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| Favorite team: | Ole Miss  |
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| Number of Posts: | 2646 |
| Registered on: | 11/22/2011 |
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re: Indiana average age 23, Packers average age 25
Posted by POCKET on 1/9/26 at 8:23 pm to TigersHuskers
I found a Facebook post that says that but nothing from a reputable source.
I scrolled through their roster and they have 20+ freshman on it
Is it 23 for snaps played or something (not the full roster)?
I scrolled through their roster and they have 20+ freshman on it
Is it 23 for snaps played or something (not the full roster)?
0
re: Indiana average age 23, Packers average age 25
Posted by POCKET on 1/9/26 at 8:06 pm to TigersHuskers
There is no way the average age of Indiana’s football roster is 23. That would essentially mean they only have a mix of 4th, 5th, and 6th year guys, which they don’t.
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 8:53 pm to CalcuttaTigah
quote:
Money aside, I don’t regret it but pretty boring and my commute sucks.
Where I think / hope we will be. Basically I know it would not be th most financially smart decision that we could make. But there would be nice things about it and it would make the wife happy (which helps keep everybody happy)
quote:
Maybe I missed but are you doing 529? We are stuffing a good bit each month there instead of buying more house. I think future me will thank current me when I’m not paying for their colleges out of pocket in 15-18 years.
We are currently saving for their college and plan to continue to do so. I did not include because I no longer consider that to be our money.
That does remind me that I wanted create a separate fund for weddings or whatever they decide to do with it. Need to do that sooner rather than later.
quote:
What do you do for a living that you can make that much?
I work for a Big 4 accounting firm.
I do appreciate that I make good money (and wife makes good money too), but at the same time it doesn't always feel like that much. I think that is because our friends have similar professions so it just feels normal to us. And because we have treated investing like a required expense for so long that it has limited our discretionary income to some extent.
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 7:53 pm to houtigerfan
quote:
I live in Houston and would highly recommend that you buy a 4-5 bedroom, 2-3 bathroom house in a nice neighborhood.
Most home buyers are families and your current situation in The Heights is most desirable for a single person or s couple without kids.
Home values will continue to increase if you select the right neighborhood. Mortgage rates are likely to decrease 1.5% - 2% at some point over the next 3-5 years, which will allow you to refinance.
The biggest risk in Houston is property tax and homeowner's insurance. Make sure the home is not assessed at too high of a value and does not have a history of flood damage.
Your income will continue to grow. Purchase the home and don't look back!
That is essentially the idea.
We are thinking Bridgeland which I believe is a nice area (and close to some of my wfies family) but I do hate the taxes there. Could be naive but do not believe there is much flood risk there.
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 7:42 pm to FieldEngineer
quote:
If I were you, I’d wait on the house. Better to be crammed in a little tight than not be able to save as much as you want. Plus it encourages you and your wife to not buy as much shite because there’s limited space.
Agreed but with the way my mind works, it'll never really feel like we have saved / will save enough and be the right time to do it.
Fully agree that if we have more space we (wife) will feel the need to fill the space. That worries me. Stuff is expensive. Plus, more space means more space for the kids to spread their toys around which doesn't sound fun.
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 3:52 pm to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
It doesn’t matter when the baby is actually a baby, but having three mobile kids in a 3 story townhouse that is probably too small would suck.
This is where wife is at
We can make it work, but it won't be the most ideal layout
Basically we have an office on our 2nd floor off our living room / kitchen and two kids are going to need to share that room. 1 kid is in there now and its working, but putting 2 kids in there is going to that much tougher.
Edit: By the way, appreciate all the responses. Helpful to think about and get different thoughts / perspectives.
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 3:49 pm to notsince98
quote:
The increased costs will come from something. Is that acceptable? Does the OP have any idea how much the change is going to be? Bigger houses are more expensive in every way, usually in ways people dont consider.
My post is not about what "can the OP afford" but do they really want to? Some people do less and want a nicer house. Some people want less of a house and spend more on other things. Everyone has a limit and have to decide what is best for them.
This is what worries me some. We are putting $5K a month in a brokerage account now. I have budgeted for how I think the new house will increase our monthly expenses and tried to do so conservatively, but I have also heard it always costs more than what you think it will cost.
I think we can afford it, but I can't decide if we should afford it and there are downfalls to it.
