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I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what counts as earned income for purposes of a Roth IRA contribution. I understand if I make $4,000 in 2015 I can contribute $4,000 to a Roth IRA. What if I make $4,000 but put $1,000 of it in a 401k pretax? Is it just income that is taxed or is it gross...

I just did a rebalance yesterday, and with retirement target six months out I also decreased my stock allocation from 70% to about 65% of total portfolio. This is clearly the reason for the big day on the stock market today. If anyone needs rain let me know, I'll go wash my car. :)

Cool parameter to add would be something that lets you optionally include only historical runs where the n years previous to retirement had stock market up/down by x. Reason was thinking this is seems whenever good market is leveling off seems more threads appear related to the fear of retiring...

So we've got the amount firecalc says gives us good enough odds for portfolio survival with our monthly budget. Said budget already has about $500/month extra built in that we'll throw into savings account every month until needed for unexpected bigger expenses. Outside of that we're currently...

(Apologies if wrong forum but bottom line this is about money) So my wife rear ended some dude this morning, totally her fault and seems relatively minor no air-bags or injuries. He didn't want cops involved and needed to get to work so they exchanged insurance/contact info and he said she...

Curious = what do my fellow non-prime members usually throw into their Amazon cart to cross the free shipping threshold? Our standard move used to be canned cat food, but now that we're cat-less I usually find some sort of consumable with a long shelf life that I know I'll eventually work my...

I'm sure this topic has been covered before, but suffer me revisiting in our current low interest rate environment. We're aiming for retirement at the end of this year, and I've started building up one year's living expenses in a savings account. The plan is to retire then move a set amount...

Has anyone noticed if you don't turn your wifi on then books you borrow from the library on your Kindle remain available to read past the due date? So you check out 10 which you get for two weeks, but since you can't finish reading them in that amount of time just leave it offline and take your...

Any hot pot fans out there? We've got a place near us that does authentic sichuan style hot pot, I love it. You can order lamb or beef slices, noodles, potatoes, various shrimp/fish/chicken balls (the shape not the organ) and of course veggies. They have mild style too which is fairly...

I've been accumulating for some time now but am quite naive on distributing, is there any easy way to estimate what the capital gains would be if you took x amount from a fund? For example if I've been tossing money every month into VTIAX for a few years and thru next year and wish to estimate...

Hi! We're still in accumulation phase (but seeing the light at the end of tunnel) was curious whether you retired types maintain an emergency fund. In your working years one constantly hears the 3-6 months of living expenses thing but clearly is mainly for loss of income due to job loss, with a...

Comrades, So on advice of all the wise ones in these forums we've got our stash arranged to minimize deep rectal penetration by tax collection entities. For simplification lets say exactly a million, divided as: 250k taxable - international stock index fund 750k retirement - total bond index...

Comrades, We're currently in peak accumulation phase, and I'm coming due for my annual rebalance but was thinking wouldn't it just make more sense to stay dynamic with where the monthly stash is going instead of actually buying and selling? Since we've got a good chunk in taxable accounts I'm...

I've got an interesting dilema here. In 2010 I exchanged some mutual funds in taxable accounts: 500 index fund -> intl stock = $24k small cap index fund -> intl stock = $21k So today I received a letter from the IRS saying my income doesn't match what was reported, it was $45k higher so I ower...

My wife has acquired a HH Bond due to death of elderly relative. We have the physical note with her name as POD on it, but can't figure out what to do with it. Some googling said to local bank can help, we have a Wells Fargo account so she took it there but they seemed puzzled by it and couldn't...

So I've got my asset allocation, and it is relatively simple bond index, large cap index, small cap index, and intl stock index. Everyone believes interest rates will rise, causing bond index fund to suck. So why do I have money in this bond index fund right now then? I'd like to stay the...

Curious if anyone has ever heard of a real life example of someone failing in FIRE when using a reasonable safe withdrawal rate, and if so how was it realized and handled? I don't mean like that garrulous legend who was in these forums before my time, I mean someone taking a 4%ish type of...

Comrades, I need to know what to put the generic bond portion of my portfolio in, you know the part where the slice of the pie says "bonds" in a different color. Right now it's in Vanguard total bond index, is this best? I've been considering the TIPS fund they have as well, given current (and...

Probably of interest only to those who like to cook. Friend and I were talking about this, it led to a surprisingly rich debate and difficult decisions. Using standard improbable "stranded on an island" scenario but you have a real kitchen and can order as much of any kind of...

There are some things, that no matter how much I wish to be skilled at them or at least not poor, I cannot learn. So, this thread is dedicated to that skill which you have been unable to master despite reasonable dedication/desire to do so. I'm curious what other people have in the forever...

No, not a sequel to the Samuel L Jackson movie. Have a five hour flight coming up, so including the arrive at airport and driving will easily be a seven hour experience, will need a meal. I don't want to buy one of their overpriced lunch boxes so I figure can just bring a sandwich to eat. What...

Advice needed. Over the past couple years we've evolved to a relatively simple asset allocation that has four primary components of pretty much equal values: S&P 500 Index fund Total Intl Stock fund Small Cap Index fund Total Bond Index fund We're still in accumulation phase so we invest...

We're definitely not "knife and a loincloth" hardcore campers, but we're also not lined up in little driveways at a designated campsite. We do dispersed, which has so much opportunity in the lovely and geographically diverse state of Arizona, but are pretty well limited by how far from our...

How much money does it waste to run the air conditioner with downstairs windows open, just for a half hour per day? I know, I know there are a million variables that make this question too hard to just answer with that, and yes I know it sounds like a really stupid idea. Problem is right now in...

I know there are plenty of these threads, but I lean on "not on first page" rules. 1. Bleu/blue cheese dressing. The toothpaste that comes out of cheapo bottles of this belongs as a prop in porn films, not consumed on food. Skimp on Italian by using Kroger brand? Fine maybe worth it, but sheesh...