Search found 36 matches

by antheus
Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 401k match dependent on years of employment, is it negotiable
Replies: 3
Views: 366

Re: 401k match dependent on years of employment, is it negotiable

Got it, thank you. I wasn't sure if this was something formally set in stone or not but it appears it is distinctly defined in the plan documents.
by antheus
Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:51 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 401k match dependent on years of employment, is it negotiable
Replies: 3
Views: 366

401k match dependent on years of employment, is it negotiable

I'm in the process of negotiating a new salary. My current 401k has both a contribution and a match that are dependent on number of years worked. Is this something that is set in stone or is it possible to negotiate this?

For example:
2% match after 1 year
3% match after 5 years
5% match after 10 years

Is it possible to negotiate for that 5% match? Even if it's at the expense of gross salary.
by antheus
Thu Jun 07, 2018 5:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much to budget for a week long vacation for 2?
Replies: 94
Views: 9210

Re: How much to budget for a week long vacation for 2?

I am 32 years old and I spend about 2k-3k on average per person per 2 week international trip. I organize everything myself, find the cheapest airfare that I can find within reason (for example I would rather fly direct for $100 more but I'd be willing to take a small layover for ~$300 less), stay in clean but spartan accommodations, don't plan organized tours, and eat whatever I want. My decision where to go is often based on where airfare is cheap and in my opinion if you're traveling to see new places and you spend a ton of money on your bed you're doing it wrong. To each their own though.
by antheus
Sat Jun 02, 2018 2:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: $1,000,000 in savings account to pay mortgage?
Replies: 32
Views: 4887

Re: $1,000,000 in savings account to pay mortgage?

Assuming that you are able to max out your retirement accounts annually, you can consider paying down the mortgage, considering it as a bond, and shifting your asset allocation more towards stocks. Below is an example: Lets say you have $1,000,000 invested in retirement accounts at a 70:30 stock:bond ratio. You have $700,000 in stocks, $300,000 in bonds. You have the option of buying a house outright for $300,000 or taking out a mortgage at 4% for the entire cost (for simplicity assuming no money down). If you pay the house down, you have essentially invested in a $300,000 4% bond. Your asset allocation is now $700,000 in stocks, $600,000 in bonds or about 54% stocks, 46% bonds. You then shift ~$200,000 from bonds to stocks so that you now ...
by antheus
Sun May 27, 2018 9:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Please help with grocery budget
Replies: 51
Views: 5864

Re: Please help with grocery budget

1300 a month for 4 people
325 a month per person
10.80 per person per day
3.60 per meal

You don’t waste food, you buy in bulk, you don’t eat out, and you eat well. I’m sure you can cut down but at the same time this doesn’t seem bad at all.
by antheus
Sun May 27, 2018 12:51 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Leave career (fortune 200) and join the peace corps?
Replies: 29
Views: 4359

Re: Leave career (fortune 200) and join the peace corps?

My heart says go for it but my conscious tells me you aren't financially prepared to have no income for 2 years. You are behind in retirement and did I miss how you will fund your living expenses during your time in the peace corp? Peace corps volunteers are given a stipend and housing/health insurance. It would be a perfect time to shift your 401k to a Roth due to the fact your income and thus marginal tax rate will likely be very low. As for whether or not to do the peace corp, I think that you really need to have a clear idea of what your goals are and how the peace corp helps you in achieving them. Romanticize it as little as possible, there are amazing things about immersing yourself in a 3rd world country but some pretty awful aspect...
by antheus
Sun Apr 29, 2018 1:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan
Replies: 42
Views: 5562

