Personal Finance Advice and Education! (4 Viewers)

[bcat01]

Mailed my paper 1040 two weeks ago and my refund is set to deposit on the 8th. Maybe the IRS is efficient.

 

[Buckna]

Fastest refund i’ve ever gotten this year I believe. File date Friday, March 21st, Hit my account on Wed, April 2nd. 8 Bus Days

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Anyone have experience in raw undeveloped land? I own a decently sized parcel in upper midwest farm country and currently lease a portion to a farmer, maybe 10-15%. The rest is high quality hardwood (mostly maple), softwood (white cedar, spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam). I had the hardwood select cut and a lot of the pine cleared maybe 10 years ago (great profit, but really only a windfall every 20 years or so, though I'm not sure I'll ever do another tree harvest in my lifetime unless disease, natural disaster make it necessary). I understand today's valuation, but haven't come across a good way to calculate a return over the next 10, 20, 30 years (no plans on selling, but like to know future worth). I've gone with a 2% annual return for projections, but that seems low. Anyway just curious if anyone has any experience buying, selling, projecting worth. It's a nice addition to my portfolio, but trickier to run future returns on its overall value.

 

[The Z Machine]

OK, all the positions in the Managed IRA were liquidated and moved to a Self-Directed IRA. It wasn't as simple as handing over control and removing fees. A new account needed to be created. Which means new RMD management, new beneficiaries, etc.

Here's the positions that were liquidated:

Asset Name	Asset Type	As % of Total
VANGUARD COMMODITY STRATEGY FD ADMIRAL (VCMDX)	Commodities Broad Basket	0.36%
ISHARES 0-5 YEAR TIPS BOND ETF (STIP)	Short Term Gov. Bonds	2.00%
FID SAI INFLATION PROTECTED BOND INDEX (FSPWX)	Inflation Protected Bonds	1.87%
STRATEGIC ADVISERS CORE INCOME FUND (FPCIX)	Intermediate Core-Plus Bond	47.14%
STRATEGIC ADVISERS INCOME OPPORTUNITIES (FPIOX)	High Yield Bonds	0.54%
STRATEGIC ADVISERS INTERNATIONAL FUND (FILFX)	Foreign Large Blend Stock	6.55%
STRATEGIC ADVISERS EMERGING MARKETS (FSAMX)	Diversified Emerging Mkts Equities	2.98%
STRATEGIC ADVISERS SHORT DURATION FUND (FAUDX)	Ultrashort Bonds	11.24%
STRATEGIC ADVISERS ALTERNATIVES FUND (FSLTX)	Alternative Fund?	5.47%
STRATEGIC ADVISORS U.S. TOTAL STOCK FD (FSAKX)	Large Blend Stock	21.37%
FIDELITY SAI CANADA EQUITY INDEX FUND (FSCJX)	Canadian Stock	0.27%
COHEN & STEERS REALTY SHARES (CSRSX)	Real Estate	0.20%
Total		100.00%

Looks like it was about 63% Bonds, 10% Foreign Stock, and 21% Domestic Stock, 6% "other". As I suspected, this is too conservative IMO and really missed out on some of the stock run-up in the last 3 years.

Also, I note that the majority of the money (97%) was in Fidelity funds. I'm a big Vanguard guy and I bet that the Expense Ratios on the Fidelity funds were not small. Take FSAKX, whish is broad US stock fund at 0.24% Expense Ratio, which tracks the broad US stock market. Compare that to SPY, which has an expense ratio of 0.09%. For a broad market tracker fund, why wouldn't you want the lowest Expense Ratio? Maybe the Fidelity advisors were directed to use Fidelity funds?? Feels like self-dealing to me.

Since taking control of her IRA on Feb 18, her portfolio is down *only* -1.28%. I haven't run the numbers vs. the portfolio above, but I feel OK about not being down even more. SP500 is down 8.2% since that date.

Went with a "Golden Butterfly" type portfolio, but when the stock market started tanking about 10 days ago, I sold half of her stake in SP500 tracker (SPLG) and Small Cap Value (VBR) and put half of that into International Equity (VPL) and left the other half in cash. Biggest saving grace here is 20% in Gold ETF (GLDM), which has increased 1.72% since Feb 18.

OK, I did a full analysis on where the portfolio was when she left the managed IRA and where it is now. Obviously, it's a good think that I sold off half the position that was exposed to the US stock market, as it's gone horribly since then. I converted over on Feb 18, which might be near the peak of the SP500. Here's the results of the work:

Old, Managed portfolio: -3.53% since Feb 18.
Golden Butterfly unmodified: -5.62%
Z Modified Golden Butterfly: -3.48%

So my small adjustment to reduce exposure to US stocks, helped preserve something like 2% and kept the portfolio slightly ahead of the managed portfolio. No idea what the managers would have done during this time. They may have pulled some out of the equities just like I did. Overall, they did have her in a pretty good place to see this sort of downturn.

 

[-OZ-]

Anyone have experience in raw undeveloped land? I own a decently sized parcel in upper midwest farm country and currently lease a portion to a farmer, maybe 10-15%. The rest is high quality hardwood (mostly maple), softwood (white cedar, spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam). I had the hardwood select cut and a lot of the pine cleared maybe 10 years ago (great profit, but really only a windfall every 20 years or so, though I'm not sure I'll ever do another tree harvest in my lifetime unless disease, natural disaster make it necessary). I understand today's valuation, but haven't come across a good way to calculate a return over the next 10, 20, 30 years (no plans on selling, but like to know future worth). I've gone with a 2% annual return for projections, but that seems low. Anyway just curious if anyone has any experience buying, selling, projecting worth. It's a nice addition to my portfolio, but trickier to run future returns on its overall value.

