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ted123

When we changed from Comcast to Fios years ago, my wife's comcast email account remained active for several years. But then it disappeared sort of abruptly. You can set up Gmail to pull emails from other email accounts (I have my set up to pull emails from an old hotmail account). Look under "...

ted123

When we changed from Comcast to Fios years ago, my wife's comcast email account remained active for several years. But then it disappeared sort of abruptly. You can set up Gmail to pull emails from other email accounts (I have my set up to pull emails from an old hotmail account). Look under "s...

ted123

Tax-managed international has always sought to track the index. This is from an SEC filing back in 2005: The Fund purchases stocks included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International/(R)/ Europe, Australasia, Far East (MSCI/(R)/ EAFE/(R)/)Index, which is made up of approximately 1,066 common stocks...

ted123

My recollection is that you cannot take spousal SS benefits on only your wife's record prior to full retirement age. If you apply prior to FRA, then you must apply for both spousal and own benefits based on both records. If you mean to apply for spousal benefits after you reach FRA, I don't believe ...

ted123

What are you doing with the proceeds of your sales in your taxable account? If I sell $50,000 of TSM with a basis of $40,000, then I have a $10,000 gain. In the right tax bracket, I will pay no tax, but I will also have $50,000 in cash to buy groceries. What are you going to do with your $50,000? D...

ted123

One note about "chucking" the Verizon router and using your own -- IIRC, the Verizon router is necessary for the set-top boxes to perform all of their functions (guide, on-demand, etc.) You can turn off the wireless functions in the Verizon router and use it as a bridge to your own router,...

ted123

Using dictionary words greatly reduces the effective entropy. The comic would be correct if crackers restricted themselves to brute-force attacks, but they aren't that stupid. Rather than ask everyone to read the entire article cited, I will extract the relevant bit here: The specific type of hybri...

ted123

Gleevec Is that comic correct? If it is, then one can ignore all concerns re: upper case, lower case, numeric, and using such characters as !@#$%&* ? Probably not. Password cracking programs are becoming steadily more sophisticated, and random combinations of dictionary words are one of the thi...

ted123

How long are systems supposed to last? Ours is 10 years old and at the last routine maintenance check the tech said we should start thinking about a replacement. Only had one service call ever, about 5 years ago. Is it likely to work for 15 years? 20? I think ten to fifteen years is the "expec...

ted123

My wife has a math degree and worked as an actuary right out of college (she got a graduate degree in a different field later). The government agency I work for employs a fair number of people with math backgrounds in analytical positions, doing both statistical analysis and modeling. There's also p...

ted123

On rereading, I'll acknowledge that what worked for us may not be best for you. But my point of emphasis is that the blended rate of a first and second mortgage/HELOC may be better than the cashout option or other routes that get to the same place -- especially if you are able to retire that second ...

ted123

When we did this recently we (a) refinanced (no cash out) to a lower rate and then (b) opened a HELOC to pay for the renovation. We were due to do (a) anyway, but it was important to do it before opening the HELOC because it can be difficult (maybe impossible) to refinance a first mortgage with an o...

ted123

I understand (but don't really accept) the basic concept for holding them as a medium of exchange. I have no idea why any medium of exchange would make a good investment. Interestingly, the fact that people are treating them as an investment is making them totally unfit as a medium of exchange. I d...

ted123

It was a straight question and I appreciate your straight answer. Still I think it would be fun to dump in a small amount. I believe in the basic concept. What is the basic concept that suggests they should be an investment? I understand (but don't really accept) the basic concept for holding them ...

ted123

I'm planning to check some of these out.

http://indiegames.com/2013/01/top_10_in ... mes_o.html

ted123

We have joint accounts. In theory, my wife might have liked to maintain separate accounts when we were first married (and may have done so for some period of time, I don't recall), but we ended up with joint accounts because it was much simpler to manage. Our budget allows for discretionary spending...

ted123

It's not that technology changes. It's that certain companies (aka Apple) don't follow the backwards compatibility methods outlined in the newer protocols. This issue is squarely on Apple's shoulders. They're the ones that decided to stop being backwards compatible with the well-established Bluetoo...

ted123

We definitely found that, with toddlers, the most comfortable way to fly was in their own seat with a carseat installed. One helpful hint I picked up for installing a carseat on a plane...In addition to the buckle, plane seatbelts have latches where the belt attaches to the seat. It is far easier to...

ted123

I agree that tax planning is important at any age, but it may be a bit late to do anything that needs to be accomplished by the end of the year. You should definitely talk to your estate planning lawyer ASAP. That said, I'd expect there to be some change to the existing estate tax law and would, mys...

ted123

Isn't that called "per stirpes"? Per stirpes means that an inheritance is shared equally between each branch of the family. For example, if I have two grandchildren (A and B) through my son and five grandchildren (C, D, E, F, and G) through my daughter, and I leave my estate to my grandch...

ted123

I refinanced with Amerisave over the summer. Overall, I was happy with my experience, but the refinance did take almost 90 days. (Amerisave automatically extended the lock-in period, though it's not like that made a difference -- rates had stayed pretty much close to the same, possibly gone down ver...

ted123

My question is: is there any downside to signing up as a co-borrower on the loan? The biggest thing I'm afraid of is that my wife and I don't currently own a home; if I want to get a mortgage for a place of our own in the future, will it be an issue that I'm a co-borrower on another mortgage? This ...

ted123

This was an easy, slam dunk loan and now my locked rate is bout to expire before I can figure out if I even want to pay off my Heloc. My only comment is that Amerisave will probably extend the rate lock for you. I recently refinanced with them and they extended the rate lock automatically when a va...

ted123

My wife and I are expecting our first child next year. We haven't decided on a daycare and when the child will start daycare. We still need to discuss with our employers, family, research daycares, and many other decisions. However, we soon need to decide how much to put in our Dependent Care Credi...

