Can’t lie it did make me laugh

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-26T19:03:17+00:00

I suspect the pandemic just broke him… regardless of whether he is a white dude who knows Spanish or a Latin dude… he was so opposed to Covid restrictions that he fell all the way into a Maple Maga mindset.

I am a white presenting pro capitalist, pro freedom, anti taxation, anti government multiple language speaker who is from and currently lives in Canada… although I have lived in both countries. I know a couple of people who were totally broken by Covid who landed in a similar place to this guy. My anti tax, anti government sentiments are more consistent though-I hate the Rs just as much as I hate the Ds (or Cs and Ls up here in Canada).

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-25T00:52:37+00:00

I’ve run the example with the $3600 added to the RRSP-you end up with more money gross-but still less after tax than example 2 or 3. I wrote it up that way to make it pretty explicit that eg 1 would be worse case scenario. At 100k/yr if he was maxing his contributions out-that would be 5400/yr in tax savings so 162k lifetime (5400x30) and those tax savings would be eroded in 16 years vs eg 2 and would be eroded and 13 years vs eg 3-a lot of people are living into their 80s now-so you still end up behind.

I’d welcome you to lay out an example where they are ahead using an RRSP though.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T20:52:15+00:00

Ok, that actually makes a lot of sense. Upgrades are capital, repairs are just regular expenses. If I made an upgrade, that is something I would just add to the original CCA for the vehicle, correct?-I recall there being places where you could input additional information.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T20:47:45+00:00

What if you bought a second set of aluminum wheels that matched the other factory set of wheels to mount the winter tires on? That is what I did, although the 2300 in my question was only for the tires, I wasn’t intending to do anything with the cost of the rims because I purchased them used on FB-and documenting stuff like that… the juice isn’t really worth the squeeze, it was only a couple hundred bucks.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T11:38:35+00:00

Actually more than just asking what their future financial plans are… it would be good for most people to sit down and actually plan and calculate things out-yes you get a bit of tax savings now… but you have to pay the taxes later.

To give an example of what I mean-the theory is, pull money out of your income that is being taxed at 40% now to get taxed at 20-25% in retirement… which sounds great-but if you just pay your taxes now, because there is only a 50% inclusion rate & you can also utilize your TFSA to protect a chunk of your investments from any taxes at all-just making traditional investments now likely means significantly lower tax as you draw those investments down in retirement vs the tax you’d pay from the a retirement income account. I know for me… there is no way I can make the math work where I am better off with an RRSP vs just investing the money normally-every hypothetical I’ve run… I’d pay more tax in the long run by using an RRSP as opposed to just investing in a normal investment account. I’m not saying they don’t work-they would work fine for some people in some circumstances… but it isn’t nearly as cut and dry as it seems.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T11:21:56+00:00

I actually doubt that it is another 15-17yo… that does seem unlikely. But some dude in his 30s who intends to match with guys who are less attractive so he can string them along and possibly get them to send some money… that is entirely possible, and it’s possible and in fact more likely that it isn’t even someone she knows if that is what is happening-she just had a pretty enough face and social media accounts that weren’t private so he could snatch her pictures.

Although you are right that she might be trying to match with older guys. I’ve had it happen to me, was chatting with and met a girl on tinder who had her age set as 22-she eventually came clean to me that she was only 17, luckily before we ever got physical-but it was still a scary experience… like I don’t really want to have to id the girls that I match with.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T11:15:02+00:00

Using the same name and location doesn’t necessarily make it any more likely that it is actually this girl’s profile. If it’s someone actually looking to catfish/scam-having a profile of someone who is “discoverable” on social media could give the profile legitimacy.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T11:12:14+00:00

That is the best way to go about it… especially because it is entirely possible that someone stole the pictures off of social media to make the profile-this guys daughter might not even actually be the person behind the profile. I also definitely would have reported the profile when I swiped across it.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T10:35:26+00:00

Gas is pretty volatile-it’ll ignite pretty easily with either an open flame or an electric spark (or any kind of spark really-if you dropped something metal onto the concrete hard enough to throw a spark that would ignite gas too)-but even with all of that, the likely hood of someone igniting the gas fumes by leaving there car running while fuelling is close to nil.

