Search found 289 matches

by clevername
Thu Mar 07, 2024 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding 8995/8995-A
Replies: 17
Views: 1039

Re: Question regarding 8995/8995-A

This flow chart and discussion is pure gold. Thank you!! As a newbie I was struggling to understand this form until i went through the flow chart. Such wonderful resource. :sharebeer Just a quick clarification on the flow chart. 1. The first test "Taxable income" less than 315K, is this line 1A (on 1040) or AGI (line 11)? 2. When they say calculate 50% of "Qualified W2 wages", is this wages related to the S-corp or combined as Line1A (1040)?? Thank you all! Glad to help, Bogleheads are incredibly generous with their knowledge so I'm happy to contribute. For qbi, taxable income means AGI minus your deductions, so form 1040 Line 11 - Line 12. Qualified W-2 wages are paid at the entity level, unrelated to your own w2 incom...
by clevername
Thu Mar 07, 2024 10:05 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding 8995/8995-A
Replies: 17
Views: 1039

Re: Question regarding 8995/8995-A

I'm pretty sure you are out of luck, yes. What's the trade or business by the way? Let's go back to that flowchart. Step 1, do I have taxable income in excess of $315k MFJ? If no, then just multiple your QBI by 20% and you are done. I think that's where you were in previous years. Sounds like your income is high enough this year to start getting complicated which is where qualified wages and UBIA come in. Since these are both zero, you're pretty much done. It is possible though that you do have UBIA though. It's kind of hard to be a QBI and not have any UBIA. This number usually ties to your 1065 Sch L Line 9, buildings and equipment. So it's possible the K-1 was just prepared incorrectly. If you have the 1065 handy go take a look and see....
by clevername
Wed Mar 06, 2024 5:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding 8995/8995-A
Replies: 17
Views: 1039

Re: Question regarding 8995/8995-A

I'm pretty sure you are out of luck, yes. What's the trade or business by the way? Let's go back to that flowchart. Step 1, do I have taxable income in excess of $315k MFJ? If no, then just multiple your QBI by 20% and you are done. I think that's where you were in previous years. Sounds like your income is high enough this year to start getting complicated which is where qualified wages and UBIA come in. Since these are both zero, you're pretty much done. It is possible though that you do have UBIA though. It's kind of hard to be a QBI and not have any UBIA. This number usually ties to your 1065 Sch L Line 9, buildings and equipment. So it's possible the K-1 was just prepared incorrectly. If you have the 1065 handy go take a look and see.
by clevername
Wed Mar 06, 2024 4:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding 8995/8995-A
Replies: 17
Views: 1039

Re: Question regarding 8995/8995-A

Aye, QBI is confusing that's for sure. You need to have wages and/or property at the entity level if your income is above a certain threshold. It's independent from your personal w2 income. This is a pretty good flowchart: https://www.tcvscpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Session-5-QBI-Flow-Chart.pdf I'm thinking your problem is in that section "calculate the QBI component" steps 2 and 3. Since your k1 doesn't have any qualified w2 wages or UBIA, steps 2 and 3 are going to be zero, therefore step 5 is going to be zero, and no deduction for you. The K-1 could be wrong though, it's real easy to mess up. Or I could be wrong, and it's something else entirely! Take a look at that flowchart and feel free to dm if you want, it's super c...
by clevername
Wed Mar 06, 2024 1:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding 8995/8995-A
Replies: 17
Views: 1039

Re: Question regarding 8995/8995-A

Probably the lack of wages or UBIA. Try dropping in something like $1million under qualified wages where you'd input info from box 20z. (Just for diagnostic purposes, don't file it like that!) I bet that'll unlock the whole qbi deduction and populate the rest of the form. Since it's unpopulated right now and your income is higher than the threshold your qbi deduction is going to be limited. It's possible the k1 is incorrect and those fields (wages and UBIA) should be populated but just aren't, hard to say.
by clevername
Wed Mar 06, 2024 1:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question regarding 8995/8995-A
Replies: 17
Views: 1039

Re: Question regarding 8995/8995-A

I bet your new software is treating the k1 income as an SSTB by default. That's not an issue if your income is lower, but since it is higher, the qbi deduction is being almost entirely phased out. Go into the inputs again and figure out how to toggle it from SSTB to QBI and see if that helps. (Assuming it IS a QBI of course and not a SSTB.) Since the form is barely populated it's probably missing inputs or a box that needs to be checked or something.

