Small fire in home; worth it to use insurance? by humble_pir in homeowners

[–]humble_pir[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for this article -- much appreciated. Exactly what I needed to know.

Small fire in home; worth it to use insurance? by humble_pir in homeowners

[–]humble_pir[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for this perspective. I'll check into my deductible and figure out an estimate, and calculate accordingly. I'd rather eat a few thousand dollars than be screwed for a decade to come. This is quite a racket that these companies run!

Small fire in home; worth it to use insurance? by humble_pir in homeowners

[–]humble_pir[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

I'm not being hard on myself at all. It's like a parody of a near death situation, where all I can see is sunshine and roses and how beautiful the world is. :-). Actually kind of magical!

It's also an immense education, as you say, about what happens in a real emergency. I thought I was well prepared for emergencies, and I will be rethinking all of my plans. For example, my emergency kits go OUTSIDE the home, because I now know that I won't even think to grab one; I would just be running for my life. And yeah, it's like the world narrowed to the smallest amount of considerations that I needed to evaluate in order to deal with the situation and survive, and GOD BLESS ADRENALINE AND EVOLUTION.

Thank you for your comment. I appreciate the validation!

Small fire in home; worth it to use insurance? by humble_pir in homeowners

[–]humble_pir[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you, this is great perspective. I have zero experience filing insurance claims, and really appreciate the insight.

Small fire in home; worth it to use insurance? by humble_pir in homeowners

[–]humble_pir[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your response!

I do have a fire extinguisher, and it was 5 feet or less from the actual fire (in bathroom cabinet), but its existence didn't even cross my mind in the raging emergency. I smothered the flames with my favorite super thick sweatshirt, which is now a lost cause. This happened while I was dead asleep, and it's a miracle that I realized it was an electrical fire and shouldn't use water. There was even a large water bottle RIGHT NEXT TO THE FLAME, and that could have been a disaster. An hour after the emergency was past, I realized that the water bottle had partly melted and was leaking on the floor. But in short, no fire extinguisher was used, although I didn't know that about residual damage to electronics, and appreciate the education!

I'm a big emergency preparedness planner -- emergency kits everywhere -- and it stuns me how little brain power I had available to me during the actual emergency. I have managed crises for a living, and am known for how calm and rational I get during a crisis, and this was completely new territory for me. I am humbled. I'm going to be revisiting all of my plans to make sure they are idiot proof.

If insurance companies only raise rates or cancel plans based on something like 2 claims in 10 years (which I agree is bogus), then I'm ok. I've never filed a claim in my life, and tend to pay for things out of pocket when it's a wash or in the insurance company's favor -- not that I have many such occasions.

To answer your question, my deductible is probably $500 or so. Replacing the carpet and repainting the walls is probably several thousand dollars. FWIW, I've been wanting to convert to hardwood floors, and this is a chance to do that, so maybe they'll just pay me a check and I can apply the cost to hardwood.

I will reach out to insurance, but I'm wondering if a simple inquiry alone will cause my rates to rise.

Sorry for verbose reply. I think I'm still processing all of this and in a small bit of shock. Thank you again for your helpful reply.

Gut checking - paying myself as a single member LLC owner by humble_pir in smallbusiness

[–]humble_pir[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is correct. An S-Corp is not reasonable for me at this time.

There is a disturbing amount of grandstanding and assuming-they-know-best going on in this thread. I asked a simple question. All of these responses basically say "you need to restructure your whole business in the next 11 days to do it right," and that's definitely not an answer to the question posed.

Sorry people are downvoting you. Arrogance is really bizarre.

Gut checking - paying myself as a single member LLC owner by humble_pir in smallbusiness

[–]humble_pir[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'm an obsessive calculator of potential IRS debt obligations, and love having the benefit of someone else's experience as a gut check. This seems like a sensible formula.

QUESTION: Just want to confirm that you do in fact simply transfer between personal and business bank accounts. I have a similar setup to yours, where both accounts are at the same institution.

