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Nice Guy Eddie

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Nice Guy Eddie

  1. Given a combo of that some people like to shoot their guns on the 4th, and the concentrated # of parties seem to increase the number of armed people + alcohol. I know that people are called Karens when they call the police on someone for firing a gun on the 4th or NYE but anyone is a jackass for firing a weapon into the air that will come back down on a populated area. Honesty I think someone is a jackass for firing in the air in an unpopulated area but I can understand the odds are infinitesimally small to hit anyone. That's not necessary the case in populated areas as people are killed each year.
  2. They decry cancel culture and victimization but that is their entire playbook. "the gays get a pride month? Well, hell we need a month for American pride for the rest of us." bunch of snowflakes that can't stand that anyone might get something that they're not, even if that something may not be of value to them. a friend of a friend was whining about a gay pride parade in late June. I asked why it bothered him. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that perhaps it blocked a parking garage for his office, or made him walk a few extra blocks for dinner that night. No, he wasn't within 10 miles of the parade. It was just the existence of the parade that drove him crazy because the left was "shoving it in our faces." I really don't see some of these people ever showing any signs of reason.
  3. Following the direction of Louisiana or Mississippi can’t be the right move in any scenario.
  4. great food for thoughts. Thanks for posting. A couple of thoughts below. Taxes - This is where Roth vs taxable strategy is key, if someone has Roth balances. The longer you can hold out in selling Roth balance, the better. Let them grow as long as possible, and in theory you can withdraw a lower %age since you do not have to plan for taxes. Obviously an individual's tax situation is are unique to them. Sequence of Returns Risk - this is why I want a large cash fund on Day 1 that doesn't require me to sell any funds. Hopefully I'm lucky and retire in a rising market but want to be prepared. Honesty for all of my retirement goals, I see a 3 year cash amount to be the most challenging to accomplish. I'm sitting on about 1 now and tripling that in the time that I have left will need deliberate execution.
  5. Agree. It's also important to know what, if any, a person plans to continually invest in the market in retirement. In a similar way, I help my mom's finances too. She has very little cash/investments but she has a decent, guaranteed retirement income. Her limited savings have to remain in a low/no-risk investment. I hesitate to even write investment as it's basically in a >4% savings account. For me, I have practically the opposite future. Outside of SS, which I do think will be there, I don't have any guaranteed income. I will be sitting on retirement funds that I have saved and plan to leave in the market albeit with a different risk mix than today. I still plan to earn >4% but spend much less. I know the later years can require more depending on my needs.
  6. I thought the cop behaved well. He wasn’t mouthing off to her or going outside of his duties. She decided to drive away, and I’m sure his training told him to treat that person as hostile. And many old ladies are driving around with guns. Bet he took some crap from other officers that the old lady kick threw him down. I’ve watched plenty of bad officer videos and this guy displayed none of those behaviors.
  7. People can invest or not invest in anything they want but I believe the traditional 4% rule is based on the idea of placing your money in the stock market at a risk level that you can continually earn/withdrawal 4% to cover your expenses. And with the plan that you do not run out of money, obviously. If someone wants to fund startups or take on high risk investments, I would imagine experts would advise to live on less than 4% of the entire investment portfolio. Say someone has $5m in investable assets. Put $1m aside for risky investments, and live off 4% of the remaining $4m, or 3.2% of the total of this hypothetical scenario. If the $1m pays off, then adjust the plan. There isn't a one-size-fits-all 4% plan for everyone and even the traditional method has many variables that cannot be predicted. Lifetime expectancy, inflation and planned assets to pass on being three critical factors. Even the timing of the retirement and uncontrollable stock market returns can also drastically impact the results. This is why some advise to keep 3 years of expenses outside of the market (e.g. CDs) to only be touched in down years. And replenished in up years.
  8. Could be a masterful move by Trump to name RFK Jr as his running mate. A certain percent of Trumpists already believe that JFK Jr is alive. A move to RFK Jr is just one letter off, and Q can explain to them that this is the next step to whatever end goal they have.
  9. This law? Yes. And they're putting the ownership of the enforceability on the platforms not law enforcement or the person misrepresenting themselves.
  10. Minors only need to claim they're 55 to bypass this law? Minors will never be able to figure this one out. Confirms my suspicions about morons being in the state legislature.
  11. (not a lawyer but doesn't this describe surly?) Sec. 509.002. APPLICABILITY. (a) Provides that this chapter, except to the extent that Section 509.057 applies to any digital service provider, applies only to a digital service provider who provides a digital service that: (1) has a primary function of connecting users in a manner that allows users to socially interact with other users on the digital service; (2) allows a user to create a public or semi-public profile for purposes of signing into and using the digital service; and ( 3) allows a user to create or post content that can be viewed by other users of the digital service, including sharing content on: (A) a message board; (B) a chat room; or (C) a landing page or main feed that presents to a user content created and posted by other users
  12. If a child claims they're 30 but you didn't check up on that, you're liable. The law may not address this aspect but it's the logical conclusion.
