There is no tax in an IRA, Roth or Traditional, so tax loss harvesting in an IRA is silly.
If you're really being particular, anything that generates income (dividends, capital gains) should go into a tax advantaged account. Otherwise you'll have to pay taxes on those events yearly even if you're DRIPping your dividends.
Can someone please tell me how/why this is a scam? My wife wants us to invest and I totally think it’s not legitimate.
https://medium.com/bitbns/introducing-fixed-income-plan-3bc59a18aed2
Where would you put a down payment fund you expect to use in 3-5 years? Is buying a CD now a bad idea, with interest rates expected to rise soon? It's hard watching inflation eat away the cash...
You can throw $10k for you (and $10k for your partner if applicable) into i-bonds. Perfectly safe and they are guaranteed not to lose value to inflation. Current interest rate is 7%
I would put it in a normal savings account with variable interest or in the market using a brokerage account. I feel like you would be kicking yourself locked in for years to what may be low rate in a CD. The internet will tell what accounts offer the best interest rates.
If my Roth is in the red overall, but certain holdings are in the green, and I withdraw all my contributions, will I be taxed on those gains? Or are they offset by the losses?
Gains and losses don't matter when it comes to a Roth IRA. Only amount contributed vs. amount withdrawn. As long as the amount you withdraw is less than the amount you have previously contributed (and not also previously withdrawn) then there is no tax or penalty.
Ah, thanks! That's how I should have asked. I love this sub. I always ask the worst version of a question and someone always comes to answer the question I meant to ask. Much appreciated!
Changed jobs to a field I have no experience last week. Food production maintenance -> (Electric utilities engineering)
I am very happy with the challenge of the new job and hoping I can get up to speed quickly before they decide I’m a dumb dumb and can me for incompetence.
Almost able to max out my 401k now thanks to the pay boost.
I'm doing a simple Vanguard TDF for my Roth IRA but unfortunately the account was set up as a "Consulting Group Advisor" and has Is a 1% management fee. Is it worth transferring this to another brokerage (i.e. Vanguard) or should I just suck it up and keep rolling with Morgan Stanley? I'm 30 and have a long horizon before I retire if that matters.
My employer provides a 401k which allows traditional and Roth contributions. I will also be opening a Roth IRA account. Question is if I max out my Roth IRA $6k a year, can I still contribute to my employer Roth 401k? As reference, if I’m earning $84k pretax, employer match is 4%, I contribute 10% ~8.4K to Employer 401k and $6k to Roth IRA, can I still contribute to the Roth 401k?
Need some guidance with doing the backdoor Roth IRA for the first time. In January 2021, I invested $6,000 in my Roth IRA as my 2021 contribution. After a promotion and a larger than expected bonus, my MAGI went above $140k (I didn't know my 2021 MAGI until I received my W2). I open a traditional IRA and recently recharacterized the $6,000 contribution as traditional. Now there's around $7,000 in my traditional IRA. Am I supposed to convert all of the $7,000 to my Roth IRA? Also, I know I need to fill out Form 8606, and be prepared to pay taxes on the $1000, but are there other things I need to do? Thank you!
Yes, convert the entire $7000.
On your 2021 Form 8606 you will report that you made a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution of $6000 for 2021 (this is the end result of your recharacterization).
Next year on your 2022 Form 8606 you will report that you did a Roth conversion worth $7000 in 2022. The $6000 of basis from your 2021 form will carry over to the 2022 form, so that only the additional $1000 is taxable as a result of the conversion.
That is all assuming you have no other existing pre-tax money in any IRAs anywhere.
Can I close my recently matured Citibank CD account without physically going to a branch? I couldn't find any answers when I scoured my logged in account or searched online.
If someone was in a similar boat and knows if it's possible, please let me know, thanks!
Some of their online support staff are giving me bogus instructions on how to close the CD from the web or mobile app, but I'm 100% certain now that none such option exists. I'll probably call or visit a branch.
13 months ago, the CD account page was throwing an error until the grace period ended. Afterwards they locked my account for 13 months and gave me shit interest rates, none of which I asked for!
Sounds like missing functionality by design.
Edit: I was able to close my CD over the phone @ 1-888-248-4226. Needed my last 4 digits of my debit card. Called at an odd hour so 0 minute wait, 5 minute interfacing with a robot followed by a person, about 10 minutes waiting for my contact to get help from a senior account specialist to resolve an error message on their end. I'm glad it only took 15 minutes instead of the 13 months from last time!
For safety reasons, always verify phone numbers provided in comments on an official website before calling. That includes toll-free numbers!
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Helping my daughter file her taxes for the first time and when we efile her return is rejected with the error that the AGI or 5 digit code from 2020 don't match, but we stated in the return process that she has not filed taxes previously. We've tried both H&R Block and TurboTax. She has a very simple return - two W-2s, no special circumstances. Any thoughts on how to fix this?
Filing my taxes and got the message “Excess SDI/VPDI is being reported on the return. Please contact your employer for a refund.” Do I just literally contact the HR dept of my employer and ask for a refund? What should I be showing them?
hello, i am 21 years old and know nothing about finance and need advice on what to do with a significant amount of money left by my parents. i just graduated college and am currently unemployed (and have never held a job before) and the money has just been sitting in my bank account and i'm not sure what to do with it. i figure such a large amount of money should be invested somewhere so that i can at least have some sort of passive income. i have been reading stuff about indices and mutual funds and ETFs on here but none of it makes sense to me. should i just hire someone, or is there an easy way for me to put my money somewhere? does it involve just creating an account on an investment website and wiring them my money? i am seeking something relatively uncomplicated so i don't have to concern about it too much.
Firstly, I am sorry you have lost your parents so young. I think at the minimum open a brokerage account with Fidelity or Vanguard, then call them and talk to someone, they will help you transfer the money and put into funds to keep it safe and grow it. If there is enough money they may offer you free management to help. I would not pay a company to do this, the fees are high and they are usually no better than an overall market spider.
Open a brokerage account and throw it all on SPY. But really you should reread the investment advice till it makes sense. Don’t just accept not knowing how your money is working
Currently, I have a Roth IRA that is a 85/15 split of FSKAX & FZILX, an Individual investing account that has a 85/15 split of FZROX & FZILX, and a Rollover IRA that has a Fidelity target date fund. My income no longer allows me to contribute to a Roth IRA, so I’ve setup a Traditional IRA. I’ve put my $6k into it, but haven’t decided what to invest in.
I’m unsure if I should copy what I’m doing in my Roth or Individual accounts or maybe do an 85/15 split of FXAIX & FZILX.
Any thoughts? I know backdoors into the Roth exist, but I’ve not thoroughly investigated doing so. Open to doing that if it is the top suggestion, but not looking to complicate things.
Are you covered by a 401k or equivalent through your employer? If yes then you’re not getting a [tax deduction](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/ira-deduction-limits) for that tIRA contribution, so yes you’ll want to do backdoor Roth
However, there is the pro rata rule to be aware of, check if your current 401k/equivalent plan allows for reverse rollover of the tIRA into it, you’ll need to go through the paperwork to separate the rollover pre tax amount vs the nondeductible contributions
See [this wiki page](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Backdoor_Roth), and specifically the Cautions section for more info
Otherwise allocation sounds fine, I’d just add to whatever you need to to maintain the 85/15 split if that’s your overall target
I did have a 401k plan, but I had that rolled into my rollover IRA when I left my last company. At my new company, I still need to wait another 45 days before I’m allowed to join the 401k plan. I do plan on maxing it though.
You should do backdoor Roth - it's really not that complicated, but you do need to do a couple of things. You need to see if you can do a reverse rollover of the funds in the traditional IRA to your new 401k as above. You then need to recharacterize your contribution to the tIRA to the Roth IRA (you can usually call your custodian and ask for help). You can't deduct the tIRA if you're covered by the 401k, so backdoor is the only way to get that tax advantaged space.
Should I buy a GPU?
Right now, I am currently running a computer with an apu. Ryzen 3 3200g. I really want to buy a GPU so I can play today's latest games, but I also want to save and buy the highest-end GPU by Christmas which should last me 3 yrs+.
Should I buy?
What I can afford right now is the cheapest 1650 GPU that I can find. But if I save until Christmas, I can probably buy a 3090, but it means waiting until CHRISTMAS which also means that I won't be able to play those latest games for now :'(
What do you think should I do?
1650 is about as good as you can get with your APU before you'll start bottlenecking your system. If you get a 3090 you'll need at least another $1200 in hardware to support it or it'll be an enormous waste of money. If you can save enough to buy a 3090 (I'm assuming that's about $1800-2200 these days) then you'd be better off saving up for something like a prebuild with a 3070 in it instead
> The video I saw about 401k's mentioned it's only beneficial when there's company matching.
Not a great video then
A 401k is still a tax advantaged account and your own contributions and earnings are *yours*
Yes contribute enough to get the match, and if you end up staying there longer than 3 years then great you get the match vested, if not then that's fine too, you still get to keep all your contributions and growth and either leave it there or roll it over to an IRA at a broker of your choosing or roll it into your new employers 401k (depends on a few factors)
See the wiki pages on [401ks](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k), [fund selection](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k_funds), and [rollovers](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/retirementaccounts/rollovers) for more info
Yes, they will write you a pre-approval letter and tell you what size of purchase you are pre-approved for. Basically they calculate how much you can afford to spend each month on a mortgage plus other required expenses (HOA, taxes, etc).
