[spdrun]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nationality_law#Dual_citizenship

For her, there seems to be a process that allows keeping German citizenship if one acquires foreign citizenship. Being a dual citizen is always the best option if one views citizenship as a matter of convenience.

OTOH, he’d likely need to renounce his US citizenship if he acquired German citizenship, but he could easily gain permanent residence via marriage without renouncing.

[spdrun]

1. A primary residence isn’t sacred. It’s an investment like anything else. Nothing wrong with selling it and downgrading.
2. You save $30,000 right there if you don’t use a broker. Go with a discount agent, let the title agency handle the sale. Done. I don’t see why closing costs should exceed $10,000 without a broker involved.
3. Who says there’s only $170k of equity? I’m assuming the OP has paid some principle and also had a down payment on the residence. He should get that back as well.
4. If he buys a 2/1 outright or nearly outright, he can live for $1000 per month. Maybe $500 per month if he’s lucky. Then he’ll have a whole lot of money to pay off debts and a condo that can be paid off in 10 years, if not immediately.
5. Paid off debts + small housing nut will mean that he’ll be able to save to buy another investment soon. Or just work less and travel a lot. Living below one’s means rocks.

[spdrun]

If one were particularly cynical, could they adjust their income downward for a few years? Not underreport, actually make less for a few years. I don’t think it’s as simple as income, since this would be very open to abuse.

BTW – such financial aid depends on the individual school and how well their endowment is doing at the time.

[spdrun]

Or just use a flat-fee listing broker … if the market is as good as some people say, it should sell in no time, right?

Downsizing possessions? Hold a garage sale, take a rental truck load of stuff to the new place, end of story. My parents left the Communist bloc with a suitcase worth of stuff. Don’t get too attached to things.

Treat a home as an investment asset, not something to get attached to. Be cold, heartless, and calculating. Stop feeling love for a wooden box of ticky tacky.

Sell the house, buy something else … if you play it right, you might even be able to have a roof over your head for nearly free, even if it’s just a 2/1 condo in a mediocre area.

[spdrun]

Assuming no kids (schools), living in a “poor” area isn’t necessarily much worse. Most crime isn’t random. As long as you don’t involve yourself in things that you shouldn’t be involved in anyway (hard drugs, gangs, hookers), the likelihood of being messed with is low.

I knew a nice lily-white Jewish girl who lived in Spanish Harlem in the early 2000s — she said the only time she was robbed was after visiting a friend in a nice part of the West Side.

[spdrun]

She’s a millennial — she’d probably rather have a self-driving Google transportation pod.

[spdrun]

As long as they meet the same standards as existing institutions offering the same or similar degrees, I’m OK with it.

[spdrun]

[quote=flu]I’m sure mine does too. That’s probably why it barfed this week…I hope I didn’t blow a head gasket…Piece of shit.[/quote]

It was probably angry that you posted a picture of its engine the wrong way around and blew a gasket. Your fault.

“WHAT! MAKING IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE A TRANSVERSE ENGINE! LIKE SOME DAMN TOYO…GAAACK!”

[spdrun]

They can now, if they meet appropriate standards. Unless you propose to water down the standards for a degree. In that case, NO THANKS!

[spdrun]

Hey! My former Miata takes issue at the last line!

[spdrun]

… and restoring previous levels of PUBLIC funding for PUBLIC universities. Take the money from Homeland Security and War on Drugs bullshit programs if need be.

I’d rather see outright funding to the universities than students being forced to take on loans. Yeah, yeah, spending on social programs is so old-fashioned in 2015…

[spdrun]

What is it with people on here being so against any debt?

Debt only makes sense if you get a higher return than the interest on the debt. If one is planning to start their own law firm, I’m not convinced that having gone to Harvard vs Rutgers law school is such a big advantage.

Having seed money from family and being debt-free are advantages, on the other hand. Law school and the bar exam are essentially a path to enter a professional guild.

[spdrun]

But I’m sure your mother in law would be happy to tell her friends “my son in law is a lawyer from Harvard.” Isn’t there value in that?

She’s not going to say “my son in law graduated from University of Phoenix.”

How about “my son in law is a lawyer with his own practice…” I’d sooner go to a cheaper law school, pass the bar, and have seed money for my own practice left over, all without debt.

[spdrun]

^^^

The renting out a room doesn’t seem like a bad solution. Should net about $4800/yr ($600 * 12 * .67) extra after taxes, which would help with debts, depending on size.

[spdrun]

Personally I think NYC is a shit hole and wouldn’t want to work there no matter what the pay.

I’d agree with you about not wanting to work on Wall Street, but way to paint an entire city with a broad brush…

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