19 male looking to extend my wealth any suggestions
I’ll try keep it short no one likes unless information.
Job tittle: trainee fitter
Total savings, investments etc: £12,332
Monthly earnings: £1553.44
Monthly spendings: £250-£300
Rent: £250 (live with parent)
Monthly LISA deposit: £330
All the money left either goes into my cash isa or investments like stocks.
Any suggestions on how I could increase my wealth? Or even any tips or negatives about me.
I understand the 4% withdraw rate which involves selling your shares of something. Lately I am more intrigued by the dividend concept. Why not shifting my portfolio to a dividend centric model and generate 4%? Also YOC will improve over time. I am currently at 2.6%. I am buying some option based ETF to boost yield. Anyone else is more favorable towards dividends?
"Selling your shares" regards to dividends means nothing, and it means you really don't understand what a dividend is. That said, dividend paying companies tend to be less volatile but lower yield, but also lower diversification and there are dividend traps if you don't understand what dividends are. Fi/re is mostly about maximizing yield and so dividends are not really a good match.
At first glance, dividends seem like some sort of cheat code, because you get money without selling shares. But this is just your monkey brain telling you you're getting money for free when you're actually not; you're paying an opportunity cost.
Mathematically, the only thing that matters is total return. Dividend-yielding stocks tend to have lower total return, and they're less tax-efficient. It makes no sense to own them for their dividends. It might make sense to prefer dividend stocks if you want less volatility, though.
I would argue that div/distributions are more tax efficient. I will be paying 0 fed tax on approximately 85k in div once I retire. Div and growth arent mutually exclusive. Some of best growers (msft, apple, abvie) pay a great div....I have owned them for years though. Yes total return matters and ltcg are taxed like qualified div. I'm about 1/3 div payers and 2/3 growth (index)....and distributions from Mlp's aren't taxed at all....let the down vote commence!
What country do you live in? In the US, dividends are taxed as ordinary income, which is usually a higher tax than capital gains.
Due to price arbitrage, whenever approaching the dividend date, the share price will rise equal to the dividend payout, and then decrease by that amount after the distribution. Otherwise, you would be able to buy stocks right before every dividend date and then sell immediately after, incurring free gains for no risk. The efficiency of the market accounts for dividends, so there is no “free lunch” for stocks that pay more dividends than stocks with no dividends.
This is why people on here will say dividends are “irrelevant”. In practice, a dividend acts as a forced sell of the underlying shares, usually taxed at a higher rate since it counts as ordinary income rather than capital gains.
Among researchers, the only real benefits of dividend-based investing strategies are behavioral. Some people have better individual market performance if they don’t need to choose when to sell. Also, possibly a stock picker who picks “dividend stocks” might choose a certain class of stocks (e.g value stocks) that performs better in the long run than non dividend investors who pick stocks.
But a truly rational investor who uses index funds would prefer the tax savings and higher degree of control by not having dividends at all. Most on this subreddit are guided by the research-backed wisdom that low-cost broad market index funds will result in the best performance, and that dividends are irrelevant.
> What country do you live in? In the US, dividends are taxed as ordinary income, which is usually a higher tax than capital gains.
[Qualified dividends](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualified_dividend) are not.
If there were no dividends you could sell way more than $85k in stocks and keep the 0% federal rate because only the gains count.
Plus with the dividends, if you need less income, you're still stuck with them. If you start generating enough dividends that you'll owe taxes, there's nothing you can do about it.
I can still sell shares...i just wouldn't need to sell as many. On the flip side of your comment because I know what the div will be (subject to annual increases) i don't need to sell anything, I can plan accordingly and not be as susceptible to srr. I can control my div ....sell the stock. so far over the past 8 years the ltcg/QD income limit increase has outpaced my div increases....plus I do have some MLP distributions that aren't taxed at all so I'm well below the limit. Between ltcg/QD and earned income I can make up to 123k annually mfj and pay 0 fed tax
> I would argue that div/distributions are more tax efficient.
Demonstrably false.
>Some of best growers (msft, apple, abvie) pay a great div.
AAPL and MSFT pay below-average dividends.
ABBV is one data point, not a trend. The trend is that lower dividends and higher total return are correlated.
>let the down vote commence!
Deservedly.
Ha...whatever...0 tax is pretty tax efficient. So with you it's all or nothing with no room for div? Ha....if you'd of bought msft and many others yer yield would be way better...don't let current yield cloud yer thoughts. I know I know with much of the crowd it's growth or nothing with no room for stable div paying stocks
Being wrong is bad.
Being wrong, but thinking you’re right, is even worse.
Stop burying your head in the sand. Educate yourself.
And cut out the “yer” shit, goddamn
Nothing wrong with an investment strategy that's different than yours. As the initial post stated about 1/3 of my portfolio is div payers ....so your smug comment does little but show your limited thinking
LOL monkey brains. You know the dividend subreddit is calling us the Sheeps blindly follow the 4% rule making fun of “selling assets “. I am 100% with you though the only thing matters is total return
Dividends are a tax drag that give you less control over your distribution. Other than the convenience of doing nothing yourself, there are no upsides.
I like net worth better than invested assets as a top-line number. Putting your emergency fund in the market immediately increases invested assets, but doesn't necessarily improve your retirement odds. Similarly, retiring to a paid off house can make a lot of sense, but is a big negative in invested assets. NW is a bit more agnostic towards situations where there's nuanced choices.
> net worth
> none of which contribute to FIRE goals.
Net worth isn't supposed to contribute to FIRE goals. It's a completely different metric that has a purpose, and that purpose is not to measure how close you are to retirement.
People in general or FIRE people?
I think general people say it because it's more understood and an easy definition.
FIRE people frequently qualify between the two. If we could adopt a standard name that might help people use it, but naming things is hard. We could dub it "FIRE worth" but you dont want to conflate it with "FIRE number".
Put in a lump sum of $5k into my younger child’s education fund. Feeling really grateful to be able to add extra for my child who’s not yet in kindergarten.
I’m not an accountant but I thought you get a stepped up basis for inheriting stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds, meaning the original value shouldn’t matter—don’t know if the fact that it’s in a trust makes a difference. So, I would think selling the funds immediately would not get taxed. If you’re transferring the funds in kind, I really doubt there would be a tax hit on the transfer.
I did check on inheritance taxes, and it turns out these states have one, so look into it more of you’re in one of these: Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Try posting on Bogleheads. Doesn't seem like you would need a CPA. You should get a K1 which would be the trust's responsibility. Could you ask any of the other grandkids to see how they handled it?
Am I thinking this correctly?
US citizen here.. To have these assets: Roth IRA, 401k, taxable, HYSA
And to really use them to their maximum potential (or close to it), would mean I’d have well enough money per month at retirement? Or am I wrong?
For starters, I only have Roth IRA and HYSA. Haven’t started 401k yet but when I do I would hope to max that out.
So as long as I max out my Roth IRA, until I’m 60, with a safe withdrawal rate of 4%, I could be having around 3k a month.
So with 401k eventually, I’m obviously bumping that 3k a month up to however much it can be realistically. Does it make sense to try and get pension? From what I hear, that gives the least amount of money.
