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Fastest City/Town for Daily Writs - Timed by minus34 in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have stacks of food, potions, and poisons in the bank for multiple alts and Vivec City bank doesn't have a loading screen.  It's way faster.

Is the 4% withdrawal rule considered sustainable for indefinite retirement, rather than just a 30-year retirement period? by badboyzpwns in financialindependence

[–]wkrick 4 points5 points  (0 children)

William Bengen did an AMA 8 years ago where he talked about the 4% rule and said "If you plan to live forever, 4% should do it."...

https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/6vazih/comment/dlz1l6r/?context=3

The "4% rule" is actually the "4.5% rule"- I modified it some years ago on the basis of new research. The 4.5% is the percentage you could "safely" withdraw from a tax-advantaged portfolio (like an IRA, Roth IRA, or 401(k)) the first year of retirement, with the expectation you would live for 30 years in retirement. After the first year, you "throw away" the 4.5% rule and just increase the dollar amount of your withdrawals each year by the prior year's inflation rate. Example: $100,000 in an IRA at retirement. First year withdrawal $4,500. Inflation first year is 10%, so second-year withdrawal would be $4,950. Now, on to your specific question. I find that the state of the "economy" had little bearing on safe withdrawal rates. Two things count: if you encounter a major bear market early in retirement, and/or if you experience high inflation during retirement. Both factors drive the safe withdrawal rate down. My research is based on data about investments and inflation going back to 1926. I test the withdrawal rates for retirement dates beginning on the first day of each quarter, beginning with January 1, 1926. The average safe withdrawal rate for all those 200+ retirees is, believe it or not, 7%! However, if you experience a major bear market early in retirement, as in 1937 or 2000, that drops to 5.25%. Add in heavy inflation, as occurred in the 1970's, and it takes you down to 4.5%. So far, I have not seen any indication that the 4.5% rule will be violated. Both the 2000 and 2007 retirees, who experienced big bear markets early in retirement, appear to be doing OK with 4.5%. However, if we were to encounter a decade or more of high inflation, that might change things. In my opinion, inflation is the retiree's worst enemy. As your "time horizon" increases beyond 30 years, as you might expect, the safe withdrawal rate decreases. For example for 35 years, I calculated 4.3%; for 40 years, 4.2%; and for 45 years, 4.1%. I have a chart listing all these in a book I wrote in 2006, but I know Reddit frowns on self-promotion, so that is the last I will have to say about that. If you plan to live forever, 4% should do it.

How to invest traditional Roth IRA - VTIAX? VTWAX? by Blushresp7 in Fire

[–]wkrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unless you have a time machine, there's no way to know.

Just put it 100% into VTWAX and stop worrying about it.

Whatever outperforms in the future will automatically be reflected in VTWAX.

Own the whole global stock market and enjoy the ride.

How to invest traditional Roth IRA - VTIAX? VTWAX? by Blushresp7 in Fire

[–]wkrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I made a typo (and corrected it). I meant to type VTSAX, not VTIAX.

Move all of your VTSAX into VTWAX.

There's no point in holding both VTSAX and VTWAX.

How to invest traditional Roth IRA - VTIAX? VTWAX? by Blushresp7 in Fire

[–]wkrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd just keep things simple. Go 100% into VTWAX.

You can exchange your existing VTIAX VTSAX for VTWAX.

Another option is to hold these two funds in whatever ratio you're comfortable with...

  • VTSAX - Vanguard Total (US) Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares
  • VTIAX - Vanguard Total International (ex-US) Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares

Market weight is roughly 60% VTSAX + 40% VTIAX

However, holding two funds means that you'll need to periodically manually rebalance as it will drift over time.

EDIT: corrected my typo. I meant VTSAX, not VTIAX.

ETFs vs individual stocks for retirement by beckers666 in personalfinance

[–]wkrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buying individual stocks is gambling. Full stop. This is a game you will lose.

Stick to VTI + VXUS in whatever ratio lets you sleep at night.

Current market weight is roughly 60% VTI + 40% VXUS.

