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lexie2000

If the adhesive is old, Elmer's glue works great. My mom had a bunch of old stamps that she gave to me. I separated them by value and put them in a plastic container. When I need to mail an envelope (not often), I find out what sending a letter costs (cuz I never can remember) and then grab the plas...

lexie2000

We hit double commas in 2000. We had been out of college for 18 yrs. and single income for 11 of those 18. DH's income that year was $64K. We lived WAY below our means. Example: When we bought our starter home we used only half our savings for our down payment and used the other half for a healthy E...

lexie2000

Absolutely not.

I plan as if I will never inherit...cuz I might not; but I knew more than one person that inheritance was there retirement plan.

lexie2000

1. Federal Income Taxes
2. Health insurance, OOP Medical, OOP Dental

Everything else pales in comparison.

lexie2000

OP: You are smart to have some backup savings. DH worked in the aerospace industry where a contract can be cut at any time. One layoff scare is all it took for us to realize that we needed a sizeable EF. We also started banking a little of his vacation every year as extra "unemployment insuranc...

lexie2000

Aerospace Manager of Administration

lexie2000

We have 1700 sq. ft. of driveway, walkway, and patio - I know cuz we sealed it in the late fall and I had to measure to order enough sealant. We also have a few hundred sq. ft. of decking (never measured it). I like to do it the old fashioned way - with a shovel. I usually do it all by myself, but i...

lexie2000

Good N Plenty!! LOL

lexie2000

We have Electrolux front loaders and I love them. It is the only brand that I found where the doors could be reversed (my washer had to be on the right of the dryer). I am vertically challenged and could not reach the bottom of a top loader that would accommodate king sized linens. Both are electric...

lexie2000

I feel your pain. In our previous home, we had large leaf birch (6 of them) that would fall leaves. Then the neighbors ornamental pear trees, which hung over our driveway, would fall leaves. After that, the grape arbor in the back yard would fall leaves. Dealing with the leaves every fall seemed nev...

lexie2000

We currently live in a 1624 sq. foot (3 bedroom/2 bath) home with a 700 sq. ft. basement. The basement is not used for living space. We have a 3 car garage. We also have a small patio in the front (nice for coffee in the morning when it's not winter) and a deck off the main floor in the back. We hav...

lexie2000

My brand new AT&T Cingular Flip 2. It has big buttons for old people!! LOL I saw a lot of posts on this thread about people getting excited about their new 'smarty pants' phones, so I thought I'd throw that one out there. LOL Seriously though, our 2018 Toyota Tundra TRD. Technically we purchased...

lexie2000

We don't have to think too much about the cost of big ticket items because we've had a sizeable 'emergency/we want to buy something expensive' fund for decades. We just always make sure (to the best of our ability) to get the best value for our money. We've never really worked off a budget, but I've...

lexie2000

The nice thing with Sam's Club is you can use your phone to scan items and check out - without even going to a register. We've done that many times. Or they also have self checkout, I don't think Costco has that either. I was in a Costco a few weeks ago and there is no way the normal wait time was ...

lexie2000

The cash back we get on the Costco Visa more than covers our membership fee. I like Costco, but do not find the Citi Costco Visa card to be a great value, and use other credit cards instead. For instance, the Citi Costco Visa card gives 4% cashback on gas (for the first $7K/year). Many other credit...

lexie2000

I think most people tend to be creatures of habit. If you have the "savings bug" at a young age, it is likely that you'll carry it throughout your life. If you're a spender, it's hard to break that habit as well. I've been a saver all of my adult life. Even though "saving" is no ...

lexie2000

Nevada (near Reno) $3,000 property tax / 2400 sq. ft. home on 1 acre / Built in 2015 Market Value: $540K State Income Tax: None Sales Tax: 7.6-8.3% (depending on where we are shopping) Compared to the home we sold in CA (South SF Bay Area) $11,000 property tax / 2600 sq. ft. home on 1/3 acre / Built...

lexie2000

NewbieBogle007 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 13, 2018 3:06 pm I would take a very aggressively-negotiated NEW Honda/Toyota over a used car any day (purchased in cash, of course).

