[Railroader]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Yes, and hiding behind sarcasm and false statements is also not a good thing. Many of the other things said here would lead me to think that he very much looks down on me - and others here - for my financial choices.

He's not hiding in any stretch of the imagination. He's being quite clear. You are the one who has clearly misunderstood him. He makes his living as a builder, he has made that clear on here many many times, and yet on page two you asked him if he has ever known anyone who has made money in real estate.

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

No, what I mean is that I put actual weight into the opinions of people I know personally and people who know me personally. I shouldn't - and usually don't - care what some random person on the internet thinks about me. Of course there's a person behind that IP address - but I don't care who it is. If it's someone I know IRL and they know I know them IRL, then they are just showing cowardice by hiding behind an anonymous name on the internet.

I'm sorry, that is just you using a coping mechanism to deal with the harsh reality of what he has to say. You obviously care about what he has to say or else you wouldn't be here reading it let alone making the multi-paragraph posts where you often repeat yourself making sure you get your point across. You care. Admit it.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by Eug 

BTW, I think it's perfectly fine to purchase more ON CREDIT than you make in a month, as long as you do so responsibly.

One example is moving into a new place, and needing furniture. You buy a nice bed and high end mattress, and that's $2000, plus some kitchen stuff and various other stuff, and that's $3000 right there. However, those are necessities that are one time purchases. The fact that you only make $2999.98 or whatever per month doesn't mean mean you've failed as a human being.

It's not good if you have carry the balance on your credit card, but if your credit history is good, often you can get a relatively low rate credit card (which I've seen as low as 1.9% for the introductory rate), or perhaps just get a line of credit. No biggie, if you are responsible in the way you spend money in the following months.

I can completely agree with this. If the car I currently own craps out, I am going to get a car on a small payment. I will make the biggest down payment I possibly can, and will pay off a car loan as fast as I possibly can. The only reason I say this is that I don't want to get another ten-year-old car that will need too many repairs right away. I'd rather get a newer car that still has a warranty on it. I don't anticipate this happening, but if it does, I at least have a plan.

It's the "being responsible about it" part that is so hard for so many people - I knew a guy (I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread) who kept transferring his $3,000+ balance to 0% cards. Then he'd quit making payments on his debt because it was 0% interest, and get hit with a 12% or higher interest rate the next year after the 0% introductory rate expired - which would just pile on more interest and finance charges.

Living paycheck-to-paycheck (living right at the brink of your means) is one easy way to get screwed. You can't pay off the card one month, but since your lifestyle is using all or nearly all your monthly income, you'll never catch up unless you make some major lifestyle-altering choices - which few people are really willing to do.

[Eug]

I also personally don't buy old cars. I hate dealing with the decreased reliability and the repair costs.

I'll buy a new one, and then pay for an additional warranty once the initial warranty runs out.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

I am sorry, I misread one of your posts on page #2. Please forgive me.

No problem.

Originally Posted by Railroader 

He's not hiding in any stretch of the imagination. He's being quite clear. You are the one who has clearly misunderstood him. He makes his living as a builder, he has made that clear on here many many times, and yet on page two you asked him if he has ever known anyone who has made money in real estate.

I should have clarified - making money by buying and selling homes, although I believe that he hadn't yet told us his profession when I first posted that. But Dakar and I both have pointed out other things that he has said that have come across as sounding arrogant or self-important. Spliff still doesn't seem too willing to admit that (a) having a credit card is not inherently bad, and (b) he's just as much of "a bitch" to someone as any of us are.

I'm sorry, that is just you using a coping mechanism to deal with the harsh reality of what he has to say. You obviously care about what he has to say or else you wouldn't be here reading it let alone making the multi-paragraph posts where you often repeat yourself making sure you get your point across. You care. Admit it.

Which is why I said I shouldn't care, and I generally don't.

I care when someone expects me to listen to them but refuses to listen to me, which can happen on the intarnet or IRL. But at this point, I no longer care what Spliff has to say. And I can say that with complete honesty. I have plenty of savings for my age, I know that if something happens to my job I will be able to support myself for nearly a year while looking for work. I know that if my car totally dies on me I have the money to get another car - I would rather have a newer car that has a warranty, but I still have the money saved up to buy a used car for cash. So Spliff can say whatever he wants, but I feel pretty dang secure in the choices I've made and the finances I have - which is all that really matters, right?

[Eug]

Since your other aspects of your finances may be OK, it may be time to look into some disability insurance then. (It sounds like in your situation you don't need any life insurance, since you have nobody except yourself to support.)

