Decided to go for a 15 year refi at 2.25%. Feels good to potentially be saving $170K in interest payments
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Thanks
It’s been rough but things are starting to look up again. Can no longer take for granted that I’ll always have a job, though, which is scary.
I think the one thing I’ve really internalized from losing my job and struggling to find one after 8 years of consistent employment is:
When doing your financial planning, don’t just assume your income is going to keep going up. I think for people in my age range (I’m 32), it’s very easy to see your financial trajectory so far and project that it will keep growing on that general track for years to come. The fact is, you might have things out of your control that hamper it (losing job, medical problems, forced relocations) or in your control (reducing work to take care of children, choosing a better career path that has less pay). So save money if you can and don’t just assume that you’re always going to keep making more money.
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Not being able to emotionally handle this reality anymore after having experienced WFH independence as a pro poker player is why I am where I am. That being said I can vouch for this because I made meaningfully less money in 2019-2020 than I made in 2017-2018.
Assuming things like medical issues are out of ones control, I think the biggest risks are getting too comfortable and not learning new skills, not building and maintaining a strong network, and not actively strategizing career decisions. I screwed myself big time by getting too comfortable and only got out of it from a combo of hard work and luck, with luck being the larger factor.
Hopefully I can ask this question without opening any doxxing-related issues, but I’m curious if @anon38180840 has had any recent experience/resolution with security deposits.
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I think we’re fine on that front as far as doxxing goes, I received a deposit back later than required, and less than a full amount. I attempted to consult the lawyer and got no response, so I’m in the process of looking into using small claims court. Hopefully I’ll have more info next week.
I’ve been trying to get a bunch of other stuff done before the COVID hits the fan any worse here and I want to go on full lockdown, like stockpiling, setting up a golf simulator, and getting my holiday stuff done, so I’ve let this simmer on the backburner for a couple weeks.
Bumping this to make sure my understanding of a situation is correct:
Max capital loss you can use to offset regular income in a given year is $1.5k (filing single). If I have ~$9k of capital loss this year already realized and don’t want to carry any forward to later years (tbh I’m worried about forgetting), I need to record at least $7.5k worth of capital gain between now and 12/31/2020. Is this correct?
It is likely that I will enter a new tax bracket in the next few years, which would incentivize me to keep the $9k loss, record $1.5k of it this year, and record $1.5k in each of the subsequent years when I might have a higher marginal tax rate and thus more to gain from offsetting my regular income. Is this correct?
Not a tax attorney or tax accountant. That said:
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I believe you get to offset up to $3k even if filing single. IRS rules, as far as I can tell, only stipulate that married filing separately status is limited to $1.5k.
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Yes, if you don’t want to carry forward losses, you’ll have to generate at least $6k of capital gains to offset. (Assuming I’m right about the limit.)
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Your plan to carry forward to future years with a higher rate sounds fine, but I believe that those loss carryforwards will be applied first against capital gains in those future years, and only after that against ordinary income. So if you end up recording long-term gains at a 15% tax rate, your carried forward losses don’t actually benefit you at the ordinary income rate.
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If you use Turbo Tax, it remembers for you. You import the previous year’s return into the current year’s program. I think the carry forward is $3k, even if you are single. I guess maybe $1.5k if you MFS.
Depending on what your bracket is this year, it may be more valuable to take enough capital gains not just to offset all of the losses, but also to harvest more gains up to the limit of the 0% capital gains bracket ($40k single, $80k MFJ). For example, if your other income is $25k, you could take $24k in capital gains tax free ($9k offset by losses + $15k more to make your total income $40k).
The cool thing about the capital gains harvesting is that the wash sale rule does not apply. You can sell and immediately repurchase the same security, and all you do is incur the gain and importantly, increase your basis (and reset the clock for short- versus long-term gains and losses). So, if you have space under the 0% capital gains bracket, harvesting now can pay off more than carrying it over, especially if you expect to have long-term gains in the future.
See the Mad Fientist for more info: Tax-Gain Harvesting and Tax-Loss Harvesting .
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Awesome, thanks guys. Yes it’s $3k not $1.5k, I actually had $3k originally and then misread the table when I went to check my numbers.
