Search found 150 matches

by kiligi
Sun Jul 28, 2013 2:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Family trip to Orlando. Suggestions.
Replies: 33
Views: 3546

Re: Family trip to Orlando. Suggestions.

A couple of ideas from what you posted: 1. Have you used Google Maps to plot out all of your day trips? A lot of my European friends are surprised when they get to the US and find out how far the distance is between locations. Florida is a very big state. It is a 4 hour drive from Kissimmee to Miami, do you want to drive 8 hours roundtrip 1 night in Miami? I would highly recommend mapping a route, and calculating the time needed, for the drive to each day trip. It might make more sense to spend 2 nights in Miami than trying to get there and back in 36 hours, or plan an overnight in the Everglades before your return to Kissimmee. 2. I would also recommend more time at Disney World. There are 4 different parks, as well as 2 water parks and Do...
by kiligi
Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:07 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Community college a better option to start college?
Replies: 122
Views: 11002

Re: Community college a better option to start college?

My college boyfriend went the CC route for his first two years undergraduate. He was a NM scholar and after completing his first two years at CC in North Dakota - transferred to Cornell to complete his degree in Physics (He chose Cornell because at the time he wasn't sure whether he wanted to go into engineering or Physics). I met him when he was a graduate student at University of Chicago (he was getting his PhD in Physics). He completed that degree in about 5 years and is now working at MIT. Incredibly smart people can start their education almost anywhere and still succeed at a very high level. My college boyfriend's parents were very successful farmers/ranchers. It wasn't a question of not having the money available, it was that neither...
by kiligi
Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:48 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New Doctor: Rent or Buy Home in Chicago?
Replies: 47
Views: 4537

Re: New Doctor: Rent or Buy Home in Chicago?

I would be extremely skeptical of "nice condos" being listed at $250K in Lincoln Park. A couple of issues that might be something to think about: 1. Are the condos you are looking at truly in Lincoln Park? I have read a ton of real estate ads that state a neighborhood that the property is on the fringes of, not actually part of. When I lived in Wicker Park - right on the park, I would often see real estate ads advertising "Wicker Park" locations that were west of Western Ave (not considered Wicker Park or Bucktown) or south of Augusta, etc. If the price is that low, it probably isn't Lincoln Park proper, but rather "Lincoln Park adjacent" (best case scenario). 2. Are the condos listed at $250 studios and 1 bedr...
by kiligi
Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:05 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New Doctor: Rent or Buy Home in Chicago?
Replies: 47
Views: 4537

Re: New Doctor: Rent or Buy Home in Chicago?

I don't know how much you know about the Chicago real estate market, but it is significantly lagging behind the rest of the country when it comes to housing recovery. The state of Illinois in general is not in the best financial health, and I think that is affecting the housing market. Most people are still quite hesitant to pull the trigger on buying, but at the same time prices have risen from the bottom of a couple of years ago (so you won't be getting bargain basement pricing). As someone who has lived in Chicago and the Chicago land area for over 20 years, I would not counsel anyone to buy a property here if they planned on trying to turn around and make a profit within a short time frame. And I wonder if you are taking transactional c...
by kiligi
Thu Jan 17, 2013 2:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: "Red Shirting" A Preschooler
Replies: 49
Views: 8551

Re: "Red Shirting" A Preschooler

Edited to Add: You should also realize that for most red-shirted children, it isn't that they are just held back from starting school - it means that they have had 1-2 more years of school than your child will have had. Parents aren't holding their children back from the schooling experience, they are trying to give their child a head up above the rest by having had 1-2 more years of educational preschool, as well as the physical maturity. That is why the effects of red-shirting do not go away as school continues. If you choose not to redshirt your child (and your child is not brilliant, by which I mean they are always working 2-3 years above their grade level) your child will be considered the "slow" child because everyone else ...
by kiligi
Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: "Red Shirting" A Preschooler
Replies: 49
Views: 8551

Re: "Red Shirting" A Preschooler

I agree with much of what Rodc has stated but to that I would add what I think is most important to consider when choosing whether to redshirt or not. Are most families in your school district choosing to redshirt? If they are, and you choose not to do so - you are running the risk that your child is considered "behind" in school by virtue of not being as old and as mature as the rest of the class (due to nothing more than his/her age). I speak as someone whose children were all born in the late summer and chose to send each of them to school when they were eligible to attend. All three of my children look young for their age, as well as were chronologically the youngest in their classes (sometimes by up to 18 months apart from th...
by kiligi
Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can we afford it? (International trip)
Replies: 92
Views: 9734

Re: Can we afford it?

