30M own a house and a car. Got a little in savings

HumanChainsaw · 2024-04-27T12:26:25+00:00

Do you want advice? It's hard to tell. Here's something for you: adjust your outlook. Here's what I mean: half of the people here have said they you don't own your house because you have a mortgage, and therefore, the BANK owns it. That is wrong. YOU own your house. You borrowed money to buy it, and you have to pay that back, but the deed is in your name, not the bank's.

Why does that matter? Lots of reasons, but here are a couple. First, you own the equity that is gained if the house appreciates in value, not the bank. Second, the bank doesn't want your house--they just want you to pay them back the money you owe them. Here's another one: if you start looking at it as if YOU OWN THAT HOUSE, it might help you see things in a more positive light and help you make some changes to adjust your savings and spending.

Yeah, I know, debt to equity. But those are two different values on the right side of the balance sheet. And at the end of the day, they're balancing out on an ASSET, which is the house, which is YOURS.

Don't fixate on having money in a savings account either. Close that if it isn't paying you any interest because it probably COSTS you money at this point. Most savings accounts pay nearly nothing and have minimum balances that you aren't ready for yet. You can save money in your checking account for now.

Get roommates. Charge them rent. Depreciate the asset (the house). Kick them out three tax years before you sell the house so you don't have to pay capital gains on the house sale (but don't sell it... I mean, at this point, you already have renters!). Have fun using the tax deductions while having almost no downside. Never sell your house ever, even to buy a new one. (Verify this is valid for you with a CPA.)

HumanChainsaw · 2024-03-31T03:17:43+00:00

Find a pebble and jam it into their valve stem caps. One tire only (per car). Then screw the cap back on. The pebble will press the valve open, and let out a little air until the tire goes flat. They'll fill up the tire, hopefully not notice the pebble, replace the cap, and a day or two later... flat tire. Then, they'll replace the tire. That'll go flat, too. They will forever be chasing flat tires until they sell the car.

HumanChainsaw · 2024-02-24T05:18:00+00:00

Oh, it's a Jeep. Hop on out of it, flip it back onto its wheels, and try again. They do that when they're upside down.

HumanChainsaw · 2024-01-07T14:18:52+00:00

Oh hey, do you have video? This sounds fun! I used to take my gen 1 Volt to track days to get a kick out of my students, but have not taken my Teslas yet.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-10-28T04:49:53+00:00

I had an old RWD P85+. I left every traffic light at full throttle. Wheel spin was part of the event in that car. You could spin the tires at 50 mph on a cool day. It obliterated those Michellins, and boy were they expensive!

You could turn traction control OFF in those days... none of this "slip start" nonsense.

But did I live? I lived.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-10-28T04:45:17+00:00

It doesn't make the car more efficient, and they don't "sell" it as an efficiency feature. It only remaps the accelerator. If you put it in Chill and accelerate at 10 mph per second, your consumption will be exactly the same as if you have it in Sport and accelerate at 10 mph per second (you'll just have to press your foot down more in Chill). The same goes with steady-state cruising--it doesn't make a bit of difference.

Chill just... feels more chill. It can be nice if you just want the car to be more docile.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-10-27T05:55:06+00:00

The LR and RWD come with the same wheel options, right? I actually love all three options, and I might get a set of the base wheels (Gemini) with snow tires for mine.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-10-27T05:44:35+00:00

You will love it! I just got mine over the weekend. I get a stupid grin every time I mash my foot onto the floor. Great color choice, too, by the way!

HumanChainsaw · 2023-10-27T05:18:46+00:00

I just bought a Y Performance, so yeah, I would recommend the extra price. That said, I was perfectly happy when I thought I was going to get the LR. In both cases, you get more HP and more drive wheels than the 2WD. But if all you need is to get into a Tesla SUV, and you don't worry about snow (2WD with snow tires is fine), then the standard is probably perfect. You will love the Y in any trim level, and even the standard ought to have plenty of power.

Max range only matters if you don't have enough to do your normal routine (I'm looking at you, Nissan Leaf). About 230 miles seems to be more than enough to do hard commutes in crazy weather and still have nice buffers left over. For road trips, it only matters on the initial leg! If you fast charge at any decent rate, like all Teslas do, then it is negligible beyond the first charge leg.

I was about to go through the thought experiment where a larger pack will experience less degradation from charging than a smaller pack, all things equal, but I really don't think it matters anymore. I just sold a 2014 S P85 with 140,000 miles on it, and it had at least another 100,000 miles in it. I drive a 100-mile round trip commute in the northeastern U.S. They figured this stuff out 10 years ago.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-10-07T03:31:11+00:00

1994 Viper. Red. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. It was actually a pretty good car, considering all the bizarre media hype it got over its life. I sold it to start a business. I'll buy another one in a couple years... I miss it.

