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Guys,
This year has now officially become the Money Apocalypse. Nevermind what has happened to the market value of my holdings...
1. Large tax bill.
2. The ginormous car repair.
3. The subsequent air conditioning fix in the car that followed it.
4. Last weekend I drove over a construction area too fast and blew out the rear shocks. Another repair.
5. Furnace repair today.
6. And now, to top it all off, the HVAC guy says my air conditioners need to be replaced. He says I may or may not make it through this hot weekend. So I am looking at coughing up another $11k or so.
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(05-20-2022, 12:08 PM)ken-do-nim Wrote: Guys,
This year has now officially become the Money Apocalypse. Nevermind what has happened to the market value of my holdings...
1. Large tax bill.
2. The ginormous car repair.
3. The subsequent air conditioning fix in the car that followed it.
4. Last weekend I drove over a construction area too fast and blew out the rear shocks. Another repair.
5. Furnace repair today.
6. And now, to top it all off, the HVAC guy says my air conditioners need to be replaced. He says I may or may not make it through this hot weekend. So I am looking at coughing up another $11k or so.
i just spent 15k on a fence
i'm also looking to replace my central air--it's been on life support for 2 or 3 years...i keep saying please one more summer one more summer
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That sounds very expensive for just AC but I don't know the details of course.
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(05-21-2022, 07:25 AM)fenders53 Wrote: That sounds very expensive for just AC but I don't know the details of course.
not cheap but it all depends on the size of your home, and if the ducts are being replaced too
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(05-21-2022, 09:44 PM)rayray Wrote: (05-21-2022, 07:25 AM)fenders53 Wrote: That sounds very expensive for just AC but I don't know the details of course.
not cheap but it all depends on the size of your home, and if the ducts are being replaced too
It is for 2 condensers (I have 2 zones, upstairs & downstairs).
Oh, and the dishwasher needs to be replaced too. It leaked all over the floor last night while I had company. And I've already gotten it fixed for leaking before.
Just shoot me.
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09-01-2022, 07:15 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-01-2022, 07:17 AM by ken-do-nim.)
I had to drive a couple hours each way to pick up my daughter the other day. After I returned, just going out to get some groceries, I noticed the AT light came on the dashboard. Nothing happened to the car, and when I shut it off and turned it back on, the light went away. Driving yesterday it did not come back on.
Still, it is time to save up for a new car. It seems that I can buy a decent car (used or new) in the $20ks. I should be able to save that much by next spring. Hopefully my vehicle can last that long  Then after that I will have to rebuild my Emergency Fund, and I still have the AC condensers hanging over my head.
I'll check in here occasionally, but it looks like I won't be back to serious investing until 2024.
crimsonghost747
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damn, sounds like this year has been pretty tough for you!
But hey, this happens and it's why we have those emergency funds.
This is also a good lesson for me, that when I finally decide on a place to settle down to and buy a house then I will need to make sure the emergency fund is big enough to cover all of the appliances breaking down simultaneously. 
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(09-01-2022, 07:15 AM)ken-do-nim Wrote: I had to drive a couple hours each way to pick up my daughter the other day. After I returned, just going out to get some groceries, I noticed the AT light came on the dashboard. Nothing happened to the car, and when I shut it off and turned it back on, the light went away. Driving yesterday it did not come back on.
Still, it is time to save up for a new car. It seems that I can buy a decent car (used or new) in the $20ks. I should be able to save that much by next spring. Hopefully my vehicle can last that long Then after that I will have to rebuild my Emergency Fund, and I still have the AC condensers hanging over my head.
I'll check in here occasionally, but it looks like I won't be back to serious investing until 2024.
good luck with everything ken!! i've had great luck with used toyota's, right now they're my favorite car company, way better then our honda.
we also have this central air AC hanging over our heads--my ac guy recommended York
i cringe when thinking about these big ticket items and their costs
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09-22-2022, 12:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-22-2022, 12:10 PM by ken-do-nim.)
Thanks Ray.
The AT light has not come back on the dashboard since, and I've already done some fairly long drives. Maybe it will last until say 2024 after all. That would be ideal.
So right now I'm taking the approach of building up savings for a new car and new air conditioner condensers, but not replacing either yet since everything is currently working.
Plus, my ex-wife forced a child support recalculation until she graduates from law school, so I'm broke until approximately June '23 when hopefully she will get a job and we can recalculate back to something sane for me to afford. I'm back to pulling my dividends into the budget to make things balance (as opposed to reinvesting). Thank goodness for all my dividends! Where would I be without them? An extra $650 a month is huge. Money I've put into stocks I like such as Adobe and Intuitive Surgical, while they may be good investments looking 10 years from now, are worthless to me right now. Can't pull them out at a loss, and they don't generate income.
crimsonghost747
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This is indeed the great thing about dividends. It really doesn't matter what point in your life you are, they are always handy. It is actually one of the reasons I have had a relatively high-yield portfolio even during those years when I was still heavily focused on growing my portfolio. I had a very unreliable job, and a very unreliable life in many other ways too, so it was extremely comforting to have those dividends coming in. I never actually had to use them for monthly expenses, I was lucky enough to be able to keep reinvesting them, but I always knew that the dividends were there to help if I needed them.
Even if it's just $100/month, which sounds like a very small amount for most of us. But that $100 makes a huge difference if it's the last $100 left in your wallet and you have a few days until your next pay day.
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