Of course, or @ 0% interest.

lexie2000

The cash back we get on the Costco Visa more than covers our membership fee. We look at the coupon/add thing they send every month and buy certain items when they are offered at a deeper discount: vitamins contact lens products Ziplocs Duracell batteries Jarlsberg Swiss (a couple of times a year) st...

lexie2000

I guess I'd have to say "yes". LOL I replaced my 2000 Lexus (purchased as a preowned in 2001) with a new 2015 MKC. My husband replaced a 2003 Tundra 2WD (purchased used in 2006) with a new 2018 Tundra 4WD (needed cuz we moved to snow country). To tell you the truth, this was just a coincid...

lexie2000

I'm more into simplicity these days.

Citi Double Cash - 2% on everything.
COSTCO Citi Visa - used for Costco purchases, gas (4% everywhere), dining (3%)

lexie2000

Ours is 17.8%. Home equity should definitely be included in net worth. We bought a brand new $460K spec home in no state income tax NV. Then we sold our $1.2M home in high taxed CA and pocketed over $800K in equity. I agree that a home is not an investment; it's a place to live, but it does have val...

lexie2000

Given the obvious complexity of a typical boglehead's taxes (backdoor Roth's etc), I am curious how many of you do you own taxes. Please add any commentary you think is valuable. Okay, I do our taxes. I will be opening a backdoor Roth this year and converting money from a 401k into it. I know that ...

lexie2000

So many interesting responses. We're retired and we don't slice and dice our expenses into a budget either; we never have. We pretty much have a handle on what we expect to spend and have an EF for the unexpected (and other items like property taxes). I say if having a budget helps you get a handle ...

lexie2000

SSCritic, ur da bomb!!

lexie2000

I have State Farm and they just started asking us our mileage about 2 years ago. We put less than 5K miles/yr. on either vehicle so it drastically reduced our rates. I was bummed they didn't ask earlier.

lexie2000

1. Shop the major drug chains to get a lot of free products by combining sales, coupons, rewards, and rebates. Get my coupons for free from the unsold Sunday newspapers at a nearby liquor store. 2. Use coupons at the grocery store and stock up when a sale and coupon make a product we use free or rea...

lexie2000

In 1981, the first year we both had full-time, "real" jobs out of college. We were both 23 with no debt. Since we had been poor, starving college students, we decided to continue living like that - we just had a nicer apartment. :happy We lived off of his pay (the higher of the two) and sa...

lexie2000

TheGreyingDuke wrote:Is this possible??

Lend them the $150k, write up a full, interest bearing contract, and then gift them the interest each year?

???

Yes, but the interest would have to be reported as income by them and would be tax deductible to you.

lexie2000

We know what it's like to be mortgage free because we've been there twice before. We have also been paying down the mortgage on the $1.3M home we purchased at the peak in 2005...well, sort of. We want the "feeling" of being mortgage free, while still having the flexibility of having the c...

lexie2000

DH started out low (relative to what others were making in the industry) making $16K/yr. in 1981 as an aerospace planner which equates to $44,600 in 2012 dollars. We thought we were rich until we realized what the cost of living was without university subsidized married student housing, living in CA...

lexie2000

We know what it's like to be mortgage free because we've been there twice before. We have also been paying down the mortgage on the $1.3M home we purchased at the peak in 2005...well, sort of. We want the "feeling" of being mortgage free, while still having the flexibility of having the ca...

lexie2000

Both times we bought, we sold before we moved, but after we signed a contract on the next home. Both homes were immaculate and the market in those days was different. I would not move out of the condo before selling it. It is a buyers' market, so sell it first and then buy. You might even be able to...

