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overdesigned posted:If anything was gonna bankrupt the watch industry it would have been quartz crystals. Yeah, but a lot of quartz watches are still made in Switzerland. Switzerland doesn't care about the low-end, but they still liked the premium middle-tier, which is what is going to get disrupted by smartwatches. I guess there will always be AOL employees buying Rolexes with their merger funds though.
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Apr 28, 2016 16:45
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Anonymous Zebra posted:I'm actually not smart enough to figure out how taxes vs. services really works. I moved to Switzerland and my salary was easily twice what it would have been in the US for the same job, but my income tax was incredibly low even taking into account the money that was also deducted for unemployment, disability, and accident insurance (which is all nationalized as far as I can tell). Yet, despite paying almost nothing off my paycheck their university system has a low tuition, their healthcare is far cheaper than the US even though it's basically Obamacare (aged a decade in advance), and the social welfare system seems strong enough that the 5 homeless people I see (because I can actually recognize all 5) all seem to be well stocked with alcohol at all times. I have no idea how it works...I guess no real military? Nazi gold? African despot money? My Swiss compatriots say that cost of living is absurd in CH so be sure you are accounting for that as well.
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Apr 28, 2016 16:48
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zaurg posted:done Post the decree or GTFO
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Apr 28, 2016 16:54
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Smartwatches aren't that smart. AR is infinitely more useful than the first 3 words of a text message or email.
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Apr 28, 2016 19:31
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overdesigned posted:If anything was gonna bankrupt the watch industry it would have been quartz crystals. The Quartz Revolution in the 70s and 80s actually did put a fair number of watch manufacturers out of business and led to massive consolidation under the Swatch Group, which today has total vertical integration of the industry and is rapidly squeezing out smaller indie manufacturers and local watch repair people by refusing to sell movements or parts for any of the brands they own (Omega in particular is completely locked down now.) Source: I'm a loving watch nerd
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Apr 28, 2016 22:33
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potee posted:
BWM thread: go on...
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Apr 28, 2016 22:42
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I work at a plasma center, and we have a center physician who oversees our medical staff. He's a pretty cool guy and I get along with him pretty well. He's the center physician for another plasma center which belongs to another company, and he was telling me about an employee that used to work there as either an assistant manager or QA (I forget which). This guy is in his mid 30's, and one day he decided to quit his job (this center is in a pretty run down town with a fairly depressed economy), cash out his entire 401k and pay all the penalties, and become a day trader. About a month later the guy had lost all his money, moved in with his parents and was working as a cashier at Menards. Yikes.
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Apr 28, 2016 22:50
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Moneyball posted:BWM thread: go on... GWM: The Casio F91w, a bulletproof multifunction watch for around $9 BWM: Getting extraordinary renditioned to Guantanamo
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Apr 28, 2016 22:58
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:My Swiss compatriots say that cost of living is absurd in CH so be sure you are accounting for that as well. Oh absolutely. Geneva and Zuerich are both expensive as poo poo when it comes to housing, and the whole country has prices for goods that are easily 3x the price for the same thing in a neighboring EU country (to which Switzerland does not belong). I've also compared the Swiss to the Ferengi since the entire system here consists of people nickle and diming you for the smallest service. HOWEVER, the salaries for most jobs more than make up for the prices for most standard goods, and you don't need to live in Geneva or Zuerich to still make money working there. Also you just take a train 30 minutes up to Germany and buy bulk meat in Euros to take home with you and save a lot of money that way. If you are a single student trying to work internships or get a Masters/Phd, yeah it can suck, but you also live with like 4 roommates and so it sucks a little less. If you are a professional though the salaries are more than enough to accommodate the cost of living. Pig slut lisa's reply is quite interesting. The roads here are thin as hell, and the entire city planning consists of ways to "concentrate" people. Zuerich recently approved a new tram system to the neighboring city of Dietikon, because they are concerned that people were building houses too far away from the city center (in Dietikon) and they wanted to create an incentive to live right on top of the train station. Anonymous Zebra fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Apr 28, 2016 |
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Apr 28, 2016 22:59
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More reddit BWM:/r/personalfinance posted:I recently moved ~$100k from a Vanguard rollover IRA to my employer's John Hancock 401k to be able to contribute to a Roth IRA using the backdoor method. I'm now debating how best to invest the rollover funds while they sit in a Stable Value fund at JH. Dude loving moved over 100k of his money from Vanguard to his employer's ultra-lovely 401k plan with ERs over 2%. He'll be paying over $2000/yr in fees on likely worse-performing funds than Vanguard to backdoor a measly $5500/yr into a Roth IRA. His intent isn't totally off base, but with a 401k that lovely there's no way the long-term math works out. Guinness fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Apr 29, 2016 |
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Apr 29, 2016 00:11
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yeah, that sucks, but relative to the broad experience of this thread anyone with $100k to their name can only possibly be so BWM
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Apr 29, 2016 00:46
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:yeah, that sucks, but relative to the broad experience of this thread anyone with $100k to their name can only possibly be so BWM Good point, maybe that story actually belongs as a cautionary tale in the retirement thread.
