Search found 56 matches

by rigoodma
Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:47 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying New Home
Replies: 14
Views: 1178

Re: Buying New Home

Thanks for all the feedback. The flip comments are probably the biggest concern.
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying New Home
Replies: 14
Views: 1178

Re: Buying New Home

It would be higher than the closing costs and real estate commissions.

I also have my real estate agent coming with us to view the house and will speak to her after regarding options
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:54 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying New Home
Replies: 14
Views: 1178

Re: Buying New Home

The major reason we are looking to move is to get what we don't have:

Kids space, as it is all over the downstairs right now
Storage, as our garage is overflowing and can only fit single car
Place for office besides closet

Again, all of these things could be fixed with $$$ with existing. What I'm trying to wrap my head around is at what point is it better to buy something new vs do some of the renovations I mentioned. My biggest drawback with buying/selling is the closing costs and commissions that I will have to pay in order to do that. Not to mention, when is the point when you are investing too much into an existing house that you wouldn't get return on it in the future.
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying New Home
Replies: 14
Views: 1178

Re: Buying New Home

Mentioned above. Kitchen, yard, paint, fireplace, and some other things for around $120K.

We already go pre-approved for the amount, even without needing a contingency of selling our current house, which is a big positive.

What other context do you need? Willing to provide.
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buying New Home
Replies: 14
Views: 1178

Buying New Home

All- Need some input here. My DW and I are looking at a house that is about to come on the market in our neighborhood. It was a flip house that was completely gutted, where most houses in our neighborhood are 20+ years old. We are looking to see it next week prior to it being listed. Here's some background: Current house: - 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths - No basement - Storage only in garage - No office (office is in a closet right now) - On cul-du-sack - No separate room or space for kids toys, just in front sitting room that expands to rest of downstairs throughout the day - Great neighbors, close to amenities - Probably put around $120K into the house (redid kitchen, backyard, fireplace, painted throughout, other cosmetic changes) House we are l...
by rigoodma
Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:34 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is it ever worth purchasing an extended warranty for a vehicle?
Replies: 119
Views: 10964

Re: Is it ever worth purchasing an extended warranty for a vehicle?

I have a F150 and I did get an extended warranty. I am less concerned with mechanical failures and more concerned with electronic failures in the future.

Go to https://factoryplans.com/default.aspx and you can get actual Ford warranties for cheap. They do it by volume and prices them way lower than you would get at any dealer
by rigoodma
Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:58 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to invest HSA in NJ
Replies: 5
Views: 643

Re: How to invest HSA in NJ

Or invest in equities and bonds, using money from HSA for medical expenses in retirement

Why such a big push to limit taxes for non medical expenses?
by rigoodma
Thu Jan 10, 2019 10:09 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Techies: Advice on How to Transfer Data/Files from Old Mac to New Mac
Replies: 22
Views: 2135

Re: Techies: Advice on How to Transfer Data/Files from Old Mac to New Mac

I would start fresh with the new Mac. One option (just don't know if your old computer has this) is to use a Thunderbolt cable between the two to transmit at speed. I've done this with the last 2 laptop refreshes I received from my company and works fine. When you have Mac that is 8 years old, it's better to start clean.

If you use Safari, then the bookmarks and passwords should migrate over when you log into iCloud (as long as you selected that as an option in iCloud to sync). Same with Chrome or Firefox.

See the following: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202910
by rigoodma
Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Roth vs After Tax Contributions in 401k
Replies: 9
Views: 453

Re: Roth vs After Tax Contributions in 401k

I know with my employer, all matching will go into pre-tax. Is that the same across the board or up to employer.
by rigoodma
Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:57 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Underfunded escrow account
Replies: 11
Views: 904

Re: Underfunded escrow account

Jefferson wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:46 pm In my experience, the bank pays the taxes anyway. The escrow account will go negative, and they will recompute the amount owed each month. You will then get a choice to pay the deficiency as a lump sum or have it adjust your monthly payment upwards until it’s paid.
This ^

Happens to me every year when taxes or insurance changes
by rigoodma
Fri Dec 28, 2018 2:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rookie Boglehead- Young-ish High Income Earner
Replies: 20
Views: 2198

Re: Rookie Boglehead- Young-ish High Income Earner

Get a 30 year term insurance. I’ve always believed that if something happened to me, my intestments and term would be enough for my DW and kids could use to live on for rest of lives. For me, it was $3mil term and $1.5 from employer, plus investments.