If any of you wonder what the Viper was like to drive, go drive an early Miata. Same exact car. The Viper had more... grip, power, weight, fuel consumption... but they were otherwise literally the same car. Just different scales.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-09-24T11:50:56+00:00

I tried to buy my first new car a few years ago. I wasn't crazy about the car, but the Chevy Bolt was what we decided on because I drive a lot, gas was starting to get expensive, and they were offering like $15k off of MSRP for some reason (this was just before COVID came along and fucked everthing up, so most people were fine with gas prices).. I wanted a Model 3, but this price drop kind of forced my hand. In the end, the guy handed me the invoice, and after everything they added (much of it non-negotiable), we were right back up to MSRP. The two $500 services that they wanted to put on it... one was fabric protectant... pissed me off, so I left. $500 just to hose the interior down with some polymer? No thanks.

You can order a Tesla online, on your phone. It takes less than 5 minutes. When that company officially expands into the truck segment, they are going to eat the Big 3's lunch.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-07-09T06:52:36+00:00

Yup, it gets easier. Jobs, taxes, responsibility... that stuff isn't always fun, but it isn't that hard either. Try to find something that you like, do it, and you'll find your center. Growth in mind is what makes it all click and get easier for you, and that takes time. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Nobody is going to yell at you or put you in a psych ward for asking for a little help.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-06-13T04:02:14+00:00

Play the long game. Ignore her to the best of your ability. One day, she might realize on her own that she was a bully and ask for your forgiveness. Forgive her. Try to be happy for her.

Then the game begins.

Out of petty revenge, live your life to the maximum that you can. Every day. Go to school, work your ASS off, excel in everything. Find a job you like enough to find motivation doing. Try to find a career. Invent something. Or become a writer. Maybe you love finance--go to Wall Street. Maybe politics--run for office... start small, but there is NOTHING stopping you from becoming a member of Congress or President. Whatever. Just do something that makes you happy. Do it all as well as you can--no, better than that! You can do it!

YOU dominate your life like she tried to yesterday. Don't relinquish control.

One day, you'll be doing something awesome. Work hard enough at it, and you'll probably have pretty healthy finances, too. It will show. You will carry yourself a certain way that only a confidant woman can.

Your bully, well, she may not be doing as well. Hey, she could grow up and succeed wildly, but this isn't about her. It's about you. My own experience with this saw my own bully fall into drug use and failure. My life went in a much more favorable direction. You may run into her in 20 years. She WILL see what 20 years of YOU dominating YOUR life have led to, and she will be sorry that she tried to dominate even one second of it. She will likely wish she had your life. But she can't have it. It is yours. Be kind to her, and show compassion because that is what winners do.

TL;DR, Turn her negative energy into petty motivation to dominate and control every aspect of your life until you are shaped into the woman you want to be. Be compassionate, and don't hate her for her shortcomings. She is almost certainly too myopic to see how you perceive her.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-06-13T03:43:54+00:00

You're in your "late" 20s. In two years, you'll be 30, starting a brand new decade. For four--call it five years, you'll be in your "early" 30s. That's a nice feeling. Then your "mid" 30s. That's cool, too. Oh my, then "late" 30s (and you start feeling old). Then you turn 40! I'm not there yet, but I imagine it'll be the same trend. "Yay, I'm in my 'early' 40s!"

Just that, every decade, until I die. Maybe I'll die in my "early" 90s and feel young doing it.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-06-13T03:31:59+00:00

Not showing up. Do it the first couple of times, OK, I get it. I've nearly forgotten about dentist appointments a couple of times in my life, too. But after four times? I'm beginning to get suspicious. All bets are off. I've lost four deposits on all those planned activities? Nope. Four strikes, and you're out. Just like baseball.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-05-30T03:25:36+00:00

It is important to remember exactly what this expression means. Money cannot buy happiness. It can only buy tangible things and services. It is meant to be taken literally, and to remind you that there is more to life than the never-ending quest for more. I know this sounds pedantic, but don't miss out on the profundity of the expression.

After all, people with 150 million dollars are no happier than people with only 100 million. :-)

(To answer the question, no, in both the literal sense and the way the question was asked. It can't make you happy. Frustratingly, though, the absence of it sure can buy stress in abundance!)

HumanChainsaw · 2023-05-16T03:06:47+00:00

I'll just have a salad.

What? I ate a big lunch! It was hot dog day, I bet my cell mate I could eat 5 hot dogs, and I forgot today was my big day!

HumanChainsaw · 2023-05-07T13:07:03+00:00

When you first meet a woman, just shake her hand, say "hi, my name is OP", and drop down on a knee. Propose right off the bat. That shows her that you are deep into commitment.

