Bogleheads.org

I applied in late January with the new online renew system, and when I realized that my old passport would have been invalidated once my application is processed, I paid for expedited processing*. In 8 weeks I had my passport book, and a week later passport card in the mail.

* as others had noted, the new system does not accept new applications anymore. What was surprising to me is: old passport is invalidated as soon as US government processes the application, not when the new passport is printed.

toddthebod wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 6:45 pm

miamivice wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 6:41 pm I need to spend $10,000 on my new Visa credit card in 90 days to qualify for my $1000 bonus. What is the easiest way to do this?

I am thinking grocery store and Amazon gift cards.

I suppose I could pay taxes (I owe a bunch) but I'd have to pay fees to do that.

Other ideas?

They are wise to the gift card scheme. It might not count.

I would book a vacation.

I used to add $500 gift cards to smaller grocery bills, and never had a problem with Amex, and others.
If you have a kid in college, with some small commission, you can pay the college bill (which I did back in August)
Or can you pay local taxes (our county accepts real estate taxes with some commission).

I do something similar, however I need to take into account my company’s 401K match, which is only added for the month if I have pre-tax/Roth 401K contribution, they do not match after-tax contributions, and they do a true match the January of the following year, which means I have to leave enough space for the match to fit into the limit ($66K this year). Our HR was nice enough to provide a spreadsheet where one can insert their base salary, any salary increase (and date) for the year, and the percentage of pre tax/Roth contributions for each paycheck, as well as after tax contributions for each paycheck (one can only contribute after tax after filling in pretax/Roth space). The spreadsheet has helped me a lot for planning purposes, as it ...

bertilak wrote: ↑Sun Sep 25, 2022 12:32 pm

kerplunk wrote: ↑Fri Sep 23, 2022 9:16 am Your FiOS (fiber optic) lines are on telephone poles?

It is called "Aerial Fiber" and is what we have.

It only recently became available to us. I think the technology is relatively new. I know it was new to the people who installed it in our neighborhood.

When Verizon was first installing FiOS in our previous house, they used aerial fiber in 2009. Mostly they are using whatever they have access to. If they already have the poles, or right of way to put fiber strand, it might be the fastest/cheapest deployment for them (vs Google Fiber’s problems).

I do agree that 2 is not enough. I am using 4, where one is always in my backpack (I used to travel a lot, not that much, but still just in case), and one is with my keychain. One is on my desk, when I need to use it during the day, and one backup at a safe place.

I always used yubikeys, however just recently I bought two of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089Z ... UTF8&psc=1
They do support USB-C (both laptop/iPad have USB-C, and there are ways to convert a lightning port on iphone to USB-C), and NFC. Something like this might be a good option depending on what kind of connector you have on your iPad, and phone.

I have played 1830: railways and robber barons a few times. It's partly about trains and partly about the stock market - if you are clever enough to maneuver and other players are not watching out, you can start railway companies, have other players invest in them, then asset-strip a company, move the assets (trains, cash) into a second company under your control, and sell all the stock in the now worthless company before the price crashes, leaving the player who is the next major shareholder to deal with the liabilities of making very expensive investments so the company is able to operate. Buying and selling shares on the market causes the market price to respond. It's delightfully non-bogleheadish. Quite a unique game but (i) very compl...

spy587 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:56 am Powergrid - A euro classic. It'll wear down your analytical side in a good way. Can be a little cut throat.

If you like PowerGrid, and also like trains, the 18xx family is a gem, and there are many games that are best with 3 players (1860 is a good example). https://18xx.games has everything for a test run, or two

vasaver wrote: ↑Wed May 04, 2022 12:45 pm You can setup multiple VA 529s per child so you can deduct 4,8,12k... in the same year. Each acct just has to have a different investment choice, owner....

https://www.tax.virginia.gov/laws-rules ... ner/10-240

Thanks for the heads up on the 5 day hold to cash flow college - I didn't know it was that short.

