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JimmyD

I'm keeping a closer watch on my rebalancing bands. As soon as something is outside of the 5% threshold, I'll make the appropriate move.

JimmyD

Tried to open an account with Ally a couple years ago and there was some really odd identity confirmation process they put me through that required me to call in and speak to a representative. The person I spoke to had no idea how to proceed with the process and that's all I needed to hear to know t...

JimmyD

Right at $50k/year which is 22% of gross. I've loosened up a little over the last couple years and think we've finally found a happy medium between saving and spending.

JimmyD

Tag Heuer Formula 1 watch

Peloton bike and monthly fee

Considering a BMW 340i or Infiniti Q50 even though I drive a perfectly fine Acura TLX

Good beer. Just bought two six packs ($16/each) of Creature Comforts Tritonia that is damn near impossible to find outside of Athens, GA

JimmyD

I also recently went through this decision as I recently joined a new company with a very similar ESPP offering. I ultimately decided that I am going to initially contribute a small amount (2% of my salary) and slowly increase it over time (maybe 2%/year) with the thought of eventually maxing it out...

JimmyD

It just comes in time. Get a few good, easy rides under your belt (maybe even a full season) and it will slowly build your confidence. Your accident will become a distant memory and slowly but surely, you'll forget the painful details and will be riding like your former self. I crashed my bike at 21...

JimmyD

Hello and good morning, Bogleheads. I've been fortunate enough to accept a new position as a manager of a small team at a Fortune 50. While I'm very excited, I'm also a bit apprehensive as this is my first role in a leadership position. My background is primarily technical and though I'm a relativel...

JimmyD

Thanks for that. I actually haven't tried yet because I didn't want to risk anything "breaking". I just saw quite a bit of dated discussion saying that Mint users were having difficulty and thought I'd throw the question out there to see if that issue has been resolved.

JimmyD

Anyone get it working yet?

JimmyD

Nada, thank goodness. Just trying to squeeze $11,000 out of monthly cash flow to do a couple backdoor roths.

JimmyD

I've been a Capital One customer for well over a decade - back when they were ING and currently hold our primary emergency fund there along with a few sinking funds for things like car and home repairs. I set these accounts up primarily because it was easy to schedule automatic weekly transfers to b...

JimmyD

For those of you not in retirement who have a cash position, is the cash largely your emergency fund?

If not, and apologies if this is a dumb question, but why bother with it?

JimmyD

bligh wrote: ↑
Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:05 pm
I am using Age-15.

+1. Every five years I adjust our bond allocation upward 5%.

Still young, but thinking we might leave it at 50/50 for life after age 65, especially if either of us are fortunate enough to receive an inheritance.

JimmyD

Me: 2015 Acura TLX Tech

Wife: 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited

Both paid for with low miles. Hope to keep them at least another 10 years.

JimmyD

corn18 wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:05 pm
I was getting a bit stock heavy and this correction took care of it. Another couple 1,000 point drops and I might actually have to do something.

+1

JimmyD

I don't think that you have provided enough information for us to give you an accurate answer. For instance, we earn quite a bit more and have similar accumulated assets and annual savings, but I wouldn't even consider buying something for more than $35k, let alone the $50K to $100K. Could we make t...

JimmyD

Curious about the ethics of borrowing money with the strategy of looking for / counting on debt forgiveness from the git-go.. Who else (maybe taxpayers?) ends up paying off the loan walked away from? How about the old-fashioned notion of her paying off the debt she voluntarily incurred? It should a...

JimmyD

It amazes me how some of you can come within just a few dollars of breaking even on your taxes. Wish I had those kind of skills. For the two of us, looks like we'll be getting somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500 back. That's going into savings and a month or so later when I can scrape together a...

JimmyD

We love:

Siesta Key / Longboat Key / Anna Maria Island, FL
Playa del Carmen / Tulum, MX

JimmyD

My wife and I make almost identical salaries and contribute almost identically to tax-deferred retirement accounts. The only major difference between the two of us is that she has over $250,000 in student loan debt. This is slated to be forgiven due to PSLF in five more years. Because of said debt, ...

JimmyD

Well, sort of. I am always investing on an automated plan. It's a good moment to invest because I'm in accumulation mode. As for what I'm investing in, the bull market has thrown my asset allocation out of whack. Not enough to trigger rebalancing, but it's getting closer. Therefore, I'm only contri...

JimmyD

Jan 1 of each year: 2014: -$84,860 Age 31 2015: $27,000 Age 32 2016: $139,818 Age 33 2017: $233,217 Age 34 2018: $358,319 Age 35 Still waiting on a $250,000 student loan debt to be forgiven, five years from now which will be a nice boost. Other than that, just maxing out all tax deferred accounts an...

JimmyD

I had a very similar upbringing - even down to the Associate's degree at a for-profit college that I wish I wouldn't have pursued. I came out of school making a pittance as a web developer, but now, 15 years later, I'm doing very well for myself. In a nutshell, the moves that have more than quadrupl...

JimmyD

Scan anything important to Google Drive via phone. Works perfectly.

JimmyD

Killer phone. I would have opted for the new, smaller Pixel, but you can't beat free. Google's (and Project FI's) customer service is the best! Just curious, for what reason(s) would you downsize in terms of the screen size? A few reasons: 1 - Less expensive 2 - I have small hands and it would be e...

JimmyD

I lucked out and got a new first gen Pixel XL sent to me for free as a replacement for my Nexus 6P that was having battery issues. Apparently there was only about a 48 hour period in which this was happening and I caught it at the right time. Killer phone. I would have opted for the new, smaller Pix...

