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We purchased this dishwasher from Costco couple of years back:
KitchenAid 44 DBA Hidden Control Dishwasher with FreeFlex Third Level Rack and Express Wash Cycle

It has been much better than our previous dishwasher (GE profile) in cleaning the dishes, space and noise level. There was one recall related to this dishwasher last year - Kitchenaid sent a repairman to take care of it for no charge. Overall happy with the purchase - will see how it holds up in the coming years.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I see a Marcolini chocolate shop at Brussels airport as well, just in case.

- No car needed, so we will skip one. Will look into the suggested train pass.
- Added Sainte-Chapelle to the list.
- I have been wavering on whether keeping Belgium in the itinerary is good idea. The alternatives would be London, Barcelona, Zurich, etc. Came down to Belgium because of these reasons:
-- Relatively small towns which will be different from Paris (touristy)
-- The alternatives are huge cities best covered by separate trips?


-Alexp

We are planning a trip to France + one other European country during this Summer. We haven't taken many international vacations, other than visiting some Caribbean countries. This will be our first trip to Europe. I have gone through some old posts in this forum trying to come up with a plan. Please critique and provide suggestions. We will be travelling with two kiddos of ages 5 and 15. I have tried to keep the plan as relaxed as possible, considering that the 5yr old may not be interested in walking from time to time :happy . Plan: Day 0: Land in Paris Day 1 - 4: Paris tourist attractions - Eiffel Tower, Siene River Cruise, Arc de triomphe, Louvre Museum, Musee d'Orsay, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Luxembourg Gardens <Take pass of the ...

I have done repairs on our microwave multiple times. The hardest part is taking it out and putting it back in. We have an extra countertop microwave which is put to use when the in-wall microwave stops working.

I unplug the microwave and wait for ~2-3+ days before getting to it. Also follow safety instructions found on YouTube videos to discharge capacitor if needed.

Most of the repairs have been related to door switches - they are plastic and often break after few years. Once had to replace magnetron (a new one costs around $50 on eBay).

You can call appliance repairman as well - it costs 200$-500$ where we live depending on the repair.

44yrs/Married with 2 kids/MCOL Also including household income for some of the years. 1-Jan-09 100K [income: 80K] 1-Jan-11 173K (Paid off student loans) 1-Jan-12 200K [income: 130K] 1-Jan-13 242K (Bought primary home) 1-Jan-14 358K 1-Jan-15 425K 1-Jan-16 530K 1-Jan-17 700K 1-Jan-18 886K [income: 170K] 1-Jan-19 1.005M 1-Jan-20 1.314M 1-Jan-21 1.689M 1-Jan-22 2.17M 1-Jan-23 2.03M [income: 290K, Single -> Two income] Invested $100k during 2022 (maxed my mega backdoor + HSA + Backdoor Roth along with some investment in taxable). Saved ~$30K for home renovation, vacation fund and 529 plans. $60K appreciation in real estate. Despite all this, NW is down - thanks to Mr Market. Planning to continue the same saving trend, if possible, for 2023. -Alex

We had to go through IVF for kid #2 few years back. I second the other thoughts shared in this thread about selecting a clinic with proven track record. The success rate data for IVF clinics is publicly available. Regarding financial, the whole payment was not due at once for us - it was gradual after each step. There was a document shared by our clinic upfront that listed the timeline of the payments. The IVF drugs are also expensive and can run few thousand dollars - those payments were directly made to pharmacy. Our insurance covered part of the cost but we also went with some procedures such as genetic testing, etc. to improve outcomes which were not covered. We had to go through two cycles (first one had only one healthy embryo which f...

I believe you are asking about stopping auto reinvest of dividends and cap gains. You need to click on the specific fund in “balances and holding” page. And then you will see option to turn it off at the bottom on the fund page.


-Alex

Should be fine. LLCs with EIN can buy ibonds as entities.

On guys trip, we divide the lodging costs equally irrespective of the rooms/sleeping arrangements. In few trips, some guys had to sleep on couches but paid equal share.

Regarding alcohol, we never split drink cost with guys who don’t drink. We generally give the responsibility of paying and keeping track of costs to a detail oriented person in the group who takes care of splitting everything prudently.

I know several people doing it but none of them are managing two full time office jobs. The second job that they take generally comes with some flexible hours and autonomy. Along with the full time job, I see gigs such as realtor, mortgage loan broker, tax consultant, franchise owner, etc.

Another vote for 3-car. 15k will not seem to be a big amount when you rethink about this decision after ~5yrs.

