Bogleheads.org

It was a complete replacement of the central HVAC/heat pump in a residential rental. So a renovation, not a repair, I think. $6100 for parts and labor. My understanding is that it's considered part of the structure, so depreciated over 27.5 years. I though this was the sort of thing the IRS watches for closely--namely a sudden jump in repair expenses, reflecting an item that should have been capitalized. It doesn't seem to fall under any of the safe harbor treatments, so I was thinking I'd better amend the 1065. But maybe not? I don't know, but I think you're incredibly fortunate that $6100 represents a "sudden jump in repair expenses." Not being an expert I'd probably think of it as a repair, but I don't have any familiarity wit...

Yea, the $5,000 is for the latest model and if you go through Toyota. But even if you go with refurbished batteries from a third party at the price you shared it wouldnt break even in the example discussed. To me - still - the whole hybrid game makes sense if you´re very comfortable predicting the battery will last for as long as you intend to drive the car, or you want to flip it after X number of years and make it someone else´s problem... which I always thought as morally questionable. I recently read (okay maybe not from a super-authoritative source) that the average life for the transmission in my ICE car is about 130k miles before it fails to one extent or another. So if I sold my car at 120k miles would that be morally questionable?...

Are they not agreeing with your conclusion, or are they simply opposed to paying higher IRMAA on principle? If they don't do conversions now, will they pay higher IRMAA (not to mention income taxes, perhaps) later? It took a while to convince them that paying taxes now would be better than paying even more taxes later. The IRMAA hit them by surprise (my fault, I should have warned them about it). I think there also was a miscalculation due to extra capital gains from a mutual fund and they crossed an extra IRMAA threshold. Basically though, yes they are against the pay some now to save even more later. Interesting; have they considered that eventually one of them is extremely likely to lose MFJ? Are they aware of how much taxes will increa...

Kal1981 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 5:39 pm

tibbitts wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 5:21 pm

Kal1981 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 5:11 pm I found the website for Pralana Retirement Calculator but wouldn't find RPM. Is it short for something?

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Retiree_Portfolio_Model

Thanks! Greatly appreciate it.

It would be interesting to know if you find much difference in results between your initial analysis and the ones from any other tool you use, given of course similar assumptions.

Kal1981 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 5:11 pm I found the website for Pralana Retirement Calculator but wouldn't find RPM. Is it short for something?

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Retiree_Portfolio_Model

When you do 401k Roth conversion in retirement, do you usually do it in big chunks or can/should you do small amounts? I assume you always want to go as high as possible within the tax bracket? My spouse will still be employed when I retire and I’m trying to figure out how to do the conversion properly. It is a personal situation based on all of your numbers and goals. Generally, you would want to smooth out the taxes owed along a large timeframe but that is not always accurate either. The best way for you to know your choices is to take the time to run the most likely scenarios you are interested in with one of the more powerful calculators and model their results. The two I am familiar with are RPM and Pralana and both take a larger amou...

I am retired, in a high tax bracket, partly due to my RMD's. I did Roth conversions in the years leading up to my retirement. Would there be any reason to continue doing Roth conversions in my present situation? Thanks. The Devil is in the details- where is your MAGI in relation to the next IRMAA cliff & where is your taxable income in relation to your current bracket top? As others have noted "high tax bracket" is a relative term- need more info. If further Roth conversions make any sense, they are likely to be small- basically filling in headroom before you hit either an IRMAA MAGI tier or an OI tax rate change. If you do decide to make additional Roth conversions, make sure to take your annual RMD before converting any mon...

Kal1981 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:30 pm When you do 401k Roth conversion in retirement, do you usually do it in big chunks or can/should you do small amounts? I assume you always want to go as high as possible within the tax bracket? My spouse will still be employed when I retire and I’m trying to figure out how to do the conversion properly.

I'm not sure why you resurrected this old thread, but it's interesting to see it again with the knowledge of everything that's transpired since 2021. Anyway personally I do many small transactions, but I'm not sure what the process is for your 401k->Roth, so I'm not sure how trivial those transactions are to perform.

