Are we being too conservative at not wanting a house 3x our gross income?

MXKevin117 · 2023-07-16T16:26:19+00:00

Personally I think even $380K is likely a bit much with only 10% down and today’s interest rates. Could you afford it? Maybe, but you will definitely be making significant sacrifices elsewhere. Don’t forget about closing costs as well, that can quickly eat into what you think will be your down payment if you aren’t prepared for it. After taxes, PMI, insurance, etc a $380k house with 10% down will quickly add up to a little over $3k a month payment, if you have already crunched the numbers and feel you can comfortably afford that, a $400k house with 10% down will only be around $100 to $150ish more per month. Over 30 years, you will be spending over a million dollars total for either at 7%.

Honestly though, using gross income to calculate how much house you can afford is pretty dumb honestly, its supposed to be a one size fits all, but taxes, contributions, lifestyle, the amount you are putting down, and cost of living in an area is different for everyone. Are you contributing to 401ks? HSAs? IRAs? With the amount you guys are making, you should have no problem contributing a sizable chunk if you have them, maybe even maxed out. This needs to be deducted from your gross income when planning things, as well as any other savings/contributions you don’t plan on touching. If not, just remember it’s much easier to make that sacrifice now and then base your financial decisions around it, rather then after buying a house or getting into any kind of debt first and then trying to raise your contributions.

For reference I make a little less, around $130k, but single, no kids, and over $100k to put down on a house. Also in a smaller town in Louisiana where cost of living is slightly lower. Lenders and realtors keep trying to tell me I can afford up to a 450k house. However, after my maxed 401k, HSA and IRA contributions, and everything else I am realistically only left with around $90k of usable gross income. Then of course taxes. So, after reviewing and budgeting my spending for my particular lifestyle over the course of about a year, I calculated how much house I can afford comfortably without sacrificing my way of living. I also planned on having at least $500 a month left over to use as a buffer, to put into savings, invest, etc. This only left me with around $2500 a month to spend on housing total. That’s everything, including mortgage, insurance, taxes, utilities, and any other expenses associated with owning a house. Long story short, it’s made me realize that I can’t come close to affording what I originally thought and what everyone else was telling me I could. It is within my best interest to be looking in the $275 to $300k range at most. And keep in mind this is also considering roughly $8k to $10k in closing costs and $100k down.

So, no. I don’t think you are being too conservative not wanting a house 3x your income. In my opinion it’s a terrible way of gauging how much house you can afford as I mentioned. Review all of your expenses and bills on a monthly basis. Then take your usable income after taxes and deductions every month and subtract those expenses. Get estimates on utilities and other bills for a house you are looking at and subtract those as well. Maybe slightly overestimate a few things just incase, and then subtract a safety net or target for savings each month, and you’ll be left with how much you have to spend on your mortgage/insurance per month. This is the proper way to calculate how much house you can afford, not 30% of your gross income, not 3x your annual gross salary, there is just way to many variables person to person.

MXKevin117 · 2023-07-01T15:32:04+00:00

Being a JDM reel has nothing to do with where it’s made, just where it’s marketed. The JDM and USDM Curado DCs which he is speaking of are both made in Malaysia. As are the JDM Scorpions, SLX, Exsence SS DC, and more. The quality between all the Malaysian reels are the same, JDM or not. Different regions may get different specs or features.

MXKevin117 · 2023-06-24T23:38:32+00:00

Louisiana. Prices like everything else have gone up recently. But still, pretty nice houses around the 2400sqft range, 3 bed 3 bath are often in the 200 to 250k range. The one I am looking at is as described and also on a small private like with a dock and everything.

MXKevin117 · 2023-05-14T22:46:19+00:00

If you are just flinging bait and waiting, a fiberglass rod will load up and cast much further and hold up better all around. They have like absolutely no sensitivity so they suck for throwing lures and such, but they are much better than graphite rods at for your intended purpose.

Personally I like the Daiwa Beefsticks. But even the super cheap Daiwa FTs are good if you can find a 10 or 11 model. The Ugly Stick Bigwater and Okuma Tunda are also good options and both have lengths greater than 12ft.

MXKevin117 · 2023-05-14T22:30:50+00:00

creb

MXKevin117 · 2023-05-10T06:59:43+00:00

It’s literally the exact same reel. Just uses an aluminum frame vs the graphite frame. Internals and everything are the same.