Exactly! In addition to what vasaver wrote, the limit is per person, so two parents can have multiple accounts to move money through 529. Depending on which college/and the cost, this might be needed. We have been doing this for a private school, and will start doing it for college this year as well.
Congratulations on the college bound student!

criticalmass wrote: ↑Tue May 03, 2022 8:07 am

William Million wrote: ↑Tue May 03, 2022 1:35 am Clear would be an option to those who want the TSA Pre option.

Honestly, it's worth having Global Entry for those of us who travel alot. I've saved hours (including crossing land borders).

I’ve used the free mobile customs app and make it through immigration/customs at least as quickly as my friends relying only on global entry. But it doesn’t have any privileges at the outbound security screening line to board a flight.

If I remember correctly, that app does not work on all airports. I remember paying for the subscription for an arrival in Atlanta, and app definitely saved a lot of time, and the next arrival through Dulles, app was not accepted, and line was (pretty much is always) more than an hour long.

Receiving a code via email has the highest ceiling for security. If your email is set up with a unique, long password and strong 2FA, then it'll be the most secure way to receive your code. If you use the same password as other sites and the password got leaked into the dark web, then it'll be your least secure way. This is correct, however everything depends on email’s security. I think one strong 2FA is needed to secure the email access (hardware token like Yubikey, or a software app like google auth/iCloud password+one time keys). After this, if any account does support HW tokens, that’s the current best security, if not, I try to use iCloud password+one time keys (why, as the same one time key can be retrieved from my phone/iPad/comput...

livesoft wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 11:43 am Next you will want to open a coffee bean roasting store. You actually won't sell any brewed coffee though --- only the roasted beans.

Or maybe you can convert to roaster into a vending machine: Money and beans in two holes and roasted beans come out another hole.

Funny you wrote this, in traditional Turkish coffee roasters, they only sell the roasted/ground coffee, and do not sell coffee to drink (and boy they do smell so good, usually roasted outside).

rob wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 6:16 pm I've had this for years and recently put an application for spouse.... They take the money, conditionally approve then you have to do an interview.... This is where the wheels fall off.... Good luck. None available in the north east or eastern Canada... Closest one is in NJ for November... [expletive deleted by moderator oldcomputerguy]..... At what point is this not an actual thing?

Both me, and my spouse did interview on arrival, which gives much more flexibility (https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-trav ... nt-arrival), in fact this year we are doing it for the kids. The only downside is, extra time is needed at arrival, and one can’t use the Global Entry on the first arrival.

At $300k income it will be 100% self pay. Can your kids go back to Europe for college if it's unaffordable here? That's a potential option. The downside is that it might put their green card at risk. I would have to check with an immigration lawyer about that. I know this was not your immediate question, however if the only reason kids will not go to Europe is green card, please check I-131 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-131). Once applied, and approved this document gives up to 4 years out of state, by basically freezing green card status. Unfortunately a re-entry permit doesn't guarantee a re-entry. If the immigration officials determine that one has established their permanent residency elsewhere, they may deny the re-entry regardless. It wou...

ivgrivchuck wrote: ↑Sun Feb 27, 2022 2:49 pm

er999 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:26 pm At $300k income it will be 100% self pay. Can your kids go back to Europe for college if it's unaffordable here?

That's a potential option. The downside is that it might put their green card at risk. I would have to check with an immigration lawyer about that.

I know this was not your immediate question, however if the only reason kids will not go to Europe is green card, please check I-131 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-131). Once applied, and approved this document gives up to 4 years out of state, by basically freezing green card status.

If the company is bought out, keeping the Principal account might not be a long term option. If the fund options with the new account are not good, rolling into an IRA might be a good option that’s available until the Principal account is merged with the new accounts (this happened to me with a merger in the past)

This is the first year I will need a true up match as well, as I am going for a Mega backdoor Roth, and our plan only starts after tax contributions once before tax contribution space is full, which means there will be many months where I will not be contributing before tax, and my company only matches them. To my surprise, our benefits team had prepared a spreadsheet (plan is administered by Schwab), which has rows for before tax/Roth/after tax contributions for each paycheck, percentage one is contributing for each paycheck, and annual salary (and salary increase, which month, etc). Once I entered my salary, the contribution percentages, the spreadsheet showed how much company will match, and how much space I am leaving by using after tax...