lexie2000

We're 55 and stopped including SS in our retirement planning over two decades ago. We could get by without it, but with astronomical increase in the cost of health care over the last decade, we'll be glad to get it as we did not "plan" for that.

lexie2000

I've been on a long road trip that's allowed me to ponder the keys to not losing sleep over personal (as opposed to business) finances. 1. Never borrow to pay for anything except the residence you live in. Credit card charging is OK as long as you pay the whole balance every month. If you ever get ...

lexie2000

My hygienist does recommend Sonicare, but she says it is because it does two things: regulates how hard you brush and has a timer so that you'll brush for 2 minutes. She said that if you use only the pressure of two fingers with a soft bristle, manual toothbrush and brush for two minutes, you will g...

lexie2000

2000 Toyota SUV: close to 85,000 miles (bought used in 2002 with 24K miles, so mileage added is around 6100/yr.)

2003 Toyota Pickup Truck: close to 80,000 miles (bought used in 2006 with 43K miles, give or take, so mileage added is around 6166/yr.)

lexie2000

One question I would like to ask the OP: Does your retirement benefits include medical insurance for your spouse? DH will be putting in his papers this year and we looked into forgoing the survivor pension benefit for a life only pension + life insurance UNTIL we realized that unless I have a surviv...

lexie2000

I think it depends on exactly what you want the software to do for you. Do you simply want to track expenses or do you need budget software that helps you constrain spending? If you are more specific about what you need/want the software to do for you, you'll probably get more responses.

lexie2000

45% for us.

2012 will be the last year that we have a high savings rate.

lexie2000

I know that not everyone can afford to do so, but this is exactly one of the reasons why we decided to self insure.

lexie2000

DH didn't have a commute for over 25 years. When we relocated a few years ago, we did not buy where he works because he/we did not want to live in a metro area. We live in a rural community that is closer to family and we knew that the commute would be short lived compared to our years in retirement...

lexie2000

I always pay on time, but this cycle I forgot completely to make the minimum payment on time. I was just wondering if I was going to get hit with the penalty APR right away. You get the best information calling them. Brian Thank you Brian, I will try that. This happened once when we were on vacatio...

lexie2000

JuztVZ wrote:
lexie2000 wrote:Don't pay late. Problem solved.
Oh! Brilliant!

I always pay on time, but this cycle I forgot completely to make the minimum payment on time. I was just wondering if I was going to get hit with the penalty APR right away.

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help myself.

lexie2000

Don't pay late. Problem solved.

lexie2000

How much of your SS will be taxable under your various scenarios? At this point, I am assuming all of it; but we're going to try to shovel as much money as we can into a Roth IRA (hopefully while we're still in the 15% tax bracket) and before we start taking SS to perhaps minimize the damage. Doing...

lexie2000

letsgobobby wrote:How much of your SS will be taxable under your various scenarios?

At this point, I am assuming all of it; but we're going to try to shovel as much money as we can into a Roth IRA (hopefully while we're still in the 15% tax bracket) and before we start taking SS to perhaps minimize the damage.

lexie2000

You also need to look at what would happen if he died at 68. It's his pension; what do you get as a survivor? Is spousal SS better than your own? What would it be like if the two of you have drawn down the 401k or IRA and then you have to live off survivor benefits? We plan to have DH take a reduce...

lexie2000

Lexie: We plan to do annual rollovers from the 401k into an IRA (with ING) and then do Roth IRA conversions from that while staying in the 15% tax bracket. The costs (ER and hidden) in a 401K are almost certainly more than cost in an IRA. Unless creditors are a concern (401Ks have better creditor p...

lexie2000

JUST AN UPDATE We found out last week that we cannot get retiree medical unless DH takes his pension, so we will not be delaying. PLAN B His 401k is with ING and since he is 55 and will be retiring, he can take 401k withdrawals without penalty. We plan to do annual rollovers from the 401k into an IR...

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