?

Your W-2 is blank because your employer got something wrong.

I don't know how to undeclare exempt. Did you try a google search?

I do suggest walking into an IRS Taxpayers Assistance Center...if there's one convenient. 25 years ago there was one a quarter mile from where I worked. I don't work there anymore, and the IRS vacated that building.

Think about this for a minute.

Investing vs. Gambling.

I only invest. And I even call some of my investing "gambling".

Options are buying a bet on where a stock will be trading on a certain day. That's gambling.

crypto is just another form of currency trading. And you're trading currency that's not backed by any government. That's also gambling.

In general, real estate always goes up. There are exceptions. Slums in particular.

In general, the stock market always goes up. Again, there are exceptions. Look at GE. It's been beaten up and is being broken apart.

So I invest in mutual funds. Inside a mutual fund, GE stinks just as bad as outside, but its effect is tempered by the 99 other stocks the mutual fund has bought.

I have a brokerage account where I hold maybe 50 stocks. Some of them I bought. Some I was given. Some are decendents of what I bought. I bought GE, and out spun GE Healthcare and Wabtec. I was given AT&T, and out spun Warner Brothers Discover and Lucent and a few others. Stock are fun and interesting, but certainly NOT for serious wealth building.

I also bought BP 3 months before the Deepwater Horizon Disaster. It's never recovered.

I don't beleive they can correct the W-2. Once the end of the year occurred, they might have a limited amount of time to fix such errors, but certainly not 3 months.

do you like your loans?

Howabout you split the difference: pay double the minimum on your loans.

We always paid extra towards principal for our car loans and the mortgage.

who runs the NJbest plan?

Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab are considered excellent around here.

Looked it up: Franklin Templeton. I don't know much about them.

Does NJ offer a state income tax deduction for 529 contributions? Is it limited to your state 529 plans? (my recollection from previous reddit discussions is YES to both, but check me on that).

You are not restricted to using a NJ plan. I happened use my state's plan -- my state is the type to give tax deductions...but they didn't until my eldest was in college. AND, they didn't restrict tax deductions to contributions to a my-state 529 plan.

WHen I made my decision, the Vanguard UT 529 plan was considered best. Not long ago I looked, and it was now Vanguard NV 529 plan. The plan I'm in for my state is also highly regarded.

I guess the only other question is on the other end, but who knows what will happen between now and then. I'm not entirely happy with Fidelity -- I've split one of my kids 529s between multiple funds, and to correctly pull from one but not the other could not be achieved by using the website -- I would have to call up to place the sell order. But other than that, yes, I was happy with the fidelity web interface and services.

yep, it can change fast.

But it can change slow, too.

I once "broke the utilization rule" and went way over 30% across all my credit cards. My score dropped like 40 points all at once, and then came back most of the way when I paid off the balances in full, by the due date.

I've heard that you won't recover quickly from is delinquency. If you keep paying late, or worse just skip payments altogether, that is hard to correct.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

About 10 years ago I lost my grandmother. While visiting for the funeral, I broke state law by driving her car -- as did my aunt. It turns out that in that state, only the spouse can legally drive the car until it's retitled.

Who knows about your state. I suggest asking the funeral home people when you pick up the death certificates. Then verify what they tell you before you go any further.

You want to do whatever is legal...but remember that the dealership and Kia don't want some "consumer affairs" reporter broadcasting on TV how Kia is bullying some poor widow.

How are you penalized by a low credit score?

A: Only if you want to borrow more outside your existing debts.

The credit score is there to make it easier for potential creditors to rate you. So they don't have to spend a half hour asking about your salary and your first born and what elementary school you went to.

If you're not going open a new debt anytime soon, your credit score isn't a big deal.

Oh...that's right you asked about taxes... that's hard to predict. Under the current tax code (the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) expires in 2025 and is scheduled to revert back to what it was in 2016...unless Congress intervenes. My understanding is that TCJA made things more fair tax-wise for married couples.

Congratulations! Here's hoping you make the no-divorce club!

For us it's 30+ years without a divorce. I was 2 years out of college, she was just out of college, so we had no assets either. We merged everything (except the 401k -- can't merge that). Even all our credit cards are joint.

We went through pre-marital counseling.... and we talked about finances. Both of us came from parents who did have financial issues, so this was a serious topic to us -- more to my wife who felt her parents were borderline committing financial infidelity.

