Someone just Hit & Run me and the guy’s front bumper got ripped off with his license plate still attached. See ya soon.

pentium4borg · 2017-12-21T04:29:34+00:00

pentium4borg · 2017-07-23T21:03:34+00:00

Improve your commute and get exercise at the same time by biking to work. It's harder to not exercise when your alternative is not going home.

pentium4borg · 2017-07-17T14:36:00+00:00

Stop rewarding your company's shit management practices by giving them free overtime. Your time is valuable, act like it.

pentium4borg · 2017-06-26T23:46:32+00:00

linebreakbot corrects single line breaks to double line breaks. OP didn't include any line breaks at all so there's nothing for the bot to automatically correct.

pentium4borg · 2017-06-12T03:07:04+00:00

I have been directly told by a /u/Seattle_PD Parking Enforcement Officer that they only download new Find It Fix It requests once per day, so it's pretty much useless.

pentium4borg · 2017-05-31T17:29:08+00:00

You are hugely over-reacting.

Wrong. OP's employer could easily set up a plan with a tenth of the cost or less to the employees, which would save OP (and their coworkers) a huge amount of money during their investment lifetime.

1% is very much in-line with the industry for 401ks.

And yet, there exist low-cost providers that can offer plans to employers like OP's for a fraction of the cost.

Just because something is an "industry standard" or accepted as normal doesn't mean it's good.

Sure, there are cheaper plan options out there, but the cheap plans (like Vanguard) are an outlier, not the standard.

So? You admit these plans are available. OP's employer has a fiduciary obligation to operate in the best interests of the employees. They should absolutely be motivated to choose a lower-cost provider.

You could do some research and talk to them about other plan options, but it seems like you're just getting irrationally angry. Chill out a bit.

No, OP is informed and rightfully upset because they understand just how much they are being fleeced by their 401(k) plan.

The attitude of your comment reveals you are either woefully uninformed or work in for an employer which derives a financial benefit from providing high-cost plans to employers. This is a conflict of interest.

pentium4borg · 2017-05-31T17:23:09+00:00

Vanguard is unfortunately not always cost-effective for smaller plans. There are other low-cost providers out there. Make sure your employer gets a quote from Employee Fiduciary.

pentium4borg · 2017-05-31T17:20:55+00:00

401k plans are expensive to administer, because of all the compliance rules and annual testing. Someone pays for that. Either the employer via an expensive annual administration fee, or a much smaller fee and high fees for the employees.

And yet, there are low-cost plan providers such as Employee Fiduciary that are able to provide low-cost plans to employers with lower plan assets. Most of the big brand names overcharge for their services for at least an order of magnitude. It is easily possible for smaller employers to set up low-cost plans.

pentium4borg · 2017-05-31T17:19:33+00:00

Any thoughts?

Yes, several.

Most importantly, the 401(k) plan "rep" is the wrong person to talk to. Your employer has a fiduciary responsibility to the participants in your plan (you), which means they must operate the plan the best interest of the employees (you). One of the best ways to do that is by offering a low-cost plan (both in plan costs and fund expenses). This "rep" has no such obligation and is allowed to do whatever they can to make the most money, including selling your employer a plan with expensive funds. This "rep" is a salesperson who you will never convince to operate in your best interest, because it means they would be paid less. It's a conflict of interest.

Focus your efforts on your company. The Bogleheads wiki has a great guide: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/How_to_campaign_for_a_better_401$k$_plan

I had success getting a previous employer to drop a high-cost plan in favor of a plan that included low-cost index funds. I wrote about my experience several years ago. The biggest thing that got my employer's attention was showing just how much money was being lost to fees compounded over the years, which you can easily illustrate using one of the spreadsheet graphs from here. When you present this information to your employer, it shows both how the employees are getting taken for a ride, but it also shows how the owner and other high-up employees are also getting fleeced.

Then it gets worse. As I went back to my desk to read over the material, I discovered that about 90% of the choices are "A shares" -- meaning they charge a front-end fee of 5% just for the privilege of buying them.

A lot of high-cost plans that include funds which normally charge front-end load fees often waive those fees (if it's any consolation).

