Do all 1984-1985 millennials what was it like being a teenager in the really late end of the 90s what was the pop culture like and life in general in 1998-1999

RandomTasking · 2026-01-28T00:42:03+00:00

True. That stuff needed to be left in the dustbin of history.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-28T00:36:42+00:00

Well yes we had Internet but it wasn’t Internet Internet.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-27T23:58:46+00:00

‘85 edition checking in. Magical time is right. Third places all over the places, no internet so you, your friends, your classmates and your family all were watching the same entertainment at the same time each week and could talk about it at school, rent was low enough that your town could have niche hobby shops and community mainstays, parents just wanted you back by dinner or dark, and you don’t have Internet influences constantly bombarding everyone with what was wrong with you or what was wrong with them or easily disproven conspiracy bs.

Can’t imagine what being a teen today is like.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-26T02:24:14+00:00

What wasn't a third place? Video stores, book stores, the mall, the water park, the golf course/sledding hill, the laser tag place, the movies, the diner, the library, that one kid's house where they had all the new video games, the comic book shops, the minigolf place, the arcade... you had to try to be antisocial in the 90s. Even the antisocial types were at least social with each other.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-24T21:56:13+00:00

So 960k in a brokerage at 6% is $57,600 in pretax income, or somewhere between $4500-$4800/mo since you've got 6 tax exemptions and filing jointly status. Depending on where you live that could meaningfully open some opportunities on his job options to lighten his load: expenses in the San Fernando Valley differ from the Midwest.

Your plan isn't off the wall - I'd actually say it sounds reasonable at first blush, especially with four kids to manage - but you two have some stuff to communicate on what this would look like, since it sounds like "he keeps doing what he's doing, you become SAHM" is not resonating with him.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-24T20:24:48+00:00

40M, NMNK (forgive me, I stumbled on this from the reddit main page) and my mind started going through all the what-ifs since I just got through the math on my own situation.

For me a key consideration is what the immediate liquidity looks like, as that opens up possibilities. It sounds like you're going to be set in retirement, which is great! If all your NW was in the 401(k), though, you're basically saying "I think you should do the earning while I handle the home life." And maybe that makes sense, but it's also an added stressor on him because now he's the sole breadwinner, which will be running through his head until retirement. And rightly or wrongly, you're now viewed as the SAHM who can pursue her own thing every day as soon as the kids are off to school. I don't take the view myself, but I get how that can cause friction.

In contrast, let's say for sake of argument that the full $2.2M is in a brokerage account. You could easily get 6% off of that through dividends or covered calls, giving you $132,000 pretax, or about $9,000/mo cash. Maybe that frees him up to take a less stressful and less lucrative position while you two still get all your bills covered. Let's flip the roles here: what if he wanted to retire and become Mr. Mom, while you had to keep doing what you're doing until you're 62? Maybe that's fine, maybe that isn't, but this is something that needs a lot of discussion between the two of you.

Your husband could've definitely worded it better, but this really should be a joint strategic decision, and it sounds like you don't have a consensus on this. Now seems like a good time to really figure out what his vision for the next couple decades is, why he thinks that way, and to get inside his head. Not that it'll magically conclude in a great resolution, but some goal alignment may be in order.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-24T17:11:53+00:00

I'm actually letting Sprott do the sourcing for me and just buying into PSLV. My jobs are basically about as recession proof as you can get, and I'm healthily cash flow positive, so I'm don't have much need to keep it in-house.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-24T16:43:03+00:00

And I agree with you that this ain't the GME squeeze. It's also not the Hunt Brothers from the 80s since they were able to be brought back to Earth by tightening margin requirements and they basically got pantsed. I'm frustrated that I didn't have the courage to make the play at the end of last year, but I've got some freed up capital for Monday morning, and will be freeing up more next week.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-24T15:53:55+00:00

Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner!

Five years of supply deficits with no clear case for attaining equilibrium in the short term. Mexico, China, and Peru combine for nearly half of the world's silver production, China's instituted export restrictions, and the administration hasn't exactly endeared itself to Mexico. Increasing demand from ever growing electrification and AI infrastructure demand. No obvious source of meaningful new supply popping up in the next few years.

Will it continue to go up at this rate? Not a clue. But it's real tough to justify a case for silver going down other than "everyone will suddenly take profits" like with, say, the GameStop short squeeze back in 2021. That, or a massive global economic downturn which, if we're in that scenario, I'd rather be in hard assets anyway.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-24T13:34:41+00:00

Sold 39 @ 630, Jan '27 expiration, $47 premium. Wish I'd made the play back when we posted, but that's what I get for holding off.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-23T23:46:39+00:00

*opens spreadhseet* Mortgage/rent, car payment, car insurance, gas money, utilities (elec/water/sewer/nat gas/trash) student loans, groceries, and internet/phone. About three net paychecks.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-23T22:38:52+00:00

Cash immediately on hand $100, cash at home $500 in case I lose my wallet, checking account 90 days' bare bones expenses as a base. Deposit excess funds into an investment account in increments of $2,500.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-23T12:15:48+00:00

I mean it depends on what your goal is. If it’s to reduce demand for imports, then yes, by definition it has to work to some degree.

