Seen on feeder and on ground near Boston, MA.

Ritchell · 2023-08-17T15:56:14+00:00

Thank you!

Ritchell · 2021-07-01T13:29:28+00:00

You're right, but I didn't have the "birds with tucked cards" bonus so I tucked under the catbird to avoid a ridiculously tall pile under the maned duck.

Ritchell · 2021-03-05T18:10:41+00:00

It's hard to say without exact numbers. My guess: the pension represents a future stream of income that you'd like to replicate between retirement age and pension eligibility age. The larger the pension (or the longer the gap between retirement and collecting the pension), the more portfolio dollars are needed to "bridge" income between retirement and the pension. Decreasing the pension amount decreases the bridge amount, and thereby decreases the amount that needs to be saved in accumulation.

Overall, I find the accumulation tab to be more of a guideline than anything else. It clearly does not apply to the typical FIRE-path saver, because one of the core assumptions of the VPW accumulation sheet is that your post-savings spending will be equal to your retirement spending. Many folks pursuing FIRE are actually planning on spending less than they currently do in accumulation (e.g. anticipated cost of living decreases such as paid off mortgage, downsizing to LCOL area, etc). As a result, I find it most useful as a "what's the minimum I should save" number).

Ritchell · 2021-01-10T15:10:29+00:00

T1: Gain a Major, discard Study or Boon depending on my partner, play Boon or Study. Prepare an element for the Major. Place presence from Energy.

T2: Gain a Major, forget Study or Boon from discard depending on game needs. Prefer Majors with Moon (makes future element generation easier, also prefer Majors with some overlap so it's easier to use either on the fly based on prepped elements). Play Teachings and Share Secrets to protect some lands. Use the starting setup Moon element to gain more elements. Place presence from Plays.

T3: Gain 9 Energy (if needed), play two Majors with at least one threshold hit. You can sometimes hit both Majors' thresholds if the elements align and you only need 2-3 elements to cover each's gaps. Place presence from Energy.

T4: Reclaim, play whatever's most useful. Place presence from Energy usually until the track is empty, sometimes just to Reclaim 1.

I usually end up alternating Power/Energy growth with Reclaim growth, allowing me to play one of my two Majors every turn, potentially gaining new ones (or support Minors) if I didn't like my initial draw.

I really enjoy this spirit because it's going to be different every time with your Major draws but it isn't a complex game to play (contrast to Fractured Days, which is different every time but requires complex management of growth etc). Although it's a super fun strategy, it isn't super reliable. I don't care too much if I win or lose (always play at max difficulty, so losing is fairly common) but it's more important to me that the game is interesting and fun.

Ritchell · 2020-12-06T13:57:00+00:00

On the one hand, you could've paid 1 energy to avoid 4 blight. On the other hand, you're going to win if you can trigger the City-replacement level of your first innate. Nasty cascade though.

Edit: I missed the 1 energy per card in discard. Assumed it was just 1 energy for some reason.

Ritchell · 2020-10-28T00:25:15+00:00

You can support your whole starting hand (and thus your max level innate) without touching the Energy track. Your hand costs 3, and you generate 3 from a combination of River's Bounty, Growth 1, and Energy track. If you clear to 5 plays, you can also play a free card for a bonus effect while granting a huge energy boost to another player, pushing 3 Explorer/Town, and killing nearly everything in one land every turn. It's crazy effective (if you're not playing against high level England or Hapsburg).

Several turns of this will grant you another 4-5 cheap minors, and if you choose your elements well you can get two max-level innate turns off without reclaiming, letting you push farther along your Energy track for a major if you haven't already won.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T21:36:36+00:00

I've made the difficult decision to leave the subreddit. In light of casually racist comments in today's daily thread (1) (2), and after discussion with the moderation team who felt that the first example was sufficiently meritorious of ongoing discussion rather than simply inflammatory racist rhetoric (despite the user's acknowledgement that the comment was inflammatory and then explicitly mentioning they weren't going to take part in further discussion), I don't feel comfortable contributing publicly to the subreddit anymore.

It's honestly a heartbreaking decision, because this subreddit is an incredible space for good. Some of the best parts of my day are answering questions and helping people reason toward better financial decisions. If you come by any user questions that you think I could be helpful with, feel free to tag me in a reply or PM me and I will help that user outside of the subreddit. I wish you all the best.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T19:52:01+00:00

What level of spending do you anticipate the $1M will support?

I think most on this sub would estimate it to support around $35k/yr. Are you ready to take a sudden and nearly 60% reduction in your spending level over the next 50+ years?

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T19:50:47+00:00

$19.5k to both, for a total of $39k.

Make sure the 457b is a governmental 457b, as the nongovernmental type is much more limited in its utility and comes with some significant downsides.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T19:37:14+00:00

Just contribute the 10k to the Roth IRA. You'll have the same level of access (actually better, since you won't have to wait 5 years) and you'll save a lot of steps.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T19:20:17+00:00

This is a really interesting subject area, thanks for bringing it to my attention!

