Recent content by buckskinbowman

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks very much!

Thanks for that information, but it doesn't answer my original question. What comprises W2 income? I know it's wages from my job, but does it also include payments I made towards my company health insurance? What about contributions I made to my 401(k) plan?

I am looking to claim SS later this year as soon as I turn 62. By then I will have earned close to the $22,230 cap before they start reducing SS payments. I am wondering what W2 income is part of that $22,230 cap. Does it include contributions I made to my 401(k) plan? Does it include my...

Buckskinbowman For diversity in a dividend ETF, take a look at PFFA.They invest in preferred stocks and pay a 10.25% dividend. Yes, they do use leverage. If that scares you, look at PFF same principle but no leverage. But why limit yourself to just ETFs? Closed-end Funds (CEFs) offer a huge...

I don't understand this general consensus that the spouse with the higher benefit wait until FRA to collect SS benefits. IMHO, why spend your own money first in retirement when you can spend SS money instead? Also, by taking SS as soon as possible, you are guaranteed to get at least some of your...

Did your son have his tires rotated at all during those 11,000 miles? That should be done every 6,000 miles or so. Not just to maximize tread life, but also to detect any wear issues early.

I use IP Vanish for my VPN, and for those sites that don't like my VPN-assigned IP address I can do something called "Split Tunneling". I tell IP Vanish which sites I do not want to access via their VPN, and it just let's me go around them. It works quite well.

Thanks everyone for enlightening me! I will just do the Roth conversion through my E-Trade account. Their process seems more complicated than Schwab's, but I'll figure it out.

This probably has been covered before, but I can't find a thread. I'm turning 60 in 2 months and have been retired since January. My wife is also 60 and still working, but plans to retire at the end of the year. I'm wondering what the difference is between doing a Roth IRA conversion from my...

Got my 2nd shot on Wednesday. Shoulder was pretty sore on yesterday, but pain is just about gone this morning. Supposedly 90% protected now. One less thing to worry about!

Mint's Retirement Forecast isn't all that great. You tell Mint which of your accounts are retirement accounts, how much you will add to your retirement accounts each month, and what your goal is. Mint then adds up all the funds in your designated retirement accounts, adds in your stated...

Like Scratchy, I too can attest to Mint and its security. I have everything in Mint including all brokerage, 401(k) and IRA accounts. I have over 13,000 credit card/checking account transactions and 5,000 investment transactions recorded in Mint going back to 2007. I even include my house...

I had this procedure last June. The post-surgery was not pleasant. I had mine done on a Friday, and I was out of commission for the weekend and still not great the next couple of weeks. It take a good 3 months before I felt "normal" again. In the end, it didn't really help me all that much...

I have about $50K in my brokerage account that is just sitting in cash. I had it invested in munis until they started tanking, and got out (I know, bad idea). This needs to be relatively "safe" money, but not as safe as money market. I was looking at TIPs, but it seems like everyone is...