Search found 3631 matches

by megabad
Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:23 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Invest in market or hold cash?
Replies: 22
Views: 3594

Re: Invest in market or hold cash?

justsomeguy2018 wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:32 pm What if future job options (should something happen to ours) pay us significantly less than what we make now?
I will let the others address your market timing leanings, but i wanted to make sure you have level set your expectations on this front.

How much less do you expect to make? Currently you could have an income reduction of roughly $100k and maintain exactly the same lifestyle simply by adjusting savings. This is a pretty large buffer for most people. You should still have some quickly available savings.
by megabad
Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Inherited IRA's
Replies: 20
Views: 2641

Re: Inherited IRA's

I don’t think there is going to be one single answer here. Silly question. Why does it matter? Functionally what is the difference if they say you have an account or they don’t? You are going to transfer the money anyway, right? Seems like it is just procedural.
by megabad
Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:02 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I open an account with a bank having a local branch?
Replies: 69
Views: 4671

Re: Should I open an account with a bank having a local branch?

, it appears that one cannot really rely on credit union for a MSG (likely depends upon the manager/branch a lot). Even if they offer now, they may not offer it when I need it in the future. This has definitely reduced the appeal of opening a second bank account at a CU, especially since I am happy with BofA otherwise (as their platinum honors client). I find exactly the opposite to be the case. Banks are far less reliable than CUs. As someone else said, BOA policy not less than 3 years ago was zero MSG. Apparently you and others are claiming this has changed recently. Banks are far more likely to take away services like this or charge you. My CU HQ has always offered this free and still does and never stopped. The only reason I would ever...
by megabad
Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How much income would justify paying $2500 for a finance planner?
Replies: 58
Views: 6885

Re: How much income would justify paying $2500 for a finance planner?

I would say that $280 per hour sounds reasonable in a relative sense. Since these services are typically not efficiently priced, hourly rates are seemingly overly high everywhere I have seen (it is hard to find many that charge this way). I have certainly been quoted far more (~$500 per hour).

I can’t speak to the value of such services though. I suspect it is entirely dependent on your expectations and the quality of the service provider (which is certainly widely varying). Personally, I can’t imagine a scenario where I would need or trust such a person at this time but that could change.
by megabad
Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Cash out refinance?
Replies: 39
Views: 3019

Re: Cash out refinance?

vkat wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:07 pm.
I plan on putting the 50k back into the new loan to get the reduced rate and same term.
Wait, then why not just refinance? I guess I don’t understand what you need the cash out for? Am I missing something?
by megabad
Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:22 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How Much Can I Afford to Spend on Home Improvements?
Replies: 8
Views: 1353

Re: How Much Can I Afford to Spend on Home Improvements?

If you were in my situation how much would you be comfortable spending on a garage expansion? $1 million. Or so. Honest answer. If your expenses are right, you live pretty frugally. I don’t know, maybe you are off on your expenses since you are early in retirement but the number I would feel comfortable spending is far higher than your estimates anyway. Of course, whether you are able to get that much enjoyment out of the updates is up to you. In other words, if you really want all these things and would get enjoyment out of them equal to or exceeding their costs, I would do it without hesitation. Personally, I can’t see myself ever getting enjoyment out of new windows unless the current ones were flooding the house when it rained but I wo...
by megabad
Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What did you successfully downshift to?
Replies: 65
Views: 8925

Re: What did you successfully downshift to?

jarjarM wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:04 pm
megabad wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:27 pm
jarjarM wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:42 pm I know several former coworkers who retired after 1999/2000 and became high school teachers.

