Search found 388 matches

by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Apr 14, 2022 11:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Leading a rich life
Replies: 265
Views: 37206

Re: Leading a rich life

I'm now listening to the one with the two-saver couple who have $8M and earn $600,000. The non-traumatizing thing about this podcast is that both husband and wife are on the same page. But it's the host who is the provocateur and is chiding them for using airline points to save money. The husband says he now refuses to buy $15 strawberries that he used to pay $7 for. And the host is giving him a hard time about it. Frankly I think he should be applauded. His/their mentality is how they got to $600,000 per year incomes and $8M saved. Strawberries are not like gallons of gasoline that pretty much have to be bought (yeah, get a Prius or Tesla, drive 55, don't use A/C blah blah blah...but you get my point). If strawberries get too pricey, I'll...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:19 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Credit Card Reward Strategy Question
Replies: 9
Views: 1386

Re: Credit Card Reward Strategy Question

Amex platinum through Resy

https://resy.com/amex-offers?date=2022-03-26&seats=2

With a wedding coming up you can easily get 125k bonus points, then 10x points at restaurants and small businesses (pay for wedding reception) up to $25k spent during the first 6 months, you can end up with 400k points. Easily worth around $8k or more.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Tue Mar 22, 2022 2:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tonal Home Gym
Replies: 81
Views: 9119

Re: Tonal Home Gym

Complete Calisthenics, Second Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Exercise https://www.amazon.com/dp/1623174112/re ... UTF8&psc=1

Read this book. A fancy name for body weight exercise. A pull up bar and maybe a bench. You are set and will be functionally stronger than most.

Edit to add: part of feeling strong and well is to have good strength through the full range of motion of your joints and spine/core. I.e strong and limber. I feel body weight exercise accomplish this.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Mon Mar 07, 2022 5:24 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Catching the falling knife
Replies: 124
Views: 14643

Re: Catching the falling knife

“Catching the falling knife”? Way too early. Discussions are still way too rational and fear meter is 3/10.
Back to napping.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Wed Feb 23, 2022 1:22 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks in free fall
Replies: 36221
Views: 4683342

Re: U.S. stocks in free fall

Refrain…
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun Feb 20, 2022 10:29 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Am I paying too much for my Investment Advisor?
Replies: 98
Views: 11102

Re: Am I paying too much for my Investment Advisor?

PNWpilot wrote: Sun Feb 20, 2022 10:03 pm
Cheez-It Guy wrote: Sun Feb 20, 2022 9:42 pm Thanks, but you understand there is a capital loss carryover allowance, correct? You are allowed to claim $3000 per year, but unused balance rolls over.
Thank you for letting me know. I pay a CPA to do my taxes, so I'm not terribly familiar with this. I will call him this week to discuss. I remember that on last years return I could only claim up to $3k.

Question: If I claim $3,000 per year, is that in addition to the standard deduction? Or separate? Sorry if that's a dumb question. This is why I hire someone to do this for me.
You can use the entire amount of tax loss harvested last year against your capital gain realized this year. Remind your cpa that you have tax loss carryover.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:55 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What Expense Multiple Do You Need to Reach Before You CoastFIRE/Downshift?
Replies: 51
Views: 5453

Re: What Expense Multiple Do You Need to Reach Before You CoastFIRE/Downshift?

We decided it was the right time to coast starting this year. We cut down so that my income is only enough for our current expenses, taxes plus back door Roth for both of us yearly. Age mid 40s.

Current assets (so you can say that this is the number we are comfortable with before we decided to coast):

Liquid assets: 16x current expense, 27x retirement expenses (when we pay off all liabilities in about 5-10 yrs).

If we sell all our rental real estate and only keep primary home, then pay off all liabilities to become debt free: 39x expenses
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jan 29, 2022 7:44 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Should I accept this proposal for installing a home theater?
Replies: 21
Views: 2035

Re: Should I accept this proposal for installing a home theater?

Price is reasonable. 10 years ago, the going rate was $150 per drop for ethernet, cable (California).
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:10 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Ultra HNW on this forum?
Replies: 223
Views: 30471

Re: Ultra HNW on this forum?

Wings5 wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:51 am Just got some running water to brush my teeth, then flipped a switch to increase warmth in my dwelling. We’ve got it better than kings of old.

