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I am trying to estimate what our RMD’s will be and what that does to future taxes (the old roth conversion question). How do folks estimate their future RMD/tax implications? I was using one of the online calculators and started to plug that into our tax estimator but then wondered if I...

We will be in Chiang Mai for 5 days at the end of October and wondering if anyone has recommendations for places to stay there. Moderately priced ($100ish), good location - hotel or guest house. Lots of options on the web/trip advisor but wanted to see if anyone here had first hand experiences...

Interesting and detailed look at spending reduction options on worst case historical sequences. Interesting that short term belt tightening is not effective as I had assumed...

My wife and I plus our twin sons (18) are looking for a place to go for their Feb school break. We have liked some of the club meds - activities plus good food buffet - and could do that again. We were just wondering if there are other options/locations we should consider. Thanks

Starting next year, we will be splitting time between two states. Any snowbirds on ACA medical plans to cover care in both states? How did you choose which state to buy from or did you buy from Federal site? Thanks

Our twins are heading to college next year and so we have started looking @ financial aid options and FAFSA. Even though our income is modest for a family of five, we have the good fortune to have substantial assets outside of 401K/IRA that appear to put us out of range for aid. We have most of...

I have did enough homework to move away from our financial planner and manage our own investments. What I am now looking into is Roth conversions. We are 55 and 57 and I have $1.1M in my 401K and my wife has 500K in her IRA. I am trying to figure out how to weigh the various factors of -...

I found this pretty interesting since I had been assuming that family history was a good predictor for longevity. This is an older article but it says that isn't a great predictor for most of us. Apparently there is a small population of very long lived families with a genetic component...

My son has a friend that has invited him for a month during the summer and I am considering tagging along. I have never been to that part of the world and wondered what people thought. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I haven't yet found a retirement activity that tickles my "analytical/investigative side that work sometimes provided so I signed up to do a part time consulting gig for old company. I estimated that it is maybe 100 hours over the next three months so I will still have free time. Cons - I no...

Oil Investors See $7.4 Billion Vanish as Dividends Are Targeted - Bloomberg Business Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Right now we budget about $20k a year for travel for family of 5. We'd like to travel a bit more in a couple of years once the kids are off to college. Some of the budget will need to cover back and forth to college but hopefully that is only maybe $5k/year depending where they go. I love the...

I am embarrassed to say that for years we used a financial planner that had put us in a number of expensive load funds. They performed ok but had an average expense ratio of over 1%. We didn't pay her a percentage on top of that but still it was a very expensive lesson as we were totally focused...

I retired in April of this year and so far I haven't found something to replace the intellectual side of my former career. Getting up to speed on the financial side of retirement scratched that itch for a while but as I am a boggle head vs a trader, there isn't much I need to do on that front...

Guess which asset was the biggest winner of 2015 - MarketWatch

For all dog owners out there. We are in the midst of a scary time with our black lab. She managed to find and consume a container of ice breaker gum that my son had purchased but not put out of reach. I woke to my dog yelping in the midst of convulsions. We rushed he to the vet and found out...

One of our high school sons is trying to figure out what he might like to study in college. One of the potential choices is civil engineering because he has always been interested in building/construction and likes the idea of not being working in an office all the time. He is isn't super...

I have some nice short term losses in vanguard funds that I am thinking about harvesting. Any thoughts about stowing them in money market for the 31 days or put in different funds. I am inclined to put them in other funds in case there is a quick bounce. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

1) I had my 1 year post chemo complete appointment with oncologist and he said still all clear according to CT scan and blood work. 2) my cardiologist took a look at the CT scan and determined my aneurysm hasn't grown in last year so still no surgery needed. 3) my embedded HR recorder captured...

I am curious what categories others use in their budget forecasting. At first I had too many items and have consolidated somewhat and wondering what others do. Currently we have Mandatory 'predictable" items - these are ones where we can't reduce & know the amount - mortgage - health insurance...

Been retired a couple of months and I am surprised that I get a bit sad watching us spend down our cash reserves after years of watching them grow. I anticipated the FACT but not the EMOTION associated with the reverse flow. Is this temporary? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We have been contributing to HSA while working. Now that I am retired, does it still makes sense to continue to contribute? Also, I am confused as to whether one should pay for health care expenses from the HSA or pay out of pocket and let the money accumulate tax free like an IRA. Lots of...

our plan includes some assumptions for some explicit declines in spending compared to today. My spreadsheet has 1) today's expense rate, 2) when we sell big home and move in a few years, 3) when the kids are out of college and indepdendent 4) when we are 70 and SS/Medicare/RMDs kick in (I know...

I contacted our plan administrator and even though I am 55 when retired, our plan doesn't allow me to withdraw partial amounts to do small annual ROTH conversions to keep under a certain tax bracket. Do I have any options? Does it make sense to convert it all to an IRA and then do ROTH...

Last week I travelled out to corporate in the Bay Area for a wonderful send off from work. Folks at work couldn't have been nicer and was great finishing on a high. Given it is still "mud season" at home in vermont I decided my first "trip" in retirement would to vacation in place out here for...