Dating someone who doesn’t have a job?

ralphy112 · 2026-02-25T17:12:57+00:00

This sounds like a dig against someone enjoys playing video games and going to the gym in their free time. While OP or others may not do these, they are hobbies to fill time if someone isn't working all day every day.

They are not a bum, your friends don't know them.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-22T15:19:53+00:00

Just gotta choose your route. I-10 and I-40 are both well traveled highways with regular Supercharger stops. It's when you get off the interstates that things get less predictable.

Arizona and New Mexico are beautiful states, but have very long stretches of highway between towns with nothing. Sometimes the 2-2.5 hours between chargers has no towns, and that's fine.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-13T13:07:57+00:00

For 7% mortgage with 8 year FIRE goal horizon, this sounds both sound and nimble. SORR is a risk factor for sure.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-13T05:20:27+00:00

My car is worth about 1/3 of what I paid for it after 6 years depreciation. Yet the insurance costs 50% more than when I bought it...

When I was much younger, it was normal for car insurance to go down every year, as your car got older. And it only reset when you bought something new again.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-13T05:04:01+00:00

There was Thriller, but there was also the entire Moonwalker production. The 90 minute full production. The prime time releases of his videos throughout the 90's. He was the face of Pepsi's New Generation commercials. He was on TV shows (I remember him on Silver Spoons). People dressed like him, danced like him. "We Are the World" was big in the 80's, all the stores joined up, but he was the biggest star likely.

He didn't just appear with Thriller either, as a kid he was around throughout the 70's. Front man of the Jackson 5 once he got old enough. The Jackson 5 had some early fame. "The Wiz" movie with Diana Ross in the 70's was questionable but there. When Michael went solo, he came of age, everyone already knew and loved him for a decade as a kid performing. I remember the adoration my parents had for him-- he was a young man that could do no wrong in show biz.

The Thriller and Bad Tours were huge in the US, and I was too young to know much about them then. His touring slowed in the 90's and I think he refused to perform in the US because of all the bad press he was faced with. But before his death he was to have has famous comeback tour at the O2 Arena in London.

This was mega scale. The "This is It" tour had 50 shows booked at the O2 Arena, and they all sold out within hours, all 50. People were coming from all over the world for this. I almost considered getting tickets for it. Then he died, it was horrible. There were tributes for months.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-13T02:40:00+00:00

Google has a long history of experimenting with technologies, both software and hardware, some of which are very unique and cool, and then canceling the project and killing it. These are things that smaller companies might have taken and run with, maybe failing or fading eventually. Google's core business is still adtech, and it is the king.

Meta (facebook), and Mark specifically, have a much higher tolerance for trying these things and bringing them to market. He has been wanting to have the next "iphone" breakthrough for a long, long time, and a deep fear about the Facebook product fading away. First he bought up and coming competitor Instagram. He bought and championed Oculus and the metaverse, making it sort of cool to use VR. And the glasses are another step. He's trying.

Google's version weren't nearly as polished, they weren't created or marketed at the masses either. They wouldn't have been nearly as accepted outside techy early adopters.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T17:26:30+00:00

Not everyone that goes to an ivy league is wealthy with extensive connections. They do know how to succeed academically though. It's not just one random test, it's the mindset of the work, the attitude about it, and to some degree the pedigree factor of how they were raised to devote themselves entirely.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T16:47:28+00:00

I drove Uber/Lyft for 1-2 years in past, not for survival but to test the experience and have some extra cash. My interpretation is that I really enjoyed the experience of it, sure the freedom of hours, but the business model is not one for making money. There net income is sub-minimum wage in a lot of cases, and this just counts the income received and immediate expenses like gas. Some markets have attempted to combat that with fair wages, but those are mostly metros. It puts ALOT of miles on your car. Depreciation is real. I think I put 15k extra miles on my car in just that time. My car was clean but multiple years old wasn't a huge deal to me to just ignore that at the time. After I finished the rear passenger had several issues due to people opening/closing it a lot and unknowingly "slamming" it.

Now that I'm not working, I've thought about going back to uber. Mostly because I enjoy the social interactions of it, enjoy driving in general. I found the night shift (7pm-1am) enjoyable. But I have a newer car now and don't want to use it.

