Hmm... interesting. So the most you are out is $700 over 7 years (at $50/yr assuming the premium doesn’t change). What is your base rate premium vs another on-line insurance company like Progressive? Switching my fiancee (now wife) from Gieco to Progressive reduced her premium by about 40% for similar coverage.

Though it isn’t a scam, I got lots of offers for life insurance to cover the cost of the loan after a bought my home, and after I refinanced. It isn’t a scam as the coverage offered is real. I was dumb enough to respond to one of the notices and a kind, elderly gentleman came to my home and discussed rates and options…

Why would you sell a stick shift to someone who doesn’t drive a stick, let alone your elderly Indian landlord?!? Take the money he gave you and put it away to buy the car back. I give it less than 4 weeks.

I lived in Houston for 8 years and married a local, and neither of us has seen black pepper crab... We’ll have to do some research and hopefully be proved wrong.

Well, this is good news.

I’m an expat from Houston living in Singapore. They have something amazing here called Roti Prata. When you buy it from the store, it is a thin, flat frozen disk that you heat in a pan on the stove until it puffs up and gets crispy. Does this sound similar to what you use in this recipe? Any chance you can post a…

I agree on the psychological benefits of having the mortgage paid, just as long as you understand the trade-off you are making isn’t 100% financially optimal. However, you can’t live in your 403B account. Houses aren’t necessarily a great investment, but they are the best investment that you can live in. Having your…

It sounds like you have the best Roth vs 403B approach in your particular situation. My guess is that you are in the 25% tax bracket, so maxing the Roth first is putting a bet that your tax rate will be the same or higher in retirement.

What I am advocating is balance and a realistic, disciplined approach. Yes, you could save the money instead of traveling or having some experience(s) and end up dead five years later. That is a very poor justification for not saving in your youth. Furthermore, the desire to have experiences doesn’t change as you get…

Fair enough... but I know people who “lived a little” in their early 20's and are still “living a little” in their mid 30's. Some are living paycheck to paycheck. I don’t know if they are saving for retirement, but my guess is they aren’t. When will they start? Their 40's? Every year they defer their savings, they are…

Agreed, especially on saving for retirement early. I didn’t start really saving for retirement until I got my second job at age 28. I only put in the minimum to get my company match. I was making good money, so it helped, but I figured I’d be in good shape. Two years later I started “splitting” my raises with myself…

I disagree on point 1. The problem with that logic is that it creates a receding horizon. You say “live a little”, “don’t sacrifice the prime years of your life”, etc. The problem with this is that it leads to lifestyle inflation. You won’t know when to stop “living a little”. There is no sign post. So if you delay…

Correction above... the diesel version of the truck would need 2250 kWh of raw diesel energy at 20% efficiency, resulting in 200L or 52 gallons with an MPG of 4.8.

You would also need to account for inefficiencies in the charging process. If the charging is 90% efficient (which is in the ballpark), then you’d actually require 500 kWh of energy in 30 minutes. The other 50 kWh would be wasted as heat. So, you’d waste 100 kW for 30 minutes. Imagine running one thousand 100W light…

Go the next step and design a vehicle with this in mind where the floor slopes to one of several drain plugs. When it is time to clean the car, unscrew the plugs and hose the vehicle out. Leave the plugs out and windows down while the car dries, replace the plugs and drive off.

Not just high school kids... lots of people hang out at Changi to shop, dine, etc. They had a big Star Wars display ahead of the movie last December that drew a HUGE crowd. The full scale X-Wing and TIE fighter were pretty cool.

At least you’ve lived in enough places to know you don’t like Houston, and have legitimate reasons. I lived in downtown Chicago and was very happy to move away to Houston. It was a fun city to visit, but I didn’t like living there. But at least I had enough experience living in Chicago to make an informed opinion.

Everyone I’ve met that complains “Houston sucks” or “Houston isn’t nearly as cool as XXXX, everything is so much better there” doesn’t actually live in Houston. If you hate Houston because you hate living in Conroe or Kingwood, then you don’t really hate Houston.

I used to live in the 77007... I miss the heights. Hope to move back when we return from Singapore. Housing prices are just brutal though. Might end up north of the GOOF.

Glad you mentioned catch up contributions. So much advice is focused on people in their early and mid-career. Starting at age 50, the contribution cap on your 401K increases. This year the cap is $18K, but if you are over 50, you can contribute another $6K. That additional contribution is also tax deferred, unless you…