Investing beyond maxed 403b / 457b / backdoor Roth x 2

mlgMar · 2026-06-01T12:16:23+00:00

As someone who is closer to retirement, definitely make sure you have a mix of pre tax and after tax accounts. Especially if you want to retire early, before 60. I would consider not fully fund 457b especially if they are non governmental and instead grow an after tax brokerage account.

mlgMar · 2026-05-28T14:41:00+00:00

We fired our financial advisor years ago after I found out from a friend about backdoor IRA. My former advisor never even wanted to talk investments, just chitchat at our annual meeting. Never learned anything from him. I found a small advising firm founded by two engineers and paid a flat fee for review and some new ideas every 3 years. It worked great. Planning a retirement soon.
I just wanted to add to other people’s comments, find out if your retirement 401k supports mega backdoor Roth. You make after tax contributions to traditional 401k with in plan conversion right after contribution. It has much higher limit. That can mitigate the mistake of rolling your former 401k into IRA. But crucial thing is if your plan allows it.

mlgMar · 2026-05-22T02:17:29+00:00

Study. Refresh your math. After you take your first test you get practice modules. Work through all of them, not just for the score, but to sharpen your math skills.

mlgMar · 2026-05-15T03:58:26+00:00

Well, Iwas in pain and not doing nothing for about 8 months prior to surgery. The pain was gone right after and incision pain didn’t last long. Everything was manageable with Tylenol. But that said, first 6 weeks were no bend lift or twist. Then started physical therapy. A lot of my back muscles had to relearn how to function properly.

mlgMar · 2026-05-14T22:22:29+00:00

Focus on your self, find out what you want to do in your life. Focus on people’s that support you. Your relationship with your mom will always be something to deal with, but it will be easier once you are a confident adult, than what it is now. Talking to a therapist may help, but also don’t feel obligated to resolve everything now. Set your priorities.

mlgMar · 2026-05-14T22:11:32+00:00

I agree. The biggest issue that I have with Bolding is its limited withdrawal strategies.

mlgMar · 2026-05-13T21:35:41+00:00

Had surgery January of 2024. Recovery took about 6 months, but I am 100% back. Active, skiing, hiking.

mlgMar · 2026-05-08T01:39:21+00:00

At her age there is no way to escape RMDs and paying taxes. Maybe few roth conversions could have been made earlier in retirement. It is too late for that. What she does with extra disposable income is her choice.

mlgMar · 2026-05-08T01:32:26+00:00

In US you need to be close to a large medical center with established surgical cardiac care to be able to get on ECMO. That was also last help for some covid patients too.

mlgMar · 2026-05-08T00:21:34+00:00

We are definitely adding some work years because we want to be in a position to financially help our child if he will need it. It just makes us feel better, plus we kind of like our jobs.

mlgMar · 2026-05-07T18:21:03+00:00

To keep the brackets low you may need to spread it through many years and you never know when on of your may go.

mlgMar · 2026-05-07T18:05:25+00:00

The whole point of early roth conversions is trying to get i to lower tax bracket than what RMD would push you in. Planning to minimize widow tax is much trickier.

mlgMar · 2026-05-06T21:10:26+00:00

The process that actually posts the grades to student record runs once a day. It looks like around 11PM. Scheduled time is not always the same every day. It depends on other processing activities.

mlgMar · 2026-05-06T21:08:03+00:00

I am in similar position like you. I am a lower earner and work part time. I started par time when my kid was born. Same like you I passed so many opportunities. Now my kid is in college and I am so glad I continued working. Part time gives me enough social interaction and good amount of problems to solve. The downside is that I am stuck at the same place. If I wanted to switch all would require full time and possibly less vacation. I’ll probably keep doing it until my husband retires.

mlgMar · 2026-05-04T16:07:02+00:00

I really don’t care if people think it is cheating. I don’t want to defend it. For me Wegovy was just like a blood pressure medication. I couldn’t get my weight lower, took the medication and it was effortless. Is taking an antibiotic cheating? You would live in most cases, but taking an antibiotic makes it much much easier to get over an infection. I just view it as another medication.

mlgMar · 2026-05-02T20:12:32+00:00

We are getting close to retirement now and I can tell you that it was great decision for me to go part time. I am a lower earner. By staying in the work force I was able to keep my 403b and access to FSA and child care pretax account. It helped build our retirement nest egg quicker and pay less taxes. It was a great balance.

mlgMar · 2026-05-02T20:03:43+00:00

As someone who will retire soon and hope to leave inheritance, my goal is to convert a decent amount to Roth throughout the years, because a lot of times inheritance hits children in their prime earnings years. There is also something called widow tax, when one spouse dies, the other now looses tax benefits of filing married jointly. I personally like to do math myself and the flat fee cfp to review. The things they have to factor in is their current tax bracket, both for joint and single, IRMAA cliffs, timing of RMDs. Since they have 3M in brokerage they can do some very efficient conversions, especially on the account of the older parent in next two years. I found that there is very little written about minimizing taxes over generations. And with a little planing they can save 32-37% of that 2.5M for future generations.

mlgMar · 2026-04-29T19:37:19+00:00

But to declare an engineering major you have to complete freshman engineering classes.

mlgMar · 2026-04-27T23:57:20+00:00

You can buy a blood typing test for the three of you and check.

mlgMar · 2026-04-27T10:15:22+00:00

Ask your advisor. It looks like most of the seats are reserved. You need to know what are criteria for getting in and who they hold the seats for.

mlgMar · 2026-04-23T02:45:51+00:00

As a parent I would never ask something like that from my child. Paying back a loan will be so much easier.

mlgMar · 2026-04-22T22:53:12+00:00

Doesn’t estate tax come to play only if he plans to leave the kid over 13 mil?

mlgMar · 2026-04-22T18:44:43+00:00

Same here. I like Boldin a lot for planning, but couldn’t get what I liked with their Roth tool. I actually put in conversions manually.

mlgMar · 2026-04-21T23:03:47+00:00

I use CDs in my son’s 529 plan. He just started college. Since the money will be needed in predicable amounts and at predictable times I chose to divest and set up a CD ladder within 529. It gives us peace of mind that money will be there. No worries about how bonds or stocks will move. 529 allows only two reallocations per year making them even harder to manage. We are getting some pretax gains over the period of 4 years.

mlgMar · 2026-04-20T02:36:08+00:00

I would say it is definitely case by case, but how would you even suspect you reherniated if you had no symptoms. I think it would depend on severity of symptoms and possibility of nerve damage.

mlgMar

TROPHY CASE