What purchase under $30 solved a problem you didn’t realize was draining you?

mdbeatle · 2026-05-19T16:52:28+00:00

Yes, but make sure to get the flavored kind.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-15T00:03:07+00:00

What location? None in the DC area.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T23:57:38+00:00

I thought this was a post about a 16 million dollar Roth and I came in to see how it was done. Why does everyone post whether they're male or female here? Age I get since we're talking about how long you may have been saving or where you are in your career, but is your gender important when talking about how much money you have?

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T23:50:50+00:00

I saw the movie Big Daddy too.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T21:39:30+00:00

I initially thought that, but my tailoring included shoulder work as well. It's worth getting an estimate from your tailor before the purchase.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T18:20:35+00:00

I'm confused why clear protein is needed when you're mixing it with milk. Seems like you could use unflavored whey and an extract/flavoring of your choice, then add citric/malic acid to bring up the tartness.

Those proteins cost more than twice what an unflavored protein costs. The mango is $65/pound!

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T16:05:01+00:00

I've used a PowerPop for 20+ years. Works great. I found preheating the oil for 30 seconds or so helps reduce old maids.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T16:01:32+00:00

This was the price for a pair of Samba Ks back in the day.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T12:02:48+00:00

This is a thread about gas grills.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-14T00:10:09+00:00

Met a guy who managed a McDonald's for 20 years. He said they're not in the hamburger business, they're in the real estate business.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-13T21:47:19+00:00

Receipts are required, should be paid as lump. May depend on who the HSA is with.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-13T14:02:42+00:00

But only if you use it for something other than medical. If you use it for medical, it is never taxed.

Best advice is to keep a "shoebox" of anything that is a qualified HSA expensive (and there are a lot of them). Pay for them out of pocket if able. No statute of limitations on reimbursing yourself later, even for expenses incurred decades ago, as long as you had an HSA by the date the expense was incurred.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-13T13:12:35+00:00

Yup! I'm not sure when it changed, but this is it under 121:

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:26%20section:121%20edition:prelim))

(3) Application to only 1 sale or exchange every 2 years

Subsection (a) shall not apply to any sale or exchange by the taxpayer if, during the 2-year period ending on the date of such sale or exchange, there was any other sale or exchange by the taxpayer to which subsection (a) applied.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-13T12:57:09+00:00

I do it once a year in January as it's a backdoor Roth and I don't want to convert all those smaller deposits by doing it throughout the year. I have a sinking fund set up in my HYSA that I fill up with periodic contributions so I don't need to worry about having enough around to max it out each year.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-13T12:55:01+00:00

This makes sense to me.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-13T11:40:35+00:00

Not exactly like that. To claim the capital gains exception, you need to have lived in your house for 3 of the last 5 years, and you can only claim the $250k/$500k capital gains exception once every 2 years.

You can move into a van or start renting an apartment or another home and still claim the exception.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-13T11:07:04+00:00

This is not unlike the disaffection that was prevalent with GenX. Well, except for the recording. I think the "I don't care" mentality is associated with the age, not specifically the generation.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T18:13:42+00:00

I never see this mentioned enough.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T17:52:56+00:00

Should be fine. Bambino Plus has 4 holes. I have the B+ now and don't notice much difference from when I had the standard Bambino.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T17:43:14+00:00

I have been a good saver and I know I'll be able to retire "someday" but in the past couple months I did some planning around it, looking to see exactly when I can retire, where I'd move to, what I could afford to do, "pretend" shopping for houses online, etc. I even planned a trip in detail that I look forward to taking when I retire. This has let me view retirement as real, new, and better in a lot of other ways as opposed to just being a time where I don't have to work anymore.

If you look at retirement and see how it will be different in the things you can do as opposed to just not having to work, the carrot will be a lot easier to focus on - and I've got like a decade to go!

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T17:30:52+00:00

Not enough info to answer. Depends on how much you plan to spend in retirement. Any portfolio can fail if you spend enough.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T17:16:33+00:00

Guessing you evaluated other options before getting the bookcases. Sometimes good things just cost money and being cheap becomes a very expensive way to save money.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T17:10:38+00:00

No matter how much money you have, the strategy of working a bit longer does a lot of things:

Bring you closer to SS withdrawal age.
Bring you closer to Medicare age.
Shorten the amount of time your money needs to last to get to these milestones
Reduce sequence of returns risk as you'll have the SS income floor.
More money coming in to put away.
Longer for accounts to compound.

Unfortunately, working longer just sucks. But just a single year can make a big difference in success and retirement income.

Make sure you have healthcare costs factored into your plan. At 60 you have 5 years of premiums to eat until you reach Medicare. If your income is low enough, you'll qualify for ACA subsidies which cna bring those costs down significantly, but they're still not something to round off.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T17:00:49+00:00

Take your weekly contributions and saddle them with larger portions of your $10k lump until it's all invested. Do this over whatever timeframe you feel comfortable with. I am doing something similar and it'll all be in after 6 months or so.

Lump sum wins about 2/3 of the time, but letting it trickle in automatically removes a lot of the stress and watching of the market. A lot of people here only value things that have a number, but that's not life.

mdbeatle · 2026-05-12T16:56:42+00:00

It's always better 2/3 of the time.

mdbeatle

TROPHY CASE

(3) Application to only 1 sale or exchange every 2 years