Search found 682 matches

by NoVa Lurker
Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:22 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Net worth approaching lifetime earnings. How many years did it take?
Replies: 50
Views: 7009

Re: Net worth approaching lifetime earnings. How many years did it take?

This is an interesting topic, even though other posters are correct that inflation effects, etc., make this rather meaningless. Our net worth is around 55% of our lifetime earnings. I am 43, and my wife and I currently have a gross income around $320k. With 3 kids, high property taxes, and a lot of the net worth tied up in our home, we might never hit 1x lifetime earnings, unless there is a lot of inflation. We paid off our mortgage and save almost half our income, but our investment earnings don't make up the other half, so every year our savings increases by a bit less than our income from that year. We left law school / grad school with big loans and immediately decent incomes, and now we pay a lot in child care, so I think those factors...
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:15 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any adult Nintendo Switch owners? Thoughts?
Replies: 29
Views: 26204

Re: Any adult Nintendo Switch owners? Thoughts?

We got a Switch almost two years ago now. There are some fun games, but overall I'd give it maybe a B. We definitely haven't used it as much as we expected. It's probably a matter of expectations. When the Nintendo Wii came out, it really blew us away. I mean, we got a Wii in 2007, and we were not early adopters - it's been around for a long time! It was so much fun, we'd have people over and the gatherings essentially became Wii parties. More than a decade later, the motion controls on the Switch are not very precise (maybe even less precise than the Wii), so you basically have a choice: play the sitting-down games that are equivalent to those you can play on any console (the biggest difference being they might have Zelda or Mario in them)...
by NoVa Lurker
Fri Jan 31, 2020 12:08 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Amazon price gouging
Replies: 61
Views: 4863

Re: Amazon price gouging

jebmke wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2020 11:19 am Something like 8,000 people die from the flu every year in the US so, probably paranoia. I'm more worried about getting run over by a teenager driving with a cell phone in use than Coronavirus.
A lot more than 8,000 (which supports your overall point).

According to CDC, it was actually 61,200 deaths from flu for the 2018-19 flu season, and 79,400 the year before.

https://time.com/5610878/2018-2019-flu-season/

A lot of people get very sick and die from the flu, which is why health care providers push everyone to get the flu shot - and use hand sanitizer! Flu is pretty much always in the top 10 causes of death in the US now, which is crazy, and some simple steps can limit its spread.
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:25 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Magic Kingdom for a day or fun resort / hotel?
Replies: 56
Views: 4704

Re: Magic Kingdom for a day or fun resort / hotel?

I think this topic is resolved for the OP, but just to add two more thoughts for those considering a day trip to the Magic Kingdom: 1. Disneyland in Anaheim, California is much better suited for a one-day visit (or ideally two days, either with park-hopper or one park per day, with its neighboring California Adventure). You can still make 'fastpasses' on the fly, and you can still ride a lot of stuff in the morning before crowds build. In Orlando, because everyone can make fastpasses well in advance, the "standby" ride lines move glacially, so it is tough to have fun unless you map out an exact plan in advance. 2. OP has kids at ages 3 and 6. Kids at ages 3 and 6 should be right in the Disney wheelhouse, but the reality is that th...
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:33 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Living in a HCOL and making a middle class salary is a struggle
Replies: 340
Views: 27014

Re: Living in a HCOL and making a middle class salary is a struggle

Note that I am 43 with three kids, so my financial position is similar to OP's, just fast-forwarded a decade. On balance, Northern Virginia is a good spot for people like us - lots of work opportunities, nice enough, and not completely outrageous home prices / taxes. Even then, $500k isn't going to buy you a move-in ready home in a good school district. NoVa Lurker, I disagreed. My neighborhood in NoVA fit that requirement. KlangFool Yeah, I'm trying to figure out where this "500k isn't going to buy you a move-in ready home in a good district" is coming from. I lived in the area for years and I can easily point to neighborhoods where this statement is completely false unless NoVA Lurker has ridiculous standards. If you work in Ar...
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:39 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Living in a HCOL and making a middle class salary is a struggle
Replies: 340
Views: 27014

Re: Living in a HCOL and making a middle class salary is a struggle

If you ask me, NY is appropriate for households making $500k+, who won't have access to the same jobs in NC or other areas. People tolerate the frustrating bureacracy, overcrowding, and lunatic politics because their careers offset those downsides. Any household making say, $250k or less, is probably better off moving. In my opinion. Yes, for all of the flack OP is getting, I completely understand the original post. I had the opportunity to move to the NYC area recently and would have probably lived somewhere in Westchester. Salary for my wife and I combined would have been close to $500k. We are around $350k in Northern Virginia. Her job would have been very comparable, mine would have had slightly longer hours but less travel and a bit m...
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:44 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: iPad or Chromebook for 5 year old?
Replies: 42
Views: 3489

Re: iPad or Chromebook for 5 year old?

