Search found 98 matches

by bpp
Thu May 29, 2003 6:05 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: The Great SWR Investigation - Part 1
Replies: 125
Views: 88330

Hi Ben, It's been a long time since I've done real math and I forget what such a graph looks like. Can you describe it? Is it like the dual asymptote graph I described? Yup. Approach the x-axis at large values of x, and approach the y-axis at large values of y. Don't suppose the raw data that went i...
by bpp
Thu May 29, 2003 5:31 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: The Great SWR Investigation - Part 1
Replies: 125
Views: 88330

BenDelivers, Wow, ask and ye shall receive. Very interesting chart. If I were to interpret the spread around the middle as being +/- one third of the regression line, then at a PE/10 of 30, you're looking at two-thirds of 2% or a 1.3% safe withdrawal rate. Ouch... Of course that's a pretty mindless ...
by bpp
Thu May 29, 2003 3:49 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: The Great SWR Investigation - Part 1
Replies: 125
Views: 88330

Along the lines that Ben has asked about, has anybody made a scatterplot using historical data with PE/10 along the horizontal axis and subsequent maximum withdrawal rate along the vertical axis?

Cheers,
Bpp
by bpp
Thu May 29, 2003 3:43 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: SWR: Rule of Thumb or Something Else
Replies: 28
Views: 21862

Chips, As I posted before, a plan to let the standard of living decline over the course of a retirement fell out mathematically when I used a logarithmic utility function for the amount withdrawn and asked the optimizer to pick thirty annual withdrawals that maximize the total expected utility of th...
by bpp
Thu May 29, 2003 12:13 am
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: The Great SWR Investigation - Part 1
Replies: 125
Views: 88330

What KenM said.

Is it possible to suggest that discussion board politics at least be redirected to Town Center or something? (Or maybe even set up a dedicated board for it? :))

Cheers,
Bpp
by bpp
Mon May 26, 2003 3:53 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: The Great SWR Investigation - Part 1
Replies: 125
Views: 88330

It is OK to talk about an SWR when valuations are ignored. It is just that this limitation should be pointed out to people and its implications (which are highly significant) should be explained. It would also be nice to see a good description of the issues involved in using valuations. I'm still a...
by bpp
Thu May 15, 2003 2:51 am
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Low probability of FIRE
Replies: 38
Views: 27340

we saved in the low 80%s of our salaries/consulting income. now that we have to pay ssi our rate is lower (low 70%s) 70-80%?? Wow. The only reason we can save anything at all is because we both work. If we were a single-income family (as is still more the rule than the exception here in Japan), I d...
by bpp
Sun May 11, 2003 7:42 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

to paraphrase kipling: "you're a more forgiving man than I am, bpp." :wink: Don't leap to conclusions. :)For the time being it doesn't make sense to do anything but wait and see what happens, and then if needed tackle the challenge of finding legal remedies to reduce the bite. But if in t...
by bpp
Sun May 11, 2003 5:31 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

Hi Wanderer, I hope your Big 5 buddy is right. I spoke with the IRS representative at the embassy in Tokyo, and it turns out that a lot of the Japanese taxes I pay would not be eligible for FTC treatment. In addition, if I have un-excluded earned income, it seems that I may also have to start paying...
by bpp
Sat May 10, 2003 11:47 am
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

Some numbers: I seem to recall hearing there are about 4 million Americans living/working abroad. If the elimination of the FEIE exposes to taxation the maximum $80,000 in income from each of them, that is about $320 billion. They would have to assume they can collect 10% of that to project that the...
by bpp
Sat May 10, 2003 11:25 am
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

Hi Wanderer, Yes, I do realize that this will hit you a lot harder. As far as that $32 billion that the Senate finance committee has their hearts set on, though, I would guess that most Americans abroad are in relatively high-tax jurisdictions to begin with, so there won't be much extra revenue to b...
by bpp
Sat May 10, 2003 6:25 am
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

One offset, amounting to $32 billion, would result in higher taxes for Americans working abroad. I did a quick re-calculation of last year's taxes assuming no FEIE, using the Foreign Tax Credit instead, and it appears to be about a wash in my case. Though the paperwork looks somewhat more complicat...
by bpp
Fri May 09, 2003 1:32 am
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

Guess it's just FEIE going. FTC would still be there so Europe would be attractive. Why? Europe is a high-tax jurisdiction. Aren't you in a no-tax area right now? If you take up residency in a high-tax country, they will most likely tax your US holdings as well. You'd have to do the nomadic thing t...
by bpp
Thu May 08, 2003 8:47 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

Looks like Wanderer posted while I was writing my last post. So the "screw you too" rule is section 877? Is that IRS regs.? Will have to look that up some time.

Cheers,
Bpp
by bpp
Thu May 08, 2003 8:38 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

Hi Ben, I feel sorry for you expat Americans these days! Hopefully your salaries would then be increased accordingly by your companies, or the company will simply pay the taxes up to the old limit, as that was what you based your expatriation decision on in the first place. Not all American expats w...
by bpp
Thu May 08, 2003 6:57 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Expat US taxpayers lose FEIE
Replies: 22
Views: 17717

Now why is the phrase "No taxation without representation" floating through my head...? :| On the bright side, without the FEIE I would become eligible to open a Roth IRA. Of course, I would still have to pay Japanese taxes on any Roth earnings (oh yeah, that's why I never elected to do it...
by bpp
Wed May 07, 2003 7:10 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Low probability of FIRE
Replies: 38
Views: 27340

I would flip it around and say that if one is facing an unfortunate period economically, then saving becomes even more important.

Cheers,
Bpp
by bpp
Mon Feb 03, 2003 11:19 pm
Forum: FIRE Board
Topic: Different methods of safe withdrawal / strategy. Re: Hocus
Replies: 30
Views: 23329

Peteyperson asks, Why would you wish to have substantial money at the end of your life? In case you get to the end of your life, and then accidentally live longer. You really need to plan for potentially forever, in my view. Never know what medical science might come up with next year. Cheers, Bpp