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What are you going to do with your Covid check?

UncleMark said:
Me, I need to upgrade my vehicle. The good ol' 91 S10 starts and runs every day, but something new breaks every time I turn around. The tailgate is held up with a tie-down strap and I have to smack the radio to get it to work. Last fall, just as the weather turned cool, the A/C compressor started hammering. I've been saving up and have enough to buy a newer beater, and the additional $2800 will give me enough to buy something halfway decent.
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I WILL SAVE IT TO PAY A SMALL PORTION OF THE INCREASE IN TAXES THAT WILL FOLLOW THE REFUNDS.
 
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NPT said:
However, to me it points out a big flaw in the plan and that is that a family whose is less than the age where they have to take out the RMD could have several several million sitting out there in their IRAs and 401s and still get the stimulus checks. Why should someone with that kind of money get a check that future taxpayers are gonna have to pay with taxes.
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Over the years we've discussed means testing for various and sundry things based on wealth rather than income. It's a discussion worth continuing.
 
UncleMark said:
Over the years we've discussed means testing for various and sundry things based on wealth rather than income. It's a discussion worth continuing.
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I would never support means testing for things like social security, etc but I would for something like the stimulus checks. Like I said why should I get one because I didn't need it. If there had been a little more thought put into it you could have almost guaranteed that the ones who got the money would have spent it.
 
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NPT said:
I would never support means testing for things like social security, etc but I would for something like the stimulus checks. Like I said why should I get one because I didn't need it. If there had been a little more thought put into it you could have almost guaranteed that the ones who got the money would have spent it.
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Talk to @twenty02 . He's the one that's got the ass. :p
 
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Cortez88 said:
We are an Aldi family and I will say that their coffee is very good. It’s half the price and they have a number of varieties to choose from.
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I was very accepting of aldi and generic coffee until someone gave me a Peet’s k-cup. There is no going back. Dammit.
 
UncleMark said:
Talk to @twenty02 . He's the one that's got the ass. :p
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I don't think he was complaining about not getting a check. He was just commenting on how stupid the politicians are and in that I agree.

I know it's called stimulus check BUT I think it should have been targeted more to those who are hurting and really need it.
 
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NPT said:
I don't think he was complaining about not getting a check. He was just commenting on how stupid the politicians are and in that I agree.

I know it's called stimulus check BUT I think it should have been targeted more to those who are hurting and really need it.
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Fine but then it isn’t stimulus. That’s all @twenty02 and I are trying to say. There’s no reason it can’t be an income supplement and a stimulus check but politicians are idiots.
 
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INRanger27 said:
I was very accepting of aldi and generic coffee until someone gave me a Peet’s k-cup. There is no going back. Dammit.
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I hate Keurig coffee in all it’s forms. I recently picked up a bag of Dunkies brew and I might be ruined again.
 
INRanger27 said:
Fine but then it isn’t stimulus. That’s all @twenty02 and I are trying to say. There’s no reason it can’t be an income supplement and a stimulus check but politicians are idiots.
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Oh I agree but I think it could have been targeted to almost guarantee that it would have been spent but that is just my opinion. Before we knew what they were gonna do we had already picked out someone to give ours to if we got one because we knew that they needed it and it would be spent.
 
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NPT said:
Speaking from experience I would advise anyone making good money to put their money into a Roth IF they are in the 22% tax bracket or below (and I have my doubts about a Roth because I don't trust that the government won't find some way to tax that). A Roth was not offered in my main working years so I didn't have that choice. One thing you have to remember is that the government is constantly doing things that screw with your plans. Case in point... When I put my money into an IRA (and my wife did the same) when we died and it went to our daughter she had to start taking out the money right away but it was over her lifetime so that wasn't a big deal since not much would have to be taken out but they come along last year and change it to it all has to be out within 10 years ..... there went our plan. I am in the process of converting some IRA into a Roth but between that and my RMD it takes me into a higher tax bracket and that means I have to pay more for my Medicare (around $400/month rather than the normal $150 ...that is a guess). There are so many rules that it's hard to keep up with all of them and I try. My biggest mistake was not to start converting my traditional IRAs into Roths a long time ago but it wasn't a concern because of the rules back then. INRanger is correct in stating that your tax bracket may not drop when you retire .... ours didn't.

On a side note .... We didn't get any of the stimulus checks and didn't deserve one because the pandemic has not affected our income and we already had plans on who we were gonna give the checks to IF we got one because we didn't need it. However, to me it points out a big flaw in the plan and that is that a family whose is less than the age where they have to take out the RMD could have several several million sitting out there in their IRAs and 401s and still get the stimulus checks. Why should someone with that kind of money get a check that future taxpayers are gonna have to pay with taxes.
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I got a stimulus direct deposit and gave it away. I’ll probably do the same again. I looked at changing my IRA’s to Roth 15 years ago and decided not to. Putting off payments (including taxes) as long as possible always seemed like a good thing to me.
 
CO. Hoosier said:
I got a stimulus direct deposit and gave it away. I’ll probably do the same again. I looked at changing my IRA’s to Roth 15 years ago and decided not to. Putting off payments (including taxes) as long as possible always seemed like a good thing to me.
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At your age that’s the right play. At mine it’s a big gamble.
 