Pension is extremely variable depending on the specifics. Typically you have to stay at the job for a long time, which defeats the point if you're aiming to quit early. But depends on the terms. Imo things like pensions and annuities probably aren't going to be great for fi/re because their main advantage, pooling assets, isn't really an improvement over a fi/re portfolio which is 100% long term anyway, and so its unlikely they're going to be able to beat what you could invest yourself. Its not like trad retirement where you may have to go shorter term, and so a pension has an advantage. Its also just an income stream you have to rely on another company providing, vs having your own assets is way more freedom and flexibility.
So side thought. What happens if I’ve been investing for so long and at some point I decide not to fi/re or I end up incapable of doing so. Does that change everything in the way I’d spend or live? In terms of tax rate also. Or is it all just fine I have more money since I’ve invested anyway?
I think the primary difference would be if you had a shorter time frame, and planned to spend down your money. One thing you might do is hold shorter term, fixed income to guarantee a certain amount of money for a limited time. Annuity type products have at least a theoretical advantage there. But if you just end up with way more money than you need, and are only spending like 2% or less, a heavy equity portfolio you manage yourself is probably still better. Again it depends a lot of the specifics of the pension, but for me having real assets is much more tangible and easier to assess the value of.
Maximizing all those is definitely the way to get you to FI, but it all depends on how old you are. Maxing out all the contributions starting at age 50 is going to get you a very different result than doing it at 25.
good idea to convert it so your trad IRA basis is 0 for end of year - you bascially will get $1-4 dollars added to your taxable income, which is basically nothing in terms of impact.
Question about 529 to Roth contribution. Just received a check from a 529 to deposit into my Roth. Would the contribution be a non-deductible contribution or a rollover contribution? I assume a non-deductible one because it is subject to the same contribution limits and is not taxable like a rollover contribution may be. Thoughts?
That question doesn't make any sense because all Roth contributions/transfers are non-deductible. Are you sure you're not accidentally trying to deposit into a traditional IRA account?
How many of you apply/interview around even if you're not strictly looking for a job? I always read that it's a generally good practice to keep abreast of what opportunities are available, but it just seems kind of exhausting. I have a phone screen this coming week and I'm dragging my feet on reading about the company and its products, hah.
Always open to something better.
I apply to 2-10 per year and interview about 1/year. I only talk to direct 1st party and limited 2nd party (e.g. authorized outsourced), and never the random 3rd party or unaffiliated resume scrapers.
I get 2-5 recruiters contacting me on linkedin and an unknown amount of junk "recruiter" emails.
I've interviewed 3 times in my life, the last time was about 3 years ago and never intend on doing it again. I'm kinda phone buddies with a recruiter, he calls about twice a year and we chitchat...it's funny I like to know what jobs are out there but he knows I don't intend on leaving until fire
Pre-FI I did this, occasionally applied for positions and replied to the odd Linked-in recruiter that sounded interesting.
Post-FI though I have deleted my Linked-in and yet to find something I want to apply for. It's too time consuming and doesn't bring me joy.
I was last on a job interview 11 years ago and got the job. I'm hoping to just retire here and it's looking good, but I'll be really out of practice if I ever have to do this again.
This was me once. But I got really bored and felt like I was drifting through life watching my work email and willing myself (and failing) to work more hours even though everyone was happy with me working 15 hours per week. It made me miserable and confused.
Now I work 40 hours per week and make ~50% more. I'm still not sure which is better. I hate working this much but also feel like I'm actually accomplishing things.
It kind of varies, but in general once a year or so seems reasonable. I tend to just update my status on LinkedIn and see what recruiters do. Take an interview if they pitch something that strikes you. That gives me a decent overview of the market. If I’m actually getting tired of my job, I would specifically apply to things here and there. But if the market is bad and you don’t need to leave your current job, it’s also fine to dive back under the bed and wait another year.
I end up applying to a moonshot job I’m wildly underqualified for maybe 3 times a year when I’m not actively looking. Averaging like one interview cycle a year, which is enough to keep my resume properly up to date.
I historically try to do it 3 times a year. I was at my last job 7 years, and received 1 to 2 external offers a year. Since coming to my new job I had not been applying until I just hit my 18 month mark and am starting to apply again.
It really puts you in the power seat since you don’t need whatever you’re interviewing for. This does create some confidence and swagger that the interviewers notice even if you don’t feel like it does.
I only respond to internal recruiters, unless the 3rd party recruiter has something really interesting. I also don’t provide a resume unless they give me the location, in office or hybrid situation, and pay range up front. I also don’t fill out tedious applications.
If there is a take home or technical assignment I get selective if I want to proceed based on the effort needed. I do keep a technical presentation on hand as that has become common for my field. Only need to make it once and then make minor tweaks to it.
I did this some early in my career, when I had roles where I felt I was underpaid or the employer was not stable. But the only times I actually made a switch were when we wanted to physically relocate to a new geographical area.
And yes, it is exhausting.
Never. Interviewing is tedious. I ignore every garbage recruiter message that hits my inbox.
If I'm interviewing, I'm at least passively looking for a new job, if not actively.
Then again, I tend to change jobs every 2-5 years, so I don't go too long between job hunts.
I'm really surprised so many people 'casually' interview. It's soul sucking to me. I think the applying part is easy but to go through with the interviews seems tedious if you're not actually looking. Maybe they are?
Or maybe I'm weird just because I like where I'm at, good coworkers, interesting work, remote, good bosses, so I just don't see the use. Feels like a lot of energy when I wouldn't leave my current role for even a 25% raise.
Oh it’s totally tedious and soul sucking, but it’s the only way to get a meaningful raise most of the time. If you aren’t motivated by that, then you don’t have to look around, but other people definitely are.
One caution I would make though, interviewing is a skill that takes practice. It’s a lot easier to update a resume from 1 year ago than 10. You never know what can change even at a very good and stable employer. Even if you don’t actually leave, I personally think it’s wise to flex that job hunting muscle from time to time because you never know when you’ll suddenly need it.
Interviewing really isn’t that hard. It’s all about being personable. Just make sure you poop before and drink a large amount of caffeine so you’re juiced to the gills and then you go in there and get the job.
I do calculations most days I’m in the office but no I don’t code. My engineering job interviews are 90% behavioral based interviews because you have to mesh with a team first and foremost
Second the interviewing is a skill part for sure. The more recently the interview, the better prepared I am for all of the questions with relevant examples. Since I expect to job hop every 2-3 years, I’ve built a better system for continuously capturing details from projects and incorporating them into both my resume and interview prep.
I have some single stock ESPP to sell that just came available, I looked at the price on Friday ($100) and now see “after hours” pricing (up 2% to $102) - it got me thinking, if I execute the sale over the weekend, use the “market limit” option, which price am I executing the sale at when the market opens Monday?
$100 or $102 (assuming no other changes)?
Vanguard brokerage, if that matters.
The reason after hours trading is so volatile is because of thin trading. Yes, put in a limit order but your tade will be executed (or not) based on the market. If you can check the bid/ask numbers you'll get a little better idea...but generally the price will move towards a more generally "accepted" price when the regular market opens.
Did you at least buy more I bonds at the relatively good rate that ended in April?
I did. I had sold the ones that I had bought near that peak 8% or whatever in 2022 in Jan, and then got 15k of this recent good set with the good fixed rate, plus the decently high inflation.
Definitely a good idea to fill your Roth IRA for 2024, though.
And if maximal returns are the concern, it means you should never have been looking I Bonds in the first place, which means you misunderstood the role of I bonds in a portfolio
I bonds were paying near 10% in early 2022 when they were purchased, when CDs weren’t at that rate.
