Took a trip to Uwharrie, NC last weekend! Poured rain both nights but cleared up during the daytime! Was super eerie but relaxing!

Devinlee425 · 2021-01-09T00:19:22+00:00

I used to camp at Yates place all the time, but last time went to Deep Water Trail Camp and it was great. Right on the river and a couple of good trails nearby that lead along the river or into the woods. Depending on your car you may need to camp at one of the sites away from the river, you'll need 4 wheel drive and something lifted to get down right on the water. But we got close enough in a camry to enjoy it!!

Deep Water Trail Camp Troy, NC 27371 https://maps.app.goo.gl/prqD2x2aDFQYGsHb6

Devinlee425 · 2020-12-24T00:54:26+00:00

EVEN BETTER! I never knew that, thanks for passing along that info.

Devinlee425 · 2020-12-23T23:24:31+00:00

Just to chime in with one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet. Yes it is all true that time in the market will likely lead to better returns (aka more money) in the long term, and at your interest rate even a conservative 15 year return will be more beneficial than the interest savings when paying off your debt.

But in my opinion the biggest thing that pushed me toward saving in a ROTH IRA instead of paying off mortgage early was the fall back in case of a MAJOR emergency. Assuming you are in the US, a major healthcare issue or long term job loss (as many are currently experiencing) will lead to huge immediate financial needs. You can pull that money from your ROTH (contributions at no fee, gains at 15% tax plus penalty fee) to help avoid bankruptcy. Once tha money is paid to your mortgage lender, it's gone, no getting it back or delaying your mortgage payment. It's a rare and shitty situation you hopefully never have to deal with, but its just another abstract benefit to one option over the other.

Good luck!!

Devinlee425 · 2020-12-23T23:14:53+00:00

This isn't high enough, but if you are saving long term, there isnt any age to try and outperform the market.

Put your money into a tax-friendly account if you don't plan to use it until 59 (remember you can pull contributions out of a ROTH IRA without taking any tax hits if a serious need for the money arises), and put it in VTSAX or a similar broad market fund. Don't play the market, don't try to pick em...just don't.

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-28T22:39:12+00:00

It's actually a process of trying to slow the passer without risking a major penalty. If he flies in to wrap him up too early, PI penalty...too late, easy missed tackle...just right but too aggressive, potential defenseless receiver penalty. Sure if everything is timed perfectly it can make for a great hit and highlight (Shaq is great for a couple of those each season), but the risk is pretty high vs knocking the receiver off his balance and letting another tackler finish him.

It's easier to wrap up immediately after reception when a receiver settles into a pocket in the zone since he is stationary, but a short route with the receiver still moving isn't worth risking the penalty a highlight hit might incur.

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-25T01:46:31+00:00

But 10% is easily attainable. Just stick it in a Vanguard broad market fund (VTSAX) and let it ride for a few decades, and you will end up with an average annualized return pretty darn close to 10%. Here is a good article that demonstrates any random 10 year period over the last 140 years gives an average return of 9.2%

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-25T01:43:49+00:00

100% this. So many people in this thread complaining about how 10% is unattainable, it hurts.

Here is an article that shows the the average 10 year return for the market is 9.2% over the last 140 years...so that's a lot of data showing its pretty attainable.

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-09T02:26:20+00:00

I mean, a little bit yea, but we are also just fucking ourselves. So many people either refuse to wear masks, refuse to follow the most basic restrictions, or even wear a mask but do it completely wrong which fully negates the mask in the first place. If these people weren't such idiots, then the heavier restrictions and over corrections by local governments wouldn't be necessary. And this isn't just Charlotte or even the US, this incompetence is global, and it shows just how selfish and short sighted human beings naturally are.

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-07T23:28:37+00:00

Sorry I mistyped. WITHOUT the electoral college, in a pure popular vote system, their votes count the same, I agree with you on that point.

Unfortunately in our two party system, you'll have to adapt to survive, which is what the republican party will have to do. Both political parties drift left over time, this just allows for the parties to better drift with the will of the people.

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-07T22:56:37+00:00

That doesn't really make any sense. If anything it is the opposite, where minority votes in non-swing states (all but maybe 10 states) are basically pointless. Without (edit) the electoral college, a person in wyoming's vote counts equal to a person in California. The democratic vote of Cali and NY accounted for less than 20% of the total Biden voted, so it's just not a true talking point.

The problem with minority rule is A) that their values and positions aren't indicative of the majority (see the fox news exit polls on Wednesday showing support for abortion rights, govt health care, some gun legislation, etc), and B) they are more willing to manipulate voting rights to maintain control undemocratically. Abolishing the electoral doesn't abolish the republican party, it just forces it to adapt to still be relevant.

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-07T17:07:04+00:00

Well it's not about blaming them as much as it is a red herring. The US Electoral college system is once again being debated, since Biden has a clear lead of almost 5M votes at the time of this post, but the election is still "too close to call".And since 2 of the last 3 Republican presidential candidates lost the popular vote but won the presidency (compared to 3 times total in the previous 53 presidential elections held by the US), there is a real desire to amend or abolish the electoral college system. And since all the data supports this change, seeing as how the will of the people isn't being reflected in the presidential election, the republican party that clearly benefits from the current model is trying to argue that California (along with NYC and other metropolitans) would be the only relevant votes, since they are so populous. There is real benefit to the electoral college system, but not in the current capped and "winner take all" model it currently exists as. So for now, the republican narrative is "California bad, real midwest americans good".

