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Spur08

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Posts posted by Spur08

  1. 1 hour ago, dad said:

    So in an attempt to cut down my own tree in the backyard I let a large branch fall on the roof accidentally and now I have a larger than a quarter size hole that went all the way through the plywood. I take it that I won't be able to repair this myself with supplies from home depot? How much should I expect to pay for this repair in DFW so I can accurately judge estimates? 

    Paging @ROLFBOX

  2. I had/have a left L5-S1 herniation.  At its worst, I couldn't even stand up straight without excruciating pain.  I had constant back spasms while sitting down and my legs would often "give out" when holding my daughter.  I work in the realm of neuro/spine surgery so know some great docs to go to in DFW and who to avoid, so I ended up showing my MRI to the guy who I'm with twice per week (for the past 10 years).  For my particular situation, I was put on a steroid pack and given multiple stretches to do every day.  I was able to slowly (and I mean slowly) gain some relief over about 2-3 months and, right now, I'm about 4+ years post that episode.  Sure, I occasionally have some flare-ups from time to time, but never to the degree that I had it previously.  When it happens, I just take things easy and go back to my stretches.  At its worst, I was incredibly close to getting cut on, but I have a doc that I know and trust give me advice to avoid it, which I am quite grateful.  If you are local, I'd happily pass his name on.  I'll see if I can find the stretches for you as well

  3. I did a remodel of a condo years ago.  What I learned was that taping/mudding, skimming, floating, what ever you want to call it -- is an acquired skill.  Sure, if you practice long enough, you can do a pretty good job of it but do you have the time to learn?  Otherwise, hire it out for a few hundo.  It will look better and you won't feel like an idiot when it looks like shit and you just wasted time and money.

  4. 9 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

    Lowes/HD sells paints in all quality/price ranges.  The expensive stuff at a big box is better than the cheap stuff at a paint store any day of the week.  To dismiss them is foolish.  

    Sure, a specialty paint store is great, but assuming that "cheap stuff" is all that Lowes/HD sells is dumb.  

     

    Actually, Emerald is SW's top of the line paint...I'm willing to put that against Lowes/HD "expensive" stuff any day.

  5. First off, I'm not going with the cheap HD/Lowe's brands.  Only need about 2 quarts (2 diff colors), so I might as well get the good stuff.  I was quoted $600 (rolled, $100+ for sprayed) by a pro to re-paint my front door and the surrounding trim with SW Duration.  I honestly thought it was about twice as expensive as I expected it to be, hence, I'm looking at the DIY brushed/rolled route.  I do need to do some prep work of cleaning the door, followed by sanding some peeling paint/exposed wood, and replacing the brick mold with PVC brick mold.  The first question I have is, do I need to re-prime the trim work and fresh PVC brick mold?  The pros showed pics of what they were using in their quote and showed INTERIOR latex paint.  Is this the correct paint to use for an exterior door?  I was planning on using an exterior Sherwin-Williams paint that is either the Emerald Exterior Acrylic Latex or their Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel (Int/Ext).  Has anyone used either of these paints?  I've read reviews on the Urethane that it is not very user friendly.

  6. 16 hours ago, davidg said:

    Yeah that's April Wilkerson building a version of Matt Cremona's huge 76" cut width slabbing mill.  Matt has some fantastic tree to fine furniture builds and April has almost a million subscribers doing a variety of metal and wood builds aimed at the novice wood/metal worker.  

     

     

    I follow her on youtube....wood endorse

  7. 14 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

    For years, the longest term car note was three years.  Then five-year notes came along.  Now it's any goddamn thing that gets the monthly payment low enough to "afford," eight years and a balloon payment, blah blah blah.

    It's mostly criticism of things described in the third sentence, above, which are pure ghetto finance /noracist.

    But also, it's paying interest on a swiftly depreciating asset for longer than a reasonably short period.

    This is, of course, if you want to be seriously financially responsible and not a car fanboi.  I am a car fanboi to a degree, but I force myself to wait (drive a car 8 years minimum) and shop pretty hard for gently used cars and pay cash.  And typically, longer-term and other goofy-ass finance options are unavailable for used cars.

    I agree to an extent, however, it also seems that the 5 year terms popped up as car prices have increased.  I bought my fanboi car straight out of college b/c I felt it was a right-of-passage/was slightly entitled.  The new purchase was mainly safety driven (heh) for the new arrival, but timing was also important.  My car is paid off and I'm working to make it a 10 year car.  By the time my wife's car is paid off, my car will hit 10 years and we will have the same amount available for a new (to us) vehicle.  Granted, I see how and endless cycle of car payments is problematic and unnecessary.

