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plonkee
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2 months ago
in health and taxes on brip blap
Your tax burden is about the same as it would be over here in the UK - that is netting between 50% and 60% of gross pay. At lower incomes (below £40k ~ $60k?) it would be more like 60% to 70%. And the equivalent of moving to Florida, is moving to Spain, where the weather is nicer and the cost of living is lower - I think Canadians are probably stuck with the snow and rain.
@Four Pillars:
I generally think that the socialist / non-socialist divide that exists in some Americans' minds is misleading. Stuff costs money. Some things are essential (housing, utilities, healthcare, police forces, schools etc) and the way you pay for it doesn't really affect how much it's going to cost you as a society.
@Four Pillars:
I generally think that the socialist / non-socialist divide that exists in some Americans' minds is misleading. Stuff costs money. Some things are essential (housing, utilities, healthcare, police forces, schools etc) and the way you pay for it doesn't really affect how much it's going to cost you as a society.
1 reply
6 months ago
in what if saving was stupid on brip blap
As things stand, it's going to take me between 20 and 30 years to pay off my mortgage. I can't overpay enough to cut down the mortgage term by more than a couple of years. I'm effectively prepared to bet that over the next 20+ years the stockmarket will perform better than 5.5% per year on average. There's no risk that I will lose more than I put in, and I am on track to pay off the mortgage on schedule anyway.
The advantage of this approach is that money invested in the stock market is accessible if required (although I would be loathe to take it). Money that I overpay on the mortgage is gone forever.
Of course it's possible that the money and investments I have could become worthless overnight but it's not likely (I am diversified internationally) and in practice the best mitigation against this is investing in myself which I would do anyway.
I just don't see the current economic situation being a good reason to change my long-term strategy. It might well be different if I was older and closer to retirement.
The advantage of this approach is that money invested in the stock market is accessible if required (although I would be loathe to take it). Money that I overpay on the mortgage is gone forever.
Of course it's possible that the money and investments I have could become worthless overnight but it's not likely (I am diversified internationally) and in practice the best mitigation against this is investing in myself which I would do anyway.
I just don't see the current economic situation being a good reason to change my long-term strategy. It might well be different if I was older and closer to retirement.
1 reply
Stephen McKenney
It is not true that money used to pay the mortgage down is lost forever. I have eliminated mortgage debt - actually, all debt - and I applied for a HELOC against the value of our house. If you have good credit these are still easy to come by, and I now have a credit line for several hundred thousand dollars available to me if I need it. This does not replace my emergency fund, but I sleep better knowing that if I do need (or want) to get hold of money quickly it is available.
6 months ago
in are you fit to be a citizen? on brip blap
I might not be a US citizen or have any desire whatsoever to become one in the near future, but I thought that 4th July didn't celebrate the defeat of Britain, but the delcaration of independence in 1776 - Britain wasn't defeated until the early 1780s.
We just started having citizenship tests in the UK. The questions are similar, but obviously different. I know quite a lot of trivia so I did quite well at a practice test.
We just started having citizenship tests in the UK. The questions are similar, but obviously different. I know quite a lot of trivia so I did quite well at a practice test.
1 reply
Steve @ bripblap
@plonkee: The July 4th thing was actually just a joke on my part... but that wasn't very clear. Oops.
7 months ago
in rebuilding the idea of elitism in America on brip blap
Hmm. I'm not sure what I think. I'm quite a proud liberal in many senses of the word, and you're sort of implying that you'd never be so low as to stoop to being politically liberal. Hopefully that's not what you meant, you were simply trying to state your actual position accurately.
I've often thought that voting tests would be good, possibly including questions on which newspapers you read and believe. But, as the US experience in the southern states shows it's too easy to rig such tests to disenfranchise some group or other unfairly. In Britain, it used to be the case that you had to own property to vote - I believe, though, that's one of the things that the American founding fathers didn't like.
A meritocracy would be really nice, but that's because I am intelligent and well-edicated. One of the problems we have over here (which may or may not be true in the US) is that middle class, elite parents would hate to admit that their child was actually not all that bright - if people come up though, it stands to reason that some must go down as well.
I've often thought that voting tests would be good, possibly including questions on which newspapers you read and believe. But, as the US experience in the southern states shows it's too easy to rig such tests to disenfranchise some group or other unfairly. In Britain, it used to be the case that you had to own property to vote - I believe, though, that's one of the things that the American founding fathers didn't like.
