Some perspective

[NW-Bound]

Oui, oui ... mais je n'ai pas le temps.

We are hijacking this thread big time. Now, I do not know the French for that.

Seriously, I love to travel, and when you know a bit of the language, it's a heck of a lot more fun. One time in Italy, I just said "Ricevuta, per favore", and the owner of the small restaurant on Capri started to say a whole bunch with a lot of hand gestures when he handed me the receipt. Obviously, he thought I knew more than the 2 words I just looked up in my phrase book. I just smiled and bowed goodbye, not knowing a thing of what he was saying.

 

[ladelfina]

Isbcal (or is it lsbcal?).. yep, but at some income point which is unclear (roughly $150k?) you wander into AMT territory so 28% min on everything w/no exemptions (? IIRC). Hard to know when you're nearing that, esp. when some of my div. & interest comes in after Dec. 31 and I love those revised 1099s that come in in March. If anyone who's reading this has been subject to AMT I'd appreciate their advice. I have only sold off all of my IWM which is recent, plus some AMX for a CG of around $42k so far. I would like to sell more. Income last year was $58k AGI with no adjustments. About $25k of that was an involuntary CG - stock liquidation of a bank failure from the S&L days (gee, I just seem to go from bank crisis to bank crisis!).

 

[FIREd]

The AMT limit really depends on your personal situation. According to the HR block AMT estimator, we won't be subjected to the AMT until our gross income reaches 170K (we have few deductions). If you have a few kids and live and a high income tax state or have large CGs, it could be a lot lower.

Give it a try and plug in the number:
Tax Calculator - Tax Tools and Calculators - H&R Block
(the AMT calculator is located in the bottom half of the page)

 

[Lsbcal]

For those of us who are lucky enough not to have a pension or SS or income (yes, I am being facetious here) and have cap gains so can take advantage of freebees in the 15% bracket, this special tax break is nice. If you have a pension or lots of income + dividends + SS that pushes you out of such low brackets then you have the consolation of counting your blessings .

LSBCAL

 

[ladelfina]

No, *this* is thread hi-jacking!


Mi manchi
I miss you
Quando il sole da la mano all’orizzonte
When the sun weds the horizon
Quando il buio spegne il chiasso della gente
When the darkness extinguishes the clamor of the people
La stanchezza addosso che non va più via
The tiredness I bear that won't go away
Come l’ombra di qualcosa ancora mia
Like the shadow of something that is still mine

Mi manchi
I miss you
Nei tuoi sguardi
In your glances
E in quell sorriso un pò incosciente
And in that slightly unconscious smile (unconscious in the sense of unheedful or uncaring)
Nelle scuse di quei tuoi probabilmente
In those excuses of yours, probably (odd because the gender of "scuse" doesn't match "tuoi")
Sei quell nodo in gola che non scende giù
You are that lump in my throat that won't go down
E tu e tu
And you, and you

Mi manchi mi manchi
I miss you, I miss you
Posso far finta di star bene ma mi manchi
I can pretend to be fine but I miss you
Ora capisco che vuol dire
Now I know what it means
Averti accanto prima di dormire
To have you beside me before sleeping
Mentre cammino a piedi nudi dentro l’anima
While I walk barefoot inside my soul ('barefoot' having the connotation of being 'in one's most essential state')

Mi manchi e potrei
I miss you and I could
Cercarmi un’altra donna ma m’ingannerci
Find myself another woman but I'd be fooling myself
Sei il mio rimorso senza fine
You are my endless remorse
Il freddo delle mie mattine
The chill of my mornings
Quando mi guardo intorno
When I look around me
E sento che mi manchi
And I feel that I miss you

Ora che io posso darti un pò di più
Now that I can offer you a little more
E tu e tu
And you, and you

Mi manchi e potrei
I miss you and I could
Cercarmi un’altra donna ma m’ingannerci
Find myself another woman but I'd be fooling myself
Sei il mio rimorso senza fine
You are my endless remorse
Il freddo delle mie mattine
The cold of my mornings
Quando mi guardo intorno
When I look around me
E sento che mi manchi
And I feel that I miss you

Sounds a lot more emotional in Italian, no?
It's so funny when I came here and looked on a map; all the place names seemed so exotic:
"Montalcino!" (Oak Hill)
"Ponte Vecchio!" (old bridge)

...and even if you live in the cheapest dingiest flat... still, it's in a "palazzo'! (pretty much any large building)

----
FIREdreamer, thanks for the link. I had used another calculator but will see what yours tells me.
Lsbcal, it's a good break to take advantage with, but not if you want to sell a lot of things with large gains because you've never sold in 20 years.

