Search found 472 matches

by blueman457
Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [Should I ditch] Google Chrome[?]
Replies: 77
Views: 7808

Re: [Should I ditch] Google Chrome[?]

Dear Bogleheads, I've recently seen many articles on issues with using Google Chrome. Most of them seem to be coming from Forbes but the main issues seem to be new and frequent hacks and privacy issues. The security hacks appear to be happening more frequently according to Forbes and at least one of them was a "zero-day" attack which means the hackers were able to exploit the flaw before Google caught on. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2021/09/25/google-chrome-warning-zero-day-hack-new-attack-upgrade-chrome-now/?sh=1e18997355d6 The privacy issues center around web tracking and its use for advertisers. Google apparently and unsurprisingly still gathers a lot of data about its users and sells to advertisers. https://www.f...
by blueman457
Sun Oct 03, 2021 10:52 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What’s your favorite web browser…and why?
Replies: 51
Views: 5964

Re: What’s your favorite web browser…and why?

I use Firefox for the temporary containers and privacy add-ons, and Safari because it works well on a Mac.
by blueman457
Sun Aug 29, 2021 10:51 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Password Manager Question
Replies: 64
Views: 7258

Re: Password Manager Question

Ryzen wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 9:25 am Bitwarden is free and in my experience works even better than Lastpass which was always garbage on Android. Now you have to pay Lastpass if you want to use on both mobile and desktop.
+1
by blueman457
Thu Aug 05, 2021 12:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: I really want a car but don't need one: Please help
Replies: 64
Views: 7901

Re: I really want a car but don't need one: Please help

It’s not about the money per se, but factor in the costs of other things too.

Insurance/Deductible
Maintenance
Annual car taxes
Gas/Electric bill
Dents
Tires
Time to do all those things
by blueman457
Mon Jul 19, 2021 8:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Noise cancelling headphones
Replies: 33
Views: 3304

Re: Noise cancelling headphones

I do a couple of round trip flights a month and use Sony 1000-XM3 over the ear headphones; I thought the sound quality was a little better than Bose Q35, but I’m not an audiophile. One thing I do not like about the Sony (compared to the Bose) is that the ability to change the audio source via bluetooth is a bit tedious.

AirPod Pros are pretty good for noise cancelling and you can change the audio source easily, but only worth it if you’re in the Apple Ecosystem.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun Jun 27, 2021 2:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: PO Box for my father after selling house
Replies: 7
Views: 1048

Re: PO Box for my father after selling house

Some USPS places will sign for fedex and ups deliveries, and put them in a locker. In addition, for some stores that will not ship to a PO Box, you can give the USPS address and your box number and and then delivery will go through.

All the above are features that some USPS stations have but not all.


Blue man
by blueman457
Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Secure email provider
Replies: 29
Views: 4598

Re: Secure email provider

Digging up an old thread I found in the search… For Fastmail users, do you find it worth $50 a year? Anyone use Posteo for about $15 a year? I’m trying to get away from Google entirely. I don’t like google tracking me across the web every time I sign in to check my Gmail. They may not be reading emails anymore, but just being logged in implicates major privacy concerns. That and someone sold my email so I’m getting tons of spam. I find Fastmail worth it. One of the benefits for me is to able to create multiple email alias when I sign up for a new service. I can create an email "bogleheads123@fastmail.com" to have it forward to my actual email account. It help prevents marketing companies buying databases and tracking people via e...
by blueman457
Tue Apr 20, 2021 9:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Ski Resort Recommendations for the first-timers? (emphasis on resort)
Replies: 82
Views: 7435

Re: Ski Resort Recommendations for the first-timers? (emphasis on resort)

I just want to strongly recommend to get a ski lesson. Splurge on a private lesson for the family (I think $800-1200 for the day). As someone who started skiing in my mid 30’s, the lessons were super helpful as I’m not athletically gifted.


Enjoy!

Blue Man

P.S. This is my 3rd year skiing and I ski groomed blacks and blue bumps runs. Old dogs CAN learn new tricks!
by blueman457
Sun Jan 17, 2021 7:40 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Secure email provider
Replies: 29
Views: 4598

Re: Secure email provider

Fastmail and Tutanota should be looked at in addition to protonmail.

Blue man
by blueman457
Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:45 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Synology and IP Camera Setup
Replies: 14
Views: 3202

Re: Synology and IP Camera Setup

I wanted to give some much delayed conclusion.

