#though to be clear in general for stuff like this once you hit 100 votes anything beyond BARELY changes the outcome

[troglobite]

the results are in! 52.1% of you are Correct! (41.1% + 11%)

12% of you have opinions i'd like to hear more about! (other, niche, What Is A Doughnut, not the same thing) i'd love to hear abt what constitutes a doughnut and which bakeries are delicious and miraculously make specific kinds of doughnuts you love.

i'm sad for the 2.9% of you who don't like doughnuts but y'know, fair enough. it's why i included the option in the first place. i figured there had to be some of you out there.

for 19.1% of you i'm intrigued abt where you're getting your cake doughnuts for them to be scratching a different itch and fulfilling a different but equally significant taste requirement or craving. bc every cake doughnut i've ever eaten has tasted exclusively like baking soda and sadness. and i've eaten many doughnuts from many places. groceries stores, doughnut chains, local bakeries across the nation, doughnuts that i've made myself, doughnuts that my family made, etc.

for the remaining 13.9% of you--have you only ever eaten krispy kreme or dunkin donuts? is your expectation for doughnuts particularly low? have you never had a good yeasted doughnut? if so i feel quite sad for you 😔 or maybe you just prefer doughnuts that can withstand being dunked in coffee (even then you'd have to soak that thing to justify the cake doughnut over a yeasted one, alas).

there's a chance that, even with the description and visual aid, you mistook cake doughnuts for old fashioneds or crullers both of which are different and quite good, should the mood strike. but they aren't cake doughnuts.

anyway, alas. the votes have shaken out. the majority has it!

y'know what

to clarify:

this is irrespective of their toppings and fillings. i am only talking abt the taste, texture, and experience of the doughnuts themselves.

pls do reblog for more answers. &if relevant, tag where you're from. i'm anticipating usa/canada opinions & responses to this mainly, but if you live elsewhere and have Opinions, tag & lemme know.

yeasted/raised doughnuts:

doughnuts where the dough rises through the use of yeast. they are deep fried and develop a pale ring around the middle from frying on both sides and raising even more during the cooking process. they can be glazed, sugared, topped with chocolate etc., have a hole in the middle, and/or be a complete pillow/circle and have a filling.

cake doughnuts:

these doughnuts are risen through the use of leavening agents, like baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, etc. they can be baked (in a form pan) or fried (if the batter forms into a shape-holding dough). they're pretty much exclusively in ring shapes/have a hole in the middle. they're topped with any variety of things, and occasionally have inclusions in the doughnut itself, the way muffins and cakes do.

[jordanr770-blog]

America Needs Some Talent

 I just needed someplace to write down my thoughts so here we are!

I have been watching America’s Got Talent since season 11 when the ukulele girl won. I personally didn’t vote for her but can understand why she won. Same goes for season 12. I was rooting super hard for Diavolo but can understand why puppet girl won. Season 13 had some of the best acts ever (Shin Lim-winner) and I know a lot of people disliked her, but Courtney Hadwin should have at least  gotten 5th place over sob story “I’m such a good person and I hit my wife” Michael Ketterer. Kodi Lee was the obvious winner of season 14 and I personally thought he deserved it over the other acts. Other people did not think it was well deserved, and that’s ok too.  

Last season we got a spoken word poet in the form of Brandon Leake. I did not enjoy the act AT ALL and was kind of mad that he won, but I will say that even though I did not enjoy him, spoken word poetry is indeed a talent.

Now, you may be thinking that season 16 would be a smidgeon of an improvement over season 15. Talent and reality shows should probably strive to become better every season. But if you thought this show isn’t capable of getting any worse, you haven’t been paying attention because this show will always find ways to disappoint. Last night we were told everyone voted for an INSPIRATIONAL speech giver as the winner. Or I’m sorry, apparently he does magic. His name is Dustin Tavella. But the thing is, he was HORRIBLE at both storytelling AND magic and nowhere near deserved the win. “It was well deserved.” How? How is a kindergarten level “magician” worth a million dollars and a Vegas show? I believe the show in Vegas is about an hour and a half and I am curious as to what is he going to do in that timeframe? Talk about how the folks living in Vegas are living in sin while simultaneously throwing paper in the air MAGICALLY? I’m sure the audience will go wild over that. Or maybe during all of his shows he will adopt a kid a day from different countries and then spend about an hour talking about Little ZimZam’s harsh life and while he’s babbling  he’ll be semi incorporating his poor magic skills into the act in the last minute so the poster stating he’s a magician didn’t TECHNICALLY lie so nobody is getting their money back. I really don’t know. I have a lot of thoughts. 

Plus, his sob story just did nothing for me whatsoever. Good for you for adapting 11 children, unless it has to do with whatever your act is, shut the hell up and do the trick! Not once did this guy impress  or give even the best of a performance of the night. It was always 8+ minutes of “inspiration” and tirades about how we as a society need to be good to one another whilst doing crappy magic. Let me tell you, I know next to nothing about magic but even I could tell he was a less than stellar magician. Even calling him a magician is somewhat laughable. In reality he's a motivational speaker who does terrible magic tricks and  who always somehow manages to suck at said terrible magic but America apparently doesn’t notice him screwing up his terrible magic because he’s too busy telling them to look at a crumpled up piece of paper or a ladder or the new photograph of his adopted son who has an extra eyeball or whatever. It’s stupid.

Last night for his final performance Dustin’s act was, and I kid you not, telling us all to be nice. FOR SEVEN UNNECESSARY MINUTES. And I do believe he started to fake cry. Dude, you’re acting is about as good as Heidi Klum’s. You can't act and you can barely do magic. Why are you here? What is your talent? Did he really join a talent show to become some type of inspirational God of obvious wisdom? If that’s the case, he should have gone and done a Ted Talk, many less victims of mediocrity that way. America somehow  put him in the top 5 with actually talented people? I think not. The act itself was not impressive and he did the same thing every time, just told a different sob story. If you have to rely on a sad story to win, you don’t deserve to win a show where talent is the main objective. 

In case my last few paragraphs were not made abundantly clear, I am not a fan of this dude. At all. I read a comment which stated that a message is not a talent and whoever said that is 100% correct and summed up my feelings pretty accurately. I'm not a fan or boring and basic tricks combined with even worse stories. He's the living embodiment of a motivational meme and anyone who voted for this guy is  gullible and can fight me. Maybe people “voted” for him because he attempted to pull on the heartstrings? But because I sold my heart long ago his act didn’t effect me as much. /s But I swear every year they make it more clear that the entire show is rigged. 

Well, maybe the voting ISN’T rigged entirely and all the boomers  (first time I’ve ever used that term) and antivaxxers and easily swayed by sob story people on Twitter and Facebook voted for him. Doubtful, but you never know. HE WAS SO FREAKING BAD!!!

We are all allowed to have opinions and just because you don’t agree with me that doesn’t mean I am an awful person who deserves DEATH. I keep getting responses and messages on Twitter from angry folk who are calling me heartless because I questioned WHY they voted for him. “Well, IIIII gave Dustin all 10 of my votes!” That’s nice Karen. That is also not an answer and I cannot stress enough how much I do not care that you voted for the phony used cars salesman. Go tell your Prince from Nigeria all about it. Another guy got mad and reported me for “yelling at strangers.” Which is kind of a typical thing people do on Twitter. And I wasn’t even yelling! Lol. 

And another point I’d like to make (about this and  in general) is people really need to stop using the terms “all of us” and the word “we.” I am my own person and you do not get to speak for me. 

