Search found 679 matches

by tractorguy
Mon Mar 28, 2022 9:21 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Going back for a PhD while also having a mortgage
Replies: 19
Views: 2530

Re: Going back for a PhD while also having a mortgage

I'm a retired PhD in mechanical engineering who worked in industry. My PhD made no difference to my lifetime earnings. In fact, it probably decreased them slightly because I got a late start in my career. I could have got the same job I ended up with about 5 years earlier if I hadn't pursued a PhD. It might have made a slight difference to my career path, but looking back, probably not. In my experience as a manager who hired engineers, a PhD was not valued by our company. Many hiring managers were less inclined to hire a PhD compared to a Masters as they were viewed as less "practical." My advice is to first decide what career you want and what steps you need to take to get to your dream job. Then, try to find some hiring manager...
by tractorguy
Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I want to start filing my own taxes - where do I start
Replies: 14
Views: 2045

Re: I want to start filing my own taxes - where do I start

I have done my own taxes for years, graduating from a spreadsheet to Turbotax to HR Block. About 5 years ago, I got disgusted with Turbotax price structure. At the time, you could go completely through the online version for Turbotax, HRBlock, and TaxAct and didn't have to pay until you tried to print the forms or e-file. So I put all my information into all three and compared them. All three gave me the same answer. I thought the ease of use of Turbotax and HRBlock to be very similar. TaxAct seemed a lot rougher around the edges. I picked HRBlock. I did have an outside accountant do my taxes for the years I was overseas and a few years after. I did this because my company paid for it and because handling taxes in two countries and the prop...
by tractorguy
Fri Dec 10, 2021 3:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What YouTube channels do you watch?
Replies: 112
Views: 16226

Re: What YouTube channels do you watch?

Sampson Boat Company: A young man who is rebuilding a 110 year old wooden sailing yacht in Oregon. His carpentry skills boggle my mind. This hits two of my hobbies, woodworking and sailing. I've picked up some woodworking tips by watching him and his yachting excursions showcase some luxury sailboats that make me drool.
by tractorguy
Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Not enjoying role change. Should I quit?
Replies: 36
Views: 4586

Re: Not enjoying role change. Should I quit?

I've been retired for 10 years so my experience is dated. Two items to take into account. 1) Finding a job after your 50 is much harder than before. If you're seriously considering jumping ship, I'd talk to a recruiter to get a feel for possibilities before talking to your company. 2) Is this going to be the only reduction in force? Is your company on a long decline or is there some recent event that is driving the reduction? My experience with downsizing is that the package offered the first time is usually the best. Also, a RIF can be followed by forced layoffs if the company didn't meet their targets for headcount reduction. Management may or may not offer the same package to people who are given the boot. Saying all this, a major RIF ge...
by tractorguy
Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:16 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Pulling out of Edward Jones but what MF to rollover Invest into?
Replies: 22
Views: 2077

Re: Pulling out of Edward Jones but what MF to rollover Invest into?

Assuming this is Delaware Growth and Income (I cant find a Delaware Growth and Index), this fund can be transferred to a Vanguard brokerage account but you probably won't be able to make any new purchases of it. That's not bad because it doesn't look to be a great fund, based on a quick look on Morningstar's free site. If it were me, I'd move it to Vanguard ASAP to get away from Edward Jones fees and sales pitches while I'm trying to decide what to do. I'd set any dividends and capital gains to roll into the Federal money market fund while you are trying to decide what to do. If you are a hands off person, you could enroll in Vanguard's advisor service and they would put together a plan for you, based on your total financial situation. They...
by tractorguy
Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:47 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Recommendations for software to analyze costs vs benefits of a Back door Roth
Replies: 4
Views: 449

Recommendations for software to analyze costs vs benefits of a Back door Roth

Every year about this time, I see a bunch of posts about doing a back door Roth conversion. I've been happily retired for several years living off my pension and dividends and withdrawals from my taxable accounts. I'm not taking social security yet, but plan to sign up in 2021. If I do a backdoor Roth, I should do it no later than 2021 while my income is as low as its going to get. I could put together a spreadsheet to estimate the impact a conversion would have on income tax. However, I was unpleasantly surprised 2 years ago when I rebalanced my taxable portfolio and was hit by a large increase to my medicare premiums because of the jump in income for a year. If I'd fully researched the implications, I might have delayed some of the conver...
by tractorguy
Fri Dec 04, 2020 5:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Parents Mortgaging Their Home to Help Son Complete Dream Home Build
Replies: 103
Views: 9037

