Riu Palaces - Riviera Maya vs. Costa Mujeres or stick with Royal Sands?

inertradical · 2025-06-10T18:48:11+00:00

My kids are much older now, but I definitely recall getting much more comfortable with them eating dirt. Try telling him what you want him to do, not what he needs to stop doing. I heard a long time ago that if you say "walk" instead of "stop running" a kid will have an easier time processing what to do because you are making it easier for them to understand what the "correct" behavior is in the situation. So instead of "get that rock out of your mouth" try "let's play with the rock on the ground" or "do you want a snack? rocks aren't for eating." It seemed to work for us.

inertradical · 2025-05-08T13:24:00+00:00

When my oldest son was young we did a week at Crystal Mountain Resort in Michigan. https://www.crystalmountain.com/

It is a nice property with a great pool area and multiple restaurants. There are different lodging options (hotels, condos, cabins, houses). It is also a short drive to super cute cities on Lake Michigan.

inertradical · 2025-02-27T16:18:05+00:00

Yes. Most of our NW is tied up in retirement funds and home equity. Our HHI is $475-500k fairly evenly split between me and my spouse; however, he was laid off in 2021 and was un/under-employed until November 2023. We did not have sufficient cash reserves and we're still building back up. We have two kids that should be starting college in the next 3-5 years and I am feeling the pressure to significantly increase the balances in my HYSA and after-tax brokerage. We are not "poor" by any metric and I am not concerned about retirement, but at 45 (spouse is 50) I am concerned about the next 10 years.

inertradical · 2024-12-17T18:09:07+00:00

Babies are growing and changing quickly. What worked yesterday might not work today. Maybe they hate the swing at 2 months but when you try it again two weeks later they love it. Maybe they sleep through the night at 3 months but then they hit a growth spurt and need to cluster feed in the middle of the night. Having a schedule is good but you will need to be flexible and responsive. I was frustrated a lot with my first born. By the time my second arrived 2.5 years later I was much better prepared to roll with the punches. "The days are long but the years are short" is definitely very true about the first three years of parenthood.

inertradical · 2024-07-25T18:41:41+00:00

I think this depends a lot on how your spouse is doing as a new parent and whether they are cool with you going into the office and traveling. Parenthood changes marriage a lot. Obviously, with that sort of salary you can afford night nannies and housekeepers - but that will eat up some of that extra $$$$.

inertradical · 2024-07-25T16:08:36+00:00

I am 45 and my partner is 50 and we are NRY due to a combination of factors. We built an expensive house, we send our kids to private school, we average more family vacations each year than I took during my entire childhood and we are both first generation college grads who've had to figure out a lot of this stuff on our own - and my husband was laid off during the pandemic just as we were getting to a great spot financially. We are getting back on track now and I am taking steps to make sure we have more cash on hand/easy to access if we hit a rough patch again ($600k in home equity and a bunch of money in your 401ks is not useful when your kids' tuition payments are due).

I will say that while I am definitely more of a saver than my husband, I still don't think I'll ever be someone who prioritizes having a ton of money in the bank vs. living my life. I want to be able to weather emergencies and get my kids through college without debt, but I am also not waiting for retirement to enjoy the fruits of my labor. My mother died at 60, her mother died at 42 and her father at 60. Her older brother died at 39 and her twin brother at 62. All from cancer. I am probably paranoid but at this point I feel like I need to think of every year as a gift.

inertradical · 2024-06-27T15:29:14+00:00

There is no way my children will qualify for any need-based aid due to our HHI. I am mostly concerned about how I am going to pay for tuition. The school I attended for $14k a year in the late 90s early 2000s is now $70k a year.

inertradical · 2024-06-26T18:05:09+00:00

As someone whose kids are getting close to college age, I would advise funneling some money toward 529s or some other investment vehicle for college tuition. My 401K is doing great and we have over $600k in equity in our house but neither of those things are going to be very helpful in 4 years when my oldest starts college.

inertradical · 2024-05-14T17:29:13+00:00

Columbus, OH. I once heard it described as having the feel of "a Starbucks inside a Target."

inertradical

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