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[kork13]

Is there anything special you have to do with vanguard to open vtsax up in their name? I was looking into that the other day but didnt find any good info. Ive been doing only $200/month in our 529 plan. I dont want too much in it since money will be come from other places if our kid decides to go to college. If not, guess we'll take the money out of the 529 and pay whatever penalty we have to.

Yeah, that's the UTMA account. It's basically a trust account in the child's name, with you as custodian, and they get access/control over the money at an age between 18-25 (depending on your state laws). Going through Vanguard's account opening wizard, it's listed as an educational account alongside the 529. But as I referred to, the UTMA doesn't have any caveats requiring its use for education. It simply belongs to the child, so it's required to be used in the child's best interests, until eventually getting handed over to them completely.

[corn18]

[Deadpan] Brainwash them from an early age.

Really, either reallocate the money to one of the other kids (or to ourselves), maybe to a cousin (hoping my brothers get on that soon), or simply take the penalty hit taking it out. Of course, if they elect to go the trade school route, I could use some of it for that.

The other side is that I'm actually kinda hoping to limit how much they grow to, keeping it at 50-75% of the money they'll need (I know, not quite what I said above). That'll give me more flexibility in reallocating it to another child, while making them responsible for part of that cost.

FWIW, I don't think that'll be a problem at least for DS1 -- he clearly has a science/engineering mind, even at only 5y/o... So college/higher ed somehow will likely be a foregone conclusion for him. DS2 seems more "arts" minded, so we'll see where that goes.

Great plan. I only bring it up because our oldest daughter was enrolled and set to start college. She was struggling with mental health and drugs and never went to college. We kicked her out of the house 2 weeks before making the first payment. Luckily we didn't save any money for her college, so that wasn't an issue. The other aspects nearly killed us.

[kork13]

Great plan. I only bring it up because our oldest daughter was enrolled and set to start college. She was struggling with mental health and drugs and never went to college. We kicked her out of the house 2 weeks before making the first payment. Luckily we didn't save any money for her college, so that wasn't an issue. The other aspects nearly killed us.

Gosh, I can imagine that was and probably still is heartbreaking... But it is a good point to be ready for things to go sideways. Only half joking, I was telling my wife just last night when I was creating the UTMA that if any of our kids are doing drugs or something when when the account is supposed to change over to their name, I am going to absolutely steal every penny of it, and keep it out of their hands.

The nice thing is that the 529 really is quite flexible, given that you can change the beneficiary at any time.

[corn18]

Gosh, I can imagine that was and probably still is heartbreaking... But it is a good point to be ready for things to go sideways. Only half joking, I was telling my wife just last night when I was creating the UTMA that if any of our kids are doing drugs or something when when the account is supposed to change over to their name, I am going to absolutely steal every penny of it, and keep it out of their hands.

The nice thing is that the 529 really is quite flexible, given that you can change the beneficiary at any time.

It all turned out fine. Dealing with her issues really changed my view of drug addicts. I am 100% empathetic vs. 100% judgmental. We sure could do a better job helping people WRT mental health.

[kork13]

It all turned out fine. Dealing with her issues really changed my view of drug addicts. I am 100% empathetic vs. 100% judgmental. We sure could do a better job helping people WRT mental health.

I wish this reality was more commonly understood. Properly dealing with mental health issues for people would reduce imprisonment rates, homelessness, joblessness, drug addictions, and all of the medical & social problems that go along with all of that.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It all turned out fine. Dealing with her issues really changed my view of drug addicts. I am 100% empathetic vs. 100% judgmental. We sure could do a better job helping people WRT mental health.

Thank you for stating the obvious corn. Until you've walked the walk you don't know. I am greatly saddened by my closest cousin who is about 8 months older than me and we were raised as siblings especially since my mom was a single parent and we lived down the road from them. I wore his boy clothes as we had no money and hand me downs were essential. My aunt and uncle till today are trying to help him with his addiction problems and he's had mental health issues. He dropped out of college and was homeless, luckily they found him. He's struggled with alcoholism/bipolar. My mom has found countless treatment spots and last year he was going to try in house rehab. He injured and broke my uncle's arm by pushing him down. My uncle ashamedly told my mom but she understood the struggles my cousin has with mental health. So it's not a black or white issue. There is a lot of gray. He did finish school and with lots of help with his parents did have 2 kids and my aunt and uncle are helping his girlfriend and the kids. But it's not easy.

