Search found 27 matches
- Sun Mar 17, 2024 6:20 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Has Anybody Used Fidelity's Symantec VIP 2-Factor Authentication?
- Replies: 69
- Views: 11519
Re: Three Year Limit
Sorry to dredge up this old thread. I used the python script to grab the seed code for my password manager for both Fidelity and USAA. It's been working great for the last year and a half. But, when I made the code, it said it would expire in three years. What happens after three years? Nothing? Does it really expire and you have to make a new one and call Fidelity to update them with the new VIP code? I would love to know what happens at the three year mark for those of you who've done this longer than three years now. Thanks. I generated my token 8 or 9 years ago using the python scripts, and have have copies of the TOTP code on my phone, tablet and multiple computers without any expiration. Side note, if you want a great minimal TOTP to...
- Tue Dec 12, 2023 1:59 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Fidelity free Turbotax 2023
- Replies: 435
- Views: 154188
Re: Fidelity free Turbotax 2023
https://www.fidelity.com/accounts-trade ... discount-bslippingsloth wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2023 12:37 pm can anyone post their browser link to the free TT?
https://www.fidelity.com/accounts-trade/turbotax
https://www.fidelity.com/accounts-trade ... x-discount
Those two links took me to a 20 and 30% discount but no $5 alas
replace -b with other characters for different discount amounts.
Still missing the offer code that redirects to the microsite, but this is a starting point.
- Sat Sep 16, 2023 2:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Any deals on iPhone 13 Mini?
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2011
Re: Any deals on iPhone 13 Mini?
Apple does not do clearance. Best bet is used. Apple generally doesn't offer clearance sales for their devices. Your best bet for discounted Apple products would be to go for refurbished items. You can find these on Apple's official refurbished store. https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished Apple.com doesn't list the 13 mini. You have to look at carriers. People want bigger screens. I have the 12 mini. In the future, I will just buy the SE if Apple still makes it, because I think it is the smallest. I haven't compared it is just my impression. You may want to pick a phone now, the new SE will likely be 6.1" according to Macrumors https://www.macrumors.com/2023/09/16/there-is-no-iphone-15-mini/ from the article: There are no plans to re...
- Sat Sep 09, 2023 6:03 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Repeated Credit Card Fraud from Uber Despite Multiple Replacements - Seeking Advice
- Replies: 36
- Views: 7656
Repeated Credit Card Fraud from Uber Despite Multiple Replacements - Seeking Advice
I'm facing a frustrating issue with my 80-year-old mother's Bank of America credit card and would appreciate any guidance you can offer. In the past 3 months, my mom has had to go through four different BofA cards due to fraudulent charges related to Uber and Uber Eats—a service she has never used. Most of the charges are pretty expensive, usually between $300-$500, and she has incurred about $3500 in fraudulent charges across these instances. After each card was compromised, we called BofA to get the card canceled and the fraudulent charges reversed. Every customer service agent promised us that they had blocked Uber transactions. However, the fraudulent charges keep appearing. The last agent my mom spoke with admitted that the root of the...
- Sat Sep 09, 2023 3:26 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Can US-based Interactive Brokers accounts receive SEPA transfers?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1410
Re: Can US-based Interactive Brokers accounts receive SEPA transfers?
It's a USD based account, so doesn't really have the concept of pulling from foreign accounts.
As a side note, SEPA Direct Debit, as far as I know, is really a B2C type transaction. You can give your IBAN to your insurance company or mobile phone operator to debit your account with a SEPA mandate, but it doesn't really work for private parties to debit another account like you can with ACH.
- Sat May 06, 2023 10:25 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Financial podcasts
- Replies: 43
- Views: 5521
Re: Financial podcasts
I like Pitchfork Economics quite a bit, it's a VC in Seattle who takes a rather jaded view current state of American economic policy. The topics usually revolve around income inequality, the minimum wage, and the influence of wealthy individuals and corporations on economic policy.