Re: Parents Mortgaging Their Home to Help Son Complete Dream Home Build

This sounds more like the sharing of a tragedy unfolding than an ask for advice. Advise parents not to do it. -TheDDC This in spades. I went through this about 15 years ago and it didn't turn out well. BIL was working a side job flipping homes in the Seattle area with each one bigger than the previous. The last one was twice as expensive as the previous two. It included a MIL suite that Mom was supposed to move in to when it was done (my father had already passed). Things went sour in the 2008 downturn. He managed to finish the house but couldn't afford to live in it (his income didn't cover the mortgage). He tried to sell it but the market was thin and he was underwater. He managed to rent it for a few years with the payments covering a r...
by tractorguy
Thu Oct 29, 2020 7:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to find the cheapest motel along an interstate?
Replies: 60
Views: 4716

Re: How to find the cheapest motel along an interstate?

I use map view on hotels.com. I prefer to book ahead with my laptop but I have been known to book a hotel with the hotels.com app on my phone while sitting in the parking lot. Even if the price is the same as the rate direct from the hotel, before Covid, I used it enough to take advantage of their plan that gives one free night for every ten nights booked.
by tractorguy
Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Affordable photo storage options for older, frugal, and non-tech-savvy people
Replies: 39
Views: 3387

Re: Affordable photo storage options for older, frugal, and non-tech-savvy people

I am an older, frugal, tech savvy person who is into photography and computers. I use Google photos for storing pictures on my phone and sharing photos I take with my big cameras. I recommend it for your use case. I use the "High Quality" option which gives unlimited storage for free. The "high quality" option compresses the photo and theoretically reduces the quality. However, the quality change is undetectable on a computer screen or a small print. I can see a difference if I blow the photo up many times and "pixel peep" or crop the image way down but I rarely do this with pictures that I take with my phone. Setting it up first time is not too difficult and once it is set up, it is transparent. I have an Andr...
by tractorguy
Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:42 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Did the 4% rule just become the 5% rule? :)
Replies: 156
Views: 21744

Re: Did the 4% rule just become the 5% rule? :)

I've been lurking on the discussions of 3% vs 4% vs something more (or less) for several years now. These always strike me as a analogous to a discussion of how to adjust the sights on a rife to hit a specific target. In reality, this is a discussion about how close you can stand to an exploding hand grenade before you are injured or killed. I think we'd all be comfortable standing on one side of a hill when somebody exploded one on the other side. However there is a vanishingly small but non-zero chance that there would be a black swan event and a piece of shrapnel could be blown over the hill and hit someone. I consider that situation analogous to having a 2.5% or lower equivalent withdrawal rate. There could be a black swan event but the...
by tractorguy
Mon Oct 19, 2020 3:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Is it possible to track 1 stock held in multiple Vanguard accounts, as a single holding??
Replies: 13
Views: 1119

Re: Is it possible to track 1 stock held in multiple Vanguard accounts, as a single holding??

I do this with Quicken on a Windows laptop. I link my Vanguard accounts so downloads of transactions and download of stock and mutual fund values is automatic. Quicken is also available for Apple products but may be more buggy and/or have fewer features.

Quicken would be way overkill for your need but it would do the job. Be aware that they have gone to a subscription payment model so its going to cost you a few dollars each year. IMOP, its automatic features and time savings are worth the cost and I'm not worried about the potential security issues of giving the current owners of Quicken my account details but YMMV. Some posters on this forum see it differently.
by tractorguy
Fri Oct 16, 2020 8:40 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What percentage of a boglehead portfolio for individual stocks or industrie?
Replies: 7
Views: 1042

Re: What percentage of a boglehead portfolio for individual stocks or industrie?

When I was working, I had to keep company stock to be eligible for some management incentive stock grants. I tried to keep the value of this less than 5% of my total portfolio. This was enough that I was interested in what the stock was doing but wouldn't be destroyed financially if it tanked. I was working for the company and in a company town, so the multiplication factor on the risk of the company having problems was quite high (losing job and having to move at the same time that others were doing also so depressing real estate values).

As others have said, its your personal choice. I've learned through the years that I get no joy from gambling but do feel a lot of pain when I lose money (even when I can afford it).
by tractorguy
Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:01 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Would you rather be the richest or poorest person in town?
Replies: 109
Views: 10111

Re: Would you rather be the richest or poorest person in town?