Right allocation all comes to your risk. If you are not looking to retire for 20-30 years, then who cares if investments drop 30% next year. But if that scares you then do something more conservative. I did 3 fund at 80/20.
by rigoodma
Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Awesome Amazon trick for 20% off
Replies: 9
Views: 5135

Re: Awesome Amazon trick for 20% off

I tried getting this today but was not allowed. The fine print:

Must be a card that you haven’t used membership rewards before
Must be a card that you haven’t used to buy anything at amazon before

The second one was why I was denied
by rigoodma
Fri Dec 22, 2017 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Personal Allowances with MFJ $24K Standard Deduction
Replies: 5
Views: 1062

Re: Personal Allowances with MFJ $24K Standard Deduction

I've read the same on the IRS web site. It wouldn't roll out until Feb.
by rigoodma
Fri Dec 22, 2017 2:00 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Personal Allowances with MFJ $24K Standard Deduction
Replies: 5
Views: 1062

Re: Personal Allowances with MFJ $24K Standard Deduction

OK, makes sense. I guess that's where I was going with my question. Now that you don't have personal exemptions for kids, but get the child tax credit and higher standard deduction, it almost seems like I (relative to person of course) might pay more per paycheck than what I do now, but would get a large tax refund. I guess I just have to wait to see what the tax withholding tables show when they come out in January to see what is accurate.
by rigoodma
Fri Dec 22, 2017 9:25 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Personal Allowances with MFJ $24K Standard Deduction
Replies: 5
Views: 1062

Personal Allowances with MFJ $24K Standard Deduction

[OT comment deleted by admin alex]

With the new tax bill going into affect next year, MFJ people now have a standard deduction of $24K, which to me seems like a lot of people will get a large tax refund if they do the standard way of doing allowances for W4. How are people looking to do use their personal withholding allowances to get more money in their paycheck, instead of letting the IRS hold on to in until tax season? How do people do it today?
by rigoodma
Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Fidelity 401k - Brokeragelink - Pre-Tax/ROTH
Replies: 6
Views: 4040

Re: Fidelity 401k - Brokeragelink - Pre-Tax/ROTH

You need to check with your company's 401k documentation. My company has Fidelity for 401k and all of this is explained in the documentation or there is a number to call.
by rigoodma
Wed Aug 23, 2017 6:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Weightlifting Equipment for Home Gym
Replies: 54
Views: 12959

Re: Weightlifting Equipment for Home Gym

+1 for Starting Strength. I use that and row for endurance. Great program with a number of different profram options
by rigoodma
Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Spending and Expense
Replies: 6
Views: 873

Re: Spending and Expense

I don't work for commissions, but I do have at least one regular large bill (a TX-sized property tax bill) and a yearly unknown bonus. I also have ESPP, which while a generally known amount, I only get that money twice a year. So I do what you do: I fill up my emergency fund pot and use that for any large expenses that my regular cashflow can't handle. I guess I don't understand how opening another account will solve your issue? Aren't you still doing the same thing - putting money in some account and then taking it out when needed? Unless putting in/taking out of your emergency fund has high costs, I don't think opening another account is a solution. Guess my only thought with the separate is it is allocating money on top of emergency fun...
by rigoodma
Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Spending and Expense
Replies: 6
Views: 873

Spending and Expense

All- For people who work on commission jobs (or people in general), how to people manage their spending when income is not at regular intervals or larger expenses come in on a bi-yearly or quarterly basis? Do you have an account to manage this outside emergency fund? Or just deal with it in another way? I currently am in sales and get commissions, where my base to commission split is about 75/25 split. I run into issues sometimes where we might "overspend" a certain month due to unforeseen expenses that come in, commission being less one month to another, or a large bill like insurance comes in. It frustrates me when I "dip" into my emergency fund to pay for the expense. I know over time, whether when I sell my ESPP when...
by rigoodma
Thu Jun 01, 2017 8:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Please critique my attorney's suggestions..
Replies: 28
Views: 5718

Re: Please critique my attorney's suggestions..