I agree with everyone else that you can afford the expense, but I would also ask when the last time you flew with Hainan was. We recently did 12 hours with Hainan (this past summer) - and it was actually very pleasant...or as pleasant as 12 hours can be sitting upright. Food decent, seat space larger than I had anticipated. I think if you get ill, business class isn't going to feel appreciatively better. You are still stuck on a plane and ill. As for the illness piece, not sure what the affliction was but I do swear by a combination of ginger root capsules and grapefruit seed extract capsules when I am traveling. Take recommended dosage twice a day and I have luckily never gotten sick whilst traveling. Combine with bonine if motion sickness...
by kiligi
Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What creative ways have you found to reduce monthly bills?
Replies: 66
Views: 6013

Re: What creative ways have you found to reduce monthly bill

Carry cash instead of credit cards. Disagree. If you have great Rewards or Cashback cards and pay in full every month, CC's save you money. Nothing like getting 6% back on groceries and 3% back on gas with my AmEx Blue Cash card. Save $100's per year. Since we spend less than $600 a month on groceries (family of 5 - mostly fresh fruits/veggies, organic dairy/meat) and about $200 a month in gas - I am not sure where the big cash back savings would really be for us. We would get about $500 a year back with a cashback credit card, but since we used to spend about $150-$200 a month more on groceries when we used credit cards (because it was just so easy to throw that "extra stuff" in the cart that wasn't really necessary) - we are st...
by kiligi
Thu Dec 27, 2012 2:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: FICO Scores and Dating - All Wrong
Replies: 38
Views: 3133

Re: FICO Scores and Dating - All Wrong

I didn't really understand the point of the article, in large part because it pre-supposes honesty of those that FICO has already deemed "non-trustworthy" via their scores. Why would anyone voluntarily disclose a negative about themselves that cannot easily be checked by the questioner? You are out on a first or second date. Your date asks you about your FICO score. What prevents you from saying, "It's excellent.", even if that isn't the truth? Nothing. And if the person does have a bad score, wouldn't you expect someone with a bad score (supposedly less trustworthy) to give you a less truthful answer? So, shouldn't you expect that those who say that their score is excellent to actually be the people you want to avoid? Y...
by kiligi
Wed Nov 07, 2012 3:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pregnancy and HSA
Replies: 21
Views: 10280

Re: Pregnancy and HSA

My c-section in 2007 was over 20k. That's just the delivery and hospital stay. This doesn't cover prenatal care. This was an uncomplicated c-section with no other interventions or labor involved (baby was footling breech so we just showed up at the hospital for the section). My VBAC in a hospital, one night stay was $6-7k, I think, in 2009. No pain meds/epidural, so no expensive anesthesiologist bill. This doesn't cover prenatal care. I also paid (or rather my insurance did) $1k for a labor doula. My upcoming home birth will be about $3-4k, which covers all prenatal, with the exception of the 20-week ultrasound (which is optional), plus post-natal care in my home. By far the cheapest, and so far the most enjoyable. My midwife does take my ...
by kiligi
Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:16 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How much $$ to furnish a 2 bdrm condo nicely?
Replies: 4
Views: 1984

Re: How much $$ to furnish a 2 bdrm condo nicely?