I ended getting a Synology NAS and setting it up as a data backup device and surveillance station. The IP camera setup worked well (all things concerned). Data is stored locally, but I can see the real-time and motion triggered recordings.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Thu Jul 09, 2020 9:14 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Apple Airpods vs. Airpods Pro?
Replies: 33
Views: 3401

Re: Apple Airpods vs. Airpods Pro?

I have the Pros and they are great for earbuds, and I did not try on the regular airpods.The noise canceling (if you want it) is good, but is not as good as my Sony 1000-XM3.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My parents want me to buy them a car... should I?
Replies: 33
Views: 3450

Re: My parents want me to buy them a car... should I?

Normchad wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:40 pm In that case, I’d volunteer to fix their car for them. Take it to a good mechanic, get it looked over. Make everything safe. Brakes, tires, etc. Then they have a working, safe car and you can sleep well at night.

By doing this, rather than writing a check, it doesn’t send the message that you will send money upon request.

Mobility is a legitimate need.
Excellent first step!
by blueman457
Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:28 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Help Me Strategize Our Debt Payoff Please
Replies: 43
Views: 2603

Re: Help Me Strategize Our Debt Payoff Please

Good job on staying focused on getting the loans paid off. A couple of thoughts

1. Try to consolidate in 10/2020 to a single loan with a low rate.

2. Because you have roughly 5k a month to pay off your loans, I would knock out smaller first (Ramsay style).
It’s not mathematically optimal, but given that you are able to knock out a lot of the single loans in with a few payments it makes the number of accounts you have to deal with much easier as you pay them off. This also minimizes the interest payment vs principle payment that the loan companies can screw up.
Keep it up,

Blue man
by blueman457
Mon May 11, 2020 9:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Password vault or generator?
Replies: 110
Views: 9060

Re: Password vault or generator?

+1 Bitwarden

I moved away from Lastpass to Bitwarden due to some poor 2FA implementation from Lastpass.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun May 10, 2020 5:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Guest Wifi Network with Separate DNS?
Replies: 3
Views: 1037

Guest Wifi Network with Separate DNS?

Hello, Q: is it possible to set up guest wifi network using a separate DNS lookup with the equipment I have? Current equipment: Orbi AC1300 (router and 1 satelite) Synology 418 Play NAS Raspberry Pi x 2 with Pi-Hole for DNS ad-blocking The Orbi router has a "Main Network" SSID that uses the Raspberry Pi's for DNS Lookup and ad-blocking and synology NAS for network storage. I'd like to create a separate SSID/Guest network/etc... that does not use the the Raspberry Pi's for DNS for look up; sometimes when I have guests, I don't want to explain to them they the referral links don't work etc... In theory, I can just disable Pi-Hole for a few hours, but I'd rather see what I can do. If I get a cheap second router and attach it to the O...
by blueman457
Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Pay Student Loans before Starting Taxable Investments?
Replies: 44
Views: 2520

Re: Pay Student Loans before Starting Taxable Investments?

I don’t think is a wrong or right answer per se. But things do have to be kept in mind.

1. Is your interest rate fixed?
2. Are you ok with returns of -5 to -10% if we hit a recession Vs a guaranteed 3.9% payoff?
3. Do you have the rest of your financial house in order?
4. Are you a physician in training (a guess from your name) - that may change your plans too.

Blue man
by blueman457
Sat Nov 16, 2019 11:50 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Dental insurance covers 3 cleanings/yr?
Replies: 20
Views: 2393

Re: Dental insurance covers 3 cleanings/yr?

My insurance covers 4 cleanings a year by the hygienist, 2 examinations by the dentist.

First time I’ve had any dental insurance that covered 4 cleanings a year.

Blue man
by blueman457
Wed Nov 13, 2019 3:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Apple TV vs Competitors
Replies: 34
Views: 4355

Re: Apple TV vs Competitors

I have an older Apple TV had a Roku. Both worked fine, then I came across a series of articles about that Roku wasn't a set-box company both rather an ad company. Roku tracks what you watch and sells ads to marketers. This made me stop using my Roku.

https://gizmodo.com/your-roku-is-an-ad- ... 1838843249

https://digiday.com/media/video-briefin ... -emerging/

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:03 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Adding Second Phone to Cellular Plan, ??
Replies: 5
Views: 579

Re: Adding Second Phone to Cellular Plan, ??