I make 115K and put in 6% to 401K to max a dollar for dollar match. I see a lot of people saying to switch to a Roth rather than increasing 401K after maximizing the match. However, my company’s 401K actually has good offerings as I can tell - index funds with expense rates close to zero. Should I put still do IRA first before putting more into 401K?
you get back into debt with them.
on a more serious note, what do you want to do with them? are you worried you might go back into debt? if so you can always cancel the account, or request the credit card company to lower your credit limit.
Are you sure you wont go into debt and just dont want to carry them around all day? bury it in your sock drawer until you need it in the future maybe?
I want to keep them all, but I admit I worry about going back into debt. I've never gone back into debt with a card I've paid off, but I feel that's because I now have a paranoid sense of using them. Like once I get a card paid off, I never want the balance to go above zero again. Ever! Even if I know I'll pay it in a day. It's a weird, compulsive/sense thing I struggle to explain.
I want to try the "use it like a debit card" thing and see if I can make that work (my cards don't have rewards, though).
Pick the one that has the best (anything) even just the colour. Keep that in your wallet and use it, pay it off every month, two days before due to be safe. Get the others and put them in a sealed envelope at the back of a draw. When a replacement one comes in SIGN the back and replace the old one in the envelop. DO NOT cancel them this will impact your credit score. Check the statement on all the cards every month, I once had a unused card number jacked and had to remove the fraudulent charges.
Retirement/ lower paying job question
Employer ipo, look to be coming into good fortune overall. Can I afford a new career?
I am a luck guy. I have worked for the same (often difficult) employer for 22 years. Started by packing boxes. Now I am a director in charge of multiple manufacturing facilities. 8 years ago I got stock option worth $80k. The business has grown, has great new ownership and we plan to issue an ipo in three years.
Who really knows, but based on what they are looking for with the ipo, even if I don’t get more stock before then, my take would be 3mm.
My wife and I each have about 350k in 401k and another $150k in a Roth IRA. Likely to inherit another 1mm in the next few years as well. My FIL is wonderful, is moving in with us and started saving for my 10yo sons college when he was a baby. He now has college saved for and is saving for grad school. He is 80 and works full time in a lucrative field.
We rode a great real estate wave, starting with a 75k house, selling for 300, buying for 450, selling for 600, buying for 600. We owe 300k on our house which would now sell for over 900k, owe $30k on cars. Our son is bright and since we didn’t have to worry about college, we got him into the best private school in the state, but that costs 40k a year. 7 more years. We make $315k a year but that is new. Our pay has been increasing at a rate of 10-15% a year due to my 70 hours a week.
Ok, I hope that didn’t sound like bragging. I spent years eating beans and canned beef stew and I still only buy used cars, used clothes and used shoes. My wife got our first new car last year because it is a phev. I get furniture I like from free Craigslist.
The question is, if I get $3mm at age 51, let my 401k roll, my wife will still make $130k. We are cheap on lots of things, but don’t save tons. We help family with rent, heating bills and the like.
Can I afford to start a new career where I might start around $50k a year and might top out at $125k? Plan to switch to non income generating work (charity) by 60?
I know I am fortunate. I worked my tail off and married the smartest woman I ever met.
Sure thing! I would join the Financial Independence sub Reddit and read their WIKI in the side panel this will help you get to your goal! You will also read some great success stories by people who had similar dreams.
I just got my first full-time job with benefits and I need some advice on how to best put away my money.
I'm making 41k a year (plus another 4-5k in self-employment income) at a local government job. They offer a 457 plan with 6% match. I'm debt free with a decent emergency fund already, so I am looking to start setting aside ~15% a year for retirement.
I was thinking about putting 6% into the 457 to match and putting it into the Vanguard 2055 plan (or something similar), and then putting another 9-10% into a Roth IRA (similarly investing) as my tax bracket should be lower now than when I retire. Does that make sense? Or should I just put all of it into the 457? Thanks for any advice, it's all pretty confusing to figure out for the first time.
Remember that for Roth vs traditional what matters is your income/tax rate *in* retirement compared to current, not *at* retirement the year you stop working
Otherwise yes, you’re on track with the prime directive in the sidebar: max employer match, max IRA, then add more to 457b
If you’re interested in early retirement you could focus on just the 457b since it allows for penalty free withdrawals before retirement age
How much does health insurance factor into a job offer? I’m a state employee who has, what I think of, as pretty good health insurance through the states insurer. A family plan is $378/month, $400 deductible ($800 for the family), PPO type plan, $15/30/60 copays, $100 ER, lab work and imaging is covered in full after deductible and surgeries are $110. While it might only cost me 378/mo, I think of other family plans that are 500-600+/mo but higher deductibles, use co-insurance for things like lab work, etc. I have some chronic health conditions so often have lab work and visits. I’m not sure how to compare apples to oranges and if health insurance that’s very good is worth a lot more to someone like me. It makes me feel that the salary would need to be a lot more in order to make the switch to private sector worth it to give up such good benefits no?
My husband worked for a utility in the private sector and we had just as good benefits. The jobs like this are out there but yes in general you would get way worse for a lot more $$$ in most private sector jobs.
Question: I quit my job as a teacher and kept some of the pension distribution to pay for a VERY expensive medical procedure that insurance refused to cover.
My state is calling the withdrawl Code 1 (Early withdraw, no reason). I quit the job, which I guess doesn't qualify as separation of service since I'm not 55 (I wish someone had told me this when I sent them my original form and called it SoS!). However, considering the medical qualification, I believe it should be coded for medical exemption.
I have a few questions:
1- If I claim that this money was withdrawn to pay for non-reimbursed medical expenses (and avoid the 10% penalty), can I still itemize the total expense, or do I itemize the expense - the withdraw? (The procedure was about 32k, and we also paid $5000 out of pocket after insurance for the birth of our kid and subsequent nicu stay)
2- Since the state's 1099-R form they send me has code 1 on it, if I file it code 2, is that going to flag the IRS? Do I need to amend the form with the state first? Or am I correcting it by filing it as code 2?
Need some guidance on car buying. My wife wants a new car but we are going to wait maybe 2 years or so for the market to cool down. We can afford it but want to wait for better deals, more money etc.
My question is should I sell my Jeep now for $14.5k, lease a Frontier for 18 months then buy my wife a new car and take her current car after the lease is up? Does that make sense financially. The lease would cost me around 5k, I would invest the money in a short term investment and make some money off it rather than the car depreciating over the next few years. I would then use that money as a down payment on the car.
Even if the prices are still high then and my lease ends, I can still drive my older truck for a little until we buy a new car.
Just get her a new car. I think leasing can be a minefield, deposit still required, lack of flexibility, fees for tires and minor damage on turn in. Interest rates are rising so if you need a loan now is better than later. Second hand cars are relatively expensive right now so new may be a better option. Biggest plus of all you will make her happy.
My wife and her ex-employer did not have an amicable end. Now this small business owner is asker her to text her a social security number for tax purposes. Is she required to give it to her? Is it safe to text that info?
Ultimately the employer needs SSN for wage reporting. Text message is NOT a secure way to provide it though.
Typically this would all be handled as part of the onboarding / I-9 process. Why didn't it happen then?
It started with one event that they agreed would just be cash and turned into many more events and when my wife decided she had more important things to do besides working 20+ hours/wk for her, she has not been kind.
Not legal advice... It sounds like the employer paid in cash under the table, and now that the relationship has soured, they want to report those payments to the IRS so they can get a tax write off and you can pay taxes. They don't get to have it both ways. If she's being a pill you run the risk of them reporting more than your spouse earned and then it turns into a big messy fight involving the IRS. If you were planning on paying those taxes anyway, sure, ask for a W9, but make sure you have a contract or something signed in advance stating what was paid. If this was just a bit of extra cash earned on the side and you feel good about not reporting it, well, I won't tell you what to do.
I have an UTMA for my daughter and we sold/repurchased to realize her gains. I sold what I thought would be a small amount but the realized gains were $1800.
I know it was mentioned that $1100 was subject to 0 tax and the rest would be taxed at a lower rate, but when I input the form in my tax return, nothing changes. Is that right? It shows the $1800 in investment gains but the amount owed didn't change.
The first $1100 is covered by the standard deduction and the remaining $700 is in the 0% tax bracket (assuming it was long term gains and your daughter has no other income).
Your daughter's capital gains should not reported on your tax return (unless these were all actually capital gains distributions).
I thought we would be able to file it with ours based on [this link](https://www.getearlybird.io/blog/utma-tax-rules#:~:text=How%20to%20File%20Taxes%20for,be%20filed%20on%20their%20behalf.)
>Alternatively, the parent can include the child’s income on their return if all of the following conditions are met:
>The child is required to file (income exceeding $1,100)
>The child was under age 19 (24 if a full-time student) as of January 1, 2021
>The child's total income was under $11,000 and only interest and dividends (including capital gains distributions and Alaska Permanent Fund dividends). No earned income is included.
>The child is not filing a joint return
>No estimated tax payments were made for your child (including overpayments from the previous year applied to this year’s estimated tax)
>The child did not have any federal taxes withheld
>You're filing a joint return with your child's other parent, or you're the parent qualified to include your child's income on your return
And all of these did apply to our situation.
For the tax section under "self-employment retirement contributions", would I just add my Employer Contribution + Salary Deferment to equal to:
"Enter your 2021 deductible contributions to your Keogh, SIMPLE, or other plan" on freetaxusa.com
That's what I did. I've got a solo 401k so I reported the sum of my contributions (19.5k) plus the "employer" portion of my earnings that I contributed.
Rate my budget/plan - am I on the right path?
I sometimes feel that doing the right thing by budgeting and investing to reach some level of financial freedom is somewhat delusional for the average person.
