Search found 438 matches
- Tue Jan 23, 2024 3:58 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Feb. 7 Update -- Brand new Subaru needs new transmission
- Replies: 173
- Views: 16242
Re: Brand new Subaru needs new transmission
I had the exact same thing happen with our Subaru Forester. I bought the Forester and took it 30 minutes home, woke up the next morning to take a spin around the block with my wife and every light popped up on the dashboard with errors. I called Subaru immediately and they had me bring it in (offered to tow it, but I said I'd drive it in). I only had about 55 miles on the car! After a day of inspecting it they reported that from the factory it was low on transmission fluid, and that the transmission needed a replacement. They quoted that it could take up to a month to fix, and offered to give me a loaner. I spoke to the general manager and said I wanted a different car. I paid the difference, but was sold a slightly better optioned Forester...
- Wed Dec 13, 2023 2:13 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1789
Re: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
Do both spouses have adequate term life insurance? --Randy Bo Bandy No, we don't. What should I look into? We also don't have umbrella insurance, which I know very little about. There isnt much to know about either. For term life, you'd need a policy(ies) that will basically negate any financial impact of either or both of you dying. For my wife and I, neither of us would want to work anymore if the other died and we decided that 2 million each on a 20yr policy would be enough to make that happen given our other assets and trying for a child at the time. If we both died, then our now 2yr old child would be set financially. Rather than set up a "ladder" of term policies with different length terms, we went with a single policy eac...
- Wed Dec 13, 2023 2:11 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1789
Re: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
Very good job so far. Here are a couple of thougths: 1. You definitely need term life insurance policies on both of you. Given the young age of your children, I would go with 20 year term policies - that way you are covered through college for both of them. 2. You definitely should get an umbrella policy given your income stream and assets. Annual cost of an umbrella vary by carrier, but assume $200-$300 max. FYI - I was just quoted a $5MM with $1MM in Uninsured motorist coverage for @$750 3. You have relocated from CA to IL. With two verys small children, I would have make sure I had a will/estate plan prepared by an IL attorney - you need to name guardians if both of you are deceased as well as name a trustee to handle the finances on th...
- Wed Dec 13, 2023 2:07 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1789
Re: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
Questions: 1) We don’t currently contribute to Roth IRA which I feel like is a big mistake. I don’t do a backdoor Roth IRA because we have traditional IRA accounts. Should I be doing this another way? Can you put your rollover IRA into your current 401k? Can your wife? If you can, I'd recommend that and then you are free and clear to do backdoor Roth contributions. 2) We don’t contribute to a 529 for our kids. We do want to fund most of their college educations but I need to look into the benefits and drawbacks of a 529 account As Illinois residents you could deduct $20k of 529 contributions per year from your state taxable income. There are still plenty of pros and cons to contributing to 529 plans, but that's a nice benefit. 3) Anything ...
- Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:33 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1789
Re: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
We do not.life in slices wrote: ↑Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:19 amand term insurance not connected to your employers (in case you lose a job or leave)randybobandy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:06 am Do both spouses have adequate term life insurance?
--Randy Bo Bandy
- Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:33 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1789
Re: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
No, we don't. What should I look into?randybobandy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:06 am Do both spouses have adequate term life insurance?
--Randy Bo Bandy
We also don't have umbrella insurance, which I know very little about.
- Wed Dec 13, 2023 9:55 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1789
Financial Check: Are we missing anything?
I recently moved my family across the country (CA to IL) to be close to family. We’re finally getting settled into our lifestyle here in Chicago so I thought I’d post some numbers as a check up to see if we are missing any low hanging fruit as far as investing goes. We got a bit of a late start to investing as we both took our time completing college. We lived overseas for a few years and then started getting our finances in order about 8 years ago. Our incomes have gone up significantly in the last 5 years. This post doesn’t get into expenses, but those are pretty well under control since we have no mortgage and just a small car loan. The big expense for us is our full-time nanny for our kids ($4k / mth) but that’s a service we consider we...