You'll also probably need to put in qualified W2 wages and/or UBIA info from the K-1, box 20 for a partnership or 17 for an S corp.

Hope that helps.
by clevername
Thu Jan 25, 2024 9:51 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: 🎁 🎉Happy 100th Birthday to Taylor Larimore 🎊🎂
Replies: 429
Views: 41895

Re: 🎁 🎉Happy 100th Birthday to Taylor Larimore 🎊🎂

Happy birthday Taylor! 100 wow!
by clevername
Sat Feb 05, 2022 7:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: When should you amend a tax return?
Replies: 18
Views: 1808

Re: When should you amend a tax return?

First post in a while! I’m a CPA with ten years experience at three large national firms. I’ve prepared and reviewed thousands of tax returns for individuals and businesses. I would never in my wildest dreams even consider amending a return over $44 of interest! The amount is trivial, totally immaterial, there’s going to be virtually zero consequences to you, and the $15 difference in tax revenue wouldn’t even begin to pay for the processing costs if you actually amended. Donate $20 to charity if you feel guilty about it. I’m amending a return now because the previous accountant inadvertently made an error reporting a like kind exchange and omitted about $2 million from their income. Last year we amended one because about $3 million Net Inv...
by clevername
Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:51 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Less common one-person S-corp deductions
Replies: 68
Views: 4819

Re: Less common one-person S-corp deductions

I’m a CPA and I’ve seen some of my colleagues deduct thousands or tens of thousands of dollars from single owner S Corps for “rent expense” paid to the shareholder for use of their home for fourteen days. Rent income from your primary residence for 14 days isn’t taxable, so this effectively creates a tax deduction by shifting money from one pocket to the other. It is a very clever “loophole” exploiting that 14 day rule, I’ll give it that. Personally I find it way too aggressive for my taste and I wouldn’t do it or encourage it. But it’s technically legit if you do it right, so if you want to roll the dice and be super aggressive then, well, there it is.
by clevername
Thu Jan 28, 2021 9:04 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [GameStop GME trading mega-thread]
Replies: 5086
Views: 396693

Re: [GameStop GME trading mega-thread]

Forgive me Bogleheads, for I have sinned: I bought $10k of GME @ 189/share the other day. I consider myself an extremely well disciplined long term investor, a loyal follower of the Boglehead ways. I'm not a market timer nor am I [usually] a speculator. I just couldn't help myself! The FOMO and euphoria is just overpowering. It is intoxicating. Even if I lose every penny, the entertainment value from the last couple weeks has more than paid for itself. ($5,000 watch anyone?) People blow way more than that one a weekend in Vegas. I haven't taken a vacation since the pandemic started. I'm doing well enough to lose it all (though I hope I won't obviously). I've never seen or felt anything like this before, it is absolutely incredible. One of t...
by clevername
Wed Sep 09, 2020 5:28 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How much to take down this tree?
Replies: 68
Views: 6421

Re: How much to take down this tree?

I had a tree fall over in my backyard once after a storm. It leaned precariously over my neighbor’s house, supported only by power lines (!). I called the power company and they were useless. I called various tree cutter guys, and none of them would go near it with live power lines everywhere. I finally found a guy who would do it. Big Ron was his name. The guy steps out of his truck, easily 6’6, 300 pounds. I asked “are you Big Ron or Little Ron?” Anyway, I don’t remember if he charged me $500 or $5,000. Whatever it cost was fairly reasonable and i gladly paid. All I remember is that they did an outstanding job and I wished I had more trees to ask them to take care of while they were there. Find a good crew and pay what they ask. It isn’t...
by clevername
Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How much to take down this tree?
Replies: 68
Views: 6421

Re: How much to take down this tree?

