Bad With Money 2018: When I die, bury me in the blockchain.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Bad With Money 2018: When I die, bury me in the blockchain.

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Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

We had somebody quit today because they were moving in a couple of months with their husband.

Why did they quit now instead of in a couple months when they move?

Because they have been here for 9 years and 10 months. You become vested in the pension plan at 10 years (50% of your average salary for your 3 highest earning years of service until death, starting at age 62 unless you do at least 20 years) and if you quit before you become vested you get your pension contributions back with no interest.

She took a payout of about $8,000 instead of the pension and even had the HR Office and Pension Office repeatedly try to tell her not to quit just for this reason.

If she lives to be 80, then she got that 8k in exchange for 270k over 18 years.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

# ¿ May 3, 2017 06:05

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 03:01

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Pension office should have hired a goddamn puppeteer to explain the situation in a way she could understand. She just lit $250k on fire, good god.

# ¿ May 3, 2017 06:08

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

paragon1 posted:

I didn't even know that was physically possible.

I mean, it wouldn't be very sound usury business to just give out loans to every meth head that wanders in needing cash.

# ¿ May 6, 2017 00:27

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

LLCoolJD posted:

https://www.rvtrader.com/dealers/North-Trail-RV-Center-736402/listing/2017-Newmar-Dutch-Star-4369-121860900

$458,000 MSRP. Car equity? How about RV equity?

That's a goddamn bus, I refuse to hear otherwise.

# ¿ May 7, 2017 01:04

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Fitzy Fitz posted:

Yes, this is part of their standard "hit the pavement" strategy that also includes offering to do work for free until they see your value, asking about jobs when they aren't even hiring, and following up in-person after an interview.

Asking about potential openings when a company isn't actively hiring (to your knowledge) is actually smart.

# ¿ May 9, 2017 17:03

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

ate all the Oreos posted:

"Does it say the opening on the website? No? Then why are you bothering me about it rear end in a top hat"

That's the worst case scenario. But it's also possible that you will be on the top of the stack for a hiring process that hasn't yet started, or that they are keeping their eyes open for talent even though they don't have a formal opening. In some industries, positions aren't always listed and are otherwise filled by recruiters, but there's really no industry where asking about potential openings is going to hurt you.

# ¿ May 9, 2017 17:12

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

No one gets blacklisted by politely asking about openings, that's insane. Goons are so goddamn terrified of human interaction.

# ¿ May 9, 2017 18:31

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Krispy Kareem posted:

Ugh...that just happened to me (we can talk about ourselves if it's a bad thing right?). I was offered a job at the low end of the scale, I countered with the higher end (still within the range for the job). They said they'd check and call me back the next day. Never heard back from them again.

That was literally the first time I've ever countered a salary offer and honestly, probably the last time.

poo poo, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. Did you try calling them back?

# ¿ May 9, 2017 18:55

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Krispy Kareem posted:

There were warning signs. It was a small company (8 people), benefit details were spotty, the guy who owned the company didn't follow normal pay raise schedules and oh, he'd read everyone's email regularly.

Obviously they tried to spin the irregular pay adjustments as a positive. "Get hired cheap now and you could be making so much more in one year!" I'm too old to fall for that poo poo. Still, I would've taken the job as a placeholder at least.

One odd thing, it was a technology company, but they didn't start health insurance for six months. Is that weird to anyone else? Maybe I've worked for big corporations too long, but I haven't had to wait that long for benefits since...never. Some stuff took 6 months, like access to the 401k - but never health insurance. So yeah, lots of warning signs.

Oh yeah. Even left a message. They probably replayed that voicemail over and over again for its comedy value. I felt like that 28 year old momma's boy in Leon's post.

Health benefits at companies with less than 50 employees can still be extremely spotty, as they aren't covered by the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate (who knows how long that will be around, but it's presently the law).

