Search found 111 matches

by fast_and_curious
Thu Feb 29, 2024 11:10 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: H&R Block 2023 SSA/1099 Withholding?
Replies: 19
Views: 2986

Re: H&R Block 2023 SSA/1099 Withholding?

Interstate780 wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2024 1:04 am I too am seeing these erroneous messages on Form 1099-B data. I have called H&R Block twice so far to bring the issue to their attention. The representatives said that they would escalate the issue to the attention of their programmers.
You must have more perseverance than I do - I tried to call the 800 support number for H&R Block and waded through the phone tree for several minutes, never able to reach a human! But thanks for reporting it!
by fast_and_curious
Mon Feb 05, 2024 3:05 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: H&R Block 2023 SSA/1099 Withholding?
Replies: 19
Views: 2986

H&R Block 2023 SSA/1099 Withholding?

When completing the H&R Block 2023 software tax interview this year (Windows download version if it matters) when helping my parents with their taxes, the "Data Verification" step is flagging something I've never seen it flag before: On one 1099-B entry (a stock sale for a small capital loss), there was no tax withheld, and the basis was around $8000. Yet I get a message saying "Capital Gains/Losses Federal tax withholding in greater than Original Basis. Please check your entries." Checked several times and even tried entering "0" instead of of leaving tax withheld blank. Similarly on 1099-SSA, it says, "Social Security Worksheet Federal tax withholding is greater than SSA/RRB benefits for TP." In...
by fast_and_curious
Wed Jan 03, 2024 7:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Experian - cannot create account to freeze credit
Replies: 10
Views: 1747

Experian - cannot create account to freeze credit

I am trying to help my 19 year old daughter freeze her credit report at the 3 major agencies. No problem at Equifax or Transunion. They both required setting up accounts, which worked fine. But at Experian, which also requires setting up an account, after she set up the account with the basics (name, SSN, username/password), it did NOT ask any of the normal credit report questions, it just immediately brought up a screen that said: "We're having trouble verifying your identity. Please call 1-866-617-1894 for assistance". Of course the information is correct that she entered. She called that number and there appears to be no way to reach a human being and no way to help set up the account. Saying things like "website error&quo...
by fast_and_curious
Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:58 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Retired, Unretired, Retired Again - Lessons Learned?
Replies: 37
Views: 7139

Re: Retired, Unretired, Retired Again - Lessons Learned?

This is a great thread. I kinda-sorta retired at the end of 2021, about 2 weeks before the all-time high of the S&P 500! :happy At the time, one kid was a senior in high school, one was a sophomore. I wasn't 100% convinced I was done-for-good, but thought I might be. Age 47 at the time. I have been enjoying life immensely since then, with a few fun projects & hobbies; fast forward to today and we've got one kid off to college for a couple of years now and the younger one is now a high school senior. No desire to go back to work for fulfillment or to make my life feel complete! But at the same time, our portfolio took a fairly large hit literally weeks after I "retired" and still hasn't recovered. I was/am roughly 60/40 bu...
by fast_and_curious
Thu Oct 19, 2023 4:00 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Retired, Unretired, Retired Again - Lessons Learned?
Replies: 37
Views: 7139

Re: Retired, Unretired, Retired Again - Lessons Learned?

This is a great thread. I kinda-sorta retired at the end of 2021, about 2 weeks before the all-time high of the S&P 500! :happy At the time, one kid was a senior in high school, one was a sophomore. I wasn't 100% convinced I was done-for-good, but thought I might be. Age 47 at the time. I have been enjoying life immensely since then, with a few fun projects & hobbies; fast forward to today and we've got one kid off to college for a couple of years now and the younger one is now a high school senior. No desire to go back to work for fulfillment or to make my life feel complete! But at the same time, our portfolio took a fairly large hit literally weeks after I "retired" and still hasn't recovered. I was/am roughly 60/40 but...
by fast_and_curious
Wed Feb 22, 2023 6:38 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HELOC with low income
Replies: 2
Views: 477

Re: HELOC with low income

delamer wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:59 pm I don’t have any experience with BofA. Have you tried its website?

