FFFC, weekend plans, etc...

[rere]

I don't really have anything to confess except some not very nice thoughts about the flooring company who will be leaving me without a functional kitchen and laundry over a weekend. We look like the hillbillies before they moved to Beverly since our washer and dryer are on the back porch.

I suppose I will take the kids out to dinner tonight since we can't walk on the kitchen floors. Dh is working this weekend.

Tomorrow we have a cookout for a good friend and neighbor who received good news from her melenoma treatment.

I had big plans to shampoo carpets, however my dining room table is in the living room, so that's not going to work.

Sunday, I am sure mom will be amuk as usual with plans to celebrate somebody's birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or something. I'm trying not to keep up at this point.

[mommyatty]

I'm in NYC. Yay! DH texted that he's at the airport and his flight is on time. He got tickets to Hamilton tonight!!! I'm so excited. I'm not even asking what he paid as I'm sure it would give me a heart attack.

If anyone has any not outrageously expensive restaurant refs, I would love that. We are staying in Chelsea.

[twinmomma]

mommyatty, I am freaking out on your behalf! Enjoy!!

I'm heading up to spend the weekend with the kids and DH at my parents' house. Excited to see them and hear all about how camp is going. DH told me they each have one line that they have to memorize for the final performance so far, and they're taking it very, very seriously.

I've basically lost all motivation since I'm going away for the weekend, working Monday/Tuesday, and am then on vacation. I have zero chance of being productive today, which kind of sucks for the new guy I'm supposed to be training. But he's rolling with it!

[frozenpeas]

One FFFC that's been weighing on me - I work in finance but I'm terrible about managing my own money. I'm contributing to a 401k and we have 529s for the kids. My husband has some sort of mysterious retirement plan. I have a pension from my old job and an old 401k from that position, too. Almost all other money is in checking, savings, or money market accounts. And I haven't reassessed the allocations in my old 401k since leaving that position 9 years ago. I'm also not completely sold on the idea of a 529 but "everyone is doing it" so I parked some $ there but go back and forth about how much more we should put in them.

So. We need a financial advisor but I can't figure out who to go to--I'm afraid they'll have an agenda or cost a ton. And I know we'll have to tell him/her our financial goals, but I don't have any beyond the vaguest sense of college/retirement/comfort/ability to buy what I want from Amazon. I need an adult to step in and get the ball rolling for me.

Sort of related, I really need to look into a new life insurance policy, but I'm not sure of the best place to find it or how much to get. Too much research has confused me to the point of doing nothing (the story of my life).

[waverly]

Jul 21, 2017 9:28:28 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

I'm in NYC. Yay! DH texted that he's at the airport and his flight is on time. He got tickets to Hamilton tonight!!! I'm so excited. I'm not even asking what he paid as I'm sure it would give me a heart attack.

If anyone has any not outrageously expensive restaurant refs, I would love that. We are staying in Chelsea.

If you like casual, European cafe type (Italian) in the Flatiron district, so not near Chelsea or theaters that much buts gets you out of the Times Square craziness, I like Tarallucci e Vino.  We usually went for breakfast, lunch, but they do have a dinner menu.  My only concern would be if they would be crowded, so you may want to call ahead and see about if they do take reservations etc. Great coffee & wine.  So even if you don't go at night, you can always hit it up anytime during the weekend.

Our other favorite is not for dinner and theater and is in Chinatown and impossible to find.  But these are the two places we usually go to when we go back to the city.  There was a good price fix place, but they are closed now.  Otherwise when we lived there we usually went super casual because we couldn't afford the expensive places all the time.  Maybe once a year.  

[waverly]

I'm off today and will be doing boring stuff like laundry and cleaning the house. Just ordered groceries from PeaPod to try them out. They have $20 off first order and free delivery. Working tomorrow. Sunday no plans.

FFFC- I realize I am doing this also, but I am soooo tired of complainers. My co-worker complains for like an hour every day its seems like. It just grates on your nerves. And then my H will come home and complain. I mean I think H has valid complaints, but he is a big complainer, so you know it makes me less sympathetic, I guess. Even though his complaints are totally valid.

