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joec
Participant[quote=flu]Why is it every time I sell a stock, it always goes through the roof the next day?
F me…
[/quote]
god, I hate FB…Good thing I bought some back in the 20s…It seems when I buy companies I hate, it always goes up to piss me off. At least I can financially benefit with them. I see it as a win win (stock down, yay! I don’t like them…stock up, yay, I’m richer!)
I’ll be picking up some TWTR when there is a pullback as well since I don’t care for them neither.
Participant[quote=CA renter][quote=flu][quote=scaredyclassic]i guess what im thinking is, at 20 years remaining, at 4 percent, it’s basically like a cheap mortgage, without the tax deduction. Even over the last 10 years since sshe started th eloan, 300.00 means a lot less to us ina month than it did a decade ago. i’d be pretty surprised if the trend didn’t continue. an extra 300 a month isnt really going to give a lot more flexibility overall…[/quote]
ding ding ding….[/quote]
It depends. For many people, that $300 is more today than it was a decade ago. It really depends on your current, and future, job/income prospects.[/quote]
This is also a good point, the $300 you pay off now can purchase so many goods. In 20 years, that same $300 is worth of a lot less in goods purchased so sorta why similar with Lotto winnings, you take a big hit to get all your money in today’s dollars. If you pay it off, you’re not valuing the cost of the money now vs much later.
Like a mortgage I guess…
This debate can be endless and I “get” why some people don’t want to have any debt, and I am not saying there is a right or wrong answer, but for me, if I don’t take the deduction, I will have to pay that deduction in income taxes so unless you can completely eliminate all your taxes, you’ll have to pay it some way or the other…Maybe you can move all your IRA to roth before then and that’s smart and something I plan to do too, but that’s a ways off for me.
Also, a lot of this has to do with personal experiences and circumstances…
We’re self employed, capital and cash flow is king and using it to close out a debt that is easily manageable is unwise for probably a lot of small businesses who are constantly starved for capital (like we are).
What if you or your wife suddenly decides to quit their job or you piss off a partner and get fired?
What if you wanted to start a business? Starting/running a business can be extremely expensive so having that cash on hand is a great asset. Also, if you loss your job, good luck trying to tap any loans/capital easily at such low rates.
Remember, Elon Musk practically had to file bankruptcy to keep Tesla and Solar City alive even though he was wealthy already with selling Paypal.
Again, I’m sure everyone is doing what’s best for them, but most financial advisers say unless you are extremely wealthy, certain debt isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Also, if you retire, maybe you could start writing off your loan interest as well (we still write off my wife’s loans).
ParticipantMy word of advice for everyone is less is more…
This means that trying to block out all the financial and political and world media would be a big benefit to your investment performance.
Having worked in the financial industry in the past, it is very unlikely you will be able to time anything well, especially when the game is stacked against all everyday investors.
More often than not, you will see a “report” on a news channel or some “guru” saying this Russia problem will cause massive problems that you get out or get in at the worst possible time. Bottom line is most investors have no clue how to value companies so hearing and reading these articles and reports which tends to sensationalize everything will only hurt you.
That said, I’ve “heard” that Russia does about 1% trade with the US. That’s pretty much nothing and this is also why the US can’t do a thing to Russia about the issue. Europe is MUCH more connected since they depend on the energy from Russia. They are also LESS interested in pissing off Putin so this is also why no one thinks anything will come of this and no force will occur.
Again, you could have some crazed people do something, but again, nothing could happen also so why gamble on what you have no control over or speculate on this happening on that?
At times, I see one report (like yesterday) and human nature tells me that I should sell (thinking of dumping my FB which has doubled). Then today, it’s all up and up again…damn, nasdaq up 1.75% today.
This is why most investors sell at the worst possible times. I think most people would be better off just having a holding of most everything and if the shit hits the fan, those utilities and “safer” companies that pay you a nice 4% dividend will keep you well covered if you needed some income.
If you need the money soon, you shouldn’t be in stocks at all to begin with.
I’m still waiting for some pullback since there hasn’t been many over the past 5 years and we had to get out due to a personal financial issue, but no rushing in or out either way 100% since that’s just usually not going to work out well for you.
March 3, 2014 at 7:03 PM in reply to: Moving money to another country for better interest rates #771456ParticipantThese are all good points. Another reason to diversify and not again, put all your eggs in one basket such as having no debt, all cash, etc etc etc…
If inflation hits and all you had was cash assets, you could be out 20% a year…
Better to have just a mix of stuff to sleep better at night and “tap” assets which aren’t down when various things happen in the world. Sorta like have both a Roth and a regular IRA, if taxes are bad, tap the roth, etc…
This is the same argument against having 100% bonds, CDs, stocks, housing, you name it…
I never understood why people would do that to themselves. It doesn’t help your returns or savings or safety.