Out of curiosity, are they still doing this? They happy?
A couple that I kept in touch are now retired. They found it quite enjoyable, less office politics since it's a job they know they can walk away and the administration knows they can walk away. Parents can be a bit tough since they can be quite pushy but they don't really hold much power since it's extremely difficult to fire a teacher in CA. One even taught his own kid, which I'm sure it's a painful experience for the kid but great for the dad.
Thanks for the info. I have thought about this path myself.
by megabad
Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:16 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tesla for people that keep cars a long time
Replies: 202
Views: 25468

Re: Tesla for people that keep cars a long time

My question is is a Tesla a bad car to do this with? Can you clarify your question? I have good reason to believe a Tesla will last 10-12 years if that is your question. Software updates seem mostly extraneous to basic car operation so I don’t see that as being an issue with longevity. The battery technology has been tested for quite a while at this point as well so should last a while. It obviously will be an expensive to own vehicle because Tesla’s are expensive. Thus far they have similar depreciation as most luxury cars if that matters. I don’t know if this is “bad” or not to you. I think it is a fast luxury vehicle that is priced like a luxury vehicle. I think you will come out about the same over the life of the vehicle when compared...
by megabad
Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Time for TIPS?
Replies: 11
Views: 1123

Re: Time for TIPS?

If your primary reason for switching to TIPS is a higher return over the last few years, than I’m not sure that is a great reason. A better reason for me might be—because your IPS says that you should so this at your current age. The addition of TIPS at advanced age is common in investment policy statements to help combat unexpected inflation. This would have absolutely nothing to do with the current perceived inflationary environment. So, TIPS might be a decent investment choice, but I wouldn’t base my decision on short term inflation predictions. If your plan was to hold them before then keep on the plan. If not, than ask yourself what has changed.
by megabad
Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What did you successfully downshift to?
Replies: 65
Views: 8925

Re: What did you successfully downshift to?

jarjarM wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:42 pm I know several former coworkers who retired after 1999/2000 and became high school teachers.

Out of curiosity, are they still doing this? They happy?
by megabad
Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Preparing for a Winter Trip
Replies: 6
Views: 706

Re: Preparing for a Winter Trip

I generally just use a heavy SUV or weighted truck with 4wd and good snow tires. No chains anymore (unless I was running normal road tires or only had RWD). A bunch of places it is against the law to run chains anyway so you would have to keep changing them which stinks in the cold.

Just take a good down jacket and boots with you and enough gear to keep you alive in the teens for a while in case you get stuck on the roads. Mammoth isn’t that cold unless you head all the way up. Also grab some firewood once you’re there (don’t transport outside the area).
by megabad
Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Fidelity re Stimulus, inflation, and you
Replies: 6
Views: 1198

Re: Fidelity re Stimulus, inflation, and you

dual wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:05 pm What are good ways to invest in the securities that they recommend?
Cheaply.
by megabad
Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Electric shaver
Replies: 33
Views: 3403

Re: Electric shaver

Can someone tell me, in a general way, what's the difference between a $50 shaver and a $120 shaver? What things are made differently, higher quality, etc.? For someone with not much hair to cut, no difference. I just bought a nephew a cheapo Remington and he has no issues. For someone like me that resembles big foot by 5 o’clock each day, using a $50 electric shaver is a catastrophe. Terrible blades that catch and yank and tug. And they don’t cut close after they dull in a few shaves. Worst of all worlds. The foils crack too. Basically, the part that is different is the only part that matters—the blades and foil. I will say that I came from razors and rotary shavers and the Braun was quite a learning curve. If you don’t have the right tec...
by megabad
Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best healthy meal delivery service
Replies: 29
Views: 3817

Re: Best healthy meal delivery service

As a crazy busy two career household, with two young kids (and parents) who are also highly competitive athletes, there is no way this would save time for us. What does save time (and A TON of money) is preparing meals in large batches at one time. Grocery shopping takes time, but how is this any more convenient than having your groceries delivered? And the money part; seeing how much these things cost, what exactly are you cooking for dinner? I guess we just have a different lifestyle. I agree, different lifestyles, I guess that was my point. You basically do everything the exact opposite from us. So I can see why you wouldn’t value meal kits. In contrast, delivery is totally worthless to me, saves no time and wastes money. I try to avoid...
by megabad
Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:39 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Car suggestion for 70+ year-old mom
Replies: 160
Views: 11613

Re: Car suggestion for 70+ year-old mom

her list is now: Buick Encore GX, AWD Essence trim Subaru Forester limited trim Subaru Crosstrek limited trim I think the extra $3K the Forester costs would be worth it for her to have push button parking break, the trunk that opens and closes with the touch of a button, and the better visibility (she commented on it and liked it). And she doesn't have the parking issues I have where she lives, she has space. So the slightly bigger size isn't a negative for her like it is for me. I asked her, hypothetically, if both the Crosstrek and Forester were the exact same price, which one would she get. She picked Forester. Can’t go wrong with a Forester in my opinion. Not my cup of tea but a good reliable vehicle there. Unfortunately I think you ju...
by megabad
Tue Mar 02, 2021 5:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Putting more than 20% down on a home?
Replies: 38
Views: 4901

Re: Putting more than 20% down on a home?

