Search found 194 matches

by vshun
Sat Mar 02, 2024 5:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Real Stories of College Savings: what was your plan, and what happened?
Replies: 98
Views: 7594

Re: Real Stories of College Savings: what was your plan, and what happened?

Saved in state flagship university tuition for 3 kids each. Funds were invested in S&P fund in 529 and Coverdell so they grew over target even with small expenses here and there.
Kid 1: Military academy, free tuition
Kid 2: Sponsored by major aerospace manufacturer, free tuition for aerospace engineer.
Kid 3: Failing high school, may not be college material or maybe community college.

Staring at the amount left in 529 for each kid and scratching my head why I did it. Even if they have grandkids, which is not a given, the amount 20+ years from now in the accounts will be way over the top.
by vshun
Thu Feb 29, 2024 5:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is the 401k still worth it?
Replies: 22
Views: 2090

Re: Is the 401k still worth it?

Researched that topic when my wife 401K best plan was SP500 index with whopping 1.5%ER (and the rest were managed funds with 2% ER or similar). For normal tax brackets and 10 year stay in the company break even point was around 1.7% ER, so as much as these ERs are a pathetic rip off, go with 401K. Eventually you will roll it over into something better. Our story is also about pain of rollover. As soon as wife lost a job I got it immediately to roll to Vanguard rollover. Then we could not do backdoor so when she found a job we did reverse rollover to new 401K. Each time check bounces for a month between provider. Last such bounce was in December, on half a million balance during this market rise we lost several K. Hard to believe that in 202...
by vshun
Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:26 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Fidelity Zero Funds
Replies: 64
Views: 6233

Re: Fidelity Zero Funds

Would not call them a gimmick, maybe loss leader is the correct term. Just like their no-fee HSA account.
I am comfortable with 50% large cap, 30% international and 20% small/mid cap zero funds in Roth and HSA. All market indexes implementations sample and approximate anyway, so who am I to say one sampling is better than the other, while having fees or no fees is the only constant in the equation.
by vshun
Tue Feb 06, 2024 6:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Taxes on gains in backdoor Roth IRA conversion in FreeTaxUSA
Replies: 17
Views: 1432

Re: Taxes on gains in backdoor Roth IRA conversion in FreeTaxUSA

Can confirm, follow the instructions in financebuff. Unfortunately 2 screens referenced are quite far apart and you are chasing ghosts with resulting high blood pressure expecting refund to come back to normal and it does not happen for a long time.

To verify, that it worked, your 1040 form on TaxfreeUSA should show something like 7.5K distribution, and 0/empty taxable distribution. More likely you will have a few dollars to pay tax on as it earned interest for a few days while backdoor Roth process was going on.
by vshun
Sat Feb 03, 2024 6:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity HSA Transfer
Replies: 16
Views: 1511

Re: Fidelity HSA Transfer

BamBamBam wrote: Fri Feb 02, 2024 10:35 pm My company uses WEX.. what’s the benefit of the transfer?
Check your WEX plan fees. On the other hand, Fidelity HSA is fully free with their zero funds offering all possible investment allocation options.
by vshun
Wed Jan 24, 2024 12:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pets - how much would you spend at the end?
Replies: 127
Views: 20183

Re: Pets - how much would you spend at the end?

Maybe an outlier but we spent 30K on the last 9 months of our newfie girl. Did not help and she was getting worse and we put her down last summer.
First expensive treatments for misdiagnosed illness, then 2 surgeries, weekly follow ups etc. 3 doctors we talked to believed it would help. Her breeder whom we respect suggested not to go through treatment but we listened to the doctors and this proved to be a wrong choice. She suffered through the treatments, and was not getting better.
On the other hand, if I just had let her go in the first place, I would hate myself for the rest of my life for saving money and not trying to give her more life.
by vshun
Mon Jan 22, 2024 5:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Avantis/DFA criteria: Simply low P/E?
Replies: 16
Views: 1578

Re: Avantis/DFA criteria: Simply low P/E?