It’s speculation imo. We bought 7 acres in Tennessee, near a lake, which we intended to build on but later decided to sell. Bought in 2009, sold in 2021 (iirc), it grew 12% total. So less than 1% annually.
It’s entirely possible we spent too much when we bought, although we did get the seller to knock 33% off the listed price. We had this on the market for over a year, eventually another RE agent bought it, allegedly for his own use - that’s what our agent told us and we haven’t seen it relisted so that appears to be true or he’s holding longer than a few years.

But, if we had bought the same land in an area that developed, we’d have made out big time.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Anyone have experience in raw undeveloped land? I own a decently sized parcel in upper midwest farm country and currently lease a portion to a farmer, maybe 10-15%. The rest is high quality hardwood (mostly maple), softwood (white cedar, spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam). I had the hardwood select cut and a lot of the pine cleared maybe 10 years ago (great profit, but really only a windfall every 20 years or so, though I'm not sure I'll ever do another tree harvest in my lifetime unless disease, natural disaster make it necessary). I understand today's valuation, but haven't come across a good way to calculate a return over the next 10, 20, 30 years (no plans on selling, but like to know future worth). I've gone with a 2% annual return for projections, but that seems low. Anyway just curious if anyone has any experience buying, selling, projecting worth. It's a nice addition to my portfolio, but trickier to run future returns on its overall value.

It’s speculation imo. We bought 7 acres in Tennessee, near a lake, which we intended to build on but later decided to sell. Bought in 2009, sold in 2021 (iirc), it grew 12% total. So less than 1% annually.
It’s entirely possible we spent too much when we bought, although we did get the seller to knock 33% off the listed price. We had this on the market for over a year, eventually another RE agent bought it, allegedly for his own use - that’s what our agent told us and we haven’t seen it relisted so that appears to be true or he’s holding longer than a few years.

But, if we had bought the same land in an area that developed, we’d have made out big time.

Ok, that kind of makes my 2% annual return seem to hold up. I'm in the heart of deer hunting country (so recreation property) and it's also farm land, though not designated in anyway. Similar properties in the area will go for 2k an acre, and with some of the improvements I've made over the years i believe it'll keep pace or exceed that with whatever the market does as demand for these kinds of properties increases and they become more rare. Thanks, that helps confirm what i kind of already thought

 

[-OZ-]

Anyone have experience in raw undeveloped land? I own a decently sized parcel in upper midwest farm country and currently lease a portion to a farmer, maybe 10-15%. The rest is high quality hardwood (mostly maple), softwood (white cedar, spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam). I had the hardwood select cut and a lot of the pine cleared maybe 10 years ago (great profit, but really only a windfall every 20 years or so, though I'm not sure I'll ever do another tree harvest in my lifetime unless disease, natural disaster make it necessary). I understand today's valuation, but haven't come across a good way to calculate a return over the next 10, 20, 30 years (no plans on selling, but like to know future worth). I've gone with a 2% annual return for projections, but that seems low. Anyway just curious if anyone has any experience buying, selling, projecting worth. It's a nice addition to my portfolio, but trickier to run future returns on its overall value.

It’s speculation imo. We bought 7 acres in Tennessee, near a lake, which we intended to build on but later decided to sell. Bought in 2009, sold in 2021 (iirc), it grew 12% total. So less than 1% annually.
It’s entirely possible we spent too much when we bought, although we did get the seller to knock 33% off the listed price. We had this on the market for over a year, eventually another RE agent bought it, allegedly for his own use - that’s what our agent told us and we haven’t seen it relisted so that appears to be true or he’s holding longer than a few years.

But, if we had bought the same land in an area that developed, we’d have made out big time.

Ok, that kind of makes my 2% annual return seem to hold up. I'm in the heart of deer hunting country (so recreation property) and it's also farm land, though not designated in anyway. Similar properties in the area will go for 2k an acre, and with some of the improvements I've made over the years i believe it'll keep pace or exceed that with whatever the market does as demand for these kinds of properties increases and they become more rare. Thanks, that helps confirm what i kind of already thought

fwiw, mine sold for $8750/acre, which just goes to show how much land prices vary.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Anyone have experience in raw undeveloped land? I own a decently sized parcel in upper midwest farm country and currently lease a portion to a farmer, maybe 10-15%. The rest is high quality hardwood (mostly maple), softwood (white cedar, spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam). I had the hardwood select cut and a lot of the pine cleared maybe 10 years ago (great profit, but really only a windfall every 20 years or so, though I'm not sure I'll ever do another tree harvest in my lifetime unless disease, natural disaster make it necessary). I understand today's valuation, but haven't come across a good way to calculate a return over the next 10, 20, 30 years (no plans on selling, but like to know future worth). I've gone with a 2% annual return for projections, but that seems low. Anyway just curious if anyone has any experience buying, selling, projecting worth. It's a nice addition to my portfolio, but trickier to run future returns on its overall value.

It’s speculation imo. We bought 7 acres in Tennessee, near a lake, which we intended to build on but later decided to sell. Bought in 2009, sold in 2021 (iirc), it grew 12% total. So less than 1% annually.
It’s entirely possible we spent too much when we bought, although we did get the seller to knock 33% off the listed price. We had this on the market for over a year, eventually another RE agent bought it, allegedly for his own use - that’s what our agent told us and we haven’t seen it relisted so that appears to be true or he’s holding longer than a few years.

But, if we had bought the same land in an area that developed, we’d have made out big time.

Ok, that kind of makes my 2% annual return seem to hold up. I'm in the heart of deer hunting country (so recreation property) and it's also farm land, though not designated in anyway. Similar properties in the area will go for 2k an acre, and with some of the improvements I've made over the years i believe it'll keep pace or exceed that with whatever the market does as demand for these kinds of properties increases and they become more rare. Thanks, that helps confirm what i kind of already thought

fwiw, mine sold for $8750/acre, which just goes to show how much land prices vary.

