Bogleheads.org

Vanguard User wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 7:41 pm
My goal is to get her a permanent home that is private and/or shared close to my home if needed down the road.

How do I know which homes are good for her? This would be to assist her with daily activities and dementia.

The Medicaid necessity will limit your choices, especially if she's a direct admit on Medicaid. Start by investigating facilities near you and finding out their Medicaid policies and whether they're accepting new patients currently. Then assess the ones that fit the category. In my area, there are only three that accept direct Medicaid admits, so it may simplify your choice considerably.

One possible starting resource is this search tool from the American Council on Aging.

Okay, so I blew it big time and the long weekend I booked in Austin is during SXSW. I'm not nightlife focused (though it looks like the bats are back already and I'd like to see them come out) and am a big walker. I have a hotel (the Element on 7th downtown) and it has a kitchen, and I'm comfortable eating mid afternoon and taking stuff back for later. I'm thinking there's lots of park and river walking that shouldn't be too impaired and I'm hoping to rent a kayak at some point (might book that in advance). I like museums and art galleries and have some IDed as likely sites. With that in mind, how much crush can I avoid and are there places that are likely to be particularly heaving?

I’m a block away, on a parallel block with double dead ends, to a smaller main street that doesn’t permit trucks. It’s pretty quiet, but noise goes up in winter when the trees are out of leaf, it went up after a recent repaving, and it definitely went up when they detoured trucks and other vehicles to that street from a bigger artery that was under repair. Some nights I can hear a hum of factory noise or highway noise from a few miles away. I think if you want town amenities that’s a pretty standard array; it’s better than being right next to a highway, airport, or hospital helipad but it’s also an eternally fluctuating soundscape over which residents have limited control. If you’re really sound sensitive insulation and triple glazing may a...

dbr wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 5:03 pm

fposte wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:18 pm

delamer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:13 pm
I can’t even find a fund called “Vanguard International Equity Index Fund.”

It's the institutional flavor, not publicly available. You can see Vanguard info about it here. I still don't understand the portfolio suggestions, but my state 457 had access to similar institutional grade Vanguard funds, so that aspect seems reasonable to me.

Your link appears to be to VTIFX Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund Institutional Shares The problem is to find an International Equity Index Fund. There was this found by the OP: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/0LMO.L?p=0LMO.L which is VXUS or VTIAX.

Whoops, you're right; I was looking at the second fund and misunderstood.

delamer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:13 pm
I can’t even find a fund called “Vanguard International Equity Index Fund.”

It's the institutional flavor, not publicly available. You can see Vanguard info about it here. I still don't understand the portfolio suggestions, but my state 457 had access to similar institutional grade Vanguard funds, so that aspect seems reasonable to me.

I love gate checking at my local airport that only hosts small regional jets. My bag gets whisked away at planeside and whisked back on arrival, I know it's going on the right plane, and I don't have to shove anything into overheads. But I don't think it's scalable. Even there quite a few people will have checked their luggage the usual way, and the aircraft only hold about 50 people, so it's probably about 20-30 bags per flight max. And even there airline staff has to make sure that departing passengers don't clog the jet bridge while waiting for their luggage.

schachtw wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 8:46 am On alternating days (72 yo):

3-4 mile walk in Chicago Botanic Garden,
45 minute strength and weight exercises

Hey, I used to live in that neck of the woods, almost literally. I remember when the gardens were being built.

I start every day with my "Three Bears" walk; I'm out while the oatmeal cooks in the microwave and cools to edible temperature. Sometimes I take a longer one later but that's a good wakeup and I love coming home to my oatmeal. Goldilocks had better back off.

Ot could be a really interesting time to look at something like Jennifer W.'s discretionary spending thread and talk with everybody, including kids, about what your family priorities and values are, and where you want to put family time, money, and space. Maybe you all will decide you'd rather get fewer toys and do more outings, or donate money to charity together. That doesn't mean a parent can't still tell the kid to clean up their room, but being intentional about what you value can be a really important part of handling money and being a family, and it could be a great exercise for the kids to participate in. I've followed that thread but am actually on the opposite side of the spectrum as JenniferW where I've set up spending minimums....

