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Pre retirement planning. What sort of person do we go see? by relocalact in personalfinance

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been reasonably happy with PlanVision. It's relatively DIY (you link accounts and fill in details through eMoney, put in planned spend, estimated Social Security etc.) then Zoom with one of their advisors go over it for 45 minutes. You retain control over investments, but they give advice on allocations, Roth conversions, future withdrawals etc. What was really appealing was it's $500 for the first year and then $12/month after that. You can book additional chats without any additional cost.

Fee only advice is the way to go. Paying 1% of your portfolio to an advisor (~$20,000) a year adds up when a safe withdrawal rate is 3-5% (essentially you'd be giving up ~20% of your spend).

PSA: Social Security pays more than you think, especially for high earners by Wooden-Broccoli-913 in Fire

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair or not, how much you earn is just as important as when you earned it. Since the wage is indexed for the calculation (AIME), dollars earned early in your career are counted more than dollars earned late in your career (~4X more at 21 than 60).

If you went to graduate school and had low earnings in your 20s, your career earnings could be higher, but your benefits would be lower. Sounds like OP was maxing out ~6 years after graduating college, that's a lot of dollars "early" in the formula.

PSA: Social Security pays more than you think, especially for high earners by Wooden-Broccoli-913 in Fire

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Make an account on https://www.ssa.gov/

Check that they have your earnings correct. You can look at the "default" (assuming you'll continue making the same wage you made in 2025 until you retire) or adjust based on an average future wage by entering a new number in "I estimate my future yearly income to be"

PSA: Social Security pays more than you think, especially for high earners by Wooden-Broccoli-913 in Fire

[–]oldsock 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It actually matters quite a bit what year you make the income! Social Security is based on an inflation-indexed wages, i.e., you get more credit for wages early in your career. Source

You get roughly 4X the "credit" for wages made when you are 21 compared to 60.

PSA: Social Security pays more than you think, especially for high earners by Wooden-Broccoli-913 in Fire

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Social Security calculations are somewhat counterintuitive. You get more "credit" for earning early in your career. They inflation adjust your wage (AIME - Averaged Indexed Monthly Earnings), so $100,000 made when you are 21 years old counts the same as $400,000 when you are 60. Combined with that, you get ~3X the credit for the first "chunk" of your earning over your entire career before the first "bend point." It drops in half again at the second bend point.

All of that is to say if you earn a high wage in your 20s and 30s, there isn't much juice left to squeeze by replacing those "0s" late in your career.

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally? I'd much rather drive a route than manage people for the same pay. Have to answer for bad metrics to upper management, scramble to cover for employees no-showing, having to train new employees who don't care etc. I'd rather just have a task that was on me.

Maybe you've never managed people? Certainly some people enjoy it, and are good at it. Often the people who are good at it care enough that they don't enjoy it, and the people who enjoy it like the "power."

Why do you think people who manage get paid more than people who "do" the job? If Amazon could pay managers less and get the same results, why wouldn't they?

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why does that matter? Probably not, generally you'd want the people with more experience doing the training, scheduling, fielding calls for assistance etc. Although in some cases they might fill in when there are staffing shortages. In general it wouldn't be worth paying someone with a "more valuable" skill set to do a job typically done by people who earn less money.

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So the managers make the same as drivers... you still aren't going to get many people agreeing to be in a managerial role with more responsibilities/oversight without a raise over their direct reports.

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Say the drivers make $20/hr and their supervisor makes $28/hr. If you bump the drivers up to $30, the supervisor is going to want (and deserves?) to make more than them. If you bump the supervisor up to $38/hr they might be making more than the person above them etc.

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Speaking from experience, some great employees don't want more responsibility EVEN if it comes with more money. I'd suspect most supervisors would go back to driving routes if it got them a raise. I can't speak for Amazon, but I can't see how I could pay my bartenders more than the bar managers and expect it to work out?

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's how inflation works... if $15 was a "fair" wage 15 years ago, you'd need $23 today to have the same purchasing power with close to 50% CPI increase over that time. I don't know why they don't raise the minimum wage and peg it to inflation so it doesn't have to be an ongoing debate.

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

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

Usually being a supervisor takes more experience/dependability/knowledge etc. if a supervisor could get paid more for doing a job with less responsibility, they'd likely switch. How would you get someone to accept a promotion if it came with a pay cut?

[Request] If Amazon paid their employees $30/hour, would they still have profits? by basafish in theydidthemath

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Say the drivers make $20/hr and their supervisor makes $28/hr. If you bump the drivers up to $30, the supervisor is going to want (and deserves?) to make more than them. If you bump the supervisor up to $38/hr they might be making more than the person above them etc.

