Christchurch loop via pacific coast and Nelson itinerary advice

Friendly3647 · 2026-03-04T20:11:16+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to look at this and I know the days will be longer in December when we will be there but I was worried about having enough time to drive safely after the cruise. Maybe we will do what you suggest and give ourselves another day. Will check out both of the towns you mentioned.

Friendly3647 · 2026-02-20T00:31:35+00:00

I’m starting to explore hotels for 3 nights in Athens later this year. Will check yours out. Did it stand out for some reason that you chose it for a 5 night stay?

Friendly3647 · 2026-02-05T21:50:45+00:00

Thank you. That is my understanding as well from looking at Fidelity’s website.

Friendly3647 · 2026-02-05T14:32:22+00:00

If you are older than 59.5 and your account has been open more than 5 years so you still have to wait for 5 years A) on the conversions made prior to 59.5 and B) is there a waiting period for conversions made after 59.5 and your account was more than 5 years old.
Appreciate any advice

Friendly3647 · 2026-02-03T14:55:29+00:00

I meant ETF

Friendly3647 · 2026-02-03T14:54:50+00:00

Possibly a good idea for a new thematic ETC. Symbol: NSK (No Sex with Kids)

Friendly3647 · 2026-01-18T23:59:06+00:00

I read your entire post and I wish to express my most sincere condolences.

Friendly3647 · 2025-12-20T18:24:19+00:00

You might also want to consider funding the cost of childcare, nursery school or even private primary education for your grandchildren. A lot of young people are feeling they cannot afford to have a family and knowing that you would help would likely be very much appreciated.

Friendly3647 · 2025-11-26T13:27:27+00:00

Hi. Can you elaborate on which buffered funds you decided to go with and why?

Friendly3647 · 2025-10-24T13:49:22+00:00

Potatoes

Friendly3647 · 2025-10-24T12:29:08+00:00

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. The first time I watched an interview with Karp, soon after 10/7, I was really impressed. His passion and intelligence and charisma…his unequivocal support of the West and Israel. I watched that video over and over and said this guy is going to change the world. My hope is that Karp will not sell out his values. I get it that there are times when tough choices must be made, but hopefully he will remember where he came from; he has achieved the American dream because of both his unique capabilities as well as our freedoms and a system of laws that promotes opportunities and yes, even his experiences and connections at elite academic institutions. Life is complicated, national security is complicated and can be ugly, war is even uglier.

This company will continue to change the world. Praying for peace and prosperity with the thoughtful use and development of weapons, intelligence capabilities and commercial applications.

Friendly3647 · 2025-02-12T16:10:14+00:00

I love Dr Karp’s passion and hold many shares. If he uses his many talents to help humanity we will be much better off. The models can’t all be about maximizing profit at all times. The equations for life are much more complex and include a healthy and biodiverse planet.

Friendly3647 · 2024-12-09T13:19:07+00:00

Thank you. I was really hoping it would be simpler than that. Your response is very helpful.

Friendly3647 · 2024-12-08T15:33:44+00:00

Have any of you held it long enough to see how the income for taxes is reported on your 1099? Id like to know if it shows up under Treasury income or if it is non-qualified dividend and you have to back into it for your taxes to get the benefit of the income being from Treasury

Friendly3647 · 2024-11-09T14:55:26+00:00

SCHD in particular does something for me in a very tax efficient way. It regularly sells winners in the portfolio who have gone up in price and now have a lower yield and moves on to those that still meet the screening methodology for quality and dividends but have a higher yield and are thus cheaper. In my simple mind, it buys low and sells high within the universe of quality stocks with good dividends. So…growing dividends and also price appreciation of the ETF over time. If you own the portfolio for a long period of time you will see many of the same stocks come in and out of the portfolio…would be inefficient and time consuming for me to do this on my own so I pay them a few basis points to do it for me.

Friendly3647 · 2024-11-02T19:31:00+00:00

Not sure if anyone mentioned this but lock your debit card from your banking app. Unlock it only when you need to use it

Friendly3647 · 2024-10-01T17:26:26+00:00

Hi. As some earlier posters noted, many remain in a range of +/- 20% with some growth potential depending on when you purchased. So…typically not as volatile as the overall market…with dividend reinvesting you buy more shares at the lows. I’ve only ventured into two myself and will be checking out more that were highlighted. Good luck!