IMOP, you need to dig deeper than the cost of the houses. I'd try to find out what the percentage is of the high school graduates that go on to college and finish it (if you can get this statistic). Your children will be motivated to do whatever their friends do. If you are one of only a few families that expect your children to get a college degree, it will be an uphill battle to convince them to go and finish.

I agree with Nisiprius, its best to be at the median income, that maximizes the number of people that you'll meet that have common interests with you.
by tractorguy
Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Wi-Fi TV - complexity and savings
Replies: 65
Views: 6516

Re: Wi-Fi TV - complexity and savings

You'll have to be give us a list of what you want to watch to allow us to fully answer your question. Any streaming option (over WIFI) will be more complicated than the simplicity of cable. That is primarily because there are many more options and none of the options just give you a package of channels with a program guide that matches that of cable. My experience is that you can usually find what you want to watch but it sometimes isn't easy. I suggest you search the topic of "cord cutting" to get ideas of what you need to go through. My 4 children live far from me and when we visit, we tend to stay for several days. None of them have cable. When we want to watch a particular show, there is usually a discussion about which "...
by tractorguy
Tue Oct 06, 2020 11:35 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New 3-row Luxury SUV: Volvo XC 90 vs Mercedes GLE 350
Replies: 19
Views: 2696

Re: New 3-row Luxury SUV: Volvo XC 90 vs Mercedes GLE 350

I have a 2015 Mercedes ML350 4Matic (the previous generation of the GLE350). It has 110000 miles on it and we've loved it. Its my wife's daily driver and the car we use for long trips. We're averaging 20K miles/year on it.

The only maintenance has been oil changes, tires, replacing coolant & brake fluid, and replacing a front drive belt tensioner. Be warned though, routine maintenance is expensive on German cars. Oil changes are every 10K miles. The "Cheap" one runs about $350, the more expensive one is about $500. This is at a local mechanic that specializes in German cars. A dealer would be higher. These oil changes alternate.

German car parts prices are high and they have large oil sumps.
by tractorguy
Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:26 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Set up new iPad for MIL with dementia in nursing home
Replies: 20
Views: 2508

Re: Set up new iPad for MIL with dementia in nursing home

I'm sorry to hear how far your MIL's dementia has progressed. Since the facility staff are going to be starting all apps for her, you should set it up to make interaction with it as much like the devices that they already have as possible. Does the facility have an IT department (either an internal expert or outsourced)? If so, I'd contact them and ask if they have a written procedure for setting up the Ipads the facilities already have. Most IT support organizations these days try to follow standard procedures whenever possible to minimize the opportunities for malware or hackers and simplify the support burden. I also agree with PalmQueen's recommendation for a label and a distinctive case. I'd also enable the "Find My" app on t...
by tractorguy
Mon Sep 07, 2020 7:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: advice for light switch timer
Replies: 44
Views: 2828

Re: advice for light switch timer

Another vote for the Honeywell if you have a neutral and a ground wire in the switchbox. My first one lasted about 6 years and I'm now 4 years into the second. Set it once and forget about it unless it dies.
by tractorguy
Sun Sep 06, 2020 10:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Set up new iPad for MIL with dementia in nursing home
Replies: 20
Views: 2508

Re: Set up new iPad for MIL with dementia in nursing home

I've set up my 95 year old MIL with an IPAD in her apartment. I agree with all of Katietsu''s comments. I had not thought of the headphone option and that sounds like a good idea. I'd consider bluetooth headphones so that she doesn't have to plug anything in, but she would have to remember to charge them or one of the staff would have to do it. I have heard that some hearing aids have blue tooth capability. Do hers? If so, you may be able to connect them to the Ipad directly. I've not done this so can't tell you how well it would work. My MIL doesn't have dementia issues but is very hard of hearing and hasn't had any computers or smart phones until we got her the IPAD last year so teaching her how to use it has been interesting. Also, her m...
by tractorguy
Sun Sep 06, 2020 10:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Reducing road noise that reaches back side of house
Replies: 43
Views: 4448

Re: Reducing road noise that reaches back side of house

I've got a background in noise control engineering (both graduate college courses and several years application). You said that you're sleeping at the back of the house. What's outside your window? Is there a wall or other house that is reflecting the noise into your window? If not, I'm going to guess that what you're hearing is primarily low frequency sounds such as a rumble or thumping sounds. If that's the case, then there is not much you can do besides turning up the white noise generator or wearing ear plugs. Your house is already blocking the high frequency noise, leaving you hearing the low frequencies (bass). Low frequency sound is hard to block. Absorption material in the room or a tree barrier between you and the road won't do muc...
by tractorguy
Sun Sep 06, 2020 9:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Take Package/Severance (in mid-30's)?
Replies: 23
Views: 4483

Re: Take Package/Severance (in mid-30's)?

