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Mantle posted:Last week a coworker came to me for advice in a panic because he needed to come up with $20k to finish the last year of his M.Ed, otherwise he wouldn't be able to graduate or he'd lose all his credits or something. He couldn't get a HELOC because the other joint owner of his house refused to agree. The consequences were dire and I felt really bad for him. If they hadn't recently filed for bankruptcy I would ask if he financed said puppy via Wags Lending because that would be double-dipping BWM right there.
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LLCoolJD posted:Holy poo poo that's a drat good plan. No kidding. You don't see that anymore in the US. I am surprised it lasted long enough for her to be grandfathered in. If you have a 30k/year job and you get a plan like that I hope to hell whatever her spouse is doing is orders of magnitude better. Otherwise in that situation I'd ride that pony in to the ground.
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May 3, 2017 19:11
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Spent 4 years enlisted in the Army many years ago and thankfully got out without having done anything completely stupid. Not that I didn't have my own BWM moments but none of them, thankfully, that left permanent scars. Army towns in the U.S. - anywhere, really, but especially so here - are a cesspool of businesses looking to help you make really bad decisions. Military marriage is a thriving business. Getting an Army chaplain to marry you on base is a process most don't (or can't) deal with so there's a whole cottage industry for it off base. What if the State the base is in has laws that are too restrictive/intended to keep you from being a dummy? No problem, the closest point across state lines has whole strip malls devoted to covering that angle, whether it's getting married to that stripper or taking out a payday loan... or often both at the same time. There are places where you can get married, get a payday loan, and then go rent furniture for your new trailer all within an easy walk. Like the BWM trifecta. I am not even kidding. In my short few years I saw: Lots of marriages to strippers. Someone mentioned 50% earlier and I wouldn't be surprised if that were low. 50% got married and got them pregnant, maybe. Lots of "we're friends, let's get hitched so we can live outside of the barracks/collect extra BAQ". These ended in tears usually as well. Usually when they started dating someone else. I personally knew of one example that were dating outside before they did it - the Army version of the green card scam (and heavily frowned upon if discovered not that it ever stopped anyone). A fair amount of 18-19 year olds meeting in AIT (advanced training after basic) or these days, even in basic because for many specialties it's integrated now, deciding they have found "the one" and then discovering - sometimes in a matter of weeks - that what they really found was "the other". In all cases the best possible outcome was for it all to end in tears within a matter of weeks/few months. Beyond that and boy howdy. If pregnancy is involved, 10x points. None of this counts the ones who got their girl back home pregnant and joined the Army because it was the right thing to do. Sometimes that worked out, actually. I have a good friend still today, close to 30 years in, still married with great kids. I call him the lottery winner. The Army, at least, used to love to send kids who did that overseas for a year or two which didn't help.
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May 5, 2017 21:29
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Crazy Mike posted:Female trainee got pregnant during my AIT and got out, followed her male trainee for a couple years, had another baby, then they separated. Well, you know, on top of the extra cash he also had...a baby or two, so I'm thinking from a pure financial perspective you came out ahead.
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May 5, 2017 22:40
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Jake Mustache posted:Whoops https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/69ks3a/girl_took_a_rental_car_out_under_my_cc_and_didnt/ He types well, uses complete sentences, good paragraph breaks, and a straightforward narrative. Quite a contrast to what an utter and complete moron he is. There is surely more to this story, probably involving an unacknowledged major crush on the girl, but....wow.
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May 6, 2017 17:59
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Reddit groupthink tends towards worst case paranoia. More likely is the girl is simply your garden variety sociopath living in the moment who doesn't plan anything nor give two shits about consequences for herself or anyone else. Probably some sob story involved, usually is. She wanted to Get the gently caress Out of Town and found herself the most straightforward way to do it. The smooth escalation of the overall con suggests it isn't the first time.
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May 6, 2017 18:12
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Hoodwinker posted:Ding ding ding ding. I've known people like this. This is way more likely than a complicated grift. I've known my fair share too. Now, I didn't rent a loving rental car for them under my name and wave goodbye as they drove out the lot either, which is where this story really shines.
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May 6, 2017 18:23
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Also she had to be elated he (or she?) fell for it. Thinking about it a little more (it is a lazy Saturday morning) it's interesting how well thought out this is. The moron rented the car and handed her the keys. He/She is completely 100% on the hook. As far as the rental car company and for that matter the police are concerned this is a dispute between the two parties. Eventually it'll get to the point where it turns in to stolen property but it is going to take a while to get there and no one in this story seems like much of a long term kind of thinker anyway. In the meantime she can joyride safely across state lines without worrying about being picked up. Different story if she had tried to scam the rental car company directly. Your true sociopath knows how to exploit people.
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May 6, 2017 18:27
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epenthesis posted:She filled out the form using the victim's name without his/her knowledge or consent, right? While telling the clerk that she was using her own? Seems to me like that would qualify as fraud. (IANAL) He has recourse, sure, but it's not going to magically happen. For him to pursue he'll likely need a lawyer. Out of pocket because the rental company will wash their hands of it. And, of course, assuming there's even any way to recover money from this girl, which seems extremely unlikely. If he pays out of pocket and pursues it he will almost certainly get her in trouble which will probably result in probation, which I doubt someone like this gives two shits about. Basically he is hosed, but good.
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May 6, 2017 18:58
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monster on a stick posted:Well I'm glad the Huffington Post is bringing awareness of the ability for MLMs to empower women to the masses. My Facebook account is primarily for family connections (good God do Moms and Aunts love it) and over the years I've collected more than a few "friends" from back in high school days, etc. Many of whom are now mid to late 40's, like me. And was I ever getting over-run by MLM poo poo. Rodan+Fields in particular - I think they are the new Mary Kay for empowered women. I had to set up a filter for that dumb poo poo. It is everywhere now. That and angry distant relatives posting about Trump being a nazi every day.
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May 7, 2017 17:53
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That just might be the most BWM post in the BWM thread.
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May 7, 2017 20:07
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Goober Peas posted:At least half of my friends' wives are doing Rodan and Fields. I've quit hanging out with some of my friends because their wives turn every interaction into a pitch. R+F attracts the Mom crowd like flies to honey. "We're not an MLM company. We are run by real doctors!" And pitches that revolve almost entirely around what a great career it is and less about the products. Because a successful career there means getting other people in your network, not how much product you sell, of course. Nope, no MLM here, move along. I use the Chrome Social Fixer addon to clean up my Facebook feed but unfortunately there is nothing to be done for mobile.
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May 8, 2017 22:14
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ranbo das posted:I think talking about relatives isn't banworthy. I just found out my grandmother managed to turn $1m in 1994 dollars into $500k of today dollars. She went all in on tech stocks, lost a bunch when the tech bubble popped because she got scared and sold at the very bottom. Did the same with the housing bubble in 2009. Also, bonus points, she has someone who invests for her so she has no idea what she's holding other than it's mostly individual stocks, has no idea how much she is paying this guy, and really seems obsessed with dividends. She gets a whole $170 in dividends per month from her $500k investment! Holy God this makes my head hurt. Throw that in vtsax and forget about it, from a risk standpoint it's far less than she's exposed to right now and if she doesn't actually need income withdrawals - and at $170/m right now I am guessing she does not - she can bank that for a few years at least and let it grow. poo poo even at a 4% withdrawal she'd make $1,600/m on that without having to touch the principal at current returns. I am guessing this is a lost cause though.
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May 15, 2017 02:01
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:negative $500 cash flow a month for two condos doesn't automatically mean it is a bad rental investment, it could easily be a 10 or 15 year mortgage booking a profit in equity accumulation and capital appreciation. If my wife was constantly badgering me about her designs on my premarital assets I would probably get defensive about it too This is bad. A negative cash flow of $500 - assuming both units are actually occupied - is terrible, actually. Sure, "the renters are paying in to my equity!" except with what is almost certainly a negative cap rate they probably aren't even going to beat inflation when all is said and done - a point the wife rather reasonably makes. And bad as it is this of course is assuming a 100% occupancy rate and no owner maintenance costs which is pure fantasy-land. The negative $500, from reading the post, is just from rents, not total cashflow. The latter is likely much worse. There's a difference between straight out losing money i.e. negative equity and losing the value of the money. The latter is the case here in all likelihood (hard to say without actually knowing the real numbers) and both are BWM.
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May 15, 2017 22:59
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Randler posted:Can you offset your renting losses against other income or does the US tax system have safeguards against endeavors that won't turn a profit? The IRS considers renting to be a "passive" activity so generally speaking, no. There are some exceptions: if you have a low MAGI, or if you are treated as a real estate pro with active interests in many properties, or have other passive income offsets - none of which would seem to apply to this couple. As for forming LLCs to hold the properties, that generally doesn't work for tax purposes for this couple for the same reasons. If running rental properties was all they did and they had a big portfolio, probably, but owning two condos isn't going to count. Also the lienholders, assuming there are any, probably would look askance at forming an LLC to hold the property.
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May 15, 2017 23:20
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:You literally cannot evaluate the investment (i.e. calculate the cap rate) without knowing the terms of the loan and seeing the payment breakdown. Yes all things being equal obviously a positive cash flow rental is preferable to a negative cash flow rental but it is possible for a negative cash flow rental to produce a superior profit compared to a positive cash flow rental if the negative cash flow is due to a higher mortgage payment that costs less interest and accumulates more equity. Whether any investor can tolerate the negative cash flow is another question and obviously many small and accidental landlords cannot. It's absolutely possible that this is a sincerely bad and mismanaged rental investment - but you just don't know. All you know is that two condos are net negative $500 cash flow per month and an unhappy wife thinks the equity in the properties should be elsewhere. Fair enough and I said as much  Going off appearances though, this looks like a bad rental investment. Who knows.
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May 15, 2017 23:22
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MLM kind of transcends BWM to its own level of stupidity.
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May 16, 2017 19:55
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Destroying friendships and family is one of many problems with MLMs. With friends you could always argue that well, if that are that dumb, and consider *me* to be even dumber, then they are friends I'm better off without anyway, and in fact that is my usual strategy whenever some Rodan+Fields or Transamerica or whatever comes creeping in to my life through people I know...but as the saying goes you can't pick family. They all sell the bootstrap american dream but really boil down to "gently caress you got mine" for the ones that actually claw their way up. It really sucks dealing with people you know who are hoovered in to this poo poo.
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May 17, 2017 01:34
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Uterine Lineup posted:GWM: Your dad winning the lottery and giving you more than a million dollars BWM and BWL, the Reeses of assholes right there. Quick napkin math tells me if he had invested that in a safe index starting in 2011 and just lived off the interest he'd be pulling in 80-90k pounds a year today for doing absolutely nothing while still allowing the principle to grow. Depending on how long it took for them to give the full amount. What an incredible dipshit. The suit just proves karma is a thing.
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May 18, 2017 21:11
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Krispy Kareem posted:Wait. That's possible? To do a trade-in for a lease? It absolutely is and is a total prizewinner when it comes to BWM. Literally doubling down on a bad idea. Not that rolling negative equity in a regular car loan is good either, but doing it for a lease...my God. That said it is possible.
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May 20, 2017 05:41
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Craptacular posted:Old BWM: internet-connected countertop juicing machines that use DRM'ed ingredient packs. At least you can't just squeeze the beer out of these. To match this product you'd have to actually, I dunno, find some place that sold beer in bottles. Or cans even! Imagine, you could just pour ready to drink beer out of those. Who's with me?
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May 21, 2017 04:57
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Not from or living in Canada but this Canadian story is one of universal first-world BWM - bit long but worth the read: https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-middle-class-is-on-the-brink-of-ruin/?src=longreads Standout quote: quote:A bankruptcy lawyer I spoke with has helped clients in just this fix—clients such as the Toronto architect crushed by $105,000 in tax debt and $75,000 in credit card debt who still managed to vacation in the tropics four times a year with his wife. Or the divorced, self-employed Toronto chiropractor who made $4,900 a month and insisted that both her kids attend private school—until the Canada Revenue Agency froze her accounts.
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Jun 10, 2017 23:34
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Randler posted:No, I'm pretty sure the standout quote is this game from the professional accounts: I breezed right past the fact that guy was (is) an accountant. "Money...where does it go? Let's close the books and move on"
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Jun 11, 2017 00:10
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Same accountant from article:quote:But they’re still living very close to the wire. “I wouldn’t say it’s paycheque to paycheque,” says Kervin. But it is: the couple now nets $7,738 each month. After putting aside $100 for their children’s resp, half their income goes to pay for debts ($3,554), childcare ($800), and the Mazda and Toyota (leases, insurance premiums, and gas for the long commutes to work add up to about $1,600). The rest of the money goes toward such necessities as rent ($1,700), utilities ($400), and groceries ($600). Once all the bills are paid, the couple is left with a monthly surplus: two bucks. Boggles the mind. It is difficult to feel sorry for people who put themselves squarely in the situation they are in.
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Jun 11, 2017 00:15
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Inexperienced software developers litter the ground like dead leaves in the fall these days. Though if he had any aptitude at all he could do better than he is. Right now he's in what sounds like a government-subsidized attempt to keep offshoring down, meaning he's doing work someone probably pays someone else even less to do if they are in India. And the guy in India would probably do it a lot better. Not much of a career path there.
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Jun 12, 2017 00:06
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BarbarianElephant posted:He's 19, so he isn't doing an internship - he's doing an apprenticeship, which is an alternative to a degree, "learning on the job." That's why he's being paid less than UK minimum wage. He's not going to be able to do much entrepreneurship with a few months of on-the-job experience. If he can code at all, he should just do a degree - coders with degrees are in demand right now, and it's not like carpentry or something where you learn better by doing than sitting in a lab. Thanks for the explanation (I'm in the US) though I disagree with this point: quote:it's not like carpentry or something where you learn better by doing than sitting in a lab. I've been in development for decades now and it absolutely is like that. There is certainly a place for formal schooling, don't mistake me, but all good programmers learn the most by doing, and the more practical the problem solving is, the better. If we're talking application development as a career; R&D and such are different.
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Jun 12, 2017 15:10
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Yeah college is expensive - in my eyes he committed to that when he signed the divorce agreement. That's the correct order of magnitude for "60% of the cost of college" in this country. There is a lot unsaid in the linked OP...as is usually the case. The biggest thing that doesn't add up is this: It's extremely unlikely that a divorce settlement left something like child college support so open-ended. While it's entirely possible *some* provision could have been made for it, a simple "60/40" isn't it. 60% of what? It's not like there is a standard, inflation-adjusted cost for "college" in the USA. And in the case of college costs it would need to be spelled out in even greater detail because in the USA most child support obligations stop hard at age 18 without special provisions. Most custody agreements involving what happens with the children post-18 are far more specific, i.e. some fixed amount, usually deducted from child support, contributed to a college fund, etc. Anything else is just bullshit hand-waving. Assuming she's being otherwise truthful and her mom actually did go to the court with it it's no wonder the judge passed. That should tell you all you need to know about the actual agreement right there. Then there is the whole "my dad got cancer but I think he should resume paying off my $130k student loan when (or if) he gets better" aspect that really takes it over the top. I mean, WTF.
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Jun 12, 2017 19:48
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Is Reddit selection bias in action these days? I.e. there really aren't that many young, white, self-absorbed Anime nerds who make terrible decisions by virtue of trying hard to make no decisions at all, but the ones that do exist gravitate towards posting their innermost thoughts there?
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Jun 12, 2017 20:00
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Chicken and Egg time: What's worse, that someone would be that willfully blind to spend money that wasn't theirs to that extent for that result, or that an entire industry exists to help said people do exactly that while extracting massive profits from them? Bonus "Omelet" question: Should taxpayers ultimately be on the hook to bail said person out so that the industry still profits? (careful, it is a trick question).
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Jun 12, 2017 20:38
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No Butt Stuff posted:Right but all her language suggests that's not the case. This is what I meant by "more to the story". Says divorce agreement stated dad pays 60% Mom pays 40%. % of what not mentioned, but apparently a court of law ruled whatever it is to be unenforceable. In other words, imaginary. Also says dad agreed to pay only what he co-signed for, then later wound down when he hit financial trouble, then stopped. This is surely leaving a lot of relevant details out but generally speaking could be true and if so the real source of her problem. Loan companies go after whoever on the loan is best able to pay. Guy who declared bankruptcy and also has cancer is gonna be lower on the list than entitled girl who borrowed $130k to get a poo poo liberal arts degree so she could teach and looks at cars with $500/month payments. They are going to give her a really hard time if payments aren't made, though dad isn't off the hook either technically since bankruptcy isn't get out of jail free for student loans. hosed up situation maybe (assuming it's all true), but at what point do you A) Stop whining on Reddit and B) take responsibility for your own loving life, realize not everything is "fair" and get on with it while forgiving your cancer-stricken father?
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Jun 12, 2017 22:30
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Steampunk Hitler posted:Yea, child support obligations past the age of ~18 as well as whether paying for college costs being specified in a divorce decree vary state by state. I'm most familiar with Pennsylvania where there is no duty to extend child support beyond the age of 18 regardless of college unless there is otherwise an agreement, but where agreements in a divorce decree are enforceable. Going by http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/termination-of-support-college-support.aspx it appears most states do not have any provisions for child support past the age of 18 (19 in a few states) unless otherwise agreed to previously. Since she states the judge says it was "unenforceable" - absent other details I'd assume that means it was either a handshake agreement, drunken late night phone call, or some other hilariously awful thing that is all too common in lovely divorce proceedings.
