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My spousal equivalent (SE) had a job promotion opportunity in 2021 that would require driving to work. A focus of our family decisions has been to have a pretty centralized area for daily activities (work, school, activities, residence, groceries, etc) for convenience, community ties, and cost so the need for a dedicated car for work transport was a pretty big factor in our decision on the job opportunity.

SE decided to take the opportunity and consequently we ended up buying a 2nd vehicle. We purchased a 2019 Hyundai Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid from Carvana for $23,990 in early 2022. This vehicle purchase was the absolute best car purchase experience of my life and I would highly recommend checking out Carvana. I’m not really big into car finishes and features; mostly looking for good value and convenience so that might vary for others. I think it took about 15 minutes start to finish to select, purchase (including financing, registration, etc.) this vehicle. 10 days later I picked it up (about 10 minutes total, mostly for signing documents) and drove it home.

About a year after making this purchase SE got the opportunity to transfer back to a closer work location. Making the move was a no-brainer but we kept the vehicle, mostly because of potential uses for it – who knows when a friend might borrow, or a kid is sick, or the adults in the house just want to do something at the same time in different places. So we kept the second car until after being out of town for a month, and then not using the car for another month after returning we considered getting rid of it.

The anchoring effect was strong – we already had the car so moving from the current default took effort. But we decided to go ahead (and we’ll probably purchase another second vehicle at some point in the future, but who knows?).

How much did this modestly priced vehicle cost us over our ownership period? Approximately $667.46 per month. Probably on the low side, but I’m trying to be conservative to not inflate the actual numbers – I had to estimate for oil changes, repairs, gasoline, as we don’t track tightly.

Median household income in San Diego is $89,457 so to put in perspective, this sort of modestly priced used car would cost about 9% of the median household pre-tax income here in SD.

We sold the car on Carvana and again the experience was great – quick, simple, and easy. I’d estimate we took about a 15% discount to what we might have achieved trying to sell the car ourselves on Craigslist or other sites. We sold the car for $16,940 in September 2023, about 18 months after purchasing it.

Owning a car (or 2 or 5) varies between households, but the cost is pretty significant for the average household. Wanted to share our recent vehicle purchase and sale info.

I’m a big fan of Lenore Skenazy and her Free Range Kids / Let Grow efforts to give our children more freedom. It’s a struggle as a parent to weigh danger vs. freedom and widespread fear-mongering about child abductions and such make the decisions more emotionally charged, and less reality-based.

We’re fortunate to live quite close to our local public schools and walk the kids each day. Letting them walk by themselves is a classic and obvious step toward independence and self-reliance. However, our school doesn’t have a stated policy about coming and going for the students alone and during Covid moved toward a default parent check-out for each child that had been much looser in the past.

I noticed another family nearby that had their children walking to and from school alone each day and asked how they arranged with the school and teacher. They had simply written a note and provided it to the teachers, with a duplicate copy in each book bag in case needed.

A lovely, and simple, way to clearly indicate parental OK. Awesome. I followed their lead and below is the note that I now use. I wanted to share here in case it’s helpful to other parents locally, or elsewhere, that would like to give their kids the ability and authorization to ambulate solo.

Date: XXXX

I, John Anderson, and my wife, XXXX Anderson, give our son, XXXX Anderson, permission to walk to and from school, be admitted and dismissed from school, and in general move about the neighborhood of his own volition.  Thank you for your support of developing independence, responsibility, and confidence in our youth.

If additional permission or information is needed please advise.

Thank you,

John Anderson

Email : | Phone :

Another bonus at our school is the open playground and field after school – easier to stay and play when kid’s are on their own schedule.

Montreal – half Canada (hella nice) and half France (hella chic). Amazing old town buildings, a fantastically clean Metro, and lots of great little restaurants. (I didn’t get to try to many of said restaurants with 4 kids on the visit but it’s all good.)

