Mantergeistmann
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User ID: 323
Mantergeistmann
16hr ago
You also don't generally cite, say, a speechwriter or press release writer as "these words were written by Bob, and are not my own, though I stand by them."
Mantergeistmann
17hr ago
Replying again because I found this post that sums up my feelings on MFs vs ETFs:
For me the "ritual" goes something like this.
- On Saturday morning, take a look at the finances and realize you want to allocate $10K into this fund.
- Ah, but markets are closed, so write it down as a todo for Monday sometime.
- On Monday, take a break from the work day to execute this. Spend another 5 minutes double-checking, because it's been a couple of days since Saturday and some details have faded.
- Log into the account, go to the buy page. Watch the clever little Wall Street robots getting it on on the quote page. Briefly reflect on the incentive structure of modern capitalism.
- Check the premium/discount. Wonder if it means you're taking a 0.2% haircut right off the bat. Check the history. Oh well, it seems to be about average. Hopefully I'll get it back when I sell.
- Pick a number of shares and a limit price that's slightly above the Ask so your order gets executed quickly so you can get back to work. But not too much so you don't take it on the chin if an ETF share is temporarily under construction.
- Get startled by the yellow warning box. What did I do wrong? Realize that it's just Schwab telling you that the order may be executable. Well duh, I'm here to buy something not lay traps.
- Place the order and refresh a couple of times to see it executed. Notice that the price has inexplicably crawled up to right under your limit price; a clever little robot probably got you. Secretly hope that the robot's master discovers a hitherto unknown seafood allergy at the dinner you just paid for. Immediately feel a little guilty; seafood allergies are no fun.
- Realize that the clever little robot exposed a little mistake in your calculation: you rounded the limit price up. Again. Can never get those right. So now you owe Schwab a couple of bucks on your no-margin account. Set up a transfer and hope it makes it in time. 9.5, optional) Giggle as you recall asif408's apt description of the alternative, "cash turds leftover". Ain't that right.
- Log out, with that vague feeling of negotiation skill inadequacy that you always get after interacting with your car dealership. For the rest of the day, casually check your portfolio app to see how auspicious your choice of trading break time was.
Mantergeistmann
18hr ago
Ah. $12.15 for the basic steak burrito from the Chipotle, then.
Mantergeistmann
20hr ago
What, really? What was it previously called?
Mantergeistmann
20hr ago
It looks like you can take it and the standard deduction, since it's a credit rather than an itemized deduction. Kind of like the Lifetime Learning Credit.
Mantergeistmann
21hr ago
As for burritos, a steak burrito in Midtown Manhattan is $13.50. Not $20.
Man, I didn't think my area was higher cost than that. Granted, I deliberately looked at the trendiest place I could find.
A steak burrito runs $16.25 (cauliflower burrito would start at just under $15), and adding guac & salsa would bump it above $20. Place down the street doesn't offer steak burritos, but it does have two beef burritos served with sides of rice and beans for $17. Also a full restaurant on main street with bowls that can be turned into burritos, a steak burrito will run you $28. But presumably we're not talking sit-down establishments here.
Mantergeistmann
21hr ago
What advice do you offer to somebody who's still working retail in his 30s and has been turned down for his last ~50 applications to better jobs? "Just invest in SPY, bro" is going to bounce off their real-life circumstances so hard that it probably does more harm than good.
Ask them if they like free money.
The Saver's Credit isn't quite as good as a government match on retirement contributions (being a nonrefundable tax credit), but it's still pretty dang close to "the government will give you money for investing."
Ideally, you could bring them around to opening (say) a zero-fee Fidelity IRA, making enough of a contribution for the free money, and investing in a cheap target date index fund ("it's like you get a financial advisor rebalancing your account, but for free!"). Even a little bit will help supplement social security in retirement.
If you can't talk them around to that, see if you can at least get them to open a free Roth IRA, make the minimum contribution to get the government match, and then just leave it in the MMF that Fidelity defaults to (I keep saying Fido because I'm familiar with their interface/offerings; I'm sure plenty of other brokerages are the same). Tell them they can treat it as a bank savings account (since contributions can be taken out), but the interest earned will be tax free if they leave it there (since everyone loves not paying taxes). That way they get the government refund, and at least have the retirement account open, even if they're not leaving the money in it/invested, and that's a start.
