Search found 31 matches

by sapocanhoto
Wed Jul 21, 2021 1:44 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Enough or too close?
Replies: 18
Views: 3118

Re: Enough or too close?

I think you are probably fine as long as you don't have expensive tastes, which it sounds like that's not your problem.

I would look at your expenses to see if that lines up with you expected income. I ran the numbers and when you take out all the savings I only spend about $35-40k per year. I think I would have the same target of $70k just as added buffer. With the pension plus 401k you are right about there. If you have social security on top then you are even safer.

Personally, I would wait just a little bit longer to eliminate the rest of the risk, but it is pretty low and I think you are probably fine with your plan.
by sapocanhoto
Tue Nov 10, 2020 10:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Ski Mask Recommendations
Replies: 19
Views: 1536

Ski Mask Recommendations

Ski season is coming, and this year you will have to be wearing your mask pretty much all day. I have several ski masks but I don't like any of them and can't stand wearing them for extended periods.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a ski mask that is comfortable and will not fog up your ski goggles?
by sapocanhoto
Sat Jan 26, 2019 11:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Educational Software/Materials for Kids
Replies: 5
Views: 675

Educational Software/Materials for Kids

There are a lot of educational games, books, etc. out there for kids, but most of them aren't all that good. What have you used that you liked?

My kids are 7 and under, so that's what I am most interested in, but they will get older at some point.

I have tried Code.org, but it seemed to just be the same basic things repeated with different skins and my kids lost interest and I can't blame them. Maybe I just didn't figure out how it is supposed to progress through new commands and skills.

Minecraft is slightly educational, and my kids will play it.

My son does ST Math for school, and I despise that program. It seems like a good way to teach patience rather than math concepts.
by sapocanhoto
Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Accuracy of Consumer Reports/Truecar Estimates
Replies: 10
Views: 3380

Re: Accuracy of Consumer Reports/Truecar Estimates

I figured out what my problem was, the base model is a mythical creature that doesn't exist in the dealerships. They always seem to have a whole bunch of add-ons that I don't care much about that jack up the price so when I looked around at the dealerships I wasn't seeing anything in the ballpark of what CR was estimating for a base model.
by sapocanhoto
Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Accuracy of Consumer Reports/Truecar Estimates
Replies: 10
Views: 3380

Accuracy of Consumer Reports/Truecar Estimates

I am looking to buy a small commuter car, and I was looking at the numbers on the Consumer Reports Car Buying Service. There are some cars like the Accent, Versa, or Fiesta that CR says should sell for around $12K. Are these numbers accurate? They seem a little fishy because they are so far under the MSRP, but if they are true it definitely changes things.

From looking around it sounds like CR just directs you to Truecar in a slightly sneaky way, but I am still curious about the numbers.
by sapocanhoto
Mon Nov 09, 2015 3:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: When To Justify Expensive Wants?
Replies: 79
Views: 9764

Re: When To Justify Expensive Wants?

The way I see it, there are two ways to balance your savings vs. wants.

Option 1: define how much you will save, everything over that and the fixed costs is yours to do whatever you want with.

Option 2: define how much you will splurge, everything over that and the fixed costs will be saved.

I have done both ways, but I am currently doing Option 1. Once you know how much money you have to spend on fun things you can go plan your vacations, buy your cars, or whatever makes you happy.
by sapocanhoto
Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: food allowance $ for child in college
Replies: 44
Views: 9075

Re: food allowance $ for child in college

I remember reading an article that was complaining about how food stamps gives out about $5 per person per day and how it is impossible to do. I laughed because that is exactly what I have been doing for years. Make your own sandwiches for lunch, hamburger helper for dinner, eat your leftovers, and it's not hard to live under $5 per day. (I wasn't in California though and eating out/alcohol will certainly blow that budget in a hurry) I have three kids now and we still spend less than $5 per person per day, it involves a fair amount of cooking, but we eat some good stuff. Because of economies of scale, I used to eat crappier food when I was in college, but it was doable. For your kid, I wouldn't mess around with a "food allowance",...
by sapocanhoto
Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Whole House Fan with Simple Automation
Replies: 17
Views: 5767

Whole House Fan with Simple Automation

I have heard great things about whole house fans to help suck in the cool air and displace the hot air in the mornings and evenings, I would like to install one but I have a few questions that some of you may be able to answer: The fans at Home Depot or Lowes seem to have two settings, high and very high. And they make a lot of noise. Has anybody installed one that is decently quiet and has a low setting? I want a thermostat control that can sense the temperature outside and if the outside temperature is cooler than inside it will turn on the fan, but only until the temperature inside cools down to a certain temperature. Everything I can find is either too simple or too complicated. Does anybody know of a simple controller that can do this?...
by sapocanhoto
Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Would you buy a used Kia Sedona?
Replies: 8
Views: 3174

Re: Would you buy a used Kia Sedona?

