The backdoor Roth IRA

If one's income exceeds the limits for contributing to a Roth IRA, there's still a backdoor approach for making a contribution.  The method, outlined in this article by Fidelity, shows that one can contribute to a non-deductible IRA (which has no income limit), and immediately convert that to a Roth IRA (which also does not have any income limits).

That catch here is that one must not have any other IRA -- Traditional or Rollover.  Otherwise, that will complicate tax matters since the tax liability is calculated as a percentage of all funds that are eligible for rollover.  If one has a Rollover IRA, usually from rolling over funds from 401(k) plans at previous employers, then to get the most benefit out of this, one would have to roll over the funds from the Rollover IRA into the current employer's 401(k) plan.  Most 401(k) plans allow that.  The down side to such a roll over is that, unlike an IRA at a traditional brokerage which typically has nearly limitless investment options, one would be restricted to the investment choices offered by the current 401(k) plan.

Useful reading

• Backdoor Roth IRA @ Bogleheads

Disclaimer: I am neither an investment advisor nor a tax preparer.  If you think this applies to you, please do your own homework to decide whether it works for your situation.  Otherwise, it can land you in a tax mess.  At the very least, it is a bit more paperwork since it requires filing IRS form 8606 which will show the contribution to the non-deductible IRA, the conversion to the Roth, and report that there are no other IRA funds.  Here is an article warning about some of gotchas to watch out for.

Update 3/21/2016

I recently came across an article which throws another wrench in the works--the Step Transaction Doctrine.  Read the article for details.  This article is the subject of a heated discussion over at Bogleheads.

Going green, living healthy -- Household cleaners and personal care

This is part of a series of posts on Going green, living healthy. The first post is here. I'm not an expert on this subject, so if you find errors please let me know. I have tried to provide pointers to my sources where possible.

I first stumbled in the area of non-conventional personal care items when I became aware that most traditional soaps contain animal byproducts such as animal fat.  Since then I have switched a lot of household cleaners and personal care items to brands that seem to care about the environment and what goes into the product.  Some of the considerations are:

• Getting away from harsh chemicals;
• No animal byproducts in the ingredients;
• Environmental responsibility.

The problem with harsh chemicals is that while it may be OK to have a little exposure to them, if everything around us contains these kinds of chemicals, eventually the body will break down and develop sensitivities to them, usually creating hard-to--diagnose conditions.  At least that's my belief.  I have no way to verify it.  The skin is the largest organ in the body and anything we apply to the skin is quickly absorbed by it.  Likewise, exposure to volatile chemical compounds found in cleaners will quickly find their way into our lungs.

Household cleaners

Using regular cleaners would cause my eyes to get red and itchy by the time I was done cleaning.  That's what made me look for something different. I tried Ecover and Seventh Generation.  Both work pretty well, but I like Seventh Generation better.

There are people that make their own household cleaners, but it doesn't seem worth the time and effort for me since I don't use very much of them.

Laundry supplies

I switched from using conventional laundry supplies because I became aware of their use of animal byproducts and I was concerned that a chronic rash I had developed was due to exposure to synthetic chemicals.  I was very surprised to find out that conventional dryer sheets contained animal tallow.

Finding a good detergent was a challenge.  Over the years, I have tried several brands including Ecover, ECOs, Planet, and Seventh Generation.  I finally gave in to the fact that none of these "green" cleaners was going to be able to match the performance of conventional cleaners -- the clothes just don't seem as bright and with a couple of these brands, the clothes sometimes felt like they came out dirtier than when they went in.  I eventually settled on using Seventh Generation Free & Clear as my regular detergent which seems to work reasonably well and also has good ratings with Consumer Reports magazine.

Update 12/30/2018: I have since switched to using Sonett.  I find that it works much better than Seventh Generation.

Dryer sheets was another challenge.  When I first started looking for alternatives, I tried Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Dryer Sheets, but I found the scent in those too overpowering.  I then tried moist dryer sheets from Method which were OK for a while, but I didn't care for the moistness.  Eventually, Seventh Generation introduced dryer sheets and I find that these work pretty well.

Update 2/8/2017: I have since started using a Miele condensation dryer which actually prohibits the use of dryer sheets!