Plan to start going through this weekend. Will set up the give-away, trash/recycle, and keep bags. Will be a team effort and I'm sure we'll have other things we'd rather do. This whole thing has to be a team effort, especially your wanting things to change going forward. It can't just be one person saying "I don't like this much stuff so nobody else gets to have it." It could be a really interesting time to look at something like Jennifer W.'s discretionary spending thread and talk with everybody, including kids, about what your family priorities and values are, and where you want to put family time, money, and space. Maybe you all will decide you'd rather get fewer toys and do more outings, or donate money to charity together. T...

Beensabu wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 6:04 pm

fposte wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 5:54 pm

Beensabu wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 5:46 pm Don't be afraid to throw away other peoples' stuff.

I dunno; if a parent or partner had done this to me it would have really damaged the relationship.

There's only so long you can beg people to clean up their own stuff before you realize they're just not going to.

24 hour warning. They can rescue it if it matters.

Sure, but that's making one person the boss of what's allowed in the house. And there are households where it might work that way but a lot of them where it doesn't.

Beensabu wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 5:46 pm Don't be afraid to throw away other peoples' stuff.

I dunno; if a parent or partner had done this to me it would have really damaged the relationship.

I don't know if you NEED something, but I do think it helps to have things in mind. Exploring multiple different things can be that thing (or one of them). Totally agree. I spent time pre-retirement planning some possibilities large and small and I think that was valuable even if I didn't do them, because it started me thinking in a different way. I will again give a shoutout to Boglehead Jazztonight and his concept of the Big Four , four areas of engagement that mean a good day for him. I don't necessarily feel they have to be daily but have definitely found that thinking of time spent in categories of reward rather than specific activities has been really useful to me. And it turns out being a dilettante is a satisfying hobby in its own ...

What works for me is not to do it quickly. I'd be even slower if I had to get buy in from other people in the house and to convince them there was going to be a household pivot on acquisition going forward. And I also accept that it's not likely any of this is really permanent.

My inclination would be to start with the family and get their input and discuss some possibilities, and then decide on a course of action. The actual system matters less than the investment of the family in it.

JenniferW wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 10:17 am

quantAndHold wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 10:16 am Warren Buffet’s house in Omaha is 6500 sq ft, and he recently sold his longtime vacation home in Laguna Beach for $7.5M.

Buffet made money on that home in Laguna Beach right? He doesn't have it now. His home in Omaha, come on, that's a modest home.. it's in Omaha. Compare to Bill Gates custom home or Jeff Bezos new yacht.

I think last I checked Buffet's home is work like at most $1M ?

It's still 6500 feet, though. That's not a modest home, even if if it's less than what other billionaires live in.

One thing I do expect is that the life to retirement will be a transition. I'm figuring the mental part will be the hardest: work identity gone. This one always baffles me.... I'm shocked at the people that introduce themselves as x from y company in social settings (obviously business settings are different)... I've never internalized where I happen to be working as part of my "identity". I think people would do better to remove that. I don't know that it's necessary "x from the company"--it's on a daily basis you're known, maybe internationally, as person who contributes y. Even without getting into the creative pursuits mentioned upthread, where that tends to be a lifelong identity, it's a change to go through your d...

While I suspect this is commoner at Mr. Money Mustache than here, it seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do; it’s just a variation in having a budget, which we talk about endlessly. We could all quibble about what’s nondiscretionary and what’s discretionary (and we of course will), but overall you’ve got a plan to help you make up for coming late to the savings game.

I’d encourage you to focus much of that discretionary spending on social ties. I love going to the park but not every friend wants to do that, especially not every time we meet, and keeping friends is worth the minimal cost of the occasional bought coffee.

So brilliantly that I am kind of stunned. I'm an academic and the tradition is that you never stop; retirees are publishing all kinds of things and sitting on committees, and dying in harness is common. And that's great for those who want it, but I did not anticipate how much I was completely done with the whole thing, even though I had very much enjoyed it, at 58. A year and a half in, with the last book released and the last literal book chapter submitted (might come back to me for one proofing run still), I can't imagine doing it anymore and am a little perplexed that I managed to do it in the first place. The ability to tend to health stuff, which was a big impetus for retirement, has been fantastic, and it's also just been a great shif...

leftcoaster wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 12:41 pm Work relations, by contrast, have pretty much fallen by the wayside.