When we bought our first house, we bought conservatively and regret that now as our salaries have more than doubled since and in hind-sight we could have afforded more.
I'm trying to find the right balance now between not being too conservative and not getting uot over skis too much
quote:
How old are you? When do you plan to retire?
I'm guessing that you have 20+ years until retirement. If you didn't invest another cent, and just let what you have grow, you will probably have at least $4M in 20 years.
I'm not suggesting that you DON'T put away the $5K into a brokerage account or put money into your 401k, but if finances get tight for some reason, you could stop those payments temporarily, if needed.
It sounds like you have quite a buffer to utilize if you get too far out over your skis with the house, or in the event that your wife loses her job, etc. Especially since your income is likely to go up in the near future, and any shortfalls would only last until your income catches up.
I am 36 and wife is 33.
I don't see myself retiring before 60 but would like the option.
I don't see my wife working until 60 and want to make sure that is an option for her.
If we did this, we would definitely not be able to put $5K a month in the brokerage account but think we could continue to put something there and increase back up to $5K a month over time.
quote:
What would your wifes commute be like?
She works from home currently. So no commute.
My commute would (or at least could depending on where I get assigned) suck
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 3:40 pm to FieldEngineer
quote:
If you’re pretending like that 600k doesn’t exist (planning FIRE?), then things are going to be a lot tighter with that bigger mortgage and your savings rate will go down a lot.
I haven't really thought about it being FIRE, but that is essentially the way we have done it and planned to do it.
In my head, my idea was to start investing, increase the % we invest every year, and never touch the investments. We don't really care about being rich, but we never want to be uncomfortable and this is our (at least my) way to make sure that happens.
I think we can actually afford it, but the biggest thing I'm trying to mentally get over is not getting that investment strategy
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 3:36 pm to jpainter6174
quote:
Put the money you would have paid monthly (minus current mortgage) over the year away for the new house into a HYSA and use it for the down payment. Then you’ll know you can afford it (because you just did it albeit not toward the house but financially) and you’ll have a chunk of your Downpayment. Plus you’ll see if you have enough left over to live the life / luxury you would want.
I think that is what we will do for the next couple of months at least to see how it feels
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 3:34 pm to jpainter6174
quote:
How much equity in current home, do you have to pull from investments (I wouldnt)
Would net ~$200k our of selling current come. We would most likely pull ~$100K of the total ~$600K out of taxable investments. I'd rather not, but wouldn't be close to all of it
quote:
Can we afford an $800 - $850K house or would that be crazy? You can, but what if you or her lost your job...
If wife lost her job, we could get by but it would be close. If I lost my job, we couldn't make it forever but could obviously pull from brokerage account (~$500K left) for awhile. I should not go without a job very long in my field
re: Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 3:30 pm to SquatchDawg
quote:
Do you have any equity in your current house?
Same homes in neighborhood are selling for $450K and more and we still owe $260K so we should get ~$200K out of selling current home.
Depending when we actually did this (thinking with in next 6 months), we would most likely pull ~$100K of the total ~$600K out of taxable investments
Advice: Can We Afford This House?
Posted by POCKET on 1/7/26 at 1:42 pm
I am coming to the Money Board for some input on whether we should buy a new house.
Apologies for long post, but wanted to provide more information for better answers. Appreciate any input in advance.
Information:
Current Home
- Location: Heights of Houston, TX. Central location with good elementary schools but middle / high school are not great.
- Type of house: 3 story townhome with 3 bedroom with office that we use as a bedroom. There is basically 0 yard.
- Home value is ~$450K of which we still owe $260K
Wife & 2 kids (aged 4 & 2) with another kid on the way
Financial information:
- Combined annual income ~$275K (my salary is about 63% of this)
- Net worth is ~$1.3M (~$600K in investments and ~$600K in our 401Ks)
- Max out 401ks, invest ~$5K a month into personal accounts, and contribute to 529s
- No other debt other than wife’s car which we have ~2 more years on
Work information:
- My work can be longer hours and WFH, office, or client office (which the locations can vary).
- My salary could potentially increase substantially in 2-3 years and in the future.
- Wife works from home her work is relatively laid back / flexible.
- My wife’s salary isn’t likely to change much more than inflation. She may also take reduced work schedule (e.g. go down to 80%).
