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Money is easier to spend than to make.
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Spend less than you earn. Earning interest is better than paying interest.
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Debt can be good if used wisely. I took on debt to buy an apartment that saved me money due to cutting commute costs more than interest costs.
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Think long term.
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Have no social life, it’s much cheaper.
But in all seriousness, if you have to have a social life, limit your spending on that stuff. Restaurant and bar tabs can add up quickly. Budget, limit your drinking, and if you don’t wanna limit your drinking, at least do some cheap drinking at home first.
We used to drink a quart of cheap beer in the parking lot before we went to the nightclubs. We had spares in the trunk for later if we sobered up too much.
VoIP is cheaper than cell service.
Vinegar is a good cleaning agent.
A hard drive at home is way cheaper than cloud storage.
Tailgating burns more gas.
How does the last one work?
If you’re tailgating you have less time to respond to the car in front of you braking or decelerating and therefore you need to slam the breaks more
slam the breaks more
Not to mention the brakes too.
Exactly
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VoIP
Yes, but then you have no service when you’re out and about since you need a WiFi connection.
I have a data only plan which kicks in automatically when WiFi isn’t available.
Thank you for that information. This whole thing is fascinating to me.
Do you still have a conventional phone number? I have family that are too old/tech incompetent to use something like Signal but who must be able to get a hold of me if they need to.
What happens if you go over your data cap?
Why is it so cheap? Do they sell your personal data or something?
I have so many questions!
I have two numbers, both VoIP. Anyone can call or text me, they don’t need to do anything other than dial the number. I even get texts from my bank.
The data cap auto renews and doesn’t expire. For me, 1gb lasts 2 or 3 months. I don’t recall what it costs but it’s dirt cheap.
VoIP is cheap because it uses the internet instead of the cell network. There is almost no costs to operate the device.
As for privacy, VoIP is a little more private than cell service. I had to disclose my ID and cc but that happens with most cell service. I’m not being triangulated by cell towers. My texts are being set to my email and deleted off the VoIP servers.
Jmpchat is a VoIP service with a lot more privacy but it’s currently out of my price range.
I’m happy to answer more questions.
Inherit your wealth!
Spending money on higher quality products makes more sense than having to buy the lower quality product multiple times in the same span. But also don’t assume just because it’s more expensive that it’s higher quality.
I was spending $80-120 each year on lower quality hiking boots. About 10 years ago I finally spent $250 on high quality Merrells, haven’t needed to buy a new pair since. I hope the quality is still the same when I need to buy a new pair in 2035.
Got some bad marks on your credit, even a 30-day late ding? Dispute them, even if they’re legit.
Americans can request a free credit report every year, from all 3 credit reporting agencies. Mark everything negative as, “wasn’t me”. The debtor has 30-days to respond, if they don’t, fuck 'em, it’s off your record.
Worst case? They come back and say the challenge was verified as false. Oh well.
If you can afford this…
…Whenever you’re at the store and make a debit card purchase with the option for cash back, get some back. $5, $10, $20…whatever. And put this into a rainy-day fund. You never know when you might need some quick cash or it’d be the make-or-break for a quick splurge.
Granted, I learned of this method from a friend of the family who used this method to hide money from her husband so take it with a grain of salt.
Learn about taxes and get a good tax guy. There’s a lot of “hacks” you could use to significantly reduce the amount you need to pay to the tax office. Best case scenario - you own an investment property which means you can write off all expenses, including mortgage interests.
Before buying a house, learn about home loans. Get yourself an offset account and for investment property get an interest only loan. Refinance your loan every time there’s a better deal.
Put all your payments, bills, rent, etc. on a credit card that earns you some points. Over time you will get free stuff just for paying your bills.
If you can afford it, put away 10% of all your income to a savings account. If 10% is too much put away as much as possible.
If you’re into risk, invest into stocks. I would recommend long term investments in well established companies that will give a nice return in 5-10 years. If you’re a dare devil, look into penny stocks with large dividends.
Stay away from crypto and “lucky shots”. If it’s too good to be true it’s not worth it.
Don’t use your bank or credit card! Get the amount of money needed for let say the week as cash and use cash everywhere. You know always how much is available without checking your bank apps. When the week finishe if there’s some money still available you could use it for “less needed” goods.
My mum is like this but I think this kind of thing depends on where you’re at in your financial journey and also the type of person you are.
I find that cash burns a hole in my pocket and I check my apps regularly to track spending so any cash effectively just “disappears”, I won’t even remember what I spent it on.
I completely prefer digital spending because for me it’s easier not to lose track and if I seem short, I can trace exactly where it went.
If you’re someone who is not in financial trouble and pays off credit cards regularly then I advise trying to find one with decent rewards and use it for as much of your spending as possible.
This not only gets you air miles / cash back but also helps to build a strong credit record if you’re looking to buy a house, car, … in the future.
You can find just about anybody’s Social Security number. (Equivalently, they can find yours.) Amazingly, some institutions still use knowledge of this number as proof of identity for purposes of extending credit to a stranger.
Yeah, I get a letter in the mail like once a week because some fucking company lost it accidentally, and their penance is sending apology letters.
So yeah, monitor your credit, I guess. Just sucks when it’s credit karma or the like who lose your info.
Freeze your credit at all 3 major credit reporting agencies! Do it now, if you haven’t already. And don’t let them trick you into paying money to do it. It is 100% free everywhere.
It takes a few minutes and could save you lots and lots of time and money, since it makes opening new lines of credit in your name near impossible even if they know your SSN.
