Bogleheads.org

bryanm

In this case, the consensus is that there is no difference in traditional vs. Roth IRA, correct? I don't understand your inclusion of the taxable amount. The consensus has never been that trad+taxable is equivalent to Roth. Rather, the consensus is that $n invested into trad is equivalent to $(n-ta...

bryanm

What's your take? Because I was unable to invest anything from 2009 to 2012 and barely able to invest a few thousand per year between 2013 and 2016. Now that I'm able to invest a high percentage of my income, the stock market will stay relatively flat until I retire. At that point, it will immediat...

bryanm

The objective of the entire TLS handshake is to ultimately agree on a single-use, disposable, symmetric key with which all the traffic that follows is encrypted. ... If a VPN is involved, the process is [similar] - the initial setup (VPN client -> VPN server) is done asymmetrically and quickly shif...

bryanm

For anyone reading this thread any getting bogged down in all the acronyms and security mumbo-jumbo, please do not be scared. No security is perfect. Russia could be watching over your shoulder on a secret 1mm camera embedded into your earlobe! But they probably aren't. The security concerns about w...

bryanm

DPI "breaks PKI" in the sense that as neither Alice nor Bob, I can see the plaintext of encrypted traffic traversing my network, something that is required by regulation in my industry. pfSense will get you DPI and packet capturing, you can throw that on a NUC, set the SSID as "FreeATTWifi" and at ...

bryanm

Couple of corrections: If you use any public wi-fi network you are taking risks. First, do you ever know if you are connection to the place of business's access point or to someone who set up an access point and is simply relaying your traffic to the Internet but in the meantime is observing/captur...

bryanm

I believe the "or two years from when you paid the tax" is intended to capture late payments. So unless you paid more than 1 year late, the "3 years after the date you filed your original return" should be the date. (At least that's my initial read.) Slightly different point, but I don't think we sh...

bryanm

What purpose does this semantic exercise serve? Serious question. If we know why you’re asking and what decision/action will be impacted by the answer, we can give a more appropriate answer. This the heart of the question. For emergency fund purposes, it's probably liquid. For mortgage application ...

bryanm

Even if an email is sent using TLS that does not make it completely secure. TLS only encrypts the data during transit. It is still potentially stored in plain text on the sender's email server, on the receiver's email server, and any other servers it might have rested on along the way (such as if y...

bryanm

Regular email is not secure, in the sense that it is sent over the Internet as clear text. This used to be true, but is largely not anymore. Email protocols have long supported TLS, and any enterprise worth their salt is probably using it. So while email can be sent as clear text, yours probably is...

bryanm

Bank of America offers a 75% rewards bonus to those with 100k in assets at one of their companies (e.g., Merrill Edge). With the Premium Rewards card you get 2% on travel/dining, 1.5% on everything else. That becomes 3.5% and 2.625% after the bonus, beating out DoubleCash but incurring a $95 annual ...

bryanm

Lots of good thoughts there Chester. I think you're thinking of Chief Judge Markey of the U.S. Federal Circuit (the appeals court for patent matters, and second highest authority on patent law after SCOTUS), who said of obviousness "Only God works from nothing. Man must work with old elements." On y...

bryanm

The bank said if I don't agree with the value I can have them order an appraisal which will be $$$. The house next to me will come on the market in a few weeks and will sell for more than double what it sold for few months back. It will be interesting how the value changes. I wonder if anyone can o...

bryanm

The wiki has a great page on this . The very simple answer is that under your hypothetical you should do Roth. The slightly more complex answer is that you should focus on effective tax rates, not income. So, if tax breaks or changes in the tax law mean a lower effective tax rate (even with higher ...

bryanm

A quick search shows that Vanguard has 11 patents relating to ETFs. You can find them here: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=vanguard&FIELD1=ASNM&co1=AND&TERM2=ETF&FIELD2=&d=PTXT Interesting to note that ...

bryanm

Since your Thunderbird program is not secure on your computer, you should consider setting both a power on password as well as a Windows account level password, so that IF your computer is stolen / accessed by someone they can't open your emails and get all the 2FA codes. I largely agree with this....

bryanm

These algorithms are complex and varied. However, I find that bank algorithms do provide lower estimates than Zillow. So far as I know, Zillow gives little or no weight to the value assessed for property taxes (its based on comparables). My local bank told me their algorithm started with a property ...

