Mustachian People Problems (just for fun)

[Thrallama]

My company rolled our 401k plan into the 401k of the megacorp that owns us at the end of 2023. The new 401k account is still with Fidelity, but has a different name. So on December 29, my "old company 401k" account balance went to $0 and on December 30 the "new company 401k" account was created and its balance went up by the same amount. Transfer went fine, I can see the new account on my Fidelity dashboard, all is well.

The MPP: because I was traveling over the holidays, I didn't get to link the "new company 401k" account to Empower or Monarch until today. This means that Empower shows a week-long crater in my net worth because the old 401k balance was zero and I hadn't linked the new one yet. Monarch shows a dip for the entire month of December because its reports show assets/debts on the last day of each month. I know I didn't *actually* lose that money for an entire week, but the graphs make it appear that way.

In Monarch, you can edit transaction dates. Maybe just make them match?

That is a good idea to try, if Monarch showed transactions for investment accounts. They're working on that feature but it hasn't been rolled out yet. Right now they only show balances/balance history.

I was able to get my net worth graph corrected - by uploading a .csv file with a single row for 12/31/2023 showing the balance that was transferred. I had (wrongly) assumed that having balance data for dates before and after 12/31 would mean Monarch would extrapolate between them for my end-of-December net worth. Nope, it needed a specific number for 12/31.

[crocheted_stache]

My MPP: Credit card company (for a card I have) keeps sending email pestering me to sign up for their promotional interest rate, which is a much better deal than their standard, usurious rates, except I have yet to owe them a single cent in interest. I also have no need for the built-in installment purchase feature they're pushing, presumably to compete with the various monthly payment services attached to every online checkout now.

[eyesonthehorizon]

Intuit is closing their budgeting platform Mint down to port its users to Credit Karma, which focuses on credit referrals & has no budgeting tools to speak of. Now that I’ve erased my Mint account to avoid this, they are rubbing salt in the wound by sending me advertising emails to sign up for Mint’s amazing budgeting services (which won’t exist anymore in a few months.)

[getsorted]

Intuit is closing their budgeting platform Mint down to port its users to Credit Karma, which focuses on credit referrals & has no budgeting tools to speak of. Now that I’ve erased my Mint account to avoid this, they are rubbing salt in the wound by sending me advertising emails to sign up for Mint’s amazing budgeting services (which won’t exist anymore in a few months.)

Someone in another thread said that the budgeting feature was going to be preserved in Credit Karma-- which, if true, really should have been announced earlier; they must have already lost a lot of customers (I, like you, have also erased my Mint account).

I didn't try out the new Credit Karma to see, but honestly I'm happier with the more robust budgeting tools in the paid app I am using now, and had been considering making a switch anyway. 

[eyesonthehorizon]

Intuit is closing their budgeting platform Mint down to port its users to Credit Karma, which focuses on credit referrals & has no budgeting tools to speak of. Now that I’ve erased my Mint account to avoid this, they are rubbing salt in the wound by sending me advertising emails to sign up for Mint’s amazing budgeting services (which won’t exist anymore in a few months.)

Someone in another thread said that the budgeting feature was going to be preserved in Credit Karma-- which, if true, really should have been announced earlier; they must have already lost a lot of customers (I, like you, have also erased my Mint account).

I didn't try out the new Credit Karma to see, but honestly I'm happier with the more robust budgeting tools in the paid app I am using now, and had been considering making a switch anyway.

From their own support site, they have some expense tracking features, though much less robust, & no budgeting features. I really left over the lack of flexibility in expense tracking & the removed ability to export data, if I’m honest, I don’t really need a budget so much as like to watch how far under the wire I can get each month.

https://support.creditkarma.com/s/article/Intuit-Mint-and-Credit-Karma#Will-Credit-Karma-have-the-same-budgeting-functionality-as-Mint

[Poundwise]

MPP: Went to a fancy restaurant for a special occasion and one of our sons kept exclaiming loudly over the prices on the menu. We shushed him and assured him we could afford it, but he was too indignant to enjoy himself.

[Sibley]

MPP: Went to a fancy restaurant for a special occasion and one of our sons kept exclaiming loudly over the prices on the menu. We shushed him and assured him we could afford it, but he was too indignant to enjoy himself.

