Search found 1086 matches

by Maverick3320
Wed Mar 13, 2024 9:40 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions
Replies: 113
Views: 9693

Re: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions

Once you think about that buy down you realize the utter insanity of how the pension works. It treats two people doing exactly the same thing very differently... The worst way to do it is a lot of active duty years, followed by a transfer to the reserve component and a reserve retirement Yeah, every time I've looked at moving from active duty to a reserve component to finish 20 years of service, I came away thinking "what a terrible deal!" I concluded that becoming a federal civilian and buying the years of active duty service under FERS would be better in terms of both money and lifestyle. - 40 bombing missions in Desert Storm (160,000 lbs of bombs dropped) - Experience dodging Soviet made and Iraqi operated SA-3 / ZSU-23 SAMS &...
by Maverick3320
Wed Mar 13, 2024 9:34 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions
Replies: 113
Views: 9693

Re: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions

Did you take into account the "buy-down" in retirement age for active duty deployments? My kid in the National Guard plans on doing the above to military retire mid-50s, plus a LEO pension then. Once you think about that buy down you realize the utter insanity of how the pension works. It treats two people doing exactly the same thing very differently. A few moments thought and one realizes that a person should either get 20 years active, or go straight into some version of the reserve component and do 20 years that way. The worst way to do it is a lot of active duty years, followed by a transfer to the reserve component and a reserve retirement There is a middle ground. A National Guard/Reserve member that spends a lot of time o...
by Maverick3320
Mon Mar 11, 2024 12:06 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions
Replies: 113
Views: 9693

Re: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions

warner25 wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:43 am
Maverick3320 wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:29 am How did you get the $224k number for the 21st year of service? Did you add pension + salary?
I think he added the increase to the total value of the eventual pension for working that 21st year.
Thanks, just saw that and edited my response.
by Maverick3320
Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Preparing for Marriage
Replies: 47
Views: 4722

Re: Preparing for Marriage

dknightd wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2024 10:29 am Honestly the last thing to worry about is money.
The most important thing is to commit to each other.
Presumably they have already committed to each other...
by Maverick3320
Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:29 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions
Replies: 113
Views: 9693

Re: Quantify the Value of Military Retirement - Methodology Questions

Hi All, I’m trying to do some calculations of the total (monetary) compensation that the military provides. This started as question about my own finances, but when I was surprised/shocked by how big the numbers were, I'm realizing that there is a pretty big gap in better communicating how generous the military pension plan is, especially for retention/recruiting efforts. Looking at the forum, I found a few discussion that were relevant, but quite dated and not quite what I’m doing. How to put value on military pension? - Bogleheads.org Military Retirement; Time value of drawing a pension at 20 years - Bogleheads.org I’ll present an example calculation/conclusion, then discuss methodology. I would really appreciate thoughts on where the me...
by Maverick3320
Tue Feb 13, 2024 8:27 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How have you handled ageism in the workplace?
Replies: 24
Views: 3208

Re: How have you handled ageism in the workplace?

peterw wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:30 pm Age discrimination is a thing after 50, and maybe even in one's 40s. This USA TODAY article posted on Yahoo Finance (my financial news aggrwgator of choice) says ageism in the workplace is getting worse and many are being forced into retirement, years ahead of schedule. All the more reason to save up and hang up one's boots by midlife I suppose!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/older-wo ... 48942.html

Have any of you been forced to retire because of ageism?
Just to clarify: unemployment is basically at an all-time low, and employers are screaming for more labor, but then they are also forcing people out of the workforce?
by Maverick3320
Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Bought the wrong house - Sell now or later?
Replies: 67
Views: 8286

Re: Bought the wrong house - Sell now or later?