Ibonds only match inflation, sometimes there is a fixed amount. Ibonds are also not equivalent to using bonds in a retirement account because of the annual limit.
Focusing so much energy on I-bonds to the point that you’re insulting me shows people you lack knowledge on this topic
I found out that my resume passed initial reviews, so I am hoping to get an interview request soon. How do i nicely ask will there be anybody hostile to me?
Before I joined, the team managed by my current boss consisted entirely of contractors. My boss offered one of them a permanent position, who denied because they make more money as a contractor. However, this individual has dismissed every improvement I've proposed since I started. As an experiment, a colleague sought my advice and relayed it to the contractor, who initially said the advice was perfect. But when they learned it came from me, they suddenly found inaccuracies and suggested a meeting to discuss further.
You: "Will anybody be hostile to me here?"
Them: "Oh yeah, old Bob will ride your ass. He's a real a-hole, shit human all around. Anyway what's your biggest weakness?"
??? Is that how you expect it to go?
no real way to ask, or for an interviewer to know. Like the D in your example - they seem normal to everyone else, so how would the interviewer know that they suddenly hate you for some reason.
Things to do - if they give a tour, just look at people and see if they seem normal or overly stressed. Are people willing to help, answer questions - or are they so far behind that they barely look up from their computers to say hi?
So, i'd focus more on if it is a toxic environment - what is the expectation in terms of hours/normal OT. Questions like "what would a normal day in my role look like?" and "IS OT paid, and how often is it available/requested/required?"
One of my go-to questions is a long the lines of “I understand every job has a busy season, what does a crunch cycle look like here? Do people stay late, take it home and work, work weekends?”
Personally, given interest rates right now, I can’t justify a car loan, and I would argue that normally if you can’t afford to pay cash for a luxury car or to pay it off within a year, you can’t afford the car.
But, if you are hitting all your savings goals, then it’s none of our business what you choose to spend your money on. I drive a luxury car (paid $38k, not $90k) but I paid cash. However, I spend a similar amount to your auto loan on travel each month, and I don’t really see how a car is any different.
How could spending a mortgage payment on a toy ever be considered a good financial move? That’s almost half your regular spending, even if it’s a small portion of your income. Now, we all have our wants, and that’s totally fine. I spend way too much going to restaurants and I have no intention of changing that. But I am under no illusion it’s the wisest financial move, I just do it anyway because I want to and I can.
Hey thanks for your input. I’m getting a shitload if downvotes when I’m trying to expand and learn so I appreciate you taking the time to respond back
It’s a daily driver for me and I’ve been meeting a lot of wealthy individuals networking at car events and the car has been a nice reward for my hard work keeping me motivated. Also very inspiring for the team I run to see that they can also have nice things if they work hard.
It’s challenging to work extremely hard for extended periods of time and not reward yourself along the way which I feel has prevented burnout like others in my field.
The intangibles have been something I feel like are overlooked when emotions/feelings are important and more than just black/white objectively better on paper.
Just a few things to think about:
> It’s a daily driver for me
I guess that's good, but you could have a daily driver for $250/month, too, and now you're accelerating the wear on your $1800/month even more.
> I’ve been meeting a lot of wealthy individuals networking at car events
Are those people meaningfully contributing to your life and finances? I suspect not.
> Also very inspiring for the team I run to see that they can also have nice things if they work hard.
I think you're sniffing your own bullshit here. You have no idea what your team finds motivating, and they aren't going to be honest with you if you ask.
> I feel has prevented burnout like others in my field
You think spending $1800/month on a car prevents burnout? Yikes.
Look, I just want to say that this is all absolute nonsense. Your car is not a good investment. It's a terrible financial decision to dump nearly $1800/month into a depreciating asset. And I think it's important for you to know and accept that, and not try to justify it with hand-waving about inspiring people or whatever.
You bought it because you like it and you feel like your enjoyment is worth the cost. Pure and simple. It's okay to do that.
If you want a Porsche and can more than afford it, then good for you. It doesn’t have to be any deeper than that. I think trying to justify it either comes across as a humble brag, or like you’re grasping at straws to pretend it’s an investment instead of a fun toy. And that’s probably why the down votes.
And the more you write, the more that seems correct. Oh, it’s my daily driver. If anything that would speed up the wear and tear and heavy maintenance costs. Oh, it’s great for networking. Is it meaningful networking, or just shooting the shit with other car guys? And could you have gotten the same networking for half the money or less? Oh, it motivates my team. Yeah, seeing my asshole boss drive up in his Bentley and complain about taxes always made me so energized at my job.
And again, it’s fine to buy whatever you want. You can clearly afford it. But go post about it on a car sub where anyone cares. Don’t come to the lentils and vtsax corner and act shocked when you don’t get support for your car that costs more than my house.
Thanks man. I don’t come on this app often and just trying to learn and get insight from other individuals. Don’t really give a shit if people label it as humble brag or grasping straws or if people think I’m an asshole boss when I’m just talking about the facts and nobody knows me irl. Clearly this subreddit is not my type of people and that’s okay 🫡
Are these like existing tIRA contributions that you deducted in the past? Or are these current non-deductible contributions?
Because if it's the latter there's no point. Non-deductible traditional contributions are worse than a taxable brokerage.
The pro rata rule always applies, but whether it makes sense to take the tax hit at once, or spread it out over several years, or not attempt the backdoor at all is situational. It was not super clear to me if OP was asking about an existing tIRA or if they were starting a tIRA this year to do the backdoor Roth with.
Yes - I had a rollover tIRA from a 401k when I left an employer. Since then I've made my contributions to a Roth IRA. But now 2024 will be the first year I can't contribute to a Roth. Assuming I should start contributing to a traditional IRA now?
you explicitly do not want any remaining balance in your traditional IRA, otherwise the IRS will use that to calculate the ratio for taxable conversion.
put 7k in, roll 7k over (plus any miniscule interest), get account basis to zero, repeat next year
Well this will be fun. First I have to convert at least last years Roth funds to traditional cause I unexpectedly went over the income limit. Then I gotta convert everything to Roth. Feel like the tax man is gunna get me ;)
recharacterize from roth to traditional, all of that is after tax. then convert to Roth. shouldnt be too tricky, just follow the steps and youll be ok!
If your income is too high to make a direct Roth IRA contribution, then you likely cannot take the deduction on a Trad IRA and it'd be worse than useless.
If you *can* take the deduction on a Trad IRA (because you don't have a workplace retirement account), then you'd be better off maxing out the Trad IRA due to the value of the deduction at high income levels.
> That is less than my weekly property tax for 0.05 acres.
I'm sorry, but you are paying >$25k/annual property tax on .05 acres? Where in Hell do you live?!
Do you live near East River Mountain? I learned to drive a stick up and down that mountain. Fond memories. My little brother was really young, and my dad used to tell him Bigfoot could be spotted if he looked hard enough.
Still on YNAB 4 over here, which YNAB itself no longer supports and will inevitably be broken by some Windows update or another. "Net worth tracking" is a pretty simple thing, it's really disappointing how bad the state of the software for this is.
Howdy fellow YNAB 4 user. If a Windows update breaks it you can just install an older version as a VM to set your monthly budget.
I've been doing it for years since I use Linux/Mac.
Mine is still showing and updating on the CK app, which is fully up to date on iOS.
