Jughead

Further note, tax-exempt contributions do have a limit ($52K for 2014), and that is shared with the elective deferral limit ($17.5K for 2014). In other words, the total of your tax-exempt & elective deferrals cannot exceed the $52K limit. BL, if you're truly maxing your contributions (and have a high enough tax-exempt income for this to be a factor), be careful not to make more than $34.5K of tax-exempt contributions, or you will lose the ability to make a corresponding amount of elective deferrals (thus paying more tax for the same amount of total TSP contribution). Don't blame the AF or even DoD for it being "$&@!ing difficult"--that's tax law & IRS policy making at work. I doubt CZTE money was originally considered when these various limits were created (the upper limit was designed to limit employer contributions), but that's how they've been applied to the uniformed version of the TSP. ETA: Generally true (IRS rules again, not USAF). One exception that I've ops checked twice: if you deploy late enough in the month that that month's contribution doesn't get made properly (due to CZTE status not being applied in time), you can "write a check" to pay in the missing contribution. In IRS-speak, that option is allowed when a contribution is not made via the normal payroll deduction due to employer error, which is how the delay in getting CZTE started is treated for this purpose.

Civil Air Patrol or any ROTC / JROTC unit would also love to have them. Pro tip: CAP is a 501© (correct term?), so you can deduct your donations thereto....

Those are two different questions. IRAs (standard or Roth) have nothing to do with the TSP. Totally separate limits. Your contributions to a Roth IRA affect your contributions to a standard IRA (and vice-versa), since it's a single limit for ALL IRAs--so, NO to your second question. Your Roth TSP and Standard TSP similarly share a single limit. That limit is also shared by any 401(k) (standard and/or Roth) you may contribute to (say, with your civilian employer the same year you separate)--so, YES to your first question. Don't let the "Roth" label confuse you. You have two separate limits to worry about: IRAs, and TSP/401(k)/403(b)/etc.

If you're talking about formal requirements, OK, college is only "highly desired." In reality, effectively zero guys without a college degree are getting hired (hell, getting interviewed) at the legacies without it right now....

I'd check out the customs implications of trying to take an untitled vehicle in/out of the country. I have no idea, but I suspect that could get sticky....

Didn't see it, don't know anything about NASCAR or sprint car racing (nor Tony Stewart).... ...but why was that dumbass running around on the track?? Not saying he "deserved" it, but he sure as hell set himself up for it....

Chuck, I absolutely hear you, and I share your sentiment. But... can you (entirely) blame those captains?? I think the key words in your post were "...that we grow in our junior officer corps"; the problem isn't those captains, it's the environment in which they were brought up.

Not practical--likely not even possible--for many airframes out there.... Solid advice in the rest of the post....

FIFY. You missed the part about her being an ABM.... I keed, I keed.... but, only a little....

https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/ EDIT: Well, I'll be damned--just tried it myself, looks like they've stripped off the certificate numbers. Sorry, this is how I looked up my own number a few years ago.... Suggest you use the "Contact Airmen Branch" option on that page and ask the question....

Found on another forum; made me laugh: https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/major/36912-any-latest-greatest-about-delta-15946.html#post1658486

Your logic may or may not be sound. Speaking in vast generalities (every situation will be unique): If you're not starting work until after 1 Jan, then yes, keeping AD pay through 2014 is good for the bottom line, and getting the lump sum in 2015 with the presumed smaller overall income could be a good tax move. If, however, the choice is "start now or start in Jan at XXX Airlines," then you're giving up 4 - 7 months of seniority--that will likely cost you more dollars in the long run, and will absolutely cost you QoL. The dollars part is fairly straightforward to calculate, albeit with some assumptions required. The QoL, only you can answer. Beyond the QoL on the airline side, what's your QoL now (i.e., why are you getting out)? If you like what you're doing now, great!, but, if you're getting out because you can't stand the AF... why wait? Lastly: as many times as Big Blue has turned things around on this, how much do you trust such a guarantee? How much do you believe that any Stop-Loss (as many have speculated is coming) won't include VSP'ers who haven't actually left yet? Rolling the dice on that one, in my book.... All just IMHO.... EDIT: minor grammar

You probably realize this, but for anyone who hasn't used "tax timing" before: keep in mind in BONE WSO's example, you haven't really *shielded* the income, you've simply taken the deductions in the year where you (presumably) have a higher marginal tax bracket. You'll pay more tax in the next year, since you will no longer have the deductions for anything you "moved" (via early payment) to the current year. You're still better off, *if* your tax bracket is higher this year than next (as it well may be with a large, one-time income source such as VSP--especially if the next year reflects a period of unemployment between AD & civilian job)--but you're not escaping the tax, just timing it for max advantage. (Same can be said for the TSP & 401(k) contributions--that's why they're called "deferred contributions," it's the tax that's deferred until withdrawal.)

