What are you thinking about?

[minutemancl]

14 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

I’m Ron Swanson-ing it that’s for sure.

I know it will be super steep on the learning curve portion, but the pay, benefits, and opportunities are too good to pass up on, and there are so many different avenues I can go down (contracting, logistics, security, finance, etc.) if this doesn’t end up being fulfilling.

Opportunities for promotions, I got a signing bonus, and even then I’ve already networked in the private sector with a friend who is a VP who said “call me in 3 years” who likely would pay me 50% more.

Granted, I’m going to have to balance that bump with the better life fringe benefits I am getting right now, like work from home 4 days per week, flexible hours, pension and employer match contributions, paid workout time 3 days per week, federal holidays and PTO, etc.

I'm a govie as well for another branch (don't want to dox myself too much). I worked 2 private sector engineering jobs before, and this is by far the best job I've had in every facet. Because I'm still young in my career, I actually got a sizeable pay bump for moving into a government position, which doesn't normally happen. However, my previous boss made the same move just about a year before I did and he actually took less money to come here because of everything else that goes along with it. WFH opportunities that are not just available but encouraged, the benefits are phenomenal, pension, insane PTO and sick time leave accruals, and a much, much slower pace overall. The job security is also 2nd to none, and like you mentioned, you can easily move around. Once you're in, you're in until you want out. It's the best.

If I really wanted to, I could bust my *** and get a WFH job for some Silicon Valley tech company and make twice what I'm making now, but I have 0 interest in that. I don't want to work 70 hour weeks and cut corners to compete with other large commercial tech companies. I want to spend time with my friends and family, enjoy my hobbies, and have my off time respected. This job is amazing for that. I plan on being here for 30 years then retiring before 60.

Moving out of teaching and into this may be kind of a culture shock to you, but in the best way. It took me about 6 months to get used to the pace.

Edited July 14, 2023 by minutemancl

[MWil23]

49 minutes ago, minutemancl said:

I don't want to work 70 hour weeks and cut corners to compete with other large commercial tech companies. I want to spend time with my friends and family, enjoy my hobbies, and have my off time respected. This job is amazing for that. I plan on being here for 30 years then retiring before 60.

Moving out of teaching and into this may be kind of a culture shock to you, but in the best way. It took me about 6 months to get used to the pace.

You just summed up almost verbatim everything I wanted/needed my man.

Sending emails to angry parents at 11:00 PM or from hospital waiting rooms during my daughters surgery should have been a wake up call. I’ve had an epiphany and complete shift in thinking the last couple of years.

At what point is enough really enough? Time is our most valuable gift. Why chase career success and absurd paychecks when you don’t even have time to enjoy them?

I am a man of simple tastes. I love my God, church, pursuing my wife, spending time with my kids, gardening and wood working, mid tier bourbon, and smoking meat.

A lot of my professional work was standing in the way of those things.

[Sad People]

Anyone know whats going on with the military and why a bunch of reserve and IRR people are getting called to active duty?

[TVScout]

3 hours ago, MWil23 said:

 

 

The word "everything" is NOT the same as the word "most". 

The fact  that you have masters degrees but don't understand basic definitions is further proof of how  education in the USA is less than worthless. I have never done this before but at this point of my life I don't have the time to entertain such follies. 

[theJ]

1 hour ago, TVScout said:

The word "everything" is NOT the same as the word "most". 

The fact  that you have masters degrees but don't understand basic definitions is further proof of how  education in the USA is less than worthless. I have never done this before but at this point of my life I don't have the time to entertain such follies. 

Try being less confrontational and more conversational if you want to change someone's mind or educate them about something.

[MWil23]

10 minutes ago, theJ said:

Try being less confrontational and more conversational if you want to change someone's mind or educate them about something.

I believe he’s more interested in condescension and ramming his monologue into everyone else than legitimately discussing alternative viewpoints.

If somehow I’m a microcosm/indictment of public education here in the states, so be it. From a purely worldly perspective, I’m happy with having a steady job and loving family and owning a house with a couple of acres and having enough to invest and spend without having to worry about living paycheck to paycheck or whether or not I can afford to retire or send my kids to college. And yep, I’m old enough to know all that can go away at the snap of the fingers.