It really depends on the budget you want to put together and what you mean by "nicely". If I were you, I would figure out how much money you really want to (and can comfortably) spend, and then decide what to buy. Fitting your buying into a budget is a lot smarter than finding out after the fact how much money you've spent buying what catches your eye. If you decide that your budget is $10k, then you can decide where you want the majority of the money to be spent. Do you want to spend $3k on a mattress set? Easy to do, and that is without a bed. You could also only spend around $1K, including bed. Both might be considered "nice" furnishing (depending on where you bought and what your standard is). Do you want everything ...
by kiligi
Fri Oct 26, 2012 2:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to best pay back a $200k loan from the parents
Replies: 87
Views: 8439

Re: How to best pay back a $200k loan from the parents

BuckyBadger wrote:
AFFISHES wrote:Except it wasnt mortage fraud. Or anything close to mortage fraud.
Okay. How is getting a secret "off the books" loan so that you can be approved for a mortgage not fraud?

This is the definition of mortgage fraud:
Mortgage fraud is a crime in which the intent is to materially misrepresent or omit information on a mortgage loan application to obtain a loan or to obtain a larger loan than would have been obtained had the lender or borrower known the truth.
This is EXACTLY what the OP did. He admitted it.
+1. The OP already stated he and his wife wouldn't have been approve for the mortgage if his parents "gift" had been correctly characterized, at the time of application, as the loan it was.
by kiligi
Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:46 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to best pay back a $200k loan from the parents
Replies: 87
Views: 8439

Re: How to best pay back a $200k loan from the parents

Lightheir I think the issues (on a legal basis) are pretty clear. If the 200K was given as a gift, as it seems clear that the paperwork was set up as such, then there would be no intent to repay and no issue now. People don't repay gifts, they thank the person giving the gift and the matter is then closed. If it was a loan, then there are many issues, some of which have already been brought up by others on this thread. Mortgage fraud is one of the big ones, as is how you pay someone back interest on a loan that supposedly doesn't exist (since you must have paperwork detailing that $200K gift). The fact that this type of situation may be common does not in fact make it any less illegal and immoral. It sounds like there were some shenanigans ...
by kiligi
Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paying off mortgage....help
Replies: 50
Views: 5020

Re: paying off mortgage....help

A half million in assets and a home nearly paid for, plus the kids' college paid for, while supporting a family on 140k? And some of you think he should be doing better? Tough crowd. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say he most certainly should NOT be doing "better". The goal is to save enough, not to save at the expense of the family. We all have our own priorities and our own ideas of balance, but fluffing the retirement nest is not more important than enjoying the family years. They'll go by quickly enough. Upon reading another thread (the one about whether one loves owning a home), I found out that the OP originally bought his home for $222K in 1997. The OP (after 15 years) still owes $181K. They believe the house is now...
by kiligi
Mon Oct 08, 2012 2:47 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: paying off mortgage....help
Replies: 50
Views: 5020

Re: paying off mortgage....help

I don't think I was being smug or surprised about my financials - just surprised. I think you need to support comments like "very light." I provided my age and did not indicate that I was planning on retiring anytime soon. If I was planning early retirement I would tend ot agree with you. I plan to work at least another 17 years and my wife the same. My wife also plans to move into full-time work when the kids leave in a few years - and she will get some pension from the church. We enjoy working. So If I still have "just" 470k in 2030 when we retire I think your point is well taken. But at a minimum we plan to add 30k a year and that is without any additional savings other than the traditional retirement accounty. BY 20...
by kiligi
Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: parents - did you quit work to start a family?
Replies: 45
Views: 4337

Re: parents - did you quit work to start a family?

I've been an "at-home" parent for over a decade now. There are definite risks to making this choice, and I think it is important to understand those risks going into the decision making process. It has been extremely successful for our family, but I would hesitate in making any sweeping statements about what others should chose merely on the basis that it has worked well for us. It helps tremendously that my spouse and I are on the exact same page when it came to this decision. We both thought it was a major priority for one parent to be at home. We have structured how we save to take into account the fact that I didn't have a "work" retirement fund to contribute to anymore. We are comfortable living at a much reduced li...
by kiligi
Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:40 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Financial aid award - big gap between EFC and net cost
Replies: 10
Views: 1718

