Best posts made by UncaMikey

Sorry, but I don’t think this makes sense. It’s very easy to notify cc companies about fraudulent transactions and get them removed. Further, lowering your CL to little more than your usual spending means your utilization percentage is very high.

@dangeruss Thanks for your work in setting this up. I really appreciate the efforts of you and others to quickly come up with a FWF alternative.

I understand from your posts on FWF there are software/admin issues between the platforms. I hope that over time we all end up congregating in one place – right now I’m checking FWF, PhatWallet, and Fragiledeal. (I don’t see SD or Reddit as reasonable alternatives.) Strength in numbers!

@david-scubadiver Hi David – a little OT but I’ve always wanted to ask, are you the same Scubadiver who was active in the old Motley Fool forums? I was active there in the last century and learned a lot about early retirement before MF started charging. That led to a great exodus and I ended up on FWF, maybe you too?

Discover Bank raised its rate to 1.20% on Friday 10/13. I like this because I have some money there waiting for the bonus.

SS benefits are actuarially equivalent, regardless of the age they begin. I.e., if your age at death is estimated to be 84, then whether you start at 62, 66, or 70 makes no difference, the total amount received is the same. If you end up living less than that, you’re better off taking benefits earlier. If you live longer, you’re better off waiting until 70.

@gwraigty said in Social Security Restriced Application:

Just so you know, the maximum spousal benefit your wife will get is half of the benefit you’d get at your FRA of 66. Delaying to 70 will still benefit you, but it won’t increase her spousal benefit beyond that.

“The maximum benefit for the spouse is 50% of the benefit the worker would receive at full retirement age.”

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/agereduction.html

This only applies if the spouse is still alive, no? My understanding is that a surviving widow is entitled to her deceased spouse’s full benefit, even the higher amount if husband waited until 70.

PurePoint is now 1.4%.

@gwraigty I get a headache every time I look into SS rules and regulations.

I am past FRA but am waiting until 70 to take SS. My wife is younger than I am so should receive the benefit of my delay.

This seemed clear enough until I looked at my most recent SS statement. On p.2, the top line gives my SS payment if I claimed right now. Further down that section, under “Survivors”, it gives my spouse’s benefit if she waits until FRA. That spousal benefit is about 15% less than my current payment. Any idea why?

@redmed said in Social Security Restriced Application:

Did you read that in a government publication?

No, but there is a lot of research available online about this issue. Google “social security benefits actuarially equivalent” and you’ll get lots of hits. Here’s a pertinent one:

“Social Security benefits are designed to be actuarially equivalent for someone with average mortality. Theoretically, it should not make a difference when an individual starts collecting benefits. However, external factors may affect the actual amount of benefits received. These factors include (1) inflation as measured by annual cost-of-living increases, (2) the time value of money of taking benefits early and investing that amount, and (3) taxes.”

When to Start Collecting Social Security Benefits: A Break-Even Analysis

@redmed I use IRS free fillable forms. Form 1040 and the various schedules are up and running, but they posted that Form 8606 will not be available there for online filing until 2/8/18.

As you say, the 8606 is on the main IRS website for downloading, but the online filing version is not up yet.

Purepoint Savings up to 2.15%

@fivetalents said in Individual Stocks/Investments:
… I was bummed that they started charging because I couldn’t afford to pay and was desperate to improve my finances. I loved it up until then… great humor and great advice.

Besides the investment/financial forums, MF had some great discussions about art, politics, and religion. It was a lot of fun.

And @david-scubadiver, I went back to MF a few years ago after it was free again but it just didn’t seem the same. Either they had changed, or I had.

Ally raised its savings rate to 1.25%.

I can verify that PurePoint offers 1.75% savings in any state that has one of their financial centers. I called last week and they updated my acct with the higher rate within a few hours. (TX)

@jtownsucks46 said in Best Nationally Available High APY Liquid Accounts:

Any indication why they do this? Don’t see anything on the website.

It is on their website. In the lower half of the front page you see “Find Financial Center locations and see local offers” and a field to enter your zip code. I suspect they are trying to market / increase awareness of their financial centers. When I called to get the higher rate, I was asked a half dozen marketing-type questions, why am I saving, etc.

It looks like they have financial centers (and the higher savings rate) in TX, NY, IL, and FL.

@uncamikey I’ll attempt to answer my own question here. Looking at old SS statements and such, it appears that the spousal survivor benefit numbers assume both spouses claiming at FRA. SS does not adjust this number for delaying SS past FRA.

I think this explains it, but only SS knows for sure. I may have to call them sometime.

PurePoint national rate up to 1.75%. I was already getting that via a regional (TX) offer; regional rate remains 1.75%

When Yahoo trashed their portfolio, I set up a spreadsheet in my Google Drive to pull in current quote, day change, etc. Google offers various functions such as: =GOOGLEFINANCE(“AAPL”,“price”). List of all functions here: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093281?hl=en

I have found that it’s not always 100% reliable, e.g., the date function is a day off, some quotes are off a penny or two, etc.