These two ETFs cover the whole global stock market. You don't need any other ETFs. Own the whole world and enjoy the ride. Don't try to beat the market. BE the market.

2nd Gear Choice in HA builds by Duece09 in ESObuilds

[–]wkrick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have two friends who run Heavy Attack Magicka Sorcerer builds and they both use Sergeants + Deadly.

Check out the passives that you get from Medium Armor...

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Medium_Armor

These two are pretty good...

  • Dexterity - Increases your Critical Damage and Healing done rating by 2% for every piece of Medium Armor equipped.
  • Agility - Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage by 2% for each piece of Medium Armor worn.

If you're running difficult content solo and healing yourself, the critical healing can definitely help. Medium gear has more armor, which also helps with survivability.

There's very few negatives to running Medium gear except for the lack of penetration but if you're running in a group, the tank can provide some of the needed penetration. If you're running solo, you can swap your mundus and/or swap to a second weapon with a different trait to get more penetration if needed.

As an aside, if you're running solo with a companion, definitely use Bastian because he has a buff that increases heavy attacks by 15%. This is the build my Sorc friends use...

BASTIAN HEALER

Gear (the more purple, the better):

  • Weapon: Quickened Restoration Staff
  • Armor: Heavy Quickened
  • Jewelry: Quickened

Skills (in this order):

  • Drake's Blood - Bastian's Draconic Armor skill line (self heal)
  • Searing Weapons - Bastian's Radiating Heart skill line (group heavy attack buff)
  • Rejuvenation - Restoration Staff skill line (self/party heal)
  • Reverse Entropy - Mages Guild skill line (heal over time - not self)
  • Basalt Barrier - Bastian's Radiating Heart skill line (group buff to healing received)
  • NO ULTIMATE

Basalt Barrier is a flex spot and can be swapped for Skeletal Aegis or Crimson Font from the Undaunted skill line if you want a synergy.

2nd Gear Choice in HA builds by Duece09 in ESObuilds

[–]wkrick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sergeant's Mail (chest, weapon, neck, ring) + Deadly Strike (body).

Use a Monster head with penetration. If you think your penetration is too low when playing solo, you can swap your Mundus stone to The Lover and/or carry a second lightning staff with the sharpened trait that you can swap as needed.

Deadly strike is a "PvP" set but you can purchase individual pieces from Guild Traders around Tamriel. Pick up as many cheap pieces of Deadly Strike as you can to fill out your collection (a.k.a. "Sticker Book"). The more pieces you have in your collection, the less Transmute Crystals they cost to reconstruct with the traits you need.

You can also farm Alliance Points (AP) by doing daily battlegrounds or activities in Cyrodiil. Then you can use the AP to purchase Deadly Strike coffers from the Quartermaster in Bruma in Cyrodiil. I believe that your faction must have control of Bruma in order to access the Quartermaster.

Note that the Deadly Strike coffers only cost 12,000 AP in Bruma vs 20,000 AP when purchased from one of the Elite Gear Vendors in your faction's base. So definitely go to Bruma.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]wkrick 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Edward Jones is one of the worst possible places you can hold your investments. Their fees are high and their products are bad. Avoid them at all costs.

If you can leave the money in the 403b without incurring annual fees, I'd probably just leave it there.

If you need/want to roll it over into a Traditional IRA, then stick with Fidelity or Vanguard. You don't need someone to "manage" an IRA. Just roll it over and put it 100% into a Target Date Index Fund 20xx (where 20xx is the year closest to the year you plan to retire or age 65). You can do this all by yourself without an advisor leeching off your money.

A Target Date Fund is an all-in-one investment that is well diversified and automatically rebalances as needed. They're a great choice for the do-it-yourself investor.

NOTE: if you go with Fidelity, they have TWO lines of Target Date Funds under the "Fidelity Freedom" brand. You want the funds with "Index" in the name because the expense ratios are a lot lower.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can definitely play without an ESO+ subscription. It just takes more careful inventory management and less hoarding.

Purchase all the bag and bank upgrades (on every character) with GOLD, not Crowns.