Re: Financial aid award - big gap between EFC and net cost

Thanks for the great suggestions - I'll pass them along. I don't understand the point of the EFC at all after seeing this situation. In this case the EFC seems to be $14K/yr, not $3600. A single mom working in a motel is supposed to take out nearly $60K of debt in her own name so her son can attend State U? MnD The issue is not the EFC, the issue is that not every school can (or will) meet 100% of demonstrated need. No one is arguing that the family's EFC should be higher - the school is saying that they don't have the ability (or desire) make up the difference. In some circles - this is called admit/deny. Yes, the student was admitted to this school, but the school has no intention of trying to meet this student's financial needs - so unl...
by kiligi
Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:13 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Penn State Honors College Vs. Cornell ... Thank you! Post #1
Replies: 116
Views: 22218

Re: Penn State Honors College Vs. Cornell

Here is a very applicable article that deals with the costs we are talking about. Hope this gives the OP more information to help make this decision. $1K a month in loan repayments for 10 years seems like a huge commitment for an ivy.

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/shoul ... university
by kiligi
Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Penn State Honors College Vs. Cornell ... Thank you! Post #1
Replies: 116
Views: 22218

Re: Penn State Honors College Vs. Cornell

hsv_climber wrote:We are on a financial board, why nobody has asked yet about Loan Terms on these loans?

For example, current unsubsidized rate on Stafford loans is 6.8%.
http://www.staffordloan.com/stafford-lo ... -rates.php

So, $60K at 6.8% is not really "just a $60K".
+1

And Stafford loans are capped at $5500 a year, so the rest would be private or parent loans. Again, I doubt those would be at 6.8%...I believe Parent Plus loans are at 7.9% and aren't deferred during school.

Loans terms very important.
by kiligi
Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Penn State Honors College Vs. Cornell ... Thank you! Post #1
Replies: 116
Views: 22218

Re: Penn State Honors College Vs. Cornell

If the Cornell name is super important, you could always do what one of my friends did. He was a National Merit Scholar, multiple awards etc. etc. etc student who chose to attend his local CC in a western state for the first 2 years of undergraduate. He had no problem transferring to Cornell (in engineering) his junior year. He graduated Cornell with no debt (and switched majors to Physics). Got full ride to complete a MS/PhD at UChicago. Completed that in (I believe) 5 years and is now working at another Tier 1 university in military R&D. If you really want the name brand - you don't always have to pay name brand prices for it. If the name Cornell is super important - you could start at Penn State (or your local CC) and transfer in. Yo...
by kiligi
Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Kids Allowance
Replies: 25
Views: 2779

Re: Kids Allowance

Finally the questions: Do (or did) the parents on this forum directly tie your child's allowance to their chores, or should those remain separate? Any suggestions on a good amount? Timing: I remember my allowance being weekly, but maybe monthly would allow more budgeting practice? We didn't tie allowance to chores; chores you have to do whether you want to or not because you are part of the family. YMMV. Every family I know who tied allowances to chores has had to deal (at some point) with their child telling them that they didn't want the allowance enough to be willing to do the chore - therefor they wouldn't be doing the chore. We decided to bypass that argument and save our energy for other ones. "Because I said so" works much...
by kiligi
Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:45 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 529 Plans, Prepaid v. savings
Replies: 8
Views: 1184

Re: 529 Plans, Prepaid v. savings

Keep in mind a prepaid plan comes with a guarantee to match tuition at the time you need it. A savings plan does not. You may be able to do better than the guarantee or you may not. Of course, one has to consider the solvency of the particular state plan. For example, the Illinois plan is approx $0.5 Billion underfunded the last time I checked. I doubt it has enough money to fund future tuition obligations. To be fair, though, the Illinois plan was never "guaranteed" - and it is very clearly stated that in the event that the plan is underfunded at the time of your child going to school - the legislature is only required to consider making up the shortfall. Many of the guaranteed plans are no longer allowing new participants, as s...
by kiligi
Thu Apr 12, 2012 3:00 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529
Replies: 29
Views: 3247

Re: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529

Is it just me or does anyone ever wonder what would happen if there was no "cash flow" that allowed one to cut back (ie. forced early retirement, etc.)? Maybe I need to stop reading the newspaper. See, that was one of the points of my OP. If (crossing fingers this doesn't happen) we had to deal with a forced early retirement - having paid down the mortgage allows us a place to live without worrying about a monthly mortgage payment and actually helps us on the FAFSA form due to income being the biggest piece of the FAFSA formula at present time. Perhaps I am just a bit too pessimistic for the forum for thinking that way...but the reason I have placed the choice between 529 and mortgage instead of 529 v. taxable is that I want to h...
by kiligi
Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:09 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529
Replies: 29
Views: 3247

Re: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529

letsgobobby wrote:there's a third option, which is to invest taxably rather than in a 529 or prepaying mortgage.