Personal care

Just as with other cleaners, I made changes to my personal care items - bath soap, shampoo, shaving soap, etc.  Here, one of things I look for is absence of parabens from the list of ingredients.  Most mainstream brands seem to contain them, but many are slowly excluding them from new formulas.  However, regardless of whether I've used a brand before, I always check the ingredients when I buy it.  Companies are constantly changing their formulations whether to cut costs or "improve" their product and I have had more than one occasion where I noticed a change in the ingredients.  A notable one was the Art of Shaving, which got acquired by Procter & Gamble and subsequently changed the formulation of their shaving cream to include parabens.  The other thing that I generally prefer to see is products that have a short list of ingredients that I can understand.

Also, even though the all of the ingredients used may be natural and organic, it doesn't say anything about the freshness.  Use of rancid oils in personal care items (or products themselves going rancid) is likely to cause irritation when used.  So even with natural products that meet a certification, e.g. that from EWG, one still has to be careful about freshness of the ingredients and the freshness of the finished product.  Such products may also be sensitive to how they stored and transported with respect to light and temperature.  In general, I think it's best to stick with well-known brands even for natural products because they are likely to have decent quality control and would have solved some of these issues.

Garbage bags

I tried using Seventh Generation's garbage bags because they claim to be more environmentally friendly since they use recycled plastic.  However, on many occasions I noticed punctures in the bag when pulling it out of the trash container for disposal.  I contacted Seventh Generation about this and they said their bags are thinner and not as strong because of the use of recycled plastic.  As a result, I ended up switching to conventional bags.

Labels cannot always be trusted

This is where things get really tricky.  A number of products that claim, for example, to be organic are not. Because this is a niche market that is not well-regulated, there are manufacturers that sometimes claim their products to be organic when they may not be.

Update 10/01/2012

I recently received an email from Seventh Generation about a discussion titled The Importance of Removing Toxins from Our Lives with Deepak Chopra.

New car smell

On a similar lines to an earlier post in which I discussed "new home smell", new cars tend to go through off-gassing as well because of the materials used in their construction. The July/August 2012 issue of VIA magazine from AAA discusses this topic in an article titled What is "new car smell"?

We all know it when we smell it, but what exactly is it? Turns out it’s a chemical cocktail produced by new materials—such as vinyl, adhesives, sealers, and paints—that give off fumes for six months to a year.

A recent study by scientists at Japan’s Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health identified 275 chemicals in car interiors. While some, such as benzene, are known carcinogens, the levels of these compounds found in car interiors have not been conclusively linked to serious illnesses.

All the same, to minimize any potential ill effects, experts recommend ventilating a new car by opening doors and windows five minutes before entering, and keeping the car out of the sun, since heat intensifies that new car smell.

Even among car manufacturers, awareness of this aspect is growing and they are gradually moving towards more environmentally friendly materials that are also recyclable.

Going green, living healthy -- Home construction and furnishings

This is part of a series of posts on Going green, living healthy. The first post is here. I'm not an expert on this subject, so if you find errors please let me know. I have tried to provide pointers to my sources where possible.

My first awareness of "green" home construction was around 2006-2007 when I looked at new homes by The Good Project in West Sacramento by a company called LJ Urban, which is now no longer in business.  This is what they listed as some of their green features:

• Concrete floor with fly ash;
• Recycled content insulation;
• Night Breeze fresh-air intake AC;
• Reclaimed walnut and cedar wood;
• Efficient tankless water heater;
• White reflective cool roof;
• Solar panels on roof;
• Passive solar window shades;
• PaperStone countertops;
• Energy efficient appliances;
• NatureMill food composter;
• Low VOC paints and materials;
• FLOR carpet tiles with recycled content;
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures; and
• Dual flush toilets.

Even though the homes were not in a location that was of interest to me, I went there for a tour. Instead of the usual sales office, they had informal dinners that people could sign up for to get a tour of the homes. I'm glad I did because it completely altered the way I look home construction and home furnishings. In the model home, they had boards explaining the different features. I'll try and summarize some of the things that I learned from that visit.

