Recent content by OldShooter

Man plans, God laughs. :) Five years is a long time, Guaranteed that some of your assumptions will prove to be wrong and that a few black swans will probably have arrived. Have fun planning and exploring, but at this point I would suggest that maximum flexibility is your best strategy.

Our Schwab 1099s show the withheld amounts and we just put that in our H&R Block tax return input data just like we transfer the other numbers from the 1099s. Nothing special or difficult about it.

I have a PCP who worries about this stuff. I do not select my own medications, nor do I do my own appendetomies.

We use one of DW's Instant Pots for the water bath container. For long cooks, we float a layer of bubble wrap on the water surface to reduce heat loss and, more importantly, evaporation and the need for topping up.

Yes. Here are a couple of points I emphasize in my Adult-Ed investing class: Rule of Thumb: The more complicated an investment product is, the more likely it is that it was designed to make money for the seller, not to make money for you. If you don't understand an investment, don't buy it.

Life is too short to obsess about searing sous vide meats. Next year there will probably be a study proving that it has positive health effects. Most common IMO is what we do. Sous vide with some seasonings in the bag, then sear. Lately we've been searing using a very hot cast iron fry...

The only feasible answer is "Let's wait and see." Regarding ESG, to survive any business must serve its market. Blackrock saw an advantage to being a leader in serving the market that wants the ESG imprimatur (even though no one really knows what it means). Vanguard clearly did the same...

As individuals, DW and I don't buy corporates because the work to select and manage a well-diversified portfolio is more than we want to deal with. For reference we are on the investment committee for a small nonprofit with about $2M in fixed income in a $5M total portfolio. By policy we do...

OP, just buy the annuity. All you are doing here is looking for people to tell you that it is the right decision and you are not getting that. Just make your FA's day.

@tim0476, I am not an annuities expert like, for example, @PB4 but I will offer a few comments: First, you are almost certainly in violation of a very important rule of business: Never fall in love with a deal. Falling in love leads quickly to confirmation bias (Confirmation bias - Wikipedia)...

"fixed index annuity" What is this? Fixed or indexed?

I have been casually following this thread. I'm still where I was in Post #5. OP needs to settle on one or two courses of action to pursue. Right now, and from a distance of course, it looks like he's in analysis paralysis. Events TBD will bring that to an end at some point if he doesn't end...

We don't lose a lot of sleep over it. Research I have seen has said that rebalancing has a minor effect on total return. Rebalancing is pretty easy for us now because almost all of our investable assets are in tIRAs, so no tax consequences. When we are withdrawing because we need cash, we tend...

Garage ceiling insulation would be the first thing I'd check. If, as you say, the bonus room is well insulated then the garage is the last frontier. A good insulation contractor should be able to check for you and offer alternatives for the ceiling and an opinion on whether insulating the...

Oh, and ... this is not an FA that should be trusted and his relationship with the neighbor is not a fiduciary relationship.