Bogleheads.org

It sounds like this person lost interest when he got the impression you wouldn't need sufficiently profitable services from him. That might be a good sign. Probably the data is relatively safe, but I don't think there'd be much risk asking them to delete it. I'd be somewhat more concerned if both the SSN and account numbers had been involved. Thank you. A couple of months have already passed now. While I would like to have the information deleted, part of me says to just leave well enough alone now. Fortunately, I haven't noticed any odd stuff going on with our accounts, etc. I suppose I was so taken aback when the EA basically declined to take our business to have been rendered (almost) speechless. If this ever happens again (or as a head...

You may want to just move on and monitor your credit report and IRS account and consider this as a learning experience as you are worrying about a situation you have zero control over as the worrying ain’t going to change a thing. Your primary concern is preparer is unethical and if your hunch is correct, you being able to delete it yourself is closing the barn door after the horse has already bolted. This “unethical” preparer would have been using/copying your info already. If preparer is ethical then they wouldn’t do anything with it. If you are concern about Verifyle being hacked, there is no guarantee they don’t have backups even if they or provider allow you to “delete” it. Thus worrying is not going to accomplish anything. Only thing...

It's hard to judge without having been there to see the interaction between you and the preparer and why it made you uncomfortable. Did th return have a bunch of complete account numbers besides your SSNs, and is that the main concern, or is something else concerning? Apart from SSNs and financial details one wouldn't want shared indiscriminately and unnecessarily, fortunately there were no account numbers or similar on the returns (federal and state). Basically, the meeting was kind of odd. In addition to being an Enrolled Agent ("EA"), the person indicated that they were a Certified Financial Planner. Maybe they were, but we kind of differed on at least one topic that I would have thought was straightforward enough. I don't thi...

Long story short . . . we were planning to hire a tax preparer, but it didn't work out. The preparer was never retained. We never hired them, and they never began any work. While we agreed on an introductory meeting and were prepared to pay for the consultation, once the preparer declined the work they said they would not charge for the meeting. Given we got no service or advice, this also made sense to us and that was that. My concern is that in advance of the consultation, we uploaded our prior year tax return on the Verifyle account the preparer created for us. We would like to remove the file, but after following the Verifyle instructions we haven't been able to. Verifyle instructions say that you first need to "archive the workspa...

Is their job to beat the market? To avoid tax? How do they make money - is it via fees? I will assume OP is asking about the role of an institutional asset / investment manager. Whether the manager seeks to beat the market depends on their particular, stated investment strategy. Ditto for tax-avoidance. In general, an investment manager would make money via fees. The fees could be a flat percentage of the assets under management or they could be tied to the manager's investment performance. Or it could be a combination of these two, i.e., flat management fee plus an incentive (performance) fee. The investment strategy (approach) as well as fee information should be disclosed (among other things) in the account management agreement or a pro...

I am curious to learn the economics of running a passive equity index fund, such as for the S&P 500. Check out Rick Ferri's interview with Gerard O'Reilly and Rich Powers from Vanguard. Podcast: https://boglecenter.net/bogleheads-on-investing-with-gerard-oreilly-and-rich-powers-episode-037/ Forum discussion: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=357177 Regards, I was going to recommend the same interview - very interesting overview of some of the administrative logistics for an index fund. If you are also curious about how a bond market index fund is done, Rick Ferri has a similar interview regarding BND as well. Founding Father Great, thank you for the links! I will certainly have a look. And, yes, I am definitely intereste...

David Jay wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:44 pm

rjbraun wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:08 pm...rebalance as the market moves...

This is not required with a cap-weighted fund. This characteristic is one of the reasons why a cap-weighted fund can have low costs.

