Search found 1643 matches

by archbish99
Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:57 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 29 and 28 year old portfolio help
Replies: 9
Views: 2223

Re: 29 and 28 year old portfolio help

Figure out your priority between Traditional, Roth, debts, and taxable savings. Then use your accounts up to their limits in that order. Traditional probably over Roth in your tax bracket. I'd do debts in interest-rate order after Roth, though there's a case for smallest-balance first to maximize cash flow. Personally, I don't see a place for taxable investing for most people while you still have debt.

Looks you're doing well, in general -- good job!
by archbish99
Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Preference between Roth 401k and Traditional 401k
Replies: 15
Views: 1902

Re: Preference between Roth 401k and Traditional 401k

Personal exemptions. Standard or itemized deductions. There is an amount which isn't taxable, then more at the lower brackets. The decision leans toward Traditional a lot of the time, because unless you have other retirement income, you're comparing the total tax rate in retirement against the marginal rate now. (The sliding taxable amount of Social Security makes reality a smidge more complex than that -- it's an approximation.)

As a good rule of thumb, definitely Roth in the 15% bracket or lower; definitely Traditional in the 28% bracket or higher. In the 25%, it's debatable, but I tend to lean Traditional. If you're right on the border, do Traditional down to the 15% bracket and Roth for the rest.
by archbish99
Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:58 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Employee stock purchase plan
Replies: 13
Views: 2298

Re: Employee stock purchase plan

This is a tough one. Can you imagine a Microsoft employee given advice in the 1980's to limit company stock to 5% of his or her net worth? In retrospect, it would have been dumb advice. If you are with an emerging company and particularly if you are in an emerging industry, you might think hard about violating the 5% and 10% rules you read about here. Just make sure that you have plenty of your money in a very diversified portfolio. As a Microsoft employee, yes. Don't confuse strategy with outcome. Besides, there are also stock options and awards that, while unvested, continue to provide us with equity upside to the company. That is about 10% of my net worth. I don't worry about the ones I don't have control of yet, but once I have control...
by archbish99
Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HDHP Deductible Met, how to benefit
Replies: 12
Views: 1783

Re: HDHP Deductible Met, how to benefit

Rejoice that it's only the deductible you're hitting. I've typically had this conversation with folks who've hit the out-of-pocket max. And I've been that person, telling the surgeon that we really needed to get me in before New Year's if at all possible.

Personally, I take it as given that we will hit the deductible, and budget for hitting the out-of-pocket max. Once you see the deductible as part of the premium, the before- and after-deductible distinction doesn't really matter.
by archbish99
Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HSA and ACA
Replies: 15
Views: 2284

Re: HSA and ACA

elwing wrote:Short answer: we're happy with it - except never knowing how much we're going to pay for something....
Well, that's true with nearly any insurance, I think. Unless you've got a flat co-pay model, but that seems more common with HMOs.
by archbish99
Mon Nov 16, 2015 12:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HSA and ACA
Replies: 15
Views: 2284

Re: HSA and ACA

My employer mandated the switch -- I held on to the old plan for as long as allowed, since it was slightly net better for anyone who would exceed the deductible. That said, I have no complaints. Here's how I handle it: I save up over the year to make the maximum contribution to the HSA as a lump sum in January. (Actually, to have it withheld from my first paycheck of the year, and use the savings for that month's living expenses.) We've never not hit our deductible. I assume that we'll always exceed our deductible, so I consider that to effectively be part of the premium. I budget for us to hit the out-of-pocket max every year, though that has only actually happened once (two surgeries in the same year). Surprisingly, didn't happen the year...
by archbish99
Thu Nov 12, 2015 6:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Negotiating Starting Salary
Replies: 31
Views: 4512

Re: Negotiating Starting Salary

And there's a big difference between demanding more and asking them to help you justify working there. I may have pre-loaded the salary negotiation -- I wasn't expecting the "anticipated salary" question when I applied (dumb college student!), and polled a few friends in similar industries. Unfortunately, I didn't factor in cost of living very well. When the HR person called with the offer, I thanked her for her time, and when she asked whether I had any follow-up concerns from my interview, I owned up to the oversight immediately. I told her I'd done some exploring of the area and visiting possible apartments while I was in town, and realized that my "anticipated" salary was far lower than living in this area would take...
by archbish99
Thu Nov 12, 2015 6:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Want to retire in less than 2 yrs, think I can?
Replies: 16
Views: 4325

Re: Want to retire in less than 2 yrs, think I can?

I'm a little confused. What is your total amount that you need to live on? If it's $55k, that's easy -- Social Security and her pension already cover it. Or is it on top of her pension? Or you anticipate needing $35k pension + $23k SS + $55k other sources = $113k/year? Regardless, I'd break the retirement into different stages and understand how your funding changes at each stage. I'd also consider delaying SS to age 70, for reasons discussed in numerous other threads. However, your wife getting no Social Security (GPO rule, I assume?) may also impact that decision. Here are the stages I see: After age 70: Social Security + Pension + Portfolio Ages 63-70: Pension + Portfolio Ages 60-63: Her salary + Portfolio You may also be able to do larg...
by archbish99
Thu Nov 12, 2015 6:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Have FSA with money rolling over to 2016, but now want HSA. Possible?
Replies: 11
Views: 1255

Re: Have FSA with money rolling over to 2016, but now want HSA. Possible?

I believe you can begin to contribute to the HSA on 4/1/2016, but not before then. If you carryover any amount in the FSA to 2016, then you'll have to wait till 4/1, even if you withdrawal the FSA money before then. No. OP is asking about the new rules which allow unused money in a 2015 FSA to roll forward into a 2016 FSA. That FSA then covers you for all of 2016. To not be covered, you need to get away from a full-fledged medical FSA: Roll forward into a limited-purpose FSA (if your company allows) Not sign up for an FSA and don't be covered by one; lose the money (if your company allows) Find a way to spend down the money now. For the last, do you/your wife wear contacts? Stock up on contact solution. First-aid kits and contraception, as...
by archbish99
Thu Nov 12, 2015 2:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?
Replies: 13
Views: 1389

Re: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?

I think they may also have been tripped up by this language:
Announcement 2014-32 wrote:...an individual receiving an IRA distribution on or after January 1, 2015, cannot roll over any portion of the distribution into an IRA if the individual has received a distribution from any IRA in the preceding 1-year period that was rolled over into an IRA.
If you dropped the bolded phrase, this could perhaps be read in the way the rep claimed. Thanks for validating, Alan!
by archbish99
Thu Nov 12, 2015 2:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?
Replies: 13
Views: 1389

Re: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?

Follow-up question here -- Vanguard says that the 60-day period for a rollover starts from the first distribution from any IRA, and since we took the RMD earlier in the year, we can't do a rollover now even though we're less than 60 days since this distribution.

I asked them to point me to anything in IRS publications or tax law that says that, and they weren't able to. Just wanted to confirm with folks here who know the rollover rules more thoroughly -- are they messing this up, or is that a quirk I hadn't heard of before?
by archbish99
Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Statute of Limitations on Medical Billing?
Replies: 13
Views: 12332

Re: Statute of Limitations on Medical Billing?

An update on an old thread -- I took a few minutes and called a few of my "old moldy" medical bill holders, where they'd processed through insurance but never billed me. One had excessive wait times, so I submitted a request on their web site. Haven't heard back yet. One automatically writes off patient obligations below a certain threshold and doesn't bother sending a bill. Based on other threads I've read, this may be a violation of their contracts with the insurance provider, but hopefully doesn't impact me negatively. The final one (out-of-network, and sizable) billed insurance and got a tiny fraction, never billed us for the remainder, and wrote off that remainder at a year past the date of service. They're sending us a state...
by archbish99
Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HSA and ACA
Replies: 15
Views: 2284

Re: HSA and ACA

As far as I can tell, the existence of an HSA has nothing to do with billing. Your insurance company should provide you with an EOB that includes any reductions based on negotiated pricing and such and which clearly shows, "Your Responsibility", amounts. Bolder Boy makes a distinction that you missed. The HSA makes zero difference to how much you pay for anything, ever. It's a tax-advantaged account with which you can choose to pay medical expenses with pre-tax money. In order to qualify to make contributions to an HSA, you have to have a qualifying High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) , a.k.a. an insurance policy. Medical insurance typically comes with a network of providers and negotiated prices with those providers. If you go to...
by archbish99
Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Charge cards- when do you have to pay?
Replies: 33
Views: 3974

Re: Charge cards- when do you have to pay?

Let me suggest that, whether you get the card or not, if you're contemplating timing of the bill being due and money being tight in a given month, you may not have a solid handle on your cash flow. Take a look at You Need A Budget, because you do.
by archbish99
Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:01 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Employer now offering their discounted stock purchase plan?
Replies: 31
Views: 3776

Re: Employer now offering their discounted stock purchase plan?

