Yes, but, as any "handyman" knows, the "satisfaction of doing it yourself" is a true joie de vivre, always sometimes worth the extra pain and expense. I would just go with the poltergeist theory. This lets you completely off the hook as you courageously battled the demons of the underworld. Perhaps worthy of another sequel to "The Amityville Horror" series.
My experience: Around 2014 or so, a coworker had a tree fall on house and damage the siding, at the time, it was around $4-5K in damage. His home insurance covered it. Then they dropped him. Then he had trouble finding another policy at non-inflated prices. So, I took a "note-to-self": Do not put in a claim unless you really cannot afford it, because, if, you do, I think you end up paying for it in the future year adjustments (because now you have been "marked" as "one of those people": fairly or unfairly - that is how it works). In 2020, home insurance prices were rocketing up, partly due to the financial effects of covid relief and who knows what else. My renewal was going to go up ~ 20% (with, at the time, a 1K deductible). Based on what I had learned from others, I knew I would not put in a claim unless I really could not afford it. At that point in time, I was lucky enough to be able to absorb a much bigger loss than 1K, so I raised my deductble to 25K. My premuim dropped 38% that year from what it would have been, and of course, I have reaped the benefits of the higher deductible/lower premium since. So, not everyone can afford a "big" loss - it is all relative to what their situation is. But, I am clearly in the camp of "don't buy lots of insurance for something you can pay for yourself."
I logged into treasury direct (with id.me) yesterday (9/13) - no problems. I had created my id.me account a couple weeks ago. It was fairly easy - because my credit is "locked down", I could not use the automatic authentication, but had to have the interview. I figured I would have to wait and wait for the interview, but only waited about a minute. Same for my wife. So, now I can access, treasury direct, social security and the IRS from id.me. I think perhaps the largest advantage to id.me/IRS is to be able to obtain the IRS filing PIN so no one else can file a tax return in my name. I had waited this long because I too did not want to hand over my personal info to a company. But, seriously, at this point, I wonder if there is anyone left in the world who could not get my personal data. I was hit by the OPM hack back in 2015 or so - I have figured that everyone has my data since then. As far as I know, no one has attacked me - perhaps it pays to be boring.
I am not buying now but had also considered the Roth cashout to fund a new house - but the HELOC is a great idea I had not considered. When the time comes I will definitely look into into this - thanx. I have also considered an "asset based mortgage" as others have mentioned.
I used H&R Block exclusively for many years. But, a couple years ago, I found that there is an ongoing bug in it: the software did not allow HSA catch-up-contribution for over age 50 if you are retired and do not have a W2. I found a way to do a work-around so that my tax liability and credits would equal out, but, found it odd that HR Block has been aware of this issue for years and, to my knowledge, has taken no action to fix it. (Upon searching, I found numerous posts by others describing this issue going back years). I informed them about it in multiple ways - they wanted ME to write everything up in detail - essentially, to do their job (Sure, I'm going to pay for software and then debug it for free...). So, I just left and went to Turbotax. It left a sour taste in that, I wonder what other bugs they are aware of but do not fix...
Mutual funds are just easier on my brain. So, if a mutual fund is low cost I would rather use it in traditional and roth accounts. But, I think the tax advantages of ETFs in taxable accounts are worth the annoyance of trading them. So, almost all my funds in taxable are ETFs, the exception being some mutual funds that were from long ago, have some large capital gains, and are not eligible to be convertible to ETFs.
"It’s okay to follow the news, but we need to recognize that writers—especially headline writers—tend to have a bias. To grab readers’ attention, they need to make statements that sound like big news. So always ask, what’s the denominator?" I don't much watch the evening news anymore, mostly because of this reason. Whenever there is a "storm" in the east US, where I am, inevitably the commentator will start the news with something like "Breaking news, monster storm in the northeast US, 100 million people at risk". I am one of those people - I end up getting 7 drops of rain and a breeze that wouldn't stop a mosquito. Hmmmm... Kind of dulls the senses after a while.
I used to work fairly closely with someone with someone for years. We each had wildly different opinions on just about every subject. Partly because of this, I think we annoyed the heck out of each other. And yet, over time, because this person always had such a different perspective on every issue we had to deal with, I came to value his opinion. So much so that even when I was working on something that he had no involvement in, I would often solicit his opinion because, while I would not always agree with it, I knew it would be given from a perspective that I did not have, indeed, from a perspective that I could not have. If you are a boss, you would want to make sure there is at always least one of these people in the room when you are making an important decision. As has been said before in different ways, if there are 5 people in a room responsible for making a decision and they all agree, 4 of them are redundant.
You are perceptive. To an engineer, there is always a way to make something better. So, left to an engineer only, a project will never get done since it is always undergoing improvement. We also like things to be yes or no, black or white, 0 or 1. Sometimes it takes us a long time to realize that while many things can be quantified that way - people can not.
"I put DIY in the same category as spreadsheets and budgets – stay as far away as possible."You're cracking me up!!!Some of us (perhaps engineers mostly?, it seems) relax by doing spreadsheets and budgets !