I imagine you could find stocks listed and sorted by P/E - say filtered to large caps, for example, and then see how Avantis large value fund compares. Well, the top two holdings in Avantis U.S. Large Cap Value ETF (AVLV) are Meta and Apple, so the fund surely looks very different from, say, the Vanguard Value ETF (VLV) . :) It's obviously not as simple as low-P/E. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what their methodology is and why it's better. DFA is somewhat similar, Apple then Microsoft and Meta. So they skip Tesla but otherwise top holdings resemble index. Interestingly, Wellington is same 5, but different order, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook respectively. While both seem to escape Tesla bubble, I wonder where &qu...
by vshun
Mon Jan 22, 2024 5:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Decent Pinot Noir < $20 possible?
Replies: 31
Views: 3748

Re: Decent Pinot Noir < $20 possible?

I like Sams Club Monterey County Pinot, $10 per bottle. Caveat: I am not extremely sophisticated...
by vshun
Thu Jan 18, 2024 9:28 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: VUSXX taxable for state and local now
Replies: 353
Views: 60096

Re: VUSXX taxable for state and local now

anon_investor wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 7:09 pm
xpy1999 wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 7:04 pm Or buy t bill directly.

FDLXX 0.42% expense ratio is kinda high.
At Fidelity I keep my funds meant to pay for current expenses in FDLXX, longer term savings at Fidelity are keep in autorolled T-Bills.
Same here. Advantage of FDLXX is it auto liquidates when bill is paid, so I keep projected monthly amount of credit card bills plus some margin of safety, the rest is in TBills ladder that auto rolls (4/8/17 weeks maturities for variety sake).
by vshun
Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best password manager, for pc and Android?
Replies: 64
Views: 5322

Re: Best password manager, for pc and Android?

cantos wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 2:32 pm I use Google Chrome, I'd wager this is what most people use. Am curious what Boglers think of that.
Google Password Manager/Chrome is quite convenient. I am security minded but with all the fear mongering in all the multiple articles pushing for paid managers, there was no single incident of the breach that I am aware of. Good enough for me. And also use MFA layer for sensitive sites like brokerages and you should be good, so if somehow your password gets accessed thief will have hard time using your login from Siberia or wherever they are.
by vshun
Thu Jan 11, 2024 6:32 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Savings Account for Kids that Actually Earns Interest
Replies: 18
Views: 2617

Re: Savings Account for Kids that Actually Earns Interest

Moved my kids from online bank to Fidelity, so they are getting 5% there. They got their ATM cards for incidental spending as well. They can start their Roth there as well instead of traditional choice of Vanguard as they start to earn money doing odd jobs, and put it to zero expense funds or VT if this is the preference. Thank you. Can you please tell me more about the type of Fidelity account you opened? Is it a general Savings account? Thank you. For kids, just general investment account is simple is enough. Default money will go to market fund which has been paying 5% last few months from which they can also connect for Venmo/CashApp/Paypal or get ATM card to pay for incidentals. Drawback of this account compared to CMA account is cash...
by vshun
Thu Jan 11, 2024 3:59 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Savings Account for Kids that Actually Earns Interest
Replies: 18
Views: 2617

Re: Savings Account for Kids that Actually Earns Interest

Moved my kids from online bank to Fidelity, so they are getting 5% there. They got their ATM cards for incidental spending as well.
They can start their Roth there as well instead of traditional choice of Vanguard as they start to earn money doing odd jobs, and put it to zero expense funds or VT if this is the preference.
by vshun
Thu Jan 11, 2024 2:24 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Anyone else investing in "Actively" Managed Funds i.e. Vanguard's Windsor 2, Strategic Equity Funds?
Replies: 79
Views: 10853

Re: Anyone else investing in "Actively" Managed Funds i.e. Vanguard's Windsor 2, Strategic Equity Funds?

Probably 10% of portfolio. Some of the funds: - Wellington (Institutional ER) - avoids some of the high flying mega 7 stock funds driving S&P - Vanguard Strategic small cap equity quant fund. Had it from inception for many years on the theoretical premise that its possible to find inefficiencies in procing of small stocks, so low ER quant fund might do well. Do not think its the case, checked its returns recently, not sure it beat small cap index in any meaningful period - DFA Global (Institutional ER) - used to have good reputation. I have not seen DFA mentioned a lot recently, not sure if it changed. Search on this forum does not bring a lot of conversations on DFA funds anymore, maybe this style is out of favor, or folks with interes...
by vshun
Thu Jan 11, 2024 2:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Change in Vanguard Fund Managers
Replies: 12
Views: 1943