I doubt they were laughing at you. Most likely they saw an opportunity to pick someone with commensurate skills for less than what you wanted and simply went with that. At that point they should have politely informed you that they had gone with someone else, but it's also common for employers to just cut contact and ignore you.

# ¿ May 9, 2017 19:27

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

DarkHorse posted:

No.

$2,000 more a year!?

# ¿ Jun 5, 2017 00:15

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Haifisch posted:

Oh god here have a bitcoin story from 4 years ago just make it stop:

Redditor takes out $30,000 on a credit card in order to "invest" (read:speculate) it all in Bitcoin.

The original post was deleted, but the comments are still around. You know it's bad when the bitcoiners are telling you you hosed up:

Although considering this was the Mt Gox era, dude would've been lucky if he got any real money back out of this.

if he actually did this and managed to keep the interest down with balance transfers and stuff he might have made somewhere in the ballpark of $250k or even $500k, assuming he had the wherewithal to actually sell in the recent spike

# ¿ Jun 7, 2017 04:38

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Solice Kirsk posted:

\Like if there was ever a cryptocurrency ETF or something I could justify buying into it for a short term investment.

I mean half of the purpose of crypto as an investment vehicle is probably tax evasion, so that probably wouldn't be terribly popular.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 08:31

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Splish posted:

Overheard a coworker this morning say that she and her husband make about $120,000 a year and it's good that they don't make more because then they would be in the 33% tax bracket and get screwed over.

How are marginal tax brackets a thing that so many people have trouble understanding? People actually make decisions not to make more money because they are convinced that going into a higher tax bracket applies to all your income.

I've talked to 50 year-olds who still don't understand how tax brackets work. Many people apparently just put the numbers in and accept what comes out as fate or something.

It's also really popular in the country to manufacture grievances against the government to explain one's problems.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 23:01

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Teeter posted:

I went to a wedding last weekend. At Disneyland.

It was pretty standard fare for the most part, though we could tell that doing it at Disney and being forced to use a lot of their in-house services probably added an extra digit to the cost of everything.

That is, until the bride's carriage arrived...

i wonder how much the "jack black dressed as a dandy" addition costs

# ¿ Jun 21, 2017 21:43

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Tiny Brontosaurus posted:

$2950 for two hours.

Themed Disney Entertainers:
Major Domo (in full regalia) from $800.00*
English Butler from $800.00*
Herald Trumpeter (for fanfare) from $750.00*
Trumpet Duo from $1,200.00*

Walt Disney World� Characters (Disney characters are subject to availability and specific characters may not be available.)
Character appearances based on one 30-minute set.
One Character from $1,200.00*
Two Characters from$1,700.00*

Ask your Disney Wedding Specialist about adding additional characters

Only $800 to replace the role of a beloved family member in your wedding with a disney employee, folks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07mjQL5vK3w

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 01:18

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Splish posted:

I wonder how much of that the actors actually get

Search your feelings, friend.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 01:30

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

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# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 01:31

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Our office stock guru has not had a good run for the last year or so.

Good lord in heaven, you have to put an end to this madness.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2017 23:07

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

"I've gone with real estate, precious metals, and some areas where you can put your money to let it grow without taxes (PredictIT, Bitcoin, and Savings (???) are my go to options."

I can't stop thinking about this line. Guys, take money out of your tax-advantaged account for some hellish trifecta (quadfecta??) of insane gambles!!! While you're at it, throw some tax evasion in there and don't pay any taxes on PredictIt, Bitcoin, or "savings" proceeds!

# ¿ Jun 29, 2017 23:39

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

baquerd posted:

BTC don't do dividends as far as I know, so holding them should indeed be tax free.

When you sell, your gains are treated as income. If he's merely talking about avoiding any capital gains taxes on dividends or similar, the advice is ~~only slightly less insane~~ still completely insane.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-21.pdf

# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 00:29

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Subjunctive posted:

I would expect the gains to be capital gains and not income, and also that dividends aren't taxed as capital gains, but I admit that I didn't click your link.

Yeah without getting into the specifics, the IRS seems to have a pretty substantial web of rules re: classifying your income based on how you acquire the crypto, how you use it, etc. I suspect that a lot of people trading crypto simply don't pay any taxes on it, though, which is extremely BWM in the long term.

(You're also correct that most, but not all, dividends are not taxed as capital gains.)

# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 01:05

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

I'm none too canny with this sort of thing, could someone please explain?

# ¿ Jul 12, 2017 03:42

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

John Smith posted:

You are full of crap. Why don't you gently caress off then?

Guess you people just can't handle the truth huh. If something is uncomfortable, then let's just ignore it.

Reasonable people can have a discussion regarding the proportion of citizens who are highly conservative (in a non-political sense) and lead life virtuously. Reasonable people cannot have a discussion about the very existence of these conservative citizens. It is blatantly clear that such conservative citizens exist. Denying it is similar to the Iranian government denying the existence of homosexuals, quite simply nonsense.

Imagine how harsh an echo chamber effect you must be subjected to, to actually hold such a viewpoint! That the country is literally without any such conservative citizen. How extreme you must be.

Can someone just ban this idiot? This is not a joke.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2017 09:08

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

OctaviusBeaver posted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6p05rk/23_year_old_senior_in_college_getting_a_divorce/

This one is way too long but the highlights are:

- Married at 20, divorcing at 23 while still in school
- Making$14,000/yr
- Doesn't own a car but borrowed $6k to buy a camper at 20% interest
- $2000 in unexplained credit card debt
- Complains he can't get on food stamps but owns a dog and pays $40/month in pet insurance
- Wife pays 2/3 of the rent but he wants to get divorced as quickly as possible so he will qualify for food stamps
- Spends almost $100/month on pizza

The rest I more or less understand but how on earth did this guy end up buying a camper at 20% interest when he doesn't even own a car?

# ¿ Jul 23, 2017 21:12

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

monster on a stick posted:

Oh, you mean this plan:

So what was that about "the public gets its money back" because it doesn't really sound like it if the government is writing off debt.

Well at least it kept tuition down

or not (I mean, it's much better than the US, but it sounds like they had the same effect of seeing tuition go up as loans became easy to get, just like the US.)

EDIT:

Wow, snagging debtors at the airport, that's some next level collections work.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2017 02:43

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

sparkmaster posted:

If its the case, it isnt working. China is building much more advanced weapons in 1/10th of the time on 1/3rd of the budget.

There's no evidence of this, other than maybe the budget part (which doesn't mean much on its own, since by all credible accounts they're making inferior weapons).

# ¿ Aug 2, 2017 03:20

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Woooo doggy,this guy is looking worse and worse.

monster on a stick posted:

On life with a negative net worth (self.personalfinance)

submitted 2 hours ago by WhiteWaterLawyer

I have a significantly negative net worth, mostly from student loans on my professional degree.

I feel like common financial wisdom is to live like a monk until debt free. But is that really necessary?

I keep a detailed spreadsheet about my finances and projections range from depressing to great depending on the huge variable that is my income. The legal job market has been pretty bad the last few years and so far I've made less per year in the four years since law school than I did in the four years before it. Part of my debt is from definitely living beyond my means in that time; I had acclimated to a certain lifestyle before school and didn't downgrade it until recently when the reality of being a poor lawyer finally sank in.

Now I've finally gotten a job with a decent pay scale and a good workload, and I'm looking at my income increasing significantly. My income is finally "stable" on a draw salary and based on the trend so far it's looking like my income will be five figures monthly by early spring.

My plan is to aggressively attack debt, but I am also planning a few purchases that might seem indulgent. Is it necessarily wrong for me to spend some of my income on comfort while still in the early stages of debt elimination?

