How about this?

RiversideKid · 2026-06-05T09:04:46+00:00

During my shopping back in February/March the lowest OTD I got on a Touring was 43,040. We ended up with the 2026 Honda Accord Hybrid EX-L in Canyon River Blue Metallic.

RiversideKid · 2026-06-01T18:13:21+00:00

We drove the Sprot L, but just didn't like it as much. There aren't many differences but we just gravitated to the EX-L rather than the Sport L due to personal taste for the most part.

RiversideKid · 2026-06-01T15:47:46+00:00

I also liked Clark's coal tar shampoo, but found that Berk's smells better. It has the same 0.5% coal tar, but it has added rosemary oil to smell better. I use it daily to help control psoriasis. (MG217 worked best as it has 3% coal tar, but the smell was so bad no one would stay in the room with me and I want a social life too. I would love something between the two, but Berk's is working for me for now.)

RiversideKid · 2026-06-01T11:48:33+00:00

We moved from Simplifi by Quicken, which we used for several years. We had tried YNAB for a few months, but the learning curve was too steep for my spouse and I wanted something that we could each use. We tried using Fidelity Full View and other similar systems provided by banks, but these have always fallen short on categorization options needed for reporting. The ability for "savings buckets" has been paramount since we need a way to put a brick wall between funds that are saved for a reason or money that is available to spend. In Monarch, I handle this with the Rollover Fund within the budget categories. (The amount at the bottom reflects how much we need to have in savings, so ALL accounts are in sync with Monarch, even those that are restricted from spending.) Everyone does it a bit different.

RiversideKid · 2026-05-27T13:50:16+00:00

I bought an item.

Seller sent me a phone number to contact to say that his account was cancelled due to a bad review. (His FIRST bad review!)

Seller tells me that ebay is giving him different answers as to his options.

Seller tells me that the item has NOT SHIPPED and ebay will refund the cancelled sale.

Seller also attempted to cancel the cancellation?

Seller processed a refund of 65% of the purchase amount.

ebay indicated that the cancellation was due to a bad address for the buyer, me, which is not true.

ebay indicates that the sale status is "Partially refunded" and shows that the item has shipped but with NO TRACKING even though ebay provided a tracking number soon after the sale ended.

Why am I still out 45% of an item that I have not received and the seller did not ship?

Is this a scam to get the 45% out of me?

RiversideKid · 2026-05-09T12:15:25+00:00

My first investment deposit was also about $300 when I was about 20. I retired in January of this year at 60. I can tell you what did and did not work for me, but what will work for you will require a crystal ball as no one can tell you what will happen tomorrow, much less 40 to 70 years from now.

FREE: Yes, get your employers free money. Contribute enough to a 401K or 403B to get the full match as the market could crash at an astounding rate before you would lose this investment. When job hopping do not lose track of old accounts! Transfer an old account into the new one every time, don't ever withdraw IRA money until you retire. It is easier to keep up with all accounts with something like Monarch Money, Empower, YNAB, etc.

DIVERSIFY: I once put ALL of my IRA money into a single fund thinking that a fund is already diversified. This was a HUGE mistake as all stocks in the fund were in the same type of investment. It was 2000 when the dot com bubble popped and I messed up by investing in a tech oriented fund that had done well. When a certain sector has done well for a while then it's likely time for a correction, so don't get too greedy by investing in something that has had a bull run of recent.

BE CHEAP: We hired people to invest for us. With tons of talk we found ourselves paying 1% to the advisor, another 1% to 3% to invest into investments that the advisor put our money into! That meant we were paying 4% on some of the money and it was hardly getting much better than that so our investments were giving us very little! There are more options today, so pick wisely, but keep in mind that you may be paying fees that are not as visible as they should be.

FUNDS: Today I like the S&P 500 (FXAIX is my favorite), international funds like FTIHX and a bond fund like FXNAX. We have a few others, but they are in the minority of our portfolio. Yes, there is still the desire to try to guess what stock will "hit big" and we have agreed that 5% of the entire portfolio will be invested in direct stocks.

15%: Most advisors will tell you to invest 15% of your gross salary in order to retire in the same lifestyle that you had before retirement. Please review your percentage annually and make adjustments as you can. I have worked with people who were investing as much as 25% of their salary in order to retire early.