Hello all, DW & I moved a couple of months ago to a new area for both a work opportunity and to be closer to our adult children. So far, work has been great and it's also been very nice to be able to see the kiddos more often. A definite win on those fronts. The problem? It's a long(ish) story, but the opportunity/window for the move came with short notice and we had quite a few other things on our plate to deal with so, with hindsight, I think we just wanted to get the decision of the house we were going to buy behind us. I don't think there's much reason to get into why as what's important to me and important to you will be different, but I abhor the new house. All I can think about is getting out of it. Yeah, I'm well aware of buyer...
by Maverick3320
Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:25 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best & Worst "Mid-Life Crisis" expenditures
Replies: 129
Views: 24367

Re: Best & Worst "Mid-Life Crisis" expenditures

Serious question: how do you know you are having a mid-life crisis?
by Maverick3320
Wed Jan 24, 2024 2:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery
Replies: 76
Views: 7671

Re: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery

I've been a Prime member for years. It started out as 2 day delivery, sometimes 3 and later 4. For a long time. Then the pandemic and all bets were out the window. Now in a mostly post pandemic world, I am noting something new, mostly in the past month or so. Although already a Prime member, I am told if I add at least $25 worth of ELIGIBLE items, I can get delivery before 8AM the next day. If not, 3-7 days is now standard for me. So, it's basically overnight for certain orders, and if not - 3-7 - which is standard delivery times for most other companies that don't charge a membership fee in addition. Perhaps not coincedentaly, I moved to a town about 12 miles from the nearest distribution center. Often, delivery status will show that the ...
by Maverick3320
Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery
Replies: 76
Views: 7671

Re: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery

I sometimes am offered same day shipping free. But almost always 1-2 days is an option, or discounts if you are willing to wait longer. Most important, Prime costs me nothing. If you get an Amazon cc, you get 5% cash back vs 3% if not Prime. The extra 2% more than pays for my Prime membership every year, in fact I come out ahead. I am not too good at math, but think we would have to spend $6950 per year at Amazon to break even with that extra 2% back on a $139/yr membership. I feel like we are constantly getting deliveries, and we are not spending enough to make that pay. We probably would spend more than that if we bought our groceries at Whole Foods. Your math is correct and yes I spend more than that each year on Amazon. This includes W...
by Maverick3320
Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:53 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery
Replies: 76
Views: 7671

Re: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery

Prime members, still reliable deliveries for us. It's hard to say what's "normal" because of mysterious variations in both delivery time and delivery method by item, but items I order regularly have shown no change in delivery time. And, to give an example at random, I ordered a Black and Decker "Workmate" ($40 portable workbench thing) yesterday morning and it is promised for today "by 10 pm." Those promises have been very reliable. Yes, Amazon is closing warehouses and distribution centers, and it's likely a matter of where you live and where the nearest center is. I think this underlines two things. First, the difference between the United States Postal Service, which is required to provide universal servic...
by Maverick3320
Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery
Replies: 76
Views: 7671

Re: Another Amazon Prime Stage of Evolution - Delivery

beyou wrote: Sun Jan 21, 2024 11:30 pm I sometimes am offered same day shipping free.
But almost always 1-2 days is an option, or discounts if you are willing to wait longer.

Most important, Prime costs me nothing. If you get an Amazon cc, you get 5% cash back vs 3% if not Prime. The extra 2% more than pays for my Prime membership every year, in fact I come out ahead.
How much are you spending on Amazon each year?
by Maverick3320
Wed Jan 24, 2024 9:17 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Paying Interest only Mortgage
Replies: 11
Views: 1739

Re: Paying Interest only Mortgage

Could you give us more info? Last year you said you had a 1M portfolio with only 150K left on your mortgage.
by Maverick3320
Tue Jan 23, 2024 8:26 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: A definitive data-based answer to oft-asked question, best new car for the money
Replies: 15
Views: 1921

Re: A definitive data-based answer to oft-asked question, best new car for the money