Re: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan

However, you would gain more if you can pay off the loan, and sell $250K of bonds to buy stocks. This would give you the same stock-market risk as investing $250K in the stock market while keeping the loan, and would get rid of the 5.23% loan and bonds earning much less than that. If you are holding Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral shares yielding 2.49%, you can sell that to pay off the loan. If you are holding Total Bond Market Index in your IRA yielding 3.03%, you can sell that as well: pay off the loan rather than buying stocks, and then sell Total Bond Market Index to buy an equal amount of stocks (with a higher return because the stock investment grows tax-deferred. I appreciate the discussion with some actual worked out math. Cou...
by antheus
Sat Apr 28, 2018 10:38 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan
Replies: 42
Views: 5562

Re: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan

Your total numbers are correct. But, there's no adjusting to a 3.17% or whatever. One would pay the 6.5% interest on the balance the whole time. The balance goes down over time obviously, but the interest rate stays the same. Each dollar that gets prepaid is a dollar that never has 6.5% interest charged on it again. I.E. a guaranteed return of the interest rate. The OP threw $70k at 6.5% interest loans (not exact, but for example)... It's like the just earned 6.5% on $70K. That's a pretty good guarantee, right? I know I'd take it nowadays.... Or, last year when the OP brought it up. :happy You pay 6.5% on the balance the whole time but your balance is decreasing so your real return is also decreasing. This is as oppose to investing the mon...
by antheus
Fri Apr 27, 2018 6:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan
Replies: 42
Views: 5562

Re: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan

Your total numbers are correct. But, there's no adjusting to a 3.17% or whatever. One would pay the 6.5% interest on the balance the whole time. The balance goes down over time obviously, but the interest rate stays the same. Each dollar that gets prepaid is a dollar that never has 6.5% interest charged on it again. I.E. a guaranteed return of the interest rate. The OP threw $70k at 6.5% interest loans (not exact, but for example)... It's like the just earned 6.5% on $70K. That's a pretty good guarantee, right? I know I'd take it nowadays.... Or, last year when the OP brought it up. :happy OP here—we ended up paying off the student loans with the windfall about a year ago and as a result, ratcheted up our retirement savings quite a bit (25...
by antheus
Fri Apr 27, 2018 6:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan
Replies: 42
Views: 5562

Re: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan

Your total numbers are correct. But, there's no adjusting to a 3.17% or whatever. One would pay the 6.5% interest on the balance the whole time. The balance goes down over time obviously, but the interest rate stays the same. Each dollar that gets prepaid is a dollar that never has 6.5% interest charged on it again. I.E. a guaranteed return of the interest rate. The OP threw $70k at 6.5% interest loans (not exact, but for example)... It's like the just earned 6.5% on $70K. That's a pretty good guarantee, right? I know I'd take it nowadays.... Or, last year when the OP brought it up. :happy You pay 6.5% on the balance the whole time but your balance is decreasing so your real return is also decreasing. This is as oppose to investing the mon...
by antheus
Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Money vs. Work-life balance
Replies: 68
Views: 11168

Re: Money vs. Work-life balance

Seems pretty easy, I'd go for work life balance. You like your job, you have a lot of flexibility which you seem to take advantage of and appreciate. There are people who don't take advantage of these things and for them the situation may not be as clear cut. However, 2 weeks of vacation is abysmal and you seem like you enjoy the flexibility of being able to keep the hours you want as long as your work gets done.

Even if your current situation went sour I'm not sure that this would be the right opportunity. A lot of people chase the money but at some point it starts to mean less and less. You'll keep less of every extra dollar you earn.
by antheus
Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:06 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan
Replies: 42
Views: 5562

Re: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan

Y'all realize Quantum dug up a year old thread, right? If you want to hash out invest or pay down debt, that's okay. But, the OP probably doesn't care anymore. :happy hah I didn't realize that the thread was that old. However, it is an interesting discussion nonetheless. I spent a lot of time doing the math and, for the most part, I actually agree with Quantum. My assumption that your return is 6.5% is incorrect. Looking at the amortization table, over a 10 year period you pay $96,000 on that $70,000 loan which is only about 3.17% annual return (not adjusting for inflation). Historically, if you were to invest in the S&P 500 with a 10 year timeline, you would have about a >90% chance of beating 3.17%, not adjusting for inflation. Now l...
by antheus
Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:21 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan
Replies: 42
Views: 5562