You don't say what your educational background is. If you have a college degree, then your skills can probably be marketed to other industries with some help from a recruiter to find jobs and also with some help writing your resume to highlight the transferable skills. If you don't have a degree then its going to be much harder because you'll be competing with all those who do. Will your company offer any that help as part of its package or can other people in the same boat recommend recruiters? When the company I was working for in the 80's tanked, my boss and I were comparing notes on recruiters and job opportunities. The other thing you're not mentioning is the prevalence of other industries within a reasonable commuting distance and how...
by tractorguy
Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: plug in streaming device
Replies: 38
Views: 2660

Re: plug in streaming device

You are confusing me with using the terms internet and intranet interchangeably, they are two different things. The intranet is the network within your building that is usually, but not always connected to the world wide web via the internet. The internet is the cloud of things that are outside your building that are usually accessed by streaming applications like Youtube, Amazon, Peacock, and 100's of others. Most if not all of the files on the world wide web can be accessed via a web browser but it is generally more convenient to access them directly with a dedicated app. These dedicated apps are available on streaming devices such as Roku, Do you want to stream files that are physically on a device (phone or computer), or are you using a...
by tractorguy
Sat Sep 05, 2020 8:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Declined 2 opportunities for advancement. Should I be trying to climb the corporate ladder or is being content okay?
Replies: 65
Views: 7375

Re: Declined 2 opportunities for advancement. Should I be trying to climb the corporate ladder or is being content okay?

My experience as a manager in IT related departments for a non IT megacorp was that individual contributors could have a long and happy career BUT, they had to continually keep their skills sharp and relevant. I knew several who were at the top end of their salary range but kept their jobs through several downturns because they were demonstratably productive on a wide range of projects that dealt with different technologies. The ones who were experts in a narrow field were at high risk when that narrow field was eventually replaced by some other technology. Unfortunately, over the case of a 30-40 year career, every technology you start with will be replaced at least once. The other problem I saw was the cases of the highly competent chief e...
by tractorguy
Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:44 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Accessory hose for Nesco (or Foodsaver) vacuum sealer?
Replies: 6
Views: 6847

Re: Accessory hose for Nesco (or Foodsaver) vacuum sealer?

For other appliances, I've had good luck searching for parts diagrams on Sears Partsdirect: https://www.searspartsdirect.com/
Once I get the part number, I can do a google search for that part number with the manufacturer name and usually find it from other sources. Sears is usually higher than everyone else by a significant margin. I'd be willing to pay a little more because I am willing to pay for the work needed to "publish" parts diagrams, but not 20-50%.

The one exception to this was a light bulb shield for the freezer light in my very old GE refrigerator. It was discontinued every where else but Sears had it. Took several weeks to finally get here (1-2 weeks after their promise date), but it finally came and fit.
by tractorguy
Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:45 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How not to reinvest dividends in tax-advantaged accounts?
Replies: 7
Views: 1004

Re: How not to reinvest dividends in tax-advantaged accounts?

Over the years, I've had brokerage accounts (mostly non 401K) at Schwabb, Fidelity & Vanguard. For all of them, when I first purchased a mutual fund, I was given the option of re-investing dividends or not. If I selected "not", then dividends were deposited into a settlement fund which was typically a money market fund of some sort. With Fidelity and Vanguard, I could go online at any time and change my selection on each of the funds I had a position in. I don't remember if I ever did this with Schwabb. When I was working, I had all funds reinvesting dividends and rebalanced by changing the funds I was directing my regular savings into. For example, I was typically low on bonds, so I'd direct all of my investments into my bond...
by tractorguy
Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Estimating Quarterly Taxes (Federal & State)
Replies: 7
Views: 723

Re: Estimating Quarterly Taxes (Federal & State)

Ditto on finding a good CPA but it may already be too late. My neighbor is one and has been working 12 hour days since Christmas. Don't delay and find one who specializes in doing medical professionals.
by tractorguy
Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:07 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Inflation-adjusted $/foot^2 over time
Replies: 7
Views: 602

Re: Inflation-adjusted $/foot^2 over time

I'd be interested to see this for some local markets. I'd expect that that silicon valley, Boston, and possibly New York would have some upward slope because those areas economies have caused a net population growth that has driven prices up. Chicago and its suburbs is probably showing a downward trend because the net population of the area is shrinking. I'd expect smaller cities and rural areas in the midwest to also generally show a downward trend for the same reason.

