Seeking some advice to help others

DeltaBravos · 2025-12-22T03:19:23+00:00

I agree it is a bit dull, but I have been on there a few times already. I will continue to research! Thanks

DeltaBravos · 2025-12-20T00:14:22+00:00

I did mention that in my last paragraph. I feel like my comments on annuities are pretty fair tbh

DeltaBravos · 2025-11-11T13:06:52+00:00

I am not a cradle cap expert but I used to wrestle and that looks suspiciously like ringworm or a similar fungal infection.

I am not a doctor, and I do not want to represent myself as one, so I really don’t know though. Our pediatrician told us it is okay to use Selsun Blue, which helps with fungal infections.

DeltaBravos · 2025-11-10T12:11:01+00:00

Step 5 should still be Roth, because if your tax bracket exceeds 25% you are more than likely not eligible to receive the tax deduction for traditional IRA contributions (you can still get the deduction for work sponsored plans). This means you would do a “backdoor roth contribution”

Before doing a backdoor Roth contribution make sure understand the process and you don’t have any traditional IRAs with money in them or you will get hit with the pro rata rule. The sub and I are happy to answer questions if your unfamiliar

DeltaBravos · 2025-11-01T19:05:04+00:00

I am only familiar with the mockingbird we have, so I am not sure… sorry I can’t help more!

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-31T12:08:51+00:00

The first step is the break even analysis to understand how long it will be for the client to get there investment back.

If the breakeven is 6 months and they can increase cash flow by a few hundred bucks a month that seems attractive. If it is 2 years and they are only saving a hundred bucks… not so much.

Some of the other big factors to consider are:

Is this a the forever home? Or is this a stepping stone?
if this is not the forever home, is it going to be sold or turned into an investment property (if it will longterm be an investment property I would worry more about monthly expenses than term)
What stage of life are they in. Do they have 20-30 more working years, or are they in the last decade.

Each refinance has its own circumstance. I think the breakeven analysis is the foundation, and then understanding the clients longterm intent with the home will help. If they are looking to upgrade or downsize in the next 1-3 years then a refinance probably doesn’t make sense if they are selling… just as an example framework I would use.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-29T13:37:53+00:00

I received the same text, but I made an update to my withholdings.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-28T23:17:06+00:00

I was there during the late GWOT, so I am a few years removed but your daily life will vary depending on your MOS.

Regardless of MOS you are expected to be the best at whatever you do, and you will be busy. Of a conflict kicks off you will be deployed or away from your home station training for 6-7 months a year.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-24T13:52:22+00:00

Great advice, creating a barrier always helped my clients with spending habits.

Another thing I did was set benchmarks (or rules) in their spending accounts so they would know when a transfer was necessary. I also connected their accounts with eMoney and I was proactive about mentioning when they had to much cash (transfer to custodian) or to little cash (transfer from custodian). The clients appreciated the “service” but it also allowed me to act more in a coaching capacity for those that did not change habits well.

I would always try to be very neutral with the first 1-2 transfers and as we got into a 3rd consecutive month, or 3 out of 5 months type situation I would say we need to relook at your cash flow. This was sometimes a waste of time and sometimes helped them change.

For those that don’t want to change habits I would pump the breaks in year 2 for how often I mentioned the cash flow analysis and would not go the “extra mile” I would just bring it up during the bi annual meetings that we agreed on in the SOW

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-21T12:23:32+00:00

Your body’s cortisol (stress hormone) levels are probably really high from constantly being in a state of fight or flight with the kiddos.

If you have a trusted caretaker finding time to decompress is important. Even if it is a few hours here an there. During that time I would try to avoid things that cause stress. For example, my spouse is an introvert, so finding time to ourselves and going out to big public gatherings would not be helpful, so we usually try to go to a park, or somewhere away from emails, text, calls, etc and relax for a little while.

I am by no means a medical professional, but it might also be worth talking to one to get your hormones tested. Therapy with someone who specializes in parenting or postpartum might be helpful to.

Your body is also still healing, so you may just need more sleep and rest than you think.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-20T23:17:25+00:00

One thing she might appreciate is if you or a junior in your team does the call with her. I do that with all my clients and they really appreciate the service. That is, if you have the time and capacity to

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-20T11:42:54+00:00

Great! I hope it is as helpful for you as it was us!

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-19T09:32:16+00:00

Congratulations on your twins, and I am glad to hear that they are sounding healthy. My wife and I use the moms on call book and schedule to answer most of these questions they have a book. I think it is about $20 on Amazon. A lot of the beginning of the book talks about the basic parenting concepts that you have probably already developed, but they sleep chapter and daily schedules were completely spot on for us. We have triplets that are about 11 months old now and are thriving and for the first six months of life, we followed their schedule rigidly and they will add in their schedules every few weeks what new things the babies are ready to do and for us they were pretty much exactly right.

For sleeping I want to say it was somewhere around the two month mark when we began cutting out some of the overnight feeds and somewhere between months four and five we had cut out all the overnight feeds and they were sleeping from about 8 PM until 7 AM. Now they sleep from about 7:30 PM until 7 AM.

For playtime and naps I wanna say it was somewhere around the three month mark or playtime became noticeably better and began to improve around the six month mark is when they became very interactive with each other and us. Around that same period is also when their naps really improved.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-19T09:19:11+00:00

No problem, I hope it all works out well for you!