Interesting - thanks

I am curious to learn the economics of running a passive equity index fund, such as for the S&P 500. Everything I find searching the internet is from the perspective of buying an index fund. I wonder what is involved for the fund manager - not the marketing end but the "nuts and bolts" of managing a passive strategy that will match the benchmark, less fees. I figure the manager would need to hold each of the 500 stocks in the index, rebalance as the market moves and then also be prepared to transact when there are index changes, i.e., sell the company coming out of the index and buy its replacement. All of those activities would seem to have the potential to introduce tracking error. On top of this, skill would be needed to ha...

Interesting thread. I don't doubt that working as a mental health practitioner is tough and best pursued by those with a "passion" to help others. I am curious about the economics for someone with a private practice. My sense is a licensed mental health counselor working in a VHCOL area might charge around $200, or likely more, for a 45 to 60 minute session. Does this rate seem in line with providers' (or recipients') experience? How many hours would a full-time practitioner typically work? More specifically, how many hours a week is it realistic to "bill out" for? Is it reasonable to have 30 "billable hours" weekly for someone with a full practice? I guess the overhead would likely be an office and health insu...

I don't believe there is a minimal earned income requirement for Roth IRA contributions You can only contribute your max salary.... so you would want to "earn" $6K/$7K so you can max the Roth. Unless you are married and your spouse is still working - then you can contribute based upon spousal income. This is the one thing I didn't see mentioned. If you are married, only one of you has to have earned income at least equal to the amount you want to put in the Roth IRA - up to the yearly max. of course. So, if one spouse is working and the other is retired / has no earned income, then the second (retired) spouse can contribute to a Roth? And up to $6500 (assuming that the first spouse earns at least that amount)? I guess there is pr...

I haven’t bought bedsheets for at least 5 years. I want to buy the top sheet separate from bottom sheet and pillow cases. What I really want is the bottom sheets. Iusedto buyfrom Landsend Home and the Company store but thebottom sheets don’t last" Yes, 100% cotton, sateen weave ( not percale). So…. Where? I recently bought a 100% cotton, "sateen" fitted bottom sheet from Cuddledown, based on Wirecutter's "best cotton sheets" recommendation: "The Cuddledown sheets are as luxe as others we’ve tried that cost five times the price. They’re one of the softest sets we’ve ever tested, and they’re airier than most other sateens we’ve slept on." To be clear, I don't follow Wirecutter recommendations blindly, but I...

Living in NYC and having given away my car during the pandemic, grocery delivery is a must. While Trader Joe's is pretty close by, the best supermarkets are a trip. Yes, I do pay more to have it delivered, but still MUCH cheaper than renting a car or taking a taxi back/fourth. I use fresh direct since it they have unlimited deliveries for a 6 month sale price of $19 (Tue-Thur only). In addition, they frequently give a $5 discount on deliveries over $75. For Costco, Stew Leonards, and Wegman's, I use instacart. I am doing the calculation to see if I use it enough to offset the $79 fee (that is probably a yes). If you live in an urban area and don't have a car, delivery services a must. The local supermarkets we do have are not great. Whole ...

cheese_breath wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:25 pm Have you tried getting help from a French teacher at a nearby high school or college?

Thanks, I got everything worked out today. I just used Google translate to ask about paying online with a credit card and they sent me a link. Nice sense of accomplishment between paying and finally getting login access to the publication to work.

Not sure if it's me or the publication, but between Le Monde Diplomatique and the Financial Times I have had a hard time recently avoiding the paywall (despite having the requisite subscription).

google is your friend https://boutique.monde-diplomatique.fr/glm_onestepcheckout/onestep/ you can translate the whole page in google chrome or microsoft edge good luck Thanks. The link worked for me earlier. Last month, I remember it seemed to translate the entire webpage, just like you suggested in your second post. But when I tried it just now, it doesn't seem to give me that option. Is that possible? Or is it something that's going on on my end with my computer settings or something? Update: While I successfully subscribed and the gift recipient has already received the print edition of the newspaper (in French) by post (yippee!!!), I got the invoice but am trying to find a way to pay online, if possible. Otherwise, it seems that I will...

