[Ren]

Scaredy, you might want to do higher reps on the squat. It’s one of few exercises where most people gain better with (for example) one or two sets of 20 instead of something like 5×5. Each of the last 5 reps should require rest and breathing at the top. Eat like an animal for two days, and a week later add 5-10 pounds. Repeat.

Edit: it’s also a lot safer.

[Ren]

[quote=NeetaT]I prefer to just string women along and let them go. [/quote]

My daughter will be brought up with the knowledge to spot your type a mile away, and the confidence to laugh you off if you do get too close. May you contract the diseases you deserve.

[Ren]

[quote=EmilyHicks]This girl and her company will help with all paperworks.[/quote]

Of course they will 🙂

[quote]… making over $200,000 a year (with documents to prove).[/quote]

Faked. A con artist will try their best to convince you that they don’t need your money. Sometimes they won’t even ask for it – they’ll find a way to make you want to give it to them.

[quote]… or why she is looking for boy friend from the internet.[/quote]

Nothing wrong with that. Just use the same precautions you would with someone you meet at a club.

If her position is that she’s doing it out of the kindness of her heart, just ask who would actually own the properties. Her company, no doubt. I’d love to hear her reasoning for that. And if it would be him, just make sure he’s represented throughout the process by an agent or lawyer of his choosing.

And beautiful 30yo virgins do exist – I knew one. They come with a lot of other baggage, though.

[Ren]

Car resale depends heavily on the make, model, and price, and quality sometimes seems to be irrelevant. Some cars that people think must have good resale value are merely average, like some Porsche models, even though they are built like tanks and have far better materials quality than any GM (a 3-year-old Boxster S is a fantastic value). The resale of some makes just absolutely plummets – like Maserati.

Buying after the initial depreciation hit, but when a good portion of the warranty is intact, is a smart thing to do with family cars. Bad idea with performance cars, though, because it’s important to know where they’ve been. A bad tune on a turbo’d car could (for example) bend a rod, which could create a new skylight in your motor at any moment, even if it’s just idling in the driveway. Imagine buying an almost-new $45k 335i and having the engine commit suicide, only to have the dealer tell you it’s not covered under warranty because the ECU has been reprogrammed.

[Ren]

Another thought – I’m a fan of laziness, just not at the expense of happiness or comfort. If you really WANT to live in an RV and ride a bike, more power to you. On the other hand, if you’re making big sacrifices (for the rest of your life) in order to start doing nothing as soon as humanly possible, you might need therapy or meds.

[Ren]

I know I’m close, and I could manage to live very cheaply, just not quite that cheaply. His budget doesn’t allow some things that would be requirements for me.

[Ren]

I sometimes imagine living in a 2 bedroom, 1,000sf house near the beach in retirement, but that’s as small as I’d go. I couldn’t and wouldn’t live on $7k. Besides the inability to drive, protein is expensive, and I would shrivel up and float away without large amounts of it.

Maybe $20k if it was just the wife and I.

I don’t think it’s even necessary to live on $7k, though. A single paid-for income property (in addition to your primary residence) will provide you with two or three times that. If my income is actually limited to $7k in retirement, you all have permission to shoot me.

[Ren]

Both our financial and apocalyptic safe spot (barring Russian nuke attack) is outside Phoenix AZ, for now. We could survive there without income indefinitely, and that’s where our conservative, military, armed-to-the-teeth relatives are.

No preparation here, other than a big water reserve.

[Ren]

[quote=sdduuuude][quote=Ren]Ideally it would be fully finished, insulated, and vented for HVAC.[/quote]

Wouldn’t that make it more likely for females to possibly enter?
[/quote]

I was blessed with a spouse who surrendered the garage completely early on, although you may be right about the HVAC. The higher utility bill might give her a reason to complain, when I’d rather be under the radar. I’m counting on the framed St Pauli Girl poster and black leather couch to help keep her out.

[Ren]

When I think of a man cave, it’s a place where a woman wouldn’t even want to go, so less a gaming/TV room (which I also want) and more a car/workshop/weight room. I only have one bay available now, where I have a squat rack and fridge, with enough room left over for my car when I need to work on it. My plans for a 3-car garage include one bay for storage, tools, workbench, fridge, sink, and small bar, another for a lift (the weekend car stored above the daily driver), and the middle bay for a couch, end tables, lamps, squat rack, and folding treadmill. A moderately-sized (42″?) flat screen would hang somewhere, maybe a neon beer sign or two, and it’s almost a requirement to have at least one barely dressed girl poster or calendar. Wifey thinks that’s incredibly tacky, which only pushes me to do it 🙂

Ideally it would be fully finished, insulated, and vented for HVAC. If money wasn’t an object, I might build in a tiny half-bath, too.

My advice is to not skimp by getting a mini-fridge, as I did. Go nearly full size – it’s hugely useful for parties.

[Ren]

I’m of the opinion that a daily driver should be as safe as reasonably possible, so I wouldn’t consider one so old that it doesn’t have side curtain airbags. With a project/track car, however, I’d be the first to rip out airbags to save weight.

After 15 cars, most of them used, I’ve decided I prefer the fit, finish, technology, etc. of a brand new car. It’s worth the premium to me. It’s also nice knowing where they’ve been. With performance cars, you never know what’s been done to them. I always trade before reaching 100k.

[Ren]

In my case, I compared it to other things I could potentially give up, and it won. Namely the living room we never use, and cable TV (Netflix is a far better value).

[Ren]

[quote=Diego Mamani]My good friend, you realize that the whole discipline of economics wouldn’t exist at all if resources were not limited.[/quote]

You don’t need unlimited resources to have a smartphone, a nice retirement, and travel (none of which are dumb). It’s not like we’re describing solid gold bathtubs – these things are completely within reason. Besides, I have the attitude that my income shouldn’t determine my goals. My goals determine my income. Luckily I have mostly modest goals. However, if I did anticipate not having enough money, I could sacrifice something I consider to be less important in order to have a smartphone and travel – for example, by living in a couple hundred fewer square feet.

[Ren]

[quote=Diego Mamani]TG, you’ll afford a much better nursing home if you save and invest all those $1000s you spend on cell phone hardware and service every year. LOL![/quote]

I aim a little higher than that, and choose both.

[Ren]

Smartphones make life easier, which to me is simplifying. Sure I survived just fine without it, but apps do make you more efficient. A few weeks ago I was on the road (parked) and needed something dry cleaned overnight on a weekend. I googled dry cleaners (don’t need to enter the area, it knows where I am), touched the phone number which puts it in the dialer, called to ask if they could help me. Three calls later I found one, then touched the address to navigate there. Sure, you could do the same thing with a flip phone and pen/paper/GPS, but a smartphone makes it effortless. In the dark ages, I would have needed a phone booth, yellow pages, and a pocketful of quarters.

Not to mention zillowing and calculating mortgages while house hunting, a grocery shopping list sorted by aisle (with pics of the items, which drop to the bottom of the list as they are checked off – the other day it took me 5 minutes to load up $200 worth of stuff), comparing prices and reading reviews while looking at the actual item in the store, IMDB’ing that actress on TV without moving from the couch, etc. It is the most useful tool I own – more useful than my PC, although not as essential.

For those who don’t like to text (me included), those moments when you have no choice become not only bearable but easy. The ringer is off when I’m at my desk or in bed. You are only as accessible as you want to be.

[Author]

Posts