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CleverNickname

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Everything posted by CleverNickname

  1. Didn't you have a huge health scare fairly recently? (maybe that was someone else) My dude. Take it easy.
  2. Having managed my mom's finances (mostly all taxable inheritance), I kinda wonder how obnoxious managing RMDs and filing Schedule Ds will be when I am old and crabby. In theory a pre-tax saving is likely superior, but the simplicity of WYSIWYG Roths (plus simplicity of its inherited) is appealing.
  3. I should have quoted the guy above, but when I saw the simple majesty of "ASSWATER" in my post I couldn't bare to edit. I don't blame a kid for enjoying a full ride. Maybe they have an honors college? I wish my local HS gave stats of the # of kids who go UT and A&M who are not the class rank auto-admits. I bet its most of them. The top 5% are probably doing Co Mines and ivies or whatever.
  4. Smart kids. Great internship possibilities. Desirable STEM majors. But it has a reputation for zero social life. No parties. No athletics. No fun. Not sure how many people met their spouse in college, but I am not sure the dating scene is particularly vibrant. Or as my teen daughter says "Dad, that is where the rolly-backack kids go." In other words, chopped.
  5. since this thread has become about how to help our parents with scams (a worthy topic!), here are some tips I've found. * Get logins for banks and email. That way you can check from time to time. I told my mom I was happy to help with all that tech stuff. * Get power of attorney ASAP. Don't wait. Don't just get a springing one (that activates when a doctor signs off), but a real deal durable one. * sign them up for online utility bill pay etc. You can get the login and make sure the lights stay on. * If they live close, maybe get them cash monthly and hide those credit cards. * I use GreenLight for my teens (prepaid debit card, everything accessible by app) but its even better for helping my loser brother and mom (before she went into memory care, and now I just use thay card for thigns for her to keep all those finances tidy).
  6. It's cliche, but we parents don't mold them, we discover who they are.
  7. I count it between 0 and 75% (its an variable in my spreadsheet). The 75% being abiut what it is on a pay-for basis.
  8. So like in Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, when the extrasolar comet splits the moon into bits that render the surface of the earth uninhabitable for 5000 years.
  9. Near enough. Our troop doesnt require it. He will he 14 big enough to carry a pack. Hats off to those dad's 50+ getting it done.
  10. its a drainage. Rain flows across neighborhoods dirt drive and comes down into that draw (left to right in 2 of the pictures) and then on down to my creek. Naturally old man rancher just dumped old coils of fencing there for 80 years. But I'd like to be able to drive along the fence line before dropping down the hill. As it is I enter the ravine just a bit below this point, so it involves breaking over an edge running 45 degrees across the road. Takes a bit of clearance. My hope is a groomed straight path requires nothing special at all. Also its a place I can dump spoils of hole digging.
  11. I've been working on trying to fill up the top of a draw the prior owner used for junk. Pulled out lots of barb and net wire. Before: After: Still a work in progress. Probably not going to do blocks all across. For the gap over the pvc I will probably do some quickrete and her some 2 ft quarter inch steel cutoffs. But I did get out about 5 buckets from the hole today. Jack hammer etc. I am a little worried about tweaking my back, because the boy decided we are doing Philmont summer '26. So taking it pretty easy.
  12. No worries, they made a statute
  13. eh, Larry T Spider has the right of it. I think some of us are parents (and hell, property owners) who are kinda unable to see the big picture. Old small schools were always going to be the ones closed first. They sort of have to in any rational world. The conspiracy theories about backroom deals to sell the campuses? I highly doubt it.
  14. dame here. My first case (to mu knowledge). Some congestion Sunday, popped positive. Felt meh yesterday. Fever this morning. Congestion now building.
  15. My main concern is how cheap most construction is done. I want lock and leave, but not hear my neighbors walking or banging. It's a delicate balance. I don't need a garage or even much storage, as we have our whole ranchette, casita, and hole to live like arky hicks.
  16. so you rent even though you could own a home? Up until like this week I never even considered it. But the simplicity appeals to me. I also am considering how I could make things easier for my spouse or our kids when we are old and far less independent (or I'm dead).
  17. slightly adjacent topic: downsizing I kinda want a smaller condo or small house in retirement. Ideally lock and leave, but I could make do with turning the water off in a house. We would try to save the difference, and use that money for a family vacations (like a week long Neuces river rental or beach rental) on our dime when the kids are older or maybe with grandkids. But I keep penciling the math, and I don't see a huge savings. Our house is smallish (but NW Austin, so the value is the lot), so realistically a smaller place only nets us $100-150k equity. Gotta live somewhere. The difference in taxes is often soaked by a HOA fee. I suppose its the utilities and cost of maintenance we'd benefit from. I dunno. Might make sense just to fix up this place (its a one story). I almost... almost... see the logic in a 55+ active retiree community with gym, pool, etc. Paying rent is a drag, but basically all costs would be predictable and no big maintenance hits.
  18. quoting myself from 2 years ago... fwiw ERS now offers a "COLA-ish" annuity option: +2% fixed rise every year. I will pick that (bought 3 years, now eligible 2031). The 100% spouse option was about 94% of just my life (we abiut the same age), and looks like the cola is 77% or that. Still makes retirement planning way easier. My budget and retirement spreadsheets show we could retire at age 52/51. Wife has TRS (and AISD so also social security). More than kikely we would enjoy our mandatory 3+ months break. Wife still wants to teach, so part time or sun for her. I could try to find a 50% part time attorney job. That income is just bonus - or subsidizing college or just iut of college kids. What I really want is to take 2-3 week vacations in late Sept/October and March/ April, when shoulder season weather is cool and the summer tourists aren't so crazy.
  19. I should take off work and play video games and crush an oven pizza more often. Maybe 5-7 days a week.
  20. I'm taking off of work Sept 12 to ay Borderlands 4.
  21. re international schools. I am interested on behalf of my sophomore daughter. But the schools in Canada and UK don't seem cheap. They are every bit the out if state $$$ I see elsewhere at very good public universities. I guess we are in that "make good money but not $350k+ pay out of pocket $80k per year" group that is price sensitive. My daughter has excellent academics, but I think she will probably either need to find an OOS school that will give a partial (in state) rate, or non upper tier private institution that will throw money at her. It am thinking it may be that to go OOS she will have to take a step down in academic quality from top in state options (UT Austin). We have a good 529 chunk, but I try to tell it would be good to keep some it for grad school. Maybe a lot of it if she wants to go to law school.
  22. 1999. I'm an idiot.
  23. Sadly (?) the hole is not a well. Got out 5 buckets in 1.5 hours of work. My clothes must have had 2 pounds of sweat. Magically turned into this: Yeah, I dont see a change either. But onward and downward!
  24. I'm pretty sure it was 1999.
  25. Places I pooped not simply a hole (but I also pooped in a couple of holes): The fancy lake vault potty: The Thelm and Louise hold hands whilst pooping outhouse: The sourdough hermit thing:
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