Honestly, I don't care if he doesn't enjoy himself. I don't want a kid (or teen, or adult) making a fuss while I'm trying to have a nice meal. Please have a firm conversation with him about the inappropriateness of his behavior.

[crocheted_stache]

My MPP: Credit card company (for a card I have) keeps sending email pestering me to sign up for their promotional interest rate, which is a much better deal than their standard, usurious rates, except I have yet to owe them a single cent in interest. I also have no need for the built-in installment purchase feature they're pushing, presumably to compete with the various monthly payment services attached to every online checkout now.

Update: griping about it here prompted me to go find the preferences. "Do you really, really want to not hear about all our great and useful offers?" That's exactly what I want. We'll see if the email abates.

[Abe Froman]

MPP: Went to a fancy restaurant for a special occasion and one of our sons kept exclaiming loudly over the prices on the menu. We shushed him and assured him we could afford it, but he was too indignant to enjoy himself.

Honestly, I don't care if he doesn't enjoy himself. I don't want a kid (or teen, or adult) making a fuss while I'm trying to have a nice meal. Please have a firm conversation with him about the inappropriateness of his behavior.

popcorn ...

[GuitarStv]

MPP: Went to a fancy restaurant for a special occasion and one of our sons kept exclaiming loudly over the prices on the menu. We shushed him and assured him we could afford it, but he was too indignant to enjoy himself.

Honestly, I don't care if he doesn't enjoy himself. I don't want a kid (or teen, or adult) making a fuss while I'm trying to have a nice meal. Please have a firm conversation with him about the inappropriateness of his behavior.

popcorn ...

I'd just leave him home next time.  Seems like everyone would be happier.  :P

[getsorted]

MPP: Went to a fancy restaurant for a special occasion and one of our sons kept exclaiming loudly over the prices on the menu. We shushed him and assured him we could afford it, but he was too indignant to enjoy himself.

I have a really funny memory of my youngest brother doing this in a diner. He had strong food preferences as a kid and was super leery of any new food, even if it was the same food from another restaurant. After being coached through the menu and locating some items we felt were likely to be acceptable, he begrudgingly ordered. But then he sat at the table looking stormy. I asked him, "What's wrong?" and he burst out, "I just don't know why we have to spend all this money when I don't know I'm gonna like it! I would rather just go to Subway! I know I like Subway!"

I still chuckle about that. I know that when I was a kid, having to eat a meal I didn't like was pretty much the worst thing that could happen to me in my mind. I guess paying restaurant prices for it just made it seem so much worse. Which I sympathize with! Every time I order a $5 coffee and don't like it, I feel completely put out.

[ixtap]

I put an order to buy an ETF a day after flying west. This means I forgot the markets were closed at the time I placed the order. D'oh. I wasn't trying to time, but it took me a few beats to realize why it wasn't processed quickly.

[ixtap]

In the ongoing saga of "DH's paychecks are odd," today's includes a pre tax addition in the deductions section, labelled as pre tax healthcare. He wants nothing to do with his paychecks (he was really stressed this morning) so I can only guess why (and my guess is it has to do with HSA seed money they messed up last year) and keep the extra money in checking for awhile in case this was a SNAFU. Although, if it is there again in two weeks, I am going to press him to figure it out so we don't have a build up of funds that we shouldn't have.

[getsorted]

In the ongoing saga of "DH's paychecks are odd," today's includes a pre tax addition in the deductions section, labelled as pre tax healthcare. He wants nothing to do with his paychecks (he was really stressed this morning) so I can only guess why (and my guess is it has to do with HSA seed money they messed up last year) and keep the extra money in checking for awhile in case this was a SNAFU. Although, if it is there again in two weeks, I am going to press him to figure it out so we don't have a build up of funds that we shouldn't have.

Odd paychecks drive me nuts. For some reason, our company's software only allows them to show four deductions on our paystubs, no matter how many deductions there actually are. And which deductions it shows varies from week to week and seems completely random. They also really love to offer new payroll-deductible stuff-- everything from company apparel to pet insurance to a company savings account, in addition to the usual health, vision, dental, disability insurance, etc. But apparently we cannot upgrade to better software because there is One Guy In Payroll who knows everything, is too valuable to replace, and cannot be talked out of his favorite program, even though fielding calls about mysterious payroll deductions (we have thousands of employees!) takes up hours of everybody else's time.