Cheapest != Best (or safest or most practical) I would think a cheap EV might make the list but not sure they've been around long enough to know the average lifespan. Aren't they just taking the purchase price divided by lifespan in miles but not factoring in any other costs like fuel, maintenance, repairs, residual value? Methodology iSeeCars analyzed the prices of over 8.3 million new cars sold in September - December 2023 and the odometer readings of over 181 million used cars from its Longest Lasting Cars Study. The average list price of each model was compared to its average lifespan (in miles) to calculate the purchase price per 10,000 miles. Heavy-duty vehicles, low-volume vehicles, and vehicles not continuously in production over t...
by Maverick3320
Fri Jan 19, 2024 12:35 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: No-state-income-tax states are not good for retirees.
Replies: 413
Views: 39172

Re: No-state-income-tax states are not good for retirees.

Though I live in a fairly highly taxed state (IL), they do not tax retirement income. That means SS, pensions, IRA withdrawals, etc. However, the property taxes are high as is the sales tax (10.25%). States (and other municipalities) need money to run. There are a lot of ways to generate revenue beyond income taxes like property taxes, fees, fines, permits, sales tax, etc. I wouldn't concentrate on just one of them. Of course, some states are more "efficient" than others. Beyond that, I know people in FL that have a home similar to mine in value and they are paying 10x as much in homeowner's insurance. So I wouldn't just look at taxes either. they do not tax retirement income yet Fixed that for you. The money is going to have to ...
by Maverick3320
Fri Jan 19, 2024 12:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Giving High-Level Advice to Younger People If You Are Older
Replies: 70
Views: 5788

Re: Giving High-Level Advice to Younger People If You Are Older

I'm getting lots of questions now that I've turned 50 from people in their 30s. I dare not give investment advice but I was going to pass on two things I learned from my own experience and wish I'd known much earlier: a) You get all these inheritances later on in life. This genuinely surprised me and I guess it depends on your family tree, but I was surprised that even the smaller inheritances added up to significant amounts of money that I never counted on. b) There is no guarantee, but there is a good chance your salary in your 50s grows exponentially. Maybe it's my industry but if you make that transition into the upper echelons (i.e. management for most people) the salary enumeration is amazing. I had no idea my salary would go up 80% ...
by Maverick3320
Fri Jan 19, 2024 9:04 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Who's up for pickleball? Zero-zero-two. Game On!
Replies: 377
Views: 84364

Re: Who's up for pickleball? Zero-zero-two. Game On!

I started playing a few years ago when some guys at work kept talking about it. Having played basketball, baseball, and soccer for years (and never tennis), I admit I kind of looked down on the sport in the beginning. Boy, I stand corrected. My mom snowbirds half the year in Florida and she brought the game home with her. My 8000-population rural hometown installed courts a few years back and I (42 years old) got to play a competitive sport with my mom (70 years years old) for the first time ever when we played doubles against another team of 70s-ish women when I was home visiting. Having read a lot of philosophy/stoicism stuff lately, I'm trying to put more emphasis on spending time with family. Playing doubles on the same team with my mom...
by Maverick3320
Fri Jan 19, 2024 8:46 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Buying AMD
Replies: 43
Views: 5339

Re: Buying AMD

Iam just trying to snowball some money using small amounts such as $1500 . This money is from the procedes of my rental properties I sold in 2007,08,15 . I use this account as a cash generator to help the kids w school loans ,Iam doing this as a hobby trying to learn how to use limits ,buy low sell high just basic investing 101 . I appreciate all the insight from everyone . My main accounts are in Fidelity and Vanguard somewhat properly diversified (no bonds)across large mid and small caps funds w some tech and reits. I need to get off my a$$ and start moving over to bonds at my age of 64 . How will you decide when to buy and when to sell? By low sell high ?? I try to play w the main stream Companies Iam following advice from an acquaintan...
by Maverick3320
Thu Jan 18, 2024 11:32 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Buying AMD
Replies: 43
Views: 5339

