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Neahkanie beach in Manzanita, Oregon. Just a bit down from the fairly famous Canon City, and it doesn't have the huge rocks, but it's quieter, less crowded, and more personal. Locals will walk out, some lugging chairs, to plop down and sit for 10, 20, 30 minutes and watch the sunset.

jebmke wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:22 pm

Quirkz wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:18 pm Do you need to file to get the social security credits? I skipped one year in college because I figured it didn't matter, but the gap in the social security history has bugged me ever since.

no; the W2 gets filed by the employer

Huh. As I think about it, basically none of my college employment is on the record. I don't know what's up with that, but as it was in the mid-90's, it's probably too late to correct the record. And also probably not a major factor in my future earnings. But I'm still not sure why it was all invisible to social security.

Do you need to file to get the social security credits? I skipped one year in college because I figured it didn't matter, but the gap in the social security history has bugged me ever since.

Agree with others you're at least a week too early on this. Though if you have an online login for the bank you might be able to go and get it yourself.

But it's also true you don't need the 1099 to report the interest. If you know the amount, just add that to the interest field in the tax form.

I think for a 10%+ gain and a 5-year recoup term, I'd be inclined to defer, too.

windaar wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 5:22 am I get that some people dislike their work, which above a certain socioeconomic level means that they simply chose poorly.

The thing is, I don't dislike *my* work, I dislike the trappings of work. I enjoy being productive. I dislike needing to put in 40 hours per week, the deadlines, the fixed schedules, the bosses, doing many of the same tasks over and over again for decades, and all of that stuff.

My ideal work week would be doing 5 very different things, 8 hours each, on a flexible schedule. That basically doesn't exist as a job, so I look forward to retirement.

Staples are Diablo 3 and Hearthstone. Recently picked up Diablo 2 resurrected, but mostly just played enough to remember what I've appreciated about improvements in D3. Extremely funny: West of Loathing (a few years old) and Shadows over Loathing (brand new). Silly stick figure graphics, great music, some of the best writing you'll find in a video game, and game that ranges from fairly easy if you want it to surprising depth if you want to go looking for it. West of Loathing hits all the cowboy/western themes, while Shadows Over Loathing has Cthulhu and prohibition vibes. Some other RPGs I've poured too much time into: Torchlight 2 (like Diablo 2, but more steampunk, better quality of life to the gameplay) Legend of Grimrock 2 - a modern fi...

Nope. Not liquid enough for me. Plus emergencies can come from directions other than job loss.

I've also been doing annual net worth tallies. It's nice to see the progress. For the cars in particular, I'm a big fan of keeping it simple. My car may have some value, but I'm really unlikely to sell it for spending money because then I wouldn't be able to use it for work and/or personal transportation. Nobody cares about the actual replacement value except for my insurance. I use a 3-second method where I take a loose and very pessimistic guess, and then round down to the nearest $5k. My car's a basic compact SUV in the middle of its life? Call that $10k and be done with it. Spending even 5 minutes looking up the KBB value to determine that it's somewhere between $12k and $18k would be mostly a waste of my time, unless I'm actively plann...

smooth_rough wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 7:30 pm
Sounds like you didn't shift to defensive investing, and you are well positioned for the rebound. Can I ask your age?

47, with retirement more than a decade away. I've got a lot of time in the market left, and am committed to rolling with it rather than trying to beat it.

I am somewhere between 80/20 and 72/25. I'll glide down to 60/40 by retirement.

S&P index down -19.5% for year 2022. Did you get better performance? How did you do it? What is your AA? I know this question is asked in good fun, but it also makes me cringe a little because "trying to beat the index" is this thing traditional stock brokers pushed on us as something not only important but necessary, when in reality most of the time the index is great, and trying to beat the index causes investors to get creative, usually with bad results. I'd like to see that question fade away, and be replaced with something more like, "Did you stick to the index? Keeping to the plan?" That said, not trying to rain on your parade or scold. Me, I'm only invested in indexes (mostly stock, some bond) so I nailed the...

