Bogleheads.org

retire2022 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:11 pm With the time, effort, and cost of materials cream and fresh ingredients, it is cheaper to buy high end ice cream than to make them.

The deal with gelato though, is that it’s best served freshly made. You can’t do that with something you get at the store and bring home.

Also, there’s the experience of making it yourself, using ingredients for your own garden.

Someone asked me the other day what my favorite brand of ice cream is, and my honest answer is my own. It’s just better.

I make a *lot* of ice cream, frozen yogurt, etc. I have a Cuisinart ICE-21. It’s pretty much the standard for home ice cream makers. Consumer ice cream machines churn slower than commercial machines, so homemade ice cream is usually pretty dense. I suspect you would have a hard time telling the difference between gelato made in a “gelato” machine, and the ICE-21. The ICE-21, since it has a freezer bowl instead of a compressor, is a *lot* cheaper. It’s also quicker to churn than most compressor machines, smaller and easier to store, and if you keep the freezer bowl in the freezer, you can use it whenever you want. It doesn’t require several hours to cool down before use like a compressor machine will. If I were just getting into gelato makin...

The mega tech companies all recruit at Purdue. I wouldn’t worry about its midwestern location from that perspective.

Again, I know nothing about Pitt, other than its location, which seems like a more interesting place to live than rural Indiana. I’ve never been there for recruiting, and never knowingly worked with a Pitt grad.

You can ask each university what companies recruit CS grads from the school. It might give you some insight you don’t have now.

Unless you have a pension or planning for your retirement spending to be significantly less than your current spending, you’re a bit behind on retirement savings. With one kid out of the house in 3 years, I would just stay the course and get some money saved.

I would also start diversifying out of the vested company stock, but that’s a separate issue.

If a better alternative appeared, I would invest in that. Right now, something better coming would be a black swan.

Otherwise, I just invest in a three fund portfolio according to my asset allocation.

It probably helps that I waited to retire until I had enough money to deal with contingencies. Having money in the bank makes it easier to deal with her market noise.

Wait. It says they’re working on it. It’s been taking what, 3 months for non-expedited passports to come? You still have at least a month and a half.

The software people I worked with who came from Purdue were solid engineers. Two thumbs up, would hire again.

I don’t know anything about Pitt, sorry.

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:11 am What is CS?

Computer Science.

Balance bikes weren’t really a thing when ours were that age, but that’s what I would do now.

We just waited until the kids were older, gave them scooters to learn balance on, and got them regular bikes once they mastered the scooters, at maybe 8 or 9.

As a gross generalization, people who live in areas with good MA plans can save a lot of money by using a MA plan. People who don’t, do better with a Medigap plan. I don’t know what plans look like where you are, but wife’s MA plan (Southern CA) is $0 premium, $0 deductible, most copays are $0, and she has a $2300 OOP max. The only way she could really hit her OOP max is with multiple week long hospital stays in the same year. It’s the same HMO she had when she was employed, and she’s always been happy with the providers and care. If she had Medigap, the premium would be more than her OOP max is now. Also anecdotal, but I was a super healthy athlete, until I got cancer one day at age 59. Now I don’t meet anybody’s underwriting standards. Th...

OP, I don’t see that this has been asked. What does your wife think of the idea?

If I were raising two young kids, and hubby came home proposing that he quit work and we could live for the rest of our lives on 30% less than the small amount we live on now…I would not be happy.

greg24 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:34 pm

investor_power wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:23 pmLol you want to quit work because your employer is asking you to come back to work? Employees these days....

It is truly amazing how many posters willfully ignore the fact that 83% of the department was laid off, and focus their anger on WFH.

The anger should be directed at the company.

OP’s anger does seem to be most focused on the fact that some others at the company are still able to work from home, and he isn’t.

Anyway, yeah, it’s probably time to leave this company. But there’s a wide range of possibilities that exist in between staying at a terrible job and quitting forever, undercapitalized, in your 30’s with young kids at home.

David Jay wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:06 am One rainy day in that space with small children will change your mind about any of the tiny solutions.

We had a trip in 2018 where we had significant rain 66 of the 91 days we were on the road, including the tail ends of three different hurricanes. We were very glad to have a place that was comfortable to stay inside all day.

And yeah, not having to use campground bathrooms and showers…ewww.

Hacksawdave wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:26 am

kchico wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 7:10 pm
Our portfolio is essentially my 401K and everything else on a single stock.

So, you have $284K in the 401k and all the other accounts are in a single stock. Does this single stock also happen to be your employer that is at the center of discussion? This one holding represents 84% of your portfolio.

Even worse than that. TSLA.

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 7:55 pm I was in a similar situation in my mid 30s. My solution was to find another job and work another 25 years. I recommend that solution to you.

