Bad w/ Money: I just paid for a fat bitches Electric Cock Zapping Sex Toy in Kentucky

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Bad w/ Money: I just paid for a fat bitches Electric Cock Zapping Sex Toy in Kentucky

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Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Acquilae posted:

We have friends who got married straight out of undergrad and now(we're 28) have kids who basically enslaved their parents. When they come over to chat, the main topic is usually over budget hardships and it's not hard to figure out when they do things like Disney World vacations EVERY year, have 3+ credit cards, and buy all this crap for their kids because "so and so bought x for their child and we want ours to be happy too."

Crap like this blows my mind. I have a toddler son and I thought I was blowing a lot of money by buying him a couple toys off Amazon a month. Now we're more careful about spending and always look on craigslist first, and let my mom do most of the spoiling (grandparents own). Do we have a general frugality discussion thread?

# ¿ Jun 21, 2013 20:29

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 14:07

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Slow Motion posted:

$1,000 new stereo system

$5,000 new bed

[$4,000] eating out and alcohol

$2275/mo apartment

Why???

Also what job do you have where you make $75/hour and can choose whatever hours you want?

# ¿ Jun 25, 2013 23:56

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Each Xbone is $500 and each PS4 is $400, so you're looking at $4500 before sales tax. However, I think usually you don't pay upfront, and it's pretty easy to cancel.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2013 21:59

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

BossRighteous posted:

If they aren't in debt and have retirement funded this lifestyle sounds pretty fuckin' killer. Are they in some sort of trouble you didn't mention?

I doubt that kind of lifestyle is sustainable even on 100-120k/yer. That's a ton of spending right there, I'd have a hard time believing they're not in debt, or at the very least, a hard time believing they're covering their retirement.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2013 22:10

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

enraged_camel posted:

I read two such blogs - Mr. Money Mustache and Early Retirement Extreme - and both of them advocate a frugal lifestyle in order to be able to retire early. Which I think is a fantastic goal.

Sup Mr. Money Mustache buddy :hfive:

One of us should totally make a general Frugality/Early Retirement thread. (and by "one of us" I mean you)

# ¿ Jul 15, 2013 21:20

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

There are obviously some people good with money, and some people terrible with money, but have there actually been any studies on how big either of these groups are? Like, for financial literacy and/or financial habits. Anecdotally it seems like most people are less-than-good with money, but like Haifisch said, debt/savings load is basically invisible, so it's hard to tell unless you know the person well.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2013 17:57

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Yeah, from what I understand some states/districts DO require it, but against that semester-long class people have a whole national consumer culture working against them. I agree that our culture of not talking about money (like salaries) works against people, more transparency would work to everyone's advantage.

Man, can you imagine if we were like Norway and published everyone's income and wealth online?

<All of America>: :psyboom:

Cicero fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Jul 25, 2013

# ¿ Jul 25, 2013 22:23

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

...wow. She knows that they have like, really tough cases you can buy, right? You'd think she'd think of that after the fourth or fifth shattering.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2013 03:05

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Studies show that most people underestimate how much they will change as they age. Going into large amounts of debt with dim prospects for high-paying jobs means that your options for a lot of things (kids, house, travel, etc.) are more restricted. Sure, maybe they'll be ok working mediocre jobs for low pay indefinitely, but there's no guarantee of that. Being more financially prudent gives you more breathing room in case you do end up wanting some thing or some lifestyle that costs more money down the line.

But really, this is BFC. Of course we're going to criticize a financial plan that includes "we'll probably be bums forever!" If someone doesn't want criticism of their bad financial plan (and honestly I doubt razz really cares), then they shouldn't post about it in a forum dedicated to financial advice.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2013 18:13

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Socialized, that's pretty awful. Sounds like you could use your own thread.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2013 19:56

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

cowofwar posted:

Ugh. I'm not saying that paying off debt as soon as possible is being bad with money.

My point is that choosing to live in squalor for 10 years in order to pay off your mortgage faster when you could live a reasonable lifestyle by extending it out for only 5 more years is not a good decision. Yes, it costs you more money over a longer term, but for the duration of a typical mortgage amount, the servicing would be decreased by $1,000 a month, which would make a huge difference if you went from $2,000 to $3,000 of disposable income a month.

Paying interest isn't a bad thing by default. When you borrow money you balance a number of factors and lifestyle is one of them. If someone is happy and comfortable with their payments then that's great, but my statement was directed at people who live a self-imposed unsatisfying lifestyle in order to service debt just for the sake of discharging it.

This thread is for stories, if we want to debate what it means to be bad with money maybe the newbie thread or FI thread would be better for it.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2013 07:28

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Thesoro posted:

To be fair, a sock-a-day habit is substantially cheaper than a pack-a-day habit, and we don't look at smoking as a weirdo habit.

We do look at it as a dumb habit, though. And unlike cigarettes, socks presumably aren't addictive.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2013 16:18

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Acquilae posted:

Eh, he wanted a recommendation on stocks that gave a dividend instead of an index portfolio. I wasn't going to talk him into Tesla or some lottery stock.

There are indexes of big companies that focus on dividends.

MickeyFinn posted:

40% of the people in my zipcode spend 35%+ of their income (I assume gross) on rent. That seems crazy to me. Find out about your zipcode/town here:
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml

Yeah this really depends on area. Rent tends to vary more based on the area than, say, food, and much less than durable goods like electronics or cars, which are constant or close to it across the country.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2013 23:24

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Shadowhand00 posted:

There's a dude who blogs about being an early retiree - Mr. Money Moustache or something - he advocates saving at a 50% rate (30% at a minimum). I don't think that's unattainable or anything, but it really will depend on your area/income/overall expenses.

Yeah, it really depends on your situation. His primary reader demographic is white-collar professionals, for whom this is easily doable if you're willing to be moderately frugal and don't have kids (MMM has a kid now, but didn't when he and his wife were working and saving).

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 21:28

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

To be fair, his current budget (with the kid) is $27,000, which is roughly 50% of the current US median household income. That's a pretty all inclusive demographic.

He doesn't pay for rent/mortgage because he owns his house outright. With a house payment it'd probably be more like 40k since he has a big house, and of course to save enough for financial retirement you have to be saving like 50% of your income, so 80k after taxes? That's a lot.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2013 05:41

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Yeah, my wife and I used a relative's timeshare for our honeymoon. It wasn't a super fancy place, but it was still significantly nicer than your average hotel, and the alternative for us would've been "do nothing" since we were both broke college students.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2013 22:37

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

I prefer staying with family in a guest room to staying in a nearby hotel. It may be more crowded, but it's also more homey.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2013 02:06

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Also, note that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis posted:

The just-world hypothesis or just-world fallacy is the cognitive bias (or assumption) that a person's actions always bring morally fair and fitting consequences to that person, so that all noble actions are eventually rewarded and all evil actions are eventually punished.

Emphasis mine. You'd have to be an idiot to not recognize that people get what they deserve at least some of the time.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2013 00:11

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Poor financial skills is not understanding interest or the terms of your home loan. Spending less than you earn is like 10% financial acumen and 90% impulse control.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2013 00:17

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Harry posted:

http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1sd485/am_i_trapped_making_high_car_payments_for_6_years/

Oh man, the entitlement complex here.

quote:

Since you're living at home, any reason why your parents aren't financing it through them? Normally this is a bad idea, but at 18% interest even if they did screw you over completely and steal the car once it's paid off it wouldn't be that hard to come out ahead.

OP posted:

My parents refuse to co-sign for anything. It's a long story, but my dad basically "doesn't believe in co-signing".

quote:

Does he know that you're paying 18% interest? I don't see the logic of having you move home but also not being willing to co-sign anything.

OP posted:

Because clearly the line for what it's okay to watch your son endure is drawn between high interest rates and living in a dumpster?
He would do anything for love -- but he won't do that.

OP, later down the thread posted:

Part of why my credit is poor, and in fact, the largest reason is that I had a repossession years ago on my first car ever -- which was purchased new. I was a fool, and got a new car when I should've gotten a used one... and I wasn't able to keep up payments.

While I'm not exactly massively more educated financially than I used to be, I do know that I'm not missing payments again -- especially deliberately.

Gee, I wonder why he doesn't want to co-sign.

Cicero fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Dec 8, 2013

# ¿ Dec 8, 2013 19:59

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Folly posted:

In his Dad's defense, co-signing is probably a bad idea in most situations.

Yes, this is what I was saying.

Haifisch posted:

Apparently that might be a thing if you have terrible credit:

Of course, OP also wrote off being able to rent a car until they found a decent deal because they had no money or credit, so I think they're just hosed in general.

The thing is, the OP said they are paying $500/month for the car, so obviously they actually did have some money.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2013 22:42

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Eden posted:

- $180k in (mostly private) student loan debt for an art degree

Not just an art degree, an art degree from a for-profit college. So it's not even a real college degree.

edit: hahaha he also blames his lack of employability on "corruption in outsourcing":

quote:

Over those 3-5 years, the gaming / film industry has started seeing corruption in outsourcing majority of their jobs across seas. Rendering me with a useless degree until my skills are at godsend level or I get really lucky while networking.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2014 03:44

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Zo posted:

That's not what it said at all. It just said it's a much better idea to improve your income if you can, which is 100% factually correct.

In fact the wording of the offending sentence didn't even tell you to not cut those expenses, it just said it's not the solution, which again is correct for most people.

I don't understand the backlash against that article at all.

Well, if you're aiming for financial independence, it's much better to do both. Giving up extras means you save more money, AND you've reduced how much passive income you need to be independent. The advantage of cutting spending is that you've cut the amount of time you need to work before retirement from two different directions. The advantage of increasing income is that it's (potentially) more elastic, since you can only reduce expenses so far before you're making yourself and your family miserable, like that Yemeni dude.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2014 19:32

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Tony Montana posted:

I guess it's up to you what's important, but living with your parents? Seriously?

I just moved back in with my parents to save money and I make plenty. But, I have a wife and kid, so we're pretty boring now and don't have to worry about impressing the opposite sex (also rent in Silicon Valley is incredibly expensive). I guess by some goons standards this would make us bad with money, but I'm more concerned with saving right now than lifestyle.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2014 18:49

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Pympede posted:

I'm with you. I live in the same city as my parents and although it would be great to bank that money I find that living at home forces a certain amount of regression to child hood behaviour.

And I would have a hard time dating some who had the means to live at home and didn't. So you can retire 1 year earlier, but at what cost, the independence of your twenties?

Yeah, if I was single I wouldn't be doing this. With having a kid though, free babysitting! :v:

# ¿ Jan 26, 2014 05:09

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Persona non grata posted:

Therefor, he deserves everything terrible that will happen to him, and you shouldn't stand in the way of the divinely guided suffering coming his way. You're not even allowed to feel bad for him because he made bad choices, and people who make bad choices aren't worthy of empathy. The sinner must repent.

Way to strawman it up. Being bad with money doesn't mean you deserve every terrible thing that happens to you, but it does mean you probably deserve the consequences of your bad financial decisions. That doesn't mean you still can't feel bad for them, though.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2014 20:25

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Persona non grata posted:

Quite the opposite actually. I was high and mighty about helping my unemployed brother and mother. A few years later I lost my job and was in a situation where I had to ask them for help. I've been on both sides and I can tell you that I regret deeply the way I treated my family in their time of need.

There's a huge difference between one-off events like "I lost my job" versus a consistent pattern of needing to 'borrow' money from your family just because you mismanage your own. I don't think anyone here has said, "don't give money to family, ever". The context is important.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2014 20:35

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Persona non grata posted:

This thread is a Norton Anthology of stories who's moral is exactly that.

I'd love to continue this discussion but I don't want to go off on an even farther tangent for this thread (and also don't want to bring down the wrath of the mods). Maybe there should be a BFC pointless debate thread?

# ¿ Feb 1, 2014 20:57

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

OneWhoKnows posted:

Are your comparisons meant to show ways where raising a baby can be cheap(er)?

All the options on the right are cheaper, except for the baby gear one.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2014 02:38

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Obviously, not all of cowofwar's suggestions are universally applicable.

OneWhoKnows posted:

I wouldn't say having a child is a poor financial decision

It totally is pretty much all the time*, but that doesn't mean it's a bad life decision.

*even if you raise 'em cheap, you're essentially taking on a contract for a second job for the next 18 years, a second job where it is guaranteed you will lose money

# ¿ Feb 19, 2014 04:11

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

April posted:

RE: new car chat.

I am planning to buy my first-ever brand new car in spring of 2016. My husband and I have a deal. Because I am the one who handles the money in our house, if I can manage to get us 100% out of debt (including the 30-year mortgage) in a time frame that will save us a large chunk of money, he does not mind if I get a brand new car.

I have run the numbers a thousand times, and it looks like everything, including the mortgage, will be paid off in December of 2015. For reference, when we bought the house in December of 2006, our total debt load was $176,532, and we had $25 in savings. (Notice how close to 2008 it was? yeah.) Now, our total debt is $77,113, and we have almost $60,000 in various savings and investment accounts.

If we stay on track, we are going to save over $150,000 on the mortgage alone.

Right now, I am driving a 2006 Envoy that we bought with cash last August that has about 120k miles on it. I plan to give it to my daughter when/if I get a new one. I am looking at a small Nissan SUV, which I'll then drive till it dies. I should add - my husband is a BIG-TIME car guy who can fix just about anything, and has limped our used vehicles along for years past their expiration date. He is currently driving a 2005 Silverado with 220k miles on it, both of our cars run great. However, it does seem like we make a lot of repairs.

So... if I plan to buy a brand-new vehicle (with cash or a <2% loan - our credit score is in the 800-ish range, and we will most likely pay it of within a year), and to keep it and lovingly maintain it for probably a decade or so, am I bad with money? My reasons aren't entirely the shiny paint or new car smell, but rather, a nice warranty, knowing how it's been driven and maintained, and to have a vehicle that I CAN keep for more than 5 years.

Look, the optimal path for basically any financial decision is, "If need -> go as cheap as possible, If want -> avoid". But all work and no play makes Jane a dull girl, nobody avoids splurging on everything. If you have plenty of savings and a paid-off house (that's huge!) then dumping money on a luxury, even a big one, makes you far from bad with money. I mean, if you're aiming for early retirement or some other aggressive financial goal, then you should probably avoid it, but otherwise that sounds fine.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2014 20:19

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

[US] I get 13 holidays and 15 vacation days, and an indefinite number of sick days.

This is turning into that thread about how much vacation you get, except people are actually posting the useful information (how much they get per year) instead of how many they have banked at this particular moment.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 21:05

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Staryberry posted:

It depends what source you use. Looking at GDP per hours worked, France is not as productive as the US (67.32 vs. 59.24) but France is more productive than Germany, the UK, Japan, and South Korea (all countries that are generally thought of as hard working).

If you use "real GDP" instead of Nominal GDP, then France is more productive than the US (53.99 vs. 49.52), but not as productive as Greece, another country known for being lazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked

Both of those charts are based on PPP, not nominal GDP. Looks like the main difference is that the former is 2013 and the latter 2005.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 21:31

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

canyoneer posted:

Not for something as disposable as a laptop.

He doesn't have much choice in the matter, macs are the de facto industry standard for enterprising basil farmers.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2014 01:04

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

MickeyFinn posted:

What system is that?

Buy direct without haggling with a dealer. Although Amazon and Tesla are still quite different (Amazon is a third-party versus Tesla selling everything direct from the manufacturer), they're both known for offering a less painful experience than talking to dealers.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2014 23:48

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

zaurg posted:

Why are all these people horrible with money? Schooling failed them? Parents failed them? They're hopeless regardless of the education?

Could we have your expert commentary on Slow Motion's thread?

# ¿ Mar 29, 2014 07:39

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Veskit posted:

Eh, I don't want to get into it now that I've thought it over. This is bfc not e/n. You're both loving bad with money. How about you put the money you would be spending on daycare toward a college fund.

Yeah, it's totally cool that the grandparents ignore their requests for how to treat their kids, and try to get them to lie to each other. No biggie!

skipdogg posted:

Why does it bother you so much? It's not your job to police your in-laws spending.

Here's a thought: maybe it is, when that spending results in sabotaging the parents?

quote:

My mother in law loves to spoil our kids. We make way more money than she does, but it makes her happy and brings her joy. If she wants to send 100 bucks worth of crap in their Easter baskets who am I to tell another person how to spend their money? It used to bother me when my wife and I were first married. My MIL has worked for Wal-Mart for almost 30 years, and I doubt she makes more than 17 dollars an hour, while my wife and I have nice careers that afford us a very comfortable lifestyle. I used to protest that she would spend so much money on us, but it makes her happy, and it's her money, so I've come to terms with it.

I'm not sure what's behind your issue with grandparents spoiling their grand kids, but this is definitely your issue just as much as it is an issue with them. I would sit down and seek out a compromise. Explain you're trying to establish a clothing budget and the associated life lessons that goes along with that. Redirect the spoiling somewhere else, or ask them to save up for a big surprise for a holiday or birthday. Work with them, not against them.

The problem isn't that they're just uncomfortable with the amount of money being spent by the grandparents. It's how the way it's being spent is undermining how the parents are raising their kids.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 20:26

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

And then you read this thread or the personal finance subreddit and have a Mighty Ducks realization: it could've easily gone the other way, too.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2014 23:24

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Magic Underwear posted:

It really takes a big sum to become "life changing" I'd say. $100,000, a million even, isn't going to last as long as it needs to if you want to retire.

FI enthusiasts generally assume a safe withdrawal rate is 4% (safe meaning you can withdraw this much in perpetuity even after accounting for inflation), so a million dollars means you get a free 40k income forever. You may indeed be able to retire on that in a cheap cost of living area, especially now that we have Obamacare subsidies.

Of course that assumes said million is post-tax.

edit: thanks, Obama!

Cicero fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Apr 14, 2014

# ¿ Apr 14, 2014 21:03

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 14:07

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

canyoneer posted:

Fortunately, it looks like they're both getting pretty sound advice.

The advice given on the PF and FI subreddits is generally good. I know goons like to hate on reddit but how bad/dumb the community is really depends on the particular subreddit.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2014 23:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Bad w/ Money: I just paid for a fat bitches Electric Cock Zapping Sex Toy in Kentucky

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