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Woke up this morning can’t find wallet. Probably in the ocean as we are snorkeling in the keys for awhile. Anyway we recently got the Venmo credit card which has a physical card and a virtual card. All our auto pays are using the virtual card so great no need to mess with it. New cards on the...

For fun, what is your current weighted average rate on your safe funds (MM, CD’s, & Stable Value Fund). I’m starting to collect a bunch of this kind of stuff and my weighted average rate is currently 2.87%. Bonus question. How much of your portfolio is in these things. Mine is currently a...

I currently have quite a bit of Vanguard Wellington. Was considering swapping it for a combination of Stock Index funds plus CD’s. With Navy Federal can get 3% on IRA CD’s. I hardly ever make any of these type of moves so thought I would throw it out for the group. Not really a question but...

I’ve never had a CD before and was thinking about getting some of the Navy Fed 18 month at 3%. My new portfolio mix would be 70% stocks, 18% Bonds, 8% CD’s and 4% Money Market. So would you think of this as 70/18/12 or 70/26/4?

We recently needed to withdraw $90,000 from my traditional IRA. We did this through Vanguard without any tax withholding. A week later we sent the money back in full. From what I have read this should have no tax implications as it is treated as a rollover within a 60 day window. Does anyone...

This might be totally meaningless but I keep track of stock returns since I started investing. Returns are all over the place but positive in 23 years and negative in 6 years. Overall return tends to want to go back to about 10%.

Booked a bunch of travel with the Costco Citi Visa since it has 3% cash back for travel. They took it back with an offsetting 3% FTF fee. Just a heads up. I should have read the fine print.

I am retiring in October and my employer provided health insurance will end October 31st. I plan to get ACA insurance starting 1/1/2018. What should I do for the last two months of the year? 1. Cobra $1,300/mo. 2. ACA $780/mo. 3. No Coverage $0/month (with option to pay for Cobra if needed)

I'm thinking I would like to protect against market falls by having about 2 years worth of cash. As an example assume a 1 million portfolio, $20,000 pension, yearly spending of $50,000, and maybe a worse case decline of 30%. How much cash should I hold? A. $60,000 (2 years * $30,000) B...

Will retire later this year and still have a mortgage of $50,000 and roughly $50,000 in college expenses I want to pay. My plan has been to pay these expenses as they come due over the next 4 years. I would be using Roth IRA money (tax and penalty free since it is contributions not earnings)...

What is the tax on your last dollar earned for a year? I was planning to do Roth conversions to the top of the 15% bracket so I thought the answer was easy: 15 cents. However, several recent threads on the ACA had me recalculate this and it is actually almost 30 cents. Hmmm. Maybe I don't want...

Going to SLC for 5 days on business, never been before. Any suggested evening activities/restaurants/sights? Should DW and I bother with a $227 rental car or take the light rail everywhere?

Since this the early retirement forum this question is about the 15 early years before pensions and SS kick in but could also apply to any immediate 15 year period. What asset allocation would you suggest for money to be spent over a 15 year period? In my situation pensions and social security...

About a year left until freedom. Here is our tentative yearly withdrawal plan (first 10 years): 401k 72t-$24,000 Roth Contributions Withdrawal-$16,000 Pensions-$22,000 May also convert from IRA to Roth IRA $16,000/yr (to keep the Roth accounts unchanged). Income will be $62,000 but taxable will...

With retirement coming up, I decided to sell $210,000 of stocks today. This money (plus another $25,000) will be used in a year to buy an annuity of $12,000 per year. The annuity will start at age 50, have a cola of 3%, and will last until both me and my wife are dead. This will provide about a...

Never measured this before until recently. Started a unhealthy activity last year and gained some weight. Currently at 21% going to try to get to 10% by 6/20/2016. Anybody else have fitness goals?

A friend of mine just retired after 37 years of work. Between my wife and I we have worked 45 years and are just about there. Thought this might be an interesting topic if you care to share.

On my way to FIRE never drank in my life. Currently totally plastered on Rum and Vodka. Feels really good but wondering what is causing my change in underlying principles. Is it it that I am almost a free man or am I losing it? Anybody have any crazy mid-life life changes?

Many times people will list out their portfolio balances, pensions, age and risk tolerance and ask if they are all set to retire. The common answer here is it depends on your expenses. This might be true if you want to calculate something like the probability of success. However, if you...

Was thinking about joining a recreation club which would get me full use of boats, jet skis, snowmobiles, motorcycles, ATV's etc. For a joining fee of $1,400 and $300/mo I could use one ski boat or two of any of the other toys as much as I want all year long. I'm familiar how to operate all...

If you had $4,000,000 and 40 years to live would you: 1. Plan to spend about the same per year 2. Spend a $1,000,000 on your wildest dreams and then go with 75% of option 1. 3. Spend variably based on your energy/desires at the time (knowing the decision changes future...

I have a little more than 2 years before I retire at age 50. Will be doing substantially equal payments from my 401k as part of my income. Currently the funds are invested in 90% stocks and the rest in bonds. I have never contributed to the stable value fund. Today I changed future...

Going to Cabo San Lucas for 5 days just to get some sun. Has anyone rented a car there recently? Looks like $4/day plus $30/day for insurance. Seems strange. We typically decline all the insurance but the rules seem different down there. Do we even need a car, in the past we just jumped on a...

I see my parents/neighbors etc who are retired mowing grass, painting the house, sitting around doing normal everyday things. I have grandparents that have literally stayed put for the last 30 years. What is it that keeps people in one spot? Age, money, family, no desire? Will this happen to...

Maintenance on houses, yards, cars. Paying for insurance, electricity, water, cable tv, buying random stuff. Can all of this be avoided by simply never owning anything? I'm thinking a backpack worth of essentials and renting nice places throughout the world. Let's see, maybe $1,000/week...