Point being:

It’s not worthless or else I would not likely be in this position.

That said, I put him on ignore and will be moving on. Probably best this way. I don’t come here to be triggered by nonsense, it’s already hard enough being a Browns fan.

[minutemancl]

2 hours ago, TVScout said:

I don't have the time to entertain such follies. 

Lmao

[ramssuperbowl99]

On 7/6/2023 at 3:00 AM, ET80 said:

Let’s see how long before he “commits suicide” by shooting himself 32 times while his security detail all resign immediately…

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-tells-newspaper-he-offered-wagner-fighters-chance-keep-serving-2023-07-13/

Quote

Kommersant, one of Russia's top newspapers, published Putin's remarks to its most experienced Kremlin correspondent, Andrei Kolesnikov, which suggested the future of Prigozhin and Wagner was in doubt.

"But Wagner does not exist," Putin told Kommersant when asked if it would be preserved as a fighting unit. "There is no law on private military organisations. It just doesn't exist."

Asked about Putin's remark, the Kremlin said on Friday that there was no legal entity named Wagner and the legal status of such companies was a complicated one which needed consideration.

Putin then related details about the June 29 Kremlin meeting with 35 Wagner commanders at which he suggested several options for them to continue fighting, including that a senior Wagner figure known by his nom de guerre "Sedoi" - or "grey hair" - take over command.

Looks like we may have skipped suicides and gone straight to sovereign citizen style rhetoric. He's not going to get "murdered", he's just going to exist for a while, then not exist.

[Sugashane]

6 hours ago, theJ said:

Try being less confrontational and more conversational if you want to change someone's mind or educate them about something.

[TVScout]

22 hours ago, theJ said:

...  change someone's mind or educate them about something.

With a government employee? Surely you jest!?

Even the rookie typist for the Podunk police is impenertrable.

[Tugboat]

On 7/9/2023 at 8:14 AM, TVScout said:

Not really.

That is the core of the problem which leads to.......

Every society has its cherished myths. In the USA it is the belief that housing is a good financial investment. After people  buy houses they do everything possible to drive  the resale value up.   

NIMBY

I think you're denying a fundamental reality of the world we live in.  The biggest function of held wealth among "normal people" in North America at this point, is having managed to buy in to "own property" decades ago when prices were reasonable and achievable.

 

Those properties people bought into are worth exponentially more now.  Whether they sell, leverage that as equity to buy a bunch of other properties and rent them out to acquire even more wealth, whatever.  You can't preach "financial literacy" while being blindly ignorant to the sharp trends in the single biggest purchase most people will ever make.

 

And if you think that's me being a NIMBY, you're out to lunch and frankly, probably don't even understand what you're saying.  I'm the absolute furthest thing from it.  I'm pro-housing.  Period.  Build it in droves.  Build skyscrapers everywhere with houses in them.  Build missing middle housing.  Mid-rise condo complexes.  Turn single family homes into duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes.  Amalgamate a bunch of lots and turn it into an entire complex.  Tough to do with most zoning laws, but do it.  Do it everywhere.

But yes...NIMBYs from previous generations who bought their homes for pennies have completely ****ed the real estate market in desirable locations beyond belief by taking what they got, blocking anything else, and making it impossible for anyone else to do the same as they once did.  Then usually taking potshots at people who don't own houses in those places because they're obviously not working hard enough.

 

None of that changes the reality that all of these options are significantly more expensive than they were pre-80s.

 

That's the angst people feel today, acutely applied to one very particular issue that eats up the majority of people's actual earnings.  Everything else is continually ratcheting up as well.  But housing/rent is the factor that has exploded massively beyond wage increases and people don't like having to spend entirely all of their money on a roof over their head.  Whatever type of "housing" it is.

[Tugboat]

On 7/9/2023 at 8:28 PM, Bowler1215 said:

I need a new therapist.  Anyone use better help?  Is it any good? 

It is in fact, not better help.

 

Don't do it imo.  Just find a good actual therapist.

 

 

Curious if you don't mind discussing though, why you need a new therapist?  Change of location?  Lack of efficacy in the one you've been seeing?

[Tugboat]

On 7/10/2023 at 5:44 AM, MWil23 said:

Buying a house is one of the biggest ways a middle class person can reasonably acquire wealth over the course of their adult life.