 

[W2R]

What beautiful poetry, Ladelfina!!

And as for the market, I don't think it is that bad yet but who knows, perhaps it will be! Either way, what will be, will be and IMO we can neither predict it with any accuracy, nor keep changes from happening. The silver lining is that this is a great test for us to find out if we have a good, sound, plan that we can live with. And that is my opinion.

 

[Hal3]

Well, you see, the entire baby boom generation was all going to retire at once on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Everyone. All on the same day. Then we would all sell our stock at once and the market would crash for everyone else before word got out.

But ... someone leaked the plan.

Now THEY are crashing the market so we won't be ABLE to retire.

It's as good an explanation as any!

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, since this thread has been flown to, AND LANDED in Cuba already, what's one more post?

Do you and your husband like Fausto Leali or Andrea Bocelli singing this song? Both are very good, but I prefer Bocelli since I heard him first. To my ears, the languages that I love songs written in are English (of course), French (which I understand), Spanish, and Italian. So many songs in the latter two are just, well, music to my ears, though I always have to search on the Internet for the lyrics translation.

 

[Dawg52]

And as for the market, I don't think it is that bad yet but who knows, perhaps it will be! Either way, what will be, will be and IMO we can neither predict it with any accuracy, nor keep changes from happening. The silver lining is that this is a great test for us to find out if we have a good, sound, plan that we can live with. And that is my opinion.

Bear markets are bad. It may be a test, but not one I wanted to take this soon into retirement. My opinion as well.

 

[FIREd]

W2R,

The real silver lining is that you've invested a big chunk of your money in Wellesley! Don't you love its whopping 4.73% yield! This thing is a rock... I am also very impressed with its cousin, Wellington, down only 3.5% in the past year and yet 65% stocks! I am buying more of them at the end of the week...

 

[Notmuchlonger]

If Wellesley is the magic bullet why doesnt everyone do it?

 

[FIREd]

If Wellesley is the magic bullet why doesnt everyone do it?

I really don't know... It's not for lack of publicity on these boards, is it Unclemick?

 

[W2R]

W2R,

The real silver lining is that you've invested a big chunk of your money in Wellesley! Don't you love its whopping 4.73% yield! This thing is a rock... I am also very impressed with its cousin, Wellington, down only 3.5% in the past year and yet 65% stocks!

I LOVE my Wellesley! And it is on sale right now, too!! The dividends just keep coming every three months.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Did it return 4.73 % after inflation?

 

[W2R]

If Wellesley is the magic bullet why doesnt everyone do it?

It's not a magic bullet! It's a very conservative investment with a low but steady and predictable yield, so when the market is hot, Wellesley's not.

When the market picks up (like it did back in 2003), everyone will be talking about their 28% and 43% yields, and I'll have 4.5% or something. Wellesley would not be a good investment for someone in the accumulation phase, with 25 years to go before ER.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

It's not a magic bullet! It's a very conservative investment with a low but steady and predictable yield, so when the market is hot, Wellesley's not.

When the market picks up (like it did back in 2003), everyone will be talking about their 28% and 43% yields, and I'll have 4.5% or something. Wellesley would not be a good investment for someone in the accumulation phase, with 25 years to go before ER.

Well then if you have a big enough egg. You can afford losing it to inflation and withdrawls. Good deal!

 

[FIREd]

Did it return 4.73 % after inflation?

4.73% is the dividend yield. The one year return is -1.9% (before inflation). So you need to reduce that by the inflation rate but then the question becomes, which inflation rate do you use? Yours, mine, the government's? I am not even going there. Besides Wellesley is not a real return fund and it does not promise to keep up with inflation. It just so happens that over the long term it has if you kept your SWR near 4% (its average annual return since 1970 is over 10%).