And then let the inevitable corporate barrage of emails and ads about "let us help you save for retirement, here's some money tips" start to slowly do their work.
Mantergeistmann
22hr ago
I actually use SGOV, VBIL, and USFR together in my Fidelity Cash Management Account as "buckets" for keeping track of my short term saving goals.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Following the time-honored tradition of Freedom Fries and Liberty Cabbage.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Kind of like "HOD" (Human Organizational Development) at Vanderbilt, I suppose.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
A very good explainer for the "Republicans pounce" phenomenon.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Given that in Anglo-Saxon culture, bēagġiefa, ring-giver, was a term used for a leader to whom men owed loyalty (after the practice of literally giving rings to his loyal subjects, and otherwise distributing wealth), said as a good thing... ring-giver and ring-servant as a (non-ominous) pairing seems reasonable enough to me.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
My emergency fund is effectively broken up into two categories: "unexpected same day check needed" (admittedly crazy unlikely), and "stock market's crashed and I lost my job and need to keep paying the mortgage."
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
I'm also looking at BOXX, which is doing some sort of synthetic fund that converts returns into capital appreciation for tax efficiency. I'm still not sure how that works or how it's legal.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
I don't like the gladiatorial combat -- that's pretty dumb -- but I've certainly no issues with giving them a pre-Nazgul name that better reflects their circumstance. It means "ring servants" or something, right, which seems fitting (if a bit too on the nose, perhaps)? We can't all be Charlemagne and call our most loyal followers Paladins, after all.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
Before they were Nazgul, they were... Nazgnagôl!
I mean, that makes sense? They weren’t ringwraiths before they became wraiths, and it's not like they turned into wraiths the instant the put on the rings.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
.... have you looked at the rest of the people on this site?
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
That's the way I was leaning. I don't think I've actually ever bought a T-bill before, and I have to say, Fidelity's page for them looks needlessly complicated, to the point TreasuryDirect (archaic as the site may be) is looking more tempting for a purchase.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
If I have a "slightly more than one year" timeframe (1 year, 5 months) before an expense, what's the best play? 1 year CD, 1 year bond, wherever I can find the best yield? Looking for "as close to guaranteed as possible, but definitely won't need the money before then so liquidity isn't a concern".
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
... I don’t think AAQC's are appropriate for puns, but damn that was good.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
In an early episode, there is a scene where some of the characters order coffee from a coffee shop called "Babes 'n Brew." The girl working the counter is an impossibly attractive young woman wearing a bikini top. By "impossible," I mean that in real life you would pretty much never see a woman this attractive, dressed like that, working a job like that, in that part of the country.
... oddly enough, I was reading an article on Bikini Baristas just within the past week or two, and have no idea how I stumbled upon the link. Mught have been here, even. Or might have been in a discussion on submarines/sailors/shipbuilders. Who knows?
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
Is the show over? Or could it be setting up a later season where the son surpasses his father, and there's a reconciling/passing of the torch?
Mantergeistmann
4d ago
Mantergeistmann
4d ago
Southern Comfort Collins. My grandfather's wedding drink of choice, and I picked it up from him. Can't remember if he always made sure his came with a cherry, or with pineapple...
On a hot day, I'll go for either a gin & tonic or a Pimm's Cup. Or a mojito, I guess. If it's really hot, I'll make granita with vodka. Cold weather, it's got to be either a hot toddy or a hot buttered rum. For the absolute laziest of days, Rum & coke/Dr. Pepper/Cheerwine/basically any dark soda.
Do beer cocktails count as cocktails? Half-and-halfs are pretty good (Beer/root beer), and then of course radlers and shandygaffs are great on hot days. There's also the "girly Guinness", AKA Guinness & Grenadine.
I am a reasonably decent person/worker. I would like to think that I am an asset to my company and my country. Had they required that price to sponsor my wife, I would certainly not have been able to afford it. I would have just figured out a way to get hired/get a visa in a different country, such as hers.
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