Search found 207 matches

by Frank Grimes
Fri Feb 02, 2024 1:46 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inherited IRA questions - new to this
Replies: 8
Views: 713

Re: Inherited IRA questions - new to this

Your thoughts match my understanding. One point you might like to clarify, is whether Grandmother had retitled the IRA as "her own" when Grandfather died, or whether she kept it as an inherited IRA at that time. There used to be some differences in treatment depending on that circumstance; not sure if there still are with the inherited IRA law changes in the past several years. You might very well wish to roll over the IRA to your own brokerage and manage from there. ***not my inheritance not my choice*** but what I’ll probably recommend is to just withdraw everything at once, assuming it won’t change our tax bracket. Don’t know the amount but I cannot imagine this is a life altering amount and we’ll likely be working our same jo...
by Frank Grimes
Fri Feb 02, 2024 1:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inherited IRA questions - new to this
Replies: 8
Views: 713

Re: Inherited IRA questions - new to this

Pro rata rule: For years, DW and I have been over the income limits and so we’ve each done backdoor Roths. If I am interpreting wiki topics correctly, receiving this inherited IRA in 2024 has no impact with regard to both DW’s and my ability to continue to each do backdoor Roth’s in 2024 and onwards. Essentially we can ignore this inherited IRA entirely when it comes to figuring the pro-rata rules for non-deductible contributions/conversions on form 8606. I suggest using this inherited IRA's proceeds to fund your wife's Roth. I did similar with inheritance for my DW, using contributions to convert taxable $ to Roth $ over 20 years. Great point. Yeah one way or another we intend to keep funding a backdoor Roth. Just making sure it’d still b...
by Frank Grimes
Fri Feb 02, 2024 11:00 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inherited IRA questions - new to this
Replies: 8
Views: 713

Inherited IRA questions - new to this

Hello all, frequent BH reader and occasional poster here. DW recently lost her grandmother in late 2023. DW was just notified that she was listed as a beneficiary on two accounts, a traditional IRA and a “non-qualified account” (which I’m taking to mean a taxable brokerage account, using common BH forum parlance). The financial advisor at which these accounts were held will be setting up an inherited IRA and “non-qualified account” in her name to receive the assets. DW and I are not yet 40, so the inheritance process is a new experience for us. I’m the “financial one” in this relationship and have been a forum reader for several years, so I’ve read through the wiki as well as older forum topics and linked articles and want to confirm I am t...
by Frank Grimes
Thu Feb 01, 2024 12:07 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Products for white hair
Replies: 52
Views: 6535

Re: Products for white hair

UpperNwGuy wrote: Sun Apr 09, 2023 4:50 am I started turning gray in my late 20s. Never felt the need to hide it.
Same. I’m half gray or more now before turning 40. My stunning good looks outweigh any need to dye.
by Frank Grimes
Fri Jan 12, 2024 11:38 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: If you are able to accomplish these, please tell me how
Replies: 112
Views: 24852

Re: If you are able to accomplish these, please tell me how

[quote=kurious post_id=7640868 time=<a href="tel:1704708080">1704708080</a> user_id=114089] Hello Bogleheads, I need your help. As someone who grew up in a society where house help is the norm and now a parent to a 1-year old, I struggle with discipline, energy, and motivation to accomplish what I want to in a day consistently. If you accomplish the following consistently: 1. You and your spouse work 50 hours each every week 2. Both of you are able to get 90 minutes at the gym/other physical activity every day (including commute) 3. 10-20 hours of study and reflection every week while also bringing up your child well, please share some insights/tips on how you get it done. [/quote] Others have covered the realistic vs not realisti...
by Frank Grimes
Mon Oct 30, 2023 11:42 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Your ****Coffee Bean*** discoveries and preferences: Brand-type-source? Grinds? Brews? Presses? Drips? Perks? Pour overs
Replies: 272
Views: 26534

Re: Your Coffee Bean discoveries and preferences: Brand-type-source? Brews?

