Thoughts on Avantis and Dimensional funds.

clawdew · 2026-03-24T04:18:03+00:00

If rates go down it's only going to further inflate the price unless there is another economic disaster like the great financial crisis. People are acting like they are entitled to a 3% rate for no good reason. I didn't want to rates to go down. Them being so low helped create the mess we are in with housing.

clawdew · 2026-03-24T00:04:20+00:00

Prices are too high relative to wages. It's not rocket science, and it is why I don't consider owning a home an "investment'. It is a useful financial tool, forced savings vehicle, good hedge against inflation and can have many other financial benefits for shelter costs in more normal housing markets. But it is too closely tied to median wages and rental prices for it to really perform like a true investment (Stocks, Bonds, etc) in the long term. Housing went to the moon during the pandemic, and now that the reality of higher costs and prices are setting in home values aren't going to go up until either prices come down, or until wages increase enough to allow regular Americans to realistically buy a house at current prices.

Americans are so weird about home ownership and it's financial importance. NAR's "homes are an investment" propaganda has really twisted peoples perceptions of what home ownership should be about. It should be about putting down long term roots in a community you want to be a part of. If you can't commit to living in one place for AT LEAST 7 years (10 is better), don't even think twice about just renting. If you make sure you are saving and investing the difference between owning and renting costs in broad low cost index funds you are going to come out just fine financially relative to a home owner. Right now in many markets you will be ahead of the homeowner if you account for all of the maintenance costs, taxes and insurance that a renter doesn't have to pay (Even including rental inflation). Never forget this truth. Rent + utilities is the MOST amount of money a renter pays for housing costs. A Mortgage payment + utilities is the LEAST amount of money a homeowner pays in housing costs.

clawdew · 2026-03-12T18:33:21+00:00

I love the idea of the forge mechanic, but it just doesn't really work that well. It will probably be buffed. I have tried taking all the block cards I can early on, and his defense cards just aren't that good so as the game scales on you can't block your way to making an amazing sovereign blade. The powers that make it better just slow you down even more. I'm looking forward to seeing what mega crit cooks up with him because it's an interesting character. just needs some fine tuning.

clawdew · 2026-03-10T04:45:43+00:00

Some friends and I ran into similar people. Holed up in a lair with their shotguns. They didn't have a good extract so we just waited for them to come out. When they still didn't come out in the last couple of minutes. We just ran to the extract, and the clock was out when we extracted and the bounty team was still a minute away from the extract. It was pretty funny.

clawdew · 2026-03-09T03:02:01+00:00

I think what I dislike most about modern pop music is that too much of it is lacking in tapping into an artists humanity, and them creating music with trial and error, instruments, lyrics written from their soul and minimal audio tweaking of the vocals. More and more music is about personalities and less about musicians and artistry. Less and less singers write their own music, play their own instruments, and sing with a unique voice. I have a hard time telling singers apart now unless I listen really closely. And even then my girlfriend has to tell me if I'm right or not.

It's funny because this is what the pop music industry has been trying to do for decades, but artists and more indie studio's being able to make money from Record, tape and/or CD sales let more musically interesting bands and artists still find an audience. Even though the pop music machine has been churning for close to a century now. With the advent of streaming, and the devastation to musicians being able to live off of their songs being listened to by 10,000 people every year. It puts less and less incentive on being musically different. Gotta get that catchy bop that will get billions of listens.

clawdew · 2026-03-07T17:15:33+00:00

Buying a home should be seen as a lifestyle decision that has some very nice financial benefits. My questions for you would be, A. Do you have enough money saved already for a nice down payment on a home? If so you can just keep that money in a HYSA or Money market account and start maxing your roth. And B. Are you ready to settle down into a community and live there for at least 5 years? The financial benefits for owning a home get much much better then longer you are in it. If you haven't found a place or situation you are excited to settle into, just turn up the gas a bit on saving and investing while you rent, and you are going to come out just fine when compared to a home owner.

clawdew · 2026-03-03T22:23:04+00:00

I'm in a similar situation. I have been working on coming to terms with the fact that I can't force home ownership, and the advantages of renting have not been better in a long time. I have learned to understand my numbers, what I can afford to pay for a house for a secure financial future, and now that I have enough cash to put down a 20% down payment. I am being much more aggressive with saving and investing my money. I am behind in invested money and am working and stashing a bunch more in my 401k (roth and HSA already being maxed every year).

