Recent content by SecondCor521

I didn't market time. I still don't market time. Some here do, although I think most of those have a band they stay within and adjust based on what they view as common sense conclusions about market expectations. I buy and hold basically forever. I sell about 1/12 of 1% of my FIRE stash...

The custodian will adjust their basis records once you notify them of the death (usually with a copy of the death certificate). They need to know the date of death (and the residence states of the couple, I suppose) to do the step up properly. Technically, the beneficiary taxpayers could do it...

I agree. On a short term basis like a few months, I can imagine that the tax benefit of deferring can outweigh the arbitrage cost. When I was listing my reasons, I mostly was responding to the notion of borrowing on a longer term basis of multiple years.

I think some people here have an open HELOC and do manage things tactically to shift spending forward a tax year on a big item like a car or a roof replacement or something. But for me and as a general rule, no, I wouldn't do that. Three reasons: 1. Even at relatively low rates (people tend...

Not an expert at all. But they're sort of both right I think. If your wife is eligible for SS, then you are or will be eligible for spousal SS on her record as long as you've been married long enough (where long enough is pretty short for spousal SS). Your benefit is something like half her...

First, I think you have to decide what you think about historical calculators like FIREcalc in terms of how much you can or want to rely on the future being no worse than the past. My decision is to think that the historical calculators are the best approach we have (compared to Monte Carlo and...

I also think you should have received a letter by now, but that's out of your control. You can also go to IRS.gov, log in to your account, then download copies of your tax transcripts. You should be able to figure out at least which number(s) the IRS changed by looking at the transcripts...

Also not eligible for rollover, as I suspected: "Distributions not eligible for rollover. Amounts that must be distributed (required minimum distributions) during a particular year aren't normally eligible for rollover treatment." From IRS Pub 590-B where it talks about RMDs (page 6 in the...

Besides the 1099 and taxes, I'm sure funds withdrawn for RMD purposes are not eligible for rollover contribution in January. I'm not sure offhand what the penalties are for that. As a secondary issue, RMDs are an increasing percentage of the account balance, so even if you could put money...

It would be my daily driver. Yes, but I didn't need input on those. Thus this sentence in the OP, emphasis added: "Setting aside all the other factors, there is the key question of how much I could spend / want to spend on this car." The Lexus I drive now, by the way, was a hand-me-down...

Quick check says more than a Honda, less than a Maclaren. :)

I hope y'all don't think me obnoxious for these kinds of threads, but the process of initially posting, reading all the responses, writing a follow-up clarification post, and then thinking about it helps me sort it out in my mind. I read every single comment and post and think about them, and...

I'm looking for reasonable rules of thumb for how much car one can afford if one is FIRE and financially comfortable. When FIRE, the notion of a percentage of income doesn't make sense. I'll pay cash, so the idea of a car payment that is an "affordable" portion of income also doesn't make...

Hi all. I'm driving a 1993 Lexus GS300. It's a nice car, paid off, reliable, inexpensive to insure and maintain. But it's getting long in the tooth - the paint clear coat is failing, there are various would-be-challenging-to-fix cosmetic defects on the exterior and interior, and being 30+...

All my less volatile investments are in my IRA already. I'm in the zombie apocalypse / asteroid hitting Earth planning zone. Age 55 with 1% WR. Mostly Roth conversions are now in the "might as well for the kids' benefit" camp. "But yeah, things really could go bad and if that happens you...