I use an old iPhone for the same purpose, but I had one laying around. If you only need a phone for a year and call capabilities a “basic” phone would be just fine.

Blueman
by blueman457
Mon Sep 02, 2019 10:52 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: I have 8 checking accounts?????
Replies: 32
Views: 5276

Re: I have 8 checking accounts?????

I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to have as many as 8 accounts. We have 6 and I don’t own a business. But all the accounts have their purpose, so if you don’t need an account close it.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Fri Jul 05, 2019 12:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cloud storage: Best cross-platform, family-shareable service? Google Drive / One vs. Dropbox vs. who else?
Replies: 23
Views: 3216

Re: Cloud storage: Best cross-platform, family-shareable service? Google Drive / One vs. Dropbox vs. who else?

If your primary goal is overall cloud based iPhone backup, then I would upgrade your wife's icloud plan and add you to it or vice versa. You can share the space. $3/month for 200gb not a bargain for cloud storage, but cheap enough where I don't have to think about our iPhone's photos and device storage.

I use onedrive for work and I think it's great for overall file sharing and storage. It should do photo backups as well, but I'm not certain.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Mon Jun 10, 2019 6:47 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Excel to Outlook - need some Visual Basic assistance
Replies: 3
Views: 709

Excel to Outlook - need some Visual Basic assistance

Q: Where can I find a free-lancer to do a small easy project in Visual Basic?

I am in charge of scheduling various people to give a monthly lecture with my residents. I want to use excel to create the meeting and sent the invite in outlook so that it shows up on the faculty's calendar. How do I find a free-lancer to do this?

Thanks,

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Gift for niece who is graduating as a Physician Assistant.
Replies: 33
Views: 3791

Re: Gift for niece who is graduating as a Physician Assistant.

Before buying anything medically specific (gift card for figs, stethoscope, etc...) what speciality will she be in and what sort of setting will she work in? That will dictate what she can wear and use. (Ex: Orthopedic PAs probably don’t need a stethoscope, and need to hospital issued scrubs when going to the operating room).

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun Jun 02, 2019 9:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Now that we know we're just digital prey, tell me about ad blockers and other apps and which ones are best
Replies: 35
Views: 4839

Re: Now that we know we're just digital prey, tell me about ad blockers and other apps and which ones are best

I use Firefox with built in tracking protection with Privacy Badger and Cookie Auto Delete. I use Safari in private mode for my random web browsing. I have tried the Brave browser, but it makes my Mac run super hot so I've abandoned it for now.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun May 26, 2019 8:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How a SIM swap attack works
Replies: 31
Views: 4943

Re: How a SIM swap attack works

stan1 wrote: Sun May 26, 2019 1:36 pm
southerndoc wrote: Sun May 26, 2019 1:33 pm For Vanguard users, please write to Tim Buckley requesting the ability to disable SMS backup from Yubikeys.
If you do that give him a suggestion on how to reset a customer's online access if the YubiKey is lost. Your answer can't be "there isn't a way".

What about OTP via software token?

Blue Man
by blueman457
Thu May 23, 2019 9:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Can I take an 85+% pay cut for fun?
Replies: 88
Views: 15169

Re: Can I take an 85+% pay cut for fun?

I always enjoy reading when people come back later and post a follow up, after posing interesting questions with the typical range of great answers we see on bogleheads. So, I figured I'd do the same. OP here. I ended up taking the "middle road" that many people in this thread suggested. I quit the toxic environment I was dealing with at the high-paying MegaCorp, took a couple of months off, then started another engineering job at, let's say, a MediumCorp. Took a large paycut (close to 50%), but I'm making about average now for my position (low six figures) - the high salary at my previous MegaCorp was an outlier, both in my own personal experience and based on salary ranges you can find online. I'm enjoying life a lot more now a...
by blueman457
Wed May 15, 2019 6:21 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Last Pass with Vanguard and USAA
Replies: 38
Views: 6101

Re: Last Pass with Vanguard and USAA

southerndoc wrote: Tue May 14, 2019 9:47 pm I have several Yubikeys at my house. I think LastPass allows you to register 10 of them. So you shouldn't be in a situation where you become locked out.