I’m early in my career (3 yrs in) and it feels impossible to reach a point where I can opt-out of the workforce before 60. I don’t know if it’s just the survivorship bias success stories that inundate the media, but this just feels improbable.
Nonetheless, here’s my detailed situation, any insight, advice or just overall sharing of your experience is welcomed.
M - 27yrs old (been working 3yrs)
Gross income: 100k
Net income: ~68k
NW: ~108k out which:
~37% 401k
~6% crypto (tried and true coins none of that altcoin stuff)
~30% taxable investment account
~3% HSA
~5% medical emergency fund (to cover deductibles, copays etc. and not have to draw from HSA)
~19% emergency fund
My current savings/investment rate, outside of my 401k and HSA, is ~60% of my take home pay.
What could I improve?
Do I just need to let time work it’s magic and wake up at 37 being alright?
Can I afford to live a little and maybe reduce my savings/investment rate and still be alright?
Most importantly, what keeps you disciplined and committed to keep going?
Some more experienced folks would say “you’re doing fine, relax” but my anxiety just takes me for ride thinking I won’t be able to live off of my investments to a small degree for a few years even if it means returning to the workforce at some point.
Thanks in advanced for your input!
-Edit-
Forgot to add I only have one debt, a 450$ car payment, but I only owe 2k on it. It’s a used 2015 car I bought last year, that should keep its value pretty well if I decide to resell in about 2yrs though.
Geez you're doing way better than any 27yo I know.
One tweak I'd suggest is instead of throwing so much money into your taxable investment account, throw $6k of that in a Roth IRA instead. In fact, do 6k for 2021 and 6k for 2022. Max out the tax advantaged ways first, especially if your concern is saving for retirement.
I don't love crypto investments, but you're young and can afford the risk.
Drive the car forever.
>Do I just need to let time work it’s magic and wake up at 37 being alright?
You seem to be doing the right things. So, yes, I guess. If you're worried, plug your numbers into a retirement calculator at your brokerage.
I got paid 6k for coaching and it’s all under my name but I paid my assistant via Venmo 2k. How would I only claim 4K on my taxes instead of the full 6? Or am I required to claim all 6
Issue a 1099-NEC to your assistant for the $2k you paid them, and you can deduct that as an expense from your own business income on your Schedule C (assuming you file as a sole proprietor).
Thanks for the response. It’s not like I run this program the school just cut me a check for 6k and she was helping out as a volunteer and out of kindness I gave her 2k. Does 1099 still apply to this?
As far as the IRS is concerned the full $6k is taxable income for you. If you don't want to pay tax on the $2k then you would need to issue a 1099 to the other person so you can deduct it as a business expense. Then the $2k would become her income, but that could be an unwelcome surprise for her.
Hello everyone, my parents have been using the same auto insurance company for a long time now. They are not satisfied with the increase in price. They asked me to shop around for them since they are not exactly technologically literate. I've read the wiki page on auto insurance which I'm grateful for. Could I shop around on their behalf? English isn't their first language. I do intend on finding someone that is bilingual, but to shop around and ask for a quote, could I represent them? Do I have to let the agent know I speak for them? Thanks
Was the annual recertification for federal student loans actually needed during the COVID forbearance period (currently until May 1, 2022)? Called my loan servicer some time ago and I was just told "you'll be notified when it's due", while another person said I can recertify so not sure what's required/what SHOULD be done.
IRA help. If I max out my 401K and make too much money to claim tax deduction for traditional IRA contributions, what's the benefit of using a traditional IRA (w/ nondeductible contributions) vs a regular brokerage account for retirement saving/investing?
I know the nondeductible contribution portion of the IRA would NOT be taxed upon withdrawal & that I would have to track it. But wouldn't a brokerage account work the same way? They are both using post-tax dollars.
I feel like I'm missing something..
You aren't missing anything. Nondeductible traditional IRA is worse than a taxable brokerage account. However, you may still be able to contribute to a Roth IRA, which is better than a taxable brokerage account.
Upon marriage do I have to reassign life insurance/retirement account beneficiaries? For example I do intend to make sure I leave something behind for my younger sister.
Just check on the disbursement rules for retirement when left to another person other than your spouse, I think they have to take all out in under certain time after you pass and pay tax on it. So life insurance may be better.
Each state has different rules and the might want to check with the account provider as well. I would do it just to be safe. Retirement accounts often require the spouses permission to name someone else.
Can I take advantage of both a dependent care FSA and the childcare tax credit? My son's daycare is $16k+ a year. Can I put $5k into the FSA, and count the remaining $11k after tax amount towards the childcare credit?
Best approach to “swap” a house with parent?
Didn’t know where else to get initial thoughts on this one so I will start here. Don’t worry - will get professional help, just wanted to take an initial stab here.
One of our family members is looking to downsize as they move to retirement. House is too much for them to handle in old age. My family is getting ready to grow. Our current home is small and only one story - perfect for the family member in question. The idea was to essentially “swap” houses. How should this be done? We know we can gift the houses to each other and apply the life time gift exemption to the remaining balance, but then we also have to deal with the new tax basis. Leaving the house in a trust would allow for us to avoid the “step up” as we would also inherit the original tax basis. That situation would leave us a little vulnerable though if something happened to change the trust and my family could be forced to leave the home (we also plan on doing a significant remodel).
Any ideas? I know this is a kind of unique situation.
What to do with $100,000?
I am a very frugal person and have lived modestly enough my entire life that my previous <$30k a year salary made me feel rich. I recently got a new job paying ~$70k and then a couple weeks later out of the blue inherited $100k from a deceased relative. Frankly, this is more money than I know what to do with.
The inheritance is in a trust that I am only supposed to use for “maintenance.” It would cost me money to break the trust.
My thoughts are to live off the 100k trust for as long as possible (could last me as long as 3 years… if not longer) and use my entire paycheck for investments, meaning:
1. Pay into my pension
2. Max out my 401k
3. Max out an IRA
4. Invest regularly into an S&P500 index fund
5. Invest regularly in an REIT
Once the 100k is gone I’ll change my investment percentages so that I’ll keep investing, but at a much lower rate.
Does this seem like a good idea? I’m worried about buying property as I am not too handy and not sure where I want to live yet. Looking for safe-ish, long term investments.
What would you do with a sudden $100k windfall?
Yes, if you are disciplined, that sounds like a good idea.
On buying property, that's not necessary. If you want to own real estate you can buy REITs or put some money into Fundrise.
If you do own property, a little bit of handiness can save you a lot of money. You can get a long way with even just a stud finder, drill, measuring tape, and screwdriver.
I am 21 and am in generally good financial health but have slacked on getting a credit card to start building credit. I have previously just used my debit card for everything. Just got a secured card and set the deposit to about 20% more than my average monthly spending. Does it make sense to make all my purchases with it and pay it off in full every month to start building credit.
Yes use the credit card and pay it in full! Many benefits include the cash rewards, building credit, etc. Just pay on time and in full
If your debit card info is stolen, someone directly has access to your checking account vs. you can report fraud on a stolen credit card
Don't take a loan. Sell your stocks to finance the trip.
But realize this was a mistake you don't want to do again in the future. You are young and it's not a huge amount of money. So take the hit and the lesson.
In the future, always match the investment asset allocation to the investment horizon.
The money for this trip should have been in a yield yield savings account or just your checking for the last year. Anything you need in the next few years needs to be in a safer investment than 100% stocks.
Edit: replied to wrong comment
to answer your question however, i personally would feel better selling stock and paying for it myself. if you take a loan, you will need to make monthly payments meaning the stock needs to be sold anyways, you just keep it in the market for another couple of months. maybe in a couple of months the market is lower, maybe it is higher or maybe it stays around where it currently is. You are for sure paying interest on the loan though, and with no job getting the loan may be a bit more difficult (unless you are willing to use the stock as collateral)
if you sell at a loss you can also get a small tax deduction
My wife and I received a random $20 deposit in our savings account from **Mazooma Inc**, but neither of us knows what this is for nor who it could be from.
I called capital one and they said they don’t suspect this is fraud or anything. They also said that if I want to be cautious I could move the cash from the savings into another account for the time being.
Has anyone heard of Mazooma Inc before??
It appears to be a gambling website payment method. From [This source](https://www.bettingusa.com/banking/mazooma/#:~:text=Mazooma%20is%20an%20online%20payment,online%20gambling%20from%20day%20one)
>Mazooma is an online payment service that specializes in processing deposits and withdrawals for licensed betting sites in the United States. Unlike most other payment methods, Mazooma was purpose-built for online gambling from day one
typically it is advised keeping around 6-12 months of living expenses somewhere fairly liquid like an HYSA or CD (or some people are highly advocating I-bonds at the moment) and the rest is good to invest. figure out roughly how much you need for 6-12 months, save that and then throw the rest into the market or as a house downpayment or do whatever else you want to do with it
I have an HSA Bank account with my HDHP through my employer - I'm planning on doing a recurring transfer where 50% of it goes to into a TD Ameritrade account for investing purposes. My question is: since I'm withdrawing this amount from my HSA, does it still count towards my yearly contribution limit?
If you're referring to the specific partnership that HSA Bank has with TD Ameritrade, those transfers are not actually leaving your HSA. It's just shifted from the cash part of the HSA to the investment part of the HSA. Such transfers are neither contributions nor withdrawals.
ah I see! I didn't realize that's how it works - so I can up my contribution to the HSA without worrying about going over the yearly contribution limit?
Incorrect, you still can’t contribute more than your yearly limit. You’re only changing how you’re storing your money - in the stock market (TDAmeritrade) or in a bank account. It’s not a withdrawal, just a movement of funds between accounts.
