Kemosabie

St. John is my favorite beach destination. Last time my wife and I went, we stayed in an AirBnB on the Coral Bay side. It's a 5-10 minute drive to Maho or Francis Bay so you can easily beat any crowds and find good parking. We also discovered Hansen beach where you can rent paddle boards, etc. We didn't go there, but figure it will be nice for the kids when we decide to bring them along.

Good questions - between pension and SS, he just wants his 401K to get him to his current annual income - my guess would be ~$20K a year withdrawal. He's not married (nor dating anyone) so no spousal considerations at this point at least. He's 65 and in decent health so should have many years ahead. I gather he mainly doesn't want to lose money and if it grows at all then great. He mentioned doing a 40/60 stock bond split.

If you are retired anyway, would taking SS early help preserve your 401k funds as an inheritance for your kids? How should I think about that?

Yeah my thought is to try to go in planning to pay listed price, but ask to offset the fees and see if they will throw in all-weather mats.

Does anyone have any experience using rubber mulch for a children's playground area? We're putting up a swingset in our backyard in an area that currently has home depot bag mulch. Do people prefer rubber over regular mulch? Is it worth the cost? Any downsides that I should be aware of?

I have the Marmot Helium 15 degree bag and I love it. If the temperature is above 20 degrees, this is all I use in my hammock. Lightweight and compacts down to a great size. Looks like its on sale at backcounty for $320. LINK

My wife and I got married about a year and a half ago and I'm grateful that we had/have a foundation of a Christian faith to look toward as we make life decisions. I started having conversations with her early and often about general temptations our sin nature lures us into. Money/spending is probably the most obvious one and I'm able to make points about the way most people think about and spend money and how that is a result of giving in to our natural temptations. It's no different than the ways I give in to natural temptations in other areas of my life like saving or hoarding the excess that we have. So when I can speak more matter of factly and broadly as opposed to a specific individual (MIL in this case) it makes it easier to see a bigger issue at play vs something specific to a person. I also tell her that we have to be very sensitive to the fact that our natural temptation toward selfishness/greed will cloud our reasoning around being generous.

Does anyone have any experience using an MVNO cell phone provider (Cricket, Tracfone, etc.)? From the little research I've done, it looks like you could save some serious cash switching from one of the big carriers to an MVNO. I started by looking at Google Fi after hearing about it from a coworker, but now I'm leaning toward Total Wireless which uses Verizon's network. If understand it right, it looks like I can get 2 lines of unlimited talk & text with 15 gbs to split with my wife for $60 a month. We already have Verizon phones that we could switch over. I feel like it's too good to be true.

My wife and I both had condos when we got married so we rent out her's to a friend of mine. Do most people depreciate rental properties for tax purposes? I just claim the net income now which is easy. Seems like maintaining a depreciation schedule would require hiring a tax professional.

I've done a good bit of research on the topic, and I think it really comes down to your spending habits and the rewards that fit best with your lifestyle. If you fly somewhat frequently and don't have to book your travel using a corporate card, I think an airline credit card makes sense because you get double points (2x the cost of the ticket) when you purchase using an airline card. Same goes for hotel cards.

For me personally, I wouldn't want to be limited to only using the points for hotel stays or airfare. I personally prefer the flexibility of cash back. I have a card thats a flat 2% cash back on all purchases. There are several that offer 5% cash back on gas and groceries. After a quick analysis of a couple months spend, I found I would be better off with the flat 2% cash back card. I think its a joke that some put a cap on what you can get back and the ones where you have to spend a certain amount to begin to get points. Right now fidelity is offering a card w 2% cash back. Its a bit of a hassle bc you have to open an account of some kind (e.g., money market) but after that you can cash out the points whenever you want.

As far as the quarterly bonus points go, I try to avoid spending money to save money. You never know what the bonus points are going to be next quarter, and I don't want to be tempted to spend money on something I wouldn't have otherwise bought just bc of the bonus points. I def love the flexibility of cash back.