Search found 236 matches

by ianferrel
Fri Jun 23, 2023 12:11 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Seeking advice about Murphy Beds
Replies: 17
Views: 1571

Re: Seeking advice about Murphy Beds

We have one and like it. Ours is from https://wallbedfactory.com/, which is local to us, but they ship all over. I think they're good quality, although I do have some minor gripes with the fit and finish (no one else has ever mentioned it, so I expect it's only because I look at it all the time and am an amateur woodworker that I noticed). On the whole quite happy with it. It looks nice when folded up, it's comfortable when folded down. We can keep it made with sheets and a thin blanket which means it takes about one minute total from put away to ready to sleep in. Since our guest room is only slept in maybe 10% of nights, we really like having the space to use the rest of the time. I have slept on a lot of uncomfortable futons and couch be...
by ianferrel
Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New PC vs running windows on MacBook Pro
Replies: 50
Views: 2896

Re: New PC vs running windows on MacBook Pro

UTM (https://mac.getutm.app/) is a free Virtual Machine host for Mac, and there are instructions (https://docs.getutm.app/guides/windows/#instructions) for downloading and installing an ARM-based version of Windows on it. You have to be comfortable with pasting commands into the Terminal.

You can run Windows without a license, it will just have some minor UI view limitations and have a line of text on the desktop that says it's unactivated.

I don't know if this will work for your use, but it worked well enough for me to play an old Windows-only game on my M1 Mac.
by ianferrel
Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:13 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Laid off from tech startup - should I exercise my ISOs?
Replies: 49
Views: 5887

Re: Laid off from tech startup - should I exercise my ISOs?

dcabler wrote: Thu Jul 07, 2022 3:06 pm First, check the documents that describe your plan. I've worked in 2 startups and in both cases, the company had the first right of refusal. Meaning that if you send them a check, they will send you a check right back exercising their right.
Wait, what? How is it an option if you don't actually have the option to exercise it? Such a thing is literally worthless.
by ianferrel
Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Sold items on Facebook market. How can I reduce tax impact?]
Replies: 33
Views: 4301

Re: [Sold items on Facebook market. How can I reduce tax impact?]

If you sell something in an arms-length transaction you are by definition selling it for Fair Market Value. Things like Blue Book are an *estimate* of FMV, not an authority. If your upholstery is in really good condition or the buyer thinks it's lucky that the VIN includes his birthday, he might be willing to offer more. Good for you.

And of course none of that has anything to do with how much income you've made.
by ianferrel
Fri Nov 05, 2021 3:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: delete
Replies: 13
Views: 1016

Re: Why won't a bank make change for non-account holders?

jumbopapa wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 3:08 pm Policies like these are a surefire way to ensure I don't become a customer of a bank.
I don't know, if you need to make change regularly, policies like these might entice you to become a customer of a local bank. How else are you going to make change? :)

I would guess that they don't do this for the same reason that most stores won't give you change unless you buy something. Most businesses have policies of providing services to customers, not to everyone who walks in the door.
by ianferrel
Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:16 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: I'm calling a bottom in real estate
Replies: 139
Views: 20296

Re: I'm calling a bottom in real estate

Some data points (all in Silicon Valley): - My grandparents bought their home in for 16k in the 1960s. - My parents their home for 225k in 1990’s. - We bought our home for 600k in 2010. Every generation feels priced out. You buy young when your home is a big part of your income. But mortgages stay the same and your income (hopefully) increases. Or you just rent... but rent today is higher than my mortgage ever was. Those prices as a multiple of median household income (I used the average for the decade in question): ~2.5x in the 1960s ~6.4x in the 1990s 12x in 2010 Obviously, the median household is not buying a house in Silicon Valley in 2010, but these trends persist in the country as a whole. People *are* being increasingly priced out o...
by ianferrel
Thu May 20, 2021 1:52 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to get out of a timeshare presentation?
Replies: 142
Views: 17653

Re: How to get out of a timeshare presentation?

You're taking up a salesperson's time, who makes their living pushing timeshares, instead of letting them focus on another more-gullible person. It's not chairs in the room, it's salespeople per couple. Sounds like I'm making the world a better place, on net. I get a free dinner and I help save some sucker from a bad purchase. Like those people who keep scam callers on the phone. Maybe you are an insurance agent. I'm going to come to your office, and have you give me all sorts of quotes - homeowners, auto, boat, liability umbrella. Then, after all that work, I'm going to tell you that I have no interest in insurance. You took hours of your time to prepare the quotes and meet with me, and you didn't meet with Bob because you were booked. Bo...
by ianferrel
Mon May 17, 2021 7:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Loan with Better Mortgage
Replies: 10
Views: 1993

Re: Loan with Better Mortgage

I recently refinanced with Better, and I'd say it was a fine experience, and the rate was indeed quite good.