I almost bought one, but I didn't want to regret not having that eighth seat so I went with an Odyssey. My parents have had a Sedona for a couple years and they love it. My take was that it wasn't as nice on the inside, but it wasn't cheap either, just very simple. I thought the Sienna drove like a boat, the Odyssey drove the best, and the Sedona was somewhere in the middle. I test drove the 2014 with my dad, and he said it is the exact same as the 2008 (I think that was the year). Maybe they are a little cheaper partly because they don't bother to redesign every year.
by sapocanhoto
Tue Feb 03, 2015 5:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What exactly is "wealthy?"
Replies: 47
Views: 13858

Re: What exactly is "wealthy?"

Wealthy to the government means people that should pay more taxes.

Wealthy to individuals means "everyone that makes more than me but not me, I can't be wealthy because I am in the middle class."

It's been a while, but the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad defined wealthy as something like being able to live off your assets without having to work.

I know it is a bit fuzzy, but I would draw my line at $5M to be wealthy, you could live on your income pretty much everywhere and be alright. Sure your lifestyle would be different in San Diego vs Rural Maine but you could live comfortably anywhere.
by sapocanhoto
Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can we afford to buy a home?
Replies: 48
Views: 6212

Re: Can we afford to buy a home?

I think you could buy the house but it would leave you more vulnerable than I would be willing to be. If you are living for dirt cheap right now, I would kill off the the debt before you buy the house because that will free up a good deal of your cashflow. Make sure you are married before you buy the house together, and I would even recommend not buying until you have been married for a year or so. Buying a house and all the work you put into it are kind of a pain and I would give your marriage some time before you jump into that mess. Have you seen the "How I Met Your Mother" episode about going to IKEA?
by sapocanhoto
Tue Apr 15, 2014 3:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New homeowner: lawn care advice
Replies: 87
Views: 31916

Re: New homeowner: lawn care advice

I have a similar sized yard so we all have fences dividing the yards. I bought a trimmer to edge the yard and I found that it damages the wood fences and my deck so I haven't used it since. The yard is small so I just clip the edges with some shears when the grass gets long enough at the edges.
by sapocanhoto
Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:46 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Math Help Please: Investing an Emergency Fund
Replies: 28
Views: 3537

Re: Math Help Please: Investing an Emergency Fund

I found three credit unions offering 3%, see the link. http://www.depositaccounts.com/checking ... ounts.html

I haven't done any digging into the specifics of these ones, but I looked into high yield checking accounts and they just weren't worth it. They have a number of restrictions, the most important being that you have to use your debit card a lot to get the rate. You get no reward points on the debit card so they pay you higher interest on the account balance to make up for it. When I ran the numbers I was better off getting a credit card with a good rewards point system and then storing the rest of the cash in an online bank like Ally. As an added bonus I don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops.
by sapocanhoto
Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:58 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: "Shark Tank"
Replies: 10
Views: 4885

Re: "Shark Tank"

It's one of the few shows worth watching on TV.
by sapocanhoto
Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:21 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: My Investment Plan-25 Years Old
Replies: 6
Views: 1151

Re: My Investment Plan-25 Years Old

Sort of, you would spread your three fund portfolio over your various accounts, the wiki explains this in more detail, but you would put your international in taxable and bonds in your tax advantaged space.
by sapocanhoto
Thu Jan 23, 2014 2:40 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Which loan if any should I get for solar panels?
Replies: 4
Views: 1050

Re: Which loan if any should I get for solar panels?

I would take the DOE loan, if you had a home loan at 3.5% you would put money into your IRA before putting it toward you house, so although this isn't exactly apples to apples I would say it's close enough.
by sapocanhoto
Thu Jan 16, 2014 11:40 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pros/cons of home funding approach?
Replies: 8
Views: 832

Re: Pros/cons of home funding approach?

