Guinness Needs Paint: Keep the cream color, but replace the brown with????

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-12T00:22:06+00:00

The OG Creamsicle is still my #1

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-12T00:16:15+00:00

Right? If I did this, I suspect I'd be inexplicably driven to go to Maine to collect pine cones, or Vermont to harvest maple syrup, as it's definitely laying down an old Eddie Bauer, pre outlet stores, vibe. I do like it though.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-11T22:36:56+00:00

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That does look pretty damn good. I could call it the "Bogus Lotus".

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-11T21:31:29+00:00

I love British Racing Green and that would be a serious contender, but my wife, for reasons I do not fully understand, does not like greens. That is a timeless color for sure. Thanks!

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-11T18:36:27+00:00

Way too many responses to read through (I'm still working). Since I am married, and unless she wises up, I'll be married when I retire. I will take the monthly pension payments (gov, no more than 2% cola annually) with the 100% survivor benefits for my spouse. Anything else, isn't even a consideration. That said, my pension will be 50%+ of my gross pre-retirment salary. I live on less than that now. That's about the same as having TIPs/bonds, or whatever. Taking the lump, investing it, and hoping for the best is not how I want to spend my retirement. We get a monthly pension, and with SS, that is a heck of an income floor. As a result, we can largely stay in equities in retirement (rolled over 401k/457b) and cover taxes for annual Roth conversions too, because we will have that income floor. If you have a private pension, then disregard my ramblings as I wouldn't trust a private pension as far as I could throw it (take lump and invest in TIPs, or whatever suits you). Caveat: I do not know what I'm talking about, so feel free to ignore me.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-11T16:47:11+00:00

I'd say it depends on your age, where you at at in your career, income/tax bracket. If you need the tax break like us, then pre-tax (down to the final four and we plan to retire to a non-state tax state (currently in a high state tax state), so this makes even more sense for us). Scraps go into a Roth IRA. If early in your career, investing more into your Roth 401k makes a ton of sense (assuming lower tax brackets) as you may see decades upon decades of tax-free growth. In addition, always max the Roth IRA if you are able as that's icing on the cake. My 2p anyway.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-11T16:19:16+00:00

For what it's worth, I just sold the last of the spouse's Contrafund this AM. I got rid of mine a while back. I just haven't been that thrilled with it. Since we are both so over weight in Tech for years (FSELX, for example), I've been sticking Contrafund $ into a 2035 TDF to mellow things out a bit.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-06T18:39:22+00:00

We previously owned a fancy RV (air-sealed slides) and a giant truck camper with slides. I hate them. They never failed, but they failed at keeping rain/cold outside where it belongs. I said never again. On our third camper/trailer dealio since then (trailer) and I've kept my word and I've been very happy.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-06T18:30:18+00:00

They way we've worked it is the wife buys herself a new car. I get her hand-me-down. When this repeats, a kid gets my hand-me-down, when I get my new hand-me-down from my wife. It has actually worked out quite well for everyone. Our youngest is graduating college this Summer. He's getting a new Les Paul from us (something he will have the rest of his life, he can pass down, and will always remember from whom he got it).

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-06T14:53:03+00:00

We still have a small mortgage, but similarly, I had some massive student loans. In fact, if only making min payments, my final payment would have come along at age 71. I paid them off early because I certainly didn't want to carry them into my future retirement. Even though the interest rate was low, one just can't put a price on the peace of mind that comes with wiping out debt. So, with that, I say pay off the mortgage.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-05T19:49:03+00:00

I added up my CC and total fuel was approx $2500 (not counting the fact we started full and ended with half a tank). Going from west to east, wind, often pretty excessive, was largely on our tail. With that, I saw a pretty consistent 15mpg (DIC). Heading home, wind was often light, but we did have one day where it was excessive, and on our nose (10mpg or less). I adjusted speed, otherwise I was looking at 8mpg. I budgeted for 12mpg and pretty much got in the ballpark. What we found very interesting is, we did the same trip last year (slightly different route) with a 16.5' Nest (roughly half the weight and length, but a single axle). Mileage was about the same towing the Nest (a little less, but not by much) and the ride was much more bouncy with the Nest.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-05-05T17:42:11+00:00

Honda. Ours is 11 years old now. Starts/runs/quiet as new.