What do you find you don’t like about those coffees sandtrap? I’d think that even if you find a brand you like there will be enough variability from bag to bag that it won’t be identical. Maybe try doing cold brew like klang suggested. I’ve made some very smooth delicious and light coffee from the lousiest supermarket beans I had using that method. I’m a home roaster (Behmor) and buy beans from happy mug in 5lb quantities. Usually just go for their near cheapest central or South American varieties and shoot for a full city roast as I have low personal standards and roasting skill but I spring for the the good Ethiopian varieties when they’re in season and do a city-city+ roast with those. Tremendous flavor on those when you get the blueberr...
by Frank Grimes
Mon Jul 31, 2023 12:01 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tesla suppressed driving range complaints
Replies: 174
Views: 14801

Re: Tesla suppressed driving range complaints

My 2016 Subaru also has a wildly inaccurate “miles left” estimate screen that insists I have 70 miles of range left then 5 minutes later flashes that I need to get to a gas station ASAP. Maybe I should sue them too. That's exactly as intended. For a Subaru, the warning light comes on when there are about 2.5 gallons left and about 60 to 80 miles to go. They aren't misleading you. I was mostly being facetious…but it’s not the warning light I was referring to, it’s the same screen showing 70 miles or whatever and then switching to display “please refuel now” Point is, I take the “miles remaining” screen with a grain of salt, just like I take our Tesla miles remaining meter with a grain of salt when I’m driving less than optimally, like 70mph...
by Frank Grimes
Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tesla suppressed driving range complaints
Replies: 174
Views: 14801

Re: Tesla suppressed driving range complaints

My 2016 Subaru also has a wildly inaccurate “miles left” estimate screen that insists I have 70 miles of range left then 5 minutes later flashes that I need to get to a gas station ASAP. Maybe I should sue them too.
by Frank Grimes
Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: "Upgrading" a Subaru Forester to a Tesla Model Y?
Replies: 133
Views: 13311

Re: "Upgrading" a Subaru Forester to a Tesla Model Y?

Interestingly a couple years ago we had nearly the same exact fleet of vehicles as the OP:

2019 Mazda CX-5
2016 Forester

…but instead opted to dump the Mazda in favor of a model 3 Tesla. No regrets.
by Frank Grimes
Wed Jul 12, 2023 12:23 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Millennials Need 3-4 Million To Retire
Replies: 504
Views: 59891

Re: Millennials Need 3-4 Million To Retire

OP is worried that there is a significant percentage of millennials who are capable of saving $3mil for retirement (who aren’t already doing so) and magically become super savers because of psychological FOMO? Thus leading to a generation of retired multimillionaires and resulting super inflation?

I think there are probably more important things to worry about.
by Frank Grimes
Thu May 25, 2023 12:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Counter Top Coffee Roasting
Replies: 85
Views: 6300

Re: Counter Top Coffee Roasting

I store green beans in the house in the ziploc they came in. That part is pretty uncomplicated.

Also green prices being like $5 a lb are still way below what an equivalent tasting coffee would cost at the store. Still economical in my book.
by Frank Grimes
Thu May 25, 2023 12:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Counter Top Coffee Roasting
Replies: 85
Views: 6300

Re: Counter Top Coffee Roasting

I use a Behmor which is great, can roast 1/2 lb comfortably and is very user friendly.

But yeah by no means should you use any roaster in the house. It smokes like crazy, smells (charitably) like burnt popcorn and the chaff gets everywhere even with a chaff collector. I do it in the garage.
by Frank Grimes
Wed May 03, 2023 11:24 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Financial Advisors - long original post
Replies: 48
Views: 4999

Re: Financial Advisors - long original post

Just wanted to chime in and say that a “fiduciary” financial advisor sold me a variable annuity using my Roth IRA funds.

Yeah it could be argued it was in my interest, maybe was even tailor made for me based on the financially ignorant way I answered questions. But that wasn’t nearly the best and brightest option, in fact it was a terrible option once I gained a little education here.

