gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 26, 2015 6:37:04 GMT -5
My pet peeve is on the list. Everyone says we like to "entertain" and it drives me bonkers. Doesn't anyone just say we like to have friends over? Nope, everyone says "entertain" and it sounds so pretentious.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 21, 2015 21:24:11 GMT -5
My inlaws sold their 20 year old house last year. They put it on the market for $340K with comparable price per square feet for their area. The only problem was that they had done no renovations or improvements and were trying to sell it for what new construction and remodeled homes were going for. They were totally unrealistic for what they could get for their house. They had to drop the price three times before they finally sold it for $250K.
Price accordingly and you'll be fine.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 21, 2015 17:45:00 GMT -5
I've been in the industry for 15 years (which is nothing compared to some of co-workers). This happens ever year after 3rd Quarter Earnings are reported in an effort to improve expense ratios before the end of the year. People costs make up most of the expenses, so cuts are made.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 21, 2015 6:46:01 GMT -5
When I got married, it was a strapless dress that I fell in love with. I had straps added to it. DH and I married 11.5 years ago and I still love my dress! I know, I know. Everyone loves them except me. And they look beautiful, it would just be nice if stores sold a few more options. And, yes that trend has been solid for at least 15 years now. I was engaged out of college as well and looked back then.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 21, 2015 6:21:38 GMT -5
I'll just be glad when the strapless wedding dress trend is over. When I was wedding dress shopping 5 years ago, there were maybe 2 dresses that had a top and thousands with nothing above. I've worn plenty of strapless dresses in my life but just couldn't get into it for my wedding gown. It was very frustrating. I'm not a prude, but did not want to show cleavage at my wedding. At 5'9" and 140 pounds, I wasn't far off from a model build. It shouldn't have been difficult.
So not to worry, the stores will stick to what people are buying.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 19, 2015 22:02:48 GMT -5
I don't see the bashing. It would just be refreshing for a teacher to just for once say, yeah- I have a pretty sweet gig which is why I went into it. You should come teach, too. And, not always feel the need to demand everyone agree that it is the hardest most underpaid position. But hey, what do you expect from a profession of mostly women. I catch myself sometimes too when people tell me I'm lucky. And, then I stop myself and say, you're right I am lucky and my life is awesome. No need for a pity party.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 19, 2015 19:36:08 GMT -5
Sigh. I give up.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 19, 2015 19:03:43 GMT -5
I just pray that you don't teach reading comprehension. Smh.... If you are talking to me, I comprehended just fine. I made a 780 on the verbal part of the GRE. Twice. Twenty years apart.
My job as a teacher was compared to being a meat cutter. I don't work weekends apparently because I don't get paid to work weekends.
It was pointed out to me that other professionals don't get paid to work weekends.
Therefore, the logical assumption is that other professionals such as accountants, lawyers, business managers, and CEOs also don't work weekends because they don't punch a time clock or pull a weekend shift.
Your reading comprehension, however, puzzles me as much as mine does you . What about what I was told about teachers not working on weekends did I miss?
Or did I miss the insult? No, I didn't. I comprehended it just fine.
I think the point was, the meat cutter isn't fitting in a couple of hours during the weekend when the time allows. They have to physically be in a work location for a full day and are unable to attend events and other activities on any given weekend they are scheduled to work. The salaried non-shift worker, teacher in this example, can still attend events and schedule around their personal life to fit in that couple of hours they couldn't get done during the work week. Teachers get singled out only because they are the only profession out of all the professions that boohoo and complain about it anytime somebody says anything about the job. See the difference?