There are account recovery options. For one, if you have the iOS app, you can use it to recover your account with FaceID.
Does it let you now change from a Yubikey to One time passwords when logging in? With regards to account recovery, it was that process that I wasn’t thrilled with. If someone stole my laptop, then they’d have access to my email and could easily get into LastPass by disabling 2FA and resetting the master password.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Tue May 14, 2019 9:18 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Last Pass with Vanguard and USAA
Replies: 38
Views: 6101

Re: Last Pass with Vanguard and USAA

Love it. I have a Yubikey that is required to access my stored passwords. Any time I open Chrome, it automatically opens a popup requiring my Yubikey. Without it, the passwords are not usable. I have Vanguard set to autologin. When I click the bookmark, it will automatically log me in and Vanguard will then ask for my Yubikey. I have my iPhone set to use LastPass for passwords. Very much like it and highly recommend it! Thanks a ton for bringing this up. I’ve been reading about Yubikey since you posted this and will be ordering next week! I had already started transitioning to lastpass so this should work well. Much appreciated. I left Lastpass for a problem with Yubikey; if I lost my Yubikey I could not use another 2fFA such as Authy. Bit...
by blueman457
Sun May 12, 2019 3:30 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: ug - seeking medical billing advice for ambulance ride
Replies: 55
Views: 5966

Re: ug - seeking medical billing advice for ambulance ride

rasputin wrote: Sun May 12, 2019 3:11 pm I found a loophole - you can request to be put on a payment plan. There's no interest on the payment plan and no minimum payment. I'm paying one dollar a month.
Interesting... how long will it take you to pay the bill?

Blue Man
by blueman457
Mon May 06, 2019 6:15 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Saving passwords on iCloud
Replies: 21
Views: 2865

Re: Saving passwords on iCloud

I moved from LastPass to Bitwarden. Less buggy, open source, and better 2FA options.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Final Word from Cyber Security types?-Password Manager for non-techie??
Replies: 43
Views: 3664

Re: Final Word from Cyber Security types?-Password Manager for non-techie??

Hello all! Yes, I know there are a lot of password manager threads out there but I'm looking more for expert advice/experience and less of opinion. BLUF: IPhone user. Need a password manager that is secure (2/3 way authentication as part of it?). I'm pretty low tech so a one stop shop would be awesome...something to maybe just download? Or a guide that that I can follow to set up a security process? I don't mind paying a fee upfront but don't want to depend on a monthly service. After doing several days worth of searches here, I know there are many options but I'm also getting very confused as to which is best for me: Keepass (for saving pws on my phone/computer), LastPass (need to pay monthly), Dashlane, Clipperz.is, etc. Also, all the se...
by blueman457
Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:09 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How to avoid throwing money at problems?
Replies: 62
Views: 5826

Re: How to avoid throwing money at problems?

I wouldn't view it as throwing money at problems, just spending money to save time and be more efficient in things that require my actual attention.

-A car needs to be replaced at some point, it may be worth biting the bullet now if it continues to have issues
-A 2yo computer shouldn't have THAT many problems. It may be worth just keeping the current hard drive and starting fresh.
-I strongly dislike cleaning and therefore do a poor job at it, so a cleaning service was helpful for me. You can try a service every other week at first to see if it works for you.
-Definitely get someone else to rake leaves, that's a bit much

Trial and error, somethings may not be worth spending, others may be.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun Mar 31, 2019 11:46 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Would you change your stock/bond allocation if you had access to an unusually generous stable value fund? (TIAA Trad)
Replies: 61
Views: 4973

Re: Would you change your stock/bond allocation if you had access to an unusually generous stable value fund? (TIAA Trad

I have access to similar funds: TIAA Traditional RC in my 401a and RC+ in my 403b. The RC+ is liquid, but pays less than the plain RC. I use it as a bond holding.

Similar-ish question from a few years ago:

viewtopic.php?t=221286

I do not change my allocation because I utilize it as a bond.


Blue Man
by blueman457
Sat Mar 30, 2019 1:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Keeping a stash of vacation days as unemployment "insurance"
Replies: 70
Views: 6860

Re: Keeping a stash of vacation days as unemployment "insurance"

I do keep a stash of vacation days only because I’m allowed to rollover days up to some maximum.

During the first two years of my current job, I didn’t take the maximum number of days off so that helped get my stash started.

Blue man
by blueman457
Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Apple Card
Replies: 128
Views: 17078

Re: Apple Card

It's a good card, not amazing, but good.