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CO. Hoosier said:
I got a stimulus direct deposit and gave it away. I’ll probably do the same again. I looked at changing my IRA’s to Roth 15 years ago and decided not to. Putting off payments (including taxes) as long as possible always seemed like a good thing to me.
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Roth conversions make sense for some and not others. As do Roth vs Traditional contributions. There's not a truly clear yes or no, very dependent upon indvidual circumstances. In retirement.... often taxable income can be made very low, and as such you can dribble in a little bit of Roth conversions each year without knocking one into a higher tax bracket.
 
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twenty02 said:
Roth conversions make sense for some and not others. As do Roth vs Traditional contributions. There's not a truly clear yes or no, very dependent upon indvidual circumstances. In retirement.... often taxable income can be made very low, and as such you can dribble in a little bit of Roth conversions each year without knocking one into a higher tax bracket.
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That’s true. I have taken withdrawals in amounts to maintain tax and Medicare brackets and simply built a tax-paid rainy day fund with ready access. If Roth was available when I was 30, I probably would have gone that route.
 
What is too old to begin moving some funds to a Roth annually? I’m mid 40s and am exclusively traditional IRA/401k. I like the idea of some mix.
 
CO. Hoosier said:
Putting off payments (including taxes) as long as possible always seemed like a good thing to me.
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I agree with that in principal but like twenty02 says it depends on your individual circumstances. In my case, I waited too long to start because I was not aware that Medicare premiums varied based on income (should have been but it just never occurred to me to check) so now it's coming back to bite me. And like I said I was planning on what happened post death of my wife and I and here comes the government along and ruins that for us. Like I said in a previous post I still don't trust that the government won't find some way to get taxes from the gains in a Roth. If enough people go to Roths they'll just institute a national sales tax.
 
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Cortez88 said:
What is too old to begin moving some funds to a Roth annually? I’m mid 40s and am exclusively traditional IRA/401k. I like the idea of some mix.
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I think that is different for each person. What tax bracket you are in is one part of the equation. How much income do you see yourself having when you retire? Do you think that you'll be in a lower income tax bracket when you do retire? I don't see taxes going down so if I was in the 22% tax bracket or below I would just bite the bullet and pay the taxes UNLESS you are pretty sure that you'll be in a lower income tax bracket when you retire and that is hard to project that far out.
 
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Cortez88 said:
What is too old to begin moving some funds to a Roth annually? I’m mid 40s and am exclusively traditional IRA/401k. I like the idea of some mix.
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Lots of moving parts here. The first point is for every retirement dollar you save in a traditional IRA is a dollar. In a Roth every dollar is 78 cents or so depending on tax brackets. So you start in the hole. If you think you want liquidity for a specific purpose then Roth makes sense.

There are time value of money tables that you can use to determine what a Roth really costs over a given length of time. Then you can compare that with what you think taxes might be at a future time. For me, the Trump tax cuts have made my decision not to go Roth 15 or so years ago look better.
 
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INRanger27 said:
At your age that’s the right play. At mine it’s a big gamble.
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I agree with that. My daughter ask me what to do as far as that and I told her to go with Roth accounts as much as possible. I know if Roth accounts had been available when I was working that's what I would have done (because You never know what the politicians are gonna do) at least while I was in the lower tax brackets and then I would have investigated traditional IRAs.
 
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I am going to "subscribe to a site like Perfect Ten. I mean that could be any number of things, right? Perfect Ten? I mean, it could be a bowling site."
 
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UncleMark said:
Me, I need to upgrade my vehicle. The good ol' 91 S10 starts and runs every day, but something new breaks every time I turn around. The tailgate is held up with a tie-down strap and I have to smack the radio to get it to work. Last fall, just as the weather turned cool, the A/C compressor started hammering. I've been saving up and have enough to buy a newer beater, and the additional $2800 will give me enough to buy something halfway decent.
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I had you for a Mercedes or a Land Rover...maybe a Volvo?

I'll probably be forced to get my F350 diesel fixed. Frigging high pressure fuel pump is spitting codes and my mechanic says it's a 3k fix!! Not too happy! Diesels are money pits....but I love them.
 
UncleMark said:
Me, I need to upgrade my vehicle. The good ol' 91 S10 starts and runs every day, but something new breaks every time I turn around. The tailgate is held up with a tie-down strap and I have to smack the radio to get it to work. Last fall, just as the weather turned cool, the A/C compressor started hammering. I've been saving up and have enough to buy a newer beater, and the additional $2800 will give me enough to buy something halfway decent.
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I figued that you had something like this. :)
5e89106a53fa5da7f76d3f67bcd7132f.jpg
 
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UncleMark said:
You'll need to buy a new truck to pull it.
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The punchline at the end of this is "No, the guy originally came in to buy tampons for his wife. I said 'your weekend is shot anyway. You might as well go fishing'".
 
Well, it looks like my vehicle decision will need to be made sooner than I had planned.

My truck was stolen from in front of my house this afternoon.
 
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