One annoying thing was that due to some miscommunication on their part I incurred $300 in extra costs filing deeds to move the house out of and back into a trust. But they eventually paid me the amount I'd incurred, so it was just a paperwork/bookkeeping hassle for a while.
by ianferrel
Fri May 14, 2021 6:59 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When would you buy cryptocurrency?
Replies: 199
Views: 18136

Re: When would you buy cryptocurrency?

I'm gonna buy some when I get my MtGox bankruptcy payout.
by ianferrel
Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Experiences with professional coaching, e.g. BetterUp or others?
Replies: 26
Views: 4136

Re: Experiences with professional coaching, e.g. BetterUp or others?

I did some coaching a few years ago. One of my wife's friends was in a training program to be a coach and needed practice clients. So for me, it was only an investment of time, not money. I found the experience to be very positive. Self examination is really valuable, but it's hard to be motivated to stick to it in an organized way, and regular meetings with a coach provide the commitment device and social pressure to do so. I still regularly use some of the techniques I learned in coaching when dealing with a dilemma or other issue that I'm finding it hard to move past or reason about, and they help. In contrast to TechieTechie's experience, I didn't find that specific experience with my professional field was required. My coaching was mor...
by ianferrel
Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Used car buying on craigslist
Replies: 15
Views: 1458

Re: Used car buying on craigslist

I've bought and sold several cards on craigslist. Works great. For cars under $5000 or so, I've just paid/received cash. More than that, and you can go to the seller's bank, watch them get a cashier's check from the teller and carry it over to you, then sit there and sign the paperwork.

I've done my own inspections and had mechanics inspect. Generally if the buyer wants a mechanic inspection, they set it up with their mechanic, seller drops it off for the inspection, buyer pays for it and gets the results.
by ianferrel
Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Borrowing a relative's car for two months
Replies: 49
Views: 3971

Re: Borrowing a relative's car for two months

A few years ago my wife and I traveled for several months. We let our friend use our car when we were gone because we figured it would be better to have someone using it regularly and keeping an eye on it than pay to store it somewhere.

We contacted our respective insurance companies and asked what to do, and they said to add him as the primary driver on our policy. So we did that for a few months. Just call your insurance companies and ask.
by ianferrel
Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:57 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tax-optimizing UTMA accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 1066

Re: Tax-optimizing UTMA accounts

RetiredAL wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 8:27 pm Don't fret over filing tax forms. It's not a hard task to do either by hand or via software.
It's not that tax forms are hard or scary, it just seems like not worth it for the amount of savings. If I stick to $1100 instead of $2200, then the accounts are going to pay an extra ~$10 in fees each year. I value my time filling out tax forms at more than $10 per return, so if I can avoid it, I will.
scornovaca wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 10:25 am Anything under 1100 is not taxable because the standard deduction for dependents without income is 1100. Between 1100 and 2200, long term cap gains and qualified dividend income is not FEDERALLY taxable. Short term gains and non qualified dividends are taxable.
Good to know.
by ianferrel
Wed Mar 03, 2021 12:11 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tax-optimizing UTMA accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 1066

Re: Tax-optimizing UTMA accounts

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. I learned several new things!
by ianferrel
Tue Mar 02, 2021 2:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Tax-optimizing UTMA accounts
Replies: 11
Views: 1066

Tax-optimizing UTMA accounts

My children (age 2 and 4) each have UTMA accounts that their great-grandfather opened for them. I am now the custodian and trying to figure out what I should do. The accounts both have some unrealized gains in the single-digit thousands of dollars. They are currently invested in fairly high fee funds, so I want to change that. Tax-wise, it looks like as long as they make $2200 or less in unearned income, I and they won't have to pay taxes on the income, so I think I should switch to lower fee funds at a rate where the income for each will be less than 2200 a year. Or I could keep total gains under $1100 a year and not have to file a return for them at all, which is probably worth it given the hassle of filing the return and the relatively s...
by ianferrel
Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:31 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone ever lease a laptop? More questions inside.
Replies: 7
Views: 578

Re: Anyone ever lease a laptop? More questions inside.