Re: Buying AMD

mark5 wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2024 10:35 am Iam just trying to snowball some money using small amounts such as $1500 . This money is from the procedes of my rental properties I sold in 2007,08,15 . I use this account as a cash generator to help the kids w school loans ,Iam doing this as a hobby trying to learn how to use limits ,buy low sell high just basic investing 101 . I appreciate all the insight from everyone . My main accounts are in Fidelity and Vanguard somewhat properly diversified (no bonds)across large mid and small caps funds w some tech and reits. I need to get off my a$$ and start moving over to bonds at my age of 64 .
How will you decide when to buy and when to sell?
by Maverick3320
Thu Jan 18, 2024 11:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: No-state-income-tax states are not good for retirees.
Replies: 413
Views: 39172

Re: No-state-income-tax states are not good for retirees.

Low tax states certainly can have low levels of service. But look at California, New Jersey, and New York. Some of the highest taxes and some of the worst quality services. So low taxes may correlate with low services, but high taxes do not correlate at all with good quality services. Don’t know about all 3 but lived in NY most of my life and disagree. We have some of the finest education from K-college in the nation. SUNY is one of the most affordable universities in the US, and has a spot for all NYers who want to go to college. We have Medicaid services in excess of nationwide programs, helping many poor, disabled and elderly people. We have a fantastic state park system, with beautiful well maintained parks. I have lived in other state...
by Maverick3320
Sun Jan 07, 2024 4:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: make sense to have kid #3?
Replies: 77
Views: 19215

Re: make sense to have kid #3?

nptit wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:42 pm
London wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:36 pm While I can understand people who don’t have kids due to the inability to raise them due to poverty. I don’t understand not having another one just to grow your finances.

Have one (or don’t) based on how you feel about growing your family.
We want to be financially responsible to our kids. Want to be able to afford reasonable things(extra curriculum, sports, hobbies) that they want. Also, we are not entirely sure if bringing kid number 3 will break the peaceful life we are having now. Both my older kids are very well behaved, bright and joyful.
You have 3M in assets in your early 30s. What, other than pure gold bricks and trips to the moon, could you be sacrificing on behalf of your two kids by having a third?
by Maverick3320
Sat Jan 06, 2024 5:22 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What is the Worst Financial Decision/Mistake You Have Made?
Replies: 657
Views: 133052

Re: What is the Worst Financial Decision/Mistake You Have Made?

Fotodog wrote: Sun Dec 10, 2023 10:15 am I used to have a lot of money. I spent 90% of it on women, golf, and booze. The other 10% I just wasted…
At least give credit to the quote originator!

(my twenties were the same)
by Maverick3320
Sat Jan 06, 2024 3:01 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HELOC/boat purchase
Replies: 33
Views: 3013

Re: HELOC/boat purchase

spoco79 wrote: Sat Jan 06, 2024 1:55 pm “Teachers don’t make money” is one of the biggest lies our society believes.

Where I live, a starting teacher with just a bachelors degree makes 115% of the average household income in the state. Plus they have access to the 457 plan, perhaps the best wealth building tool in existence.

A masters degree, a couple of certifications and a decade of experience can get to 100k easily.
If only someone could pass this info on to the authors of all the articles I keep reading about how teachers are basically at the bottom of the payscale and can't make ends meet.

125,000/year to work 1200 hours sounds pretty nice.
by Maverick3320
Sat Jan 06, 2024 2:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Early Retirement Plan - Age 38 w/over $2 million
Replies: 120
Views: 28630

Re: Early Retirement Plan - Age 38 w/over $2 million

Your plan is to increase your withdrawal rate for any shortages. This is obviously a reasonable thing to do. The concern is navigating a 60 year retirement, I’m not aware of a study that covers this period of time. As a retiree, our healthcare cost increase every year. If Social Security and affordable care act is modified to include a needs test, this would impact many people. We know that this is possible, because the rules for an inherited Roth were easily changed in 2020. I think a more conservative annual budget would need to include lumpy expenses overtime. We track our expenses in Quicken. It really made me appreciate how much goods and services increase in cost over time. Healthcare costs increase every year, but don't overall expe...
by Maverick3320
Tue Jan 02, 2024 2:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Amazon Rate increases - alternatives [Amazon Prime Video]
Replies: 151
Views: 22885

