agilitydawg

I'm going to guess that most of us have been "poors" at some point in our lives, like when we were just starting out. For the most part, a percentage of people stay that way because they make poor choices or refuse to leave the comfort of free stuff if they qualify.

I appreciate the opportunity to move into higher tax brackets over the years and also appreciate any chance to see the government not penalize hard work and success vs. incentivize lack of effort and poor decisions.

Perhaps some of the poors recognize their potential?

I have had an 18 inch farm boss for nearly 18 years. It has been a great saw. I probably use it every two months. Runs and starts great. I think I only put it in the shop once since I owned it to change a fuel pump.

That said, I recently picked up a 4-inch Ryobi saw on sale for $59. Wow! For limbing up trees and cutting small wood, That thing is awesome.

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WTH does this even mean?? Red Flag. Why would a "high-capacity IV fluid facility" even be needed? Unless hospitals are expecting great numbers of health-compromised patients.

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Google tells me that we currently import IV Fluids from Canada, Ireland, China, etc., and the FDA was asked to extend expiration dates. Elective surgeries were put off when BAXTER's facility, which makes 83 percent of IV Fluids for hospitals in the U.S., was damaged/disrupted by Hurricane Helene in September 2024.

Seems like there is an opportunity to improve supply chains, reduce imports, and create U.S. jobs.

If I was in this scenario of 3 million and retiring at 45, I would have to consider putting 400 to 500K in a very safe investment to protect from market ups and downs and weather a multi year downturn. I would then have about 2.5 million to invest more aggressively and keep the safer funds topped off.

Assuming this is for a couple, 30 years down the road if someone needs memory care or other assisted living, I would personally be uncomfortable with this as my asset base including an assumption of a paid for house.

We will not have a pension or long-term care policies, so I would rather have a bigger nest egg that is harder to scramble if we hit a rough patch on investments or if one or both of us need long-term assisted living. I don't want to have to hesitate that we have the resources to choose the best options, which is why we opted not to pay for a LTC policy because I think we can outrun it with assets.

For myself, the 3 million at 45 would leave more risk in the equation than I would prefer for our houshold.

We just bought a replacement Toyota Sienna after the wife had a fender bender on her 2011. Paid cash in 2014 for the 2011 and paid cash in 2025 for the 2020 model (last model with V6 non-hybrid with 60K miles).

If you need a replacement vehicle, get one, but get what you can afford vs. what your wife always wanted. If you do that enough, the two will eventually merge.

Also, you might save some maintenance costs if you can learn to wrench a little and pay attention to things like worn brake pads to avoid replacing them, as well as rotors.

I was in Scotland for a convention about 10 years ago and had to show ID and wait for assistance from a clerk to buy a pair of scissors at an office supply store. It looked like a nanny state even then.

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Yet Obama was a tariff guy who was blasted on this board for doing it by some of the same people now supporting tariffs.

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Well, if he had used his policies for the good of the U.S., maybe he, too, could have increased manufacturing jobs.

As others have said, we seem to have survived this trade war this time.

I don't disagree, but your insistence that the U.S. will lose on all fronts on this matter seems disingenuous.

Back of the napkin math, my company receives 15% of its revenue by providing services to Colombians. It seemed evident to me that Colombia had been blustering from the beginning, and frankly, even if I have to shift to provide services for other clients from other countries, it is a small price to pay to control our borders.

I am not sure what your motivations in the argument are. Still, I cannot imagine what you view as a negative of this exchange given the resolution in a matter of hours and a broader audience of countries taking notes not to play games. China refused repatriation flights under Binden. I wonder how they are going to act now?

I am trying to work through these conversations with my 29-year-old niece, who is just getting established in her career and starting to make money. She has a lot of free cash flow and is interested in guidance.

I like the detailed math conversations and compounding interest, etc. But the more challenging part of the conversation for me is how to guide her while she sets her goals. Car expenses, possible house, currently returned for her second Master's, etc.

While at 58, I feel like I can see the future, from her 29-year-old perspective, she has to value the concept of having money to retire, buy a house, etc.

The conversation starts with getting anyone to the point where they can see many of the more significant financial decisions they will face in their lifetime. Then, they can begin to prioritize them. It is tough to provide appropriate guidance without clarity about their time horizons or what the investment or money is earmarked for.

For example, a conversation about keeping your cash flow needs lower while increasing income and how that affects your emergency fund or even what is an emergency vs. need that can be handled by free cash flow is a longer-term multi-conversation topic.

You might work on finding material that helps him better understand addressing specific or pathway needs like Retirement, Emergency funds, possibly real estate investments, living within one's means, etc.

I am sharing details about the decisions that have worked for me and why, including retirement investing, emergency funds, vehicles, etc, but doing it in a way that leaves her with the decision about how she wants to approach it for her circumstances.

I don't see her too often, but in the year, she has shuffled some non-interest-earning savings into an HYS account and re-prioritized some spending choices (she wants to travel, but her budget seemed a little high compared to other needs she has). She has learned how much she had in a prior retirement account and has started saving 20% in her current employer's 401 k, so she is taking some essential steps, including becoming organized and informed about what she really does and does not have in place.

Keep in mind that if this conversation with your son lasts a year while he begins to learn about these topics and makes decisions that will help him 40 years from now when he is 59, it will be of amazing benefit to him.

If you don't already have them put a ceiling fan in every bedroom.