Leases of of relatively low-cost rapidly depreciating things like laptops are likely to be marketed at the "very bad with money and delayed gratification" demographic, so I doubt very much you will find anything approaching a good deal even on a term as short as 6 months.

If you were leasing 100 of them, there's probably a reasonable market for that for businesses. For just one?
by ianferrel
Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:25 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Property Management 1099 for "early" rent
Replies: 3
Views: 424

Re: Property Management 1099 for "early" rent

Good to know. Thanks for correcting my misconceptions.
by ianferrel
Wed Feb 24, 2021 7:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Property Management 1099 for "early" rent
Replies: 3
Views: 424

Property Management 1099 for "early" rent

My mom owns a house that she rents out. She has a property management company administer things. The tenant pays the management company, the company deducts their fees/whatever other costs and pays the balance to my mom. This year, they issued her a 1099 for the rental income that includes 13 months of rent for 2020 because the tenant paid her January rent in December. But the property management company didn't send that payment to my mom until Jan 10. It seems to me that the 1099 is incorrect, because it should only indicate the rental income that was transferred during 2020, right? If the payment had shown up in my mom's account on Jan 2 or something, I could imagine that the ACH transfer started in 2020 and finished in 2021, but Jan 10 i...
by ianferrel
Wed Dec 09, 2020 7:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Potential cost of games on iPad
Replies: 38
Views: 2375

Re: Potential cost of games on iPad

Anyone else wish games just cost money and you could pay for quality ones and not worry about the gotchas and charades? I’m sure it’s more profitable otherwise. But the experience sure is terrible. Absolutely. There are some that do, but they are not easy to find. My kids are younger, so I haven't yet run into this problem yet, but it's only a matter of time so I'm interested in people's thoughts. On the one hand, I'm in favor of letting people use their money for what they want. If the kids have an allowance or some money from a gift, they can use it on what they want as long as it's age appropriate/safe. Certainly I wouldn't be entertained by lots of things they enjoy. But maybe the reality is that in app purchases are not safe, in that ...
by ianferrel
Tue Nov 10, 2020 7:23 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Checking out of HOTEL APPLE
Replies: 88
Views: 10259

Re: Checking out of HOTEL APPLE

Photos on Mac by default reencodes photos when they are exported.

If you choose File->Export, it doesn't just copy files to a new location, it encodes them as brand-new JPEGs using the quality and size inputs. This can take quite a while to churn through 1.5GB of photos.

If you want to just copy files to a new location, choose File->Export->Export Unmodified Originals and choose a location. That will go fast.
by ianferrel
Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:27 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Do I Need to Keep My Life Insurance Policy?
Replies: 19
Views: 1536

Re: Do I Need to Keep My Life Insurance Policy?

I would agree that you don't need to keep it. It sounds like your philosophy for insurance is the same as mine: You have insurance to hedge against catastrophic losses. Your death would no longer be a catastrophic (financial) event for your dependents, so you don't need it any more. If $500k is less than 20% of your assets, you have *enough* that your spouse/kids/whoever won't have to make drastic lifestyle changes without it.

Some people's philosophy of insurance is more like consumption smoothing: They want insurance to cover any loss without a change of lifestyle. People with that philosophy should have more insurance for longer.
by ianferrel
Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: House not appraising to sale price
Replies: 51
Views: 8098

Re: House not appraising to sale price

ianferrel wrote: If anyone wanted an honest appraisal, the appraiser would not know how much the offer was made for. The appraiser is appraising for the subject's market value. Part of the definition for market value includes how much a buyer would pay for the subject property. The offer amount is pertinent information that the appraiser needs to know in order to perform an "honest" appraisal. In fact under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) Standards Rule 1-5, (a) the appraiser is required, "analyze all agreements of sale, options, listings of the subject property current as of the effective date of the appraisal." It is possible that the offer for the home may not be fair market value for...
by ianferrel
Mon Jun 22, 2020 5:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: House not appraising to sale price
Replies: 51
Views: 8098

Re: House not apprising to sale price

8foot7 wrote: Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:21 pm The realtor we used for our last transaction used to say the only thing more shocking than the number of appraisals that came in to the penny at the contract price was the number that came in 5% less. We sold our last place for a non-round number (I think it was 372,400) and the appraisal from the buyer's lender came in at precisely that number - not even 372,500, or 373, or even 372. Come on.
If anyone wanted an honest appraisal, the appraiser would not know how much the offer was made for.