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 19, 2015 15:39:28 GMT -5
I remember a woman on Oprah talking about the worst day of her life. She was driving her 3 young children (5, 4, 2- one girl and two boys) and a big rig slammed into her mini-van from behind, killing all three of her children. She and her husband were devastated. The parents went through many stages of guilt and suicidal thoughts. But then almost exactly one year later, she gave birth to triplets- one girl and two boys. It doesn't replace their lost children, but it was an amazing story nonetheless. It reminded me of the Book of Job.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 19, 2015 14:29:32 GMT -5
You are kidding, right, about teachers never having to work weekends? Or do you only equate "working" with hours you are paid for? I work EVERY weekend as a teacher. My husband is pissed lately that I only have time to do schoolwork on weekends. I agreed to teach a freshman comp (English 101)/dual enrollment class. The grading is 3X as much as my regular class (6 formal essays a semester vs. 2 formal essays). But you are right in that they will never call me in to actually "work" on weekends and get paid for it. It is all on my own time. I had some friends a few years ago who were in their first and second years of teaching middle school. They put in some crazy hours between making lesson plans and grading papers. I imagine the lesson planning gets easier as you have more experience, but the grading never stops. They definitely weren't making the money this guy makes, and I suspect most of them will burn out and find a different job before they do. I used to teach an 8-5:30 class M-F for 15-20 people, year round. 3 days/week I had to grade each individuals work plus write very specific daily performance evaluations. I got paid $30K/year non-overtime eligible and two weeks paid vacation, no comp time. That first 6 months, I worked an additional 3-6 hours every day, including weekends reviewing the material for the next day, practicing my lectures, grading, writing the reviews and following up with managers. So, we're talking well over 60 hours every week. Then after about 6 months, I got it down to being able to do almost everything while the class was at lunch or during independent class activities (tests). Yeah, I still had to work through lunch, but I didn't have to work until midnight and weekends anymore. Just based on my experience I agree with you and find it hard to believe that a teacher is never able to get to a point where they can really minimize the prep and post work and really maximize the school day.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 19, 2015 14:12:35 GMT -5
I have a third on the way and my oldest is 4 and no way to predict how much tuition, room and board will be in 14+ years. Our goal has been $400/month per kid per 529. We'll re-evaluate as needed and are already maxing out retirement accounts and have other investments. I imagine cashflowing some will be an option as I'm already cashflowing daycare at $30K/year soon to be $40K/year.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 18, 2015 21:32:31 GMT -5
I suspect a teacher will NEVER have to work a weekend or a holiday. I suspect the 'meat cutter' may feel pressured to work holidays and weekends - for the pay OR to not be seen as "lazy" or "unreliable" by management so he gets the shifts he wants.
I suspect a "meat cutter" might have to work more than 8 hours in a day - more often than a handful of times during the year like say a teacher who has to stay 'late' for teacher/parent conferences or 'open house' a couple of times during the school year.
I'm NOT saying that teachers don't 'work hard' or put in a lot of hours... There's just trade offs in compensation. (FWIW: my local grade schools will have their first full 5 days of school next week. MY gosh, the teachers are going to be exhausted after having the kids for 5 days straight... it's such a burden).
You are kidding, right, about teachers never having to work weekends? Or do you only equate "working" with hours you are paid for? I work EVERY weekend as a teacher. My husband is pissed lately that I only have time to do schoolwork on weekends. I agreed to teach a freshman comp (English 101)/dual enrollment class. The grading is 3X as much as my regular class (6 formal essays a semester vs. 2 formal essays). But you are right in that they will never call me in to actually "work" on weekends and get paid for it. It is all on my own time. I interpreted the post as meaning that teachers don't actually have to physically be at a work location like a meat cutter would. Many, many exempt professionals have to do some unpaid work at home weekends or after hours- whether it's preparing a presentation, travel, research, reports, etc. But not many have to physically be at their work location to get it done.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 18, 2015 8:58:43 GMT -5
No, you do not need to send a gift!