There's a lot of odd, knee-jerk reactions to the question, which is maybe taking an odd approach to the issue. It's not at all about the frequency, and there's definitely no "normal." Remodeling is expensive and messy, and i think best done infrequently. There is no regular schedule for that. But if something is impractical or just plain ugly, remodeling may make sense. If there's damage, you want to fix that sooner rather than later -- whether it's just quick maintenance or a full remodel depends on your budget and the state of the rest of the room. I'm middle aged and have only ever remodeled maybe 1.25 bathrooms. The full remodel was due to buying a house that had grout damage in the shower, and it was clearly impacting the sur...

Bmac wrote: ↑Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:07 am If not my least favorite, certainly the most underwhelming travel experience was Mount Rushmore. I realize creating it must have been quite a feat, but in person it just felt a bit overrated. Particularly given the lengths required to get there.

Agreed. Just not that exciting.

That said, all the other stuff in that region was pretty neat. I thoroughly enjoyed Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, the Badlands, and what I saw of the Black Hills.

Yes, the question is if things go better than the historical worst case how/when do you adjust spending estimates/amounts along the way so you enjoy a little more of what you invested/saved and your heirs enjoy a little less. I think you got your answer already but I'll try another metaphor. You check the weather forecast for next week, and it says sunny. What do you do if you check the weather forecast again in 3 days and it says chance of rain? Or if you check in 7 days and it says snow? You adjust to new information, of course. The model is necessarily fuzzy, and the farther out it goes, the fuzzier it gets. But the model isn't "run once and set for the rest of your life". The model is like the weather forecast. You check a fe...

As others have said, it sounds like the money isn't your top priority, and you ought to be fine in that respect after the move, even if it cuts some things back. I think it's worth living in a place you like, with opportunities that you value.

For whatever my personal anecdote is worth, I also took a pay cut to move from a small remote town to northern Oregon a couple of years ago, and my family has generally been happy with the change.

I started to run the numbers but then realized I think I'm just happier carefully ignoring the dips, the same way I studiously ignore the needle before getting a shot. I'm not going to totally bury my head in the sand, but I'd rather just let things go (and reassure myself I don't need any of it now, and I'm buying cheaper for the future) and leave it at that.

nisiprius wrote: ↑Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:30 am I would just say "fingerprint sensors suck." The gimmicky gadget attraction is strong, but like many seemingly clever devices, as we would say fifty years ago, "this invention hasn't been perfected yet."

Yep. That's why I just use the code instead of relying on it. If it doesn't work well, don't use it.

meadowrue wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 3:33 pm this opportunity is a dream job for me and they don’t seem to care where I’m based as long as I can travel to HQ every couple months. Now I just have to land the job, ha! Fingers crossed.

Given these words, I don't even understand why you're worrying about the promotion. That's the next job. Take this one because it's great for right now. Later, when you want to move on or up, worry about whether you look internally (promotion) or externally (yet another job).

So much of remote work is new for a lot of companies and people, the standards are still taking shape. What was true 3 years ago definitely isn't now, and likely by the time you're itching for a promotion, the whole landscape will have shifted again anyway.

An important thing to note is it's not the dollar value of the house, it's the size of the mortgage. Are you saving now? How much of a down payment will you have when you go to buy? There's a HUGE difference between a $450k house with $150k down and a $300k mortgage, versus a $450k house with $25k down and a $425k mortgage.

Thanks all. I just did a Google search and found one agent that work on a flat fee basis for $22,000 which is way better than $96,000. I think I will try the flat fee rather than commission approach. I honestly do not think that an expensive house is more work to buy/sell than a less expensive house. Rather, the more time consuming homes are older homes, homes on land, homes on septic, homes in poor condition. The sales price has little to do with the complexity of sale and thus real estate should not be on commission. This thread got bumped after sitting idle from February. Curious minds demand resolution. How did this work out? Should the rest of us be considering it? I see you had a thread later in the year about the mover who wanted li...

Honestly, I like Domino's. For a long time it was pretty bad, but they retooled a while back, and it's generally been better than the other chains I've tried.

I'm going to call this a classic case of overthinking it.

"If I punch myself in the face, will it make the criminals on the street think I've already been mugged, and leave me alone?"

