Thank you! I’ve read some in the past but always been too shy to post
retiredjg wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 11:02 am
1. You say you are contributing to her tIRA. Are you sure those contributions are tax-deductible?
I had read somewhere that it would be but I may have been wrong… if I’m reading this chart correctly https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Traditi … ome_limits, since I am not covered by an employer plan then it could be written off as long as our joint income is below $236k, which it will be this year, but I’m guessing that the lower income limit would apply if I set up a 401(k) plan for myself.
Yes. Unfortunately the two funds I have are the lowest cost they offer.
retiredjg wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 11:02 am
4. Consider how badly you want to keep Her 457 if those are the cheapest funds available. Ordinarily, it is nice to keep an old governmental 457 (assuming that is what this is), but this one apparently is not low cost.
My thinking was that the 457(b) would be easier for early retirement than getting early distributions from a Roth IRA without penalty. Am I overestimating the difficulty there?
I just got access — they were supposed to auto-enroll him but didn’t They do a 3% match. They have a Fidelity 500 Index at 0.02, BNYM Mellon NSL Mid Cap Stock Instl at 0.04, Vanguard Total Intl Stock Index Admiral at 0.09, and Vanguard Inflation-Protected Secs Adm at 0.10 — everything else has much higher expenses. I think rolling his old accounts into his trad IRA will be a better option than moving into the new account.
I forgot that I did contribute to his Roth IRA this year. I’ll admit I haven’t been consistent about it, as you can tell by his low balance there Sigh, we must accept our past mistakes
retiredjg wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 11:02 am
2. Should I roll over one or both of his old 401(k)s to his trad IRA at Schwab, or keep where they are for access to Vanguard Admiral shares?Maybe. Do you foresee a time when you will have too much income to contribute to Roth IRA? If yes, are you interested in using the backdoor Roth approach? Are you even aware of the backdoor Roth? (See the Wiki)
I only work part-time so it’s unlikely to be an issue in the next year or two, but we could hit the joint salary cutoff if his next job has a pay bump or I win some big contracts. I hadn’t heard of a backdoor Roth until I started poking around the forum recently, and I wrote it off as something I wouldn’t need… but maybe I should learn more about it.
retiredjg wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 11:02 am
6. Stop holding some many funds in every account. It is not necessary and just causes complexity.
Do people typically just pick one or two funds in each of their non-taxable accounts? E.g. just hold VBR in one IRA and just VEU in another? It seems like that might make rebalancing harder, but I am clearly not very good at that anyway
Thank you for your input!