I don't see a minimum holding period, so I'd probably go for it. Don't be scared of the "disqualifying disposition" stuff -- you're making money, it's taxable, big deal.

Main thing I don't care for is that with only one-month offering periods, you'll incur a sale commission each month; that could add up. Make sure the sales commission ComputerShare charges isn't a big fraction of the discount.
by archbish99
Sat Oct 17, 2015 7:15 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Strategy for cashing in I-bonds early
Replies: 21
Views: 3245

Re: Strategy for cashing in I-bonds early

Sounds accurate. The bonds you cash will have been earning 0% for three months, regardless of what rate they were supposed to earn. If they were already earning 0%, that's not much of a loss.
by archbish99
Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Allowance for college kid
Replies: 67
Views: 5964

Re: Allowance for college kid

My parents initially gave me about $200/month, plus car insurance, textbooks, and access to a calling card (remember those?) to call home. My scholarships covered tuition, room, and a basic meal plan when I started -- increasing fees made it cover only tuition by the time I graduated. That $200 covered the all-important expense no one's mentioned yet, laundry, as well as personal reading material, eating out, electronics, the huge splurge (at the time) of a cell phone, calling anywhere other than home, etc. It was my start of actually budgeting. When I was far enough along to co-op, I did, and got no contribution during my working semesters; I saved enough during those semesters to cover most of my personal expenses during my school semeste...
by archbish99
Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:59 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Free Windows 10 Upgrade, Yes or No?
Replies: 533
Views: 99362

Re: upgrade to Windows 10?

Compatible with Chrome for most sites. Some neat unique features, but no plugins. Mostly a matter of taste.
by archbish99
Sat Oct 10, 2015 1:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Health Insurance - 2 individual plans vs family plan, non-embedded deductibles
Replies: 1
Views: 529

Re: Health Insurance - 2 individual plans vs family plan, non-embedded deductibles

I don't really see a downside to the split policies (though you'll have to maintain two HSAs). In the worst case (expenses split equally) they're equivalent; in the "best" case you come out better.
by archbish99
Thu Oct 08, 2015 1:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax Loss Harvesting: How do you do it in practice?
Replies: 64
Views: 13081

Re: Tax Loss Harvesting: How do you do it in practice?

The confusing piece will be wash sale rules. Every 30 days you can TLH, but you can only go one direction, or you'll be buying the same thing you're selling.
by archbish99
Wed Oct 07, 2015 10:29 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard sued for [failing to charge market rates to and then paying taxes on services to its mutual funds]
Replies: 806
Views: 174017

Re: Vanguard sued for charging too little

richardglm wrote:Lost in this 10 page debate, are the questions of whether Vanguard the corporation and Vanguard the mutual funds even qualify as related organizations, subject to transfer pricing rules, to begin with.
IIRC, they all have the same board members. That could change, certainly, if they wanted to try becoming "unrelated."
by archbish99
Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to take advantage of 2 lower income years in early retirement ?
Replies: 58
Views: 5942

Re: How to take advantage of 2 lower income years in early retirement ?

Yes -- each month you're suspended counts as if it were a month you'd waited to claim. So having received SS for 1-2 months before suspending will end up the same as if you'd claimed 1-2 months before age 70. The other advantage for Roth conversions is that you can precisely hit the 15% bracket, because you're allowed to recharacterize parts of the conversion. As you noted, that's hard to do with any precision on capital gains, particularly with mutual funds where you don't know the final sale amount until the sale happens. So if you estimate you have around $11,000 left in the 15% bracket, do a $12,000 conversion. Then, when you actually do your taxes, call Vanguard and tell them you'd like to recharacterize (for example) $829 of that conv...
by archbish99
Mon Oct 05, 2015 2:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: PPO or HSA?
Replies: 14
Views: 1709

Re: PPO or HSA?

My employer allows a lump-sum from payroll out of the first paycheck of the year (or, I presume, the first paycheck of a new-hire). So a lump sum doesn't necessarily lose the FICA savings. Also, if you're past the SS cap, that savings is only about $100 -- nothing to sneeze at, but also not world-ending.

Check how the deductible on the HDHP works -- that doesn't sound high enough on the individual side if you have family coverage, though I haven't double-checked the minimum. It may be that for a family plan, only the family deductible applies.
by archbish99
Sat Oct 03, 2015 12:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Does timing of IRA transfer from Traditional to Roth matter?
Replies: 15
Views: 880

Re: Does timing of IRA transfer from Traditional to Roth matter?

