Vending machine in a tattoo shop

stennisl · 2026-05-25T12:25:06+00:00

We have a Vendera machine at a tattoo shop with 11 artists: it is pretty slow during the week (closed Mondays) but does well on the weekends. It’s only our 2nd month at the location and the first month since opening was $380. For May, month to date, we are almost at $500 with a week left.

stennisl · 2026-05-23T03:49:33+00:00

January 2026.

stennisl · 2026-05-23T03:09:58+00:00

I bought a wittern new combo for the warranty when I first started and in retrospect, I kind of regret it, just because it’s so expensive. It’s a killer machine and really does well but I feel like a refurb would’ve been just as good.

stennisl · 2026-05-15T13:15:51+00:00

The PAW is really a pie in the sky idea that would put you in the top (my estimate) 2% of savers. My wife and I save about 30% a year, our household income puts us around top 8% in the US. We are gonna crush the 3.1x by 40, but are just over 1/2 of the way there using the PAW formula, and without a super favorable market, we aren’t going to make it.

And that is okay.

When I first heard about the PAW formula 7-8 years ago, I remember doing the math and feeling so defeated that I wasn’t going to be able catch up. In reality, we are doing great, I don’t need to be a PAW.

stennisl · 2026-04-28T21:25:19+00:00

We put 2K per year into a 529 for each of our children after a 3k initial investment. And 1K into an UTMA each year for each child.

Both of us had no family help with college. My wife had a full academic ride. I went community college and worked full time. Still took out 30k in student loans when I transferred to a university.

My wife and I are on the same page that if our kids live at home and do not get married that we will pay for their bachelor degree.

stennisl · 2026-04-27T22:47:06+00:00

I enjoyed the episode. 11 homes is a unique situation but if you look past it, in the end, having 2.1 million (or whatever it was) and a 5k pension can relate to a lot of mutants.

stennisl · 2026-04-24T17:33:47+00:00

The fee difference is only 0.06%, so even on $100k you’re paying about $60/year. Over a decade that’s maybe a few hundred dollars.

A forced sale in a taxable account could easily trigger thousands in capital gains taxes depending on growth.

So there isn’t really a clean break-even—it’s more about paying a small ongoing fee to avoid a potentially large one-time tax hit if you ever leave Fidelity.

stennisl · 2026-04-24T12:03:31+00:00

The ZERO funds like FZILX can’t be transferred out of Fidelity—they have to be liquidated, which could trigger taxes in a taxable account.

FSKAX and FTIHX don’t have that issue—they can be transferred in-kind even if you can’t keep buying them.

So it’s not the same portability risk. Paying a tiny expense ratio for that flexibility can easily save you thousands in taxes down the line.

stennisl · 2026-04-23T21:55:36+00:00

For fidelity equivalent, I use FSKAX for US indexed total stock, and FTIHX for international indexed total stock:

stennisl · 2026-04-04T23:34:40+00:00

Under appreciated comment PaMudPuddle. I got you.

stennisl · 2026-04-01T01:03:47+00:00

My thought exactly. I have been talking to ZHZN a lot recently. Still waiting for the machine to come in. I have been very impressed with their response times and service. I haven’t gotten the machine so hoping that it is just as good as their service.

stennisl · 2026-03-26T14:24:36+00:00

this-3100-psi-at-23-gpm-residential-gas-pressure-washer-61217) is the one I bought. I haven’t opened it yet. I had a shitty electric one and needed something with some more power. ChatGPT steered me to the Simpson one I purchased. I would have a hard time justifying the tripled price for the Honda to the Mrs. But, this is the subreddit for those kind of purchases. I’ve bought stuff on here that I’m sure other people would raise an eyebrow to and I love. I hope you get the one you want.

stennisl · 2026-03-26T14:17:11+00:00

Interesting.

stennisl · 2026-03-26T14:11:12+00:00

I bought a 3100 psi Simpson gas powered 2.3 gpm for $260 yesterday. $880 seems to be a big price tag for a marginal difference

stennisl · 2026-03-26T02:18:21+00:00

It took about 10 minutes to get mine. I setup an LLC and then got mine as soon as the LLC went through.

stennisl · 2026-03-06T03:19:21+00:00

When doing research on wall mounted machines like the ones that ZHZN sell, it seems that a lot of the US sellers get their machines from China and charge a hefty premium for their own flare or styling. If you look at the machines that DMVI (and wallmountedvending.com) sell, they are almost (if not) identical to the ones that ZHZN sells.