Surprised the Kindle isn't mentioned more. Much cheaper than all other options mentioned, and if you get the Kids' Edition, it comes with a breakage warranty, a great protective case, and a free year of their kid apps. Every Kindle is worse than the worst ipad, but the Kindle works for all major video viewing (Netflix, Prime, Disney+) and has pretty much all the good game apps, since it's just an Android device with an Amazon overlay. We have two kindles that are almost 3 years old, and they still work fine. These are really presents for the parent, not the kid. We only let the kids use their Kindles for car rides > 1 hour, plane rides, attending siblings' sporting events in bad weather, and rare occasions at home when both parents need to ...
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:23 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: morality, kids, tuition etc
Replies: 68
Views: 5186

Re: morality, kids, tuition etc

My wife did something like #2. Her parents saved no money for the kids' college, and in her senior year, they told her they could help out with $5k/year but the rest was up to her. They were just in the financial territory where they didn't get financial aid grants, only loans. So my wife had the choice of taking out a ton of student loans, or going to the local community college (Grossmont College, east of San Diego) for 2 years. So she went to Grossmont. She said the classes were fine, the teachers were mostly great, and it cost almost nothing, but socially it was pretty depressing. She said she spent most weekends at home, because her friends from high school (who were all in the more academically-advanced classes) had gone away to schoo...
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Oct 17, 2019 12:06 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings
Replies: 28
Views: 4375

Re: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings

gr7070 wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:59 pm Give a bunch to some very worthy charities.
Yes, we have started doing this more, as well. It felt a bit shameful to realize that we both gave more to worthy causes before we got married and had kids, when our incomes were lower. Since we discuss pretty much all significant discretionary spending, and we are always so tired at the end of the night, it's easier just to not give and not bring it up for discussion. "Charitable giving" fell behind "mulch" as an evening conversation topic. But we're starting to do better now.
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Oct 15, 2019 2:28 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings
Replies: 28
Views: 4375

Re: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings

OP: What is the percentage breakdown of taxable assets to tax-privileged assets in your overall portfolio? If you count our home and pensions along with the various tax-advantaged funds, then taxable assets are only about 3-4% of the overall portfolio. I appreciate the question -- I hadn't ever thought that through. What does that mean, from your perspective? It is important to look at your entire portfolio when choosing your asset classes in your AA. If you had a small tax-privileged percentage in relation to your taxable, then you may end up filling your entire tax-privileged space with fixed income with space left over in your taxable space for more fixed income. In that case, you "couldn't" be 100% stocks in taxable without d...
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:20 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings
Replies: 28
Views: 4375

Re: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings

goodenyou wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:01 pm OP:
What is the percentage breakdown of taxable assets to tax-privileged assets in your overall portfolio?
If you count our home and pensions along with the various tax-advantaged funds, then taxable assets are only about 3-4% of the overall portfolio. I appreciate the question -- I hadn't ever thought that through.

What does that mean, from your perspective?
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings
Replies: 28
Views: 4375

Re: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings

Lots of good further thoughts here. Thanks. Klangfool, I will have to think a lot harder about what you are saying. I haven't really thought of money being fungible between taxable and tax-advantaged savings, but that's probably because we just have never had taxable savings except (1) true emergency fund money and (2) big chunks that were ear-marked for home downpayment and cars. Fwiw, my wife already thinks our AA is too aggressive. We are heavily shifted to stocks because we'll have roughly 70% of our income paid as pensions if we both work until 62. And we spend less than 50% of our income right now, not counting all the various savings buckets. We will also both be fully eligible for social security. So we don't really "need"...
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Oct 15, 2019 12:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings
Replies: 28
Views: 4375

Re: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings

Thanks very much for the answers so far.

Investing these funds in a way that mirrors our AA makes perfect sense; it had honestly not occurred to me. Along the lines of what bertilak suggests, maybe we can start with roughly our AA, but then make it just a bit more simple/safe.

