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- Last week
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Thank you! I think my updated variant is a significant improvement.
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Still not used to yuanrang in orange. Btw you need to change "pm me" in your signature to orange.
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Headache Saturday!
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I do mutual funds. I’ve been thinking about doing bonds too.
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Casual Friday!
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almost weeekend again
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I think the concept of Monarchies remaining due to being tied to a religion, might not necessarily be true. It has only been 9 years, but when we reformed Norway away from being a Constitutional Christian country, and the King stepped down as the head of the Church of Norway, not much changed. While Norway might be extremely non-religious, I do not think it is unfathomable that other Monarchies might end up being as non-religious as Norway. I would imagine that even the UK has a steady decline in the amount of people considering themselves to be actual Christian believers. In Norway, our Monarchy is far more of a cultural identity, than a religious identity. I would imagine that would be the future transformation of the UK Monarchy as well.
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Another thing to add on to houses... if you have sufficient knowledge in regards to renovating a home, there usually is a lot of money involved in renovating houses in your spare time. You will end up with longer days, but there is a lot of money to be gained from it if you know what you are doing. Restoring houses and selling them is a great source for revenue, as the housing market is usually quite hungry for solid deals.
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Autumn Holidays! :D
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Past weekend :(
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I'm from England, United Kingdom. Over the last several decades, we have seen a shift away from religion as the older generations go. The United Kingdom has diversified in race, culture, class, and technology has changed a lot of things. From what I have seen, religion mostly gets passed from parent to child; your views will be my views. But what's been happening are these shifts from different races, classes, cultures and technology allowing us to communicate more effectively and exchange ideas and ideologies. You may have had rigorous parents who, even to this day you understand when you come home, you must behave a certain way. But when you're out of their world, your life is different. That's, in my opinion, how religion has been phased out. Children removing religion is a strict part of their lives, and their children care even less so. So why am I talking about religion and not the monarchy? Well, the success of the UK monarchy, in my opinion, comes down to the success of Christianity in the United Kingdom. Our national anthem is titled God save the queen. The popularity of the monarchy and nationalistic support have largely waned, and whilst this is not all due to Christianity back-step in society, it does play a factor. We've also seen the Queen take a step back and allow democracy to show its hand in the form of a government. At any point, she could step in and say no, but the people are supposedly backing what changes are put forward, so she ratifies our decisions. We benefit from tourism, and in some sense, the identity of the UK does rely on the monarchy. Generally, if you hear an accent done, you'll listen to East London (closer to working-class, think Oliver) or the Queens English. (Prim and proper). I don't think we'll be rid of our monarchy for a long time to come. It's rooted deeply in our foundations. We may not always have it so deeply entrenched in our culture; it's certainly nowhere near as popular as it has been in the past. However, the monarchy is a pillar defining what the UK is. Something else which probably isn't worth considering too deeply, but perhaps makes an interesting discussion is Brexit. With the UK enforcing its own laws, controlling its borders and the like, could we see more from the royals as time goes on. The queen isn't going to live forever and with her passing the crown goes to Charles and then William. With new leadership, new ideas come along with them, do they change anything and risk the UK turning against them. I guess that all remains to be seen. Personally I don't want the monarchy to rule and I respect them all the more for just letting the UK get on with it. If they are boosting the economy, especially after the brexit sentiment, great.
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My investment technique involves betting my life savings on the over in the Bills vs. Chiefs game this weekend. I also own a house, which has appreciated in value ~15% since I purchased last year. I like to trade stocks as a hobby, but I wouldn’t call that an investment. I have a 401k through my job. I really think the best thing you can do in your 20s is invest in real property as soon as possible. Buy a 3br 2ba house, rent out the room, and pay off as much of the principal as possible in 2-3 years. As soon as you have enough equity in the house cash-out refinance it and roll that money into a second property that you rent out. Lather, rinse, repeat. If it’s something you’re interested in and you actually put the time in to learn how the industry works, flipping houses can make you a lot of capital. I have a friend who pulls in well over a million a year flipping houses as his side job. It takes a lot of capital to get into on the front end and there are too many traps people fall into when they first get started, but if you take the time to learn and to shadow and learn from someone who knows what they are doing, it’s a great way to build wealth.