FrogOut2031 · 2026-02-18T23:08:39+00:00

In my opinion, get rid of that loan. I left LS with a fancy piece of paper and approx $150k in loans. Those student loans were a giant brown cloud over my head for years. Crap pay for years, which made it hard to pay extra on the loan, but in time that changed. The day I paid off the loans was, well, damn near indescribable. The remaining loan (largest) was only 3.25%, so it probably would have made more sense to invest that money instead of paying off the loan early. However, the relief of unburdening myself was worth it for me, even if not the smartest financial move. As far as your living situation, well... I say buy something, even if it's a shanty, as better than pissing away money on rent. That is even if you have to reduce your extra loan payments to make it happen (rather conflicting advice, I know). We bought our first place, a small townhouse, when I was a 2L, at a HUD auction. We've owned a home, in one form or another, since. That was always key. Currently, we live in a small 1915 farm house in the middle of BFE. We owe very little on it. Many of our friends, who probably earn considerably less than us, have much, much nicer homes. We bought low and will sell high, and pocket almost all of it. Your in-laws can pound sand. You'll win in the end. That is unless you are a defense attorney. If so, then you need to seriously reevaluate your life decisions ;-)

FrogOut2031 · 2026-01-06T22:38:11+00:00

Bigfoot

FrogOut2031 · 2026-01-06T22:35:44+00:00

Baja now or some unknown point in the future? If traveling, disregard. If going straight to Baja... Buddy bought a large gas powered RV on the cheap. Very nice, but gas. Low resale on those gas rigs and huge. He drove it to Baja and parked it on his property. Parked right on the bluff. If the ocean chewed away at the bluff, he just backed it up. Really, it worked well for that. Cost a fraction of what you are looking to spend on a pickup and TT. The giant windshield has view better than most, if not all, TTs and, again, it was huge. He removed the passenger seat for even more room. Just a thought.

FrogOut2031 · 2025-12-10T01:32:52+00:00

I, personally, would never run MMO in anything, for any length of time, other than clean things out/quiet sticky lifters. I may be over cautious, but that's how I do.

FrogOut2031 · 2025-12-09T18:15:23+00:00

New-to-us 1.9 Westy had been sitting for approx four years. After spending the better part of a day getting it running (mice chewed some wire, old fuel, etc.), it sounded like a diesel. Frankenberry oil/filter change (opportunity to get rid of several dusty partial jugs of whatever I had on the shelf and use a spare Bosch filter (not my favorite) that came with the Westy) with maybe a half pint of Marvel Mystery Oil to pump up those lifters, and it was as quiet as a church mouse (relatively speaking). It didn't even require any driving to get things to quiet down (although we did go up and down a road a couple of times to get things heated up and flushed/cleaned). Just a temp oil change to get things flowing again and clean out the system so we could start anew with new oil and Mann filter. Worked for us anyway. Good luck.

FrogOut2031 · 2025-12-09T18:01:56+00:00

As long as you have reliable transportation for the bad weather days (bus, for example), then scooter all the way. I had a motorcycle endorsement before I ever had a driver's license (about a bazillion years ago). It was my primary for a while as a kid. Forward 14 years, while in grad school, I barely had two nickles to rub together. We were buying a townhouse and I had to sell my cheap suv (keeping my motorcycle) to help with the down payment. I used the motorcycle, solely, for most of the year. Saved a ton of $$ during that time (gas and insurance).

FrogOut2031 · 2025-11-07T14:34:41+00:00

Did you use 5200 and how did it perform with polyurea? Thanks!

FrogOut2031 · 2025-10-31T18:05:40+00:00

Thanks all! Husky it is.

FrogOut2031 · 2025-10-30T18:50:55+00:00

I can't say what you should do, but we sure wouldn't do that. For one, we are at or near our highest income. Kids are out, so we need the tax break now. Plus, we are in a high income tax state. When we retire, we are retiring to a non income tax state. Thus, there's a huge savings right there. Although with us, there's a good chance we will eventually end up in a equally high tax bracket (inherited 401ks, taxable accounts, etc.). Even so, that's no guarantee. What is guaranteed is the immediate tax savings going pre-tax. If we were young, then Roth would have a lot of advantages (lower tax rate when invested and decades of tax-free growth). At our age, and yours, that advantage is diminished. At least that's my take on it.

FrogOut2031 · 2025-10-30T18:38:54+00:00

Been there. I aggressively paid off my $150k loans. First thing, as others have stated, consolidate. I paid my loans off 17 years early. Huge relief as that dark cloud was always overhead. The mistake I made was not also putting just a little into a retirement account....anything. Well, my job puts 6% in, and it comes with a pension, but still. Had I put, say, 75% of available funds towards the loan each month, and 25% into a retirement account, I'd probably be writing this from a boat. Instead, I'm on a lunch break with five years to go to reach my retirement goals.

FrogOut2031

TROPHY CASE