Recent content by GravitySucks

That sounds like a very reasonably safe plan. I have a 5 year bond ladder (half treasuries/ TIPS, half corporates) that covers all planned spending and years 5 to 10 ladder of mostly TIPS that would cover austerity spending. I also have some bond funds that I plan to use for rebalancing into...

Turned out to be a minor mistake. Certainly would have been better off selling the one quarter at a time instead of the full years expenses. C’est la vie

Other than dividends, how should a company return capital? I like dividends better than stock buy backs. Dividends are steady or if not draw a good amount of attention. Buybacks are timed randomly. Are they buying back when you would be buying more? Also, I’m still not convinced that buybacks...

I swore when I turned 55 and every time I’ve done so since to never climb on the roof again.

I gave DD the money and filled out the tax form. I have no idea why some say this is a difficult thing to do. Could be an issue if I win the Power Ball and leave a taxable estate later though. Pleasantly surprised that she has given me about what the mortgage would have been every month since...

Zigged and Zagged may have been the wrong terms, but 08 and ‘20 when equites tanked treasuries did okay and that is what I’m hoping FUAMX does in the future. Bond suck return wise just like spinach, broccoli, and green beans suck taste wise

IEF -Intermediate treasury fund- zigged when S&P zagged in most cases. I still have an intermediate treasury fund that I’m planning to use for rebalancing purposes. Bonds may suck compared to equities on returns but they do buy sleep at night and keep me from doing stupid things.

Your non-discretionary food budget should be $180 per person a year. That’s 25 lbs of rice and 5 lbs of beans each month at 50 cents a pound each. Anything else is just extravagance! Discretionary or not is always hard to categorize. In my case had a new Camry level of car budgeted every 5...

I started with a fairly lean fire. Five years in the portfolio was up substantially so I gave myself a raise. Then Covid and some health issues hit and I didn’t spend that raise so at ten years in I had an even bigger stash so I’m giving myself another raise. I’m gifting more to my daughters...

I’m sure it will improve. I’m also sure it will be used to push more time and aggravation to the customer.

NY would be about $800 for a couple withdrawing $60k from and IRA/pesion/etc. plus $0 on any SS

Someone once said: Buy stocks to get rich; Buy bonds to stay rich.

On the plus side I bought a boneless pork shoulder for $1.98 a lb at Aldi. Same price as 2019. How much bleach are you folks using? I buy a quart once a year. Will I ever recover? May have to go back to work!

On the impressive side- We moved the phone to the new company and not one human other than the customer interacted with the process. So the back end automation worked very well. That was my reason to go to w*rk every day.

I sort of started out with a bucket approach. It’s a matter of perspective. I have up to 6 months of cash then there’s bonds maturing every six months or so. So I have a 3 year bond 2 year bond and 8 year bond coming due this year. Count it as a cash like bucket? Doesn’t really matter. I...