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Also I think that 20% means a lot more to them than to us. Even though we generously tip everyone everywhere in the US, we still like it much better when we were in Japan in September where there is a no tipping culture. Life seems so much simpler that way.

We retired about 8 years ago in our early fifties. We looked into Roth conversion a couple times and decided not to do any. Reasons: - We bought some individual stocks in taxable accounts long ago and they have performed so well that they are a good percentage of our portfolio now. We have been...

We moved our entire Vanguard account to Fidelity several months ago and got $5k bonus. I think the bonus is paid after some time like 30 or 60 days so we got our bonus in August. We worked with our financial rep and the service was great. We had our Vanguard account for maybe 30/40 years and...

DH and I both still have our 401k for ERISA also..

I read an article about the best ways to exercise the brain a few years ago. According to this article: - Learning/playing a musical instrument. - Learning/playing a racket/paddle type of sport (i.e. pickleball, tennis, badminton). - Learning a new language. All these activities: - Require lots...

DH and I always like to exercise outdoor. But we did go to the gym for the weight machines once a week before the pandemic. During the pandemic, we started doing resistance bands at home with videos. Now we are back to outdoor pickleball, hiking, etc. We have a hard time even fitting in the...

We are in the ~$5 per day club. We usually leave the tip when we check out. Since covid, we decline daily housekeeping even if the hotel offers it unless we are staying more than 4 or 5 nights. We try to be environmentally friendly so we are fine with reusing towels/sheets. We take out the...

We had to do something like that so that our policies insure us and our trust.

Sorry no time to write too much details. To your questions: We retired about 6 years ago at our early 50s. So too young for SS or RMD. Our tax bracket is high now so doing Roth conversion doesn't seem worth it. The "trouble" is doing more work.

Looked into Roth conversion a couple years ago. Based on our situation, it didn't seem to worth the trouble. Might look into it again some day.

So great to hear!

We also highly recommend a Donor Advised Fund. We also have ours at Schwab, easy to setup, easy to transfer assets, easy to make donations.

DS works at Google, 3 years, base + bonus + stock > 200k. Software pays well. But to have compensation like in the article, as other posters have pointed out, one needs to be lucky and be very good.

We live in CA also. Does this mean all our policies (cars, houses, umbrella) should add our trust as additional named insured?

Depending on the space around the tennis court, four pickleball courts can fit in one tennis court. Here is a picture from a local tennis club that converted one of their tennis courts. They left the tennis net there to keep balls from rolling into other courts.

My friend recently told me that our umbrella insurance policy should be in our trust. I did some research and find this Washington Post article When an insurance policy should name you and your trust We have a revocable trust. All assets are in our trust except for our cash flow checking...

That is so great :laugh: I stopped playing tennis when my arm can't handle it any more. I have been playing pickleball for about 2 years with no problem. It is very fun.

DH and I only play singles by ourselves outdoor. We are pretty competitive, no mercy to each other on the pickleball court :laugh:

DH and I feel similar as some others here: Avoid physical contact, No shaking hands with anyone. No hugging (might need to make some exceptions like DFIL likes to hug). So used to many habits that we will likely continue to do subconsciously: social distancing, touching as few things as...

Friend lives in California and needs to go to Florida to help out elderly parents. She, her husband and 2 pre teen kids are going to drive via I 10 from California, through Arizona, Texas .... to Florida. We call that the "hot spot route" :facepalm:. The good things is they have a RV and plan to...

For the first six months of this year: Travel is way down to almost nothing, only took a short trip early February. Recreation and entertainment are down to nothing. Dining out is way down, done some take out but still not at the level of eating out before. Gas is way down although this is not a...

OP, Best wishes to you. Hope you have a full recovery soon. Thank you very much for sharing. I think such first hand experience is helpful. I rather have more info than be ignorant.

I voted for stay the course. The stocks we own (mostly tech) are doing well and actually went up so we are at 70% equity now which is higher than what we would like. We might slowly rebalance.

We do our annual year review January/February in preparation for taxes target to be done by March. We look at expenses from last year, review our portfolio/performance, project spending for current year, decide how to fund spending and any other actions. We also do a mid year review in July.

+1 Use the Fidelity HSA card for all medical expanses. The card tracks all payees and amounts so minimal record keeping needed. Also if I use HSA card at places like CVS, it is smart enough to only charge allowed expenses on HSA card. Then I need to pay the rest separately. So I don't need to...