I faced the same decision a decade back (the difference between 2 car and 3 car was $7k). We opted for 3-car and never repented the decision. I love the flexibility of extra space as temporary storage for stuff to sell, large packages, stuff going to storage, etc. Our neighborhood has lately seen some car break ins and I am glad that I am able to fit both of my cars in the garage (with additional stuff).


-Alex P.

43yrs/Single income/Married with 2 kids/MCOL

1-Jan-09 100K
1-Jan-11 173K (Paid off student loans)
1-Jan-12 200K
1-Jan-13 242K (Bought primary home)
1-Jan-14 358K
1-Jan-15 425K
1-Jan-16 530K
1-Jan-17 700K
1-Jan-18 886K
1-Jan-19 1.005M
1-Jan-20 1.314M
1-Jan-21 1.689M
1-Jan-22 2.17M

We were able to save ~$110K during 2021. Rest of the gains came from market returns (Index/Mutual funds) & Real Estate appreciation.
Wife is planning to do a small freelance project in 2022 which will slightly increase HHI.

-Alex

I asked a similar question yesterday and have been doing some research on this topic since last couple of days. Based on the suggestions from this forum as well as my insurance agent, I have decided to get professional liability and general liability coverage.

Our contract also mentions worker comp insurance, but that is not necessary as per the insurance agent and my research - as we don’t have any employees and this insurance doesn’t cover the owners. Same goes with auto liability - we have personal vehicles.

I am very lost on this topic and would highly appreciate any help. Please share your opinions. Background: My wife has just taken up a small IT project. She was to be paid via 1099 but our CPA recommended requesting C2C. We already have a LLC and my wife is a managing member of the LLC. The LLC doesn't have any other employees. The revenue for this project is very less ~<$50K per year. We opened a business checking account for the LLC last week. Question: Today, I got the paperwork for this contract. The contract mentions different insurances such as worker comp, general liability and employee dishonesty. My wife will be using the health benefits from my full time job and we have personal auto/liability (umbrella) coverages. Do we need to g...

Has anyone recently refinanced an investment property? I received a quote from Better Mortgage of 4.75% on a 30-year loan on a SFH (with a 60% LTV) which is significantly higher than I am currently paying. Am i missing something or is that just the going rate for investment properties? You need to negotiate with Better. They do not give good rates upfront. Most effective methods involve screenshotting the Better quotes on bankrate.com or sending them a competing Loan Estimate. +1. I am currently doing cash out refinance with better for an investment property- 3.125%|15yr|$3K closing cost. Will be getting $2K in Amex credit. I didn’t get a good offer for them upfront but they were able to match an offer from another lender. Better.com rep t...

We have decided to stop this year. Will still honor small contributions coming from grandparents on special occasions.
Daughter 1 (12yr): 100K
Daughter 2 (3yr): 55K

100K fully funds instate flagship for us. If they decide to go out of state, 25K per year can easily be cash flowed from income or taxable.


-AlexP

Do people factor in social security survivor benefits for surviving spouses and kids under 16? The monthly payments can pay a good chunk of everyday living expenses.

I have been considering these amounts with my term life insurance numbers. Just want to make sure that there is no catch as I don’t see anyone in Bogleheads talking about them.

Look at The Westin Lagunamar resort in Cancun. They have 1-bedroom accommodations with kitchen and it is in a relatively safe hotel zone. There is a shopping complex across the resort with many eating options including Thai and Indian.

-Alex

We are WFH at least for this year until 12/2021. There has been no formal announcement of return to office strategy yet but I M expecting a hybrid work model at our F500 shop.

Personally, I miss meeting people in person and hallway chats. The productivity has been equal or better while WFH since 3/20. I am fine both ways as my commute is <10mins .

We did exactly this but with a little larger deck (320sqft) and also went with tile flooring. Costed around $30K at that time in a MCOL city. The prices of building material and labor have shot up since last year so expect to pay a little more.


-Alex

Looks like you have been thinking of buying car since last 5 months viewtopic.php?f=2&t=323776

I would recommend just buying it and not overthinking. You can definitely afford to buy the Volvo!

I would pay cash for a Range Rover with such an income. Of course, you can afford any car less than $150k

Olemiss540 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:06 pm Those are NOT the right assumptions. The Roth 401k can usually be rolled into a Roth IRA upon separation which would allow tax/penalty free withdrawals of the contributions.

Let's say I change employer in 2025 and have 50K in my Roth 401K at that time. Does it mean that I can rollover this 50K to my Roth IRA and withdraw tax/penalty free if needed? Or is it only the principal? Will the rollover to Roth IRA also convey the information about percentage of earnings vs principal? Thanks.

