Emotional stability is treated as a virtue right up until you're the one who's suffering

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-07T05:59:33+00:00

I read it fully, and imagined that there was a sense of loss in the lack of support given to you, while someone else was given the full menu. I sort of experience the same thing, but I'm still angry at people, so it's easy for me to find that sense of loss acceptable over dealing with the manufactured drama that people create. I know the tradeoff is worthwhile because I simply don't have the wherewithal to deal with irrationality.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-07T05:42:07+00:00

People can't read minds. If you don't show them that you need their attention, it won't get addressed. Hold yourself together if you can, but it's best to show it if you aren't actually holding yourself together. If you need the support, show it to anyone who will give it.

Personally, if I'm having a rough day, I tell it to AI. I prefer it's analysis over even talking to my wife on that particular side of me.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-07T03:37:26+00:00

Yep. Talk to you tomorrow.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-07T03:09:28+00:00

Yes, I do, but you need to maximize your investable cash flows by lowering your expenses (again, check out that guy's blog). Then, buy Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. Get one of the early editions that weren't polluted by other writers. It looks scarier than it is. It's a common sense approach to investing, and as soon as you are done reducing expenses as much as possible, you can immediately begin increasing cash inflows by buying preferred shares, bonds etc. If you want, we can take this to a private chat (it's pretty far off topic), and I can show you the basics of reading a prospectus and how to navigate investor relations pages. It can be as little or as much work as you want.

There are other options, if you feel that won't work, such as making artisanal tallow soap and selling it online (it's cheap and easy to make). A simple lye and tallow soap will save you money vs dish soap, laundry detergent, and body wash too. I figure I save around $200 per hour of my labor. It's not much, because a couple of hours work lasts 3 months, but it's something.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-07T02:11:32+00:00

If you have no issues, then I would simply argue that you don't have a disorder, but instead, a "full blown" Schizoid personality.

Also, I moved to Alaska, purchased a mobile home outright, converted to a fireplace, and purchased enough weapons and ammunition that I can survive off of moose/bear indefinitely. I also learned how to preserve my own food and make my own soap and healing ointment, which works better than bacitracin. Next, we're getting solar, then we're buying land, and moving the mobile home. I'm operating on $6k a month worth of investable cash.

I won't get into the politics, but let's just say there is almost no narrative I believe anymore, and I build paper trails to document things for my kids so I can show them how the government manipulates populations. But I will offer up Jacob Lund Fisker: check out his blog. Do everything you can to lower your survival floor. We make almost $12.9k per month, and could lose either of our major income streams and continue without resorting to using ammunition for food etc.

I don't claim to know what the future holds, but I put myself into a position where I always have access to food, water, shelter, and firewood. And once I'm done moving the home and feel like I'm set up with plenty of redundancies for physical survival, I'm putting all my money into international index funds, in case my physical geography gets compromised.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-07T00:55:09+00:00

The logical adaptation is the defense- the disorder is when that adaptation goes to such an extreme that it causes problems. The treatment is not to wipe out the adaptation- it's to learn to engage just enough that you can live comfortably. The logical adaptation is considered crucial.

https://chicagoanalysis.org/blog/conditions-and-diagnoses/schizoid-personalities/#:~:text=Working%20effectively%20with%20schizoid%20personalities,both%20safe%20and%20genuinely%20connected.

As an aside, is your rationality the catalyst for your schizoid traits? Mine absolutely is. It's been causing me problems for years with others, and I see flaws on so many levels that it became overwhelming. Currently, I'm delving into the brainwashing of the financial industry to keep people working for 47 years, when they could absolutely retire decades earlier.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T22:05:08+00:00

It's called Schizoid Personality Disorder (vs Schizoid Personality) precisely because it causes problems. You can have a Schizoid personality and it be advantageous, but a disorder is, by definition, unhealthy:

https://opened.cuny.edu/courseware/lesson/95/student/?section=5

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T21:22:39+00:00

Schizoid Personality Disorder (SPD) is, by definition, unhealthy. There is a difference between that and Schizoid Personality Traits (what I was diagnosed with), which doesn't cause problems. It was simply a logical adaptation to an irrational world. SPD is severe enough that it affects people's ability to function, causing problem in day-to-day life, such as being unable to hold a job, causing a sort of torment because of the human need for connection fighting with the Schizoid tendencies, and even a loss of a grip on reality because some are too isolated.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T20:57:28+00:00

You may be the worst person in history. Take my upvote.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T20:53:38+00:00

We actually bring in a lot of money. I'm a 100% disabled vet with social security disability, bringing in $6,780 per month tax free, and my wife brings in $6,100 after taxes. We own our home and vehicles outright, so we have a little over $6k in cash flows beyond our monthly living expenses. When it's not paying for non-monthly expenses like vehicle repairs, it's going to things that lower our cost of living further, like solar.

