Retirement job: programmer

I am going to write phone apps.  Starting now.

My T530 running Kubuntu 17.10 is able to run an Android emulator as a virtual machine in some mode called KVM.  Man, in my day KVM meant something else.  Anyways, I have to do a lot of rigamarole to enable this virtualization, starting with my BIOS.  I have to wait for the Android SDK to finish downloading before I can get into the BIOS.   Instructions are bookmarked in my Konqueror browser.  (these are notes to self).

I should probably go download XCode to the Mac, too.  And find out how to get an Apple Developer account for student use for free.

I can use a LESS account for free but I need the 9digit Dun number for LESS.  I made an Apple id for this too, it is my LESS email with the iconic password. -c

Ok I have XCode already.  I don't need a dev account to write an app, just to publish an app.  So that can wait.

XCode, Cocoa, Objective C, C#.  I think Objective C = C#.  Luckily for me, Objective C is C plus some object-oriented stuff, much like C++ is C plus some different object oriented stuff.  Xcode is the IDE.  Cocoa is what?  I don't have a category in my brain for Cocoa.  It is an API but what has that got to do with anything?

I would like to retire in a place where they have a self-sustaining pond.

It would be interesting for me, I think, to sit by a pond, watching the koi, occasionally looking for other critters.  I want ducks to come by sometimes.  I want the pond pump to be solar powered.  It would be cool to me.

I would not be able to afford to have such a place of my own.  The background picture is some rich guy's swimming pool conversion.  I like the idea of swimming pool conversions because pools are toxic energy drains, aren't they.  We used to have a pool in Cerritos.  I learned to swim in there, at age 16.  But every year several birds died in that pool, and a lot of bugs.  Pool man added HCl and other stuff every month, or maybe even every week, I don't even know.  Water had to be pumped every day, even though we only swam in it a few times per year.  But I digress.

It would be nice to retire in some fancy joint like Glen Terra where they serve your meals like a hotel.  But with a solar-powered, biologically self-cleaning pond that hosts ducks sometimes.  I think Glen Terra was around $30k/year, maybe more.  That's what, $2500/month?  I can do that.  Ruth can do that too.   The only problem will be, where can I find a pond like that?

I'm using the Bankrate.com retirement income calculator.  I've got about $70k at Vanguard + Fidelity combined, and another $6k at CalSTRS.  The annual contribution from teaching jobs is about $1800.  If I want $2500/month as a retiree for 30 years starting at age 65, I'm going to need to make $250 monthly contributions to my Roth.  It's really $400/month, but the teaching jobs are covering $150 of that with CalSTRS.  So it's $250 now.  I think I can do that. 

How about Ruth, will she be able to do that?  Trust me:  Ruth is not going to want to retire at 65.  She will want to work as long as allowed.  Ruth will have plenty of income, all the time.

Should I be putting it into my Roth, or my IRA?  Half and half?  It really depends on if I think I'll be in a higher tax bracket now or later.  Honey, if I'm going to be in a higher tax bracket later, it's not going to matter where the money went.  So I have to assume I'm going to be in a lower tax bracket later.  That is the survival choice.  That means I have to put my money into the IRA, because I that money won't count as taxable income until I retire.

That reminds me, I also have an IRA at Capital One 360.  Geez, there's a grand in there right now.  Hey, it's all in Qualcomm!  Ha, it was because of Uncle John.  So, what's the trade commission there at Cap1?  Automatic investing is $3.95 per trade.  That means my contribution has to be $254, not just $250/month.  But that is $1 better than Fidelity's $4.95 per trade.

Ah, QCOM is just underneath the 39-week MA.  It is a good time to sell, how about that.  I guess I'll put my monthlies into Cap1 Sharebuilder.  I will set it to buy maybe some TQQQ automatically for now, just for the short term.

Whoa whoa whoa.  Sharebuilder wants to know if I want to make my $254 contribution for tax year 2017 or 2018.  But it's 2018 right now.  Reading further online, I see I can make all my $254/month contributions effective the 2017 tax year up until around 4/15 of the current year.  How weird.  Who bribed whom to get that rule?

I've made some more-than-usual money this year at SMC so I'll assign my contributions for the previous tax year as much as I can until 4/15.  The contributions must be done manually for this to work.  I'll set up the automatic monthly contributions to start in May.

The Roth is still in VSGAX chez Vanguard.

I made a request to roll it over into Fidelity for some individual stock trades.
But on second thought, maybe I should keep it at Vanguard with VSGAX.

Oh, now I remember.  I had left the request hanging at Fidelity because I wanted to sell the REIT at Vanguard and buy more VSGAX.  Aw snaps.  Now I have to cancel the Fidelity request by phone in the morning.

For this reason it is best to keep blogs.

What I want to do is to move the IRA money from Vanguard to Fidelity.  There are $3800 in an Vanguard IRA, not doing anything.  I cannot put it into VSGAX because the minimum investment to VSGAX is $10k.  So I should bring it to Fidelity and buy something.  Maybe TQQQ.  Ha ha.

I had started a rollover IRA request from Vanguard at Fidelity.com, but I cancelled it last month.  I wonder why I cancelled it.  Shoulda blogged at that time.

I'll keep the empty Roth open at Fidelity.  When the stock market crashes again, I'll take the Roth out from Vanguard and roll it into the Fidelity Roth.  There, I'll put it into something that likes the crash.  Not sure what that would be.  Motley suggests Walmart (bargain shopping increases) or a healthcare REIT like HCN (nice dividend).

Rolled Windward money over to Fidelity IRA. Bought stocks.

Bought NRZ because it's close to the 200-day MA and above.  When it's close to the MA, I think that means the trend is reliable.

Did not buy DFS because it's way over the MA.  I think it will come down pretty hard soon, because that's what it has done earlier on the graph.

Did not by O or MORL because they're playing around on the MA line.  The REIT indicator REM is doing that, too.

Yes, I know that NRZ is also a REIT, but it is a queer fish.  It makes most of its money from fees associated with the buying and selling of real estate loans between banks.  Got that info from my dad, but here it is again from the NRZ Profile blurb on Yahoo Finance:

New Residential Investment Corp., a real estate investment trust, focuses on investing in and managing residential mortgage related assets in the United States. It operates through Servicing Related Assets, Residential Securities and Loans, and Other Investments segments. The company invests in excess mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) on residential mortgage loans; and in servicer advances, including the basic fee component of the related MSRs. It also invests in non-agency and agency residential mortgage backed securities; and residential mortgage loans comprising loans held-for-investment, loans held-for-sale, and real estate owned loans. In addition, the company has an interest in a portfolio of consumer loans, including unsecured and homeowner loans. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 2011 and is based in New York, New York.

Apparently NRZ does not buy real estate directly, ever.  Maybe that explains how it is able to buck the uncomfortable trend indicated by REM and followed by O and MORL.

Bought hella PCG because it's way way down due to wildfire lawsuit fear.  They suspended dividends.  I think it is undervalued.  Even if there's a wildfire lawsuit, PCG is going to get back up to its usual growth trend because the on-grid population keeps growing in the PCG service areas.  And they said they will reinstate dividends after the lawsuit problems go away.

Bought hella FCPGX because I didn't know what else to do with the rest of the money, yet.  FCPGX is like VSGAX, except the expense is higher.  Ah, well.  I hope I make a lot on PCG to make up for that.

Did not buy TQQQ even though the graph looks good, because Fidelity warns me when I try to buy TQQQ.  It says I should be an experienced, sophisticated investor.  That is scary because I am anything but.