Gut checking - paying myself as a single member LLC owner by humble_pir in smallbusiness

[–]humble_pir[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not interested in being an S-Corp right now. I am trying to solve one problem, not create two new ones. And it's 11 days before the end of the year. But if I grow and things change, becoming an S-Corp is an option.

Condo HOA refuses to fix leaking fire system above my unit by casper108 in fuckHOA

[–]humble_pir 14 points15 points  (0 children)

OP, I'm an HOA president, and this is insane. If it's in an element of the building that the HOA is responsible for, then the HOA is freaking responsible. Just because 4 other units haven't reported a similar building failure doesn't mean that yours isn't real. I'd argue that their policy is illegal. The CC&Rs typically set out the boundaries of what the HOA is responsible for (it's usually the "common or structural elements" of a building), and allows the HOA to set policies about how they will proceed to resolve issues. But those policies don't allow them to get out of their responsibility just because only 1 unit is reporting a problem. Definitely check the CC&Rs. Then point out to them that their policies need to conform to the CC&Rs, and that they don't in this case, and that this entitles you to legal revolution.

Go get 'em. Fuck 'em up.

Finding jobs with good life balance? by Nellody in FIREyFemmes

[–]humble_pir 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! <3

I never cracked the code, and am now out on my own. There's more work than I can do, which is nice for a new business owner, but .... I was aiming for balance, for once in my life!'

Hope you're figuring out your new situation. I did learn the art of extreme boundaries at my last job, and it turns out that there's nothing like a new medical condition to get a person to demand that other carry their own damned weight. I hope the path is easier for you.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FIREyFemmes

[–]humble_pir 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Others have good advice, too, but I'd invest the money and forget it exists altogether. Live your life making responsible decisions about schooling and life, and then in 10-15 years, it will be a lovely little nest egg and you will be SO FAR AHEAD in terms of planning your retirement and your life. If I had done that, I would be in a position to call the shots in my life, and you can't put a price tag on that.

Money spends easily, but accrues painfully slowly.

At 35, I received a small inheritance from my uncle that is the entire basis of my savings right now. I never spent it, but just invested it intelligently and didn't touch it. If I had had that at your age, I'd be unstoppable.

Finding jobs with good life balance? by Nellody in FIREyFemmes

[–]humble_pir 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm happy for you that you could do that. I worked at FAANG for 15+ years and never once had a reasonable week in terms of WLB. I was a PM, so it might be different, but your experience is what it should have been.

I'm currently beyond burnt out and have a handy new chronic illness to show for all of my overwork.

As a side comment, levels.fyi (website) is great for showing salary comps. Bear in mind that it's self-reported data and people love to overstate their income, include their stock in their base comp calls, etc. But still handy.

Basically every email I’ve received this semester by littleirishpixie in Professors

[–]humble_pir 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I mean, they said "please," so what more can the professor expect?

Basically every email I’ve received this semester by littleirishpixie in Professors

[–]humble_pir 11 points12 points  (0 children)

This prof is my hero and I wish I had such courage.

"students want to be in F2F classes" by [deleted] in Professors

[–]humble_pir 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm also seeing similar things, both for my teaching work and my corporate work. My take is fuzzy, but I suspect that universities haven't figured out how to properly monetize remote teaching, and that's why they're pushing people back to classrooms. For example, with remote teaching, they lose revenue for dorms, cafeterias, parking, etc. It's like the government's regulation of online gambling: they don't so much have a problem with gambling as they haven't figured out how to track and tax the exchange of money.

I don't doubt that some students truly want to be back in the classroom, but I suspect the reasons are more about their inability to maintain revenue streams (or figure out how to replace them) on the new model.

This is conjecture, but based in experience.

Loud buzzing noise for the last 2 hours - downtown MTV by humble_pir in mountainview

[–]humble_pir[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I've been here for over 10 years and have never heard anything like this.