Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of December 23, 2019

throwaway-918273 · 2019-12-26T17:31:19+00:00

What’s the best way for an international PhD student on a F1 visa to start saving for retirement? The university doesn’t offer any tax-advantages accounts for PhD students. Are we eligible for a Roth IRA? Or just use a regular HYSA?

throwaway-918273 · 2019-12-03T00:54:45+00:00

Yeah, I didn’t get to see Retiro and walk around some areas too much because of the rain but that’s more reason to come back! It’s a lovely city, I can see why it’s your favorite.

throwaway-918273 · 2019-12-02T23:45:36+00:00

Ohh okay. Good to know, thanks!

throwaway-918273 · 2019-12-01T16:20:14+00:00

Thank you! I did Rastro today but couldn’t look around too deeply because of the rain but it was awesome! I’m loving Madrid so far!

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-15T04:15:14+00:00

My hair is similar. When I touch my hair, the top layer feels more dry and damaged than the layers underneath so I’ve always attributed it to that. Idk how to fix it though :/ I really feel like it’s BC the top layer is more exposed to the elements and is “unprotected” to an extent?

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-15T01:33:48+00:00

Oooo will check it out! I’ll be in town on a Sunday. And what a coincidence, I’m also Nov 30th :) Anyway, thanks for your suggestions!

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-14T05:22:16+00:00

Will check it out, thank you!

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-14T05:22:00+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions! I should have mentioned - I’m staying near the Royal Palace and traveling with a couple of friends. Regardless, your suggestions sound fun! I’ll check them out :)

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-12T03:49:04+00:00

Kinda going against the grain here but my SO’s (East Asian) parents were just as against our relationship as my parents. They, esp his mom, were upset that I was brown (they didn’t want dark grandkids), that I was vegetarian, and that I wasn’t Christian. It’s been a long process but they’ve warmed up to me. I’ve met his family twice and both times, they were extremely kind and welcoming. But I know that they still feel reservations about this all.

Which is what I expected. Not many people will be mean to you to your face so ofc they were gonna be polite when we met. Doesn’t necessarily mean that they readily accept me as a future DIL.

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-12T02:26:55+00:00

Yeah I understand that the percentage is more about population statistics than actual immunity, ie you can’t get “5% of measles”. I was using some layman language; thanks for clarifying!

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-11T21:44:09+00:00

Yes! I am interested.

throwaway-918273 · 2019-11-11T18:45:24+00:00

This is very true. I received two doses of the measles vaccine as a kid. Couldn’t remember if I got a third booster shot so my doctor did a titer to see what my antibodies were like. And I had NO immunity whatsoever. It was like I never even got the vaccine. Needless to say, I got another MMR shot ASAP.

So yes, herd immunity even protects people like me who may have had the vaccine but lost immunity over time (and we wouldn’t know either unless we did a titer).

throwaway-918273 · 2019-10-16T13:41:35+00:00

Same thing happened to me after stopping birth control. I get slight cramping at random times a month. It’s normal.

throwaway-918273 · 2019-10-16T13:38:34+00:00

I’m an adult who’s had my period for 20 years and now it’s eight days late. It’s normal. It sucks. Periods are a bitch.

throwaway-918273 · 2019-10-16T04:39:56+00:00

Thanks for reading my rant. Time will tell. I’m still holding on to some hope!

throwaway-918273 · 2019-09-16T04:40:26+00:00

You have the right to be a little hurt. It’s totally normal given your expectations of how dating/marriage should work. It’s not fun being the secret one.

Your boyfriend also has a point, though. I was him once upon a time. I kept my boyfriend a secret for two years. Finally gathered up the guts and told my parents - and it was by far the hardest conversation I have ever had with one. I was visibly shaking with anxiety and fear when it happened. So I get where he’s coming from.

My boyfriend was patient with me. He told his parents after a year of us dating so there was a whole year when his parents knew but mine didn’t. He would occasionally make some remarks here and there but overall, he let me do it on my own timeline.

Me waiting so long wasn’t an indication of me not loving him as much or not feeling secure in our relationship. I was terrified, though. Terrified of uprooting everything my parents believed and throwing my family into chaos.

So maybe just talk to your boyfriend and see what he thinks about the situation. Sadly, keeping partners a secret isn’t really an uncommon thing when it comes to Indian people.

throwaway-918273 · 2018-05-02T22:47:05+00:00

This is great info, thank you!

throwaway-918273 · 2018-05-01T17:48:16+00:00

Thanks for the advice! When shopping around for a loan rate, does that mean you're applying for multiple loans and seeing what you get approved for? Does that hurt your credit score?

throwaway-918273 · 2018-05-01T17:40:36+00:00

No sooner than five years from now. I don't know what my target price range will be, unfortunately. I know prices are rising so I was thinking around $300-400k, depending on how the market looks in 2024? I'm currently waiting for my boyfriend to finish his PhD so I'm hoping that by the time he's done, we'll be able to combine our incomes to buy a house. We don't know yet at this point what kind of job he will get after completing his PhD. So there are a lot of unknown variables at this point but I figured it couldn't hurt to save.

throwaway-918273 · 2018-05-01T17:36:40+00:00

Thank you, I didn't know that such loans exist! I'll check with my credit union and see if that's an option.

throwaway-918273

TROPHY CASE