So “fiduciary” = great label and concept but they’re still gonna look out for #1 to some degree.
by Frank Grimes
Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:45 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What are some of the best grills under $750? | First time buyer
Replies: 84
Views: 7414

Re: What are some of the best grills under $750? | First time buyer

.... and it seems that I can grill a good steak by 0/ set all burners to high and close the cover 1/ place the steak outside of the refrigerator for 10 minutes to get to room temperature 2/ add salt and black pepper on all sides of the steak 3/ soak it in butter 4/ open the grill and and turn one or two of the burners to medium or low. 5/ place the steak at an angle for 2 minutes on the side of the grill that is still set high 6/ re - angle it at 90° for maximum touch surface for another 2 minutes 7/ flip the steak and redo 5/ and 6/ on this side 8/ move the steak to the low temperature area for a minute on each side. 9/ aim for 125°F for medium rear. What do you think?? 1. Put a 2” thick well seasoned (S&P) steak in a freezer bag 2. I...
by Frank Grimes
Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Rain collector bypass
Replies: 9
Views: 1167

Re: Rain collector bypass

My rain barrel has an overflow hole with a hose attachment. That way when the barrel gets full, the excess gets redirected without overflowing - in my case I attached a hose leading directly to the garden.

If your barrel doesn’t have such a feature I’d think it’d be real easy to find a kit to add one.
by Frank Grimes
Thu Jan 19, 2023 12:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Opinions on buying both a Tesla and a Lexus
Replies: 137
Views: 14464

Re: Opinions on buying both a Tesla and a Lexus

(what is the question here and are you really sharing enough detail to get solid advice? Assuming it’s something like “can I reasonably afford this”) As other folks have said, it’s all dependent on your long term savings goals. But that’s a pretty low savings rate on that income for me personally to feel comfortable buying $200k of cars. How secure is that passive income and is that your only source of income? If there are any interruptions that $2.4 million will be gone pretty quick at your burn rate, since after buying these cars you’ll be saving nothing every month. None of my business too but I also question the unexplained “the second luxury car is not for me” but yet you absolutely have to buy it. Based on your income and stated desir...
by Frank Grimes
Tue Aug 24, 2021 2:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 529 plans - what to know?
Replies: 1
Views: 346

Re: 529 plans - what to know?

First kid in the family (cousin) is on the way, and we're super excited! Thinking the appropriate `baby gift' is to open and fund a 529 plan. Kid's parents (and funders) are all residents of NC. Pretty likely kid would go to NC school (UNC or NC State) based on parents, but things change. What do I need to know about best way to setup 529 plan? - Already max out federal deductions (unless gifts to 529 bypass?) - Plans with better investment options, and/or more flexibility for student to use in future i.e. private and/or out-of-state at no penalty - If there are options specific to NC that provide advantages if used to go to school in NC - Would be planning to fund much of the initial seed $ w/ a few 1k / 500 gift cards (Visa) I've got aro...
by Frank Grimes
Thu May 13, 2021 1:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Hiking solo in the [Smoky] Mountains
Replies: 89
Views: 10797

Re: Hiking solo in the Smoking Mountains

Like what others have said, make noise while you hike and use the cables at the camps to hoist your food and trash and anything else scented (deodorant, toothpaste, etc) - to be sure I just put the cover on my pack and hoist the whole thing up overnight.

If you encounter one get big and make noise. I came across a big one in the park once and did just that and it wandered on off. Shouldn't even need to get close enough to use bear spray. I'd almost be more concerned about pissing one off by using that.

and please pack your trash out with you...
by Frank Grimes
Tue May 11, 2021 11:53 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much do you target for a 529 plan?
Replies: 93
Views: 13541

Re: How much do you target for a 529 plan?

Why limit choices to UNC? But if UNC is the only choice, then save up $40k to cover 4 years current cost and reevaluate each year going forward. I was just using UNC as a data point as far as in-state tuition where we currently live- as a two year old, pretty hard to tell where we will even be living in 16 years, or if she will be able to get in there! I did the same for my targeting purposes, just to have a ballpark of flagship state school costs. That said, GTHCGTH. We heavily funded our kids' 529s when they were infants/toddlers for compounding purposes so now at ages 4 and 6 they have about $250k between them. I think we're pretty much done contributing, although grandparents may continue to put a little in there for birthdays and such.
by Frank Grimes
Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:56 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What are your staple healthy meals?
Replies: 122
Views: 12293

Re: What are your staple healthy meals?