“We were all crying when we saw him perform!” - No WE most certainly weren’t. I was seething with anger, yes. Crying? Not even close.

“His magic touched all of our hearts!” WHAT MAGIC? WHERE WAS THE MAGIC IN THIS MANS ENTIRE ACT? I MUST HAVE MISSED IT AFTER I PASSED OUT FROM HIS 7 MINUTE LONG STORY ABOUT HIS BORING LIFE. 

His win was a complete insult.

* I personally voted for Aidan Bryant, but I really wanted Unicircle Flow to win before they got kicked off due to the judges having a tendency to suck at picking during judges choice. *

Edit: I apologize if this wasn’t articulated very well or if it seems I basically said the same thing over and over. To be fair it was 3 am when I wrote this and I was still irritated and questioning everything. Still doesn’t excuse the fact that this guy was lame and doesn’t deserve a Vegas show. My mom told me earlier today that people on the Internet are mad about his win and that it’s not fair to take it out on the guy, which I suppose is kind of true. Not exactly his fault the general public has failed and shown their stupidity yet again. If anyone is to blame it is the people who actually voted for this doofus. And AGT. And yeah, I guess I will blame him as well. But I’m not saying go to his Twitter or Instagram or whatever and call him out for being a con artist and bully him. 

I think the MESSAGE =P I’m trying to display here  is that someone has no business being on a talent show unless they have talent; self explanatory. A message isn’t talent. Being a narcissist isn’t talent. Exploiting your kids and wife isn’t talent. Speaking can be a talent (comedy, that poetry guy, acting, improv, probably a lot of other stuff I’m forgetting about) but one shouldn’t call themselves a magician if one is really a way less cool garage sale version of Talky Tina. Magic IS talent but if you want a million dollars you better have skills that are on par or better than the professionals. 

[comicteaparty]

March 30th-April 5th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from   March 30th, 2020 to April 5th, 2020.  The chat focused on  Crypts and Cantrips by Kieran Thompson.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Crypts and Cantrips by Kieran Thompson~! (http://cryptsandcantrips.kytri.net/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until April 5th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Just starting the first chapter...hmm, what is the establishment hiding, that they're so against the idea of making new maps?

And I'm intrigued by the idea of a society that's frankly & cheerfully accepting of trans people, but also, doesn't know that lesbians exist? Or has a fixation on a super-narrow PIV-specific idea of virginity. Or both? If the issue was "this person can't be allowed to get pregnant before the arranged marriage or it would be A Scandal," that would be a logical reason to divide up which sexy things are "safe" vs. which aren't, but it isn't framed that way...

Okay, end-of-the-chapter blurb says that is what it's about. It's just odd that the dialogue was coy about "the issue is pregnancy" while being so blunt about other things. (I was just reading another comic with a trans princess character, and wow, what an awkward plot twist that could lead to. "So, the good news is, there wasn't an accidental pregnancy in the direction you were afraid of, but...")

"I made a fantasy trope in this comic work the way I wish it worked in a certain other canon" is such a great motivator.

Geez, this kid's only been adventuring for 5 minutes before someone gets murdered in front of him. Poor guy.

...on the bright side, oh good, the princess is aware that lesbians exist.

Loving this axolotl dragon art. http://cryptsandcantrips.kytri.net/comic/chapter-3-extras-17/

And the orca dragon that follows.

Have now read through the Dramatic Twist. Not gonna go into details for the sake of other first-time readers, but it's more complicated than these plots usually seem to get in fantasy settings, and I'm into it.

warriorneedsfood

I like the comic. The relationships are fun to watch develop. I found the character introductions a little awkward with the announcement of their various types of sexuality. But after establishing them, I found their personalities interesting and was looking forward to reading more.

RebelVampire

What I liked about the beginning of the comic is kind of just how quickly it starts world-building with stuff like the issue of discrimination in the market or just the general name dropping of stuff. All of it felt pretty natural, and as I consider world-building vitally important for fantasy, I really liked the comic didn't hide its punches. My favorite moment was actually when the stranger on the road said "please come help my wagon" and then it devolved into them being attacked. This is like one of the most stereotypical fantasy things to happen, but that's kind of why I liked it. It added familiar comfort food with all the new stuff, and I liked just having something like that 100% met my expectations for what was about to happen. My favorite character right now is definitely Taneli. I love just how sweet and accepting she is. But I also kind of like she's just really...not entirely capable because she's lived the sheltered palace life and not gotten out much. Usually that's something I'd find annoying, but something about Taneli just makes it work so I absolutely adore how overall innocent she is even in spite of being stuck in an arranged marriage. I like seeing Kitov and Taneli interact the most. They have a beautiful, touching, and supportive relationship going on and I like how theyre similar in regards to world experience. It doesn't make it feel like either of them is somehow superior or has the upperhand, so it's just communication between equals.

RebelVampire

As for the art, I really like the character designs. They aren't overly complicated, but are each very unique as well, and I think overall they got that right fantasy DnD vibe to them that just really suits the story being told. I kind of like that the story is exploring the theme of duty and arranged marriages. Usually when it comes to arranged marriage, 90% of stories write protagonists that do everything in their power to escape and express their individuality and freedom. But I like that this story is kind of exploring the idea of duty and how we as people deal with the concept. I also just in general like it's exploring the political things surrounding it. Like I love that frank conversation Taneli had with the king about marrying him for the kid to become the ruler, and he was completely unoffended seeming. This was just a real refreshing approach since as much as I love freedom, I also love talking about when duty needs to override freedom. As for what I like about the comic's story is that this really feels like a tabletop campaign. So many stories claim to be tabletop rpg-like, but they really deviate from the feel I imagine when I think of such a story. So I kind of like that this comic captures that spirit of adventure perfectly. As for the comic's overall strengths, for me it's just kind of the whole fantasy package. Between the art, the world-building, story's feel of being a tabletop, I think the comic is like the epitome of high fantasy and hits all the notes I personally believe high fantasies need to hit. So if someone said fantasy comic, this would be at the top of the list for a comic I would think of.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Why do you think King Rishor was murdered, and why was Taneli seemingly framed in the process? Also, how do you think Leo got involved in everything, and how big of a role do you think he had in the plot?

10. What do you think will happen to Kitov and company as they search for answers and try to avoid capture? Will the group be able to find Leo, and if so, will that be enough to clear their names of suspicion?

11. Given Kitov and Taneli are both similar in regards to their experience levels, how do you think the events of the story will change them and their perspectives on the world? In what ways do you think they’ll remain the same?