After 15-30 years, you have a tangible asset worth over $200K (median), likely with a lot of investment growth compared to what it was purchased for.

My house was worth $313K in 2020 and is now worth over $425K 3 years later…and while that return is a major exaggeration of the historic market, it’s not unreasonable to think that growth would happen over a couple of decades.

This is exactly what it comes down to.  The single biggest purchase in the average person's life, is going to be their home.  You can buy tons of stupid Tesla cars for the price of even a tiny little 700sqft Condo.  

But that aside, real estate has been clearly, the single largest driving factor in developing individual wealth through this period.  Everything other than gold and land is volatile and unstable.  Real estate just keeps going up in value.  It's why suddenly boomers and GenX are flush with cash to spend and every company on earth wants them to spend it on them. 

There was a bubble with a bunch of real bad banking practices that burst a bubble in the states (and collapsed the global market as a consequence) on terribly built suburban wasteland homes.  But even then...it bounced back.  Now, there's no coincidence you've got zillowbots and whatever buying up anything they can get their hands on for private equity groups, so they can shift it over to the rental market.  The idea is clearly to price people out of home ownership...and force them into paying rent in perpetuity.  It's hard not to see it happening if you even glance at it briefly.

 

It's happening in literally every aspect of our lives.  Companies want us to be "monthly subscribers"...not "equity builders".  Monthly subscribers pay forever until they die.  That's more profitable.

 

It's insane for TVScout to suggest Real Estate is a bad investment.  It is fundamentally, the very best investment you can make.  As long as you're not overextending to get there.  But even then...it's still probably absolutely worth it.

 

 

On 7/10/2023 at 9:27 AM, TVScout said:

Most people would be better buying a cheaper house and put the difference into a dividend portfolio or an index fund.

 

What ******* "cheaper house" are you talking about though?

 

I'm not talking about people buying luxury McMansions.  I'm talking about people buying like a 900 square foot condo or a half a 1800 square foot duplex.  Those kinds of things have also jumped exponentially.  

 

Even just a dumb generic suburban house a million miles from nowhere, has jumped in price at a rate that massively exceeds average wage increases/income.

 

The reality is...real estate has been one of the most stable investments and the single biggest source of wealth gain for your typical Boomer/GenXer.  They bought in low, and they often bought in multiple times so they've got passive income out of the fact that rent has gone through the roof in most desirable cities across the continent.  Cities where young people might actually find a job.

 

Buying real estate in east middle nowhere, sure...that's probably a bad idea.  But that's not really what we're talking about here.

 

 

On 7/10/2023 at 10:03 AM, naptownskinsfan said:

Yeah there is a lot more that they can do to avoid student loan debt, in part or completely.  Having family who taught me early on about finances, I started working when I went to community college.  1.5 years in, I decided it wasn’t for me.  I began working full-time for the company I worked for out of high school, and I still work there today.  

I lived at home to keep an eye on my grandmother.  At 25, I totaled a car and needed a new one.  I bought a new Dodge Charger cash.  At 27, my grandmother finally wanted me to move out to get on with my life.  I bought a house at $353k putting 1/3 of it on a down payment.  It has gone up in value about 66%.  

Invest well, save from the beginning and don’t spend money on stupid things.  I realize not everyone will have the ability like me to basically stay at home for nine years after college, so stories change, but similar things can happen.  One of my former co-workers did something similar with a much smaller home and down payment around the same age for her first home, and then used the equity to upgrade a few years later.  

 

It's obviously different because Canada...but i've gone to university/college twice now, and haven't really incurred any significant debt either time.  Financial literacy is a part of it...but a part of that, is having access to people who have money and the experience they have.  But also having those fallback options to make more money yourself.  Like...a free place to live while you're trying to earn money.  Because housing is THE SINGLE BIGGEST COST in life.

I put myself through University by working hard, saving, being financially responsible.  I've been working since i was able to drive at 16.  Typical part time fare.  But once i got to the end of HS, i worked insane long sometimes 12+ hour days doing hard work building roads and stuff to put my finances in order over the summers, until i'd built up the skills and credentials to operate equipment and continued to do that so i could continue to pay my way.  I also became a union worker which was probably the best thing i've ever done and suddenly i was making twice as much for half as much of my time.