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 18, 2015 8:57:09 GMT -5
Honestly, I don't know how popular they are elsewhere. It's not a national company and they have extremely strict underwriting guidelines which is how they can keep the annual assessments so low. Then they take those funds and invest them- which is how they are profitable. This company has been around for hundreds of years. My parents were customers and they told me to make sure once I was in my first home a year, to give them a call. They don't take new purchases (unless you're already a customer), they don't insure more than a certain percentage on the same street/neighborhood, they exclude smokers, some dog-owners, they make you replace you washer tubes to steel, and a ton of other things and then if you're lucky- they'll take you. But, once you're in, you're in.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 18, 2015 6:56:03 GMT -5
Right now it's all the overpriced order forms my co-workers are bringing in. It kills me to overpay for something I can get a trader's joes for a fraction of the price. There are 4 people peddling stuff right now and soon it will be neighborhood kids joining in. I can move past the kids pushing it at the grocery store, but I'm too weak to say no to co-workers and neighborhood kids.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 18, 2015 6:51:48 GMT -5
I will never change homeowners insurance companies and am a loyal customer for life. I'm on a mutual assurance and pay only 15% of the premium. I have a half million dollar home, a rental property, jewelry endorsement and umbrella coverage. For all that, I pay $300/year. The premiums have never gone up, but the rates went up once- to 20% of the premium and then they settled back down to 15%. That was after a huge hurricane more than 10 years ago. Before that I had State Farm who raised rates every year. I'll never go back to a traditional insurance company.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 17, 2015 15:47:45 GMT -5
You can save out of your circumstances, but people won't or will do so illegally because that means they'll lose their free money. Few will willingly walk away from a guaranteed paycheck for life when they can't work. It's just the way it is. There is no way to fix the system. If the government took care of my grandfather for life- food, shelter, medical and my family had to contribute little to nothing, I shouldn't get an inheritance- that money should be returned to the government for others in the program.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 17, 2015 15:08:36 GMT -5
The guy in OP did report it. He didn't get it in cash originally. He got it via govt check. Govt knew exactly how much he got and if he had to file taxes, it was on it all through the years. The fact that he chose to save some of it in his mattress doesn't mean he didn't report it. The problem with your theory about the government not allowing people off the system is that many of these people don't want off the system. Three scenarios in this sting alone. Guy #1 saves $25K and hides it, Guy #2 receives $17K and transfers it, Guy #3 refuses an inheritance. None have any intention of getting of the dole and never will and it's not because of government limitations. All that does is prevent people from becoming hugely wealthy and still taking tax payer money. Which, you better believe if people have a problem with some of these scenarios, they would with the folks who managed to save $100,000s and still collect welfare.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 16, 2015 11:40:16 GMT -5
Nobody is saying it's TLooney's fault. But yes, it is fraud and it is illegal. It doesn't matter if everyone here agrees or disagrees. He shouldn't have been taking food from the food bank (food that could have gone to actual needy people) in order to save his welfare checks that were intended to cover his basic needs. But, what's done is done and it sounds like you now have some snowflake money.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 16, 2015 11:17:22 GMT -5
dern. There I was just minding my own business. I would never survive the zombie apocalypse.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 16, 2015 10:22:23 GMT -5
Heck, I thought DS and his wife were middle class- they live in Des Moines and DS makes $60K/year. DDIL is a SAHM to their one child (hoping for at least one more). They own a small house (3 BR, 2 baths), built in the 1920s with some nice woodwork, in a university area. One car is DS' beater that he drives to work; the other is a Nissan SUV DDIL bought at the Nissan dealership where she worked before DGD was born. He has no student loans; she has a small one from a 2-year business degree that they may have paid off by now. The SUV has a car payment but the interest rate is 2% so they're in no hurry to pay it off.
Most of DGD's clothes come from a thrift store and she always looks adorable. Because the house is small, she doesn't have acres of toys but she DOES have a lot of books! No TV. DS and DDIL have mobile phones but not smartphones. They're saving money.
So are they lower class? 3BR/2 baths is not a small house! I don't know if I agree with that. There are lots of tiny older single floor 1000 sf houses where I grew up. No basements and no attics. My grandma lived in one for 60 years. She died a couple of years ago and it sold for $65K. I grew up in one, except there was only 1 bathroom. It's fine for a single person, but can get pretty cramped for a family.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 16, 2015 9:56:32 GMT -5
I contributed 20% until I hit an $80k salary (including bonus), at the point I could finally max my 401(k) to the IRS limit.
