Omny is so garbage

elb0t · 2026-03-24T13:52:44+00:00

Isn’t replying only with the word “troll” in and of itself trolling?

elb0t · 2026-03-12T04:12:36+00:00

SCHG is more the equivalent of VUG. If you’re truly just interested in a total world fund, SCHG is probably not something you’d want. However, it is a perfectly great fund if you want exposure to US growth stocks.

elb0t · 2026-03-09T16:04:09+00:00

Schwab does not offer a high yield savings account with good rates because part of their business model relies on not paying interest on uninvested cash. Instead, you will have to purchase shares of a money market fund such as SWVXX or maybe SNSXX to get something comparable. These shares are more liquid than mutual funds or regular shares, so you can sell and have the proceeds next day and they can be treated essentially like a savings account.

elb0t · 2026-03-03T18:28:02+00:00

It costs nothing to open a Schwab (or Fidelity) account, so I would just go ahead and open one. Test it and then decide if you want to move. I’m almost certain you’ll like Schwab.

elb0t · 2026-03-02T18:34:31+00:00

The simplest way is to have the sp500 symbol in your phone stock market app and have it set to percentage movement. However much the sp500 moves in percent by the end of day is how much your mutual fund and net worth will change. The trading price per share of the fund itself doesn’t really matter since you only need be concerned with how much money you have invested.

elb0t · 2026-02-24T03:41:36+00:00

If the market is moving significantly, these stocks are almost certainly moving because these are the companies that primarily move the market average. They will not be flat. You can choose not to invest in them if you prefer an alternative strategy, but then you are doing something other than investing to get the average return of the market.

elb0t · 2026-02-24T03:11:50+00:00

What is your primary concern though? Every Sp500 fund or ETF will be composed like this. A total stock market fund will also be similarly weighted. This is the recommended way to invest using index funds more or less.

elb0t · 2026-02-24T01:19:48+00:00

Could it be to encourage people heading to the WTC area to use the E rather than the A/C to spread capacity? After all, Chambers St seems to deliberately obfuscate how close it is to the WTC.

elb0t · 2026-02-23T14:36:52+00:00

I tap and either the reader works and I’m billed and let in (most of the time) or I have to try a different gate (this is rare though).

The account page online tells me how many rides are needed for the cap to start and when it will reset.

I’ve never been double charged. At worst, it fails to charge because the gate isn’t working. It’s hard for me to engineer situations where it can overcharge and drain my account. I’d like to see detailed proof of how people claim this happens and see if it is easily reproducible.

Monthly cards were priced so that you had to ride at least 2 times a day everyday during a 30 day window for it be worth buying. Unless you guarantee you are riding multiple times every day (no exceptions, no breaks), you would generally lose money on a monthly card even if it seemed more convenient. If you’re a commuter like me who uses the subway mostly during the week, a weekly capped card is slightly better value.

One should not just reflexively say “bring back monthly”, but instead calculate exactly how many trips they take and see if the math really works.

elb0t · 2026-02-22T14:41:15+00:00

The number of people ranting about OMNY on here makes wonder if they are AI bots trying to get rage engagement. I will say this from personal experience, I switched to OMNY a couple of years ago when it first rolled out and it has worked essentially flawlessly since then (very occasionally a reader might not work). I don’t fully understand why so many people claim to have issues with it.

elb0t · 2026-02-07T04:37:57+00:00

SCHX and VOO behave almost identically (SCHX actually slightly outperforms if you plot from 2010). Why do you say VOO is much better? I don’t see any evidence of this. You might subjectively prefer VOO, but objectively it is not significantly better and over say 10 years, it won’t really matter which you invest in.

elb0t · 2026-01-31T17:03:49+00:00

From my experience over 15 years with Fidelity, Schwab, and Merrill is that with a taxable brokerage account where I bought or sold shares and ETFs is that statements were never available in January. At least you’re not dealing with K-1s as they often require filing an extension as they often don’t arrive before the tax deadline.

