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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Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Edit: Beaten ^^^^^^^^^

# ¿ May 2, 2017 15:25

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 01:57

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Holy crap Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/68y3vz/is_there_a_way_i_can_keep_my_mothers_house/

quote:

Is there a way I can keep my mother's house?

tl;dr: Father got arrested for possession of child pornography. Complete surprise to everyone. My mother is a stay at home mother and has been for 33 years that they have been married. I work but don't make any real money. Any financial suggestions would be appreciated. Probably makes more sense reading it all.

...My mother has been a stay at home mom since my father got his job 30 years ago. He made good money where we didn't have to worry. I'm a minimalist in a way. When I graduated college I realized my time and family is more valuable to me than getting a "real" job that pays six figures. We never hurt for money my dad made plenty and it was always a fair trade on my labor vs. The building supplies for my house....

...All in all I am self sufficient. I remodel for 6 hours everyday and take care of my family for the rest. ...

quote:

I do have income, it just comes from my family's income which isn't physically there right now. I work for my parents I just don't get handed money and they pay my bills and I get my house, it's a fair trade. My sister will have a lot of money later just none to give me now. I get paid 16 dollars an hour, I have it all added up to how much she owes me. But that IOU does no good for me right now.

# ¿ May 3, 2017 16:18

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Virtue posted:

Why did you decide to inject race and gender into the discussion?

Are you new here?

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

This was a company where HR's job is to protect the company itself from existing, former, and potential employees.

That is HR's primary job in any company. If you've worked for one that made you feel otherwise they were either very good or very bad at their job.

# ¿ May 9, 2017 23:05

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

It seems that supermarkets could market a Blue Apron-like product that you pick up in stores for a fraction of the price.

Nearly every "nicer" grocery store around here does exactly that.

# ¿ May 10, 2017 19:56

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

You can't be underwater on a lease in a practical sense

I had the same comment, then i went and read the thread on reddit and someone said the same thing. The response.......

quote:

What I mean is it has negative equity from a previous trade in tacked onto it

# ¿ May 20, 2017 00:49

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Acebuckeye13 posted:

What the gently caress did I just read

The onset of a mental disorder.

# ¿ May 22, 2017 03:28

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

Assuming he's a traditional student, he would unfortunately be in the highest risk age range for the onset of severe mental illness.

Yep. I wasn't being sarcastic there.

# ¿ May 22, 2017 03:43

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

So you drunklenly gave your credit card to a stripper and are surprised at the outcome?

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6dp57u/card_dispute_and_possible_collections_attempt_help/

quote:

First of all, I apologize if this is the best sub to post this in, so if there is a better one to post this in please let me know. Second, for the sake of discussion let's concede that what follows is a result of naivety and alcohol-fueled stupidity.
So I visited NOLA in late March and the first full day (well, really that night) I did the very stereotypical NOLA thing to do - drink. Eventually I got well drunk - not wasted, but definitely drunk. On the way to my final stop I notice a strip club. Now, understand that I have no love for strip clubs and I find them generally distasteful but in said alcohol-induced stupidity, I went in. Now, I'm a generally naive person but I don't consider myself stupid - I'm very aware of what they sell. Eventually I get super drunk - not wasted, because I do have memory of that night - but drunk enough to spend $1600 on supposedly all-night-until-9 AM with 2 entertainers. Now, I repeatedly asked the entertainers (who were the ones that I negotiated with) to verify the end time before agreeing, because again, I'm not stupid. However, I didn't count on them straight up lying to me, though, as what I apparently paid for as I found out later was for 30 min. that got "extended" to an hour. Now, it really wasn't an hour, more like 40 min. after which I was told to leave. I had a good time but as pissed when I found this out, but I was told that the manager had left for the night - that is, I did ask for the manager. However, the club was closed so I had to leave. I came back the next day and ofc they have their day/night managers play good cop/bad cop b/c the day manager was super friendly and the night manager...wasn't. Both ended up telling me to dispute the charge w/ my card. Incidentally during the whole ordeal of talking to the day manager an assistant manager tells me that I shouldn't have been charged $1600 for 40 min. anyway and should've been charged half of that (to my recollection) and that $1600 was the charge for a full hour. So I go ahead and dispute the charge. It's been 2 months and the bank finally got back to me saying that I had to show proof otherwise they would decide in the club's favor. Now, here's the first problem: I don't really have much written proof - the negotiation was verbal. Secondly, the bank provided me with the club's response which was: I authorized the charge (which I did, but before the time started, not after) and that services were rendered. On that same document they also said that if the bank decides in my favor that they'll take me to collections.
Again, let's please look past the part where I made a string of stupid decisions. I acknowledge that and learned many lessons throughout this whole ordeal, but the card dispute isn't about regretting this and wanting my money back - it's about the fact that I was lied to in terms of what I was paying for. However, all I have in written proof are the drinks that I bought in various bars that night and that I called Uber before said hour was up as I was kicked out before the hour. Everything else is verbal and anecdotal. Hell, at this point I'm not really sure what length of time they think that I paid for. Another wrinkle is the receipt. I didn't notice this at the time, but probably in an attempt to not lose in a situation like this, they didn't actually write down the length of time on the receipt - on the receipt they extended (rather, I purchased) a certain amount of club credit in terms of money and then they decided how much the credit that was worth in terms of time separately (similar to buying airline miles and the airline determining how much those miles were worth when going back to dollars). To be clear, the receipt was done before the time started, not after. At any rate, here's where I need help:
1) The bank is at the stage where they are asking me for proof. Given what I've told you about the situation and the proof that I have, how likely is it (in your opinion) that the bank grants me credit? Understand that I'm not trying to do a full chargeback, but rather a partial as I did buy and get alcohol as part of that package and I did receive some time from the entertainers but how much did the merchant think I bought I'm unsure of. However, I was under the impression of roughly 5 hours.
2) If the bank grants me credit, how likely is it that the merchant will actually take me to collections (as I said, they've threatened to take me to collections if I lose)?
3) If the merchant takes me to collections, how likely is it that I'll be able to win a dispute of the debt given the ruling of the bank?
4) I have to buy/lease a car within the next few months. Given that, is it worth pursuing this at all (this is the main reason why I posted this here)?
Again, I understand the stupidity of what I did, but this isn't friendly fraud. Being young and naive doesn't get me out of responsibility but hopefully ya'll can look past that and help.

# ¿ May 27, 2017 20:57

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

John Smith posted:

Agreed. But what he said is so far out there, I want to see his reply first. Basically, his post was the rough (economics) equivalent of denying climate change.

Just to clarify things, we are not discussing some high-end theoretical poo poo that takes an advanced economics degree to debate. We are discussing level 1000 material, at best level 2000 material. And he is reallllly poo poo.

Between this thread and the Corporate one I'm getting the feeling that you forgot to take your meds today.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2017 17:49

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

John Smith posted:

But I disagree for this thread. We are discussing basic college material here. People should know their poo poo before mouthing off online.

It's not the content, it's your tone. You are acting like a flaming rear end in a top hat for no good reason.

Do you want to discuss this, or just put someone who you feel is beneath your intelligence and expertise on the defensive so you can start yet another internet slap fight? You seem to be going for the latter.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2017 18:11

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Power of Pecota posted:

I'm confused how $600/month for electricity breaks down (as someone who's only ever paid electricity bills for apartments with 0-2 roommates) but I'm guessing that has a lot of stuff rolled in with it.

Some of this:

Tiny Brontosaurus posted:

The article says that's with some late payments, and the fees for that get steep.

Plus a couple ancient window shaker AC units or heat pump on a 1970s basically uninsulated trailer. It's easily doable.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2017 01:20

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6fuvg2/truck_rental/

quote:

Monthly truck payments = $1200

# ¿ Jun 7, 2017 18:39

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Higgy posted:

Is this bad or good with money? On one hand, great gas mileage, on the other...horses AND and RV. I'm torn. I wish that was all towing a boat, that might tip the scales a little.

That's the most Amish thing I've seen in a long time.

Car is likely not an option, and with the lifestyle, life skills and breeds involved those horses most definitely are less expensive than a car if I'm right.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 01:52

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Solice Kirsk posted:

Think those are mules aren't they? Or was that the joke?

They look like standardbred trotters to me, which is part of why I'm suggesting Amish.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 02:00

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

I don't know, it would take some really creative accounting to make a horse less expensive per distance traveled than a car. if you own a bunch of land to let them forage and don't offset the opportunity cost of putting it to more productive use, are willing to put in significant personal labor into maintaining the horse and ignore that time spent, own a stable and don't include the depreciation, and get veterinarian services exchanged in kind by the community, maybe the cash spent per mile is lower than a car. But then if you were a trained mechanic and owned an oil well, operating a car wouldn't seem too expensive.

This is fair. I'm mentally biased since I grew up around the Amish, so I'm factoring in a lot of things like not actually traveling further than a horse can go without water in both directions as this is how those communities are set up. These are self reliant people who do what needs to be done. I don't want to say they put no value on their time, but it's not like caring for and breeding horses is actually costing them actual cash money. It's part of what they do.

(I guess this doesn't belong here, so I'll stop, but the basic explanation in it's most ugly form is that their time and labor isn't "worth" as much in cash because of the things they can not do based on their beliefs)

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 02:16

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

I specifically mentioned a Roth 401k because it's also pre-tax,

No, it's not.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 20:31

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6g981n/question_about_a_leased_car/

quote:

I leased a car through the Uber leasing program (bad idea I know) and was barely able to afford it and not be a full time driving slave. Managed to get into two different wrecks ( one that was not my fault and in the rear and one that was my fault in the front). The insurance company issued me two different checks for the repairs of the vehicle. I took the vehicle to a local repair shop, while simultaneously being weeks behind on my lease payment ( to the point where would they come repo it) as I had been unable to work with it in that condition. I then used the checks the insurance company sent me to go and purchase a decent used vehicle so I could continue to work and not get screwed with a 950 monthly lease payment. I knew the repo people would try to go get the car so I called Uber and told them where the car was. The shop just called me asking where the checks are because the cars been ready for a week. Everyone wants money for it or the car it self. My question is: how screwed am I? And who is most likely coming to screw me? And is there any way out of this?

# ¿ Jun 9, 2017 22:51

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

I don't see the scam. Horribly convoluted identity theft? Potential kidnapping and rape? It just sounds like a weird old man she probably shouldn't work with because it won't be worth her time.

You don't get that the dollhouses don't exist and he's gonna take the money from the "sales" and disappear, leaving this girl to face the consequences from paypal and ebay?

# ¿ Jun 10, 2017 15:21

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Been 'off-grid' traveling for years, haven't filed taxes, haven't had health insurance, or anything--finally ready to get back into the real world and would like to do it in the most efficient way possible.

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6h3xv6/been_offgrid_traveling_for_years_havent_filed/

quote:

Naturally a preface with "yes I know, maybe I haven't made the wisest decisions on the personal finance front." But it is what it is at this point, so I'd like to get on the right track. Apologies for the long post and life-story, but it felt right.
Long story short, after college I had some decent savings from my desk job, so I quit and took off traveling that very summer. Work exchanges, camping in jungles, hitchhiking--you name the low-to-no budget travel method, and I've probably tried it. Something like seven years later, here I am.
My on-the-road writing career didn't work out as expected, so the credit cards inevitably started to rack up. Any "income" was purely through $100-200 odd internet jobs here and there, normally through PayPal and cash, very rarely checks. Sometimes friends and family would send me money. I had a blog that didn't bring in any money, occasionally some YouTube videos would bring in a couple hundred per year. I would stay somewhere cheap like Mexico for as long as the visa would allow, doing a work trade for my food & accommodation and survive off less than $100/month. But I digress.
Back to the point, I haven't filed for taxes since 2010. Had a tax return in 2011 from the few months I worked in 2010, but have had no contact with the IRS ever since (which has been pretty nice, seeing how stressed out everyone always gets around tax season). Looking back, I probably wouldn't have had to pay much in taxes anyway if I had cared to take the time to look into it. I know at some point, a lot of that was fear over the fact that I would have to pay a fee for not having health insurance after I turned 27, a whole concept that intimidated me from the get-go as an American young adult with no stability in any form.
I had gotten really good at living on couches and playing music in the streets, but at some point I realized that I didn't want to be a bum with no contribution to society. I came from a well-off segment of society (compared to most the world, anyway), and realized that I was wasting a whole lot of potential that was almost like a slap in the face to my parents.
In my transition out of that phase, I had learned about the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform. I used it and my supportive friends & family to raise money for two projects: one year brought me $3000 in donations and the next year the second project was around $2000.
Two years later, and those projects eventually lead into something I'll simplify by saying it's turning into a career as the founder of a 501c3 non-profit organization. Plot twist?
Last year was our first year of operations and revenue was way less than we ended up spending (the remainder more or less on my credit card). This year it's likely to be similar, or at least break even if I stay responsible (which I probably won't).
All business-related expenses have been expenses of the non-profit itself because the revenue generated (in line with our tax-exempt purpose, in its own bank account) is the company's (though mainly my own work). And to complicate the matter, a lot of these expenses have been reimbursement to my bank account because the paychecks never seem to arrive before I've already had to pay for something business-related on my credit card.
Ugh, anyway I know that's probably TMI but I can't help but be a storyteller. I know I probably did it backwards of how most would go about doing something like this (donate personal money to the start-up of the non-profit and deduct it later), but as I've explained, I've had a different background leading into this and it all came about kind of out of the blue.
Anyway, I am facing my fears of the unknown and I want to clear myself in case this organization actually gets off the ground. I don't want the thought to linger thinking there's anything potentially sticky waiting in the future. I really believe in what we are doing and I don't want to jeopardize that in any way.
So my question is, should I begin simply by filing my 2016 returns late?--which would still be very low income, if any, but at least it's filed. I imagine there would be a health insurance penalty.
Or should I figure out my health insurance now, and just start filing 2017 returns next year and just go with it, crossing my fingers? Depending on how things go, there's a chance I could even claim some money that the nonprofit is paying me for work I am doing this year... that, or I'll go into more credit card debt.
Or maybe I should call the IRS and explain my situation upfront? I also don't know the situation with our country's new administration repealing Obamacare and if that affects anything. I'm assuming this method will bring the most peace of mind and the most penalty fees, but I'll leave that for you to tell me.
At this stage I'm very aware of the reality of paying some amount of late fees, I'd just obviously prefer to minimize them. I don't really want to hide any longer but if I owe a few grand in not having health insurance over the years then you see why maybe I'd want to continue hiding. It's a weird paradox I feel myself in.
Some logistics in case its relevant: there's probably never been more than a cumulative $8k in my personal bank account over a year-long period in the last six years.. I've managed to keep up the ~$130/month in minimum credit card payments going, a grand total of roughly $6000 credit card debt at its highest (which my dad has recently bought off me and I'm paying him back a lower interest rate). Suddenly this year, my bank account has seen at least twice that amount because of all the expense reimbursements.
And regarding the non-profit, I personally (optimistically) believe we could get it going to where I'm making a decent salary by next year. So I am not sure if it makes more sense for my return to progressively climb from ~0 or go from non-existent to something like $50k.
Also, I still have a decent credit score. Upwards of 750 when last I checked earlier this year. I only want credit cards for the rewards, at this point (air miles have literally brought me around the world). Not sure if that matters.
Anyway, thanks for your perspective, omitting any personal opinions on my choice of lifestyle/actions over the years.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2017 02:41

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Haifisch posted:

Translation: Mommy and daddy told me to get off my rear end and go get a job already. I'm surprised they're not throwing an accountant at him to get his taxes sorted out.

My guess: They were already mad, so Mr. Manchild didn't tell them about that part yet.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2017 14:25

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

ohgodwhat posted:

No, withdrawal limits

No withdrawal. Limits!

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 03:20

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

(Planning) was declined a parent plus loan and wanted to seek help

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6huccd/planning_was_declined_a_parent_plus_loan_and/

quote:

Hello r/personalfinance. Today I applied for a parent plus program with my father. A little background, my father has excellent credit, I however do not. Mine is mid 500's. I had a recent charge off dealing with a car that was in an accident.
In general I have these financial blemishes (gently caress ups) - maxed out boa credit card $500 line - maxed out citi credit card through Costco - 17k car-loan - 3k personal loan - a charge off from the previous car/2 months late on current car payment.
So I know the elephant in the room is yo square away the charge off and get current on the car payments. Beyond that, what are my options to pay for school? Have 1.5 years left, and previously had school taken care of with scholarship, and now am in nursing school and will be done in 1.5 years.

How can I get into more debt that I can't pay for? Kthx.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2017 17:41

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Ixian posted:

I've personally known people who will dicker more over the price of a used gas grill at a yard sale, even walk if it was $10 more than they wanted to pay (I am thinking of a specific example here) yet have a pickup truck they bought based solely on how affordable the monthly payment was. That's the mentality that leads to, "well I can get a new car and "get out" of my old one and my payments don't really change! I'll be making a car payment all the time anyway what's the big deal?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality

Solice Kirsk posted:

There's the long shot they can try to play the "your broker didn't gather the basic KYC information for his new client" and see if they can get wiggle room from the actual firm. Doubt it though.

That's what I was thinking. Is this not a thing for transfer on death accounts? Seems like the borker (edit, I'm leaving this typo in) would at least be getting a nastygram from the SEC. Don't know if that wipes out the debt, and I seriously dobt any money reappears.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2017 14:39

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Hoodwinker posted:

They absolutely will.

We're already close if it hasn't happened yet. Business loans based on receivables has been a thing for a really long time. All you need to do is turn the back end of that into a security.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2017 20:13

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Good Parmesan posted:

Is taking out a loan for a bed GWM? Getting a better night sleep is proven to increase productivity, so I should be looking forward to a higher salary once I'm sleeping in this bed?

Mattress equity.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2017 16:04

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

yoloer420 posted:

As somebody who writes and enjoys boats this sounds ideal. Where are these fares advertised?

You can find them pretty easily by searching for the correct term. They are called "repositioning cruises."

# ¿ Jun 29, 2017 03:35

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Like, not everyone is lying about everything, dismissing the possibility that the "very liquid investment" is indeed a very liquid investment is a little hasty.

Nobody here has said everyone. But you take these things in context: people in this situation who also post about it on the interwebs while being cagy about details......that's where my and several other poster's seemingly logical suspicion comes from. That suspicion includes the whole post being a troll.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2017 16:21

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6m5rkn/low_income_partner_has_broken_down_life_overhaul/

quote:

My partner is currently unable to work. She was earning around $13,000 per year. She has car payments of $1000 per month, I believe $15,000 remaining.

It's really too bad she's gonna have to sell that sweet Maserati....wait, what???

quote:

I believe it's a 2012 Subaru Forester

# ¿ Jul 9, 2017 20:16

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Ixian posted:

High interest rate due to bad credit, rolled in one or more underwater loans previously...surprisingly easy to do.

I'm not sure it's surprisingly easy to do.......who gonna roll in more than double negative equity? So let's say it's a $30k 60 month loan. That puts the interest rate at 32% to make it a $1k payment. I'm not sure that's even legal.

Don't minimize how hard you have to try hard to achieve that kind of stupid.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2017 21:07

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Sorry for double post, but Reddit's got some good ones today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6m9f67/wild_debt_situation_my_life_was_changed_by_a_rule/

quote:

There was a grade replacement rule where I replaced 7 F grades from undergraduate with A's, but they got rid of that and my GPA dropped below the cutoff GPA for most schools.

My dilemma, I did not envision failure and took on $75,000 in debt plus 4 years of my life. I would have been successful had a rule not been changed with no announcement.

I would think it's pretty hard to not envision failure when your transcript looks like this: FFFFFFF

# ¿ Jul 9, 2017 21:18

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

22 Eargesplitten posted:

There are no federal usury laws in the US.

Federally, no. But many states have them. In mine it's 18% for anything under 2 years old and 21% otherwise.

So my "not sure that's even legal" is because we don't know what state that is and I sure don't know if there are any states without usury laws for that entirely or if any of them are that high.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2017 22:20

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

PCjr sidecar posted:

Marquette v Omaha

I wish I hadn't just looked that up.

How depressing.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2017 23:22

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Solice Kirsk posted:

You can make it all the way through high school and never be taught how to balance a check book, but you're sure as poo poo gonna be forced to know some of the state capitals!

I'm not sure how to make this sound socially acceptable because I'm me. So let me just present my experience from being in high school in the 90s:

- "smart kids" went to academic classes where they learned college prep stuff like accelerated math, science and languages

- "normal kids" got the same, but not as advanced

- "dumb kids" got some of that, but also things like a class called "math for life", where they were actually taught how to balance a checkbook, make a budget for a home, shop for basic necessities, etc.

I'd say the last group probably got the best deal here.

ninja edit: including the fact that they were actually presented with trade school options instead of just "you have to go to college or you're a failure. Underwater basket weaving degrees count just as much as any other one. Just go to college."

# ¿ Jul 12, 2017 03:41

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

yoloer420 posted:

I'm glad somebody said it. I've never had a checkbook. Is this the retro term for expense reconciliation?

Obviously that was a time-relevant example specifically from when I was in high school, around the time when a lot of you were born. It's not about the specifics of the thing being taught, it's about the fact that basic household finance with time-and-place-appropriate mechanics was being taught.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2017 13:47

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6n3odo/is_my_personal_investor_taking_advantage_of_me/

Is My Personal Investor Taking Advantage of Me?

quote:

Back story: my Mom passed away twenty years ago and my Dad won a wrongful death suit which wound up being split amongst her, my sisters and I. At the time I was 12, so my Mom wound up setting up accounts for all of us with my Grandpa's personal investor and put all of the money with him. Full disclosure, I didn't like to think about the death or the suit and essentially just left the money alone for the entirety of my adult life. But now I'm a Dad myself and seeing things differently and recognize this as an opportunity to take care of my own kids.
Now I know nothing about investing, but I feel like a big red flag has popped up and I figured this was the appropriate place to ask for feedback on it. I have about 100K with this investor - 30K of which is invested and visible in a TD Ameritrade account. I have access to it, can see what is bought and sold, etc.

The other 70K is in an aquaculture investment. Every three months a dividend check, the same amount for the past five years and cut from his personal investment company - comes in the mail. I've asked a couple times over the past year in passing if I could get some kind of visible access to the investment through a website or paper documentation and have always been met with some vague response - promised letters that have never been sent, return phone calls never made, etc. Recently I asked again for documentation, stating that I really needed it this time for a bank loan and he again tried to run me around in circles. After some back and forth conversation about the importance of staying committed to a direction in your investments and saving for the future he told me that if it was just for proof for a bank loan that he would need to transfer the investment into an actual investment account, and then create a 1099 stating that it's only been earning interests since January of 2017 - because I have never paid taxes on it.

So my question is: is this normal? As I said, I know nothing of investing, and I get that I have left this guy with a twenty year impression that I don't care what's going on with this account which could lead to the evasiveness, but my gut is telling me something fishy is going on. Is this just standard practice?

From the comments:

quote:

He actually does my taxes, as well - I can run through past tax records, but I don't recall ever seeing anything on it. He essentially said to me that I haven't been paying taxes on it, though.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2017 20:33

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

Startups are hilarious. I am a consultant normally working with very, very large industrial companies that are incredibly bureaucratic. I had a quick job with a hardware startup which was absolutely insane. The amount of time they spent on figuring out how to decorate their office, and the amount of free poo poo in break rooms and free lunches and dinners was crazy. There was far more thought put in to non-core decisions than core decisions. Usually for core decisions they just wanted me to make a snap judgement about what to do. I'm fine with doing that, but I at least like to have some information and data. The org was basically data averse and trying to gather data to make an informed decision was seen as indecisive, weak and not agile enough.

I've been working at startups most of my career. Even in the successful ones there is a lot of bike sheding. It seems everyone thinks they need to be google (with free food, etc) but don't actually understand why google does this (it's to keep people on campus - something most of these other startups do not have), and also convinces themselves that it's necessary just to be competitive on hiring - especially in the bay area.

So much time spent on building a culture, and identity and a business, and often so little on their actual products. While I do believe all of these things needs to be built to be successful it's all too easy to avoid real product problems by spending time thinking about break room stocking.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2017 15:50

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Enos Cabell posted:

Which is the second stupidest thing in her post, who leaves >50k sitting in a bank account?

Uhhhh.....yeah, like Solisce Kirsk said....that's not an enormous amount for someone who wants to keep 6 months of expenses liquid. I understand going over $99,999.99 in earnings per year makes you fantastically wealthy so therefore you expenses should be well below 1/2 of that that for 6 months, but it happens.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2017 03:49

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Krispy Kareem posted:

Everyone knows you keep all your money in gold.

Please stop doxing me. Thanks.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2017 14:08

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Konstantin posted:

Magic: The Gathering is similarly BWM. When I played a few years ago most tournament quality decks were around $400 for the most popular format, and you need to drop a few hundred to keep current every 3 months when a new set comes out. Some of the formats involving older cards have decks costing several thousand dollars, and serious collectors can easily have collections worth tens of thousands. That's not even getting into the fact that there are foil and special edition cards that are much rarer, some of the big whales drop $10,000/year easy on new cards.

I don't understand how this makes for a fun game.

One of my BWM tendencies is (car) racing. There are classes with very strict rules on modifications and the like exactly because every class would turn into "who spent the most money" being like 75% of the criteria for winning.

Sure, there are the top end unrestricted classes for each type of racing and while a lot of fun to watch........no thanks. I'll stick with a class where we run $1500 cars with about double that in safety gear.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2017 21:42

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 01:57

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

ate all the Oreos posted:

The fun game is called consumerism, give it a whirl sometime

I can't afford to compete in that game as well as retire.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2017 21:46

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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