The result should be a 95% (or whatever confidence interval the mortgagor wants) interval of prices. As long as the offer is above the bottom of the range, good enough.

The way it's done now is just overfitting book-cooking.
by ianferrel
Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:50 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New iPhone SE?? has anyone bought and used one?
Replies: 30
Views: 3705

Re: New iPhone SE?? has anyone bought and used one?

HEDGEFUNDIE wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 4:26 pm Thanks. I’m sure they had a good reason but I hate it.
I think their reason is that moving parts are the thing most likely to break, so eliminating them makes the phones more reliable.
by ianferrel
Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:49 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is Stock Market becoming Casino ?
Replies: 42
Views: 4389

Re: Is Stock Market becoming Casino ?

Matt Levine, in his excellent financial news/humor column Money Stuff, has had several recent articles touch on this topic, and his answer is to some extent, yes.

His analysis is basically that people like betting on stuff, and the thing that most people bet on, sports, is not happening right now, leaving people with an appetite for entertaining risk that goes unfilled, and they've mostly filled it with retail investment wagers on volatile/newsworthy stocks. This is his explanation for Hertz, which is apparently going to offer new shares while in bankruptcy. It's totally crazy that their share price has risen after declaring bankruptcy, but, hey, it's kinda fun, so whatever.
by ianferrel
Fri May 29, 2020 11:03 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New iPhone SE?? has anyone bought and used one?
Replies: 30
Views: 3705

Re: New iPhone SE?? has anyone bought and used one?

HEDGEFUNDIE wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 10:50 amButton also does not click as well as I remembered.
Apple replaced the physical button with a simulacrum--a haptic feedback nonmoving circle--with iPhone 7, so you might be remembering the older ones that actually had a button that moved and clicked.
by ianferrel
Fri May 08, 2020 5:17 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Why Make Portfolio Safer (More Bonds) as I age?
Replies: 35
Views: 3498

Re: Why Make Portfolio Safer (More Bonds) as I age?

bigtex wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 8:38 amIf I never plan to sell /use all my investments at a single point in time, isn’t 100% stock still the best allocation to get maximum returns?
The older I get, the more my goals shift from "maximum returns" to "minimum chance of running out of money".
Plus the upside is the million grows to $11 million best case vs 4 million best case if you hold 50/50 stock bond. What am I missing?
That's the best case. What's the worst case look like?
by ianferrel
Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:27 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is it really better to lump sum now rather than wait for the next correction?
Replies: 27
Views: 2701

Re: Is it really better to lump sum now rather than wait for the next correction?

For argument's sake, let's suppose this crash is a 50% drop in equities that occurs in 10 years. Their "cash" portfolio would now be about $1,000,000 * 1.01^10 = $1,104,622. If they waited until now to invest all their cash into equities, they could buy a 50/50 split of VTI and VXUS at an average cost of $216 * 0.5 = $108 per share. Under these circumstances, it seems like it does not make much of a difference between lump sum investing now, or waiting even 10 years for the next large market crash to invest. I know this flies against the conventional wisdom that time in the market is more important than market timing, so I thought the results of my "back of the napkin" estimates seemed odd. It is easy to make up a hypot...
by ianferrel
Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Now a baby is coming, do I need more life insurance?
Replies: 24
Views: 1563

Re: Now a baby is coming, do I need more life insurance?

FWIW, my situation is not that different from yours (moderately higher income, higher assets, but two small children and higher expenses), and I have $750k of life insurance, and none for my wife.

We calculated it as being enough that my wife would not have to work until the children were old enough to be in full time school, and then enough that she could work part time. I'm not saying that $750k is the optimal amount of insurance for you (or for me, for that matter), but it's certainly in the range of reasonable values you could come up with.
by ianferrel
Thu Apr 09, 2020 2:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Reducing home buying price due to coronavirus uncertainty?
Replies: 49
Views: 4903

Re: Reducing home buying price due to coronavirus uncertainty?