We have some I-bonds, but I never liked the Treasury Direct interface, and with the relatively low maximum annual buys, we hadn't considered EE bonds or I bonds in awhile. The trade-off of added complexity for a small benefit, in the scheme of things, made it feel not worthwhile. I will take another look myself, but I appreciate any further views on these, since I am way behind on looking into them.
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:25 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings
Replies: 28
Views: 4375

Where to Put "Extra" Taxable Savings

Basic question : What would you do with a bunch of taxable savings, assuming all your tax-advantaged buckets are full up, you have no need for additional retirement savings, and you have no foreseeable big expenses for which to save? Background : After many years on Bogleheads, my wife and I are in a good position - in our early 40s with very stable jobs (no desire to retire until at least 60, barring any completely unforeseen health issues), a nice home with mortgage already paid off, retirement savings well on-track (with 4 total pensions and 15 years of maxed-out 401k's etc.), and 529s probably over-funded for 3 kids at this point. We are gradually exiting the stage of expensive child care and entering the stage of expensive kids' activ...
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Sep 23, 2019 8:31 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Investing half of net worth, is market too high?
Replies: 25
Views: 5994

Re: Investing half of net worth, is market too high?

Mostly everyone is telling you to just plunge in, whether right away or DCA'ing over an 18-month period, etc. I think this is because you framed the question by asking if the market is too high. (It's also because you're asking this question in 2019, not 2009.) But what if you framed it instead as, "My wife and I are approaching 60, and we have roughly exactly enough savings to live comfortably for the rest of our lives. We now have to re-invest these funds. Should we now invest 60% in stocks and 20% in REITs, with the rest in bonds? Or should we do something a bit safer?" With that question, I think most people would agree on a bit safer approach. In terms of asset allocation mix, most people these days go riskier than "age ...
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:34 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I know you shouldn't try to time the market but what about the "housing market"?
Replies: 16
Views: 2610

Re: I know you shouldn't try to time the market but what about the "housing market"?

I think in your case it's less "market-timing," and more that real estate transaction costs can be quite high, so it's better to keep renting until you have more certainty as to what, exactly, you want to buy for the long-term.

Since it seems like you do want to buy eventually, I would suggest you keep your "downpayment savings" invested relatively safely, certainly not 100% in an S&P 500 fund, for example.
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:17 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [Buying 1/2 pint milk in bulk for school lunches?]
Replies: 68
Views: 11069

Re: [Buying 1/2 pint milk in bulk for school lunches?]

In defense of OP, I have also been surprised that the only small-package milk option at every store is the Horizon stuff, which is way more expensive and just doesn't taste as good as 'regular' milk. Our kids (3rd grade and kindergarten) only get 25 minutes for lunch at school, and apparently the lunch line can take 10+ minutes when the food is 'good,' so we make lunch for the kids every day. I would love if they could buy, but they don't eat fast enough. They get water in a thermos. Not very fun, but healthy and cheap! We would send them with 1/2 pint milk cartons if we could buy them cheap, but they're just not available. And I hate cleaning milk out of straw thermos contraptions, so we'll stick with water!
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:06 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to help MIL
Replies: 26
Views: 1913

Re: How to help MIL

If the most recent explanation is true, then Rick Boglehead's suggested "less formal way" (i.e., giving you Power of Attorney and essentially sole practical control over the accounts, which will remain in MIL's name) seems like a very good approach.

But OP, starting your recent explanation with, "To placate the pitchfork mob, the initial reasoning I've heard..." makes it seem like you are not being entirely truthful or do not understand that it really, really sounds like MIL is trying to hide assets. There are lots of reasons people try to hide assets - taxes, creditors, divorce, financial aid, Medicaid, etc. - but none of these reasons make it legitimate.
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Jul 22, 2019 3:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Wife (teacher) and I are trying for a baby. What are some "must-knows" and other tips?
Replies: 127
Views: 14350

Re: Wife (teacher) and I are trying for a baby. What are some "must-knows" and other tips?