Re: Amazon Rate increases - alternatives

I go through this thought exercise every so often. Prime is $139/year. I don't really care about the streaming, so it's really a question of whether the shopping discounts make it worthwhile. If you have the Amazon Prime Visa, you get rewards, as you know. If you go to the cardmember page on Amazon, it will show you exactly how much you earned at Amazon.com, at Whole Foods, and so on. https://www.amazon.com/credit/rewardscard/member We earned $177 this year on Amazon purchases, so that more than makes up for the annual fee. The question isn't whether $177>$139, because you still get 3% back on the Amazon card even if you aren't a prime member. The question is whether the difference between 5% savings and 3% savings is greater than $139. If...
by Maverick3320
Wed Dec 13, 2023 11:32 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Private High School - worth it?
Replies: 164
Views: 27786

Re: Private High School - worth it?

This works both ways, obviously. There is just as strong of a chance that the private is less diverse (socioeconomically, ethnically, religiously, etc.) than the local public. Yes, of course, it depends, and IMHO the OP "may want to consider the various aspects of it." To give a more up-to-date example than one from my high school days, I live in Southern California now. Something like San Marino High School (extremely wealthy community (per Redfin, "in October 2023, the median listing home price in San Marino, CA was $3.4M") and with 0.6% African-American student body) is far less diverse ethnically and economically than many private schools. And yes, there are many examples of the opposite situation. Something for the...
by Maverick3320
Wed Dec 13, 2023 11:27 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Private High School - worth it?
Replies: 164
Views: 27786

Re: Private High School - worth it?

TLDR; The comments about putting twins down different paths crack me up. Twins are individuals, no different than any other siblings, one may be a go-getter, the other laid back and chill. One may get lucky, while the other doesn't. SMH. The fact that it is impossible to control for (almost infinite) confounding factors when trying to evaluate ROI of education between different schools, is a massive benefit for the marketing departments of expensive educational institutions. But that same impossibility also raises the ROI of "name" schools: all else being equal (or difficult to measure), someone looking at a resume is going to make the assumption that a Harvard/Yale/MIT student is either more intelligent or worked harder (or both).
by Maverick3320
Wed Dec 13, 2023 11:22 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Private High School - worth it?
Replies: 164
Views: 27786

Re: Private High School - worth it?

Here's my simple answer... If there's a very good public school in your area, buy a house in that district. ESPECIALLY if you have more than one kid. Spend the extra money on a house in a good public school district instead of saving money on a house in a bad district, and paying for private school. Because when you sell the house after your kids are grown, you'll get most (all? more?) of the money back. Money spent on private high school is just GONE. And it's a lot of money, especially if you have more than one kid. If there are no good public schools in your area, then go private. But if there are good public schools, pay the extra for housing in that area. It's really that simple. The money isn't "GONE". It's invested in the ...
by Maverick3320
Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:53 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What percentage of Income should go to retirement?
Replies: 55
Views: 12283

Re: What percentage of Income should go to retirement?

Hey Gang, Wife and I are teachers and both get pensions. Pension fund is healthy so we are not worried about that so is it ok to include the money we put into the pension system as part of whatever percentage is suggested? Right now we have a combined income of $200,000 and we have $58,000 going into retirement funds as follows -Combined 403B funds = $26,000 -Combined Roth IRA funds = $13,000 -HSA = $8300 -Combined pension funds = $10,700 So in total we are putting about 30% of our income into retirement and seem to be leaving a decent life where are kids play travel sports, have nice things and we are able to take 2-3 nice vacations a year. I have read that putting 15% into retirement is a good so 15% of our $200,000 income is $30,000. So...
by Maverick3320
Wed Dec 06, 2023 10:17 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Private High School - worth it?
Replies: 164
Views: 27786

Re: Private High School - worth it?