Definitely, it's crazy how much values vary. I have water, but it's small creeks and ponds, nothing you'd call a lake or water front, much higher values for things like that, but there's 250 acres of it. There's no utilities and it would be an act of god to get any there, but there's a small cabin from the 1880s we renovated to offgrid. No neighbors and you can see every star in the sky at night, in other words heaven. Nearest town has a sign that says population 51. It's definitely not a get rich kind of investment, but it's perfect for what I'm looking for. I do get the taxes covered by leasing acres for farming and the timber harvest was a nice windfall, but there's better ways to make money. A turn and burn approach in an area like this could work if you really wanted to (buy the property, cut the trees, sell for close to the price you paid since it's deer hunting property and that'll help improve it). Probably more info than anyone cared to know, but that's the type of property I'm talking about. Maybe in my old old age it'll pull 8k plus, but I'm not counting on that and plan on taking it to the grave, but it's a good idea to be able to project an asset's future value. Thanks again for the insight.

 

[-OZ-]

Anyone have experience in raw undeveloped land? I own a decently sized parcel in upper midwest farm country and currently lease a portion to a farmer, maybe 10-15%. The rest is high quality hardwood (mostly maple), softwood (white cedar, spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam). I had the hardwood select cut and a lot of the pine cleared maybe 10 years ago (great profit, but really only a windfall every 20 years or so, though I'm not sure I'll ever do another tree harvest in my lifetime unless disease, natural disaster make it necessary). I understand today's valuation, but haven't come across a good way to calculate a return over the next 10, 20, 30 years (no plans on selling, but like to know future worth). I've gone with a 2% annual return for projections, but that seems low. Anyway just curious if anyone has any experience buying, selling, projecting worth. It's a nice addition to my portfolio, but trickier to run future returns on its overall value.

It’s speculation imo. We bought 7 acres in Tennessee, near a lake, which we intended to build on but later decided to sell. Bought in 2009, sold in 2021 (iirc), it grew 12% total. So less than 1% annually.
It’s entirely possible we spent too much when we bought, although we did get the seller to knock 33% off the listed price. We had this on the market for over a year, eventually another RE agent bought it, allegedly for his own use - that’s what our agent told us and we haven’t seen it relisted so that appears to be true or he’s holding longer than a few years.

But, if we had bought the same land in an area that developed, we’d have made out big time.

Ok, that kind of makes my 2% annual return seem to hold up. I'm in the heart of deer hunting country (so recreation property) and it's also farm land, though not designated in anyway. Similar properties in the area will go for 2k an acre, and with some of the improvements I've made over the years i believe it'll keep pace or exceed that with whatever the market does as demand for these kinds of properties increases and they become more rare. Thanks, that helps confirm what i kind of already thought

fwiw, mine sold for $8750/acre, which just goes to show how much land prices vary.

Definitely, it's crazy how much values vary. I have water, but it's small creeks and ponds, nothing you'd call a lake or water front, much higher values for things like that, but there's 250 acres of it. There's no utilities and it would be an act of god to get any there, but there's a small cabin from the 1880s we renovated to offgrid. No neighbors and you can see every star in the sky at night, in other words heaven. Nearest town has a sign that says population 51. It's definitely not a get rich kind of investment, but it's perfect for what I'm looking for. I do get the taxes covered by leasing acres for farming and the timber harvest was a nice windfall, but there's better ways to make money. A turn and burn approach in an area like this could work if you really wanted to (buy the property, cut the trees, sell for close to the price you paid since it's deer hunting property and that'll help improve it). Probably more info than anyone cared to know, but that's the type of property I'm talking about. Maybe in my old old age it'll pull 8k plus, but I'm not counting on that and plan on taking it to the grave, but it's a good idea to be able to project an asset's future value. Thanks again for the insight.

Fwiw, I’d be very interested in a similar property in the near future. I don’t hunt but have friends who do who I’d let use the land; in exchange for meat or some other arrangement.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Anyone have experience in raw undeveloped land? I own a decently sized parcel in upper midwest farm country and currently lease a portion to a farmer, maybe 10-15%. The rest is high quality hardwood (mostly maple), softwood (white cedar, spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam). I had the hardwood select cut and a lot of the pine cleared maybe 10 years ago (great profit, but really only a windfall every 20 years or so, though I'm not sure I'll ever do another tree harvest in my lifetime unless disease, natural disaster make it necessary). I understand today's valuation, but haven't come across a good way to calculate a return over the next 10, 20, 30 years (no plans on selling, but like to know future worth). I've gone with a 2% annual return for projections, but that seems low. Anyway just curious if anyone has any experience buying, selling, projecting worth. It's a nice addition to my portfolio, but trickier to run future returns on its overall value.

It’s speculation imo. We bought 7 acres in Tennessee, near a lake, which we intended to build on but later decided to sell. Bought in 2009, sold in 2021 (iirc), it grew 12% total. So less than 1% annually.
It’s entirely possible we spent too much when we bought, although we did get the seller to knock 33% off the listed price. We had this on the market for over a year, eventually another RE agent bought it, allegedly for his own use - that’s what our agent told us and we haven’t seen it relisted so that appears to be true or he’s holding longer than a few years.

But, if we had bought the same land in an area that developed, we’d have made out big time.

Ok, that kind of makes my 2% annual return seem to hold up. I'm in the heart of deer hunting country (so recreation property) and it's also farm land, though not designated in anyway. Similar properties in the area will go for 2k an acre, and with some of the improvements I've made over the years i believe it'll keep pace or exceed that with whatever the market does as demand for these kinds of properties increases and they become more rare. Thanks, that helps confirm what i kind of already thought

fwiw, mine sold for $8750/acre, which just goes to show how much land prices vary.

