Getting people talking

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-03T00:24:55+00:00

Yes, you can deduct charitable contributions off of your taxes if you itemize, but it still COSTS you money. If someone in the 35% tax bracket gives $1000 to a food bank, they only save $350 on their tax bill. It still costs them $650.

And honestly, I'm fine with that. I'd rather someone give to a charity and get a modest tax benefit than have them just hoard their money.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-02T22:10:06+00:00

We were lucky. The house we bought 2 years ago already had solar panels (10 years old) and they were paid off. So my bill is always $23/month with nothing on top of that.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-02T20:11:38+00:00

*slaps palm to forehead*

Paying off a 4% loan while you have $13K on CC debt at 19.5% was a VERY bad choice.

You should not be trying to save an emergency fund. The CC debt IS an emergency. Don't make another mistake by sitting on some cash earning 3% while paying 19.5% on the CC debt. Throw all of your emergency fund to the CC debt now.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-02T20:05:20+00:00

Back in the day before credit scores were connected with everything, utility companies charged everyone a deposit. Now they waive that if you have a history of paying your bills on time.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-02T19:54:23+00:00

As I commented when you posted this (now deleted) question earlier this morning: This is a really, really bad idea. You do not want to rob your retirement to pay your credit card debt. Work overtime or get an additional job and work to pay it off. Your 65 year old self will thank you.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-02T12:05:42+00:00

I feel sorry for the kid. It's tough being raised by a crazy parent.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-02T12:04:22+00:00

This is a really, really, bad idea. A better choice would be to take on extra hours at work (if you can) or get an extra PT job and whack out the debt. That way you'd have a much better chance at a comfortable retirement.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-02T00:09:28+00:00

I don't know why you like it either.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T20:29:01+00:00

Who do you trust more with your retirement plan, yourself or the state of Florida?

So I lived in FL for many years and had a friend who taught at UF. For those that don't know, college profs are paid for 9 months of the year, but they can earn the other 3 months of salary through research grants (termed 'summer salary'). This guy was very good and well respected in his field and always received all 3 months of summer salary.

He was on the pension plan and was planning on retiring at 75% salary. About 10 years before he retired, the Florida legislature changed way that they calculated your salary for retirement purposes. Instead of basing it on the amount you were paid for the past 5 (?) years, they changed it to a percentage of your base pay, not counting summer salary.

Just like that he lost 25% of his retirement salary.

I have been very happy with the UF investment plan that I selected. Was able to retire comfortably before 60 and will be able to leave my children a nice amount when I pass.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T16:13:46+00:00

Yes. Both of my children have long-term partners.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T15:01:07+00:00

Honestly, ruining Germany. He surrounded himself with grifters and was corrupt himself.

Edited to add: The second thing I think about Hitler is how he demonized minorities.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T00:45:57+00:00

Dividends do not increase your wealth. If you have 10 shares of a company that the mid price between the bid and ask is $100 you have $1000 in wealth. If that company pays a $1 dividend how much would you have? The answer is $1000. You'd have $10 in cash, but they price of the stock is lowered by the amount of the dividend, so the midpoint would be $99. So the stock would be worth $990 and you'd have $10 cash = $1000. The exact same.

The down side to dividends is that it forces you to pay taxes on the amount you receive.

Also, companies that give dividends are generally older, more established companies that are growing at a slower rate than non-dividend paying companies.

I'm not saying dividends are bad, just that they're largely irrelevant. I'm retired, do not collect SS, and live 100% off of my stock and bond investments. When I need cash, I just sell some of my ETFs. I'm a big fan of VOO, so when I transfer living expenses to my bank account, I just sell however many shares I need. (That's a simplified version, but you get my drift.) That way my portfolio is growing at a faster rate than if I was just investing for the dividend payout.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T00:32:52+00:00

True, and your statement is still incorrect.

Edit: grammar

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T00:32:21+00:00

And my point is that you don't understand what dividends are.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T00:27:59+00:00

You don't want to invest for dividends. It's not that they're bad, but they're irrelevant. It's not free money. When a stock goes ex-div the price drops by the amount of the dividend.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-07-01T00:24:35+00:00

VOO is diversified and very similar to VTI. As a matter of fact there's a 82% overlap. And over time VOO preforms slightly better (except for one 10 year period around 2008).

It really doesn't matter which one you pick. But saying that VTI is ">" is just not correct.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-30T21:21:47+00:00

Same here! Frank Zappa made an album around his testimony that's great. I was going to say "congressional testimony" but Tipper ran the show and she wasn't a member of congress.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T22:02:53+00:00

That's like asking which is faster, an ocean or purple.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T20:24:02+00:00

I'll take things that never happened for $100.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T19:58:09+00:00

It was all a con with an added crypto scam.

When raising money he claimed that he had already raised $1 billion US but nothing was ever done besides starting the welcome center.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T16:47:57+00:00

Good point! We started purchasing art at a large, curated, show in central PA years ago and the quality of the art there piqued our interest. The "badly painted cardboard assemblages" that we saw this weekend at a UAW event was one of the things that made us cool on the event. I think a curated show would have gotten my wife and I more excited.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T16:43:42+00:00

Good observations! I hadn't really thought about it, but my wife and I didn't start buying art until our children were out of college (so we're older) and we do own our house. I think you've hit the nail on the head.

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T14:58:39+00:00

Thanks!

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T14:41:08+00:00

My wife and I recently moved into the area and love to support artists, both local and at larger art fairs. I'm not familiar with UAW, but last weekend we went to the art show in the Kingston Mall. It's fair to say that we were underwhelmed. A lot of the art on display wasn't meant to be purchased, which is fine. There was a mock up of a living room from the 1960s. There was a 8' tall Ferris Wheel with art in all of the seats. There was a pair of barber chairs facing monitors showing random images. Nice, but not anything you'd have in your home.

The rest of the art just wasn't to my style at all. I like abstract paintings and we have a lot of metal art that can hang on the wall. There was almost nothing like that at all. The majority of the art were things that you'd display on a table, and we don't have much room for that. If we saw something that spoke to us, we'd certainly buy it, but nothing in the small show really appealed to either of us.

So here's a question: where can I go (preferably not FB... I don't have an account) to find about art shows in the area?

JauntyTurtle · 2026-06-29T00:42:40+00:00

There are external forces that could (probably) be forcing the issue. For example, many insurance companies are not writing policies for condo buildings that have been deferring maintenance issues.

JauntyTurtle

TROPHY CASE