Agree with others. I have sold a number of houses, and have never once been told about buyers down payment (unless 100% cash offer). It would also have no bearing on me selecting the winning offer as a seller if I knew someone was putting 30% as opposed to 20%. I would just do what is right for you and assume it doesn’t matter externally.
by megabad
Tue Mar 02, 2021 5:15 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Dr. Phil DeMuth will be our next "Bogleheads on Investing" podcast guest and we'll talk taxes!
Replies: 16
Views: 2399

Re: Dr. Phil DeMuth will be our next "Bogleheads on Investing" podcast guest and we'll talk taxes!

How does the growing popularity of FIRE change the discussion about taxes?

You can make that question more specific if desired with respect to ACA, Roth conversions, and some of the other taxes you mentioned etc. I just never know how open ended questions need to be.
by megabad
Tue Mar 02, 2021 5:02 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best healthy meal delivery service
Replies: 29
Views: 3817

Re: Best healthy meal delivery service

If your talking about a place like Hello Fresh that packages up and sends meals to be home delivered, the packaging and the shipping alone would not even be a night and day comparison. From the Hellow Fresh site, they claim: "No waste. It’s easy being green with our pre-measured ingredients and recyclable materials." They forget to mention the carbon footprint cost to get that meal to you (and for the "recyclable materials"). Hello Fresh, goodbye environment. IMO, the new "healthy meal delivery services" are the latest example of people being hypocrites when it comes to being healthy and caring about the environment. Just because people own an electric car or a Prius and put stuff in the recycling bin shouldn'...
by megabad
Tue Mar 02, 2021 4:45 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 28 & 29 Year Old Looking for Investment Advice
Replies: 26
Views: 2988

Re: 28 & 29 Year Old Looking for Investment Advice

iwannaretire wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:16 pm So you think a target date would still be my best bet? I just feel like the glide path gets a little too conservative too early.
The target date funds are simple and small allocation changes shouldn’t matter much. The savings on going from 0.7 ER to 0.15 I think will be vastly more important than going from 90% equities to 100%. That said, I think it would be more balanced for you to hold international index and total us stock index in this account and use those to balance out your portfolio to the appropriate allocation. If you feel more comfortable doing this (and frequently keeping track to make sure your allocations don’t get out of whack) than go for it.
by megabad
Tue Mar 02, 2021 4:37 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Thoughts on 5% SWR
Replies: 212
Views: 19446

Re: Thoughts on 5% SWR

It's easy to get very rigid about this sort of thing but even the people who did the Trinity study or Bengen himself never suggested that the SWR results were meant to be some sort of inflexible rule. Simply guidelines for planning purposes. I agree in reality but the word “safe” has a limit for any reasonable person. To imply otherwise is to defeat the entire point of the guideline. You may feel that safe means 80% success rate and I may feel 90% is better but there is certainly a limit. What you're missing is that when you insist on 100% "safety" (which SWR studies could never guarantee anyway--the future may be worse than the past)--is that there is a heavy COST to restricting your consumption because of a fear of a low-probab...
by megabad
Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:25 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Thoughts on 5% SWR
Replies: 212
Views: 19446

Re: Thoughts on 5% SWR

Peaceful wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:17 pm The bottom line is 5% is perfectly fine to use as a SWR when starting out. More than fine. If there's a huge market crash early on in retirement, be prepared to cut your spending back by 10, 15, or 20%. Or if we hit a prolonged period of high inflation.
Totally agree everything in your post except for this. Call it semantics but “safe withdrawal rate” to me implies you should not have to make cuts to spending. It is fine and logical to do this, but the simplification of the SWR doesn’t really apply anymore when you start cutting spending. For example, do I have a SWR of 99% if I choose to cut back my spending to zero after the first year? This is why I don’t think SWR is actually useful when thinking about actual withdrawals.
by megabad
Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Thoughts on 5% SWR
Replies: 212
Views: 19446

