Bogleheads.org

jcchen

You may want to purchase a family membership even though you will only be there for one day. The $150 membership includes admission for two adults & four children. Have fun! https://www.amnh.org/join-support/membership If you wish to visit the museum without any IMAX movies or special exhibits, you...

jcchen

I keep my index funds in my old co 401k because of enhanced creditor protection with 401k (vs ira) paying no tax for backdoor roth IRA conversion, where make traditional ira contribution then convert to roth ira. if fees are high or fund selection is poor in old company, consider rolling over to new...

jcchen

The right answer is: multiple. Gas card, grocery card, restaurant card, everything else card. DOC seems to have the most comprehensive list at any given time. Also see /r/churning for sign up bonuses. Be mindful of what constitutes certain categories. I've found Amex does not recognize Fred Meyer a...

jcchen

citibank doublecash gives 2% cash back. Fidelity does, too, if you have a brokerage account. Both cards have zero annual fees.

jcchen

carfax website will estimate value of your car post accident for free. give your vin. vin will indicate car has accident.

jcchen

I suggest looking at Cole Haan. In particular, try the ones with leather uppers and rubber soles. They are known for comfort.

jcchen

if you wish to see a boat, I suggest going to National Park service's USS constitution. It is a 200 year old wooden sailing ship that you can board. It is docked at charlestown naval yard, near downtown. In the same naval yard is a WWII destroyer. If you wish to take a short cruise, charles river bo...

jcchen

For lowes for a recent bath faucet, the plumber shows up to inspect beforehand ($35 detail fee). Then you return to Lowes to order faucet and pay for install.

jcchen

real estate is pretty local. If having a garage is common in your area, then I would NOT buy as this home will be hard to sell. If having a full bath on the same floor as the bedrooms is common, I would NOT buy. Homes are pricey around NYC so good to think of resale value and ease of selling. If you...

jcchen

Agree better to go with one's own insurance co.

However, if OP does not have collision coverage and if OP's insurance feels it is clearly NOT OP's fault, OP's insurance will NOT get involved.

jcchen

I wouldnt save 10% on a refurb. that's too little. New is a better value. As a data point, a long time ago, I bought a refurb directly from nikonusa website. This D600 dslr was $1500 refurb vs $2000 new. It was their father's day sale. The Nikon refurb was like-new (very few shots according to exif ...

jcchen

what are the reason for flight cancellation? eg, if weather, you have no recourse. you can change your dates of travel w/o penalty. If mechanical failure, it is AA's fault so you can get some miles or compensation.

jcchen

Can you use glassdoor to get a sense of salary range?

jcchen

re switching midyear, the deductibles are NOT prorated for my company's plans. I did take advantage of the last month rule for adding money to HSA. If you are happy with the HMO doctors, I would stay with HMO and NOT switch to PPO or HDHP, even after the birth. The premiums are more and with kids yo...

jcchen

I would tend to leave your old company's 401k untouched, or rollover to new company 401k. This would keep your traditional IRA balance zero.
What if one day, you leave your new company and want to do a backdoor Roth?

jcchen

Here is a link from IRS that defines US residency from IRS view. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/determining-alien-tax-status Your spouse can qualify for as a resident (from IRS view) from substantial physical presence in USA or from marriage to US citizen (and jt filing of 1...

jcchen

For a lease, you are legally liable until the landlord finds another tenant. The landlord is supposed to make a good faith effort to find someone. So, maybe you can help your landlord find someone?? For cobra, the cost is 2% over the sum of employee contribution and company contribution. You can fin...

jcchen

> For example, if someone hits your car and is likely at fault, can you call your insurance company for subrogation, so they can deal with the other > person's insurance company (since you have auto liability insurance)? That happened to my spouse. Spouse gave her insurance details of the accident. ...

jcchen

First of all, when choosing a clinic, keep in mind that success rates vary. CDC publishes statistics at https://www.cdc.gov/art/artdata/index.html. These statistics include number cycles, number twins, maternal age, etc. Emotionally it is a hard process so try to get some support. On Sep 10's wall s...

jcchen

I have a Kidde Nighthawk combo gas and CO detector (something like https://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/fire-safety/co-alarms/kn-coeg-3/ ) placed in my basement near the gas furnace. A tradesman smelled a faint gas odor and called the gas company who verified the presence of a very small...

jcchen

To save money, stay off site. Hotels are cheaper. We stayed in downtown disney area for about $70. This is 20 min drive to animal. prob need 45 min for magic kingdom due to shuttle bus from parking lot. If you are going to both Disney and Universal, you have to rent a car any ways. I agree with the ...

jcchen

We also have 2 kids and dislike driving big cars so have 2 sedans.

Maybe you can also consider getting new car seats instead a 3 row SUV/minivan? Eg, Diono Radians are very narrow so can fit an adult and 2 car seats in the back row. Google 3 car seats in a row.

jcchen

I also have a fidelity 401k from work. I use two institutional index funds: one for US total stock market and and one for international. The institutional version is the same as the retail index fund but with lower expense ratio.

jcchen

re swappa, read the description and check the photos to see the justification for the condition rating. I like good quality or better. ebay is another place to look. only buy from those with good feedback and from listings with detailed descriptions. if buy used, try to activate with your carrier AS...

jcchen

here are some web articles on fitting 3 car seats in a CR-V. My suggestions is to forgo using the latch. Use seat belts to secure the car seats.

https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/3- ... tions-crv/

http://thecarseatlady.com/vehicles/suv/honda-cr-v/

jcchen

Last month I bought a 2018 Accord EX for 23.8k (which includes destination, dealer fees) and 25.5k otd (boston). This price is about $1000 less than the lowest truecar exceptional nationwide. Your price is decent but maybe you can get another $500 off. I also considered the LX trim but wanted the bl...

jcchen

yes, birth is a qualifying event so can elect to enroll in a FSA.

but in my experience, you can only withdraw from FSA for costs that were incurred AFTER the birth. any costs BEFORE birth are not allowed, because you didnt not have a FSA before birth.

jcchen

could consider avalon. This month Toyota is offering $3500 cash incentive on 2018 models.

jcchen

another vote for fidelity or vanguard. They pay more for funds waiting to be invested.

