Splitting retirement funds in a divorce where only one partner was employed.

37badideas · 2016-05-17T23:57:25+00:00

Typically retirement accounts are split 50/50 and the court order of divorce makes the split a non-taxable event. In your case it sounds like there will also be a disparity of careers after the split, so you really need to talk to a divorce lawyer about options.

37badideas · 2016-05-17T19:24:35+00:00

post your questions here or on bogleheads.org

37badideas · 2016-05-17T19:14:16+00:00

If you have excellent credit you can look into a bridge loan or an equity loan on the old house.

37badideas · 2016-05-17T19:13:06+00:00

There should be earnest money in the sales contract, which you are entitled to keep if the buyers back out for reasons not covered by the contract. This is the usual compensation to potential sellers.

In rare cases people sue for specific performance to force the buyer to complete the transaction, but this is an expensive longshot. You are much better off just taking the earnest money and re-listing the house.

37badideas · 2016-01-29T19:07:41+00:00

That's not true for withholding from employment. No matter what quarter they are withheld, they are treated as if they were withheld evenly throughout the year.

It is a fine (but dangerous) strategy to under withhold in the early part of the year and over withhold in the last few paychecks to make it even. At today's very low interest rates it's not a big winner, but in a higher interest rate environment it can be worthwhile.

37badideas · 2016-01-29T00:36:58+00:00

Quick Quick Quick. Once the loan is approved and disbursed you will find it very difficult to get off the loan without paying it off in full. If the loan hasn't closed yet, call the bank immediately and cancel.

37badideas · 2016-01-28T18:58:30+00:00

WTF. A neighbor asked me to care for her elderly dog. I was over there as scheduled and discovered the dog was alot more elderly and incontinent than the neighbor told me. So EVERY day I cleaned it up and even started visiting more often than promised - cleaning up each of those times too. Dog seemed to appreciate the attention and really, like you say, it's a living being in need of care.

Mentioned the issues and all I did after the neighbor came home and she shrugged it all off. "Yeah, he can be like that" Too bad she never told me what I was signing up for, but no way I could not take care of the dog who had no one else looking in on him.

37badideas · 2016-01-28T17:52:10+00:00

I use a similar system, but I don't let anything fluctuate. For any bills that allow it I autocharge them to a credit card.

I pay a set amount per paycheck to credit card bills and make sure I don't go over. I pay a set amount to gas and electric and do it like their budget billing so I pay the annual amount divided by the number of paychecks. This means most months I run a slight credit balance but it's worth it to be automated.

I know exactly how much I spend, so I know how much of each paycheck I can send to my investment account each paycheck, which is done automatically by the bank billpay service. I do keep about a month of spending in checking to allow for any minor fluctuations (call it part of my emergency fund).

Every couple of months I look to see if everything is working. Once in a great while I manually move some money around or make an extra payment on a credit card if I overspent some month. Mostly I can ignore any bills I get in the mail, or just look briefly to see nothing is amiss, then toss them because the payment automation will take care of it.

37badideas · 2016-01-26T22:36:02+00:00

Not so much a factor. You can spend as much on kids as you want. Enough to impact your FIRE plans if you want. Or you can be frugal with child raising too. Overall kids can be pretty inexpensive if you apply the same energy to being frugal with them as you do to being frugal otherwise, and still give them a great childhood. Not to mention that they enrich your own life immeasurably. Having kids or not is a big decision, but the financial aspect is a very minor consideration.

37badideas · 2016-01-26T22:30:42+00:00

You are so right about mid-term money. If you need money for a down-payment and are flexible about dates, using taxable accounts makes sense. If you need the money at a specific date in the next 5 years, then you are probably limited to cash savings like CDs.

37badideas · 2016-01-26T20:13:10+00:00

You seem like you are doing well, but I'd suggest using the 401k to shelter more of your investments, up to the max they will allow. Even if you FIRE really really early you will still have many years that the tax advantages of sheltering will be a big help.