Read "Beyond the Grave". That would give you a good idea of things to consider and why you might want to reconsider a testamentary trust, which is what it sounds like he is proposing. We set up a revocable trust that, if something happened to both my wife and me, all life insurance, investments, etc would go into the trust. It also prevents creditors to get access to it. Real estate and some other things will go through probate. Already considdring making some changes in the future around inheritance.

Granted, Texas might have specific things I don't know about.
by rigoodma
Wed May 10, 2017 8:30 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Why not Vanguard(other MF houses) have 'Fee-only-advisors' ??
Replies: 5
Views: 1174

Re: Why not Vanguard(other MF houses) have 'Fee-only-advisors' ??

According to the Vanguard Personal Advisor brochure, they do offer on-time investment advice where they create a financial plan for you. With this, it is not ongoing management.

https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/vpabroc.pdf
by rigoodma
Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

For real estate, insurance policies, loans for startup companies, etc., I would contend that is outside the investment realm and should be handled in other sections of the trust and by the corporate trustee. I see the asset manager handling all things related to security exchange markets. This part will be a problem. I suspect Vanguard would have nothing to do with any of these as trustee. All they want to do is manage a portfolio of mutual funds/etfs. If you need someone to make these sorts of decisions you would be back to a traditional trust department, with high fees. They would need someone they trust to make these decisions and leave them stuck with bad outcomes. This sounds like work for a corporate trustee only if a last resort. Co...
by rigoodma
Fri Apr 21, 2017 4:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

smackboy1, Great thoughts and comments. After reading through all of this, I am in agreement with what you said at the end. Separate the two into a corporate trustee to handle all trustee responsibilities except investment and an asset manager for investment decisions. As far as the conditions in the trust for investment strategy, the simple ones the investment advisor should take into consideration are as follows: The potential return from the investment, both in the form of income and appreciation; The potential income tax consequences of the investment; The investment’s potential for volatility; and The role the investment will play in the Trust’s portfolio The hard part is you can do that with a wide range of investment options. I would...
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

I can tell you that I reached out to talk to VNTC. They mentioned that their 4 buckets of investments are total stock, total bond, total international stock, and total international bond. Depending on time frames and other factors, they might also invest in tax efficient options, like muni bonds, etc. If you put anything in the trust that would limit these, then they won't be trustee. Long story short, they will invest in low cost, passive, index based investments and will talk with the grantors, beneficiaries or trustees on how to do the investments and time frame. But, you can't technically limit them on certain investments with that if they see it best for what you are looking for, as the wording of their administrative provisions preven...
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

FIREchief wrote:This looks like standard boilerplate. I believe that most/all independent trustees would, at best, just do what they always do (i.e. invest in a "traditional" non-BH manner).
Which is why I'm looking at this and will change in the future. Thanks for the confirmation
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

I've mentioned this multiple times, but for some strange reason I've yet to find anybody who will accept this as a valid approach. That said, nobody has yet provided any reasons why this won't work as intended. I guess my only comment is using the "low cost, passively managed, index based investments" seem to work for today. I and everyone else just don't know if there might be better options in the future outside index funds that become best, even for BHs. What could they be? I have not idea and doubt there would be anything. So, the only issue I see is with "index based". Even though I like that and would want to put it in there, I'm concerned what might change 20, 30, 40 years down the road. I would just need to figu...
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 19, 2017 10:20 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

afan wrote:Great example of the problem. Your typical index fund invests in options and futures as a matter of course. If you were to forbid the trust from investing in funds that do this, then you would have knocked out the Vanguard funds.
Well...crap. I did not know that with regular index funds. I guess the wordings should more be focused on low fees, volatility, standard deviation, etc., limiting what the trustee can do with margin for the entire account. I would have to think of this.

Suggestions from those who have some type of wording in their trust would be helpful, as would suggestions from others.
by rigoodma
Wed Apr 19, 2017 9:11 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

Afan brings up a great point. What will investments look like 50 years from now and how much detail should be put into the trust on what they can/cannot invest in. Right now, my trust reads as follows: Without limiting the Trustees’ investment authority in any way, the Trustees shall exercise reasonable care and skill in selecting and retaining trust investments and the Trustees shall take into account the following factors in choosing investments for the Trust: The potential return from the investment, both in the form of income and appreciation; The potential income tax consequences of the investment; The investment’s potential for volatility; and The role the investment will play in the Trust’s portfolio. It also gives wide ability to in...
by rigoodma
Mon Apr 17, 2017 6:41 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