Highlights:

• Jean Talon Market – our Airbnb was really close to this market (and the Metro stop of same name). Very cool daily market with tons of produce, stands with processed foods like salami, pickles, etc.
• Airbnb – we stayed in a second floor apartment in a three story building. It had an enormous patio, about 625 square feet, and 3 bedrooms. I love Airbnb when we travel as hotels are pretty darn difficult for a big family – although we miss having swimming pools, breakfast, etc.
• Metro – so clean, so fast, and great pricing. A 3 day pass was about $21 and up to 4 children were free with an adult. I really like family / kid friendly policies like this. Most of the Metro stops did not have elevators and often had many steps which was a challenge for strollers and toddlers and I’m sure would make a challenge for handicapped people. The Metro does not go to the airport, but they have a frequent bus connection that worked well for us, about half the distance on the freeway was in a bus / taxi only lane which is a great idea for other places like San Diego to utilize.
• Lachine Canal / bicycles – Bicycles are awesome and we got to rent for a day and ride about 20 miles on the Lachine Canal. Beautiful weather and water views of the canal on the way out, and the St Lawrence River on the way back. Massive amounts of park space along the way with playgrounds, trees and grass, sculptures, and more. Highly recommended. (We missed the Verdun public beach which would have been great and had tons of people enjoying the water.)
• Summertime – we don’t get a lot of weather changes in San Diego but being in an area with lots of water, lots of trees, and long summer days was great. Long days were also amazing in Minnesota, for a farm visit after Montreal.

I had a chance to take a trip to Iceland this summer with my significant other (SE) and another couple (AC). I knew little about the country beforehand, and know not much more now other than an idea of the climate and topography.

We spent a few days in the capital city, Reykjavik, which houses approximately 2/3 of the country’s population – 220K out of 330K. Reykjavik central area was quite lively – lots of restaurants, shops, and such. Bakeries were top notch for sure. Coffee across the country was very good but as across Europe little in the way of drip coffee.

We took a clockwise trip around the island from Reykjavik to Akureyri then to Seydisfjordur, Hofn, and Vik. We visited in July and I was surprised how green the hills and plains were. A lot of hot springs / geothermal activity across the island which was very cool. From the Ring Road (Road 1) much of the view was flat / water to the coast and mountainous to the center area.

I was surprised at the low cost to get to Iceland – about $450 round trip from Minneapolis. It was comparable in cost for hotels, food, drink, etc. to Western Europe – about the same as a major U.S. metro or a bit higher than U.S. average.

We drove around the island (approx. 4 hours drive per day) and did a variety of hot springs and pools, short hikes, vista points, and dinner + beerskis at stops along the way. We had little in the way of rain and temperatures were around 60 degrees F high and 43 degrees F low. Everyone had their windows open / cracked the entire time across the island. Maybe due to geothermal heating? Not sure.

Various photos I enjoyed follow.

San Diego schools are closed for the end of 2021, so I’m taking our children to Mission Trails Regional Park to do the 5 Peak Challenge next week. Although the official challenge – including a printed certificate and official pin – ended 6/26/2020 the peaks, trails, and park remain open. The official website has some great stories of the various individuals and groups that did the 5 Peak Challenge.

To complete the 5 Peak Challenge with kids, I’m breaking it up into 3 separate sections, each with a different starting point. If you are looking to get out of the house next week and would like to join – with or without kids – please do! Following is the game plan and all are welcome to join.

• General Notes
  • Each day we’ll start hiking at 8:45 AM, arrive around 8:30 AM
  • Bring water, snacks, hiking shoes, etc.
  • Check out the approximate hike lengths, times, and elevation gains below
• Monday, 12/20/2021 – North Fortuna and South Fortuna
  • Starting Point: Portobelo Entrance (West Side of MTRP, just south of 52)
  • Hike details: 5.5 miles, 1,204 feet of elevation gain

• Tuesday, 12/21/2021 – Cowles Mountain and Pyles Peak
  • Starting point: Cowles Mountain Trailhead (7001 Golfcrest Drive)
  • Hike details: 5.7 miles, 1,736 feet of elevation gain

• Wednesday, 12/22/2021 – Kwaay Paay
  • Starting point: Parking lot on Father Junipero Serra Trail near Old Mission Dam
  • Hike details: 3.0 miles, 892 feet of elevation gain

Hope to see you and if not, enjoy the Winter Break!