...

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=90781

With potential 2013 tax law changes, 529s become more attractive relative to taxable stock investing, if you are over the $250k AGI limit.

This year I'll be doing probably equal amounts to 529s and taxable investing, and none to mortgage prepayment.
Thanks for the link, very interesting discussion. More to think about. We do contribute to taxable already (pretty substantial amt) and our mortgage tax isn't very substantial (which makes the deduction quality not that attractive at this point).
by kiligi
Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:10 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: The Economics of Adoption
Replies: 30
Views: 3829

Re: The Economics of Adoption

I am puzzled by the adoptions from China. The country has a one child per family policy, and so I would expect that there is a shortage of children, not a surplus. Victoria Victoria There are about 175,000 orphans in state care in China. Most of the children have identified special needs severe enough to not make them eligible for adoption (either domestic or international). The international adoption from China reached its peak in 2005, when about 11,000 total Chinese children were placed worldwide with adoptive parents. Since then, the number of children placed every year has dropped precipitously. I believe about 2,000 children were placed last year in the US...and over 50% of those children had identified special needs (like cleft lip,...
by kiligi
Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: The Economics of Adoption
Replies: 30
Views: 3829

Re: The Economics of Adoption

renditt wrote:We adopted our daughter domestically a couple of years ago. It was an open adoption and we met the birth mother before our daughter was born and were actually in the hospital when our daughter was born, so we are looking after her since day 1. Worked with a wonderful agency.

Couldn't even tell you anymore what the economics were, all I know is that the adoption cost were nothing compared with raising a child :D
Congratulations, your joy shines through your words. :)
by kiligi
Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529
Replies: 29
Views: 3247

Re: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529

Boglemama wrote:It depends on your state's tax benefit as well. We get a credit on our taxes of 20% of contributions to our state's 529, up to $1,000 which would be an annual contribution of $5,000. A guaranteed 20% return is pretty sweet!
No such luck for us. But if that was available, you could bet your buttons we would be taking advantage of it. I must admit to being a bit envious of that credit. Which state offers it?
by kiligi
Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: The Economics of Adoption
Replies: 30
Views: 3829

Re: The Economics of Adoption

For the person asking about mainland China adoptions, current wait times are approximately 6 years (and increasing each month). this is not a statement about adoption per se, but if some Chinese bureaucrat tells you there's a N year wait, I bet enough dollars spread around appropriately can make that happen in a few months. It's a freer market than the US like that, but you might need a local "consultant" to pull it off as an outsider. Unless you are Chinese (living in mainland China), or willing to adopt a "waiting child" - i.e. a child with an identified disability - then the wait time for China adoption is 6 years and growing. What you are talking about is child trafficking - illegal everywhere. And I am a bit distur...
by kiligi
Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529
Replies: 29
Views: 3247

Re: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529

Briefly...thanks to everyone who has commented. Almost everything pointed out has been something we have thought about/discussed, so I feel better that we haven't missed something really obvious (unless someone else comes up with something that we have missed - and if so, please let me know).

