians. :beer

Whitecap wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:24 am

William Bernstein has a piece, in another thread today, about buying Long Term TIPS bonds-- he's bought one that will mature when he is 104. Huge volatility, but I think he makes a good point that we should look through that and see what our real long term risk is: 1). outliving our savings 2). loss of buying power due to inflation.

Could you talk me in target with this thread? I’d like to understand his thoughts, and read his words.

Thank you in advance,
Whitecap

viewtopic.php?p=7184923#p7184923

Don’t give up on the appreciated shares yet. I found a third-party reference to our member White Coat Investor But since many colleges, medical schools, and even private grade schools are technically 501(c)3s, which don't pay capital gains taxes when selling the appreciated shares you gave to them (as a tuition payment), it's really the same thing as giving the shares to your church or a favorite international aid charity. Better than a 529? Probably not, but certainly a great way to flush the low-basis shares out of your portfolio. So the next time you pay tuition, rather than using your cash on hand, (or worse, liquidating low-basis shares to use cash for the payment), contact the school to see if you can pay the bill with a transfer of s...

I know it's not a mature thing to do, but Optum's various PITA impediments to having transparency on my accounts have made me decide to empty my account by reimbursing myself for every little bill that shows up until it's empty. It's just not worth it for the favorable tax treatment if the end result is raising my blood pressure, which works against the "Health Savings."

A pox on them.

My favorite quote:

He earned about $50,000 a year from his factory job and always aimed to save at least 20% of his income, largely by keeping his expenses low. He wears his clothes for decades and rarely purchases new ones, though he treated himself to some new socks last July.

“I get buyer’s remorse real quick,” he said.

Must be a BH

I don't think Deutsche Bank would be allowed to "go under," but there might be all sorts of collateral damage. I can't speak to the ETFs.

stoptothink wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:41 am
You're not familiar with "Think and Grown Rich" or "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"?

I have heard of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," but didn't know the author's name. I guess they are better than a stick in the eye.

OP, I am one who is probably regarded on this forum as obsessed with car safety; I bought Volvos for my kids precisely for that reason and made it clear that the gifts were for MY peace of mind. That said, we could easily afford the cars and the only issue was making sure that the kids did not feel entitled. Fwiw, they never got into accidents and are good drivers. But, we can't guarantee that all drivers they share the road with will drive responsibly.

There are many safe vehicles other than the Model Y. I don't follow car news enough to make a suggestion, and you haven't disclosed enough financials to say whether you can afford a new car or to assess the likelihood of your being laid off.

Good luck; I feel you.

This crosses Personal Finance and Personal Consumer Issues, but I recommend the recent segment from Last Week Tonight on timeshares and timeshare "exit" scams (warning: some salty language): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2bbHoVQSM I've seen a number of threads on these issues before, but this is an eye-opening watch. It's worth the 25 minutes, including for the absolute evisceration of Dave Ramsey and his endorsement of a timeshare exit company which later turned out to be a total scam (and then his bizarre doubling down). I had actually seen that endorsement mentioned in a few bogleheads threads. I absolutely loved it. Dave Ramsey is the worst kind of person, like other fake gurus. My list of pariah financial "experts&q...

muffins14 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 12:11 pm [snip...]

If I had >= 50x expenses, I could probably go to 100% TIPs and be completely "safe", but I'd want to keep some equities then to just accumulate more and potentially donate more upon death, or fund some initiative

Assuming some of the equities are in taxable, converting to 100% TIPS would probably be very expensive via LTCG.

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. This is a good point.. the richer you get, the more sense it makes to branch out. If I had 10 million I'd probably start oozing into things like gold, or even things like bullets and fallout shelters. Not because I expect a collapse, but because a collapse would be the only thing that could stop me, so why not plan for it? Not buying gold or fallout shelters, but have invested in solar/batteries/generators to the extent that I think I could survive for months without much sunshi...

I have said on BH that my plan is to keep my fixed income investments and just add to equities (VTSAX and VXUS) with all new money. Recently, I got tired of the market being down (in addition to our mutual funds, we have unvested shares in my wife’s employer) most days, and I put her most recent vested company shares into a Massachusetts Municipal Fund.