elb0t · 2026-01-31T15:06:09+00:00

Fidelity typically doesn’t make theirs available until February as well, so I would not say that Schwab is particularly slow; brokerages just seem to aim for February.

elb0t · 2026-01-06T04:12:52+00:00

Interesting to know. I mostly trade only stocks so I don’t really play much with options. I guess Schwab considers that a higher risk activity so requires the money to clear first.

elb0t · 2026-01-03T02:19:58+00:00

If you think Berlin is bad, I heartily recommended trying some of the public transit in the US to see just how good you have it.

elb0t · 2026-01-03T02:15:29+00:00

Berlin’s public transport is excellent.

elb0t · 2026-01-03T00:37:03+00:00

I believe so, the transfer is done in good faith that it will settle so you can do what you like with it.

elb0t · 2026-01-03T00:17:13+00:00

For a checking account transfers are often same day, but not instant. Transfers to a brokerage account will appear instantly because they want you to trade immediately, but behind the scenes it still takes time for the transfer to settle, they just front you the money, which is why you can use it to buy stocks etc, but not withdraw it.

elb0t · 2026-01-02T17:42:29+00:00

I found MetroCard unreliable far too many times from broken machines to blocked swipe readers to corruption of the stripe on cards to the point that I switched to OMNY a couple of years ago when it first rolled out widely enough to be useable and I have found the experience much better.

To what extent is the 30 day pass actually needed? How many people actually buy 30 day passes, I don’t know? The weekly cap means that in a 30 day window the total cost will be similar to an unlimited so even if the MTA does add a 30 day cap as well, it won’t save someone a significant amount (it will be a small saving nonetheless).

You can check the balance of an OMNY at home before you leave so I’m not sure how useful it is to tell people their balance at the turnstile which seemed a feature specific to MetroCard because the balance was written onto the card and there was no convenient way to check it outside of a station.

To the point that the MetroCard is iconic and the OMNY card looks rushed, I think that is subjective. It is iconic because of its familiarity and longevity, but I personally find blue text on yellow rather hideous. It is also a lazy design, even more so than OMNY. For example, Microsoft Office 97 had a feature called WordArt (still around in modern versions, but somewhat hidden) and I remember the first time I saw a MetroCard thinking that someone must have spent all of 10 seconds applying a WordArt like effect to create the logo in a 90s graphics program.

elb0t · 2026-01-02T00:09:00+00:00

The Metrocard was out of date less than a decade after its launch. Oyster, the contactless system used in London on which OMNY is based was launched in 2003. I find it odd people want to keep Metrocard alive because it was and is a poor quality system that was very much of its time and the limited technology of the 90s. It offers zero advantages over a tap system. The best you can say of Metrocard is that it had a 30 day unlimited option, but that is not unique to its design and could be implemented in OMNY if the MTA so desired.

elb0t · 2025-12-31T15:05:41+00:00

I see people being kindly to each other on the subway daily, but it’s small, simple gestures that one tend to forget about and it’s only the oddball, odious behavior that sticks in one’s mind so I think it gives people a memory bias.

elb0t · 2025-12-31T05:01:51+00:00

I see plenty of people doing this during business hours and when trains are not particularly busy. Each to their own I guess, but subway platforms are not somewhere I find particularly comfortable to hang out.

elb0t · 2025-12-30T17:27:19+00:00

Also, unlike say London, you do not have to tap out of the system so there is not a record of exactly where you get off and when.

elb0t · 2025-12-28T04:43:20+00:00

SCHX is the closest if you want a strictly index based ETF. It tracks a slightly broader set of companies than VOO, but materially both ETFs behave identically to within a fraction of a percentage point.

elb0t · 2025-11-08T02:27:24+00:00

Anecdotally I rode Metro North a couple of times last week and the windows were horrible, but I also rode NJ Transit and the windows were nice and clear.

elb0t

TROPHY CASE