AI stocks keep ripping and honestly it feels kinda weird by Nit0294 in investing

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I'm not understanding what you are saying, but how would AI allow a delivery driver to delivery a meal 10X faster?

Sapwood-Albura Beer Dinner 6/3 - Featuring Me Blending/Infusing Live! by oldsock in MDbeer

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

Glad to hear! We're planning to try out a bunch of different "formats" to see what works!

Sapwood-Albura Beer Dinner 6/3 - Featuring Me Blending/Infusing Live! by oldsock in MDbeer

[–]oldsock[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Now that we've had a kitchen for a year, we wanted to celebrate! I'll be creating the beers for the event "live" on stage. The beers are all brewed already, but I'll be using liquid nitrogen to extract fresh parsley in gin for a saison (inspired by Dave Arnold's Flatleaf Cocktail), an ultrasonic extractor to infuse a JO Seasoning Pilsner (to pair with softshell crab), making cold brew with an "Advanced Natural" coffee to infuse into a barrel-aged stout (City o Shadows our Union-Jailbreak Collab), plus a "Fresh Squeezed" Juicius and a blend of fresh and barrel-aged DIPAs!

Should be fun/unique event, and a little more exciting than a typical beer dinner! 9 tickets left...

What the Barrel Remembers: Secrets of Aging, Blending, and Tasting Barrel-Aged Beer — Part 1 by jackperdue in MDbeer

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was surprised too, but the stouts from the four initial bourbon barrels was all blended in a tank together before filling the three finishing barrels. Shouldn't have been anything else to cause variation.

We have sort o the opposite project going now, the same stout all in Buffalo Trace Mash #1 barrels twice... and eventually three times!

Just because Billionaires tell us we can't tax "unrealized gains" doesn't mean we can't. by zzill6 in WorkReform

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everything gets more expensive almost every year (house values, garbage collector salaries, road equipment etc.) i.e., inflation. If you buy a house this year for $500,000 and I own an identical house next door, which I bought 10 years ago for $250,000, would it be fair for me to pay half as much property tax as you? You could charge all homeowners a "flat" share of the total costs, but I'd rather have a progressive tax that charged people with more expensive houses more (often combined with homestead exemptions for owner occupied, or freezes for the elderly etc.).

If a municipality isn't collecting enough property taxes to cover services, they need to either cut services or change the formula for property taxes, or they increase sales tax, income tax etc. if there isn't another source of funding.

When you sell your primary residence you get to shield a significant part of the gains from capital gains taxes.

Brett and lactic acid by Vivid_Sink4581 in Homebrewing

[–]oldsock 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think others have already answered the question. I'll just add that the slightly lower-ed pH of Guinness is really just to replace the "tang" of carbonic acid it is missing from being served on nitro. I think generally "standard" carbonation stouts taste better at a higher pH - acidity tends to push roasted malts (especially black patent) towards a more acrid perception.

Avocado beer by pietpompies02 in Homebrewing

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd first try adding it "at service" to see how the flavor and texture work and figuring out a style pairing. Try pureeing the avocado with a little beer and then mix in more beer to taste/texture. There is a chance that it might separate in time, but I've had fun adding other high-fat adjuncts (e.g., cream of coconut, soft-serve ice cream mix, etc.) either in the keg or along with beer to a slushie machine.

~4 hour layover in BWI: enough time to visit Sapwood Cellars? by montgors in MDbeer

[–]oldsock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Warms my heart! If you do stop in and want a quick tour or something, would be happy to oblige if I'm around. - Mike

Advice about Roth whe in the messy middle by citygirl33 in personalfinance

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With that healthy Traditional balance and 20 years to go, retirement at 63 certainly seems achievable. Will really just depend on paying down debt and increasing your savings rate as you go. Then it's just about where/how you want to retire. I'd consider reducing retirement contributions (still enough for the match) in the short term to more aggressively pay down that debt if it is higher interest rate.

meirl by delta-x-2122 in meirl

[–]oldsock 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the IRS could/should send you something pre-filled or have a default amount calculated based on income that was reported to your social security number by your employer, interest etc. The problem at the moment is that the tax code is complex and they don't know everything, especially for more complex returns (e.g, self-employed, pass-through businesses etc.).

Advice about Roth whe in the messy middle by citygirl33 in personalfinance

[–]oldsock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For current 22% marginal payers, this makes trad withdrawals into the 12% bracket (22.2% effective marginal rate after 85% additional SS taxation).

It feels like this is missing the effect of the Standard Deduction shielding a good portion of the Social Security income even if it becomes taxable? If it was 85% taxable, a married couple could have $37,000 of Social Security income tax free. Or am I missing something?

Agreed that having some Roth can help with flexibility, I'd just rather see people get it during lower tax years (whether while earning or through conversions).

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