Random Questions

Post-tax invested $
Long-term capital gains is 15%, short-term capital gains is higher (I haven’t done this yet)

Pre-tax invested $
If you know what your personal income tax rate is (e.g. 12% federal; 8% state) you can use that ad a guideline. Depending on how much you plan to pull out - you might get bumped to a higher tax bracket.

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So you’ve got advice as far as what to look at for capital gains, but if everything you have has been owned for more than a year (and you’re not planning on buying more of it or something substantially similar in the next 31 days, counting today), you could also look at losses too. This completely depends what you own and may not apply, but you can offset up to $3000 in capital gains with capital losses. So if you have specific investments that haven’t done as well or you’re overbalanced in one area, you might look at selling some of that at a loss to offset sales with equal gain in another investment

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My husband has a small but heavy metal statue. I think he said it was bronze. It was an anniversary gift from a well-heeled previous employer and he heard it was worth significant money. Does anyone know how to turn a small statue into dollars? With a favorable ratio of work to dollars preferably.

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Does he know the maker to get info on it? I’m thinking do some eBay research and put it up for auction, if you have an account history where people can trust that you’re a legit seller. If it’s art, perhaps an art dealer or someone who manages higher end estate sale auctions?

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Does anyone have an Oculus (now Meta Quest) and love it? My friends say they play Beat Saber and it seems like Dance Dance Revolution, but with your arms. My friend who hates exercise said she would do 2 hours straight on Beat Saber, basically until it ran out of battery! They’re going to bring them when they come in a month so I can try it out.

I’m not sure how I feel about VR or buying a Meta accessory but I really need all motivation that I can get in doing some regular cardio, so if this is a ton of fun…? My friend also said you can play with other people (i.e. I could play with him) so it would be like scheduled buddy exercise!

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Do u want this?? We are trying to get rid of it lol. Would sell for super cheap lol

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Oh… maybe?? I think my friend (the wife) was going to do a semi-permanent loan since she wasn’t using hers, but send me a message with details! :slight_smile:

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We have one that we never use! So love the idea of borrowing or getting cheaply before you see how much you’d really use it.

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I will have to open the box. I’m not an established eBay seller and it’s real heavy so I would definitely rather go local!

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Question for people who use rowers for exercise–do you have issues getting your heart rate up? My preferred exercise remains swimming, but there are logistics there that make it difficult especially since kids’ swim teams take over the local pool between school end and closing, and I acquired a rower from the gym at work and for the most part like it. But while it seems like I’m getting a decent workout as far as arms/legs/core, my heart rate rarely breaks 100 (never 120) and that’s after 20-30 min. I’m fairly certain I’ve got the right posture/movements/etc., at least based on a couple recordings I’ve made, and my breathing definitely picks up, but my heart rate just…doesn’t. Not sure if I’m missing something or it’s just not that kind of excercise.

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I have absolutely no issues getting my heart rate up on the rower :rofl:. What resistance and stroke rate/cadence are you at? Have you increased either one of those to see if there’s an effect?

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Upped the damper (pretty sure that’s what the concept rower calls the resistance level) from 6-8 a couple weeks ago and I can still pretty consistently hold at 620-650 cal/hr for 20 min, although I do tend to drop into the 500s by the time I get to 30…guess it’s probably worth trying to push that back up to see what it does. The damper doesn’t go past 10, though, and it seems odd that I’d be putting it that high. Unless something loosened up while I was moving it, which is maybe something worth checking? Not sure what the usual settings are, as backed up by the fact that I just use the default screen :slight_smile:

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Do you know your stroke rate? Honestly since you’re already at 8, I’d see if you could pull faster without losing your form. (Unless of course the machine resistance is borked, but if it’s a Concept 2 rower those things are tanks).

I know for me, I’m fairly strong muscularly and can just keep going in a groove at a high resistance, but it’s a high stroke cadence (plus some resistance) that personally gets my heart rate up.

It’s been a while since I’ve rowed, but I remember some workouts at resistance 8 and cadence of 37-40+ strokes per minute annihilating me. 30-33 strokes per minute is my endurance chill zone, where I get mentally bored before getting physically exerted lol.

