Personal Investments • iShares iBonds
I've been investing in iShares iBonds ETF's for several years. They are typically issued at $25/share, and although they can be quite volatile during their lifespan, they typically revert to...
View ArticlePersonal Consumer Issues • Why has the price of hotel rooms outpaced inflation?
I travel frequent enough to realize that prices have gone up by a lot more than inflation. I googled it and the search results confirm my suspicion. What is the reason? No competition? Plus, what are...
View ArticlePersonal Consumer Issues • Prepaid cell plans: network deprioritization vs...
I have used Verizon prepaid for years, but I’ve been having a lot of issues with calls not connecting or speeds being slow lately. Reddit users claim that Verizon is very aggressive in deprioritizing...
View ArticlePersonal Finance (Not Investing) • Is DIY replacing a...
I was wondering about these minor DIY repairs:- Replacing a light switch and/or upgrading a light switch to a dimmer- Replacing an outlet- Replacing a light fixture- Replacing an HVAC...
View ArticlePersonal Finance (Not Investing) • Estate Income Tax Question
I am helping my wife who is executrix of her mom's estate. I am not a lawyer, accountant or tax professional. The estate's 2024 income consists of - a long term capital gain of $120K from sale of the...
View ArticleNon-US Investing • Create a portfolio around Berkshire Hathaway to avoid PFIC...
For a dual US/UK citizen living in the UK, what do you think of creating a retirement portfolio around Berkshire Hathaway? BRK.B is a single stock, is US based and will not be affected by PFIC or...
View ArticlePersonal Investments • use of real rate of return in retirement calculations
I'm assuming a fixed real rate of return of 1% during retirement. My total estimated retirement expense in today's dollar is $58,000. When I plan out over the next 30 years or so, I'm increasing the...
View ArticlePersonal Investments • Fidelity, combine IRA accounts - Who has done it?...
I have multiple tIRA accounts at Fidelity that I want to merger into one. I've read that you can simply transfer funds from one account to another via the web interface, this sounds too easy. I'm...
View ArticlePersonal Finance (Not Investing) • Gifting Exclusions
From time to time we transfer small amounts of money to our adult children to pay them back for items they purchased for our grandchildren. Instead of sending a check, we transfer within their linked...
View ArticleNon-US Investing • expat basics: what's the best way to cash out my US...
I am an American living in Europe permanently, and thus will retire here. The bulk of my retirement savings is within a US Vanguard account. I have never really gotten a straight answer from anyone...
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Personal Consumer Issues • Car people - a question about Sport Mode
In the Nissan Versa's manual, the manual said the following about the sport mode "Use the drive sport mode when you need improved engine braking." I thought sport mode just keeps the RPM high to be...
View ArticlePersonal Investments • Opinion on ETF Combination
For ETFS, I currently have SCHB, SCHD, SCHF, DGRO, and QQQ. I add to all positions when I can with the exception of QQQ (QQQ was gifted to me, and while not many shares, they were purchased in 2013...
View ArticlePersonal Finance (Not Investing) • Step up basis on estate to trust?
My father passed away in the spring and I am the executor of his estate. His will calls for his estate funds to be sent to a separate irrevocable trust he has (a “pour over will” one lawyer called it)...
View ArticlePersonal Finance (Not Investing) • 1099-Div Question: include only dividends...
Year-end tax question: This is the first year for filing estimated taxes. For your 1099-Div, do you include all dividends actually paid in 2024 or those dividends where the ex-dividend dates were in...
View ArticlePersonal Finance (Not Investing) • Social Security payment schedule
When I first saw this headline, I worried we might get 2 payments in a month, which would throw off my IRMAA MAGI planning if it were to occur at an end of a...
View ArticlePersonal Investments • Hedging interest rates
I'm stuck with some illiquid real estate investments that may not have been the best idea. My biggest concern about these is their vulnerability to an interest rate shock. They are long-duration...
View ArticlePersonal Investments • Need some feedback on my Savings Plan...
Hello All,After much reflection I came up with my 2025 plan below and need some feedback. I am 38/DW 38 also. Located in HCOL NY. 2 kids - 6 & 9. My emergency fund is about 2 months expenses. Need...
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Personal Finance (Not Investing) • Rethinking our children's financial...
I'm wondering if there should be a paradigm shift in thinking about our children's financial futures. It was always instilled in my husband and I that higher education was the way to a secure future....
View ArticlePersonal Finance (Not Investing) • calculating taxes owed at end of year and...
I am a full time payroll employee and I'm tracking my taxes owed and any extra owed that I need to pay by January 15 through IRS direct pay to avoid underpayment penalty. Question: I make over 110%...
View ArticlePersonal Investments • S&P500 stock by sector, subsector and weight
I am looking to get a list of S&P 500 stocks by sector, subsector and their weight in the index. I tried google and went through bunch of websites. Tried chatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini 2.0 etc. But...
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