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CitizenKain posted:It is a massively bad idea. Its not 2001 and the PS2 anymore, stores are going to have a shitload of them, and anyone trying to flip them is going to be going up against thousands of other people trying to do the same. If it were just the PS4, it might not be that bad an idea: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3555627
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Jul 8, 2013 14:53
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Leroy Diplowski posted:Kid expenses are like furniture, cars, computers, or any other expense. You can spend as much or as little as you want. Most areas have a facebook group for passing around used baby stuff as well as a few young mothers' social groups. Between those groups and our friends we have spent zero dollars on our son beyond food and medicine the one time he was sick. His budget category is $200 per month, and I don't think we've ever spent the full amount allowed. "Basic human right" only means you can't be forcibly denied the choice to do whatever it is except in very limited circumstances. It does not mean you have the right to be sheltered from any sort of criticism regarding your choice. Especially considering the studies conclusively showing that growing up poor significantly hampers mental development. Though by "poor" I of course don't mean "wearing thrift store clothes" so much as "being stuck in a lovely neighborhood where crack is easier to come by than fresh produce". quote:In the interest of this thread: I remember seeing a thread in Ask/Tell about those places. The OP spoke of his employer selling cars at a crazy markup, and someone else mentioned one whose inventory consisted entirely of upscale vehicles which would appeal to financially irresponsibly types.
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Feb 24, 2014 03:49
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Cicero posted:Look, the optimal path for basically any financial decision is, "If need -> go as cheap as possible, If want -> avoid". But all work and no play makes Jane a dull girl, nobody avoids splurging on everything. If you have plenty of savings and a paid-off house (that's huge!) then dumping money on a luxury, even a big one, makes you far from bad with money. I mean, if you're aiming for early retirement or some other aggressive financial goal, then you should probably avoid it, but otherwise that sounds fine. Yeah, that's the problem with so many dispensers of financial advice. They speak as though the only sensible financial plan is to live a minimalist lifestyle and stick every possible penny into one's retirement fund, as if they've never heard the expression "you can't take it with you".
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Feb 28, 2014 04:11
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Lowness 72 posted:Or you get cancer and die at 23 or 52. gently caress Or, more likely (unless you're filthy rich), inflation renders your once impressive nest egg inadequate for your intended lifestyle.
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Mar 1, 2014 00:12
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Bloody Queef posted:That's not being bad with money. It's knowing your weaknesses and working around them. She's setting aside money before an event, and she's putting it somewhere untouchable. If you're so lacking in self control that maintaining the least of emergency funds would be unfeasible, you should be seeking help immediately, not just living your whole life within your limitations.
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Mar 2, 2014 15:09
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Guinness posted:A good stereo, bluetooth, comfortable/leather interior, highly adjustable drivers seat, heated/cooled seats, sunroof/convertible, etc. Adaptive cruise control is also legitimately useful to have on a long highway commute, and it's starting to appear in a number of not-so-expensive cars (such as the Mazda3). Though it's generally only offered on the upper trim levels, forcing you to pay for most of the options offered on the car in question. Guinness posted:Because this thread has turned from stories of people legitimately/hilariously bad with money to "I don't agree with your discretionary consumption". That seems to happen in quite a lot of places where financial advice is dispensed. Steering people away from wanton consumerism is one thing. But it's like these people are actually robots with no grasp of human emotions, unable to comprehend the idea of people wanting to do more with their lives than exist, or of different people enjoying certain leisure activities more than others.
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May 28, 2014 02:24
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canyoneer posted:Never let them watch "extreme cheapskates". It is a stupid TLC show that was on Netflix. One of the moms has her entire family use reusable toilet paper. Little squares of fabric go into a bin next to the toilet once coated with turds. It's like what they do in areas where the plumbing can't handle toilet paper, except the poopy mass of fabric goes in the washing machine for reuse. The episode I watched showed a woman taking a recently deceased rabbit from the side of the road to use its pelt for little craft projects. Later, they showed her serving rabbit stew to her family. They didn't specify that it was the same rabbit, which is understandable - TLC's main demographic is dumb enough to interpret that as a claim that eating roadkill is a legitimate money-saving idea, then get sick from eating something that's been dead too long. And if it wasn't the same rabbit, making it look like it was is exactly the sort of underhanded bullshit one would expect from a reality show dedicated to showing off humanity at its worst. The rest of the episode had people washing and reusing paper towels, haggling with (more like hassling) cashiers over purchases of less than $10 and other things that no sane and rational person would classify as legitimate money-saving tips. Giving five dollar blowjobs in a bus station bathroom would be more profitable and less degrading than most of this bullshit.