I definitely missed the money as my starting salary was only $23K and it took a long 10 years to even get to $80K, which was really $70K with a $10K bonus. I missed a lot of destination weddings and probably wasn't the good friend I could have been if I had the money to spend instead.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 15, 2015 6:53:42 GMT -5
My car was pretty reliable until it was 10 years old and then I also had some hefty repairs- radiation, the alternator and I don't even remember what else. It was about $1200 to fix/replace everything it needed. I did it knowing it was cheaper than a new car. I haven't had any major repairs since then and my car is 18 years old now. I bought this car used for $10K cash in 2002. I get one or two oil change/year and inspection. I replace the brakes and tires when they fail inspection. And grab a battery or light bulb when they stop working. That's it and is all the maintenance I do on it. I don't trust garages, once they start pulling spark plugs and replacing things that work fine, all sorts of things go wrong. The last straw was when a lube time drained the transmission fluid and left it empty. It sounds like you're at that 10 year hurdle. My vote is to repair it and keep on going for another 10.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 13, 2015 6:56:41 GMT -5
He doesn't want his name associated with money! Wait...I think I said it like 5 times already He's not eligible for SSA because he arrived at 60 so no way in hell does he'll have 40 earnings quarters. He's on SSDI based on aged. Yes it is fraud. Yes he would lose his SSDI based on excess assets. Yes he would have to repay. Yes this is the problem with old people coming here from other countries for our generous (by comparison) benefits Oh I see what's going on now. Thanks for the clarification. Sigh, doesn't anyone just live an honest life anymore.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 12, 2015 20:03:37 GMT -5
My parents were divorced when I was very young. I went to school in my mom's district and most of my friends were walking distance from my mom's house and we all walked to school together. When I went to my dad's house, I made a few friends on the street. None were my age and none were very close friends, but that's what happens when you're not in school with them all day. Friends from my school never came over to my dad's house. I had two separate lives.
Now I imagine it's even harder since most kids are in scheduled activities, which limits who is even home and available to just hang out with.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 12, 2015 19:47:10 GMT -5
Maybe he prefers the laid back nature of the dad's house. ?? I am not sure what this refers to. I am going to guess that it means that stereo-typically dads aren't usually the ones scheduling the playdates and kids activities. I have a very involved husband who is a great dad, but he has never scheduled a play date and does not go to birthday parties. His idea of dad duty involves watching football on t.v. while they play quietly in the next room or nearby or napping with them. My kids are still very young and it's almost always moms at the birthday parties and meet-ups. My female friends also complain that they wished their husbands would take them on their activities and play dates, so I don't think it's that unusual for it to be more "laid-back" at dad's house.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 12, 2015 18:17:09 GMT -5
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 12, 2015 17:31:27 GMT -5
Can't grandpa just deposit the money into the daughters account through a local branch? As long as he has her account number and does it in a couple deposits (to avoid the IRS reporting if he's that weird about it), it shouldn't be an issue. Heck, Daughter can just mail some deposit slips to him. I would not recommend that. Depositing 25K cash in deposits under 10K will mean the bank will fill out a different form without you knowing. This behavior screams structuring to avoid the over 10k form. I'd take the bank filling out the over 10K deposit form over secretly reporting the suspicious transaction form. Seriously, the over $10K form is not a big deal unless you are hiding illegal activity.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 12, 2015 15:41:54 GMT -5
If I had enough in investments to give me 60k a year at age 50, I am sure as hell retiring. And if I do nothing but sit on my ass, that is my prerogative.
This is interesting. You think $60K a year is enough?
If I were 50 years old, living alone with no dependents and no spouse, you better believe a guaranteed $60K/year for life would be enough for me to retire and never look back.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Oct 12, 2015 15:30:09 GMT -5
I think I'd rather take my chances with a bank than the mail. The over 10K reporting requirement is just so the feds can track illegal activity like money laundering and funding terrorist activities. If FIL is not or has not done anything illegal, then who cares if the bank fills out that form. If you try to deposit less than 10K over the course of a few deposits to avoid the over 10K reporting requirement, you'll likely have a suspicious transaction form filed without you knowing. Then you could be busted for structuring and the funds seized.
If it were me, I'd open the account with $25K and then gift $12,500 this year and $12,500 next year. That way the recipient won't need to pay gift taxes and FIL hasn't broken any laws.
Good luck, let us know how flying there, getting the money and flying back works out.
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