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JDCarpenter

Our son and his wife did something similar to this--a nice house 3-4 hours from their city apartment. Has worked out well for them so far (3 years or so), especially during this lockdown, when they've been working from there and gave up the city apartment. BUT, they have well over 500K income and ar...

JDCarpenter

Assuming that you are not a w-2 worker, and ignoring possibility that even with Roth conversions you are within a withholding/quarterly safeharbor, you should pay the roth conversion taxes evenly through your quarterly payments. Of course, if you meet the safeharbors even with the conversion amounts...

JDCarpenter

Megamill, We are in a similar position to you. Given that we don't project to need social and possibility of long life, we are both planning to claim at 70 (even though opensocialsecurity and other tools advise me, the relatively low-earning elder male, to claim somewhat earlier). Basically, we look...

JDCarpenter

I'd sell the car if there is any realistic concern about cash flow.

(But, I bought my first new car at age 53 for just a bit more than two weeks income, so discount my opinion accordingly.)

JDCarpenter

Seems like a few (1-3 times/yr) some fraud department contacts me about suspicious activity on a debit/credit card and sure enough, it's fraud (good, at least their algos seem to be amazingly effective). ... Or does the frequency with which this happens to me/wife seem like a big outlier? .... We a...

JDCarpenter

Here is an extensive discussion of IRMAA, what income is included to calculate it, and even how to file for an adjustment: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=292014 Probably worth reading. Here is the form for requesting a reduction in the surcharge. https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-44-ex...

JDCarpenter

From my understanding, that should work. FWIW, White Coat Investor indicated two years ago that Vanguard didn't accept transfers into Solo 401k accounts (point #6). https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/17-ways-to-screw-up-a-backdoor-roth-ira/ Maybe that's changed though. Good luck for this year. We kno...

JDCarpenter

... Hmm.. the information there is very thin. I couldn't find the original source on the Chase website itself. I wonder if this includes Costco , where we do the bulk of our grocery shopping. This site indicates that warehouse clubs are excluded: https://onemileatatime.com/chase-cards-5x-points-gro...

JDCarpenter

... Keep in mind there is temporarily a 5X UR bonus on grocery stores for the CSR. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-cards-to-earn-3x-5x-points-per-1-spent-at-grocery-stores/ Whoa, thanks! Hadn't heard this yet. Even though we plan to be traveling for most of May and June, we'll be home enough t...

JDCarpenter

For us, travel is down, not out. We are planning a pair of multi-month international trips next year, which will take care of rewards points.

JDCarpenter

We have a 200K HELOC at BOA for prime less 1%. We set it up just before retiring as an extra margin of safety for the years before we hit 59.5. As it turned out we didn't need it for that. BUT, I drew a chunk out in early March to have cash on hand in case the markets ended up being closed (looking ...

JDCarpenter

Thanks for this. Interesting impact, and I hadn't even thought of it. (Still ten years off, age 70, under today's laws.)

JDCarpenter

... Thus, we are aggressively converting to Roths, with the end goal to have only equity in Roths and all bonds in traditional IRAs. (we have essentially no funds in non-tax preferred accounts) It is good to hear that you are in a similar situation. So it sounds like we should 1) convert Roth to tI...

JDCarpenter

FWIW, I originally had a full featured Pixel 3, which I negligently shattered. Replaced it with a 3a and have been quite happy with it. We travel extensively (well, we did!) and the international coverage with Fi and the 3a have been great. The camera is pretty good as well, although that isn't a bi...

JDCarpenter

... My goal would be to minimize the tIRA holdings in the estate . One way to do this is to put low-performing assets in the tIRA. Another way is to convert some tIRA to Roth over time (say, convert to the top of the 12% bracket). In this way your parents are paying a low level of taxes so the chil...

JDCarpenter

We paid all three kids' undergraduate tuition and living expenses, limited up front to four years, with no limits on which schools. Youngest went to a school with substantial scholarship, so we paid his graduate school to even things out. (Otherwise, we loaned $ for professional schools with documen...

JDCarpenter

.... Combine these two points, and one could get quite a jump on Roth planning. I've been thinking about this. We currently have zero taxes without conversions, but have been filling the 24% bracket with those. Going to take new lows for me to start flirting with 32% though. I'm in decent enough ph...