You can try doing a search for portfolio lenders in your area, and contact a couple of them.
Yes, the BofA website has very little information and what's there is geared toward normal income-based mortgages. Sure, I'll try contacting a few lenders; I just thought this might be a not-uncommon thing here on bogleheads and was hoping to learn generally whether it's worth looking at local banks or whether I need some kind of specialty lender.
by fast_and_curious
Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:53 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: HELOC with low income
Replies: 2
Views: 477

HELOC with low income

I thought there might be more posts on this topic and I tried to search but didn't find anything super applicable - maybe not using the right search terms? Anyway, if I currently have very low income (taking a few years off work while the kids finish their last couple of years of school), but substantial assets including fully paid off house, will my local brick-and-mortar bank, which happens to be BofA, be willing to look at assets and essentially allow an asset-depletion HELOC using our house as collateral? Or would I have to go to a specialty lender to get that type of loan? Yes, I could just go and apply to get the answer, but I hate to get the credit inquiry and denial if it's a known fact that the typical bank won't do this type of lo...
by fast_and_curious
Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:37 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Gift / re-gift vs loan
Replies: 11
Views: 1126

Re: Gift / re-gift vs loan

Thanks for the responses - although I'm not sure I'm any more certain of the legality of this proposed set of transactions. :) I guess to me, my thought was that my parents would be giving us the money with the "expectation" that it would be paid back, but with no legally binding contract or legally enforceable instrument by which to force us to pay back the money. Thus, it would be a gift. Because if we suddenly chose not to pay them back, there wouldn't really be anything they could do about it from a legal perspective. Then, the following year, we would be giving the money back to my parents voluntarily - not because we are contractually obligated to do so, but because we are choosing to do so. The point is to avoid paying the ...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Feb 21, 2023 8:15 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Gift / re-gift vs loan
Replies: 11
Views: 1126

Gift / re-gift vs loan

Within the next 12-18 months it is likely that we will be building a new house, with the intention of selling our current house after new house is built. Our current house is paid off and the idea would be to use the value of our current house to pay for the new one. But, doing so without selling our current house first would require some kind of bridge loan. We also have enough assets to pay for the new house, although that would require selling substantial stock/bond funds which I don't really want to do at this time, given the market downturn. There are several possible places to get the funds including HELOC/Home equity loan, margin loan, etc. I'm not asking about those but am familiar with them and also considering them, so no need to ...
by fast_and_curious
Sat Jul 09, 2022 9:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Teen Car Insurance Companies
Replies: 10
Views: 1115

Re: Teen Car Insurance Companies

When daughter #1 got her license 2 years ago, I shopped around and Allstate was the cheapest. This year when daughter #2 got her license (so now with two teenage drivers), AAA insurance was the cheapest. Both years I was shopping for bundled auto and home. I'm not sure there's any definitive answer here, especially anything that's valid across geographic regions and states, other than to do the footwork and call a bunch of insurance companies to see what is best in your particular case...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:24 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Tablet (Android) note taking apps; primarily pen input not keyboard; specific feature desired.
Replies: 5
Views: 598

Re: Tablet (Android) note taking apps; primarily pen input not keyboard; specific feature desired.

I've since moved on to a different (simpler) note taking app so I can't be sure anymore, but I seem to recall that LectureNotes has a feature that lets you add a timestamp via a click or two. IMHO this is the most fully features Android note taking app I've used, but the high number of features can also make it more difficult to use. I would suggest setting aside an hour or so to really explore all the features; I was eventually able to disable what I didn't want, and enable what I did, and liked it pretty well. Free Trial version is here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acadoid.lecturenotestrial then you'll need to purchase for additional capacity, I think. (No interest in this company/product other than being a previous ...
by fast_and_curious
Mon Nov 15, 2021 12:59 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Reward card w/no annual fee AND unique card #s for authorized users
Replies: 24
Views: 1525

Re: Reward card w/no annual fee AND unique card #s for authorized users

exigent wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 11:50 am What else is out there? Maybe something like the CapOne SavorOne card? I've heard that they use unique cards #s, there's no annual fee, and this card gives 3% on groceries (plus a few other irrelevant categories) and 1% on everything else.
We have a CapOne SavorOne card and it does indeed have different unique card #s for authorized users, and the charges for each user are split up pretty well on the statement. We've been happy with it.

Of course we got this card a few years ago, so can't say for sure that the same would apply to a new account!
by fast_and_curious
Wed Nov 10, 2021 1:27 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Debit card number, how did they get it? ATM ONLY Cards?
Replies: 26
Views: 2445

Re: Debit card number, how did they get it? ATM ONLY Cards?

FWIW, I just canceled my ATM-only card and got a debit card instead; I've just set the "purchase" limit to $1, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

I posted about this just last week when I realized that my ATM-only card would likely not work at a non-bank-branch ATM, especially overseas; see thread here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=361453&p=6307588#p6307588
by fast_and_curious
Sat Nov 06, 2021 4:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Bright Health? Ambetter?
Replies: 10
Views: 1053

Re: Bright Health? Ambetter?