I would be screaming at the board about allowing payments over time if this involves multiple buildings. Here we had 15 buildings, only one done at a time, so we allowed owners to spread the $6,000/unit assessment over 5 years...$100/month. The HOA itself should also be able to borrow the funds to allow the above...though the owners might not be happy with current interest rates. Seconded. Nearly all the assessments I've been a part of have had a spread out option like that. A $3k painting fee paid at $300 for 10 months. My last place had a road replacement plan that ran for 10 years - 5 years to save up enough to do the work + another 5 years to kick-start the next repair, or something like that. My mom's condo had a quarter of a million ...

tcrez wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 9:05 pm Does anyone just find it really fun to click around on Zillow and entertaining the idea of making a purchase?

Sure. I own a house, and I still click around on Zillow and see what's out there. But I think houses are pretty neat, and I enjoy seeing the variety, and also keeping up with the current market. At the moment, I have no intention of moving, but we're trying to talk the in-laws into shifting to the area, so we're casually investigating for them. At other times I've dreamed about space or style upgrades, or different views.

pasadena wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 8:17 pm Assuming you have the means to retire comfortably at 50, as you said, I would wait until 51. Yes, it's one more year, but the 50% medical (for life?) seems like a sweet deal for "just" one year.

I wouldn't do another 5 years after that. At some point, free life is more precious than more money, if you already have enough.

+1. There's a big step, and it's close to your stated "ability to retire" date. Hanging on one year for a large benefit may be worth it. After that the incremental additions add value if you're not already ready, but if you are ready, what's the point?

A couple years ago I took a 35% pay cut, plus a promotion into a more challenging, busier role, in order to move to a different part of the country. The idea was cost of living ought to make up for a lot of the difference, but in practice that part didn't work out quite so well. Partly because instead of saving on the house we kept the same price but got a major upgrade in terms of space and quality. The whole family has enjoyed the new location, too, so I'm still chalking it up as a win.

I intend to delay the higher earner (his) SS as long as legally possible to deplete tax deferred assets. The social security site says I might get $2200/month at 62, ramping up to just under $4k at age 70. I ran some calculators and it seemed like delaying was fairly consistently the best outcome but maybe I’m missing something so let me know your thoughts. My situation is pretty close to yours, in almost every aspect. I've repeatedly checked SS and always come to the same conclusion you have. With the age gap plus large difference in incomes, it'll make sense for you to delay to 70 to maximize that payment. Unless your wife has some higher earnings hidden by the current situation, she'll probably get more using you for the spousal benefit...

He doesn't like debt. Thus his plan calls for getting rid of all debt. That's all.

Sure. I've tapped into mine multiple times, mostly for surprise home repairs. The main reason I keep it, though, is in case I every lose my job. We've mostly been a one-income household, and I feel like it's an important insurance policy to have the padding if I have to go back on the job hunt. I've been lucky enough not to have it happen recently, but I also went through a couple of layoffs early in my career when I didn't have an emergency fund and sorely needed it.

I keep about 6 months of expenses for the EF. If I've got more than that on hand, I invest it.

Verizon is doing something similar. I will probably switch to one of their unlimited plans soon. Yeah, I got a notice recently. Thing is, I was paying $84, and with the hike I'll be paying $96 on the legacy plan with two phones. If I switched to Unlimited, the minimum price is $140. So no real reason for me to switch yet. I think you should be able to do 5G Start for $35/line. I am under $140 total for 4 lines with a $20 55+ discount. Unfortunately, that math doesn't hold up at Verizon. 5G Start is $35/line if you have 4 lines, but they bump it to $45/line if you have 3 lines, and if you only have 2 lines it's $60/line. Basically, they're going to take their $120-$140 regardless of what the customer's situation is. And that's for 5 GB, whi...

Kenkat wrote: ↑Fri Jul 08, 2022 9:57 am Verizon is doing something similar. I will probably switch to one of their unlimited plans soon.

Yeah, I got a notice recently. Thing is, I was paying $84, and with the hike I'll be paying $96 on the legacy plan with two phones. If I switched to Unlimited, the minimum price is $140. So no real reason for me to switch yet.