12. How do you think the world itself will be affected by King Rishor’s death? Could it escalate into a war, or might Minash Turgal change for the worse? How will this affect characters like Lirre who helps Kitov and company out?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

I get the impression King Rishor was probably murdered for two reasons. Once, to destabilize the country/kingdom/w/e you wanna call it, and two to start some sort of war (hence why you frame Taneli). Leo I think is just the pawn of someone else. In some ways, I kind of feel like Leo is a victim of great pain and that pain was somehow manipulated for nefarious means. As for Kitov and company, I think they'll find Leo, but heck no will that clear them of suspicion. You can't just escape and have no consequences or continued suspicion. That will not play into their favor. SO they're gonna have to just dig deeper and deeper into the plot and still run from the law at every turn. Though I do kind of feel they'll wind up back home at some point and find out things are bad there too somehow. As for the world itself, since I already mentioned this, I do think there's gonna be war brewing. Maybe not get to the point where it happens, but people will be scrambling around to prevent it and there'll probably be lots of angry people causing havoc in Minash Turgal cause these are the sorts of things where people need someone to blame. I think Lirre will probably be fine because I don't want to think about bad things happening to Lirre O_O Finally, regarding Kitov and Taneli changing. I think they're both gonna gain some smarts from this. I feel like Kitov could learn some more street smarts and learn that not every nice seeming person is a good person and that it's okay to distrust people you just met. Meanwhile, I think Taneli is just gonna learn the struggles normal people go through outside of the sheltered life she's lived, and that she'll be much wiser when it comes to politics. However, I think they'll both remain lovely people who are sweet and have that twinkle in their eye.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I feel like the murder of King Rishor was foreshadowed on this page: https://cryptsandcantrips.kytri.net/comic/twelve-4/ With the whole "obviously the people like me, because if they didn't, they'd vote to replace me" bit. Like, sure, that's true on a country-wide scale... but votes are majority rule, not unanimous. And sometimes... the smaller group of people who disagree with you can be very vocal.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Taneli's my favorite too. She's very sheltered, but her heart's in the right place and she's adjusting as fast as she can, and she's active and enthusiastic which is great for plot motion. Plus, she gets the best clothes. I like the worldbuilding of "actually, our country has all kinds of mold-breaking things like non-hereditary elected rulers and public transportation." Here's hoping it catches on more widely. Leo's plotting is...complicated. Escorting the Princess gave him a great opportunity to get close for the assassination, and since he had the stuff in the luggage, it seems like he was plotting it the whole time. But the fact that Taneli was a Princess at all was supposed to be a secret from everyone except Kitov, right? The others were all surprised when it came out. Was it a plan that only came together when he arrived, and the poison was just planted to frame the others? Or was the poison in the luggage all along, and the secrecy of the whole mission was compromised from the beginning? Unrelated, I thought the sexual-orientation references were well-done. It's not like the whole cast sat in a circle and announced a list of identities each -- it came up naturally in one conversation with a few people, and they mentioned the parts of their experience that were relevant. Also really liked "masculinization potion." Some of the trans-related vocabulary stuck out from the rest of the dialogue, but this feels natural -- like, of course, those are the words a Medieval D&D Fantasy Person would use for it.

RebelVampire

What I'm most looking forward to seeing in the comic is probably just more of the plot revealed as to why assassinate the king and finding the whole motivation behind everything. Just because I'm hoping it opens up more questions to explore and also helps build the world. My final words are simply that this is a lovely comic with likeable characters and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes in terms of plot since the plot has definitely caught my interest.

Kytri

Hi, uh this is my first post here. I'm the writer/artist of Crypts and Cantrips. The week is over in about half an hour in my time zone, and I just wanted to stop in and say thanks for including my comic and for everyone's kind words.

My comics tend not to spark much discussion or feedback so it was a really nice change of pace.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Crypts and Cantrips this week! Please also give a special thank you to Kieran Thompson for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Crypts and Cantrips, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://cryptsandcantrips.Kytri.net/

Kieran’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Kytri

Kieran’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/itsKytri

Kieran’s itch.io Store: https://Kytri.itch.io/

Kieran’s Teepublic page: https://www.teepublic.com/user/Kytri

Kieran’s TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Kytri

[thehivemindwrites]

A  Series of Disconnected Thoughts, Cast into the Void in No Particular Order

1. I’ve been finding myself thinking more and more about Kill Six Billion Demons recently. Not just because it’s absolutely gorgeous artwork and Moebius-meets-prog-metal stylings are extremely my shit (KSBD is responsible for adding Gojira to my rotation of workout music, and that alone has me in its debt), but because I can really appreciate a main character who is a walking disaster coming to some kind of enlightenment through a combination of getting her ass handed to her repeatedly, making questionable decisions, and basically just deciding to struggle forwards because I don’t know, what the fuck else is there to do? It’s hardly original (see: basically any shounen about The Power of Friendship and Not Giving Up) but damn if the presentation of it in this particular case isn’t particularly delightful. Plus it gave us the image of a giant hulking demon wearing a jacket that says KILL BOSS and that’s rad.The creator of KSBD is also co-creator, as it happens, of the newly released Lancer TTRPG, which I backed on Kickstarter and will, one day, get a rad fucking hardcover copy of (but for now I’m reading through the pdf and swearing oaths that one day I will play it). Anyway, as someone who also got where he is through a series of questionable decisions and getting his ass handed to him by life in general (oh, and an enormous amount of luck), I can relate. Plus the phrase “Reach heaven through violence,” while kind of terrible on the surface, feels good to shout at yourself while you’re off for a run. 

2. Part of this whole exercise thing - a side-effect of it, if you wanna call it that - is that generally I feel better about myself like in general. I’ve mentioned that before. What it doesn’t do, of course, is magically mean that I’m now 100% good and not still dogged by a persistent sense of self-loathing that I’ve just had to accept will never really go away. Like for example: I’ve lost 35 kg since starting this whole gym thing, except you might remember the goal was 40. I still haven’t hit that goal, and frankly I’ve spent the last like three months bouncing around the same like, 3 kg zone because I’ve been traveling a lot and that basically fucks up my workout and eating routine. It’s frustrating, and it sure does let the part of me that knows deep down that I’m a fat fucker and always will be no matter what I do run wild from time to time. Which is, I’m coming to understand, just gonna always be there. This stuff doesn’t go away! Ever! 

Which doesn’t mean it’s right, even a little. You tune it out and throw yourself into battle with it over and over again. You get bloodied and broken and claw back and then you get bloodied and broken some more. Insert that gif from Princess Bride of Westly saying LIFE IS PAIN, HIGHNESS here. Thing is, there’s something about the struggle that’s nice. I am not sure how motivated I’d be to do anything if part of it wasn’t motivated by the desire to prove my dumb brain wrong about, uh, me. If I wasn’t fighting the various little demons that plague me every so often, I doubt I’d be so well-adjusted. I certainly wouldn’t be mentally healthy. None of this makes sense as I read it back, of course - it sounds like I’m saying “boy it’s nice to be miserable,” which isn’t true. Being miserable sucks shit! I don’t recommend it! But it is nice to see misery coming and punch it in the face (metaphorically speaking). Sometimes I think the thing that makes me go to the gym and work so hard (this sounds like I’m bragging, but I can assure you I’m not - “work so hard” means “not collapse and fall off the elliptical after five minutes because oh god I don’t want to be here”) is out of some desire for self-annihilation through pushing myself past my physical limits. Reach heaven through violence (see, I told you it sounded cool).

3. The world has gotten really fucking bad for a lot of people, and I don’t know that it will get better for them any time soon. In fact, given the latest talk from the ol’ UN Climate Change report, it’s gonna get even worse. I would very much prefer that were not the case! It’s motivation enough to get out and vote and shit, at least for me - and as someone who is, you know, ridiculously privileged, that’s the absolute least I can do. Which is why I try to do more, mostly involving donating money to causes that seem like they’re able to cause the sort of trouble that needs to be caused. Or just use expertise to protect the people I don’t know how to protect, because I’m a lot of things, and one of them happens to be smart enough to know that I don’t know shit. So I make sure people that do know shit have the money they need. Pretty straightforward, I think. 

The other thing I try to do, because giving money isn’t really something I think about much at all (I’m stupidly fucking fortunate to have a job that pays well, remember), is occasionally go out and actually be present at protests and the like - there are a lot of climate protests and they’re all a good time. Occasionally it’s worth overcoming one’s intense social anxiety to do so. Lord knows it’s significantly less of a risk for me to be out shouting at cops than most. 