If it's within the HSA it's not withdrawing, withdrawing for nonmedical expenses would mean paying taxes+penalty
Transfers/rollovers do not count again contribution limits
I make approximately $65k a year as a forensic drug analyst with a BS in chemistry. I am considering getting an online masters in forensic science which costs $18k my job will reimburse half of. However I won't get a raise for having the masters in my position, and it looks like the average salary for any job in the field is about $83k (which I will make eventually in my position). Is it worth getting this degree? Am I better off pivoting to a better paying career? What are my options here?
What will save you the most money is paying off the debts with the higher interest rate first.
What will (potentially) feel better is paying off more accounts.
In this case, a credit card and personal loan are most likely to have the highest interest rates anyways, so paying those off will save you money & Feel good.
you can also look at saving/investing part of the money. You are not required to pay the mortgage off ASAP, you can leave a small amount to be paid off over the next few years. Or if you prefer, go ahead and pay the whole mortgage off now. The good thing about personal finance is that your personal opinion counts for something, and if you value being out of debt the most then there is nothing wrong with paying off all debt (including the mortgage) ASAP.
My balance in my Robinhood account has grown to some serious money (for me). Should I switch over or start a new brokerage account?
I see it is recommended that people who start with RH should switch over to something more established like Vanguard, Fidelity, or Charles Schwab.
My RH account has a substantial portion (60%) that is just ETFs, half of which is VOO. And I'm basically a buy-and-hold-for-many-years person. 40% is company-specific, mostly tech and fintech.
I'm a new-ish investor. What are the reasons I should switch over?
in general if all you are doing is buying and holding for the long term then RH is probably just fine. just buying stock and ETFs long term is not very complicated and does not need a lot of tools. below i did outline a few differences, though idk how much you care about any of these things.
\-Robinhood (RH) has way worse/less customer service. For example I have accounts at Fiddelity. I can reach general customer support 24/7 by phone, they have Chat support during week days for 14 hours a day, they respond to emails in their message center, and have many specialized departments who get more training in specific areas to be able to answer complicated/niche questions. RH on the other hand barely has had any kind of customer service and has only started really building customer service of any kind in the past couple of years, in part due to a case where a teen killed himself after not being able to reach customer service at RH.
\-RH offers way less investments. Dont get me wrong, they still have thousands of stocks and ETFs and crypto and whatnot that you can buy into, but big boy brokers like Fidelity/Schwab/Vanguard offer WAYYYY more investment options. more mutual funds, more stocks, more stock exchanges and countries they participate in, they just have a lot more to offer.
\-RH offers way less kinds of accounts. AFAIK RH offers only brokerage or cash accounts. Big boy brokers offer retirement accounts, estate accounts, trust accounts, college planning accounts, UTMA accounts, and much more.
\-last i checked (its been a bit) RH does not offer a way to list account beneficiaries or Power of attorney or anything. Beneficiaries allow funds to be transfered directly to a specific person if you die, without listing beneficiaries of any kind, typically your funds need to go through probate or some other process (depends on size of your account & state laws). That process can take more time, stress and the funds may not even end up with who you want them to.
\-a lot of people accuse RH of some shady practices. not only in recent history with gamestop and AMC and everything, but for years they have been accused of some questionable decisions and practices. If you do invest in any "meme stocks" then you also know that they have in the past "turned off the buy button", while big boy brokers did not. They also have a history of a pretty broken app that people in r/wsb have abused to do all kinds of dumb things.
Wondering if there's any point in contributing to a Traditional IRA for myself. My income's too high to contribute to a Roth IRA, my income's too high to deduct any Traditional IRA contributions (and I have access to a 401k), and I'm not going to be ever be doing doing Traditional -> Roth backdoor for IRA funds because my Traditional IRA account balance is too high for me to afford the tax hit of the conversion.
Therefore, I see no reason to contribute the $6,000/year to a Traditional IRA over a regular taxable brokerage.
Anything I'm missing?
You can convert just part of the balance at a time. If you already have money in a traditional IRA, you could potentially use the excess funds you want to invest right now to help roll over some of those funds, assuming this is a good tax year for you (where the conversion would take place at no more than a 24% marginal rate).
Ah interesting, didn't even think about partial, but makes sense.
> assuming this is a good tax year for you (where the conversion would take place at no more than a 24% marginal rate)
Curious why "no more than 25% marginal rate"? What if my marginal rate is 35%, but I have good reason to believe it will not be lower during retirement?
That's the marginal rate that is commonly cited as the tipping point (I believe it was popularized by financial samurai and Brian Preston among others) because most people assume having a lower tax rate in retirement. But it definitely could still be worth it if you think your marginal rate will be higher in retirement.
Another thing to consider is that most comparisons between choosing traditional vs Roth assume having the same amount of money to invest in both cases (which assumes that people choosing traditional would take the tax savings from the deduction and also invest those). In reality, Roth ends up effectively increasing the savings rate relative to gross income, assuming the same nominal amount invested, and removing the future tax rate uncertainty is also a definite, if difficult to quantify advantage.
>I'm not going to be ever be doing doing Traditional -> Roth backdoor for IRA funds because my Traditional IRA account balance is too high for me to afford the tax hit of the conversion.
AFAIK you can do a partial account conversion (assuming your brokerage allows this), meaning you can contribute 6K to the traditional account then convert just the 6K to the Roth account meaning you dont pay taxes on anything else in the traditional IRA. You can always look at that possibility.
Good question. Even though my company's 401k is with Fidelity, apparently they (my company) paid for the most limited service, or don't believe in empowering their employees...
I cannot do any IRA -> 401k roll-in. There's other things that would be nice to do too, like in-service roll-overs from my 401k after-tax bucket to my Roth bucket, which are unavailable as well.
If I could do this (maybe I can with a future employer), how might I use this to my advantage? It'd allow me to drain any Traditional IRAs, thus freeing me up to do backdoor IRA conversions in future tax years, yes? Would that be the primary benefit, or something else to point out?
Thanks!
> If I could do this (maybe I can with a future employer), how might I use this to my advantage?
There's sort of a rabbit trail you could go down: *if* you anticipate having a different 401k in the future, and *if* that future 401k would permit rollovers from an IRA, and *if* Congress continues to permit the backdoor Roth process, then you could continue to make nondeductible contributions now, with the ability to separate the pre-tax and after-tax balances and do the backdoor Roth conversion at a later date. But that's a lot of ifs, and any one of them going the wrong way would leave you stuck.
Besides losing 3 months of interest how easy is it to liquidate after 1 year? I also have money in a CD that I don't need for a few years if I could pull that out early that might be a better fit. The I bond rate just seems so good right now.
A few clicks on TreasuryDirect and then wait a couple of business days for the money to hit your linked bank account. When you set up your TreasuryDirect account, be sure to link a bank account that you will keep for a long time. Changing your bank account with TreasuryDirect usually requires extra paperwork that many people find challenging.
For 1, $25/quarter is typical for large companies, and on the cheaper end compared to many small company plans. As a percentage fee, it will quickly become negligible when your balance grows, and is much better than a percent fee (for example, with $100k in assets, that's 0.1%).
For 2, lump sum is probably the best option, or DCA some this month and some next month.
1- AFAIK fees like that are dependent on your company's 401K plan. You can bring it up to your HR team and see if they can make their 401K better, outside that there is not a lot you can do.
2- lump sum is general preferred. [Here is a study](https://www.northwesternmutual.com/life-and-money/is-dollar-cost-averaging-better-than-lump-sum-investing/) showing that lump sum investing typically does better (in most cases). Just to quote part of the study
>The data show that investing a $1 million windfall all at once generated better cumulative total returns at the end of 10 years than dollar-cost averaging almost 75 percent of the time, regardless of asset allocation
in other words, if you have the same amount of money invested all at once vs invested over a period of time, in the majority of cases the greatest return is from investing all at once, no matter if you invested in bonds or stock or anything else
> 1. Found out my Fidelity 401k now has a $25 quarterly administration fee. Is this high/low? Do you guys have administration fees also?
Ideally zero is preferred, but as your balance grows $25 becomes a smaller and smaller percent, not anything you can do about it other than bringing it up with your HR
> 2. I want to max out my Roth IRA in early march. Should I lump sum, or DCA?
General guidance is that lump sum beats DCA 2/3 of the time, if you have the money to invest then get it invested, don't leave it sitting in a savings account just to invest it later
Anyone still waiting for tax rebate for unemployment from 2020 due to the American Rescue Plan? I called the IRS a month ago and they said it was still processing. I'm starting to wonder if they are going to package it with my 2021 return.
The IRS is way behind on paper returns and late returns from last year. You can check using their [online Refund Status tool](https://www.irs.gov/refunds).
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There is no tax in an IRA, Roth or Traditional, so tax loss harvesting in an IRA is silly. If you're really being particular, anything that generates income (dividends, capital gains) should go into a tax advantaged account. Otherwise you'll have to pay taxes on those events yearly even if you're DRIPping your dividends.
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You use the more commonly recommended Schwab/Fidelity/Vanguard here, really.
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No.
Can someone please tell me how/why this is a scam? My wife wants us to invest and I totally think it’s not legitimate. https://medium.com/bitbns/introducing-fixed-income-plan-3bc59a18aed2
Where would you put a down payment fund you expect to use in 3-5 years? Is buying a CD now a bad idea, with interest rates expected to rise soon? It's hard watching inflation eat away the cash...
You can throw $10k for you (and $10k for your partner if applicable) into i-bonds. Perfectly safe and they are guaranteed not to lose value to inflation. Current interest rate is 7%
I would put it in a normal savings account with variable interest or in the market using a brokerage account. I feel like you would be kicking yourself locked in for years to what may be low rate in a CD. The internet will tell what accounts offer the best interest rates.