Re: Thoughts on 5% SWR

Peaceful wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:05 pm What are YOUR chances of outliving the portfolio?
You have a fair point, but this could be a valid consideration of any decision you make in your life. It just isn’t something that can be accounted for in an exact sense. The SWR is not an exact method, in practice no one will likely ever use it exactly. The fact that I might die earlier doesn’t change my relative conclusion that 5% rate is an order of magnitude riskier than 4%. I spouted numbers from an Early Retirement Now chart but the exact numbers don’t matter to me. It is just a quick check, not really a good permanent withdrawal method. The only advantage of SWR methodology is simplicity. You are saying that life is more complicated. Hard to argue with that.
by megabad
Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:09 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Thoughts on 5% SWR
Replies: 212
Views: 19446

Re: Thoughts on 5% SWR

Can you really reduce your risk to 0-1% failure? I don’t think there’s a lot you can do to prevent those bottom 1-2% scenarios from causing ruin. They could be worse then the prior bottom scenarios. Your probably much more likely to die before running out of money. I say that just because you participate on this forum. Essentially yes, you can get to near 0% failure if you believe in the concept. SWR of about 3.5% gets you to 100% success rate at 30 years. Obviously you are right that the past is not necessarily indicative of the future but SWR concept ignores that. In my opinion, that is the major shortfall of the method. It is just a simple rough check of what might have worked in the past, not an ideal withdrawal method in my opinion. V...
by megabad
Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 28 & 29 Year Old Looking for Investment Advice
Replies: 26
Views: 2988

Re: 28 & 29 Year Old Looking for Investment Advice

I would keep things simple.

I would sell the taxable holdings and devote all of that to tax advantaged contributions.

The 401k has excellent cheap Fidelity options, i wouldn’t bother with anything not Fidelity. I would either go 100% 500 Index or you could do something like 80% 500Index, 10% mid, 10% small if you really want (all Fidelity).

I would switch your IRA to a low cost Target Retirement Index fund (maybe Vanguard or Fidelity Index). You might be a little light on international so you may want to hold a little of that there as well (low cost international index fund).

Done.

As far as order of investment, I might do:

HSA, her 401k, your Roth IRA, her Roth IRA, then taxable.
by megabad
Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:32 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Thoughts on 5% SWR
Replies: 212
Views: 19446

Re: Thoughts on 5% SWR

If you believe in “Safe Withdrawal Rate” you believe in making decisions based on past performance. If so, the data is easily available. 5% rate for a normal retiree historically results in about 20-30% failure rate at a typical allocation. 4.5% is about 10-15%.

Both of these are too high for my liking. I prefer 0-1% risk of failure myself if I was going to be all in on the SWR method. I would rather not be destitute and on Medicaid in my 90s. Some people probably don’t mind this that much though. You have to make your own call. Or use a different method to determine withdrawals.
by megabad
Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:41 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Debt is a Negative Bond - The White Coat Investor
Replies: 541
Views: 37663

Re: Debt is a Negative Bond - The White Coat Investor

On houses/mortgages, covered ad nauseam in maybe as many as 100's of threads here over the years. Treating a real estate property, whether or not you live in it, as 'not an asset' is not correct. Just wanted to point out that, I think the point of doing the above is simplification. A typical bogle head would likely recommend having a house so small in cost in comparison to ones overall portfolio that it could reasonably ignored. If you do this, it pretty much eliminates the need for this whole thread. If (like most Americans that “own” homes), you hold a monstrous mortgage that totally overextends your net worth, than some method of accounting for this when financial planning is probably wise. Not sure if “negative bonds” is the thought pr...
by megabad
Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:57 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Real Estate Investing Advice
Replies: 9
Views: 1298