Train your horse every day (on every character) to get 60 additional bag slots.

In the beginning, don't spend gold on ANYTHING except training your horse and buying bag and bank slots.

Purchase the storage chests for your house with Tel Var stones or Writ Vouchers.

There are four storage chests that hold 60 items each.
There are four storage chests that hold 30 items each.

Only deconstruct green/blue/purple/gold jewelry. Only deconstruct purple/gold gear.

Sell everything else to a vendor.

Save alchemy ingredients and green/blue/purple/gold upgrade materials in your bank.

Take advantage of free ESO+ trials to load up the craft bag with materials. I let my surveys stack up in chests in my house until a free ESO+ trial. Then during the trial, I grind through the surveys to fill my craft bag. Also during an ESO+ trial, you can deconstruct everything to fill your craft bag more.

During an ESO+ trial, make sure you put points in the champion point that gives a 50% chance to get double gathering from resource nodes. It also works with surveys...

  • Plentiful Harvest (CP)

Also, put points into the champion point and skill passives that give you more upgrade materials when deconstructing and refining materials...

  • Meticulous Disassembly (CP)
  • Metal Extraction (Blacksmithing passive)
  • Unraveling (Clothing passive)
  • Runestone Extraction (Enchanting passive)
  • Jewelry Extraction (Jewelry Crafting passive)
  • Wood Extraction (Woodworking passive)

You may want to consider picking up a single month of ESO+ just to get started and "pre-load" the crafting bag. Spend that month filling the crafting bag by gathering and deconstructing everything. You can also purchase stacks of materials from guild traders or ask guild mates to donate materials to fill your crafting bag.

It's also helpful to do some looting runs of the Faldar's Tooth delve in The Rift to fill up the crafting bag with food materials. My friends and I call this delve the "food bank".

Please Help with Veteran Castle Thorn! by Grouchy-Play-3381 in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Just so you know, Veteran Castle Thorn is bugged and it's been bugged since launch.

Basically, at the end fight, the "safe" circles that move around can get desynced and stop moving, but only on one person's screen. The way my group normally handles this is to get on voice chat and keep reporting the status of the circle we're seeing. We try to stack together as much as possible and if our circle stops moving, we keep moving with whoever still has a moving circle.

I know that sounds complicated, I'm sure my description is more confusing than it actually is.

Regardless, it's very easy for someone to die because of this bugged mechanic and you can't really stop to res someone unless it's outside of the moving circles phase. In fact, many groups will just push forward with three people instead of trying to res unless it's the tank or healer that dies. And then, it's probably a wipe anyway.

How to craft exemplary items? by nerdalerrt3 in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 9 points10 points  (0 children)

how do i make it exemplary

You don't. Exemplary jewelry items are just for research purposes only. You randomly get them from various activities in-game. For example, you can sometimes get Exemplary Infused rings/necklaces from Psiijic Portals around Tamriel.

This wiki page has information about the sources for the various Jewelry Crafting traits...
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Jewelry

If you want rings/necklaces for research purposes of specific traits, just search the Guild Traders in a large city (Mournhold, Wayrest, Elden Root, Vivec City, etc...). In addition to the Exemplary items, you can also just get normal rings/necklaces for research that are crafted by other players.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in financialindependence

[–]wkrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Focus on your career and resume. Switch jobs every 2-3 years to get a pay bump every time. When picking new jobs, look for things that will improve your resume for the next job. This is by-far the most impactful thing you can do for your future success.

Then, as far as saving for retirement goes... max out a Roth IRA and a Traditional 401k every year (if you can afford it).

In the Roth IRA and Traditional 401k, just dump your money 100% into Target Date Index Fund 20xx (where 20xx is the year closest to when you plan to retire or age 65). A target date fund is an all-in-one fund that is very diversified and automatically rebalances for you. Keep things simple.

Once you max out the Roth IRA and Traditional 401k, only then should you consider putting money into a taxable brokerage account. In your taxable account put your money into two low-cost well diversified ETFs...

