PlayerHader

Just got another email. Ally goes to 1.6% tomorrow.

Ally just bumped up to 1.4% on savings accounts.

Finishing off Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Talking to Strangers. More interesting for all the tidbits and anecdotes he discussed than the ideas that he uses them as support for, imo.

Consumer spending up 1% last month. I wouldn’t bet much that we get that 2nd consecutive quarter of negative growth.

This tweet touches on it. Folks like Peter Zeihan point to a draw back from globalization causing economic conditions that make little sense within our understanding of the past several decades.

I read this all over the place and I'm confused what people are basing this on. I know we were surprised to have ended up with negative growth in Q1. What evidence is there that that will be repeated? I haven't seen any predictions of negative growth for Q2. The labor market still appears to be very strong (based on national numbers and local observation). I know consumer confidence is reportedly very low, but that hasn't been reflected in consumer spending to this point (from what I've read). I'm not saying we aren't heading toward recession. But why do you think we are already there?

I've traded in and out (out for nearly a year now) using Coinbase Pro. I'm looking to DCA into BTC going forward. It may be due to me being a damn fool, but it doesn't appear that can be automated on CB Pro. What apps/exchanges do you all use that allows one to easily do this? My next question will be the simplest way to setup a safe/reliable wallet. I've watched videos and read things online, but I'd prefer to have someone with some credibility (BF.net cred works) walk me through that. But that's not a primary objective right now. THANKS!

75 bps again in July and then a couple of 50 bps bumps in the fall is what I read. This is really my second test as an investor. I handle my wife’s and my own retirement accounts. Amidst the Covid crash, I definitely missed on some gains on the way back up by moving a chunk of money from the SP500 into gold and hard asset funds (basically at the worst time, when the SP hit its low). I corrected that by late summer of 2020. So far this year I’ve been disciplined, but I do worry about 1) international stocks and hope they perform going forward, and 2) overall diversification. I’m 60-70% into the SP500 and 100% in equities across all accounts (401(k), 403(b), Roth IRA, HSA). We’re ~20+ years from retirement, so I probably shouldn’t worry much about that.

How does this work? Are you referring to a 401(k)? Can you explain this?

Same. I do have some cash in my HSA that I might take off the sidelines soon and throw into the S&P or a total market fund.

Moving 50-60% of my emergency fund to I-bonds today. Should have done this a month or two ago probably, but better now than never. Any anybody else done this? It's a bit less liquid, at least for a year, but that's something we can deal with if the worst case scenario happens.

I'm curious to hear more. How old and where are you currently at with retirement money? I'm 44 and I don't think I'd crack $50k in retirement savings just yet. I'll also have a pension but that won't be more than about $1200/mo. Another benefit is work will continue most of my medical benefits between retirement and 62. Between this and my side job I should be starting this year, saving $1000/mo is realistic if not somewhat conservative. Although I'm a little unsure yet just where to save it all. I have a 401k and a self-directed IRA, but also taxable stocks/crypto. I'm in work housing, so when I retire I'll need a place to live. Sounds crazy right now but I still hope to retire before 60. I've heard rumor you can withdraw from an IRA early without the penalty in order to buy a house, but I also doubt I'll be buying one. So at least for now I'm stuck with capital gains. And since I'm single no kids I have ambitions to retire in Belize. No income tax, no capital gains and a slightly lower cost of living. I’m no expert, and maybe you already do this, but I’d probably start by maxing a Roth IRA. You can get access to some of that if you do reach your goal of retiring before 60. After that I’d throw the rest into your 401(k) assuming you have decent, low cost investment options in there. Get as much money growing and compounding fully tax free. If you believe in crypto, keep a sliver in there. I’m a Bitcoin believer. Or I think I am. I’ve invested money before, but have never had the balls to keep it in and keep contributing. So maybe I’m not a believer after all.

When I originally did this years ago it was a correct statement and it still pretty close the way I was thinking of what a payment is but when I say one extra mortgage payment I was including the entire payment including your escrow tax and insurance (which I guess varies by user). I am also thinking it may depend on interest rates as rates are very low right now. Ah, I see. I didn't include escrow money, so that very well could explain it. Either way, it's not a bad idea at all. I know when we were transitioning from the construction loan to our mortgage we asked about making bi-weekly payments on our mortgage and our bank didn't allow that (or at least not in a way that made a difference in the amortization).

That's what I did when I owned property. I ended up making one extra mortgage payment a year. One extra mortgage payment a year knocks something like 6.5 years off a 30 year loan. We always used our tax return for such purposes. Just threw an annual single extra mortgage payment into a payoff calculator and it showed the loan would be paid off 3 years and 5 months earlier. This is a 30 year loan.

To add...this past summer we took a family trip to see friends in North Carolina and then spent a few days on Myrtle Beach. We returned from a family trip to Disney on New Years Eve. My wife and I will be going to some beautiful Caribbean island for our 10 year anniversary in June. We aren't in a position where we can afford 3 trips like this in a 12 month plan going forward, but pulling off one of these trips a few years ago would have been tight (and probably would have required CC debt). I think a lot of people would be surprised by how much money that could have if they weren't using it all to pay for previous decisions they made.

