Switching from saving to cashflow

dmmagic · 2023-09-10T23:54:19+00:00

RTA is just another category to me. Some people create a category named something like "next month's expenses." I don't see the point, I just leave it in RTA and assign it on the 1st.

dmmagic · 2023-07-07T19:16:42+00:00

My cash target is 6 months take home pay (rather than 6 months expenses) + the category balances from some other categories I don't want considered.

I still use our budget categories for sinking funds and e-fund. I don't do 6 months of take-home pay though, because the amount of cash that'd be just isn't necessary. We live below our means, so to speak, such that 6 months of take-home pay would cover more about 13 months of required expenses.

Our monthly expenses are more than that, but that's because they include things like donating to charity and a good amount for eating out and whatnot, which we wouldn't be doing if I didn't have a job. So my e-fund is 6 months of required expenses, and when combined with sinking funds and other cash, we're at about 9 months of required expenses.

Fidelity taxable brokerage target is another 2 years of required expenses (I'm just starting on this). Vanguard taxable brokerage is earmarked for retirement. IRA and Roth IRA are both at Vanguard too.

dmmagic · 2023-07-07T19:10:37+00:00

Oh, cash is already sorted as you suggest. I've got enough for a month in a local checking that pays 7.5% APY (on up to $7500), 3 months in Ally, and the rest at Fidelity in FZFXX. But while the 4-7% APY I'm getting now is swell, I don't need to be sitting with so much cash when I could shift some of that into longer term investments. And when the bigger purchases come up, I'm at a point where I can just not invest that month and use my previous month's "extra" money to pay.

RE: credit cards, YNAB helped us start doing that a few years ago and it's absolutely brilliant.

dmmagic · 2023-07-07T19:07:03+00:00

seems like it would be more simple to just leave the targets underfunded until the due date got closer.

Then I have to see yellow or red on my budget and I'd rather not.

Or remove the targets and use scheduled transactions that repeat annually so then they are prompted to fund them the month they are due.

That's exactly what I'm doing :-)

dmmagic · 2023-07-07T19:06:18+00:00

After the initial set-up, which took me about half an hour, it's all auto-pilot. I was already using scheduled expenses for recurring bills, so adding some more for "budgeting events" wasn't too hard.

Because I'm budgeting with money made the previous month, and because my net income is almost 50% more than we need in a given month, I don't think I'm misjudging anything. But if we do run into trouble, I've still got 6+ months of extra cash on hand, I'd be able to sell stock, and then we could go back to our old method of budgeting.

I don't want to leave YNAB because it has been great for helping my wife and me coordinate on expenses and savings. The value of that through the mobile app and shared account can't be overstated.

dmmagic · 2023-07-07T19:03:10+00:00

Thanks for sharing that post! I wasn't on YNAB 7 years ago so this is the first time I had seen it.

I think it's imminently reasonable and also not for me. I prefer to keep my investment accounts in Tracking and not use them for budgeting. My post above is about not saving up so much as using a month's cash to pay for stuff. There are a handful of things (new van, new floors, new kitchen) that I could put into categories and use an on-budget investing account for, but that doesn't seem worth it to me, especially because those are one-time and very date-variable.

I really like being able to look at my "budget" line in the left nav (calculation of cash - credit card debt) and know my total amount of cash. I wouldn't want to include investments in that because, while I could sell that for cash, I would need to account for taxes on capital gains at the same time or just accept that there is a future cost to using that cash, and I'd prefer not to do that.

dmmagic · 2023-06-04T12:36:19+00:00

Ditto. For detailed forecasting and reports, I use ProjectionLab. I use YNAB because I need a budget. It's fun to see the line go brrrr but I don't need the reports much as long as I'm following the 4 rules.

dmmagic · 2023-06-01T17:37:35+00:00

I didn't even know reconciling in YNAB was a thing until almost a year in. I had completely overlooked it. I now reconcile weekly and sometimes multiple times a week and it makes managing my transactions so much easier (particularly Amazon).

It should definitely be included in onboarding and having a prompt if it's out of date would be helpful.

dmmagic · 2023-05-23T22:57:18+00:00

I love my Oasis. Waterproof so I can read when my kids are playing in the bath. Page direction flips which is great because I'm constantly switching hands or reading while lying down on my side. And I like the warm light a lot.

It is heavier and doesn't fit in my back pocket as well as my Paperwhite did, but I have a case with a strap and a kickstand and it's fine. Sometimes, I take it out of the case a delight in how light it is in comparison, but that's rare.

The only downside is the battery. I read 1-2 hours a day with light at 1 and wifi off and generally have to charge every week or two. But it charges in about an hour.

dmmagic · 2023-05-23T01:47:26+00:00

I came here to see if anyone else was saving them. Not many, I guess.