Our state allows a generous tax deduction for contributions to 529 accounts, follows the federal rules on including K-12 tuition as a qualified expense, and doesn’t recapture the deduction on withdrawals made shortly after contributions. Also, our daughter is loving where she’s at for Pre-K this year. So our plan is to reenroll her for kindergarten, and then pay for her tuition through the 529 account in her name. My question is a practical one: aside from matching the year of the withdrawal and the expense, does it matter when I take the withdrawal from the account? Can it be before we pay the expense, or does it have to be after we pay it? I’m trying to figure out when to make the contribution and want to make sure I understand these rul...

patrick wrote: ↑Sat Jan 15, 2022 12:15 pm

ilisira wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:24 pm5% on the first $10,000 - Freedom First Credit Union. They need $5,000 monthly direct deposit though.

It looks like this is only available in parts of Virginia. Is there a way around the geographical restriction?

I had no idea what their membership requirements are. Looks like anyone who conducts regular business in their region (or goes to school) can be a member. https://www.freedomfirst.com/welcome/new-member-faq

I wonder whether signing up for a free virtual class at a community center (or Virginia Tech) works.

patrick wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:20 pm Interesting, but not the highest rate out there. You can also get:

4.07% on the first $7,500 - Genisys Credit Union, requires 10 debit card purchase per month of at least $5 each
5% on the first $500 - Service Credit Union
6% on the first $2,000 - H-E-B Debit, requires some activity every 90 days to avoid fees, but an ACH push of $1 is sufficient.
6.17% on the first $1,000 - Digital Credit Union

5% on the first $10,000 - Freedom First Credit Union. They need $5,000 monthly direct deposit though.

Our state allows a generous tax deduction for contributions to 529 accounts, follows the federal rules on including K-12 tuition as a qualified expense, and doesn’t recapture the deduction on withdrawals made shortly after contributions. Also, our daughter is loving where she’s at for Pre-K this year. So our plan is to reenroll her for kindergarten, and then pay for her tuition through the 529 account in her name. My question is a practical one: aside from matching the year of the withdrawal and the expense, does it matter when I take the withdrawal from the account? Can it be before we pay the expense, or does it have to be after we pay it? I’m trying to figure out when to make the contribution and want to make sure I understand these rul...

5766.18

ClassII wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 3:50 pm One more note about Peloton vs F+: Apple is way more "feel good" and positive when it comes to their instructors. If you want to get yelled at by a boot camp instructor, they're not the product for you. Personally I never respond to "negative encouragement" which is probably why I never would of cut it in the military. While I find F+ a little sugary at times I do like their general positive vibes.

I’m with you on this. I have been doing rowing for about a month now, and that positive attitude helps a lot. When I had tried different virtual coaches in the past, the negative encouragement never worked for me as well.

infotrader wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:00 am
Thank you both, then it is not OK, LOL.

Well, it really depends. It was between paying tax twice vs losing corporate match for me last year after I changed jobs, and I was OK with paying tax twice.

I just got an Apple Watch recently (I LOVE it! -- way more useful than I ever imagined) and I'm now seeing advertisements for Apple Fitness, which I hadn't heard of before. Coincidently, I'm interested in developing a regular at-home fitness routine. I searched the forum and found only very few passing remarks. Have any Bogleheads tried Apple Fitness and would be willing to share their thoughts? Thanks! I have used it for about a month in the beginning of January 2021, and stopped using it after I forgot my new year’s resolutions :), in December 2021, we bought a rowing machine, and started using Fitness+ again with rowing machine, and up until now, I love it. The coaches seemed to be encouraging. My only problem is, the number of videos f...

ScoobyDoo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:33 pm

FireProof wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:11 pm

Little_Carmine wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:14 pm Following this. I left my job last week and will start the new one next week. Technically I don’t have insurance if I’m between jobs? I have to get a test before the new job but unsure if it will cost Me

It's still free without insurance.

Gotta love it! free w/o insurance! $300 w/insurance. free - $20 out of country, sigh!