Timing with respect to the ex-dividend date doesn't matter; timing with respect to market movements does. Converting $10k to Roth on the lowest day of the year gets a larger percentage of your Traditional IRA converted at the same price compared to $10k converted on the lowest day of the year.

Of course, knowing which is which, that's a little difficult. :wink: I try to convert on "bad" days if possible.
by archbish99
Fri Oct 02, 2015 10:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?
Replies: 13
Views: 1389

Re: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?

Obviously. The MM is in the IRA; there isn't a concept of "sweep account" outside of brokerage that I can find, unless you have one of the combined MF/brokerage accounts (we don't). For each fund, you pick whether you want proceeds to be reinvested, go to a different fund (MM is an option here), or be paid out to you. In this case, it was set to a different fund, but that fund no longer existed.
by archbish99
Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?
Replies: 13
Views: 1389

Re: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?

Not terribly much -- under $300. I wouldn't need to front the money out of pocket -- I have access to the taxable account as well, so I could just transfer it from there.

I keep their money and mine far apart, just to avoid any confusion.
by archbish99
Fri Oct 02, 2015 7:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?
Replies: 13
Views: 1389

Re: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?

There is a MM fund which is the sweep account for the brokerage stuff -- they just didn't use it. I haven't called to complain about that, but if i can't flag it as a rollover on the web site, I'll have to call anyway....

And to the timing question, the distribution was last week -- 9/24.
by archbish99
Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?
Replies: 13
Views: 1389

Accidental IRA distribution => Rollover?

In my father's IRA which I manage, I had fund A set to direct its distributions to fund B. Later, I exchanged everything out of fund B, so there was no fund B for the distribution to go to. When fund A paid out dividends at the end of this past quarter, Vanguard apparently sent a check directly to my father (the accountholder), making it an IRA distribution and withholding taxes on it. My parents are on vacation right now, so I haven't been able to confirm whether they've cashed the check or not. While making an unrequested IRA distribution is a really bad fallback plan, it's true that I left Vanguard with no workable instructions for what to do with the dividend payment. He's already had his RMD, so it doesn't count toward that, and we don...
by archbish99
Fri Oct 02, 2015 12:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Annual Primary Care Premium
Replies: 20
Views: 2337

Re: Annual Primary Care Premium

I for one, appreciate the value of a PCP that knows me and wants "my business." The idea of your own personal physician is fading fast. Patients don't know what they are missing. Instead they will interact with a rushed Primary care doc, if not a NP or PA, who is more interested in generating revenue to his employer than making an efficient, accurate diagnosis. Counseling and advice? ...forget it. The concierge model anticipates a 70% drop out rate on conversion. Yes, just like financial advisors, there's an inherent conflict of interest in how doctors are currently paid. The incentive is to perform as many "procedures" per appointment and per day so they can drive revenue. My wife and newborn son's postpartum appointme...
by archbish99
Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Annual Primary Care Premium
Replies: 20
Views: 2337

Re: Annual Primary Care Premium

I also had my PCP jump to the concierge model. I also declined to follow. We have excellent insurance, and I don't feel the need to pay a retainer on top of the premium, deductible, and coinsurance.

Another office my wife visited offered a model where, for a flat annual fee, they would include a certain number of office visits per year, all in-house lab work, and certain prescriptions at-cost. Nothing billed to your insurance unless you exceeded your visit count -- basically a separate insurance plan. I was dubious that scheme was either legal or cost-effective for us, so we didn't bite there either.
by archbish99
Thu Oct 01, 2015 1:55 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard sued for [failing to charge market rates to and then paying taxes on services to its mutual funds]
Replies: 806
Views: 174017

Re: Vanguard sued for charging too little

Inverted ownership because RICs are required to be independent corporations, and Bogle wanted the management company beholden exclusively to fund shareholders -- no shareholders of the management company, no private owners, just the funds. I'm sure there are other arrangements that could achieve the desired result, but this does it.
by archbish99
Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Free Windows 10 Upgrade, Yes or No?
Replies: 533
Views: 99362

Re: upgrade to Windows 10?

cheese_breath wrote:I think the compatibility check only verifies your computer can handle Windows 10. It can't verify all the non-Microsoft software on it can work with Windows 10.
No, it can check whether you have something installed that Microsoft knows has a compatibility issue. The list changes as compatibility mitigations for Win10 become available on Windows Update. (Obviously, it can't know what it doesn't know, though.)
by archbish99
Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA investing as part of entire portfolio
Replies: 9
Views: 868

Re: HSA investing as part of entire portfolio

I contribute the max annually, pay expenses as they arise, and invest the amount above my remaining OOP for the year. Works for me; others have found other approaches.

