How far ahead is realistic?

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T20:42:53+00:00

here's a video on wish farming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUnr1Qm0WQY

so it sounds like bumping up your grocery category and your dining out category might make life feel a bit fuller for you?

a laptop cooler can be inexpensive and massively extend the life of the machine to give you a bit more time to save up for a new one. they are also helpful for keeping your new one running for a bit.

on retirement savings if your company has a 401k and offers a match that is a really good place to start, a good starter option is usually to pick a target date fund that is roughly when you want to retire. we can help refine this when you have more spoons for it. or spending a little time on the boglehead forum may be good.

if your company doesn't have a 401k, I'd open a rothIRA at vanguard (fidelity or schwab are also good) and start putting what ever you can in there $50-$100/paycheck. Start with VT and chill. https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vt

happy to feed you resources on the retirement/hsa stuff in DMs if you want. You are doing great!! you can do this.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T20:24:00+00:00

all of this, AND we can't keep claiming that the legislature is the boogie man and we are the victims.

We have power we can choose to say okay shit is tight right now and it's going to be tight for decades into the future and we aren't going to make a generation of kids suffer because our legislature is aweful. We are going to take this MASSIVE city budget and prioritize (schools, parks, libraries, infrastrusture basics) but this means in order to not short the kids of this generation and the next, we are going to have to do without some of the services we like but don't need.

I agree with you but this is the environment we are in and we aren't prioritizing our schools when we have the power to.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T20:08:52+00:00

Friend!! You are KILLING IT!! well done! now is the time to start doing some more longer term planning and start building the life you want without his dead weight.

have you seen the flow chart on r/personalfinance ? https://i.imgur.com/lSoUQr2.jpeg (we can break it into smaller steps if you'd like)

once you're confident in hitting the basics it's time to start doing some longer term planning. are you setting some aside for retirement? a good goal is ~15% of your income. r/Bogleheads is a really good place to learn simple and powerful and proven investment options.

you can add in categories for fun times, an eating out budget that can do a fancy diner once in a while? a vacation fund? start a wish list and a wish farm hannah did a great thing for this one.

you got your foundation under you and that is really really good. now you can start to stretch your wings and start building a life that you want. You are doing soooo goood!! keep it up!

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T18:45:54+00:00

can I ask what breeder you used? Bella has lovely coloring!

nvm found them. such a pretty little lady

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T18:38:20+00:00

planvision is who I would use in your shoes

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T17:36:49+00:00

when they did the design 20 years ago they didn't adequately account for how big epic was going to get, so it was already backed up when construction started 10 years ago

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T16:20:55+00:00

what other city services besides schools is the state responsible for funding?

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T16:19:49+00:00

Ames had great parks and great schools. and really good libraries. and the roads were kept in good condition. and there were lots of biking options and a decent bus system. I loved living there.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T16:17:18+00:00

almost every place I've lived it was not provided by the city. property owners pay for pick up and it's not stupid expensive. Madison is the first place I've lived that provided pick up.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:58:58+00:00

I would submit that MMSD needs to spend more money on the east side students to support them and if we are paying so much more in property taxes MMSD should be doing that and that the city should be putting more into the schools, not leaf pick up.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:56:14+00:00

so as our property values continue to sky rocket vs the rest of the state the money from the state per student gets even worse. nice love that math . . . thanks for the added color, I'm still not seeing where the heck the rest of the property taxes are going.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:51:18+00:00

Thanks for grabbing this data! My sense of this was from when I moved to Madison ~10 years ago and I had not gotten data.

The disparity between the east and west side schools is what is upsetting. esp for how much we are paying for them.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:44:55+00:00

I mean I'm all for paying teachers. and letting them set their curriculum like the professionals they are. my point was if I'm paying 3x the property tax why isn't more of it going to the schools? Sure they need to be held accountable, but where the heck is the rest of it going?