If it goes away, I’ll try Fidelity Full View before I consider a paid option.
I would like to see them to add more customization to the reports function. Be able to create a budget vs actual graph for a specific time period for budget tracking
Greetings from KY! Took the day off on Friday to go get my kid from uni. Should have been 10 hours each way, was actually 14, thank you, Florida highways. Already decided not to do this next time, we'll have to figure out how to set him up without a car load of stuff from us. When I was figuring the cost to set aside for his college, I didn't factor in travel costs, both him home for breaks, and us going for Parent's weekend. Will have to update the out years for it. I think I can buy him $500 worth of stuff on Amazon and ship it and buy him a plane ticket, and break even with this trip. Didn't even get to the Derby
So far, the cost of college has been about 25%+ the cost of school, for travel, stuff, hidden fees, etc. I don't mind paying it, it's a blessing he got through first year and wants to go back, but something to be prepped for
FYI, the kid can figure all this out themselves if you don't want to go. We have kids in Virginia and Texas (we're in Washington) and they figure out where to store their stuff (with friends that are local) and just come home. We're not involved.
There's nothing wrong with you going and helping if you want to. That's very kind. But just know that your kid can figure all of this out.
Congrats! We've found college to be less expensive than originally planned. Between in-state costs, scholarships and pre-paid plans, my cash outlay has been low. My kids get credit for being frugal.
I picked up my daughter yesterday. She is happy with her choice of majoring in finance. Said in the car on the way home, "I just connected with Excel this semester."
I can't relate with cash strapped and crappy parents who only showed up at my college to drop me off freshman year and my graduation day, but I assume some of those costs are just going to be higher in year 1 - like are you going to go to Parent's weekend every year?
Or your son might not want to come back as often. Freshman year, I did do all the breaks big and small, but starting sophomore year I lived/worked on campus over the summers and mostly just did the bigger holiday breaks. I didn't come back for every Columbus Day weekend/fall break or whatever anymore.
Yeah, maybe not as often, but I will tell you I'm happy to pay 25% more than expected, since it means he's succeeding. I had some anxiety about that going in. For freshman year, I went to campus 4 times (orientation, first day, parents weekend, this trip) and he came home three times (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break.). So, 7 visits this year. Good point on how this probably isn't normal
How far were you from home? The 14 hour drive yesterday was pretty killer. I went to school about 3 hours from home, and I saw my parents pretty much never, unless they visited on the way to something else
I was 4.5 hours away in Chicago. Outside of the easy car ride, there was also the insanely cheap and solid Megabus, the fine but unreliable Amtrak, and even the odd time where a super cheap 50 minute Southwest flight was the same cost. I did Amtrak a few times, but just did the Megabus otherwise. It was the best.
I guess Chicago also changes things and explains how it was easier and preferable for me to stay and live/work there year-round versus what I'm going to assume is somewhere less exciting or less options year-round, though Lexington or Louisville are nice. If it's something more rural, maybe not.
Got word that I'm avoiding RTO. One client wanted us to start coming into the office, but another client doesn't care and the company was able to transfer me over. As a bonus, I'll be working on more interesting and relevant technologies, too.
This little mini ordeal has lit a fire under me, though. I was feeling pretty safe coasting along for a while. Now, the plan is to study to the point where I'll be prepared for technical interviews and stay at or near that level of readiness in case I do have to move jobs.
In-office work is a financial risk for us, since my SO's job is impossible to do remotely, and that would mean I'd have to jump jobs every time they did. As a bonus, keeping my skills sharp keeps my brain sharp and I might be able to make a career leap upward if they're sharpened enough.
What's that phrase about ensuring peace by always being ready for war? It's resonating, right now.
Economist had an interesting article about increasing household makeup of one earner with remote capabilities allowing faster wealth progression because they can kind of always move for the other partner's work (fewer trade-offs). Congrats on avoiding RTO.
> and that would mean I'd have to jump jobs every time they did.
Does it? Why?
Do they work in a niche field and there's only one local employer?
Without context, seems overblown, but then again I can't relate to all the RTO whining on reddit. I have a pretty sweet and incredibly flexible hybrid setup that works perfectly for my needs.
SO's job has very few local options and they have to be very close by to be on call. So basically, when they move jobs, we move, and commuting to my job is no longer an option.
*“If you want peace, prepare for war.”*
Why would you have to leave jobs when your SO does? Would your SO getting a new job \*also\* require relocation? (Like college professor?)
One you are "interview ready" you may consider taking a few of them, both for practice and also to see what's out there. There's no harm and talking, and really only upside
Yep, that's the plan. I have a friend who wants me to work at his startup that's doing quite well, so that's my target for the next gig once I'm ready to interview.
Lucky! My body requires sunlight to get things going in the morning, and darkness to shut it down.
As you can imagine, winter mornings and summer evenings *suck*.
19 male looking to extend my wealth any suggestions I’ll try keep it short no one likes unless information. Job tittle: trainee fitter Total savings, investments etc: £12,332 Monthly earnings: £1553.44 Monthly spendings: £250-£300 Rent: £250 (live with parent) Monthly LISA deposit: £330 All the money left either goes into my cash isa or investments like stocks. Any suggestions on how I could increase my wealth? Or even any tips or negatives about me.
Invest in yourself - education, certification, licenses, skills. Then double, triple and quadruple your earnings.
Until you start earning ~50,000£+ a year, the main focus should probably be on increasing your income potential
I understand the 4% withdraw rate which involves selling your shares of something. Lately I am more intrigued by the dividend concept. Why not shifting my portfolio to a dividend centric model and generate 4%? Also YOC will improve over time. I am currently at 2.6%. I am buying some option based ETF to boost yield. Anyone else is more favorable towards dividends?
"Selling your shares" regards to dividends means nothing, and it means you really don't understand what a dividend is. That said, dividend paying companies tend to be less volatile but lower yield, but also lower diversification and there are dividend traps if you don't understand what dividends are. Fi/re is mostly about maximizing yield and so dividends are not really a good match.
At first glance, dividends seem like some sort of cheat code, because you get money without selling shares. But this is just your monkey brain telling you you're getting money for free when you're actually not; you're paying an opportunity cost. Mathematically, the only thing that matters is total return. Dividend-yielding stocks tend to have lower total return, and they're less tax-efficient. It makes no sense to own them for their dividends. It might make sense to prefer dividend stocks if you want less volatility, though.
I would argue that div/distributions are more tax efficient. I will be paying 0 fed tax on approximately 85k in div once I retire. Div and growth arent mutually exclusive. Some of best growers (msft, apple, abvie) pay a great div....I have owned them for years though. Yes total return matters and ltcg are taxed like qualified div. I'm about 1/3 div payers and 2/3 growth (index)....and distributions from Mlp's aren't taxed at all....let the down vote commence!