Re: Windfall and Student Loan Pay-off/Pay-down Plan

Interesting. Lets say that your $80k of loans at %6.55 interest is going to take you 10 years to pay off. This comes out to a payment of about $900 per month. Now, you can pay $70k towards the loan right now, or invest it at 7% interest and continue to make your usual $900 per month payments toward your loan. Over the life of your 10 year payment plan, you will pay $29k in interest. You will therefore save about $29k in interest. However, rule of 72 states that in 10 years you will have doubled your investment of $70k if you had put it in an index fund at 7% (there is risk, but a 10 year horizion is not too bad). So by not investing you are about $40k poorer. Lets say the annual rate of return (geometric average) was instead 4%, then it wo...
by antheus
Thu Apr 26, 2018 12:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Another house budget question
Replies: 25
Views: 3369

Re: Another house budget question

You really need to run the numbers and do what's right for you. What will your PITI be? Just looking at a glance: Current take home: 14k net Current spending: 9k including rent Leftover: 5k 1,200,000 mortgage + 12k property tax + 3k insurance amounts to 7k in housing costs a month or 4k more than you're paying now 14k-9k-4k = 1k I'm going to go out on a whim and say your baby will cost more than 1k a month This also doesn't factor in the cost of home ownership/maintenance/repairs. Now this may all be totally fine with you but probably not a super financially savvy move. I think if the differential between what you pay in rent right now and what you're potentially looking to buy was smaller it would be a bit of an easier decision to make but...
by antheus
Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:10 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inheritance Changing Lifestyle
Replies: 79
Views: 14018

Re: Inheritance Changing Lifestyle

I would think of it as an opportunity to have 3 things:

A slightly earlier retirement.

A nicer retirement.

A nicer pre-retirement.

How you decide to do that is completely up to you and something you need to discuss with your wife. I think that having a set amount disbursed each year is a great way to do it because it allows you to grow into that money a bit. I think that it's fine to treat yourselves to some new things despite the fact that your old things were good enough. However, the things you didn't need before you probably still don't need now.
by antheus
Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Good Dad, Bad Dad [pay for son's driving expenses (or not)]
Replies: 49
Views: 5901

Re: Good Dad, Bad Dad [pay for son's driving expenses (or not)]

My family moved to this country when I was 9. Money was tight for most of my childhood and, while myself and my two siblings all got our licenses at 16, none of us had a car until our sophomore year of college when we moved off campus. My parents bought my brother a car and my twin sister and I shared a car that was on a 3 year lease. My parents' paid for our living expenses, car expenses included, through college. The caveat was that we all did very well in school and had full tuition scholarships so they didn't pay for college. Their philosophy was always that they moved to the US to give their children opportunities and they wanted us to focus on our studies and making the most of those opportunities. Obviously we didn't take that for gr...
by antheus
Sat Sep 30, 2017 12:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Question: Why do people put/keep millions of dollars in investment accounts?
Replies: 66
Views: 11107

Re: Question: Why do people put/keep millions of dollars in investment accounts?

The other thing to keep in mind is that as you get closer to retirement your asset allocation shifts to things that are lower risk/lower reward. You're willing to take on riskier investments (for greater reward) when you're younger because you're more resistant to big swings in the market. I'm 30 years old. Lets say I have accumulated 200k in an investment account over the last 5 years. If the market were to collapse and drop 50% in value tomorrow, it would sting, but I don't need that money tomorrow. Since my retirement horizon is many years down the line I can afford to now buy a bunch of stock on discount because at some point the market will recover. As I get closer to retirement age where I MAY need my stock tomorrow, I don't want the ...
by antheus
Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Auto Insurance - Way higher rate than our friends??? Advice
Replies: 19
Views: 2889

