AUTHOR: Mark Ukleja on 5/15/2025 FIRST: stelea99 on 5/15 | RECENT: William Perry on 5/18
Comments
Re # 81, make sure you understand how secondary (not contingent) beneficiaries are treated by your employer plan. Case in point. With the Federal Government TSP, once the original account holder dies, it becomes a beneficiary account. No problem yet. Once the original beneficiary dies, the account is distributed in full to his/her beneficiaries in full w taxes withheld and a big fat 1099! There is no rollover or transfer option to another trustee! A potentially huge tax problem. If, however, you had previously rolled those $$$ to an IRA, downstream beneficiaries would have the better 10 year payout option afforded by Secure Act 2.0.
I agree w you. The hyper focus on special ed is to the detriment of the majority of students and the education process in general especially where many school districts promote “mainstreaming” disruptive students into regular classrooms.
A little off topic but the reason so many kids are being diagnosed as autistic is due to the recent expansion of what constitutes “ autism”. It was previously very narrow and now includes Asperger’s Syndrome and virtually any kid that’s a little shy or socially awkward. The more kids they can put under that umbrella, the more resources and money are thrown at it. The schools love it, the psychologists love it, and the parents do too as now it’s a “medical condition” and not poor parenting. Unfortunately, the over-diagnoses takes resources away from the core group of kids that really need intensive help. Autism is real and those kids need and deserve help but not every child that is not a perfectly behaved stellar student is autistic.
Well, we had 2 wildly different experiences.
My wife applied last year for SS. Did the whole thing online. Piece of cake. Prob less than 15 mins start to finish and fully approved maybe 6 or 7 business days later. Since then, direct deposits have been seamless.
And then I applied for Medicare (without SS) this past March and our luck ran out. Online application indicated I needed to produce my “original” birth certificate and I could mail it in (never going to happen) or request an office appointment.
I’ll cut to the chase. After 6 - 8 phone calls and 2 in person visits to the local office over 6 weeks, I was finally approved. I received several different explanations depending on whom I talked to that day but the most likely one was my DOB was wrong when originally issued back in the early 1960s. Apparently back then a birth certificate was not required and mistakes happened. It only became an issue 60 plus years later when I actually applied for a benefit. Fortunately, even though approved in May, coverage was effective in April and covered some pricey surgery.
Lessons learned. SS is a huge bureaucracy. Your benefit may be crucial to you but may not be the most important thing to the rep at SS. Everyone I spoke to was very nice but I got a lot of bad info and assurances re the status of my application that just weren’t true. Second, the DOGE impacts are real. On my second visit, the rep told me they were supposed to have 11 customer service reps on duty and only had 4 due to the early out offers and retirements /resignations from employees that had just had enough. Lastly, trust but verify. If I hadn’t followed my application and its progress online and made repeated calls after seeing no progress, I’d still be waiting for a resolution,
Nope. Change the retirement age? Change the contribution rate (tax)? Get rid of the earnings cap? Sure. But the last thing I want is the Government deciding that, in furtherance of efficiency, I don’t get the benefit that I am entitled to because I don’t need it. Says who? Thats a slippery slope. Based on what? All income? Certain income? Total assets? Net worth? Whatever the current administration decides? No thank you.
Never had a $$$ goal. Never a hard budget. More of a mindset to prioritizing savings. We maximized employer based retirement plans, jumped on the Roth IRA bandwagon when they became available in 1998, always saved first/spent later, alternated between tax deferred and Roth 410(k) contributions depending on marginal tax rate in any given year, avoided debt except when absolutely necessary and, maybe most importantly, committed to being 100% debt free before entering retirement. Wasn't sure exactly where we'd end up, but figured if we did those things we'd be fine and probably better off than 95% of others based on reported savings rates.
Hmmm. I don’t know about that. Much more uptight and boxy. I think they’re making a mistake. Had a niche w the wagon. Now they’re just one of a cast of thousands.
Comments
Re # 81, make sure you understand how secondary (not contingent) beneficiaries are treated by your employer plan. Case in point. With the Federal Government TSP, once the original account holder dies, it becomes a beneficiary account. No problem yet. Once the original beneficiary dies, the account is distributed in full to his/her beneficiaries in full w taxes withheld and a big fat 1099! There is no rollover or transfer option to another trustee! A potentially huge tax problem. If, however, you had previously rolled those $$$ to an IRA, downstream beneficiaries would have the better 10 year payout option afforded by Secure Act 2.0.