4. She-Ra might be one of the best shows out there. There’s something nice about a show that both does and does not present a simple world. Yes, the Horde is bad. Like, objectively bad! They do a lot of looting and subjugating and are generally just deeply not chill people.On the other hand, the people who make up the Horde are still people, and I have a lot of time for a show that can manage to humanize its Big Bad Villain whilst still making it very clear they are  still, you know, not good. It’s messy, and complicated, and sad, because sometimes you have to fight people you used to be friends with! Sometimes you have to make the call that hey, we can’t be friends anymore, because I can’t support the things you’re doing anymore. I’ve made that call before - I bet everyone has, at some point (if you haven’t, I’m sure you’ll have to eventually). Fortunately for me, it’s never been that difficult of a choice, if only because the people I had to go against weren’t people I’d known for very long. 

Anyway, that’s part of it - you gotta just cut people out sometimes. There’s more to it though, because the other thing the show believes is that everyone - even the real shitty people - can change. It doesn’t mean everything’s forgiven, and it doesn’t erase all the bad shit, but they can still change. It’s worth changing, even if it isn’t a cure-all. 

So yeah, I like She-Ra a lot. It’s also just well-written, and funny, and it’s a real good time to see a bunch of diverse characters running around having adventures and being fuckin’ rad. Plus, they’ve shown an incredible willingness to completely change the stakes from season to season - the end of season four in particular is  the equivalent of detonating all the things you thought were important. It pulls a bait and switch so ruthless that I might have applauded if I wasn’t so self-conscious about making noise that my neighbors might hear. The combination of season 3 and 4 was a masterclass on raising the stakes and then explaining that actually, you were playing for stakes even higher than you could’ve thought possible. Oh, and the people you thought you could trust were just using you, and hey, what if we got rid of the thing that you’ve more or less defined yourself by for the entire show? Good luck in season five, motherfucker! I’m a fan, is what I’m saying.

6. Work on Vanquisher 2103 continues apace. I mentioned this before, but we’re doing a once-a-month schedule while the holidays and work beat my ass into the ground, and as it turns out I really enjoy taking a full month to write a chapter. It’s a comically slow pace, but it’s working for me and hopefully the fact that the chapters have tended to be a little longer (and allowed me to expand on ideas a little more, and do a little more research here and there) makes it worth the longer wait. I’d like this thing to be good! There’s a part of my brain, again, that will always insist that nobody reads this and it’s bad and I’m fucking up, constantly - that point, at least, is probably accurate. I am writing characters who in theory have life experiences that are very much Not Mine, which involves a lot of reading things from people who would know better than I do. It’s nerve-wracking, and the only thing I am bone-deep certain of is that I’ll fuck up and hopefully y’all will forgive me for fucking up when that happens. I’ll keep reading and refining and eventually maybe it’ll be okay. Hopefully, anyway.

7. I went to Ireland and guys, Ireland is bullshit. I am offended by its gorgeous cliff-sides and open grasslands and heart-rending beauty. The immense friendliness of the people I met and the fact that you can’t sit in a pub without hearing some dude play a jaunty reel on a tin whistle or accordion or something is a personal insult. I was Arthur Dent angrily demanding to know why this bloody fish is so good the whole time.

I cultivated an immense drinking habit while there. I was also approached by a random German tourist who somehow clocked that I could speak German and we shouted about socialism for an hour auf Deutsch. I met some woman from Louisiana and we ended up having drinks a couple nights in a row to talk about traveling in general and Germany in particular, because her ex-husband is German. There were some Swedish retirees who were both very pleased by their country’s social safety net and also depressingly sour about the fact that refugees got cheap dental care - we might have had some harsh words exchanged before more drinks helped smooth over our frank discussion of differing viewpoints. I had to explain American health care to some people from the UK who were surprisingly gung-ho about the idea of privatized medicine until they talked to me (one of them talked about how the UK used to be an Empire and could be again in such a way that made me want to throw things. We did not talk for very long because I couldn’t fuckin’ handle it). These were strangers that I willingly engaged, because I was having an adventure, and I guarantee none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been going to the gym and committed to the idea of proving the voice in my head that tells me I’m an awkward mess that nobody would ever want to talk to in their life wrong (also, let’s be honest, if I hadn’t had several pints of cider at the time). 

By the end of the trip if I heard one more pub singer’s version of Whisky in the Jar though, that I was gonna produce my pistol and fucking shoot myself in the head.

Go to Ireland if you can. If you live there, fuck you how dare you live somewhere that rad.

8. I didn’t have an eighth thing but I’m committed to this “each thing is numbered” bit which means that even the end of this thing has to follow the trope. This is the end of the post where I say “okay bye I’ll be back the next time I get the urge to throw a bunch of highly unpolished ideas out.” 

[blackswaneuroparedux]

“The Bravest of the Brave”: Marshal Ney, the soldier’s soldier.

Michel Ney, duke d’Elchingen, (10 Jan 1769 - 7 Dec 1815), one of the best known of Napoleon’s marshals (from 1804), who pledged his allegiance to the restored Bourbon monarchy when Napoleon abdicated in 1814. Upon Napoleon’s return in 1815, Ney rejoined him and commanded the Old Guard at the Battle of Waterloo. Under the monarchy, again restored, he was charged with treason, for which he was condemned and shot by a firing squad.

His execution like his soldiering life was the stuff of legends. 

Beginnings

Ney was the son of a barrel cooper and blacksmith. Apprenticed to a local lawyer, he ran away in 1788 to join a hussar regiment. His opportunity came with the revolutionary wars, in which he fought from the early engagements at Valmy and Jemappes in 1792 to the final battle of the First Republic at Hohenlinden in 1800.

Ney’s legendary bravery was especially seen at Mannheim when a cannonball killed his horse and wounded his leg, and then when Ney stood up he was hit by a bullet to the chest which threw him to the ground. Luckily for him, the bullet was spent and did not pierce him, instead only giving him a bad bruise.

The early campaigns revealed two contrasting features of Ney’s character: his great courage under fire and his strong aversion to promotion. Willing to hurl himself into battle at critical moments to inspire his troops by his personal example, he was unwilling to accept higher rank, and when his name was put forward he protested to his military and political superiors. In every instance he was overruled: it was as general of a division that he fought in Victor Moreau’s Army of the Rhine at Hohenlinden.

He soon caught Napoleon’s eye and made rapid progress up the ranks. He didn’t disappoint. The further up the ranks he went the further into danger threw himself into. The men loved him and followed him anywhere.

On May 19, 1804, the day after Napoleon had had himself proclaimed hereditary emperor of the French, he revived the ancient military rank of marshal, and 14 generals, including Ney, were gazetted marshals of the empire.

The Russian campaign of 1812 cemented his legend. On the morning after the somewhat inconclusive battle at Borodino, Napoleon made him prince de la Moskowa. On the retreat from Moscow, Ney was in command of the rear guard, a position in which he was exposed to Russian artillery fire and to numerous Cossack attacks. He rose to heights of courage, resourcefulness, and inspired improvisation that seemed miraculous to the men he led. “He is the bravest of the brave,” said Napoleon when Ney, for weeks given up as lost, joined the main body of the frozen and shrunken Grand Army.

The fall of Napoleon and the rise of the Bourbons

But after 1813 and the with the Winter disaster in Russia, Napoleon suffered a series of setbacks that eventually pushed him back to France and to the brink of defeat.