A nationwide price curve is not very meaningful because you have to buy and sell in to a local market which has its own dynamic.
by tractorguy
Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Selling Car to a Dealer
Replies: 27
Views: 4217

Re: Selling Car to a Dealer

The dealership indicated that there are only 2 people that can actually sign checks and that is the reason for the delay. Not sure about that .. Offer to bring the car in to do the sale when one of the two check signers will be in the office to sign the check. I'd wait for the check signer. 99.9% of the time it won't be an issue with a reputable dealer. However, a Nissan dealer in the next town suddenly closed its doors a few months ago and left all of their creditors hanging. This included employees, people who had paid for but not yet received their cars and people who had cars in the shop. It was a mess and some of their customers are going to be in line along with others in bankruptcy court. I'd wait for the authorized people to be on ...
by tractorguy
Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Request for Site that Searches OEM Car Parts Lists With Superceded Parts and Substitutes (Alftermarket Parts)
Replies: 11
Views: 1585

Re: Request for Site that Searches OEM Car Parts Lists With Superceded Parts and Substitutes (Alftermarket Parts)

Have you tried a google search with the car manufacturer and the manufacturer's part number? If it contains alphanumerics (ie a -) then the part number should be in quotes.

I've not done this for cars but have been very successful with appliance parts. Most aftermarket appliance part suppliers put the OEM part number on the catalog web page and google can find that.

Bear in mind that car manufacturers have a very nice profit margin on parts and they will do everything that they can to force you to buy the parts from the OEM.
by tractorguy
Sun Sep 29, 2019 7:15 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Should I sell my BMW
Replies: 48
Views: 4507

Re: Should I sell my BMW

I sold my '07 BMW 328i last year when the plastic parts (particularly the valve cover) started getting brittle. Based on my experience I'd hold on to your car. Although maintenance might be more expensive than something else, its a crap shoot. If you buy something that has the same total investment, you're going to be trading a well maintained car in known condition for something that in all likelyhood wasn't as well taken care of. Even if the car you get is on average more reliable, poor maintenance by the previous owner can turn a good car into a lemon. If, on the other hand, you invest some more money to get something that has low miles, then you're going to be paying the early depreciation all over again. Find a good independent mechani...
by tractorguy
Fri Sep 13, 2019 1:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Whistleblowing / Going Rogue at Work
Replies: 122
Views: 9435

Re: Whistleblowing / Going Rogue at Work

In my last few years at megacorp, I reported to Vice-Presidents and now several of my peers are Vice-Presidents. None of us would tolerate unsolicited, anonymous complaints of the kind that you have been making. Our viewpoint was that staff should, "Lead, Follow, or get the Heck out of the way. Throwing rocks from the sidelines accomplishes nothing except get people angry. I think you have mis-interpreted non-committal form responses from the new VP as encouragement while he wasn't in a position to do anything about you. Now that you are in his reporting line, he wants to find out who you are so that he can get rid of a source of discontent. If you don't show up at the meeting, he's going to try other ways to find out who you are. In y...
by tractorguy
Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Laser or inkjet
Replies: 58
Views: 4727

Re: Laser or inkjet

I have a Brother Scanner/copier/printer laserjet combo and like it much better than any of the inkjet printers I've had. Its wireless and compatible with Google cloud so I can send a print job to it from any of the devices in my house (Windows PC, Chromebook, Ipad, or my phones).

I print stuff on it 1-2 times/week. The starter cartridge lasted about a year. I'm still on my first full size replacement cartridge.

Quality is better than an inkjet, its much much faster, and it does double sided printing automatically and quickly. Long term its probably cheaper than a comparable inkjet option, but I'd get it even if it was more expensive because of the other advantages.
by tractorguy
Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:28 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Vehicle idle stop-start when parking
Replies: 54
Views: 8293

Re: Vehicle idle stop-start when parking

I have a 2015 Kia (which is also made by Hyundai) with idle stop start & i've gotten to like it. After playing around with the various settings menus, I've set mine so that it automatically unlocks the doors and goes into park when I press the stop/start button to turn off the car. So now, when I am parked, and want to get out of the car, I just turn the car off. If the engine is stopped, it doesn't restart. If the engine is running, it stops. In either case, the car automatically goes into park. I don't manually place it into park unless I'm going to sit and want the engine running. I've also noticed that the idle stop-start feature requires slightly more brake pressure to activate than it takes to just come to a stop. Frequently, I'll...
by tractorguy
Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: RV purchase ?
Replies: 86
Views: 8303

Re: RV purchase ?