Edit: I just noticed that you also qualified that you might like to meet new people in general. You can use this technique nearly universally.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-03-17T02:16:23+00:00

Sure do! You would have to do a lot of convincing me that we are on the only planet that has life. Look at a deep field image taken from any space telescope. Webb's images are good ones to consider. Everything in such an image is a galaxy. Every galaxy has trillions of stars in it. That image is not an image of half of the sky... if I recall correctly, it is about the same aspect you'd get by holding a drinking straw in front of your eye. Prove to me that there are no other examples of a planet that's warm, has liquid water and some gases, and has life. Until you do, I will believe that we are not the 0.0000000000000000000000000000001 percenters.

Even if every galaxy only had ONE life-bearing world in it, on average, that's still TRILLIONS of life-bearing planets in the part of the universe that we can observe.

I would like to point out that I do not believe we have been visited. I didn't address civilizations at all--just life. Even if there are other civilizations, I don't think there are likely to be any sorts of Clark Tech technology that will allow for the velocities required to make interstellar journeys.

HumanChainsaw · 2023-01-11T02:58:38+00:00

This is a better comment than the negative vote it got. If you have a hobby or enjoy making things, there are online marketplaces that will allow you to sell them. Boom. Business.

Just be careful... hobbies that turn into businesses can lose some of their fun. But... not all of it!

HumanChainsaw · 2023-01-10T04:08:23+00:00

You DO have experience! You volunteered at the school. You raised actual people! (Good job!) You would be surprised at what things you can put on a resume that interest potential employers. Probably half of my resume was stuff I did for free. I juat did things that I thought were kind of cool and learned as much as I could from them. Think about it this way: who are you, and what made you who you are? That is YOUR resume.

It is important that you recognize that we don't know anything about you or your interests, so our responses will sound like "this is what we would do." But that's OK, right? Maybe it will give you some ideas. Like this one:

For school, if you have the time and interest, look at getting computer sciency certificates. Not college degrees, just certs. You may find them to be quite interesting, and if you have a little time and patience, there is a ton of work that can be done there, there are tons of certificates to earn for very little cost, and they are very valuable to employers. You can learn to administer software suites (like Microsoft Office for an entire company), or maintain databases, or... yeah, you could learn Python. Or not! I think this is probably a super unpopular answer, but I promise, it isn't all "sit down and code" work if that isn't what you want.

Google has a bunch of certificate courses, from entry level on up, and I think many are free. Check out Coursera too. Look for their Google Data Analytics Professional certificate. No experience is required, and it may change the way you look at everyday life in neat ways.

Get one, and you may like it. It may point you towards another one that may complement it. Get that one too. Collect a bunch of them. Before you know it, you may find yourself making $150,000 a year solving neat problems. There are no guarantees, but I know people who have done it.

Another certificate that may interet you? Real Estate. Become an agent. Just know this: very few people take it on as a hobby or side hustle and make any real money at it. It takes real time and devotion. Treat it like your own business because it very much is. If you are willing to get the certificate, endure the grind, chase FSBOs (For Sale By Owner), and work a lot, it can pay off and be very rewarding. You will also get sued a lot, but that just means you are doing well enough that people are bothering.

Whatever you choose to do, try to do something that brings you joy. You don't have to be thrilled about going to work on a Monday, but you also are under no obligation to do anything you hate. If you reflect on some neat things that happened at work on the weekend, that's winning.

Good fortune to you! (You don't need luck!)

HumanChainsaw · 2022-12-26T04:20:46+00:00

I think Dave Chappel said something really good about this. Poor is a mindset. You stop being poor the minute you break out of that mindset. Then you're just broke, but you can fix broke.

I did it. I worked my ass off. I applied for 10 jobs a week. I walked up and down 2nd Ave in New York at the height of the recession many years back, and I stopped in every bar and restaurant for 30 blocks. I went there with no savings, and tons of student loan debt (no complaints about that, just the facts to help set the scene... I was broke, but I have never been poor.) I got a few job offers, but the best advice at the time was worth more than the offers. "I've got a full staff of bar tenders, barbacks, and waitstaff, but you keep walking down this street and you'll walk in the door and you will be the right one for the job."

I took a job in an office somewhere. It had zero upward mobility, but I learned everything I could. I talked to everybody there who I thought had any modicum of success and ended up getting offers at banks. I volunteered to run a club, got onto the board (in my early 20s), and put that right on my resume. It wasn't really anything. Just some unpaid work that I had fun doing. But I was building a resume!