It sounds like our plan is pretty reasonable, glad I doubled checked. :)
by kiligi
Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:40 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529
Replies: 29
Views: 3247

Pay down Mortgage or invest in 529

We have been maxing out our retirement options (401k, IRAs and Ibonds). At the same time, we have been pre-paying down our mortgage (just a few hundred a month extra) as well as funding our children's 529s and putting money into taxable as well. But last month, spouse and I started a conversation about whether or not it made more sense to aggressively pay down the mortgage rather than fund 529 plans. Our thought was that the mortgage (just financed last fall from 30 year into a 15 year, 3.6%) could be paid off in 6 1/4 year if we took the money we were paying into 529 and put it on the mortgage. We would then either be able to pay for college out of cash flow (no longer having mortgage payment) or, if things went sideways - have a better ch...
by kiligi
Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:09 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privates)
Replies: 127
Views: 7759

Re: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privat

I happened to find this table on the Wellesley College website (http://new.wellesley.edu/admission/finaid) [snip image] The variation within the income bands is so large, especially as income increases , that it is useless to speculate on whether this is cheaper than a State college. Presumably, the variation are due to assets, #kids in college, and some other factors tha affect EFC, and the also maybe on merit and who knows what else. Certainly the information is not in that table, but the information is inaccessible, not non-existant. You can figure your own EFC, so the real question is, how does the bottom line differ from EFC. FWIW here's a simple calculator that generates a table for various values of a few variables. http://www.finai...
by kiligi
Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privates)
Replies: 127
Views: 7759

Re: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privat

Here's my take on applying to a whole bunch: Top schools want to admit folks who want to attend their school. There is that "acceptance ratio" that is an all-important stat. If they give out 5000 acceptance letters and only 10% of those who were accepted attend, that's not good. So the admission committees of top-tier schools look at applications with an eye on who will actually accept out of the students that they want. I think this is a reason why top students are not admitted to every school they apply to. I'm sure some committees don't guess right, too. In other words, if you really let a school know that they are your choice ahead of time if you are accepted, I think that can help your chances. This is why some kids apply &q...
by kiligi
Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:12 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privates)
Replies: 127
Views: 7759

Re: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privat

555 Top "out of state" state universities will probably not give top merit aid. Top merit aid is probably going to go to in state kids because it is the out of state kids who pay the big out of state tuition bucks. Top state universities want those big buck out of state tuition dollars. Does this merit aid not exist, or is it merely very competitive and hard to get? I'm talking about merit aid that significantly reduces, or eliminates, tuitions, fees, and other costs. Edit: Same question for public or private. My experience is that this is not correct. The "outta state" State U's DO give aid. But what it does is bring down the real cost to similar to what an in-state person would pay full sticker. Versus giving the same...
by kiligi
Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:00 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privates)
Replies: 127
Views: 7759

Re: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privat

555 Top "out of state" state universities will probably not give top merit aid. Top merit aid is probably going to go to in state kids because it is the out of state kids who pay the big out of state tuition bucks. Top state universities want those big buck out of state tuition dollars. You would probably be best served by looking for smaller liberal arts colleges or second tier private universities who are looking to increase their geographical diversity, as well as boost their SAT/ACT numbers and average GPA. Those are the schools that are most likely to give merit aid to a family (regardless of EFC being large or small). They may also have very tiny Honors programs that will give full rides, or large grants as well as a lot of ...
by kiligi
Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privates)
Replies: 127
Views: 7759

Re: Is Ivy League cheaper than State college(or other privat

One other issue here: The cost of the "Name" second-tier schools...Wash U in St Louis, Emory, Vandy, U Chicago, NYU, Northwestern...is the same $60,000 per year as for the "real" Ivies (Harvard Princeton Yale). I would venture to guess that $300,000 all-in for the "real" Ivy vs. $150,000 for a top name State U is worth the difference. But it's not so clear with the second-tier schools (even though I've been there and done that). Sort of like not being allowed to drive a Cadillac but being able to purchase a Buick, but at the same cost as the Cadillac. I am wondering at your inclusion of U Chicago as a "second tier" name school. When did a university that tied for 5th place on the top 10 list of top u...
by kiligi
Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: My 21 yo daughter needs to learn how to budget! Help!
Replies: 61
Views: 6336

Re: My 21 yo daughter needs to learn how to budget! Help!