Because I just check my 1099-INT from Vanguard. Line 3 Interest on US Saving Bonds & Treasury obligation was 0.00 and since I held VUSXX whole 2022 and earn some interest I called Vanguard to check on it. Was told that since it is Money Market fund it is NOT state tax exempt. Not sure if I am missing something. Yes you are missing something. https://www.vanguard.com/pdf/USGOIN_2023.pdf Well that is good news for me! Thank you, I just wonder why is it not on 1099-INT and why Vanguard rep. did not know about it. I don't own it, but VUSXX is a mutual fund that pays dividends, so I think you should have 1099-DIV, not 1099-INT. 1099-DIV does not have a box for US Government obligations, so the exemption must be done manually. Thank you! Sti...

I personally wouldn’t get one after the theta II series engine fiasco. Pilot, MDX, Highlander, explorer, CX-9. There are a lot of options out there. My parents just bought a Kia Seltos and they love it so far. I don't know a lot about cars, but a well-known master mechanic that I trust has made similar comments in that he would never buy a Kia. That may or may not be worth anything, however. I don’t know how it is this year, but in 2022 some dealerships had a waiting list 4 - 6 months long to have your blown engine replaced under warranty. Not to excuse that but there have similar been reports of multi-month/year delays due to airbag recalls for several manufacturers. And some other issues that have never been resolved to some customers' s...

Reconciling a checking account (i.e. balancing your checkbook) is easy. But how do you all reconcile your investment account balances? For example, do you actually verify that the total annual contribution and/or withdrawal amounts are what you expect? I don't even balance my checking account much less reconcile any investment accounts. Probably if things were far enough off to matter I'd notice; otherwise I don't worry about it. I admire this care-free attitude. I have too many transactions; roughly 1,000 fund exchanges every year for example. And every time I check my credit card balances (frequently) I go ahead and pay them because the balances annoy me, so that creates a lot of tiny checking transactions every month for the 4 or 5 card...

donotgiveup wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:18 pm I just talked to Vanguard about my 2022 tax form and learned that VUSXX is NOT state tax exempt.

I didn't own the fund in 2022 but why are you saying it was not state tax exempt in 2022? I'm too lazy to look up the table of Treasury securities percentages again but wasn't it at or near 100% for VUSXX in 2022?

I personally wouldn’t get one after the theta II series engine fiasco. Pilot, MDX, Highlander, explorer, CX-9. There are a lot of options out there. My parents just bought a Kia Seltos and they love it so far. I don't know a lot about cars, but a well-known master mechanic that I trust has made similar comments in that he would never buy a Kia. That may or may not be worth anything, however. I don’t know how it is this year, but in 2022 some dealerships had a waiting list 4 - 6 months long to have your blown engine replaced under warranty. Not to excuse that but there have similar been reports of multi-month/year delays due to airbag recalls for several manufacturers. And some other issues that have never been resolved to some customers' s...

tukrumunu wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:34 pm Out of curiosity, has anyone used auto insurance via Costco?

What are the pros and cons ?

Auto insurance coverage has to be obtained to a certain minimum amount in order to apply for umbrella insurance.

What are the companies you use for umbrella insurance ?

Thanks!

I believe most people just use the same company for an umbrella as for underlying coverage (usually for a vehicle, sometimes for a home, sometimes both.)

It is so bad right now, I just encourage anyone that can wait on home projects to just swing back in a few years to get things done. Same with buying a new car. Just a weird moment in history, I never seemed to have a problem with this pre-Covid. Even people I've used for a long time have just let me down. Several things things that came to a head at my house on the remodeling front (thanks to DW) and it just seems every project has gone sideways from supply chain issues, to contractors, to finding competent labor. I also just think people don't seem to really care anymore about the quality of their work. I hope things can go back to normal someday. Supply shortages are still an issue. I had found someone to replace a small amount of wood ...

quantAndHold wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:09 pm I have a general contractor that I’m on good terms with, and when I need something done, he hooks me up with one of his guys who wants night or weekend work.

