Pajaro

I'm a pretty conservative guy, but just listened to this Joe Rogan episode with Robert Kennedy Jr and was blown away. It's mostly about vaccines, so now I need to read The Real Anthony Fauci. It's a fantastic conversation. Here's the link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3DQfcTY4viyXsIXQ89NXvg?si=rX2hS2ONSFO8o0jLJVv9vg

Nunya answered this, but note that short term capital gains are taxed at the same rate as normal W-2 income. I will be selling index funds I bought as a lieutenant 2 decades ago. I could also reduce my taxable income by another $29,500 if I invest that much in traditional IRA and traditional TSP next year. I thought about it, but it would save me only $4,500 in taxes (15% of $29,500). I figured that the tax free growth of the ROTH IRA and ROTH TSP would pretty easily outweigh the $4,500 in tax savings.

Deployed finance was a bit confused when I asked, but eventually figured it out. It seems to be tied to CZTE being processed, which then allows you to go above, but like you said only for traditional. I had timed my contributions to stay below 19k until a month into my deployment, and contributed above 19k after ctze started Folks, this is the exact gouge I was looking for! Thanks for the help. The rest of my plan is to sell some funds to generate capital gains. With the new 2020 standard deduction for Married Filing Jointly ($24,800) and $37,500 in traditional TSP, my taxable income will be about $62,000. Next year's new upper income limit to pay 0% capital gains tax is $80,000, so I can have $18,000 in capital gains without paying tax. Thanks again, Pajaro

BLUF: What is the actual mechanism for investing the full $57,000 in TSP while deployed to a tax free combat zone? I haven't gone on a long deployment in a while, but am deploying on a 365 to Iraq this summer and will get the combat zone tax exclusion up to the max enlisted pay each month ($7,700). That's $46,200 for the final 6 months of the year. However, the TSP site says I can contribute $57,000 to TSP while deployed, which would enable me to go past the cap. It specifies I could do $19,500 in ROTH TSP, but the remainder would have to be Traditional TSP. So, what's the actual mechanism to be able to invest more than $19,500 in Traditional TSP? Normally if you try to invest more than $19,500 it won't deduct from your LES. Are DFAS and MyPay smart enough to know and let me do it? Or is this something I have to organize with the deployed finance folks? Thanks, Pajaro

Thanks. Congrats on 20 yourself. No, there's no calculator (that I know of anyway). I just have a big spreadsheet that I update with a new row every month. It has a column for each type of pay. It also has a column for how much I invested/saved that month, so I have a good visual of investments vs income over time. I started the spreadsheet about 10 years ago, so the first day of building it was tedious. Doing the monthly input since then takes about a minute. Its also a good way to double check the LES. I find that my LES is wrong at least 4 months a year, mainly due to changes in language pay.

I'm basically 48% of base pay or 32% of base pay and allowances. Spending lots of time overseas is a huge benefit to saving money due to the COLA and utility allowance. OHA is use/lose, but the utility allowance is flat rate, so you can save a lot.

I'm a European FAO (we are called that now instead of RAS), so I get paid for any European language. I'm primarily Spanish, but I can fake my way through reading other Romance languages, so I get paid for them as well. Max of $1000 per month. That gravy train is about to end because the French, Italian, and Portuguese DLPTs just got harder.

I hit 20 years last month, all as an officer and all promoted on time. I thought you might be interested in some gee whiz numbers from my 20-year career earning totals: Base Pay: $1,254,900 BAH/OHA: $411,531 BAS: $47,787 Language Pay: $80,573 OCONUS COLA: $120,740 Total: $1,915,530 The BAS really surprised me. That $250/month added up over 20 years. I also never got flight pay. My net worth is now $1,370,779. I’ve never had a 2nd job, my wife has never worked outside the home, I’ve never owned a house, and I didn’t inherit anything. That’s all from investing my military income, basically in S&P 500 index funds. Here are my totals: TSP: $380K Taxable index funds: $558K IRAs: $296K Cash, bonds, CDs: $137K I’ll add that I haven’t sold any investments since 2008, and that was only $4K of stock to fund a honeymoon. Everything else has been buy & hold for my entire career.