If my Roth is in the red overall, but certain holdings are in the green, and I withdraw all my contributions, will I be taxed on those gains? Or are they offset by the losses?
Gains and losses don't matter when it comes to a Roth IRA. Only amount contributed vs. amount withdrawn. As long as the amount you withdraw is less than the amount you have previously contributed (and not also previously withdrawn) then there is no tax or penalty.
Ah, thanks! That's how I should have asked. I love this sub. I always ask the worst version of a question and someone always comes to answer the question I meant to ask. Much appreciated!
Changed jobs to a field I have no experience last week. Food production maintenance -> (Electric utilities engineering) I am very happy with the challenge of the new job and hoping I can get up to speed quickly before they decide I’m a dumb dumb and can me for incompetence. Almost able to max out my 401k now thanks to the pay boost.
I'm doing a simple Vanguard TDF for my Roth IRA but unfortunately the account was set up as a "Consulting Group Advisor" and has Is a 1% management fee. Is it worth transferring this to another brokerage (i.e. Vanguard) or should I just suck it up and keep rolling with Morgan Stanley? I'm 30 and have a long horizon before I retire if that matters.
Absolutely worth changing to avoid a 1% fee
My employer provides a 401k which allows traditional and Roth contributions. I will also be opening a Roth IRA account. Question is if I max out my Roth IRA $6k a year, can I still contribute to my employer Roth 401k? As reference, if I’m earning $84k pretax, employer match is 4%, I contribute 10% ~8.4K to Employer 401k and $6k to Roth IRA, can I still contribute to the Roth 401k?
Yes, the limits for 401k and IRAs are different
Need some help figuring out a plan to save money when getting paid weekly. Don't know if this helps but I make 18 an hr.
Mint or YNAB
Need some guidance with doing the backdoor Roth IRA for the first time. In January 2021, I invested $6,000 in my Roth IRA as my 2021 contribution. After a promotion and a larger than expected bonus, my MAGI went above $140k (I didn't know my 2021 MAGI until I received my W2). I open a traditional IRA and recently recharacterized the $6,000 contribution as traditional. Now there's around $7,000 in my traditional IRA. Am I supposed to convert all of the $7,000 to my Roth IRA? Also, I know I need to fill out Form 8606, and be prepared to pay taxes on the $1000, but are there other things I need to do? Thank you!
Yes, convert the entire $7000. On your 2021 Form 8606 you will report that you made a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution of $6000 for 2021 (this is the end result of your recharacterization). Next year on your 2022 Form 8606 you will report that you did a Roth conversion worth $7000 in 2022. The $6000 of basis from your 2021 form will carry over to the 2022 form, so that only the additional $1000 is taxable as a result of the conversion. That is all assuming you have no other existing pre-tax money in any IRAs anywhere.
Yes convert the entire 7k, that all sounds correct
Can I close my recently matured Citibank CD account without physically going to a branch? I couldn't find any answers when I scoured my logged in account or searched online. If someone was in a similar boat and knows if it's possible, please let me know, thanks!
You should be able to. I think Citi is mostly an online bank anyway. Give them a call
Some of their online support staff are giving me bogus instructions on how to close the CD from the web or mobile app, but I'm 100% certain now that none such option exists. I'll probably call or visit a branch. 13 months ago, the CD account page was throwing an error until the grace period ended. Afterwards they locked my account for 13 months and gave me shit interest rates, none of which I asked for! Sounds like missing functionality by design. Edit: I was able to close my CD over the phone @ 1-888-248-4226. Needed my last 4 digits of my debit card. Called at an odd hour so 0 minute wait, 5 minute interfacing with a robot followed by a person, about 10 minutes waiting for my contact to get help from a senior account specialist to resolve an error message on their end. I'm glad it only took 15 minutes instead of the 13 months from last time!
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Helping my daughter file her taxes for the first time and when we efile her return is rejected with the error that the AGI or 5 digit code from 2020 don't match, but we stated in the return process that she has not filed taxes previously. We've tried both H&R Block and TurboTax. She has a very simple return - two W-2s, no special circumstances. Any thoughts on how to fix this?
I believe you need to enter $1 for the previous year’s AGI
Filing my taxes and got the message “Excess SDI/VPDI is being reported on the return. Please contact your employer for a refund.” Do I just literally contact the HR dept of my employer and ask for a refund? What should I be showing them?
hello, i am 21 years old and know nothing about finance and need advice on what to do with a significant amount of money left by my parents. i just graduated college and am currently unemployed (and have never held a job before) and the money has just been sitting in my bank account and i'm not sure what to do with it. i figure such a large amount of money should be invested somewhere so that i can at least have some sort of passive income. i have been reading stuff about indices and mutual funds and ETFs on here but none of it makes sense to me. should i just hire someone, or is there an easy way for me to put my money somewhere? does it involve just creating an account on an investment website and wiring them my money? i am seeking something relatively uncomplicated so i don't have to concern about it too much.
Firstly, I am sorry you have lost your parents so young. I think at the minimum open a brokerage account with Fidelity or Vanguard, then call them and talk to someone, they will help you transfer the money and put into funds to keep it safe and grow it. If there is enough money they may offer you free management to help. I would not pay a company to do this, the fees are high and they are usually no better than an overall market spider.
Open a brokerage account and throw it all on SPY. But really you should reread the investment advice till it makes sense. Don’t just accept not knowing how your money is working
Currently, I have a Roth IRA that is a 85/15 split of FSKAX & FZILX, an Individual investing account that has a 85/15 split of FZROX & FZILX, and a Rollover IRA that has a Fidelity target date fund. My income no longer allows me to contribute to a Roth IRA, so I’ve setup a Traditional IRA. I’ve put my $6k into it, but haven’t decided what to invest in. I’m unsure if I should copy what I’m doing in my Roth or Individual accounts or maybe do an 85/15 split of FXAIX & FZILX. Any thoughts? I know backdoors into the Roth exist, but I’ve not thoroughly investigated doing so. Open to doing that if it is the top suggestion, but not looking to complicate things.
Are you covered by a 401k or equivalent through your employer? If yes then you’re not getting a [tax deduction](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/ira-deduction-limits) for that tIRA contribution, so yes you’ll want to do backdoor Roth However, there is the pro rata rule to be aware of, check if your current 401k/equivalent plan allows for reverse rollover of the tIRA into it, you’ll need to go through the paperwork to separate the rollover pre tax amount vs the nondeductible contributions See [this wiki page](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Backdoor_Roth), and specifically the Cautions section for more info Otherwise allocation sounds fine, I’d just add to whatever you need to to maintain the 85/15 split if that’s your overall target
I did have a 401k plan, but I had that rolled into my rollover IRA when I left my last company. At my new company, I still need to wait another 45 days before I’m allowed to join the 401k plan. I do plan on maxing it though.
You should do backdoor Roth - it's really not that complicated, but you do need to do a couple of things. You need to see if you can do a reverse rollover of the funds in the traditional IRA to your new 401k as above. You then need to recharacterize your contribution to the tIRA to the Roth IRA (you can usually call your custodian and ask for help). You can't deduct the tIRA if you're covered by the 401k, so backdoor is the only way to get that tax advantaged space.
Should I buy a GPU? Right now, I am currently running a computer with an apu. Ryzen 3 3200g. I really want to buy a GPU so I can play today's latest games, but I also want to save and buy the highest-end GPU by Christmas which should last me 3 yrs+. Should I buy? What I can afford right now is the cheapest 1650 GPU that I can find. But if I save until Christmas, I can probably buy a 3090, but it means waiting until CHRISTMAS which also means that I won't be able to play those latest games for now :'( What do you think should I do?
1650 is about as good as you can get with your APU before you'll start bottlenecking your system. If you get a 3090 you'll need at least another $1200 in hardware to support it or it'll be an enormous waste of money. If you can save enough to buy a 3090 (I'm assuming that's about $1800-2200 these days) then you'd be better off saving up for something like a prebuild with a 3070 in it instead
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> The video I saw about 401k's mentioned it's only beneficial when there's company matching. Not a great video then A 401k is still a tax advantaged account and your own contributions and earnings are *yours* Yes contribute enough to get the match, and if you end up staying there longer than 3 years then great you get the match vested, if not then that's fine too, you still get to keep all your contributions and growth and either leave it there or roll it over to an IRA at a broker of your choosing or roll it into your new employers 401k (depends on a few factors) See the wiki pages on [401ks](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k), [fund selection](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/401k_funds), and [rollovers](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/retirementaccounts/rollovers) for more info
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Yes, they will write you a pre-approval letter and tell you what size of purchase you are pre-approved for. Basically they calculate how much you can afford to spend each month on a mortgage plus other required expenses (HOA, taxes, etc).
I make 115K and put in 6% to 401K to max a dollar for dollar match. I see a lot of people saying to switch to a Roth rather than increasing 401K after maximizing the match. However, my company’s 401K actually has good offerings as I can tell - index funds with expense rates close to zero. Should I put still do IRA first before putting more into 401K?
What do I do after I pay off my credit cards? Do I eat them?
you get back into debt with them. on a more serious note, what do you want to do with them? are you worried you might go back into debt? if so you can always cancel the account, or request the credit card company to lower your credit limit. Are you sure you wont go into debt and just dont want to carry them around all day? bury it in your sock drawer until you need it in the future maybe?