Co-worker also has a bit of validity in her complaints in how boss treats her, but honestly she is not super great at the technology that she works with. Otherwise I think she is good. But she always has an opinion and tries to push to get her way, and I think its just tiring for the boss. And she has a feud with this other lady and gets mad that the boss is her friend. Other lady is totally insane, but whatever boss loves her, so there is nothing we can do and co-worker needs to accept that and move on with her life. And she was seeing a therapist, so I think she needs to go back. She doesn't handle change or stress well and that is pretty much life all the time is change and stress, so to be able to handle that better would be a great skill for her, but she is 63 and waiting out until retirement even though I told her she could buy health insurance off the market, she wants to wait for Medicare. I don't blame her, I just think if complaining is all you do then take action. I think there is some competition between her and this other lady too....

So I think my issue is that I am a therapist, and I didn't sign up for that job or go to school for that, and I don't want to be a therapist.  So people get your own therapists and stop using me for it.  Also, I am trapped in the room with her, so there is no escape from being her therapist except to shut her down all the time which is what she is complaining that the boss does, soooo thats hard to be a bitch to her.  

[saraml13]

It's hot and muggy here, yuck.

Tomorrow I'm going to a bridal shower for the FI of DH's bff (the couple that wanted DS1 to be a ring bearer). It's hosted by the groom's aunt, and I thought more of the groom's female friends would be going, many of whom I know. But I saw the closest of the groom's female friends last night, and she wasn't invited to the shower. I guess I'm mostly invited since DH is a groomsman. So now I'm guessing that the only person I'll know there besides the groom's mom is MIL. Not super excited about spending a couple hours making chit chat with MIL.

FFFC: I'm counting down the weeks until I can wean DS2 (now 9 months). With DS1, I weaned at 12.5 months only because I was going on a week long international trip and didn't want to deal with pumping. I felt kind of sad about weaning, but it was freeing to be done with BF. But with DS2, I don't feel sentimental about it at all. I'm really only keeping it up because I've made it this far and don't want to have to deal with trying to transition him to formula for only a month or two. But he's a much more distracted nurser and bites me a lot whenever he's getting a new tooth. And it just makes me feel so tied down. DH and I divide and conquer with the boys a lot, and I always get stuck with DS2 while DH and DS1 go do fun things. I'd really like to be able to do more one-on-one stuff outside the house with DS1, without having to pump and leave a bottle.

[saraml13]

Jul 21, 2017 9:58:40 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

One FFFC that's been weighing on me - I work in finance but I'm terrible about managing my own money. I'm contributing to a 401k and we have 529s for the kids. My husband has some sort of mysterious retirement plan. I have a pension from my old job and an old 401k from that position, too. Almost all other money is in checking, savings, or money market accounts. And I haven't reassessed the allocations in my old 401k since leaving that position 9 years ago. I'm also not completely sold on the idea of a 529 but "everyone is doing it" so I parked some $ there but go back and forth about how much more we should put in them.

So. We need a financial advisor but I can't figure out who to go to--I'm afraid they'll have an agenda or cost a ton. And I know we'll have to tell him/her our financial goals, but I don't have any beyond the vaguest sense of college/retirement/comfort/ability to buy what I want from Amazon. I need an adult to step in and get the ball rolling for me.

Sort of related, I really need to look into a new life insurance policy, but I'm not sure of the best place to find it or how much to get. Too much research has confused me to the point of doing nothing (the story of my life).

Here's a recent "Life Insurance Made Easy" article from the New York Times.  Basically, you could spend forever procrastinating and trying to calculate exactly what you need, but here are some quick rules of thumb.

www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/your-money/life-insurance-made-easy.html

[akafred]

I am WFH this morning to talk to invisible fence guy. It was supposed to be all day, but my director wanted to have a meeting at 2 o'clock. Whomp whomp. Was hoping to go out with DH but he interpreted me saying we should see a movie as we should ALL see a movie so he told DD. On Sunday we have a birthday party for a kid in DD's school in the primary class. They happen to live in our new neighborhood and it's at the pool.