A difference in ER of .03% means $3 more per $10k invested. If you're contributing around $5k/year and can invest it all as a lump sum, you'd have to keep the funds untouched for six years to balance out the trade fees; twelve, if you pay equal fees when you sell.

In likely situations, I'd take infinitesimally higher ERs for no trading fees.
by archbish99
Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:51 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Free Windows 10 Upgrade, Yes or No?
Replies: 533
Views: 99362

Re: upgrade to Windows 10?

If your computer is prompting you to update, the water is likely fine. Open the notification on the task bar (the little Windows icon near the clock) and there's an option to check compatibility. If it's not prompting yet and/or the check finds issues, you might prefer to check back in a few weeks.
by archbish99
Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Car seat for 2+ year old
Replies: 16
Views: 1978

Re: Car seat for 2+ year old

tampaite wrote:How easy is it to convert 4Ever from rear facing to front facing ? Am thinking about purchasing it so we can still keep kiddo rear facing but eventually front facing.
Do you have to re-do everything to change from rear to front and vice versa?
So far, I haven't needed to do that. There's a very detailed review at CSFTL that includes a description and pictures of the conversion, though. Hopefully that helps!
by archbish99
Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:51 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Would this scenario trigger a wash sale?
Replies: 2
Views: 341

Re: Would this scenario trigger a wash sale?

No, that's a wash sale. You purchased replacement shares before selling the old ones.
by archbish99
Mon Sep 28, 2015 2:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Car seat for 2+ year old
Replies: 16
Views: 1978

Re: Car seat for 2+ year old

We have the 4Ever, on the theory that we won't need to buy another carseat for our son. It transitions from rear-facing to forward-facing to backless booster.

Of course, if we have a second before he's out of the booster, we'll need another at that point. We'll see.
by archbish99
Sat Sep 26, 2015 8:52 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: IRS cannot 'verify' Obamacare credit for 2014??
Replies: 44
Views: 4538

Re: IRS cannot 'verify' Obamacare credit for 2014??

barefootjan wrote:EDITED TO ADD: Is it just me, or is this "what's trending" page actually outdated?! - it looks like it's for 2014, not 2015.
2014 returns, looks like, so filed in 2015.
by archbish99
Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: IRS cannot 'verify' Obamacare credit for 2014??
Replies: 44
Views: 4538

Re: IRS cannot 'verify' Obamacare credit for 2014??

Yes -- my point is that the IRS should only be looking for verification in that case. They don't check overreporting of income or underreporting of mortgage interest deductions....
by archbish99
Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Refinancing, should I go for lower interest rate?
Replies: 29
Views: 2597

Re: Refinancing, should I go for lower interest rate?

What are the odds you will actually have this house and this loan for the full 15 years? Any chance you might prepay or move, even if refinancing again seems unlikely?

I probably wouldn't pay for a lower rate that I wouldn't recoup in 2-3 years max.
by archbish99
Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:00 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: IRS cannot 'verify' Obamacare credit for 2014??
Replies: 44
Views: 4538

Re: IRS cannot 'verify' Obamacare credit for 2014??

It makes sense, but it doesn't. The taxpayer claims they have already received $2400 of their $2800 refund, and only requests $400 from the IRS. The IRS isn't sure they've already paid out $2400, and thinks the taxpayer could be entitled to the full $2800. Shouldn't this be a case where the IRS says, "If you say you should get less, sure thing!" and move on?
by archbish99
Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:54 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Free Windows 10 Upgrade, Yes or No?
Replies: 533
Views: 99362

Re: upgrade to Windows 10?

