Recent content by still_working

Add me to the list of current Mr Cooper customers. They've held ours for a couple years now. No issues although they do spam us with marketing and promotions - equity loan offers, quick approval for a new loan, etc.

Similar to others - no claims, State Farm customer for 15+ years, homeowners' insurance renewal was 20% higher this year versus last after very minor increases in prior years. I shopped the rates a few years ago and they were relatively competitive at that time. The difference in cost wasn't...

We faced a similar question with our daughter (albeit a couple years younger than yours but still away at an out-of-state college) and had a lengthy discussion with our insurance agent before making our decision. His position was: If she was at-fault in an accident, she will probably get sued...

If this is a hobby rather than an investment, follow your heart. If you're looking at this as an investment, many good points have been raised by others in this thread. I'll add a few of my own. I'm no expert but have two friends who are minority owners in two different breweries, and for my...

I've never owned investment properties but if I was looking to reduce the stress in my life that would likely be a place I'd start. Things are easy when they go well but incredibly difficult when they don't - as one example I have a friend who had a model tenant for more than ten years until...

Another 1Password user here, around 5+ years. Every single one of my passwords is different, 20-30 characters, and complex thanks to 1Password's random password generator. Available across our Mac/Windows/mobile devices. Our most sensitive accounts also have two-factor authentication...

SecondCor has it correct; we have existing tIRAs in addition to our employer's retirement plans so any backdoor Roth conversions would be subject to pro rata. I was hoping to do this until I learned of the pro rata rule, but alas.

Thanks to all - great, thoughtful perspectives and really underscores why I wanted to post the question here versus elsewhere. The discussion (and further reflection) has me wondering why I'd go through all that effort to track non-taxable contributions to a retirement account rather than just...

As a complement to our workplace retirement plans we'd like to start contributing post-tax dollars to an IRA. Income limits prevent us from deducting and also prevent us from contributing to a Roth, and pro rata issues will prevent us from using a back door Roth as the instrument for this...

Fair point, and I don't know if he shared with me (or if he did, I can't recall). The difference between late in one year and early in the next is likely tax-related. Perhaps just a matter of timing on the first withdrawal that was carried over year to year.

As noted by my handle, I'm still working but a good friend does an annual withdrawal for the entire next year's expenses. Creates distance between his monthly burn and any immediate market volatility, and as he nears his next annual withdrawal he can defer or accelerate based on current market...

That's an incredibly kind gesture for a complete stranger. Glad we have folks like you on this forum.

We have multiple Schwab accounts and are very satisfied with them overall. I decided to try one of their robo-adviser models on a small piece of our portfolio and didn't care for it. While I appreciate that it tailored our model based on answers to approachable questions meant to assess risk...

...or how each of those individuals achieved their seven- and eight-figure net worth. Stories of Sam Walton come to mind - frugality despite his company reaching 1B net worth in the late eighties. For my part, we're not drinking Starbucks every day but like many others on this thread we're not...

Can the pro rata rule be avoided by opening another traditional IRA specifically for the purpose of converting the $6k for Roth without commingling the funds?