It seems from her expenses that your daughter needs to find employment that pays her $2300 a month after taxes. If she dropped out of school without graduating - that might mean working two jobs...and it might mean that she has to work 60 or more hours a week. These are good, important lessons for your daughter to learn. These kind of lessons show better than any other way why completing a degree is so important, and why loafing around is not sustainable. The other way she could deal with this short of $900 a month is to reduce her expenses - find a roommate, carpool, and live a much reduced lifestyle. Either way - I think you need to be really clear when you have the conversation with your daughter. At current time, does she realize she ou...
by kiligi
Tue Apr 03, 2012 6:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: The Economics of Adoption
Replies: 30
Views: 3829

Re: The Economics of Adoption

Some other interesting economics of adoption: The adoption tax credit phases out as household income increases - completely phasing out at $169K. So, not all adoptive families are able to take advantage of said tax credit, though I am sure that sympathy is muted for those families not qualifying. For the person asking about mainland China adoptions, current wait times are approximately 6 years (and increasing each month). At current time, people who submitted their dossiers in August of 2006 are still waiting to be matched. International adoption can be quite risky, due to increasing wait times and the risk that countries will close down their adoption programs while there are families mid process. Domestic adoptions also qualify for the ad...
by kiligi
Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: pay mortgage to avoid judgement
Replies: 21
Views: 2313

Re: pay mortgage to avoid judgement

this might be helpful, it looks like there is limited protection of a primary home ($75K - $150K of equity depending on your county of residence)

http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankruptcy ... #homestead
by kiligi
Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Separate finances, buying house together
Replies: 30
Views: 3034

Re: Separate finances, buying house together

travellight wrote:For stay at home moms or dads who feel their value is in the 6 figure range, most people earn less than 6 figures. It doesn't make sense for the working spouse to keep working if the value of the nonworking spouse can bring in more to much more.
It does when/if the working spouse makes more than 6 figures, even when the non working spouse could (and has) made 6 figures.

Edited to add this interesting article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/magaz ... .html?_r=1
by kiligi
Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Observations with Amazon Prime
Replies: 47
Views: 6598

Re: Observations with Amazon Prime

It wasn't clear if your wife has a Prime membership from your original post, but if she does - she can add up to 4 people to her Prime membership at no additional cost. I have my husband, my sister and my mom on my Prime membership. The people do not need to live at the same address. It is a very cost effective way to do Prime (if you wanted to share the service with others) though I love being able to give a little gift to my mom and sister everytime they order from Amazon and just pay for it and give them the benefit. I think Amazon Prime invitees DO need to live at the same address: "If you sign up for a free trial or paid Prime membership, you may invite up to four eligible household members (living at the same address) to enjoy t...
by kiligi
Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:49 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Observations with Amazon Prime
Replies: 47
Views: 6598

Re: Observations with Amazon Prime

I don't think this is screw you over; I think it's to save them money so they can offer free shipping. Just to restate - I don't think there's anything wrong with Amazon intentionally delaying orders to entice customers to upgrade the shipping. They're just trying to segment the market based on how important delivery speed is to each customer. Then they can charge each customer based on their needs/preferences. That seems like good business practice to me. It's not much different than airlines charging different prices for the same seat depending on how far in advance you reserve or the cancellation policy. Jim Agreed. Prime membership explicitly gives you faster shipping. I am pretty sure Amazon probably has a computer system which assign...
by kiligi
Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:54 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Separate finances, buying house together
Replies: 30
Views: 3034

Re: Separate finances, buying house together

Bucky, its complicated. My value system, which is unacceptable to some particularly those with a stay at home spouse, is that everybody should work. Once it is the case that both work, then income disparities are almost certain to be the case. I do not even mind when one outspends the other. Its just that (and unintentionally in your statement) the bigger spender always says that's fine, no problem. That's where I usually say that's one perspective. You seem totally different from the type of person I get concerned about and I respect you a great deal. To go on a slight tangent, I am not sure I really understand your point. Do you really believe that stay-at-home spouses do not work? Perhaps there are spouses who live "the life of lei...
by kiligi
Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Newborn Niece -- Best way to give $1000 towards education?
Replies: 3
Views: 595

Re: Newborn Niece -- Best way to give $1000 towards educatio

Write a check to your niece and be done with it. If you really don't want to put strings on the gift, then it is easy to write the check, put it in a card and send it.
by kiligi
Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:59 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Is Tahitian over water bungalow vacation worth the price?
Replies: 90
Views: 10087

