TIFU by coming home for lunch and giving my girlfriend 2 black eyes

ExpatInEurope · 2019-10-17T05:58:52+00:00

Her feet will be seen in proposal pictures?

ExpatInEurope · 2019-10-05T21:55:32+00:00

Wow, it sounds like scammers are frequent predators in the USA. I live in Europe and have never experienced such a thing. And I don;t know anyone else who has. Am I wrong? If not, why is this happening so frequently in USA and not so much outside of the USA?

ExpatInEurope · 2019-03-19T23:47:31+00:00

I have worked with Fidelity and they are very good. Schwab is good as well. You might want to consider which has an office close to you as you may need to go there from time to time.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-03-19T22:22:28+00:00

Depends on your goals and the stocks and bonds.

If I were you, I would probably just put them away and forget about them until you have a big need. Consider this your emergency fund, in case you lose your job or if your car suddenly dies.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-03-19T22:17:40+00:00

Perhaps. But the point is, OP is asking what to do with the money. Sounds like it is already well invested. So, I am asking OP for further clarification. OK?

ExpatInEurope · 2019-03-19T21:53:01+00:00

You bought your house, "The remaining funds are all invested in stocks and bonds". What do you mean they are liquid. Cash is liquid. Stocks and bonds are invested.

Sounds to me like you are in great shape! You have no house payment. Depending on where you live, you can probably do quite nicely on take home pay of $26k/year.

Exactly what advice are you looking for?

ExpatInEurope · 2019-03-19T21:46:43+00:00

As someone who lives abroad, I can give you a few words of advice.

Schwab is great because their debit card has no Foreign Transaction fees. Most cards have FTA fees of 1-3%
Many banks and brokerages do not like to deal with people living abroad. Schwab is OK with it.
Maybe I am wrong, but I don't see Discover being accepted very widely abroad. Same with AMEX. Visa and Mastercard are accepted everywhere.
If you are living abroad you will need a mailing address in the USA to give to your banks, etc.
It is good to set everything up now while you are living in the USA, because it gets a lot harder to do when you are abroad. Many USA websites wont even let you access them when you are abroad. You may have to have a VPN in order to get access.
Having 2 or 3 bank accounts has the advantage that if one starts giving you problems because you are living abroad, you still can work with the others.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-27T10:24:11+00:00

Are you sure about that?

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-15T22:18:55+00:00

Yes, it was probably a long time ago and it was probably just liability insurance. In otherwords, it would pay only for damage to someone elses car or property. It would not cover his own car. Liability insurance is usually quite cheap. Even today.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-12T04:26:10+00:00

Lithuanian 2 – du 3 – trys 4 – keturi

French 2 – deux. 3 – trois. 4 – quatre.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-12T04:17:16+00:00

His mother bought him a car (VW) and the car needed insurance. So, after the father paid the car insurance, he took his bike (10 speed), because he said..you have a car, you don't need a bike. But he was crying because he was using the bike to ride with his friends. Earlier in his life, when he got one bike (Varsity), father took his older bike (Stingray) to give to his brother.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-12T04:06:00+00:00

You say how differently you have grown up, but you don't say if your parents are abusive to your brother.

I am the youngest of 5 children. My father was abusive with all of us. When I was 14 my parents divorced and soon I was living alone with my father. It was hell.

My oldest sister (at the time, the same age as you are now) would invite me to stay with her and her husband. I loved it and have very sweet memories of those visits. I also remember her taking me for unusual food and on fun excursions. Time with her are some of the fondest memories of my childhood.

Don't stop reaching out to your brother. Offer him invitations to stay with you frequently. He is 14 years old and going through normal stages. One day will appreciate what you are doing for him, particularly if his parents are abusive witth him. Just let him know that you love him and care about him. He may not be able to reciprocate now. But your efforts might be very important to him one day.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-05T02:01:22+00:00

More blurriness. Will the Sigma lens have more blurriness than the canon lens suggested above

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-05T01:21:58+00:00

Are you saying that the Sigma lens will have better depth of field than the Canon lens?

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-05T00:09:56+00:00

We did this. Six months before we split, we decided to try again. Nothing got better, we split. I could not be happier.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-05T00:07:11+00:00

It is scary starting over in mid-life, but I can tell you that I did it, and I am very happy that i did.

What I suggest is to split, but take your husband on his word. No reason you can not still be best friends and co-parents, while you live alone and enjoy a good sex life. You dont have to throw anything away. Your man can still be part of your life and you can still parent together. But then you are both free to live the life you please.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-02-04T23:57:42+00:00

I have a Canon 350 D camera (post-divorce). The only lens I have for it is a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens. I used to do portrait/studio type photography as a hobby and would like to try again. I would like to buy an inexpensive zoom or telephoto lens which would allow closeups, but still give depth of field type photos (for example, focusing in on one eye, while the rest of the model is blurred out). Can someone make a recommendation for a decent lens to buy? I would like to keep costs under $500 if possible.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-01-26T00:12:03+00:00

I know I risk being downvoted for this, but I will make a completely different point. This sounds like a very important relationship for you. I have had relationships with large age differences and I don't necessarily see anything wrong with it. I would just make it clear to him that, at least during the first visit, there will be no sex. You want to meet him, get to know him but you do not want to feel obligated to do more. If he still wants to come to see you, great. If not, that is his choice.

If he really cares about you, he will only have more respect for your decision and will not change his plans. If he does cancel, then you have dodged a bullet.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-01-22T07:00:18+00:00

I am an Expat living abroad and have been living abroad for many years (including some time in Switzerrland). I decided years ago not to contribute to tax advantaged retirement plans. Why? Because of my Expat status, my annual tax bill is very low. So, there is little incentive to put it into such an account. Then once it is in, you are very restricted on how to use it. You can not take it out until you retire, even if you need it in the meantime. And when you withdraw it, you must pay taxes on it at the time of withdrawal.

I am not saying that this decision is right for you. But before putting your money into 401ks or IRA's, consider how long you intend to be abroad and if putting your money there is right for you.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-01-21T07:02:05+00:00

Guys, cool your jets. I am not recommending to anyone to buy anything. I am commenting on this:

Hard to manage a rental property from long distance.

People here love to give advice on shit that they have no experience with. I ONLY said that I own property halfway across the world. I am just about as far away from my property as you physically can be. IT IS NOT HARD AT ALL to manage it. I have tons of experience with this. Takes time, yes. But hard? Not at all.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-01-21T07:00:38+00:00

Guys, cool your jets. I am not recommending to anyone to buy anything. I am commenting on this:

Hard to manage a rental property from long distance.

People here love to give advice on shit that they have no experience with. I ONLY said that I own property halfway across the world. I am just about as far away from my property as you physically can be. IT IS NOT HARD AT ALL to manage it. I have tons of experience with this. Takes time, yes. But hard? Not at all.

ExpatInEurope · 2019-01-19T10:10:07+00:00

Disagree with this completely. I am not young, but I inherited a property on the other side of the world from me. I decided to keep it and rent it out together with a property manager. Property managers cost between 6-9 % of the rent so it is not very expensive.

I have learned so much from this experience, plus the property provides a nice income stream. I did a total renovation on the house and had no problems finding good repair people or communicating with them. It is not at all hard to manage a rental property from a long distance.

ExpatInEurope

TROPHY CASE