Search found 23 matches

by sgtpeppr56
Wed Nov 15, 2017 8:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Did you tell anyone you paid off your mortgage?
Replies: 338
Views: 62051

Re: Did you tell anyone you paid off your mortgage?

This is an interesting thread. Went through the same thing a little bit ago. Pay off the mortgage a month ago and I'm only 38. Wanted to tell people because it feels so good but decided like a lot of people who only share with close family and when people ask.
by sgtpeppr56
Wed Jan 18, 2017 9:32 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: gen X / millennial kickoff mtg for minnesota BHs
Replies: 3
Views: 1306

Re: gen X / millennial kickoff mtg for minnesota BHs

Not sure if I am on the email list. But I am planning on attending this meeting tomorrow night. Can't wait!
by sgtpeppr56
Wed Jul 13, 2016 7:00 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: One day in Seattle. Where to stay?
Replies: 19
Views: 2704

Re: One day in Seattle. Where to stay?

Thanks for all the replies. I will be booking an airbnb later this week.

This community rocks!
by sgtpeppr56
Wed Jul 06, 2016 6:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: One day in Seattle. Where to stay?
Replies: 19
Views: 2704

One day in Seattle. Where to stay?

Long story short, I have a day in Seattle alone before the rest of the family shows up the next day. We are doing a house on Airbnb when they arrive. We will do most of the sight seeing stuff when they arrive, so I have a day to relax.

I have from 10 am Monday to noon on Tuesday.

I was just going to find a cheap hotel or airbnb where I could just walk - hit up a few breweries, walk around a cool old neighborhood, a park, and maybe read a bit.

What are some cool areas of the city that I could spend a day?

I do not know much about Seattle. A guy we golfed with last week talked about the Queen Anne and Fremont neighborhoods.

Thanks for you help! Take care
by sgtpeppr56
Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:44 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Whole House Fan; Brand? Considerations?
Replies: 53
Views: 11737

Re: Whole House Fan; Brand? Considerations?

Great topic!

We are doing a house addition this year and I have been thinking about a whole house fan among other things

- 2 story, built in 1922 about 1700 after addition.
- house has radiator heat, so no AC. A few window units, but we don't use them too often

We live in Minnesota. Has anyone had experiences with a whole house fan in the upper Midwest?

Thanks.
by sgtpeppr56
Tue Mar 29, 2016 10:27 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16
Replies: 17
Views: 2730

Re: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16

Thanks krow36!

I looked it up and its a great deal (low fees and good choices) ! I signed up and am telling my fellow teachers about it!

One step closer!
by sgtpeppr56
Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:35 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16
Replies: 17
Views: 2730

Re: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16

No , I wasn't aware I had that option. I can look into it.

Have you had experience with that 457b plan?

I am gussing I would have to keep my current 403b to get the district match (which is only up to $1750 a year) then do every thing else I could do there. The fees seem to be 0.8-1% lower for better funds then my current option. Nice!

Thanks for your time and have a great weekend!
by sgtpeppr56
Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:09 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16
Replies: 17
Views: 2730

Re: Portfolio Summary and Questions....(3/1/16 updated)

Thanks for all of you help a few months ago. 2 months later and I am still trying to get all the rollovers and exchanges done. What a process! My wife old 401k has been rolled over to her Vanguard account finally. It came over in half Roth/half IRA and is in the settlement account waiting for us to pick a fund. I was going to do a Life Strategy or TRF to meet our targeted AA (80/20) while I was waiting for my rollovers to get done. Both of her Roth and IRA rollovers are over 10k, which prompted a random idea. Would Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX) be something i should consider? I don't think that we will have that kind of money in the next 5-10 years to invest in a fund like this and it seems like its talk about often in the ...
by sgtpeppr56
Fri Jan 08, 2016 12:41 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16
Replies: 17
Views: 2730

Re: Portfolio Summary and Questions....

Thanks Krow for the reply. I checked on that. Only 4 companies that I can use for my 403b are listed below. So no go for me on the NEA plan...jealous!

- Amerprise Financial
- Educators Financial Services, Inc
- VOYA/Capital Street Financial
- P & A Financial Strategies, Inc

After a lot of phone calls, its turns out that even though the district cut out AXA and Waddell & Reed as companies I can use, I am not able to roll them over to my ROTH. It has to stay within the district offerings. So I guess I will just roll then over to my 403b and be done with it. I will look at the 3 other 403b providers at a later date and see if they are better options.

Thanks for all of your help everyone!
by sgtpeppr56
Tue Dec 22, 2015 8:42 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16
Replies: 17
Views: 2730

Re: Portfolio Summary and Questions....

