Recent content by big-papa

The ACA used to require that you keep your MAGI at or below a certain level to avoid the "cliff", above which you would receive no premium tax credits. This feature remains through the end of 2025, after which time the cliff will once again return unless new legislation is passed. Cheers.

Similar to our experience. All of our current providers are in network as well as most of the prior specialists that we've used. Coverage is in a multi-county area where I live, but it's a large metro area with plenty of providers of every type in-network. And of course, with ACA plans...

You should spend some time looking at ACA plans in your area before deciding or assuming anything. I retired last summer, but stayed on COBRA through the end of the year, primarily because we had met the annual deductible earlier in the year (a rarity). I started on an ACA plan in January and...

The cool thing about using trigger bands such as 5/25 is that, if you're trying to hold a steady AA, you're only going to likely have fewer rebalancing events (vs, say, fixed annual rebalancing) which, over the long term, may reduce the number of taxable events that might come about by...

If I had a Vanguard fund that I was moving over to Fidelity, I'd probably do a conversion to their equivalent ETF first and then move it in-kind. No taxes, no commissions, no fees. Of course, not all of Vanguard's funds have this option. And there are a lot of people who don't prefer ETFs...

I learned a lot from Dr. Bill at the beginning. But I've learned a lot more by everything else I've read and by my own studying and have moved away from much of what he's written about. Or at least not take it quite so literally. - It is correct that the number of positions matter - but only...

Not a teacher, so everything associated with that is outside of my personal experience. I am, however, originally from Louisiana and most of my extended family is still there. Like you, I also live in TX, having just retired after a multi-decade career here. We're starting to think about where...

We already loaded up our 2024 TIPS, including the $5K via tax return, all with 1.3% fixed rate. We do have some 0% fixed I-bonds, but when I go through the math (in real, not nominal terms) I only see one or two that are worth selling and purchasing at a higher yield. A lot of assumptions go...

SPAM blockers on the mobile phone catch about 99% of them. After years of not answering the phone, our landline (really a VOIP with our multi-decade old landline number), is max 1 per day.

Yeah, I hear ya. Only my last employer before retirement had an HSA-eligible healthcare plan. So the amount I could invest over the years was limited. Now, I've kept all receipts, but honestly I can't imagine going back through all of those and reimbursing ourselves for them. Reimbursing...

I have an "if I go first" document for my wife. I did it in powerpoint form for easy reading. Outside of the pages of "what is where" and "who to contact", the salient points are 1. Hire an accountant for taxes. I do them myself today and she's there to review it all with me before I file...

Yes. And there are others that provide the same thing. We use sodasense. They start you off with 3 cannisters, so when 2 are empty, you send the empties back in the box they provide, with the label they provide. Pretty much as soon as the post office scans the label, sodasense starts the...

For a large portion of my life, I watched the evening news - both national and local. In fact, our TIVO still records both every night, and deletes each after 5 days. It's been years, though, since we've actually watched. I tend to want to know what I want to know instantly and prefer to read...

I was fortunate because I was able to have all my international funds in my IRA... Cheers.

I never directly hold a callable security regardless of where interest rates are going. I have indirectly held them in Muni bond funds and an ultrashort bond fund I currently hold has some underlying bonds that are callable. Cheers.