Give that poor baby some water!
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always
they can surprise you
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Thankfully yes, I still strap her on for her morning walk. But days of morning walk are coming to an end soon because sisters schedule yanks the poor baby’s schedule around endlessly, so we’re switching to one nap fully soon, and I’m not sure what I’ll do now. Stroller Walk to a far away playground I guess, I did that a lot when Latte was this age; but the “don’t go to sleep! Don’t go to sleep!” Messy middle will be hard. 
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Taylor Swift fans. I got one of my nieces for the family gift swap.
My niece has been a fan for many years. She asked for a paint by numbers kit to help decorate her dorm room, which I acquired. I also picked up a candle as an extra to throw in to the bag. The scent is ‘afterglow’. Is that a bad thing to give a Swiftie given the song lyrics?
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No! I don’t think so. But it’s cute that you’re checking.
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No, not at all. I’m sure she’ll love it. Let us know if you need more Swiftie recs!
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I have a pre-tax Simple IRA at work. Starting in January, I will have the option of still putting my money in tax free (not changing anything) or I can put it in a Roth after tax, or I can do some each way. The max contribution is the same for whatever type of account I choose. My advisor said that he personally is switching his to 1/2 pre tax and 1/2 post tax and suggested I do the same. Any opinions? I will be 55 in January.
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So assuming this works the same as a 401k (I think it does) my first question would be if there’s a meaningful change in your AGI if you move to Roth vs pre-tax. Pre-tax is just that since it lowers your taxable income and that can affect tax brackets and deductions you can take (ex. medical).
Assuming the answer is no, it’s a question if you want to pay taxes now with the Roth and be tax-free later, or shift all the taxes later when you’re (theoretically/usually people assume although no one actually knows) in a lower tax bracket.
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Do you already have some Roth or after-tax savings, or a Roth IRA? Having those Roth savings is helpful for flexibility if you’re planning to make any withdrawals before you’re 59.5, since you can withdraw contributions tax-free before standard retirement.
I max a Roth IRA, but I have all of my employer-based savings in pre-tax accounts. The immediate tax savings from filling that up are pretty substantial at our family income level.
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See… I just don’t know this stuff, nor do I really want to know this stuff. LOL. I want to put money in, and I want it to be as easy as possible. I think this is going to give me a new account, but that probably doesn’t matter because it all shows up on the same page online. My weekly contribution is pretty small, because I work on commission and my base pay is pretty small. Then I get commission checks 2x a year if I sell enough to earn them. If I have a good year, I do 2 large deposits when I get my commission checks.
I don’t think I care when I pay the taxes? I assume it evens out in the end because the government is probably not going to let me win, right?
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I just opened and maxed a Roth IRA! I hope to max it every year, but it is tiny now. I do not intend to make any withdrawals until I retire, hopefully at 65 or earlier if at all possible. I guess I feel like it is just easier to do it all pre tax and not have a third account, but I really have no idea. My advisor recommended that a 53 yr old coworker and myself go 50/50 in the accounts, and a 31 yr old coworker switch to all Roth just based on our ages. My 59 yr old boss is staying all pre tax.
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That’s fair 
. It really only comes up if you’re right on the border of something–if you deduct medical expenses and a higher AGI would mean you can’t, if it pushes you into a new tax bracket, I think there’s childcare credits that can be affected, that sort of thing. If the answer is you’re not on the border of anything tax-wise, then yeah, it probably doesn’t matter all that much in the end.
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I like ROTHs for still being able to access my contributions in case of a big emergency. It feels like a savings account with extra steps and quiets the squirrel brain.
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this recipe for salted caramels calls for caster sugar. Can I just use regular granulated sugar and be a bit more careful around the melting stage? I’d rather not buy more pantry stuff atm.
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Why is Trump rejecting spending bills rather than Biden?
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As someone with two policy degrees from fancy schools, I am qualified to answer this. The answer is that everything is stupid
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I love this answer.
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Best answer!
The headline I just saw says
Musk Kills Government Funding Deal, Demands Shutdown Until Trump Is Sworn In
I truly just don’t understand.
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Yep, apparently he made over 100 tweets yesterday demanding the shutdown. Then Trump/Vance made their joint statement saying a clean spending bill with no add-ons, except they must raise the debt ceiling as part of the spending bill (which - hello - is an add-on). So no negotiating or compromise or anything. Just a clean bill and the only add-on Trump cares about.
They want it to look like Biden is handing them a government in chaos and then they can swoop in and save the day, and avoid a debt ceiling fight in July
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Accurate ^
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