The planned indulgence is a custom RV that I will use as a mobile office and to promote my business. I travel a lot because of both work and my hobbies (whitewater and law) and an appropriate vehicle would make that travel a lot more comfortable, but is undeniably a big chunk of change. I view the purchase as part of my early retirement plan as I will definitely be spending much more time in it once I get to true financial independence. With the RV and conservative projections of my income (August has already blown past the conservative projections by almost double) I would reach my definition of retirement 11 years from now; without the RV I could do it in ten. The RV would delay the debt-free (except student loans which I am leaning toward staying on IBR with) timeline from 18 months to 2 years. I am comfortable with that tradeoff because while I am getting better at deferring gratification, I am tired of being poor.

Am I wrong to think like this, or is this an acceptable part of coming up with my own individual plan?

Income is projected in the range of $8k to $20k per month. It varies because it's all contingent fees and any given case has a 50-50-ish chance of winning or losing. The average fee on a win is $6k to the firm of which I keep $4k. I complete on average 2 cases a week. So assuming a conservative win rate of 50% (my actual win rate historically is around 70%) and a conservative pace of 1 case a week (my average so far at this firm has been 2 a week) a reasonable projection would be $8k per month.

8k/mo=96k/yr=~$58k/yr post-tax, $4800 a month post-tax.
Additional income $1050 a month government pension
Health care is covered by the VA
So net take home is $5850 a month average (but likely more than that).

Current debt situation:

Student loans around $160k, in IBR with current payments at $200 a month expected to jump to $1500 a month in 2020 (IBR is recalculated on tax returns every 2 years; it was just done this spring and the next recalculation will likely show the higher income)
Car $20k bal paying $550/mo (would be traded toward the van)
House $35k bal paying $320/mo
2 credit cards carrying balances since law school, $11,000, paying $300/mo
Non-debt monthly expenses total about $1100 a month:
$300 travel related (some reimbursed, some not)
$200 utilities
$200 insurance
$100 property taxes
$300 food

Interestingly I know that I could easily get by on just the military pension at this point if I wanted to simply by defaulting on my debts, of course I don't consider that an option and I prefer to work to live a slightly more comfortable life than one right on the poverty line. That helps me stay motivated, knowing I'm working not for survival but for a better life and to keep my promises.

So with the current job I could be applying up to $4750 per month to the debt without the van. I'm currently leaning toward financing the van and I'm plotting to spend around $700 a month on it, which leaves me $4000 a month to whack debt.
I've plotted my spreadsheet with $3000-$3500 per month going toward debt because I like to be conservative. I use a very simple sheet that just calculates interest and payment month-by-month, it's a pretty big table. At $3500 a month I'm debt-free except student loans and the van by the end of 2020, assuming I buy the van next May which is really the earliest time that I would feel safe doing it - I want to bank at least two full months income aside from debt payments before adding another major purchase.

At that point there would still be about half of the van balance left along with most of the student loan balances... the destruction of those does look a little less optimistic. My spreadsheet is showing it all the way out to 2027 if I stay at $3500 a month all the way out and never increase it. My current thought it to start saving when I get down to just student loans, given the uncertainty about their future - specifically, whenever I do stop working, I could put them back into IBR and stop making payments on them, which makes me question the wisdom of devoting great resources to paying them down. I'm curious what leanfire's take on that approach is. I'm kinda planning to just start saving aggressively while still making the minimums on the student loans, depending on what the payment rate is under IBR at that time; it's possible that my income spikes high enough that I don't get any discount from IBR at all anymore.

This is also where I get into uncomfortable territory with projections. I don't like counting on increases. This is the first time I've ever included a "raise" in my budget and the only reason I'm even thinking like this is that the money is already on the "accounts receivable" ledger at a rate far in excess of my wildest expectations. I earned (my share) $6500 this week. I don't expect that to be a typical week at all, but if it were I'd be able to attack debt at a rate of over $10,000 a month. Realistically I have to call that an overambitious goal; I don't have the personal capacity to sustain such a pace without hiring an assistant which I guess would probably cost me at least $35,000 a year, but even after that I'd still be doubling my current projections to attack debt. I don't want to "get my hopes up" by even running the numbers in that scenario.