[Sibley]

Odd paychecks drive me nuts. For some reason, our company's software only allows them to show four deductions on our paystubs, no matter how many deductions there actually are. And which deductions it shows varies from week to week and seems completely random. They also really love to offer new payroll-deductible stuff-- everything from company apparel to pet insurance to a company savings account, in addition to the usual health, vision, dental, disability insurance, etc. But apparently we cannot upgrade to better software because there is One Guy In Payroll who knows everything, is too valuable to replace, and cannot be talked out of his favorite program, even though fielding calls about mysterious payroll deductions (we have thousands of employees!) takes up hours of everybody else's time.

Best part is, when that One Guy in Payroll does leave, they're going to start finding all sorts of mistakes If not outright fraud.

[SwordGuy]

Odd paychecks drive me nuts. For some reason, our company's software only allows them to show four deductions on our paystubs, no matter how many deductions there actually are. And which deductions it shows varies from week to week and seems completely random. They also really love to offer new payroll-deductible stuff-- everything from company apparel to pet insurance to a company savings account, in addition to the usual health, vision, dental, disability insurance, etc. But apparently we cannot upgrade to better software because there is One Guy In Payroll who knows everything, is too valuable to replace, and cannot be talked out of his favorite program, even though fielding calls about mysterious payroll deductions (we have thousands of employees!) takes up hours of everybody else's time.

Best part is, when that One Guy in Payroll does leave, they're going to start finding all sorts of mistakes If not outright fraud.

I bet you just hit the nail on the head!

[RetiredAt63]

Odd paychecks drive me nuts. For some reason, our company's software only allows them to show four deductions on our paystubs, no matter how many deductions there actually are. And which deductions it shows varies from week to week and seems completely random. They also really love to offer new payroll-deductible stuff-- everything from company apparel to pet insurance to a company savings account, in addition to the usual health, vision, dental, disability insurance, etc. But apparently we cannot upgrade to better software because there is One Guy In Payroll who knows everything, is too valuable to replace, and cannot be talked out of his favorite program, even though fielding calls about mysterious payroll deductions (we have thousands of employees!) takes up hours of everybody else's time.

Best part is, when that One Guy in Payroll does leave, they're going to start finding all sorts of mistakes If not outright fraud.

Or when he goes and they get better software, all the people spending time answering questions can actually do their jobs and productivity will be so much better!  Not to mention people so much less stressed out because they are no longer answering questions that would never have been asked if the software were better.  This guy is costing the company.

[Dave1442397]

In the ongoing saga of "DH's paychecks are odd," today's includes a pre tax addition in the deductions section, labelled as pre tax healthcare. He wants nothing to do with his paychecks (he was really stressed this morning) so I can only guess why (and my guess is it has to do with HSA seed money they messed up last year) and keep the extra money in checking for awhile in case this was a SNAFU. Although, if it is there again in two weeks, I am going to press him to figure it out so we don't have a build up of funds that we shouldn't have.

My wife's job has an inept payroll guy too. I noticed one of her paychecks was under the usual amount by $40 or so, and I went over the previous few paystubs to see what was going on. It ended up being miscalculations for various items, some under, some over. I wrote it all up with screen prints, highlighting the errors on the paystubs and including all my corrected calculations.

Payroll guy's reaction: "Wow, how did he ever find this? I never would have noticed it!"

[ixtap]

In the ongoing saga of "DH's paychecks are odd," today's includes a pre tax addition in the deductions section, labelled as pre tax healthcare. He wants nothing to do with his paychecks (he was really stressed this morning) so I can only guess why (and my guess is it has to do with HSA seed money they messed up last year) and keep the extra money in checking for awhile in case this was a SNAFU. Although, if it is there again in two weeks, I am going to press him to figure it out so we don't have a build up of funds that we shouldn't have.

My wife's job has an inept payroll guy too. I noticed one of her paychecks was under the usual amount by $40 or so, and I went over the previous few paystubs to see what was going on. It ended up being miscalculations for various items, some under, some over. I wrote it all up with screen prints, highlighting the errors on the paystubs and including all my corrected calculations.

Payroll guy's reaction: "Wow, how did he ever find this? I never would have noticed it!"

