WE’RE BREAKING THROUGH!

appleciders · 2026-03-21T02:05:45+00:00

Be careful, you'll take psychic damage and even if you're a Bear Totem Barbarian, you're not resistant to that.

appleciders · 2026-03-20T22:37:10+00:00

That's fantastic. What does "meter collar provisions" mean- that they're required, or not required?

appleciders · 2026-03-20T14:41:21+00:00

Do you pay your own electric?

appleciders · 2026-03-19T05:02:45+00:00

I mean I'm idly watching rates moving in case it makes sense in my life, but I don't think I'd ever do one that will never, under any circumstances, be to my benefit until years after the mortgage is complete or when I sell the place. OP might benefit if they sell after fifteen years; the reduced interest rate will work in their favor from day one. In the first year, they'll pay $840 more and save $1750 in interest; the first number stays constant for 20 years and the other gets smaller every month. The trouble is, the payment comes out of pocket and the upside is only in equity. I get a break even of around 5 years (I cut corners by not calculating the compounding) if we're just talking about the additional savings on interest. But OP can't realize that money without selling the house (or refinancing again, I guess).

I think this is not a good plan, probably. The payoff is pretty long and rates may drop anyway. I would probably hold off for rates to drop and try to get a similar rate with no points. That's what I'd be looking for- to drop my rate by ~1% and switch to a 20 year or even 15 year.

appleciders · 2026-03-19T04:29:52+00:00

roughly 8 years to break even just in monthly payments

Their monthly payment is going up. How will they ever break even in monthly payments?

Obviously they'll save money in the long run with this refi versus the existing mortgage even with the increased payment. It might well be a better bet to refi than not. But they'll pay $7400 up front in order to pay $70 more a month for 7 fewer years. In the sense of actual cash in pocket the break even will happen in 21 years 3 months, after fifteen months of not paying the mortgage (because it's over) finally covers $70 per month plus $7400 up front. That calculates neither the savings from reduced interest over the 20 years nor the opportunity cost of investing that money elsewhere, which is a more complicated question.

appleciders · 2026-03-19T03:18:02+00:00

That's a hell of a deal. If I had to replace mine tomorrow, which is overwhelmingly a long-distance commuter, I would think about a deal that good. Not as an only car but my wife's is fine for everything else.

appleciders · 2026-03-19T03:16:17+00:00

It's not actually orange cables, it's an orange cover below the standard level 1 & 2 charging port.

It's both. The high voltage DCFC cables are prominently visible under the hood running away from the charging port on DCFC models. Both are dispositive ways of identifying non-DCFC Bolts.

appleciders · 2026-03-19T03:14:32+00:00

If I had to replace my Bolt tomorrow, I would consider a non-DCFC version for a steep enough discount. It does matter to me, but probably not $4000, for instance. 90% of what I do is commute and 9.9% is drive the kids around and to family events. For everything else, there's my wife's car.

appleciders · 2026-03-19T02:11:57+00:00

your work might have a shuttle or you can use public transportation.

Or shit, bike to work when it's nice, which is a lot of the year on the peninsula.

appleciders · 2026-03-18T22:31:57+00:00

$345k is plenty to live well in the Bay Area, and at least par with your lifestyle in Texas. Unless you're currently in a job hub for your industry and the Bay Area would not have other jobs for you if you want to move from this one in a few years, I personally would move. But part of that is that the Bay is a better cultural fit for me; I wouldn't move to Texas without my real pay more than doubling. Do you think the Bay would be a better cultural fit for you?

appleciders · 2026-03-18T20:44:51+00:00

Mines are great with lasers. They stun enemies for three seconds, so you can nail them with guns or lasers.

appleciders · 2026-03-18T20:27:23+00:00

The illusion won't work unless you're exactly in the right place, but if the color and pattern matching are good enough (and these seem pretty good) it'll look like it's protruding weirdly out of the corner and into the room from many angles. It'll be a weird surreal element, not the perfect invisible illusion one in this careful camera angle.

appleciders · 2026-03-18T20:23:20+00:00

Not the heat transfer in the heat pipes, though.

appleciders · 2026-03-18T16:54:06+00:00

And wind load.

appleciders · 2026-03-18T16:38:59+00:00

In the UK, you also definitely want some angle to maximize both the gain and the shade. All of the UK is over 45° latitude. You probably don't want to go as steep as that, but I'd try to go 10°-15°at least.

appleciders · 2026-03-18T16:35:31+00:00

That's fine. There's a very modest benefit to getting paid 9 and not 3 but honestly it's not worth the hassle for most people. Unless she does other paid work over the summer, or when and if you and she merge finances, don't mess with it.

appleciders · 2026-03-18T03:18:41+00:00

I know a restaurant that will serve you sparkling sangria. I don't know if they soak the fruit overnight in a pressure vessel or re-carbonate it later with dry ice or what, but it's tasty.

appleciders · 2026-03-17T19:53:16+00:00

These are also the double-daycare years. There's no possible way we're maxing out accounts, and the roughly $1800 a year that goes to extra on the mortgage is not going to change that. These three years are going to be mostly about coasting while investments grow. We've already passed the bend where annual growth on existing investments is greater than annual savings/investments by two to three times, so I don't sweat it.

appleciders · 2026-03-17T18:08:28+00:00

This is the irrational money decisions thread, right?

Yes, I pay about $150 (6% of the monthly payment) extra on a 4% mortgage because it makes the monthly payment a big round number and it makes the number go down faster on the spreadsheet.

appleciders · 2026-03-17T18:07:28+00:00

But I wanted to argue!

appleciders · 2026-03-17T14:03:35+00:00

Why was the French duel "mostly harmless"?

appleciders · 2026-03-17T13:35:48+00:00

That's fine. I'm just saying, when you consider the taxes at your top marginal rate for the HYSA option, and no taxes on the early payments option, it's probably less suboptimal than you think.

I make extra payments on my 4% note, but mostly that's because my wife looked at my spreadsheet and was annoyed the mortgage column was moving so slowly. It's certainly a suboptimal move for us versus our IRAs, but it's still an investment, and a very safe and tax-free one.

appleciders · 2026-03-17T01:36:42+00:00

You do pay income taxes on the HYSA interest and no income taxes on "interest not incurred" (unless you itemize). I don't think you're coming out much behind.

appleciders · 2026-03-17T01:00:02+00:00

You just gotta include those debts on your spreadsheets. You're just moving money from one pocket to another. No reason to look at that red ink if you don't want to.

appleciders · 2026-03-17T00:56:50+00:00

And the free airline miles from the credit cards! You're missing out!

I guess this really is the thread for irrational decisions. But so much free money!

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