What are you thinking about?

[Heimdallr]

1 hour ago, Tugboat said:

What's the golden ratio to make it work?

You typically need about a 1:2 ice to brewing water ratio to chill the coffee, which means you need to brew the coffee about 50% stronger than normal to balance out after dilution. Once the ice melts you'll end up with a proper strength, chilled coffee.

[Tugboat]

26 minutes ago, Heimdallr said:

You typically need about a 1:2 ice to brewing water ratio to chill the coffee, which means you need to brew the coffee about 50% stronger than normal to balance out after dilution. Once the ice melts you'll end up with a proper strength, chilled coffee.

Hmmm...i've always kinda figured the ratio would have to go the other way.  'cause i cheat and just use cold brewed coffee from an can if i'm making iced coffee at home.  But go with a heavier ice ratio than that in a travel mug and it's usually half melted by the time i get around to finishing it.

 

I also really don't have the patience to brew coffee any stronger than i normally do, when i actually do it at all.  lol.  Like i'm always aiming for as strong as i can get it...while still making breakfast.

[MWil23]

@ramssuperbowl99 my employer (Federal government) offers a family HSA plan. I know you love this and I’m probably going to use it.

They give me $1,800 a month into it. Walk me through it from an insurance standpoint if you have the time  

I know I can max it out and use it as a retirement vehicle too but also just want to ensure it’s a good fit for my family potential medical needs too.

Thanks in advance!

[Forge]

5 hours ago, Tugboat said:

've been thinking it's round abouts time to update my **** around laptop.  My old one is getting super old and the chipset isn't even compatible with Windows 11 for some reason so lol.  Was thinking that's probably gonna be a Christmas/Birthday thing for me this year.  Time has come.  Even though i barely use it, it's nice to have.

 

My "getting **** done" laptop is a ******* brick though.  It owns.  I think it's like 7lbs+ and made of metal or something.  Lotta people use "gaming laptops" but they all feel so cheap and flimsy to me.  Especially the keyboards.

 

 

Defs starting to look at some nice thin little beauties for that other gig though.  Probably just end up getting some Dell XPS because Dell's always been kinda good to me and i usually like the way their keyboards and trackpads feel.

I usually get a new laptop every two years or so. Usually between 2-3 years is the sweet spot. 

For whatever reason, I have been absolutely brutal on the keyboard of laptops I've had in the past (Asus Zenbook and Acer spin). Typing on them because an exercise in futility as the keys just stop responding or in the case of the acer, they become too responsive. I'll lightly tap one letter and it'll cause it to type out the letter 4 times or something. 

In between I had another laptop (Eluktronics) where the keys just started to fall off. 

I bought a Zephyrus 14 and I will say that it feels sturdy as hell and they keyboard is nice. Feels well constructed. 

[Forge]

Would you rather add a 2% contribution to an ESPP or a 401K? Or does it not really matter? 

[ramssuperbowl99]

20 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

@ramssuperbowl99 my employer (Federal government) offers a family HSA plan. I know you love this and I’m probably going to use it.

They give me $1,800 a month into it. Walk me through it from an insurance standpoint if you have the time  

I know I can max it out and use it as a retirement vehicle too but also just want to ensure it’s a good fit for my family potential medical needs too.

Thanks in advance!

Okay, so if your employer has opened the account, I'm just gonna assume you're eligible and skip all that stuff. There are requirements based on deductibles and OOP maxes that change a little every year, but most out of the box insurance is garbage so it qualifies.

If you qualify, there are 2 ways to use an HSA:

1. Use it like a checking account for health expenses.
   
   So if you have a qualified health expense, you can use the HSA to pay for it directly (if they give you a debit card) or you can pay for it yourself, then withdraw the money. This is still a a great deal because you're saving not only the income tax, but since it's your employer, it also removes the SSA tax.
    
2. Use it like a retirement account.
   
   In this case, you invest the money in the HSA and when health expenses come up, pay for them like normal but save the receipts. You're going to do the same thing at the end of option 1, where a health expense qualifies you for a tax free withdrawal, the difference is you're going to delay taking the money out until retirement and invest the money in the meantime.

To do this practically, I bought a flash drive and scanner. Every time I get a health bill and receipt, I scan and file it so I have proof of the expenses when it comes time to make withdrawal.

