Bogleheads.org

Atilla

Spring 1983 - 16 years old - until now. Have been unemployed a total of 1 day and that was because I quit a job on the spot when I was 24, not planning to quit that morning when I got up.

It took me 1 day to make a phone call and get another job.

Atilla

With no kids, you can use all that extra money to invest and have the means to pay people to be nice and take care of you in your old age. An aunt and uncle did that - hired live in help - great lady who lived with them for a number of years before they passed.

Atilla

I'm not a tequila expert but I do like my shaken margarita on the rocks with salt. Tequila is one place you don't want to go cheap. Cheap rum or vodka - fine. But cheap tequila is just plain nasty in a bad way. Go with a reposado - a good compromise between white and anejo. I will not go cheaper tha...

Atilla

My bathroom towel rod is directly over a heat vent.

Atilla

It all depends. In Podunk Arkansas I'm King of the World. Lookit Mabel, we done become milyunaires. In San Francisco, I'm just another chump who can't afford to buy a decent house.

Atilla

I use assessed value. Around here that number is always lower than sale price for as long as I've been paying attention (last 25 years).
Home value is not figured into asset allocation or counted toward $$ needed to retire since we need to live somewhere.

Atilla

Add another pro to the government job - apparently you don't wake up at night sweating & stressing about your job? At the end of the day you can truly leave it behind? The dudes making big bucks I guarantee are paying for it 24/7 with stress and distraction when they are at home. I fight it all the ...

Atilla

Or you can live where property taxes are 2.3% of assessed value each year - AND have income tax on top of that. It's one big reason we aren't upgrading our living situation - the property taxes get stupid real quick.

Atilla

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user230519/imageroot/2016/08/18/College%20Inflation_0.png Speaks for itself. In-state high-quality public university is where the value is. So, basically all the major costs associated with having children have skyrocketed. I'm more cynical. I se...

Atilla

Last suit I bought was from SuitSupply's Chicago store. Sharp, good quality suit for the price. They have locations near you - check them out.

https://us.suitsupply.com/en_US/stores?countryCode=US

Chicago store provided onsite alterations and shipped back to me when done.

Atilla

Government jobs - from what I see around here it's Cadillac coverage with a very reasonable out of pocket expense.

Atilla

Cheap everyday mixer rum - I find Rondiaz to be an excellent value, really tastes quite good.

For a bit more pricey - Captain Morgan 100 Proof is excellent and a great sipping rum. Totally different animal than the regular Captains which I find way too sweet.

Atilla

Our donation was quite substantial. 13 years of paying school property taxes while paying out of pocket to send the boy to a private school.

Atilla

Dude, seriously rent a bigger place for a year. I work from home and my wife used to. I get it about the space thing. But job insecurity, a new baby and a major new debt do not mix. And you are trying to do it all real fast. You have no idea what you are in for over the next two years. At least. Don...

Atilla

If 3 layers of shingles isn't up to code, you can nail them. Should be good for a few bucks off the place if you are nice about it.

Atilla

Investing for life
Low expenses are the key
Avoid Edward Jones

Atilla

After reading this very interesting thread, and contemplating my own college experience, I am warming up to one idea that came up from a few posters. That is if parents can afford it, they pay for non-tuition costs, the student is responsible for tuition. If a kid has a good scholarship at a state ...

Atilla

Tell the kid to get a job for any spending money. Parents pay for tuition, room & board but spendy money comes out of the kid's hide.

Atilla

It's not so much temperature but wind that gets you. I'll go running as cold as zero degrees or a bit lower if there's not much wind. Finding a way to cover your face while you can still breathe easily is the key. Personally I think running in the morning is good for you - clears the crap out of you...

Atilla

Real estate in Madison area can be outrageously priced. Old tear-down houses on tiny lots in my preferred neighborhood run close to $300,000. Location will have a huge influence on affordability. Be very careful regarding public schools. ALL of our friends with school-age children fled the Madison d...

Atilla

The only correct way: Place head against, left window & adjust left mirror so you see the edge of the car as most people would sitting normally. Place head in center of the car and do the same with the passenger side mirror. Now mirrors are properly adjusted to eliminate the blind spot almost entire...

Atilla

We give regularly - every 2 weeks. No mortgage (paid off - ha!)but local property and state income taxes that along with the deductible giving made it worth itemizing. I ran the numbers to see if the new tax law would make sense to "bunch" giving into odd years to make itemizing worth it under the n...

Atilla

Stuff happens you can never anticipate - good stuff (opportunities) and bad stuff. My "emergency" fund is small - but half is kept in cash in a handy, secure place. Money in a local bank checking account ain't necessarily "immediately" available.

Atilla

Tomorrow I'm selling my next-to-last individual stock holding. Looking back the 10 years I've held it I'm up 300% including dividends. Time to declare victory, sell and put the money into a 5 year CD to coincide with the time I may be stepping away from my career to do something less stressful and l...