It's NOT AIMED AT BOGLEHEADS OR CHURNERS who want to milk every benefit out of every card or pay off your balance each month.

The differentiating factors
-security and privacy: many people on this board don't seem to care, but I do
-2% cash back is good: there are better cards out there, but 2% is good

I'll sign up when it gets released.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:37 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Am I being cheap? Wife wants a minivan, but I want to hold off
Replies: 170
Views: 11662

Re: Am I being cheap? Wife wants a minivan, but I want to hold off

An Odyssey is overkill if you only have 2 kids. Not true! Very not true. Our adult daughter and her husband owned an Odyssey for years when our two granddaughters were elementary school-aged. There were countless times we’d be visiting with them (we lived in the same area) when someone would suggest we all go for ice cream, or take a quick drive over to Disney Springs to partially drain our 401k on the girls at the World of Disney store. It’s not just about hauling childrens’ friends. It’s also about dragging along the grandparents (and their VISA card). We had great times in there as one extended family that we would never have had driving separate vehicles. And the fact that the underside of the backseat armrests sometimes had gum wads s...
by blueman457
Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Mourning the loss of savings rate
Replies: 38
Views: 5347

Re: Mourning the loss of savings rate

My recommendation? Stop focusing on absolutes. Things change. I smile when I see people writing detailed plans and coming up with exact forecasts. Life changes. Especially if you don't have kids yet, or just got kids. Many haven't a clue how much kids cost. Here's my guidance, take it for what it's worth. Worked for me, may not for anyone else. Set broadbased goals along the lines of the Boglehead philosophy. Be thrifty, but not ridiculously cheap. Save, and put your savings into the right type of accounts (maxing company match, then IRAs, ...). Pick the right kinds of investments (3 fund portfolio). Then sit back and enjoy your life. When we had our first, my wife stopped working. She started volunteering when the youngest went to school,...
by blueman457
Sat Mar 02, 2019 10:54 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Parents Helping With Student Loans
Replies: 12
Views: 1900

Re: Parents Helping With Student Loans

Refinance your loans. Keep contributing to the 401k. Have your parents make a small gift if they want to.

Blue man
by blueman457
Sat Mar 02, 2019 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Experience with Apple Pay?
Replies: 71
Views: 8149

Re: Experience with Apple Pay?

Awesome, even better with the Apple Watch. Don’t even need to grab my phone.

Blue man
by blueman457
Sat Mar 02, 2019 10:47 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I switch my daily banking business to Ally?
Replies: 51
Views: 6379

Re: Should I switch my daily banking business to Ally?

My slight annoyance with Ally is that you have to manually download transactions to quicken (I use banktivity). So I haven’t jumped over to ally yet.

Blue man
by blueman457
Sat Mar 02, 2019 10:42 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Men & Women: What do you pack for travel inside 1 carry-on luggage only??
Replies: 169
Views: 16023

Re: What do you pack for international vacation travel??

Agree with a lot of the above. Wanted to emphasize: use a large backpack so you can move easier, especially because it sounds like you’re moving every few days.

I use a 45L bag like

https://www.rei.com/product/112654/ospr ... ravel-pack

And a 65L

https://www.rei.com/product/134628/ospr ... -pack-mens

I also have a daypack that I bring so I can have some thing with me during the day.

Have fun!

Blue man
by blueman457
Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: beginner needing help saving for 15 year emergency expense
Replies: 8
Views: 1140

Re: beginner needing help saving for 15 year emergency expense

Congratulations on finishing your training!

I agree on preparing for PSLF and making sure all of your documentation is correct.

You should also do some calculations on how much it would cost if you continue paying at the PSLF interest rate + the tax that would come with loan forgiveness. For me, PSLF didn't make sense because I was able to refinance to a private loan for less total cost.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Sat Feb 16, 2019 7:09 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Mega Downsize....
Replies: 113
Views: 15416

Re: Mega Downsize....

Well done!
by blueman457
Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:35 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: REITs - 20% Qualified Income Deduction
Replies: 72
Views: 7769

Re: Indiv. REITs in taxable because of new tax law? Aargh!

Does that mean I should move REITs into taxable? Or that I should feel ok moving it into taxable if I run out of tax advantaged space.

Blue Man
by blueman457
Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:09 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 401k loan to pay off debt?
Replies: 45
Views: 4401

Re: 401k loan to pay off debt?