Bank america reward money market pays .07% interest for platinum. think 0.14% for merill sweep??
Vanguard and Fidelity pay alot more, around 1%.

jcchen

If you havent got a new microwave in 30 years, almost any modern model would heat food much faster.

agree with the others re panasonic inverters. They heat food more evenly than other types.

jcchen

to clarify dm200's post, my employer deducts premiums monthly so if i quit a few days into the month, I am covered til month end.
Eg, last day is Feb 2 so have old job's subsidized (non cobra) insurance til Feb 28. Then start work at new job Feb 5.

jcchen

check the prevailing prices for your phone on the swappa, crraiglist and ebay. then subtract fees and shipping. on ebay, goto advanced search and check completed sales over $50. that will filter out sales of accessories like cases. if you never sold on ebay, this would NOT be my first choice. buyers...

jcchen

The dell you mentioned is overkill. You are paying a big premium for the best and latest technology. To save money, I would get a mid tier desktop. That is, look for i5-6xxx CPU (or i5-7xxx or i7-5xxx or i7-7xxx) with 8 Gb memory and 256 Gb SSD. You dont need a graphics card for watching TV or movie...

jcchen

If you are donating to your church, you can consider opening a charitable gift fund. And then donate appreciated stock or mutual funds to the CGF; you can deduct today's stock value and avoid paying capital gain tax. And then have the CGF give money to your church. The CGF's gift to your churcch can...

jcchen

Self driving cars are a long long way off. Definitely not in 3 years. I would be surprised to see full level 5 autonomy in 10 years. The only technology that can produce high resolution 3D map of the car's surroundings is lidar, which right now costs a lot. Eg, see velodynelidar.com. The cost needs ...

jcchen

My case is similar to OP's. My child is a minor so I wanted to setup a trust and guardian in case my spouse and I both passed away. Nolo Willmaker didnt have a problem with this. My family is close and wont contest the will. I think it is a simple case common to many Americans. I dont pay for financ...

jcchen

condos have a useful living of more than 7 years, so I dont think you can take 200% declining balance depreciation. I think you are supposed to use 27.5 yr straight line at 100%.

jcchen

The Costco Visa has NO annual fee so it does not hurt to have the card. Plus it rebates 4% on gas. Why not have both cards?

jcchen

I have an old macbook that is slow, too. we are thinking of installing chrome os and turn it into a chromebook.

jcchen

I like your initial suggestion of getting a canon vixia. Canon is a well respected brand with a long history of making camcorders. Eg, the R70 has an external mic input and costs $250 new at B&H photo. I think you can also buy from Costco/ BJs. Compared to the $150 model you are considering, this mo...

jcchen

I thought one can deduct interest of the first 1 Million, not 1.1 Million.

jcchen

I would get a new Accord / Camry with the optional 6 cylinder engine. This engine would provide some fun factor. Or a used Lexus or Avalon. I can see the appeal of a German car, but dislike spending time in repair shops.

jcchen

if you are comfortable fixing and troubleshooting, refurbs are a good way to save some money. That said, I dont think these refurbs are a good deal. These refurbs are approx 5 years old so probably seen a lot of use. For about the same price I think you can buy a 1 year old refurb directly from Dell...

jcchen

Honda Sense suite of safety features is an option for 2016 Accord and later. Might be hard to find that in a used car.

jcchen

The advantage of building your own is longer warranty (3 yr vs 1 yr) and quality parts. and you can customize the PC to your wants. Eg, you can get a very quiet PC. But building your own PC will cost more today. I dont think it will save any money even over the long run either. Technology changes v ...

jcchen

about 2 yrs ago, I had a Honda dealer put new timing belts and water pump in a Civic for $750. This is in Boston, a HCOL area. imho, a $1000 is way too high. Try calling around a few dealers and independent shops.

jcchen

I am a big fan of Vanguard, too, with its low fees. However, 529 plans are different from retail mutual funds. Though the underlying vanguard funds in a 529 have a v small expense ratio, the state board that sponsors the 529 plans tack on sizeable fees. For my child, I used NY's 529 rather than Vang...

jcchen

For paypal friends and family, using a credit card involves a fee of 2.9% + 30 cents. Either you or the client would pay according to this link https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/What-are-the-fees-for-PayPal-accounts-FAQ690 There are no fees if the money comes from paypal balance or linked b...

jcchen

Since hotel bills are normally charged after the stay, I bought a Marriott gift card mid Dec to insure use of my 2016 $300 travel credit. I plan to apply the gift card towards a future 2017 stay. And if the hotel stay doesnt pan out, I can sell the gift card. I can attest that a physical gift card i...

jcchen

I also suggest buying a super-reliable car rather than a warranty. With the miles you drive, it is unlikely you will collect on a warranty. If the brand is reliable such as Honda or Toyota, there shouldnt be any repairs in the first 10 years. For AWD wagon/suv, I would suggest Honda CRV / Pilot or T...

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