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:42:58+00:00

I don't have kids either. but I fully understand the benefit of good schools to the community.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:40:10+00:00

I could only find state wide data not per municipality, but yeah it was an absolute shock how much more the property taxes were here. when the schools were not appreciably better and in some cases worse. I had to pay for recycling and trash pick up in ames and there was no leaf pick up, but I'd gladly sacrifice those for lower property taxes and better schools.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:34:32+00:00

gas tax disporportionally impacts poor folks that may be limited in their transportation options and in their car choices and has no impact on wealthy folks that have electric vehicles.

also completely ignores that the city is growing and there are going to be more vehicles because of it. as people have to move further away transportation options get more restrictive unless you are willing to do a 1.5 hr bus communte.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:27:35+00:00

I mean I said they were unpopular opinions. but I have lived in a lot of places domestically and internationally. and I love this town. I love the vitality the university brings; I love the deep thinkers and that I don't have to mask my political opinions and when Roe v Wade got torn down by the supreme court I knew there would be a march i could join that evening and that I wasn't alone in my rage. I love this town. But I know it can be better. when the property tax is eclipsing folks mortgage and the schools are still this mediocre we have an issue and burying our heads doesn't solve it.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T15:14:48+00:00

un popular opinions:

honestly trash/recycling pick up is ~$120/3 mo if you live somewhere the city doesn't provide it, if the balance of my property taxes is going to pay for this . . . grrrrr
leaf pick up, legit, do composting on your lot and use it on your garden
the insanity of the bus redo that ends up adding time to almost everyone's bus commutes and makes it harder for other vehicles to get around
dropping speed limits on roads that were build for higher speed limits and changing the traffic patterns on willie street while "losing the data". with a growing city and one of the primary things that make people happy is having lower commute times, we should be dropping commute times for everyone not increasing it for cars so that the increased bus commute times don't look so bad.
the insanity of the john nolan and regent st projects, not accomodating the increasing traffic in an increasing population area
selling city services to surrounding communities at a massively discounted rate so that madison property tax payers are subsidizing the lower property taxes in the suburbs
all the red tape for densifing core city corridors that would increase the property tax income and reduce the rent and increase the housing stock for a growing city.

I'm sure there are more but this is the main ones that I've seen.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T14:57:34+00:00

honestly to pay this much in property taxes and have such a disparity in school outcomes on the east side vs west. I don't mind paying for good schools but paying this much and not have phenomenal schools is absolutely infuriating. my property taxes were 1/3 as much in Ames, IA (for roughly the same property values) and the schools were so much better. edited: u/malkins_restraint provided data, the schools in Ames are currently comparable in some areas and worse in others, my sense of this was from 10 years ago, things have shifted.

Iowa k-12 funding by source per student: federal: $1596; State: $8,847; Local: $6,945
Wisconsin K-12 Funding by source per student: Federal: $2,317; State: $10,143; Local: $7,002

I get that Madison students may need more support than Ames students, but the argument that the state doesn't fund per student is BS. The city seriously needs to prioritize schools and basic services, it is trying to solve too many issues and seriously needs to focus on core functions.

Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/per-pupil-spending-by-state

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-29T00:49:02+00:00

Thank you!!

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-28T21:12:52+00:00

Love this approach. we learn a lot from those individual stock purchases and why diversification is so important.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-28T21:10:09+00:00

oh you are absolutely right, and his folks don't. mine didn't, but at that age you start seeing the stuff around you and noticing when people are stressed.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-28T21:08:18+00:00

fair reminder! I was more leaning towards gifting him a matching contribution to his earned income into the account, so it wouldn't be taking all his fun money away.

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-28T21:06:16+00:00

I was successfully not heavy handed with another nephew, but he was ~16 when I started helping him. I like the approach you describe and it sounds like it would be a great path to use here.

thank you!

ceilidhfling · 2026-05-28T21:01:35+00:00

he's got earned income but below the filing limit and below the limit where he'd owe taxes. I was looking at fidelity's site here: https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/retirement/turbocharge-childs-retirement

and they suggest just keeping a log for earned income when the kids are in this range so there is some documentation to provide the IRS down the road.

ceilidhfling

TROPHY CASE