 

The second time, i got grants that basically covered the entirety of my tuition.  So the only cost was...living.  Which is expensive.  Again...the biggest cost of anything is just rent.

I bought a car almost a decade ago and have kept it running since.  It's not extravagant, it's over 20 years old.  I like it, but it's not fancy.  I haven't spent all my money on Avocado toast and Lattes.  I'm still trapped in renting, where i actually have a great agreement.  But it'd be nice to own something a little bit sometime.

 

Especially when as bolded...it might be worth 66% more sometime.  Even if i don't intend to sell it.  That's equity and that's financial power.  That's what the banks don't want you to have.

 

 

On 7/10/2023 at 12:21 PM, MWil23 said:

It depends on your goals entirely and family situation. Plus, I don’t want to live in a cheap or lousy neighborhood with lousy clientele and a lousy school system or community. I’d rather have a nice 30 year quality of life than a few extra bucks in a portfolio, which for the record, currently is why boomer are waiting to retire another few years. No thanks.

 

Yeah.  Everyone's got different ideas of how they'd like to live.  I think my are relatively humble.  I can't even really think about kids and schools tbh.  I'm not financially stable enough to have them.  But even throwing out that stuff...nobody wants to live in a lousy neighborhood...or like an hour and a half from town.  Actual homes in a place that makes sense are for millionaires, or people who are house poor.  If you don't just want to move ever further out into suburgatory...good luck.

 

On 7/10/2023 at 6:55 PM, TVScout said:

No such thing.

Other than that I am advising people to avoid buying the most expensive house they can find. I know people who buy five bedroom houses even though they have only 2 kids just because they want the biggest and most expensive house available. Those extra bedrooms are property tax deadweights. 

 

I don't know how things work in other states but in the University of California system 90% of the budget goes into staff and payroll. That might sound like a good thing but 90% of the employees never go into a class room. In fact there are more admins than there are tuition paying undergrads.

 

Nobody is buying the "most expensive house they can find" lmao.  What?  People are looking for the cheapest house they can find that fits their needs.  And the financial reality is that it has been continually more expensive for ages now...and shows no signs of stopping.  The same house that sold for $50k back in the day...is now $500k and in need of massive renovations to even bring it up to the standard it was when it was built back then.  It's insane.

Condo buildings are the same, where everything from that era needs massive repairs and condo fees are massively in excess of mortgage payments. It's an insane market that you can't even get into, without a huge pool of money to waste.

 

On 7/10/2023 at 7:48 PM, beekay414 said:

What about those of us that just decide that home ownership is something that isn't for us? I have no desire to ever own a home and never have. If I could, I'd be a nomad or drifter but financials keep me shackled to one place at a time. 

This is such a weird mentality to me.  I get not wanting to be tethered down or whatever, but you sound like a rental company propaganda bot when you say stuff like that.  I get the advantages of renting, if something breaks it ain't your problem.  But in a more general financial sense...you're just paying money every single month into literally nothing.  When you walk away, you have nothing.

 

On 7/11/2023 at 5:45 AM, MWil23 said:

If we sent our kids to the local private school, it’s literally $10K a year per kid for elementary, $12K for middle and HS. I’ve got 3 kids.

So, that’s $60K per kid for elementary ($180K) and $84K per kid for middle and HS ($232K).

You are talking $312K for just schooling BEFORE the likelihood of college (and beyond).

My initial all in mortgage was $313K.

If you assume just having it for school with a sunk cost, it’s almost a literal break even point and I’d still need to find a place to rent for a family of 5.

That is just dollars and cents not even factoring in appreciation of a tangible asset, community and values, safety and security, drive time, proximity to work, etc.

So yeah, I’m taking that just basic math wise.

These numbers made me sad.  As a Canadian, i fear this is where we're ultimately headed.  But please no.

We already sorta have this, but it's only for the ultra wealthy ****hats who are very connected.

 

On 7/12/2023 at 8:59 AM, TVScout said:

What irony? That the author was a college professor who blew the whistle on the racket that is education in the USA?

Why not? Are you the font of all knowledge and wisdom?