David76 wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 7:42 pm One pro of public schooling: public school teachers have state certification. State-certified teachers are usually better-trained teachers. That was my experience. Some private school teachers are state-certified, but there aren't many.
What does a state certification mean in terms of quality?
by Maverick3320
Wed Dec 06, 2023 10:15 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I am “lower risk” what should my emergency fund be?
Replies: 41
Views: 4616

Re: I am “lower risk” what should my emergency fund be?

I think the biggest factor here is your job security. Are you in a stable career/position?
by Maverick3320
Wed Dec 06, 2023 9:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Uninterested Spouse
Replies: 166
Views: 23700

Re: Uninterested Spouse

Unpopular opinion: I simply cannot understand the mindset of someone that has absolutely no interest in knowing what their financial status is.
by Maverick3320
Thu Nov 16, 2023 11:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors
Replies: 421
Views: 46530

Re: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors

pizzy wrote: Mon Nov 06, 2023 11:16 am
Maverick3320 wrote: Mon Nov 06, 2023 11:14 am
pizzy wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 5:42 pm This thread has run its course.
Not quite yet. As the most vocal defender of the status quo, you still haven't answered the question of how you have knowledge of 500+ real estate transactions (since you've been very adamant that you are not a realtor).
I am not a realtor, nor do I plan on sharing “how”.
Are you married to a realtor?
by Maverick3320
Wed Nov 15, 2023 9:38 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Investing 100% into TQQQ
Replies: 231
Views: 36287

Re: Investing 100% into TQQQ

Best of luck, OP. You asked if this was a good idea and you're getting your answers.

Since you seem to know more than the rest of us, all we ask is that you keep everyone informed of your progress over the next seven years. Too many posts like this - where someone has the market figured out - end up dying off and we never hear from the OP again. I'm sure they are all off on their private islands, right?
by Maverick3320
Tue Nov 14, 2023 1:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Coast FI jobs
Replies: 66
Views: 9863

Re: Coast FI jobs

For folks out there who are doing Coast FIRE, what are you guys working on ? I have been working for money way long in my career and would love to do something that gives a sense of doing greater good. Of top of my head I can think of jobs like - FIRE Department, Police, Teachers etc. where there is a deeper sense of meaning to life, something that can be Ikigai. Since I have been a software engineer all my life and know nothing about rest of the world, would love to know some ideas that folks have been doing. It will be great to find something even if it pays 100K but is deeply lot more fulfilling than working for corporate (FANGs etc.) which seems to be rat race to make more money till you die. What's wrong with FANG? Current company is ...
by Maverick3320
Mon Nov 06, 2023 2:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors
Replies: 421
Views: 46530

Re: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors

The people who disagree are likely either a real estate agent, married to a real estate agent, or have some other vested interest in real estate agents. It's complicated. And I'm not a realtor. No realtor in the family. I have no personal interest in realtors. A flip side to this is.... I have a relative who I've seen abuse realtors. Not intentionally. He's just not overly serious about buying a second place, but probably comes across more serious to realtors. He connects with a realtor... Asks to view a bunch of houses... Submits a few low ball offers that will 99% likely not get accepted. Then he moves on... The realtor gets nothing for their efforts. Rinse and repeat. He's done it 3 different times, 3 different realtors, 3 different cit...
by Maverick3320
Mon Nov 06, 2023 11:14 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors
Replies: 421
Views: 46530

Re: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors

pizzy wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 5:42 pm This thread has run its course.
Not quite yet. As the most vocal defender of the status quo, you still haven't answered the question of how you have knowledge of 500+ real estate transactions (since you've been very adamant that you are not a realtor).
by Maverick3320
Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors
Replies: 421
Views: 46530

