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Larry T. Spider

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Posts posted by Larry T. Spider

  1. 2 minutes ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

    People are figuring out how awesome Chicago is, and I haven't relocated there yet! 

    star trek spock GIF

    Truth. I have been hearing about more people moving there but hadn’t seen data supporting it as a trend until now. Great bang for your buck if you can deal with the cold. I personally love Chi.

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  2. I fly a lot for work but it’s split between so many airlines I don’t have much status on any one carrier. I go to a lot of random places across the country and usually don’t have a ton of options.

    However, I almost always went with SWA when going to a conference and needed to check two bags. Guess it doesn’t matter now.

    Don’t really care about a free Diet Coke but noticed the last 4 flights I had been on they cancelled drink service for “turbulence”. Pretty sure the PE guys figured out another way to save money.

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  3. I personally liked Madrid better than Barcelona. Better interactions with the locals and I loved wandering through the narrow streets. We stayed in La Latina and would hit up a local tapas place or bar each day. The people were amazingly friendly even if they didn’t speak much English. 

    The touristy areas of Barcelona were fun but it was pretty obvious that outsiders weren’t welcome in many of the neighborhoods. Not blaming the locals, just lessened the experience for me. For hanging out at the beach and eating paella, we preferred Valencia. Some beautiful architecture there as well.

     

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  4. 12 hours ago, texasdago said:

    Color me not shocked at all

    "But you're ruining 6th street!?!?!?!?!!?"

    On a related note, unless I'm missing something, last homicide in Austin was February 12th.  I'm sure I've jinxed it now.

    Also, has there been an update on this? https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/pedestrian-fatally-struck-by-vehicle-on-south-mopac-frontage-road-in-south-austin

    0% chance we make it through the weekend without a murder now 

  5. Hope everyone is off to a good start to the year. My fiscal year goes 9/1 to 8/31 so I’m about half way through the year. Now is prime buying time because we are dealing with school districts setting things up for the fall.

    New business quota is 4 million.

    850k closed

    deal for 1-2 million right at the finish line, just finalizing size.

    deal for 3.8 million is also at the finish line but it’s split with another rep.

    deal for 800k isn’t as close as the others but more likely than not. I would say 65%.

    deal for 800k that I put at 30% chance.

    Something new will jump in the pipeline before it’s all said and done. I met with 18 superintendents last week that aren’t included in the above. I’m calling 5 million but think there’s a decent chance it’s higher.

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  6. If you ask 100 people you will get 100 different answers in terms of what percentage should be in bonds by age. I have a pretty high risk tolerance so I’m not  planning on having any bonds 10 years out from retirement. Other people seem to think 20% is appropriate for your age.

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  7. 38 minutes ago, Rip76 said:

    I was about to create a post about this and found this one, nice.

    Ok, so I have a 401k from my old employer which is currently about $72,000.  I have it in a Fidelity IRA.

    What Firemans4 posted above, I sort of fell into that group.  "Seen plenty of clients roll a legacy 401k into an IRA and then sit in cash for years. They would have been better off rolling it into their current employer and investing it like their current 401k is invested."

    I have about 80% in FBALX, and the other 20% in FXAIX.  

    Just wondering what would be the best thing to do with it?  It's never gained or lost very much, but I feel like I'm missing out.

    TIA

     

    FBALX is 34% bonds. Depending on your age and risk tolerance, that could be too high. 

  8. 19 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    I see going with a HELOC as an unnecessary risk. If a house is almost paid off or even paid off, why go backwards. I know some argue that there’s no reason to ever get out of debt and find methods to push taxes indefinitely. Grant cardone comes to mind. This can work until it doesn’t, and then the cards fall. In 2008 many had their HELOC loan immediately due because the property value plummeted.

    i also see little value in becoming a one house landlord. Either it becomes a lot of work for the owner, or the property mgr takes the profit. If I was in that situation and I wanted to live somewhere else, sell the property and buy the next house for cash. Or a small mortgage.

    Some thoughts on why I would keep it. 

    1. I’m building a rental portfolio and acquired my first property about 5 months ago. Hopefully this would be around my 5th rental by the time I move. Goal is to have them all cash flowing well by the time I retire in 20 years. This house would easily cash flow today and should be great in 20 years.

    2. I’m at a place in the amortization schedule that each payment is making a good dent in the principle. Seems silly to pay 20 years of mostly interest to sell it when you (or a renter) is taking out bigger chunks each month.

    3. It’s in a nice area that will be easy to get good renters that stay for years and don’t trash the place. There’s always risk with tenants but this is about as good as you can do. There’s house is well built, 4 side masonry, and I know how all the major expense items have been handled well. Shouldn’t be too many surprises.

