Search found 13 matches

by dwang
Wed Dec 24, 2014 9:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Roth IRA Contribution by a college student
Replies: 3
Views: 761

Roth IRA Contribution by a college student

My apology if it's already discussed. Daughter works part-time while attending college. So she has a small amount of earned income. Since her income is well below the level above which she's required to file federal income tax return, we don't think she would need to file a federal tax return. Question: when a person has earned income but it's so low that he does not file federal income tax return, can he still make Roth IRA contribution? It would be most desirable and appreciated if we could be directed to an official source of reference (e.g. an IRS publication #). We are not clear if, for our case, we can simply consider daughter's earned income as her AGI. p.s. daughter has negligible income from other sources, and for the purpose of th...
by dwang
Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:12 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How good is vanguard website security?
Replies: 109
Views: 27688

Re: How good is vanguard website security?

The Vanguard account login password allows only up to 10 characters, shorter than perhaps most of what the other secure access web sites allow. However the Vanguard security measure does include prompting the person trying to access the account to answer a security question if the login is originated from a computer that's not recognized. My understanding is that as long as one security question is answered correctly, the login will move on to the final step, the password prompt... So it does not walk through all security questions stored in place in this case.
by dwang
Thu Dec 27, 2012 8:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Performance
Replies: 28
Views: 2159

Re: Performance

All YTD data: 6.4% return in our Vanguard tax-deferred and taxable accounts, overall with 20% in stocks, 78% in bonds (largest holdings Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt , and Wellesley Income), and no more than 2% is in money market. Our 401K accounts have a combined total return of 8% return with 30% in stocks and 70% in bonds.
by dwang
Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tooth Crown
Replies: 48
Views: 4599

Re: Tooth Crown

My dentist charged $2300 for my two crowns (for crowns only), so $1150 each. My insurance picked up 80% of the tab, and I paid the rest. I am in a big metropolitan area in the mid-west.
by dwang
Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:04 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do I need roof antenna for my HDTV?
Replies: 32
Views: 4354

Re: Do I need roof antenna for my HDTV?

We use an outdoor antenna mounted on a steel post outside my family room window in the back yard. The center of the antenna is only about 4 feet above the ground, but it still works reasonably well, pretty much in all weather conditions as far as I can tell. We are in suburban setting and ~30 miles from the transmission towers. Though it's not exactly like there is a big open field around our house, it is open enough so we can set up the antenna that can get signals. We added a power amplifier behind the antenna that helps a lot also. We can receive all major channels, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, etc. that are all great and of HDTV quality, except local ABC.
by dwang
Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cable Free at Last!
Replies: 62
Views: 6473

Re: Cable Free at Last!

We got rid of paid TV programming (Dish Network) a couple of years ago, and we are glad we did it. We installed a what we thought powerful outdoor antenna (with a power amplifier). The antenna is advertised to be capable of receiving signals from transmitters 60+ miles away. The result is great. The picture quality of several frequently watched channels are truly HD quality and lot better than that from our paid service. We are still too busy too have much TV time in our daily life anyway, and our kids are gone, thus there is no more high demand for discovery, history, family and educational channels, etc. Plus, with internet, the need for TV is not that great any more. So it works out for us just fine, and there is no turning back.
by dwang
Sat Oct 13, 2012 7:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What's the best way to "ladder" an emergency fund?
Replies: 13
Views: 4357

Re: What's the best way to "ladder" an emergency fund?

credit cards
money market
bonds in taxable accounts
stock funds in taxable accounts
retirement accounts

Though we use credit cards all the time (for reward, convenience) and think we could do the same to use them for EF needs, but we use them more like cash cards - we never had unpaid balances in our combined credit history and always paid the current bills in full. So strictly speaking, we really don't count credit cards as funding sources for our EF.
by dwang
Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Homeowners, Auto, Umbrella Strategy.........
Replies: 13
Views: 2385

Re: Homeowners, Auto, Umbrella Strategy.........

Amica on the Auto, Home and Umbrella. In Illinois
Auto: $1,798 a year for 3 newer cars, $250k/$500k, $1000 deductible.
Home: $1,523 a year, 1984 build, $530k rebuild cost, $300k liability. $1500 deductible.
Umbrella: $480 a year for $2M

Removing my daughter (college student) from our auto policy would have reduced our premium for umbrella policy to $399 which still seems to be high, compared to what others said they paid. I picked dividend option for all premium payments, so I paid higher premium up front, but at end, our actual cost could be lower.
by dwang
Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Homeowners Insurance replacement cost
Replies: 24
Views: 3808

Re: Homeowners Insurance replacement cost

We had a home policy from Liberty Mutual. The replacement cost for that policy is almost 20% higher than our house's market value (calculated by the insurance company). We now have the policy with Amica which has our replace cost still higher than Liberty Mutual's calculation, but only by a few percentage points. Each company stressed that the replacement cost is not the same as the market value, and at least in the case of Liberty Mutual, reducing the replacement cost for the policy from what they calculated is not allowed.
by dwang
Sat Jul 21, 2012 11:08 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Simple 401k employer match question
Replies: 7
Views: 1439

Re: Simple 401k employer match question

My 401K plan allows us to change the investment amounts and fund selections whenever we want and however many times (as far as I can tell). Each plan is different. Your question needs to be addressed to your HR and/or the 401K management company.
by dwang
Wed Jul 18, 2012 9:29 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Emergency Fund - Tax Exempt vs Taxable
Replies: 10
Views: 2021

Re: Emergency Fund - Tax Exempt vs Taxable

I have followed a very simple rule in finding a home for our emergency fund: it should be reasonably stable in any market condition, and it should also be tax efficient to minimize our income tax. And like any other investment, it needs at minimum to generate reasonably good returns (which don't have to be exciting). Our emergency fund is in taxable accounts, and mainly divided between Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt (VMLTX) and Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt funds (VWITX). The weight ratio between the two funds is 1:2. I kind of use Limited-Term fund as a substitute of portion of money market fund that I would have otherwise used as our emergency fund in pre-2008 market condition. I looked at all the bond funds performance in their worst mo...
by dwang
Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:20 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: More questions on Roth conversion
Replies: 3
Views: 406

More questions on Roth conversion

Backdoor Roth conversion has been discussed a lot in several threads. It sounds like it is preferable to convert all IRA balances in the same year, if feasible, to keep it simple and possibly less taxing. However, there are still things that I need clarification on. Here are my questions. - Exactly what makes a conversion a partial conversion? Say, I have two separate IRA accounts: a non-deductible IRA account (so it has only after tax contributions), and a rollover IRA account (it only has pre-tax contributions rolled over from a 401K account). Now if I convert the entire balance in my non-deductible IRA account to Roth, but leave the other rollover IRA account intact, is it still considered partial conversion? Sorry if it is obvious to mo...
by dwang
Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:50 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: [POLL] Do you have a 529 for your kids?
Replies: 28
Views: 2609

Re: [POLL] Do you have a 529 for your kids?

Both my wife and I have been maxing out to our 401K plans and non-deductible IRAs for many years. We have also maintained significant balances in our daughters' 529 accounts. Because our financial situation, my daughters won't qualify for need based financial aid, e.g. at private schools. One of our daughters just graduated from college, and we paid full bill for her, so she has zero debt. We have Vanguard's NV 529 plan. As Illinois residents, we did not take advantage by setting up an Illinois 529 to get state income tax benefits, which may be a mistake though. Initially, just wanted to stay with Vanguard for low cost and more flexible investment choices, and above all, my comfort level dealing with the company for many years.