Trade school teaches none of that. Trade schools exist to prevent the economy from collapsing. All prep schools do is offer a few more AP classes. 

 

You are a former teacher. Why did you leave?

 

Frankly, i do not think that you know what Trade School even is.

"it keeps the economy from collapsing".

 

Well yeah, because trade schools and polytechnical institutes form the backbone of what makes everything else in society work.

 

On 7/13/2023 at 6:30 AM, naptownskinsfan said:

People who I went to high school with spent money on worthless degrees, or attempting to get one, and ended up going into a trade or another field where their degree means nothing.  I know a dude who spent SIX years at WVU partying it up, and he sells cars/Harleys.  Has made a decent living for himself, but he didn’t need to go to college to do that.  

I am also seeing an increased number of job openings asking for degrees OR experience, which young adults can get by working out of high school.   Guess what the bonus to working is?  You’re already making money, and don’t have the debt to pay off.  

 

This is an undeniable problem in society right now.  It's a generation who went to university, got their degrees and got spit out into a world that really didn't need them.  

 

However...there are benefits to doing the whole "college thing" that are hard to classify unless you've done it.  It's about building life experiences.  Which a lot of people squander by going to the closest college they can find and calling it good.  But the experience of moving entirely across the continent was in and of itself, a hugely valuable life experience for me.  Being thrust into a world where you're interacting with different cultures and different perspectives is part of it.  The whole point of "college" at the undergrad level isn't to make you skilled at any particular thing...it's to give you the tools to become skilled at any particular thing.

Personally...i got very bored of that adaptability, because that's me.  But a lot of people are plenty happy to apply their skills to various bureaucratic and administrative roles.

 

Trade school on the other hand...is specifically designed to make you very skilled at one particular thing.  And i genuinely believe there should be more emphasis on this for people coming out of high school.  At least, when i came out...it wasn't even really proposed to me as an option.  Though many of my very direct trade-centric friends doing welding and such ended up in that field anyway.

 

On 7/14/2023 at 7:16 AM, MWil23 said:

You just summed up almost verbatim everything I wanted/needed my man.

Sending emails to angry parents at 11:00 PM or from hospital waiting rooms during my daughters surgery should have been a wake up call. I’ve had an epiphany and complete shift in thinking the last couple of years.

At what point is enough really enough? Time is our most valuable gift. Why chase career success and absurd paychecks when you don’t even have time to enjoy them?

I am a man of simple tastes. I love my God, church, pursuing my wife, spending time with my kids, gardening and wood working, mid tier bourbon, and smoking meat.

A lot of my professional work was standing in the way of those things.

Is the bolded a country song?  Yes/No?

[candyman93]

Going to be interesting in 30-40 years if a show captures the era we’re in now similar to how mad men did the 60’s.

 

Just an all time great show.

[ramssuperbowl99]

54 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

On 7/10/2023 at 8:48 PM, beekay414 said:

What about those of us that just decide that home ownership is something that isn't for us? I have no desire to ever own a home and never have. If I could, I'd be a nomad or drifter but financials keep me shackled to one place at a time. 

This is such a weird mentality to me.  I get not wanting to be tethered down or whatever, but you sound like a rental company propaganda bot when you say stuff like that.  I get the advantages of renting, if something breaks it ain't your problem.  But in a more general financial sense...you're just paying money every single month into literally nothing.  When you walk away, you have nothing.

Have you sincerely explored buying a house?

Between principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and HOA fees (if applicable), I'd be looking at around $3k/month for an average mortgage. My rent is half that. Over a 30 year mortgage, if I invest $1500/month savings at 5%, I've got $1.2MM.

That doesn't include the increase in square footage that generally comes with the transition from renting to owning leading to higher bills, expenses from yard/extended property care, and maintenance, so I'm underestimating the housing costs. It also doesn't include investment gains from the downpayment or PMI, so either increase the monthly or take the better part of $100k out of the market on top of all that.

Renting is perpetually cheaper for some people because a house comes with a bunch of expensive **** that not everybody needs. Wanting to rent forever doesn't make someone a "company propaganda bot". It means they have a lifestyle where a house doesn't add significantly relative to the up front expense.

Edited July 16, 2023 by ramssuperbowl99