Dammit, Danger, for the last time: it was a 4G inverted dive! I got a Polaroid!

That's assuming the "windfall payment" doesn't push you above the AGI at which you can no longer deduct IRA contributions.... Also, you may find your AGI is such that you cannot (directly) make a Roth IRA contribution at all. I'm a big fan of retirement accounts--I always max IRAs, TSP, 401(k), whether or not I can deduct/defer some/all of it. Just be aware that a significantly higher income in a given year may expose you to tax rules you haven't run into before, and your plan may not play out exactly as you intended. Correct. Leave days sold back are paid at your current basic pay (1/30th of base pay per leave day sold) ONLY. 60 days max over your whole career may be sold back. Only you can decide if selling back leave is "worth" it. If you need max dollars in-pocket and don't need the time off: work until your last day leaving 60 days in the bank & sell back 60 days, with the result that you get a full AD paycheck up until your official last day (which is true whether taking terminal or not), AND you get ~2 months basic pay added to your final paycheck. If you need max time off, save up as much leave as you can and take it all in terminal (requires CC approval; terminal leave is NOT guaranteed). Or any combination in-between....

Disagree. ISP (Comcast et al) ≠ Content Provider (Amazon et al). The content providers are most certainly not utilities, and fit the description you give of the data being "delivered to the right person." The ISP is responsible for creating the path to get me that data and the speed of that path--and are quite like a utility. 17D_guy is spot-on: even if not widely regarded as a utility today, that's only a matter of time. I currently do regard my broadband connection as a utility--I wouldn't give up electricity or water in favor of the net, but I'd drop my cable TV before I'd drop broadband.... [EDIT: I managed to cut this paragraph out when first posted] A better comparison may be to cable TV. (CATV is a utility, yes?) The local cable company (which is probably a branch of a huge nationwide company) is the utility, analogous to the ISP (and, in many cases, also serves as the ISP). The various television networks, from ABC/NBC/CBS to local access to Skinemax, are the content providers. And, to continue the analogy, there are fequently pissing matches between a network and a cable company over rates.... I suppose every area is different, but every place I've ever lived this is false. Your electricity and water are probably ("definitely," in my personal experience) charged on a tiered basis. The first XX kilowatts cost however many cents each, then you pay a premium for the next YY kilowatts, then the top rate for anything above that (three tiers seems to be typical). Same scenario for water. Not to say I don't like the idea of your heater-in-the-freezer experiment...!!

Will require pics of ATM & picnic table to know if this was justifiable....

VA ≠ DoD AFPC ≠ MAJCOM; moreover, it's the Air Force Personnel Center ETA: I see FBomb beat me to it, but his point is spot-on: get your details correct if you expect any level of attention to your Congressional correspondence.

So, legalizing a problematic issue will solve the underlying problem? Maybe you're on to something--we should legalize murder!! OK, obvious sarcasm to make the point: the question is whether a sovereign nation has the right to restrict immigration to those would-be immigrants who would add value to their society. (Most here are arguing yes, they do--and, indeed, have the responsibility to do so.) Here's a hint: virtually every human society since the dawn of time has done so. Are you seriosly suggesting that you've got it figured out, if only we'd all make the change? The idea of "just legalize it" has to be taken in context. OK, so, my flippant example of murder above is an obvious non-starter. How about drug legalization as a parallel? Regardless of which side of that debate you're on, it's a debate that generally revolves around consequences and which is the "better" solution (fighting "war on drugs" vs. legal access). Turn that onto your "open immigration" policy--are you seriously suggesting that there will be no negative consequences (a la others' suggestions that we'd have to turn into a third-world country before immigrants from there would "self deport")?? Your rose-colored glasses never fail to amaze....

What a conundrum!! On the one hand, any sentence that reads "AFPC is smarter than __________ " is bound to be false; on the other hand, any organization is bound to be smarter than we give AFPC credit for.... I had easier questions on my college finals...!!

You can do as many trips as you like for your PPM. Weight is the only thing you get reimbursed for in the PPM--your mileage & per diem (MALT) are part of your PCS reimbursement, not the PPM. Be sure to get weight tickets for each trip (a single "empty" ticket will suffice for multiple trips, assuming the same vehicle is used). Your extra expenses re making multiple trips effectively become a tax deduction by reducing taxable amount of your PPM payment.

Do you have some kind of ad-blocker running? I've seen various sites on various browsers behave the way you describe when the ad(s) can't phone home with your IP--the page appears normal (all the stuff you actually want to see is in place), but the browser sees something still trying to load....

Boy, M2, betcha wish you had a nickel for everytime you've had that revelation....

Gus... what the fuck is "GooneyGooGoo"?!? As for Aunt Bunny: "She can't climb the stairs, but she'd climb the fuck out o' a tree!!"

You realize how many 12X stereotypes you just validated here, yes...?