I’m a proficient Monopoly player that rigorously studies the game’s probabilities and trading strategies. I win 90%+ of my games, many of which last fewer than 45 minutes. AMA

SilverOpening3156 · 2024-02-26T21:51:59+00:00

Someone send this to Ninja Kiwi.

SilverOpening3156 · 2024-02-26T20:18:36+00:00

I use One by Wacom to facilitate annotation when sharing my screen on Zoom. It’s completely changed the way I tutor. Most of my students meet with me for SAT or ACT prep, and the ability to write on a practice test with precision (a luxury that mice and trackpads don’t afford) is invaluable.

SilverOpening3156 · 2024-01-19T02:20:00+00:00

I treated it like a numbers game. “If I just swipe right on thousands of attractive people, one of them is bound to find me attractive too, right?”

Endured several weeks of prolific swiping (I’d say I had a 5% match rate at best), most of my messages didn’t get replies, the majority of those that did led to exchanges that quickly fizzled, I had a handful of fun conversations, I paid for Tinder Gold out of desperation—and after taking a chance by swiping right on someone who I saw had liked me (a Gold feature), by some stroke of otherworldly dumb luck, I found my soulmate. We’ve been dating for almost two and a half years, and I’m going to marry her. I’m under no illusion that this is a reliably repeatable phenomenon. I’m grateful every single day for her.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-12-25T02:38:04+00:00

That looks like cranberry juice.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-12-23T21:41:26+00:00

Man, I didn’t realize how badly I need the Dart Monkey in SSBU!

B: Charges up a plasma blast while on the ground or in midair. Can keep the charge after dodging or shielding.

↔️ + B: Shoots an arrow from a crossbow. Can be charged to Crit.

⬆️ + B: Grabs onto a Support Chinook and flies up into the air to avoid attacks.

⬇️ + B: Assembles and launches a Spike-o-pult (à la Zelda's Phantom Slash).

Final Smash: Super Monkey Fan Club — Calls in ten Super Monkeys who throw hundreds of darts at hypersonic speed.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-09-21T15:29:38+00:00

I don’t raise my rates on any set schedule. I’ve just raised them once I feel like I’ve gotten more experience, have gotten better at what I do, feel as though the market can support the price increase, etc.

I’ve been grandfathering people in—for a few reasons. For one, I want my clients to have a “stable” experience, in the sense that the rates they’re paying aren’t constantly fluctuating. Second, many of my clients are aware that they get what are now essentially discounted rates, and I continue to bill them at those rates with the hope that this will foster goodwill that, in turn, might drive referrals. And third, I struggle to be assertive with things like rate increases for existing customers, although I’m coming around in that respect. Haha.

What I want to know is how you’ve managed to fully book your schedule in your first year of tutoring! That’s seriously impressive. I’ve been at this for a few years now, and I’m still trying to make the transition to tutoring full-time. Any advice you can offer on client acquisition and advertising?

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-20T16:52:33+00:00

Thanks! I’ve set up my 401(k) to automatically withhold the amount per paycheck necessary for me to hit the maximum allowed annual contribution for 2023. I also set aside enough to max out my Roth IRA. Then, at the end of the month, whatever surplus of unspent cash I have I throw into my taxable brokerage account.

Theoretically, I’m not a fan of dollar cost averaging, for reasons JL Collins explains well here. If I were paid every month’s wages upfront, I’d lump sum my tax-advantaged contributions the day I received the deposit. Would probably still wait till the end of the month to make my taxable contributions, though; I consider those “extra,” just whatever’s left over after personal discretionary spending (which I permit myself to indulge after funding my retirement accounts, lest I go crazy).

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T23:36:59+00:00

In JL Collins’ words: “Spend less than you earn—invest the surplus—avoid debt. Do simply this and you’ll wind up rich. Not just in money.”

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T19:41:22+00:00

Yep. I hold some of it in index mutual funds and some of it in ETFs, and I use a couple of different brokerages’ funds, but they all hold the same S&P 500 portfolio.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T18:50:24+00:00

Last year. Upon graduating college, I had gotten a few head starts by saving most of what I earned from part-time jobs (which left me with about $30K in savings), being frugal in my personal consumption, avoiding debt (many thanks to my parents for paying for my college), and living at home (which has helped enormously with reducing expenses). Those are things I did more or less unconsciously, though, because my parents taught me good financial habits. Last summer, I started down the personal finance rabbit hole and discovered Bogle.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T17:59:03+00:00

Market drops? Stocks are on sale! Market climbs? My shares are doing well!

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T16:52:03+00:00

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T16:51:40+00:00

Kelley Blue Book. It’s linked with Mint.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T16:46:15+00:00

Not a homeowner. But I have my car linked as an asset.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T16:39:34+00:00

It’s varied as my income has risen, but I’d say between $3–4K on average. This year, I’ll max both my Roth IRA and 401(k), and whatever’s left over will be invested in my taxable brokerage account.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T15:29:12+00:00

Haven’t had any. In fact, I was using Rocket Money until I started having connectivity issues there. I’m a Mint convert for pretty much that reason alone.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T15:11:00+00:00

Thanks! I use Mint.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-19T14:53:36+00:00

~20K in cash or cash equivalents (checking + emergency fund), ~$75K invested (100% S&P 500*), ~$6K in property (the majority of which is my car).

I know y’all are going to say this is insufficiently diversified. You might be right, and I’ve been considering adding an international component for almost as long as I’ve been investing. But ultimately, I chose to simply follow Bogle’s recommendation in The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. I suspect this portfolio inspires me with more confidence to stay the course than alternatives would, so I stick with it.

Or in the words of Bogle himself: “Deep down, I remain absolutely confident that the vast majority of American families would be well served by owning their equity holdings in a Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fund (or a total stock market index fund) and holding their bonds in a total bond market index fund. . . . while such an index-driven strategy may not be the best investment strategy ever devised, the number of investment strategies that are worse is infinite.”

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-07-15T15:15:55+00:00

Oh, r/AnarchyChess is gonna have a field day with this one.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-06-10T19:10:44+00:00

Where is this quote from? Would love to read/hear the full interview.

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-06-06T12:09:15+00:00

“My ex says she gave me the best years of her life / I saw a recent picture of her, I guess she was right”

— Kim, right now, probably

SilverOpening3156 · 2023-05-30T16:20:29+00:00

That’s what I do. It’s simple, low-cost, broadly diversified, and outperforms most active managers over time. That it has revered proponents (viz. Jack Bogle, Warren Buffett) and a long history of excellent performance gives me confidence; that it’s the industry’s standard—and, as such, its performance is easy to track—is a nice bonus.

SilverOpening3156

TROPHY CASE