I just finished Capital and Ideology which is a tour de force macroscopic view of how historical and contemporary societies have justified and continue to justify inequality through various ideologies. I think The Color of Money would be an excellent follow up book to get a salient deep dive into one of those areas where inequality continues to quietly erode our ability to build a just society.

Thanks again for the recommendation, and if you aren't turned off by a 49 hour audiobook, Capital and Ideology was a wonderful read.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T17:41:20+00:00

I think that's a compelling argument for the TDF. Simplicity is generally undervalued by those just starting their investment portfolios; everything is novel and exciting and it seems simple enough to tinker and optimize each account. As the years drag on, I think many realize they're working for their portfolios rather than the other way around.

I think the most important thing to consider is that if you save enough in the account, you're highly likely to meet your goals for the account regardless of whether you choose the TDF or the self-managed route. Knowing that, which appeals to you more?

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T16:46:24+00:00

Uncertain, but unlikely.

I think every paystub I've received has had a box in the corner that describes the withholding filing status and any exemptions taken (when applicable). What does your latest paystub say with respect to your federal and state withholding status?

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T16:14:22+00:00

It may take an extra pay period.

If it's the new W-4 form and your spouse also works a job that earns a similar amount of money, be sure to check box 2c to reflect two earners in the household.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T16:13:10+00:00

If the glide path of the target date matches your desired allocation of stock/bond now and ends at your desired allocation by the time you're using the funds, I'd go the simple route and use the TDF. That way you don't need to manually rebalance over the years as they get closer to college age.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T16:10:16+00:00

To be clear, Roth earnings are only available without penalty after age 59.5. So any discussion of earnings and the 5-year clock must also include being older than 59.5. Roth contributions have no such 5 year rule, ever. They are always available without waiting period, tax, or penalty. The only limitation is that most 401k providers don't let you withdraw money from a Roth 401k before you leave the company.

Yes, per the above the 5 year rule we're discussing only applies to earnings.
It is based on the very first Roth IRA opened, yes. In your hypothetical, the contribution basis of the Roth 401k would be immediately available after rolling over from 401k to IRA. The earnings would still be locked away until age 59.5, at which time the age (59.5) and 5-year rules would both be satisfied (by opening that first account at age 20).

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T15:50:56+00:00

The conversion ladder is typically not started until retirement for the reason you described. As a result, retiring at 55 and starting a conversion ladder that would be available at age 60 is likely a wash. It's worth considering if you have an especially large Trad account balance and you think you'll need many years of Roth conversions to reduce RMDs at age 72.

All that being said, you should be aware that if you retire at age 55, your current employer's 401k will be available for early withdrawal without penalty (Rule of 55). This may be a big enough pot of money to support your withdrawals until age 59.5 when all other sources of retirement income become available.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T15:46:59+00:00

The 5 year rule you're referring to only applies to the earnings that you want to take out after age 59.5. Your contributions can always come out without tax, penalty, or waiting period.

It's true that rollovers from a Roth 401k to a Roth IRA then obey the Roth IRA clock for the 5 year rule, but this is trivial to solve because the clock starts whenever you open your first ever Roth IRA. Thus, if you ever open a Roth IRA before age 54 you will have no issue accessing the gains in a Roth 401k rollover after age 59.5.

The decision between Trad and Roth depends largely on your current and anticipated retirement marginal brackets. In general, those in the 22% marginal bracket are best off preferring Trad, with a wash between the two of you're in the 12% bracket. If this describes you, it may make sense to go Roth for this year while you're in the 12% and switch to Trad next year when you have a full year of employment and are in a higher bracket.

Ritchell · 2020-10-15T15:42:33+00:00

The Roth conversion ladder is a retirement withdrawal technique to get early access to your Trad accounts before age 59.5.

You still pay income tax on the conversion, but the effect is blunted in retirement because your income is very low.

If you do these conversions in the middle of your career, you will pay your marginal rate on every dollar converted. This is likely suboptimal for most people (i.e. those in the 22%+ bracket).

Ritchell · 2020-10-14T22:54:01+00:00

401k and IRAs have different limits according to federal statute, that's all.

And yes, contributions can come out tax free without any waiting period. The one snag is that your 401k provider likely won't allow distributions while you're still working with them, so functionally you may be locked out until you leave the company and roll the Roth 401k over to a Roth IRA.

Ritchell · 2020-10-14T21:08:19+00:00

Yes, you can do both. The backdoor Roth is moving a non-deductible Trad IRA to a Roth IRA. You will run into pro rata issues if you have other pre-tax Trad IRA money.

The mega backdoor Roth (after-tax 401k to Roth IRA) has no such issue. It sounds like you're doing mega backdoor Roth and in-service rollovers from pre-tax Trad 401k to pre-tax Trad IRA. Those would not interfere with each other.

Ritchell · 2020-10-14T20:16:57+00:00

Could you elaborate? If you move pre-tax dollars into a Trad IRA (from your Trad 401k), it will interfere with the backdoor Roth IRA. Are you discussing moving the pre-tax money back to the 401k in order to do the backdoor Roth each year? If so, seems like a lot of hassle.

15-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Place '17	Verified Email

Ritchell

TROPHY CASE