1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

Looks like half my hometown population no lie!

Minus being in shape and not having teeth...

 

PS, and in reply

 

Best thing I ever did was turn down university and go to trade school instead. 3 year apprenticeship with 2 months of school each year. $1000 for each session, which you get back due to an apprenticeship incentive program the government has. You're able to go on employment insurance while you go to school. You're working and earning for the other 10 months of the year with pay raises each year until you hit journeyman rate when you complete the apprenticeship.

My total cost of education? $0.

My total debt due to education? $0.

I've always made almost as much as most of my university educated friends. I got a 4 year head start too because while they were unemployed or working minimum wage during school, I was making $70K+ per year. Now that I've pivoted into project management, I'm making more than most of them.

 

About to get some pussy.

 

I wish it was that easy. I'd bring a couple boxes with me to the bar.

 

With box or the heat behind it?

 

That is false.

 

If I could go back and have a chat with younger me, this is the advice I'd give him.
Learn to be a machinist and learn to weld. Get whatever certification you can in both. College was a colossal time and money suck for me with no payout. (I managed to not finish)

 

I put my 'open to work' flag up on LinkedIn last year. Employers out there 'preferring' people have a masters degree to do $16/hr work

But yeah, dropping out 1 semester before getting my AA degree is probably the best thing I ever did. Gave me a chance to work, grind to pay down my car and college debts, and "taking a semester off" ended up keeping me from ever going back to college.

All it took was that little smack of reality, 60+hour weeks to pay down the little debt I had, to realize I couldn't possibly afford $6-7k/year for 3 years at UF or FAMU, going for chem-E or pharmacy. It took me roughly 4 years to get out of a few thousand in college debt? It would've taken me a decade to get out of the xtra 3 yrs.

And that stroke of luck, me getting into the tech industry, catapulted me ahead of my peers who stayed in.

You and me both. And I've told our kids the same.

 

I'm a welder by trade. I don't recommend it as a career. When my younger brother was deciding what to do, I told him to be an electrician, plumber or HVAC tech. He chose plumbing. He's never been out of work, isn't destroying his body like I did and works reasonable hours in humane conditions.

Welding was a good stepping stone for me and it's a great skill to have. It came at a cost though. Despite wearing all the PPE all the time and being super safety oriented, it aged me prematurely and did a number on my body. I've been off the tools since last May and I'm only just starting to feel healthy again. I'll never be 100% though. I'm 32. Alot of days, I feel 62.

 

You're right. I used millionaires, I meant billionaires.

And to be most precise I should've added 'relatively' or 'proportionally'. LMFTFMe: mega-billionaires like Bezos and Musk who pay, relatively speaking, $0 in taxes

 

Hate when that happens.

My wifes cousin is one of those "make money and buy nice shit but have no real soul" guys. Him and his wife have Lexus f sport gs350s, almost matching. Just before Covid we met up to have dinner at some restaurant. We walked them back to their car and he asked where I parked. I pointed to my GTI and he started laughing. "No, really, where did you park?"

Right there. That's my car. He kept laughing "No it isn’t! You make more money than that!"

I clicked the clicker and he must have felt like a dick. I asked if he wants to race home but he declined. The one thing he does know is I'm a car guy and I wouldn't challenge him unless I'd smoke him. He didn't want his $60k F sport getting shamed by my $4k bucket.

He's actually a nice guy, that day for some reason he just acted like a dick head.

 

Honestly, he probably legitimately believes you should drive your value. A lot of people believe that. But then again, a lot of people are, like, "You change your own oil? I thought you work in the security/tech world?"

I've had more fun in my "old" cars than any new cars, both working on them and driving them. I get a huge amount of enjoyment off wrenching, working in "digital" for a large part of my workweek, "analog" is a mental scrub these days. You've seen my GTI MKIV. I loved that damn thing and paid (relatively) peanuts for it. It probably would've smoked his Lex also.

 

Fuck people like that though. As if a vehicle is really an indicator of success. You can be like my friends that drive a Porsche but have a negative net worth or you can be the guy that lives modestly, invests 15% and retires with a million dollars.

 

That's my first response, then I take a second and realize their sense of individual worth is tied to their shiny objects. What would the same people drive if nobody else could see their car?

 

I mean, I'm not certain any remote sense of self worth that I actually have _isn't_ tied to my two trucks...

 

I agree with you that it has gotten harder and a lot more expensive to get an education but it doesn't have to be this way. I graduated in 2011 with only $7,000 in student loans. I went to community college my first two years to save money. It has not set me back career wise. My friends at that time made fun of me and one graduated with $30K in student loans. He later apologized and admitted I made the better choice.

It should be obvious by now that graduating with $40K in student loans is a bad idea and kids are still doing it. I'm having trouble feeling sorry for them. I also blame the parents. I wish we pushed more people towards trades.

 

Still false. As in completely incorrect. Pure fantasy. Lies. Horse puckey. Bull. Shit.

 

Mom and pop pushed me towards trades. Pop more than mom. Pop being in trades, and being active in the community during our upbringings allowed him to view those people going into debt for underwater basket weaving degrees. Seeing others in trades come up to high earning Jobs with little to no debt.