Breakfast every weekday is overnight oatmeal with rolled oats, milk, a few frozen blueberries, cinnamon, brown sugar and chia seeds. Plus a protein powder mixed with water "shake" if I work out or run. Lunch every weekday is a spinach salad with olive oil and balsamic, with iceberg lettuce for crunch, with a deli meat and cheese sandwich (my great weakness) Healthy dinner staples (for family of 4) include coconut lentil curry (which becomes a big stew with tons of veggies), chickpea tikka masala, Thai style coconut curry over brown rice, split pea and ham soup, red beans and rice, and various stir fry winging it mixtures of veggies and chicken. Obviously we make other things but these are staples that pop up at least once a month....
by Frank Grimes
Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:36 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I'm super -confused about Tax Loss Harvesting
Replies: 7
Views: 629

Re: I'm super -confused about Tax Loss Harvesting

In some cases, the loss you take can be applied against ordinary income and the future (presumed) gain will be taxed as a capital gain which is taxed at a lower rate than the ordinary income you offset. That's a win.

edit: looks like terran hit this in point 1 above
by Frank Grimes
Tue Oct 13, 2020 10:04 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How do Bogleheads cope with not beating the market?
Replies: 142
Views: 13461

Re: How do Bogleheads cope with not beating the market?

Extra effort can help the layperson succeed in many fields of life but ordinary investing isn't one of them. The extra effort trying to "beat the market" has no guarantee of helping and may actually result in lower performance, especially over a longer period of time. It's like wondering why someone would settle for winning 6 out of 10 coin flips and not striving for better than that. Sure, you might be able to get 7 or better but you probably won't and your extra effort won't change the result. And yeah I put 6 of 10 because adhering to the rest of BH principles actually gets you above average returns when you avoid tax drags and high expenses.
by Frank Grimes
Mon May 18, 2020 3:32 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What kind of sunglasses?
Replies: 110
Views: 9663

Re: What kind of sunglasses?

Smith with chroma-pop lenses are great.
by Frank Grimes
Mon May 18, 2020 1:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Gardening 2020
Replies: 227
Views: 22207

Re: Gardening 2020

We have had an amazing spring weather-wise in NC so the garden has surged. Tomatoes and cucumbers (along with some volunteer zinnias) are doing well in one raised bed and the deer "visits" have been fortunately infrequent. I have been sprinkling Milorganite around the bed and on some of the cucumber leaves - this is a fertilizer made from municipal wastewater treatment, uh, waste so it has a certain odor to it (not what you'd think) that I think discourages the deer.

In a second raised bed I have some herbs growing along with radishes planted in batches on a 2-3 week stagger so I'll have a consistent yield for daily salads.
by Frank Grimes
Fri May 15, 2020 2:59 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What NOW!! [Portfolio help]
Replies: 38
Views: 2697

Re: What NOW!! [Portfolio help]

Nine million dollars and retired? I guess it's easy for me to say but with that kind of scratch I'd buy 50/50 or 40/60 today, turn off the financial cable news forever and offset any capital gains with those carryforward losses for even longer than forever.
by Frank Grimes
Fri May 15, 2020 2:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Has Your Spending Changed Since The Shutdown?
Replies: 180
Views: 10328

Re: Has Your Spending Changed Since The Shutdown?

Grocery spending has gone up considerably as we're eating 21 out of 21 meals a week at home now. Which was not too different than we did previously as we rarely ate out and packed lunches 4/5 days a week. But in looking closer we used to have kids in daycare (meals for them there) and eating things like fish and shrimp ($$$) more often in order to have some more interesting things for dinner. Plus I slightly overbuy every week in case I can't make it to the store a particular day and want to keep the pantry healthy.

This has been way more than offset by daycare costs going to zero.
by Frank Grimes
Fri Mar 13, 2020 3:13 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments
Replies: 51
Views: 3296

Re: NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments

Covid-19 is not Ebola. I'm more afraid of the panic than the virus. I'm not seeing exponential growth and it's been almost two months since the first case in the US. Well sure, you won’t see exponential growth when we aren’t testing people. To date, the US has tested ~11,000 people. Total. Since this started. South Korea is testing >20,000 per day. Well, but if this is the sort of virus that unless you test you can't even tell it is there ... why are people so afraid of it then? In places like Indonesia, the only cases they've found are the ones where they've done contact tracing on known infected. Meanwhile, surely there are thousands of people out there over the last three months who have already been infected. No one knows. Life goes on...
by Frank Grimes
Thu Mar 12, 2020 9:25 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Large amount of cash to invest, not sure if I should wait for further dip. Thoughts?
Replies: 32
Views: 4336

Re: Large amount of cash to invest, not sure if I should wait for further dip. Thoughts?

