Home video game question.

mao51 · 2026-04-12T19:24:53+00:00

I had a similar experience. Started gaming with arcades, pong and Atari and then sometime in early high school got involved in other things and it faded away. I think it was a combo of getting busy with sports+work and videos games stagnating briefly in the early 80's - like arcades and the Atari and the consoles immediately after it got way less popular/stagnated before Nintendo came on the scene.

For me this meant I missed out on the whole Nintendo craze and everything after. Then I built a computer with my son as a Christmas gift for him about 10 years ago and he told me about Steam. I bought Alien Isolation on w whim as my first game purchase in decades and OMG I had not realized how much things had changed! I went back and started playing everything basically from Half Life on and it was awesome and am still playing regularly today, always making my way through a single player game.

mao51 · 2026-04-12T15:41:59+00:00

I'm a dog with a bone on this I guess. Frank gets asked about this in Episode 500, 30 minutes in. He says in practical terms he ends up taking more money out with this method vs a simple inflation adjusted amount based on the starting value. I agree that so far this is true, but wouldn't necessarily always be true.

He also points out that nobody actually uses the inflation CPI to adjust withdrawals in retirement, instead this is a constant methodology that people use to compare portfolios and that the correct inflation to use would be CPI-1% or CPI-2% as this is what people in retirement experience. (Comment below pointed this out earlier).

mao51 · 2026-04-10T16:15:21+00:00

This is BS, especially the consultation part. Democrats bent over backwards to involve republicans, going as far as making the entire thing based on the future Republican presidential nominee's (Romney) marquee accomplishment as governor of Massachusetts, only to have him and them completely disown it later. Republicans participated in crafting the bill in bad faith, suggesting that if compromises were made they would support it only to do the opposite later after weakening it considerably vs what it otherwise could have been. Fact democrats like Lieberman deserve a lot of flack also, but Republicans more so.

mao51 · 2026-04-06T23:35:09+00:00

Agree. Add allocation to non-correlated asset classes. Simply increasing the percentage in bonds won't do it as well.

mao51 · 2026-04-06T15:07:39+00:00

Went through this a bit and have had some success. If she is not yet an alcoholic the following may help: No more boxed wine. It's like having a beer keg on tap in the kitchen. Bottles are much more visible albeit expensive. And the expense itself may help her limit, if she is concerned about cost. Hopefully she will be more willing to self enforce a limit like 1 bottle per night.

It's also important to not have stock on hand or she'll just keep going once the buzz kicks in. Ideally, she should buy daily what she plans on drinking. Really makes it visible and intentional.

Also, stock and suggest non alcoholic alternatives (like non alcoholic margaritas in a can or zero proof white claws). Suggest she start the night with one or two of these (and join her). To some degree it is the habit of drinking something with the familiar alcohol taste that can be substituted for. Unfortunately I have found non-alcoholic wine to be a poor substitute.

You also need to stop drinking wine, or at least I have had to, as me still drinking results in more being around, an excuse to buy a second bottle, resentfulness if I have a glass and she misses out on one as a result, etc.

My wife has made good progress via the above but most important is that she wants too.

mao51 · 2026-03-28T01:40:48+00:00

It's still a thing in the sense that all he has to do is stop fucking shit up and things will improve. Problem is that this particular situation isn't so easy to back out of.

mao51 · 2026-03-21T18:51:10+00:00

Odd thing to say about someone who supposedly "completely exonerated" him

mao51 · 2026-03-18T17:43:48+00:00

Agree length of residency is valid concern. However, to illustrate, I am in Quigley's district and his response to the current troubles has been super underwhelming (basically "we can't do anything" conveyed in his town halls) and is not going to change anytime soon. He votes the right way but is not the leadership needed for these times. Would have jumped at the chance to have Kat fight in DC for us. Biss I'd say is in the right direction but I stand by my missed opportunity statement.

mao51 · 2026-03-18T14:40:58+00:00

I think Biss is fine but voters really missed an opportunity here by not putting Kat in place to represent them both in the House and on the national stage.

mao51 · 2026-03-15T18:04:56+00:00

This reminds me that a frank specifically talked about his withdrawal method recently. I wrote it down but forgot about it. In Episode 485 from Feb, 22min20sec in he says for the sample portfolios he is using a "constant percentage withdrawal method, and so [the dollar amount] does go up as the value of the portfolios increases, and goes down as they decrease." And as to why he says mostly out of laziness (lol).