Re: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors

pizzy wrote: Wed Nov 01, 2023 8:07 pm
NickL wrote: Wed Nov 01, 2023 7:53 pm I have met a lot of realtors in my life. None of them are impressive people.
Comments like this about other people’s profession is a really bad look for this forum.
Weren't you criticizing attorneys in this same thread?
by Maverick3320
Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:20 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Buying a 120k car... yes, I need your help
Replies: 275
Views: 33165

Re: Buying a 120k car... yes, I need your help

Hello, I am thinking of purchasing a gift for myself. I am mid thirties, married, with a $600k+ salary/year and have $300k saved. I also have $147k in tax-advantaged retirement accounts (Mix between VTSAX + target date retirement fund). Have proper insurance in place. No debt of any kind. You may be wondering why my net worth is not higher. Well, I started working 3 years ago and spent the first 20 months paying off student debt (wife+me) totaling $423k. We do not have a home/mortgage and will most likely wait another year before buying. No kids yet, but want to welcome one in the next year. Always have been a car guy but eschewed buying a car for the past decade while in training. So, with the background out of the way - what are your tho...
by Maverick3320
Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:16 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors
Replies: 421
Views: 46530

Re: Home Sellers Win $1.8 Billion After Jury Finds Conspiracy Among Realtors

The only time we've sold a house, the real estate agent hired a photographer for photos, wrote up the listing, had a buyer before we even listed the house, and they offered our full asking price, so we accepted it before even going on the market, due to some massive flexibility the buyer was willing to have. The agent got both sides of the commission, or about $30,000 for their work, which couldn't have taken them more than 40 hours of their time (being generous), in TOTAL, for all parts of both sides of the transaction. They easily made $500-$1,000/hour for the time spent on our deal. You're not paying them for the time they took to do the job. You're paying them for the decades of time it took to gain the experience for them to learn how...
by Maverick3320
Thu Oct 12, 2023 8:45 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Amazon Prime Big Deal Days
Replies: 109
Views: 12524

Re: Amazon Prime Big Deal Days

I have the Amazon credit card (3% back on all Amazon purchases) but I'm not a prime member.

I've noticed that some of the items in my wishlist - that I check the price on often - mysteriously went up in price before getting the large Prime discount applied. For example, a book which was selling for $14 prior to Oct 10th said 58% off, but it was 58% off $16, not $14.
by Maverick3320
Tue Sep 26, 2023 1:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tesla savings vs used ICE cars
Replies: 360
Views: 84094

Re: Tesla savings vs used ICE cars

I see this as an easy math problem, but you do want to be thorough with your equations. For both new-to-you vehicles: Cost to buy after all incentives. Cost for tax, registration, inspection, title. Annual insurance (don't assume, go to one of the online sites and check both vehicles you'd consider) Now the fun stuff. Cost per mile for fuel. Don't just assume that the Tesla ads telling you how much you save are even remotely true. For the Tesla. kWh per mile is about 0.25 for the most efficient Tesla. What is your total cost per kWh for electricity. Take a recent bill. Divide the total you paid by the number of kWh used. kWh/mi * $/kWh = $ per mile. For whatever ICE car you're considering: Cost per gallon of gas. Miles per gallon. ($/gallo...
by Maverick3320
Thu Jul 13, 2023 11:18 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Early Retirement Budget with $2M Portfolio
Replies: 110
Views: 16446

Re: Early Retirement Budget with $2M Portfolio

Just want to add that, personally, I would not be comfortable for my (young, and then older) kids seeing that neither parent worked for a living. It's one thing if you've got $10m or a $100m and you live an amazingly rich life, able to do anything and everything, without working. In that case, sure, focus on your philanthropy. It's quite another to see your family just "getting by" on $60k/year (which is not realistic for this poster) and also not bothering to work. "Sorry kids, no vacation this year, Dad retired." Just don't like the message that this would send. In the famous words of Claus Von Bulow: I don't want my kids to think a father's place is in a deck chair. YMMV of course. I whole heartedly agree with this s...
by Maverick3320
Thu Jul 13, 2023 2:44 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: I only have 3 percent to invest in retirement. What’s my best option?
Replies: 40
Views: 5848

Re: I only have 3 percent to invest in retirement. What’s my best option?