Definitely, it's crazy how much values vary. I have water, but it's small creeks and ponds, nothing you'd call a lake or water front, much higher values for things like that, but there's 250 acres of it. There's no utilities and it would be an act of god to get any there, but there's a small cabin from the 1880s we renovated to offgrid. No neighbors and you can see every star in the sky at night, in other words heaven. Nearest town has a sign that says population 51. It's definitely not a get rich kind of investment, but it's perfect for what I'm looking for. I do get the taxes covered by leasing acres for farming and the timber harvest was a nice windfall, but there's better ways to make money. A turn and burn approach in an area like this could work if you really wanted to (buy the property, cut the trees, sell for close to the price you paid since it's deer hunting property and that'll help improve it). Probably more info than anyone cared to know, but that's the type of property I'm talking about. Maybe in my old old age it'll pull 8k plus, but I'm not counting on that and plan on taking it to the grave, but it's a good idea to be able to project an asset's future value. Thanks again for the insight.

Fwiw, I’d be very interested in a similar property in the near future. I don’t hunt but have friends who do who I’d let use the land; in exchange for meat or some other arrangement.

There's something about owning your own large parcel of just forest. They don't make anymore. We use it for more than just hunting, but that's my primary use. If you know people that hunt they'd probably do just about anything to have access to private land. There's also hunting leases. If i really wanted to make money that's how I'd do it, but conflict of interest since my friends and I are already there doing just that. You could easily cover payments, taxes, upkeep from lease fees depending on where it's located. Throw in a timber harvest or other useage with a fee and along with your 2% annual you're turning a potential profit.

 

[Peggy]

Tax forms starting to come in. About time to figure out if I'm in a safe harbor or not.

I could use some help with this. I think I need to pay some ahead of time for 2025. You have a cheat sheet/list of pointers? Is it as simple as calculating total tax for 2024 and then making sure you've paid at least that much for 2025?

It depends on your AGI and filing status. If your AGI/filing status are above certain thresholds, you need to pay-in 110% of your 2024 tax liability as estimates for 2025. If you're below the thresholds, it's 100%. You also need to make sure 1/4 of whatever your obligation is, is paid by the quarterly installment due dates - i.e. you can't pay the entire amount on like 12/31/2025 and apply it retroactively to the entire year.

Circling back to this. Can you help me ferret this out? Per the googles:

"Generally, an underpayment penalty can be avoided if you use the safe harbor rule for payments described below. The IRS will not charge you an underpayment penalty if:
You pay at least 90% of the tax you owe for the current year, or 100% of the tax you owed for the previous tax year, or
You owe less than $1,000 in tax after subtracting withholdings and credits
This rule is altered slightly for high-income taxpayers. If the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on your previous year’s return is over $150,000 (over $75,000 if you are married filing separately), you must pay the lower of 90% of the tax shown on the current year’s return or 110% of the tax shown on the return for the previous year."

So say my taxes are below for the following years.

2023 - 40K
2024 - 100K
2025 - estimated 80K

Can I just pay 90% of 80K (72K) in quarterly payments? What's the penalty if I don't hit 90%?

Thank you!

 

[The Z Machine]

Extra savings were going into VTI in my brokerage account. Future money is going into a MMF. Not selling or changing retirement account mixes, but more liquidity will help me sleep at night. Cutting expenses for the near term as well.

Sure feels like the market upside is really low right now and the market downside is really high. Like SP500 could be at max +5%, but also -15% or worse.

Really should listen to myself more

 

[gianmarco]

So, decided this morning to roll over my wife's traditional IRA to her Roth considering the depressed market and our income being less this year. Won't change our tax bracket so it made sense.

With the market rebounding so much today, does that mean it'll be based on prices at today's close? Should we revoke/reconsider given the sudden change today?

 

[Juxtatarot]

Today is a prime example on why we shouldn’t try to time markets.

 

[Instinctive]

Today is a prime example on why we shouldn’t try to time markets.

But all the money that was gone last week is mostly back this week! Crazy!!!

Time in > timing

As true now as ever. The tough spot is if you're approaching retirement and haven't been proactive about shifting from growth to preservation - I can imagine how much more stressful that makes this stuff.

 

[Peggy]

Today is a prime example on why we shouldn’t try to time markets.

But all the money that was gone last week is mostly back this week! Crazy!!!

Time in > timing

As true now as ever. The tough spot is if you're approaching retirement and haven't been proactive about shifting from growth to preservation - I can imagine how much more stressful that makes this stuff.

Coming from someone who recently retired I don't see it that way. The vast majority of the money keeps working for you for years and years. The ups and downs over a weeks time dont concern me at all. But I am about 25% bonds and another 10% cash collecting 4% guaranteed interest. That probably is preservation mode tho given my risk tolerance.

 

[Peggy]

So, decided this morning to roll over my wife's traditional IRA to her Roth considering the depressed market and our income being less this year. Won't change our tax bracket so it made sense.

With the market rebounding so much today, does that mean it'll be based on prices at today's close? Should we revoke/reconsider given the sudden change today?

It is the close price if they are mutual funds. If you sold earlier in the day (stocks and etfs) to cash to roll over you get the break for tax purposes, but, now face the problem of getting back in the market at much higher prices.

 

[GoBirds]

Thoughts on tax exempt bonds here assuming highest tax bracket? They took a hit this week, get out of VTEB or do you consider adding more?

 

[Nugget]

I-Bond Buying Season

Variable rate at 2.86% starting in May. Fixed until end of April at 1.20%. Estimate is the fixed will fall to 1.1% in May, but possibly more variance

Are I Bonds that attractive?​

With short-term T-bill rates still topping 4%, many investors are shunning I Bonds because of the potentially lower nominal return plus the three-month interest penalty for redemptions within five years. Some thoughts:

• We just went through a phase of inflation hitting 40-year highs, and higher prices could be returning in 2025 as we enter a turbulent era. Inflation protection, for part of your portfolio, looks like a wise choice.
• Eventually, the Federal Reserve would like to resume cutting short-term interest rates and then the T-bill returns will begin falling. But, yes, the future of rate cuts is unclear. T-bills remain attractive.
• I Bonds, if held for 5 years, create an inflation-protected store of cash you can use for future needs, with no penalty for redemption except for federal taxes on the interest.

