Have decided to retire nearly two years sooner
Kathsgrdn
last year
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Kathsgrdn
last yearRelated Discussions
year end tax planning - with investment or retirement plan....
Comments (4)If you sold a stock(s) earlier in the year at substantial profit and you have a stock or stocks that is/are worth less now than when you bought it/them, and you don't consider it wise to continue to hold it/them, perhaps sell it/them before the year end to offset some of the capital gain that you made on the one that was sold earlier. In some jurisdictions you can carry a loss back a couple of years, or forward, to offset capital gains made in earlier years - or later. I'm not big on buying and selling stocks: I've bought some (quality ones) twenty and thirty years ago that I still hold. If a stock that you own has a history of volatile pricing, and you think that the price is unusually high right now, you might choose to sell now, with a view to buying back later, at a lower price (and there'll be two commissions to pay, in any case). Trouble with that is - how far is down? Maybe later the train will have left the station before you choose to get on. Not many of us have wings to enable us to catch it at a station down the line. Hope this helps. Come back to ask us more specific questions, if you like, as it's hard to know what fields of the broad financial system that you are interested to explore at the moment. Stockbrokers like to have you trade ... ... for if you just buy and hold for a long time, they don't make any money in the interim. Except that one broker that I use charges me $125./year for carrying an inactive account and my broker says that there's nothing he can do about it - I'm going to close it, as others don't. Some years ago one broker wasn't charging me an annual fee to administer my self-directed tax-deferred retirement account, but when I had to reverse it into the payout (and no more inputs) section, they were starting to charge an administration fee. So I asked around and found a couple of other carriers who were willing to administer it without an annual fee - carriers whom I was less enthused about using, but I didn't feel it necessary to disclose that piece of information to the current carrier. The carrier said that they could administer it without a fee, as well - and have been doing so, for the last seven years. As a matter of fact, they'll be sending me my annual cheque in a couple of weeks. Guess I'll have to start thinking about what to do with the money, huh? Yeah, right - just before Christmas? Learn how to manage your money effectively, for you, rather than the other guys - it's an interesting hobby ... **that pays well**!! If you don't choose to boss your money - it'll boss you. ole joyful...See MoreUNbelievable....after two years, I'm finally getting that house!
Comments (22)Aww shucks!! Thanks for all the good wishes! Adopted, you have *no* idea. Some of the details I left out were as follows: -The first time I ever walked onto that property (more than 2 years ago), I "felt" as if it were mine. I even called my DH and told him that I thought we should look at this house, because it feels like ours. To my utter shock, he came over and said the same thing. -After talking ourselves out of/back into the house, we go see it again. (This time, I was the realtor.) I get that same feeling again. -We put the offer on it last summer. I tell my DH that I "know this first offer won't go through, but I feel like we're supposed to make it anyway. I know they won't take it, but I feel like we'll come to better terms later." I tell everyone I know the same thing. When the deal didn't work out, I wasn't all that disappointed. -When trying to work out the contract, the sellers tell me that there are 2 other couples that have made offers. I "know" immediately that they won't work out. I tell DH that I normally would be worried, but I'm not, because I just know it's our house. Weird, huh?? And Snookums, I will be posted ad infinitum on the pool forum....the pool area of the new house is a disaster!!! Again, good bones, but needs *so* much work. Wheeee!!!...See MoreTorn between two washers and have to decide today!
Comments (6)Thanks for the info. I do know that the affinity uses the heater for sure during the sanitary cycle, which runs almost 2 hours and heats the water up to 152 degrees. The guy at Lowes told me it will run longer if the incoming water is less than 120 and it has to work longer to get the water that hot). Our water heater is set around 120 but is located some distance from the laundry room so the odds of starting out with 120 degree water are slim. I'm not clear (and none of my web research has clarified) whether the affinity uses the heater to boost or maintain temps in other cycles. They give specific temps in the manual for hot, warm, and ATC cold, but I'm not sure whether it uses the heater to get them or whether it just mixes the incoming water. If it mixes the incoming water, I'm going to have a problem again, not only because of the distance from my hw heater, but also because I have well water, which comes out really really cold most of the year. And if it used the heater, I'd probably have issues because the cycles would take forever, right? To raise my incoming well temp water (at say, 40 degrees) to the 65 degrees required for an ATC cold wash is bound to take an hour or so - I think I read that the 1000 watt heaters can raise the temp 1 degree every 5 minutes, right? Ack - when did buying a washing machine get so darn confusing anyhow!?!...See MoreDeciding not to retire soon
Comments (13)In a nutshell, when to retire depends on how well we have prepared for our retirement/none working years. Off and on I had worked on my retirement planning for years. Last year, I drafted retirement plan with Fidelity Investment retirement planning tool, and enlisted my Fidelity consultant to walk through the entire plan. As I have been working with the consultant for almost 10 years, he is familiar with my situation. The advice he provided and the trust between us are invaluable. I listed every single potential expenses and worked through different scenarios and contingencies. I took conservative approach, using higher amount for required expenses, and lower numbers for project return, or income. Because of the plan, it convinced me that I needed to adjust my investment allocation. The plan maps out details until age 97, with left over to carry me over age 100 plus and pay for my own funeral expense. I also used Vanguard Retirement planning tool to verify my plan, it generated similar reports. I am a worrier, finishing the retirement plan has given me peace of mind. Since retirement is an uncharted water, I will revisit the plan during my semi-annual meeting with my Fidelity consultant to make sure I am on track. We will make adjustments when time comes, such as if I need to use investment vehicle to generate additional income...or if I still could afford to take planned safari trip....etc....See MoreKathsgrdn
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