Search results

Both the Fidelity Funds (SPAXX & FDRXX) that some of my divs came from are government MM, with 60% & 62% respectively listed as Treasury related. This was never asked in the question format in the HRB software! I had to manually insert the percentage in a mini form. This reduced my (as yet)...

It’s a crapshoot if you are basing the decision on financials. There are WAY too many variables for an overall “best” decision. Other income sources, single, married, relative ages, health (of course) size of tIRA, size of SS amounts, State tax factors, heirs, etc etc. I personally chose...

Another “it’s better to collect SS@ 62 instead of 70 and here’s the math” thread! It still amazes me that anyone thinks that anything new can be brought to the discussion that doesn’t already exist in thousands of other places. The Dunning-Kruger effect is strong when it comes to SS calculations.

Don’t forget to check your states income tax deductions as well. I screwed up in 2023 because I neglected to realize that a $30k Roth conversion cost me an added $2500 in state tax because it put my taxable income above $95k and this would have been the first year eligible for the age 65 pension...

MWAHAHAHA. You have to have lived in Mass to get the sarcasm at the end. I see others got it too. But I’ve lived ina lot worse states, by far.

@ out-to-lunch FYI: in the 2nd example of 66SS & 60P, for Virginia, if both are 65 or older on Jan1, MFJ, there is an additional $25600 deductions so the tax drops to about $1250, considerably better. Leaves very little room for Roth conversions before hitting the $75k income limit. Of course...

I’ve been Type2 for years, mostly mild, A1C between 6.2 and 7.4 most recently. I’ve been in 2000mg Metformin and had never heard of the ER. I will ask for it! Thanks for that! I tried Berberine fir 4 months (it is more expensive than Metformin, which is free on my Medicare ) I had no...

DD would seem to be the obvious answer, and that would be best. Too bad I can’t keep paying quarterly.

Based on this thread https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/ss-at-age-70-and-medicare-easy-pay-115256.html Those of us that started SS after starting Medicare, have been paying their Medicare premiums via easy pay or quarterly via CC. The CC option means at least I have been getting...

Yea, by the time you hit 70, it is more like a 6% increase over the previous year, being z8% of your PIA, not current amount. I decided to split the difference and filed to get it at 66+1 month, mainly because the last 3 years of COLAs put my amount at about what I was projected to get at 70 in...

DW & I do them too. For kicks I also do Octordle. I like to fool myself in to thinking it is keeping me a tiny bit mentally sharper. But I don’t see how knowing the names of 4 Rappers that have The(e) as part of their name will ever make me quicker/smarter, LOL. Though I did get all the Addams...

I believe you can only add to an HSA if you have earned income. Same as contributing to a Roth.

What a great thread. I guess a lot here don’t listen to 70s on 7 on SiriusXM where virtually every single one of these OHWs get played every day. I always forget about the song “Shannon”, until I lose one of my dogs (which are almost always females) and that song pops in to my head every time. I...

My deepest sympathies with what you both are going through. My worst nightmare. I agree with the no need to make a decision for a few months. I also agree that you may as well file at 62. The “smaller sooner/larger later” argument is still valid. As to his, the when discussion is still as...

I have news for you “injectors never need cleaning” pundits. Gasoline may be a solvent, but only to things that are soluble to it. Injectors do get fouled, and depending on the quality of the gas you use and the detergents and additives, there can be varnish type gumming which partially clogs...

There are so many individual variables, and many are based on where you live and age. @65, I pay $127 for G and D, but I have a pension benefit subsidy that reimburses $1000/yr (for each of us) towards that, as long as I use their approved broker, called Via Benefits, so net yearly cost is only...

Plus pensions can completely different from each other, whereas NW is NW. (Even NW is debated because some people take pretax value while others only use post tax.) . Some carry no state tax, others are fully taxed, COLA/non-COLA etc etc. A lump sum of 85% annuity cost would have been a great...

And there you have it. I rented from when I graduated college in 1980 until my first house in 1986. Typical. Never rented again. I always bought (after finding a location I wanted) and have owned and sold 6 houses & the difference between the cost of renting vs owning the same comparable was...

I agree with what most are saying. I didn’t work and save my whole working career to leave it all to heirs. And we don’t have near the money that most on here seem to. Maybe $2M NW, and income of $150k between pensions, SS & retirement fund SWR. Blow that dough on stuff/experiences that are what...

Private pensions are especially convoluted. And I assume no government pensions are lump sum optioned. In fact, my ild employer no longer offers pensions and hasn’t for maybe 15 years. There were added benefits in mine that were always shifting, but a lump sum option never materialized. It...

I’m planning on taking mine next year at age 66. DW, Now 70, took her much lower one (less than half what mine will be) at 62 for no good reason except she wanted it now. Just as OSS often shows, you do basically have to live past 90 to see s net positive, but there are far more chances that you...

You have to get a dongle from them that plugs in to the OBD port under the dash. You have to get it before you renew and then it has to be read (online, I believe) after some time period. And all this has to be done before you renew, to save about $20/yr.

Honestly, the age 59 projection from SSA for early file @ 62 will be very close for something like that, as long as she has 35 years of earnings. If she has some zeros in there, and those will be replaced, then it will be somewhat higher, but not as much as you would hope the increased AIME...

As oldtimer responded, there is no way to know future indexing multipliers to calculate an AIME for 6 years from now. You can only get the future estimate in todays dollars, based on the projection of future earnings and assuming no COLA. That video is trying to prepare younger future recipients...

Yup. In fact, I should mention that I incorrectly made it sound like the $14/m bump up was entirely due to the more recent Max bumping off the lowest Max, but that was the TOTAL non-COLA increase. All the bend points move up slightly each year, not strictly per inflation, but by the amount that...