Similarly we just had a large lump sum arrive from bonus season and it is time for my annual portfolio rebalance. What timing. I'll give that a look in the next couple days and see how out of whack we are from 80/20 to best deploy that lump sum...but I must admit I'm not feeling a huge rush to get that done ASAP seeing daily drops of 5-10% across the board.

For the next couple days I'm looking to TLH some old industry tilt ETF positions that until now were capital gains and immediately flipping them to total stock market.
by Frank Grimes
Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How Do you Exercise Indoors?
Replies: 127
Views: 12407

Re: How Do you Exercise Indoors?

Timely thread! I'm on my second week of using a rowing machine nightly. I have been running weekends for cardio but I wanted to add more during the week for heart health. I am lousy about getting up early to run before work. Plus spouse wants to exercise more and we needed convenience with work schedules and kids. We got a cheap Stamina rower that seems to work pretty well (uses magnetic resistance) and I have set it up in front of the TV to go at it in the evenings for a half hour/2ish mile pace on varying resistance levels. I like that it engages a lot more muscle groups than running - my upper and lower back, glutes/hams, abs and upper arms all feel the burn to some extent so I think there will be some toning benefits. And they're differ...
by Frank Grimes
Mon Feb 24, 2020 11:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best watch for around $5,000? [Archived]
Replies: 1479
Views: 347500

Re: Best watch for around $5,000?

Xennial here. The quicker that trend accelerates, the better for me. That way I can slide in and get a deal on a Rolex Explorer.
by Frank Grimes
Thu Feb 06, 2020 3:37 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Well, I am market timing due to coronavirus... Wish me luck.
Replies: 1439
Views: 157432

Re: Well, I am market timing... Wish me luck.

Good that I saw this thread today, as I was getting ready to do my regular monthly purchase I was a little iffy and considering whether to buy right after a couple really big days or maybe waiting for a drop day. Good reminder and boost of confidence to hit that buy order.
by Frank Grimes
Thu Jan 09, 2020 9:30 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How do YOU make coffee?
Replies: 342
Views: 30049

Re: How do YOU make coffee?

TonyDAntonio wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 9:08 am To folks who burr grind, is there a huge difference vs a regular blade type of grinder? I pour over in a paper filter after years of French press.
Thanks.
I think it'd be most noticeably different in the French press. Consistent grind size will mean consistent extraction so for me as a relative coffee newbie that means smoother taste and less harsh flavors. In my old blade grinder the French press would always have that sludge at the bottom of the cup from the dust that results from the blade grinder. No more with the burr grinder.
by Frank Grimes
Mon Jan 06, 2020 3:51 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Now is a good time to start tracking your net worth.
Replies: 123
Views: 13531

Re: Now is a good time to start tracking your net worth.

When I have a bad day at work I can back-of-napkin NW in a minute which helps me relax a bit haha. Anything more precise than that can be handled when I check the overall portfolio a couple times a year for allocations and rebalancing. Even then I'd just ballpark an estimate for equity in my home and ignore things like cars and personal possessions. Doesn't seem like there'd be a lot of utility in getting super detailed with those sorts of items other than getting the total NW number to slightly inch upward. Plus that way I'll just assume that they can net against whatever my credit card balance is for that month that has not yet paid.
by Frank Grimes
Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How do you spend $$ on yourself?
Replies: 108
Views: 13825

Re: How do you spend $$ on yourself?

I really don't spend that much on myself now that I think about it. As with most folks here I try to buy quality and value, preferably at the same time. In general if I have a fixed dollar amount I'd rather use that to buy small amounts of high quality stuff rather than a bunch of cheaper stuff.
by Frank Grimes
Fri Nov 15, 2019 3:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best thing you have ever bought?
Replies: 151
Views: 16973

Re: Best thing you have ever bought?