So while we didn't bother with a prenup, we did make a couple financial agreements...

1. no spending more than 100 dollars without talking to each other first. That's $250 in today's dollars...and we've adjusted the rule a few times since.
2. no deal is so good we don't wait til tomorrow.

That second one... remember 30 years ago there were no digital mobile phones and no web browers.

I wouldn't bother with a prenup .. what's fair in your case? (And it's easy for him to get around the prenup -- just skip the country...right?)

How much can you put down without the 401k money?

How much will PMI cost?

how much interest will you pay the 401k in loan servicing?

And... how much are you losing on average by "selling" good mutual funds in your 401k?

We did not put down 20% our 6.625% interest rate back in the early 90s. 6.625 seemed like a great rate back then. A few years later, the value of our home went up. By paying for a formal appraisal of our house, we were able to prove that we exceeded 20% equity-to-value and the lender removed PMI. This worked for us because we had a conventional loan. My understanding is that it also works for most VA loans but that PMI cannot be removed from most FHA loans.

Your tax preparer should be working for you, not you working for them. TP is welcome to give their recommendations...that's what you want, frankly. But you call the shots. If TP isn't willing to do things the way you want, then, yes, you need to break up.

Same with a Financial Advisor. They work for you. They do things the way you want. They give you advice and make recommendations, but in the end it's your call. And if they can't handle that, you need to break up.

I think you need a tax advisor, not just a tax preparer.

I guess it depends upon what the Judge decides is equitable.

Divorces are state-specific. SD is not a community property state.

A google search found me this article: https://www.divorcenet.com/resources/divorce/marital-property-division/south-dakota-divorce-dividing-

in my case, the stock has been a ride.

I like having mathematical triggers -- I make up a formula, and it tells me when to sell.

Through Dec 2019 - Jan 2020, I sold... I think it was 9 lots, at an ever increasing price. The formula would give me a next price to sell at relative to the previous price.

My employer's stock went up December 2019 - March 2020...then when the bottom fell out of the market in later March 2020, it dropped to about half where I sold my first lot of vested RSUs. By October 2020, the stock was to price where I'd stopped selling in january. It kept, generally, going up, and peaked early december '21 at double where I sold my first lot. Then it's dropped. My formula tells me I should sell my next lot at 100.37, but it ended the day Friday at 78.05.

Now... why did I stop? Both times because the total value reached my goal -- the sales brought the total value of employer stock below my target.

In your case, I suggest setting a target -- say 10% of your net worth -- and slowly pare back your vested-RSU holdings down to that level. Further, I'd see if I can't come up with some pairings that make sense to roughly where stock is selling...say +/- 10%.

I've been collecting RSUs for awhile, and I sold some in late 2019, in 2020, and in 2021.

The brokerage account my employer gave me for this purpose allows me to chose lots to sell. I'm making up dates...but I could sell two lots simultaneously... one lot that was granted in 2016 and vested in 2019, and another lot that was granted in 2020 and vested in 2021.

Lets say at the price I sell, the 2016/9 lot is up 545.32, and the 2020/1 lot is down 543.16.545.32 - 543.16 means a net gain of 2.16 -- I'd have to pay taxes on $2.16.

So... I could figure out a price where I can sell those two lots simulataneously and have no net gain or net loss. I didn't bother.

Or... maybe I have a third lot...and at the price where I sell, the 2016/9 lot is up 752.38, the 2020/1 lot is down 238.38, and the third 2017/20 lot is down 520.00.752.38 + (-238.38) + (-520) = 752 - 748.38 = a gain of 3.62.

Me, I chose to just sell without worrying about tax loss harvesting (as what I described is called)

If you have a big net capital loss, that loss can be carried forward. You can only "use" $3000 of the carried-forward loss in any given calendar (tax) year.

There are, today. If I remember correctly, OP-age + 30 came out to be 56. So yeah, might be able to retire at 55 and access the 401k without problem. Or, Congress could intervene and change the rules.

We actually did what u/2ReddYet is suggesting. Back in 2016, we had negotiated online to get the car I wanted. (They had to get it shipped from Japan because the exact configuration I wanted wasn't available in the US. And I wasn't in a hurry.)