Re: Auto Insurance - Way higher rate than our friends??? Advice

It would be interesting if there were any insurance agents on the board to talk about how much your "agent bats for you." It's insurance. An insurance company's interest is $$$, they could care less about the insured. Insurance companies make money by increasing what they pull in (premiums) and decreasing what they pay out (screwing you on coverage or raising premiums when you have to be covered for something). I have a hard time believing that those employed by an insurance company give a damn about saving you money and would not be surprised if agents were so misaligned with this interest.
by antheus
Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Auto Insurance - Way higher rate than our friends??? Advice
Replies: 19
Views: 2889

Re: Auto Insurance - Way higher rate than our friends??? Advice

For reference my premium with Geico for the exact same insurance (just shopped and compared) is $424. Time to play hardball.
by antheus
Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Auto Insurance - Way higher rate than our friends??? Advice
Replies: 19
Views: 2889

Re: Auto Insurance - Way higher rate than our friends??? Advice

Auto insurance companies slowly raise rates. I read an article within the last year about how they data mine to determine which of their customers will tolerate a rate hike without complaining or switching. May be $15-30 here and there but over a several year period these add up. This prompted me to check my history of premiums. I can't even search earlier than 1 year. This is in Texas for what it's worth but my premiums have risen by $200/year over the last 3 years despite no accidents, no tickets, excellent credit score, on a 2014 honda civic. Time to insurance shop.

6/30/14 - 677.41
12/30/14 - 687.76
6/9/15 - 710.11
12/10/15 - 740.63
6/30/16 - 708.49
12/30/16 - 738.72
6/30/17 - 782.59 scheduled????
by antheus
Thu Jun 01, 2017 12:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Relative just bought a house in a hot market. Should I change my investment strategy?
Replies: 53
Views: 7370

Re: Relative just bought a house in a hot market. Should I change my investment strategy?

I lived in Miami during medical school at the peak of the housing crisis. We all lived in brand new luxury high rises downtown that the buildings couldn't sell and paid almost nothing in rent. By the time I'd finished med school things had rebounded, my rent was up about 33%, and construction was beginning again. Now I don't even recognize the place.

It is an odd market. Lots of it is driven by foreign investment and speculation and if I were living there now I'd be pretty cautious about buying as an investment. I would not have liked to own there a decade ago and there is little indication that anything has been learned from the past. If you time it right it can potentially be a good investment, but I don't think the time is now.
by antheus
Wed May 24, 2017 10:52 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Max a 529?
Replies: 8
Views: 1482

Re: Max a 529?

As has been stated a 529 is not a great vehicle for avoiding taxes. It may be worthwhile to fund if you have a state deduction or if you have everything else squared away and would like to contribute money to an education fund that, if it is not used up by your own children, you would be happy transferring to nieces or nephews.
by antheus
Wed May 24, 2017 10:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: A little guidance please..
Replies: 6
Views: 1623

Re: A little guidance please..

As for the business property, under today's conditions that seems like a pricey interest rate (but, I've gotten used to the 2.75 on our house as "normal"). I'd think about paying it down more quickly than the amortization schedule. Do not pay down the rental mortgage. You get a much better tax break on the rental! Plus I'd much rather have my personal paid off anyway before I would the rental. 4.75% is a solid rate today on rentals. You're certainly not going to get the significantly better rate needed to refi. I'd seriously consider adding to the mortgage payment, at least enough to reamortize to a 15-year term. When considering that paying down the mortgage provides a tax-free, *guaranteed* return that's actually a pretty good ...
by antheus
Wed May 03, 2017 8:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Public University (Texas) Retirement Options
Replies: 25
Views: 5360