Camping, whether its in a tent or a $250K motor home with granite countertops and a fireplace, is a lifestyle choice. You're going to be the best judge of what works for you. When our kids were very young and we only had two, we tent camped. That ended when it got too crowded. Then we upgraded to a lightly used pop up tent camper. My wife and I still think that this is the best option for young families. You're off the ground and can stay dry, the kids get their own bed at one end, and they are easier to tow. We used to pull ours with a minivan. Never had any problems after I installed the brake controller for the electric brakes in the trailer. I thought I could get away without one but found out quickly that the van's brakes couldn't hand...
by tractorguy
Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Choosing Between Jobs (Career Advice)
Replies: 21
Views: 1128

Re: Choosing Between Jobs (Career Advice)

You're not telling us enough about your career objectives and the positions in order for us to make a meaningful recommendation. You're young enough that neither one of these is going to be your last position so you should be asking yourself the following. 1) Long term, where do I want to go with my career? Do I want to be in upper management, or do I want to be a well respected contributor? 2) Which one of these allows me to gain and demonstrate skills that will make me ready for the next position after this. 3) Are these companies financially strong or can they become so with my help. I learned the hard way that it doesn't pay to be a star performer on a sinking ship. Its much better (financially, reduced job stress, and career satisfacti...
by tractorguy
Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:52 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Car Top Carrier
Replies: 18
Views: 1998

Re: Car Top Carrier

I've had a Sears 20 cu ft Xcargo for 8 years and used it at least once a year for a 2000 mile trip. Never had any problems with water inside. It does affect the car handling slightly (more weight can be felt when cornering or stopping). It also takes about 10% off my highway gas mileage. I believe that any car top carrier will do this just because you have more surface area. Sears also sells a smaller (15 cu ft) carrier for less money and some canvas boxes. Storage is the main issue with all of these. I'm lucky and have a high ceiling in my garage so I can hang it up out of the way. My son in law has one & he stores it on its side along the back wall of the garage. I carry a step stool when I am using it as the car (a SUV) is high and I...
by tractorguy
Sun Mar 31, 2019 11:03 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How can I get a handle on income taxes in retirement?
Replies: 33
Views: 3772

Re: How can I get a handle on income taxes in retirement?

At your income and savings level, you are probably going to not have any problems. However, several lottery winners and entertainment industry stars have proven that it is possible to burn through astonishing amounts of money in a short time so it is best to have a plan. As others have said, the best way to get a handle on taxes is to do the math and model them. If you are comfortable using tax software to figure your taxes, use the same software package to run some what if scenarios. If you aren't, have your tax accountant do it for you. Either way, the cost of the analysis (in time and money), is going to pay dividends in piece of mind and help in planning your retirement finances. Although it is generally the case that people spend more ...
by tractorguy
Fri Mar 29, 2019 6:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Passed Over For Promotion for Being too Good at My Job
Replies: 55
Views: 7554

Re: Passed Over For Promotion for Being too Good at My Job

+1 on Tamarind's reply. Some of the happiest people I worked with self limited their career's to what was called a project engineer in our company. This was a high performing technical expert who led projects, would mentor one or two people, but who was not expected to manage people. Our company officially had a technical promotion track that was supposed to give these technical experts a way to keep getting promoted. However, in practice it was difficult because the company only needed (and could justify paying) one company wide expert in a given field. If you were almost as good as that person, you had to wait for him or her to retire before you could move into the job. Because of that limitation, many people made the jump to the manageme...
by tractorguy
Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:38 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Need some help with slow folders in Windows
Replies: 33
Views: 2348

Re: Need some help with slow folders in Windows

I had a problem a year or so back with windows 10 that took forever to open some folders, including the quick view. I found that these folders had their type set as "pictures" which was forcing the operating system to scan the full folder and generate thumbnails of every file. When I reset the type to "general" things became much faster. The how to is here: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16694/c ... templates/

Hope this helps.
by tractorguy
Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Claiming New Jersey Homestead Benefit
Replies: 2
Views: 415

Claiming New Jersey Homestead Benefit

I'm just done helping my 93 year old MIL complete her income tax forms for 2018. In years past, she has claimed a homestead benefit that gives her a few hundred dollars back on her real estate taxes. This is a separate form from her income tax forms. This year, I can't find any of the forms on line. The state web site says that the "Deadline to file your 2016 homestead benefit was November 2018."

