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Sokani posted:I recently found out after talking to his drug dealer (another big drain on his account) that he's spent ~2k on the phone game Clash of Clans. It boggles my mind how he can complain about anything when his priorities are so backwards. Any attempt to get him to not throw his money in a pile and burn it is met with 'I spend my money on things I want', and suggesting that maybe he'd enjoy his own place more than phone pixels is met with an angry stare. There's just no helping some people. I spend $4.99 a month for SongPop VIP. It's how I stay entertained on the train, and I get to skip all the ads. I think I may have dropped $20 total into Cityville when I played that. I feel slightly bad about those purchases. But 2K on a phone game?!?! That's almost a months salary after taxes for me. If he stole money from his friends for that, that's just about the saddest story in the thread.
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Apr 28, 2014 17:24
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I think I read somewhere criticizing Clash of Clans for nerfing purchased items indirectly by releasing bigger and better store items all the time. So spending $2k is probably just keeping up on the treadmill of always having the best and nicest pretend castle or something in a phone game. I can't decide if that is more or less pathetic than a World of Warcraft player who has been playing since launch spending $2,000 on expansions and subscriptions to date.
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Apr 28, 2014 18:49
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canyoneer posted:I think I read somewhere criticizing Clash of Clans for nerfing purchased items indirectly by releasing bigger and better store items all the time. It's called power creep and will happen in every game like this.
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Apr 28, 2014 18:52
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canyoneer posted:I think I read somewhere criticizing Clash of Clans for nerfing purchased items indirectly by releasing bigger and better store items all the time. To be fair, WoW has been around a lot longer than whatever phone game, some of those people probably have like, 5000-10000 hours played, which makes $2000 pretty cheap. Thus, they are not bad with money, and instead are bad with time/life, which is much more scarce really.
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Apr 28, 2014 18:52
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canyoneer posted:So spending $2k is probably just keeping up on the treadmill of always having the best and nicest pretend castle or something in a phone game. I can't decide if that is more or less pathetic than a World of Warcraft player who has been playing since launch spending $2,000 on expansions and subscriptions to date. Definitely more pathetic. Way, way more pathetic. I don't even play WoW but I can totally understand the value in the monthly subscription and expansions, especially if its money you'd be spending on buying other video games anyway. Also, $2000 stretched out over 10 years (and probably thousands of hours of playtime) is worlds different than $2000 on in-game items in one month.
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Apr 28, 2014 18:55
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It seems that we are all a little more lenient on games spending since, as goons, most of us play games pretty regularly. It's definitely not being good with money, but I personally have spent over $500 in the past 6 months on Rocksmith and guitars. However, the skills learned and equipment have use outside of the game world. That's how I justify it to myself, anyways. We all have our hobbies that we waste money on. As long as someone is taking care of their health and their personal relationships, I think it's OK to have a line item on the budget for their hobby.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:00
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If you spend a lot of hours playing video games they can be really cheap ($/hr) entertainment compared to a lot of other entertainment and hobbies. Of course spending shitloads of money on virtual items and other poo poo like that is a quick way to make you bad with money. A WoW subscription or buying a video game or two a month is a pretty small expenditure if your financial affairs are in order. But like the post above said, spending tons of hours playing video games to the detriment of other factors in your life is more of a bad with time/life thing. And I don't know about you guys, but personal free time is perhaps my most precious and scarce resource.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:04
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VideoTapir posted:Read the post to which I was replying, what I actually said, and the articles you posted. Those are about bilingual homes. The post was about language classes, I presume a couple hours per week. Unless the parents are really loving disciplined about keeping it up at home it isn't going to matter.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:29
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Even giving video games as a valid expense, this is still something exceptional. Wikipedia says Clash of Clans was released in August 2012 for iOS and Sept. 2013 for android. So it's been around for 20 months at the longest. He's averaging AT LEAST $100 per month on video games. If he has an android, it's more like $250 per month
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Apr 28, 2014 19:34
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No Wave posted:No - our ability to hear/learn to hear certain sounds disappears after a fairly young age. You'll most likely keep some ability to distinguish sounds which would be impossible to learn to differentiate otherwise. This is the case for the Korean pp sound. Some of the Norwegian vowels sound alike to me.
