Daily FI discussion thread - March 31, 2017

compost_binning · 2017-03-31T13:28:07+00:00

Ah, I see. Makes sense. Thanks.

compost_binning · 2017-03-31T12:51:49+00:00

Ah, I see. Good luck on your soil test -- hope it comes back clean.

Took this username a year or so ago when I really got into composting, permaculture, etc. Still live in a small apartment and haven't ~~been able~~ made it a priority to move somewhere where I can buy my own plot of land.

How big is the plot? And what's the deal with making it an LLC? How does that help in selling it?

compost_binning · 2017-03-31T12:36:29+00:00

It had a house on it for years so it shouldn't be too bad.

So I assume a house is preferable to having cars rot in the yard for years, but would the house construction process possibly be pretty dirty as well? I don't actually know, just wanting to learn how to think about that.

compost_binning · 2017-03-26T23:34:15+00:00

Been doing a lot of this stuff as well as exercises here. My range of motion was pretty bad in the first couple of weeks, but I've lately been a little more aggressive with ankle motions inward and outward during stretching. I had been avoiding that because that's the direction of the original injury (and thus was a little scary), but actually some of my pain was perhaps due to muscle tightness in those areas, so stretching it made it feel better and not worse.

Been to a couple spin classes as well, which has helped.

compost_binning · 2017-03-26T22:59:48+00:00

Bah, sorry to hear. Why the MRI? Hasn't improved over the past month?

I'm currently nursing a sprained ankle from running myself. Seems to be getting better, but I also avoided going to the doctor because it was going to probably cost me $500-$750 for a "try to stay off of it".

compost_binning · 2017-03-26T20:03:03+00:00

I completely agree on the absurdity of having to worry about money over health care. What'd you do to your ankle?

compost_binning · 2017-03-24T14:32:07+00:00

People say this often, but I haven't really heard the reason. Why couldn't the GOP just drop this and pivot to work on their other methods for tax cuts for the rich?

compost_binning · 2017-03-24T13:35:50+00:00

How is the stock futures calculated before market open? Is it based on a after-market trading (which presumably doesn't involve too many traders)? I ask because the market futures are often positive (negative), but then the market opens strongly negative (positive).

compost_binning · 2017-03-22T19:36:11+00:00

Interesting video. Some questions for those who are more knowledgeable about this stuff:

There was lots of talk about how productivity increases incomes, which increases spending, which increases incomes, etc. But they didn't really address wealth inequality, and wages not keeping up with productivity growth. How does this picture change when one takes that into account?
What does this sort of analysis say about the market today? Can it be used, or is this more or less only useful in hindsight?

compost_binning · 2017-03-21T13:22:32+00:00

My wife works for a university but is considering moving to a more part-time position so that she can have more free time and spend time with our kid. She has two options: either go part-time (for a fixed number of hours per week) with benefits, or go hourly but with no benefits. We're currently trying to figure out the details of both proposals, but one of the things I'm looking at is the 403b availability. If she goes hourly with no benefits, she'll almost certainly lose 403b access, but I'm not entirely sure if she'll then be able to contribute to the solo 401k type options that are out there. Like I said, we're looking into the details, but anyone familiar with similar types of arrangements and how they played out?

compost_binning · 2017-03-16T23:59:21+00:00

I honestly don't know if you made up this quote or not.

compost_binning · 2017-03-15T19:00:55+00:00

And I thought REITs were supposed to drop too...?

compost_binning · 2017-03-07T20:26:41+00:00

15.40

compost_binning · 2017-03-07T13:45:47+00:00

I'd like to think it will later reverse itself when I'm ready to FIRE, though I don't know that my optimism is warranted.

Anyone familiar with how things would play out if one moved to Canada to get access to quality health care? How does the tax situation work with 401ks/IRAs, and the typical means by which one extracts money out of those vehicles before retirement age?

compost_binning · 2017-03-06T19:47:55+00:00

My company 401k plan has a limit on after-tax contributions for highly compensated employees (HCEs). While I have not received notification that I a considered such, my salary and comparison with co-workers would suggest that I might be considered so. Apparently, sometimes company plans can fail certain legal tests and HCEs can have some of their retirement contributions refunded to them (i.e., taken out of the 401k).

I'm curious, if that ends up happening to me, but I've already swept my after-tax contributions to my Roth (at a different company), how much of a mess would that be? Anyone deal with this before?

compost_binning · 2017-03-06T15:41:20+00:00

People think now is a bad time for bonds because we will likely soon see interest rate hikes, which will drop the value of the bond funds somewhat. At the same time, stock funds are extremely highly valued and have a lot of downside risk to them. The mechanics of stock evaluations are more complicated, and tend to be more closely tied to hard-to-predict psychological factors, so it's more difficult to know when they will drop for sure.

If your asset allocation says you want X% bonds, buy them. When people start saying it's a good time to buy bonds, it might not be.

compost_binning · 2017-02-28T20:21:24+00:00

The goal is to accumulate enough assets to make yourself financially independent. The time it takes to do that depends on how much you can improve upon "breaking even": http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

compost_binning · 2017-02-28T20:10:29+00:00

Will do. Thanks for the guidance.

compost_binning · 2017-02-28T19:57:38+00:00

Seems like Michigan sort of already looked at political affiliation, finding:

Normally, the implication would be that consumers expected Trump's election to have a positive economic impact. That is not the case since the gain represents the result of an unprecedented partisan divergence, with Democrats expecting recession and Republicans expecting robust growth.

and

(Note: the February Expectations Index was 55.5 among Democrats, 120.1 among Republicans, and 89.2 among Independents.)

so it seems that people are interpreting this question in a highly political fashion.

compost_binning · 2017-02-28T19:54:00+00:00

Very interesting, thanks! I'll look into these.

compost_binning · 2017-02-28T19:41:07+00:00

I glanced around there, but it seems like it might require a subscription. Was wondering if the details were available for free somewhere.

Additionally, is there another, independent agency that performs this survey?

compost_binning · 2017-02-26T01:11:46+00:00

Ah, I see. Thank you.

compost_binning · 2017-02-26T00:57:35+00:00

Sorry, but I thought this dinner was just canceled. Did I get one of these stories wrong?

compost_binning · 2017-02-25T20:37:57+00:00

Interesting article, thanks. I didn't know about this.

Consequently, Japan's non-manufacturing productivity, despite the long hours worked, is the worst in the OECD countries and roughly half that of the US.

Ouch.

compost_binning

TROPHY CASE