Leperflesh posted:

Switchback posted:

Do not defend him. You self-post in the BWM thread, you get ridicule.

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

None of my guns are for home protection. They're all for target shooting at different distances and disciplines (note the full size irons, full size optics, revolver) or personal self defense (the sub compact). The superfluous gun is probably the p229 in the safe!

Leperflesh posted:

Why .357 for target shooting a revolver? .38 or

pikachode posted:

age will break you down like a rotten dead tree, there is no machine that can wind back the mechanisms of time

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

Oh boy, I hope this thread ends up in TFR.

Also I never once said I walk around town with a gun in my belt or that it's for self defense against other people

Doc Hawkins posted:

your mom calls me a machine and says I make her feel young again, what now

Results. After adjustment, individuals in possession of a gun were 4.46 (P < .05) times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not in possession. Among gun assaults where the victim had at least some chance to resist, this adjusted odds ratio increased to 5.45 (P < .05).

Conclusions. On average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault.

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

No pocket pistol. Glock 26, a subcompact.

I don't "daily carry" because I think it's dumb, personally, and I work at a computer in an office so that would be a terrible decision.

I carry it for field work, which involves being alone on 1,000+ acre ranches, with no other people for miles and zero cell reception. Peace of mind, I guess?

EDIT: Lol, definitely not for bears, for a variety of reasons. And camping sucks.

BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:

Somebody post the loving it nerd who carried two guns and a knife around and about 50 survival tools while wandering the lonely range of network equipment

Furia posted:

One gun, two clips and a cellphone for his nasa janitor job

Switchback posted:

[url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2759797/]


Good thing the only personal protection needed is against rabid horses and not the (now armed) criminals that steal things from your house.

spincube posted:

Can you mount heavy firepower to horses? Asking for a friend.

EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:

Please, God, let this thread go to TFR next.

OctaviusBeaver posted:

Cosmonauts carried guns to fend off wolves and bears when they landed in Siberia.

quote:

There has been a lot of misinformation on credible news sources regarding ways to "avoid moving into the next tax bracket". I've seen things about putting your money in a 401k, and IRA, an insurance fund. These aren't bad ideas, but they won't help you pay less taxes on the rest of your taxable income. If you live in the US, please educate yourself on the marginal tax system before listening to any of these articles.

So my co-worker, snidely grinning, explained how much smarter than me he was by turning down his yearly bonus because it would have put him from a 22% tax bracket into a 24%. He even showed me the article he read that explained the tactic that only geniuses like him know about. I seriously thought he was joking at first and eventually had to say the fateful words that started the 2 hour debate: "you know that's not how it works, right?"

We ended up calling his uncle, who owned 4 buy-and-hold rental properties. His aunt eventually got involved over speakerphone - They both backed him up completely and even praised him for his genius. I went on to get a CPA friend of mine on the phone and he laughed out loud for a good 30 seconds.

This is the saddest part: We both Googled the matter and he was able to find almost as many articles that backed up his argument as I was able to find articles that explained reality.

Toward the end of the 2 hour argument, he absolutely didn't agree with me, but I could tell he realized he'd messed up. He ended it with "lets just chalk it up to semantics...". The next morning he stopped me in the hall and thanked me for the lively debate the evening before, to which I replied "Hey I love debating, I learn something new every time I debate" (just to make him feel better), and he replied with "Well I didn't learn anything, but yeah... that was fun...". SMH

quote:

Hey, I am hoping to get some advice or ideas for my girlfriend who is now in significant debt after trying to treat a life-threatening condition for her cat. Unfortunately we lost our cat over the weekend and she's extremely heartbroken, and no where near the mental state to seek financial advice on Reddit or elsewhere.

Our cat's condition required emergency surgery at a NY vet hospital ($$$), numerous tests and diagnostics, plus an extended and unforeseen ICU stay. We put her to sleep yesterday as it was clear the remaining options were only getting more and more drastic and even in the best case, she wouldn't be coming home anytime soon. In addition to regretting the decision to pursue surgery because it didn't help our cat, my GF is very embarrassed about the financial situation she's now in.