So far, only once has been an error (they forgot his pay should change when he went part time). There are just a lot of unexpected things incentives here, patent bonuses at different stages of the process. But I have also been able to figure out the previous one based on the line item. If you Google this line item, everything is about insurance premiums, not getting extra money.

[crocheted_stache]

Thanks for the reminder/incentive to review my pay stub for the new year. Company just migrated payroll to a new provider, and I should check that everything I had set up made the trip.

My current MPP: I recently identified and eliminated around $45/month of useless expenses. Applying the Rule of 173, the savings should add up to nearly $8000 over 10 years. The MPP is that this amount is dwarfed both by other routine-for-me savings (paid-off car and house, bike most local trips, cook at home) and by daily swings in the market.

[jeroly]

My MPP is a friend gave me some bar shampoo which I really want to try but it will be ~6 months before I use up my current shampoo. On current tracking I will not need to buy any more shampoo or conditioner until I retire in 4 years time.

I bought three bars of sandalwood soap, a big splurge for me, in the middle of the pandemic (a 'treat yo self' kind of splurge, $29 for the three bars), summer 2021.
It being expensive soap, I can't bring myself to use it directly - I apply it to a plastic bath pouf which I then use on my skin.
I'm about a quarter of the way through the second bar.  At this rate I'll be done with the third bar in approximately 2027-2028.

[NorthernIkigai]

My MPP is a friend gave me some bar shampoo which I really want to try but it will be ~6 months before I use up my current shampoo. On current tracking I will not need to buy any more shampoo or conditioner until I retire in 4 years time.

I bought three bars of sandalwood soap, a big splurge for me, in the middle of the pandemic (a 'treat yo self' kind of splurge, $29 for the three bars), summer 2021.
It being expensive soap, I can't bring myself to use it directly - I apply it to a plastic bath pouf which I then use on my skin.
I'm about a quarter of the way through the second bar.  At this rate I'll be done with the third bar in approximately 2027-2028.

And what was the problem? :-)

[Alfred J Quack]

My new employer was fishing around for a phone I could use and came up with an iPhone 11. It's several years old, and it's the first iPhone I've ever used.

I've been texting customers and vendors, some bubbles are green and some are blue. I honestly can't remember which color I'm supposed to hate.

Blue is iMessage and apple only so I'd assume that one.

[Dollar Slice]

In re: expensive soap, I have a $6 bar I bought as a gift for my mom... but when I got it home and was unpacking my shopping in the kitchen, it slipped out of my hands and bounced straight into a dirty pot soaking in the sink from earlier in the day. Oops. Now, it's soap so you can wash it off, but you can't give it as a gift if it looks like you used it already. So now I have a fancy soap instead of the unscented and uncolored kind I've been using.

[Metalcat]

I downsized to a small apartment and now I don't have enough wall space for all of the beautiful and valuable art that my mom wants to give me because she's downsizing to a new place about the same size as mine.

[crocheted_stache]

My MPP is a friend gave me some bar shampoo which I really want to try but it will be ~6 months before I use up my current shampoo. On current tracking I will not need to buy any more shampoo or conditioner until I retire in 4 years time.

I bought three bars of sandalwood soap, a big splurge for me, in the middle of the pandemic (a 'treat yo self' kind of splurge, $29 for the three bars), summer 2021.
It being expensive soap, I can't bring myself to use it directly - I apply it to a plastic bath pouf which I then use on my skin.
I'm about a quarter of the way through the second bar.  At this rate I'll be done with the third bar in approximately 2027-2028.

My MPP is due to the fact that my parents are Mustachian, too, although that's not what they call it. As such, I will someday inherit whatever remains of the case of their favorite dish soap, which they bought on clearance when it was discontinued. I can only hope that it will still be usable at that point, and that I like it as well as they always have.

[RetiredAt63]

My MPP is a friend gave me some bar shampoo which I really want to try but it will be ~6 months before I use up my current shampoo. On current tracking I will not need to buy any more shampoo or conditioner until I retire in 4 years time.

I bought three bars of sandalwood soap, a big splurge for me, in the middle of the pandemic (a 'treat yo self' kind of splurge, $29 for the three bars), summer 2021.
It being expensive soap, I can't bring myself to use it directly - I apply it to a plastic bath pouf which I then use on my skin.
I'm about a quarter of the way through the second bar.  At this rate I'll be done with the third bar in approximately 2027-2028.

