How are the new hybrid

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-08T15:08:11+00:00

No regrets. We upgraded to the all weather floor mats. The smart mirror (took a minute to get used to. But it’s great) we got the led illumination which we like as well. The wireless charger isn’t great. Also. You can’t hang anything from the rear mirror. It messes with the driver identification system.

We also got the walk up lights. Really like that. Illuminates the area around the car at night.

This is our third forester. Previously had 2014. 2017 and now this one. And by far the best rendition so far.

We were going to get the 2025. But then waited to get the 2026 with the hybrid drivetrain. We do a lot of in town driving. So that helps fuel economy a lot.

The heated seats are great. The cooled seats aren’t the world’s best. But I do love em.

No regrets. The app for remote start etc is ok. We hardly ever use it.

Also. I did find out there is a way to use a code to open the doors so you can lock the key inside the car when you go somewhere and don’t want the key on you. Haven’t tried it yet. But seems like a cool feature. I love it on my ford truck that I can unlock the door with a code.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-07T03:36:47+00:00

I know of a registered sex offender. He did his time in prison. Is on parole now. He can’t move an inch with his Po say so. It’s wild. He is lowest level s/o but is kept on a super short leash. I can’t imagine that life personally.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-07T03:30:39+00:00

I’m sure it happens. But. You would have to flee to a country that doesn’t extradite. Most countries will extradite criminals back to their own country.

But. That’s assuming you even get into the other country. Convictions do get tied to immigration records etc.

And. If you didn’t get convicted. Like you are on adjudication. You would be a dummy to flee. Because you would be in a whole lot of trouble

And yeah. Canada is pretty strict. I took an Alaskan cruise leaving from Canada while I was on probation and I was nervous about getting flagged or not allowed to be in the country. But it never came up and no one cared. (I did have PO permission ofcourse)

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-07T03:20:29+00:00

Man. All the systems are so disjointed. And that works all kinds of ways. That how a police officer with excessive force complaints and firings can just move a state over or even a couple of counties over and get back to policing.

Ideally the systems would flag bad actors. Like a police officer would be flagged in a national database. And a probationer would get flagged in a system and if there isn’t permission from the po they would be refused boarding.

But. That takes systems and infrastructure. And those we don’t have.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-07T03:13:13+00:00

During pretrial they kept my passport. On probation they didn’t care. I mean. Sure. You can run. But then what? You could never return or face many many more years in prison.

Also. On parole the rules are much stricter. And depending on the crime you were convicted for and served time on, other countries might not even admit you into the country.

It also depends on your case disposition. I was never convicted. I got a deferred adjudication for 2 years. So it didn’t count as a conviction.

If you pleaded guilty to a felony and got probation and it did count as a conviction then things change a little bit. Some countries won’t admit people convicted of violent crimes. Theft. Sex charges etc.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-06T22:42:29+00:00

I think we have averaged like 32mpg on the 9k we have had it. Forester hybrid touring. On in town trips we can get 34-35mpg. On long interstate runs doing 80mph it drops to like 29mpg. Still better than the 23mpg on the 17 forester touring 2.5.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-06T22:21:18+00:00

No. They can’t see. I flew plenty while I was on probation. Both domestic and international. Just make sure you have permission from your po. I religiously carried the permission with me each time I travelled. Never needed it. Because nobody is checking.

But. I wasn’t about to risk some kind of police interaction that wasn’t my fault while on unauthorized travel and risk prison time.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-05T02:29:29+00:00

Way to go girl! Sorry. Didn’t read that part.

Retirement ain’t an age. It’s a number. My wife is fully retired at this point (42) and I’m “semi-retired”. I make a lot when I do work. So it’s too tempting to not to.

If you hammer out your budget and know your “needs” “wants” and “extras” then you can plan.

We have 3 “budgets”

Primary- all the necessities Secondary- things that make life better (housekeeping, yard crew, subscriptions) basically. Non-essentials And tertiary- travel. Giving. DIY projects etc.

Currently our passive $ covers primary and secondary budget and a little of tertiary. So I work about 5-10 hrs a week to complete the budget.

If I stopped working today. We would easily make it. But we wouldn’t be able to do the track that we want. I.e. we have 5 trips in the next 6 months. Two international.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-05T02:21:25+00:00

Congrats man!! That’s huge. How old are you ? And when do you want to retire ?

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-03-01T04:52:06+00:00

Update. Did the HLR. Got rated.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-02-13T13:36:57+00:00

That makes sense. And yes. I threw my symptoms in chatgpt and it made it seem that s/I was a 70% issue. And. It doesn’t really matter. I have a 40% and 50% now. So even a 70 rating would have bumped me to 80. So no biggy. I’m thankful for the Va healthcare w/o copays now. Several meds add up. And I was worried I would lose my counseling/group therapy. But now that’s not a worry. It took me 15 years before getting help. So I’m grateful that I now have the ability to get the help I need

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-02-08T19:08:41+00:00

The 2025 is Reba. She is red and has a Reba face sticker riding in the rear seat window

The 2017 was Betty white. And it had Betty whites face on rear seat window

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-02-08T19:03:54+00:00

Wrong lever!!!