Pile as much money as you can, as often as you can, into VTSMX or VTSAX and chill.
What are those?
If you don’t touch an account for 7 years, it disappears from your credit report. That means NO ACTIVITY at all. No usage of the card, no payments, no nothing.
There are some debts that this does not apply to, like school loans, but I know it works on credit cards.
Now, here’s the real world disclaimer. During those 7 years, your credit will TANK. You will have a hell of a time trying to finance a Happy Meal. If you have good credit, it will take another 5-7 years to get it back to where it was. But, if your credit is already trash, and you can’t afford to pay every bill, it is an option that could get you back within your means.
Is it ethical? I figure the system itself isn’t ethical, so stealing back from the ones who take advantage of others doesn’t bother me one bit, but I totally understand if someone would disagree.
The real financial tip is don’t listen to people like this guy. “Trust me bro, you can rack up a ton of debt and then just never pay it off!”
I don’t recommend it, at all, it was a VERY long and difficult time for me to recover, but if you’re already at rock bottom, it can get better.
The entire credit system is to keep undesirables from moving into “better” neighborhoods, to keep the po folk in their place - both geographically and socioeconomically.
Before the credit rating system, you better attend the Elks Lodge with your local banker and be an upstanding deacon at your church to get a loan. Being white and having a firm handshake is also a must.
At least the credit rating system is a game we can all play.
You will have a hell of a time trying to finance a Happy Meal.
I don’t know much about finance, but don’t do this!
You sure about that? I have a friend who thought that too but found out 7 years later that only a bankruptcy will disappear after 7 years, not just idle delinquint accounts. He needed to actually file for bankrupcy to make it go away. This was in Usa, NY; maybe it’s different other places.
As a second “data” point: I have some accounts on my credit report that have not been touched in a decade+ yet they are still there (they are not delinquent).
I don’t know why those situations didn’t work out, and without more details, I won’t bother to guess, but yes, I am sure because there’s a few utility bills and two credit cards with a couple thousand each from about 20 years ago that are no longer a problem for me.
That’s awesome! Just wanted to get you to take a second look in case you were as diligent as my friend but it sounds like you’re right, then!
Delinquent accounts without payment can be removed from your credit report by disputing with the credit bureau, with the exception of FEDERAL student loans. Filing for bankruptcy and having that on your record for seven more years seems like the worst possible way to deal with it.
Edit: in the USA
What are you disputing? You can dispute inaccurate or fraudulent marks on your credit.
Generally speaking, idle unpaid accounts like this are either sold by the creditors to a third party debt collector, resetting the clock, or they will sue you for the non-payment to get a judgment or lien, resetting the clock.
The only sure bet is bankruptcy, which will drop off your report after a period of time that varies from state to state in the U.S. (generally from 7 to 10 years). Not sure is this applies outside the U.S.
🤷🏻♂️ Worked for me.
False. New debt collectors purchasing the debt does not reset the clock. Also depending on your state, debt collectors could be barred from legal action well before 7 years.
Edit: in the USA
USA edition:
If you’re a billionaire: vote Republican.
If you’re not a billionaire: vote Democrat.
We didn’t need that.
And either way, you still get to be poor. Great system we have here.
Pop quiz! What was cumulative inflation for the last 4 years, and what was the change in working class wages?
Basically what I’m asking is, did people get more poor, or less poor? Were there any specific government actions that led to this outcome?
Unfortunately the official inflation number doesn’t represent real world price increases on necessary goods, which often outpace inflation.
This is a common talking point, totally dishonest in this case. What are you claiming the real inflation number should be, and why are you saying the prices of what real world goods went up by that amount? Like with citations and precise numbers.
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At least you get to be poor with some basic human rights
This is what Democrats would put on their campaign signs if they were an honest party.
Me, LGBT: hahahahaha… oh you were serious? HAHAHAHAHA no.
What are you on about? Gay marriage was literally legalized by democrats.
(rant in general, not directed at you)
Straight, cis people: “you can do one thing, isn’t that enough? why do you have to be in the spotlight all the time?”
Me, standing with my trans+enby friends, after being fired for who we fuck and what we look like, and regularly treated like dogshit in public: “…”
Marriage is a decent start, but especially bullshit like “right to work” states where employers can sack you for literally anything, and LGBT not being a universally protected thing, is shit. Yeah yeah “sex” is by law but I direct you to the first half of that sentence, and you’ll see the issue. Progress, yeah, but being the solution to our many issues, marriage is just a piece of the pie.
Hell, my best friend had to go through some gymnastic-bureaucratic bullshit because the state they live(d) in was putting up unnecessary requirements just to change their sex on their drivers license. This was after months of them seeing a therapist, hrt, physical changes, etc - but still wasn’t good enough for the state. So it was easier to get their transition accepted via their birth state (I think by altering the birth record? Not totally sure, I didn’t want to pry), where they had much more sane requirements, and then come back to the state they live(d) in with a ‘see here bitch, now change my shit’. Took a month or so all-told, but they got it done.
Plus things like raising a family (adoption especially), being passed up for employment or promotions, denied housing… but we have marriage, so it’s all good, right?
(*) may not apply in elections where the Republican wants to start a profit-conflagarating civil war
War is a racket.
Brilliant book. Still relevant.
Smedley Butler was a great American.
If your retirement fund isnt 7 figures or larger, you probably aren’t going to retire in your own home. “The old folks home” ain’t cheap, and they WILL take it all to pay for it.
What if you own your home?
