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illumination

I love my 2005 Lexus GX470; bought new and presently has about 97K. Its always been dealer-maintained. A recent pricey repair was replacing the rear pneumatic shocks. Something I found was it uses the same shocks as a Toyota 4Runner, I got a pair from Toyota for like $70 and put them on in about an...

illumination

my understanding is hybrids still use a conventional car battery for the gas motor to start. For Toyota hybrids (including Lexus), this is incorrect. The 12v battery powers the NAV and electronics which tell the hybrid battery to start the gasoline engine. The 12v battery does not power the starter...

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That era of ES had some sort of recall where the navigation system would drain the battery when the car was turned off on certain models. You might want to make sure that's not the issue or if the work has been done. I know because I bought a year close to that one and I had it brought in over that ...

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If it's something you plan to keep on doing with ongoing contributions, you can always have this carrot and demand access and see what they're doing with it. But if they have bad financial habits, even a maxed out Roth every year won't save them for the long haul. They'll just drive up the debt in o...

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I love my 2005 Lexus GX470; bought new and presently has about 97K. Its always been dealer-maintained. A recent pricey repair was replacing the rear pneumatic shocks. Something I found was it uses the same shocks as a Toyota 4Runner, I got a pair from Toyota for like $70 and put them on in about an...

illumination

I've had two Lexus GX in a row, I think they are a bargain for what you get. Really not that much more than a loaded 4 Runner if you get an entry level one, but WAY nicer. Built like a tank, basically everything good about the 4 Runner in a nicer luxury wrapper. Bad: Horrible gas mileage. Average ar...

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Cox is the worst. I'd echo that if you go in looking to cancel and mean it, that's when they seem to actually lower the price. I'd love to see some consumer protection laws that everybody has to pay the same price for the same service. This system of calling in every once in a while and threatening ...

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I guess the people that use the phrase to describe themselves need to give us what that allocation actually is. Is 20/80 "no longer playing the game"? No; not knowing or caring about my percentage based asset allocation is “no longer playing the game.” Goodbye rebalancing. Goodbye sharpen...

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The way our legal system is "supposed" to work, the burden of proof should be on the state and not the other way around. The taxpayer has the burden of proof in tax cases. The taxpayer has or can get the information. You'll have to show me in the Constitution this "asterisk" whe...

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Sell it yourself on Craigslist, accurately describe the condition. I bet you get over $3,000 for it.

illumination

To me it's a crazy concept, but maybe it's supposed to be hyperbole to make a point? I guess it's different for everyone, but I don't know how you can say you've "stopped playing" but still be in equities at any level. "Stop playing" means all investments that are nearly impossi...

illumination

The way our legal system is "supposed" to work, the burden of proof should be on the state and not the other way around. The taxpayer has the burden of proof in tax cases. The taxpayer has or can get the information. You'll have to show me in the Constitution this "asterisk" whe...

illumination

The way our legal system is "supposed" to work, the burden of proof should be on the state and not the other way around.

illumination

It's a complete rip off. I had a car that this came "free" with every purchase from the dealership and they would annually put the protective coating to be covered. It was just a basic wax job. A funny story though, I have an in-law that falls for nearly every type of insurance or warranty...

illumination

To me it's a crazy concept, but maybe it's supposed to be hyperbole to make a point? I guess it's different for everyone, but I don't know how you can say you've "stopped playing" but still be in equities at any level. "Stop playing" means all investments that are nearly impossib...

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It's probably not going to be a huge amount of money in the scheme of things if we're just talking about you subsidizing their Roth contributions and what would happen in a divorce. There's usually some protections on premarital assets, and where things get murky would be contributions during the ma...

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You'll notice almost nobody is actually doing anything about their beachfront property , even from the people that seemed to be the most concerned. Actions speak louder than words. Al Gore has a beach house in Montecito despite giving warnings that Manhattan would be underwater around this time. If ...