My MPP is due to the fact that my parents are Mustachian, too, although that's not what they call it. As such, I will someday inherit whatever remains of the case of their favorite dish soap, which they bought on clearance when it was discontinued. I can only hope that it will still be usable at that point, and that I like it as well as they always have.

I like your parents' approach.  I had one particular bar soap that I really liked that was hard to find, so every time it was available I bought the whole stock.  I haven't seen it in years.  I still have 7 packages (of 3 bars each) left.

[crocheted_stache]

My MPP is a friend gave me some bar shampoo which I really want to try but it will be ~6 months before I use up my current shampoo. On current tracking I will not need to buy any more shampoo or conditioner until I retire in 4 years time.

I bought three bars of sandalwood soap, a big splurge for me, in the middle of the pandemic (a 'treat yo self' kind of splurge, $29 for the three bars), summer 2021.
It being expensive soap, I can't bring myself to use it directly - I apply it to a plastic bath pouf which I then use on my skin.
I'm about a quarter of the way through the second bar.  At this rate I'll be done with the third bar in approximately 2027-2028.

My MPP is due to the fact that my parents are Mustachian, too, although that's not what they call it. As such, I will someday inherit whatever remains of the case of their favorite dish soap, which they bought on clearance when it was discontinued. I can only hope that it will still be usable at that point, and that I like it as well as they always have.

I like your parents' approach.  I had one particular bar soap that I really liked that was hard to find, so every time it was available I bought the whole stock.  I haven't seen it in years.  I still have 7 packages (of 3 bars each) left.

I hope you have checked online, in case it's still being made and stores near you just don't carry it anymore, in case it was rebranded and you didn't know, or in case someone else inherited their parents' supply and didn't like it.

Bar soap can last a little longer if you let it dry out before use (just storing it in a dry place is usually enough). I'm sure you already have the kind of soap tray that keeps it up out of puddles.

[crocheted_stache]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

[Alfred J Quack]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

Had that problem with changing insurance. It refused to quote me when I put in no rent and no mortgage payment. Suffice it to say that I didn't go there.

[Josiecat22222]

My MPP:

I have a fully stocked freezer/pantry and cook from scratch daily.  I was going to do a "low spend" month and only buy fresh produce, eggs, etc this month, however, Kroger has a coupon that if I spend 75$ per week for the next three weeks, I get a 25$ gift card.  So now I am filling up my cart with more shelf stable stuff and will have a VERY low spend Feb as well as guaranteed participation in the "eat all the food in your house challenge" for many months to come.

[fuzzy math]

My MPP:

I have a fully stocked freezer/pantry and cook from scratch daily.  I was going to do a "low spend" month and only buy fresh produce, eggs, etc this month, however, Kroger has a coupon that if I spend 75$ per week for the next three weeks, I get a 25$ gift card.  So now I am filling up my cart with more shelf stable stuff and will have a VERY low spend Feb as well as guaranteed participation in the "eat all the food in your house challenge" for many months to come.

I feel like this is me every week. Some sale comes up and I'm always buying groceries after saying I'm going to slow down.

[crocheted_stache]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

Had that problem with changing insurance. It refused to quote me when I put in no rent and no mortgage payment. Suffice it to say that I didn't go there.

I suppose that's the point where, if you do need/want to go there, you give up on the web form and phone or visit a person.

[LennStar]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

Had that problem with changing insurance. It refused to quote me when I put in no rent and no mortgage payment. Suffice it to say that I didn't go there.

I suppose that's the point where, if you do need/want to go there, you give up on the web form and phone or visit a person.

What a horrible thing to imagine, or worse, even do!!!

Can't you just put in $1? But I guess then you get filtered out for "fraud" by the algo.

[Alfred J Quack]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

Had that problem with changing insurance. It refused to quote me when I put in no rent and no mortgage payment. Suffice it to say that I didn't go there.

I suppose that's the point where, if you do need/want to go there, you give up on the web form and phone or visit a person.

What a horrible thing to imagine, or worse, even do!!!

Can't you just put in $1? But I guess then you get filtered out for "fraud" by the algo.

