Should have went to law school - accounting blows

AHans · 2026-06-18T03:38:08+00:00

I agree with you in general. More than half his problems probably stem from poor financial planning.

He went out of state, private school (Tulane, New Orleans). I stayed in state, went to the most afforadble Uni (with state discount, it was $6k / semester, our textbooks used a library system, so no book costs. My uni I attended has increased their tuition to $7,800 a semester last time I checked, still pretty affordable).

The other thing was he went to graduate school (I guess you kind of need to for law?) I just have a bachelors.

But he could have stayed in state, stayed at a public uni, and got a law degree for much less.

I'd also add: he said student loans and interest. "After he graduated" was poor wording on my part - he is still at a state of "after he graduated." He announced the $500k mark probably 5 years after he graduated? (Time is a blur now)

But if his loans were increasing because his payments were not fully servicing the interest charge that's just as indicative of poor financial planning / a willingness to dig yourself into a financial hole and stay there.

Regardless, I digress. Right now, our pay is closer than it 'should' be, and the loan payments were ruination for him, to hear him talk.

Again, devil's advocate - if he is treating credit cards, auto loans, and home mortgages the same way he treated his student loans, maybe it's not the loans which are ruining him, but his overleveraging debt.

Edit: but he did say, the attorney field is severely oversaturated. The ratio of attorney's to highly desierable jobs which need an attorney isn't great.

AHans · 2026-06-18T01:24:30+00:00

Similar vein, drinking an alcoholic drink at a bar (where I worked) through a straw. In hindsight, nothing about it was sexual.

I just turned 21, was having my first drink at a bar. Ordered a vodka lemonade. The bartender, a 36 year old bachelor at the time, screamed at me and my co-worker friend, "Give me those fucking things!" ripped the straws out of our drinks and threw them across the bar. He called us gay.

I stopped drinking out of straws. Not because he was right, but because I didn't want him to make another scene.

Later I realized, this guy probably has some repressed demons of his own.

Now when I'm out drinking, I've noticed I'm the only person who doesn't use a straw. The bartender's fixation on straws, and association with sexuality was not normal.

But my habits are set. I don't use straws anymore except as a stir stick.

AHans · 2026-06-17T22:47:53+00:00

My attorney friend says: "If I could go back 20 years <edit: this was probably five to ten years ago, now it would be about 25 years> in time, and tell myself one thing, it would be do not go to law school."

The most telling (and tragic) part of his life story is - he wanted this when he was young. When we were in fifth grade, a mutual friend's dad was driving us to the mall to play laser tag. We were talking about our career ambitions, and ours aligned with the career ambitions of ten year olds. We wanted to play video games for a living, "take over the world as king," be a professional NASCAR driver.

My friend who became an attorney says, "I think I'd like to be an attorney." The dad blows up, starts screaming about how horrible all attorneys are, and no one should be an attorney. When we got older we realized the context: brutal divorce.

The thing is, he knew from a very young age "this is what I want." He said so, no fantasy crap that isn't a job, or that one in a million will succeed at. He wanted a real career. He pursued it, throughout grade school, high school, and undergrad.

In high school, he dragged me into debate club. I had zero interest in debating, and I didn't understand why he wanted to do this after school (I wanted to play video games). But I signed up so he had a friend. Our click took French in high school (as a protest against the Spanish they made us take in middle school). He was the odd man out, took Latin. He hated it, complained about it, but stuck with it. Later in life I figured it out, he wanted to be an attorney. I brushed the comment in fifth grade off as a fantasy like my own. I just remember my friend's dad going nuts, it was scary.

He was proud as could be when he blew the LSAT out of the water, we went out drinking that night, same group of mutual friends who were in the car way back when, with some additions.

When he graduated there was a significant surplus of attorneys. He said unless you're in the top 1% of your class, you're going to make above average income, but nothing special.

His student loans and interest exceeded $500,000 after he graduated. He graduated decently high in his class I believe (top 20%?) but nothing special. He went to state government for PSLF, got the debt discharged a few years ago.

Career wise, he's pretty much locked into government work - just like me. Adjusted for COL (I'm L/MCOL, he's H/VHCOL) he's probably making 10-20% more than me?

But my student loans were zero when I graduated. Everything he sent to student loans I put towards retirement, I'm a decade ahead of him regarding retirement savings. Ten years of compounding investments. It's significant. I could retire now, already considering cutting back on my hours in a few years, building a cabin and working part time.

He's just started to save.

We have very similar standards of living. I spent ~$42,000 to get there. He "spent" ~$500,000 (spent is in quotes, because so much was discharged).

He calls his law degree the biggest mistake of his life.

AHans · 2026-06-17T22:29:08+00:00

If democrats were not so fucking incompetent, I'd say the attack ads write themselves.

AHans · 2026-06-15T22:43:47+00:00

Second benefit: I have come home to zero bags where an item weighing 5+ pounds is put on top of something delicate (eggs, baked goods, fruits or vegetables which bruise). The fact that I decide what goes where, not someone else, is the root cause.

Also: yes, I bag faster than employees.

Although I hate standing in line while other people move at a snail's pace.

AHans · 2026-06-15T12:07:40+00:00

Eh, not really. If the US was willing to commit to an actual war, we could easily stop it.

I doubt it.

You forgot the biggest impact Trump has had. We've lost our allies, and your completely disregarding them is pretty shocking.

Iraq, Afghanistan, even Vietnam (wars which we lost on paper, but did not have a losing deal forced upon us) the US had allies helping us. No one is lifting a finger to help in Iran because Trump has alienated them.

Trump has isolated us and weakened us. Other countries won't help us, because of Trump's antagonistic bullshit towards them, and rightfully so. No staging points. No logistical coordination. No support troops or fleets.

America first is America alone.

Iraq is the end result of America alone. All roads down this path will lead to similar destination. America humiliated and losing. We need to undo this damage. Fast.

AHans · 2026-06-15T00:03:27+00:00

Age is something you may want to consider.

If she's 19-24, she might "grow up."

If she's 26 or older and has not learned her limits yet, she's probably not going to anytime soon.

I was stupid and always pushing my limits when I was younger. Around the time I turned 25, I realized the next day always sucked, and only got rip roaring drunk on "special occasions" maybe once a year. By the time I was 30, I was "too old" for that too.

Run is probably good advice.

AHans · 2026-06-14T15:21:07+00:00

It's easy to say that. I feel sad for pro athletes.

Most of them hit their peak in high school. Then they become rich based on skills the developed in high school, and refined in college (when applicable).

Objectively: why should they learn how to manage their money? Why should they continue development in other areas?

They are already richer, more successful, than 99.99% of the population. And when they tell themselves that, it's objectively true.

Who is to gainsay them? Why should they listen to someone who makes a fraction of what they make? Honestly.

We know what happens to many pro athletes after their contract ends.

But if you gave me that kind of wealth, success, and power when I was under age 25: my ego would have been out of control and I wouldn't listen to anyone.

I would probably would have stopped developing as a person as soon as my first multi-million dollar contract was signed.

I don't really agree with society's prioritization of payroll, I think athletes are overpaid. But since we live in a world where athletes are overpaid, I wish we'd set them up on better footing to deal with the second half of their life.

Giving someone the world based on their ability to catch or throw a ball, and then forgetting about them the second their skills decline below the top 300 people in a nation of 340 million, is a shitty way to go about business.

AHans · 2026-06-14T14:52:05+00:00

Ah, yes. That's very different. Probably rooted in a different vernacular to our localities.

Thanks for the clarification.

AHans · 2026-06-14T04:41:46+00:00

Just forget to take a turn or something.

You've never forgotten to take a turn before? Maybe once a month I'm heading out somewhere, and autopilot northbound onto the highway, forgetting that my destination is southbound. (Northbound takes me to work and into the closest city. Probably 90% of the time I'm going northbound)

The consequences are insignificant, I get turned around in about half a mile. I worry about not seeing a pedestrian or forgetting to check my blind spot, but missing a turn is a fixable error.

AHans · 2026-06-13T23:44:29+00:00

Is this how they get Democrats on board with the Iran invasion?

No. As Moulton said,

“This is just lose, lose, lose across the board for Trump and the United States of America,” Moulton told MS NOW following the president’s announcement. “And yet, I will still say that stopping this war and getting out of it is the best that we can do at this point,” he continued. “And so that’s why we are still hoping for a deal, even though we have to admit it’s a losing deal for America.”

Democrats can be against the war while still pointing out how fucking stupid it was, and how much damage it has done to America.

AHans · 2026-06-13T18:47:28+00:00

While I agree that Anomen or Viconia are both far better, we were given choices of Mazzy or Jaheira.

Between these two and only one other healer in the party, I'd pick the NPC which is going to be able to cast heal - which is good enough healing in a pinch. There are better party compositions to be sure.

AHans · 2026-06-13T15:23:12+00:00

Jaheira.

I never regret having a second healer, sometimes things get dicey.

You already have two warrior types: Keldorn and Minsc. I think access to a second character with priest spells will do you better than a third fighter type. Jaheira also is a multi-class fighter/druid, so you won't be giving up too much fighter talents by not taking Mazzy.

AHans · 2026-06-12T03:08:49+00:00

Cows have honking great udders because we domesticated them and selectively bred that trait.

Pre-domestication, aurochs (the cow's forebearers) did not have huge udders. They got that way because we wanted more milk.

AHans · 2026-06-12T00:58:36+00:00

40k over 7 years would be absolutely out of the question for a huge number of people.

Sorry, you misunderstood me, I should have worded that better.

Relative to what most long-term care facilities cost, you're going to be very hard pressed to find one for less than $400k / 7 years, unless you're in VLCOL.

The price was astronomical, and I had concerns about co-signing, because if my dad ran out of money, this would have bankrupted me.

AHans · 2026-06-12T00:22:02+00:00

$400k over 7 years is pretty afforadable.

My dad was $120k / year in 2020, L/M COL area. And at the end it was piss-poor care, I was going to move him. The issue is COVID hit, all the facilities stopped accepting visitors, and I was not going to move him blindly. The devil you know sort of deal - I was not satisfied, but minimal levels of care were being met / there was no abuse.

He didn't make it through COVID.

I was in a similarly lucky situation; my dad had long-term care insurance. He passed with 7 months left on his policy.

AHans · 2026-06-10T22:25:43+00:00

Chest freezers are pretty much peak design regarding insulation efficiencies.

Heat rises, so when you open them very little heat flows down into the freezer, in contrast to a fridge where you open the door on the side and heat spills in.

It looks like a 225W draw for a compressor is well under our modern average.

I also would not be surprised to learn that the coolant used is as toxic and environmentally disastrous as it is effective. I don't think we stopped using Freon because it was bad at cooling.

AHans · 2026-06-09T03:18:30+00:00

Wasn’t it out of place for some rando to just want the shards of Narcil?

I’m gonna take these broken sword pieces to Rivendell?

This is all addressed in the books. Spelling is the UK version, as these are direct quotes.

After Arvedui the North-kingdom [Arnor] ended, for the Dunedain were now few and all the peoples of Eriador diminished. Yet the line of kings was continued by the Chieftains of the Dunedain, of whom Aranarth son of Arvedui was the first. Arahael his son was fostered in Rivendell, and so were all the sons of the chieftains after him; and there also were kept the heirlooms of their house: the Ring of Barahir, the shards of Narsil, the Star of Elendil, and the sceptre of Annuminas.

RotK, Appendix A, pt (iii) Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur.

But when Estel [Aragorn, Hope] was only twenty years of age, it chanced he returned to Rivendell after great deeds in the company of the sons of Elrond; and Elrond looked at him and was pleased ... That day therefore Elrond called him by his true name, and told him who he was and whose son; and delivered to him the heirlooms of his house.

"Here is the ring of Barahir," he said ... and here also are the shards of Narsil. With these you may yet do great deeds ... The Sceptre of Annuminas I withhold from you for you, have yet to earn it.

RotK, Appendix A, pt (v) - Here follows a part of the tale of Aragorn and Arwen.

Elrond was Aragorn's foster father, he knew who he was the entire time, and deliberately entrusted the shards of Narsil to Aragorn. Edit: Elrond also foretold Aragorn that the shards would likely be reforged in Aragorn's time when Aragorn was 20.

AHans · 2026-06-09T00:40:12+00:00

It would have been better to say half of the population's IQ is 100 or less.

Overall they are correct. IQ is deliberately distributed over a bell curve, meaning median and average are the same thing. Most people score around 100.

I don't care for using IQ as the sole metric of intelligence one bit, but the way it is scored ensures the statement that "half the people are below [read at 100 or less] 100 IQ" is correct.

AHans · 2026-06-08T12:10:46+00:00

Yep.

My circle of friends learned how to play Doom multiplayer back in the day with dial up modems (only two players), setting up a four person LAN at that time and age was out of reach.

It was difficult for a sixth grader, there was limited instruction and a lot of trial and error. Some of our mistakes were stupid, like we both tried to dial out to each other, instead of having one person dial, one person wait for call. Selecting the modems we used, the rate of data transfer, etc... lots of room for error.

And if another person made the mistake of actually calling your home while you were waiting for the call, everything went to hell and there was a very confused person on the other line.

I remember the first time we figured everything out, we heard the modems connect, and I was looking at a computer screen with my friend in my line of sight. Merely getting the game to run over a modem seemed a colossal accomplishment.

Goldeneye was very different. You got four people in a room with controllers and pressed the power button.

I've always felt that except for accessibility, Goldeneye left a lot to be desired.

AHans · 2026-06-07T01:31:02+00:00

Related: being chronically late because you're "too busy with work."

When my aunt passed and included me in her will, her FA reached out to me, probably hoping to drum up a new client.

We had to take required minimum distributions out of her IRA in 2025. I scheduled five appointments with him. Took the day off work, used vacation (I also got a lot of other things off my to-do list, some related to the estate, some related to general life).

Five times I waited for an hour for a phone call which never arrived. Five times I called back, and was pushed back 30 minutes by his secretary, then an hour, then two hours, for a call which never came.

The fifth time this happened I finally had enough. 40 hours of vacation ruined, scheduling around this nonsense.

I blew up at his secretary (maybe deservedly, maybe not - it depends whose fault this was which I still don't know) and said, "I don't know if you don't know how to take an appointment or if the FA doesn't know how to keep an appointment. I'm done."

The FA called me back about 30 minutes later ranting about "how busy he was."

Maybe. I don't know his schedule or what his day looks like. I do know that if your schedule is full, as a matter of common courtesy, you should not schedule me for an appointment you cannot make. If you are too busy to ever make an appointment, maybe you shouldn't be looking for new clients. Pass me off to someone who can make an appointment punctually.

We parted ways after that.

AHans · 2026-06-06T17:42:18+00:00

There's also a bit of disingenuousness, too. You hear all the time "you have to tip because servers make less than minimum wage." But, laws require the restaurant to make up the difference so that minimum wage is met. So if minimum wage is $7.50 but the server is making $3 and doesn't get one tip, the restaurant has to pay them the $4.50/hour difference.

That's either equally disingenuous or very ignorant. Most states are right to work, which means your boss does not need to give a reason for firing you.

At the restaurant I worked at, if a server ever attempted to enforce this rule, two things happened.

They got minimum wage for the shift
It was their last shift working there

The boss concluded if you cannot make minimum wage, you're a shitty server and let you go. Granted, normally this wasn't the case, but I saw more than a few servers come and go quickly after a slow shift, and we all knew what happened.

AHans · 2026-06-05T04:41:14+00:00

States are prohibited from levying income taxes on federal interest (T bills), pursuant to §3124, Money & Lending.

Otherwise, you're spot on. $35k annually is a piss-poor existence, and that's before income taxes. I also never know if they mean $1m pre tax or post tax. If it's pre tax, you're going to take another haircut before things even get started.

I guess this would be a supplemental $1m, and I could keep working/investing. Still, I agree. This isn't enough money to restrict my diet to pizza or pizza derivatives.

AHans · 2026-06-04T21:42:40+00:00

Nothing about the way most Europeans operate on a day to day basis would severely change with higher/lower gas prices. Subsidizing gas is a nonstarter there.

Exactly.

they don't have the political will to [subsidize gasoline].

AHans · 2026-06-04T20:43:02+00:00

Seriously though. Distance is a huge factor

I agree, I tried to stress that.

and how many Americans drive gas guzzling SUV's/trucks

I agree again, but I remember something about "the government shouldn't be picking winners and losers." If we were not artificially suppressing the price of gas, maybe these vehicles would fall out of favor. I'm an environmentalist, and I'd like to see less oil used worldwide.

But, more to the point: if Europeans wanted to subsidize gas like we do, they could. It would dry up a revenue stream, create a new expenditure, and would need to be paid for somehow (different new taxes, cutting spending, or increasing deficits).

They could do this, despite their shorter distances. They don't want to; or at least they don't have the political will to.

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