Atilla

All these smart people complaining about grammar using bad punctuation.

Me, I ain't smart.

Atilla

There is no such thing as "spare" cash or "extra" money.

Atilla

My threshold for paying down debt is if I have any.

I've had lots of debt and I've had no debt.

No debt is a lot better.

Atilla

Found out over dinner last night my best friend's son quit his director of marketing job to trade bitcoin full time. So whatever the highest price was/is as of today - that's the top.

Atilla

I still have fond memories of the dyno-verified 500 horsepower Holly carb old school 383 stroker smallblock I put into my 1980 Camaro. I can still hear the lumpy cam idle that would put a modern factory skat pack challenger to shame.

Atilla

Heh, ancestry. 3 of four of my grandparents I'm told were 100% German. On a 10 day trip to Munich this fall only once was it assumed by a native (before I spoke a word- I know zero German outside what I know from old Hogan's Heros reruns) that I was not German. This includes the stewardesses on the ...

Atilla

Love God, Love People. Everything else flows from that.

Love is a verb, a choice and not a feeling.

Atilla

Back when we had a mortgage it was $1,000 a month on a six figure family income and it bugged the hell out of us.

Killed the mortgage going on 4 years ago. The no cash flow at retirement thing is key to me, No. Cash. Needed. For. A. Mortgage. When. You. Want. To. Retire.

Atilla

Every time I fill my tank I do a quick calculation on my cell phone . Seems to run a good 1MPG less than what the car puter tells me my mileage is.

Mileage app? WT@?

Atilla

We drive decent Japanese performance luxury cars (bought used) and take a nice vacation every year on our anniversary. 2018 - Aruba baby!

And Monday night is always Steak Night because everyone knows a fat steak on Monday makes Monday suck less. Ribeye is mandatory.

Atilla

Gaggia Classic.

Reasonable price, simple to use & works like a dream. I use distilled water only so I never have to descale it.

Atilla

Since you're staying at Four Seasons - Charlie Palmer steak house has had unadvertised/weekly specials that can be quite a bargain considering the quality of the place - be sure to ask the concierge or do some research.

Atilla

I keep a Family Fortune spreadsheet and email an updated copy to the lovely bride every quarter, If she has a question about the contents she can ask, but usually doesn't.

Net worth, saving and investing conversations make her hot.

Atilla

I have 3 styles - Calphalon, Lodge and LeCreuset and use whichever is best for the task at hand. The Calphalons get tossed out and replaced after 4-5 years while the others last forever.

When it's quick and lazy cooking you want - non stick is the boss. Just not as durable.

Atilla

I didn't "get it" until my mid 30's. #1 son grew up seeing my reformed financial self and was able to take a Dave Ramsey financial class or two in high school. He knows we don't spend nearly what we make; and we invest for our old age. When he was given a car at 16 it was with the expectation that h...

Atilla

For a child like yours I can't imagine public school as anything other than a downgrade compared to what you can afford privately.

Atilla

I want to step back from the full time rat race, get a German Shepherd puppy, do a lot more of walking and biking. Long road trips with the wife and the new fierce protective hound to warm places in the winter, volunteer more than I do now, get to a shooting range much more. Right now I'm pressed fo...

Atilla

Will the Tesla truck have an automatic slower traffic keep right feature?

Atilla

I'm waiting to see keep or rid of the flexible reinvestment program. I really love that feature about Scottrade.

Atilla

Buy another Keurig if crappy, expensive, convenient coffee is your thing. But buy distilled water for 69 cents a gallon and only use that. The machine will last forever.

It's what I use for my kicka$# Italian-made espresso machine that I have never had to clean, except externally with a wet rag.

Atilla

Holiday pay is Double Time. Charge no less than that. My God - New Year's Eve. NO less than Double Time and preferably a premium above that.

Atilla

The airline must matter a bunch too. We flew O'Hare to Munich on Lufthansa in the cheep seats and it was not bad at all. The whole 9 hour flight on the way over I only got up twice. Wife and I are both 6' tall. On the return, the final 1 hour connecting United flight - my back was killing me it was ...

Atilla

Frontier ain't what they used to be - they are definitely an el cheapo takes your chances airline now. However, if it's a direct flight and you figure all your fees into the cost I'd consider them. They recently started direct fights from our city to Las Vegas. All other airlines had to connect some...

Atilla

We don't make a big deal, but over drinks with close friends if mortgages come up as a topic, wife and I might look at each other mock-quizzically and say "what is this mortgage thing you speak of?". I have a color photocopy of the official certificate but she won't let me frame it and hang it anywh...

Atilla

Nope - sold all my crap investments the same way I burned/tossed out all the pictures of me and the first wife after she decided to seek other relationship opportunities and said she wanted out.

Don't need the reminder.

Atilla

I would consider a part time option when I tell my bosses I'm ready to retire and then they ask me to stay on part kind of time in some capacity.

Search found 1179 matches