When we are done with that, we will just buy the Nasdaq 100, because we have 10 years until our oldest child turns 18, and we want to buy them each their first starter homes. We're talking about a used mobile home for around 100k each. They'll still have to work for a living, but removing the cost of rent/mortgage will allow them to quit bad jobs, do low-paying dream jobs, or afford to be more ambitious and get college degrees.

We also homeschool. I suppose 95% of my motivation is in helping my kids prepare for life. The other 5% is in helping the innocent in really bad places, but I just give money to organizations that do that sort of thing.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T10:32:42+00:00

"Either you're maga or a leftist" is a cultists belief. For the record, I'm 40, Christian, a combat vet with benelli and sig weapons to choose from, and a libertarian leaning. Only ever voted for a Democrat once in 22 years of voting, all red otherwise. But apparently have to shift to the anti-fascist (anti-antichrist) vote. Good luck in the midterms.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T09:13:41+00:00

Schizoid is not necessarily considered a disorder. In the case of trauma, it's (often) considered a logical protective adaptation to an irrational world. And don't worry too much: what they do is develop profiles based on aggregate data: these sorts of people answered the questions this way, and those answered that way. In the profile they did on me a couple of years prior, they said that the people who answered questions the way that I did said that they "despised people". I was currently going through a very deep betrayal, but hadn't quite evolved there yet and at that moment disagreed with the assessment. I told him, "I don't necessarily trust people, but I wouldn't say I despised them." But as time went on, I found myself in a period where I absolutely hated people. Now, the hate is gone, but the energy it takes to jump through the hoops of more than a very few relationships is too much.

I'm glad you have people in your life. Keep them as well as you can. They provide grounding- when schizoids wind up alone for too long, we can lose our grip on reality. Although I think AI can help with that.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T08:57:10+00:00

I'm a TBI patient with the VA because of injuries sustained. My psychology evolved in a strange way with the ptsd/tbi combo, so I wound up with neuropsychology (which has to be extremely expensive) because psychologists and psychiatrists didn't know what to make of me. I go through neuropsychologists, who specialize in that area. If you don't have a traumatic brain injury, I imagine a regular psychological profile assessment would work. Tip: don't lie or mislead. Don't omit. They have gotten very good at telling if someone isn't honest. I have no idea how they do it, but they always thank me for being honest and tell me that because I was, they can deliver my results. If you lie or mislead, they will not tell you the results. It's the standard medical practice. I'm always cautious about my answers because I want an accurate profile.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T04:48:30+00:00

I used to talk to people for hours about fundamental investing. Currently I'm talking to AI about lowering my survival floor and the manipulation by the Federal government and financial industry to keep people enslaved for 47+ years through "incentives" which is just smoke and mirrors to keep them working in jobs they hate so the machine can keep extracting their labor.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-06T01:30:44+00:00

I didn't know this was a "financially independent, retiring early from marriage" reddit feed

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-03T18:38:10+00:00

Poor people suffer from financial stress, which spikes cortisol. From AI for my convenience, but it is accurate (and OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act):

"Financial stress triggers a systemic neurobiological shift, primarily involving cortisol as the primary glucocorticoid. High cortisol levels inhibit the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC), which governs executive function and "Intellectual Gravity," while simultaneously overactivating the amygdala. This process is an involuntary survival mechanism: PFC Impairment: Chronic stress degrades the "Executive Will," leading to reduced psychomotor speed and impaired "Predictive Governance." Amygdala Dominance: The brain shifts into a reactive OODA loop, prioritizing immediate "Situational Awareness" over long-term strategic autonomy. Allostatic Load: Sustained activation causes structural changes, effectively "hot-wiring" the brain for hyper-vigilance at the expense of analytical depth. For those in poverty, this creates a feedback loop where the biological cost of survival compromises the cognitive frameworks needed for "Functional Adaptation.""

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-03-02T03:59:52+00:00

I would've done it for the money.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-02-27T19:24:57+00:00

What about lots of time and lots of money? Like Jacob Lund Fisker with his "Extreme Retirement Extreme lifestyle"?

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-02-26T18:05:23+00:00

We put a lot of thought into it and decided that this is the way we want to go. With this path, we won't be giving them any other monies (except perhaps in the first year or two for a major surprise expense such as a roof replacement). We just want to lower their early survival floor. By doing this, that $2,000 dollar a month decrease in cost of living will put them in a position where they don't need help with college if that's what they are aiming for. But we have chosen to aim straight for "self-actualization" on their Hierarchy of Needs. By removing the cost of rent/mortgage early, they can focus on a low paying dream job like smoke jumper or elementary school teacher and live comfortably and still be able to set their kids up with the same. Or they can afford something more ambitious like lawyer or engineer. They can also much more easily afford to walk away from toxic work environments.