Since you choose what assets to manage/sell, you can always control your tax rate.
Thanks for the points on the FBAR.
ParticipantI suppose I’m in the more have debt, manage it well camp…
I actually would like to refinance my mortgage just as I’m about to retire to get a large tax deduction to offset forced IRA withdrawals…You have to pay a certain amount of tax anyways so why not make that tax 0?
Even Mark Zuckerberg, being a $20+ (?) billionaire has a mortgage on his home when he can obviously pay it off:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-16/zuckerberg-s-loan-gives-new-meaning-to-the-1-mortgages.htmlCourse, it’s 1% adjustable 🙂 which none of us can get, but hey, I’m sure it’s still a hassle for some folks.
If you manage your money well, you’ll always have income in your life. Unfortunately, the USA always likes to tax income so having ways to make that 0 is a wise thing IMO.
Obviously, people should do what makes them feel the most comfortable, but I’d take minimizing taxes to 0 over “feeling more secure”.
Course, I don’t have money to pay stuff off so I don’t have this problem to actually have to choose.
ParticipantI assume your income is too high to deduct it as well?
I tend to like keeping the cash myself since paying it off is a small return unless you have higher extreme wealth (over 10+ mil).
Sometimes, having debt also helps credit rating scores.
If the 50k is relatively small to your overall net worth, nice to not have to think about it I suppose.
ParticipantYeah, I think for your case, if you’re planning to move in a year, it’s really not wise to buy anything. Honestly, as I posted on this or another thread, I don’t think a home purchase is high for people in your demographic. If anything, people may consider selling and downsizing to generate cash if they are planning for retirement and kids are out of the house, don’t need the prime school district, etc…
Only risk is that as you know, rent prices are out of your control so, really IMO, I just don’t like that lack of control and being forced to move. This is a bigger pain again if you have kids and without any kids, it’s really hard to imagine any need at times to even buy anything honestly.
It sounds like you have a well priced rental and like it, but it’s hard to tell how the next one will be. Again, the lack of control.
Best of luck and honestly, I am of the same mindset as you if i was in your situation since I know I wouldn’t buy in your case neither…unless like spdrun mentioned, you can get something really cheap/all cash, etc…
With retirement, you don’t even need the tax deduction anymore so that makes very little sense again for your situation/demographic.
For the areas I’m searching for,
ParticipantDoes anyone else see this possibly back firing in the long term as well? The blurb said:
“and allow the state to use race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as a consideration for accepting students or hiring employees.”
This means that for any state job as well, if the hiring manager was a racist, they can simply just say, well, he’s black/hispanic/white/jew/nazi/asian, I don’t think I will hire them since I can use race since I already have my 1 token female half-hispanic/.25 asian/.25 black worker…Even if they didn’t have that token worker, I can now legally choose, say not to hire any women in my company or position or discriminate against them legally.
Just seems like a mess when you have some laws to protect these things and this one to throw it all out the window.
Lastly, I never understood why a poor performing kid would even want to go to college/US/State.
If they couldn’t get in already, they’d probably just end up dropping out even if admitted due to the high cost of college and general college course competitiveness…
My views are of course, having lived the graded curved system where 1/3 of the students flunked anyways in engineering.
That said, guv’ment and laws are so lame and stupid. I’ll sign as well.
ParticipantHaving autocrossed in the rain, it’s incredibly fun and useful since you constantly lose control of your car even at very slow speeds during the auto-cross. Worst part is having to work in the rain and generally getting massively wet. I assume you’re using a rear wheel drive car too?
I had it happen to me on the normal roads as well and you instinctively learn to counter steer and try to balance/control the car.
Would prefer to just auto-x on wet ground without the rain.
Participant[quote=JerseyGrl]I think the housing market here in town is extremely vulnerable and the gamble that buyers are taking isn’t one we’re comfortable with. We can’t afford to buy a home as nice as the one we rent so we’ll continue to rent.[/quote]
This is the important point…If the numbers don’t work for you, keep on renting. Out of curiosity, were things affordable to buy even at the market bottom back in 2009/10?
Are you factoring in 20% down payment, no PMI and the tax break in your calculation?
I mention it since sometimes, it seems like people try to talk themselves out of it without even running any numbers for their case and really look at how much they are paying for rent vs. a buy comparison. Remember that after 30 years, your housing cost goes closer to 0 after it’s paid off. I think for a lot of us, the 30 year unfortunately comes faster than we realize.