Napoleon concentrated his remaining forces at Fontainebleau to fight the allies in Paris, but Ney, speaking for himself and other marshals, told him that the army would not march. “The army will obey me,” said Napoleon. “Sire,” replied the Bravest of the Brave, “the army will obey its generals.” Napoleon was forced to abdicate. Ney retained his rank and titles and took an oath of fidelity to the Bourbon dynasty.

With the Bourbons returned to power in France in 1814, Marshal Ney rallied to them in the hopes of a peaceful and stable France. In response, he was made a Knight of Saint-Louis and Peer of France and he was placed in charge of the cavalry. However, despite these rewards he could only watch as the government grew inefficient and old privileges granted to the nobility were restored, going against the very changes that had allowed him to rise so high.

Furthermore, since he was the first Duke of Elchingen and first Prince of the Moskowa, he and his wife were frequently snubbed by the returned nobility with famous ancestors.

One day he returned home to find his wife in tears over more ill treatment received from the Duchess of Angoulême. Enraged, Ney charged to the Tuileries where he burst in, politely and quickly paid his respects to the king, and then verbally berated the Duchess, beginning with, "I and others were fighting for France while you sat sipping tea in English gardens," and ending with, "You don't seem to know what the name Ney means, but one of these days I'll show you!"

The 100 Days and the Battle of Waterloo

When in 1815 Napoleon escaped from Elba and began his triumphant march back to Paris, Ney was horrified by the prospect of civil war. Despite his dislike of the Bourbons, he told the king he would bring Napoleon back to Paris in an iron cage. As Ney led his troops in a march to intercept Napoleon, his doubts began to grow. The people of France and the army all seemed to be cheering for Napoleon, and no one had fired a shot to stop Napoleon. During every step of Napoleon's progress, more and more had joined his side.

If Ney ordered his men to fight Napoleon and his men, Ney might be the cause of civil war, presuming that his men would even follow his orders and shoot at their former emperor. After receiving a message from Napoleon, Ney decided that he could not fight the tide and told his men that the legitimate dynasty of France as chosen by the people was Napoleon. His men began cheering, and he sent off messages stating his intent to rejoin Napoleon.

Despite Ney’s conduct, Napoleon wanted his ‘bravest of the brave’ by his side once again. Ney decided to take up the offer and assumed command of the left wing of the Army of the North. Almost immediately he was thrust into action, fighting the British at Quatre-Bras on June 16th. Two days later he fought at the Battle of Waterloo, leading from the front and having four horses killed underneath him over the course of the battle. When the French began to break and be overrun by the combined Prussian and British forces, Ney said, "Come and see how a Marshal of France dies!"4

Ney escaped from Waterloo and returned to Paris where the Minister of Police Fouché gave him passports which he did not use. After Napoleon's second abdication, Marshal Davout took command of the army and refused to surrender until a treaty was signed that granted amnesty to those who had rejoined Napoleon. Ney went into hiding at a friend's chateau, but he was soon spotted and arrested. Even the king was upset that he had not fled the country, hoping to avoid a trial that could expose the internal divisions of the people. After giving his promise to not flee, Ney was escorted back to Paris without being bound. On the way General Exelmans came to his rescue, but Ney refused to go against his word to his captors, and he continued back to Paris.

Trial and execution

Initially Ney was to be tried by a military court run by Marshal Jourdan, however his defense team argued that this court could not try him, and instead his case should be tried in the Chamber of Peers. His defense team won in this regard when the court declared itself incompetent, though that may have been due to the military court not wanting to convict him but also not wanting to defy the Bourbons by acquitting him. Next Ney would be tried by a group populated by Royalists and without the same sense of honor as his military colleagues.

During the trial in the Chamber of Peers, Ney's lawyers brought up how the trial was in direct violation of the treaty Davout had negotiated, and secretly in response a new law was then passed forbidding mentioning that treaty in court. With such an act, it became clear to everyone that the trial was a witch hunt. As a last attempt, his lawyers argued that since Ney's hometown of Saarelouis was ceded to Prussia, he could not be tried as a Frenchman, but Ney vehemently denounced this tactic and demanded to be tried as a Frenchman. Some of Ney's supporters appealed to the British for assistance, but they refused, claiming that they could not meddle in France's internal affairs despite spending the past twenty five years trying to change France's government.

On December 6th, Ney was convicted by the Chamber of Peers and the Peers also voted on his sentence, with the majority voting for death by firing squad. The execution was to be carried out the next day. When news of Ney's sentence reached the public, a mob began to form where the execution was to take place, and a new place of execution was quickly arranged at a different location.

Ney faced his execution by firing squad in Paris near the Luxembourg Garden. He refused to wear a blindfold and was allowed the right to give the order to fire, reportedly saying:

“Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her ... Soldiers, fire!”

Marshal Michel Ney was a soldier’s soldier.

Ney was wholly without political ambition or judgment. He was at his greatest in the campaigns for France’s natural frontiers at the beginning and end of his career, but out of his depth in Napoleon’s intricate strategy for the domination of Europe. He showed little interest in external distinctions or social success. The dignity with which he met his death effaced the memory of his political vagaries and made him, in an epic age, the most heroic figure of his time.

[fesahaawit]

Reader Question: What To Do With A $100k Inheritance?

Heyo!

Okay, this is totally going to look planned considering last Friday’s hypothetical on winning $100,000, but I swear this is a real question and that our friend here did not win any magical genie requests :) In fact, she got the money through the opposite of a fun situation :(

Here’s her note below, followed by my own thoughts for her to marinate on and then hopefully yours as well! We’ll call her “joy” to hopefully liven up the situation more :)

Here’s her email below… Oh, and whatever you do, Joy, do not read this post here!!

J. Money! I’ve been a long time reader of your column but, well, have never commented. Finally thought I’d send in a question at least since your advice is always sound (and fun to read)!

It’s been a year since my dad’s passing, and our inheritance has finally cleared the estate. I’m looking at a cool $100k coming my way in the next month. Looking at the best way to use that, given my current life situation.

Here are the good details: I’m 36, married, and we each bring in $80k/year salary though we don’t comingle our income for the most part. I have no student loans (paid off last year!), approx. $200k in my 401(k) that I contribute 5% to with a company match, and $20k in a ROTH which I’ve contributed $2k to this year so far. I also have about $12k in personal savings. (Recently used a chunk for a down payment on a car)

Now for the debt: I do have quite a bit of credit card debt to the tune of $20k (most of it is 0% APR CCs through mid 2018), a personal loan of $26k (10% APR), a car loan of $6500 (4% APR). I also have a townhouse rental property where thankfully the rent covers the mortgage payment, and we each pay $800/mo towards the mortgage for the condo we live in.

The big life event that’s making this a tougher planning process: We’re expecting our first kid in 5 months! We currently have $6k in a “Baby Savings Fund” (separate from personal savings) with an auto savings deposit of $300/mo. Full time daycare runs around of $1900/month for the area. We’ll want set up a 529 for the kiddo, but not sure how much to put in each month. But otherwise, not really sure what to do to prepare for the kid!

What I want to do is: 1) pad my savings to $35k (~7 mo living expenses), 2) fully fund my Roth, 3) pay off the personal loan and car loan, 4) put $6k into a townhouse emergency fund (3 months mortgage). Should I wait on my credit card debt since most of it is on 0% APR til next year so I get a little interest (free $ is free $ right?) on what’s left of inheritance? If I pay 100% of my debt (besides mortgage), that’ll free up $1700/mo. That leaves quite a bit leftover, but with the baby coming I don’t want to squander it!