  8. 9 hours ago, NBMisha said:

    Congrats to you guys that are into this young.  By way of positive feedback I can tell you the payoff, that is, when you can retire and live the life your reasonably want to live, is a beautiful thing.

    Once the paycheck stops coming, budgeting skills and living within a budget are at a premium.  Make sure that among your investment etc skills you are building that you become expert at this.  Extra points for achieving this expert level while staying married.

    I'm actually dealing with this with my folks right now.  My dad is a CPA and, all around, a pretty bright and well-prepared guy.  He just had his contract canceled by his company this past Friday and, it seems, all the planning over the last year leading up to this forced retirement was just shit.  The sobering reality hit him that he needed another year or so for short term costs is really weighing down on him.

    7 hours ago, tokamak said:

    I have no idea what an "investment loan" is, but I'd do the same as you - 7% is high and you should get rid of that ASAP. I fall under the "don't like debt" category, so I'd probably look at paying more than the minimum on that grad school debt next, but truthfully 4% isn't awful so that's just personal preference.

    Next things to look at IMO would be IRAs, then 529s for the kid(s), in that order.

    If you max 2x 401ks and an HSA while paying down all that debt, you are probably doing better than like 90% of people.

    We've opened a 529 for our daughter, but we haven't started regularly contributing yet -- just special occasions and gifts from the grandparents.  The investment loan is a real estate project that was crowd funded by a close group of friends.  I didn't borrow for the full amount, just a small portion of what I needed.  I do understand that this should be the first to go.

    Other notes -- I have a $1MM 30 year term life on myself with some smaller life insurance options through my company for the wife and baby.  Wife and baby have some whole life plans paid for by her folks that they took out themselves.

    I thought about seeing a fee-only CFP but feel like I'm doing alright by myself, for now.  Plus I don't want to shell out the $3K...

  9. I'm doing an oil analysis via Blackstone Labs on this next oil change.  If I post results here, can anyone provide input or am I better off at BobIsTheOilGuy?  Anyone done one before?  My car is a 2013 Tahoe with 110K miles

  10. 1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Your interest rate on student loan is high enough that it probably makes sense to retire it ASAP.  Personally, I hate debt.  Some don't and some debt is unavoidable.  But when the interest rate is getting close to reasonable investment return, it probably makes no sense to save instead of retiring the debt. 

    And for the future, if you can't "afford" a car on a traditional three-year note, you can't afford it. 

    Appreciate the input.  The car was poorly planned.  We needed a safe vehicle for our [at the time] pending "oops" baby.  Something I forgot to mention, we are planning on having (conceiving) our second [hopefully, last] kid within a year.  

  11. Call it a bug....I've been listening to the Dave Ramsey podcast and have been implementing certain aspects of his "baby steps". 

     

    This will be the first year that both my wife and I max out our 401Ks, child-care FSA, and almost max HSA.  We are early-30s, have a toddler under 2, and a mortgage.  

    1 car w/ a, roughly just under, $30,000 note; 4 years and change

    30 year mortgage (don't plan to accelerate payments)

    Grad loan debt of $39K @ 4.24%

    Investment loan of $19K @ 6.99% (Dividend payments pay for 3/4 of P + I payments)

     

    Both of us have large bonuses coming in the next month which will pay-off the investment loan.  Would it be better to pay down the additional debts or continue to max out 401K and HSA?  Any other personal finance strategies that we're overlooking?

     

  12. While those look delicious, at some point its not a grilled cheese anymore. I'd say the addition of both a meat and a vegetable is that point. 
    You don't know how wrong you are. A pair of nice toasted Texas white with mayo on the back combined with some melted sharp cheddar and leftover brisket. Just beautiful
    • Like 1
  13. This place is awesome. Unseen in the top of the second picture was the seafood hushpuppies. As you can see, they were awesome. The dish was duck hash. Very good

    Chicken and biscuits. Holy hell I want so bad

    I probably gained 40# on this trip. Need a salad cleanse for the rest of the month. 9f21a732ad94f27621bc8d11e0b8dfea.jpg6e8aff529f07a9fb55e29ef6fff73f0f.jpg1076ecdc55a6bb00872e0a2c2f01e8d8.jpg

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