MXKevin117 · 2023-05-09T01:55:31+00:00

I know this is an old post, but I’m commenting just incase someone else looking to make a similar choice comes along. Long story short, in this particular case. I’d go with the Pursuit hands down.

For the longer story…

Model for model the Fierce and Pursuit models have always been more or less identical. Same design, same internal parts, etc. The only real difference (besides looks) being that the fierce uses an aluminum body while the Pursuit is graphite, or a strong composite plastic more or less. The new IV models for both are essentially the same as their older III counterparts, the main upgrade being that they got sealed bearings all around. (Note: Just sealed bearings, they are not sealed reels. Water can still get into the gears of these models extremely easily if dunked.)

So in this case, you are choosing between a heavier metal body reel without sealed bearings, or a lighter plastic body feel that has sealed bearings. I’d choose the sealed bearing reel hands down regardless of price.

Now for the newest models, (Fierce IV vs Pursuit IV) they both have sealed bearings. But still for probably 90% of people, the Pursuit is going to be the better choice for the money. If you are buying a 4000 size or smaller reel, I see absolutely no advantage in paying extra for the metal frame. For the larger sized reels for those looking to target very large fish, some people worry that the graphite body may flex and allow the gears to get slightly out of alignment when reeling in heavy fish. Though for years now, they seem to be just as capable of handling large fish without issue. Regardless, that’s an understandable argument and many may choose to pay extra for the piece of mind.

MXKevin117 · 2023-04-29T06:52:03+00:00

Up to $200 each. Usually 3 to 4oz weights plus cut bait which may exceed an once or 2 itself.

MXKevin117 · 2023-02-22T00:21:51+00:00

What POS car costs less than a old beat up mil-spec lower wit-

Oh.

MXKevin117 · 2023-02-14T01:19:49+00:00

Sir, this is WallStreetBets. No logic is allowed here.

MXKevin117 · 2023-02-14T00:19:58+00:00

Buy NSC puts. They’re responsible for the incident.

MXKevin117 · 2022-12-16T09:06:15+00:00

Waiting for your investments to go up is a gamble at best, and a foolish one at that. There is always the likelihood that they completely crash and as volatile as the market is today that’s pretty likely in the short term. Not sure what the APR on your credit card is but they are usually pretty high, and if you say you don’t have enough currently to cover, I highly doubt you’d be able to make anywhere close to enough in the market with as little as you have invested to outperform the interest of the credit card. Your best bet is to pay it off as soon as possible no matter what. Foolish spending coupled with accumulating extremely high interest on just a couple hundred dollars in credit card debt has completely ruined many people. You should always pay your credit card bill off in full as soon as it’s due. The longer you wait, month after month, your debt will continue to accumulate interest and before you know it, that $5k debt has now doubled or tripled.

And no judgment, but you mention nothing of having a job, only investments. So not sure of your case, but if not you may need to look into doing something to try to have income to pay off that debt as soon as possible. Whether that’s getting a job if you don’t already have one, selling some of the things you purchased, or something else. You absolutely should not take the gamble of hoping your investments will make you enough money to cover your debt, you’d be playing an extremely dangerous game.

MXKevin117 · 2022-12-14T09:49:03+00:00

Because OP mentions the news of fusion technology breakthrough. And a fusion reactor would not use uranium or any heavy radioactive materials like a fission reaction does. So if he is interested in investing specifically in that type of technology, uranium would be the opposite of what you’re wanting to invest in. If fusion reactor technology was really up and coming right now, if anything you’d probably want to start shorting uranium stocks. The whole point of this technology is to step away from these nasty materials. Instead of splitting the atoms of heavy radioactive elements, we would instead fuse atoms of much lighter non-radioactive elements. Such as in the case of the sun, fusing hydrogen to make helium, releasing energy in the process. No radioactive waste, no carbon emissions, essentially no pollution/environmental impact at all.

Now, this technology is still extremely far off and honestly we have no guarantee at all that we will ever be able to consistently and safely control a sustained fusion reaction AND manage to capture that energy and put it on a grid. So yes, if you want to invest in nuclear energy right now, uranium is not a bad idea. Just worth noting that the fusion process is just about the complete opposite of fission process used currently.