Comments
Yes, but, as any "handyman" knows, the "satisfaction of doing it yourself" is a true joie de vivre,
alwayssometimes worth the extra pain and expense. I would just go with the poltergeist theory. This lets you completely off the hook as you courageously battled the demons of the underworld. Perhaps worthy of another sequel to "The Amityville Horror" series.Post: Laundered
Link to comment from October 3, 2026
My experience: Around 2014 or so, a coworker had a tree fall on house and damage the siding, at the time, it was around $4-5K in damage. His home insurance covered it. Then they dropped him. Then he had trouble finding another policy at non-inflated prices. So, I took a "note-to-self": Do not put in a claim unless you really cannot afford it, because, if, you do, I think you end up paying for it in the future year adjustments (because now you have been "marked" as "one of those people": fairly or unfairly - that is how it works). In 2020, home insurance prices were rocketing up, partly due to the financial effects of covid relief and who knows what else. My renewal was going to go up ~ 20% (with, at the time, a 1K deductible). Based on what I had learned from others, I knew I would not put in a claim unless I really could not afford it. At that point in time, I was lucky enough to be able to absorb a much bigger loss than 1K, so I raised my deductble to 25K. My premuim dropped 38% that year from what it would have been, and of course, I have reaped the benefits of the higher deductible/lower premium since. So, not everyone can afford a "big" loss - it is all relative to what their situation is. But, I am clearly in the camp of "don't buy lots of insurance for something you can pay for yourself."
Post: Financial Lessons
Link to comment from September 28, 2026
I logged into treasury direct (with id.me) yesterday (9/13) - no problems. I had created my id.me account a couple weeks ago. It was fairly easy - because my credit is "locked down", I could not use the automatic authentication, but had to have the interview. I figured I would have to wait and wait for the interview, but only waited about a minute. Same for my wife. So, now I can access, treasury direct, social security and the IRS from id.me. I think perhaps the largest advantage to id.me/IRS is to be able to obtain the IRS filing PIN so no one else can file a tax return in my name. I had waited this long because I too did not want to hand over my personal info to a company. But, seriously, at this point, I wonder if there is anyone left in the world who could not get my personal data. I was hit by the OPM hack back in 2015 or so - I have figured that everyone has my data since then. As far as I know, no one has attacked me - perhaps it pays to be boring.
Post: What to do about the new ID.me login requirement at TreasuryDirect
Link to comment from September 14, 2026
I am not buying now but had also considered the Roth cashout to fund a new house - but the HELOC is a great idea I had not considered. When the time comes I will definitely look into into this - thanx. I have also considered an "asset based mortgage" as others have mentioned.
Post: Thinking of a possible reason to tap Roth earlier then planned
Link to comment from July 8, 2026
I used H&R Block exclusively for many years. But, a couple years ago, I found that there is an ongoing bug in it: the software did not allow HSA catch-up-contribution for over age 50 if you are retired and do not have a W2. I found a way to do a work-around so that my tax liability and credits would equal out, but, found it odd that HR Block has been aware of this issue for years and, to my knowledge, has taken no action to fix it. (Upon searching, I found numerous posts by others describing this issue going back years). I informed them about it in multiple ways - they wanted ME to write everything up in detail - essentially, to do their job (Sure, I'm going to pay for software and then debug it for free...). So, I just left and went to Turbotax. It left a sour taste in that, I wonder what other bugs they are aware of but do not fix...
Post: Heads-up for TurboTax Desktop Users (& 2025 Tax Planning)
Link to comment from October 24, 2025
Mutual funds are just easier on my brain. So, if a mutual fund is low cost I would rather use it in traditional and roth accounts. But, I think the tax advantages of ETFs in taxable accounts are worth the annoyance of trading them. So, almost all my funds in taxable are ETFs, the exception being some mutual funds that were from long ago, have some large capital gains, and are not eligible to be convertible to ETFs.
Post: Mutual Funds Vs. ETFs Which do you prefer and Why?
Link to comment from October 23, 2025
"It’s okay to follow the news, but we need to recognize that writers—especially headline writers—tend to have a bias. To grab readers’ attention, they need to make statements that sound like big news. So always ask, what’s the denominator?" I don't much watch the evening news anymore, mostly because of this reason. Whenever there is a "storm" in the east US, where I am, inevitably the commentator will start the news with something like "Breaking news, monster storm in the northeast US, 100 million people at risk". I am one of those people - I end up getting 7 drops of rain and a breeze that wouldn't stop a mosquito. Hmmmm... Kind of dulls the senses after a while.
Post: How Not To Invest
Link to comment from October 11, 2025
I used to work fairly closely with someone with someone for years. We each had wildly different opinions on just about every subject. Partly because of this, I think we annoyed the heck out of each other. And yet, over time, because this person always had such a different perspective on every issue we had to deal with, I came to value his opinion. So much so that even when I was working on something that he had no involvement in, I would often solicit his opinion because, while I would not always agree with it, I knew it would be given from a perspective that I did not have, indeed, from a perspective that I could not have. If you are a boss, you would want to make sure there is at always least one of these people in the room when you are making an important decision. As has been said before in different ways, if there are 5 people in a room responsible for making a decision and they all agree, 4 of them are redundant.
Post: Under Pressure
Link to comment from July 19, 2025
You are perceptive. To an engineer, there is always a way to make something better. So, left to an engineer only, a project will never get done since it is always undergoing improvement. We also like things to be yes or no, black or white, 0 or 1. Sometimes it takes us a long time to realize that while many things can be quantified that way - people can not.
Post: DIY
Link to comment from July 18, 2025
"I put DIY in the same category as spreadsheets and budgets – stay as far away as possible." You're cracking me up!!! Some of us (perhaps engineers mostly?, it seems) relax by doing spreadsheets and budgets !
Post: DIY
Link to comment from July 18, 2025