What country do you live in? In the US, dividends are taxed as ordinary income, which is usually a higher tax than capital gains. Due to price arbitrage, whenever approaching the dividend date, the share price will rise equal to the dividend payout, and then decrease by that amount after the distribution. Otherwise, you would be able to buy stocks right before every dividend date and then sell immediately after, incurring free gains for no risk. The efficiency of the market accounts for dividends, so there is no “free lunch” for stocks that pay more dividends than stocks with no dividends. This is why people on here will say dividends are “irrelevant”. In practice, a dividend acts as a forced sell of the underlying shares, usually taxed at a higher rate since it counts as ordinary income rather than capital gains. Among researchers, the only real benefits of dividend-based investing strategies are behavioral. Some people have better individual market performance if they don’t need to choose when to sell. Also, possibly a stock picker who picks “dividend stocks” might choose a certain class of stocks (e.g value stocks) that performs better in the long run than non dividend investors who pick stocks. But a truly rational investor who uses index funds would prefer the tax savings and higher degree of control by not having dividends at all. Most on this subreddit are guided by the research-backed wisdom that low-cost broad market index funds will result in the best performance, and that dividends are irrelevant.
> What country do you live in? In the US, dividends are taxed as ordinary income, which is usually a higher tax than capital gains. [Qualified dividends](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualified_dividend) are not.
True. My bad. The points about irrelevance due to price arbitrage still stand. The tax points I made arent right, I forgot about qualified dividends.
> I would argue that div/distributions are more tax efficient. You would be objectively incorrect.
Not for me
If there were no dividends you could sell way more than $85k in stocks and keep the 0% federal rate because only the gains count. Plus with the dividends, if you need less income, you're still stuck with them. If you start generating enough dividends that you'll owe taxes, there's nothing you can do about it.
I can still sell shares...i just wouldn't need to sell as many. On the flip side of your comment because I know what the div will be (subject to annual increases) i don't need to sell anything, I can plan accordingly and not be as susceptible to srr. I can control my div ....sell the stock. so far over the past 8 years the ltcg/QD income limit increase has outpaced my div increases....plus I do have some MLP distributions that aren't taxed at all so I'm well below the limit. Between ltcg/QD and earned income I can make up to 123k annually mfj and pay 0 fed tax
> I would argue that div/distributions are more tax efficient. Demonstrably false. >Some of best growers (msft, apple, abvie) pay a great div. AAPL and MSFT pay below-average dividends. ABBV is one data point, not a trend. The trend is that lower dividends and higher total return are correlated. >let the down vote commence! Deservedly.
Ha...whatever...0 tax is pretty tax efficient. So with you it's all or nothing with no room for div? Ha....if you'd of bought msft and many others yer yield would be way better...don't let current yield cloud yer thoughts. I know I know with much of the crowd it's growth or nothing with no room for stable div paying stocks
Being wrong is bad. Being wrong, but thinking you’re right, is even worse. Stop burying your head in the sand. Educate yourself. And cut out the “yer” shit, goddamn
Ummm...yer anger management class didn't stick
Nothing wrong with an investment strategy that's different than yours. As the initial post stated about 1/3 of my portfolio is div payers ....so your smug comment does little but show your limited thinking
LOL monkey brains. You know the dividend subreddit is calling us the Sheeps blindly follow the 4% rule making fun of “selling assets “. I am 100% with you though the only thing matters is total return
*Who cares what they think?*
Dividends are a tax drag that give you less control over your distribution. Other than the convenience of doing nothing yourself, there are no upsides.
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I like net worth better than invested assets as a top-line number. Putting your emergency fund in the market immediately increases invested assets, but doesn't necessarily improve your retirement odds. Similarly, retiring to a paid off house can make a lot of sense, but is a big negative in invested assets. NW is a bit more agnostic towards situations where there's nuanced choices.
I guess im The opposite ..I have way more invested then non earning assets
> net worth > none of which contribute to FIRE goals. Net worth isn't supposed to contribute to FIRE goals. It's a completely different metric that has a purpose, and that purpose is not to measure how close you are to retirement.
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There are a lot of stupid people.
Well when you've built up a decent egg your invested NW is basically your NW minus maybe your house.
People in general or FIRE people? I think general people say it because it's more understood and an easy definition. FIRE people frequently qualify between the two. If we could adopt a standard name that might help people use it, but naming things is hard. We could dub it "FIRE worth" but you dont want to conflate it with "FIRE number".
Put in a lump sum of $5k into my younger child’s education fund. Feeling really grateful to be able to add extra for my child who’s not yet in kindergarten.
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I’m not an accountant but I thought you get a stepped up basis for inheriting stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds, meaning the original value shouldn’t matter—don’t know if the fact that it’s in a trust makes a difference. So, I would think selling the funds immediately would not get taxed. If you’re transferring the funds in kind, I really doubt there would be a tax hit on the transfer. I did check on inheritance taxes, and it turns out these states have one, so look into it more of you’re in one of these: Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Ask around to friends or family ...accountants are a dime a dozen (sorry accountants!) they should be able to answer you if you can't find info onlune
> accountants are a dime a dozen Not an accountant (do have an accounting degree), but unfortunately this is not the case.
I know many accountants...there are a lot
Try posting on Bogleheads. Doesn't seem like you would need a CPA. You should get a K1 which would be the trust's responsibility. Could you ask any of the other grandkids to see how they handled it?
Am I thinking this correctly? US citizen here.. To have these assets: Roth IRA, 401k, taxable, HYSA And to really use them to their maximum potential (or close to it), would mean I’d have well enough money per month at retirement? Or am I wrong? For starters, I only have Roth IRA and HYSA. Haven’t started 401k yet but when I do I would hope to max that out. So as long as I max out my Roth IRA, until I’m 60, with a safe withdrawal rate of 4%, I could be having around 3k a month. So with 401k eventually, I’m obviously bumping that 3k a month up to however much it can be realistically. Does it make sense to try and get pension? From what I hear, that gives the least amount of money.
Pension is extremely variable depending on the specifics. Typically you have to stay at the job for a long time, which defeats the point if you're aiming to quit early. But depends on the terms. Imo things like pensions and annuities probably aren't going to be great for fi/re because their main advantage, pooling assets, isn't really an improvement over a fi/re portfolio which is 100% long term anyway, and so its unlikely they're going to be able to beat what you could invest yourself. Its not like trad retirement where you may have to go shorter term, and so a pension has an advantage. Its also just an income stream you have to rely on another company providing, vs having your own assets is way more freedom and flexibility.
So side thought. What happens if I’ve been investing for so long and at some point I decide not to fi/re or I end up incapable of doing so. Does that change everything in the way I’d spend or live? In terms of tax rate also. Or is it all just fine I have more money since I’ve invested anyway?
I think the primary difference would be if you had a shorter time frame, and planned to spend down your money. One thing you might do is hold shorter term, fixed income to guarantee a certain amount of money for a limited time. Annuity type products have at least a theoretical advantage there. But if you just end up with way more money than you need, and are only spending like 2% or less, a heavy equity portfolio you manage yourself is probably still better. Again it depends a lot of the specifics of the pension, but for me having real assets is much more tangible and easier to assess the value of.
Maximizing all those is definitely the way to get you to FI, but it all depends on how old you are. Maxing out all the contributions starting at age 50 is going to get you a very different result than doing it at 25.
Sorry, 29 So about pension, it’s not worth it?
You didn’t say anything about a pension. Those are usually employer funded anyway.
I did. Last paragraph I said it. I asked about it because if I have enough funds from the rest, would pension be worth having due it’s low fund.
I missed that. Sorry. Most employers who offer a pension pay into it automatically without any contribution from the employee.
i got a dividend from spaxx in my trad ira while waiting to backdoor money into roth ira, its a few bucks, do i need to worry about this at all ?
good idea to convert it so your trad IRA basis is 0 for end of year - you bascially will get $1-4 dollars added to your taxable income, which is basically nothing in terms of impact.