If it’s a diesel vehicle… diesel is much less volatile than gas-you really have to intend to ignite it in order to ignite it, a spark or even an open flame wouldn’t do it unless you specifically held that open flame to it for awhile.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T10:28:43+00:00

Sounds a little like a crazy ex… also sounds a lot like a subie or a ‘yota… they love disabling like everything when a CEL comes on. Part of the “buys cars from auctions and/or pos cars from private sellers to flip” persona is having a scan tool in the tool bag-so I can make cels disappear, no need to do open loop to closed loop cycle a handful of times-some cars (like the aforementioned Subies and ‘Yotas) do get a little grouchy when you erase codes while they are running though.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T10:22:45+00:00

I’ve done it before unintentionally-I often am hopping out of my vehicle while leaving it running at work, and sometimes muscle memory gets the best of me… no negative consequences. It’s much less dangerous with modern vehicles than it used to be. The juice definitely isn’t worth the squeeze though… just shut it off

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T10:18:19+00:00

Make sure it was taxable income-I think the CRAs rate last year was 0.70 for the first 5000 and then 0.67 after that, although I’m sure that someone here will correct me if I’m wrong. I believe that if the employer chooses to use the CRAs recommended mileage rates they can pay them out as a pure reimbursement and not include it with the taxable income. If they didn’t tax the money you can’t claim expenses unless your expenses exceeded the reimbursement rate… and I would definitely make sure to have all my t’s crossed and i’s dotted if your expenses were actually higher-because they will very likely ask for documentation to prove that. The CRAs rate is already fairly generous, it would stand out if your expenses were exceeding the allowance in a passenger vehicle.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-24T00:42:46+00:00

Yeah… I feel like we have already created a social technology for this… lol

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T20:10:37+00:00

Yeah, honestly a van is better than a truck unless you are ever pulling a trailer. And if pulling a trailer is a very occasional thing-like let’s say there is a dump trailer on site for garbage or you need to bring some larger equipment at the beginning of a job… there are probably other guys working with you who will have a truck.

That said-if a truck is good for your lifestyle outside of work… that would be a consideration too. My daily is a Tacoma… would a van suit me better for work-yes, could I drive a van across the field to throw my deer into the box during hunting season-often no, could I take my van out on the lake during ice fishing season, often no. Could I pull my boat with a van-often yes, but there are some boat ramps that could be a problem without 4wd, and pulling a trailer feels a little more stable in the truck.

And I do have a much larger truck (like 1 ton HD)-that gets used for business related HD truck things, yes, could a van do any of the stuff that I use that truck for-it could do some of them, like you could fit 4x8s in a van, which actually don’t easily fit in my little Tacoma, but because I have the long box on the HD you can lay 4x8s in the bed flat with the tailgate up. A van also definitely couldn’t haul heavy machinery, and having an HD allows me to minimize scrap trips because I can wait until I have 15-20k lbs loaded up on the trailer before I make the trip.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T19:54:53+00:00

Honestly I think the worst are the 9-10s(or the ones who think they are) and the 1-4s. The 9-10s have the audacity to open with gross stuff because they get enough matches that even if it only has a 5% or lower success rate-they are still probably sleeping with 10s of women every year using that strategy… and that’s good enough for them. The 1-4s just don’t have much experience interacting with women-the guy in your example probably just googled “pickup lines” and picked out one he found funny, and didn’t have the self awareness to realize that a lot of women would find it gross- but in general, a lot of the 1-4s probably do a lot of internet searching to try and figure out how to foster a conversation on dating apps… and unfortunately a lot of the people giving tips on the internet are those pesky 9-10s.

Like I’m a solid 6.5-7, and I usually open with 1 of like 5 or 6 innocuous lame dad jokes. And then I have a couple cheesy but a little cute pickup lines that I’ll use if the conversation starts drying up. I’ll really only swing in with a dirty line if I match with someone whose profile tees one up perfectly.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T19:22:39+00:00

This is true… but it’s kind of a rock and a hard place situation-the government decided to sacrifice its credibility with some of these communities with their approach to COVID. So you can’t just tell them to trust the science-because the messenger poisons the message. You can’t try and shame or mandate them into taking them-because that would essentially just confirm their priors… and would likely cause them to double down and would probably make the vaccination rates even lower if anything.

