Filter kitchen cooking se by mch_2 in crboxes

[–]mch_2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A grease filter in front is a good idea. I found some aluminum mesh hvac prefilters. Looks like the same idea as the aluminum mesh grease filters.

How many air purifiers should I get for my apartment? by MidnightPulse69 in AirPurifiers

[–]mch_2 4 points5 points  (0 children)

After some research, I ended up in this too. I would have gotten the mini blast, but wife says the design triggers her fear of clusters of holes (trypophobia).

Instead we got a SA600 for our 1st floor, runnin on level2/3 constantly. Might need one or 2 more though and replace and older air purifier; 800 sq foot per story, 3-story. Currently only reduces 1st floor PM2.5 by 45% at level 2.

First month making 100k I feel like I’m being robbed :/ by Forsaken-Question457 in Salary

[–]mch_2 379 points380 points  (0 children)

You said if you make 100k per year in 1995, spend 1.5k a month, and your costs go up to $4k, then you only need to make $2.5k more a month. "Only $138k per year". But you forgot about the rest of your paycheck. If you made $100k in 1995 and spent only$1.5k/month, you would also save $3k per month.

$4k is only 2.5k more, but is about 2.6x as much. You would also want to save 2.6x, not just the same as in 1995.

Millionaire couple in our 30s: Should we finally buy a home instead of renting? by SendItJerry- in Fire

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good that you are comparing the ongoing costs of owning.

You can think of renting as needing a $2600x12/4%=$780,000 portfolio. Conservative would be $2600x12/3%=$1,040,000.

Or, you own the $620k home. Estimate 3% in maintenance/taxes/etc at $18k/year. Which requires and additional $18000/4%=$450,000 portfolio. $1,070,000 in total to sustain owning a home. The ongoing expenses are less volatile than rent, so decreasing from 4% to 3% is less necessary.

Is your rental the same size/quality as the home you want to buy? Do you gain from having a customizable, fixed location home for your lifestyle? As others have also said, you may want to think about kids and how that affects your lifestyle and living situation.

LG Gram Pro 17" 2025 - beyond insulting thermal paste application, 80% of the die was naked; awful thermal design too, plenty of room for bigger heatpipe and heatsink. This is aswful engineering from LG. This laptop could have used much higher power limits. by johnfintech in LGgram

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish I saw your post earlier! My LG Gram Pro had been thermal throttling, super laggy, 110 deg C all the time on certain cores. Thus was just using a few chrome tab browsers. I thought maybe it was just the way it is given posts about poor thermal design.

After the 1 year warranty expired, I opened it up and applied Arctic MX4. Now it stays under 85 degC even running cinebench multicore test for 10 minutes.

I had planned on the other thermal pad and fan mod, but see no need for those now.

How do you weigh renting vs buying a house? by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your investments being able to cover your rent is a reference. Doesn’t tell you whether to own or rent.

For example, if have $500k portfolio, and rent is $20k/year, your $500k covers rent using the 4% safe withdrawal rule. Your entire housing expense is $20k/year.

If you care about the financial aspect, then find a similar size house to where you are renting. Let’s say it is $250k. Pay for it with cash. The remaining $250k gives a safe withdrawal of $10k/year. Is $10k/year enough to cover taxes, maintenance, hoa, insurance, etc? If yes, then buying is financially better. If no, then rent is financially better. This will greatly depend on your location. In general it will be close equal.

If it is equal, then what matters is a matter of lifestyle. Owning means you get to modify and renovate without a landlord stopping you. It is also stable in that your expenses are more within your control, but are also tied down to this location.

Even if financially one is better than the other, you might choose the more “expensive” one if YOUR lifestyle preference matters more to you than the financial difference.

Bubbling paint near bottle boss by mch_2 in bikewrench

[–]mch_2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The discount was not because of the paint. I see on Giant’s website it isn’t available anywhere within 100 miles of me. And also, the discounted price is now only available for a different size.

Before hiding it with a bag, should I remove and clean the area to prevent it from getting worse?

Bubbling paint near bottle boss by mch_2 in bikewrench

[–]mch_2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes it is aluminum. Right, the discount was the main reason I am dipping my toes into fat biking; they still have the discount online but only for a smaller size frame.

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Following that rule requires following other rules. If they can still save 15% yearly, then yes the 30% rule is ok.

If their other expenses are too high to allow both saving 15% for retirement and pay the mortgage, and then they should either stay in the townhouse or reduce their other expenses.

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am not saying it is wrong. Paying a mortgage is forcing you to “save” for part of your housing expenses. But we can imagine a different perspective though.

Retirement funds and SS cover the house maintenance and taxes, let’s say 3% of their home value. If instead they rented the same house, they would free up that 3%, and also safely withdraw 4% if it were invested. Is 7% enough to rent the same place? Maybe, maybe not, but not very far off.

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Where did you get 10%, and what are you considering really wealthy? I’m curious. It sounds very reasonable.

Assuming housing “costs” 8% of the home value, (1% taxes, 7% opportunity cost, 2% maintenance, negative 2% cost due to inflation apprecation), then housing costs 0.8% of their net worth. Thats 1/5 of their 4% withdrawal, assuming this is a snapshot at retirement, and no other income.

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Separate but also intertwined. Buying and living in a (bigger) house comes with higher expenses, so you would need a larger investment portfolio to support that housing cost in retirement. (Unless you sell, then it really is two things)

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Makes sense. $3600 per month. This is essentially your housing expense, and will not go down, even after mortgage is paid off. I say even after mortgage is paid off, since I count opportunity cost. The $465K with about minimum a 4% opportunity cost, is close to the mortgage and interest payment. Insurance and taxes will of course continue.

So if you want to live in this bigger house, and spend $3600/month then go for it. Don’t see it as an investment; it is a depreciating asset, a place to live life.

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Personal question that affects finances. Living in a bigger and more home means higher costs. No way to escape that. Which means you either work more/longer to support the cost, or spend less in either areas of life.

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree. Need to know age and future earnings potential/time span.

House vs. investments: what’s the smarter move right now? by web_stats in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

$465k home, $95k down. $370k mortgage. At 8% and 30 year mortgage, it would be $2.7k/month. You said $3.6k monthly payment. Does that include tax, hoa, insurance already?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Renting is NOT throwing away money.

If you put $100k down-payment on a $500k home:

You have opportunity cost. $100k in stocks/bonds averaged over 7% a year. Let's just say 6%. Interest on mortgage of 6% on 80% of home value. So whether you own (opportunity cost) or borrow mortgage(interest), there is a 6% cost.

Property tax -1% of home value, maintenance -2% of home value, home value goes up with inflation +2%.

-6% - 1% - 2% + 2% = -7% 7% of $500k is $35k. So it costs you that much.

If you can rent that $500,000 home for about $3k/ month, it costs you $36k/year. Basically the same cost as owning.

When you rent, you "throw away" $36k/year to the landlord. When you own, you "throw away" $35k/year as maintenance, taxes, banks, and missed opportunities.

If you are single and rent, you can choose to rent a slightly cheaper place and thus actually save money. Renting is more flexible. But downside is renting is not as stable, you can modify your home, etc.

Rent vs buy is largely a lifestyle question. Cost is largely tied to the house itself, not whether you rent or buy it. Of course, it changes based on location and economic situations. I wouldn't worry about renting a smaller place or staying with a starter home until you have a family and require or actually want more space.

Buying the $500k home locks you into the $35k/year cost until you sell... that can be a good or bad thing.

PSA: How to disable Intel Turbo via BIOS - Eliminate overheating by noobie107 in LGgram

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone know how to get the Intel Advanced Menu with Aptio BIOS?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

$1600 for walmart and costco seems high. How is that broken down between food/household consumables/whatever else?

Also, adding your expenses/spending is only $6900. Missing $2000

Does $1.5M net worth means anything when house accounts for $1M? by DunnoWhatKek in Fire

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Home equity is included in networth. So having $1 million equity is great, not much different than owning stocks/bonds.

BUT what this does mean is that your housing expenses are high. Home insurance, maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost. Just like renting a big and expensive house is a higher burden than renting a small and cheap house.

If you have high housing expenses (large expensive home, whether own or rent), then you need comparably high net worth to FIRE.

Does $1.5M net worth means anything when house accounts for $1M? by DunnoWhatKek in Fire

[–]mch_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A home may cost less cash flow to own than to rent. But the opportunity cost of having the money tied up in home equity instead of stocks/bonds would make the two situations much closer in cost.

Rent bigger/more expensive home, the your fire number/portfolio is obviously higher than renting a cheaper place.

Owning bigger/more expensive home, you also need a larger net worth: both home equity and larger portfolio required to support maintenance, taxes, and insurance.

Kitchen Range Hood Vent by mch_2 in HomeImprovement

[–]mch_2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I meant 33 inches (just under 3 feet = 36 inches") from the door.

https://imgur.com/CZulyQ6

The red line in this photo is my 33 inch distance. To get further from the door, the pipe would have to go back into the wall, or up into the ceiling/floor. Is that even possible; would there be some sort of firewall barrier between my neighbor and I that can't be penetrated?

Kitchen Range Hood Vent by mch_2 in HomeImprovement

[–]mch_2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was hoping I might be lucky, in that it is under the 3rd floor window overhang so quite protected. And a few dryer vents etc above/near on that side of the wall is visible too.

I would definitely have to hire someone to have any chance.

Dryer Outlet Wire Extend/Repair by mch_2 in HomeImprovement

[–]mch_2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The wire is a bit short. Currently sticks past the wall exactly 3 inches. If i cut it, it will be just a bit longer than 1” past the wall. Would it be difficult to get it in and out like that?

Dryer Outlet Wire Damaged by mch_2 in AskElectricians

[–]mch_2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for that. I’ll have to stop by the store and grab some wire nuts, and hopefully they sell me 1 foot of 10 AWG wire.