UncleSam

It's not about the additional cost ("Joiner Fees") for me. It's very annoying to be stopped by a security as if I committed a crime. Now, I always rent a villa with a private swimming pool. It's not like a luxury hotel but I like a villa better since it's more private and I can bring any number of girls. Besides, I love watching girls swimming naked.

I used this service a few times in the past. It definately makes your ride more enjoyable. I stopped using this service due to lack of new faces. I think it worth trying since you have never been in Pattaya. Ask girls to show you around in the next day or two.

I agree that Owen does his home works. It's good for him but it's so obvious that he has no educational background on finance. I am only trying to warn people here that converting Traditional IRA to Roth IRA is not good for everyone. Since you have your financial advisor, you will find that out soon.

You are making an example who is age 56 and has no income??? Of course you don't pay tax on $4,000 conversion if your entire income $4,000 for the year. I hope you guys are making more than $4,000 a year. The conversion is treated as any other income, so if you are making $80,000 a year ($80,000 seems to be an average on this board based on the average income survey), you need to pay income tax on the $4,000 conversion at $84,000 income tax bracket. If your income is over $100,000 a year, you can't even convert any amount. Yes, RMD is one of the good aspect of Roth IRA, but RMD starts a

This is so stupid now. Like you said, he has to pay income tax on the conversion plus 10% penalty if he wants to pay out his 401(K) or Traditional IRA!!!

I never heard about this option. I will look up this opion when I have time. I audit large retirement plans to make sure they have enough money to pay retirement income to the retirees over their life time just like you described above. To warn you, the interest rates IRS use are very low, which means smaller payment. Who does the conversion? I assume your 401(k) administrator does. Do you know the basis they use such as mortality tables (probability to die; RP-2000, GAM83, etc) and interest rate (PBGC or GATT, etc)?

This is not the place you should get tax advise. You need to go to someone qualified to give you this type of advise. Generally, you cannot avoid excise tax if you withdraw money before age 59 and 1/2. To me, I don't think it's practical to convert 401(k) to Roth IRA unless you are expecting to have much higher tax rate in the future. Why would you have much higher tax rate in the future? Most people have lower tax rate when they retire. 401(k) is much better retirement plan than IRA since the higher limits. You may want to make some after-tax contributions to your 401(k); it's not

Don't you have to pay regular income tax on the conversion? Where did "15%" come from? I don't know much about IRAs but, it's my understanding that the conversion has a cap if the income over $100,000. If you are self-employed and looking for maximum tax deduction, I think SEP will be better option than IRAs in my opinion (you can deduct up to $44,000 in 2006 vs . 4k - 5k for IRA). Of coure, I advise you to see a financial planner and a tax advisor befor setting up SEPs.

Most of companies (I will say more than 99%) are self insured in the U.S.. Insurance company is just media between the employees and healthcare providedrs. Therefore the insurance companies don't care whether the people with pre-existing conditions are excluded or not. Why are they self insured? Because the companies don't have to pay high premiums to the insurance companies and the companies can get the contracted (discounted) deal with healthcare providers. The biggest problem with healthcare in the U.S. is just doctors and hospitals charge too much, not the insurance companies. I j

If you just spend a little time in the hotel review section, you will find what you want.

It's true that private pension plans are having difficult time to survive these days. Many companies are closing or freezing their pension plans due to high cost. Even more companies will close their plans when "Pension Funding Reform" passes the House in this year. ("Pension Funding Reform" already passed the Senate, which will require additional funding requirement for the private pension plans) However, many people are now realizing that pension plan is better than its alternatives such as 401(k), other defined contribution plans. IMHO, pension plans in private sector will survive b

Same in the U.S. It really depends on the policy. Every policy is supposed to disclose this information. Most of them are valid in case of suicide if the policy holder pays the premium for such period of time (typically 1 year). I guess they want to give the person to think about it for at least a year. So I suggest to read the policy before committing suicide. What a nice thread!

Double means one large bed.

It's very hot and muggy. Lots of mosquitos.

I stayed in this hotel about 3 years ago. Maybe it's big coincidence. I used my AMEX card when I checked in. AMEX called me on the next day and told me someone purchased about $5,000 on online using my AMEX card. They wanted to verify it wasn't me. AMEX was very helpful. They canceled my card and sent me a new card right away. I wasn't responsible for anything. I am pretty sure it was one of the hotel employees.

I used ATM card for a few time on my last trip. I remember the exchange rate was good. I was charged about $6 for the transaction fee. You can also withdraw money using your ATM card at the currency exhange in the bank. You need to bring your passport. Same transaction fee. The daily limit was 20,000 baht.

Owen, that's why I suggeted to buy an annuity contract. You exchange your lump sum money with series of payment for your life. Done. Since you asked, my calculation was based on GATT assumption, which is the minimum value of your lump sum amount protected by IRS (Revenue Ruling 2001-62) when you elect lump sum payment option for your pension instead of electing life annuity. Life annuity is the product and interest and survivorship. It's an actuarial present value of series of future payments. I have been consultanting over $3 trillion of retirement asset for 10 years, I have nev

I have seen many posts about how to figure out how much money one can spend per year after his retirement, but I haven't read any good answers yet. Let's say you have $1,000,000 and you are withdrawing $50,000 a year. If your money earns 5% a year, you are withdrawing nothing but the interest amount. Therefore you can withdraw $50,000 per year forever without touching $1,000,000 (I know everyone here knows this). So you may want to withdraw more than $50,000 since you are not going to live forever. Here is how to convert your large sum of money to an annual payment for your life tim

Is there any 5 star hotels don't charge guest fee? Do they charge guest fee even if I booked for 2 people and stayed with my thai girlfriend all the time? Or do they just charge guest fee for any farang who's staying with a thai girl? Anyone knows about the guest policy at Dusit Hotel? I read the reviews, but some said yes and some said no. Thanks in advance. Sam

Holiday Inn on 32nd and Broadway. I think it's around $200 -$300. The average price for the hotels in Manhattan is about $350 a night. You may want to stay in New Jersey close to Manhattan. Price will be very different. You can get a suttle bus from the hotel to Manhattan. Most of my friends do that.

Owen, I just jointed this forum a few days ago. I must say you made some good points, but I don't agree with you on many things. Talk to a retirement actuary (net a retirement planner) if you know any. They will show you how to calculate future retirement income in conjuction with your mortality rate, future inflation, future investment return, projected social security income, pension, 401(k), etc, etc. Sam