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My experience is it's a terrible bank. I also think it's usually a bad idea to get a bank that's not really a major brokerage handle your investments. It just seems they are always behind on technology and just out of their league at every level. I'd also read the fine print on account closure fees....

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Another vote for Advion, it works really well. It comes in a syringe and is almost like a really thin peanut butter. You put a few drops around the house, it's a bait they take it back to the nest and it wipes them out. I had an outbreak once and tried it, I really never had a problem ever again for...

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I don't really see how just replacing an already working unit is going to change the dynamic, unless the current one is undersized. It sounds like you need to possibly reengineer the ductwork. A mini split could be an easy way around that and allow you to control the zoning upstairs, but if it were ...

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The longer you re in it, the more you ll lose. My experience was quite the opposite. I was happy to take the contracted 7% for several years, until they bought me out (at cost). If they didn't by me out they were contracted to start to paying me 11%. This is not to say all non-traded (aka un-priced...

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I wouldn't have a single penny of bonds in a Roth IRA. You most likely have 40+ years ahead of you before this account gets drawn down. In my opinion, your entire portfolio is too conservative for someone that's 26 years old, but I understand not everyone sees it that way. But if I were you, I'd hav...

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I "want" to buy 1-2 year old cars, but the math just never seems to work out. I'd rather just pay a little more and get a new car, and when you look at the extra warranty coverage and depreciation curve, new can definitely make more financial sense. It seems even more lopsided when you are...

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The longer you re in it, the more you ll lose. My experience was quite the opposite. I was happy to take the contracted 7% for several years, until they bought me out (at cost). If they didn't by me out they were contracted to start to paying me 11%. This is not to say all non-traded (aka un-priced...

illumination

I think most people here made that one bad investment decision and it was a blessing in disguise. FWIW, my wife a really long time ago was a client at Morgan Stanley, the advisor had put her in something he shouldn't have, it was something like short term commercial paper that had become frozen. Ult...

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Cy-Kick is great stuff, try it yourself and see how it goes.

I'm not being facetious when I say I think the exterminators purposely use really diluted stuff so they keep having to come back.

First time I used Cy-Kick, it was better results than YEARS of my exterminator coming monthly.

illumination

I don't know if it's urban legend, but I've heard of outfits that do things like put it in the name of a homeless person. One would think at this point, all 50 states would have basic consumer protections on something like this where a consumer could at some point quit. It gets close to being an ind...

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I actually think it's a smarter play to have a mortgage, I would argue it's essentially subsidized by the government to carry one. For most people this is no longer true with the significant increase in standard deductions. You also have things Fannie and Freddie Mac, VA loans, USDA loans, FHA etc....

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Owning a home outright with no more payments "feels" more tangible and secure than having your life savings bouncing around in the stock market. I'm not making a case for paying off a mortgage, I actually think it's a smarter play to have a mortgage, I would argue it's essentially subsidiz...

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This probably isn't what you are looking for, but having accounts at both Fidelity and Schwab, Schwab seems to be more stringent across the board. If I ever am not on my "normal" computer and check my portfolio, Schwab almost 100% of the time requires a 2nd form of authentication. Even if ...

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It's a sliding scale. On one end someone holds a gun to your head, on the other they just say they won't do the deed unless you sign, and in the middle they drop it on the unsuspecting spouse right before the ceremony. Right, I've heard of cases where it was hours before the ceremony and someone tr...

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Where are you getting that prenups are "thrown out all the time"? Do you have any statistics? Prenups are far more likely to be held up than not. Most of the "headlines" for prenups not holding up are unusual cases, like when Steven Spielberg had one signed on a napkin. Usually ...

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In cases where one spouse wants to retain the separateness of an asset post marriage, you'd typically, or wisely, make a post nuptial agreement. When prenups get thrown out all the time, I don't see postnups realistic. Separate assets must be separate from the get go and remain separate. With that ...