I had a tree fall over in my backyard once after a storm. It leaned precariously over my neighbor’s house, supported only by power lines (!). I called the power company and they were useless. I called various tree cutter guys, and none of them would go near it with live power lines everywhere. I finally found a guy who would do it. Big Ron was his name. The guy steps out of his truck, easily 6’6, 300 pounds. I asked “are you Big Ron or Little Ron?” Anyway, I don’t remember if he charged me $500 or $5,000. Whatever it cost was fairly reasonable and i gladly paid. All I remember is that they did an outstanding job and I wished I had more trees to ask them to take care of while they were there. Find a good crew and pay what they ask. It isn’t ...
by clevername
Sun Jun 28, 2020 1:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2 year old check from US Dept of Treasury
Replies: 6
Views: 676

Re: 2 year old check from US Dept of Treasury

I got a paper check a few years ago from a tax refund. The check was accidentally torn when the mail was opened so the bank wouldn't deposit it. I sent it back to the IRS office that issued it with a letter of instruction asking them to issue a new one. They processed my request pretty quickly and sent it back with interest.

If your bank doesn't honor the check because it is expired (likely) then I would just send it back and ask for a new one, and keep a copy of everything for your records of course. There should be an address written on it. Your check might not be from the IRS specifically but it should work...who knows these days though...
by clevername
Mon Apr 13, 2020 7:56 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is there a theoretical chart constructed for a 60/40 AA for the past 2000 years?
Replies: 30
Views: 2587

Re: Is there a theoretical chart constructed for a 60/40 AA for the past 2000 years?

I'm not sure if you realize how different the world was two thousand years ago. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject lately and have developed a pretty decent grasp of the history of world economics, finance, and accounting through the ages. (I’m a lot of fun at parties.) There are some great posts in this thread so far, and hopefully I can provide a little more perspective. I admit I am biased towards Western history, and I’m not a historian, so this might be wildly wrong. I’m basing the following off my understanding of a few books, including “Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance”, “The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations”, plus translated versions of Luca Pacioli’s S...
by clevername
Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:38 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: John Bogle has died at age 89
Replies: 856
Views: 81243

Re: John Bogle has died at age 89

Besides changing the way the world invests, besides leveling the playing field for the rest of us, besides his selfless structuring of his company to return us our own money rather than making himself rich, besides his many books teaching us his wisdom...

Besides all of that...what I will always remember about Jack Bogle is him singing Happy Birthday to Taylor on his 90th birthday :mrgreen:

He will be missed.
by clevername
Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:35 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

Looks like a great meeting! Sorry I missed it, will definitely try to make the next one. Congrats on the new book Taylor! Looking forward to reading it. See you all next time! Regards, Josh aka Clevername
by clevername
Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: LLC + tax deductions
Replies: 5
Views: 1040

Re: LLC + tax deductions

Just start by giving Publication 17 a good once over, plus instructions for schedule C. These are the two holy scriptures for self employed individuals and are very easy to read. Should be enough to get you started.
by clevername
Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:43 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for attending the other day! I was very happy to host our first Bogleheads meeting of 2017, and it seems like everyone had a great time. It was great to see everyone again, and meet so many new members too. Looking forward to next time,

Best regards,

Josh
by clevername
Wed Sep 14, 2016 11:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Insane CPA bill, please advise
Replies: 23
Views: 6312

Re: Insane CPA bill, please advise

Just stay calm and contact your CPA to ask why your bill was higher, make sure your account is up to date with all your payments, try and get a detailed breakdown of the expense report, etc. You can probably see the report that shows every minute that went into your tax return, plus memos regarding the work done. It's possible your return was way more difficult this year which drove your bill sky high, and it's also possible there was a billing error that nobody caught. It's hard to say without knowing what you have going on, but every client is different, and sometimes one client is very different from year to year too with huge fluctuations in the bill. Billing policy should be very transparent without many surprises, so someone really sh...
by clevername
Tue Jul 12, 2016 10:36 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

I just got home from the SoFlo Bogleheads meetup and had a great time seeing everyone, as always. First thoughts: please accept my deepest apologies to everyone for the guest list issues. It was a new venue, and I was told we had a maximum capacity of 30 guests, so I closed the list as the RSVP's approached that number. The bogleheads are very near and dear to me, so I take it as a personal failure on my part for everyone disappointed today. I take full responsibility for that and promise to do better next time so every interested Boglehead is invited. That being said, we had a great time. Special thanks to our guest speaker, David Tatich, Senior Financial Advisor at Vanguard's Asset Management Services branch. What a treat! David spoke in...
by clevername
Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:37 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

