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Financial housekeeping

July 1st, 2017 at 02:33 pm

A tepid stock market did a little sideways dance during the month of June; my portfolio was up by about $2,000.

While I was doing my month-end report, I converted a recently transferred T. Rowe Price fund worth about $70,000 into Admiral shares at Vanguard. Sorry T.Rowe, love ya, but Vanguard's fund of the same type had a .26% expense ratio vs your .66% expense ratio. The conversion to Admiral shares, which you can do with any Vanguard fund once it gets big enough, will reduce my annual expenses for the fund even further.

The fund I moved was a Roth IRA, so there won't be any tax consequences. This is the reason why the 2 remaining taxable funds I have at T. Rowe will stay put until I need them as I don't want to trigger any tax liability.

I recently opted in to a lower priced electricity offer by my current provider. The lower rate is only good for 4 months and then I'll have to shop around again. As with the conversion to Admiral shares at Vanguard, just a little bit of what I call "housekeeping" chores will save me money over the long haul.

Barclay's recently informed me the interest rate on my money markets there has ticked up, as they should at any bank since the fed raised rates. The uptick is not enough to exceed the rates I locked in on my laddered (2, 3, 4 and 5-year) CDs with Barclays, but it helps.

I have two focus groups coming up in July worth $125 and $225 each. I haven't done a focus group in ages. One is in town, the other I have to travel about an hour for. I also have 3 MS drug dinners sponsored by the pharma companies in July.

I have the central air on, set at 76 degrees. It's quite muggy and damp outside and it's so much more comfortable, although a few days earlier I really enjoyed opening all the windows around here, something I hadn't done for several years due to Waldo's allergies.

I still think I'm going to see him around a corner or in his favorite spot. Luther isn't showing visible signs of missing him although it sure seems quieter around here.

18 Responses to “Financial housekeeping”

  1. scottish girl Says:
    1498916992

    Will you get the money this month for the focus groups?

  2. PatientSaver Says:
    1498917122

    I think so. Most of the focus groups pay you in cash when you leave.

  3. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1498928377

    Did you put the funds into an index fund? I'm planning on selling a large portion of my TSLA stock, and am debating on what index fund to put it into at Vanguard.

  4. PatientSaver Says:
    1498928849

    Yes, FrugalTexan nearly all my mutual fund money is in index funds now. I think you should try to see if you have any holes in your overall asset allocation to figure where to put it.

  5. creditcardfree Says:
    1498933061

    Wise choice with Vanguard. Those initial days after a pets passing are so hard. We get so used to them in certain places and doing their routines. Our other cats didn't seem to take notice when our cat died in December.

  6. Dido Says:
    1499006891

    If the funds you have in your taxable account at T Rowe Price are available thru Vanguard brokerage, you can do an in-kind transfer with no tax consequence to have all of your accounts custodies at Vanguard. Note that non-Vanguard funds and securities (including Vanguard ETFs) are held in a BROKERAGE account and Vanguard mutual funds are held in a MUTUAL FUND account. There are transaction fees for buying and selling in the brokerage account.

    Also note that if you are going to be in the 15% bracket this year, that would be a good time to transfer in any case as cap gains will be taxed at zero percent. One harvests cap gains in low bracket years and cap losses in high bracket years. Figure this closer to year end since you do not know what will happen with job income in the interim, but if you are in a low bracket, consider it an opportunity.

  7. Dido Says:
    1499007668

    I can still think I catch glimpses of Teddy, and periodically I find myself calling Buffy (but never Bridget) Phoebe, and I still miss having a lapcat--Phoebe was the only one who volunteered (tho Buffy occasionally walks all over me when I am sleeping late and she is hungry).

  8. Joe Says:
    1499015307

    Remeber you will pay 0% capital gains tax if your income stays below $37,650 - you might be able to move some of yout money from T. Rowe without any tax consequences.

  9. PatientSaver Says:
    1499017852

    I believe Vanguard said something to me about doing this but I guess I don't get why I would want to do an in kind transfer if I'm still paying T Rowe expense fees and transactions fees for buying and selling from the brokerage account

    What is the advantage of doing this? I confirmed with Vanguard at the time that i would still be paying T Rowe fees.

  10. rob62521 Says:
    1499026501

    After all those months of not making anything on investments, $2000 is at least a welcome gain. We are waiting to see what ours will be for June.

  11. Dido Says:
    1499040817

    You'd only pay T Rowe Price fees on their funds. Generally the advantage of consolidating simplification is that it makes account management (asset allocation, rebalancing) easier. If you ever sold any TRP funds (gain harvesting) and then bought Vanguard funds to replace them, it would be cheaper at Vanguard.

  12. PatientSaver Says:
    1499045028

    OK, but Vanguard said that with an in kind transfer, I would still pay T. Rowe expense fees. So then they are still T. Rowe funds, not Vanguard, right?

    If so, I don't really see the point of doing the transfer if it's not going to save me any money.

  13. Frugal Texan Says:
    1499052736

    I don't think so. When I transferred my IRAs from TROWE to Vanguard I had to pay transfer fees to TROWE. But all my money is now invested at Vanguard.

  14. Dido Says:
    1499092487

    It depends what funds they are in and if you are happy with those funds. If they are T Rowe Price funds and you are happy with them and don't want the benefits of simplification that I mentioned above, no reason to move them.

    But if you feel you would be happier in Vanguard funds, then if you moved them to Vanguard first, you would have fewer fees on the sale.

    If this ends up being a 15% bracket year for you, that might be the time to do it to get 0% cap gains tax on the gain. Something to assess in November, not now.

  15. PatientSaver Says:
    1499093491

    Good point..I think I will mark my calendar for November to reassess the move of taxable monies. Thanks, Dido.

  16. PatientSaver Says:
    1499094868

    OK, so I have 3 remaining funds at TRP.

    1. I have a small SEP-IRA of about $4,200 which I could transfer over anytime since it's qualified money.

    2. I have $52,200 in a taxable balanced fund but upon checking my accounts I see it was created 1/7/16, which means it won't be long-term money. So I guess I'll have to just leave that be.

    3. I have another $58,000 in a taxable Int'l Equity Index fund, and that was opened in 2008 and there was one time I made a $4,000 purchase on 1/14/16. So I guess toward year-end if I remain in lower tax bracket I could transfer this over but keep $4,000 in the account which represents the short-term investment.

  17. Petunia 100 Says:
    1499617876

    You only need to hold one year and one day for a sale to be long-term. You're months past that. You can go ahead and sell if you like.

    Also, if you moved 70k to a Vanguard fund, you should already have admiral shares. The threshold is only 10k for most index funds. There are a few sector funds still requiring 100k, but I'm guessing your probably didn't buy any of those. If you bought investor shares, you should be able to convert them on Vanguard's website.

    When we were just about home from our trip, I briefly thought how it would be so nice to see Buster on arriving home, and then of course I remembered. It's been a month, and I still catch myself doing that. I am so sorry that you have lost your beloved Waldo.

  18. Myfinancekits Says:
    1500477083

    Mutual Funds may seem relatively safe but I still prefer investing in stocks. However, we have different levels of appetite for risks

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