24 days to go people. let’s get the final touches (even though some allow early 2025 and back dating) going!
I gifted one of my kids 7K for their Roth IRA. With my 2024Q1 income before retiring I funded 20K of my 401k and my HSA. Plus stashed money in the Roth Accounts.
I picked a good time to retire it seems, at least having hoped in late 2023 to retire after 2024Q1 with $X, then having it jump up to 1.09X by the time March 31 arrived, and having it mushroom to 1.23X at the present day (excluding home equity).
I do feel like as the safety margin increases, I should be more generous. Not only with my kids, but with charity in general.
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I guess I should close out a few small ST loss positions I have before the end of the year? It’s less than 1k total.
Loss positions are scarce these days. Hard to find losses to offset against gains.
You open 2 accounts. You buy calls in one. You buy puts in another. On average, they don’t lose nor make any money. But one is guaranteed to be a loss, and you harvest those STCG.
So I was able to check the big box on my 2024 financial planning list as my Ontario farm sale closed today.
The young Amish lad who bought it delivered his suitcase of money to his lawyer and the funds then went to my lawyer and to me within hours.
The funds will not sit in my account for long: have already sent my English daughter and granddaughter their share of the proceeds electronically.
However I want to personally give paper checks in person to my Vancouver children and grandchildren and explain to them the significance to me of selling a farm that has been in our family since 1915. I want them to appreciate how hard our forebears worked so that we could reap the reward. As I reread that, it sounds a bit soppy but this is our family’s prize heirloom that we have sold: it was not an easy decision but the right one I feel financially for my children.
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You have a nice story, sold the place to a nice family that will use it much the way your family did 100 years ago, and you get to see your children benefit from it today. The way that properties often get divided up through inheritance across generations, that’s a great accomplish to even be able to make that decision the way you have - well done!
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I assume this is literal. Never seen a cash transaction of more than a few K.
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The Amish living near my farm don’t use the banking system. Luckily their lawyers do. The local lawyer I used usually represents the Amish in these farm transactions but couldn’t do so in my case as I was using him. He found another lawyer for my Amish buyer and reassured me that there would be no problems with this transaction. He was right.
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Thank you. This makes me feel better about selling a family heirloom.
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I found myself thinking about what I have left from my own grandparents. Property is obviously difficult to pass along and share across generations if it is no longer directly useful. I know of the family farm my grandfather and his brother took care of for a few years into my childhood - my clearest memory of a visit when my dad took me there once while my grandfather was out harvesting a field in a combine, but the memories are limited and it was sold when I was fairly young. I have a few things of theirs that my mom collected and gave to me when they were selling the estate that I appreciate having now more than when she first handed them to me. Nothing of significant monetary value, but I am glad she went through that effort to pass along a few things.
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I consider myself very privileged to have received a farm from my grandfather. I also have his secretary desk and his Mason’s ring as well as my grandmother’s gramophone along with many old bakelite records.
Before I sold my farmland I severed the non-agricultural piece from it as I wanted to keep something from the original farm. I will probably put a conservation lien on it so that it will be preserved in its wilderness state. It will pass on to my children even though my Amish farm buyer would happily buy it.
My wife has pieces of jewellery from her ancestors. She passed on her great grandmother’s wedding ring to our middle daughter. I think that is a more typical family heirloom than a farm! Less likely to be sold as its value is more sentimental than financial.
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I wasn’t very active with financial planning this year due to having a 3 and 1 year old taking up a lot of my time. There were a few things I was able to accomplish:
- Maxed mega-backdoor 401k
- Maxed HSA and dependent care FSA
- Rolled over my previous employer 401k into my current plan
- Rolled over some 1 year CDs
- Did not get fired
- Got a new (old) car
Did not:
- Roll additional funds into brokerage account (doh!)
- Open any 529s
- Donate much, but planning to do so in the next couple weeks
- Complete any major home projects
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I see you have some spending money for your next European trip.
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This is what I tell my wife after every annual review. Didn’t get fired, good enough!
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I got kids who are roughly the same age
I opted for custodial account instead of 529
Unless you’re in a state with high income tax I think the flexibility of a custodial account beats the tax sheltering a 529 offers
Yeah 170 euros not doing me much good here. I might ease off on Europe trips after this next one.
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You mean a UTMA?
Historically I could see merit to your argument (and don’t strongly agree or disagree).
With the new rule allowing a $35k transfer into a Roth IRA, I’d suggest putting some money into a 529, at least an amount you expect to become around $35k by the time they’re entering college. If they for any reason don’t do college, slam it into your IRA. (Minor downside, this will exhaust your IRA contribution limit for several years as you transfer the funds.)
Albeit, fund your retirement first. I just started our 529 before we’ve fully maxed 401k+IRA+HSA, but we’re barely contributing to it and plan to max those other accounts next year.
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