Recent content by free4now

Thanks that was helpful. I was wrong; I did get a 2020 1099-MISC with the $38.86 box 8 substitute payments in lieu of dividends or interest. It was hidden on the back page of my tax info doc with no mention on the top summary page. And amazingly enough I entered it on schedule 1 and 1040 box...

Nice. I definitely have not gotten any 1099-MISC from vanguard in the past. I will look forward to my first!

I've had a margin account at vanguard more than a decade, but never done any margin investing. I like the idea of having the margin for quick access to lots of emergency cash. E.g. in case I total a rental car or need to bail someone out of jail. I just now learned that for a long time...

They definitely have verbiage about the cost basis changing for some accounts in the info you have to agree to for the upgrade. Yes I probably should speak with a rep to confirm everything is kosher.

It also looks like it can change the cost basis accounting mechanism between average and FIFO accounting. I use FIFO. Probably worth double checking that the cost basis accounting method is correct after you make the change. I discovered one account that didn't have a cost basis accounting...

It looks like I will need to order new checks if I want to be able to write checks against mutual funds.

I got a letter from Vanguard saying they want to merge the mutual fund account into my brokerage account. They make it sound as if there are no downsides, and I can't think of any important ones, but just thought I'd see what others at Vangaurd are doing... are you going to accept the merge?

After having high-deductible insurance for many years, I just moved to a zero deductible plan because of these sorts of issues. I tell everyone I speak with at my annual physical that everything needs to be coded preventive, and if it's not then don't do it. In spite of that I've had...

I wonder how much of the returns that we get from stocks and bonds are a result of the externalized costs that our companies cause to the world at large. The classic externalized cost is environmental pollution. If my company dumps toxics that will cost 10 million to clean up and then fail...

My taxes are relatively constant year to year so I just try and be the same as last year over year. I don't mind if I have to pay taxes and penalties if i underpay; it's much cheaper than the work of trying to minimize.

I called Anthem and said "I'd like you to explain why you only paid $25 for this several thousand dollar bill", and they said they would send the claims to adjustment and it would take 30 days. I didn't have to say anything about why they should be adjusted. This is a good reminder to me that...

I had a neuropsych evaluation done earlier this year, prompted by relatively typical issues around memory issues as I get older, and well as lifelong anxiety and depression. In a nutshell, the result was that I'm normal, no major issues. Now I'm wondering if there is any way to get my...

The information that we typically consume a teaspoon's worth every few years is a useful benchmark for thinking about how much a problem pan leaching might be... unless you're really aggressive about your use of pans, it's hard to imagine a typical home user scraping much more than a teaspoon's...

After doing a lot of research on aluminum while buying some new frying pans, I learned that humans supposedly consume quite a bit of aluminum typically. 10mg/day seems like a low consensus estimate from a few sources I've seen. So I was just eating my salad and found some shavings from...

I'm going to treat that suggestion as LOL.