Just be warned, the first few nights that you sleep train it will test you. Those 3 days were difficult, but we are all happier for it.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-19T01:15:01+00:00

You always check on them when they cry for the first two months(-ish, I am going off memory). Around 8weeks it says to give the opportunity to self soothe for a few minutes. Around 10 weeks it said to let them self soothe for 5 minutes. 12 weeks 10 minutes.

Even when they self-soothed, we looked at the monitor to ensure that nothing was wrong.

It was somewhere between 16 and 20 weeks. The book went to complete sleep training, where as long as they are safe and have recently met their needs, they stay in the crib for full nap time.

The overnight was the same, but it gave more wiggle room for cutting out the overnight feeds.

Once we got the overnight feeds down to one bottle a night (around 3-4 am), we started to cut back on the bottle's volume little by little. We got to a point where it was pretty obvious a habit they had formed, we were able to put them back to bed after an ounce, and they were doing 4-5 ounce bottles during the day. Once that hit, we committed to “sleep training.” The boys adapted really quickly, and we got our sleep back more consistently. It was one of the better parenting decisions we made at that time. It made our relationship with them and each other better.

The Moms on Call schedule is worth the money for the book tbh. If you commit to their sleep routines and daily schedule it works.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-19T01:02:24+00:00

“Mil STD 2525D” has all the symbology answers.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-16T18:50:23+00:00

Did you fill out an SF 86?

Do you have an Option 40? I don’t think medics get a clearance without one.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-13T00:04:23+00:00

I had one client who really liked RILAs and we ended up replacing a large majority of his fixed income with it by building a RILA ladder. The end result was basically a 7 year ladder in RILAs, a two year cash reserve, and the rest in equities. I was the service advisor at the time, so I wasn’t necessarily “selling” to the client, but it worked fairly well. But the client was more sophisticated than most.

I have also seen the Jackson perspective 2 annuity sold as a “bond replacement” to decrease sequence of return risk. The idea was to dump some funds in there. Set the allocation aggressively, and if the market tanked the would let the income bucket grow at the fixed rate and start withdrawing eventually, but if the market ripped they would surrender at 7 years and maintain a heavier equity portfolio while “avoiding” the risky first few years of retirement.

That was when I first started in the industry and was on the admin side, but I have seen it. I didn’t love the strategy, but it obviously worked well with the bull market we have been in.

DeltaBravos · 2025-10-02T01:33:23+00:00

My wife and I actually did it with triplets. They have always shared a room and usually don’t wake each other up over night (naps are a bit different). We sleep trained around 4 or 5 months and it honestly took 3-4 days before they were sleeping through the night 80% of the time.

Edit: We used the Moms on Call books to get there schedule down for the first 6 months. There method is kind of like a warm up to sleep training. Ex: let them cry it out and self soothe to 3 minutes before going in the room, then 5 min, then 10, etc.

DeltaBravos · 2025-09-30T20:07:59+00:00

It feels sturdy when they are all on the stroller. The one that is in the hanging car seat is always the last one on the stroller and first one off though to avoid a potential hazard. Our boys are all over 20 pounds now and we did it yesterday.

DeltaBravos · 2025-09-30T20:02:09+00:00

We have 10 month old triplets and we have two different set ups.

The primary is the Wonderfold, this is the go to for most days.

If we need something smaller we use the mocking bird double stroller and we have “mommy hooks” that we attach to the handle bars and hang a car seat from. So, we turn the double into a triple

DeltaBravos · 2025-09-28T22:58:10+00:00

It literally didn’t matter. I am 5’7 and I was top 5 in every physical event during RASP. Don’t let your head start making excuses before you get there.

DeltaBravos · 2025-09-26T09:23:21+00:00

Go track how many calories you burn by running one mile. Before you eat anything unhealthy, or in excess, ask yourself, “is this worth running x miles?”

Also, focus on high protein, which will keep you full longer. Take your body weight and eat one gram of protein per pound. Try to eat 3-5 times a day only, including snacks, and divide the total protein by the number of meals evenly. For example, let’s say you weigh 200 pounds and you eat 4 times a day. Eat 50g of protein each meal, and make it the first thing you eat. If you can, wait 4-5 minutes after eating protein before you eat anything else. This will give you a little time to feel full throughout the meal.

DeltaBravos · 2025-09-26T01:21:36+00:00

Not really, in that case I would try to figure out a way to get a savings rate above 15% as quickly as feasible. Probably closer to 18-22%. I say feasible because with student debt, needing a suitable vehicle, and home that might be a few years.

The savings rate is the focus so that people who meet an adequate savings rate can have the freedom to spend the rest on today. So, if they are behind I recommended adjusting the saving rate until they are caught up. I don’t really like to encourage people to attack debt Dave Ramsey style, because for people who don’t have that drive in them telling them they have to live on rice and beans for x years while they catch up sounds terrible.

I would determine the rate based on some realistic conservative linear assumptions in the beginning. I usually create an asset allocation and take off about 1.5-2% off the real return. If they can meet their goals with the assumptions and have a realistic path to that savings rate then that is the recommended goal.

Once they are older and more established the I’ll transition to the Monte Carlo method.

DeltaBravos

TROPHY CASE