You are all probably right that I should hold off on such a large purchase, especially financing it. However I am pretty sure that this is something important to me and I don't mind working a little extra for it. I will probably explore alternative approaches to find the most prudent way to accomplish my actual goal. I spend a lot of time in /r/vandwellers reading their ideas and the like, there's a little bit of overlap between these two subs but clearly not that much. One key difference I have with most vandwellers is that I have a "serious" job I have to get back to by Tuesday of most weekends, so I don't have the option of buying a 20 year old rustbucket for $1500 and just hoping that I'm not too far from a mechanic when the transmission goes. I actually need the reliability of a new/er vehicle regardless of whether it's my current station wagon or my future van.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2017 04:53

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

She makes over 80k a year from her tinctures and gets another several thousand from co-managing a hippie music festival.

I don't know the cash value of the fruits and vegetables she gets for her tattoos.

She is more GWM than we could ever dream to be.

Maybe those "mushroom tinctures" are actually just psilocybin.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2017 23:52

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Subjunctive posted:

This thread inspired me to discuss the engagement ring parameters with my girlfriend and probably saved me a lot of money!

Goon-analyzed love finance is the best love finance.

Glad at least some good came of a perennial, boring derail.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2017 01:31

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Actual BWM/BWL engagement ring content time. This fellow splurged for a ring that costs as much as a car and the inevitable occurred:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6uf7ms/fiance_told_me_its_over_what_now/

quote:

Fiance told me it's over. What now?

I'll be short and sweet and try to keep the emotions out of it. Long story short, my fiancé told me she is done. I came home from work to the ring on my nightstand and her telling me she's done. My question to r/personalfinance. We have an apartment together. Both of us are on the lease. Do I stick out the next 7 months of our lease or move to a new place and pay both rents? Current monthly rent for my half is $700.00 all in. I make appx $65,000 annually with almost no other expenses. (Company car, gas card, health insurance, etc)

Second question. Does anyone know if it is possible to sell engagement rings for near what you paid? I paid ~$18,000 for the ring. Do I have a chance of coming anywhere near that reselling it?

My brain is a little scattered right now so I'm sorry if some things don't make sense. Any advice and guidance is appreciated.

Thanks, Ryan

UPDATE I should have mentioned, we are both on the lease. My share of the rent is $700. It is $1400 total per month. This is where moving out/breaking the lease becomes complicated. I would still be financially obligated to cover the rent if she cannot afford it (if I move out).

Oh yeah, he's now sleeping on the couch while his ex-fiance apparently gets the bed-- presumably her reward for dumping him. Wonder how much he'll recoup on the ring? Half?

# ¿ Aug 19, 2017 01:38

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Colin Mockery posted:

Remember that ad in the Bay Area offering minimum wage for a personal ~~servant~~ assistant?

Well, this family wants someone similar (but for kids instead of dogs/themselves): https://www.childcare.co.uk/profile/2398492 and they're offering a yearly salary of 100k pounds, meals cooked by a Michelin-starred chef, and multiple luxury cars available to drive while running errands, and since this ad has turned out to be very popular, they'd like to emphasize that all the requirements are mandatory and please don't apply if you don't fit the qualifications.

(I don't think there's actually anything particularly BWM about this ad, I just think it's a funny contrast.)

78 hours a week and mandatory international travel. 15 years of experience and a very specific degree required, plus you're expected to be some sort of quasi-body guard. If anything, 100k is on the low side.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2017 20:49

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Fil5000 posted:

In the UK your first 10k or so (I forget the exact figure) is tax free, then it's 20% tax on everything up to 30k-ish and then 40% from 30ish to 150kish. I threw 100k into a take home pay calculator and it works out around 28% overall tax and about 5% national insurance contributions.

drat, that 40% kicks in fast.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2017 08:58

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Imagine paying that person to represent you as your attorney, Jesus Christ. 37 years old, yet as green as grass.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2017 03:25

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Yawgmoth posted:

I still don't understand the concept of a juicer that just squeezes a pack. Isn't the whole point to use fresh fruit?!