I would get term life insurance, for both of you. may i ask where to start with this? it honestly didn't really cross my mind but it does make sense. do BH's have a favorite company to get LI through? In addition to the answers above, you should check whether you and/or your wife can add extra term life through work. My wife didn't have a very good option for this, but for me, this was the most economical approach to increasing our life insurance. Conversely, my wife has the option to fund a Dependent Care FSA through salary deductions at her work, which saves us more than $1500/year in taxes, whereas my work does not have a Dependent Care FSA option. It's far from a top priority, but you might want to look into setting up the Dependent Ca...
by NoVa Lurker
Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 3 kids and 2 working parents - childcare costs
Replies: 17
Views: 2457

Re: 3 kids and 2 working parents - childcare costs

I haven't seen anyone mention the Au Pair option, which you may want to investigate. Here's a short summary of our experience with it. We live in Northern Virginia, with three young kids (now 8, 5 and 2) and have had au pairs for a few years. We have always picked au pairs from Germany. We used Cultural Care, but there are other au pair agencies as well, like Au Pair America. The prices and reviews for all the main agencies end up being very similar. You need to have an extra bedroom for the au pair to live, and the au pair can only work 45 hours total. So if you need more than 45 hours, you either need two au pairs (which seems crazy, but we know people who do it) or you need another option, i.e., nanny or day care. I work late most days, ...
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Hot water heater on pilot light
Replies: 22
Views: 3421

Re: Hot water heater on pilot light

It is interesting that you posted this, because we are having pretty much the exact same issue right now. I don't have advice because we are still trying to figure it out, but I am curious to hear from others. We got a new hot water heater installed in late April. Our old tank had exact temperatures on the dial, but the new one has Pilot, Low, High, A, B, C, and Very High, which is strange to me. They installed it at "High," but the hot water was coming out scalding hot, so we've been gradually moving the dial down, and the water just keeps staying very hot. I moved the dial down a bit more yesterday, and we are currently halfway between Low and Pilot - and our upstairs shower is still hotter than it needs to be, if we turn the kn...
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone familiar with driving from Disneyland area to Tucson, Az?
Replies: 39
Views: 3131

Re: Anyone familiar with driving from Disneyland area to Tucson, Az?

Why would you even drag a 3y old in these places? Maybe I'm crazy and don't know it yet? :D Are you saying it's not worth it? It's torture for all of you... At least if the kid is 8 it's torture only for the parents. This hasn't been my experience at all. I'm no Disney/theme park fanatic. However, I have family in FL, and we've taken our young kids to Disneyworld, SeaWorld and Animal Kingdom. Both parents and kids have had an enjoyable time at all of these places. I like lots of variety and different experiences in my life, and we have exposed our kids to the same at a young age. They have fun doing all sorts of things...theme parks, beaches, lakes, mountains, museums, historical stuff, ect. People make a big deal about this topic. Just us...
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:28 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Resort vacation w/ 6 month old...?
Replies: 30
Views: 2799

Re: Resort vacation w/ 6 month old...?

Our three boys are now 8, 5 and 2. We found 8-9 months to be the end of the "easy" window for travel - they started to eat more solids and become more mobile, and hitting various milestones made them more excited and less able to adjust to sleep changes. By age 3, short/medium flights and drives became easy again (thanks to being potty-trained, being able to fully communicate, and being able to sit for long periods while mostly playing/watching on devices), and the kids gradually became more "participants" in the family vacation, vs. "extremely photogenic burdens." Our 8 and 5 year olds are just awesome right now on any vacation. I can't imagine doing anything without them - our trips would be half as fun witho...
by NoVa Lurker
Tue May 21, 2019 1:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Expensive front load washer/dryer worth it?
Replies: 78
Views: 9356

Re: Expensive front load washer/dryer worth it?

rj342 wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 11:11 am Here on the Gulf Coast I know some people have issues with fighting the tendency of the front load washer to mildew, because by nature of the design the door closes with a tight seal, trapping moisture. Simple solution is to leave the door open, but thats nto very attractive is it?
Yep, we got a front loader when we moved into our house 10 years ago (this is in Northern Virginia - far from the Gulf Coast but still very humid). It never smelled right, and it took us awhile to realize there was black mold and mildew on the underside of the seal. We cleaned it and left the washer door open for hours every day, but the mold/mildew always came back. We finally replaced it with a top loader, which has had no problems.
by NoVa Lurker
Fri May 03, 2019 7:47 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Riskfree 3.00% Yield?!
Replies: 33
Views: 7157

Re: Riskfree 3.00% Yield?!

