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NightFall

You would be far better off to throw the 2.5k at the remaining loan balance. Saving 0.25% of 150k is only 375 dollars. Maybe, maybe not. A 15 year for $152,000 at 3.5% has a monthly payment of $1,090.20. The owner will pay $43,735.26 in interest over the life of the mortgage. A 30 year for $150,000...

NightFall

I can't answer all of your questions, but whether or not the $16,000 is earned income in 2015 depends on when you (or your client) reported it to the IRS in my opinion. If it was already reported on your 2014 taxes, then I don't see how you have earned income from the IRS's perspective in 2015. If y...

NightFall

You haven't provided enough information. What is your current monthly payment on the 30 year and how much time do you have left? You could always play around with a mortgage calculator.

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mor ... lator.aspx

NightFall

I was just looking over your other posts. It appears you are 65 years old. I should clarify, the 5 year rule for Roths is about accessing the gains on any investments. You can always take out your contributions. The 5 year period starts in the year the Roth IRA account was created. It appears you al...

NightFall

-- tax bracket = 25% (marginal 17.8%) -- pension + SS will keep me in 25% bracket -- possibility that my tax bracket will go up to 28% after retirement due to taxable inheritance distributions Should I contribute to a Roth for this year? I think you mean your marginal tax is 25% and your total tax ...

NightFall

The values you refer to assume you continue to work and earn your present level of income. If that is more than one or more of your adjusted years of earnings history, then the estimate you refer to is not accurate. You could try http://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/AnypiaApplet.html Which allows you ...

NightFall

In any case, over the next ten years, she can put roughly $180,000 into her 401(k), plus employer matching, plus the additional contributions she gets to make if she's over 50. She can also put roughly $55,000 into an IRA of some sort. I agree with the above and note that if she is 50+, she can put...

NightFall

Are you saying that if we have $100K total - $90K in our 401k and $10K in our Roth 401k - and we withdraw the $10K from our Roth 401k account only, that we will be taxed on 90% of it? No, that is incorrect. cyldewolf was referring to deductible and non-deductible contributions to the same tradition...

NightFall

So let's say at age 70 I withdraw 50K spread over the 12 month of a particular year. Do I have to report the "income" of $50k if I pull from my Roth IRA? Let's assume that's all I would pull out and I dont have a 401k. I think clydewolf already answered this question. You report the distribution of...

NightFall

I don't know about the tax forms, but traditional withdrawals will be counted as unearned, non-qualified income. So you won't pay Medicare or Social Security tax on the withdrawal, but you will pay federal and possibly state taxes. Your tax bracket depends on how much you make/withdraw. Add up all s...

NightFall

Why are you paying so much in tax? The 33% tax bracket requires 230451 of taxable income. If you make 250K + interest on 195K (=1.8K) but contribute the full elective amount to the 401K (=24K), you should have about 228K of income. Your standard deduction is 13850 with 12000 in exemptions. So that l...

NightFall

I have about $5000 in the Roth now, and was wondering if I should take out 3000, to put into a Traditional IRA and invest that in the Total Stock Market Index Fund I may be reading this wrong, but I certainly wouldn't take out 3000 from your ROTH and place it in your IRA. Perhaps you're talking abo...

NightFall

Let's make this simple. Let's assume that you put $100,000 in a zero-coupon bond with a 2% yield, maturing in 5 years . That's not a bond fund, which would behave somewhat differently. But, as a fund is just a collection of individual bonds that have precise contractual obligations, a fund will rem...

NightFall

Note that you probably won't need the same level if income in retirement due to taxes. For example, you'll no longer pay FICA on your income, which is about $5k on $69k of income. So that's now $64k. In addition, at that level of income, it's unlikely that much if any of your social security income ...

NightFall

Keep a plain text file of usernames and passwords but encrypt it with truecrypt. The computing resources necessary to break that encryption are immense. Far stronger than your passwords. I have used Veracrypt a little in the past. One concern is that you need to decrypt the file while you are editi...

NightFall

Keep a plain text file of usernames and passwords but encrypt it with truecrypt. The computing resources necessary to break that encryption are immense. Far stronger than your passwords.