My brother has a guy who does good work and is reliable. He pays the guy $65/hour. Which is probably why the guy is reliable. The days of paying someone $25/hour plus materials are over.

I don't know anybody in my LCOL area who expects to pay as little as $25/hr. In fact I don't know anyone who expects to pay as little as $65, at least not for small/short-term jobs.

K72 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:12 pm Thanks for the replies. I have everything I need.

And probably much more than you were expecting.

candb wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:57 pm

tibbitts wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:56 am I recently exchanged most of my VMFXX for VUSXX and now, especially with knowing about the reduced state income tax exemption, kind of wish I hadn't. With funds in the $50k - $100k range it doesn't matter much; just another thing to deal with. I don't think there's any practical difference in risk.

I recently did the same in taxable accounts. What do you mean by "the reduced state income tax exemption"?

That VUSXX is apparently no longer completely state income tax exempt. And yes I only changed to VUSXX in taxable accounts.

I would never trust a child for that responsibility. What if the cat escapes or child can't handle the litter or throw-ups or makes a feeding mistake or just doesn't show up for even one day? Or what if the child hurts themself or gets scratched or has some mishap? And some of those cans are difficult to open or have sharp lids. Even the bags are hard to open. It's sometimes harder than child-proof containers for drugs and cleaning supplies. And again. litter cleaning can be hard and take a lot of muscle and coordination, especially with sand litter. I could easily imagine a child just giving up and then you would end up with a big mess if the cats don't have clean litter boxes. I would only hire someone older and has experience with cats....

tanstheman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:39 pm

jebmke wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:31 pm "Teen" is a pretty wide range. At 19, required reading in my economics course was Random Walk (Malkiel) along with several early papers by Gene Fama.

son turned 13. so not quite ready for that reading yet. Daughter is 16.
Some of their friends at school made a "mock portfolio". So they wanted to learn more about stock picking, which I advised against. But I thought this may be an opportunity for them to learn the basics that will hold them in good stead in the long run.
thanks

Why not just talk to them about investing? That way you can see them ignoring you vs. having to wonder whether they are.

I would never trust a child for that responsibility. What if the cat escapes or child can't handle the litter or throw-ups or makes a feeding mistake or just doesn't show up for even one day? Or what if the child hurts themself or gets scratched or has some mishap? And some of those cans are difficult to open or have sharp lids. Even the bags are hard to open. It's sometimes harder than child-proof containers for drugs and cleaning supplies. And again. litter cleaning can be hard and take a lot of muscle and coordination, especially with sand litter. I could easily imagine a child just giving up and then you would end up with a big mess if the cats don't have clean litter boxes. I would only hire someone older and has experience with cats....

I’m looking forward to the 1099 discussion that is sure to come. Lol Wouldn't the total dollars be under the 1099 minimum? We know many 'kids' that are well over the 1099NEC limit of $600 for pet care. FWIW - biggest concern we have seen is that the 'kids' are supervised by an adult. But it's 14 days. I paid a "kid" for checking in on my house, dealing with mail, etc. for several months but kept the amount under the filing requirement. Now just a couple of years later she earns more in a year than I ever did. The 'kids' we know all do this for way more than one family one time a year. Heck, our daughter has made near or over 5 figures each year since age 14 at random jobs. I wish I had done that when I was young; that's a great a...

Carguy85 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:14 pm Ok ok I was totally kidding about a 1099. Just poking a little fun at how some things are made way more complicated than they need to be…I get it… it’s a luxury that many on here have where there may be a little bit of a lack of real world problems. OP, take 2 bennys (including tip ) and hand them to the kid after a job well done.

Wrong forum to joke about a potential filing requirement! Next we'll be hearing about whether the kid should actually be w2, workers comp, unemployment...

smitcat wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:19 am

tibbitts wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:01 am

Carguy85 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:56 am I’m looking forward to the 1099 discussion that is sure to come. Lol

Wouldn't the total dollars be under the 1099 minimum?