I'm curious to hear more. How old and where are you currently at with retirement money? Debt freedom is SO liberating. We had a stretch where we were entirely debt free (minus a few thousand on my wife's student loans), with $400 monthly rent (brother in law's trailer on land that we'd eventually build on). It was AMAZING how quickly we were able to build up $50-60k for our building plans. We just broke the $100k gross income last year as a household, so it wasn't due top end incomes, either. Back to a mortgage and now an auto loan, so not quite like it was, but being so far removed from the days of CC balances and other consumer debt feels great. It's simply not an option to carry CC balances at this point.

The majority of people sharing info are going to be those doing well and/or those with an interest who've taken the time to learn best practices. It'd be like going on a running forum and coming away with the idea that the country is super healthy. Great analogy. I've spent zero seconds on a running forum in my life, and my "shape" would suggest that!!!!

One thing is certain…we have some financial mutants here. When I read about the average American family’s financial situation I feel like my family is doing very well for our future. Then I jump in these conversations on here or Reddit or elsewhere, and I’m often blown away by what others are doing and begin questioning just how well we actually are doing. I think, ultimately, it’s a signal of the importance of being aware of the future and involved in investing in it. It’s actually pretty simple to build wealth, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. People not doing it aren’t likely talking about the process online. Thanks to all sharing ideas and experiences in here. I really love learning more and more about this.

I'd agree. I was fortunate enough to pay off my student loans when we sold our first home. Still whittling away at my wife's final few thousand dollars (and I just found out she hasn't been making regular payments while the interest was frozen...AAAHHHHHHHH). We are down to our mortgage and recently financed a vehicle after a few fender benders took both of ours out. I'm not loving it, but we were able to get a good deal and privately secured a 0% interest loan. Times are so strange that our new (to us) ride is actually worth a few thousand more now than we paid for it back in September.

What kind of rate did you have on your loans? I'd always pay down the car loan asap as a depreciating asset. I'd have more flexibility with the student loans depending on the rate.

This is what I currently do not have that I wish I did. Should be able to start something up after fully settling into the new budget with the new home.

Yeah, I waver on the idea of paying off a mortgage early. We just built and are about 6 months into a 30 year mortgage at 2.75%. I absolutely plan on retiring within 25 years (hopefully 20; I'm 37). I won't retire with a mortgage, but right now it makes sense for us to put extra money into our retirement accounts to get them working for us. As a teacher, my job is about as safe as can be. My wife also has a very secure job, so that makes it easier for us to assume the "risk" of the mortgage. At some point, probably around age 50 when both kids will be out of HS, the plan will be to attack the mortgage. Obviously things can change, but that is the plan.

The easiest way IMO is to project out what your income needs would be. Most places I've seen say that you need 80-90% of your current income in retirement (based on whether you have a mortgage or want to travel, etc..) Then your income times 25 would be your retirement need to last approx 30 years. https://www.fool.com/retirement/how-much-do-i-need/ If you are X years from retirement, you can project your current 80-90% income by the typical 2-3% average inflation and use that as your target. Of course, there are many special circumstances that may factor in. Your retirement income needs might drop considerably from current if you have kids that move out of the house. Or pay off your mortgage. Or you may have kids still living with you... The idea is to project out your potential future annual income needs. Do a best case and worst case scenario and see what variations might be there. I did this for myself a year ago and feel much better about my plan to retire at 59.5. Plus, I know what my variables are and can work on them to mitigate the "worst case" scenarios (e.g. pay off my mortgage sooner). 80-90% of current income would allow for a pretty decent upgrade in lifestyle for most, I would think. You're probably paying less taxes at that point if you did a little planning. You are no longer forced to save a significant portion of your income at that point (probably 10-30% for many). There's a decent chance you'll no longer have a mortgage payment, at least through much of retirement. Right now my wife and I have nearly 50% of our income going to retirement/savings and our mortgage payment. Those are all expenses that will be gone at retirement with some planning.

I finished college around the same time (Dec. 2009), but was able to get a job in my career field immediately (partially because nobody wanted to get into education starting around this time). I didn't quite manage the 4-year plan, so I was about to turn 25 at graduation. Thankfully I had some forced savings through my pension at that time, but I didn't open a 403(b) until 2017, and that was mostly because my district began offering a $1k match to do so. I wish I hadn't waited until I was 32 years old to do this, but the second best time to start investing is right now, so I'm happy I finally got around to it. I've since opened a Roth IRA, as well and contribute a small amount to that each month. Between the 403(b) and Roth IRA I am contributing just over 8% of my gross to retirement accounts. With the 6.5% that goes to my pension and 6.5% matched by the district, I feel pretty solid about retirement, but you still always wonder. We had a pretty fantastic retirement thread on here a couple years back...I may have to search for that and revive it.

Shiba story seems to be 100% manipulation. Whales essentially removed a decimal on the list price, so people were buying $.000007 coins at $.00007. Woke up and it showed the coin at +400% and a few ours later, at correction, it was down 86%. Huge volume. Some people were taken because they didn't pay attention to decimal places. Surprised Coinbase allowed it to happen.