monadnocks

As far as mortgage escrows go, take a look at the T&C you have for getting out of it. In general, even though savings accounts are paying next to nothing, the escrows are paying substantially less. If you can, just get out of it, just make an automatic deposit to a designated savings account so you'll have the money come tax time. And set up auto pay for the insurance and you're good to go. At least Ally and Marcus are paying 0.5% on savings accounts.

Happy spring everyone. No robins on the lawn here but I did see a turkey vulture the other day. I've still go some perma-pack in the shaded areas but sunny areas are bare. It happens that that the grass is in the shady areas so it'll be a while still before any lawn care is needed.

Do you have an emergency fund? That's what I'd do with extra money first and park it in a savings account paying the best you can find. It's generally 0.5% these days. Do you have a 401(k)? Getting at least your employer's match is probably the next best choice because you're guaranteed to get that return. Hippy's right - there are some exceptionally low cost ETFs out there. You could take Supernovice's breakdown and implement it in a group of ETFs.

If I remember that storm correctly, we didn't have any real icing issues here but my BIL who lived in Nelson at the time was out of power for a week.

Same boat. I doubt this will last until Friday.

It's not technically off-roading or mudding but some of the dirt roads that I typically drive on can have up to 8" ruts in soft mud. The same roads have correspondingly great "potholes", washboarding, etc. at times. You can drive on paved roads to get to the same location but you're going to spend quite a bit of time going around. I live on a hill and the road was put in before the current standards which I believe limit the grade to 9%. It would fail that test but thankfully it's paved. Last I knew (probably a decade ago) my town had 30% paved roads. It's substantially cheaper to repair with gravel and a grader.

Good to hear! I'll have to spend some time doing some research...

Thanks for the advice! While we've had the Jeep, we've also gone through a Forester and have replaced that with a Crosstrek. So we're definitely part of the northern NE crew with Subarus. The Subaru / Jeep mix has served us well. There have been times when the Subarus weren't going to cut it either in terms of clearance, power or 4 wheel low and it's been nice to have the Jeep. Otoh, the I don't necessarily want to spend 40K or more for a Jeep.

Anyone research small to mid SUVs recently? My 2003 Jeep is showing its age and I need to decide to either put money into it or buy something new. Being able to drive through snow on hills is an absolute requirement. I know there's a chip shortage for vehicles, low interest rates are probably driving some purchasing and at least some people have a lot more liquidity this year. Thanks for any advice / data / trends.

I've gotten notice that a cybersecurity conference that I was supposed to attend last summer has already made the decision to be virtual this summer. I'm glad I got ticket refunds and didn't request that they be used for this year. I also volunteer for a youth robotics organization which has signaled that there will be limited off-season events this year. I'm expecting those to be only overseas, if they happen. It'll be interesting watching the economic impact over time.

Thanks!

How accurate is that likely to be?

I could also skip another 2008 ice storm. Our power was out for 12 days. The roads were drivable, though challenging. And because the plow trucks needed drive up and down the roads, at least sanding, some of the wires that were on the roadway but still attached to houses got ripped off.

Thanks for the links!

ARKX is something I've been interested in as soon as I read about its filing. I'm not sure about new Fidelity customers but my experience with ETFs hasn't been that I needed to wait until the cash actually landed in my account.

Yes, the well known holiday sounds of generators running throughout the neighborhood.

2" here and almost 15 degrees.

Our plow guy also a construction business. If the piles get too high and we can’t see traffic or they’re just getting big near the house, he’ll come with the bucket loader and push everything back. Maybe you’ll need something similar.

We’ve been out for about an hour.

https://nhfg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=9c6fd9ba477d40ed9bcf49a6a2e7dfc4 - NH Fish and Game topo map

And it's all about small details for the highest amounts. What side of the hill / mountain are you on? Top of the hill or bottom? I won't get the highest, being on the north side and at the bottom but it should be interesting. I'm hoping it's not 8 inches of concrete though...

If you think of it in terms of the three C's: close, crowded and continuous, the TSA people are probably at less risk than other professions. I think there's so much variation on what schools are doing that it's not an easy answer.

I can tell you that when I went to Nashua about a week and a half ago, social distancing was pretty much a pipe dream in stores. When people were waiting in line, the carts enforced some spacing but other than that, it was business as normal but with masks. And I do understand, the viral load that I'd probably get from the guy who just has to pick out cheese just when I am is probably super small. As a marker for a "everything is normal but you have to wear a mask" thought pattern, I think it's probably about right. There's an old saw about economic downturns: If you lose your job, it's a recession. If I lose my job, it's a depression. And at this point, I suspect that there's a lot of people who are just not personally seeing it and so are feeling like it's not a big deal. And yes, I think that we're going to see some eye opening case numbers in December. The CDC advising people not to travel for Thanksgiving now is a late to the party. People have already made their plans.

We're having just our household for Thanksgiving. My siblings are either working with the elderly in a hospital or already have several of the high risk factors for getting a bad case. The medical professional also has a child in private school which has strict guidelines about school approved activities. The other people who might have come over are a group of young 20-somethings who live in the city and, I'm going to assume, have a social life still. We're not in the coldest part of New England but the 20-somethings aren't going to be excited to drive out to the boonies and be cold. We opted to go for the virtual meet-up with everyone.