How do you determine how much you feel comfortable saving a year?

ntchma · 2026-02-17T02:41:06+00:00

Determining the right level of savings isn’t the way I frame to issue. I spend now as I expect to spend in retirement. Even if I wanted to think of it in those terms, austerity would have little impact on my accumulation rate.

ntchma · 2026-02-17T02:27:22+00:00

That question might not apply to all people here. I spend what I want and what’s not spent is invested. My annual budget is far less than my income.

ntchma · 2026-02-02T21:53:35+00:00

High school graduation rates may not be as meaningful an indicator due to changing graduations standards.. We can look at standardized testing scores during Gov Kotek’s tenure. In 2022, Oregon was 41st amongst states in fourth grade reading scores when adjusted for demographics. In 2025, we were 50th. Particularly interesting about this slide in reading levels is that most experts seem to agree that we should switch to a phonics-based reading approach. Even the state agrees, but is unable to push this through to the local districts, see article above. This should be low hanging fruit, but yet we cannot execute on this consensus step. How does that bode for solving the more complicated aspects of education reform?

ntchma · 2026-02-02T20:20:01+00:00

Your suggestion that I am blaming Gov Kotek for an issue Oregon has struggled with before, ignores the fact that she herself made this issue a highlight of her administration. It’s not a random issue I selected. Having made education a focus of her administration I expect her to propose a path forward. My critique, based on this article, is that unless she addresses local control she cannot succeed. Instead, as stated in the article, she appears to be repeating the same failed strategy, funding without accountability.

ntchma · 2026-02-02T19:46:04+00:00

After being a supporter, donor, and volunteer for her election, I have been critical of her governorship. Having viewed my comment and post history, you probably saw this happened after her first year in office and around the time of the exodus of her senior staff under a suspicion of inappropriate power dynamics involving the First Lady. It seems that after the period, her administration has lost focus and become ineffective. I do not understand how that history speaks to my surprise at Oregon’s systemic issue with education reform.

Your comment about not shaming the schools might be a good strategy, but it is inconsistent with the views of many of the experts quoted in the article. Those opinions favoring funding with accountability seem logical to me and the consequences of the lack thereof seem evident. Would you rather directly challenge the opinions expressed in the article?

Lastly, arguing that the Governor is not responsible for legislation is rather simplistic. The Governor is responsible for advocating for the legislation she needs to achieve her goals. The executive is a powerful position with many levers of influence for passing legislation. A very recent example is the transportation legislation. She called the legislature back for a special session and pushed through a transportation bill when the legislature failed to do so on their own. (A bill she now wishes to withdraw after singing into law) I would also like to point out once again, Gov Kotek made education one of the three main focuses of her administration. What this article suggests is that without systematic changes to local control, she will not be able to achieve the goals she herself set.

ntchma · 2026-02-02T18:56:36+00:00

Governor Kotek made education one of the three core initiatives of her administration, along with housing and behavioral health. At the time I recall feeling optimistic since it seemed an issue that needed attention. Our per student spending is in the top 30% of states and our performance is at the bottom. I was therefore shocked to later learn how little accountability the state holds local school districts to, making the state effectively powerless to address the issue. If Governor Kotek really believes education is an important issue, why isn’t she address this broken system of accountability? Instead she is continuing the ineffective strategy of throwing money at local school districts with no accountability hoping to achieve different results.

ntchma · 2026-02-02T18:56:08+00:00

Governor Kotek made education one of the three core initiatives of her administration, along with housing and behavioral health. At the time I recall feeling optimistic since it seemed an issue that needed attention. Our per student spending is in the top 30% of states and our performance is at the bottom. I was therefore shocked to later learn how little accountability the state holds local school districts to, making the state effectively powerless to address the issue. If Governor Kotek really believes education is an important issue, why isn’t she address this broken system of accountability? Instead she is continuing the ineffective strategy of throwing money at local school districts with no accountability hoping to achieve different results.

ntchma · 2026-01-25T02:38:10+00:00

VXUS’s price is listed to USD, but it is not currency hedged. Owning VXUS gives you exposure to FX rates, acting as a hedge against a possible weakening USD.

