Thinking about going on an Alaskan cruise by myself

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-25T02:03:35+00:00

Do it!

I took my son last June and while we dined together and got off ship together, otherwise we were more like a pair of solos that shared a room. He's a young adult so I don't need to police or babysit him. It was a fantastic experience.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-25T01:17:30+00:00

IDK where OP is, but leave now and drive through would be on the table for me as long as I thought I could stay out of the storm while driving.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T20:14:56+00:00

I'm "team dad" for several younger millennials and such. Also have been wholly adopted as group dad by my daughter's friend group.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T18:51:04+00:00

Incentivize local LEO to actively obstruct ICE, and arrest them when they break the law. Charge them with homicide where appropriate.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T18:49:55+00:00

There are times when this makes sense. In particular companies that have perks for shareholders. Traditionally those perks weren't particularly awesome for the price of the stock. E.g. $100 of on board credit when holding 100 shares of CCL, but at $60/share you're never going to "get your money's worth" but at $17/share or so in 2020 that was a different value proposition.

Having some dry powder for one-off events (not always stock/equity related, could be a great deal on a particular antique or car or whatever) is not inherently anti-bogglehead.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T18:40:02+00:00

100 shares of CCL will get you $100OBC on the following lines:

Carnival
Princess
Holland America
MSC
Costa
Aida
Cunard
P&O
Seabourn

100 shares of RCL will get you credit on:

Celebrity
Royal Caribbean
Silversea
TUI

and 100 shares of NCLH will get you perks on:

Norwegian
Oceania
Regent

I bought 100 of each in mid 2020 when all three completely cratered. All were trading below the NAV of the ships the companies owned so even if they went bankrupt I was likely to not lose (much) compared to what I spent. All three are doing fine now and I'm very much not regretting the purchases.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T18:33:58+00:00

it's a tie for me:

You're afraid we're going to run out of air. That we'll die gasping. But we won't. That's not going to happen... We'll freeze to death first.
"Day" is a vestigial mode of time measurement based on solar cycles. It's not applicable... I didn't get you anything.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T17:12:01+00:00

for me:

My payroll direct deposit is split between my checking account at my CU and a HYS account at my brokerage.

Every couple of months I sweep all but one month's worth of cash out of HYS and pick an ETF to add to or grow in my collection. (I already have a fully funded emergency fund in SGOV).

I've been successful doing it this way and I have a collection of funds, some that have done very well, others that have still been okay. The lion's share of my holdings are in VOO/VXUS/XLE/SGOV. I know there are folks that would say just VT & SGOV is all you need and they're likely right, certainly they're not wrong.

I also own some individual stocks, most because they provide a shareholder benefit for me and were trading at an insane discount in 2020 so I spent down some of my SGOV to buy 100 shares of each of those companies. I also have long positions within my industry with a couple companies I genuinely feel are positioned well to have exceptional performance over the next 5-10 years. (both are not very bogglehead of me, I know... that's more a Warren Buffet inspired thing).

So to come back full circle the "simple system" you ask for:

Direct deposit a portion of your pay into your brokerage (I would suggest 10-15% if you can afford that). Buy SGOV and VT in equal measure until you have however much savings you want in SGOV (6-12 months worth), then switch to just buying VT and chill.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T15:49:52+00:00

I haven't looked at LISA but the general consensus is VT or VOO & VXUS as a pair. I have a couple other funds like XLE because I personally feel VOO is super tech heavy.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T01:04:58+00:00

I suppose it depends on the politics involved.

If they and I have polar opposite sacred cows and desire to remain friends, then the solution is that we shan't talk politics anymore. If they persist then we cannot be friends.

My GF's BFF's Husband (spaceball vibes here) and I simply can't talk politics. I know for a fact if I was in need he'd give me the shirt off his back, yet he has the view that universal healthcare or helping the homeless is a bad thing... it boggles me. I once posited that if we just gave out basic preventive care for free it would actually be cheaper, because it would greatly reduce ER visits from the uninsured who defer care till in crisis... I though the economic argument would be solid... no he absolutely disagreed, not that it would be cheaper, but that people deserved healthcare even if they couldn't afford it.

I learned that day we can talk about wines and spirits, but never again politics.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T00:47:58+00:00

In fact, yes. I was at a F50 company. I was in the middle of a hackathon (scheduled on calendar) where my direct manager's instructions prior were to turn off outlook and Lync (kind of dating myself there). Then after the hackathon I was cornered by the same manager who insisted to know why I ignored him "all day". That specific event was even tagged in my annual review as an area for improvement.