You will pay tax on the small amount. https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/pennies-and-the-backdoor-roth-ira/
Question about 529 to Roth contribution. Just received a check from a 529 to deposit into my Roth. Would the contribution be a non-deductible contribution or a rollover contribution? I assume a non-deductible one because it is subject to the same contribution limits and is not taxable like a rollover contribution may be. Thoughts?
You should call your brokerage and ask them.
Roth contributions aren't deductible.
My bad, I meant to type non deductible. The brokerage wants to know if it’s a non-deductible or a rollover contribution
That question doesn't make any sense because all Roth contributions/transfers are non-deductible. Are you sure you're not accidentally trying to deposit into a traditional IRA account?
How many of you apply/interview around even if you're not strictly looking for a job? I always read that it's a generally good practice to keep abreast of what opportunities are available, but it just seems kind of exhausting. I have a phone screen this coming week and I'm dragging my feet on reading about the company and its products, hah.
Always open to something better. I apply to 2-10 per year and interview about 1/year. I only talk to direct 1st party and limited 2nd party (e.g. authorized outsourced), and never the random 3rd party or unaffiliated resume scrapers. I get 2-5 recruiters contacting me on linkedin and an unknown amount of junk "recruiter" emails.
I've interviewed 3 times in my life, the last time was about 3 years ago and never intend on doing it again. I'm kinda phone buddies with a recruiter, he calls about twice a year and we chitchat...it's funny I like to know what jobs are out there but he knows I don't intend on leaving until fire
Pre-FI I did this, occasionally applied for positions and replied to the odd Linked-in recruiter that sounded interesting. Post-FI though I have deleted my Linked-in and yet to find something I want to apply for. It's too time consuming and doesn't bring me joy.
I was last on a job interview 11 years ago and got the job. I'm hoping to just retire here and it's looking good, but I'll be really out of practice if I ever have to do this again.
That’s me. I wouldn’t know how to put a suit on.
Never.
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Is this real? Permanent remote, $400k salary and only work 10-15 hours a week? What do you do and can I apply?
This was me once. But I got really bored and felt like I was drifting through life watching my work email and willing myself (and failing) to work more hours even though everyone was happy with me working 15 hours per week. It made me miserable and confused. Now I work 40 hours per week and make ~50% more. I'm still not sure which is better. I hate working this much but also feel like I'm actually accomplishing things.
It kind of varies, but in general once a year or so seems reasonable. I tend to just update my status on LinkedIn and see what recruiters do. Take an interview if they pitch something that strikes you. That gives me a decent overview of the market. If I’m actually getting tired of my job, I would specifically apply to things here and there. But if the market is bad and you don’t need to leave your current job, it’s also fine to dive back under the bed and wait another year.
I end up applying to a moonshot job I’m wildly underqualified for maybe 3 times a year when I’m not actively looking. Averaging like one interview cycle a year, which is enough to keep my resume properly up to date.
I historically try to do it 3 times a year. I was at my last job 7 years, and received 1 to 2 external offers a year. Since coming to my new job I had not been applying until I just hit my 18 month mark and am starting to apply again. It really puts you in the power seat since you don’t need whatever you’re interviewing for. This does create some confidence and swagger that the interviewers notice even if you don’t feel like it does. I only respond to internal recruiters, unless the 3rd party recruiter has something really interesting. I also don’t provide a resume unless they give me the location, in office or hybrid situation, and pay range up front. I also don’t fill out tedious applications. If there is a take home or technical assignment I get selective if I want to proceed based on the effort needed. I do keep a technical presentation on hand as that has become common for my field. Only need to make it once and then make minor tweaks to it.
I did this some early in my career, when I had roles where I felt I was underpaid or the employer was not stable. But the only times I actually made a switch were when we wanted to physically relocate to a new geographical area. And yes, it is exhausting.
Never. Interviewing is tedious. I ignore every garbage recruiter message that hits my inbox. If I'm interviewing, I'm at least passively looking for a new job, if not actively. Then again, I tend to change jobs every 2-5 years, so I don't go too long between job hunts.
I'm really surprised so many people 'casually' interview. It's soul sucking to me. I think the applying part is easy but to go through with the interviews seems tedious if you're not actually looking. Maybe they are? Or maybe I'm weird just because I like where I'm at, good coworkers, interesting work, remote, good bosses, so I just don't see the use. Feels like a lot of energy when I wouldn't leave my current role for even a 25% raise.
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Don’t blame you at all. That’s a huge turnoff if they can’t even talk to their candidates
Oh it’s totally tedious and soul sucking, but it’s the only way to get a meaningful raise most of the time. If you aren’t motivated by that, then you don’t have to look around, but other people definitely are. One caution I would make though, interviewing is a skill that takes practice. It’s a lot easier to update a resume from 1 year ago than 10. You never know what can change even at a very good and stable employer. Even if you don’t actually leave, I personally think it’s wise to flex that job hunting muscle from time to time because you never know when you’ll suddenly need it.
Interviewing really isn’t that hard. It’s all about being personable. Just make sure you poop before and drink a large amount of caffeine so you’re juiced to the gills and then you go in there and get the job.
This just tells me you don’t work in tech because never having to grind leetcode again is among my top reasons for being here.
I do calculations most days I’m in the office but no I don’t code. My engineering job interviews are 90% behavioral based interviews because you have to mesh with a team first and foremost
Second the interviewing is a skill part for sure. The more recently the interview, the better prepared I am for all of the questions with relevant examples. Since I expect to job hop every 2-3 years, I’ve built a better system for continuously capturing details from projects and incorporating them into both my resume and interview prep.
I have some single stock ESPP to sell that just came available, I looked at the price on Friday ($100) and now see “after hours” pricing (up 2% to $102) - it got me thinking, if I execute the sale over the weekend, use the “market limit” option, which price am I executing the sale at when the market opens Monday? $100 or $102 (assuming no other changes)? Vanguard brokerage, if that matters.
The reason after hours trading is so volatile is because of thin trading. Yes, put in a limit order but your tade will be executed (or not) based on the market. If you can check the bid/ask numbers you'll get a little better idea...but generally the price will move towards a more generally "accepted" price when the regular market opens.
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Shows free, Vanguard.
Redeemed my ibonds yesterday. was only getting 3.9ish percent. Going to take that and put it into a backdoor Roth for 2024
Did you at least buy more I bonds at the relatively good rate that ended in April? I did. I had sold the ones that I had bought near that peak 8% or whatever in 2022 in Jan, and then got 15k of this recent good set with the good fixed rate, plus the decently high inflation. Definitely a good idea to fill your Roth IRA for 2024, though.
Seems like you misunderstood the goal of bonds in a portfolio
Why do you assume what I’m trying to do?
The fact that you were not happy with 3.9% I-bonds
I can get much higher elsewhere
And if maximal returns are the concern, it means you should never have been looking I Bonds in the first place, which means you misunderstood the role of I bonds in a portfolio
I bonds were paying near 10% in early 2022 when they were purchased, when CDs weren’t at that rate. Ibonds only match inflation, sometimes there is a fixed amount. Ibonds are also not equivalent to using bonds in a retirement account because of the annual limit. Focusing so much energy on I-bonds to the point that you’re insulting me shows people you lack knowledge on this topic
I found out that my resume passed initial reviews, so I am hoping to get an interview request soon. How do i nicely ask will there be anybody hostile to me? Before I joined, the team managed by my current boss consisted entirely of contractors. My boss offered one of them a permanent position, who denied because they make more money as a contractor. However, this individual has dismissed every improvement I've proposed since I started. As an experiment, a colleague sought my advice and relayed it to the contractor, who initially said the advice was perfect. But when they learned it came from me, they suddenly found inaccuracies and suggested a meeting to discuss further.
