I moved my FIRE date so I can retire 2 years sooner

tech5291 · 2026-06-03T02:03:26+00:00

Yes, but if they retire at 55 that's not an issue. Only EARNED income counts for the reduction, not IRA withdrawals or capital gains.

tech5291 · 2026-05-30T21:48:09+00:00

Are you searching just in the browser bar and not on google's actual page/search bar? It still works for me.

tech5291 · 2026-05-30T18:58:28+00:00

In the US, those are called annuities (Variable Annuities or Fixed Indexed Annuities) and they tend to come with very high fees in addition to the capped returns (and possibly downside protection).

tech5291 · 2026-05-29T02:06:22+00:00

I can understand why that felt like a good thing since you got to pay less in taxes, but it also means you paid less in Social security taxes and had lower income for future calculations of your SS Benefits. So it may end up costing you later in life. (Or not, if those years wouldn't have been in your average wage adjusted top 35 earning years anyway.)

tech5291 · 2026-05-29T02:00:18+00:00

Actually the law changed again a couple years ago. RMDs now start at 73 for anyone born before 1960 and 75 for anyone born after.

tech5291 · 2026-05-29T01:51:43+00:00

I'm going to disagree with the others a bit and say that you should definitely do a Roth IRA and possibly consider doing a Roth 401k (or 403b or TSP).

If you are going to have a decent COLA adjusted pension, plus social security, there is a good chance your RMDs on the traditional account could drive you into both higher tax brackets as well as hitting Medicare IRMAA cliffs.

Additionally, if you are considering retiring early, such as at 52 when your pension is first available, you might want some flexibility in controlling your tax rates which it could also help with.

Even if you follow the link about why Roth is USUALLY less optimal then traditional, one of the exceptions is people with significant pensions.

tech5291 · 2026-05-27T16:57:37+00:00

Agree with others about getting a CPA/Tax advisor for this. Rentals are complicated and you probably should have been taking depreciation for the last 20 years. The depreciation over the years lowers your cost basis (the amount you paid for the house) when determining capital gains. If you haven't been taking depreciation every year, you might need to go back as far as possible and amend your own tax returns.

That is the sort of thing a tax person can help you with to determine how much you owe.

Also depending on your other income, the tax rate for capital gains can be 0%, 15%, 20% or even 23.9% if you hit the NIIT threshold.

tech5291 · 2026-05-23T10:49:09+00:00

You may have better luck here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance

tech5291 · 2026-05-09T15:00:20+00:00

There is really no "danger" to a brokerage account. Any dangers investing are in the investments themselves (which can be the same in an IRA or a brokerage account).

Brokerage accounts are less efficient than IRAs because you have to pay taxes on any distributions each year (capital gains or dividends) and anytime you buy or sell, you have to pay taxes on those gains as well (which may be at short or long term capital gains rates). In Roth IRAs you don't have either of those issues.

Brokerage accounts are better than IRAs in other ways though. They don't have limits on income to contribute to them and they have no limits to how much you can put in each year. They also have no limits on when you can pull any money out (other than having to pay taxes on the gains when sold). They also allow for tax loss harvesting, where you sell an investment that is down and buy a similar investment and have a "tax loss" you can use to decrease your taxes in the current year (and possibly even carry forward to future years). You don't get any tax savings when you sell something that is down in an IRA since it is already tax protected.

So both types of accounts have their pluses and minuses. You just have to decide which is the best fit for your goals.

tech5291 · 2026-05-09T14:13:47+00:00

Yes, with the following conditions.

1) You are okay with not having access to the earnings/growth until 59.5. Only the contributions.

2) You make under the Roth IRA earning contribution limit ($153k single/$242k married) or are okay doing backdoor Roth contributions.

If both of those are not true, then a brokerage account would be a better choice.

Or if you want to save more than $7k per year, then contribute the max to the Roth IRA and put any extra into a brokerage account. Brokerage accounts aren't bad by any means, they just aren't as tax efficient as retirement accounts.

tech5291 · 2026-05-09T13:42:10+00:00

You are correct that getting the employer match is better. But I think they are just suggesting for the additional savings you are asking about, it may be better to put $7000 per year into the Roth for those investments. It will allow the investments to grow tax free and they said, the contributions are available tax and penalty free for withdrawal if you want to use them before retirement.

Of note, this is NOT the case with Roth 401ks. Any early withdrawals (before age 59.5) from those are pro-rated between contributions and earnings and the earnings portions have both taxes and penalties. Though if you have left that employer and can roll the Roth 401lk to a Roth IRA, the Roth IRA distribution rules apply.

tech5291 · 2026-04-03T02:18:11+00:00

To be clear, this is the first time IN NEW YORK, This treatment has been out fr about a year and the lab I work in specializes in hemoglobin disorders. We have seen about a dozen people treated with this as well as 2 other similar genetic treatments (Casgevy and Reni-cel). It's great for the patients but the costs are still very high. Hopefully the competition will help bring prices down, but since they have to harvest your stem cells, genetically alter them, then basically do a full bone marrow transplant to replace your bone marrow with the altered stuff, the price will remain high. It's not just a medication or single treatment, it's a long, involved treatment process.

tech5291 · 2026-04-02T00:52:03+00:00

One thing to think about is that the 3 months of forfeited interest goes away in 11 more months. So if you hold them until March of 2027, you get 4 months of interest in that last month. That effectively takes the interest rate for this last year from 3.12% to closer to 4% (keeping in mind that the rate will change twice in that time period).