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Apr 29, 2016 01:01
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DizzyBum posted:But man oh man I wish we had Google Fiber nearby. If they start laying cable nearby, I'm dropping AT&T like a bad habit. They're not doing this anymore, but I got (basic) seven years free service after paying the $300 installation fee, which was a pretty good deal.
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Apr 29, 2016 01:01
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Guinness posted:Good point, maybe that story actually belongs as a cautionary tale in the retirement thread. It's a great idea, small employers have the dumbest loving plans and do the dumbest poo poo with them. My old gig had some awful poo poo where they reallocated when they switched between providers, and put everything in 1.1% ER fixed income funds.
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Apr 29, 2016 10:08
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As an IT contractor the only benefit I get is a lovely 401k with zero matching. I'm afraid to even look at the expenses, but it's the only pre-tax option I've got. The moment I leave and can't contribute, it's getting rolled into an actual grown-up IRA.
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Apr 29, 2016 15:37
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Krispy Kareem posted:As an IT contractor the only benefit I get is a lovely 401k with zero matching. I' min a similar situation. I just looked up what the lowest ERs were and threw it in there. The one thing is though this contractor job is paying me enough to max my 401k, HSA, and put aside enough money for other things so I have no complaints, even if the ERs are higher than they have any right to be.
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Apr 29, 2016 17:39
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So you're an IT contractor but still an employee with a W2? I don't think I get the terminology here.
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Apr 29, 2016 18:36
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Yeah, I'm surprised that a contractor can participate in the 401k, since that would scream "deemed employee" to me.
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Apr 29, 2016 18:44
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potatoducks posted:So you're an IT contractor but still an employee with a W2? I don't think I get the terminology here. My employer is a small staffing company, but I go to work everyday in a big technology company. The employer thing is just a formality for payroll and tax purposes.. I never talk to anyone there and when my contract expires they won't assign me to another position. It's an odd situation because I was hired by the big technology company and was then introduced to the staffing agency that would handle all my payroll. Krispy Wafer fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Apr 29, 2016 |
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Apr 29, 2016 18:48
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That's a fairly common situation in technology. To the customer company you are a "contractor" on their books, but you are W2 employee of a staffing company with salary, benefits, etc. Those staffing companies can range from shell companies that are just a formality/convenience of accounting, to actual real full-service companies that do subcontracting, consulting, bizdev, and even in-house product development as well. They of course also span the spectrum of "poo poo" to "fantastic".
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Apr 29, 2016 19:11
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Exactly what Guinness said. I'm considered a "consultant" for my parent company but the customer company labels me and anyone else who might work for a consulting company as a contractor. I have the option of staying at my current customer company or moving to another client if I choose to do so. They can also choose to not bring me back. I'm still paid during my time "on the bench" but I usually get assigned right away to another customer if that's the case. Think of ThoughtWorks, which is one of these consulting companies which sends out "thought workers" to clients. Shadowhand00 fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Apr 29, 2016 |
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Apr 29, 2016 22:01
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Mantle posted:Anyone have a link to the story about the kid having terminal cancer or something and then the parents fraudulently took out loans in his name, hoping the debt would die with him but OOPS he beat cancer and now is $80k in debt? Was the child an adult or something? Otherwise, how were they getting loans under the kid? Blinkman987 posted:Well, if you're a self-admitted child rapist, what is a blackmailer really going to hold against you? An orphan? 
