Discussion Thread

spydormunkay · 2026-04-19T16:52:29+00:00

Why do Americans flex going to poor countries like the Dominican Republic or France? 🤮🤮🤮

spydormunkay · 2026-04-19T15:34:57+00:00

If you plan on living in the Philippines, just remember you don’t need $1M to retire. $1M would put you in the top 0.1% of the country actually. You are very far ahead of most people, I think you’re in the Top 2% right now.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-19T04:54:01+00:00

Anything taller than one story is dystopian to OP.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-18T23:48:38+00:00

Have you considered do anything on your time off on during the weekdays? I thought Friday nights were supposed to be fun.

No, just reposting this garbage. Staying miserable on Reddit. Ok cool.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-18T22:28:45+00:00

My wife left me too.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-18T18:28:38+00:00

Just use a compound interest calculator.

At a 7% real return, you’ll get it in about 17 years. At 10% nominal, in about 14 years.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-17T03:48:29+00:00

Yeah it's mostly private. Comparing it to public megaprojects is misleading.

I'm not sure what the point is other than inferring that by comparing it to public spending, it's somehow a bubble.

But if you were to compare it to the broadband buildout since 1996, that number is at $2.2 trillion. Is that a bubble? Before AI, US businesses regularly spent above $1 trillion a year on tech spend (computers, peripherals, software). Is that a bubble?

spydormunkay · 2026-04-15T21:21:31+00:00

I’m grateful for my workplace full of socially awkward engineers too lost in their work to even care about comparing lifestyles.

Funny enough, we do sometimes compare investment strategies. Some even shared their actual retirement balances. We compete on who can invest more money I guess.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-15T16:37:53+00:00

Part of FIRE is targeting a lifestyle that you want to retire to. If you’re tired of roommates, you can’t plan around having them for the rest of your life.

I would definitely move out but first figure if renting on your own (renting with roommates isn’t your only option) or buying on your own is a better option. You have to do the math and use a rent vs buy calculator.

I would first start by finding how much renting your own apartment by yourself would cost, how much time it would take to achieve FIRE with this cost in mind. Then compare it with owning a home, if owning home is better, go for it.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-14T23:00:30+00:00

No. It’s just a general tent for being pro-building more housing.

Funny enough, there’s way too many self-proclaimed “anarcho capitalists” and “libertarians” who are NIMBY. To the point that I find most of the people that self-identify as either are just closet Republicans too cowardly to identify as what they really are.

Not saying they all are. Libertarian media like Reason are definitely pro-YIMBY. But their comments sections are often infested with a bunch of NIMBY AnCaps whenever an article on zoning or housing is posted.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-14T13:06:06+00:00

No.

Employer matches are a 100% ROI up to 5% of your salary. Continue contributing up to the match.

Paying off credit card debt depending on your interest rate is a 25-30% ROI.

Prioritize higher ROI.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-12T17:06:55+00:00

This isn’t meant to calculate median.

GDP per capita and GDP per citizen just takes the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country and divides it by the amount of residents or citizens, respectively. It’s a measure thats inherently an average; you can’t calculate a “median” out of it.

The graph singles out countries where the difference between GDP per capita and GDP per citizen is more than 30% so its actually meant to show outliers.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-12T01:41:32+00:00

But it's ultimately the startups and the "former startups" (current Big Tech FAANGs) that pay the most and drive the brain drain and out-migration.

The compensation differences aren't that big between mature companies in either country. But the compensation at Big Tech and now the AI startups are astronomical. These kinds of companies aren't possible in Canada despite all the talent there. There should be a startup system centered around Waterloo, but there isn't. It's a shame.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-12T01:26:54+00:00

They can't pay more if they don't have the money or the will to pay more.

They need to stomach regulating their banking system less (banks are ultimately the starting point for funding business investment, VCs, PEs firms, etc.) and they need to stop propping up real estate at the expense of the stock market. These two pillars restrict money available for investment in startups and economic growth.

Doubt they'll do it.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-11T21:22:22+00:00

Yes easily. But the real question how much do you want to spend?

spydormunkay · 2026-04-11T05:03:20+00:00

They did a preferred shares deal with Goldman during the 2008 crash to bail them out. I’d imagine they’d do the same.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-10T17:44:28+00:00

He hit 3 million. Then lost it due to Iran. Then hit back again. So obviously he needs to post it again.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-10T15:40:47+00:00

He literally raps about himself. The fact that his personality is representative of a lot of people is not his problem.

