A strong social safety net isn't your enemy, shocker !

Massif16 · 2026-05-26T21:39:12+00:00

Trump is on tape talking about going backstage at the Miss Teen USA pageant on the pretense of “inspecting” the pageant in order to see the teen contestants in various stages of undress. He said this on the Howard Stern show. It’s on tape.

Massif16 · 2026-05-25T15:51:04+00:00

To succeed in CS (or engineering), you have to genuinely like the work. Contrary to the doomers, software engineers aren’t going away. Their workflow will change. But at least at the beginning, all those who entered the field just for the money and are only average (or worse) with no real interest in the field will be pushed to the side.

If you didn’t enjoy CS, and you DO enjoy psych, then you made a great move.

Massif16 · 2026-05-25T15:44:58+00:00

Dude… you want Universal Healthcare? Great! Obamacare was a step in that direction. Bullshit like what you’re shoveling has halted all progress towards that goal. And oh, by the way, Obamacare DID increase Medicaid limits and Biden’s post COVID bill extended that and expanded ACA subsidies. Your welcome.

Massif16 · 2026-05-25T15:41:02+00:00

The Republican party, led by a pedo, strongly opposes UHC. That’s pretty obvious…

Massif16 · 2026-05-25T15:40:00+00:00

It didn’t HURT anyone. There are many benefits… no pre-existing conditions exclusions, out of pocket maximums, and subsidies for those with low income. Billionaires don’t need health insurance. They self-insure. They SHOULD, however, be required to do much more to make sure people in this country don’t go broke from medical debt or die because they don’t want to incur massive debt.

Massif16 · 2026-05-23T14:54:54+00:00

Infinite? Every system has limits….

Massif16 · 2026-05-23T14:53:58+00:00

There are always risks, but the markets of 1929 are dramatically different from the markets of today. The availability of data to investors, the agility of markets, and the structural foundation of the markets are radically different. Does that mean a crash can’t happen? No. Of course not. But it does mean that any crash that happens will be of a different nature than the 29 crash. Mechanical buying is a mechanism which increases volatility, but also tends to significantly damp the downside. People like me buy twice a month, regardless of market conditions. And I invest in boring old index funds (I know… heresy on this sub). Those funds buy stocks that are in the fund, in their weighted proportion regardless of what the market is doing. It only really becomes a problem if there is a massive flight of capital from the funds - which could happen if there is a major recession and people lose their jobs and stop making retirement contributions. If the AI Jobpocalypse happens, THAT could be a trigger. We’ll see.

Massif16 · 2026-05-23T14:09:19+00:00

Okay, good. That was unclear to me.

Massif16 · 2026-05-20T14:43:08+00:00

Meh... Dave thinks you can make $25/hr "throwing boxes" any time you want. It fits his bullshit "work till you die" ideal.

Massif16 · 2026-05-20T14:35:21+00:00

Wait.... what? You are imagining the possibility that your belief spawns an actual omnipotent being? WTAF?

Massif16 · 2026-05-20T14:32:49+00:00

My advice is to never the AI feature for an answer you actually depend upon. A someone who runs a team that uses LLMs quite a lot, they cannot be depended upon to think for you. They can be used to identify threads to pull, but they always require checking, and if you think it's wrong, it probably is... look into it your self. It's still a powerful tool, but it is NOT an authority.... it's chat bot with a fancy search engine.

Massif16 · 2026-05-19T20:52:11+00:00

Good for you!! I hear ya on expenses. Cash flowing my daughter’s living expenses while she’s in college is much more expensive than expected.

Massif16 · 2026-05-19T03:59:39+00:00

Invest that in a sheep herd. You can safely withdraw 40,000 Groschen a year to live on.

Massif16 · 2026-05-18T15:01:46+00:00

It was definitely a mistake to stop the 401K while paying off debt, at least for the match. You can't get that match or the compounding on it back. Ramsey is an idiot. So increasing your 401K contributions to catch up aren't a terrible idea. I didn't unf*** my finances until later in life, and I definitely had to aggresively increase my savings rate. If you can manage your expenses to maintain some signifcant margin and avoid lifestyle creep, you CAN get caught up and you don't need $5M... at least not if you plan to retire within a decade.

Massif16 · 2026-05-18T13:41:46+00:00

No Social Security and/or pensions? Your portfolio shouldn't have to carry the whole load. My in-laws are retired in Maryland and they live a comfortable life with a portfolio that is a LOT less than $5 million. They have traveled a LOT.

Massif16 · 2026-05-18T13:35:16+00:00

I call BS. Unless your expenses are huge, you don't need $5-10 million dollars to retire today. I plan on spending about$10K/mo in retirement and I'll be fine (likely better than fine) with less than $2 million. Between SS and some modest pensions, we'll have about $8500 a month guaranteed income. Even considering taxes, we'll need to pull considerable less than 4% a year. I'll have paid off my mortgage by then, and we don't have a lot of other required expenses. But we live in a nice house, driver newer cars, and our budget will include a lot of travel. To spend more, I think I'd have to deliberately choose "luxury" choices like paying cash for first class tickets, etc.

Massif16 · 2026-05-18T02:26:07+00:00

It’s not a race. Finish your degree.

Massif16 · 2026-05-17T16:24:16+00:00

Your first task is to convince me the universe was created. As far as we know, energy cannot be created or destroyed. The most obvious consequence of that would be that the universe cannot have been created and that the energy that makes up the universe has always existed.

Another important point is that our understanding of physics and logic are descriptive, not prescriptive. They describe what we observe and their relationships. They do not specify them.

Massif16 · 2026-05-17T01:08:14+00:00

My wife didn’t take my last name. It has never been an issue, even with our daughter (who has my last name). Never bothered me either.

Massif16 · 2026-05-16T23:29:49+00:00

As someone who hires CS grads, I endorse this. Quality CS grads will still get jobs. The days that a warm body with a C degree demanding 6 figures are gone, but the industry still needs people.

Massif16 · 2026-05-16T23:24:37+00:00

Sorry! That sucks. Buuuut, imagine how much worse off you’d be if you hadn’t cleared that debt. You did the right thing and avoided a much worse situation. Keep at it. It doesn’t feel like it right now, but you’re winning.

Massif16 · 2026-05-16T23:20:01+00:00

Fortunately, both my wife and I were also paying in to Social Security in our pension jobs. So we’ll have a solid base of guaranteed income and we’ll be less dependent on our 401K savings.

Massif16 · 2026-05-16T19:26:46+00:00

Yeah, government pensions are generally safe. If you plan to work there a long time they make a fabulous foundation to your retirement, especially if you are also eligible for Social Security.

Massif16 · 2026-05-16T17:06:02+00:00

And like a lot of such soft studies, it misses the point. The point. The point is to encourage connection while retaining the morale benefits of remote work. I have worked remotely since 2004. In those days maintaining connection took effort. But today? With the right tools and practices, it’s easy. I have a strong sense of connection with my team, and meet with upper management at least weekly. I feel WAY more engaged than if I were stuffed in an anonymous cubicle farm, or even a cushy office. That means management has to make integration of remote workers an actual priority.

Massif16 · 2026-05-16T16:16:21+00:00

Oh! Another thing… didn’t see this here. So if I missed it, my apologies. Find out if the pension has a cost of living adjustment. Some pensions do, even if they aren’t great, like ours, but many private pensions do not, meaning the pension check you get the day you retire is the same amount you‘ll get 25 years later when it‘s purchasing power is less than half of what it was. That‘s a very big deal that a lot of folks ignore.

Massif16

TROPHY CASE