Thanks for the responses, everyone! To answer a couple of questions posed: Have you looked at COBRA from your work? It may be cheaper and even if not, it's coverage you are used to. May be worth considering while you get the rest of retirement situated I have inquired to HR about the premium, and am waiting for a response. Based on the W2 reporting of healthcare cost, and based on the ACA subsidy I should quality for, I think the COBRA premium will be roughly $1500 more per month than the ACA plans I'm considering. Are these the only 2 choices you have on healthcare.gov?? Or are there others? Besides UHC or Aetna? Yes. BCBS is there but none of their plans include the nearby major university medical center. As discussed on my previous threa...
by fast_and_curious
Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:46 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Bright Health? Ambetter?
Replies: 10
Views: 1053

Bright Health? Ambetter?

As mentioned previously , I'm leaving my job at the end of the year and now that ACA marketplace open enrollment is active, I'm investigating specific ACA plans. What I'm seeing is that the best plans for us, in terms of physician/hospital coverage and cost, turn out to be by companies I've never heard of (Bright Health or Ambetter, for example). The company I'm most familiar with based on previous workplace insurance is BCBS but on the state marketplace they don't offer any plans at all that cover the local highly ranked university medical system. There are a few companies I've heard of before - United Healthcare and Aetna for example - that do cover the medical system we're looking for, but the cost structure is more expensive for our fa...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:16 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What can't I do with an ATM card?
Replies: 49
Views: 4231

What can't I do with an ATM card?

I specifically requested an ATM-only (no debit) card from my bank (BofA) so that I don't have to worry about debit card fraud draining my bank account, and I never use the debit card features anyway. I believe this to be a relatively common Boglehead move. I recently learned that unlike the previous debit card, I can't add the ATM-only card to my phone via Google Pay. Not a HUGE deal, since it just means I need to make sure I keep the physical card with me rather than use my phone at the ATM. But, it got me thinking - I also noticed that the ATM-only card doesn't seem to have the same kind of "network" icons on it; no Mastercard/Visa (obviously) but also no "Cirrus" or "Plus" or any of the other ATM network nam...
by fast_and_curious
Mon Nov 01, 2021 2:12 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone negotiate a car lately? Any room as consumers?
Replies: 177
Views: 24763

Re: Anyone negotiate a car lately? Any room as consumers?

Bought a new car this past weekend; here are my observations from the process: INVENTORY: Although inventory of all car types is very low, some are lower than others. So, unless you are set on a specific model, maybe look to see what's most available in your area/state. For example, we were looking for a subcompact SUV; while Mazda CX-30s seem to be literally impossible to find - only a handful in the trim we wanted in the entire country - Nissan Kicks were more plentiful, in a variety of trims/colors. I'm sure the same applies for other car types. I found cargurus.com to be a good source to see which dealers in the area - or even the entire country - have a specific model. The inventory shown there can be a couple days out of date, but it'...
by fast_and_curious
Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:58 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: ACA vs COBRA: provider network decisions
Replies: 13
Views: 1814

ACA vs COBRA: provider network decisions

Hello Bogleheads, At the end of this year I am planning to leave my current job, for at least a "trial run" at early retirement (meaning taking a few years off until the kids get through high school, and then will re-evaluate based on market conditions & boredom whether it makes sense to go back to work :happy ). Which means that for 2022 and part of 2023, we'll have the option of COBRA from my current job, or ACA coverage. The ACA premiums will be _much_ less expensive because of subsidies assuming we manage our taxable income well (which seems pretty easy). So, on the face of it, ACA would be my preference. Likely about a $1500/mo difference between ACA and COBRA premiums. But the "in-network" provider networks, at...
by fast_and_curious
Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:03 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Who's responsible for lost shipment?
Replies: 32
Views: 2401

Re: Who's responsible for lost shipment?

OP here. The item is not critical to life, but it is critical to avoiding inconvenience. It's a replacement part for a garage door opener, so without it, the garage door must be opened and closed manually, and can't be locked, at least not unless you count my current "lock" of a set of vicegrips preventing the door from being opened. Interestingly, on the "Terms and conditions" of the website I ordered from, they explicitly say: If you select a USPS (US Mail) shipping option it is done without insurance and at your own risk. You accept any and all liability for the loss or damage of the package. So, I guess it's there in black and white, although I admit I do not routinely click on the Terms and Conditions of websites fr...
by fast_and_curious
Thu Mar 04, 2021 5:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Who's responsible for lost shipment?
Replies: 32
Views: 2401

Who's responsible for lost shipment?