One more side note – my spouse is on a work trip that will bring in an extra $8k in the next month. He’ll use that to pad savings, too, and I want to make sure we both put $$ aside for the kiddo. He has no student loans, car loan, or CC debt.

What to do what to do? Thanks in advance!

PS: I did read an older inheritance post you did where you talked about goals… thought I’d add some of mine. My biggest driver is : I’d been unemployed for a year before,  which decimated my savings. I got help from family to pay my mortgage a couple months. That’s where half my debt came from too. I never ever want to go back! And now with the kiddo coming, I want to set him/her up for not stressing about money too. My husband has always been frugal so he’s totally on board.

Oh the possibilities! What a great position to be in! (Minus the reasons behind the money, of course)

I love that she threw in the PS there at the end too because one of the most important things with this stuff is to KNOW YOURSELF and *why* you’re drawn to certain actions over others, even if they look strange from the outside. There’s nothing wrong with making moves this way so long as they don’t F you or your finances over, so anytime you’re super excited to go one route over another I say go for it! Who cares if others would do it differently, they’re not living your life?

*Awkward transition to others giving their opinion now…*

Okay, so what would I do in her shoes? Well, pretty much everything she already stated above with the addition of one minor/major? change. I feel like she already *knows* deep down what she wants to do – which is great! She’s been thinking hard! – but we’ll see if our additional advice sways her one way or the other :) I’ll go first, then it’s your turn!

Here’s what I’d do with the money…

#1. Hold onto the $100k cash for 2-3 months and let it all soak in!

It’s one thing to *know* the money’s coming, but a whole other to let it simmer in your bank account and feel SUPER CONFIDENT knowing you can pretty much do anything you want before unloading it… This prevents you from doing anything stupid with it too, especially in the case of winning the lottery! (Check out this article on 21 people who won it and then lost it all – ugh…)

#2. Once the anxiousness kicks in, start knocking off your Want List

Again, our friend here has a great sense of herself and pretty much already knows what she wants to do with most of it, and since they all improve her net worth and general comfortableness, I’m 100% for it. The real question is what to do with the money that’s *leftover*. Which I’m pretty sure we all here know what that answer should be ;)

Here’s her want list again, along w/ the amounts it’ll take to release the kragle:

Padding her savings to $35,000 (+$23,000)

Fully funding her Roth IRA (+$3,500)

Paying off both her personal loan AND car loan ($26,000 + $6,500 = $32,500)

Putting $6,000 into her “townhouse emergency fund”

That’s a total of $65,000 going to a new home, leaving her with $35,000 left…

#3. PAY OFF EVERY LITTLE BIT OF CREDIT CARD DEBT!

The extra savings in cash may feel good, but I’m willing to bet that being completely debt-free would feel even better over time – especially with the new baby on board. The Want List already took care of a bulk of the wanted savings, so why not shovel $20,000 right into the debt and have the best of both worlds? If the credit cards aren’t paid off now – with “free” money mind you – when will they be?

And here’s some other good motivation that she already alluded to: it would help free up $1,700/mo of cash flow too! Which can then be directed to a number of future goals as well! And considering NONE of this even accounts for any contributions by her partner throughout time – which I’m sure will be a lot since he’s so frugal and also makes a decent income – their family is definitely sitting pretty.

#4. Dump a chunk into the 529 account

If all the above wasn’t awesome enough, she still has $15,000 to play with! And since the 529 is the only thing we haven’t touched on yet, my vote would be to send $10,000 into it in one fell swoop to get that compounding going. It would serve her better over time than breaking it into smaller monthly deposits too (again cuz of compounding, despite dollar cost averaging), and from there you’ve hit all the main goals on the list. Woo!

But that still leaves us her with $5,000 left…

#5. Do something *special* for you or your family

As responsible as all the financial goals are, which now make up for 95% of the inheritance, I’d stash the remaining $5,000 aside to do something really rewarding or special for either yourself or your family in the near future. I’m sure your father would love to be able to contribute towards that, especially if it’s something you wouldn’t naturally do for yourself because you’re so “responsible!” And even better if it’s towards something that would also honor your dad’s life as well :)

Maybe a trip to somewhere he found special or always wanted to go? Or maybe starting or enhancing a hobby/passion you two shared together? Or what about going on a shopping spree that he’d look down and laugh at but approve of you finally letting loose?? Haha, I dunno…

Either way, keeping a little money aside to be able to “splurge” a little can def. do a person good. ESPECIALLY when a new baby is on the horizon and life will get about 10x more “interesting” :) But what a blessing indeed… One family member leaves, and another one comes in. The circle of life, baby.

#6. Allocate the new $1,700 earned back via cash flow towards whatever needs strengthening!

This is the cherry on top of it all, and the area you can feel even more free to do what you please in order to fill in the remaining cracks you see. Even if it seems like overkill to others (again – it’s your life! Do what makes you feel the best! Though may I recommend maybe upping your 401(k) contributions more for an extra boost? ;))

And here’s the best part of this cash flow cherry: It not only grants you $1,700 the first month, but it continues forward sending you $1,700 the second month and $1,700 the third month and the fourth month and on and on into eternity or at least until baby #2 and #3 comes ;)

It’s the gift that keeps on giving! Which means getting to make these nerdy decisions every single month as you continue to fortify your finances. A wonderful dream for any father’s daughter.

So those are my thoughts…

You’ve got plenty of money to last for years now, and you’ve got a loving husband who will also be helping you out across the board too. You’re going to be fine no matter which route you go, and all that’s left now is to love the crap out of your baby :) You can never love them too much! One of the best pieces of advice I got myself through this journey.

I now open it up to you, readers! What do you think of these plans here? What would YOU advise if you got this $100k and were in her shoes?

Share all your smart words below, and then pat yourself on the back for being productive this morning! It’s much better than the 100 other things we’re about to do when we log off here to distract us from the work that’s needing to get done today ;)

God bless, all.

Reader Question: What To Do With A $100k Inheritance? posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

[heliosfinance]

Reader Question: What To Do With A $100k Inheritance?

Heyo!

Okay, this is totally going to look planned considering last Friday’s hypothetical on winning $100,000, but I swear this is a real question and that our friend here did not win any magical genie requests :) In fact, she got the money through the opposite of a fun situation :(

Here’s her note below, followed by my own thoughts for her to marinate on and then hopefully yours as well! We’ll call her “joy” to hopefully liven up the situation more :)

Here’s her email below… Oh, and whatever you do, Joy, do not read this post here!!

J. Money! I’ve been a long time reader of your column but, well, have never commented. Finally thought I’d send in a question at least since your advice is always sound (and fun to read)!

It’s been a year since my dad’s passing, and our inheritance has finally cleared the estate. I’m looking at a cool $100k coming my way in the next month. Looking at the best way to use that, given my current life situation.

Here are the good details: I’m 36, married, and we each bring in $80k/year salary though we don’t comingle our income for the most part. I have no student loans (paid off last year!), approx. $200k in my 401(k) that I contribute 5% to with a company match, and $20k in a ROTH which I’ve contributed $2k to this year so far. I also have about $12k in personal savings. (Recently used a chunk for a down payment on a car)

Now for the debt: I do have quite a bit of credit card debt to the tune of $20k (most of it is 0% APR CCs through mid 2018), a personal loan of $26k (10% APR), a car loan of $6500 (4% APR). I also have a townhouse rental property where thankfully the rent covers the mortgage payment, and we each pay $800/mo towards the mortgage for the condo we live in.