Olemiss540 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:06 pm Are you also contributing 6k to a Roth IRA? That would be first before any after tax contributions to your 401k.

Yes, I do contribute $6K/year to Roth IRA.

What do you currently invest in for taxable? What is your current tax bracket? How long until you plan to retire? One of the advantages of Roth is the tax free growth during the accumulation phase. How big are your traditional investments? Would Roth conversions make sense after you retire? If so, making Roth contributions now might be helpful because you will have more control over your total income in the future. I don't have any specific goal for taxable investments. They serve as backup emergency/misc fund (6-month EF is held in Savings). For example, they can be used to cover an unexpected vehicle purchase, excess college expenses for DDs (529s would cover state flagship), long unemployment (single income household), etc. Current tax ...

My employer has been offering after tax 401K option since last year. I will be contributing pre-tax 401K max ($19,500) and an additional $8000 to the after-tax 401K this year. The Roth in-plan conversion option has been activated on my account which will automatically convert the after-tax contribution to Roth 401K. These contributions leave around $700 per month available to me which I am planning to put in taxable brokerage. My thought is that the taxable brokerage funds are more liquid than Roth 401K as they are not tied until 59.5yrs of age (I am 42yrs). From a tax perspective, there should be no difference between Megabackdoor Roth and Taxable as long as the expenses during retirement are less than $104,000 (or little more) per year?? ...

Lexx wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 7:26 pm Learn to valuate your investment properties using cash on cash as a measure. To do this, take the gross rents and divide it by the amount of cash you invested into the property. For example a $1MM property with $60k/yr in rent would be 60,000 divided by 1,000,000 = 0.06 or 6% return cash on cash.

Compare that with your returns in alternative investments such as the stock market.

Isn’t it more appropriate to compare the property CAP rates with the alternate investments. There might be expenses like property tax, maintenance, etc. that need to be paid from gross rents.

linuxizer wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:45 am Where are you getting 3% cash out on a rental? The lenders I’ve checked with are closer to 4%.

Look into doing a mortgage in your primary instead - likely can get a much lower rate.

Aimloan. I don't like mixing primary and rental mortgages. Additionally, primary mortgage interest wouldn't be tax deductible.

Current cash flow from both properties combined is $275/month. The property value is ~$240K each.

Doing separate refinances would result in higher closing costs and the interest rate will slightly go up due to small loan amount.

When it comes to financial matters, I have lot of inertia and tend to do lot of thinking before making any big changes. Most of the tweaks happen only once a year during the AA rebalance period. I am thinking of doing some shuffling on my rental property mortgages and have done some back-of-the-envelope analysis. I admire the collective wisdom of this forum and would like to get opinions on whether to go ahead. Current situation: Rental #1: 4%/30yr -- Balance $129K -- P+I $670/month -- 25yrs remaining Rental #2: 3.625%/15yr -- Balance $105K -- P+I $800/month -- 14yrs remaining Based on calculators, I will pay ~$105K in interest for both of these mortgages going forward. Plan: Do cashout refinance for Rental #1, which will change it to: Rent...

42yrs/Single income/Married with 2 kids/MCOL

1-Jan-09 100K
1-Jan-11 173K (Paid off student loans)
1-Jan-12 200K
1-Jan-13 242K (Bought primary home)
1-Jan-14 358K
1-Jan-15 425K
1-Jan-16 530K
1-Jan-17 700K
1-Jan-18 886K
1-Jan-19 1.005M
1-Jan-20 1.314M
1-Jan-21 1.689M

Happy New Year

-Alex

Rentler has been working pretty well for me since last couple of years.

-Alex

Buying a condo in my 20s at the height of real estate bubble (2006) expecting it to appreciate. Not maxing out 401k during that time due to associated condo expenses. Still have the condo as rental/future second home. Its price has gone back to 2006 levels this year


-Alex

Thanks for the information. Looks like I was doing it all wrong with adding either me or my wife as authorized users in our last 3 chase applications.

-Alex

@Chip - glad that the router upgrade worked for you.

@meebers - the cat5e cable should be able to handle 1Gbps speed. Will be interesting to find the results for your cat 7 experiment.

-Alex

I second recommendations for Michelin defenders. Pay attention to the weight ratings.

My local tire shop did a price match to Costco. They told me to go for higher weight rating for my SUV (similar to highlander) than the one Costco sells which is more suitable for a large sedan.

I had the same Asus router and was considering similar plans due to poor Wi-Fi coverage in some parts of my ~4000 sqft home.