I ordered an online purchase about 2 weeks ago, for delivery via USPS (first class package service). The item appears to have been lost; the last update on the USPS tracking site is from more than a week ago, on the other side of the country. I have opened a claim with the USPS but they have not yet resolved it, they say it's still pending, no new information available. The vendor is sympathetic but says they shipped the item, so there's really nothing else they can do. The question is: who is responsible for this? In the sense of: am I just out the money and need to re-order (and re-pay) if I want the item? Is the vendor obligated to resend the item free of charge (and thus they will be out the money)? This is a very inexpensive item (in f...
by fast_and_curious
Sat Feb 20, 2021 2:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Check Equifax security freeze...
Replies: 11
Views: 1804

Check Equifax security freeze...

Just a PSA - I had unfrozen my credit report at all three big bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) for a few days back in November. I needed to unfreeze for a few days again now, so I logged back into all three to temporarily lift the freeze again. Experian and TransUnion were fine. But on the Equifax site, the current status says, "You have temporarily lifted your Equifax credit report freeze until November 7, 2020". Ummm..... it's February 2021, so that "temporary freeze" should be well over! When I go through the steps to temporarily unfreeze it now, it says, "You have already scheduled a temporary lift of the security freeze on your Equifax credit report. If you schedule a new temporary lift, it will replace ...
by fast_and_curious
Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cartalk Vehicle Donation Program
Replies: 12
Views: 1289

Re: Cartalk Vehicle Donation Program

We donated a car last year to our local NPR station; my wife was the legal owner on the title. The immediate transaction went smoothly, as others have described here. However, about 6 weeks after they picked up the car, we were contacted by a state DMV inspector. Apparently after the car was sold at auction, somebody went to the DMV claiming to be my wife and said the title was lost, so they reissued a new title in my wife's name to this impostor. The impostor then signed over the title (signing my wife's name) to someone else - even getting the fake signature on the replacement title notarized. Somehow this was all caught eventually by the DMV and luckily the impostor's signature looked nothing at all like my wife's real one. So they were ...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: How does brand new credit card get compromised?
Replies: 19
Views: 2076

How does brand new credit card get compromised?

After a pretty long - for us, anyway - string of a couple years with no credit card compromises, Citi alerted us to some fraudulent charges last week. Card shut down, they sent us a new one, no big deal, pretty standard stuff. Yesterday I activated the new cards online. My wife used the card once this morning at a local takeout coffeeshop with a chip-card-reader terminal. Later today, several new fraudulent charges on this new card. So, how did this happen? Inside job at Citi? Seems unlikely as I would have thought the card replacement/generation/shipping process would be fairly automated without individuals physically having the opportunity to grab the new account number. At the coffeeshop? I thought that was the big advantage of chip term...
by fast_and_curious
Mon Aug 31, 2020 4:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone have experience with Excess Social Security withholding due to more than one employer for the tax year?
Replies: 8
Views: 631

Re: Anyone have experience with Excess Social Security withholding due to more than one employer for the tax year?

Due to changing employers this year, I've reached the annual social security tax cap, but my new employer is still withholding the tax from my paycheck. Does anyone have any experience with this? How did you handle it? One suggestion I've seen is to have my new employer pause withholding the SS tax until the end of the year. Is that even a thing? This happened to me several years ago (before the 2017 tax changes, so of course not sure if things have changed). But I didn't do anything special, overpaid into social security - though not by much - and then when doing that year's taxes, the overpayment amount was just credited back to me on the tax form. If I were overpaying a lot, I probably would have looked into ways to have the new employe...
by fast_and_curious
Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: "Hobby" Money: Planes, cars, boats etc...
Replies: 114
Views: 10289

Re: Costs to own a plane

I've owned a plane for almost 20 years now. Certainly the overall costs are nothing to sneeze at, but our family really likes travelling, and I love to fly, so for us we view it as an alternative to owning a vacation home. Expenses will vary a lot based on type and age of aircraft and engine, location, amount of use, experience (for insurance costs), whether you hangar it, etc. I can give you some VERY ROUGH idea of very approximate costs based on my own experience but please know that the variance here is quite large. Where I live, a hangar goes for about $450/month at the larger airports down to about $250/month at smaller ones. Maintenance on my current aircraft has been averaging around $4000-$5000 per year. Keep in mind that I do my ow...
by fast_and_curious
Sat Aug 15, 2020 12:20 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Nobody home at BofA?
Replies: 27
Views: 3613

Re: Nobody home at BofA?

