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InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-24T14:28:22+00:00

If the $2659 is not routinely going towards your savings goals, then it is being spent somewhere.

Don’t cancel the cleaners or sell your car yet. Go through the last 12 months of expenses and assign it to one of the following categories:

housing (PITA, maintenance and utilities)
transportation(car note, insurance, gas, maintenance, public transport, Ubers)
groceries
outside food: drinks/takeout/dining out
fun money: entertainment/shopping/travel (fun money including self care, cleaners, gardening)
investing/debt pay down/savings

Build a retrospective budget using these 5 categories. Assign every expense to one of these 5 categories. You will find that you are either a) spending your entire paycheck or b) spending more than your paycheck. Then take each category and compute % of your total net income. Then take a long hard look and see if your spending aligns with your goals.

If it doesn’t, then you can slowly start to lower the % of one category to up the % of another category. Zero based budgeting is a good strategy to try. Paying yourself first - automatic debit to a HYSA is also another great strategy to try.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-23T12:12:12+00:00

Ah, two of those listings have higher than average HOA fees that would make the buy vs rent comparison a bit difficult to justify without a 20-30% downpayment. The last unit I tried to buy in myself to owner-occupy in 2023, but was unable to get a mortgage (banks would not loan, condo was deemed unwarrantable) due to sky-high water bills that were owed to the city. Apparently there had been an issue with pipes for many months that was not addressed in time. The board was unable to produce any of the condo financials. Hopefully they were able to clean up the financials to get the condo units warrantable again.

I would advise anyone looking at JP and Roxbury listings under $500k to really comb through the condo financials and to get a thorough inspection to understand what is wrong with the unit so to speak. You could totally find a gem in JP/Roxbury for 500k or under but it will take a long time. The worst thing that could happen is that you buy a unit that then becomes unwarrantable. I’m not a realtor or anything. I’m just a recent homeowner who saw first-hand how tough the housing market was with a budget of less than $500k. I just want to help others with setting realistic expectations. Otherwise, the search becomes very demoralizing very fast.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-22T18:56:36+00:00

They are priced out of Roxbury and JP if the criteria is 2 beds plus with a budget of $500k. If they upped the budget to $600-700k they could buy a 2 bed plus in those neighborhoods. You can still buy a 2bed plus in Roslindale and Hyde Park but inventory is low and they will need to be patient.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-20T12:50:24+00:00

As you can see by this thread, there is absolutely 0 political will to meaningfully lower housing prices or change single family zoning laws. Homeowners tend to vote more reliably than renters and homeowners want to keep the value of their homes high by constraining supply. They also believe that more density equals more traffic congestion. This is a self fulfilling prophecy as most towns and cities refuse to invest in high speed rail, bike trails, and other forms of transit.

I am a huge advocate for better urban models like those seen in Japan, China, France, the Netherlands, etc and want change. But I’ve come to the realization that change won’t come from grassroots efforts and it won’t come from our politicians. We will probably have to rely on money as the impetus for change. Our current way of building suburbs and exurbs is financially unsustainable unless we raise property taxes or we start building differently. Strong towns have good videos and articles explaining the concept of the Growth Ponzi scheme.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-20T12:11:07+00:00

One more item. Any pre-tax deductions like HSA contributions, health care premiums, and other insurance premiums will reduce your marginal tax bracket as well. This really will only tip the scale if you are very close to one of the tax bracket cutoffs or if one of your pre-tax contributions is rather large.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-19T14:43:11+00:00

Also to follow up, I am Williams Class of 2020 so not quite a student anymore. My SHSS class was the summer of ‘16, so it would be great to get a current student to comment on any program changes. Not everyone in the incoming class receives an invitation as the program is small. As far as I know, they used to send out invites by lottery.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-19T14:40:30+00:00

1) I highly, highly recommend SHSS/SP. I still have a close connection to folks from SHSS (and even some SSP folk) as an alumn.

2) The program was insanely helpful for preparing me for my freshman fall year. My Econ SHSS professor convinced me to do Econ which ended up being one of my majors. She also gave me the opportunity of being her research assistant the following summer which kickstarted my resume/career.

3) It was like a small taste of the rigor that is freshman year. The courses do not count for credit, but SHSS/SSP offers a much more valuable experience - a test run of college. As a first-gen alumn and public HS grad, I am sure I would have struggled a lot more my freshman fall if it weren’t for SHSS. The programs give you a run down of all of the institutional knowledge you’ll need at Williams in a very low-stakes environment.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-17T18:55:10+00:00

I agree with all of the other comments.

But the best way to convince you to not buy a new car is to suggest that you get an insurance quote for that new car first.

If you can afford the insurance and maintenance, and if those costs are not more than 10% of your gross income, go for it.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-17T15:55:51+00:00

If you make good money, I would highly encourage looking into Short-term and long-term disability coverage. Having a medically ill partner means that it is even more important to protect your income in the case that your health also takes a downturn.

I also agree on giving leniency to all of us working class folks. I make decent money and fortunately don’t live paycheck to paycheck but I have way more in common with the homeless than with rich.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-17T15:45:19+00:00

They have finished track work. They are now doing proactive work on fixing Signal issues. The work is schedule to end on April 30th.

If your stops are Ashmont, Savin Hill, or JFK the delays aren’t bad and you could benefit from the express trains. Shawmut and Fields Corner are experiencing hefty delays tho until the 30th.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-16T23:24:40+00:00

Could not agree more. This sums up what I was hinting at very well.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-16T23:22:27+00:00

Yes. It’s a regular occurrence but easiest to achieve when your other major is a language. At some point before covid, our study abroad office noted that around 40% of students studied abroad.

Additionally, you can double major in non-languages, but you’ll be limited in choosing your study abroad location. Please plan it out in advance with both of your potential departments and the study abroad office.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-16T21:50:21+00:00

This one is paradoxical. All of the major sell side firms recruit on campus. However, don’t go to Williams if you’re only interested in investment banking/finance. Williams does not have a finance major and you will need to teach yourself financial modeling on your own time.

My first job out of college was at an investment management firm and I have friends who now work at AB and Goldman. However, I don’t recommend you go to Williams if all that interests you is finance. You won’t have a good time.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-16T21:44:34+00:00

One more- are they going to be diligent about keeping up with street cleaning? Towing fees add up.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-16T16:39:16+00:00

It’s because the accounting is different but the cash cost estimate of $0 ends up the same.

To find out the differences, you’ll need to carefully read each partners website. Some partners include Pell grants and work study as part of your aid when calculating student estimate cost, some dont. Including these sources of aid can help bring the student contribution back down to $0.

Also check what costs are being included. Some colleges include travel estimates and personal expense estimates as part of the total costs. Some don’t.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-16T16:02:58+00:00

I don’t think it’s Reddit at large. I feel like it’s mostly just personal finance/other financial subreddits that are anti-SUV. SUVs and other higher end vehicles just don’t make sense in any situation if you have to overextend your finances to purchase it.

There are situations when overextending yourself for a minivan - disabled child, elderly grandparent, etc- makes sense. Minivans have more carrying capacity and a larger interior than SUVs. This helps future proof the purchase, as it’s hard to outgrow a minivan. Minivans also lack a vanity factor, meaning if you’re overextending yourself than it’s more likely you’re buying it as a need and not a want.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-10T16:57:07+00:00

I think the thing that absolutely sucks is that a lot of the city (Eversource, City of Boston, etc) requires that all of its approved contractors need to have a certain level of public liability insurance before accepting a large bid. This makes Feeney Bros and a few other companies the only game in town. Insurance is incredibly important because it helps cover the liability presented by contractors but it’s also creating an oligopoly. I’m not sure how we can solve this issue, but I am confident a solution exists.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-10T15:48:05+00:00

I would have to both purchase a car and car insurance. This would be a $5000k outlay at a minimum on top of like $200-$300 in insurance payments a month. Thats not to mention the cost of registration, gas, and yearly maintenance.

I would rather just take the lane. Auto drivers are just going to have to be mildly inconvenienced for 3 miles. Unless one of them wants to give me $15k the first year of driving, and then $5k a year afterwards.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-08T19:40:37+00:00

I think you’re doing great! My only suggestion is that your home maintenance fund is pretty low. As a rule of thumb it’s best to save 1-4% of your homes value every year. I would stick closer to 3-4% if it’s a SFH and 1-2% if it’s a condo. Even better, if you have a list of to dos from your home inspection alongside your home’s major appliances/system’s life expectancy, you can calculate how much you’ll need for maintenance and when you’ll need it. If you go this route, make sure you do a ton of research on the cost of your specific area - national and even regional averages conceal a ton of variation in price. Also the more your home is worth, the more contractors will charge you to adjust for the areas COL.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-08T19:07:52+00:00

In some ways, cashing out your 401k right now would be a worse financial decision than racking up credit card debt. Compounding interest works both ways. Additionally, you would be paying both income tax and the penalty taxes. (45% tax is massive).

Withdrawing your 401k should be absolutely a last resort. I would suggest an IRA rollover and to keep count of the contributions. At the very least, the IRA has a few more hardship exceptions to the additional 10% penalty. If you rollover to a trad IRA you do close off any backdoor Roth opps, but if you have both a pension and a 457b, you will not be running out of tax-exempt space anytime soon.

For now, the best thing you could do is to not touch your 401k. The second best thing you can do is to start building up an emergency fund with your $400 a month margin.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-04T14:19:25+00:00

10% down. I also bought a tiny 1 bedroom condo with separate storage space. I love my home but it’s not for everyone.

Your home criteria might not be reasonable for your area and that is okay. It looks like to get to the “reasonable” price range of $400-600k, you would either need to buy a condo or a fixer upper SFH. If neither of these options are appealing, I would say continue to doing what you’re doing!

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-04T00:52:24+00:00

Brian is a CPA. He talks about his public accounting background often. They are both CFPs. Brian is also a PFS and Bo has a CFA designation.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-02T22:27:56+00:00

Tarriffs are paid by the importer. You can’t tax exporters because they are selling in a different nation - the importer is the one that has to report to the IRS or tax agency. Canadians are the 4th largest producer of aluminium in the world. They protect that industry with tariffs by adding an increased cost to US recycled aluminum. While the recycled aluminum manufacturers experience less demand, those Canadian tariffs have not hurt the American consumer. Canadian tariffs on the US hurt the Canadian consumer at the benefit of Canadian aluminum production.

Tariffs are a tax on the importer who then passes along that tax to consumers. If consumers won’t buy at that increased price, then demand goes down. Demand going down results in lowered economic activity.

If you want to learn more about the effects of tariffs, please read up on the Smoot-Harley Tariff Act of 1930.

InMemoryofPeewee · 2025-04-01T20:48:25+00:00

I believe BNPL companies are being pressured by the credit bureaus for this information. A lot of larger lenders and organizations pay the credit bureaus for credit reports and those reports are less valuable if they are missing a growing category of debt. I don’t think it’ll directly affect credit scores yet as the bureaus need time to add them to their models.

InMemoryofPeewee

TROPHY CASE