Recent content by Looking4Ward

Are you crazy? Not at all. I ER'd over 9 years ago when I was 53. I've lost girlfriends because I was "cheap". My friends are less flattering and call me a tight a$$. I just turned 63 and I've loosened up a bit. I've bought and sold several expensive toys in the years since but kept a rather...

Yes, I just found the form SSA-1724-F4 to do just that.

Same here.

Yes, the way we read it is our mom would not receive her March benefit because she passed in that month. But we also read it to mean she would have received her February benefit (paid in March) because she was alive that month. In other words, she did not receive her February benefit.

Our mom passed away last month on the 8th of March. Her birthday was November 29th so her SS deposits were made on the 4th Wednesday of every month. We are just now starting to close down her bank accounts but left her primary checking account open so that any pending deposits and payments...

I'm trying to understand this but am coming up short. Let me propose a basic scenario with made up numbers: You receive $24k a year in Social Security. You draw $2k a month from a tIRA. You have after-tax investments that will yield $10k in dividends/CGD's for the year. You know that you will...

I see your point. Being house poor is not a smart decision at all. But at least in my case, what I'm willing to pay in cash for a home is determined by how much more my portfolio is in excess of what my ER needs are. In other words, if I have $2M in stocks/bonds but my retirement "number" is...

I am also one who is having to make the same decision over the next 4-5 months. My thoughts: Paying cash for a home doesn't mean the money is "spent" - it's simply less liquid. If I spend 30% of my portfolio on a home and can live comfortably on the remaining 70% then I'm okay knowing I could...

Thanks!

Understood. Thanks!

Would putting the funds into 3 or 6 month Treasury Bills be a good move?

Or what you did :)

Yes, this would be to offset other LTCG's.

Before this year is out I plan to sell six figures worth of selected Wellington shares in a taxable account that will generate a loss. Rather than park those proceeds in my settlement account for 4-6 months before I need them for a home purchase, what would be an equivalent fund(s) or ETF that...

Count me in the camp that recently sold mine for more than I paid for it. After I totaled up how much I spent on hotel rooms the first couple of years I was Fire'd, I bought a little Coachman Clipper that I could pull behind my Jeep for $11k. It paid for itself the first year (2016). By early...