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Need some "perspective" from the collected wisdom of this board in making a decision of how/whether to proceed with a new home-building project. We contracted with a builder for our "Florida dream home" last year in August. We've purchased a lot, designed the home, and went through the "color...

I've been FIRE'd for about 4 years now, and so far, have been living strictly off of after-tax savings. I now find myself needing to start withdrawing some funds from one of my retirement accounts. The institution where those accounts are held (TIAA) will automatically "withhold" both...

Our (2-level) deck is in need of power washing and re-staining/sealing. There are companies in our area that advertise "25 year warranty deck sealing" (although they don't really talk about "staining"). Has anyone had any experience with this sort of deck restoration? Is it possible to...

Hoping someone here can help with a tax question - I've not been able to get through to any "tax question advisors" at IRS, or at my tax prep software support (H&R Block). My only "earned income" for 2020 was classified as "nonemployee compensation income", earned from being a "guest lecturer"...

Hi everyone, I may need to have you all talk me down off the ledge. In spite of everything I've read/heard/understood about annuities in general over the years, these unsettling times have really "spooked" me into considering something that I thought was unthinkable just a few months ago -...

Hi all, I'm in the strange position of trying to figure out exactly what happens when a company you own stock in goes private. An individual stock issue I inherited from my Dad over 20 years ago is being sold to a private company, and all outstanding shares will be worth a fixed price agreed...

Hi everyone, I'm now about 4 years into "Life after FIRE", and so far, have really been enjoying it. We started snow-birding in Florida to escape the harsh mid-west winters right after retirement, and each year, extend our visits a little more. This year we are up to about 10 weeks, and we...

I've been FIRED for about a year and a half ... which means my COBRA option for health insurance is about to run out, and I'm about 2 years away from being old enough to qualify for Medicare. I've had an HSA health insurance plan through my employer for about 8 years, and have funded it with...

I now am down to 15 more "get ups" until I RE next month. Somehow, in all my thinking/planning about retirement, I never heard (or paid any attention to) this concept called "QLAC". It came up recently in a conversation with a friend (who RE'd a couple of years ago) in the context of what...

Well, after being in OMY mode for the last 4-5 years, the decision of how/when to retire has been irrevocably made for me. I have been informed that, as of October 31st, my current position is being "eliminated". I had been in my (now annual) mode of thinking I would retire at the end of...

Looking ahead to FIRE'ing in a couple of months (if I don't chicken out and give into OMY syndrome .... ;-) ). At that point, I'll be converting my 401K to an (self-directed) IRA, and have decided to go with the "lazy" 3-fund portfolio (well, I may add some REIT fund to that as well)...

Does anyone know if it is possible/legal to contribute to an (existing) ROTH IRA account by doing an "in kind transfer" of equities from an after-tax brokerage account to the ROTH IRA account? I'd like to not have to liquidate the assets (and so have that tax hit) in order to to max out my...

I'm about ready for my once-every-15-year new car buy. I currently am driving my 1999 Mazda protege (just past 252K miles on it), and it needs a new catalytic converter ... which I don't think I want to pay for at this point. Besides, it's not a comfortable car for road trips (fine for the...

I have a question about using TIAA-CREF long-term for my retirement portfolio after retirement (which looks like Jan. 2016!!!). I've heard folks tout the merits of Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab for that purpose, but no one talks much about TIAA-CREF. TIAA-CREF currently holds about 1/2 my...

Hi all, Been considering an LTC policy. I've read through most of the previous threads on this topic, but most of them seem to be pretty old, so thought I'd see what some of the "current thinking" is. I live in a state with LTC "Paternership" program with certain insurance companies, to...

Hi everyone, Just ran my first I-ORP pass. What an amazing tool! Part of the reason I've been in "OMY" mode for a while is because I thought it was easier to just keep working than to try and figure out how to handle the withdrawl strategy on my own. So, in looking at what the ORP results...

Hi everyone, After years of adopting the LBYM philosophy, I'm planning on joining the ranks of the FIREd at the end of 2015 at the age of 58. One of the "benefits" my company offers is to "buy back" our unused sick days accumulated over the years at 50% of current salary at time of retirement...

Hi everyone, Was very excited to find this forum a couple of days ago. Have been reading lots of interesting threads. Finally screwed up my courage to actually register so I can start posting. I'm in that "FIRE now, or wait n more years" stage. The more I read here, the more I feel like...