[mae0111]

FFFC: I've been trying hard to separate from my old job, but I'm pulled back in by friends and former colleagues who are getting screwed due to their association with me. Head a-hole is not my biggest fan. I alternate between feeling terrible that I can't help, and super relieved that I'm out of it.

This weekend I'm basically solo parenting. DH had to go out of state unexpectedly today for work, so will be back late. He's going to a wedding tomorrow which I refuse to attend, so I'm home with the kiddos again. I will also try to work on the website for DH's new company. I'm hoping I can build it myself with a little help.

Another FFFC - sorry not sorry about backing out of that wedding. Did not want to see, speak to, or be near DH's boss.

[k3am]

frozenpeas, we've seen a financial advisor (the same one) two times now. All at no cost. He is, at each meeting, attempting to sell us, but it's not too hard pressure. It has been good to sit down with someone to give us a reality check. (We needed the opposite of most people. We've been saving too much at the expense of living a little right now.)

After the first visit with him, we let him know we weren't interested in what he'd offered up the first time, but asked if he'd be willing to sit with us for a fee just to run over some scenarios, and he did it for free. (And then attempted to sell us something else, also not high pressure. It's actually a more relevant investment for us, so we may take him up on it, but haven't yet)

[k3am]

DH and I have a date night tomorrow. I'm pretty excited. It's at one of our favorite old school restaurants that seems to be frequented mostly by older folks, but obviously, the older folks have had more years to figure out where they should be spending hard earned dollars. Honestly, we picked it because I wanted somewhere that I could order a cocktail before dinner and we could split a bottle of wine with dinner - which means we need plenty of time to sit and linger long enough to be safe to get home. 2-3 hour dinner plus a walk around downtown FTW.

[freezorburn]

FFFC - supposed to hang out with friends tonight but not feeling like the one hour drive, so I will probably bail.

Weekend -- starts today. I'm hoping to get a bunch of weeding and planting done in my garden. I know it's late, but better late than never. And I'm planning on firing up the charcoal grill that I scored last month. Sunday morning might be brunch with a friend.

Also, I gotta stop by work to ask my boss about getting more hours when DS starts kindergarten.

[sandandsea]

Jul 21, 2017 9:58:40 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

One FFFC that's been weighing on me - I work in finance but I'm terrible about managing my own money. I'm contributing to a 401k and we have 529s for the kids. My husband has some sort of mysterious retirement plan. I have a pension from my old job and an old 401k from that position, too. Almost all other money is in checking, savings, or money market accounts. And I haven't reassessed the allocations in my old 401k since leaving that position 9 years ago. I'm also not completely sold on the idea of a 529 but "everyone is doing it" so I parked some $ there but go back and forth about how much more we should put in them.

So. We need a financial advisor but I can't figure out who to go to--I'm afraid they'll have an agenda or cost a ton. And I know we'll have to tell him/her our financial goals, but I don't have any beyond the vaguest sense of college/retirement/comfort/ability to buy what I want from Amazon. I need an adult to step in and get the ball rolling for me.

Sort of related, I really need to look into a new life insurance policy, but I'm not sure of the best place to find it or how much to get. Too much research has confused me to the point of doing nothing (the story of my life).

It sounds like you're doing great and all you need is a quick tune up. Saving is the important part and you're doing that.

We did 529s because they grow tax free and we can dump $5k in a year and be done with it. We have them in age based funds which cost a tiny sliver more in fees but at least someone is managing it for us.

We are doing something similar with our 401ks. We put the money in, set our risk levels, and let the company do the managing of it.

We also have some money in mutual funds so it's spread across the market and again someone else is managing it so we don't worry about individual stocks or anything.

For life insurance check out Zander. They have pretty good quotes for term policies which is what you'll want. A 20 year term is pretty standard (would get your kids through college and most of the house paid off which is the goal for most) and affordable.

[frozenpeas]

Thanks guys, for being the adult I needed in order to get moving!

k3am--how did you find your guy? We aren't super comfortable asking a lot of our local friends "so, who's your financial advisor?", otherwise I'd look for a referral.

