Random Topics 3.1

[Road Guy]

I know, I know, slow and steady wins the race, but...I just wish I could have figured this out sooner when I was young.

I think that's really the game, its also hard to buy as much into your 401K now because the market is doing so insanely well. It will go down eventually (sadly) , as it always does, and the trick for me has been to keep my commitment the same during these times - cause then you are buying low and when it goes up again you will be pleasantly surprised!

But in all reality I feel like I had more disposable income when I was 2 years out of college (no kids, $130K house) than I do right now (22 years later) - 

 

[JayKay PE]

 
@Supe, Tbh, I think I needed to hear this (again, and again, and again).  Like, I am stressing about my debt, but I know it'll be gone some day as long as I keep at it/I've never been late/it is a reasonable amount of debt and my networth is positive (which I think it a bigger goal).

@Road Guy, yeah, I think lifestyle creep became a thing with me since I was suddenly an adult!  And doing stuff! And I could save! But then I needed to buy this for work, or, oh no, a new car is needed since I needed something reliable that could drive everywhere, and I think my late 20s were all about things gaining momentum until last year when I was like 'I need to budget.  I need to know where my money has been going.' I just have a little crisis every once in a while that I'm going to retire and have to live in a ditch.

 

[mudpuppy]

@JayKay PE The fact that you're even worried about this puts you ahead of a whole lot of people your age.  Even 31 isn't that "old" to be getting serious about saving for retirement.  There are lots of people out there who don't start really thinking about it until their late 30s or even 40s.  Just relax, make a plan and stick to the plan (including some "fun money").

 

[blybrook PE]

I just have a little crisis every once in a while that I'm going to retire and have to live in a ditch.

Remember to find one with a culvert so you'll have some protection from the storms

 

[JayKay PE]

Remember to find one with a culvert so you'll have some protection from the storms

 

[Master slacker]

Regarding paying off loans or saving , my personal take is this.  I "technically" can pay off our student loans that have interest rate of 3.5% and 2.5% with some excess money I've hidden in the shadows of a lazy portfolio investment Mrs. MS is unaware.  However, my lazy portfolio has had 8% return in the past few years.  It's veeeeeery tempting to pay off our loans, but interest will only be paid for 7 more years at a low rate whereas my investment is a higher rate for a longer period of time.  Just have to keep myself in check with reality and numbers.

 

[Orchid PE]

So, random question, when did you get financially 'all right'.  I feel like I'm struggling with the whole single income, but I really don't want to get in a relationship/roommates/married if I don't have to.  I know it'll be slow going, but I don't really know if I ever want to buy a house/a rental/whatever.  I'd rather throw that money into the market or IRAs and ignore it.

Did my lack of response answer your question? LOL

In 2015, me and my wife, both engineers at the time, had a combined income of $90k. Then in May 2015, I swapped companies for the same pay. In Oct 2015, my wife swapped companies and was making $14/hr, as an engineer. Our combined income at that point was $74k. The $16k was a big hit. We had student loans, two car payments, and 4-5 credit cards, and just drained our savings to purchase a house (bought in Oct 2015).

Side note: I take care of all the finances.

It was around Nov-Dec 2015 that I became so fed up with our debt, I decided to get rid of it. So over the next year we took every last bit of money we had to pay off debt. We started off snowballing the credit cards since those had the highest interest and monthly payments. Then the cars, then the student loans. We didn't go out to eat, our weekly grocery budget became $100, and we didn't do any extra actives (vacations, movies, etc.).

So about the end of 2016 everything was paid off, except the house, and we started saving again. Early 2017 she got a raise to $18.65/hr and I started at the utility company making $65/yr. So we jumped from $74k to $103k, but now without any debt. I maintained the lifestyle of $74k, but since there was no debt we could actually do some fun activities. The now remaining money from our new total salary went into building savings up, 401k contributions, and donations.

We both graduated with our degrees in Aug 2014 and got married Oct 2014. Immediately after graduation is when we were making a combined $90k. We had a lot of things pop up in 2014-2015 that we weren't financially prepared for, and that caused us to put a lot on credit cards. We also paid for our own wedding.

The point at which all our debt was paid off was when I felt "all right."

Fast-forward to now: Wife is a full-time stay-at-home mom, I make $83k/yr (no bonus), we have a daughter, 1 on the way, 3 dogs, two nice cars (both 2015), and a 250k house (which is nice for the area). We contribute about $1k to a generic savings (for emergencies, spur of the moment purchases, etc.) and I forget how much I put in my 401k. I also have an IRA I contribute towards. After all that, we still have extra money to do fun stuff like go out to eat, buy stuff we want, etc.