After a few jaunts with the military I realized that worldwide, I’m UHNW and right here, on Bogleheads :D :sharebeer
Ha, this is what I keep telling my kids. That we live 100x better than Royalties as recent as last century. 8-)
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Intra-day volatility. Why?
Replies: 17
Views: 2381

Re: Intra-day volatility. Why?

I guess this is what the chartist call “support” :P The bottom is near.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Landscape Lighting - Professional or DIY?
Replies: 22
Views: 4003

Re: Landscape Lighting - Professional or DIY?

https://www.bestprolighting.com/

Their stuff is super high quality, way better than what you can find at Lowes or Home depot. Not quite Kichler quality but not far behind. The price is unbeatable, especially if you buy a lot and get charged a flat shipping cost. I would buy the regular fixtures and shop for LED bulbs on Amazon, that way you don’t have to buy a high power transformer.

Good luck.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun Jan 02, 2022 12:09 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone planning to do a Backdoor Roth and continue After Tax Contributions for Mega Backdoor
Replies: 109
Views: 12946

Re: Anyone planning to do a Backdoor Roth and continue After Tax Contributions for Mega Backdoor

Dec 27: funded 12k in Fido taxable
Jan 1: moved money to trad IRA, 6k each for me and spouse
Jan 2 (today): converted to Roth for both and put in pending orders to be filled tomorrow.

Done.

Edit to add: Fido will not allow you to convert if you pick “convert all my money”. Pick “move some money”, then specify 6000 as your amount and it will go through.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Oct 28, 2021 1:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks continue to soar!
Replies: 22381
Views: 2138763

Re: U.S. stocks continue to soar!

Great day. What I find surprising is how many people are not sold on the idea the market has a ton of room to run assuming the PE multiples hovers around where they are. People like myself are sitting here ready to spend money on big ticket items like cars, but we can’t because of supply chain issues. The company I work for would like to spend a ton of money on very expensive gear, but it can’t either because of the same problem. Every store I goto has help wanted signs… you name it, they have a sign. This is actually triggering non-trivial inflation, this isn’t a sign of a weak economy…. it’s a sign of an economy which is strong, maybe even too strong. I can’t recall anything like this in my lifetime. IMO this is easy money for at least t...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: U.S. stocks continue to soar!
Replies: 22381
Views: 2138763

Re: U.S. stocks continue to soar!

Still waiting all this time for the Dow to reach 36000 to match a prophecy of years past.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:16 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Reaching your number vs. owning a home
Replies: 170
Views: 14182

Re: Reaching your number vs. owning a home

You need to answer for yourself why you invest, and what the money is ultimately for. What will make you happy? Is owning a home one of your major milestone? There are consequences and perks to each answer, and you are risking something with either choice. Life is not risk free. Make sure you know the risk and can accept it, i.e do your due diligence. Making a conscious choice will minimize regrets.
Believe it or not, some people regret not stretching a little further while young to get a little more house too. On BH, the house-poor crowd is louder. 🤣
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:34 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Microwave ovens with rotating turntable/plate
Replies: 108
Views: 8195

Re: Microwave ovens with rotating turntable/plate

livesoft wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 4:38 pm I do not like to move my finger so much, so I use 11 instead of 10, 22 instead of 20, 44 instead of 45. Of course, I use the 'Quick 30' instead of 33.
I do this, although for a different reason :twisted: . I want to evenly distribute the utilization of all the buttons on the touch pads. Some times, instead of using the common “1”, “2” or “3” number, I would input the number of seconds instead. For example 1 minute 30 sec, I push 88 and then start. Use 55 or 66 for 1 minute etc :P
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Tue Sep 07, 2021 3:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Experience with Edward Jones
Replies: 76
Views: 10917

Re: Experience with Edward Jones

We have a friend who became an EJ rep. He was pretty relentless in asking us to use him. I offered to put a small amount of our money with him because he was getting started and had moved into the 100% commission part of the role. He was insulted. It's rather unprofessional for them to impose their personal emotional issues on the client. That would be a disqualifier for me. He seems to be doing very well, so his approach works. He sends messages to clients and potential clients every holiday. Perhaps clients should be aware that a small percentage of what they're paying is for their investments, and the larger part is for having a paid friend. Obviously, there's a market for that. If that's the business they're in, and there's a demand, t...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Mon Sep 06, 2021 6:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Experience with Edward Jones
Replies: 76
Views: 10917