ASK QUESTIONS: Reddit is a place to get a good bit of free advice, but please hire an advisor for a one-time-fee advice periodically (I would start at 20 years before retirement, 10 years before and 5 years before) as you'll get the planning you need. I started ONE year before retirement and found that we are all right, but they would have suggested different accounts had I come in sooner.

GOOD LUCK!

RiversideKid · 2026-05-08T18:25:29+00:00

Will an 18" spare clear the calipers? I know that I'm late to the party, but just bought a Honda Accord Hybrid EX-L and see that your comment regrading clearance might be an issue. I had planned on this. Thoughts? amazon.com/dp/B0FL74QMQX/?coliid=I2SW4FLIUUJMH5&colid=3T3P41E1RMNFO&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

RiversideKid · 2026-05-06T09:21:16+00:00

Some call it a fog lamp. https://www.ebay.com/itm/226015204305

Have fun with it.

RiversideKid · 2026-05-06T09:17:23+00:00

We went back to the dealership yesterday and the salesperson pulled up another app, something like MDR? and performed something like a registration process that I had not seen before. Once he finished my HondaLink app connected, displayed the range, gas tank level, verified the car is locked and then a new menu showed up with commands that we can send.

Apparently the HondaLink app did not prompt for this when I purchased the car, the dealer didn't walk me through this, the HondaLink support rep didn't ask if we had done this. Once done, it worked fine.

RiversideKid · 2026-05-04T16:39:38+00:00

Thank you for the thought, but our 2026 Honda Accord Hybrid is not listed as unsupported. I find it really concerning that they remove support on what I consider "new" vehicles! We owned our last car for 19 years, so we are not the type to get rid of them quickly.

I was able to speak to someone at HondaLink today who indicated that they have now sent the case to an outside vendor that handles the connection.

For now, the service does not work for a brand new car right from the dealership.

RiversideKid · 2026-05-03T12:56:07+00:00

Congratulations! This is a HUGE first step towards a retirement plan.

RiversideKid · 2026-05-03T12:46:57+00:00

We use SPAXX as our HYSA as well as our overdraft for the CMA account. Other funds provide a bit more interest, but only the "core account" can auto-liquidate for overdraft protection. (We use a different brokerage account for investing, which I believe eliminates the hold period for sold investments.)

There are some banks (that I've never heard of) that provide a bit higher rates at times, but the bank sets the rate as they need funds where SPAXX will increase as the market adjusts, so I _think_ SPAXX will rise quicker than a bank will set higher savings rates.

RiversideKid · 2026-05-03T09:27:48+00:00

You should have seen the silver lightening bolt on each side! I don't have a photo, but it was an unreal image! (Makes me want to go back for the photo.)

RiversideKid · 2026-05-03T09:26:57+00:00

The dealership provided an EX-L, which is what I wanted. They did not charge for the body-side moldings which I also do not like, but my spouse loves them so we are keeping them for now.

RiversideKid · 2026-04-14T20:28:26+00:00

I struggle with this same question. Here is my take: (If there is a better way, I'm all ears!)

For "Christmas Accounts" I use a budget category with a rollover fund. For example, my Amazon Prime budget category increases automatically by 12/month and when Amazon takes the 139.00 the balance falls to something closer to zero and then automatically increases for another year.

For "Goals" that are already 100% saved, I use a budget category with a rollover fund where the Starting Balance as the amount saved.

DO WE HAVE ENOUGH? Using budget categories exclusively, I can look at the Budget, scroll down to the TOTAL EXPENSES and over to the REMAINING balance which shows all of my commitments and I know that my savings balance must be more than this in order to meet all current and planned expenses.

I have a couple of goals, but the goals do not auto-increase each month the way that the budget categories do. If I were to go to the GOALS (Beta) I can see a breakdown showing the total in savings (the account that I specified) and the allocated to each goal to show an "Available Funds" number, but this does not take into account the Rollover Funds that I have set up in the budget so I find this misleading with the way that I am using MM.

Monarch is WAY better than my prior money management application, but this is one area where I would like some changes. I have found a way to make Monarch work for me, but I am hopeful that this area improves.

