controversial opinion: money & finances edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, liking our current insurance system! You are definitely one of maybe ten people in the whole country!

Oh I can do this one.

The way Americans do healthcare is better for the sickest people who want to proceed with expensive treatments to fight for their lives and so, to my mind, the best way.

Can you explain further? Genuinely curious.

American healthcare is so expensive because we spend so much money on people who are likely to die anyway. The UK’s NHS just won’t pay if the expense is high and the expected extra years of life are low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is oddly cathartic.

I think the "latte factor" is nonsense. Depriving yourself of your $5-$10 coffee or avocado toast or joy of choice is not going to a darn thing to make a house or college tuition more affordable.

Yes and no. If you eliminate a single frivolity, no, it won't make a substantial difference in your long term financial picture. But if you look at your live and do away with the extravagances that don't really improve your life, or give you joy, it really can make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is oddly cathartic.

I think the "latte factor" is nonsense. Depriving yourself of your $5-$10 coffee or avocado toast or joy of choice is not going to a darn thing to make a house or college tuition more affordable.

Yes and no. If you eliminate a single frivolity, no, it won't make a substantial difference in your long term financial picture. But if you look at your live and do away with the extravagances that don't really improve your life, or give you joy, it really can make a difference.

My controversial opinion: penny pinching is stupid and most likely ineffective. You have to take a big ax to your fixed expenses (like a much smaller house or much longer commute) or dramatically improve your income to actually make moves in terms of net worth. You would have to cut 120 different random $10 purchases from your budget every month to penny pinch your way into the $1200 monthly recommended 529 goal commonly thrown on DCUM.

The focus on penny pinching is just Puritan nonsense. If you’re not saving enough, it’s almost certainly your big expenses or not enough income.

[Anonymous]

Every disciplined home buyer should consider maxing out available 401K loans. For a first home, they can help speed up the process by a couple of years, and for people with greater assets, they can save capital gains taxes by allowing the buyer to realize fewer gains. Not taking a loan is very often leaving money on the table.

[Anonymous]

Most people on here aren't saving enough for college.

They're banking on DC getting into UVA or UMD Honors college and the odds are against that.

[Anonymous]

Some people on here save way too much for college. If you're able to save that much, you can probably pay some as you go as well. Let your kid pay for their own grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m totally fine with the idea that student loans can’t be discharged during bankruptcy, and I’m against any federally funded loan forgiveness programs.

Me too. Especially since we chose public universities, graduated with 80k and paid it off before we were 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m totally fine with the idea that student loans can’t be discharged during bankruptcy, and I’m against any federally funded loan forgiveness programs.

This is not unpopular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people on here save way too much for college. If you're able to save that much, you can probably pay some as you go as well. Let your kid pay for their own grad school.

Agreed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m totally fine with the idea that student loans can’t be discharged during bankruptcy, and I’m against any federally funded loan forgiveness programs.

I agree on all counts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people on here save way too much for college. If you're able to save that much, you can probably pay some as you go as well. Let your kid pay for their own grad school.

Yep

Everyone’s planning on Ivy League undergraduate and law school



I’ve yet to see anyone planning for uva

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people on here save way too much for college. If you're able to save that much, you can probably pay some as you go as well. Let your kid pay for their own grad school.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people on here save way too much for college. If you're able to save that much, you can probably pay some as you go as well. Let your kid pay for their own grad school.

Agreed

Make hay while the sun still shines. You never know when your money might leave, through a job loss, disability, death or other bad situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People (other than business owners) who lease cars like to waste money

Not really. Or at all.

People who buy new cars outright pay the lease too. Only for them it's called depreciation and comes out of their net worth instead of their income. Leasers pay the depreciation too and have the benefit of tens of thousands of dollars being tied up in a depreciating, non productive asset.

There are a lot of people, here especially who really have no clue about finance (you included)

Your math falls apart once I own the vehicle outright and you're still paying for a car you'll never own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is oddly cathartic.

I think the "latte factor" is nonsense. Depriving yourself of your $5-$10 coffee or avocado toast or joy of choice is not going to a darn thing to make a house or college tuition more affordable.

Yes and no. If you eliminate a single frivolity, no, it won't make a substantial difference in your long term financial picture. But if you look at your live and do away with the extravagances that don't really improve your life, or give you joy, it really can make a difference.

My controversial opinion: penny pinching is stupid and most likely ineffective. You have to take a big ax to your fixed expenses (like a much smaller house or much longer commute) or dramatically improve your income to actually make moves in terms of net worth. You would have to cut 120 different random $10 purchases from your budget every month to penny pinch your way into the $1200 monthly recommended 529 goal commonly thrown on DCUM.

The focus on penny pinching is just Puritan nonsense. If you’re not saving enough, it’s almost certainly your big expenses or not enough income.

Agreed. I swung from a huge spender to penny pincher, now I'm somewhere in the middle. Penny pinching just makes yourself and everyone around you unhappy.

Fun story, I know a family friend who did all the big shot shit: giant house in McLean, Mercedes for everyone in the house. But they penny pinch on heating for their 10,000 square foot house by keeping it at 50 in the midst of winter and use space heaters. They also ration water. I think the only time that house has ever been fully heated is when they threw the house warming party. Suffice to say I try to never go there much.