Admittedly, I'm not the best with money. I've made bad decisions and I've made good decisions. I was on track as far as saving and then I bought crackie. I had it in my brain that I would stop after "one more project." Or "I just need this one part to finally fix it." I've come to terms with that and am doing better now that I'm aware of my habit.

These trucks are like coke to me. I can't help it sometimes..

Anyways, I had about $2k I student debt from the local community College. Was in a special program that helped pay for the program. Got kicked out because my math score fell Below a B-minus. Had to pony up the monies for the schooling, and then didn't graduate...

It's funny that you guys brought all this finance and collegiate level discussion up as I was considering going back to school now that I am not working every fucking day of my life just yesterday. Weird. Kinda like a wavelength we all just received. Eh?

 

It might depend on which taxes we're talking about.

Editing the rest of my post because I don't want the banhammer. I found several links that seem to indicate that may not be the case though.

Elon did not pay income tax in 2018.

 

Waiting for the answer to this post….did the saddle stool come from the box or is the box a trap for a cat???

Also, I wanna rant cause I can.
Ordered a slot car set for my two kids (me really), said it would be here this past Monday. I was bummed cause I knew I would be at work Sunday and Monday. Well I got Covid so the upside was that I would be home for the delivery. Monday came and went, but no FedEx. The shipping JUST updated today and said ‘exception’ and doesn’t show a new date yet. So annoyed.it’s been stuck in MN for the past week. That’s just stupid.

 

What sort of school? Are there any certificates you could get that would help you? I sometimes wish I had learned a trade. There are some big paying goverment jobs down here for electricians and plumbers. Six figures and more with overtime.

 

Thought I just watch a video of him saying he has to pay 15million in taxes this year.

 

Propublica is not impartial.

 

Hindsight is 20/20 and honestly bro, it's clear from your posts you're smarter than most.

High school had me so convinced when I graduated nobody would hire me unless I went at least to a state college, or some college with name recognition. Teachers urged me to go invest my 2 years, get that AA and make college a 6 year ordeal. "That's what you get for graduating with a 3.4 and not a 4.1 GPA!" I shit you not. My english/lit teacher senior year actually told me that.

It doesn't have to be that way, but that's literally where everyone has been funneled for decades. They were doing it in the 90-94 when I was in high school. They were doing it in the 2000s in middle school. Now they're pushing the same narrative on my kids in elementary school. The whole thing is fucked.

But similar path here. Only I racked up, between books, supplies, and tuition, around $5k total in 7 semesters, then took my last, neverending semester off.

As a parent today, I blame my parents in the generation before me for not knowing any better. My parents and a lot of my personal friends with kids in their 20s still legitimately believe college is the only path to success in this country. They haven't adapted to modern times and honestly don't seem to know any better. They're totally ignorant of the reality of the modern world.

But I can only blame them so much - when something works swimmingly for you, why wouldn't you push your kids to do the same? I hear so many 'elders' bitching about how kids these days cant 'this' or can't 'that', "Why, back in my day, I ...." ---- but this isn't back in your day, it's a whole damn new world, much of which elders don't even understand how to use, what the dangers are for unformed minds that don't know better. It's nowhere near the same.

As long as you're not hoarding, your insurance payment doesn't exceed a brand new car payment, and your hobbies aren't impacting your health (nutrition, sleep, sanity) I wouldn't be too worried. Set thresholds for yourself, or limits on what would be "too much" then audit yourself. I cut myself off with 2 major unfinished projects of anything, assuming it takes up more than 5-10 cubic feet of space.

I wouldn't do it. I've thought about going back, but ... I've got a good gig, so .. why? You're a smart cookie, I can't help but think you won't be doing really well in 3-5 years. I didn't start making good money until I hit the 10-12 year mark in my industry and had the knowledge to literally go anywhere.

My reco would be to forego the school stuff unless it's on niche stuff that's going to further your career. And whatever you do, start investing NOW if the current gig offers 401k. Get in and start pushing as much tax-free money as they'll match (or as much of that matching as you can afford). I started when I was 26. If I showed you a screencap of what's in it now, 19 years later, your jaw would drop.

Statement I shared is 100% factual for (at least) 2018 - less than 1% for both, with Musk at virtually zero.
Happy to take the discussion to PM, if there's any chance anything I'd say would change your mind (I'm open). If not, let's just agree to disagree

 

Key words: This year. Go look up why. He's paying 11bil alone in taxes this year due to stocks he had to sell STAT to avoid risking losses.

And PP is not the only source of similar info, but ... yeah

 

Misery loves company.

I ordered my 130A alternator and serpentine belt from RockAuto on Saturday or Sunday. Belt went out USPS, alt out FedEx Ground. I have the belt in my hand as of yesterday. Let's just say I should've paid the extra $3 to push everything USPS. Here's the 130A alt tracking info, MIA for 2 days now:

 

college tuition is literally the only financial stresser left in my life. Outside of retirement and the potential for divorce I guess. The thing with retirement, though, is that while I would like more control of my time as I get older, I don't anticipate sitting around doing nothing nor spending vast sums of money. My ideal retirement involves doing lower wage work because it's fun or so I can learn. I don't really intend to stop doing productive stuff just because I'm old.

I would like to spend more time exercising though, that's the hard one to do with young kids, always a time crunch.

 

Have you setup a 529 for the boys yet?