You did not say if the lease has a requirement to carpet 70% of the bare floor, or something like that. This is routine in New York City apartments. Have you read your own lease? Do you think your lease is specifically for the lowest floor (maybe because it mentions use of the lawn or something?) I will say that when I was a graduate student, I did not realize how much noise my shoes made when coming home late from my school-work. I was ashamed when the tenants under me left a polite note (because I was often gone from 8AM to Midnight) and I carefully walked on eggshells ever after that. Not every apartment tenant is a nut case. I actually had a problem myself with the bedframe in the ADJACENT apartment banging against the wall, with accom...

The famous "it depends." For ages (decades) I have done it this way: Birthday gifts: check to the birthday "kid" Wedding present: John Doe or Mary Doe (assuming Doe will be her married name. ) Anniversary: John or Mary Doe (or if she kept her maiden name, then John Doe or Mary oldname) Holiday: one check to each, in same envelope with one card. And on the occasion of a birth? Based on what you wrote if I am following your general idea correctly, I would guess it would be one check to John or Mary Doe. Birthday and holiday: the check is for the individual Wedding and anniversary: the check is joint (for the couple) as these occasions reflect the dual nature of things New child: would seem to fall under the category of jo...

OP here, thanks for all the feedback! Nice to hear that others don't seem to have any obvious issues with just writing the check to Jane (though note card and mailing envelope will be addressed to both, for sure). Glad I posted, thanks again!

I assume if I want either individual to be able to cash the check, I would write (pay to the order of) "Jane Doe or John Doe". I guess I could also write "Jane or John Doe".

Let's say Jane is a family relation, though we've had limited interaction, and I've never met her husband, John. Would it be weird to write both of them a congratulatory card for, say, the birth of a child but only write Jane's name on the check? I assume so, but I don't know why i feel funny writing both of their names. The check amount would be relatively modest in nature, and I have absolutely zero reason to question John's intentions.

JD2775 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 12:21 pm Do NOT do the following:

• Add myself on joint bank/investment accounts, do NOT do this (for liability reasons & trust complications after death)
  Add myself as a user on CC accounts, do NOT do this (for credit rating reasons)

I'm not clear why adding OP to a joint bank account would be viewed as undesirable. Not aware of liability risks.

We actually made a point to add one or more family members to a parent's bank accounts. That allowed us access, including the ability to transact on our own, for example, as a matter of convenience or in the case of death.

There is also a panini place that the college students frequent but I cannot remember its name. Excellent sandwiches, but no seating available. https://www.allanticovinaio.com/firenze/ That's the place! Glad to know they are still going strong. They also have a couple of locations in New York City - Manhattan. I've been to the one in the Theater District area. The one in the Village apparently opened more recently. https://www.allanticovinaionyc.com/ I suppose this is at least responsive to the "does not have to be all Italian cuisine" aspect of the OP. Haha, just trying to give some potentially closer options for those of us unable to get to Italy now for some delicious food and wine! Alas, this time of year I would have often b...

HereToLearn wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:31 pm

Bogle7 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 9:19 am

HereToLearn wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 2:31 pm There is also a panini place that the college students frequent but I cannot remember its name. Excellent sandwiches, but no seating available.

https://www.allanticovinaio.com/firenze/

That's the place! Glad to know they are still going strong.

They also have a couple of locations in New York City - Manhattan. I've been to the one in the Theater District area. The one in the Village apparently opened more recently.

https://www.allanticovinaionyc.com/

Very positive experiences. Of course, sometimes an in-person visit may be required, but I have done telemed appointments on multiple occasions over the past three years. I think in all instances I already had a longstanding relationship with the provider so that made me feel more comfortable, in terms of my confidence in the provider and their knowledge of my health history, etc. Telemed saved me the need to commute to the appointment, which I wasn't always prepared to do for covid exposure reasons. Also, I could more easily grab appointments that became available when others canceled on short notice. I guess it helps that my PCP seems to feel pretty comfortable with the technology or is at least willing to try to accommodate me. It may hav...