At any rates, W2R said it all, in an up market Wellesley is a big BIG yawn... But right now it is the star of our portfolios!

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Well of course! I was just wondering it gets pssst and spoken of like the holy grail. I was just curious as why it was so good. Now I know! Nice fund.

 

[W2R]

Well then if you have a big enough egg. You can afford losing it to inflation and withdrawls. Good deal!

Historically, share prices of Wellesley have exceeded inflation. The dividends are on top of that and I guess that the idea is that the dividends are intended to provide what is needed. Of course, past performance is no indication of future trends. But then hey, if you want to REALLY lose money, you could take your pick these days.

Edited to add: Wow, you guys are FAST!!!

 

[ladelfina]

W2R, thanks, but it's not mine; I just translated NW-Bound's favorite song for him.

NWB: DH was trained at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome and hates hates hates hates hates Bocelli. I imagine he's ok for a pop singer but does not have the real, requisite opera lirica chops do be doing what he's doing. I guess kinda like real jazz musicians hate Kenny G, or R&B fans hate Michael Bolton. More power to these artists, I guess, if they can make a buck and make people happy, but they're not at the real level of the craft. One hopes that they popularize it enough to get people interested in the good stuff, though, like the real Ray Charles or Louis Armstrong.

I don't know what his opinion is of Leali. Send me a PM of your 'favorite hits' and I'll see if he can recommend something. It's true, the first time you hear something, that continues to seem like "the original" or "the way it should be".

Music is a GREAT way to help you in learning another language: I bought many random Italian pop CDs when I was studying and they really helped. Italians laugh at my uneducated choices, but I still have a fond spot in my heart for Mimmo Locasciulli. So sue me!

 

[UncleHoney]

Gee, you all make me feel good. I pulled the plug on my 401K early last October and stuffed it into a 5.56% IRA. A 5.56% five year IRA.

Four years from now I may wish it were in something else, but for now it's earning it's keep.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Gee, you all make me feel good. I pulled the plug on my 401K early last October and stuffed it into a 5.56% IRA. A 5.56% five year IRA.

Four years from now I may wish it were in something else, but for now it's earning it's keep.

What did you put it in, if I might ask? DH's 401K allows an in-service withdrawal at 59-1/2 and we're likely going to do the same thing into something at Vanguard for most of it.

 

[UncleHoney]

What did you put it in, if I might ask? DH's 401K allows an in-service withdrawal at 59-1/2 and we're likely going to do the same thing into something at Vanguard for most of it.

It's in a CD at our credit union. Within a few days of the rollover rates started going down, so I got lucky on that one.

 

[MichaelB]

Isbcal (or is it lsbcal?).. yep, but at some income point which is unclear (roughly $150k?) you wander into AMT territory so 28% min on everything w/no exemptions (? IIRC). Hard to know when you're nearing that, esp. when some of my div. & interest comes in after Dec. 31 and I love those revised 1099s that come in in March. If anyone who's reading this has been subject to AMT I'd appreciate their advice. I have only sold off all of my IWM which is recent, plus some AMX for a CG of around $42k so far. I would like to sell more. Income last year was $58k AGI with no adjustments. About $25k of that was an involuntary CG - stock liquidation of a bank failure from the S&L days (gee, I just seem to go from bank crisis to bank crisis!).

If you use tax preparation SW, just run the numbers using last year's program. Include distributions at last year's levels to find your highest tax scenario. Many funds - especially vanguard - tell you how much realized gains they have YTD. This helps to estimate distributions.

AMT has a base exemption of $45k (joint) which congress changes at the last minute each year (last year to $66k). No guarantee it will change this year, so you can do a calculation at the base and updated levels. You would need to get directly to the AMT form in your tax program and change the exemption amount.

Michael

 

[ladelfina]

Thanks MichaelB and especially FIREdreamer who sent me to the H&R AMT calculator where it states in plain language that garden-variety CG is not subject to the AMT. (I had read some IRS stuff but it was clear as mud.) There is a modest tax increase on the div. income side, but nothing on the order of what I'd been worrying about so that's one less "issue" on my plate.

THANKS