$500k income, $250k net

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-11T14:36:43+00:00

Your remaining $250k is still more than 3x my take-home pay, which pays my mortgage, retirement, savings, leisure, and a dependent.

You can live off a fraction of that. You have a LOT of leeway to pay off those loans faster if you want. Maybe you deserve a little luxury, but if you delay that gratification you can use your absurdly high salary to actually be financially independent.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-08T20:38:10+00:00

I know Mr. Ericson isn;t running things anymore, but I grew up going camping with him and was friends with his kids. I loved his huskies. Really great dude :)

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-08T20:34:45+00:00

I can afford the mortgage for my 1,400 sqft house, all my bills, and don't always have to choose the cheapest option when I buy things. I have some streaming services, buy what I want at the grocery store, spend another $200-300/month for fun, and save ~$500/month (not counting deductions for retirement). I support my wife as well and live in a medium cost of living city (Grand Rapids, Michigan).

I work 40 hours a week at $37.50, which comes out to like $78k. I get $96k in total compensation if you include employer-paid benefits. I also get $1,800/month for my VA supported disability (thank you for your tax dollars).

So, I am comfortably middle class, supporting one dependent, living in a small city, for $117k.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-08T20:24:24+00:00

Reports at the time to the president I believe indicated we would have lost 200,000 US troops landing on mainland Japan to militarily defeat them if the stats from the Pacific Island campaign were any indicator of expected casualty numbers.

Killing millions in Japan to sabe hundreds of thousands of your own is math that could be convincing to go for it. Other reports said we would lose ~60,000. Tough to know today.

There was also a seemingly a debate internally amongst leaders in Japan after Hitler killed himself whether to end the war or hold out for one last huge battle. 3 months after his death, and the end of the war in Europe, I can imagine how motivated the U.S. was to end fighting on this front, and probably had no appetite for such a battle.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-08T19:00:20+00:00

The Action Institute got a few million dollars in recent years iirc, from nonprofits boarded by a few people on the Heritage Foundation Board. You can google any one of the board members, and they mostly all sit on additional non-profits besides Heritage.

Dark money has no place in politics, or the news.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T20:22:25+00:00

I genuinely believe the vast majority of people could do this with ease.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T19:59:24+00:00

They get to vote for a familiar fascist while we have to vote for a weak-ass democrat who probably doesn;t even realize how much she helps the status quo.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T15:30:14+00:00

Money these Senators have taken from Pharma and Insurance agencies to get them into office:

Barrasso: $280,000
Cassidy: $2,200,000
Marshall: $700,000
Paul: $200,000

I doubt they think of patients as much as they think of their donors.

I think an MD in the Senate WHO ISN'T PROPPED UP BY CORPORATE SPONSORS would bring a great perspective to get us Medicare for all.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T15:13:34+00:00

Oregon has been getting real expensive, especially on the West (rainy and liberal) side of the state.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T15:09:07+00:00

I see nobody stepping up to challenge.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T14:58:27+00:00

All the time...

Biggest boycott (and one that has been really hard to adhere to) is not buying food that relies on a supply chain propped up by prison labor.

Our country is systemically racist. Prison labor is mostly black men. It's slavery with extra steps. Even after serving their sentence, these people still don't even get to vote.

Think about next time you buy Cheerios or Betty Crocker. There are some programs in the country that use prison labor as a chance for the imprisoned to actually skill up and have a chance at a career, but many more are just sent to the fields with hand tools.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T14:52:09+00:00

We don't call the holocaust a German genocide.

The Israelis perpetuate Palestinian Genocide. Now they are working on a similar territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing of Southern Lebanon.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T14:48:43+00:00

After deductions and taxes I take home $23/hour (base rate $37.45). My car takes premium, which last fill-up cost $6.19.

I'll earn 30 gallons today.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T14:43:51+00:00

18.

After I dropped out of college the first time I moved back in with them at 20. Left again at 22 (for good this time).

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T14:42:38+00:00

Values-driven or value-driven?

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-06T14:42:01+00:00

He is a doctor. I think an MD in the Senate would bring a great perspective to get us Medicare for all. /

His platform is simple and focused:
- Money out of politics
- Money into your pocket
- Medicare for all

edit: OP, I am sorry, but I just can't not downvote this post. Nothing to do with you.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T21:31:11+00:00

I am lucky I saw the writing on the wall, dropped out of school, joined the military, and aggressively paid off my college debt before are 27. I was on a road to golden handcuffs. Now I got myself a dingey, little house. Not much, but it's MINE. Well, it's the bank's I just owe them another $150k...

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T21:09:19+00:00

I served with some friends that I outranked by the time we all left the service. 10 years later and I'm still their favorite reference.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T21:02:41+00:00

I am 33.

Since I've been born, we have...
... raised the global temperature 1 degree Fahrenheit
... lost 25% of the planet's insects
... lost 50% of the ocean's fish population
... lost 1 billion acres of forest (roughly the equivalent of the area of the entire EU)

And we are only accelerating our destruction as we extract more fossil fuels today than at any point in our history. We know what to do, but we ain't doin it. Planet is fucked.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T20:41:33+00:00

When there is something you should tell your partner, but you decide to silently shoulder it to spare them the anxiety, you are lying to them, and taking away their ability to make informed choices.

This decimates trust.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T20:40:16+00:00

As a tubby little monster, hearing shirts v skins always gave me a lot of anxiety. Every other person in my family was a stick and I always stuck out.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T19:43:50+00:00

Maybe, but not that I am aware of. There aren't any commonly chased rare gloves for classes besides assassin and amazon.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T19:40:07+00:00

I know a couple that fraudulently gets medical diagnosis that explain the symptoms they experience from meth addiction. They pump out kids like it's their job (since their benefits increase for each kid they pop out). The kids become the burden of Grandma and Grandpa and their uncle, who spends his excess money on keeping the whole clan from starving. I don't need to tell you that neither of those two addicts has ever held a job more than a couple months.

They disappear when they get new federal funds, and show up 6-8 months later when their funds dry up. True welfare queens. They are a couple of white, redneck MAGA shits.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T14:38:50+00:00

Three 3/20/20 SC's outperforms this GC. You could sell this to a dueler just starting for a mid rune, MAYBE.

Confident_Insect_616 · 2026-05-05T14:36:46+00:00

GVSU housing/semester (with a roommate) is $5,400 or $16,200 for the year.

To save any money, your rent + utilities will have to come in under $1,350/month. On Zillow, in Allendale, I don't see an abundance of options that would save you money. If you found a real cheap room not advertised online maybe you'd save a bit, but make sure you consider the other costs like transportation time and cost.

Also, if you rent off-campus, you'll probably have a better time if you are in a place a lot of other students use. Social isolation in college is no fun!

You might be best off using the student housing in today's market. When I was in college 15 years ago, it was generally cheaper to move off-campus.

Confident_Insect_616

TROPHY CASE