Any chance you misunderstood? It’s free regardless of insurance status.

Since 2FA is so common, how quickly can you get your phone replaced if it is lost/stolen/damaged (or suffers a malfunctions)? (An iPhone in my case.) I am surprised most places that use 2FA don't offer the use of a secondary phone number in case this happens. Sometimes I wish there was a way to receive and send back a text from a virtual number (like from Ooma or the like) that was not dependent on a particular physical device. This has always been a concern especially using third party 2FA programs, and with the introduction of iOS 2FA support in passwords, I am more comfortable, as both my phone, and tablet (both Apple) has the same 2FA codes now (of course, this is not as secure as not having a backup, but assuming your iCloud access is...

Since 2FA is so common, how quickly can you get your phone replaced if it is lost/stolen/damaged (or suffers a malfunctions)? (An iPhone in my case.) I am surprised most places that use 2FA don't offer the use of a secondary phone number in case this happens. Sometimes I wish there was a way to receive and send back a text from a virtual number (like from Ooma or the like) that was not dependent on a particular physical device. This has always been a concern especially using third party 2FA programs, and with the introduction of iOS 2FA support in passwords, I am more comfortable, as both my phone, and tablet (both Apple) has the same 2FA codes now (of course, this is not as secure as not having a backup, but assuming your iCloud access is...

We have two 529 accounts, one as my name as the beneficiary and the other as my wife. We have about $275,000 total between the two accounts. The accounts of course are for our children, but we opened them before they were born so we had to use our names as the beneficiary instead of our children. Do we need to do anything in 2022 to migrate them to our children? I am really hesitant to change them to my children's name...one is that it is extra work and my time is limited, and the other is I am not sure I am emotionally ready to declare to myself that they've earned the college money yet... But we don't want to have to file gift taxes on any of the money for their college education, so if I need to do something in 2022 I will. Thanks! How ...

Airalo is data only. You will not get a number nor will you get cellular service to your current number without roaming. However, if your phone and carrier supports it, you can use Airalo's cellular data to enable wifi calling via your US carrier. This would in effect allow you to maintain service to your US number. I was hoping this would have worked (had no experience with dual SIM before this summer), however it did not work for me with my Verizon regular SIM + Airalo’s eSIM. I am not complaining, as they do not advertise this would have worked, but I was hoping it would :). It looks like Verizon’s VoWiFi/SMS over WiFi does not allow a phone to connect to their ePDG (their Gateway that phones connect over Wi-Fi) through a mobile connect...

MrCheapo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 10:00 am

T20three wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 10:20 pm "My colleague doesn't speak English as a first language so I left the conversation a bit confused. "

Sorry but that just cracked me up. Talking about a complex topic like finances with a non-native speaker is a recipe for disaster.

As a non-native speaker who helped many colleagues to start using backdoor IRA, and megabackdoor over the years, I can assure you that my colleagues disagree

RJMJfund wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 11:22 am We are are in MD. I have three children with tuition currently. My husband and I each have a 529 account. For MD we can contribute $2500 per beneficiary per account. So maximum we could contribute would be 15,000. Our state tax is 7.6% I believe.

Any chance you can have more than one account per beneficiary? The limit in VA is similar ($4K per benefited per account), however each investment option is hold in a separate account, so one can have multiple accounts per beneficiary.

What is the budget, and more importantly, which phones are you using? The newer phones have the eSIM support, which allows one to buy a second line when traveling. Such a service that I used twice earlier this year is airalo. You can install the app before the travel, and buy/download the eSIM any time you want as long as you have internet access (before the travel, or during the travel over Wi-Fi). I also recommend eSIM for international data. I've used both Airalo and Truphone, and like Truphone better as it was significantly faster. Airalo routed all data via Poland, so it was quite sluggish using it in the U.S. It's probably less of an issue if you're actually in Europe. I was actually in Europe, and did not notice any issues. Having s...