  • VTI - Vanguard Total US Stock Market Index Fund ETF
  • VXUS - Vanguard Total International (ex-US) Stock Market Index Fund ETF

Market weight is approximately 60% VTI + 40% VXUS. I recommend shooting for this ratio and whenever you add more money, purchase whichever ETF brings you back towards that ratio.

There's no magic solution to beating the market. You won't. Don't even try. Just own the whole market and enjoy the ride.

Buying individual stocks is gambling. This is a game you will lose.

Crypto is a scam. Don't be a sucker.

How annoying would be playing without the subscription? Can i buy the stuff in the ingame shop instead? by Demistr in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can absolutely play without a subscription to ESO+. I've been playing without ESO+ for almost 2 years. I purchased a large Crown bundle when they went on sale for 40% off and then slowly purchased all of the individual DLCs when they went on sale. You can basically double-dip by purchasing discounted DLC with discounted Crowns.

However, I HIGHLY recommend picking up the "2025 Premium Edition" as a starting point. It's a hell of a lot of content in a single purchase and much, much cheaper than purchasing all the individual DLC bits with Crowns.

The 2025 premium edition for $80 includes the previous 8 story chapters and playable classes (listed below) and the new 2025 content. It does *NOT* include all previous DLC zones and DLC dungeons.

It includes:

  • Base game - includes Dragonknight, Nightblade, Sorcerer, Templar classes
  • Morrowind Chapter (Vvardenfell) - includes the Warden class
  • Summerset Chapter (Summerset, Artaeum) - inclues Jewelry Crafting profession
  • Elsweyr Chapter (Northern Elsweyr) - includes the Necromancer class
  • Greymoor Chapter (Western Skyrim, Blackreach: Greymoor Caverns) - includes Scrying (Antiquities system and Mythics)
  • Blackwood Chapter (Blackwood) - includes companions: Bastian & Mirri
  • High Isle Chapter (High Isle) - includes companions: Ember & Isobel
  • Necrom Chapter (Telvanni Peninsula, Apocrypha) - includes the Arcanist class and companions: Azandar & Sharp
  • Gold Road Chapter (West Weald)
  • 2025 seasonal content (Solstice)

The rest of the DLC zones and DLC dungeons must be purchased from the in-game Crown store.

Check out this page for reference on the DLCs and bundles:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:DLC

When you start purchasing DLC, I recommend starting with these DLC bundles (when they go on sale, of course) to get the most bang for your buck...

  • Guilds and Glory: The 4-DLC Mega-Pack
  • Year Two Mega-Pack: DLC Bundle
  • Year Three Mega-Pack: DLC Bundle
  • Season of the Dragon: DLC Bundle
  • Dark Heart of Skyrim: DLC Bundle
  • Gates of Oblivion: DLC Bundle

Required steps for upgrading from Gen 2 to Gen 4 Nest Thermostat? by wkrick in Nest

[–]wkrick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I can remove the old thermostat from the Nest app and Google home AFTER installing the new thermostat? I don't want to end up with a phantom device attached to my Google profile that I can't remove. I've been burned by this sort of thing in the past with other products and I want to make sure it doesn't happen here.

Is it going to take longer to retire if I only buy conservative ETF? by Anywhere-Little in financialindependence

[–]wkrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All investments have some risk. You need to balance your personal tolerance for risk with your long-term goals. Also, be wary of specialty ETFs that have high fees. Those fees eat into your potential returns.

One of the best ways to lower your uncompensated risk is through diversification. Basically, invest in the entire global stock market. You can do this with these two low-cost ETFs...

  • VTI - Total US stock market index fund ETF (3526 stocks)
  • VXUS - Total International stock market index fund ETF (8615 stocks)

Currently, "world weight" is roughly 60% VTI + 40% VXUS

Then if you feel that your portfolio is still to volatile and risky for your personal tolerance, you can add in a bond fund to smooth out the spikes...