NightFall

tyrion wrote: Let your spouse be the bad cop. They should be the one giving hard advice to their parents.

+1. Let your spouse do the talking to their parents. If they get upset at their kids for giving advice, I doubt it would have a better outcome coming from you.

NightFall

No. Tax advantaged space is precious and can't always be made up later. Even if the loan gets repaid, he's lost any gains that money would have had (and the gains on those gains) for the lifetime of the account. The rationale that the 5% employer match makes up for taking money out isn't very good. ...

NightFall

Your reasoning is not bad, but you will be giving up a limited amount of ibond space. Since the amount is restricted and small, you may not be able to get that space back depending on how much you purchase in ibonds each year. If you don't purchase much in ibonds and the amount we're talking about i...

NightFall

I won't add any more to the pile in terms of CO. I know from experience that most ranges need special burners for propane but the default is typically natural gas. Having had a propane, natural gas and electric ranges, I won't ever go back to electric. Instant on/off/control plus a pretty obvious in...

NightFall

I have several CD's from them back when they were paying 2.3%. I haven't had any problems, but I don't use Mint or Safari. Why would I need to talk to them?

NightFall

If you buy a push lawnmower, go with a mulching one. It's better for the grass unless you have lots of weeds, and those other options (bagging, side discharge) never get used. Also rear wheel propelled is much better than front wheel. I've had both. Front wheel is more like push assistance than self...

NightFall

No experience with any of them although I disliked ING with a passion some time ago. They may be different now. I'd pick MassMutal. Vanguard Tot Bd Mkt Index 0.08% Vanguard Tot Stock Index 0.05% International isn't the greatest, but not horrible. If you prefer a target date fund, TIAA-CREF looks lik...

NightFall

I don't have a good answer to this question because I'm still in the early part of the op's description in terms of life. However, having young children myself, I was wondering how your older children are showing you why you should spend their inheritance. Perhaps it's something I need to watch out ...

NightFall

You might not want the subsidy after you compute the cost. We switched to Ting about a half year ago. We save a little more than $100/month with no change to usage or difference in quality of service. Previously we got a $600 subsidy (2 phones) with a two year contract. We make the subsidy back in h...

NightFall

Reading the linked article, the situation is not as bad as you might initially think. 2.5 billion in fees over a 10 year period on 160 billion in assets is about 0.16% expense ratio (assuming I read the article correctly). It could be much worse. Of course accounts of that size could probably get lo...

NightFall

Note: this is only a back of the envelope calculation. Let's assume you never sell your 401K investments and they yield 2% in qualified dividends. Using long term capital gains, you pay .15*2%=.3% in taxes every year outside of a 401K. So the tax sheltered nature is immediately worth at least that a...

NightFall

It is true that the self employment tax is 15.3% (6.2% * 2 + 1.45% * 2). Your regular employer pays half of your social security tax and half of your medicare tax. As a self employed individual, you pay both. Note that social security tax is paid only up until the current income limit, which is $118...

NightFall

Have you been to Saudi Arabia? If not, I would definitely go before deciding. I have traveled quite a bit. Saudi Arabia is one of the most different countries I have been to. Part of it is cultural, part of it is the stark poverty contrasted with amazing wealth. I visited a large compound protected ...

NightFall

I don't see what's wrong with your example except that the $2000 can't just be contributed to savings. It must be contributed to a retirement account. http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Plan-Participant,-Employee/Retirement-Topics-Retirement-Savings-Contributions-Credit-(Saver%E2%80%99s-Credit) "Th...

NightFall

I assume that 13K is only on the extra 100K. This is really not bad... 7% federal is pretty low. However, there's not much to do for 2014 at this point. If it were still in 2014, you could max any deductible retirement accounts you may have that are not already maxed. At that income you are likely p...

NightFall

I don't know about existing Chase customers, but I got an offer a few years ago from Chase to open a savings account with maybe $10000 to get a $200 bonus. I noticed that it said open and not keep. The minimum balance on the account was $300. So I deposited $10000, waited a week, withdrew $9500 (to ...

