u/sys_admin321

Recently heard this on the news. Heard the same thing 3 years prior ($1k more then…), that we are spending $650+ more a month compared to 3 years ago.

We are maybe spending a couple hundred more a month compared to 3 years ago but no where close to $650+. We’ve just become smarter shoppers and have been cooking more at home.

The biggest cost increase I’ve observed over the past 3 years is with home and auto insurance. About to start shopping around.

I wonder how much of these supposed increases come from families spending more on car payments and other splurge related items.

I’ve been at the same company here in Ohio for my entire IT career. Started here at 21, I’m now 40. Salary is $125k, good benefits, WFH 4 days a week and I probably average 30 hours a week. Started my 401k here early and have $700k saved for retirement.

Recently a friend of mine said he can get me in at a startup that can offer a $20k - $25k raise. However, I’m worried about long term stability of this new position (and company) as well as hours of work per week. This new potential position would also require me to go into the office 3 days a week versus the 1 day a week I go into now.

I value the extra time I have in this position, especially with having a 3 year old son. However, there’s always been this “what if” feeling as I’ve only ever been at one company for my career.

What would you do?

Thank you

GM just laid off 1,000 tech workers the other day, I got hit. My severance is going to be 6 months after having been there for nearly 20 years. I started there at 22, now 41.

I was able to save $700k in a 401k during my time at GM. Wife (40) is still working full time and has around $250k saved for retirement. We have maybe $30k in cash on hand. We also have a 3 year old son. Our total mortgage payment (with taxes, insurance) is fairly low at $1200 on a 15 year 2.4% mortgage (10 years left).

I'm debating on taking a month off before starting the job search. Is this reasonable or should I really be jumping into the job market right now? I'm freaking out a bit over all of this.

I'm considering paying a bit over $3k to add a 5 year / 60,000 miles Extended Care Zeigler purchased Mopar warranty to my 2019 3.6L RAM that has 86,000 miles on it. My trucks CPO (certified preowned) warranty expires in November. I've had a number of engine related repairs done under the factory and CPO warranty from camshaft repairs to timing chain repairs. All of these repairs were done at a RAM dealer.

According to a Zeigler rep I've been talking to if these same items break again but under the new extended Mopar warranty they would be covered and I would owe only my deductible. However, I've also read online that pre-existing conditions are not covered under this warranty. The Zeigler rep said I would need to buy the extended Mopar warranty before my CPO warranty runs out in November, otherwise the vehicle would need an inspection.

Which is true?

I have a 2019 RAM Bighorn that has had multiple engine related issues. On the right bank of the engine I had camshafts replaced twice along with other parts in that area. Just now at 90,000 miles I had the same work done again plus all timing chains replaced. One or more timings chain were stretched according to the work order. All of this work was thankfully done under my certified preowned warranty. The dealership refused to replace the engine no matter how much I pushed.

The existing CPO warranty is up this November. I did look into adding an additional Mopar backed basic powertrain warranty for $3500. That would give me another 5 years / 60,000 miles.

I'm considering trading in my current RAM, have a decent dealer trade in offer of $18,500, for a 2023 5.7L low mileage certified preowned RAM. It's a Built to Serve edition with only 28k miles on it, dealership even put brand new tires on it.

I would be resetting my payment clock by about 4 years but would keep the same payment amount. I owe about $7k on my current ram, would be rolling a bit over $11k in equity into a down payment. This "new" one is $39k so just under $30k financed after I trade in my current RAM. Also a bit concerned about the gas mileage hit I'll likely take going from the 3.6 to the 5.7. The newer truck has etorque and 3.21 gears which from what I read may help with fuel economy a bit.

What would you do? Would you keep the older 3.6L one or trade it in at this time?

Thanks!

I'm sure many of you are already experiencing this as well and wow is it ever annoying. Users coming to you and saying "Microsoft Copilot says we can actually do this if we follow these steps", "Here's what Microsoft Copilot says about this". By "this" I mean applications I've been an administrator on for 10+ years. It's incredibly annoying and can come across as condescending.

I would be open to AI suggestions if they were not often completely wrong about what they suggest and if users worded their suggestions in a non condescending way. These AI tools have zero clue about unique environments at corporations, company specific policies, etic. It's borderline dangerous that users are just saying things like "Here's the PowerShell script Copilot told me to run to solve this problem, go do it". I'm thinking "Ummmm, no". These users have zero clue what the commands mean and what they will do, not to mention the tool that they know nothing about but are suddenly acting like they are an expert in it.

If I have to read "Microsoft Copilot said..." one more time I'm going to pull what little hair I have left out lol.

Anyone else seeing this?

We were at a kids birthday party over the weekend. My 3 year old was bouncing off the walls, running all over the place, hitting the balloons, popping the balloons, etc. Tried talking to him, didn’t matter. The parents hosting brought bubble wands out and my first thought was “this isn’t good” lol. Massive tantrum of course when they had to be put away. He’s always been high energy.

Meanwhile there’s a 3 year old girl there who was fairly quiet and very well behaved. No chaos and the parents for the most part were able to enjoy themselves…sigh. Maybe it’s just boys being crazy.

Met up with a fellow dad friend the other day. We are both 40, as are our wives. The topic of retirement came up. I’ve know this guy forever and just asked “hey if you don’t mind me asking what do you guys have saved for retirement at this point”, he said a bit over $950k…

I was like uhhhh what that’s great and tried to change the subject. My wife and I doing fairly well for ourselves and have about $250k saved for retirement between the two of our 401k’s. I don’t know how my friend and his wife and saved as much as they have, they don’t seem to live lavishly or anything, but it now has me feeling that we are behind when it comes to retirement.

My wife and I are both 40 and have a 3 year old son. Early on we put $10k in a 529 plan for him but nothing since then. It’s around $13k now.

At the same time we currently have around $900k combined saved in retirement plans that we continue to contribute to and see grow. We are debating if we should keep adding to a 529 or just pull some or all college related costs from the retirement plans when he’s ready for college.

Did anyone skip a 529 plan and think it’s not necessary?

My wife and I are both 40, have a 3 year old son, and the topic of where we are going to send our son to public school has been coming up more and more. There's 1 elementary in our area that has fairly good overall scores and reviews. However, the Middleware School and High School are not so great and we worry about sticking around long term with where we are at.

Like a lot of folks we rather not move though as we have a fairly low mortgage payment, $1200 a month total (mortgage, insurance, and taxes) at 2.4% on a 15 year mortgage (will be paid off in 10 years). The low house payment has given us a lot of flexibility in terms of what else we can do and save for. Also, we've done a ton to this house over the past 10 years, while looking at "newer" houses it's hard to stomach going through some of the same renovations again.

Here in Ohio we do have school of choice options, meaning we can send our son to any school district (would just need to drive him). We could put him in the local elementary here but if he develops friendships it may be tough for him to move come Middle School age (my folks did this to me and it really hurt at the time).