JDCarpenter

.... Combine these two points, and one could get quite a jump on Roth planning. I've been thinking about this. We currently have zero taxes without conversions, but have been filling the 24% bracket with those. Going to take new lows for me to start flirting with 32% though. I'm in decent enough ph...

JDCarpenter

I have always had a hard time planning for my retirement "number" because I base all of my spending projections on current numbers, which are influenced by the fact that we have three kids in the house. I'm looking for anecdotes from those who have graduated from that phase and are currently living...

JDCarpenter

A similar recent thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=311465&p=5175266#p5175266

JDCarpenter

.... What are the positive things that are occurring and how are you taking advantage of them? ... Is now an especially good (or bad) time to do any number of things (e.g. buy a car, buy a house, buy a tv, buy life insurance, travel to antarctica ...) Looking to the hive mind for ideas on how to ta...

JDCarpenter

Daily when we aren't traveling. (When working was every day.) Have investment accounts in quicken and I update that program each day for spending accounts reconciliation and tracking. As for going into the actual brokerage accounts directly, probably a few times a year just to cross check that all n...

JDCarpenter

For the quicken users- did you have your accounts linked and is that safe? Maybe our issue was uploading the documents rather than having the account directly linked I have all of my accounts linked and I think it’s safe. I choose to enter my passwords every time I do an update but they also offer ...

JDCarpenter

check kiting or forgery fears and amount over $X. Sounds like a particular business' policy.

JDCarpenter

I've maxed out my 401k and am over the earnings limit to deduct any IRA contributions. Sadly I don't have access to an HSA right now. Is there any point to doing a nondeductible IRA contribution up to the $5k limit for 2019, or should I just do the same amount into a taxable account? Assume this wi...

JDCarpenter

Yes, you can. You can even have multiple Roth IRAs at the same brokerage. In the eyes of the IRS though, you have only ONE combined Roth IRA no matter how you have it all divided and spread out. Why would a brokerage allow you to have 2 Roth IRAs? Why would you want to? Its just more paperwork and ...

JDCarpenter

DW has hers split between three. No tax issues.

JDCarpenter

Disconnected may not be the right term.... But as retirees, we aren't really being hit directly by it, save for not traveling, and our experiences during our grocery store and Lowe's visits. We are pretty boring when not traveling. So we continue to cook all of our meals, take advantage of our home ...

JDCarpenter

... As for medical benefits, I pay my share of the premium for the first 30 days. After that, COBRA kicks in. LadyGeek, have you investigated alternatives to COBRA? We went that route for the first 18 months of retirement and it was a mistake (for us). We would have been better off (both mid-50s, h...

JDCarpenter

Second cubicle's opinion. This too shall pass. No reason to change DW's outlandish projected life expectancy, given that treatments and preventative care will almost certainly be found. In any event, such a change would not be actionable for us (in early retirement), since we are essentially barred ...

JDCarpenter

First, we retired three years ago to travel, which makes a huge difference. If we were still working, the impact on spending would be minimal. Our spending is likely to be way down this year. Travel is right at 1/2 of our total spending (including taxes), and is a number that a younger me would have...

JDCarpenter

What we did in 08-09 was just look at it in real time--with the understanding that our portfolio was likely in a trough. Similarly, at the close of last year (as retirees this time), when we looked at portfolio numbers to determine this years spending, we believed that the portfolio was at a pretty ...

JDCarpenter

Basic savings account, CD, or money market fund is the best way to go for this money (on assumption you'll likely want to be spending it soon to optimize Roth IRA/401k contributions before end of residency/fellowship). Ally's 11 month no-penalty CDs are 1.55% (you'd get four of them at 25K each so t...

JDCarpenter

We keep a thousand in mixed denominations in the wine cellar for unlikely events. Otherwise, we rarely use cash when in the USA. ... Credit cards exists since the 50s. Did they have internet back then? Or do taxis have internet? (now probably they do, but 5 years ago). I paid several times in my lif...