We know many 'kids' that are well over the 1099NEC limit of $600 for pet care.

FWIW - biggest concern we have seen is that the 'kids' are supervised by an adult.

But it's 14 days. I paid a "kid" for checking in on my house, dealing with mail, etc. for several months but kept the amount under the filing requirement. Now just a couple of years later she earns more in a year than I ever did.

I recently exchanged most of my VMFXX for VUSXX and now, especially with knowing about the reduced state income tax exemption, kind of wish I hadn't. With funds in the $50k - $100k range it doesn't matter much; just another thing to deal with. I don't think there's any practical difference in risk.

I took a small Covid-Related Distribution in 2020 from my Roth IRA to help with cash flow for my business. I have to file Form 8606 and I'm trying to figure out if the covid-related distribution takes away from my Roth IRA basis or is it on top of it? If I have $100,000 in Roth IRA basis (original contributions), and I take a $10,000 covid-related distribution in 2020, then is my Roth IRA basis now $90,000 or is it still $100,000? If the former, I'm not sure what the point of the special covid rules are since withdrawals of original contributions are allowed at any time anyway. I'll guess that virtually nobody - okay, outside of Bogleheads - has ever tracked their Roth basis. I haven't, but wish I had. I might come to regret that, but hope...

Carguy85 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:56 am I’m looking forward to the 1099 discussion that is sure to come. Lol

Wouldn't the total dollars be under the 1099 minimum?

veindoc wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:31 am Are Kias still a good buy? Looking at 2023 Tellurides but heard that insurance companies are not insuring certain Kia models and years. Plus the increased theft.

Anyone purchase one recently who can share an anecdote?

For any vehicle you'd want the VIN of a model exactly like what you want to buy and provide that to your insurance for a quote. Any vehicle might be surprising with respect to insurance cost.

ClevrChico wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:33 am You or your mechanic could remove the belt cover to inspect the belt. Our VW doesn't even specify a time interval, just mileage. Used to, older belts could look pristine and still break due to age. Belts have greatly improved, though. Ultimately, it's up to you whether to roll the dice on a depreciated 13 year old car to save money. (With such low mileage, I might do that.)

I had a car with a belt that broke at 102k. When I took it out it looked fine to me, except that obviously it was broken, so even if it had been inspectable (there was no way to inspect it without removing as much stuff as necessary to change it) that wouldn't have helped me.

I think there might be a consensus to leave the water pump alone, especially at that mileage. I probably would leave it be. I had an experience where I had my water pump done and with the timing belt kit (was considered best practice for that vehicle) and the next morning, my garage floor was covered in coolant. Good shop I've used forever, he blamed it on a bad tube of RTV. Has anyone ever heard of a "bad tube of RTV" in a repair business, ever? At home, sure, that tube that's been open since you last used it in the '80s might be suspect. I had the same thing with the giant puddle happen to my water pump gasket after about 50k miles, and I honestly think it was fair that I blamed it on the gasket. I was three miles from home and...

Marseille07 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 10:01 am

Sandtrap wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:22 am

cheese_breath wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:09 pm Withdraw when / if I need it.

+1
As needed.
j

How do you make sure you don't overspend? The last thing you want is to find out you actually withdrew 10% on the year without knowing.

I think most retirees do pretty regularly overspend, maybe as much as 10%, but a significant amount. Just like when you're working some years you spend more than you earn, unless you've a very high-earning individual. Just realistically there are some lumpy expenses, some of them unexpected, and I don't think most retirees have a separately segregated fund for those.

crefwatch wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:14 am Don't most honest garages state on bills and on the wall that all labor is charged at the "book" rate, not actual hours? That would mean you pay the same for a water pump job, whenever you have it done. And there's the flush and fill, you hope, by a C rate worker. Radiator hoses? Thermostat?

That's a good point and why I wish we just had the actual numbers the OP was considering paying for the services.

