Investing General Discussion

Big Phoenix

Big Phoenix

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Arden said:
Ok, so take this example:

Guy 1: Works at McDonalds making $22/hr. Pays $2,500/month to rent a shitty apartment with 2 roommates in L.A. Drives a Kia Rio.

Guy 2: Works at McDonalds making $10/hr. Pays $800/month to rent a shitty apartment with 2 roommates in Harrisburg, PA. Drives a Kia Rio.

By your rationale, these two guys have completely different lifestyles because one lives in a high COLA area and the other doesn't. Right?
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In this specific example theres absolutely stopping guy 1 from moving to where guy 2 lives and enjoying the same quality of life.

LA is more expensive because its a much more desirable place to live than nowhere PA. Better weather, access to much more appealing activities(beach, skiing, amusement parks, great food) etc. Nothing is free in this world and you pay for that with much higher property values and overall costs.
 
Arden

Arden

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Mist said:
I think "Middle Class" means having churn roughly equal to burn. Living comfortably but still just treading slightly above paycheck to paycheck. Carrying only modest debts.

"Upper Middle Class" would be the same as above, but after contributing near the maximum to their retirement with no high interest debts.

"Upper Class" means they're wealth is growing in a way that is significantly outpacing their spending. They're able to contribute the maximum tax-advantaged retirement AND make other investments, including additional homes, small businesses, and other growing revenue streams.

"Lower Middle Class" means perpetual, unmanageable debt. This is probably most Americans.

"Lower Class" is Kenny's parents.
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I mean, you could argue about minor details, but that's as good a definition as any.

And my point is you can have "churn roughly equal to burn" anywhere.
 
Mist

Mist

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Furry said:
Women in particular highly value this lifestyle improvement.
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It's anyone actively looking for a mate. Rural Americans aren't bumping into their ideal future spouses at the grocery stores unless it's a Hallmark movie.

If you want to find a successful partner, your odds are much better in a city, strictly by the size of the available pool of people in the same age band all looking for the same thing.

It's also about being present in the office if you want to advance your career quickly.

Most 'cosmopolitan' young people abandon the cities as soon as they've found their mate and found a comfortable level in their career.

Also, nearly all technological and/or economic progress comes out of a bunch of young people, all working in the same industry, arguing over dinner and/or drinks. This is another thing that only occurs in cities. Progress doesn't happen in windowless government lab bunkers, it happens in cities after hours. If bunkers worked, North Korea would be beating everyone.
 
Burnem Wizfyre

Burnem Wizfyre

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I’m curious what y’all think where I’m at. I own 2 vehicles, zero payments both 2019 a Ram 1500 Warlock and a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I have zero credit card debt, my mortgage is $1627. I have zero debt other than my mortgage which was 200k for a 3 bed room 2 bath 1600 sq foot house. My only expenses are utilities, insurance, quick quack subscription to wash our vehicles, gym membership. Wife is stay at home mom that does nothing but raise our kid, keep our house clean and sucks my dick like it holds the answers to all of life’s mysteries. I have maxed out 401k contributions, Roth, little over 30k in the bank and just under 40k in cash in my gun safe. It’s been 14 months into my mortgage and I owe 160k of the 200k. I’d have more but I recently went on vacation for a week to Montana and have wrapped up my Christmas shopping which ate up an entire check preventing me from saving. I can literally get by one just half my checks. I vacation 3-4 times a year.

Below are pics of my ADP YTD, checking account balance, credit score showing 0% usage (doesn’t show I have 30k in available credit via credit cards) cash I laid out on my bed that I took out of my gun safe, pic of my house, couple of pics of my truck.

Flame me, call me a faggot, but am I poor, middle class, rich.
 

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Tmac

Tmac

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Is this some weird variation of fuck, marry, kill?

Can’t quite dox. Share more infos.
 
C

Captain Suave

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Big Phoenix said:
In this specific example theres absolutely stopping guy 1 from moving to where guy 2 lives and enjoying the same quality of life.
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Sure there is. Guy 1 can't get $22/hr where guy 2 lives. If his job even exists in Guy 2's locale, he'll get Guy 2's wage and be his neighbor with exactly the same lifestyle with the numbers scaled down by 50%.

(Yes, your argument gets better if you can work remote.)

Arden said:
the basic concept of relativity
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Right. "Middle class" is relative to your peers. The comparisons between LA and rural WV break down pretty fast.

[/QUOTE]
Mist said:
I think "Middle Class" means having churn roughly equal to burn. Living comfortably but still just treading slightly above paycheck to paycheck. Carrying only modest debts.

"Upper Middle Class" would be the same as above, but after contributing near the maximum to their retirement with no high interest debts.

"Upper Class" means they're wealth is growing in a way that is significantly outpacing their spending. They're able to contribute the maximum tax-advantaged retirement AND make other investments, including additional homes, small businesses, and other growing revenue streams.

"Lower Middle Class" means perpetual, unmanageable debt. This is probably most Americans.

"Lower Class" is Kenny's parents.
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I think this is a pretty fair take, and obviously there are significant gradations to Upper Class. I'd say based on how people talk here we've definitely got some lower/mid upper class participants in this thread, but probably no one in the "fuck you rich" category.
 