WE get to the dealership...and there's a snafu. Apparently I hadn't told them I was expecting to write a check for the car (my first time!) So. I debated with myself and my wife for a minute or two, and then I asked two questions:

1. What's the minimum I have to finance to qualify for the incentive?
2. how soon can I pay off the loan and still qualify for the incentive?

I ended up financing about 1/3 of the price of the car (the minimum), and as soon as the first bill came in, I swooped in and paid off the loan in full. I paid $22 in interest to get that $500 financing incentive.

BUT... 2016 was a different market....and we bought new.

Congratulations.

First of all, I'd encourage you to do your best to keep your lifestyle as-is...at least for the short term. By that I mean keep your expenses as if you're still making 65k

There are 4 things I'd recommend:

• increase 401k dramatically. At least take the match, but if you put 22,500 into the 401k, that eats 2/3rds of the increase.
• Save for a house / other expenses
• Invest in a taxable investment account
• invest in an IRA.

The only problem I see with so much going into an IRA or 401k is that it's money that in all likelyhood you will not be able to access for 30+ years. Plan for that, in any case. Both are intended for retirement, so assume that's a hard and fast rule.

A taxable investment account is a great option. Yeah, you lose some to taxes, but you also aren't stuck with the governments rules around your age. Plan to keep any money you put into a taxable investment account for 5 years.

I'm assuming you're "average" in that eventually you'd like a spouse and kids. Most people like having a house for raising kids. But that's not a necessity (I actually lived most of my childhood in apartments). My Aunt is still single and has no kids in her 80s, so married and kids isn't for everybody. She still owns her Condo but has effectively moved into the home she inherited from my Grandmother.

Even if you don't want that life and don't want a house, a savings fund for future spending is a good idea...

Now...how you decide to allocate between those 4 above is up to you!

I've been involved in two M&A where a public company was bought by another public company, and part of the deal was cash -- in both cases we got a cash lump they called a "special dividend" plus stock in the purchasing company.

One is my employer, so for privacy reasons I won't give you any info there.

The other is Terra Industries being bought by CF Industries. I can get back to you tonight with how I handled both of those. I think in both cases the guidance we received was that the cash dividend was treated as a dividend, and 100% of the basis in the little-fish ended up in the basis for the big-fish.

A thought... most public companies have an "Investor Services" webpage. Go there and see if they have a sub-page dealing with people holding stock in "company A."

my worst case for this sort of thing is AT&T. And it's really bad.

My grandparents bought AT&T before the breakup of Ma Bell.

I think they split off a few of their shares into an UGMA ostensibly to pay for my college.

I graduated college in the late 80s. I learned of the UGMA back in the mid-90s. Grandma decided it wasn't fair to give me all the money and my brother none, so it was split in half and then transferred to me.

At the time of the transfer, I received AT&T, BLS (one baby bell), Lucent, and a mutual fund that I think was used to capture dividends.

AT&T spun out AT&T wireless (AWE), which got bought out by BLS and SBC communications to form Cingular.

BLS bought AT&T.

Lucent spun out several companies, and what was left merged with Alcatel and then bought by Nokia.

Somehow I got ownership in Comcast as a result as well.

In many cases, I had to sell fractional shares as a result of different M&A activites.

at home I've got a big spreadsheet and one tab tracks where all the little pieces of AT&T went.

I've come to the conclusion that consistency is what is needed. THe big question in my mind is that $400.

I've never dealt with this with a private company, but I've dealt with this before.

Who's issuing the cash payments? I'm asking about the Aug 2022 payout.

5k / 5k sounds right, at first glance, but it's not clear where that 400 came from. It sounds like a cash dividend...but it should be reported on a 1099-DIV in that case. Unless they formed a partnership, and if that's what happened, you can expect a K-1 towards the end of March.

How much of that money did you spend on school expenses -- transportation, books, meals between classes -- whatever your parents didn't cover? (I'm not looking for a full accounting -- just a ballpark).

Yeah, you could've saved more. Hopefully you don't need to borrow to start your Adulting job... my son started his last year and had to move to the next city down the freeway.

Hopefully you have good memories from the money you did spend...or some good material goods you can keep for a while. Having fritterred all that money away on spending you considered stupid would be a shame.

emphasis on YOU. It's not for us to judge the value of your spending choices.