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Rimowa was first to come to mind. Secondly I thought of Away, but that might not be high-end enough.

We have semi-annual distributions, but our CPA advised to pay quarterly estimates since the business is still earning income in the intervening quarters.

We usually vacation in the North Scottsdale/Troon North areas north of Scottsdale. Somewhat more "deserty" than Scottsdale itself and maybe a bit further to shopping, but close to many outdoor activities. I assume AZ is similar to FL in that many properties are booked a year in advance, so I would start looking soon for Feb. 2024.

Yes my CPA reduces the Q1 estimates by any refunds applied.

Your list is good for the suburban lifestyle, but I don't think I would take any of those models off-roading. For that you need to look at a 4-Runner or Jeep.

Personally, I'm planning to buy the Grand Highlander (or its Lexus equivalent).

What’s your plan for the flex area? Consider knocking down the wall and making one garage bay extra deep for additional storage. Maybe add a door to the backyard. Or eliminate it, shift the laundry room and make the kitchen bigger.

What’s the plan/difference between the sitting room and family room?

I’m not a big fan of the two tier kitchen overhang. Limits space available for dishes, meal prep etc.

Consider a walk-in pantry. You can never have enough room for food with kids in the house.

Make the office a separate room.

Is there a door from your closet to the master bath or do you have to walk all the way around?

We recently bought this tracfone plan off eBay for our kids to use on an old iPhone. Currently $60 for 1200 minutes, 1200 texts and 3GB data.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283448464240?m ... media=COPY

We had extra insulation blown in from the garage side.

I use it since my utilities charge a fee for credit card payments and I like consistency in my automatic checking withdrawals. My bills are relatively stable with probably no more than a $20 monthly swing per bill per year when they adjust and in most years it seems to be $10 up or down.

Since you don't mention it - what are your living expenses (i.e. how much of the taxable withdrawal will be for living expenses)? Moving money from savings to pay bills every month would bother me personally, but if the shortfall is small, or is only intended to last a few years until the kids are in school, it would be less concerning to me.

Similar to the other poster, completed a kitchen remodel about a year ago in MCOL area. Cost was similar around $80,000. Our 3 estimates ranged from $80,000-$140,000. We felt most comfortable with the low estimate - I think the others were trying to price gauge us. I think it took 5-6 weeks total from demo to completion.

I hear window replacements are quite expensive currently (around $1,000 per window) so that could be a big number depending on the number of windows replaced.

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I'm targeting the cost of our in-state university. Anything additional will be funded from cash flow or savings. If they get scholarships or it costs less, the 529 can remain for grad school, transferred to the kids Roth or future grandkids.

At the high point each month, roughly 1 month expenses plus $500. Pretty much all expenses go on the credit card which is paid off monthly from the checking and/or transfer from savings as needed. Try to keep the $500 buffer just for any unexpected drafts.

Thanks for the heads up on the Walmart in-home option. Didn't previously realize it didn't require tipping, which should save me a couple hundred bucks a year assuming the service remains good.

None of my utilities take credit cards without a fee, so I use autopay from my checking account. Each of them offer "budget billing," which is basically your average payment over the last 12 months with an annual true-up adjustment. That allows for consistent autopayments, even though I really have no need for the budget feature.

Chevy Traverse is good option. Toyota is coming out with a Grand Highlander in the next couple months which is supposed to have a usable 3rd row.

+1 to the Oblivious Investor calculator

I've used a riser for the last 3 years or so. While I'm mostly happy with it, I don't like how far back I sit from my computer with it, and as you've found out, it's difficult to get the height correct. I'm getting ready to order a new standing desk, but I also dislike my current desk. Planning to order a Desk Haus standing desk, which seem to be high quality.

I was handed a 12C my first day of work in the 2000’s. Did regularly use it and love it for probably 8-10 years. Even thought I lost it once and bought the updated Silver edition. Nowadays I use Excel for most everything.

We don't keep a formal budget but generally spend $8-12,000 per month. Family of 4 in a MCOL area. Saving 25-30% of gross income and honestly plenty of expenses we could cut from the budget to boost that number higher if we needed to.

Mortgage PITI: 24,000
Utilities: 7,200
Groceries/Eating Out: 15,000
Auto Insurance/Gas: 5,000
Private School Tuition: 14,000
Family Travel: 12,000
Kids Activities/Sports: 15,000
Life Insurance: 2,500
Miscellaneous: 12,000
Total: 106,700

Will do it in March when I'm expecting a lump sum. Did max out my state tax deduction limit for the kids 529 on 1/1, though.

A family LLC would not bypass probate, so I don't know what they're referring to. The use of an LLC can allow from a gradual transfer of assets as well as various discounts for lack of marketability and/or lack of control.

What kind of assets do your parents own and do they have a taxable estate (i.e. currently greater than $26 million)?

Financially I’m going to start contributing to Mega Backdoor Roth and hope to add more in our taxable accounts. Waiting to hear if I got a promotion I applied for around Thanksgiving which would make these financial goals easily achievable. Also considering a new car purchase in 2023-2024.

The better half says we are traveling more in 2023 so that may decrease our taxable investing to some degree.

Is anyone dumping LastPass to go with the Apple/iCloud password keeper? Wondering what the cons are compared to these other services.

Any reason you are prioritizing taxable over maxing out the Mega-Backdoor Roth? For 2023 the combined limit is $66,000, so you should have room to contribute about $15,000 more if you wanted.

123 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:42 pm How about a couple of dumb bell weights? He can have them next to his bed or near the couch. Even casual use at his age could show some results as encouragement.

Likely a basic set with 2.5, 5, and 10 lb weights is best (and cheap) https://www.amazon.com/Yes4All-Adjustab ... r=8-7&th=1

There are fancier adjustable dumb bells sets for $200 and up that might be a good follow-up gift next year.

