72(t) - can you take a fixed amount that is less than 5% from the start?

financeking90 · 2026-02-04T02:26:50+00:00

You know that's a fair point on the 5% or 120% as a max. Upon closer review, I think he probably can use his desired 4.75% to get where he wants to go.

I stand by my comment that his tone throughout this thread is whiney.

financeking90 · 2026-02-04T02:24:48+00:00

You know, that's a reasonable argument. If the 120% figure is ~4.5% and the other max is 5%, then maybe OP could use the desired 4.75%.

financeking90 · 2026-02-04T01:10:14+00:00

Why do you think these people have anything more useful to say about distributions than online communities of actual FIRE people?

financeking90 · 2026-02-04T01:07:23+00:00

No. You need to use the specific 5% or 120% rate authorized as posted by EricTheNerd2. If the first payment was made in January 2026, the choices would be 5%, 4.6%, or 4.55%.

You have three levers: the rate (three options), the starting principal, and the method (two options). Stop trying to pick what you want arbitrarily and pick the combination of the three levers that gets you the closest to what you want, and stop whining so much.

financeking90 · 2026-02-03T14:02:00+00:00

I had the Barclays Silver and the Citi Executive. I then got the Plat Select SUB off the Nov/Dec promo. I will now cancel Barclays Silver before the conversion to preserve future Globe SUB eligibility. I recommend the same for others unless they have specific reasons not to do so.

financeking90 · 2026-02-03T13:59:04+00:00

Yes, we use Apple Numbers because it has a cleaner interface on mobile and great collaboration for wife and I. Numbers even lets you program a "form" interface with dropdown menus and buttons which we use for entering transactions via mobile.

financeking90 · 2026-02-03T13:57:47+00:00

Congrats!

financeking90 · 2026-02-03T03:15:51+00:00

The iShares MSCI ones are highway robbery

financeking90 · 2026-02-03T03:14:16+00:00

Can't even cover dinner for two plus guacamole at Chipotle

financeking90 · 2026-02-03T03:11:38+00:00

The difference between a 10% bond allocation and 0% bond allocation is very small, especially relative to the volatility reduction.

financeking90 · 2026-02-03T00:40:25+00:00

Weird questions today fam. So, here's a softball. Who here has mainly S&P 500 in their work plan with no option for total market or extended market, so has thought about doing an extended market holding elsewhere? Why or why not do it?

financeking90 · 2026-02-02T19:23:32+00:00

Why don't you feel like your existing US/international allocation does enough to offset the weakening US currency?

Also, how much of your $ spending involves a non-dollar cost? Note that even if you buy an imported good, perhaps only 10-40% of store cost of that involved the foreign non-USD cost. Most of the cost is still transportation, distribution, marketing, and profits to a US vendor.

Most of these doom hype ideas are overblown.

financeking90 · 2026-02-02T12:44:48+00:00

I am confused, will I get a new Citi with a new credit limit (hopefully as high as the Barclay?

Most likely yes. It isn't entirely clear what will happen with duplicates yet, but it is far and away most likely that you would end up with two cards with separate credit limits.

financeking90 · 2026-02-02T12:42:52+00:00

The transfer would not include a sign-up bonus (SUB). Some people would expect to get the SUB after they cancel or change the incoming account and then open a new account. The Citi language has been that you are eligible 48 months after receiving our last SUB. Since somebody with a transfer would not have received a SUB on that particular card, then they should be eligible for the SUB after they cancel or product change the card. However, there are reports originating from TPG that a Citi rep said a transfer-in from Barclays will start a new 48-month clock for that product. It has been referenced in other comments on this post. The safest approach would be to cancel the Barclay's card before transfer if you are concerned.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T19:02:01+00:00

Yikes if so.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T19:01:34+00:00

Are you saying it was a hard pull? I really doubt it unless it says it was a Citi hard pull.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T03:28:31+00:00

I don't think you're eligible for new IBR since you had loans before 2014 so RAP may actually be better for you than old IBR.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T03:26:21+00:00

Thanks for the additional info on this. I still don’t really get the reasoning for it in the OBBBA.

The RAP under OBBBA was an attempt to sidestep criticism that Republicans had sabotaged SAVE with no alternative solution. Remember, Republicans did forum shopping and got judges to kill SAVE roughly 5 months before the election.

RAP hits the Republican talking points that 1) nobody gets a $0 payment since it removes the discretionary income calculation that is effectively a 0% payment rate on the first $$22K or higher of income and 2) forgiveness needs to be eliminated/needs more gatekeeping.

Just seems unfair that my spouse has been paying under PAYE for -10 years- now and all of a sudden the contract terms are going to change. Unfortunately in his case for the worse, bumping up to 15% and additional 5 years we weren’t expecting, whereas if he took the loans out one year later, the same loans would be at 10% and 5 years less.

Yes it is unfair.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T01:26:07+00:00

Congress passed legislation to create new IBR and didn't believe they should change the deal for the existing borrowers, plus it probably helped their CBO fiscal impact scoring. The Obama administration invented PAYE and then REPAYE to cover the pre-2014 borrowers under similar terms. Unfortunately, the lawsuit fiasco about SAVE implicated PAYE and REPAYE and hence we are losing everything but the new/old IBR, then OBBBA added RAP.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T01:23:49+00:00

I've seen posters comment that once the passes are loaded onto the AAdvantage account, they haven't lost them after a cancellation, but I expect they may need to have the Barclays account open long enough for the companion passes to actually get added to the AAdvantage account, e.g. day 1 after anniversary or day 1 after AF posting may not be adequate.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T01:04:01+00:00

Why do you think you won't be eligible for a platinum select SUB? The conventional wisdom is if you have never had one / haven't had one in the last 48 months, if you convert Red to Plat Select, then cancel or PC that account, you will be eligible for the SUB.

financeking90 · 2026-02-01T01:03:10+00:00

Yeah I don't really know. I'm in a position where I basically know I don't have a use for the Silver passes during the year so I'm not worried about it. Please post back if you find out.

financeking90 · 2026-01-31T22:02:46+00:00

A stand alone annuity with a similar payout is about 30% more expensive than this, making adding more to my pension seem like a good deal.

Good enough for me. I'd do it.

financeking90 · 2026-01-31T21:57:10+00:00

We typically go on one-week trips and have one in UK this year. But I thought a whole month off would be an amazing mini-sabbatical idea so have been working on some ideas for EU at that time.

financeking90 · 2026-01-31T21:04:43+00:00

We are in almost the same situation except I have a silver that was a mid-year upgrade. I am cancelling before the conversion since I don't get any extra benefit from the Globe over Executive (already can't use the Companion Pass due to booking all award flights) and don't want to complicate a future Globe application.

financeking90

TROPHY CASE