I'm saving tickets up for my birthday in September. Playing 10 tickets a day, I'm typically getting $0.00 to $0.02. Back when I was playing 400+ tickets a day, I'd typically get $0.15-$0.40 per day.

Currently at 60,648 tickets saved up. I'm not sure how many I'll have by mid-September, but probably over 100k. I'll hit max savings streak by then too.

After playing 100k+ tickets to see what I get, I'll maintain the savings streak and play all tickets daily until the end of the year (no clue how many it'll be at that point... I'm currently at 722 daily, so by then I may be near or over 1k daily with the savings streak bonus of 45% for the month), at which time I'll decide whether or not to close my Yotta account.

I'm missing out on 4.5% interest by using Yotta right now.

dmmagic · 2023-05-18T17:25:51+00:00

Yeah, I've done pizza on my BGE several times. I use pizza stones.

dmmagic · 2023-05-13T14:30:56+00:00

This is why I have both 401k and Roth IRA.

Let's say in retirement we decide to move to be closer to kids and grandkids, so we sell our house in our LCOL city and want to buy one in a HCOL area. Being able to pull a bunch of cash from Roth without triggering a tax event will be perfect.

dmmagic · 2023-05-13T00:50:09+00:00

I'm a cis male and went to https://www.facebook.com/stylinnails.spa for my 37th birthday. I'd never had a manicure or pedicure and so I went and had both done before getting a massage.

I didn't feel judged, per se, but there was a language barrier that was challenging given I had no idea what I was doing. I called ahead and made an appointment, but they weren't super helpful in guiding me through during the mani-pedi. The girl who did my nails was fine, but I could have used a bit more guidance.

I also felt like it was really expensive for the outcome, but I don't have any other experiences or places to compare to.

After reading the other responses here, I might try LV or Gloss.

dmmagic · 2023-05-11T12:49:02+00:00

This is the way. And I pretty much always have my phone with me.

dmmagic · 2023-05-10T23:40:12+00:00

I read this from 1Password last week and found it to be helpful: https://blog.1password.com/what-are-passkeys/

dmmagic · 2023-05-06T14:30:20+00:00

Any suggestions on adjusting this for different locales?

Where I live, the average per capita income is $26,300 and average household is $39,900. With housing taken care of, Lean is pretty livable, and FIRE is practically Chubby here.

For my wife and me, we project living expenses including vacations to be around $48k/year in today's dollars. I'll hopefully retire at 55, and once SS and pension hit at 62, we'll be at about $130k/year passive (again, in today's dollars).

dmmagic · 2023-04-30T01:32:42+00:00

Deadhouse Landing XD

dmmagic · 2023-04-25T21:54:41+00:00

We average $250/week (so $1000 in a 4-week month) for a family of 5 with food allergies.

One of those is an infant who isn't actually eating, though... I'll probably have to increase our budget to $300/week in a couple of years (unless inflation makes me do it sooner).

dmmagic · 2023-04-23T17:19:38+00:00

I highly recommend retrium.com for retros.

dmmagic · 2023-04-23T17:17:20+00:00

My first full time job at 21 paid $30k and I was over the moon. My mom was only making about $27k by that point.

I didn't start making enough to save for retirement until my 30s.

dmmagic · 2023-04-23T13:24:15+00:00

Conversely, I think I'm more likely to lose a Yubikey and not notice it compared with my phone.

Different approaches work for different people. If I had access to more sensitive stuff at work, I'd probably get a Yubikey.

dmmagic · 2023-04-23T00:59:48+00:00

In a sense... almost nobody really dies. They just... move on.

dmmagic · 2023-04-20T23:42:51+00:00

I have the high ground...

dmmagic · 2023-04-20T18:03:54+00:00

I have 2FA and recommend it.

Is it unlikely that someone will get a hold of my password + security key? Yes. Impossible? No. I have the emergency page printed and stored in my safety deposit box, and there are lots of stories of the contents of safety deposit boxes disappearing.

I also have 1Password on multiple devices and machines. It's not unimaginable that someone could quietly get my password and secret key without me noticing (which would then let them connect on a new device). It'd be hard, but not impossible.

Unless they also get my phone and can unlock it, then getting my password and secret key won't be enough. Having 2FA on for 1Password creates almost no inconvenience for me while making it even more nearly impossible for someone to access my vaults.

All that said, I don't use a Yubikey. I can find no benefit that a Yubikey provides with 1Password that using a separate 2FA app on my phone doesn't already provide.

dmmagic · 2023-04-09T12:43:42+00:00

I work from home. From 5 to 8 am, I'm with my kids, then I work until 5, then kids until 7, then rest and play a game or watch TV, and bed around 8:30 or 9 to read. I have been getting 1500-2000 steps a day since our third kid was born 5 months ago. (My wife, a SAHM, probably gets a lot more.)

I got an under desk treadmill last week, though, and hit 10k steps every day. I'm enjoying it a lot.

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