bryanm

Also, given the high expected income in retirement, consider if there are years before 70.5 where you have low income and can convert traditional to Roth at a low or zero tax rate. An often-overlooked benefit of traditional contributions is to convert at any time to Roth. Sometimes the timing works ...

bryanm

The wiki has a great page on this . The very simple answer is that under your hypothetical you should do Roth. The slightly more complex answer is that you should focus on effective marginal tax rates, not income. So, if tax breaks or changes in the tax law mean a lower effective tax rate (even with...

bryanm

Lawyer here. I treat my clients files as theirs. There isn't a standard transfer format like in medicine (I suspect because the rules for lawyers are somewhat less formalized than HIPAA). Simply ask your old lawyer for a copy of your files and s/he should provide them. Alternatively, once you select...

bryanm

Making sure they love reading (in whatever subject matter they choose) This is the part that drives me nuts about online forums. Folks say things that sound good in principle but in practice are impossible. I have a daughter (second grade) who hates reading. She is good at it but doesn't enjoy it. ...

bryanm

I'll share the perspective of my wife, an elementary school teacher with 15 years of experience, a couple of masters degrees, and the most passion for children I've ever seen: As far as elementary school goes, focus on two things: Making sure your kids think that they are good at school (subjectivel...

bryanm

It's a government 457. The only upside I would consider for a taxable S&P 500 is for your heirs. My understanding of that is they would inherit the fund using the step up cost basis and owe little to no long-term capital gains on the inheritance. They would also not have to make mandatory distribut...

bryanm

Governmental or non Governmental 457? I trust a governmental like a 401k. Non governmental not so much. In a governmental 457, the only real downside is limited access to funds until you seperate from your employer. Not a big deal if you're trying to save for retirement. To go into more detail, two ...

bryanm

At this point we all appear to be arguing about angels on pin heads. It seems uncontested that the vast majority of security experts endorse password managers as secure, and likely more secure than other alternatives. That said, many of the alternative techniques discussed here are also probably fin...

bryanm

The paper is confusing, but Jeff looks to be correct. The 12% number is with reference to FIG. 1, which is titled "What are the top 3 things you do to stay safe online?." Twelve percent said "use password manager" as one of their top 3. However, FIG. 3 depicts "advice considered 'good'" by experts, ...

bryanm

I personally don't see value in PAS for people with simple portfolios. Does the Robo-advisor do anything more than a target retirement fund would? If they're just rebalancing, it would seem largely similar. The ER seems roughly similar too (0.15 + 0.02 is pretty similar to the ~.014 of VG's target f...

bryanm

You might also consider the "least bias" listings on Media Bias Fact Check. I note that they are largely in line with the chart shown above, and thus similar to the disagreements above you or others may disagree with their ratings.

bryanm

"If we assume $X is used to but a personal residence and an additional $X is invested in a Roth IRA, and they both appreciate to $Y net of costs and tax free, does $Y = $Y?" Yes. Simple and Elegant and Accurate response! :sharebeer Right, the whole thing is begging the question while deciding that ...

bryanm

I'm with BogleMelon here: I think the intent of his original post is being lost. A lot of replies mention upkeep, property taxes, etc., which I think is a debate about asset classes, not the investment vehicle wrapper (which I think BogleMelon's question was about). We can endlessly debate whether t...

bryanm

I think the rub here is that tax exemptions are for primary residences, which are not as easy as a Roth funds to liquidate to cover retirement costs. Everyone has to live somewhere. If you live in a HCOL area and plan to sell and retire in LCOL area, I suppose it's somewhat similar.

bryanm

Eh? My HSA is tax free. Nothing it does affects my income taxes. Tax free money going in, while it sits there, and when it comes out. California and New Jersey do not allow deductions for HSA contributions, so this is a state-specific question. I don't know the answer, but the plan seems reasonable...

bryanm

Escheatments of tax-advantaged accounts are a real gray area. The IRS has issued private letter rulings (PLRs) on IRA escheatments that the 60 day rollover clock does not start until the taxpayer has constructive receipt of the funds. The IRS released recent guidance that starting on 1/1/2019 custo...

bryanm

Many years ago, I started an HSA and contributed for about a year. Total contributions of maybe $3k. I then promptly forgot about the account, moved multiple times, and was generally irresponsible with the HSA. Last year, thanks to advice here, I again opened an HSA and began contributing. When I tr...