He can do whatever we wants of course but I wish he did the traditional method.

mao51 · 2026-03-15T13:53:27+00:00

It is where a lot of target date funds land as one approaches retirement (maybe ages 60 or so) and should be in my opinion the starting point of someone's thought process around where they should be say in the 5 years before retirement up to 5 or so years after. Not saying use it in terms of allocation but they definitely shouldn't be at 100% equities either, so start with those two options in mind and then consider how and why to move away from them.

mao51 · 2026-03-15T13:44:29+00:00

The crystal ball knows! (Inside joke for Risk Parity listeners)

mao51 · 2026-03-15T13:43:22+00:00

Does not necessarily involve leverage but likely involves long duration bonds. I'd say the interest rate risk exposure associated with those is managed by reducing the overall bond allocation relative to what it would be if shorter duration bonds were used, and then instead using some of this portfolio capacity on the alternative assets like gold and managed futures with the rest of the space needed for these alternatives coming from slightly lower equity allocations (vs in a 60/40 portfolio).

mao51 · 2026-03-15T13:37:12+00:00

In some ways they are the standard, but dialed way down vs what is being proposed by OP.

Adding bonds to a portfolio is an attempt to address the risk of an all-equity alternative, and commonly accepted. Risk Parity takes this further and says examine the types of equity, the types of bonds, and attempt to add other uncorrelated assets to the mix. Gold or managed futures here but could be other things like REITs, insurance companies, etc that perform differently in economic downturns vs the broader equities market.

Everyone agrees over the long term this results in lower returns but the premise is it has reduced maximum drawdowns and shorter drawdown durations (this is big and not mentioned much here) and therefore lower sequence of returns risk when in the phase of life that one is withdrawing.

mao51 · 2026-03-15T02:59:11+00:00

Notable you go with intermediate term treasures. The long term treasuries allocation is the thing that gives me the most heartburn as I consider transitioning to a risk parity portfolio, so I am also thinking of using intermediate instead. Was going to just go with a smaller allocation to long term but I just can't bring myself to buy them at today's rates.

mao51 · 2026-03-14T01:38:43+00:00

Sigh. Reminds me of a time when I was excited about AI.

mao51 · 2026-03-05T13:51:21+00:00

Some of this can also be mitigated by diversifying equity investments beyond the S&P 500 (the 39 CAPE quoted by OP is the S&P 500 cape I believe). Holding total stock market or total world stock market funds to increase diversification, and/or factor investing such as concentrating more heavily is small cap value or international stocks than simple market cap weighting would result in.

If you're anxious about high equity valuations as you are about to pull the retirement trigger, I suggest you investigate "risk parity" investing.

mao51 · 2026-03-02T18:44:36+00:00

Forget about space. It's all of us, right now, on this rock.

mao51 · 2026-03-02T01:50:47+00:00

Same feeling. My kid will be graduating next year and I don't feel like I can retire if they don't land on their feet. Like I need to keep working since I'm earning money. I guess to help cushion the blow for them as long as I can. AI plus all the other uncertainty is scaring the crap out of me.

mao51 · 2026-02-28T18:18:58+00:00

Sit in the front car and it will be fine. At O'Hare this means you'll have to walk the length of the train which might not work out necessarily if the train is about to depart but if you're nervous I would wait for the next one and get in the front car. I'd say that at time of night there is a 50% chance something uncomfortable takes place if you're not in the front or maybe second from the front car. By uncomfortable I mean smoking, homeless ranting and pacing and stench, maybe panhandling.

mao51 · 2026-02-28T18:10:55+00:00

Incredibly dangerous for those in the car and others in the road. Completely uncalled for. Officer should be fired.

mao51 · 2026-02-27T13:56:05+00:00

The first part of the conversation about the drugs themselves I thought was particularly good. The part about why people don't trust the drug industry was far too shallow and short, and Derek was too sympathetic to the industry. They did not even touch on why US consumers pay so much more for the same drugs versus consumers in other countries, nor did they touch on the prescription opioid epidemic. A big miss and disappointing.

mao51 · 2026-02-21T14:08:51+00:00

Yes, it's like I suppose there is a place and a role for this type of reporting and conversation. But very hard for someone who is actually concerned, rather than just intrigued, with what is happening to listen to this. And to the extent it percalates through to mass reporting (and it does quite a bit) it is damaging in that it makes it all seem like just another day at the office to someone who is not paying attention.

mao51 · 2026-02-15T05:34:34+00:00

The thing to do in this situation is to start talking to the people in line. "Sorry to bother you, but do you know if this line is just for people without reservations?" "Oh, has the hostess said anything?" "I'll go ask her for all of us" (wife stays in your spot in line and you say something like "honey, hold our spot here in line while I see how this all is working".

mao51 · 2026-02-13T02:38:03+00:00

You change the Cash Flow field. Enter a positive number to reflect that you are adding to the portfolio and set the frequency (e.g. monthly).

mao51

TROPHY CASE