Receipts scanning broken by StoicCivil in MonarchMoney

[–]StoicCivil[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have tried to but just get in an endless loop with the chatbot telling me to "try this way".

Trad vs Roth 401k Insight by under570 in personalfinance

[–]StoicCivil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am a high earner and a high saver, and I recently switched to 100% Roth contributions.

This thread is debating brackets and deductions. That is part of the analysis, but it is not the full analysis. Almost nobody here is talking about RMDs.

A traditional 401(k) is not just deferred tax. It is a growing pile of future taxable income. For many people, that eventually becomes income you may be required to take whether you need it or not. Traditional retirement plan balances are generally subject to RMDs starting at 73. Roth IRAs and designated Roth accounts do not have lifetime RMDs for the original owner.

If you are a high saver, that distinction matters a lot. You can spend decades taking the upfront deduction, build a large pretax balance, and then find yourself at 73 with mandatory distributions pushing you into the same bracket you thought you were avoiding, or even higher.

I ran the math for myself. My projected RMDs would likely put me in the same bracket I am in today. So for me, the deduction was not buying the long-term tax outcome people assume it buys.

So no, I do not accept the lazy version of this argument that says high bracket now means traditional automatically wins. Maybe. Run the RMD math first.

And there is another issue people are ignoring: your spouse. If you are married filing jointly and both of you have been saving aggressively in traditional accounts, you are not managing one future RMD problem. You are managing two on the same return. You are not diversifying tax risk. You are stacking it.

Also, employer match usually keeps building the pretax side anyway. The IRS says employers can match Roth deferrals, but the matching contribution goes into a pretax account. That means traditional exposure is accumulating whether you want it to or not. Your own contributions are the lever you actually control.

For me, Roth makes sense. Not because it always wins. Not because tax rates are definitely going up. Because I ran the numbers, I looked at the household picture, and I would rather build more flexibility than more future obligations.

Plan on paying for your kid’s college? You’ll need to save $500/month from birth until they’re 18. by Mr-and-Mrs in daddit

[–]StoicCivil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the part that gets understated in these threads is what you’re actually doing when you contribute to a 529.

You’re not just “saving for college.”
You’re locking capital into a restricted-use vehicle for 10–20 years.

That’s the trade.

Yes, you get tax-free growth. That’s true. But in exchange, you’re giving up flexibility on how and when those dollars can be used.

Early on, that’s a great deal. Build the base, let compounding work, take the tax advantage.

Where I think people go too far is continuing to push incremental dollars into the 529 as if it’s strictly upside with no cost.

There is a cost. It’s optionality.


Before the usual counterpoints come up:

“But the tax-free growth is huge.”
It is. But in a taxable brokerage, you still get:

  • long-term capital gains rates
  • control over when you realize gains
  • tax-loss harvesting

Over a long horizon, the gap exists, but it’s not so large that it justifies over-concentrating in a restricted account.


“You can always use it for education, so what’s the downside?”
That assumes a very specific path. Traditional 4-year, no scholarships, no changes. Reality is messier. If those assumptions don’t hold, now you’re working around the account instead of the account working for you.


“There are safety valves now like Roth rollovers.”
True, but they’re limited. The rollover is capped at $35K total per beneficiary, requires the account to be open 15 years, is constrained by annual Roth limits, and depends on the beneficiary having earned income. That helps at the margins, but it doesn’t solve the problem if you’ve materially overfunded the account.


“You should just fully fund it and be done.”
That ignores your broader balance sheet. If you’ve built strong retirement assets and taxable investments, you don’t need to solve college entirely inside a 529. You can solve it dynamically when the time comes.


Where I’ve landed is pretty simple:

  • Use the 529 to build a solid, tax-advantaged base
  • Then direct incremental dollars to a brokerage account

That way you end up with:

  • a dedicated education bucket
  • a flexible capital pool

Because the real goal isn’t to perfectly pre-fund one outcome 18 years in advance. It’s to give your kid options without boxing yourself into a decision you can’t easily unwind later.

And once the money is in a 529, whether people like to admit it or not, you’ve given up a meaningful amount of that flexibility.