Where internationally? In many countries a SIM is 5-10$. In some for 5$ you get 60Gb and speeds higher than 100Mbps. Why would you pay anything to verizon? unless I am terribly confused (its happened before), with a local SIM, I wont receive texts or voice calls to my regular, USA based tele #... That is rue so some extent, but most people use imessage and whatsapp, so no need to worry about SIM. For calls you can setup some kind of forwarding system (I think Google voice is one option), or use WhatsApp/Facetime calls. You are correct, if you do not have Wi-Fi connection, you will not get texts/calls for your US based number, assuming you are disabling roaming when you don’t have Wi-Fi access. As others stated WhatsApp/iMessage/whatever Go...

What is the budget, and more importantly, which phones are you using? The newer phones have the eSIM support, which allows one to buy a second line when traveling. Such a service that I used twice earlier this year is airalo. You can install the app before the travel, and buy/download the eSIM any time you want as long as you have internet access (before the travel, or during the travel over Wi-Fi).

I use Google Fi not just because it is cheaper, but because it charges the same rate for data ($10/GB) in almost any country, making phone use during international travel almost seamless. Calls and SMS do cost extra but not prohibitively so for occasional use. Plus, data-only SIMs can be requested at no additional charge and used on family members' phones---those phones will not have normal phone calls and SMS, but can run Skype, WhatsApp, etc., which works fine for our purposes. Verizon, AT&T etc had (last I looked) obnoxious charges for using the phone anywhere other than N. America, and until recently they overcharged you even in Mexico and Canada. Plus this business of free-or-discounted phones to lock you into high monthly rates i...

startwithtruth wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 9:39 am
It looks like my grandfathered plan "MORE Everything® Unlimited Talk, Text & 15GB" supports 5G; under plan features, it says:
Premium data: 5G Nationwide / 4G LTE

Am I misunderstanding?

Unfortunately they are specifically limiting this promotion to three of their newest unlimited plans: “play more”, “do more”, and “get more” unlimited. They are eligible for $1,000 trade in. The start unlimited is limited to $300, and just kids is not eligible at all.

I has done these promotions multiple times over the years, and last year they still had one over new year’s (I bought my phone at the end of November). Having said that, the promotions usually change during year. They were appraising 2020 iphone SE’s for $1,000 up until Thursday, and now it is $800 (same with iPhone X). I’d say if you like the offer, go for it. I have a newer phone, but bought new phones for the rest of the family over the weekend. Definitely works for more than one line in the account.

For Google Authenticator, you can export accounts, and allow the new phone to scan the QR code the app will show, and new phone will import those accounts. Last time I did, there was a 10, or 12 account limit that can be exported at once, so I had to do it in two steps. Not a big issue at all.

For Symantec VIP, I do not think there’s an export function at all, so one might need to add the new device through financial providers.

Freedom First FCU (https://www.freedomfirst.com/) has 5% APY for up to $10,000 savings, and the requirement is $5,000 monthly direct deposit. No debit card activity is required.

EHEngineer wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:16 pm
It is poor personal security practice to click, call or otherwise respond to any contact info in an unsolicited email.
I use only a list of trusted phone numbers in my records.

Totally agree, a legit phone number in the email does not mean the email is legit

Doom&Gloom wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2019 2:31 pm

student wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2019 1:20 pm I received an email from Xfinity today, it seems that they are getting rid of the 100mb free per month. From the language, it seems that if one is using by the gig, they will charge a min of $12. I will call them after the holidays to ask about what if I use no data. If $12 is the min, I will cancel as this is only a secondary phone.

Got the same email. It will be a minimum of $12/month per line. This will probably have a minimal effect on the three of us as my phone is the only one that doesn't surpass 1 GB or is on the unlimited data plan.

We'll take a closer look at it when the change comes--Feb 1 IIRC.

