FIRE & Retirement Accounts

[EastWest Gal]

Start a taxable investment account. The tax savings when you need to tap into your investments are significant. You only pay tax on capital gains , which varies from 0-20%, when the time comes to sell.

Never forget that the whole point of saving and investing is to use that stash to fund your (hopefully early) retirement. Don’t be afraid to spend it when the time comes.

My retirement stash is 2/3 from after tax and 1/3 from my IRA (401K rollover). It is a blessing to have that much control. I am 62, worked part time from age 55 to 59. I will not need to touch the IRA until forced to do so.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau How is the gifting to each other actually accomplished? Whose name is listed as "owner" or "beneficiary" or whatever? Thanks

In my TD account, I buy a gift with DW as the owner and with me as the POD. It shows in my TD account as:

Mrs. pb4uski ***-**-2222
POD
pb4uski ***-**-3333

The gift sits in a gift box in my TD account until I deliver the gift to DW in a future year that she has unutiized allowance ($10k annually). Importantly however, the one year minimum ownership lock and interest start when I buy the gift, not when it is delivered to DW.

So if I buy an i-bond today for future delivery in 2023 and the interest rate is 9.62% for the first 6 months and 0% for the second six months, I can deliver it to DW on 1/1/2023 and she could redeem it on 5/31/2023 and the annualized yield would be 4.82%... not bad for a 1 year CD. If I buy today for future delivery on 1/1/24 the yield would be a minimum of 3.01%... not bad for an 19 month CD.

And of course, being a good DW, she buys me gifts in her TD account... so that is $40k that is earning 9.62% for the first 6 months and who knows what after that, but even if the who knows what ends up being 0% it is still a pretty good opportunity.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski In my TD account, I buy a gift with DW as the owner and with me as the POD. It shows in my TD account as: Mrs. pb4uski ***-**-2222 POD pb4uski ***-**-3333 The gift sits in a gift box in my TD account until I deliver the gift to DW in a future year that she has unutiized allowance ($10k annually). Importantly however, the one year minimum ownership lock and interest start when I buy the gift, not when it is delivered to DW. So if I buy an i-bond today for future delivery in 2023 and the interest rate is 9.62% for the first 6 months and 0% for the second six months, I can deliver it to DW on 1/1/2023 and she could redeem it on 5/31/2023 and the annualized yield would be 4.82%... not bad for a 1 year CD. If I buy today for future delivery on 1/1/24 the yield would be a minimum of 3.01%... not bad for an 19 month CD. And of course, being a good DW, she buys me gifts in her TD account... so that is $40k that is earning 9.62% for the first 6 months and who knows what after that, but even if the who knows what ends up being 0% it is still a pretty good opportunity.

Thanks. I've never set up a TD account. My I-bonds are all in paper. I will look into this as it seems the only (good) game in town for extra cash. Aloha

[CRLLS]

It sounds like you are well on your way to FI at an early age. Congratulations to you both.

I would suggest you start planning your withdrawal stage now. That will help to advise how much to save pretax vs taxable. This is what caught us. It seems that many financial things that will affect you in the future are based on AGI or MAGI. For instance, you will need some base taxable income to qualify for ACA insurance. Too much and you won't qualify for subsidies. Too much AGI and Medicare will cost you more (IRMMA). Roth conversions of any pretax savings such as IRAs and 401Ks may be in your future while you have lower AGI, saving some on income taxes.

The "best answer" has to do with your personal situations. Only you can decide which is appropriate. But future planning, 20-30 years out and well beyond.

[kbw61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau How is the gifting to each other actually accomplished? Whose name is listed as "owner" or "beneficiary" or whatever? Thanks

Try this for gifting I-bonds: https://thefinancebuff.com/buy-i-bonds-as-gift.html

[skyking1]

When I see someone in here at 29 asking good questions, things like that 10K limit on I-bonds are not such a thing. They have time to build up a tidy bond sum to go along with stock investing.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbw61 Try this for gifting I-bonds: https://thefinancebuff.com/buy-i-bonds-as-gift.html

Hey, thanks! Welcome to the forum. Be sure to tell us all about yourself in the "Hi, I am" Forum. Aloha

[almost there]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris918 Hello, I’m 29 and married with no debt besides my mortgage. My wife and I are interested in retiring early and have been working towards this goal for a few years now. I began contributing heavily to my 401k account but quickly realized that this may not be the best retirement vehicle if I want to leave the workforce early. Both of us max out our ROTH IRA and HSA each year. But where should we go from here? Would it be correct to continue 401k contributions to a certain point and then invest the rest in a brokerage for flexibility? What is the path someone retiring early normally takes since the traditional 401k route means your money is inaccessible until 59.5? Do people in the fire community normally prioritize a taxable brokerage instead? Do they contribute to each one for flexibility? Thank you very much for any advice you have for us

Buy a rental property when & if the housing market comes down.
Start saving for it now, in addition to the IRA / Roth IRA's. Just my 2.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by almost there Buy a rental property when & if the housing market comes down. Start saving for it now, in addition to the IRA / Roth IRA's. Just my 2.

Could be a good way to go but be certain you have the temperament for it. We had a rental for quite some time. Had the two little old ladies who were our tenants instead been drug addled, wall-punching, child abusing monsters, it wouldn't not have been the relatively good deal that it turned out to be. We actually only rented it as a way to hold that particular property for ourselves when we retired. Otherwise, I NEVER would have considered being a land lord. Just my opinion, but being a landlord can be a j*b. You already have a J*b (and I'm retired.) BUT to each his own and YMMV.

[Magus]

What’s your marginal tax bracket now? If 22% or higher, I’d keep up the 401k. If below I’d switch to taxable accounts or rentals