There! I confessed! I feel better now. I will start investing in equities again shortly.

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:31 am

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:14 am

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:11 am What is CS?

It’s tough to believe you’ve been on BH for more than 5 years and have not picked up that CS stands for Computer Science when discussing college. In another context it might mean Credit Suisse.

I come to bogleheads for the investment stuff, so I don't bother to learn acronyms for non-investment stuff. All my kids finished college many years ago, and none of them studied computer science.

In general, using an acronym without explaining it in the first use is bad writing style.

I don’t disagree with your general criticism of using an acronym without first defining it, which applies also to fund and ETF tickers. That said, I’m as guilty as the next person (e.g., IANAL, FWIW, IIRC, etc.).

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:11 am What is CS?

It’s tough to believe you’ve been on BH for more than 5 years and have not picked up that CS stands for Computer Science when discussing college. In another context it might mean Credit Suisse.

jhawktx wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:00 pm

climber2020 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:36 am

JoMoney wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:28 am I'm always surprised when I hear about people buying a timeshare. It baffles me.

Never underestimate the ingenuity of fools.

Timeshares and long term care insurance should be avoided. But once someone gets suckered into either they will valiantly try to put lipstick on the pig.

LOL.

My son is currently a CS major at ASU, so I’m a bit biased. In my opinion, the nature of your kid will determine how well they will do. If they are a social butterfly and inclined to get caught up in the “party atmosphere”, ASU May not be the right school for them. If they are more “geeky”, chances are they’ll find their tribe and gravite towards activities of interest to kids of that type. One word of caution, ASU has a reputation for having unnecessarily difficult math courses, so make sure this is a strength for him or he may struggle a bit. The math component might be "fair warning," but I'd also say that any quality CS program should be math intensive. Too many kids look to a CS program as a form of "coding bootcamp&quo...

themesrob wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:50 pm

deltaneutral83 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:52 am
I'll have to watch this part, highly unlikely Ramsey would endorse full fledge scam artists. In fact I've known a person who use TSET to get out of one and it went fine. Perhaps there is additional info.

that section starts at 17:10 or so in the middle of the discussion of the exit company scams, and continues through 19:40ish

I don't have a dog in this fight, but Ramsey did not look very good when he doubled down.

hicabob wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:14 pm

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:04 am I'm confused. Are we talking a sauna (where temps often are up to iirc 194F) or a spa/hot tub where going above 140F is considered unsafe?

104 Fahrenheit is generally the high setting for hot tubs. 140 degree water will burn you in a few seconds. I like 180-190 for a dry sauna.

That was some kind of dyslexia/brain fart combination. I knew it had a 1, a 0, and a 4
I should have said 104 and not 140.

We still had a young marathon runner faint after being in our hot tub at 104F for 20 minutes. PSA: don't hot tub alone; if we hadn't been there to make sure he didn't go under, his 100% faint (he was out like a light) could have ended very badly.

8000m wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:06 pm Effective temps for infrared sauna's do not need to be as high as conventional saunas. 140-150 tends to be the sweet spot for me. DW prefers ~130.

Learn something every day. Thanks.

fishmonger wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 11:38 am

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:04 am I'm confused. Are we talking a sauna (where temps often are up to iirc 194F) or a spa/hot tub where going above 140F is considered unsafe?

Sauna, nothing to do with a hot tub

In that case, 140F is not close to hot enough, unless there's something special about Infrared. I just now took a sauna at 180F (old fashioned non Infrared) and it was fine for almost half an hour. 140F would not have been satisfying. Being in my 70s, I can't take the heat as long as I once did.

The reason I asked about the hot tub is that ours is not, in Massachusetts, allowed to be set higher than 140F. I would prefer it a few degrees hotter, but our pool guys say he can't legally do so.

Okay.

I'm confused. Are we talking a sauna (where temps often are up to iirc 194F) or a spa/hot tub where going above 140F is considered unsafe?