I found myself in almost the same solution in my late 40s. My solution was to find another job and work until 61.

I had eight jobs in a 30 year career. The longest I was at any one place was 7 1/2 years. There’s always another job out there. The idea that “welp, this job didn’t work out after ten years, so I’m never gonna work again” is baffling.

retiredjg wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:49 pm I think people who are "driven" to the RV life don't really need the rental "try-out". These people know who they are.

For people who have never considered it before, like our original poster, I'm not sure that jumping in feet first with a large outlay of money is a good choice. Now, if original poster said "I've been mulling this over for months and just can't get it out of my mind", I'd say "go buy something and give it a whirl".

Renting was useful for us to figure out what type of RV we wanted. If we had just gone out and bought something, we would have spent a lot of money buying and selling the wrong thing repeatedly.

If this was so easy and risk free, why wouldn’t they just keep the property in their portfolio and pocket the money themselves?

kchico wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 7:27 pm

rob wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 7:16 pm I don't see any way this works to be honest....

So Bogleheads don't use the 4% SWR?

Not at age 38, with young kids at home. 4% is a SWR for a 30 year retirement.

Retiring at 38 because you have a bad job is a pretty extreme move. Most people just go out and find a new job.

Some returns can’t be e-filed. Yours is one. Just print it and buy a stamp.

rockstar wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 11:50 am I’d get one with a shower. That’s really the step up from tent camping.

Being fully self contained and not having to depend on campground bathrooms (or nature) is a very big deal.

You may not need all the features, but they tend to come with all the features, whether you want them or not. That all has a cost, and is why stuff is so expensive. I mean if you want no bathroom, no water, and a minimalist kitchen, that sounds a lot like a tent to me. Well, what does one want? The problem with cars, houses and RVs is that it is so tempting to buy more than what you need. Is a fiberglass egg basically a hard sided tent? Sure. Ours doesn't even have a AC, but it does have a heater. The point of RVing in our case is to spend time outside, not inside. For my wife it is important to have a reliable good and dry bed. So the add ons are not that important. Since Scamps are so simple they tend to hold their value pretty well. We ...

If you’re just looking to get up off the ground, a pop up trailer is probably going to give you the best bang for buck. Friends we travel with have one. They’ve been everywhere in it. It’s not luxurious, but plenty of space for a family and they can tow it with their midsize SUV. The problem with anything in the “small RV” space is that they all have to have the same stuff in them as larger RV’s, except in miniature, to fit it in the small space. Which makes it expensive. Often, the small ones are more expensive than larger ones for that reason. The problem with a pop-up is durability, which is sub-par. The roofs are known to leak after a few years. I will modestly disagree with the small RV point. Do you need all of the features of a larg...

As far as snorkeling review websites or some such, no, I haven’t found anything all that useful. It seems like a miss and there would be a market for a site like that. Part of the problem is that a lot of the best snorkeling sites *are* only really available by boat. And also, it’s the tour operators that buy ads on websites. So there’s that.

For others in a business/professional environment where you have to wear nice shirts each day, Wear a cotton undershirt that feels good on your skin and then a non-iron dress shirt over that. In those sorts of environments where I'm not sweating, I will wear the shirt two or three times before having it laundered. When I remove it, I hang it back up at the end of the line so I'm not wearing it back to back. Wear and wash the undershirt as normal. This. In an office environment, at least in cooler weather, if you’re wearing a cotton t-shirt, you should be able to wear the dress shirt for a couple of days before laundering. Just don’t spill anything on it. Personally, I just left the ironing board set up all the time, and ironed the shirt I ...

If you’re just looking to get up off the ground, a pop up trailer is probably going to give you the best bang for buck. Friends we travel with have one. They’ve been everywhere in it. It’s not luxurious, but plenty of space for a family and they can tow it with their midsize SUV.

The problem with anything in the “small RV” space is that they all have to have the same stuff in them as larger RV’s, except in miniature, to fit it in the small space. Which makes it expensive. Often, the small ones are more expensive than larger ones for that reason.

You say you’re insecure about your job situation. If you were to lose your jobs, would the next job be closer or further from the new location? The best thing my wife and I ever did was live where we had reverse commutes to the job centers for our professions. When the inevitable next job came, we hadn’t put ourselves an hour or more away from it.

Moving from a townhouse to a place where acre lots are the norm will increase the amount you drive, even if you’re WFH, so figure increased car expenses into your budget.

As far as schools, most public schools serve middle class kids in middle class neighborhoods just fine. I personally wouldn’t upend my life and finances because the newspaper is talking trash about the district.

FB01 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:32 pm

doobiedoo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:08 pm I recommend a rafting trip with someone like Moab Adventure Center [assuming everyone knows how to swim].
We did the all-day Westwater Canyon rafting in June. It was terrific! And your kids are at the right age.

https://www.moabadventurecenter.com/moab-river-rafting

Wouldn't the water be pretty chilly in April?