You have to be honest on those forms so putting in €1, while technically possible, would still be a lie that could void your insurance. It's a stretch but I'm not under the illusion that an insurance will do anything they can think of to out of paying someone.

[Josiecat22222]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

Had that problem with changing insurance. It refused to quote me when I put in no rent and no mortgage payment. Suffice it to say that I didn't go there.

Can you figure out the monthly cost of your taxes and insurance for your paid off house and report that as your "mortgage"?  For folks who still pay a mortgage, those are usually rolled into the monthly payment, but once you've paid of the house, those are now your fixed housing costs.

[Alternatepriorities]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

Had that problem with changing insurance. It refused to quote me when I put in no rent and no mortgage payment. Suffice it to say that I didn't go there.

Can you figure out the monthly cost of your taxes and insurance for your paid off house and report that as your "mortgage"?  For folks who still pay a mortgage, those are usually rolled into the monthly payment, but once you've paid of the house, those are now your fixed housing costs.

I’ve been doing something like that on “income”. I just add 4% of my stash to any earned income and report that for those kinds of things.

[FireLane]

My MPP: The S&P 500 has set a new all-time high, but my brokerage account hasn't. My Vanguard balance is back to seven figures, which is great... but it's still a few tens of thousands below its highest-ever value, in December 2021.

I guess this isn't unexpected, because I don't just have VFIAX in my brokerage account. I also have some mid-cap, small-cap and international, and obviously those funds don't move in perfect sync. Still, I'm slightly annoyed that my net worth hasn't hit a new high that I can celebrate, even though the market has!

[ixtap]

My MPP: The S&P 500 has set a new all-time high, but my brokerage account hasn't. My Vanguard balance is back to seven figures, which is great... but it's still a few tens of thousands below its highest-ever value, in December 2021.

I guess this isn't unexpected, because I don't just have VFIAX in my brokerage account. I also have some mid-cap, small-cap and international, and obviously those funds don't move in perfect sync. Still, I'm slightly annoyed that my net worth hasn't hit a new high that I can celebrate, even though the market has!

Our add it all up and rebalance date isn't until the end of next month. So much could happen by then and we not get see our new high! We have a lot of bonds, but we were only .6% shy of the previous high 5 months ago.

[Dicey]

New MPP unlocked! My financial aggregator app is now nagging me to "see the whole picture" by including my mortgage in my list. There is no more mortgage. I paid it off last year. The closed account for the paid-off mortgage is even visible in the list.

Had that problem with changing insurance. It refused to quote me when I put in no rent and no mortgage payment. Suffice it to say that I didn't go there.

I suppose that's the point where, if you do need/want to go there, you give up on the web form and phone or visit a person.

What a horrible thing to imagine, or worse, even do!!!

Can't you just put in $1? But I guess then you get filtered out for "fraud" by the algo.

You have to be honest on those forms so putting in €1, while technically possible, would still be a lie that could void your insurance. It's a stretch but I'm not under the illusion that an insurance will do anything they can think of to out of paying someone.

I'd be tempted to fill in that particular blank with the amount of the monthly tax bill. If you don't pay your property taxes, you lose your house. Just like a mortgage, lol.

My new MPP: our wonderfully cheap insurer (CSE) is pulling up stakes in CA, so we're shopping for insurance for four houses, two old vehicles and an umbrella policy. The primary has no mortgage, so we could have the same MPP. Maybe I'll have to try my own proposed remedy. Stay tuned...

ETA: I mentioned this to DH, who was very skeptical of this ever happening.  I looked closer and realized AJQ is in the Netherlands.  Not an issue in the US. Whew! MPP averted. Now we only have to worry what a new insurer will charge, if we can find one...

[crocheted_stache]

My MPP: We cannot justify replacing our soon-to-be 20yo car, although we could easily afford to.

Together, DH and I don't drive enough. It's an only car and has been for most of its career. It's starting to act/show its age with some paint decay and some new rattles, but it's still basically reliable, and mechanic visits still cost less than an upgrade.

We both bike most places and only resort to driving when the distance is excessive, the weather is terrible, or we have passengers or cargo to transport, often less than once per week. I'm not sure an EV would be happy sitting there, being ignored most of the time. We don't want to bike less or drive more just to keep a car in shape. (Related sub-problem: our insurance company's lowest annual mileage threshold is 7000 miles per year, and we drive less than half that.)