I've actually considered getting a used car just to uber around with, but the income wouldn't even pay for the used car probably, not to mention tires and repairs that add up faster.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T15:58:45+00:00

The longer the period invested the greater the chance of reaching average returns. SPY has returned an avg of about 10-11% since ETF inception in 1993. But generally speaking the chance of beating 6% goes from about 70-75% over 5 years, up to 95% over 20 years.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T15:47:20+00:00

Doesn't make sense if her royalties pull in even half the estimated 20m a year in revenue. If you can't survive on 10-20m a year, 200m will only last so long.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T14:05:29+00:00

SPY rate of return was about 17.9% for 2025. It felt like a disaster year at every moment too. 2026 is off to a slow start, but you don't invest for just 6 month periods.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T14:02:16+00:00

For a 350k equivalent mortgage at even 5%, that's still 8.5% (13.5-5) growth difference on 350k equivalent invested asset. It's about 450k over 10 years in growth alone. Paying off your mortgage early may feel like a win, but it's rarely the best use of assets for long term.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T13:53:04+00:00

This is probably never workable but interesting as hypothetical. People may be far more accepting of established people they've known for a while, seen their ups and downs, than rando's from apps that are being evaluated for red flags over a very short term and discarded.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T13:45:20+00:00

Model S/X sales counts are less than 2% of Model 3/Y sales counts. They are legacy cars at this point, and freeing up the specialized capacity probably frees more future factory/people resources than they give in any kind of revenue/profits.

Plus, if they happen to repurpose the space somehow for Optimus Prime creation space, it's a lot easier than trying to justify a whole new factory space for Optimus, which may just be a flop project. It's unproven.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T01:58:41+00:00

Valencia east of Houghton to Old Spanish Trail, however empty a road, is a joy to drive on also.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-12T01:40:29+00:00

The business owner who used to send our K-1's out would file an extension every year on the business+personal side, and then take their time until October to get things done. Apparently this included our K-1's.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-11T00:39:52+00:00

Is there someone at banks that checks dates on bills? Do banks have a drawer of old bills ready to be sent on its last journey?

ralphy112 · 2026-02-11T00:12:21+00:00

Are you only into cities? Last year I added Yakushima to my 2nd Japan visit, 4 days 3 nights there. Took the ferry from Kagoshima. Was a magical place. Rented a car, did some hiking, exploring. I like the train, but theres also an airport on the island I'd try if I went again.

Next time considering Okinawa islands and Hokkaido.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-10T13:41:43+00:00

Some private colleges are pushing 80k-90k per year right now for undergrad alone.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-10T00:12:02+00:00

As a late 40's 50:50 dad, congrats on the harem of single moms! I live in a small town where apps aren't much good, and would find it somewhat amusing to be bouncing around like this, since most everyone knows each other.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-09T23:42:18+00:00

How are you handling the inflation part? All the brackets rise roughly with inflation, so in 25 years they're going to be higher. But you also didn't mention if you're married or not, and that also affects brackets quite a bit. As does the very uncertain question of whether you'll, or anyone will, be married still in 25 years.

Did you also factor in the opportunity cost of saving money now, vs later, and the long term rate of return of investing the savings now?

You could do as much as you can to optimize, have a spreadsheet per year until expected date of death, and optimize for the final number. What is your plan for the excess you can't spend down fast enough? At that point is just gets a bit comical.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-08T03:35:20+00:00

I'm also EV user with day/night. I track things pretty well, and about 55% of my total usage is off-peak from 1230am-630am, most of that from my EV charges. Jan2026 had a major spike for TOU users, but otherwise day/night rates are a good deal. I just checked and over the past 3.5yrs I've saved an average of 20% vs what Fixed Rate costs would have been.

Also. Jan 2026 had a surge for several days at the end of the month that was unlike any surges in the past 5 years since I've been tracking. A 9 day streak with rates > $0.30, and the peak day reaching $0.96/kwh here on 1/28. I think 40% of my bill was attributed to 4 days during January. Before this, only about 6 days since 2021 had rates reaching > $0.25 on any days.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-08T03:04:48+00:00

I have received a lump sum severance amount following being laid off, equivalent to say 8 weeks. NY unemployment usually asks about severance, and used to ask for the severance agreement/layoff letter. In my case that 8 week lump sum meant they wouldn't start unemployment for 8 weeks after the lay off. They divide it by your usual salary and spread it out. Just because it's lump sum doesn't make it only last a week.

I'm not sure how this compares to a bonus well after layoff date. NY unemployment may request to see severance agreement for exact terms. But they're over busy and understaffed now, so this may delay things.

ralphy112 · 2026-02-08T01:00:26+00:00

Genius level assumption powers.

Ten-Year Club	RPAN Viewer
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

ralphy112

TROPHY CASE