I just got home from the SoFlo Bogleheads meetup and had a great time seeing everyone, as always. First thoughts: please accept my deepest apologies to everyone for the guest list issues. It was a new venue, and I was told we had a maximum capacity of 30 guests, so I closed the list as the RSVP's approached that number. The bogleheads are very near and dear to me, so I take it as a personal failure on my part for everyone disappointed today. I take full responsibility for that and promise to do better next time so every interested Boglehead is invited. That being said, we had a great time. Special thanks to our guest speaker, David Tatich, Senior Financial Advisor at Vanguard's Asset Management Services branch. What a treat! David spoke in ...
by clevername
Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:06 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

Bogleheads: registration is now closed! We are at capacity. If you are not on the list, and have not received an email confirmation by now, please accept my humble apologies and thanks for your interest. We'll try to find a bigger venue next year.

To repeat time/location/etc:

Time and Location: Sunday July 10, 2016, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm
Showcase Miami Realty
2801 Florida Avenue, Suite 12
Miami (Coconut Grove) 33133

The office is in the first level courtyard, across from the Mayfair, between Rice and Mary Streets.
Parking - ample parking in the Mayfair Garage on Florida Ave, the Public Parking Garage on Oak Ave, or the CocoWalk Garage on Virginia St.
by clevername
Sun Jul 03, 2016 11:26 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

Bogleheads: there has been tremendous interest in this meeting, which goes to show how strong of a community we have here in South Florida. I'm proud to be part of such a great group. We are pretty much at capacity, so I might have to send a few unhappy emails to the last few people who emailed recently. I set up a simple public sign in sheet on Google Drive with a format similar to Excel, so it should be easy enough to add your name to the list. Hopefully I did it right, and everyone can access it, etc :p Please add your name, number in your party, etc. Remember the meeting location is in Miami, not Ft Lauderdale, so some of you who RSVP'd a long time ago might reconsider given the venue change. [Link removed for privacy concerns - request...
by clevername
Wed May 25, 2016 8:50 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

Our next meetup is tentatively scheduled for Sunday July 10, 2016! Further details to follow.
by clevername
Mon May 09, 2016 10:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 26 y/o with ~$175,000 inheritence
Replies: 40
Views: 8814

Re: 26 y/o with ~$175,000 inheritence

He's a CPA, not a banker or investment advisor, so it should be ok - just don't sign anything ;) I'm sorry to hear about your loss and hope you are doing alright. There are a lot of people here smarter than me and more qualified to give you advice, so I'll limit my two cents to the following. Take a few of the dollars you just inherited and buy a bunch of books. Start with the Bogleheads guide, pretty much anything by Rick Ferri, and other books suggested around this forum, plus of course the Bogleheads wiki, and educate yourself. I suggest you park the money in cash, money market, and short/intermediate term bonds until you've taken some time to learn more, evaluate your options, and possibly recover emotionally from your loss depending on...
by clevername
Sat Apr 16, 2016 12:30 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

I'm the unofficial SoFlo chapter president and I try to organize one or two meetings a year. Our last meetup was July or August of last year in Ft Lauderdale, and it was a big success. We got to meet a bunch of great people and had some interesting speaking and guests. I've been crazy busy the last few months during tax season, as I'm an accountant-going-on-CPA at a large firm here in Miami. 80+ hours a week for ten weeks straight is no fun! My season is winding down now though so I have time to devote to organizing our next meetup. Let's say middle of May? I'll send an email out to everyone on the list, and try to guage support/interest from this thread as well. Let's start getting the ball rolling and see interest, availability, etc, then...
by clevername
Sun Mar 27, 2016 3:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: tax question
Replies: 12
Views: 1448

Re: tax question

AMT comes to mind.

I just finished an interesting return the other day. An individual earned a reasonable salary but exercised an option to purchase shares of his company for pennies on the dollar. The taxpayer made an 83B election upon exercise of the options, so the spread (diff between purchase price and FMV) was treated as an AMT. The end result was AGI of about 80k, and regular tax of maybe 15k, but with the AMT kicking in, the fellow owed something like $60,000, 4x more than his ordinary tax. So his effective tax rate was 75% or so, but his bracket was still 25%. I'm not sure if that counts as an answer to OP's question.
by clevername
Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:23 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I have 80k EUR sitting in a savings account
Replies: 10
Views: 2503

Re: I have 80k EUR sitting in a savings account

Agreed with poster above, you probably have to file an FBAR to report foreign bank accounts if you are a US resident with more than $10,000USD in a foreign account. There are pretty severe penalties for noncompliance - it's a money laundering and national security thing and the Feds take it pretty seriously. Most people don't know this though, especially foreigners living in the US, so you can request the penalties be mitigated. It's especially easy to request abatement of these penalties if you reasonably relied on a professional for tax and accounting advice; eg you paid a pro to do your tax return and they never mentioned it. I would definitely recommend finding a CPA or tax attorney in your area to help you file the last few years' repo...
by clevername
Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Income tax preparation cost?
Replies: 32
Views: 4120

Re: Income tax preparation cost?

