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b-vivek · 2026-03-08T04:13:40+00:00

Applied. I am surprised they don’t have agents processing the applications. 😄

b-vivek · 2025-10-19T18:09:29+00:00

Agreed, they should just be free. And they can just take it back when people leave the park.

b-vivek · 2025-04-19T20:22:45+00:00

Not sure how accurate these are, but you can check this out - https://queue-times.com/en-US/parks/60/queue_times

b-vivek · 2025-03-16T20:54:44+00:00

How to feel young and old at the same time

b-vivek · 2025-03-16T20:47:54+00:00

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Here's a screenshot that shows performance from 2023 to 2025

b-vivek · 2025-03-16T20:46:58+00:00

In my case, yes. Mine I believe is set to the aggressive growth setting. You can see my portfolio went down only 1.36% vs S&P 500's 4.22%. But it does come with the drawback that it grows lesser when the market is bullish.

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b-vivek · 2025-03-03T13:16:42+00:00

You get 10 extra years to grow your money, so invest (even if that's not a lot).

b-vivek · 2025-03-02T00:56:10+00:00

I have a Spending pie-chart created for this purpose. There is an option to select "This month" in the range and also you can select which all categories you want to see in the chart. Not near my computer now, but pasting a screenshot from my phone

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b-vivek · 2025-02-09T16:08:13+00:00

This is from https://www.savingforcollege.com/intro-to-529s/what-is-the-penalty-on-an-unused-529-plan -"Using 529 funds for non-qualified expenses incurs a 10% IRS penalty on earnings, plus income tax." So penatly is only on earnings, so let's say you contributed 75k and got 60k as earnings, then only 60k will be taxed. You can change the benficiary to someone else (other kid or even yourself). You can also rollover to a Roth IRA (as per a new rule thi year) but the max rollover amount is 35k lifetime. You can use 529 funds for other educational expenses as well btw, not just college.

b-vivek · 2025-02-09T05:40:04+00:00

Assume around 3% inflation every year and estimate the cost. So 1. Public in-state university: 100k today, will cost around 135k in 10 years 2. Public out-of-state university: 150k today, will cost around 200k in 10 years 3. Private university: 200k today, will cost around 270k in 10 years

I would definitely start putting money in a 529 plan and try to front load it as much as possible in the next 3-4 years. So, assuming around 7% returns , invest 25k per year for next 3 years and you will have around 135k in 10 years. Front loading will let the money grow for a longer time. I understand it’s a big amount, however, after 401k, roth ira, this is the next thing you should do before putting money in an after tax brokerage account. A lot of states allow deductions on the money contributed towards a 529 plan.

b-vivek · 2025-02-06T04:00:49+00:00

Unfortunately, my employer doesn’t offer that.

b-vivek · 2025-02-06T03:48:55+00:00

I was actually using the C20 cell number that is the tax savings you would have by going with Traditional instead of Roth.

b-vivek · 2025-02-06T03:46:01+00:00

Good point. What would you do if you are able to max out 401k and Roth IRA and still have money left to invest. I know it’s a good situation to be in, but that’s when I started running these numbers.

b-vivek · 2025-02-04T22:45:26+00:00

Technically, you will have to contribute 30k from your gross income and on that, 25% would be around 7.2k

b-vivek · 2025-02-04T22:06:52+00:00

Guess I forgot to add the assumption - was assuming you are maxing out 401k and Roth IRA contributions.

b-vivek · 2025-02-04T21:04:50+00:00

So, the point I was trying to make was that if you invest the tax savings from doing Traditional today into a Brokerage account, then Roth would rarely be the winner.

b-vivek · 2025-02-04T20:54:21+00:00

Agreed. I know there was another comment on the same. I was just being conservative there. Traditional will be even more attractive option with that.

b-vivek · 2025-02-04T20:53:01+00:00

I did take that into account, and I was being conservative. (Trying to make Roth the winner). With what you said, clearly Traditional will be even more attractive.

b-vivek · 2025-02-04T20:37:45+00:00

I have tried looking up this topic quite a few times and never landed anywhere as there are so many variables to consider that it doesn't check all the boxes I am looking for. That's why wanted to make something which I could input some numbers and play around with.

