Crazy life changes

 It's been awhile.  Life got a little crazy as of late.  I'm sure may of us can say the same thing.  I quick break down.  Wife took a new job, wife got a root canal, one kid got a cavity, dentist bill woos, and signing up for new windows. As a start.

The main thing I've been focusing on for the past few months it when I wife wanted to change jobs.  She has been with the same company since graduating college and decided now was a good time to try something new.  She got a few offers all with good salary increase and various benefits and job opportunities. 

Some of the things that happen when you leave a company if they company decides when you benefits/insurance ends. For she it was the the Monday following her last day.  Unfortunately for our family all of our insurance was through her benefits.  This is were the trouble began. First off she had a week between jobs. So we had to decide do we go a week without insurance or what do we do?  So I decided to issue a life event with my company so at the least add the family to my dental insurance. With the intent of adding FSA/HSA/medical to her new company.  Here is where my trouble began. My company gives me 30 days to make my selection. So I add FSA/HSA/medical for the family for a week and I took them off. All within my 30 days.  Once the period ended the conformation of benefits had just my family on dental which is what we wanted and FSA/HSA/medial with my wife company.  

This did not work out. For some reason my benefits days I'm only enrolled in dental, but medial/FSA/HSA were being taken out of each paycheck.  Now this has been going for a month and half.  Not only is this adding up to be a significant amount; it is also doubling up on FSA and HSA amount which is going to make tax season difficult.  

So far I've contacted HR/Benefits 3 times and it's still not fixes and it seems every time I call it gets worst.  My mistake it trying to tell them what happened instead of what they need to fix. I think it confuses them and they only focus on one piece or they start blaming me.  

If only I could walk up to an office and talk to someone to fix this.  Oh well.   This goes to show to be very careful in picking your insurance and avoid working with HR/benefits.  

Next time I will talk about dentist bills and how to deal with collections.

Cost of a puppy

 Well the family has been pushing it for awhile.  A month ago we picked a new fur baby. She is a very sweet dog and fits right in with the family.

As much as we love our furry pets. They are a lot of work and energy. With all the love they give they do put some pressure on the finances.

Here list of costs in the first week:

• Cost of puppy 
• Kennel  
• Puppy food (they eat 3 times a day) $50 a bag
• Puppy potty spray 
• Puppy toys  (adult toys are to hard)
• Collar and leach
• Puppy Treats
• Dog tags and registering 
• Training door Bell (already had one)
• Vet visit few hundred $$$ to thousand if you sign up for puppy packages for there shots.
• Baby gate to block her from the house (Already had from my twins):) dual use.

Cost for a puppy over the next months

• More food
• Tons of treats - Treats for potty training and obedience training 
• Tons of toys. She tares through them. If she doesn't the other dog does
• Vet shots
• Training classes
• Repairs to walls from chewing
• Seat belts for car
• Harness for travel and walks

Honestly puppies and dogs in general are a lot of work and not really great on the old wallet, but they are tons of fun and they keep you healthy with all the needed walks. Of course they love you more then anything.  Getting a pet is a individual choice.  Every pet needs a person, but not every person should have a pet.  Make you your life style fits in with having a pet.  If you can't dedicate your time and life then maybe just volunteer
to walk a neighbors pet to get your furry time. 

I got Crypt in my wallet

I find it hard to invest/buy cryptocurrency.  I have found it hard to judge the value of it as a currency.  I know the practical application of its uses.  Like paying services to people that live in another country. It avoids paying fees for currency conversion between counties and provide payment to individuals were a bank isn't an option.  Now these were probably great uses a few years ago. Now with the crypto crazy idk.

I am interested in the blockchain technology behind it.  To get to know it I have to read and learn. Best way it to do.  So I've done a little research on wallets.  Basically what I've found you can have a wallet on a broker, one on your PC, or a cold storage like HDD or thumb drive.  There are so many it's crazy.  I picked Exodus to try it out.  From there I looked at some crypt exchanges. Basically a place to buy and sell.  I looked at coinbase/coinbase pro and Kraken. There are some of the more popular ones and I would say the more reputable ones.   I haven't done much with them except look around.  I got a few free fractions of coins for signing up.  

From a technology point of view. It is cool to have this mass amount of computer solving problems to verify a transaction is real. This is happening all over the world. The dark side of this of course it the power to run these equations and the hardware/video cards to do this quickly. 

What's the point?

Is this something that is going to stick around or is it the latest fad.  

What it currently is:

• A way to get rich quickly 
• decentralize currency that is not regulated
• Give power to the people
• Will change as gov'ts get involved 
• Become more popular with people and businesses

What it is not:

• Currency that you can count on
• Back by anyone

It sounds negative, but really it is a hard thing to get your head around on it's staying power.

