A friend recently asked me for this list so I thought it would be worth posting. I spent about two years pursuing unusual properties as my first home, weird enough that I talked to more commercial lenders than residential lenders. Old schools, churches, campgrounds, etc. I was offering 10-40% down and considering interest rates ranging from 4 ( Read more... )

Due to a combination of unemployment, pandemic stimulus, stock income, prediction market income, marriage, going back to school, and other factors, I overpaid my taxes in 2020 by more than every year from 2000 to 2019 combined. In the past I've tried to keep my overpayment, and thus my refund, as low as possible, with $4 being my best year and most ( Read more... )

Put more money into savings. One year of 12.5% contribution to my 401(k) has made up for multiple years of low/no retirement savings. The first year worth of stock grant at my employer also just vested, so that's a start to my short/medium-term savings (so I can buy a house in a year or three, maybe ( Read more... )

When someone commits to buying a ticket to an event from you, or sharing a hotel room, or riding in your car, when other people also want to, and then they bail, do they still owe you the money? If they tell you they aren't coming a month in advance? A week? A day? During the event? Or if they just don't show up?

Short version: I get paid Friday morning. I need to check into the Arisia hotel tonight. Would anyone out there be willing to check my room in for me? I can switch it over to my own card tomorrow for payment when I check out.

Resolved!

Every time someone asks me to send them money (or accept money from them) via Paypal I have to explain that I don't use Paypal and that I will happily use any other online money transfer service. The most common responses boil down to "I didn't know there were any alternatives to Paypal" and "Why not?". ( Read more... )

I am going to order some uncut currency (that is, poster-sized sheets of bills) and document my experience spending (or trying to spend) them in different ways. A few ideas occur to me, and can be applied in different combinations ( Read more... )