Come to the AUS DO and you can ask him yourself. ;)

You are good!;):-:^

Mr. Plow ... that's my name
That name again is Mr. Plow

I'm not certain SkyTeam USA sucks - certain people / cities are served well by certain airlines. And of the U.S. majors, only US truly sucks ;) I admittedly like aspects of all other airlines.

Understood Professor completely. Let me try this again, for the top tier elite that wants to travel internationally on discount Y fares and fly in the premium cabin, SkyMiles is by far the least friendly program.:-:

I got trapped by the AMT and underpayment penalty as a 24 year-old after exercising a number of ISOs in December of one year ($25,000 bonus plus exercised stock options in the same month) so I now plan well in advance. One of the reasons I haven't gotten trapped by the AMT the last three years is that I maxed out the 401k and then put funds into the 457; if I didn't do those pre-tax, I would have definitely given our government too much money in 2007 and 2008.

The SWUs was clearly the better part of that announcement. And the only time I've paid to fly internationally was the ridiculous ZRH fare that yielded 55,000 miles and a $250 TCV.

AMT - yikes!:eek: Otherwise, cool!^ I don't think I know of anyone else who is as 'on top' of their pending tax situation -- as you are!;):-: Of course -- fin'l planners love when clients max-out their pre-tax contributions to their retirement plans!^

Do you also do a non-deductible IRA, as well? I appreciate that you are putting away a ton of $ towards retirement, already!^ Any thoughts of converting anything into a ROTH?

+1. But for the domestic flyer, it's one of the BEST programs (with respect to upgrades). DL > CO most based on the number of F seats in each cabin.

Yes, it is pretty easy for domestic upgrades especially in the NYC market where there is a hub but not a huge elite base.

Yeah "Tony Plow" is my hero!;)

icurhere2 is not a tax or financial advisor.

Many columnists write about preparing for taxes throughout the year. Everyone's situations are different - some advisors say to make the January mortgage payment in 2009, so one can add the taxes to the 2009 deductions. My interest is $235.66 this month, so that doesn't really matter to me. Just looked that up and stupid BoA has lost track of my homeowners insurance ...

I also do a Roth IRA and converted my remaining traditional IRAs to Roth as soon as I moved to Tennessee (before the 2010 loosening was announced). People ask why I do a Roth instead of a traditional - I respond "I want to pay my state income tax on those IRA funds in Tennessee while my state income tax rate is 0%". In other words, "duh".

Proviso - my currently-announced retirement date is a few years before 59.5.

The conversion to a Roth is a tricky wicket, given the tax hit initially and uncertainty - I personally have an expectation that Roth IRAs will somehow be taxed by the time I retire but my assets are currently structured to allow me to withdrawal from taxable accounts and Roth contributions until 59.5 (avoid penalties), then earnings and various retirement plans (401k, 403b, 457) through the rest of retirement. I also expect the marginal tax rates to vary over time and income in the future is also a variable, so I think it's beneficial to have diversification among tax-advantaged and taxable.

Oh - I don't expect anything from Social Security.

From BNA I have to connect to most of my destinations. I have the choice on SkyTeam USA of flying through any of the seven domestic hubs with mainline service to all but CVG.

Sorry to here that.

I should also add my disclaimer: mnmag is not providing any tax or financial advice. Anything discussed here is purely informational.

Good for you that you've been able to qualify to contribute to a ROTH IRA!^ Wow -- you are really lucky about having no state income tax!:cool: I am aware of the issues surrounding ROTHs & the uncertainty that lies ahead. I agree that -- 'it's beneficial to have diversification among tax-advantaged and taxable'!@:-) Gotta cover 'all the bases'!^ Sounds like you are well on your way to a 'pre-59 1/2' target for retirement! Way to go!^:-: