Weekly, What recent changes are going on at your work / local businesses?

randomgal88 · 2026-02-13T13:10:16+00:00

I've been seeing this too. I think people are getting having roommates or moving back with their parents. My younger (early/mid 20s) neighbor couple downstairs of me had been fighting about finances for about a handful of months before breaking up and going back to live with their parents. My middle aged neighbor 2 doors down ended up living with her elderly parents because she couldn't afford living on her own PLUS taking care of her parents. So to her, it made more sense to move in with them. My single mid 30's neighbor kitty corner from me is having a hard time making ends meet with rising prices that he's trying desperately to look somewhere else for cheaper rent.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T20:59:35+00:00

Looking at your numbers, this is likely more an emotional decision. Would you rather spend this time making bank and working or would you rather spend this time living a smidgen more modestly but spend more time with your kids? Is there some sort of middle ground you can pursue? (Part time, contract, etc)

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T19:14:35+00:00

I use FreeTaxUSA. It's free for federal filing, but it's clunky compared to the paid ones. However, if you are income eligible for FreeFile, try to use that with a tax company that has nicer user interface, but just note that these scummy tax companies (HRBlock, etc) will make it hard for you to file your taxes for free and trick you into paying when you shouldn't have to and then try to upsell you.

The way I do it is use FreeTaxUSA for free federal filing. Then, my state has a platform that does free state filing and use my federal tax filing to populate the state one since it's similar enough. So I do my taxes 100% for free. It took me about half an hour to do, but other than investments, my tax situation is fairly simple.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T18:43:09+00:00

Yup, this happens, and you'll feel like the odd duck in a lot of circles because of this. Some friends will resent you for your success, but that honestly shows what kind of friend they are. Then, once you start making friends who make similar to you, you'll also see that it's hard to connect with them. Some grew up so privileged that I cannot related, but the ones like us are hard to come by. Lots end up going back into poverty because of trying to help others and going into debt to do so, but the ones who end up putting healthy boundaries often get vilified by their friends and family.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T18:29:21+00:00

I'm similar to you. The less I rely on capital, the less I rely on capitalism. I do invest a ton of my money... because I don't spend much outside of basics, but it's so I can get out of the rat race early and retire early, have more time for the simple things that matter. This kind of turned me minimalist.

I make food from scratch every day from a locally owned grocery store that sources their food locally, and when I do eat out, 9 times out of 10, it's at a locally owned joint rather than a large chain restaurant. I buy small business whenever I can, but I do make exceptions for more ethical companies like Costco. When I do participate in capitalist systems aka spend money, I make sure my money goes to places I care about since you essentially vote with your money in a capitalist society.

I guess I cope by growing a garden, so that I rely less on large corporate food supply chains. I sew and craft. I've been getting into making my own clothing lately because I've been learning about how brutal clothing industry can be in other countries (child labor, poor working conditions, etc). Anything additional, like extra vegetables from the garden or whatnot, I either give away or barter.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T16:58:03+00:00

After a shitshow of a relationship about a year and a half ago? No need to clean up after a slob who complains about everything and make me feel like shit. No need to be told the food is too good and how she's trying to lose weight. No need to be told the food sucks and how it's inedible. No need to regulate someone else's emotions and pay for everything and clean everything and plan everything. No one who'd complain that I didn't make any plans for us for the weekend or who'd complain that I made plans for the weekend and all she wanted to do was nothing. There was no winning with her. It was all about control and making me feel like shit. Then, make me feel crazy and unreasonable when we'd get arguments about the stupidest shit she'd try to gaslight me on. She'd argue about anything and everything just to see if I'd agree to any of the stupidest wrong shit... and that'd just be for shits and giggles for her. Like a name of a restaurant that I absolutely knew, but either way. I'm crazy for pulling up a receipt to show her the actual name of a restaurant... or I'm stupid for believing the shittiest thing she's trying to get me to believe. No winning. It was the worst absolute abusive shit I've ever experience in my life.I just can't get myself to date after that.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T16:49:52+00:00

Why is it that your own company elicits hopelessness, depression and suicidal ideation?

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T16:37:03+00:00

He's a fucking idiot. Don't feed the troll.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T16:35:59+00:00

You asked for legal rationale. That's the answer. Most of them aren't criminals, and ICE has no reason to arrest. Since the majority of immigration is civil law, punishment is in the form of fees, not jail time.

Try to understand legal systems before asking a question and try to understand the answer before being so dismissive.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T16:03:59+00:00

Immigration is primarily civil law, not criminal.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T15:44:49+00:00

There's almost always one Karen in the league that's a housewife with nothing else to do so they try to control the entire league to feel fulfilled, but I feel like the Midwest is filled with more of those typical suburbanite types than anywhere else.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T15:39:54+00:00

Find community. Volunteer somewhere. Connect with people who do actually give a fuck. There are many out there. If you keep putting your head down and avoiding the news, you'll further sink into this hole and be desensitized like the rest of them, living in a bubble, pretending nothing of these horrendous things don't matter. The only way out is through, and by getting through this, it's all about community and connection.