I have not used trust services, but I have shopped a lot. As of the last time I checked, Vanguard would not manage real estate as trustee. You would need someone else to do that. This is a problem for us, since there is real estate that would need to be sold when we pass. If that is still the case, then you would either need to have a separate trust company manage the real estate, or at least have a personal representative sell it, then give the money to Vanguard to manage. Yes, this is what I found too. I did not quite follow the OP comments about Vanguard wanting to manage the investments. That is what most trust companies will want to do. That is where they make their money. There are trust companies that will do only the administrative...
by rigoodma
Mon Apr 17, 2017 3:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Re: Trust Services

I spent my career in the trust business but I won't attempt to answer all your questions other than to urge you to have a professional trustee manage your assets separate from the guardian of your children. Any of the options you mention could be good depending on your needs and the size of the trust. Banks such as Northern have very high minimums as well as fees (trust me, I worked there!). The same firm should be named as your personal representative to handle assets such as your real estate, although Vanguard and possibly others won't act in that capacity. Gill I guess some more detail would help you and others. Right now, if something happened to my wife and me, the trust would be in the $5-5.5 million range when you include retirement...
by rigoodma
Mon Apr 17, 2017 3:29 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Trust Services
Replies: 246
Views: 40282

Trust Services

My wife and I just finished setting up our will and trust after long procrastination with it. Our trust is basically a grantor revocable trust in which both my wife and I are trustees of it while we are alive and then it becomes irrevocable if something happens to both of us. Probably very similar to what others have on this site. After reading through "Beyond the Grave" (thanks for the book suggestion by the way) and as many posts I can find on BH, I'm reconsidering who the trustee should be if something should happen to both my wife and me. Currently, we have it set to the guardians of our kids (people who we do trust and are wealthy in their own right), as it made sense for them to control it, since they were the ones who are t...
by rigoodma
Mon Mar 27, 2017 9:41 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Geico insurance rate increase: 26.24% APY?
Replies: 75
Views: 20650

Re: Geico insurance rate increase: 26.24% APY?

I had the same thing happen to me back in November with AllState. I didn't calculate the APR, but it was a decent increase where I called them on it. Their response was that GA ranked 3rd on the number of accidents or accidents per driver (something like that). And they said they were hitting the customers with it now (ripping the bandaid off now - their words) instead of how other companies were doing it. However, they "assured" me I wouldn't have an increase once my next renewal comes up. We'll see what happens next month.
by rigoodma
Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Roth vs Traditional 401k when maxing out
Replies: 44
Views: 4966

Re: Roth vs Traditional 401k when maxing out

Are you 100% sure you will invest the money in taxable?

If you are, you will hear different things from different people. I personally invest in Roth to give me diversification in retirement, as no one knows what taxes will be years from now. And my company match goes to trad so my calculations show I will have a split 50/50 between the two by the time I retire.
by rigoodma
Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Merrill Lync 1099-B
Replies: 4
Views: 651

Re: Merrill Lync 1099-B

Update. I found the following on the account:

The Touchstone Board of Trustees also approved, subject to shareholder approval, the reorganization of the Touchstone Capital Growth Fund into the Touchstone Large Cap Fund, expected to be completed on or about June 26, 2015. It was also conveyed that while the reorganization is anticipated to qualify as a tax-free reorganization for federal income tax purposes, the repositioning would result in capital gains distribution to be paid to the Fund’s shareholders.

So, that being the case, why wouldn't they have a cost basis when they did the exchange? What should I do in this case for tax purposes.
by rigoodma
Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:59 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Merrill Lync 1099-B
Replies: 4
Views: 651

Re: Merrill Lync 1099-B

It appears to me that the statement "they exchanged the fund to a new fund on June 30th, 2015" is not quite correct. They may have changed to a new account, but not a new fund. It appears from the rest of your post that (forensically) there may have been two funds to begin with: One was sold for cash and the cash given to you. The other (the one you have) was transferred "in-kind" and the transactions of the original custodial account were lost, so they have no idea of the cost basis. The statement shows that they exchanged TCGYX (Touchstone Growth Fund) to TLCYX (Touchstone Large Cap). I can't find anything on TCGYX past June 2015. So, it might of been closed or acquired. It may even be possible that the account your i...
by rigoodma
Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:56 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Merrill Lync 1099-B
Replies: 4
Views: 651