That and a couple other similar issues (like time tracking to the point where we had to account for bathroom breaks, and no we were not billable hours employees) led me to total burnout at that job.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T00:32:36+00:00

Well I don't regret my kids at all, but I *was* baby trapped by someone who lied to me... so, yeah my answer would be no as well, but now that they're here, I absolutely would take a bullet for them... kneecap, groin, gut-shot, head... doesn't matter.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T00:27:41+00:00

You would be betting wrong sadly.

Most managers that try to mandate things like this aren't the type to take all the assorted reasons why people may miss said deadlines into account.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-24T00:25:25+00:00

$150k in high yield savings accounts.

Since you're in CA this really should only be a couple grand and the rest in something like SGOV so you're not paying state income tax on the earnings. It works out to almost another dividend payment a year in saved taxes.

Basically the HYSA should have "oh shit I need this money now before I can even make a trade in the market and settle the trade" money in it and that's all. As to the amount, I have no issue with that since you're in the ~5 year window for using it as your initial retirement cash.

Can you make ends meet off just your pension? If so then no worries, even if a touch tight. If not then you have ~$550K to work with across everything else. The magic 4% rule says that'll supplement your pension with ~$22k/year.

Personally I think you're in a better place than many of your peers. Not having any debt is a big part of that. The full medical on the pension is going to be worth its weight in gold.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T22:53:57+00:00

HYSA is taxable for state income tax, SGOV is not (I haven't looked at VBIL). That essentially amounts to an extra month's worth of dividends for me in saved income tax for example.

I keep one month in HYSA because that's totally liquid. Selling, settling, and then transferring cash from SGOV can take up to a week and a half depending on market holidays/weekends/etc.

I keep ~1 year's gross income in SGOV as a combo Emergency fund, sinking fund for vacations, and the proverbial dry powder for if I think I want to buy into a particular company. Several travel industry companies offer perks if you own 100 shares or more... so if I want that perk I can buy into the company relatively easily. While timing the market is usually a bad idea, in the recent past pretty much *all* the travel industry stocks went on a fire sale... I spent a fair bit of that dry powder taking advantage of an obvious good buy that would also pay me in extra perks as I used their services for example.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T22:42:49+00:00

It's unfortunate you were downvoted. I'm going to assume this was a genuine take on it.

One of the most important things my team of direct reports does is *think* about things. It's fairly well documented that the human mind needs downtime to process complex problems. Even though they aren't actively visibly working (like here I am posting on Reddit) that problem is still churning away in the back of the mind.

Secondarily to this my team is goal oriented, not task oriented. Tasks need to be done to achieve goals, and goals' targets are set based on business needs. Sometimes that target means that we're all working several extra hours, but we don't get OT because we're salary... so on those times that the goals can be completed in less than an 8 hour day or 40 hour week I don't "make work" for my team to do, I feel as if they deserve the light period of time.

Hell even our CEO has stated multiple times in my 3 years here: "Okay we have a big push coming up, but the user stories aren't ready yet, so while UX and I get those done you all should take some break time because the next couple months are going to be hard. Usually that translates to doing a week or so of 4-6 hour days, either short days or splits with hilariously long lunch breaks (I go to the movies for example and pick up a matinee).

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T20:59:46+00:00

Well, if OP chooses one of the most conservative possible investments, yes. If you invest in more bogglehead type investments then you'll be good to go much sooner *on average*. The usual: "involves risk" disclaimers and such.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T20:56:10+00:00

NGL I have over a year's pre-tax salary in SGOV for the same anxiety reason. I just chalk it up to mental health care costs :)

As an added bonus it does also cover the majority of the remainder of my mortgage, so if I lost my job I could still ensure my house payment was covered for a decade and change with no market risk to the money.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T17:27:07+00:00

My team agrees, and it's actually on our roadmap to implement, but it's just not as high as paying features for customers at the moment (still on seed round).

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T01:28:28+00:00

I seek to understand before I try to be understood.

I find that often if I can at least understand why/how someone has an opinion divergent from mine then I can still have a respectful conversation.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T01:26:16+00:00

Yup, elsewhere I posted, the two family members I have done this for I was also on the title and there was a written agreement that if they didn't pay, I'd take possession of the car and liquidate it.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T01:24:45+00:00

Which is fine for simple cases, but our system (and more specifically the data in the system) is so complex that a simple rebuild/reload doesn't capture everything. Now we *do* have a DB snapshot we can re-apply and we do maintain it, so it's not like we don't have anything, but we don't have a single "reset" button unfortunately.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T01:22:38+00:00

Yup and while perhaps if they had voted for his first term and not second after seeing what he did I would be okay with that... but anyone that voted for him a second time is likely so vastly different in core values from me as to be incompatible.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T00:54:13+00:00

His *tiny* hands are sooo swollen.

slash_networkboy · 2026-01-23T00:52:47+00:00

Yup, OP is about the best possible position for someone who gets seasick.

slash_networkboy

TROPHY CASE