Recent Posts

1

Taxes / Re: Taxcaster

« Last post by sisto on September 17, 2021, 02:01:36 PM »

This may be overkill for your purposes, but others may find this resource helpful:

excel1040.com

A complete set of IRS forms included in an excel workbook for prior years as well as a tentative 2021 workbook. There is a bit of learning curve, but not bad.

BogleFan

Thanks

2

Taxes / Re: Taxcaster

« Last post by BogleFan on September 16, 2021, 10:29:04 AM »

This may be overkill for your purposes, but others may find this resource helpful:

excel1040.com

A complete set of IRS forms included in an excel workbook for prior years as well as a tentative 2021 workbook. There is a bit of learning curve, but not bad.

BogleFan

3

General Discussion / Re: Forever home decision between Taiwan and Cali

« Last post by gocurrycracker on September 14, 2021, 08:56:20 AM »

Education was part of it, yes.

Generically speaking -
Taiwan schools follow a more Confucian education model - the teacher teaches, the kids listen. Don't ask questions. You will understand why later. Sit still. We will go to the bathroom at the scheduled break. Etc... Art, music, play time, are often pushed aside for more time to study. After school you can go to English cram school. Sleep, repeat.

The US has traditionally followed a liberal arts model - being a well rounded student is more important than your math score. Being able to figure out a solution to a general problem is more important than fact memorization. The "why" of something is sometimes more important than getting the right answer.

There are pros/cons to both models.

With a very high energy child, we felt the US might be a better fit.

4

General Discussion / Forever home decision between Taiwan and Cali

« Last post by dkoldyahoo on September 13, 2021, 05:16:46 PM »

Hi GCC!
Thank you so much for your blog! I've been a fan since my friend Andrew shared a few of your posts with me a few years ago. First time poster here, wanted to know, was education part of your decision in moving from Taiwan back to the US? I'm asking because every now and then, I wonder if we should move from Atlanta, Georgia, to Taiwan for our 3 year old, and I wanted to get your perspective. I was born in the States but spent 2nd to 9th grade in Taiwan(first Taipei, then Kaohsiung), and I feel like the public school education I received there was much better than what I see here in the States (just look at the menu https://class.kh.edu.tw/15011! ). Then again, that was decades ago, and I understand schools vary widely here in the US as well. I simply wanted to see what your thoughts are on comparing the education system between the two. Thanks and welcome back! 

5

Taxes / Re: Taxcaster

« Last post by sisto on September 13, 2021, 01:21:52 PM »

The thing I really liked about Taxcaster was it could account for Social Security income separately to apply the taxes to it correctly. Do you know of an easy way to do that? I get taxed on it so it was nice playing with the ROTH conversion numbers to pay exactly what I want.

Also now that you are living in CA, hoping to see a calculator for CA taxes. I also can't wait to see your next filing. I know you eluded to not paying zero by a long shot, but wanting to see how you mitigate your taxes in your current situation.

Take a look at this calc: https://www.irscalculators.com/tax-calculator

It isn't perfect but it will do CA taxes and (I believe) Social Security

Thank you so much!

6

Taxes / Re: Taxcaster

« Last post by gocurrycracker on September 13, 2021, 11:22:10 AM »

The thing I really liked about Taxcaster was it could account for Social Security income separately to apply the taxes to it correctly. Do you know of an easy way to do that? I get taxed on it so it was nice playing with the ROTH conversion numbers to pay exactly what I want.

Also now that you are living in CA, hoping to see a calculator for CA taxes. I also can't wait to see your next filing. I know you eluded to not paying zero by a long shot, but wanting to see how you mitigate your taxes in your current situation.

Take a look at this calc: https://www.irscalculators.com/tax-calculator

It isn't perfect but it will do CA taxes and (I believe) Social Security

7

Other / Re: Wills & Trusts

« Last post by sisto on September 12, 2021, 12:40:54 PM »

Definitely suggest a revocable living trust. I believe you can get a DIY kit from NOLO. Pretty sure they account for all the states too. We have one that we had done through an attorney via a legal plan I had at work so it cost nothing except for the title transfer to move our house into the trust.

8

Early Retirement / Re: Roth Ladder and 72T Sepp

« Last post by M on September 10, 2021, 07:38:09 PM »

This was an excellent reply! It has taken me a bit to work through, but it has been a tremendous help to advancing our plan! After refiguring  we may actually need both of our accounts to put into 72T to make it add to enough useable income in the first 5 years.

For question #3 to help reduce sequence of returns risk, this is what I’m thinking… Once I rollover the TSP to Trad IRA I’d be able to have some of the funds in cash, bonds and stock index funds. In any given year I’d decide to withdrawal the mandatory amount  from the cash fund if the markets were down vs the stocks if markets were up. Is this allowed- choosing which funds to withdrawal from within the 72T SEPP Trad IRA in any given year? This isn’t allowed with the TSP- withdrawals are taken proportional across all funds held, which is a major disadvantage (IMO) to keeping funds in the TSP during the withdrawal phase.

Thank you again for your excellent posts and replies!
M

9

Taxes / Re: Taxcaster

« Last post by sisto on September 10, 2021, 11:28:28 AM »

Also now that you are living in CA, hoping to see a calculator for CA taxes. I also can't wait to see your next filing. I know you eluded to not paying zero by a long shot, but wanting to see how you mitigate your taxes in your current situation.

10

Taxes / Re: Taxcaster

« Last post by sisto on September 10, 2021, 10:09:31 AM »

The thing I really liked about Taxcaster was it could account for Social Security income separately to apply the taxes to it correctly. Do you know of an easy way to do that? I get taxed on it so it was nice playing with the ROTH conversion numbers to pay exactly what I want.