southsider2k5

The more I think about it, the strategy of "We want you, but only slightly more than anyone else is willing to bid" seems like a tough strategy to win unless you are the favorite destination of the player involved. That really doesn't say WE WANT YOU. It doesn't do a lot to woo them.

Outside of student loans and mortgage, I hope to be debt free in 3 years, maybe a bit less. It has gotten better as I have gotten older.

Yeah, I got hit a bit early in retirement savings when I had multiple shops close up that I worked for in less than a few years (either through mergers or acquisitions) not allowing me to really get going on my retirement money. I have done a good job of catching up, and the first thing I do every year is when I get a raise, I knock up my 401K savings another percentage point before I start getting that money so I never miss it. I am up to 8% now, plus the extra 2% match I get from the company. I also had enough after my last job to move the 401k I had into an IRA, so that now I always have someone to move my retirement money into if I do lose a job in the future.

The one thing I did do was to establish a Christmas club account that we use as a slush fund. I send all of my side gigs money to that, and it has become our defacto vacation funds account.

the difference is you don't have access to it. Way too many people raid their savings too easily if they have it. EDIT: I will come out and admit, I am a lazy saver. I have worked in an industry where I know I get back a big annual bonus, so I use that instead of putting away money like I should. I worry more about paying down stuff than I do about saving.

There is zero chance that Alonso is traded before opening day, no matter what Manny does.

If you think about it, having a tax return is just that. It is a forced saving account.

Business men recognize when opportunity is in front of them. Especially when you are talking about a discount from what they thought it would be when they had made their previous plans. This is a group that likes things like $50 million discounts.

I figured it would be the Bengals or Raiders, but hey, it wasn't the Bears.

It is the same general feeling I have had all winter. The Sox aren't the type of franchise that historically wins these types of situations. Nothing they have done this winter has been very inspirational to change that point of view. This just keeps dragging on and one, now the talk is about other teams getting back involved in the situation, which could be really bad for the Sox. For example, if the Yankees even come close to matching a Sox offer, the Sox won't win. With the Sox failing to close the deal so far, the door is open to literally anyone to come to Jesus and realize what they could do here they may never be able to do again.

That is a great deal then for the Hawks.

What years does that buy out? Up to RFA or UFA?

How did it usually work out, out of curiosity?

I get Tax Cut + State for $35-40 annually. The best thing about it, is that once you do it one year, it imports all of your historical W2s, 1099's etc, and your personal information. Your second year, a return takes 10-15 minutes to complete.

Yeah, I am not sure us matching a top offer would give us the win, especially if someone like the Yankees got their act together and decided to give this a shot.

Unless you have a pretty complex return, the tax cut/turbo tax software does exactly the same thing at a fraction of the price.

The longer this goes, the most I slip into this dread-cycle of feeling exactly like this. I keep feeling like he is just waiting for the offer he actually wants, and that once he gets it, there is no reason for him to come here. All it takes it one team to finally blink and we lose.

That sure wasn't the way it was sold to the American People. Not that I am surprised the most successful con-man in the history of American politics lied to people, but you get the point.

This year I really want to see what happens with all of the really young middle infielders we have at the lowest levels of the minors. Lency Delgado, Kelvin Maldonado, Amando Nunez, Lenyn Sosa, and Luis Curbelo are all guys that have a chance to do something big and rocket up the charts. Sam Abbot is a guy with a great backstory, but still might be a year or two away from getting it. After that the Catchers at the lower levels are the other interesting group that isn't getting much publicity right now, guys like Kleyder Sanchez and Carlos Sanchez might be guys to keep an eye on.

With the team additions already this year, I don't think Rondon has a place on the major league roster as it stands today, let alone if we sign Machado and/or trade for Pederson.

That "boy", huh?

This is the most accurate statement in the entire thread. Most American's don't save at all. They also don't typically get bonus money, especially in the lower brackets, so this is the one time a year that they can run into a large amount of cash in one setting. While it might not be much to many people, it is a BIG deal to a lot of lower income households.

This is the year living in Illinois is going to be a big kick in the teeth with the SALT deduction changes.