Dwayne 73

Comments:

• Don't worry if you come across as a bit harsh. A lot of times the company provided enough information in printed materials that us employees should have known to ask more questions. At age 55, I really didn't understand how Medicare worked. I spent about 6 months figuring it out. YouTube has a lot of good videos that help you ask the right questions. I'll know if I did a good job in another 4 years. But making a Medicare choice is not something to wait to do after you turn 65. It is too important to wait until the last minute to figure out. It also comes with lifetime penalties if you do not sign up in time. But as far as being a bit harsh. No, Dave Ramsey is harsh or as I like to call it tough love (not that I always agree with him). Sometimes you have to call it as you see it. You can take a horse to water but can't make them drink. Anyone who doesn't take advantage of an employer match on a 401K is, well stupid and that is not harsh.

  Post: Think for Yourself

  Link to comment from May 24, 2023

• I think that being frugal is trying to get a good value for your money and only buying what you need. Buying something on sale just increases the value because it cost less. Being cheap is when you can afford to pay more but are only concern about price over quality because you are in love with your money. Buying as cheap as you can when you can't afford things could be called frugal or just plain poor. Some people are just poor for whatever reason. Buying things that you need on sale is just smart whether poor frugal. When I was young I used to buy discounted jeans and shirts because I wrecked so many on my job. As I earned more, I could afford to buy more expensive clothes. I have some LL Bean flannel shirts that I have worn once a week all winter long for over 20 years before I wear holes in them. That value comes at a price. In retirement I have more time to shop the discount stores again. I can get name brand clothes for 10% to 40% of the original price. I do not need my clothes to last longer than I will live. So does that make me cheap or frugal? I rather spend my money elsewhere. Being that I go out and leave 20-25% tips, I consider my self frugal, not cheap.

  Post: Cheap Talk

  Link to comment from February 27, 2022

• I just wish they stop calling this a vaccine. To me a vaccine prevents the disease in most people. This covid "vaccine" only reduces the severity. Do you get the annual flu shot or the annual flu vaccine? They might as well start calling it the semi-annual covid shot. It appears by Mr Quinn's experience that natural immunity didn't work and the "vaccine" didn't prevent another case. It is doubtful that a booster will prevent a 3rd case. Best hope is that it will lessen the severity again. I am not anti vaccine, but I think that the government put out too many false/mixed messages and the media censored opposing opinions that our expectations where set too high. "Get the vaccine and life will go back to normal". It is time to admit that science can't beat covid no more than the common cold and it is time to find ways to live with it. Living the rest of our lives with mask on is not the answer but maybe booster shots every six months will be the future.

  Post: Positive but Not

  Link to comment from December 21, 2021

• I am past putting my kids through college and it will be the grandkids starting in 5 years. The return on the college investment is not there for most degrees if you ask me. I went the vocational route and retired at 55 but that is a whole different discussion. Currently in NJ, Rowan University has bought out several county community colleges. Most of my friends sent their kids to the community colleges with full credit transfer for their final years at Rowan's main campus. How much can this save? Is the college ring tapper club still important? Or is the college name important only for the first job interview and after that does the job recruiter only care about your work history? Do computer scanners even care or are they just looking for the correct degree?

  Post: College Math

  Link to comment from November 26, 2021

• I used the hours worked theory for decades. After all my deductions, including my 401k, my net pay was about 50%. It was easy to do balance test. Was I going to get enough enjoyment or had a need for something to work 10 hours for or a quarter of my week? You realize that those "needs" were really "wants".

  Post: What It Really Costs

  Link to comment from November 17, 2021

• Loopholes like: various child tax credits and deductions, standard deduction, 401Ks & IRAs, medical deduction, home energy tax credits, low income housing credits, medical premium tax credits, work related tax credits, property tax deduction (although, Trump raised the standard deduction high enough that most people would not hit the SALT limits), moving expenses, student loan interest exemption, teacher expenses deductions, sale of your home exemptions, inheritance exemption, and many more. All of these are available to everybody that qualifies and not everybody who qualifies is "wealthy". In fact, some of these are for low income people only. So, needless to say, the benefits that are available to low income earners far exceed that amount of taxes they pay. On August 21, 2021, the Tax Policy Center reported that 60.6% of US households did not pay any taxes in 2020. WHAT A LOOPHOLE! I am just guessing that those other 39.4% are the wealthy who are paying the taxes for the other 60.6% who paid no taxes? The wealthy and the poor are hopefully, legally, just taking advantage of the laws that your elected representatives help write in Congress.

  Post: Scraping By?

  Link to comment from October 11, 2021

• I don't know if there is such a thing unless you are buying actual classic cars and you know your stuff. A good used car is the second best deal. But this year I stumbled onto the best car deal I'll ever get. I was going to pay cash for a new car from my 401K but they were offering 0.0% for 83 months. After doing the math and checking around at other dealers on the prices, I figured if I just withdraw enough money for my car payments every six months and leave the balance of the car loan invested that I could make an additional $4k-$5k in my 401K. If the ROR is above average then great, otherwise I am still paying 0%. I figured this will be as close as a great deal on a new as I'll ever get. It has been since 9/11 that there has been low car interest rates. I fear inflation is going to come back fast and hard and the days of <4% interest rates will be gone. (my first car loan in 1982 was at 18%)

  Post: What’s the best strategy for getting a good deal on a car?

  Link to comment from May 21, 2021