- She doesn’t plan to be a stay at home mom, but in the case she did could still make these payments (barely) although that would be less than ideal
We could certainly make the current house work for a couple of years, but its getting cramped with 2 kids (and will be worse with 3 kids) and with the layout. Plus, we would likely need to move in the next couple of years anyway because of schools.
We are struggling with the decision. Mainly because:
- In a good central location now, that works well for my work so hard to stomach hour + commutes each way. To get what we want (4 bedrooms and office, yard, and zoned to good schools) we would have to move out to suburbs and cost would be in the $800 - $850K range
- Our monthly payment is only ~$2K all-in now so hard to stomach monthly payment going up double + (probably be in the $5K range)
- Area has MUD tax so are property tax would be really expensive (in the ~$25K a year range) and I hate the idea of property tax so hard to agree to sign up for this
- We are used to investing a good portion of paychecks so hard to stomach reducing that (e.g. likely need to reduce from $5K a month in personal accounts to something like $1-2K a month in personal accounts for at least a few years)
- Our initial idea was to never touch these investments until retirement, but would likely need to pull out $100K - $200K for downpayment and such.
On one hand it feels like we can’t really afford an ~$800K house. On the other hand, it seems like we could easily afford it and we pass the rules of thumb I’ve heard about:
- $275K annual income / $850K house = 3.1 (which is right at the rule that says not to spend more than 3 times annual gross income)
- $5K monthly payment / $23K gross monthly salary = 21.8% (which is below the 28% rule)
I guess my questions are the below for those who have more experience than I do here:
- Input on whether a longer commute is worth it if the house works better for family?
- Can we afford an $800 - $850K house or would that be crazy?
- What are we not thinking about?
Apologies for long post, but wanted to provide more information for better answers. Appreciate any input in advance.
Information:
Current Home
- Location: Heights of Houston, TX. Central location with good elementary schools but middle / high school are not great.
- Type of house: 3 story townhome with 3 bedroom with office that we use as a bedroom. There is basically 0 yard.
- Home value is ~$450K of which we still owe $260K
Wife & 2 kids (aged 4 & 2) with another kid on the way
Financial information:
- Combined annual income ~$275K (my salary is about 63% of this)
- Net worth is ~$1.3M (~$600K in investments and ~$600K in our 401Ks)
- Max out 401ks, invest ~$5K a month into personal accounts, and contribute to 529s
- No other debt other than wife’s car which we have ~2 more years on
Work information:
- My work can be longer hours and WFH, office, or client office (which the locations can vary).
- My salary could potentially increase substantially in 2-3 years and in the future.
- Wife works from home her work is relatively laid back / flexible.
- My wife’s salary isn’t likely to change much more than inflation. She may also take reduced work schedule (e.g. go down to 80%).
- She doesn’t plan to be a stay at home mom, but in the case she did could still make these payments (barely) although that would be less than ideal
We could certainly make the current house work for a couple of years, but its getting cramped with 2 kids (and will be worse with 3 kids) and with the layout. Plus, we would likely need to move in the next couple of years anyway because of schools.
We are struggling with the decision. Mainly because:
- In a good central location now, that works well for my work so hard to stomach hour + commutes each way. To get what we want (4 bedrooms and office, yard, and zoned to good schools) we would have to move out to suburbs and cost would be in the $800 - $850K range
- Our monthly payment is only ~$2K all-in now so hard to stomach monthly payment going up double + (probably be in the $5K range)
- Area has MUD tax so are property tax would be really expensive (in the ~$25K a year range) and I hate the idea of property tax so hard to agree to sign up for this
- We are used to investing a good portion of paychecks so hard to stomach reducing that (e.g. likely need to reduce from $5K a month in personal accounts to something like $1-2K a month in personal accounts for at least a few years)
- Our initial idea was to never touch these investments until retirement, but would likely need to pull out $100K - $200K for downpayment and such.
On one hand it feels like we can’t really afford an ~$800K house. On the other hand, it seems like we could easily afford it and we pass the rules of thumb I’ve heard about:
- $275K annual income / $850K house = 3.1 (which is right at the rule that says not to spend more than 3 times annual gross income)
- $5K monthly payment / $23K gross monthly salary = 21.8% (which is below the 28% rule)
I guess my questions are the below for those who have more experience than I do here:
- Input on whether a longer commute is worth it if the house works better for family?
- Can we afford an $800 - $850K house or would that be crazy?
