I owned a condo. It was great for my first home owning experience. Made $100k on the sale. No ragerts

Semi-charmed life, third eye blind

re: oat milk 

Maltose. Google it. Oat milk is not a health drink.

I’m in zone 6b. As you can see mine seems to have more leaf growth at the base, but no buds yet. There are in a very shady area. They are on the south side of my property but the fence behind them blocks the sun from that direction. The house also blocks the morning sun from the east, so they’re primarily getting western sun exposure. But there is a tree between where they’re planted and the sun in the afternoon/evening, which provides shade. So maybe depending on the variety of hydrangea and the location, not having buds yet is ok?

Yeah, I’m thinking about the wait and see approach too. I will probably remove any wood that just comes out easily with a gentle tug and leave everything else. From what I’m reading, it may not be unusual that these don’t have any buds yet because they apparently do that more in the summer? I do see leaf growth at the base so they’re definitely alive, but no buds on the wood yet

You know, if you keep making that face, it’ll get stuck like that

1. I still have a few pock marks to prove I had it the old fashioned way

It’s apparently key to the pizza as well

38 here. I’m on my second house. I purchased my first in 2018, a condo. I knew it wasn’t my forever home, and it was lacking in a lot of areas that ended up mattering more to me than I thought they would. When the market blew up I was able to sell it and make a really nice profit, which I was then able to translate into a big down payment for my current house.

Neither home was/is in the best area. Don’t get me wrong I have enjoyed both locations for various reasons, but I bought what I could afford comfortably in both situations. A lot of my peers and younger millennials who don’t own homes could afford what I bought, but they don’t want to buy where they can afford. They want to buy in either expensive trendy areas or established upper class suburbs.

For me it’s a long term investment and part of my strategy to ensure financial independence. My current house is sufficient for me to live in through retirement if I need, and I will pay it off before then so that I don’t have that expense once I’m no longer working (just taxes, insurance, maintenance). So the fact of just buying a place was a higher priority to me than location. Granted, I chose the best and most convenient location I could get within my means, but I know the location is not good enough for some people. It’s fine for me and my neighbors and everyone else buying houses here though. I’m happy with it and that’s all that matters to me.

Thank you for this. I have been thinking the missing part of my investment strategy is most likely a taxable investment portfolio and was considering dropping a large chunk of cash (maybe $100k) into FSKAX & FTIHX and then contributing regularly. Thoughts on those two index funds?

Thanks! When I say liquid assets I mean cash, $50k of which is in the HYSA at 5% currently.

If I paid off my mortgage, I would only have $25k liquid cash to my name, which is not really enough for me to feel comfortable (even without the monthly mortgage). I have work I need to do to my house, probably will need to buy a new car sometime in the next few years, and just generally need the security of an emergency fund. What do you mean that paying off the mortgage would be equivalent to the after tax cost of debt?

I also agree that probably I’m missing the taxable investment part of my strategy. I do have a taxable brokerage acct through fidelity where my employer deposits RSU payouts. I didn’t list this in my post as income because so far the payments have been pretty small, but starting next year the payouts should start being decent.

I have also researched the idea of putting a chunk of my cash into index funds. But I guess with the HYSA rates so high right now I have held off because if I can earn 5% with no risk, why not? But I realize I could possibly be earning more by investing more of my cash, especially the chunk that is not doing anything right now except making me feel warm and fuzzy inside knowing I can handle basically any expense that comes my way.

What your post indicates to me is that maybe I need to consider both options - paying down my mortgage early (although maybe not all at once) and throwing a chunk of money into taxable investments (and adding to it with regular contributions and/or my RSU payouts). My lender allows me to recast my mortgage as many times as I want, so maybe I should consider doing that yearly until the mortgage is paid off. I guess if that was my strategy I probably would not worry about losing the preferred banking discounted mortgage rate benefit, which doesn’t affect my current interest rate just what I could get in a refinance or new mortgage.

I use Wealthfront. 5% rate, and if you use my referral link we both get an additional .5% for 3 months.

Use this link to sign up for a Wealthfront Cash Account and we’ll both get +0.50% on the current APY! https://www.wealthfront.com/c/affiliates/invited/AFFD-3F1X-2NPA-XU34

I’m not sure if it’s normal outside of a restaurant setting, but when I get a discount somewhere I tip on the amount the food & drinks cost before the discount was applied.

But I plan to keep mine for when I need to drive east on broad street in the morning 😎 🌞

I tried that but as soon as I put in my bank’s routing number and it recognized it, it stopped giving me the routing/acct number option and tried to force me to use my credentials.

You do realize that by giving your online banking credentials to Wealthfront, you are compromising your bank account, right? You can check with your bank’s online banking agreement, but if you give your login and password to an institution, and then that institution is hacked and they get your login and password and empty your bank account, the bank will hold you responsible for that and not refund your money.

I do a combo of Aldi, Kroger, and Walmart. Basically the trifecta of affordable groceries and items for the home. I primarily shop at Aldi. Anything I can’t get at Aldi, I get at either of the other two.

As a cheese pizza eater, I approve of this post

I have a very distinct memory of being in the grocery store checkout with my mom, holding my brown and tan fisher price kids cassette player, and listening to Raffi. The cashier looked at me with one of those goofy smiles people give you when you’re a kid and said, “Are you rockin’?”

Bonne Maman jam jars are functional as both drinking glasses and food storage jars. Every time I finish a jar I remove the label and clean the lid and jar, and stick it in the cupboard with all the other jam jars. I drink out of them, store homemade dressings/sauces in them, etc.