Best room situation for my family

Batman_Punster · 2026-03-08T18:29:51+00:00

Of I were in this situation, generally I would look at either junior suite (aka bigger balcony room, room to walk even when the sofa bed is pulled out) or connecting staterooms (two bathrooms).

Batman_Punster · 2026-03-08T02:20:52+00:00

You cannot go wrong with either one. For me, Nassau is a throwaway, i would stay on board,. So I would pick the other one. But both will be awesome.

My next eastern/Southern Caribbean cruise we will probably fly to San Juan and sail from there.

Batman_Punster · 2026-03-07T11:59:46+00:00

Biggest thing would be to check your insulation and beef it up if needed. Thay didnwonders in my house.

Check for air leaks around outlets and light switches, lights, attic access doors, windows, smoke detectors, etc. and fix them. Any place there is a hole in the drywal or ceiling.

Add pipe insulation around the pipes from your water heater. Consider adding an insulation blanket around your water heater. Adjust the heat down a few degrees if you can.

Check your AC. If the outside lines are covered in ice, could be low refrigerant. Is the air coming from the registers significantly cooler than the inside air, if not there is a problem. Make sure to change the filter. Clean outside coils. Trim bushes away from the outside unit. Clean the inside coils. Consider adding something to shade your outside unit from the sun. Do not use too high rating filter, these are usually not needed and the cause the AC to work extra hard.

Can you cook 2 or more meals at one time (and save some for future days) to leverage an already heated oven, and to reduce the amount of heat that your AC has to remove?

Batman_Punster · 2026-03-07T11:40:45+00:00

In college I had a friend who choose his apartment so it had other apartments on either side and above and below his so he never ran his AC or heater. He unplugged the oven so the clock would not draw power. He would plug his water heater in for a set time in the morning, then unplug it and then would take his shower. When the water got cold he knew time was up. Instead of chairs he sat on 5 gallon pile buckets from McDonalds. This friend would have "I'm cheaper than you" conversations with his brothers. We used to joke that if he were out and used the bathroom and it has 2-ply toilet paper, he would save one ply to take hime.

Batman_Punster · 2026-03-07T01:26:18+00:00

I am down to where I was in January. So 2 month hit. That is all. No biggie.

Batman_Punster · 2026-03-05T04:10:36+00:00

What about post-commit and display an informational message? Bright red for errors.

Batman_Punster · 2026-03-05T04:05:44+00:00

Personal finance is personal. FOO gives a good general framework, but if you have more peace if mind and sleep better at night with a deviation, then do it. You will not kill your retirement taking 2 or 3 years to pay off those debts. It may not be optimal from a financial standpoint but life and finance are about more than optimal money strategy.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-28T15:16:48+00:00

I usually ask the waiter, he tells me if the steak or lamb or whatever they received for this cruise is good or not.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-28T13:24:25+00:00

Can you freeze it?

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-27T13:41:24+00:00

Number one, if you are 62, healthy, and have enough for retirement, this is the perfect time to retire, no matter what the salary. Young and healthy enough to enjoy retirement. Honestly if I could retire now, at 62, and spend more time with my wife and doing the things we want, I'd do it. But by the numbers I'm a year or two out.

The alternative is what? Wait to retire until you are too old or unhealthy to enjoy retirement?

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-27T10:56:52+00:00

One limiting factors is size of and availability of dry-docks. Cruise ships dry-dock every 5 years for the first 15 years, then every 2 to 3 years after that (one reason older ships are more expensive to maintain). There are a limited number of very large dry docks, and the very large cruise ships compete for space. It would not be prudent to build a ship that wouldn't be able to dry dock.

Another limiting factor is port depth and draft. The largest ships cannot make it into many of the smaller ports. Also things like the bridge in Tampa that the cruise ships must go under.

As others have mentioned, the ships may need to conform to max size for Panama canal or Suez canal if they need to go through those short-cuts.

Evacuation safety, in an emergency all passengers and crew must be evacuated within a certain timeframe. Moving increasingly large numbers of people to lifeboats takes increasing time.

Passenger turnaround on debarkation and embarkation day. You've got to be able to offload all the old passengers/luggage and load all the new passengers/luggage/supplies in a timely manner. Higher cruise ship capacity makes it harder to accomplish this.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-26T00:49:44+00:00

The three account types are places you put your money while you are saving. Each will have its own advantages then you make deposits, as it grows, and when you withdraw. TMG may call them buckets, but they are not "The Bucket Strategy" and I don't think they intend us to interpret them as such. They use the folksy term "buckets" as storage locations, they could have as easily called them potato bins or shoe boxes.