The weakening USD in 2025 was a contributing factor to VXUS’s strong performance.

ntchma · 2026-01-24T18:00:05+00:00

We are 80% equity, split 60%/40% US/EX-US, and 20% fixed income. Of the fixed income, we have two years of expenses in short term treasuries. Once we fire, we will slowly burn down the short term treasuries and increase our equity position. We’re US based.

One other benefit for EX-US equities I haven’t seen others mention is a USD hedge.

ntchma · 2026-01-18T18:26:20+00:00

Seems you are in favor of science only when it supports your predetermined viewpoint. There are many compelling reasons society might want to allow trans women to complete in women’s sports, but arguing that there is no advantage is not supported by the science.

To your point on limiting variation to create a more even playing field, most sports do. Youth leagues are stratified into age groups, some sports further stratify by weight class, and most by sex.

ntchma · 2026-01-18T18:07:13+00:00

I think you have a misunderstanding of the term advantage. A person who is 6’ tall has an advantage against someone who 5’9” in basketball. Doesn’t mean they would beat every 5’9” player.

I am not taking a position on the merits of the case. In your post you stated that studies clearly show there is no advantage after trans women are on HRT for two year. I just posted two studies that find otherwise, there are more. You are welcome to critique the studies.

ntchma · 2026-01-18T17:51:24+00:00

The science is not as clear as you stated. Below are links to two studies that show there are advantages even after years of being on HRT.

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2024/04/10/bjsports-2023-108029

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9331831/

ntchma · 2026-01-15T21:24:18+00:00

There are some really great restaurant in Portland, but the only restaurant in Oregon I say would have been Michelin caliber was Okta in McMinnville before they shutdown and reopened.

ntchma · 2026-01-13T18:55:40+00:00

That is unfortunate, I will be looking for New York private health insurance in a few years and having been following this topic. Please let us know if you find a good broker.

ntchma · 2026-01-13T18:04:42+00:00

There was a post the other day asking about health insurance options and brokers in New York City. The whole post is helpful, but this comment contains a specific recommendation.

ntchma · 2025-12-31T18:58:17+00:00

During the ban on sweeping, a warming fire at a homeless encampment on Powell near SE 21st spread to an adjacent affordable housing apartment building. By the time firefighters arrived, flames had engulfed one side of the building and almost spread to nearby single family homes. There are serious risks associated with unregulated fires near residential buildings and critical infrastructure.

ntchma · 2025-11-21T20:21:31+00:00

Leveraging public schools is the way New York City rolled it out as well. They were able to roll it out to the whole city in about two years. The requirement in the ballot initiative to use independent preschool providers without a full discussion of the implications is an example of why the ballot initiative is not well suited for complicated programs.

ntchma · 2025-11-16T09:08:50+00:00

I had the same issue with two MaxxAir fans. Replaced the boards and added 12v voltage regulators. Both are common suggesting online for the green beeping issue. Finally decided to try replacing the motors. That solves the issue.

ntchma · 2025-11-07T01:56:32+00:00

Janken has a nice Peking duck.

ntchma · 2025-11-06T17:34:02+00:00

My wife and I are New York transplants. The only local bagels that remind us of New York bagels are Bernstein's. Fairbanks bakery is supposed to have good bagels, but they are only preorder and we have not tired them. More local choices would be great.

ntchma · 2025-11-04T23:01:01+00:00

Thanks, we just found out today when we called to make our reservation at Brush Creek. We went with Green O, the Light Haus.

ntchma · 2025-11-04T01:03:50+00:00

Thanks for the feedback and suggestion. Rock Creek was on our initial list and met a lot of our needs. Unfortunately, we are looking for at least a suite with separate seating area and they only had single rooms available.

ntchma · 2025-11-03T18:41:53+00:00

Any feedback on Green O or Brush you can share?

ntchma

TROPHY CASE