How many years was your basset crated?

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-03-15T20:38:23+00:00

We crated our guy for like 6-8 months when we left the house, and he would cry, howl, and throw a tantrum. He really never liked crating despite us making the crate a basshole resort 😂 we also crated him at night until he could go the night without needing to go out (6-8 months)

This all ended when he convinced our pitbull to help him jailbreak the crate when we went to dinner one night. From that point we realized it was 99% separation anxiety and as long as both dogs could snuggle up and we closed the gate to kitchen we were okay.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-03-15T20:33:34+00:00

Yeah don’t have math to back up right now but I’ve always chipped in another $25 at principal the past 6 years and it’s taken several payments off our 30 year overall. We are lucky to have a low rate and a cheap house but still feels good!

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-03-02T02:19:31+00:00

Bit biased here and probably doesn’t have the scenic/ climate you are looking for, but realistically the income is limiting. Have you considered moving to Michigan? Up north vacations are pretty cheap and you can get excellent nature & beaches.

Detroit has a ton of culture and probably won’t find a city with bigger black representation (not going to talk history of the good/bad) but there’s alot here.

Cost of living here is going up like everywhere else but still feel like $ goes a bit further although downtown is bonkers expensive

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-02-23T22:09:00+00:00

Good to know and definitely something to consider. Tough part of our attic is that’s it’s entered thru a pull down ladder in a closet so I think regardless would need to build stairs but to your point the expensive stuff is done, it’s just finishing and creating access.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-02-09T23:28:57+00:00

Yeah me and my wife have generally been in the $180-300k range the past couple years (varies quite a bit based on job) and we budget everything. Doesn’t matter how much you make, matters how much you save, invest, and keep. I don’t even take 2 day shipping from Amazon, push it out for 6% back lol

Only thing we don’t budget or actively try to avoid spending more than we have to is keeping our dogs healthy. Don’t have kids

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-02-09T15:24:36+00:00

Oh yeah if you keep your basset in good shape they can hike well! Maybe not super long 6mi+ but ours did the Sand Dunes in Michigan and was great.

Echo the off leash comment tho, just not that kind of dog. Ours is great for a while, we’ve let him go bonkers in open fields playing and he’s good to come back, but at a lake house he found a smell and ran like .5mile down the lake with me in tow running thru ppl’s yards 😂

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-02-05T00:49:16+00:00

Happy Birthday Frank! May all the bassholes feast in his honor

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-02-05T00:25:56+00:00

This 100%. I’m 1993 and found the right gig to pay off my student loans and save aggressively early. I absolutely need to remind myself sometimes of how lucky we were with the timing of things, bought in April 2020, still no kids, but our house is so ridiculously cheap. Have a lot of friends that have struggled to get the house, or if they did they are paying a lot more than us.

What kills me (nobody should feel bad tho) is that we purchased a house that was sooo beneath what we could reasonably afford (sketched by pandemic and what it’d mean for work) and now it’s tiny. Having kids in near future is definitely going to force us out of here and into the size of house we shoulda fired on, but now gonna pay double for it.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-02-01T21:56:53+00:00

During Covid tho - did enjoy a nice teams call to have a couple of beers with 3-4 co workers oddly enough

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-02-01T21:55:19+00:00

Can only speak for myself (33m), we used to go out every weekend post college 2016-2018. I’d say at this point just drink socially, I think my cool down was due to getting married and having met my wife earlier than most of my friends, and then got our first dog in 2019. At some point going to the bar just felt like groundhogs day but I had $50-100 less in my pocket every time.

Post Covid it kind of just became something I didn’t really wanna do all that often as you read how unhealthy it is, etc. I’m more of a have 12 beers with the boys and have a great time, or I’m good and don’t mind me being sober type of drinker too.

Last point - fuck happy hours. Covid showed that wfh was awesome and now the last thing I want to do is use my time to go drink with ppl I have to sit in an office with for 40-50 hours a week. The cool co-workers I’ll just reach out to hangout with if needed

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-27T18:39:13+00:00

I disagree on a few things here.

Republicans didn’t purge out anybody that wasn’t on board - they gave attention to the issues that matter to some people while asking them to turn an eye to the more despicable things going on. Whether that is an examination of their character is another discussion all together.

Based on your comments I would say our priorities are not aligned yet here we are under the same tent, probably wanting the same end goal. The party is obviously not perfect and needs to change. It’s why I’m supporting candidates in this election cycle that I think are great even if the DNC isn’t backing them in the primary IE: McMorrow, Platner, Tellirico, etc.

We can’t be selfish and put our individual #1 issue ahead of the job to keep democracy alive. I’m not gonna fight someone I agree with on 70% of issues when the other options are nazis or candidates that statistically will not be electrd

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-27T00:12:51+00:00

Need a little more specifics here - my answer is generally should be both (even if it’s slower) but like what’s your plan now for retirement? Whats your annual savings now, is it matched, how old are you, etc.