It looks like it's not $12/month per line, but $12/month per account with shared data plans, which makes the impact smaller

Apple iPad 10.2" Wi-Fi 32GB - Silver (2019) MW752LL/A should be good for 4+ years. https://www.adorama.com/acmw752lla.html $339 (and maybe no sales tax) or Worst Buy https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-ipad-latest-model-with-wi-fi-32gb-silver/5985610.p?skuId=5985610 for $250 My iPad Air 2 is now over 5 years old. Updated to latest version of iOS. I’d highly recommend the 128GB version of this if it fits the budget ($329 at bestbuy https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-ipad-latest-model-with-wi-fi-128gb-silver/5985615.p?skuId=5985615 ). This particular model works with apple’s Smart Keyboard if interested to buy one now, or later, as well as the Apple Pencil. 32GB might be too low in a couple of years I have used iPad as a media consuming ...

michaeljc70 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:14 pm I read in a streaming thread (can't find it now) that someone cancelled their service whenever the promotion period ended and started new service in their spouse's name. My internet promo just ended and I was contemplating doing that. It would save around $250/year and there is no equipment to deal with (I own it) so minimal hassle. My question is do they catch on after the 1st time you do this? Are there any other caveats? We have different last names so it won't be obvious.

What’s to catch when you are subletting your house to a friend for six months, or a year . We had done this for many years in the past

The biggest feature for 13.3 IMO is the support for physical security keys yubikey (https://support.yubico.com/support/solu ... ted-on-ios)

Wondering if anyone has experience/thoughts about Turkish Airlines ? Pardon this rather specific question I'm considering trip to Central Europe, and it's pricing is better than most other options on my rewards program. More generally, is there good site for objective rankings/reviews of international air carriers? (Quick google is leading me to commercial sources) Thanks in advance Lots of misinformation in this thread. I believe some of them are answered, getting a visa on arrival is possible, but line might be longer. New airport is operational in April, and due to a funeral, I had to fly in the first day of operation, and even that day, they had no issues (had to go through the new airport 7 times since then, no issues whatsoever excep...

ThankYouJack wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2019 7:19 am Spouse is taking a trip to Europe and has an iPhone 7 with Verizon. She'll mostly use it for texting, FaceTime, maybe checking voicemail.

What precautions should be done to limit the size of the bill? If it's only an extra few bucks not a big deal, she just doesn't want to get slammed with a ~$100 bill.

If they have a Verizon unlimited plan, one can upgrade that plan to beyond unlimited ($20 a month extra) which comes with 5 days of the daily international service. If the trip falls into two separate billing cycles, one can have 10 days of international service for $40 extra. This, and wifi+airplane mode should work for most, if not all.

I'm going off the grid for a week and need to be able to send and receive emails. I'm trying to find an appropriate satellite phone / data plan but am struggling a bit to find something that fits my needs. Anyone have experience here / anything to suggest? Thanks I answered my own question after talking to someone at one of the companies. I need to rent a satellite internet hub for about $100 per week. This doesn't include data which is around $5 per mb :shock: ...the Hughes 9202 BGAN unit was suggested as it allows for 300kbs download speeds, which is still a lot slower than 4g but should be ok for downloading and sending basic emails. It basically creates a wifi hotspot. I will be looking for a way to disable all automatic attachment dow...

Back in the day when I had an office, I had started using Microsoft ergonomic keyboards (multiple generations), which have helped me with pain on my little fingers. At first, they are awkward to use, but one gets used to (and I still miss). For mouse, I have tried several, did not find one that I really love yet. These days I am always traveling, and using laptop keyboard, which is not fun. You can have a look at vertical keyboards as well.

There is a publication I am interested in redeeming airline miles for via Mags for Miles for X number of miles plus $0. The website is asking for my credit card information and it will not let me redeem miles unless I provide that information. The terms state that after the subscription ends with miles, it will automatically renew (presumably at full retail price), unless I inform them I want to cancel. Is it permitted to use a prepaid credit card (that will not have adequate funds on it a year from now) or a credit card that you might not have one year from now to place the order? When it comes time to renew and those cards are declined, will the subscription obviously not renew due to insufficient funds on a prepaid credit card or a clos...

jerryk68 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 18, 2019 8:30 am PA transponder user here. Just checked my statement and no listed monthly charge. If my memory recalls correctly when that charge was instituted I switched from NJ to PA just to save that buck. Dollar here, dollar there, sooner or later it adds up to be real money.

PA transponder user here, living in another state now, but did not give up PA ez-pass, as there is no monthly fee. PA now has an annual fee, and it's just $3