I'm more worried about light pollution than burglary, here. I only turn on the front porch light at night if we're expecting visitors. Out back we've got some solar-powered bulbs that keep deck lighting on into the evening for atmosphere, but they fade out as the night gets later.

If you can comfortably afford the payment on a 15, I'm all for it. You'll save a lot of money over the 30. And at 5.6%, that's definitely up into territory where you're not guaranteed to outperform by keeping the mortgage big and investing instead.

Tamalak wrote: ↑Mon Jun 13, 2022 8:06 am I keep hearing "paper losses" during downturns, I never hear "paper gains" during bull markets

Not precisely, but I do see a fair number of "should I lock in my gains?" posts, which are basically there in spirit.

Possibly something like ABF U-Pack? I've used it for whole household moves. You load your stuff into the front of a semi trailer and put up a barrier. Then they use the rest of the trailer for regular shipping and bill you for the amount of space you use. The thing I'm not sure of is if they have a minimum amount of space used.

Thanks for the replies, all! Plus some specifics: As an FYI, holding bond ETFs or mutual funds, which also would generate dividends, would be subject to your ordinary income tax rate. That’s why it’s preferred to hold bonds in non-taxable accounts and stocks in taxable accounts. There’s an entire discussion on how to fill up the “buckets” of the stock and bond holdings of your portfolio between taxable and non-taxable accounts. Noted, thanks. And yeah, I'm already doing a bit of similar tuning between retirement accounts (no bonds in the Roth, just in the Traditional side). I'll continue to keep that in mind. I will speak on 2 only. Unless one is making very massive orders (like multi-millions of dollars), VTI is very much liquid; I do not ...

I'm starting my first taxable brokerage account, and just want to double-check some things. I'm at Vanguard, where I already have some other accounts. Goal is growth of long-term holdings. 1. ETF vs mutual fund. I'm just interested in total US stock market for now. My understanding is I should either be going with VTI (the ETF) or VTSAX (the mutual fund) to get total US stock marked coverage, right? I've read the wiki articles plus some threads, and for the most part it looks like the differences between the two are relatively minor. Based on my past impatience waiting for retirement account trades to complete, I went with ETF for the peace of mind of the immediate transaction. It also seemed like avoiding dividends in the taxable account m...

I use https://www.freetaxusa.com/ and have entered K-1 information successfully the last couple of years. I know for a fact I had the Z code in it, but from what I remember of the interface it had an "add more line items" button from which I could have picked all sorts of letters and values. That's not a 100% guarantee that it'll handle your particular situation, but it makes it at least likely.

It is also free at the federal level and around $15 for the state level, I think. So not too expensive. For a new account you'll have to do a fair bit of data entry, but year-to-year, if you like it and continue with it, it remembers almost everything.

I have been offered a large contract, is there any way that I can do it so that it is not in my legal name? So that my employer does not find out? Can I get the contract in a different name? (How could I manage this?) Unless there's some weird quirk here that I'm not understanding, there's no reason your current employer would see your contract for the second job. I think you may also be confusing the contract with the pseudonym. You don't need to change the contract or have a full business DBA or something like that to just put a different name on the cover of the book. Just say "I want to use this name on the book." Example: I publish novels under a pseudonym. My contract with the publishing house has my real name on it. The ch...

In the US, the current federal tax brackets are at 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.

Just by looking at the numbers I'd say the 30+% ones are high, the 12% or less is low, and the 20's are in the middle. Depending on context that might not be what the speaker meant, but it'll probably do in a pinch.

Definitely go in and make sure you understand all the appliances. Not just the water shutoff for the house, but also make sure you know where the electric panel is, how to shut off and restart the furnace or water heater, etc. Better to know what to do in advance than have to figure it out when you're stressed.

Also, if the furnace has a filter, check it. If it looks at all dirty, get a replacement, and then put it on the maintenance schedule to replace every 6 months, along with the smoke detector batteries.

I am curious if high inflation would be more likely to bump up the tax brackets faster, and possibly other tax-related elements like the standard deduction? Googling, one site seems to indicate they're not just vaguely related, but directly linked. So waiting out the wave of inflation is likely to reduce the amount of taxes paid on the traditional IRA withdrawals. At least by a little bit.