Re: Experience with Edward Jones

We have a friend who became an EJ rep. He was pretty relentless in asking us to use him. I offered to put a small amount of our money with him because he was getting started and had moved into the 100% commission part of the role. He was insulted. It's rather unprofessional for them to impose their personal emotional issues on the client. That would be a disqualifier for me. He seems to be doing very well, so his approach works. He sends messages to clients and potential clients every holiday. Perhaps clients should be aware that a small percentage of what they're paying is for their investments, and the larger part is for having a paid friend. Obviously, there's a market for that. If that's the business they're in, and there's a demand, t...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Fri Aug 27, 2021 12:35 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How to catch a falling knife
Replies: 52
Views: 9283

Re: How to catch a falling knife

Try to keep catching until you are out of fingers. Then stop and wait.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun Aug 08, 2021 12:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

BrandonBogle wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:56 am
MiddleOfTheRoad wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:25 am Data point for Better Amex credit: one week after closing, -2000 showed up in Amex credit card transaction.

Do you know when Better refund the appraisal fee charged at rate lock? Closed 5 business days ago, 9 days total. (Appraisal was waived, it is not a line item in the final disclosure at all).
In January when I got charged the appraisal fee to lock but it was quickly waived, I got my refund before closing. It wasn’t until I was in the closing stage though “in case circumstances changed”. So I’d reach out to your closing expert and explicitly ask about the refund of your appraisal deposit since an appraisal was never needed.
Thanks!
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:25 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

Data point for Better Amex credit: one week after closing, -2000 showed up in Amex credit card transaction.

Do you know when Better refund the appraisal fee charged at rate lock? Closed 5 business days ago, 9 days total. (Appraisal was waived, it is not a line item in the final disclosure at all).
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Fri Jul 30, 2021 12:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Calculator: Taxes owed in retirement
Replies: 14
Views: 2093

Re: Calculator: Taxes owed in retirement

Taxcaster app for iphone (not sure if avail on android)

Free and made by turbotax. Super easy to use and give you break down.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

I think I might have shot myself in the foot since the new lender said we can only refinance as investment and the refi lender also said the same thing. A broker disagreed with it and said since when the refi closes this is still our primary, it shouldn't be an issue. But I'm a little nervous about jeopardizing the new home loan if we go ahead. Maybe I should've said nothing and played dumb! :oops: I agree with the broker! Technically, until the new home purchase is finalized, nothing is guaranteed so to count that against you in the present time is silly. You can change your mind anytime. But proceed according to your own comfort level. That’s a lesson I have learned. You don’t have to show all your cards to the lenders. Don’t lie, but ju...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

We'll keep the current house. What does dropping the loan app mean? We submitted the app several months ago but since it is being built, nothing is going on with that app until at least November. Will the lender for the current house refi be able to find out about the mortgage app for the new build? If credit score has not been pulled then they have no idea. But if there is a pull on your credit report they may ask. If it was me, I’d probably go ahead and refi. If they ask then say you were shopping for a mortgage (refi :wink: ) I did some googling and found someone said that when the new purchase loan app is submitted, it might get flagged since there is a refi for another primary in less than 1 year. Do you know if this is true? I don't ...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

If you are gonna keep your current house as a rental or second home, now is the time to refi for a lower rate. Once it is no longer your primary residence the rates are significantly higher. If you are gonna sell it, then maybe refi is too much work for too little gain. On the mortgage app they do ask if you are doing any other refi. Maybe drop the loan app for the new built and restart after you are done with current home refi. We'll keep the current house. What does dropping the loan app mean? We submitted the app several months ago but since it is being built, nothing is going on with that app until at least November. Will the lender for the current house refi be able to find out about the mortgage app for the new build? If credit score...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

If you are gonna keep your current house as a rental or second home, now is the time to refi for a lower rate. Once it is no longer your primary residence the rates are significantly higher. If you are gonna sell it, then maybe refi is too much work for too little gain. On the mortgage app they do ask if you are doing any other refi. Maybe drop the loan app for the new built and restart after you are done with current home refi. We'll keep the current house. What does dropping the loan app mean? We submitted the app several months ago but since it is being built, nothing is going on with that app until at least November. Will the lender for the current house refi be able to find out about the mortgage app for the new build? If credit score...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:04 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

livelifealittle wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:26 pm We are purchasing a new build from a builder and won't close until December. Can we refi our current primary in the meantime? It'll bring our rate from 3.25% to 2.625%. I emailed our LO for the new build but he hasn't responded yet.
If you are gonna keep your current house as a rental or second home, now is the time to refi for a lower rate. Once it is no longer your primary residence the rates are significantly higher.