I agree on the 20 year term life. Does 20x my salary seem appropriate (like the article suggested)? Because, ok, but those monthly premiums might cut into my financial goal of buying whatever I want on Amazon. 😜

[sandandsea]

Jul 21, 2017 11:18:56 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

Thanks guys, for being the adult I needed in order to get moving!

k3am--how did you find your guy? We aren't super comfortable asking a lot of our local friends "so, who's your financial advisor?", otherwise I'd look for a referral.

I agree on the 20 year term life. Does 20x my salary seem appropriate (like the article suggested)? Because, ok, but those monthly premiums might cut into my financial goal of buying whatever I want on Amazon. 😜

I think 10-12 times should be sufficient. Honestly we aren't even there (10-12) and have enough that college and the house would be paid for and the surviving spouse could live comfortably on their salary with the kids.

[waverly]

frozenpeas. I am sure we are under insured but mine is around 375K, I think I have a 350 and a 25k policy that just sort of happened. And I have a little more through work and my bank that is free no premium.

And H has a 500K with a policy from work as well, can't remember how much at work but maybe 100K-200K.

Maybe not the best idea but we have done the financial advisors through the franchise type places like Raymond James, Edward Jones type places. Also, I think they might offer something you can buy at work like the legal services through those employee assistant type plans, but for finances.

[supertrooper1]

I'm back to working weekends after having the last 2 weekends off. I'm #2 on the list to be drafted for non-volunteer overtime tonight. I could get out of it because I still have PTO on the books for tomorrow that I plan on cancelling. But DH is eating crackers, so I'll just see if I get OT tonight and ride it out.

[frozenpeas]

Jul 21, 2017 10:23:10 GMT -5 akafred said:

I am WFH this morning to talk to invisible fence guy. It was supposed to be all day, but my director wanted to have a meeting at 2 o'clock. Whomp whomp. Was hoping to go out with DH but he interpreted me saying we should see a movie as we should ALL see a movie so he told DD. On Sunday we have a birthday party for a kid in DD's school in the primary class. They happen to live in our new neighborhood and it's at the pool.

I can't read this/scroll past it without thinking your fence guy is invisible.

[mae0111]

Another FFFC/vent - I'm on the phone with my bank because I attempted to link my brokerage account to my checking, and the bank rejected the request. The call center guy just asked me to explain what a brokerage account was, and asked me to SPELL IT because he had never heard of one before and needed to look it up.

Him: "What kind of account?"
Me: "Brokerage"
Him: "What?? Can you repeat that?"
Me: "Brokerage. used to trade stocks. With a broker - XXX company."
Him: "I still don't understand. B- b- what?? Can you spell it?"
Me: (spelled Brokerage)
Him: "I don't know what that is. Please hold."

Uhhh... OK.

[leap]

DH is working on a wildfire again so I'm on my own with the kids. DD1 is swimming in the all city swim meet tonight and tomorrow. It is huge and she is swimming in every event being held tomorrow (only 1 tonight, though) so I'm planning on it taking most of the day. On Sunday we are meeting friends to go rollerskating. The kids had a field trip to the roller rink during summer camp and now they are all about it. Also need to fit in a little house cleaning (I have to find a new cleaner!), laundry, and grocery shopping.

[traveltheworld]

Nothing exciting planned for the weekend. Just chilling with the kids.

Random: my best friend from my old firm called me last night at 9:30 in a panic wanting to run some legal technical analysis by me. I happily obliged. Reminded me how glad I am for having left private practice. Her DS is the same age as mine and she has barely seen him all summer due to a few crazy transactions. I would have hated that. Sure, I'm in a new city with no friends, but at least I'm getting time to spend with my kids.

[k3am]

Jul 21, 2017 11:28:20 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

Jul 21, 2017 11:18:56 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

Thanks guys, for being the adult I needed in order to get moving!

k3am --how did you find your guy? We aren't super comfortable asking a lot of our local friends "so, who's your financial advisor?", otherwise I'd look for a referral.

I agree on the 20 year term life. Does 20x my salary seem appropriate (like the article suggested)? Because, ok, but those monthly premiums might cut into my financial goal of buying whatever I want on Amazon. 😜

I think 10-12 times should be sufficient. Honestly we aren't even there (10-12) and have enough that college and the house would be paid for and the surviving spouse could live comfortably on their salary with the kids.

