Recent content by Exchme

No way these returns are guaranteed. Typical indexed annuities give you some weird combination of some market index minus dividends, capped at a low gain in any given year. But markets tend to be very jumpy, with large moves in a couple of years and down or no gain in others, so you never get...

Independent Living would typically not be tax deductible, to get the tax deduction you have to have either severe cognitive impairment or be unable to do at least two ADLs (activities of daily living) for at least 90 days - ADLs are toileting, eating, bathing, transferring, dressing, continence...

When you or your heirs go to get the money out of a tax deferred account, taxes are owed. So unless the money will be given to a charity, you should make an estimate of the tax burden that will be applied to the residual. Life goes in unexpected directions so you may need to withdraw more...

Here is a link to the article on Kitces' site: https://www.kitces.com/blog/how-the-691c-ird-deduction-can-eliminate-the-need-for-deathbed-roth-conversions-to-avoid-federal-estate-taxes/ The pull quote is: Notably, though, the IRD deduction also means that the earlier Roth conversion strategy is...

State level estate taxes are annoying for those living in such places and some areas have quite low estate size thresholds, so your point about estate taxes is valid for many. If TCJA expires after 2025, there could be also quite a few folks concerned about federal estate taxes. However, at...

You are almost completely dependent on your wife's pension. Is it inflation adjusted and have 100% survivor benefits? If not, I would be a bit worried. Check out opensocialsecurity.com as the best source for understanding the optimum ages for SS benefit claiming. Make sure you scroll to near...

I recommend the Safe Withdrawal Series at EarlyRetirementNow, The Ultimate Guide to Safe Withdrawal Rates - Part 1: Introduction - Early Retirement Now The author is Karsten Jaske who used to work as an economist at the Fed before he retired a couple years ago. I think he uses Shiller's data...

Your thinking is a little muddy on a couple of points. Once you stop working, you may have several somewhat lower tax years before any RMDs start. Unless you will always be in the top bracket after you stop working, it is better for you to spread out the conversions. Doing it all at once may...

OP seems to be 65ish now and has not said anything about a spouse, so assuming OP is single. If the IRA has a lot of stocks in it, it could nearly double by RMD time. That's about $160K RMDs in the first year, on top of future SS and at least $62K dividends + pension today. So OP could easily...

There's been significant safety improvements in cars since the early 1990's - anti-lock brakes, better air bags, side air bags, tire pressure monitoring, improved crash testing, back-up camera, collision avoidance systems and more. So think of it as an investment in safety.

The CPI-W has gone up 29% in the last 7 years since you retired, so your 39% portfolio gain is mostly inflation. That may be why you don't feel rich enough to splurge without worries.

Your plan is good if you are able to keep working. But your plan falls apart real fast if your income goes away or gets cut back. Since your job isn't super-secure and health is never guaranteed, I recommend a little self control. You can play more eventually once you reach financial...

I think the concern is sometimes the idea is floated to do away with the income tax in favor of a sales/VAT tax as that has theoretical benefits of not inhibiting folks from investing and earning money. In that circumstance, everyone would have to pay the new sales tax, but folks that did Roth...

I'll agree with part c in the sense that there is no option, but for a & b, it's not so simple. You seem to be doing an unfair comparison between the hoped-for risky return of a portfolio and the inflation-adjusted, lifetime income of SS. That is comparing an apple to a zebra. A better...

I once held that many funds in IRAs and decided it was too complex for managing in the future. So I simplified to 3 funds - Total Market, Total International and Total Bond. I've been considering Intermediate Treasury instead of Total Bond, but too lazy to do it. I'm trapped in a mess of...