The big life event that’s making this a tougher planning process: We’re expecting our first kid in 5 months! We currently have $6k in a “Baby Savings Fund” (separate from personal savings) with an auto savings deposit of $300/mo. Full time daycare runs around of $1900/month for the area. We’ll want set up a 529 for the kiddo, but not sure how much to put in each month. But otherwise, not really sure what to do to prepare for the kid!

What I want to do is: 1) pad my savings to $35k (~7 mo living expenses), 2) fully fund my Roth, 3) pay off the personal loan and car loan, 4) put $6k into a townhouse emergency fund (3 months mortgage). Should I wait on my credit card debt since most of it is on 0% APR til next year so I get a little interest (free $ is free $ right?) on what’s left of inheritance? If I pay 100% of my debt (besides mortgage), that’ll free up $1700/mo. That leaves quite a bit leftover, but with the baby coming I don’t want to squander it!

One more side note – my spouse is on a work trip that will bring in an extra $8k in the next month. He’ll use that to pad savings, too, and I want to make sure we both put $$ aside for the kiddo. He has no student loans, car loan, or CC debt.

What to do what to do? Thanks in advance!

PS: I did read an older inheritance post you did where you talked about goals… thought I’d add some of mine. My biggest driver is : I’d been unemployed for a year before,  which decimated my savings. I got help from family to pay my mortgage a couple months. That’s where half my debt came from too. I never ever want to go back! And now with the kiddo coming, I want to set him/her up for not stressing about money too. My husband has always been frugal so he’s totally on board.

Oh the possibilities! What a great position to be in! (Minus the reasons behind the money, of course)

I love that she threw in the PS there at the end too because one of the most important things with this stuff is to KNOW YOURSELF and *why* you’re drawn to certain actions over others, even if they look strange from the outside. There’s nothing wrong with making moves this way so long as they don’t F you or your finances over, so anytime you’re super excited to go one route over another I say go for it! Who cares if others would do it differently, they’re not living your life?

*Awkward transition to others giving their opinion now…*

Okay, so what would I do in her shoes? Well, pretty much everything she already stated above with the addition of one minor/major? change. I feel like she already *knows* deep down what she wants to do – which is great! She’s been thinking hard! – but we’ll see if our additional advice sways her one way or the other :) I’ll go first, then it’s your turn!

Here’s what I’d do with the money…

#1. Hold onto the $100k cash for 2-3 months and let it all soak in!

It’s one thing to *know* the money’s coming, but a whole other to let it simmer in your bank account and feel SUPER CONFIDENT knowing you can pretty much do anything you want before unloading it… This prevents you from doing anything stupid with it too, especially in the case of winning the lottery! (Check out this article on 21 people who won it and then lost it all – ugh…)

#2. Once the anxiousness kicks in, start knocking off your Want List

Again, our friend here has a great sense of herself and pretty much already knows what she wants to do with most of it, and since they all improve her net worth and general comfortableness, I’m 100% for it. The real question is what to do with the money that’s *leftover*. Which I’m pretty sure we all here know what that answer should be ;)

Here’s her want list again, along w/ the amounts it’ll take to release the kragle:

Padding her savings to $35,000 (+$23,000)

Fully funding her Roth IRA (+$3,500)

Paying off both her personal loan AND car loan ($26,000 + $6,500 = $32,500)

Putting $6,000 into her “townhouse emergency fund”

That’s a total of $65,000 going to a new home, leaving her with $35,000 left…

#3. PAY OFF EVERY LITTLE BIT OF CREDIT CARD DEBT!

The extra savings in cash may feel good, but I’m willing to bet that being completely debt-free would feel even better over time – especially with the new baby on board. The Want List already took care of a bulk of the wanted savings, so why not shovel $20,000 right into the debt and have best of both worlds? If the credit cards aren’t paid off now – with “free” money mind you – when will they be?

And here’s some other good motivation that she already alluded to: it would help free up $1,700/mo of cash flow too! Which can then be directed to a number of future goals as well! And considering NONE of this even accounts for any contributions by her partner throughout time – which I’m sure will be a lot since he’s so frugal and also makes decent income – their family is definitely sitting pretty.

#4. Dump a chunk into the 529 account

If all the above wasn’t awesome enough, she still has $15,000 to play with! And since the 529 is the only thing we haven’t touched on yet, my vote would be to send $10,000 into it in one fell swoop to get that compounding going. It would serve her better over time than breaking it into smaller monthly deposits too (again cuz of compounding, despite dollar cost averaging), and from there you’ve hit all the main goals on the list. Woo!

But that still leaves us her with $5,000 left…

#5. Do something *special* for you or your family

As responsible as all the financial goals are, which now make up for 95% of the inheritance, I’d stash the remaining $5,000 aside to do something really rewarding or special for either yourself or your family in the near future. I’m sure your father would love to be able to contribute towards that, especially if it’s something you wouldn’t naturally do for yourself because you’re so “responsible!” And even better if it’s towards something that would also honor your dad’s life as well :)

Maybe a trip to somewhere he found special or always wanted to go? Or maybe starting or enhancing a hobby/passion you two shared together? Or what about going on a shopping spree that he’d look down and laugh at but approve of you finally letting loose?? Haha, I dunno…

Either way, keeping a little money aside to be able to “splurge” a little can def. do a person good. ESPECIALLY when a new baby is on the horizon and life will get about 10x more “interesting” :) But what a blessing indeed… One family member leaves, and another one comes in. The circle of life, baby.

#6. Allocate the new $1,700 earned back via cash flow towards whatever needs strengthening!

This is the cherry on top of it all, and the area you can feel even more free to do what you please in order to fill in the remaining cracks you see. Even if it seems like overkill to others (again – it’s your life! Do what makes you feel the best! Though may I recommend maybe upping your 401(k) contributions more for extra boost? ;))

And here’s the best part of this cash flow cherry: It not only grants you $1,700 the first month, but it continues forward sending you $1,700 the second month and $1,700 the third month and the fourth month and on and on into eternity or at least until baby #2 and #3 comes ;)

It’s the gift that keeps on giving! Which means getting to make these nerdy decisions every single month as you continue to fortify your finances. A wonderful dream for any father’s daughter.

So those are my thoughts…

You’ve got plenty of money to last for years now, and you’ve got a loving husband who will also be helping you out across the board too. You’re going to be fine no matter which route you go, and all that’s left now is to love the crap out of your baby :) You can never love them too much! One of the best pieces of advice I got myself through this journey.

I now open it up to you, readers! What do you think of these plans here? What would YOU advise if you got this $100k and were in her shoes?

Share all your smart words below, and then pat yourself on the back for being productive this morning! It’s much better than the 100 other things we’re about to do when we log off here to distract us from the work that’s needing to get done today ;)

God bless, all.

Reader Question: What To Do With A $100k Inheritance? published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B

[fesahaawit]

Reader Question: What To Do With A $100k Inheritance?

Heyo!

Okay, this is totally going to look planned considering last Friday’s hypothetical on winning $100,000, but I swear this is a real question and that our friend here did not win any magical genie requests :) In fact, she got the money through the opposite of a fun situation :(

Here’s her note below, followed by my own thoughts for her to marinate on and then hopefully yours as well! We’ll call her “joy” to hopefully liven up the situation more :)

Here’s her email below… Oh, and whatever you do, Joy, do not read this post here!!

J. Money! I’ve been a long time reader of your column but, well, have never commented. Finally thought I’d send in a question at least since your advice is always sound (and fun to read)!

It’s been a year since my dad’s passing, and our inheritance has finally cleared the estate. I’m looking at a cool $100k coming my way in the next month. Looking at the best way to use that, given my current life situation.