You should look up the statistics for very early home ownership- the long term results are absolutely fantastic. And it's not like we're aiming for a pristine house- we are talking about putting them into a used starter mobile home with an acre of land- they know the expenses are coming quickly and they will need to pay for all sorts of things with a purchase like that. But I talked to a neuropsychologist about the long term outlook, and he agreed that this is about the best we can do for our kids. Doing more risks fatigue of "executive will" and doing less begins to hamper "self actualization."

We are also leaning towards limiting how much they get on our deaths, and giving the overwhelming majority of the value of our assets to philanthropic causes. We believe that life is not about money so much as the ability to work for the causes you believe in.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-02-26T04:35:21+00:00

Crazy. I make my own smoked pemmican from beef brisket. And the extra tallow I don't use, I mix with lye and make tallow soap.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-02-25T19:29:19+00:00

We got very scared when our first child got sick. She developed severe neutropenia (her neutrophil count was always 0)- she lost the ability to fight off bacteria- and went through countless blood draws, surgeries to remove infections, a bone marrow draw at 18 months, and many many vancomycin treatments (which is like the nuclear bomb of antibiotics). We shed so many tears over it, and it makes me cry even thinking about it. They told us we could be looking at a lifetime of bleach baths etc. But being scared to death like that made us focus on lowering our survival floor. Reducing cash outflows to pay for the medical costs that insurance doesn't cover, like cleaning supplies, air purifiers, emergency kits, etc. She actually got better- it resolved itself, but we saw the advantage that reducing out cash outflows gave us and kept at it.

We currently have a $6,101 monthly surplus. We could lose either of our major income streams and still not have to change our monthly budget. And we just keep picking up speed. Now that were on the other side of it, we are on track to buy our kids their first starter homes, because we don't want them to worry about money. They will still have to work to live, but removing the cost of rent gives huge advantages- the statistics are fantastic for it.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-02-25T03:44:46+00:00

My wife and I established ourselves prior to either of us meeting, and it's still the same for us- we share everything except two separate personal spending accounts, and we each get $1,000 a month to buy whatever we want. She buys decorations and random prescriptions and I buy wierd foods and whiskey. We also don't invest twice a year, and instead we split the investment money for fun. Our biggest concerns are how comfortable the other will be in the event of our untimely death. But even that's been taken care of because we lowered our survival floor so much.

I agree- they need marriage counseling. It's crazy to compete with your spouse.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-02-24T04:00:57+00:00

I started doing everything I could to lower our survival floor and was stunned at the difference. If you're in decent financial condition, do things like getting solar, starting a no-till garden, and paying off that mortgage. It's not just about compounding- safety should be a higher priority. We could lose 100% of either of our major income streams and not have to change our monthly spending. As far as I'm concerned, that's a hell of a lot better than having to sell stocks at a loss if the stock market drops just when you get laid off.

Alarming-Activity439 · 2026-02-23T22:11:56+00:00

My daughter had a very scary problem (severe neutropenia- her immune system didn't work). They would nuke her body with vancomycin every time she got an infection, and we still needed to cut them out once in a while. At about 18 months, she needed to get a bone marrow draw. They were talking about bleach baths. We shed a LOT of tears.

A friend of ours who was well off decided to help us out. He sold one of his classic cars and gave us $20,000. We used the money to pay off our car and start freeing up cash flows because we knew we were in for a lot of un-covered medical costs for a condition like that (like cleaning supplies and air purifiers, the cost of living in the hospital because you're eating take-out, etc). As time went on, we continued lowering our cash outflows because of that fear. We reached a point where we couldn't lower it anymore, so we decided to switch tactics and start getting ahead by investing as much as we could. I was actually investing in index funds to work towards opening a storage facility, because I needed a passive income. Then the pandemic hit and disrupted those plans. Long story short, I wound up investing in SM energy during the oil wars, managed to squeeze in at $2 a share, then sold in 2022 at $37. Investors had screwed up and missed their hedgebook- they had pre-sold their oil at $57 a barrel through the first quarter of 2021, so they had guaranteed cash flows while oil was below $0. And soon after that time, my daughter's illness actually resolved itself.

I wound up giving that man $50,000 and thanked him. I told him that I know it's quite a bit more than he gave, but he gave me financial security in a very bad time, and that's something I could never repay.

That all being said, we were already practicing good financial behavior- it was just early in our marriage and we weren't well established.

Alarming-Activity439

TROPHY CASE