Recent content by MarkiePippo

If you were laid off you can grab your 401k before the 59 1/2 cut off. That is the reason why I kept my 401k instead of rolling it to an IRA just in case. There will be taxes of course but no 10% penalty.

Years ago a friend of mine gave her college age niece a credit card to cover emergencies. He did this because he himself had financial issues trying to stay in college. Well she goes and puts $500 on the card a few months in. He is surprised and wonders what could have been the emergency that...

The normal reasons for investing in a 401k/IRA is that your tax rate will be lower when you retire than it is now. But that is not always the case. In my world my income currently is just my pension, dividends and interest at the bank. So at this moment in time my tax rate is lower than when I...

Another reason to roll it over to an IRA is the inheritance issue. If you are not married and decide to do that, your future partner gets half of the 401K regardless of who you have designated. This could be important with children from an earlier marriage. It is also a pre-nup issue to consider.

My Dear Departed Wife got a Safe Deposit Box years ago. Normally she would have had me sign and be authorized to get into it. At the time she did this I was ill and I guess she thought I was going to die (AFIB). So anyway I was not on the sign list. When she passed I found the key and went to...

I am 61 and take blood pressure meds. The last few years everything has been looking fine. But 14 years ago I had a bout of AFIB and spend overnight in the hospital. Had the cardio conversion a few times and was released. Put on Warfarin for about a year. Other than a few almost times the first...

I am a widower with two college age daughters. I keep a group policy for 450,000 from my old employer. It is not as much as it should be. I keep it to offset that I was not able to take a lump sum for my pension. When I die, I can not pass it to them. The only one who can still get it would have...

Years ago I went thru a few years of continuous Sinus infections, I would get one and go to the Doctor and get some antibiotics and it would almost go away. But in another month or so I was in pain again. I never got a doctor that would give me enough to kill whatever it was. I used Afrin a bit...

Years ago I was involved in giving tours of our plant to new hires, job applicants and interested parties. Most of these were very young and a bit starry eyed. They were all planning buying their Porsche or BMW. They were all interested in what I did to start out there. I sort of glossed over...

Widowed empty nester. 60 Laid off a few years back and I just started to take my Pension. I have been to a few Financial Advisors and they all say I am fine. Just trying to get myself organized. Thinking of downsizing in a few years. So here is the big question...Where do you invest now when all...

We lost my father to Covid-19 and were not able to see him at all in the end. We had to social distance at his funeral. The guilt is overwhelming at times. We also lost a close family friend to the virus. My brother is in cancer treatment, two sisters are breast cancer survivors so we all wear...

Widower with 2 college daughters. Got laid off at 55. Early retirement numbers were close so I did not worry much. Now the pension and inheritances have helped. But almost immediately after we had to get ready to sell my Dads house. He fell, recovered but the house was still to much. My sister...

My late wife ran a Frugal Board on the internet and use to argue with consumer expert Clark Howard. She was Dave Ramsey before Dave Ramsey. The board had tips like who to call for a plumber, whether a certain car seat was worth it, deals on diapers, local rummage sales, coupon tips and how to...

I noticed that you will have something over $1m in an IRA at retirement. While that is commendable it will cause you some issues with taxes. Your RMDs will in effect make you Social Security possibly taxable. You might want to consider doing some Roth Conversions to lower the RMD level. I am 59...

Cinderblock houses are pretty common in Florida. They can not use the styroforms because of Termites. We can not use them in Georgia for the same reason. I have written to this Old House a few times to mention that in their show but I guess it got lost in the mail. Here in Georgia they use the...