ted123

Thanks a lot, lawyers. Thanks a lot, fellow American citizens who make the choice to sue their friends and neighbors for no good reason, and the juries of their peers that inexplicably side with the plaintiffs. Seriously, I've never heard of such a thing (though I'm not claiming any special knowled...

ted123

I've been involved in four closings in northern Virginia. We used attorneys twice when the sellers gave us an incentive to use their attorney (once it was a new condo that wanted all the buyers to use the same closing agent; once it was a home we purchased from the estate and the lawyer handling est...

ted123

I waive the FEGLI and purchase term life as an individual. I think you're probably right that you can get a better deal than FEGLI (which is probably no better than other group policies in this regard). I wouldn't worry about getting back into FEGLI later. Either buy enough insurance now to cover fu...

ted123

We're refinancing with Amerisave. They told me they typically close within 30 days, but if we close as scheduled this week, our refinance will have taken about 80 days or so. We had a sixty-day rate lock, but they automatically extended it. I believe that they probably do close within 30 days fairly...

ted123

In my state, title insurance and title service can be shopped around. Check entitledirect.com. (Note -- one difficulty in shopping around for title insurance is that the lender knows exactly what endorsements will be required, while entitledirect can only guess until it receives the information. Tha...

ted123

The upside is that I can combine monies - thereby increasing the compounding effect. The downside is there are limits to how much you can have in the 529 anyway. Unless I'm misunderstanding your point, this isn't true. An amount of money invested in a particular allocation will produce a specific r...

ted123

The OP really needs to divide those "fees" into buckets to determine whether they're reasonable. Five categories: 1. Fees paid to lender/broker 2. Fees paid to third parties (chosen by lender/broker) 3. Fees paid to third parties (selected by borrower) 4. Taxes and recording fees 5. Prepai...

ted123

Mortgages are often (typically? nearly always?) recorded with the county as well.

ted123

It seems like a situation that would be impossible to unwind if it wasn't working out. It might not work out because your parents may not really want to be nannies, even to their own grandchildren. And they may not realize that until they've done for it a few months. I also know a few families that ...

ted123

He's got an odd definition of gambling. First, he seems to suggest that folks are "gambling" just because they choose to defer social security to maximize their monthly benefits in the hope that they'll live a long time and maybe leaving thousands of dollars on the table in the process. To...

ted123

My internet collection is slow today, which is why I keep saying the same the thing as Puakinekine, just a few minutes later.

ted123

One thing to be aware of: TaxAct could be wrong about you owing AMT. The AMT thresholds are not indexed to inflation, but most years Congress adopts a temporary fix late in the year. It may not happen and TaxAct can't assume it will happen, but then again it might happen.

ted123

Avoiding the AMT: 1) Earn less money. 2) Earn a lot more money. 3) Don't have so many of the affected deductions (property taxes, mortgage interest on secondary residences, etc.) Near as I can tell, there's not really a good solution for this for most people. Just make sure you don't get hit with pe...

ted123

Thanks for the comments. We'll need to think more about replacing the electric appliances.

I wouldn't do any DIY work on the gas lines in any event, but thanks for the suggestions and the warnings.

ted123

I'm refinancing through Amerisave right now. So far, my overall impression is favorable. My initial "senior processor" was very helpful, though a bit slow to respond to a couple voicemails/emails I sent him, and the "dashboard" on the website that's supposed to allow me to track ...

ted123

It seems like there's been a number of threads on heating sources lately; here's mine: We live in Northern Virginia. Currently, our house has: An electric heat pump (forced air) for the main level/basement that is near its expected life An electric heat pump (forced air) for the 2nd story that is we...

ted123

I think you just need a simple spreadsheet. Something easily shared, like a Google doc, might work well. The columns would be (a) Month, (b) Beginning Balance, (c) Payment, (d) Interest Paid [Beginning Balance * Interest Rate/12], (e) Principal Paid [Payment - Interest Paid], and (f) End Balance [Be...

ted123

Do most upfront lenders have a no-cost refi option? Or do they just roll the costs into the loan? Most upfront lenders can provide no-cost refinances or a lender rebate sufficient to cover the closing costs. In either case, you're paying a slightly higher interest rate (but probably worth it in mos...

ted123

What are your alternative uses for the money?

ted123

Check out IRS Publication 17, which covers miscellaneous deductions, including unreimbursed employment expenses.

ted123

This is, as far as I know, the best previous discussion of this issue on this forum. LH2004 gives a very good account on "substantially identical."

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14946

ted123

My understanding of the concept of a credit towards closing costs was that the lender gives you that $3300 as sort of a payment for taking a slightly higher interest rate. It seems that Amerisave is adding that $3300 credit onto the loan balance. That's two different ways of doing things (capitaliz...

ted123

It seems like the shares you bought on 5/15 would be governed by the wash rule, since 10 days before the sale you bought identical shares. That may be why Vanguard is confused, but the wash sale only applies when the purchased shares "replace" the sold shares . Since the entire position w...

ted123

It seems like the shares you bought on 5/15 would be governed by the wash rule, since 10 days before the sale you bought identical shares. That may be why Vanguard is confused, but the wash sale only applies when the purchased shares "replace" the sold shares. Since the entire position wa...

ted123

I agree with the suggestion to run it through the Mortgage Professor's calculators. What is the breakeven time for recovering the cost of the point? Are you likely to sell before the breakeven point? Also, while it may seem unlikely given the historic low interest rates, there's a possibility that y...

ted123

Condo boards will often commission reserve studies, in which an independent engineer/building inspector will assess the building and estimate reserve requirements. One question...has the developer relinquished control to the condo board? I know in some cases, a developer that retains ownership of a ...

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