If you are gonna sell it, then maybe refi is too much work for too little gain.

On the mortgage app they do ask if you are doing any other refi. Maybe drop the loan app for the new built and restart after you are done with current home refi.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:07 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Best inflation hedge besides gold, real estate, stocks, and crypto
Replies: 136
Views: 16102

Re: Best inflation hedge besides gold, real estate, stocks, and crypto

finite_difference wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:41 pm
teelainen wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:51 pm What are you currently holding besides gold, real estate, stocks, and crypto?

I have heard of some people buying small private businesses to act as a hedge against inflation and for extra diversification, but this doesn't seem passive.

Would love to hear what others are doing.
A job. A nominal fixed-rate 30-year mortgage. Intl stocks.
Most underrated comment right here!
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Jul 08, 2021 2:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What should I be thinking about that I'm not?
Replies: 26
Views: 4072

Re: How am I doing? Age 31

You didnt provide any numbers so its impossible to tell "how you're doing." It's easy for me to tell how well I'm doing based on numbers. That's mostly just easy math. What I'm looking for are suggestions on aspects of life I may be overlooking. What actions older people wish they would've taken at my age? I feel like there must be things I'm missing. It's often difficult to realize this, when you're the person with gaps of knowledge. Life insurance would be dumb since I have no dependents. A trust seems okay but life isn't that complicated so a will will do? More planning needs to go into how to run the business if I die. But that would be part of the will? If you're built for it, is private equity something to supplement public...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tactics to get questions answered in a surgeon/doctor's office consult?
Replies: 44
Views: 5629

Re: Tactics to get questions answered in a surgeon/doctor's office consult?

In the information age, do your homework with Google and learn as much as you can about the common issues with your procedure. Then only ask what is truly concerning to you during the appointment.
I appreciate the MD that learn my history from the medical records and only asks important questions during the exam instead of going through the detailed history every time. So I reciprocate by doing the above.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Mon Jul 05, 2021 7:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

BrandonBogle wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 7:01 pm
MiddleOfTheRoad wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:29 pm Thinking about doing a refi with Better but hesitant about the requirement to escrow prop tax and insurance in order for them to price match themselves on bankrate.com.
Question: what is the earliest possible time can I get out of escrow? (Our LTV is < 30%). I hate giving up the control. :twisted:
Why not have them price match themselves on bankrate.com and once your rate tables are updated, turn off the escrow before locking your rate? Typically it is under $400 in less favorably pricing to do that. This time for me it was only $80.
Brilliant! Will do just that. :twisted:
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:29 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

Thinking about doing a refi with Better but hesitant about the requirement to escrow prop tax and insurance in order for them to price match themselves on bankrate.com.
Question: what is the earliest possible time can I get out of escrow? (Our LTV is < 30%). I hate giving up the control. :twisted:
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jul 03, 2021 11:38 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Burned out in the last few miles of the journey.... Any hope?
Replies: 90
Views: 12650

Re: Burned out in the last few miles of the journey.... Any hope?

Everyone has job stressors. I think burnout is a term used by high income wage earners who are whining about not wanting to go back to work. We call lower wage earners lazy when they wish they wouldn't have to work. DA [/quote] I respect the bravado of your statement and I acknowledge that with your handle, this might be tongue in cheek. But I'd like to respectfully disagree with you regarding burnout. I suppose there are gradations, but there has been an attempt to diagnose this condition and it is characterized by exhaustion, de-personalization and loss of efficacy. People who have this stop caring about themselves and others and in my own personal experience are at a higher risk for suicide or "accidents". The US has a strange...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:31 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why doesn’t 4% Rule SWR Ratchet up?
Replies: 121
Views: 15216

Re: Why doesn’t 4% Rule SWR Ratchet up?