Re: Change in Vanguard Fund Managers

I was never notified about such changes during my 20 years in Vanguard either.
They send some emails with quarterly links to fund prospectus, maybe its there, but who wants to read those, after first few times it gets stale.
by vshun
Thu Jan 11, 2024 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity as a one stop shop
Replies: 6053
Views: 1036422

Re: Fidelity as a one stop shop

I also switched and never had a problem with auto pay, credit companies, banks, community association.
IRS tax return is coming so I am holding my breath for it to see if IRS (presumably) antiquated system will choke on it, it will be a real test. Til that moment I still keep my old bank account open, just in case.
by vshun
Thu Jan 04, 2024 5:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Where do you bank and why? 2024 Edition
Replies: 113
Views: 15408

Re: Where do you bank and why? 2024 Edition

Moved banking to Fidelity last year. Investment taxable is an equivalent of savings account and has rolling TBills ladder at 5.4% or so state tax free.
Paying bills from CMA account where money is at FDLXX 5% state tax free, which is liquidated when bill or ATM transaction comes.
Got 2% cashback card there as well which automatically deposits rebate every month (unlike something like Citi Double Cash).
by vshun
Thu Jan 04, 2024 12:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Moving HSA from Health Equity to Fidelity
Replies: 13
Views: 1627

Re: Moving HSA from Health Equity to Fidelity

Have done this a year ago. One thing to note is that HealthEquity may charge fees ($25 in my case) to transfer full account. Someone suggested a workaround - do partial transfer, leave $25.01 (minimum to avoid fees as it does not trigger account shutdown) in HealthEquity, and transfer the rest. Then file a medical claim for whatever expense (doctor or pharmacy copay) for the amount of $25 or above with HealthEquity to get this money paid out. Then close account with 0 balance.
I have not done it yet as my employer uses HealthEquity so I am doing partial transfers to Fidelity every few months , but in theory it should work to avoid fees for full transfer.
by vshun
Tue Jan 02, 2024 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Questions - ACATS transfer from VG to Fidelity
Replies: 15
Views: 1375

Re: Questions - ACATS transfer from VG to Fidelity

Did this move for kids accounts a couple of months ago and looking to do it now for myself.
Transfer in kind was easy and then selling Vanguard funds had no fees attached to the transaction (in our case moved it to Fidelity no fee funds). Could have continued with VT instead as well.
by vshun
Sun Dec 31, 2023 9:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity as a one stop shop
Replies: 6053
Views: 1036422

Re: Fidelity as a one stop shop

I've read several Fido threads (and part of this one) and looked at their website. I am thinking of getting rid of my checking account (Chase) and using a taxable brokerage account to pay bills, receive deposits (checks/electronic), withdraw cash from ATMs and hold stocks. The main reason is to avoid having to transfer money for expenses back and forth from my brokerage to my checking and being able to get a higher interest rate without doing anything. I have a few questions. What $$$ amount do you need to have at FIDO to get ATM fees reimbursed on the brokerage account (not CMA) and is that a sum of all Fidelity accounts? I read $250k somewhere. Does that include international ATM reimbursement? Also, other than not being able to deposit ...
by vshun
Thu Dec 28, 2023 6:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Leaving Vanguard
Replies: 40
Views: 6205

Re: Leaving Vanguard

It does feel easier with Fidelity indeed. Moving kids accounts and our accounts first from bank and then from Vanguard to Fidelity makes it easier to transfer money. You can chat, email and call customer service. You can purchase TBills and auto roll them. Fidelity also liquidates your funds if need to pay bills in cash management or investment accounts (Vanguard does not offer it and neither Schwab). They also have nice HSA account (this is how I started with them, by rolling HSA from previous employer earlier in the year, and was impressed enough to move the rest). Drawbacks are higher ER on mutual funds resulting in lower yield (like VUSXX yield is 5.3% while FDLXX equivalent is 5% now) so one would be better off with TBills ladder or SG...
by vshun
Thu Nov 30, 2023 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Target gift cards: 10% off on December 2-3, 2023
Replies: 19
Views: 4302

Re: Target gift cards: 10% off on December 2-3, 2023

async wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 10:44 am Just wanted to clarify for myself: Target Red Card already receives 5% back at Target. This Target Circle deal does not receive any cash back if purchased with Target Red Card. If purchased with Fidelity Visa card, will receive 2% back. The maximum Gift Card value that may be purchased is $500 face value ($450 at checkout).