JimmyD

I was looking to replace my 07 lexus es350 with 195,000 miles on it and have decided to keep it another year or two. In my opinion the new es350 lexus grill is hideous and they have what is basically a mouse to use the navigation. The nav also has voice commands but with the front end, the mouse an...

JimmyD

My wife and I have a number of investment accounts at different institutions (403b, 457s, 401a, Roth IRAs) and I STILL use a Excel spreadsheet to track prices and rebalance our asset allocation. I haven't figured out how to use the XIRR feature, so I technically don't know what my return is, but it...

JimmyD

The mistake you are making is wanting to talk with people in the same boat as you. It's always feels more comfortable if everyone is at the same level. If you want to learn how to sprint, then spend time talking to a sprinter, not a walker. If you want to learn how save enough money for retirement,...

JimmyD

Each time our monthly budget excess adds up to $5,500 (seems to take 6 months or so) - I try to do this twice a year to complete a backdoor Roth for each of us. Between daycare and a hefty student loan payment, no funds for taxable investing yet. When we get there, we'll likely do once a month. All ...

JimmyD

We're just coming up on the point of having all tax-advantaged accounts maxed out and my plan was to split the difference by splitting the amount of money we have left over by throwing half at the mortgage (at 3.75%) and invest the other half in taxable (currently at $0 :( ). That said, I lean a lit...

JimmyD

I love Google Fi. Pay less than $30/month and service is perfect. Even had to do a swap for another 6P when mine acted funny and the replacement was perfect. A refurb, but looked and worked like new. Customer support also answers immediately. Can't beat it as far as I'm concerned.

JimmyD

According to my very rough calculation, we're right at about a 30% savings rate. I'm happy with that and hope to maintain it as our son gets older (no more daycare, but increased costs in activities, food, clothes, misc). If we end up having a second child (very likely), I'll be happy as long as it ...

JimmyD

newbie_Mo wrote:
runner3081 wrote:We went with a "cubed" type of bookshelf. It looks like 5-6 cubes from the front and has book shelves/cubby holes for storage.
Any links/examples of what they look like? Thanks.

+1. We have two of these (http://amzn.to/2eLjhGt) in our son's room. Work great and are ultra cheap.

JimmyD

Dont know what it is with me. Im very basic. Havent bought clothes in 2 years. Can go without eating lunch just to save $5. Kinda want new shoes but dont really "need" them. It kinda sucks. I make about $40k a year, which is peanuts, but surely i should be able to purchase goods in life without fee...

JimmyD

As long as there were no other tangible (non college) expenses coming up (car bill/ins, etc.) then heck yes let him. But make him build his own computer too to get some skills. I spent way too much money on computer gaming at that age, and it taught me the time value of money and budgeting. If I wa...

JimmyD

As soon as my son received a social security number, I opened a Georgia 529 plan for him and threw a few thousand in. He's invested in the age-based aggressive fund. Forget the expense ratios, but they're very low. Any time he receives a cash gift, it goes in there. We don't really make any contribu...

JimmyD

We've been steadfastly maxing out retirement accounts for years now. That said, with our son now being 3 years old and becoming slightly less needy, I'm very seriously considering temporarily lowering my contributions significantly in order to afford an expensive road bike. I can justify it because ...

JimmyD

With all the negative talk about traditional retail and the lousy performance of late, I've been loading up on REITs, but I'm also 25 years out from retirement. They have been and will continue to be 10% of my portfolio. When I get back to that 10% mark, contributions will be allocated elsewhere. "B...

JimmyD

Absolutely. I could easily clear $50,000 for the cars that I have in my garage right now. Why would I not count it?

JimmyD

On my Kamado Joe, I either burn everything off at around 700F or so OR

I use this wooden grate cleaner if I'm in a hurry - works great!: http://amzn.to/2tCDpAs

JimmyD

I always liked Purex because it is cheap.

My wife likes Gain because the smell reminds her of her childhood.

You can probably guess which detergent we use in the house.

JimmyD

Not Law wrote:Don't forget that loan forgiveness is a taxable event. If $50,000 is forgiven, the borrower needs to add that to taxable income in the year of forgiveness. Just another cost to consider in the grand scheme of things.

PUBLIC service loan forgiveness is NOT taxable.

JimmyD

I agree with the post above. Personally, I value the concept of my family and marriage more than tax savings, so that takes precedence for me, but to each, their own. This is coming from a cheapskate who abhors debt and who happens to be married to someone with a quarter million dollars in student l...

JimmyD

We're almost to that point as well and I was thinking we'd start throwing half the excess at our mortgage and the other half in taxable.

JimmyD

I figured 6 months worth of expenses we'd need in order to still live somewhat comfortably. This includes the mortgage, daycare, insurance, food, gas, most bills, and another few hundred (per month) for incidentals.

JimmyD

I open checking accounts, transfer brokerage balances (and collect referral bonuses from brokerages), and open credit cards for bonuses that net me roughly 1k a month. Ron Wow, I had no idea there were enough of these around to net a consistent monthly amount. How much time do you spend tracking th...

JimmyD

I'd vote for skipping the new Target Retirement funds since the expense ratio is likely higher, but more importantly, it would probably make rebalancing across your overall portfolio more burdensome since it contains a mix of stocks and bonds.

JimmyD

jabberwockOG wrote:Put the $2700 in an 529 based index fund for kid's college costs and instead take them to a public park and/or on lots of hikes.

+1

JimmyD

Just to add our situation to the mix, my wife has $235k in student loan debt and we are on year six of IBR / PSLF. Payments are currently $650 / month. The advice given re: maxing out the 403b and filing taxes separately is spot on. FYI PSLF is written into your master promissory note and would tak...

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