Back in 2002 the CSRB for 33S (what 17Ds used to be) was $10K a year for 4 years. I think that lasted all of 2 months or so. If you actually get it, $15K a year is more buying power in today's dollars according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator (it says $13.4K is the equivalent). So, I took the money and put it all in TSP tax free. In 2005, just 3 weeks after getting the 4th and final installment, VSB came out and offered me $114K to walk away from the USAF. I stayed in, but couldn't help thinking that these programs aren't thought out very well.

Not there yet, but Zabel and Higby grew up in Cyber and have the right mindset. My money's on Higby as the 1st Cyber 4 star http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/467026/brig-gen-patrick-c-higby.aspx http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/108886/brigadier-general-sarah-e-zabel.aspx

Sorry, I just now see that TurboTax Deluxe Federal does not include Schedule D. Looks like I'll change to H&R this year.

TurboTax Deluxe Federal is free from USAA ( https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/advice_tax_center_main?akredirect=true ): USAA active-duty military and reservists can get TurboTax Deluxe Online Federal at no charge. I've used them the last few years and have been happy, but I have reasonably simple taxes.

The loophole is still open, but hard to find. The "old" Amex Blue still exists: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1535970-old-amex-blue.html It gives unlimited 5% cash back at grocery stores, gas stations, and major pharmacies. There are reports that Amex will shut you down after spending $50K, but I'm still going strong past that for my anniversary year. As far as fees, I pay $5.95 to activate a $500 Visa gift card. Walmart charges $.70 for a $1000 money order. So, for $1000 of gift cards at a grocery store, I'm making $38 in profit after fees. It's more if I need gift cards for Amazon, Home Depot, etc that don't charge activation fees.

I make $400 to $500 per month on credit card cash back. I have the "old" Amex blue card that gives 5% cash back on groceries (including the Commissary). I buy about $1000 per week of Visa gift cards at my local grocery store, then use the gift cards to buy money orders at Wal-Mart. I deposit the money orders in my bank, pay Amex, and wait for the cash back to arrive. I also buy all non-groceries exclusively in Visa gift cards. That gives me about 3.8% cash back on things that aren't groceries. It seems pretty elaborate, but I have it down to a process that fits with my daily life.

I've often heard the rumor that large MTFs will do breast augmentation for dependents if the implants themselves are paid for by the member, so it's no cost to the government. Anyone able to confirm?

In case you have not seen it, the 2015 TSP contribution limit has been raised to $18,000 (same for 401k plans) https://www.tsp.gov/planparticipation/eligibility/contributionLimits.shtml

I've done exactly this. I bought a used car the day before I shipped it. I wasn't a resident or on PCS orders where I bought it (Arkansas), so they wouldn't title it for me. I drove it to Dallas to ship it to Europe. They accepted the previous owner's title from Arkansas that had been signed over to me. I was allowed to title it in Spain, but the process was about a month longer than if I had a new title. 2.5 years later I shipped it back to the USA, again without a title other than the one that had been signed over to me. When I tried to title and register it in Mississippi, they realized that the car had never been titled in my name, and made me pay sales tax. However, MS sales tax is not based on the sale price, it's basically based on the KBB value. So, in the end, I deferred paying sales tax for 2.5 years and paid about $500 less in tax because the car had gone down in value. If I had sold it to another American in Spain, I would have gone through the entire process without paying sales tax.

Slightly off topic, but active duty military from any branch can join the Marines' Memorial Club in downtown San Francisco for free. They have reciprocity with the Army Navy Club and other clubs around the world. I think the Army Navy Country Club is a different entity though, and they don't have an agreement with the Marines' Memorial Club. Anyway, the Marines' Memorial Club has a very nice and very reasonably priced hotel. It's basically half of what you would normally pay in San Fran. There's also a free happy hour on the top floor every early evening.

6.2. The Successful Bidder shall not:- 6.2.2. Penetrate the anus of the Virgin; Rookie mistake. She forgot to add "however slight"

Sorry I´m 6 months late, but here´s a Ramstein TMO brief that answers your question in case someone else needs it: http://www.ramstein.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-130424-008.pdf For UAB, officers get 600lbs plus 350lbs for each dep 12 and older plus 175lbs for each dep under 12.