$2,750 is certainly high when most of us are used to using turbotax for $50. That is about average for many of my firm's clients though, so don't sharpen your pitchforks quite yet. It's impossible to say where your bill would lie without knowing more about you and your situation. That being said, it could very well be a billing mistake, so for that reason alone you should follow up and see the breakdown of that bill. We are right smack in busy season so it's possible a billing error occurred and nobody noticed - rare, but not unheard of. You can probably negotiate down a bit too if that is indeed the bill.
by clevername
Wed Jan 27, 2016 8:55 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Happy Birthday Taylor!
Replies: 87
Views: 9706

Re: Happy Birthday Taylor!

Happy belated birthday Taylor! I am honored to call you a friend and mentor. You are an inspiration to us all.
by clevername
Wed Jan 20, 2016 8:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: who is selling to day??
Replies: 34
Views: 5619

Re: who is selling to day??

I sold a large chunk of my taxable account today. I'm not proud of it, but I'm going to need the liquidity soon so I decided to eat the loss and be safe rather than potentially risk more of it. Poor planning on my part. I've known for a while now that I'll need a lot of cash soon, but I didn't do anything. I ignored one of the first and most important bogle head rules: never take too much (or too little) risk.

The total loss is actually relatively small because I sold a lot with a low basis, but it still burned. I get a nice tlh discount on it, but still. Watch everything rebound tomorrow now, right?
by clevername
Sun Dec 27, 2015 5:34 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: The Big Short
Replies: 196
Views: 33716

Re: The Big Short

I loved the book and I thought the movie was excellent. It's very rare for a movie to perfectly capture the spirit of the book, but they nailed it. They took a very technical and complex subject, and somehow managed put it on screen in an entertaining and digestible way. The camerawork, pacing, and storytelling methods (text on screen, breaking the 4th wall, celebrity cameos) were fun clever ways to get a lot of dense info across. I was worried they would dumb it down for mass appeal, but they squeezed a ton relevant info in there. All of the characters were cast and portrayed perfectly, to the point where I identified almost everyone immediately before they were named. I just thought it was a really great movie adaptation overall.
by clevername
Thu Oct 15, 2015 9:37 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Selling all equities, discuss why I'm wrong. :)
Replies: 374
Views: 76086

Re: Selling all equities, discuss why I'm wrong. :)

I read somewhere that the vast majority of all trades are done by a big institution: Goldman Sachs, one of the Morgans, a hedge fund, etc. Whether you are buying or selling, one of those players is on the other side of the trade.

I used to play poker, and one of the common pearls of wisdom was to take a good look around the table when you sit down to try to find the sucker. If you can't find the sucker, you're it :beer

That's one of the many reasons why I stopped buying and selling. No matter what I think, Goldman Sachs has a team of PHDs with supercomputers who's job it is to know more about it than me.
by clevername
Sun Sep 06, 2015 11:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: college related advice for 11th grader
Replies: 180
Views: 22094

Re: college related advice for 11th grader

I didn't finish reading the Original Post, nor did I read any of the comments, so I apologize if my comment is totally off topic. Have you ever read any Malcolm Gladwell? I just took a long plane ride and bought his book, "David and Goliath," in the airport. Great airport reading - very easy to read and digestible, like oatmeal, and pseudo intellectual enough for me to feel snobby and laugh at the people reading Twilight or People magazine. Anyway, in the book he talks about the dangers of going to "the best school you can possibly get into." The gist of it is as follows: If you rank all schools' classes into top, middle, and lowest performing thirds, the bottom third of the class at Harvard outperforms the top third of ...
by clevername
Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:00 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The Bogleheads' Silent Majority
Replies: 255
Views: 50326

Re: The Bogleheads' Silent Majority

I had to call a broker at Morgan Stanley on Friday afternoon regarding a mutual client. He was very terse and grumpy and said he had to "get some trades in before markets close at 4." I thought nothing of it and hung up after our business was done 30 seconds later.