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Jun 12, 2017 23:24
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Jesus. I don't care how high your salary is, 130k+ for a single day is loving ridiculous. Christ, that kind of money would buy an incredible two-three week honeymoon all over the world and even *that* would be BWM.
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Jun 13, 2017 14:10
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Enfys posted:How do you end up that badly underwater on an economy car? If you are truly BWM - and I have no doubt that poster is - it's easy to do by rolling in *other* underwater loans from previous cars. There's a whole industry that will find ways to let you do that no matter what your credit. Predatory for sure but no one held a gun to this idiots head making him do it either. LLCoolJD posted:I know you're being facetious. Oliver's sanctimonious preaching drives me nuts. He's the Rush Limbaugh ditto-head collector for the left. As much as folks love to view the Supreme Court as the way to fix all societies ills that the other two branches won't they aren't wrong in this case. It is Congresses job to write the laws they want enforced, not the courts job to say "well, we think they really should have done this too". Whether they will do it or not (and right now we know they won't) is unfortunately another problem but that isn't the job of the court to correct.
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Jun 13, 2017 15:07
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Randler posted:How do you spend 250,000 on flowers? $5k in plants. $5k in labor. $240k in profit. There is nothing quite so high margin as the high end wedding business. Or, for that matter, the wedding business in general. Take a bunch of highly emotional decisions, mix them in with a bunch of family from both sides who are all only talking to one another because two of them decided to get together, and figure out the most efficient way to extract money from the situation.
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Jun 13, 2017 15:12
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potatoducks posted:That's way over the top. Business class tickets are 4k-10k USD depending on airline, when you go, and where. I travel business for work and have done it more than a few times for vacation. Nice way to go, expensive, but not *that* expensive. I could spend two weeks in Bora Bora on a private over-water luxury cabana, business class there and back, for 20k if I wanted, and that would be blowing it out. About the same for the Maldives on an even more luxurious property. $150k for vacations would go a long way is my point and that doesn't mean vacations where you'd be taking the bus to a Holiday Inn. You can be BWM even if you have tons of it, BWM is what it is, only the consequences change. If he makes "good money" and that means he is a W-2 employee who makes 300k+ year (which is certainly Good Money) then he is being a complete idiot. If he is a trust fund kid with $25m+ sitting in investments than he can still be BWM, it just doesn't matter as much because his money is pulling that in on a quarterly basis just sitting in a fund. I suspect, but don't know, it is closer to the former than the latter.
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Jun 13, 2017 17:41
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22 Eargesplitten posted:When I was planning our wedding, I saw an article on The Knot about 5 things your fiance will do. One was balk at the prices, and the article said you needed to have other quotes ready to demonstrate that $5,000 is actually a good price for a wedding cake. I'm glad that wasn't around when I got married because we spent like $600 on ours and I still think it was ridiculous, not to mention the single most expensive dessert I have ever bought. And it was a nice cake too. $5k? Jesus.
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Jun 13, 2017 17:44
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Droo posted:The guy originally said that $150k would last for "multiple years of luxurious travel". Using your numbers, it wouldn't even last 4 months. Fair enough and I think this particular derail is drifting in to "no, *I'M RIGHT GODDAMMIT*" territory so let's call it
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Jun 13, 2017 17:47
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:I see this as more of a $50,000 wedding. Depending on the number of horse-drawn carriages involved along with the quality of the booze and food it could top 100k easily.
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Jun 13, 2017 21:02
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SweetSassyMolassy posted:I'd like to compliment this thread because the last couple of days have appeared to have quite a bit of content. I am amazed he has to ask because if there is one thing I know after years of dealing with idiot friends and family it's that a car dealer will make it easy as poo poo to roll in negative equity. There are so very many options for BWM and cars these days. And he's probably paying well over 10%+. 10% is what a lot of people like this aspire to.
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Jun 14, 2017 01:57
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cowofwar posted:Apparently there's a pretty large excess of cars coming off lease so you should be able to find some decent used cars as compared to the used market from the last few years. Early summer has for years been the prime time for off-lease vehicle turn ins due to the way new model years are introduced in the US - "new" models generally start going on sale in Q3 (calendar) which is July, August, September. From a leasing perspective that means you'll either get the "2017" model on clearance now (clearance being relative and usually a marketing gimmick) and "2018" models starting in a few weeks. Some years have more cars coming off-lease than others around this time but it's nothing extraordinary. "Model year" isn't a tightly regulated term, at least in the US, but generally speaking the above is how marketing campaigns work out in practice.
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Jun 14, 2017 04:25
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