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Although the latest CPI shows continued elevated insurance inflation, my personal auto insurance costs just deflated. Six months ago, I figured I’d sign up for one of those driver safety monitoring programs that my insurer keeps hounding me about, giving up a little privacy for a chance at...

ClosetGamer posted - 18 yrs 2 yrs 2 yrs 1 yr ... Yes, compounding is amazing, particularly if you also have growing income but avoid lifestyle creep. __________________ I just finished reviewing Quicken and these are almost identical to my numbers (except my first took 16 years, just portfolio...

I’m really surprised by the posts. I’ve tracked this on quicken for years and we spent around $800 per month for 2 adults and 1 dog down here in south Florida, pre COVID. This included all toiletries and household products along with food, but excludes dining out. The past 6 months, we’ve...

Thanks for sharing the article, but the comments concerning recency bias are definitely valid. As others have noted, Big ERN over at his site has done far more extensive analysis over a larger time frame and with differing portfolio compositions. Based on his work, I’m planning on keeping my...

I’ve used Brave private browsing for this with good results - https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017840332-What-is-a-Private-Window

I switched over to the subscription service in 2018. There are always deals to be found that makes the annual rate palatable. In fact, I just bought q quicken deluxe renewal on Newegg fro $32 after sale price and a $4 instant coupon. I can live with that.

I just found a pair of Aldi and a Walmart grocery shopping receipts in the back of a drawer from Feb 17, 2020. I usually go to Aldi first and then to Walmart for whatever Aldi doesn’t have. They both contain many of the same food staple items that I continue to buy now and I have to say it’s...

Eight years ago, my neighbor was an early adopter of an electric lawnmower. It was under powered, small blade sized, and needed 3 charges just to complete a mow of his yard. I stuck with my gas mower and all the downsides, like tearing my arm off the darn chord, as well as maintenance and...

I think much of the homeowners increase in the last few years was driven primarily by the insane housing price appreciation. I guess they would have a real hard time justifying those increases now with valuations dipping in most areas. You’re lucky on your car insurance. We’ve seen rates spike...

I just received our homeowners insurance renewal package, which includes windstorm coverage here in South Florida) and was dreading opening it for fear of further double digit increases. Much to my surprise, I’ve finally gotten a taste of deflation, with the premium actually decreasing $4 from...

I just received my annual auto insurance renewal down here in South Florida. It practically DOUBLED from $1596 per year to $2998. Unreal considering we had no claims, accidents or changes. My “personal” cpi is definitely looking far higher than what is reflected in the national numbers. Time to...

That’s what I’m doing. The only tweak for me is that I’m keeping the dividend reinvestment on for certain depressed stocks that I like (Why not acquire more shares on sale). Otherwise, all my investment withdrawals come from taxable dividend income. Tax deferred sources like 401ks and iras are...

Prices are starting to kick up again at my favorite Aldi’s. I buy their brand of wine (winking owl) to use as a cheap cooking wine. Pre pandemic it was $1.99. It went to 2.99 last year. Today, I needed a bottle of Chardonnay for a lemon butter sauce and it’s now $3.49. I also noticed assorted...

Lots of good picks here but I don’t think anyone has mentioned John Frankenheimer’s “The Train” yet. Outstanding acting by Burt Lancaster and non cgi, authentic WW2 European steam engines. Definitely makes my top 10 list.

We paid both kids college expenses, enabling them to get a debt free start. We also transferred over fully funded UGMA accounts, totaling around $50k each shortly after graduation. Now, one is engaged and we’re thinking about giving a gift of $20- $30k early next year before the ceremony. We...

We’re down here in Southeast Florida with a 1994 built home and ours went up from $4600 to $6400 with no claims ever. We were told it’s the replacement costs that drove the increases due to soaring home values down here. At this annual insurance rate plus the windstorm and other deductibles...

Congrats! I’m starting my second month of “detox”, having retired on 12/31/2022, and it is fabulous! In fact, I wish I did this sooner. I’m finally past the point of thinking about staff meetings, projects, briefings, and other work related issues, and am enjoying life. That took about 3...

Merrill’s preferred deposit investment is now at 4.24%. Also, if you deposit certain amounts by 5/26, you can get as much as $1000 extra (I believe you get 1k if you deposit 250k and lesser payments for lower deposits). Your initially investment must be $100k, but you can draw down afterwards...

Yes, it’s the full premier version. For some strange reason, Amazon mislabeled the disk as deluxe and sent it to me. I really don’t need any of the premier features. When my new subscription date hits in April 2024, I plan on downgrading back to Deluxe.

Technically, yes. That is the official end of my pay period. But in actuality, i went out for drinks with a group of friends and celebrated most of the day. It feels great not to do all the normal work things I would do today, which would have been my first day back after having off for New...

This didn’t go as smoothly for me. Thanks to this thread, I purchased the marked down deluxe program. However, when the disk arrived, it was a premier, even though the Amazon sticker attached to the case labeled it as deluxe. I checked my Amazon account and confirmed that they only charged me...

I’m 56 and my last day is next Friday. I totally get where you’re coming from, having these same feelings. I still get pangs of these thoughts, however, as I get closer to my date, they seem to be slipping away and are getting overwhelmed by my giddiness at what’s ahead and how blessed we are...

Yes, inflation may still be excessively high at 7.1%, but the key takeaway is the precipitous downward trend, which indicates that we have passed peak inflation and may see 3-4% cpi by the end of 2023 if the trend continues. Of course, a lot can happen to deflect that trend, but this is...

These guys are predicting a drop to approximately 6.9%/7% for the CPI. Let’s see if they get it right

Good choice. I just put my papers in and did the same with my pension. Unlike yours, my wife is the same age, but is much healthier than me and I wouldn’t want to see her have any possible decrease in guaranteed income if I predecease her.