Bottom line, the bill from the vet hospital is approx. $20,000. I've provided about $3,500 to date and had to tell her that was my limit. The remaining balance is about $10,000 on Care Credit and the rest on her existing credit cards (I believe split over two cards).

She doesn't have any free savings and only a small amount in a 401k. And short of a rich family member stepping in, there's no way she's going to pay off the credit cards and Care Credit any time soon as she doesn't have a full time job. She has a few freelance gigs and a food service job a couple nights - but she's making just few hundred dollars a week. I think she's going to have to really hustle and find a full time job that provides a much better income, but that's not a sure thing and gong to take time.

In the meantime, what can she do to limit damage to her credit and the outrageous interest her credit cards and Care Credit are bound to slap her with? My best guess is to try to buy her time by transferring these balances to a new card (HER card) which offers 0% interest and a 0% (or low) fee on balance transfers. However I don't think her credit is great, and would be very surprised if any bank is going to approve her for a $17,000 credit line.

I feel bad right now, but i can hardly imagine how she feels.

Thanks everyone for your help.

EDIT: Thanks again everyone for your thoughtful responses. I'm kinda tapped out emotionally at this point and probably won't respond to comments. However if anyone has any great ideas for managing my GF's new debt, you are welcome to message me. Thanks Reddit.

Switchback posted:

GF saddled with extensive vet bills after unsuccessful surgery for her cat. She has little to no income.

quote:

Help me! My vet won't give me my cat back after seeing her this morning! She's all I have in the world! Colorado.

I dropped off my cat at the vet this morning for a minor procedure, and attempeted to collect her later in the afternoon. They will not let me take her home! Apparently my pet insurance from work lapsed or something so my last visit wasn't covered and neither was this one.

Now I owe my vet $750. The only way they will let me take her is to pay a down payment of $180 and make payments for the rest. I do not have any extra money right now as I had to spend my entire paycheck last week on a car emergency.

Is this legal? Can they hold my cat as ransom until I pay?! She's the only thing that calms me down and I have really terribly anxiety. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I'm freaking out.

quote:

Your work provides pet insurance?

It's one of those optional benefits that we pay for, but we get a good discount because of my employer. Apparently when we had our enrollment period in the fall I didn't notice that they switched providers and I didn't opt in.

That's so crazy. Idk what I'm supposed to do now. This past 2 months have been hellish for other reasons, but I simply can't get that money until at least next Friday. I have about $20 to my name I was trying to stretch until next paycheck. That was after I paid the vet copay this morning.

quote:

Apply for CareCredit.

I would if I could, but my secured credit card is maxed out. My credit is terrible so I'm trying to rebuild. So there is no legal way to ask for her back without paying?

I've tried, but my credit is really bad and I didn't get approved. Right now all I have is one of those secured cards because I've been trying to rebuild. I made the dumb mistake of cosigning a vehicle for a past significant other and they stopped paying. It ruined my credit.

quote:

Negotiate with them. Do you have anything of value?

Not really. I moved to Colorado because of my bf at the time. We broke up in september and everything kind of fell apart. All I have is my cat, a crappy studio apartment, a 22 in tv, a 4 year old laptop, and a super basic prepaid phone. Like I don't have anything remotely expensive since I've been trying to get my life together. Now it's one thing after another. Car accident. My cat being sick. And now I can't even pay to get her back.

JayKay posted:

After the first story, it's probably a good thing she can't get CareCredit. While I'm familiar with pet insurance, I've never heard of it through work.

Still the entire situation is

Fitzy Fitz posted:

**literally sprinting into thread**

My co-worker TURNED DOWN a $2000.00 bonus because it put him into the next tax bracket

https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/am2cv0/my_coworker_turned_down_a_200000_bonus_because_it/

Tomfoolery posted:

The top response points out that the top of the 22% bracket would put him at $50k salary, so even if his idiot tax views were correct he'd STILL make money by picking up the $2k bonus.

Fitzy Fitz posted:

**literally sprinting into thread**

My co-worker TURNED DOWN a $2000.00 bonus because it put him into the next tax bracket

He even showed me the article he read that explained the tactic that only geniuses like him know about.

https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/am2cv0/my_coworker_turned_down_a_200000_bonus_because_it/