NightFall

Between taxable and backdoor Roth, it's not necessarily as clear cut. Muni bonds can be a good option in taxable for avoiding taxes. Of course, OP is in a 39% bracket and probably afford to do both backdoor Roth and muni in taxable. I am in a lower tax bracket and this is what I do. This is off top...

NightFall

Depends. If your choice is between Roth and non-roths accounts, I'd say don't do the Roth. However, if your choice is between Roth and keeping the money in taxable (like the decision as to whether or not to do a backdoor Roth), then definitely Roth. You've already paid the taxes in that case. The qu...

NightFall

Prior to finding this site, I knew little about the benefits of tax deferred and tax advantaged accounts. I was not maxing my retirement contributions whereas I am now, which is suspect is saving me thousands of dollars. I certainly didn't understand IRA's and when you could/could not contribute to ...

NightFall

If it makes you feel better, I had no retirement accounts at your age and a lower salary (even in inflation adjusted dollars). My wife was in the same situation. Of course we didn't have any debt. This board tends to be filled with overachievers. Most people save far less for retirement and still ma...

NightFall

Hard to quantify. I became a boglehead in late 2013 when I had a spike of unexpectedly high income and found this forum. Prior to that point I had saved but not really invested except for a mandatory retirement account contribution. I had never even contributed to an IRA since my contribution plus e...

NightFall

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-fu ... rview/0305

NightFall

There was a recent marketwatch article stating that of all hedge funds 15 years ago, 95% underperformed so badly that they were disolved with assets going into "winner" funds. So do you think this is why the performance chart looks so good? Is it just excluding the losers? http://cdn.financialsamur...

NightFall

http://www.financialsamurai.com/how-investing-in-a-hedge-fund-saved-my-retirement-portfolio/ I was just reading this article. The author claims that hedge funds minimize risk in a downturn and outperform the s&p500 over the long term. I'm a bit skeptical you could do so well after fees. At the same ...

NightFall

Take a look at the Oblivious Investor's strategy for married couples.

http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/social ... d-couples/

Of course, I see he's responded now with exactly the first strategy in the link.

NightFall

My wife contributes max to her 403b and 457b each year as well. Additionally, I've used HR Block for several years. When I answer the questions, the software has immediately flagged that she has contributed more than allowed and asks if she has a higher limit...and then I enter the higher limit. I'...

NightFall

So I switched to h&r block's tax software from turbo tax. Last year was also the first year I started contributing to a 457b. I maxed out both my 403b and 457b at 17500 for a total of 35000. When I entered my w2 into the software, it said I had exceeded my elective contribution of 17500 and the rest...

NightFall

2180.38

NightFall

Does anyone understand the online pricing model for Turbo Tax? The Vanguard website indicates that online prices will increase on January 9. It also states that the price of the online version is set at time of print or e-file. However, the IRS will not be accepting returns until January 20 (http://...

NightFall

We recently switched to Ting from Sprint. Our bill for two phones dropped from $150+ to $57.50. We brought our own phones, but you can purchase a new Nexus 5 for $350. so (350x2+57.50x24)/2=1040. However, if you're willing to get a used phone, Ting sells an iPhone 4s for $130. So (130x2+57.50x24)/2=...

NightFall

Thanks. Covering the short fall for a year or so is a possibility. I guess another way of looking at it would be the break even point. She would be 73 before the increase in SS would offset the first year and such an increase would only last until her husband passes. Is there any option for retroact...

NightFall

My understanding is that the non-deductible contribution, deductible contribution, and ROTH contribution are subject to a total limit of $5500 (or in your case $6500). The non-deductible contribution is really only useful if you exceed the ROTH contribution income limits in my opinion.

NightFall

My mother-in-law retired last week. She will begin receiving a small pension starting in February and is planning on claiming SS at the same time. In April she will be 65, so her FRA is 66. My father-in-law is 66 and has been collecting SS for some time under disability. As an in-law, I am not privy...

NightFall

Can't do both a backdoor Roth and a Roth. The contribution limits are 5500 per person to a combination of Roth or traditional as I understand it. You might look at the mega backdoor Roth and see if the 401k supports it.

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