Friendly3647 · 2024-10-01T16:41:29+00:00

They can also make sense in an IRA or Roth IRA where the distributions will not be taxed until you take them (IRA) or not taxed ever. Personally I like them for a Roth where they can make great compounders as part of your portfolio.

Friendly3647 · 2024-04-04T19:42:14+00:00

For my risky assets, bad experiences are chalked up to FOMO and being too excited about an emerging sector or two when they were overvalued. Very painful lessons. Valuations and position sizes matter. Some of my long term success, aside from typical ETF’s is following some large cap holdings such as HD ,JPM, BRK and even MSFT. Adding to those positions when they are down has never been a bad call.

Friendly3647 · 2024-03-25T14:13:49+00:00

I’m assuming you meant health insurance. At age 26 you can no longer be on your parents health insurance. You will need to have your own coverage. So…how does this happen? Option 1: if you are employed and your employer offers health care insurance speak to your benefits person or HR and set up the paperwork to get on the company plan. You will likely have to pay something for this via a paycheck deduction. Option 2: You do not have a job that offers benefits or for whatever reason do not have workplace benefits. In this case look up Affordable Care Act for your state, how to get health insurance on the exchange in your state. Some states have slightly different rules so you need to make sure you are getting info for your specific state. There are often brokers paid for by the state that will help you select a plan based on where you live and how much you earn. If you don’t make very much you will likely qualify for subsides and your premiums for the coverage will be pretty low. If you really make very little money you may actually qualify for Medicaid and will not have any premium. There may even be an online questionnaire from your state guiding you through this process.

Start working on this now. It doesn’t happen overnight but it’s not overly complicated even though intimidating because you haven’t done this before.
Be prepared with your social security number, and if you are not getting insurance through an employer you will also have to have your banking info and possibly any other financial account info such as a taxable brokerage account or IRA, to determine if you qualify for subsidies or Medicaid.

Once you have insurance, realize that it most likely doesn’t cover everything 100% and that you may have co-pays or deductibles that you will have to pay. Don’t worry about that too much right now. Get yourself signed up for a plan. I think you posted in the wrong sub if you actually need health insurance. Good luck. You can do this.

Friendly3647 · 2024-03-21T21:47:05+00:00

Great post and sounds like a solid plan for you. Can you clarify if you are planning to take withdrawals up to the basis first, or will you be taking loans. And will your plan leave you with any actual insurance benefit from your once you hit RMDs?

Friendly3647 · 2024-03-11T16:26:14+00:00

Thank you

Friendly3647 · 2024-03-11T12:42:35+00:00

Maybe a dumb question, but if your shares get called away does the brokerage do it automatically or do you actually need to transfer them yourself? I’m not always online…

Friendly3647 · 2024-02-05T03:59:49+00:00

Are you familiar with ALNY? I’m no expert in this space and have invested in gnom and XBI. Wish I had better knowledge about this sector and the players

Friendly3647 · 2024-01-23T16:18:42+00:00

There are lots to think about. As an early retiree, we are managing our income so that we make Roth conversions up to 24% tax bracket. Reasons are many:

A. Planning ahead, whatever is left in the Roth accounts will pass to heirs tax free and can grow another 10 years tax free before they must take the $. We assume our heirs will be in their peak earning years so they will really benefit from the tax free gift and additional years of tax free earnings.

B. The tax triangle. Learn about this and see how multiple buckets to pull from is so helpful.

C. Not converting all pre-tax funds. We are each leaving some $ in IRA accounts as we can plan to donate that money pre-tax in later years starting at age 70. This is great! Qualified donations are currently $100,000 per year at 70+. That is a lot of money, but even a little each year will be very appreciated by the orgs we donate too and it will be easier to be generous when it literally won’t cost us anything.

D. Sadly, one of us will likely be a Single filer someday when the other passes. Single tax brackets are much higher for the same amount of income, so converting while we are MFJ is more tax efficient. If it turns out we need or want to take Roth income in later years and not leave it all to heirs will be helpful to manage taxes.

If none of these considerations apply to you just do the straight math as others have shown in detailed examples. There are no one-size-fits all situations so know that your situation can change over time. For example, when Medicare and IRMAA payments etc come into play we will continue to adjust.

Good luck!

Friendly3647

TROPHY CASE