If local public transportation and car share were enough to make up the difference, we'd have figured that out by now. Also, we kind of like our existing car, not least because it has no screen.

Update: collected the mileage for last year. For two people, one car, we drove right about 2500 miles, total. I don't know if we put that many miles on any one bicycle, but we certainly rode more than that between us.

[GuitarStv]

My MPP: We cannot justify replacing our soon-to-be 20yo car, although we could easily afford to.

Together, DH and I don't drive enough. It's an only car and has been for most of its career. It's starting to act/show its age with some paint decay and some new rattles, but it's still basically reliable, and mechanic visits still cost less than an upgrade.

We both bike most places and only resort to driving when the distance is excessive, the weather is terrible, or we have passengers or cargo to transport, often less than once per week. I'm not sure an EV would be happy sitting there, being ignored most of the time. We don't want to bike less or drive more just to keep a car in shape. (Related sub-problem: our insurance company's lowest annual mileage threshold is 7000 miles per year, and we drive less than half that.)

If local public transportation and car share were enough to make up the difference, we'd have figured that out by now. Also, we kind of like our existing car, not least because it has no screen.

Update: collected the mileage for last year. For two people, one car, we drove right about 2500 miles, total. I don't know if we put that many miles on any one bicycle, but we certainly rode more than that between us.

#WINNING

[ixtap]

In the ongoing saga of "DH's paychecks are odd," today's includes a pre tax addition in the deductions section, labelled as pre tax healthcare. He wants nothing to do with his paychecks (he was really stressed this morning) so I can only guess why (and my guess is it has to do with HSA seed money they messed up last year) and keep the extra money in checking for awhile in case this was a SNAFU. Although, if it is there again in two weeks, I am going to press him to figure it out so we don't have a build up of funds that we shouldn't have.

It was a random mistake. The MPP is that I have deductions set for $5 paychecks, so when they adjust this on the next paycheck, it will mean we are missing that much contribution to ESPP. Grrr.

[BlueHouse]

That would drive me berserk. You can't retroactively edit that stuff?

That stuff tends to drive me crazy too.  BUT...you reach a point where you realize the past doesn't really matter.  All that matters is what you have now and in the future.  It's hard make me accept it, but I've been reaching toward clearing out some of my old history in my finance spreadsheet, and I think I just want to start fresh and clean.

[AnotherEngineer]

That would drive me berserk. You can't retroactively edit that stuff?

That stuff tends to drive me crazy too.  BUT...you reach a point where you realize the past doesn't really matter.  All that matters is what you have now and in the future.  It's hard make me accept it, but I've been reaching toward clearing out some of my old history in my finance spreadsheet, and I think I just want to start fresh and clean.

This sort of issue was my first MPP post too as Empower freaked out of for a week and posted my 401k value +/- a random value up to $1M each day. It screwed up the scale when I look at long term net worth!

My current MPPs are that I have to wait at least another week to finish my taxes for my $3k refund (bonus withholding rules...) because I don't have all my 1099INT forms from my bank bonus churning.

Relatedly, I'm all for two-factor authentication, but it can make two-player mode logins more annoying. Its like they don't acknowledge that both people on a joint account (or account aggregator) might want to log in.  And some of them have gotten long. I entered 10 digits for Chase! Is that really more secure than the four-digit numbers they were initially.

[sonofsven]

I'm getting a five figure insurance claim check and now I have to decide which bank account to open and transfer it to for the best bonus, and then which credit card to open for the best spending bonus when it's time to pay for the repairs.

[LennStar]

I'm getting a five figure insurance claim check and now I have to decide which bank account to open and transfer it to for the best bonus, and then which credit card to open for the best spending bonus when it's time to pay for the repairs.

Best eample that money does not buy happiness, it just takes up so much of your time!

[dandarc]

That would drive me berserk. You can't retroactively edit that stuff?

That stuff tends to drive me crazy too.  BUT...you reach a point where you realize the past doesn't really matter.  All that matters is what you have now and in the future.  It's hard make me accept it, but I've been reaching toward clearing out some of my old history in my finance spreadsheet, and I think I just want to start fresh and clean.