In terms of actually investing it, there's a decent chance the HSA account your employer sets you up with has terrible investing fees and options. If so, you should be able to open up an account a different spot (I use Fidelity) and request a transfer of the HSA funds to the good version to invest in.

4 minutes ago, Forge said:

Would you rather add a 2% contribution to an ESPP or a 401K? Or does it not really matter?

Both.

If you increase the ESPP contribution and sell the second it vests, you should be able to use the previous ESPP earnings to float you to the next one, and still be able to increase the 401k.

Edited September 20, 2023 by ramssuperbowl99

[Forge]

On 9/2/2023 at 4:57 PM, Forge said:

I'm in an interesting predicament employment wise. 

I think most know that I'm an underwriter. Recently, a job opportunity came up within my company for a role in the special investigations team. I'm pretty sure that job is mine if I want it. Its a job that involves a ton of research and the like. Lots of solo time. I think I'd enjoy it quite a bit. Minimal stress, think I'd be good at it, very busy work, but also not driven by production as is. I believe they clearly would like to move me into the role. 

Its a very small group in a division that is mandated by the DOJ, so frankly, job security is pretty damn good even if my company had a downswing or something. Especially given that most of them are heading toward retirement time (lots of 20-30 year vets in that division). 

But, salary wise its lateral and I'd wager I take a loss on the bonus end, so in total, I'd say may lose money. I really like money, guys. Like, a lot. 

 

So I applied for the role...only for the President of Underwriting operations call me after I applied and tell me that while it wasn't public knowledge and asked that I not tell anyone, my boss' boss was taking another role in the company. Which means that one of the underwriting managers would likely take that role and they need a new underwriting manager. He told me that he couldn't guarantee me anything, but that my name is out there and he wanted me "to have all the information I may not know" before making a decision. 

This job undoubtedly comes with a raise and a larger bonus, I have no doubt. If I had to guess, I'd wager a 25-30% increase in pay just based on previous discussions...so it's big.  But I'd say that 20% of that job I would loathe, while 80% of that job I'd like (I do cover for management during the year when they have company management meetings, which typically lasts a week where all managers are not available for work stuff, so i know that there is some stuff I enjoy). 

Unfortunately, the timeline doesn't match up (SIU will likely make me an offer in 2 weeks, I believe and the management job may take 3 months to even post), and of course, I may not get the job. SIU gives me a new wrinkle in the resume in terms of skillset that I can advertise, but management puts me in a higher bucket financially when putting my resume out there. 

 

So I'm kind of just bouncing back and forth having no idea what the hell way I'm going to go there. 

Update...was offered the job that was the lateral move (and it's fully lateral - no changes to anything in my employment or income, which is good...was afraid my bonus would take a hit). I was able to negotiate more pto days, but I really just wanted to feel like I won something...I have 40 pto days a year, I legit have no idea what to do with all that. 

Ultimately, it came down to work stress levels. Some may know that my son presents especially high levels of difficulty. While the management gig would have been nice and I would have liked to make that extra money, the fact is that it 100% would have come with some degree of higher stress...especially just dealing with people (lateral job is a purely investigative role with no real internal or external customer facing). I'm pretty sure the management gig would have been mine, and I would have looooooooooved the bigger check and bonus, but the idea of despising 15-20% of my job and potentially "bringing that home" with my son was just ultimately not something that works for me. I'd rather just clock in / clock out and not have to talk to anyone for weeks on end. 

[Forge]

2 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

 

Both.

If you increase the ESPP contribution and sell the second it vests, you should be able to use the previous ESPP earnings to float you to the next one, and still be able to increase the 401k.

Never even thought of that. 

Right now I have 7% contribution to 401k (employer match 6%) + 1% espp (Only over the last 2 years or so). Was thinking of kicking that up to 3% for the next buy. Definitely yields some positive results. 

Curious - if you sell the contribution after it vests but are putting it into retirement, does that delay tax ramifications? I've never sold the ESPP before. 

[MWil23]

@ramssuperbowl99 thanks! I’ll circle back when it comes time to utilize the investment portion. I’m likely not going to be in a position to “max it out” for 5+ years or let’s be honest, when all kids are grown, but I can probably play the $2,000 game annually for 10+ years and get more than I would have, worst coming to worse buying a hot tub with HSA money due to chronic joint pain. Right?

[ramssuperbowl99]

Just now, Forge said:

Never even thought of that. 