Re: Real Estate Investing Advice

When buying with a business partner, do you each have your own LLC and use a Joint Venture Agreement, or do you create a separate LLC that the 2 of you have equal membership in? I don’t have a “business partner” in the sense you have laid it out here, so limited experience on that front. That said, this seems like a very complicated entanglement for someone new to real estate investment. I’m with Sandtrap, I would really recommend starting out on your own. If you choose not to, make sure you get an excellent experienced attorney working for you (not the partner). Having a partner adds a new element of risk that I would prefer not to deal with. I would also double check with your attorney on how to set up the LLC best. It doesnt really seem...
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Old (supposed) debt now with collector
Replies: 18
Views: 2148

Re: Old (supposed) debt now with collector

mattsm wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:19 am Medical debt falls off credit report after 7 years. You are basically in the clear at this point +/- a few weeks/months.
+1 I think based on my limited knowledge of the rules. I would likely not interact at all with any creditors at that age of medical debt. Definitely would not pay a dime.
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:38 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I safely quit? Should I quit?
Replies: 51
Views: 7446

Re: Can I safely quit? Should I quit?

You can retire if you want, but I would be honest with yourself. You have a “get it done” attitude and have successful sold another side business, you are not actually going to “retire” at 40 in my opinion. You just aren’t the type my friend. So start planning what that next move looks like.
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:27 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Looking for guidance at age 58 and under invested
Replies: 16
Views: 2173

Re: Looking for guidance at age 58 and under invested

If I am honest, I would delay the condo personally. I don’t think locking in a large fixed expense right now would be a comfortable thing in your situation. I think you might need so more time and freedom to evaluate expenses and your retirement plans. Looks like your expenses are going to be 200k per year or so and your savings only 2 million or so. I think you still have some saving to do if this lifestyle is your goal so some freedom to make changes is probably ideal for now in my opinion. If the RSUs and compensation for the next few years take off, maybe you could revisit then?
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:10 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: is my understanding of tax loss harvesting correct?
Replies: 66
Views: 4961

Re: is my understanding of tax loss harvesting correct?

I read a Deep Dive on TLH and the TLDR summary was that in theory it could amount to ~.15% extra returns with optimal assumptions. I've personally never taken advantage of it. I may in the future, but it's not some enormous benefit that some make it out to be. This calculation of “extra return” really can’t be trivialized like this. There are a ton of variables. In OPs case; the “extra return” on 10k in the first year would be 6% or so up to the 3k limit. Obviously expanding this out across a gigantic portfolio would make the impact seem small but that is entirely depending on a ton of other variables. The right way to think about it is free, easily obtained savings each year. The question to me is more of a “why not?” rather than “how muc...
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:45 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Dream garage/workshop, or college savings?
Replies: 43
Views: 4390

Re: Dream garage/workshop, or college savings?

This is just a one time expense right? So what is the dilemma here? Can’t you just put funds into the 529 next year? You have 10-15 years until kids go to college. I assume you are still contributing to the retirement accounts as well.
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:33 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Purchase, Budget, and Upcoming Retirement
Replies: 13
Views: 1726

Re: Home Purchase, Budget, and Upcoming Retirement

Tracker968 wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:52 pm How can your federal income tax be only $390 with an income of $140k?
Not OP, but I am assuming with credits/deductions. Absent credits, The actual tax liability is 10k or so if I had to guess. Child tax credits would bring it down by half or so. Could be a typo though?
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:25 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Prepaying Mortgage Aggressively (Ramsey approach) vs. Investing
Replies: 140
Views: 13567

Re: Prepaying Mortgage Aggressively (Ramsey approach) vs. Investing

if LTT yields keep going up, it'll make more sense to put the extra money into bonds instead. This is one of the more reasonable comparisons in this thread. These other posts always perplex me because nearly everyone in them proclaims that stock market returns are far higher than the mortgage rate and insists that mortgage payoff is therefore foolish. This logic requires these folks to be 100% invested in equities. Yet, nearly every other thread has a good sized chunk of most portfolios in bonds. I have never understood this apparent hypocrisy. Maybe there are just far more 100% equity allocations than I hear about. Or maybe, these folks are borrowing money at 2.5% only to lend it back at 1%... I am a big proponent of mortgages, but I hold...
by megabad
Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:05 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Locking in gains but want to stay invested?
Replies: 10
Views: 2183

Re: Locking in gains but want to stay invested?

