Post Your Wins

[kork13]

Someone's post on here last night reminded me that I had some LTCG I've been meaning to sell & capture. I put the orders in this morning, and expect them to execute within the next couple days -- I set the limit price well within the share prices within the last 3 days, so well within the normal volatility to get a quick sale. The one exception is JETS, which I don't expect to execute for at least a few weeks, as I'm looking for a higher (though still reasonable) sale price than it's currently sitting at -- but I'm okay holding that one a little while longer to be patient & let it ride before I sell out of it.

These are discounted ETF shares that I picked up last summer, between Jul-Oct 2020, while most of the world was still reeling -- VOO, VO, VB, VNQ, and JETS. I've moved back to their corresponding Index MFs for simplicity (except JETS, obviously), so I've been wanting to clear out the ETFs to simplify my brokerage account & lock in our profits (though the money will likely just get reinvested soon enough).

I'm not talking about a huge dollar figure, just ~$10k total proceeds once they all sell... But not surprisingly, the profits are mind blowing. My cost basis on these shares is just over $6k. But once these sales execute, my profits will be roughly $3.7k, for a weighted average ROI of 69%!!! Overall average ROI is lower, at 60.5%, but still pretty incredible for profits after just 12-15 months -- quite telling for how well the stock market has recovered.

This is somewhat counting my chickens before the eggs hatch... But given that there won't be an easy line-in-the-sand to mention it since the limit orders may take a few days/weeks to settle, I'll still call this the starting point for an noteworthy win.

[disneysteve]

We had a “count the candy in the jar” contest at work and I won. I got a jar filled with 115 pieces of candy. We dumped the jar at home, picked out the things we like, and I brought the rest back to work today to share with everyone else.

[kork13]

We finally got DW's GI Bill payments corrected with the VA for her hybrid DPT program (now 4 months into the program), so her tuition is 100% covered by a combination of the GI Bill & Yellow Ribbon programs, and we're getting a $2175/mo boost to our income. Much of that money goes toward her travel expenses for flying to Philly every 6-8 weeks for in-person classes... But I'm able to direct a portion of it (~$900) to our recurring investments. That also means we're back to saving/investing >50% of our gross income, after otherwise cash-flowing her expenses.

Now, we just have to hope that it's not a mess like this every semester to get her tuition & expense payments correct.... (fingers crossed -- but it's the VA, so expectations are...TBD)

It also just reiterates for us how grateful we are for the GI Bill and many of the other benefits available to vets like DW (and I) -- she's wanted to become a Physical Therapist since college, and this is finally her chance to do so (over a decade later). When she was forced out of the military for medical reasons a few years ago, working for this goal got her through alot of that grieving process. And not only are her expenses covered, but she's effectively getting paid to attend school? It's an opportunity for which we can only be incredibly grateful.

[james.hendrickson]

So, I went shopping a couple of days after thanksgiving. I picked up three 14 lb turkeys at my local Kroger. The price was about 49 cents a pound, which was a discount from the 69 cents they were charging on Thanksgiving day. Each of the birds ended up being about 6 bucks each.

If you think about the cost per meal value here, each turkey is at least 8 meals. That's about 24 meals for like 18 bucks. Not a bad use of shopping dollars.

Here is a shot of the birds in my freezer. I had to stack some other stuff around them, but you guys get the idea.

[rennigade]

Bought an entire set of vintage york dumbbells for $150...kept the ones I wanted, sold the rest for $1700. The 4 pairs I kept are also worth around $1700...but they are NFS, ever. Took 9 years to find them and the price I paid for them was like discovering a unicorn.

[james.hendrickson]

Bought an entire set of vintage york dumbbells for $150...kept the ones I wanted, sold the rest for $1700. The 4 pairs I kept are also worth around $1700...but they are NFS, ever. Took 9 years to find them and the price I paid for them was like discovering a unicorn.

Excellent work Rennigade.

[jenn_jenn]

I have a win to share that highlights the importance of checking your statements.

From May-July 2021, I was charged $40/mo for ClassPass that I cancelled in June 2020. To be honest, this was smack dab in the center of wedding craziness (and spending!) that I didn’t even notice that they’d started charging me again until August.

At which point I contacted customer service and they re-cancelled my account but never refunded me for those 3 months. I followed up again this week but didn’t have high hopes (online reviews showed other customers had similar experiences without being refunded) but I just saw the refund post to my account.

Small win but happy to have it corrected!

[disneysteve]

We got an email yesterday that we will be getting a bonus next week. They didn't tell us the amount as it varies by department but we're at least getting something. I'll take it.

[james.hendrickson]

We got an email yesterday that we will be getting a bonus next week. They didn't tell us the amount as it varies by department but we're at least getting something. I'll take it.

Heck yeah, something is better than nothing.

[disneysteve]

Just got a check in the mail for my cousin's estate from cancellation of his home insurance (in August). $1,224.00. Not sure why it took this long but at least I got it.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Wasn't sure where to put this so I consider this a win. Made a charitable contribution today to St Jude's. In the scriptures it says something about to those who have been given much, much will be expected of them in return. It is time for me to give some back.

[disneysteve]

We got an email yesterday that we will be getting a bonus next week. They didn't tell us the amount as it varies by department but we're at least getting something. I'll take it.

Got the bonus today. Pre-tax amount was $10,679. Not bad at all. Even after taxes, it's just over $7,300. I'll take it. I've certainly earned every penny of it.

[scfr]

Ordered $300 worth of Target GCs last weekend at the 10% discount + 2% cash back.

The price of the Level 2 EV charger I had just ordered dropped by $75. I called and got a price adjustment.

And, oh yeah ... one more little thing ... we moved in to our new house on Sunday!! And I made it to work on Monday, tired but not too much the worse for wear.

So, we're now using the EV charger. DH did a rough mental calculation and figures what we are paying in electricity to charge our plug-in hybrid is the equivalent of paying $1.50/gallon for gas. My commute and most of the errands we run are close enough that we can now go 100% on the electric. It has a 25-mile range.

[james.hendrickson]

Ordered $300 worth of Target GCs last weekend at the 10% discount + 2% cash back.

The price of the Level 2 EV charger I had just ordered dropped by $75. I called and got a price adjustment.

And, oh yeah ... one more little thing ... we moved in to our new house on Sunday!! And I made it to work on Monday, tired but not too much the worse for wear.

So, we're now using the EV charger. DH did a rough mental calculation and figures what we are paying in electricity to charge our plug-in hybrid is the equivalent of paying $1.50/gallon for gas. My commute and most of the errands we run are close enough that we can now go 100% on the electric. It has a 25-mile range.

Thats like four wins right there. Can it get any better?

[disneysteve]

we moved in to our new house on Sunday!!

Congratulations! I hope you have many happy years there.