Is this a short-term investment? I Bonds aren’t a good choice for money you will need in the next one or two years. You can get a 1-year T-bill paying about 3.9%. That nominal yield will beat the return of an I Bond after the three-month interest penalty is applied. I Bonds are best viewed as a longer-term, cash-equivalent investment.

 

[Desert_Power]

I-Bond Buying Season

Definitely noticed a lot of issues with their website lately when trying to get tax information.

 

[ConstruxBoy]

I-Bond Buying Season

Definitely noticed a lot of issues with their website lately when trying to get tax information do anything.

Fixed for you

 

[Desert_Power]

I-Bond Buying Season

Definitely noticed a lot of issues with their website lately when trying to get tax information do anything.

Fixed for you

Heard they are planning to outsource it too. Maybe I just need to buy bitcoin.

 

[Andrew74]

Thoughts on tax exempt bonds here assuming highest tax bracket? They took a hit this week, get out of VTEB or do you consider adding more?

I’ve been buying. Always easy to tax loss harvest muni ETFs, too. Munis haven’t been this cheap to taxable bonds in a while; probably back to Feb-March 2020.

 

[Nemesis]

I don't think i could search & find the answer on this topic, so i'll ask this general question in here.

I'll be sitting down with my Financial Advisor in a couple wks & i realized that I'm not as organized about my Personal Finances as I want to be.
Currently get some mthly stmts in the mail, but have converted most to e-delivery / online stmts.
I thought about creating an Excel sheet (easy for me)....but i don't want to have to lookup each & manually update each time I want to review things.

Ultimately, I want to find a product that can consolidate everything into a 1-stop shop & easily link: bank, investments, 401k, debts, etc
I'm curious what are my options ?? Or what would you suggest / stay away from ??
(not afraid of paying a little if it's worth it)

 

[Runkle]

I don't think i could search & find the answer on this topic, so i'll ask this general question in here.

I'll be sitting down with my Financial Advisor in a couple wks & i realized that I'm not as organized about my Personal Finances as I want to be.
Currently get some mthly stmts in the mail, but have converted most to e-delivery / online stmts.
I thought about creating an Excel sheet (easy for me)....but i don't want to have to lookup each & manually update each time I want to review things.

Ultimately, I want to find a product that can consolidate everything into a 1-stop shop & easily link: bank, investments, 401k, debts, etc
I'm curious what are my options ?? Or what would you suggest / stay away from ??
(not afraid of paying a little if it's worth it)

I used to use Mint, but it was discontinued. I hear some functions moved to Credit Karma, but I haven't tried it.

I have my 401k through Fidelity, and they offer "Full View" which has the same functions... I input the username and password to my other various accounts (credit card, checking, mortgage, etrade, etc) and it updates daily.

It's not fantastic, but it kind of basically works. Not the best but it's free with my 401k so it gets the job done well enough.

 

[Sand]

I don't think i could search & find the answer on this topic, so i'll ask this general question in here.

I'll be sitting down with my Financial Advisor in a couple wks & i realized that I'm not as organized about my Personal Finances as I want to be.
Currently get some mthly stmts in the mail, but have converted most to e-delivery / online stmts.
I thought about creating an Excel sheet (easy for me)....but i don't want to have to lookup each & manually update each time I want to review things.

Ultimately, I want to find a product that can consolidate everything into a 1-stop shop & easily link: bank, investments, 401k, debts, etc
I'm curious what are my options ?? Or what would you suggest / stay away from ??
(not afraid of paying a little if it's worth it)

Personal Capital (now Empower). That aggregates everything. They'll try to sell you their advisory stuff, but you can just turn them down. It's free and quite good.

 

[jm192]

Got the 1st of 2 HSA's moved onto Fidelity. Invested the money today.
Moving the 2nd HSA over now. Just submitted the request. First one took ~10 days or so.

Really glad to be simplifying things.

Have 1 401K at Schwab through my old job
My wife's 401K is at Empower.
My new job uses Fidelity for 401K. I have my Roth IRA on Fidelity.

Had HSA's through Health Equity and HSA Bank.

Wife's Roth IRA is on Vanguard.
We have a taxable brokerage account on Vanguard.

A lot to type to say--we have money at way too many different places. I'm really excited to cut 2 out of it. I still work PRN for the old job on rare occasions, and I have to end that contract to move the 401K. Going to hopefully do that the next few months.

TL;DR starting to simplify things a lot. Feels good.

 

[The Z Machine]

I don't think i could search & find the answer on this topic, so i'll ask this general question in here.

I'll be sitting down with my Financial Advisor in a couple wks & i realized that I'm not as organized about my Personal Finances as I want to be.
Currently get some mthly stmts in the mail, but have converted most to e-delivery / online stmts.
I thought about creating an Excel sheet (easy for me)....but i don't want to have to lookup each & manually update each time I want to review things.

Ultimately, I want to find a product that can consolidate everything into a 1-stop shop & easily link: bank, investments, 401k, debts, etc
I'm curious what are my options ?? Or what would you suggest / stay away from ??
(not afraid of paying a little if it's worth it)

I have been using Lunch Money for a few months now and really like it. It pulls in lots of stuff automatically and can even the manual setup stuff is pretty easy. It also does multiple currencies, which is vital for me as I have checking accounts in different currencies.

I have multiple banks, credit unions, credit cards, mortgages, and investment (401k, 403b, IRA) in there. It also does budgeting and some analysis / reporting on spending etc. It really helped me build confidence in my financial situation.

 

[Payne]

Got the 1st of 2 HSA's moved onto Fidelity. Invested the money today.
Moving the 2nd HSA over now. Just submitted the request. First one took ~10 days or so.

Really glad to be simplifying things.