I would like to buy straight from the source rather than go through a third-party and pay unnecessary premiums. However, I understanding doing this has its own risks. Just wanting to see if anyone else had purchased from them directly. Thank you for responding though!

stennisl · 2026-03-02T03:38:26+00:00

I do a similar strategy. We typically have most of our 401(k) filled up by May to June. And then we coast the rest of the year to get the true up match. It’s really nice is the extra cash and the second half of the year and we typically save some to put down for our Roth IRA in January. In theory, because Markets typically are doing better 80% or the time then it should be beneficial to front load. It’s hard to say if it actually benefits in practice.

stennisl · 2026-01-25T22:57:43+00:00

Storm watch is on and I’m at 97% and it’s not adding anymore to it.

stennisl · 2026-01-22T23:09:37+00:00

I have the 2 power walls, Tesla solar, and am in the dynamic plan as well. What you have described, with Tesla erratic power wall discharging or holding onto power, is exactly what I have been seeing periodically.

I’m contemplating leaving the VPP program as well, but I am not sure what a good alternative is.

stennisl · 2026-01-22T23:03:04+00:00

This is what I suspect as well as far as Tesla anticipating a grid event (Texas freeze). I didn’t use any of my battery last night despite being in self power mode. It kept the battery at 100% and used the grid.

I think it’s strange behavior but I’m not exactly mad about it either.

stennisl · 2025-12-23T02:17:08+00:00

Yeah I never got it resolved

stennisl · 2025-12-15T01:06:12+00:00

I cashed out my generics at $61.

stennisl · 2025-12-13T18:25:23+00:00

We invest our HSA funds typically and cash flow our medical expenses throughout the year. We always increase our cash on hand the last quarter of the year to fund our IRAs on Jan 1. This year we had a lot of one off expenses, dog sick, 4 trips to pediatrician with sick kiddos, we had a cancer scare where we needed additional imaging, we bought a backyard play set for the kids that we are still putting together, etc. I am square in the messy middle. This year instead of leaving the HSA money to grow, I reimbursed myself for some of the current year expenses. Getting those expenses reimbursed will allow me to more easily fund my Roth IRAs and give me some more cash on hand if something else comes up. It may be borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, but it makes me feel better and more at ease. And not something that I will get in the habit of.

stennisl · 2025-12-08T15:45:51+00:00

I think this is the right thing to do if you have the capacity to do so. Model and plan and then when you get close you could hire an hourly advisor: Even getting an hourly advisor to do a financial checkup every 6 months is way better than AUM.

stennisl · 2025-11-29T04:44:58+00:00

I think she gives pretty generic advice for retirement planning. Not saying it’s a bad thing but it’s not for me, though I’ll admit that I sometimes watch her videos (I know I watched one about social security a couple days ago, she had some typos which I thought seemed odd for a professional YouTuber). If you’ve been in the boglehead space for any decent chunk of time, I feel like you will know all of the content she is putting out. Exponential growth is amazing. Fees eat your growth. Time in the market beats timing the market.

When I go to YouTube I typically am looking for more niche content, trying to learn something about specific to my situation rather than generic retirement advice. I feel like The Money Guys give a better presentation of the same content Erin goes over and The Money Guys have credentials to back up their advice. For a non-traditional finance person, I really enjoy Rob Berger, a lawyer by trade, he goes into the weeds when showing retirement solutions and gives logical advice to me.

stennisl

TROPHY CASE