And by the way, personally (and as a recent RE seller) I am not interested in WHY a buyer wants to offer a particular price. I only care WHAT the number is and HOW likely he is to close. This is pretty silly in the current climate. If some buyer offers a lower price than you hoped because he doesn't like the carpet or can't actually afford your house, then you're probably right to ignore the reasoning because it's not likely to be relevant for other offers. If some buyer offers a lower price than you hoped because the economy is tanking and people are worried about getting laid off and everyone's trying to deleverage, that's incredibly relevant. Real Estate is often an iterative price-finding process. You don't get to pick from all the off...
by ianferrel
Tue Apr 07, 2020 12:01 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Reducing home buying price due to coronavirus uncertainty?
Replies: 49
Views: 4903

Re: Reducing home buying price due to coronavirus uncertainty?

Doesn't seem crazy, but who knows.

We expect to put our house on the market in about a month, and it would not surprise me if we end up accepting an offer that's 10% less than what we estimated we'd get 2 months ago.
by ianferrel
Mon Mar 23, 2020 12:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture
Replies: 22
Views: 1808

Re: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture

There's no offsetting the depreciation recapture that you seem to be looking for. Let it go. As explained above, depreciation is simply deferring taxes... like your Trad. 401k would be. You think they're going to let you offset that somehow? No. You will have to pay taxes on the depreciation recapture. Even if a landlord doesn't take the depreciation each year, which some don't by mistake or.., the gov't still takes the depreciation recapture. You can't avoid or escape that. My worry was that I wouldn't actually be able to use the losses due to depreciation to offset actual income since I wouldn't have enough, and then I'd have to pay recapture, effectively paying extra taxes, not deferring them. The missing pieces of my understanding were...
by ianferrel
Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:48 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture
Replies: 22
Views: 1808

Re: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture

When you sell, the accumulated passive loss becomes active, and applicable to current year ordinary income. It's not a capital loss/gain (which may apply separately). Depreciation recapture has its' own weirdness and special tax rates. You have to grind your way through pub 527, and possibly others. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p527 I could be missing some nuances, but that is how I remember it when looking at it a few years ago. Ah, I get it, now. Thank you. Your net income calculation appears to be off because payments toward principal aren't an expense. :oops: Of course. There's about $12k in principal payments in there, so yes, the loss is a lot smaller than I calculated. I think I understand what I need to now. Thanks, everyone, f...
by ianferrel
Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture
Replies: 22
Views: 1808

Re: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture

Yes, AGI is above $150k.

So, I can't deduct the losses from my normal income. And if we sell within a few years, I won't have any capital gains to use the losses on. So I'm still not clear if I can use the losses to offset the depreciation recapture, or if I will have to pay taxes on the depreciation recapture and carry forward the passive losses to offset some future passive income someday.
by ianferrel
Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture
Replies: 22
Views: 1808

Re: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture

You will have income. Pretty sure you misunderstand. At least your understanding between income and *net* income. Even then, I don't think one needs any income to depreciate so long as it's an investment property. Though I'm open to being wrong. I may very well misunderstand. Can you explain to me what I'm not understanding? Let's say I keep the property for one year, then sell it. I'll have rental income of around $44,000, expenses of about $50,000 and an additional $13,500 of depreciation. So my actual cashflow is -$6000 and my total annual loss on the property with depreciation is $19,500. When I sell it, my understanding is that I have to pay taxes for depreciation recapture. Does the depreciation recapture count as income that I can o...
by ianferrel
Sun Mar 22, 2020 7:16 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture
Replies: 22
Views: 1808

Re: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture

Depreciation is a nice, but not huge, *positive*. It is in no way, shape, or form a negative! One depreciates their rental $X amount on their tax return. That $X is then subtracted from their gross income. Thus lowering your taxable income. This is the exact and awesome benefit of your traditional 401k! Yet, only on this wonderful community (and i mean that) is this confused as a negative. It's a nice benefit of rental property! It increases your *annual* cash flow. When you sell, your basis is adjusted the total amount depreciated. Thus effectively making that tax deduction a 100% free loan that you repay the principal back with no interest, taxes, fees, penalties, etc. at time of sale. Of course, that repayment can simply be taken out of...
by ianferrel
Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture
Replies: 22
Views: 1808

Renting property at a loss, and depreciation recapture

We bought a new house in early March, and the plan was to move in April and then sell our existing house after the move. And then a lot of things changed, and it's looking like it might make sense to rent our current house out for a year or two before selling. PITI on the house is about $4000 a month, and I'm going to estimate that we could get $3700 a month in rent for it. Add in a management fee and some other costs, and we're probably looking at negative $500 a month cashflow. Our basis in the house is $836k, and the appraisal when we bought it says the site is worth $465k, so I believe that gives us $13,500 in depreciation as well ((basis - land) / 27.5). So our total annual loss on this rental would be approximately $20,000. I'm trying...
by ianferrel
Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Daycare closed
Replies: 140
Views: 13219

Re: Daycare closed

Ours is scheduled to be closed until April 3, and no tuition refund (one of those weeks it was going to be closed for spring break anyway). I doubt they'll actually reopen in April, but we are moving in late April, so we were going to be finishing up there partway through April anyway.