It's mostly a tax-the-rich sort of podcast, if that's your sort of thing. To its credit, the hosts and guests are fairly academic and well informed, and do a good job of selling the concept of you get what you pay for at the macroeconomic level, focused on the impacts to the working class.
It's mostly a tax-the-rich sort of podcast, if that's your sort of thing. To its credit, the hosts and guests are fairly academic and well informed, and do a good job of selling the concept of you get what you pay for at the macroeconomic level, focused on the impacts to the working class.
- Sun Apr 23, 2023 9:30 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: IRS Online Account - Mysterious Error Message 8028
- Replies: 47
- Views: 21347
Re: IRS Online Account - Mysterious Error Message 8028
A short update to bump this thread, for others that are impacted. This week, I talked again to the taxpayer advocate, and contrary to truenorth418's impression, I got the feel it doesn't look like this will be moving with any speed or priority. Over the last month, the advocate has more than 40 cases related to this error (up from 10 when we talked in March). The advocate had a call last week with the project managers within the IRS, and the 8028 error was not a topic of concern. The advocate was not able to give any timeline for a resolution; I asked if this would be fixed in days, weeks, months or years, and the advocate was unable to give anything very reassuring, other than to speak in vague "they are working on it" platitudes...
- Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:26 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: IRS Online Account - Mysterious Error Message 8028
- Replies: 47
- Views: 21347
Re: IRS Online Account - Mysterious Error Message 8028
Just a short update, on 15 March, I filed a complaint with the "Systemic Advocacy Management" department of the IRS, since their website looks like the right place for this: https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/home/systemic-advocacy-management-system-sams/ They mention: Know of a tax problem that affects more than one taxpayer? You can help the Taxpayer Advocate Service tackle the “big-picture” problems in the IRS or the tax law by reporting them to us. These systemic issues: Always affect multiple taxpayers; Don’t apply to just one taxpayer (but if you personally have an unresolved IRS problem, TAS may be able to help); Involve IRS systems, policies, and procedures; Involve protecting taxpayer rights, reducing burden, ensuring f...
- Sat Mar 25, 2023 6:02 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
- Replies: 11037
- Views: 2067072
Re: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
Der Goldene Handschuh from Fatih Akin.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_golden_glove
Overall a great dramatic story of a murderer in the prostitute neighborhood of Hamburg in the 1970s who found his victims in a local bar.
The characters are all well cast and more than quirky.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_golden_glove
Overall a great dramatic story of a murderer in the prostitute neighborhood of Hamburg in the 1970s who found his victims in a local bar.
The characters are all well cast and more than quirky.
- Sun Mar 12, 2023 10:11 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
- Replies: 11037
- Views: 2067072
Re: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
Watched this as my Friday night movie. Can highly recommend if you want to have a warped weekend. After the final credits started, my partner and I both said "... whaaaa" and agreed that it was an incredible horror movie.
The Journal had a write-up earlier in the fall.
- Tue Mar 07, 2023 1:20 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Can US-based Interactive Brokers accounts receive SEPA transfers?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1410
Re: Can US-based Interactive Brokers accounts receive SEPA transfers?
Thanks, I didn't know Schwab could receive SEPA. Which info do you indicate in the SEPA? The field "custom label" is limited to 20 chars in the bank from where I tried to send the SEPA transfer, so I can't indicate "For Further Credit: [account eight-digit account number and name(s) listed on your Schwab account]": I just include my full account name / Account number e.g. Erika Mustermann / 1234-5678 I've tried it both the "Unstructured Remittance Information" (limited to 140 characters) and "End To End Id" (limited to 35 characters), and both went through. 20 characters sounds really short, it sounds like it may be the wrong field. I just took a leap of faith and transferred €10 to see what the exch...
- Sun Mar 05, 2023 5:07 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Can US-based Interactive Brokers accounts receive SEPA transfers?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1410
Re: Can US-based Interactive Brokers accounts receive SEPA transfers?