Even better, you might find it faster/easier/more convenient to use the interface in your BoA online banking site to set up the appointment. My impression is that they do not have any BoA accounts yet and went to Merrill Edge outside of BoA channels. OP here - that's right, I opened the Merrill Edge account directly, and figured that once I got close to the 3 month timer for Preferred Rewards to kick in, I'd open the BofA checking account. Since the ME acct has been open about 2.5 months now, that's why I'm trying to open the BofA account. I guess I can try to call the local BofA branch but since I tried to open the account online already, I'm not sure if that will cause more confusion or not. FWIW, I tried again the 1-888 number listed in...
by fast_and_curious
Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:24 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Nobody home at BofA?
Replies: 27
Views: 3613

Nobody home at BofA?

So about 2 1/2 months ago I opened a Merrill Edge account and funded it sufficiently for Preferred Rewards. Now that it's almost 3 months later, I tried to open a BofA checking account online Thursday evening. In what is probably my mistake, I unfroze my credit reports only about 30 minutes prior to trying to open the account - maybe not long enough? Anyway, I got a message on the webpage, with a followup email, saying that my application couldn't be immediately approved, but the application is in progress. The email had a 1-888 number to call for status/followup (888-383-7500), with hours 8am-9pm M-F, 9am-5:30pm Saturday. My hope was to just ask them to retry whatever credit check they need to do, since it's now been a little longer since ...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Aug 11, 2020 12:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Insurance quote shenanigans
Replies: 38
Views: 2578

Re: Insurance quote shenanigans

That aside, I have encountered many rate differentials (I'm being kind) that come up later if you decide to purchase. I just shopped around with many companies last month because of my newly licensed 16 year old daughter. I generally shop around - sometimes more extensively (i.e. with more companies) than other times - every 2 or 3 years. The thing that annoys me to no end is the following: 1) I found, like you did, that if you want to quote auto + home + umbrella, you really can't do it online, meaning you have to pick up the phone and call. 2) I patiently answer all questions asked, which vary from company to company. (i.e. one company might need to know how close you are to a fire hydrant, another might want to know whether you have a g...
by fast_and_curious
Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: "Why do you want to cancel?" - Vanguard
Replies: 10
Views: 3388

"Why do you want to cancel?" - Vanguard

So I made what in the grand scheme of things is a small mistake, but the response from Vanguard was surprising. Curious if I'm missing something. I did my 2019 taxes on Saturday morning, and ended up owing a few thousand dollars. Since most of the reason for the extra taxes was from my Vanguard 1099-DIV, I wanted to sell a few thousand dollars worth of a Vanguard fund to pay the taxes. This happens some years, since I - probably mistakenly - don't track things close enough throughout the year to make sure I add extra withholding or pay estimated taxes. Anyway, seems like an eternity ago, but on Friday the market did reasonably well (for the last few weeks), and things seemed much more in control than they do today. So I placed an online ord...
by fast_and_curious
Sat Dec 21, 2019 4:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Electronic Wallets for Teenagers
Replies: 16
Views: 1584

Re: Electronic Wallets for Teenagers

My kids had teen checking accounts at Wells Fargo along with the ATM/debit card that comes with that. Of course, Apple Pay, Venmo, Zelle didn't exist a few years ago. They just did everything with their debit/ATM card. I suppose they used cash rarely. They certainly didn't get their allowances in cash though even if they got cash from the ATM. Thanks livesoft. My daughter has an ATM card (actually her teen account is at Wells Fargo too). The issue isn't accessing cash, it's getting paid by people who expect to be able to pay electronically. Take the babysitting case, for example - where the parents don't always have the right denomination of cash lying around, and people these days are so used to using Apple Pay/Venmo/PayPal/Zelle/etc. to ...
by fast_and_curious
Sat Dec 21, 2019 1:23 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Electronic Wallets for Teenagers
Replies: 16
Views: 1584

Electronic Wallets for Teenagers

Happy Holidays to all and thanks as always for the very valuable information I always glean from the members on this site! My 15 year old daughter has been using Apple Pay to pay/receive relatively small amount of money for things like babysitting, dog walking, splitting a restaurant bill with friends, etc. since most of her friends and babysitting clients have iPhones, so it's very convenient. She's used this for the last year or so, with probably something like a total of $250 or less being transferred. She was able to connect Apple Pay to her teen bank account at our local bank to "cash out" the money in her account. Today, she was trying to receive a payment from a babysitting job, and Apple Pay needed to verify her identity, ...
by fast_and_curious
Sat Dec 21, 2019 1:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Synchrony Bank (as credit card issuer)?
Replies: 16
Views: 1763

Re: Synchrony Bank (as credit card issuer)?