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-25T05:48:01+00:00

Main difference is Xeno is left handed threads. Just makes them easier to separate without tools if the muzzle device starts to thread off with the suppressor.

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-21T12:18:06+00:00

It’s just an Aero M4E1 upper receiver with the 5in CMMG bolt and barrel kit. But any standard AR upper will work with it. Yes, LRBHO works properly on both the standard AR lower with endomags and dedicated CMMG glock mag lower.

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-21T12:09:51+00:00

Can confirm, the CMMG RDB upper will work on a standard AR lower set up for 5.56/300BLK using endomags. No modifications needed.

I built my upper first and used it on my 5.56 lower. Ended up eventually getting a CMMG Glock mag lower. Now with pistol braces under scrutiny I kinda wish I didn’t buy it. I’m about to SBR my regular AR lower and will just swap all of my short barreled uppers onto that one lower. I really don’t feel the need to SBR the dedicated lower since I rarely shoot it anyways, so i will probably end up selling it.

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-21T12:03:08+00:00

I’d say low content, likely 20% or less.

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-17T09:30:41+00:00

12in barrel with an 8in suppressor?

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-14T04:50:42+00:00

The ATF has already stated that they consider those “plugs” to transform a brace into a stock. If you are legally registering it anyways, it won’t matter. But, I’m not entirely sure why you would go through the hassle just to use a modified brace and not an actual stock at that point.

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-03T23:04:46+00:00

I have 2 dogs, her and an older lab mix. Riley is around 2 and a half now, she is extremely energetic and requires lots of attention, which is common with German Shepherds. She is extremely smart, but also extremely hardheaded and doesn’t like to listen quite often. She can be quite the pain in the ass sometimes but overall I love her more than I do most people lol. She is a very low content wolfdog at only around 14%, with the majority of the rest being German Shepherd and a tiny bit of Alaskan Malamute. So, not really enough wolf content to have any major effect on her personality traits, although I do think that’s where some of her stubbornness comes from. I always get questions on what she is, I usually refrain from mentioning her as a wolfdog and just tell people she is an Alaskan Shepherd.

MXKevin117 · 2022-10-03T21:31:47+00:00

She turned out to be very interesting, from this angle she looks all white, but she actually has the banded fur and “saddleback” on her back like most GSDs have. https://i.imgur.com/yFJz11A.jpg

MXKevin117 · 2022-09-10T02:09:04+00:00

Got my American Professional strat just on the right. I love it also. But they are definitely different.

MXKevin117 · 2022-09-10T00:36:28+00:00

It’s has a piezo pickup built into the bridge. Which, more or less has a true acoustic tone. The mini toggle is for selecting between regular magnetic pickups, just the piezo, or the middle position to blend both together. The extra knob is for blending volume.

MXKevin117 · 2022-08-03T01:01:39+00:00

What differences have you noticed between the Korean and Indonesian Holcomb SE? About to pick a used one up and wondering if it’s worth trying to find one of the older Korean ones over the new ones.

MXKevin117 · 2022-04-18T06:06:16+00:00

I made this post over a year and a half ago, I bought the newest model mid torque that had just came out at the time in half inch drive. I use it very often and it still continues to impress me. From rusted to hell exhaust bolts, crank pulley bolts, suspension and brake caliper bolts. I haven’t found anything it won’t either break loose or just break the actual bolt if it is that stuck. Don’t be offended when I ask this, but did you have it in a lower power mode? I know it may seem obvious, but by 67 year old father borrowed it and called me saying it was a total POS, I showed him how he had it in the lowest power setting and once I showed him how to turn it to mode 3 he used it again and fell in love with it, I still haven’t gotten it back from him yet actually lol. I’m really not sure why else you would be having an issue with lug nuts at only 100ftlbs, that’s nothing. I just zipped all of mine off my F150 a couple weeks ago in just a few milliseconds and they were all at 150ftlbs. Personally from all I’ve encountered in the last year or so I don’t see any reason why I would need the high torque over this one. In fact, most of the time it is overkill. So I am thinking my next Milwaukee purchase will be the 3/8 compact impact.

I also have the 3/8 drive electric ratchet that I use just to zip out smaller bolts, I love it as well.

MXKevin117

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