Thanks for all the insight everyone. Looks like I have some work to do...I thought typing up that portfolio was hard! ha 1. The matches work like this... His - they match up to $1700 dollars if I put 1700 in. No matter how much I put in up to $18k, all they add is $1700. Hers - yes, 15% of the total we add. So if we do $10k a year its $1500, if we add 18k it would be $2700. 2. Yes, a Roth while we are in the 28% tax rate seems a little off now. We started them because we felt like it an an easy step that a lot of people recommended. 3. I need to call the 3 old plans and see if I can roll them over. That is a good starting point. - Deductible - What do you mean if I put them in a TIRA, they are not deductible? Do we make too much to give to ...
by sgtpeppr56
Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16
Replies: 17
Views: 2730

Re: Portfolio Summary and Questions....

Thanks Duckie for the reply. There was a lot of great things there! 1. The best buy stock will be gone, it was from 2002 when we had a employee stock option plan. 2. We are planning more in our personal accounts asap. Starting her and him ROTH's and 2 kids 529's were all done in the past 2 months. Just easy things to get rolling. We are now going to put all efforts towards the 401k/403b. 3. I will call my old 403b's and see what the rollover procedure looks like first. So you feel rolling then over to my Roth would be a wise move? It would be paying taxes on the 12k (whats in my 2 old 403bs) and thats about it? What would rolling them over into a IRA at Vanguard do to hurt me? 4. Since her old 401k is an ROTH ira, it can be rolled into her ...
by sgtpeppr56
Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16
Replies: 17
Views: 2730

Portfolio Summary and Questions....Updated 3/3/16

Background : March 2014 my wife and I had an financial awaking, sick and tired of being 90k in debt. I am a teacher and she is a physician assistant - we didn't understand why we were struggling with money. We did some reading, budgeting and were able to pay the 90k off April 2015. We took the last few months to collect the information from our various retirement accounts during which time, I have been a reader and have been soaking it all in. This process of doing this portfolio has been quite a learning experience. I have a lot of learning to do; thanks for your patience as I ask some basic questions. Emergency funds: 5 Months Debt: Mortgage of 268k at 3.80%. 30 years starting 2012 Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly Tax Rate: 28% ...
by sgtpeppr56
Mon Dec 14, 2015 8:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Working on my "Portfolio Information" for future post. I have a few questions
Replies: 4
Views: 806

Working on my "Portfolio Information" for future post. I have a few questions

I am collecting all the info from various paperwork for my portfolio that I want to post in a few days. Its a learning experience, but a ton of work! Its been fun. My question is about the amount of info needed for old 401k's/401b's? I am assuming the best move would be to roll them over, but I am not sure how much info is needed for the portfolio layout. I will post fee's for the accounts we are currently adding too. I have two 403b's that I no longer contribute to (school district cut down the list of companies we can use). I have the fund names and how much are in each, but I am unable to locate the fees on the statement. Is that ok? One is 1.5k and the other is 7k. My wife also has a 401k from a past job, with all fee's above .78% Thank...
by sgtpeppr56
Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Thoughts on Next Steps of Investing
Replies: 7
Views: 996

Re: Thoughts on Next Steps of Investing...

First, thanks for the replies. I appreciate it. It really helps me think and learn about our situation. Like I was saying, 18 months ago I was clueless..small steps, this has been a very exciting and overwhelming task. 1. Retirement Savings - I will work on getting more info about 401k and 403b accounts. I have the quarterly statements with fund names, but not all have the fee/expense ratios listed. That will take me some time. The beginning of school is a crazy time and I will have to make some phone calls/emails. For now we will just keep saving up, not going to hit the yearly limit for contributions this year anyways. 2. College savings - I guess I never heard of using other accounts to fund college. Have their been some good threads on ...
by sgtpeppr56
Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Thoughts on Next Steps of Investing
Replies: 7
Views: 996

Thoughts on Next Steps of Investing

Hi everyone, I have been reading for about a year and made a few posts. Thanks for all the great posts I have learned at a lot. I'm a teacher and was meaning to post this all summer...and today is the last day. We are going to start focusing on investing here in a few months and I had a few questions. Background: March 2014 my wife and I had an financial awaking, sick and tired of paying students loans and have money struggles. I am a teacher and she is a physician's assistant and didn't understand why we were struggling with money. We read the Total Money Makeover, The Millionaire Next Door and Your Life or Your Money. At that point, we started a budget we sat down with weekly and paid of 90k of debt (student loans, car loans, home improve...
by sgtpeppr56
Mon Apr 20, 2015 2:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cast Iron Skillet Cooking
Replies: 127
Views: 36396

Re: Cast Iron Skillet Cooking

Thanks for the link, a ton of good info there.