Bikes4life wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:15 pm Get yourself a used chevy S10 or ford ranger and call it a day. They are basically a golf cart haha

Why not just buy a truck in place of whatever other vehicle the OP has now, so no additional purchase, maintenance, or licensing cost. It's not like it would have to be an F550 to do the work of a golf cart.

Considering OP bought FSMAX by mistake in the first place, why would she continue to hold a position she never intended? Tax loss harvesting occurs when you sell at a loss, period. Whether you repurchase shares of a similar fund is not the heart of TLH, especially when the original position was established in error! Are you saying if I sell a domestic stock MF/ETF at a loss & purchase a international fund with the money to re-balance my AA, that's faulty TLH, because I didn't buy a domestic stock fund as a TLH partner? Seems rigid & doctrinaire to me, but what do I know? The OP seemed to first be considering the worse performance over the period as part of the justification for selling FSMAX, and then later for not selling until it...

Chuckles960 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:28 pm Isn't the short answer to the OP's question simply that qual divs are exactly the same as LTCG for tax purposes?

tibbitts wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:40 pm

TOM1964 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:31 pm Does that mean that the tax bracket is determined by the amount of income exclusive of qualified dividends? If so, then my spreadsheet should only have ordinary dividends in it, and I'm free to target a much higher conversion amount?

I don't know but would be curious to know the answer without having to reverse engineer the answer through spreadsheet results with varying inputs.

The answer is yes.

Thanks; I'd never thought about it much but that's good to know.

It's hard to judge without having been there to see the interaction between you and the preparer and why it made you uncomfortable. Did th return have a bunch of complete account numbers besides your SSNs, and is that the main concern, or is something else concerning? Apart from SSNs and financial details one wouldn't want shared indiscriminately and unnecessarily, fortunately there were no account numbers or similar on the returns (federal and state). Basically, the meeting was kind of odd. In addition to being an Enrolled Agent ("EA"), the person indicated that they were a Certified Financial Planner. Maybe they were, but we kind of differed on at least one topic that I would have thought was straightforward enough. I don't thi...

It's not a huge amount of money, but in principle it's a bad idea to either keep the fund or exchange it for a different category of stock fund. Assuming this is a taxable account, I'd exchange the balance for some other mid-cap fund that isn't exactly a completion index, so there's no issue with "substantially identical" funds.

Rom wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 4:27 pm Reconciling a checking account (i.e. balancing your checkbook) is easy. But how do you all reconcile your investment account balances? For example, do you actually verify that the total annual contribution and/or withdrawal amounts are what you expect?

I don't even balance my checking account much less reconcile any investment accounts. Probably if things were far enough off to matter I'd notice; otherwise I don't worry about it.

I've toyed with the idea of a golf cart to help with small chores around the house for several years, but I was always able to dismiss the idea as just another toy to fiddle with. However, things change. People age, helpers become less able-bodied or move away, etc. I just re-kindled the idea and am flabbergasted by the price of gas and electric golf carts, both new and used. I would really like to get an electric cart and can afford it. However, I don't want to throw money away on something that doesn't do what I want it to do. This would be for no street use. Just transporting me and/or DW around our 1.5 acres as we perform menial chores such as taking garbage to the street (100 yards), retrieving mail (same distance), saving steps for d...

:greedy I'm still not aware of anyone able to have TIAA manage an account without an AUM fee. Historically you could consult with your dedicated TIAA adviser and they would prepare a detailed plan for you when you requested it, not just incorporating your TIAA assets but everything else you have as well. But they wouldn't manage the money; you had to d-i-y and implement the plan yourself. But I'm not going to research the disclosure documents to try to figure it out since I don't have any interest in TIAA managing an account. I believe TIAA Wealth Advisors do not charge an AUM fee. They do receive a bonus if you bring more assets under the TIAA umbrella. I don’t think they will “manage outside investments” but I think they’ll give you an o...

Eno Deb wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:33 pm

tibbitts wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:16 pm I don't remember all these posts about security of bank and MM funds at any time in the past; does anybody else? Here or on Diehards (Morningstar)? I agree that times are generally miserable now but are they really that much worse in a financial sense than during the GFC for example?