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Apr 28, 2014 20:05
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You folks are getting derailed!!!!!
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Apr 28, 2014 20:31
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Folly posted:Even giving video games as a valid expense, this is still something exceptional. None of this has anything to do with being "bad with money". Guinness posted:If you spend a lot of hours playing video games they can be really cheap ($/hr) entertainment compared to a lot of other entertainment and hobbies. Of course spending shitloads of money on virtual items and other poo poo like that is a quick way to make you bad with money. Not really, no. This isn't inherently "bad with money" either. If it's disposable income and within your means, even literally burning money would not be "bad with money".
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Apr 29, 2014 01:51
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In the aforementioned case, though, it is, as he's spending money on this instead of on other things that he acknowledges that he needs or wants. Now, moving into an apartment requires enough money in one lump sum that it may not even seem attainable in the near term. Gas for his car probably doesn't; but he doesn't need to buy or isn't at the location to buy gas all the time. Crap in his game, though, is going to be in small increments, and is available to purchase all the time.
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Apr 29, 2014 01:57
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VideoTapir posted:In the aforementioned case, though, it is, as he's spending money on this instead of on other things that he acknowledges that he needs or wants. Yeah that is definitely bad then. It's just some people in this thread seem to think that any way of spending money they don't approve of or that they wouldn't themselves is being bad with money.
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Apr 29, 2014 02:03
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A friend of mine I've noticed has been putting up "advert" posts on random phillipines facebook sites with large audiences. Turns out, after talking to him, he's signed into USANA Health Sciences. A MLM with an average income of $617 and a rate of failure to profit of 88%. He's of course, convinced its because those people "look at it the wrong way." A choice quote from him just now; quote:"Usana health sciences - look it up online - there's a lovely watchdog blog that I read before I signed up - I then did a lot of research by speaking to people in the business and heard it from the horses mouth of people actually making money from it and working it and treating it as a business" I wish him great luck in his endeavor, and I hope he gives up before he fucks his life up.
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Apr 29, 2014 02:08
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Earlier in this topic I posted about how my dad has always hopped from one fixer up house or business to another, always selling it before it actually becomes successful or profitable, and thus never reaping the benefits of the thing he improved Well, I spoke to him over the weekend and learned that he's doing major renovations on his new health food store in Virginia in order to sell it. Nothing new there, only this time he's apparently going to retire after he sells it He's 58, his wife is 60. Maybe this would be a realistic option if he had a nice nest egg, but he also revealed another horrifying fact: they have nothing saved up for retirement. At all. The proceeds from this one sale will be their entire savings going forward I can't even wrap my head around this. We're not talking Whole Foods here - his store is maybe 500sqft and is in Abingdon, VA, which is a town of 8000 people. I can't speculate how much it's worth, but there's no way that it's enough to retire off of I'm legit terrified for him. If they retire, and then run out of money...uh...what happens then?
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May 3, 2014 05:11
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SirPenguin posted:Earlier in this topic I posted about how my dad has always hopped from one fixer up house or business to another, always selling it before it actually becomes successful or profitable, and thus never reaping the benefits of the thing he improved I guess it completely depends on what his take home amount will be after the sale, but they're not too far out from SS benefits, maybe that's what they're banking on?
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May 3, 2014 05:14
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Spiteski posted:A friend of mine I've noticed has been putting up "advert" posts on random phillipines facebook sites with large audiences. Turns out, after talking to him, he's signed into USANA Health Sciences. A MLM with an average income of $617 and a rate of failure to profit of 88%. He's of course, convinced its because those people "look at it the wrong way. I have a fair number of these companies as customers, including USANA, and as much as they most definitely are MLM bullshit they're all seeing heavy growth in asia right now. If he got in early enough he may be doing pretty well. I don't know about the Philippines but I know they prayed pretty hard on the close knit family structures in Japan and now China. These are markets that these companies weren't in before and from talking to them, don't have local competition. One of USANA's competitors, Pharmanex/NuSkin just bought 2 square blocks of downtown Provo UT, knocked down all the old buildings and built an absolutely massive new building that looks more like what you would expect from a new finance company. It includes a wall of names of people who have made over $2M in commission that is mostly filled with names from Asian countries. I'm not defending the practices of these businesses but if he got in early enough he could very well make some serious cash. More than likely though, you're right; he's late to the game and just one of the suckers helping to pay USANA's mortgage.
