Recent content by dennygt

Be careful lumping all public pensions into one category! I was a professor for 30 years; my pension: NON-COLA, 45% of LAST FIVE years (1.5% times 30 years). That is quite a bit different than what you quoted, especially 20 years into retirement, with no COLA.

We have a hot tub so temperature was not a problem. Saw two good good ones on Wed night, about midnite, then went out from 12:30 to 2 AM Thur nite/early Fri morning (the 'peak time') and saw nothing!

Typo, or subtle political ploy?

They multiplied the converted amount by .0435 (the tax is a flat rate on everyone). They must assume that I made enough in other income to reach the max. They also know my pension as it's through their public employee retirement system, as I was an instructor. I should get something back, as...

I just converted a T-IRA to a Roth and had Vanguard withhold taxes. I asked for 15 % Federal and they did. The scary part was the Michigan witholdoing. I asked to withold a specific amount. When I looked at my balances the next day they were less than expected in the Roth; no explanation at...

I only had $1,200 in div and LTCGs. If I stay that far from the next tax rate (15 to 25 %), should I be okay?

But the divs and LTCGs do not count as part of your taxable income, as long as you stay in the 15% tax bracket, right?

Good point. Most people do not realize that teachers do not get vacation time, when they would like to. They can only take vacation time when there are no classes scheduled.

ditto. Retired as a Prof after 23 years, and did not look back. Retirement is great!

Actually, it's not the oil companies, it's the US gov't. being bought out (ok, lobbied) by the ethanol industry, and leading the charge is ADM (Archer Daniels MIdland). Over 40% of their profits are from federal subsidies, a significant portion of that amount from its ethanol production...

We go to Florida for three months (January - March) and have only one car. Not too bad, just got to plan the trips. It can be done!