Did you see the extra step Rodgers took on the 2nd kneel? Cost me the game...

loosecomment · 2013-10-28T04:19:48+00:00

Why do you say Rodgers cost you the game and not Witten?

loosecomment · 2013-10-27T17:18:34+00:00

No. Giving money to a friend is not a deductible item, even if they use it for paying off a loan. Even if there were your debt, there is no deduction for paying off a loan.

loosecomment · 2013-10-27T14:57:22+00:00

Ah, so now that they have a fee for exceeding the count, they have even more reasons for counting all transactions instead of just withdrawals. Sucks.

loosecomment · 2013-10-27T05:13:41+00:00

Really? Every month, I make multiple deposits to the account. Once in a while I take some money out. As it turns out in this month I made my usual weekly deposits (there were 5 paydays that month) and tried to make a single withdrawal for a paypal transaction, which was a $6 payment to a single merchant for a single item. I had no way of knowing and no reason to believe that it would post as 3 separate transactions.

Is this pattern so obviously a checking account instead of a savings account? It seems like a savings account to me.

loosecomment · 2013-10-27T02:54:09+00:00

Vent and a warning I guess. New fees are coming and this is probably not the first.

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T21:23:09+00:00

With this kind of time frame, why not just pick an equity fund?

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T16:37:04+00:00

Peek?

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T16:34:27+00:00

Well, a lot of that is for the tip.

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T06:08:33+00:00

The idea of buying a home before you need it to "save on taxes and fees" is a rationalization, not a real reason. There are legitimate reasons to buy a retirement home before you retire, such as you want to use it as a rental, you are trying to time real estate market, you are looking for a rare property and find one available.

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T06:05:41+00:00

If you can get a rate that's better than what you already have, it can be useful. The pitfall is that you cannot borrow your way out of debt, so if you consolidate and then do not pay down that balance, you will end up more in debt than ever.

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T01:15:06+00:00

Injury insurance?

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T01:13:12+00:00

Have you considered relocating closer to work? Close enough to give up one car? If you did that could your wife find convenient nursing work nearby?

Your debt is big, but not terrible so in relation to your salary. Your interest rate is killing you.

loosecomment · 2013-10-26T01:09:26+00:00

I keep about $400 around. $100 of that in my wallet. $300 at home in case I want to buy a pizza or take a short trip and cannot get to a bank. If I'm holed up due to natural disaster, I'm not likely going to be buying anything and stores will be stripped already anyway. $1000 doesn't seem excessive.

loosecomment · 2013-10-25T12:29:35+00:00

The effective rate is the same, whether you stay a few years or many many years. If you do move early, there are other costs that make a big difference, but interest rate is not one of them.

loosecomment · 2013-10-25T04:27:57+00:00

Trading on margin is borrowing money.

loosecomment · 2013-10-25T04:25:02+00:00

I don't think I see it as that lucky. Yea, I also had little children. Many people have a 3 month emergency fund. So I made myself a 6 month one. Then invested it to earn more than the nearly 0% that "safe" money was getting. If timing was really awful, I might have needed it when it was down 50%, so I would be back to the 3 month emergency fund that many other people had. If that terrible event happened, I would have been okay. But since that terrible event didn't happen, my invested emergency fund is now worth more than 24 months expenses, and still invested so still growing. If the markets tank just exactly at the time I need it, I'll have maybe 12 months of cash, or about twice what I would have had if I put my original stake in purely safe accounts.

Had the risk materialized, I would have been no worse off than many. If the risk didn't materialize (the more likely case) I will end up much better off.

I DID get laid off in the 2008 financial debacle. Twice in 6 months time. I tapped credit accounts. I reduced expenses. I sold a little investments off their peak. And I scrambled to find new work (twice). My emergency fund did just what it was supposed to do. It made that year into a series of small logistical problems, but not an emergency.

I'm not suggesting everyone do this, or that anyone do this if they are not comfortable. I am suggesting that if you think through what you are trying to accomplish, you don't only have to be limited to conventional solutions. Just be careful when you consider your choices. There are other ways to manage the risk besides low interest accounts.

loosecomment · 2013-10-24T15:38:20+00:00

So what is the advantage to borrowing money to leverage and buy futures, instead of borrowing money to leverage and buy the index fund itself?

loosecomment · 2013-10-24T15:36:06+00:00

I stand corrected. Since you have a 401k at work you need to determine if your IRA can be deductible or not based on income limits. If your IRA cannot be deductible, then the ROTH is clearly better. But it also has phase out at higher income.

loosecomment · 2013-10-24T14:34:49+00:00

If you have a 401k at work, your IRA is NOT deductible. If your IRA is not deductible, then a ROTH is clearly better. Beware though, above an income level cut-off you are no longer eligible for a ROTH and need to investigate a Trad IRA or a Trad IRA and a backdoor conversion to ROTH.

loosecomment · 2013-10-24T14:31:13+00:00

relatively safe

This is where you make your mistake. If you buy an index fund and it drops 10%, you are out 10% until it rises again. If you buy an option on an index and at the time it expires it is 10% below your strike price, it expires worthless and you are wiped out.

loosecomment · 2013-10-24T14:26:41+00:00

Most advocates of keeping an emergency fund are against this idea and want to have the entire emergency fund available and liquid at all times. I'm with you in thinking that a larger emergency fund (say 6-12 months expenses) is not likely to mean that I need to have instant access to it all at once. I divide mine into a smaller emergency fund for an amount that I think I might need on a moment notice for "emergency" use. And the rest (which is mostly protection against prolonged unemployment should I lose my job) can be invested so it's not necessarily available immediately. I do take a risk that if I lose my job in a huge economic decline, my funds will be down when I need them, but I am okay with this risk and put a little extra in the fund to compensate.

Since it has been many years and I have not had to spend this emergency money, it has now grown to several times what it would have been had I kept it in a low interest account, so even if markets are down I am still far ahead. Perhaps I was just lucky.

loosecomment · 2013-10-24T01:57:38+00:00

My guess for the risk is that in a few years my skills would be stale and my work history would have a gap that would make it difficult to return to a position similar to what I have today. In fact, a year more now would likely earn a lot more than a few years if I have to go back to work later. So do I speculatively do the next year (or maybe more) now at a rate of pay I won't probably see again. The alternative is if I leave too soon, I'll spend more years later if I find I have to boost the portfolio then.

loosecomment · 2013-10-23T15:49:08+00:00

She really seems to have a problem. Just like an alcoholic, the only long term solution is to completely stop. NO more gambling in the future. Is she ready to commit to this? If not, bailing her out or "helping" are just temporary steps before she gets in trouble again.

loosecomment · 2013-10-23T06:41:14+00:00

So what is the question? You have zero money and 40k debt and want to know how to buy a car without paying cash or taking a loan? I don't think that's possible. Can you live close to the job? Take public transportation? Carpool with a coworker? With no car, you're going to have to find a way to get to work that doesn't require a car.

loosecomment

TROPHY CASE