You are not getting a 3% yield, you are getting a 2.07% yield. in your tax situation, it is equivalent to a 3% pretax yield, but it is not yielding 3%. And it's not risk free, not a lot of risk, but not risk free. Umm, you realize what TEY means right? There is no tax on this investment hence your mentioning of “pretax” is invalid. Why is my mentioning pretax invalid but you compare it to pretax yield. My point is your yield is 2.07%, not 3%, almost 50% less. I think you mean nearly 33% less. You are right, but this is a weird quibble when all of EdNorton's key points are right. The subject of this thread is "Riskfree 3.00% Yield," which got me to click on it. But these investments are not risk-free, and not even close to 3.00%. ...
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Apr 04, 2019 3:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Help! Having a Baby - Stay Home Cost analysis
Replies: 33
Views: 3051

Re: Help! Having a Baby - Stay Home Cost analysis

One thing to add, which I guess is in favor of going back to work and using day care: You are analyzing the 2019-2020 numbers pretty closely. But the later years matter even more. For a teacher, the effect of losing pension contributions, benefits, and one salary step for each year you stay at home can be significant - if you do a net-present-value calculation of the lost future salary/pension stream, the loss could actually be EQUAL TO a mid-career teacher's post-tax income. So if you think you are losing $50k in post tax salary by staying home but saving $25k in childcare (for a net cost of $25k), you're actually losing $100k (for a net cost of $75k). My wife took a one-year unpaid sabbatical from teaching, for each of our three kids. So ...
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:47 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Moisture in Basement and House
Replies: 17
Views: 1799

Re: Moisture in Basement and House

We live in Northern Virginia, everybody has to deal with moisture problems. We bought a house that had french drains around 3 of the basement walls, and a sump pump. Long story short, we now have the french drain around all 4 of the basement walls. But more importantly, we had the outside of our house re-graded, we re-routed a few gutters, and we added downspouts that go underground. Rain falling on our roof now mostly gets taken about 10-12 feet away from the house. The sump pump almost never runs anymore, which shows water isn't getting to the french drains very often. To sum up what everyone is telling you, you need to (1) prevent moisture from ever getting to your basement, and (2) get rid of the moisture that does get to your basement....
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:33 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Minivan or SUV?
Replies: 24
Views: 2299

Re: Minivan or SUV?

We faced the same decision except we have 3 kids plus a live-in au pair. And we car pool for our oldest kid's soccer and baseball practices during the week. So for a family of 6 right now, who often drives all 6 together, and frequently car pools, a minivan is a no-brainer. We have come to really appreciate our Honda Odyssey. One of the best features is that the kids can push a button to let themselves out of the side doors, with no worries they will swing the door open and dent our parking neighbors. There is also plenty of legroom in every row. The third row in the Pilot is just a little tighter than the Odyssey, but an extra inch or two of legroom makes a big difference. If we were a family of 3, the SUV might be fine, though, and I am g...
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:54 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is my *entire* life financed when I have a mortgage?
Replies: 84
Views: 7474

Re: Is my *entire* life financed when I have a mortgage?

You're reaching for something here, not sure what it is. There are bsaic needs we all need, housing, transportation, eat, utilities, etc. After that, it's all luxury. Once the "experts" have decided what that nominal amount is for your household in your zip code, everything on top of that is a luxury. So if your mortgage is at 4%, everything else you do has a 4% tag that you cold have put on your mortgage. It's maddening logic, but I see that side of the equation. Example, buddy has only one debt, a mortgage at 4%, but also has $3k in bitcoin. Leveraging bitcoin doesn't seem bright, but is he leveraging bitcoin, only the "experts" can say with that whole 'money is fungible" axiom? There have been many, many, many, ...
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Mar 13, 2019 10:34 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Utility bill hits new highs! What can I do?
Replies: 55
Views: 4125

Re: Utility bill hits new highs! What can I do?

If your usage is up, there could be lots of reasons, which we wouldn't be able to figure out over the internet. The things that have already been mentioned seem most likely. A few other possible culprits, in addition to what has already been mentioned: maybe a small crack or opening has grown bigger, creating a draft near your thermostat, so it's running your heat more than it has in past winters; a gas regulator (at the meter) got old and is letting more gas flow than is needed; if you have shared walls, a neighbor is running less heat than in past years (maybe a neighboring unit is vacant, or they are taking a long vacation and left the heat at 55F all the time?), so you have to make up the difference, which could especially affect pipes ...
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Mar 11, 2019 10:23 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Island Vacation with Shade on the Beach?
Replies: 40
Views: 5396

Re: Island Vacation with Shade on the Beach?