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Jun 11, 2014 03:12
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Barry posted:I saw that, it's just mind boggling. You could stick $250k in any number of relatively safe investments and make way more than $250 a month.
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Jun 12, 2014 02:53
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rrrrrrrrrrrt posted:loving shoot me if I'm ever selling my vacation time back to my company. I didn't even know that was a thing people did. Not all companies allow it (one of the ones I've worked for didn't).
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Jun 13, 2014 01:43
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canyoneer posted:Don't loan money to family ever. Do not cosign for anything ever. Unless you are OK with never seeing that money again and your relationship with that person can handle it. That reminds me of a thread some time ago. One of the OP's relatives had posted bail for another relative arrested for child molestation, and had offered her house as collateral to the bail bond company. The guy was easily convicted, but then a mistrial was declared (one of the jurors turned out to have been molested as a child). So now he has every reason on Earth to go on the run before the new trial, leaving the OP and his family wondering how to prevent that. Unfortunately, I never saw how things turned out.
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Jun 21, 2014 15:53
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NancyPants posted:It's probably somewhere in the agreement that you won't interfere with operation of the interlock device. Maybe it's just as cheap as removing the device, but it runs a serious risk of ruining the ignition system. As if someone who really needs to worry about having their car repossessed has that money. What about wrapping it in foil? No need to remove it if it can't receive the shutoff signal.
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Jul 21, 2014 03:50
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LogisticEarth posted:It really depends. Old homes sometimes have the advantage of having the kinks all worked out. If the homes have been maintained and updated they could potentially be more solid than something built in the last 20-30 years. Additionally there are often a lot of historical details like woodwork or decorative masonry that would cost a fortune to recreate today. Even if the home is in poor condition it can be worth fixing it up given the right homeowner. For what it's worth, there have also been experiments with producing prefab houses using CNC routers and even 3D printers. Once the kinks are worked out, that sort of thing could make it possible to produce decent quality houses for not a lot of money.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:09
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Not a Children posted:If anyone could've convinced me before that bad financials aren't a big deal when considering a significant other, this just obliterated that chance I thought that when people say things like that, they're generally referring to people who've simply fallen on hard times - not uber-fuckups who don't know the meaning of the word "responsibility".
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Aug 3, 2014 03:12
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Leroy Diplowski posted:I vote that anyone who mentions cars itt outside of a story about people bad with money has to watch this entire youtube video or get probated. Could we do something similar with people who get all frugal-er-than-thou over the choice of vehicle, residence, or leisure activity of someone living within their means? The Door Frame posted:Or if you really cannot wait, get an interest free loan from your network carrier and pay $20 a month or whatever that comes out to. There is no worse way to purchase things than this You could put $600 on a credit card at 30% interest, pay off much less than $140 a month, and still come out way ahead of that.
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Aug 31, 2014 19:57
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Jeffrey posted:That's not what he did though, and if he can actually program and got a reasonable job offer then dropping out of school was probably the right choice. Especially if that $21,000 was for just one semester's tuition as the post seemed to imply. Unless he was going to medical or law school, he really dodged a bullet there.
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Sep 4, 2014 02:41
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Guinness posted:Why anyone keeps any significant amount of money with a large retail bank is beyond me. My Scottrade online investment account offers a debit card as well as paper checks. Which means that for all intents and purposes, savings bonds aren't much less liquid than cash. I mean, I can't think of any expense over a couple thousand dollars where you wouldn't have at least several days to produce the money.
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Sep 11, 2014 01:00
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HelloIAmYourHeart posted:They don't have to pay their athletes anything, either (although that may change sometime soon). There's also all the recent debate over concussions and cumulative head trauma. I just saw an article (unfortunately, I forgot where) about research claiming that significant damage can start to accumulate even in training, from dozens of seemingly minor bumps on the noggin. antiga posted:I dunno, it's expensive but the (engineering) degree is actually worth something in terms of employment. If you're spending 200k for (e: something that has no job prospects such as) electronic media I don't know what to say. Even for anything STEM related, $200k would be a bitch and a half to repay unless you have an a premium (as in, way above average even for your field) job lined up right after graduation. Assuming that will happen to you when you're still choosing a college is crazy risky even in the best of times. It'll be fun to see what happens once online programs like University of the People become more common.
