Steve Spinella

Comments:

• It was Aetna who balked at paying for the MRI I required to verify the extent of my cancer, then not only refused to pay but did so by ignoring my appeal completely. Fortunately I was in the free look window and could change to traditional medicare with a high deductible plan G supplement (medigap.) My biggest loss was the humiliation of realizing I had made a bad decision. I look at the $600 I paid for that MRI they wouldn't authorize (at their in-network inferior provider with older machines, so I ended up redoing it 6 weeks later) as a very cheap price for avoiding a lifetime of regret.

  Post: Medigap pricing question

  Link to comment from September 7, 2024

• In response to your last comment: [Perhaps] you are grieving. This is what it looks like [for you.] Unfortunately as you point out, grief often (always?) does not draw us together because we're all at different places and distances from the loss as well as arriving from different journeys and experiencing the loss from different perspectives. I would even suggest that grief is a good and an appropriate part of any journey well-taken. And if you want a label, some call it anticipatory grief.

  Post: No Regrets

  Link to comment from September 7, 2024

• Sorry you found yourself where you didn't want to be, but thanks for sharing that. Why do you think you were vulnerable to what you have come to regret?

  Post: A Foolish Option

  Link to comment from August 25, 2024

• My cancer is a slow one, but I just lost my sister to brain cancer and in spite of everything, she brought that life expectancy JC mentions down a little. There were some good memories, but mainly it was and is a great loss. But I'm thinking right now about when I bought a house and finished the basement--partly myself with help from friends (some paid poorly and some not at all) and partly as a general contractor hiring (mostly) great workers and subcontractors. It was an unusual part of one of my biggest transitions--leaving the work I did the longest, that involved the most satisfaction and the biggest wounds. And, yes, I think it was for me a bit of therapy. While the people have feelings, wires, sheetrock, pipes, and insulation do not. And the progress was so incredibly visible. It's been over a decade now and I still savor that unique journey and biggest project (well, of a mechanical nature).

  Post: On the Clock

  Link to comment from August 17, 2024

• Another way of looking at tax incentives is to seek to pay the lowest lifetime taxes, not the lowest taxes this year. While this is still tax-driven, it shifts the decision-making toward long term gain rather than short-term gains. A few consequences: 1) It may be good to have some investments in taxable accounts paying lower long term capital gain rates rather than paying ordinary income tax rates later on gains in tax deferred accounts. 2) Since charitable contributions count against the highest tax rate income, making larger charitable contributions in years with higher incomes and making charitable contributions that offset ordinary income tax (rather than capital gains) can make sense along the way, rather than waiting to give once more wealth is accumulated. 3) It may never be too soon to convert available tax-deferred dollars to roth dollars if this is an available option, unless you have other concerns, like what your income will qualify you for in college financial aid for those wonderful, but expensive children.

  Post: Driven by Taxes

  Link to comment from July 20, 2024

• I believe you cannot convert your 401k to an IRA while you are still working for the same employer. Now however many 401k and 403b plans have a Roth option, so you can invest money going forward there. Whenever you leave an employer or thereafter, you can then convert all or any part of your 401k to an IRA. Once it's in an IRA, you can convert all or any part of the traditional IRA to a roth IRA, while you're still alive.

  Post: Driven by Taxes

  Link to comment from July 20, 2024

• It turns out that some (of course not all!) permanent life insurance policies are cheaper if you intend to keep the insurance for about 14 years or so. This is not that uncommon, assuming that often insurance is bought to protect a spouse and children from the risk of prematurely losing an adult parent/partner. 14-20 years is about how long you might need that. Of course, no salesman will tell you this and no company will encourage you to keep a policy that long or, for that matter, to cash it in when you have replaced that policy with actual assets by saving 15% a year....

  Post: Almost True

  Link to comment from July 11, 2024

• I often ask people to allocate a % (slider control) between a broad market fund (SCHB, VTI, etc) and a dividend fund (SCHD, VYM, etc) and encourage them that they don't need a fund on either side unless their slider is pushed all the way one direction. I.e., bonds would be on the other side of the dividend fund and small cap, foreign funds, etc would be on the other side of the broad market fund. It's an amazingly simple and effective approach and most people can make that decision themselves, and then negotiate a compromise with their partner if their funds are commingled.

  Post: Selling the Sizzle by Jonathan Clements

  Link to comment from July 7, 2024

• I see two benefits being discussed here. One is consolidation and the other is a best of class online service provider. In order to understand what others are looking at, I have smaller accounts (and one or two large sets of accounts) at Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, Chase, and Merrill/Bank of America. Even among these there are significant differences, but compared to all the world of options, these all have much to recommend. (My list is in my personal order of preference ;-).)

  Post: All in One Place

  Link to comment from July 3, 2024

• The first time I sent Jonathan something I wrote, he responded that it was not personal. I felt a little miffed, of course, since I generally like what I write. But I sat on it, and after a while, I took his encouragement to heart and wrote a more personal piece, which he was kind enough to edit and then to post. As time has gone on, I realize that writing in a way that others feel connected is a most important value, better than any "truth" I might have to share. It's not just a value for writing, of course.... Thank you, Jonathan, for sharing of yourself in this forum, and encouraging us to do the same.

  Post: What Friends Do

  Link to comment from July 3, 2024