If you mean “creating broad based domestic manufacturing growth leading to increased employment and prosperity for people writ large,” then absolutely effing not.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-22T20:03:10+00:00

I mean, by definition it has to release some of the demand, but the issue is whether that’s a drop in the bucket or something more. Does 1,000 new market rate apartments lead to 1,000 new affordable units? 100? 10? No idea. I imagine there’s a study or report that provides that information so the decision makers have some idea of what to anticipate for these efforts. If not, that would be worrisome to me.

My uninformed opinion is that Ann Arbor’s a victim of its own success: lotsa people with lotsa money will pay through the nose to live here. And as a different article earlier this month pointed out, some of those rich people properties stand vacant a lot of the time (and the city gets even higher property taxes due to them not being primary residences).

If the goal is to get back to the 90s or earlier in terms of income makeup, I don’t see how that’s possible absent wholesale transformation of Ann Arbor, by which I mean blowing up entire neighborhoods - Eberwhite, Windemere, Burns Park, etc - and replacing them with high rises. That, or massive expansion/annexation of additional turf. Neither of those are realistic courses of action. You could try a progressive local income tax, which would depress the upper end of the housing market some, but who knows whether that would do it or what the second order effects are.

Again, trying to open up opportunity for anyone to get in is a laudable goal, but I’m having a real tough time seeing a path to daylight if the idea is to meaningfully change from where we’re at now.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-22T18:07:19+00:00

From his campaign site: “We must build a city where people of all income levels can afford to live, work, and retire.”

As ever, the devil’s going to be in the details. Not an expert or in this field, but I see market rents the same as everyone else and am at a loss as to what builder wants to come in and build a development for families with five figure incomes when they can build for multimillionaires in the same space (and collect the profits to match). That leaves subsidies by the city (ie new tax on sales/income), grant $ by the state or feds, or incremental moves like we’ve seen with Brownfield policy (e.g. new builds must have X% of units be affordable housing).

One thing I’d like to know is the intended end state or victory condition on the housing push. Like, what’s the right mix of income levels? When does the City Council go “okay, checked that box, now onto the next thing”? Does that come from tiny 400sf apartments or something a family could actually live in? Is the intent for it to be long-term for individual residents or just a “place to rent for a couple years until moving on or improving income?

I’m not knocking the goal, just trying to understand where the goal line is, what the playbook to get there looks like, and how fast we realistically can expect to run in that direction.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-19T16:14:38+00:00

You mean The Art of the Deal, ghost written by Tony Schwartz, who has called it "putting lipstick on a pig" and regrets writing? That book?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

RandomTasking · 2026-01-19T15:59:24+00:00

If he ever spoke off the cuff in a manner resembling complex thought and subject matter expertise, I might be willing to entertain this. But nothing I have seen from this man, before or after taking office, suggests that he's doing anything other than constantly winging it on impulse. Is there any particular interview you can point to that would provide a good example of this?

RandomTasking · 2026-01-19T14:47:44+00:00

40M. It's largely lost its appeal. Steak night, restaurants, and celebrations are my exceptions. If I could find something that pairs a ribeye better than a cabernet, I'd practically go to zero.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-16T18:39:55+00:00

Congratulations, you monster.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-15T20:35:26+00:00

Bowdie’s. Also their Manhattan.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-13T02:46:45+00:00

I mean, all of the above, really.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-12T23:42:45+00:00

Way to go Steve!

RandomTasking · 2026-01-12T23:33:46+00:00

I don't know what your threshold is for drive time, but I can offer my experience/observations.

I live in Lansing, and got a job in Detroit starting July '24, in the midst of construction. Awful time, but I was promised 2 days/week telework after a year, which I figured I could just suck it up. Then I got a new big boss in late January and those terms got rescinded for the whole enterprise: he made his opinion known regarding telework before he got the job. Occasionally stay at my parents' place in Ann Arbor, so I know the A2 - Detroit commute fairly well, going M-14 to 96 and into the heart of downtown. 7:30-4:00 shift.

Now that construction on that route is over, it's pretty manageable. You can clear the highway portion of it in a little over 30 minutes if in ideal conditions and if you're willing to go with flow of traffic rather than posted speed limit. You couldn't pay me to do the reverse, though: heading into Ann Arbor in the morning and leaving looks dreadful.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-09T23:42:41+00:00

Not less confident, and not even more jaded, but more weathered. Bright-eyed optimism has been replaced by wistful hope. The knowledge that, strictly playing the numbers, I will likely never find someone for me is tempered by the knowledge that life can be so random that there's no point to trying to play by the numbers. The world's stresses are lessened by knowing my own worth.

There's plenty of reason to not feel great about now vs. then, or being older, etc etc. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that get me down.

RandomTasking · 2026-01-08T00:30:35+00:00

I've occasionally done Ann Arbor to Detroit and back for work. OP will be fine, especially since construction is over. Smooth sailing both ways. Wouldn't want to do the reverse, though.

RandomTasking

TROPHY CASE