u/hello_sandwich

I added a Real Asset worth $20k that I purchased in June 2022, that has been growing at a consistent 5% interest rate. When adding this to my PL plan, it shows as being worth only $20,146 today, while in reality it has grown to just over $24k in the past four years. Am I doing something wrong when entering this asset? I entered the purchase date, purchase price, and set simple appreciation to 5%. Can anyone recreate this issue?

One of the CV joints in my Civic was on its way out so I figured why not just replace both while I'm at it. I've always had good luck with aftermarket parts from Rock Auto so I went for GSPs after hearing good things. Right after installation the car was vibrating on even the most gentle acceleration and turning (both left and right), and the drivetrain was just generally louder. I drove it for a couple days before deciding I couldn't put up with the noise and the way it drove. It felt almost like a completely different car. I ordered an OEM for the failing one and reinstalled the other original one, and the car now drives like new.

I filed a return with Rock Auto and was lucky enough to get a full refund, including shipping. I've heard some horror stories with their returns but no qualms here, and they even sent me a prepaid return label.

I'd like to think that the GSPs I got were defective, but they seemed perfectly fine upon first inspection. I've now read so many parallel stories on this that I'm convinced aftermarket CVs are just not worth the bother. I just wanted to share my experience in case it saves anyone else from having to redo their CV axles twice when trying to save a buck (or a couple hundred) with aftermarket.

Why does switching the End Date of an Income item from "End of Plan" to "Your Life Expectancy" change the chance of success? I have a measly income item ($30/mo investement to a specific brokerage) that I tested this on and switching its end date from from EoP to YLE increases the chance of success by over 2%. I would assume they represent the same thing since you plan ends when you ceases to exist. And there is no realistic way that such a small account could affect my overall plan that much. Any ideas as to what is going on here? First I thought there might be some noise between the Monte Carlo simulation runs but I was able to reproduce this result.