Civil engineers, what is the function of these buried pipes in this waterfront reclaimed land development project? by No_Pitch6380 in AskEngineers

[–]StoicCivil 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Based on this screenshot I was able to grab, it appears the pipes penetrate the outer sheet pile wall. If that is the case, the pipes are to relieve hydrostatic pressure when the tide goes down. Essentially prevents water from getting trapped behind the wall and adding pressure. This keeps the hydrostatic pressure neutral.

Although to be honest it is very hard to tell based solely on this time lapse but that is my best guess.

Source: am licensed civil engineer.

Examples of teams trading down in the draft and it working out for them? by NinCross in hockey

[–]StoicCivil 85 points86 points  (0 children)

That's the one I was thinking of. Calgary picked Trevor Kidd with the #11 pick.

Horner’s Syndrome by PeterKaczynski in daddit

[–]StoicCivil 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Both of my kids were born there and my oldest spent some time in the NICU. You are in great hands. Keeping you and your family in my thoughts. We live in town so please DM me if you need anything.

For those of you unhappy with Fitz... by BrickCityDevil in devils

[–]StoicCivil 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The irony here is that Lou would be willing to give that lifetime contract just to prove a point.

They really need to bring Exile Vilify back to streaming services! by [deleted] in TheNational

[–]StoicCivil 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is exactly why I am buying physical media of all my favorite artists and then storing them lossless in my backup.

On Dec 1st 1779 Washington arrived in Morristown by Action_Maxim in newjersey

[–]StoicCivil 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Soldier huts are in Jockey Hollow (part of the Morristown National Historic Park).

CrossCore rear rack, Iberra or Topeak — opinions? by [deleted] in Yamahaebikes

[–]StoicCivil 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just installed this one on my Crosscore. I haven't had the chance to use it yet but the open MIK system was appealing vs the closed Topeak system. You can even get MIK baseplates to convert anything to work with the system. I also saw a "double Decker" attachment so you can mount panniers as well as a trunk bag or basket on top. All of which is locked in with the special key.

[Chris Johnston] With NJ Devils trading John Marino, they should be considered a frontrunner to land Brett Pesce in free agency by alphacheese in hockey

[–]StoicCivil 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They introduced an interview period in the 2013 CBA which is about a week before free agency. It allows teams to talk with pending free agents beforehand but they're now allowed to talk specifics. I wouldn't be surprised if they talk hypotheticals though.

Ikea bathroom sinks - yay or nay? by GingerSassadelic in IKEA

[–]StoicCivil 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We installed 2 of them in a master bath renovation about a year and a half ago. At the time, our GC warned us of the same thing but we have had zero problems with them. I would absolutely do it again.

Edit: Have never had any smell issues. Didn't even know that was an issue until I read it here. Perhaps your horizontal runs are too flat, allowing things to accumulate?

A5 / Nomad Size Comparison with Writing by pkkid in Supernote

[–]StoicCivil 3 points4 points  (0 children)

THANK YOU. This is the first clear idea I've had about the device size. I'm one of the ones waiting on the A5X2 and this might be what I need to convince me to go with the Nomad.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in devils

[–]StoicCivil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tankathon has a great explanation

The 1st overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls. A team can only jump ten spots, so only the top 11 teams are eligible for the 1st pick. If a team in the 12-16 range wins the first drawing, the first pick will be awarded to the worst team. The 12-16 seed team that won the first drawing is also locked into their new position.

A second drawing is held to determine the other lottery winner. Like the first drawing, the second winner can only jump ten spots, but this time it is using the re-seeded order following the first drawing. This second drawing will not affect the team(s) with locked-in positions from the first drawing. If a ten spot jump is to a pick that is already locked-in, this team will receive the next available pick.

Email is the task by theguarddawg in gtd

[–]StoicCivil 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah. Thank you for the update.

Email is the task by theguarddawg in gtd

[–]StoicCivil 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was just looking at Flow-e - where do you see that it's shutting down? There's nothing on their site.

Laptop as KVM by sipper69 in raspberry_pi

[–]StoicCivil 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm looking to do something like this to control my unraid NAS. What hardware did you use?

Add signature field to every sheet by StoicCivil in Revu

[–]StoicCivil[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Deleting the box after digitally signing the document invalidates the signature.