You can ratchet up. You will reset your sequence of return risk, but then your time horizon is shorter too.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Tue Jun 29, 2021 10:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HRA vs. ACA [Health Reimbursement Account vs. ACA]
Replies: 10
Views: 780

Re: HSA vs. ACA

$10k PER year? I’d stick it out for 10 months.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Utilizing Life insurance as a tax mitigation
Replies: 65
Views: 6575

Re: Utilizing Life insurance as a tax mitigation

I don’t think that other poster is referring to whole life or permanent life insurance. I think he is trying to answer your concern about one spouse dying before the other and the impact of RMDs on the surviving spouse’s tax rate. This. I saw that other thread and I think that person referred to term life. The term life in this case is used as insurance for extra income tax to be paid if one spouse dies prematurely during Roth conversion window (from retirement to RMD) and the survivor falls into the single brackets. The insurance proceed is used to pay the extra tax in the single brackets for the surviving spouse. If both spouses survive to RMD then the life insurance cost is considered money well spent to mitigate that risk. This may or ...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun Jun 13, 2021 12:07 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Hawaii Rental Car: Best Way to Book to Ensure Your Car is Actually There
Replies: 70
Views: 9705

Re: Hawaii Rental Car: Best Way to Book to Ensure Your Car is Actually There

MiddleOfTheRoad wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 5:12 pm I booked through Chase travel portal in Feb at a very good rate. We are landing in HNL in a couple hours. Will let you guys know if we actually get a car.
So we got a somewhat well used car. >30k miles on it. Otherwise it’s standard rental car. Looks like there are a bunch of cars in the parking garage for rentals. So if you have a reservation, it will be honored.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jun 12, 2021 5:12 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Hawaii Rental Car: Best Way to Book to Ensure Your Car is Actually There
Replies: 70
Views: 9705

Re: Hawaii Rental Car: Best Way to Book to Ensure Your Car is Actually There

I booked through Chase travel portal in Feb at a very good rate. We are landing in HNL in a couple hours. Will let you guys know if we actually get a car.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jun 05, 2021 9:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay off mortgage or invest ?
Replies: 23
Views: 3103

Re: Pay off mortgage or invest ?

I would refi to a lower rate, but continue making the same monthly payment you do now. Effectively paying extra into the new mortgage. You will pay it off faster, but your spending and budget don’t change at all. And your saving rate is exactly the same as before too.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jun 05, 2021 3:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Seeking some life as well as portfolio advice -- Ensuring Financial Independence
Replies: 23
Views: 2089

Re: Seeking some life as well as portfolio advice -- Ensuring Financial Independence

Please provide a hint as to the size of your current total portfolio: High 7-figures Imho, this is a huge range. 1M and 9.9M are vastly different. I agree. Posts like these are hard to give any opinion on. From the tone of the post, I would guess it is >5M. If OP was worried that a true high 7 figure (>5M) is humble bragging, he is already humble bragging. You can post the real number for more meaningful opinions from posters and delete later. Or be vague and get generalities. Seems that a lot of folks piling onto this tread haven't read the forum guidance for portfolio reviews, which confirm that OP's original post was 100% consistent with the guidance. "Please provide a hint as to the size of your current total portfolio (as in high...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jun 05, 2021 1:30 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Seeking some life as well as portfolio advice -- Ensuring Financial Independence
Replies: 23
Views: 2089

Re: Seeking some life as well as portfolio advice -- Ensuring Financial Independence

Ah I didn't realize it was confusing... high means high digit, around 8M with stock market run-up. which itself seems like paper gains at this point, hence trying to be conservative. Honestly trying to get portfolio advice since I'm managing it myself. Please provide a hint as to the size of your current total portfolio: High 7-figures Imho, this is a huge range. 1M and 9.9M are vastly different. I agree. Posts like these are hard to give any opinion on. From the tone of the post, I would guess it is >5M. If OP was worried that a true high 7 figure (>5M) is humble bragging, he is already humble bragging. You can post the real number for more meaningful opinions from posters and delete later. Or be vague and get generalities. 1. AA looks fi...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:23 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Seeking some life as well as portfolio advice -- Ensuring Financial Independence
Replies: 23
Views: 2089