Public University (Texas) Retirement Options

I will be graduating from medical residency in the next year and will likely be offered a position at my current program upon graduation. This is something that's quite appealing to me for a variety of reasons but I'm also somewhat dissuaded because salary would take a hit. They do however have excellent benefits but I'm trying to understand them all. Obviously the cart is coming before the horse in a big way but I like crunching numbers and this would help me do so. The options are listed here: http://www.utsystem.edu/offices/employee-benefits/ut-retirement-program Generally speaking, I see the following options: Teacher's Retirement System (TRS) OR Optional Retirement Program (ORP) There's also the UTSaver TSA and the UTSaver DCP The ORP ...
by antheus
Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:32 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Rent versus Buy in NYC
Replies: 14
Views: 3030

Re: Rent versus Buy in NYC

There's really no substitute for running the numbers. Look on zillow to get an idea of what places cost in the UWS. Looking at studios and 1br you're probably gonna pay 500k-1 million plus, then throw in HOA/maintenance and property tax. Then consider mortgage interest/property tax deductions. Then consider closing costs etc. You'll see very quickly that all the fees and such outweigh or may even eclipse the equity you build up in your home. With a 5 year timeline it's probably ill advised to buy.
by antheus
Sun Apr 16, 2017 12:00 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: More advice for BigLaw Survivor, please?
Replies: 233
Views: 39150

Re: More advice for BigLaw Survivor, please?

I read through the entire first page of this thread before realizing it was from 2015...

Thanks for the update, it's great to hear things have been going well. I'm glad you're selling that condo, I think it's the right move and will simplify your life a bit which is a lot of what retirement is about. It's an investment that may make a bit more sense for someone with a smaller portfolio but for you it just seems to add additional complications to your life for marginal benefit and all it takes is one small headache (i.e. having to find new tenants) to make it a PITA. Congratulations and all the best.
by antheus
Sun Apr 09, 2017 2:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Medical School Loans - Repayment Options
Replies: 14
Views: 2585

Re: Medical School Loans - Repayment Options

If there is any chance that family member will be a candidate for loan forgiveness, whether or not that's still around in the next 10 years, they should go the PAYE or IBR route. I honestly don't know what the difference is between these two programs. I think that IBR was just an earlier form of the PAYE program that had a higher minimum payment amount. I don't think that the minimum payment on any of these programs will wind up paying enough to even cover the interest that is accumulating so you would just need to overpay by the amount necessary to cover the interest each year if he doesn't want it rising above what it is now. As far as refinancing, I'm not sure if you would still have the option of doing a PAYE or IBR program if you conso...
by antheus
Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:09 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Not opting for 529... anyone else?
Replies: 175
Views: 16343

Re: Not opting for 529... anyone else?

I thought it would be helpful to actually look at this from a math perspective. Below I compare the returns for a 529 vs. buying the same fund in a taxable account. For simplicity sake I just did a single lump sum at year 1 for 100k. Looking at the average returns on the Vanguard Total Stock Market fund I came up with what you see below. This assumes a 7.11% return on funds in the 529, a 6.73% return on the taxable account (both of which are from the vanguard prospectus) due to taxes on distributions. At the end of the 18 years, the taxable account is sold incurring a 15% long term capital gains tax. In this example at the end of 18 years the 529 comes out ahead by 64,000. Now lets assume that you do not use the 529 for schooling as your br...
by antheus
Fri Mar 17, 2017 5:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Texas Teachers Retirement too good to be true?
Replies: 39
Views: 9526

Re: Texas Teachers Retirement too good to be true?

The general points of interest of the Texas TRS are pretty basic. They're largely very similar to the Texas state defined retirement benefit (ERS), too. Here's the basics. I may have some of the exact numbers wrong, but they're close enough just for discussing the basic idea. Its essentially an annuity. 7.2% (?) of employee salary required contribution. There is an employer "match" you basically have no right to. 10 years minimum service to be eligible for benefits. Rule of 80 to collect benefits: age + service >= 80. Annual benefit = 2.3% x average of 5 highest salaries × years service. A healthcare benefit provided, as well. If you leave before rule of 80 you may withdraw your contribution plus a horrible return (maybe the refe...
by antheus
Sun Jan 22, 2017 8:56 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Use $$$ toward mortgage or save for dip in market
Replies: 19
Views: 2503

Re: Use $$$ toward mortgage or save for dip in market

Out of curiosity, how much of a dip would trigger you to buy? Lets say the market does dip, now suddenly it's trending down. You don't want to buy now because tomorrow it may be lower. Oh crap, the markets rebounded and now I'm not buying on a dip anymore.