Even though I bought it as a "seasoned griddle"...would you suggest seasoning it myself? Are the factory seasoned pans as good as doing it yourself?
by sgtpeppr56
Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cast Iron Skillet Cooking
Replies: 127
Views: 36396

Re: Cast Iron Skillet Cooking

I got my first cast iron griddle this weekend. Been wanting to get one forever

http://amzn.com/B009PPFG1E

So I am a cast iron Newbie. We have an electric coil stove. I know its a learning curve. We did pancakes this weekend and had a rough first attempt. Burners on medium: sticking, burning...quite a mess.

What tips to people have when starting out with cast iron? temps, types of spatulas?

Thanks, Scott
by sgtpeppr56
Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:03 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Debt Free...Now What?
Replies: 16
Views: 3475

Re: Debt Free...Now What?

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I know that these were very entry level questions. You guys gave me a to think about and read. Which is where I will start. Luckily, I have a few months of saving for the emergency fund to catch up on your recommendations . I will also try to collect all the info to do a more complete picture of our current financial picture. I know we have about 30k in retirement. Getting rid off all debt (non-house related) was the focus for so long, its gonna take some time and questions to figure out the next step. I also apologize for having a misleading subject title, I know that's not totally true....just stuck is DR mode! :) We have a 3.75% on a 30 year on our home. We need to get rid of PMI asap....ye...
by sgtpeppr56
Fri Apr 17, 2015 1:23 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Debt Free...Now What?
Replies: 16
Views: 3475

Debt Free...Now What?

Hey everyone, long time reader but don't post a lot as most of the topics were no applicable to us...yet Today, my wife and I paid our final student loan off. $91k debt (CC, student loans, cars, etc...)in 13 months. We still have our mortgage left, but that will take awhile. We roughly followed the DR plan, and now its time to save up for emergency fund. Then it is game on! I know that there is differing opinion about DR investing. So I am open to any advice/starting point. Becoming debt free was the focus for so long, its kinda fun/hard to switch gears. My question is, where do we go from here? Any books, links or advice would be very much appreciated. 1. Retirement. I know we need to adding to it ASAP, like roughly 15%? Our household inco...
by sgtpeppr56
Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Questions about Pension and Retirement Investing
Replies: 6
Views: 1394

Re: Questions about Pension and Retirement Investing

Awesome. Thanks for the replies everyone. Some great points in there!

We still have a long way to go, but I am just trying to get a head start. I think we will be debt free and have 3 months emergency fund by this October. I have been doing along debt related reading, but I suppose we are 80% done with that and can see the light. Time for the next goal...

Thanks for all of you time and responses. I am guessing I will ask a beginner question or 10 along that way. Take care, Scott
by sgtpeppr56
Tue Feb 03, 2015 2:55 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Having Trouble with "Investing: For Beginners" in Ref. Lib.
Replies: 5
Views: 1225

Re: Having Trouble with "Investing: For Beginners" in Ref. L

Awesome, thanks for your help. I am about 6 months from needing all the "beginner" info I can get.

Have a good one, Scott
by sgtpeppr56
Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:26 pm
Forum: Forum Issues and Administration
Topic: Having Trouble with "Investing: For Beginners" in Ref. Lib.
Replies: 5
Views: 1225

Having Trouble with "Investing: For Beginners" in Ref. Lib.

For some reason when I tried clicking on the plain talk brochures, the webpage could not be found. Looks like they are 5 documents that could be really useful to a beginner like me.

"Investing: For Beginners" in the Wiki and Reference Library
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=645

Thanks for the time and help, Scott
by sgtpeppr56
Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Questions about Pension and Retirement Investing
Replies: 6
Views: 1394

Questions about Pension and Retirement Investing

Hi, I am new to the board and still feeling my way around. Super excited to have woken up and tcb at the age of 35! I am still learning, so I may not have all the lingo and details down yet, but I just have a general question. My wife and I are working really hard to get debt free, have 18k left of 90k debt (student loan, cars, cc, and new windows on our house). We are loosing following the Dave Ramsey's baby steps as a frame work and should be debt free and fully funded emergency fund by august. As for rough amounts for retirement planning, DR says 15% and I have read the 8x your salary stuff too. I am a teacher in MN and have a pension. I get $200 a check take our for my TRA. Our pensions are pretty safe and will pay about 50-58% of my hi...