I didn't even realize until Sunday why he was upset! I haven't checked the markets in months. The last few days have been exciting but I really couldn't care less about financial markets these days.

To answer OPs question, I'm staying the course and ignoring the noise.
by clevername
Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:29 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

Thanks to everyone who went and helped to make this one of the best Boglehead chapter meetings in the last few years! See you all next time.
by clevername
Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:32 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter Meeting July 26

I just sent a group email to everyone who has ever emailed sflbogleheads@gmail.com in the last two years. It's looking good for Sunday July 26 in Ft Lauderdale but the time and location is still tentative based on interest, availability, location of the majority of attendees, willingness to travel, etc.

If you haven't done so already, please send an email to sflbogleheads@gmail.com with your approximate location, number of people in your party expecting to go, etc and stay tuned for further updates. I won't spam you, it's just for roll call and easier communication etc. I think there's a lot of interest and we might have a fairly large turnout so we'll need to plan diligently.

Thank you!
by clevername
Sun Jun 28, 2015 10:36 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: South Florida Local Chapter

The email address is sflbogleheads@gmail.com - check your spelling.

I just logged in to that account for the first time in a while and found an eye popping amount of interest and support for our local chapter. I apologize for my inattentiveness in recent months and will take some time this week replying to everyone and helping to coordinate the meeting next month. Thank you all for your patience and interest, stand by for further updates.
by clevername
Mon Jun 22, 2015 6:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: No bonds?? All Equity portfolio in 20s
Replies: 74
Views: 19885

Re: No bonds?? All Equity portfolio in 20s

I'm 28 and almost 100% equity except I think my hsa which may be cash or bonds. My job is one of the most stable and reliable careers there is and I'm well established in my firm so unemployment is extremely unlikely. I don't recommend it for everyone but I don't lose any sleep over my asset allocation.
by clevername
Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:12 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: New South Florida Local Chapter

I'm game to meet up on a weekend some time, but I've been crazy busy lately so I can't organize anything. Even low key events can be tricky to coordinate so I'd rather not bite of something that I can't really commit to. I'm definitely interested though so maybe someone can step up and get something together - sorry it can't be me :/ See you all soon hopefully.
by clevername
Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:32 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Paying for GFs school - any way to help myself?
Replies: 76
Views: 16309

Re: Paying for GFs school - any way to help myself?

Wow, this thread hits home. Surprised at the feedback! We *might as well* be married. I am the one delaying that at the moment because of a devotion to my career. With that said, even if she would leave me, I would not regret paying for her education. Can we focus back on to the original question? :) :) That's what you think now while you're together. Wait til she breaks your heart and throws you to the curb. My ex-girlfriend and I "might as well" have been married too - we spent the better part of our twenties together and I thought it was a done deal. I was delaying it while we finished school, I was studying for my license exams, getting my career under control, and generally getting our lives in order. In the last year of our ...
by clevername
Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:43 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: South Florida Local Chapter
Replies: 628
Views: 213422

Re: New South Florida Local Chapter

Hello everyone, I'm josh, the "South Florida bogleheads president" as it were. I'm sorry I haven't responded to your emails but I've been crazy busy at work the past few weeks - tax season and all. I'm game for a meet up on an early Sunday afternoon but that's about the only time I have available until late April or May, and someone else will have to coordinate. I'll check in periodically but for the most part I'll be lurking
by clevername
Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:04 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Poll: Locating deceased person's assets
Replies: 33
Views: 3896

Re: Poll: Locating deceased person's assets

I've been tasked with this unfortunate errand several times. Both individuals died fairly suddenly and had assets all over the place without adequate documentation, so it was challenging to locate everything. I went through years and years worth of financial statements tracking everything down. Cash was at banks that had long since been bought out by MegaBank, stocks at brokerages that hadn't heard of computers yet and bought and sold with paper ticket orders, etc. (I can post a paper receipt of sale for 1000 shares of Apple stock at $17/sh around ~1997 if anyone is interested.) There was also money at my state's unclaimed assets office which I highly recommend searching. This forensic nightmare is partially why I have tried to consolidate ...
by clevername
Wed Jan 21, 2015 9:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Keurig-cup coffee makers - why?
Replies: 139
Views: 32545

Re: Keurig-cup coffee makers - why?