What makes a green home different from a regular home? Here's a partial list:

• Use of sustainable building materials: Usually using reclaimed wood from buildings that were torn-down, or using wood from renewable forests.
• Environmental conservation at the time of building: For example, preserving trees on the land where the home is built.
• Use of sustainable furnishings: Keeps environmental impact in mind during production (e.g. fewer toxic bi-products), non-toxic finishes such as water-based finishes (as opposed to petroleum-based).
• Water conservation: Typically low-flow plumbing fixtures.
• Energy conservation: Typically includes insulation, lighting fixtures, etc. (I'm not big on the use of CFLs because of their light quality and the fact that they contain toxic materials and require care during disposal.)

"New home" smell

The first thing that struck me as a entered the home was that there was no "new home" smell. Turns out that new home smell is actually an off-gassing of a bunch of chemicals from the new furnishings (cabinets, carpets, paint, etc.), most of which are known to be toxic, but the levels of which are considered "safe".

Here's what Build it Green says about this on Page 10 in their Green Building Guidelines:

On average, Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, yet the air in new homes can be ten times more polluted than outdoor air, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Children are particularly vulnerable when it comes to air pollution. A report in the New England journal of Medicine states that 40% of children will develop respiratory disease, in part due to the chemicals in their homes.

A common source of indoor air pollution is the offgassing of chemicals found in many building materials. Kitchen cabinets, countertops, shelving and furniture may be made from particleboard or medium density fiberboard. Some of these pressed-wood products are made with adhesives that release urea formaldehyde—a known carcinogen—into the home for years after installation. Also, many paints, floor finishes, adhesives and sealants emit unhealthy volatile organic compounds (VOCs). That “new house smell” is a telltale sign that there are harmful chemicals in the indoor environment.

The homes at The Good Project were different. They used formaldehyde-free cabinets, a different type of sectional carpet that allowed replacement and recycling of small sections (FLOR), and had zero-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint. Even the kitchen counter-tops were made of a different material, but I can't remember what it was. It turns out that most most of these are easier on the environment during production (because there are less chemicals involved and as a result less toxic waste as bi-products), so what's good for the environment is also good for us. The only catch is that perhaps these cost more to produce and may not be as durable. (I'm speculating here and don't know this for a fact.)

Conventional home builders

During the post-housing bubble years, I found that a lot of companies switched to using low-VOC paint and water-conserving plumbing. They introduced solar panels on the roofs (something I don't particularly care about), but they continued to use regular furnishings such as cabinets, carpets, and paint. As awareness increases, it looks like many of them are trying to move in the direction of using sustainable and more safe materials, albeit very slowly.

Furniture

When shopping for furniture, I always ask about whether the furniture is formaldehyde free. I am yet to find a mainstream retailer whose entre line of furniture is eco-friendly. Over the years, I've found some of the mainstream furniture retailers, such as Crate & Barrel, now carry a few pieces that are eco-friendly and are certified as low-VOC, but you have to look really hard for them. They may be made from reclaimed wood or FSC-certified wood, which typically comes from renewable forests.

With respect to office and home-office furniture, one of the companies that seems to be very environmentally conscious is Steelcase. Many of their products have LEED certification and there's a focus on recyclability.

While I'm not certain, similar principles would probably apply to things like curtains and other home furnishings.

Improving indoor air quality

If we have to live with conventionally built home, it might be worth investing in an air purifier. IQAir, for example, claims that their GC MultiGas air purifier will "strip VOCs from the air." Of course, leaving the windows open a lot would also be helpful, but may not be an option in extreme weather.

Organizations certifying buildings and furniture

• US Green Building Council (USGBC) - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) - Wood from sustainable sources.
• GREENGUARD - Indoor air quality certification.
• Sustainable Furnishings Council - Find member furniture stores.

Related news and articles

• Jetson Green - A blog about projects on sustainable living
• Brad Pitt's Make it Right foundation completes it's first Frank Gehry-designed home in New Orleans
• What's in furniture? It's enough to make you sick.
• http://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/

Going green, living healthy

Disclaimer:  I'm no expert on this subject, and for all you know, I may have it all wrong.  Nevertheless, I will write about what I have learned over the years.  If you come across this post and find that I'm totally off, I'd appreciate any insights you may have.