As a primary home, I suppose I’m of the camp that wants to rent the cheapest ghetto shack I can to minimize my cost and buy something that’s nicer/better that I can stay for the long (15 years or more) term. Housing prices, I think are less prone to collapse as well when you are in a “better” school district with hopefully, decent paying jobs.
February 26, 2014 at 6:48 PM in reply to: Mortgage 3.875%, car loan 2.69%, which to pay extra first? #771272ParticipantI’d be more interested in what the OP is doing with his other money and if there are better options for the money…
Short answer is “it depends.”
Participant[quote=UCGal]Why do all these conversations make it sound like all women/wives are shrews?
I’ve seen a lot of men anxious to buy and the wives questioning whether it makes financial sense.
FWIW, and this is just MY opinion… the phrase Happy Wife Happy Life is annoying. Marriage is about compromise – at least it should be. That means some of the time the husband is less happy, some of the time the wife is less happy. If it’s 100% happy wife then the marriage isn’t really a partnership – it’s a dictatorship. Do you guys really live your life that way?[/quote]
This is all true…however, I don’t think some of the piggy women here are the majority of what the general populace is like.
I’d think and you’d probably also agree that in general, in our society, women have a greater desire to have a nice home compared to a guy. Sorta similar to how “I think” women care more about how they look physically than men, especially in the category of Married [men] with children. Sure, you have guys that do cosmetic surgery and all that, but the numbers are probably (again guessing) higher for women. You have 16 year old teen girls in South Korea that are planning the major work they should do.
My assumption, and as a guy, I really don’t care what I look like anymore in terms of clothes, grooming, hair, etc…since the “goal” of finding a mate is not a goal anymore. Why waste resources and time to look good when there is no carrot at the end of the tunnel?
Maybe I am in the minority, others can chime in…
That said, I think it’s just how society is and all these comments are annoying, (sorta like comments on how a dad can actually stay home and watch kids?!!?!? which I get annoyed with too), but such is life and all that…
Participant[quote=CDMA ENG]We went through this exercise a year ago… I asked the same question…
Result… Get Term…
Even the guy I bought whole life from finally admitted that for a investment it was a pretty poor choice.
I have two terms… one through Northwestern and the other through work.
Depressing… I am worth far more under a bus than riding in it.
CE[/quote]
Generally agree…the estate tax exemption has gone up over the years and again, unless you are worth upwards of 3-5 mil (I forget the number exactly since I’m worth nowhere near that and it won’t affect me currently), you probably won’t get much/any benefit from any of the permanent insurances. If you are worth a LOT though, definitely talk to someone who is fee based/hourly and figure out what will happen to you/assets if you have more than you will need in your lifetime.
I get asked this question from time to time from family/friends having worked in the industry before and a lot of it is almost meant to purposely confuse/complicate the situation for most of the 99% folks.
Should still look at a trust if you own housing in CA, durable power of attorney for finances I think it’s called, the medical directive thing, etc…
ParticipantHaving worked in an insurance office which offered these products, you really have to see why you’re even talking about whole life insurance. We also looked at things like Generational trust, ILITs (Irrevocable living trusts), estate planning issues, etc…
First thing is, insurance is NOT an investment. For 99% if the people out there, you probably don’t need whole life and most people are trying to rip you off.
Commissions can be as high as 8% I think…been a while, but generally, the carrying cost of all these products would be more than what a separate insurance and investment portfolio will be. A lot of them are also poor investment instruments as well.
There are now some no-load annuities as well, but again, I think people should ask why they even need to complicate things.
As an attorney, you may want to just talk to a fee-only financial planner or interview a few and see what their take on it is and what they can do for you and your family/kids/legacy planning if you have the assets, etc…
A common thought now is also to never pass wealth to kids directly and leave it in trust forever/as long as possible in case your kids marry a whack job, gets divorced, etc…
Life insurance is used in a lot of estate planning because estate taxes used to be very bad with having to do A/B bypass trust so both spouses can take advantage of the lifetime exemption, etc…but the laws have changed recently as well…
Simple idea was just that the wealthy person would pay for the permanent insurance, then when they die, the life insurance will pay out the death benefit so you can use that to pay the estate tax. This is more flexible since some people might not have the cash, have non-liquid assets, a business, property, etc so families wouldn’t have to liquidate upon a death…Some tax benefits too since these accounts tend to defer income and if I recall, the death benefit is tax free, but it’s not really used for that I don’t feel…
If you have a large amount of assets, you really need to just talk to a planner and run the numbers…as well as an estate attorney.
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