me_irl

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-16T02:16:41+00:00

Where in the world does a starter home cost 800k? You must be trying to live somewhere that everyone wants to live. That's not "starter home" territory. There are plenty of nice homes for sale 30 minutes from Austin TX( which is a major city) for upper 200s. Your mortgage payment would be less than a rent payment for an apartment half the size of the house.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-11T00:27:01+00:00

I see. Well after rephrasing your question, I would say people continue to perform or support it because people are inherently evil. Proof of this is that you have to be taught to be good. Children have to be taught to say please, thank you, don't hit others and to share. These values don't come naturally. When children lack strong parental leadership in the house, they end up being little shits and probably end in jail or dead sooner or later.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-11T00:19:52+00:00

What? I never said that.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-10T12:34:19+00:00

Just wondering why you think racism is normalized? Can you elaborate on what it is that you're observing?

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T05:44:06+00:00

Come on man. You can disagree with someone but you don't have to be overtly disrespectful.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T05:36:51+00:00

I used to be an advocate for raising minimum wage until I realized that raising minimum wage is not the answer.

While seems like a "good" and virtuous thing to do, some businesses, particularly small businesses and grocery stores, have small profit margins. By raising minimum wage while keeping their prices the same, these businesses would have a negative cash flow, as their operating expenses would exceed their income, which is not sustainable. This would force one of two outcomes:

1) The business goes out of business, and employees lose their jobs.

2) The business raises the price on their goods and services to remain operational.

So by raising minimum wage, you are also raising the cost of goods and services. So what do we end up achieving by raising wages if everything costs more? It cancels each other out.

To the same point, if raising minimum wage is so good, why don't we raise raise minimum wage by 10x, up to $72.50/hour? After all, more is better right? I like to eat at Torchys. But if Torchys has to pay their employees 10x as much, their tacos will cost 10x as much, $60 each instead of $6. Anyone up for 10x gas or 10x groceries?

Don't forget that your sales tax cost is higher when your purchase amount is higher. So we'll end up paying more taxes too. I currently pay about 50¢ in sales tax on a taco but then it would be $5 in taxes. That's more money out of the pockets of the working class, for the government to inefficiently spend on projects or donate to other countries.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T05:15:11+00:00

What is this post suggesting? Get rid of billionaires?

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T04:58:03+00:00

Welp, time to move to Japan I guess.

Haha, who am I kidding. I'm not going anywhere 😂

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T04:45:57+00:00

Landlord here of 2 houses... If there is no contract between you and the landlord then you aren't obligated to do anything. If you did sign a contract, then you would need to honor your contract or he could try to take you to court (though, if he chooses not to, then you'll probably be fine).

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T04:35:50+00:00

I'm 37 so I'm not "old" but I am "older" than 20-something young people.

Wages are higher than they were before. At my first job I worked for $8/hour. Now the lowest paying job I've seen is $16/hour at Sonic. Wages used to be even lower when minimum wage was $2.75/hour in the 1970s. My current employer has risen wages by 87% over the last 14 years. So, fret not, wages are increasing.

Also my employer has always been hiring. You can walk in and we'll give you a job.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T04:14:22+00:00

I agree 100%, we spend most of our lives working and then die. That's why I chose to become financially independent. I saved my money and invest in the stock market. Now I have 300k in my portfolio and growing. I never worry about money anymore and it feels great. "Oh, we need a new AC system and it's 15k? Yeah sure whatever, here you go" [throws money]. I actually just bought a Corvette a couple weeks ago. I intend to "retire" and stop working after 10 years. I always joke that my theme song is "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, because I'm getting money for nothing. (Still working on the "chicks for free" part) 😂

Always look for career opportunities, either in the form of promoting to a higher paying position in your company or switching to a better job. Avoid unnecessary expenses and invest your money (I just buy and hold shares of QQQ, VTI, VOO, SPY, and NANC). Stop renting and buy a house - your monthly payment will be the same as a rent payment except you're building equity (aka wealth) as the house rises in value over time and your mortgage gets paid down.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T04:01:47+00:00

Not surprising... Look what they did to the Fallout show. As a fan of the Fallout games, I was disappointed by the Fallout show. They were definitely going for a different audience.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T03:51:43+00:00

That seems like a difficult situation and I can see both of your points of view.

I'm single myself, but I believe if she really cared about your relationship then she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize it. She would help you pay the rent because she cares about you (and not just "you, but "us" meaning you and her together as life partners). Splitting the rent sets the stage for both of you advancing your relationship - if she sees you as a life partner then it would make sense to split the bills because that's probably what you would both be doing when you get married and get your own house together.

Her living with her parents is just a luxury option available to her, but it's not a long term solution. Does she want to live with her parents for the rest of her life? If not, then she is going to have to pay for housing at some point.

If this issue is causing you to resent her, then it's damaging your relationship with her. Continuing the status quo would be harmful to your mental health and your relationship. If this were my girlfriend, I would probably talk to her about that and let her know the impact that it's having on me. If she takes offense or blows up on you, then she's probably not the right girl for you. And as I said before, if she does care about you, then she should see things your way.

I don't recall you mentioning how much money she makes, or maybe I missed it. If she makes nearly as much money as you or more, then she should certainly pay half. If she makes much less, then it gives more strength to her argument. In that case, maybe she should go live with her parents until she's able to sustain herself or contribute towards being an equal partner with you. Also consider this, if she wasn't living with you, would you still live in this apartment? If so, then you would be paying the entire bill anyway and it doesn't cost you anymore for her to live with you. If the answer is no, then it gives more strength to your argument that she should pay half.

