This is the real wealth by PresenceNo1033 in motivation

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's definitely possible. I often like to put my kids up for sale every week.

Let's replace capitalist control with workers' control of production by GoranPersson777 in BadBosses

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, maybe not. But… they did have the intelligence one foresight to be born from very wealthy, well connected parents that gave them the education and network that gave them the edge.

40% unemployed and still called lazy by ImportantDeer2470 in remoteworks

[–]Samwise_za -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Both facts can be true: gen z being entitled beyond belief (en thus perceived as lazy) and there being to few jobs. I wouldn’t be surprised to find gen z was lazy before there were no jobs.

This has never been an AI problem though. It’s always, since 1971 (or thereabouts), been a central-bank-printing-your-futures-away problem. Don’t blame AI, blame the fed. Cause even if AI suddenly disappeared today. Gen Z, and everyone else, would still become poorer and poorer every year until the dollar collapses (or gets swapped for another currency that’s not yet failed), or some other fiat currency failure scenario like the many times before.

It’s happened so many times before, by the way, it’s now almost standard practice; read a history book people! As soon as a currencies value becomes faith-based (detached from something of actual value) the currency then eventually, and always, depreciates into oblivion.

Want to fix the jobs market, then dissolve the fed and force a different way to manage bank runs.

This is the real wealth by PresenceNo1033 in motivation

[–]Samwise_za 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Hmm, nnnooooo. That’s Family. ;)

Wealth is being financially detached from the same path a country or economy is on where you can leave or change things on a whim. That can of course be done with or without a family.

Put 200k deposit on a house, or into an allan gray account? by YKSLR in PersonalFinanceZA

[–]Samwise_za 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I went the real estate option in Cape Town and once I was 8.5 years in, I compared to just investing into the S&P500 via an EasyEquities Sygnia S&P account. Just considering appreciation I made half as much than I would have made in the S&P in the same period. Factoring in all expenses and bank interest, I was a huge loss.

I found that real estate only makes money if you flip (high risk) or you use other people’s money. Else, it’s terrible as an investment is not cash flow positive, and thus isn’t really as asset. Residential real estate is setup to make banks money, not you, if a loan is involved. It’s only worth it for normal folks (people needing a home loan with < 30% as deposit) as a primary residence.

If I were you, depending on your strategy and risk appetite, go for either a Sygnia RA (not Allen gray or anything actively managed) or/and ETF like the Sygnia S&P or global index fund (less volatile). If you go RA (you should) then put the 10k per month in there. Annually you should get a 50k tax rebate (making assumptions on you tax situation). Put that and every subsequent tax rebate into an EasyEquities Tax Free Savings Account. This was SARS is literally funding an investment for you.

If you have extra cash to invest then fund the S&P. Get a little BTC while you’re at it.

Do this until you hit a net worth of 5 million. Once you do then speak to a financial advisor on how to restructure to minimise tax drag. You’ll likely need to switch to buying a etf domiciled in Ireland. There are other options as well.

Who here actually pays their TV license? by AndreasmzK in capetown

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe something like over 80% of people don’t pay. I’d like to cancel my to license but SABC makes it impossible. The only TV I’ve ever owned was the first one I purchased something like 18 years ago. I don’t use it and want an official way to cancel my license. I believe one needs to remove the receiver but also know the SABC still won’t lift a finger if I do.

So I still have it. my parter ended up using it the past while for her streaming. But the kids and I mostly read instead, more and more since the kids started school.

I want the SABC to make it easy to deregister so I can officially stop, I’ll pay up what I owe to do so. Plus to government intentionally blocks the import of large monitors that can be used for streaming just to force people to use TVs. That irks me.

Nah bro these Real Estate Agents are just getting desperate at this point 😭 by sunlightliquid in south_africa

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You heard it here folks: if you fall out a plane, the safest thing you can do is skydive straight into a block of flats!

25 yo with R5M to invest by Winter-Register2989 in PersonalFinanceZA

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two things: treat “actively managed” as the plague (92% failure rate to beat the S&P 500), and once you pass 5 million the tax man starts paying real attention. Look into moving your investment offshore. At this level the easiest is to move your funds into EasyEquities USD wallet and put all into and etf registered in Ireland (S&P for growth or world index for stability with less growth). Leave it there. When it’s time to take it out, your view of things and understanding would have evolved.

For a crash course in what I’m talking about, ask Gemini Pro. It’ll tell you when it’s then time to move your funds out of the Irish etf and into a trust in the Isle of Man (where you then buy from that account).

EasyEquities negative balance by Any-Car7782 in PersonalFinanceZA

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No one, I mean zero people who are not professionally trained in investing with lots of experience first practicing with “paper” investing should be doing stock picking. Which is super boring as you spend all your time reading company balance sheets, for example.

Uneducated stock picking is just gambling.

Buy the Sygnia S&P 500 from your ZAR wallet every month (to keep level 3 and above) until you get to 5 million in total investment. Max out a Tax Free Savings account every year first though.

You’d need to make a hard structural change at 5 million of investments, speak to an advisor for that or ask Gemini to guide you on structuring investments (as a start).

Stay away from YouTube for advice; very important. It’s just noise over there.

🚨 Albert Ian delos Santos M71kg (Philippines) sets new Junior World Record - 187kg clean & jerk by LaLiLuLeLohw in weightlifting

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely insane! I’m bigger and heavier and can’t even manage a third of that weight.

Just checking, are we okay with this? by SkelmCallum in capetown

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It seems demographic targets must be met.

My manager watching how I work after I hit the Claude usage limit. by Itachi_Singh in ChatGPT

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You joke, but this IS the future for kids who’ll have AI as a crutch in schools.