Bought a dumbbell set last week for my kids about this age who have shown an interest in lifting weights lately.

Got mine today

There are a ton of refurbished desktops on ebay for $200 or less with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD hard drives. Pair with a $100 monitor and you have something definitely suited for light gaming.

Assuming you're talking about landscape lighting, I've seen good reviews of the Volt lights (voltlighting.com). I believe Costco periodically carries some of their kits. From what I've seen its very easy to DIY install.

I do #2 so I have confirmation it's paid. My county only charges $1 though.

Since this is Bogleheads recommendation thread, Travelpro is like a Toyota Camry and Briggs & Riley is like Lexus. Both dependable, well made products. I own both (and Tumi) and wouldn't hesitate to buy either one again.

I’ve been able to keep our HOA dues level for the last 6 years or so and plan to keep them level next year. However I think we will need to slightly increase dues in 2024 if current prices stay where they’re at.

Aspen in the summer is amazing. I recommend horseback riding in Maroon Bells. Whitewater rafting might be a little extreme for your 70's, but you can go standup paddleboarding on the river just east of town. If you're not into hiking, take the Silver Queen gondola up Aspen Mountain for lunch.

I've never refinished hardwood, but everyone I know that has had to spend 1-2 nights in a hotel while the work was being done due to dust, noise, smell etc. so maybe consider that in the financial calculation. We re-did our main floor with LVP earlier this year and everything you said is spot on (looks great, low maintenance etc.)

Edited to add: having watched the install now, I would probably feel confident in installing LVP myself if I was only doing a couple rooms, especially if you're looking to save money.

Valuethinker wrote: ↑Thu Nov 03, 2022 7:44 am
My sense is all the outperformance since the start of Covid will get squeezed out. But my crystal ball is of course cloudy and you wouldn't take my advice if you'd just met me in the pub?

Agreed and that's partially why I'm interested. Amazon in particular is back to pre-COVID stock price. Maybe I'm just crazy but as Buffett once said, "be greedy when others are fearful."

Although our portfolio is almost completely indexed, I heard on the news yesterday that Amazon stock is down almost 50% YTD vs. the 20% drop in the S&P 500. That got me thinking and I looked into other large tech companies, Google (down 41%) and Microsoft (down 35%). I assume this is related to the overall slowing economy, recession fears etc.

Standard caveats about this being fun money and not timing the market all apply of course, but for those more knowledgeable about tech is there something fundamental I'm missing? For a buy and hold investor does it make sense to throw some fun money into these (or other) tech names beaten up by the market this year?

CloseEnough wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 12:32 pm

livesoft wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 12:20 pm Turo is where my friends rent such things.

Yes, I thought of Turo too, although I've never used it. Might be an option, thanks.

We used Turo at SFO about 6 months ago and it worked well. Met us outside baggage claim when picking up and outside the departure terminal when leaving.

Upgraded about 10 years ago from 1800 sq ft to 6500 sq ft, which was (and arguably still is) too big for us. During COVID and WFH it's been fantastic for each of us to have our own space. Utility costs are a little higher and furniture, but that's more of a one-time expense. It does take a lot of work to clean and maintain, but we make it work.

For myself, the decision is more than financial. If I know I can go to the doctor/urgent care/ER for a fixed cost, I'm more likely to do so than pay out of pocket. The inner Boglehead in me loves saving money and I would likely cringe at the cost everytime I need to go to the doctor or get a prescription. Yes, I pay a little extra for my PPO (w/ FSA) than I would for a HDHP (w/HSA), but I think I'm healthier for it. Definitely willing to pay for that luxury.

Deviating slightly from the thread, but any recommendations for already built PC's for light gaming use? My 10 year old wants a "gaming pc" but I'm in over my head and I don't think his use case warrants spending more than $500 or so.

Starting to think about my next car and leaning towards the Lexus RX or TX (released for 2024). Recently rode in a friends fully loaded Lincoln Aviator and it was very nice and felt well built and solid.

At this point you have a lottery ticket potentially worth somewhere between $0-$100,000. Assuming $30,000 isn't a life changing amount of money to you, I would spend a few thousand on a competent estate attorney to advise you of your rights and likely wait it out until the girlfriend passes away. Perhaps signup for a news monitoring service or something to notify you when she passes away, and then forget about it until then.

From a lifestyle perspective, working 10 days a month sounds pretty good to me. You have to be content with the fact of missing some life events due to your travel schedule and your spouse needs to definitely be on board. I agree with the suggestion to try it for 6 months if possible.

Not familiar with how locums work, but would your practice pay for your hotels, meals and mileage?

My state's system is similar to EFTPS. I schedule all 4 quarterly payments, receive an email about a week out reminding me of the upcoming payment and a payment confirmation email the day the payment is pulled out of my bank account.

You can certainly afford it now. I too am interested in the new RX, but if size is an issue you may consider waiting for the TX scheduled for the 2024 model year.

In your situation I would keep your contributions going of $250-$500 per month but not make a lump sum. Even with modest growth you will easily cover in-state tuition. If they chose private, you can cover it out of taxable and/or cashflow.

No personal experience yet but I’ve heard positive reviews of Greenlight and the Chase teenage bank accounts.

If it isn’t a Marriott, Hilton or IHG property I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.

I live in the wealthiest area of our school district which is one of the top districts in our state but our kids attend private school. After several poorly handled bullying incidents, teachers criticizing the way prior teachers in the school had taught our children and a laser focus on achieving top scores on standardized testing, I was over it. The politics and activism decisions at the high school levels (covered by the national news) were just icing on the cake.

At the end of the day regardless of income or test score rankings, there still needs to be a good cultural fit. Our private school has similar test scores to our home public school but seems to actually care about our kids on an individual level.