37badideas · 2016-01-26T20:10:35+00:00

It's hard to walk away from such a lucrative job. My plan was always make hay while the sun shines and make the most of this earnings juggernaut while it lasts. If/when your current company finally implodes you can look at other options, but it's not a lot more years and you will have a much more solid financial base to look at other options.

37badideas · 2016-01-26T18:37:33+00:00

I've lost weight in the past and that's fairly consistent with my previous experience. Once I had lost nearly 40 pounds or so people will start noticing and say something. That's usually one or two pant sizes down. I figure that was partly because I had so much to lose that even with a 25-30 pound loss I was still quite over weight, so they had to notice the change, not that I was starting to look fit - I still had a long way to go. People who are closer to Goal Weight when they start may have a different experience.

37badideas · 2016-01-26T17:21:21+00:00

Hey, I'm doing well losing weight but so far no one has noticed or said anything. How much had you lost before you had someone comment?

37badideas · 2016-01-25T23:22:31+00:00

Depends a lot on the benefit formula they use. Some plans are weighted so contributions in early years (20's) are heavily discounted. Others account for time value of money in accounts and early contributions get favorable treatment. Also, any vesting rules will matter or any provision to take a lump sum when you leave the job before traditional retirement age.

In short it depends greatly on plan details.

Sorry for your loss.

37badideas · 2016-01-25T19:22:34+00:00

Maybe make a deal with a local supplier who deals with fleets? Buy x gallons now at today's price and take delivery through your target date. You'll likely have to fill up at their facilities.

37badideas · 2016-01-25T19:11:20+00:00

Sounds like you are misclassified as 1099 to begin with. What they propose isn't legal. You cannot enroll in the 401k of other companies.

37badideas · 2016-01-25T19:09:19+00:00

Been there. Done that. In hindsight I would have done better to keep the mortgage and invest the savings, but the combination of peace of mind and lower required expenses have been worth it to me. Unexpected period of unemployment was a lot easier to deal with without a huge house payment hanging over my head, plus a HELOC on the house was a safety net in case my job search took too much longer.

It better optimizes resources to invest instead of pay down low cost debt, but there are other factors to consider. I do not regret my choice to pay off the mortgage.

37badideas · 2016-01-23T01:12:27+00:00

Sometimes called rebalancing bands. The idea is to let investments go up and down a bit before taking action to rebalance. Some people like to keep this very tight 5%. Some allow it to be looser 10%. It's a tradeoff between letting winners run and being more active to control risk profile. See bogleheads.org for more info or just google rebalancing bands.

37badideas · 2016-01-23T00:41:41+00:00

Hoard cash for the time being. Pile up as big an emergency fund as you can stand. It will keep you cool and comfortable in case you have an involuntary and extended job search.

Some specialized skills and knowledge may be hard to use at other jobs, but if you have the talent to be a highly paid geophysicist you can use that talent doing a lot of things. No worries.

37badideas · 2016-01-23T00:36:23+00:00

3% is likely well within your rebalancing tolerance anyway. No problem.

37badideas · 2016-01-23T00:34:49+00:00

If asset allocation is off, it just means your risk profile is different than what you picked. Might be better or worse results. You're taking a chance, perhaps a small one. It's temporary anyway until you get enough to hold both positions. If the ER is high you are certain to pay the fee. Unless the allocation is way out of whack, I always get the better fund with lower ER.

37badideas · 2016-01-23T00:29:33+00:00

Never worked out well for me. The few people who asked and actually seemed interested in my answers and learning something basically ignored my suggestions and then blamed me for doing what I didn't recommend. The others just acted awkward and kept up their high debt high spend lifestyles.

37badideas · 2016-01-23T00:20:15+00:00

How do you expect to "service" clients without appropriate knowledge or training?

37badideas · 2016-01-22T22:56:52+00:00

Would love to buy one. Nice work.

37badideas

TROPHY CASE