10% discount - 5% would already have with Target Red Card + 2% Fidelity Visa = 7% gain
Like someone noted, buy with Discover (which has lousy 4th quarter categories compared to Freedom anyway), 5% cashback plus 10% discount beats 5% discount on target red.
by vshun
Sun Nov 19, 2023 9:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity as a one stop shop
Replies: 6053
Views: 1036422

Re: Fidelity as a one stop shop

For the CMA you can manually buy money marlet funds to get higher rates and Fidelity will autoliquidate them to satisfy any shortfalls if your FDIC insured core account has insufficient funds. This effectively allows you to keep $0 in the lower yielding FDIC insured core account and get better money market fund rates (currently over 5%). This is the way anyway for people living in places with state taxes. Manually push all direct deposits to FDLXX and let it auto liquidate as needed during the month. Beats either cash position in CMA or SPAXX position in investment account. My setup is FDLXX in CMA for short term monthly bill pay needs and TBills with auto roll in investment account for anything with longer (short to intermediate) horizon....
by vshun
Wed Nov 01, 2023 1:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Changing furnace filter frequency (resolved)
Replies: 24
Views: 2225

Re: Changing furnace filter frequency

FYI - CR has Filtrete 1900 (think MERV 12 or so) as top 1 inch filter , and for 4 inch filter some Applaire? (never seen this one, I just buy whatever in Lowes maybe Honeywell manufacturer).
1 inch change every 3 months in summer and winter, and may stretch to 4 months spring and fall. 4 inch filter obviously lasts longer, 9 to 12 months.
Have 2 ACs and 2 newfies for filters to handle. Humans do not add much I think to filters lifespan.
by vshun
Wed Oct 04, 2023 10:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Locked-out of Treasury Direct
Replies: 51
Views: 9768

Re: Locked-out of Treasury Direct

I personally have great relief now pulling i bonds after 3 months of 3% interest and transferring them to Fidelity for rolling Tbills purchase. Still scared of this horror happening.
by vshun
Tue Sep 26, 2023 9:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card Waives Foreign Transaction Fee
Replies: 22
Views: 2725

Re: Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card Waives Foreign Transaction Fee

Just got this card a week ago, since they sent me some special offer of $150 bonus on 1K spent, and is a good compliment to City Double Cash for non category spent, since City customer service is a bit unpredictable and we had card transaction denied a few times in supermarket when crossing state lines, which is ridiculous.
For car insurance, I believe its worth keeping Saphire, despite annual fee $100, since it gives primary car insurance, ability to buy travel at 20% discount or move points to partners (always checking for specific flight what makes sense between these 2 options) and 3% back at restaurants to keep earning those UR points (along with Freedom category earned points).
by vshun
Fri Aug 25, 2023 9:42 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do you have to withdraw from 529 before expense is incurred
Replies: 7
Views: 670

Re: Do you have to withdraw from 529 before expense is incurred

All the web sites such as savingsforcollege instruct it to withdraw same calendar year. Now I am not sure you will be in trouble if you do it early the following year, or a little before in prior year as you can probably justify it in case of an audit. Sometimes you do not know the exact amount till later on or need that money sooner (like tuition due Jan 2nd for spring semester so you need to pull the money late December to allow them to get to your bank).
by vshun
Tue Aug 22, 2023 12:40 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Fidelity best account protection?
Replies: 62
Views: 5854

Re: Fidelity best account protection?

I have been using an option "Prompt from the app on the phone". So when I login from web site my phone gets notification, asks to put fingerprint on sensor, and then after successful authentication, asks to authorize Web access by asking the question "Is this you who is trying web access - "No", "yes its me"). Quite a few steps every time I access it, and it works in about 3/4 cases or attempts. for technical here, I am assuming it relies on Web Sockets as final step from server to browser and it may have flakey implementation.
I would rather prefer Authenticator app with rolling code, but either way its more secure than SMS that could be SIM hijacked, as others pointed.
by vshun
Tue Aug 15, 2023 9:00 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: YouTube Premium
Replies: 29
Views: 3831

