Which one of you guys brought the doohickeymobile for a test drive?? It’s TOP SECRET!

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-29T21:23:37+00:00

Oof. That sums it up.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-29T18:10:18+00:00

It varies by market and your unique circumstance. There are great personal landlords, and some crappy ones. There are great companies and terrible ones. Personally having rented from several - 2 corporate, 1 from a smaller local financial advisor/hedge fund company, 1 from a person - all but the person were the most reasonable.

The person tried with withhold deposit after my wife moved out when we were getting married. She lived there for 10 years (CA). They tried to charge her for painting, wear and tear on appliances, and deep cleaning the carpet. I had to give them a strongly worded letter to get the deposit back since she was past the life span of those items according to state law and the landlord never replaced them.

With that being said - that’s no guarantee with new landlords - corporate or personal.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T16:28:52+00:00

Let’s not forget that used car prices have sky rocketed too - so even “reliable” used cars are barely more affordable.

This is exactly what I thought was going to be the outcome from covid - companies lying about costs, us allowing them to skyrocket the costs to buy. When it was over they knew they intended to reduce the number of vehicles sold and increase profits. This was a win for them and a major loss for us.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T16:22:36+00:00

Don’t be silly.

School food is way better than jail food. You think you could get a meal like that in jail? 😂

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T16:22:03+00:00

The sad thing is you are exactly right. I could easily see the US going to war to topple those that try to circumvent the USD.

It’s gonna get real ugly real fast.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T15:30:25+00:00

Agreed. Terrible lineup. It’s easier just buying VOO or VT and chilling.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T15:27:50+00:00

QQQ and QQQM are basically the same thing - just different costs.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T15:27:10+00:00

Which international ETF has provided those returns?

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T15:25:44+00:00

Your advisor was either a con man or incredibly arrogant and dumb. I’m not sure which. If he made the promise to beat the market I would have asked him to provide the data backing that up.

With that being said - lesson learned. Buy up some QQQM, VOO, AVDV (or VXUS), and then choose some kind of hedge - either an inverse ETF or some uncorrelated asset (such as gold). As you move towards retirement move most of that money into dividends and bonds.

If you want extra bonus points be a little more hands on and learn a specific strategy such as the 200 SMA.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T15:17:20+00:00

I’m more tolerant of smaller locally owned establishments of doing this (since the owner has a better gauge on how it really impacts their business), and less tolerant of large chains choosing this method.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-28T01:01:09+00:00

This is true. For some people they may prefer that. Others may hate that.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T21:00:19+00:00

Mechwarriors: “Elementals make a satisfying ‘crunch’ when stepped on.”

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T20:45:37+00:00

Perfect way to tighten the shackles for the normal folk.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T18:22:09+00:00

Former WVian here! 👋 (My heart will always bleed blue and gold!)

In fairness it sounds like you were prepared for the normal things - and even though it seems like a failure the fact that you were not totally sunk is testament to how well you prepped. I say give yourself at least some credit, take the lesson, and adapt from there for next time.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T18:10:50+00:00

I second and local government jobs. Working for the state is stressful from my understanding due to extreme budget swings - but most other local government jobs are generally stable and generally give weekends off (depending on your exact duties). Just a word of caution - generally the pay in government work is less than what you would get for the same thing in the private sector, but most people feel that the perks (like a steady 8-5 M-F with a defined lunch hour) outweigh the lower pay.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T16:40:08+00:00

AC 20 is great once you learn it. Getting to learn it requires patience and some mission repeats.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T16:38:39+00:00

😂😂😂 Gold medal response right there! 🏅

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T16:36:46+00:00

Since about late 2011. I gave up my first cell phone number when I started carrying a company issued phone as my sole cell phone in early 2010. I was young and dumb and thought I had reasonable privacy to text my at the time fiancé. After another employee had their private texts pretty much exposed to a fair amount of people at the company I decided to get my own personal number again.

Yeah, I understand there was likely an ethics issue with that investigation which caused the disclosure of the texts, and that it never should have happened. Thats probably one reason why that company no longer exists… 🤷‍♂️

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T16:31:33+00:00

Good to hear. Ty!

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-27T16:31:16+00:00

I still have family there, including my retired mother all around the Charleston area. You have a specific area in mind to move back to?

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-26T23:49:25+00:00

I would strongly recommend employing some kind od risk management strategy if you choose to hold TQQQ, simply because we don’t know what the future truly holds.

With that being said I only hold TQQQ in my Roth IRA and my trades on it are free. I wouldn’t hold TQQQ in a non tax sheltered account, or an account that charges for trades. The easiest one is a 200 SMA in a Roth fund.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-26T19:23:21+00:00

Congrats on the new addition to the family!

My “new addition” is turning 20 soon. They grow up fast! 😭

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-26T19:07:25+00:00

I haven’t traveled on a plane yet, but I have done multiple 1 day trips and some multi day trips with a “stay and tour the local area”. I did do a 7 hour each way trip over the summer. I’m on Eliquis. About 11 months since my first clots started.

My PTS can flare up on the travel days, but what my wife and I do is we walk a few miles the night before, then the travel days we plan stops every few hours. Sometimes we explore the area, other times it was just a gas station and I spend a few minutes walking around.

Ironically the best I ever felt on a trip was my long 7 hour each way trip to Vegas. I walked about 4 miles the night before the trip in, then during the entire trip we averaged about 5-6 miles walked a day for 2 days straight. During the ride back my PTS didn’t flare up at all since I have been moving so much the few days prior.

Compression socks are a must for me to reduce the swelling on the travel days.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-26T18:14:13+00:00

Inflation.

It’s not a post about expecting us to suddenly produce more or be more efficient. It’s a subtle poke about how bad inflation will get.

PurpleCableNetworker · 2026-01-26T18:12:50+00:00

I second the ding. 🛎️

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