My wife has not had much luck finding a place for us to take a vacation this year. Though almost any island will do, we want to visit the Caribbean again but she has two criteria that we struggling to resolve. We'd like a quiet, uncrowded island like St. John (we've been there a couple of times and it's great) but since she has very sensitive skin, we're looking for an island that has shade (via trees or palapa's) on at least one beach. Any suggestions for a quiet island where we can find some beach shade? Easy as pie! Port Douglas, Australia (technically an island), about an hour north of Cairns. I mean, Port Douglas is one of my favorite places in the world, but it is not an island, it is not in the Caribbean (in fact, it's maybe 22 hour...
by NoVa Lurker
Fri Feb 22, 2019 8:21 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Continue with home project or not?
Replies: 37
Views: 3953

Re: Continue with home project or not?

1) This is not a variance and all numerical values were met by a wide margin. We had to go through an approval process with the city and we got it approved despite the petition. The city has a number of subjective items like "not sticking out" which then requires things like dropping plate heights. In the end the city chose some values that was unsatisfactory to all parties still. The petitioner can still object and take it further levels of review but the city basically approved it. This just creates more tension and delays in getting the official permit. The city people said our plans were very reasonable and addressed all neighbor requests. I am still not 100% clear from your responses, but honestly, if you already bought the ...
by NoVa Lurker
Fri Jan 25, 2019 12:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New Home Computer of Some Kind
Replies: 40
Views: 3225

Re: New Home Computer of Some Kind

Thanks everyone. This has been helpful.
by NoVa Lurker
Fri Jan 25, 2019 11:14 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New Home Computer of Some Kind
Replies: 40
Views: 3225

Re: New Home Computer of Some Kind

I'd strongly recommend that you try and understand what the issues are you're having before just buying a new computer. If your computer has an internet connection, and room on the hard drive, then downloading TurboTax doesn't take 3 days. You could have a lousy internet connection, you could have a bad hard drive, you could ... I am typing this on a Lenovo T400, purchased just over 9 years ago. I've upgraded the hard drive to an SSD, and had to replace the LCD ($40), but it runs great. Our desktop is an Dell Optiplex 980, which would also be just over 9 years old. I've put an SSD in that also. With an SSD and 4gb of memory, any computer can run Windows 10 just fine to do what the OP wants. Every few years we buy used computers from a majo...
by NoVa Lurker
Fri Jan 25, 2019 11:11 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New Home Computer of Some Kind
Replies: 40
Views: 3225

Re: New Home Computer of Some Kind

02nz wrote: Fri Jan 25, 2019 10:48 am
NoVa Lurker wrote: Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:54 am What about one of the "pro" tablets, whether ipad pro or Surface pro
The iPad Pro is a wonderful piece of hardware, but I wouldn't recommend it for your uses. You basically want to do things with the PC that are not possible or too cumbersome on the iPhone. Guess what, those things will be just as cumbersome or impossible on the iPad. Transferring files is a particular limitation.

The Surface Pro is a full-powered Windows 10 PC. Great hardware, except for a terrible wifi chip. I returned the Surface Pro 6 because of all the issues with wifi/Bluetooth.
I think I agree with this - it helps to just rule out the "pros" for the sake of simplicity, even if there is a chance we could make it work.
by NoVa Lurker
Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:54 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New Home Computer of Some Kind
Replies: 40
Views: 3225

New Home Computer of Some Kind

Looking for Boglehead advice on a very general question. We have a home desktop that is now 9 years old. We rarely turn it on any more, but we do still use it (1) to upload and edit photos from our DSLR camera (which are then swept into the Google Photos cloud), (2) to do our taxes with TurboTax, and (3) occasionally to play old iTunes playlists, especially for music that's not on Amazon Music (Danger Mouse's Grey Album, some Rolling Stones covers, etc.) I think that's about it. Maybe we would use it for more stuff if it were faster and booted up more quickly. Earlier this week, I tried to download the latest TurboTax. It finally did completely download and work, but it basically took 3 days and much frustration. This was kind of the last s...
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Victim of my own success! How to deal with a complex life?
Replies: 103
Views: 11211

Re: Victim of my own success! How to deal with a complex life?

