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dandinsac

Some other trip, drive from Globe to Roosevelt Lake to its dam, then back to Apache Junction on the Apache Trail if you have a slender vehicle and no agoraphobia. Expect to wash the dust off of your car before you drive back to Tucson. I’ve driven this. It’s gorgeous and rugged. I would drive it fr...

dandinsac

Buy 6-month treasuries. They pretty much go up in value (a little bit) or stay the same, every day. So, you’ll have a paper gain to offset the paper loss.

dandinsac

Nearly A Moose wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:57 pm It's also possible this is vented to the roof; I haven't been up there, and it's a flat-roof rowhouse so I can't see the roof without buying a longer ladder and climbing up there.

You can now justfy buying a drone with a camera so that you can see what is on the top of your roof!

dandinsac

This thread got me thinking about keeping my older cars even longer and renting when I need to drive a ways. I recently rented a 2018 Nissan Sentra in Missouri and drove 399 miles over a three day weekend. My costs were $110.47 plus $28.50 in gas. (Cheap gas in Missouri and the Sentra sips fuel.) My...

dandinsac

For such a short time, and to avoid the hassle of setting up another account, I would transfer to VG. Once it's there, you can buy a 6 month treasury bill at auction without a commission. Any rise in interest rates later this year would only affect the value of the bond if you need to sell it before...

dandinsac

Moving seems quite expensive - probably $50-60K by itself. It seems that if $200K is all it takes for the house to work for you, that seems like the better option. Here's an alternative approach as opposed to waiting: 2018 - Pay off student loan; open a $100K HELOC, hire an architect / kitchen desig...

dandinsac

If you already own speakers, consider the NAD 3020 amplifier. I use this with optical audio from the TV and a pair of small NHT superzero speakers. The sound is impressive for a small system. It’s easy to play bluetooth audio as well. @dandinsac - I am leaning towards this type of solution, at leas...

dandinsac

If you already own speakers, consider the NAD 3020 amplifier. I use this with optical audio from the TV and a pair of small NHT superzero speakers. The sound is impressive for a small system. It’s easy to play bluetooth audio as well.

dandinsac

One approach would be to start with the HELOC and use those funds to get the project started. I did this with a kitchen remodel and when I didn't have enough funds in my checking, I'd write checks from the HELOC as needed to pay my contractor. You shouldn't have to take out the loan in a lump sum. A...

dandinsac

I invest all my new contributions for my 401K, my Roth IRA, my wife's IRA, and taxable account into stocks. These are all made by scheduled, automated transactions each week. Each weekend, I calculate the percentage of stocks versus bonds and how much over or under the stock percentage is over my ta...

dandinsac

In addition to this year’s withdrawal, you could take the opportunity to move the next three or four years of RMD’s to CDs or Treasuries. This would allow you to sell the high cost funds and establish a target stock/bond percentage. It also avoids having to address the same question each year.

dandinsac

I suggest these as your first actions: 1. Move all of the investments in both 401K accounts into the stable value funds. 2. Initiate a transfer of the taxable account in kind to Vanguard or Fidelity. (They will walk you through this.) I think this puts you at about a 50/50 stock/safe ratio. Right no...

dandinsac

I live in Sacramento, which is higher cost than the midwestern cities I lived in before. The biggest thing for me was to find a house in an area that didn’t require driving much. My car costs are very low now, even though my house costs much more than anything I had in the past. Living in DC, doing ...

dandinsac

I was with them for a couple of years. I started a taxable account and got a $250 bonus to open an account. Later, I rolled over a 401K and started a Roth as well. My performance over a 2 year period lagged the Vanguard 2030 fund which surprised me. (Both accounts were taxed defferred and had 70/30 ...

dandinsac

Scott, Welcome to the forum! I don't know a lot about the social security offset program, but if you can get more by waiting, then that would be the best way to go. For example, for the next 4 years, you could save at least $26,000 in Roth IRAs, and you'll be 65. If at that point, you stop working, ...

dandinsac

Le Pont du Gard in southern France is very impressive. There is a museum on site that describes how it was built by the Romans.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_Gard

dandinsac

I suggest you hire a CPA or another type of "per hour" financial advisor who has fiduciary responsibility to advise you relative to taxes. For your taxable funds, depending on your state, treasury bonds, i bonds, or a municipal bond fund may be a good approach as well. Filing as a single t...