Yes, it’s snowmelt. It’s cold. I remember rafting in the rain, and the rain coming out of the sky was warmer than the water in the river. But you’re not in the water, you’re on top of it. If they dump a bunch of day trippers in the water, they’ve done something wrong.

Many places in the west, the river rafting is best in spring, because that’s when there’s actually water.

When I read the thread title, my first thought was “on the back of the car, of course.”

Anyway, we used UHaul for our CR-V. We were just installing it to use a bike rack, so we didn’t have any wiring done or anything. It was pretty straightforward.

cbox wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:30 am Do you monitor the iPhone forum on mac rumors? I've seen a number of threads there about disappointing camera on 14 pro. Here's one:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ip ... a.2372919/

There are threads on every forum about every disappointing thing in the world. The internet is uniformly negative, and any idiot who either doesn’t know how to use their device, or has overwrought expectations will post how they’re disappointed. The camera on a 14 Pro is a couple of generations newer and better than the SE that OP currently has. If camera performance matters to OP, it’s a worthwhile upgrade.

The Pro and Pro Max have the same camera. Which is a fabulous camera, as you already know.

Either camera is going to be shockingly large and heavy compared to your SE. when I got the 14 Pro after having an X, it was an adjustment, to say the least. My opinion is the Max is just too darn big (and I wish the Pro were smaller), but you have to decide things like that yourself.

I think your spending is basically fine. Stuff costs what it costs, and there isn’t a lot of slop in your budget.

The one thing I would mention is the lack of insurance. You need to have health insurance and homeowners/renters insurance. If something happens, not having those could more than blow up any money you saved by not having them.

I would also look at ways to increase income. You have a lot more leeway to make a difference there, than by being uber frugal.

The last time I did it, they sent me a refurbished phone in the mail, and I returned my dead phone back in the same mailer. It was a couple of years ago. Maybe they still do that.

Hah! You want hard... do them the old fashioned way... with paper and pencil and a calculator. They are not that hard but may be confusing at times. I have never, never, trusted tax preparation software. I tried it once ages ago... didn't understand what the software was doing or the results. Why have two black-boxes involved? Get you forms and instructions, understand your forms and which you need and fill the boxes in and do the simple math. SImple. Some of the form interdependencies can be confusing but not really if you follow the instructions. However, each year the forms seems to get more complicated... which schedule do I need: 1, 2, 3, 4, ... N? Hah! It is a challenge. My method: Do them fairly early... let them marinade for a few ...

sport wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:55 pm I got to take a short trip on some else's motor home one time. I disliked the experience intensely. I really disliked staying in camp grounds where everyone seemed to go to sleep as soon as it got dark and one had to be very quiet after 8:30 PM. So, no music, no TV. Very boring.

Where was that? My experience in campgrounds has been the exact opposite, wanting to sleep while the people in the next site were having a party.

Nobody has ever stopped me from watching TV inside the motorhome. Frankly, how would they even know I was doing that?

I don’t know anything about this motorhome, or European motorhomes in general, so I can’t comment about that. We’ve owned a small (by US standards) motorhome for the last several years, and spent 3-4 months every year traveling. We’re in the middle of selling it. We’ve been the places we want to go, and my health is not good enough to travel that way anymore. The main pro is that you take your home with you, and can get the wilderness places you want to hike than you can staying in inns. It was nice to be able to wake up right by the trailhead, rather than having to drive to wherever we were going from town. Also, nice to sleep in our own bed and eat our own food. The main con is that motorhomes are not reliable like cars are. You’re always...

I’ve always done taxes myself, even when I was having to file two single returns using the MFS and income splitting rules because we were in a gay marriage in a community property state. And yes, that was as much of a pain as it sounds like. I like doing it myself because it forces me to learn our tax laws and how they relate to our situation, which helps me make better financial decisions. One thing that has helped is that my financial life changes slowly enough that in any given year, there might only be one or two things that are new and have to be researched. I will say, however, that there have been times when I made particular financial decisions because the decision would lead to simpler taxes rather than necessarily paying less. Als...

At your income and asset level I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter. Personally, I would save the $700k in a money market until you find the house you want, then decide whether to pay cash or finance based on your bank balance and mortgage rates at the time you buy.

You’re fine. The one thing I would be concerned about is I think you’re probably seriously underestimating living expenses going forward, but you have enough cushion that I’m not sure it matters. Stuff happens in life. Some of it, like needing a new roof or a new car, we can predict. Other things, like getting cancer at age 59 and suddenly having $10k in additional medical expenses every year for the rest of our lives, we can’t always predict. The other thing is that you might actually *want* to increase your spending, to do things like travel and hobbies that cost more than what you’re doing now. Forty years of retiring “on the cheap” sounds good before you do it, but may not be so great once you’re five or ten years into it. Just “not wor...