I think lakpr has provided a concise answer. Offsetting long term capital gains with losses is normally one of the least efficient ways to tax loss harvest (absent bracket changes) but it can be done if that is what you want. As lakpr pointed out, it would increase the benefit in most situations if you deduct the 3k from income (if you have enough losses beyond your realized capital gains). It is hard to answer your question as to whether this “should” be done and at what frequency. I would say, if you believe that active trading is beneficial, you are essentially saying that taxes and the transaction costs don’t matter (or they are outweighed by the gains). In this case, trying to offset your actively realized gains with losses is probably...
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 3:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Locking in gains but want to stay invested?
Replies: 10
Views: 2183

Re: Locking in gains but want to stay invested?

Can I ask the first, probably stupid, question? Why do you want to harvest gains? Do you anticipate being in a higher capital gains tax bracket later?
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 3:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Equitably dividing estate when a pension is involved
Replies: 36
Views: 2013

Re: Equitably dividing estate when a pension is involved

I just reran the pension benefit calculator and with my wife (DOB 10/1962) for 100% joint life I get $5,510.07 per month for the remainder of your life, and upon your death, $5,510.07 per month will be paid to your beneficiary for the remainder of your beneficiary's life, if your beneficiary survives you. I left every setting the same except entered by daughter's 9/1993 DOB and get: $4,908.94 per month for the remainder of your life, and upon your death, $4,908.94 per month will be paid to your beneficiary for the remainder of your beneficiary's life, if your beneficiary survives you. Looks like you gain maybe 20% (rough guess) by listing daughter before spouse in this case if that was allowable (in many cases, it isn’t). The numbers don’t...
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dead tree removal
Replies: 17
Views: 1718

Re: Dead tree removal

egrets wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:46 pm However there is a padlock on it, so I have a bolt cutter in my trunk. I am not strong enough to use it, but if there were a bunch of cars queued up trying to flee, I imagine some of the cars would contain strong guys who could.
I wouldn’t be too worried if you have a reasonably sized vehicle. Unless the gate is overbuilt substantially, a multi thousand pound vehicle can usually alleviate a padlock. Have tested.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Water damage in house
Replies: 15
Views: 1341

Re: Water damage in house

I am assuming there is a hole in the wall where the pipe was repaired? Or the affected area is otherwise visible? Can you see if there is mold or rot on the framing? Was there a lot of damage? Unless this was a major problem, I would maybe lean toward not filing a claim. As others have said, hiring a drywall contractor and repainting doesn’t seem like it would be more than my deductible. Seems like only negatives could come from a claim in that case.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:40 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Purchase, Budget, and Upcoming Retirement
Replies: 13
Views: 1726

Re: Home Purchase, Budget, and Upcoming Retirement

Not sure I follow? Seems like you state you have a 7k surplus in retirement and then are asking if you can cover an extra 20k per year in housing costs? The 7k surplus accounts for the added housing cost. It would be a 30k surplus at current spending levels. Oops sorry misread your post with the different budgets for each time period. My answer is still pretty much the same (just change no to yes). You ran the numbers, so you probably know the answer better than anyone. Personally I think you are a little tight on the retirement side but you already pointed that out. It still wouldn’t concern me though because changes could be made if necessary. Spending 8k every year on housing updates/repairs isn’t absolutely required and that right ther...
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Equitably dividing estate when a pension is involved
Replies: 36
Views: 2013

Re: Equitably dividing estate when a pension is involved

I think I was confused by your original post. Sounds like you are just talking about the specific scenario where spouse dies before you. In this case, I think the best answer to your question is just hope that spouse lives longer than you. If female, statistics are probably in favor of this. Then you would have no need to worry about any of this.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dead tree removal
Replies: 17
Views: 1718

Re: Dead tree removal

Not sure what the realtor or police/fire have to do with anything? I would just talk to the new neighbors a little while after they get settled and you get to know them. “Hey man, can you cut down those dead trees? I’m scared they’ll come down on the road and we’ll both get stuck.” Seems like a pretty easy conversation, of course no telling how it will end though. I would probably decline myself if I was your neighbor but if he shares your concern he may just agree to get rid of them. Nothing to lose by asking.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Contractor Issues with Remodel
Replies: 64
Views: 5096