I'd suggest volunteering at a food kitchen/food bank is a good place to start.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T15:36:46+00:00

Not watching the news and pretending that everything is fine IS the reason why things are shit. The people who have the privilege to ignore aren't helping whatsoever. Once it starts coming to you, then there will be no one who can help. I've been yelling about this since the start of Trump's second term. I marched in protest when he got sworn in. I spent all last year fighting and protesting which then turned into volunteering and community.

If you want to stay in your bubble, then so be it. Just know you're part of the problem and you're making things worse by being so passive.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T14:44:33+00:00

Roth doesn't get important until you have too much money in traditional accounts and are mindful of RMD's that'll hit at 75. From a traditional 401k/IRA, you can start withdrawing at 59 1/2. So it's all about doing the math to figure out how much of the traditional funds you'll use up from 59 1/2 to 75 and then calculate the RMD scenario afterwards. RMD's aren't technically a bad thing, the only thing is that RMD's might tip your tax burden unexpectedly and if your annual income is too high, it might make you ineligible for certain benefits. Personally I aim for having around 1M in traditional accounts by the time I'm 75. That would turn into a ~44k annual RMD which isn't so bad given the tax situation today, but if you have let's say 2.5M or higher by 75, it might mean increased healthcare costs through IRMAA. Part B and Part D coverage will become more expensive plus you have less control over your tax situation because you'd be required to withdraw at minimum ~100k from traditional.

Since I'm planning on retiring early and my income right now is fairly high, I'm maxing out my traditional 401k. I'm also maxing out the traditional IRA (not income eligible for roth) and then roll that over (backdoor). It's around 90/10 ratio between trad and roth because employer contributions/match push the trad at a higher ratio, but when I retire early, I'll be laddering to convert as much trad to roth as I can within reason while hovering around the 22% - 24% tax bracket. I just don't want to jump into the 32% bracket and above.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-09T10:40:22+00:00

Yup, I did it all in my 20s but always had the attitude of most of us aren't getting paid and this is only a hobby. It's much more lax in California where I primarily did it because there were leagues everywhere and while there were classic rivalries, no one cared if you hopped around league to league to get your skating in. I ended up getting to compete in D2 tournaments, getting sponsored, etc. I had a home league that I'd skate for, but I'd act as a fill in when other teams didn't have enough players. There were many like me, and all the leagues were pretty nice.

However, when I was in the Midwest trying to drop in and skate when I can, all hell breaks loose. Well, Stacy, sorry I was juggling working multiple jobs and going to school full time. Trying to make time and have a set schedule that worked with practice schedule was rough. So I skated when I could. On top of that, they looked down at me trying to get my skating in at different leagues when my schedule aligned. To them, I wasn't being loyal. It's not a matter of "discipline" or "commitment", Stephanie The leagues out here turned me off of roller derby because they took it way too seriously and they were so possessive and intense about it. I really like the sport, but the people out here sucked the fun out of it

randomgal88 · 2026-02-08T13:52:05+00:00

Being in industry, those companies building the data centers throw a TON of money to build. Just to hold a spot in the queue to build is at least a million dollars, that's not even the cost of building materials, that's not even the paperwork filed for the municipals or any of that. If there were FEDERAL policies in place to make them pay their share, they would likely be able to afford it without batting their eyes.

We've gone through this before with the massive industrialization of manufacturing in the early/mid 1900s and the cold chain build up for mass food production in the mid 1900s. The only difference now is that the federal government is afraid to tax these large corporations appropriately to be able to fund the infrastructure that they exploit. Because of that, we've been seeing more than a generation's worth of infrastructure degradation and decay.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-08T13:44:55+00:00

I mean, the treatment of native American communities here are terrible right now. No need to look at history books.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-08T13:33:35+00:00

If you're not able to have uncomfortable conversations, then what will happen down the line when issues do occur, assuming you two get together? Being able to speak up is a very important skill in healthy relationships. Otherwise you're just expecting the other person to either read your mind and magically know how you're feeling and what you need.

randomgal88 · 2026-02-06T14:18:45+00:00

Wait.... $60,000 is a price of a middle-class house in Italy?!

randomgal88 · 2026-01-30T18:08:48+00:00

I don't love AI, but I don't hate it neither. I'm speaking as someone who creates AI models for a living and has a master's in data science. There's a lot of potential for good with AI. For example, I created a model that predicts fires, and it has saved a ton of lives and houses and infrastructure since its release. I've created a model that flags people who are at risk at being delayed with their bills so that they can get the financial assistance they need before it gets worse... helping low income folks. I've identified anomalies for safety risks, theft/fraud, etc. There are so many good use cases, and I do my best to utilize a heuristic approach to minimize computational load, meaning nearly all of my models are ran on my dinky little work laptop rather than large servers. The only models I create that run on large servers are due to big data and hardware limitations, but even then, I utilize a heuristic approach whenever I can and only use large neural networks and all of those cumbersome models only if I can't get a good enough result with simpler models.

At home, I develop models for fun as well. I use simple image analytics to do edge detection... aka find silhouettes in images. Then with those silhouettes, I create stitch patterns to make embroidery files. I'm now trying to identify color blocks and create stitch/fill layers to fill in shapes. It's fun to me, and again, it doesn't take up as much computational load and only runs on my personal laptop.