It could have just been delivered to the wrong address on accident. And the household that was delivered to decided to return to sender. This. Sometimes I get mail that's delivered to the wrong address. If it's for a neighbor, I'll give it to them. If not, I will write "wrong address" and put it back in the mail. Others may just write "RTS". Perhaps they don't pay close attention and didn't realize the mail was sent to the wrong address. I would re-send before making any further assumptions. Thanks, I will probably resend it. I just figured that if the card got misdelivered, it was to another house nearby. In that case, I would think the recipient would have looked at the address, realized it was located in the same gen...

Was it simply labeled "Return to Sender"? I had a card to a family member returned to me as "Undeliverable. No forwarding address". Not a clue why since the address was clearly printed, correct, and family member confirmed they still live there. Actually, you got me to look more closely. There's an arrow pointing to my return address aside the letters RTS. All of this is handwritten in black ink. Then at the bottom of the envelope is about a 1-inch sticker (in height), which runs almost the length of the envelope, with "computerized" looking printing, presumably by USPS, that includes the text "UNABLE TO FORWARD/FOR REVIEW", below which is shown BC: followed by mostly numbers but a couple of letters ...

A holiday card I mailed recently was returned to me by USPS. I am surprised. The address (residential) is written by hand but is legible and remains valid. The addressee has resided at the location for well over 10 years. I know they still did as of a couple of months ago, and there's no reason to think this has changed in the interim (nothing uncovered in online search, such as house sale, etc.). Based on the link below (dated 2015) it seems that a recipient can refuse mail and specify "RTS" - return to sender. Is it possible that is what happened in this case? I guess I was debating whether to reach out to the recipient via email (to let them know the card I sent them got returned), but if there's any chance they do not want to ...

I am interested to follow this post. I don't have anything as egregious as OP to report, but when we worked with a TIAA advisor a while ago, we agreed to share our non-TIAA holdings so they could review and opine on our total investment portfolio. To my utter surprise, the advisor seemed to take our positions, which I gave him in an Excel spreadsheet, and, basically, calculated asset allocations by hand before he entered the information in some TIAA portfolio analysis software. It was crazy, but I think my simple Excel spreadsheet was more sophisticated than what he was working with (at least on the front-end).

Agreed/understood, the shares are different due to the differing square footage, but the maintenance fee percentage should be the same for all units, no? For example, a studio vs 2-bedroom maintenance increase should both be 9.5%, at different shares. Please correct me if I'm mistaken. Yes, in Jan 2022, the maintenance increased by 5% (from Dec 2021), and in Jan 2023, the maintenance will increase by 9.5% (from Dec 2022). The COOP Board has advised that the main cost drivers are increasing property tax and increasing (union) labor, which was the same reason in 2022. No issues with the land lease, which will expire long after I expire in the year 2080. No separate assessment, but maintenance includes a reserved fund, which I've yet to benef...

Happy Holidays! I've purchased a co-op in Downtown Brooklyn in 2020. After closing, the maintenance rate has increased dramatically from 5% to 9.5% (today). I understand the maintenance fee differs for all units in the same building, but does the rate/percentage also differ? Would appreciate some insight and guidance. Thank you in advance! Hello and welcome to the forum, Maxmius01! Any change in rate/percentage should be the same for all units based on the number of shares a unit represents. So, in general, a 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit, say, will be assigned more shares than a 1-bedroom, 1-bath unit. A 2 BR/2 BA unit in the same apartment line on a higher floor would have more shares than one on a lower floor (assuming an elevator building), e...

Mutual funds run on a T+1 schedule. So if you own it on Friday you are due the dividend that is paid out Monday. So if you sell on Monday you still get the dividend. Mutual funds settle T+2. The "record date" determines whether one would receive a dividend. https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/settling-securities-transactions-t2#:~:text=The%20two%2Dday%20settlement%20date,business%20day%20following%20the%20trade. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042915/what-difference-between-record-date-and-exdividend-date.asp#:~:text=The%20record%20date%20is%20set,to%20receive%20a%20stock's%20dividend.&text=A%20stock's%20price%20usually%20drops,on%20the%20ex%2Ddividend%20date. Stocks and bonds se...

alex_686 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 8:03 pm Mutual funds run on a T+1 schedule.