I wonder whether an Interactive Brokers (IBKR) account based in the United States can receive a SEPA transfer. The bank sending the SEPA transfer is country that is part of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)· The transfer is in euros. My inconclusive research so far: I read How to Deposit EUR to Interactive Brokers but I have no ideas whether this applies to Interactive Brokers accounts based in the United States. The US financial institutions Bank of America, Charles Schwab (US accounts), E*TRADE Securities LLC , Fidelity, Merrill Edge, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard cannot receive SEPA transfers, which makes me further doubt whether US-based Interactive Brokers accounts can receive SEPA transfers. SEPA transfers are typically only u...
- Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:49 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: ID.me [Identify verification site]
- Replies: 363
- Views: 41905
Re: ID.me [Identify verification site]
Beyond the privacy concerns, I'm also worried about the 8028 Error when logging in, which from my research/googling seems to only happen to people using ID.me and seems to have no real cause or solution beyond randomly waiting for it to work again. Since I need a PIN every year for tax filing, that's just a headache I don't need. Then again, maybe this is just something to happens to newer accounts/logins, and we'd have the same issue even with login.gov. I contacted ID.me and they told me the Error 8028 problem sits on the IRS side not with ID.me, and various posts on the IRS Reddit forums support this. Even the IRS agents I have been able to reach by phone don’t know how to fix Error 8028 and offer no solutions or timeframes for fixing i...
- Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:22 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: IRS Online Account - Mysterious Error Message 8028
- Replies: 47
- Views: 21347
Re: IRS Online Account - Mysterious Error Message 8028
Mine started roughly around the same time, I've been checking about once a week, all with the same result, stupid 8028. It does look like the login.gov stuff is slowly coming online, you can see what it'll eventually look like here:
https://sa.www4.irs.gov/secureaccess/ui/ial1
Right now access is limited to ... "access IRS Form 990-N (e-Postcard) and Qualified Intermediary Application and Account Management System (QAAMS)."
Hijacking the URL and putting in the trailing part of the URL from the "My account" and logging in just dumps you back to the beginning
I wish there was a better way to get info out of the IRS, phone support seems confused.
- Thu Feb 02, 2023 3:14 pm
- Forum: Non-US Investing
- Topic: US citizen in Switzerland investment options
- Replies: 23
- Views: 3780
Re: US citizen in Switzerland investment options
Side note, you know you don't need to use Transferwise to get money to Schwab? You can just transfer CHF or EUR to Schwab's Citibank clearing account, and it will convert at interbank rates:confusedInEurope wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:05 pm Country of Residence: Switzerland. I am a dual US and CH citizen and currently live in Switzerland.
1. I have a brokerage account with Charles Schwab in the USA. I transfer money from CHF to USD via transferwise. Should I open the Charles Schwab international account in London? Is there any advantage for me?
https://www.schwab.com/public/file/P-12 ... 55intl.pdf
Try it out, just transfer 10 CHF, with your name and account number as the purpose code.
- Fri Jan 27, 2023 11:47 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Costa Rica Questions
- Replies: 56
- Views: 7087
Re: Costa Rica Questions
I think others are doing a poor job of managing expectations when it comes to driving. Driving in Costa Rica is nothing like driving in any US or European city I've driven in. Signage is poor, road upkeep is lacking, and adherence to driving laws is minimal. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Costa Rica, and I'm not saying don't drive, but we drove our first visit, and we didn't our second. :D I distinctly remember driving into San Jose and finding myself on what was probably a 5 lane one way road with no lane markings. Cars were all over the place. OP should read the above, several times. I live in Germany and just returned from CR for a 10 day trip over the winter holiday. We rented a car in SJ, and returned it in Liberia with several...
- Sat Nov 19, 2022 7:01 am
- Forum: Non-US Investing
- Topic: High Earners in Europe - What do you do for a living (and are there jobs with similar pay as in the US)?
- Replies: 118
- Views: 20006
Re: High Earners in Europe - What do you do for a living (and are there jobs with similar pay as in the US)?