I'm not sure about this forum, but in general there was a lot of discussion about this during the GFC. That was, after all, the reason why the FDIC limit was increased from $100k to $250k in 2008.

Maybe I just don't remember the posts about bank or MM fund security because there were many more posts about "<= 50% equities" and "Plan B" due to greater equity market losses at the time.

TOM1964 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:31 pm Does that mean that the tax bracket is determined by the amount of income exclusive of qualified dividends? If so, then my spreadsheet should only have ordinary dividends in it, and I'm free to target a much higher conversion amount?

I don't know but would be curious to know the answer without having to reverse engineer the answer through spreadsheet results with varying inputs.

Hi, have a 2010 Subaru Forester with 53k miles. Interference engine. The car has been serviced since new by the same independent garage. I like the car and plan on keeping it at least 5 more years. Should I change the timing belt, pullies and tensioner even tho the miles are low? If opinions tend to favor changing the belt, any aftermarket brands of timing belt kits to recommend? I hear Gates is now using some Chinese parts in their kits. A brand that gets very good reviews is Aisin. Anyone hear of them? Their kits have Japanese components and claim to be equal to OEM. Finally, it's recommended to replace the water pump with the timing belt. Should I do that with only 52k miles? I'd be trading a Subaru OEM part for an aftermarket one. Fran...

I don't remember all these posts about security of bank and MM funds at any time in the past; does anybody else? Here or on Diehards (Morningstar)? I agree that times are generally miserable now but are they really that much worse in a financial sense than during the GFC for example?

I've toyed with the idea of a golf cart to help with small chores around the house for several years, but I was always able to dismiss the idea as just another toy to fiddle with. However, things change. People age, helpers become less able-bodied or move away, etc. I just re-kindled the idea and am flabbergasted by the price of gas and electric golf carts, both new and used. I would really like to get an electric cart and can afford it. However, I don't want to throw money away on something that doesn't do what I want it to do. This would be for no street use. Just transporting me and/or DW around our 1.5 acres as we perform menial chores such as taking garbage to the street (100 yards), retrieving mail (same distance), saving steps for d...

If you knew you were to choose the 4400 day, then sure. But you don’t know, so it becomes a matter of probability. For sure, all problems are not purely probabilistic, how much you have at stake also matters. Are we talking your life savings or 1% of your portfolio being at risk. Oh yes, I agree the amount matters. My recent rollovers were in the low-mid six digit range so significant to me. My earlier transfers were much smaller, when I actually lost money, but that was 40-ish years ago, so the small losses had a lot of time to compound. So it's probably a function of size of the rollover and maybe to some extent the time until you'll be spending the money. I’ve done a couple low six digits that took about a week to transfer. The first I ...

I'd probably update to the newer model, for the longer warranty, assuming everything else is as stated.

ClassOf2021 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 5:02 am While not exactly your question, can you or your wife do backdoor Roth contributions at this time?

That was what I was getting at asking about the availability of Roth 401k plans. The OP seems to be wanting a balance between Roth and deferred, which is probably a good idea, but there might be other ways to accomplish that.

I don't have a medicare account; can you create one if you aren't eligible for medicare (as the placeholder people often suggest)?

For those who do have accounts, are email addresses verified during setup of the account? I keep receiving emails about my walmart.com orders, when of course I haven't ordered anything. And I don't get billed for them, so I'm guessing it's just an email address typo.

I apologize for the wording my wife has a Roth account so she could do the conversion there. The thought process behind it is I am likely to have the same if not greater income when retired. Currently my wife and I save about 36k per year toward retirement, this number is going to grow substantially over the next 3 years (wife got a promotion that will double her salary phased in over 3 years). We are both federal employees who also receive a fixed pension based on percentage of salary, plus (if it’s still around social security). Considering the outsized contributions, pensions, SS, and the fact I will likely inherit around 750k to 1m, and I am likely to move to a more cost friendly location outside of NYC that will allow me to yield a si...