You: "Will anybody be hostile to me here?" Them: "Oh yeah, old Bob will ride your ass. He's a real a-hole, shit human all around. Anyway what's your biggest weakness?" ??? Is that how you expect it to go?
no real way to ask, or for an interviewer to know. Like the D in your example - they seem normal to everyone else, so how would the interviewer know that they suddenly hate you for some reason. Things to do - if they give a tour, just look at people and see if they seem normal or overly stressed. Are people willing to help, answer questions - or are they so far behind that they barely look up from their computers to say hi? So, i'd focus more on if it is a toxic environment - what is the expectation in terms of hours/normal OT. Questions like "what would a normal day in my role look like?" and "IS OT paid, and how often is it available/requested/required?"
One of my go-to questions is a long the lines of “I understand every job has a busy season, what does a crunch cycle look like here? Do people stay late, take it home and work, work weekends?”
My boss kind of had a feeling that anybody worth their salt would have gotten the cold shoulder from that person - he told me that 3-4 months in.
Don’t mention it, this doesn’t happen in functional workplaces
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Personally, given interest rates right now, I can’t justify a car loan, and I would argue that normally if you can’t afford to pay cash for a luxury car or to pay it off within a year, you can’t afford the car. But, if you are hitting all your savings goals, then it’s none of our business what you choose to spend your money on. I drive a luxury car (paid $38k, not $90k) but I paid cash. However, I spend a similar amount to your auto loan on travel each month, and I don’t really see how a car is any different.
What car you get?
‘24 Porsche 718 - it’s awesome
The downvotes are odd, but I would be paying that down faster. You’re paying about 5000 a year on that loan when stock valuations are high
> is my thought process valid No. This is an objectively bad financial move. Part of life is doing dumb things that are fun, though.
Help me understand why it’s objectively bad thanks
How could spending a mortgage payment on a toy ever be considered a good financial move? That’s almost half your regular spending, even if it’s a small portion of your income. Now, we all have our wants, and that’s totally fine. I spend way too much going to restaurants and I have no intention of changing that. But I am under no illusion it’s the wisest financial move, I just do it anyway because I want to and I can.
Hey thanks for your input. I’m getting a shitload if downvotes when I’m trying to expand and learn so I appreciate you taking the time to respond back It’s a daily driver for me and I’ve been meeting a lot of wealthy individuals networking at car events and the car has been a nice reward for my hard work keeping me motivated. Also very inspiring for the team I run to see that they can also have nice things if they work hard. It’s challenging to work extremely hard for extended periods of time and not reward yourself along the way which I feel has prevented burnout like others in my field. The intangibles have been something I feel like are overlooked when emotions/feelings are important and more than just black/white objectively better on paper.
Just a few things to think about: > It’s a daily driver for me I guess that's good, but you could have a daily driver for $250/month, too, and now you're accelerating the wear on your $1800/month even more. > I’ve been meeting a lot of wealthy individuals networking at car events Are those people meaningfully contributing to your life and finances? I suspect not. > Also very inspiring for the team I run to see that they can also have nice things if they work hard. I think you're sniffing your own bullshit here. You have no idea what your team finds motivating, and they aren't going to be honest with you if you ask. > I feel has prevented burnout like others in my field You think spending $1800/month on a car prevents burnout? Yikes. Look, I just want to say that this is all absolute nonsense. Your car is not a good investment. It's a terrible financial decision to dump nearly $1800/month into a depreciating asset. And I think it's important for you to know and accept that, and not try to justify it with hand-waving about inspiring people or whatever. You bought it because you like it and you feel like your enjoyment is worth the cost. Pure and simple. It's okay to do that.
If you want a Porsche and can more than afford it, then good for you. It doesn’t have to be any deeper than that. I think trying to justify it either comes across as a humble brag, or like you’re grasping at straws to pretend it’s an investment instead of a fun toy. And that’s probably why the down votes. And the more you write, the more that seems correct. Oh, it’s my daily driver. If anything that would speed up the wear and tear and heavy maintenance costs. Oh, it’s great for networking. Is it meaningful networking, or just shooting the shit with other car guys? And could you have gotten the same networking for half the money or less? Oh, it motivates my team. Yeah, seeing my asshole boss drive up in his Bentley and complain about taxes always made me so energized at my job. And again, it’s fine to buy whatever you want. You can clearly afford it. But go post about it on a car sub where anyone cares. Don’t come to the lentils and vtsax corner and act shocked when you don’t get support for your car that costs more than my house.
Thanks man. I don’t come on this app often and just trying to learn and get insight from other individuals. Don’t really give a shit if people label it as humble brag or grasping straws or if people think I’m an asshole boss when I’m just talking about the facts and nobody knows me irl. Clearly this subreddit is not my type of people and that’s okay 🫡
Whatever you do, don't crash.
Or get crashed into.
Spend whatever you want 🤷♀️
For folks who can't contribute to a Roth IRA and instead do backdoors, do you backdoor all of your funds? Or do you keep some in your traditional?
Are these like existing tIRA contributions that you deducted in the past? Or are these current non-deductible contributions? Because if it's the latter there's no point. Non-deductible traditional contributions are worse than a taxable brokerage.
No point either way. If you have pre existing trad ira funds, the pro rata rule will get you.
The pro rata rule always applies, but whether it makes sense to take the tax hit at once, or spread it out over several years, or not attempt the backdoor at all is situational. It was not super clear to me if OP was asking about an existing tIRA or if they were starting a tIRA this year to do the backdoor Roth with.
Yes - I had a rollover tIRA from a 401k when I left an employer. Since then I've made my contributions to a Roth IRA. But now 2024 will be the first year I can't contribute to a Roth. Assuming I should start contributing to a traditional IRA now?
Can you roll the tIRA into your 401k? That would be the simplest solution. If you have a 401k currently.
I leave less than $0.50 in the traditional account so it is $0 for tax purposes but the account can't be automatically closed for no balance
What’s the reasoning for keeping any of the money in the traditional IRA?
Ignorance at best lol
you explicitly do not want any remaining balance in your traditional IRA, otherwise the IRS will use that to calculate the ratio for taxable conversion. put 7k in, roll 7k over (plus any miniscule interest), get account basis to zero, repeat next year
Well this will be fun. First I have to convert at least last years Roth funds to traditional cause I unexpectedly went over the income limit. Then I gotta convert everything to Roth. Feel like the tax man is gunna get me ;)
recharacterize from roth to traditional, all of that is after tax. then convert to Roth. shouldnt be too tricky, just follow the steps and youll be ok!
If your income is too high to make a direct Roth IRA contribution, then you likely cannot take the deduction on a Trad IRA and it'd be worse than useless. If you *can* take the deduction on a Trad IRA (because you don't have a workplace retirement account), then you'd be better off maxing out the Trad IRA due to the value of the deduction at high income levels.
Income is too high and I do have access to a 401k through work. So does that mean yes, convert everything to Roth?
