@meep Thanks for sharing the details.
No, I donât want it to burn. That would be sad. 
Not sure what kind of timeframe youâre looking at. But they have (usually short) cruises to nowhere. And in the spring & fall there are repositioning cruises that tend to be long with not many stops. Like when they move the cruise ships from Alaska to Hawaii or Australia to Mexico or whatever.
Youâll get a higher class of fellow passengers with a longer cruise which reduces the likelihood of super obnoxious / inconsiderate neighbors.
Surviving spouse gets benefits until the youngest kid turns 16.
Kids each get benefits until they are 18. Technically these benefits go to the kids. But of course you can then have the kids pay for stuff you might not ordinarily have kids pay for, such as paying for their own piano lessons and basketball camp and even having them pay the electric and/or Netflix bill. As long as surviving spouse is providing at least 50% of the kidâs support (including fair market rental cost for the room the kid is living in) then surviving spouse can continue to claim kid as a dependent on income taxes.
Benefit for the spouse and each kid is the same. They get the same annual inflation adjustment as other Social Security benefits.
There is a maximum family benefit formula that I havenât figured out yet. It seems to vary from 1.5 - 4x the benefit for any one of them. The benefit for one person will usually be 75% of the benefit calculated using the bend points and the most recent annual income up to the cap. But there are several different ways to figure the benefit and they go with the most advantageous one.
If the family hits the maximum then each personâs benefit is lowered. So as the older kids age out, the benefits to the younger kids and possibly the surviving spouse will increase by more than just inflation.
Benefits are subject to the same taxation rules as all other Social Security benefits. 0-85% is taxable as ordinary income, depending on how much other income you have.
Other income can also reduce the actual benefit. It may not be worthwhile for the surviving spouse to earn more than around $20K as that will cut into surviving spouseâs benefit.
Finally joined the modern era and got a doorbell camera as well as cameras for all entry points.
I donât feel unsafe in my neighborhood, but we get a decent amount of car break-ins and weird people creeping around. I figure since everyone else nearby has a doorbell camera, our home was becoming more and more of a target as long as we didnât have one.
Anyway itâs neat. Lots of potential for creeping on my own family and neighbors.
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Ive been delaying setting up a monitoring system because I want something self hosted and hardwired.
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What did you end up with? Iâve been considering it but have done very little research.
I didnât do a ton of research beyond asking my friends what they have. I got Ring. I just need a couple cameras I can get notifications for on my phone, and it fits the bill.
One of my friends has Vivint, but she has a complete security system including cameras inside her home. Hers was professionally installed and she pays for 24/7 monitoring. We have different risks and concerns, so thatâs not what I went with, but sheâs really happy with hers.
As long as the deceased spouse has recent work history and has paid into Social Security.
When my wife died, she had been a stay-at-home mom for 13 years (because actuary), so no "official work history for the last 10 years on which to base benefits. So we got squadoosh. Helped that there was a life insurance policy which paid out enough for me to take time off work, but nothing ongoing.
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Yes, true, good point. There do need to be work earnings in the last 10 years.
Well, you should tell that doctor to stick that colonoscope where the sun donât shine!
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A doorbell camera wonât help me at all wrt car breakins bc you canât see the driveway from the front door.
We also have some general outdoor cameras for the side and back of our house.
But cameras wonât do much wrt car break ins anyway, unless you recognize the person on the video already. Car break ins rarely get solved and arenât prioritized by the local police here.
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Mark Rober is on this. There will be a solution soon.
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WowâŚI havenât had the bsod in a long time.
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I hearted this post because I feel bad for the other family and because itâs underscores the unrealized costs of the wildfires, but then I think this could be taken as âI like the fact all those cows are deadâ which is pretty morbid, unless someone had a really bad experience with cows once - in which case, they might have good reason to like there being a bunch of dead cattle.
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Our co-op student just liked my response to her question. This was on our internal IM software.
Kids these days.
I see a like as âI like this commentâ but I expect theyâre more just indicating âroger. over and outâ.
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Iâm really good at predicting who likes RoyWallyâs posts. 
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There are so many possible interpretations, particularly when thereâs limited âlike responseâ options (like hearts here).
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