1) Take 30 days of leave each year even if you don't want to. It gives your squadrons more of a break than it gives you. 2) If you don't trust your Exec or think he's incompetent, get another one. 3) When you do your initial orientation visits with each of your squadrons, insist that they don't use PowerPoint. That will set the tone for your next 2 years.

I assume the long weekends are 3 or 4 days long. I don´t think there´s a PTDY option unless your program is connected to AFIT somehow. However, if your commander would have been willing to approve the PTDY if such a rule existed, he would probably be willing to approve several 3 or 4-day passes spaced throughout the semester that achieves the same thing at the same cost to him.

My Little Pony objections aside, the more I think about the name Pegasus, the more problems I have with it. First, what will be the plural? Pegasuses or Pegasi? They both sound ridiculous, but my guess is that Pegasi will win (although I seem to remember some AFI or AETC AFI supplement forbidding the use of Latinized plurals. That´s why AETC uses Syllabuses instead of Syllabi). Unfortunately, no matter how you pronounce Pegasi (either like Sigh or like Odyssey), someone will think you´re wrong. Go watch news broadcasts from the Gemini days. No one could agree how to say it. Yes, I know that Pegasus is from Greek mythology, so a Latin plural would be strange. However, the word Pegasus is itself a Latinized form of the Greek Πήγασος, so the Latinized plural works. Second, they didn´t consult with any 8-year old boys. Pegasus can become Pegashit way too easy. Pegasucks is another good one. I´m sure Pegging will work itself into the name soon enough (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegging_%28sexual_practice%29). Third, Pegasus is the personal name of one creature, not a type of creature. Pegasus was a winged stallion, just like Snoopy is a dog. For example, it would seem strange to name an aircraft the Zeus. There are five Zeuses (Zeusi?) on the tarmac. The ETA of the six Lone Rangers is 0830. It makes no sense. Finally, where are all the overzealous separation of Church and State folks? They should be all over the USAF for naming an aircraft after the son of a god. I´m sure they would have a problem with the KC-46 Jesus (as would I). Why not the Pegasus? Sure, there´s not a lot of people who believe in Greek gods these days, but how many does it take? If one person believes that Pegasus is the son of a god, does that make it a religion that should be separated from the State? Hell, even Jediism is on the UK´s list of official religions (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/1589133.stm), so I´m sure there´s someone out there.

