|
Leperflesh posted:Second: Even if you get that awesome job teaching impoverished Inuit inside the arctic circle, what the hell is your wife gonna do? You're getting married, you'd better include Twoshoes in your plans for your career. Yeah, I used to work at a non-profit that served an expat community and I know unemployed spouses were considered something of an issue. Even in places that don't have long winters, the social isolation can cause extreme depression and boredom. And, people with bored and depressed spouses have a lot of pressure on them to break their contracts and leave early. Which is not the end of the world, but does defeat the purpose of doing this to get ahead. Also, you folks like to visit family and go on trips. Nothing wrong with that, but I have a feeling even if you do get ahead in this venture, you're going to spend more money than intended "rewarding" yourself to make up for being so far away.
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2013 18:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 23, 2024 11:34 |
|
|
Guys, I understand that living up North is not some kind of employment panacea that will solve all of the problems in my life. That wasn't my point. My point is that I am willing to travel to horrible places to make my degree work. Hell, if you look at what I have now, which is four limbs and a pulse, I could make more money than I do now simply because I'm willing to travel to lovely places for some amount of time and do lovely work. This is also not the first time that I've done this, being posted to New Brunswick is not very high on the scale of hardship, but my willingness to do it over what my peer group has done for the past few years means that I make more than almost all of them. If you just count people who took arts I make nearly double what most of them make, simply because I was willing to move out of Nova Scotia and sign a contract after university. So yeah, if it's not Nunavut, then it's Kuwait. If teaching doesn't work out because I can't secure a loan, I'll take an air brake course and drive an ice truck for a couple of years or something.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 03:41
|
|
|
How much will they pay you to put things in your butt up north?
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 04:06
|
|
|
tuyop posted:... my willingness to do it over what my peer group has done for the past few years means that I make more than almost all of them. If you just count people who took arts I make nearly double what most of them make, simply because I was willing to move out of Nova Scotia and sign a contract after university. How much average debt does your peer group have? You look down on them for making less money but they might be, without question, better off financially than you are.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 10:19
|
|
|
Mulatto Butts posted:How much average debt does your peer group have? You look down on them for making less money but they might be, without question, better off financially than you are. Hey I'm not judging anyone. Obviously I made the wrong decision and it blew up in my face. I'm just saying that being able and willing to move has enabled me to earn a higher income in the past and I'm confident that it can work again in the future.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 11:33
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Hey I'm not judging anyone. Obviously I made the wrong decision and it blew up in my face. I'm just saying that being able and willing to move has enabled me to earn a higher income in the past and I'm confident that it can work again in the future. Your income level is entirely immaterial when your spending exceeds it. 18 months, and you still have yet to take this lesson on board.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 14:37
|
|
|
Look, I hate to be this person, but, uh, there is a huge part of our country where people with little education are falling rear end-backwards into money, you know. My little brother (he's 21) dropped out of a trade school 2 years ago and has been selling BASIL in southern Ontario since then and just got shipped off to cap fracking wells and is really enjoying it. It doesn't sound like it's much better than Nunavut or places like that, but it is something. My fiance got an offer to go be an engineer out there for some insane amount of money and we both objected because of, you know, the environmental catastrophe that the Tar Sands cause (and we're really lucky to have jobs in Toronto), but it may work for you, especially if you're willing to do everything you've listed.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 15:29
|
|
|
I know this was mentioned a while back, but I would just like to defend myself on the racist comment. I didn't say anything about rez cars, that was someone else. And I feel I am not racist in general.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 16:54
|
|
|
Sounds like something a racist would say. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 18:14
|
|
|
I should probably note that I actually want to work in the North because it seems like a challenging environment to teach in and a really cool adventure. But it's not the only option for a short-term higher income job. However BASIL is not an option up there because a 400w grow light would cost literally $16k/month to run in many places. No pesto for me.  Breetai posted:Your income level is entirely immaterial when your spending exceeds it. Ok what do I have to do to demonstrate that I've taken that lesson on board? I totally agree with that statement. The only reason I'm concerned with income is that I see the debt as a large obstacle to being able to take more risk with my occupation. If I can make 50% more income for 16 months or so, and keep at the same level of spending, then I'll be able to pay off the debt and save up enough money to afford to invest in a future occupation and wait out a job market in a place that I'd like to live.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2013 23:55
|
|
|
