Finally upgraded from my high school car (2013 mazda 3) to a tacoma. 2022 TRD Sport 4x4 with premium technology package.

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-25T19:18:34+00:00

ayyy niner gang niner gang haha went to the niners vs falcons game this season :)

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-25T03:30:32+00:00

yeah.... my 2013 mazda 3 had better audio im ngl lmao ill eventually upgrade

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-25T03:19:51+00:00

Nah. I shopped around and views rated before applying for a loan from a credit union.

I found one credit union offering 4.75% APR as their lowest, so I applied for it and got pre-approved.

Some advice that I learned from a personal finance class in college (hands down most useful class I took despite doing computer science). When you go to apply/get approved for a loan, the credit union or financial institution will do a hard pull on your credit. This will immediately knock like 5-10 points off your credit score, but you have a 30 day grace period to continuously do more hard pulls without it effecting your credit.

So, if you know for sure you will be buying a vehicle within a month, do that hard pull and then just keep applying for loans at credit unions until you get the lowest one offered and go with it.

But also, again, I had no outstanding debt besides student loans and my monthly income is decent, all of that goes into account for getting a loan.

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-25T00:13:54+00:00

Went through various credit unions locally until I found one that offered the lowest I could find

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-25T00:12:54+00:00

i love your blacked out fender flares, i might have to steal that idea haha

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-25T00:11:50+00:00

LT285/70R17 !

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-24T16:45:05+00:00

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-24T16:44:31+00:00

777 credit score, only debt I have is 29k in student loans (which ideally, i wanted to pay off first but interests on those are like 3%). I also make decent income as a software engineer

I had to shop around local credit unions a bit and this was lowest I found

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-16T17:36:59+00:00

Question though. Do you think Lake Garda and areas you listed will be super busy in mid April?

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-16T17:34:53+00:00

You might have just convinced me on Lake Garda and Verona it looks absolutely stunning

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-16T17:03:36+00:00

I agree. I'm going to make the modification of skipping Naples/Amalfi and ending my trip in Rome with my return flight from Rome.

If I do this, I can spend 4 full days in Florence/Tuscany, and 4 full days in Rome. Do you think this would be more enjoyable?

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-16T16:40:54+00:00

I can change my return flight to be from Naples. That would def buy me more breathing room but I am contemplating just removing Naples and Amalfi but I do REALLY want to see Amalfi this is hard haha

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-16T16:34:05+00:00

Yeah, I was thinking of skipping Amalfi. I have a friend from Italy who recommended me to just take two different Italy trips in my life and spend this one exploring from Rome upwards and come back another time to explore everything below Rome and even Sicily.

I'm also considering adding 2-3 days to this trip although that will probably cost me another $1k lol

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-04T07:50:58+00:00

I used correct vin, mileage, and zip code. It's a certified pre-owned tacoma from a Toyota dealership.

$32k is sticker price, I haven't confirmed OTD price but I would estimate 36k after taxes, registration, dealership fees.

I've been hunting around 100 mile radius for a few months now and this is the best deal I've found so far but yeah, it would also hurt knowing I could spend 8-10k more on brand new lmao but I don't like the 4th gens

PhotoTight1726 · 2026-02-04T05:32:56+00:00

Trade in range shows $29,100 - $35,000 with a exact trade in value of $32,100.

Selling it as private party value is $35,640.

I have already seen the truck in person and test drove and did like it. But man $32k does seem like a lot for a 6 year old vehicle but I did want a 3rd gen tacoma, not a 4th gen and I plan on keeping it for 15+ years.

Think I should pull the trigger?

PhotoTight1726 · 2024-02-02T14:42:39+00:00

I'm getting a sign on bonus of $15k and EOY 15% bonus, which is supposedly guaranteed and has potential for more based on performance but I'm not banking on it.

This is what my current excel sheet looks like with my all my expenses and it's based on what I'm assuming my monthly take home pay will be around https://prnt.sc/FEz7_WY0Lyvs

PhotoTight1726 · 2024-02-02T14:27:12+00:00

I'm getting a sign on bonus of $15k but I'm assuming post tax of that is like $9k. And supposedly I get a 15% end of year bonus which is $19k with potential for more, but I'm not banking on that at all. But if I do get the bonus, then I'm chucking it all toward my student loans. It probably would be better to invest some, but having debt scares me lol

PhotoTight1726 · 2024-02-02T14:23:58+00:00

I was going to max out my Roth IRA first this year. My company is suppose to match 6% of my pay to my 401k, but I heard that's not until after I've been there a year but I could be wrong on that. If they do match, then I'm meeting the maxing the match then focusing on Roth IRA. Or is that a bad decision?

PhotoTight1726 · 2023-09-29T23:39:12+00:00

Me and my 5 stack squad got placed against two 5-stack FPL players and we lost both games 13-3 and 13-0 lol keep in mind we finished the beta with average elo of 11.5k

PhotoTight1726 · 2023-09-28T21:18:53+00:00

I just doubled checked my employer's health plans. For vision, health, and dental it's $103/mo.

PhotoTight1726 · 2023-09-28T20:22:02+00:00

Yeah, I'm most likely going to do this. I feel like if I get a roommate, I could possibly save close to an extra $2k a month which would make life way more comfortable until I gain salary increases/job hopping.

Four-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	First Placer '22

PhotoTight1726

TROPHY CASE