- Mon Nov 27, 2023 2:45 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paying down car loan
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4839
Re: Paying down car loan
It’s hard to say without more context. Is your fairly high NW $1MM or $5MM. If the latter, it doesn’t matter what you do! Fair point. NW is $1.8M and we're 40 y.o. Are you counting home equity in your NW? I'd pay off a 4.9% interest car loan ASAP, but mainly because I hate debt. When I see people carrying car loans above 1-3% I generally think that they financed the car because they couldn't afford to buy it in cash. Doesn't sound like that's the case here. You clearly have the money to pay it of, so I'd just pay it off and be done with it. But I wouldn't be in a hurry to pay off a 0% interest loan. That's basically free money. Yes our $500k home is paid for and I included that in the $1.8M NW. Thanks for the thoughts, I think we'll just q...
- Wed Nov 22, 2023 4:29 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paying down car loan
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4839
Re: Paying down car loan
You're right, it should be in a HYSA - I'll look into that!lazydavid wrote: ↑Wed Nov 22, 2023 6:29 am I would definitely pay down/off the 4.9% loan.
At a minimum though, you should look at moving the majority of your $40k in checking into a HYSA. Mine pays 5%, there are others that pay more. Then at least you mostly offset (not totally, thanks to taxes as pointed out above) the loan interest. But if employment is relatively secure, I'd probably just lump-sum pay it off and then prioritize rebuilding your EF.
- Wed Nov 22, 2023 4:28 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paying down car loan
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4839
Re: Paying down car loan
Fair point. NW is $1.8M and we're 40 y.o.MillennialFinance19 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 22, 2023 5:57 am It’s hard to say without more context. Is your fairly high NW $1MM or $5MM. If the latter, it doesn’t matter what you do!
- Wed Nov 22, 2023 4:27 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paying down car loan
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4839
Re: Paying down car loan
My family has (2) Subaru's and I'm wondreing if it makes sense in our situation to pay down the newer one rather than invest that same money in VTSAX. We have a 2020 Forester that we owe $12k on at 0%. We wont pay that one down early. We also have a 2024 Outback that we got recently and owe $41k on at 4.9%. We're 40 y.o. and dont have any other debt. We have a pretty high NW for our age and strong stable incomes. We like to keep $40k in our checking account, and each month anything over that we put into our brokerage at Vanguard into VTSAX. I'm wondering if we should pay down the 4.9% loan rather than invest that money. OP, you are 53k in auto loan debt. How quickly will you be out of this debt? I understand the 53k in auto debt, but I'm n...
- Wed Nov 22, 2023 4:26 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paying down car loan
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4839
Re: Paying down car loan
The source of money would just be our regular incomes. Anything extra at the end of the month that currently goes toward VTSAX would now go toward the car loan.mortfree wrote: ↑Wed Nov 22, 2023 3:02 am What is the source of the money you would use to pay down the car loan - from the 40k so you go below your desired amount in checking or from new money coming in that is in excess of the 40k?
I wasn’t sure.
Separately are you getting a good interest rate on your checking account? I keep $20 in checking at a credit union and a good amount of cash at CapOne (4.3%).
- Wed Nov 22, 2023 4:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paying down car loan
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4839
Re: Paying down car loan
Yes, we were moving across the country and buying a house with cash, so weren't sure what other expenses we would have in the near future.Hyperchicken wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 3:18 pm Did something change between recently when you decided to get the loan instead of paying cash, and now?
- Tue Nov 21, 2023 3:12 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Paying down car loan
- Replies: 36
- Views: 4839
Paying down car loan
My family has (2) Subaru's and I'm wondreing if it makes sense in our situation to pay down the newer one rather than invest that same money in VTSAX.
We have a 2020 Forester that we owe $12k on at 0%. We wont pay that one down early.
We also have a 2024 Outback that we got recently and owe $41k on at 4.9%.
