Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
It was certainly legal for your wife to elect to take a lump sum distribution. It's her company forcing that distribution on her (i.e. without obtaining her consent) that does not appear to have been legal.
You're going to take quite a tax hit…
The column is labeled opinion ("The Plum Line - Opinion"), the concluding paragraph begins "In my opinion", and the paper's description of the column is: "The Plum Line blog, a reported opinion blog with a liberal slant -- what you might call 'opini…
Here's a page of Fidelity promotions this year. Some (notably cash) have expired, but this page is presenting what were real offers:
http://www.topratedfirms.com/brokers/promotions/fidelity-promotionoffers.aspx
Fidelity Investments Up to $2,500 C…
I've seen quarterly bills sent to Medicare participants. I believe that if you are paying higher IRMAA rates, the bills switch to monthly.
But even monthly, it seems that Medicare is happy to accept quarterly payments in advance. The only vi…
After 20 years, I'm guessing that your wife had at least $5K in the 401(k).
"Generally, if your account balance exceeds $5,000, the plan administrator must obtain your consent before making a distribution." IRS 401k guide.
While what's done i…
The good news, if you can call it that, it that they're not ignoring a 50 year customer. As far as they know, you've only been with them 25 years - their records only go back to the 90s.
This came up in a conversation I had with Fidelity today - …
If everyone (except those paying an IRMAA surcharge) paid the same amount, then in 2016 everyone would have paid $118.80. But because 70% of the Medicare participants' premiums were frozen at $104.90, the remaining 30% would have had to have paid …
Don't need to read that to know the contents. Existing SS recipients were getting a free ride by not paying their share of increased Medicare costs. That placed the burden on a much smaller pool of people (30%) - those just starting Medicare and…
This was a followup to a previous post (including comments by BobC and me):
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/33604/fidelity-launches-funds-that-can-make-rmds-for-aging-baby-boomers
Do any of the brokers who pay finders fees also cover the closeout fee of the old broker? Or is it that they'll do one or the other (finder fee or closeout costs) but not both?
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-awareness-month
I guess all these millions of people walking and raising money every year are wrong and wasting their time. Kick them to the curb, when they…
Here's a chunk of the conclusion section of the column:
"Our [Vanguard's] research shows that long-term, active outperformance is possible. But choosing recent high performers in inefficient markets isn’t the answer. Instead, we found that low-cost…
You may not want to convert a whole IRA at once (you're allowed to convert any amount lesser amount you want). That could put you into a much higher tax bracket. But with $1M+ in tax-deferred accounts, you may still want to convert some money, y…
I always wonder what the practical effect of such fine distinction-making is.
'For the particular kind of [prostate, breast] cancer you have, the new data show that watchful waiting outcomes are as good in terms of mortality and life quality as tr…
"We have morphed from an agricultural dominated economy to an industrial powerhouse. ... For most of the limited analyses that I do, I favor data from after WW II. I recognize the shortfall in numbers that that decision introduces, but I believe th…
With respect to tools that use real data as opposed to hypothetical random data (that downplay the possibility of multiyear bears found in historical data) being somehow inferior or limited to merely hundreds of sequences, here's some what what Kitc…
Monte Carlo tools and numerous analyses with those tools are the best way to provide those odds. These tools are readily accessible and easy to use. You need not be a mathematician to productively deploy them. In earlier posts, I have referenced…
Kaiser Family Foundation: "Just Released"
Analysis: The Expanded Exemption to the ACA Contraceptive Coverage Rule
An updated brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation explains today’s new regulations from the Trump Administration that greatly expand …
ISTM that there are two principal benefits to making qualified charitable distributions (as opposed to simply taking the contribution as an itemized deduction);
- It reduces the top line income - adjusted gross income and corresponding MAGI for th…
In another bit of irony, had this happened a few years earlier, we wouldn't have had the even broader Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling to deal with: The ruling set a new precedent. For the first time, the Court allowed “the commercial, profit-making wo…
The video is a good starting point to see one of the flaws with the ACA subsidies: they're tiered so that a penny difference in income can make a huge difference in what you can afford.