Have 1 401K at Schwab through my old job
My wife's 401K is at Empower.
My new job uses Fidelity for 401K. I have my Roth IRA on Fidelity.

Had HSA's through Health Equity and HSA Bank.

Wife's Roth IRA is on Vanguard.
We have a taxable brokerage account on Vanguard.

A lot to type to say--we have money at way too many different places. I'm really excited to cut 2 out of it. I still work PRN for the old job on rare occasions, and I have to end that contract to move the 401K. Going to hopefully do that the next few months.

TL;DR starting to simplify things a lot. Feels good.

Currently have my Roth through Fidelity and 401k (old employer) at Empower. HSA through Health Equity.
Was in the process of moving 401k, but again, never thought about HSA. May have to do this.

 

[jm192]

Got the 1st of 2 HSA's moved onto Fidelity. Invested the money today.
Moving the 2nd HSA over now. Just submitted the request. First one took ~10 days or so.

Really glad to be simplifying things.

Have 1 401K at Schwab through my old job
My wife's 401K is at Empower.
My new job uses Fidelity for 401K. I have my Roth IRA on Fidelity.

Had HSA's through Health Equity and HSA Bank.

Wife's Roth IRA is on Vanguard.
We have a taxable brokerage account on Vanguard.

A lot to type to say--we have money at way too many different places. I'm really excited to cut 2 out of it. I still work PRN for the old job on rare occasions, and I have to end that contract to move the 401K. Going to hopefully do that the next few months.

TL;DR starting to simplify things a lot. Feels good.

Currently have my Roth through Fidelity and 401k (old employer) at Empower. HSA through Health Equity.
Was in the process of moving 401k, but again, never thought about HSA. May have to do this.

You can do it all through Fidelity.

Create an HSA, and then they have the website programmed to give you the option to transfer from another carrier. It'll walk you through all of he steps. Never had to even log into to either HSA Carrier.

Main thing: Liquidate all the cash and make sure it's in the HSA account instead of their investment platform.

I got an e-mail today from Health Equity saying they received the request, and to contact them within 48 hours if it was not authorized by me. Seems like we should be good to go on that one one too.

 

[Judge Smails]

I need to do this. Have kept 2 sizeable accounts at former employers. Performing well so never felt the need to move it. Also I've been testing my financial planner. Don't want to give him more under an AUM model until he proves himself. Same with my company stock. Have that in ComputerShare account. Like him only having 1/2 (and therefore only fees on 1/2) for now. But I may go the simplification route and put it all in Fidelity and manage myself.

 

[Sand]

Got the 1st of 2 HSA's moved onto Fidelity. Invested the money today.
Moving the 2nd HSA over now. Just submitted the request. First one took ~10 days or so.

Really glad to be simplifying things.

Have 1 401K at Schwab through my old job
My wife's 401K is at Empower.
My new job uses Fidelity for 401K. I have my Roth IRA on Fidelity.

Had HSA's through Health Equity and HSA Bank.

Wife's Roth IRA is on Vanguard.
We have a taxable brokerage account on Vanguard.

A lot to type to say--we have money at way too many different places. I'm really excited to cut 2 out of it. I still work PRN for the old job on rare occasions, and I have to end that contract to move the 401K. Going to hopefully do that the next few months.

TL;DR starting to simplify things a lot. Feels good.

Currently have my Roth through Fidelity and 401k (old employer) at Empower. HSA through Health Equity.
Was in the process of moving 401k, but again, never thought about HSA. May have to do this.

You can do it all through Fidelity.

Create an HSA, and then they have the website programmed to give you the option to transfer from another carrier. It'll walk you through all of he steps. Never had to even log into to either HSA Carrier.

Main thing: Liquidate all the cash and make sure it's in the HSA account instead of their investment platform.

I got an e-mail today from Health Equity saying they received the request, and to contact them within 48 hours if it was not authorized by me. Seems like we should be good to go on that one one too.

I haven't found Healthequity to be terrible on fees or investment choices - I'm paying like .04% on aggregate. What's the driver to move away from it?

 

[jm192]

Got the 1st of 2 HSA's moved onto Fidelity. Invested the money today.
Moving the 2nd HSA over now. Just submitted the request. First one took ~10 days or so.

Really glad to be simplifying things.

Have 1 401K at Schwab through my old job
My wife's 401K is at Empower.
My new job uses Fidelity for 401K. I have my Roth IRA on Fidelity.

Had HSA's through Health Equity and HSA Bank.

Wife's Roth IRA is on Vanguard.
We have a taxable brokerage account on Vanguard.

A lot to type to say--we have money at way too many different places. I'm really excited to cut 2 out of it. I still work PRN for the old job on rare occasions, and I have to end that contract to move the 401K. Going to hopefully do that the next few months.

TL;DR starting to simplify things a lot. Feels good.

Currently have my Roth through Fidelity and 401k (old employer) at Empower. HSA through Health Equity.
Was in the process of moving 401k, but again, never thought about HSA. May have to do this.

You can do it all through Fidelity.

Create an HSA, and then they have the website programmed to give you the option to transfer from another carrier. It'll walk you through all of he steps. Never had to even log into to either HSA Carrier.

Main thing: Liquidate all the cash and make sure it's in the HSA account instead of their investment platform.

I got an e-mail today from Health Equity saying they received the request, and to contact them within 48 hours if it was not authorized by me. Seems like we should be good to go on that one one too.

I haven't found Healthequity to be terrible on fees or investment choices - I'm paying like .04% on aggregate. What's the driver to move away from it?

#1 is Simplicity. Just too many different platforms in the mix.

#2 is the fees. Or workplace HSA was as follows:
4$ per month account maintenance fee. The employer paid this, but since I switched out of the HSA plan, they're no longer covering it.
Then if you invested it, they charged you a percentage based fee that capped at 12$ per month.