We're 40 y.o. and dont have any other debt. We have a pretty high NW for our age and strong stable incomes. We like to keep $40k in our checking account, and each month anything over that we put into our brokerage at Vanguard into VTSAX. I'm wondering if we should pay down the 4.9% loan rather than invest that money.
We have a 2020 Forester that we owe $12k on at 0%. We wont pay that one down early.
We also have a 2024 Outback that we got recently and owe $41k on at 4.9%.
We're 40 y.o. and dont have any other debt. We have a pretty high NW for our age and strong stable incomes. We like to keep $40k in our checking account, and each month anything over that we put into our brokerage at Vanguard into VTSAX. I'm wondering if we should pay down the 4.9% loan rather than invest that money.
- Fri Nov 10, 2023 11:23 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Employer Insurance - Stuck, help!
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1025
Re: Employer Insurance - Stuck, help!
Hopefully you get clarity, but another way to look at it, in the worst case, you risk $200 a month for the chance to save $600 a month if it works out. I would probably do it (unless ADP tells you otherwise before open enrollment ends). Good way to look at it! I just heard from ADP and they said that my situation does count for a QLE (getting coverage from my wife's employer) so it looks like there's a process for this situation, thanksfully. I'm still a bit nervous about it since healthcare.gov says nothing about it. Additionally someone linked me to a blog post describing this exact situation and stated that "Section 125 permitted election" allows for this. https://www.newfront.com/blog/changing-health-plan-elections-based-on-s...
- Fri Nov 10, 2023 10:19 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Employer Insurance - Stuck, help!
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1025
Re: Employer Insurance - Stuck, help!
My small employer is located in California and does their benefits through ADP. Their insurance option (Kaiser Permanente) is a California only insurance since all employees are located in California. I recently moved to Chicago and they gave me an option to get on AETNA insurance. I misunderstood the cost, and now pay $800/mth for decent insurance, which is the only option they gave me. Yikes. I can explain why I misunderstood the cost, but I don't want ot make this post so long that I lose people and get less responses. I'd like to get on my wife's employer's insurance plan, which is good insurance and would mean $200/mth increase in her plan (so we would save $600/mth by cancelling my current plan). Here's the issue: My wife's open enro...
- Fri Nov 10, 2023 9:38 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Employer Insurance - Stuck, help!
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1025
Employer Insurance - Stuck, help!
My small employer is located in California and does their benefits through ADP. Their insurance option (Kaiser Permanente) is a California only insurance since all employees are located in California. I recently moved to Chicago and they gave me an option to get on AETNA insurance. I misunderstood the cost, and now pay $800/mth for decent insurance, which is the only option they gave me. Yikes. I can explain why I misunderstood the cost, but I don't want ot make this post so long that I lose people and get less responses. I'd like to get on my wife's employer's insurance plan, which is good insurance and would mean $200/mth increase in her plan (so we would save $600/mth by cancelling my current plan). Here's the issue: My wife's open enrol...
- Fri Jul 21, 2023 2:27 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Am I over-extending myself?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 3092
Re: Am I over-extending myself?
My wife and I are looking to purchase a home, but I am worried it is too much. My wife and I are both Federal Civilians, so job stability “seems” ok. Ages 33 and 30. Current finances: Cash for Down Payment - 180k Retirement accounts: 135k Debt: 25k car loan No CC debt Current income - 185k combined (pre-tax) The mortgage company was happy to approve it. However, I am unsure. Home sale price - 750k. Am I crazy or is this just too much? You'll certainly qualify for a mortgage, but I lean towards crazy. The majority of your NW will immediately be tied up in a home and the mortgage will still be >30% of gross income. This is what I think I subconsciously was realizing. The mortgage company isn’t going to really tell me no. Doesn’t mean it is a...
- Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:20 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Simple Questions about Vanguard Accounts
- Replies: 4
- Views: 892
Re: Simple Questions about Vanguard Accounts
Thanks that's an interesting workaround. Basically you're telling Google Chrome that when you see this text to replace it with the new alias. I wish Vanguard had a true solution here but maybe there aren't that many people asking for this feature.LookinAround wrote: ↑Mon Jul 03, 2023 5:38 am Haven't tried it myself and a bit of a kludge but a Chrome extension other Bogleheads have used as a workaround to replace text
Changing the name of Vanguard Accounts
- Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:19 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Simple Questions about Vanguard Accounts
- Replies: 4
- Views: 892
Re: Simple Questions about Vanguard Accounts
Thanks for the response. It looks like once the alias' are set up they will only show on that specific device. Meaning if I login through the web it won't show the alias. How strange that Vanguard hasn't addressed this in so many years. I remember looking into this topic many years ago and being disappointed that my other brokers could do it but Vanguard couldn't at the time.PoundCake wrote: ↑Sun Jul 02, 2023 9:59 pm Yes, per this post, if you use the Vanguard app on an iPad:
viewtopic.php?t=394103
- Sun Jul 02, 2023 4:41 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Simple Questions about Vanguard Accounts
- Replies: 4
- Views: 892
Simple Questions about Vanguard Accounts
I've been using Vanguard for my investments for many years, but things have changed on their website (Mostly for the better, I'd say!) and I can't figure out how to do a few things.
1) I want to setup an alias name for some of my accounts in Vanguard. For example "Jack's College Fund Taxable Account" could be one. Is this possible?
2) I want to setup a new brokerage account within my current Vanguard portfolio. Somehow I can't seem to find 'add new account' anywhere! I'm sure I'm just missing it.. Any help would be appreciated. Found it! Transact\Open a New Account
1) I want to setup an alias name for some of my accounts in Vanguard. For example "Jack's College Fund Taxable Account" could be one. Is this possible?
2) I want to setup a new brokerage account within my current Vanguard portfolio. Somehow I can't seem to find 'add new account' anywhere! I'm sure I'm just missing it.. Any help would be appreciated. Found it! Transact\Open a New Account
- Sat Jun 03, 2023 10:17 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 4761
Re: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
If you have a taxable account at Vanguard, you can stash all the money into your settlement fund VMFXX Federal Money Market. Current SEC yield is 4.77% which is pretty competitive with any high yield savings account. Only consideration might be that VMFXX is not FDIC insured and also the risk if Congress doesn't resolve the debt ceiling issue who knows what will happen to money markets (or the whole economy) in the short term. Do you have a large mattress? Chase might also have a high yield savings account where you could put it, just make sure you read the fine print. Sorry for the newbie question here, but how do I purchase directly into the settlement fund? I've moved the ~$300k from my Vanguard brokerage account to my Chase checking ac...
- Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:49 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 4761
Re: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
If you have a taxable account at Vanguard, you can stash all the money into your settlement fund VMFXX Federal Money Market. Current SEC yield is 4.77% which is pretty competitive with any high yield savings account. Only consideration might be that VMFXX is not FDIC insured and also the risk if Congress doesn't resolve the debt ceiling issue who knows what will happen to money markets (or the whole economy) in the short term. Do you have a large mattress? Chase might also have a high yield savings account where you could put it, just make sure you read the fine print. Sorry for the newbie question here, but how do I purchase directly into the settlement fund? I've moved the ~$300k from my Vanguard brokerage account to my Chase checking ac...
- Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:45 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 4761
Re: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
I have $300k in cash that I'm going to be using to purchase a home August 1st. I'm wondering if I should put that in a high yield savings account or something. I want to be sure I'm being smart about what I do with the cash even with such a short time period. If it should go into a high yield savings account, where do you recommend I open an account? Do high yield savings accounts have a minimum time period that you have to have the money there for? For example is there small print that says I need to have at least $100k in the account for 12 months or similar? I don't think you can pick the wrong savings account/money market with a 3 month time horizon. I'd just put it wherever you already have an account. Excuse my ignorance but I'm not ...
