<p>True that. And by then I may be living in a nursing home drooling in a cup.</p>
<p>No way. Canât think like that. 80 is the new 60, or is it the new 40?</p>
<p>Thee is some good joke about aging and memory that should go here, but I forget what it is.</p>
<p>@jym, yes you can apply to home equity when you retire, but I think most likely your income will be less and you will be able to qualify for less.</p>
<p>We have been doing the âmajorâ home improvements these past several years. Just got a new roof. Furnace has had work, and might get replaced within the next three to four years. House has been stained on the outside. Driveway repaying taking place also. That should hold us well for about. 20 yearsâŚtaking us I tour 80âs. Then the NEXT owner can fix it up!</p>
<p>ETAâŚwe applied for and have a HELOC now. Just havenât used it.</p>
<p>FATCA has been around since 2010 and is a royal pain in the neck to the millions of Americans who live outside the U.S. The rules affect them, their kids, and anyone with whom they share a joint account, business or with whom they own a property. Iâm not convinced that it is finding the supposed huge number of tax evaders that some thought it would.</p>
<p>Drgoogle,
The question someone raised was about a loan, not a HELOC, IIRC. I think the comment was made that a person couldnât get a loan without income (presumably earned income) which really isnât true. Depends on their assets and overall net worth.</p>
<p>No FATCA regulations have actually taken effect. July 1 of this year (so a few weeks from now) is the first that anyone will be required to provide the additional information required (new versions of the W-8 forms for beneficial owners of accounts). Very little withholding will take place, either, until 1/1/15 on new accounts and 7/1/16 on existing accounts. Some banks have started changing their policies earlier on collecting information, and some banks have decided not to deal with it and are turning away US accounts. The only regulatory part of FATCA that I am aware of that has taken effect is that W-9s for US account owners have some added language about FATCA in them (banks were SUPPOSED to roll the new W-9s out by February of this year, but I noticed that one major financial institution in the US didnât make it when I opened a new account recently).</p>
<p>As long as you are not pretending to be a foreign citizen when you really should be indicating that you are a US citizen or meet the presumption rules for closer ties to the US than a foreign country (eg, live in the US most of the time), and as long as you have not put your assets in a foreign corporation offshore trying to mask your US ownership, you would not see any withholding. But if you open a foreign business/entity account (say a foreign trust account), you will have to account for who the owners are.</p>
<p>"FATCA has been around since 2010 and is a royal pain in the neck to the millions of Americans who live outside the U.S. The rules affect them, their kids, and anyone with whom they share a joint account, business or with whom they own a property. Iâm not convinced that it is finding the supposed huge number of tax evaders that some thought it would. "</p>
<p>That seems to be the common theme the last several years, @alwaysamom. Enact regulations that are supposed to trap the super wealthy into paying more, they figure out how to evade the regulations anyways, and the average person without a team of lawyers takes the hit. Good intentions donât always bring the desired results.</p>
<p>Has anyone considered the possibility of, at the point at which it is legal (probably retirement or end of employment), converting a portion of their 401K into a Roth? Especially if your tax rate is lower, and an amount at which you wonât trigger putting any amount into a higher tax category. I think @NJres converted a significant amount awhile ago, during a low tax year. It seems that if you wait until mandatory withdrawal time (age 70 1/2), the RMD could be pretty high, and trigger a much larger tax than youâd pay earlier.</p>
<p>Dont know the answer to that, but my s has both a Roth IRA and Roth 401K. </p>
<p>Interesting. How do you have a Roth 401K? Did he leave a job and then convert it? I canât figure out any way to convert any of my 401K until after I retire.</p>
<p>iâll ask next time I talk to him. I was surprised to hear it even existed.</p>
<p>I just saw this online: </p>
<p>âYou can convert all or part of other retirement accounts, such as an employer-sponsored 401k or 403b plan, too, once you leave your job, or in some cases, even while you continue to work for the same employer. Some plans allow you to access the money while you are still working, known as an âin-service distributionâ, but you usually have to reach age 59 ½ before you can do soâ</p>
<p>Iâll bet that he converted after he changed jobs. Has he changed jobs in that timeframe?</p>
<p>Some companies offer both Roth 401K and regular 401K. I chose not to mix them up because if you the tax situation will be somewhat complicated.
@busdriver11, I plan to do some conversion, but I donât know the amount, I have to play with TurboTax, but it will be slowly until my husband has to take his RMD from his 401K. I plan to not pay any tax if I can help it.</p>
<p>He was with the same company for 2 years. Just left a month ago for a new opportunity. I dont think that is it. I thought he said it was through USAA. Maybe from one of his summer internships??</p>
<p>Impressive summer internships that offer 401Kâs. My kids have been happy to just get a salary!</p>
<p>Iâm with you there, DrGoogle. Taxes can be such a burden, seems worthwhile to put in a bunch of numbers and figure out what wonât generate a larger amount of taxes.</p>
<p>I could be totally wrong. Older s got that , back in the day, but not sure that younger s did as he didnt have those kinds of internships.</p>
<p>Well maybe his company offered it to him. If so, thatâs pretty cool, I wish I had that option.</p>
<p>When he first mentioned it, recently, in a text, he just said: âXXXX from old job; putting maximum in at XXXX (new job)â.</p>