We live out of state and I'd like to complete this before we go home. I'm going to stop by the county clerk office today but thought I'd also ask the combined wisdom of this board if the program has been suspended or if there is a different place to go to get forms.
by tractorguy
Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:10 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Dilemma: Upgrade primary residence vs. 3-fund
Replies: 24
Views: 2223

Re: Dilemma: Upgrade primary residence vs. 3-fund

I had a similar first world problem when we moved back to the states from a series of overseas assignments. I constrained myself to a 30 minute commute from my office in the Chicago west suburbs but had still had a 4x range of house prices in that area. It ranged from houses closer to Chicago with high prices and high taxes to houses in a small farming town in the corn fields. Each area had its own list of amenities and "feel." It took us a month to decide which communities we wanted to target (which narrowed the range down to 1-1.5X). Because of our preferences, we decided we wanted an area where we could walk to a "downtown" with good restaurants and a train station to go into Chicago for the shows. This limited the op...
by tractorguy
Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Client From Hell Is Driving Me Insane!
Replies: 60
Views: 8925

Re: Client From Hell Is Driving Me Insane!

I've never worked in marketing but I've seen plenty of situations where the head of a department is driving terrible decisions because that's the way he or she thinks it should be. Their attitude typically is "Don't bother me with facts, my gut is always right." When that head has got high level sponsors (or in a privately held company is related to the owners) then nothing will change until they get moved out, retire, or die. In those cases, you just have to realize that you can't control everything and figure out how to live with it until that happens.
by tractorguy
Mon Feb 18, 2019 9:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I want a new Audi A6 2018 (50k) - Can I afford it? Or is this just a really dumb decision...
Replies: 136
Views: 11062

Re: I want a new Audi A6 2018 (50k) - Can I afford it? Or is this just a really dumb decision...

Would you pay $50K for a wristwatch or some other kind of bling? If you look at the ads for luxury cars and compare them with the ads for expensive jewelry, you'll see a striking similarity. They are all about trying to convince you that you'll stand out from the crowd and everyone will look up to you if you fork out the money for this luxury item. The truth is that most people won't notice, and many of the ones who do notice will question your judgement. I didn't buy my first luxury car (a BMW 328) until I was 54 and its cost came out of my slush fund. And then, I got a CPO. In large part, my ability to pay for this without worrying about it came from years of living below my means. And no, I'm not one of those who scrimped and saved and n...
by tractorguy
Mon Feb 18, 2019 8:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another "Is it worth it to fix" question [2002 Nissan Sentra]
Replies: 66
Views: 5246

Re: Another "Is it worth it to fix" question [2002 Nissan Sentra]

You've got your money's worth out of this car. Unless you absolutely can't afford it, I'd get a newer used car that you can use as a daily driver. IMOP, if you do due diligence while shopping and get anything you want to buy inspected by a good mechanic, a newer car is going to be safer, more reliable, and cheaper in the long run. You might be able to nurse this Sentra for another year or two but its going to turn in to a money pit fast. These small economy cars are designed to be worn out at 12 years. The fact that you pushed it to 18 years is a testimony to your maintenance habits, careful driving habits, and luck. As others have said, you probably have a lot of rust underneath and in other places you can't see. In addition, everything ru...
by tractorguy
Fri Feb 15, 2019 1:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work
Replies: 37
Views: 2069

Re: Advice Needed - Options for Commuting to Work

The longest commute I have had is a 1 3/4 hour each way on a train. Comparing this to my 30 minute each way commute when I worked other jobs, my experience was: 1) Having a fixed arrival and leave time drove me to get the work done and get out of the office. When I drove by myself, It was tempting to stay just a little bit longer (which sometimes ended up being more than just a little bit). This is a benefit if you don't regularly have a boss come up 20 minutes before quitting time asking for something to be done that will take an hour. Both the bus and car pool options would have this enforced schedule. 2) Anything you can do to share the load (both cost and stress of driving) is a good thing. For that reason, I'd probably start car poolin...
by tractorguy
Tue Dec 18, 2018 10:20 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Buyer's Remorse on purchasing a Mercedes
Replies: 82
Views: 8641