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May 3, 2014 12:17
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Holy poo poo you just reminded me about my Korean ex, who was obsessed with NuSkin poo poo for a few months and was considering getting into selling it despite my telling her it was a scam. I met a few other MLM types looking for prospects when I was there, too. I read something like 20 percent of Koreans are involved with MLMs. UGH. There are things I like about that country, but MAN there is so much horrible poo poo about it.
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May 3, 2014 15:48
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A friend of mine just bought a new car. A bit of history: He's been working massive overtime for the past ~4 years. - At one point in time the company was shutting down every other week because of lack of work - There are rumors that the factory is going to shut down again (It's been bought out 3 times already). He already has 2 cars. Car #1 is a 05 Dodge Ram truck that he "wanted" about two years ago. The wife let him get it "For his birthday/christmas/father's day/Etc". Car #2 is a 13 Chevy Malibu that is massively underwater because they had to roll a ~6k payment from an old car that threw a rod on them. - They owed ~5k because instead of spending their tax refund check on paying off the other car, they bought the wood and built a porch (Which looks like poo poo IMO). So they've owed money on the truck since they've owned it. They've been talking for the past year or two about how much he hates his job (70 hour workweeks will do that to you) and he wants to move to another close by town and how he can get another job working maintenance making the same amount of money. So they do the smart thing. She pays forward on the truck, and this year's tax check actually went to pay the truck off. I guess they learned their lesson. Until they went out and immediately spent 22.5k on a new (ALMOST BRAND NEW) Dodge Challenger. Why? He wanted one after he drove someone else's. They did not sell the truck to help bring the price down. Then they complained about the taxes from having to bring it in from another state. But it's okay. If the factory shuts down, he'll just go and bounce and get another job somewhere else making the same money. And get overtime too!
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May 3, 2014 16:04
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Gothmog1065 posted:- They owed ~5k because instead of spending their tax refund check on paying off the other car, they bought the wood and built a porch (Which looks like poo poo IMO). Did they build the porch or pay someone to do it? Because 5k would buy a lot of wood.
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May 3, 2014 16:08
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VideoTapir posted:Did they build the porch or pay someone to do it? Because 5k would buy a lot of wood. I'm sure they spent it on some other stupid poo poo too, the porch was the biggest visible thing they bought. Mind you, they used 2' minimum (it almost looks like 2.5') joists on the porch, and rather than alternating the lay of the 2x4's used for the flooring, they have a single seam down the middle of the porch.
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May 3, 2014 16:24
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OneWhoKnows posted:I guess it completely depends on what his take home amount will be after the sale, but they're not too far out from SS benefits, maybe that's what they're banking on? That's still terrifying, though. Let's say he sells it for 200k and they have 100k left when he's 62. Taking the benefits at age 62 will certainly be worth for the couple less than 2k a month. I hope they live in a paid-off home that's in very good condition. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 17:01 on May 3, 2014 |
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May 3, 2014 16:58
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I'm not sure what's up with their housing situation. When they first moved to Virginia in 2011 they had planned on living above the store they had bought. For whatever reason that didn't pan out, so they bought a tiny house a few miles away instead. Just last year they bought a 2nd (!) house, though it's completely unlivable because it has no pipes or even electricity. My dad majorly hurt himself a few months ago while trying to fix it up himself; fell off a ladder and greatly tore up his insides. Of course they don't have medical insurance, so he went to the ER and then skipped all treatment options and follow up visits.
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May 3, 2014 19:46
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TouchyMcFeely posted:I have a fair number of these companies as customers, including USANA, and as much as they most definitely are MLM bullshit they're all seeing heavy growth in asia right now. If he got in early enough he may be doing pretty well. I have a feeling he's fairly late to the game. More power to him if he does get a chance to spearhead in a new area, I just can't fathom how people look at MLMs and see it as a smart decision.