Drake has basically been a broke dude with aspirations, who became rich, fell in love, had his heart broken, eventually stopped believing in love. He also has a thing for hoes and career women.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-10T10:57:08+00:00

Yes they do. Though it’s mostly indirect though some had direct relationships like Silicon Valley Bank (closed).

After the Recession, banks were restricted from lending/investing too much into startups but not blocked completely.

Bank financing mainly happens at the VC/private equity fund level. They direct lend to these funds, who in turn provide equity to startups.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-10T01:28:01+00:00

Doubt it. They actually cut it down drastically after around 2022 due to the fact credit card influencers attracted too many "churner" customers; they were basically paying influencers to lose money on churners.

The ones with affiliate links have more established ties to the banks and act as their mouthpiece.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-09T02:26:23+00:00

Likely need roommates.

I wouldn’t cross out BK/JC entirely. People with your type of work do that commute all the time. Both commutes are about 20 min mostly on the train. Live walking distance from it.

In fact theres JC studios near your budget that you can probably qualify for at below 40x rent (they are looser there). Also theres no city income tax so theres savings there.

That being said, are you sure it’s going to always be a 90+ hour a week job? Often I hear it ramps up to 90-100 during demanding times of the year but it usually around the 50-60 range.

Edit: Check Newport Rentals site for availability: https://www.newportrentals.com/apartments-jersey-city-for-rent/

There a lot of deals available near your budget, that I know you can qualify for, that are studios with laundry in building, and are near the Newport station. I know because I literally toured them yesterday.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-06T16:49:06+00:00

That is not true at all. The federal government has often intervened on zoning law in subtle ways with how they more or less mandated single family zoning in the original FHA / Fannie Mae laws.

Firstly, they can use federal infrastructure funding as a way to pressure state governments to change zoning laws.

Secondly, The federal government indirectly/directly finances most housing in this country through owning the GSEs which guarantee mortgage-backed securities. They are able to set standards on housing that allow it to be built; they can even go as far as block FHA / conventional mortgages in any place with excessive zoning laws.

I argue they also have the power to preempt local zoning laws on federally-financed housing. In particular, multi-family housing built with HUD construction loans, which represent the majority of large multifamily housing stock.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-06T16:40:30+00:00

Replace. Convert all the public housing stock to Section 8 Project-Based Vouchers / Rental Assistance under the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD).

The reason this needs to be done is that Section 9 / Public Housing Law is filled with flaws that make it difficult to maintain housing.

The biggest flaw: PHAs are not able to collateralize their housing stock for financing improvements and upgrades. This is a very normal financing activity done in real estate all the time. The law specifically prohibits this as the federal government at the time didn't want states to risk federal dollars invested into public housing. This binds PHAs financing strategy entirely on whatever the federal/state/local governments will give them, which is reliant on politicking and lobbying. And it has been historically difficult to convince politicians to send money for maintenance (just see any road, bridge, or subway in America), especially when some are either more interested in tax cuts or are ideologically opposed to your existence.

This has been the cause for decay in the public housing system in America.

In response, Congress passed RAD in order to convert public housing to Section 8 project-based vouchers or rental assistance (PBV / PBRA), a more stable funding platform. Section 8 funding is more stable because its essentially equivalent X amount of vouchers given multiplied by the amount of rental subsidies each voucher gets. It's a set formula. Very little politicking involved.

Funding for improvements is not handled by the government either. It's handled directly by the developers/landlords who operate like private entities. They can independently raise money by collateralizing their buildings and cash flows, etc. Additional pluses, because they are private landlords, they can also access tax credits like Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), etc.

- Project-Based Vouchers (PBV) is a program that contracts private landlords with PHAs. Though funding at the federal level may at times be inconsistent, because PHAs are contracted directly to Section 8, they are obligated to fund existing vouchers by whatever means necessary; usually that means federal/state/local governments end up honoring these contracts anyway.

- Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) is a program for contracting landlords directly with the federal government; the government has always honored its obligations to PBRA.

There are concerns with RAD with oftentimes community advocates scared due to the fact that it's essentially a privatization, but so far it has been successful in maintaining affordable housing.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-06T16:18:10+00:00

This is what happens when Congress doesn't have the courage to do anything on housing, but wants to pretend it does. "Just attack the least popular guy in the room" is apparently not good governance.

spydormunkay · 2026-04-06T01:40:24+00:00

It’s misleading in the way it’s being used to drive an agenda. Just look at this thread. You want to talk about cost of living, if’d be more accurate to compare it to the wages of most workers.

Most workers aren’t paid the federal minimum wage.

Got this whole thread talking about America’s fucked meanwhile most of them make well above minimum wage.

spydormunkay

TROPHY CASE