Recent content by newtoseattle

I've seen good advice re: other home repairs and thought I'd ask. Our house has a metal roof (20 years old) and a very small area (maybe 180 square feet total) of flat roof that was rolled tar paper. The flat area leaked and we had a roofing company come and replace with TPO roof. One piece of...

I think the problem with joint accounts is that the amount would require filling out a "gift tax" form. Also wouldn't the income from interest then need to be "split" for tax reporting purposes? Would simply being able to log on and do transactions through my MIL account be considered "legit"?

My MIL (age 80's) recently lost her husband who had managed all her accounts. She does not want to do any internet banking/etc and has asked her children for help. She would only need them to help set her up with a higher interest savings account and CD's (and have the ability to help her...

Oops - Montecfo was posting as I typed last question. I think we are saying the same thing?

Do I understand this correctly? - Month over month inflation is only 0.1%. So wouldn't that project a yearly inflation of 1.2% - aka we are dropping too fast? Why would fed interest rates need to continue to rise? Hasn't it already "slowed down"?

My age is 55 - but it didn't matter the ages. On blueprint it shows current payouts of SPIA at various ages for single man, woman and couple (man/woman couple) and at all age groups the single woman payout was lower than both the single man and the couple (ie joint survivor) options

I was just wondering if someone could explain to me the actuary reason why simple joint SPIA (man and woman) pays higher than a single woman? (per blueprint site) I understand why a single man would pay more than a single woman - but can't figure out the joint (unless being married decreases a...

t shirt? "if eeyore is your spirit animal you are doing something very wrong" This is a wonderful quote - can someone make a t-shirt? :)

can you make a single end of year extra payment? I am still employed and just have my employer hold out a bit more taxes. It usually works. But I ended up with a much larger paycheck for december b/c of overtime. So I'm estimating I owe 3-4 thousand extra in taxes. Can I make a single extra...

Its just luck. They keep pushing the wire up and down and taking pictures until it wanders into the correct one. There are different wire thicknesses, curves etc they can try until it goes in. But basically luck and patience...

I'm just curious how the firecalc data seems different than "early retirement now" analysis that seems to show that "lower" (ie 50/50) AA has a much higher failure rate for 40 year retirement? I liked Big ERN's SWR series but I can't really reconcile the two? I don't care about a large final...

hello I realize that in general withdrawals are assumed to be inflation adjusted over time. But - if I choose a spending level in firecalc and then put retirement date for 10 years later - is the spending adjusted for inflation for the 10 years before retirement- or is the spending start on the...

Hello A family member of mine is visiting to check out UW's school of engineering. He has done quite well with his early community college - advanced math and science and really wants to study aerospace engineering (he is just starting his second year). Would either of the museums be an...

I haven't completely decided but am considering trying to convert approx 50% total of pre tax accounts to Roth to the top of the 22 or 24% brackets in a couple years when I retire. I could do this over 2-3 years. My theory of front loading the conversions is that with retirement in the early...

tax plan Yes - of course, we will see how it ends up in the end. I'm all for a simpler system but wish we wouldn't increase the deficit... Anyways - A couple things jumped out at me beyond some of the obvious/ major changes in brackets/deductions/etc (I have trouble understanding the legalize...