You're making everything sound so much more complex than it is... [OT comment removed by admin LadyGeek] Just jumping into this thread, it seems like OP is getting a lot of good advice, and arguing with all of it. The short advice is that the enemy can be the perfect of the good. You can spend 200 hours picking and planning a family vacation. Or you can spend 30 minutes, especially if one spouse delegates decision-making authority entirely to the other. We have learned that having fun on a family vacation is not a matter of making the 'perfect' choices, so it's better just to pick something and go with it. We have three young kids, two demanding jobs, and a big suburban house with an annoying yard. Last night, my wife and I spent about $20...
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:44 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008
Replies: 249
Views: 26923

Re: What Happened to you during the Financial crisis of 2007–2008

Valuethinker wrote: Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:26 am
Also market timer who went into the Crash leveraged, lost over $1m, made it back - another very interesting thread.
Not sure if anyone has posted the link, but it is worth it for young, smart folks to read this whole thread and experience the 2007-2008-2009 drop and rebound in real time. Market timer was very smart, and I am sure he is doing fine now, but this is an example of truly awful market timing for a high-risk strategy.

viewtopic.php?t=5934
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Oct 10, 2018 9:42 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Grand Canyon (LV) - is $80 ticket price for Sky Walk worth it
Replies: 14
Views: 1744

Re: Grand Canyon (LV) - is $80 ticket price for Sky Walk worth it

I have never been to the North Rim or "West Rim," but we've gone to the South Rim a bunch of times over the years, and it's always great.

Amazing views on both the South Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail. It is well worth hiking down a bit to get away from the crowds and get a different perspective.

I am looking forward to our next Grand Canyon trip, whenever that will be, but I would not be interested in the Sky Walk. It might be well worth it to others.
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:58 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Dilemma: Add room to current house or buy new house?
Replies: 93
Views: 6617

Re: Dilemma: Add room to current house or buy new house?

OP, I think you would have gotten very different responses if you had said:

We have a 3900 sq ft home (not including unfinished areas/garage). My wife, who is a doctor and makes three times as much as me, wants to add a 320 sq ft sunroom for entertaining. We can easily afford it. Should we do it, or move?

I think many respondents were distracted by you exaggerating the size of your house and focusing on your wife's "keeping up with the joneses" feelings. But truthfully, the options of moving or getting family counseling are very bad, and would likely end up being much more costly (in multiple ways) than adding a room to your home.
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Aug 29, 2018 12:37 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Just put $100K into TUR. Analysis inside
Replies: 71
Views: 5419

Re: Just put $100K into TUR. Analysis inside

whodidntante wrote: Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:25 am I like your gamble or your trolling, whichever applies.
Based on the subsequent posts, we now know the answer.

Of course, OP's strategy could work out. But OP has not done the work to demonstrate that the risks are improperly priced; rather, OP is taking risk to buy in a distressed scenario.
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Aug 02, 2018 11:04 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Co - signed a Mortage, Now wants out
Replies: 57
Views: 7420

Re: Co - signed a Mortage, Now wants out

Note that the phrase, "I co-signed my brother in law's mortgage," is not really the right way to think about it.

It's really, "My brother-in-law and I co-signed a 30-year mortgage."

This is something you agreed to. If you want out of the contract now, I think you need to consider how to do it in a way that does not make things worse for the bank or your sister / brother-in-law.
by NoVa Lurker
Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to prepare for "the talk"
Replies: 64
Views: 6407

Re: How to prepare for "the talk"

Fair questions include:

1. When are you planning to retire?

2. How are you feeling about your finances, especially retirement savings?

3. Can I take over my school loans?

4. Can I help in any other way?

I wouldn't ask them to share anything directly.

I would keep in mind that the phrase, "Their circumstances improved despite never learning better habits as my dad's job turned into a career with decent pay," seems like a very uncharitable use of the passive voice.

Also keep in mind that the prevailing advice on this forum is to save for your own retirement first, and make your kids take out loans for college -- your parents instead took that responsibility on, at their own great expense.
by NoVa Lurker
Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:12 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Question about new construction basement houses
Replies: 19
Views: 2856

Re: Question about new construction basement houses

I'm really interested to know if anyone has insight on how often a new construction "walk-out" basements becomes problematic with water issues. I would think a new construction would use new/better methods to better prevent these kinds of water issues. You are getting good advice above from Beth, nordsteve and others. It just depends if the land around the house is graded correctly, and if drains are properly arranged. Water needs somewhere to go. Certainly, many old houses have problems, and many new houses have problems. Developers can prevent water issues, but it doesn't mean they will. There is a house on our street in Northern Virginia that was built by a developer in 2012 (they tore down the 1954 house that was on the prope...
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Drive from Phoenix to San Diego
Replies: 42
Views: 4214

Re: Drive from Phoenix to San Diego

HueyLD wrote: Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:29 pm Except for San Diego, all the places you mentioned (PHX, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree NP and Palm Springs) are very HOT in late June. O.k., maybe it is not so hot in GCNP.