It will either be a unground currency with only fring use or it will grow and one cryptocurrency will be win over and will dominate the currency landscape.   From an investing aspect it is gambling, but for some it is worth a small gamble with their fun money.  

Garage Sale

 Well this weekend I help my first garage sale.  Now growing up my family did a garage sale every here.  I didn't realize how much work it was.  Having to get everything out and price your stuff.   The end results was so so. I wasn't able to get rid of some of the bigger items we owned.  We did sell one item which was nice.  

My kids made out like bandits selling lemon aid. The made something like $30. Now they had a fun time make lemon aid and pouring it for their customers.   

What I plan to teach them from this how to save and how to invest.  From the roughly $80 we made I will give them both $40 and from that $20 will be free for them to buy anything they want and the other $20 each will be for savings.  We are going to take these $20 and add it to there existing saving and invest it into a M1 pie for each of them.  From there we will talk about that we are buying a piece of a company.  They will get the choice to pick companies and index fund and see how there money grows.

Marriage and Fixing Credit scores

 Everyone has there own history and have made mistakes.  You really find this out once you decide to combine your life with someone.  This is great, but this is also when the problems arise.  The question comes up what do you do when one of the two of you has "bad" credit.  No matter if you are going to combine your finances or keep them separate. It is important for the both of your long term health and piece of mind that you are on the same page.  

This usually isn't the first thing people talk about in a relationship and often is something that is found out after they are already married.  The important thing to understand if you are the person with bad credit is that you are not a bad person and these are now the facts. Work with you partner to find out how you go into this situations.   This goes the same if your partner is the one with less optimal credit. 

First figure out the cause and develop a plan to get out.  Some are easier then others to fix and you might already be on the right track to fix them. 

Now where you are in life has a big factor on why you credit is low. Notice I said low not bad. We must think positive :{). Here are the top reasons for someone to have lower credit.

1. Failing to pay bills on time
2. Collectors/charge-off
   
3. Bankruptcy 
4. Default on loan
5. Large balances
6. No credit
   

You may ask yourself what effect does my bad credit have when we go to buy a house or when we apply for a car loan.  In reality is does a lot.  There is some pride and security to have both your names on a deed for a home or to buy a new car together.  The thing is. There are some legal reasons you may do this, but it is probably not the most financially sounds thing to do. The bad things that can happen are you could be denied the load or you interest rate could be many points higher.

OK lets look at this from if you have good credit.  You will worry that there bad credit will effect you.  The answer is. No it will not effect your score, but there bad habits could effect your habits.  I don't see a reason for people to share credit cards, unless one of them is a responsible buyer. Or if you are keeping your finances separate and both in-charge of there own payments.  This goes the same if you co-sign anything. You are now the responsible party even if it there "their" car and they are making the payments.  

This goes back to why one of you had bad credit. If the reasons are because of large balances and failing to pay bill on time.  There are sometimes valid reasons for this and they are working to correct this. i.e Medical bills, school, family, or loss of job.  There could be some very good reasons and what sank the credit score is not a long term issue.  Now on the other hand if the issues are mismanagement or a life style. Those issues need to be corrected otherwise marriage issues will follow. 

The last issue is almost no credit. This is not uncommon for people that grew up using mostly cash or lived with there parents for awhile. 

This is not going to be a quick process and really it doesn't need to be.  

Use Case

• One person has Above Average or better credit the other has below Average.  
•  Work on paying off any credit card debt first. Go with highest rate first.  Once all paid off work on raising the below average through on time paying, keep cards open a long time, and in time applying for more credit or asking current card to increase available balance. 
• The Above average person can open up new credit and may consider opening major purchases in there name to get the best rates. Adding the lower credit person onto the load will help them build credit also so it is something to check on the cost.
  
• One person had Average or credit the other has below Average.  
•  Work on raising both score by paying off any credit card debt first. Go with highest rate first.  Once all paid off work on raising the below average through on time paying, keep cards open a long time, and in time applying for more credit or asking current card to increase available balance.
  

•  Both has below Average 
•  Work on raising both score by paying off any credit card debt first. Go with highest rate first.  Once all paid off work on raising the below average through on time paying, keep cards open a long time, and in time applying for more credit or asking current card to increase available balance.
  
• One has Excellent the other has Average
• This can be very difficult, because the excellent scorer may feel protectant of their credit and not want to jeopardize it. This is normal. Like all the cases you need to figure out the root cause.  If you spouse just doesn't have much history with credit. Signing them up for there own card or a authorized user is an option. If you are both responsible with credit that is a great way to build your history. Otherwise, if the below average user is working on behaviors. Then signing them up as an authorized user and shredding the card is another option. 