I may have recency bias but the Indian food I bought for lunch was terrific
by Frank Grimes
Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Inside Fisher Investments
Replies: 123
Views: 15822

Re: Inside Fisher Investments

They always have the most fancy mailers. "The favor of your reply is requested" and "I believe congratulations are in order." Over-flattering the folks who've happened to amass a bit of savings to join their exclusive club.

I've been getting these things for many years because I have the same name as my old man and somehow they got their lines crossed. Now that I'd probably qualify for their exclusive club the mailers are going in the recycling as I have no interest in a 100% equities stock picker portfolio.
by Frank Grimes
Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Who does your tax returns?
Replies: 103
Views: 7710

Re: Who does your tax returns?

For the first couple of years after college I did them and my future wife's by hand and mailed them for fed and state. 1040EZ at the time was super easy. Ever since I've been using TurboTax. It is very quick to use as it rolls forward prior year information to reduce inputs. I have a fairly simple return (W2s, investment stuff and schedule A) so I feel fully capable of preparing my taxes for that. 75% of it is get W2, 1099, 1098 etc and enter it into tax return form. Like many of you, the fact that I have prepared them for years allows me to get the gist of what "should" result from my inputs in the questionnaire part. I still frequently toggle to the forms view quite often to make sure my responses to the questionnaire generate t...
by Frank Grimes
Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When to put on new roof?
Replies: 34
Views: 3989

Re: When to put on new roof?

RickBoglehead wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:34 am
Shallowpockets wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:27 am If you have no leak issues with your roof why not wait until a hail storm and damage to the roof. Then your insurance will come into play.
Actually, it may not.

My mother's roof is over 20 years old, original to the house. Had a leak develop and cause damage. Insurance has agreed to pay interior damage, but has denied paying for roof repair or replacement citing "lack of maintenance". They said "can you show any work order or receipt of an inspection / repair of the roof", and the answer was no.
It's the hail damage that gets the insurance to replace it, not normal wear and tear
by Frank Grimes
Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:35 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: When to put on new roof?
Replies: 34
Views: 3989

Re: When to put on new roof?

Shallowpockets wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:27 am If you have no leak issues with your roof why not wait until a hail storm and damage to the roof. Then your insurance will come into play.
Yup. It's likely dependent on the area as to how it will affect your homeowner's insurance but after a hail storm the roofing companies flood our market with ads. We bit on that a few years back at my old house. The roofing company handles getting the insurance adjuster our there to confirm the damage and it ends up not affecting your insurance rate. Just costs you the insurance deductible OOP for a new roof. Not bad.
by Frank Grimes
Tue Oct 08, 2019 11:37 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Hillarious insight on having $5 Million
Replies: 14
Views: 6894

Re: Hillarious insight on having $5 Million

Can't retire with $5 million? I feel like I could make that work
by Frank Grimes
Tue Oct 08, 2019 11:30 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tactics to pay off Mortgage Early??
Replies: 63
Views: 9050

Re: Tactics to pay off Mortgage Early??

We bought our house 3 years ago and have approx. $325k remaining on a 30 yr mortgage at 3.25% fixed rate. So I'm not overly concerned with paying it off really early.

However just for good measure I add $100 extra principal per month to the mortgage payment because I won't really miss $100/mo that much in the scheme of things and when I ran the numbers initially it showed that doing so would chop a couple years off the 30 year term. So I have that going for me.
by Frank Grimes
Wed Oct 02, 2019 2:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Non stick pan preference?
Replies: 46
Views: 4981

Re: Non stick pan preference?

Cheap Calphalon 8" skillet I bought a decade ago that I use only for eggs.

If I was to have to replace mine today I would again get a cheap Teflon pan. Maybe even cheaper than the calphalon. Don't see the reason for getting something expensive non-stick like All Clad since the surface is bound to wear off eventually. My everyday cooking is done on stainless steel which I don't need to be non-stick and which I expect will last a hundred years.
by Frank Grimes
Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:34 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Credit Card Points - Best options?
Replies: 29
Views: 7637

Re: Credit Card Points - Best options?