JDCarpenter

We opened one up in 2016 before retirement to have as emergency source of funds. A nice security blanket that easily exceeds a moderate year of spending. With all spending otherwise coming from IRAs, it would allow us to avoid taking a bigger tax hit if a major emergency comes up after our Roth Conv...

JDCarpenter

BoA travel rewards for everyday purchases (with platinum preferred status you get 2.625% statement credit against a very wide definition of travel; no annual fee) Chase Sapphire Reserve for restaurants and core travel charges. (At least up until March 2020 ( :oops: ) we travel[ed] at least 6 months ...

JDCarpenter

You really should follow up with the drafting attorney, who should have made things perfectly clear to you. This area is not one in which common sense rules and especially with the recent tax law changes for inherited IRAs there are some nasty pitfalls. At the same time, bsteiner is a true expert on...

JDCarpenter

Yep. We already knew from the numbers what our comfortable non-travel budget was. Just wish we weren't having to live it! (Barebones is relative, of course. We see no need not to grill tenderloin, and the contents of our wine cellar are technically sunk costs.) Oh well. This too shall pass. :beer

JDCarpenter

In addition to the above comments, here is a 2018 thread dealing with the same situation. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=255733 Could be informative for you. BTW, Peter Foley properly noted the need for multiple copies of death certificates. In the linked thread, he indicated that ...

JDCarpenter

no pensions except what we might end up getting from social at our respective age 70s; I assume you have reviewed the most appropriate age for starting SS for each one of you. Though we are far from receiving SS (not retired yet) the ages for us on preliminary evaluation turned out to be 70 for the...

JDCarpenter

We retired in July of 2017 at 57 and 56. As I told some friends on the verge of early retirement last night, the drop as of then was well within planning/historical parameters. As always, our yearend portfolio will determine next year's spending. Nonetheless, if another big percentage drop from yest...

JDCarpenter

Yep, the calculators referenced will set you on the right path. Don't be surprised that, depending upon your 30 years of income, the 5 zero years may make very little difference. DW and I each have 5 years that are zero or next to it (i.e., summer jobs), but our PIAs are both quite healthy because o...

JDCarpenter

As others state, it all depends on your spending patterns. For us, traveling 6 months or more of the year, with about half of that international, Chase sapphire reserve combined with BOA travel rewards visa (enhanced via the platinum preferred honors program) works very well. The latter gives us 2.6...

JDCarpenter

*** [Snip of longish discussion that we had no problem in substantially increasing spending after our 7/17 retirement] *** Serious Question:- Has your portfolio *actually* gone down? If so, how much in percentage? I have suspicion that the answer is "No". Same question to marcopolo. In 2018, we wer...

JDCarpenter

Check out this thread, which starts out with a fairly generic "travel insurance" inquiry, and gets into overseas health and air evac policies. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=299787 Am not familiar with Med-Jet, but $1499 seems awfully high for five years of international air-ev...

JDCarpenter

.... it's hard to change to a profligate lifestyle at age 58 when you have not lived that way your entire adult life. Not impossible, but it's just not something one is used to. Nah, it isn't that hard. ;-) We don't plan to spend the portfolio down to zero, but it will definitely diminish. Retired ...

JDCarpenter

What state are you in, and what city? That determines your answer. We are 60 and 59, live in Nashville Suburbs, and are each paying $288 per month. That is for a non-qualified plan and we are each on the hook for up to 30K out of pocket each year. Pretty much what I'd like for coverage--basically ma...

JDCarpenter

We travel a lot on long trips, so have geoblue for health insurance and evac. Note that if you are continuously out of country for a long time (60 days?), you'll need to buy a rider for the excess days. Also have DAN for diving related (hyperbaric chamber and evac). In actually, the two have some ov...

JDCarpenter

Congrats so far, BLS! I'm two years older than you, and retired only for 2.5 years, but similar assets (less house, more investments, and started with much higher percentage in tax deferred accounts....). Our spending is a bit more than yours right now--but half is for discretionary travel. I'll add...

JDCarpenter

... What happens to Roth conversions? We have some that were backdoor Roth (arguable these are contributory) and actual conversions (taxable) from 401Ks that are comingled. The plan was to continue a Roth conversion ladder from the 401K to near top of tax bracket (in part due to latest law changes)...

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