Because this:tuyop posted:I can make 50% more income for 16 months or so, and keep at the same level of spending Remains to be seen. In particular, others have already pointed out that the cost of living in these isolated areas is much higher, but also, your newfound frugality has been more-or-less enforced by your (lack of) cash flow. When you've eliminated lots of debt and are making more money, you will have to continue to exercise financial prudence, and that's a lot harder than you seem to be pretending. Moreover, the context of this discussion is your eagerness to run yourself further into debt by taking out student loans to pay for school so you can go chase those supposedly-plentiful Nunavut teaching jobs that will let you earn more money. Earning more money while having more debt is not necessarily a positive. It seems like handwaving to me, so far, to claim that your income will improve to a larger degree than your debts plus your higher living expenses, if you pursue this option. It also seems to me like ToeShoes isn't figuring into your calculations. Are her career goals subservient to yours? Because traveling to remote places to work tends to be a one-job kind of proposition. If you run up student debts and then have to pursue those high-paid hardship jobs in order to pay it off, you and your wife will be facing a situation where your career goals and decisions in the past are forcing your future down a particular path, regardless of whether that path includes ToeShoes' career advancement. It'd be different if this was just an option for your future if you start studying now. But you're counting on it to pay off more debt.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 01:23
|
|
|
tuyop posted:
Stop making dumb, multi-hundred-dollar impulse purchases based on which way your mood happens to be swinging for starters. You're still at the 'flailing about buying poo poo you don't need or that aren't appropriate for your situation' phase. You've been stuck in it for 18 months. And you're like a goldfish in that you'll grow to the size of your tank; getting a 50% increase in income is going to do nothing but spur you to waste more money on more useless poo poo because 'well, we can sorta afford it now'. Get better therapy for your mood swings, and learn how to develop better spending habits.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 01:43
|
|
|
I've met a few people, some couples and some not, who have all gone up north for different job opportunities. Without a doubt they say it sucks cock and really isn't that amazing in terms of monetary gain. Teach English in China or some poo poo, have you seen Nunavut? The Hell are you going to do there? Slit your wrists? You only live once!
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 03:01
|
|
|
Dr. Video Games 0050 posted:I've met a few people, some couples and some not, who have all gone up north for different job opportunities. Without a doubt they say it sucks cock and really isn't that amazing in terms of monetary gain. When the never ending cold and darkness, both of which will be more hospitable than the locals, gets to be too much he'll just jump into his sweet ride and take a road trip to Tijuana.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 09:27
|
|
|
When is the next vacation?
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 09:29
|
|
|
tuyop posted:However BASIL is not an option up there because a 400w grow light would cost literally $16k/month to run in many places. Electricity is $53.76/kw-hr up there? Bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 09:33
|
|
|
Baloogan posted:When is the next vacation? I think a "wedding" counts. (I'm using parentheses now because I don't approve of calling it a wedding. )Nam Taf posted:Electricity is $53.76/kw-hr up there? Bullshit. http://www.nunavutpower.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=78 I was using 102.71c/kwh for Kugaaruk, and this calculator. And you're right, I meant 16k per year. But now it looks like it would be around 2400 to run that same light. I must have entered a number wrong before.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 11:52
|
|
|
tuyop posted:I was using 102.71c/kwh for Kugaaruk, and this calculator. And you're right, I meant 16k per year. But now it looks like it would be around 2400 to run that same light. I must have entered a number wrong before. Try again. 400W = 0.4kW * 24 hrs = 9.6kwh/day * 365 = 3504kwh/year * $1.0271 = $3598.96/year. In summary, yes it's expensive but more importantly stick to teaching something other than maths 
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 13:15
|
|
|
Loving the new thread title. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 14:12
|
|
|
Delta-Wye posted:When the never ending cold and darkness, both of which will be more hospitable than the locals, gets to be too much he'll just jump His car will have to follow in July/August, when one of the Arctic Community Sealift ships back hauls it. Just kidding, he'd have to be retarded to bring the tuyop mobile up north, and
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 15:39
|
|
|
Tuyup, I'm a big fan of what you're doing and your graphs show some great progress. I personally had a lot of the deprive/indulge behavior that you posted about too. One of the things that kept me in that pattern was the expectation of some anticipated windfall that would solve all my issues. Raises, new jobs, and inheritances all have ways of magically not happening. Working towards a better future is good but nobody should rely on a fat paycheck that is still years away. Please consider planning for more than one possible scenario.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 16:34
|
|
|
tuyop posted:I think a "wedding" counts. (I'm using parentheses now because I don't approve of calling it a wedding. Tuyop- that article looks like it was written by a tourism board for Whitehorse/Yellowknife. They are way overly optimistic about those cities. You will not be going to those cities. You also can't understand "increased cost of living" until you actually get there. I don't mean don't, I mean can't. There are so many little things that you don't think about further south that become huge issues. Anything requiring refrigeration or is heavy or bulky in general becomes massively expensive. In that article one of the comments was that online sellers wouldn't ship to their postal code. IN YELLOWKNIFE. WHERE YOU ARE NOT GOING. Well, you may go there to go shopping and feel closer to civilization. Speaking of traveling The Nunavut Tourism Board posted:There are no roads to Nunavut. The 25 separate communities of Nunavut are not connected to each other by highway or by railroad, nor are they connected by road or rail to any other Canadian cities further south. Please at least talk to someone who has spent a few years there before you even think about making a decision.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2013 18:03
|
|
|
Nam Taf posted:Try again. 400W = 0.4kW * 24 hrs = 9.6kwh/day * 365 = 3504kwh/year * $1.0271 = $3598.96/year. You only run it for 14 (or 16? don't remember) hours a day, duh! Breetai posted:Stop making dumb, multi-hundred-dollar impulse purchases based on which way your mood happens to be swinging for starters. Hm, you are absolutely right. Maybe we should give the cash budget another chance. What could it hurt?
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 00:24
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Hm, you are absolutely right. Maybe we should give the cash budget another chance. What could it hurt? Do it. I think cash in envelopes is the best. You don't need to carry them around with you, but it provides a physical and tangible accounting of what you have spent and what you have left. Budget for and replenish the envelopes every time you get paid. If you get paid twice a month but refill your envelopes only on the 1st of the month, you feel cash flush at the beginning and money will probably get tight for that last week or so. That's bad. In addition to the budget envelopes, keep a cash envelope for card use called "cash for card". This envelope starts out empty, but you transfer dollars from other envelopes to it throughout the week as you spend money on your Want to go out for dinner and a movie? What's left in your entertainment envelope? $25? Welp, looks like this is now an either/or proposition, unless you want to raid another category's envelope and hope you don't need to use that money later. (don't raid food or fuel) I prefer this so much more than using a system like Mint (it's fantastic for what it is, though). Setting budgets can sometimes disconnect from the reality of how you spend. It's easy to get obsessed with one's performance to ~*categories*~ rather than the bottom line. If you divide out $500/month into smaller categories for cash expenses, at the end of the month it doesn't matter whether you were over/under in a category, as long as you spent $500 or less. If you make it to the end of the pay period without spending over your budget and without running out of fuel and food, you win! I budget $140 for food for a 15 day pay period between myself and the missus. A couple months ago, we found ourselves 5 days 'til payday with just $8.25 left for food. We have cash savings and aren't living paycheck to paycheck. It would have been easy to say "well, we need food, so we'll just use the debit card and try to be cheap." But we didn't. We took a little inventory of what we had in the freezer and pantry and came up with ideas to make many meals cheaply. We bought some cheap fresh chicken on sale and some bulk veggies, and used that chicken to make 4 days of lunches and dinners with whatever else we had in the pantry. It was a fantastic feeling to know that because we didn't go over budget and dip into what we would have saved that month, we were on track to our financial goals (vacation in Asia, home ownership, paying off student loans early) Fun tip: Re-use junk mail envelopes/reply envelopes when making your budget envelopes. It saves the planet and they come in so many different shapes and sizes that it makes it easy to keep track of what envelope is which (blue one with the window is for food!)
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 01:14
|
|
|
canyoneer posted:Do it. I think cash in envelopes is the best. You don't need to carry them around with you, but it provides a physical and tangible accounting of what you have spent and what you have left. Yeah that sounds similar to how we've been operating, and especially now with YNAB, where we just look at category balances instead of bank balances. Unfortunately for the past few months we've been having problems with robbing debt repayment or savings categories for "necessities" like shelves or plant seeds. I think the most powerful implementation of the cash envelopes, from when I used them in the past, is in discretionary spending. Like you said, it makes the feedback for "borrowing" from your entertainment budget so that you can buy a chocolate bar (or whatever) that much more instant and visceral. I also really like the idea of using junk mail envelopes. Really, we just need to stop being complacent about the debt and get it in our heads again that it's a loving emergency and we just have to really tighten up for like 11 months (with inheritance) and it'll be gone.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 01:29
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Really, we just need to stop being complacent about the debt and get it in our heads again that it's a loving emergency and we just have to really tighten up for like 11 months (with inheritance) and it'll be gone. 1. I don't know how much this has been said or inferred in this thread but it's worth repeating. It's really important that you stabilize and follow your plan, whatever it may be, before you have "windfall cash inheritance / medical payouts" coming in. Otherwise you'll just continue to make bad decisions and you'll never feel the sting of sweat on your brow from hard budgeting. 2. Personally, regarding your latest and greatest idea of moving to the North Pole because of the "fat stacks" - I think this is a stupid idea. Also, I think leaving the army prematurely, while you hate it, is a really stupid idea if you're going to incur large amount of debt for schooling just because of it. Suck it up with your steady paycheck and get your schooling for free when they release you. Both of these things, separate as they may be, seem like you're really just trying to immediately fix the problem now now now now now. Financial discipline / freedom does not happen overnight / on a whim. Get rich quick does not happen, get rich slowly can happen with planing and execution and income. If you keep jumping from idea to idea re: #2, you will continue to make lovely decisions re: #1. Slow the gently caress down, keep chipping away at your debt. As weird as it sounds the longer (relatively) this process takes, the better for you. You need serious discipline and behavior modification about your money and life decisions. Taking time will help you learn living within your means, being responsible with your money, and hopefully slowing you down to figure out what your really want, not this months basil/yurt/gay4pay/northpole fix-all solution. Here's what I see happening if you continue on your path of doing what you want: You get your inheritance and maybe even a decent medical discharge sum from the army. Horray money! You're rich! You decide to take a nice honeymoon with toeshoes for a few thousand dollars because it's windfall cash money. You pay off some debt, quit the Army, and go to school incurring a bunch of debt that the Army would have paid for if you just waited another year or two for them to discharge you. So all that money you fell into is now gone, and you're +$20k in debt from schooling. You have the brilliant idea to move to the north pole/yettiville to teach and your new wife can't find a job. You're making "huge money", $70k or something, but it costs 5x as much to do anything up there so you're basically living at the poverty level. You decide that sucks so you move somewhere and then buy all new stuff again since you didn't feel like moving it from your igloo incurring more debt and you're not better off than you were when you started. I may be taking some liberties but it seems very reasonable considering what's happened thus far in the thread with your changing ideas. Just some food for thought, we all want to see you succeed. I just don't think your one-solution-to-rule-them-all-of-the-month is going to fix your financial issues if you don't start changing your habbits and approaches to things.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 18:47
|
|
|
Most of the things that I bring up in the thread are not plans in that they will happen. They're just thoughts. For instance. Getting married is a plan. We tried last year, things got in the way so we canceled and now are really doing it this year. Aquaponic BASIL for riches and environmental benefit is not a plan, it's an idea that may make its way into our future somewhere, it could be financially feasible if there's a market. Moving up North to do community development or teach is something that I've wanted to do since third year university. It's a crazy environment with a lot of opportunity for me to help and have an adventure to boot. Without doing much more research, it sounds like there are also incentives to go up there, because that's what a lot of people from my area of the country end up doing. I'd classify that as a plan, since it probably wouldn't be hard for a qualified tradesperson to find work in an area with a qualified teacher. I don't know why that seems so absurd. Also, the kind of lifestyle that we'd have in a yurt is something that I'd really want, whether we end up in a trailer park or a suburb or teepee is beside the point. The plan is still yurtlike. Regardless, we have to learn to live within our means and stuff. Obviously working on that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 19:26
|
|
|
I have a good idea. The next time you come up with a cool, life-changing plan to reduce your debt more quickly, just ignore it. There are no easy answers, and you aren't going to magic your debt away with _________. Just get your steady checks, don't quit the army until the process is completed, and slowly pay off your debts over time. Keeping to that discipline is all there is to it, and that discipline is what you seem to lack.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 19:37
|
|
|
obviously [ˈɒbvɪəslɪ] adv 1. in a way that is easy to see or understand; evidently 2. without subtlety 3. (sentence modifier) it is obvious that; clearly obviously not everyone wants a bank account
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 19:42
|
|
|
Jeffrey posted:I have a good idea. The next time you come up with a cool, life-changing plan to reduce your debt more quickly, just ignore it. There are no easy answers, and you aren't going to magic your debt away with _________. Just get your steady checks, don't quit the army until the process is completed, and slowly pay off your debts over time. Keeping to that discipline is all there is to it, and that discipline is what you seem to lack. Yeah I'm not staying in the army. I'm going to school in September whether they give me a medical release by that point or not. Hopefully I get it by then, but even if I don't, it's not the end of the world.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2013 23:33
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Regardless, we have to learn to live within our means and stuff. Obviously working on that. tuyop posted:Yeah I'm not staying in the army. I'm going to school in September whether they give me a medical release by that point or not. Hopefully I get it by then, but even if I don't, it's not the end of the world.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 01:05
|
|
|
Haifisch posted:Part of living within your means is recognizing when it's worth it to stay in a less-than-ideal job so that you can keep your life on track. You may not like the army that much, and you may want to go to school now, but unless the army's going to pay for your schooling now, it's better to sit back and collect a steady paycheck(and not accumulate more debt) than to quit and shove all the income responsibility on toeshoes. I'm sure she loves you and is willing to help support you while you go to school, but that doesn't make quitting the army to go to school your best option right now. Yeah I'm going to need a lot more than, "Stay in the job you hate where you are a useless suck on the labour of others because nobody will allow you to actually do any good just because they pay you." I don't need the job because I can be employed in a lot of other places doing a lot of other things, some of them are actually useful to other people and things that I might enjoy, I won't accumulate very much more debt at all, and I care much less about financial ruin than I do about spending another year trying to live with myself like this. And besides, I might not even be accepted to a BEd programme. I don't feel very confident about the whole thing, to be honest.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 01:27
|
|
|
tuyop posted:Yeah I'm going to need a lot more than, "Stay in the job you hate where you are a useless suck on the labour of others because nobody will allow you to actually do any good just because they pay you." People sometimes spend their whole lives trying to get a government job.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 01:30
|
|
|
Baloogan posted:People sometimes spend their whole lives trying to get a government job. I can't say that I'm very surprised that some people are alright with being useless sucks with their jobs. I'm trying to find reward in the other parts of my life, and it's helping, but I'm done being a helpless recipient of "benefits" that may never loving come. Regardless of the financial consequences, I am not letting any more of my life tick away this way than it already has.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 01:46
|
|
|
Baloogan posted:People sometimes spend their whole lives trying to get a government job. Let's put aside the fact that this is a stupid argument, and also a fallacy. Your logic here is for him to keep doing something that makes him miserable, is probably a (partial) cause of his manic behavior (which causes him to spend more money and become reckless) and is definitely a cause of his depression and serious mental issues [read: 30 cups of coffee a day] because some other people would like what he has? Edit: That came out a lot more stuck-up than intended. I just mean that it doesn't make very much sense to me for him to stay somewhere that's probably going to cause him to spend more money to make himself happier because his job makes him miserable. Also, considering the fact that he really doesn't get paid all the dollars because he's in the military, and the benefits aren't very good in the sense that he's already being hosed over by medical for something that should be easily resolved, the fact that it's a "government" job is almost negligible. Badger Pudding fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Feb 9, 2013 |
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 02:00
|
|
|
Are there jobs you can get without going to school? Perhaps you could even do something concurrent with the military? Basically, taking on a whole lot more debt instead of taking a steady paycheck to pay back what you already owe seems crazy, especially if you don't know that it will actually pay off. It isn't just the 20k debt that school will cost, it is that you won't be able to repay anything if you don't have any income yourself. There will be a time in your life when you are free to take risks, but times when you are 10s of thousands in debt are not those times. You can decry people who are "useless sucks" for being legitimately injured while working all you want, but it doesn't make you any better than them. I'm not hating because you want to better your career prospects in the future, but is now really the time to take a risk like that? Is there a middle ground where you can take classes while still enrolled in the military? You don't necessarily need a degree, you need marketable skills. Perhaps there is an easier road there?
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 02:00
|
|
|
Badger Pudding posted:Let's put aside the fact that this is a stupid argument, and also a fallacy. drat son, you better check yo self; before you wreck yo self.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 02:09
|
|
|
Jeffrey posted:Is there a middle ground where you can take classes while still enrolled in the military? You don't necessarily need a degree, you need marketable skills. Perhaps there is an easier road there? The ideal thing here, which I'm going for in a meeting that I have on Tuesday, is to get posted to the reeducation unit (called the JPSU). They basically employ you part time somewhere while you go to university until all of the paperwork catches up with the fact that you're basically a civilian and you can be medically released. The other option is to get some retraining part time while I work normally (and quit by September or not). The only things near here that make sense and can be approved for reimbursement are some adult training courses and an aboriginal studies thing at the local community college. It's pretty lovely, and I won't get approved for a welding cert or something because there's no reason for an infantry officer to have that skill.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 03:36
|
|
|
I like that your career plan is to go to a reeducation camp.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 03:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 23, 2024 11:34 |
|
|
tuyop posted:I won't accumulate very much more debt at all, Can you quantify how much debt you'll incur?
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2013 04:27
|
|