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A clear paper trail from inheritance account to down payment is vastly different from paying monthly payments from a separate account. For two divorce attorneys and an arbitrator that was a former family law judge, it was decided it was community property and split evenly, despite having a clear li...

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This article might help shed some light on how to disentangle separate property that was used to purchase a marital asset. https://divorcedigest.com/recovering-separate-property-funds/ I'm not a lawyer (and definitely not a divorce attorney) but possession being 9/10ths of the law is a practical re...

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Maybe not a great data point, but eons ago when I worked at a bank, it was essentially impossible to close someone's account against their will. Just too much a liability for a lawsuit and just not company policy. But we could certainly make it easy for them if they wanted to close it out and not fi...

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I saw that tweet yesterday, it's really troubling. I'm just assuming I'm interpreting it correctly. Everything right now "feels" like that .com era with different types of bubbles this time. I know a few people that have made insane amounts of money on things like penny stocks that are tra...

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Your friend that was able to "get it back", I don't know the details, it could have been a situation where the other party went along in exchange for something else in the divorce or a unique state law or sympathetic judge. But I wouldn't draw a lesson from it that "tracing" it ...

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I'd push them into a PAS service with Vanguard just as a form of insurance, even though I think they provide very little value. You sort of take ownership when you manage money. And this is looking like a potentially lean retirement and you are already feeling pressure to outperform. Maybe down the ...

illumination

Your friend that was able to "get it back", I don't know the details, it could have been a situation where the other party went along in exchange for something else in the divorce or a unique state law or sympathetic judge. But I wouldn't draw a lesson from it that "tracing" it ...

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And then you have to account for the fact that something like 40% of revenue from S&P500 "American" stocks derive their revenue overseas. Companies like Apple and Microsoft don't just sell to Americans. While this is true, it does not shield an investor from pricing valuation consider...

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State laws treat things differently, and also it can just come down to the judge. FWIW, the person's situation I just referenced, it was basically an open and shut "textbook" case that it was community property and had to be split evenly because both their names were on the home and both ...

illumination

You just need to get your own lawyers (it will need to happen anyway for most prenups to be upheld that you both had your own separate legal counsel) and craft the agreement in a way where in the event of a divorce, it would be no different legally than if a boyfriend/girlfriend broke up and moved ...

illumination

I would really go out of my way to avoid HOA properties, just in general I had an especially heavy handed one that both liked to enforce all sorts of trivial rules but was incompetent on things that really mattered. I had a similar experience where a small clubhouse that nobody used burned down, and...

illumination

You just need to get your own lawyers (it will need to happen anyway for most prenups to be upheld that you both had your own separate legal counsel) and craft the agreement in a way where in the event of a divorce, it would be no different legally than if a boyfriend/girlfriend broke up and moved o...

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Setting aside the neighbor situation and assuming that doesn't change, I probably would put it off and see if the building material craziness dies down. Lumber prices have supposedly gone up almost 200% in the last few months. Not sure though if this is a long term trend with inflation across the bo...

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And then you have to account for the fact that something like 40% of revenue from S&P500 "American" stocks derive their revenue overseas. Companies like Apple and Microsoft don't just sell to Americans. You would drive yourself crazy trying to actually implement some sort of perfect gl...

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I've had a few people with Milgard windows and they really do honor that lifetime warranty. I'm in the process of updating my windows and it really makes me want to use them.

I would also stay away from anything made of natural wood, I'd stick with fiberglass, vinyl or aluminum.

illumination

It's a small issue with that schedule, but conventional blower motors do use a lot of electricity, way more than something like a ceiling fan. I one time had a situation where a fan setting was left in the "on" position and the house was left unoccupied, had a hefty utility bill compared t...

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You can own real estate in the form of REITs without actually taking title to a rental property. Something like VNQ. Most people I know that own like one rental...hate it. I had a residential rental and it was a pain. It was a profitable venture, but had I dumped that same money into a total market ...

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