So at a point, I'm looking at 16$ per month, which is 192$ per year.

No fees on Fidelity. I can pick whatever investment I like. Just to get it all into the market, I threw the money from the other HSA straight into VOO.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm curious on what people think about asset allocation with a pension. My wife has a pension through the state of Michigan and together we have a fairly decent portfolio divided up into 401k, 403b, Roth IRAs, Trad IRAs, and Brokerage. My question is would the pension suffice as a replacement for a bond allocation leaving the rest of the investment accounts fully invested in equities? Or should the pension be completely separate from any planning with the other accounts and consider making them more conservative than 100% equities? We do have a fairly high risk tolerance, but wanted to see what the consensus is in a case like this.

 

[Sand]

Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm curious on what people think about asset allocation with a pension. My wife has a pension through the state of Michigan and together we have a fairly decent portfolio divided up into 401k, 403b, Roth IRAs, Trad IRAs, and Brokerage. My question is would the pension suffice as a replacement for a bond allocation leaving the rest of the investment accounts fully invested in equities? Or should the pension be completely separate from any planning with the other accounts and consider making them more conservative than 100% equities? We do have a fairly high risk tolerance, but wanted to see what the consensus is in a case like this.

How Should I Count [Something] In My Asset Allocation? — Oblivious Investor

obliviousinvestor.com

Good place to start thinking about this.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm curious on what people think about asset allocation with a pension. My wife has a pension through the state of Michigan and together we have a fairly decent portfolio divided up into 401k, 403b, Roth IRAs, Trad IRAs, and Brokerage. My question is would the pension suffice as a replacement for a bond allocation leaving the rest of the investment accounts fully invested in equities? Or should the pension be completely separate from any planning with the other accounts and consider making them more conservative than 100% equities? We do have a fairly high risk tolerance, but wanted to see what the consensus is in a case like this.

How Should I Count [Something] In My Asset Allocation? — Oblivious Investor

obliviousinvestor.com

Good place to start thinking about this.

I've been thinking about her pension as our bond allocation for years now, worked pretty well so far, but getting closer to that magic retirement age and wonder how common this line of thinking is. Volatility obviously creates some pretty wild swings in full equity accounts and I've been thinking i need to derisk those a bit. We're 10 years out from her retirement and I'm very risk tolerant, but also don't want to be dumb about it. Seems to make sense to add 10-20% fixed income, pension or not at this point. Curious what others in a similar situation would do i guess. We're savers, have a good bit of real-estate, and almost no debt to go along with the above so good problem to have.

 

[jm192]

Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm curious on what people think about asset allocation with a pension. My wife has a pension through the state of Michigan and together we have a fairly decent portfolio divided up into 401k, 403b, Roth IRAs, Trad IRAs, and Brokerage. My question is would the pension suffice as a replacement for a bond allocation leaving the rest of the investment accounts fully invested in equities? Or should the pension be completely separate from any planning with the other accounts and consider making them more conservative than 100% equities? We do have a fairly high risk tolerance, but wanted to see what the consensus is in a case like this.

I would probably work in reverse.

How much total money do you want/need in retirement? Or how much monthly income will you need? How much does the Pension provide? These are all rhetorical questions that I'm not meaning for you to answer--but rather think about them in terms of solving the problem.

Then decide what asset allocation you want to get to the goal.

You could really look at the "how" either way. You've got some guaranteed income. So get some more, and you're really solid. Or...you've got some guaranteed income. So swing for the fences with your other investments.

Obviously, how far you are from retirement matters. I'm a big believer in being more aggressive when you're young, and be more conservative as you get closer to retirement.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

you've got some guaranteed income. So swing for the fences with your other investments.

This has been my line of thinking. 10 years out, so that's what's got me thinking it might be time to get a little more conservative, but maybe i can still kick it down the road another 3-5 years. We're in a really good position, but want to maximize what we can.

Edit. Own our house outright no auto loans, no student loans, have real-estate along with the pension and equity accounts, so feel good swinging for the fences, but that rainy day is always right around the corner, so maybe looking at it the other way is better, no need to take extra risk.

 

[gianmarco]

you've got some guaranteed income. So swing for the fences with your other investments.

This has been my line of thinking. 10 years out, so that's what's got me thinking it might be time to get a little more conservative, but maybe i can still kick it down the road another 3-5 years. We're in a really good position, but want to maximize what we can.

Edit. Own our house outright no auto loans, no student loans, have real-estate along with the pension and equity accounts, so feel good swinging for the fences, but that rainy day is always right around the corner, so maybe looking at it the other way is better, no need to take extra risk.

10 years? I would lean more aggressive. Especially since you don't need it all in 10 years. So your horizon is even longer.

But it's also whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

you've got some guaranteed income. So swing for the fences with your other investments.

This has been my line of thinking. 10 years out, so that's what's got me thinking it might be time to get a little more conservative, but maybe i can still kick it down the road another 3-5 years. We're in a really good position, but want to maximize what we can.

Edit. Own our house outright no auto loans, no student loans, have real-estate along with the pension and equity accounts, so feel good swinging for the fences, but that rainy day is always right around the corner, so maybe looking at it the other way is better, no need to take extra risk.

10 years? I would lean more aggressive. Especially since you don't need it all in 10 years. So your horizon is even longer.

But it's also whatever helps you sleep at night.

I sleep really good as is, but was thinking maybe I'm reckless. Obviously I've thought all this through quite a bit, but reading and running simulations aren't the same as the real world and experience. Sounds reasonable to stay the course and reevaluate in the next few years. I always see downturns as opportunities which explains the drift from my previous bond allocation to now fully equities with a cash position for any more shenanigans. Smart group here, so just wanted to get opinions

 

[Sand]

Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm curious on what people think about asset allocation with a pension. My wife has a pension through the state of Michigan and together we have a fairly decent portfolio divided up into 401k, 403b, Roth IRAs, Trad IRAs, and Brokerage. My question is would the pension suffice as a replacement for a bond allocation leaving the rest of the investment accounts fully invested in equities? Or should the pension be completely separate from any planning with the other accounts and consider making them more conservative than 100% equities? We do have a fairly high risk tolerance, but wanted to see what the consensus is in a case like this.

