DISQUS

I often leave tips for servers in cash especially at ethnic restaraunts where I worry that the owners might shaft some of the workers. While ideally I like to think that servers report their income, I don't really worry about it if they don't. Call me relativist but I'm ok with someone making 20k year cutting corners on his or her taxes, but not so ok with it when someone making 250k does it.

I'm nominally not relegious if that make sense. Christanity is by far the relegion I've been most exposed to. I think it's actually nice to have a block of time in the year where things are more "shut down." Though it could be anytime of the year...

Both my parents worked, and I thought I turned out alright. I really respected the hard work my parents put in to put food on the table. They really had no option of not working. I was in daycare til about 7 and then afterwards my brother who was 4 years older and managed on our own. As a result I think it really instilled sense of independence is us kids.

That said, my mom often comments how sad she is that she missed out on alot of our childhoods and feels bad she wasn't there at times. My Dad if anything because of job was able to a little more involved - i.e. going to parent teacher conferences...

I second Pinyo's congrats on getting featured by Penelope. Great work.

Hey even if only 1% of the volume generated through stumble upon sticks you'll be in great shape... I saw the traffic increase - wow! Nice work - I thought it was fantastic post.

Great post. I agree with every single point. I imagine our career trajectories are pretty similar. I know when we hire, we won't look anyone who doesn't have a "hard" major. It might not be fair, but the fact is that most 6 figure jobs are quant in nature.

Yeah, I don't understand that so many people have a bad attitude towards public transportation and buses especially. I love public transportation and would rather ride than drive any day of the week (and do). The car culture in America is too strong, along with a too strong individualistic streak that prevents some people from wanting to subsume their identity to the mass that is public transportation. We need to raise gas taxes on people who live near public transportation....

I think if you want out the rat race, a salary is what allows you to stash enough away for the exit. The exit might be a high risk high reward job at startup, starting your own business, aggresive investing, or even moving to low cost country. Either love your job, or have a plan while you earn the salary.

I"m not suprised that any of this stuff happens - there are really alot of greedy bastards out there. In trading, things like this happen all the time so people make their bonuses. Losses get shifted into "hedge" accounts, and people sometimes front run their own company. I'm lucky that I work for a company i respect and people I respect, but the stories I hear from what other people have experienced is really quite galling.

I hate the airport and would rather take the train if I could. It's a really a shame rail travel is not more prevalent in the U.S. The eastern seaboard would be perfect for TGV style trains....

Could describe most corporate lawyers - I feel really bad for them. Once nice thing about trading is you have to take at least a week off, so other people can look through your books to make sure you're not hiding massive losses ala Nick Leeson. On a more serious note, it's amazing how corporate cultures with regards to vacation can differ from place to place. Having been in consulting, and a brother who was in I-Banking, and friends who are lawyers. I would rank them from worse to even worse. 3) consulting 2) banking 1) corporate law

I don't think reverse mortgages are a terrible idea for certain people. I would actually encourage my parents to look into if they were set in being exactly where they wanted to be. Obviously you want to save for retirement, but even if you have reverse mortgage can be a good idea to juice up how you're living without effecting your circumstances too much. For example I have no desire to inherit anything from my parents, I would like to extract everything out there assets while there living so they can enjoy life.

Couldn't agree with this post more, but I'm biased since my family are immigrants themselves. The vitrol that gets spewed sometimes is quite disgusting. I think there are legitimate reasons to be opposed to immigration (reasons I don't agree with in terms of protecting certain industries, etc), but too often the debate is fueled by people looking to find scapegoats rather than looking for solutions.

I think there's a point where life is not neccesarily living. I don't believe in suicide, but I don't think every means should be taken to keep people living a low qualify life. I hope when I'm at the age, I'll have the grace not to ask for extreme medical care.