Whereas most of my post-retirement ties came out of work initially, but that's academics for you. As a single person who likes her own time, I've been very mindful of the need to stay connected, and retirement has meant I've been able to spend time with people who I liked but haven't always been able to fit into an overtight schedule before. For me one of the surprise joys is that it's not just new relationships vs. old relationships, it's that old good acquaintances can become important friends.

IsabellaH555 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2023 1:55 pm

MillennialFinance19 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 11, 2023 6:51 pm

IsabellaH555 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 11, 2023 6:48 pm

MillennialFinance19 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 11, 2023 6:18 pm Why don’t you just call and schedule an appointment?

I have no need of an appointment at this time.

I get that, but it would either validate or invalidate your perceived problem.

Do you mean that if I called for an appointment and was given one, I could assume things okay now?
I wouldn’t count on that.

I'd count more on that than your assumption that you're banned because it would be concrete information about your status vs. a statement about future intention. You don't even need to call to make an appointment, just ask if you'd be able to since there was a misunderstanding last time.

I rolled my governmental 457b to an IRA upon retiring. After a few years of in-plan Roth rollovers on market dips and the remainder being contributed post-tax, I just rolled it into my existing Roth.

My reasons were mostly simplicity (wanted to trim down the number of custodians I dealt with) and lower fees; I'm in a state that offers protection for IRAs so there was no loss there, and I was nearly 59.5 so figured early withdrawal wasn't going to figure. T. Rowe Price sent me a check; I mobile deposited it at Vanguard. Easy-peasy.

I went to try the actual Longevity Illustrator itself and found it'll only calculate retirement starting at 60. I'm 60 now so it didn't make much difference that I retired 2 years ago, but if you're retired much earlier than that the calculator isn't going to help you much.

8301 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 11, 2023 6:34 am According to web, Capella University is regionally accredited. What is the difference between a regional accreditation a national accreditation?

Regional can actually be better, but there are accreditation mills same as there are diploma mills.

I get her desire--the OP may walk in front of a truck one day and she'll have to figure out what to do, for one thing. But I would strongly recommend looking at Western Governors University or the even digital program at Arizona State University before Capella. They don't have the same flags and there's a reason they both have substantially higher graduation rates than Capella.

When a similar thing happened to me, one institution wanted the police report number, so I filed it locally. I also saw a suggestion to file a report in the jurisdiction where a fraudulent card was used, but that was in a large city and their system wouldn't accept my report.

Another reason to freeze your credit reports is that part of my identity theft was somebody hijacking my access to Equifax.

Be aware of mortgage wire fraud, too. I've been hearing more reports of that on Reddit lately.

It depends on how your employer handles it. There are no tax implications when exchanging funds within a 403b; assuming that your employer's 403b offers both those funds and that you have the ability to make the change online, which is my guess from your description, it could be as simple as requesting an exchange from one fund to the other in the transactions menu.

Variant data point on teak, also in the Midwest. I put a teak swing under a tree and while it has lasted reasonably well (20 years) there’s definitely rot and lichen. The other bench I bought at the same time gets more sun and has fared better. I still like it and am replacing the swing this year but I wouldn’t expect a lifetime unless you’re varnishing and/or making sure it gets a chance to dry out thoroughly.

I’m single, and while my siblings are included in my beneficiaries my friends have a larger share, as they do in my life. I’ve also included some friends’ children, honorary niece/nephew types. I currently have a donor advised fund that prioritizes a few charities I prefer while providing the occasional donation elsewhere; I anticipate doing the same with QCDs when the time comes, though that time keeps getting pushed farther away by tax law changes. I would imagine that my will would get updated over the years and may shift to leave money to charity within it as well, depending on how people in my circle are faring. While I don’t change the beneficiaries on a whim, I don’t expect the version that exists now will be the same in ten or twent...

IowaFarmBoy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 6:20 am Are there any impacts to other benefits by not taking a pension immediately? At my mega-corp, you are only eligible to continue on the company health care plan (with company subsidy) if you start drawing your pension immediately. Because of this, almost no one delays unless they have another source of health coverage.

Seconding to check this. At mine I could at least pick up the health care coverage when I started taking my pension, but there would still have been interim coverage to manage.

psteinx wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 1:21 pm

Marseille07 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 1:17 pm I think your approach is good. Provide relevant stats and let him decide.

But are OP's stats the most relevant?

Or the most correct? [Off-topic general comments removed by moderator Kendall.]