"Going green", eco-conscious living, sustainable living, etc. are terms that are used somewhat interchangeably to express living in harmony with nature.  To some it means the 3 R's (reduce, reuse, recycle), to others it may mean using products made of sustainable materials (for example, things that don't require destruction of ancient forests), some may think of this in terms of "fair trade" and the ethics of the organizations that create the product, and there are some who think of this in terms of being "all natural" and chemical-free living perhaps for health reasons.  Most of the time, living in a way that is kind to nature is also beneficial to ourselves. 

My personal view is that it encompasses all of the above.  We should try and get educated about where everything that we consume comes from and where it ends up after we are done with it (cradle-to-the-grave).   For example, when thinking about this in the context of food I often wonder how many hands a grain of rice has passed through before it ends up in my mouth.  And I have my own set of loose "rules" for all other products.  Sometimes it gets frustrating trying to follow these rules, and sometimes I just have to compromise and get on with life.  But at least I feel that I'm making baby steps in the right direction.  And I try to reason with myself that as I make changes at the micro level, things at the macro level will take care of themselves.

No Impact Man

As I thought about writing this post, a movie that I saw a long time ago -- No Impact Man -- came to mind.  The movie is a documentary about about a man (along with his family) who decides to take sustainable living to the extreme while living in New York City.  While I can't say that I endorse everything they did (many of the things they did would be too difficult for me, or almost anyone living a "regular" life), I did find it very educational and it's definitely worth watching.

Future posts

I'll cover what I've learned over the years in multiple posts.

• Home construction and furnishings
• Household cleaners and personal care
• Clothing
• Food

Dance Performance at the Yoga Farm: Anuradha Prabhashankar

This past Saturday at the Yoga Farm, following the evening meditation and daily chants, there was a Bharatnatyam dance performance by Anuradha Prabhashankar.  I've seen her performances many times since she performs at the Yoga Farm several times a year.

A Bharatnatyam dance typically tells a story of devotion to God, often a conversation or a complaint, and is considered a form of Bhakti Yoga.  I find her performances very educational because, before each dance, she explains the story that will be told by that dance along with an explanation of each of the gestures (of arms, hands, face, etc.) that will be used during the dance.

Because one of the dances was about a story that involved the mention of child marriage, she shared an interesting bit of trivia about the origins of child marriage in India -- During medieval times, Hindu families started marrying their daughters off as soon as possible after birth to protect them from abuse by foreign invaders.

Adjusting the mirrors in your car for optimum visibility

Many years ago, I came across a posting in one of the automobile newsgroups that I found very useful.  I have since always used this to adjust the mirrors in a car when I first get into it.  It's somewhat counter to what one would be inclined to do, since it requires adjusting the side view mirrors to see just beyond the sides of the vehicle.  I don't recall the original source or I would have credited it.  Here's the piece.

It's all done with mirrors. An important part of safe driving is knowing what is around you at all times. However, if your side-view mirrors are not set correctly, you might experience blind spots. Here are three suggestions for a clear view: 

Step 1: Adjust your inside rear-view mirror to reflect the entire rear window. At night, if you don't have an auto-dimming mirror, use the mirror angle switch to eliminate headlight glare. 

Step 2: While resting your head on the left window, adjust the left side-view mirror so you can see just beyond the car's left side. 

Step 3: Align your head under the rear-view mirror, then adjust the right side-view mirror so you can see just beyond your car's right side. 

Follow these simple instructions to see your way clear in all types of traffic, night and day!

Once the mirrors have been set in this way, a car approaching from behind will first appear in the rear-view mirror, and before it disappears from the rear-view mirror it will appear in the side-view mirror, and before it disappears from the side-view mirror it will be in the driver's peripheral vision.

Here is a video explaining this procedure and demonstrating how it works.  And here is a picture from Car and Driver showing how it works.

Aspherical mirrors

I have tried adjusting the driver's side mirror in several Mercedes Benz cars and have found that it is impossible to adjust the driver's side mirror according to these instructions.  One possible solution to that would be buy and install aspherical mirrors.  As of this writing, aspherical mirrors are not available in the US, but they can be purchased from European dealers.