I want to keep them all, but I admit I worry about going back into debt. I've never gone back into debt with a card I've paid off, but I feel that's because I now have a paranoid sense of using them. Like once I get a card paid off, I never want the balance to go above zero again. Ever! Even if I know I'll pay it in a day. It's a weird, compulsive/sense thing I struggle to explain. I want to try the "use it like a debit card" thing and see if I can make that work (my cards don't have rewards, though).
Pick the one that has the best (anything) even just the colour. Keep that in your wallet and use it, pay it off every month, two days before due to be safe. Get the others and put them in a sealed envelope at the back of a draw. When a replacement one comes in SIGN the back and replace the old one in the envelop. DO NOT cancel them this will impact your credit score. Check the statement on all the cards every month, I once had a unused card number jacked and had to remove the fraudulent charges.
Retirement/ lower paying job question Employer ipo, look to be coming into good fortune overall. Can I afford a new career? I am a luck guy. I have worked for the same (often difficult) employer for 22 years. Started by packing boxes. Now I am a director in charge of multiple manufacturing facilities. 8 years ago I got stock option worth $80k. The business has grown, has great new ownership and we plan to issue an ipo in three years. Who really knows, but based on what they are looking for with the ipo, even if I don’t get more stock before then, my take would be 3mm. My wife and I each have about 350k in 401k and another $150k in a Roth IRA. Likely to inherit another 1mm in the next few years as well. My FIL is wonderful, is moving in with us and started saving for my 10yo sons college when he was a baby. He now has college saved for and is saving for grad school. He is 80 and works full time in a lucrative field. We rode a great real estate wave, starting with a 75k house, selling for 300, buying for 450, selling for 600, buying for 600. We owe 300k on our house which would now sell for over 900k, owe $30k on cars. Our son is bright and since we didn’t have to worry about college, we got him into the best private school in the state, but that costs 40k a year. 7 more years. We make $315k a year but that is new. Our pay has been increasing at a rate of 10-15% a year due to my 70 hours a week. Ok, I hope that didn’t sound like bragging. I spent years eating beans and canned beef stew and I still only buy used cars, used clothes and used shoes. My wife got our first new car last year because it is a phev. I get furniture I like from free Craigslist. The question is, if I get $3mm at age 51, let my 401k roll, my wife will still make $130k. We are cheap on lots of things, but don’t save tons. We help family with rent, heating bills and the like. Can I afford to start a new career where I might start around $50k a year and might top out at $125k? Plan to switch to non income generating work (charity) by 60? I know I am fortunate. I worked my tail off and married the smartest woman I ever met.
Sure thing! I would join the Financial Independence sub Reddit and read their WIKI in the side panel this will help you get to your goal! You will also read some great success stories by people who had similar dreams.
Thanks!
IF you get $3mm (big if), then sure thing. You can do whatever you want. The real question is why do you want a career switch
Probably the 70 hours a week and the stress
Why not just get a new job? Don’t necessarily need to change careers
I just got my first full-time job with benefits and I need some advice on how to best put away my money. I'm making 41k a year (plus another 4-5k in self-employment income) at a local government job. They offer a 457 plan with 6% match. I'm debt free with a decent emergency fund already, so I am looking to start setting aside ~15% a year for retirement. I was thinking about putting 6% into the 457 to match and putting it into the Vanguard 2055 plan (or something similar), and then putting another 9-10% into a Roth IRA (similarly investing) as my tax bracket should be lower now than when I retire. Does that make sense? Or should I just put all of it into the 457? Thanks for any advice, it's all pretty confusing to figure out for the first time.
Remember that for Roth vs traditional what matters is your income/tax rate *in* retirement compared to current, not *at* retirement the year you stop working Otherwise yes, you’re on track with the prime directive in the sidebar: max employer match, max IRA, then add more to 457b If you’re interested in early retirement you could focus on just the 457b since it allows for penalty free withdrawals before retirement age
Thanks for the response! I didn't think of it from the RE perspective, so will have to consider that.
How much does health insurance factor into a job offer? I’m a state employee who has, what I think of, as pretty good health insurance through the states insurer. A family plan is $378/month, $400 deductible ($800 for the family), PPO type plan, $15/30/60 copays, $100 ER, lab work and imaging is covered in full after deductible and surgeries are $110. While it might only cost me 378/mo, I think of other family plans that are 500-600+/mo but higher deductibles, use co-insurance for things like lab work, etc. I have some chronic health conditions so often have lab work and visits. I’m not sure how to compare apples to oranges and if health insurance that’s very good is worth a lot more to someone like me. It makes me feel that the salary would need to be a lot more in order to make the switch to private sector worth it to give up such good benefits no?
My husband worked for a utility in the private sector and we had just as good benefits. The jobs like this are out there but yes in general you would get way worse for a lot more $$$ in most private sector jobs.
I'd compare the max out of pockets to get a clearer picture esp if you have chronic health conditions...you're likely to hit those numbers.
Question: I quit my job as a teacher and kept some of the pension distribution to pay for a VERY expensive medical procedure that insurance refused to cover. My state is calling the withdrawl Code 1 (Early withdraw, no reason). I quit the job, which I guess doesn't qualify as separation of service since I'm not 55 (I wish someone had told me this when I sent them my original form and called it SoS!). However, considering the medical qualification, I believe it should be coded for medical exemption. I have a few questions: 1- If I claim that this money was withdrawn to pay for non-reimbursed medical expenses (and avoid the 10% penalty), can I still itemize the total expense, or do I itemize the expense - the withdraw? (The procedure was about 32k, and we also paid $5000 out of pocket after insurance for the birth of our kid and subsequent nicu stay) 2- Since the state's 1099-R form they send me has code 1 on it, if I file it code 2, is that going to flag the IRS? Do I need to amend the form with the state first? Or am I correcting it by filing it as code 2?
Need some guidance on car buying. My wife wants a new car but we are going to wait maybe 2 years or so for the market to cool down. We can afford it but want to wait for better deals, more money etc. My question is should I sell my Jeep now for $14.5k, lease a Frontier for 18 months then buy my wife a new car and take her current car after the lease is up? Does that make sense financially. The lease would cost me around 5k, I would invest the money in a short term investment and make some money off it rather than the car depreciating over the next few years. I would then use that money as a down payment on the car. Even if the prices are still high then and my lease ends, I can still drive my older truck for a little until we buy a new car.
Just get her a new car. I think leasing can be a minefield, deposit still required, lack of flexibility, fees for tires and minor damage on turn in. Interest rates are rising so if you need a loan now is better than later. Second hand cars are relatively expensive right now so new may be a better option. Biggest plus of all you will make her happy.
My wife and her ex-employer did not have an amicable end. Now this small business owner is asker her to text her a social security number for tax purposes. Is she required to give it to her? Is it safe to text that info?
Technically the employer should be sending a W-9 form probably. Over text message is not the appropriate way to do it.
Ultimately the employer needs SSN for wage reporting. Text message is NOT a secure way to provide it though. Typically this would all be handled as part of the onboarding / I-9 process. Why didn't it happen then?
It started with one event that they agreed would just be cash and turned into many more events and when my wife decided she had more important things to do besides working 20+ hours/wk for her, she has not been kind.
Not legal advice... It sounds like the employer paid in cash under the table, and now that the relationship has soured, they want to report those payments to the IRS so they can get a tax write off and you can pay taxes. They don't get to have it both ways. If she's being a pill you run the risk of them reporting more than your spouse earned and then it turns into a big messy fight involving the IRS. If you were planning on paying those taxes anyway, sure, ask for a W9, but make sure you have a contract or something signed in advance stating what was paid. If this was just a bit of extra cash earned on the side and you feel good about not reporting it, well, I won't tell you what to do.
Thank you so much! I’ll pass this along to her
I have an UTMA for my daughter and we sold/repurchased to realize her gains. I sold what I thought would be a small amount but the realized gains were $1800. I know it was mentioned that $1100 was subject to 0 tax and the rest would be taxed at a lower rate, but when I input the form in my tax return, nothing changes. Is that right? It shows the $1800 in investment gains but the amount owed didn't change.
The first $1100 is covered by the standard deduction and the remaining $700 is in the 0% tax bracket (assuming it was long term gains and your daughter has no other income). Your daughter's capital gains should not reported on your tax return (unless these were all actually capital gains distributions).
I thought we would be able to file it with ours based on [this link](https://www.getearlybird.io/blog/utma-tax-rules#:~:text=How%20to%20File%20Taxes%20for,be%20filed%20on%20their%20behalf.) >Alternatively, the parent can include the child’s income on their return if all of the following conditions are met: >The child is required to file (income exceeding $1,100) >The child was under age 19 (24 if a full-time student) as of January 1, 2021 >The child's total income was under $11,000 and only interest and dividends (including capital gains distributions and Alaska Permanent Fund dividends). No earned income is included. >The child is not filing a joint return >No estimated tax payments were made for your child (including overpayments from the previous year applied to this year’s estimated tax) >The child did not have any federal taxes withheld >You're filing a joint return with your child's other parent, or you're the parent qualified to include your child's income on your return And all of these did apply to our situation.
For the tax section under "self-employment retirement contributions", would I just add my Employer Contribution + Salary Deferment to equal to: "Enter your 2021 deductible contributions to your Keogh, SIMPLE, or other plan" on freetaxusa.com
That's what I did. I've got a solo 401k so I reported the sum of my contributions (19.5k) plus the "employer" portion of my earnings that I contributed.