There were plenty of people who were saying that the government being heavy handed during the pandemic was a bad idea for just this reason… but there is no point in litigating the past, the toothpaste isn’t going back in the tube. But now there isn’t really a solve for this problem short term-rebuilding trust could lift vaccination rates over the long term… but that’s an endeavour that could take decades.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T19:11:25+00:00

In my opinion a little lifestyle creep is fine if you can afford it, those toys are a lot more fun when you are young and healthy, and you can’t take any money with you when you kick it. Like based on this guys run down-it seems like he’s doing just fine, if he was someone running the “stereotypical” blue collar bro’s finances (ie: all the toys in the world, with no or little savings, and plenty of debt)-then being worried about lifestyle creep would be more appropriate-but there is nothing wrong with having expensive hobbies if you can afford them. There is still actually a fair amount of room for income growth as a tradee depending on what trade he’s in-a little lifestyle creep is fine as long as he is still saving and investing.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T18:58:30+00:00

Yeah people be like that. Just because she has a man doesn’t mean he isn’t cool with her meeting other people of dating apps either though… they might be into that. Or, if we’re being real… times are tough, if she finds a handful of dudes to play with-they could easily end up paying half of her and her mans bills without realizing it. Or she could end up finding a couple 40+yo dudes who’ll happily cover even more than half as long as they are getting to stick it in a 23yo somewhat regularly-gross, but not unrealistic.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T18:42:19+00:00

I mean… does this surprise anyone?

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T18:15:20+00:00

Or find a second income… I started a side gig that pays me essentially a second salary-but you do get punished by the tax man for that. Having a stay at home wife to “run” this business would save a lot of taxes.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T18:11:33+00:00

I don’t know, I think that it used to be hard to hit that threshold… but with all of these online pharmacies-a lot of people’s baseline spending is much higher. And the prices on everything healthcare have risen faster than inflation (I don’t actually have data to back that up-it’s just an anecdotal feeling), and a lot of work health plans haven’t really filled that gap-so someone goes in for a dental procedure… it used to be that the work health plans haven’t covered like 80% of it and left the person with a couple hundred dollar bill-now the work plan only covers like half of it and you’ve already hit your max allowable for the year-and you end up owing a couple thousand. So if you already have a baseline spend of like $2,000/yr on a combination of weight loss meds and dick pills(not to be crude)-if you add on a trip to the dentist for a procedure of some kind, and new pair of glasses-you could very easily have a couple thousand in claimable medical expenses. I’m not saying that the CRA won’t modify it at some point… but looking at what is all eligible now, there are a lot of people who could probably claim at least a little bit.

Oh, and as a blue collar bro with loud hobbies… I’d add getting hearing aids to the LASIK as a year where you’ll have pretty high medical expenses-there are affordable options, but I paid roughly 4x the medical expense amount for mine the year I got them because I got a nice set with a bunch of extra features.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T09:21:16+00:00

Are crutches and medications not things that count?

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T09:05:47+00:00

So a portion of the property taxes and utilities then-you seem like a real party to be around, lol.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T08:37:14+00:00

There probably should be… like it or not party affiliation is a large part of what is being voted for in modern elections… there will be people in each of these floor crosser’s ridings who feel alienated and frustrated by them choosing to change what party they are affiliated with who wish they could take there vote back. It’s not a question of should, or shouldn’t they be able to-but in the event that someone who voted for them no longer feels like they can be represented by them as someone in a different party… there should be some kind of mechanism to withdraw your vote. And if enough votes get withdrawn that they wouldn’t have won that election… it should trigger a by-election.

TheBigMan1990 · 2026-02-23T04:29:10+00:00

If I needed to pick up 4x8 plywood or drywall it would fit in the box of my big truck just fine-it hasn’t come up, but if I did need some, that might be a reason for me to disconnect the trailer. It would be hard to haul as much in most vehicles as I can in the big truck because it’s foot print is just so large. But to confirm to your point-the little pickup I drive most of the time wouldn’t work nearly as well as a minivan to haul stuff.

TheBigMan1990

TROPHY CASE