It's the right thing to do and I don't begrudge them the lost tuition. They said that the teachers will still be working doing things like lesson plans and facilities improvements, and are required to be paid, so it's not like anyone is making outsize profits here. Everything sucks for a while and we're all going to have to take a hit and muddle through.
by ianferrel
Mon Mar 16, 2020 4:50 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: The Black Swan is Here
Replies: 164
Views: 21661

Re: The Black Swan is Here

Ok, but please remember so far it appears 98.5% of those infected either never know it (beyond thinking they just have a cold) or are symptomatic to the point that they don't need hospitalization. This is not what the medical community call a "highly acute" disease. This isn't like getting typhoid or lymphoma. Now I understand that that means that they can still spread it, but it doesn't change the 98% number. Where did you get those numbers? The best numbers are coming out of Korea, which has done exhaustive testing and contact tracing, and thus looks like they have found closer to the full extent of the spread, as opposed to countries like the US that are basically only testing very sick people to confirm diagnosis. Korea's had...
by ianferrel
Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:33 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: It's not even "The End of The beginning"
Replies: 37
Views: 5725

Re: It's not even "The End of The beginning"

Let's say the entire world shuts down. All the businesses, schools, etc. If that would really happen, then it would take only a couple weeks until the virus has worked itself through the system. Infected people will either have recovered by then, or unfortunately have died. If in total we lose an entire month of economic activity, well that's only 8% of the year. Looks like the stock market already discounted this and a lot more. That's not the worst case scenario (economically) though, and it's not a realistic model of the future. If the world shuts down for a month and we manage to eliminate 99.9% of cases, but we don't have an effective testing and tracking process set up, then the 0.1% of cases that we didn't know about are back to cur...
by ianferrel
Mon Feb 24, 2020 5:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Avis charging for existing damage on rental car
Replies: 111
Views: 13646

Re: Avis charging for existing damage on rental car

I always take a walkaround video of my car both picking it up and dropping it off. A few years ago I had a rental car company try to charge me for damage I didn't cause. It wasn't there when I picked up or dropped off the car. The rental desk employee even took the keys and went out to the car (I assume to inspect it, but who knows). Then four hours later they called and told me the front end was damaged. They were asking for a lot more than $200. I disputed it and proceeded to write letters in the "dangerous professional" mode, which is in my experience the best way to get what you want out of a bureaucracy. Provide lots of documentation of timelines and communications. Point out all the places that their case is not solid. Gener...
by ianferrel
Tue Feb 11, 2020 6:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Having a baby in April 2020 - Whats your best financial advice for a new parent
Replies: 102
Views: 11206

Re: Having a baby in April 2020 - Whats your best financial advice for a new parent

Invest in personal logistics and reconsider the opportunity costs of many things. The primary economic impact of having your first kid is that your available free time drops dramatically. Prior to the baby, if you worked a full time job outside the house and got 8 hours of sleep a night, you still had like another six hours a day to do whatever else you wanted or needed to do. 12 hours for a couple. Now you have someone who needs about 12 hours of attention a day (if you're lucky). Most newborns sleep more than 12 hours a day, but they don't do it in very big chunks. So, to a first approximation, your available free time just dropped to zero. Now, not really, some of the things you do you can do while carrying/wearing/being otherwise nearby...
by ianferrel
Sat Feb 08, 2020 10:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: TLH on individual stock
Replies: 9
Views: 876

Re: TLH on individual stock

Yes, you can buy another stock immediately. You just can't buy something that's "substantially similar" within 30 days. But if you're selling an individual stock to buy some other stock, or an ETF, that's not substantially similar.
by ianferrel
Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: At what point do you donate/trash/sell/gift your junk?
Replies: 75
Views: 13531

Re: At what point do you donate/trash/sell/gift your junk?