I would put your home building plans on hold for multiple reasons, the first and most important would be because you aren't married yet. I would never recommend buying or building a house until you are married. She still hasn't graduated from med school yet, where is she going to do her residency? That's a pretty big deal and can make a big difference for her career down the line. I wouldn't build a house until she gets done with her residency and settles into her permanent position. Where she works will probably change where you want to live, and who knows, you may decide to move to a different state. By giving yourself a little more time it will make the financing much easier. Besides, building a house involves so many decisions that it w...
by sapocanhoto
Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Affordability [check my calculations]
Replies: 93
Views: 10918

Re: Home Affordability

Your plan sounds reasonable, but I wouldn't pull the trigger until I had much more than 10K in the bank.
by sapocanhoto
Mon Oct 07, 2013 2:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Yet Another Payoff Mortgage Question
Replies: 28
Views: 4268

Re: Yet Another Payoff Mortgage Question

It's all a matter or risk, you could drain it all and come out fine or you could get burned and end up losing the house if things go badly. You have fixed costs of $7,000 which would be difficult to reduce in case of an emergency, so I would be reluctant to drop my emergency savings too low. Personally, I would probably drain most of the savings account but leave the Roth EF untouched and then plow more money into the second mortgage. The second mortgage would be cleared up in about a year or so and then I would start getting more serious about retirement savings and saving for college.
by sapocanhoto
Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Second car for husband, help with math
Replies: 12
Views: 1677

Re: Second car for husband, help with math

Your numbers for the car seem too high, if you are buying a used car your payments should be under 200, buying a new Civic will cost you about $320 per month with no money down.

If you are going to buy a second car for better gas mileage, it had better have more than 25 MPG.

If you are buying used, you probably don't need comprehensive or collision so your insurance costs will be much lower.

I also think that using car payments as a way to see which is cheaper skews your results, it would be better to use numbers like estimated vehicle cost per mile but that might get a little sketchy.

I think you should run your numbers again and you will find that the car comes out ahead.
by sapocanhoto
Tue Jun 18, 2013 5:20 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New Car Advice
Replies: 58
Views: 7694

Re: New Car Advice

You may want to look at different car seats, most car seats are monstrosities that take up a lot of space but you can find some slimmer models. We got the slimmer car seats and we can fit a toddler car seat and a baby carseat in the back of an Elantra with enough space to fit an adult reasonably comfortably.

You said you were planning on having 3 and 4 in the near future, I would just get a sedan and wait until #3 comes along before buying a larger vehicle rather than buying an intermediate SUV.
by sapocanhoto
Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Investment advice for sister
Replies: 8
Views: 1498

Re: Investment advice for sister

RobInCT wrote:Not everyone has the luxury of picking among people to work for.
Everyone does have the luxury of picking who to work for, it's called getting a new job, and she needs one. She is getting paid minimum wage unless she just doesn't work many hours. Either way, she is an adult and needs to go find a job that pays better and that doesn't put her at risk for tax evasion. At least she has 10K saved up, that's a good sign.
by sapocanhoto
Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Which direction on rental property?
Replies: 16
Views: 1886

Re: Which direction on rental property?

So if I read your post right, you were bleeding $400 a month on the house with renters before any maintenance costs. I guess it's slightly better now that you have refinanced but definitely would have gotten rid of the house if I was losing $400 a month on the house plus added risk of major maintenance or renters trashing the place.
by sapocanhoto
Tue Mar 19, 2013 2:23 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Dumb Idea: Rebalancing Boosts Returns
Replies: 53
Views: 7986

Re: Dumb Idea: Rebalancing Boosts Returns

I made a spreadsheet a while back to see how rebalancing affects returns, I used the numbers from TSP starting 2 Jun 2003 going through 18 Mar 2013. (2 Jun 2003 was the oldest data they had on the TSP website) The percentages are total return, not annualized. For a portfolio of 60% C and 40% F: No balancing 82.0% Daily rebalancing 91.7% Rebalancing when .5% off AA 91.3% Rebalancing when 1% off AA 90.4% Rebalancing when 2% off AA 89.5% Rebalancing when 3% off AA 89.3% Rebalancing when 5% off AA 86.7% Rebalancing when 8% off AA 92.9% For a portfolio of 40% C, 20% S, 20% I, and 20% F: No balancing 108.1% Daily rebalancing 116.4% Rebalancing when .5% off AA 116.2% Rebalancing when 1% off AA 115.2% Rebalancing when 2% off AA 114.1% Rebalancing w...
by sapocanhoto
Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: One More Question- Actually, A Few [Pay down debt, loans]
Replies: 20
Views: 2029

Re: One More Question- Actually, A Few

I agree with the advice already given, but I would add two things. First, I think paint on a house is worth way more than you pay for it. I know someone who bought a house two years ago and then sold it for double what they paid for it. They didn't do much to the house, all they did was repaint and stage the house nicely.