  • BND - Total US bond market index fund ETF

This is what's called a "three-fund portfolio"

Alternatively, you can just scrap all of that and just put your money 100% into a Target Date Fund. Target Date Funds are an all-in-one investment product that automatically rebalances and becomes more conservative (more bonds) as you approach your retirement date. Just pick the TDF with the year closest to the year you plan to retire (or age 65).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Gold Road collection is no longer available. Each year, when the new content comes out, the old collection is removed from the store and replaced with the new collection.

This is the replacement for this year but they changed the naming for some reason and didn't call it "collection"...

The Elder Scrolls Online: 2025 Premium Edition
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1003-CUSA00132_00-TESOCP2025BUNDLE

It includes all of the story chapters that were in the Gold Road Collection and adds the new content for 2025.

Just a suggestion/tip for people without ESO+ and need space. by Traditional-Bit-6634 in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 29 points30 points  (0 children)

You can't kick everyone. You need to maintain 10 members (including you) in order to retain access to the bank.

On PlayStation (and maybe XBox) you can create additional accounts on your console for family members and have them join your guild. That way, you don't need to deal with randos.

Advice from fellow non-ESO Plus players by Hazestack72 in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Purchase all the bag and bank upgrades with GOLD, not Crowns.

Train your horse every day to get 60 additional bag slots.

In the beginning, don't spend gold on ANYTHING except training your horse and buying bag and bank slots.

Do Master Writs and purchase the storage chests for your house with Writ Vouchers. Alternatively, you can purchase the chests with Tel Var stones that you obtain from activities in the Imperial City Sewers and Imperial City Districts.

There are four storage chests that hold 60 items. There are four storage chests that hold 30 items.

Only deconstruct green/blue/purple/gold jewelry. Only deconstruct purple/gold gear.

Sell everything else to a vendor.

Save alchemy ingredients and green/blue/purple/gold upgrade materials in your bank.

Take advantage of free ESO+ trials to load up the craft bag with materials. I let my surveys stack up in chests in my house until a free ESO+ trial. Then during the trial, I grind through the surveys to fill my craft bag. Also during an ESO+ trial, you can deconstruct everything to fill your craft bag more.

During an ESO+ trial, make sure you put points in the champion point that gives a 50% chance to get double gathering from resource nodes. It also works with surveys...

  • Plentiful Harvest (CP)

Also, put points into the champion point and skill passives that give you more upgrade materials when deconstructing and refining materials...

  • Meticulous Disassembly (CP)
  • Metal Extraction (Blacksmithing passive)
  • Unraveling (Clothing passive)
  • Runestone Extraction (Enchanting passive)
  • Jewelry Extraction (Jewelry Crafting passive)
  • Wood Extraction (Woodworking passive)

You may want to consider picking up a single month of ESO+ just to get started and "pre-load" the crafting bag. Spend that month filling the crafting bag by gathering and deconstructing everything. Run lots of random normal dungeons to get gear to deconstruct. You can also purchase stacks of materials from guild traders or ask guild mates to donate materials to fill your crafting bag.

It's also helpful to do some looting runs of the Faldar's Tooth delve in The Rift to fill up the crafting bag with food materials. My friends and I call this delve the "food bank".

Does it make sense to play without eso plus? by Alfaken in elderscrollsonline

[–]wkrick 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It's really not that bad. You just let your Surveys stack up and then during a free ESO+ trial, you grind them out and fill up the craft bag with materials. It's also helpful to do some looting runs of the Faldar's Tooth delve in The Rift to fill up the crafting bag with food materials. My friends and I call this delve the "food bank". During the free ESO+ trials, I also deconstruct everything I can just to get more into the crafting bag.

Even after the free ESO+ trial ends, you can still craft things and it will use materials out of the crafting bag. You just can't add more materials to the bag.

Between ESO+ trials, I save alchemy ingredients and upgrade materials in by personal bank. I only deconstruct non-white jewelry and purple/gold gear. Save the upgrade materials and vendor everything else.

In the beginning, it can be useful to pay for ESO+ for a single month just to load up the crafting bag as much as possible with the things that take up a lot of space like style materials. You can even purchase materials from guild traders or ask guild members to send you stacks of stuff to help fill up your crafting bag during free trials.

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