Jspeaker wrote: Mon Feb 11, 2019 9:36 pm I decided not to take out the 401k loan and have been aggressively paying down the debt. A bonus bigger than expected and cutting almost all unnecessary spending has got me down to 10k total remaining. 8k student loans and 2k auto loan left. Barring no unexpected circumstances, I will have this paid off sometime this year.

I have started tracking all my expenses, which has helped me cut out some spending and focus more on what I can save. My emergency fund which was nonexistent when I started this thread, is only 2k right now and I am starting to add weekly. Although risky, I went the route of focusing to paying all debt off before covering 3-6 months expenses.
Well done!
by blueman457
Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:17 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Organizing Yubikeys
Replies: 11
Views: 2226

Re: Organizing Yubikeys

If I create a new account I add it to the primary key. If I care about the account I also add it to the one in my sock draw and make a note of the new account. From time to time I exchange the off site and sock draw backup and add the third key to the new accounts. If I have an account that only accepts two keys, it's backed up randomly on one of the two backups. I did not get the backup keys for financial accounts. I am sure that if I lose all my keys I will still be able to recover the financial accounts, if necessary through the legal system or by flying to Valley Forge and showing them my passport, or some similar nonsense. The backup keys are for online only accounts that I have nothing to do with money. I hold them anonymously and co...
by blueman457
Sat Feb 02, 2019 5:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Ally Bank's nightmarish online reviews -- should I be worried?
Replies: 105
Views: 21438

Re: Ally Bank's nightmarish online reviews -- should I be worried?

Ally is excellent. Poor reviewslike the ones you mention are generally of the provence of the poor and misinformed. Well I'm neither poor, nor misinformed, so let me give a poor review: I had a very poor experience dealing with Ally to inherit the account of a close relative. Their customer service was absolutely horrible. The transition took ages longer than promised, paper-work was lost, reps in the estate department disagreed with each other about what specific paperwork was required and how to send it in, and on top of that they even ended up blocking me out of my own account for weeks (and leaving me with app only access for weeks more on top of that!). They're great at giving platitudes (i.e. "Oh, we're so sorry!"), but rat...
by blueman457
Sat Feb 02, 2019 3:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Organizing Yubikeys
Replies: 11
Views: 2226

Re: Organizing Yubikeys

[quote="Epsilon Delta" post_id=4358011 time=<a href="tel:1549127517">1549127517</a> user_id=26401] I don't understand this. You should setup all the keys to access all your accounts. That way they are all functionally equivalent. The primary is then the one you have in your hand. The backup is the one in your sock draw and the deep backup is the one in your safety deposit box. If you move them around each key changes function but you have exactly the same functionality overall. You do need to remember to set up access with the other key if you get a new account. I don't understand it either and my methodology roughly mirrors yours. A whole bunch of yubikeys on my key chain would drive me batty. [/quote] I was contemplat...
by blueman457
Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:18 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: "3 Tips For Streamlining Your Portfolio"
Replies: 11
Views: 2072

Re: "3 Tips For Streamlining Your Portfolio"

Good, simple, make sense tips. I'm wondering about reasons to simplify and consolidate. I've just crossed the threshold of being able to claim early social security, so maybe am thinking more about the future. Of course, having a simpler portfolio in less locations would make things easier for my wife, who has zero interest in finance. I've always looked at my spread sheet and thought.....I've got a 3 fund, but it's spread over 10 accounts. The spread sheet makes it easy. But that's my view, not my wife's view. My action for the day.....start consolidating. Several years ago, I thought my wife would have no trouble taking over managing our investments if I left the scene. I finally sat her down and began showing her how our simple three-fu...
by blueman457
Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:11 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Getting out of student loan debt
Replies: 13
Views: 1856

Re: Getting out of student loan debt

The answer here, even for the government loans, in part is dependent on what kind of loans they are. But in general, you have a lot more protection and legal options with government loans. I'd suggest becoming intimately familiar with the terms of your government loans. With some government loans, you can qualify for unemployment deferment; income driven repayment, public service loan forgiveness (PSLF), etc. You also may qualify for (and may already be getting) a reduction in interest for having payments automatically withdrawn from a bank account. Given the above, I'd say accelerate payments on the private loans. And, there's little advantage to paying off the government loans first - just pay the minimum you can (until the private loan ...