dandinsac

=AVERAGEIFS(B:B,A:A,”>=“&date(2018,1,1))

where the dates are in column A and the values are in column B.

dandinsac

Cuba. With a fluent Spanish speaker, that could be a great trip.

dandinsac

I agree with others that you have too much driving for both San Francisco and Yosemite. Until I moved here to Sacramento, I didn’t quite realize how big it is. From Tahoe, it will be 3 hours to Yosemite and 3 hours to Sacramento. San Francisco would add at least 4 hours of more driving if you don’t ...

dandinsac

Here is how I allocate between multiple accounts... Her IRA - 65% International Developed and 35% Emerging Market His Roth IRA - 100% US Extended (not S&P 500) His Rollover IRA - split between bonds (TIPS & treasury bonds) and S&P 500 His 401K - mix between S&P 500; US extended; Inte...

dandinsac

I fly from Sacramento to SoCal every few weeks. I have switched to JetBlue for price, leg room, and reserved seats. Southwest is typically $75-100 more expensive. Downside of JetBlue is that they have fewer flights. Transportation or airport parking is another cost you'll need to manage.

dandinsac

I really enjoyed Taiwan when I visited there on business. I stayed mostly in Taipei, but took a tour to the Karoka gorge for a weekend. Food was delicious.

dandinsac

I have an automatic weekly investment for my Roth IRA into Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund. For Q1 2018, i averaged the closing values each day. Average price for all days - $86.14 Mondays - 86.31 Tuesdays - 86.05 Wednesday - 86.14 Thursdays - 85.94 Fridays - 86.32 If you had invested $1,000, yo...

dandinsac

I have automatic contributions weekly to my HSA, my 401K, my Roth IRA, and my wife’s IRA. All purchases are in stock funds - S&P 500, Extended Market, International Developed, and Emerging Market. Each month, if I am > $15,000 above my stock target, I sell $10,000 of my S&P 500 fund and buy ...

dandinsac

0.4% with a 50/50 allocation. My return includes mortgage principal payments and new investments. I'm glad to be buying stocks at a discount!

dandinsac

Consider putting the maximum into your 401K, an IRA for your wife, and a Roth IRA for yourself. For the 100K, consider purchasing iBonds, at least $10K per year. Saving ~$40K/year while paying off the various mortgages will put you in a great financial position in 10-15 years. You could simply use o...

dandinsac

At age 53, this is very relevant to me. Here are the actions I would recommend: 1. Determine your risk of job disruption... and be honest! - Figure out if your industry growing or not. If there industry doesn't have investment and growth, sooner or later jobs go away. - Determine if your company suc...

dandinsac

You should evaluate delaying social security for a while. This will increase your payments as well as allow you to better manage withdrawals from tax deferred accounts. This may lower your taxes in the future when RMDs are required. My FIL passed away a couple of years ago and now my MIL is filing a...

dandinsac

I have a TIPS ladder with an even amount (my minimum essentials) that mature from 2040 - 2048. (I just bought the last one at the auction.) One you buy them, there is no maintenance. Buying is straightforward and with Vanguard there are no fees beyond the spread. My plan is to add one more year as t...

dandinsac

Don’t lose sight that the key thing financially is to buy the right house. It is expensive to be in a situation where you decide to sell it or have to do extensive remodeling. Make sure the location, commute, schools, etc. are great and you have an inspection to avoid surprises. If you find the righ...

dandinsac

A few weeks ago, I used Kayak, which on has a nice 7 day by 7 day matrix (+- 3 days) matrix of prices. This search method allows you to see the lowest prices fairly easily. You can also filter by stops and airlines, which helps throw out the 1-stop and 2-stop flights or airlines with the cheap ticke...

dandinsac

Since you decided to keep the truck... When my brother and I were young back in the 70’s, my father had a pickup (before there were extended cabs). He added a camper shell and my brother and I often rode in the back sleeping on camping cots. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter and probably a bi...