For your kids I would do something like matching loan payments, that way it's not too much of a burden on you, but the responsibility for the loan stays with your kids.
by sapocanhoto
Sat Mar 02, 2013 10:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tracking credit card spending
Replies: 32
Views: 2569

Re: Tracking credit card spending

I download the credit card transactions into a csv file, then just copy and paste the dates and dollar amounts into my budget spreadsheet. I take a few minutes to assign a category to each transaction and I am done. Some transactions get split into multiple categories, but not usually.

I tried Mint but it was a pain for categorizing expenditures, and it wouldn't like properly with several of my accounts.
by sapocanhoto
Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Advice for a college student
Replies: 8
Views: 1015

Re: Advice for a college student

A couple grand can get burned through pretty fast, so I wouldn't put too much in the Roth IRA yet. You need your cash to be pretty available so I would say maybe put $1,000 in STAR or a target retirement fund, and keep the rest in an online savings account (Ally, Capital One 360, etc.)

One way you could do it is to open a Roth IRA at the online bank, that way you get to fill up your Roth space but still have access if you need it and no risk of loss of principal.
by sapocanhoto
Thu Feb 14, 2013 5:57 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Student loan advice to freshman college students
Replies: 31
Views: 3950

Re: Student loan advice to freshman college students

The advice of "do what you love and the money will follow" is terrible advice. There are many areas where there just isn't much money to be had, no matter how good you are (like social work). If you still want to go into a career that is guranteed to have low pay, that's fine but you should make sure you don't take out any loans and accept the fact that you will probably always be poor (that's not the worst thing in the world, but don't complain about it later on when it was your choice). I think certain passions are better suited to being hobbies or side jobs than full time employment, especially anything like writing novels or painting. If it takes off then you can make it your career, but until then you are going to need a day ...
by sapocanhoto
Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:19 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 22 y/o Just Starting
Replies: 32
Views: 3265

Re: 22 y/o Just Starting

I am in a similar situation in the 15% bracket and I go with a Roth. I am planning on going to a 3 fund portfolio, but until I have enough to get admiral shares I am just leaving it all in the Lifestrategy fund with an 80/20 mix. Definitely fill your Roth IRA even if it means you don't save as much for your house. You can always pull that money back out if you need it, but if you do that you might leave your possible house money in something like a money market until you decide what the money will be for. If you aren't in a hurry to pay off the car loan, I would try to refinance the loan to a lower rate, I think Penfed has the best rates at 1.49%. For you savings and EF make sure you are getting as much interest as you can, Ally is the best...
by sapocanhoto
Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Lots of Cash / Portfolio Help [Military]
Replies: 15
Views: 2495

Re: Lots of Cash / Portfolio Help [Military]

You can open an account at treasurydirect.gov to get I bonds. You can buy $10,000 of I bonds per year, $20,000 for you and your wife. They have some advantages like being tax free if you use the money for education, but they have some limitations like you can't cash them in for the first year after you bought them. Read up on them and decide if you want to use them, I would in your situation.

I agree with NY Boglehead, put some money in a 529 for your kid and start putting money in a taxable account, just make sure you leave enough liquid to handle any surprises in the future.
by sapocanhoto
Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:03 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Credit Score and Credit Card Question
Replies: 43
Views: 5918

Re: Credit Score and Credit Card Question

To build your credit all you need to do is get a credit card and use it without any late payments. However credit score is definitely overrated, there aren't that many situations where you will need a good credit score. You would need it if you buy a house, which you are no where near buying, or sometimes if you buy a new car. If you are making $20K, you shouldn't be buying new cars anyway.

About the card, the $12 fee is lame,so I would find something that doesn't have a fee, credit cards have more advantages, but if you can't control your own spending they can cause more harm than good.