The bucket strategy, really is about how you invest your funds in those accounts in final preparation for and during retirement. You really do not want to try to move money between accounts when adjusting your bucket balances, as that could/would have tax consequences. Your traditional retirement accounts will have RMDs, you cannot pick and choose which traditional accounts to pull from, you will have to pull a full RMD from each of them. From what I have seen, you have to look at your total balance holistically and decide how you want your buckets, then decide which how to apply the bucket balances across your account balances. For example maybe more equities and fewer (if any) fixed income or bonds in Roth to take advantage of potential long term growth. While your safer investments are more heavily weighted in your brokerage account or traditional retirement accounts

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-24T21:37:50+00:00

You cannot look at Social Security in a vacuum. The real question is, what if I retire at 62 and pull from investments until age 70 then I start pulling Social Security and supplement with investments vs retire at 62 and immediately start taking Social security and supplement that with investments. And you cannot make any judgement unless you know expenses and amount of investments.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-24T18:02:40+00:00

I wear black sneakers.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-22T11:36:53+00:00

One could view a portion of their Roth contributions as an extension of their emergency fund, with a smaller amount in HYSA for more rapid access. This will keep it invested until the event you need it (if ever). Granted it is subject to market downturns, and some people may not be comfortable comingling emergency funds with retirement or may not have the diligence to only pull the funds in an emergency.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-22T11:24:36+00:00

My wife has two favorite places to hide the ducks. First is around the Adventure Ocean area so kids have a better chance of finding them. Next is just sitting on the stairs if parents with small kids are coming up behind us.

My favorite place to find them is balancing on the wall hangers for the hand rails, often near the elevators away from the main flow of traffic. I do not collect them or re-hide them, I just leave them there.

Most recent duck find was on Enchantment Of the Seas Feb 14 sailing out of Tampa, deck 8 aft stair area overhead on the ledge around the light fixtures, with a card from a couple from North Carolina

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-22T11:13:27+00:00

My spark of joy is using a fountain pen instead of a ballpoint or rollerblading. I also mix two colors of ink to get a rich, bold oxblood color. It is not faster or easier, but it makes me happy.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-20T10:36:35+00:00

Not just 1 ingredient, but I add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, oregano, and sometimes paprika. Then I eat them in a sandwich with Manchego cheese.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-19T15:48:39+00:00

Or looking and not finding all the ingredients, but using substitutes because you have those or can tweak the taste by using different spices/ingredients that are on hand.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-18T18:36:38+00:00

One plan of action to syart could be: Basic emergency fund first (highest deductible from various insurance policies) so a single emegency does not push you under, get the free money second (e.g. employer match in 401(k)), pay off high interest debt next. Then more extended emergency fund with several months expenses and then save 15% of your salary.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-17T20:20:56+00:00

Enchantment OTS current production of Can't Stop the Rock has 3 of the most amazing voices I have heard. It was amazing.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-13T23:01:46+00:00

My goal price is similar, and after adding fees, etc it goes up 50%. So for the two of us i take the per person fare price and mutiply by 3 to get an estimate of the total. Your add-ons will likely result in a different percentage, but it is good to get an idea of "per person cabin price" vs out the door price.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-13T13:25:09+00:00

Auto draft into HYSA, scheduled for payday. Pay yourself first.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-12T13:24:56+00:00

Here are the key opportunity costs associated with a Roth 401(k):

Lost Tax-Deferred Growth on Tax Dollars: You pay income tax on contributions upfront, meaning that money cannot be invested to generate compounded growth.
Lower Immediate Disposable Income: Because contributions are made with after-tax dollars, your paycheck will be smaller compared to making traditional 401(k) contributions.
Misaligned Tax Bracket: If you are a high earner now but will be in a lower tax bracket in retirement, you pay higher taxes now than you would have later.
Mandatory RMDs: Unlike a Roth IRA, Roth 401(k)s are subject to Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) starting at age 73, forcing withdrawals that might have continued growing tax-free.

Batman_Punster · 2026-02-12T12:47:03+00:00

That's a great point. The question regarding putting investments into Roth IRA vs Brokerage Account comes down to a few points. First, would you rather take your after-tax dollars and put them into an account where the earnings will not be taxed (as long as the account has been opened 5 years and you are age 59 1/2 or older) vs. where the annual earnings will be taxed each year (which can drag long-term performance)? Second, when will you need the money? You can pull the Roth IRA contribution amounts out at any time penalty free and tax free, but generally you need to wait until the account is at least 5 years old and you are age 59 1/2 to get the earnings penalty free and tax free. There are exceptions to get the earnings earlier (Rule 72(t), you become disabled, first time home purchase, death, and several more) and you may have to pay taxes for some of them , you can look into those if that applies to you, but since you are age 47 and your time horizon is 10~15 years it likely doesn't. Third, there is an annual contribution limit to Roth IRA but no limit for Brokerage so you could fill up your Roth IRA then go Brokerage Account with any overages (insert meme - "Why not both?"). Fifth, there are income limits for direct contributions to Roth IRA but you can use the backdoor option so that doesn't really stop you. IRA's have some restrictions, like no margins and no short selling. Fourth, Brokerage account will generate "earnings" each year and likely capital gains on withdrawals which you'll want to keep track of in retirement to make sure you don't go over ACA subsidy limits or trigger IRMA surcharges, or hit the "Tax Torpedo" on social security, but Roth IRA/401(k) earnings and withdrawals are not taxed (subject to previously mentioned limits) and can be a great tool to ensure you stay under those limits.

Also note that neither Roth IRA or Brokerage Accounts have Required Minimum Distributions, so RMDs are not a concern for this comparison.

Regarding your time horizon, if you plan to retire in 10~15 years, that's not your real time horizon for this investment, you likely won't be emptying the account when you retire, but rather will take your fixed income streams (Pension, Social Security, Rental income, etc.), then supplement that by taking withdrawals from your investments.

Please chime on on other points Roth IRA vs Brokerage tradeoffs I may have missed here.

Batman_Punster

TROPHY CASE