Search found 50 matches
- Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:32 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: What Causes Burnout at Work?
- Replies: 99
- Views: 6844
Re: What Causes Burnout at Work?
If not for the health insurance, I think I'd be gone. The pay isn't much, the level of respect from management isn't much, the responsibility is high, the chance of catching Covid is low to medium. If I stay two more years I get a pension. Sigh. Burnout is real. Compassion fatigue is real.
- Thu Jan 14, 2021 7:56 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Cloud storage services recommendation.
- Replies: 18
- Views: 990
Re: Cloud storage services recommendation.
I've been very happy with PCloud as my DropBox replacement. DropBox had been shifting strongly towards business uses away from consumers. PCloud has a monthly or lifetime (99 year) purchasing price, as well as optional strong encryption upgrade.
- Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:28 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Getting ad mail in my young children's name
- Replies: 7
- Views: 695
Re: Getting ad mail in my young children's name
I'd guess the photography place. Most every business placed fast and loose with our data nowadays. My wife started getting junk mail within two weeks after we moved. I try to give out tagged names and addresses for things I need to provide an address so I can track how it is shared. For example at L...
- Sun Jan 03, 2021 11:50 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Official Registration For The 2021 Boglehead Contest
- Replies: 638
- Views: 14987
- Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:46 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: So what kind of raise did you guys get for 2021?
- Replies: 167
- Views: 10903
Re: So what kind of raise did you guys get for 2021?
No raise, hours cut. I'm in a non-patient care position at a hospital emergency room. Significant raises given to caregivers via hourly base wage, hourly incentive pay, and an extra week of vacation.
- Sat Dec 12, 2020 7:31 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Antivirus/security protection for my Mac
- Replies: 11
- Views: 815
Re: Antivirus/security protection for my Mac
Make sure you have backups. Time Machine is a good local backup system. BackBlaze gives you offsite backup. I set up my Mac with a regular user, and then do all my work as that user. The administrative user is only used to install applications or system updates. Yes, it's sometimes annoying, but I l...
- Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:38 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Checking out of HOTEL APPLE
- Replies: 88
- Views: 8342
Re: Checking out of HOTEL APPLE
I added an external SSD to my iMac, then set the boot drive in System Preferences to use that drive instead of the itnernal HDD. Works great.DiamondplateDave wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 11:40 am If I could easily upgrade my iMacs to SSDs, I would do so, but they are not easy to open and work on.
- Sun Aug 30, 2020 3:18 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: replacement car key and fob
- Replies: 25
- Views: 1929
Re: replacement car key and fob
A lot of more modern vehicles use equipment inside the key to pair with the car ignition. Without the correct pairing, the car won't start. The key will unlock the door, and turn the starter over, but won't engage so the car won't start.
- Fri Aug 28, 2020 5:27 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Very Frequent Scam Automated Calls
- Replies: 33
- Views: 1592
Re: Very Frequent Scam Automated Calls
Don't answer calls from any number you don't know. If possible, get a cell phone number from a different area code. Then when the spammer/scammer calls and spoofs a "local" number, you'll know you can ignore that call. If you want to cancel a number (cell or landline), start telling all of...
- Thu Aug 13, 2020 11:37 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: WordPress - minimalist theme
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1549
Re: WordPress - minimalist theme
You might consider using WordPress.com instead of your own WordPress on your own hosting. Costs may be similar or less expensive, plus the security and updates are on someone else's problem. You pay a fee to use your own domain name, and they have a lot of professional minimalistic themes to use.
- Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:26 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
- Replies: 6250
- Views: 1422980
Re: What Movie Have You Recently Watched?
My wife and I watched Greyhound on Apple TV +. Tom Hanks movie about WW II. "Early in World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy captain must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by Nazi U-boat wolfpacks." Was supposed to be released to theaters, but Apple bought the rights and put it on Appl...
- Sun Jul 26, 2020 9:23 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Coins
- Replies: 28
- Views: 2772
Re: Coins
Coin collecting is a lot of fun. And fairly/kind of easy to do while locked at home the past few months. eBay purchases have kept me quite busy.Don't knock anyone's hobbies, we are all different and relax in different ways.
I second the vote for https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/ .
I second the vote for https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/ .
- Sat Jul 25, 2020 6:51 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: First time homebuyer - things to keep in mind
- Replies: 31
- Views: 2559
Re: First time homebuyer - things to keep in mind
The region we moved to had two cities and a county meeting at a point. I was self-employed, working from home, so I looked at the business licensing and taxes for each jurisdiction for home-based work. It was much less expensive to live in the county, so we told our realtor we wanted to live in the ...