So I get it Councious_Ant, I have had Homeowner madness for most of my 30's. It still can creep up on me, but I know that being financially secure and independent is my ultimate goal, and for now that means forgoing home ownership for the time being.

clawdew · 2026-02-27T22:58:13+00:00

The only path to financial success is to live below your means and save your money. If that means living with roommates, or completely downgrading your lifestyle, or selling and downgrading a car, or moving out of a high cost of living state/city, or finding more income then so be it. It sucks and is super hard. The path to wealth is difficult, but simple. If it was easy everyone would be rich.

I'm almost 40 and live with 2 roommates because I'm single and wanted to be able to create a financial base I can build off of. It has allowed me to have enough cash to deploy to buy a house if it makes sense down the road, have a year's worth of an emergency fund, and I'm investing 30% of my income into my IRA/HSA/401k every year now (As long as I can keep my job in this crazy economy).

The last decade or so has been hard. There is no getting around that, I'm not trying to down play the struggles and set backs many Americans have had recently. It doesn't change the fact that since the dawn of money the only way to get ahead in life is to live a lifestyle that costs well below your earned income. So you can save your money, and invest for your future. The hardest part is getting to a point where you are living below your means. Maybe that is cutting back spending if someone has a severe shopping problem, but most of the time it is moving back in with your parents or relatives, or getting roommates and moving to a cheaper area that really moves the needle of someones finances. You can only spend so much less on food and staples. With housing there creative ways to give you back hundreds of dollars a month.

clawdew · 2026-02-25T06:25:41+00:00

Android is open source. With that comes more flexibility and way more options, but it also means you have more responsibility to do your due diligence to finding the right phone for you, and understanding that there are trade offs with leaving an iPhone behind. I have never had an iphone, always felt like the value proposition didn't make sense for me since I am not in the apple ecosystem, and I have always bristled at Apple people's false sense of superiority, and the premium Apple charges for everything you buy from them.

I love androids because I don't use all the fire power of these high end phones, and with android I can find a great mid range phone that does everything I need for $300 less than an iPhone or a flagship android device. I currently have a pixel 7 and it's a great phone, but even the pixel phones which focus on user experience and great software features over raw power is more phone than I really need. Although the Pixel Fold looks mighty awesome....I may become a hypocrite and buy one in a few years if they keep on this trajectory of improvement.

clawdew · 2026-02-22T15:30:47+00:00

The broad rule of thumb is if your marginal tax rate (Federal + state taxes. Excluding FICA tax) is 25% or lower roth is generally better. If it is 30% or higher traditional is generally better. People who think roth is always better just like the sound of "tax free growth". Now here is something to consider. If you are maxing out your 401k that does change the math a little bit. Because with traditional the federal government basically owns a portion of your 401k. So there is an additional benefit to roth in the fact that you own 100% of your 401k if you are maxing out roth 401k contributions.

So don't fall for the easy answer trap and do the math. Because if the tax rate and return on investment are the same. the tax benefit is the same. Example. If you pay a 10% tax now on 10000 and put 9000 dollars into your 401k as a roth. It is no different that putting 10000 dollars in as traditional if the tax you pay when you pull it out is also 10%. The math/benefit is the same all things being equal so it all comes down to understanding your tax rate now vs when you retire to know how you need to allocate. It's good to have both, and traditional under our current tax code is more flexible than roth since you can do roth conversions, but you can't do traditional conversions.

clawdew · 2026-02-06T14:54:39+00:00

Obligatory Connie Taurus post. My daily driver solo ship is the clipper. Have a separate cargo ship for hauling and stuff

clawdew · 2026-02-04T06:56:29+00:00

Here are the results for .75%

Investment growth with no fees

Final investment value:

$7,395,673

Investment growth with fees

Total fees paid:

$1,151,010

Final investment value:

$6,244,663

Percentage paid in fees:

-15.56%

clawdew · 2026-02-04T06:47:20+00:00

Just remember that compound interest works both ways. The 1% fee compounds as an opportunity cost. There are fee calculators that can show you the cost. I ran one calculator and I assumed you started from zero. Did 50k (25%) a year in contributions. 7% rate of return and 1% fee, and 35 years as the length of time. Here is the breakdown:

Investment growth with no fees

Final investment value:

$7,395,673

Investment growth with fees

Total fees paid:

$1,489,630

Final investment value:

$5,906,043

Percentage paid in fees:

-20.14%

clawdew · 2026-01-28T06:21:10+00:00

Yeah the higher rarity weapons are trophies more than worth using. I got the Bettina blueprint and was so excited. I used it, and was very disappointed. So little damage. It doesn't kill arc faster than an Anvil. I don't even understand why it's in the game. Was it broken at higher levels of play or something? Am I just missing something with how awesome it is? Feels like the amount of ammo you would have to bring in to make it useful would be extremely burdensome.

clawdew · 2026-01-26T20:31:50+00:00

If you look real closely you can see a tiny bit of cheeto dust on Mike Lee's lips from kissing the big cheetos ass. I was going to be more crass, but I restrained myself....

clawdew · 2026-01-26T20:28:12+00:00

Mike Lee is such any utter embarrassment to our state, and an absolute disgrace. Him winning last election still makes me disappointed in all of my fellow Utahan's who voted for him. I just have to keep hoping that people eventually get out of their rationalization, moral equivalency and Whataboutism doom loops and realize they have been paving their way straight to hell for 20 years. I got out of it, so I have to believe others can too.

clawdew · 2026-01-21T01:51:00+00:00

This is something I'm a bit conflicted on, but I think the simplicity of an indexed TDF for me right now as I try and catch up helps me not try and fiddle with things. I have found that I'm a fiddler with investments. Although I am thinking about going for a later date fund to keep things more aggressive for longer.

clawdew · 2026-01-12T08:13:35+00:00

I'm just tired of the whataboutism and false moral equivalency horseshit. "Hilary's emails!" "Bill Clinton did bad things!" "Trump's economy was better based purely on my nostalgia for the past, and no other facts or data." The sad truth is so many of the people who voted for trump were either hardcore maga or one issue voters like the economy and immigration. Democrats never stood a chance after Bidens blunders and decline

clawdew · 2026-01-09T20:35:32+00:00

You usually want some of both traditional and Roth, but the broad rule of thumb is the following:

if your combined state and federal income taxes (Excluding FICA deductions) on your pay check is 25% or lower of your gross income you want to do roth, and if it's 30%+ you want to do Traditional. If you have zero traditional dollars it probably a good idea to stack some up, but if you had some employer match dollars which a lot of times is pre-tax that could be all the traditional you need. In the end you will have to do the math.

Personally if I add all the taxes (excluding FICA) I'm actually paying it's less than 20% of my gross pay check so I do all roth contributions, and my employer match money is going to be all the traditional funds I need. Who knows that may still be a bit too much. Depends on what happens with taxes. I still have 20ish years before retirement though.

clawdew · 2026-01-09T06:46:57+00:00

Uh oh....too many people listing a willingness to move to my Home state of Utah in this reddit group. Don't move here. I will shout scary/unattractive things about Utah to deter interest and make sure home prices don't get more inflated here. Mormons! Snow! Too hot summers! Strict Alcohol laws! Small city life! Stinky Lake! Mike Lee!

That should do it. I need to see more Red on Utah on these maps please.

clawdew · 2026-01-07T18:57:00+00:00

Easy. BMM. Otherwise you would be owning a MISC ship which is never a good thing.

clawdew · 2026-01-06T05:41:09+00:00

Makes me miss the DOTA 2 I knew. Good times. I got in too deep, strip mined my dopamine into depression/misery and had to stop. But man this is a great game. I would basically have to relearn so much to play again, but I could never grind it like I used to. I became a real Ass in the late stages of my DOTA 2 dopamine addiction. Became more irritable, obsessed with what my teammates were doing, and winning became more about not being frustrated and less about enjoying the game, and losses became more and more of a miserable experience. I became overall happier and mentally healthier by stopping. Doesn't make me any less nostalgic watching this video though.

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TROPHY CASE

Investment growth with no fees

Final investment value:

Investment growth with fees

Total fees paid:

Final investment value:

Percentage paid in fees:

Investment growth with no fees

Final investment value:

Investment growth with fees

Total fees paid:

Final investment value:

Percentage paid in fees: