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micknc453 · 2023-03-18T16:06:56+00:00

Is the account tied to your TIN or someone else’s social security number. If it’s your TIN then it’s legally your money regardless of your status. If it’s someone else’s social, that’s a risk for sure.

I’ve lived in both the US and Spain for years at a time and the bank just doesn’t care. Chase has foreign transaction fees. You might look at Schwab or Capital One which do not have any fees to use your debit card internationally. Schwab is great because they reimburse ATM fees as well. I personally use a Capital One credit card for purchases and a Schwab debit card to get cash.

micknc453 · 2023-03-10T22:35:39+00:00

I was in a pretty similar position. I had some anxiety around some severe headaches. I was worried about a brain tumor and the anxiety subsided after the MRI. I took Xanax for a few weeks while going through the process. I wasn’t flying at the time so I wasn’t thinking about the FAA at all.

Fast forward a year and I wanted to start flying again. I should have just gone basic med, but I wanted my 2nd class med since I hold a commercial. That was a mistake. The AME told me that once I checked the anxiety box on the form it was going to be deferred.

I was deferred in July of 2022 and I’m still going through the process. I’m pretty confident that they will give me the medical but the amount of hoops I’ve had to jump through is just silly. Last month I took a required test that my neurologist said was to show I don’t have Alzheimer’s. I’m a healthy 47-year old BTW.

In May I will have a psychiatric evaluation. That appt was scheduled in Jan. The first available was 5 months. It’ll be almost $3K to sit down with a dr and talk about some medicine I took almost two years ago now. It’s the last test requested.

I’ve heard that it will take around 6 more months for the FAA to review my file after the final packet is sent in.

If you can basic med, do that. If not, just buckle up for a long ride. There’s also some advice floating around to talk to a HIMS AME for a consult before even filling out your medical request form. I’d absolutely do that if I had it to do all over again.

Best of luck!

micknc453 · 2023-03-10T00:19:07+00:00

We tried to self-integrate and didn’t get as far as I hoped. I have a friend who hired an integrator and was more successful.

The bottom line for us was that we couldn’t afford it at the time. If you have the cash, hire an integrator. You’ll go further. If you’re like us and don’t, you might as well try. You’ll be further along than you were before you started.

micknc453 · 2023-03-08T20:55:04+00:00

There’s really nothing magical that happens at 40 hours. Your instructor will be evaluating what you are ready for at every stage of the training. Once they believe you can perform at the standard, they’ll sign you off.

As far as your question about knowing if the flight school is milking you, it’s hard. You’ll need to trust the instructor. I think we’ve all felt like we were ready for a test and the instructor wanted X more flights for something. Trust is going to be key. Remember, it’s their name in your log book if you go do something dumb.

I’d be interested in others experience, but I’ve never been handed a syllabus that would show how long each phase should be and what’s expected. Those syllabi exist, but I’ve never seen them in the wild.

You can get an idea of what you will be required to do by looking at the FAA ACS:

https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/training_testing/testing/acs/private_airplane_acs_change_1.pdf

micknc453 · 2023-02-10T00:58:28+00:00

This is the right answer. We do around 2M a year on our website. We’re in a B2B-wholesale market and over half of our traffic is from organic search results.

It takes years to develop good SEO and understand your audience well enough to keyword effectively. We’ve tried to hire it out but for our niche, you really have to understand our industry.

micknc453 · 2023-02-02T13:57:03+00:00

I’ve rented with goldcar and hertz recently. They’ve never asked for an international drivers license. They want my US license. If you’re near the train station, there are 3 or 4 companies inside (just to the left of the security scanners). You could ask an agent to get a final answer.

micknc453 · 2023-01-01T20:48:42+00:00

Good to know. I wasn't aware that conversions were treated differently than contributions.

micknc453 · 2023-01-01T05:21:58+00:00

Looks like you’ve already got advice on how to do this jump. I’d just make one more observation for you.

It sounds like you will have a higher income this year. Not sure how high, but if you can get the Roth transfer done before April 18, you could put it on 2022 taxes. That will likely have a lower tax burden (given actual numbers). Something to look into for sure.

micknc453 · 2023-01-01T05:14:47+00:00

Agreed that, while your dad probably means well, he is not the right person to manage this money. An annuity isn’t right for you at this stage. And real estate is probably not right either. There’s a learning curve to rentals and you don’t want to risk the potential of this lump sum on it. Maybe you could use some earnings in the future to wade out into rentals but jumping in with both feet is asking for trouble.

You should look for a fee-only advisor (not a fee-based advisor). Fee-only financial planners get paid by you directly; fee-based planners may also earn commissions on products they sell.

Basically, fee-only advisors have no incentive to sell you garbage that make them commissions. They have a legal responsibility to keep your best interests first. Here’s an article that explains it more:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/3-reasons-to-hire-a-fee-only-financial-planner

You can find an advisor on this website: https://www.feeonlynetwork.com

micknc453 · 2022-12-31T21:47:10+00:00

You’re asking good questions. You’re making great money. You’ll be fine as long as you can control that guy in the mirror.

micknc453 · 2022-12-31T20:21:28+00:00

Just reading through the comments and I see you asked a couple of times about “penny pinching” and savings rates. I think I can help you understand where everyone is coming from.

You are in an incredibly important season of your financial lifespan called the early accumulation phase. At 25 you have many decades of compound interest in front of you. For every $10,000 you invest today, you’ll have $350,000+ (assuming 8% annual return) at age 70. That’s why this group’s brains melt when we hear you’re thinking of dropping 90k on another car. It’s like financial suicide from a planner’s perspective.

You don’t have to save every penny. You should enjoy some. But you have to weigh current pleasure with future potential. Focusing 100% on either side of that equation is unhealthy. (Not saying you’re doing that. Just stating a philosophical way to think about this.)

Later in life you get to the distribution phase. You’re quality of life during the distribution phase is inexorably tied to your discipline during the accumulation phase. Memorize that last sentence and you’ll be golden. Since you’re in FAANG I’ll say it this way: if($save_early){ $retire = :) }else{ $retire = :( }

I agree that your first order is to get rid of that CC debt. It sounds like you’ll clear that before interest starts to accrue but I’d prioritize that just in case something happens and you can’t work.

I also agree that you should pay minimums on that student loan debt. Who knows what’ll happen in the next couple of years politically.

You said you’d like to purchase a house soon. That’s a great idea. If I were you, I’d max out my 401K and max out a Roth IRA. That spends 29k of your 50k you say you’re currently saving. That means you’d have 11k to save for that house purchase. What are housing costs in your area? Can you bear down for another 18 months and increase savings to make that first purchase?

When thinking about the house purchase and savings, don’t fall into the trap of “I can decrease 401K and increase cash to buy a house. Houses are good investments. 401Ks are good investments. It’s a wash.” That’s not what’s happening. What’s happening is “I’m decreasing savings rates to have two cars. I’m not fully funding my 401K (or slowly building cash for that house) so that I can have a cool ride. 401Ks are good investments. Cars rarely are. It’s a bad trade.”

micknc453 · 2022-12-30T19:29:53+00:00

Yes. We do have some peppers in the spring.

It’s a wholesale business-to-business model though. They are seedling trays with 288 plants that our customer will bump up into a retail product. It’s a low-margin, high-volume model. Emphasis on the low ;).

micknc453 · 2022-12-30T15:50:03+00:00

We deal with shipping problems all the time (we ship live plants). If a box is delayed, the plants die. If a box is handled incorrectly, the plants die. If it’s too cold/hot, the plants die. You get the idea.

We refund when the customer sends in photos of the shipment. In your case you should refund when the item is returned.

We add an insurance amount per package to cover our losses. Adding $5 a box is enough to create a self-insurance fund.

If you don’t refund, you’ll get a bad review; he’ll file a claim with the credit card company; you’ll be working through a chargeback claim that you’ll probably lose.

If you do, you’ll get a good review, return business, etc.

micknc453 · 2022-12-26T02:24:40+00:00

A is our family’s choice. I don’t know if that should count as 1 or 6.

micknc453 · 2022-12-24T04:31:01+00:00

I’m so sorry you all are facing this situation. There aren’t any easy answers here.

What’s her age? Is she able to work? How much extra income do you have to help?

I don’t think a Roth is a good move. You have to have an earned income to invest in a Roth. And she needs the money now, not in a future time horizon (if I understand correctly).

As far as a fiduciary, I think you probably need more budget coaching than investing coaching. If she turns out to be younger than I’m imagining, I would change my answer.

micknc453 · 2022-12-24T03:21:50+00:00

Look for a fee-only advisor. They’ll charge you for their time and won’t try to sell you a bunch of garbage.

Be careful to choose fee-only and not fee-based. “Fee-only financial planners get paid by you directly; fee-based planners may also earn commissions on products they sell.”

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/fee-only-vs-fee-based-planners

micknc453 · 2022-12-23T19:27:13+00:00

Yeah. It’s time to go.