During that little "rough" patch of 2015, I really became aware of where every dollar went. I've been able to maintain the same mentality I had when we had no excess money, and that really helps give us excess money now. Heck, our weekly grocery budget is only $125 for 2 adults, 1 baby, and 3 dogs. That also includes things like paper towels, toilet paper, beauty supplies, etc.

If you're interested in more I can PM you my monthly expenses and more information. When I was trying to get my money under control, I found it really hard to find good examples of what to do. Most of the time I only came across stuff like "couple pays off $1M in debt in only 1 year!" Well, that's great if you're both software engineers for google and living out of a van with no kids, but what about the normal person?

 

[Orchid PE]

When it comes to housing, it depends on the area, but my preference is to own. We bought our first house in Oct 2015 for $150k, and when we sold it 4 years later, it went for $200k. That's not too bad. I can only imagine if we had continued renting, we would've never made any money back.

When we moved here to TN I knew I wanted to own a home again. So we bought another house. Surprisingly, my 150k FL house and 250k TN house have almost the same mortgage. The TN house is only like $100 more.

Now I'm looking to purchase a second home in Chattanooga is predicted to start booming again, and I would make some money off a rental while at the same time have someone else pay the mortgage on it!

 

[Road Guy]

Very Random Question:

We are going to Florida to check in with the parents this summer, my dad has been trying to give me my old reproduction musket (.58 cal 3 band Enfield) and an original civil war Springfield musket he wants to let go of.  I really wanted to get the reproduction musket cause its fun to shoot, but I am not in a hurry to get the actual relic. But has anyone put these in as luggage before?

I see lots of people checking rifles and shotguns at DIA but I have never done it - is it a major PIA or no?

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Very Random Question:

We are going to Florida to check in with the parents this summer, my dad has been trying to give me my old reproduction musket (.58 cal 3 band Enfield) and an original civil war Springfield musket he wants to let go of.  I really wanted to get the reproduction musket cause its fun to shoot, but I am not in a hurry to get the actual relic. But has anyone put these in as luggage before?

I see lots of people checking rifles and shotguns at DIA but I have never done it - is it a major PIA or no?

I haven't done this personally, but I've seen others try it.

Yes it's a pita, and you should expect to have a hard time with the check-in agent or TSA. I've overheard on two occasions people flying from Denver complain about it. Generally people put those items in their own special travel case and use a TSA approved lock. I *think* it needs to be declared at the check in counter.

 

[Supe]

As someone who used to fly with rifles regularly BEFORE 9/11 happened, IMO, you will be money ahead by just having an FFL ship it to another FFL and paying the couple extra bucks for that to happen.  

Yes, it is a pain in the ***.  Yes, you will have to declare it at the counter in its own case and approved locks.  Yes, you will have to open the case and present it to the agent, which in most cases, you will get to spend extra time being escorted to a side room to speak with a TSA agent about your intended purpose for traveling with this, having your luggage hand screened to ensure you are not traveling with ammunition/items not checked in a separate lock box, etc.  They will then toss a card in the case, and depending on the airport, you will have to wait until the very end where they may hand carry the case to you OUTSIDE of the terminal.  They are also rough as **** with your firearm - American Airlines did a great job of dropping my PELICAN CASE so hard, that it split the entire backside of the case open and damaged my rifle en route to the Olympic Training Center.

Or, you walk into a dealer, fill out a sheet of paper, hand him some cash, and wait for your dealer back home to call you and tell you it arrived.

 

[Road Guy]

My Global Nexus just came if that helps?  - probably not!

That's the one issue with a musket is that there really isnt a good case available for purchase  

I keep wanting to make a road trip to the parents / pan handle / keys / Appalachian  mounts one summer for 2 weeks but that is probably a long ways out - I will check with some gun stores close to them and see if they will accommodate - I didnt know that was an option - thanks!

 

[blybrook PE]

Very Random Question:

We are going to Florida to check in with the parents this summer, my dad has been trying to give me my old reproduction musket (.58 cal 3 band Enfield) and an original civil war Springfield musket he wants to let go of.  I really wanted to get the reproduction musket cause its fun to shoot, but I am not in a hurry to get the actual relic. But has anyone put these in as luggage before?

I see lots of people checking rifles and shotguns at DIA but I have never done it - is it a major PIA or no?

Denver is a PIA! I've flown several dozen times with a firearm and I absolutely hate dealing with Denver flight agents.