    4. I’ve got a low interest rate locked in. 

    5. No guarantees for the future but it’s been appreciating nicely. Even a 4% average increase moving forward adds 25k of on paper value each year. At some point in my life, the house should be worth over a million dollars and paid off. Nice little insurance policy in old age. 

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  9. At some point in the future, I may want to move into a nicer house/better location, although we are happy where we are. House is probably worth about 700k and I owe 135k at a low interest rate.

    If I eventually want to keep the current house as a rental, how would you go about saving for the new house? Would probably want a fat down payment to keep the monthly payment down.

    I’m thinking about just doing a taxable brokerage account because I want to shoot for decent returns in the event we stay put. I would hate to eventually end up with 200k in a high yield savings account, decide not to move, and have regrets about not getting a better return all those years.

    Any other ideas?

  10. I’m not that sophisticated of an investor, but this is my strategy. I hold most of my big dividend paying stocks in an IRA so that I don’t have to deal with taxes on those payments each year.

    I put my low dividend, high growth potential stocks in my taxable brokerage account. I’m typically a buy and hold investor so I’m not dealing with the short term tax rate. This gives me more flexibility because I have more control over when I pay the tax man vs dividends that are going to come when they come. For example, I can sell a big winner when I have something benefiting my tax situation going on with a rental property.

    Is this smart? Who the hell knows but it’s been working for me.

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  11. We started the year at about 37.5% full and are currently sitting at 43.9%. Managed to avoid disaster but also didn’t make any real progress. 

    Always feels like a game of Russian roulette when we start the year below 50%. One dry spring followed by a normal summer and we could easily be less than 30%.

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  12. On 11/21/2024 at 12:55 PM, LCHorn said:

    I was going to say Justine’s, but my God they’ve gotten expensive.  I remember when that was a good weeknight dinner place with $7 escargot and $19 steak frites.  Now those are $17 and $55.  Even the pork chop is $40.

    El Dorado Cafe, obviously, fits the OP’s criteria, although they are probably not a hidden gem unless you’re south of the river.  

     

    El Dorado is amazing but not exactly hurting for business. I have to go during off peak hours to even get in. Great food though!

  13. With the continued takeover by McGuire Moorman and the like, I wanted to start a thread of independently owned or family restaurants worth visiting. With Austin rent prices and inflation hitting customers, I’m sure they will take all the help that they can get.

    Suggestions can be anywhere in the area, any type of food, and any budget. Just not chains or larger restaurant groups. 

    Hoping to discover some hidden gems and help some hard working people out in the process. Post what you got and let us know if you try any of the spots people name.

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  14. 7 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    I feel like the fix is in with this entire nomination perhaps even to a point that Trump doesn't plan on Gaetz being AG.

    Timeframe:

    • The ethics investigation was set to be released tomorrow, the 15th
    • Gaetz is named as the AG nominee AND he resigned from Congress on the 13th
    • By resigning, the ethics probe is no longer needed and may be locked away
    • The Senate committee have said they want to see ethics report
    • (Theory) Gaetz withdraws his AG nomination and DeSantis reappoints Gaetz back to his House seat
    • (Theory) Once reinstated, it's possible that the ethics probe findings are moot since it occurred during his previous tenure not current (Shakiest part of my theory)

    This could all be Trump helping Gaetz to avoid the ethics probe findings from being made public. My guess is that if the House Ethics committee announces they are releasing the findings, Gaetz will take them to court to prevent it.

    Any holes in this theory? 

    My theory is simple. Trump put up somebody that’s unpopular with many in his own party. It’s a loyalty test. 

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  15. On 9/20/2024 at 11:19 AM, MinerProphet said:

    Did you end up hitting your ramp and closing that deal!?!

    Nope. The district was not able to get their facility that will house the program ready by start of school this year. We are still on track to open in fall 2025. I have another program starting in the next couple of months that is smaller, but if they both happen, I’ll be over quota without any other deals.

    Our fiscal year starts/ends September 1st so plenty of time to add some backup possibilities. My gut feeling is pretty good but it doesn’t take much for these deals to fall apart. So many moving pieces and usually a 6-18 month sales cycle.

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  16. I thought Harris was pretty good but this was trumps “Biden debate moment”. He’s always been an idiot but go back to his debate with HRC. He was a lot sharper in his own weird way back then. 

    All he has left is scare tactics. World war 3, illegals raping your mom and eating your pets, Marxism, etc. It will certainly work for his base but he’s not picking up any new voters.

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