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Since retiring in 2013, total net worth is +78%; investable portfolio is +95%. This is with an annual withdrawal rate between 1.5% and 2.5%. After reading Die With Zero, we are easing our way into higher spending, primarily by gifting. We have also been ramping up Roth conversions, more of a...

Yes, you earn delayed retirement credits for each month you wait to claim after full retirement age. Your benefits are permanently increased by 8% per year, or 8/12 = 2/3 percent per month delayed, capping out at a maximum at age 70. Conversely, if you claim early, your benefits are permanently...

Back when it was an option to recharacterize (undo) a Roth conversion, there was an advantage to holding newly-converted funds in a separate account. Now that recharacterizations are no longer allowed, I see no benefit. I combined all Roth IRAs into one. For my records, I keep a spreadsheet...

the book "die with zero" I enjoyed the book and have already put the knowledge into practice by gifting to family. The author makes the point that some people can make much better use of a gift now rather than at my death. The audiobook, read by the author, is also on YouTube.

In desktop TurboTax under State Taxes/California/Income and adjustments you’ll see topics for Health Savings Account (HSA) Contributions and Earnings. Contributions should already be populated from the federal information. Under Earnings you can enter interest, dividends, and capital gain/loss.

Employer contributions to the HSA should have been untaxed federal income, but taxable income for California. Hopefully it was done correctly at the time. Once the account is funded, you just need to report annual income and gains/losses for state taxes. If you make any individual contributions...

Distributions from an HSA for qualified medical expenses are not included in Federal gross income or AGI. They are also not added back in by the MAGI calculation for ACA purposes.

In California, a withdrawal from an HSA is not a taxable event. Instead, the account is treated as a regular account with no tax advantages. If you are selling securities in the account at a profit, the profit is taxable, but the withdrawal of funds is irrelevant. Pretend an HSA is a regular...

It’s also possible that the messages you’re seeing are phishing attempts to try to hack actual PayPal accounts. Don’t use the link or button in the email. Try to log into paypal.com directly using your email address or phone number. If you don’t know your password, click ‘forgot password’. This...

Capital losses will only offset capital gains, then up to $3k of ordinary income per year. Unused capital losses carry forward. Dividends — even qualified dividends taxed at a favorable rate — are considered income, so they don’t get offset by capital losses (except as income up to $3k). You...

An in-kind IRA distribution has to done by phone or form per Fidelity's reply in a Reddit thread. For some reason, a Roth conversion can be done in-kind online (on a computer, not in the app).

A distribution of $10k and a Roth conversion of $10k have the same impact on your current income, and on your IRMAA two years later. The difference is that the growth in the Roth will never be taxed again. Roth conversion is a strategy to recognize income now to reduce future RMDs, and...

Once you reach the age of 70 1/2, you’ll be able to make Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) from the inherited IRA. The QCD amount is not counted in income, so it’s even better than taking a regular distribution and then an itemized deduction. The distribution must must made directly to an...

In a taxable account, you might prefer an ETF to a Fidelity mutual fund for better portability. If you decide to change brokerages again some day, a Fidelity mutual fund would first need to be liquidated if it can’t be held elsewhere, and this would be a taxable event. An ETF can be transferred...

The story about 87,000 additional IRS agents is incorrect.

Thanks, Fidelity now has these 3-year non-callable CDs at 4.9%: City National Bank (CUSIP DSMBE0548) American Express Natl Bank (CUSIP DSMBG4782). New 2-year non-callable CDs are at 4.85%.

For California, escrow should have filed form 593 stating that your mother is exempt from withholding on the sale of her primary residence. CA conforms to federal safe harbor rules on the payment of estimated taxes, so there will also be no state penalty.

In a taxable account, there is one more potential tax advantage of holding an ETF versus a mutual fund. An ETF is more portable, should you decide to change to another brokerage. Typically you cannot transfer one brokerage’s mutual fund to another brokerage, but an ETF can be transferred in...

Yes, I click the buy button on the depth of book screen, which prefills the corresponding limit price. If you lower the limit it may not work because that would require a higher minimum order. It’s also possible that those bonds are already sold when you complete the steps. In that case, return...

I am new to purchasing T-bills so I thought it was just me. In Fido, the top yielding secondary 52-week was showing a minimum order of 200 (~$200k) and I wanted less so I figured I could go to the depth of book and find an ask with a smaller minimum order. I chose one and entered a bid. The...

Mobile Passport is a (free) way to access a shorter processing lane upon international arrival at certain US airports. Global Entry arrivals are also quick using a kiosk, but GE also includes TSA precheck so I think that is a significant advantage. GE users can also use Mobile Passport and just...

You have a margin account which allows you to buy a certain amount of securities on credit against collateral in your account. Holdings are classified as either cash or margin. Margin in this case means these can be used as collateral. Fidelity has margin FAQs.

Yes, you can hold bonds as You+DH and he can hold as DH+You. Naming someone as the second owner or beneficiary doesn’t affect their annual purchase limit. A second owner can be granted transaction rights but a beneficiary cannot transact. Here is an article describing the differences.

Alliant Credit Union moved their savings account rate to 1% today.

Yes it would. The Finance Buff blog has a thorough series of posts on the mechanics of I-bonds including “Buy I Bonds for Your Business.”