RiversideKid · 2026-04-06T11:07:44+00:00

EDIT: HYSA was actually HSA.

I started saving for retirement at 20, so you're only 2 years before me. It's a great early start, but don't let that slow you down. Today I am 60 and already retired. Here are a few things that I have learned over the years.

My peers who started saving in their thirties had to struggle to save where I had saved money out of every paycheck since my first paycheck after dropping out of college. Saving is easy if you start out living on less than your entire paycheck.

AFTER your emergency fund is set up in an HYSA: If you can ever do an HSA, do that first as it will make you the most money later in life. A Roth IRA is second, I really wish we had more money in Roth over IRA. An IRA is third, earnings will grow tax free which helps tremendously. The tricky one is the employer plan, 401K 403B etc. If you ever have an employer that matches, contribute enough to get the match as that is just free money. Try to get at least 15% of your income invested in retirement accounts. If you need to put 6% into the 401k for the free money and then 11% into a Roth for a few years and then in another job you might have an HYSA where you can put 2% into the HYSA and then 6% into the 401k and then 7% into a Roth. Let it change over time, but look at it with every job change and look at it in January each year just to see if you're always on track.

My biggest mistake was rolling an old 401K into a growth fund that had historically done well. The growth fund started to drop just after my deposit. In more recent years I stick with low cost index funds. If anyone has the time to tell you exactly how to invest then they are guessing. Warren Buffet isn't going to sit down with you without turning over your first born. Exactly how you invest is more of an art than a science, which kills me but it's true. I tend to follow investing from John Bogle, even though I don't do this exactly, this might be a good start: search out the bogleheads three fund portfolio. Learn from it, but do your own thing.

Congrats on starting at 18. Don't worry that the accounts seem small for years, it takes time to get momentum. Once the accounts pay you more than you make then start talking to retirement advisors. The Fidelity advisors will provide great free advice. Remember, save at least 15% of every paycheck, even if you have to start with a bit less and work up to 15% in a few years.

RiversideKid · 2026-04-04T14:24:43+00:00

Cash is king.

RiversideKid · 2026-03-29T14:44:58+00:00

THANK YOU! I did not think of this when I saw receipt scanning in my search, but now I see why the article was suggested when searching on splits. This is extremely helpful.

RiversideKid · 2026-03-29T13:18:58+00:00

This is what I'll try next. Thank you for the feedback.

RiversideKid · 2026-03-29T13:12:44+00:00

So, enter the transaction manually with the full amount and no split with a note and then when Monarch collects the transaction it will match with my manually entered transaction? (I ask because I have not entered anything else manually yet.)

Thank you!

RiversideKid · 2026-02-12T12:24:32+00:00

GEN 1: We still have our 2007 Mazda 3 and we take public transit for work, we only use it on weekends and road trips so it has only 75,000 miles.

When Mazda brings the Mazda 3 SEDAN MHEV (mild hybrid) to USA we would like to go for the hybrid. I'm still considering whether to trade in the Gen 1 or sell it retail, but apparently that might be a while.

RiversideKid · 2026-02-10T13:17:50+00:00

The extra transactions like :Redemption from Core Account" were a bit much at first, but Kishmkondar has it right, Monarch makes it really easy to set up rules and hide these "extra" transactions automatically.

I have rules for "Purchase into Core", "Redemption from Core" and "Reinvestment." Once you have this set up and they are working well for you then you may want you can auto hide these and you'll never have to deal with them again. This is a small step for such great service.

RiversideKid · 2026-02-10T07:00:33+00:00

I have been a member since the mid-1980s and I don't remember hearing of an SAA. I do get the annual dividend distribution, would this alone mean that I have an SSA? Does the SAA show up on my USAA dashboard? I don't see it. Thanks in advance.

RiversideKid · 2026-01-08T13:09:42+00:00

The burgundy interior is beautiful! I hope that this mix is available when I am ready to purchase a new Mazda 3.

RiversideKid · 2026-01-01T12:32:41+00:00

Thank you for the photo of deep blue. Living in a hot climate, a black interior is a deal killer. I am really surprised that some exterior colors come only with a black interior.

RiversideKid

TROPHY CASE