Re: Contractor Issues with Remodel

I’m telling you, OP, honestly, if the guy has a good reputation that he cares about, he may be willing to sit down with you and adjust his numbers. He might have just forgotten something was in his original plan. I would Just sit down and negotiate with the guy. It might go better than you think.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 1:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Purchase, Budget, and Upcoming Retirement
Replies: 13
Views: 1726

Re: Home Purchase, Budget, and Upcoming Retirement

Not sure I follow? Seems like you state you have a 7k surplus in retirement. By your own math, I guess my answer is yes. But that probably isn’t the whole story. A small change in income or expenses or the size of the mortgage could change the math.

Edit: misread post.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Equitably dividing estate when a pension is involved
Replies: 36
Views: 2013

Re: Equitably dividing estate when a pension is involved

Are you 100% sure this is how the pension and beneficiaries work?


Edit: I think I misread your post. Sounds like you are just talking about the specific scenario where spouse dies before you. In this case, I think the best answer to your equation is just hope that spouse lives longer than you. If female, statistics are probably in favor of this.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Trip Insurance? Risk Tolerance?
Replies: 26
Views: 1844

Re: Trip Insurance? Risk Tolerance?

Do you mean trip (cancellation) insurance or travel health insurance? I personally don’t see much sense in buying extra travel health insurance but just my opinion. I’m not sure what the practical purpose would be unless they would let me die without it?
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Should I liquidate my $300k taxable portfolio and buy Florida real estate?
Replies: 34
Views: 2405

Re: Should I liquidate my $300k taxable portfolio and buy Florida real estate?

You seem to emphasize diversity here so I assume you mean you are going to take a small part of your portfolio out and invest in real estate (say 10%)? If so, then I don’t see anything wrong with this. I think rental real estate is pretty simple, either the numbers work or they don’t. Remember, never use the 1% rule in Florida, run the actual numbers because insurance and taxes are so widely varying. Personally I can’t make the numbers work where I have been looking in Florida, but my search was pretty limited to beach communities so I wouldn’t be surprised if some other areas are more attractive.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:12 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Contractor Issues with Remodel
Replies: 64
Views: 5096

Re: Contractor Issues with Remodel

Lol at the complicated responses. Just negotiate with the guy.

Listen to his side of things and be reasonable and hopefully he will to. “Plans and specs” for a minor bathroom remodel, lol. I have never seen this ever in my entire career of owning dozens of houses and renovating dozens of bathrooms.

Look, bottom line, by your own admission, both you and the contractor were pretty lax with this agreement. This is the norm with most small contractors in my experience. So just work it out like adults. This isn’t the end of the world.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:51 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: wiFi extenders
Replies: 39
Views: 3294

Re: wiFi extenders

02nz wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:55 am
megabad wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:00 am 2) use 5ghz if possible
I generally use 5 GHz whenever possible, but its range is actually shorter than 2.4 GHz and thus unlikely to help OP. Also, while almost all phones and computers support the 5 GHz band, many printers do not.
This makes sense, but I find that the traffic in some locations is so high on the 2.4ghz band that 5ghz sometimes works better anyway. I don’t know why but the 5ghz seems to work better longer distances from router on my phone so I always connect to that network.
by megabad
Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:00 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: wiFi extenders
Replies: 39
Views: 3294

Re: wiFi extenders

Yeah I basically agree with other posters saying adjust the routers first. 1) change broadcast to a channel with less interference 2) use 5ghz if possible 3) move router or devices and test different locations 4) buy a cheap $15 WiFi adapter for the computer, this will fix the problem there, the printer is a different story but you could just move it as I suggest above. Not sure why everyone’s go to is a mesh system. Seems like way overkill. My $50 cheapo router will put out a signal at least 50ft OUTSIDE the house and everywhere inside the house. My house is not small. I guess everyone here has 10,000 sqft houses or something? Or maybe cheap end devices with terrible wifi antennas? If so, seems cheaper to just buy better end devices?