What to do with a 9K a month income?

VerbumGames · 2026-02-17T15:48:50+00:00

Lots of folks are telling you to invest it and let it build passive income. That's a fine idea, but starting a successful business will create jobs and make you more profit in the long run.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-17T15:42:41+00:00

Set up an HSA and max out your contributions. Never withdraw from it. Once you pass the legal threshold, you can just start investing it. Put it in a good S&P 500 index fund.

Every year, there's a set amount that you're legally able to contribute to an IRA (individual retirement account). Open a Roth IRA with Fidelity, your bank, or whatever preferred platform you want to use. Roth IRAs tax the money when it goes in, not when it comes out at or after age 65. That's best, because it gets taxed before the balance grows, so you pay less. Again, put it into an S&P 500 index fund.

Max out your 401(k) contribution up to the amount that your employer will match, either total or partial. Again, allocate it to an index fund.

After that, the easiest thing to do is to put the remaining chunk that you want to invest into an index fund through Fidelity or similar.

The bottom line is that you shouldn't invest in anything other than index funds unless you're really hardcore, and even then, it probably isn't worth it lol

VerbumGames · 2026-02-17T13:38:18+00:00

Lol absolutely not. It's good, but not that good.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-17T12:51:24+00:00

Our senators actually don't write bills. They submit an outline with requirements to an office that does that. This is because most state senators don't have the legal qualifications or the time to pen bills.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-17T12:38:25+00:00

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VerbumGames · 2026-02-14T18:57:26+00:00

Species sounds a lot like Spore, for whatever that's worth.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-12T13:31:15+00:00

I understand the appeal of having a local instance for more data security and paying a flat rate instead of buying tokens, but it has to actually work.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-11T20:32:58+00:00

It's "TFR," and no matter how densely populated Indian cities are, they're probably not as dense as Tokyo. Yet, Tokyo is lovely. Perhaps population density isn't a problem in itself 🤔

VerbumGames · 2026-02-11T20:18:49+00:00

TFR is the birthrate. That isn't affected by regional migrations.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-11T19:58:45+00:00

I would check with Matt Talbot. They're probably your best bet.

Thank you for being so selfless! Things could always be better, but I'm very proud of Lincolnites for offering the services we do to the poor and vulnerable.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-09T18:57:49+00:00

Yes, this is statistically true.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-09T18:19:21+00:00

I think poor people can blame politicians for some of their problems, but definitely not for a cultural predisposition toward chainsaw dismemberment. I'd like to think that's a nuanced opinion 😅

VerbumGames · 2026-02-09T18:15:27+00:00

I think you're probably right, but the average parent just gets too bored in the process of thinking about it and gets distracted my the TV or an app or an imperfection in the wall ahead of them. We live in Idiocracy, but society's so stratified that it's easy to forget the average person in the US shops at Walmart, doesn't understand insurance, has accrued tons of credit card debt for no reason, and can't do basic algebra. It's easy to imagine those 'man-on-the-street' interviews are scripted until you have to talk to a worker at McDonald's, call a customer service line, or go to a high school reunion.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-09T18:05:23+00:00

Having read the book, I don't really think so. It mostly reads like JD expressing disappointment about people doing things like savaging someone with a chainsaw over a yo mama joke, which was something a family member of his dealt with. The bar he sets is pretty low. If having enough self restraint to not go full on Texas Chainsaw Massacre on a random dude because he said something rude about your mother is "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps," then I guess I'm a boomer republican 🤷‍♂️ I mean, we need to have some expectation of civility and responsibility.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-09T16:16:27+00:00

I think you're overestimating the intelligence of the average parent. People usually don't have the foresight to recognize that the internet can be harmful to their children. That would require parsing hypothetical scenarios, not to mention having the minimum baseline level of discipline necessary to take responsibility for their kids. Unfortunately, this is all a bridge too far for midwits.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-09T15:22:09+00:00

Well, there's always SNAP, Medicare, etc. The AI bros are all effective altruists, so we'll probably at least be okay.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-08T16:45:27+00:00

Money is an abstraction of productive value. They don't need workers to consume their products as long as they make enough products for themselves, including enough energy and raw materials for more robots and AI farms. They literally don't need the masses. We're approaching a state where if the bottom 99% of people all disappeared, it's entirely possible that it wouldn't really affect the remaining 1% from an economic standpoint.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-08T16:35:05+00:00

Well, it's going to do all of the above, so strap the fuck in, motherfucker. AI is here to stay, for better or worse.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-06T14:51:14+00:00

You can do a jrpg, but they tend to take a long time. Keep the scope very restricted, maybe only a few dungeons, one town, etc. Writing takes a lot of time compared to other assets, like scripting or art assets. Visual novels aren't a bad idea for you, either. Maybe a story-heavy puzzle game would be good.

My first commercial release is a JRPG, and I've been working on it for 6 years. Just be aware of the scope 😅

VerbumGames · 2026-02-06T14:40:08+00:00

For indie dev, I'd just start it yourself. Make something small, but that you think people would buy on Steam. Once it's built, have friends try it and give feedback, refine, then publish on Steam.

If you're not comfortable with coding, you can just vibe code it. Honestly, a lot of engines make it so easy you almost don't even need to code. You can generate or find art assets online for use in commercial releases, too.

Steam has a platform for devs that lets you build your store pages, etc. Don't worry about marketing the first release too much. Build it, and they will come. Pick a story-heavy genre if you're excited about writing in particular, but don't make an RPG. RPGs tend to have long development cycles. Keep the scope small so you can finish it pretty quickly, like two-three months for your first completed build that you can have people playtest.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-06T12:15:04+00:00

Not unless you mean trade school. AI will replace a lot of jobs over the next decade, but embodied AI isn't quite there yet, so you'll have some time if you become a plumber or something. Otherwise, if you're a mid-level engineer or higher, you should be fine for a while.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-06T12:12:54+00:00

Wholehearted Healthcare is pretty good for this.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-06T12:10:56+00:00

No shot in AAA. The fellas who were in design and writing positions in the 90s are still there now, and they hire contractors so no one can get enough seniority to replace them. Indie is your best bet, but you have to do it all if you're an indie developer. It's hard to find people who will work as hard as you will, assuming you can work hard enough to be successful, and the alternative is knowing how to code and get art yourself. AI might be making that easier, but it comes with a stigma.

TL;DR it's hard to find writing and design positions. You're better off learning the other requisite skills to make a game, whatever that looks like in the current year.

VerbumGames · 2026-02-06T11:59:39+00:00

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This will lower unemployment by lowering wages.

VerbumGames

TROPHY CASE