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May 4, 2014 05:14
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Gambling is a massive problem among the Asian communities in general but due to cultural BS few will ever seek help and destroy their lives and others'. It's part of the high risk tolerance that's become inherent with folks that have had good success otherwise. We saw something similar in the US partly due to socialization of unsustainably fast growth in the housing sector. It's a major contributing factor that baby boomers were so disproportionately affected by the housing downturn. Behavioral economics is showing people have very little rationality when it comes to money in practice. The attitude has shifted to be not so rosy in Japan, but that hasn't happened in the rest of Asia - why should they when almost everyone has enjoyed double digit GDP growth for their entire life? That attitude is what made my family encourage me to buy in an inflated bubble in 2006 - they thought I should take more risk and buy more house than I need, and putting in any down would be a waste. These same people had no idea how I could have "only" made $80k ish from a company getting sold even as a random employee - they were all used to huge and only huge exits in their experiences as investors in tiers far and above the piddly $50M all-cash buyout. Also, I'm in NoVa and have inlaws in East Tennessee and I know and go through Abingdon all the time. I had no idea that anyone would even think about a Whole Foods there and that anyone with a net worth under $1M could even get in on a place even in such a crap location. Franchising costs are one thing and the other is the application process where you're scrutinized over your past business venture history. If what you're saying is mostly accurate, it's Whole Foods that is making an even worse decision. And corporations are evidently people even more so by our Supreme Court. Guess we can short Whole Foods stock, hrm.
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May 4, 2014 12:19
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necrobobsledder posted:Also, I'm in NoVa and have inlaws in East Tennessee and I know and go through Abingdon all the time. I had no idea that anyone would even think about a Whole Foods there and that anyone with a net worth under $1M could even get in on a place even in such a crap location. Franchising costs are one thing and the other is the application process where you're scrutinized over your past business venture history. If what you're saying is mostly accurate, it's Whole Foods that is making an even worse decision. And corporations are evidently people even more so by our Supreme Court. Guess we can short Whole Foods stock, hrm. There was a great article in Fortune a month or two ago about how Whole Foods was expanding into less affluent markets and doing well. They have moved into struggling cities like Detroit and Camden as well as random rural locations and are making a decent profit. Their strategy seems to be working. http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/09/leadership/whole-foods-america.pr.fortune/
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May 4, 2014 16:18
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The amount of money some people pay on cars is mind boggling to me. I've never had a car payment in my life (except for paying for a car all up front), and my insurance is ~$180 every six months. Granted, I've never gotten a ticket/been in an accident, and I'm driving a 15 year old Ford Escort with 115,000 miles on it while living 2 miles away from work, and I've had the thing for 8 years now. I'll never understand how some people are dropping 500 - 600 bucks on month on car payments and insurance while making less than I do (which isn't really all that much). The guy I share an office with has been talking about getting a new car, I don't know why, because his car is perfectly fine. He was looking at new cars online, and he asked me "so what exactly is APR?" He also didn't understand that a higher APR meant higher monthly payment. I guess that's what happens when mom and dad pay for school and don't teach you any financial responsibility. He also eats out every day for lunch.
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May 4, 2014 18:01
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necrobobsledder posted:
Bold emphasis mine: SirPenguin posted:I can't even wrap my head around this. We're not talking Whole Foods here - his store is maybe 500sqft and is in Abingdon, VA, which is a town of 8000 people. I can't speculate how much it's worth, but there's no way that it's enough to retire off of
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May 4, 2014 18:04
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:He also didn't understand that a higher APR meant higher monthly payment. It... Doesn't? Higher APR means higher interest, but if you're stretching the loan out until way the gently caress ever, the monthly payment could be lower. Compare a car at 1% APR over 24 months to the same car at 4% APR over 84 months.
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May 4, 2014 18:09
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FrozenVent posted:It... Doesn't? As far as I could tell, he was talking about the same period of time. Like I'm pretty sure he was just asking in general. Something like, "soooo, how does APR affect my monthly payment??????"
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May 4, 2014 18:12
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:The amount of money some people pay on cars is mind boggling to me. I've never had a car payment in my life (except for paying for a car all up front), and my insurance is ~$180 every six months. Granted, I've never gotten a ticket/been in an accident, and I'm driving a 15 year old Ford Escort with 115,000 miles on it while living 2 miles away from work, and I've had the thing for 8 years now. I'll never understand how some people are dropping 500 - 600 bucks on month on car payments and insurance while making less than I do (which isn't really all that much). $360 a year is by far the lowest car insurance I've ever heard of.