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Good to know, thank you, I will have to figure out how to check that–I’m sure it’s a measurement they have, I just don’t know the different screens/abbreviations available yet (and it is a concept 2, so good to know I probably didn’t knock anything out of whack)

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Yeah, there are a ton of different screens and measurement units you can use :sweat_smile:. I’m sure you’ll find your preferred one!

For a reference point in the terms you used - the numbers I gave above roughly translate to 1100-1300 cal/hr for me.
But keep in mind these are for sprints - I only try to maintain that for 1 minute, 1 minute 30 sec at a time and make sure I’m thoroughly warmed up. Do a couple rounds of high effort sprint, rest, high effort sprint, etc and I’d be very surprised if you don’t get your heart rate up quickly!

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On the rowing machine - how hard you work is really about getting engaged with the chain way more than it is about the stroke rate or even the resistance. When I used to row competitively and train on them a lot, I would be doing aerobic training at like 20 strokes per minutes and still have a heart rate up in the 150s (and could easily get within a couple of points of my max heartrate if I went super hard, so it’s definitely “that kind of exercise”. I would take a bet that your movements aren’t quite right, though it can be a subtle thing. If you wanted someone to take a look at your videos I’d be happy to.

When I was teaching new people, we’d always have them come to the front, then try and just push back with your legs, then go legs->backs, then legs->backs->arms - the challenge is trying to feel a firm consistent connection through all of those- might be worth trying that to get a sense of it? I’d also suggest having the split counter on screen if it’s a ceoncept 2 (this is the time per 500 metres - it’s probably something between 2 and 3 minutes) - it will give you immediate feedback into how much power you’re putting down, and you can see what let’s you work harder rather than having the delay of waiting to look at heart rate.

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Another thing to try- my HR is pretty slow to rise for anything endurance. But I can keep it higher by spiking it early. Something like this, I would try a few burpees or mountain climbers then hop on and do sprints with it, rather than a slow state cardio. Norwegian 4x4 protocol is of course everyone’s favorite form of torture for HIIT :sweat_smile:

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Ok all my computer folks quick question for y’all. I am looking for a new home computer and since I’m an AICPA member I can get some sweet discounts on Lenovo. I am currently looking at this computer.

ThinkCentre Neo 50a Gen 5 Intel (24″) reg price $1329 but I would only pay $669

Specs:

  • 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-13420H Processor (E-cores up to 3.40 GHz P-cores up to 4.60 GHz)
  • Operating System] Windows 11 Pro 64
  • Graphic Card]Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics for 13th Gen Intel® Processors
  • Memory16 GB DDR5-5200MT/s (SODIMM)
  • Storage 512 GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 TLC Opal
  • Display 23.8" FHD (1920 x 1080), IPS, Anti-Glare, Touch, 99%sRGB, 250 nits, 100Hz, 14ms
  • AC Adapter and Power Supply 90W
  • Pointing Device]USB Calliope Mouse (Black)
  • Keyboard USB, Calliope, Black - English (US)
  • WIFI RealTek Wi-Fi 6 8852BE 2x2 AX & Bluetooth® 5.3
  • Warranty 1 Year On-site
  • 5MP with Dual Array Microphone
  • Mounting or Stand option icon Without Wireless Charging Base

I am not a computer gamer really, just some Mahjong. I do stream movies and tv a lot on it as well as watch a lot of YouTube videos so I want something that will be fast and not lag. My current computer I bought in 2016 and I would like to replace it before it craps out on me.

What do y’all think? Good buy or look for something else?

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@neovonretorch

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Below $800 it is hard to find a good screen. But 250 nits is a bit on the dim side. Still probably just fine for any indoor usage anyway (e.g. movies, Mahjong). (Also didn’t quite occur to me, this is desktop + monitor, not laptop. :thinking:)

Memory and storage look great. Sometimes Realtek networking is a bit fickle; but it’ll cost you $20 and some elbow grease to replace that if and only if it’s problematic enough for you to care. (e.g. Intel AX211 would be a drop-in replacement.)

I could argue Intel vs AMD until I’m blue in the face, but most corporate options are Intel – it’s hard to get a good AMD option. Intel will be… fine :slight_smile: (Even though all of my AMD machines are fast and do not lag, but my work supplied Intel i7-107170U is a total dog. This 13th gen is probably a lot faster though. Nearly twice the Passmark score, nice improvements in cache size.)

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