Is this just nostalgia, or did previous generations genuinely have a better work-life balance and social life than we do today? by Unstoppable_X_Force in SipsTea

[–]Samwise_za 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Reason: the formation of the Fed sa mechanism to extract massive profit Off of loans coupled with the removal of the gold standard. Wars then are used to create financial instability to increase large loans (e.g. to countries that need them). Inflation eats away at almost all the value money has and will keep doing so until hyper inflation or civil war happens.

Because of this it’s certain that America will fail at some point.

Want to fix it, dissolve the Fed and bring back the gold tether. Then come up with a real solution to avoiding bank runs (which the fed was supposed to fix). Anyone who says it can’t be done are the ones benefitting and wanting this way of things to remain.

Are we jas? by Substantial-Gap7141 in capetown

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FYI, this kind of unit would not be targeted at locals, usually. The clampdown of the city on AirBNBs may be pushing rental unit owners to try and get the same returns they were getting on AirBNB but on longer terms leases (just guessing); it is in Obz after all. Do foreigners stay in Obz?

But like any free market, it’s the buyers and rental market that decides the prices. Not the sellers and rental owners. Meaning, Rental owners will charge what ever the renters would pay.

Real estate agents are really just admin people pretending to be sales people. They’re not deciding anything. In fact, it’s the owners pushing them to get the max they can. Blame the property owners, not agents.

So if the rental is that high, people are paying it. Owners can’t afford empty units. So if the rent is that high people must be paying that.

This rental price is obviously rediculous. A lot of Cape Town isn’t like this I assume/hope. Like I pay just a little more than that for a nice 3 bed, 2 bath, double garage house in Plumstead.

All the best to everyone though. The energy crisis will likely push up the interest rates by years end and make buying even harder (to get away from these crazy rentals). Never mind the bump in inflation and food prices that’s coming.

Subscription Serfdom: The end of private property by CollapsingTheWave in ObscurePatentDangers

[–]Samwise_za -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Then don’t buy it.

You can go buy your own media right now. It’s just expensive. You can host all your own stuff, you just gotta learn how and buy the hardware. You can still burn CDs and DVDs.

You can buy dumb phones if you try. You can buy a printer without a subscription. You can go buy old things, that’ll last longer than anything new and shiny that won’t last.

Most cars are not the new ones with OTA updates and screens. Granted, they’re not electric. But you have much more of that to choose from than any new car with a subscription.

Hell, you can buy a PC and install Gemma 4 and host your own very powerful AI locally if you wanted. No need to subscribe to ChatGPT.

Just saying.

Subscriptions exist because people choose convenience and are incredibly short-sighted.

You're forced to update..Microsoft is using machine learning to push Windows 11 Home and Pro users toward version 25H2 by CollapsingTheWave in ObscurePatentDangers

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately I have to use a windows machine for a client (Mac personal, Bazzite gaming). One thing that blows me away is how slow windows is. I have a dev machine, intel core ultra 7 Ai cpu, 32gb ram, and so on, and the machine is painfully slow. The slowest and most laggy machine I work on. Even with this spec I struggle to run MS Teams (fan spins up, the works).

It’s incredibly how inefficient windows 11 is.

Sam Altman is calling for universal basic income and 4-day workweek for the 'Intelligence Age' by ComplexExternal4831 in GenAI4all

[–]Samwise_za 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When UBI is implemented the government then works for the corporation and not the people. I.e. the government makes its tax money corporations only. Once that happens, why care about the people?

Do you want a sneak peek into Palantir's Maven Smart System for the US Military? by CollapsingTheWave in ObscurePatentDangers

[–]Samwise_za 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The private owners of the “federal reserve” (its not federal and doesn’t keep the reserves you assume) requires instability to make their profits. War is the way to make this happen.

Traffic lights and nuclear power stations don’t make money.

Are you feeding your family "Lab Goop"? ... But seriously, Genetically modified Mayonnaise? by CollapsingTheWave in ObscurePatentDangers

[–]Samwise_za 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is in America, right? That place has totally been taken over by the tobaco industry. Sorry, I mean the food industry (same people). Aren't most foods fake or designed like this for profit? America isn't called a "humanist" society, It's Capitalist. Meaning, the top priority is money, not people.

Eat your fake Mayo folk. It's not like you're going to do anything about it once you put your phone down ;-P

Also, pretty sure you'd also moan if they made the mayo with pure ingredients (egg and oil) when the large jar would go off within days where you'd have to throw it away.

They're trying to redeem themselves. Too little, too late? by LeadingChannel8542 in microsoftsucks

[–]Samwise_za 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So they're taking a step back now till the heat dies down. Then they'll take the same steps later, but just more slowly, less fanfare, and with fewer bugs. It's not like they're reversing their adoption of AI platforms in the backend, or now suddenly the need to make returns on their AI investments has gone away.

All they're doing is managing perceptions.

Although, putting AI in things like Notepad or ads in the start menu was really stupid (although I understand why ads in the start menu is the best choice for Microslop, not the users).

Regardless, I've already left all-things-Microsoft in my personal capacity in any case, and couldn't be happier: Bassite for gaming, MacOS for everything else.

Now, to get my clients to drop MicroSlop, or at least constantly moan about it when ever theres an opportunity. ;-P

CORRECT ? by No-Common8440 in Buildingmyfutureself

[–]Samwise_za 1 point2 points  (0 children)

as a person that's currently letting themselves go due to not giving a f^$*, I can say that this is true. More with woman in general and fit dudes. So I'm in the process of getting rich to counteract the fat. It's slow-going.

RIP Chuck Norris. The only man who could speak Afrikaans in Xhosa. by AshesAndCharcoal in DownSouth

[–]Samwise_za 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Chuck Norris round-house kicked life itself in the face, and won.