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May 4, 2014 18:51
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Harry posted:$360 a year is by far the lowest car insurance I've ever heard of. Unless you have a terrible driving record that's pretty standrard for liability only (he drives a 15 year old beater like me except with fewer miles on it), and it's about what I pay. At that point there's really no sense in getting any more coverage than than that. Obviously no way you'll be able to insure a newish car for that little.
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May 4, 2014 19:02
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15 year old beater with a clean driving record, 12k miles a year, liability only, and NC state minimums is $290/year where I live.
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May 4, 2014 19:30
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seacat posted:Unless you have a terrible driving record that's pretty standrard for liability only (he drives a 15 year old beater like me except with fewer miles on it), and it's about what I pay. At that point there's really no sense in getting any more coverage than than that. If you're under 25 or 26, and even after, your credit has far more to do with your insurance rate than your driving history unless you have a terrible driving record.
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May 4, 2014 19:41
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I dunno. I have liability coverage for bodily injury at $150,000/$300,000 and property at $50,000, uninsured and under-insured motor vehicle coverage at $150,000/$300,000 each, emergency roadside assistance, and medical coverage up to $10,000, so I hardly have the minimum insurance required, for $187.00 every six months. I've been with the same agent since I was 16 (I'm 28 now). I have a clean driving record, a good credit score, I got my rate reduced while I was in college because I got good grades, and when I asked if there was anything else I could to do lower my rate, my agent gave me some video to watch on safe driving, and that bumped it down further. This thread is about people bad with money, though. I have friends who pay like $150 a month for car insurance, just to have the minimum policy required, because they have speeding tickets and DUIs. Plus they have to have nice new cars and poo poo that they can't afford.
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May 4, 2014 20:58
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I pay $300 every six months for full coverage on my 99 Civic with no accident record but questionable credit. Also, just turned 25. Sigh. I continue to do this because I have a plan with my family and it makes them feel better. A high tax for familial peace. At least I am still driving the 99 Civic with 240k miles on it rather than leasing the new VW Golf I want so badly 
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May 4, 2014 21:08
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:I have friends who pay like $150 a month for car insurance, just to have the minimum policy required, because they have speeding tickets and DUIs. Living in Canada probably counts as bad with money on some level because I paid more than that a month as a married, over 25, multi-line discount, never a been a pulled over, good grades driver that walked to work buying minimum coverage owning a 5 year old 4 door sedan  e. I'd check for better rates every 6-9 mos and couldn't find anything cheaper. I guess ontario just sucks particularly hard. vvvv Guest2553 fucked around with this message at 22:02 on May 4, 2014 |
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May 4, 2014 21:14
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Shop around; I used to pay $120 a month for insurance on a Camry, with a clean record. Got that down to $70 by switching around. Get a click insure quote and go from there.
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May 4, 2014 21:16
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:The amount of money some people pay on cars is mind boggling to me. I've never had a car payment in my life (except for paying for a car all up front), and my insurance is ~$180 every six months. Granted, I've never gotten a ticket/been in an accident, and I'm driving a 15 year old Ford Escort with 115,000 miles on it while living 2 miles away from work, and I've had the thing for 8 years now. I'll never understand how some people are dropping 500 - 600 bucks on month on car payments and insurance while making less than I do (which isn't really all that much). I've heard this argument made frequently around here as far as just buying an older car using cash and driving it until the wheels fall off. As a counterpoint, I'd like to tell a story about a lady I work with. She makes over $100K per year and her husband retired from the same job she still has making over $100K a year, at which point he got his pension + social security. It would not be inconceivable to say that this couple was making in excess of $200K a year gross for at least 5 years immediately before the retired. The husband chose to be frugal in his vehicle choices and drove a Chevy Cavalier that was at least as old as your escort. He was killed in a fairly low speed traffic accident after someone in another small car, a newer Corolla or similar, ran a red light and t-boned him. This person could have spent a relatively insignificant amount of money on a newer, nicer, safer vehicle but chose not to out of frugality and he in all likelihood would still be alive today assuming he hadn't been in that vehicle. In my mind, this is bad with money. The guy could have picked up almost any decent used or new vehicle and instead drove a shitbox that collapsed like a soda can when hit at around 35MPH. Hope it was worth the money.
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May 5, 2014 00:11
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