Like all of you on this blog, I try to think of what's the most financially sensible thing to do.  Well, I ran the numbers and basically if I take SS at age 65 when I apply for Medicare, I'm ahead until age 80.   Frankly, given my family gene pool, I seriously doubt I reach that age and if I do, will I really care that I waited until age 70 and got an extra $1,000 a month?  It looks like (based upon the estimated 2.8% projected increase) I will get an age 65 benefit of $2358 per month.   If in today's dollars I wait 5 more years, I would get $3334 per month.  I run the numbers and basically at age 80, waiting to age 70 nets me $20 bucks!   My situation may be different from some of you.  A lot of you have families, children and are over run with conflicting great causes to leave your estate to.  Me, well I have no family and no heirs to leave an estate to.   What makes sense?   And if anyone has any insights, what do I do with the assets I know I will never spend in my lifetime?

leaving sums of over 6 or 7 figures to grown children, does it benefit them, or does it teach them some very bad life lessons?

My IRA has 35 positions as of today.  I need to begin moving this year, turn 64 in 7 months.  I plan to pay for the transfer with current Saved dollars and with holdings at old tax rates.  30 of those positions are gainers with a range of 5% to 440%.  5 are currently in the red, range 1% to 29%(old IAU).  I also have assorted Treasuries and a CD ladder, nothing more than 6 months out.

Does it matter what order I move these assets from IRA to Roth?

Example: I have an Emerging Market ETF that I have some loss, move it first or last?

The stock with the highest gain is TTWO.

Same question, move it early or late?

I guess my question boils down to: Do gains/losses matter when moving from IRA to Roth?

I'm hoping someone here has experience in the process.    I do not.


Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,
 
First off, thanks for taking a glance at my post. I hope my question will stimulate discussion and help guide me towards an informed decision. I have secured a 5 year lease on a location that is suitable for a restaurant. I purchased the restaurant that was there for $80,000 and the monthly rent is $2,500/month for the first 3 years and increases to $2750/month the last 2 years. It is very competitive compared to what rents are in the area. 
 
Another party is interested in the location and I've been asked to come up with an offer that's workable for all concerned. I would like to have a minority interest in the business as it's a successful business model and I want to remain active within the business. So I've come up with the following:
 
- Initial good faith payment of $2,500USD
- monthly payments of $1,100USD until the end of the rental agreement
- 4% of monthly net profit for the first 4 years
- 5% of monthly net the final year
- $10,000USD final payment
 
I will estimate restaurant's monthly net profit at $5,000USD not factoring inflation. Here are my projections:
 
$1,100 x 59 months  = $64,900USD
$2,500USD good faith payment + $10,000USD final payment = $12,500USD
$200USD x 48 months = $9,600USD
$250USD x 12 months = $3,000USD
 
Total = $90,000USD
 
I will be paying a total of $90,000 in rent the first 3 years and another $66,000 the last 2 years. I know you're saying, why would I accept some $60,000 less than what I've put up so far? Simply put, chalk it unto my overpaying for the restaurant purchased. I could sell the restaurant for about $35,000 and take my loss or hold on, keep doing what I enjoy doing and participate actively and recoup a bit more of my investment.  
 
I know there are other ways to look at this, which is why I've posted here. Any contributions would be appreciated.

I am trying to form a view on emerging market equities and thought I'd ask the discussion board for thoughts.  What strikes me as odd is that when I look at ETFs like EEM and IEMG they have basically done nothing over the last 9 years.  I say it's odd because the general consensus seems to be that QE has been a massive support for emerging markets allowing countries and companies to finance debt at very cheap rates.  Obviously, that's changing now, but still over the last 9 years the equities have largely gone no where.  In the meantime, the S&P500 is up approximately 170%.  I recognize the dollar and FX clouds the ETFs' performance, although when I looked at the major currencies like the Korean Won etc, they have not moved THAT much over the last 9 years.

 
The idea that investing in emerging markets gave you exposure to faster growing companies and economies, new growing middle-class consumers, etc...has that really been true?  Looking at the last 15 years, EEM has returned just under 9% per year compared to the SPY at just over 9%.  I guess I'm wondering are emerging markets even worth the bother if they are not delivering superior returns over 10, 15 year time frames?

 

On various investment sites, I've noticed a number of folks casually remarking that you'd have been a dope to own income CEFs since 2008 and miss the great equity rally.  Just my opinion, but sometimes it pays to actually look and see ;0).  Hopefully, this look-see might convince others that some actively managed multi-asset fixed income CEFs are at least worth consideration.  The numbers were picked off Fido "performance and risk" tabs.
 
Asset     10yrTR      SD       Sharpe
SPY         10 .7       20.0         0.52
PTY         17.4        18.1         0.95
PKO         15.4        11.0        1.20
PCM        14.9        13.8        1.00
PFL          11.4       18.5         0.58
RCS         12.0        8.20        1.36
PCN         15.1       18.0         0.87
 
ONLY POINT:  Every single one of these FI CEFs had a higher 10yr total return, a lower standard deviation, and a higher Sharpe ratio than the popular SPY S&P 500 Index ETF.  (Please check my numbers because I could easily have picked an incorrect number by accident.)

Could you share your experience buying T-bills through Fidelity in the secondary market? There are a lot of data points and I want to understand what I should be looking out for.  Looking to purchase $50K for 6 months. 
 
is it better to purchase at the Treasury auction vs. secondary market. I wonder if it will make a big difference at these dollar amounts, given the efficiency of the bond market.
 
- My observation is that based on depth of book, generally it seems that the more you purchase the better is the interest rate.
- in the table below market price for a 25 lot bond is 99.570 but one can use limit price to try for a higher interest rate.
- Spread to Treasuries: given that this is 1/100th of a percentage point, this is not material at the $50K dollar amount?
 
Anything else I should look out for?
 
Thanks in advance.
 

My wife, in her 401K, contributes the max and on top of that adds after tax contributions. When she turns 70 and we calculate the RMD do we include the after tax amount in the calculation? 

Mutual Funds charted the power of reinvesting dividends in my father's generation when they showed the growth of a $10,000 investment with reinvested dividends.
 
As a dividend investor, I would like to have just as easy way to see this same compounded growth with ETFs and individual stocks.  I find gather this data cumbersome and time consuming put into Excel and plot, for example.
 
Have you found a web site that displays compounded returns for individual stocks and ETFs?  I would like to make  historical comparison with MFs.  Any suggestions from the Green Line Forum?

I was just wondering what the general feeling is regarding when to start collecting ss. I will be 62 in 6 months and want to start collect and perhaps work part time. I know my ss check will be cut if I make over approx 16k (which will not be hard to exceed). so I was wondering if I should just delay ss and work part time and spend some of my savings/investments.  We have approx 1.2M in savings/investments but also have a disabled adult son that is eligible to collect 1/2 of my ss (this is my understanding) per month if I retire. I am not sure exactly how my working part time would effect his benefits. Any help/comments would be appreciated