We're missing the forest for the trees here.

If you only have 3% of your budget for retirement we should be talking about how to increase your income potential or take a hard look at your budget.

Preferably both.
by Maverick3320
Thu Jul 13, 2023 2:39 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Millennials Need 3-4 Million To Retire
Replies: 504
Views: 59910

Re: Millennials Need 3-4 Million To Retire

deltaneutral83 wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 1:14 pm Why do all of these articles and media hits never say the COL area, current people in household, and number of dependents? Those factors sway the debate entirely.

I think $3M in the south with kids out of the house at age 65 is an entirely different scenario than a kid or two still finishing up college and living in VHCOL. Polar opposite scenarios.
You're asking why the media isn't providing context, detail, and nuance?
by Maverick3320
Tue Jul 11, 2023 11:39 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Amazon Prime Day Price Observations
Replies: 49
Views: 7143

Re: Amazon Prime Day Price Observations

I've noticed this on other websites as well. For things that I buy fairly regularly, I check prices daily. Websites will list an item for $10 on Tuesday and then on Wednesday the same item will be "on sale" for $11, with a price of $12 lined out in gray right below the new sale price.
by Maverick3320
Tue Jul 11, 2023 11:32 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Early Retirement Budget with $2M Portfolio
Replies: 110
Views: 16446

Re: Early Retirement Budget with $2M Portfolio

Boglenaut wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2023 10:10 pm
tuningfork wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2023 9:57 pm
GP813 wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2023 7:02 pm
If neither parent is working by choice, will the teenagers be willing to get jobs? There's something to be said for setting an example for the kids.
The example is "Work hard and save, then you can do what you want later with your time. You earned it."

I guess OP could be like the more typical American and spend every cent they get on stuff they don't need, living paycheck to paycheck, forced to work. That is the example most parents set around in my neighborhood.

(I don't think the OP is there yet, but is on track as far as savings rate.)
I'm curious to hear more about typical Americans. Perhaps you're in the wrong neighborhood?
by Maverick3320
Tue Jul 11, 2023 11:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Early Retirement Budget with $2M Portfolio
Replies: 110
Views: 16446

Re: Early Retirement Budget with $2M Portfolio

I've made it, I think. I have $2M saved in after-tax brokerage (invested in VOO) and no debt. Here's my plan: Spend $60000/year forever with annual inflation adjustment ($60000 is 3% of $2M) Pay zero federal taxes ($60000 long term capital gains is taxed at 0%) Pay about $846/year in California taxes Pay about $1584/year for health care for a family of 4 (according to coveredca.com) This leaves $57570/year or $4797/month to spend on everything else (shelter, food, transportation, entertainment, clothing, travel, etc.) I don't own a home, so the budget will be a bit tight after paying rent. I don't have any retirement accounts; I just consistently saved and invested half my paycheck for most of my career. It won't be a luxurious retirement ...
by Maverick3320
Mon Jul 10, 2023 11:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Anyone buying Mazdas? They are on the car lots
Replies: 153
Views: 21568

Re: Anyone buying Mazdas? They are on the car lots

Blame "just in time" manufacturing that from my understanding, Toyota invented. With supply chain issues, those with the least inventory in house are going to hurt the most. That's Toyota. On the other end of the spectrum is Stellantis. They've had no such issues as they didn't do the widespread cancellation of everything like many companies did. With blanket orders still in effect, chips continued to pour in and shortages didn't happen. I don't know why Toyota is so far behind everyone else in recovering. Chips aren't the huge issue they used to be. I retired from one of the chip companies (If your car has apple car play, it has one of their chips in it and most cars have hundreds of their chips) and in the last quarterly meetin...