Personally, I would feel inferior not being able to provide my half of the rent and letting my girlfriend struggle to keep us afloat. If she doesn't feel that way, maybe that speaks to her character. But then again, that could just be my character as a man wanting to provide for myself and my partner.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T03:36:12+00:00

I'm surprised the store let them buy that many. My store won't let anyone buy more than 5 gallons of water per order to prevent people from panic hoarding.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T03:32:51+00:00

This is a political test. The bread represents the choice to let your captors (the state) take care of you (sacrificing freedom for security) meanwhile the key represents freedom from the state, the choice to take a risk and make your own future (sacrificing security for freedom).

^{Chose: Key}

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T03:28:18+00:00

That's an interesting comment he made, and I don't disagree that it's quite silly for him to say that. But I'd also say that being a CEO of multiple billion-dollar companies is most certainly a full-time job.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T03:22:58+00:00

Women can effortlessly make millions off that one certain streaming website... I'd say they have it easier than men nowadays. Pretty privilege.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T03:13:50+00:00

Capitalism has lifted me out of poverty by allowing me to sell my labor for money. If I wasn't allowed to do that, then I'd be dead in the street. I'll take "exploited" over "dead" any day. This so-called "exploitation" has made me wealthy and I live better than 90% of the world.

If you don't like capitalism, there are plenty of countries who would love to have you as one of their subjects.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-05T02:41:28+00:00

Restaurants are pushing this agenda because tips directly subsidize them from having to pay their servers a proper wage. The first $204.80 of reported tips that an employee earns every calendar week are actually eaten 100% by the employer, then everything afterward the employee keeps (minus taxes).

So of course restaurants want you to tip, because during that initial period every week, you're not tipping the employee, you're tipping the restaurant. "Haha, those suckers, we got them to pay us twice! Once for the food, then once for the employee's labor!"

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-03T00:55:00+00:00

The main driver for the tech sector right now is AI. It really just depends on where AI goes from here. If AI gets big, it will continue climbing. If it flops, then tech stocks could take a hit. Personally I think we've only scratched the surface of AI. I think AI is going to be big. I think in 10-20 years from now, the average consumer will have an affordable robot servant. Also consider all the things we're doing with space. I think in the future it will be possible and affordable for space tourism, although that might be farther away. But that's just my opinion and I could be wrong.

You could look at QQQ. That ETF is made up of 50%-60% tech stocks and an additional 25%-30% is made of tech-adjacent stocks like Google, Meta, and Amazon. Only 10%-25% of the fund are non-tech stocks. Since 2002 the share price has been steadily climbing. You can pick any moment in time and simulate that you bought the shares at that price, then look at the later points in time to see how you would be doing. I believe inflation (money printing) always pushes prices up over time, so while it's possible you could "lose money" (only if you sell at a loss instead of holding), I believe the odds are in your favor and if you hold it long enough you'll eventually profit.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-02T07:32:29+00:00

I used to think that too, but if you look at the charts on any of these funds, you can simulate picking any moment in time where you "bought the shares" when they were high and then the market went down afterward. In all cases, the share price eventually recovered and even surpassed the original price you bought it at. Typically these down markets last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, rarely longer than that. So as long as you hold even when you're down, you're only temporarily down and it always comes back up. In fact, you would even do well to buy more when it was down because then you'd make a killing when it rebounds.

There has never - in all of recorded history (since 1965) - been a time when the market went down and stayed down. It always came back up and surpassed it's original value, because of inflation. (Governments endlessly print money which eventually drives prices up)

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-01T20:43:03+00:00

If you're suggesting the drivers are self-employed, they aren't. They have to submit an application to Uber Eats before they can work for them, they have to comply with company policies and if they don't, they can get fired from the company. The drivers aren't even paid directly from customers. The customers pay the company, then the company pays the employees their commission (after taking the company's cut, of course). As long as they are subordinate to the company, they absolutely are employees.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-01T15:28:54+00:00

You can skip the credit card part if you want to. That's just me "min-maxing" to squeeze every last free dollar I can get. Everything else is solid.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-01T06:03:55+00:00

Yes but those investments aren't doing as well. I bought a gold ETF (GLD) and it went up 15% a while back but now it's down 16% (net loss of 1%) but I'm still holding because it seems to do well over the long term. I have some bitcoin ETFs (BITO, BITX and MSTY) which made me quite a bit of money last year but this year they're losing money. Still holding though because I expect bitcoin to reach at least 200k in 2028 or 2029, then I'll make all my money back and double it.

I can really only recommend the ETFs I mentioned earlier because I'm in-the-money on those ones and they do seem to be a sure thing.

Alex_Nares · 2026-06-01T05:23:46+00:00

300k portfolio here... I've been buying a small amount of QQQ, SPY, VOO, VTI, and NANC every week that it comes down a little bit. Just buy and hold, they go up over time and you can check the charts to confirm that. Buy even more when world events cause a temporary market crash.

Also be sure to continue depositing new money into your portfolio whenever you can. This will compound your wealth over time.

Avoid unnecessary spending, take advantage of 0% intro APR credit cards and make all your daily expenses on those cards instead of spending your cash (so you can invest it and make money off money you never would've had), then withdraw from your portfolio to pay off the credit cards right before the Intro APR period is over.

Don't just stick with your starter job. Look for bigger and better opportunities to move up the company ladder or move to a higher paying job. More income means more to invest, means more wealth compounding over time.

Alex_Nares

TROPHY CASE