Munich based engineer here at a mid-size (several hundred people) company. This city is definitely a microcosm, there are a lot of things going for it, since there are many, high-paying both old and new companies, or government organizations here. At the same time, there are many people struggling to get by, not unlike every other HCOL area. Just a few samples of the companies around: BMW, Allianz, Siemens, European Patent Office (and all the associated attorneys feeding in), Airbus / EADS, Bavarian government, Apple (ex-Intel modem division), Google, Amazon, IBM, Infineon The list goes on, and there in a fair startup/incubator scene around, but nowhere near as much as Berlin. Salaries for new-hire engineers at my company are somewhere in t...
- Sun Sep 25, 2022 4:14 am
- Forum: Non-US Investing
- Topic: Beginning Investing for US Expat in Germany
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2861
Re: Beginning Investing for US Expat in Germany
I may as well jump in as a long-term German resident. I have accounts with a few brokerages, each has their own advantages and disadvantages. If you are just starting out, it's probably easiest to use a Schwab account, and do SEPA bank transfers to Schwab's Citibank account in Frankfurt (see here for the account number), just list your name and account number in the Verwendungszweck. Transfers usually show up same day, and are at the immediate forex rate when it hits your account, and not a daily rate. I find IBKR's interface a bit too complex for the my peon brain, and susceptible to my psychological blocks such as "... I want the EUR to go up just 0.1% more before I convert". There are many articles regarding IRA, Roth and FTC v...
- Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:40 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: I Bonds Mega Thread (I Bond Heads Rejoice!)
- Replies: 6651
- Views: 1204373
Re: I Bonds Mega Thread (I Bond Heads Rejoice!)
I second the criticism of that virtual keyboard. I use complex passwords generated by my password manager (1password). That silly virtual keyboard discourages complexity. You're right. This is also why I rage against the (thankfully somewhat short-lived) security theater fad of disallowing pasting into password fields that some banks and even T-Mobile were doing for awhile. In any case, I learned a trick (on here I think) where you can remove the readonly="readonly" tag on the password field at TD by using Inspect (Q) in Firefox (right-click on the password field and choose it,) then the field will be auto-filled by your browser. :D Easier solution for me was to create a bookmark with the following URL: javascript:Array.from(docu...
- Sat Jul 09, 2022 4:47 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
- Replies: 11037
- Views: 2067072
Re: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
Thanks for the recommendation! My partner and I watched it tonight, what a great movie! Note: Original language title is "Competencia oficial"jginseattle wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:52 pm Offcial Competition. An eccentric director (Penelope Cruz) and her two egotistical leading actors (Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez) go into rehearsals before shooting a feature film. A very enjoyable comedy. The three stars are excellent.
- Wed Jul 06, 2022 2:54 pm
- Forum: Non-US Investing
- Topic: Any way to "lock in" exchange rate USD to EURO while investing?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2109
Re: Any way to "lock in" exchange rate USD to EURO while investing?
Keep in mind that ECB interest rates are currently negative over here, and IBKR charges (as of July 2022) between -0.909% and -1.909% interest rate for balances over 50 000 EUR depending on your relationship tier (pro vs. lite).Atlantic_ave wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 1:44 pm Buy any currency with Interactive Brokers, and keep it there in a EUR account at no cost.
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/a ... -rates.php
- Sat Jul 02, 2022 8:57 am
- Forum: Non-US Investing
- Topic: Buying I-Bonds from overseas
- Replies: 15
- Views: 3200
Re: Buying I-Bonds from overseas
Fellow American living in Germany here, adding my two cents. I opened a TD account with my parent's address in the US, so it was fairly straightforward. I had a typo in my bank account information, so had to call them to fix it. Since it was only one digit, the lady was nice enough to fix it, since she said normally bank account changes need to have either a signature or medallion guarantee. I explained that I was in Germany, and the nice lady explained that for foreign residents (and only for foreign residents), a notary from the consulate / embassy is acceptable. This costs 50 USD: https://de.usembassy.gov/services/notarials I also overpaid my US taxes via extension mid-May, filed my taxes on 30 May, and a single 5000 USD bond with Marian...