quantAndHold wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 2:36 pmSold vs donated is primarily about the value of the item vs the trouble to sell it. I don’t even consider selling something for less than $50. It isn’t worth my time. Some items worth more than $50 are enough trouble to sell that it still isn’t worth the bother. But even with those parameters, a surprising amount of stuff gets sold on Craigslist.
Those are pretty close to my limits, too. I figure it takes about half an hour to sell one thing, or group of things that can be sold in one transaction to one buyer, and a half-hour to take any number of things to Goodwill. For Goodwill, I get 30-some percent in tax savings, so selling $50 things makes me ~$60-70 an hour. That's not a bad rate for stuff I can do when convenient.
by ianferrel
Fri Nov 01, 2019 6:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Property Sale Taxes
Replies: 1
Views: 396

Property Sale Taxes

I'm trying to help my mom think through several scenarios involving selling her house and I'm not sure I understand the taxation issues involved, so I'm going to try to provide the necessary info and then ask some questions. The house is in California, and was originally purchased for ~$100k in the 1980s. It's been a rental property for the past decade or so, and a year ago she put ~$80k into repairs and upgrades. Current market value is ~$600k. She has an accountant who does her taxes for the rental income, so I assume the property's been depreciated, but I don't know by how much, so the basis is a little unclear to me. For now, I'm going to assume it's $100k for the sake of having a number to work with. I'm also going to assume she makes ...
by ianferrel
Wed Oct 16, 2019 6:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Bitcoin theft, bankruptcy recovery, and taxes
Replies: 1
Views: 693

Bitcoin theft, bankruptcy recovery, and taxes

I had about 1 BTC go to the big bitbucket in the sky when MtGox went down, and I now have a claim in the bankruptcy proceedings. It just occurred to me that I have no idea how to account for any of this in my taxes. A few relevant prices basis: $4 price at time of bankruptcy: ~$400 current price: $8000 1. I didn't claim any kind of loss back in 2014 when this went down. Was I supposed to? 2. If I do recover something from the bankruptcy, is the amount I recover a gain? Is it a loss if it's less than the current market price, or the market price at the time, or only if it's less than my basis? 3. If I don't recover anything and the bankruptcy proceedings conclude, can I then count it as a loss in the tax year that the proceedings conclude? F...
by ianferrel
Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:56 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to retrieve measuring stick stuck inside oil delivery pipe?
Replies: 29
Views: 2672

Re: How to retrieve measuring stick stuck inside oil delivery pipe?

RickBoglehead wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:16 am I can't visual a configuration where measuring the level in the oil delivery pipe tells you the level in the tank regardless.
I'm imagining that the delivery pipe is basically vertical, next to the tank, feeding into the bottom of it. If so, the level of oil in the pipe will be the same as the level in the tank and you could measure it with a dipstick.

OP, you said the stick is wood. What are the dimensions of the pipe? Is the section the stick is in straight, or does it bend? Is it vertical, or at an angle? How wide is the stick, and how long is the broken piece? Is the end of the broken stick flat or did it break in a splintery way?
by ianferrel
Mon Sep 23, 2019 7:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Apple iPhone iOS 13 Discussion
Replies: 79
Views: 11408

Re: Apple iPhone iOS 13 Discussion

abner kravitz wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2019 1:58 pmYou can do this now - enable "do not disturb" and then check the box that says allow calls from contacts. I've been doing this for a long time. Only downside is that it also silences text signals. You have to go into each contact individually to enable a text signal if you want it.
This is true, but it means that you can't use Do Not Disturb for anything else automatically. I use Do Not Disturb on a schedule so I don't get calls when I'm asleep.

There was, until now, no way to do both that *and* have calls from non-contacts go directly to voicemail.

I am very excited about this feature. I'm sick of getting interrupted 3+ times a day by scam calls that I never answer.
by ianferrel
Mon Jul 08, 2019 4:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Is there any place you can buy a house for 50k west of Kansas?
Replies: 27
Views: 4396

Re: Is there any place you can buy a house for 50k west of Kansas?

jibantik wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 2:02 pm
trueblueky wrote: Sun Jul 07, 2019 7:32 pm https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/201- ... 2329_zpid/

Here's one. I randomly picked a city. There are probably many places in the mountain west.
lmao, tenant occupied... Is that legal?
To sell a house with a tenant? Sure, why wouldn't it be? Rental properties are bought and sold all the time.