That being said it's why I chose not to save any more money than $2k/year into an ESA for each DK. Instead i put it into a UGMA because I am very hesitant to put my eggs in one basket. About 3 years ago a coworker told me about her son she saved for, but back then it was bonds because he's about 40 now, and she said she's glad he did. He decided not to go to college and instead she gifted him the money from "stocks and bonds" to buy his house. He chose just to go to work. So she was the one who really pressed me to not put everything into college savings. My savings are split about 60%/40%. Plus hearing about my cousin these last few years further solidified the issue that college is not the end all be all. And there are reasons to not go.

[Thrif-t]

Our kids are still on our auto insurance and they just pay me their premium. We all have old cars with liability only. But I forgot, I had full coverage on my middle daughters cause she was away at school and driving a lot for clinicals. Well this year, I told the agent to drop her to liability too. We insure 5 cars, this is the message from my agent:

I processed the change to make the 2005 Toyota Camry liability only. It took your annual renewal premium from $2,130 to $1,238!!

That's quite a savings!!

edit: oh wait I have full coverage on my van still, I forgot, so 4 liability cars and one full coverage.

[kork13]

I recently came across the Amazon Shopper Panel app, and I've gotta say it's the easiest, highest payoff receipt/survey program I've participated in. I just got my first $10 reward, and I've only been in with this one for 2 weeks.

I'm active with Google Rewards, Receipt Hog, Pinecone (product consumer research), Amazon Preview (testing video content), and now this Amazon Shopper Panel. I know that they're all mining my data, location history, and shopping habits... I've basically given up on my belief in privacy for that stuff (hugely cynical). With the first 4, I've averaged about $50-$100/yr in cash/credits from each, involving uploading hundreds (thousands?) of receipts & doing surveys every few weeks. With this new one from Amazon, they only ask for 10 receipts a month for $10 in Amazon credit... Every month. Plus, they also give surveys occasionally worth a few more dollars each. Super easy!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I recently came across the Amazon Shopper Panel app, and I've gotta say it's the easiest, highest payoff receipt/survey program I've participated in. I just got my first $10 reward, and I've only been in with this one for 2 weeks.

I'm active with Google Rewards, Receipt Hog, Pinecone (product consumer research), Amazon Preview (testing video content), and now this Amazon Shopper Panel. I know that they're all mining my data, location history, and shopping habits... I've basically given up on my belief in privacy for that stuff (hugely cynical). With the first 4, I've averaged about $50-$100/yr in cash/credits from each, involving uploading hundreds (thousands?) of receipts & doing surveys every few weeks. With this new one from Amazon, they only ask for 10 receipts a month for $10 in Amazon credit... Every month. Plus, they also give surveys occasionally worth a few more dollars each. Super easy!

Tried they said I have to be invited!

[jenn_jenn]

We are having our wedding in July and are paying the hotel bill for a couple family members that are traveling in. I booked this week at the lowest rate I could find. When looking at deal site for our honeymoon, I happened to find a great deal on the same hotel we’re having our wedding. Total savings for the two stays was $600.

[kork13]

Tried they said I have to be invited!

Just sign up to be notified, and after a few weeks, you'll likely get the invite. DW & I both did that.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Just sign up to be notified, and after a few weeks, you'll likely get the invite. DW & I both did that.

tried it!

[kork13]

I check my bank accounts every few days just to make sure the in/out flows are as expected in accordance with our budget/planning. Today I signed into my bank, and I did a double take when I saw the balance on our checking account. >$23k!! I mean, I just got paid on 1 May, so the balance was higher than we normally keep it... But over the weekend, it was ~$10k, and my end-of-month investments hadn't withdrawn yet. So this was completely inexplicable to me, and I couldn't understand how $15k suddenly appeared out of nowhere. My mind went everywhere from "Did I accidentally sell some investments?" to "Did my wife sell one of our cars?" or "Bank error in your favor" ... and the possibilities go on.

So I click into the detailed summary, scroll down a bit past the investment purchases, and then realize what happened.... I got my annual bonus! A couple years ago, I signed a retention bonus contract, and with as busy as I've been, I completely forgot that it gets paid out in early May every year for the next couple years. Surprise!!! Plus, today's our wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary to us!!!! lol

....... I also need to figure out what to do with it all.... I could either stash it in savings, or drop it in our investments, ... probably some combination of both, I guess....

[james.hendrickson]

I got a couple of people to sign up with Robinhood - picked up some free shares as a result.

[bjl584]

A guy at my gym gave me an old push mower that he was going to throw away.
I drained the old gas out of it, removed and cleaned the carb, gave it an oil change, sharpened the blades, and put a new pull cord on it.
It starts with one pull.

total time invested, about 2 hours.
total money invested, about $4.

I'll be taking it to our cabin.
It will be perfect for cutting our small area of grass up there.