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  1. sengsational

    Medicare Claims - Very slow to display lately

    I haven't compared the posting intervals on UHC and medicare.gov lately, but I'll check it out. My earlier experience had UHC showing up after the CMS site.
  2. sengsational

    What "old school" things do you still do?

    GPS's are not good for that first decision because you're not moving yet. Even cloudy days work because you just need a little more light from one direction or another. A similar situation comes getting off an underground train in an unfamiliar city...the street names are unfamiliar, and if you...
  3. sengsational

    2024 Tax Software

    Right. Money might be fungible, but that doesn't mean we act like homo economicus. Saving a few bucks on tax software is fun. Blowing the dough on business class tickets is fun. That explains it: we do what's fun.
  4. sengsational

    2025 Investment Performance Thread

    +1.5% YTD on a 1/3 fixed portfolio.
  5. sengsational

    Opinion on International or Global Funds

    I have had a significant portion of international equities for decades. Almost universally disappointed. My approach, that I got from Marrotta's Freedom Investment idea, was to invest in countries that have the most economic freedom. Just like small stocks, the logic for why these countries...
  6. sengsational

    AI and the future

    I was annoyed in HS because my family could afford a TI calculator, but I was forced to use a slide rule. One of the thousands of times I was being an idiot. In college, I was in the last semester before they switched to terminal input. Still punch card images, but no more cards. I used a...
  7. sengsational

    AI and the future

    I've had about half of my requests for code provide code that didn't work. I was usually able to fix it, but that required as much time as me just writing it. Mine probably would have used traditional language features, rather than the newer ones, but I could understand it quicker. This was for...
  8. sengsational

    Buddy of mine keeps telling everyone Soc Sec breakeven age is 86?

    As I noted in my original contribution to this thread, I acknowledge that the risk is not the same if the rate used in the model is for equities, not TIPS. But spending down bonds, if you have enough of those, will change you from maintaining fixed asset allocation targets to variable. That's...
  9. sengsational

    What hobbies have you quit and how did it affect you?

    A friend and former mod and member on this board, once said about several things: "It was fun until it wasn't." Reading through many of the responses exposes the reality that, with age related muscle decline, you ain't gonna do physical stuff with as much ability, and that can easily tip the...
  10. sengsational

    Buddy of mine keeps telling everyone Soc Sec breakeven age is 86?

    This. I remember what blew my mind when I did the hard math (including time value of money, which is not as easy to comprehend, but is really the more accurate way), was that "By taking SS at 62, you can spend MORE in retirement and get LESS from Social Security." All you gotta do is make a...
  11. sengsational

    Newly retired at 51...

    Your first post indicates you already have a phD in early retirement. Now it's time to practice. You might not need to hire out the financial planning portion...there are a few basic principles and if you have questions about how those apply to your situation, there are a lot of wise folks here...
  12. sengsational

    What allocation would you use for Roth vs non-Roth?

    Whatever you think about Roth, you probably should think about Roth 401k. The limits differ, but it's just tax rate arbitrage. My thinking suggests that just based on demographics, which can be predicted pretty accurately, the proportion of retirees to workers will be getting less favorable...
  13. sengsational

    Partial Rule of 55 and other options?

    You might sharpen your pencil on the half million. Split out the taxes and work-related expenses (daily commute, etc). This is your monthly burn rate. Don't include savings or investments. This includes "out the door" things only, and doesn't include income tax, which you model separately. Now...
  14. sengsational

    Diphenhydramine (Benedryl) Habit; an After-Action Report.

    Twice a week, roughly, I awake and stay awake for an hour, roughly. I don't use drugs for it. I might listen to a talk or meditate, but I don't get up. The reason I don't take drugs is that most of them don't allow for all phases of sleep in the healthy proportions. Matthew Walker (recognized...
  15. sengsational

    RMD question

    I'm with Steve. Even though I don't take RMD's yet, I always "do my taxes" in December. You're able to do "what-if" scenarios and iterate on magnitudes while watching the marginal and overall tax rates. The difference in pre or post tax gains doesn't seem significant to me.
  16. sengsational

    Hobbies/skills that save money

    There's a lot of FUD that is introduced in order to get you to hire rather than DIY. A lot of the FUD is right out of the mouths of the sales people that would be out of a job if you did it yourself. The permits are so the nosey officials can raise your taxes and protect you from shoddy...
  17. sengsational

    Social Security strategy for dying brother and his surviving wife

    That's sad news about your brother. Sorry to hear it. I'm not expert, but I'm pretty sure there's no door that closes on the spouse should one of the couple pass. In other words, this stuff can wait.
  18. sengsational

    Hobbies/skills that save money

    I'm sure I've done hundreds of appliance fixes/installs, house maintenance/repair/upgrade, etc. It's not just the cost of the repair man visit that was saved, it was the cost of buying a new "something" when the repair man makes more on selling you a whole new unit. I did some "big stuff" on...
  19. sengsational

    Lose Weight. Another dream that is hard to do.

    Everyone calls time restricted eating "intermittent fasting." I've been narrowing my feeding window, as needed, for decades, and it has worked for me. I just went back to one meal a day. In earlier times, I didn't mess with macronutrient targets, and ate whatever and as much as I wanted. But as...
  20. sengsational

    Alternatives to major appartments rentals platforms (Airbnb/booking/expedia)

    I used furnishedfinder for a month long stay in the US. It wasn't as easy as AirBnB, but much cheaper. The utility of the site ends when you get connected to the person making the offer, so similar to CraigsList. From them on, you're on your own. Scammers post fictional places and try to get...
  21. sengsational

    What allocation would you use for Roth vs non-Roth?

    Oh, yeah, that deduction. Given I've had insurance, I've never got anywhere close to that for medical. I was thinking of the direct no taxes medical, like HSA, not the deductions with the big percentage before they kick-in.
  22. sengsational

    What allocation would you use for Roth vs non-Roth?

    You're right. It's the same if tax rates stay the same. I have a built in bias that rates will increase. One thing is absolutely true though about compounding, and it's why I was confused. I tell all the kids just starting out investigating "the first 100 years are the hardest"
  23. sengsational

    Whats the story behind your avatar choice?

    One might think that I like the grateful dead, and I did listen to them in the 70's, but it's more random than that. I don't really have one "passion", like being a traveler, pilot, engineer, musician, Trekkie, meditator, programmer, although I'm all of those, to some extent. But none define...
  24. sengsational

    What allocation would you use for Roth vs non-Roth?

    Can you use t401k or tIRA tax free for medical? I never heard of that.
  25. sengsational

    Quit the world at 34 and now "broken" and refuse to go back

    Living on a boat is comparativly harder than what I do. I wanted harder, but married a non-adventuresome person and ended up on a cul-de-sac. The opening post about trying to live your enjoyment in 2 weeks of annual vacation struck home. There's another thread about what if you could give up...
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