I was an Exec at Aviano during the height of Doc´s “Combat Programs” reign of terror. A decade later I still shake my head and wonder how this guy ever made O-5, let alone O-10. Anyway, I think it´s good to recount the crazy stuff he did so that he doesn´t somehow end up in politics, or whatever, and do even more damage. Submitted for your approval… 1) He treated Aviano essentially as his personal flying club hobby shop. He would fly down, on average, twice a month, to fly F-16s, use the gym, jog around the base looking for infractions, eat at the club, and sing with his band to boost morale. 1a) He would typically always go to the gym immediately upon arrival. He insisted on being issued locker 001. I witnessed the day he received locker 002 (some SrA wasn´t briefed on the importance of locker 001). Doc was not happy. He was obviously the most important officer in Europe. Therefore locker 001 was the only appropriate locker. Doc let the Wg/CC know that Aviano needed to get it´s shit together. Doc then boarded his executive jet and returned to Ramstein LESS THAN AN HOUR AFTER HE ARRIVED because Aviano was not prepared for his visit. He just took his ball and went home. 1b) Doc does not like onions. I was there when he was served a salad with onions at the club. He looked like he was served a dead baby (kind of like when the French guy first opens the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones before his face melts). Seriously, his eyes got big and he simply looked horrified. The club director saw the onions and whisked the plate away before too much could happen. Fortunately, that trip he was using his flying club hobby shop go give a second (yes, second) F-16 familiarization ride to his good friend, the co-founder of RyanAir (http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123017607), so he had to keep his composure. 1c) Doc likes things to be painted brown. On one of his jogging trips, he realized that the backs of the stop and yield signs on the base were bare steel (you know, ugly). He immediately ordered that the backs all be painted brown. He was happy with the result, but the Italian police were not. Each sign had an Italian sticker on the back saying who had approved the sign, that it was an official sign, etc. Painting the signs voided the permit. We had to buy all new signs. 1d) Doc thinks dumpsters are ugly. They disrupt the view while he is jogging. Doc also had a policy of “taxing” each wing for a portion of its operating funds (this is normal, but his tax was quite high). He would then dispense the funds to wings that would use the cash for cool projects he approved of. Aviano desperately needed money for real things (sorry, the only thing I can think of now is fuel for the cop cars), but Doc didn´t like that. Instead, he gave (actually, returned to) Aviano $200K to build $10,000-a-piece, brick dumpster enclosures. Yes, each enclosure cost $10K. Ugly dumpster problem solved. 1e) I´m not a pilot, so I probably have some of the vocab wrong, but you´ll get the idea. Doc really wanted to fly in some NATO exercise in the UK. He ordered Aviano to send more A/C than originally planned or really needed because he wanted zero chance of a Mx CANX. Someone in the MXS filed a Congressional complaint for waste. To make it go away, Doc rescinded the order and told Aviano to send the appropriate number of jets. I was at the meeting with the OG/CC and MXG/CC to discuss the “appropriate” number of jets. OG/CC wanted to send the number of jets originally planned since Doc had backed off his request. MXG/CC said “No, it´s a trap. We have to send the number of jets he really wants or we will be punished in some other way.” In the end Doc got what he wanted out of fear, waste be damned. 2) Doc´s combat programs were a metric-based tool to measure quality. One metric was waiting time at the MPF. I seem to remember that 3 minutes was acceptable. However, if Incirlik had a 2 minute waiting time, he would want to know why the other bases couldn´t keep up. So, some bases implemented an MPF greeter, like Wal-Mart. This would create a waiting time of 0 minutes (according to the rules of the metric), but would keep some MPF troop from doing any work, which in reality hurt overall time spent by people at the MPF. He would send operatives (secret police, in effect) to all the USAFE bases to verify the reported numbers. The Lajes SVS/CC got fired for “speeding” when the secret police couldn´t replicate the numbers. Keep in mind that the SVS metric was something like how many children attend story time at the library each afternoon (that one was Combat Wizard). 2a) Another SVS metric was profitability. If a base club or outdoor rec was not profitable for x months in a row, he would shut it down. It wasn´t enough that the bowling alley and slot machines generated enough profit to make the entire MWR suite profitable. He demanded that each section be profitable on its own. Who cares if people really like the auto hobby shop and we can fund it with slot machine money? If it can´t turn a profit by itself it´s gone! 2b) The SFS metric was shooting range efficiency. 100% of the range training slots had to be used every day. So if there was some maintenance emergency and SSgt Smith had to fix a plane at the last minute instead of shoot, it became a big deal (at the f*&%ing 4-star level) because it meant an empty range slot. Solution: if a squadron had X slots on Monday, it would have to send 2X troops just in case another squadron had a no-show. That gives you a 100% UTE rate for the shooting range, but a horrible rate for other mission areas. 3) Not about Doc, but shows the level of hatred. I dated an Army captain who had previously been on Gen Bell´s (USAREUR/CC) staff. Bell detested Doc and made a bunch of AFN commercials just to get more airtime than Doc and spin him up. 4) Stuff I can´t confirm, but I´ve heard the rumors multiple times: 4a) When he was the NAF/CC at DM, he required that the cars at the office holiday party be taller tapped. 4b) Not only did he have airmen at Ramstein raking leaves in a forest (confirmed), but he actually had them raking dead leaves out of the trees. I personally saw Doc´s replacement (sorry, can´t remember the name) shake his head and say “I can´t believe we had US Air Force members raking leaves in a forest.” So, even the higher-ups thought he was crazy.

Over in the sequestration thread, Sec Hagel is quoted as saying "We will also no longer reimburse for renter’s insurance." I've never heard of this reimbursement and can't find anything about it via Google. USAA sells the stuff, but I can't even find anything on their site about getting reimbursed for it. Anyone have any info about this?