Start at the 1:15 mark. If your income as an individual is $…
There's lots of stuff that gets affected at all sorts of levels with increased income. They tend to be convoluted and hard to explain, which is why I picked the examples I did. Thanks for pointing out that there's an appeal process in the case o…
A very long but excellent recapitulation of how we got here with CSRs and also how terminating CSRs could even cause insurance policies to terminate in mid-year:
ACA Signups, 10/5/17, A Brief, Snarky History of the CSR Mess and why Congressional ac…
70 in April, so I'll have to think about the consequences of delaying, and taking 2 RMD's in 2019. I'm already paying a stiff penalty on SS premiums, and I haven't started collecting yet! If I'm understanding correctly, taking the RMD after the IRA'…
Some RMD Math for first RMD:
70 in April 2018
70.5 in October 2018
(2) choices for first RMD:
1. By end of December 2018 (based on 2017 FMV (Fair Market Value divided by 26.5)
2. By April 1, 2019 (based on 2018 FMV divided by 26.5)
From IRS Pub 59…
Dividend timing inside an IRA doesn't matter, but if you're going to be taking the distribution in kind, or investing in something else that likewise pays an annual dividend, then you may want to wait until after the dividend. Otherwise you'll effe…
OJ, isn't that what Keynes said regarding economic trends that stabilize over "much longer, meaningful periods of time"? That "in the long run, we are all dead".
Hi @catch22 - I didn't take your post as contradictory, not at all. You pointed out that things (including mean returns) do change at least for many years at a time (e.g. post 2008). I appreciated that observation and just tried to build on it, …
@bee EDV is a bit unusual in that it holds a portfolio with an extremely high duration. You've got a good idea in looking at zeros (like the AC target date funds) for other vehicles with high duration. (That's because for zeros, duration equals …
As I have expressed before, IMO; one may continue to name the ongoing markets since the big melt as still feeling the effects of policy(s) and that "this time is still different" and thus the "mean regression chart line" is progressive/dynamic, not …
A basic problem with "the rule called 'regression to the mean'" is that it assumes what it purports to show, viz. that the mean doesn't change.
For example, since 1928, the S&P 500 has averaged around 400. Anyone expecting it to "regress to t…
You must have missed this paragraph in the article:
"I was initially under the impression that my staff was sharing a copy of the Onion, until I realized this story was, in fact, true," [Oregon Representative] Blumenauer wrote.
Here's CNN's report…
A factor that affects returns about as much as expense ratio is turnover. Here's an old but readable column citing research from a decade ago supporting the thesis that trading costs amount to at least as much as costs included in the ER:
https://…
I agree that mixing in some bonds other than Treasuries would be more representative of real investor results. Beyond that, it's not clear what that mix should be. Bogle, of all people, thinks that even the total bond market index (US Aggregate)…
1. The objective is to get as much into the Roth as possible while paying taxes on $10K.
Using Bee's example, the current combined value of all five accounts is $61,830. If you recharacterize all but the one that did best (PRIDX), you wind up w…
Unfortunately common ETF myopia. Describes a problem (how to get diversification with a bond ladder), and then says: "Enter ... ETFs". Seemingly ignorant of the fact that defined maturity bond funds (DMFs) have existed since 1985.
Vanguard has …
You seem to be combining two things: (1) selecting which fund to convert (i.e. keep as a Roth), and (2) how to pay the tax on the conversion. These can be taken separately.
If you want to convert $10K, then you just pick the fund that did the bes…
While the intent of that business insider chart is clear, the data are less so.
What stock market (US or global, S&P 500 or Wilshire 5000 or ...), and what bond market (ten year T-bonds, corporates, or ...)? If one uses returns of the S&…
Two well known quotes come to mind:
(Graham) In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine"
(Samuelson) "Wall Street indexes predicted nine out of the last five recessions!."
As the Barron's artic…
In addition, I looked through my stack of funds; and, I have two that bettered the 8.9% objective over a ten year period. They were FDSAX and SPECX. However, remember the 2007 and 2008 returns from the Great Recession that brought the average dow…