My brother (32) and I (25) just signed as trustees on my parent's (63) trust. I tried to consume as much information as I could but all the legal jargon had my head spinning by the end. Regardless, the strategy that (from what I understood) was purposed was: - Parents use available assets for all retirement expenses (401k, 403b, pension, etc.). - As a replacement for the amount of assets that may be used, a LTC policy was purchased that will grant my brother and I the equivalent of their retirement funds that pays out upon 2nd death. The LTC policy is acting as the source of assets that will be passed down. - My parent's house is also in the trust as well. Is this a common trust strategy or did their financial advisor swindle them with a L...

matthewbarnhart wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:21 am

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:15 am At the risk of being a crotchety old man, I will say that children learn by watching us rather than listening to us; are you sure that the behavior you are modeling for your two children is what you want them to learn?

So OP should commute 90 minutes a day, give up quality time with their family to go to a job that doesn't respect them? I'm curious what positive life lessons the kids will get from that.

I am not suggesting that OP keep his job. There is a lot of territory left between that and retiring. He had a job he once liked, he can find another.

[snip...] It feels to me that I am really close to achieving what I need. A 3.4% withdrawal would give me the lower end of what we need to live comfortably and more than our current expenses. By retirement I don't mean that I am not going to do anything anymore and my wife can do consulting here and there. Eventually we will get SS and obviously not counting on this but potentially a decent inheritance. I don't need $4M-10M and I am not interested in that way of life and is not need to live a happy comfortable life. Tbh, I find this whole thread depressing (see my signature for context). But ... As others have pointed out, you're relying on a SWR that's computed for much shorter retirements. Your frugal lifestyle doesn't account for any me...

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 ...

We don't have a convenient Costco, so use Crutchfield.com. Good return policy. Good customer service.

Appreciate everyone’s comments. If it were completely up to me I would remain in our current house. There are not enough negatives for me currently to warrant moving. We have been looking in this neighborhood for a little over 2 years and there has been one other house we have liked (you can see a previous post for that discussion). Obviously had we bought that house for 530k at ~3% interest rate in may of 2021 it would have likely seemed now to have been a great decision. You never know. Based on where we are I am concerned I will fall into default mode of saving money just to save money and not balance current consumption. We both enjoy our jobs currently. They are low stress and provide a good amount of time off. Of course things can ch...

Too general of a question? With VFIAX (SP 500, in taxable of course) at Vanguard, I don't have a choice. Of course you have a choice, And, at Vanguard, you can choose SpecID at any time. If you have never sold that fund, then it applies retroactively (at least that is how it has been for me). If you have sold using average cost, then that locks in all prior lots as average cost, irrespective of brokerage. SpecID is very helpful if you want to tax-loss harvest. Average cost is helpful if you want to spread large capital gains out over all of your existing holdings. There are personal finance reasons to prefer one over the other. Would SpecID also be beneficial to separate holdings that would be subject to long term capital gains vs. short t...

If you have enough space in your 0% LTCG space, I guess there are worse things you could do, but you probably know that dividends are not "free money." I did have an ex, ostensibly intelligent, who didn't realize that, so I guess I shouldn't assume.

Darthstrukt wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:59 am I see no harm in allocating 10% of one’s portfolio into higher risk / hedges

Is that a lifetime 10%? So, if it goes to 0, you can’t buy in again?

Personally, 10% is more than I’d put into “higher risk / hedges,” but I don’t mind having 0% in them. I don’t see where they are hedges, to me they’re just bets, but that’s what makes horse races.

Most BHs sell on vesting. I do the same. So should you. Just my 2 cents.

There is no way to ferret out the good from the bad Otherwise you wouldn’t need to be an accredited investor to do it. I and several of my close friends qualify. Only one has done well with this. To be fair the jury is still out for myself but really have no idea if it will be worth the risk. Let's not forget the requirements: - Net worth over $1 million, excluding primary residence (individually or with spouse or partner) - Income over $200,000 (individually) or $300,000 (with spouse or partner) in each of the prior two years, and reasonably expects the same for the current year. Is that really enough to "ferret out the good from the bad?" I'd guess that a reasonably high percentage of BH meet those criteria but would be lost pu...

DaveTH wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:47 am

OldSport wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 9:33 pm In Vanguard or Fidelity I can buy any mutual fund at any time, it just will not process until 4pm ET busines day of or after if entered after 4pm.