OP here. I am about _this close_ to cancelling this credit card account, but just thought I'd describe my latest issue with Synchrony Bank / Sam's Club Mastercard. Mainly as therapy to get it off my chest :wink: but also for other Bogleheads considering this card to learn from my experience. Over the Thanksgiving holiday we did some international traveling and used up our full credit limit (less than $3000 (!) as mentioned earlier in this thread). For Christmas we wanted to buy our upcoming summer vacation airline tickets, and I was planning to use this card since it has the 3% back on travel. As suggested earlier in the thread, I paid off the balance early (prior to getting the statement), so that we'd be able to use the card for additiona...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Nov 26, 2019 12:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Honda Lane keep assist
Replies: 94
Views: 7207

Re: Honda Lane keep assist

Of course each driver will form his or her own opinions on these features, but for me personally, having purchased a new Honda earlier this year (my first experience with any of these types of new safety technologies), I find the adaptive cruise control to be very useful, and use it on almost any drive of more than a handful of minutes. On the flip side, I too have not really found a good use for the lane keeping assist. I don't like the feeling of it nudging the wheel while I'm driving. And the few times, as an experiment, I've purposely taken my hands off the wheel and observed its performance, it did horribly at staying in the lane! So I tend to use the ACC and leave the LKAS off. There's at least one after-market / open-source solution ...
by fast_and_curious
Thu Nov 14, 2019 8:28 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Synchrony Bank (as credit card issuer)?
Replies: 16
Views: 1763

Synchrony Bank (as credit card issuer)?

Now that our trusty Uber Visa is getting benefits reduced (see https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=293641 ), we decided to get a Sam's Club Mastercard (as mentioned in the other thread, it has 5% cash back for gas, 3% on dining, no foreign transaction fee, and is chip & pin (I think) so seemed like a good replacement). This card is issued by Synchrony Bank which I was not previously familiar with. We hit a couple of strange issues that I thought I'd mention here, first to help inform anyone else thinking about switching to this card, and secondly to see if this is a sign of problems to come with Synchrony. 1) Like many bogleheads, our incomes are relatively high and we have reasonably high credit score (750+) (If it matters...
by fast_and_curious
Fri Nov 01, 2019 8:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Flaunt Your High-Mileage Car
Replies: 945
Views: 151243

Re: Flaunt Your High-Mileage Car

Earlier this year, my 2005 Acura TL with 263,000 miles died. Up until that time, other than replacing the starter and a power door lock actuator, only routine maintenance was required and everything worked great. Amusingly enough, it was a 6 speed manual transmission, so even when the starter went out, I just parked on hills and did rolling starts (popping the clutch) for a few days until I could get in at my regular repair shop, so that didn't even strand me!

I loved that car, and hope my new Honda Accord will last as long!
by fast_and_curious
Tue Oct 29, 2019 12:57 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Uber VISA rewards cut
Replies: 77
Views: 22472

Re: Uber VISA rewards cut

I also got the same email about the benefits & rewards cuts to the Uber card. We used this card for the following reasons: High cash back (4%) on dining. No foreign transaction fee Chip & PIN (which has come in handy at some European self-serve gas stations and train ticket kiosks). No annual fee. We very rarely use Uber, so definitely will be cancelling this card shortly as the rewards are almost useless to us now. In looking for a replacement with similar features, I've come across the Sam's Club mastercard ( https://www.samsclub.com/sams/pagedetails/content.jsp?pageName=credit ). It seems to have: 3% cash back on dining. But also 5% cash back on gas stations, which helps make up for the fact that the dining reward isn't as good a...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:34 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 232617

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

"Anyway, I had an oil analysis done by Blackstone at my first oil change a month or so ago, specifically looking for fuel dilution." Were there any metals or wear items of significance in your oil tests? There were higher than average metals & silicon in the oil analysis - here are the numbers that were significantly higher than the average. Units are ppm: Mine: Average: Aluminum 16 8 Iron 31 1 Copper 33 2 Molybdenum 595 94 Boron 103 58 Silicon 172 22 However, recall that this was the very first oil change on a new vehicle. The analyst's comment about this part of the report was, " There's some excess metal and silicon in the oil, but that's normal, from wear-in and sealers. Look for improvements from here. " So I'm...
by fast_and_curious
Mon Oct 21, 2019 12:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue
Replies: 1223
Views: 232617

Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

FWIW, I purchased a 2019 Honda Accord with the 1.5T engine in May - same one as being discussed here for the CRV. At the time of my purchase, I was not aware of the oil dilution issue, despite being a frequent bogleheads reader. Perhaps I had come across this thread but thought the issue was specific to CRVs. Anyway, I had an oil analysis done by Blackstone at my first oil change a month or so ago, specifically looking for fuel dilution. The results were < 0.5% fuel in the oil and the comments (that's one reason I like Blackstone for oil analysis - actual human analysts give comments on each analysis in addition to the numbers) said, "Honda seems to have taken care of that problem [oil dilution] in their 2019 engines." I assume, b...
by fast_and_curious
Sat May 25, 2019 2:30 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Grad school financing - hard sciences
Replies: 31
Views: 3167

Re: Grad school financing - hard sciences

OP again, and thanks for all the recent responses. If I may ask a follow-up of the group: many of the posters here seem to equate getting a STEM PhD with the intention to pursue a job in academia. Again, thinking back to my grad school days (in engineering), many/most of the PhD students I knew did NOT intend to teach or stay in academia, but rather went on to R&D type jobs in industry. This may be biased because I did that work in Silicon Valley in the mid to late 90s (i.e. one of the tech booms), so industry was hungry for researchers at that time and place. But, say one wants to do medical / pharmaceutical research, in industry rather than academia. Would a PhD in biochemistry or molecular biology not be advantageous for that career ...
by fast_and_curious
Fri May 24, 2019 6:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Grad school financing - hard sciences
Replies: 31
Views: 3167

Re: Grad school financing - hard sciences

If I know that they/we will have, let's say, 8 years of college + grad school to pay for, that could lead us to a different financial decision than if they/we have only 4 years of undergrad education to pay for, with a good chance of grad work being free. Cripes I can't shut up on this thread I guess. But getting back to the original questions - a hard sciences or engineering undergrad has some advantages in terms of getting technical expertise, and opens certain options for both employment and school after undergrad. But (in my opinion) there's not much point in making plans about grad school vs job vs whatever after college. The landscape can change a lot over those first four years - meaning not only the available career options, but al...
by fast_and_curious
Thu May 23, 2019 6:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Grad school financing - hard sciences
Replies: 31
Views: 3167

Grad school financing - hard sciences

Hello Bogleheads, Back in my day (meaning 25+ years ago), most people I knew, including myself, who pursued graduate education in an engineering discipline, didn't have to pay for it. Some got fellowships, some worked as teaching assistants, some as research assistants, etc. but almost everyone I knew had their grad school tuition/fees taken care of. I went to a large private research institution in the US, but friends of mine at large public research institutions had the same experience. NOTE - I recognize this is a generalization. Obviously not everyone was so fortunate - I'd prefer not to debate [too much] as to how accurate my 25-year-old recollection is. Besides being old, my memories are obviously based on my personal experience as an...
by fast_and_curious
Thu May 23, 2019 6:45 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Can I take an 85+% pay cut for fun?
Replies: 88
Views: 15170

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 an...
by fast_and_curious
Thu May 09, 2019 5:28 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New car issues, possible lemon law (NC)
Replies: 14
Views: 2041

Re: New car issues, possible lemon law (NC)

OP here with an update. The case manager from American Honda (corporate) called me this afternoon and said that a TSB was literally just issued yesterday that should fix the problem with a software update. The diagnosis code and description in the TSB exactly matched the symptoms and code pulled by the dealer yesterday, so I'm hopeful.

As I write this I'm at the dealership getting the update. So crossing my fingers that this will fix the issue and I won't have to learn any more about how to go about using the lemon law!

Thanks for all the suggestions and replies!
by fast_and_curious
Thu May 09, 2019 1:40 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New car issues, possible lemon law (NC)
Replies: 14
Views: 2041

Re: New car issues, possible lemon law (NC)

Lemon law is not going to apply to a small "extra" feature like that. By any chance were you driving in rain or snow? Those systems rely on small cameras that can get obscured by water or ice. Weather was crystal clear both times it happened. There are a couple of tiny (like mosquito/gnat sized) smashed bugs on the "radar" sensor on the bottom of the front of the car, but nothing that should really be obstructing anything. (And nothing that you wouldn't expect in 2 normal days of driving the car, which is when the error happened the first time.) Not to mention that after restarting the car, the system works again, without removing the smashed bugs. The radar sensor is roughly the size of an index card, and mounted on th...
by fast_and_curious
Thu May 09, 2019 1:12 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: New car issues, possible lemon law (NC)
Replies: 14
Views: 2041

New car issues, possible lemon law (NC)