Re: Buyer's Remorse on purchasing a Mercedes

You've got two issues to deal with. 1) You can't afford this car. You don't say what your degree is and what job your going to get with but there are very few careers where a starting salary can cover the owning costs of a AMG Mercedes. 2) Your father is going to be hurt when you go to him and refuse his gift. The affordability issue is pretty straightforward. As a person who is just out of school and starting a new job, you need reliable tranportation that is as inexpensive as possible. Look for a low miles 3 year old mid sized boring sedan from just about any Japanese or Korean manufacturer. Just about any of them will have fuel, maintenance, and insurance costs that are 1/4 or less the Mercedes. Have you changed the oil yet? My Mercedes ...
by tractorguy
Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Certified Used BMW, Audi or Mercedes
Replies: 101
Views: 15005

Re: Certified Used BMW, Audi or Mercedes

As I write this, I'm sitting in a Kia dealer waiting for my new Stinger Gt2 and am going to go to Carmax to drop off my 2007BMW 328 cause they offered more than Kia for it. The Stinger and the new Genesis models were designed in Germany by a team that Hondai hired away from MB and BMW performance divisions. IMOP, they offer 95% of the German driving experience at 75% of the initial cost. I'm hoping for Kia reliability and parts pricing long term. My BMW was costing about 1000$ /year in maintenance for only 8000 miles. The straw that broke the camels back was a cracked valve cover that would cost over $1000 to replace at a good non dealer mechanic. 5 hours labor.! If you have to ask how much a German car is going to cost you to maintain, you...
by tractorguy
Fri Nov 23, 2018 8:54 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Renting car in Chicago - Christmas - what to expect?
Replies: 14
Views: 1619

Re: Renting car in Chicago - Christmas - what to expect?

Be aware that most of the highways around Chicago are toll roads and many exits are ez pass only. This includes the exit to OHare airport. If you have a transponder, wrap it in aluminum foil, bring it with you, and unwrap it and throw it on the dashboard of the rental. This assumes that the state you are in is compatible with the Illinois EZpass. If you don't, I'd consider buying one just for the trip. This assumes your state is compatible with Illinois EZpass. If you don't have a transponder, you can still pay online. Just make sure you know the license number of your rental car and pay for all of the toll gates you go through. Hertz will try to rent you a transponder. It is expensive but a better deal than blowing through a toll gate and ...
by tractorguy
Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: New job concerns
Replies: 52
Views: 6641

Re: New job concerns

I’m a retired Assistant Chief Engineer from a megacorp. My advice to you is to start looking for a new job immediately. You’ve blown the first impression of your managers at this one and it likely isn’t salvageable. You’ve labeled yourself as a non team player and as someone who isn’t willing to put in the required minimum number of hours. Even if your behaviour changed and you did everything in your power to reverse that impression, its probably too late to overcome it. Someone who worked for me and only showed up for 35 hours/week and refused to change this immediately after I talked to him about it would not survive the probation period. His reasons for doing so wouldn’t matter. For future reference, when a hiring manager talks about fle...
by tractorguy
Fri Nov 09, 2018 9:38 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Lowest Cost GPS-Capable Device for Senior Citizen
Replies: 18
Views: 1469

Re: Lowest Cost GPS-Capable Device for Senior Citizen

+1 on a Garmin. This is the only recognizable brand name sold on Amazon. I'd be hesitant to buy the off brands. Advantages over a cell phone mapping system are : 1. It does not need a cell signal to plot a route. Cell phone maps can be used outside of a service area but they require that you have the forethought to choose your destination and download maps before you leave your service area. If you leave the planned route outside a service area it won't be able to recalculate. I like to fiddle with electronics and have no problem with this. My wife doesn't and refuses to learn how to do this. 2. The interface won't change. This is a big deal for a senior who isn't used to dealing with a cell phone. 3. It will probably last longer. Cell phon...
by tractorguy
Fri Nov 09, 2018 9:37 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Lowest Cost GPS-Capable Device for Senior Citizen
Replies: 18
Views: 1469

Re: Lowest Cost GPS-Capable Device for Senior Citizen

+1 on a Garmin. This is the only recognizable brand name sold on Amazon. I'd be hesitant to buy the off brands. Advantages over a cell phone mapping system are : 1. It does not need a cell signal to plot a route. Cell phone maps can be used outside of a service area but they require that you have the forethought to choose your destination and download maps before you leave your service area. If you leave the planned route outside a service area it won't be able to recalculate. I like to fiddle with electronics and have no problem with this. My wife doesn't and refuses to learn how to do this. 2. The interface won't change. This is a big deal for a senior who isn't used to dealing with a cell phone. 3. It will probably last longer. Cell phon...