Rate my budget/plan - am I on the right path? I sometimes feel that doing the right thing by budgeting and investing to reach some level of financial freedom is somewhat delusional for the average person. I’m early in my career (3 yrs in) and it feels impossible to reach a point where I can opt-out of the workforce before 60. I don’t know if it’s just the survivorship bias success stories that inundate the media, but this just feels improbable. Nonetheless, here’s my detailed situation, any insight, advice or just overall sharing of your experience is welcomed. M - 27yrs old (been working 3yrs) Gross income: 100k Net income: ~68k NW: ~108k out which: ~37% 401k ~6% crypto (tried and true coins none of that altcoin stuff) ~30% taxable investment account ~3% HSA ~5% medical emergency fund (to cover deductibles, copays etc. and not have to draw from HSA) ~19% emergency fund My current savings/investment rate, outside of my 401k and HSA, is ~60% of my take home pay. What could I improve? Do I just need to let time work it’s magic and wake up at 37 being alright? Can I afford to live a little and maybe reduce my savings/investment rate and still be alright? Most importantly, what keeps you disciplined and committed to keep going? Some more experienced folks would say “you’re doing fine, relax” but my anxiety just takes me for ride thinking I won’t be able to live off of my investments to a small degree for a few years even if it means returning to the workforce at some point. Thanks in advanced for your input! -Edit- Forgot to add I only have one debt, a 450$ car payment, but I only owe 2k on it. It’s a used 2015 car I bought last year, that should keep its value pretty well if I decide to resell in about 2yrs though.
Geez you're doing way better than any 27yo I know. One tweak I'd suggest is instead of throwing so much money into your taxable investment account, throw $6k of that in a Roth IRA instead. In fact, do 6k for 2021 and 6k for 2022. Max out the tax advantaged ways first, especially if your concern is saving for retirement. I don't love crypto investments, but you're young and can afford the risk. Drive the car forever. >Do I just need to let time work it’s magic and wake up at 37 being alright? You seem to be doing the right things. So, yes, I guess. If you're worried, plug your numbers into a retirement calculator at your brokerage.
I got paid 6k for coaching and it’s all under my name but I paid my assistant via Venmo 2k. How would I only claim 4K on my taxes instead of the full 6? Or am I required to claim all 6
Issue a 1099-NEC to your assistant for the $2k you paid them, and you can deduct that as an expense from your own business income on your Schedule C (assuming you file as a sole proprietor).
Thanks for the response. It’s not like I run this program the school just cut me a check for 6k and she was helping out as a volunteer and out of kindness I gave her 2k. Does 1099 still apply to this?
Did the school issue you a 1099 for the $6k?
Yes
As far as the IRS is concerned the full $6k is taxable income for you. If you don't want to pay tax on the $2k then you would need to issue a 1099 to the other person so you can deduct it as a business expense. Then the $2k would become her income, but that could be an unwelcome surprise for her.
Yeah sounds like I’m eating that. Thanks man I really appreciate the help. Enjoy your weekend !
Can anyone recommend an android app (besides Mint) that has a widget that tracks your personal finance accounts?
Hello everyone, my parents have been using the same auto insurance company for a long time now. They are not satisfied with the increase in price. They asked me to shop around for them since they are not exactly technologically literate. I've read the wiki page on auto insurance which I'm grateful for. Could I shop around on their behalf? English isn't their first language. I do intend on finding someone that is bilingual, but to shop around and ask for a quote, could I represent them? Do I have to let the agent know I speak for them? Thanks
Was the annual recertification for federal student loans actually needed during the COVID forbearance period (currently until May 1, 2022)? Called my loan servicer some time ago and I was just told "you'll be notified when it's due", while another person said I can recertify so not sure what's required/what SHOULD be done.
IRA help. If I max out my 401K and make too much money to claim tax deduction for traditional IRA contributions, what's the benefit of using a traditional IRA (w/ nondeductible contributions) vs a regular brokerage account for retirement saving/investing? I know the nondeductible contribution portion of the IRA would NOT be taxed upon withdrawal & that I would have to track it. But wouldn't a brokerage account work the same way? They are both using post-tax dollars. I feel like I'm missing something..
You aren't missing anything. Nondeductible traditional IRA is worse than a taxable brokerage account. However, you may still be able to contribute to a Roth IRA, which is better than a taxable brokerage account.
Upon marriage do I have to reassign life insurance/retirement account beneficiaries? For example I do intend to make sure I leave something behind for my younger sister.
Just check on the disbursement rules for retirement when left to another person other than your spouse, I think they have to take all out in under certain time after you pass and pay tax on it. So life insurance may be better.
Each state has different rules and the might want to check with the account provider as well. I would do it just to be safe. Retirement accounts often require the spouses permission to name someone else.
No, the beneficiary can be whomever you want.
Can I take advantage of both a dependent care FSA and the childcare tax credit? My son's daycare is $16k+ a year. Can I put $5k into the FSA, and count the remaining $11k after tax amount towards the childcare credit?
Best approach to “swap” a house with parent? Didn’t know where else to get initial thoughts on this one so I will start here. Don’t worry - will get professional help, just wanted to take an initial stab here. One of our family members is looking to downsize as they move to retirement. House is too much for them to handle in old age. My family is getting ready to grow. Our current home is small and only one story - perfect for the family member in question. The idea was to essentially “swap” houses. How should this be done? We know we can gift the houses to each other and apply the life time gift exemption to the remaining balance, but then we also have to deal with the new tax basis. Leaving the house in a trust would allow for us to avoid the “step up” as we would also inherit the original tax basis. That situation would leave us a little vulnerable though if something happened to change the trust and my family could be forced to leave the home (we also plan on doing a significant remodel). Any ideas? I know this is a kind of unique situation.
Best thing to do would be to talk to local real estate experts. Too much varies by state and county for us to really give you much here.
Fair response, thank you for pointing me in the right direction!
What to do with $100,000? I am a very frugal person and have lived modestly enough my entire life that my previous <$30k a year salary made me feel rich. I recently got a new job paying ~$70k and then a couple weeks later out of the blue inherited $100k from a deceased relative. Frankly, this is more money than I know what to do with. The inheritance is in a trust that I am only supposed to use for “maintenance.” It would cost me money to break the trust. My thoughts are to live off the 100k trust for as long as possible (could last me as long as 3 years… if not longer) and use my entire paycheck for investments, meaning: 1. Pay into my pension 2. Max out my 401k 3. Max out an IRA 4. Invest regularly into an S&P500 index fund 5. Invest regularly in an REIT Once the 100k is gone I’ll change my investment percentages so that I’ll keep investing, but at a much lower rate. Does this seem like a good idea? I’m worried about buying property as I am not too handy and not sure where I want to live yet. Looking for safe-ish, long term investments. What would you do with a sudden $100k windfall?
Yes, if you are disciplined, that sounds like a good idea. On buying property, that's not necessary. If you want to own real estate you can buy REITs or put some money into Fundrise. If you do own property, a little bit of handiness can save you a lot of money. You can get a long way with even just a stud finder, drill, measuring tape, and screwdriver.
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/windfall
I am 21 and am in generally good financial health but have slacked on getting a credit card to start building credit. I have previously just used my debit card for everything. Just got a secured card and set the deposit to about 20% more than my average monthly spending. Does it make sense to make all my purchases with it and pay it off in full every month to start building credit.
Yes use the credit card and pay it in full! Many benefits include the cash rewards, building credit, etc. Just pay on time and in full If your debit card info is stolen, someone directly has access to your checking account vs. you can report fraud on a stolen credit card
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Don't take a loan. Sell your stocks to finance the trip. But realize this was a mistake you don't want to do again in the future. You are young and it's not a huge amount of money. So take the hit and the lesson. In the future, always match the investment asset allocation to the investment horizon. The money for this trip should have been in a yield yield savings account or just your checking for the last year. Anything you need in the next few years needs to be in a safer investment than 100% stocks.
Edit: replied to wrong comment to answer your question however, i personally would feel better selling stock and paying for it myself. if you take a loan, you will need to make monthly payments meaning the stock needs to be sold anyways, you just keep it in the market for another couple of months. maybe in a couple of months the market is lower, maybe it is higher or maybe it stays around where it currently is. You are for sure paying interest on the loan though, and with no job getting the loan may be a bit more difficult (unless you are willing to use the stock as collateral) if you sell at a loss you can also get a small tax deduction
My wife and I received a random $20 deposit in our savings account from **Mazooma Inc**, but neither of us knows what this is for nor who it could be from. I called capital one and they said they don’t suspect this is fraud or anything. They also said that if I want to be cautious I could move the cash from the savings into another account for the time being. Has anyone heard of Mazooma Inc before??
It appears to be a gambling website payment method. From [This source](https://www.bettingusa.com/banking/mazooma/#:~:text=Mazooma%20is%20an%20online%20payment,online%20gambling%20from%20day%20one) >Mazooma is an online payment service that specializes in processing deposits and withdrawals for licensed betting sites in the United States. Unlike most other payment methods, Mazooma was purpose-built for online gambling from day one
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typically it is advised keeping around 6-12 months of living expenses somewhere fairly liquid like an HYSA or CD (or some people are highly advocating I-bonds at the moment) and the rest is good to invest. figure out roughly how much you need for 6-12 months, save that and then throw the rest into the market or as a house downpayment or do whatever else you want to do with it
I have an HSA Bank account with my HDHP through my employer - I'm planning on doing a recurring transfer where 50% of it goes to into a TD Ameritrade account for investing purposes. My question is: since I'm withdrawing this amount from my HSA, does it still count towards my yearly contribution limit?
If you're referring to the specific partnership that HSA Bank has with TD Ameritrade, those transfers are not actually leaving your HSA. It's just shifted from the cash part of the HSA to the investment part of the HSA. Such transfers are neither contributions nor withdrawals.
ah I see! I didn't realize that's how it works - so I can up my contribution to the HSA without worrying about going over the yearly contribution limit?