I think you should just go straight to San Diego for June. Try to visit those hot places in the winter.
+1
by NoVa Lurker
Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Drive from Phoenix to San Diego
Replies: 42
Views: 4214

Re: Drive from Phoenix to San Diego

If it were me, with two little kids in late June, I'd just fly into San Diego and stay there for a bit! Spend some beach time at Coronado, La Jolla, etc. Hike Torrey Pines. Walk around Balboa Park. Maybe hit 1-2 out of the zoo, wild animal park, Sea World and/or Legoland.

Late June is SO HOT in all the other places you're talking about. If you can, I'd plan a separate trip involving Arizona/Utah parks, based out of flying into Vegas, sometime in fall/spring. If you have to start in Phoenix and end in San Diego for this trip, then maybe just make a quick pit stop in Joshua Tree, then cut down and stop for a meal in Julian, and otherwise do the whole drive over two days.
by NoVa Lurker
Mon Jun 11, 2018 1:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How do you celebrate (potty trained kid) milestone with your spouse?
Replies: 93
Views: 7535

Re: How do you celebrate (potty trained kid) milestone with your spouse?

Congrats!

As of this weekend, it seems our last, youngest child can 100%, reliably wipe himself after going to the potty, and your post makes me think we now need to celebrate this! He has been 'potty-trained' for over a year, but the reliable wiping has been prone to more 'relapses' than we experienced for his older siblings.

We have never celebrated such things. For me, the celebratory reward is simply not having to crouch down in a bathroom / toilet stall and wipe a kid's bottom anymore.
by NoVa Lurker
Thu May 31, 2018 1:49 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Have $3m at 33, "approach to career" advice needed
Replies: 157
Views: 41107

Re: Have $3m at 33, "approach to career" advice needed

The replies to this question (versus the replies to a thread from, say, a 42-year-old widow who received a $1m+ insurance settlement and is now being hounded by financial advisors) are a reminder of what is a bit beyond the skills of this forum, vs. what this forum does very well. You can get good advice here on how to approach the investment of your $3m egg at 33 years old. However, OP already seems to have a good understanding on that front. Meanwhile, a lot of the career / life-planning advice here does not seem very useful to a 33-year-old with a wife and infant. My advice would be to not do a complete 180. Not take a 4-year vacation. Not start now with the work of applying to a graduate program where you might not enter for 1.5 years, ...
by NoVa Lurker
Tue May 22, 2018 1:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How do you account for a defined benefit pension in your planning?
Replies: 4
Views: 878

Re: How do you account for a defined benefit pension in your planning?

Very roughly - in retirement, you will be looking for income streams to cover your expenses. Pension income is the first source to cover your retirement expenses. For example, if your retirement expenses will be $40k/year and your pension income from the DB pension is $40k/year, then you literally need no retirement savings. If you project annual retirement expenses at $100k and pension income is $40k, then you need to cover $60k with your "private" retirement savings. As you say, there are lots of variables. One of the most important is whether the pension is adjusted for inflation / cost of living. If not, you can just account for that with simple math - the value in real terms will go down by whatever you estimate is the releva...
by NoVa Lurker
Tue May 22, 2018 12:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Newly widowed, how do I invest 1.5 million life ins. proceeds
Replies: 72
Views: 10671

Re: Newly widowed, how do I invest 1.5 million life ins. proceeds

My wife died 6 months ago. It was the hardest thing I have ever experienced. I felt like I was going crazy. I talked to several grief councilors. Read lots of books. Went to a grief support group. The one piece of advice they all agreed on was to avoid making any big decisions for 6-12 months. I was not and probably still am not in good shape to make a major decision. I suggest you let the money sit in a money market fund for a year. In a few months start reading more about investing. In a year go ahead and invest the money. There is no hurry. When my wife died I had the feeling I had to hurry up and make decisions. That is delusion. A very common delusion. I am sorry to hear this as well. This is also good advice from tc101, that has not ...