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Lambourne

Lambourne

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Burnem Wizfyre said:
I’m curious what y’all think where I’m at. I own 2 vehicles, zero payments both 2019 a Ram 1500 Warlock and a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I have zero credit card debt, my mortgage is $1627. I have zero debt other than my mortgage which was 200k for a 3 bed room 2 bath 1600 sq foot house. My only expenses are utilities, insurance, quick quack subscription to wash our vehicles, gym membership. Wife is stay at home mom that does nothing but raise our kid, keep our house clean and sucks my dick like it holds the answers to all of life’s mysteries. I have maxed out 401k contributions, Roth, little over 30k in the bank and just under 40k in cash in my gun safe. It’s been 14 months into my mortgage and I owe 160k of the 200k. I’d have more but I recently went on vacation for a week to Montana and have wrapped up my Christmas shopping which ate up an entire check preventing me from saving. I can literally get by one just half my checks. I vacation 3-4 times a year.

Below are pics of my ADP YTD, checking account balance, credit score showing 0% usage (doesn’t show I have 30k in available credit via credit cards) cash I laid out on my bed that I took out of my gun safe, pic of my house, couple of pics of my truck.

Flame me, call me a faggot, but am I poor, middle class, rich.
Click to expand...


I'd reconsider posting this much info, I found your house on google maps already. Red ford explorer and the truck in the driveway. Guy across the street has a light blue compact and a white suv.
 
swayze22

swayze22

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Burnem Wizfyre said:
I’m curious what y’all think where I’m at. I own 2 vehicles, zero payments both 2019 a Ram 1500 Warlock and a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I have zero credit card debt, my mortgage is $1627. I have zero debt other than my mortgage which was 200k for a 3 bed room 2 bath 1600 sq foot house. My only expenses are utilities, insurance, quick quack subscription to wash our vehicles, gym membership. Wife is stay at home mom that does nothing but raise our kid, keep our house clean and sucks my dick like it holds the answers to all of life’s mysteries. I have maxed out 401k contributions, Roth, little over 30k in the bank and just under 40k in cash in my gun safe. It’s been 14 months into my mortgage and I owe 160k of the 200k. I’d have more but I recently went on vacation for a week to Montana and have wrapped up my Christmas shopping which ate up an entire check preventing me from saving. I can literally get by one just half my checks. I vacation 3-4 times a year.

Below are pics of my ADP YTD, checking account balance, credit score showing 0% usage (doesn’t show I have 30k in available credit via credit cards) cash I laid out on my bed that I took out of my gun safe, pic of my house, couple of pics of my truck.

Flame me, call me a faggot, but am I poor, middle class, rich.
Click to expand...
definitely retarded if nothing else
 
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Lambourne

Lambourne

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Don't need to, I've got it. Not gonna post your address so I'll just post cropped pics of the houses in the background of your truck pic.

Note hose reel in same position on fence

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1701039891640.png


1701039978601.png
 
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Gravel

Gravel

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Burnem Wizfyre said:
I’m curious what y’all think where I’m at. I own 2 vehicles, zero payments both 2019 a Ram 1500 Warlock and a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I have zero credit card debt, my mortgage is $1627. I have zero debt other than my mortgage which was 200k for a 3 bed room 2 bath 1600 sq foot house. My only expenses are utilities, insurance, quick quack subscription to wash our vehicles, gym membership. Wife is stay at home mom that does nothing but raise our kid, keep our house clean and sucks my dick like it holds the answers to all of life’s mysteries. I have maxed out 401k contributions, Roth, little over 30k in the bank and just under 40k in cash in my gun safe. It’s been 14 months into my mortgage and I owe 160k of the 200k. I’d have more but I recently went on vacation for a week to Montana and have wrapped up my Christmas shopping which ate up an entire check preventing me from saving. I can literally get by one just half my checks. I vacation 3-4 times a year.

Below are pics of my ADP YTD, checking account balance, credit score showing 0% usage (doesn’t show I have 30k in available credit via credit cards) cash I laid out on my bed that I took out of my gun safe, pic of my house, couple of pics of my truck.

Flame me, call me a faggot, but am I poor, middle class, rich.
Click to expand...

Bruhh GIF by reactionseditor
 
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Burnem Wizfyre

Burnem Wizfyre

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Lambourne said:
Don't need to, I've got it. Not gonna post your address so I'll just post cropped pics of the houses in the background of your truck pic.

Note hose reel in same position on fence

View attachment 502042

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No dude you’re wrong and I was literally about to post a pic of all the houses around me but trust me you’re wrong. The entire sub division was built by the same builder, you might be in the right area but you don’t have it brother.
 
Arden

Arden

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Captain Suave said:
Right. "Middle class" is relative to your peers. The comparisons between LA and rural WV break down pretty fast.
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It is indeed. But what I was speaking about is the idea that your home value and salary are relative to your COLA when determining if you would generally be considered middle class. You can't just look at raw numbers. Raw numbers are meaningless without context. You've got to factor in other things, namely COLA.
 
C

Captain Suave

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Arden said:
It is indeed. But what I was speaking about is the idea that your home value and salary are relative to your COLA when determining if you would generally be considered middle class. You can't just look at raw numbers. Raw numbers are meaningless without context. You've got to factor in other things, namely COLA.
Click to expand...

Yes, I mean to imply that LA and WV are not comparable for those reasons. And the people who say, "Just move out of the big cities" are also the ones complaining about invasions of Californians and the spike in rural housing cost when people actually did that in during the pandemic. It's not a scalable solution, anyway. Prices are not going to stay the same if 20 million people from LA try to move to the country. Yeah, a few could do it on the margins but given the limited housing supply in the US even a modest fraction of that group trying to relocate would render locals unable to buy in their own markets.
 
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