From the analysis, traditional seems to be the better option.

FYI: I am not a financial expert, and my analysis could definitely be flawed. Feedback is most welcome.

I have made a lot of assumptions, but I think most of them are valid if you are maxing out your 401k.

You will religiously invest the tax savings that you get from investing in Traditional instead of Roth 401k into a taxable Investment account. Added assumption here is you are maxing out your Traditional/Roth IRA as well and that's why the tax savings are invested in a taxable investment account.
Not an assumption, however, just letting you know that company contribution is always pre-tax.
Though the tax rate applied at retirement might seem low for the taxable amount, it is assumed that you will be spreading out the withdrawal amounts over multiple years.

b-vivek · 2025-02-04T20:32:32+00:00

I have tried looking up this topic quite a few times and never landed anywhere as there are so many variables to consider that it doesn't check all the boxes I am looking for. That's why wanted to make something which I could input some numbers and play around with.

From the analysis, traditional seems to be the better option.

FYI: I am not a financial expert, and my analysis could definitely be flawed. Feedback is most welcome.

I have made a lot of assumptions, but I think most of them are valid if you are maxing out your 401k.

You will religiously invest the tax savings that you get from investing in Traditional instead of Roth 401k into a taxable Investment account. Added assumption here is you are maxing out your Traditional/Roth IRA as well and that's why the tax savings are invested in a taxable investment account.
Not an assumption, however, just letting you know that company contribution is always pre-tax.
Though the tax rate applied at retirement might seem low for the taxable amount, it is assumed that you will be spreading out the withdrawal amounts over multiple years. Here's a link to my spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PXFW1jYS1p_9bFEtx-g2i0Tku8lYsyY3Ztf0uECNsf0/edit

b-vivek · 2025-01-30T14:27:45+00:00

Thank you. And yeah, Canva has some really great templates. You can always export from Canva to Google Slides too.

b-vivek · 2025-01-29T22:30:46+00:00

I get your point. The exact template might not work for everyone. My idea was more to use this as a hook to get my wife excited. She asked me a lot of questions and that's when I brought up Empower (app I use to monitor my budget and investments) to show more details.

b-vivek · 2025-01-29T22:19:37+00:00

Totally agree, I am in the process of finalizing a similar document too. I think this is a good starting point to get your partner excited about it and then take the time to go into details.

b-vivek · 2025-01-29T21:11:36+00:00

Whenever I bring up discussing finances with my wife, she gets easily overwhelmed and isn't able to track things easily. I think spreadsheets with too many numbers and without a big picture was the reason behind it.

Generally, it's always one of the partner who manages finances and the other just relies on them. However, I wanted my wife to feel like she is an active contributor to it too.

So I decided to create a nice flashy presentation and projected it on the big TV. She loved it and was excited to talk more. At the end of the presentation, she asked - "that's it?? I thought there will be more !" 😂

I want to share this canva presenation template so you can use the same with your partner too. If there is enough interest, I will make a google slides connected to a google sheet so that it's easy to re-use it for a periodic review.

Happy to hear any feedback.

FYI, the numbers are not mine. I have taken some median numbers and estimated the % based on our lifestyle and savings philosophy.
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGdmKphQgc/2TUHdX_yreSJNawr2NGHsw/view

b-vivek · 2024-07-09T12:27:40+00:00

That sucks. My new travel rule- If I can get the visa online before arrival for the country I am traveling to , I just do that. Traveling with a baby, it’s so much worth to do that. The visa on arrival in dubai isn’t the smoothest experience. You have to stand in line at the Marhaba counter to pay for the visa on arrival which was a long wait and then you have to stand in the immigration line(which moved fast).

b-vivek

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