Hi Bogleheads, Short question: Are there specific items I need to be sure to document, or be sure to mention in discussions with either the dealer or the corporate offices of the manufacturer, to lay the groundwork for a possible Lemon Law action? Long story: Last week I purchased a new 2019 Honda Accord (delivery 5/2). Like all new Accords, it has the "Honda Sensing" suite of driving assist technology, including a collision mitigation system. Last Saturday (5/4), at ~200 miles on the odometer, a dashboard warning message appeared, "Collision Mitigation Braking System Problem. See Your Dealer.", and some of the assistance features (such as adaptive cruise control) stopped working. The dealer I purchased from was closed a...
by fast_and_curious
Tue Mar 19, 2019 3:11 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Cash back credit card w/o annual fee and w/o foreign transaction fee
Replies: 24
Views: 2469

Re: Cash back credit card w/o annual fee and w/o foreign transaction fee

MichCPA wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2019 3:02 pm Uber Visa wouldn't be bad if you dine out (4%), travel (3), or purchase things online(2) often. Also a $50 streaming credit after 5k per year is like an extra 1% on 5k. Also has cell phone insurance.
Another nicety of the Uber Visa - since the OP's request of no foreign transaction fee implies some amount of foreign use is expected - is that it's a chip-and-PIN card, which can be helpful at automated kiosks, gas pumps, etc. outside of the US.
by fast_and_curious
Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:43 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Vanguard updated 1099 in August!
Replies: 28
Views: 2729

Vanguard updated 1099 in August!

I have been helping my parents with their taxes for the last few years. They received an amended 2017 1099-DIV this week from Vanguard, with several hundred dollars difference in dividends (and qualified dividends) for a Vanguard mutual fund. So I spent a couple hours this afternoon helping figure out the changes and file an amended 1040 and associated state form. This post is mainly to rant and vent, but I think about all the extra time and hassle spent by not only by the customers receiving these late amended documents, but then also by the IRS workers who have to process all the amended 1040s now due. Just curious if Vanguard gets any penalty - other than increased postage - for issuing such late changes? Or can they be as sloppy as they...
by fast_and_curious
Fri Jun 01, 2018 8:40 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Kemper vs Amica home/auto insurance
Replies: 12
Views: 1642

Re: Kemper vs Amica home/auto insurance

Make sure you're comparing AMICA post dividend . Also, make sure you understand that AMICA offers two times of rates. One is a rate WITH DIVIDEND (where allowed). They charge you $100, and at the end of the year give you $20 back. The other is WITHOUT DIVIDEND. They charge you $85. If your state allows the WITH DIVIDEND policy, as a Boglehead you'll determine that you should go with that option. In my state, auto and homeowners are not eligible for the dividend policy. I was already taking the umbrella policy rebate into account when I mentioned that the premium was $150 more than Kemper - without the rebate, the premium is $200 more. Kemper was OK at first but it creeps up little by little I have found that to be the case for all the comp...
by fast_and_curious
Thu May 31, 2018 7:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Kemper vs Amica home/auto insurance
Replies: 12
Views: 1642

Re: Kemper vs Amica home/auto insurance

We have been with AMICA for home, two autos, and umbrella for forty years - very happy, good service, and seems to be very competitively priced. +1. And to the OP: the fact that you haven't had a recent claim is no reason to go with a "middle-of-the-road" insurer. Isn't the whole point of insurance to cut the risk of a catastrophic financial hit? Then don't you want your insurer to be a sure thing? gasdoc OP here - good question. Sure, I don't want my insurer to completely refuse to cover a legitimate claim. But if it just takes an extra few days to process a claim, or I have to call the adjuster back a few times rather than getting my calls returned promptly, etc.... then I would have been over $4000 ahead if I'd saved $200 each...
by fast_and_curious
Thu May 31, 2018 9:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Kemper vs Amica home/auto insurance
Replies: 12
Views: 1642

Kemper vs Amica home/auto insurance

After a 30+% increase in our Liberty Mutual homeowners premium this year, I shopped around quite a bit. For equivalent coverage, Amica is roughly 25% cheaper than my existing Liberty Mutual policy ($~2000 vs $~2600 for home, 2 cars, and 1M umbrella), and Kemper is about $150 cheaper still (~$1850). Those were the two cheapest quotes. Previous boglehead and google searches indicate that Amica is generally highly regarded from a claims/customer service perspective. I can find almost no information on Kemper (for example, the JD Power and nerdwallet insurance rankings both put Amica at/near the top, and both do not even mention Kemper). We have _never_ had an auto or home claim (25+ years), so I'm inclined to save the extra $150 per year and g...