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Oct 4, 2014 14:45
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Blue_monday posted:Not long ago one of my friends pointed out why some people go into real estate. People see it as an easy cash cow with minimal training/education. Little do they realize how much work is is to consistently sell houses. After all, it's been six whole years since everyone who believed that lost their shirts, hasn't it?
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Oct 8, 2014 02:26
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seacat posted:Dude I would suck dick for $200 monthly for AC in the summer. My electric can be up to $400 in jun-aug for a 3br,2.5ba 80K 80's-mansion we're renting. Couldn't you cover your roof with solar panels and still be well below the price of a similar size house in any state with a temperate climate? Or how about a geothermal heat pump?
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Nov 11, 2014 01:49
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Scenty posted:This is pretty hosed up. Once you mutually agree to what percentages you will each pay, why should you get to dictate how she spends her money? It will end in disaster, just break up now. That reminds me of a Mr. Money Mustache article: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/06/how-much-is-that-bitch-costin-ya/ quote:How do you determine if something’s worthwhile or wasteful? You ask your partner! Check out my highly controversial yet effective way for domestic spending harmony. It is so controversial, even Mrs. Money Mustache had to add a few qualifications before accepting it. Is it just me, or is that a recipe for major resentment? Even if both partners share the same basic financial goals, there are going to be differences of opinion with respect to what counts as a worthwhile expense. Especially if you're talking about any sort of hobby which only one person is into - I could imagine a situation not unlike an engineer requesting funding from some butthole in a suit with the technological literacy of the average Alzheimer's patient. And I've yet to hear any engineer say anything nice about that part of the job.
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Dec 7, 2014 03:51
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Cythereal posted:Or, in cases like mine, the local public transit simply doesn't go anywhere near to where you work. In my field (mechanical engineering), the jobs are largely located in industrial areas well away from any place the general public would regularly go. I would imagine that in many cities, those areas aren't given that high a priority with respect to public transit planning. It may also limit your options if you want to live somewhere where you could walk/bike to work.
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Dec 23, 2014 03:38
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evobatman posted:This is why it's good with money to learn to replace a $40-80 harddrive and reinstall Windows and drivers. Likewise, if you want a badass desktop system, learning to build your own is good with money. Especially considering that many not-so-low-end systems (especially in brick-and-mortar stores) come with lots of RAM but lackluster graphics cards.
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Jan 23, 2015 04:21
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The Nards Pan posted:If the whole thing goes belly up and our currency is worth nothing and we're living in Mad Max times - I don't think I'm going to give a poo poo about gold and can't imagine I'd barter any of my food or skills for metal I can't eat. Really, those people seem to have forgotten that the value of precious metals (aside from a select few industries unlikely to survive total societal collapse) is just as arbitrary as that of the ones and zeroes on your bank's servers.
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Feb 13, 2015 03:04
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Blinkman987 posted:I think the issue there is that people are tithing while broke. I don't speak with God, but I have a feeling he/she/it doesn't mind if people forego putting money into the collection plate if they're financially struggling. Like, he's not going to bounce you from the good list if he's not getting a taste. As I understand, that's what most churches actually preach - give what you can when you can, and don't feel bad if "what you can" isn't much. The only groups I've heard of directly asking for a specific quantity of money are as follows: 1. Mormons 2. Scientologists 3. Televangelist con artists
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Feb 20, 2015 00:13
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Rudager posted:Because of poo poo like this. Don't forget the posts implying that he considers his philosophy to be THE correct way to live, regardless of what you enjoy or what you can afford for yourself. Seems like every other post has him bragging about how much more badass he is than people who drive cars that are anything more than basically functional, or people whose idea of fun involves any sort of motorized machine, or people who spend money on anything else he wouldn't. And his response to criticism is to creatively redefine such words as "minimalist" and "poor" to make his way of life sound like common-sense financial responsibility: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/11/23/not-extreme-frugality/
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Feb 25, 2015 01:46
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slap me silly posted:That post is extremely condescending. He doesn't just say "Here is how I reduce my spending". He literally says "If you use a car instead of a bicycle to carry heavy things, you are not a real human". Really: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/06/23/how-to-carry-major-appliances-on-your-bike/ Is it just me, or is towing 300-600 pounds behind an ordinary bike kind of dangerous, at least with respect to braking?
