Yes agree. Drunk driving is bad but bad driving is also bad. Driving in general is also kind of bad. Focusing on the DUI isn’t really the solution.

Everyone complaining or saying leave but nobody talking about alternatives that solve some of the problems. Mastodon exists. Nostr exists. BlueSky kind of exists.

I guess you must know more about law than Biden did 2 years ago when he publically talked about probably not having the authority: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/17/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-469677

It’s nowhere near that straightforward. And for a third time, if it was the intent of Congress, now would be the time for them to clarify that with direct legislation. But they are not.

I think it’s disingenuous to make it sound that simple.

If Congress supported forgiveness, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Whether they had implicitly given that power to the executive with previous legislation is controversial, thus the SCOTUS case. But it’s not like SCOTUS was the first to question it. Pelosi and even Biden had previously stated it was not an executive power.

Again, it could be easily settled now by the legislature if they supported it, but they do not.

Interesting you say SCOTUS legislating from the bench in this case. Deferment and forgiveness were both “legislated” from the White House. Seems the only party not legislating here is the legislature.

25% US Large Cap

25% US Mid

25% US Small Cap

25% International

No bonds. Will reconsider at age 40.

Tax strategy - Traditional is more focused in Large and Mid. Small and Intl (higher expected returns) go in Roth.

I think you’re okay either way but personally if I have an emergency fund and no higher interest debt, I’m paying that off for sure. Even if I lost a couple bucks, worth it for peace of mind.

Would be different if the debt was a mortgage at 3%, which many people do have right now.

Edit: One note for folks doing similar math, don’t forget interest and yield on bonds are taxed as ordinary income (20~30% in the US).

It would be trivially easy to add privacy any number of ways if they didn’t insist on tracking the users and logging that info.

They could even track it and just not make it available by web. Or require 2FA. Not exactly a nation-state level attack being described here.

People have just become accustomed to not caring about privacy and so that’s what we get.

Every city had a fine system using cash/coins or cards you could fund at a kiosk by cash coin or card. Those cards were anonymous.

Now everyone has to be fancy and link credit cards and phones to accounts for every activity of daily life.

This comment is the perfect balance of sarcasm and valid analogy

If it’s just a card you like anyway and it’s easy then great, but to spend time figuring out 2% vs 1% and meeting all the requirements, that’s a damn small amount compared to increasing your income potential, learning skills, or getting various other life choices right.

I just think overall, personal finance folks spend too much time on these gimmicks vs maximizing their income or avoiding costs. Probably because it seems easy and you can do it from your couch.

Also, I shouldn’t have said income. It’s more like 1 or 2% of your credit card spend, which is hopefully a much smaller number (say $800 on a $100k income with $40k CC spend)

This is the way. And don’t touch that savings account.

I feel the need to counter this comment and point out that while churning is a cool thing, it shouldn’t be on anyone’s list of ways to save or make money.

For all the planning, opening and managing new accounts, fulfilling requirements, and then jumping through hoops to take advantage of those rewards, you really have to be committed and give up some sanity and freedom for a pretty marginal gain at the end of the day.

I’ve done it before too but it really is sort of ridiculous to jump through hoops just to stretch your spending power by 1 or 2%, isn’t it?

Hard to believe these days. Do you have a blog or publish any list of your alternatives? Particularly difficult around smartphone and apps like email/calendar/photos etc isn’t it?

Which smartphone do you use and what makes that company different from Apple/Samsung?

Controversial take - no budget. Split income into 3 or more buckets - savings, critical bills (rent, utilities, debt, etc), and discretionary. I manage as separate accounts.

Spend discretionary freely and enjoy the peace or mind that your financial future is secured by the first 2 buckets. If you run low, rice and beans til next paycheck.

No need to track coffee expenditures, you’ll realize during rice and beans week that you can make it at home.

Your mileage may vary.

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The high yield savings account is such a good option due to FDIC coverage + total liquidity AND SIMPLICITY since you need the money soon.

I personally wouldn’t (and don’t) complicate it trying to squeeze an extra $100 per year in interest. Your time and peace of mind are worth more than that.

I think a community like this should have two goals:

1. Be on the fairly cutting edge of personal finance topics like saavy tips for current credit cards, tax codes, retirement plans, and retail promotions that help people maximize their money and plan for futures.

2. Maintain resources for basic financial literacy. IMO these are best done as sidebar items since they don’t change much day to day, but they are critical for bringing in new members and frankly helping people since most schools don’t do it.

I do think part of #2 is letting people ask dumb questions (What do I do now?), but only if their situation is not obviously covered in the sidebar. As sidebar grows, these should become less frequent.