The important thing to remember is it's not your nephew getting a prenup. It's your nephew and another person each getting a prenup. It may also leave him worse off if she becomes a much higher earner.

I do sometimes, as do friends. GrubHub has the best relationship with its drivers, reportedly; Chowbus, which specializes in Asian restaurants, is also popular around here. I prefer to order from restaurants that themselves advertise their relationship with the service; there’s a contentious relationship between restaurants and delivery services, and historically services have listed restaurants without the restaurant’s even knowing. I find it especially nice when I’m traveling and not interested in heading out again from a hotel after a long day.

Was he passing through or did he have a nearby destination?

I wonder if there’s a student at Oberlin, Case Western, etc. who’s driving home to the Boston area for break and would like to make some money. Obviously it would be a lot easier to find and vet somebody if there are existing connections.

ModifiedDuration wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 10:29 am

fposte wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 10:20 am

Kenkat wrote: ↑Mon Nov 07, 2022 6:02 pm She can’t qualify for Medicare until she is 65. She cannot receive widow benefits from social security until age 60 under most circumstances.

It does look like a widow could be eligible for Medicare as young as 60 if she meets certain qualifications, according to benefits.gov.

Of course, OP's friend isn't 60 yet, and we don't know what her husband's status was.

This is referring to social security benefits, not Medicare.

You may be eligible to get Medicare earlier than 65 only if you have a disability, End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), or ALS (also called Lou Gehrig's disease).

Whoops, I misread my secondary source. I'll note the inaccuracy--thanks for catching that.

Kenkat wrote: ↑Mon Nov 07, 2022 6:02 pm She can’t qualify for Medicare until she is 65. She cannot receive widow benefits from social security until age 60 under most circumstances.

It does look like a widow could be eligible for Medicare as young as 60 if she meets certain qualifications, according to benefits.gov.


Edit: nope, I misread, sorry.

Watty wrote: ↑Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:57 am I don't see any real need for you to buy long term care insurance and the policies that are being sold today are not nearly as good at the ones people could buy 25 years ago.

I talked to a broker about LTCI and came to the same overall conclusion--I'd be better self-insuring. Currently my plan is for a CCRC anyway, but even if it wasn't, I don't think LTCI offers sufficient risk mitigation for its cost to me.

I was a book reviewer and editor for a living, and the pandemic-necessitated shift to digital advance copies was like knocking a planet into a different orbit.

And that was a good thing for me. Being a general packrat and a book person means that I’ve accrued a lot of books, and I need to trim the physical footprint down, which I’ve been doing over the last few years. E-books are easy replacements for bulky tomes, and as long as I never have to read anything in Adobe Digital Editions again, I’m perfectly happy reading on tablet or desktop.

I’m writing this out of concern for OP precisely because of our similarities - I believe that because the press does not focus on the unique expenses and risks single retirements present, we singles (especially women) can be wrongly complacent, often fail to negotiate better salaries and think we can relax partly because of financial inexperience whereas this very board opened my eyes that this is not the case. I’m a single female who was earning considerably less than the OP and am enjoying an early retirement from academics. I think I’m correctly complacent, and I think the OP is fine. Your posts about asset allocation have indicated a very high level of risk aversion, and you’re living in a VHCOL area, which presumably why you read OP’s...

I drive a Prius in Illinois. Its clearance is about the same as my Honda Civic's was. I wouldn't drive in deep unplowed snow with either of them. I did find the tires that came with it weren't great in snow; I live on a double-dead end and often test the surface with a bit of a low-speed skid at the end of the street, and the Prius kept gliding for quite a while. I considered snow tires but we're not really that big a snow climate and I don't do that much driving. The current tires were technically all-season but poorly rated in snow, so I'm getting Vredesteins put in in a couple of weeks, which are all season but rated very highly for ice and snow. If they don't get equivalent mileage I'll treat them as snow tires or opt for actual snow ti...

There’s also freighter travel. Obviously that needs a lot more flexibility. My father found the open cargo ships more rewarding than the container vessels, because the latter could load and unload so much faster that you didn’t have as much time in port.

GrubHub is reputed to be slightly more driver-friendly than the others. Chowbus, which focuses mostly on Asian restaurants, is popular in my area too.