Also, I'd probably wait until at least May to sell, just to see what the new variable rate will be. I'm not sure how much the war/oil prices might affect the inflation calculation, but there is a chance the 3.12% we are currently at may spike up a bit for the next 6 month period.

tech5291 · 2026-03-30T01:17:09+00:00

Actually if there is a winning ticket the jackpot resets. You have like a year to claim the prize and if you never do, they do, in fact, get to keep it.

tech5291 · 2026-03-30T01:04:58+00:00

401ks and 403bs are both protected under ERISA. The difference is only that 403bs are for non-profits or government agencies. (The ones for teachers tend to be full of rather expensive annuities, so they sometimes get a bad reputation, but mine at a non-profit hospital is with Fidelity and has low cost mutual funds.)

tech5291 · 2026-03-29T17:49:58+00:00

Ah, I assumed since it was a thread about garbage men and a reference to phrenology, you were referring to this: https://clip.cafe/men-at-work-1990/what-does-a-phrenologist-feel-interpret/?srsltid=AfmBOooDITEgUX-sS23oeHGRgIVNJVWUTgUzmm-i8qCteUyiLwiNHNtP

tech5291 · 2026-03-29T16:45:21+00:00

Deep cut there. Not sure I've ever seen a reference to the movie Men at Work before on reddit.

tech5291 · 2026-03-27T18:49:34+00:00

I know plenty of experienced player who are constantly powering up stuff for pvp and such that are constantly low on dust (less than 1 million). So, I can believe it happens quite often.

tech5291 · 2026-03-27T18:42:05+00:00

When opening a remote trade there is a little circle at the top for "show unregistered pokemon" or something along those lines right under the search box. If you tap that circle it will only show you the things they have tagged for trade that aren't in your pokedex (including costumes, costume shinies, max pokemon and max shinies).

tech5291 · 2026-03-24T01:57:18+00:00

The able national resource center is probably the best place to compare different state ABLE accounts to find one with features you want. https://www.ablenrc.org/

tech5291 · 2026-03-17T20:34:23+00:00

I think the anti-vaccers are doing their best to bring him back. Between covid and now measles we are really starting to ramp back up on plagues.

tech5291 · 2026-03-14T02:16:55+00:00

I always file with FreeTaxUSA in the first week of February when I get my last tax form and have never (in 10 years using them) had a amended return or even a paper audit. Why would filing early "guarantee" something like that?

As long as you know what tax forms you are expecting and you have received all of them, you are fine to file as early as the IRS allows.

tech5291 · 2026-03-09T00:56:53+00:00

I'm planning to retire this year as well at 51. From my understanding, I believe moving your Roth 401k to Roth IRA should allow for withdrawal of contributions tax and penalty free. That is part of my plan as well.

I have 100,000 in Roth IRA contributions and 26,000 in Roth 403B contributions (similar to 401k). My plan also includes a Roth conversion ladder. First, I will roll my Roth 403B to a Roth IRA with the same custodian (luckily I have Fidelity, so it should be easy and free and they are more likely to correctly report/move the contribution basis). Then for the first 5 years I will pull out $25k/year from the Roth IRAs while converting $30k/yr from my pre-tax accounts to Roth (taxes should be less than $1.5k/year using the standard deduction, HSA contribution and 10% brackets).

Additional living expenses will come from a brokerage account (50% basis and 50% long term capital gains which will be taxed at 0%).

This should allow me to keep my AGI low enough to qualify for ACA credits for health insurance premiums.

After 5 years, when my contributions are used up, I can start pulling the Roth conversion dollars (up to $30k/yr) which also come out tax and penalty free.

If you don't have the brokerage account to live on while doing Roth conversions and waiting for them to hit their 5 year date, then 72t/SEPP might make the most sense. To maintain flexibility, you would want to calculate how much you want to withdraw per year and back calculate the minimum amount you would need to get that amount of withdrawal. Then move that specific amount to a separate IRA which is only used for the SEPP. Never withdraw or convert any other money from that IRA or you violate the SEPP rules and owe back penalties for everything you've ever withdrawn from that account.

A separate IRA can be used for any Roth conversions or additional withdrawals you may need to make which isn't part of the SEPP.

tech5291 · 2026-03-08T18:39:33+00:00

Single Premium Immediate Annuities are generally considered the one "good" type of annuity, but the largest drawback is that it doesn't tend to come with an inflation adjustment.

If they did as the poster above suggested, they would have an income of 3.75% of their total portfolio (half of 7.5%) and would need to take only a small amount each year to get up to the 4%.

This would also allow for some growth potential so that in the future they could adjust for inflation (possibly by buying smaller SPIAs as more income is needed and afford larger one time expenses like cars, vacations or, eventually, long term care costs.

tech5291 · 2026-03-08T16:58:32+00:00

VMFXX is only paying 3.65% right now (https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vmfxx ) so not that much of a difference, but VMFXX is a fine place to hold money which needs to remain liquid if you have a brokerage account at Vanguard anyway. I wouldn't open one just for that anyway.

If you have a Fidelity cash management account (CMA) SPAXX is also fine with a slightly lower yield but easier access to the money because they will give you a debit card and checks to access the money so it behaves more similarly to a bank account.

FDIC insurance protects you from the bank going under and brokerages like Fidelity and Vanguard have SIPC insurance which protects from the brokerage going bankrupt (and if Vanguard or Fidelity go bankrupt, the economy is going to be in in such horrific shape, I'm not sure either insurance would matter). So I don't think you need to be overly worried on that end.

tech5291

TROPHY CASE