dandinsac

If I really like CA for retirement, I can keep my home in CA, and move out of state for 2 years to start my retirement life, convert 401K to Roth out of state, then come back to CA. From what I’ve read, that may be a lot trickier than simply moving if you don’t sell your house. CA is a “sticky” sta...

dandinsac

I will continue to maximize my tax deferred 401K/IRA for 2 key reasons: - I may move away from CA when I retire. - I plan to wait until 70 to start social security and hopefully retire at 63 or earlier. This gives me 7 years to manage withdrawals and taxes before RMDs could push me up to a higher br...

dandinsac

If you can contribute to a tax-deferred 401K or IRA, that would be a better investment if you will have the same or lower income taxes in the future. If those are fully maxed, then payimg off would be a good move.

dandinsac

If you have good video, with no dropouts or stutters, a new headset may be worthwhile. If your video is bad, it may be a slow connection. If you can’t understand the speaker, (not due to your lack of knowledge of the foreign languague), then it may be their connection. You could try to record an aud...

dandinsac

If she is paying federal and state income taxes, she should start contributing to an tax deferred IRA. If she can save 6500 for each year she continues to work, this can be withdrawn at a lower tax rate in the future when her primary source of income is social security. If moving to a low tax state ...

dandinsac

When my FIL passed away, we took care of the finances, investments, etc. That worked fine. The things that caused my MIL the most worry was home and car maintenance. She had no background in these areas. This was all new to her and in hindsight, the hardest for us to help her with as we live 800 mil...

dandinsac

Heck, I owned seven cars at the same time once, and I was older than 30 by a lot at the time. I just remembered why I’m not retiring at age 55... When I was ~33 years old, my wife and I owned 7 horses ! Now, a couple of these were actually lesson horses and some were “investments”. But, we had to f...

dandinsac

I live in Sacramento and do not have earthquake insurance. I do have flood insurance, though.

temblor.net is quite interesting. While I heard about earthquakes in Oklahoma, this site really highlights it. Voltron, thanks for sharing

dandinsac

1. Yes, they should feel comfortable. With 12 years savings + fixed income, they hve more than enough. Plus, the odds that both would live for 12 years are small, providing more years for the survivor. 2. I would look at CDs or Treasuries for most of the investments. Figuring out how to minimize tax...

dandinsac

Having an elder law attorney develop a plan in case your father needs long term care is a good first step. The attorney may take some options off the table. I would definitely talk to the attorney before selling the house. Other near-term actions to consider: - Sell the truck as it's a depreciating ...

dandinsac

In my opinion, being a top performer and getting rewarded for it is much more important than optimally managing your after tax income. I would spend 90% of your improvement time becoming better at being an employee and maybe 10% managing money. An increase of 10-15% in salary will dwarf a slightly m...

dandinsac

Make sure you are onsite as the inspector walks the property. This will help you guage the risk. But realize some problems will be unknown. My worst experience was when I didn't have the roof inspected and it leaked in three weeks. Having a nice place to live is important. I was on the don't buy sid...

dandinsac

We stayed in Luchon for a couple of nights. It was a fairly easy drive to Carcassone. Luchon is often a finish for stages in the Tour de France. It's a gorgeous drive up the valley, and Luchon is at the base of the mountains.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagnères-de-Luchon

dandinsac

i would recommend always replacing / fixing anything that is worn out, scewed up, or otherwise funky - no bright pink walls, holes in the wall, broken fixtures, stained carpet, etc. I would say your living room definitely falls in that category, especially if it is a first impression when you first ...

dandinsac

It's difficult to provide specific guidance without knowing the details. It's key to understand the potential for social security and/or pension income. And, knowing their ages would make sure their plans aren't unrealistic. In any case, here are a few things to look at: 1. With a 37% tax rate (fede...

dandinsac

if the company is looking to cut back, it may be possible for your wife to negotiate a severance.

dandinsac

You can also do a 4 fund allocation if you want a bit more ability to fine tune allocations... here is mine: Cash/Treasuries/Bonds - 30 % US S&P 500 - 33 % (47.1 % of stocks) US Small/Midcap - 11 % (15.7 % of stocks) International - 26 % (37.1 % of stocks) All of this is in 401Ks or IRAs, so it'...

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