I like the BofA suite of cards for someone looking to maximize cash back, however this requires you keep $100k with them in one of a variety of ways, most notably for BH would be to store $100k worth of ETF's with them and call it a day. 3.5% back at dining/travel, 2.625% everywhere else. Straight and to the point and the $95 annual fee is wiped out by $100 of airline incidentals (seat upgrade, luggage checked, in flight wifi, drinks, etc etc) you get. If you want travel perks, you will want to spend a considerable amount of time reading up on flyertalk. There are very lucrative benefits (Free flights, upgrades, airport lounge access, free hotels, status, etc etc.) to investigating these types of things with very little effort but if you f...
by Frank Grimes
Fri Sep 20, 2019 12:57 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I actually finance this car?
Replies: 28
Views: 2509

Re: Should I actually finance this car?

I mean, it sounds like he needs a new car anyway (12 year old car with check engine lights and likely some old age car problems about to surface).

And the one he wants is a $25-30k car (not a luxury doctormobile) that he could just about write a check for right now (said he could pay $24k in cash for a car) but would rather take advantage of the 0% financing.

Other than maybe trying to get a better top line price this seems reasonable enough to me.
by Frank Grimes
Fri Sep 20, 2019 12:02 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I actually finance this car?
Replies: 28
Views: 2509

Re: Should I actually finance this car?

I'd probably try to negotiate that top line $30k price and then discuss the financing after you've come to an agreement on the top line. They may just be trying to get you to bite using the 0% because they'll be making good money at $30k.

Otherwise yeah, I'd probably just finance the newer car due to the updated safety features and things. You can always just pay it all off in a year if you wanted.
by Frank Grimes
Tue Sep 17, 2019 12:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How do you spend money to gain time? (young family)
Replies: 155
Views: 14306

Re: How do you spend money to gain time? (young family)

Kids are 4.5 and 2.5 and both of us work. Spend money to gain time? Not too many things honestly, we pay for a house cleaning once a month for <$100 which is a great deal. And probably buy more things on Amazon or elsewhere online that we'd otherwise just go shop for. We manufacture time using some of the same non-monetary things others have mentioned - I grocery shop once a week on Sunday and meal prep that day and maybe one other night during the week after kids' bedtime. Mowing takes me 20 minutes and I can do that on weekend mornings or after work during the week in a pinch. We don't generate a ton of laundry, but that gets done either in the evenings or during weekend nap/quiet time when we're not headed out anyway. Everyday meal prep ...
by Frank Grimes
Fri Sep 13, 2019 1:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Graduate Portfolio/General Help
Replies: 8
Views: 729

Re: New Graduate Portfolio/General Help

2. Nothing wrong with using traditional 401k. And if you're able to roll that old IRA into your 401k that'd make it even better. I don't know about the target date option being too passive - if you're using the three funds I mentioned it will still be very passive - it's just something that will make your allocation efforts a bit simpler for the time being while you're focusing on clearing the debt. But the three fund approach is still really simple to maintain. Yet another benefit of the Boglehead approach. 3.5. I treat my HSA solely as another retirement account and cash flow any medical exps (knock on wood) so that I won't need to touch it until retirement. Therefore I put risky equities in there. You might go more conservative with bond...
by Frank Grimes
Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Graduate Portfolio/General Help
Replies: 8
Views: 729

Re: New Graduate Portfolio/General Help

Hitting a couple of your questions: Question 2: Is that going to be set up as a traditional 401k or a Roth 401k? Given the income level I'd set it up as Roth 401k. You want 10% bonds, so if you go with a Roth 401k the tax efficient place to put the bond holding would be in your existing traditional IRA and you can buy a total bond market index fund such as Vanguard's ticker BND or the equivalent from Fidelity for that. That Fidelity fund in your Roth IRA looks like a good one (domestic total market index) so I'd keep that as part of your domestic equity allocation. So for your 401k you can set up your contributions to go toward your international and domestic equity allocations, as well as any residual bond allocation to get you to 10%. Fro...
by Frank Grimes
Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is this the right way to unclog a sink?
Replies: 30
Views: 2359

Re: Is this the right way to unclog a sink?

Sometimes the hooks on the drain zip tools snag on the stopper lever so I have also used a tool I made from a stretched out coat hanger to scrape the sides of the pipe from above. Or I just take off the P trap and go to town. No drano needed.