Roth obviously pays no tax so has no change there.

Still, that would seem like another reason not to hurry up and get the taxes over with now if you don't need to, and may provide a small benefit by waiting.

I tend to lean toward 1%, but as others note, it's lumpy.* In 16 years (across 3 houses) I've had to fix or replace: * 2 sets of laundry devices * 2 furnaces * 2 water heaters * 1 refrigerator * 1 microwave * 1 shower remodel * 1 set of wood flooring * about 25 gallons of interior paint * 1 exterior paint refresh * 1 attic full of blown-in insulation And in that time I've probably also had at least $8k in maintenance and repairs (gutters, plumbing, fireplace maintenance, leaks, broken bits of wood and electrical fixtures, tile repairs, you name it) We've also done at least another $10k in remodeling and furniture replacement: adding shelves and bookshelves, upgrading lighting, faucets, mirrors, ceiling fans, and other elements, going throug...

My old job had an FSA with a Dependent Care option. You put in pre-tax dollars, up to a limit, that could be used for childcare. (Another term for them is DCFSA, I think.)

I don't know anything about instituting one, or if they're allowed with sole proprietorships, but that's probably what you'd look into.

Mine came with a limit of $5k per year at the time. Not sure if that's flexible or the federal limit. There might have also been a "you put it in, you have to spend it or you lose it" contingency. And for us $5k only put a small dent in full-time childcare for an infant. But the numbers may have changed, or may be variable.

Spend less or bring in more are the main ways of dealing with a tight budget, so be sure to look from both angles. Are your parents able to help out, either financially or in non-financial ways that still maybe save you money (i.e., babysitting, meal prep instead of eating out, helping with something instead of hiring a service, etc)?

We would be looking to put as much as 40% down which I know isn't perhaps the soundest investment decision but would do so in order to lower the monthly housing expense to within realm of what we are paying now in rent ($3,400 per month). Do you think $850K is a fair budget or should we set out sights lower? That makes sense to me. With an income of $220-$260k, if you were using the 2.5x income rule of thumb you wouldn't want a mortgage much over $600k. A large down payment makes that possible, and still leaves you a fair bit of your savings. Main thing is make sure the rest of the budget and goals are in alignment, but as long as all the math works out I wouldn't have reservations about it. The most I'd say is retirement is currently kind...

The couch we bought in October 2020 took until March 2021 to arrive. Supply-side issues for either materials or labor, I guess.

Also maybe a small amount of people avoiding used furniture because of Covid, though I'd bet that was a bigger issue early on than it is now.

My grandmother passed away recently and left $10,000 to each of her great-grandchildren. This includes my two kids who are still minors, aged 7 and 11. I've been thinking about the best way to manage this money for them, and wanted to bounce it off the forums for ideas. They do already have existing UTMA accounts, so I think the short answer is the money probably gets added there and invested for the longer term, since they have no immediate need for the money, but if there are other creative or useful purposes it could be put to, I'm open to ideas. I also worry a little that eventually everything in there is just going to dissolve into paying for college and not leave much of a lasting legacy. I'm not optimistic that we'll be able to fully...

I'm 45 and have worked in IT for 21 years. I work for a state government and I have not seen any ageism where I work. I have many co-workers that are older than me. I think it varies a lot by the company environment. Most of the ageism I hear about is either in really tech-centric places like Silicon Valley, or in businesses that only have a technical focus (FAANG, software and computer hardware companies, maybe startups too). I'm not sure it's all of them, but in some of them it may be true. Step outside of that world, and there are millions of technical roles at non-tech companies, where age probably isn't a big deal at all. I spent the last 15 years doing tech work for what was mostly a gas and oil company, and they definitely showed no...

dad2000 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:25 pm
It may make sense to pay a pro for one year so you have a good reference point to DYI after that.

+1, this is a very reasonable approach. Have an expert to talk things out with one year and see how it gets written down on the forms. The next year you can use last year's as a template and you'll probably have no issue going forward, unless your employment situation or tax law changes significantly.