u/throw_away_reddt

I am 48 right now and retirement assets are tied up as follows. Total is approx $2.1M. No job security. Whats the best way to move them to a place where I can access without penalties? The uncertainty is when to access. Not sure if i would lose job now, in one year, in two years, three years, four years or five years and i want to be prepared. Outside of this I also have 1 year worth of living expenses saved up in a liquid Marcus account. Also is there a way to consolidate IRAs or solo 401ks?

Brokerage account- $724k

IRA - $1.1M

SEP IRA - $19k

Roth IRA - $190k

Roth self employed 401k - $10k

Self employed 401k - $60k

I think it is important to also add my expenses details. My wife works and brings about $70k per year. She is full time employed. I am a contractor and bring in about $240k a year. The main concern is my job loss and being unable to get hired. Expenses are currently about $8k to $9k per month. With two kids 12 and 9, I expect it and college spending to continue until they are 21. I have approximately $217k in a 529 plan that I am not adding more into. I have also not included wife's 401k or IRA which are around $70k.

Hey folks - will be my first time doing footings for a deck. I have about 12 footings i need to do. Some are 12 inches and some are 18 inches. I will be working alone. Been seeing a lot of YouTube videos and am scared about the following items- how to carry 80lb pound of bags to the backyard when i have 12 footers and each at 12 or 18 inch diameter and going 40 inches into the ground, concrete mixers mixing it too soupy, ability to handle a concrete mixer alone and move between holes, ability to tilt the heavy machine and pour into holes directly, possibility of leaving concrete in the mixer and it drying up, spills of concrete on the ground around the hole and how to clean it up etc, what to do to mixer when I transport concrete to the holes as in do I leave it switched off and risk drying and concrete sticking to walls or let it run empty or add more concrete and let it mix etc.

Basically all fears come down to doing this alone and also the inability to decide between renting a continuous pour mixer like mud mixer vs a normal concrete mixer. Also not sure if sonotube needs to go down to the floor or I could just keep it the last 12 Inches or so wirh 6 inches sticking above ground.

Can someone help me on these topics?

I live in NJ. Put up an addition on the home 2 years back for 500 sqft, went through permit process and taxes have gone up by $1200 an year. Adding an above ground pool and although taxes won't go up, the construction office charged me $412. I am now thinking of building a pool deck. It will not be attached to the house. I called the township and they said a permit is needed even if its not attached. I am doing this as a DIY build. If I apply for a permit, there will be a permit fee as well as tax impact. NJ is already high in taxes. What happens if I dont get a permit?

If I do decide to do a permit, how difficult is to do one as a homeowner? I am planning this as a DIY build.

In the process of designing my deck and I was talking to someone today who told me that there is another option called diamond piers. I saw the video and seems simpler than the usual style. Has anyone used this?

Hello Folks- I am a home owner who likes DIY projects. I am getting an above ground pool in my backyard. After the pool is done I want a deck to be built. A retired framer in Canada who has helped me before is helping me with this project by providing guidance. I am in NJ where deck footers are supposed to go 36 inches down. I have a couple of questions.

1. I used the IRC codes tables to look up the footing size. I calculated the tributary area to look up the footing size. It came to about 22 inches. So I think we need to increase the number of footings to come to a 16 inch tributary area. I believe it needs to be 72 sq ft or lesser per footing to be able to use a 16 inch round footing. Am I thinking about this the right direction?

2. I was doing a build vs buy analysis on drilling the holes and then pouring concrete and talking to a number of contractors. The IRC code shows a wide base and a narrow pier for these footings. So for instance if I dig a 16 inch hole i would build a concrete footer at the bottom which is about 6-8 inches thick and 16 inches in diameter and a sono tube on top which is 10 or 12 inches. However all contractors I talked to just dig the hole 16 inches and fill it up with concrete. They dont do a wide base and a narrow pier. Is this ok? The lowest cost I got was $310 per hole. Should I hire this out or rent equipment to do this myself? My concern is on the top when I want to put the post cap, should I do it while concrete is setting or after? My concern with doing it while the concrete is setting is what do I do if there is adjustment needed later? My mentor says to do it with the wide base and narrower pier since it will also save material cost but wouldnt these top to bottom same size footings done by contractors be a bit more safe and stable if I go off the mark on drilling a bit?

3. None of the contractors I talked to go below 36 inches. However my understanding is that is the frost line and its recommended to go a few inches below. Is it ok to stop at 36 inches?

4. I understand skid steer is preferable to do the auger holes. However I am not able to readily find one for rent. However home depot provides a towable auger. The videos for that looks a bit difficult to use and my worry is what happens if I go off center. Is this still a good equipment to rent or do I need to get a skid steer?