This sort of issue was my first MPP post too as Empower freaked out of for a week and posted my 401k value +/- a random value up to $1M each day. It screwed up the scale when I look at long term net worth!

My current MPPs are that I have to wait at least another week to finish my taxes for my $3k refund (bonus withholding rules...) because I don't have all my 1099INT forms from my bank bonus churning.

Relatedly, I'm all for two-factor authentication, but it can make two-player mode logins more annoying. Its like they don't acknowledge that both people on a joint account (or account aggregator) might want to log in.  And some of them have gotten long. I entered 10 digits for Chase! Is that really more secure than the four-digit numbers they were initially.

Short answer: probably not more secure.

The risk is that someone nefarious gets hold of or guesses the code before it expires or you use it. Length helps stop guessing, short expiration helps with stuff like you stayed logged into your email on a public computer and next person steals the code. One-time use is critical because these are almost never communicated truly out of band.

But someone who can pull off grabbing the code and using it before you do on say a 15 minute time-limited token is quite likely also able to do that faster than you can blink, so I personally think 4 digits is enough - expand to letters vs. just going longer if you're really worried about it, presuming that you also implement some kind of limit on straight-up guessing - get it wrong 3 times and you need a new code does more for security than adding length for a 1-time use code. I feel like Chase's excessively long token is more to soothe anxiety of people who have been conditioned "longer = better" on password strength for a very long time but haven't really thought information security through in any depth. Might be a lot of those people in both the customer base and working throughout the organization as well - plus it is an easy box to check off.

[AnotherEngineer]

That would drive me berserk. You can't retroactively edit that stuff?

That stuff tends to drive me crazy too.  BUT...you reach a point where you realize the past doesn't really matter.  All that matters is what you have now and in the future.  It's hard make me accept it, but I've been reaching toward clearing out some of my old history in my finance spreadsheet, and I think I just want to start fresh and clean.

This sort of issue was my first MPP post too as Empower freaked out of for a week and posted my 401k value +/- a random value up to $1M each day. It screwed up the scale when I look at long term net worth!

My current MPPs are that I have to wait at least another week to finish my taxes for my $3k refund (bonus withholding rules...) because I don't have all my 1099INT forms from my bank bonus churning.

Relatedly, I'm all for two-factor authentication, but it can make two-player mode logins more annoying. Its like they don't acknowledge that both people on a joint account (or account aggregator) might want to log in.  And some of them have gotten long. I entered 10 digits for Chase! Is that really more secure than the four-digit numbers they were initially.

Short answer: probably not more secure.

The risk is that someone nefarious gets hold of or guesses the code before it expires or you use it. Length helps stop guessing, short expiration helps with stuff like you stayed logged into your email on a public computer and next person steals the code. One-time use is critical because these are almost never communicated truly out of band.

But someone who can pull off grabbing the code and using it before you do on say a 15 minute time-limited token is quite likely also able to do that faster than you can blink, so I personally think 4 digits is enough - expand to letters vs. just going longer if you're really worried about it, presuming that you also implement some kind of limit on straight-up guessing - get it wrong 3 times and you need a new code does more for security than adding length for a 1-time use code. I feel like Chase's excessively long token is more to soothe anxiety of people who have been conditioned "longer = better" on password strength for a very long time but haven't really thought information security through in any depth. Might be a lot of those people in both the customer base and working throughout the organization as well - plus it is an easy box to check off.

Yeah, four digits gives you 10,000 numbers to guess and is easy to remember. It is a real pain when I might get 20 codes in a day checking up on accounts.

Chase needs to up their 2FA game. The real kicker was that Chase security called me right after I opened an account and said they needed to confirm my identity by texting a code to the very phone they just called me on (you know, they thing all the 2FA messages tell you not to do!). I hung up and freaked out that my network and email were hacked...turns out after Googling that this was apparently legitimate and I was able to confirm my identity through other means.

[ChpBstrd]

I've been bummed about my net worth in Mint going nowhere for the past 3 months despite some kickass returns on long-term bond trades. Then I realized my accounts last updated 3 months ago, and my brokerage was absorbed in a merger during that time, breaking the links. Thus I was looking at my NW from 3 months ago. After some quick calculator math I found that I am a millionaire. A lazy one who doesn't always pay attention to details, but a millionaire nonetheless.