All Things Personal Finance

[Witness1970]

7 Ways To Create a Retirement ‘Paycheck’

 

https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/investing-retirement/retirement-income-streams/

[Witness1970]

Is $1 Million Enough To Retire?

 

https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/investing-retirement/is-1-million-enough-to-retire/

How Much Money Do I Need in My Emergency Fund?

 

https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/how-much-money-do-i-need-in-my-emergency-fund/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=ClarkDailyNewsletter&_bhlid=4aa7323653371e0f93915436f4aa382b026bff52

[Witness1970]

Are you on track for retirement?

 

https://clark.com/retirement-calculator/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=ClarkDailyNewsletter&_bhlid=72f14ea9fdf2602555a68158850f4c37ff85b779

[Witness1970]

Social Security COLA 2026: How Much Will Payments Increase Next Year?

 

https://www.aarp.org/social-security/early-look-cola-increase-2026/?msockid=297a01458be4646231ab140a8ab265a1

 

This is a projected amount.  Some data not available due to government shutdown.  Of course the way the COLA is figured, the increase ends up being less than inflation.

[computerwiz]

Got a bad feeling about markets....

 

De-risking by selling some crypto.....30%.

[Witness1970]

I have had a bad feeling about the stock market for the past year.  I still have some money in the market but not much.  I don't like losing money, but I really don't lose sleep over it.  Actually I had a bad feeling about the economy, but the stock market doesn't always respond to reality in the economy.  Sometimes people keep investing in the stock market when the economy is going bad.  It takes some time for reality to set in for a lot of investors.

 

I don't have any crypto to sell.  Gold has been climbing higher for a while, but it started losing some recently.  I have heard that the stock market is overpriced.  Right now, they say the stocks are priced 25-30 times earnings, and the normal is about 15 times earnings.

 

I would like to find a good place to invest the money from a recent land sell.  I will take care of the capital gains tax this year and only have the Roth conversion to affect my taxes next year.  

 

The 401k from the place I retired is starting something new in January 2026.  It will be possible to move money from a traditional 401k to a Roth 401k.  I am looking at how much I can move without putting me in a higher tax bracket.  It looks like I should be able to move about 20% of my total without major effects to my tax bracket.  I can move it in 2026 and when I fill out my tax return in early 2027, I will see the effects.  They did not have the possibility of Roth conversion until now.  The only wat to get into a Roth previously was to move the money from my traditional 401k to an traditional individual IRA and then move money from the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

Edited October 31 by Witness1970

[Witness1970]

The Thrift Savings Plan (a 401K for Postal workers and military, I think) is starting something new in January 2026.  They never had ROTH 401k's before.  They are starting ROTH H401ks next year.  It is now possible to transfer funds directly from a traditional 401k to the new ROTH 401k.  I have been looking at all the things that could affect a ROTH conversion. 

 

How will it affect my taxes in 2026?   What affect will the ROTH conversion have on my taxes in later years?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of the conversion?  The taxes have to be paid from separate funds, and the 401k funds cannot be used.   I have tried to estimate my tax situation with a conversion and without the conversion.

 

I am not a millionaire, but my TSP and my wife's TSP has a substantial amount of money in each one.  In the traditional 401k, there are required minimum distributions (RMDs) coming out each year.  The ROTH 401k has no RMD requirements.  The RMD is just a way for the government to get their uncollected taxes from the traditional 401k.

 

ROTH 401ks can be passed to beneficiary's tax free.  They do require RMDs from inherited RMDs even though none are required while the original owner is still alive and is the owner of the 401k.