Re: YouTube Premium

Everyone taste is different and also changing as time goes by. I used to watch a lot of weight lifting videos as well as follow me yoga classes but now as it got repetitive moved on to some mindless entertainment.
Definitely a must keep service for me though.
by vshun
Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:03 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Adios, Vanguard
Replies: 465
Views: 96120

Re: Adios Vanguard

Like others posted, customer of Vanguard for 25 years. Had 401K with Fidelity but on retail level started with them when transferring HSA from previous employer this year and having a great experience. Started to set up CMA, and in process of transferring the kids too.
Am I the only one who started with Fidelity no fee funds? All posts above mention buying Vanguard ETFs in Fidelity but I wonder why bother, "when in Rome... ". Any issues with their core no fee funds that people do not consider them and stick to Vanguard ETFs?
by vshun
Mon Jul 24, 2023 7:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New Windshield repair + Camera Calibration - Out of Pocket vs Insurance?
Replies: 15
Views: 2031

Re: New Windshield repair + Camera Calibration - Out of Pocket vs Insurance?

For my Honda Accord 2018 , in Northern VA (relatively high cost of living area), I paid $700 a year ago for windshield replacement and recalibration. My insurance deductible would be 1K (same for glass) so it was no brainer to pay out of pocket.
by vshun
Thu Jun 15, 2023 7:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What periodicals do you subscribe to? Cost? Print or digital? (2023)
Replies: 94
Views: 6150

Re: What periodicals do you subscribe to? Cost? Print or digital? (2023)

CR (physical), though library has it online for free and online edition appears to contain more info and less fluff.
WSJ, via sale special.
Economist via library.
Nothing else worth it for me.
by vshun
Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:03 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?
Replies: 7203
Views: 1421622

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

5% - Obvious choices of Freedom, Discover, Citi Custom (whatever other category it can cover that quarter)
4.34% - Penfed (its 5% but point value is a bit lower than 1:1 )
3%+ - Saphire for restaurants. 3% transferred to Chase UR at 1.25% or to Southwest at 1.4% gives higher value
3% - Venmo - Both Costco and Sam's label it as supermarket, so easy here. Though next quarter these clubs will work via Discover by buying gift cards online
2% - Double Cash Citi, whatever does not fit above categories. Our Newfie girl cancer treatment/multiple surgeries bills will soon approach 30K and fall into this category for instance :( so getting most cashback from this category despite lower percentage.
by vshun
Mon Feb 06, 2023 2:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Water Heater Replacement Costs
Replies: 113
Views: 11881

Re: Water Heater Replacement Costs

We paid a year ago $2600 to the top rated mom and pop shop in Northern VA for 50 gallons heater. Nothing fancy, no Smart Features (from all appliances, on heater it would have been the most helpful feature to have as you can turn it to low at night and not waste constant heat), only one option was offered of fit into our space.
by vshun
Sun Feb 05, 2023 6:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Backdoor Roth during the same year as reverse rollover of IRA to 401k?
Replies: 9
Views: 1320

Re: Backdoor Roth during the same year as reverse rollover of IRA to 401k?

While on reverse rollover topic, how long did it take to roll over or being out of the market? Wife has 300K in Rollover IRA (plan had horrible expenses , like 1.5% for S$P index fund, so we rolled it out of 401K as soon as she went unemployed during Covid).

For example, if market moves 5% up lets say during few weeks checks are bouncing between institutions, one would lose 15K on 300K, which will take a really long time to make in Roth space becoming available vs taxable. One could argue it could also go down 5%, but with our luck the former is more likely.
by vshun
Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points and Pay Yourself Back
Replies: 15
Views: 1977

Re: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points and Pay Yourself Back

I convert them at Southwest (yes I know about the airline, been a victim myself a few times) at 1.4% redemption value (plus unlimited flight cancellations , vs if you pay with cash there are certain restrictions).
Alternative value is to rest a car with Chase portal and get 25% discount. Only if their rental is cost competitive, otherwise Costco rental or similar might be a better option.
Both are options if you have in addition to Freedom a card like Saphire or Ink Business at a cost of $100 per year. Saphire is good for primary insurance on car rental also and may give $50 hotel credit (I did not go for it myself, keep forgetting this benefit) to negate $100 yearly charge.
by vshun
Sun Jan 15, 2023 10:02 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: VMFXX vs Ally Savings account
Replies: 5
Views: 1893