So if you own it on Friday you are due the dividend that is paid out Monday. So if you sell on Monday you still get the dividend.

Mutual funds settle T+2.

The "record date" determines whether one would receive a dividend.

https://www.investor.gov/introduction-i ... he%20trade.

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answer ... end%20date.

If you are into this sort of thing you may wish to check out from the library "Fixing Your Feet" by John Vonhof. I wear Altras with a heel insert which gives me a 3 to 4 mm drop. One can get heel inserts of almost any thickness, so that one can start with zero-drop and dial in any higher drop. Years ago I changed from being a heel striker to being a mid-foot striker. Is all this important? Who knows!? What I learned from reading Fixing Your Feet is that there are an awful lot of anecdotes out there. Furthermore podiatrists who also run and compete have varying and opposite opinions. So whenever someone tells me about what their podiatrist tells them or what the expert at the running store tells them I know that there is another p...

Thank you all for the helpful feedback. I guess I will need to figure out what is my foot pronation. The REI person seemed to say that my foot should not touch the sides of the shoe. If they do that means I need a bigger shoe. So, that means that with a bunion on one foot I pretty much automatically will need a wider shoe, even if the rest of my foot clears everything nicely. That's what I did for my Hokas, I got a Wide width. But my foot volume isn't so great, so when I lace up, the two sides of the shoe are close to touching (but don't). It's worked out ok, though it also kind of makes the shoe feel disproportionally large relative to my foot size. It kind of makes me tempted to go with Medium width but maybe one size larger, if possible...

captpete wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 10:30 pm Good evening,

I’ve been running for 14 years now and started after going from a very physically demanding job to a sedentary position. I started off with just 2 miles a day then worked up to 50-70 mpw when training for marathons.

Wow, that's impressive - and inspiring! I'm about where you started, though I can't imagine ever getting anywhere close to your current level of mileage. Good for you, congrats!

Thank you all for the helpful feedback. I guess I will need to figure out what is my foot pronation. The REI person seemed to say that my foot should not touch the sides of the shoe. If they do that means I need a bigger shoe. So, that means that with a bunion on one foot I pretty much automatically will need a wider shoe, even if the rest of my foot clears everything nicely. That's what I did for my Hokas, I got a Wide width. But my foot volume isn't so great, so when I lace up, the two sides of the shoe are close to touching (but don't). It's worked out ok, though it also kind of makes the shoe feel disproportionally large relative to my foot size. It kind of makes me tempted to go with Medium width but maybe one size larger, if possible,...

A few years ago I was at REI and was shown Brooks Ghost Road Running Shoes. I liked them and bought a few more pairs when I thought I needed new running shoes. More recently, REI didn't have the Ghost shoes in stock or maybe I just decided to see what else was available. I ended up with the Altra Torin 5 Road-Running Shoe. I liked the wide footbed (I have a bunion on one foot) and got those. Unfortunately, the Torins I got were too short in length, but I was kind of sold on the wider footbed. The Brooks Ghost have a heal-to-top drop of 12 mm. Of course, the Altra has 0 mm drop. I got a pair of Topo Athletic Ultrafly 3 Road-Running Shoes (5 mm drop) and also a pair of Hoka Bondi 7 Road-Running Shoes (4 mm drop). As far as I can tell, the zer...

I have been with Vanguard for many years and recently opened a Fidelity account, a decision I felt and continue to feel good about. I am not an "active" investor, but I do have things to get done now and then. I am in a "now" phase now. I was really pleased with Fidelity and thought, yeah, definitely better service than Vanguard. But the past two days I had the opposite experience. While I a fine with entering online orders, it wasn't absolutely clear to me on Vanguard how to enter sell orders when I owned fractional shares. On Fidelity, there is an option to "sell all", but Vanguard didn't have that. So, I figured I had to call and held my breath on how long things would take. It all went smoothly enough. Opte...