Over the years I’ve been asked a number of times about how to set up and operate an LLC. This is typically in regard to “running a business” and coming from someone that is buying an investment property or in a similar situation. This post is a quick guide to getting an LLC set up (and as the disclaimer at bottom notes, not legal, business, or tax advice).

After completing a renovation, consider protecting your investment with an entity like an LLC.

First – why create an LLC? Primarily for liability protection. You do not need an LLC to conduct business. You can operate a business as a sole proprietor without any legal form or as a partnership (formal or informal) or any other entity structure. An LLC provides liability protection if a suit or claim impacts the assets that the LLC holds. In the case of real estate this would typically mean the LLC holds the title to the property, and any debts, and if the property had a loss or claim the LLC entity would help to protect the other assets of the LLC owner(s). The loss or claim could be a discrimination suit, property damage that exceeds insurance coverage, or a personal injury on the property. In addition to creating an LLC there are a variety of other tools you can use to reduce liability exposure, which I call the “The Protection Pyramid“.

If you do want to create an LLC the steps to do so are pretty straight-forward, but can be a bit intimidating if you aren’t already familiar with the registration and creation processes. An attorney can be a great help if you don’t want to do the paperwork yourself and will typically run in the range of $500 – $2,000 in my experience.

If you want to create an LLC yourself the basic steps are:

1. State registration – An LLC is created at the state level, by filing the formation documents with the Secretary of State. You’ll need to complete an LLC Operating Agreement and/or Articles of Organization to create the LLC, which are then provided to the state. You can hire an attorney to create these documents, use an online provider like LegalZoom, or download a free template like this one. I would generally opt for the attorney option, at least for your first LLC to ensure it’s done properly. The state will then provide you with a state ID number and the LLC is officially created. There will typically be a small fee to register, and an annual form and filing fee for future years. (For an example, here is the Nevada website to register a new LLC.)
2. Federal registration – After creating the LLC at the state level you will want to register with the IRS to get a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN). You can do this online on the IRS website. This process is free.
3. Bank account – For any business entity like an LLC make sure to keep business transactions separate from personal transactions. This goes for any income and any expenses. It will also make it easier to report the business activity at tax time. You can set up this account at any bank but should consider monthly fees, ATM access, and other banking offerings you may want. I also highly recommend a business credit card so you can conveniently make purchases in addition to the checking account. I personally like the Capital One Spark Business Card which offers 2% cash back on all purchases. Credit cards also offer better fraud protection than bank accounts, and reward programs like cash or travel miles.
4. Financial software – This is not a required step, but one I highly recommend. Financial software organizes all the transactions for the business more easily and can create an income statement, balance sheet, or other reports. I use Quickbooks but you can also use NetSuite, Freshbooks, or a variety of other options. Whichever you pick, having online access and bank account syncing are critical tools to consider.

If you are the sole owner of the LLC you will include the business activity directly on your personal tax return each year and not likely have additional income tax filings required. If you have more than one owner you will likely need to file an annual income tax return on Form 1065 for Federal purposes and a state specific LLC return as well. The LLC does not pay income taxes, but will provide a Schedule K-1 to each LLC owner with their share of the business activity, which is incorporated into their individual tax return (Form 1040).

I hope this quick summary of the process to create an LLC is helpful to you. An LLC can be a great tool to give yourself additional liability protection at fairly low annual cost.

An LLC can help avoid the prick of claims on your assets. Ouch!

Note: The content of this post is for informational and discussion purposes and is not financial or tax advice. Consult with an advisor before relying on this or any information.