- Thu May 26, 2022 10:59 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: cancun pesos
- Replies: 30
- Views: 3397
Re: cancun pesos
My wife & I are going to Cancun for a week beginning June 8. Do we need to bring Pesos ? If so, how much ? The more you travel internationally the more you will learn to use your credit card whenever possible and hit the ATM on day 1 to get local currency for anything that won't take a card. Generally a good idea, but highly dependent on how much the black market currency deviates from the official exchange rate. My coworker just returned from Sri Lanka and said he lost a significant amount of money by not taking USD or EUR in cash, and exchanging locally; the USD/LKR rate while he was there was 310:1, while the black market rate was closer to 400:1. The same happened to me a few years ago in Argentina, USD/ARS rate was 15:1, while the...
- Sat Aug 21, 2021 8:25 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: What would you buy if you could not invest in ETFs or mutual funds for 5 years? [US ex-pat in Germany]
- Replies: 30
- Views: 3600
Re: What would you buy if you could not invest in ETFs or mutual funds for 5 years? [US ex-pat in Germany]
I am fully on board the Boglehead train with no debt, maxed tax sheltered contributions, and investments mixed between VTI/VXUS/VT and vanguard target date funds. Due to a job opportunity, I will be temporarily relocating overseas. One of the caveats for the country I will be working in is that all unrealized capital gains are taxed at ~25%, and with no expected US tax offset those taxes probably would not be offset against my eventual long term capital gains in the US (aka, double taxation). This policy does not apply to individual equities. Can you please provide a reference to where you understand that unrealized gains are taxed in Germany? I am a US-Person, and file US and German taxes annually, and this has never been the case. As you...
- Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:16 am
- Forum: Non-US Investing
- Topic: Buying individual stocks in Germany (US Expat)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1424
Re: Buying individual stocks in Germany (US Expat)
I am a US-Citizen, and German resident earning in EUR. I tried horribly to create a passive index based on the SOXX index, and my own subjective feel of what was good or bad (no bank stocks, only one consumer or petroleum company, etc) since I didn't want to deal with currency fluctuation. I had an account with Consorsbank (BNP's German online-only bank). The costs were OK (€5-10) for purchasing individual shares, but dividends were always paid back in cash. I gave up last year, and figured to go a three-fund portfolio, so transferred all the securities to Interactive Brokers. The transfer took ~3 weeks, but the cost basis never came through. I easily spent 10 hours on the phone with both IB and Consorsbank, IB claimed that they never recei...
- Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:42 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Implementing Two-Factor Authentication for Fidelity Accounts
- Replies: 48
- Views: 22657
Re: Implementing Two-Factor Authentication for Fidelity Acco
OK, That was incredibly easy. I called the number from the previous post (+1-800-673-2938) and a representative answered without any wait. He needed: -An account number -Account owners name -Full name and date of birth of one of the beneficiaries -Two securities held in the account -Credential ID of my soft token (visit m.verisign.com from your mobile browser, and it'll direct you to Google Play or Apple App store to download) A few seconds later, he had it set up, I logged out and back into Fidelity's website and it prompted me for the six digit code. I asked why I had so much difficulty the first time I called. The agent said that normally the VIP access is set up for private clients, however if someone already has either a token or soft ...
- Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:33 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Implementing Two-Factor Authentication for Fidelity Accounts
- Replies: 48
- Views: 22657
Re: Implementing Two-Factor Authentication for Fidelity Acco
I found this thread while looking to enable two-factor for the rest of my accounts. I tried to call Fidelity today, I have a standard account with SEP, Roth, Sole Proprietorship, etc. I called the customer service number on my account page, and spoke to a CSR. The CSR initially said "Oh, you're calling about the additional security features where we use a code from your smartphone to validate your account." I was initially excited that they'd be able to help, but after a brief hold, the rep came back and said "We'll be introducing wire transfers on 10 March, so just wait 18 more days." I explained that I wanted two-factor and gave him the "Something you know, plus something you have" pitch, not bank wires. Afte...