Well the idea of a cheapo machine that needs special subscription packs to work makes sense--thats what Keurig does. Only the Juicero peeps decided to do a $600 machine that still somehow needs special bespoke little packs of pre-mashed fruit in the hopes of having their cake and eating it, too.

Vox Nihili fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Sep 1, 2017

# ¿ Sep 1, 2017 22:38

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:

My crypto holdings are approximately 1% of my net worth, varying depending on the market price.

I think it should be a much higher percentage of this guy's portfolio, and I'll justify why: this guy has more money than he ever had any idea he would have, and has been living a presumably frugal existence devoid of the untold riches that this could bring his way. Bitcoin is still a speculative asset with enormous variability of what it's probably worth. I don't think anyone really knows what this asset is worth (lol buttcoin), and I definitely think he should liquidate enough that he'll never have to worry about money again (90% of his position would do quite nicely). But given that he's young and probably has some appetite for risk, I don't think it's an entirely stupid idea to hold on to 10% of that position for the possibility that a bitcoin is worth $10,000 or $20,000 or $100,000 or $1,000,000.

It's an asset that's treated him quite richly so far, and he's shown his ability to hold onto it and forget about it while playing a long, long position.

If I had a net worth 5 times what we have now, I might have crypto as 10% of my portfolio instead of 1%, but I think it's a foolish decision not to hold some.

BWM coming from inside the thread now.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 20:39

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

One of our managers (who is one of the worst BWM offenders in a large pool of BWM, but is able to survive the consequences because she has a large income) is retiring next month. It has set off a massive BWM chain-reaction that is costing everyone money.

Part I:

Debbie is retiring early (age 55) after 24 years of service. Pensions fully vest after 25 years of service. You also get full health benefits after 25 years.

That means she is taking a roughly 28% reduction in her pension compared to getting a full pension.

She could cut that early retirement penalty down to 6% if she retired next year (fully vested, but take an age penalty for early retirement).

She doesn't have to retire right now, but she is doing it because she turned 55 last month and that is the youngest you can be to apply for early retirement and collect your pension.

She currently lives paycheck-to-paycheck on a salary of $92k a year, never opened a 457(b) with us during her tenure, and does not have an IRA. That means that her pension is her only income in retirement.

She bought a house 4 years ago. I don't know how much her house cost, but she frequently says that she paid "over half a mil" for it and complains about all the repairs.

The average home price in our area is about $228k.

There is no way that she is going to survive going from paycheck-to-paycheck on $92k a year - with all medical expenses paid for - to roughly $36k a year and responsible for all medical costs.

Everyone is very mad at her because the benefits office sat her down and tried to tell her about the massive amount of money she was leaving on the table by not staying the extra year (22% higher pension payments and healthcare benefits - she has diabetes and sees a doctor twice a month for foot pain treatment) and she didn't want to hear about it. She also got approved for two weeks of vacation and then put in her two-week notice on the second day of her vacation.

Part II:

She has the right to quit whenever she wants and HR/the agency just has to deal with getting a major position filled in two weeks without the previous employee there to train the new hire. Life goes on.

A retirement party is planned for her on the Thursday she comes back from vacation. Because we are a government agency, no public or office funds or materials of any kind can be used for this party.

Several of the major agency heads kick in a few hundred dollars to start the pot and Debbie is consulted about what she wants to do for her party.

Debbie seems to think that this is an episode of My Super Sweet 16 that her coworkers are all paying for.

