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Very well thought out on all these points. As many have stated, it is a huge investment, and post-MBA salary is not guaranteed. That being said, MBA gives me the chance to get into consulting or i-banking. I am a former consultant at a mid-tier firm, but would not be able to get into a top 5 consul...

As you well know, both consulting and I-Banking have strict up or out policies and most transition out after a few years. So, in your best case scenario where would you want to go post-consulting or I-Banking. Can you get there from where you are now without an MBA or with a low-cost/part-time MBA?

It depends on how well you and your parents can live together. Like roommates in college who should discuss living arrangements and sign contracts, you and your parents should talk about how to live together more like "roommates". Who is going to do what chores? Who is going to pay for wh...

Like others have said, high season is only getting closer so you need to pull the trigger soon.

Try pricing out flights into another city and connecting to Vienna either by a low cost carrier or by rail.

I think you're focused too much on low-interest debt repayment to the detriment of your retirement savings. This would be my order of operations. 1. Pay down 6.5% student loans IMMMEDIATELY if the money is in savings. You're paying over $250/month to interest and any principal payment will put a sig...

I use firstname.lastname@gmail.com. The major downside is that you get lots of email for those who share your first name and last name. I think spammers oftentimes use common firstname.lastname combos. So, there's that too. Otherwise, no problems. If your firstname lastname is still available, then ...

It depends on how well you and your parents can live together. Like roommates in college who should discuss living arrangements and sign contracts, you and your parents should talk about how to live together more like "roommates". Who is going to do what chores? Who is going to pay for wh...

Federal student loans for professional school don't need to be repaid until you graduate but start accruing interest from day 1. The interest rate is 6.8% on the first $20.5k per year (Stafford) and 7.75% on any additional loans (Grad Plus). In addition, there is a 4% origination fee added to each l...

What about Washington state. No income tax, does it rank as favorable? It's on our list of possible someday-retirement places--but because we like Washington, not because it has no income tax, although that's a "background" consideration. It does have a high sales tax, and among the natio...

Agree with the above post. I'm in my early 30s, cyclist, runner, and by all accounts very healthy. But was diagnosed with a relatively serious condition while in grad school a few years ago. I was a student so I had no income to insure but now I'm essentially uninsuranble for the one condition for w...

I have some fond memories of traveling in Venezuela a few years ago. This was in the pre-data plan era, but it was my impression that there is a lot of competition in the Venezuelan cell phone market. Plus, the pay-as-you-go options kept the prices down. But those scratch off cell phone minute cards...

BU: $14k tuition +$14k housing = ~$30k/year x 4 = $120,000 UMass Boston is a commuter school so he may as well live at home. Total cost: $0 Are these the only 2 options? BU is a okay school but is expensive and UMass Boston is toward the bottom of the barrel in the UMass system. He probably couldn't...

Like Livesoft said, the problem with these Income Based Repayment programs is that by committing to not paying off your loans you are essentially betting against your salary increasing over time. And it's a bad bet since your salary should increase with inflation alone. I ran some numbers to see whe...

Performance Bike or Nashbar tend to have decent choices and some good deals. But Amazon is not a bad choice either.

Are you doing a proper comparison? Is the same or similar condo that costs $250K to buy rent at $2K/month? Rental yield = 9.6%. I would be surprised if this is true. Absolutely. According to realtor.com, there are some great condos in Lincoln Park, a very desirable part of Chicago selling for aroun...

I agree to leave your 401k alone if you have access to a 0% loan from family. EXCEPT, that I would use your 2L year to roll over your 401k to a Roth IRA since your income will likely be at an all-time low that year. Good Luck. Should I leave it in my employer's 401k until then? Or do I roll-over to...

I agree to leave your 401k alone if you have access to a 0% loan from family. EXCEPT, that I would use your 2L year to roll over your 401k to a Roth IRA since your income will likely be at an all-time low that year. Good Luck.

How long until the rechargeable batteries stop holding their charge? Is this issue a dealbreaker that some Amazon reviewers make it out to be?

Thanks all so much for the (completely uniform!) advice! It's definitely a kick in the ass, and I've begun rearranging my automatic transfers to accomplish this faster. Agree. By the way, I'm a retired partner from a large firm. While your current income is really good, the fact is that you probabl...

Yes, once the interest capitalizes, interest is charged on the interest as well as the principal balance. If I could go back and change my own student loan situation, I would have paid off that accrued interest before repayment began for this very reason. This applies for both unsubsidized and subs...

I agree with the above posters. Your expenses are low, so use your time living with your parents to get rid of at least the higher-interest rate debt. 1. You could earn more investing your money elsewhere, but it is also nice to be debt-free. You have some time to decide while you pay off your high-...

In MA, driving school doesn't remove speeding tickets from your record. He would have had to appeal the ticket in court a year ago. Insurance rates are set by the state and your insurance rates go up by a percentage based on each moving infraction. Your rates will stay elevated for 5 years after the...

Wouldn't good disability coverage + life insurance be the better choice in both of these situations?

I don't think you have shared enough information with us. Before investing, your daughter should have a secure emergency fund. If that is covered then what type of investment vehicles does she have access to? Does she have a company 401k? Does she contribute to a Roth IRA already? The type of portfo...

The only thing better than BPA in your food is warm BPA in your food. YUM. Always heat food in glass in the microwave or stainless steel on the stovetop.