I'd probably just pay down the mortgage, especially if you're feeling uncertain about market conditions and have already maxed out your tax-advantaged accounts. If you decide to invest, either dollar cost average or just put the money in and forget about it.
by antheus
Fri Jan 13, 2017 2:47 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Been renting for 10 years. Is it about time for me to get my own place?
Replies: 11
Views: 2445

Re: Been renting for 10 years. Is it about time for me to get my own place?

Great response by Jimb. I think that it is really important to run true numbers when looking at a rent vs. buy decision. I think that the general population often overestimates the financial benefits of home ownership and underestimates the downsides (and similarly underestimate the benefits of renting). This is even more true in high cost areas where these risks are magnified and options are often more limited or require more compromises. My personal criteria for buying a home is that I don't see myself needing another one in the foreseeable future (~10 years). Your criteria may be different.
by antheus
Fri Jan 13, 2017 2:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Auto Loan [vs. investing]
Replies: 41
Views: 5442

Re: Auto Loan [vs. investing]

smitcat wrote:At 2.19 % I would always finance the car/truck if it allowed me to make a 401k that also contained a company match.
With other details it would take a separate look with the exact tradeoffs. Home mortgages and business credit has other details related to the tax write-offs and n some cases it would make sense to finance a car/truck/bus etc.
This is a pretty good comment. If financing the car allows you to meet other clear financial goals and doesn't overextend you financially then it makes sense to me. The real benefit of taking out a car loan to hope to beat the interest rate investing is probably quite low though.
by antheus
Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:26 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Maximizing Social Security Payouts
Replies: 11
Views: 1657

Re: Maximizing Social Security Payouts

Thank you. Does one stop paying social security once they hit the 118k max social security wage or do you just continue to pay into social security without it contributing to your benefits?
by antheus
Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Maximizing Social Security Payouts
Replies: 11
Views: 1657

Maximizing Social Security Payouts

I have a question I couldn't quite find the answer to online regarding maximizing social security payouts. I understand that there's a maximum income at which your social security benefits no longer increase, let's say it's 100k a year. If you are a high earner (let's say 300k a year), would you get the same social security benefits if you work 30 years at 100k as you would working 10 years at 300k?
by antheus
Fri Apr 22, 2016 12:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: University of Virginia vs University of Miami
Replies: 148
Views: 17626

Re: University of Virginia vs University of Miami

A lot of people have varying opinions about this issue. Those who went to their state school for pennies will say "I got a great education and didn't have to pay a cent for it" and those who went to an "esteemed" out of state school will say "sure I had to pay more for it but I had an amazing experience and it was worth it for the connections I made." . . . . . College is just as much about what you learn outside of the classroom as what you learn in it and some would argue those are the more important lessons. Oh what a great post! And for your first post - how will you ever top it :shock: We all appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. :happy I'm sending it to my kids. I appreciate the kind wor...
by antheus
Thu Apr 21, 2016 3:01 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: University of Virginia vs University of Miami
Replies: 148
Views: 17626

Re: University of Virginia vs University of Miami

A lot of people have varying opinions about this issue. Those who went to their state school for pennies will say "I got a great education and didn't have to pay a cent for it" and those who went to an "esteemed" out of state school will say "sure I had to pay more for it but I had an amazing experience and it was worth it for the connections I made." I immigrated to South Florida when I was 9, worked my ass off in school and did exceptionally well. When it came time to apply for colleges, I elected to go to our cheap flagship (essentially free) public university and didn't even apply anywhere else (I don't know if I would have gotten into any Ivy League colleges but I definitely would have gotten into the Duke...