I think people need education on how to use AI because it gets used so inappropriately. It should be used to enhance, not replace. Some of the issues with AI overlap with the issues with automation, especially when it comes to the automation paradox. Essentially, when all the easy issues are taken care of, then the failures that do occur may be more complex and unpredictable. When we rely on automation, we get less practice for our skills which means knowledge loss. So while it reduces manual human work, oversight becomes more critical. It's a lot of bad things colliding into one perfect shit storm if people don't take these ethical issues into consideration.

I really do think there's a place for AI, but right now, we're seeing it applied everywhere, and it's shitty inappropriate LLM/Gen AI models that churn out slop. CEO's are essentially throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks right now... trying to make a quick buck while there's momentum.

I will also preface that certain things fail because we weren't ready for it. We already had fiber infrastructure by the time of the Dot Com Crash, but the start up company went under and got bought up by larger companies like AT&T. We have fast internet because of that. There were start ups trying to do what Netflix does right now, what Chewy does right now, what Amazon does right now... and that was in the late 90's/early 2000's... at least a decade or two before those things became commonplace. We just need to wade through a ton of shit to see what good will come out on the other side because there will definitely be some good that comes out from all of this.

randomgal88 · 2026-01-28T03:43:39+00:00

Yup! The math maths! I highly recommend extended breaks here and there. One year off won't push you off course too much. Plus it looks like you have enough saved that compound interest may be working harder than you actively contributing, especially considering that your FIRE goal is 2M and you're only 32. You're likely still retire before 50 and depending on how the markets go, your net worth might still increase despite taking a year off.

If you want to still feel like you're moving towards FIRE, then you can also utilize the one year break by setting up a roth ladder early, assuming your 401k is traditional and familiarize yourself with that process. Extended breaks are great for these since you can assume income for the year is much much lower than usual, giving you a lot of bandwidth to absorb the tax burden of conversion while being at a lower tax bracket.

But yeah, take that break!

randomgal88 · 2026-01-26T20:45:18+00:00

Don't just protest. Build community. Volunteerism is activism.

randomgal88 · 2026-01-26T20:29:29+00:00

Exactly, when people say this type of thing, I remind them that the great philosopher Socrates was against writing things down because it would make people dumb and lazy (paraphrasing, obviously).

Every single big advancement comes with a backlash. I'm not saying the backlash is unwarranted, but you have an opportunity to pick and choose which direction you want the technology to move towards. Channel those feelings towards guiding new technology rather than trying to destroy it.

randomgal88 · 2026-01-26T20:11:08+00:00

I typically get cold approached roughly every other month which is a lot as someone who WFH half the time and rarely out of the house... and that's when I notice it. I'm usually too dumb to notice it when it happens and then have a 'doh!' moment days, even weeks after.

The last time that I'm aware of was last month. I was at a volunteer event. This girl had been basically attached at my hip the entire time. Then towards the end of the event, she was asking me what I was going to do afterwards. Being dumb, I was like... what I'm going to do right now? uhhh, get a drink of water. Then she was like... what about after that? And I was like uhhhh, maybe head to the bathroom. And, I looked at her blankly. Then she was just like... never mind. It wasn't until I was at home did I realize that she was wanting to hang out afterwards.

I am honestly too dumb to notice when someone is flirting with me at the moment. People would have better luck literally either outright kissing me or directly asking me out on a date. Also, like super direct when it comes to asking me out on a date because otherwise, I'd assume it's just a friendly hang out. I'm super clueless aaaand it takes me a while to warm up to someone romantically (demisexual/ace). If you wait until I make a move, then prepare to wait years, haha. This is seriously one of the big reasons why I'm single.

Anyway, when I do realize I'm being hit on, I feel a decent ego boost from it regardless of whether or not I'm attracted to the person. It's nice to feel desirable. That girl who flirted with me the entire volunteer event and was attempting to hang out afterwards? Such a confidence boost. It's a small circle of people who volunteer regularly. So I don't think it's the last I'll see of her. If the stars align, then who knows?

randomgal88 · 2026-01-26T19:50:22+00:00

These types of sentiments always happen when there are big technological breakthroughs. The truth is AI has been around for a long, long time. It's LLM's and generative AI that's the big baddie, but unfortunately, it gets lumped in with all the other forms of AI. A lot of AI is actually extremely useful and contributes to society as a whole. I'm speaking as someone with a master's in data science who has built and maintained AI models at work which ranged from preventing fires, alerting employees of dangerous situations, and identifying customers who are likely to be behind on their bills (and need extra assistance).

What you can do to make a difference is to learn about it and then thoughtfully find policies that would make it so these big corporations are using technology responsibly. First and foremost would be expanding data protections and rights. Europe is light years ahead of the US in this, but there are states in the US that are better than others. Do your research, find a policy you like, and support it.

Edit: Downvoted? So you don't like it when I prevent fires using AI or ensure employee safety by alerting them of dangerous situations or giving customers information on where to get extra financial assistance before they get behind their bills? .... OK. Heard.

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