u/tinkerjreddit

I want some inputs about when we should consider buying a second vehicle. Me and my spouse both work from home. We are a 5 member family with one teenager and two toddlers. Right now we have a single car that I use to go for grocery shopping, taking my toddlers to preschool and taking the teenager to afterschool classes (all 5 weekdays). By the time our toddlers become old enough to enroll in after school classes (probably 2 years down the line), It will be hard for me to manage everything with one car. I am thinking I should start saving for a second car (from used car market with cash obviously). I was hoping to get something like a plugin hybrid like Prius but I welcome suggestions for other models. Extra insurance is going to put a dent on my already strained expenses. I have around $13,000 saved in anticipation for this expense. But before I make this jump, curious to know if there are other families who are managing afterschool activities for 2 or more children with just one car and how are you doing it.

23 years back when I started in mainframe at my first job, lot of my friends said Mainframe is dying and won't be around after 5 years. Most of those friends who were in java, .net etc lost their jobs multiple time and had to hunt for other jobs multiple times in their career. But luckily I was able to job switch on my own terms and job was pretty much stable all through out these 23 years. Even now I get tons of emails on new job opportunities in Mainframe. I got opportunities to work as manager and QA but I keep coming back to work as developer as that is what gives me most joy.

Looking back, I think it was a good decision to stay put. Eager to know what your story is. Only gripe about Mainframe is that I haven't seen many jobs that offer over $150,000 in mainframe where as in Java and .NET its quite common to get above $200,000 for experienced developers.

I am 45 and spouse is 43. Does delaying taking term life insurance (outside work) mean we will end up paying more premium? We both have life insurance at work. But during a recent social gathering when this discussion came up, all of our friends suggested its best to have a term insurance outside work. If we take a 20 year term insurance it will only cover us till 65. But if we delay till 50, it will cover us till 70.

The threat on digital safety is real. I have kids of different ages. When they interact with iPad or Console games and when they are not at home interacting with electronic devices , how do you enable them to be safe from predators, scammers, hackers etc. What are you doing that has had a positive impact in keeping your and your young ones digital life safe?