A meritocracy would be really nice, but that's because I am intelligent and well-edicated. One of the problems we have over here (which may or may not be true in the US) is that middle class, elite parents would hate to admit that their child was actually not all that bright - if people come up though, it stands to reason that some must go down as well.
1 reply
Steve @ bripblap
@plonkee: In the phrase about a liberal mindset I was just trying to draw the distinction between the political use of the word and the "open mind" sense of the word, just in that phrase. I wasn't making any statement about politics. Politically I'm sure it's fairly obvious that I am a center-left American, although I know that probably still leaves me to the right of 99% of Europeans :)
7 months ago
in why you’ll be richer without kids on brip blap
Yay for not having children.
I'm thinking that the most important expense is the opportunity cost - mostly because it's insidious.
I quite like your ideas for compensating. I reckon resisting consumerism is the hardest and most important as it's continuous. If you don't resist it'll work out very expensive.
Having an adult kid at home shouldn't cost the parents any money - they should be charging rent to cover at least food and extra bills. But, my siblings (some of whom live at home) reckon I'm hard-hearted.
Education is a difficult thing. I personally wouldn't phrase it that you won't pay for private education. Presumably, it doesn't matter which accredited school that they go to, you'll only pay for whatever Rutgers costs. Otherwise, some public schools (UCalifornia / UMichigan) are more expensive than many private schools if you're from out of state. Insisting a kid goes to public school when a private school is as affordable (say, via scholarships) is just reverse snobbery.
I'm thinking that the most important expense is the opportunity cost - mostly because it's insidious.
I quite like your ideas for compensating. I reckon resisting consumerism is the hardest and most important as it's continuous. If you don't resist it'll work out very expensive.
Having an adult kid at home shouldn't cost the parents any money - they should be charging rent to cover at least food and extra bills. But, my siblings (some of whom live at home) reckon I'm hard-hearted.
Education is a difficult thing. I personally wouldn't phrase it that you won't pay for private education. Presumably, it doesn't matter which accredited school that they go to, you'll only pay for whatever Rutgers costs. Otherwise, some public schools (UCalifornia / UMichigan) are more expensive than many private schools if you're from out of state. Insisting a kid goes to public school when a private school is as affordable (say, via scholarships) is just reverse snobbery.
1 reply
Goalhunter
You spend all your money nonetheless. Kids get some of it if you have them, but xboxes or airlines get it if you don't. Life is simply expensive. And all these arguments about overpopulation I find fairly one-sided. They have the flavour of "I know I fit on the planet, but I really have doubts about those others ..."
If someone did a study on people who made $1B+ they would find that it probably costs many many millions per year to be a billionaire. More than most people's annual salary just on clothes I would bet. Therefore, most people cannot afford to be billionaires and we would have more spare money if we were homeless bums. We could seize upon that opportunity cost that being a billionaire is be able to take our dream vacation.
In my opinion kids are super. I think I would have as many as possible but that might change as my kids get older :) Right now they're awesome, but I do pay in terms of lifestyle. There are things I want to do but can't because there are not enough hours. The kids take up time that I would fill with something else if they weren't here.
If someone did a study on people who made $1B+ they would find that it probably costs many many millions per year to be a billionaire. More than most people's annual salary just on clothes I would bet. Therefore, most people cannot afford to be billionaires and we would have more spare money if we were homeless bums. We could seize upon that opportunity cost that being a billionaire is be able to take our dream vacation.
In my opinion kids are super. I think I would have as many as possible but that might change as my kids get older :) Right now they're awesome, but I do pay in terms of lifestyle. There are things I want to do but can't because there are not enough hours. The kids take up time that I would fill with something else if they weren't here.
The problem happens when everyone wants everything from the government and there is little prioritization. We vote "yes" for every sill spending bill because "what can it hurt to have ____"... What people don't appreciate is that IT ISN'T THEIR MONEY and it is the equivalent of STEALING.. I'll bet all these "nice to have" projects would be a lot harder to fund if people had to go to their neighbors house, knock on the door, and ask them to cough up money for it.. Quietly voting to pick your neighbor's pocket is not only cowardly, it is wrong..