We got a recommendation for a tax preparer from someone at work (I work in financial services, so there's a lot of referrals to be made.) The tax preparer also does financial advising and offered up the free consultations. They're also one of the top rated firms on yelp (whatever credit you give that). You can also try: www.napfa.org/

20x salary seems.. excessive. I've always heard the rule of thumb as 5x salary. We have 4x on me (plus what I get through work, which brings it to 5), and close to 5 on DH. We wanted the same thing as sandandsea . If we move, we may need to reevaluate. (We don't owe all that much on our current home. If we move, we'll be significantly increasing)

[ilovelucyvv]

Tonight DD is having a sleepover with her cousins (at our house) to see Descendants 2.

Tomorrow is lots of running around getting ready for DD's birthday party. Amazon still hasn't delivered my order of goody bag stuff I made two weeks ago because they seemed to have lost the package, so I had to place another order yesterday for 1 day shipping (Amazon paying the shipping).

Sunday is DD's birthday party at a kids waterpark near daycare. The good news is the weather forecast went from 97 degrees and thunderstorms to 92 and cloudy with chance of thunderstorms. I'll take it. The parents of the kids in her daycare class were bad with RSVP's but it looks like 5-7 kids are coming and I'll take it because the price per head at this place is pretty high compared to other places at the area. FX no one poops in the pool or something else doesn't happen that would mess up the party.

[frozenpeas]

Thanks for the sanity check. I think if I went for 20 x my salary, DH might encourage me to take up skydiving.

So, weekend plans--find financial advisor, look into new life insurance policy. Sounds like fun.

[campermom]

I'm in Phase 3 of summer break: Making Unrealistic Goals Realistic.
Today I'm working on Baby 3's Baby book. I started it in 2015.

[erinshelley21]

I'm sitting at my desk eating a funnel cake so I'd say my weekend is starting off pretty well. Tonight we are going to watch one of my dad's friend's sing at a local bar. I'm pretty excited about it.

Tomorrow DH wants to go on an "adventure" to Lake Michigan. There have been reports on the news about not being able to swim along the IN shore of the lake so I don't know if we'll do that. If we don't, I'm not sure what's on the agenda.

Sunday is laundry, groceries and hopefully some craft time. I bought an old window off the shop that is renting the back half of our building and I want to paint a saying on it.

Random: our 6th wedding anniversary is coming up and since DH has been in the "adventuring" mood lately, I got him a wall map of the U.S. and I'm going to put pictures of us on the states we've been too. I had the shop in the back make a wooden backing for it to hang it on the wall and it looks so perfect. The best part is the boards came from FIL's house, which is where we got married!

[polecat8]

frozenpeas, we found a financial adviser through an advertisement in our local community newsletter. She was independent and not tied to selling us any products. We did one session with her, which was free. I was pleasantly surprised when she told me that it looked like we had enough life insurance, savings, and investments to meet our goals. And there was no pressure to buy anything. If you are looking for a financial adviser, make sure they are a CFA (certified financial adviser).

I am happy that this weekend will be low key. We have been pretty busy this week.
Tonight, DH and I have a date night. We'll be going to our favorite Asian restaurant and then heading to a local museum that has activities this evening. It is themed to Harry Potter. There will be a scavenger hunt, drinks, and a DJ.
The rest of the weekend will be helping my parents pack up their house so they can move in with us next month. Which means we need to clear out a room in our house. They are only staying with us for a month until their new place is ready. I am actually excited to have them here. DH is already making a list of stuff to do around the house since he'll have someone to watch the kids.

[sandandsea]

I'm hosting a baby shower tomorrow, have friends staying with me, and am solo parenting on Sunday. We will see if it's a great weekend of fun or exhausting. Probably both.

[twinmomma]

I just worked on a report for 2.5 hours, buckled down, got it done, rebuilt a few pieces, and then my software wouldn't let me save it. So. That's fabulous. This is what I get for trying to be productive on a Friday afternoon.