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Apr 29, 2016 23:34
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Volmarias posted:Was the child an adult or something? Otherwise, how were they getting loans under the kid? Yes, it was an adult child. Quite sad, actually.
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Apr 30, 2016 00:52
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 I hate this poo poo
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Apr 30, 2016 03:25
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quote:70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and a stunning 90% by the third, according to the Williams Group wealth consultancy. This article is bad but that is an interesting statistic. Edit: apparently this is old news, there are plenty of bad articles about it and a pretty good reddit thread, where I learned that Anderson Cooper is a Vanderbilt, and there is no Vanderbilt fortune left (his mother was successful in her own right, but he won't be inheriting anything). Switchback fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Apr 30, 2016 |
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Apr 30, 2016 06:45
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Losing wealth generation by generation isn't bad on a social level because the opposite of that is aristocracy. Losing wealth is the flip side of social mobility.
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Apr 30, 2016 12:33
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I, too, wish everyone else was poor.
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Apr 30, 2016 17:55
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I just wish the rich were made poor. It's a subtle but important distinction.
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Apr 30, 2016 21:44
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overdesigned posted:I just wish the rich were made poor. It's a subtle but important distinction. Why?
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May 1, 2016 00:08
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Subjunctive posted:Why? Greater wealth has been shown to have an inverse correlation with ability to feel empathy.
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May 1, 2016 01:12
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:Greater wealth has been shown to have an inverse correlation with ability to feel empathy. Bit of a chicken and egg situation there, from what I've seen of the corporate world.
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May 1, 2016 01:19
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Subjunctive posted:Why? Let's be honest. Resentment and envy.
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May 1, 2016 01:47
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From the Team Fortress 2 thread:Ddraig posted:He's got an unusual burning flames team captain. Some dude cheated with an aimbot, got caught, and lost a hat worth around $20,000 (http://backpack.tf/stats/Unusual/Team%20Captain/Tradable/Craftable/13 ). Along with 3 other hats worth $250 each. He also went on a long rant justifying it here: http://steamcommunity.com/id/JCapps/ if anyone is interested (I couldn't finish it).
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May 1, 2016 03:56
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:Greater wealth has been shown to have an inverse correlation with ability to feel empathy. So I should assume that the person wishing financial harm on unmet others is rich, perhaps.
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May 1, 2016 05:23
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Subjunctive posted:So I should assume that the person wishing financial harm on unmet others is rich, perhaps. Well it was mostly a joke post but personally I'd be fine with leaving rich people enough left so that them and their children never have to work a day in their lives again anyway so it's hardly "harming" them in any serious way other than not being able to afford an ultrayacht and instead sticking to a regular yacht. Though it would be very satisfying to dump the Koch brothers in an Atlanta slum and see how well they do tbh.
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May 1, 2016 05:31
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Knyteguy posted:From the Team Fortress 2 thread: Dude has over 4400 hours on a video game. I'm not sure how people can spend that much time on a game from 2007, and then giving a poo poo about rare items.
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May 1, 2016 06:16
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TLG James posted:Dude has over 4400 hours on a video game. tbf one of the main ways you get hats is random drops so the way everyone "farms" them is to just leave the game running 24/7 while they're off doing other poo poo
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May 1, 2016 08:29
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NancyPants posted:
Suspicious Lump fucked around with this message at 03:03 on May 3, 2016 |
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May 1, 2016 13:09
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:Greater wealth has been shown to have an inverse correlation with ability to feel empathy. I've had the opposite experience. Empathetic and generous when i was rich, now a callous, resentful monster after becoming (first-world) poor due to being BWM.
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May 1, 2016 14:54
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Suspicious Lump posted:Hahaha this is awesome. These "businesses" have to donate the crap their trying to sell, and this guy gets a free showbag to attract people. It's a Facebook group for military members and their spouses, so these welcome bags are more like 'welcome to the area, here's what's around here' (I assume, I wouldn't know). But she later clarified that the page isn't to be used for advertising so I'm sure someone ripped her rear end over it. Facebook is lousy with MLM bullshit and spouses groups no less so.
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May 1, 2016 15:17
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