Right now I have 7% contribution to 401k (employer match 6%) + 1% espp (Only over the last 2 years or so). Was thinking of kicking that up to 3% for the next buy. Definitely yields some positive results. 

Curious - if you sell the contribution after it vests but are putting it into retirement, does that delay tax ramifications? I've never sold the ESPP before. 

The tax ramifications on ESPP are irritatingly complicated, because the discount part can be treated as income and the profit part is separate, plus the long term/short term capital gains tax decision.

If you sell within a year of vest, the discount you get on the stock is applied as income on your taxes (your employer should do this automatically if you do sell), and the profit on the stock beyond that is taxed at short term capital gains rate.

So to put some numbers to it, if FF shares are worth $100 and you get a discount to $85, but by the time you sell FF is worth $110, you'd owe income taxes on the $15/share discount and short term capital gains on the $10 profit.

 

But, if you're ultimately using that to throw extra money in a pre-tax 401k you're coming out ahead. It's basically the extra principle plus 85%-ish of the profits in a tax free account, all in exchange for you offsetting the cost to fund the ESPP for 6 months.

[Tugboat]

9 minutes ago, Forge said:

I usually get a new laptop every two years or so. Usually between 2-3 years is the sweet spot. 

For whatever reason, I have been absolutely brutal on the keyboard of laptops I've had in the past (Asus Zenbook and Acer spin). Typing on them because an exercise in futility as the keys just stop responding or in the case of the acer, they become too responsive. I'll lightly tap one letter and it'll cause it to type out the letter 4 times or something. 

In between I had another laptop (Eluktronics) where the keys just started to fall off. 

I bought a Zephyrus 14 and I will say that it feels sturdy as hell and they keyboard is nice. Feels well constructed. 

I wanna be careful if i do end up going the laptop route, which i think ultimately i probably will...to not skimp as much as i did with my last goof off portable laptop.  I thought the touch screen was gonna be a thing i'd use for that, but it ends up being so unwieldy in that configuration i barely used it that way.  Just wished i had a tablet in those few instances.  But it was also kinda crap as a computer.  Fine for most things, but clearly lacking ooomph even just for basic web scrolling, movie streaming and stuff.

 

So i'll definitely go higher end.  Smolness and lightness are still pretty paramount though.  So i'm not sure any of the gaming units is going to fit the bill.

 

Lot to ask for a tiny lightweight compact little unit that also feels real solid and durable, especially with the keyboard and track pad.  But ehhh...i've got time.  I can be picky.

[ramssuperbowl99]

10 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

@ramssuperbowl99 thanks! I’ll circle back when it comes time to utilize the investment portion. I’m likely not going to be in a position to “max it out” for 5+ years or let’s be honest, when all kids are grown, but I can probably play the $2,000 game annually for 10+ years and get more than I would have, worst coming to worse buying a hot tub with HSA money due to chronic joint pain. Right?

Yeah the single biggest thing is getting the account date open and tracking receipts, because even if you have zero dollars in it now, those expenses count the second the account is open.

Even without a massive balance, you could set a transfer up to a preferred HSA custodian once you get a little bit in there. Fidelity has a great HSA, no fees or minimums on their indexed funds, and I'm sure there are others too. I set it up for a complete transfer out of me employer's HSA to my main one twice a year, and then lump purchase shares.

[KManX89]

12 hours ago, Tugboat said:

 

I generally agree with thinking this is insane.  But as a resident of a country where it's legal for 18 year olds to buy and smoke it recreationally...i've seen more than a few very clearly impaired drivers roll up to dispensaries that make me question the whole thing.  Until i remember...these people would be driving while high either way.  So...**** it.

And not to mention alcohol doesn't impair driving skills (moreso even)? It actually results in poisoning deaths, too, but yet that's legal virtually everywhere, weed not so much.

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by KManX89

[Ty21]

The shop in town that sells clothing for geese is going out of business. It’s always the ones you least expect. 

[Tugboat]

7 hours ago, Ty21 said:

The shop in town that sells clothing for geese is going out of business. It’s always the ones you least expect. 

Meanwhile, the company that sells clothing made out of Geese seems to be doing pretty darn well for itself.

 

It's insanity, with some of them Canada Goose jackets pushing well north of $2000 bucks.  So i guess you sell like a dozen of them to those sucker tourists and you're made.