Why is it so important to you to place a mutual fund order at anytime even though you know it won't execute until after the market closes?

It's not a deal breaker, since we only have a small inheritance account at ME, but I would prefer to do the housekeeping (mostly directing dividend proceeds to various funds) during the weekend. The restricted entry hours are just an unnecessary annoyance.

Leesbro63 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:50 am
I would still like more light on how others with, say $10M, invest. So far I can't see any advantage to doing anything but a Boglehead 3 fund Portfolio.

Not willing to disclose details, but we have found that including a few more than 3 funds (international, municipals, etc) works (?) for us. Nothing outside of BH type funds required.

There are some investments that I'd love to be invited into, but they seem to have lost our phone number

OverseasBH wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:56 am Is there a scenario where a dividend focused strategy is rational?

IF I were the beneficiary of a trust where I could spend the income but not touch the principal, I'd probably want the principal in a dividend focused fund. I'm not, so I prefer not to receive dividends.

We meet the criteria, but don't do anything beyond BH approved investments. It's mostly a marketing scam to convince investors they're special. It’s not a scam. It’s a regulatory standard where the SEC says that you have enough wherewithal to be more able to fend for yourself in determining whether a particular investment is appropriate. I’m a securities lawyer. I’m also qualified several times over to be an accredited investor, and I’m not investing in any of these types of programs. If it’s that good, they don’t need to market small chunks at high costs to multiple individuals like me, they’ll get big chunks of low cost institutional money. I understand its origins as a regulatory standard. My family has worked in the investment space fo...

We meet the criteria, but don't do anything beyond BH approved investments. It's mostly a marketing scam to convince investors they're special.

afan wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:30 pm I look at networth.
The 3 metrics listed are solely focussed on annual spending in retirement. My financial goals include other things, so those measures would miss the mark.

Sort of. Quicken gives me a YoY change in NW. I can't help but look at that. It's reassuring.

Boston Terrier Fan wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:38 am My daughter was invited to join a friend’s family for spring break in the Dominican Republic. There is a form on the us passport site that we had to fill out and get notarized. We also had to provide a copy of a the page from our own passports confirming our identities. It was all easy and my daughter is enjoying Club Med. It seems likely that you could do something similar (if necessary).

We are well past the point where our kids are minors, but thank you for indicating where to get the proof for traveling purposes. Nice spring break , I could use one right about now.

For reasons too long to explain here DW and I have different last names and my official last name is not my real family name. We have a kiddo on the way and want to give him my family’s last name which will lead to all 3 of us having different last names. I would like to change my last name to my family name in next couple years (again long story, can’t change now). DW is worried baby not having my last name will lead to issues at school or while traveling internationally (worried we would get stopped for trafficking suspicion). Is that going to be a real issue or is DW just worried? Any other issue anyone can think of? I could give the baby my last name now and eventually all of us change last names later but would like to avoid multiple ...

muffins14 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:54 pm

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:43 pm NYS according to Google: The 2023 standard deduction for taxes filed in 2024 will increase to $13,850 for single filers and those married filing separately, $27,700 for joint filers, and $20,800 for heads of household.

I believe those are the federal values.

The state values may be below:
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/standard_deductions.htm

Oops

inverter wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:11 am

TomatoTomahto wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:26 am We have 400A service, so the problem for us is academic. Many many parts of our home have been converted to electrical, especially our oil furnace became GSHP, our propane stove became induction, and the home had an EV charger installed.

I believe we will not be alone in the transition.

Did you do this work yourself, or did you buy a house with these features?

Aside from the home's 400A service which the previous owner (an EE, incidentally) had installed, all the other electrical work was done/contracted by us.

Pdxnative wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:50 am You’re aware of the tax credits for panel upgrades and EV charger installations, right?

As mentioned, most people don’t even need a L2 charger, although most who have it think it’s worth the cost (we are in both categories).

For us, even with the minimal cost of charger installation the EV cost of ownership, convenience, driving experience wins hands down over ICE. Ymmv.

One thing to note is that, of the people who switched back to ICE from an EV for their next purchase, the majority did not have an L2 charger at their home. You might not need L2, but it sure is nice to have.