At your age it's gonna be cheap, especially if you don't make a huge amount of money. As your income grows, you can increase your insurance if you desire. Some policies even allow you to increase your coverage by a limited amount yearly without any sort of medical exam or questionnaire. This is a good setup for young people getting insurance, because generally they're pretty healthy when they're young and don't run into problems until later.

[Spliffdaddy]

That's all that matters.

*group hug*

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Since your other aspects of your finances may be OK, it may be time to look into some disability insurance then. (It sounds like in your situation you don't need any life insurance, since you have nobody except yourself to support.)

At your age it's gonna be cheap, especially if you don't make a huge amount of money. As your income grows, you can increase your insurance if you desire. Some policies even allow you to increase your coverage by a limited amount yearly without any sort of medical exam or questionnaire. This is a good setup for young people getting insurance, because generally they're pretty healthy when they're young and don't run into problems until later.

I'll have to see if USAA provides that. I'm guessing so - they do every other kind of insurance.

Now you've got me all freaked out that I'm going to lose an eye or something on my way home from work today.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

No, he isn't.

Oh, yes he is.

[Spliffdaddy]

I love you too, osiris. Don't hate.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Spliffdaddy 

I love you too, osiris. Don't hate.

Oh, alright.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

I'll have to see if USAA provides that. I'm guessing so - they do every other kind of insurance.

Now you've got me all freaked out that I'm going to lose an eye or something on my way home from work today.

Funny you should mention that.

Losing an eye doesn't mean you'd collect on disability, if you have desk job pushing paper. You can type and stamp documents just as easily with one eye as with two.

BTW, it reminds me. If you do decide to look into disability, ask them how much it would cost for the "own occupation" rider. That stipulates that even if you able to work again, but at a different (often lesser) job, you still collect disability.

Let's say you make $5000/mo pushing paper. If you had the "own occ" rider then you would collect your full disability even if you started work flipping burgers for $1500/mo. Without that rider, the insurance company would likely disallow you from collecting disability, which would be a disaster if your finances needed say at least a $3500/mo salary (eg. evil mortgage payments).

BTW, many insurance people suggest that everyone have at least 3 months reserve (and preferably much more), and one small reason for this is that disability insurance usually doesn't kick in until after 3 months off work.

[macintologist]

Remember the part in the movie where the Democrats were lining up to debate on the bankruptcy bill, why was the speaker of the house hitting the hammer interrupting them, saying the same thing over and over? It's like each congressman was given like 10 seconds to debate each.

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by macintologist 

Remember the part in the movie where the Democrats were lining up to debate on the bankruptcy bill, why was the speaker of the house hitting the hammer interrupting them, saying the same thing over and over? It's like each congressman was given like 10 seconds to debate each.

I have to say I wondered about that part myself. Why weren't they allowed to say anything?

[olePigeon]

If you watch CSPAN you'll see how it works. They're allotted a specific amount of time to make their case. Then other people can motion to speak their mind on the matter. The original person is then given a little bit more time to follow up on any comments.

They're pretty strict about the time given and you're not supposed to go over that time limit. Short of throwing a senator out of the room, they'll bang the gavel a bunch of times to try and keep order and to keep the person from overextending their time limit.

You see often. They give warnings and everything kinda like a football/soccer game. I've never actually seen anyone removed from the Congressional room, but I've seen several threats of removal by the house leader when they keep going past their allotted time.

I haven't seen the clip, but I would imagine they've gone over their time limit to speak but kept speaking anyway.

[OldManMac]

The CSpan debates are mostly show; the wheeling and dealing gets done in private sessions.

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

If you watch CSPAN you'll see how it works. They're allotted a specific amount of time to make their case. Then other people can motion to speak their mind on the matter. The original person is then given a little bit more time to follow up on any comments.

They're pretty strict about the time given and you're not supposed to go over that time limit. Short of throwing a senator out of the room, they'll bang the gavel a bunch of times to try and keep order and to keep the person from overextending their time limit.

You see often. They give warnings and everything kinda like a football/soccer game. I've never actually seen anyone removed from the Congressional room, but I've seen several threats of removal by the house leader when they keep going past their allotted time.

I haven't seen the clip, but I would imagine they've gone over their time limit to speak but kept speaking anyway.

The Democrats were lined up behind the mic and they each had literally 10 seconds or less to say some punch-line as to why the bankruptcy bill was bad. The speaker kept swinging the gavel. It was bizarre.