Re: Is Tahitian over water bungalow vacation worth the price

I think the answer really depends on what you and your fiance are looking for in a vacation. Having vacationed in Hawaii, the Caribbean and Florida - I will tell you that (for me) beach is beach. Out of all of the places I have gone, my favorite is Sanibel/Captiva (in Florida) because there I can go shelling, see dolphins and manatees, husband can go fishing and we can explore nature without feeling like we are completely cut off from the rest of the world. That it happens to be high value to relatively low cost (to me) is just a bonus. You can find pretty good water sport at almost any beach. I think it comes down to what kind of accommodation you are looking to stay in, if you want an active night life (casinos, clubs, etc) or whether you...
by kiligi
Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How do you teach your children to save?
Replies: 16
Views: 2115

Re: How do you teach your children to save?

Gray wrote: ...
My 10 year old has a $10/week allowance to her USAA prepaid card for keeping her room in order and helping out when my wife asks her. She can use it to buy apps on her iPhone or Mac. She can also take her prepaid card when she goes out. She bought a pair of sneakers recently on sale for $30. I was impressed. She checked her available funds via her phone, and made the purchase herself (including evaluating sneakers based on selection and cost).

...
I had never heard of the USAA pre-paid card. Thanks for the info, that is very interesting.
by kiligi
Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How do you teach your children to save?
Replies: 16
Views: 2115

Re: How do you teach your children to save?

We started our oldest on an allowance around 7 (our younger children caught on before that and started around 4). We pay allowance out monthly and the children must deposit at least 20% of their allowance into their bank accts. We match this savings $ for $, and they get to see their balances increase steadily. This has been a huge motivator for them, and my youngest was routinely saving 50% of her allowance to see the balance get bigger quicker (that has since decreased as her wants have increased). Our children get the equivalent of $3-$6 a week in allowance (after saving the 20%). We also have a system where, if the children want to purchase a large item ($25 or more for the younger ones, $50 or more for the older one) - we will pay for ...
by kiligi
Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:47 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "Can you sum-up your investing philosophy in 10 words?"
Replies: 120
Views: 11625

Re: "Can you sum-up your investing philosophy in 10 words?"

Save all you can, invest what can be lost
by kiligi
Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:52 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When do you contribute new money?
Replies: 19
Views: 2297

Re: When do you contribute new money?

Get paid monthly, so put money in monthly. If we start to get overweighted in one category (I check about every 6 months), I adjust the automatic contributions to buy more of the underweighted category.

We put IRA contributions in as a lump sum every January.

Whenever we get a big enough pile of money - we use it as seed for investments we make as a lump sum. That could include ibonds, 529 contributions, capital projects for the home, etc.
by kiligi
Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Help with negotiating medical bills
Replies: 64
Views: 4223

Re: Help with negotiating medical bills

mptfan wrote:
CMartel2 wrote:This is one reason why I think physicians will continue to move towards cash-only practices as their speciality will allow it. There's a shortage in my profession, and many physicians are completely cutting out insurance.
I would love to find a doctor who has fair, transparent cash only prices. Is there a way to find them?
You can google "concierge medical services" or "concierge doctors" in your area. The way I understand the set up to work (in my experience) is that you pay a retainer fee yearly to be able to use the service/doctor and then are billed for doctor visits as needed. The fee schedules are usually very transparent, it would be up to you to decide whether you find them "fair".
by kiligi
Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Chase Private Clients
Replies: 4
Views: 5327

Re: Chase Private Clients

I was a private client at Chase for a while and while some of the perks were nice - overall I felt like I spent a lot of time on the phone with my "personal banker Tim" to fix recurring errors on my accounts (like monthly fees that were supposedly waived as a private client but showed up every month on my statements). I will say that Tim was exceptionally polite and very helpful at removing the fees each month but it seemed like a lot of work in order to reap the "benefits". It got to the point where Tim and I joked about my monthly call - but while Tim was great - I didn't want to talk to him after each statement I received. I just wanted the benefits I was supposed to get without the hassle. I am sure other people's ex...