- Fri Jul 24, 2020 9:58 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: How dead is dead? (USPS mail)
- Replies: 60
- Views: 6770
Re: How dead is dead? (USPS mail)
Look into filing a Form 1500, Application for Listing and/or Prohibitory Order - USPS, with the Post Office. Available at: https://about.usps.com/forms/ps1500.pdf Basically, the addressee and addressee alone is allowed to deem any mailing to be "sexually suggestive." And then that mailer i...
- Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:03 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Ancient/slow ipad 2
- Replies: 22
- Views: 1219
Re: Ancient/slow ipad 2
I still use my iPad 2 daily, for a few games that have new daily puzzles or levels to accomplish. It's used for FaceTime once a week with family. And sometimes used for Wikipedia or IMDB during tv shows or movies. Definitely want an upgrade, but not a need yet. Maybe Santa will be nice to me this ye...
- Fri Jul 03, 2020 5:28 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Big Scan Job: 28,800 pages
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1320
Re: Big Scan Job: 28,800 pages
Look at getting a ScanSnap scanner. Does double sided, can do scanning to text inside PDF so articles are searchable. If the staples aren't covering important text, just cut the corner of the page off. Set the scanned documents folder to be one that stores docs in the cloud, such as PCloud or DropBo...
- Wed May 20, 2020 2:57 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Discarding Music CDs
- Replies: 97
- Views: 7479
Re: Discarding Music CDs
A few years ago we had a 200 year flood, and the basement got several inches of water. Insurance paid me replacement value for the non-salvageable CDs, almost five figures. I lost about half of my collection. Now the remaining CDs are in plastic crates, up off the floor, still in the basement corne...
- Tue May 19, 2020 1:04 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Discarding Music CDs
- Replies: 97
- Views: 7479
Re: Discarding Music CDs
I used to run a network of Internet radio stations featuring Christmas music. I had a few thousand CDs I had been sent by artists and labels, all ripped to my computer, labeled and tagged correctly for legal webcast. The original CDs and cases were stored in cardboard boxes in a corner of my basemen...
- Tue May 05, 2020 8:09 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Where do you back up your important data?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 5715
Re: Where do you back up your important data?
First backup is automated, Mac Time Machine, a USB external drive. Second backup is automated, offsite, via BackBlaze. I've had one hard drive failure where I needed to get data back from BackBalze. I got a hard rive from them in the mail and was up and running quickly. Important files (financial st...
- Thu Apr 23, 2020 9:14 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: If you file on paper, do you see "Accepted" status at "Where's My Refund?"
- Replies: 4
- Views: 727
Re: If you file on paper, do you see "Accepted" status at "Where's My Refund?"
Ugh, thank you for posting this. The link to the Accounting web site was useful. I was planning to wait on hold for hours on Monday to see if they got my paper return yet. So that ordeal is saved, but I guess I'll get my refund and stimulus check when I get it.
- Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:26 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What are you doing for haircuts due to coronavirus shutdown?
- Replies: 258
- Views: 22672
- Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:48 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: What is your AA, given your age ? and this crisis ?
- Replies: 173
- Views: 10715
Re: What is your AA, given your age ? and this crisis ?
I am 51, wife is 49. We are at 75% equities, 25% bonds. Based on last night's balances, we need to rebalance soon, at 64%/36% then. We will re-evaluate tonight and maybe rebalance tomorrow. We'll probably change the asset allocation ratios when I hit 55, planning to retire at 65, and start getting m...
- Wed Feb 12, 2020 12:11 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Expensive ink cartridge for Canon printer
- Replies: 21
- Views: 939
Re: Expensive ink cartridge for Canon printer
I agree 100% with ikowik, buy a Brother Laser printer. They don't clog like ink, the toner lasts forever. I bought the HLL2395DW after passing my HLL2380DW on to my mother. I use the scanner every once in a while.
- Tue Feb 11, 2020 10:30 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Internet and basic tv options?
- Replies: 44
- Views: 3447
Re: Internet and basic tv options?
Cox tracks customers by address. so me cancelling our service then having my wife call to get new service won't work until at least four months have passed. After 4 months, we would be new customers again. Lack of competition sucks. And the mountains around here block most of the over the air signals.
- Sat Feb 08, 2020 6:23 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Asset Allocation for Parents
- Replies: 20
- Views: 1254
Re: Asset Allocation for Parents
I'm really curious about the expected expenses of $90K/year. With Dad having dementia, those expenses may change quite a bit. I'm not thinking healthcare, I'm thinking they may go down if they aren't able to get out as much.