Post: Ninety Nine, I mean Eight Retirement Tips
Link to comment from July 2, 2025
I agree w you. The hyper focus on special ed is to the detriment of the majority of students and the education process in general especially where many school districts promote “mainstreaming” disruptive students into regular classrooms.
Post: Beyond the Party: How Introverts Might Quietly Win at Retirement
Link to comment from June 30, 2025
A little off topic but the reason so many kids are being diagnosed as autistic is due to the recent expansion of what constitutes “ autism”. It was previously very narrow and now includes Asperger’s Syndrome and virtually any kid that’s a little shy or socially awkward. The more kids they can put under that umbrella, the more resources and money are thrown at it. The schools love it, the psychologists love it, and the parents do too as now it’s a “medical condition” and not poor parenting. Unfortunately, the over-diagnoses takes resources away from the core group of kids that really need intensive help. Autism is real and those kids need and deserve help but not every child that is not a perfectly behaved stellar student is autistic.
Post: Beyond the Party: How Introverts Might Quietly Win at Retirement
Link to comment from June 30, 2025
Might try www.immediateannuities.com for one.
Post: The unexpected detour to deccumulation, finding peace in fixed income
Link to comment from June 21, 2025
Well, we had 2 wildly different experiences. My wife applied last year for SS. Did the whole thing online. Piece of cake. Prob less than 15 mins start to finish and fully approved maybe 6 or 7 business days later. Since then, direct deposits have been seamless. And then I applied for Medicare (without SS) this past March and our luck ran out. Online application indicated I needed to produce my “original” birth certificate and I could mail it in (never going to happen) or request an office appointment. I’ll cut to the chase. After 6 - 8 phone calls and 2 in person visits to the local office over 6 weeks, I was finally approved. I received several different explanations depending on whom I talked to that day but the most likely one was my DOB was wrong when originally issued back in the early 1960s. Apparently back then a birth certificate was not required and mistakes happened. It only became an issue 60 plus years later when I actually applied for a benefit. Fortunately, even though approved in May, coverage was effective in April and covered some pricey surgery. Lessons learned. SS is a huge bureaucracy. Your benefit may be crucial to you but may not be the most important thing to the rep at SS. Everyone I spoke to was very nice but I got a lot of bad info and assurances re the status of my application that just weren’t true. Second, the DOGE impacts are real. On my second visit, the rep told me they were supposed to have 11 customer service reps on duty and only had 4 due to the early out offers and retirements /resignations from employees that had just had enough. Lastly, trust but verify. If I hadn’t followed my application and its progress online and made repeated calls after seeing no progress, I’d still be waiting for a resolution,
Post: Social Security Personal Update
Link to comment from June 13, 2025
Nope. Change the retirement age? Change the contribution rate (tax)? Get rid of the earnings cap? Sure. But the last thing I want is the Government deciding that, in furtherance of efficiency, I don’t get the benefit that I am entitled to because I don’t need it. Says who? Thats a slippery slope. Based on what? All income? Certain income? Total assets? Net worth? Whatever the current administration decides? No thank you.
Post: Change Lanes, Expand Your Wheelhouse, Learn Some New Tricks
Link to comment from June 8, 2025
Never had a $$$ goal. Never a hard budget. More of a mindset to prioritizing savings. We maximized employer based retirement plans, jumped on the Roth IRA bandwagon when they became available in 1998, always saved first/spent later, alternated between tax deferred and Roth 410(k) contributions depending on marginal tax rate in any given year, avoided debt except when absolutely necessary and, maybe most importantly, committed to being 100% debt free before entering retirement. Wasn't sure exactly where we'd end up, but figured if we did those things we'd be fine and probably better off than 95% of others based on reported savings rates.
Post: Is it possible to achieve financial well being without a plan or even a spreadsheet?
Link to comment from May 29, 2025
Exactly. I think Buffett once said “Spending is what you do after you’re done saving. It’s not the other way around.”
Post: Is it possible to achieve financial well being without a plan or even a spreadsheet?
Link to comment from May 29, 2025
Upright (not uptight) 🙄
Post: Another HD Post About Cars
Link to comment from May 28, 2025
Hmmm. I don’t know about that. Much more uptight and boxy. I think they’re making a mistake. Had a niche w the wagon. Now they’re just one of a cast of thousands.
Post: Another HD Post About Cars
Link to comment from May 28, 2025