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It makes no sense to me, and I'll never understand your logic on refunds. It's my money so I want as much of it to invest on my terms as soon as possible. I would also invest it things that actually have a long term return and not other cash instruments.

Don't round until the end.

It's fine. So much ink gets spilled arguing about this when it's just not important in the big picture.

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It’s not optimal, but it’s okay.

I think it’s easy to have extra cash-strapped stress during the year because of having that money locked up in future refund. If there is no stress, it’s relatively unlikely that the “windfall” of the refund will be a meaningful difference. If you enjoy the gift to yourself later, sure, enjoy it.

So I hired a painter, told him I would pay him in cash. Right after the job was done and he was walking out the door they swarmed me. Told me they had been watching us for a while and knew exactly what we were up to. Took a ride downtown.... intense questioning, lie detectors, interrogated to the max. They tried to tell me they knew I did this all the time and to come clean. I denied everything and told them I wanted a lawyer. After years of legal battles and tons of money spent I was definitely scared straight! Never again will I even think about doing something so wrong. I mean just think about the kids. What if my 11 yr old walked in the room and saw that?? He would be scarred for life.

Oh yeah, i currently only drive about 600 miles/mo which is maybe $100, but it will increase significantly when i get the new job since i will be commuting daily instead of once/mo. I was considering dropping from the 1000 mbps plan to a lower one that is cheaper since its only 2 people living there, me and my gf. If I'm able to register my car and then sell it for more than I owe, that'd be a good route for sure, but it will be close to $2700 to register it. I don't think I'll be able to get a lower rate as it's only 2.2% apr right now, so refinancing may not be an option. Obviously drop the car wash, maybe just pick it up in the winter for the underbody wash so my car doesn't get rusty from the salt. I still owe on my phone, so i can't really change phone plans and the internet is included with my att plan. I also forgot to include 100/mo from tmobile which is from my old phone plan. I never had any service and they constantly were raising my costs and going back on the deals that I got when i signed up and spent around 10-15 hours/mo on the phone with them.

The biggest concern to me would be the near certainty that that estimate of $500,000 is likely to blow up to 600,000 or 800,000 with just a few little 'discoveries' found while doing the work.

Spend more time house hunting and figure out needs versus wants. Do a deeper dive into your local schools as well. See what modifications to your house can be done with you staying in the house that may make it worth staying. Time will tell.

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60 days, basically equal to 2 months of my life. Since I don't have debt/mortgage anymore, I am not as motivated by money.

Will filing a dispute reset any statue of limitations type thing and open me up to being sued again? I assume not, but I've read you have to be careful about how you interact with old debts.

Working on finding any old documentation. It's tough because the bank I used to pay this card doesn't even exist anymore, and I don't think I have any hard copies. I was young and dumb when I did this.

License suspended or expired, that's another.

I'm not seeing that data point on my Transunion report.

I couldn't pull my other one, I think I might have locked it during the experian leak? I'm going to see what I can do about that.

Year in and year out my ETFs do better than my managed funds. Therefore their allocation increases. I haven’t been in it long but the one thing that has done better is my managed fund that mirrors the S&P 500 but tax loss harvest every month. On a tax adjusted basis that’s done better

> Today, their adjustor called

Don't take advice from "their" people (insurance, adjusters, etc).

They have an active interest in minimizing their losses.

Talk to your insurance folks if you're concerned.

Hmm...that's concerning. they definitely weren't drunk, and they're the only person on the policy. He was just heading out of his apartment for leisure. Kinda wondering if he's not current on his payments...guess this could go any which way >.<

It's very early in the process, so no estimate on the repair yet (neither insurance company has even asked for pictures yet, which I'm surprised by). It's a Toyota Prius, so I can't imagine the bumper is too much more expensive than average

Yeah, I am planning to call my insurance company today or tomorrow. I imagine they'll advocate for me since it would mean they won't have to pay anything. You'd think this would be a super simple claim...

On etrade I find even mutual funds boasting of better returns than index funds tend to underperform on a 5 year/max scale. One of the biggest problems with portfolio reporting is that they use arithmetic averages when geometric average is the only one that matters. Unless you have enough money to put into a top tier hedge fund, indexed etf will probably be your best bet for performance/value

If they weren't current on their insurance payments, if they weren't actually insured and are listed as an excluded individual on the policy, if they were driving drunk, if they were doing unapproved delivery or taxi work, etc.

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So the way to do this next is to go through each of the expenses that you have listed and ask yourself:

• Can it be cut?
• Can it be reduced?
• Is it necessary?

What I consider necessary for me, may not be necessary to you (and vice versa).

You have to decide what you can do without. For example, Pandora/Spotify seem like overlapping services. Can you really not tolerate ads? Youtube. Same deal.

Is the WoW a need?

Is the Six Flags a need?

Why is the phone so high?

Have you ever tried calling your internet provider and asked to cancel? (to get a deal from the retentions department)

Rent is a big expense. Is taking on roommates or moving to a lower cost place realistic?

Is selling the car and using public transit realistic?

Does the car need all the washing? Is this something you can do for yourself?

No one can answer these type of questions for you. You have to be the one who discusses what you are actually interested in changing/adjusting/eliminating.

Some things that stand out to me that are definitely on the high side - the car payment and insurance (plus you don't include gas in your budget) and your phone. Selling and getting a cheaper car makes the most sense, but it's also worth checking if you can refinance the car and shop around for cheaper insurance.

Could you cut down to either Pandora or Spotify but not both? Even better, pick one from Pandora, Spotify, or YouTube.

Car wash is a luxury, not a necessity, so I'd definitely cut that one. (I did the same myself when trimming my budget.)

I would also see if you could shop around for cheaper internet. You might even save more if you change to a phone plan that also includes internet too.

Just some basics to get you started.

Call your insurance back and ask them for advice or if they know what that means (I’ve never heard of it so can’t speak to it). Your insurance can help in this situation.