Five Years, Lord Willing

Where are you and where are you going?
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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

Our Goddess was not in fine form. Newly a mother, but not today, a champion. She will return.

I am so filled with pining and longing. I submitted a prayer to Freyja that she send my Valkyrie soon.

Kriegsspiel
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Kriegsspiel »

What are you saying

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

:lol:

Kriegsspiel
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Kriegsspiel »

WITHOUT GOOGLING....

Image

They are metal song lyrics. Probably from a Scandinavian metal band.

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

Metal couldn’t be further from my cup of tea. AC/DC is as far as I can go in that direction, and there’s enough about them that I think you can avoid classifying them as metal. Even then I can only listen to an album or two before saying “Enough!”

If I want to listen to some great Scandinavian music, I’ll turn on some ABBA, or Ace of Base.

This really pumps me up on my way to the gun range:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iqu132vTl5Y

7Wannabe5
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I dropped scent at "Kristin Lavransdatter" in my google-free attempt. Something-something-saga?

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

I would like to take this opportunity to state that upon death, retirement or banning, I would be eternally grateful if my blog lived on as an ABBA appreciation thread, a tribute to both their music and Agnatha's backside (1), both of which have provided me with hours of exhilaration and joy.

(1) Of course, demonstrating a level of discretion significantly beyond that which I myself could maintain.

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

My therapist has encouraged me to read certain books to supplement our sessions. One was "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom. I thought the first half was sensational but the second half fell a bit too much into "Jewddha on the mountain spewing aphorisms" for my tastes. Overall I would still highly recommend. The book can be read in a day. It is a mediation on death and Morrie's deterioration was very reminiscent of my father's decline so as a forewarning it reaches baby casket levels of sadness especially to those who have been impacted by the death of an elderly loved one.

The book plays into the value in relationships vs. value in materialism/money/success i.e. performance that is the overarching narrative of my therapy which does cross-pollinates with certain principals of ERE. I found this passage to be insightful:

'Here's what I mean by building your own little sub-culture," Morrie said. "I don't mean you disregard every rule of your community. I don't go around naked, for example. I don't run through red lights. The little things, I can obey. But the big things - how we think, what we value - those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone - or any society-determine those for you." He proceeds to correlate this to the issue of short sightedness, immediate gratification and the haves defending themselves with standing armies in order to defend status quo.

If I had to make an analogy, the book is to meditation on mortality what "Schindler's List" is to Holocaust movies. Extremely moving but a tad on the "feel good" side for my sensibilities.

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

I am approximately 40% through Walter Isaacson's Leonardo Da Vinci autobiography and wanted to get some thoughts down.

(1) In the preface, Isaacson makes an important distinction between the genius of Einstein and DaVinci. Einstein is genius genius. Da Vinci is applied creativity genius. I haven't read Isaacson's work on Einstein, but my understanding is that Einstein wrote three papers that changed the course of human understanding and with which "we" are still dialoguing. Einstein is the federal head of Stephen Hawkins. DaVinci is the federal head of Franklin, Edison, Jobs. Therefore, we do not merely marvel at him, but seek to learn from him;

(2) Da Vinci would not make a distinction between art and science;

(3) He looked like Fabio but acted like Liberace;

(4) A true polymath is not merely knowledgable in various disciplines, but is able to synthesize and synthesize uniquely;

(5) He was the first to envision a machine gun;

(6) He attributed his diverse interests and curiosity to lack of formal education and tyranny of revealed knowledge;

(7) He played games to test observational skills which made me think of an JLF meet-up "The person who noticed the cutting route I used with hand held lawn mower gets to boil their soup water first":

(8) Obviously he was ERE, but he was more living from abilities than earned money;

(9) He was notorious for not being able to finish projects;

(10) He enjoyed the company of others and was generous to his friends;

(11) He considered himself an outsider, not surprising for a 15th century homosexual bastard;


We cancelled Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and will be HBO dependent starting September. That's a savings of $30 a month. If God forbid I live another forty years, at a 6% return that's 60K. If my wife is still alive I can buy her jewelry. If my wife is dead, I can give Anna Nicole Smith's granddaughter half of it with the promise that she get's the balance if she return's with a weekend's worth of viagra;

Eating out and buying books has been reigned in.

I am having a learning about Italy summer as I'm headed there next year. I am enjoying the Florentine Renaissance and organized crime genres more than Ancient Rome.

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

Although briefly clearing it last month, we have moved past the 500K net worth mark - 507K to be exact. It is actually more meaningful than I thought which means falling under it again would be very disappointing. It's a discerning single finger FU. Next goal is 500K in $ which I think will be a demonstrable single finger FU. The double finger after sticking them in my asshole and telling you to first die and then eat shit FU is probably 300K away. I am looking forward to that. Immensely. We have become better savers and I have become a better investor so I'm hoping its 3 years. I am not an optimist but I do have momentary glimpses of hope. My therapist challenged me in a way - indirectly saying I could do it now. I felt a sudden explosion of fear which informs me that there are still some serious layers to peel off in my onion of bullshit.

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Seppia
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Seppia »

Jason wrote:
Fri Aug 17, 2018 6:58 am
I am having a learning about Italy summer as I'm headed there next year. I am enjoying the Florentine Renaissance and organized crime genres more than Ancient Rome.
Rome > everything.
I'm from northern Italy but Rome is on a whole different level. There is no city like Rome in the whole western world*, plus you will see its influence everywhere in Europe.
Rome is so incredibly rich in history that cars go under acqueducts that anywhere else would be put under glass.

Italy is full of beauty, but the first thing any tourist should do is get a room in downtown Rome (best area is close to the pantheon) and just walk around without a map for three or four days.

Great, now I need to buy a flight to Rome.