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Feb 25, 2015 03:44
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Krispy Kareem posted:Is 'Governing the Commons' the book you're talking about? That's just it - exercising just some semblance of moderation with military spending could easily save way more money than what the GOP wanted to cut from SNAP. But nooooo... And letting the SNAP peak budget become the new normal still would've left us pretty far behind the curve in terms of how well we take care of the less fortunate.
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May 1, 2015 21:44
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MJBuddy posted:However much room for exploitation there is, I'd rather cut a dollar dedicated to killing people or producing something that's literally rusting from no use than something that might be exploited to eat more. Wasteful spending in defense has identical effects: it pulls engineers designers from productive functions to build planes no one wants or buildings to test rockets that will never be built. The people working on those projects have opportunity cost as well. That reminds me of how Congress handed NASA a mandate to launch a manned mission to Mars, yet expected them to pay for it with their existing budget: http://www.vox.com/2015/2/25/8109901/mars-nasa-congress Mocking Bird posted:Food stamps taper with income and are not nearly enough to incentivize someone not to work - they are a shoddy supplement to our inadequate minimum wage, lack of support for families requiring a non-working parent, and individuals working underpaying jobs like internships that are exploiting them for "experience building". People who exploit welfare don't make very much, unless they are government employees embezzling. Plus, a while ago someone posted the results of a study comparing the economic impact of various government activities. If I remember correctly, SNAP was towards the top, generating over $2 of economic activity for every dollar spent. Defense spending was less than $1 (as were tax cuts, for what it's worth). The GOP has claimed that their stance isn't "gently caress the poor", but "a hand up, not a hand oiut". The problem there is that even with "hand up" type things, they tend to be highly reluctant to do more than the bare minimum. Their idea of "fiscal responsibility" is like buying a $500 car from some random Craigslist ad, doing next to no maintenance on it until it breaks down, and trying to pin the blame on the people who said you were making a fucktarded mistake.
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May 2, 2015 01:44
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Renegret posted:Your rent is half of what I pay for a 1BR Yeah, I've been forced to do just that because housing prices over here are even worse. I'm earning what would normally be a solid middle-class salary, but I couldn't reasonably afford anything more than a studio apartment (the cheapest of which I've seen was $800 a month). It also doesn't help that the local job market in my field (mechanical engineering) is total crap, and employers elsewhere seem to have little interest in interviewing anyone outside their local area.
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May 6, 2015 02:05
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Series DD Funding posted:Pretty sure a house gives a stream of cash flows in the form of imputed rent. Yeah, I was under the impression that a paid-off house could be a very useful thing to have when you retire. That is, at least so long as it's not some giant McMansion where heating and cooling cost almost as much as the mortgage, or in a neighborhood with high property taxes or an expensive HOA. Being able to perform at least minor repairs yourself would also help.
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May 29, 2015 20:17
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Guest2553 posted:Update on this kid.. Wait, what? This is what I saw: quote:EDIT: Thanks for all the helpful replies, definitely going to do most of what is said here. As soon as I get home I will get back into school, see if I can get a car, start calling the credit bureaus and make a police report when the time is right. Thanks for all the helpful replies, you guys have dismissed most of my worries about things like being cut off, I'll still look at and reply to newer replies through out the day.
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Jun 1, 2015 01:54
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Aliquid posted:Anyone you know ever died of AIDS? When I was in Nigeria, barbershops would spray the hell out of their clippers with a cleaning aerosol and then place them in a UV toaster-oven for an hour, rotating through multiple sets. They always encouraged their repeat customers to bring their own clippers from home. I was under the impression that HIV couldn't survive long outside a a host body, and that most common disinfectants (such as the stuff First World barbers keep their combs in) could easily exterminate it.
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Jun 13, 2015 22:47
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Krispy Kareem posted:Library science is probably the costliest education for the least amount of money. It's crazy how much education you need for a job making 25k a year. I hear social work and early childhood education are also up there. Yet another reason we need genuine reform here - we can't just not have anyone go into those jobs.