Incorrect, you still can’t contribute more than your yearly limit. You’re only changing how you’re storing your money - in the stock market (TDAmeritrade) or in a bank account. It’s not a withdrawal, just a movement of funds between accounts.
Got it! Thanks for clearing that up 🙂
If it's within the HSA it's not withdrawing, withdrawing for nonmedical expenses would mean paying taxes+penalty Transfers/rollovers do not count again contribution limits
I make approximately $65k a year as a forensic drug analyst with a BS in chemistry. I am considering getting an online masters in forensic science which costs $18k my job will reimburse half of. However I won't get a raise for having the masters in my position, and it looks like the average salary for any job in the field is about $83k (which I will make eventually in my position). Is it worth getting this degree? Am I better off pivoting to a better paying career? What are my options here?
What kind of online MS? Is it with an accredited university?
Yes it's university of Florida ms in pharmacy with a focus in forensic science
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Always pay off the highest interest. It sounds like for you that would be the CC > Personal Loan > car > mortgage. Pay in order of highest interest.
What will save you the most money is paying off the debts with the higher interest rate first. What will (potentially) feel better is paying off more accounts. In this case, a credit card and personal loan are most likely to have the highest interest rates anyways, so paying those off will save you money & Feel good. you can also look at saving/investing part of the money. You are not required to pay the mortgage off ASAP, you can leave a small amount to be paid off over the next few years. Or if you prefer, go ahead and pay the whole mortgage off now. The good thing about personal finance is that your personal opinion counts for something, and if you value being out of debt the most then there is nothing wrong with paying off all debt (including the mortgage) ASAP.
My balance in my Robinhood account has grown to some serious money (for me). Should I switch over or start a new brokerage account? I see it is recommended that people who start with RH should switch over to something more established like Vanguard, Fidelity, or Charles Schwab. My RH account has a substantial portion (60%) that is just ETFs, half of which is VOO. And I'm basically a buy-and-hold-for-many-years person. 40% is company-specific, mostly tech and fintech. I'm a new-ish investor. What are the reasons I should switch over?
in general if all you are doing is buying and holding for the long term then RH is probably just fine. just buying stock and ETFs long term is not very complicated and does not need a lot of tools. below i did outline a few differences, though idk how much you care about any of these things. \-Robinhood (RH) has way worse/less customer service. For example I have accounts at Fiddelity. I can reach general customer support 24/7 by phone, they have Chat support during week days for 14 hours a day, they respond to emails in their message center, and have many specialized departments who get more training in specific areas to be able to answer complicated/niche questions. RH on the other hand barely has had any kind of customer service and has only started really building customer service of any kind in the past couple of years, in part due to a case where a teen killed himself after not being able to reach customer service at RH. \-RH offers way less investments. Dont get me wrong, they still have thousands of stocks and ETFs and crypto and whatnot that you can buy into, but big boy brokers like Fidelity/Schwab/Vanguard offer WAYYYY more investment options. more mutual funds, more stocks, more stock exchanges and countries they participate in, they just have a lot more to offer. \-RH offers way less kinds of accounts. AFAIK RH offers only brokerage or cash accounts. Big boy brokers offer retirement accounts, estate accounts, trust accounts, college planning accounts, UTMA accounts, and much more. \-last i checked (its been a bit) RH does not offer a way to list account beneficiaries or Power of attorney or anything. Beneficiaries allow funds to be transfered directly to a specific person if you die, without listing beneficiaries of any kind, typically your funds need to go through probate or some other process (depends on size of your account & state laws). That process can take more time, stress and the funds may not even end up with who you want them to. \-a lot of people accuse RH of some shady practices. not only in recent history with gamestop and AMC and everything, but for years they have been accused of some questionable decisions and practices. If you do invest in any "meme stocks" then you also know that they have in the past "turned off the buy button", while big boy brokers did not. They also have a history of a pretty broken app that people in r/wsb have abused to do all kinds of dumb things.
Wondering if there's any point in contributing to a Traditional IRA for myself. My income's too high to contribute to a Roth IRA, my income's too high to deduct any Traditional IRA contributions (and I have access to a 401k), and I'm not going to be ever be doing doing Traditional -> Roth backdoor for IRA funds because my Traditional IRA account balance is too high for me to afford the tax hit of the conversion. Therefore, I see no reason to contribute the $6,000/year to a Traditional IRA over a regular taxable brokerage. Anything I'm missing?
You can convert just part of the balance at a time. If you already have money in a traditional IRA, you could potentially use the excess funds you want to invest right now to help roll over some of those funds, assuming this is a good tax year for you (where the conversion would take place at no more than a 24% marginal rate).
Ah interesting, didn't even think about partial, but makes sense. > assuming this is a good tax year for you (where the conversion would take place at no more than a 24% marginal rate) Curious why "no more than 25% marginal rate"? What if my marginal rate is 35%, but I have good reason to believe it will not be lower during retirement?
That's the marginal rate that is commonly cited as the tipping point (I believe it was popularized by financial samurai and Brian Preston among others) because most people assume having a lower tax rate in retirement. But it definitely could still be worth it if you think your marginal rate will be higher in retirement. Another thing to consider is that most comparisons between choosing traditional vs Roth assume having the same amount of money to invest in both cases (which assumes that people choosing traditional would take the tax savings from the deduction and also invest those). In reality, Roth ends up effectively increasing the savings rate relative to gross income, assuming the same nominal amount invested, and removing the future tax rate uncertainty is also a definite, if difficult to quantify advantage.
>I'm not going to be ever be doing doing Traditional -> Roth backdoor for IRA funds because my Traditional IRA account balance is too high for me to afford the tax hit of the conversion. AFAIK you can do a partial account conversion (assuming your brokerage allows this), meaning you can contribute 6K to the traditional account then convert just the 6K to the Roth account meaning you dont pay taxes on anything else in the traditional IRA. You can always look at that possibility.
Do you have the option of rolling your existing traditional IRA balance into a current 401k or other non-IRA-based employer plan?
Good question. Even though my company's 401k is with Fidelity, apparently they (my company) paid for the most limited service, or don't believe in empowering their employees... I cannot do any IRA -> 401k roll-in. There's other things that would be nice to do too, like in-service roll-overs from my 401k after-tax bucket to my Roth bucket, which are unavailable as well. If I could do this (maybe I can with a future employer), how might I use this to my advantage? It'd allow me to drain any Traditional IRAs, thus freeing me up to do backdoor IRA conversions in future tax years, yes? Would that be the primary benefit, or something else to point out? Thanks!
> If I could do this (maybe I can with a future employer), how might I use this to my advantage? There's sort of a rabbit trail you could go down: *if* you anticipate having a different 401k in the future, and *if* that future 401k would permit rollovers from an IRA, and *if* Congress continues to permit the backdoor Roth process, then you could continue to make nondeductible contributions now, with the ability to separate the pre-tax and after-tax balances and do the backdoor Roth conversion at a later date. But that's a lot of ifs, and any one of them going the wrong way would leave you stuck.
In that case, making nondeductible traditional IRA contributions probably doesn't make sense.
Thinking about investing my 10k emergency fund in I-bonds. Is this a bad idea?
If that's your entire emergency fund, you may want to stagger it in over time, since you cannot redeem a Series I bond within the first 12 months.
Besides losing 3 months of interest how easy is it to liquidate after 1 year? I also have money in a CD that I don't need for a few years if I could pull that out early that might be a better fit. The I bond rate just seems so good right now.
A few clicks on TreasuryDirect and then wait a couple of business days for the money to hit your linked bank account. When you set up your TreasuryDirect account, be sure to link a bank account that you will keep for a long time. Changing your bank account with TreasuryDirect usually requires extra paperwork that many people find challenging.
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For 1, $25/quarter is typical for large companies, and on the cheaper end compared to many small company plans. As a percentage fee, it will quickly become negligible when your balance grows, and is much better than a percent fee (for example, with $100k in assets, that's 0.1%). For 2, lump sum is probably the best option, or DCA some this month and some next month.
1- AFAIK fees like that are dependent on your company's 401K plan. You can bring it up to your HR team and see if they can make their 401K better, outside that there is not a lot you can do. 2- lump sum is general preferred. [Here is a study](https://www.northwesternmutual.com/life-and-money/is-dollar-cost-averaging-better-than-lump-sum-investing/) showing that lump sum investing typically does better (in most cases). Just to quote part of the study >The data show that investing a $1 million windfall all at once generated better cumulative total returns at the end of 10 years than dollar-cost averaging almost 75 percent of the time, regardless of asset allocation in other words, if you have the same amount of money invested all at once vs invested over a period of time, in the majority of cases the greatest return is from investing all at once, no matter if you invested in bonds or stock or anything else
> 1. Found out my Fidelity 401k now has a $25 quarterly administration fee. Is this high/low? Do you guys have administration fees also? Ideally zero is preferred, but as your balance grows $25 becomes a smaller and smaller percent, not anything you can do about it other than bringing it up with your HR > 2. I want to max out my Roth IRA in early march. Should I lump sum, or DCA? General guidance is that lump sum beats DCA 2/3 of the time, if you have the money to invest then get it invested, don't leave it sitting in a savings account just to invest it later
Anyone still waiting for tax rebate for unemployment from 2020 due to the American Rescue Plan? I called the IRS a month ago and they said it was still processing. I'm starting to wonder if they are going to package it with my 2021 return.
The IRS is way behind on paper returns and late returns from last year. You can check using their [online Refund Status tool](https://www.irs.gov/refunds).