As the first step, I changed my router to “ TP-Link AC2600 Smart WiFi Router (Archer A10)“ which is just over 100$. After this, I saw great coverage all over the house and in my yard as well. Figured that Asus had a very pathetic Wi-Fi coverage.

Not answering your question but perhaps you can try this before going for more expensive and time consuming solutions.


-Alex

Not sure why I see lot of replies mentioning deductible. From what OP has described, it seems like other party’s fault and their liability portion of auto insurance should take care of it. OP doesn’t need to pay deductible.
You would need to talk to their insurance company, describe what happened and open a claim. Generally these processes are very streamlined.

Regarding your insurance premium going up, yes - it might go up slightly next time or when you shop because it will be counted as incident even if you were not at fault. From insurance company perspective, the risk of getting dinged at places where you may park has gone up a little.


-Alex

OP - pick a number between 0 and 35 that you are comfortable with and stick with it. There are several threads on international vs domestic if you search this forum and they go nowhere.

My international allocation hovers between 0 and 25 in my accounts. Sticking with the number will prevent you from selling low if we are indeed at the bottom for international funds as half of the forum thinks.

$80K each for two daughters. Enough to cover most of the cost for state universities. I can cash flow an equal amount from other sources/income.

Regarding numbers like 250-300k quoted in this thread, I would encourage them to take some loan if the cost comes this high. It better be a school which is worth it and makes them capable of paying the loan off within couple of years of employment


-Alex

Cutco knives
Northface and Patagonia outerwear
Good speakers (I favor Definitive Technology)


-Alex

$1500 (monthly) Value 280K
Gross rent per year = $18000
We can keep $5000 for property taxes/insurance/maintenance

Net rent of $13000 per year gives a return of 4.6%.
Isn't the return better than bonds with favorable tax treatment as bonus? I agree that there is maintenance headache with rentals but if OP is good with it. What am I missing?

-Alex

Nobody here has claimed those $300k is the median. Where did you read that? The claim was that the median engineer will earn in the $200k range during their career in most of the country. This is provably true. Many, many engineers earn much more. But even in MCOL cities the median engineer will crack $200k. This isn't to say that will happen in ALL locations, but it certainly happens often enough in enough places to be considered the norm. National salary surveys bear this out. The rapid escalation of compensation is recent, so if your most recent datapoint is 2013 that's very out-dated. There are now MANY cities where one can earn $300k+, including most MCOL cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, etc. No need to move to NY/SF/Seattle. The...

Between 10-20%.

I agree and personally know several engineers making $$ that are north of numbers talked here. But to say that these numbers are norm or median isn’t true. What I have found is getting these type of salaries is highly dependent on location. Bay Area or NYC are there but Seattle/Boston are catching up fast. It depends on how many aggressively hiring and growing tech companies are competing for hires in that region - with west coast HQ or mentality. I have worked in mid-west with some of the best software engineers before 2013 and saw ranges between 70-120K there. No concept of bonus or stock compensation. Moved to my current abode, MCOL city with wife’s parents at driving distance. Talking to my close knit network who work in other companies...

These international or no international threads are popping up every couple of months now. This means that lot of investors have started questioning their strategy. I was a "60 US/40 International" investor 10 years back when I started but took the decision of lowering my Intl allocation between 10-20% across all my accounts few years back. This was after I read John Bogle's advice. This year, I have made a decision to completely get out of Intl "index" funds in all my non-401K accounts and stick to 20% Intl allocation just in my 401K. Here are the reasons for adopting this strategy: -> More global: The world is more global and connected now than 30 years back. Any big financial, political or health calamity affects stoc...

I use Rentler - free ACH to my account.

quizzer25 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 28, 2020 12:04 am Good catch..the about sign looked like a negative to me.
AlexP - Did you have a zero cost rate option as well?

Yes, it is "about" (not negative). $2K closing costs + prepaid if escrow isn't waived.

There might be a zero cost option as well in exchange of a higher rate. Not sure.

Local mortgage broker.
Refinancing primary home mortgage.
2.125% 15yr locked with ~$2k closing cost (appraisal waived).

AerialWombat wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 9:55 pm I’m currently refinancing two of my rentals to 2.75% 30 year. Primary to 2.75% 15 year. All simultaneously with a local broker. Going very smoothly. Definitely consider it.

Are you getting 2.75% 30yr for rentals? - it is a tremendous deal.
I talked to the mortgage broker about rental refinance. He said that we can't get good rates for rentals right now because mortgage companies are worried about risk of rent non-payments due to Covid.

However, I locked the 2.125% 15yr for my primary. They waived appraisal, so the closing cost will be ~$2K.