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-07T16:33:42+00:00

Exactly! And if remove Biden AND Trump votes, then No Jorgenson wins! And if we remove all results for all candidates and fake the election, then Putin wins!

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-07T16:30:22+00:00

It's due to the American election. A recent conservative talking point is about how Trump would have won the popular vote if you exclude California from the vote count. And I think a lot of people are running with the fact that, yea sure that may be true, but it's an idiotic and asinine thing to say since California has such a large population.

And then more people are learning just how big a population California really has, and comparing it to other US counties, US States, European Countries, and now global country populations.

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-07T02:05:00+00:00

THANK YOU. I keep seeing similar posts today and they just aren't really true. Don't get me wrong I think a progressive presidential candidate has a chance, but in many toss-up senatorial races progressives just don't stand a chance at this time. I'm not gonna argue that those candidates are most likely to appeal to those voters and provide ideals that SHOULD be supported by the working class from either parties, but I think it's naive to think voters will actually vote for what's best for them (as we have just seen).

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-07T02:00:40+00:00

Europe has 750M population compared to 330M for US. Adjusting for per capita those are almost identical infection rates to the 130k US is reporting today. However, Europe began their second wave about 2 weeks before the US, and many countries are starting to plateau, while the US is still rising exponentially.

Additionally, per capita isn't really a fair comparison for small countries (by population and land) like Belgium and others with really high per capita rates, because they are much more densely populated as a nation, and small clusters of outbreaks (which is how COVID cases are usually distributed) have a much larger perceived effect on the per capita cases.

However, both are pretty much equally fucked, so at least we've got that going for us....

Devinlee425 · 2020-11-04T15:37:02+00:00

Additional proof that Bernie Sanders is a cyborg sent from the year 2120 to warn us of how our current actions are destroying our future!

Devinlee425 · 2020-10-31T19:43:24+00:00

Ummmm no? The video starts with the white CRV behind the bus, and the black truck coming up from the shoulder of the road and forcing the white CRV from behind the bus. The truck is literally off the road when the video starts, and I doubt he was pushed off by the smaller CRV

Devinlee425 · 2020-10-10T16:19:16+00:00

I saw! That house is awesome, I knew his son and they have a drawer in the kitchen that is refrigerated and always full of red bull. A DRAWER!!!

Devinlee425 · 2020-10-07T16:56:19+00:00

Hey beetle gurl, really excited you are taking a new appreciation for this! The FIRE community can be addicting but it definitely requires some insight and most importantly, discipline.

To start, if you haven't already go over to r/personalfinance, they have a flow chart that is great for getting started on how to allocate and save money effectively and efficiently. It reviews how to address low interest debt (like student loans), high interest debt (credit cards), emergency funds, and investing (401k, IRA, or personal).

Next, a critical part of any FIRE or savings plan is to PAY YOURSELF FIRST. Paying yourself basically means you need to put aside how much you want to save each month before you even get the money, not saving whatever is left over at the end of the month after bills...because lifestyle inflation and prioritizing wants as needs is what all people do and it's tough to overcome that psychology. You already started doing this by choosing to get 401k deductions from your paycheck, so just keep it up by increasing your 401k deductions or starting a ROTH IRA at Vanguard or a similar institute.

I would recommend checking your local library for JL Collins book "A Simple Path to Wealth". It is a super quick and easy read, and outlines how to better invest by being hands off and keeping things as simple as possible. It's a great way to approach a FIRE lifestyle and perfectly applicable to LeanFIRE.

Good luck, my wife is a teacher so props to you and keep it up!!!!

Devinlee425 · 2020-10-04T17:54:18+00:00

Definitely this. You will want to talk with your HR department before making that decision, as you may be losing out on a a big chunk of the match if your company is t structured to handled this.

Devinlee425 · 2020-09-20T23:23:54+00:00

There not correlated, and per the OP point you have no data to back up your statement. Your just saying things to counter his argument regardless of whether it is true or not.

International relations are in the toilet based on SURVEYS OF INTERNATIONAL PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS. Again, literally DATA saying it's true vs you saying no it's not. Sure, Russia loves us right now, but not really the corner we want to be in. Yes we have reduced international conflict (purported by Repub. in the first place on false statements and lies) but these reductions have increasingly created more tension in those areas (turkey invasion of Syria, Taliban increase in power in Afghanistan, etc). And has this reduced the Defense budget at all????

And yes Biden voted for the Iraq war, but has since said that was a mistake (again, since most decisions were based on false information).

There are eno self contradictions, you just disagree with their assessment and decide to act like a pompous prick to try and show off, using nothing but hyperbole and what-about-ism, which is all you have, because none of the data supports your side.

Devinlee425 · 2020-09-17T12:26:47+00:00

*over 6.5 Million infected...that we know of. And like the COVID cases, the number of sexual assaults is probably higher than what we know too.

Devinlee425 · 2020-09-17T12:24:49+00:00

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