I bought a new computer a couple of years ago with Win 8 and soon upgraded it to 8.1. I hated it so much that I continued to use my old computer with XP for several months. When Microsoft support for XP went away I gradually moved to the 8.1 computer and eventually got comfortable with it but still didn't like it a lot. I think it was the "old dogs" syndrome. Now I'm wondering about upgrading to Win 10 and haven't decided yet. I have always got my new versions of Windows along with a new computer purchase so I haven't experienced an upgrade to an existing computer and that scares me a bit. I would suggest, though, that if you preferred XP to Win8.x, you'll probably prefer Win10 to Win8.x as well. Maybe find a friend with Win10 on...
by archbish99
Thu Sep 24, 2015 9:38 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard sued for [failing to charge market rates to and then paying taxes on services to its mutual funds]
Replies: 806
Views: 174017

Re: Vanguard sued for charging too little

abuss368 wrote:Is there merit to this? Would our expense ratio's rise as Shareholders?
To summarize the thread: Legally, it sounds like there is merit, though everyone seems to agree that the application is a bit silly in this instance. Our expenses would rise by a tiny fraction at most, and could likely be avoided if Vanguard restructured some; the bigger impact would be a finding that Vanguard owed substantial back-taxes, which they'd have to pay out of their operating reserve as a one-time expense; replenishing that might increase ERs temporarily.
by archbish99
Wed Sep 23, 2015 12:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax Question about cap gains
Replies: 16
Views: 984

Re: Tax Question about cap gains

Yep. There are two phase-ins for Social Security taxability, and the presence of more income (whether or not taxable) moves you across those phase-ins. The first phases up to 50% of your SS income, the second up to 85% of your SS income. Depending where you fall, that $100 (while not taxable itself) could make $85 of Social Security income taxable, and 15% of $85 is $12.75 (the $13 you saw in the calculator).

If you want the ugly details of how it works, see Worksheet 1 in Publication 915.
by archbish99
Wed Sep 23, 2015 11:49 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Building kid's credit history
Replies: 29
Views: 4529

Re: Building kid's credit history

Have colleges changed that much from when I was in school? I remember at the beginning of Fall semester every year, there were all sorts of people on campus trying to get students to sign up for credit cards. They'd be giving away something simple like a T-shirt for applying, and there would constantly be a line of 25+ students waiting to apply and get their free T-shirt. By the time someone finished applying, someone else would be getting in line. This happened every year. Credit card companies loved signing up unsuspecting students who inevitably used it like free money, until reality came crashing down on them. Is that not the case? Is it actually difficult for students to get credit cards now? As of 2010, the Credit CARD act requires t...
by archbish99
Wed Sep 23, 2015 11:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Building kid's credit history
Replies: 29
Views: 4529

Re: start early

daveatca wrote:Got our daughter a cc in her own name when she was 12.
Filled out the form with a birthdate making her 21.
I have this nagging suspicion that was illegal....
18 U.S. Code § 1014 wrote:Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or report ... for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of ... any institution the accounts of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ... upon any application ... shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
by archbish99
Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Building kid's credit history
Replies: 29
Views: 4529

Re: Building kid's credit history

HIinvestor wrote:We got each of our kids authorized user cards with me when they were in college with a $5K credit limit. They were instructed that it was just for emergencies and expenses we agreed upon BEFORE they charged it. It gave both of them my excellent credit history and they were both able to get credit cards with no problems when they applied in and after college. None of us ever carry a balance or are ever late in paying off the balance in full; none of us have ever paid a finance fee. My kids' credit histories are older than they are. ;)
Dad, is that you? :wink:

Sounds familiar.
by archbish99
Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:52 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Free Windows 10 Upgrade, Yes or No?
Replies: 533
Views: 99362

Re: upgrade to Windows 10?

I think sls239 was saying that the auto-update of drivers wasn't posing a problem for him, not that he wanted the driver updated. :happy

There is a tool on download.microsoft.com to block the installation of a specific driver update if you know it causes problems.
by archbish99
Thu Sep 17, 2015 7:44 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Free Windows 10 Upgrade, Yes or No?
Replies: 533
Views: 99362

Re: upgrade to Windows 10?

The Get Windows Ten app will prompt you to upgrade if there is another computer "just like yours" (PC model, set of installed apps) that has already upgraded and appears to be doing well. If you're getting the notification, I'd say go for it. If not, and you're not tech-savvy, I'd wait until it does.
by archbish99
Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Requesting help with liquidating portfolio and SS claiming strategies
Replies: 20
Views: 2303

Re: Requesting help with liquidating portfolio and SS claiming strategies

Matahari wrote:^^I just learned that a divorced spouse whose marriage lasted for at least 10 years can get the same survivor benefits as a widow or widower. Thank you, archbish99.
Yes, in something of a black-humor situation, I've known more than one barely-scraping-by elderly woman who could finally afford to retire because her ex died. It's a somewhat strange incentive, frankly.