When flying with a firearm, it has to be in its own locked, hard sided case. The locks CANNOT be TSA type and you must hold onto the key. Upon arrival, you declare them to the agent who gives you a tag to fill out declaring it is unloaded. They watch you fill it out, then put it into the locked case. Relock the case, they tag it, then you accompany it to a separate TSA station where it gets scanned. The agents will request you hand them the key to open the case, they'll unlock, open and relock the case in your presence. After that boondoggle, you can go through the regular TSA line and catch your flight. I dislike Denver because the ticket agents won't handle your firearm and will call for assistance as they won't let you carry it to TSA yourself. The assistance folks are limited in number, so you can wait up to 30 minutes for them to show up, then get escorted to the TSA area. Nearly every other airport I've flown has me take it to TSA myself and I am able to get through the process in under 5 minutes.

Long Arms can be sent via USPS to yourself without bothering to deal with the FFL! https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c4_009.htm

I've only used the FFL for transferring hand guns when I drove through Canada. If I can fly with them, I will.

If these guns are classified as Curio's or Relics, then I'd avoid USPS and get a good hard sided case to fly them home with you.

 

[Road Guy]

So if I am flying from Tampa to Denver would that be easier if I am just picking it up in Denver?

 

[blybrook PE]

When you fly to an airport, provided the firearm isn't inside another piece of luggage, they will have a separate area for them, usually with an agent. You'll show your ID and they'll give you your bag.

Since I fly with hard sided suitcases for work, I always have to go claim them as the handlers automatically presume they contain firearms.

 

[Road Guy]

cool thanks for the info - Im going to look for a case but i think our return flight leaves at 6 AM and the Tampa airport is so small the last time we flew that early the TSA folks were not even there yet!  I may just defer this, I think my dad is just trying to get them out of his house but not sure why they have plenty of room..

 

[blybrook PE]

You're welcome. There's some good cases out there that have pick-n-pluck foam and variable depths. When getting a pick-n-pluck foam case, also pickup a couple cans of Plasti-Dip spray. After getting the foam plucked to your liking, coat it several times with the Plasti-Dip. It gets absorbed by the foam and will hold the form better without loosing more foam during shipping / handling / usage. 

 

[mudpuppy]

I used to see lots of firearms checked at the Columbus, GA airport (which makes Tampa airport look gigantic) and they seemed to have a pretty smooth process... but it was mostly Army Rangers checking them.

I have heard anecdotally that firearms are a target for baggage thieves (on the TSA or airline side) since they tend to be pretty conspicuous.

 

[JayKay PE]

When it comes to housing, it depends on the area, but my preference is to own. We bought our first house in Oct 2015 for $150k, and when we sold it 4 years later, it went for $200k. That's not too bad. I can only imagine if we had continued renting, we would've never made any money back.

When we moved here to TN I knew I wanted to own a home again. So we bought another house. Surprisingly, my 150k FL house and 250k TN house have almost the same mortgage. The TN house is only like $100 more.

Now I'm looking to purchase a second home in Chattanooga is predicted to start booming again, and I would make some money off a rental while at the same time have someone else pay the mortgage on it!

You typed a ton of good stuff/I sent you a PM.  As for the owning a house/renting an apartment...I think I do want to own one day, but I don't know if that'll be anytime soon for me?  I'm currently located in Indianapolis due to the VA job and I have certain incentives that require me to stay for 3 years.  I do like the city, but I do not know if I will find a SO here, or if I would like to stay here due to limits in promotional capacity at the facility I'm at (I'd be stuck at a GS-11 forever, which as @RBHeadge PE knows is ********), so I might be moving out of this area by late 2022.  I don't think it makes sense for me to try and buy something in this time period?  Currently I'm in a kinda expensive apartment for the area, but I'm not sure if I want to move after my year lease is done since that would require packing everything up again just to maybe be gone in less than two years after?

 

[csb]

Very Random Question:

We are going to Florida to check in with the parents this summer, my dad has been trying to give me my old reproduction musket (.58 cal 3 band Enfield) and an original civil war Springfield musket he wants to let go of.  I really wanted to get the reproduction musket cause its fun to shoot, but I am not in a hurry to get the actual relic. But has anyone put these in as luggage before?

I see lots of people checking rifles and shotguns at DIA but I have never done it - is it a major PIA or no?

My husband flew from DEN to Canada with two larger shotguns and it was a very smooth process on our end. They were checked both to and from and there was a special room for TSA. We didn't have any issues. 

Let me touch base with the husband and we might be able to lend you hard sided cases.