David J. Kupstas

Comments:

• We had this really awesome car consignment shop in our town called CarLotz. There was no pressure. It was just an outlet for average Joes to sell their cars. In 2019, we bought a 2015 RAV4 at one of their locations, then a few months later a 2004 Tundra at the other local store. It was great. Sadly, CarLotz is no more. Two years ago, my neighbor sold us a '99 Camry for a song. I know one day I will have to go back to a dealership. I hope to hold out as long as possible. We do have CarMax nearby, but I have found them to be more expensive than the haggle places. I have never gotten the how much do you want to pay a month question, but I have heard of some who have.

  Post: Car Quest

  Link to comment from August 3, 2024

• I'm sorry I missed this when it first came out. Wow. I join the hundreds of others here in saluting you for your work here as well as at the Wall Street Journal where I first discovered you so many years ago preaching common sense (which isn't really all that common). I pray for successful treatment so that you may live out your final months or years in relative comfort and get to enjoy all those bucket-list items.

  Post: The C Word

  Link to comment from June 22, 2024

• Good stuff. I was a longtime reader of Kiplinger's. However, I didn't get my gift subscription until 1997, so I missed you on the cover. (But if I did have that issue, it'd be in my attic.) The work you're doing sounds rewarding. At some point, I will move on from my paid gig and will look for a way to serve others. That kind of volunteer work could be right up my alley.

  Post: Many Unhappy Returns

  Link to comment from June 19, 2024

• I am an actuary, although not in life insurance or annuities. I've always felt that if I didn't understand how the product worked, I didn't want it. Buy your investments and your insurance separately. When you combine them, it seems like that gives the insurer an opportunity to pack in more fees. That said, we got a fairly nice death benefit from an annuity my dad had. However, I can't say whether the value we received was better than if he had bought life insurance and investments separately. I assume he was worse off.

  Post: Your Results May Vary

  Link to comment from June 12, 2024

• I wonder if you got to speak with an actual person from Verizon. Every time I've dealt with them, which is infrequent, I have to type my questions into a chatbot.

  Post: Cutting the Cord

  Link to comment from May 1, 2024

• I have evolved over the years on tips. I used to do 15% plus $1.00. And I would do the math. Now I'm up to 20% plus. We often go to inexpensive places where the difference between an average tip and a good tip is $1.00. That dollar means nothing to me, but if everyone did that, the workers would get a lot more. Still, I admit for the higher bills it is harder to want to tip "appropriately." I'm like Mr. Gartland in that I get my mind set on the menu price. As mytimetotravel asks, I wonder why the standard percentage has risen from 15% to 20%. It should remain the same as the prices go up. As for the comments about our offsetting the employer wage costs, I assume if they paid the servers more, the price of the food would go up, so it all comes out in the wash.

  Post: Making Everyone Happy

  Link to comment from April 22, 2024

• Penny wise, pound foolish.

  Post: Frugal but Foolish

  Link to comment from April 22, 2024

• This article has a number of dimensions. The first thing I was going to say was often I go to these historic homes of people that were wealthy 100 to 150 years ago and think I would never want to live there. The places seemed so primitive. Then, I got to the later part of your article. I am reminded of how when I watch old music videos (1980s and 1990s) and people are out having fun, they are doing it without mobile devices. Then I think of how nice the good old days were, however you define "good" and "old."

  Post: Billionaire Next Door

  Link to comment from April 3, 2024

• My new hobby is online sports wagering. I have no inside knowledge about sports. I just do enough to take advantage of the promotions they offer, which means only small bets. I have wondered what it would take to become a professional bettor. What I'm reading here is that it is a lot of work and you have to go digging for inside scoop. I take it there's no way to just exploit numerical patterns. My impression has always been that the betting markets are "efficient," like the stock market, so over the long term I am likely to lose money once I am above the deals these sites offer. I'd love to watch a pro in action to see how they do it.

  Post: Against the Odds

  Link to comment from April 3, 2024

• For me, it was Members Only jackets. EVERYONE had a Members Only jacket. I did not. Finally, when I was 22 or so, I was at Penney's looking at jackets. I struggled with whether to buy my first ever Members Only or another kind. Both were tan. Both seemed like fine jackets. After much deliberation, I finally went with the other jacket. I said, if I wasn't cool enough to have a Members Only back then, I'm not cool enough now. I still have that tan jacket 30+ years later and wore it to work today.

  Post: Cool Has a Cost

  Link to comment from March 20, 2024