Recent content by Al18

I would start selling some of your actively managed funds in a brokerage account. Especially if there’s room in the 0% LTCG bracket - no taxes!

Your SS statements from 2021 and earlier listed the yearly amount you paid into SS

Apple’s Numbers and Pages work great on my Macs. Numbers took a little adjustment when I switched from Excel, but once I switched over years ago, it starts up and works fast.

Unless you already have a project car, check out the kit cars offered by Factory Five Racing. They offer both street and racing kits. You supply the engine, transmission and rear axle.

My car needs to be safe and reliable. I want my car to keep me alive if I was in an accident. Never been a big spender, but I buy new and usually keep it a decade.

I think it’s good that you have projects planned for your retirement. Maybe you should print out your post and hang it on the wall as a reminder to yourself. I’ve been eyeing the kit cars made by factoryfive.com and while I never managed to get my ham radio license, I have an RTL-SDR so I can...

I have no experience, but think it’s wise to get an official answer from the company. My guess - you won’t be penalized for the 401K withdrawals you have already made. But if you return to working for the company, you no longer qualify for the exemption and will not be able to withdraw any more...

It was a non-event for me - all mutual funds transferred in kind between 401K and IRA except one.

There’s an informative and funny video made by Stan the Annuity Man Link

There shouldn’t be any questions. If the ESOP is anything like mine, from a publicly traded company, there are documents available at the brokerage who held the options, explaining the ESOP, how to sell them, tax implications, etc. These documents still exist at the brokerage, even after you...

I believe once the shares were purchased, the ESOP shares are treated the same as shares in an after tax brokerage account. You should be able to look up the cost basis at the brokers web site. If you sold the shares at a loss, no taxes are due. You can sell other shares that have a long term...

I live near a large city with many professional sports teams. Doesn’t matter what station I watch, sports always consumes 50% of the time, crime is 25%, weather is 20% and feel good is 5%. Since I have zero interest is sports, I just fast forward thru that segment. I had a 2 week vacation in...

Maybe the 7 month was just a lure to get your money. The 7 month might renew into a 12 month CD

According to the SS Administration, the average retirement benefit is $1907 per month in January, 2024. For a married couple, the average benefit is $45768 per year. If you have no kids, why would you spend less than the SS benefit?

I can only speculate the bank/credit union has otherwise good financial ratings EXCEPT the Deposit Growth category, which is one of the four categories the FDIC looks at when determining bank health. My guess the bank/credit union wants to attract new money for the short term, but not continue...