I see the following distribution details related to dividend income and capital gains for a given mutual fund: Payable date: December 20 Record date: December 16 Reinvest date: December 19 Okay, I understand that if I am "on record" as owning the fund on 12/16, I would receive any fund distributions. So, let's say the fund will make a X distribution per share to each shareholder as of 12/16. Presumably, I would see an additional X in my account value on 12/20. What does the 12/19 reinvestment date refer to? Does it mean that, basically, after market close on 12/19, the fund company would, in essence, deposit and show an additional amount of X in my account statement? In other words, my 12/19 NAV will not reflect X but it will at ...

I see the following distribution details related to dividend income and capital gains for a given mutual fund: Payable date: December 20 Record date: December 16 Reinvest date: December 19 Okay, I understand that if I am "on record" as owning the fund on 12/16, I would receive any fund distributions. So, let's say the fund will make a X distribution per share to each shareholder as of 12/16. Presumably, I would see an additional X in my account value on 12/20. What does the 12/19 reinvestment date refer to? Does it mean that, basically, after market close on 12/19, the fund company would, in essence, deposit and show an additional amount of X in my account statement? In other words, my 12/19 NAV will not reflect X but it will at t...

I plan to buy some equity index ETFs but am unsure whether to buy iShares or Vanguard ETFs. I have had an account at Vanguard for over 30 years but recently also opened a Fidelity account (actually, I had one earlier but closed it). The purchases would be made at Fidelity, though at a later date I might make purchases at Vanguard too. For US equity exposure, I want a total US stock market index, either VTSMX or ITOT. For non-US equity exposure, I already own the Vanguard Total International Stock Index mutual fund but would buy an ETF (VXUS) or potentially the iShares counterpart, which I believe is IXUS. I also see that Vanguard offers VEU, FTSE All World-ex US ETF. All of these non-US ETFs have the same expense ratio (7 basis points). Any...

Do they have the equivalent of Flagship advisors for free? I have no idea, but would be interested in knowing. At Fidelity, if you are at the Private Client Group level of assets (similar to what used to be Vanguard Flagship), you get an assigned representative. The one I have is a CFP that has been very helpful in resolving issues, as well as an occasional review of our portfolio and plan. That's very good to know, and might make me switch, thank you. +1. I recently selected an assigned representative at Fidelity and am pleased with the experience, so far. Both of my two calls to date have been productive. I agree with another poster who said that their Flagship advisor was often unavailable and you end up speaking with whoever is availab...

One word: money. Vanguard decided it was costing them too much money to offer the service, and figured discontinuing it would not result in them losing accounts to their competitors. I suspect they are actually hoping you leave. There is little if any revenue from servicing accounts. It would better for Vanguard to have customers hold accounts at say Fidelity or Schwab, but continue to invest in Vanguard ETFs. They collect the fund management fees without incurring the account servicing costs. Okay, you're the second person I've heard this from. The first was my Fidelity advisor, but he's obviously not impartial and I wasn't sure if he was just pushing me to move all of my Vanguard assets to Fidelity (instead of only the partial transfer I...

Thank you all for taking the time to post. I will review all the suggestions more closely and try to figure out the best way to proceed to get this subscription done.

I would like to buy a gift subscription to the French language edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. The gift recipient reads French (more than I do). With the help of Google translate, I was able to obtain the following information from Le Monde. Note: Inquiries related to the French language edition seem to require French. (My original inquiry in English received a reply entirely in French.) Reply (partial): "Je vous informe que les tarifs d'abonnement pour Le Monde Diplomatique sont les suivants : <snip> * Abonnement au Monde Diplomatique papier + numérique au tarif de 71.96 € pour 1 an frais de port inclus. <snip> Pour souscrire, vous pouvez me contacter par téléphone au 00 33 3 21 13 04 32 depuis l'étranger du lundi au samedi de 9h00 ...