We have one at my office and I estimate that we spend about $10,000/yr on k-cups. I like it but I can't help but wonder if there's a more cost effective solution to our coffee addictions, like a caffeine pill dispenser by the water cooler or something?
by clevername
Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Florida in the summer [thinking about moving there]
Replies: 132
Views: 18856

Re: Florida in the summer

I'm a tennis player too and I live in South Florida. The heat is manageable but the humidity is out of control. If I play for a few hours in the summer I can easily go through three shirts, two towels, several overgrips, a gallon of water, etc. The rain is the worst part about summers here though. I'll be at work all day looking at the beautiful weather outside thinking about my match later in the evening...and then the second I get off work it rains for ten minutes, just long enough to ruin the tennis court. We get afternoon showers like that almost every day, and the days it doesn't rain are humid as described above. If you play in the early morning though it should be ok.
by clevername
Sun Jan 11, 2015 5:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Young couple looking for a mentor.
Replies: 45
Views: 5900

Re: Young couple looking for a mentor.

tracybrice wrote:We are just tired of throwing our money away renting.
That's one of those troubling misconceptions that refuses to go away. There are tons of expenses associated with home ownership that are also "throwing money away" like interest, real estate taxes, and insurance. Neither renting nor home ownership is inherently good or bad so you need to analyze your situation very carefully to determine what is best for you.

General advice: throw away the Kiyosaki books and read the Bogleheads guides twice.
by clevername
Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:37 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How do you define "being rich"?
Replies: 127
Views: 15070

Re: How do you define "being rich"?

The first time I felt rich was when I got a big check and didn't rush to the bank to deposit it in order to make rent.
by clevername
Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:10 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Should you use a 401k if you'll def. be in a higher bracket?
Replies: 18
Views: 3741

Re: Should you use a 401k if you'll def. be in a higher brac

Let's work through a simple example. Say that I'm in the 15% tax bracket and am certain that I'll be in the 25% bracket at retirement. I have $100 in pre-tax income. If invest it in taxable, I'll pay $15 in tax, so will have an $85 investment. When I retire, I'll then pay 15% on any gains. If I put it in the 401k, I'll have $100 but will pay 25% tax on everything on the way out. Say I take the money out in 30 years after getting 6% annualized return (nominal). After paying taxes, my investment will be worth $430 if it's in the 401k. It will be worth $414 if it's in taxable. So the 401k is the better investment. On the other hand, if I know that I'll be in the 28% bracket or higher, the taxable account is as good or better than the 401k. Of...
by clevername
Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Should you use a 401k if you'll def. be in a higher bracket?
Replies: 18
Views: 3741

Re: Should you use a 401k if you'll def. be in a higher brac

Thanks for the replies so far. I wasn't specific to begin with so I apologize for the confusion. This question is based in reality but I was purposefully vague because it's a mental exercise, not a question seeking advice. I started thinking about this while talking to a 28yo friend expecting a low 7 digit inheritance in the next few years. He makes probably about $50k a year now and mentioned that he maxed out a Roth ira and (traditional) 401k this year. That's pretty much all I know about the situation. We didn't discuss it in detail but I started thinking about long term investing and tax efficiency with that kind of money at a young age. I couldn't think of any scenarios in which I could receive ~2m today, invest it in a reasonably aggr...
by clevername
Mon Nov 17, 2014 1:37 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Should you use a 401k if you'll def. be in a higher bracket?
Replies: 18
Views: 3741

Should you use a 401k if you'll def. be in a higher bracket?

A theoretical question: if an investor knows they will 100% definitely have much greater taxable income in retirement due to large assets from inheritance, sale of business, lottery winnings, etc, should they ever contribute to a tax deferred 401k in the present? Let's say the taxable account balance will be $5M+ or something. My go-to response is that the hypothetical investor should max out all tax advantaged accounts and invest the remainder in the most tax efficient manner possible. However, even tax efficient investing will inevitably yield some taxable interest and dividends which will push your withdrawals into a higher bracket. I can't get around the thought that the investor will essentially guarantee him/herself higher taxes on wi...