- Thu May 11, 2023 11:03 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
- Replies: 24
- Views: 2076
Re: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
My family is moving from CA to IL in August and I'm looking at options for moving. We have (2) young kids, and we don't have a ton of furniture and have (1) car. Option 1) We both fly to Chicago with the kids and close on the house. My wife stays there with the kids, but I fly back to CA with my brother to pack up a 26' uhaul and tow the Forester behind it. My brother would help with the labor but also be company on the long drive. Option 2) We both fly to Chicago with the kids and close on the house. A moving company delivers our furniture 1-3 weeks later. I still fly back to CA with my brother to drive our car and a few fragile items back to Chicago. The cost: Option 1 (Uhaul) - $4,450 plus gas and insurance! Option 2 (Movers) - $4,600 I...
- Thu May 11, 2023 10:58 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Pay off student loans for DD?
- Replies: 36
- Views: 2750
Re: Pay off student loans for DD?
When my DD was graduating high school, she had the intelligence to excel but not the drive... So, we made a deal where she would take the maximum student loans and then I'd pay back a portion of them based on her grades. Now, 4 years later she has thrived, made dean's list many semesters and had a couple semesters of straight As. Based on the deal we originally made, roughly $6K is what she would owe (out of a potential $27k). She's about to graduate with a great job and she has saved a bunch of money from her previous summer internship and prior jobs I can go two different paths on this... Pay off the loans for her and consider it a great gift for her to start completely loan free Leave the loans with her and she has the satisfaction of k...
- Tue May 09, 2023 11:32 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
- Replies: 24
- Views: 2076
Re: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
We're in Northern California (Bay Area) so I looked into Reno, NV. A 1-way from Reno to Chicago is $4100 as of yesterday.lostcoast2023 wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 1:49 pm Look at places outside of California to pickup the U-Haul. For example, the price may be half as much if you start in Las Vegas instead of LA.
- Tue May 09, 2023 11:29 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
- Replies: 24
- Views: 2076
Re: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
Look at places outside of California to pickup the U-Haul. For example, the price may be half as much if you start in Las Vegas instead of LA. But then you pay about an extra $1000 for mileage and gas getting it from Las Vegas to LA and back. One way rentals for LA to Chicago are only about $600 more than Chicago to LA. Between mileage and gas, the truck costs about $2/mile to drive, so picking up from a different location needs to take that into account. Las Vegas to Chicago was actually considerably more expensive, btw. Every time I thought about doing a one way UHaul, it was always expensive enough once you figure in the cost of gas and overnight stays that we did something else. Lots of good points in this thread, I appreciate the info...
- Tue May 09, 2023 11:28 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
- Replies: 24
- Views: 2076
Re: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
That's a fair point, but we are familiar with the area. It's where we grew up and we bought the home with cash so there's no mortgage.the_wiki wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 2:07 pm Are you extremely familiar with the area you will be moving? In general it is better to rent when moving to a new part of the country. You need to get a bit more acquainted with commutes and neighborhoods, etc, before locking yourself down with a mortgage. Plus its just easier to just fly out to an area for 2 days and tour and pick a rental vs buying a house. Just my 2 cents.
- Mon May 08, 2023 12:01 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
- Replies: 24
- Views: 2076
The cost of moving across the country - Advice please!
My family is moving from CA to IL in August and I'm looking at options for moving. We have (2) young kids, and we don't have a ton of furniture and have (1) car. Option 1) We both fly to Chicago with the kids and close on the house. My wife stays there with the kids, but I fly back to CA with my brother to pack up a 26' uhaul and tow the Forester behind it. My brother would help with the labor but also be company on the long drive. Option 2) We both fly to Chicago with the kids and close on the house. A moving company delivers our furniture 1-3 weeks later. I still fly back to CA with my brother to drive our car and a few fragile items back to Chicago. The cost: Option 1 (Uhaul) - $4,450 plus gas and insurance! Option 2 (Movers) - $4,600 I ...