Here are the good details: I’m 36, married, and we each bring in $80k/year salary though we don’t comingle our income for the most part. I have no student loans (paid off last year!), approx. $200k in my 401(k) that I contribute 5% to with a company match, and $20k in a ROTH which I’ve contributed $2k to this year so far. I also have about $12k in personal savings. (Recently used a chunk for a down payment on a car)

Now for the debt: I do have quite a bit of credit card debt to the tune of $20k (most of it is 0% APR CCs through mid 2018), a personal loan of $26k (10% APR), a car loan of $6500 (4% APR). I also have a townhouse rental property where thankfully the rent covers the mortgage payment, and we each pay $800/mo towards the mortgage for the condo we live in.

The big life event that’s making this a tougher planning process: We’re expecting our first kid in 5 months! We currently have $6k in a “Baby Savings Fund” (separate from personal savings) with an auto savings deposit of $300/mo. Full time daycare runs around of $1900/month for the area. We’ll want set up a 529 for the kiddo, but not sure how much to put in each month. But otherwise, not really sure what to do to prepare for the kid!

What I want to do is: 1) pad my savings to $35k (~7 mo living expenses), 2) fully fund my Roth, 3) pay off the personal loan and car loan, 4) put $6k into a townhouse emergency fund (3 months mortgage). Should I wait on my credit card debt since most of it is on 0% APR til next year so I get a little interest (free $ is free $ right?) on what’s left of inheritance? If I pay 100% of my debt (besides mortgage), that’ll free up $1700/mo. That leaves quite a bit leftover, but with the baby coming I don’t want to squander it!

One more side note – my spouse is on a work trip that will bring in an extra $8k in the next month. He’ll use that to pad savings, too, and I want to make sure we both put $$ aside for the kiddo. He has no student loans, car loan, or CC debt.

What to do what to do? Thanks in advance!

PS: I did read an older inheritance post you did where you talked about goals… thought I’d add some of mine. My biggest driver is : I’d been unemployed for a year before,  which decimated my savings. I got help from family to pay my mortgage a couple months. That’s where half my debt came from too. I never ever want to go back! And now with the kiddo coming, I want to set him/her up for not stressing about money too. My husband has always been frugal so he’s totally on board.

Oh the possibilities! What a great position to be in! (Minus the reasons behind the money, of course)

I love that she threw in the PS there at the end too because one of the most important things with this stuff is to KNOW YOURSELF and *why* you’re drawn to certain actions over others, even if they look strange from the outside. There’s nothing wrong with making moves this way so long as they don’t F you or your finances over, so anytime you’re super excited to go one route over another I say go for it! Who cares if others would do it differently, they’re not living your life?

*Awkward transition to others giving their opinion now…*

Okay, so what would I do in her shoes? Well, pretty much everything she already stated above with the addition of one minor/major? change. I feel like she already *knows* deep down what she wants to do – which is great! She’s been thinking hard! – but we’ll see if our additional advice sways her one way or the other :) I’ll go first, then it’s your turn!

Here’s what I’d do with the money…

#1. Hold onto the $100k cash for 2-3 months and let it all soak in!

It’s one thing to *know* the money’s coming, but a whole other to let it simmer in your bank account and feel SUPER CONFIDENT knowing you can pretty much do anything you want before unloading it… This prevents you from doing anything stupid with it too, especially in the case of winning the lottery! (Check out this article on 21 people who won it and then lost it all – ugh…)

#2. Once the anxiousness kicks in, start knocking off your Want List

Again, our friend here has a great sense of herself and pretty much already knows what she wants to do with most of it, and since they all improve her net worth and general comfortableness, I’m 100% for it. The real question is what to do with the money that’s *leftover*. Which I’m pretty sure we all here know what that answer should be ;)

Here’s her want list again, along w/ the amounts it’ll take to release the kragle:

Padding her savings to $35,000 (+$23,000)

Fully funding her Roth IRA (+$3,500)

Paying off both her personal loan AND car loan ($26,000 + $6,500 = $32,500)

Putting $6,000 into her “townhouse emergency fund”

That’s a total of $65,000 going to a new home, leaving her with $35,000 left…

#3. PAY OFF EVERY LITTLE BIT OF CREDIT CARD DEBT!

The extra savings in cash may feel good, but I’m willing to bet that being completely debt-free would feel even better over time – especially with the new baby on board. The Want List already took care of a bulk of the wanted savings, so why not shovel $20,000 right into the debt and have best of both worlds? If the credit cards aren’t paid off now – with “free” money mind you – when will they be?

And here’s some other good motivation that she already alluded to: it would help free up $1,700/mo of cash flow too! Which can then be directed to a number of future goals as well! And considering NONE of this even accounts for any contributions by her partner throughout time – which I’m sure will be a lot since he’s so frugal and also makes decent income – their family is definitely sitting pretty.

#4. Dump a chunk into the 529 account

If all the above wasn’t awesome enough, she still has $15,000 to play with! And since the 529 is the only thing we haven’t touched on yet, my vote would be to send $10,000 into it in one fell swoop to get that compounding going. It would serve her better over time than breaking it into smaller monthly deposits too (again cuz of compounding, despite dollar cost averaging), and from there you’ve hit all the main goals on the list. Woo!

But that still leaves us her with $5,000 left…

#5. Do something *special* for you or your family

As responsible as all the financial goals are, which now make up for 95% of the inheritance, I’d stash the remaining $5,000 aside to do something really rewarding or special for either yourself or your family in the near future. I’m sure your father would love to be able to contribute towards that, especially if it’s something you wouldn’t naturally do for yourself because you’re so “responsible!” And even better if it’s towards something that would also honor your dad’s life as well :)

Maybe a trip to somewhere he found special or always wanted to go? Or maybe starting or enhancing a hobby/passion you two shared together? Or what about going on a shopping spree that he’d look down and laugh at but approve of you finally letting loose?? Haha, I dunno…

Either way, keeping a little money aside to be able to “splurge” a little can def. do a person good. ESPECIALLY when a new baby is on the horizon and life will get about 10x more “interesting” :) But what a blessing indeed… One family member leaves, and another one comes in. The circle of life, baby.

#6. Allocate the new $1,700 earned back via cash flow towards whatever needs strengthening!

This is the cherry on top of it all, and the area you can feel even more free to do what you please in order to fill in the remaining cracks you see. Even if it seems like overkill to others (again – it’s your life! Do what makes you feel the best! Though may I recommend maybe upping your 401(k) contributions more for extra boost? ;))

And here’s the best part of this cash flow cherry: It not only grants you $1,700 the first month, but it continues forward sending you $1,700 the second month and $1,700 the third month and the fourth month and on and on into eternity or at least until baby #2 and #3 comes ;)

It’s the gift that keeps on giving! Which means getting to make these nerdy decisions every single month as you continue to fortify your finances. A wonderful dream for any father’s daughter.

So those are my thoughts…

You’ve got plenty of money to last for years now, and you’ve got a loving husband who will also be helping you out across the board too. You’re going to be fine no matter which route you go, and all that’s left now is to love the crap out of your baby :) You can never love them too much! One of the best pieces of advice I got myself through this journey.

I now open it up to you, readers! What do you think of these plans here? What would YOU advise if you got this $100k and were in her shoes?

Share all your smart words below, and then pat yourself on the back for being productive this morning! It’s much better than the 100 other things we’re about to do when we log off here to distract us from the work that’s needing to get done today ;)

God bless, all.

Reader Question: What To Do With A $100k Inheritance? posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