Merrill Lync 1099-B

All- Need some thoughts on a 1099-B I got from Merrill. My in-laws had an old account that they were custodians for my wife. When we got married, they moved that account into a separate account so she could do what she wanted with the money. Due to a reorg of the fund, they exchanged the fund to a new fund on June 30th, 2015. When they did the reorg, it caused a capital gain hit, where $6,675.95 went to the new fund and $5,582.96 went to a cash account (Don't get me started on that). We decided to take the cash and put it in Vanguard investments outside of Merrill when this happened. But we kept it in the new fund for the time until we could figure out what we wanted to do with it, since it was her money. March 2016 came around and we decid...
by rigoodma
Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: VGD 1099-R Issue
Replies: 3
Views: 544

Re: VGD 1099-R Issue

Mine has been like this every year with box 2b checked. When putting into turbotax, it does not take out additional taxes for my roth conversion
by rigoodma
Tue Jan 17, 2017 9:53 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inheritance and Trusts
Replies: 6
Views: 1529

Re: Inheritance and Trusts

Thanks afan.

This makes sense to me. I have already reached out to my attorney asking the questions and see what he comes back with. I was hoping it would be as simple as making the trust the secondary beneficiary, but it was not clear researching it online.
by rigoodma
Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inheritance and Trusts
Replies: 6
Views: 1529

Re: Inheritance and Trusts

sport wrote:You have an attorney. Your questions are best answered by the attorney. If he/she is not an estate lawyer, you should consult one who is. One consideration you have not mentioned is a guardian for your child if you both should die. When my children were little, we set up a testamentary trust that named such a guardian to raise the children. We also named a trustee to manage the money in the trust, most of which would be life insurance proceeds. We felt that the guardian would be a good parent, but not a good money manager.
Thanks. The guardian and trustee piece is already figured out. Just trying to get a Boglehead point of view before going to my attorney on the finance piece
by rigoodma
Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inheritance and Trusts
Replies: 6
Views: 1529

Inheritance and Trusts

I am in the process of setting up a will. Details on me Self: 32, Wife: 29 State: GA Children: son, 16 months Currently, all my retirement, IRA, taxable, and life insurance have beneficiary as my wife and secondary as my son. In my will, I am looking to do two things. First, if something happens to both my wife and me, I don't want my children to inherit everything at 18, due to wanting them to grow their career and not just live of inheritance. So, I am putting in there inheritance will be dispersed at 30, 35, and 40. Second, if at all possible avoid any probate. I have been working with an attorney and he drafted a will. In there, if something happens to both my wife and me, all property, etc would go into a trust. In reading about it, my...
by rigoodma
Wed Sep 28, 2016 4:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Margin Loan
Replies: 2
Views: 555

Margin Loan

Can you do a margin loan and use the cash for things other than to buy stock? Examples being home improvements, down purchase of new house, or anything else along that line outside the stock market? What are the pros and cons of doing this verse HELOC? Are interest rates lower normally on one verse the other? Are there other reasons to do one over the other? This is more of a curiosity question then a specific use case.
by rigoodma
Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K and ESPP Investing
Replies: 17
Views: 2210

Re: 401K and ESPP Investing

I guess, having read the forums, that you know what most people will say here. I like a response about this I saw in the threads a long time ago from Meg77: Here's the general order of priorities, which can vary based on tax bracket, matches, and other details. 1. Max out 401k. Contributing the max to the Roth 401k would technically be getting "more" into the 401k since those funds would be tax free and not just tax deferred. 2. Max out Roth IRAs (do the backdoor Roth option since your income sounds too high to contribute directly to a Roth IRA). 3. Max out HSA. 4. Max out ESPP plan, if applicable (roll funds out as soon as allowed - basically invest just for the discount/bonus). 5. Max out the after-tax Roth option in your 401k ...
by rigoodma
Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K and ESPP Investing
Replies: 17
Views: 2210

Re: 401K and ESPP Investing

Bob's not my name wrote:ESPP isn't an investment, it's just a cash flow pipe, so I don't understand your question. Max out the ESPP for the guaranteed 17.6% return (90% annualized) and max your traditional 401k and then make direct Roth IRA contributions instead of back door.
Income is too high for direct roth ira.
by rigoodma
Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K and ESPP Investing
Replies: 17
Views: 2210