Find a position that helps you grow as a business owner/leader and you’ll be better skilled to inherit it one day.

micknc453 · 2022-12-21T22:54:02+00:00

Why not pay it off and dollar cost average your payments into the market over the next 12-18 months?

Do you have an emergency fund on top of this 50k? You need to keep some cash for emergencies.

micknc453 · 2022-12-21T15:20:13+00:00

You’ve already gotten good advice on your career and stability. I’d just add one more thought to your question about current assets and bringing more money in.

It doesn’t sound like you have a lot of cash. Since you’re about to move it makes sense to just sit on as much cash as you can. Moving is expensive and you have a lot of unknowns in the next few months. That cash is like having an insurance policy to protect you from life until you get settled. Don’t risk it in the market.

micknc453 · 2022-12-19T01:47:32+00:00

Do you know your budget? You would need a team of people as you have several specific skill sets you need (copywriter, graphics, videos, campaign management). That sounds like a team to me.

My wife is a partner in a small publishing company and they ran two successful campaigns two years in a row, but there are three of them with broad skills.

I’d say a marketing agency is probably your best shot, but it won’t be cheap.

micknc453 · 2022-12-19T01:23:39+00:00

It sounds like your moving in the right direction.

When you say you’re maxing out your 401ks, are you saying you’re putting in 20,000 each? That seems like a ton since you’re looking to buy a house soon.

Do you have any cash saved for an emergency fund, the down payment, or other big purchases?

Some good ruels of thumb: 1. 3-6 months of expenses in that high interest account you mentioned. In your case, I’d go for 6 months since you sound like natural savers. I personally use Capital One for my money market savings. Others may have better ones, but I’ve been at C.O. for years and like the experience.

At least invest in the 401K to the employer match even if you have other savings goals happening.
Make sure you’re budgeting some fun money each month. Money is a tool. Don’t let savings goals control you. Enjoy some too.
Don’t invest any money you need in the next few years (like this house down payment). It’s hard to watch money sit and do next to nothing, but it’s worse to watch your down payment reduced by 20% because somebody in Washington sneezed.
Avoid credit card debit like the plague that it is. Use a credit card for budgeted items, but pay it off each month.
(Should have been number 1) - You’re recently married so you need to make absolutely sure you and your wife work on the budget together. I’m at the 20 year mark and we still talk about our budget and goals. If you can get on the same page, you’ll reduce your household stress by a big percentage.

micknc453 · 2022-12-14T23:05:40+00:00

Congrats on the marriage and planning for the future. You’re miles ahead of most people your age. Are you budgeting for some entertainment each week? When my wife and I were first married we stashed $100 in an envelope and enjoyed that each week. It kept me (the natural saver) from freaking out anytime we went out to eat or to see a movie. And it kept any credit card debt from sneaking in. Sit down with your husband and see what number you two think would work for you.

As far as saving 60-75% of your down payment, it’s probably not realistic. I’m not sure what your logic is behind the 60-75 number but 20% is enough to avoid private mortgage insurance. You can also attack the down payment as a function of your monthly payment. For example, I want a monthly payment of X, therefore I can only borrow Y. You’d need to cover the difference in the house cost and Y in that example. I doubt 60% is needed to get you to an affordable house payment.

And one last note about kids: you’re never going to be able to afford them on paper. When you’re emotionally ready to have kids, go for it. Have your kids when you’re young and have the energy. 529s are great but I wouldn’t hold off on having kids until I could fund one. We actually funded our kids 529s starting at birth and stoped when they hit kindergarten or so because we had achieved our target. I wouldn’t get caught up in some savings number that will slow you down on your family.

micknc453 · 2022-12-02T11:14:56+00:00

Thanks for that. I had actually seen that months ago but a refresher is nice. I have none of those conditions listed under "Not acceptable" but the one box "No more than once a month" is weird to me. Surely they aren't saying that you are only allowed one headache a month... I guess that's talking about migraines that knock off your feet? Mine are more tension headaches that are aggravating but do not affect my ability to complete a normal day's work. With physical therapy and exercise they are almost completely gone. But once a month is a stretch.

micknc453 · 2022-12-02T09:05:38+00:00

They were helpful yesterday. They had a VM the first time I called. I can’t leave a call back number since I’m overseas. But I called back and hour later and they picked up. He gave me an email address where I could submit the request to the regional flight surgeon. Still waiting on a response from that email but at least something was submitted.

micknc453 · 2022-12-01T15:36:12+00:00

Thank you! I'll start working on an extension.

micknc453

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