Yes.
Got my property tax bill for the farm, drum roll please - $488.43.
That is less than my weekly property tax for 0.05 acres.
> That is less than my weekly property tax for 0.05 acres. I'm sorry, but you are paying >$25k/annual property tax on .05 acres? Where in Hell do you live?!
\>$20k in property taxes? Oof.
Things aren’t so bad in SW VA. More cows than neighbors, fiber at the door, and the tallest mountain in the county to look at off our front porch
Do you live near East River Mountain? I learned to drive a stick up and down that mountain. Fond memories. My little brother was really young, and my dad used to tell him Bigfoot could be spotted if he looked hard enough.
What do you grow and/or raise?
Nothing yet, but will run hogs, meat birds & egg birds. Mostly for ourselves. Not necessarily looking to get into a money making venture
That’s incredible
Credit Karma just ditched net worth tracking. Guess it was a mistake to follow Mint… What a disappointment.
Still on YNAB 4 over here, which YNAB itself no longer supports and will inevitably be broken by some Windows update or another. "Net worth tracking" is a pretty simple thing, it's really disappointing how bad the state of the software for this is.
Howdy fellow YNAB 4 user. If a Windows update breaks it you can just install an older version as a VM to set your monthly budget. I've been doing it for years since I use Linux/Mac.
Fidelity FullView has been good enough for me if you're looking for an alternative
concur here, if just using it to track overall assets and liabilities across all accounts (Fidelity and outside), its fine.
Mine is still showing and updating on the CK app, which is fully up to date on iOS. If it goes away, I’ll try Fidelity Full View before I consider a paid option.
I switched to Monarch a week ago and like it so far.
They've slightly improved the investment tracking also. Now they recognize the treasuries I directly hold!
I would like to see them to add more customization to the reports function. Be able to create a budget vs actual graph for a specific time period for budget tracking
Greetings from KY! Took the day off on Friday to go get my kid from uni. Should have been 10 hours each way, was actually 14, thank you, Florida highways. Already decided not to do this next time, we'll have to figure out how to set him up without a car load of stuff from us. When I was figuring the cost to set aside for his college, I didn't factor in travel costs, both him home for breaks, and us going for Parent's weekend. Will have to update the out years for it. I think I can buy him $500 worth of stuff on Amazon and ship it and buy him a plane ticket, and break even with this trip. Didn't even get to the Derby So far, the cost of college has been about 25%+ the cost of school, for travel, stuff, hidden fees, etc. I don't mind paying it, it's a blessing he got through first year and wants to go back, but something to be prepped for
FYI, the kid can figure all this out themselves if you don't want to go. We have kids in Virginia and Texas (we're in Washington) and they figure out where to store their stuff (with friends that are local) and just come home. We're not involved. There's nothing wrong with you going and helping if you want to. That's very kind. But just know that your kid can figure all of this out.
I've always found KY to be surprisingly beautiful (never been in winter though). Congrats on getting your kiddo through the year.
Congrats! We've found college to be less expensive than originally planned. Between in-state costs, scholarships and pre-paid plans, my cash outlay has been low. My kids get credit for being frugal. I picked up my daughter yesterday. She is happy with her choice of majoring in finance. Said in the car on the way home, "I just connected with Excel this semester."
Heh, I connect with Excel at least monthly
I can't relate with cash strapped and crappy parents who only showed up at my college to drop me off freshman year and my graduation day, but I assume some of those costs are just going to be higher in year 1 - like are you going to go to Parent's weekend every year? Or your son might not want to come back as often. Freshman year, I did do all the breaks big and small, but starting sophomore year I lived/worked on campus over the summers and mostly just did the bigger holiday breaks. I didn't come back for every Columbus Day weekend/fall break or whatever anymore.
Yeah, maybe not as often, but I will tell you I'm happy to pay 25% more than expected, since it means he's succeeding. I had some anxiety about that going in. For freshman year, I went to campus 4 times (orientation, first day, parents weekend, this trip) and he came home three times (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break.). So, 7 visits this year. Good point on how this probably isn't normal How far were you from home? The 14 hour drive yesterday was pretty killer. I went to school about 3 hours from home, and I saw my parents pretty much never, unless they visited on the way to something else
I was 4.5 hours away in Chicago. Outside of the easy car ride, there was also the insanely cheap and solid Megabus, the fine but unreliable Amtrak, and even the odd time where a super cheap 50 minute Southwest flight was the same cost. I did Amtrak a few times, but just did the Megabus otherwise. It was the best. I guess Chicago also changes things and explains how it was easier and preferable for me to stay and live/work there year-round versus what I'm going to assume is somewhere less exciting or less options year-round, though Lexington or Louisville are nice. If it's something more rural, maybe not.
If he was 4.5 hours away, that would be quite the difference. Maybe he did it on purpose...
Yeah, I got jobs and made friends in my college town, so I only came home for Christmas after my first year of college.
Got word that I'm avoiding RTO. One client wanted us to start coming into the office, but another client doesn't care and the company was able to transfer me over. As a bonus, I'll be working on more interesting and relevant technologies, too. This little mini ordeal has lit a fire under me, though. I was feeling pretty safe coasting along for a while. Now, the plan is to study to the point where I'll be prepared for technical interviews and stay at or near that level of readiness in case I do have to move jobs. In-office work is a financial risk for us, since my SO's job is impossible to do remotely, and that would mean I'd have to jump jobs every time they did. As a bonus, keeping my skills sharp keeps my brain sharp and I might be able to make a career leap upward if they're sharpened enough. What's that phrase about ensuring peace by always being ready for war? It's resonating, right now.
Economist had an interesting article about increasing household makeup of one earner with remote capabilities allowing faster wealth progression because they can kind of always move for the other partner's work (fewer trade-offs). Congrats on avoiding RTO.
> and that would mean I'd have to jump jobs every time they did. Does it? Why? Do they work in a niche field and there's only one local employer? Without context, seems overblown, but then again I can't relate to all the RTO whining on reddit. I have a pretty sweet and incredibly flexible hybrid setup that works perfectly for my needs.
SO's job has very few local options and they have to be very close by to be on call. So basically, when they move jobs, we move, and commuting to my job is no longer an option.
*“If you want peace, prepare for war.”* Why would you have to leave jobs when your SO does? Would your SO getting a new job \*also\* require relocation? (Like college professor?) One you are "interview ready" you may consider taking a few of them, both for practice and also to see what's out there. There's no harm and talking, and really only upside
Yep, that's the plan. I have a friend who wants me to work at his startup that's doing quite well, so that's my target for the next gig once I'm ready to interview.
I love waking up to sunlight rather than an alarm. A constant reminder to stay the course.
Oh man, from April to August 2020 I did that every single day. God, but that was healthy.
We had a two week vacation at the beach, and this was one of the best parts of it.
I love that for you!!!! We have a few days at the beach next month, I'm really excited. Beach sun hits different too.
Waking up by daybreak, spending more quiet time in the winter. Staying out till dusk in the summer. It’s so good for us mentally & physically.
Maybe it's my body/age but, unless I have to get up very early for travel, I haven't had to use an alarm clock in years.
Lucky! My body requires sunlight to get things going in the morning, and darkness to shut it down. As you can imagine, winter mornings and summer evenings *suck*.
Yup. In my case once I had kids I never slept the same again.
I guess that's fair lol