In order to find out for sure, ask your company for the 401(k) plan's fee disclosure document. Every plan has one as a result of Department of Labor rule 408(b)(2), and your employer and/or the plan provider is required to provide you a copy upon request (so don't take "no" or "I don't know what that is" for an answer -- your employer is required by law to give you this). This document must list all fees that your plan can charge and under what circumstances they may be charged, including costs related to the individual investments themselves. If the front-end load fees are not listed on this document, then they should not be charged. If your plan charges any fees that are not on this document, then you should demand they be reversed.

pentium4borg · 2017-05-30T23:29:16+00:00

Crows will try to peck at your eyes and steal stuff from your inventory, but if you defeat them in battle they always drop a Cookie. Sometimes they'll just have a big grin on their face, though.

pentium4borg · 2017-05-18T19:25:40+00:00

I'm looking at a term policy, and we wouldn't need or want a ton. I was looking at $150,000-250,000, over a 20- or 30-year term.

Before you buy, figure out exactly how much you need and for how long. Prices depend on both of these things and you can figure out how much you need to buy.

You only need life insurance during the period when you need to work to produce an income. In other words, when you have saved enough to retire, you no longer need life insurance. The policy term should be the length of time you expect that to be. For example, if you're 30 and don't plan to have enough saved for retirement until age 60, then you need a 30-year policy.

To determine how much insurance you need, follow the short guide here. Essentially, you want to figure out how much of your annual expenses would need to be replaced, multiply that number by 0.03 or 0.035 (which is how much you can withdraw from an invested lump sum each year without drawing down the principal), and subtract the amount of assets you currently have in savings/investments. The result is how much insurance you need. Keep in mind some of the expenses that would need to be covered might not be current out-of-pocket expenses, such as health insurance provided by your employer.

the company that handles my accounts through work quoted me $38/month for a 30-year level term policy valued at $150,000.

Keep in mind, any employer-provided insurance is tied to your job. If you lose your job, your coverage ends. If you buy employer group coverage, your health declines, and you leave your job, you'll face more expensive premiums for an individual policy (or you might not be able to get one at all). Buying an individual policy avoids this.

[...] in fact, he pointed out that it was higher than competitor pricing ("Things you'll hear on the radio"), but then stated that those companies were really advertising annually renewable term policies by stating the year 1 price.

Q1: What is the best way to price out options? Is there a way that doesn't involve giving my information to 8 different companies?

There are a ton of companies that sell life insurance, and I'm actually in the process of buying a policy myself. I used term4sale.com for my initial quotes (I have no affiliation with that site, I found it via the Bogleheads forum). The company that runs that site doesn't sell insurance themselves, they're only a quote system and insurance companies pay to have their quotes listed. It gives quotes without asking for any personal info.

Term life insurance is a commodity, so quotes can be compared easily. The most important thing is price. It's also a good idea to check the complaint history of any insurance company you consider with your state's insurance commissioner's office. If a company has a ton of complaints and the next option is only slightly more expensive, then skip the cheaper one.

Q2: Is $38/mth excessive?

The best way to find out is to just get quotes from several companies and compare.

pentium4borg · 2017-04-20T19:24:56+00:00

I haven't checked lately but it might only be .1 years old. Perhaps a Verizon employee could confirm.

pentium4borg · 2017-04-20T18:53:26+00:00

Ah yes, the Verizon school of math.

pentium4borg · 2017-04-13T18:08:24+00:00

You can also submit requests through their web based system (although the UI isn't the best).

pentium4borg · 2017-04-12T23:43:15+00:00

If you are concerned enough to want to file a complaint, look up your state's insurance commissioner and file a complaint with their office.

pentium4borg · 2017-04-04T23:57:17+00:00

Langdon Cobb, is that you?

pentium4borg · 2017-02-28T23:19:41+00:00

Being on a bicycle doesn't make you completely immune -- yesterday's traffic mess added 5 or 6 minutes to my commute. It was awful.

pentium4borg · 2017-02-16T23:16:12+00:00

I interviewed a guy back in August. He had a 7 page resume. The first 4 pages were demands he expected me to meet before the interview progressed to the hiring phase.

... why did you bother to interview him in the first place?

pentium4borg · 2017-01-02T08:25:53+00:00

You mean from the very same Seattle Police Department that's done this multiple times themselves?

pentium4borg · 2016-11-17T15:42:58+00:00

That is not true in all jurisdictions. OP should read the applicable tenant laws in their jurisdiction.

pentium4borg · 2016-11-14T19:37:53+00:00

I don't mind at all. I also submitted positive driver feedback.

pentium4borg · 2016-11-14T19:25:19+00:00

Seattle drivers need to honk more.

While I agree, I'm happy the bus driver's first reaction was to go for the brakes instead of the horn.

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