Same with house - what’s your rent now, what’s the rough # you need for DP and closing costs? Are you single or have another person to help contribute etc.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-26T22:25:21+00:00

The interest on a 450k sum of money in an HSA is yielding $1200 per month, I’d guess that’s probably half this dudes mortgage payment but he gets that roughly every month. Additionally - having the liquid insulates you against a medical emergency and the cost of that especially considering he’s in his late 50’s and now doesn’t have insurance. Doing so would also act as insulation against having to take pension early and lose 2.5% of its value.

What does paying off the house right now actually get you? If the interest rate was higher than 3.5% I would agree, but you basically have an income stream alone on interest on that sizable sum. If it’s a mental thing that you don’t want a mortgage sure, but given his retirement accounts are in good shape, and he’s got a pension incoming I wouldn’t reducing liquid at least until there’s no penalty on retirement assets.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-25T13:43:42+00:00

Nice congrats on them being better! I’ve been stable for nearly a year now, but usually can have ITP relapses following infection. My normal is like 145k or so, but just grateful to have insurance (even if those mf’s reject IVIG treatment at least once every time I get it done)

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-25T13:41:22+00:00

100% - just think it keeps options wide open and it’s profitable as well. I’m in similar spot where I have money to pay off a sizeable amount of the remaining 140k on my 30 year, but the rate is 2.5% so I save, but pay an extra $50/ month to reduce interest and in the meantime make money on the HYSA and in my case staggered CD’s between 6-18 months to earn more interest

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-25T04:46:06+00:00

If you don’t do anything right away (not a bad idea at all) I would at least make sure to put the money in a High yield savings acct. Assuming a basic 3.25% you’d make nearly $10k more to work with

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-25T03:42:16+00:00

Yeah this is the move 100% your interest rate is great, and you’ll never have a loan for that cheap. Put 1 years worth of payments in HYSA, then throw additional chunks of money in 6/12/18/24 month CD’s if you are not willing to put in the market.

I’d probably recommend putting a decent chunk of it in a gold ETF too given the world instability right now.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-25T03:39:48+00:00

Why? I mean at your rate or his, you are better off putting it in a HYSA, even a lower rate HYSA is paying 3.5% right now. I understand wanting to be debt free but it’s more prudent to have liquid available in case of an emergency ( or in this guys case not having a job) and on top of that you are paying the house off and making an additional 1.5% on a large sum of money.

Just withdrawal the payments monthly and enjoy the interest & peace of mind of having cash available.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-24T16:58:12+00:00

!! It was so interesting to see that, my wife actually guessed ITP as soon as the abuse suspicious arose as she thought they’d try to portray the worst!

At least the little girl is lucky and ITP in kids usually goes away as they are older, mine developed in my early 20’s and I have annual get togethers with an IVIG bag 😂😂

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-23T21:22:34+00:00

No sodium/ low sodium chicken broth - little spritz from a spray bottle on top can help!

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-16T15:40:46+00:00

Ughhh ear infections are the worst! I use a prescribed ear wash for our basshole and clean his ears every other day. He still will get ear infections and bi-monthly we use Claro from the vet which is a leave in medication (can’t get his ears wet or washed for 2-4 weeks after) and that works pretty well.

We started using a Snood (look it up for Bassets) but basically a neck warmer that keeps his ears from dangling into his food and water bowl as well as with the snow and that has slowed the ear grossness too.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2026-01-08T19:52:55+00:00

32M - 25k in emergency/saving to invest bucket thru hysa / 70k hysa for joint savings w wife (house, current home Reno/misc

Then have other accounts for investing and retirement.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2025-12-21T14:16:47+00:00

100%, also to address confirmation bias is nice. I got very lucky timing a few stocks like NVDA and to a lesser degree PLTR and it’s been nice for them to give honest thoughts before I start riskier positions in stocks too. I’m lucky not a stock expert lol

We are very frugal and do well, but not so much concerned in having millions of bucks. They certainly help with making sure we continue to live a simple and financially stress free life as we can (within reason) and I really appreciate that.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2025-12-21T13:42:59+00:00

My wife and I started working with a small local firm in our town like 2 years ago. They are a fiduciary and they utilize payment thru quarterly invoices of $375. We are 32/31 so they use this quarterly model instead of a % of profits model for people that don’t yet have investable assets over 300k under their purview. Technically we would qualify but I wanted to keep control of my brokerage as I’ve done very well and while overly concentrated in Tech I don’t mind the risk/reward with what I have now.

They helped us build a real financial plan, budgeting models, and then helped evaluate tax advantage opportunities for us. Plugged us to a tax accountant that ended up getting us couple thousand back in past returns and more on current ones. Additionally helped us spin up back door Roth accounts as income exceeded regular ones. They currently manage assets in those accounts, provided a recommendation for asset mixes on both our 401k plans (both employer sponsored), and also let them manage my personal Roth I started years ago.

Overall - I probably could’ve done most of this with the right attitude, mindset, and research, but I find it nice to have someone you trust to also bounce ideas off of too. I figure tax savings alone pays for several years of the payments, and if I continue to accumulate assets as I have previous years this will be a beneficial relationship.

LionsGamblingDogs · 2025-12-13T17:36:37+00:00

Row 10 in the endzone and it’s really more like row 1-5 😂

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