  13. I'm not talking about criminal behavior but when people are legitimately trying to create a social media account. Why do so many always jump to this miniscule aspect? Adults won't be claiming to be teenagers but in reality the other way around. The validation can't just occur when someone claims to be 15. . If someone claims to 30, facebook will also have to verify to ensure that they're not 15. Otherwise every child can bypass the age verification with a simple selection of birth year of 1993. Meaning EVERYONE has to confirm who they are with the state ID database. Or the parents (or other adult) in the case of minors.
  14. That's a big question, and I would talk to someone who has helped many work that out. If you have funds in different accounts with different tax implications, you need to plan out the tax burden and the strategy of which accounts to hit first. Then you need to decide, as you ask, how to liquidate 4% each year. If you have enough in income funds, you could just cash out the dividends but I doubt you would have that much in dividends. I've probably listed it here but I'm a frequent listener of the Money Guy show out of Tennessee. https://moneyguy.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@MoneyGuyShow. Their main gig is a financial advisory service. https://aboundwealth.com/ I'm not telling anyone to use them. But instead find someone similar, who have helped 100s or 1000s of others transition into retirement and can advise on the pitfalls.
  15. Laws that like this don't impact facebook or snap. Those companies can implement tech or services to knock this out in a minute. The problem is for sites like Surly. Claim you're 15 or 60, and Surly has to prove you are that age. This isn't age gating or giving parental rights, this is requiring all of us to always prove who we are online.
  16. 30 miles away from a big city is definitely what an older person might say. They think of a idyllic small town with a cute downtown. 30 miles from a big city is a big city. 70 probably isn't at a point that she needs frequent assistance yet but those days may not be far away. Within 10 years be prepared that she may need you to come over without notice. And I don't mean in I've fallen and I can't get up (those can occur) but not understanding why the TV won't come on. If she's near Houston, you're looking at a 5 hour day to turn on a TV. You discover that she's hitting the wrong remote button.
  17. In a related topic, Minnesota is starting in 2024 to cover tuition and fees for in-state students from families with under $80k income. North Dakota is panicking in that many of the students in ND schools come from MN. https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-free-tuition-north-dakota-colleges-universities-3422a4b2b4f6ffcd7ec0da77cbe27636 Texas usually wants to attract companies with tax abatements, on the hope that good jobs will follow. I like the idea of helping students with college costs, which should attract employers.
  18. Australian firm suing Twitter for non-payment of work to a total of $600K. CNN couldn't reach out to Twitter as they no longer have a media relations group/person. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/03/tech/australia-twitter-lawsuit-hnk-intl/index.html
  19. A few years ago, I had decided that my next vehicle would definitely be a Tesla. Elon's recent antics have completely changed my mind. I worry too much that the wrong person pisses him off, and he locks people out of the vehicle if they don't subscribe to a new, unnecessary Tesla service. I know that my hesitation with Tesla doesn't even remotely impact him/them but I also don't think that I'm the only one.
  20. I could be mistaken but I don't think average graduates earn enough to adequately pay down the loans from a normal priced state university especially when you include housing costs. The state legislature, who represent Texans, have decided that it's not up to the taxpayer to fund education. We've decided that burdening the student is preferred.
  21. In 2015, 17 year old Pasadena man went missing. He recently turned up but the apparent story is that no one knows where he was. He was found beaten and abused, and is recovering in the hospital. The story claims he is traumatized and barely communicating. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/03/us/rudy-farias-missing-texas-teen-found/index.html Lot of weird aspects to this story. A link in the cnn article takes you to a 2016 KHOU story about it where is mom didn't want her face on camera but spoke in depth about her son. Also in the KHOU story, the mom shared that she was worried he was kidnapped by drug traffickers. You have to wonder if she had watched Breaking Bad too much or there was a specific reason that she came up with that theory.
  22. I don't see how beer comes into this other than you're suggest that we shouldn't allow loans to anyone under 21. I'm ok with that but that creates problems since I assume a good percentage of students are under 21. Loan amounts should be somewhat tied to the ability to pay it back. I'm cool if someone wants a low paying career but guaranteed loans shouldn't allow someone to owe 10x what they will earn.
  23. I bet the new CEO doesn't last thru July. It's doubtful that she wanted this change, ordered it, or is supporting it. And she's the CEO at least in name. I wouldn't be shocked if we start to hear rumors about her departure this week.
  24. There are definite problems with student loans but your friend did it wrong. You can't keep financing continued training and not paying off your loans. It also helps to read the fine print to understand the payment process. Someone in the finance sector should be able to model how their loans will come due and the consequences of non-payment. With the recent SCOTUS ruling, I'm seeing a lot of anger at the system by adults who made some really bad choices. I agree that we shouldn't allow some of these loans but the adult has to take some of the blame themselves.
  25. In my career, I've witnessed some poor leaders order subject matter experts to make a particular tech change. Many times it's a reactionary request. If the SMEs think it's a bad idea, they will initially push back by explaining why the idea creates downstream problems. The leader was bad because they 100% ignored the feedback and required the immediate change. Do that a handful of times, and the SME will stop providing valuable feedback. It's how you steam over your own towline. If you just want yes-men on your team, you better be 100% right all the time.
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