A tile floor, with or without a curb, will look much classier than a shower pan or tub. Same with glass shower walls vs a curtain. If I were going to spend the money to get a new bathroom, there is no way I would cheap out on this. Glass looks better, is easier to clean, and you don’t have a slimy shower curtain trying to stick to you all the time. A tub is harder to step in and out of than a shower. This becomes increasingly important as we mature. Dimmer vs. no dimmer is like a $5 difference. It’s a light switch. Not sure why you would choose no dimmer. Lightning is an aesthetic choice. Not sure anyone can answer that without seeing your room. In a small room, though, I would avoid things sticking out from the walls, except maybe over the...

Is it a flat fee or based on miles driven? Once a system can be put in place that is similar in all states and at the federal level, many of the perceived economic advantages of an EV will start to disappear. cool the house at night or charge the car and be miserable at night. Tough choices We’re not exactly talking about unsolvable problems. My 1929 house had a service panel upgrade, from 80 to 250 amps, back when I wanted to run the AC on my motorhome a few years back. It wasn’t really that big of a deal. If your house was built in 1929 and had an 80A panel it may have been upgraded in its past. I can think of several neighborhoods in our state where many homes have 30A or 60A service and many still use knob and tube wiring. None of them...

If the property isn’t in the name of the trust, it isn’t part of the trust, so the disposition of the property is probably handled by the will. Most people with trusts also have what’s called a pour over will, which says that the trust inherits anything that isn’t part of the trust. But there may be exceptions, and we don’t know what dad’s will says. Regardless, if the real estate is outside the trust, it probably does have to go through probate.

MA charges an annual excise tax for all vehicles, including EVs. Is it a flat fee or based on miles driven? Once a system can be put in place that is similar in all states and at the federal level, many of the perceived economic advantages of an EV will start to disappear. It doesn’t matter how much your total service is, what matters is the amount you’re using at once. Most people charge at night when they’re not using the electricity for other things, so 100A will be enough. ACs are usually humming away down in the South during the summer. cool the house at night or charge the car and be miserable at night. Tough choices We’re not exactly talking about unsolvable problems. My 1929 house had a service panel upgrade, from 80 to 250 amps, b...

Are you talking about real estate? Is the property titled in dad’s name, or in the name of the trust?

Planner01 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 7:29 am We love Costco. We shop at the store every weekend and our cruises and rental cars are always booked from their travel agency. However I’ve priced out generators, kitchff den cabinets, flooring and blinds through them and it’s always significantly more expensive, by at least 20% in all counts.

20% more expensive than what? We haven’t found that to be the case.

MA charges an annual excise tax for all vehicles, including EVs. Is it a flat fee or based on miles driven? Once a system can be put in place that is similar in all states and at the federal level, many of the perceived economic advantages of an EV will start to disappear. It doesn’t matter how much your total service is, what matters is the amount you’re using at once. Most people charge at night when they’re not using the electricity for other things, so 100A will be enough. ACs are usually humming away down in the South during the summer. cool the house at night or charge the car and be miserable at night. Tough choices We’re not exactly talking about unsolvable problems. My 1929 house had a service panel upgrade, from 80 to 250 amps, b...

The subsidiary companies kick money upwards.

CC1E wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:21 am Objectively realtors serve little purpose, especially when the market is hot. But the reality is that a buyer’s realtor won’t tell them about FDBO listings since they want to protect themselves. So you’re stuck using a realtor if you want to get a lot of interested buyers.

Given that they do almost zero work, don’t let them charge you the “standard” 6% sale commission. Should be easy to find one who will do it for 4%.

I’ve never had a realtor do “almost zero work”. If that’s your experience, you’re not hiring the right people.

It doesn’t matter how much your total service is, what matters is the amount you’re using at once. Most people charge at night when they’re not using the electricity for other things, so 100A will be enough.

One issue with relying on social security is that you’ve probably made the assumption that you and your will both be alive, still married, and both collecting benefits. This is possible, but not a given. You might want to run the numbers again assuming each spouse has to go solo. Relying entirely on SS is not something I would personally be comfortable with.

ClevrChico wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:30 am

rockstar wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 11:52 am Greyhound from rescue.

They’re not small. But they’re the calmest dogs I’ve met.

I agree with this, 100%. I know someone that surrendered their greyhound for being "too calm".

It’s become hard to get a rescue greyhound, because there are few racing greyhounds left in North America. I know that our local rescue, which was handling several hundred greyhounds per year five years ago, has branched out to handle other breeds now, because there are so few greyhounds available.