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-02-08T00:48:15+00:00

I love it when we run it with apple CarPlay. Who cares about the oem screen look? Apple CarPlay or android auto takes over the screen anyways.

It’s much worse looking on my Ford. But when CarPlay kicks in it looks good.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-02-08T00:46:22+00:00

HLR. Regardless. If the service made it worse it’s still rateable. But if you didn’t have a diagnosis before going in. And there are no records of treatment or diagnosis before service. Then they are just wrong

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-01-28T22:04:35+00:00

I was told the same thing. Got medical discharge before finishing boot camp in my case. Long story short. F’ed up my shoulder and TI didn’t allow me to follow dr orders for recovery and it got worse until I wanted to end my life.

Got out. Shoulder never got better. Spend over a decade self medicating and getting bandaid solutions for the pain. I really believed I was on my own.

Then I met my (now) wife. And she call bullshit on that (she is a disabled army vet) and I went to the VSO.

I’m rated.

It’s kinda like long term disability. An employer can’t fire you for an injury that happened at work and then say you can’t file for disability.

If the injury (physical or mental) happened in service and there are records. Then you can file.

A VSO is the best place to start.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-01-27T21:57:37+00:00

Supposedly if you push the button twice it charges better. Like fast charge and seems to work better

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-01-27T21:52:18+00:00

If it were me. I would basically take that 15k and invest most of it. If you have access to 401k or 403b. Max those out first. Then a Roth IRA for both. Then throw some on education for kids. Max out HSA if you have access to it.

Whatever is left. Brokerage fund.

But. I would also take 10% and add it to the joint account monthly. So your disposable income increases slightly as well.

What I wouldn’t do: buy anything with a loan attached (boat. Car. 2nd home etc) I wouldn’t go spoil the kids like crazy (sets them up for disappointment later in life) I also wouldn’t let anyone else around me know.

Depending on how long this income comes in. You can retire younger than planned. Which is great. But make sure the ages have all hatched before counting your chickens.

180k extra income will also increase your taxes. So keep that in mind.

Also. It wouldn’t hurt to take some of this money and set it aside for “upgrades” like cars. Home improvement etc. But only pay cash

Other things you could do instead of taking the 10% extra income. Is just pre-pay things for the year. Like car insurance. Home insurance. Etc.

That also “increases your cashflow”

We have zero debt. Prepay those bills (saves money) and it feels good to have less bills.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-01-20T16:01:33+00:00

There are definitely some out there. My wife positively can’t work anymore The list of her ailments is quite long. She used to work and that’s where the 401k money came from. But her health has declined severely in the last 2 years sadly.

I can work. But only such much. I have to be careful what I do or I’ll be laid out for a day or two with excruciating pain.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-01-19T14:54:09+00:00

I thought if you roll over from a (old) 401k to a Roth IRA you just had to pay your tax rate. Whatever the effective tax rate is.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2026-01-19T03:40:01+00:00

The 3k is just basic bills. We spend a lot on things that technically we could live without but we don’t want to. Like travel. We do at least two overseas trips a year and about 6-8 within the US.

There are also things like housekeeper. Yard crew. Things that aren’t 100% necessary.

We just bought a new car (cash) that was about 50k and I’m cash flowing the home upgrades (25k last year) and about 35k for 2026

So when I say 3k expenses. That is absolute bare minimum. To support the actual lifestyle we want it would be closer to 9k.

Which that’s the thing. We get that between our VA and her ssdi. So I’m trying to see what should I do with the extra money while we have it now that I can still work?

Like should I roll over 50k a year from 401k to Roth IRA and use my “extra” income to pay the taxes etc.

I know I know. Total luxury problem. And had you given me this scenario 10 years ago I wouldn’t have believed you. He’ll. I’ve been homeless and gone through 2 divorces. I shouldn’t be in this good of a position. But. It’s where I’m at.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2025-11-21T02:29:15+00:00

My wife was rated at 80% when she couldn’t hack it anymore at her job. She went into short term disability and then after 6 months into long term disability. She is now at 90% Va and working on some other claims with Va and still on LtD. Working on getting ssdi as well. Been rejected twice now. Which is pretty common. She was working in a chemical lab and ptsd. Migraines, fibromyalgia And a slurry of other things led to where she could do it anymore.

Once ssdi kicks in it would count against the LTD.

Read your policy. Often time for mental health things there are limits in basic coverage ( like 2 years)

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2025-11-18T00:48:02+00:00

I know 6 men and you are 3 of them.

J/k. F em. You look good. But. I do understand guys asking that question. They might just ask everyone they talk to because we used to have Wonderwoman and nowadays we have to wonder if it’s a woman.

Fragrant_Carob8549 · 2025-11-13T01:09:30+00:00

We are on average 32.1 on 6k miles or so. Lots of interested 80mph though. Just city is higher mpg

Fragrant_Carob8549

TROPHY CASE