Unfortunately I’m not going to be under the $40k threshold so no 0% gains for me. I’d have to think further about just taking the gains this year at my current marginal tax rate to reset basis and set myself up for lower gains after I’ve ticked up a bracket, I hadn’t thought of that. The higher bracket would mean an extra few percent so it would have a small but noticeable impact. I’ll have to run numbers.
Another possibility that I’m ignoring is the chance that tax rates as a whole go up, which would favor taking gains now, but based on Biden’s tax plan I don’t think I’m anywhere near high enough for that to be a concern.
Wait, edit:
Took me a second but this is a good point that I think invalidates my plan. The cap gains I’d be banking this year are all long-term, so I would definitely prefer offsetting regular income with this loss rather than LT gains. I think this gives me my answer, thanks–gonna just take the loss this year and carry it forward.
I do my taxes by hand so I’ll have to remember :)
I continue to be super curious about this. From what you’ve said, this is offering you a slam dunk case with multi-thousand dollars of damages for which you do not need a lawyer. For someone who talks about how important it is that you play in in-person poker games to maintain your income, it is baffling to me that you are letting this slide.
I’ve been trying to get legal advice and basically getting blown off. My lawyer friend said “Ehh, dunno, file in small claims court and see what happens.”
I called a local tenant legal aid hotline and they said that if I’ve already been made whole the court may not rule in my favor, it’s up to me if I want to try. They didn’t give me any estimate of the likelihood of success.
It’s going to end up costing me about $150 to file the case and probably 10 hours of time, plus two additional indoor exposures. $86.50 in fees and about $60 in gas/tolls/parking. So I’m trying to figure out whether my likelihood of success is high enough to be worthwhile. Even if I have like a 15% shot, it’s worth it financially. I’d take the exposure risk for the $3,060, but I’m not sure I’d take it for a small shot at it.
I’m concerned I’m going to just get laughed out of court because, as the legal aid hotline put it, “you’ve already been made whole.”
Maybe I should just e-mail a few more lawyers. Thoughts?
This is entirely inconsistent with the way you’ve presented the story so far. After 30 days, the landlord waives all right to withhold any of the security deposit.
You absolutely have not been made whole and the reason this statute exists is to prevent landlords from freerolling like this.
(Not a lawyer)
I’m not a lawbro (and I’m grunching) but this seems unlikely and, if it happens, is unwarranted. The law is the law. If they didn’t meet the requirements and the law entitles you to more, then claiming it is not laughable. The judge might think you’re kind of a dick, but that’s a bit different.
The interviews with people who work for the lender, Deutsche Bank, and the insurance brokerage, Aon, are the latest indication that once Mr. Trump leaves office, he still faces the potential threat of criminal charges that would be beyond the reach of federal pardons.
It remains unclear whether the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., will ultimately bring charges. The prosecutors have been fighting in court for more than a year to obtain Mr. Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns, which they have called central to their investigation. The issue now rests with the Supreme Court.
But lately, Mr. Vance’s office has stepped up its efforts, issuing new subpoenas and questioning witnesses, including some before a grand jury, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.
The grand jury appears to be serving an investigative function, allowing prosecutors to authenticate documents and pursue other leads, rather than considering any charges.
How much of the security deposit did they withhold and what was the stated reason for the deduction?
How long did it take them to get the deposit back to you and what was the method of delivery?
They mailed me a check. It was supposed to be returned 30 days after I relinquished the apartment, which I did on 9/25. It was post-marked 11/2. The postage machine stamped it 10/30. So I guess they put it in the envelope in their office 10/30, and dropped it off at the post office 11/2. I received it a few days later.
They withheld approximately $435 for utilities, which they itemized and they were entitled to do if they returned it on time.
Given that they were late, the law states that they can’t withhold and they owe me double… But I’m just an average guy, and they’re a corporation.
Look everybody, Trump is just one of us with his own economic issues during covid!
Trump 2024!
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IANAL, but if there’s statutory damages for being more than 30 days late, and they were more than 30 days late, seems like a lock that you would win. In any case, I think whether to actually sue them comes down to whether you put any value in the experience of learning how the system works.