Re: VMFXX vs Ally Savings account

MMF yield was hovering above/but close to, 0% for majority of the year, so increases so 2-4.5% range as I recall were in the second half of the year.
Ignore that and only look at trailing 7 days yield (and if you want to predict future movement, look at Fed rate going up or down in the near future. As MMF invests in repos, movement in Fed funds rate will be implicitly reflected over time repos roll off).
by vshun
Sun Jan 01, 2023 8:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Rav4 vs CRV 2023
Replies: 49
Views: 7069

Re: Rav4 vs CRV 2023

Last week I purchased a 2023 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid SEL trim for 1,200 under MSRP in SoCal. I looked at the new CRV hybrid and was already familiar with the RAV. Honda and Toyota are still selling for above MSRP in my area, so already a bonus for the Tucson. True, the Tucson gets slightly less MPG, but the difference in cost makes up for that. Tucson hybrid is standard AWD and the features/amenities, tech, and space far surpass both the Honda and Toyota. 5yr/60k bumper to bumper, 10yr/100k power train warranty. The Tucson is the best value with the most features. One example, compare the clarity of the backup camera of the Tucson to the CRV and RAV. The CRV looks like you’re watching an old VHS tape and the camera in the new RAV is about th...
by vshun
Sun Dec 25, 2022 11:20 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What are you doing with your iBonds?
Replies: 133
Views: 18838

Re: What are you doing with your iBonds?

They are a definite loss from long term purchasing power prospective, as they are keeping with inflation but one has to pay federal tax on it, so IMO should not be treated like a long term holding. Better than MMF for emergency fund, but probability of stock fund exceeding return after inflation over iBonds is quite high. I bought 40K for myself and wife last 2 years, and end of Jan will probably put another 20K, and treat it as a secondary tier emergency fund. Once yields on it drop to nothing, will wait 3 months and sell it, and will forget about that joke of a TreasuryDirect website and Monty Python flying circus of CSRs for another 20 years :) (As I recall in early 2000 it also offered high rate, everyone piled in and then later on iBon...
by vshun
Wed Dec 07, 2022 5:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Youtube Premium
Replies: 27
Views: 2479

Re: Youtube Premium

YT music is love or hate event. Many hated transition from GPM which is now resting in Google graveyard, to YT Music. Even things like playing on Android Google Wear watch stopped working and they never bothered to add it to new software, unless one is buying latest watch model.
Youtube premium on the other hand is a big lifesaver. I have almost all possible subscriptions and this is one of my favorites, along with HBO Max. Just game (NHL in my case) highlights are worth it on its own, but there is plenty of other interesting content popping up to command one's attention.
by vshun
Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?
Replies: 7203
Views: 1421622

Re: What's Your Credit Card Rewards Strategy?

OK, so I applied for the Citi Premier card and was rejected. I called the "reconsideration" number and they told me that my available credit-to-used credit ratio was too high. Which is true. I have big, unused credit and an 800+ credit score. I've never been rejected before but it was almost as if they realized that I probably was just getting the card for the bonus (which is true). Any suggestions other than just to move on? Are you saying if you have a total of $80k in available credit it is better to owe $30k than owe $2k? I think you may be misinterpreting what they told you. I believe you can have too high of a utilization or too much total credit but not too low utilization. I am not that poster but I had identical reason f...
by vshun
Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: bogleheads on Reddit
Replies: 69
Views: 14624

Re: bogleheads on Reddit

I am on both, and prefer Reddit bogleheads as in everything in reddit most popular posts are usually on top (depending on your sorting) while here need to read everything sequentially.
Reddit is also a little more limited to actual financial topics while this forum is broader like what books you read, how often to change oil, etc posts that generate more discussion. I get it, index investing is boring so we crave for something else.
Another difference is that reddit tends to lean towards younger crowd (I am not part of that group anymore as years go by) so there is more appetite for risk.
by vshun
Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Have you helped your kids financially?
Replies: 158
Views: 13998

Re: Have you helped your kids financially?

We pay 100% in state tuition/room/board costs. If they value out of state/private school the difference is their responsibility.
We also handed down our cars but made them pay some small portion of ongoing costs (insurance/car tax/maintenance) + gas fully on them.
Once they graduate and get their jobs we slowly wean them off. Except maybe for cell phone (family plan extra line is very cost efficient vs separate plan) and streaming services, and we mooch off their student half price Prime account (I would not pay full amount).
by vshun
Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What charities did you give to in 2021?
Replies: 134
Views: 8813

Re: What charities did you give to in 2021?