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

Duly noted. My issue is children and the elderly are involved and I do not have logistical control. I might get a few days there but most likely another trip. Although I know its not happening, I am really embarrassed about how much I want to meet The Pope. I read that his biggest regret since becoming Pope is that he can't just anonymously stroll into a pizzeria like he could do when he was just a Cardinal. Supposedly he once had the Popemobile stop in front of one and had a pizza brought to him. It was reported to have a cherry tomato and buffalo mozzarella topping. I was strategizing of maybe late at night throwing rocks at his window and enticing him out of the Vatican by opening a pizza box with a similar pie. Then we could eat pizza together and shoot the shit about what Cardinals he thought were going to hell and what an attention whore Mother Theresa was.


Edit: Video Proof

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S52TNS_BZE0

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

We now have a history of tracking net worth for 21 months on Mint Money. It has increased $150K over that time, from 350K to approx. 513K. Debt, although historically low, has not materially changed. Staring at the numbers is beneficial as I see the swings, specifically the negatives that one necessarily weathers over time. It helps me mature as an investor. Biggest monthly leap was 60K. Biggest monthly decrease was 20K. There was only one month during this time where there was a swing less than 1K. At this point, it seems inevitable that swings will be minimum 5K.

As previously mentioned, we have eliminated three (3) streaming services, lunches, and purchasing of books. At some point there will be liquidation of library but I'm not ready for that. I am trying to work "smarter" - less driving etc.

There are lot of "should haves" i.e. selling a specific stock to pay for taxes which doubled/tripled, purchases - namely books, lunches. But overall, I am pleased/looking to refine process. For our temperament, there will be no major moves, just earning, saving, trying to lower overhead. If we can repeat performance during next two years I would be pleased, assuming it will take more earning/saving/lowering overhead than investment growth.

Existentially, I breathe a little easier on this issue. But obviously cannot fully embrace. Based on 4% rule, two SS, and a pension, when both reach US retirement age, we would have minimum 72K income which should be enough for two aging dinks but who can say. I just don't want to be a part of that itinerant elderly army driving around in motor homes picking tomatoes for Jeff Bezos.

I have started YMOYL. I don't see finishing it but who knows. I appreciate what Vicki Robin is doing but she's Sarah Palin level chatterbox. I'm sure if you put her in charge of a girl scout troop during cookie selling season they'd end up starting a hedge fund by the end but its like learning finance from one of the insufferable yentas I had to listen to at Thanksgiving growing up "Soooooo, your mother tells me your masturbating into a sock. That sounds fuuuuuuun." Joe must have had the patience of Job. If she reads this, nothing personal. And anyways, what does she care what some schmuck like myself thinks, as she's walking around like Mrs. Howell on an island somewhere.

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Seppia
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Seppia »

YMOYL is the best book one can read to improve his financial situation if he/she is looking for IKEA-like instructions.
It's simple, clear, and provides a proven path to success.

I have convinced many people to read the ERE book, most of them get back at me with something along the lines of "WTF this guy recommends doing laundry driving a car down a bumpy road"
While I agree that part of the book is hilarious*, I understood that what the "best" tool for the job is depends strictly in the situation and the person handling it.

I should now say something about Wheaton levels but I'm semi drunk and will go to sleep instead.

*I always thought Jacob is sneakily funny, in an XKCD kind of way.

CS
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by CS »

Deleting for various reasons.
Last edited by CS on Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

Maybe its just me, but when I think of Ikea, its memories of protracted, curse laden invectives against Nazi sympathizers and the creation of semi-functional cubist looking shit.

I guess at this point, I would rather read the blogs of dedicated ERE practitioners than a book which provides the basis of their engagement. It's just more interesting and instructive (to me) in anecdotal form. Plus, I found the "life energy" motivation to be unnecessarily reductionist. People do similar things but with highly variegated motivations. Just give the how and leave the overarching why to me.

One day I will finish ERE The Book. The detection of stealth humor most likely requires a level of comprehension I'm pretty sure I'll never obtain.

FBeyer
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by FBeyer »

I'm just gonna say that if you started writing anything P.G. Wodehouse-like, I'd totally, like toooooootally buy it!

7Wannabe5
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@FBeyer:

I think Jason attempting P.G. Wodehouse would read a little too much like a rather unfortunately memorable episode of "Black Mirror."

Jason

Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Jason »

Last week I was analyzing our progress on Mint Money and saw a number out of the corner of my eye that looked strange - $700K. It was our net assets. I always limited myself to the net worth column but I guess somewhere I caught the change. So I was looking at the $700,000.00 and it began speaking to me. "Hello, Jason. I would like to introduce myself to you. I am $700,000.00 and I am your smaller case, fuck you number." And I was like "Nice to meet you, smaller case fuck you number. I was wondering when you were going to show the fuck up." And $700,000.00 said to me "Well, douchebag, if you hadn't had your head up your ass all these years, we would have met much sooner." And I said "I know, I know. You don't have to remind me, smaller case fuck you number." And $700K said to me "Ok, but although I am your smaller case fuck you number, you don't own me. I own you." And I said "Right, I'm got this 181K asshole of debt I need to get rid of." And he said, "Well, I'm here to let you know which means its achievable before your nut sack drops below your knees" and on and on we spoke. So that was nice.

My therapist told me I had the right to piss away the rest of my life on a performance treadmill. So I'm trying to get off of that.

I am half way through my creative writing project. I am pleased.

I bought my wife a large purchase of jewelry. But it was a set that I will give in her in two stages. Well, I already gave her one. But no books or McDonald's. Using library and make sandwiches at home. I lost 10 pounds.

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: Five Years, Lord Willing

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

Daniel Amerman: Hello, Jason, I am your paradigm shifter. Keep your $181k asshole of debt.

http://danielamerman.com/course/akONEb2c.html

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