How Should I Count [Something] In My Asset Allocation? — Oblivious Investor

obliviousinvestor.com

Good place to start thinking about this.

I've been thinking about her pension as our bond allocation for years now, worked pretty well so far, but getting closer to that magic retirement age and wonder how common this line of thinking is. Volatility obviously creates some pretty wild swings in full equity accounts and I've been thinking i need to derisk those a bit. We're 10 years out from her retirement and I'm very risk tolerant, but also don't want to be dumb about it. Seems to make sense to add 10-20% fixed income, pension or not at this point. Curious what others in a similar situation would do i guess. We're savers, have a good bit of real-estate, and almost no debt to go along with the above so good problem to have.

I've been thinking about everything from treasury and TIPS ladders to MYGAs once retirement hits to give at least a portion of my bond layout to be consistent. I haven't decided on anything (other than probably no annuities until 75+), but am thinking. So right there with you.

I don't have a pension, nor does the wife, so I haven't really had to think about how that rolls into it. I'll bet there are some significant conversations about it on bogleheads - that's another good place to look through.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

I'll bet there are some significant conversations about it on bogleheads

Yes, this was my first stop. Answers are always clear as mud once it starts going back and forth, but it was food for thought and why i thought i would ask here aswell. Ideally i want to accumulate as much as possible before retirement, but also don't want to make any unforced errors along the way.

 

[BeTheMatch]

you've got some guaranteed income. So swing for the fences with your other investments.

This has been my line of thinking. 10 years out, so that's what's got me thinking it might be time to get a little more conservative, but maybe i can still kick it down the road another 3-5 years. We're in a really good position, but want to maximize what we can.

Edit. Own our house outright no auto loans, no student loans, have real-estate along with the pension and equity accounts, so feel good swinging for the fences, but that rainy day is always right around the corner, so maybe looking at it the other way is better, no need to take extra risk.

The question is this: I've already won, so should I try to win more, or I've already won, so should I stop playing?

 

[Sand]

The question is this: I've already won, so should I try to win more, or I've already won, so should I stop playing?

WOPR has entered the building.

 

[jm192]

Ended my PRN agreement with my old job. They said it would take ~2 weeks for the "processing time" between the company and Schwab. I assume at that point, it's another 7-10 days to get a check. There's a way to mobile deposit the check to the Fidelity 401K, which only takes 2-3 days to process.

So maybe ~a month away still. But end in sight.

Will be down to Fidelity, Vanguard, and my wife's 401K on Empower. And I-Bonds, but those are just kind of there chilling.

 

[-OZ-]

The question is this: I've already won, so should I try to win more, or I've already won, so should I stop playing?

Depends on what you won.

We’ll keep our base expenses fairly secure, but add risk for the striving goals. We accept additional risk with our “nice to have” targets.

 

[-OZ-]

Apologies if this has been covered, but I'm curious on what people think about asset allocation with a pension. My wife has a pension through the state of Michigan and together we have a fairly decent portfolio divided up into 401k, 403b, Roth IRAs, Trad IRAs, and Brokerage. My question is would the pension suffice as a replacement for a bond allocation leaving the rest of the investment accounts fully invested in equities? Or should the pension be completely separate from any planning with the other accounts and consider making them more conservative than 100% equities? We do have a fairly high risk tolerance, but wanted to see what the consensus is in a case like this.

Missed this earlier, but I have mentioned in this thread before that I have a military pension with health insurance and will have a federal civilian pension when I retire.
We’re 97% equities right now (the bonds are our EF), 8-12 years out
For a while I considered the pensions to be bonds, and technically speaking they are “fixed income” but the key difference is you can’t really rebalance in same way as you would with a 70/30 or 60/40 portfolio.
So I consider the pension separate from our investment portfolio, but feel confident with a higher equity allocation in retirement, possibly 80/20.
But, we are seriously considering buying two rentals in the next 5-8 years and we’ll want to keep more cash on hands to mitigate risk with those, so we’re probably back to 60/40 (or thereabouts).

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

So I consider the pension separate from our investment portfolio, but feel confident with a higher equity allocation in retirement, possibly 80/20.

I think this is a better way to think of it than i have been. I'm not sure it should replace a bond allocation, but instead allow for more risk leading to and into retirement like you say. In a way I suppose that's kind of the same thing, but another layer of diversity. Perhaps a pension allows for (just spitballing) an 80/20 instead of 70/30 or 60/40 with similar risk without one.

Staying close to 100% equities minus EF and dry powder for the next 3-5 years and then begin to derisk towards an 80/20 split doesn't seem unreasonable or reckless. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Payne]

Ok, I am just going to throw this out there. Obviously, a financial advisor appt might be in my future.

51 years old. I have a good amount of money in my 401k, which was transitioned from a Profit-Sharing plan after my company was acquired.
Wife has a traditional 401k also with a fair amount of money in it.
We each have a Roth IRA with a much smaller amount.

Currently we have our dollars spread out over several mutual funds. We have done very well just letting things ride.

Should we be doing something else?

 

[matttyl]

Ok, I am just going to throw this out there. Obviously, a financial advisor appt might be in my future.

51 years old. I have a good amount of money in my 401k, which was transitioned from a Profit-Sharing plan after my company was acquired.
Wife has a traditional 401k also with a fair amount of money in it.
We each have a Roth IRA with a much smaller amount.

Currently we have our dollars spread out over several mutual funds. We have done very well just letting things ride.

Should we be doing something else?

Well, what’s your goal? How close are you to that goal. Much different answer here if you are hoping/planning to retire at 55 than at 67.