It's import to be open an honest with each other. Work on it as a team. If you are like many families and want to keep everything separate then just be honest when sign a load to your signification other why only one of you is on the car/house.  You can't force your spouse to be financially responsible, but you can be there to help them when they ask for help.

Backdoor roth conversions

 This is the dumbest and possible the best thing ever.   I strongly believe for the first 5 to 10 years ages 15-30 of your career you should be doing Roth IRA contributions.  Your income is just starting to go up and will probably be in the lowest tax bracket you ever will. In some cases you will get married during this time which may increase or decrease your tax brackets. In most cases spouses don't make the same amount and will lower your tax bracket.  Hence besides love marriage can make financial sense. 

Why this is so dumb. If you or your combined family income exceed this 208k barrier as of 2020 you cannot get any tax advantages from a Traditional IRA and you can't directly contribute to an Roth you only avoid paying taxes awhile in the account. So in sort you make too much so you don't get the benefit. 

Now you can contribute to a Traditional IRA with after tax money and let it grow tax free until you take it out and then pay taxes. But it is also locked in until you're 59.5 years old. Blah I would rather just put it in another account.  

Ok now the dumb and great part.  Let's say you have $6k just laying around in January. You can put that money into a Traditional IRA and wait a day or so and the with a few clicks Convert all the amount into an Roth IRA (assuming your traditional is empty).  Don't report your withholding and voila you can contributed to a Roth IRA without paying any extra taxes or fees. That money will now grow tax free and when you take it out at 59.5 it will be tax free.  The big different in this Roth IRA contributions vs a normal contribution is you can't take out your contribution right away you have to wait 5 years or year you put it in plus 4.   Note this is also how you access your 401k for early retirement. Now that is awesome, but WTF if this is legal why is there an income limit on a Roth IRA anyway.  This is also why tax law is dumb.   If I had to guess the reason this loophole exists because the tax law professionals don't know how to remove it with removing the benefit it provides retires in the 70s. Or the tax income the gov't gets when someone rolls over a 401k into a Traditional IRA and then converts that money into a Roth.   Since this is a taxable event and you will pay taxes on gains. IRS probably doesn't care to much since the FI community is probably the most know group using this to there advantage. As we are a small group.

Since these Individual Retirement Accounts are a way to encourage people to save for retirement. I don't see why there would be income limits for even the well compensated individuals.  Even some people make alot of income doesn't mean they have a high net worth. It is interesting.  Would it be better to taxes this high earners more when they are trying to be responsible.  They are trying to save enough money now to avoid being a burden to their family and the system.  Or to use there excess income and tax revenue generated to help those who need it in the system.

Random Cool travel hacks

Look Hacks I've found 

Restaurants 

Here are some restaurant hacks I've done:

• You walk into a restaurant and put your name in to find a long weight.   

• Look online to see if you can put your name in online - many places priorities online reservations over walk-ins 
• Similar to the first, but all in.  Phoning in may all you to put in a time i.e in 10 mins that beats walk-ins. 

• Share will others.  Look at appetizers as you walk in. May times the appetizers are either as big or bigger then a meal and cheaper.
• Look for discount before going out. Restaurants.com and Groupon are two choices.
  

 

Air Travel

• I think most people know about getting PreCheck to help avoid some of the lines. One thing I don't think everyone realized many travel cards come with $100 reimbursement for getting PreCheck.  
•  Southwest companion pass.  Really I had no clue on this until a couple of years ago.  We may of changed from United to Southwest sooner if we would of know about it.  In short once you reach the miles/points either through travel or CC points you get a pass for the rest of the year and next for a buy one get one free airline ticket.
• Next his child rates.https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/family/children-pol.html
• Bring an empty bottle to fill up at the airport. All snacks and drink are marked up 5x 
• Always take advantage of early entry on the plane
  

 
Kids

• Always ask for a twins discount if you are buy two of the something.  I joked about this once with a cashier and they gave it to me. From then on every time I've gotten something off. 
• Don't throw away old toy or cloths.  Look into selling it or donating. The stuff was expensive and was probably only used a few time.  Bike and other size limited toys are meant to be used for year and just the one year it fit your kids. They don't do any good rotting in you garage encase you have another rugrat. 
• Rent car seats at your destination. Not worth the headache of carrying it on. Or sending your $300 car seat under a plane and having it break.  
• Get in umbrella stroller for travel. Again not worth bring your expensive Bob stroller or the likes with you. 
• The one caveat would be if you have very young kids and bring the stroller and car seats are the best options.  Get travel car-seat bags and a snap-n-go stroller.  Lightest weight and security of your own seats.
  

Hotel

• This is well known but always see if there are any free upgrades.   
•  Always signup for the rewards program.
• If you staying multiple days. Ask for a refrigerator and stock it with breakfast food.