Jon Daley

Comments:

• We are in the same place, with my two oldest still at home. My oldest (as an electrician's apprentice and employer paying for his schooling) is able to save up a lot of money, much more than any of his peers and is firmly onboard with saving for retirement, though he wonders if maxing out his 401k is a good idea when faced with potentially buying a house in X number of years. My second will likely move out before him though with less savings due to having to pay for his pilot's license (we currently pay 1/2). It is hard to look at property prices these days and think it is a good deal.

  Post: Brooklyn Bungle

  Link to comment from June 29, 2024

• As a CFP now, do you work for individuals and do you recommend index funds for them? I just received a call from Empower/Personal Capital and he was extolling the virtues of giving him my money and *only* paying 0.8% to do so and promised that he would beat the indexes that I'm currently in. It sounds pretty convincing, but I am a boglehead at heart, albeit a pretty unknowledgeable one. Your article to re-encourage me to stay the course was good for me, thanks.

  Post: The Apprentice

  Link to comment from June 29, 2024

• I hadn't realized non-tax dependent kids could contribute to their own HSA and not affect my contribution limits. That is interesting. Seems to me that makes their HSA definitely better than a regular IRA or regular 401k, though they don't get the SS and Medicare exemption like a regular HSA. And the retirement saver credit needs to be included in the calculations. I'm not sure if it better than a Roth account, though I'd guess less likely to have tax law changes, which some people worry about Roth taxes changing at some point. Once other avenues are maxed out, then it is definitely good.

  Post: Youth May Triumph

  Link to comment from May 20, 2024

• Why isn't break even a concern? If it isn't then take SS as soon as possible, right because the amount doesn't matter?

  Post: Playing Their Part

  Link to comment from May 18, 2024

• I'm normally a fix-it kind of guy, but we recently had a cylinder go bad on my 2002 Honda Accord and I got a couple recommendations to junk the car because it would probably cost at least $3000 to fix it. I sold it to a guy down the street and her just sent me a video of the car running again. He spent $1500 plus a few days of work and is back in business. I probably should have done that myself since replacing the car will cost much more than that.

  Post: Back to Life

  Link to comment from April 27, 2024

• The one time I paid H&R Block they paid a mistake on the schedule E, which I reported to their customer support. Their response was "we are not liable for any returns that are filed with the override button checked" and she refused to tell anyone about the error, assuming that I was incorrect. I was gratified when a news article came out months later saying that H&R Block had to re-file a lot of returns and provide refunds to their customers due to an error on the Schedule E. They didn't specify what the error was, but I assume it was the one I reported to them... The error had to do with active vs passive ownership, so nothing that had changed due to a tax law change that year.

  Post: Fox in the Henhouse

  Link to comment from April 2, 2024

• You might be interested in http://excel1040.com/ I've used it for a number of years.

  Post: Fox in the Henhouse

  Link to comment from April 2, 2024

• I've read the article twice, but I guess I'm missing the "nice job part of explaining". I see they say "your benefits will be less than half", but I don't see a way to calculate what the benefit will be, nor how it changes based on what age my spouse claims SS, etc. This appears like it will exactly affect us - our plan is for my wife to take her small SS at 62, but then I wait until 70 and she (theoretically) goes up to 50% of mine. But, I think you are saying this plan won't work, and now I'm wondering if all of my plans are bad - she is currently working for me both to gain a 401K opportunity, but also to gain SS.

  Post: Our Waiting Game

  Link to comment from March 1, 2024

• The tiny house movement is very fringe, and lots of places are working to keep them out by regulating minimum size houses.

  Post: Two Paychecks Needed

  Link to comment from October 18, 2023

• I understand the QCD part, that you can't take the deduction twice, but as for it not being a 501c3, it is still a charity and qualifies for a schedule A deduction, right?

  Post: Check Before Leaving

  Link to comment from October 18, 2023