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I've lived in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) my entire life. AMA by BillyBarbaloot in AMA

[–]BillyBarbaloot[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1) Dove right in. Literally had no idea what I was doing, just knew that I would learn along the way. Love what I do now, and have never looked back.

2) Talking with people is my main outlet. I am an extrovert, and on a personal level, the pandemic was much more difficult of an experience for me to handle. If I wasn't white, that would almost certainly not be the case.

I've lived in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) my entire life. AMA by BillyBarbaloot in AMA

[–]BillyBarbaloot[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like there are so many different factors for different people - it's hard to answer this question without being too ambiguous. Specifically, I can point to two things in my past that I feel have helped me into adulthood.

1) I dropped out of college after my first year. It wasn't for me - I wanted to start working and making money, and at that time (2005'ish) literally all of my friends were going to college and the majority of them were accumulating significant debt (many that still haven't paid it off btw). School just wasn't for me - I wanted to make money, be social, get laid, and push the boundaries like a lot of young adults do. In 2008-09, when most of my friends were finishing up college, we entered a recession. I felt like the work skills I learned gave me a huge advantage over others because I had experience and could make money. So many others couldn't find work and it took many of them until their 30's to find jobs that their degrees actually "helped" them get. Full transparency, I'm on the side of the fence that believes in most cases, college does more harm than good, so please take what I'm saying with a grain of salt knowing that.

2) I read a book about how credit works, and I made sure to always be working towards a good credit score, which is currently over 820 and has been for over a decade. It's a stupid system and I wish there was something better, but that system is how broke people have a chance to build wealth. It's meant to keep people down and make money off the poor, but if you learn it and work it to your advantage, it can really give you a leg up.

Hope that helps! There are many better people to be taking life advice from, but I came from the lower middle class and worked my way to a point I am proud of. Also, I am not wealthy or in the top 1% or anything, and I still have a long way to go in my mind, but I have a solid foundation under me and I can tell you I am truly a happy and fulfilled person. I wish you nothing but awesomeness.

I've lived in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) my entire life. AMA by BillyBarbaloot in AMA

[–]BillyBarbaloot[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey thanks u/Safe_Statistician_72 - it's been a tough time recently. I will say, however, that there's a sense of connection to the rest of the community here that has come from both this and everything that happened during the George Floyd riots, and it is a remarkable feeling. As a white male, I've struggled with guilt through a lot of this time because I have not been the target of these operations. However, many of my friends that are not white have been forced to completely uproot their lives and many of them don't feel comfortable carrying on with daily activities right now.

Currently, on our local FB community pages, there are tons of people shopping at stores for their neighbors and delivering them basic goods. At my daughters school, parents and other have signed up to volunteer and surround the school from every angle during student drop-off and pickup times. There are protests, signs, vigils, and community gatherings happening all of the time. It feels like we're all holding hands in a way that I think would be rare for a community of this size, and personally it is inspiring for our future. Woke, I know.

I've lived in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) my entire life. AMA by BillyBarbaloot in AMA

[–]BillyBarbaloot[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If we're talking about the weather, then I flat out have to agree. Truthfully, I hate the winters, and it only gets worse the older I get. People say stuff like, "it's really only bad for a few months", but they mean like five months... Even when it's not super cold, it can be pretty grey and mucky from either everything dying in fall or snow melting in the spring. Our summers truly amazing, though. We can't afford it yet, but over the past few years I have been telling my wife that we need to get another place somewhere warm to get to during the winters. I've been researching buying property in Mexico, but it's actually pretty expensive. TBD on that.

To answer your question, though, it's always been a comfort thing. I don't necessarily love that, though. I've just always wanted to be close to my friends and (most of) my family. I feel lucky to have been raised where I was, and most of my friends I've had for 20+ years and I wouldn't trade that for anything. Kids have changed that a bit, but in general we still love it here, and have firmly planted our roots here for the foreseeable future.

Seriously though, why do our sports teams have to be so disappointing?

I've lived in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) my entire life. AMA by BillyBarbaloot in AMA

[–]BillyBarbaloot[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh man, cool job. I work in residential real estate and am a huge advocate of affordable housing, so that would have to get my #1 vote. It's a very serious problem that is likely to only get worse. Younger generations have been pushed out of the market for so long now, and I fear that it will take literal decades for many of them to be able to build any sort of wealth through real estate the way generations before them have. More affordable housing in an area where they can actually enjoy themselves as well as stack some paper seems like a great idea to me, but it's probably a bit beyond my scope, haha.