- Thu May 04, 2023 11:26 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 4761
Re: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
I have $300k in cash that I'm going to be using to purchase a home August 1st. I'm wondering if I should put that in a high yield savings account or something. I want to be sure I'm being smart about what I do with the cash even with such a short time period. If it should go into a high yield savings account, where do you recommend I open an account? Do high yield savings accounts have a minimum time period that you have to have the money there for? For example is there small print that says I need to have at least $100k in the account for 12 months or similar? I don't think you can pick the wrong savings account/money market with a 3 month time horizon. I'd just put it wherever you already have an account. Excuse my ignorance but I'm not ...
- Thu May 04, 2023 11:11 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: $300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 4761
$300k Cash - Where to put for 3 months?
I have $300k in cash that I'm going to be using to purchase a home August 1st. I'm wondering if I should put that in a high yield savings account or something. I want to be sure I'm being smart about what I do with the cash even with such a short time period.
If it should go into a high yield savings account, where do you recommend I open an account? Do high yield savings accounts have a minimum time period that you have to have the money there for? For example is there small print that says I need to have at least $100k in the account for 12 months or similar?
If it should go into a high yield savings account, where do you recommend I open an account? Do high yield savings accounts have a minimum time period that you have to have the money there for? For example is there small print that says I need to have at least $100k in the account for 12 months or similar?
- Wed Apr 26, 2023 12:40 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: When to pull money for house purchase?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1143
Re: When to pull money for house purchase?
Is there a tax effeciency reason that I should do it all as a single sale, or could I dollar cost average the sale; Sell $70k/month until August? Remember to pick units with the highest basis first, and you specific identification which I'm sure you've thought of. I was thinking about making a separate post on the 'how' on selling. I know Vanguard gives options for selling, but I'm unclear on what batches we should sell. I need to do some research but any info you can provide would be really helpful. I'm thinking that as soon as I figure that out I'll just sell the shares. These shares were purchased in small batches ($2k - 10k per month) over the last 8 years. To make things more complicated, we're moving from CA to IL, keeping our jobs w...
- Wed Apr 26, 2023 12:10 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: When to pull money for house purchase?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1143
When to pull money for house purchase?
My wife and I are under contract to buy a house. The purchase price is $540k and we're paying in cash. We close on the house August 1st. We have $340k in cash right now and $700k in one of our taxable brokerage accounts, which we'll pull ~$200k from. Currently that money is invested in VTSAX 100%. My question is about when we should sell the VTSAX. Do we pull the $200k right now, or let it sit another 3 months before we sell those shares? I'm on board with not timing the market. Someone could argue that selling now is timing the market because we think it may go down in the next few months. Someone could also argue waiting to sell is timing the market because we believe it will go up in the next 3 months. Is there a tax effeciency reason th...
- Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:57 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately
- Replies: 17
- Views: 3003
Re: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately
In case someone ends up finding this thread later I thought I'd post an update. We are under contract for the house mentioned above and didn't use the realtor. I called the realtor and told her, and the conversation went really well. I think she's hoping we'll use her in the future and also send her referrals, which we will do. She was friendly and understanding - no fireworks and no pushback at all.
- Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:27 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately
- Replies: 17
- Views: 3003
Realtor Fee, Being Fair after buying privately
My wife and I are moving to Chicago and are using a realtor to help us find a house. Our realtor has met me at houses 5 times to view the houses, but we're still looking. I think she does her job well. Just by luck my wife was connected with a local couple who plans on selling their house, and the house is perfect for us, is a great price, etc. The home owners have not listed on MLS, do not have a realtor, etc. They want to save on realtor fees by selling to us without the use of realtors. We're not in any type of contract with our realtor. We're likely to buy this house without our realtor, but I don't want to leave the realtor with nothing since she's invested some time into our house search. What is protocol in this situation? What would...
- Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:52 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
- Replies: 38
- Views: 4035
Re: Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
Those are all good points. In that case, what's the recommendation about how much to mortgage vs selling shares?tashnewbie wrote: ↑Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:45 amBased on stated HHI, I presume you are in the 24% fed tax bracket (maybe 32% depending on how close to $400k it is and your pretax deductions).
If you got a mortgage, assuming all of the interest would be deductible, your after-tax interest rate would be 4.94% (6.5% x (1-0.24)). If you have state income tax, this rate would be less if the interest is deductible at the state level.
- Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:40 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
- Replies: 38
- Views: 4035
Re: Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
If we made the above described sale we would realize about $200k in longterm gains, so we would end up with a $30k tax billHyperchicken wrote: ↑Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:37 am What are unrealized gains/losses on your VTSAX position?
- Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:39 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
- Replies: 38
- Views: 4035
Re: Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
A) We're not financially independant
B) $650k represents roughly 30% of our net worth. We're 37 years old and make ~$400k HHI
C) This is a typical mortgage - I'm not clear on what a non-recourse loan is but will need to look into it.
- Tue Mar 07, 2023 11:25 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
- Replies: 38
- Views: 4035
Sell VTSAX to avoid 6.5% Mortgage?
I have a taxable brokerage account with Vanguard with a balance high enough to cover the purchase of a house that I will be buying in a few months. It's currently invested 100% in VTSAX. I'm wondering if it makes sense to Bogleheads for me to avoid mortgage and buy the house in cash.
I spoke to several lenders and even with my outstanding credit the best loan I can get is 6.6% right now.
When mortgages were 2.5% it was pretty clear that you should take a mortgage and keep your money invested - how about now that mortgages are 6.6%?
I spoke to several lenders and even with my outstanding credit the best loan I can get is 6.6% right now.
When mortgages were 2.5% it was pretty clear that you should take a mortgage and keep your money invested - how about now that mortgages are 6.6%?
- Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:51 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4036
Re: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
There are so many wrong answers in this thread and only one or two good ones. Go see a tax or trusts & estates attorney for help with this. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p550.pdf p 6 section title Below Market Loans html version https://www.irs.gov/publications/p550#en_US_2021_publink10009882 I can't figure out why he keeps calling it a loan. Interest free loans are still loans. The better question is why he refers to it as a "gift" which is clearly confusing people because the gift of the loan is not the loan itself, but the fact that dad isn't charging interest. If dad doesn't actually expect repayment, then it becomes problematic, but that's a question of fact and intent at the time the loan was made and there's no way I...
- Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:16 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4036
Re: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
Super helpful - thank you!Big Dog wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:41 pm1) use the federal minimum AFR so your dad won't have to pay taxes on inputed income. Just make a simple contract agreement. Make payments and have your dad (and mom?) gift you $32k per year in the form of debt reduction. (16k each from mom and dad) Since you are married. they could double the gift by giving each of your $16k, or $64k total per year.
https://www.nationalfamilymortgage.com/afr-rates/
- Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:10 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4036
Re: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
Fair point! We do have funds to cover the extra $100k and should consider using that and not get a loan at all.Oddball wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:55 pm So are you going to pay him back the $300k or just hold the "loan" in perpetuity?
I also agree with the previous post about taking out a mortgage at all given the limited amount you would need to borrow. If you are already getting a "loan" for $300k, just get the other $100k or so from Bank of Dad and don't deal with a mortgage at all.
- Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4036
Re: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
OP, 1) Why would you want to accept this 0% interest loan? 2) Do you need it? A) Yes. Then, you cannot afford the house. B) No. Why would you take the money from your parent? Your dad can offer it. But, why would you accept it? If this is a gift, that is a separate subject. KlangFool I'm fully aware that he's losing money by giving me this loan, which is a gift. He's been trying to gift us money as early inheritence for quite a while. We can very easily afford the houses we're looking at even without the 0% interest loan. These topics don't really have to do with what I'm asking in my original post though. A) If this is a 300K 0% interest rate loan, then, he cannot afford to give you 300K. B) Or else, he would just give you 300K. C) If you...
- Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:46 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4036
Re: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
I would get together with a CPA to figure out how to structure this properly. I get the concept that your father wants to give with a "warm" hand. One option that comes immediately to mind is your father gifting the max around 35k/yr to you and your wife. He could also just gift you a very large down payment and report that to the IRS. One relationship question is whether you have siblings who might be concerned about things being "fair". Congratulations on your good fortune and kind father. Thanks for the response - that's really helpful. My parent's go to great lengths to be sure everything is fair between my brother and I. He will gift my brother an equal amount that I'm saving by accepting his 0% interest loan.
- Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:32 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4036
Re: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
I'm fully aware that he's losing money by giving me this loan, which is a gift. He's been trying to gift us money as early inheritence for quite a while. We can very easily afford the houses we're looking at even without the 0% interest loan. These topics don't really have to do with what I'm asking in my original post though.KlangFool wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:25 pm OP,
1) Why would you want to accept this 0% interest loan?
2) Do you need it?
A) Yes. Then, you cannot afford the house.
B) No. Why would you take the money from your parent?
Your dad can offer it. But, why would you accept it?
If this is a gift, that is a separate subject.
KlangFool
- Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:14 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Zero interest loan from parents - How?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 4036
Zero interest loan from parents - How?
My wife and I are house searching in an area near Chicago to be near family. If it matters, we currently live in northern california. My dad offered to give us a zero interest loan that amounts to 40-50% of the price of the homes we're looking at. We'll add another 30-40% as a down payment, which means we will only need to finance 10-20% of the purchase amount at the current rate (Somewhere around 6.3% right now). I'm wondering how we should execute this loan. My dad wouldn't be (nor would he want to be) on the home deed and doesn't require any type of contract. He's getting older and can easily afford to 'give me' such loan terms. I just imagine this would raise red flags with the IRS or something though, so I want to make sure we're doing...
- Mon Jan 23, 2023 2:48 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Capital Gains by State: Moving CA to IL
- Replies: 2
- Views: 341
Capital Gains by State: Moving CA to IL
My wife and I are moving from CA to IL and will need to sell some of our shares from a taxable brokerage account. I see that California has a 13.3% capital gains tax, but Illinois has a 4.95% CG tax. In that case does it make sense for us to sell our shares after we move? Once we move are we immediately IL residents that get the lower tax rate?
Thanks for any help!
Thanks for any help!
- Mon Jan 23, 2023 1:27 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Best (tax) way to withdraw fromVanguard Taxable Account
- Replies: 6
- Views: 761
Re: Best (tax) way to withdraw fromVanguard Taxable Account
Is this simple enough to do on your own, or do you know if Vanguard has a service to help with that?sailaway wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:34 pm It depends, but it is never going to be as simple as withdrawing just what you deposited. Since you have never withdrawn anything, make sure you have your accounting basis set to specific lot (spec ID). Then, you can choose the lots. You may be able to balance lots with losses and lots with gains to keep the total gains low. It is going to depend on when you bought what.
- Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:29 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Best (tax) way to withdraw fromVanguard Taxable Account
- Replies: 6
- Views: 761
Best (tax) way to withdraw fromVanguard Taxable Account
My wife and I have been putting extra money into our Vanguard taxable brokerage account for several years. We've only ever added money, never taken any out. Currently it's invested in 95% VTSAX ,5% VTIAX. Total amount is ~$670k right now. We've always rented, but we're looking to buy a house in June, so I'd like to know how much we can pull from that taxable account without getting a big tax bill. I'm quite ignorant on the tax side of investing. Is there somewhere within Vanguard where we can tell how much money we've deposited into the account? I assume we can pull that exact amount without there being a tax bill, correct? EG: We deposited $300k over the last 6 years which grew to $670k - if we withdraw $300k we receive no tax bill? I'm su...