Inspect lenses and try to blow off any obvious dirt, sand, etc. that could scratch the lenses. Then, apply a dab of Dawn dishwashing liquid (though now that I think about it I've been using Ivory of late) and under running water use a couple of fingers to clean the lenses. Shake off the water and then wipe dry using Bounty paper towel.

I used to use a spray cleaner and microfiber cloth, provided by an optician. Once the optician said Dawn and Bounty work fine, I switched and have done that for the past several years. No problems that I'm aware of.

I recently got a Forerunner 255S after soliciting advice from the forum. I plan to "set up" the watch soon so I can start using it (finally). But reading a piece in Wirecutter about sport watches and data privacy etc got me thinking. I realize that much of what I consider to be personal information is probably already "out there", but if there's an easy enough way to minimize this, I would like to take measures. I think one of the steps to setting up my new watch will be to provide an email address. Does it make sense for me to create a new email address, say, xx-garmin-data@etc that I would use solely for my garmin data? I will most likely sync(?) my watch with my iPhone, which is obviously registered in my name. And fo...

gregwils wrote: ↑Fri Dec 02, 2022 8:17 pm <snip>
My daughter is up for a (safe) adventure, but her mother doesn't share that desire. My preference would be that they an hour or two away from the city, then have a bus run them in and out of the city with the pickup and drop off at or near the theater. I feel like I am asking for a lot, but thought I would crowdsource some suggestions. Thanks

I'm not sure I follow what is the issue. If OP's wife doesn't share the daughter's desire for a (safe) adventure, what is her concern? If the concern(s) cannot be addressed satisfactorily in advance, it might be best to not plan for the particular outing at this time, imo.

What does "safe" refer to? Getting attacked, pickpocketed, covid? Something else?

In addition to a personal note and cash ($500 seems reasonable, under the circumstances - ideally, in a sealed envelope that the teacher would wait to open later, on their own) I think a box of holiday cookies, chocolates, or similar might be a nice touch.

Update, OP here.

Just wanted to say that I went ahead and bought a Garmin Forerunner 255S. Admittedly, it's more than I originally planned to spend. I found the whole process kind of overwhelming I guess maybe what pushed me over was the sheer exhaustion of considering the options and then speaking with a seemingly knowledgeable REI salesperson. I haven't used / set up the watch yet, so I guess I can still change my mind (and with REI's return policy I could even use it and still change my mind for a refund, if I really wanted). I also ordered a new iPhone SE on Cyber Monday. That just arrived today, so I also need to set that up.

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions and advice.

The current Paperwhite is really nice. The display being flush with the bezels makes it much nicer to use IMO. USB-C charging is also nice, and I believe this is also the first model of the Paperwhite with dual-band wifi. Thanks! Based on reviews ( Hands on Review of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 16GB Model ), I went for the 16 GB Paperwhite. The Linux OS takes up 3 GB, so there's not much left if you go with the 8 GB model. I like to store every book I own on it. My costs: Kindle Paperwhite 16 GB, ad-supported $99.99 20% trade-in discount: -$20.00 Instant trade-in gift card credit: -$25.00 Total e-reader: $54.99 Kindle Paperwhite Fabric Cover (11th Generation-2021): $25.99 + state tax From the linked review: "The Amazon Kindle Paperwh...

We tipped each staff member $1000. As he has done every year, even when we were tipping $20, the night porter slipped a thank you note under our door. The building manager and half of the staff did not acknowledge our gift. Wow. If it were me I'd first be certain the people who did not acknowledge a $1000 tip actually received it, by asking them (if necessary). Anyone who received the tip and did not thank me would be off my tipping list forever. Isn't that a little self-serving, gifting with the expectation of validation from the receiver? Of course I want to be gracious and thankful, but if I received a $1000 gift from someone I didn't really know, I'm not certain how I would respond in that moment. Had this conversation with my wife too...