bryanm

...this effect is swamped by the tax rate arbitrage available by contributing at my maximum marginal rate and withdrawing at my effective rate. If only that were true, traditional accounts would be so much better. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. Your most recent traditional contribution get...

bryanm

Yes, it's true. A Roth 401k effectively has a higher initial cap than a traditional, since after tax dollars are worth more than pre-tax. At least for me, this effect is swamped by the tax rate arbitrage available by contributing at my maximum marginal rate and withdrawing at my effective rate. I ca...

bryanm

I've had passwords compromised by a physical keylogger (not financial passwords though), and have demonstrated MitM attacks where you find *most* people will just click through for debatable intermediate certificates. I've also seen post-mortems that involved certs from compromised CAs (your browse...

bryanm

Just to put this all into perspective, who on this board has (or knows someone who has) had their financial information stolen via either: A physical keylogger installed into a keyboard; or A hacker successfully bypassing a secure (SSL/TSL), cert. authenticated line to steal data over-the-air? I'm w...

bryanm

Mine:
401k Employee portion: 19k
401k Employer portion (I contribute this): ~18k
Cash Balance Plan: 68k
Roth: 6k
HSA: 3.5k
Subttotal: 114.5k

Hers:
403b: 19k
457: 19k
401(a) (non-elective): ~13k
Roth: 6k
Subttotal: 57

Total: $171,500

I wish we could max it. Working towards it.

bryanm

The pot is the total bet on an individual hand. As long as you haven't bet something you can't afford to lose then you shouldn't consider the size because it leads to behavioral errors. Mr. TheTimeLord The pot is not what you describe. Mr. Dave admitted he doesn't know anything about poker. Evident...

bryanm

Beware of this book. It will change how you approach investing. I read it and lost my interest in the big-name, actively-managed funds. The book turned me into a boring three-fund-portfolio investor. All my funds begin with the word Total and end with the word Index. Think how exciting my life migh...

bryanm

In digging deeper, I found a helpful post on thefinancebuff. Per that site: [T]he law allows rolling over: Employer contributions: match, profit sharing Employee after-tax (not Roth) contributions Employee pre-tax and Roth contributions only if the employee reaches age 59-1/2 The law apparently does...

bryanm

I believe you have initiated an "in service rollover." So far as I'm aware, there shouldn't be any tax consequences (so long as it actually gets into the IRA correctly). I think the reason this seems odd is that most plans don't allow in service rollovers. (Edit: I believe this is incorrect. See bel...

bryanm

+1 for Kirkland brand. We use the "nature's domain." Dog loves it, it's well reviewed, and it's reasonably priced.

bryanm

If you still have any anxiety about this you can go to a car parts store like Autozone or Advance Auto and buy a can of octane booster and "treat" the fuel in your tank to raise the octane level. Came here to say this. Agree it's not an issue, but that's the easiest "quick fix." Luckily diesel nozz...

bryanm

I guess my comment should be general capital gains tax and transaction fees from selling securities. Generating a long term capital gains tax (or loss) can be undesirable for some as well...although it may be desirable. I have an "emergency fund" to prevent overdrafting my bank account and selling ...

bryanm

As the title of this thread was changed to explicitly mention bonds , I feel that it's important to remind readers that, decades ago, bonds used to mean what some people call "long-term bonds" today. Actually, even today, most financial articles predicting bondaggedon events display historical char...

bryanm

Please refer to Inbox788 response and link kindly provided: This is EXACTLY the {{{screech}}} sound I heard before the crash. Inbox788 and/or guy in YouTube video didn’t say if data is lost or if or how it is possible retrievable. Does that mean my hard drive is trashed and all data unretrievable? ...

bryanm

So, from what I can tell, if one did not believe that an "emergency" and coinciding 50% downturn was probable within 12 years (or, put another way, that it was an ~8% or less chance of that occurrence in a given year), Just a small comment. You didn't do that last bit of math right. Let's work back...

bryanm

Thank you all for the interesting comments! (And, looking back, I may have been harsh in my reply to KlangFool. Apologies.) I think I mis-titled the thread. The intended concept was "What is the opportunity cost of varying your asset allocation to allow for a low-risk, high-liquidity emergency fund?...

Search found 332 matches