Local no kill animal rescue organization.
Rescue.me organization.
In general, staying with animal rescue or land conservation organization, this year all amounts went to animal rescue, and we also rescued a dog as well.
by vshun
Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:41 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Recent Experience with the Treasury Direct Website
Replies: 129
Views: 33966

Re: Recent Experience with the Treasury Direct Website

It seems to be a matter of random luck with Medallion. We opened 3 accounts, self, wife and adult son. Me and wife had no problem, but TD requested SG from our son. So he had to abandon it, as we all have only Internet banks and Vanguard brokerages and would not be able to deal with that nonsense.
Nothing I could think of that should have triggered it for him and not trigger it for us, as we all have same primary online bank, just different accounts.
by vshun
Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: locked out of my TreasuryDirect
Replies: 10
Views: 999

Re: locked out of my TreasuryDirect

Sorry to hear about it, this website is a nightmare indeed. Hope you can get to human being till new year kicks in.
by vshun
Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:32 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Bucket approach: How many years of anticipated expenses in bonds and cash?
Replies: 48
Views: 4919

Re: Bucket approach: How many years of anticipated expenses in bonds and cash?

I am with OP on it. Have several years in bond index, and the rest in stock indexes. I do not see why dilute potential growth of stocks more than necessary. If there is significant downturn in the markets one can spend bonds till 0 then start living of stock funds. Even if downturn is longer the profit made on stock funds during bull market should more than make up for it.
by vshun
Sun Dec 26, 2021 7:03 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Buying a new car in this market
Replies: 43
Views: 4528

Re: Buying a new car in this market

If you waited so long I would wait another year or 2. You will be lucky to get a car at MSRP, and who wants to pay MSRP anyway for a car.
My recent car purchases were a couple of grand under invoice + TTL so paying MSRP for anything is absurd. I need a car for student in college but he will ride a bike to his coop workplace and to campus for another year or 2 till situation gets to half normal.
by vshun
Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:09 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Target gift cards 10% off this weekend
Replies: 87
Views: 11547

Re: Target gift cards 10% off this weekend

You can also stack with Rakuten or check cashbackmonitor.com Right now, Target is 1% on Rakuten. Then pay with Paypal for an extra 5% with the Chase Freedom card. There are lots of gotchas but stacking is the best, I enjoyed this all weekend long on Black Friday/Cyber Monday. 10-15% cashback easily on stuff I needed anyway for presents and gifts. Its better to use Discover, as PayPal Key with Chase freedom $1500 spent (or $3000 if family has 2 cards) can better be used anywhere else lonline like paying your car or house insurance or utility bills ahead of time. Discover spend on the other hand is more limited this quarter and harder to hit $1500 (or $3000 for 2 cards) max. We also found that refilling SodaStream in Target is a good option ...
by vshun
Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Chase Freedom Card Upgrade
Replies: 59
Views: 8091

Re: Chase Freedom Card Upgrade

Since my current card is no longer available, and they are not offering me a choice, it seems that it is being phased out. I also have an old Freedom card, have not received such a notice. I would call Chase and see if they can convert it to a Freedom Flex instead of Freedom Unlimited - the Flex has the 5% rotating categories. (BTW they stopped offering the regular Freedom card to new customers a long time ago, around when the Freedom Flex was introduced.) The downside to the Freedom Flex is it is a mastercard, so you cannot use it at Costco. Workaround is simple, go to Costco.com and buy $1500 worth of Costco gift cards, then spend them after. I do it with both DIscover cards when they have warehouse clubs as category and Costco.com seems...
by vshun
Sun Oct 17, 2021 2:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What streaming services do you use and what’s your strategy for using them?
Replies: 73
Views: 7579

Re: What streaming services do you use and what’s your strategy for using them?

In the order of most used to least:
1. Netflix ($18 for HDR resolution)
2. Youtube Premium
3. HBO Max
4. ESPN+ (for hockey season), on rotation
5. Amazon (kids student account, half price for Prime, would not pay full price)
Rotate: Hulu, Disney Plus, right now there is nothing to watch for us so they are off