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I wanted to re-run the projections from a year or two ago with a saved model. The numbers were lower than I remembered, so I did some investigating. I had found that there is sensitivity as to what date you use for when social security or a pension starts. In this situation, I had start dates...

We are considering buying a second home for winter (probably about 12 to 18 months from now). I would prefer to just pay cash for it. I am looking at schemes to pull funds from assorted sources in an effort to flatten the curve of the impact to taxes. My initial thought was to pull money from...

Getting ready to pull the trigger on some ROTH conversions. DW has a Rollover IRA from an old 401k, a ROTH IRA, and an HSA. Is there any reason to keep the Rollover IRA open? Say leave 10k in it? I will continue to keep my Rollover IRA open as I need to move money from my 401k into it prior to...

Went to transfer my 403b accounts from TIAA/CREF to Fido today. The person said "No can do, our records say you are still working!" So apparently the university needs to flip a bit in their system before TIAA can proceed. The person went on to promote leaving the money in their guaranteed...

We bought an Instant Pot Duo 6 qt model based on the favorable press that it has received here and other places. We are now looking to get a second one for our Arizona place, and are scanning the Black Friday preview ads as well as Amazon. Target, Walmart, and Amazon had a 6 qt Duo Nova for $65...

I know there are a lot of folks on here that are well versed in network stuff. I am learning about networks and such as part of a project (that will eventually be installed at my brother's place). For some reason, I find learning how to program PLCs and their accessories to be oddly satisfying...

I made some burgers yesterday. Then I got to thinking about a sign I saw at Disney's Food & Wine Festival, and now I feel bad. That 10 million bottles of water could have been useful to folks that do not have access to clean drinking water! So in the world of Carbon offsets, it looks like I...

I would like to review the logic in deciding which accounts to draw from as we transition from a mode where we are accumulating to a mode where our income is low enough that it makes sense to do ROTH conversions. There are several things going on, lots of moving parts, and I want to have another...

plan for Roth Conversions I would appreciate a review of my plan for Roth Conversions. I am still working on taxes, but it appears that I hit the top of the 15% tax bracket. (next dollars would be incremental tax rate of 25%) With the changes in tax structure, I am trying to develop my plan for...

I found this website a few months ago and have used it to model some possible changes in our tax situation. I see that he has incorporated what he believes are the changes for 2018 into his spreadsheets https://sites.google.com/site/excel1040/home/2018-tax-planner-new-tax-law I have seen...

DW informed me that we needed to stop by Target this morning to buy gift cards. Turns out the Target gift cards are 10% off. Up to $300. Today only. Starting Monday they can be used to buy other types of gift cards, thus effectively allowing you to buy these other gift cards at a discount. We...

Because professional athletes go broke, you should put your money into insurance products, sold by a NFL player who went broke. Link to Article on CNBC. As close as you get to a paid advertisement for annuities! I'm glad I invested in my 401K rather than try to play professional football!

If you can't beat the benchmark, sell the benchmark and take your skim off the top! "There's a lot of reasons why it became really difficult to beat the S&P 500, and the biggest reason was the Federal Reserve — they just sucked all the alpha out of the market," Nelson said, referring to...

There is much discussion about re-balancing now given the high markets. Asset Allocation is also discussed. This past run has been a good time to be loaded up with equities. I am trying to wrap my head around the impact of fixed revenue streams on what an appropriate AA might be. I have a...

Most investment places offer funds that have a target retirement date. As an example- a 2040 Target fund contains: 63% Equity Index Fund 21% International Equity Index Fund 11% Bond Index Fund 5% Emerging Market Index Fund 2040 fund claims an Expense ratio of 0.2% Not bad. But when I look at...

We are moved into our new home, and are faced with setting up a home network. While we were living in an apartment (between houses) I simply had the cable box connected to a wireless router, with Ethernet to the laser printer. All of our wireless devices could connect easily, and the laptops...

Through an extraordinary sequence of events, I find myself with many choices to make. I have been in a position where I could retire when I decided to pull the plug at MegaCorp. FireCalc shows virtually no chance of failure. I will be retiring with a pension from MegaCorp, no COLA. I will have...