- What are we not thinking about?
re: 2026 Transfer Portal
Posted by POCKET on 1/6/26 at 8:34 pm to OleVaught14
quote:
Think we take 1 TE if it's the right one. Otherwise we may just roll with Hasz and Odom
I think we need another TE. We really only have Hayden Bradley other than Hasz and Odom. Never heard anything about Bradley so I assume he won’t be a big contributor. None of them are big body blocking TEs and we need depth too. I think we take 1 more even if it’s just a primary blocker. Ideally we would get another well rounded TE.
My goal for 2026 is to reasonably navigate having third child and purchasing / building new house financially.
I have done well getting the wife into the habit of saving a significant portion of our monthly income, which was in large part due to our first house being below what we could afford.
Six years later and have now outgrown it and need to upsize. Our salaries have also increased pretty significantly since our initial purchase.
So goal is to find the right balance between enjoying our hard work and buying something we can’t afford / isn’t going to allow us to continue to aggressively save.
I have done well getting the wife into the habit of saving a significant portion of our monthly income, which was in large part due to our first house being below what we could afford.
Six years later and have now outgrown it and need to upsize. Our salaries have also increased pretty significantly since our initial purchase.
So goal is to find the right balance between enjoying our hard work and buying something we can’t afford / isn’t going to allow us to continue to aggressively save.
I have recently obtained an elementary education in the clean energy space. My take on what I can understand from what I have gathered:
Post Combustion Capture technology is the most near term solution. Margins won’t be high but risk is low.
Oxy Combustion Carbon Capture is next in line. There are a couple of different companies in different stages of developing, patenting, testing similar FOAK technologies. The cost is high and the timeline is further out, but the potential margins are significant.
Nuclear is next. Sky high costs and timeline is long.
All the money seems to be going to nuclear and do not think there is a rationale reason for that. At least that I can wrap my head around.
Post Combustion Capture technology is the most near term solution. Margins won’t be high but risk is low.
Oxy Combustion Carbon Capture is next in line. There are a couple of different companies in different stages of developing, patenting, testing similar FOAK technologies. The cost is high and the timeline is further out, but the potential margins are significant.
Nuclear is next. Sky high costs and timeline is long.
All the money seems to be going to nuclear and do not think there is a rationale reason for that. At least that I can wrap my head around.
re: Did you ever meet or have a number of years with your great grandparents?
Posted by POCKET on 3/11/25 at 9:20 pm to JumpingTheShark
My dad parents died when I was 4 and 8, both in their mid to late 80s. My GGPs on that side would have been well over 100 when I was born.
My moms parents lived across the country and only saw them a couple times a year. I knew my GGM for a few years, but only saw a couple times a year.
It’s always been a bit sad for me that I never had the opportunity to have a day to day relationship with any grandparent.
My moms parents lived across the country and only saw them a couple times a year. I knew my GGM for a few years, but only saw a couple times a year.
It’s always been a bit sad for me that I never had the opportunity to have a day to day relationship with any grandparent.
Just found out this morning that my sisters father in law was on the plane. Cant believe I just now found that out.
He is sore and shaken up from it, but otherwise fine.
He is sore and shaken up from it, but otherwise fine.
I think he was just immature at the time and seems to have grown up since. People say he is a good guy.
Random Sowell story - We played them in JV baseball when he was in 9th grade. He was massive even then. During warmups, a guy on our team threw it past another (let’s call him Joe). Hernando was running to CF and back and Sowell kicked the ball about 75 feet away when Joe was about to pick it up. Very out of the blue and we just moved on after a little chirping. Later in warmups, an Hernando infielder through the ball past Sowell who was playing 1st. Joe popped out of the dugout, grabbed the ball before Sowell could, and threw the ball to the OF fence. Thought there was about to be a fight but everybody just kept going through warmups. Strangest interaction I ever saw in warmups.
Random Sowell story - We played them in JV baseball when he was in 9th grade. He was massive even then. During warmups, a guy on our team threw it past another (let’s call him Joe). Hernando was running to CF and back and Sowell kicked the ball about 75 feet away when Joe was about to pick it up. Very out of the blue and we just moved on after a little chirping. Later in warmups, an Hernando infielder through the ball past Sowell who was playing 1st. Joe popped out of the dugout, grabbed the ball before Sowell could, and threw the ball to the OF fence. Thought there was about to be a fight but everybody just kept going through warmups. Strangest interaction I ever saw in warmups.
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