I understand their popularity and have occasionally used them (it can be nice when you're at a non-urban hotel to get something tasty delivered after a long day), but I have a lot of reservations about them. I try to stick to restaurant sources that note a service themselves for delivery purposes, since it's often a pretty unhappy relationship with a restaurant and this at least suggests the restaurant is on board.

RetiredAL wrote: ↑Sat Oct 15, 2022 5:38 pm If it was me, I'd do it late Nov or early Dec.

Somebody here said they take theirs at Thanksgiving and that's been a good strategy for me--late in the year but with enough time to fix errors, and it's easy to remember since it's tied to a big date.

Oh, Hades, no. I'd skip expensive house plans before I'd go back to work.

ScoobyDoo wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:55 am
Oh. I know that these professions don’t pay into/get SS. I thought there was/is an equivalent type fund that they do pay into, though. Is that not the case?

That's the pension. They may also have access to tax-advantaged savings, but those generally don't differ functionally from those of pensionless workers. Still just two legs on the stool.

Be aware that those of us with pensions often don't get the three-legged stool either; pensions often mean no SS contributions and therefore no SS eligibility, or lowered SS as a result of having the pension. Not sure I understand this. Who is not eligible for SS? Me, for a start. In 2018, one-quarter of state and local government employees—approximately 6.5 million workers—were not covered by Social Security on their current job. A pension can be instead of social security rather than in addition. If you don’t earn sufficient quarters elsewhere, then you have no eligibility for social security at all. So the money I paid into social security for not quite the requisite amount of quarters is gone forever. Please enjoy it responsibly :D. Ha...

Be aware that those of us with pensions often don't get the three-legged stool either; pensions often mean no SS contributions and therefore no SS eligibility, or lowered SS as a result of having the pension.

Fine, thanks, how are you? So far COVID changed my retirement picture more than the markets. It's true that I have a COLA'd pension that will ensure I don't starve or lose my house, but I was counting on my retirement investments for enjoyment beyond that. I'm probably more affected by inflation than by market loss, since I have a significant percentage of assets in TIAA and another fixed income source at 3% a year, plus the pension increases 3% annually. But frankly, since I can't change that, I let the invisibility of its effect on my portfolio provide psychological blindness. It helps that the things I like to spend money on are comparatively inexpensive and I'm in a pretty LCOL area. But there's nothing that I wanted that I regretfully ...

I retired a year ago at 58. Financially, I am fortunate to have a scaffold—a COLA’d pension in a relatively LCOL area, with group health insurance available as part of the pension. I’ve no partner or kids so didn’t need to factor that in. The pension isn’t huge but I could live on it alone; I’ve also got savings in Roth, tax-deferred, and taxable to pad it out and fund discretionary pleasures. It has been awesome. My job had been my life—not uncommon with academics—but it was like a switch flipped. I actively resented the couple of projects I still had to complete and had no interest in further work. I’ve had more health stuff this year but even there I think with relief that at least I can feel under the weather without having to get stuff...

OP, I'm thinking of a great Mike Birbiglia routine about when police report error put him, the victim of a drunk driver, on the hook for the cost of the vehicle. After months of indignation and labor his girlfriend says, "You're right, but you're only hurting you."

I believe in the principle of an exit price. It is worth a certain amount of money to me to leave a matter behind me and go on with my life. Not every wrong is worth righting.

I can't judge for you whether this one is worth it or not. But you might want to set a hard limit for yourself on how long you'll pursue it. You really don't want to Inspector Javert yourself into old age about an off-brand alternator.

This is likely the brushing scam. Also double-check your Amazon account under Archived Orders— sometimes people stealing accounts park stuff there because it’s less visible. It looks like that may no longer be an active category but I still found after searching “archived orders” in the Amazon search bar.

lakpr wrote: ↑Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:30 pm
I am not sure about whether the 457(b) plans come within the purview of ERISA act

They do not, unfortunately.

I rolled my Roth 457b over in Illinois, but IL protects IRAs.

There's a kerfuffle in my university town because the state has just signed a new contract for Medicare Advantage, and the only PPO option isn't contracted with the huge provider in the area. While it seems probable it will work out as a passive PPO (since that's how the previous provider successfully operated), that's still a lot of state retirees who are freaked out that their insurance may not cover them at their regular doctors.

So I definitely agree with "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" on this. She's got something she can afford that works well for her. I would hang on to that with both hands.