Re: 401K and ESPP Investing

The ESPP is a great way to grow your income by a few thousand but once you have that income, you need to decide where you want that money to work for you -- retirement or non-retirement? +1 to this. ESPP is probably a 'use it or lose it every month' but 401k contribution need not be per month. How frequently do you get your ESPP back? I assume its quarterly or something like that. So, you can max ESPP every month. Then every quarter, once you have a nice chunk of gain, plunk all of that into 401k by higher deduction from your next paycheck. And then dial back the next time, so on and so forth. And you are already contributing to your 401k, this should be on top of that. Essentially, this is to use ESPP as a way to front-load 401k, aiming t...
by rigoodma
Thu Jun 30, 2016 3:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K and ESPP Investing
Replies: 17
Views: 2210

401K and ESPP Investing

All- Have a question on 401K maxing vs ESPP investing. A little overview (using round numbers for simplicity): Age: 32 Annual Income: $200,000 (rounded for simplicity) Roth 401K Contribution: 6% ($12,000) Employer Match: 4.5% ($9,000) ESPP Contribution: 10% ($20,000) Back Door Roth: $5500 for me, $5500 for spouse (money comes from ESPP sales) So, here's my question. As you can see above, I am not maxing out my Roth 401K to $18,000. The reason being I am maxing out the ESPP contribution. With my companies ESPP (Fortune 100 company), it's a max contribution of 10% and they will buy the stock @ 85% the price at offer period (more too it, but for simplicity). In addition, once I get the stock, I sell right away. So, I'm basically making at a mi...
by rigoodma
Thu May 26, 2016 10:16 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K Switching to Fidelity
Replies: 9
Views: 1103

Re: 401K Switching to Fidelity

I cannot comment on ER on those, as the plan docs do not give all that detail yet. US Debt Index Fund T - follows Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index BlackRock Extended Equity Market − F - follows Wilshire 4500 index BlackRock US Equity Market Index − F - does not list a particular index There should be a fact sheet on each fund which gives both the ER and index used. The debt fund probably uses the Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index. Does the BlackRock US Equity fund use the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index? Sorry, I mistyped before. It is supposed to be: US Debt Index Fund T - does not follow a particular index BlackRock Extended Equity Market − F - follows Wilshire 4500 index BlackRock US Equity Market Index − F - Dow Jones U.S...
by rigoodma
Thu May 26, 2016 9:39 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K Switching to Fidelity
Replies: 9
Views: 1103

Re: 401K Switching to Fidelity

In your 401k what are the expense ratios on these funds, and the index tracked by each? US Debt Index Fund T BlackRock Extended Equity Market − F BlackRock US Equity Market Index − F In your 401k what is the expense ratio on this fund? Spartan® 500 Index Fund − Fidelity Advantage Class You might be able to use some combination of these funds from the regular 401k menu, and so only have to use the BrokerageLink for an international index fund such as Spartan® Global ex U.S. Index Fund. I cannot comment on ER on those, as the plan docs do not give all that detail yet. US Debt Index Fund T - does not list a particular index BlackRock Extended Equity Market − F - follows Wilshire 4500 index BlackRock US Equity Market Index − F - follows Dow Jo...
by rigoodma
Thu May 26, 2016 9:19 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K Switching to Fidelity
Replies: 9
Views: 1103

Re: 401K Switching to Fidelity

wanderer wrote:With access to a self-directed account in your 401(k) see these FIDO equivalents
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Fidelity
Well, that was easy. Thanks, exactly what I was looking for.
by rigoodma
Thu May 26, 2016 8:46 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 401K Switching to Fidelity
Replies: 9
Views: 1103

401K Switching to Fidelity

All- My company has decided to switch my 401K from JP Morgan to Fidelity. Currently with JP Morgan, I am using a self-directed 401K. I put everything in a S&P 500 fund for bi-weekly investments. Then move it to the self-directed account once a year, investing in the following: VTIAX (Total International) VTSAX (Total Stock) VBTLX (Total Bond) In looking at the initial information I've received from my company, I noticed, in order for me to do a self-directed 401K for the Vanguard funds, I would need to pay around $50 per trade ($150 per year), which is more than double what I have to do now. From what I've read, my company is offering the following funds in the Fidelity 401K: Fidelity® Institutional Money Market − Money Market Portfolio...