Re: Seeking some life as well as portfolio advice -- Ensuring Financial Independence

novemberrain wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 11:54 am
joelou64 wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 10:58 am Please provide a hint as to the size of your current total portfolio: High 7-figures
Imho, this is a huge range. 1M and 9.9M are vastly different.
I agree. Posts like these are hard to give any opinion on. From the tone of the post, I would guess it is >5M. If OP was worried that a true high 7 figure (>5M) is humble bragging, he is already humble bragging. You can post the real number for more meaningful opinions from posters and delete later. Or be vague and get generalities.
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Tue May 18, 2021 11:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

I would pick the 2.5% no point. Then bring that offer back to Better for them to beat. Better.com initial offer are usually comically not competitive. Actually, it looks like those loanDepot rates thru lendingtree were bogus. After getting those initial quotes after just entering some basic info (the same sort of info that Better asks for on their site without committing to anything), I clicked on the Apply button and went through the full-detail and hard-pull process and the official rates they gave me sucked. I'm actually pretty upset about it because I gave them a ton of financial detail (and let them do a hard credit pull) which I wouldn't have done had I been given semi-accurate rates up-front. FWIW, the Better rate that was given (wi...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Tue May 18, 2021 4:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

My advice for you is to sit tight at your current mortgage rate and wait. You already have a great rate with your current mortgage. Do not refi at those terms. It makes very little sense to pay that much in points. So, FWIW, I just tried going through the questionnaire at lendingtree and was shown some better-looking quotes from loanDepot. I'm not sure how accurate those up-front quotes are, so I guess I'll probably need to go through the application process to confirm. But it's showing me a rate of 2.125% (2.294% APR w/$8,424 / 1.872% in points), a rate of 2.250% (2.349% APR w/$4,261.50 / 0.947% in points), and a rate of 2.500% (2.527% APR w/no points). If nothing else, maybe I can use this as a bargaining chip. The appraisal was waived w...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Tue May 18, 2021 3:40 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1276501

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

Just to clarify, when I mean no-cost closing I'm not talking about rolling in the costs. I mean you accept a higher interest rate for no points and some lender credit. Ideally the lender credits should offset some of the fixed costs including appraisal fee, origination fee, and/or recording fee. Gotcha. Is that what everyone else in this thread means when they say "no-cost closing"? So I was pretty sure that the rep I spoke with from Better indicated that we could modify later not only the closing costs that we chose to roll in but also the points we were willing to pay. And I thought that my Better portal showed me the various points/rate options, but I'm not seeing that anymore. Instead, I just see my "locked in rate"...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun May 16, 2021 6:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: If your net worth is over $3 million, how did you do it?
Replies: 913
Views: 239822

Re: If your net worth is over $3 million, how did you do it?

So here's a little analysis that approximates the situation: House: Down payment: $25,000 30-year mortgage rate: 7% (the real case would start higher and been refinanced over the term so I spit-balled an average) Monthly mortgage payment: $3,991.81 Total Principal Paid: $600,000 Total Interest Paid: $837,053.39 (there's some tax deductions in there but also ignoring homeowners insurance) Current value: $3,000,000 Investment: 100% VFINX Initial amount: $25,000 Monthly add: $3,992 (portfolio visualizer required even amount) Total contributions: $1,437,120 Current value: $7,157,001 Now this doesn't take into consideration the other house but as it's low cost it won't affect the overall analysis too much so if anyone wants to expand the exampl...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Mon May 10, 2021 9:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: California Homebuying Insanity
Replies: 243
Views: 28084

Re: California Homebuying Insanity

We have the same insanity with house prices here in the suburbs of Denver. Dave Dave - We are in northeast (you know where we are). Home prices INSANE with mass exodus from New York New Jersey. Tony A few days ago a news article from ABC News but also reported elsewhere: California leaving: State population declines for first time California's population declined in 2020 for the first time since state officials have been measuring it California’s population fell by more than 182,000 last year, the first yearly loss ever recorded for the nation’s most populous state that halted a growth streak dating to its founding in 1850 on the heels of a gold rush that prompted a flood of people to seek their fortune in the West. This is a driver in the...
by MiddleOfTheRoad
Sun May 09, 2021 7:00 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Taxwise which account to draw form first in retirement
Replies: 11
Views: 2017

Re: Taxwise which account to draw form first in retirement

You are in ideal position to pay very little to no taxes in retirement. RMD will not even be that much of a problem for you. You have good tax diversification. Do a search on the forum. There is a very popular post by livesoft addressing this issue.

Edit to add link
viewtopic.php?t=87471
viewtopic.php?t=79510