In your case, you're asking someone to listen to a voicemail, write down a new number and then return the call to that new number. The Magicjack number is already in their caller id, so they return the call to that number. It isn't too surprising, really. It is more surprising to me that you're shoc...

Sounds like you'll be fine, particularly because you already have an EF. Consider putting the extra $400/month into a Roth IRA.

Can you refinance the car? Penfed and Navy Federal, among others, have low interest rate car refis. I would try to go this route and hit the 5.5% student loan first.

My bigger beef is that Snickers bars used to taste good. Now they taste like wax and not chocolate. Maybe I'm just getting old and they're exactly the same, but I doubt it. They have reformulated the Snickers bar many times over the years to contain less chocolate and more lower-cost ingredients li...

My bigger beef is that Snickers bars used to taste good. Now they taste like wax and not chocolate. Maybe I'm just getting old and they're exactly the same, but I doubt it.

I would think that the diamond from your engagement ring would have some sort of sentimental value to the wife. If I were you, I would put the diamond into a pendant necklace and call it a day. Surprise her with it for a special occasion.

I live in Bellingham (about 80 miles north of Seattle). Worst month to visit of course, but the San Juan Islands are beautiful (there are over 100 islands in Puget Sound Bay). You can take a ferry from Anacortes. Also the drive up Mt Baker is incredible right here in Bellingham. In Seattle downtown...

I was in Seattle over the holidays and was able to run outside most days, except on Christmas due to an inch or two of snow. It was about 40-50 degrees during the day and a bit of drizzly rain with some sun breaks most days. The weather in the San Juans and Vancouver would be similar. My advice for ...

The millenials (ie baby boomer echo generation) are a large generation, nearly as large as the baby boomer generation itself. So, not only have there been more college-age students the past 10 years but a higher proportion of them are also attending college. Unfortunately for the universities, the n...

The only one i would pay off for sure is the car loan at 4.5% The car loan at 1.9% i would hold onto forever. The others are kind of a tossup. As Brian once said (not in this thread), debt is a tool, not a cancer. Many posters on this forum seem to think of it as a four-lettered word. If you can ha...

You have enough income to do both, without too much trouble. Perhaps, you might want to take a look at your spending to see where your income is going. I would say that your are under-saving for your income level. I would tackle your finances/investments in the following order: 1. 6-month emergency ...

One of the deal sites mentioned that some folks were receiving free efiles in the HR Block CDs that arrive in the mail. It seemed skewed towards people who had used HR Block in the past and had switched to a competitor in the last couple of years. So, check your junk mail.

A "raise"? What's that? :| Keeping your job is the new raise... :/ My check did get smaller (2%?-due to SS % reverting to 2010 levels?) and I increased my 401k contribution from 12.5% to 15.5% total. On the right track now. I hate it when people relay this myth. Keep working hard and you'...

~30 I raced road bikes and was a decent amateur. But a rare health condition that affects my breathing popped up. I won what I call the autoimmune lottery, but the jackpot isn't one that you want. Anyway, it took a year to diagnose (PCPs are bad at identifying rare conditions) and a year to get back...

The Penfed 1.99% HEL would be an inexpensive way to refinance a portion of the home loan. I believe the only cost is the appraisal. That said, employment might be an issue for approval since Penfed has fairly conservative lending standards. I would either refinance most of the loan or pay it all off.

So you think you have to transfer from A->B->C and there is no option for A->C? I think you should should avoid any potential problems and find an A->C option. I have a hard time believing that you have 2 bank accounts that don't have at least one of the following options 1. wire transfer 2. ACH dep...

Congratulations!

Next step is increase income, keep expenses low, and work toward maxing out your 401k and/or Roth IRA. But, being debt free is a great accomplishment at your age. Good job.

Good advice Robin. I do plan to involve her in the decision- I plan to show her this website and thread as well. I would say she's cautious with money, but not really good at personal finance yet ( though learning more each year). I agree with Robin. Very good advice. Going forward, you should avoi...

I just Googled it. Campy seems to be an authority on the subject so I was just asking him if my first Google hit -- or my reading of it -- was wrong. This was my first Google hit: http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized What was yours? Okay, the first site I looked at was this:...

Here is what I would do: 1. 8K for emergency fund 2. Pay off high interest unsubsidized and subsidized student loans Student loans: $13,000 - Unsubsidized at 7.8% <----Pay Off $22,000 - Unsubsidized at 6.8% <----Pay Off $14,000 - Subsidized at 6.8% <----Pay Off $12k or save $12k in EF for the purpos...

I agree that stretching it out would be the best policy but the program does not allow that since it is an accelerated Masters. Anyways for those interested I was able to get a 5.75% rate through Wells Fargo, variable. Once I graduate the rate drops .25% and if I setup automatic payments another .2...

Wow! Amazing stuff, thanks. Holding my breath to see how much they charge to ship across USA. No idea. But, they come from Denmark to NYC for $1,000, including the unit so you never know. If you had one more inch, you could get a generic up/down fridge. http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/FG...

A design blog I frequent, aimed at apt dwellers has a post about skinny fridges. They mention the Liebherr brand and ConServ (now called Summit) as the less expensive alternative. Both fit the dimensions you're interested in. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/refrigerator-re-6057 http://www.apartmentt...

I own 50 individual stocks. I am making my own mutual fund. I also own many other funds (bond, stocks, REIT). I am well diversified. :moneybag :moneybag :moneybag :moneybag :moneybag You own 50 individual stocks and are asking if you should buy a specific stock next month :?: I don't understand, ho...