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I made a series of poor choices with credit, which led me into an IVA—trying to go self-employed, assigning too many material purchases to finance and loans. Until it, all became too overwhelming and has left me in financial ruin essentially. I don't know enough about investment and crypto. Somewhere out there is a single bitcoin with my name attached, I'm pretty sure, but I have no idea where that is. It's not something I've ever really looked into, probably because I tend to focus on the present and enjoy myself (fear of depression taking over). I've stopped myself from making some financial decisions that could have benefited me. I constantly see investment advertisements such as etoro popping up suggesting they make it simple and easy to match trades. The argument I make in my head is that IF it were indeed that easy, we'd all be rich like one of those payday loans. Yeah, don't worry about the APR; we'll tuck that number somewhere obscure; you'll be fine. Much like South Park's approach to investment in their Stick of Truth and Fractured but whole games, you can invest $20 and watch it disappear or spin the wheel and see where it lands you. I've forced myself into a scared bubble when it comes to finances, and without someone guiding me through all of that, I don't think I'll ever be able to leap. Many gambling and investment businesses talk about only investing/gambling what you can afford to lose. Well, the number I can afford to lose is pretty low. So it is worth even putting in a tiny amount when the return will be small, and the amount of time for a return will be significant. I wonder if instead of spending, let's say, £20 a month on the Euromillions that could be used to create something better investment-wise. (I should probably save it because the money I save will ultimately be better than the money I waste hoping for a vast jackpot) I'm human; I make dumb decisions.
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It depends on one's circumstances, but there are still some universal truths when it comes to good investing. A notable one: You shouldn't invest in individual stocks/bonds. Why? Because if you choose to put your money into individual stocks instead of a well-established index fund, you're essentially betting that you know how to choose stocks better than the world's largest investment firms, which are armed with professionals whose entire lives revolve around making optimal investments. One investment expert (John Bogle, I think?) analogizes it to playing a game of tennis against an unknown opponent who's probably a professional tennis player, and betting that you'll win. And it's possible that you'll win, but it's a poor bet. Now, there are numerous mutual/index funds out there that will skim as much money as possible from your savings in the form of fees and non-fiduciary investment choices. These are scams. Unfortunately, they're everywhere, from television ads to even some 401(k) plans. But fortunately, it's easy to ignore them in favor of a good index fund. There are just a couple of very basic metrics that tell you whether a fund will be favorable to you. If you're given a list of options under your 401(k) plan, for example, you should—under U.S. law—be given a statement comparing them, and you need only look through the statement to find the plan with the lowest expense ratio and highest rate of return. In the U.S., there's a decent chance it will be a Vanguard plan, if offered. The only caveat I can think of to simply choosing an index fund with the lowest expense ratio and highest rate of return is that it will probably be a fund that's largely made up of stocks, which are considered risky. But if you're a 20-something who's decades away from retirement, this is fine. Even if the stock market were to crash tomorrow, it's certainly going to recover within a couple decades, and thus will be more lucrative than bonds during this time. I would even argue it's worthwhile for a young person to invest in a fund that's 100% stocks. Of course, not everyone is able to invest in these funds in general, because they may not have enough money leftover after paying for basic living expenses. In this case, property is often the only viable investment, because the monthly cost of rent may roughly equal the monthly cost of a 30-year mortgage. Indeed, this is the only way many people are able to accrue wealth in their lives.
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i get caught in cycles of nostalgia when i visit here and it makes me sad
Wiltingplant replied to Lonelywolf's topic in The 'Scape Lounge
hi tigger miss u bro -
Almost weekend!
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This is true. The Quote button does not put the entire post, nested quotes and all, into your reply. You only quote the unique content within said post. This feature was lost the last time we forum upgraded, and I am not sure why. It is not an intentionally planned change that were made for any good reason. I will see if something can be done to revert that. Edit: I could not find a way.
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I struggle to see how it would realistically break any rules of old. I simply think topics of this kind did not exist because the community as a whole was not old enough to actually debate this kind of topic. That said, as long as it is just a theoretical discussion on the subject of investments, there ought to be no harm, and thus no foul. To add to the discussion, I would say that all of this depends on several factors, such as your personal desires, your income, the place you live (or want to live), availability of good options, and such. For me, my first investment was to first buy a house, and I am currently downpaying that loan to remove future interest rates. I calculated that this would be more valuable to me in the long run, rather than paying down the loan for longer, but then also investing in an index fund. I also have a minor 1-time investment in a spread of minor investments that could, potentially, have insane payouts (stocks and cryptocurrency), but I consider to be "lost" and I have no expectations on any payout. It is your typical "fire and forget" investment, and I only spent as much as I would use if I were to walk into a casino for gambling. Besides, who in their right mind would make a silly currency called Etherium valuable, anyway? One of the major experiences I have learned is to not underestimate the value of having a lot of money as a buffer fund, should something go wrong. When you are an adult, things will always go wrong at some point. I am fortunate in the sense that I have free healthcare, but if you lack that, it might be wise to have a lot of funds readily available to pay costs should something unfortunate happen. At the end of the day, the important part is to figure out what your best options are based on your situation. Taking the time to consider all the factors involved, and options you have, is important. It is easy to say that investing in an index fund yields better results than hedge funds, but... if funds are statistically worse for you compared to buying property, then you should naturally buy property.
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Is it a perfect game if someone throws a perfect game through the end of the 9th inning. Goes into extra innings. The first batter in the 10th pops up, guy tags to 3rd. The second batter in 10th pops up, guys tags and scores. 3rd batter strikes out. gangster vegas And to keep things simple, they win 2-1
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Every time I take the time to sit down and do something creative, I realize how much time and effort all the gfx stuff we did here took. Kind of crazy. I really want to sit down and make a tag (or an equivalent creative venture in something I'm more familiar with now) but it just takes so much time to be happy with something! (grumble grumble) it's always fun putting a face to someone who posted a lot I personally think webcam photos are actually cooler than they used to be, since now everyone and their dog has a high res perfectly-lit scene I like the suitcoat, all the dress clothes I can ever find here are burgundy red need to see new fits biked through some backwoods last month, got rained on and the only place to sleep at in this tiny town was also a casino and we had to """sneak in""""
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Curious how y'all handle your money. I was lucky and had a job with matching 401k benefits that automatically invested in various funds for me, but I no longer do. As a result I'm trying to figure out what kind of spread (e.g. 25% large cap funds, 25% ____ etc, 10% intl etf, ...) to set up for my portfolio going forward and would love to hear y'all's mid-20s-to-adulthood thoughts and experiences on this topic (Does this break any rules? I don't know which it would, I guess I just never saw trading discussions back in the day since mostly everyone was <18. I am not a licensed broker and this is not financial advice? By the power of greyskull?)
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That type of idea is probably the prevailing one in terms of good logic and savings. However I often make do with canned meals that are slightly more expensive per gram than a meal such as the one suggested above. Where I live there are canned meals that come complete and only require a microwave in order to prepare, and they are usually nutritionally balanced if you know what to shop for. They are suitable if you live alone. Sometimes if you wish to save money you can simply drink extra water with a slightly smaller portion. I think a balance of the two is a happy medium. If I've had a long work day or am otherwise occupied I find myself saying "I can't spend my remaining day cooking, I'll have tuna and x" , or if I've planned properly, portioning out rice/veg cooked earlier in the week. I seldom see athletics mentioned in these contexts outside of fitness forums, but as someone who still bikes a lot and tries to get to the gym 2/3 times a week, getting everything necessary can be hard. I find myself just eating low-fat cottage cheese, eggs, cheap deli cuts throughout the day - whey is just a pretty expensive supplement, but I do budget for it. I'd love to hear what y'all do if exercise is a personal staple of your life, making burgers on my cast iron has become a personal treat lately (side note: Is it just me or does clicking 'Quote' not result in a nested quote? I had to multi-quote these two posts and drag Yankee's post into Sajoh's quote.. Is that a user-specific or forum setting maybe, nested-quotes turned off? I don't mean to backseat setting-change but I'd totally turn that on if possible, single quote chains are impossible to follow) It seems like quoting a post with other individual quotes removes those quotes too.. how odd
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i get caught in cycles of nostalgia when i visit here and it makes me sad
Sobend replied to Lonelywolf's topic in The 'Scape Lounge
Anyone miss that guy… what’s his name…. Oh yes Tigerwing0 yes we all miss him. -
i get caught in cycles of nostalgia when i visit here and it makes me sad
Tigerwing0 replied to Lonelywolf's topic in The 'Scape Lounge
*Reads through list and doesn't find name* Well F--- Y'all too Lol Nah, just joking. I remember when friends chats first came out and I tried Sal's for the hell of it. That started a *seems to me* life long connection. I've forgotten nearly everyone I used to be friends with between all the name changes and general filing away of memories. That being said, it's always wonderful to check in and remember the good ole days and that general idea of a different time, a different place, but one that's familiar and warm. I'll always fondly remember skill logs and sals masses even when I forget everyone who was there.