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Jun 16, 2015 03:39
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The local newspaper here just had an interesting advice column. Some guy wrote in complaining about his girlfriend routinely asking him for help paying for things like groceries and car repairs after spending all her money on fancy pants beauty services (hair extensions and the like). The columnist talked about how many women, in response to falling on hard times, will have their primal "find a mate" urges go into overdrive - in this case, ironically straining her relationship with the mate she already has. triplexpac posted:Is there any company like that that seems like a scam, and isn't? Is "door to door sales by people with little to no training" even a viable marketing strategy for an honest business in this day and age?
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Jun 25, 2015 02:17
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Tamarillo posted:Today we find out that they have started planning their next trip to Europe using the funds from the sale, as well as a trip to the UK next year. The current $500/month deficit (or the ~$20k of repair work their own house needs) is not a concern because God will provide. Doesn't the Bible specifically say not to treat God like that? You know, when Satan was all "Hey Jesus, jump off that building and get God to catch you" and Jesus was all "gently caress you, you're not supposed to tempt God".
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Jul 3, 2015 14:43
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Propaniac posted:"5 Reasons I Lost $9,000 On An iPhone Game": http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1762-5-reasons-i-lost-249000-iphone-game.html Yeesh. They've had a number of articles about this sort of thing: http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/5-ways-free-app-games-con-you-out-your-money/ Some developers have gone so far as to market their glorified Skinner boxes to children too young to fully understand the value of a dollar: http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-most-ludicrously-expensive-items-in-online-gaming/ I remember something featuring a My Little Pony freemium game, but I can't seem to find the article now. And then ther's Star Trek: Trexels, which had the audacity to charge money (only $2.99, but still...) for their greed-fest "game": http://channelawesome.com/angry-christmas-review-2013-star-trek-trexels-ios/ Are these people competing to see how evil they can be without breaking any laws? canyoneer posted:"I sold something that didn't belong to me, and now the owners want those items back!" And it apparently never occurred to him that any sort of criminal prosecution would only make it harder to persuade the government to let him stay here.
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Aug 1, 2015 01:45
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Blinkman987 posted:Oh, I forgot the craziest part of those games-- everyone I know who's both rich and has kids has a story of a night where their kid spent thousands of dollars in one of those games and they didn't file anything with iTunes. They just paid the bill. Now that I think about it. that's probably the only logical explanation for how they can make a healthy profit selling to kids without the parents coming after them with pitchforks and torches. And you know how some freemium games make it possible, yet grossly tedious, to accumulate resources without paying (as a fig leaf to justify the "free to play" thing)? Someone also built a Lego robot to automate that for Clash of Clans (among other basic functions): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFgO-C2TAV8 A robot that plays computer games for you might look like almost as frivolous a purchase as the in-game purchases it's meant to avoid, but at least you're not rewarding the developers for their wanton greed. Plus you're learning a little something about robotics. I wonder if it could be programmed to play the MyVegas game where you earn Vegas-related rewards for playing slots and blackjack.
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Aug 3, 2015 01:54
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Dawncloack posted:I want the massive gains in productivity from automatization to go towards everyone having their basic needs covered and everyone needing to work 10h weeks. Instead of, you know, them going towards the 11th golden hull yatch for the Koch brothers. The problem is that when people voice concerns over this sort of thing, most of them tend to sound like they're blaming technology for threatening to eliminate jobs, as opposed to blaming the government for callously ignoring the need to rethink free-market capitalism.
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Aug 3, 2015 23:46
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Nitrox posted:The Everest tourist industry is very familiar with people like him. Most won't show up, some will show up and get rejected due to lack of proper gear/equipment. Some will be told to stop because they are out of sync with the group. Either way, the money is paid. Very few people actually summit. But you can pay $15,000 to make a "I've climbed Everest" facebook post. Which is what that guy is essentially looking to do, show off. Aren't there less expensive tour packages which only go up to the first base camp? I'm pretty sure I had heard of something like that. Of course, that would require you to have the presence of mind to admit that you don't have what it takes to get anywhere near the summit.
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Aug 9, 2015 23:48
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pathetic little tramp posted:Uh hey speaking of those kinds of scammy companies, something crazy happened today. Vemma, one of those pyramid scheme companies like Amway that normally avoids being called a pyramid scheme because they're "selling a product" got ruled as a pyramid scheme by the FTC today: I remember hearing about Amway getting in similar legal trouble years ago. The FTC claimed that they were making almost as much money off of their salespeople (from selling DVDs and seminars and crap) as they did from actual customers.
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Aug 29, 2015 04:50
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