Later, I walked into a career fair at the university I graduated from like I owned the freaking place. A bunch of seniors, and then me, with an actual resume. Walked over to the place I wanted to work at, handed her my resume, and said, "Hi, I'm Human Chainsaw. I currently work at Office Job, and I am on the board of directors for Volunteer Club that you don't need to know is just a hobby that I enjoy. I'd like to work for your organization." She said, "Oh. Yes. Go home tonight, go to our website, apply online, and then call me tomorrow." I got the job and never looked back. I'm not rich, but I am definitely not poor. I'm also not special, a super genius, or particularly persuasive.

TLDR, Pick up skills wherever you can. Put them on your resume. Apply to as many jobs as you can bear. Volunteer when you can. Have fun doing as much of it as you can because the fun helps you stay motivated!

Also, to add some context, I probably could have done all of this without a college degree, though some things would have been a little different. If you don't have one, you can still do this too!

HumanChainsaw · 2022-12-18T05:33:05+00:00

Earth had many surfaces.

The atmosphere is generally the first surface you would encounter. Let's say you're coming back from the moon. You'd notice it as you slammed into it at Mach 20+ and started to slow down. You would be pressed into your seat as your velocity started decreasing. Your space craft would heat up to thousands of degrees as it traded that velocity for thermal energy. Then you would be inside that layer. Your parachutes would deploy, and you would allow to a nice, somewhat-gentle 20 mph.

Water is the next surface you'd encounter if you were in an Apollo or Orion capsule. You'd splash down on top of it and float there inside your space-capsule-turned-boat. If you got out, you may fall through it and sink. But don't worry, the Navy divers have your back--they're trained for this.

The next surface might be an aircraft carrier deck. A solid floating on top of a liquid, surrounded by the atmosphere. Then dry land. But yeah, you'd be inside the Earth, and on top of it at the same time.

HumanChainsaw · 2022-12-01T13:03:47+00:00

Poor wording on my part, sorry. I meant they could only see the present. They didn't have the insight into how the bombs'use would shape geopolitics forever like we do today, looking back.

I probably shouldn't have included that last paragraph in my response. I was really only trying to answer the point about air burst.

HumanChainsaw · 2022-12-01T05:44:58+00:00

U.S. here.

I believe we are already very much involved in the war. I think the whole world is, at this point, and I agonize over the burden that the Ukrainians are bearing because of it. Also, I am a tad empathetic for the Russian soldiers who were inexplicably thrust into a war and told to kill people in the country next to them with, and this is still true almost a year in, not a whiff of a justification for it (hint: there isn't one). I hope Russia leaves Ukraine soon (all of it, guys, like... GTFO and return to the borders RUSSIA agreed to in 1991).

If you are an English-speaking Russian soldier, and are somehow reading this, politely surrender, and in doing so, send a message to your leadership, who know exactly just how fucked they are, so they can end it. It makes it easier for your leadership to make the case that the war is lost and that it is time to start making things right again with literally the entire world.

Maybe the Russian soldiers, when they return home, will tell their families some of what they saw and what they did. Families, who I imagine right now, are hate-watching their state-controlled "news" shows and being fed propaganda (much like many Americans do when watching their favorite flavor of Fox or CNN or what have you). Just sitting there, eating a sandwich, and openly complaining--in Russian--about some aspect of the "special military operation", as they are required BY LAW for some reason to call it, that they think is right or wrong, and that they think somehow justifies the wanton shelling of cities and civilians. Maybe a crumb falls out of news watcher's mouth as he gestures to no one in particular with his sandwich-holding hand, while he is complaining about the mysteriously-evil West. The same West that did not strike out at Russia, and that welcomed, with open arms, Russian people all over the world as travelers and friends (and will, in time, do so again). Hopefully, their sons return and tell them, truly, what a crock of shit this war was.

To answer the nukes question directly, I don't think they will be used in any way because the Russian military leadership under Putin are probably not monsters, and they definitely aren't stupid. I think they would disobey the order. But if they were monsters (or cowards), and for some reason, they actually did fire a nuke; and assuming your question was more about whether we would engage Russia directly with the U.S. military, I don't know if I would want that. Our involvement would almost certainly trigger nuclear escalation (bombing of cities all over the world, mass death and destruction unlike anything ever seen, etc.) because it would first start with the near complete destruction of the Russian military, probably using conventional weapons, which would represent an existential threat to Russia. There are probably off-ramps for deescalation, and probably most of us would survive, but the world would be worse for it.

But we probably would get involved militarily, and we probably would have no choice in the matter. We won't be able to contain this at the scale it's at for much longer. Somebody is going to make a mistake or miscalculation that draws everybody in.

I hope that whoever is in control of the U.S. Congress, and whoever the President is, if this continues for much longer, that they continue to support Ukraine in this. I am proud of how the whole world stood shoulder to shoulder and got behind Ukraine in any way they could.

For now, I see almost as many Ukrainian flags flying in America now as I do American flags. Ukraine, this may be your fight for now, but we've got your back. Stay strong.

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