We plan for:

- Invites for 78 people from outside of the office (39 of Debbie's friends/family and a +1 for each)
- $525 in flowers for the tables and an arrangement to wreath a blown up picture of her.
- A $400 gift from everyone (a gift card to a nice restaurant and gift card to a spa)

The venue she picked has different levels of charges depending on how many people will be there. They schedule a certain amount of staff and cook a certain amount of food, etc.

We select the "100-150 package" based on the ~40 people who were committed to going and the 78 that Debbie was inviting. You actually get discounts for higher levels, so her massive guest list was somewhat of a benefit for the rest of us.

The package we chose had you pick 2 of 4 different meals:

- Vegetarian ($9 per plate)
- Chicken ($11 per plate)
- Fish ($15 per plate)
- Steak ($22 per plate)

We initially went with Vegetarian and Chicken and sent an email out. Debbie called into the office from her vacation to let us know that "Chicken is trashy" and that there were not going to be any vegetarian requests from her party members (the vast majority of people going.)

They changed it to Fish and Steak. They ended up with 32 plates of fish and 86 plates of steak.

To budget for this change, they got rid of the bartenders and changed to a cash bar.

Debbie also requested that we get upgraded plates and silverware because it would be "trashy" to have steaks on regular ceramic plates and "dollar store knives."

After they accounted for the initial pool of money from the department heads, they determined that it would cost $35 per person to attend. This shrank the number of committed people.

Then, 3 days before the party, Debbie lets us know that she is back from vacation and talked to her friends and family about coming. The 78 people that she said were all "Yes" was actually going to be 22.

The venue charges a $500 fee for having fewer than 75% of the attendees you promised (I'm guessing this is something for tipping the excess staff or to offset the potential loses from fewer people? It wasn't clear why this is the case and the office is in the process of trying to get them to waive it.)

They can't back out of the event now and people who had RSVP'd are trying to wiggle their way out of the commitment.

The party committee decided that if they can't get them to waive that $500 fee, that they would just split it up amongst the employees that attended (not ALL the guests).

Now, there is a chain-reaction of people who suddenly can't make it to the event and that potential $500 (plus $35 for food, cash bar, and $10 for contribution to her gift) is going to be distributed among fewer and fewer people, which is in-turn causing more and more people to try and get out of it.

The party is this Thursday night and they just sent out an email saying that anyone who RSVP'd at any point is considered attending for all costs.

Keep in mind: The people Debbie manages (AKA the party attendees) all make around $28k a year.

Look on the bright side: She's happily subsidizing your pension fund by taking out a fraction of what she's contributed due to sheer hubris/laziness. Good news for everyone else planning to draw from that pool down the road!

# ¿ Sep 11, 2017 19:34

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

ohgodwhat posted:

$100k is a massive amount of money now?

Oh boy it's time for this bullshit again!!!

Motronic posted:

I present the thread with more weapons grade BWM to get it back on track:

Wife Cheated / Is Leaving I'm Screwed
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/70s4yy/wife_cheated_is_leaving_im_screwed/

Muuuuuch better, looks like you caught it before the deletion, too.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2017 04:33

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

pathetic little tramp posted:

A horse lease is usually pretty good with money, at least for the horse owner.

I have two rich white people that lease my horse for their girls and it puts me up 400 bucks a month.

The horse owners are inside the thread!!!

# ¿ Sep 22, 2017 22:44

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

canyoneer posted:

The red pill shoutout makes my mind say "troll", but man I don't even know.

I'm the one-in-a-quarter million IQ.

Also lmao, I was totally on her side until about halfway through. If she believes in that redpill poo poo then it's probably best that she gets a job rather than raise the child, whom she would inevitably poison.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2017 22:20

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 9, 2024 03:01

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

Guest2553 posted:

The past year and change has destroyed my outrage meter to the point where I'm just thankful that they'll only ruin each other and nothing of beauty will be destroyed.

Except for their child.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2017 02:07

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Bad With Money 2018: When I die, bury me in the blockchain.

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