- Wed Jan 29, 2020 11:22 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Portfolio Review: 2020 plans
- Replies: 3
- Views: 594
Re: Portfolio Review: 2020 plans
Thank you for your help. We ended up deciding to go into the Peak 2035 fund. It was an ordeal to do this. We spent a long time on the phone with a customer service rep. In order to make any changes to the account, we had to physically mail a letter signed by my wife with the order/request to change....
- Thu Jan 09, 2020 3:14 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: At what point do you donate/trash/sell/gift your junk?
- Replies: 75
- Views: 5167
Re: At what point do you donate/trash/sell/gift your junk?
It's a horribly slow process. I have a closet and several storage boxes of stuff like what you mention. Plus the basement storage room. And the utility room. And a huge shelf of books. Sigh. We are ever so slowly going through it, and every time we visit a set of parents, we resolve to go through it...
- Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Portfolio Review: 2020 plans
- Replies: 3
- Views: 594
Portfolio Review: 2020 plans
I'm working full-time, wife is on permanent disability, receiving social security and a monthly disability check. Emergency funds: Yes, funded for six months, in a HYSA Debt: None, no mortgage anymore. Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly Tax Rate: 15% Federal, 5.75% State State of Residence: V...
- Fri Jan 03, 2020 8:47 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
- Replies: 4886
- Views: 1306895
Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI
"Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History" by Peter Houlahan.
A bank robbery gone wrong in Southern California in 1980. I keep imagining this as a movie.
A bank robbery gone wrong in Southern California in 1980. I keep imagining this as a movie.
- Thu Jan 02, 2020 5:50 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Records retention
- Replies: 22
- Views: 2213
Re: Records retention
Check your state's listing of unclaimed property. Look for your name, spouse's name, kid, etc. If you find anything, you'll need proof that you used to live at the property or otherwise had an account there. Once you've done that, you can get rid of that older paperwork. My wife has unclaimed proper...
- Thu Jan 02, 2020 4:53 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Annual Tracking Spreadsheet Review?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 3005
Re: Annual Tracking Spreadsheet Review?
I have a handful of spreadsheets that are updated monthly. Net worth, asset allocation, details of stock purchases. Balance the credit card and bank accounts in the financial software (iBank, now called Banktivity).
- Thu Jan 02, 2020 4:12 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: Vanguard & Investment Account Statements
- Replies: 30
- Views: 2109
Re: Vanguard & Investment Account Statements
We used to scan and save PDF copies of all bank and investment/retirement statements. Now we can download them. We've kept them all, especially as they are electronic, so there is no cost to it. I guess we could back in time and add up our balances and see how our net worth (or lack thereof) has cha...
- Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:59 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: OFFICIAL REGISTRATION FOR THE 2020 BOGLEHEAD CONTEST
- Replies: 688
- Views: 22836
- Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:24 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Ken Burns Country Music DVDs: Historic and Artistic Merit
- Replies: 23
- Views: 1722
Re: Ken Burns Country Music DVDs: Historic and Artistic Merit
The series was well worth the investment of time. I missed one episode, and my local library has a looong waiting list to check out the series.
- Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:09 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Outdoor Christmas Lights and Decorations
- Replies: 18
- Views: 1369
Re: Outdoor Christmas Lights and Decorations
The outside strands I have are solar rechargable. Happens automatically. Only downside is that on cloudy/rainy/snowy days that evening they don't turn on. 72 foot strand was $40 at Amazon, still working great after three years. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EHPO0C2/
- Sat Nov 30, 2019 10:20 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Charity vs. Scrooge- how do you think of things?
- Replies: 85
- Views: 6017
Re: Charity vs. Scrooge- how do you think of things?
My wife and I give two things: (1) money. To our church, and to groups we've investigated and agree with their mission. We have an annual giving budget planned. (2) our time and work. We volunteer with various groups. Local rescue squad. Food bank. Crisis pregnancy center. Anyone who cold calls us g...
- Thu Nov 28, 2019 12:41 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: So I had my free phone call from Personal Capital . . .
- Replies: 43
- Views: 6365
Re: So I had my free phone call from Personal Capital . . .
I also put my Google Voice number into Personal Capital so they're never able to bother me.
It seems that Personal Capital has made it more difficult to manually update your figures. No huge loss, maybe I'll just delete my account.
It seems that Personal Capital has made it more difficult to manually update your figures. No huge loss, maybe I'll just delete my account.
- Thu Nov 21, 2019 12:51 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Joining a new employer in December and maxing out a 401k
- Replies: 13
- Views: 581
Re: Joining a new employer in December and maxing out a 401k
IF YOU CONTRIBUTE EVEN $1 to 401k plan in 2019 , unfortunately you will not be able to take the tax deduction on Traditional IRA contribution. Ummm, what? Really? I work at a non-profit hospital,and have to have at least 1% of my paycheck go into a 403B. I dislike the fund choices, so I do the mini...
- Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:08 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Whether to change phone number for elderly parents
- Replies: 34
- Views: 3438
Re: Whether to change phone number for elderly parents
If you get a new number, get one that is in a different state than where they are living. Then when the robocalls/spammers/idiots try to call in with a phone number from that other state in their spoofed caller ID, you will know it is a call to not answer. Set your ring tone and vibration to silent/...
- Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:31 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mortgage final payment
- Replies: 31
- Views: 4113
Re: Mortgage final payment
And on Friday we got a check back from Wells Fargo for a whopping $0.69! It's been a while since I laughed so hard.
- Thu Aug 29, 2019 5:25 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Block Facebook "Sponsored" Ads?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1498
Re: Block Facebook "Sponsored" Ads?
Any time an ad shows up on my feed, I choose the option to block that advertiser. For a reason, I choose it is irrelevant to me. If you do that enough, ads stop showing up. Every six months or so, FB creates new categories of ads, so I have to block them as well.
- Fri Aug 23, 2019 6:44 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: RE-OPENED for Good LightRoom Equivs: Best FOSS for Video Production, Audio Production, Photo Editing, and Office Suites?
- Replies: 19
- Views: 1606
Re: Best FOSS for Video Production, Audio Production, Photo Editing, and Office Suites?
LibreOffice is pretty good. It's read 99% of my old MS Office documents I've thrown at it. PowerPoint slideshows either open really well or not at all. Transition effects disappear. https://www.libreoffice.org/ I use GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) for pictures. It has a steep learning curve, ...
- Sun Aug 18, 2019 10:10 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mortgage final payment
- Replies: 31
- Views: 4113
Re: Mortgage final payment
Thank you everyone! It turns out that a wire from Suntrust costs $25. A certified check is free, so I could either overnight it for $24.95, or 2 day mail for $7.95. Or first class mail for $0.50. I did the two day mail, had the check prepared for an extra three days of interest, just in case. The fi...
- Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:57 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Mortgage final payment
- Replies: 31
- Views: 4113
Mortgage final payment
My wife and I decided to pay off the mortgage. We only owe around $2,500. When I generated the payoff letter at Wells Fargo, it said we have to wire or mail a check. It seems really odd I can't set a payment up through their online tool. I'll be calling them this afternoon to see what they say. They...
- Sat May 18, 2019 11:23 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: HOW to pay off a mortgage
- Replies: 18
- Views: 4141
Re: HOW to pay off a mortgage
How does the final payment work if you are doing autopay of your monthly payments? Is the final payment the actual payoff amount automatically?
- Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:37 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Video Camera to check in on Elderly Parent
- Replies: 76
- Views: 5984
Re: Video Camera to check in on Elderly Parent
This isn't new technology & it can be obtained cheaper than the Apple Watch option. The trick is: the person has to be wearing the device. I did a quick search, and you're right. I'll look through those options and see if my parent would maybe do one of those instead. She hated the necklace but...
- Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:12 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: In which companies do you own a single share, or token amount, of stock?
- Replies: 119
- Views: 10025
Re: In which companies do you own a single share, or token amount, of stock?
I still own 10 shares of Apple. I originally bought 20 shares in early 2000s, just so I could say I owned some. I'm so glad I didn't sell a couple years later when my stockbroker suggested I sell. Since I didn't need the money at that time, I held.
- Thu Apr 18, 2019 2:11 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Video Camera to check in on Elderly Parent
- Replies: 76
- Views: 5984
Re: Video Camera to check in on Elderly Parent
Something to consider would be the newest Apple Watch. It has fall detection and can automatically call 911 and an emergency contact. https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/15/apple-wa ... detection/
- Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:11 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: What is your hobby and how did it come to be your hobby?
- Replies: 146
- Views: 17766
Re: What is your hobby and how did it come to be your hobby?
Two largest hobbies for me: 1. Volunteer with the local rescue squad. A fair bit of time commitment to get certified, then a weekly shift requirement. It feels good to give back. You meet a lot of good people. 2. Just started learning to play the banjo. Smaller hobbies include: 3. Swimming. I need t...
- Sat Apr 06, 2019 7:07 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: What? No Income?
- Replies: 62
- Views: 8026
Re: What? No Income?
Yeah, the whole idea of buying low is gone, because if the market tanks, you've got no income to buy more while "it's on sale." I feel like such a wimp. Isn't this what an asset allocation is for? Sell off some bonds to buy stocks when the stock prices fall? Or does that not work once we ...